The weeks following James and Lily's engagement were a whirlwind of end-of-the-year activities for the 7th years; studying for N.E.W.T.'s, more career planning, studying for N.E.W.T.'s, job interviews, studying for N.E.W.T's. Needless to say, when the exams were finally over three weeks after the Quidditch Final, everyone was more than ready for the annual Leaver's Ball. The end of school party exclusively for the 7th years and their guests was something the Hogwarts students had been looking forward to since they entered the castle as eleven year olds.
"How do I look?" Sirius spun on his heel to face Remus, Peter, and Owen. Remus was almost disgusted; the prat looked too damn perfect. His silky navy blue robes hung elegantly off of his tall frame and that hair fell easily into his eyes. Sirius was wearing a very cheeky smile. Remus looked down at his own shabby gray robes; feeling rather intimidated.
"You look good mate," Owen said; grinning at his own reflection.
Sirius looked rather pleased with himself and plopped down on his bed. "Phillipa Gettilfinger, huh Wormtail?"
Peter turned to Sirius and smiled. It had been quite an undertaking to find shy Peter a date for the Leaver's Ball, but the other three Marauders had made it their final mission at Hogwarts. The short, cheerful Ravenclaw had agreed to come with Peter after a week of buttering up from Sirius and James. He was ecstatic.
"Yeah," he said. "Thanks again, mate."
"Stop thanking me," Sirius turned back to mirror and smiled at his reflection. "It's bloody annoying."
"I'm meeting her in the Great Hall, right?" Peter asked.
"For the fourth time, Peter…" Remus rolled his eyes.
He looked down at his shoes. "I'm just…well…I'm nervous."
"Don't worry," Sirius drawled. "It's not like she's going to want to shag you. Are we ready?"
Remus took one last look in the mirror and smoothed out his robes. "Yeah," he said. "Let's go."
The boys exited the dormitory and walked down the stairs to the common room. As they had expected, the girls were still upstairs. They sat for awhile; twiddling their thumbs and watching the other Gryffindors come and go.
Finally, Annabelle came down. She smiled at Owen, who seemed in awe of his light blue clad wife. They kissed.
"You look beautiful," he smiled.
"Thank you," she smiled back. "Shall we go then?"
He nodded. "See you lot later."
Remus, Sirius, and Peter nodded. "Are they coming anytime tonight?" Sirius asked; jerking his head to the dormitories.
She smiled and nodded; laughing a little at their impatience. "They'll be down in a few minutes, I expect."
Annabelle had an interesting view of time. To the boys, it felt like hours before Dorcas and Gwen descended the stairs: Dorcas wearing deep scarlet and Gwen in bubble-gum pink. Remus immediately stood and smiled at his date while Sirius remained in his seat; an amused grin on his face. Dorcas raised her dark eyebrows at him. Her dark hair was pulled up elegantly off of her neck; twisted into a chignon with a deep side part. The style highlighted her high cheekbones, striking features, and long neck; giving her an aristocratic air. She seemed to float down the stairs. Next to her, Gwen's steps were heavy and excited; a huge grin splayed across her sweet face and excited blue eyes gleaming. She wore her long golden hair down and it bounced along with her lithe figure.
"Remus," she squealed as she bounded to him from the stairs. "You look nice."
"Not nearly as good as you," he chuckled; hugging her amicably.
Dorcas walked over to where Sirius was still sitting on the sofa; their eyes locked the entire time. "Not going to stand up for me, are you?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I felt my present position was ideal for watching you descend the stairs."
She cocked her head to the side; contemplating this answer. He stood; raising his eyebrows at her. When he was at his full height, he kissed her. "You do look absolutely brilliant."
She smiled with her mouth closed. "You look rather dashing yourself."
"I always look dashing," he shot her a knee-weakening smile and brushed a piece of hair from his eyes.
"I may be feeding your ego a bit too much," she smirked.
"Perhaps," he shrugged and then offered her his arm. "Shall we?"
She slid her arm through his and nodded; the smirk still on her face.
"Moony," Sirius called. "Shall we go?"
Remus smiled and offered Gwen his arm. She smiled, curtseyed, and took his arm in the most over-the-top impression of an aristocrat as possible. Remus laughed. "Yeah, Padfoot. Let's go, Wormtail."
The five climbed out of the portrait hole and made their way down to the Great Hall. Peter kept rubbing his hands together in his utter terror at meeting Phillipa. When they reached the Entrance Hall, she was already there; wearing a shade of sage green, her light brown hair in some elaborate creation.
"Phillipa," Peter nodded, swallowing. He fumbled with his hands for a second.
"Hello Peter," she said.
"You look nice," he said to his shoes.
"Offer her your arm, prat," Sirius said; passing behind Peter.
"Oh right," Peter swallowed again and put out his arm.
Phillipa took it; glaring at Sirius.
"Oy," James shouted as he entered the hall with Lily on his arm. She was wearing shimmering lilac robes and James was in black ones made of a very expensive-looking fabric. The large emerald Lily wore on her left hand gleamed brightly in the candle-lit room.
"Oh Prongs," Sirius whistled. "You're engaged now. Stop trying to catch all the birds."
James rolled his eyes. "I do have to keep up with this gorgeous creature," he smiled at Lily. She smiled back at her fiancée.
"You look beautiful, Lily" Gwen smiled at her former roommate. The purple color played off of her pale skin and wavy red hair. Her green eyes were bright from the excitement of it all and she had a seemingly-permanent smile.
"Thank you Gwen," she said to the girl in pink. "You look beautiful yourself. And Dorcas, you look wonderful too. I love your hair up like that."
Dorcas smiled. "Thank you. It was Gwen's idea."
Gwen shrugged as Dorcas looked over at her.
"Okay," Sirius rolled his eyes. "We can discuss how Remus helped me with my hair later, but now, the ball awaits."
"Lead the way," Gwen gestured.
He nodded and Dorcas took his arm again. When they entered the Great Hall, they both looked around the room excitedly. The place was amazing. It was dominated with a huge tapestry of the Hogwarts shield hanging at the front and was lit by massive candle-filled chandeliers scattered throughout the room. The Hogwarts staff sat at the high table under the tapestry; all in rather more formal attire than the students were used top seeing them in. Silk tablecloths in the different houses' colors covered circular tables near the entrance. Several students were sitting at them; waiting for dinner. Afterwards, Desdemona and her Dugbogs would take the stage that had been constructed on the far end of the room and the dancing would begin. A huge hardwood dance floor was in front of the stage.
"Wow," Dorcas breathed.
"I know," Remus answered.
"Merlin," Peter exhaled.
"It's beautiful," Lily said.
"Ready for dancing, mate?" James poked Sirius in the back.
"Of course," Sirius smirked at Dorcas. "Dancing is another one of my many talents."
"Another one?" she raised her eyebrows
"Let's go get a table," Gwen suggested. They walked to the cluster of tables and found an empty one next to a group of Hufflepuffs. Baxter Stebbins waved at them with Wendy Smyth smiling at his side. They all waved back.
"You think he got the N.E.W.T.'s for Auror training?" Gwen muttered.
Remus smiled slightly. "He looked rather nervous after his Charms practical. I don't know."
Suddenly Professor Dumbledore stood. All of the 7th years turned to face him.
"I would like to welcome all of you to your Leaver's Ball. You have all made it through seven years of education and will soon be turned out on the world as fully qualified wizards. The entire staff and I are immensely proud of you all. Although I could give you advice on entering the real world tonight, I will save my warnings and fears until the end-of-the-year feast. Tonight is for your enjoyment. So without further adieu, let the feasting begin."
A few minutes later they had all ordered their food and were chatting happily. Lily had a tendency to stare at the ring on her finger when she thought no one was looking. Gwen called her out on it more than once.
Soon, the band had taken their place on stage and music filled the Great Hall.
"Fancy a spin around the room?" Sirius leaned towards Dorcas.
She smiled and nodded; taking his hand as he led her to the dance floor.
For once, Sirius was not lying about possessing a talent he didn't actually have. He was a phenomenal dancer and steered Dorcas around the floor so elegantly that the other dancers stopped to look.
Dorcas must have looked confused because he put his lips to her ear and whispered. "My mother made me take classes. It's the only thing that rubbed off on me."
She smiled and let him take her away. He dipped her at one point and leaned down over her so far she was convinced he was going to fall on top of her. Instead, he kissed her and then pulled her up laughing.
"And Lily calls me a show-off," James smirked as he and Lily passed Sirius and Dorcas.
"Your dancing is not something you should show off Prongs," Sirius shrugged back.
James, somewhat violently, spun Lily away from him and back.
"Calm down James," she said; looking somewhat exhausted. She smiled at Dorcas as he steered her towards the other side of the floor.
"Feeling lucky," Sirius smirked.
Dorcas smiled in to his eyes. "I always do."
Sirius smiled and pulled her in closer to him as a faster song began.
"We'll keep in touch after school ends, won't we?" Remus asked Gwen. They had been sitting and talking at their table most of the night since neither were huge fans of dancing. It was a better place to mock couples from anyway.
"Of course we will," she smiled. "Thought you could get rid of me that easily, did you?"
"Good," he smiled back.
"It's strange to think that we won't be coming back next year," Gwen said.
"It is," Remus nodded. "I can't imagine living somewhere else."
"Me neither," she glanced around the room. "And I still have no idea what I'm going to do once we're out of here." She looked up at him. "Isn't that scary?"
He smiled. "I don't either Gwen."
"But you've got good marks, Remus," she shrugged. "I'll bet you could do anything you wanted to."
Remus exhaled and looked out the window. "You'd be surprised."
"Here," she conjured a quill and a piece of parchment. "This is where I'll be this summer. It's in Italy. You should come visit."
She handed him the piece of parchment and he smiled. "Alright," he said; stuffing it into his pocket.
"So, have you seen Moira O'Neill lately? 10 galleons says she's pregnant."
Remus laughed; following Gwen's big blue eyes with his own. She looked at his big golden ones and they smiled at each other.
After the ball that night, Sirius and Dorcas were walking over the grounds; their hands intertwined. Both had changed from their formal attire into more comfortable clothing and Dorcas' hair was down; tangling around her shoulders. They stopped near the greenhouses and Sirius pulled her in for a furious kiss.
"If you want to do that, we should probably go somewhere else," she laughed. "Besides, we already have. Three times. Maybe we should take a little break."
He pouted and she smiled; kissing his bottom lip one more time.
"That's all you get for now."
"Dorcas…"
"No Sirius, I'm cutting you off."
He pouted again and she shook her head. Accepting his fate, Sirius shrugged and sat down on the grass. Dorcas sat down next to him.
"So what are you going to do next year?" Sirius asked.
"My parents got me that internship at the Ministry, remember?"
"Right," he nodded.
"Sirius," she took a deep breath. "We really need to talk about what things are going to be like once school is over."
"What do you mean?" he turned to face her.
"I mean, what is going to happen to…" she struggled for the words. "What's going to happen with us?"
Sirius was shocked. He sat there dumbfounded; staring at her. Why did they need to talk about that?
She put her hand to her forehead. "We have to figure out how we're going to keep seeing each other. Things are going to be different," she looked at him and her jaw dropped in desperation. "We won't be able to see each other every night. We're going to have to figure this out."
Sirius frowned and looked down at that hand that was propping him up. She was right. They wouldn't see each other nearly as often with him working at WWN and her at the Ministry doing slave labor. They were silent for a long progression of minutes and the cool night breeze caused Dorcas to wrap her arms around her knees. She looked up at the stars in the black sky, concentrating on Cassiopeia; the wrinkle between her eyebrows. Unconsciously, Sirius sat up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She let her head fall to his shoulder and sighed. Sirius screwed up his face in thought.
Suddenly he got a brilliant idea.
"Let's get married," he said out of nowhere.
Dorcas' eyes grew to twice their normal size as she ducked out of his shoulders and turned to face him straight on. "Wha..What? Are you serious?"
Sirius smiled. "Well, actually…"
"Don't joke about this," she looked angry, as she moved further from him. "We can't get married."
"Why not?" he was confused. Isn't this what a bird wanted? "James and Lily are doing it."
"We aren't James and Lily," she shot. "There is no way…"
"Dorcas," he said. "Come on. It's a good idea…"
"No it's not," she stood, suddenly not looking at him. "We can't just do what James and Lily do so you can keep up. You would make a terrible husband."
Sirius felt his heart drop straight into his stomach and fury filled his entire body. "And you would make such a wonderful wife?" he spat sarcastically.
"No, I wouldn't" she was shaking as she paced back and forth. "This is the worst idea you have ever had. Ever. Including trying to get Snape killed by Remus."
He shot up; anger and confusion filled his eyes. "You know?"
She nodded quickly; looking him full in the eye.
"But how?"
"Remus finally told me," she said. "He told me everything. I was so confused about what Peter was doing during the Quidditch final that he just told me. Right there. And that's another reason we can't get married. You won't even tell me that you're an animagus? You can't keep secrets from the person you're married to, Sirius."
"You can't abandon them either, Dorcas," he bellowed in her face, grabbing her by the shoulders.
She exhaled and pulled herself up as tall as possible and looked away for a second, shaking him off. She turned back with her chin high in the air. "You do realize, Sirius, that you've never told me how you feel about me."
Sirius screwed up his face in complete confusion, his arms betraying his uncertainty. "What the bloody hell are you talking about?"
Her nostrils flared. "See," she made a dismissive gesture with her hand.
"Dorcas," he yelled back at her, eyes flashing. "I have no idea what you are blathering on about."
She swallowed hard and her teeth were on edge; her shoulders thrown back painfully. "How could I marry a man who can't even tell me that he loves me?"
Sirius froze; completely terrified. "I…What?"
"You have never said "I love you"," she said quietly. The wrinkle in between her eyebrows deepened.
"Neither have you," he said, shrugging. "Why does that matter?"
She looked as if she was about to cry and turned from him again. "The fact that you have to ask that question further proves that getting married would be a complete disaster."
"Fine," he said, throwing up his hands and scoffing. "I love you. There, I said it. Will you marry me now?"
"No," she shook her head and looked back at him. The tears were starting to push through. "That's not good enough."
Sirius gritted his teeth, challenging those stubborn, tear-filled dark eyes. "Well apparently nothing is good enough for you," he yelled.
"You have to see that this is a terrible idea."
"You know what's a terrible idea," he scowled, yelling in her face. "The idea that I wanted to marry you in the first place. Or that I spent so much of the last year with you. Get out of my sight Dorcas, before I have another terrible idea."
"Siri…" she was pleading, her hand found its way to his.
"GO!" he bellowed, pushing her off. In shock she took a few steps back and then looked up at him. Seeing the coldness and anger in the gray orbs she knew so well, Dorcas clasped a hand to her mouth and then took off running back to the castle.
Sirius didn't watch her, but was unnaturally aware of the violent crunch of the grass under her as she ran and the bite of the night breeze. When he couldn't hear the grass anymore, he screamed, walked over to the greenhouse door and punched the wooden post between the glass panes. Immediately, he regretted it. He regretted the entire thing.