A/N: The morning after the night before! I know I've taken longer to update than intended (AGAIN) but this time I have a good excuse. I've written nearly two chapters ahead to make sure I know where I want to go and keep the pacing the way I want it. I still have lots I want to include in this story, so the end isn't near – Sirius and Cheryl might be getting bit closer very soon though.
Special thank you to you lovely, lovely reviewers and please keep your feedback coming! :)
Cabin Fever
"Morning!" Lily called as I stepped into the kitchen area. She had been humming cheerfully while frying bacon, and the smell had permeated through the entire cottage.
I looked cautiously around at all of the interconnecting rooms around us, all of them completely devoid of life despite it being on the wrong side of 10am. "Is everyone still in bed?"
She flipped the rashers with a spatula. "No, just Marlene. Sally's getting ready, and the boys went out for a walk."
The tautness in my shoulders relaxed.
I know, you're probably wondering how I came to be in the kitchen in the first place, when I clearly should've been hiding alone in the bathroom from the shame of what had happened the night before. Or, even better, already on my way home with a paper bag shoved over my head.
Well, I suppose I can force myself to relive my morning up until that point. Just the once.
It all started when I woke up feeling like someone had run over my brain with a tractor, while something else had crawled into my mouth and died an untimely death.
And if that all sounds overly dramatic, wait until what happened next.
Reaching a blind hand out, I fumbled for my usual glass of water on the cabinet next to the bed to get rid of the horrible taste. But what it landed on was nowhere near glasslike.
It was warm and rounded and solid. Flesh-like.
Forcing my bleary eyes open, I saw it was daylight outside and my palm was busy groping someone's bare shoulder. Retracting it in a flash, I surveyed the crime scene surrounding me.
Sirius's sleeping head was just inches from mine, sharing the same too-small pillow; his leg and arm pinned me to the mattress at my knees and waist.
At first I had no idea what was going on. Where was I? Why was he in my bed? What in Merlin's name had happened?
It was then that the night before came flooding back in a series of unfortunate events.
With my survival instincts yelling at me to just get the hell out of there as quickly as possible, I started to squeeze myself out from under the dead weight of his extremities.
When I managed to slide out enough to be teetering on the edge of the bed, I fell to the floor with a soft bump.
"Mmm."
Sirius's moan made me freeze in place, doing some kind of bizarre crab impression on the floor.
1, 2, 3 loud heartbeats thudded in my ear, and then he rolled over onto his back, putting the arm that had been over me behind his head.
Balancing on the tips of my feet, I crept along the corridor towards the bathroom, having somehow managed to grab clean clothes and overcome the squeaking bedroom door without waking him.
After I was washed and dressed, I sat down on the toilet seat, trying to compose myself.
The night before felt like a hazy dream.
The Owlery. My break up. The truth had all come out. He knew I'd broken up with Jesse because of him, and now I knew...
...I wasn't sure what I knew.
My chaotic thoughts took me all the way back to the evening in the Owlery. He'd told me he wanted to be with me. As in with me. Boyfriend and girlfriend.
I shook my head, trying to get it out of my mind. It had been easier to think of that time as a big misunderstanding; he'd said it all because he was hurting over his family. It hadn't meant anything. He would've said the same to anyone who'd given him any sort of comfort when he'd needed it the most. Looking at it as a meaningless mistake had been the only way we'd got past it.
But now, we didn't even have that anymore.
I smacked my forehead with my hand, which only served to worsen the pain that was already pulsating in there.
Doing my best not to become overwrought by it all, I tried to come up with a plan of action. Acting suspicious only made people become suspicious, I knew that by now. And hiding away had only ever got me into worse situations.
Considering the last thing I wanted right then was for anyone else to suspect something had happened between us, it left just one option. I would have to go out and face everyone as if nothing had happened, even if it did make my insides wither just thinking about it.
Besides, deep down I knew it would be just like the last time. If Sirius admitted to remembering what he'd said, which I very much doubted he would, he would tell me it had meant nothing anyway. The drink had made him say it, or he wasn't thinking clearly. So that was exactly what I would do too.
Hearing the sound of doors being opened and male voices in the hallway outside, I blasted the tap in the sink to let them know someone was in there. When I'd allowed enough time for the voices to move on, I released the lock on the door.
Mentally preparing myself for whatever was about to come next, I took one last glimpse in the mirror before marching carelessly towards the living space.
And that was where I'd found Lily at the stove. Alone and cooking bacon.
"Whereabouts are the boys actually walking to; have they said what time they'll be back?" I asked her now, finding the whole 'calm and collected' act hard to keep up when Sirius wasn't where he was supposed to be.
"I'm not sure, but I think they said they'd be back for breakfast," Lily replied. "Why are you so bothered anyway?"
She was starting to look suspicious.
"No reason," I replied. "You seem happy."
My distraction technique seemed to work, because Lily's lips grew into a coy smile.
"I am," she replied, tipping the crispy rashers out onto a plate next to her.
"Last night went well then?" I asked, beginning to wonder what else had gone on during all the bed swapping.
"It did," she said, her smile widening.
"Are you going to tell me about it?"
Despite her earlier reticence, once she started talking about how 'lovely and sweet' James had been it was as if she couldn't stop.
"He said if I'm not ready, then that's absolutely fine," she chattered, laying the table, "We can go as slowly as I like."
"That's good."
"I even caught him watching me sleep this morning, how adorable is that?"
I nodded, unable to think of anything worse. "Very."
"We even said the three words," she told me conspiratorially.
"Three words?"
"You know..."
Oh. I did know. They'd said I love you.
"Sounds like it couldn't have gone any better," I said, thinking how different it had been to my evening.
At least her preoccupation with James seemed to have kept her from wondering why Sirius didn't sleep in his own bed.
.o.
The rest of the day passed by quickly.
Only James had ended up popping back to grab some breakfast in the end, taking some extra out with him for the others.
They were planning to set themselves up in a nearby clearing to build a homemade BBQ area to cook our dinner on later that evening, as if being out in the middle of nowhere had brought out their inner caveman.
Considering James barely said anything to me except a quick 'morning', I was almost certain Sirius hadn't told him anything yet.
Left to our own devices with nothing else to do, Lily, Sally and I dragged Marlene out of bed to get some fresh air. When we spotted an old canoe hanging up at the back of the cabin, it had been too good to resist.
"I'm telling you, you're supposed to use the oar on the right hand side of the boat to go left," Sally said, doing hand signals to go with it.
"That makes absolutely no sense!" Marlene cried, still looking slightly pallid from her drunken night. "Why would you go right to go left?"
"Because that's how it works," I said, getting tired of the bickering.
Needless to say, the canoe idea hadn't gone quite as smoothly as we'd hoped thanks to a communication problem in the ranks. When the boat sprang a leak it'd been the last straw, and we'd had to blast our way back to shore.
By the time we walked back to the cabin, it was dark and we were all wet and bad tempered.
"Merlin, I hope the boys have had more luck making the fire pit," Lily said.
"I mean, probably not, let's face it," Sally replied. "We'll be using our wands to cook our dinner if it's up to them."
Changing out of our river slurry clothes, I started to feel the apprehension that came with the thought of seeing Sirius again for the first time.
Once we'd prepared and packed up the food, we took it out into the forest, heading for the clearing James had mentioned with a bag in one hand and our lit wand in the other. Luckily for us it turned out to be only a stone's throw away, and we saw the fire before anything else.
"So this is what I'll be toasting my marshmallows on?" Marlene called out once we approached the orange glow of the fire pit, the flames leaping high into the air thanks to James's persistent stoking.
He stood up proudly. "What do you think?"
Once we were close enough, we could see the off-kilter way that different sized stones had been stacked into a circular well shape, surrounding and propping up what looked like a Engorgio'ed wok without a handle. Inside, random bits of dry wood and twigs were ablaze, giving off billowy smoke.
"It looks like a hazard waiting to happen," Sally said.
James looked insulted. "It's perfectly stable. And we built it without magic. Well, nearly."
Marlene scoffed. "Yeah, we can tell."
My eyes scoured the area, spotting Peter and Remus sitting nearby on a fallen tree trunk.
When I saw Sirius I stared at him for a second too long before I caught myself. Standing over at the edge of the fire, he had his hands in his pockets, looking at none of us in particular. His words managed to edge their way into my head.
'Everything I said in there was true.'
'So I'm the 'someone'?'
"So what have you all been up to?" James asked, bringing me out of my reverie and holding an arm out to Lily.
She let him wrap it over her shoulders, nestling into him. "We took the boat out. I hope you don't mind, Peter," she added as an afterthought.
He shrugged cluelessly. "Didn't know we had one."
"Probably just as well," Sally said, "Because it's broken. Nearly had to swim back to shore."
"Do you want me to start cooking the food?" Remus asked, getting up and stretching himself out.
"I'm amazed you lot can even face food after the amount you all drank last night," Marlene said. "Apart from Remus, obviously."
James raised his eyebrows at her. "First of all, the amount we drank? Who're you trying to kid, you drank more than all of us put together. Secondly, nothing can put us off food. And I could eat a horse right now."
"The anti-hangover potion they drank this morning might've helped too," Remus added.
James clicked his tongue. "You can't let us have anything, can you mate? Talking of headaches, that reminds me. What exactly were the two of you laughing about last night?"
When he pointed his poker at Sirius and me, my stomach dropped.
Lily looked up at him. "What do you mean?"
"Padfoot and Chez," he replied. "Didn't you hear them? Can't believe I've only just remembered. Kept me awake half the night. Giggling away in the room next door."
"Sirius spent the night in with you?" Lily asked me. I knew I should've told her earlier.
"I took the spare bed in there," Sirius replied, saving me from answering.
I looked at him again over the top of the fire, not sure if he actually believed what he was saying. I had already left the room by the time he'd woken up that morning, so maybe he really did think we'd slept in different beds. And if that was the case, what else had he forgotten?
"So," James pushed, "Are you going to tell us what was so funny?"
Sirius lifted a shoulder. "Absolutely no idea," he confirmed, "Can't remember a thing."
I shook my head slightly. "I can't remember either."
.o.
"So what's the game for this evening?" Sally asked once we'd eaten the burgers and sausages cooked courtesy of Chef Remus. She pulled a charcoaled bit off the marshmallow she'd been toasting and the insides oozed into strings that she caught with her tongue.
"You really want to play another one?" Lily asked, rotating hers to a perfectly golden brown.
Sally shrugged. "It was kind of fun, in the end," she said with a glance at Remus.
"How about Seven Minutes in Heaven then?" Marlene asked eagerly, shoving her melted dessert into her mouth whole.
"But I thought we already said yesterday we weren't playing it," Peter complained.
"Well sorry, Peter," she replied, swallowing quickly, "but you can't always be the boss just because it's your cabin."
"No, that role's reserved for you," Remus murmured under his breath.
I stopped rotating my marshmallow and dunked it into the flames, growing too impatient to wait any longer. When it exploded into flames I pulled it away, blowing them out quickly.
It didn't take a genius to work out who she was hoping the spinner would land on.
"Isn't that the cupboard game?" James asked. "Hate to be a party pooper, but doesn't that require a, you know, actual cupboard?"
He looked around the area. "Don't see many cupboards around here, do you?"
But that wasn't going to stop Marlene. "The cabin is less than 20 feet away," she replied. "I'm sure even you can walk that far."
Already making the final decision that we were going to go ahead with it, she lifted her empty skewer back towards the fire.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
It sailed from her hand, hovering over the top of the flames as though gently resting on them.
"Now we have our spinner," she said triumphantly.
"I'm going to sit this one out," Remus started to say.
"Shush, Sally's having her turn," Marlene replied. "Go ahead, Sal."
Glancing again at him, Sally used her wand to spin the skewer, sending it twirling in mid-air.
From next to me, I could see Marlene watching it. Grabbing hold of her wand on the floor next to her, she kept it at waist level and uttered something I couldn't hear.
All of a sudden the skewer stopped, pointing directly at Remus.
He stared at the point like it was an arrow getting ready to discharge at him.
"No, but I'm... I don't, I mean I'm-" he was alarmed and blustering.
"You know what that means, don't you, Lupes?" Marlene said, entertained by her own sneakiness, "Time for you and Sal to head to the cupboard of love."
Even though Sally was better at hiding her embarrassment, I could tell she was waiting for Remus to get up, not wanting to be the first to move.
When he still didn't shift, Sirius put a hand on his back, "Go on, mate," he said in a low voice, "You know you want to."
Remus looked over at Sally, his face almost childlike in its innocence. She smiled back at him, giving a shrug.
Moving hesitantly, he started to clamber to his feet, and, spurred on by him, Sally did the same.
When they were both up, he chuckled awkwardly. "I suppose we better go then?"
"Go on, kids," James cheered them as they walked off towards the cabin. Turning back to us all, he pretended to wipe a tear from his eye, "They grow up so fast."
Seven minutes later and Sally and Remus came walking back. Remus retook his seat next to me, looking even more flustered than before. Was it just me or did his hair look ruffled?
"Did you have fun?" Marlene asked.
"None of your business," Sally replied, trying not to smile.
"Yeah, leave them alone, Marl," James said, "What happens in the cupboard stays in the cupboard." He leaned over to Remus, "You can tell us about it later," he added in a stage whisper, laughing at Remus's unimpressed face.
"I wouldn't get too smug if I were you," Sally said, "It's your turn."
"Think you'll find we're going clockwise," James replied, "So that would make it-" his focus landed on me, "Morland's turn."
Raising my wand unwillingly, I sent the skewer spinning, keeping my eye on Marlene to make sure she didn't interfere this time.
Eventually, it started to slow down until it looked like the ticking of a clock, pointing at each of my friends in turn. Tick, tick, tick, Sally, Peter, James, Lily, Remus...
It wavered in place in front of him, as if it couldn't make up its mind, and Remus and I exchanged a nervous look.
Just as it looked like it was it was about to come to a complete standstill, it moved again, once to the right, as confidently as if someone had physically pushed it.
James had already started nudging Sirius upwards, not giving me a chance to recognise what was going on.
"Something's not right," I heard Marlene say in the background. "It was pointing at Remus not Sirius. Did someone mess with it?"
"Don't know what you're talking about," James replied, continuing to propel him towards me.
Ambling to his feet, Sirius looked supremely unbothered; as cool as ever. Coming to stand in front of me, his crotch was on my eye level while he waited for me to move.
I was starting to wish it had stopped on Remus.
.o.
When the door of the cabin closed behind us, we were greeted by the sound of a thousand silences.
"So... Alone again," Sirius said.
"Yeah..." I replied, peering out of the window. It was impossible to see anything past the reflections on the glass so I pulled the curtains shut, not wanting to feel like we were being spied on. It was bad enough as it was.
"Are we actually supposed to go in a cupboard or-?" I trailed off, realising he wasn't in the room anymore.
"Sirius?" I called a bit louder.
"In here," came his muffled reply.
Going out into the corridor, I followed the sound of his movement until I came to his and James's bedroom, stalling at the precipice of the open door. He was going through a bag that he'd balanced on top of one of the single beds.
Pulling out a jumper, he put his arms through and yanked it over his head, "May as well make the most of coming back here. You are allowed to come in, you know," he said when I didn't move.
Taking a couple of steps inside, it was the first time I'd been in any of the cabin's bedrooms other than mine and Lily's, and I was especially grateful we hadn't ended up with this one.
If I'd thought our old-timey matching lampshade and curtains were a bit odd, this one was downright grotesque in places.
Sirius followed my gaze over to a three headed sheep armchair in the corner, a head on each arm and another one right at the top, the rest of it covered in white fleecy wool.
"I really hope that's not real," I said.
Straightening his top, he raked a hand back through his hair to tame it. "Yeah, there's a good chance Pete's parents were possessed when they were choosing the decorations."
I started to chuckle, but cut it short when it took me back to the night before.
Fastening his bag, Sirius tossed it to the floor. "Let me guess, you're thinking about last night?" he asked in a feat of intuition.
"I thought you said you couldn't remember what happened?" I demanded.
Going over to the sheep chair he made himself comfortable on it, resting his hands on each of the heads. "Parts. Here and there," he replied, distractedly running his fingers through one of the manes. "And you?"
"Some," I replied, feeling a burgeoning dread at the topic of conversation.
"So are we going to pretend you didn't tell me I was the reason for your break up, or do we need more Firewhiskey to get it out of you?"
I felt my blood curdle, unable to believe he'd come right out and said it.
I tried my best to look unruffled. "What do you want me to say," I scoffed, "that we split up because he could tell I was head over heels in love with you?"
Despite my attempt at mockery, Sirius's initial provocation had left his face.
"Only if it's true," he said solemnly.
I stood there for a second, trying to read him.
"And then what?" I asked, the smirk faltering on my face, "Are you going to scoop me up in your arms and be my white knight?"
But Sirius still wasn't laughing, and when he got up from his chair I had to stop myself from backing away.
"What are you doing?" I stuttered when he stopped in front of me.
His fathomless eyes searched mine. "Did you break up with him because he thought you had feelings for me, or because it's true?" he asked, still fixed with the same unrecognisable calm that I didn't know how to handle. "I need to hear you say it. Sober."
I felt the last of my exaggerated scorn fall from my face. "I can't deal with this right now," I said, turning towards the door. It was too soon after Jesse.
"Wait."
No.
"Cheryl." This time he stepped forward and held onto my forearm.
Hearing him use my name again after so long made me stop and look back at him, and his eyes repeated the question.
"Both," I replied faintly, so quiet it would've been easy to miss it.
The muscles in Sirius's jaw contracted, processing what I'd said.
I wanted nothing more than to leave; get as far away from him as possible so I wouldn't have to hear his reaction to something I'd never wanted him to know in the first place, but something kept me rooted in place.
Exerting a gentle pressure on the hand still holding my arm, he pulled on it, guiding me back towards him. Keeping his movements slow and deliberate.
"I meant everything I said. Last night and in the owlery," he said, "But then I think you already knew that."
Finding it hard to think straight, we stood like that for a second, neither of us moving, and it was then that I realised he was waiting, giving me a chance to push him away, just like he had the first time we had kissed.
Except this time was different. It wasn't fevered or spurred on by alcohol. It was quiet.
I felt my pulse throbbing as he held my eye contact and leaned part of the way down towards me.
Closing my eyes, I lifted my jaw to meet him halfway.
He was close enough to feel the warmth of his breath against my mouth when the sound of the front door made us both stop still.
Whoever it was had just made their way into the living space, their footsteps carrying through the cabin.
Too lost in the moment to care about the consequences any more, we carried on towards one another, his lips barely brushing against mine.
That was, until I heard the newcomer call out.
"Time's up!"
I could hear the sound of Marlene trying all the doors along the corridor leading towards us, with a short gap in between each one while she checked inside each room.
She had just reached the room next door, with only a wall separating her from seeing us standing there in each other's arms, when she yelled out again, growing impatient.
"You've been gone ten minutes. It's only supposed to be seven."
By the time she pushed open the door to our room, I had already pulled back.
"We don't have a clock," I said breathlessly before she could say anything.
"Oh," she replied, looking from me to Sirius. "Well, time's up. It's Peter's turn."
Sirius cleared his throat. "Right," he said, signalling to the door, "Lead the way."
Once we were outside and Marlene was a good few steps ahead of us, he fell into step next to me.
"We need to talk."
"I know," I admitted, my insides still blazing hot.
"Then tell her you're not playing anymore and we'll go. Somewhere there isn't a seven minute time limit."
"I can't."
"What are you two whispering about back there?" Marlene asked shrewdly. There was no way she would let us leave the group without wanting to know why we were going off together.
"Nothing," I called back. "How about tonight?" I suggested in a lower voice. "Lily will probably want to stay with James again."
Sirius nodded reluctantly. "Tonight."
.o.
"Enjoy yourselves?" James asked when we got back to the fire.
"What happens in the cupboard stays in the cupboard, isn't that what you said, Prongs?" Sirius replied, already collecting himself.
"You weren't in the cupboard though," Marlene said, "You were in your bedroom."
This news was met with a lot of shocked faces.
"Oho!" James chuckled. "Even better. Get in there, mate!"
"I went in there to get a jumper," Sirius said, shooting him a warning look as he sat down, and James turned his attention to Peter instead. "Let's see if Petey can have as much luck."
Giving a grimace, Peter unwillingly picked his wand up and used it to spin the skewer.
It only managed a couple of feeble turns before stopping on his chosen cupboard buddy.
James sucked in air between his teeth. "Good luck," he muttered when he saw who it was, "you're going to need it."
Marlene glowered at the stick, like she was trying to make it move away from her with the power of thought.
She let out a gust of air. "Let's just get this over with," she said when it stayed stationary, standing up brusquely and already pulling Peter up by the collar. "Come on."
Peter stumbled along with her, trying to find his feet. Striding off towards the cabin, she left him trailing behind her.
"Poor Peter," Lily said when they were gone.
"You never know, he might like it," James replied.
Sirius's gaze met mine through the glowing embers that were scattering out from the fire, and I was glad of the orange light to hide the changing colour of my face. He was looking at me like there was no one else there, the intensity of it like a physical touch.
I didn't know if I had done the right thing in saying we could meet in my bedroom later that night to talk.
What if he thought talking was code for something else. What if he expected us to share a bed again, sober this time.
The thought of it made me nervous, and I started to understand what Lily had been so anxious about the night before with James.
"Are you okay, Peter?" Lily asked when he and Marlene returned.
"Yep, yeah, definitely," he replied in a strained voice.
"What did you do to him?" Sally asked Marlene.
"Nothing he didn't want me to," she said cryptically, repressing a smug smile.
After going all the way around our circle until everyone had ago, Remus extinguished the fire and we all headed back to the cabin. Luckily for me I hadn't been chosen again.
"I'm straight off to Bedfordshire when we get in, me thinks," Sally said with a yawn. "Bloomin' knackered."
"Shame we're all leaving tomorrow," Lily lamented. "I've enjoyed spending time with you all like this."
"We can do it again sometime though, right, Pete?" James asked.
"I dunno," Peter said, wringing his hands. "My parents only agreed to let us do it this time because they were going away themselves and didn't want me coming with them."
"Well, how about we agree that when we all get our own place we take it in turns to host massive parties, reunite the gang for a yearly Christmas celebration," James offered instead.
"That sounds like a nice idea," Lily said affectionately, linking his arm.
"Is that what I think it is?" Remus asked, looking up at the dark sky.
"It's snowing!" Marlene confirmed, lifting her hands up and spinning around.
Tiny, crystallised specks of ice had started to fall around us, drifting softly to the ground and melting on contact.
"It hardly ever snows at Christmas," I marvelled.
"Something almost magical about it, isn't there?" Remus said.
Sirius smirked. "You're getting sentimental in your old age."
"Hope it sticks overnight," Marlene said, bobbing her tongue out to catch it, "Then we can have a snowball fight before we leave tomorrow."
Stepping up onto the decking in front of the cabin, we took a minute to stand there and watch the scene unfurl around us. The snow had started to get heavier now, the bigger flakes spiralling to the ground in front of us.
"Merry Christmas you filthy lot," James said to us with a grin, his glasses covered with icy wet splotches.
.o.
Trooping into the comparative heat of the cabin, we all shook our damp coats off and hung them up on the stand, filtering off to the bedrooms.
Sirius was just about to follow me into mine when Lily's face appeared behind him.
"You don't have to worry about sleeping in here tonight," she told him, "I've already told James I'm staying in my own room."
Sirius and I looked at one another.
"Don't let me spoil your fun," he replied, staying where he was.
"You're not," she assured him. "Anyway, I already promised Cheryl I would stay in with her tonight."
Sirius looked at me questioningly and I gave him a blank look, trying to tell him that I had no idea what she was talking about.
"Look, I honestly don't mind staying in with Morland," he insisted. "She snores a lot less than Prongs."
Lily squeezed past him into our bedroom, "Goodnight Sirius."
With one last look at me, I watched her shut the door on him.
"That was close," she said once we were alone. "Wouldn't want you to get stuck with him for another night. I'm so sorry about last night, by the way. If I'd known he was going to come in and pester you I never would've left."
"It's fine," I attempted to say, my hand itching to reopen the door so I could call him back.
"No. It's not," she said, gathering her pyjamas up. "I felt so guilty when I heard about it. You're still fresh from your break up, the last thing you need is to spend the night with the cause of it."
I made a non-committal noise in reply and she stopped what she was doing.
"He didn't try anything on with you, did he?"
"No," I said quickly. "Like I said, he was fine."
At least now I knew that telling her anything about what had gone on between us was officially off the table.
.oOo.
Though it had continued snowing overnight, we woke up to a fine smattering of white that still wasn't nearly enough to have any sort of fun with, much to Marlene's dismay.
Instead, we spent breakfast discussing how each of us were planning to get home, and barring the usual greeting of 'Morning', Sirius had not spoken or looked in my general direction since the previous night.
"There's enough Floo powder here to transport all of us back home," Peter informed us, pointing at the gaudy vase on top of the hearth.
"That's nice of you to offer, but I won't be able to use it," Lily replied, "My parents would probably pass out if I came through the fireplace."
"You don't need to worry about that," James said, "Me and Padfoot'll drop you back off on his bike again, right mate?"
Lily straightened her mouth. "But what about Cheryl? She has the same problem as me. And there isn't enough room on it for both of us to leave at the same time. You'd have to make two trips."
Sirius lifted his head from his hand, previously zoning in and out of the conversation. "Hold on. You've got your broom haven't you, Prongs?"
"Yeah..."
"Then how about you take Evans back on that, and Morland can come with me on my bike? I'll meet you back at yours later."
James seemed to consider the idea of spending quality flying time with Lily.
"Are you okay with that?" he asked her.
"I am," she replied, "But I'm not sure if Cheryl would be?"
She was still under the impression I needed to be kept away from Sirius for my own good.
Looking across at him now, his act of indifference was impaired only by the cunning look in his eye that sent goosebumps trailing up my arm.
"If it's easier that way, then sure," I replied, feeling a fluttering when the side of Sirius's mouth turned up.