Poppy's POV
The rest of my week with Sirius flew. Lily stayed only 3 nights which meant Sirius and I had the place to ourselves for the majority of the time. It was dreamlike getting to spend so much together on our own like this and I knew I was going to miss being able to see and talk to him all the time. However, soon enough it did come to an end, Sirius going back to the Potters for the rest of the summer as I welcomed back my family, all of them excited to spend some time in the UK.
The second week they were back, my letter from Hogwarts came. It contained my results from my end of year exams (which made Phil and Sara very proud) and I felt like I had at least done Dumbledore a service by showing him I could handle lessons with him and my ordinary school lessons as well. I was therefore hopeful he would continue to give me some tuition so I could develop my magic even further.
We were just sat around having breakfast, discussing the new term which would shortly be upon us when we heard the floo go. Unexpected but not unusual, that is until Sirius popped his head in.
"Good morning everybody" he called cheerily in French, earning a smile from everybody.
"Morning Sirius. It's good to see you" Phil replied instantly, getting up and offering him a hand which Sirius willingly took before saying hi to everybody else. He then came and stood by my chair, a huge grin on his face.
"Pop, I have to show you something" he told me. I looked at him carefully for a moment but couldn't discern anything unusual and wondered what he was up to. "Can I steal her for a bit?" he asked my guardians who nodded, looking surprised.
"Of course," Sara told him and he started instantly tugging at me to get up (luckily, I got dressed before coming downstairs).
"I'll see you in a bit" I said to them all before allowing Sirius to pull me up as he almost ran to the fireplace. "Woah there, what's the hurry?!" I exclaimed as he came to an abrupt stop. He said nothing, giving me a kiss before pulling away with a grin.
"You'll see in a minute. Mine" was all he said before floo'ing away. I gave him a moment to get there and out of the fireplace before following him, finding him waiting somewhat impatiently when I got there. He quickly took me by the hand, leading me to the kitchen where I could hear the sound of excited voices. They all turned to us when we came in, James rolling his eyes and shaking his head but both Carol and Matt were beaming.
"Morning everybody" I greeted them, unable to yet figure out what was going on.
"Morning Poppy!" Matt replied excitedly. "I'll bet you've come to hear the good news?!" he asked me. I glanced at Sirius who was grinning and so I shrugged. All eyes turned to James who ruffled his hair looking, for the first time I think ever, embarrassed. I waited patiently, seeing him take a deep breath before he turned to me, something outstretched in his palm.
"I got Head Boy" he announced. I blinked before a huge smile took over my face and I threw myself at him, feeling him stagger backwards briefly before hugging me back.
"Oh my goodness James! That's amazing! Oh, I'm so proud of you!" I told him excitedly, feeling his laughter.
"Thanks Pop. You're not like, really surprised?" he asked as we broke apart and I frowned at him.
"Of course not, why would I be? You deserve this!" I told him and I saw him smile a little now. "You're going to be great!" I reassured him, seeing how proud both Carol and Matt were. Just then we heard the floo go and we turned to the door expectantly when we saw Fiona fly in. She looked most worried as her eyes found James.
"Did you get your Hogwarts letter?" she asked him, ignoring any social niceties. He nodded, looking at her carefully. "What's it say?" she asked, taking a step towards him.
"Well, I uh, got head boy" he admitted. It apparently took a moment for the news to sink in before Fiona squealed excitedly before hurling herself at James much like I had, hugging him tightly.
"Oh my gosh I'm so relieved! I'm so proud of you!" she told him excitedly, beaming at him when they pulled apart.
"Hold up. What do you mean relieved?" James asked her with a frown. I too was wondering about her first reaction and now she held out her hand, and I saw she too had some sort of pin.
"I got quidditch captain!" she told us jubilantly, her smile lighting up her whole face.
"Fiona!" I exclaimed excitedly before moving at lightning speed, taking her by surprise and hugging her. I felt the guys join us, making us all laugh as we had a big group hug before we untangled ourselves and Matt and Carol had a chance to give Fiona their congratulations.
"Oh, I wonder who got Head Girl?" Fiona asked and I could see a small grin tugging at her face. I looked at her, eyes wide and I could only hope that would be Lily. Literally, just then the floo went and once more, we all turned to see who it would be. You can imagine our surprise when Lily tore through the door, eyes wide and looking at us in excitement.
"Pop, I went to yours and Phil and Sara said you were here!" she said, sounding very out of breath and I could see she too clutched her Hogwarts letter.
"Lily did you get…?" I trailed off and she nodded, beaming.
"Head girl!" she exclaimed as Fiona and I launched ourselves at her.
"Lily I'm so proud of you!"
"Lily you're amazing well done!"
Fiona and I fell over ourselves with our congratulations for her, knowing how hard she had worked for it and how much it meant for her. She was positively beaming when we broke apart and I saw her eyes now flicker to James and Sirius.
"Well, looks like we're going to be spending a lot of time with each other Evans" James told her with a grin and I saw, for the first time, a look of hesitation in her eyes.
"Oh?" she asked nervously, and James nodded, holding out his letter to her. She looked between it and him for a few moments before taking it.
"I'm Head Boy"
Matt and Carol asked us all to stay for a celebratory bite to eat but Lily made her excuses, saying her parents wanted to do that with her. To be honest, I think she was still a bit stunned by James's announcement and I would imagine it would take a while for it to sink in. Anyway, we had a lovely morning, James asking if he could have a congratulatory party which Matt and Carol agreed to. Fiona and I managed to get a message to Alice, Lily and Suze and we agreed to meet up for lunch and for a quick impromptu shopping trip before the party.
All in all, it was a lush day. We met up in London and had a celebratory drink in the Leaky for both Lily and Fiona, both of whom were still beaming. We then had a great shopping trip in muggle London, all of us surprisingly buying a new dress for the party tonight and our spirits were high. Afterwards, we had little time left to go so we all hurried home to get ready at our respective houses, everybody having been invited to stay at James's after the party.
At just gone eight I was ready and so said goodbye to my family before heading over to the Potters, ready to celebrate. Sirius had told me to take my stuff up to his room first, so I made my way upstairs and was surprised when I found him in there, topless and looking through his wardrobe. He grinned at me when I came in, turning and stopping his search to survey me.
"Hi beautiful" he greeted, coming over to me and drawing me to him to kiss me. I let my bag drop and put my arms around him to bring me even closer, feeling his hands wandering already.
"Hi" I replied, pulling away before he could get carried away which I think he suspected. "I hope you're not planning on going down to the party like this" I told him, making him laugh and shake his head.
"You can help me now that you're here" he said, sounding enthused as he pulled me over to his wardrobe. I flicked through it, Sirius standing behind me with his arms around me to keep me as close as physically possible.
"How about this?" I asked, picking out one of my favourites on him; a deep green shirt which he tended to always roll the sleeves of.
"Not a bit Slytherin?" he replied, placing a kiss on my shoulder and sending the butterflies soaring.
"It's my favourite one of yours" I told him and at this he took it from me quickly, making me laugh as I spun to see him putting it on with a grin.
"I didn't know that" he said curiously, and I nodded.
"Well to be fair it's my favourite colour and you're my favourite person so it makes sense" I replied cheesily, making him laugh. When he was buttoned, he made a start on his sleeves as I shamelessly watched him, thinking that Alice might have a point; I think he did look even hotter with his short hair.
"Acceptable?" he asked when he was done, giving me a twirl and making me laugh in the process.
"More than. I think the girls are guna like you even more now with your short hair" I admitted, and he grinned before pulling me to him again.
"They're going to be jealous of you getting to make out with me then, aren't they?" he told me cockily, making me shake my head at him. He kissed me again, cheekily deepening the kiss which thoroughly distracted us.
"Hey now, we have a party to get to" I reminded him, managing to exert some semblance of self-control. He pouted at this, but I shook my head, even as his hands continued to wander over my body. "I did not take hours getting ready for you to ruffle me before it's even started" I told him firmly and he laughed lightly at this.
"You do look exceptionally hot" he said, obviously making me blush and I mentally shook myself.
"All for you" I replied, and he grinned at this before kissing me again. "Come on then" I told him before he could distract me again. He nodded, quickly putting on a bit of cologne before taking my hand and we made our way downstairs where we could now hear the music blasting and the sound of lots of voices. It would seem most people were already here, and the place was busy but not as much as previous parties; the previous seventh years seemed to have not been invited.
"There you two are!" we heard a voice, stopping us in our tracks to the kitchen and saw James stood there with a grin and holding out a couple of bottles of beer to us.
"Thanks" I told him, gratefully taking one from him.
"Most welcome. You look great Pop" he said with a smile, making me blush a little and I felt Sirius put an arm around my waist and turned to see him looking smug.
"Oh, thanks" I replied, still feeling a little heat in my cheeks. "Are the girls here yet?" I asked him and he nodded, gesturing to the kitchen. "I'm guna go say hi. I'll see you in a bit" I told the pair of them, starting to move but I felt Sirius pull me back. I turned to him, slightly confused but he said nothing, just drawing me in for a longer than acceptable kiss. When he pulled away, he gave me a wink before letting me go and I heard James laugh. Honestly, boys.
I successfully found the girls and we stood around having a chat and a gossip for a bit before they insisted on having a dance, dragging me to go with them. Afterwards, I managed to escape and bumped into Will and Aidan, delighted to see them both.
"Guys!" I exclaimed happily, seeing their returning smiles as I gave them both a hug.
"Hi Poppy! It's great to see you!" Aidan replied with a smile as I stepped back from them.
"And you! How's your summer been?" I asked, looking between them.
"Ah you know. Standard being dragged away with my parents" Aidan replied with a shrug, not sounding too enthused by it and making me laugh.
"The hardships you face" I teased him, and he grinned at me. "How about you Will?" I asked, eyes on him now and he jumped slightly as though surprised I was addressing him.
"Oh yeah it's been okay. Been nice to have the break from schoolwork" he said with a grin and I nodded in agreement. "How about you? How's your summer been?" he asked me in return.
"It's been great actually. I had everybody come visit me in France, so it's been dead nice" I told them both happily. Aidan smiled widely at me and I saw Will's eyes dart to somebody behind me.
"I'm glad you've had a nice summer Pop" Aidan replied, seemingly in a very good mood. "Are you looking forward to going back?" he asked me, and I nodded, making him laugh.
"Don't mock me! I'm kind of looking forward to just getting back to the grind you know?" I said and he nodded but was still laughing. I hit him lightly, only making him laugh some more until somebody called him and he shook his head at me before wandering off. I turned to Will who was unusually quiet, finding his eyes on me.
"You okay? You seem a little quiet" I told him, and he smiled quickly, nodding.
"Sure, of course. You know, you look great Pop" he replied softly, the blush coming involuntarily. I averted my eyes from him and fidgeted with my dress in the hope to exert some control.
"Oh, thanks" I replied, my voice quiet and when I looked back up at him, he was smiling widely. Just then I felt an arm around my waist and jumped slightly, surprised to find Sirius had joined us.
"Evening Masters" he greeted Will cordially. I noticed Will looked a little uncomfortable, shifting slightly.
"Evening Black" he replied, seemingly avoiding looking at me. "I'm guna go see the rest of the guys. I'll speak to you two later" he said before promptly disappearing.
"He was definitely hitting on you, wasn't he?" Sirius asked, turning me to him and I could see a small frown on his face.
"What?! No, I don't think so!" I told him quickly in surprise. He looked at me as though sceptical of my claim as he put both his arms around me. "I mean it. Come on, we're just friends and he knows we're together" I reminded him. He still seemed a little doubtful at this though.
"You're beautiful Pop. You still underestimate how beautiful" he told me, making me blush again. He laughed at this, making me scowl at him as he leant down to kiss me. Given the alcohol I'd had, I temporarily forgot where we were, allowing him to deepen the kiss and getting thoroughly distracted. A few whistles quickly pulled us apart and I blushed as Sirius grinned.
"I hope you didn't do that because you think Will was hitting on me" I scowled at him and he shook his head, eyes twinkling.
"Of course not. I did that because I wanted to" he replied casually but I had my doubts. "Anyway, I did want to come find you actually" he continued, sounding as though he was trying to change the subject. "Have you noticed anything…unusual about James?" he asked. I blinked in surprise, shaking my head. He grinned and nodded in a direction behind me, dropping his arms so I could turn to see. I scanned the crowd, my eyes finally finding James who was talking to a very pretty girl.
"Is that…?" I trailed off.
"Priya, sixth year Ravenclaw" he fed me the information quickly. He seemed very happy, the two of them looking like they were talking effortlessly. To be honest, it seemed like they knew each other.
"Do they know each other? I mean, apart from tonight obviously?" I asked, feeling Sirius wrap his arms around me as he stood behind me.
"Well, he's not said anything, but he's been sneaking off and sending letters. I feel like we've just found the source" he admitted, surprising me once again. James hadn't mentioned anything, and I had no idea how they even knew each other. Now this, would be worth keeping an eye on.
Throughout the night I kept a close eye on James and saw how, despite moving through the crowds and talking to people, he would often drift back to Priya. She seemed most pleased with this, and who could blame her, and it was nice to see how James's face sort of lit up when he was talking to her. I told Sirius not to say anything to him until he was ready to talk which he seemed displeased with, but I managed to get him to promise to it.
The rest of the party was great, nobody heading to bed until about 2 and we all woke up late the next day, stumbling downstairs to find Carol had made us all some breakfast which was far too nice of her. I saw Sirius glance questioningly at James a few times who looked at him suspiciously in return but neither said anything to the other. I just hoped Sirius would give James some space to figure everything out. I hung out at the Potter's for a bit longer than the others, finally tearing myself away from Sirius just after lunch when I told him my family would like to spend some time with me. He pouted but agreed, telling me he'd owl me over the next week so we could go out and do something together which had made me smile.
True to his word, Sirius sent a letter asking if I wanted to go to Diagon Alley with him to get our school stuff together to which I readily agreed and told him I'd meet him there. At one I apparated over and met him outside Florean's where he insisted on having an ice cream before doing anything else. I laughed but agreed, seeing that he had a bit of a mischievous grin on his face as he then suggested we sit and eat instead of wandering. I frowned at him but he just smiled innocently at me and so I agreed distracted by his indecision on which flavours to get which made me laugh. Once we were sorted, he led me outside, stopping abruptly.
"Prongs?" he asked, sounding or should I say acting, surprised. I peered round him and saw James look at him in shock; he was sat having an ice cream with Priya. I had to work hard to control my reaction, knowing now that Sirius had planned this whole thing.
"Pad what are you doing here?" James asked him suspiciously as Sirius led me over, gesturing to me.
"Pop and I are getting our school stuff. What are you, err, doing here?" he asked, trying to sound innocent but the grin on his face gave off a completely different impression. James shuffled a little in his seat, eyes darting to Priya who looked as though she was unsure as to what was going on.
"I'm just here with Priya" James settled on at last and she smiled at the sound of her name.
"Hi Priya, nice to see you" Sirius told her jovially and she smiled up at him.
"Nice to see you too Sirius" she replied politely, eyes now darting to me.
"Sorry I don't think you two know each other. Poppy this is Priya, she's a sixth year Ravenclaw. Priya this is my girlfriend Poppy" Sirius introduced us quickly and I noticed his eyes dart to James as he did so.
"It's nice to meet you Priya" I told her with a smile which she returned, nodding.
"It's nice to meet you properly Poppy. I've heard a lot about you from James" she replied, a slight grin on her face now and James shook his head.
"I really hope it's all good else we'll need words head boy" I told him jokingly and he laughed, nodding.
"Don't have a bad word to say about you Pop" he teased me.
"Anyway, I'm sorry we've interrupted you. We'll just leave you to it" I told the pair of them, taking Sirius by the hand and beginning to turn.
"Oh no please. You should both join us" Priya said quickly and I turned to look at her in surprise, seeing this emotion mirrored by James. In turn, Priya looked at me with curiosity and it took a moment for me to realise she probably hadn't seen my eye colour change up close.
"Oh, I'm sure you two want to be left in peace" I replied but she shook her head, moving so she was sat closer to James to leave space for Sirius and me. I knew without having to look that Sirius would be overjoyed by this outcome and he quickly grabbed us a couple of chairs, gesturing for me to sit.
"So, what brings you two out here?" Sirius asked as he lazily leant back, putting an arm around me. Honestly, I could have killed him. I should have known this is what he had planned! Never trust a Marauder. Priya blushed at his question and James rolled his eyes at us.
"We just bumped into each other" James said slowly, looking at Priya who glanced at James before nodding.
"You never said you were coming here today. Otherwise, I would have invited you in with me and Pop" Sirius told him and I saw Priya blush again. I nudged him as subtly as I could with my elbow.
"Anyway, how are you Priya? Did you have a nice summer?" I asked her and she quickly took my conversation opener, telling us about her summer as I saw Sirius and James have a silent conversation between them. Honestly, I really don't know what I was going to do with Sirius.
After we ate our ice creams I made to stand and dragged Sirius up with me.
"Well, we've intruded on your day enough already" I told them as we stood behind our chairs. "And we've got a lot of school stuff to get" I turned to Sirius and gave him a look which only made him grin at me. "So, we'll leave you to it. It's been really nice to get to know you better Priya" I told her honestly, thinking that she was exceptionally lovely. She smiled and nodded in what I hoped was genuine agreement.
"You too, I hope we get to speak soon" she told me, and I nodded back, smiling widely thinking it would in fact be nice.
"Me too. Well, have a nice day guys" I told them, Sirius giving them both a wave as we moved off and out of Florean's. As soon as we were outside, I rounded on Sirius and I saw him take a small step back from me in surprise. "You totally planned that didn't you?!" I exclaimed quietly and he nodded, eyes twinkling.
"What?! You said don't say anything, but you didn't say don't do anything" he retaliated, and I sighed in exasperation, shaking my head.
"So, you thought it was a good idea to just sabotage his date?!" I asked him and he laughed at that.
"He didn't say it was a date" he challenged me, moving back towards me now and putting his arms around me. "You're not really mad at me, are you?" he pouted before kissing me. I frowned at him and he grinned before he put a kiss on my neck, making my eyes widen.
"Sirius we're in public!" I hissed at him, only making him laugh.
"What and I can't show people how much I love my girlfriend?" he asked before smothering me in kisses which just made me laugh and try to push him away.
"You two are truly sickening" James's voice forced Sirius to a stop as we looked up to find both him and Priya watching us; James looking at us in slight disgust and Priya with a smile. "Eurgh. Anyway, I was going to say do you mind if we join you? We need to get our school stuff too" James told us and I looked at him in surprise, moving out of Sirius's grip.
"Really?" I asked before I could stop myself and James nodded, giving me a smile.
"Really" was his reply and I nodded quickly, knowing this would just make Sirius's day.
"Sure of course you can" I replied and they both smiled as we started making our way down the alley. As we went, I fell into step with Priya, asking her about which NEWTs she was doing to give James a chance to swear at Sirius for his interference in his date. I made sure to eaves drop as I went, doing my best not to laugh when I distinctly heard Sirius telling James that:
'It's important that our girlfriends get on' to which I heard James give Sirius a punch in reply. I did my best to make sure Priya didn't overhear as we chatted about books and NEWTs as I secretly thought that James had made a very good choice in Priya.