The banquet for Queen Lily's birthday was much the same as every other banquet that he'd attended in his years at court. They'd all started to blur together, really. Perhaps that was the effect of the top-notch wine that flowed as freely at these events as the empty flattery of ambitious lords. Everyone wanted to get close to the King, and some of them thought that Sirius would be an asset in their endeavor. As for Sirius himself, he thought that Lord Slughorn's cape was just about the ugliest garment that he'd had instance to lay eyes upon. He nodded politely as it occurred to him that if he were asked to repeat the man's last sentence at knifepoint, he'd be a dead man.

"My Lord, it's been a pleasure, but I think I'll go pay my regards to the Queen. It is her birthday, after all."

That was as reasonable an excuse as any, he figured. He didn't think much on it as he made his way up to the royal couple.

"Your Majesties." He bowed, respectfully deep as there were probably 80 different people looking on and making note. He was well versed on how to appear exactly as he should. Or exactly as a base born knight should. He didn't waste time pondering whether that was really him or not. He preferred to take solace in the company of his favorite people.

"Sir. You seem to have been having a lively discussion with Lord Slughorn." James could not keep the hint of sarcasm out of his voice.

"Right you are, your Majesty. But I had to tear myself away to wish your beautiful Queen a happy birthday. Queen Lily. I hope you found the entertainment to be diverting?"

Sirius sat down at the empty chair that was generally reserved for him at James's right. He looked past James and saw the Queen looking quite merry. He was glad for that, and hoped she managed to avoid Slughorn's cape. That could ruin anyone's mood.

"Yes, the violinist especially was quite good. And we'll have country dancing presently"

"Will his Majesty be persuaded to dance or do I have to do his job for him, yet again?" Sirius smirked at James who rolled his eyes at him. Sirius actually enjoyed dancing with the Queen. It was her or the elderly matrons of the court, due to his general policy of keeping a safe distance between himself and maidens who might get a wrong idea in their heads.

"I shall dance. It is my Lily's birthday and all."

"So you'll give her the gift of stepping on her toes?" Sirius muttered in a voice so low that no one else around would be able to hear.

"I'll give her the gift of not having to dance with the likes of you," The King winked.

Sirius sat back and surveyed the great hall. His eyes stopped abruptly at the sight of Princess Marlene, who must have only just arrived. He'd never seen her in anything but black mourning dress, but standing at the other side of the hall, having a painful looking conversation with Lord Willhelm, she wore a sapphire blue gown that quite suited her coloring. She was perhaps even more beautiful than princesses in the storybooks that had been his escape from the cruelty of his early childhood. Sirius shook his head and reoriented his attention to King James.

"Your cousin the Princess is out of morning clothes? That's new."

The King shrugged. "Lady McGonagall said something to her about it, I gather. I wasn't aware that she listened to anyone, but here we are."

"Here we are indeed." He found his own voice to be barely audible over the music which had restarted somewhat abruptly. With it, Queen Lily took James's hand and lead him off to the center floor for a dance. Sirius smiled at his friend's valiant attempt to dance with his wife. He was never much of a dancer, poor soul. Conversely, he seemed to take right to the task of being a husband.

The long line of men who wanted a chance at that very task with Princess Marlene was a comical sight. Poor girl. She probably wished she could hide under Slughorn's cape to ward off the predators.

Perhaps it was the wine or perhaps it was the fact he'd watched her dance two whole dances with Gilderoy Lockhart, and for that deeply amusing gift, he had to thank her.

"Lord Lockhart, may I steal away the Princess for this next song?"

He didn't wait for an answer as Princess Marlene took his hand and he lead her far away from the Lord in the rather garish chartreuse doublet.

"You took pity? I thought you were going to enjoy watching me squirm?" Her smile started in her eyes. He was sure it was just an expression of relief but still, her eyes were particularly stunning when paired with her newly colorful wardrobe choices and… looking at him like that.

"And I have, Princess. Thoroughly, I think I'll be laughing for weeks. Besides, I thought perhaps I'd be kind enough not to entirely blow your cover. James nearly breathed fire when he realized what you'd done, but I was pretty impressed. You didn't need my help at all, did you?"

"One does one's best, Sir." She smiled sweetly and averted her gaze. She was really playing this up for lookers-on, it seemed. She wouldn't be happy with just the relief of getting out of one dance with Lord Lockhart. Of course, she wouldn't. She was a woman on a mission. A mission to rid herself of the admittedly terrible assortment of suitors she'd incurred in her short time at court. Now that he'd shown a weakness, she'd be relentless

"Well, now I've gone and fed the cat."

"You… what?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

"It's just that when I was a boy my mother would chide me for leaving food out for this stray who would come around. Said he'd always be back, wanting more. So in this instance, you're the cat."

"I'm the cat? Well… I like cats. Did your mother not like cats?"

"She didn't. Not at all…"

"Who was your mother? I never heard about Aunt Mia having a nephew."

"She was no one… just… my mother…didn't like cats much. I like cats."

It was so strange how much she was like James. They didn't really bear much resemblance. She was as light as he was dark, but their manner was just the same. The way they spoke. Something intangible in them felt so similar that it was almost uncanny, and more importantly, it was dangerous. She broke down the defenses he had in place with the thousand little similarities she had to the person Sirius held the very closest to his heart.

He didn't even want to lie to her about his mother. He lied to everyone about his mother. But he hadn't just then. Or not the way he would have if she'd been a damned normal person and not… this.

"You liked cats? Well. I suppose there are worse things for me to be in this instance." She smiled sweetly at him.

"I do," he corrected her. "It got me into a lot of trouble sometimes. Still does, really." He smiled down at her as they finished the last spin of the dance.

Even if she was like the stray that kept coming back for the scraps he offered, at least she was fun, a good dancer and engaged in lively conversation. It wouldn't be so bad to be stuck as her decoy until James and Lily produced an heir, or else Marlene found a real suitor who didn't disgust her. But by the grimace on her face when she looked back to the small group of men at the back of the room, it didn't look like that was going to be tonight, so without another word on the matter, he led her into the next dance.