Disclaimer: Not mine at all
So I'm going to be honest here and say that I have so much of this story written and I either haven't gotten around to posting it or it's chunks that are crazily out of order but I promise to be better now! Oh, and Sirius kind of doesn't think things through.
Read and review!
Love, Essie
P.S. Keep an eye on the mystery gift; it comes back later on
Lost in the cracks of the landslide
You saw me slipping on my blind side
I'm feeling lost, feeling tongue tied
And now I'm frozen in your headlights
Deep in the haze of your love high
I used to soar on the live-wire
I'm coming down from your supply
And I don't know if you can make right
I can't take it
From the day I saw my heart start breaking
No one saved me
I can't take it, can't believe I really lost you, baby
Earth keeps shaking
All around
Oh, you let me down
And I can't take it
From the day I saw my heart start breaking
No one saved me
~OctaHate, Ryn Weaver
Dany woke up to her roommates jumping on her bed.
"Danyyyyyyy you're fifteen get the hell up!" Lily was yelling as she jumped on her bed. Marlene and Alice were both laughing and continued to jump on her bed.
"Alright, alright I'm up I think you guys can stop before you break something." She groaned as she got up, rubbing her eyes.
"We have presents!" Marlene said excitedly as the girls pointed to her bed stand.
"Aw, you guys seriously didn't have to get me anything." She said and they all rolled their eyes.
"Uh, yeah we did. If you don't want gifts, you shouldn't have friends." Alice said smartly and the other two nodded. "Go on, open them!" She said and Dany sat down and grabbed the closest package. She read the card and smiled at Lily.
"Thanks Lils…" She said and opened it. It was a shoebox. "Really? Thanks." She said as she laughed at the fact that Lily had finally gotten her a pair of the boots she had been borrowing from her for years.
"It's time you had your own, really. Between the two of us, we're going to wear mine into the ground in no time." She said with a grin and Dany hugged her. Alice pointed to hers and Dany checked for a card but found none so she opened it. It was a photo album of the four of them. Dany smiled and flipped through it. There were plenty of blank pages in the back.
"There are a lot of blanks, which kind of ties into my gift." Marlene said and handed her another package with a camera in it. "It's magic so the pictures will move, I know you've been after one for a while now." She said and Dany grinned before hugging both of them.
"Thanks guys, really. Love you all." She said and Lily suddenly pointed.
"I think we missed a few guys." She said and at the foot of Dany's bed was several boxes that Dany was quite sure hadn't been there five minutes ago. They all moved down to the end of the bed and inspected the packages. Lily handed her one, it was small no bigger than a matchbox.
"Open this one." She said and Dany found no card so she opened it to see a jewelry box. "Is that jewelry?" Lily asked interestedly.
"Relax Lils, it's probably just my dad or James or something." She said and opened the box. There was a note in here that had been signed by four different men.
"What does it say?" Alice asked almost breathlessly. This is what jewelry does to teenage girls.
"Our steel magnolia, it's as strong and as beautiful as you are. Dad, Rae, James, and Charlie…oh wow." She said as she looked into the box after putting the note down. "It's a necklace." She pulled it out of the box and it was really beautiful. It was exactly what the note had said; it was a magnolia flower hanging off a chain and Dany suspected that it was literally polished steel. She gently put it back in the box.
"That's beautiful." Lily said and everyone nodded.
"Yeah, it really is…I should probably go thank James and Rae before I forget. Not to mention that I hardly ever see Rae at school." She said. "I'll come back and finish up, alright? I'll be back in a minute." She said and walked out of the room headed for the boys' staircase. She knocked gently on the boys' door. Remus opened the door and smiled.
"Hey Dan. What's up?" He asked. Dany's birthday wasn't widely advertised and she wasn't offended in the least that he didn't know the date.
"I'm looking for James."
"Oh, yeah he's right here. Come on in." Remus said and waved her in. James was currently shirtless, clearly getting ready for class today. He grinned.
"Hey. To what do I owe the pleasure of being graced with the Birthday Girl's presence?" He laughed and she hugged him.
"I see that my no guidance on gifts turned out rather well." She said and he hugged her back.
"I'm glad you liked it. It was your dad's idea though so I definitely shouldn't be taking much credit." He said and she shrugged.
"You signed the card and don't pretend that there wasn't Potter money put into that." She said and he shrugged.
"There was a little bit but it's Mom and Dad's job as Godparents to spoil you and it's my job as your almost-brother to help them." He said and she shrugged.
"Spoil me, don't spoil me, and see if I care. Alright, I have to go see Rae and then I'm being held hostage until I finish with the presents by Lily, Alice, and Marlene." She said and waved bye to the room. There was a general sound of farewell and she climbed the stairs to the Seventh Year dorms.
She knocked on the door and one of her brother's roommates opened the door. He looked tired and like he really didn't want to be awake.
"Hey Travis. Is my brother in there?" She asked and he nodded and let her in.
"Oi, Masters get up; your sister's here." He said and pushed her brother out of bed. Dany grinned and sprayed him with cold water. Rhaegar sat up and looked scandalized.
"Seriously Dan? Unfair. Happy birthday by the way." He said and got up, drying himself off. She laughed.
"Consider it payback for everyday that we're home. But actually I just got the necklace and it's beautiful." She said and he grinned before hugging her.
"I thought so too. Me, Dad, Charlie, and James were all going crazy trying to figure something out. Dad went all sentimental this year and this is what happens when that happens." He said and she smiled.
"Apparently. He should be sentimental more often then."
"Alright, I think it's time for little sisters to go get ready for class. See you later, Dany." He said and she walked all the way back to her own room. All three girls were still sitting there, looking interested and were all in states of being partially ready for class.
"Let's finish up with these!" Alice said excitedly and Dany sat back down and started opening. Clothes from her mom and books from Dorea were the next two. Lily pointed.
"Do you have a long lost relative? Because unless I'm forgetting one, you have an extra." She said and Dany shrugged.
"You're not missing anyone. Maybe it's from Moody and Florence, I don't know." She said and inspected it. There was no note, no card, nothing. If it was Alastor, that wouldn't surprise her at all. She unwrapped it and it was a book. It was a very old and obviously loved book. "Children's and Household Tales by Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm…these are Grimm's fairytales; it's a damn old version too…what the hell?" She opened it and there was a folded up note in completely unfamiliar handwriting.
"What does it say?" Lily asked. Dany reread it a couple times and couldn't make heads or tails of it.
"It says 'love me, read me, never leave me'." She said and she flipped over the note and there was nothing on the back either. "Weird."
"One of the guys?" Marlene suggested and Dany shook her head.
"No, I know their handwriting, at least James, Sirius, and Remus' and I doubt that Frank or Peter would be sending me anything for the birthday that they don't know I have today." She said and handed the note around. No one recognized the handwriting so she put it back in the book. Lily checked the time.
"Shit we have to go! We don't want to be late for Potions." She said and the girls frantically started to get their uniforms on and walked down to breakfast. They all sat down and idly talked about who would think to send Dany an old book for her birthday.
"Somehow, I can't see Moody sending me a book of fairytales. Florence, maybe, but definitely not Alastor. Dorea already got me something and so did you all. James and Rae went in with my dad and Charlie. That's really everyone who knows that my birthday's today." Dany said through a mouthful of pancakes. Just then all of the guys sat down. James sat next to her.
"What are you ladies talking about?" He asked and Dany shrugged.
"Not much…someone sent me a book of fairytales for my birthday." Dany said after she took a drink of pumpkin juice.
"Who sent it?" James asked as he helped himself to some sausage.
"No clue; there was a note but there wasn't a name and I didn't recognize the handwriting." She said and James looked at her, obviously interested.
"What did the note say?" He asked. James was always interested in the unknown and the mysterious.
"It said um…'love me, read me, never leave me' or something like that. It was really weird." She answered and James raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, that's…not normal. Why do these things always happen to you?" He asked and she shrugged. It was actually quite a good question. The random anonymous gift couldn't have been sent to one of her friends; of course it had to be her.
"Don't know. The universe likes to keep me on my toes I guess. Ah, here comes the daily spectacle." She said and James looked up and rolled his eyes as Kimberly O'Cleary sat down next to her boyfriend who happily put his coffee down in exchange for a nice snog.
"Lucky us. That's your real birthday gift, Dan. Happy birthday." James laughed and everyone else, with the exception of Sirius and Kimberly laughed. Frank, Remus, and Peter all looked surprised.
"It's your birthday? Happy birthday!" Frank said and Peter wished her a happy birthday as well.
"Yeah, happy fifteenth Dany. Why didn't you say anything?" Remus said and Dany shrugged.
"No reason. I don't make a big deal out of it." She said and continued eating.
"Every year it's the same song and dance. It's 'James I have everything I want please don't get me a gift' and then every year I get her something except I'm just flying blind because she won't give me any guidance." James said, looking like he was so used to Dany trying to avoid her birthday that he no longer even expected a different answer than 'nothing' when he asked her what she wanted.
"You know I'm being serious about that. I really don't think you should have spent money on me when other people definitely need it more; that's all I'm saying." She said, trying to defend herself on the topic.
"We told her that if she didn't want gifts, she shouldn't have friends." Alice said and James nodded.
"That's true, Prewett speaks the truth. Now, unless we want to miss Potions all together, we should probably start walking…oi, Sirius I know your enjoying yourself but it's time to go to class." James said, turning his attention to his best friend. Sirius stopped snogging Kimberly and Dany noticed that her lipstick was obviously smeared. Dany fought the urge to gag.
"Alright, alright I'm coming." He said and got up without saying goodbye to his girlfriend. Dany almost felt bad for her as they walked away from where she was still sitting. "Oh, happy birthday Dan." He added on their way out of the Great Hall.
"Thanks." She said quietly. She really had nothing to add onto that; they hardly ever spoke one-on-one when he had a girlfriend. He had been with Kimberly for a little more than two weeks and the fact they weren't talking was right on schedule with all of his other relationships.
"Hey Dany!" Lily shouted from in front of them and Dany looked up from where she was looking down as she walked.
"Yeah?" She asked warily.
"We need to go dress shopping next Hogsmeade visit!" Lily called back and then slowly fell back to talk to her friend, who Sirius was still near from their half-hearted conversation.
"Yeah, we really do. I can't wait to pick a dress that doesn't have to be approved by my mom. Every time she tries to pick a dress for me, it's just abysmal; she has a wonderful fashion sense but also seems really intent on making me look like a cupcake." Dany said and Lily laughed with a nod. She had the experience last year of shopping with Dany and Rhea Masters.
"They all look like quinceanera-meets-wedding gone wrong." Lily giggled. "And then she tells you that you look like a princess and then you start lecturing her."
"You start lecturing your mom?" Sirius asked randomly and Dany nodded.
"On how being a princess is dumb and for girls who are too weak to save themselves."
"Wow, you have something against Cinderella?" Sirius asked, amused. Dany shrugged.
"Not really…it's just not me, is all. Like I don't know…I don't want to look like a princess; I want to look like me. But apparently my mother doesn't see it that way and takes a pretty hard line on my dresses for New Years." Dany said. This piqued Lily's interest.
"What do you mean?" Lily asked, curious.
"She never lets me wear black or red for some reason. I mean I get the black thing, she thinks it's not…becoming of a younger woman but I don't know about the red. Maybe she thinks that it would be a bad color on me or something." Dany said with a shrug. Lily looked her up and down, making her self-conscious.
"Please, red would look phenomenal on you and I don't want to hear anything otherwise. I think that's what you need; you need a red dress." Lily said decidedly. Dany shook her head.
"No, I'm not feeling that daring this year…maybe next year or for New Years." She said and Lily looked like she was going to protest but decided against it.
"Whatever you say girlfriend…I'm just saying that you'd look killer in red. I wish I could wear the color but unfortunately it doesn't go well with my permanently red hair." Lily said, pointing to her own head. Dany laughed.
"You know technically you're always wearing red, Lils." She said and her friend laughed.
"True enough. But seriously, you have to promise me that you'll wear red to the Yule Ball at least once before we graduate." Lily said and Dany thought about it for a second before nodding.
"Alright, sometime before graduation." Dany agreed and Lily looked victorious. Shopping with her was going to be a real bloody nightmare this year.
"Look, all I'm saying is that it's a wonder that he hasn't caught a disease yet." Marlene said and Lily fought the urge to vomit as Dany wrinkled her nose. Alice, for her part, was lucky enough to be in the bathroom for this conversation.
"Marlene, I don't really care if Sirius has herpes from all of those girls. I'd just like to put my shoes on in peace." Lily said and Dany looked like she agreed with that. Alice stuck her head out of the bathroom.
"Why did I just hear someone mention herpes?" She asked and Dany waved a hand.
"You don't want to know. Believe me." She said and looked rather disgusted. Lily couldn't blame her; she didn't even like the guy and was grossed out by the idea of him having some awful STD. Lily really hoped that he practiced safe sex.
"Whatever. So are you ladies ready for dress shopping?" Alice asked excitedly. Lily was so freaking excited for dress shopping she could hardly stand it.
"Sure. However, I think that Lily might be on the verge of peeing her pants so we should probably hurry and leave. Before she actually passes out or something from the anticipation." Dany laughed and Marlene chuckled too. Lily stuck her tongue out at both of them.
"Oh shut up. I know you two are excited too; don't even bother trying to hide it." She retorted and Dany and Marlene both shrugged.
"It's whatever, Lils. I'm sure it'll be fun but if there's anything I hate, it's shopping for dresses." Dany said as she searched for her wand. "Although I might change my mind without my mom breathing over my shoulder as I look for one." She amended and Lily nodded excitedly.
"See? It's going to be fun. Alright, let's go!" She practically yelled and the other three followed her out of their room. The three girls walked down to the town in peace, all easily talking about who should wear what color and whom they thought was going to ask whom. By the time they reached one of the only stores in Hogsmeade that sold dresses, the Sun was high in the sky. They walked in and realized that they were far from the only people that had come up with this idea. There were girls everywhere, all frantically grabbing things off the racks.
"This is giving me anxiety, Lily. I seriously hate you right now for this." Dany said to her best friend and Lily had to admit that all of the girls pushing each other for dresses were making her anxious too. She had liked dress shopping when she had gone with Dany and their mothers, in the quiet yet expensive shops that proudly accepted the Masters' patronage and gave them essentially anything they wanted. She didn't know if she was going to like this as much.
"Well, we're here now; we might as well look around." Alice said and they all agreed on that. Lily started to push her way to the racks next to Marlene. She saw Dany and Alice about ten feet away doing the same thing. They shuffled around for a while and eventually Lily came up with a couple of dresses. One was a peach and one was a darker purple. She shuffled over to where Dany, Alice, and Marlene were convened by the dressing rooms. They all had a couple of dresses each.
"Sorry girls, there's only one room left." The storekeeper said to them and they all shrugged.
"We can all squeeze; it's no big deal." Lily said and the other girls nodded in agreement. The woman shrugged and showed them to the room. They all shuffled in and hung the dresses up. "Well this is cozy." Lily commented and they all laughed before they started trying on dresses. The first round was a bust, with Lily in the peach dress ("honestly does anything not clash with my hair?"), Dany in a dark blue ("I look so pale that people might mistake me for a ghost"), Marlene in an orange ("I don't know what I was thinking when I grabbed this, honestly"), and Alice in a red ("It's just not my color, I don't think I'm bold enough"). The second round had more success. Lily found her dress in the purple dress that according to Dany was actually plum.
"It's a nuance that very few appreciate, Lillian." Dany had said when she had commented on the shade of purple. It took Alice a few tries before she found a gold dress she liked and Marlene decided on the dark blue that Dany had originally discarded. "I seriously hate dress shopping. This is so frustrating…how do all of you have dresses?" Dany complained before Lily handed her the seventh dress.
"We're not as picky. Some of us haven't been wearing designer since we were in diapers." Marlene commented and Dany flipped her off.
"Sorry that I'm so sick of green dresses I might vomit." She commented as she discarded another dress. Lily finally got fed up and just handed her the original peach dress she had tried on. Dany was hardly paying attention to what Lily was handing her at this point. Lily zipped her up and Dany looked in the mirror.
"I like this on, Dan." Alice said and Marlene nodded in agreement.
"It's simple. It's a pretty color on you too; it doesn't make you look like a ghost." Marlene added and Lily agreed.
"Ladies, I do believe that we've just found the dress for the impossible Danilynn Masters." Lily laughed and Dany nodded.
"Congratulations you guys; you've done the impossible." She said with a grin and they all left the dressing room with their dresses. No sooner had they walked out that the lady put another group of girls in the room, insisting that they too could squeeze in.
"I see we're not the only ones who are trying to put four in a room meant for one." Marlene observed and the others laughed. The girls paid for their dresses and walked out of the store.
"Just think…all we need now is shoes." Alice said and the other three girls, even Lily, groaned.
"I forgot about shoes. Thanks Al." Marlene said and Dany looked like she wanted to strangle someone at the thought of more intensive shopping in crowded stores with screaming girls. Lily quite agreed with her on that.
"I think that can wait until next time." Dany said tiredly and there was a unanimous sound of agreement. No one was eager to revisit anything like where they had just been. "Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer and then back to the castle? We can't do much more with these." She said, gesturing to the dresses they were all carrying. They all walked into the pub and Alice immediately pushed them towards one end of the room. They sat down at a table and Lily raised an eyebrow.
"Are you particularly attached to this half of the room, Al?" She asked and Alice shook her head.
"No, but I'm sorry I didn't want to spend the rest of my day watching Sirius suck Kimberly O'Cleary's face off." She said and everyone nodded.
"Al, you're like maybe 5 foot 1…how did you see that from the door?" Dany asked and Alice grinned.
"It's like an extra sense; avoiding Sirius snogging is a form of art. It takes time to hone a skill like that." She said and they all laughed before ordering their butterbeers. The drinks were brought to them moments later and they all sipped on them quietly.
"Alright, so I want to place a bet." Marlene said abruptly. Everyone looked at her curiously. Dany put her drink down.
"I'm listening. What are we betting on, Marles?" Dany asked.
"Do you think Kimberly over there is going to get dumped before the Yule Ball?" Marlene asked and Lily knew the look on Dany's face; she was going to clean up this one. "What does everyone think?"
"Yes." Lily said.
"Yeah, there's no way she'll make it another three weeks. It's been three already." Alice agreed.
"I have to say that I agree with that it's looking like there won't be much of a bet because we all are agreeing…what about you Dan?" Marlene asked. Dany was staring off, clearly thinking.
"No, he'll still be dating her." She said thoughtfully. The other three girls exchanged looks.
"Really? You really think she'll be around for three more weeks?" Lily asked. Dany nodded as she sipped her butterbeer.
"Alright, what are the stakes? Two galleons as usual?" Marlene asked and everyone nodded except Dany. "Dan? Is that okay with you?" She asked the girl who still seemed to be in thought
"That's fine. Another galleon says they split the day after the Ball." She said. Lily raised an eyebrow.
"Seriously? Who's going to be dumping who?" She asked her best friend and Dany shrugged.
"I don't know but I can almost guarantee that they'll split the day after. Call it a hunch." She said. Everyone nodded.
"Alright, two galleons on them making it to the Yule Ball, another galleon on them splitting the day after." Marlene said and everyone nodded in agreement. "Cheers, ladies." She laughed and they all finished their butterbeers.
"We better start heading back to the castle." Lily said and everyone nodded before collecting their things and starting the trek back to Hogwarts.
They were walking back into the castle when all of a sudden Brady Harris appeared. Lily knew that he had been helping Dany with charms (legitimately helping, not like Tasha Norton asking Sirius for "help" in Third Year) and Lily personally thought that he might have a thing for her best friend. He was certainly hot, Lily thought. He had dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and was Quidditch captain. He smiled at Dany on his way by.
"Hey, Dany." He said with a smile and she smiled back.
"Hey, Brady. How are you?" She asked easily. Lily realized that she had never actually seen the two talk for any longer than maybe five seconds.
"I'm good, I'm good. Yourself?" He asked and she shrugged.
"I'm alright. We're just headed back from Hogsmeade; we were dress shopping for the Ball." She said and he nodded.
"Yeah, actually can I talk to you for a second?" He said and she nodded and they walked a few feet away from the other girls, just out of earshot. Marlene, Alice, and Lily all exchanged looks.
"What do you think they're saying?" Marlene whispered.
"Maybe it's about Charms or something." Alice said and Lily rolled her eyes.
"Honestly Alice, where's your sense of romance?" Lily said and Alice shrugged.
"What are we all looking at?" James said suddenly from behind the girls. It was James, Remus, Sirius, and Sirius' girlfriend Kimberly.
"Brady Harris and Dany are talking. Now shh." Marlene said, waving a hand and concentrating on the two talking. Brady said something and Dany, whose back was to them, nodded. He walked away and she walked back to her friends.
"What did he want?" Marlene asked eagerly. Lily noticed her friend's face was slightly red.
"He asked you to the Ball, didn't he?" Lily asked excitedly and Dany nodded.
"What did you say?" Alice asked.
"I said yes." She said quietly with a smile. All three girls started squealing. The three guys and Kimberly looked like they wanted to claw their ears off. Dany, for her part, looked embarrassed by all of the attention being thrown onto her.
"Seriously?" Lily asked. She was so excited for her friend; she deserved someone who actually liked her as more than a friend. As much as Lily endorsed a Sirius/Dany relationship, she also thought her friend was long overdue to move on a little bit.
"Seriously." Dany said, looking like she was caught under a spotlight. She clearly didn't like the attention that she was getting at the moment. Lily glanced at Sirius, Remus, and James and they didn't look particularly thrilled. It would be understandable that James automatically wouldn't like this; he didn't want anyone of the opposite gender near his Godsister at school except for him, Rhaegar, Sirius, Remus, and Frank (even Peter's presence was frowned upon sometimes). But Sirius and Remus both looked unhappy with this development too; Lily reasoned that Sirius was pissed because he probably liked Dany but Remus was what confused her. He had no skin in the proverbial game and he had nothing to gain or lose from this, yet he still looked like someone had just told him that he had detention for the next month. That wasn't good.
Kimberly O'Cleary was possibly the blandest human being on the face of the planet. Sirius had come to this conclusion halfway through their Hogsmeade visit when she continued to talk about different colors of dresses in the Three Broomsticks. He idly wondered if she ever stopped talking and if she'd be less annoying if he was drunk. Then he had wondered when the next Quidditch match was. Next week maybe?
"Sirius?" She said and he looked at her, starting to listen again at the sound of his name.
"Yeah?"
"Oh, nothing you just looked weird for a second. Well we better be going; it's getting late." She said and he checked the time. She was right; it was getting late enough that dinner was on the horizon. They left the pub and immediately ran into James and Remus.
"Sirius! Hey man, how was your day?" James said. Sirius was incredibly relieved to see his friends. Their heads weren't full of air, thankfully. "Oh, hey Kimberly." He added on. Kimberly, who refused to go by Kim, smiled.
"It was alright. How about you two?" He asked as all four of them started to walk back up to the castle.
"It was a good one, I've gotta be honest. We raided Zonko's again. It's a beautiful thing. You still need to restock after this summer?" Remus said and Sirius nodded. He had yet to replenish his dungbomb supply after hiding them all over his parents' house.
"Yeah, I've been meaning to do that." He said and James clapped him on the back.
"I figured. We've got you covered, no worries." He said and they entered the castle. "Hey, is that Lily?" James said abruptly and Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Yes James that's Lily. She's with Marlene and Alice, you know they're friends right?" He said sarcastically.
"Wait if they're all right here…where's Dany?" Remus asked and they got their answer as soon as they got closer. Dany was off to the side, talking to Brady Harris.
"Is that Brady Harris?" Kimberly said suddenly.
"Yeah, I think it is. I didn't know they knew each other." Remus said. James nodded.
"I think he helps her out with Charms sometimes…she said she feels bad always asking Lily for help and he offered one day." James said as they walked toward the girls. Dany and Brady were still out of hearing range. Lily, Alice, and Marlene weren't too far away to hear though.
"Honestly Alice, where's your sense of romance?" Sirius heard Lily asking her friend. Alice didn't seem to be swayed by this comment at all.
"What are we all looking at?" James asked them, even though it was very obvious what they were staring at. Apparently Big Brother James was taking over.
"Brady Harris and Dany are talking. Now shh." Marlene said, waving a hand at them, clearly wanting to watch them and hoping to catch what they were saying. The only thing Sirius could even remotely glean from the conversation was Dany had nodded, her head visibly moving from behind. She walked back over to her girlfriends as he left the castle.
"What did he want?" Marlene asked her white-haired friend. Dany didn't answer right away, something that Sirius found kind of disconcerting.
"He asked you to the Ball, didn't he?" Lily asked, clearly trying to read her best friend's face. Dany nodded in confirmation.
"What did you say?" Alice asked. And Dany pushed a strand of hair out of her face, looking kind of embarrassed at all of the excited attention being thrown her way.
"I said yes." She said quietly with a smile. Sirius fought the urge to shake her by the shoulders and tell her how bad of an idea that was. Even if he was speaking objectively and he didn't have a thing for her, it was still a horrible idea. The guy was bad news.
"Seriously?" Lily asked. And Dany smiled again and Sirius could have sworn that her eyes flitted to James for a second before answering her friend. Apparently James had been holding out information about this.
"Seriously." Dany said and the other three girls squealed again and pulled her away, probably to their room to talk all about it.
"Well that was exciting." Kimberly said absently. "Well, I better go back to my common room. I'd like to put these bags down before dinner." She said and quickly left.
"Does anyone else think that that's an awful idea?" Remus asked no one in particular. James and Sirius both raised their hands silently. "Alright, just checking."
"So James, how much did you know about Brady asking her out?" Sirius asked and James shrugged.
"Not much…I know Lily thought that he was going to ask her out. I talked to Dany about it once and she said that she might say yes if it ever happened because of—" James abruptly stopped and looked alarmed.
"Because of what?" Sirius prompted. James shook his head.
"I'm not saying. She talks to me in confidence that I'm not going to spill her secrets everywhere."
"Seriously? Have you ever actually not told us something, James? You have a big mouth and you tell us essentially everything. I think we hear 'I'm not supposed to tell anyone this but…' like everyday." Sirius countered. James shook his head again.
"Sorry guys, she was my sister long before you were my friends. You don't get to pull that card on this one." He said and it was abundantly clear that James had absolutely no intention of saying anything else on the matter. "I will say that I don't approve at all; Rhaegar's going to be pissed off too. Like the fact he's a player isn't bad enough, he's a year older than her too. And that's if the news doesn't get to Daniel. I wonder how he'll take the fact that his darling baby girl is dating." James said and they all nodded in agreement as they entered the common room.
"So Sirius, to change this to a less depressing topic, are you thinking about keeping Kimberly around for the Ball?" Remus asked and Sirius shrugged. He hadn't really thought about it.
"I don't know, can't say I've thought about it…the real question is are you finally going to ask McKinnon out? You've been staring at her over breakfast, lunch, and dinner for years. I think it's time, Remus." Sirius said and James nodded in agreement.
"He has a point."
"Guys…I'm not going to ask her out. First of all, she doesn't like me in that way and secondly, even if she did I don't want to get her involved in my…furry little problem." Remus said. Sirius hit his friend over the head as they walked into their room, throwing their stuff down on the floor.
"I really don't think McKinnon cares. They all know about you and funnily enough, none of them care. Marlene sees you as Remus, not some raving mad monster that's out to kill her. But then again, that's probably because you aren't a raving mad monster that's out to kill her. You're a guy that has a chronic health condition and it's not your fault and I really think that you need to give yourself a break sometimes. I personally think that she likes you too, if that helps at all." James said, clearly getting ready to lecture. "Stop me now because if you don't, I'll be going all night." He added on and Sirius interrupted.
"Alright, I for one would like to avoid hearing James' voice all night so how about we just agree to disagree for now? We're revisiting this later, Remus." Sirius said and Remus looked like he was going to protest but Sirius gave him a look that said 'shut up unless you want to hear James run his mouth all night'. Remus changed his mind and just nodded. No one wanted to hear James' voice for that long except maybe James.
"So, Sirius…how are you taking this whole 'the girl I really like is kind of dating someone else' thing?" Remus asked instead of mentioning Marlene again. Sirius glared at him.
"Well it just happened like twenty minutes ago so nothing has actually happened so I can't really say…besides, that's her choice to make. I can't stop her and even if I could, I probably wouldn't except to point her attention to someone that wasn't a total jackass." He said with a shrug. Both of his friends stared at him. "What?" He asked defensively.
"Whatever you say man…whatever you say." James said as he shook his head, letting the conversation topic of girls rest, at least for now.
As it turned out, Quidditch was the following week. It was Hufflepuff versus Slytherin and Sirius felt rather bad for Hufflepuff. They were a dreadful team and generally good people; Slytherin on the other hand were dreadful people and a generally good team.
With the Yule Ball only two weeks away, Kimberly was starting to push for him to go with her but he had yet to do anything about it. He still didn't know if he wanted to deal with her for another two weeks at the very least. No one other than Dany had been asked to the Ball and he got the impression that it was going to remain that way. For her part, Dany was very much the same except for the fact that he saw her talking to Brady more often and one day her friends had coaxed him into sitting with them at lunch. It had been really awkward and no one cared to revisit that experience anytime soon. The awkwardness had probably sprung from the fact that all of the guys knew that he was an asshole.
As he walked down to breakfast with James the day of the match that he wasn't playing in, he saw that Dany was, yet again, talking to Brady just before the Great Hall. He said something and she smiled and laughed a little. He smiled and she waved before walking off just in front of him and James, apparently having missed that they were right behind her.
"Should we tell her?" Sirius asked James. James shook his head.
"I don't really see the point. I don't think she'd believe us at this point. If you want to take the risk of pissing her off, that's up to you." He said before sitting down next to Marlene who easily started talking to him. Sirius thought about what James had said as he sat down next to Dany. Would she believe him if he told her that the guy she had just been asked out by was a dick? Would she take it on blind faith that someone who at this point has probably been nothing but nice was a complete asshole? Maybe. Honestly he didn't know if she'd buy that but he also felt really bad about letting her obliviously start dating him. "Dude, I think you're biased." James said suddenly from across the table. Sirius looked up at him.
"What?" he said and James raised an eyebrow.
"You heard me." He said before returning to his conversation with Marlene, who apparently had no problem with James just randomly making nonsensical comments to his friend. He was probably biased on whom his friend dated, truth be told. But that didn't stop him from telling her anyways.
They were walking down to the Quidditch Pitch. Kimberly was nowhere to be found, probably because Hufflepuff was playing and she had a good friend on the team or something like that. He didn't really remember the details. Sirius fell into step with Dany and she smiled at him.
"You know Brady's a complete ass, right?" He said before he could stop himself.
"Excuse me?" She said, looking surprised and not overly thrilled with this turn in events.
"You heard me. He's bad news on legs. Hey, I'm just saying that you should at least know before you start dating him for real." He said quickly and it became very apparent that James had been right.
"Please, elaborate. I'm dying to hear this." She said, obviously annoyed. That hadn't gone over well.
"He's just bad news. Like really bad news." Sirius said and he realized that he had no definitive proof except for talk and a generally bad feeling about him.
"He's 'bad news'? That's really specific Sirius, thank you. Besides, it's not like your exactly Mr. Stable Relationship. I don't think you're in a position to talk about anyone's relationships." She snapped.
"Last I checked I'm not a raving lunatic that likes to rule over every aspect of my life with an iron fist. The kid's a prick." Sirius retorted and Dany shook her head.
"Do you have a legitimate problem with Brady or are you just being an asshole? Because I can't really tell." She asked and Sirius looked surprised by the question.
"Look, I'm just saying—"
"No, you're not saying anything. You don't even know him." She said and he realized that this was quickly going downhill.
"And neither do you." He snapped and she looked surprised.
"What's your deal? My dating life has nothing to do with you so back off." She snapped at him.
I just don't want to watch you get fucked over by him. I just thought I'd give you some heads up, as a friend." He said.
"Well first of all, no one's making you watch. Secondly, considering that this is the first time that we've actually spoken in over two weeks, oh I'm sorry three weeks, I don't think that you're in any position to give me advice at all, let alone as a friend." She hissed and he was taken aback. They had never actually fought before and he was surprised at how venomous she sounded.
"He's going to use you, just like he always does with girls; you're just too naïve to realize it." He snapped, unable to help himself. It became immediately apparent that he had said something very wrong. He saw the shock on her face; she hadn't been expecting that to come out of his mouth. But then the shock turned quickly to anger, the likes of which he wasn't sure he had ever seen before. When his parents got mad, they got violent; he could handle violence but not the frigid look she was pinning him down with. If Sirius was being honest, it was fucking terrifying. He had never really feared the notorious Masters wrath but he was getting a taste of it for the first time and was quickly was realizing why the family struck fear into people's hearts.
"You're such a hypocrite. I'd do some self-reflection before you warn me off from a guy because you think he's going to use me; you know what they say about throwing stones in glass houses, Sirius. Go play with Kenzie…or is it Angeline? Never mind, I meant Kimberly. My mistake." She said coldly and walked ahead, catching up with Lily. He saw her say something to the redhead, who quickly turned around to glare at him. He was so fucked.
James had heard Sirius and Dany's argument and as soon as Sirius had told her that she was being used, James knew he had finally gone too far. Dany was more tolerant of Sirius' bluntness than most but that was too much for even her. Her voice had turned cold and James didn't have to turn around to know her eyes were the same and her face was closed off. James also knew her, and Daniel, well enough to know that she was staring him down with the Masters Family Glare as she threw nasty comment after nasty comment at Sirius.
Suddenly, Dany walked by James and fell into step with Lily. She didn't bother to look at her Godbrother but he didn't miss the clearly hurt look on her face. She could put on a good show, she could put the fear of God into someone, but she was still human and that had still hurt. Judging by the look on her face that James glimpsed as she passed by, that had really hurt. Lily listened to what her friend said and she raised her eyebrows. The ginger turned around she glared at Sirius, looking like she wanted to go back and claw his eyes out with her fingernails. James glanced back at Sirius too and he looked like most people did after being verbally assaulted by Dany or one of her relatives; he looked like he wanted to pee his pants he was so scared.
The two girls walked ahead, Marlene and Alice walked over to them and Lily quickly said something to them both. James noticed that the two other girls started to surround his Godsister. The four girls walked into the stadium and didn't look back.
"James, if you say 'I told you so', I'll bloody kill you." Sirius said as James turned around to talk to him. James held his hands up in surrender.
"You just had your ass handed to you by Dany; I'm not going to rub salt in that wound." He said and Sirius shook his head.
"Yeah, I take it you heard that." He said and James nodded.
"I heard. It actually wasn't going that bad until you called her naïve and said she was being used. That's an insult to her pride. Incidentally, she has a lot of that so I wouldn't suggest taking a swing at it again." James said and Sirius shrugged.
"Please, at this rate she'll probably never talk to me again so I wouldn't worry too much about it." He said and James disagreed. Dany would freeze him out for a while, anywhere from a few weeks to a few months depending on how pissed she was, but she'd forgive him eventually.
"I wouldn't be so pessimistic…now you've got to tell me, what's it like being on the receiving end of that? I can't say that I've ever been in that position." James said and Sirius rolled his eyes.
"It was bloody terrifying, to be honest. I never really believed all the hype about the Masters' temper but I do now. Holy shit I thought she was going to kill me. You didn't see her face, Man; it was the face of someone who would remorselessly hand down a death sentence." He said as they entered the stadium. James thought about the face he had seen as she had walked by and thought that it was the face of someone who would hand down a death sentence but allow that life to rest on her conscious for the rest of her own life.
A week and a half later, it looked like this might very well be the end of Dany's friendship with Sirius. She was still livid and he had learned his lesson about trying to talk to her a few days after the fight. He had tried to talk to her and she had glared at him like she wanted him to drop dead right then and walked past, not even bothering to insult him.
Lily was taking as aloof of a stance as her friend was, debatably more so. While Dany was still on speaking terms with everyone but Sirius, Lily no longer spoke to Sirius, James, Remus, Peter, or Frank. James spoke to Dany about her friend's behavior one day and Dany had simply smiled a little.
"Lily's a loyal friend." She had said quietly in response. Marlene and Alice were just as pissed as Lily was. James had to give it to those girls; the level of solidarity was incredible. He suspected that any of them could have just walked up, said that she hated someone, and they all would unquestioningly hate the person too.
James was practicing charms during class and was partnered off with Sirius, three days before the Yule Ball. Lily was trying to teach Dany how to do the charm but apparently they quickly gave up and started idly talking.
"Seriously dude, how much longer could she possibly be pissed?" Sirius asked, following his friend's gaze to Dany and Lily.
"It's been a little more than a week, it hasn't been long at all. I've seen her give her own brother the cold shoulder for longer than this. Those are always hard arguments to end…they're both too proud to apologize first. Daniel and Rhea have their hands full when that happens." James responded. Sirius looked unenthused with that answer.
"Great. You know she's awfully vengeful for such a nice person." Sirius commented and James rolled his eyes. Sirius had been bitching nonstop for the past week, ever since he realized that this wasn't just going to go away overnight.
"She told you almost a year ago what Daniel always says about kindness…be nice until it's time to be mean and if you're going to be mean, destroy them. She took it to heart, man." James said and Sirius looked annoyed but resigned.
"Yeah, I hear you…I just didn't know she'd get that pissed. I mean I knew she wouldn't exactly like it but holy hell it was like I had just told her that she was going to die alone or something." He said and James rolled his eyes.
"No one ever told you that sticks and stones—"
"May break my bones but words will never hurt me? Yeah James, everyone's heard that."
"My family always says it as 'sticks and stones may break bones but words hurt the soul'. And Daniel always says to taste your words before you spit them out. How do you think that really made her feel? I mean turn that around and think about how you would have liked hearing that from her."
"I would have wanted to know what I just told her." Sirius protested.
"Mate, I know you're not really in contact with a lot of girls that have never dated but I am so let me enlighten you. She was just asked out by the first time, by one of the most desired guys in the castle no less, and then you tell her that the guy is a huge prick? She wasn't going to take it well because it kind of makes it sound like that's the only kind of guy she'll ever attract. Not to mention that she's been used her entire life by people trying to cozy up to her family; it's kind of a touchy subject. She really craves people that like her for her, not her family." James said.
"Yeah, I didn't mean it like that though. Besides, I'm sure lots of nice guys like her." Sirius said and James shook his head.
"I know you didn't mean it that way but I'm just telling you what she probably got out of that. You might be okay with only ever being with a girl for a few weeks at a time but most girls aren't okay with that; they want something real and they want someone to treat them well. It's what she's hoping for with Brady and telling her anything different won't go over well." James tried to explain.
"Okay first of all, when did you get so perceptive? And second, are you saying that my relationships aren't real?" Sirius asked.
"Alright well I just know Dany extraordinarily well and I know how she thinks. And no Sirius, those relationships couldn't be more fake unless you started paying them." He sighed just as class ended. They started to pack up their things. "I seriously can't believe that you're taking Kimberly to the Yule Ball." He added on and Sirius shrugged.
"Might as well. Maybe she'll be more interesting in a dress." He said and James fought the urge to take him by the shoulders and tell him that he was never going to get the girl he wanted if he kept up this attitude and course of action.
"That's cheery. You're a real romantic, Sirius. You're the reason girls think that chivalry is dead." He commented and they started to walk towards Care of Magical Creatures. Dany and Lily were in front of them by about fifteen feet and they were soon joined by Marlene and Alice, both of whom came out of another corridor and were greeted with waves and smiles. Lily pulled on a lock of Dany's hair gently, as if she was talking about it. Dany shrugged and Marlene and Alice both started talking excitedly, that much was apparent even from so far away.
"What can I say? They can open doors themselves; I'm not going out of the way for any of them." He said back dryly and James once again fought the urge to tell him that the whores he was with may not care but anyone who was worth a real relationship would.