Hi! So, this is a long one and all it's really doing is establishing Dany and Sirius' relationship within the castle and not just within the bounds of Sirius being injured. Now, there's a lot going on here and I'll try not to pack so much into one chapter in the future, but I couldn't find a good place to stop!
Read and Review!
Love, Essie
Don't leave me here in the dark when it's hard to see
Show me your heart, shed a light on me
If you love me, say so, If you love me, say so
You know I can't live without you, I'm on my knees
Where are you now? Shed a light on me
If you love me, say so, If you love me, say so
~Shed A Light, Robin Schulz, David Guetta, and Cheat Codes
"Sirius, it's time for dinner. Daniel decided to drop by and we're having casserole." James said quietly, trying to wake him up. Sirius looked around and it was clearly becoming dark out.
"I'm up, I'm up. This is the nicest wakeup call I've ever gotten from you."
"Well I didn't feel like I could push you out of bed without my mother, Rhea, or Dany coming up here and castrating me for it. Now get up; I'm hungry." He said and Sirius stood up and James watched him to make sure he didn't take a tumble. They walked down stairs and they were all clearly getting ready to sit down. James and Sirius walked into the dining room and there were people everywhere.
"Dan, can you grab the butter?" Dorea called out from where she was putting bread on the table. Dany came into the dining room with the butter and looked up and smiled.
"Make Dad do it!" She yelled back suddenly into the kitchen at a demand that no one else heard and Sirius heard Daniel protest.
"Daniel, take this out to the trash; it has raw chicken in it and it'll start to smell soon." Sirius heard Dorea say and Dany laughed victoriously before Charlie walked by and rolled his eyes.
"So spoiled." He said knowingly and she shrugged.
"Okay, I'm coming! Calm down you two." She yelled back into the kitchen again and Sirius got the impression that this was very organized chaos. They just kind of stood there and let it happened.
"James! I need a hand." Rhea called out from the kitchen. "Dany can't carry both of these things on her own." James walked off and Daniel came in from taking the trash out.
"My wife and Dorea are a force of nature, honestly. It's like a typhoon or a hurricane; you just have to ride it out." He said and Sirius laughed. Dany came out with a tray of casserole and so did James. Sirius realized that they were feeding seven people, which was substantial. "In case you're wondering, Rhaegar is still at work; it's nothing personal." He added on and Sirius laughed.
"It's absolutely personal, but I don't really mind much." He said.
"Okay it's a little personal. But he is at work." He admitted and Dorea started yelling at them all to sit down. Everyone started shuffling around the table and Sirius ended up between Dany and Rhea and across from James, who was easily talking to Daniel, who was beside him. Dorea and Charlie were at the heads of the table and everyone was pouring drinks from the pitchers on the table. Sirius suppressed a laugh as Dorea told her husband to stop talking about work or "so help me I will jinx your hair blue and no one will fix it and then you'll have to go to work that way and Moody will skin you".
"Alright everyone, dig in." Dorea said and everyone started taking portions of food and were all happily talking and laughing. This was the merriest dinner Sirius had ever seen. There were so many people and they were all family in some way or another. Rhea took his plate and handed it back to him with food.
"Make sure and eat, dearie. Recovering teenagers need lots of protein and even more comfort food." She said and Dany smiled a little, obviously listening. Rhea turned away to talk to Charlie and Dany laughed a little.
"Sorry about her. She's just…she really doesn't like to see people hurting." She said and Sirius shrugged.
"You know that you're the exact same way, right?" He asked and she raised an eyebrow. "I always thought that you had very little in common with her, but you have that." He said and her face turned slightly red.
"I never really thought much about it, honestly, but I guess so." She said and ate her casserole. Dorea looked up with a smile.
"You're a very nurturing person by nature, Dany. You can't help it; you get it from your mother." Dorea said and both teens looked over at her. "It's true. You didn't get that gentle touch and kind bedside manner from your father, you know." She said knowingly. "You get the ability to stick things in people's eyes from him though." She said and Dany laughed.
"It's true. We're good at poking people full of holes." She said and James looked over and grinned.
"Aw, come on Dan you might be good at it, but it's not what comes naturally to you. Healing, not hurting, is what's natural for you." He said and Dany rolled her eyes. Sirius actually thought that he had a good point, but said nothing. The rest of dinner passed uneventfully and soon Daniel said his goodbyes to everyone and said that he'd be back over sometime soon. Dorea sent Charlie to go put Sirius into bed and Sally watched him until he fell asleep after Sirius refused Michelle's painkillers.
"Sirius. Come on, wake up." Someone said and was touching his shoulder. "Fuck, he just hit me!" None of this was really processing with him because there were so many bodies. "He isn't listening to me, it's like he isn't hearing me." It was a guy. They were all dead. They were all dead and their bodies were everywhere.
"Go get Dany, James; maybe she can wake him up." Dany. God, if only she was dead. Her screams were bouncing around in his head and were about ready to pop his eardrums. She was just screaming so much. It had to stop. It just had to stop. She'd be so much better off if she were dead. He was going to go crazy. He was going to lose his mind listening to her screams.
"Sirius?" A softer voice replaced the original one. "Sirius, can you wake up for me? James, get out. You're not helpful at all, right now." He knew that voice, but she was just screaming so loud that Sirius could barely hear the familiar voice. She was begging for mercy that no one would give her. No one would spare sweet and gentle Dany. "Sirius, you need to wake up, okay? Can you do that?" She'd be better off dead than being hurt like this. He was going to lose his mind if it kept going. "Come on, wake up. Will you come back to us?" Someone touched his face very gently and he suddenly gasped and looked around, sitting up. Dany was standing over him in her pajamas and Rhea was standing in the corner with Dorea and Charlie. He was at the Potters home and everything was fine.
"Dany? Why is everyone in here?" He asked and looked around. She sighed and glanced at her mom.
"We'll go keep James company outside in the hallway." Rhea said and they all left. Dany sat down on the edge of his bed. She looked like she wanted to touch him, but held off.
"What do you remember?" She asked gently.
"Nothing…I went to sleep and then I'm having people telling me to wake up. Why? What happened?" He lied and she looked like she wasn't enjoying this at all.
"You woke my mom up and she got us all up too…it's just, well—you were having a nightmare, I think. You were screaming." She said quietly. He could still hear his girlfriend, who was actually perfectly safe, screaming.
"What? No way." He said and she nodded.
"Tragically, yes. James tried to get you up first and you kind of…hit him." She said quietly. "He came and got me and I finally was able to get you up. I understand that you almost just died and that this is the first night you haven't been on any medication and there's going to be residual damage up in your head; even with all of that said, I think that you need to talk to someone about it because that wasn't normal." She said and looked incredibly worried. "You need to talk this out with someone sometime soon." He nodded, having no intentions of sharing. Her eyes softened even more, if that was possible. Dorea poked her head in.
"Is everything okay?" She asked and Sirius nodded.
"Yeah, you lot can go to bed or do whatever." He said and she nodded before vanishing for a second and returning with the rest of the people residing in the house currently. Dany turned around to look at James. He had a black eye.
"That looks like it stings." She snickered and James flipped her off. Dorea scolded her son for the obscene hand gesture. Rhea suppressed a smile at that, but Sirius didn't miss that she looked just as concerned as her daughter did. They both had doe eyes that became giant when they were upset, scared, or worried. Despite the different colors, they still had the same look in them. They were worried as hell.
"Alright, well I think we can go back to bed." Dorea said and Sirius nodded. People started to trickle out of the room and Dany paused before she stood and kissed the top of his head.
"It's okay. We're safe here." She whispered into his hair and he was sure that no one else left in the room had heard. She stood and walked out of the door that her mom was holding for her. James smiled at him quickly before closing the door behind him. Fuck.
Sirius didn't sleep the rest of the night. He lay in bed all night and couldn't stop the stupid nightmare from replaying in his head again and again. He got out of bed relatively early the following morning and Dorea was in the kitchen, drinking coffee.
"Good morning." She said with a smile. "There's more, if you want some." She said and he shook his head.
"I'm fine, thanks though…Dorea, about last night, I'm really sorry—"
"Don't be, there's nothing you can do about it; it's nothing more or less than we all expected." She said kindly. Suddenly, the front door audibly opened.
"I'm back and not dead!" Sirius heard Dany say from the entryway. She walked into the kitchen in a pair of spandex shorts and a sports bra, barefoot. "Oh awesome, there's coffee." She said and went for a mug.
"Danilynn, go get water. You have to be dehydrated after that. And would it kill you to wear more clothing when you run?" Dorea said and Dany rolled her eyes before getting a glass of water.
"Morning, Sirius." She said as she leaned up against the counter.
"Morning. I see that you're being athletic and ambitious this morning." He observed and she shrugged. She was absolutely dripping sweat and was still slightly out of breath.
"I guess. It's more habit now than anything." She said and he nodded. God, he missed being able to be physically active and it hadn't even been a week.
"I guess…" He trailed off and there were footsteps on the stairs.
"Good morning, Mom." Dany said loudly before Rhea walked around the corner.
"Good morning, Sweetie. Why are you almost naked?" She asked and Dany shrugged.
"Because I sweat when I run and I sweat less in fewer articles of clothing." She said and her mother inspected her.
"You could have fooled me; you're making a puddle on the floor as it is. Go shower." She said and Dany shrugged before walking off. Dany apparently had time to shower and come back before James or Charlie got up, because that's exactly what happened. She walked back downstairs in sweatpants and a tank top, with her hair in a high bun, before there were signs of life from the other men in the house.
"Sirius, dear do you want breakfast?" Dorea asked and Sirius shrugged.
"I'm fine, Dorea; really don't worry about it." Rhea snickered.
"She wasn't really asking. You're going to be force-fed, even if you're not hungry." Dany's mother said knowingly. Dany laughed with a shrug.
"Momma Potter takes her children's health very seriously." Dany said with a somber look on her face. Sirius rolled his eyes as an owl tapped on the glass of the kitchen window. Rhea walked over and took the newspaper from the owl before paying it. She skimmed the front few pages before she handed it to her daughter. Dany's eyes flicked over the headlines. "Congratulations on being impeccably dressed, Mom. Really, apparently your fashion sense is 'simply flawless'. I should let you dress me more." She continued to flip through. "Oh and it appears that Dad's 'looking less like the youthful and optimistic man that was sworn into office twenty years ago'. That could be because we're fighting a war." She said distastefully.
"Anything worthwhile?" Dorea asked.
"Nah, it's just the usual garbage for the most part; there's some in there about the war, but it's nothing we all don't already know, obviously." She said and everyone went back to what they were doing. Dorea put a plate of eggs in front of Sirius and watched him sternly.
"You finish your meal, Sirius Black." She said and Dany, who was seated next to him, snickered.
"Dorea—"
"I don't want to hear it, young man." Dany laughed and tried to turn it into a cough quickly. Dorea caught her anyways. "Hush, Danilynn. The boy needs to eat." She reprimanded her and Dany shrugged.
"If you don't watch it, I'll start force feeding you too." Rhea said.
"Rhea leave your daughter be. Now, Sirius Black why haven't you finished your eggs?" It was going to be a long four days.
Dany woke up the morning back from Spring Break and she momentarily thought she was going to throw up at the thought of walking into the Great Hall in front of the entire school, teachers included, holding hands with Sirius. Not that it was his fault and it really had nothing to do with him actually; she was happy and excited, but she knew what people said about his girlfriends. She pulled herself out of bed and got dressed to go running. She walked downstairs and he was waiting.
"Hey. Ready?" He said and she nodded silently as they walked out of the common room. She didn't know where this was coming from. She was judged all the time. Her peers judged her, her parents' friends judged her, the general public judged her, but she found the upcoming spread of the news they were dating much more nerve-wracking. Before they made it out of the castle he stopped her. "Dan…what's up?" He observed and she shook her head.
"Nothing, nothing. I was just agonizing over something I can't change. Let's go; you know Michelle's orders, Sirius. Take it easy." She said and Sirius rolled his eyes. His form of exercise involved pain by definition so he was becoming increasingly frustrated with his semi-invalid status. He was also becoming frustrated with his girlfriend for making him slow down and go about half his normal pace. He apparently hadn't expected her to take Michelle's warnings to heart. She had heard what Michelle had said loud and clear and she wasn't about ready to enable her boyfriend to send himself back to the hospital.
"Yeah, yeah I know that I'm not competent to run without breaking another bone. I'll go slow." He said sarcastically and Dany shook her head.
"That's not it at all. You're not completely back to 100% and no one wants to see you get hurt. You didn't see yourself; when I walked into that room I barely recognized you. You were damn well almost dead and not even magic can fix all of that in less than a week. You're still on the mend." Dany told him and he sighed and started to, weirdly enough, walk. She followed him and was quite unsure as to why exactly he was walking. "Why are we walking and not at least jogging?" She asked and he shrugged.
"Well, I'm going to walk and then you're going to tell me what it is that you're angsting over because you clearly are." He said and she laughed for a second.
"I don't think 'angsting' is a word."
"It is now. But actually, what's up?" He asked and she sighed as they started to slowly walk the way they usually ran.
"I think it's easier to let people pass judgment when you don't know it's coming, is all." She said, more to herself; she realized that this was exactly what had been bothering her. The anticipation of the inevitable was killing her.
"Alright…would you care to elaborate on how that applies to your life?" He asked and she seriously considered saying no, but had a change of heart; he meant well, that much was obvious, he just didn't know what he was trying to coax out.
"Yeah…I don't think you've ever really paid attention to what people say about your, um, relationships have you?" She asked and he shook his head. Typical. "Well, there are always some not very charitable things said and I can't particularly say that I'm looking forward to it." She said gently.
"That's what this is about? About rumors and bitchy girls?" He asked disbelievingly. It sounded dumb out loud even to her and they were her problems.
"Yeah…it's part of the job description though, I knew that when I signed up." She said with a shrug. "I just don't have to enjoy it."
"Girls are bitches." He observed and Dany nodded in agreement. Girls were definitely bitches.
"Yeah, no kidding. That's it though, I'm just not looking forward to it is all, it's kind of freaking me out to be honest." She admitted and wondered why she had actually willingly given that confession. She blamed a combination of her trust in her boyfriend and her generally abysmal skill of keeping things from him.
"There's nothing I can do about it, is there?" He asked. She shook her head.
"No, there's nothing you can do but thanks for the thought. I'll just have to deal; I'm pretty good at dealing with nasty rumors and criticism but I think that waiting for it is the agonizing part." She said and he nodded, checking the time.
"We should start heading back." He said and she nodded in agreement and they turned around, continuing the lazy pace that Dany was quite glad that they had taken with her boyfriend's still tender bones and wounds.
"I didn't know that they were so mean." He said quietly and she shrugged.
"Yeah, well I can't say that I've been a saint about your girlfriends either so I'm not really in a position to talk…it's different being on the receiving end though, I suppose." She said and he looked quite sorry for her.
"Dan, if you want to keep this quiet to avoid all of that I'm okay with it. I mean don't get me wrong it wouldn't be my favorite thing—I'd actually rather hate it—but I'd do it, if that's what you wanted." He offered and she smiled but shook her head.
"No…it's a nice offer but I'm tired of living my life trying to avoid bad press. I think it's time that I finally did what I wanted without worrying about what other people think. Besides, I'd like to take this opportunity to publically take you off the market." She said and he laughed as they walked back into the castle.
"I'm definitely off the market." He said. They spent the rest of the walk to Gryffindor Tower in silence, both of them wrapped up in their own thoughts. Once they reached the stairs up to the separate rooms, Sirius kissed her quickly before he went upstairs to change. Dany walked up her stairs and opened the room to see that everyone else was already awake. Dany checked the time. It was the same time she always came back and they were never awake. Ever.
Dany started to get ready and Lily held up a pair of heels hopefully. Dany shook her head and Lily looked defeated.
"Sorry, Lils but I'm not doing anything weird to myself today. It's a normal day, for the most part." Dany said and Lily grinned.
"Except for the fact that when we go to Transfiguration, you and Sirius will be holding hands. You know I haven't really seen this relationship and from what James says it's pretty adorable so I'm excited to see it for myself." Lily commented as she adjusted her tie. Dany rolled her eyes sarcastically as she tried to do her hair. It was too frizzy to leave down and too unruly for even a ponytail.
"Yeah, it's going to be so exciting, I can't wait to be stared at all day…hey can you do something my hair to de-frizz it or something? It's not cooperating with me at all today." Dany said and Lily waved her wand at her friend and her hair lost almost all of its frizz. "Thanks." She said and decided just to leave it down. She put on her shoes and just as Marlene and Alice both walked out of the bathroom, apparently having settled the quarrel about the shower. The four girls walked downstairs, talking about whether or not Matilda Bulstrode was actually hooking up with Lucius Malfoy.
"Look, I think it's possible." Marlene was saying, defending her position.
"I'm just saying that a pureblooded prick like Malfoy would be way pickier about what kind of girl he sleeps with." Lily countered and Alice nodded.
"He's way too vain of a guy to ever consider…being with someone who, well, looks like her." Alice said with a shrug and the other girls laughed as they stood around waiting for the guys.
"Wow Al, tell us how you really feel. But I'm kind of with them on this though, Marles…he's way too much of a holier-than-thou Pureblood supremacist to ever really get with someone who 'wasn't worthy of him'." Dany commented.
"Wow that's really nice commentary, Dan. I didn't know that's how you really felt about Purebloods. What does that make me?" Sirius said dryly from behind her. She turned around and laughed.
"Eh, now you know. And it's really only Slytherins that I have it out for." She said and she felt Lily's eyes on her back. "Lils, I don't know what you're waiting for but I promise you that nothing exciting's going to happen so please stop burning holes into the back of my head." She said airily and everyone laughed. Sirius grinned.
"Yeah, I wasn't planning on doing anything super romantic right now so you can give it up, Lily." He said and Dany turned around and saw Lily's face turn red at being called out.
"Hey, be nice to her; she's just a little bit of a hopeless romantic at heart." Dany said and Marlene and Alice nodded in agreement. The rest of the guys showed up moments later and James had a grin on his face that reeked of trouble.
"Hey guys. So I don't think I ever got to tell you the story of how Dany kiss—" He cut off as Sirius put a hand over his best friend's mouth and Dany felt her mouth open to protest. James looked scandalized. Sirius retracted his hand quickly, looking like he wanted to smack his friend.
"Ow! He bit me! Look at this!" He said and James smiled victoriously. Sirius held up his hand and Dany inspected it. He had really bit him. It looked like it was on the verge of bleeding.
"James Potter did you give him rabies?" She asked him, "So help me if you gave him rabies. He just got out of the hospital." She said.
"I'm not rabid, Danilynn. Thank you for being as insulting as possible, by the way." He said and Dany rolled her eyes. "But anyways, back to what I was saying…"
"James, I don't really think this is the time or place for that riveting story. So can we all move it along to breakfast?" Dany said quickly and James looked affronted, as if she had personally offended him.
"I'm sure that all of these hopeless romantic girls would love to hear what I walked in on when Padfoot was in the hospital." He teased and Dany tried to grab for his ear. He ducked her hand and he continued to laugh. All three of the other girls looked intrigued. Sirius had apparently learned his lesson and was simply letting it happen, lest James bite his other hand.
"I'm sure we would. What exactly did you walk in on James?" Marlene said keenly and James raised an eyebrow, as if to say 'I told you so'.
"Well, you see me and my parents were out of the room for a while, it doesn't really matter why to be honest, and when I go back—"
"Oh my God." Dany said and put her head in her hand.
"Oh hush, Danilynn. Now as I was saying, I walk back into the room and she's kissing this one where he is in his bloody hospital bed." James said and everyone's eyes redirected to Dany and Sirius, where they were standing next to each other, looking uncomfortable. Dany wanted to crawl under a rock it was so awkward.
"Thank you for telling us James." Lily said and Dany knew she was done for.
Lily was the most traditional teenage girl in the world when it came to her friends' love lives and she wore the label proudly. She had seen how bruised and bloody Sirius had been when he had been laid up and from what little Dany had said about them getting together it had been very abrupt, verging on accidental.
"So now that we've heard that amazing tale of that time we kissed in a hospital, can we please go to breakfast? I'm starving." Dany said quickly and this time everyone nodded in agreement. The group slowly moved out of the common room and James fell back to talk to her.
"So we've finally done it." He said quietly and Lily nodded slightly.
"It only took all of us three years. It's about damn time." She said.
"It's really something to see. God, you should have been there; she's just agonizing over him being hurt, about how she's responsible for what happened to him, when he finally yells that there was nothing she could have done because he was already in love with her. She obviously had no idea what the hell he was talking about and they both fess up that they've been in love with each other since they were like thirteen and she just…kissed him. That's when I made my presence known." James said quietly and Lily felt her heart melt.
"Are they right behind us?" She asked quietly and James nodded.
"Yup."
"Alright, on three we're going to turn around and catch them holding hands. One…two…three." Lily said quickly and they both turned around to see Sirius and Dany walking a few feet behind them, talking and laughing, with their hands intertwined. Dany looked up from where she was looking over at her boyfriend and raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, you two?" She said dryly and Lily smiled. She noticed that even though Dany had looked away from him, Sirius was still looking at her like she hung the moon. Lily liked Sirius, she considered him a good friend, but she had to admit that she was also a little scared of him. Despite her mild fear that she knew Marlene and Alice shared to a much more extensive degree, she was also very positive—looking at him now—that if anyone had nothing to fear from him, it was Dany.
"Nothing, nothing just trying to catch you two in a couple-y moment." Lily responded and Dany laughed.
"You're not going to let this go until something really dramatic happens, are you?" Sirius asked her, looking like he was trying really hard not to laugh.
"I'm going to keep watching until something more than hand holding happens. So get used to it, you two." She said smartly and Sirius shook his head slightly as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"This is just ridiculous." He said and grabbed Dany's waist to turn her towards him and kissed her. She was clearly taken off guard, but kissed him back anyways, having to stand on her toes due to her massive disadvantage in height.
And he really kissed her too, Lily thought to herself. It wasn't some casual snog that she used to see over her breakfast all the damn time. It was personal, so personal that it made her uncomfortable to watch and was verging on intimate. Dany put her hands on the back of his neck and his hands were gently on her waist and then it was over. Sirius turned back around to Lily and smirked. "There's your proof, Evans." He said and Dany laughed at the expression Lily was sure was on her face. Marlene, Alice, Frank, Peter, Remus, and James were all staring too and looked like someone had hit them over the head.
Dany and Sirius rejoined hands and brushed by their shocked friends. Lily saw that her friend's cheeks were slightly flushed but she was still smiling a little anyways. Slowly everyone started to follow them towards the Great Hall and all the girls looked at each other like they weren't sure what had just happened. James fell back into step with the girls.
"I personally think that girlfriend eleven will be the last one he ever has." He said and all three girls looked at him sharply.
"You don't mean that he…" Marlene trailed off and James shrugged.
"Maybe not in a year, maybe not in a decade, but I'd put money on it." James whispered. Suddenly, they caught up to Dany and Sirius, who had been ahead of them by a bit because it had taken everyone else a while to get over the fact that he had just kissed her so unexpectedly in a corridor. They were stopped just before the Great Hall. He was saying something to her and she was shaking her head. Lily heard part of what she was saying.
"…It's fine. I don't want to have to hide from the entire bloody school. Besides, I know that you don't either." Lily supposed that Sirius had been filled in on the delights that his exes always were to his current girlfriend and had offered to keep their relationship private to protect her from them. It sounded like he didn't particularly enjoy the idea but would do it if that were what she asked of him. He nodded and she nodded too before they walked into the Great Hall, still holding hands. Everyone else followed them and at first it looked like every other day when they walked in; they were just a group of kids coming down to eat breakfast. Except people started to notice their hands were locked and Lily started to hear the whispers.
"First Harris, now Black; the girl gets around…I'll give it a month, that's being generous…what a bitch…three weeks…they'll be done before you know it…this has to be a joke…is he really fucking the Minister's daughter? I bet Daddy won't be too happy about that…" And on it went. Lily didn't miss the nasty look Sirius gave a few of the guys that were talking about his girlfriend in a less than savory way. Soon they all sat down and Lily sat on the side of Dany that Sirius wasn't on. He looked at her gratefully for occupying the seat. She suspected that she and Sirius hadn't been the only ones to hear all of that, judging by the glazed over look on Dany's face; she had heard a substantial amount too. Lily recognized that plastic expression on her best friend's face. She wasn't feeling because she wasn't letting herself, she was putting everything away and pretending that she couldn't feel a damn thing. Pretend, pretend, pretend.
"Alright, well I think that could have gone worse. It's definitely been worse before." Marlene said optimistically and everyone nodded. That was the damn truth; that was middle-of-the-road as far as talk went about Sirius' girlfriends. "So Sirius, I think I'm going to just slowly go down your list of ex-girlfriends and rain hell down upon their lives. I hope you don't mind." She said cheerily and Sirius nodded.
"Please do." He said shortly and Dany shook her head.
"It's nothing more or less than I expected; they'll get bored after a few days. Now, let's get on with our day, yeah?" She said and Lily could see that she was less than thrilled with all of this but slowly the mask of no emotion was falling away and she was going back to her normal self. Everyone nodded and started eating.
"So boys, what are the odds we're bringing home the cup this year?" Alice asked and James and Sirius both perked up.
"They're 100%, Prewett. I mean we're undefeated three years in a row and we've got the best team that Gryffindor's had in a damn long time" James said and Sirius nodded.
"Not to mention that our Seeker is even better than last year. She's been working her ass off every practice and is breaking record times catching the Snitch. Not to mention that there's us." Sirius added and Alice nodded.
"Yeah, look at this kid's muscles. Best beater we've had in living memory." James added, gesturing to his best friend. Sirius grinned but still flicked some oatmeal at his friend.
"Good, I really want to see McGonagall cry again this year. I think it gets funnier every time it happens." Lily mused and everyone laughed in agreement.
"What did she cry into last year? Was it someone's poster? I know Third Year she used a tie that some kid had around his head to mop up her tears." Dany laughed and everyone laughed again. Every year, the Head of House would start crying if they won the cup and every year she'd sob into a different, completely random object.
"Yeah, yeah it was some Second Year's poster." Remus said.
"I was no more than ten feet away when it happened. It was actually kind of terrifying, not going to lie. It's much funnier when you're far away." Frank mentioned and everyone chuckled again at the truth behind that statement. Lily saw Marlene watching the couple next to her and Lily followed her line of sight to see the undeniable smile on her best friend's face.
Sirius was worried about Dany but she could handle herself, that much he was sure of, and if she said she could take it then he trusted her to know herself. That didn't make him any happier when he heard the whispers that he had never bothered to pay attention to before and just like Dany had told him this morning, they were less than friendly and complimentary.
They had sat down at the table and soon the talk quieted and moved to other topics around the Great Hall. As breakfast passed, he noticed more and more people were starting to look at him curiously, not invasive or judging but just questioning. Dany was happily talking to Lily and Marlene next to him and looked pretty wrapped up in what she was doing so he caught James' attention.
"Why are people looking over here?" He said quietly and James looked around to see the same inquisitive stares. He shrugged and Remus laughed.
"Because you openly just admitted that you're dating but you're not snogging her…you've kind of been snogging girls over breakfast since you were fourteen." The werewolf said quietly and Sirius thought about it. That was actually true, except he had no inclination to snog Dany in front of the entire school. The only thing that gave away that they were dating was that they were sitting a little too close and if you looked close enough, they were holding hands under the table. He'd never really thought about it before, breakfast had always just been some free time that he could spend eating and snogging at the same time. But that felt more…private now.
"Please don't suck my sister's face off right in front of me, mate. This morning was enough." James said and Sirius shook his head.
"I'm not planning on it, James. Believe me, you'll be nice and far away when that happens. I can't particularly say that either of us want an audience." Sirius said and James looked relieved. Suddenly, the girls all stood up and Lily glanced at Sirius, amused. He had been taken by surprise when Dany's hand had vanished suddenly.
"Relax, we're just going to the bathroom before class…we'll see you boys in there and then you can have your girlfriend back." The redhead said and all four of them departed, talking to each other.
"We should probably get to class…it's got to be almost time." Remus said and the guys started to leave the Great Hall, about five minutes behind the girls. They ran into the girls a few minutes away from McGonagall's classroom and Lily and Dany were talking about something that Lily seemed very unimpressed with.
"Honestly Lillian, if I got upset every time someone said something nasty about me, I'd never get out of bed." Dany was saying.
"Who's saying nasty things?" James interrupted and they both turned around. Dany smiled at Sirius and he grinned back but pointedly looked at Lily, wanting to know what had happened. She shook her head and took his hand as they walked off towards class.
"Dan…what's up?" He asked and she looked like she was going to tell him to leave it alone but she didn't tell him off, she told him what had happened instead.
"Your ex-girlfriends decided to have a nice, and loud might I add, talk in the bathroom. It was delightful; I don't think I've ever been called so many insulting names in such a small span of time within earshot. Oh, and apparently we're destined to breakup within the next two to five weeks, that varies on who you talk to, and I'm also a raging whore that's keeping you interested because you have a fetish for my hair and family money. I didn't know you felt that way about my financial standing or hair." She said casually and he raised his eyebrows.
"Seriously? They actually said that?" He asked and she nodded.
"Oh yeah, they actually said that, I think a couple of them even made eye-contact with me. There's more but why relive the past, you know? I know you heard what I was telling Lily and I was being honest; if I got insulted every time someone said something mean or criticized me, I'd never leave my bed, let alone my house." She said and he felt her shoulder bump into his arm accidentally; she was so short that her shoulder was only half way up his upper arm. He had a whopping fourteen inches on her and even though she made up for her height with a big personality, she still she looked downright tiny to him most of the time, if he was being honest.
"As much as I admire the spirit behind that statement, I can't particularly say that I care for all of the talk." He said and she shrugged.
"Join the club." She laughed.
About two weeks after school resumed, Dany and Sirius were no longer the talk of the castle and so they had relaxed on the "friends plus handholding" line that they had originally taken to keep gossip at a minimum. When they sat in the common room now he'd put his arm around her and she'd lean into his shoulder and James had caught him a couple of times refusing to give her books back to her between classes. He was literally carrying her books, despite the staunch "women are equal to men" position that he was well aware that she lived by. James found this rather ironic seeing that Sirius had spent his entire dating life claiming "honestly, they can open doors for themselves". James was pretty sure that he had never seen Dany smile and laugh more than she had in the last three weeks.
"So, I think we've got pretty good chances at the cup." James said and Sirius nodded as they walked towards the common room from Quidditch practice.
"No doubt…not to mention that if we lost to Slytherin in the final game, Toby would probably burst an artery or try to walk off of the Astronomy Tower or something." Sirius responded and rolled a shoulder. "Damn, if he yells at me to hit the bludgers harder for much longer, my shoulder's going to come out of its socket. It already throbs at random times." He added on and James knew what he was talking about. Sirius was a pretty strong guy but what his muscles didn't protest to (and they were protesting quite a bit), his joints did. Toby was being unapologetically brutal on his fellow beater and he had good reason. Sirius was set to guard their seeker, which was the most dangerous position Toby could put him in. This was something Sirius had yet to tell Dany.
James was pretty sure it was because he thought she was going to freak out. She probably was going to freak out.
"I don't know what to tell you man." He said as they entered through the portrait hole. Marlene was writing something from where she was seated on the ground and Dany was reading quietly on the couch. Neither of them looked up when they walked in, clearly either not paying attention or too wrapped up in what they were doing. "Hello, ladies." James said and they both looked up and smiled.
"Hey, guys. How was practice?" Marlene asked and they both shrugged. Dany looked at her boyfriend much more critically than she just had been.
"Fine, Marlene. Thanks for asking." James said and the blonde motioned them over. James sat down in an armchair and Sirius sat down next to his girlfriend. Dany didn't seem to be overly thrilled with something but didn't say anything about it.
"You smell." She observed and Sirius laughed.
"That's what happens when Toby tries to run you into the ground." He said.
"So, that's why your shoulder's hurt? Because Toby tried to run you into the ground." She asked casually and James fought the urge to laugh. She always knew. Marlene giggled a little. "It's not dislocated is it? Jesus, Sirius if you tried to fix it on your own, I'm going to—"
"Dan. Dany, it's fine. It's just…strained a bit. Practice has been pretty tough with the game coming up this weekend and Toby's what many would call 'intense' about Quidditch." He said and Dany nodded, clearly not trusting the answer she didn't see as the complete truth.
"Okay…if you're sure it's fine." She said and he nodded. "Then go shower; you smell and I don't need to smell too." He laughed before kissing her quickly and leaving. Marlene had been watching the entire thing carefully.
"As cute as this is, you think he's hiding something don't you?" Marlene said.
"Playing Slytherin isn't exactly a new development and he's never been hurt like this before. Whatever, I guess…it's his life." She definitely knew something was up. Marlene looked down at her watch.
"Damn, it's later than I thought. I'm going to head upstairs, Dan." She said.
"Okay. Goodnight, Marles." Dany said and turned at James once Marlene had left. "Why's Toby running him ragged?" She asked, leaning forward on her elbows.
"He told you the truth, Dan. We're playing Slytherin and they're aggressive. They hit hard and they take illegal shots. Toby just wants to make sure that he can do his job to the best of his ability. We're defenseless if he isn't on top of his game and you know it." Dany looked at him carefully and nodded.
"If you insist. So, how was practice for you? How are our chances looking?" She asked, putting down her book completely.
"Well, I'm incredible as we all know and we're looking really good for the Cup. You all should prepare your cameras for McGonagall's tears." Dany laughed.
"I think if you lost, she'd cry out of devastation…that would be really depressing, actually. It's probably like watching a puppy cry." She said and James agreed with that. It struck him suddenly, how different she was in this relationship than the last. Before, it had been all about Brady but now she was still the same girl he had grown up with and had gone to school with for the past five years. Sirius wasn't taking over her life like Brady had, he was enhancing it and James didn't think he had ever been so glad about something. Just as James thought this, Sirius came back downstairs. Dany turned around and smiled.
"Alright, now that I don't smell, am I allowed near you?" He asked and she laughed before nodding. He sat down on the couch next to her far too close for a relationship that was anything but romantic. James cleared his throat.
"I'm going to go shower too." He said and they both nodded. He paused at the top of the stairs, just out of their range of sight.
"I don't know how you get up every day. Toby runs a dictatorship." Dany.
"I don't know how I do it either, honestly. Dan, there's something we need to talk about; don't freak out, it's just about the game." He added on and James left to actually shower. Remus was in the room.
"Hey. Padfoot down with his new favorite person?" He asked. James nodded.
"Please. She's been his favorite person for a long time—there's nothing new about it. He's breaking the news that he's guarding Caroline." James said.
"I take it that's why you left?" James nodded. "I don't blame you. I wouldn't want to be there for that either. Dany's possessive and protective of all of her friends and she's always been more extreme with him." Remus said and James made a sound of agreement as he walked into the bathroom.
James walked back downstairs after a bit, assuming that the common room would be empty. It wasn't. Dany's head was visible from behind and she had clearly gone back to reading. James wondered where Sirius had gone, seeing that he definitely wasn't in their room. James walked over to where she was reading and it appeared that Sirius was quite soundly asleep with his head in Dany's lap as she read, holding the book in a way that wouldn't disturb him.
"Hi, James." She whispered without looking up.
"Aw, I can feel my heart melting from over here." She flipped him off before setting her book down, trying to disturb Sirius as little as possible.
"He told me about the game." She said and James nodded.
"I figured. What do you think?" He asked and she shrugged.
"I don't particularly care for it but there's nothing I can do. It's not my job to keep him responsible, I'd just rather not see him in a hospital again." It struck James that even though they had been dating for only three weeks, it seemed like they had been together forever, probably because they had been in love for so long.
"I know. I don't like it either, but he agreed; he could have said no but he didn't. He's the best we've got and he knows it. Someone has to protect Caroline." She nodded as she ran a hand through Sirius' hair gently, watching him sleep.
"I just wish that someone was up there to protect him." She said softly. James looked down at Sirius too. He never saw Sirius sleep—they kept their bed curtains closed at night after all. He looked much more vulnerable than when he was awake; for once, he looked like someone that needed to be protected.
"I know you do. I'm going to go to bed, Dan. See you tomorrow." He said and she nodded before picking up her book and resuming where she had left off.
"Did you see the announcement?" Marlene asked Dany, Lily, and Alice as she sat down at their table in the library the following Monday. All three girls shook their heads. "There's going to be a Spring Dance!" She squealed. Madam Pince shushed her loudly. Marlene waved a hand apologetically at her.
"What?" Dany whispered.
"The Head Boy and Girl instated it this year for some reason. I think it's because everyone's so worried over the war and everyone had so much fun at the Yule Ball—they thought that maybe this would have a similar effect." Lily said and Marlene looked at her accusingly.
"You knew about this?"
"I forgot. I was more concerned about OWLs than dances." Lily hissed so she didn't draw attention from Madam Pince, gesturing to the book in front of her. "I'll tell you now that party dresses are appropriate, none of that floor-length dress business—it's going to be out on the grounds." She added and Dany actually thought that this was a lovely idea, but—after exchanging a look with Alice—decided that she didn't want to get between Marlene and Lily right now.
"When is it, Marles?" Alice asked, hoping to derail this before it started.
"It's next Saturday." Marlene said. "We can go into Hogsmeade and get dresses this weekend." She added. Lily and Alice nodded. "You in, Dan?" Marlene asked, noticing her friend's silence on the topic.
"Oh, um I already have plans for Hogsmeade, you three." She said, actually feeling quite bad she wouldn't be able to dress shop with them. "I mean this is the first trip since Spring Break and—"
"You and Sirius haven't actually been on a date yet." Lily finished and Dany nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. I'd normally just tell him that I'd meet him later at the Three Broomsticks or something but not on our first date." She said and the three girls nodded in understanding.
"Well obviously. What are you going to do about a dress then?" Lily asked.
"I think I already have something in my closet, but if not I'll just have James sneak me into Hogsmeade and I can go shopping that way." She said and the other girls seemed to accept this. "If we decide to call it a day early, I'll come find you though. I'd hate to miss it completely."
Sirius and Dany didn't call it an early day. As a matter of fact, they missed the last carriage up to the castle from the town and were forced to walk—which neither of them minded in the least, despite it being almost an hour-long walk.
"I can't believe that you made me go take a painting class." Sirius groaned and Dany laughed.
"You had fun, don't deny it—and I didn't make you, the magic instructor lady did." She laughed. They had been poking through shops that neither of them had ever been in and had accidentally ended up in a painting studio and then before either of them knew it, they were trying to paint their renditions the still life of the bowl of fruit in front of them.
"Okay, I had fun." He consented. "I'm really terrible though. Next time, can it not be painting?"
"We're both really bad. I wouldn't really worry about that part." Dany laughed, looking down at where they were holding hands. Their hands were covered in paint and at one point Dany had gotten bored and had finger-painted a purple smiley face onto Sirius' forearm, which led to him smearing yellow paint down one of her thighs. "Next time, we'll be sure to accidentally walk into somewhere where the woman in charge doesn't have magical powers of persuasion. Besides, would you have thought it was fun if we were really good?"
"Probably not. We would have been sitting around twirling our moustaches and trying to interpret the fruit as symbols of the universe or something. I had much more fun painting your leg." Sirius said and Dany laughed. "Besides, then I would have felt obligated to keep those unfortunate renditions of fruit."
"God, they were so bad, weren't they?" Dany laughed again, shaking her head.
"What do you think the odds are that we're the last people back?" He asked as they neared the castle.
"About 80%. Actually—judging by the look on Flitch's face, I'm going to say 100%." Dany said, looking at the caretaker waiting at the open door with Professor Flitwick. They both looked less than pleased. "Evening, Professor." Dany said, hoping that they weren't going to get into trouble for missing the carriages.
"Professor Flitwick." Sirius said, both of them trying to look charming. "I take it we're the last ones back?"
"That would be an understatement, Black. Explain." He said, pointedly looking at both of them.
"We missed the carriages back—we barely missed the last one and it takes quite a while to walk back from town. We're both really sorry, Professor." Dany said immediately. "It won't ever happen again." She added, trying to look deeply remorseful. "We didn't mean to cause you any problems and I know it was really irresponsible with the war going on, but time just kind of slipped away—you know how first dates are, I'm sure." She looked up from her feet to look at Flitwick and his face had softened. She smiled at him a little hopefully.
"Take this as a warning, you two. It happens again, you're both in detention and done with Hogsmeade trips for the year. I suggest going to get something to eat from the Great Hall." Flitwick said, gesturing inside. Flitch looked outraged, but Dany didn't miss the small unmistakable smile on Flitwick's face.
"That was bloody brilliant. We should have a pranking date." Sirius said as they left the professor's hearing range.
"A pranking date?" She asked skeptically.
"Well, yeah—we prank people and then just call it a date." He said with a shrug and she laughed.
"Oh no. I only use my powers of manipulation for good. And to avoid detention." Dany said. "We really should eat though—it's almost eight. No wonder Flitwick was pissed—we were supposed to be back by seven. Anyways, I'm starved."
"Either we can go to the Great Hall or I can take you to the Kitchens. Which is it, Masters?" Sirius asked and she raised an eyebrow.
"Kitchens, please. Pasta sounds so good right now. Maybe ravioli." Dany sighed and Sirius chuckled as they started to walk down to the kitchens. "I do love Italian food."
"I'll keep that in mind." He said as they approached the portrait. "Oh God. Not another bowl of fruit." He groaned. For some reason, that sent Dany into hysterics, clutching her stomach she was laughing so hard. It was just too perfect.
"Go on. Ti—tick—tickle the—tickle the pear, Sirius." She gasped through her laughter, trying to smother them with her hand. "Please tickle the pear." She continued to giggle as he rolled his eyes and opened up the door to the Kitchens, where house elves were busy cooking.
"Come on, Dan—before you get us caught." He laughed, giving her a hand over the step up and into the Kitchen, closing the door behind them. Dany vaguely heard him say something about ravioli to an elf as he sat his hysterically laughing girlfriend at a table. A minute later, Dany calmed down enough to wipe her eyes and stop laughing, despite the fact she still couldn't stop grinning. An elf gave her ravioli a moment later and she thanked her, the elf bowing so enthusiastically she almost banged her own head into the ground. Dany turned to her ravioli after confirming that the elf wasn't concussed.
"This looks fantastic." She moaned and happily started eating. "Bless these elves is all I can say." She said from around her pasta. Not very ladylike for a date, but whatever; it's not like he'd never seen her eat before. Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"Rhea's not a real culinary genius?" Dany shrugged.
"Okay, I love my mother, but she's too much of a health freak. Everything is low carb and low sodium and I think my father has the corner on black market salt packets because he slips them to me and Rae under the dinner table like there's a never-ending supply of them." She said and Sirius grinned.
"I can see your dad doing that, honestly. I'll be sure to bring my own salt if your parents ever have me over for any kind of meal." He said and she nodded.
"It's like bring your own bottle, but with salt. BYOS." She said and Sirius laughed. "Also, BYOC. Bring your own chocolate. The 'c' could also stand for 'carbs', but it's mainly chocolate."
"Is there anything I don't need to bring then?"
"Salad. We have plenty of that. Enough to feed most of the civilized world." Dany said, thinking about the enormous stockpile of lettuce her mother kept and inwardly shivering.
"I'll be sure to leave my spinach at home then." Sirius said wryly and Dany nodded, setting her fork down. "Done?" Dany nodded. "We should probably head back up to the tower—we got lucky with Flitwick, but twice in one night isn't going to happen." Dany nodded again and they left, the portrait of the fruit sending her into another round of uncontrollable giggles as she told her boyfriend to tickle the pear. He spent the entire time trying not to laugh at her. They entered Gryffindor tower and it was—thankfully—empty. Well, upon first glance.
Lily was anxiously bouncing her leg so much that Marlene eventually reached over and stopped her.
"Lily, I know you're worried, but you're going to drive me insane if you keep doing that." She said and Lily exchanged leg bouncing for nail biting.
"They probably just missed the carriages, girls. We don't need to wait up like this." Remus said and Frank nodded in agreement. "They'll get here when they get here. Besides, if they're too late, the teachers will go looking for them."
Just then, the portrait hole opened and Lily heard someone's giggles coming from the open door. Sirius and Dany walked in and apparently it was Dany that Lily had heard because she looked like she was crying she was laughing so much. Sirius looked like he was trying his damn best not to laugh at her and both of them were covered in paint. It also appeared that neither of them noticed their friends sitting on the floor near the fire.
"No one. That's weird." Dany said, the giggles finally—Lily got the impression that this had been going on for a while—subsiding.
"Oi, we're right here." James said and both of them looked over. "Is that paint?" He asked and both of them looked down at their arms and hands, which were intertwined.
"Um, yes it is." Dany said as if this was the most normal thing on the planet. "I'm glad you know your colors, James." He stuck his tongue out at her.
"Why are you covered in paint?"
"Well, that's quite the story. It was really due to a strange turn in events. Really, no one saw it coming." Sirius said as if this explained everything. It didn't explain a thing. "I'm going to get in the shower now because I think I have paint in my hair." He added and left quickly. Remus, Frank, and James all exchanged looks before leaving with him, shrugging to the girls.
"Danilynn, what did you do?" Lily asked as soon as the boys vanished.
"We went on a date, Lily." Dany said, leaning up against the armchair closest to her. "Can't we talk about this once I've gotten all of the paint off of myself?" She asked and Lily and the other girls exchanged looks.
"Alright. Come on, to the shower with you!" Marlene exclaimed, making the other girls laugh as they stood up. Suddenly, Sirius walked back downstairs still covered in paint, but lacking a shirt. It appeared that he had been on his way into the shower and had suddenly remembered something. Dany raised an eyebrow and the other three girls exchanged looks at the appearance of Sirius' abs and chest. Damn.
"Sirius?" Dany asked. "What—?" She started to say, but was cut off by her boyfriend kissing her rather enthusiastically, something she responded to with just as much enthusiasm. Lily, Marlene, and Alice all looked at each other and then returned to watching the couple. Everyone was too startled to even catcall or whistle. Sirius stopped kissing her and Dany blinked in surprise.
"Thanks for the date, Dan." Lily heard him whisper before Sirius kissed her forehead quickly and left again. Dany appeared to have gone into a state of shock she looked so taken off-guard.
"Um…?" Marlene said.
"I have no idea. I think I'll go shower before he comes back down and starts really snogging me in front of you lot." Dany said and they all nodded, heading upstairs. Lily didn't miss the small smile on her best friend's face as she left to go take a shower. It was the same smile that was on her face when Lily saw the white-haired girl crawl into bed that night.
Sirius woke up that Monday feeling rather good about himself. Saturday—for as much shit as he gave Dany—was a lot of fun and he actually hadn't had that much fun in a really long time. It was nice to just be able to enjoy Dany's company. He was thinking this as he walked downstairs to see his girlfriend sitting downstairs, waiting. Judging by the look on her face, she had been up a while.
"Hey." She said and he smiled. "Right on time."
"That means you were early. Which means that you've been up all night." He said and she raised an eyebrow. Sirius was momentarily concerned that he had gone too far, but she just shrugged as they left the common room.
"Got a letter from Dad last night—there was another raid. It was in Cokeworth." Sirius raised an eyebrow, silently asking what the huge significance was behind a town he'd never heard of. "Sirius, Lily's from Cokeworth—her parents live there." She added and Sirius immediately felt something twisting his stomach.
"What? Are they okay?" He asked and she nodded.
"They're fine, thank God. They weren't on the list of dead, missing, or injured. I've been up all night trying to figure out how to tell Lils. Dad said that he and Mom were going to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Evans about warding their house—maybe even moving somewhere more remote than where they already are." Dany sighed. "I'm just going to have to come out and tell her, I suppose. All I know is that I need the run this morning to clear my head. This is insane." She said as they walked outside.
"Come on, I'll race you." He said and she smiled a little before running off. "I meant fairly, Dan! That's cheating!" He shouted after her, just getting laughter in response.
"Do you know when Frank's going to ask Alice to the dance?" Dany asked as they stopped at their usual spot on the trail. Sirius looked over at her.
"What? They're already dating." He said.
"I know, but Alice really wants him to formally ask her. She's been talking about it a lot lately. Nothing big, but she keeps mentioning it in passing." She explained. "Do you know if he's even going to ask her or is he just assuming?"
"I honestly have no idea. We haven't talked about it, but I can ask for you." Sirius said, fibbing. Dany immediately nodded, smiling.
"Please." She said absently, looking over the lake. "It's kind of silly to worry about something like that—especially for them, I mean they're so compatible and, well, perfect. On a certain level though, I get where she's coming from." Sirius wondered if Dany wanted him to actually ask her to the dance; he had been doing what he knew Frank was doing and had just assumed they'd be going together. He didn't really know and he couldn't exactly ask her because she'd (predictably) say no because they were dating, even if it mattered to her and she just didn't want to make him feel bad for not knowing that. He made a mental note to ask James when they got back to the castle.
"Well, I'll inquire on behalf of Alice. I'll tell him to if he wasn't planning on it." Sirius said and Dany smiled again, pushing hair off of her sweaty forehead.
"Thanks. It'll be a huge weight off of the rest of us if he does. She'll be upset if he doesn't and we'll be the ones dealing with that." She said and checked her watch. "We best be going, huh? Back to the castle that has ears in the walls." Dany added with a sigh and Sirius nodded, racing his girlfriend fair-and-square this time. He won and Dany accepted it with grace, except for the occasional groaning about sore winners and boyfriends. She said goodbye to him and headed up to go shower, leaving Sirius to go up and get ready for the school day. James was up, although the rest of his roommates were apparently still sleeping. James waved sleepily.
"Hey, Prongs?" He asked and James immediately looked alarmed.
"What is it?" He said, fully awake. "What happened?" Sirius shook his head.
"Nothing, nothing. Are they all sleeping?" He asked, gesturing to the rest of the room. James shrugged and waved him into the bathroom, locking the door behind them and casting a silencing charm.
"What?"
"Do you know if Frank is asking Alice to the dance? Dan told me that she really wants him to." Sirius said and James raised an eyebrow.
"That's it? Jesus, Sirius I thought that something was really wrong and—" James said as he went to leave. Sirius pulled him back by his shirt collar. "Oi!"
"Sorry. Do you know the answer?"
"Ask Frank for your bloody self. Is there anything else?" He asked and Sirius didn't say anything. James examined his face critically. "You don't know if you should ask Dan, do you? That's why you wanted to talk in private. You want relationship advice." He said, bemused. "Oh how the tables have turned. Mr. Ten Girlfriends is asking the virgin for help."
"Shut up, James. Actual relationships are a new thing for me so help me out." Sirius said, flipping his friend the bird. James raised an eyebrow. "Please." He added on. James leaned on the counter and sighed, obviously thinking.
"Well, I don't think Dany would be offended per say if you didn't, but it would be a bit underwhelming if you know what I mean. If I was dating her, I'd ask her—there's no harm in it." James said slowly. "You could seem like a real twat if you don't—that's the risk behind just assuming." Sirius nodded, actually listening to James' opinion on women for once. "You've never had to do it before, but it's tough, isn't it? Making a woman happy." He prodded and Sirius rolled his eyes.
"So I should ask her?" James nodded.
"Ask her. Dany has a real soft spot for traditional things like slow dances and formal dates. She'll appreciate it. On the topic of Frank, I have no idea. Ask him about it when he gets up." James said and unlocked the door, removing the silencing charm. Everyone else was up when they walked out.
"Oi, Frank." Sirius said. Frank looked up. "Ask Alice to the dance because she really wants you to." He said and Frank nodded.
"Noted. I was planning on asking her today. How do you know that?"
"Dany." Sirius and James answered simultaneously. Frank rolled his eyes.
"You two are freakishly similar sometimes." He muttered as Remus chuckled in agreement. Sirius rolled his eyes and got into the shower, wondering how he was going to ask his own girlfriend to the dance.
James had said that she liked traditional things so probably nothing too involved, but also nothing too casual like passing her a note in class.
Dany and her friends were already in the common room when the guys walked down and Dany was talking to Alice, who appeared like she was telling Dany something personal, judging by how close they were standing and how quietly they were talking. They both looked up at the appearance of their boyfriends. Sirius quickly kissed Dany and winked when neither Alice nor Frank was looking at them. She smiled and mouthed 'thank you' back at him before they all started to walk down towards the Great Hall.
"How's Lily?" Sirius murmured to Dany and she shrugged.
"Okay, I think. I pulled her aside this morning and just honestly told her what had happened and how we were going to deal with it. She's going to write her parents tonight just to check in with them." She said and he nodded.
"I'm just glad they're okay. Her sister doesn't still live there, does she?" Dany shook her head.
"Petunia lives in Surrey, I'm pretty sure." She said.
"Good. As dreadful as I'm sure she is, she doesn't deserve to die." Sirius said.
"And she is dreadful." Dany muttered and Sirius snorted in amusement. "Where did Frank and Alice go?" She asked randomly, looking around. Sirius looked around as well and sure enough, they were gone.
"I don't know. Maybe he's asking her to the dance. He said he was planning on asking her today anyways." Sirius commented. "I've been spending the last week trying to convince James that he doesn't really want to ask Lily." Dany nodded.
"You're right: he really doesn't want to do that. He might think he does, but he doesn't." She agreed as they walked into the Great Hall. They sat down and not a minute later, Alice came into the Great Hall—her face bright red—and sat down next to Dany. "Hey, Al." She said, gently squeezing Sirius' hand under the table as they already were holding hands. "Everything okay?"
"Frank just asked me to the dance." She gushed and Dany smiled, hugging her with her free arm and asking for details. Sirius was watching her for any kind of giveaway that she might want the same thing when Lily caught his eye. 'Ask her'. Sirius stuck his tongue out. 'I am, so shove off'. Lily nodded approvingly. 'I don't know what to do' he added. Lily smirked before looking over at her best friend, who was obliviously listening to Alice, before shrugging and returning to her food. Well, apparently she wasn't going to help. Marlene was watching with a small smile on her face, shaking her head slightly. 'Don't overcomplicate it' she mouthed and Sirius nodded before going back to his porridge.
"Today, we'll be dueling!" Their Defense professor said cheerily as they all stood around the cleared out classroom. People started murmuring. "Also, I have picked pairs based on skill level—I've placed you with someone close in skill, but not exactly. We do want this class to be over sometime today." A few people laughed. "So, Potter and McKinnon. Lupin and Longbottom. Evans and Prewett. Masters and Black." People started whispering and a couple girls from Hufflepuff gasped. Putting a couple against each other was just cruel, however Sirius doubted that their professor knew they were dating.
After that, Sirius lost interest and was looking over at Dany, wondering if she was planning on wiping the floor with him. Probably. He was tempted to go easy on her because he didn't want to hurt her, but if she suspected that he was holding back on her, she'd bloody murder him. That would cause more problems than him actually beating her.
"Right, so we'll have one pair duel at a time as it's generally a rather large spectacle once you're in your OWL year and beyond. Potter, McKinnon, you can go first." Marlene and James high-fived before standing in the middle of the classroom.
"No hard feelings when I win, yeah McKinnon?" James said. Marlene laughed.
"Kiss my ass, Potter." She retorted before firing a jinx his way, making the entire class break out into laughter.
It was actually quite entertaining to see their friends dueling. James barely beat Marlene—it was an all out war for ten minutes—and Frank overtook Remus at the last second, something everyone was surprised by. Sirius blamed Remus' mercy. There had been at least three different times he could have won, but didn't. Lily and Alice was another duel that quickly turned into war and the two witches were using spells so creative that Sirius was starting to suspect that they were making them up as they went. Lily—at the absolute last second—claimed victory with a grin.
"Black. Masters. You're up." Dany seemed pretty unaffected by this and pulled her wand out before pulling her hair up into a ponytail and walking to the center of the classroom.
"Hey, Sirius? If you let me win, I'll know. And then I'll kick your ass into next week." She said, not bothering to be quiet. People snorted.
"I'm a sore loser, Dan. You really think I'd let someone win?" He asked and she grinned.
"We're about the find out, huh?" She said and shot a hex at him, which he quickly bounced back at her, only for her to duck it with minimal effort. Sirius realized that he had his work cut out for him: she had been receiving lessons from Aurors for most of her life. Alastor Moody had personally trained her. He was fucked.
Twenty-five minutes later, it appeared that everyone was fucked because they were still dueling and Dany was now using spells that Sirius couldn't recognize for the life of him. She had also slipped into non-verbal dueling—probably a result of her training with Moody and Florence, as they didn't learn that in school until next year—which was making his girlfriend increasingly hard to pin down.
The classroom looked like a war zone. Their professor had the other students behind shield charms as they had managed to blow up three desks with deflected spells and had almost hexed out another student's eye accidentally.
"Wrap it up in the next five minutes, you two! Just…please finish it somehow." Their professor yelled, neither of them acknowledging him, busy with each other. Suddenly, Dany completely stopped casting spells and lowered her wand and just stared at him. Then she—of all things—broke out into a huge, brilliant smile. He looked at her, taken by surprise, and that was his mistake.
Before he realized that had happened, Sirius was somehow on the floor and Dany had his wand in her hand. She had jinxed him with a jelly-leg curse and then disarmed him when he had been too distracted by how pretty he thought she was—something she had taken advantage of. People started to whisper and then people started to clap, louder and louder. Dany waved her wand at him and lifted the curse, giving him a hand up and giving him his wand back.
"Sorry about that." She murmured, examining where he had landed face down on the floor, banging his forehead. "Do you think it's going to bruise?"
"Doubtful. I have a thick skull." Sirius joked and she laughed. "Why are they all hiding?" He whispered and Dany looked around. This was the first time that either of them had noticed that the other students were behind shields.
"Masters." Their professor said. "How exactly do you know some of those spells?" Dany's face drained of color.
"Um, well you see…my Godparents are Aurors?" She said it like a question. "I didn't know that we weren't allowed to learn outside of the classroom." She added, much more confidently. "Besides, none of them were fatal."
"I suppose. Twenty points to Gryffindor to both of you. That's some of the best dueling I've ever seen from Fifth Years. Class dismissed. We'll pick up next class." People scrambled for their things and Sirius noticed people looking at his girlfriend much differently than they had. He had heard the whispers about her being the "pretty face" of her family—that the Masters' legendary magical prowess had skipped her—and somehow thought that those whispers were about to stop.
"I can't believe you beat me because you smiled." Sirius said as they walked out of class.
"I can't believe it worked. I was trying to think of something that would catch you off guard and that was the only thing I could come up with." She said with a shrug. "I know I'm pretty, but try not to get so distracted by it." He snorted.
"I'll do my best. I do believe that this is where I leave you." He said in an overly formal way, making her laugh. "Enjoy Muggle Studies." He added and she nodded, taking her bag from him and kissing him quickly before walking off.
He really needed to do something about the dance. James had said that she likes old-fashioned, traditional things. He idly stood there for a second thinking. Lily walked by and waved as she followed her friend. Sirius waved back before it hit him. Lily. Flowers.
"Prongs, you wouldn't happen to know of anywhere that sells flowers, would you?" Sirius asked, sitting down next to James unannounced, making him jump.
After seeing Dany and Sirius try and rip each other into two, he had been a bit on edge. Only mortal enemies or soul mates could fight like that—so evenly yet so viciously with neither one ever coming out on top. Until Dany lowered her wand, automatically making Sirius do the same, and smiled at him. Then she had kicked his ass, but still.
"Flowers? I think there's a place in Hogsmeade." He asked. "Dany?" Sirius nodded. "Figured. Come on then, let's go." He said, standing up. "Believe me, you should get a second opinion. At least until you understand how relationships work."
"Laugh it up, Potter." He said as James summoned the map and the two started to walk towards one of the passages out of school.
"Oh, I will—don't worry." He said before they slipped into a passage that led to the closet of some random pub. "Flowers, huh?" James said after a while.
"I don't know, mate. I mean you said she liked traditional things and you can't get any more traditional than that." He said and James actually felt a bit bad for him. Sirius didn't know how to treat a woman that was worth his time and he apparently didn't know a damn thing about romance. Despite that, it was obvious that he was really trying to make Dany happy, which James appreciated greatly.
"No, it's actually a really good idea. Dan loves flowers." He said as they quietly walked, suddenly reaching the end of the passage and slipping out of the closet and into the pub.
Sirius looked over at him and smiled a little.
"Thanks, mate."