Chapter 13: A Blooming Romance and A Rose

"Sweet dreams darling," she said in an over exaggerated tone. She batted her eyes and me and blew me a kiss as she drifted off to sleep in my arms.

"Good night darling," I whispered to her as I leaned into her and let my dreams take me in once again.

-13-

"What do I wear!? What do I wear!?" James yelled, jumping around the boy's dormitory, nothing but a towel wrapped around his waste. Whenever he turned, the water dripping from his hair flew onto the cold floor.

He turned hard as he flew past the fireplace and slipped onto the hard floor.

"Woah, mate! Keep that thing covered!" I yelled as I shielded my eyes. James covered himself up again with the towel and presumed asking what to wear.

"Make sure to wear boxers," Remus joked as he looked up from a book he was reading.

"Oh my gosh! I completely forgot about boxers!" He ran frantically over to his trunk and pulled out a pair of red and gold boxers.

"My lucky pair," James muttered to himself as he wriggled out of his towel, flashing his arse to us.

"Put that towel back on! No one wants to see your arse!" Remus yelled, covering his eyes with his book.

"Ahh, what else!?" James asked us.

I walked over and grabbed his hand, pulling him over to his bed. I sat him down and walked back to his trunk. I rummaged around to find a pair of jeans, a dress shirt and a jacket.

"Put these on," I said, thrusting them at James. When he was finished doing that, I handed him a pair of socks and shoes.

"And when you're done with that go brush your teeth and hair. And put on some deodorant too," I added.

"I can't believe that she's really going out with him. I thought it would never happen," Remus said to me, looking up from his book, as James brushed his teeth in the bathroom.

"I know! I can't believe that after all this time she finally said yes," I replied, sitting down on my bed.

"Next thing you know you and Lora will be dating. It's only a matter of time until that happens."

I stood just quiet for a moment, mouth gaping, somewhat shocked that he had just said that to me.

Oh, come now Sirius. We all know that you like Lora. Lora is the only one that doesn't know. You should just ask her out already."

I didn't say anything; I just turned my head and stared at the picture that Lor had given me for Christmas, watching the years go by. We sat there in silence for a few minutes and finally, I heard Remus turn the page of his book and I knew our little chat about my love life (or the love life I wish I had) was over.

Maybe I could ask-

The door of the bathroom flung open and a frantic James came running out. The comb was still in his hair and there was foam from his toothpaste surrounding his mouth.

"Oi, have you got rabies now or something?" I asked him, coming out of my Lora trance.

He ignored me as he ran over to his bedside table. On the way there, he tripped over Peter's show and fell into the bed post.

"Oh sh-" he said quickly, foam spilling out of his mouth, as he grabbed the clock on his table.

"What's wrong mate?" Remus asked him, marking his place and setting his book aside.

"I'm going to be late!" Prongs replied, spitting the toothpaste suds into the fireplace and wiping his mouth on his bed sheets. He rushed out of the dormitory and we heard him stumble down the stairs. I ventured after him, Remus at my heels. We emerged into the common room to find Lora and Lily waiting in there, whispering to one another in hushed tones.

Lily stood up abruptly when James came into the room and both stood frozen in their tracks, just staring at each other.

I nudged James with my elbow and motioned for him to say something.

"You look pretty," he said suddenly, blushing after he said it. I looked at Lily and she did look cute. Her hair was in curls and it shined against the sun coming in through the window. She was only wearing a pair of faded jeans and blouse and her winter jacket but she still looked sophisticated.

She blushed as she replied, "Thank you. You look good too."

"Are you, um, ready to go?" James asked her shyly.

Lily nodded and walked toward the portrait door with James. I watched them disappear behind it and then I walked over and sat down on the couch next to Lora.

"So do you two want to go down to Hogsmeade or something?" Lora asked us.

"I think I'll be spending the day in the library," Remus replied as he turned to leave out the common room door. Before he shut it completely though, he winked at me and motioned his head towards Lora, as if encouraging me to make a move.

"So are you up for a trip to Hogsmeade or are you going to ditch me too?" Lor asked, turning to face me. I noticed a glimmer of playfulness in her eyes and I couldn't help but let myself become captured by her warm smile.

"Yeah, let's go," I replied. I ran back up to the boy's dormitory for a moment to grab a jacket, a scarf and some gloves. We met back down in the common room and exited together through the portrait door.

"So how was James getting ready this morning?" Lora asked me as we walked in unison down the near deserted hallways. Every once in a while someone would pass by, glancing at us curiously as they passed.

"Uh, crazy. Like, forgot how to get dressed crazy. I saw more of James than I ever wanted to see," I replied, laughing. "How was Lily?"

"She had about twelve mental breakdowns I think. Plus she tried to fake sick so that she wouldn't have to go," she answered.

"She doesn't want to go on a date with James?" I curiously asked. If that was how Lily felt than I should tell James. He's my mate; I don't want him to get hurt by a girl he cares so much about.

"It's not that. It's just…you and James date a lot of girls. I remember last year when you were dating a different girl every other day. So was James. I think that Lily just doesn't want to get her heart broken, which I can understand. I've seen a many girls cry from you breaking up with them, Black. I'd hate to go through the kind of pain that you've put them through whenever you get tired of them," Lora said, peering at me for a quick moment before glancing down at her feet.

"It's not like I mean to hurt them," I answered, feeling somewhat guilty.

"I know, I just think that you need to learn to find a girl that you won't want to break up with when you're finished snogging her."

"What about you? You never go on dates," I said to her, feeling a little bit defensive. She laughed softly when I said this to her.

"Just because I don't date everything with legs and a beat doesn't mean I don't date, Sirius. I prefer to find guys that I know I could see myself with. I, unlike you, prefer long-term relationships," she answered, looking straight at me.

"You're wrong. I would love a long-term relationship. I just need to find a girl that would want to have one with me first. By that I don't mean some girl that just wants me because she thinks I'm cute. I mean a girl that really wants me for my personality. A girl that I could really see myself with," I replied to her as we passed under the doorway, out into the biting wind. It cut across my cheeks and for a moment my breath was taken away.

"I guess we're in the same boat, Pad. Hey, I've been meaning to ask you, where has Peter been lately?" she asked, a mixture of curiosity and worry in her bright eyes.

"I'm not sure. He gets up early and says that he's going to go study in the library and whenever we offer to go with him he always says that he learns more when he goes alone. He doesn't come back until almost midnight," I said.

"That's a lie. Lily drags me to the library practically every day and I never see Peter in there. You know, I saw him chatting it up with Malfoy the other day," Lora informed me. I shook off the idea immediately and the topic was dropped. Peter would never hang around that group of idiots. He's a Gryffindor.

We walked in silence across the foot-trodden blanket of snow on the ground and walked toward the Three Broomsticks. Lora stopped in her tracks suddenly.

"Come on," I gestured for her to come into the warm pub with me.

"We can't, Siri! Lily and James are having their date in there! I don't want to intrude!" she replied stubbornly.

"Well I'm not going into the Hog's Head, that place gives me the creeps. I guess we could go into-"

I was cut off by Lora groaning at the idea of going into Madame Puddifoots.

"No! It's so frilly and pink and everyone is so kissy-kissy!" she moaned to me.

"Well it's either that or we starve out here and I'm hungry so let's go!" I grabbed her hand and led her into the small, fragrant café. We sat down at a small table next to the window when a large woman came waddling over to us.

"Oh, such a cute couple! What can I get the two of you?" she asked sweetly, though I heard Lora scowl across the table. I smothered a laugh because I knew that this was exactly the kind of place that Lora loathed. All this pink and lovey-dovey stuff wasn't her. That's one of the things I like about her.

"Oh, I think we would both like some warm cocoa please," I replied with a sweet smile. The woman nodded and went to fetch our drinks.

"You wanker," Lora said to me angrily. I laughed loudly, causing a few of the face-sucking couples around us to pull apart for a moment to look at us before presuming with their sport.

"I don't know how you fly around on a broom with that fat head on your shoulders," she said, shaking her head and laughing at me.

The woman returned at that moment with two bright pink coffee mugs, both of which were covered with hearts and kittens, filled to the brim with hot cocoa. The marshmallows inside were shaped like little hearts that would float around and form bigger hearts.

"Would you like to give your love here a rose, dear?" the woman asked me, handing me a rose.

"Why yes, thank you," I answered as she set the rose down in front of me and turned away. "Here you go, Lora love." I handed her the rose and blew a little kiss at her.

She grabbed the rose and swatted me on the head with it.

Lor laughed loudly when the hideous cherub on our table starting throwing confetti at us, which fell into our coffee mugs. I moved it to a different table and flicked the confetti in my cocoa at Lor. We played this little game, giggling all the while, until the stout woman returned to our table. By this time we had gathered much attention from the other couples in the café.

"I'm afraid I will have to ask the two of you to leave me café!" the owner said, grabbing our mugs from us and ushering us out the door. I grabbed Lor's rose before I exited.

"Your rose, my lady," I said royally, swooping down into a low bow before handing it to her.

"Oh, why thank you, kind sir," she responded curtseying and accepting the rose from me. I offered her my arm and as she took it, we headed back up to the grand Hogwarts castle.

"Oh, after you, dearest," I said to Lora, still in our royal characters, she curtseyed for the billionth time and entered into the Gryffindor common room.

"Oh my-"

"Lily? James?" I asked surprised at what lay before my eyes.

Prongs and Evan were snogging on the couch near the fireplace, looking quite cozy in each others arms.

"Sorry for interrupting!" Lor yelled as she grabbed my hand and dragged me upstairs into the boy's dormitory. We burst out laughing and collapsed together onto my bed.

We spent the rest of the night laughing and talking of many things: of our pasts, our futures, James and Lily, Jack, Slytherins, Quidditch and an assortment of other topics that I can't remember at this time.

Lora drifted to sleep next to me, her hands still clutched around the rose.