There was an earsplitting crack and a loud bang and Sirius Black appeared just outside the Hogwarts gates. He peered up the road to the castle; the first students were only just beginning to wander down the hill toward him. Sirius settled down to wait. He didn't really mind, he had the prospect of an afternoon at Zonko's to keep him happy.
Several of the students eyed him suspiciously, but he paid them no mind. He was waiting for one person, and he wasn't going to leave until she showed up. That was supposing she did show up. Suddenly this worrying thought occurred to Sirius. What if she didn't show up? What if she decided to stay inside studying today? That would be just like her, too! Ignore the first of the day in a month that it hadn't snowed and stay inside studying.
For the thousandth time, Sirius did something he didn't normally tend to do. He wondered what the hell he was doing. Sirius rarely made mistakes. There was of course, the occasional blunder on his part, but he was almost never wrong and he almost never doubted himself. Really, it was like she had said though, wasn't it? He just couldn't stop thinking about her and he'd finally made up his mind to pay a spontaneous visit.
Sirius pulled his cloak more tightly around him and turned to watch the last group of students trickling down to the gates. For a moment he thought she really hadn't come, but then he saw her, blond curls tucked carefully under the hood of her pale blue cloak, in deep discussion with a friend. He watched her laughing animatedly as she approached. She walked right past him, but Sirius stayed hidden behind the large stone column. When she had gotten a good head start, Sirius started off after her and her friend.
As they entered Hogsmeade Sirius had to resist the urge to stop and look around. There were memories everywhere, the shops and the houses… Here was the place that someone had almost seen them one full moon when they'd been with Remus… And there was the post office with owls in every size and shape… Sirius's will was really tested when he passed Honeydukes, the candy shop with lollipops that you could keep licking forever, and pieces of chocolate the size of dinner plates. Still he managed to defy the smell of the delicious freshly made fudge and continued after his quarry.
Finally his moment came, Stell paused to look in the window of a shop and her friend turned to talk to someone else. "Stell!" Sirius called, trotting over to where she stood, "Hey, Stell!"
Stell turned, looking around for whoever was calling her. "Sirius? What are you doing here?" she exclaimed.
"I had some stuff to do around here and I saw that Hogwarts was here today, so I thought I'd look around for you." Not exactly the truth… Sirius had gone to great lengths to find out when the next Hogsmeade trip was and he'd apparated there specially today.
"Oh! Well… hi! Nice to see you!"
"Yeah, isn't it?" Sirius said agreeably.
"We were going to Zonko's and then Honeydukes and maybe The Three Broomsticks. Want to come?"
"Sure, why not?" Sirius said happily as the breeze wafted another wave of chocolaty goodness at him.
"Hey, Claire! Is it alright if Sirius comes with us today?" Stell called to her friend.
"Sirius?" Claire asked, confused. She turned and saw the tall, slightly familiar, and incredibly good looking wizard next to her best friend and did a double take.
Stell laughed, "Remember? He was at Hogwarts when we were in our fifth year."
"Oh yeah… I didn't know you two were still going out!"
"We're not," Stell said hurriedly, "Just renewing an old acquaintance."
Sirius shrugged, indifferent. Stell really liked him, he could tell. As far as he saw it, it was pretty much up to him whether or not they were going out.
"Shall we go then?" he asked. Stell nodded and the three wandered off, happily renewing Sirius's familiarity with the old village.
They had quite an enjoyable afternoon. They'd spent hours perusing Zonko's intriguing merchandise, although, in Sirius's opinion, it was nothing compared to the Prewetts' handiwork. Afterward they'd visited Honeydukes and Sirius's pockets were currently crammed with a large assortment of mouth-watering sweets.
They now sat in The Three Broomsticks, happily enjoying hot butter beers and chatting merrily. The horizon was beginning to darken and twilight was slowly creeping across the village. "I suppose we ought to get back to the castle," Stell sighed.
Claire nodded, "I'll see you later… I just saw Gemma; I'm going to go meet up with her."
"What?" Stell asked, mystified, as Claire stood and donned her cloak. Claire shrugged, and flashed Stell something that might have been a wink, before leaving.
"I guess you had better be getting back as well?" Sirius asked.
"Yes… I've had a great time, though. You should come up for our next Hogsmeade visit."
"Careful," Sirius said, "I might just take you up on that."
"Well, I hope you do!" Stell laughed.
As they wandered down the fast emptying streets of Hogsmeade, Sirius seemed to deliberately lag behind. Stell made no objection, she really had enjoyed the day and she wasn't particularly keen for it to end.
"I'd forgotten why these Hogsmeade trips were so looked forward to," Sirius said as he peered through the window of an apothecary.
"And have you remembered?" Stell joked.
"Of course…" Sirius said, stopping to take a last wistful glance at Honeydukes.
"Is being out of school worth missing your Hogsmeade trips, then?"
"Most of the time. I can come here whenever I like, after all. There is one thing I miss, though. I hadn't realized I even missed it until today…"
"What, Honeydukes?" Stell asked, amused.
"No," Sirius said, for lack of a better word, seriously. "You."
A/N: I hope it was good... or at least ok. I really am sorry about the long wait. I know I always say I'll try and update sooner, and I really do try! I swear! It's just things keep on coming up and I keep forgetting! For instance, this was the opening week of a show in Boston. You can't imagine how busy opening week is unless you've experienced it! Well, I'll quit this latest rant of mine so you can review!