Chapter 25

"Why do girls always find it necessary to make a big entrance when we have a ball?"

"They like to show off their dresses Sirius." James replied absent mindedly. He was a little nervous, this being his first ireal/i date and Ball with Lily, the love of his life, as he reminds us constantly.

"But don't they do that just by wearing them?" I asked.

"Yes, but they want to make sure you notice and comment on them." Remus said impatiently. He was a little distracted too, but for different reasons. He was going to pop the question tonight. No, not ithat/i question. He was going to pop another question important enough to refer to as 'the question'. I just hope he knows what he's doing.

"Well, of course we'll notice and comment on them, we wouldn't make very good dates if we didn't now would we?"

"Nope, they're making it idiot proof." Said Matt. He was taking one of the girls in 5th year and had decided to wait with us for his date.

"Oh, I see."

"Took you long enough." Caleb, Becca's younger brother, was now standing behind me.

"Whoa, where did you come from?" sneaky little bugger, he is.

"Just came down from the dorms. Wonder if I could hang out with you all while I wait for my date?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure." James wagged his hand at Caleb's request like it was a pesky little fly he was shooing away.

"Sweet." Caleb slipped off his black suit jacket and tossed it over the back of the couch, then took a seat. He actually cleans up nice apparently. He had abandoned his usual ripped jeans, skate brand t-shirt, beat up converses, and shaggy hair cut for a black tuxedo with a green dress shirt and black shoes and tie. He had gelled up his hair and, dear Merlin, he'd gotten a hair cut. The only remnant of his usual punk self was the fact that instead of wearing black dress shoes with his suit, as one would expect, he was wearing brand new black converses with green laces. How very Christmas-y of him.

"Nice shoes." I said raising an eyebrow.

"They're more comfortable. Besides, even if the date doesn't pan out, I get new shoes out of it."

"Good plan." I nodded my head in agreement "Who's your date anyways?"

"Well, actually it's-"

"Here they come!" James hissed as both he and Remus stood from the couch and brushed off their suits. James's was the traditional, black with white dress shirt and a creme colored vest and black tie. Remus's was also a black suit with white dress shirt and black tie, but he wasn't wearing a vest.

"I don't understand why you guys are all so nervous, it's just another ball." honestly they were all acting like third years at their first ball. I can't figure out why either, it's just one more ball, not like there haven't been others and won't be-

"Damn." Remus was looking at the stairs. A pair of long legs were desending the stairs, feet in two high heeled white shoes, then came the hem of a dress. By the time Rach, because it had been Rach coming down the stairs first, reached the bottom of the stairs Remus was nearly bursting with joy, and I don't think it was because he had gotten an A on our last Charms test. Rach was wearing a light pink dress that reached her ankles in the back and the top of her calves in the front. The straps were spaghetti string leading into a v-neck front. She wore her hair up in a loose bun with a couple of hairs falling down around her face with a soft wave. Her jewelry was silver: dangly silver earrings with little diamonds in them, silver tennis bracelet, and silver necklace with a diamond pendant that rested just below her collar bone. If Remus wasn't in love before, he was now. Wordlessly she held out her hand and he took it in his own, gave the rest of us chums a smile of pure bliss, then walked off to the Ball with her.

All I want to know is how the hell he knew she was the first one coming down the stairs.

The next to come down was Lily, She descended just after Rach's feet hit the floor, so when James, Matt, Caleb and I dragged our heads back round, it was to find Lily standing at the bottom of the stairs already. She was wearing a cream colored, form fitting dress made of smooth silk that just barely touched the floor, hiding her four inch cream colored heels. The fabric was pulled so that in the v-neck chest met in the center at an emerald broach that matched her vivid green eyes. Her earrings were also emerald and gold, her necklace a simple gold chain with a little gold heart pendant with a tiny emerald at the center. On her right hand she wore a gold ring with an emerald set in it. Her hair was down and straight, falling lightly around her shoulders, face and back. James's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw her and I swear I saw him wipe some drool off the corner of his mouth before he managed to say "Lily, you look beautiful tonight, simply gorgeous." with the biggest happiest smile on his face I have ever seen.

"Thank you James. You look quite handsome yourself." she smiled back at him.

"Shall we?" he extended his arm for her, and she took it.

"Yes, but in a moment, I promised I'd wait for Rebby and Becca down here." Lily said. "I think Rebby's coming down next, she was having a bit of trouble getting down the stairs in her heels. They're as tall as mine with a thinner heel. Could be trouble."

Caleb, who had been half sitting on the arm of the couch, stood up now and, picking up his suit jacket, threw it over one shoulder and held it there with a finger. He just thinks he's so cool.

I was about to mention to him about how he thinks he's so cool when we all heard a quick succession of thumps and a small yelp. We all stopped for a moment, the thought 'she fell down the stairs' sinking into our brains before we all rushed to the bottom of the stairs to make sure she was all right. Caleb was the first there and also the first to realize that she was fine. Rebby hadn't fallen down the stairs, her purse had committed suicide and fallen to the bottom of the stairs. She was a bit shaky in her heels though, so Caleb helped her navigate the remaining five or six steps, guiding her upper body with her hand in his. When she reached the bottom step we all realized the same thing at about the same time: Rebby and Caleb matched. Much like James's cream vest matched Lily's cream dress, Caleb's deep green dress shirt matched Rebby's deep green, strapless, floor length, wrap around dress with a little flower pattern in one corner in a dark colored glitter. Her shoes were black and her purse, retrieved from the floor gallantly by Caleb, was also black, as was her wrap. She had on silver jewelry and her hair was half up, half down with the top layer pulled back into a silver barrette and the bottom layers curving around her shoulders and back.

Caleb was very happy about her dress. The rest of us were still in shock that it matched Caleb's suit.

"Wait, so you two are going together? Or is this just one of those weird coincidences?" James asked.

"We're going together." Rebby smiled at him.

"Really? Huh." James scratched his chin and looked pensive while Lily rolled her eyes at him and gave Rebby a knowing wink. Hmmm... There was going to be some girl talk tonight. Note to self, steer clear of the girl talk.

"They're what?" Becca had come down the stairs while we were all gazing in shock at Rebby and Caleb. "You two are going together?" she looked more stunned than we did.

Caleb adopted a defensive stance "So what if we are?"

"Erm..." Was all Rebby had to say.

"Well, if you are, then I leave you with this one warning: You break her heart and I'll beat you into the ground. And you know I can too." She gave her brother one final glare, then turned, smilingly, to face me.

Yes, me, her date... Now if only I could remember my name...

Becca look amazing. She was wearing a dark blue gown, not a dress, a gown, like with the big fluffy skirt you know? Anyways, she was wearing a floor length gown, dark blue layered over a shiny white material so that at the chest the dark blue met like a v-neck, but the white went straight across, and at the front of the skirt the dark blue separated to reveal another, larger V of the white material. The top was corseted with wide straps in the bark blue material that draped over the outsides of her shoulders and were meant more for decoration than holding up the dress. The tail of the dress was studded with tiny little diamonds starting with a few here and there at the bottom of the laced back, then growing more dense as they trailed to the bottom of the skirt. She wore a silver necklace with a sapphire pendant with a little diamond above the sapphire, silver earrings that matched the necklace, a silver bracelet charm bracelet she had made herself, and a silver ring on her left middle finger with a sapphire accompanied by two little diamonds, on her right hand her grandmothers silver ring with the aquamarine stone that she never took off. On the wrist that didn't have a bracelet she a silver watch and on each of her arms she wore black elbow length gloves that matched her black high heeled shoes and her black purse. She had her hair pulled to the side in a ponytail of big loose curls, the long bang like hairs that usually hugged her face were pinned to the side, just above her ear, by two large silver bobby pins. The banglets, as Becca referred to the, were really wavy, and a couple of loose hairs fell on the left side of her face, opposite the ponytail and banglets, that waved in much the same fashion balancing it out.

"Uh... I... You... Damn." was all I managed to work out. I had begun mentally berating myself for being to stupid when Becca laughed lightly at me.

"Thank you Sirius, your speechlessness says it all." she rolled her eyes smiled happily. "Oh! I nearly forgot! You all wanted to know what was in the little black bag, didn't you?"

We all nodded yes or, in Rebby's case, stumbled forward excitedly and nearly fell off our heels while trying to bob our heads to fast.

"Well, here it is!" Becca pulled a little silver tiara out of her purse and waved it about at us. "Really, it isn't that big of a deal, I just thought it was funny you were all falling all over yourselves trying to figure out what it was." Becca took the little silver tiara with the little diamonds on it and placed it on her head. Then pulled out a compact mirror and checked it's placement and to make sure she hadn't messed up her hair in doing so, then snapped the compact shut and smiled at us. "We ready to go yet?"

"Uh..." I was still staring at her like she was an alien and I know understood why the guy had been so nervous, the girls were dressing up for us, not for the ball. Becca had dressed up for ime/i not for the ball, and that just made my amazement at her appearance even greater. "Yeah, sure, let's go." I finally managed, taking Becca's hand in mine and walking towards the portrait hole, never once taking my eyes off of her.

How in the hell did I ever get so lucky?

We walked down to the Great Hall where the Yule Ball was being held. There were dozens of people standing around outside the doors waiting for dates and friends. We push through the crowd and walked into the Great Hall. Many of us, even the one's who had helped decorate it, were awed at the appearance of the huge room.

There were red and green streamers over the doors and windows with gold, red, and green balloons floating around the walls as well. There were lit candles floating around the ceiling accompanied by gold glitter that hovered in the air for the light from the candles to sparkle off of. There were dozens of round tables spread around the outside edges of the hall, the long teachers table at the head was covered in refreshments and snack foods. In one corner a band was setting up, but the faint sweet drone of a violin was coming from another, unidentifiable source.

"I always wanted to be in a band." I said.

"Really? Can you play anything?" a woman a little older than us with short black spiked hair wearing a festive green and red dress with gold glitter and ribbons on it asked me from out of no where.

"Erm, I can play a little on the drums... Why do you ask?"

"Oh! I'm Terra, I'm the singer in the band. You see, my publicist wants us to connect with the fans more or some crap like that and I was talking to you head boy and girl earlier and they said that we could do a little karaoke type thing at some point to get the students to feel a little more involved and connected with the band to really get things going you know? So just now when I over heard you I had this idea suddenly hit me: let some of the students play with the band for a bit, a song or two maybe, no more, and we can switch it up and stuff, so will you?"

"Um, wow, you talk really fast." Becca blinked at her blankly.

"Yes, I know, people tell me that a lot. So will you do it? Pretty, pretty please?" she gave me the puppy dog eyes and I had no choice but to give in.

"Okay, if it's all right with you guys?" I asked everyone else, looking mainly at Becca. I didn't want her to feel like I had abandoned her at the ball.

"Fine with me just so long as you don't steal my boyfriend." she joked with Terra.

"No worries there, the bass player is my boyfriend, so I'm set." she winked at us cheerily "Any of the rest of you play any instruments? Know anyone that plays instruments? Can sing maybe?"

"Erm... That one kid in Hufflepuff plays the acoustic guitar..." Remus said.

"And there's a Ravenclaw girl who can sing really well." Added Rach.

"Becca here can play the guitar too, electric guitar I believe." Rebby pointed out.

I looked over at Becca with raised eyebrow in time to see her blush. It wasn't a normal blush either where you just suddenly turn pink, you could actually see this blush start at her toes and slowly creep up to her hair line, it was quite amusing and most likely the best blush I've ever witnessed. If I weren't so nice I would laugh at her. Oh, wait, I'm not that nice am I? "Becca, I just watched your blush slowly creep from your toes to your hairline, and it had to be the best blush I have ever witnessed." I laughed.

"Thanks Sirius." she rolled her eyes at me. "I can play the guitar, but I'm not great at it. I can play the piano pretty well and sing okay too, on certain songs that is."

"Why, Becca, I never knew you had a musical side to you!" I said in fake shock. I'd always known somehow that her sense of poetical rhythm had to mean she had some talent with music as well.

"Yes, well, I am amazing at everything, you should realize this by now." she gave me a wink and turned back to Terra. "So, when are you going to do this thing? And what song are we going to play?"

At this point I became much more interested in what James and Remus were cooking up, and took the opportunity to melt to the back of the group. "Now, what are you two getting up to?"

"We were thinking band reunion." Remus said.

"Oh no." I said, my eyes widening in horror "No. No, no, no, no, no."

"Yes..." James said, wiggling his fingers at me like he was trying to control my mind with them. He had seen a muggle 'magician' do this once and had adopted the action ever since. "you want to get the band back together. It is your life goal. Get... The... Band... Back... Together..."

"No, I don't. I want to dance with Becca, eat some food, snog in the shadows in the garden, eat, perhaps play the drums a bit, for one song for this nice lady over here, and go to bed and sleep, that's what I want to do. Notice that getting the band back together isn't in there anywhere."

"Party Pooper." James said.

"But why not?" Remus whined. He rarely whines, so this told me it was one of his ideas.

"Because the band sucked. The band was horrible. The band no longer has a singer or a lead guitarist."

"The band lives on! The band rocks! And Becca can play the guitar right? She can play for us. And we can find someone to sing, I know it! Come on Sirius, please?" Remus gave me the puppy dog eyes, and it was all over. He's just such a cute little werewolf. Insert mental eye roll here.

"Fine, but only if Becca doesn't mind and if you can find a halfway decent singer."

"YES!" Remus did an air punch.

"We're getting the band back together! We're getting the band back together!" James started dancing around and bumped into Lily. He caught her just before she fell and started swinging her around still chanting 'we're getting the band back together' as he did so.

"James! Put me down!" Lily half yelled at him.

"Yes Ma'am!" He set her back on the floor, smiling from ear to ear. "Remus, let's go, we've got to find a singer!" Then he and Remus crept off while the girls were preoccupied again to find some poor, unlucky soul to play sing in the band.

I shook my head at their retreating backs, then went back over to where the girls were. Terra had gone to finish setting up, and, left to their own devices, the girls had started gossiping, mainly about the Slytherines. Oh boy! Slytherine gossip! My favorite!

No, really, it is.

"Did you see? Snape came with that one girl, Vivian." Rebby pointed out.

"Isn't she the one who slept with that guy?" Rach asked.

"Yeah, and Narcissa is with Malfoy again." Lily added

"Bellatrix and Rodalphus are here together as well. I would have thought he would have dumped her annoying ass by now, but I guess he has his reasons." I added in. The girls all turned to look at me like I was insane or some sort of creature with four heads. "What? I can't trash talk the Slytherines if I don't know the gossip, duh."

"Wow, Sirius, I've never seen this feminine side of you." Becca giggled at me and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Did you notice that table over there?" I pointed at a table in the far corner that was full of Slytherines, the table that Malfoy and his little gang had walked over to just now.

"Yeah, it's full of Slytherines, what about it?" Becca asked.

"My 'fiancé' is sitting over there in the very back snogging some poor soul from Ravenclaw I think, the little slut." I said, shaking my head in mock disappointment. "Oh woe is me, my life is over. Good bye love, good bye cruel world, and good riddance slutty whore of a 'fiancé'."

"How very melodramatic of you Sirius, do act it out again so I can beat you to the ground for it." Becca glowered at me.

"No thanks, I think I'd like to keep my dignity in tact for tonight." I winked at her.

"Good luck with that." Lily said.

"Thanks, I'll need it." and I would, especially if Remus and James managed to find someone stupid and gullible enough to sing with us.

"Hey, where'd my date go?" Rebby asked, looking about for Caleb.

"Oh, he went to say hi to his dorm mates while we were talking." Becca replied, waving her hand in the general direction of where Caleb was standing at a table laughing with some people.

"Well then, I'm off to collect him I guess." Rebby said winking. Poor guy is going to get embarrassed as hell when she gets over there, especially seeing as she hangs out with Becca so much. The mischievous nature had to have rubbed off by now.

"How about we go find a table?" Lily suggested "And does anyone know where James went?"

"He and Remus are attempting to find someone gullible enough to embarrass themselves on purpose in front of the entire school with us, they'll find us in a bit." I said.

"Um, right then." Lily blinked and looked confused for a moment.

"Hey, guess what?" Becca asked.

"What?" Rach replied.

"FOOD! That's what. I'm hungry, lets go get some grub." she then proceeded to smile, grab Lily and my arms and skip off towards an empty table, making it impossible for us to get to the table with her without skipping as well or risking falling flat on our faces and being dragged like that the rest of the distance. Rach followed along, laughing at our appearance.

When we sat down, we looked at the menus and ordered our food, which then instantly appeared on the table. Rebby and Caleb joined us moments later, Caleb was beat red and Rebby was still laughing. I knew she would embarrass him thoroughly. Halfway through the meal Remus and James came back and sat down dejectedly and ordered some food as well. Apparently their search for a singer was in vane.

After we had finished our meal, we talked for a bit about Christmas break and, more importantly, what everyone was doing for it.

"Skiing where?" James asked.

"In Utah, it's in the United States. My family has a time share there, so we visit every year. Usually we go later on in the year, around Easter break, but this year we're going early for some reason." Becca replied. You could see her eyes light up when she talked about it. I never knew she liked any sport other than quidditch so much.

"How long are you staying this time?" Lily questioned.

"Oh, eleven days, not too long."

"Good, so you won't be gone the entire Christmas break then." I said.

Becca raised an eyebrow "no..."

"So what are you doing for break Lily?" I changed the topic swiftly before Becca could ask me what I meant.

"Spending time with my lovely family." Lily rolled her eyes. "More like torture these days really."

"You're coming to my country house after Christmas day, right?" I asked.

"Um... What?" Lily blinked owlishly.

"Well, my family has a country house way out somewhere in Ireland and I always invite my friends to come and stay for the time leading up until Christmas eve. You four are invited this year as well if you'd like to come."

"Really?" Rebby asked.

"This could be... Interesting..." Lily said.

"No, seriously, how rich are your parents? They own a huge house in London, an entire island in Greece, a country house with grounds the size of four regulation size quidditch fields... Dios mio..." Becca rolled her eyes and shook her head. "What am I getting myself into?"

"Er... Huh?" I said.

"Oh, never mind, I'll explain my Spanish and the corresponding sarcasm later."

"Gotcha..." I narrowed my eyes at her. You just never knew what she was saying in Spanish... The other day she called me a cow's tail... Just for fun she called me a cows tail in Spanish... What's with that?

"Remus, you?" Rach asked.

"Erm... I'm, uh, going to stay at Sirius's house the first week... Then I'm going to Sirius's place for the rest."

"You're not going to see your parents."

"Erm, no." Remus, looked down at his plate and fiddled with his food. Poor guy. "What about you Rach?"

"Going to stay with my family for a bit, see the relatives, kiss babies, sell my soul to the devil, you know the drill." Rach rolled her eyes. Remus gave her a sad little smile that she assumed to be one of pity, but how little she knows...

"James?"

"I'll just be staying with my parents all break. After Christmas day we annually migrate from Sirius's house to mine, so if the four of you would like to come to my house as well, feel free. My parents always feel that the more the merrier."

"That's fun." Lily looked a tad bit relieved.

"Except of course during the days when I randomly show up at your house to wish you a happy holiday, drag you into a rug closet to snog, and then abruptly leave." and now we know why she looked so relieved, she thought she had managed an entire conversation without James talking about how much he likes to snog her in a broom closet. Well, welcome to my hell Lily Evans.

"James..." Lily gave him the death glare, and he shut up. He learns quickly apparently. It took me four death glares from Becca before I realized she was trying to burn a whole in my head with her eyes because I did something wrong. Some call that being thick, I call it blissful ignorance.

After a few details were exchanged and such, we all noticed that the band had started playing. It was a quick song that was popular, so we hopped up and started dancing. Well, I think you could call it dancing. I mean, I can dance, my parents made sure of that by sending me to lessons since I was old enough to walk, same with James. Lily was doing fine, and so was Rach. Remus was managing with what James and I had taught him before his first Yule Ball and what he'd picked up since then. The rest were all a bit... Lacking in the dancing talent department. They all seemed to have fun with it though. Rebby and Becca, through some unspoken agreement, turned at the same moment and began doing some made up routine of classic dance moves, including, but not limited to, the sprinkler, the shopping cart, the disco thing where you point at things, the lawnmower, and a few others that they had apparently made up on their own. When they first started doing this I completely stopped and stared at them as they managed to clear most of the other dancers to the side of the dancing area while they did their entire routine. When the song ended and their dance fell apart, they did nothing but laugh for a full ten minutes. I looked to Lily to see if this was normal behavior and, from her eye roll and off hand comments to James, I decided it must be, and swooped out to drag Becca into dancing some more, though a little less "old school". Rebby and Caleb started dancing again as well.

A few songs down the line there was a slow song. I must say, while Becca can't dance very well with quick paced songs, disregarding her hip old school moves with Rebby that is, she can slow dance with the best of them. She let me take the lead quite easily, a difficult task for her I'm sure, and rested her head on my shoulder, her arms circling my neck while I rested my hands on her hips. After the slow dance ended, we danced to a couple more fast paced songs, then another slow song came on. This time, when it ended, we decided to take a break and get something to drink. That's when I noticed that two of our fellow dancers were missing: Remus and Rach.

"Rach?" I whispered in her ear.

"Yes?" she looked up fro where her head was resting on my shoulder. The first slow dance was about to come to an end and I had had enough of the tension in the pit of my stomach to last me a life time. If I was going to tell her, I needed to tell her now, before I'm from the worry of it.

"Let's walk outside for a bit, shall we?"

"Alright." we left the dance floor just as the song was ending, so no one noticed that we had left at all as they began dancing to another upbeat tune. We walked out the big double doors and into a large garden built for the purpose of allowing students at the Yule Ball to go outside and sit and talk or cool off from their dancing. Most often, however, the darker more secluded parts of the garden area was utilized in a different manner: an outdoor broom closet for snogging in. This, sadly, was not my intention when I led Rach to one of the darker corners of the garden further away from the noise of the Ball and the other people outside 'taking in the stars'.

"Well, this is awfully forward for you." Rach teased. Apparently I'm not the only one who noticed the bit about people snogging in the dark corners of the garden. I smiled sadly and nodded. "What is it Remus?" she was frowning now, worried that I was growing ill again most likely.

"Nothing, just... Let's have a seat shall we?" I gestured nervously to a small two person bench seat near us. We sat and I tried to remember the words I had rehearsed time and time again this evening. "Rach, I... I'm a... You see I... When I was young I... Oh, bloody hell, this isn't working." I cursed myself for becoming so tongue tied and looked angrily at the ground between my feet.

"Remus? What is it? You never curse, why are you cursing now?" Rach not only looked, but now sounded worried.

I sighed. Not telling her would be worse than telling her at this point. 'Be a man, Remus!' Sirius voice echoed in my head. Not the usual voice of my conscience, but I'll take what I can get. "Rach, when I was a little boy, I was playing in the woods..." I told her the whole story, all of it, every little detail of getting bitten by that damn Fenrir Greyback and becoming a werewolf, how all my absences due to health or the need to visit ill and dying relatives were excuses for the days before and after I changed. At some point I noticed she'd begun to cry, and I heard my own voice crack, but forced myself to keep on telling her what I had come out here to say, what had to be said. Eventually, I finished with "and I just had to tell you, because I didn't want to keep it from you any longer, because you deserve better than that, I thought you deserved the truth, so there it is. I hope this doesn't... I hope you don't stop lov-liking me because of it, I really don't." I was fighting back the tears now. I really like Rach, love her even, maybe... Whatever love is exactly... It's not like my familial situation exudes the definition of love, now does it?

"Remus, I, you... I'm so sorry..." Rach was still crying, and she looked so sad. He face was very pale, nearly devoid of color, and her chin quivered as she talked. 'Oh, no... She's not going to accept me... She's going to tell me she can't love a monster like me, some terrible beast that does nothing but kill in the moonlight... What else did I expect? Who could love someone like me...' I was full flow on my depressing rant about how horrid I am and how I don't deserve to live much less be loved by someone like Rach when, quite suddenly, I realized she was talking again. "Remus, I... How could I ever not like you? I... I..." her tears fell heavier now, and she looked like she was battling some inward force, her brow furrowed in a look of both confusion and indecisiveness. Then "I love you!" she said quite suddenly. Then, before I could do anything else, she leaned forward and began to kiss me. At first it was a light kiss on the lips, then I realized exactly what she had said, and, pulling back from the kiss, whispered "I love you too." then pulled her into another, deeper kiss. 'Love... What is love? Is this love? It must be, or else I've gone mad, completely off my rocker, insane... And don't they always say love is crazy? Don't they always say love is for fools and lunatics? Well,' I mused 'if that's the case, I must be both a fool and a lunatic...'

"Alright! Everyone, listen up! So, me and my band mates, with the help and input of our lovely manager, have decided to do a bit of audience participation tonight. So, who wants to sing tonight?" Terra said into the microphone. "Anyone? Come on now, don't be shy... Yes! You there, in the back, come on up!"

I stood and walked to the front of the room. Great. How exactly did I get volunteered for this? I'm not a singer, I don't sing, not in public. In public, singing is not something I do seriously, silly singing where you purposefully sound horrible, I do that, singing alone to my radio or with friends in private, I do that as well, but never ever do I sing alone in public.

"Alright, your name is?" Terra held the microphone up to me.

I'm pretty sure at this point I adopted the 'deer in headlights' look as I realized exactly how many people were staring at me. Great, just great. "Becca Burns." someone said into the microphone. Oh, wait, that was me. I was having one of those out of body experiences, where you do and say things and don't even realize you're doing or saying them until they happen. Earlier I had felt a little awkward about volunteering my services for playing the guitar, and, somehow, the girls had all gotten to talking about me singing one song in particular in our dorm all the time. It wasn't my fault I could never get the damn thing out of my head, but apparently they all decided that it was time to take my one woman dorm act on the road and reveal it to public eyes. This, of course, led them to volunteer me to sing for Terra, which at first hadn't seemed so bad... Then I realized I have never sung more than an occasional 'oh' or 'ah' as backup in public. Which leads us back to me, standing on a spotlight stage, eyes wide, mouth dry, throat blocked, attempting to get up the nerve to do more than croak a response into the mic as Terra asked me the next question we had discussed earlier. "What house are you in?"

"I'm a seventh year Gryffindor." I managed to squeak out. Have I mentioned I really dislike being on stage? Because I do, I really, really, do.

"Alright, Johnny, you wanna pick it up for us?" Terra said to the drummer. Then, seeing the fear in my eyes, gave me a wink of encouragement and handed me the mic. I held it awkwardly in my hand while Terra went to tell the band what song they were playing. I swept the audience with my eyes once more and this time as they passed over the front row they were met by a set of gray-blue eyes almost directly in front of me.

"Alright Becca!" Sirius yelled encouragingly.

That was all it took, that little bit of strength to borrow from someone else, a deep breath, and I was in stage persona. My stage persona has a name, it's Beth, Beth is the side of me that lives for the spotlight, the attention, center stage and all it's glory. Beth has not seen the light of day for more than the occasional spectacular catching of the snitch during a quidditch game since my band days, way back in the summer after second year. Hence the reason all of my friends, excluding Rebby, were surprised when I let out my deep breath, open my eyes to the crowd, and the drummer counted out the tempo with an accompanying tap of his drum sticks. "a One, a two, a one, two, three, four!"

"I didn't know Becca could sing." Rach said and she and Remus, both with slightly tear stained cheeks, came up behind us. They both look a bit worse for their wear, but happy none the less. That's good, I was worried for them, for Remus, before, but now that they've gotten it over with, and apparently with good results, I could fully focus on the matter at hand: my girlfriend about to die from stage fright in front of the whole school.

"Neither did I." I replied. Maybe if I could just give her some support, let her know we're here, that she can use our strength, my strength... "Alright Becca!" I yelled, putting on my most encouraging smile and nodding at her from the place we had managed to elbow ourselves into in the front row. "Go Becca! Woohoo! Alright!"

"I wouldn't worry about her so much, mate, she's done this before." Rebby gave me an odd little smile, oddly proud and somehow knowing.

"But, she looks terrified." I was a little confused. How could she have done this before if she looked so completely and utterly scared on the stage?

"She is terrified," Rebby said, smirking "or is she? Look again, look now."

I did as she said and looked up at Becca again. She didn't look scared anymore, she looked... Peaceful. She was standing, eyes closed, taking a deep breath while the band tuned their guitars and such. When they had finished tuning, she opened her eyes and exhaled at the same time. When the drummer started counting you could see the change in her attitude, the way she stood, the expression on her face, the nearly manic glint of joy in her eyes as she surveyed the audience again. Her eyes landed on mine again, and she winked at me. 'She's a completely different person up there.' I thought.

Then her cue came and she began to sing. It was an upbeat song, one I hadn't heard before, probably from a muggle band.

"Sometimes I have dreams
I picture myself flying
Above the clouds
High in the sky
Conquering the world
With my magic piano
Never being scared
But then I realize

I'm supergirl
And I'm here
To save the world
And I wanna know
Who's gonna save me?
I'm supergirl
And I'm here to
Save the world
And I wanna know
Why I feel so alone

Seems like a dream
But there's one thing missing
Nobody's here with me
To share in all that
I've been given
I need someone
That's strong enough for me

I'm supergirl
And I'm here
To save the world
And I wanna know
Who's gonna save me?
I'm supergirl
And I'm here to
Save the world
And I wanna know
Why I feel so alone

Hey ooh

I need someone
I won't stop till
I find the one
Who will start
Belonging in my life
I need someone
I won't stop till
I find the one
Who will start
Belonging in my life

I'm supergirl
And I'm here
To save the world
And I wanna know
Who's gonna save me?
I'm supergirl
And I'm here to
Save the world
And I wanna know
Why I feel so alone

I'm supergirl
And I'm here to
Save the world
And I wanna know
Who's gonna save me
I'm supergirl
And I'm here to
Save the world
And I wanna know
Why I feel so alone

I'm supergirl
I wanna know
Who's gonna save me
I'm supergirl
And I'm here to
Save the world"

When she finished singing, i was speechless. It wasn't that she was the most amazing singer in the world, if anything she was mediocre. What amazed me was how into the song she was, like she was pouring her soul into the song. Plus she was having so much fun with it, jumping around on the stage and making funny facial expressions to go with what she was saying. She was having so much fun up there singing i wanted to jump up onto the stage with her and bounce around in circles like an idiot. After she finished singing and the last few cords died down in the song i just stared at her for a full minute before i realized she was finished singing.

Then I realized, not only had she finished singing, but everyone was applauding. I joined in and gave her a whistle too.

I blushed as everyone applauded. Sirius was giving me this strange, crooked little smile. It was an odd smile, but a good one. Then he seemed to realize he was staring at me and began to applaud with everyone else. I smile at him and looked out at the audience. My stage fright hadn't come back to claim me yet, so i took the chance to do something I'd always wanted to do, something they always do in the movies and books that never really happens in reality. "Thank you! Thanks! Thank you! Um... I'd like to sing another song, if that's okay Tara?" Tara gave me the thumbs up. "Alright then, um, let me just check with the band..." I switched the mic off for a minute. "Do you guys know 'All for you' by Sister Hazel?" they shook their heads no. "Are you sure? Crap... Wait! You can follow the drummer and the singer right? You have those guitars that tune magically?"

"Yeah, we do, but..."

"Well then how about this, my friend Rebby knows this song on the drums, and I think one of the others might know it on guitar. If they do would you let them use your instruments? Then you can just pick up on the beat with the bassist and stuff? Can we do that?"

"Well, we can try, it never hurts... Besides, I needed a break anyways, couple of girls by the snack bar been giving me looks all night. Think it's about time I go and talk to them." he gave me a wink, sat down his guitar, and walked over to the girls.

"Um... How old is he?"

"19."

"Oh... Okay... well, those girls are 13... someone may want to tell him that..."

The drummer rolled his eyes at his friends antics. "I'll handle it." The drummer stood up and walked over to his friend and joined the conversation.

"Well then." I turned on my heel and walked tot he edge of the stage where all my friends were standing and squatted down to talk to them. "Hey, James, you play the guitar right? Do you know any muggle songs?"

"Yeah, tons." he replied, raising an eyebrow.

I dragged him to the side so the others couldn't hear. "You know 'All for you' by Sister Hazel?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Cause you're getting a chance to play it on stage tonight for me, sound like fun?"

James's eyes lit up. "Yeah!"

"Good! Then go get Rebby, tell her what's up, and get ready. I'm going to tell Tara what I'm doing and introduce you guys onstage, okay?"

"I'm on it boss!" James ran off like a little kid headed for a swimming pool full of ice cream.

"Okay then." I stood back up and gave Tara the thumbs up, then turned the mic back on. "Okay everyone, if my singing isn't too horrible for you to have to listen to, I think I'm going to sing another song. Sadly, the band didn't know the one I want to sing, so I've recruited a few of our classmates to help out!" everyone cheered at this "Okay! On the drums, Rebecca Miller!" they cheered some more "And on the lead guitar, James Potter!" the cheering grew louder still and I had to wait a few minutes for it to die down. "Now, we're going to play another muggle song, 'All For You' by Sister Hazel." I paused while a few people hooted and whistled their approval. "And I'd like to dedicate this song to a certain someone, he knows who he is." I winked down at Sirius again, then turned to check with the band to see if they were ready. When they nodded 'yes' I waited for my queue and began to sing.

"Finally I figured out,
But it took a long time
Now there's a turnabout,
Maybe cause I'm trying'
There's been times, I'm so confused
Down my road, will it lead to you?
Just can't turn and walk away

It's hard to say what it is I see in you
Wonder if I'll always be with you
Words can't say it, I can't do
Enough to prove, it's all for you

And I'd thought I seen it all,
Cause it's been a long time
Oh bothered that we'll trip and fall,
Wonderin' if I'm alive
There's been times, I'm so confused
Down my road, will it lead to you?
I just can't turn, you walk away

Its hard to say what it is I see in you
Wonder if I'll always be with you
Words can't say, and I can't do
Enough to prove it's all for you

Rain comes pourin' down,
Fallin' from blue skies
Words give out a sound,
comin' from your eyes

Finally I figured out,
But it took a long long time
Oh now there's a turnabout,
Maybe cause I'm tryin'
There's been times, I'm so confused
Down my road, will it lead to you?
Just can't turn, you walk away

Its hard to say what it is I see in you
Wonder if I'll always be with you
Words can't say, I can't do
Enough to prove it's all for you

Well it's hard to say what it is I see in you
Wonder if I'll always be with you
Words can't say, I can't do
Enough to prove, it's all for you

Hard to say
Hard to say, it's all for you..."

When I finished singing everyone applauded again. James and Rebby were getting into the whole on stage thing and were bowing and stuff. I took the opportunity to see Sirius's reaction. I looked down to where he had been standing.

He was gone.

Startled, I looked around the room wildly, trying to find his face among the crowd. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder spin around.

"Sirius! There you are-" and then of course he kissed me. Right there on stage in front of the whole school, he kissed me.

When he stopped kissing me I turned bright pink, giggled like an idiot, handed the microphone to Tara, and ran from the stage. Somehow I managed to hang onto Sirius's hand and ended up dragging him with me all the way out of the room. I stopped and leaned against the wall in the hallway outside of the Great Hall and I closed my eyes for a moment, reliving that feeling of being in stage singing in front of everyone. "I really don't understand why anyone would ever do drugs, singing, being on stage like that, is more of a rush than drugs could ever be. I mean, talk about your natural highs." opened my eyes, smiling dreamily.

Sirius was giving me this look like I was the funniest thing in the world. Like he was thinking I was just hilarious... And something else... There was something else in that look... "You were great." he said.

And somehow, that was just what I had been waiting for him to say, and I hadn't even known I was waiting for him to say anything. "Thanks." I grinned from ear to ear. "Hey, I want to show you something. Come on." I turned and dragged him off, down the halls of the school, laughing and giggling as I went.