Sirius was sure that getting out of his house and going to a party with Evelyn was a perfect plan but now that the night was upon him, he changed his mind. For one, his house was full of various family members and he had a feeling that his absence, though welcome, would be noticed. For another thing, Sirius had no idea what he would say or do in a room full of Muggles. He had enough trouble with just Evelyn or the men who worked at the auto-garage. So he was nervous and excited as he ducked out of his house to wait where Evelyn told him to meet her.

Sirius was lost in his thoughts about his family and the night ahead of him and he didn't even notice that Evelyn was suddenly right next to him. He blinked down at her. Evelyn looked way different then he had ever seen her. He always saw her after work, tired and slightly disshelved. But here she was, made up and looking bright. Her hair was slicked back in a way that made her look older, more sophisticated and she was wearing a dress. Sirius gulped a little. Evelyn had legs. He knew Evelyn had legs and he had seen her in shorts before, it was a hot summer after all, but her legs never quite looked like this.

"You look..." He shook his head unsure of what he wanted to say.

"Thanks," Evelyn said with a bright smile. "I think."

Sirius nodded: "No, it's good. Definitely good."

"You look good too."

And he did look good. Evelyn had seen him in those jeans and that t-shirt before. It looked like he didn't have many clothes. He wore the same ones alot but the leather jacket was new. Sirius noticed that guys on motorcycles always had leather jackets so he figured it was time he got one considering his bike was coming along quite nicely and he was sure it would be done soon.

He followed Evelyn slowly, still staring at her before saying:

"I can't believe your mother let you out of the house looking like that."

"She didn't."Evelyn laughed as she reached back and grabbed Sirius's hand. She felt unsure all the sudden. Was it too much? Plus, she didn't like the look she was getting from another man on the street. "She let me out of the house in work clothes, thinking I was sleeping over my friend's houe tonight."

As they walked, Sirius noticed that Evelyn's hand would tighten around his and then she would pull at her dress and gulp and look distressed.

"What are you so nervous about?" He asked.

"These people. I wouldn't exactly call them friends and oh, i don't know." Evelyn said with a sigh. "Don't worry about it."

But Sirius was worrying. And Evelyn's nervousness wasn't helping. He expected her to be cool and composed. Evelyn took out a cigarette and lit it, enjoying the calmness that came with it. That was the Evelyn that Sirius knew. She looked cool, dangerous, different, a surprise.

"You want one?" She asked when she noticed Sirius staring at her.

"Yeah."

Evelyn gave one to Sirius and held up the match to light it. It lit without a problem. They both smiled, remembering the time Sirius had tried a cigarette for the first time. The night Evelyn decided that she liked Sirius. A lot. Sirius was now thrilled with himself for being able to smoke. He was sure he looked cool and felt his anxiety lessen with each puff.

"Well," Evelyn said a few minutes later as she stopped in front of a house. "Here we go."

Sirius opened the door and blinked at what he saw. There were teenagers everywhere. There must have been at least thirty. And they were all dressed so differently. Some in tiny dresses and others in large pants and some in dark glasses. Sirius felt a surge of something akin to pride when he saw that most of the girls had extremely long hair, save for Evelyn. There was rock music playing loudly and the smell of something strange in the air.

Evelyn was overwhelmed by the scene before her too but not nearly as much as Sirius and she looked around the room for a familar face. Finally, she spotted Jessica across the room and gave her a small wave. Jessica leaned forward to get a better view of Sirius and then her jaw dropped. "Oh. My. God." She mouthed to Evelyn who just laughed at her friend as she moved across towards the crowd towards Evelyn and Sirius.

"What are you laughing at?" Sirius asked, glad to have something to focus on.

"Nothing. I just want you to meet somebody," Evelyn said and found herself on the verge of a giggle, the atmosphere was affecting her. "This is Jessica, my best friend. Jessica, this is Sirius."

"So you're the mystery man."

"Hope so," Sirius said with a grin.

Evelyn looked at him as if through someone else's eyes. He had the handsome bad boy vibe down to a tee and suddenly Evelyn appreciated him more then ever. She wasn't the only one who felt that way.

There were whispers of: "Is that Evelyn Morris?" "Who's that boy?" The other boys thought Evelyn looked good. The girls thought Sirius looked better.

"Come on, Evelyn. Let's go get something to drink." Jessica said but what she really meant was 'we need to gossip.'

"Be right back," Evelyn said to Sirius, following Jessica despite the slightly panicked expression on Sirius's face.

"So, when you told me about mystery man, you forgot to mention that he was drop dead gorgeous."

"I never really noticed before."

"Liar."

Evelyn and Jessica laughed as they reached the drinks table. Evelyn grabbed a drink for herself and one for Sirius. Evelyn didn't go to parties often but when she did, she did it right.

"You better get back to him before someone tries to steal him."

"You think?" Evelyn asked nervously.

"I know." Jessica said and Evelyn followed her gaze to see Beth making her way over to Sirius.

As Evelyn approached them she heard Beth say:

"It's my birthday party and I don't know you. So you must be my present."

Beth would say some ridiculous line like that and think it made her cute. Sirius saw Evelyn walking towards him and felt a rush of gratitude. Part of him wanted to flirt with the other girl but the bigger part of him had no idea where he was and what he was doing. He reached out and snaked his arm around Evelyn as soon as she was close enough:

"I've already been unwrapped." He said with a grin, Stupid lines deserved stupid responses.

Beth's face fell when saw Evelyn standing with Sirius. Evelyn unsure of what to do took a swig of her beer. Sirius stood there smirking.

"So this is the boyfriend," Beth said incredulously. "Well if you ever return him, I don't mind regifts." Beth laughed at her own little joke and then left with a little sneer.

"This is her party?" Sirius asked.

"Yup," Evelyn said as she took another swig. Sirius turned to her to say something else about the topic but Evelyn didn't want to hear it. She thrust the bottle at him.

"What's this?"

"Beer."

Sirius grinned. That he knew. He brought the bottle to his mouth and gulped, expecting something similar to butterbeer. What he got was much much different. He spat it out and choked slightly in the process. Evelyn laughed as she wiped away the bit of froth on his chin.

"What were you expecting?"

"Not that." Sirius answered honestly.

Evelyn laughed again and took another sip from her bottle. She was aware that it was almost gone and she should probably slow down. Sirius was aware of the fact that yet again, Evelyn looked much cooler then he did. Unsure, he stared at the bottle before taking a tiny sip. Different but not necessarily bad.

"Not bad," Sirius said as he took a bigger sip.

"I'm about to get you drunk for the first time, aren't I?"

"No. I've been drunk just not on this," Sirius said. Not with muggle drinks. Despite the fact that Sirius thought the quality inferior, the drink did it's job and he felt more relaxed in the room full of muggles. The music was pretty good and he liked to look at the muggle clothes and he and Evelyn finally found a group of people who were fun to talk to.

As hours passed, Evelyn found herself in a group talking to one of the girls from her equestrian class, Christie.

"You know Evelyn, I didn't think you'd come back to the stables after you stopped showing up."

"Why?" Sirius asked curiously.

Christie smiled at him, she was a nice girl and very talkative after a few drinks. "Because Evelyn is so not a horse girl. She's more of a..." Christie stopped to think a moment. "A rock and roll kind of girl. Like she should be riding a motorcycle, not a horse."

Sirius and Evelyn exchanged a look and didn't see the other person join their group.

"I reckon she's not brave enough," Beth said, mean and drunk.

"Maybe not. But she doesn't need to be when she's with me and on my bike."

Evelyn felt a surge of anger towards Beth but felt it switch towards Sirius. Evelyn realized she was probably drunk but before she could make up her confused mind, Sirius bent down and whispered:

"Before you get angry with me: I know you're brave enough and can defend your own honor and all that."

His words slurred together slightly. He was probably intoxicated too. Evelyn stood on the tips of her toes and found Sirius's ear:

"Yeah. But it is nice to have someone do it for you sometimes."

They beamed at each other and Evelyn realized she was definitely drunk. The previous anger had completely evaporated into a giddy excitement and her words slurred together and she had swayed, unbalanced on her tip-toes.

Evelyn wasn't the only one. Jealousy surged through Beth as she saw the girl she secretly wished she was and the handsome boy look at each other like that. She let it take control of her and it was like her hands had a mind of their own.

Evelyn blinked down, suddenly wet.

"Oops," Beth said empty cup in hand.

"What is wrong with you?" Evelyn yelled, surging forward but before Evelyn could lay a hand on Beth, she had been thinking a nice hair pull, someone was holding her back.

"Okay," Jessica said. Evelyn wondered where she came from, had she been there the whole time or did she just magically show up with the threat of a fight? "Let's go get you cleaned up."

Jessica led her towards the bathroom and all Evelyn was thinking of was the ways in which she could destroy Beth. She imagined herself pulling hair, throwing punches, embarrassing her somehow like showing her underwear to everyone there. How did I end up in a bathroom, Evelyn then thought.

"What happened?" Jessica asked as she dabbed water onto Evelyn's dress.

"She's a bitch,"

"Obviously. But you're drunk. Were you really about to fight her?"

"Yes and I still will."

Jessica shook her head and said: "Don't hate me," before she dunked Evelyn's head into the sink full of cold water.

Evelyn let out a gasp as the cold water soaked into her pores and cleared her mind. She came out of the sink gasping and dripping water everywhere. Before she could do anything, her head was dunked again. After another deep breath and before Jessica could put her under a third time, Evelyn gasped:

"Okay! Okay, I'm better now."

Jessica threw her a towel to dry off with. "I think I ruined your hair," Jessica commented.

This made Evelyn laugh.

"No more fighting?" Jessica asked when she saw that Evelyn wasn't mad anymore.

"No more fighting," Evelyn grumbled which reminded her of a conversation she once had with Sirius.

"Where's Sirius?" She suddenly asked.

"Out there, somewhere."

Evelyn took one long stride towards the door before Jessica stopped her:

"Seriously Evelyn. No more fighting. No more drinking."

"You sound like my mother," Evelyn said furious.

"Ouch. I know what that means coming from you."

But Evelyn wasn't listening. She was already out of the bathroom and looking around. She couldn't see him anywhere. She set out to find him.

And find him, she did. He was surrounded by a group of boys, some laughing others looking like they were about to fall asleep. The smell of smoke was strong in the air.

"What are you doing?" Evelyn asked surprised.

"Smoking," Sirius said with a giggle.

Sirius had followed Jessica and Evelyn to the bathroom but had had the door slammed in his face. He stood outside the door for a minute or two, unsure of what to do. He spied a group of boys smoking and thought of how cool Evelyn always looked when she smoked and the calmness that came with it. So he joined the boys, but this was different. It made him feel different. Giddy and strange.

"Weed?" Evelyn asked incredulously. "You're smoking weed?"

"Yeah," Sirius said even though he didn't know what that meant. He thought it was a cigarette but now that he thought about it, the taste and smell and feelings were all different. He started to laugh.

One of the other boys offered Evelyn a hit. She looked at Sirius laughing on the floor at nothing at all. She thought of everyone else at the party and how her hair was soaking wet. How she was still drunk and still mad but yet giddy. Then she thought: "Fuck it" and accepted.

In what felt like no time at all, Sirius and Evelyn couldn't stop laughing. Sirius was speaking nonsense about something called "quidditch" and about werewolves and something about his best friend being a deer. Evelyn was laughing so hard her stomach was cramping. Sirius was talking about potions class.

"Potions? What are you a witch?" Evelyn asked.

"A witch? No, I'm a man so I'm a wizard."

Evelyn was sure she had never heard something so funny in her life. She wiped tears out of her eyes and laughed so hard, her stomach hurt even more. Or maybe that was something else. She stopped laughing and the pain continued. Evelyn stood up too quickly. Bad idea. She ran towards the door and barely made it out before she threw up. Sirius followed her out and held her up. He was still laughing.

"That's disgusting,"

Evelyn threw up again and then looked up at him. Tears swimming in her eyes, not from laughing and her face was pale. Sirius grew concerned:

"Are you okay?"

Evelyn nodded and slowly straightened up, feeling more sober but still sick. Sirius looked at the vomit on the ground and his face turned a grayish color. Then he was the one doubled over, vomiting on the grass. Evelyn though still shaky, reached over to hold him up. She moved his hair away from his mouth and breathing the night air, she became even more sober.

"I think we have this backwards," She commented. "I'm the one holding your hair back."

The thought made her laugh and Sirius let out a single shaky chuckle before he was throwing up again. He had never felt so sick in his life. Never. Not even the first time he drank firewhiskey or the time James had snuck a bit of puking potion into his pumpkin juice.

"You're sick as a dog," Evelyn said concerned.

Sirius straightened up. "Dog" reminded him that just moments before he was telling Evelyn all about his secrets. She didn't look scared or amazed. He reached into his backpocket and felt for his wand. It was still safely tucked in there. Had he been foolish enough to take it out?

"Are you okay? You're so pale," A crease had formed between Evelyn's eyebrows. Sirius just nodded, scared to say anything, worried about what he had said.

"Let's go sit down," Evelyn suggested as she led Sirius to a tree in the in the yard. Evelyn leaned against it and Sirius laid down with his head on her lap. Neither said anything for a while. Sirius felt sick to his stomach but he didn't think it had anything to do with the puking.

"Guess you were right," Evelyn said suddenly.

"About what?" Sirius didn't know why he asked. He didn't want to know.

"You once made a joke about me fighting girls when we went out. Which I would have done if I wasn't held back."

"Yeah," Sirius said glad that whatever he might have said was forgotten. "For once, I had to be the one holding you back. Guess we're even now,"

"Hardly," Evelyn whispered, her eyes beginning to close. She shifted her position so that she was laying down next to him. She put an arm around him and he put one around her. She couldn't remember what she wanted to say. He was grateful that his secret was still safe. Within seconds, both were sound asleep.