Sirius had his arm around me and he was lightly running his hand up and down my back. We had just left Honeydukes and we were headed to a dress shop. I couldn't believe that he asked me of all people to be his date to the ball. But why? He's never shown any interest in me before now.

"Sirius can I ask you a question?" I asked.

"You just did." Sirius replied.

I looked at him and rolled my eyes. He was honestly too much to deal with at times.

"Well I wanted to know why you decided to take me to the ball. You've never shown any interest in me before."

Sirius looked down and fidgeted with his hands.

"Well.." Sirius started.

"Look, if you're doing this to be nice then forget it. I can find an actual date to the ball." I said calmly. I started to walk away but Sirius grabbed my arm.

"Look Sam, I've actually liked you for a long time now. But you're my friend too and I don't want things to end badly."

My heart lifted at his words. He's liked me for a long time now? I wanted to jump up and down with pure happiness but I controlled myself. I chose my next words carefully.

"Things don't have to end badly."

"I know but we have no control over if they do."

"Well all I know is that I could never stay mad at you, no matter what."

I closed the distance between us and hugged Sirius. He hugged me too but he seemed a little uncomfortable. Maybe he doesn't like hugs?

"I could never stay mad at you either."

"Now come on, we have dress shopping to do." I said and I started walking to the dress shop. Sirius followed behind me. "We can look for a suit too, if you wanted."

"No I'm good, I'll wear one of the ones I have."

I walked to the nearest rack and started to look. Sirius did the same and every now and then he'd hold up a dress, all of which were tacky and low cut.

"How about this one." Sirius said. I turned around, expecting to laugh at the next ridiculous dress Sirius pulled out.

"Sirius I swear if-" I started but I stopped when I saw the dress. It was a dark blue dress that was long in the back but shorter in the front. It had lace in the front and back and it came with a pair of white stilettos. "That's beautiful."

"I know and it will look great on you."

I walked over to Sirius and he handed me the dress. I walked eagerly to the changing room and quickly pulled the dress on. I put the stilettos on and admired myself in the mirror a few seconds before walking out of the changing room.

"Well what do you think?" I asked, walking towards Sirius.

His eyes widened when he saw me and he smiled. "You look amazing."

My heart swelled, "Thanks." Amazing is the best thing a girl could hear. Beautiful is too cheesy, pretty is too simple, sexy just refers to a girl's figure, but amazing is perfect.

I walked back to the dressing room and changed into my clothes. I bought the dress and walked over to Sirius. "Ready to go?"

"Definitely, an hour of shopping is a lot of work."

"Oh wow." I said shaking my head at him. "Well where do you want to go now?"

"I would like to go to the Shrieking Shack."

The Shrieking Shack? I was not going to go there, everyone in Hogsmeade claimed to hear noises from that house, thus the name Shrieking Shack.

"Are you crazy? That place is haunted, that's why it's called the Shrieking Shack."

"And? It's an adventure. Plus I've been there hundreds of times, it's not haunted."

I thought for a second before answering. I mean it did seem mysterious and I couldn't help but be a little curious.

"Ok fine, I've never been and I'm a little curious."

"Good, let's go." Sirius grabbed my hand roughly and took off running. Luckily my years of running had payed off and I could easily keep up with him.

I pulled my hand from his grasp and ran faster. "Last one there has to go in first!" I called looking over my shoulder. Sirius laughed and sped up. Sirius was fast but he started to get tired. I was accustomed to running long distances and I beat him to the Shrieking Shack easily.

"You don't even look tired." Sirius said, coming up from behind me and panting heavily.

"I run a lot." I replied casually, twisting a strand of my hair in my fingers.

"I can see that," Sirius said laughing. "You're really good."

"Thank ya."

"Now come on Sam, let's go inside."

Sirius went in first and I followed a little hesitantly behind him. The house smelled of mildew and the wallpaper was torn in a lot of places. There were also bugs and the floorboards were pulled up in some places. Sirius gave me a tour of the house and started to tell a story about a monster that came here.

"And once a month it comes here on the full moon and terrorizes the village!" Sirius finished, grinning at me.

"Ooh I'm so scared." I mocked, laughing at his ridiculous story.

Sirius went over to a torn up couch and sat down. He started to eat some of the candy we had bought at Honeydukes and I sat down too and began to eat my own candy. I started to eat my Chocolate Frog and then my Fizzing Whizzbees. I made Sirius try a Fizzing Whizzbee and he made me try an Acid Pop in return. I cringed at the sour burning sensation and Sirius laughed.

When I was done eating, I sat back on the couch and set my candy aside. I looked over at Sirius who had done the same thing. I shifted closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. He put his arm around me and we sat like that in a comfortable silence for what felt like hours.