Chapter Eleven
And finally it was the day of Slughorn's party and those of us who'd been invited were discussing it excitedly. Arron, Nicola and Matt however were just listening glumly.
"Did you hear Jeremy Redskin is going to be there? He's got the highest goal scoring record of all time!" Benjy said excitedly.
"Yes, but I'm looking forward to Morgana Ketteridge being there. She's the highest paid author since Corey Stebbins," Ollie replied.
Nicola groaned. "I love Morgana Ketteridge! She's my idol. I hate that I'm not invited!"
I sighed sympathetically. "It would be nice if the three of you could come too."
"Oh, enjoy it Bridget - it's your first time. It's these two nutters I'm jealous of - they've met more famous people than I've even heard of!" she said, grimacing at Ollie and Benjy as they smiled back.
"Um, 'scuse me a minute," I heard a voice from behind me and we all turned to see who it was. To my surprise, it was Peter Pettigrew and he looked a bit awkward.
"Sorry Bridget, but the Birthday Boy is requesting your presence for his gift opening," Peter said, rolling his eyes. "He says to insist because it's only yours and Emmeline's presents that he doesn't know about."
I laughed. "So, he got to James then?"
Peter grinned back. "Last night."
"Okay," I said, reaching in to my bag and pulling out the parcel. "I was going to give it to him at the party, but if he has to have it now…" I then turned to look at Ollie abruptly.
"Oh, do you mind if I just go over there for a moment?"
Ollie smiled. "No, go ahead. Obviously his presents are very important to him!"
"You have no idea," Peter said seriously, shaking his head.
"Back in a flash," I said to my friends, kissing Ollie's cheek before I got up.
Sirius was sitting at the center of the table with a party hat on his head and a humongous grin plastered all over his face. Emmeline was laughing at him, her arm linked through his as he stared at his pile of presents greedily. When he saw me, he raised his other hand.
"Bridget!"
I laughed. "Happy Birthday, Sirius."
"Thanks!" he grinned before reaching out both of his hands. "Now, let's have it."
The group laughed as I rolled my eyes and handed over my present before sitting down and joining him.
"Oi! Thanks for sending Bridget over, Chamberlain!" Sirius yelled across the room and Ollie turned and raised his goblet with a shrug.
"Happy Birthday."
Sirius' eyes twinkled and he grinned. "You see - you give me presents and I'm nice to your boyfriend."
I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Okay, get on with it, yeah?"
Sirius reached for the biggest present first and James was the one to roll his eyes now.
"Why do you even bother with opening ours? You already know what they are," he scowled.
"But I don't know what they look like!" Sirius said as he tore open the paper. It was a brown leather jacket that looked old and worn, but in a cool way and there were lots of zippers all over the thing giving it an edge and making it look even better. It would definitely suit Sirius.
"Aw Prongs - it's great!" Sirius said, pulling it on and admiring the texture.
"It's supposed to be good for when you finally get that motorcycle working. Oh and mum and dad sent magazines and some sort of card that will let you go in to a Muggle garage to work on it," James said with an embarrassed shrug.
Sirius was now inspecting the magazines and card with a massive grin on his face. "They're the best. Thanks mate," he said with a nod at James.
"Okay, get mine out of the way now because I know you hate it already," Remus said, pushing a rectangular book-shaped package towards Sirius with a sigh.
"Oh Moony, I don't hate it. I just thought you knew me better than…." Sirius' trailed off as he tore the wrapping off and a book that I could only describe as dirty, fell out. Remus' face turned mischievous and James and Peter whooped at Sirius' look of surprise. He looked at the book, up at Remus, down at the book and then at Emmeline. Quick as lightning, he covered her eyes and we all laughed as she fought a smile.
"Sirius! Let me see," she giggled.
"No, love. You can't get mad on my birthday and I'm afraid this will make you mad," Sirius said as we all laughed. He then mouthed "Top present" to Remus before hurriedly shoving the book of half-naked Muggle pin-up girls in his bag. He then uncovered Emmeline's eyes and gave her a wink as she looked back affectionately.
"Go on, open mine then," Peter said, handing over a lumpy package.
"That is one lumpy Sneakoscope, Wormtail," Sirius joked as he opened the package and found a bright blue Sneakoscope and three pairs of black socks inside.
"Lovely, I needed new socks," Sirius said putting aside Peter's gift and grinning. "Thanks Pete."
"Yours next, Em," Sirius said but I held up a hand.
"Maybe you should save Emmeline's for last. Here's mine," I said, tossing him the present closest to me.
Sirius grabbed it and shook it around looking like a madman. "So, sweets right?" he said. "Bertie's Beans? Did Hobbs help you pick it out?"
I shook my head. "Just open it, you loon!"
He ripped open the paper and then the coating of tissue paper before the Beater gloves landed on the table in front of him.
"OI! Those are great ones!" James said, snatching them off the table and looking at the brand. "High quality - cost a pretty penny and top of the line for Beating." He looked at me, his eyes wide with excitement. "These are brill, Bridget."
"Hey! They're mine, thank you!" Sirius said, grabbing the gloves from his friend and inspecting the brand himself. "Wow, Bridge - I really needed new ones, how did you know?"
"Well everyone saw that Slytherin wreck your old ones in the last game and well, you told me," I said, my cheeks reddening as I felt a bit embarrassed. Perhaps it had been a lot to spend on a gift.
Sirius gave me a really genuine smile and said, "Thanks Bridget, I love them."
I waved him off, feeling incredibly embarrassed now and so, didn't notice Emmeline's look of horror.
"Oh but…" James suddenly interjected, his eyes growing wide as he looked at Emmeline and her mortified expression.
"Yours next love!" Sirius said, picking up one medium size gift and one small one.
"Er- actually, just open the small one," Emmeline said, trying to tug the medium gift from Sirius' grasp.
"No! No returns," Sirius insisted, giving her a peck on the cheek. "I can't wait to see what you got me."
"Oh Merlin," I heard James mutter and I saw that Emmeline was bright red in the face and was looking at James very sourly. Her steely gaze shifted to me for a moment before they snapped back to Sirius as he unwrapped the larger present and another pair of Beater's gloves fell out.
Gloves that looked to be significantly less expensive than the ones Sirius had just unwrapped moments ago. Oh Merlin, had I bought him a better present than his girlfriend?
"Oh…wow. Oh Em, these are really great. I love the…color. Thank you so much!" Sirius tried to say but before he could lean in to hug her, she was up and running out of the hall with what looked like tears running down her face. The moment after was awkward to say the least. No one seemed to be looking at me and I was looking anywhere but at Sirius Black.
"Wow," James finally said. "That sucked."
Sirius shot him a look and he fell silent once more.
"So, in the future…maybe we should all tell each other what we're getting?" Remus suggested quietly and Sirius let out a large sigh. He slipped the smaller of Emmeline's presents in his pocket and put the rest of the gifts in his bag, including both pairs of gloves. He then vanished the wrapping paper and cleared his throat.
"Well, thanks for the lovely morning guys but I've got something to sort out now. And thanks for the gloves, Bridget - I really do love them," he said to me nicely as if sensing my guilt. With that, he patted his friends on the back and headed out of the Hall in search of his girlfriend.
"He should take mine back and exchange them," I said, dully to the other boys but they shook their heads.
"It's not your fault that you got him a better version of her gift, Bridget," Remus said, soothingly.
"She's just a bit upset, I'm sure she doesn't blame you," Peter added, patting my back.
"He's going to return her gloves - yours are way better – it just makes more sense. She'll understand," James said. "Chin up, Bridget. We'll see you later at the party? We have a prank to possibly put on hold." He sighed and gestured for his friends to follow him out of the Hall while I went back over to my seat.
"Everything okay?" Ollie asked and I nodded.
"Yeah…birthdays are fun," I said, feeling horrible.
I didn't see Sirius or his friends for the rest of the day and although I still felt guilty, when I confided in Nicola she seemed to find it funny.
"Don't worry about it so much," she said after we'd finished our assignments for the weekend and were heading back to Ravenclaw Tower. "It was an obvious present, I'm surprised none of his other mates got the same thing as well! Just try to relax and enjoy the fabulous party, yeah?"
I nodded although I still felt awkward. Nicola saw my face and patted me on the back.
"You probably won't even see them much, you'll be with Ollie most of the time," she said, reassuringly.
I didn't feel that much better about that. Technically, this would be my first date with Ollie and although we hung around together, snogged and even had a fight – I still felt as though there was a lot of pressure on tonight.
"You're absolutely sure I won't look like a try-hard in that dress?" I said as we waved to Arron and Matt who were playing Wizard's Chess in the Common Room. Benjy and Ollie were probably up in the dormitory getting ready as the party was supposed to start in an hour. Nicola had already given me a lecture saying that I'd need longer than my usual getting ready time. I on the other hand felt like studying for my big Transfiguration test merited more of my focus.
When we got up to the dormitory, Nicola shooed me in to the bathroom for a shower, handing me a bottle of Sleek-easy.
"Wash your hair and put that in so it'll be easier to straighten," she said before looking thoughtful. "Or do you want to leave it curly for a change? It does look lovely, you know?"
I frowned. I'd always been self-conscious about my head of massively curly, black hair that I spent every day straightening religiously because my Dad and Chris both had always had beautifully, dead-straight hair. According to my Dad, I had my mother's locks and although I had always wanted to be like the beautiful witch I only knew from photographs, Rupert Davies had once told me it looked like a bird's nest in second year and ever since then, I had straightened it without fail.
"No, thank you – I'd rather not look like a lunatic, today of all days," I said before heading in for my shower.
After I'd emerged, towel drying my hair and tipping my head over to apply Sleek-easy, Nicola produced my dress robes with a flourish. She had steamed them so that the fold creases were gone and there they hung, looking as beautiful and as daunting as they had in the shop window.
"I just wish the slit was a little less high, I don't think I'm leggy enough for it," I said, gesturing to my height. Nicola looked at me critically before sighing.
"If you really feel uncomfortable after you put it on, I promise to make the slit smaller," she said, thrusting the robes at me and patting my hair as I pulled them on. She refused to let me look in the mirror until she'd finished straightening my hair and when I turned I found that I looked very nice, although as predicted, alarmed at the amount of leg showing.
"I suppose it is a little over-the-top," she said, chewing on her tongue before bending down and using a nifty spell to shrink the slit so that it now went from my knee to the floor rather than from my thigh. "Do you feel more comfortable, now?" she said and I found without my thighs making an appearance, I felt much more confident.
"Do my makeup will you? You're better at picking colors than I am," I said, sitting down with a smile and throwing my straight hair over my shoulders. At last I was beginning to feel excited about tonight.
Nicola put some bronze eye shadow on my lids with dark mascara but left the rest of my face fairly nude. I just slicked on a little of my favorite rose lip-gloss and smiled in the mirror.
"Will I sound conceited if I say I look fabulous?" I joked, twirling in front of the mirror. "I feel a bit like a Muggle Princess."
"Ollie will die when he sees you!" she said, grinning back at me. "Your first Slug Club Party! Let me just take a photo!"
I felt a sad twinge in my stomach thinking about how my Dad always made me pose for photos before 'important' events. I smiled in the picture anyway and when Nicola handed me the instantly developed image, I made a note to send it to Chris for the album anyway. He'd like it. Of course he might end up teasing me mercilessly when I went home for Christmas in a couple of weeks, but we were all each other had left and I knew he'd appreciate the gesture.
"Everything fine?" Nicola said casually and I smiled thinking about how she'd rephrased her 'Are you okay's' because she knew they bothered me.
"I'm okay Nicola – just feeling a little nostalgic," I said before looking at the clock. "Ha! You said it would take hours and hours!"
She rolled her eyes. "Well I know it doesn't take that long but it's part of the fun spending hours getting ready!"
I frowned and hugged her. "I really do wish you were coming. This is more your thing than mine."
Nicola sighed dramatically. "Ah but sadly Arron and I will never amount to anything. At least you're dating someone who will – that's how you get invited."
"What a slime ball that Slughorn is!" I agreed and we laughed.
"You better go down, don't keep Ollie waiting!" she said, heading out before me. "Wait two minutes, you need to make an entrance!"
"Oh Nicola!" I said, shaking my head.
"Let me have my vicarious Belle of the Ball moment!" she snapped before smiling sweetly again. "You really do look wonderful."
I smiled back. "Thanks Nic."
Letting Nicola have her wish, I waited impatiently for two minutes before opening the door and looking down the staircase to see Ollie waiting with Benjy and his little sister, Lizzy. They were all chatting to Nicola, Arron and Matt and when Nicola saw me, she whispered something to Arron who embarrassingly started a drum roll on the table. Matt and Nicola joined in and I laughed, feeling embarrassed as the others turned to look at me descending the staircase. Ollie smiled and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
"Wow Bridget, you look amazing," he said, his grin widening.
"Thanks," I said shyly. "You too." He did look handsome, wearing pale blue robes that brought out his spectacular eyes. He had a bit too much hair gel in, I noticed, as it was slicked back instead of soft and around his face as usual but regardless, I would be quite happy to look at him for hours.
"You really do look nice, Bridge," Benjy said patting me on the back and the others agreed.
"It was like a fairytale, you walking down those stairs to your prince," Lizzy said dreamily. As she was a third year, I wasn't really surprised that she saw it that way but laughed when Nicola squealed and clapped.
"I know! Didn't she just look like the prettiest girl in the room?" she said excitedly.
"Okay...maybe we should go down to the party before Nicola tries to steal you away from me," Ollie said, grabbing my hand and shielding me from my best friend.
We all laughed and Nicola, Arron and Matt waved the four of us off as we left the Tower to head down to Slughorn's Office where the party was being held. Ollie and Benjy were chatting excitedly about the rumored guests, so I fell in to step with Benjy's sister, who we'd all known since she came to Hogwarts less than three years ago.
"Are any of your friends going, Lizzy?" I asked.
"Yeah some of them. They can't seem to understand why my brother gets invited and I don't. So instead of explaining that I don't have any talent for Quidditch, I decided to make him bring me along," she said, her eyes shining.
"Any boys you fancy going to be there?" I teased and she reddened.
"We all fancy the same boy but he isn't in our year. He's a Gryffindor and I think he's in your year," she said, glancing back at her brother and lowering her voice.
"Who's that?" I said, though I knew the answer.
Her face turned bright red then and she pointed towards us. "He's right there."
I looked up to see a group of students standing on the staircases leading down to the Dungeons and Slughorn's Office. Sirius was there looking...well... amazing. He was wearing charcoal robes and his grey eyes glinted as he turned around to see us approaching. His hair looked better than it usually did, a bit less disheveled than usual and there seemed to be a glow around him. He was talking to James who wore black robes in a material that was definitely more expensive and luxurious than the average pair of robes and behind him were the group of Gryffindors that one could only expect to be with them: Peter, Remus, Dorcas and Lily were all there chatting to each other. Marlene McKinnon was also standing by James' arm and I assumed she was his date for the evening. It didn't seem to bother her that he was eying Evans in her bottle green robes, looking very beautiful but she did look impatient to get to the party. James glanced around and broke in to a smile when he saw me wave at him.
"Oi, there's Bridget," He said, raising his arm and Sirius looked momentarily confused before his face also broke in to a smile.
"I know him," I whispered to a shell-shocked Lizzy. "I can introduce you."
She gulped but nodded at me as she adjusted her dress and stayed next to me as we arrived in front of the group. Ollie arrived at my side, taking my hand as Benjy slapped hands with the boys in greeting.
"Hey everyone," I said, smiling brightly. "This is Benjy's sister, Lizzy Fenwick," I introduced. I noticed Dorcas look up in interest before a look of comprehension slid on to her face and she cast Benjy a big, apologetic smile.
"Hello Lizzy," Sirius said kindly. "Don't you look lovely?"
Lizzy blushed furiously and mumbled something as I winked at Sirius.
"This is Sirius Black. It's his birthday today," I said, biting back a laugh as Lizzy openly stared at him.
"Happy Bluurthday," she mumbled, looking at the floor, embarrassed.
"Thanks!" Sirius said charmingly ignoring her stumble. "All right Chamberlain?" he nodded at Ollie who nodded back.
"Not bad Black, yourself?"
"Smashing! We're all sort of hiding over here – the party looks a bit mad, so we've sent a scout ahead," Sirius said, his eyes flashing mischievously.
"Sirius! I don't know why you've sent me ahead – I'm not even a member of the Slug...oh, hello."
Emmeline had made her way through the crowd behind Sirius and James and emerged from the staircase looking like Morgana herself. Her chestnut hair was pinned on one side and it floated in delicate waves to her shoulders. Her face looked flawless as she stared straight at me but it was her dress robes that were the cause of great alarm. Because they were the very same robes that I was wearing except in the deep red color that had been featured in the Gladrag's window display. The slit in her dress ran up to her thigh as it was designed and a perfectly tanned and toned leg poked out wearing glittering high heels. She could not have looked more gorgeous. And the dress looked far, far better on her.
"Hi...I, um, like your robes," she said with a little smile. Whether she thought it was funny that we were wearing the same outfit or whether she was pleased that she obviously looked a million times better, I didn't know but I didn't feel as though I could speak for a moment. It was so embarrassing.
"Are you two wearing the same..." Peter started to ask before Remus elbowed him. The group seemed to be quiet for a moment, everyone watching Emmeline and I stare at each other.
"Well, the party's started and I'm sure this one wants to get a drink in him," Emmeline said, nodding her head at Sirius. "Shall we go? My friends say that no one bites – not even the vampire," she joked, gesturing to the group to follow her down the stairs. She had her arm through Sirius' and the pair looked more like famous celebrities than Hogwarts students.
"Wow, is that his girlfriend? She's gorgeous!" Lizzy said, able to speak now that Sirius wasn't in front of her.
"Yeah," I muttered, my cheeks still warm. Ollie squeezed my hand.
"You look better – her version of the robes are much too dramatic for a Hogwarts party," he said as we followed the group down to the party.
I swallowed and tried to smile at him. It was nice of him to say but I could tell from the looks on all of the boys' faces, no one was going to outshine Emmeline Vance tonight.
We entered Slughorn's office to find it decorated with thousands of sparkly lights that were, upon closer examination, fireflies charmed to stay in one spot. Even with all the lights, the room was dim and romantic with well-dressed waiters carrying flutes of Champagne, Gillywater and Firewhiskey on them.
"Shall we just have one glass of Champagne?" Ollie asked jokingly and I smiled, feeling a bit more at ease.
"I reckon if we're good, we can probably manage two," I said, still taking in the atmosphere as he passed me a flute. There was a crowd around Jeremy Redskin, the Quidditch player everyone had been talking about and Benjy was gone before you could say Quaffle. A group of girls sat on velvet poofs around a stately witch wearing many glittering scarves and a pair of bedazzled spectacles.
"Morgana Ketteridge," Ollie said in my ear and I gasped in recognition. I made a mental note to have her sign a piece of parchment for Nicola but continued to look around. Celestina Warbeck, an up and coming songstress was crooning from a raised platform while a lamp from beside her emitted glowing bubbles that tangled with the sweet smelling pipe smoke coming from old warlocks sitting around the room.
"I'm going to find my friends. I can't wait to tell them I met Sirius Black. Thanks Bridget!" Lizzy said, waving to Ollie and I as we chuckled.
"Looks like you can't hang on to the Fenwicks for long," Ollie quipped as we saw Lizzy rush over to a group of giggly third years eying Sirius at the buffet table from afar and Benjy, who was now in a light conversation with Dorcas Meadowes. The two of them laughed together before turning to wade through the crowd near Jeremy Redskin. I smiled thinking it was nice that they had sorted out their issues. Benjy deserved a nice girl and Dorcas, as little as I knew her, seemed to be just that.
Several students were dancing already and I noticed that Lily Evans had already said goodbye to the group and was dancing with a good-looking Hufflepuff Seventh Year. Peter was also on the dance floor with a mousy fourth year girl that looked to be from my House. Remus on the other hand was beside the chocolate fountain helping himself to fruit and dipping it in the delicious molten chocolate. I smiled as he handed an approaching Morgana Ketteridge a plate and the two of them began chatting like old friends.
"Does Lupin know Ketteridge?" Ollie asked with interest.
"I don't think so," I said doubtfully as we watched the two of them laugh heartily at something.
"I can't wait to chat with her if she's that friendly," he said, his eyes fixed on the witch.
I laughed. "Get me an autograph for Nicola will you? I don't much like her – too serious for me," I said, shuddering at the memory of Nicola reading the final paragraph from her last gooey novel out loud to me.
Ollie blushed. "Is it horribly embarrassing that I like her novels?"
I stifled a giggle but shook my head. "No, of course not. You should go talk to her, I don't mind."
"I mean she makes a killing in her line of work – she's a brilliant business woman," Ollie tried to say; obviously embarrassed that he'd revealed his love for romance novels.
'No, go ahead – don't forget that autograph!" I said, nudging him forward.
He flashed a grin at me. "Okay, but when I get back – we're dancing."
"Go!" I said, giggling as he hurried off to join Remus and Wendelin.
My eyes flitted around the room again as I delicately sipped on my Champagne. I noticed that Slughorn was laughing loudly at something and saw that Emmeline was smiling indulgently back at him. She was surrounded by two or three older Wizards and they all seemed quite enamored with what the young Head Girl seemed to be saying. Who wouldn't when she looked the way she did tonight? I sighed again, hoping that it wasn't horribly obvious that we were wearing the same dress robes and turned my eyes to the buffet table where James and Sirius were talking and sipping on firewhisky. They were watching the people on the dance floor and snickering at something as I started to walk over.
"Pete looks like he's having a good time at least," Sirius said, nodding at the girl who was resting her head on Peter's shoulder.
"Yeah and bloody Evans," James replied, his eyes locked on the redhead as she twirled around with the Seventh Year.
"Give it a couple of drinks and she'll be over here arguing with you just the way you like it," Sirius joked.
Just as I reached the other end of the buffet table, someone stepped in front of me and smiled brightly.
"Hey Bridget – you look really nice. How's the party so far?" Marlene asked, toasting her glass with mine.
"Oh cool so far, I've never been to one before so it's a lot to take in," I said. "You look really nice too," I added, noticing the plunging neckline on the midnight blue robes she wore. She waved me off and shrugged.
"Trying to get a date out of it. I only came with Potter because he didn't want to look sad and I thought I'd like to be around for Sirius' birthday. You should have seen the prank James and the others played on him today, I thought I was going to die laughing," she said passing me an exotic looking hor d'ouerve. She took a bite of hers and sighed. "Oh I love the food Sluggy gets for these parties."
I smiled in amusement having had no idea that Marlene was such a chatterbox.
"Didn't Sirius and you have a thing earlier this year?" I asked, trying to see what would make her blink.
This didn't. She merely chuckled and waved her hand dismissively. "Oh yeah, we kissed a bit but I was over it as soon as the whole Protest thing died down. He's a good-looking lad but I prefer them a bit more on the muscly side. Like Jeremy Redskin – wow, did you see his abs when he lifted up his shirt earlier? And I've heard he's studying to be a Healer like I want to be. Can you imagine – a Quidditch God turned Healer? There's nothing sexier. I think I may go chat him up. Bye Bridget!" She said, before sliding off to the other end of the room where the group around Redskin had dissolved a bit. I shook my head and chuckled before turning my attention back to Sirius and James. James was mid sentence.
"- I couldn't quite believe it when I saw her. I don't usually think of her as a 'girl' especially after you started to get to know her," he said.
Sirius nodded. "Yeah, I mean I've seen her in dresses and the school skirt before but wow, she looked hot tonight."
I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn't believe they'd be surprised at how beautiful Emmeline looked. Boys were alarmingly stupid sometimes.
"Hello lads! Having a good time?" I asked from behind them.
Sirius jumped and sloshed a little firewhiskey down his front as he and James turned to face me.
"Oh! Bridget – it's Bridget. How long have you been standing there?" James asked, glancing at Sirius.
I gave him a weird look and shrugged.
"Just a few minutes. I was talking to Marlene before she went off to mack on Redskin."
James laughed. "He's a twat. I don't know why everyone's so ga-ga for him, he plays for the worst side ever."
"Prongs, just because Puddlemere and the Arrows are rivals, it doesn't mean the Arrows are bad," Sirius said patting his friend's back.
"Ah well, I've heard he's a bit of do-gooder. Perfect for McKinnon."
We looked to see Marlene and Redskin talking animatedly to each other as the other girls watched in disappointment.
"So, you look really nice tonight, Bridge," Sirius said casually.
My ears grew a bit warm but I nodded. "Thanks. I can't believe I'm wearing the same dress as your girlfriend though. I wonder if we share a brain while we're shopping," I joked.
James laughed. "Oh, mate, tell her about what happened – she felt so guilty at breakfast."
Sirius shrugged. "She feels like a right tosser about this morning. I know she wants to apologize. Anyway, she told me I could return her gloves and get myself something else provided I liked her other present."
James grabbed his friend's wrist and pulled up the sleeve to reveal a rather chunky bracelet made of leather with a silver lion dangling from it. James guffawed as Sirius pulled his arm away and hid the bracelet with a sheepish grin.
"That's the other present – it's hideous, but Sirius is in love so he'll put up with it anyway."
I laughed with James as Sirius looked embarrassed.
"I just didn't want to upset her," he mumbled.
"Sirius, come and meet Cornelius Fudge, he's a Junior Minister," Emmeline said, appearing out of nowhere and tugging at her boyfriend's sleeve. "You two never told me what a great networking event this was – he's offering to give me a job right out of school. When I told him my boyfriend wanted to be an Auror he couldn't wait to meet you!" she said, hurriedly as she smoothed down her hair.
"Oh hey again Bridget. Sorry about this morning by the way – I was a bit of a drama queen."
"Um, no problem," I said, feeling a bit lost as she took another look at me and her mouth twitched in to a satisfied smile.
"Well, let's go meet this Minister," Sirius said, knocking back the remainder of his glass. "See ya later, mates."
He then allowed himself to be dragged off by Emmeline who was straightening his collar as they walked. James laughed again.
"Sirius meeting a Junior Minister – what a joke."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "How so?"
"Sucking up to authority figures isn't really Sirius' style. He's only doing it for her," James explained. He grabbed us some glasses of champagne and handed one to me to replace my empty glass and sipped his before turning back to me.
"So where's Chamberlain? I would've thought he wouldn't let you out of his sight considering his history and the fact that you look like that tonight."
"What?"
"Well come on Bridget – you look amazing! I never noticed how hot you were before," James said with a cheeky grin.
I blushed and waved him off embarrassedly. "Thanks, James. I felt a bit inadequate after I saw someone else wearing the same robes better than I am."
James scoffed. "Lads don't notice that sort of thing. Sirius and I didn't. Peter's just stupidly observant sometimes. Don't be embarrassed about it."
I shrugged, trying to keep the attention off me and nodded at him. "I like your robes – they're quite stylish."
He grimaced. "My mum picked them out. She spent a bit more time picking out Sirius' though – he's really her favorite son," he joked. "Anyway, I was only trying to impress one person and she's barely looked at me."
I followed his gaze to Lily who was now dancing with a different boy, still smiling happily.
"I only come to these parties for her," he said a bit sadly and I saw some of the arrogance and confidence I usually saw on his face melt away. Feeling a bit sorry for him, I noticed that the song was coming to an end and Morgana Ketteridge had returned to her velvet poof in the corner. Seeing Ollie approach, I nudged James.
"Ollie's coming over to dance and I'm going to do you a big favor," I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him over to Ollie in the middle of the dance floor.
"Do me a big favor Ollie?" I said, smiling at him.
He looked at James and I in confusion but he nodded anyway.
"I'm going to dance with James and I need you to cut in on that bloke and Lily Evans."
Ollie raised an eyebrow and looked at the two dancers.
"Well he's not really my type but..." he winked at me and went over to Lily as I grabbed James and began to dance with him.
"So, what exactly are we doing?" James asked, a bewildered expression on his face as he led me around the floor.
"Just wait," I said, as we swayed and watched Ollie cut in on Evans and her dancing partner. She looked up in confusion but saw me smiling at her so nodded and accepted Ollie's arms to dance. After a while, I moved so that we were closer to them.
"Stop pulling me around, I'm meant to lead," James mumbled glancing down at our feet.
"Dip me!" I whispered frantically, ignoring him and though he looked confused, he did so, leaving my head hanging right near Ollie and Lily's waists.
"Shall we switch partners?" I said to Ollie and he grinned knowingly.
"Of course! Thanks Lily," he said as he twirled her and I separated from James landing in Ollie's waiting arms. James was caught off guard but to his credit, recovered smoothly and caught Lily mid twirl as they began to dance. Her face was bright red and confused but she sighed in defeat and danced with a grinning James.
"You look beautiful tonight, Evans," he said in that deep, pleasant voice he used specifically for her.
She blushed but gave him a small smile. "Thanks Potter."
I chuckled with Ollie as we danced away from them and smiled.
"Playing matchmaker?" Ollie asked with a grin.
"Well, he looked like a sad puppy watching her dance with all those other blokes," I explained and he chuckled.
"That was nice of you. He looks like it's Christmas already."
"Nice one, Bridget!" I heard Sirius say as he and Emmeline glided near us gracefully. He twirled her and she giggled as she fell against his chest and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.
"It's nice that you're friends with them," Ollie said after a few songs.
I made a skeptical face at him and he laughed.
"No, really. At first I thought it was because Black was interested in you but now that I've seen that you get along with them all, I'm not really that fussed about it. It's nice to see you smiling again."
I quirked an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?"
"Well ever since we've been back – you haven't been yourself and then suddenly you're friends with some new people and you're back to the Bridget who I couldn't stop thinking about all summer," he whispered, pulling me closer to him.
"You thought about me all summer?" I asked, a smile playing at my lips.
Ollie nodded, seriously. "All of Fifth Year, all of the summer, all of this term. Honestly Bridget Willoughby, you're all I think about most of the time."
I blushed and simply hugged him closer, not knowing what to say.
"Will I see you at all over Christmas?" he asked, touching my cheek and tilting my face to look at him.
"Bit presumptuous, aren't you? Thinking we'll last until Christmas?" I joked but immediately regretted it when I saw a look of hurt flash over his face.
"Of course I'll see you Ollie – I'd love to see you over the break," I said, quickly and his face broke in to a grin once more.
"Good – it'll save my Owl from making a million trips."
"Only a million?" I teased.
"Maybe more," he muttered before pulling me in and kissing me. Though I was embarrassed that we were in the middle of an extremely crowded party with many people looking on, I didn't pull away. Ollie was much more interested in public affection than I was and I figured that I should try to make him happy since I'd already upset him a few times in the week or more that we'd been together. We separated when the song came to an end and I heard someone calling my name once more.
"Bridge – come and have birthday shots!" Sirius hissed from a corner where James was using his pocket flask to fill up shot glasses for Remus, Peter and Sirius. Emmeline looked like she was in deep conversation with a portly man and the other boys' dates were chatting together by the buffet table. I glanced at Ollie who just looked amused and nodded.
"Go be with your friends. I see Benjy over there."
"I'll be back in a minute," I promised and he shrugged.
"Take your time. I've got you now," he winked, kissing me again.
"Come on Bridge – kissy face later!" James called and Ollie and I broke apart laughing.
"See you in a bit," I said to Ollie as he went over to speak to Benjy.
"What're we drinking to then?" I said when I reached the boys and took a glass.
"Me dancing with Lily!" James said.
"Me snogging Catherine," Peter argued, a dreamy look on his face.
"Excuse me! My birthday!" Sirius put in, hotly.
Remus sighed. "Let's just toast to new friends," he said, throwing me a smile.
"Hear, hear!" Sirius said, clinking his glass against mine before we all drank deeply.
A/N: Happy New Year! Or in the story - Happy Christmas? Hope you enjoyed - please leave a review!