A/N: First of all I'm going to apologise for how late this is. These last couple of weeks have been terrible for me and I've tried my hardest to reply as quickly as I could. I'm really really sorry and hopefully I'll be more on track from now on. I don't have much to say apart from this chapter is the longest so far x] It's quite cute if I must say so myself. The end deffinatly is. Enjoy xxx
Give him a chance.
That was what James had asked her to do the Saturday before Sirius' birthday. To be truthful, Lizzie had already been thinking about giving Sirius a chance at being friends but she hadn't told James that. He seemed to be trying to be the 'amazing' best friend and Lizzie wasn't going to take that away from him. She had promised him that she would give Sirius a chance and when he had asked her if she would help with Sirius' birthday prank tomorrow she said she only would if Gryffindor won at Quidditch later that day. James was determined to make that happen and win they did.
The final score was 280-40 to Gryffindor and whilst all the Gryffindors were partying that night, James, Remus, Peter and Lizzie were busy sorting out the prank for Sirius' birthday the next day. Lizzie had had to think of a quick present for Sirius seeing as she didn't usually get him anything and had asked James on his latest secret trip to Hogsmeade to get him something from her. James had got her the ideal gift for him and that night Lizzie went to bed, happy with what they had been planning. She could still hear the party in full swing down below and was sure McGonagall would soon come and tell them all to shut up. With all the noise however, she fell asleep straight away.
Walking along the quiet, dark corridor, Lizzie couldn't see more than 10 meters in front of her. Her heart was beating fast and her breathing was unbalanced. The moonlight shone from outside through the slits in the windows, causing shafts of light to cover the floor. She was sure something was following her. She could feel their eyes burning into her, daring her to turn around. But she wouldn't let it win this time. She had so many other times, but not this time. She was stronger than it, so much stronger.
The full moon seemed to glare at her, warning her that it wasn't safe. Well she knew it wasn't safe. She knew what was about because she had been in this nightmare so many times before. She knew what was coming...any second now...something that scared the hell out of her. Something that she knew shouldn't scare her. Something that didn't mean to scare her...
A low growl came from behind her and Lizzie stopped. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Trying to control her breathing she tried her hardest not to turn around. She can't...it'll only end up like it always did...but she can't help herself and she turns around slowly until she's facing a pair of amber eyes. It's the only thing she can see in the darkness. Not even the light from the moon is showing who those eyes belong to, but she knows. She always knows who's they are. It's obvious really. There's only one person who scares her that has amber eyes. There's only one being that does...
Moony.
She knows what Moony can do. She knows what Moony is capable of and that frightens her so much. It's not that fact that he could harm her; it's the fact that he can do so much damage to himself. If he bit a person he could be sent to Azkaban or worse be executed! She can't bear the thought of him going through that but sometimes it's so hard to stop him. Moony is too strong for her to hold back, too powerful...she remembers when they were about eight and Moony had been locked in the basement for his transformation. She had sat against the door and talked to him all night just to keep him from hurting himself. Her parents hadn't been happy about this telling her that if she wasn't careful he could have ripped her to shreds if the door hadn't been properly secure. Well he could certainly do that now. There was no stopping him. There was no way of calming him down because as he got older Moony lost the connection he had had with his sister. There were no barriers to protect her from him now and as he moved towards her, Lizzie was frozen in fear.
'He won't hurt me. He won't hurt me. He can't touch me...' She kept saying to herself. Moony was her brother. He wouldn't hurt her. Surely he could remember her; surely he could stop before he attacked. But then as he came into the light Moony disappeared and in his place stood Sam Riley. A cold shiver went down her spine as she looked into the blue eyes that she hated with a passion. She was scared of him, there was no denying it. After what he had done...after everything he had confessed of doing...she never wanted him to touch her again. He had caused her so much pain last year and hated him for it.
He started to walk towards her, an evil glint in his eyes. His chocolate brown hair was as still as a statue. His long pale fingers reached out to touch her but she backed away. There was no way she was going to let him touch her. If he did then she would never get out of his grasp...
She blinked and in front of her stood her mother. She couldn't exactly remember why she was scared of her, but she knew there was a reason in there somewhere. There had to be otherwise she wouldn't be here...
Then it was Severus. He had his wand pointed at her and a look of absolute loathing on his face. He was a Death Eater and she knew it. He had gone down that path of evil like she had told him too. She knew she shouldn't be scared of him. After all he couldn't do anything to her. No one would let him. But Lizzie knew that in this nightmare they were all dead. Every single one of them was dead and Snape had killed them all. Lily, Remus, James, Beth, Zoe, Sirius...she was the last one left and he was about to finish her off...'Avada Kadavra!'
Lizzie sat blot up right, shaking slightly and feel sweat run down her face. Her breathing was heavy and she was sure she had screamed a moment before. No one had come to the bed though so she had probably just imagined it. She hated that nightmare. It was worse than the argument she had had with Sirius. It was worse than anything she had ever experienced before. It had stopped some time ago, just before summer after the Sam Riley incident, but now after everything that had happened with Snape it had started again.
Waiting for herself to calm down, she opened her curtains and got out of bed. It was early in the morning around half six but she knew that Remus, James and Peter would already be up sorting out the last things for Sirius' birthday. So deciding to hopefully join them, Lizzie got dressed in a muggle pair of jeans and a blue top before brushing her long brown hair and heading down to the common room where she knew the others would be.
The last remains of the party last night had been cleaned up and now the common room was spotless and had no evidence that a party had gone on last night. She spotted Remus, James and Peter put up last minute party decorations and watched them for a while as she sat down on a chair near the entrance to the girl's dormitories. After they had finished they spotted her and grinned simultaneously.
''You sorted the whole prank out?'' Lizzie asked.
''Yep'' Peter said happily.
''And we're all done here as well. Now it's just time to wake Padfoot up. Can't believe he's still asleep on his birthday.'' James said as though the thought was disgraceful.
''But...Prongs, it's not even seven yet.'' Lizzie said wondering how it was considered 'late'.
James' face lit up at the use of his nickname seeing as Lizzie hardly used them. ''Yeah but last year Sirius was up at about six''
''And the year before that it was around half five I think'' Remus added looking annoyed as he recalled the memory.
''So in reality this is rather late for him.'' Peter finished.
''Come up with us to wake him up will you?'' James asked not waiting for an answer before grabbing her wrist and pulling Lizzie up to the stairs to the boy's dormitory. He opened the door to reveal the messy room. It hadn't seemed to have been cleared up from the last time Lizzie had come in here. She saw Sirius asleep on his bed, snoring and tangled up in his sheets. His normally handsome hair was now everywhere and looked a right mess. Did you just say his hair was handsome? No of course I didn't.
''Oi you lazy git wake up.'' James called shoving Sirius on his bed but the only response was an annoyed groan and a sleepy 'Sod off' as Sirius rolled over and started to snore again. James rolled his eyes and turned to Moony, Wormtail and Lizzie. ''A little help please.'' He asked.
Lizzie got out her wand grinning at the three boys. ''Aguamenti'' She said and a stream of water erupted from the tip of her wand and it sprayed all over Sirius who sat up with a jolt. His eyed narrowed at his unwanted guests who were all laughing their heads off. ''Happy Birthday Sirius.'' They chorused and the boy's face lit up.
''Thanks you four.'' Sirius said grabbing his wand and drying himself off before being loaded with presents from the three boys. Lizzie's present for him was still in her dorm but she would give it to him at breakfast. Sirius started to rip the wrapping paper of the first present; Peter's. It was a box of Zonko products and several packets of Every Flavour Beans. Next was Remus' who had given him several huge bar's of Honeydukes chocolate and a massive box of Wet-Start No Heat fireworks. James' present was last and by the looks of it as Sirius unwrapped it, it was impressive. There were five boxes, some big and some small and also a huge book with gold lettering. 1001 Quidditch and Broomstick Tips, Pick-up Lines and Steps to Show Off With.
Sirius seemed to grin at James who was positively beaming that his best mate loved his present. ''You can now do your two favourite things at the same time. Talk about Quidditch and flirt.'' James said laughing. Lizzie just shook her head at this. Trust James to pick Sirius something like that. Now she would have to look out for his Quidditch flirts seeing as he had started to flirt a lot with her again. Not that I mind that much. She thought to herself. Sam used to think of ridiculous Quidditch pick-up lines...no Lizzie don't think of him...it was only a nightmare...
''Lizzie Bee you seem deep in thought. Is everything okay?'' Sirius asked a small frown appearing on his face. He had seen it when he had been woken up; she had looked slightly distracted maybe even sub-consciously and could tell something was bothering her.
Coming out of her trail of thought she looked over at Sirius who was still sat in bed and gave him a smile that she hoped wasn't too strained. She didn't want to ruin his birthday with her stupid nightmare so she would just have to try and pretend that everything was okay. ''Yeah I'm fine Sirius, why wouldn't I be?'' She asked him placing herself on the edge of his bed which was covered in wrapping paper and presents.
''Good, I'm glad. Wouldn't want you to be sad on my birthday would I.'' He said giving her a wide grin and a wink. He was positively sure something was wrong, but if she didn't want to talk about it she didn't have to. ''Right I think it's time I got up now. I'm starving. '' He said pushing all of the wrapping paper off his bed.
Lizzie jumped up from the bed briefly looking over at James who nodded at her slightly. ''I'll see you at breakfast then.'' Seeing Sirius' confused face she added ''I just need to sort some stuff out.'' She said smiling at him before exciting the room. She did indeed need to sort some things out and headed down the stairs into the common room where the decorations were all up and out of the portrait hole into the corridor. From there she made her way down to the marble staircase. The first part of Sirius' birthday would start right here.
There was a broom cupboard near the stairs and in there was several mats that James had put in there yesterday. Taking them out, she waited until she could hear the Marauders coming. As soon as she heard James' rather too loud voice (it was her cue to do her part although Lizzie was sure he was talking far too loud) and she whispered a spell to make the stairs in the staircase turn into a massive slide. She grinned to herself and waited for the boys to arrive. As soon as they walked round the corner she heard Sirius go 'wow'. She smiled at him and he grinned at her.
''That is amazing.'' He said and when he saw the mats he face lightened up even more, if that was possible. There was a crowd coming behind them wondering what had happened. ''Lizzie slide down with me. Pleaseeeeee?'' Sirius pleaded putting on his puppy dog eyes. He saw her bite her lip as trying not to laugh at her. She nodded and he grabbed a mat and sat on it. He felt her sit behind him and put her arms around his waist. ''Moony push us down will you.'' Sirius called and before he knew it, they were sliding down the staircase. It was fun to say the least and before he knew it, it was over. There was a moment when both were still, Lizzie's arms still around his waist. It felt nice to have her this close to him...not that he would say that for fear of being shouted at. Her temper was so short at the moment and he perfectly understood why.
Then all of a sudden he felt her arms disappeared from around his middle and he frowned slightly. Turning around he saw Lizzie give him a small smile. He smiled back at her, stood up and helped her to her feet. Just then James, Remus and Peter slide down the stairs and landed in a heap at the bottom. Sirius chuckled at this and made his way with his friends to the Great Hall. The Great Hall was also decorated with a massive Happy Birthday banner hovering in the air. There was a big pile of presents in the middle of the table where the Marauders usually sat. Sitting down Sirius started to make his way through the presents whilst eating as much as he could.
All of a sudden there was a yell from the Slytherin table. Then another and another. Looking up Sirius saw a very amusing sight in front of him. The Slytherins' hair had changed colour. They were all now very bright and hilarious and in some cases some of them didn't even have any hair anymore. He saw that Snape's hair was neon pink and knew that was probably Moony's doing. After his lycanthrope friend had found out what had upset his sister so much he had made it his mission to make Snivillus' life as much like hell as he possibly could.
Xoxox
After the amusing breakfast prank, there were several more things to amuse Sirius with throughout the day. That is until around three in the afternoon when all pranking had stopped completely. In that time anyone going into the Entrance Hall via the slide (which appeared randomly every so often) would have their feet get stuck to the ground for a moment or two whilst they were covered in multi-coloured paint. With this in mind, many of the Gryffindor's had several paint fights before they were all told off by McGonagall. After that in the courtyard several episodes of black smoke seemed to erupt from nowhere and send the students and teachers into a coughing frenzy. It had been a rather exciting day.
However there was something off. Sirius knew it but he couldn't think of what it was. Apart from the pranks all stopping he couldn't think of what was bothering him apart from...Lizzie. He knew she was trying her hardest to be happy seeing as she didn't want to be a bother on his birthday, but he could tell something was really eating away at her. He wanted to know what it was and so deciding to act instead of wait he made his way over to a corner of the common room where Lizzie was sitting, reading as usual.
Clearing his throat to get her attention he gave her a charming smile that she only half-heartedly returned. ''You okay?'' He asked. She answered with a nod and returned back to her book. ''No you're not. What's wrong? I don't like seeing you sad Lizzie Bee.'' He said sitting on the arm of the chair.
''Nothing's wrong Sirius. I'm fine.'' She said simply. In truth no she wasn't fine at all but she didn't want to say anything to him. All day the nightmare that she had had kept playing on her mind which frustrated her plus there were the odd moments when Sirius would remind her of something Sam had done. She didn't know why her ex-boyfriend had suddenly come into her mind so much but she didn't like that he had. Lily had been bothering her too. She hadn't told her best friend about what Snape had said to her so that she could at least spare their friendship. After all they had been friends longer than Lizzie had been friends with either Lily or Snape.
''Elizabeth Lupin there is something up, even James has noticed and we want to know what's the matter. If you get it over with and tell me then I won't keep asking you will I.'' He said hoping this would make her give in. He heard her sigh and put down her book.
''Fine I'll tell you...just not in here. There are too many people.'' She said giving in. Lizzie wasn't really up to arguing with him at the moment and anyway it was his birthday and she didn't think it fair if she had a go at him for being worried.
''Okay, we'll go for a walk then, come and follow me.'' He said getting up from the arm of the chair he made his way to the portrait hole looking behind him to make sure Lizzie was following him. They both stepped out into the corridor and started to walk in silence in a random direction. He made sure she was following him and led her to someplace where no one would think of looking for them. Being a Marauder, Sirius knew all the deserted spaces that could be used as a private talking time...or a snogging time, however you looked at it. ''Okay so what's the matter then?'' he asked seating himself on a window ledge of a corridor. He knew they wouldn't be disturbed. He gestured for Lizzie to join him.
Sighing, she placed herself next to Sirius and told him everything. She told him about the nightmare she had had and how she had had it many times before but it kept getting worse each time. She told him how the whole ordeal with Snape was making her feel inside; crushed and angry and also everything he had said to her. She told him how she really wanted to stop Lily being friends with him and that how could she even think of something like that as she was Lily's best friend. She told him how Sam Riley had kept popping up in her mind and how much she had hated him. Even though he asked, she didn't tell him what he had done. After what seemed like hours she finally stopped and looked down at the stone floor.
''You know what?'' Sirius asked after a moment of silence. ''I think you're incredibly brave. Of course you want to stop lily being friends with him. You don't want her to get hurt. This nightmare is just your emotions letting themselves out. They need to be let out Lizzie. You can't always keep them locked away you know. That's my job.'' He said smiling at her even though she still didn't look at him. ''What Snivillus did was unforgivable and of course it's going to hurt. You just have to find a way to stop thinking about it. You have to move on...properly, because even though you say you have, you obviously haven't. He obviously meant something to you, at least a tiny bit otherwise you'd be rid of any thought of him by now. As for Riley, well don't keep thinking of the past. That's gone now and you're way above him. You don't need to worry about him anymore, trust me. Although if I ever find out that he hurt you I will kill him okay? If you ever need someone to talk to, or someone to comfort you just come to me. I know you'd probably go out with Peter before you came to me for help, but just consider it...please? I hate seeing you upset and so the last few weeks have been torture for me. I...care about you...a lot and I just want to make sure you're okay...'' He said before trailing off.
Lizzie looked up into Sirius' natural grey eyes and for the first time saw them for what they really were. Under the cocky arrogant person was someone who cared about everyone he was close to. Under the mask was someone who would always be there to protect the people he needed too. This was a different light of Sirius' she had never seen and she cursed herself for not giving him a chance earlier and seeing this Sirius. There was something different about how she felt towards him now after his little speech but she couldn't exactly understand what it was.
''Thank you.'' She said smiling at him before getting up and giving him a hug. She could feel he was surprised by the hug but soon relaxed and hugged her back. ''You know you really are quite good at advise. Maybe I will come to you more often.'' She said smiling at him and she broke away.
Sirius mock bowed at her. ''I know. I'm an inspiration for all.'' He said. The hug had surprised him but it had felt nice. Very nice. ''Come on let's go back. I have a feeling something's going to happen.'' He said.
Little did he know that whilst they had gone for their walk, the others had prepared his surprise party a few hours early. So as they walked back along the corridors and through the portrait hole there was a massive explosion of ''SURPRISE'' as all the Gryffindors and quite a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs shouted Happy birthday at him. Sirius was in his element and was enjoying the attention.
After a while Lizzie remembered she still hadn't given Sirius his birthday present and so rushing up to the girl's dormitory, grabbing it and rushing back down again she tried to locate the Marauder. It didn't take her too long to find him, in the middle of several girls and pushed her way through to him. ''I forgot to give you this.'' She said as she saw his gentle eyes fall on her and light up in delight. Lizzie felt a fluttering in her heart as he looked at her in such a way that it made her feel wonderful about herself.
''You...you got me a present? Wow I...I wasn't expecting that. Thank you so much.'' He said taking it out of her hands and unwrapping it. Inside was a book, smaller in size to the one that James had got him. The 50 Most Amazing Pranks to Play on Absolutely Anyone. Feeling amazed that Lizzie had actually got him something like this, he opened the first page to see a message on the inside page.
Sirius,
I hope you have a lovely birthday and that our pranking has made it a very memorable day for you. This is to help you just in case you're ever stuck with ideas.
Lizzie x
P.S If you use any on me then I will hex you to oblivion.
He smiled at the end part and put the book down on a nearby table before pulling her into a hug. ''Thank you. It's amazing, it really is. Although I think my best present is that I can hug you without you yelling at me.'' He said quietly, grinning to himself.
''You're welcome Sirius.'' Lizzie said hugging him back. It felt right to hug him and she smiled a little. The same fluttering in the stomach had appeared again and as she let go and looked into his grey eyes she realised what the feeling was. She was falling for Sirius Black and it wasn't such a bad feeling after all.
Xoxox
It was around two in the morning when Sirius went to bed. He had tried to get himself quite drunk but still seemed quite sober for some reason. Getting himself changed he pulled back his covers to find a single piece of paper on it. On closer inspection it was a picture. A picture of him, Prongs, Moony and Wormtail all in animal form. The drawing had been charmed to make the animals move like they would do in photos. Turning the paper around he saw a note on the back of it.
Sirius,
This was originally going to be your present from me but I had doubted that it wasn't good enough. Okay Moony did help me with part of it but still I'm not the world's greatest drawer. I just wanted to thank you again for earlier, your kind words really made me think about who's worth my time and who isn't. I really hope you have had a good birthday because we did work very hard on making it as amazing as we good. And by we, I mean me, James, Remus and Peter.
I thought I would give this to you now because of what you said earlier. You said I wasn't allowed to keep many of my emotions cooped up because that was your job. Well I'm just going to say whenever you need to speak to someone I'm always around. I just wanted you to know that okay. Just in case.
Lizzie x
Sirius found himself smiling from ear to ear. He placed the picture on his bedside table and closed his curtains. Falling asleep almost instantly, his last thought was how much he loved her.
See what did I tell you? Cute! The next one will be up soon. Promise.