Chapter 30 – Looking In

OoO

"Stop drooling over my brother, Moony." Sirius grunted as they stood outside, looking in the shop.

"I'm not – I'm not drooling!" He muttered with a blush.

"Right." James snorted.

"You're one to say. Lily flips her hair one time and you're a stumbling idiot." Sirius interrupted before Remus could retort.

"What about you?" James raised an eyebrow. Sirius turned to see his best friends look at him in the same way.

"What about me?"

"It wasn't me who dragged us to every dress shop." Remus pointed out. "I can't wait to see Reg again, but you seem to need to see her. Why is that?" Remus cocked his head in an all to knowing look.

"I know you know, Moony."

"Know what?" James asked, he glanced at the window. "Fuck, your mother." He threw the cloak over him and Remus while Sirius transformed into Padfoot. He saw Izzie disappear behind a velvet curtain. "You know, Regulus did look very handsome." Both men on either side of him growled, making James chuckle. "Don't get your knickers in a twist. You know I only have eyes for one-"

James stopped talking, and Sirius knew why. Izzie had stepped out of the dressing room in a burgundy wedding dress. Remus smiled despite himself. He hated the idea of an arranged or forced marriage, but Izzie looked beautiful. Sirius couldn't tear his eyes away from her, the way the dress fitted her body. The colour, oh, the colour was perfect for her. He was snapped out of it when Remus growled with a light chuckle.

"Stop drooling over my best friend, Pads."

"Dogs can't drool." He answered, not looking away as his brother approached Izzie.

"Dogs drool most of the time, Padfoot." James laughed.

He ignored them as Reg took her hands in his, tugging her close and twirling her around. He wished he was in Regulus place, dancing with her as she wore that dress. Then he dipped her, and her eyes found his but still he couldn't look away. He saw her blush before she was pulled into Reg's chest, her head nestled in his shoulder. Then it hit him as he saw them together. The wedding it was getting closer and soon.

"We really need to put an end to this." He growled.

"They are just friends, Pads. Reg is seeing Moony remember?"

"I don't mean that." He growled. "The wedding!"

"Oh, right." James managed to sound ashamed of himself.

They saw her try other coloured dresses, black, grey, brown, even yellow. He shivered when he saw her walk out with a Slytherin green dress, he hated that colour on her. He saw the saleswoman cringe when his mother spoke to her. His mother left the shop without Regulus and Izzie. She scrunched up her nose as he looked down at him.

"Filthy animal." She turned away, muttering to herself. "I should send the ministry to clean up-" The rest was inaudible as she walked away.

"Pleasant as always." James snorted. "Let's go to Peppers and wait for them there."

OoO

The three of them hurried over to Pepper's joke shop and waited in the back for the pair. They were growing anxious as the minutes ticked by. It was more than thirty minutes later when they finally arrived, whispering to each other. Reggie's eyes found Remus first. He gave Izzie's hand a squeeze before flinging himself at his boyfriend. Sirius scowled as Remus snogged his brother, it was the first time they snogged in front of him.

"Don't scowl, Sirius. You'll get wrinkles." Izzie teased. He looked away from Moony and Reg, to find her smiling face. "Besides, Remus has seen you do much worse."

He scowled again, until she stepped forward and walked into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest. He breathed in her scent, he relished how her body fits perfectly in his. He nuzzled his nose in her hair, pulling her close.

"Gods, I've missed you." He breathed and he felt her squeeze harder.

"What am I, invisible?" James muttered.

Izzie untangled herself from Sirius, much to his dismay and shot James a glare.

"Hello, James. Lily couldn't make it, I see." She gave him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"No, Lily's sister got engaged. And Peter is still in the Netherlands with his parents."

Reggie had finally let go of Remus and Remus swept her in his arms. As the best friends hugged, Regulus came over hesitantly. "Sirius."

"Reggie." Regulus grunted. "What? Moony and Izzie can call you that."

"They are different."

"I'm your brother."

"I stand by my statement." He said deadpanned which made Sirius double over in laughter.

Then he turned serious. "How's it going at home?" His eyes flickered to Izzie, who was talking to Remus quietly.

"Weird. They are more away from home than usual. Normally I don't mind and I'm happy that Isabelle doesn't need to interact with them much, but I don't trust it."

"Have you heard anything?"

"No. When we see them, they talk about the wedding otherwise they come home late and place privacy charms on the room. We haven't found anything in the library either. Not that I expected to, they would never let something like that lying around."

"No, they wouldn't-"

"I'm starving, can we go eat?" Izzie sighed excessively, tugged under Remus's arm.

"What about -" James started but Izzie just grinned. And Sirius knew enough. He wasn't surprised when she whipped out her wand.

"Reggie, love, come here." It was stupid to feel jealous that she called him love, and Regulus seemed to notice the scowl, because he grinned at him when he stepped towards her. "So, what do you guys think? Red of blond?"

"You are not going to make me a read head." Regulus exclaimed trying to dodge her wand.

"Red it is then." Izzie laughed as she pulled him in a headlock. One tap of her wand and his head was fiery red. Regulus scowl didn't match the hair, the others looked at him before falling into a fit of laughter. "Something's missing." Izzie tapped the end of her wand against her chin.

"No, there isn't! This is enough." Reggie spluttered.

"Don't you trust me?" She fake pouted and Sirius couldn't help but look at her lips. James nudged him in the ribs.

"I trust you with my life." He said honestly. It made Izzie beam as she looked at his brother and something clenched in his chest.

"Okay, then." She waved her wand and Regulus relented, letting his arms fall next to him. She made his nose smaller and his lips fuller. "That should be enough."

"He looks like a brother of the Weasley twins." James mused with a grin. Regulus glared at him, even with his disguise, James took a step back.

Izzie turned to the window and looked at her own reflection. "What do you think?" She asked Remus. Sirius stepped closer until she could see him through the window. Regulus was tugging at his red head with a scowl.

"Maybe a redhead, like Reg."

"No, not a redhead." James shook his head. Remus, Izzie and Sirius all looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Alright, red is out for some reason." Izzie eyed James for another second before turning away. She tapped the wand on the crown of her head. Her hair shifted from caramel brown to platinum, then she let a fringe cover her eyes.

"I don't like it." Sirius muttered.

"It will turn back." She tilted her head. "I kind of like it." She smiled, tugging at her hair.

"Reminds me too much of Lucius hair." He shuddered. She ignored his comment and made her skin pale, then she pointed at her eyes. Sirius grabbed her wrist. "No, not your eyes."

She looked at him, his grey stormy on her blue ones. "Alright." She swallowed. She understood why he didn't want her to change her eyes, she never wanted to see him with another eye colour. "Then we only need -" She waved her wand over her and Regulus, changing their robes into muggle clothes.

"This is a step too far." Regulus grunted.

"I like it." Remus smiled as he came up to him, tugging the waistband of his jeans. Regulus turned bright red and mumbled something incoherent.

Sirius was scowling again at the couple but was brought out of it when Izzie wrapped her arm around his waist. He looked down at her with a smile.

"See, that's better than a scowl."

He smiled even wider. "Let's get you something to eat." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and guided her out of the joke shop, the others in tow.

OoO

They didn't speak as they walked to a little café around the corner. He just tucked her closer to him, grinning like an idiot. Once in the café, Sirius chose a secluded corner and tugged her into the booth next to him. His arm going around his shoulder the moment she slides in besides him.

The way she smiled at him made his heart skip a beat, he leaned down to whisper. "You looked beautiful in those dresses."

She tilted her head back, leaning against his arm and smiled up at him. "Even the green one?"

He scrunched up his nose, making her chuckle. "No, not that one."

"You know you three looked like a team of stalkers." She smirked.

"Three handsome stalkers." He gave her a lopsided grin.

"I'm here too, you know." James muttered feeling ignored.

"Why don't you go order us food and drinks, Potter." Reggie answered, not taking his eyes away from Remus, who was grinning at him. Sirius and Izzie looked at him, holding back a laugh as James muttered before going to the bar. Izzie watched Remus and Reggie with a fond smile, as they whispered to each other. Whispering but not kissing. Probably uncomfortable with the disguise. He wasn't to upset about it. Izzie started to play with the hem of his shirt subconsciously. He took a strand of hair between his fingers.

"I miss your hair. How long will it stay like this?"

"About two hours, after that it starts to fade on his own." She looked up to him, from beneath her eyelashes. "I am really happy you came." She said quietly.

His heart was pounding in his chest. The hand that was twirling the hair between his fingers, slides down to cup her cheek. He wanted to kiss her so badly, but he had to use all his power not to do so. He gently moved his thumb up and down her cheek.

"I'm sorry that I was too late."

"We've already talked about that, Sirius."

"I know, but I wanted to tell you in person. I was dying to see you, I wanted to hold you. I haven't been able to court you, since summer started." She pursed her lips, holding back a grin. "I'm still going to court you. The summer will just set me back a little."

"Oh, you have a plan?" Her lips twitched up.

"Oh, yes." He nodded seriously. "It has 10 steps. The first one was for you to start talking to me again."

"A good start." She agreed with a smile. "What's the second step?"

"Getting to know your likes and dislikes."

"I'm pretty sure you know them."

"I think I know many, but you always seem to surprise me."

"There is one dislike, that you are not going to like, Pads." Remus cut in, grinning mischievously. Regulus even seemed confused.

"Not really a dislike, but a disinterest." She shrugged but she looked down. Sirius frowned the same way as Reggie. His hand was still on her cheek, so it was easy to guide her back up.

"Tell me." He said softly.

"I'm not going to tell you. Three out of the five of us won't like what I have to say."

Sirius frowned even more as he racked his brains trying to think of what it could be. Then his brother gasped, and he turned his head to look at him. Regulus was staring wide-eyed at Izzie.

"You don't like Quidditch!"

"What are you talking about? Everyone likes Quidditch." James said, not hearing the entire conversation as he sat down with five butterbeers.

"Is he right?" He asked and she nodded as she played with the hem of his shirt again, he shivered when her knuckles brushed his bare skin. "Have you seen me play?"

She looked from him to James and Regulus. "I've never been to any of the matches." She admitted.

"What?!" The three boys exclaimed. James recovered first. "You are saying, that in the six years at Hogwarts, you haven't been to a single game?"

She shook her head again. Sirius didn't know what he was hearing, how was this possible, how come he never noticed. Not even the past year. "Don't look at me like that, Remus doesn't like it either."

"But he comes to our games."

"Don't forget, we weren't friends before, none of you had even noticed." She placed her hand on Sirius arm. "I don't mind, I enjoyed the quiet castle."

"How can you not like Quidditch if you've never been to a match." James asked.

"I didn't say I've never seen Quidditch, it's just not something that interested me." She said looking down. Sirius knew she was hiding something, the real reason why she didn't like Quidditch.

"See, you always seem to surprise me." He smiled, caressing her cheek. They were all interrupted when the waiter came over with their food. James was happy now that everyone was talking to each other and to him instead of being pared into twos. Sirius ate with one hand, not wanting to let go of her, and he was pleased when she leaned into his side.

OoO

"We should be going, Isabelle." Regulus whispered as he leaned over the table.

"Yeah, you're right. Your hair is starting to change back."

"Thank, Salazar." He breathed in relief. "Maybe we should apparate from the lavatory." He stood up without waiting for an answer. "I'll wait for you there. Remus?"

Remus didn't need to be asked twice and the two disappeared in the bathroom.

"Subtle." James chuckled. "Sirius, I'll wait for you outside." He leaned over to table to kiss Izzie's cheek. "Be safe, alright."

"I will. Say hi to Lily for me."

James winked before he strode outside. Sirius took her hand in his and intertwined their fingers together. "I don't want you to go back there."

"Me neither, but you know I have to. I can't let Reggie alone in there."

"This is all my fault. If I didn't leave, he wouldn't be alone. If I didn't leave, you weren't forced to marry him."

"No, then you were forced to marry me."

"Doesn't sound too bad, to be honest." He played with a strand of hair that was turning back to caramel brown. She shook her head, a mixture of platinum blond and caramel brown swished from left to right.

"We wouldn't be like we are now."

"And what are we now?" He asked carefully, placing a strand behind her ear, cupping her jaw.

"I don't think there is a word for what we are right now." Her fingers skimmed under his shirt, to graze his bare skin. "But what I do know is that-" She looked at him from behind her fringe. She wetted her lips with a swish of her tongue. Sirius eyes flickered from her eyes to her lips and back. She was pulling him in with her gaze, and he couldn't resist her anymore. He needed to feel her lips against his, he wanted to taste her. He was leaning in, not knowing if she truly was going to kiss him, and he was just about to close his eyes when he saw his father walk in.

"You need to leave, my father is here." He whispered before pulling her towards the lavatories. Remus and Reggie disentangled themselves from each other as they crashed in. "Father is here."

Reggie's eyes widened. His hair and features were completely back to normal. "Remus-"

"I know." He kissed him again lightly.

Sirius turned to Izzie. "Please be careful." He leaned down and kissed the corner of her mouth. "I love you."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, breathing in his scent before going over to Remus. "I'll write to you soon." She said to the both of them. She grabbed Reggie's hand and they disappeared from the café.