AN- Prompt by WittyShadow

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Cinemas are Sacred

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Sirius was regretting his choice of date before the first preview came on. He loved coming to the cinema, it was one of his favorite Muggle experiences. The things they could do with their computers was incredible, and each trip held a unique experience. They could turn books into two hour long, watchable, plays, they could take fantasy (sometimes their own fantasy, sometimes what they considered fantasy) and bring it to life.

And the music! Each masterpiece movie had epic songs that fit right in along with it, sometimes they were ones that he'd listened to when he was a teenager and they brought him right back to that time at Hogwarts when he was passing time or showing off.

Now he was stuck watching a movie with a Muggle woman that he'd chatted up at the pub two nights ago and apparently she really did love to talk, because she was still talking even though the lights had dimmed.

That wasn't protocol. Everyone was supposed to be silent now, yet she was loudly 'whispering' about each actor that came onto the screen.

He had hoped she would have shut her trap for the start of the actual movie, instead she started singing along just loud enough to be distracting to the entire theatre. Just when he was wondering if he should start kissing her just to shut her up his chair got bumped from behind and his date shot out of her seat with a scream of surprise.

"I'm so sorry!" came a woman's voice from behind him. "It's dark and I tripped. Here, let me help you get to the loo and dry off."

Sirius sat there staring at the soaked shirt of his date and watched in veiled humor as she scoffed and scowled at the young woman that was trying to help her out of the theatre.

That had to have been staged, he thought contentedly to himself. He glanced behind him and checked for someone else that was sitting in the row behind him and saw no one, and nothing to trip over. There was a man two rows back though that was sitting by himself with a hand over his mouth, shoulders shaking with amusement and looking down at Sirius.

Sirius gave him a wave and a grin to show just how okay he was with what happened.

A few minutes later the young woman came back in and took up in the seat beside him.

"She's refusing my help and trying to dry off the soda using the hand drier thing," she told him.

"Good, that'll probably take an hour. Mean's we can actually pay attention to the rest of the film instead of her never-ending yammering."

The striking young woman patted his knee twice and shot him a smile before returning to her date.

It was an hour and fifteen minutes later that the theatre let out and he found his own date standing outside the doors waiting for him.

"I can't believe you just sat there and kept watching after I'd been humiliated!" she whined.

"The theatre was nearly empty, I don't see how you could find that humiliating," he shrugged.

"Urgh, you are such an insensitive prick! Don't even think of trying to walk me home."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said to himself as she stormed off.

"I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not," came a voice behind him.

Sirius turned around and spotted the young woman that had saved him. She was grinning, pleased with herself, and her date was nowhere to be found.

"Did your date ditch you as well?"

She gave a half shrug and shook her head. "Wasn't a date thing, it was a friend thing. He really wanted to see this movie, but it's on the girly side so he didn't want to go alone. He knows I love the cinema, so, here I am. And you're welcome, by the way. Your date was terribly annoying for everyone in there."

"Yes, your sacrifice saved us all from her ruining the entire experience."

"Or from someone else coming along and garroting her," she agreed. He liked the little twinkle of mischief in her eye as she said that.

If he were fifteen years younger...

"The movie was missing a little bloodshed," he nodded. He held out his hand then, "what's your name?"

"Ginny." She held out her own and shook his.

"Sirius."

"Now that is not a normal name. Family history with it? Parents incredibly into astrology?"

He gave a laugh at that. "Two things can be true."

"And two worlds can exist harmoniously in one."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I actually do know who you are, Sirius Black, and I'm a long time fan. I'm also a bit offended you don't recognize me." Ginny stepped a bit closer to him. "We met at Hogwarts when you came to one of the-"

She didn't need to continue though. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed how familiar she was to him before now. "Gryffindor-Slytherin games! Yes, now I remember! You were the Chaser with the wicked arm. Basically carried the game. I met you after and you-"

"Called you Padfoot. That's right," she grinned. "You helped me out of many a sticky situation during my tenure at Hogwarts with that map of yours. I've still got it too. I intend to pass it down to one of my nieces or nephews."

Well, this evening is turning out great after all, he thought. "Want to grab a drink?"

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"So, you've been at least one cinema show every weekend with a girl that's Harry's age?" James asked.

"Don't make it something that it isn't!" Sirius scolded him. "Ginny's fun, she's a great movie companion, we're friends, that's all."

"You're sure that's all? I know the age difference is disgusting, but she's legal, so doesn't that make her your type?" James now teased.

Sirius knew where his best friend was coming from, he'd certainly had a history of not being picky about the women he would take home or take out, but it wasn't like that with Ginny. He didn't think about her like she was a 'woman', he thought about her like she was a friend. James thinking that there might be something between them was making him feel like a dirty uncle or something.

"Could you please not?" His face portrayed all the distaste he had for the insinuation.

"What's going on?" Harry asked as he came out to join them on the patio. "Why's his face like that?"

"Sirius has a new lady friend," James said.

"James, I told you not to call her that," he insisted. "She is a friend, that's it, full stop. It's like insinuating that there's ever been anything between your wife and I."

"No, I can't picture that at all," James agreed and shook his head.

"Why is she not 'that type' of lady friend?" Harry asked as he took his seat. "What's wrong with her?"

"There's nothing wrong with her," Sirius started.

"Except that she's half your age," James pointed out.

"What?!" Harry asked loudly. "How are guys like me supposed to find a match for ourselves if men twice our age are snatching up all of the available women in our age group?"

"For Merlin's sake, I'm not interested in her like that! Look, she remembered me from when I went to watch a Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch game a few years back, she was a Chaser for Gryffindor. She had the Marauders Map too," he said to James. He'd shared the story of that encounter with James and Harry just after it happened and they'd all been glad to hear that their hard work they'd put into the map was still helping students cause mischief after all this time, particularly considering Harry wound up attending Beaubaton and wouldn't have been able to steal it back from Filch's office. "She saw me at the cinema one night about two months ago and helped save me from this incessantly yammering broad I was on a date with. We've been meeting up for a drink and a movie every weekend or every other weekend since then."

"So, you aren't romantically interested in her, you're just dating her," James stated.

"No, I am not dating her!" He looked over at his godson who looked as convinced as his father about this story. "You know what, actually, I think Harry should date her."

"What?" Harry smiled. "You think I'm so hard up for a date that I should meet your special lady friend? You might say you've an issue with the age difference and don't see her like that, but what if it's not the same story for her?"

Sirius pointed his finger at his Godson in a scolding way. "Two months, Pup. Don't you think that I might have picked up on something from her in that amount of time if it were the case? I'm Sirius Black, mate, I know when a lady wants me."

They laughed at that, but it was true, he could tell when a woman was interested and Ginny never, not once, gave off those vibes to him. She was comfortable around men, she grew up surrounded by them, she could befriend one much easier than she could figure out if one was interested in her, she'd told him that.

Sirius really couldn't stand the thought of his family, and blood or not, the Potter's were his family, thinking that he and Ginny had anything other than friendship going on, so he invited Harry to join him at the movies that Saturday and opted not to let him know that Ginny was going to be there, that way Harry would be able to meet her without having any pre-misconceptions.

He got their tickets for a movie that was supposed to be about aliens in corn fields and was standing with Harry in the line for concession when he spotted Ginny heading in through the doors.

"When was the last time you had a date?" Sirius asked Harry.

"Uh," he thought on it a second. "I had one about a month ago, it could have gone better. Not a lot of shared interests."

"Mhmm, got a type then?" He tried not to pry too much into Harry's dating life but he was curious.

"Type? No, not really. Not like I prefer blonds over brunettes or something. It'd be nice to find someone that could keep up with me when I'm out being active though, so someone slightly athletic would be nice."

This was about to be a dangerous game he was playing.

"So, say you were presented with three options."

"What?" Harry pried his eyes away from the lit up menu board above the cashier to offer a bewildered look to his Godfather.

"Just play along." He pointed at a girl in the next line that was near the register, she was lean with long brown hair, laughing with her friend. "Door number one, there she is," He then pointed to a woman on the other side of them, blonde with a pair of jeans that were showing off a very nice sized arse. "That one is behind door number two. Then he pointed at Ginny who was now getting her ticket from the front booth. She was wearing jeans, ballet flats, and had a shirt on under her jacket that was tighter than what he usually recalled her wearing, but it was still modest. "There's door number three. If you had to name a preference, which one would you go for?"

He pulled Harry ahead with him as their line moved forward, as Harry was still looking back towards Ginny and couldn't seem to pull his eyes away.

"No contest," Harry said. "Door number three." He tilted his head slightly as he continued to observe her. "She looks like she might be here alone, doesn't she?"

"Maybe." He was feeling very proud of himself. He knew that Harry would find Ginny instantly attractive, now he would just have to enjoy seeing how these next few minutes would unfold now that he'd already gotten Harry to admit he fancied the sight of her.

"No, she's looking for someone," Harry said. "See how she's scanning the crowd?"

Sirius checked back and saw Ginny was indeed looking around for him. He waived an arm in the air to get her attention, and he did, then he pointed down at Harry and her eyes went straight to his Godson, and eyebrows up in interest.

"Er, she's coming over," Harry saw, not having noticed how Sirius had gained her attention.

"Well, we are in the shortest line for popcorn."

"Right, I shouldn't be staring at her," Harry said and turned to face forward.

"Sure, that's one way to do it, or you could turn around and say 'hello'." And Sirius assisted him in turning around to face her as she drew close.

"Signs?" Ginny said with a smile.

"What?" Harry asked her.

"Are we seeing Signs?" she asked more clearly, grinning wider at Harry.

"Er, I don't know if I believe in the whole 'seeing signs' business, but-"

"Harry," Sirius laughed. "It's the name of the movie we're about to watch."

"Oh! Er, yeah, Signs. I hope it's good."

"Great, that's what I got the ticket for. It's gotten good reviews," she told him.

"What can I get for you?" the cashier asked.

"Three medium popcorns and three medium drinks," Sirius told her.

"And licorice," Ginny added.

"You and your bloody licorice," Sirius pretended to scold her.

"Hey, you always steal half of it. Don't pretend to hate it."

"Wait, what?" Harry asked. "You two know each other? Hold on," he nudged Sirius in the arm. "Is this your friend you were talking about last week?"

"Yes," he said simply and handed them their empty drink cups. "Ginny, Harry. Harry, Ginny."

Harry glared at him for half a second before focusing on Ginny. "Sorry, he didn't mention you were going to be here. That's why I was confused."

"I deduced that much," she said and took the bag of popcorn handed to her by the cashier. "And does he know and abide by the rules?" she asked Sirius about Harry.

"Rules?" Harry asked and followed her over to the soda fountain.

Sirius held back a few steps from them so he could watch if there was any chemistry showing on Ginny's end towards his godson. She appeared to have some interest, a slight twinkle to her eye, a wander of the gaze down his arm and such. Harry wasn't as good at hiding his interest, which was a good thing because Ginny needed hard hints dropped for her to pick up on those.

"Absolutely no talking during the previews or the movie itself. No fidgeting. And don't even think about trying to talk to me immediately after the movie is done because I can guarantee I'll have to use the loo," she chuckled.

"Armrests," Sirius reminded her.

"Right, we each get one dedicated arm rest. Though, since this is the first time we've met, I think I can make an exception and share."

My, my, that was a heavy flirt in her voice when she told him that.

"How generous of you," Harry said, then leaned a little closer to her than necessary.

Sirius followed behind them into the theatre, now feeling like he was a third wheel as the two of them carried on. When it came to the seating arrangement he let Ginny choose, then Harry sat beside her and he on the other side of them.

They were hitting it off spectacularly, though he did have to wonder if he might be losing his movie friend if they decided to date. She was his friend first, but it would be weird if they continued doing this regularly if she was in a relationship with Harry.

Through out the movie he caught the two of them subtly moving closer together. Every time there was something on the screen causing everyone to jump either Harry or Ginny would clutch the others hand.

He was looking forward to heading back to James' after this and rubbing it in his face how wrong he was about Ginny being his 'ladyfriend'.

When the movie finished, Ginny was the first one to bolt out of the theatre, just as she'd warned she would.

"You like her then?" Sirius asked him.

Harry nodded. "Is that strange for you?"

"Only because you are taking my cinema watching friend away from me."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Harry stated. "She's attractive, I like her so far, but you're making it sound like this is a done deal. I need to ask her out first." They were headed for the men's toilet with the flow of the departing crowd. "And lets not forget how weird it is for you to be setting us up like this."

"To be fair, I hadn't set out to do that, I only realized that the two of you might make a good match when we got to the theatre."

"This wasn't your plan all along?"

"No. My reason for inviting you out tonight was so you could meet her and see for yourself that there was nothing besides friendship going on."

They used the facilities and found Ginny waiting for them by a drinks machine.

"Pub?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah. I can't stay out too late though; I have a family thing tomorrow and will need all my faculties. It's going to be much too loud for me to be hung over."

"How big of a family thing are we talking?" Harry asked.

And so began the list of brothers, their wives, children, parents, family friends that were considered family and all the little anecdotes about them that Sirius had heard before. Harry was listening intently and asking questions and now Sirius really was feeling like the third wheel.

When they got to the pub they grabbed a table and Sirius went to the bar to order drinks and food for them, then caught the eye of a woman seated at the bar that was nursing a cocktail. He looked back over at their table where the two young ones were still carrying on, heads leaned together to hear each other better, then Harry leaned in really close to Ginny so he could say something directly into her ear that got her laughing.

He looked back over at the woman sitting alone; that was a much more preferable situation.

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