Siriusly Deluded

Chapter 19: Celebrations

Sirius was currently waiting patiently at the bottom of the staircase for Lauren. He had met up with Mrs. Walker in the hallway and she told him that Lauren would be down soon.

He glanced down at his black (with red and gold accents...he was very loyal to his house) dress robes, checking to make sure that they weren't still horribly wrinkled. Of course he hadn't thought to take them out of his trunk, so they had laid in there at the bottom of a crumpled pile of clothing for the past few days. He'd had to perform several ironing spells in his attempt to smooth them out.

When he glanced up again he saw Lauren standing at the top of the stairs.

Lauren walked down the grand staircase slowly. Not to be dramatic, just to make sure she didn't take a spill down the stairs and rip her gown.

When she was close enough to see Sirius' expression, she held in a smirk. His jaw was practically on the floor.

"Hi," she said softly when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Wow. You look...wow," was all he said, was all he could say.

Lauren blushed and looked down, smoothing her dress with her palms.

"I mean, that dress is just...wow." Sirius felt like slapping himself. He wanted to say so many other things--words like gorgeous, stunning, incredible, lovely were flying around in his mind--but it seemed like the only word his mouth could successfully form was that three letter palindrome.

Lauren, who had looked up when Sirius started speaking again, smiled at him and bit her lip to keep from laughing.

He smiled back and nervously ran his hand through his hair.

She pulled his arm down and smoothed his hair back into place, whispering, "Don't turn into Potter on me now."

He nodded and grinned at her, remembering that James, Lily, and Remus were coming to the ball.

"By the way," she whispered, leaning close to him again, "you look incredibly hot."

For what he was pretty certain was the second time in his life, Sirius blushed. Recovering quickly, he offered her his arm and they headed off to the ballroom.

When they entered the huge room, a huge mass of people, mainly comprised of ministry officials, was milling about in front of them.

Sirius carefully steered Lauren through the crowd, hoping to catch sight of a familiar face.

The first people they saw were Lauren's parents. Lauren gave her father a quick kiss on the cheek and a hug to her mother. Sirius shook hands with Edward in greeting before he was pulled into a hug by Mrs. Walker.

They moved on and quickly spotted Remus and Karen, who were sitting at a table and talking quietly. Understanding dawned in Lauren's mind. She should've known that Karen liked him. She could have done something about it, too.

"James!" she suddenly heard Sirius call loudly from beside her.

Soon James, dragging Lily behind him, reached them. He and Sirius immediately clapped each other on the back, grinning madly, before starting to talk eagerly.

Lily and Lauren both looked at their boyfriends with eyebrows raised, then turned to each other and rolled their eyes.

"It looks like he's happier to see him than he is when he sees me," Lily commented jokingly.

James apparently heard her and turned to the girls immediately, flashing Lauren a winning smile before wrapping his arm around Lily.

Lauren suddenly felt herself being enveloped from behind by a pair of strong arms. She turned her head to the side to look behind her, and found Sirius' face beaming back.

"Thought I forgot about you?" he whispered into her ear.

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

He pressed a kiss to her temple and murmured, "Good, because I never will."

She couldn't keep a huge grin from spreading across her face at his words.

"This is just sickening, don't you agree, Remus?"

Lauren felt herself being turned in the direction of the sarcastic voice, not at all surprised to see a smirking Karen, standing next to Remus. Lauren's brows knitted as she noted the strange expression on his face.

She pulled herself out of Sirius' arms and hugged Karen. Then Lauren turned to Remus and smiled.

"Thank you for the cloak," Remus said softly, that same emotion playing across his features. She still couldn't place it.

She smiled, hoping he liked the all-weather cloak she'd picked up for him at Madam Malkin's. His just seemed so...worn.

"You're welcome," she replied. "Thanks for the dog biscuits," she said with a laugh.

He laughed, too, before replying, "I thought with Padfoot staying at your house, they might come in handy. It won't be long before he consumes your entire stock of human food."

"Someone talking about me?" Sirius asked, jumping into their conversation.

Remus and Lauren laughed again before Sirius repeated the greeting he'd had with James once more with Remus.

Meanwhile, Lauren took a step closer to Karen and leaned over towards her friend.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a crush on Remus?" she whispered, her tone half-amused and half-accusing.

Karen giggled nervously, shocking Lauren completely. Karen simply did not giggle.

"Did you just giggle?" she asked incredulously.

"Oh, sod off," Karen replied with a grin, her eyes darting around Lauren, indicating for her to look behind her.

Sirius was standing there patiently.

Lauren turned around and he clasped her hand in his as he led her over to the table that Karen and Remus had been sitting at earlier.

He pulled out the chair next to Karen for her, and she smiled up at him as she sat down. She didn't even realize that he had to move the chair over slightly to prevent her from ending up sitting on the floor. She did wonder about the bemused smile he'd had on his face as he sat down beside her, however.

"They got good food here, Padfoot?" James asked from across the table, winking at Lauren.

Sirius glanced over at Lauren, his foot nudging hers gently under the table before he replied, "Excellent food."

"Awesome," James replied happily, looking at the one of menus that suddenly appeared before them.

"How does this work?" Lily asked, slightly confused.

"Oh, well, just say, 'I'll have the' and then whatever you want to eat," Lauren explained, smiling at Lily, who nodded in understanding.

Sirius, of course, had already figured this out and by the time Lauren glanced over at him, he had everything on the menu sitting in front of him.

"Sirius!" she cried incredulously.

"What?" he replied. "I couldn't decide."

"Biscuits," Remus said dryly, reminding Lauren.

"Huh?" Sirius asked confusedly. "There's biscuits on the menu? I didn't get any of those..." he trailed off as he surveyed the dishes again.

Lauren's face hurt from trying to prevent herself from bursting out laughing. It seemed that Remus was struggling with the same task.

She glanced over at Sirius, who was happily tucking in to his exceedingly large meal, before picking up her fork and starting to eat herself.

After a while, Lauren got a strange feeling. She suddenly looked up from her plate, catching Sirius staring at her. She smiled at him and leaned over, looking into his eyes.

"The food is going to disappear in fifteen minutes. You better eat it now." she told him. She was actually serious. Whenever the dancing started, the tables would be cleared.

Sirius continued to gaze at her. He just couldn't tear his eyes away. Besides, he could eat all of his food in five minutes flat...and maybe some of hers.

"What, Sirius?"

"You...your eyes," he said slowly, leaning towards her. "You look so...sexy."

Lauren blushed and glanced down at her lap.

Sirius reached out his hand and tilted her chin up to him, "That was even sexier," he whispered.

"If you two are done proving the existence of some sickening force of attraction, maybe the rest of us can go back to eating dinner instead of trying to overcome our gag reflexes," a dry voice suggested from beside her.

"Karen!" Lauren exclaimed, looking at her friend in disbelief.

Karen let out a snort of laughter at her expression and soon the rest of the table was laughing as well.

Lauren was glad that she was able to conceal the fact that she and Sirius were engaged in a rather...eager game of footsie for the rest of the meal.

Not surprisingly, Sirius did manage to eat all of his food before the music started. When it did, he jumped up immediately and asked her to dance.

She laughed at his enthusiasm, but leaned against him happily as he led her out onto the dance floor.

"Do you know how many evil glares I'm getting?" Sirius whispered into her ear after a while.

"What? Why?" Lauren asked, glancing up at him quickly. She was upset. There were a lot of Slytherins at this party, due to the Walker's pure-blood lineage and the fact that several parents of their classmates worked for the ministry.

"Because I'm dancing with absolutely the most gorgeous girl in the room," he explained with a grin.

"Oh," Lauren murmured, closing her eyes and returning her head to his chest. She inhaled deeply, then tilted her face up to his.

"You smell really good," she told him softly before returning to her position.

"So do you," he replied, resting his cheek on the top of her head as they swayed to the music.

After a while, Lauren pulled away from him slightly and asked, "You want to go outside?" before looking down shyly.

Sirius immediately stopped dancing and clutched on to her hand more tightly before leading them through the sea of dancing couples.

"Which way?" he asked when they were near the door to the foyer.

She smiled at his eagerness and took the lead, taking him through a set of French doors and onto a balcony. She stopped and turned to him when they were near the railing.

Sirius, however, didn't even glance at the scenery. He reached his hand up and gently twirled one of the tendrils of hair framing her face around his finger, smiling at her. "I like this," he said. "Makes up for the fact that I can't run my fingers through your hair."

Lauren frowned, realizing the truthfulness of his statement. She hadn't really thought about that. But it probably wasn't the most appropriate thing for him to be doing at a ministry event anyway.

She used her hand to pull his face down to hers, and she murmured against his lips, "You can later," before kissing him softly. A voice in her head told her that kissing him wasn't entirely appropriate either, but she dismissed it.

He was grinning like a madman when she pulled away from him. She shivered slightly and snuggled into him.

"Are you cold?" he asked softly.

She nodded against his chest.

"Maybe we should go back inside?" he suggested.

Lauren shook her head emphatically, causing him to laugh before sliding his palm further around her waist and wrapping her in his arms. They danced in a slow circle, completely oblivious to the party inside and the snow that was starting to fall lightly around them until Sirius opened his eyes and saw the snowflakes glittering back at him.

"Hey, it's snowing," he said softly.

A smile spread slowly across Lauren's face. "Really?"

"Yeah." He watched as a snowflake landed on her bare shoulder and melted slowly. And he realized that an excess of that would probably cause her to get a cold.

He removed his hands from her back and she shook her head slightly, whimpering softly as she burrowed into him further.

He sighed and put his arms around her once again, then scolded himself. He couldn't let her get sick because he was selfish.

"You're going to catch a cold," he told her softly.

She gazed up at him and smiled as he took her hand in his and led her back inside.

"You want something to drink?" he asked once they entered the ballroom again. "Butterbeer?"

She grinned and nodded. A butterbeer sounded perfect.

Sirius walked towards the table where the refreshments were. He met James halfway and they got into a discussion about Sirius' stay at the Walkers'. Eventually, the conversation steered itself towards the events of the night before.

"So...you're telling me...that you and Lauren were kissing in your apartment last night, wearing just your underwear...and you didn't shag her?" James asked incredulously. "How can you have that sort of willpower? If I saw Lily in just her knickers..."

"I don't know," Sirius said truthfully. "I mean, we'd never talked about it. It just kind of happened that we ended up there...that way. I didn't plan on taking her to my apartment to seduce her or anything like that. She was the one who started the...clothing removal. I just didn't push her to do anything more. I love her too much to--"

James suddenly looked at Sirius expectantly. "You did tell her that, right?"

"That I love her?" Sirius asked, glancing at James, who nodded. "Yes, last night."

"Good," James said. He had been starting to get a little worried about his previously relationship-challenged friend.

They both reached for a couple butterbeers and grinned at each other before making their way through the room back to their girlfriends.

Meanwhile, Lauren, Lily, and Karen were having a discussion of their own.

"Last night Sirius and I went to his apartment and we started kissing and one thing led to another..."

"What?! You and Sirius...had sex?" Lily questioned.

"No!" Lauren exclaimed. "We ended up falling asleep in his bed...wearing just our undergarments."

Lily laughed. "And just how did that happen?" Karen asked with a smirk.

"Oh, you know," Lauren said dismissively.

"Actually, I don't. Care to explain it to me?" Karen asked.

Lauren squirmed uncomfortably.

"We're just kidding," Lily said. "You don't have to tell us. But you should know that most guys wouldn't be able to stop themselves the way that he did."

Lauren smiled. "I'm lucky, I know. I just hope that he doesn't think I'm a tease," she said honestly.

"I'm sure that he was happy with what happened," Lily reassured her. She laughed, then said, "I bet he liked it more than his Christmas present."

Lauren laughed. "Maybe," she said thoughtfully.

"Speaking of presents, what did you think of your kitten?" Lily asked.

A huge grin spread over Lauren's face and she quickly gushed, "Lily, she is the most adorable thing I've ever seen. She definitely reminds me of him. Thank you so much for helping him choose her."

"Sirius got you a kitten?" Karen asked.

Lauren smiled even bigger. "Yeah, she's adorable. You have to see her when we get back to school."

"By the way, what did you get Sirius? James wouldn't tell me," Lily said.

"Oh I got him a--" She stopped when she suddenly heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Talking about us, I hope," James said when he, Sirius, and Remus (who had joined up with them on the way) reached the group of girls.

"You know it," Lily replied before James swept her away into the crowd of dancing couples.

Sirius and Lauren glanced at each other for a second before approaching Remus and Karen.

"Would you care to dance?" Sirius asked Karen, executing an exaggerated bow. Karen laughed and glanced over at Lauren, who nodded and smiled.

Lauren asked Remus if he wanted to dance and he smiled back at her before they made their way onto the dance floor as well.

"So you've got it bad for Remus, huh?" Sirius asked Karen once they started dancing.

Karen's eyes grew huge. "What are you talking about?" she sputtered unconvincingly.

"Come off it. I can tell," Sirius said firmly.

"Okay, so what if I do?" Karen replied, slightly miffed by her apparent...transparency.

"I just want you to know..." Sirius trailed off. This was not going to be the easiest conversation in the world.

Karen looked up at him expectantly, her brow furrowing.

"...he's not ready yet."

"Oh, I see. You don't think he likes me?" Karen asked him bitterly.

That reaction was exactly what Sirius had been trying to avoid. "No, I'm sure he likes you. But he thinks that he shouldn't. You have to be patient. He won't want a relationship now. He probably thinks that he never will again. But if you want to be with him...you'll have to wait."

Karen swallowed the dose of reality hard and nodded her head. "Thanks for telling me that." She hadn't realized that Sirius was so thoughtful.

"Well, I want him to be happy, you know? And I don't want you to get hurt. I think you'd be good together." Sirius replied honestly.

Karen nodded again. They danced the rest of the song in silence.

Meanwhile, Lauren had no idea how to approach the same subject with Remus. She didn't have the same advantage as Sirius did by actually being friends with him.

"Remus?" she asked softly, looking up at him.

He glanced down at her for a second, then looked away quickly. She noticed the tears shining in his eyes, however.

"Remus, are you okay?"

He swallowed hard and nodded.

"You want to talk about it?" she asked gently.

He shook his head and Lauren gave him a reassuring smile before she looked away and glanced around the room.

She saw Sirius and Karen dancing together, and noted that Karen looked just about as happy as Remus did. So much for her attempt at matchmaking...

When the song ended she gave Remus' hand a squeeze before letting go. Sirius soon stepped in and they both watched as their friends awkwardly started dancing.

Whenever he was dancing with Lauren, Sirius noticed that a lot of people were watching them. They all had these knowing smiles on their faces. Sirius caught a man's eye as he whirled by with his wife. He looked strangely familiar. The man nodded towards Lauren and winked. That's when Sirius placed him. He was one of the men that went to the balls when they were younger. Sirius rolled his eyes slightly. They all knew, even then...He and Lauren had wasted much too much time apart from each other.

Eventually the ball came to an end and they all said their goodbyes and expressed their gratitude for the presents they'd all opened earlier in the day.

By midnight, the ballroom was empty, save for Sirius, Lauren, and the Walkers' staff.

Sirius and Lauren volunteered to help clean up, but the house-elves insisted that they go to sleep, practically pushing them out into the foyer, where Lauren's parents were seeing off the last of the guests.

Lauren hugged her parents goodnight and they all wished each other a happy Christmas before Lauren and Sirius headed upstairs.

Sirius walked Lauren to her room, and she turned around suddenly when they reached her door.

"What is it?" Sirius asked, concerned.

"I think I...figured it out," she replied hesitantly.

"The doors?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"Yeah. What were you thinking about when you came in my room this morning?"

Sirius paused to think about it. "I wasn't thinking much, I was too excited."

A grin slowly spread across Lauren's face. "When I went in your room, I wasn't thinking much either, I was too scared."

"Oh..." Sirius replied, catching her train of thought. "So it's like, an emotion charm?"

"I think so," Lauren said.

"Okay, let's try it." Sirius caught her off guard as he kissed her hungrily, completely dismissing any thoughts that surfaced. He pushed the door handle. Not surprisingly, it didn't move.

Lauren laughed. "I don't think that's the kind of emotion that's gonna get you in my room," she said teasingly. "Well, as long as the lock is deciding," she added softly. Suddenly, an idea struck her. "Do you want your present?"

"Yeah!" Sirius replied excitedly. He grabbed the knob eagerly and it turned, allowing them entrance into her room.

Then he realized what she'd done. "How did I end up with such a smart, smart girl?" he asked her once they were inside the room and the door was closed.

"Hmm, opposites attract?" Lauren suggested wickedly, walking over to her dresser and opening up the top drawer.

Sirius watched in anticipation as she made her way back over to him, holding something in the palm of her hand.

"So, Happy Christmas," she said, placing a gobstone in his hand. He stared at the object incredulously, the expression still on his face when he looked up at Lauren.

She laughed and took it back out of his hand, walking over to the middle of her floor and placing it on the carpet.

She pulled her wand out and backed up as she said, "Finite Incantatum."

Sirius grinned as his eyes traveled over the motorcycle that suddenly appeared in her room.

He jumped up and ran over to Lauren, picking her up off the ground as he kissed her gratefully. "That's my present?" he said excitedly.

"Yeah, you like it?" she asked, laughing.

"It's perfect!" he replied before kissing her again.

"Do you mind if I...?" he asked when he pulled away.

"Of course not!"

He put her back on the carpet softly and practically skipped over to the motorcycle, running his hands over the chrome as he inspected it.

"Do you know how cool this is gonna be when I put some spells on it?"

She laughed again. "That's what James said."

"This is so awesome," he said softly, but she heard him and smiled.

"Promise me one thing, though," she said.

"What?" he asked.

"That you'll still study for your NEWTs."

He laughed. Of course she'd think of that.

"Okay, I promise...as long as you'll study with me."

She liked that condition. Very much.

She grabbed her pajamas from her dresser and went into her bathroom to change. She was still taking off her necklace when she came back into the room.

"Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?" he asked after his eyes flicked over her body.

"I didn't think you'd notice," she said, smiling.

"Of course I noticed," he said, walking over to her. He gently pushed her hands away from her neck and clumsily unclasped her necklace for her. "How do you get these things off?" he asked frustratedly. She laughed, but knew that he'd want to do it himself, so she stood there patiently as he fumbled with it.

He finally got it off and walked away, placing it on top of her dresser before walking back over to her and reaching his hands up, gently pulling her hair out of its style.

"That's better," he said softly as he ran his fingers through it, causing her to sigh and lean into him.

She was none too happy when he suddenly pulled away and gazed up at him in confusion.

"I'm going to go change," he explained before giving her a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Okay," Lauren replied, sighing as she sank down onto her bed.

Meanwhile, Sirius opened his room and was painfully reminded of earlier that day, when he'd discovered that his robes were wrinkled and he'd thrown his clothes around in frustration. He dug through the piles of clothes, trying to find his pajamas. He finally found them and pulled on the flannel pants and white t-shirt, then started tossing the remaining clothes back in his trunk.

Lauren had started to worry about him and opened the door just as he was getting up off of the floor.

"Sorry," he said, walking over to her.

"It's okay. I was just getting a little worried," she replied distantly, looking past him.

"What's that?" she asked suddenly.

"What's what?" he asked, praying that she hadn't seen--

"Those things on the floor," she replied, walking past him quickly.

He took a deep breath and turned around, watching as she leaned down over the matching objects.

"They're slippers," he said embarrassedly. Well, actually, they were puppy-dog slippers, which the other Marauders had bought for him as a gag gift when he'd finished the Animagus transformation. He'd actually grown quite fond of them over the past four years, and guiltily so.

"Oh, Sirius," Lauren said, standing up and walking back over to him.

"I know, I know, stupid, huh?"

"No, adorable," she replied as she closed the distance between them.

Lauren put her hands on his waist and grabbed the hem of the t-shirt that he probably shouldn't have bothered to put on, not even stopping to ask him before pulling it over his head. He didn't mind, of course.

"Lauren?" he questioned in a low voice.

"Mmm hmm?" she replied, running her hands over his chest slowly.

He closed his eyes. "I love you," he whispered.

"Love you, too," she murmured back.

He picked her up off the floor and carried her over to the bed. She lay down and he pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her. She snuggled into him and listened to his heartbeat until she fell asleep. He drifted off soon afterwards.