Siriusly Deluded

Chapter 21: Resolutions

They spent the next few days mainly in the house, lying in bed for a while after waking up to talk and joke around as well as kiss.

He convinced her to play wizards' chess with him (she was never really fond of the game), but eventually their arrangement to reward her with kisses whenever she made a successful move turned into a full-fledged snogging session in the living room. Of course, Sirius might have intentionally sacrificed a few pieces...

They spent most nights talking in front of the fireplace, his head usually resting in her lap as she ran her fingers through his hair while they talked about everything and nothing at the same time.

Before they knew it, it was New Year's Eve.

That morning at breakfast, Mrs. Walker was chatting brightly (and incessantly) to no one in particular. Mr. Walker was reading the newspaper next to his wife, and would occasionally lower the paper and make faces across the table at Sirius and Lauren.

Then, out of nowhere, Maria stared straight at Lauren and Sirius and asked, "So, have you two made your New Year's resolutions yet?"

Lauren and Sirius exchanged discreet glances. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd made, let alone kept, any resolutions. And she was pretty sure that he'd never made any. He wasn't one to follow self-imposed limitations, or any limitations, for that matter.

"Of course," they said in unison after a second's hesitation.

Mrs. Walker smiled in response, then continued talking about whatever she'd been talking about before. Lauren couldn't really remember, nor was she able to pay that much attention, because Sirius hand was now on her leg, caressing her thigh slowly.

Her mother broke the spell when she got up from the table, saying, "I'll see you later. Have fun!" before making her way out the door.

"She's cheerful this morning," Lauren observed, perhaps a bit later than she would have if Sirius' presence wasn't causing her brain to malfunction.

Mr. Walker laughed, finally putting down the newspaper. "I think she's had about ten cups of coffee to make sure she stays up until midnight this year. She woke me up at six this morning and started telling me how much she likes slinkies. I don't even know what the heck a slinky is! And then she made me make up a resolution. So now I have to come up with one by tonight."

The three of them laughed heartily. Then Mr. Walker got up from the table, saying "I think I better go make sure your mother isn't dusting the library...again. Don't have too much fun."

Lauren laughed and said, "Bye, Dad."

"See you later sweetheart."

"Wow," Sirius commented when they were alone. "Remind me to never let you drink coffee."

Suddenly Sirius turned to her and asked, "So, what's your resolution going to be?"

"I don't know," she replied.

He grinned. That's what he had been hoping.

"Sirius, I know that face. And I'm going to say right now that I don't want anything to do with--"

He cut her off by pressing his finger to her lips.

"I think we should make resolutions for each other," he suggested, emphasizing the last two words.

"Do you?"

"Yes." It seemed like a grand idea to Sirius, if he said so himself.

"What if I don't like the one you make for me?"

"Oh, you'll like it."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay, then," she conceded. "I'm ready."

"You already thought of one for me?" he asked, clearly surprised.

"Yes I did."

"I'm impressed."

"You should be."

"Are you going to stop making smart comments and tell me?"

She smirked before saying, "Maybe."

He sighed in frustration and decided he would go first.

"Okay," he said. "Raise your right hand and say--What?"

She was staring at him incredulously, her expression clearly asking, "Where do you come up with this stuff?"

He took her hand and raised it into the air. Her fingers laced into his immediately, and he decided that that was a minor, forgivable departure from the swearing process he'd seen on muggle television.

"Now say, 'I, Lauren, resolve to snog Sirius silly every day this year.'" He looked at her expectantly.

She snorted in response, stopping herself when she saw his hurt expression and repeating the statement quickly.

"Sirius, what kind of resolution is that?" she asked when she finished.

He flashed his trademark smirk before answering, "The kind where we both benefit."

She rolled her eyes. "You better hope that my mom doesn't ask us what our resolutions are ('especially if my dad is around,' she added silently)...I'm afraid the one I made for you isn't quite as...beneficial."

His face fell a little, but he held his hand up eagerly.

"I, Sirius, resolve to stop playing pranks on and hexing people for fun," she said, raising her eyes to his challengingly.

He stared at her, shocked. "Except the prank for graduation, right?" he questioned in disbelief.

"Is anyone going to get hurt or embarrassed?"

He hesitated before saying, "Well..."

"Sirius!"

"Fine. I, Sirius, resolve to stop playing pranks on and hexing people for fun," he repeated all in one breath, his eyes boring into hers the whole time.

They continued eating in silence for a few minutes, until Lauren turned to him and asked softly, "Siri, are you mad at me?"

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair before answering, "No, not really. It's just...I haven't even played that many pranks this year and you still think that I..."

Lauren closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Great, now she'd hurt his feelings. "Sirius, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way..."

"It's okay...Here, you can make it up to me by getting a head start on your resolution," he said, scooting his chair close to hers, then pulling her into his lap. He bent forward and placed his lips on hers, and she slid her arms around his neck, twining her fingers into his hair. The sheer intensity of his kisses weakened her, and she leaned until her back was against the table.

She broke away from him, however, when she noticed that her shoulder blade was in his unfinished breakfast. Of course the day she happened to fall into his plate was the one day he didn't clean it.

"Er, Sirius?"

"Hmm?" he asked, his lips against her neck.

"Your breakfast is on my baaack," she struggled to explain as Sirius tilted her chin up and placed his lips against her throat.

"Mmph," was his muffled reply, as he was simultaneously speaking and sucking on her pulse point.

Lauren didn't know what he'd said, but what he was doing felt amazing and she rather agreed with him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New Year's Eve was usually a quiet affair at the Walker's house, which was understandable with all the work that came with hosting the Ministry Ball annually.

But, as Sirius was never the "quiet affair" type, he convinced Lauren to go back to the ice-rink with him.

"Whoa," Sirius said once they got there. Maybe this wasn't one of his better ideas (since Sirius never had a bad idea, of course). It was absolutely crawling with people. The crowd on the rink was so thick that Sirius could barely see the icy floor. And to make matters worse, there was a disproportionately large amount of children there. Why, Sirius couldn't surmise. It was ten o'clock at night. Didn't these kids have bedtimes?

After putting on their skates (Sirius tied his own this time), they slowly made their way onto the ice. Lauren took his hand and pushed off, and they easily fell into the rhythm of the traffic.

A few young boys went whizzing past, yelling, and Sirius winced. Had he been that annoying at that age? Lauren was probably the person who'd give him the most truthful answer, but he was pretty sure that she'd say that he had been that annoying, so he didn't ask.

"Geez, why are there so many kids here?" he asked instead.

"Aw, Sirius, they're not that bad, they're kinda adorable, really..." Lauren replied, watching a little boy and girl skate by, holding hands much like she and Sirius were.

She spoke too soon, however, because a boy of about seven decided it would be rather fun to smack Sirius in the leg with a hockey stick the instant she finished her sentence.

Sirius grabbed onto Lauren at the unexpected assault, and she, unable to support his weight, fell down, pulling him on top of her. The crowd of skaters parted as they passed by, watching the couple with mixed expressions, some of interest, some of longing, some of disgust ("Gross!" a passing boy said loudly).

Lauren and Sirius didn't notice any of it. After landing on the ice, Sirius said sarcastically, "Oh, yes, painfully adorable." She smiled apologetically, and their eyes locked as if pulled by a magnet, and even though the ice was freezing against her back, she just couldn't bring herself to tear her gaze away from him. They remained that way until the ice, melting under the heat of her body, started to seep through Lauren's jacket.

"Sirius, I'm...melting," she said, for lack of a better word.

Sirius laughed and stood up carefully, grabbing onto the rail as he pulled Lauren up with him.

After a few more minutes of skating, Lauren turned around and skated backwards so she could face Sirius, who immediately pouted, hoping to elicit a sympathetic response from her for his hockey-stick-induced injury. She smiled up at him, and he gazed back down at her silently before sliding closer and tightening his arms around her.

"This is rather dangerous, don't you think?" Lauren queried, her voice muffled by his navy blue jumper.

"I suppose," Sirius said, reluctantly letting go of her and leading her over to the side of the rink. Once there, he kissed the tip of her nose before immediately pulling her into a hug again. She sighed and clung to him, paying attention to the feeling of the cold breeze rushing over her back and the heat radiating from Sirius' body in front of her. His heartbeat was faint, slowed by the cold and barely audible through several layers of clothing, but she pressed her face to his chest and inhaled deeply as she listened intently.

After a few minutes, the inactivity began to affect Lauren, and she shivered, pushing herself closer to him. He groaned softly at the contact before pulling back. "Maybe we should skate again?" he suggested, a strange expression clouding his eyes.

"Yeah," Lauren said, grabbing his hand and pushing off from the wall.

After circling the rink a few times, Lauren asked jokingly, "So, you think you can skate without holding my hand?"

"Well, yeah, but why would I want to?" Sirius retorted, squeezing her hand tighter.

"Good point," Lauren admitted. That was so sweet.

In the center of the rink, which was blocked off by some cones, covered with green paper to make them look like Christmas trees, a pair of trained skaters was practicing. They ran through their routine, performing jumps, lifts, and spins flawlessly and completely in sync.

Lauren watched them wistfully. She wished she had that kind of athletic ability.

Sirius had followed her gaze and he asked, "You wanna try that?"

Lauren cocked an eyebrow at him. "I don't know if that's a good idea..." Let's see...this was his second time skating, and she had the grace of a stampeding hippogriff.

"Come on, you know you want to."

"Alright. But don't you dare lift me. I don't fancy getting dropped on my arse from six feet up."

He gave her a hurt look that said, "You don't think I'm strong enough to lift you?"

She turned so she was skating backwards, facing him again. Then she reached out her free hand and ran it across his chest, silently telling him that that wasn't her opinion at all.

He smirked and suddenly twirled her so she was skating forward again.

Unfortunately Lauren was rather unprepared for his spontaneous action, and let go of his hand to steady herself.

She had only let go of Sirius' hand for a few seconds when Lauren was suddenly dragged into a passing throng of skaters.

By the time Sirius realized that she was gone, she was completely out of sight. He skated around the rink slowly at first, searching for her.

On the opposite side of the rink, Lauren was doing the same thing. Her height was a disadvantage, and she could barely see two people ahead of her, but she continued on.

After several minutes of searching in vain, Sirius was getting rather frantic. He'd circled the ice probably a billion times and he still hadn't caught even a glimpse of Lauren. He was one of the taller people on the ice, so it made no sense that he hadn't found her yet. Recalling the article she had been reading on the train, Sirius was struck with a horrible possibility. A crowded public place on a holiday would be the perfect place for an attack by this rising dark force. And Lauren, the daughter of a prominent political figure in the wizarding world, and one known for his cooperation with Muggles, no less, would be a perfect target. Shaking his head to clear the disturbing thoughts, he skated on, searching the passing skaters intently for any sign of Lauren.

After realizing that she had a better chance of finding him by staying put and waiting for him to pass by, Lauren slid over to the side of the rink and grabbed onto the railing. She stared out at the ice, looking for his familiar sweater. After a few fruitless minutes, she suddenly heard soft noise beside her and looked down. A tiny brunette girl was standing against the wall of the rink beside Lauren, and it sounded like she was whimpering quietly.

"Hey, are you okay?" Lauren asked concernedly, kneeling down on the slick ice to look into the little girl's face. She couldn't be more than five, and there was no adult to be seen.

"I can't find Mandy," the girl replied tearfully, bringing up a pair of huge brown eyes to meet Lauren's. Tears were clinging to the girl's eyelashes and running down her cheeks.

"Who's Mandy?" Lauren asked soothingly, gently brushing the tears out of the girl's face.

"My babysitter," the girl said, sniffling.

"What's your name, sweetie?"

"Rebecca," the girl answered shyly.

"Well, Rebecca, I'm Lauren. It's nice to meet you."

The girl smiled weakly and said politely, "You, too."

"I'm gonna take you to the office and they'll find Mandy for you, okay?"

"Okay," the girl said, grabbing onto Lauren's outstretched hand.

"How old are you, Rebecca?" Lauren asked once they started moving along the ice, the girl stabilized between Lauren and the wall of the rink.

"Five," the girl replied proudly, then looked up at Lauren expectantly.

"I'm seventeen," she answered.

"Wow, you're old," the little girl replied, awed slightly.

Lauren laughed and said, "I guess so. Is this your first time skating?"

"Yes," the little girl replied. "Mandy took me here because my parents had to go to a--a gala.

"Oh, I see," Lauren said, angrily wondering what kind of babysitter took a five-year-old skating for the first time on one of the busiest nights of the year.

"Do you go to school?" the little girl asked her suddenly.

"Oh...yes, I do," Lauren answered, feeling sad that she wouldn't be able to tell the muggle girl about Hogwarts.

"Do you like it?"

"Yeah, it's fun," Lauren replied. This year was tough, but Sirius was making all the more enjoyable, and it was nice always having her friends around. "Do you go to school?"

"Not yet," Rebecca answered, "My mommy says I'll start school this year."

"You'll love it," Lauren said, squeezing the girl's hand reassuringly. Even after the short interaction, Lauren could tell by her eloquence that she was incredibly intelligent for her age.

They stepped off the ice and slowly trekked over to the office. Rebecca tightened her hold on Lauren's hand as they approached the teenager at the window, who was blatantly eyeing Lauren.

Shaking off the weird feeling she got when males (except Sirius...who could look at her any way he wanted) looked at her like that, she said "Excuse me, but Rebecca here lost her babysitter. Her name is Mandy. Could you please notify her?"

The boy tore his gaze away from Lauren and looked down at the girl. "Oh, sure," he replied before grabbing onto something, pressing a button, and beginning to speak. The music stopped with a screech and the boy said, "Will Mandy please come to the main office. Rebecca is waiting for her. Mandy, please come to the office." After putting down the object, he looked at Lauren again and said, "You can leave her here if you want."

"Um, I think I'll stay with her. We'll sit on that bench over there," Lauren replied, not wanting to leave the girl and certainly not wanting to be around the leering teenager.

Meanwhile, Sirius had heard the announcement and glanced down at his watch, realizing that it was already 11:50. He awkwardly made his way off the ice, planning to have them call for Lauren over the speakers. He was going to kiss her at midnight if it was the last thing he did. Unless, of course, she was in danger...but he didn't want to think about that.

As he walked just as awkwardly over the normal floor towards the office, a movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

Lauren was sitting on a small bench next to a younger girl, who was swinging her pink-skate-covered feet underneath her.

The girl was tiny and brunette and looked a lot like Lauren. In fact, if Lauren weren't so young, one might've thought that she was the girl's mother.

'I hope our daughter is as cu--whoa, hold up there, Padfoot! Who said anything about having children? Besides, they were going to have a son...'

He approached the two, and the little girl looked up at him, smiling shyly. He waved and grinned at her, then knelt down in front of them.

"Hi, what's your name?" he asked the girl, glancing at Lauren and giving her a quick wink.

"Rebecca," the girl answered, blushing slightly.

Yes, Sirius still had a way with the ladies, even miniature ones.

"Well, hello Rebecca. I'm Sirius. Would you mind sitting in my lap so I can sit next to this other pretty girl here?"

"Okay," the girl said softly, blushing further.

"Thank you," Sirius said, standing up and picking up the girl, then sitting back down and placing her in his lap.

He leaned over and gave Lauren a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Are you seventeen, too?" Rebecca asked, squirming around to look at Sirius.

"Why, yes I am. And you are...wait, lemme guess," he said slowly, leaning into Lauren as she whispered into his ear, "five! Am I right?"

"Yes!" the girl exclaimed happily. "How'd you know?"

"Magic," Sirius replied.

"Mandy says magic isn't real," Rebecca said.

"Well Mandy is just a--"

He cut off when two shadows fell across his face. One, a blond teenager was obviously Mandy, who looked like she wanted to know just what Sirius thought she was. The other, Sirius noticed, was a teenage boy, probably his own age, was practically ogling Lauren. Sirius calmly took a deep breath and suppressed the urge to rip out his eyeballs.

"Come on Rebecca," Mandy said tersely. "It's time to go home."

The girl's face fell, and she reluctantly climbed out of Sirius' lap. "Bye," she said sadly.

"Bye," Lauren and Sirius said back, smiling at the girl. Sirius then shifted his attention to the boy, who scampered away under Sirius' glare.

"She's cute," Sirius said when they were alone.

"Yeah, she is," Lauren said, leaning her head against his shoulder. "I think she was rather smitten by you."

"Who could blame her?" Sirius replied with a grin, causing Lauren to slap his arm playfully. A dark look crossed over his face as he said in a harsh tone, "That bloke was staring at you."

Lauren didn't respond, knowing that Sirius wanted to brood a little and wallow in his jealousy. He was weird like that.

He suddenly said, a little angrily, "Where were you? You let go of my hand and then you just disappeared."

"The crowd just pulled me away from you I guess....Sirius, were you...worried?" she asked after turning up to look at him, her eyes narrowing discerningly.

"No," he said quickly, then he sighed as she cocked her eyebrow at him doubtfully. She knew he was lying to preserve his male ego. "Well, yeah," he replied softly. "There's been all those disappearances and I was afraid that..."

She smiled at him and scooted into his lap, wrapping her arms around his torso in a fierce hug. He tightened his arms around her waist and pulled her to him.

"I don't want to lose you," he murmured into her hair.

"You won't," she whispered back.

People around them started counting down the seconds until the New Year would start. Sirius, though blissfully unaware of the time, did get his kiss at midnight (and for several minutes afterward).