Siriusly Deluded

Chapter 23: Transitions

The next morning, Sirius woke up early, and he spent the time in solitude thinking. Quite disturbing, but that's what he was doing.

His gaze swept over Lauren's sleeping form, trying to memorize everything about her. This would be the last time for a long while before he'd wake up with her in his arms again. Unlike some blokes, he actually enjoyed cuddling. It was probably some severely messed up regression into his childhood. His mother was...lacking in the maternal care department.

'Or maybe,' he thought, when Lauren sighed in her sleep and slid her leg over his, 'I like this because I love her.'

He continued to ponder and slowly run his fingertips over her back, and perhaps was just about to discover the meaning of life (yeah, right), when she squirmed in his arms.

"Hi," she said sleepily, lifting her hand to rub her eyes and flashing him a lazy smile.

He found himself unable to speak for a second. Merlin, that smile was sexy. "Hi," he returned hoarsely.

"What time is it?" she asked quietly.

He leaned over her to grab his watch off the nightstand, not noticing when she closed her eyes at his closeness.

"Nine," he replied before setting the watch back down and casually draping his arm over her waist.

She snuggled into him and said, "We still have a little bit of time, then."

"Yeah," he replied slowly as she began to plant little kisses along his jaw.

"I'm going to miss this," he said with a sudden fierceness.

She froze, then drew her face away from his and looked up at him questioningly. "What?" she asked innocently.

"This," he said more firmly as he tightened his arms around her.

"Me, too," she whispered, sadness lacing her voice.

After lying there for another half an hour talking about the upcoming term, they reluctantly got out of bed.

"Um, I'll just...give you your shirt back after I go change," Lauren said awkwardly.

"No," Sirius said softly, "Keep it."

Lauren smiled and stood on her tip-toes to give him a quick kiss on the lips.

He had to restrain himself from turning it into more than that. "You're welcome," he murmured.

"I'll see you in a little bit," she said, turning to leave the room so she could get ready to leave for the Hogwarts Express.

Sirius looked down at the floor and saw Ashes, still inside one of his slippers. "Wait!" he called quickly.

"What? What's wrong?" Lauren asked, spinning around immediately.

"I want to give you something," he said, carefully picking up the slipper and offering it to Lauren.

"Uh, Sirius, I don't want your stinky slipper," Lauren said, wrinkling her nose disdainfully.

"Hey! They don't smell..." Well, at least he thought they didn't...Perhaps he was immune to it? 'Nah,' he decided.

Lauren laughed. "Why do you want to give it to me?"

"Ashes likes it," Sirius explained, shrugging.

"Yes, it seems she does," Lauren said, taking the slipper from his outstretched hands and stroking Ashes' head lightly.

"Is it alright if I keep the other one?" Sirius asked nonchalantly. "You know, in case she wants to come visit me or something?"

"It's your slipper, of course you can keep it," Lauren replied amusedly, holding in the enormous smile that was threatening to spread across her face. Sirius was so adorable. "See you downstairs, okay?"

"Okay."

After all of their belongings were packed and brought downstairs, they had lunch with Lauren's parents.

Mrs. Walker was uncharacteristically calm, apparently still exhausted from her caffeine high. Mr. Walker was also quiet, though Lauren suspected that it was because she was leaving.

"Daddy?" she asked after they were done eating.

"Yes, honey?"

"Will you help me look over my Arithmancy problems before we go?" Lauren actually already checked over the problems, but for some reason she wanted to make her father think he was needed.

Mr. Walker smiled happily. "Of course."

On the ride to King's Cross Station, Mr. Walker was in a decidedly better mood, and he spent most of the time discussing the pros and cons of the newest line of brooms to hit the market with Sirius.

When they arrived at Platform 9 and ¾, Sirius thanked Lauren's parents for letting him stay at their house for the holidays. In response, he received a tearful hug from her mother, a friendly handshake and a warning look from her father.

Thinking it best to leave Lauren a little time to say goodbye to her parents in private, he went off in search of his friends.

"We wish you didn't have to go back so soon," her mother said. "It's so nice having you home."

"I know, mum. I don't want to go back yet either."

"Write to us, okay?" her father suddenly asked, enveloping Lauren in a tight hug.

"I will."

"You promise?"

"Dad! Of course I'll write! You're squeezing me to death!"

"Alright, alright," he conceded laughingly, backing up until he was holding her at arm's length. "Don't work too hard."

Lauren laughed. "I won't dad."

"We love you, sweetie," her mother said, joining the family hug.

"I love you, too," she said. 'I will not cry, I will not cry,' she told herself over and over.

Lauren blinked back her tears and pulled away, thanking them for letting Sirius stay and everything else they'd done.

"See you in June!" she said and suddenly Sirius was there, helping her gather up her belongings and making their way towards the train.

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

"Edward, you have to let her go," Maria said when they were out of earshot, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand soothingly.

He shook his head firmly. "No, I don't. She's only seventeen. She's my little girl."

"Edward, look at her," she ordered softly, "Look at them."

He watched as Sirius led Lauren through the crowd onto a less congested part of the platform.

"Would you have wanted it to be anyone else?" she asked quietly.

He stared at them for a while before turning back to his wife, then shook his head once. His wife had a point. He'd known Sirius for his entire life. The boy was a bit reckless, but he obviously loved his daughter, and that was the most important thing.

They both returned their gazes to their daughter, who was now standing in the middle of the platform talking to John Lovegood, laughing at what he was saying. Sirius was clutching her hand gently, staring down at their entwined fingers as he ran the pad of his thumb against her palm. Every now and then he leaned into her, lightly rubbing his shoulder against hers to get her attention. She tilted her head towards him, squeezing his hand in response, but still listened to the other boy. Eventually he stepped behind her and slowly let go of her hand before wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on the top of her head.

"He worships her, Edward."

"He better."

"Let's go, darling. You haven't gone jogging with me yet this week," Maria reminded him, a smile on her face.

Mr. Walker sighed. New Years was now officially his least favorite holiday.

"Oh, I forgot something," Mrs. Walker said once they were through the barrier. "Wait for me in the car, okay?"

"Alright, dear."

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

"Laur, we should get on board," Sirius murmured into her hair.

"Okay, let's go," she said, looking up at him as he took her hand in his.

They had just started moving forward when they heard a female voice call from behind, "Sirius!"

He (and Lauren, who wanted to know just who exactly was summoning her boyfriend) turned around, and caught sight of Mrs. Walker waving her arms in the air exaggeratedly. He glanced at Lauren questioningly, but she shrugged in response.

"I'll meet you on the train," he said before kissing her on the cheek, letting his lips linger a bit longer than necessary.

"Okay," she murmured, letting go of his hand slowly. What piece of embarrassing information was her mother going to share with Sirius now?

He jogged over to Mrs. Walker, who had seemingly come back through the wall for the sole purpose of speaking to him.

"Yes, Mrs. Walker?" he asked politely. He couldn't keep his eyebrows from knitting with concern.

"Don't look so worried," she admonished him, patting his arm. "I wanted to give you something," she said as she pulled out a package from her robes.

He took the thin, rectangular package and stared down at it for a second, then raised his eyes up to the woman.

"Go ahead and open it," she said with a smile.

His expression changed to match hers when he saw what was inside. It was a collection of pictures. Many of them were from their childhood.

There was a picture of him and Lauren dancing, and he kept stepping on her feet. She would jerk away and scowl at him, but then he'd give her the puppy-dog face, feigning innocence, and her expression would slowly melt into a smile. Another boy edged his way into the picture, cautiously approaching Lauren. He scampered away rather quickly, however, when Sirius glared at him over her shoulder.

Next was a picture of them outside of Florean Fortescue's. He had stolen her ice cream cone and was holding it high above his head while she jumped up to unsuccessfully recover it. Then after a reflective pause, she promptly stole his and ran away, laughing delightedly. He shrugged and glanced down at the cone in his hand, about to eat it before he threw up his shoulders resignedly and ran after her down the street. Soon, they both came back to the front of the store, with her happily eating her ice cream and him staring down at his now ice-cream covered shirt in shock.

Another picture of them, standing in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies. The picture was taken from inside, so it depicted his expression as he stared at the newest model in awe with his face pressed up against the window, while she kept glancing from him to the broomstick, a slight pout on her face as if she thought she'd just lost her best friend to the sport.

Under that was another picture that surprised him very, very much. Early morning light was filtering through a window in the background, revealing the two of them, eleven years old, lying in her bed with their arms wrapped around each other. No one was supposed to know about that, especially not her parents. He silently prayed that Mrs. Walker hadn't shared the picture with her husband. His head snapped up to look at her mother, who said with a reassuring smile, "That was lovely."

He shuffled through the rest of the pictures, these much more recent. They were playing in the snow, they were leaning against each other in front of the fire, they were decorating the Christmas tree in the ballroom at her house, they were playing with the kitten, they were eating with James, Lily, Remus, and Karen, they were laughing on New Years' Eve, they were dancing at the ball. That was his favorite picture. He was holding her close to him, and every now and then she'd tilt her face up to his. Then he'd lean down slightly and kiss her softly, sometimes on her forehead, sometimes on the tip of her nose, sometimes on her lips.

He looked up at Mrs. Walker wordlessly. He'd known for basically his entire life that she loved to take pictures. It had been her second choice as an occupation, instead of working at the Ministry of Magic in Greece. But he didn't know that she'd kept the pictures of him and Lauren, or that she had even taken a lot of those.

"Thank you," he said softly. "They're amazing."

"You're welcome, dear. Take care of her," she replied, hugging him and then slipping back through the barrier to the Muggle world.

"I will," he promised, even though he knew he was talking to himself.

He tucked the pictures into his cloak and walked dazedly onto the train. After making his way to the Marauders' usual compartment he saw that James and Lily were already there, as well as Remus. James stood halfway and they completed their usual greeting, a complicated and supposedly cool handshake they'd invented on the train on their way to Hogwarts for the first time.

Much to James' dismay, Sirius kissed Lily's hand, and she laughed as James wiped it off with his robes, muttering something about mangy dogs and slobber, which Sirius chose to ignore.

Remus was sitting beside Lauren, engrossed in a book, but he frowned and exclaimed, "Hey!" when Sirius ruffled his hair.

When he dropped down onto the seat on the other side of Lauren, she asked, "What did my mom want?"

He grinned wickedly before answering, "What do all women want from me?"

She narrowed her eyes slightly and retorted, "Too bad you don't have anything to give them."

He gave her a hurt expression, looking rather like a wounded puppy, as James, Lily, and Remus laughed at her comment.

"Touché," he replied once they'd quieted, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "You're right," he whispered into her ear after a minute, "I don't have anything to give them because I belong to you."

Over the next few minutes, Lauren felt Sirius' weight slowly sag against her, and he finally slid down, his head resting in her lap.

Across from her, James stifled a snort of laughter.

"He must be tired," Lauren whispered, shrugging her shoulders.

"Oh, and why would he be tired? Did you keep him up late last night?" James asked in a conspiratorial tone, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"James, you're so..." she began exasperatedly.

"Dashingly handsome?" he supplied, winking at Lily, who rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Suave? Captivating? Intelligent yet sexy? Irresistible?"

"Modest?" Lily chipped in laughingly, just as Lauren said, "Annoying!"

James gave up on Lauren, and turned to Lily, asking quietly, "You don't agree with her, do you?"

Lauren rolled her eyes as Lily said, "Not anymore." Then she looked down at Sirius, who was sleeping peacefully in her lap. She brushed her fingers over his cheek lightly, then traced his strong jaw-line before sliding her fingers into his hair.

She absently played with the silky black strands for a long time as she stared out the window, reliving the holiday in her mind. Besides the other...advances in their relationship, it felt like their friendship was stronger than ever. What would it be like now that they were back at school? She was so busy, and he had his friends and his classes and Quidditch.

She looked up when she heard the swish of a cloak in front of her, and saw that James was standing, his back to her.

"Lauren, I know that you're rather busy, but there's a prefects meeting in five minutes," Lily said apologetically, placing Ashes on the seat as James pulled her up.

"Oh, okay," Lauren whispered back as the Head Students departed, hand-in-hand. She glanced over at Remus, who was reading a book silently.

"Remus?" she whispered, touching him gently on the shoulder.

"Yes?" he replied softly, putting his book down beside him and granting his attention to her.

She glanced down at Sirius' head in her lap and then back up at Remus meaningfully.

"You have got to be kidding me. No way," Remus replied, looking at her as if she was insane.

She looked at him pleadingly and he sighed, taking off his cloak and handing it to her. There was a nice happy medium. He absolutely refused to let Sirius sleep on his lap (what if he groped around in his sleep?), but he didn't mind him sleeping on his cloak.

Lauren smiled at Remus gratefully, then lifted Sirius' head gently off of her lap, sliding out from under him and replacing her body with the cloak. Sirius groaned in his sleep and clutched the cloak, making Remus instantly glad that he'd come up with the alternate solution.

During the meeting, Sirius woke up slightly when he felt something soft against his cheek. Then he noticed the rumbling. He opened his eyes slowly and saw that Ashes was curled up in the crook of his neck, between his jaw and his shoulder, purring loudly. It was cute, but geez, the little bugger sounded like a small motor, and her whiskers kinda tickled his chin. He picked up the kitten, which meowed softly in disapproval, as he shifted. Then Sirius curled up on his side, lightly holding the kitten in the space between his stomach and his legs. Ashes twisted around in his hand and settled down again, resting her face between his thumb and forefinger before immediately starting to purr again.

When Lauren came back into the compartment with James and Lily, laughing softly at James' uncanny impersonation of McGonagall, she quieted suddenly at the sight of Sirius and Ashes, in the same positions they had been in since falling back asleep.

Lily gave a little gasp behind Lauren and voiced her own thoughts as she exclaimed quietly, "That is adorable!"

"Oh, yes, adorable," James said sarcastically, pulling Lily back out of the compartment. Apparently he felt the need to remind Lily how adorable he could be.

And when they came back into the compartment several minutes later, James' slightly-askew glasses and messier-than-normal hair, as well as Lily's tangled tresses and swollen lips, proved that James had gotten his point across.

Meanwhile, Lauren sat down across from Sirius, just watching him. He looked so innocent when he was sleeping, reminding her of the boy he'd been before they went to Hogwarts. Not that she minded his developments, she noted as her gaze swept over his broad chest, but so much had happened over the past seven years, and she felt like she'd missed so much of his life.

"Lauren? You want to sit here?" Remus asked, scooting over to make space between him and Sirius.

"Oh, sure," Lauren replied, settling down into the spot.

They spent the next half an hour or so discussing what they did over the holidays until their conversation was interrupted by a loudly rumbling stomach, surprisingly courtesy of...James.

"Is the cart going to come by soon?" he wondered aloud, then stood up and opened the door to the compartment. He stepped outside a bit and peered down the hallway, then let the door close and flopped back down beside Lily.

"It's four compartments down," he reported. "Why do we always sit in the back? We always are the last to get the food!"

"Oh! My mum went on a baking spree and made hundreds of cookies for everyone," Lauren said, laughing as she stood up to grab the huge box full of cookies from the luggage shelf above them.

"You weren't kidding!" Lily exclaimed when Lauren opened the box. "Tell her thanks!"

"Yeah, thank you," James said. Well, at least that's what Lauren thought he'd said, since his mouth was full of cookie.

Lauren laughed. "I will."

"Wow, I would have thought that Padfoot would have woken up when you said the word 'cookie'," James mused, chewing thoughtfully. He meaningfully looked over at Remus, who raised an eyebrow, and then suddenly jumped up and left the compartment.

"Where is he going?" Lauren asked, confused.

"It's prank time," Lily and Remus answered together.

"Oh, right," Lauren said.

James came back a few minutes later holding something in his hand while he shoved his wand back into his pocket.

He eyed Lauren and Lily warily and turned his back to them, showing Remus whatever he had in his hand.

Remus snorted and James turned around triumphantly. "You think they can be trusted?" James said in a stage-whisper.

"I think so," Remus said, shaking his head at his friend's theatrics.

"What is it?" Lauren asked curiously, leaning forward in her seat.

James walked closer, bending down and presenting his hands to the girls.

Lauren nearly choked when she saw it. James had purchased a blueberry muffin from the cart and had transfigured it, rearranging the berries to spell out "SEXY".

"James!" she exclaimed softly, glancing quickly at Sirius, who was still asleep.

"Oh come on, Lauren, you know he's your sexymuffin...I heard you tell Lily!" He flashed Lauren an evil grin, then put the muffin into her hand.

"No...James, I can't--"

"Oh, I think you can," James said, tapping Sirius on the shoulder and then quickly jumping into his seat across the aisle, looking nonchalant.

To her horror, Sirius stirred beside her, rubbing his eyes and pulling himself up to a sitting position beside her.

"Hi," he said, "Sorry I fell asleep."

"It's okay, I just...thought you might be hungry," Lauren said, shooting a glare at James, who pretended not to notice.

Sirius' stomach grumbled at the prospect of food and he shrugged. "Did the cart already come by?"

"Not yet," Lauren said slowly.

"But Lauren got you something," James spoke up suddenly.

Sirius barely glanced at James before returning his gaze to Lauren, smiling at her. She would have melted if she weren't about to...

"Lauren?" James urged.

"Oh, right...so, here it is," she said apologetically, handing the muffin to Sirius.

Sirius, not fully awake yet, didn't seem to notice the unusual appearance of the muffin, and James frowned in response even as Lauren sighed in relief.

Sirius leaned forward and kissed her softly, thanking her as he pulled away.

All of the occupants of the compartment watched, transfixed, as Sirius brought the muffin up to his mouth and took a bite.

He brought his hand down, finally looking at the muffin for the first time. Sirius actually did choke, and the half-chewed piece of muffin flew out of his mouth and right into James' disbelieving face as Remus, Lauren, and Lily all burst out laughing, watching as it bounced off of his forehead and onto the floor.

"James, I didn't know you found me so attractive," Sirius joked after everyone had calmed down a bit. "Too bad I'm taken," he said, turning to Lauren.

"I didn't know you had it in you," Sirius teased her, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Lauren smiled back at him, confusion etched into her forehead, as Sirius leaned closer to her.

Suddenly she was pressed up against the seat, her lips covered by Sirius' in an intense kiss. She sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck, completely forgetting about the other people in the compartment.

After successfully turning her brain into complete mush, Sirius pulled away, sending a triumphant look at James, who had a disgusted look on his face.

"Next time, Padfoot, get a room," Remus said dryly from beside them.

Lauren blushed furiously, ducking her head.

"Sorry, Moony," Sirius said with his adorable lopsided grin.

"Thanks for playing along," he said to Lauren.

She narrowed her eyes and hissed softly, "I wasn't playing!"

Sirius grinned and leaned forward, whispering in her ear, "Neither was I, but they don't know that."

Lauren shook her head and decided to forgive him for the time being.

For the rest of the train ride, they all gathered on the floor of the compartment (after Lily made James dispose of the muffin bit--which Sirius found quite entertaining) and played exploding snap.

The ride in the carriages back from Hogsmeade was relatively uneventful (lacking baked goods as projectiles) and once they got back to the school, they all ate dinner together.

As they walked out of the Great Hall, Sirius groaned, "I've never been so stuffed in my life."

"That's not surprising, considering the way you were shoveling the food into your mouth," Remus joked.

"You know," James said, "You can always work it off by playing some Quidditch."

"Prongs! No! We just got back!" Sirius complained.

"All that means to me is that you haven't practiced for the last few weeks," James commented shrewdly. "We're trying to win the Cup here!"

"I know we are, but..." Sirius trailed off. He knew that James would bug him until he agreed to play. There was a reason that his friend had been made Head Boy, and it was not because he was, as James liked to say, the best looking bloke at Hogwarts, it was because he knew how to lead.

"Fine. Just let me walk Lauren to her room," Sirius said, tightening his grip on Lauren's hand and grinning mischievously.

"Oh, no you don't!" James said. "I know what you're thinking. No, I think we'll all walk Lauren to the Ravenclaw dorms."

"Damn!" Sirius cursed under his breath, shrugging at Lauren, who laughed.

Sirius put his arm around Lauren's shoulders and she slid her hand around his waist, leaning her head against him as they walked to her dorm.

When they got there, Lauren wrapped her arms around Sirius. He enveloped her in a tight hug and they just stayed like that for about a minute.

"Padfoot, come on, we have Quidditch practice," James said impatiently.

"I don't want to," Sirius whined, nuzzling his face into Lauren's neck.

She laughed, but tightened her arms around him. She didn't want him to go either.

"Geez, you two just spent the whole holiday together. Haven't you had enough?"

"No," Sirius and Lauren answered together. Sirius quietly added, "And I never will," into her ear, then kissed her gently.

"Okay, okay, that's enough," James said, pulling Sirius away from Lauren before she had a chance to respond to his kiss. James knew full well to not let that happen.

"I love you!" Lauren shouted after the boys.

"Love you too!" Sirius called back before he was pulled around the corner.