The noise level in the Hufflepuff common room had reached a thunderous level. It seemed as though the entire school had been crammed into the cozy space, when actually it was nothing more than the excited chatter of the fourth, fifth, and sixth year Hufflepuffs. Saturday night had finally arrived, and everybody was preparing themselves for the Halloween ball. The girls fussed and flounced around in their finest robes, touching up makeup and hair, straightening skirts, and spritzing perfume so that the room smelled like an overripe rose garden. The boys strutted about like peacocks in their best garb, discussing Quidditch sophisticatedly with one another while waiting for their dates.
After barely five minutes of being emerged in the chaos, Miriam excused herself and escaped into the peaceful confines of her own dormitory. Even all the way up there she could still hear the racket down below.
Miriam didn’t mind the noise; she was used to the clutter and business that was part of life at Hogwarts. And she enjoyed seeing her peers giddy and excited, all dressed up and anxiously awaiting for their dates. But the fact of the matter was that Miriam was not all dressed up, nor was she anxiously awaiting a date. And despite her contentment in that decision, she couldn’t help but feel a bit out of place amongst the crowd in her ancient pullover and trousers. Her friends had tried to persuade her to go with them, but she had politely declined. She appreciated the offer, but truthfully, Miriam was looking forward to having the dormitory all to herself for once.
Alone in the empty dorm, Miriam lay down flat on her four-poster bed and closed her eyes. She hadn’t realized just how exhausted she was until finally off of her feet. Still, it was much too early for bed, and she didn’t want to waste the rarity of the night with sleep. She looked at the half-finished novel on her dresser, considering. Not a school book, she thought decadently, but a novel. The idea of reading for pleasure for once was immensely appealing, and she reached for the book, eager to curl up in bed and fill her head with nonsense and fantasy.
Just as her fingertips brushed the book, there was a knock at the door. Miriam sighed heavily. She knew it was too good to be true.
“Who is it?” she called out, knowing that one of her roommates wouldn’t feel the need to knock.
“Your fairy godmother.”
Miriam rolled her eyes good-naturedly and pushed herself to her elbows.
“Come on in.”
Lily Evans, looking even more beautiful than Miriam had ever seen her (and that was saying a lot), stepped inside carrying a large red bundle and what looked like a very tiny suitcase. Miriam couldn’t help but gape as she stared at her best friend. Shiny robes of the deepest green draped Lily, hugging a figure Miriam couldn’t help but be envious of. They matched her friend’s vivid green eyes perfectly, and made her siren red hair seem even brighter.
“Wow. Has James seen you yet? Wow.”
Lily flipped her hair and struck a mock pose with her lips pursed like a duck and her bottom sticking out so Miriam laughed.
“I take it the ensemble works then?”
“Wow.”
Lily laughed, and dropped her bundle on the bed next to Miriam. Then she stood in front of her, hands on hips, watching Miriam with a suspicious gleam in her eye. She picked up the book lying face down on the dresser.
“Well, you look…cozy.”
Miriam snatched at the book, pouting.
And you look like you should be upstairs helping James stuff his eyes back into his sockets.”
“Lovely image,” Lily said, wincing. “But that can wait. I have something for you.”
She reached across the bed to the red bundle she had been carrying, and shook it out. It unfolded into the most beautiful gown Miriam had ever seen. Sheer and soft, the material just touched the floor with the seductive whisper of silk brushing against itself. It had a low collar that skimmed just below the shoulders and long, bell-shaped sleeves. Miriam gasped and clutched her hands to her heart, as if afraid to stain the delicate material with her fingerprints.
“Come to the ball,” said Lily.
Miriam stared at the dress for a moment, then tore her eyes away to look at Lily.
“But…I-I don’t have anything to wear,” she said stupidly.
Lily rolled her eyes.
“If that thing fits you, it’s not going to fit me.”
Lily sighed and sat down on the bed next to Miriam. She gathered Miriam’s hands away from her chest and held them between both of hers.
“Miriam, listen to me…”
“No,” said Miriam, shaking her head to clear the image of herself in the elegant red robes from her imagination. “Lily, I appreciate this, really I do. But, I’m just not cut out for this kind of thing.”
The two girls stared at each other in a battle of wills, Miriam pleadingly, Lily skeptically. Over the past two years they had grown extremely close. A bond had formed between that involved trust and a deeper kind of caring. However, neither were blind to the unordinary circumstances of their friendship; it was unusual for members of different houses to be so attached, and though an unspoken taboo, the practice was typically discouraged. But they didn’t care.
“Besides,” said Miriam, smiling. “James would never speak to me again. I’d be a third wheel.”
“James doesn’t care about that.”
“Yes, he does. He wants you all to himself, and I don’t blame him. I imagine I’d annoy myself after a while.”
“Lupin “”
“Has his eye on the Ravenclaw prefect, and he doesn’t need me spoiling his chances. The fact is, Lily, that I don’t have a date. And that’s all there is to it.”
“That was your choice,” Lily said, shifting her eyes to the window.
“What do you mean it was my…” Miriam’s eyes widened as she recognized the innocent-as-a-newborn look on Lily’s face. “How did you know about that? Who told you?”
Lily rolled her eyes and shrugged.
“Look, James just happened to mention “ ”
“Of course,” said Miriam, throwing her hands up in disgust. "And Sirius just happened to mention it to James. Unbelievable.” She pushed herself up from the bed in a huff and began to pace.
Lily watched, amused, as Miriam walked back and forth in circles, muttering to herself.
“Oh, come on. What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal,” Miriam said, lowering her voice to a whisper, “is that it’s, well, embarrassing. That’s all. ”
“What could possibly be so embarrassing about Sirius Black asking you to go with him to the Halloween ball?” Lily asked, clearly not following.
Miriam stopped pacing and sighed miserably.
“Oh Lily, you wouldn’t understand. You’ve never been asked out on a pity date before. I don’t particularly fancy the idea of the whole school knowing that Sirius asked me to go with him because he felt sorry for me.”
Lily nearly laughed until she saw how upset Miriam truly was.
“You think Sirius asked you out because he felt sorry for you?”
“Or he felt like he owed me or something,” she said, throwing up her hands in frustration. “The point is that I’m not going to be the object of anyone’s sympathy.”
“If he only felt sorry for you, why didn’t he let it go at no, then? Why wasn’t he relieved you turned him down, why did he make the bet with you?”
Miriam had completely forgotten about the bet.
“Pride,” she said, shrugging, although she knew her voice wasn’t nearly as convincing. “Typical, egotistical, adolescent male pride. Lily, Sirius and I live in two, completely different worlds. He’s rebellious and spontaneous, and I like rules and structure. He rides around on that bloody motorbike all day, while I can barely balance on a broomstick. Sirius has had more dates in a single semester than I probably will in my entire lifetime. I mean, let’s be realistic here.”
“For someone who’s so disinterested,” Lily said, examining her fingernails, “you sure seem to know a lot about what’s he’s like.”
Miriam buried her hands into the sides of her hair and yanked.
“Miriam,” Lily said gently, taking pity on her friend’s situation, “what makes you think that you’re not good enough for a guy like Sirius? You the most special person I know. You’re so kind and patient with everybody, that’s not easy.”
“Yeah, well,” muttered Miriam, shrugging, “I’m not very kind and patient with him. I get, I don’t know… snappy around Sirius, and I don’t like it.”
“He makes you nervous!” Lily said gleefully in a sing-song voice.
Before Miriam could even open her mouth to protest, there was an explosion of noise from downstairs. Squeals and shouts and whoops of excitement floated up the stairs, and Miriam and Lily looked at each other curiously.
Just then, the door flew open and Olivia, a perky girl who slept in the bunk above Miriam burst into the room, her face flushed and chattering breathlessly. She grabbed Miriam’s arm and began to drag her to the door.
“Whoa, hold on just a second,” Miriam said, digging her heels into the floor. “Where are we going?” She couldn’t understand a word Olivia was saying; she was talking so fast and high-pitched it sounded to Miriam like one extended stretch of squeaky gibberish.
“Downstairs,” Olivia said, exasperated. “Hurry, there’s something you have to see!”
Though she was no longer protesting, Miriam found herself being hauled the entire way through the corridor and down the stairs. She twisted her head around to see Lily following after them, trotting carefully over the steps in her lifted shoes.
Olivia came to an abrupt halt at the bottom of the steps, causing Miriam to crash gracelessly into her, following by Lily who sent them all sprawling.
There were a few laughs, but still everybody seemed to distracted by whatever was causing such a fuss to give them much notice. Feeling as though the wind had been knocked out of her, Miriam pushed herself up blowing hair out of her eyes, and then reached a hand down to Lily, who needed more help in her heels. Grunting, Lily smoothed out her pretty dress and raised her eyebrows at Miriam, who shook her head and shrugged in utter bewilderment.
“Okay, Olivia, what exactly is this all “ oh, for goodness sakes!”
Miriam threw her hands up in annoyance as Olivia dashed away into the crowd huddled together in the middle of the room. Bouncing up and down in her fluffy blue dress, she cupped her hand around ear after ear, whispering hurriedly to girl after girl. All eyes turned to Miriam, and there were smiles and muffled giggles. Miriam began to get the feeling that she was the odd one out of a very public joke.
But to her utter astonishment, the crowd slowly began to disperse, one by one. Miriam was reminded of a flower blooming in fast-forward. Everyone stood back, watching Miriam expectantly. Miriam hadn’t a clue what they were waiting for her to do, until the last few people stepped back. Her jaw dropped. Her eyes bugged out. Her stomach gave one mighty attempt to jump out of her throat.
Sirius stood (yes stood) in the center of the dormitory staring directly at her. He looked both dashing and just a bit dangerous in his black dress robes. His long black hair had been combed back neatly. Even the dark smudge of a bruise slashed across his cheek seemed to make him appear even more like some sort of gorgeous story-book pirate than usual. Some people, Miriam thought, had no shame.
For a moment they just stared at each other in silence, Miriam in horrified disbelief, Sirius smiling smugly. Then taking his eyes down the length of her, Sirius gave Miriam a pained look.
“Darling. You’re not dressed.”
Miriam wouldn’t have been surprised if steam started to whistle out of her ears. Murder in her eyes, she strode across the room furiously toward Sirius, who waited for her as serenely as he would a butterfly floating along his path.
Interesting, he thought to himself. His angel appeared to have a bit of fire in her as well.
“Has anyone ever told you you’re beautiful when you’re angry?”
Miriam stopped inches away from Sirius and stared for almost a minute, stunned speechless. When at last she found her voice, all she could manage was an aggravated, “Have you lost your mind?!”
Sirius considered for a moment.
“Possibly. Here,” he said, offering the long stemmed rose in his hand.
Miriam stared at him for another minute, then down at the flower as if it, too, had lost its mind.
“Oh no,” she said, backing away slowly as if afraid the rose would attack at any moment. “No, no, no, absolutely not. This is ridiculous. You are going straight back to the hospital wing if I have to carry you there myself.”
“I don’t think so,” said Sirius, his voice low and just a tad dangerous. Miriam watched transfixed as he took one step, then another towards her. Because she seemed too stunned to move, he took and chance and trailed a finger down her flushed cheek. “We had a deal.”
Miriam felt as though his touch had suddenly drained all of the anger out of her, leaving her confused and exhausted. She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, hoping that when she opened them, she would wake up and this would all be a dream. But when she opened her eyes, all she saw was Sirius, his face bruised and slightly paler than usual. She noticed that he was favoring his right leg.
Miriam sighed and instinctively brushed at the beads of sweat along his brow, thinking how uncomfortable it must have been for him to trek all the way down to her and not realizing just how tender her touch was.
“Sirius,” she said heavily. “You’re not well.” The weariness in her voice moved something in him.
“All the more reason I should have someone like you accompanying me. You can keep on eye on me, make sure I don’t faint or pass out or anything from the unrelenting agony.”
He laughed as the alarmed concern washed into her eyes.
“Listen,” Sirius said, and pulled her close so that their bodies bumped together, amused when he felt her shudder, then stiffen like a pole. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. He imagined that to onlookers it would seem like a very intimate gesture. “We can do one of two things. We can duke it out here in front of everybody, make a scene, and I can drag you to the ball. Or, you can keep your end of the bargain, go get dressed, and I promise you, after the evening’s over, I’ll go straight back up to Madame Pompfrey.” He leaned back and dropped his hands from her waist. “The choice is yours.”
Miriam knew he was lying, of course. He might have made it down here unassisted, but there was no chance that he could actually drag her there in his condition. At least she didn’t think so. Still, she had no doubt that he’d find a way to con her into it one way or another. And after all, they had made a deal. Looking around, she suddenly remembered the crowd of people that were still gathered there, watching them intently.
Miriam took a deep, bracing breath.
“Give me five minutes to get ready.”
“Ahem.”
Everybody turned now to look at Lily, whom Miriam had completely forgotten about. Walking towards them, she took Miriam by the arm and flashed Sirius a dazzling smile.
“Make that twenty.”
For once, Sirius didn’t mind waiting; it gave him a much-needed chance to sit down. The truth was that he really was in no shape to be up and about. But he had begged and argued and charmed his way into convincing Madame Pompfrey to take pity on him. Remembering what she had said before about too much magic concentrated into one body, he had her use the magic already working to fix up the rest of him and transport it all into his bad leg on the condition that he be back in his hospital bed by midnight.
So now as he sat waiting in the Hufflepuff dormitory, his head throbbed painfully, his whole face was sore, and his untended limbs screamed and protested with each movement. He’d had a few dizzy spells on his way down, and once tasted blood in his mouth. But he could walk. And seeing the look on Miriam’s face as she first lay eyes on him had made it all worth it.
Sirius smiled and absently twirled the rose she had seemed so terrified of. His Miriam seemed a complicated sort. He wondered if she was aware of just how transparently her face reflected her emotions. It was unlikely, and he thought it best not to mention it; she would probably never look at him again.
He’d said something of the sort earlier that evening to James, who had been painstakingly helping him into his robes.
“So what,” James had asked, struggling to fit Sirius’ arm into a sleeve, “it’s not like you’re stuck on her or anything. You don’t get stuck on girls.”
When Sirius said nothing, only grunted in pain as his swollen arm was being bent in all directions, James gaped.
“Oh, bugger it. You’re stuck on her, aren’t you?”
Sirius had hotly denied it, and now to himself as the memory occurred to him. But he didn’t give it too much thought, one way or the other. Sirius wasn’t the type to dwell on problems, especially when he didn’t see where the problem was in the first place. He wasn’t stuck on Miriam he was simply…intrigued. And if he were stuck on her, well then, he would just think about that later.
He was more or less alone now in the Hufflepuff dormitory; most everybody had finally left for the Great Hall. He glanced at his watch, wincing from the pain of having to twist his wrist. The next moment he heard the sharp click of heels rushing down the staircase. Lily emerged, flushed and grinning.
“Okay,” she said, brushing the loose hair out of her eyes. She took a deep breath. “Sirius, may I present to you your date for the evening. The lovely, charming, drum roll please…Miriam Daniels!”
Sirius pushed himself out of the chair and stood, his blood pounding in anticipation. His blood pounded for nearly a minute. Lily’s smile faltered.
“Miriam Daniels!” she cried again, with a dramatic sweep of her arms. Nothing. Sirius looked at her curiously. Lily huffed out a breath and fisted her hands on her hips. “Miriam Daniels, get your fancy butt in here this minute before I drag you out by your newly coiffed hairdo!”
At last, Sirius heard the second pair of footsteps coming from the corridor. He watched as Miriam emerged slowly. His breath caught in his throat.
Draped in red and lace and silk, she was a vixen with her pale skin and dark hair. Her eyes were smoky, her lips painted a deep red. Miriam’s hair flowed down past smooth, bare shoulders to skim a low, teasing neckline. Sirius caught a whiff of something that smelled like cinnamon and vanilla and went straight to his head. He felt his mouth begin to water. She looked both fierce and unsure of herself, and by the sheer embarrassment on her features, had absolutely no idea how appealing she looked, which of course, was dangerously attractive in itself.
“Hi.”
Sirius didn’t trust himself to speak just yet. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, not trusting them either, and began to walk towards them.
“Like?” asked Lily, beaming with pride. “I did it all by myself.”
Sirius looked Miriam up and down, his tongue tucked into his cheek as if appraising an antique. If possible, she felt even more like an idiot now than when she had been stuffed into the dress. She couldn’t walk, she could barely breathe, and she smelled like a cupcake. Miriam was expecting some sarcastic comment about how ridiculous she looked, and glared at him as if daring him to laugh. But all he said was, “Something’s missing.”
Startled, she watched as he snapped off the long stem of the rose she had neglected to take earlier. His eyes never wavering from her face, Sirius tucked the velvety bloom behind her ear and stood back.
“There,” he said. “Now she’s perfect.”
Miriam had not been expecting this. She’d gone into the evening with a determined mindset, to get it over with and get Sirius back into the hospital. She’d been prepared to make small-talk with her schoolmates, to smile through Dumbledore’s untrustworthy taste in musical entertainment. She’d resigned herself to the idea of having to stay within a close proximity to a conscious Sirius for an entire evening (which she predicted would be very different from an unconscious Sirius, a situation she was more than capable of handling). Miriam had even been anticipating a trick or two, seeing as though it was Halloween and all. But never in a million years would she have expected to have fun.
Nor could she have possibly conceived that by the end of the night, she would find herself falling foolishly and uncharacterisitcally head over heels for Sirius Black.