My mind had been so preoccupied by the events of the first ever Halloween Ball that I had completely forgotten one of the most important days of the year, in my case: November tenth. Of course, at Beauxbatons, no one besides my siblings ever remembered my birthday. I didn’t expect to be any different at Hogwarts, but as the day drew nearer, I found myself wondering if I should tell someone. It would be nice to have something to look forward to. Despite this, I kept it to myself.
My eighteenth birthday came just like all the others and it wasn’t until the evening when I noticed anything peculiar happening. The first strange occurrence happened at Quidditch practice that night.
As usual, Haylie (the self-proclaimed assistant captain) lead us through our normal warm up exercises and as usual, James brought us into the locker room to discuss game tactics. The non-usual thing was that we were missing two out of our three Chasers: Sirius and Micky.
“James, where are the other Chasers?” I asked as we headed back out onto the field to run through drills and plays.
He cast me a sideways glance. “Sirius, uh, has a detention with Flitwick that he couldn’t miss and Micky gave some excuse about something…”
“Sirius never told me that he had detention,” I commented. I had seen him almost the entire day, so unless the detention was from another day that I had forgotten about, I wasn’t too sure that it existed. Plus, since when did James let people cut practice?
“Did I just hear you asking about Micky?” Haylie butted in. “She got a bad reading in her… um, tea leaves this morning in Divination and she said some sort of accident would happen if she came to practice, so she stayed behind to do homework.”
I stared at Haylie for a long moment, not saying anything. “You guys let her off of practice for something like that? Haylie, I thought you were serious about Quidditch!”
“She is,” James defended. “I didn’t want… anyone to be harmed if something did go wrong with Micky.”
“Wow,” I said. “I didn’t think that you believed in things like Divination.”
“You can never be too cautious,” was all James said in reply.
The flying portion of that practice went badly, to say the least. With two of our Chasers absent, it was difficult to get anything done. I spent half the time working with James on catches; he worked on throws at the same time. Haylie practiced catching the snitch, of course, and Maria and Donyal were practicing aiming bludgers at targets. None of us were very surprised when James ended practice early.
It was crazy how fast everyone dashed off after practice was ended. I had pulled off my practice robes and suddenly everyone was gone except for Donyal. It was very strange, because she instantly caught me in a very long-winded conversation about our upcoming match against Ravenclaw.
“Troy, Micky’s boyfriend, may be a good Beater, but the other one, Carlton Horst, I think it is, isn’t very good,” Donyal was saying. She seemed to be going through every position and sounded quite like Haylie.
I shrugged as I got up to leave. “Yeah, I guess. I saw them practicing the other day. Their Chasers looked really good.”
Donyal sprung to her feet as well, prancing to stand right in front of the door. “Oh, their Chasers are excellent! Almost better than ours! You need to be on your guard, Amelia; it’ll take a lot of skill to defend against them. Our Chasers may all be fairly good friends, which is a major asset, but the Ravenclaw ones are extremely well-coordinated. We’re going to have to be on top of our game if we want to win.”
Was it just me, or was Donyal trying to keep me from leaving? I wondered. I moved right to get around her, but she moved with me. “Excuse me, Donyal, I kind of need to get going…”
She grabbed my wrist. “Come on, Amelia, we haven’t even discussed their Keeper yet! Honestly, I would think that you would at least be interested in who is playing the same position as you…”
I pushed through her. “All right, but we can talk while we walk. I have homework to do.”
“Okay, so Haylie told me that his name is Shay Hollanich,” Donyal said, walking side by side with me.
“Shay? That’s a weird name.” I commented, feeling not very interested in the conversation.
Donyal shrugged. “I know. I think it might be short for something, but I’m really not sure. Anyways, he is supposedly really good. The Ravenclaws tend to like to have a good offence, but their Seeker usually up to par. Like I said before, their Chasing is excellent and their Keeping is very good, but their Beaters and Seekers aren’t the best in the world.”
We made our way up to the castle like this, Donyal rambling on about Quidditch and me patiently listening to her. She eventually moved on to other subjects, such as how annoying teachers can be sometimes. She prattled about Slughorn, Flitwick, McGonagall, and was getting around to talking about Professor Birky when I turned down the hallway towards Gryffindor Tower.
“Hey, Amelia, wait!” Donyal called, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me the opposite way. “We can’t go back to the common room yet! I haven’t even begun to tell you how much I love you!”
“Um…. Okay?” I asked, starting to feel a little creeped out by her strange behavior. Donyal was usually extremely laid back, friendly and cool, but in a smooth cool kind of way. She’s the kind of person who is cool with everything and doesn’t ask of much in return. Something funny was going on, because annoying and obnoxious was not the Donyal that I knew.
We marched down the hallway, her arm fastened on my own. Her grip was unusually strong, but I assumed that it was simply from being a Beater.
Suddenly, Donyal stopped dead in her tracks.
“Donyal, what is going on?” I demanded, pulling my arm free.
“Shh!” she put a finger to her lips.
“If this is a joke, it really isn’t funny!”
“Did you hear that?” my companion asked.
“Hear what?”
“Quick, in here! We need to hide!” Without another word, she pulled me inside the nearest classroom.
“Donyal! What the heck is going on””?
I was cut off and caught completely off guard by what happened next. The walls to the seemingly random classroom were covered in scarlet and gold banners that read “Happy Birthday” in huge flashing letters.
“SURPRISE!” The cheer was almost deafening as about twenty people leapt from their hiding places, either behind chairs or under desks.
I squealed in alarm as someone’s arms latched around me. It was Micky. She was beaming and shouting, just like everyone else in the room. “Happy birthday, Amelia!” she sang happily.
I blinked in shock as she let me go. Everyone, all my friends, seemed to be there. There were my dorm mates: Lily, Haylie, Leah, Micky, the Marauders: Sirius, James, Peter, Remus, my Hufflepuff friend, Aly, and several other people I knew from around school were also present. I could see Danny and Maggie smiling out of the corner of my eye as well.
“Wh-what?” I stammered, recovering from my momentary speechlessness.
“You know, Amelia, we were getting kind of worried when you started asking about Micky and Sirius’s absence from practice,” James told me with a grin.
“You mean… they were here?” I asked, my mind still reeling from the fact that this was a surprise party for me.
“You bet we were,” Sirius said, giving me a one-armed birthday hug. “Micky and I were here the whole time, along with Lily and the others. Obviously some of the team had to stay back so it didn’t look too obvious, though.”
I laughed, finally starting to let what was happening sink in. There was a flash of brown curls and I felt another person grab my waist. Smiling widely, I gazed down at Maggie. She beamed up at me, her usually pale face flushed with excitement.
“Happy birthday!” she chimed.
“You know,” said Danny, joining the circle around me. “You’ve been officially of age for a year now. How does it feel?”
“Exactly the same as being seventeen,” I replied.
It turned out that Maggie was the one to let my birthday slip out to my friends. She had noticed that no one seemed to be saying anything to me over the past few days and knowing me, she knew I probably hadn’t told anyone. She had sought Lily out after dinner one night and told her.
I swear Lily is the best friend I can possible imagine having. She’s the one who alerted my other friends and it was Sirius’s idea for a surprise party. Lily had then arranged it, using her status as Head Girl to get permission to use the classroom, and invited everyone. The birthday banners were Micky’s contribution to the event.
I spent the next half an hour greeting everyone who had come. Maggie had brought her new best friend, Naomi, and the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team had shown up. Aly Hazen from Hufflepuff, my Transfiguration buddy, had brought a few of her friends, Anna and Cathy, as well.
“Now, Amelia,” said Lily, a big grin on her face, “it wouldn’t be a birthday party without cake, you know.” She grabbed my shoulders and steered me towards a large table that had been made up of desks pushed together and plopped me down at the head. Everyone else seated themselves, with Lily seated next to Maggie on my right and Sirius and James directly on my left.
There was a soft crack, the sound made when someone was Apparating, and I turned to see several house elves that now stood in the corner of the room. They tottered over to the table, balancing the cake as they went, and floated it so that it landed smoothly in front of me.
Lily beamed at the house elves. “Thank you so much! I’ll be sure to tell Professor Dumbledore how helpful you have been.”
The elves mumbled their thanks, bowing deeply before disappearing back to the kitchens.
I glanced around at all my friends, with the smiling faces. “Why did you guys go through all this trouble for me?”
“Amelia!” Sirius shouted. “Why wouldn’t we do this for you? You’re our friend!”
“Yes, and after all you’ve done for us, how could we not do something special for you?” Lily said, grinning sheepishly across the table at James. He smiled back nervously, ruffling his hair as he did so.
“The cake?” I pointed to the large pastry sitting in front of me. “You guys honestly didn’t have to make this for me.”
“We didn’t make it, the house elves did!” Danny said, as if pointing out something obvious.
“We just helped choose what kind of cake it was,” Maggie piped in.
“Speaking of cake,” James said loudly, coming back to his senses, “how about we dig into this beast? Or is it our plan to just sit here discuss how we came to create such a lovely party?”
Everyone laughed and Sirius got up to cut the cake. Micky sprung to her feet, stopping him. “Wait!” she cried. “We’re forgetting the most important thing!” With a wave of her wand, eighteen birthday candles appeared and settled themselves on the cake’s surface. “Make a wish!”
I beamed at her, and then at everyone. What did I need to wish for? I was having the time of my life, in mere months my world had turned completely upside down, and I was enjoying every minute of it. My friends were absolutely amazing and for the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged to a group that wasn’t my family.
Keeping this all in mind, I closed my eyes and blew. When I opened them, I was disappointed to find that all the candles but one were now burned out. I narrowed my eyes at it, mentally willing it to blow out on it’s own accord.
My lovely younger brother, however, saw the single burning candle and let out a loud cheer. “Amelia’s got one boyfriend!”
I raised my eyebrows at Danny. Every time it was someone’s birthday, he does this, even though I have told him time and time again that he needs to stop playing the childish game. Naturally, in brotherly fashion, Danny continues to ignore all my wishes.
As if this couldn’t be enough, Danny grins and winks at Sirius. “She’s all yours, mate!”
My face burned scarlet as I sat back down. Sirius simply laughed at Danny, saying, “Nah, she’s too good for a guy like me.”
My thoughts raced. Sure, Sirius and I went to the ball together and everything, but… boyfriend? Yes, I knew that I had feelings for Sirius, but that was because he was one of my best friends, right? I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Now was not a good time to be wrestling with my feelings. I would have to deal with those later.
It wasn’t long before Sirius had cut up the entire cake and passed it amongst the guests. My face was flushed with excitement as I ate, watching all my friends in delight. Micky was in deep conversation with Aly and some of the Hufflepuffs (most likely discussing fashion). Remus chatted with Leah, Maggie, and Haylie, while James was being obnoxious and shouting Quidditch strategies for all to hear. He did this until Lily had the sense to tell him to stop, using the excuse that members from the Hufflepuff Quidditch team were present and we didn’t want to give away strategies. Naturally, this sobered him up quite a bit.
I talked and laughed with everyone. We all applauded James and Sirius for their most recent assault on Snape and everyone was more than eager to share about clever ways to keep themselves entertained during Professor Birky’s not so interesting Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons.
Around eight o’clock, the party was beginning to wind down a bit. The cake had been consumed and the Hufflepuffs had returned to their common room. It wasn’t long before the only ones left in the room were Lily, the Marauders, my siblings, and I.
It was then that Lily pulled out a large package from under the table and laid it in front of me. The others must have gotten some sort of hint, because after that, everyone proceeded to pull out various packages and boxes, forming a small mound in front of me.
I stared at the pile in half amazement. I had never gotten this many birthday presents before. Usually I get things from my parents and my siblings if they could afford to buy something, but I had never had friends buy me things before. I beamed at my friends.
“You guys really didn’t have to get me anything, you know. The party was quite enough,” I told them. Little did they know that my insides were squirming with excitement.
Lily laughed. “Amelia Jordan, what kind of friends would we be if we didn’t get you a present?”
“Or two,” added Peter.
Danny, on the other hand, shrugged casually. “No one ever gave her anything for her birthday or Christmas at Beauxbatons. It’s natural for Amelia not to expect anything.” Maggie nodded along with him solemnly.
My face had turned crimson as every eye turned towards me.
“Are you serious?” James mouth was hanging open in disbelief.
“They aren’t, but I am,” Sirius replied with a smirk.
Remus rolled his eyes. “Sirius, that remark turned cliché in third year. Please don’t use it again…. I don’t know if I can handle the stupidity of it.”
Sirius muttered something about Remus spoiling his fun under his breath, but no one was really paying attention to him. Their focus was, unfortunately, on me.
“Amelia, is this true?” James asked again, more seriously this time.
I nodded. “You guys knew that I never had friends at my old school. I told you that, right?”
“Well, yeah, but we expected that at least one person would get you something.” Peter commented.
“Sadly, I wasn’t quite that lucky.” I said, smiling sadly.
“Anyways,” Sirius said loudly, obviously deciding that the conversation was a bit too depressing for his taste. “How about we cheer things up a bit? Amelia, you’ve got a whole mountain of presents in front of you; how about you take advantage of that and dig in?”
I grinned at Sirius. He could be so dumb sometimes.
It took a few minutes to go through all the presents. Remus gave me a large slab of Honeydukes chocolate, Peter and James followed by presenting me with several boxes of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans and some Chocolate Frogs. Maggie surprised me by giving me a very warm Gryffindor scarf.
“I knitted it myself!” she exclaimed proudly. “Paige has been teaching me how.”
Danny, on the other hand, gave me a shiny silver clip for my hair and delivered a bulky dark green sweater from Mum and Dad.
As much as I loved the gifts from my family and friends, my favorite presents were from my two best friends: Lily and Sirius. Lily’s was by far the most thoughtful. She was the only person that I had confided in regarding how my peers at Beauxbatons treated me. The others knew about it, but not to the extent that Lily did. I almost cried when I opened a copy of Hogwarts, A History. The inside cover was signed by all my closest friends, with personalized messages from each of them.
When I gave Lily a huge hug afterwards, she told me, “Wherever you are, you can open this book and escape back to Hogwarts.”
The last gift to be opened was from Sirius, but he hadn’t added it to the pile. He seemed kind of nervous as he explained to me that he would give it to me later. I was slightly confused by this, what could he be giving me that everyone else couldn’t see?
Later that evening, Lily and I sat on her bed up in the dormitory. She reclined against her pillows, as I sat cross-legged at the end of the bed, flipping through my new copy of Hogwarts, A History. Lily was watching me curiously as I studied the occasional illustrations hidden in the pages of my book, searching out pictures depicting the lives of the four founders and their stories.
I didn’t notice it at first, but I soon began to feel her eyes boring into me. “What is it?” I asked, glancing up at her.
She looked away quickly. “It’s nothing.”
“Lily,” I pressed.
She sighed. “I know that you probably don’t want to talk about it, but I’m starting to get a little confused at what’s going on between you and Sirius.”
My stomach dropped. I bit my lip, hoping she didn’t notice my sudden nerves. “What do you mean?” I tried to keep my voice level and even, but I don’t think it worked very well.
“You two always hang around each other, Sirius has spent more time away from the other four Marauders this year than he ever has before, you went to the Ball together… I’m pretty much your best friend, I think I have a right to know how you feel about him.” Lily said it all so bluntly, I could feel my face burning.
I bowed my head in response, trying to will my cheeks into cooling down a few degrees. Deep down, I knew that I would have to face this eventually. I would have to tell Lily how I really felt. The only problem was… I wasn’t quite sure what I felt. Options darted around in my mind. Should I tell Lily everything? Then again, what is there to tell?
I had always figured that once you voiced how you feel about another person, it’s sort of official. If everything just goes unsaid, then there’s still a chance for your feelings to change. Once you spill, though, there is no going back. You have to face it.
With this in mind, I knew that I had to pick my words extremely carefully. Did I want to have feelings for Sirius? The answer would be no; he had enough girls falling for him. Did I really care for him as more than a friend?
The answer to this last question came from my lips as barely a whisper. I said it without thinking; it just blurted itself out naturally. “Yes.”
Lily, despite my quiet tone, had heard. “What was that?” she said gently, her eyes searching my own.
I averted my eyes, not wanting to say it aloud, not wanting to make it official. “Yes, I think I do have feelings for him.”
Lily picked the book off my lap and scooted over so she was right next to me. She wrapped her hand in my own in a friendly gesture. “That’s wonderful, Amelia.”
I shook my head fiercely, turning away from her. “No, it isn’t wonderful! I don’t WANT to have any feelings for Sirius. I don’t want to care for him as more than a friend.”
“Yet you do.”
I nodded. “As soon as I met him, I knew that he was the type that all the girls go crazy for. I mean, no one can deny that he is completely gorgeous. Girls see him and form hopeless crushes and secret obsessions; Hollie confirmed that for me even back when I first arrived here. I’ll admit it, I liked Sirius almost the moment I met him, but because he was funny and nice to me when I wasn’t used to kindness. As I got to know him better, I swore to myself that I wouldn’t allow myself to have any sort of feelings for him other than friendship. The last thing he needs is another girl who is head over heels in love with him. I just wasn’t going to put myself, and him, through that.” I paused, taking a few deep breaths. I was surprised at how fast this all was coming out. Even more shocking was that it felt good to get it all out. After holding it in for so long, the whole truth was dying to spill from my tongue, and I let it. “As more time goes by, I’m finding that I fancy him more and more! There have been times when I’ve forgotten my oath to myself completely. I’m constantly fighting myself, Lily, and it’s awful!”
Lily smiled sadly, squeezing my hand supportively. “Maybe you should just stop fighting.”
“I don’t know if I can.” The words were more to myself than to my redheaded friend sitting next to me. “I just don’t know what to do anymore, Lily.”
“Amelia, you listened to me when I needed help, and so I am going to do the same for you. I can understand why you don’t want to fall for Sirius, but the longer you fight yourself, the worse it will become. You can’t wage war between your head and your heart because when all is said and done, you’ll just end up more lost than ever. I went through a similar battle with how I felt for James and trust me, it’s a lot easier once you just lay down your weapons and accept your feelings. Some things are worth a chance.”
“Except things never even worked out between you and James,” I protested. “Accepting how you felt did nothing but create drama and more heartbreak.”
Lily shook her head. “No, Amelia. Sure, it didn’t all come out how I expected, things rarely do. I fought a battle of the wills with James for years and when you finally helped me accept my feelings, I felt more at ease with myself than I ever have.”
I gazed into her striking green eyes, soaking in the truth that was shown in them. “Really?”
“Yes,” she smiled teasingly. “Besides, I think Sirius really does like you too.”
This caused me to laugh. “Lily, what would an amazing guy like Sirius ever see in a boring girl like me? I’m not that good looking, I never had any friends before now, I’m not that great at anything in particular”“
“Amelia, that’s not true!” Lily stopped me. “Don’t ever think that about yourself! You may not be as pretty as Hollie, as book smart as Leah, or as good at Quidditch as Haylie, but you have so many other things that they could never have! You’re kind, honest, and you’re extremely loyal to your friends. You have the maturity to hold back your feelings, not wanting to curse the boy you fancy with another clingy girl, and I think he senses that about you. You’re not just some girl, Amelia,” Lily finished with a smile. “I bet if you told Sirius how you feel, you might be surprised at what he would say in reply.”
We were silent for a few moments as I mulled it all over. “I just don’t think I could jeopardize our friendship like that. Plus, I’m really not THAT nice, I mean, look at the way I’ve treated Hollie.”
Lily laughed. “I guess old enemies die hard and no one is perfect. Regarding your friendship with Sirius, I think some things are worth the leap.”
I nodded. Lily was probably right, as always. Now that I had confirmed, said aloud, how I felt about my other best friend, it was useless to keep fighting. I fancy Sirius Black, I told myself. I fancy Sirius Black… but admitting it was one thing. Telling him how I felt was completely another.
“I don’t know if I can tell him just yet,” I admitted.
“Then give it some time. You’ll be able to eventually and if you’re really lucky, he might just beat you to it.”
These last words of Lily’s were almost prophetic, and when I looked back later, I wondered why she didn’t consider taking Divination.
Just as she had finished these words, the door burst open. It was Micky, and she looked absolutely ecstatic. She pranced across the room and landed on Lily’s bed with a small thump.
“Um… Hi there, Micky,” Lily said cautiously, obviously not sure what to make of our friend’s dramatic entrance.
“This is for you,” were the only words Micky said, although she was beaming as she said it. She shoved a wrinkled scrap of parchment into my unsuspecting hands.
I glanced over at Lily, and then at the note.
“Micky, did you already read it?” Lily asked, eyes narrowing.
Micky shrugged. “Of course I didn’t, Lily.” At Lily’s disapproving expression, she made an attempt to defend herself. “OK, so I was sorely tempted, you know how curious I am about the whole Sirius and Amelia thing, sorry Amelia, but I resisted.”
My heart skipped a beat. “It’s from Sirius?”
“Yep,” was Micky’s reply.
I tore open the paper, glancing at my two friends before reading it silently. “Amelia, I don’t know if you’ve already gone to bed or not, but I have something to give to you. I would have done it earlier, but I wanted us to be alone when you opened it and you sort of slipped away earlier. If you could, come down to the common room and we can maybe go for a walk or something. I’ll be waiting.”
A small grin had formed on my face and Micky bounced up and down with excitement. “What did it say?” she asked.
My eyes slid from Micky to Lily. I didn’t want to say anything about Sirius and I in front of Micky, so I settled on sharing half the story. “He needs to talk to me, that’s all.” To make up for the other half of the story, I gave Lily a meaningful look that I’m certain that she picked up.
I smiled to myself as I got up off the bed and darted into the bathroom that the five of us shared. I tossed my hair up into a loose ponytail and threw on my school robes, bidding my two friends goodbye as I headed out the door.
It was easy to locate the Marauders at their usual spot by the fireplace, but I was surprised to find that they were one short. It took me a moment to register this in my mind, and just when I started wondering where Sirius could be, I felt a tap on my shoulder, causing me to jump.
I whirled around to find the person I was looking for, grinning his usual grin. “Sirius! You scared me there!”
“Ah, sorry about that, Amelia,” he said, tilting his head apologetically. Was it just me, or did he grin foolishly at everyone? “I see that you um… got my note,” he continued, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, suddenly looking a bit more awkward.
I nodded. “Yeah, Micky was completely thrilled to deliver it.”
“Cool, so would you like to go for a walk or something?”
“Sure,” I replied, “but wouldn’t we get in trouble for being out this late? I mean I know we have a later curfew than other students, but isn’t it pushing it a little bit?”
Sirius smiled. “You’re probably right, but you forget that you’re in the presence of a Marauder. I can get you out of almost anything, don’t worry.”
There it was again, that Sirius Black charm. A few minutes later, we were out in the corridor, chatting away. Now that I had decided to stop holding back, I felt much more at ease with myself around Sirius. I didn’t need to watch my words or make sure that I wasn’t smiling at him too much. Lily was right when she said that accepting the truth would make you feel much more free. I knew that, right now, I could tell him anything and he wouldn’t judge or tease me.
Suddenly, Sirius stopped and put a hand on my shoulder.
“What is it?” I asked as he started inspecting a random tapestry that hung from the wall.
He pulled the large cloth aside and motioned me to follow him. “In here.” Behind the tapestry was a small hidden room. I followed him silently and soon we were leaning against opposite walls and facing each other. It was a fairly cozy little room, not small enough to be a broom closet or something that would scare people who are claustrophobic, but not big enough to fit more than a few people. The room was completely dark.
I don’t know if it was because of the darkness or something else, but I was suddenly aware of everything. Sirius stood across from me; I wasn’t able to see his face, but I could feel him there. I hoped that he wasn’t able to hear the pounding of my heart. Had it always been that loud? My face was burning with embarrassment. This was the sort of place where couples would come to snog… why would he bring me here?
“Um… Sirius?” I asked softly, breaking the silence.
“Hmm?”
I hesitated, wanting to ask what was going on. Instead, something completely stupid came out of my mouth. “It’s dark.”
I heard him reach for his wand and in a minute, the room was filled with flickering light. There was a torch on one of the walls that he had lit, and the fire filled the room with a dim glow. I could now see Sirius’s form completely, his face half bathed in light and half in shadow.
He looked apprehensive as he reached into his cloak and pulled out a small grey box with a pale blue bow on the top.
“Um… well, you’re probably wondering why I brought you here,” he began, looking slightly embarrassed. “Since it’s your birthday and all, I thought it’d be good to get you a present since you’re one of my best friends aside from the other three Marauders.” He offered me an apologetic smile. “The only thing was that I sort of wanted to give it to you in private. So, um… happy birthday again, Amelia.”
He extended his hand and I took the small box from him. I gazed down at the gift and then looked back up at him. It was slightly unnatural to see Sirius Black this nervous. He was usually so calm, collected, and cool, but now he looked just as he had at the Halloween Ball.
My stomach fluttered as I met his gaze. “You know, you really didn’t have to buy me anything.”
Sirius shrugged, looking away. “I wanted to, though. It wouldn’t have felt right… not getting you something.”
I watched him for a moment, my eyes tracing over his features. He was so handsome, with his sleek black hair and flushed face. He must have felt my gaze because he met my hazel green eyes with his grey ones. It was my turn to blush.
“Go ahead, open it.”
I turned my attention back to the small box and gingerly removed the lid. My jaw dropped as I saw the contents of the case. An unknown emotion flooded me and for a moment, I felt as though I could faint. My wide eyes wandered up to meet Sirius’s again, and this time, they held.
Inside the box was a small bracelet. It looked like it had been made with real silver and was engraved a single small gem that could easily mistaken for a diamond, although I knew that Sirius would never buy anything like diamonds for me. I trailed my fingers over the surface of it, not believing that it was mine.
“Sirius,” I whispered, “this is beautiful.”
“You like it?” he asked, sounding more hopeful.
I nodded, still feeling dazed that he would give me such a gift. “Is this a…”
“Diamond?” He finished my sentence as I held up the bracelet to my face, inspecting the gem. He shook his head. “No, I would have gotten you a diamond but, well, we aren’t really to that point yet. It’s a rare form of quartz, I think. At least, that’s what the shop owner said.”
I smiled, still not quite believing what was in my hands. “Thank you so much, Sirius, I love it.”
“Here, let me help you put it on,” Sirius took a few steps forward and pulled the box from my hands, withdrawing the bracelet as he did so. The case fell to the floor as he gently took my hand in his. His hands were warm and I could feel my body temperature rise as I realized that he was now standing not even a few steps away from me. He was so close that I could smell his cologne and I was wishing that my heart would repress it’s loud thumping so I could think properly.
The bracelet was a perfect fit, but instead of letting my palm go once he finished, Sirius held on. He took both my hands in his and seemed to be struggling for words.
“So… Amelia…” He said quietly, gazing down at our joined hands. “I was wondering… actually, I’ve been meaning to ask you this for awhile now, but… well…” he trailed off, face reddening again.
“Yes?” I breathed, wondering what he was saying, daring to guess and hope, but staying unsure at the same time. That moment seemed to drag on forever and I realized that I had stopped breathing.
Sirius must have felt the same way, because he took a deep breath, steadying himself. He spoke so softly that I almost didn’t hear him. “Will you be my girlfriend?”
I stared at him in awe… did he seriously just ask that question? My answer sprang to my lips, but I held it back. Was this really what I wanted? What would happen if it didn’t work out? I remembered Lily’s words not even an hour before now, “Some things are worth a chance.” After remembering this, all trace of doubt was chased from my mind. This was what I wanted. I did care for Sirius.
“Amelia?” Sirius asked me, looking slightly worried.
I beamed up at him, this time letting my words come freely from my mouth. “Yes, Sirius, of course I’ll be your girlfriend.”
Sirius’s face broke into a smile almost bigger than my own and neither of us could help what happened next. I’m not sure who moved first, him or me, but the next thing I knew we were in a comfortable embrace. My head was tucked gently under his chin and his arms were around my back, holding me close.
Hugging Sirius was… amazing, to say the least. Standing this close was something I hadn’t even allowed myself to dream about earlier today, yet here I was. Standing there, enfolded in his strong arms, I felt safer and more at home than I almost ever had. Sirius laid his face in my hair and we just stood there, enjoying and savoring the moment.
“Amelia?” he whispered softly. His voice was so close to my ear that it sent shivers down my spine.
“Hmm?” was my muffled reply.
“How long have we known each other?” he asked.
I shrugged. “A little more than two months, almost three, I think.”
He chuckled. “It doesn’t seem like only two months.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” I said truthfully. I completely understood his meaning. I had only been at Hogwarts for a few months, and it was already my home.
His tone was light, but I knew that he was serious deep down. “Do think this will work? I mean, after knowing each other for only two months?”
I didn’t reply at first, but thought it over. “Yes, I think we can make it work. If we run into troubles, we should be able to work things out. After all, Lily told me once that sometimes you just need to stop fighting and take a chance.”
Sirius sighed. “Lily is probably right on that one.”
“She always is.”
We both laughed and looked at each other.
“So… do you want to go back to the common room and tell the others?” Sirius asked, loosening his hold on me a little.
“Sure, why not?” I said and we separated.
We left our hands joined tightly as we meandered slowly back up to the common room.
“You know, you seem different this evening,” Sirius commented.
My eyebrows rose in surprise. “Really? How so?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I can’t seem to put my finger on it, but you seem more… free.”
I smiled to myself, knowing that my conversation with Lily really had changed things.
“What are you smiling to yourself about?” he asked, grinning.
“Oh, nothing,” I said innocently. “I was just thinking about something Lily told me earlier.”
“Let me guess, she was right about something, wasn’t she?” Sirius said with a laugh.
I nodded. “Spot on, as usual.”
Our return to the common room was a happy one. Lily had come down from the dormitory and all my friends were seated together by the fireplace. Micky and Haylie were completely thrilled about the announcement that Sirius and I were officially together. James, Peter, and Remus didn’t seem too surprised by the news and were very happy to hear that all had gone according to their friend’s hopes. Even Leah seemed to approve of the match. Lily, however, was the happiest of all. I made a mental note to thank her endlessly for her extremely timely advice later on.
Sirius’s hand never left my own that night as we talked and laughed by the fireplace. Although I have never actually had a boyfriend before, I was confident that everything would go well. I learned from James that Sirius had been in a few relationships before I came along, but I wasn’t too worried about that. James was also quick to assure me that now I was dating a Marauder, things would never be boring.
If I had any doubts about the whole thing, they now seemed ages away. Even if things didn’t work out, this was part of my adventure here and like Lily said, “Sometimes you just have to take a chance.”
A Girl Like You by Lady Alanna
Chapter Notes: Firstly, I would like to say that I AM SO SORRY for the long break between updates! You all probably know how you can get so lazy in the summer. I actually went on an amazing and life changing trip with my church to a youth conference and so everything has been crazy since I got home. I'd like to thank Kate for betaing, she does a wonderful job. I love this chapter, and I really hope that you all enjoy it as well!
Chapter Endnotes: IT'S OFFICIAL!!! I didn't even intend for Amelia and Sirius to get together in this chapter, but as I was writing out my rough draft, it sort of happened. I really hope that you like it!!! I'll just let you know, it'll probably be a wait for the next chapter. I just started typing it this morning. Please leave reviews with your thoughts, because they make me happy!! :)