Sirius sat stiffly at his desk, his fingers drumming anxiously against the worn top. Crimson ink was drying on the parchment in front of him and a single, blushing rose lay off to the side by his right hand. He relaxed back into the chair, only to sit straight up again moments later. He’d never felt this way before and it was driving him mad.
Of course, he’d fancied girls before; it wasn’t the date so much that was bothering him. It slightly had to do with the intensity of his feelings for this girl and almost entirely to do with the fact that for once, he had no idea if the feelings were mutual. Glowering, he thought about the absurd reputation that was really the cause of his anxiety, a reputation he’d done nothing to deserve. He couldn’t help it if girls found him attractive nor control how they felt about him. He’d always tried to be polite and appreciative, but look where it had gotten him! They called him the ‘Gryffindor Casanova’, or worse and he shuddered to think of the things Lily had told him that were written on the bathroom walls! In reality, Sirius had just as many proper girlfriends as Remus had and no one was accusing Remus of seducing half the school.
It was just his luck to have such a crush on this particular girl. She hadn’t shown the same interest as the others, hadn’t fawned over him making him feel awkward and always on edge around her. He could relax and not worry if she was going to make some lewd suggestions or stare at him yearningly only to make him feel guilty if he couldn’t return the sentiment. When he thought of things this way, he decided it wasn’t luck at all, just her. A crooked grin formed on his handsome face as he wondered what she was doing. Hopefully, she’d be tucked away somewhere with her friends, away from the access of other boys.
Sirius picked up the rose and held it to his nose, his smile growing. He wanted to really go all out for her; woo her in a way that she’d have no doubt that she was the only one he was interested in. He had to make it loud and clear that this wasn’t the ‘Red and Gold Romeo’ out to collect another heart, but him, Sirius Black: just a boy who fancied a girl. The rest of the Marauders found his ‘infamy’ amusing, as they knew first hand that it wasn’t true but, of course, that didn’t keep them from teasing him about it anyway.
“There you are! We wondered where you’d gone in such a hurry after dinner.” James sauntered in with Remus and Peter in tow, laughing together.
“Inspiration struck! I’m going to have Binka, one of the kitchen elves, leave this rose and note, asking her to Hogsmeade for Valentine’s Day, on her pillow while she sleeps.” Sirius picked them up, grinning at the three boys. “It’s rather romantic, if I do say so myself.”
“Flowers and a card, now why haven’t I thought of that?” James scoffed, collapsing onto his bed after a long Quidditch practice. Turning onto his back he continued, “Lily won’t be able to resist me this time! I should have thought to ask the love expert in the first place.” Sirius shot him a scathing look.
“I’m not too convinced of his expertise at all, honestly,” Remus sniggered, sitting on the end of his own bed. “Why, just yesterday I overheard Sally Doyle tell Lily that Edmund Smythe is a better kisser than Sirius!”
Sirius wheeled on him, his mouth open, astounded. “I “ she “ that vapid...! I didn’t kiss her!” he said exasperated. “She kissed me! She literally backed me into a corner and attacked me! I was just trying to escape intact,” Sirius was saying, his voice climbing higher and higher. “You remember, Moony, she cut open my lip smashing my mouth with her buckteeth! And I’m the one who can’t kiss!”
James, Peter and Remus had already fallen into fits of laughter at Sirius’ hysteria and almost missed him hissing, “Oh, piss off, you lot!” He then stormed out of the room with parchment and bloom in hand.
“Hey!” James called out to the other two. He took in a large gulp of air to help calm himself. “I think I’ve just been struck with inspiration...”
The pink and gold of the breaking dawn stretched across Hogwarts’ grounds and into the windows of Gryffindor Tower. It should have started as any other February morning had, with students trying to burrow further into their beds instead of meeting the cold waiting for them just beyond their blankets, dawdling their time in the warmth of their dreams. Instead, there was an excited buzz in the air. One by one, every sixth-year girl in the House of the Brave woke with a start as each found a flower and card on her pillow.
In the boys’ dormitory, three eager Marauders waited impatiently for Sirius Black to get his sleepy head out of bed. They all dressed for breakfast and Friday’s lessons as noisily as possible, knowing all the while that it wouldn’t matter and that Sirius would jump up at his customary time with only minutes to spare before the morning meal was served. James paced between their beds and decided he’d have to hurry things along this morning.
“Padfoot! Padfoot, wake up!” James pulled back the thick covers. Sirius growled and Peter backed away. Remus pretended to busy himself with his school bag. No one wanted to anger him already; they were sure there would be hell to pay later!
“Sirius!” James tried again. “Don’t you want to see if she’s got your invitation?”
Remus rolled his eyes. James was being a bit obvious in his excitement. It did seem to do the trick, however, as Sirius’ eyes sprang open and he rolled out of bed. In no time at all, the four of them were down in the common room while the rest of the tower readied for the day.
By the third time Peter had asked what time it was, Sirius was more than a bit annoyed. The four had come down and stood off to the side of the common room, by the fireplace, as they always did. He wanted to make sure he’d be able to see her when she came down the girls’ dormitory stairs and was trying not to seem as anxious as he was by continually looking up for her. Every time Peter asked the time, though, he glanced at the clock and then the landing, hoping she’d be stepping into view.
“Why don’t you lot just go on without me? You’re making me crazy!” he complained.
“And leave you here by yourself, won’t that seem odd? Besides, we want to know what she says, too. What if she says no and tells you to shove off? You’ll need our moral support.” James feigned concern.
“You’re a real tosser, Prongs,” Sirius mumbled, his nerves starting to get to him. He watched suspiciously as James, Peter and Remus smiled oddly at each other. He had just begun to notice that the common room was filling up and there seemed an odd number of others with flowers. Sirius told himself that tomorrow was indeed Valentine’s Day and that, as James had pointed out last night, giving a flower to a girl really wasn’t all that original.
i“Hey, Sirius.” A girl with chestnut hair and doe's eyes stepped shyly up to the quartet.
“Hi, Kayla,” he answered seemingly distracted; he was still put off by all the girls with flowers suddenly milling around the tower.
“Well, I got your letter… it was really sweet. So, erm “ yeah, I’ll come with you, Hogsmeade is always fun. I’ll see you tomorrow?” she asked, rather breathlessly. She gazed up at him through her lashes, her cheeks flushing.
As quickly as the whole exchange began, Kayla was rushing out of the portrait hole with Sirius staring mutely after her. The other three Marauders continued to snigger quietly and before they could control themselves, another girl approached them, tucking her honey-coloured hair behind her ear nervously.
ii “Good morning, Sirius.”
He turned, and with laughter in his eyes, smiled at her. “Good morning to you, too.”
She twirled a rose in her fingers and the laughter in his eyes seemed to change. He glanced nervously around him, eyes darting from face to face. James nudged him with his elbow, Sirius’ eyes narrowed; he glared at James, and then turned back to the girl. He noticed the rose began to tremble, ever so slightly.
He cleared his throat a little, as he shoved James away. “That’s a lovely flower you have there. Do you like roses?” His voice cracked the tiniest bit. Behind him, his friends began to giggle.
Sirius took her by her elbow and walked to a window alcove; he then turned her so that her back was to the room as he continued to look around. There were girls with flowers everywhere! Something had gone terribly wrong, he was almost certain of it now.
“Are you looking forward to tomorrow?” he asked as plainly as he could so as not to give away the anxiety threatening to overwhelm him. Kristy flashed him a dazzling smile.
“Don’t worry, Sirius. I don’t expect a marriage proposal on our first date,” she laughed. Sirius couldn’t stop the strangled noise that rose up in his throat as another girl entered the common room, spotted him and waved her rose at him. Terribly, terribly wrong! He knew it!
She laid her fingertips lightly on his forearm. “I was only teasing. I won’t even ask what you have planned; I love surprises.”
He cleared his throat and looked down at her hand. Sweat was breaking out across his forehead.
“Erm, I think “” Remus interrupted, reminding them that class was about to start.
Sirius gave Kristy a weak smile. “I’ll talk to you later.”
His brow knitted fretfully. He had to get down to the kitchens and find out what went wrong. Before he could even make it out of the common room, he stopped short because of a commotion at the staircases.
iii “Black!” someone yelled, storming down the staircase that usually led up to the girls’ dormitories. “What is the meaning of this?”
The entire common room fell deadly silent. Every Gryffindor, from the smallest first-year to the burliest seventh-year, shrunk away from the girl racing down the stairs. She might have appeared tiny and demure, but she had a temper to rival that of Lord Voldemort himself. Everyone knew that if there was one person in the world she absolutely could not stand, it was Sirius Black.
She marched up to him, sneering at his perplexed expression and threw a red rose at him, well squashed to a pulp. He looked around, surprised. All eyes were on him, waiting for his reaction. Sirius could feel the heat rising in his face, a mixture of embarrassment and anger shaking him.
“What’s that, Musani? Did someone finally ask you out? My sympathies to the poor bloke.”
“Oh, he will be needing all the sympathy, and all the medical attention, he can get, Black. You just wait till Valentine's Day and see what I do to him.” With a last withering glare at him, she stalked off, leaving everyone to quietly mutter in her wake.
Sirius took a moment more, seething in his humiliation. James, Peter and Remus exchanged glances behind his back. James looked as if he couldn’t be enjoying himself more and Peter, equally, looked pleased at how things were turning out. Remus smirked at them both although he was beginning to feel a little guilty about the whole thing. Only a little, though.
As the three boys followed Sirius out of the portrait hole, Remus caught James by the arm, holding him back to ask quietly when they were going to let him off the hook. Sirius noticed that his mates had stopped walking and were now huddled in front of the Fat Lady.
“Oi! What’s going on?” He turned back to them, his eyes a stormy grey and impatient. Seeing the three of them standing there sent warning bells off in his head, but before the thought was fully conceived, James’ face brightened. Looking over Sirius’ shoulder, he waved.
“Hey! It’s the Great Gryffindor Seeker!” James called out, trying to distract his friend. The girl blushed, but ignored him as she approached Sirius.
iv “Hi, Sirius,” she giggled. She clutched the invitation to her chest, flashing him an award-winning smile.
“Hey Victoria, what’s up?”
“I, er, got your letter,” she said shyly, holding out the invite. His dashing smile faded away as he saw it.
“Well, er, look, there’s been- I mean, this is- I, uh, I’ll talk to you later.” Then he was gone. Sirius had grabbed James and Remus by the arms, pushing them back into Gryffindor Tower.
A petite girl with curly ginger hair, who was roommates with Lily Evans, met the Marauders just inside the tower. She and her four roommates blocked the way so that the boys were cornered and had to address them.
v “Hey,” Penelope said.
“How are you?” Remus asked.
“Good,” she replied. “Thanks for the flower, Sirius.”
Sirius jumped, and the other three boys started laughing.
“What?” she asked, slightly annoyed.
“Every girl,” Sirius said, his face pink, “has said the same thing to me today. I don’t know what went wrong. I only gave a flower and note to one of you.”
Everyone glanced over at James, Remus, and Peter, who had guilty looks on their faces as they bit back laughter.
“What?” James asked innocently. “We just had loads of flowers...”
“And needed someone to give them to.” Remus nodded.
“So we decided to send them out in style.” Peter snickered.
Sirius rolled his eyes, more relieved than angry that he finally understood what was going on. The anger would come later... when they least expected it!
“Sorry about them,” he said in an undertone. “Wanna go get the rest of the girls so I can explain?”
She nodded and ran off.
A couple minutes later, all of the girls she could round up sat on the floor, sitting with the Marauders. Lily was stuck next to James, who was practically in love with her. She inched away as he grinned at her.
“Why’d you give everyone a rose?” Mary pressed Sirius from Peter’s left.
“And invite us to Hogsmeade?” Florence demanded on Peter’s right.
“I only meant to give one of you a flower and note,” Sirius apologized. “My friends over here thought it would be amusing to give everyone one.” The girls glanced at each other.
“So which of us is it?” Penelope wanted to know. Sirius gulped and cleared his throat. He scanned the crowded room to see if she was there, listening. How would she be reacting? His brows pinched together when he couldn’t find her.
“Well... I, er...” He shifted uncomfortably. He’d wanted the whole thing to be romantic and quiet, in case she hadn’t felt the same way as he did. Now what was he going to do? What if she’d seen all of the other girls with roses and thought she was the target of the prank? Would she hate him? Had he missed his chance?
There was a sniff from someone in the group, and then a giggle, which lead to a few full-on guffaws. Sirius glanced around the room, which had erupted into raucous laughter. His confused gaze turned to his friends, who were in the throes of hysteria, themselves, but it was Lily who captured his attention.
“The “ look “ on “ your “ face!” she gasped behind her hand. She was trying desperately to stop laughing long enough to get her words out. “Oh my stars, Sirius! This was so much fun. We were all in on it “ you didn’t think your friends would be that cruel to all these poor girls, did you?” She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and turned to get along to class. Slowly, the rest of the room cleared. Some of the girls tossed their flowers at him, some still hung on to them with wistful smiles but they all eventually moved on to their classes.
The tinkling of a bell could barely be heard over the din inside The Three Broomsticks, but Sirius Black glanced hopefully towards the door anyway. The pub was full of couples and small groups celebrating Valentine’s Day and he was trying not to lose hope that he would be among those with a date. He searched the throng of patrons again because he kept losing track of the groups that bustled in and out.
Over in the farthest and darkest corner, he could just make out the pale complexion of Severus Snape. Sirius cringed back slightly as the crowd parted and his gaze locked with Musani, who sneered at him wickedly as she snuggled in closer to Snape. She was probably the only person who could truly frighten Sirius.
At another table by the fireplace, he spotted Victoria chatting cosily with Amos Diggory, the Hufflepuff Seeker. Kristy was at their table too, her cheeks rosy with humour as she laughed with the extremely tall, dark Ravenclaw Chaser, Orlando Jenkins.
Sirius heard the bell again and it was a large group trying to come in as another was leaving. He saw her for a brief moment before she was lost in the crowd again. He strained to see over heads and between bodies. Then, to his right a bit away, he saw Penelope with her roommates heading in the direction of James’ table at the far back of the pub. Aggravated, he went to stand to get a better view when they disappeared in the crowd again. He sat back down, desperately looking at the faces around him.
“Hi,” a soft, lilting voice whispered in his left ear. He turned slowly and met a pair of soft doe's eyes peering at him shyly. His face broke into a huge grin as he sighed with relief.
“Hi, Kayla,” he breathed. It was inadequate to what he was feeling, but all his brain could muster at the moment. He got up so she could take his seat at the bar and handed her a butterbeer. She smiled and then timidly looked down to the pint in her hand. Sirius’ pulse sped as wondered what she was thinking. Had she only come so his feelings wouldn’t be hurt? It seemed just the thing she would do. Maybe she had been in on the prank as well.
“Thank you for the rose.” She smiled up at him and he couldn’t fight back a grin. “It was very romantic.”
He felt light as he smiled stupidly over to his friends. Peter and Remus were happily handing drinks to Mary and Penelope. James was chagrined, watching Lily sit across the table from him. Sirius supposed it wasn’t so bad being the love expert after all, at least he was with the girl he wanted.
Slowly, he slid an arm around Kayla’s shoulders, pretending it was the crowded room squeezing him into her. “I suppose you have some questions?” he asked sheepishly.
“Only one,” she answered, leaning into him slightly. He looked at her with wide, innocent eyes when she smiled coquettishly. “What’s this I’ve read on the wall of the loo...?”
i x_GinnyPotter_x
ii butter_beer_drinker
iii MissyQuill
iv vampitude
v PadfootnPeeves