Chasing The Stars | Marauders | Sirius Black

45 ~ Look at Him

As they stepped through the door, a dimly lit room met their eyes. It had a plush black carpet and maroon walls. The various pieces of furniture were made of red velvet and the table in the corner was a polished mahogany. A fire crackled merrily in the corner, and next to it was a record player with hundreds of records stacked beside it, all of which seemed to be love songs. Eloise turned to look at Sirius, about to comment on what must have been going through his head when he asked the castle for this room, but stopped when she saw the shocked expression on his face. She followed his gaze, her eyes falling on a cupboard. Upon closer inspection, she noticed it was inappropriately equipped for.. well, lets just say; couples. James being James, burst out laughing at the whole ordeal and promptly ran over to the table she had noticed before, which was now groaning under the amount of food stacked on it. 'That saves a trip to the kitchens' she thought before plopping down on a sofa.

"So boys, I've been meaning to ask" she began. "How is this going to work tonight? We'll be picking names out of a hat, and whoever we pick, we go with?"

"Pretty much" Sirius nodded, and Eloise frowned.

"One: What's pretty much supposed to mean, and two: Don't you both have girls who you wouldn't want anyone else to kiss" She spoke the last part pointedly at Sirius with a mischievous grin suddenly on her lips. James took the opportunity to speak through his mouth full of profiterole;

"My dear Belle, do you not know us at all? Surely we wouldn't let my baby sister -"

" - and my girl"

"Thank you Pads. Surely we wouldn't let my baby sister be kissed by any old dude would we?"

"Well, no?" Eloise replied, still unsure of how this was going to play out.

"Exactly" James sat back contentedly, seemingly finished with the conversation.

"Are you going to tell me then?" Eloise asked slowly, as if she was talking to a small child (admittedly, she probably was doing the equivalent at this point).

"Oh, yeah" James shook his head. "We rigged it."

"You what?"

"Rigged it" Sirius chipped in, unhelpfully.

"May I ask how?"

"No, you may not"

~~~

Eloise, Sirius, James, Remus, Peter, Frank, Alice, Lily, Mary and Marlene were dotted around the various sofas and armchairs, Remus sitting as far away from Lily as possible, he had been avoiding her ever since she had found out about his lycanthropy. They were chatting aimlessly, when James stood up, sending a wink to the redhead as he did so.

"So everyone, you know why you're all here. It's time to play seven minutes in heaven." He sounded rather like a game show host, Eloise thought to herself, and apparently so did Marlene when she yelled;

"Time to meet our contestants!" mocking James and earning a few laughs. He flipped her off and continued.

"So, you will pick a name out of the hat, and whoever you pick, you go with. Fair and simple" Eloise didn't miss the wink he sent Sirius.

"Hold on, who's bright idea was it to do this?" Lily scoffed - James Potter probably only did this to try and get her, and she would be damned if she let him. To her surprise, Remus, James and Peter all pointed at Sirius, who looked like a deer in the headlights. He shrugged sheepishly.

"What's fifth year without good old seven minutes?"

"A good year." Lily replied, standing up to leave. It seemed this evening was full of surprises, as James got up and grabbed her hand.

"Please stay Lily, you might have fun" It was very soft, so if everyone hadn't been paying rapt attention, they probably would have missed it. Maybe it was the fact he wasn't being an arrogant toe-rag for once, or that he called her Lily instead of Evans, or maybe even his attitude towards her the other night. But whatever it was, to everyone's astonishment, her own included, Lily's eyes softened and she allowed herself to be guided back to the sofa, next to James this time.

~~~

The random muggle cap was passed around the friends, and names were pulled out. Sirius and James were very pleased with themselves. Alice pulled out Frank's name, Mary got Remus, Marlene got Peter - much to her distaste, which she showed by gagging theatrically, Eloise got Sirius, leaving Lily with James.

"What a coincidence!" Eloise sang, a grin on her lips. Sirius slung an arm around her shoulders.

"Looks like fate just wants us to be together doesn't it" He smirked, very pleased the rig had worked.

"Yes" Eloise agreed sarcastically, crossing her arms and faking annoyance, "Fate"

Marlene, however, wasn't faking her annoyance when she rolled her eyes at Peter, who had shuffled closer to her hopefully.

"No offence Peter - actually, full offence Peter: Not. A. Chance. In. Hell" She flicked a golden lock off of her shoulder, overlooking the tears in Peter's eyes, and striding off to squish between Eloise and James.

"Marls, that's harsh..." Eloise warned

"I don't give a damn! Look at him Elle, just look at him." at this Peter let out a loud girlish sob and ran from the room, one hand over his eyes. Marlene grimaced.

"Far too emotional, he wouldn't have been able to handle me anyway"

"MARLENE!" everyone yelled. Eloise shook her head at her blonde friend and stood up to follow Peter when a hand grabbed hers, stopping her,

"Leave him Lou, he'd want to be alone" Sirius said and Eloise's shoulders slumped,

"Fine, but I'm speaking to him after" she said, sitting back down next to Sirius.

~~~

Remus and Mary emerged out of the cupboard (If you could call it that) after the seven minutes was up and James had pounded on the door, both very flushed and Mary almost swooning. 'Merlin' Eloise thought as she observed the triumphant look on Remus' face, 'Rem is quiet about it but he's GOOD. I feel like a proud parent'

"What?" Sirius asked her. 'Oh shit'

"What?" Eloise tried to play dumb.

"You said you feel like a proud parent" 'phew'

"Oh yeah, just our little Remmy growing up." She defended his what the fuck look with a shrug and a grin.