What Sirius never said

Chapter 41

I pushed open the door to the three broomsticks and Sirius followed me in. The well known room was half full. There was a table on one side with several witches jabbering about potions and a group of warlocks in the middle. Some goblins had a table near the bar and there was a final group of rowdy young wizards speaking in some eastern European language.
"Do you want to grab that table in the corner and I'll get us some drinks" Sirius offered.
I shimmied through the myriad of tables and settled myself at the small table for two in the corner, taking a perch on the bench attached to the wall. I pulled my wand out and gave it a twirl, relighting the candle in the middle of the table. As I watched the flame flicker one of the European boys approached my table.
"Hi" he said in stilted English. "You're beautiful. What's your name?"
"It's Trudy" I told him. That was quite... Straight to the point I guess.
"I'm Petyr" he told me, holding out his hand which I shook. "What brings you to Scotland?"
"I go to school nearby" I told him, not really wanting to give any details. "What about you?"
"Ah, we are from Poland. We come to see the wizards villages. We finish school last year and so we travel for now" I nodded. "This war you have is interesting no?" I started at that. What a strange conversation starter. "We can discuss. Can I join you?"
"I'm sorry" I told him. "I'm kind of waiting for someone".
"Excuse me mate" Sirius interrupted us. He had two pints of cider in his hands and a look of thunder on his face. "Can I get to my table?"
"Ah, sorry, sure" the young guy mumbled and walked away to the raucous laughter of his friends.
"Dickweed" Sirius mumbled as he slid in beside me. I raised an eyebrow at that.
"And why would talking to me make him a dickweed?"
"He was hitting on you. We literally just walked in together and he came straight up and hit on you" Sirius had a angry note to his voice. I gave him a look.
"Sirius, it's a free country. He probably didn't notice us coming in together and it's not the end of the world."
"You're taking his side?"
"There are no sides".
"Humph".
"Did you seriously just Humph?"
"Yes".
I laughed. If I didn't laugh I was going to get really annoyed at Sirius. I mean come on. Getting jealous because someone else talked to me? Really?
"Look. We're on a date. It's just the two of us. We're away from everyone. Can we please just have fun and not get grumpy at each other?"
He took my hand and looked me in the eyes. "I'm sorry" he said. "I just got jealous because this was our time together".
I let it slide and accepted the apology, letting him know with a tilt of the head. "I'd never go for that guy anyway. He gave me the creeps", an involuntary shiver ran down my spine. Sirius seemed to take more note of that. He sat up straighter and looked me over carefully, his deep grey eyes boring into mine.
"Are you okay?" He asked carefully.
I nodded and smiled. "All the better for having you around". I pushed down any uncomfortable feelings I might have had about the guy and shuffled closer to Sirius. He held my hand on the table top and moved his head closer to mine. Proper private couple like.
"So what did you want to talk about?" He asked in a deep quiet voice. It made my heart flutter.
"Done anything exciting lately?" I asked him, trying to hide the effect he had on me.
He just gave me a 'really?' kind of look. One raised eyebrow, tilted head, earnest beautiful grey eyes.
"What?"
"You're with me most of the time" he teased.
"And yet, when I'm not with you, you always manage to get into trouble".
He laughed at that, leaning back a little in the seat.
"Well, you saw the purple blob".
"Yeah, I was wondering, how did you manage that?"
"Made a mistake in potions. It gave us the idea".
"And how did you get rid of it?"
Sirius shrugged. "No idea, we left it for old Pringle to sort out. Mooney heard McGonagall tell Flitwick that Dumbledore had to vanish it."
"And did you get caught?"
"Nah. McGonagall knows it was us. But she has no proof. Poor professor".
"And what have you got planned next?"
"Well, we've got" he stopped himself mid sentence as if realising what he was about to say. "We've got some things planned but... You'll have to wait for the surprise like everyone else".
"Come ooooon, you can tell me" I batted my eyelids at him like they do in the films.
"I don't think you quite know the effect that has on me Trudy".
I blushed. " I didn't mean..."
"No, its cool, it just means you can get the next round".
I blushed profusely. 
"What do you want?" I asked him.
"Same again please, and could you ask for a plate of chips too? I never actually planned any food for tonight but I'm getting peckish and I think we might get back a bit after dinner" he said while glancing at his watch. I nodded and headed for the bar.
"What can I get you love?" Mrs Copperman, the bar keep, asked me in her thick cockney accent. The Copperman family had moved up here several years ago from Diagon alley.
"Two pints of the old Rosie please, and a plate of chips".
"Of course" she said, then called over her shoulder "Roz love, can you come and pull these pints please while I sort out the chips".
"Sure thing mum" Rosmerta, the youngest daughter, replied as she appeared from the back room. She pulled at the tap on the bar and it spurted amber coloured liquid into the glass she held below. As she worked I admired the myriad of bottles displayed behind the bar. There were gins and whiskeys, vodkas and liqueurs. A whole world of drinks that I had no idea about.
"Anything take your fancy?" She asked. I looked her over in turn. She was a pretty girl, a few years older than me, clad in a checked red and yellow dress. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a messy bun and her face was well made up, but she looked effortless and cheery and welcoming. I smiled at her.
"I'm honestly not sure what half of it is" I admitted to her. "I haven't been of age long".
She nodded and grinned over the counter. "You're here with Sirius right?"
"Yeah".
"Like a date?"
I nodded and she ooooohed. "I've never known him bring a girl here" she commented.
"What, not even Cloughda, his old girlfriend?"
"Nope, didn't know there was a 'not even'. Neither of them bring girls here".
"Either of them being Sirius and James?"
"That's the one".
"Do they come here often?" I leant on the bar as we chatted.
"Sirius Black and James Potter? All the time!" I could feel an incredulous look spread across my face. Just when did they have the time?! But when she saw my face she evidently started to think about it. "Maybe it just feels that way. They're always causing chaos when they're here. Cheeky gits. But they're good fun really." Her expression softened. "You'll be in for a good time if you can get him under control".
I grinned at her. "I'm already having a good time. He's a good guy".
She nodded again as her mum came out of the kitchen. "Here mum, Sirius is on a date" she nodded conspiratorially at me and I blushed again.
"It's just casual" I mumbled.
"Caw well, good for you gal. Just make sure he treats you right".
"He does" I smiled. She passed me the plate of hot chips and I took it gratefully. They smelled good.
I paid the six bronze Knut's and was about to try to balance the plate on top of one of the glasses, but Rosmerta stopped me. "Here, I'll bring them".
She followed behind me as I made my way back through the tables to the corner. The bar was slowly filling with a crowd of regulars and getting louder and more roudy by the minute. I spotted a warlock setting up a one man band along one wall.
"I didn't know you have live music here?" I asked Rosmerta.
"Yeah, every Saturday. It's generally pretty busy, draws a crowd. But never many of the Hogwarts lot. It's weird, you know?"
"Do people come here from school much?"
"Yeah! Didn't you know? When you turn 17 you're allowed to go for evenings out. Wte get a lot in their final year, not many in younger years though. Normally a Wednesday and a Friday. Those are Hogwarts nights. It's weird innit".
I agreed with her. I reached the sanctuary of the corner and slid back into my seat beside Sirius. He smiled at me and was about to say something when he noticed Rosmerta behind me with his pint.
"Hi Roz".
"Alright Sirius? I was just chatting to your date", he grinned and put an arm around my shoulder. "She's a good'un" he told her. I blushed again. Seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Where was the dim light of the last two dates when you needed it?
"Well, look after her alright? I like her."
She put the second pint on the table in front of us and walked away.
"Thank you for this" he said as he took a long pull on the pint.

The date continued in much the same way. Rosmerta evidently liked Sirius and I, as she kept making excuses and bringing us drinks to try. All different ones from the bottles behind the bar. She told me she wanted to educate me so that next time I knew what was what and could order exactly what I wanted. I found I liked deridgible plum vodka and lacewing gin, but the Erumptent Brandy tasted grim. Sirius laughed at me for liking the fruity, girly ones.
We listened to the one-warlock band for most of his set and it was pushing 10 o'clock by the time Sirius somewhat drunkenly suggested we should head back to the castle. We meandered back along the lane, through the woods to the cave, but then I got distracted and we ended up sat at the mouth of the cave, looking at the stars and chatting for hours. There were no lights around and the sky was clear as anything. We could see the milky way. And when he kissed me there, under the stars, it was the kind of one in a million kiss where the world just stops and waits for you. Hours could have passed, or minutes. But by the time I started falling asleep the moon was high in the sky. Sirius poked me awake and guided me gently back along the secret passage. When we got to the seventh floor corridor he pulled the marauders map out of his pocket and used it to guide us through the school, checking that no one was around. When we reached the Hufflepuff corridor I sent him back upstairs to his own bed. He kissed me goodnight and whispered "sweet dreams" as I made my way down the corridor.
I used the secret knock to open the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room, hidden in a barrel, my eyes hardly open. I hardly remembered the walk to my dormitory and I was only with it enough to glance at the clock on my bedside table before falling into bed. As I fell asleep at three o'clock in the morning, a ridiculous smile was plastered over my face.