101 Ways to ditch the Date | SIRIUS BLACK

No. 73

Sirius's reaction to Ora's confrontation was troubling her quite a bit, the vehement denial and irritation just didn't sit right with her especially in contrast to Marlene's stark honesty. But it wasn't just him that was playing across her mind: her own actions were causing her distress. Even if she'd denied it to Marlene, she had felt an odd sense of superiority to the other people that Sirius had chosen to stay with her. It was as if he'd been a challenge for her, another scheme to complete and that wasn't the best way to start a relationship really. Still, her own birthday party was coming up, something Dexter had put so much work into so she didn't want to ruin it. That was why she and Sirius hardly spoke until the weekend, coolly smiling at one another rather than get into a shouting match that would no doubt still continue and ruin the party.

"Em, is it bad that I'm sort of tempted not to go?" Ora asked, looking out the window of the Ravenclaw dorms. The sun was slowly setting and just looking at the dark grounds made her shiver a little, "I mean, I will obviously because Dexter put so much effort in but I'm tempted just to sit in here with some nice Butterbeers as usual."

"We don't have to, we could stay here just the two of us."

"And me," Cassandra cut in.

"That wasn't a real suggestion anyway..." Emmeline quickly added, "It's our last year here, it will be nice, I'm sure."

"Yeah ... yeah, you're probably right."

Emmeline raised an eyebrow, a hopeful gleam in her eye that she quickly quelled, "You and Sirius still fighting?"

"Not fighting, that suggests we're talking," Ora sighed, "At the moment, we're just being quiet and avoiding each other," She turned around, her brows knitting together, "Why do you look so happy?"

Horror followed by a conscious effort to quell her involuntary smile crossed Emmeline's face as she lied, "Just excited for the party. Look, I'm sure it will be fun, it's just a small thing and you said yourself it should be quite relaxed. We'll have a nice time."

Ora smiled but couldn't help feeling this would go down in history as famous last words...

•••

"Shouldn't we be a bit more stealthy with all these Firewhiskies?" Sirius asked as he followed Dexter down to the lake. Dexter shook his head, flicking his wand so the stack of drinks, hovering in plain view turned the corner with him.

"No. I paid the prefects to turn a blind eye tonight," He turned to Sirius who looked a little confused, "You've never done that before?"

"Nah, I prefer to just flat out break the rules and see if I can get away with it."

"Yes, but why take the risk when you can just get around it?" Dexter pointed out.

Sirius considered this before shrugging, "I think we've just sussed out why I'm a Gryffindor and you're a Slytherin."

"I believe so."

Dexter had already done most of the work, setting up pretty lights around the trees and heating the area with numerous spells. The other Gryffindors they'd invited showed up some while later, immediately shedding their bulky coats upon arriving. There weren't that many of them but Ora had only wanted a few people there so it was somewhat of an intimate gathering.

"I never thought a Slytherin could do something so nice," James murmured, quickly glancing around to ensure Dexter hadn't heard. Luckily he was by the tree, attempting to set up a magical gramophone player so they wouldn't sit in awkward silence.