101 Ways to ditch the Date | SIRIUS BLACK

No. 80

Miria Dakota.

Just hearing her name alone, the name of the woman who'd messed her up beyond repair (possibly), was enough to summon a fully formed knot in her stomach within seconds. It was almost a reflex at this point, one that couldn't be shaken even by the past few days where her feelings had been somewhat reconsidered towards Miria. If hearing her name did this, what would actually seeing her do? She wasn't sure she could handle it and yet ... she'd agreed. The reasons for her agreement were still foggy, even to her. 

"You'll do it?" Sirius's voice yanked her out of her stunned thoughts, his tone a curious mixture of shock and excitement, "Dexter ... she said okay."

"Okay ..." She muttered softly to herself as a grin spread across Sirius' face, breaking through his tear-stiffened cheeks. Her eyes were fixed on him as he stood up, pulling an unwilling Dexter into an enthusiastic hug whilst she continued to repeat, "Okay ... okay ... okay!"

"It worked ..." The jubilance was contagious as Dexter's lips curved into a half-smile, his hands running through his sleek dark hair, "My first case ... sort of! You really do mean it, Ora? You're really willing to meet her - "

"DEXTER, STOP LAWYERING, SHE BLOODY SAID YES!"

"You're right!" Dexter clapped his hands over his mouth momentarily, "We should ... we should sleep!"

"Sleep? At a time like this?" The old Sirius seemed to have burst though thanks to his little victory, "No ... we march upstairs to Dawid and we ... wake him the fuck up! Yeah and ... we find Miria - "

"Sirius," Even though her voice was soft it was as if his ears were fine-tuned to pick it up, instantly turning to face her before the word had even truly left her lips, "It's basically the middle of the night ... Dexter's right, we need sleep..." Another thought occurred to her, making a wave of guilt consume her all of a sudden, "Right after we find Marlene and Em..."

For once the universe seemed to be on their side as they heard the soft shuffle of footsteps up the garden path within seconds. All three fell silent, waiting expectantly before the door opened revealing an eerily lit up Marlene, her brown eyes wide.

"Marlene! Em - "

"Will you shhh!" Marlene hissed sharply, nudging her head over to Emmeline who was essentially half asleep, her head resting on Marlene's shoulder. Although her eyes were still open a little, they looked somewhat misty and it was clear she had no understanding of where she was, "I'm sorry but we just need silence and sleep right now ... well, she does more than me."

As it turned out after she'd left as instructed, Marlene and Emmeline had had quite a night. The exact details were still fuzzy, revealed by a sleepy Marlene to an equally sleepy audience as they laid Emmeline down on the sofa but they still managed to catch the essentials. Emmeline had been near hysterical at the realisation she might be hooked on Ora forever and before Marlene could stop her, had attempted a sloppy memory charm on herself. Apparently, she'd acted so fast that Marlene had barely had time to react let alone try and stop her. It had thankfully failed due to her distraught state, function as a curious hybrid between stunning and sleeping spells. It took several minutes before a semi-frantic Ora was convinced that Emmeline was actually okay and could sleep it off. Marlene firmly stated that she would take care of it, Ora needed to decide to stay or leave before she could truly begin to move forward with Emmeline which was a logical point even if she didn't want to accept it. Seeing Emmeline so peaceful heightened the tiredness so they decided it was probably best to sleep too.

Even though she had an empty bed waiting upstairs, it felt wrong to ditch the others especially given the night they'd just had so she ended up on the other sofa, sandwiched between Dexter and Sirius. Marlene managed to sleep sitting up on the floor, slumped against the sofa upon which Emmeline lay, their fingers resting less than an inch apart. Unlike sleepovers in the Girls' dorm, everyone was too tired for all the whispering and gossiping so they instead fell asleep rather quickly ... well, at least that was what she thought. About ten minutes later when the soft snores of Dexter echoed around the room, she felt Sirius's fingers sleepily enclose around her own. She wasn't sure what was going on with them right now yet she gripped them back.