Grey Eyes (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

31. Candles

“Blimey, you never give me the benefit of the doubt, do you?” Sirius laughs incredulously. He reaches up and turns my head back to the front. “Is my presence so shocking to you that you completely ignored the fact that the grass is on fire?”

“Oh, right, I forgot…”

I let my eyes follow his gaze to the scorching bright light before me and my jaw drops.

Placed on the hillside before me are hundreds of candles spread over a wide expanse of grass, the light from the candles so bright that it’s almost blinding in the pitch darkness. But as brilliant as the flames are, I’m still able to make out the words that they spelled.

“Happy Sixteenth, Cecilia…?” I whisper in disbelief.

And before the words can even register in my dazed mind, Sirius grabs my shoulders and flips me around to hug me. “Yeah, it’s midnight!” he says, the glee in his voice unmistakable. “Happy Birthday! What, don’t tell me you actually forgot!”

“What, I…” I stammer out feebly.

Actually what with everything that has been happening with Sirius, plus O.W.L. studying, plus the Valentine’s Day aftermath, I really had completely forgotten. Which is mental because I even sent a Happy Birthday letter to my sister earlier this evening! I mean, we’re bloody twins, of course we have the same birthday! Blimey, stress makes fools of us all…

But wait a minute.

I push myself half out of his arms to look up at him. “So, this is what you’ve been doing the past two weeks?”

Sirius shrugs. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“Everything with Lily… it was all for my birthday?” I ask, completely gobsmacked.

“Er, yeah, I mean, that’s why I had trouble making excuses for why we were spending so much time together since we were trying to keep it all a secret,” Sirius explains, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “But it wasn’t that weird right? I don’t know why you were so upset about it. It made me feel so bad.”

“Because you two were, I don’t know, like flirting or something back in Potions class!” I frown. “What was I supposed to think?”

At this, Sirius’ cheeks turn pink in the candle light. “Oh geez, bloody hell, that was for like five seconds! You saw that?”

I raise an eyebrow at him.

“Right, this is kind of awkward… We were actually kind of poking fun at you. I mean, we were talking about what we should do for your birthday and then Lily said I should just treat you all ladies-man-esque or whatever like I used to other girls and I told her you’d totally hate that. And she was like, ‘can you imagine Cecilia acting like one of your fangirls like this,’ and yeah, well, it was funny at the time.” He laughs nervously. “Now that I know you saw that, everything kind of makes way more sense now.”

His explanation makes me slump my shoulders dumbfounded. Of course it was just a joke, what was I thinking? That sounds way more like them than assuming they were flirting or something!

“So, I’m betting my socks that you going off to Hogsmeade alone with Lily has a perfectly good explanation as well, huh?” I grumble, now thoroughly annoyed with myself.

“Alone?” Sirius repeats, his brows furrowing. “No, James was at Zonko’s with us. I thought I gave it away completely when I told him in the locker room, but thank god Rize burst in when he did.”

I slap a hand over my eyes in exasperation. “Oh my geeeeez…” I groan. “Everything makes sense now, how could I have been so daft!”

Sirius chuckles and pushes my hand away to rest his forehead against mine. The close proximity makes my heart stop for a split second… which is definitely not healthy.

“So some misunderstandings got passed around, so what? You’re such a grouch sometimes,” he teases. “Aren’t you at least a little bit happy that I remembered your birthday after all these years?”

I swallow, trying to find my voice again while my heart is racing one million beats per minute. “Yeah, p-pretty impressive,” I manage to get out.

Sirius grins and lifts his head slightly so his forehead isn’t resting against mine anymore. But he doesn’t pull back. His face is still dangerously close to mine. If I just leaned forward… even just a little bit…

“Don’t sound so surprised,” he continues, the corners of his lips still tilted upward. “You make it sound like I don’t think about you all the time.”

He runs a thumb over my cheek and I feel my breath hitch. “If there’s anything I’ve learned about you these past few months, Sirius Black,” I whisper, a smile spreading across my own lips, “it’s that you never cease to surprise me.”

He raises an eyebrow, grinning slyly. “Oh really?” His hand moves to the back of my neck. “You must’ve seen this coming though,” he murmurs, his breath warm against my cheek.

“Predictable…” I breathe out.

My eyes flicker closed as he brings my face closer to his, his every touch sending a tingling sensation up my spine. My hands grip the front of his shirt even tighter as I press closer against him. I feel his lips brush against mine and our breaths connect…

“WHOOOOOO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CECILIA!”

“Wow, you have the worst timing.”

“Yeah, shut up, James!”

We hastily break away and look up to the closest rooftop to find the entire gang sitting on the edge, legs swinging and glowing wands waving in our direction.

James cups his hands around his mouth and bellows, “Yeah, get it, mate!”

Sirius spins around laughing, his arms still wrapped around me. “The hell with you, Potter!”

“Don’t curse me off yet, you two!” James roars, a broad grin on his face. “There’s still the grand finale!”

The three of them point their wands behind them and suddenly a mass of fireworks fire into air, showering the night sky with a breathtaking sight of exploding lights. I slap my hands over my mouth, barely suppressing my shout of amazement.

Sirius grins at my reaction. “You like it? Was it worth nearly emptying out Zonko’s entire stash of Filibuster’s Fireworks?”

I fling my arms around his neck, unable to stop laughing out of glee. Sirius chuckles and wraps his arms tighter around my waist.

“Happy Birthday, Cecilia.”

“I never thought I’d say this, but you’re the best, Sirius Black,” I say, grinning up at him.

He sticks his tongue out at me. “I know.”

For the first time in my life, I was completely and unashamedly ecstatic. On this magical night, Sirius gave me everything than I could ever ask for and more. It didn’t matter that we were probably going to get in loads of trouble for nearly setting the grass on fire, or being on the grounds after dark, or firing a multitude of explosions in the air.

None of it mattered.

Because right at this moment, standing here in this playboy's arms, the idea of marrying Sirius Black... didn't seem half bad.