" I'm only honest when it rains
An open book, with a torn out page
And my inks run out
I wanna love you but I don't know how "
--CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO--
June 10, 1978
5:00 pm
It was strange seeing three boys kidnapping a teacher, but here they were, walking the halls of Hogwarts. Sirius was still carrying Arabella while the other boys followed closely behind. The students who walked by them would give them questioning glances but would say nothing, knowing that if the marauders were involved, it would be weird. At one point, they even passed by Benji, who just laughed in her face and told them to carry on.
After saying a quick hello to Elizabeth, they were in the common room, and Sirius finally put her down.
Arabella huffed, "Don't ever grab me like that again," she threatened.
Sirius nodded, "Noted."
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I got to be somewhere I don't want to be," she said to the boys, who just waved at her like children.
Arabella made her way up the girl's stairs, searching for the correct dorm room. Finally reaching the right door, she pushed it open and came face to face with mayhem. The room was in complete disarray. There were make-up products and clothes everywhere. Posters of muggle and wizard artists alike adorned the walls. Arabella had only been in the Gryffindor rooms a couple of times when Hermione invited her, so the room wasn't anything out of the ordinary; if she were honest, it reminded her of the Hufflepuff rooms. Finally, five girls were running around like headless chickens, each one screaming at the other.
"Hello!" Arabella said quite loudly, getting their attention.
All the girls stopped what they were doing and turned their faces to the noise.
"Bella! Thank Merlin, you're here! We need help," said Marlene coming up to her and hugging her only to pull away quickly. "Ew, Bella, you smell like dirt."
"I was gardening all day. What can I help with?" she asked.
"We heard that you are amazing with glamour charms," Lily said from the bathroom.
Arabella furrowed her eyebrows, "And who told you that?"
"Professor Fenwick," said Dorcas from one of the beds.
"Son of a bitch," she muttered under her breathe, mentally cursing Benji for telling them about the time she cut his hair. "I mean, I wouldn't say I'm amazing; I just cut his hair, nothing more."
"But you can curl and straighten hair, right?" Mary asked in a hopeful voice, and Arabella knew that she couldn't say no.
Arabella sent her a small smile, "Yes, I can."
Marlene let out a happy cheer and pulled her inside of the room. The girls proceeded to go back to what they were doing. They had set her up in the bathroom with each girl telling her what they wanted done; first up with Lily.
"Thank you so much for helping," Lily said as she sat down.
Arabella shook her head, "It's no problem. Next time, though, please get someone other than the boys to bring me."
Lily paled a bit, "Oh gods, what did they do?"
"Well, Sirius threw me over his shoulder and carried me all the way here."
Lily facepalmed, "I told them not to listen to Mary's plan b."
"Hey, now my plan b worked wonders," Mary said from the bathroom entrance. "I mean, it did get you here."
Arabella laughed and nodded, "Okay, Lily, what do you want for your hair?" She asked.
"Not sure. I'm thinking like an updo, just something super simple."
"Alright..." Arabella said as she grabbed her wand from her boot. She started working her magic. She was only good at glamour charms because Hermione had taught her for the yule ball. Arabella concentrated very hard on not to mess up Lily's hair. She did an intricate braid from the front of her head, making sure to leave some pieces in the front to frame her face. Then Arabella pinned it to the back and tied up the rest of her hair in a low bun. Once she was done, Lily thanked Arabella profusely before running out of the bathroom to finish her makeup.
Next up was Marlene. She asked for just a regular ponytail, saying that she didn't want her hair in her face when she was dancing, so Arabella did just that. She even curled her hair and placed a tiny black bow to tie the look together.
After Marlene was Alice. She was a bit difficult from the others since she had hip-length hair, and she wanted to keep it up like the other girls. Arabella decided to put her hair in a messy high bun with her natural curls framing her face.
Dorcas didn't need Arabella's help, saying that she would let her natural curls alone and not do anything to them.
Then finally, it was Mary's turn. Mary naturally had gorgeous long curly brown hair, but she wanted to do something she had never done before, straighten her hair. She was a bit nervous, but Arabella reassured her that it was going to look amazing. And it did. She ended up doing a straight silk look, very simple with a middle part in her hair. Mary ended up loving it.
Finally, Arabella was left alone in the small girl's bathroom; she had a chance to look in the mirror. She looked a bit rough. Her tattoos had become more prominent in the months since she got them. She had weird bruises from training, and her hair had grown ridiculously long since the summer. And she did smell like dirt and was in desperate need of a shower.
"You're beautiful, you know," said a voice, bringing Arabella out of her daze. She turned to see Mary leaning against the doorway.
Arabella blushed profusely, "Oh, I don't know about beautiful." Arabella had never thought about herself that way. She was one of those girls who didn't like to spend a lot of time on her appearance, not caring what people thought. However, it was nice to be called beautiful once in a while.
Mary walked into the room and stood next to her in front of the mirror, staring back at their reflections. "You are. I know you have a hard time taking compliments, but I mean it. Plus, I know that we are not supposed to ask about your tattoos, but they look great. You shouldn't hide them." Arabella didn't know why she was hiding them. It wasn't like anyone knew what they meant, so why cover them?
"Thank you, Mary," Arabella said, really taking her words to heart. Mary smiled at her and pulled her out of the bathroom. All the girls were completely dressed from head to toe, and Arabella thought they looked gorgeous. Each with their ball gowns on, but you could tell they poured their personality into them.
Lily had a baby blue tulle dress on with a fair amount of sparkles all over. Alice was wearing a similar dress, but instead of blue, it was lavender, and instead of sparkles, it was flowers. Marlene and Dorcas had chosen to sort of match with simple black floor-length dresses, which fit their badass personality completely. Lastly, Mary put away her Hufflepuff nature and channeled her inner Gryffindor with a strapless red a-line dress.
"Oh, my gods! You all look stunning! I feel like a proud mum right now." Arabella gushed over the girls.
Dorcas scoffed, "Oh please, you're only a year older than us. But thank you. Are you going too?"
Arabella nodded, "Yeah, I'm a chaperone."
Alice looked at the wall clock seeing the time was already six, "Oh dear, you better get going if you are going to be there on time. It starts in an hour."
"Shit," Arabella whispered, "You're right. I need to shower."
Marlene muttered under her breath, "You better," though Arabella heard her and flicked her forehead.
She quickly gave all the girls friendly kisses on their cheeks, something that had become a habit with them, and ran out of the door, telling them that she would see them later.
Running door the stairs, Arabella saw the boys lounging on the couch, not ready at all.
"What are you boys still doing here?!" Arabella shouted.
They all jumped at the sound of her voice.
"We're eating?" Peter said with half a chocolate frog in his mouth.
"You boys need to get ready, like now!" Arabella panicked.
James shrugged, "Bella, we're men. We get ready in like thirty minutes."
Arabella went to stand in front of them, like an angry mother, "Oh no, you don't. Those girls up there look stunning, and you boys will not half-ass your appearance. Now I want all of you to get your butts up there and start getting ready."
Sirius stood up from his place and threw his arm around her shoulders, "Bells. Love. Please, we already look ridiculously handsome."
Arabella brushed his arm off, "I don't care. Go change now!" she said in her sternest voice, rivaling Molly Weasley.
"She's scary when she's mad," Remus whispered, but Arabella managed to hear.
"I know I am! Now go go go!" she yelled, gaining the attention of the crowded room. The boys instantly stood up and practically ran to their dorms. Arabella huffed out a breath and noticed the scared Gryffindors, "Go back to your knitting," she shouted and walked out of the common room and made her way over to the dungeons.
----
6:15 pm
Once Arabella got to her room, she had about forty-five minutes to get ready. This wasn't a new thing for her; she liked working under pressure. Arabella quickly locked the door behind her and started undressing even before she got to the bathroom, throwing clothes everywhere and making a mess that she would probably regret by the time she got back.
She got in the shower and scrubbed every part of her body, making sure to get rid of the dirt smell that Marlene kept nagging her about. Washing her hair and shaving at record sped, Arabella managed to get out of the shower with twenty minutes exactly to get ready. She put on her robe and started on her makeup. She did a very minimal look with her regular base with the addition of winged eyeliner and dark red lips. Then Arabella took her wand and dried her hair which was now way too long for her liking. Deciding that she didn't have a lot of time to do anything fancy, she magically tied her hair up into a low bun with a few pieces of her left loose in the front to frame her face. Since her hair was already naturally wavy, Arabella didn't need to curl any part and just left it how it was. She then proceeded to stack on all her jewelry, which included her rings and the necklace that Sirius had gifted at Christmas. Then she ran out of the bathroom, took out her dress and very careful slipped it on, and put on the heels that were too high for her. Finally, Arabella took one last look in the mirror and sprayed on her favorite perfume; she nodded at her reflection and walked carefully to the great hall with ten minutes to spare.
Arabella walked down the corridor, making her way to the great hall when Benji came into view. He looked very handsome, sporting fine wizard dress robes with a matching black bow tie to top it all off.
"Oh wow, Ben! Who knew you could clean up so nice," she teased as they met in the middle of the hallway.
Benji puffed out his chest, "Hey, now I can dress very well when I want to," he said as he spun around for her. "But I must say, Bella, you look gorgeous. A certain Black is going to go crazy."
Arabella furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Oh come, Bella, don't tell me you haven't noticed the way that Sirius basically drools whenever you walk by."
She shook her head, "No," she answered hastily, "He doesn't look at me like that. I mean, we did almost kiss, but that was a mistake. He's my best friend's godfather; I can't be thinking about him like that!"
Benji gave her a knowing look, "Bella, dear, you have to realize that Harry is not even born yet. He's not even a thought in Lily and James' brains. I don't see the problem if you do have a thing for Sirius Black. You'd make a hot couple."
Maybe... no, Arabella shut up. Benji is not correct. She thought.
Arabella signed, "Ben, can we drop it? I swear if I stand in the same spot for one more minute, my feet are going to bleed."
"Fine, I'll drop it, but when you both get married, I'll happily say I told you so." Arabella rolled her eyes. "Ready to go?" he asked as he offered her his arm to take.
Arabella linked her arm with his, "Let's get this over with," she said with a small smile.
----
7:30 pm
"Prongs, I can't believe you blacked out with you saw Lily!" Sirius laughed at his best friend.
James rolled his eyes, "I mean, look at her! My girlfriend is bloody gorgeous," he said as he kissed Lily loving on her cheek, making the redhead blush.
The marauders, the girls, and their two Slytherin friends were all sitting at one of the many Great Hall tables. The teachers had put in a lot of time and effort to make the space look magical. The theme was a starry night, which Arabella had come up with. Dumbledore, no doubt, bewitched the ceiling to look like the night sky; he filled it with important constellations and shooting stars. There was also a very woodsy theme going on with vines and flowers everywhere imaginable. It indeed looked like a wonderland in there.
The ball had only started moments ago, but it was already packed to the brim with students, ready to have fun and let loose. Sirius had noticed that Arabella and Benji had not made an appearance yet and wondered where they were. Sirius would have been lying if he said that he wasn't excited to see Arabella. His friends had annoyed him nonstop about the mysterious witch, even as going as far as telling the girls about his itty bitty crush, as he called it.
Sirius was having a conversation with Remus, talking about some band that was supposed to playing that night when James jammed his elbow into his rib.
"OW!" Sirius said dramatically, turning to look at the Potter boy with questioning eyes. "What was that for?"
James' smile widened, "Look who's here," nodding his head towards the door. Sirius, still hurting from the bruise that was probably forming on his side, turned his head to the door, only to be left speechless. There she was. Arabella walked in arm in arm with Benjii Fenwick. He would never admit it, but he was jealous of Benji because he wanted to be the one walking in with her. She looked absolutely stunning, not something new, but it was a different side of her he had never seen. Arabella was wearing an off-the-shoulder bronze-colored dress that was tight around her waist but was looser towards the bottom. Her make-up was light, and her heels looked a little high, making the usually small girl about three inches taller. From his view at the table, Sirius could make out her tattoos, something that she had never deliberately shown anyone. And just as she turned her back to speak to a student, he made out beautiful red lines on her back, something he had never seen before. He couldn't tell whether it was another tattoo or another one of her many secrets.
"Stop drooling, Siri," said Regulus from across the table with a smirk on his face.
Sirius cleared his throat and turned to see the whole table giving him amused smiles.
"Stop looking at me like that," he whispered harshly to his friends. While he was giving his friends hard looks, Sirius didn't notice the brunette walking their way.
"Hello!" Arabella said with a smile, "don't you all look dapper," she went to stand directly behind Sirius and James' chairs.
"You look amazing, Bella," said Remus, "don't you think Sirius?" The black-haired boy's eyes widened dramatically, almost choking on air. "Yes!" Sirius said quickly, "you look beautiful." Looking up at her with admiration in his eyes.
Arabella felt her cheeks become red, "Thank you, Sirius." She smiled down at the boy while resting a gentle hand on his shoulder to show her gratitude. They stayed staining at each other like they were in their own little world until Evan cleared his throat.
Arabella, snapping out of her daze, took her hand off Sirius and looked around at the table. All of the students hand wide grins on their faces, and she wondered what they were smiling about. "Right, well, I have to talk to Uncle Albus about some things. I'll see all of you later!" She waved brightly as she walked away towards the teacher's table.
Once she was far away, Sirius groaned into his hands, causing his friends to laugh at him, "Why am I so awkward around her?"
All the marauders looked at each other and said, rather loudly, "Cause you love her."
Sirius raised an eyebrow, "Arabella was right. It is weird when we speak together."
"You think?" Said Mary, laughing alongside the table about how helpless the boy was being.
----
10:30 pm
It was a few hours later, and the wizarding band that Dumbledore had brought had finally gotten there. Arabella was having a blast talking to the other professors and the occasional student about things other than school. She had eaten dinner with Benji at the teacher's table and had fun catching up with him since they hadn't seen much of each other in the last few weeks. He told her about how it was going with Gideon and how he would introduce Benji to his family officially as his boyfriend. They even talked about Fabian and Emmeline's wedding, both having received invitations to the small gathering in July.
The band had started their round with slow songs. Arabella, though talented in the music department, wasn't much of a dancer. She was never taught the proper pureblood ways of ballroom dancing, so she usually stayed behind, and people watched.
At the moment, she was heading towards the refreshments table to get punch; it had been spiked mere hours ago by the marauders themselves. Grabbing a cup for herself, she slowly drank until she felt a slight tap on her shoulder.
Twirling around, Arabella came face to face with Sirius Black. She had to admit, he looked striking. He was wearing all-black wizard robes. Though his cloak and jacket had been already forgotten about, leaving him in only a black vest and a black shirt that he had loosely done, something that was very much his style. Like always, his hands were adorned with fine rings, including the Black ring, one she had only seen Regulus wear. Sirius styled his black locks to perfection, which didn't surprise Arabella because his hair always looked good. His eyes were lit up with what she could make out to be mischief and something else that she couldn't quite place as he smiled down at her.
"Hi, Sirius, enjoying the party?" Arabella asked as she took another sip of her drink.
Sirius walked next to her, so he was looking out into the party, the same way she was doing, "Yes, I am. Peter kept stepping all over Alice's toes when they were dancing, which was hilarious to watch."
Arabella let out a soft laugh, something that Sirius loved to hear, "Of course he was, but I can't say I'm not on the same boat as he is. Can't dance much either," she shrugged.
"Really?" he looked at her in surprise, "I thought since you're good at everything, dancing would come naturally."
She scoffed, "I am not good at everything! I practically have two left feet."
Sirius looked back at the crowd and mustered all the Gryffindor courage he had, "Come on then," he said, sticking out his hand for her to take, "I'll teach you."
She looked from his hand back up to his face, "Oh Sirius, but I'll ruin your perfect shoes! They're probably expensive too."
He shrugged, "I can always get a new pair, though I doubt you'll ruin them. Come on, one dance."
Arabella looked at his outstretched hand once more.
I'm going to regret this. She thought
Arabella took his hand, quickly conceding, not saying no to those big puppy eyes he gave her. They walked to the dance floor, where the band had started playing a soft melody. Arabella was nervous, to say the least; she didn't want to embarrass herself. She carefully placed her hand on his shoulder, and he took the other in his while he put his other hand on her waist. Even though she was wearing heels, Sirius was still much taller than she was, so her head reached a little above his chin. She was cautious with her steps, not wanting to crush his feet. The couple started to sway to the beat of the music, Arabella's eyes never leaving her feet and Sirius never leaving her.
Arabella looked up at him with a broad smile, "Look!" she said excitedly, "I haven't stepped on you yet."
Sirius thought she looked adorable, "What did I tell you? I am a good teacher."
Arabella rolled her eyes, "Yeah, whatever..."
"Tell me something about yourself," Sirius said.
Arabella furrowed her eyebrows, "What do you want to know?"
Without hesitating, he said, "Everything."
Arabella smiled at him, "That quite the loaded question."
Sirius looked down at her, "Fine... um, what's your favorite color?"
"You've gone too far with that question," she shook her head with a slight smirk playing on her lips.
"Oh, come on. Really what is it?"
Arabella stared into his eyes, "Green," she said.
Sirius nodded his head, "I figured. You seem like the nature type."
"How do you figure?" she asked.
"Well," he started, "whenever we are outside, I don't know, you seem like you belong. Not to mention the number of plants in your classroom. You're a good old fashion tree hugger."
Arabella let out a loud laugh, attracting some of the nearby students, "Tree hugger?"
"Yea, you know, you love nature so much you probably hug trees."
"That's true. Everyone needs hugs sometimes, even the trees."
"So," she said after sharing a moment of silence, "what's your favorite color?"
He shook his head, "No, no, no, we are not talking about me. I'm still asking you questions."
"But-" she started, but Sirius cut her off.
"No buts... I want to get to know you. You already know everything about me, that includes my favorite color."
"Red..." she whispered.
"Correct," he said to her. Arabella teasingly put her hand up. "Yes?" he asked.
"I will answer your questions. Only the ones I want, if you let me show you somewhere."
Sirius gave her a questioning look, "You're not going to kill me, right?"
"50/50 chance," she shrugged. "Come to Sirius, what's life without a little risk?" Arabella pleaded, echoing his famous words.
"Alright," he answered softly, letting her take him wherever she wanted. They snuck out of the ball without anyone noticing their absence. Once out of the hall, Arabella stopped and took off her shoes.
"Gods, I hate heels!" she exclaimed, making Sirius laugh. He offered to hold them for her, which she let him. They walked down the corridor, still hand in hand. Sirius had no idea where she was taking him, but if he were honest, he'd go anywhere she went. They climbed and climbed many stairs, and Sirius started to question if he was actually going to get murdered by the small girl. When he voiced his concerns again, she laughed in his face but never gave him a direct answer. They only stopped when they reached the giant statue of an eagle.
"You brought me to the Ravenclaw common room?" he asked, very confused.
Arabella rolled her eyes, "Of course not!" she let go of his hand and walked to the left of the common room door and tapped a secret combination onto the exposed brick. Sirius thought she had gone mental until the wall started to move to reveal a hidden passageway.
Sirius gawked at what just happened, "No way. I thought we had all the passageways mapped!"
Arabella smiled triumphantly, "Well, I just proved your little marauder's map to be wrong."
Sirius playfully narrowed his eyes at her, "How do you know about the map?"
"I know a lot of things," she answered mysteriously. "Well? Are you coming or not?"
Arabella held out her hand for him to take again. Sirius wasted no time in intertwining their fingers and walking through the wall. She led him through the tight corridor until they reached an opening that revealed a large balcony. It wasn't as big as the astronomy tower, but it had enough room for a few chairs and a small couch, which were all there.
Sirius looked around while Arabella waited for his reaction, "So this is where you hide?"
Arabella nodded her head, "Sometimes," she answered while she took a seat on the couch and padded the space next to her for him to take. Sirius sat down, very close, with his knees and arm touching the side of her body.
"Look, there's Saturn," she said as she pointed up the sky. "And Regulus and Sirius."
"The brightest start," he mused, still not taking his eyes off the stars.
"Of course." Arabella laughed, "I wish we could see Neptune, though. I've always wondered what it looks like."
"What color do you think it is?" he asked.
"Blue, for sure."
Sirius laughed at her certainty, "How can you be so sure?"
"For starters, it was named after the Roman god of the sea, and the sea is blue, which most certainly makes the planet blue," she said matter a factly.
Sirius looked back up at the sky, "Well, I think it's purple."
"What?" she exclaimed with amusement in her voice. "Purple?"
"Purples a cool color. Color of royalty, you know."
"A purple planet? Now, that's ridiculous," she said.
"Wanna bet?" he looked at her, challenging.
Arabella smirked, "Alright, I bet you ten galleons that Neptune is blue," she held out her hand for him to shake on it.
Sirius shook her hand, "Get ready to lose."
"We'll see about that," she responded, letting go of his hand and returning her eyes up to the sky, Sirius doing the same.
After a moment of comfortable silence, Arabella spoke up, "There's Scorpius and Orion," she said with what Sirius could detected longing in her voice. "I miss them." Sirius didn't need her to say that she was talking about her family.
"I come up here to talk them sometimes when I feel lonely," she let out a humorless laugh, " I know it sounds silly talking to the sky."
Sirius looked down at the witch and grabbed her hand that was closest to him, "I don't think it's silly," he said quietly. "It's okay to miss them, and to talk about them; you don't have to keep those things bottled up, Bells," he added.
Arabella wasn't looking at the sky anymore but at their hands. They fit together perfectly. She had noticed that his hand were always cold and wondered why that was. She was the complete opposite; she was always hot. It didn't matter if it was below freezing outside; she was always warm.
To Sirius, it made sense. To him, she felt like the sun, bringing light into every situation that was presented to her. Never letting her emotions get in the way, putting everyone else before herself. She was the source of life he needed, like the sun was to everything else on earth.
To Arabella, it intrigued her. Sirius was like the moon. He was hard to decipher, never really knowing what he was thinking, but at the same time, he was straightforward. Loving and unconditionally kind to his friends. Sirius was the moon, his gravitational pull holding his friends together, just like the moon pulled in the tides of the ocean.
Both of them were complete opposites: the sun and the moon. But at the same time, they were alike in one way. Sirius and Arabella both saw life as the various shades of grey. Constantly questioning situations and never keeping quiet. They have both gone through their fair share of horrors to know that life is not simply black and white; there are always more sides to the same coin, though sometimes the view got lost through their stubbornness. They both find comfort in the quiet moments that life has to offer, knowing that they won't get many in this life.
Arabella was solely focused on their hands that she didn't notice the single tear that ran down her cheek, but Sirius did. He took her face with his free hand and wiped it away, effectively make her look at him. She still hadn't gotten used to the beautiful shade of silver that his eyes were.
"You're not alone anymore, Bells," he said gently, "we're your family now."
It was now Arabella's turned to do something unexpected. She slowly leaned forward and placed and a small kiss on the corner of his lips. She lingered for a second before pulling away and whispering, "Thank you."
Arabella then squeezed his hand while gripping his arm with her other as if he would vanish in any second. She leaned her head on his shoulder, causing Sirius to place his head on hers. They both wished that they could stay that way forever, in the comforting silence, savoring every second together, knowing that at any moment, it could be their last.
----
A/N- here are how i pictured the dresses to look like
vote&comment
neptune by sleeping at last