It was a warm Friday afternoon, a day before the ball. It was now officially called the Moonlight Ball (another last minute thought on Dumbledore's part) and everyone was extremely excited. At least now Sirius had a proper excuse not to go with girls who were asking him; that he was already going with Marlene. Of course a rumor had spread about this, but he hadn't told anyone outside of his friends who it was. He enjoyed the air of mystery.
"So, is Marlene your girlfriend or not?" Peter asked Sirius, picking absently at the grass as they sat nearby the lake.
"Not sure, really", Sirius mused, lying with his hands behind his head, "I kind of like the ambiguity though."
"Girls usually like solid definitions", James piped up from where he sat, tossing his stolen Snitch about, "I can't imagine Lily letting us two go on this long without 'making things official'."
"Oh please, it's not like we're getting married", Sirius sighed lazily, shielding his eyes from the sun with one palm, "It's just a ball."
"Oh Sirius", Remus rolled his eyes, closing the book he was reading and leaning back on his elbows, "You are such a romantic, aren't you? I can see why all the Witches around here are always chasing after you."
"That's because of my roguish good looks and boyish charm, actually", Sirius shifted slightly on the grass, "Besides, I don't see you going with anyone."
"As a matter of fact, I am", retorted Remus.
"What!" cried James and Sirius.
"Blimey, no way!" exclaimed James.
"You're telling me, you found a girl who would go with you?" asked Sirius incredulously.
"Yes, I did", said Remus simply.
"Were would you find a girl willing to go out with Moony...?" James questioned slowly.
"The library", said Sirius sagely.
"But of course", agreed James.
"Probably a Ravenclaw", Sirius continued wisely.
"Makes sense..." said James.
"You're both spectacularly right", said Remus, a small smile playing around his mouth.
"Oh, and who would this lovely Ravenclaw be?" asked Sirius, sitting up and nudging Remus in the arm.
"Patricia Marks", Remus elaborated.
The brown haired boy returned to his book without another word.
"Hmph", said Sirius.
"Hmph", said James.
"Do I need ask, Peter?" Sirius quizzed the smallest of their friends.
"I haven't found anyone to go to the Moonlight Ball with, no", sighed Peter, rubbing his knee through the fabric of his trousers.
"What's wrong with your knee?" James asked him.
"What? Oh, nothing", said Peter dazedly, "Just hurt it in the library, a weird, enchanted book sort of- well it bit me, to tell you the truth. I had to go into the restricted section for Herbology revision during N.E.W.T.s."
"Oh", said James, "Remind me to steer clear of that place then".
"On the contrary my dear Prongs", Sirius began, "It seems the library is a setting of romance, adventure, and general violence. I wouldn't mind going there more often."
"S'pose", said James airily, before staring into space and fiddling with the Snitch, "Not that we have much time left to visit anyway..."
Sirius lay back down on the ground and closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of the summer air, and fell into a lazy sleep.
##
Sirius turned the handle of the bathroom door and walked out into the dormitory. He walked over to the mirror and shoved James playfully out of the way, wanting to see how his dress robes looked.
"Hey!" said James, who had been messing about with his hair, "I'm doing something important here."
"I can't see that you are", said Sirius, as he admired his reflection.
"I need to get my hair right", whined James.
"Merlin, that's going to take a while, don't you think?" chuckled Sirius.
"I wouldn't expect you to understand", sighed James over-dramatically, "You see, my dear Padfoot, while you hair sits the way you want without you trying, some of us have have to work for it. Yes, we poor unfortunate souls have to try hard to get that perfectly windswept look to our locks."
"Poor Jamesy", agreed Sirius vaguely, "Heir to the Sleek Eazy fortune and you still can't get a half-decent hold over your hair."
"Why do you think us Potters had to make the stuff in the first place?!" James asked indignantly.
"When you two Witches are done fighting over the mirror", said Frank from behind them, "I'd like to see I look presentable."
"All yours, mate", said James, stepping back from the mirror.
"Who are you going with?" asked Gideon from where he sat on his bed.
"Marlene McKinnon", said Sirius matter-of-factually.
"I told you I saw them two sneaking off together the other day", Gideon turned to his brother.
"Oh alright, you were right", Fabian, "Bloody weird though, spying on people to find out who's snogging who."
The twins were going with two Hufflepuff girls that Sirius had quite forgotten the names of. He looked around to see that everyone was ready, except Frank, who was straightening his bow-tie. Sirius had laughed at first, to see Frank wearing it, but Frank upheld that 'bow-ties are cool'.
"Everyone ready?" he asked, as they had agreed to go down to meet their dates as a collective.
"Yes", they all said brightly.
"Yes", Peter quietly from the corner, who was still going solo.
With that, they all filed out of the dormitory. They walked past the Gryffindors from younger years, trapped in the common room with a night of homework. Some of them looked quite jealous. The boys arrived in the Entrance hall ten minutes later. Sirius checked the clock on the wall to see that there was five minutes until he had to meet Marlene.
"See you later", said Remus quietly, before walking off towards Patricia.
The Ravenclaw girl was wearing brightly coloured dress robes, and Sirius could honestly say, while she didn't look half bad, he didn't think much of her fashion taste. Remus must have thought differently though, because Sirius heard him compliment her on the colour. Remus may have just been trying to be nice, but who knew, maybe he liked bubblegum pink.
James had already walked towards Lily, who looked beautiful with her dark red hair parted to one side, tumbling over her shoulders and onto the silken turquoise dress robes she was wearing. James was evidently starstruck.
Sirius moved down from where he was standing on the stairs observing his fellow seventh-years, and into the crowd to see if he could find Marlene. He moved past Fabian and Gideon, who were each talking animatedly to two girls. He also passed Frank and Alice. Alice was fussing over Frank's bow-tie. She seemed to like it.
Mary MacDonald and Emmeline Vance were chatting animatedly with some other girls. Marlene stood beside them, her expression brightening when she saw him approach.
"You scrub alright after all, Sirius", Marlene greeted him, placing a hand against his chest and giving him a peck on the lips.
"I didn't put up with all that Pureblood shit for nothing", Sirius grinned at her, "At least I know how to dress, and I know how to dance."
Marlene looked, of course, very beautiful. Her usually straight black hair was in loose curls and waves down her shoulders. Her dress robes seemed to have some kind of enchantment on them. They sparkled with specks of golden light, that reflected in her warm brown eyes. The robes were coloured deep purple, but in a way so that the floaty fabric made her look as though she was wearing what Muggles called a super-nova. An explosion of stars.
"You look rather radiant yourself", he smiled again, then adding in a mockingly posh voice, "Shall we take a turn about the room?"
Though he was generally loud and rambunctious, Sirius was also part of an old Pureblood family, and had been shaped into the perfect gentleman for many a family gathering. He often associated this side of him with cold, stiff dinners at his old house, but he knew that Marlene deserved nothing less on this night, so he stood straight as he walked with her across the Entrance Hall.
"Well well, Sirius", a female voice called from behind them.
Sirius turned around to see Lily reappear in the crowd with James at her heals.
"I'm glad to see if you've put in some effort for Marlene", she smirked.
"Come on now, Lils", James shook his finger, "We Marauders aren't complete animals."
Lily rolled her eyes at this.
"You look beautiful, if I do say so myself, Miss Evans", Sirius returned the compliment.
"Oi, that's enough charm, you", James leaned forwards and elbowed Sirius, "You've already got one date."
"It would be good if they could open the door", Marlene said, taking her own turn to roll her eyes.
As if Professor McGonagall heard him, the doors to the Great Hall swung open and she announced that they could now go inside.
"Great", said Sirius, smiling to Marlene and walking towards the Great Hall.
When Sirius walked into the Hall, his breath was taken away. The enchanted ceiling above them contained a vast and very realistic moon, which hung over the seventh-years as they entered. It basked the Hall in a white, but warm light. A soft glowing with a touch of yellow. The rest of the ceiling consisted of a deep blue and starless sky, complete with thin clouds, that swirled mystically around the large moon. With a pang, Sirius found himself hoping the decor was not too unpleasant for Remus.
Placed around the Great Hall were round tables covered with white table cloths, mirroring the shape and hue of the moon above. Soft, plump, purple chairs were seated around them. The center piece of each table was a small marble fountain, spouting out what looked liked molten gold.
Sirius and Marlene made for a table near the raised platform where the staff would usually sit (but was strangely empty). It was a little way away from the stone wall. They sat down and were soon joined by Lilly and James, Frank and Alice, as well as Remus and Patricia. Sirius saw Peter try to wander over to them, but there were no seats left, so he was left to sit with Gideon and Fabian. The twins hardly acknowledged Peter's presence, they seemed very taken with their Hufflepuff dates.
After everyone was seated, the staff entered the Hall, making their way towards a long rectangular table sitting just in front of the razed platform. Dumbledore was wearing robes of white, patterned with blue and purple stars. Professor McGonagall looked very much the same as she always did, except she had put a rather ugly wreath of holly around her pointed hat. The game keeper, Hagrid, was wearing a horrible brown furry suit with a large spotted tie, orange in colour.
Since the Hogwarts staff were now seated, Sirius took it that they were to start eating. Then he realized the complete lack of anything edible. He looked down at his golden plate, where there lay a menu, but he did not see any people to order food from. Before he could ask anyone what they thought, he heard Dumbledore clear his throat loudly.
Sirius looked up to see that Dumbledore had opened his own menu. Looking down at the silver coloured parchment, he read, "Lamb cutlets".
With that, and to the surprise of most seventh-years, lamb cutlets appeared on the Headmaster's plate. With sudden realization, everyone in the Great Hall followed his example, reading out loud their preferred choice to their plate. Just to be funny, Sirius had said "Fizzing Whizzbees", and ended up with thin air, so he chose the pork ribs.
The Hall was filled with talk and the clatter of knives and forks. They seventh-years ate their way though three magnificent courses. It was delicious. And, as Remus discovered, the gold spouting from the fountain was actually edible, so that is what they dipped the cake they had for pudding in.
The noise of everyone talking crept up again as people finished their dessert. James was adding his own comments to Sirius's story of how they nearly burnt the Potters' mansion down one summer. Before he could continue, however, the enchanted ceiling above them blacked out, and the giant moon disappeared. One of the girls screamed. Marlene gave a start and gripped Sirius's arm.
Then slowly, as they looked up, a light burst into brightness in the center of the ceiling. Then smaller pinpricks of light started to come to life all over the enchanted sky above. They were stars, but stars that sparkled with an other-worldly light. The Great Hall lit up with the glittering specks. Sirius turned his head around to get a better look, then his eyes fell upon the stage.
"Merlin..." he whispered before James let slip a curse that made Lily smack the back of his hand before realising what was going on.
"Hello Hogwarts!" cried the lead singer of The Six Jinxes.
Everyone who wasn't looking at the stage was now transfixed.
"Well, what are you all gawping at, get up and dance!" Wix Steeler shouted to the seventh-years.
Before Sirius could be shaken out of his stupor, he was being swept onto the dance floor by Marlene. Everyone around him was shouting and screaming. The music started playing, and the students started dancing. The golden lights on the ceiling swirled around and around, illuminating the crowd.
Sirius turned to face Marlene as she jumped around to the beat, and he joined her. It was wonderful, that ball. Sirius would look back on it for years to come, and be truly thankful that Dumbledore had booked the greatest Wizarding band of all time for the occasion. In between two songs, Sirius managed to get his napkin signed by each band member. By the time it was nearly twelve o'clock, the music had slowed, and the little stars seemed to have drifted down from above to settle about the dancers.
Sirius was hand in hand with Marlene, slow-dancing in wide circles. He looked around the Hall. James and Lily were dancing not so far away, staring deeply into each others eyes. Alice and Frank were on the edge of dance floor slowly waltzing along, with Alice resting her head on Frank's shoulder. Gideon was in the corner with his date, and Fabian was sitting at their table with his, both pairs were kissing. Peter no longer sat across from Fabian, and Sirius wondered where he had gotten to. Remus was sitting next to Patricia at another table. They were talking quietly again. Sirius caught Remus blushing as Patricia lean over and kissed him on the cheek.
Sirius chuckled and turned back to his own stunning date. Staring into her big, brown eyes. The band started to play their most famous slow song, Blue Night, which was quite fitting for this ball.
"I never thought I'd get here", said Marlene softly.
"What?" asked Sirius.
"Here, at the end of my Hogwarts years", she replied, as they kept dancing.
"Well, all good things come to an end", sighed Sirius.
"Yeah..." she agreed, as more little stars drifted down from the ceiling, "Are you nervous- about what will happen after school?"
"What? Oh..." Sirius didn't like to spoil the moment with something so meditative, "I suppose a little, but we can't know what to worry about until we get there. We've still got a couple of weeks of blissful ignorance left."
"Trust you to leave plans to the last minute", Marlene giggled softly and rested her head on his chest, "Still, it's hard to ignore what's going on out there - outside the school."
"We can give it our best try, though", Sirius said softly.
It felt almost as if it were just the pair of them in the room.
"That we can", Marlene lifted her head and smiled, before leaning up to plant a kiss on his waiting lips.
Sirius became unaware of everything around him. He felt happy and warm inside, as if he had just downed a glass of Firewhiskey. They stopped dancing and stood there kissing, suspended in the sea of stars.