"Who are you inviting to the ball?" Dorcas asked, saddling up beside Calypso during their double Herbology lesson with Professor Sprout the Tuesday before Easter break. Professor Sprout was too busy describing what Belladonna was to notice that most of the class was either too distracted with thoughts of Slughorn's Easter Ball for the Slug Club or too busy goofing off in the back (James and Sirius), though Calypso did her best to take notes while her Professor taught until Dorcas came up to her. "I'm not a member of Slug Club, so I'll have to live vicariously through you on this one."
"I haven't decided yet. Maybe I'll take you." Calypso shrugged.
"Don't get my hopes up, Cal." Dorcas said in a warning tone. "Lily's lucky. Slughorn loves her so much that he invites her to these things without her having to come from some famous family."
"I have an idea!" Lily said suddenly, turning to Dorcas and Calypso. "What if I invited Marlene and Calypso invited Dorcas, so Dorcas and Marlene could both go together?"
"All right! Let's do that." Calypso nodded eagerly. Dorcas's eyes widened and she threw her arms around the two girls.
"I love you girls! I'm going to go tell Marlene." Dorcas said excitedly before running off to where Marlene was currently speaking to Emmeline.
"I'm surprised you didn't invite Sirius." Lily said once Dorcas was out of earshot. Calypso furrowed her brows out of confusion as she turned to her friend.
"What do you mean?"
"Only that I assumed you'd bring him and James would bring either Peter or Remus." Lily shrugged. "Do you have your dress picked out?"
"My grandmum got one for me." Calypso said, thinking about the dress that was tucked neatly away in the trunk at the foot of her bed while Professor Sprout snapped at James and Sirius to pay attention.
When the period ended, Calypso gathered her things and walked out of the classroom. Double Herbology was followed by Double Potions on Tuesdays, so she and Dorcas would walk to class together. While she waited for Dorcas to come out of the greenhouse, Sirius exited the classroom with James, Remus, and Peter following behind him. Sirius mumbled something to the boys and broke away from them to stand beside Calypso.
"Shouldn't you be getting to Charms?" Calypso asked. Sirius shrugged.
"I wanted to talk to you," Sirius said. Calypso narrowed her eyes when she noticed something was off. Sirius's cheeks were turning the faintest shade of pink and there was a bit of embarrassment shining in his eyes. "I've decided to stay at the castle over Easter break."
"Really?" Calypso asked, surprised. "Why? You never stay here."
"Well, I didn't want you to be alone for Easter." Sirius rocked back and forth on his heels and cast his gaze down to the ground.
"What'd your mum say? I don't want you to get in trouble because of me."
"I guess I wrote to her when she wasn't in one of her moods because she said she was fine with me staying." Sirius smiled. "It looks like you'll be stuck with just me for two whole weeks, Talon."
Sirius poked her cheek playfully and she swatted his hand away from her face, but a part of her was glad for the company, especially if it was Sirius's.
"So . . ." Sirius looked nervous again as more and more students piled out of the greenhouses. "Who are you taking to Slughorn's Easter Ball?"
"Er — Dorcas!" Calypso called out when she caught sight of the girl stepping out of the classroom, looking around for Calypso. Dorcas walked over to them and Calypso turned back to Sirius. "I'm taking Dorcas to the ball."
"Oh, so you're not taking, like, a date or something?" Sirius asked.
"Dorcas is my date, technically." Calypso said. Dorcas stood behind Sirius and watched the interaction between them with a curious look on her face. "But, I'm not taking a boy or anything."
"Okay." Sirius said, sounding perkier than he had been when he asked the question and some of the tension released from his shoulders. He glanced behind to see Dorcas standing there and he smiled at her before saying something about how he needed to get to class before rushing off.
Calypso stared at the spot where Sirius had been standing for a few seconds, replaying the conversation in her head.
"Maybe you should take Sirius to the ball." Dorcas suggested. Calypso frowned at the girl.
"No. I'm taking you. You and Marlene deserve a nice night together." Calypso nudged her friend in the ribs while they walked down the hallway. "Don't you want to go?"
"Of course I want to go, but maybe you and Sirius should go together too." Dorcas said.
"I've been dragging Sirius along to Slughorn's functions ever since I joined Slug Club. He's been to all sorts of balls, dinners, and parties with me and I'll most likely bring him to more in the future. Believe me when I say he's not going to be too fussed if I don't bring him along to this one." Calypso said. She smiled fondly to herself when she thought about the parties she and Sirius had attended together. Sometimes they'd people watch, or dance all night, or play secret games where they'd pretend to be completely different people. "Wait, why are you suggesting that I bring Sirius along?"
Calypso stopped walking so she could face Dorcas. Dorcas gave her a rather pointed look that Calypso deciphered instantly.
"Dorcas . . . no. I know what that look means and no."
"I haven't even said anything." Dorcas said innocently. Calypso looked at her bemusedly.
"Oh, please. I know what that look is. That's your 'I'm-convinced-that-one-of-your-friends-likes-you' look! You did the same thing with Remus back in third year."
Dorcas rolled her eyes. "Remus was in love with you third year and you can't convince me otherwise. The only reason he stopped was because Karma came along and now those two are playing this weird game of 'will they/won't they'."
"Remus was not in love with me and neither is Sirius."
"Look, you've been best friends with those four boys ever since you came to Hogwarts — your friendship with them was like fate or something — but your relationship with Sirius has always been different than it was with James, Remus, and Peter. I don't know how to explain but it's just different. But, it was never the right time for either of you to become more before because you liked Sebastian, then he dated Marlene, and then you dated Aerin, but you've finally both reached a point in your relationship where you guys could be good together."
"Dorcas," Calypso's face was suddenly very serious, "Sirius has never and would never like me in that way. There have been times when I thought that he might, but he told me himself that he'd never be interested in me that way."
"What do you mean he 'told you so himself'?" Dorcas frowned.
"During Slughorn's Halloween Party in fourth year he told me that he'd never date me." Calypso said rather matter-of-factly. Dorcas scoffed.
"What? He should be so lucky to call you his girlfriend." Dorcas said angrily. Calypso laughed and patted Dorcas's shoulder.
"It's fine," she shrugged. "Besides, I wouldn't want something to happen between us that would ruin our friendship."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"I always am." Calypso winked and the pair of them ran off to their next class.
That night, Calypso sat in her room while Dorcas worked on her makeup for Slughorn's party. Cassandra had come to the room to talk with Calypso about Quidditch and decided to stick around since she was good at doing hair while Pandora lounged on the ground, painting her toes black.
"So, Panda," Dorcas said as she rummaged through her bag filled with all sorts of Muggle makeup products. "What's been going on with you and Xenophilius?"
Calypso glanced over at Pandora from the corner of her eye and saw the girl's face turn bright red.
"Oh — um — well — er —"
"Xenophilius as in Xenophilius Lovegood?" Cassandra asked.
"How many other Xenophilius's do you know?" Dorcas asked. Cassandra shrugged and stopped flipping through the copy of Witch Weekly she was reading to turn to Pandora.
"You're dating Xenophilius Lovegood?" Cassandra asked excitedly.
"We're not dating!" Pandora said quickly. "We — well — we went on one date, but we didn't do anything except kiss on the cheek and share a slice of cake. That was nearly two months ago and everything has remained strictly friendly since then."
"But, do you like him?" Calypso asked. "Because he obviously likes you."
Dorcas coughed something that sounded a lot like "you're one to talk".
"I . . ." Pandora let out an exasperated sigh. "I just have plans, you know? I have this whole life that I imagine for myself after I leave Hogwarts and it involves creating spells and winning awards for my inventions and traveling the world. I feel like if I start dating Xenophilius now that it won't be long before I fall completely in love with him and that'll just make doing all of that so much harder."
"I'm kind of in the same position you are." Cassandra said. The three girls turned to her. "It's not exactly the same because I don't have anyone I'm interested in, but I've wanted to become a Healer ever since I was a little girl. It's been the one thing in my life I've ever been completely certain about and I'm always scared that someone will come along and make all of that harder, but my mum always says that when you meet someone who feels like they could be that someone, you shouldn't try to fight it. Just go with it and see what happens. If it doesn't work out, that's fine, you'll live, but you don't want to spend the rest of your life wondering if you passed up this chance at an epic love."
Pandora sat in a thoughtful silence.
"Your mum should write a book." Dorcas said. Cassandra laughed.
"She does, actually. Lately, she's been working on the Martin Miggs comics." Cassandra said. Calypso's eyes nearly bulged out of her head.
"WHAT?" She exclaimed, quite loudly. Her and Dorcas's sleeping roommate, Alessia, shushed her. "Your mum writes Martin Miggs comics?"
"I take it you're a fan."
"Are you kidding?" Dorcas laughed. Even Pandora chuckled. "Calypso is obsessed with Martin Miggs."
"No, no, no. I'm obsessed with Bartholomew Barkins and Poppy Pixie. Poppy Pixie is my favorite character of all time. I dressed up as her for Halloween one year too." Calypso said excitedly. Her friends smiled endearingly at her.
"Do you want me to let you in on a little secret about Poppy Pixie and Bartholomew Barkins?" Cassandra asked. Calypso nodded her head eagerly. "They get together in the next edition."
"What?" Calypso gasped, bringing her hand over her mouth. "No way! I used to always tell James that they were the perfect match, but he always insisted they were just friends."
"Didn't you and Sirius dress up as Poppy and Bartholomew?" Dorcas chimed in, but Calypso ignored her because Pandora suddenly shot up from the ground with a determined look on her face.
"What are you doing, Panda?" Calypso asked.
"I'm going to go downstairs right now and I'm going to tell Xenophilius that I like him!" Pandora declared. The girl's raised their brows at their friends.
"Really?" Dorcas asked. Pandora nodded her head.
"It's like Cassandra's mum says: I'll just go with it and see what happens. What's the worst thing he could say? No, right? That's fine. I can live with no. It'll just be humiliating and I'll never be able to look at him again, but I can live with iit." Pandora rambled. She took a deep breath and marched out of the room without another word.
"Wow, is she really going to go do it?" Cassandra asked, sounding impressed.
"No, she'll be back in a few minutes." Calypso said while Dorcas took a brush through Calypso's curls to make them voluminous and bouncy. "But, I'm sure she'll take your advice eventually. Now, how do I look?"
Calypso stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. The light blue dress matched her eyes and it was flowy enough that she could move about freely and dance into the night.
The door to the room swung open and Pandora walked back in, her face red.
"I only made it to the end of the steps." Pandora said, breathing heavily. "I'll do it some other day."
"We know, Panda." Dorcas patted Pandora's shoulder encouragingly. "Now, we have a party to get to."
Dorcas linked arms with Calypso and the pair of them walked out of the room and Ravenclaw Tower to go to the Gryffindor common rooms where they would meet with Lily and Marlene. They lingered outside the portrait of the Fat Lady for the girls to come and watched as the other people passed them by to head to the Great Hall.
Calypso leaned against the wall adjacent to the Fat Lady when the portrait opened and James and Sirius stepped out in the dress robes.
"Don't you boys look handsome?" Calypso teased, catching their attention. A wide grin spread across James's face as he walked up to Calypso, his arms open wide and Sirius chuckled beside him. Calypso allowed James to hug her before she pulled away and fixed his hair.
"Don't touch the merchandise, Talon." James said. Calypso rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please." Calypso said. She turned to Sirius. "I'm surprised you agreed to come with James to one of these things."
"My usual date ditched me, so . . ." Sirius shrugged playfully and Calypso hit him. "Anyway, James was hellbent on having me go instead of Remus, who begged to come, by the way."
"Yes, well, I wanted my best mate to come along with me." James said, clapping his hand on Sirius's shoulder. Calypso and Sirius exchanged a suspicious look with one another before the entrance to Gryffindor Tower opened once more and Marlene and Lily stepped out, each of them looking beautiful. James stared at Lily, stunned, when she walked over to greet Calypso and Dorcas.
Marlene and Dorcas exchanged sweet, shy smiles with one another before they turned to the others.
"Are we all walking there together?" Marlene asked.
"Yes!" James said hurriedly. Lily rolled her eyes and stood on the other side of Calypso as they walked through the corridor with Marlene and Dorcas leading the pack. Calypso smiled softly while she watched Dorcas and Marlene interact with one another. Marlene looked as though she was taking in every single word Dorcas was saying to her and she would just stare at her with an intense expression on her face that made Calypso wish someone would stare at her like that.
"What're you thinking about?" Sirius whispered in her ear when he noticed the smile on her face.
"Marlene and Dorcas," She whispered back to him. "Isn't it sweet? Look at how Marlene looks at Dorcas. She can't take her eyes off her. That's the kind of thing I want someday."
"I'm sure you'll have no problem finding someone who won't be able to take their eyes off you." Sirius said earnestly. Calypso turned to Sirius and the pair of them stared at each other for a long while. His eyes shined with such intense conviction that it nearly startled her. She opened her mouth to say something in response — she didn't know what — but then she heard James's voice pull her from the moment.
" — Save me a dance, Evans!" James winked. Calypso blinked and turned away from Sirius. They had arrived at the Great Hall and Lily rolled her eyes as she walked inside.
Lily called over her shoulder, "Not a chance!"
James smirked when she walked away and turned to look at his two best friends, looking as though he'd just won the lottery.
"I'm going to marry that girl." James said.
"Sure you will, Prongs." Calypso said. She turned to her and two friends since Marlene and Dorcas had disappeared too. "What do you propose we do first?"
"I think we should pretend to be Muggle spies." Sirius suggested. Calypso raised an eyebrow at that and when Sirius noticed James confused expression, he elaborated, "Calypso and I sometimes go into parties like this and pretend to be a certain character or type of person beforehand."
"Last time, we were from a traveling circus. I was the star trapeze artist and Sirius was the lion-tamer. We met this really famous Alchemist, Nicolas Flamel, and he found the whole thing to be hilarious." Calypso said with a small laugh. "But, who should we pretend to be spying on?"
James peered into the room.
"How about that woman?" James asked, pointing to a tall woman with sunken cheeks, pale skin, and dark black hair. Her brows were drawn together as she listened to something Professor Slughorn said to her with a rather unimpressed expression on her face.
"Calypso, what's the mission?" Sirius asked.
"We need to gather as much intel on this woman as we can — name, affiliations, that sort of thing. The word is she's a part of this underground conspiracy to cover up . . . illegal broom racing in the Ministry! They even say Barty Crouch Sr.'s been a part of it." Calypso said, making things up as she went along. "Agents Padfoot and Prongs, are you ready?"
"Agents Padfoot and Prongs reporting to duty, Agent Talon." James saluted. "Ready to move!"
"Let's go."
They crept into the Great Hall and looked around conspiratorially.
"The Cobra is on the move. I repeat, the Cobra is on the move." Sirius whispered as the woman moved throughout the room to pick at the candy's at the snack table.
"What's this?" Calypso asked as the woman began to pick up the candies, looking mildly disinterested in them. "Why does she keep picking them up and putting them back?"
The woman grabbed one of the sweets and quickly stuffed it into her mouth when someone approached her.
"Target is acting suspicious. I repeat, the target is acting suspicious!" James whisper-shouted into his pretend radio. The three of them watched a man approach the woman and take her onto the dance floor.
"Agent Talon, come with me." Sirius said. He grabbed Calypso's wrist and pulled her with him, leaving James to linger by the edge of the dance floor, still pretending to be a spy on a mission.
"What're we doing?" Calypso asked, holding her dress up to keep herself from tripping. Sirius took her to the middle of the room and faced her. A sly smile started to spread on Calypso's face. "I didn't think you liked to dance, Agent Padfoot."
"What do I always say, Agent Talon?" Sirius asked, a small smile playing on the corners of his lips. "You're the only person I want to dance with. Besides, it's for the mission."
"Right." Calypso said. "For the mission."
She placed her hand in Sirius's and he snaked his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. For a moment, Calypso's breath caught and she hoped that Sirius hadn't noticed but he was too preoccupied with the feeling of her hand touching his. The song that was playing was slow and intimate which required a dance that suited it and though the pair of them had danced together before, they had never danced quite like this.
Sirius tightened his grip on Calypso's hand and she leaned closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. Calypso was so close to him that she could feel his heart racing against her chest (Or was it hers? She wasn't sure) and she closed her eyes and allowed herself to take everything in.
A part of her hated the way dancing with Sirius made her feel because it was reminiscent of the way she had felt all of second year when she was stuck nursing an intense crush on one of the most important people in the world to her.
Then, it all came crashing down because Calypso would remember what her having a crush on Sirius could do to their relationship. It could destroy it completely and Calypso didn't think she would be able to survive without Sirius being a part of her life. Whenever she imagined her future or saw herself ten years into the future, he was always there. She couldn't lose him.
Calypso lifted her head from his shoulder and leaned backwards, putting a little room between the two of them. Sirius was looking at her with an unreadable expression as he searched her face for something — she didn't know what. Calypso swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Sirius, I —"
"— I hate to ask this of you, I do," A voice said. Calypso turned her head to the side and stared at the face of the woman she, Sirius, and James were supposed to be spying on. She was speaking to her dance partner with a sad look on her face. "But, we won't last long without the support of other wizards in the community. The Society for the Tolerance of Vampires is new and it's finally allowing us to address something that's been a huge problem for ages. The Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans is simply a band-aid on a much bigger problem which is that non-wizards are treated noticeably differently by society. I understand that with You-Know-Who running about and wreaking havoc that the vampire problem is probably the last thing on your mind, but without a generous donation it won't be long before the Society for the Tolerance of Vampires is forced to close their doors and then no one will be able to advocate for us at all."
"I'm sorry, but I can't help you. I was under the impression that I would be meeting with someone from the Ministry, not some vampire." The man said, pulling away from the woman.
"I am from the Ministry. My name is Ira Dragavei and I come from a very important family from Romania. I am the head of a research committee dedicated to the global history of the Wizarding World, but I am also part-vampire, part-witch and this is a very important matter to me." Ira said. Calypso's eyes widened. Part-vampire, part-witch? She'd never heard of anyone being that before.
"Well, in any case . . ." The man shrugged. "I don't like vampires, therefore I will not be dedicating my hard-earned money to helping them. Good day to you, Mrs. Dragavei."
"Miss," Ira corrected while the man walked off.
Calypso dropped her hands from Sirius and he watched, confused, as she walked up to the woman.
"Excuse me, ma'am?" Calypso asked. Ira turned around with a sigh and looked down at Calypso. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. What's this Society you mentioned?"
"The Society for the Tolerance of Vampires is dedicated to helping improve Vampire-Wizard relations, specifically in England as of now, but we're hoping to expand our reach in the future. With the proper funding, we could really make a change, but all of our beneficiaries pulled their funding after the latest of You-Know-Who's attacks was led by a few vampires. It appears that we won't be able to stay afloat for much longer." Ira said, looking rather glum.
Calypso frowned thoughtfully.
"How much funding do you need?" She asked.
"Well, enough to keep us on our feet for now would mean about five hundred galleons up front and there are other costs too. Do you . . . um, do you think your parents would be interested in helping us? Or do you know someone who would? I'm a bit out of my depth here, I never went to Hogwarts. My whole family went to Durmstrang."
"Actually," Calypso started, "I recently came into a bit of wealth and I have more money than I could possibly know what to do with. I don't know much about Vampire-Wizard relations but I'm a really fast learner and I'd love to help!"
"Really? You would?" Ira's eyes lit up. "That'd be wonderful! Thank you so much. What did you say your name was again?"
"Oh, I'm Calypso Krane." Calypso said. Ira raised an eyebrow, obviously recognizing the name.
"Really? You're a Krane?" Ira asked. Something in her tone made Calypso think Ira knew something about her family.
"You know my family?" Calypso asked. Ira nodded her head eagerly.
"Of course I do! Our family's were quite close with one another. It's wonderful to meet you." Ira shook Calypso's hand happily.
"Likewise. Um, I'll have . . . someone contact your office. I think there's a man who my father trusted with our family affairs and money, so I'll have him organize everything." Calypso stated.
"Wonderful. Thank you again for the donation." Ira smiled before wandering off.
"Target is on the move." Sirius joked from behind Calypso. Calypso chuckled and turned back to him. "Deciding to donate your money to a good cause?"
"That'll hardly make a dent, but it was worth it." Calypso sighed. She saw James wiggling around funnily on the dance floor and she turned to Sirius. "Want to go dance until our feet hurt?"
"Lead the way, Krane."