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* * *
~ Pestilent Presences ~
By: Oy! Angelina
* ~ *
You are humbly invited to the 17th birthday celebration of Sirius Black.
Festivities will be held April 2nd & 3rd as the Black family estate. Parents wishing to have their children stay overnight for both days are asked to give their permission in their Owl RSVP.
Separate witch/wizard sleeping accommodations will be provided.
Please be sure to be in physical possession of this invitation at 3 p.m. April 2nd so you will be brought to the party.
We look forward to your presence.
* ~ *
"I'm willing to wager knuts to donuts that these invitations were NOT authored by Sirius," James inspected his own invitation with a smirk, "the lack of swearing is a dead giveaway."
"I think the world will do well without Sirius's experimentation in randy limericks," Lily decided as she grinned at James, "Oh, my I didn't know they made houses this big!"
Lily marveled at the Black family's home as she walked hand in hand with James towards the sounds of the party along with practically everyone else in their Year.
They had only arrived a moment ago, courtesy of their invitations. Mrs. Black had all the invitations enchanted as Portkeys to bring guest of the party down the hill from it so as not to have people suddenly popping up in the middle of party tables and decorations.
"What do they even DO with all this space?" Lily questioned James.
"Redecorate. Often; with Sirius about," James laughed before childishly adding, "my house is bigger though."
"You boys; always comparing the size of things," Lily teased, causing James to stumble a bit as he carried both their overnight bags.
"And you were complaining about SIRIUS?" James laughed harder.
"What did I do now?"
Sirius bounded up to his friends with a broad grin, waving to the rest of the party goers as they passed him by.
"Well if it isn't the man of the hour!" James offered Sirius a hug and passed a gift from him and Lily over to him.
"Happy birthday," Lily beamed, "I was just commenting on how you have such a nice home."
"Yeah, it's great here!" Sirius nodded, "tons of things to do since the lot of us are spoiled rotten."
There was an awful lot of fidgeting on Sirius's end of the conversation.
"Sirius, are you twitching?" Lily observed as she eyed the birthday boy.
"Probably!" Sirius's expression was slightly manic, "I've been eating cake and chugging Butterbeer since six in the morning in preparation for the party!"
James put a protective arm around Lily and started to lead her off.
"Yeah, we'll be steering clear of you until you come down from the sugar high, Mate," James chuckled, "where should we put our overnight stuff?"
"You're stuff in my room and Lily's in Aurora's," Sirius directed, "that's where the girls are staying."
Catching sight of Remus, Arabella, and Peter, Sirius darted to intercept his other friends merrily.
"Happy Birthday, Sirius!" Arabella greeted as she offered him a friendly hug and a peck on the cheek. Remus and Peter took turns patting him on the back.
"So what are you planning on doing now that you have half the school here?" Peter inquired as he gestured around.
"Dad's got some friends who outfit the Appleby Arrows and arranged for us to be able to play a game of Quidditch with some equipment on loan," Sirius gleefully informed, "it's going to be mad fun later on!"
"Bloody hell, you spoiled prat!" Arabella teased, "Your parents really don't mind bending over backwards for you do they?"
"Oh that's nothing special we used to do it all the time for Aurora's parties when she was playing Keeper for Ravenclaw," Sirius insisted, "apart from Quidditch, I have nothing more up my sleeve than the shenanigans that will have my Mum informing everyone in the hemisphere of my middle name."
"Which is?" Arabella prompted.
"Ah, that ruins the inevitable surprise of it all," Sirius winked before becoming a thoughtful host and gesturing towards the main house, "oh, if you're looking to unburden your luggage, just put your stuff in my room and show Arabella over to Aurora's. Lily and James just went off to do that so they'll be along in a bit."
"Sounds good," Remus nodded before turning to Peter, "why not grab a table for us all to meet up at, I can manage your bag to the room."
"Thanks," Peter handed it off to Remus and watched him head off with Arabella's hand in his.
"You know they're probably just looking for a moment alone," Sirius wagered with a knowing grin.
"Wouldn't you?" Peter replied casting a nod at Arabella, reducing him and Sirius to wider grins.
* * *
Since she had requested it, James took Lily on a tour of the ground floor of the house after a quick stop off in the interest of their luggage. James was pretty familiar with the Black family and their home and thought that showing Lily the parlors, sitting rooms, and libraries wouldn't be too intrusive on his part. Lily seemed fairly impressed by the level of opulence in the rooms and halls while still retaining an inviting and lived-in touch.
"Who do you suspect will be staying over too?" Lily prompted.
"Probably mostly Gryffindors," James shrugged, "Sirius gets along well enough with most everyone outside out House but the probably lack the tolerance required to deal with him on a twenty-four hour basis."
"It's a wonder you, Remus, and Peter, have faired so well all these years," Lily smirked.
"We've come up with a lot of charms against most things Sirius, otherwise none of us would get a wink of sleep from paranoia," James confided, "I'll be sleeping with one eye open since we're on his turf for the next few days."
"Pity we can't sleep in the same room," Lily sighed, "I've barely seen you for two weeks and the most we'll probably see of one another will be back at school."
"Not necessarily," James mused as he stopped walking with Lily near an alcove and pulled his arms around her, "I know my way well enough around the Black property to find a secluded place or two. It would be poor form to vanish on Sirius during his party but I doubt anyone will miss us if we take an hour or so to ourselves tomorrow."
Lily turned to James, grinning at the proposition.
"I wouldn't be entirely opposed to that," she teased.
"Okay then," James murmured against Lily's cheek in an affectionate sort of nuzzle that she reciprocated happily, "guess I'll just have to behave and settle for publicly sanctioned pets and kisses until then."
James felt Lily smiling into his cheek.
"I suppose so . . ." Lily moved her mouth across James's, provoking the deepest kiss they've shared since their night on her front stoop. The delay of such simple pleasure brought out a more intense reaction than either would normally experience from just a kiss.
Pulling away from the long overdue embrace, James grappled with his sense of resolve on the matter of holding back any longer.
"You know, I reckon Sirius would understand if we vanished for just a bit," James breathed.
Like in most other situations, Lily retained her position as the voice of reason.
"Only after he wormed all the bloody details out of you," Lily wagered, "come along now, you randy boy, other people will be wondering what happened to Sirius's best friend and his girl."
Suppressing his longing and frustrations in the interests of polite behavior, James steeled himself with a deep breath and nodded in agreement. It had to be a nod because anything that escaped his lips would take on the form of protest or begging most assuredly.
With a mutual reluctance, Lily and James returned to the party.
* * *
"Did you get around to saying hello to everyone?" Aurora asked her brother as he sat at a table, attempting to catch grapes in his mouth after tossing them into the air.
"More or less," Sirius guessed, "thanks again for putting the girls up in your suite."
"Not at all, I'm not even going to be there for them to bother if they were so inclined," Aurora said indifferently.
"Oh yeah?" Sirius stopped playing with his food, "You heading back to your flat then?"
"After the party, yes," Aurora nodded, "I have a lunch date tomorrow."
"Not Malfoy?" Sirius raised his eyebrow hopefully.
"Not, Lucius, no," Aurora assured, "now stop prying and enjoy your party. You have a mountain of gifts to tear through later on along with your best friends staying over for the night. You won't have any time to miss me."
"Yeah, but while I have you here, I think I'll go back to prying," Sirius grinned mischievously, "whom are you seeing tomorrow? A friend, patient, or other?"
Aurora smiled at her younger brother before affectionately ruffling his hair and walking off without a reply. Sirius watched his eldest sister with a broad grin before calling after her.
"I'm taking that as 'other'!"
Resuming his grape toss, Sirius leaned back in his chair to get a better angle while he waited for Peter and the rest of his friends to find their way over to the table to help amuse him. Sirius nearly chocked when he heard a voice from behind him.
"You have a very lovely home, Black. And here I was convinced you were reared in the wild."
Daring a glance, Sirius saw Winifred Wilkes was standing behind his chair.
The sheer unexpectedness of the scene caused Sirius to topple over backwards and onto the grass. Winifred had the sense to step back so at to not be hit by Sirius as she gazed down at him.
"Having men at your feet must be nothing knew for you," Sirius attempted to save some face as he smiled at the brunette Slytherin.
"No, but boys certainly provide an interesting change of pace," Winifred smiled back, "Happy birthday."
Springing to his feet, Sirius stood up so he was facing Winifred while brushing blades of grass of his pants. Winifred was dressed in a maroon cloak that reached her knees, tan tailored pants, and tall leather boots. It reminded Sirius of a horseback ridding or fox hunting outfit.
Of course there was always something a bit predatory about the girl.
"As my decision to attend was entirely last minute, I brought you only a small token as a gift," Winifred explained as she handed Sirius a plotted plant.
On a stem similar to a tulip's, six fat petals clung to a golden center. Sirius accepted the gift, not entirely certain how to react since he had never been given flowers before. It had always struck him as something a man normally does for a woman about there wasn't all that much normal about Winifred.
"Well thank you!" Sirius beamed as he examined the flowers, "What kind are they?"
"Narcissus," Winifred reported with a smile.
Sirius chuckled.
"Trying to make a not-so subtle hint, Winifred?" Sirius questioned.
"Well, egotism is a meaning of the plant but it also a gesture of formality between two people and a recommendation to remain as sweet as you are," Winifred went on, "Botany and Gardening are a hobby of mine."
"I imagine you're pretty good at Herbology then," Sirius nodded along.
"It's a very understated magic," Winifred confided, "Severus could go on for hours about the subtitles of Potion work, but Herbology requires memory, patience, and nurturing."
"Which you have abundances of," Sirius wagered.
"When required of me," Winifred agreed.
Sirius processed the exchange for a moment, never taking his attentions off the Slytherin girl.
"Not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing here?" Sirius asked all grins.
"Crashing evidently," Winifred smiled back, "it certainly begs the question of why I wasn't invited."
"A grievous oversight on the host's part," Sirius assured. "what possessed you to come in spite of my poor manners?"
"Someone mentioned they thought I was the type to do whatever I felt like," Winifred mused.
"Brilliant man that," Sirius stated in awe, "actually, I would have invited you but I was pretty sure you wouldn't have come and then I would have to live with the rejection, which probably wouldn't be all that long once it occurred to me to curl into a fetal position beneath the gift table."
"I didn't know you were so fragile, Black," Winifred mused.
"What? Did you think I killed my sensitive side for being too weak or something?" Sirius chuckled before sobering up and glancing around, "Speaking of murder, is your cousin lurking somewhere about as a chaperon or something?"
"I came alone," Winifred assured.
"Don't see how Snape would have let that happen," Sirius admitted.
"I vaguely mentioned my intentions to go out for the afternoon," Winifred shrugged, "Severus probably assumed I was going shopping or intended to return back home for a bit."
Sirius's expression sobered uncharacteristically.
"You don't live with your family?" Sirius questioned, "I mean, like your parents or siblings?"
Winifred paused, as though she hadn't been aware she had said too much on the subject until well after the fact.
"I - " Winifred hesitated her sentence, before rediscovering her confidence, "I do live with my family. My definition of family is just different from yours."
"But you've got people who care for you," Sirius attempted to clarify, "the sort of love that's inherently given."
Winifred chuckled to her self, shaking her head as though Sirius had intended this statement to be somehow humorous.
"Most of the circles I run with would tell you that love, like all things in life, isn't something just handed to you," Winifred informed, "it's something you receive after you prove you deserve having it."
"Yeah, well, no offense but most of the circles you run with a buggered in the head counter-clockwise and thrice over," Sirius decided.
"I suppose that's why you didn't invite them," Winifred snorted a laugh.
"Apart from the intense and immortal loathing, yeah," Sirius confirmed, "you're alright though."
"I doubt I'm much better off than the rest of my House," Winifred admitted.
"Oh you're wicked, but just enough to make you interesting," Sirius insisted.
Winifred nodded to this before folding her hands over themselves.
"Well, if you don't mind, I think I'll take a look around your home," Winfred excused herself.
"I could show you around," Sirius offered.
"And encourage such a rude abandonment of your guests? Hardly," Winifred deflected as she strolled off, "I'll be fine on my own, thank you though."
Accommodating her wishes, Sirius reclaimed his seat at the table as Peter made his way back with a plate of food.
"Was that just Wilkes I saw?" Peter frowned at Sirius as he approached his friend, keeping his eyes on the departing Slytherin girl.
"Yeah, she crashed my bash," Sirius confirmed in amusement. "Girl's all sorts of wicked."
"You've got that right," Peter huffed before taking a sip of his drink.
"Come on, you have to admit that for a Slytherin Wilkes isn't half bad," Sirius grinned.
"Are you referring to her looks or her personality, Padfoot? Because I'm afraid I can only get on board along with one of those," Peter informed pointedly.
Sirius crossed his arms and surveyed his friend.
"What's you're problem?" Sirius demanded.
"Nothing, I just don't remember Sirius Black going soft on Slytherin before this," Peter muttered awkwardly.
"I'm not 'soft on Slytherin'!" Sirius scowled, "What, you think just because Wilkes is a looker that's why she's okay with me? Mary Tudor's a knockout but she's still a barking loony!"
"What's you're excuse for Florence Copia then?" Peter countered hotly.
Sirius flinched before glaring.
Peter sighed.
"I really don't want to fight with you, Padfoot. Honest," Peter relented, "anymore than I want to see you get the twice over by Copia and her school girl chums."
"Yeah, I know," Sirius patted Peter on the back in a forgiving manner.
"Look, I'm just warning you that don't expect Wilkes to shed her skin anytime soon," Peter shrugged, "particularly for her cousin's archrival who happens to be a Gryffindor to boot."
"Who say's I'm after more than some quick quips?" Sirius argued. "Maybe I'm just trying to get to know the girl better."
"Well, from what I know about Winifred Wilkes, you don't want to know her at all, Sirius," Peter warned.
Thinking back to the hesitation on Winifred's part during their exchange, Sirius replied:
"That's just it, Wormtail, I don't think we know the first thing about that girl."
"Hey, want to sneak a look in the garage and see if your parents finally broke down and got you that flying motorbike?" Peter purposefully broke from topic.
Sirius eyes lit up.
"Oh just try and stop me!" Sirius was on his feet with Peter right behind him.
* * *
"How did meeting the parents go?" Arabella asked Lily and James as they, along with Remus saw at a table sipping sweet lemonade and enjoying the fair weather.
"We managed unscathed," James reported with a smile.
"So did you two end up seeing one another before now?" Lily inquired of Remus and Arabella.
"Twice," Remus replied, "went out to Arabella's for afternoon tea so I could introduce myself to her mum. Nice woman. Oddly she's a dog person."
"Well I always took after my father more," Arabella grinned, "I also went over to spend the day with Remus and his family. We went for a charming picnic in a clearing near their home."
"Yeah and you all but ignored me in favor of Romulus," Remus groaned while referring to his five year old brother.
"He's bloody adorable! How could I refuse him?" Arabella defended her actions.
"You were pretty good about saying no to me all day," Remus noted with a lopsided grin.
"Oh, I'm sorry, where WERE my manners," Arabella laughed, "I'll be sure to snog you ravaging fashion next time we're out with your family."
"You act like they'd mind!" Remus laughed back. "My mum is so thrilled about the idea of you she's this close to stitching your name on the family quilt."
"Sounds like things are going grand between you," Lily beamed.
"Perfectly," Arabella nodded, sharing Lily's glow, "I trust we can assume the same?"
"To put it modestly," James slipped his hand into Lily's and smiled at his girlfriend.
"Now all Lily and I need to do is find a couple of girls for Sirius and Peter," Arabella decided.
"What's it about being couple-people and the urge to multiply our numbers?" Remus mused.
"I reckon we work it into our heads that we must assimilate or die," James smirked.
"I would assume we just want to see our friends happy," Lily interjected before gazing at some ivy snaking up marble columns outside of Sirius's home, "how do they ever manage to keep everything in such pristine condition with Sirius running about?"
"Magic mostly," James assumed, "that's how my parents kept up our house. Self-polishing charms and anti-dust enchantments go a long way when you're dealing with this much space. House Elves lend a hand for everything other than normal wear and tear."
"House Elves? Like the ones at school?" Lily questioned, "Wizarding families keep them as well?"
"Yeah, practically any main family line or anyone who can flip the coin has a couple running about," James replied obviously before quickly adding, "but I don't expect you to know that."
"Even yours?" Lily wasn't entirely sure how comfortable she was with the notion of wide-spread, unpaid labor in the Wizarding World.
"A few back when my parents were alive," James admitted, "but after they died and no one was really living at the house anymore, I gave most of them up to other families. It would be cruel to leave them alone at the estate most of the year since I'm always at Hogwarts."
"How do you manage that house of yours then?" Remus wondered.
"Oh, Frank and Martha Longbottom look after Binzi when I'm not their, she was the Elf who worked the longest for my family and was around my whole life," James explained, "she goes back with me to the manner during the Summer holiday. I'd probably go out of my skull with loneliness if she weren't around and even though it's just me she finds enough stuff to do around the house to make herself feel useful."
"Why don't you just stay with the Longbottoms?" Lily asked with a frown. She hadn't guessed that James was so isolated when he wasn't at Hogwarts.
"They try to get me too, but I always feel like I'm imposing," James shrugged, "besides my house is the only place that allows me to feel connected to my family still. Sometimes I can turn a corner, half expecting to see any of them coming up the hall . . . and it seems almost bearable."
Neither Arabella, Lily, nor Remus really knew what to say to that.
Still, Lily squeezed James's hand, hoping it might offer something where her words had failed.
* * *
Having his fill of laughing and chatting people, Peter decided he could probably disappear for a bit without anyone really taking notice. James and Remus were preoccupied with Lily and Arabella while Sirius had about sixty guests to host. Sneaking off into the billiards room the Black family kept, Peter enjoyed a couple solitary rounds of darts hoping to improve his game a bit. He was sick of always coming in dead last with some pathetic score and figured his other friends would probably want to play a few rounds before their stay at Sirius's was over.
Concentrating on his most recent effort to strike the center of the board, Peter didn't even notice the door open behind him.
"Hello Pettigrew." A silky voice vibrated against the walls.
Jumping in surprise, Peter turned just in time to watch Winifred Wilkes enter into the room and close the door behind her. His throat suddenly went very tight and dry as the tall, dark Slytherin girl approached him with a purposeful expression.
He regretted just tossing that last dart.
"What do you want?" Peter managed to croak out as he felt Winifred's shadow touch him.
"Feel free to guess," Winifred urged with a smile that offered no warmth in it, "I've come to settle our account."
Peter noticeably paled before her black eyes.
"Oh God, what are you going to have me do?" Peter demanded helplessly. His watery eyes were on the verge of tears.
Winifred enjoyed the fear of the boy.
It meant she had control of the situation.
"Nothing you aren't capable of handling," Winifred assured, "I want to know certain things that I suspect you have a better understanding of than I do."
In casual stride, Winifred prowled the radius around Peter with her eyes on him at all times. Although she had done nothing overt to achieve the effect, Peter was quivering in utter terror.
"But I don't know anything," Peter pleaded meekly. He doubted this would provoke any mercy from Winifred, but he had to try.
"You keep close company with the trio of boys who rule Hogwarts and expect me to believe that you know nothing that might interest me?" Winifred waged her finger in a chiding manner.
"Why me?" Peter squeaked out.
"Because all of your other friends have spine enough to stand up to me," Winifred justified with a grin playing across her painted lips, "and because of what you did to Nott."
A small sob came out of Peter's mouth.
"I didn't mean to rough him up so bad," Peter insisted desperately.
Winifred had to laugh.
"Oh please," Winifred smiled, showing most of her teeth, "you expect me to believe you thought no harm would come of throwing a leg-locker curse on Nott while he was halfway down the stairs?"
"I wasn't thinking!" Peter cried.
"Yes you were," Winifred argued, "you were thinking about how he injured Evans. You were thinking about how mad your friends were and how much you wanted to prove you were just as tough as the rest of them. You were thinking about how many pieces the downward momentum would break Nott's body as he toppled down those cold, stone stairs."
Winifred stopped circling Peter and stepped right up to his face, gently taking the boy's chin in her hand as she forced his eyes to meet hers.
"I know you were thinking all this, Pettigrew. Because that was the EXACT same thing I was thinking before you beat me to it"
Peter's lip trembled. Winifred release Peter from her grip to avoid having his fresh tears spill across her hand.
"I-If you were going to do that, t-then how is if fair to torment me like this?" Peter sniveled, "It's not!"
"I was born with blood on my hands, Pettigrew, what's a little more?" Winifred inquired in a dead tone.
What did it matter? She was born to cause pain to those closest to her. It was what she was good at and it was the only gift she could effectively offer. She had killed her own mother in the selfish act of being born, hadn't she?
The pestilence of her presence.
"Now, I held up MY end of things. Severus would have hunted you down and exposed you if I hadn't anticipated his actions and thrown him off track. I got all the suspicion off you so you wouldn't be punished or have to live with knowing what it's like to have the lot of your friends turning on you," Winifred attempted to steer the conversation back on its proper course.
"They wouldn't have turned on me," Peter defiantly spoke.
"Oh no?" Winifred raised her eyebrow. "If you're so confident that you're friends would understand. . . would condone your behavior, why are we even HAVING this discussion? No, you know like I do that they would shun you. Good boys like Potter challenge people to duels like the proper wizard he is. Strong boys like Black don't need to rely on dirty tricks to get back at someone. Sweet boys like Lupin don't even find much of a sense in fighting at all."
Winifred tossed her hair and a smile at Peter.
"It's only tainted boys like you that attack people from behind without any warning or much of a reason. That's a low crawl, Pettigrew," Winifred commented, "and that's coming from a Slytherin."
"What do you want to know?" Peter questioned in broken sobs.
"Florence Copia," Winifred threw out.
Judging by the now painfully rigid stance Peter was in; Winifred guess her source was panning out and she had hit on target.
"You've heard the rumors, just like me," Peter whispered, "What do you care who Sirius was snogging two years ago?"
"Oh I don't," Winifred assured, a hint of menace creeping into her voice, "I care how my cousin figures in."
Peter made a rasping noise, as though he were suddenly struggling for breath.
"Talk," Winifred's voice snapped like brittle ice under the heel of a foot.
Winifred listened intently in between the stammering and sobbing of Peter's knowledge of the event. How Florence and Severus had been seeing one another in secret, how she manipulated Sirius into a relationship to agitate both the boys for what Peter could only assume was her own amusement. How, because of Florence's game playing, the boys further despised one another intensely once they found out.
Undoubtedly fearful she would sense he was holding back, Peter even offered up the speculation that something more intimate might have transpired between her cousin and Florence, which he could neither confirm nor deny for her.
Just as he was finish up, Peter stopped and stared at Winifred.
"You're bleeding" Peter informed her.
"Pardon?" Winifred snapped out of her attentive state and checked herself over. A thin trickle of blood ran through the fingers of her clenched fist.
Her fingernails had punctured the flesh in her palm.
"So I am," Winifred agreed as she examined the wounds.
Peter extended his arm, a handkerchief attached to the end of it.
Winifred couldn't hide her surprise at the gesture.
"Thank you," Accepting the handkerchief, Winifred crudely bandaged her hand and smiled at Peter, "do you always offer fresh dressings to people who threaten you?"
"Is this where you tell me I'm weak for it?" Peter didn't bother to look at Winifred now that their business was done.
Winifred shook her head, even though he couldn't see.
"No. This is where I tell you there's something salvageable in you."
Turning around, Winifred made her way towards the door to the room.
"What are you going to do with what I told you?" Peter's tone shook. "Are you plotting to hurt Sirius?"
Winifred couldn't decide if he was concerned about his friend or concerned it would be discovered he had a hand in it.
"Yes," Winifred nodded softly as she turned around, "it's an unfortunate complication that comes with simply knowing me."
"Well, I'll have no part in it anymore," Peter insisted, "you and I are squared away so get your information elsewhere."
Winifred considered this.
"You're right," She agreed as she drew her wand. Peter's eyes went wide at the sight of it but made no motion to grab his own.
"I suppose if you don't know that we're even then I could still ask you another question, another time couldn't I?" Winifred mused. "After all, with the proper memory charm you would still walk about feeling as though you were sill indebted to me."
"That's not fair." Peter breathed.
"I think we've already established that I'm no such thing." Winifred frowned with only the slightest remorse as she felt Peter's handkerchief grip her wand along with her hand.
"Obliviate."
* * *
"Did you move all your gifts to your room as I asked?" Mrs. Black pressed Sirius as she crossed paths with him in the hall.
"Yes Mum," Sirius smiled, "and I'll make sure to Owl thank yous for everyone who brought me something."
"Good lad, what are you up to now off on your own?" Mrs. Black demanded as she eyed her son. "The big expensive party I'm throwing for you not entertaining enough?"
Sirius laughed while shaking his head.
"No, Mum, it's fab, I just finished putting my presents in my room like you asked!" Sirius insisted, "You're far too young to have your short-term memory going like this."
Mrs. Black appeared satisfied by this answer and supplied her son with a brief peck on the cheek.
"Well, then I'll keep out of your hair but call if you need something," Mrs. Black promised, "And Sirius, about your overnight party, once you all settle in I don't want to find any young men or women slipping over to one another's respective sides of the house. I don't know what you get away with at school but not under my roof, understood?"
"Mum!" Sirius forced a scandalized expression, "You cut me to the quick!"
"Oh please, do you think I'm a fool?" Mrs. Black rolled her eyes, "You expect me to believe hand-holding and sweet nothings are the extent of your transgressions - "
Sirius felt ill.
"I will never light the wick of another firecracker if you promise to not discuss 'transgressions' again," Sirius offered, one step from throwing his hands over his ears in a childish attempt to block out the innuendos of his mother's voice.
"Not really a conversation I want to have with my youngest child anyway," Mrs. Black admitted as she patted her son's head and strolled off, "I'll be off somewhere with your father. Let me know when you start up Quidditch, I want Acontiae to snap off a few photos for the album."
" 'Kay, Mum" Sirius nodded as continued on his way. He had only just turned a corner when he saw Winifred exiting a parlor on the first floor.
"Lost?" Sirius inquired curiously.
Winifred appeared slightly startled by his presence but recovered rather graciously.
"Just giving myself a tour," Winifred explained casually, "did your mother decorate?"
"My Dad, actually, Mum has no eye for that sort of thing," Sirius's eyes fell on the handkerchief covering it. "what did you do to your hand?"
"Oh," Winifred smiled, "just me being careless."
"Come on," Sirius urged, putting a hand on Winifred's shoulder to user her along, "let's put some proper dressings over that and some medical salve for good measure."
"You seem pretty competent about this sort of thing," Winifred praised as she and Sirius stepped into the powder room nearest to them.
Sirius's just smirked as he took to rummaging through the cabinets.
"When you've lived my childhood or, have a close proximity to it, you learn how to tend to a wide variety of injuries," Sirius divulged.
Winifred fell silent to this comment before she finally questioned softly.
"Were you hit often then?"
"What?" Sirius turned away from the cabinet he was inspecting to stare at Winifred.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pried," Winifred apologized.
"There's nothing to apologize for," Sirius replied. "My parents never laid a hand on me. What made you think I was battered?"
Sirius's brow furrowed with concern.
"Were you?" He asked.
"No," Winifred shook her head, "I simply jumped to a conclusion I shouldn't have. I guess I'm just used to hearing the worst case scenario it's hard to give ambiguous statements the benefit of the doubt."
"No harm done," Sirius attempted a smile as he went back to bring out his medical aids. Once he had everything he had set out for, Sirius put Winifred's hand under a facet and allowed it to rinse under some lukewarm water.
"So barring the slight maiming, which should more or less be anticipated at any function I'm associated with, are you having fun?" Sirius inquired.
"I'm amusing myself," Winifred smiled.
"I haven't really seen you mingling with the rest of the people here," Sirius noted.
"I like to keep to myself," Winifred rationalized.
"You are the elusive sort." Sirius agreed as he dried off Winifred's hand and started applying some potion over the puncture wounds.
It occurred to Winifred that Sirius didn't have to help her like this and she felt odd that he was. Not so much because it was Sirius Black, but because it was anyone. She was traditionally so self-reliant that she had forgotten what it was like to depend on others.
It was also odd because it was a side to Sirius she never saw. Winifred was used to a destructive, self-centered boy with a thirst for attention that nearly rivaled her own. The difference between them was Sirius accepted any small amounts while she was only satisfied with an exclusive consideration.
Yet here was Sirius mending something while giving attention to another.
Winifred wondered if she ever preformed similar courtesy in her own life.
Giving instead of taking?
Her recent episode with Peter Pettigrew made her assume no.
"Are you afraid people won't want to talk to you because you're the only Slytherin here or just because you're Snape's relative?" Sirius pressed.
"Either is more than enough incentive," Winifred decided, "it doesn't matter really. I'm used to being on my own and I do well on my own."
"Spoken like someone who needs a friend if I ever heard one," Sirius shook his head as he started to apply some gaze, "just keep this dry for an hour or so and you'll be better than new."
"I don't NEED friends," Winifred stared hard at Sirius, "Anyone who tells themselves they NEED anyone is just setting themselves up for a big hurt somewhere along the lines."
"Arms length sort of girl, eh" Sirius shrugged, "they teach you kids that as part of your 'sink or swim' course in Slytherin?"
"That's merely the rock they tie to us before we start our 'sink or swim' curriculum," Winifred flexed her hand to give breathing room within the bandages, "besides, I'd rather be able to function at arms length as opposed to not be able to do a thing without someone holding my hand through it."
Sirius chuckled.
"Maybe we shouldn't talk about House philosophies," Sirius suggested.
"Then what is there to talk about?" Winifred questioned.
"You. Me." Sirius offered before catching Winifred's look and responded to it with a smile, "Not quite what I meant."
Finished patching up Winifred, Sirius placed his hands into his pockets.
"What I was going for was you're Winifred Wilkes first and a Slytherin second. Just like I'm Sirius Black before I'm a Gryffindor," Sirius clarified.
"That's a pretty enlightened perspective for a notorious Slytherin hater," Winifred eyed Sirius as though she were examining something.
"Hey, it's a fun way to spend seven years of your life but it's not like Houses matter all that much outside Hogwarts," Sirius smirked, "in about a year, you and I are just going to be Winifred and Sirius. Its better time spent worrying about what you're walking out of Hogwarts with than what you're walking around it with."
Winifred's expression was truly amused.
"I never gave you the credit of being this wise, Sirius," Winifred admitted, causing Sirius to break down laughing.
"Well I have to keep myself occupied somehow when I run out of waterproof explosives," Sirius grinned as he nodded towards the direction of the party, "come along with me. I'll introduce you to some people and I doubt they'll care all that much what color your tie is during school hours."
"Alright," Winifred consented as she followed Sirius, "may I ask when you obtained your liberal views on intra-house relations?"
"Somewhere around you," Sirius reported, "that's not so much a come on as it is a fact. You never deliberately hurt me or mine, Winifred. Not in all our feud with Snape or all your years with Slytherin. I can't very well say Slytherin is all bad if there's some good in you."
For a moment, she thought of Florence and wondered why Sirius wasn't more like Severus as a result. Maybe it was the difference of friends or family that kept Sirius from avoiding the jaded and bitter trappings her cousin embraced. Or maybe there was no difference aside from how they channeled their frustrations with women.
Severus locked himself up from them while Sirius offered nothing of value to them.
Was it any more or less than she offered herself?
"I think there's something kindred between you and I," Winifred suspected, "we're so very much like what everyone expects us to be yet we still have the ability to surprise others now and again."
Sirius smiled and took Winifred's uninjured hand boldly. Although it was the most he had dared to touch her ever, Winifred didn't find the gesture to be particularly flirtatious but mostly reassuring and friendly.
She didn't bother to pull out of his gift.
"Well, just be on your guard around me," Sirius warned, "I have the supernatural habit of drawing calamity to me."
The pestilence of their mutual presence.
"Who doesn't?" Winifred shrugged with a knowing smirk
* * *
As the party continued on and Sirius made his usual rounds of checking up on his quests, Sirius stopped off by the refreshments and four boys occupying it.
"What are you gents up too?"
The gents Sirius were referring to was Mundungus Fletcher, a 4th Year and Gryffindor Reserve Beater was by his mate Barty Crouch Jr. who was a Ravenclaw of the same Year as well as Tristan Travers and Evan Rosier; Hufflepuffs who were 6th Years like Sirius.
"Just trying to figure out who those girls are over there," Travers reported, gesturing to Acontiae, Aurora, and Celestine who were all seated together at a table chatting.
"Bloody fetching the lot of them!" Rosier decided approvingly.
"Um . . . " Fletcher's eyes began shifting from Aurora and Celestine over to Sirius, evidently noting the resemblance of their features as well as Sirius's sudden bristling.
"I'm definitely considering walking over to the blonde and pointing out how hard-working us Hufflepuffs can be," Travers ginned to Rosier and Sirius.
"Actually, that line wouldn't impress her much," Sirius informed with a lopsided smirk, "she graduated from your House two years ago. Six years for the one with short black hair, same House mind you."
"Surprised we don't recognize either," Rosier shrugged, "how you know them, Black?"
"Well, they're my sisters," Sirius replied menacingly to the other boys, "and if I find out about any of you applying you House "work ethic" on any of them I'll pull out your tongues and use them in a potion to hex you."
Crouch laughed as the older boys weren't too certain if Sirius was joking or not.
The glint in his eyes certainly made it a subject of debate.
"All right then," Travers nodded.
"All right!" Sirius patted the pair of Hufflepuffs on the backs and headed off, "I'm probably going to play a spot of Quidditich now if you're interested."
"Right along," Rosier committed uneasily before adding, "hope you like what we got you."
Waiting for Sirius to make his way out of earshot, the older boys turned to Fletcher scowling.
"You couldn't mention that they were his sisters before we went on about them to Black?" Travers spat.
"Do I look like his biographer?" Fletcher demanded, "besides, how could you NOT notice the family resemblance? The black haired ones look just like their Mum."
"His Mum's a looker too," Rosier commented to his friend.
"I'd shag her," Travers decided with a nod.
"Well I hope you were sure to add THAT in the card for his gift," Fletcher mumbled as he tugged Crouch off by the cuff of his robe to leave the older boys to their death wish.
"Come on; let's play some Quidditch while there's still light!" Sirius voice bellowed as he urged the rest of his guests along, earning a murmur of excited approval.
Most of the people present didn't seem to express all that much desire to play themselves but were looking forward to seeing some of the best players in school having a friendly game without the usual House politics surrounding it. Following Sirius out to the edge of the party and an open field, everyone surveyed the make-shift pitch and waited to see what would happen next.
"How you going to go about organizing a line-up?" Remus nodded to the people huddled about.
"I dunno . . . James?" Sirius deferred command over to his friend who was a little more familiar with it.
"I'd say, if we have enough brooms for it, the usual seven player teams with maybe three or four reserve for when someone gets bloodied up," James shrugged before addressing the rest of the group, "so if any of you fancy playing a match you might want to keep in mind how brutal Quidditch can be. No coddling to be had once you're on the pitch."
A few people, mostly girls, quickly bowed off to the side, evidently not all that interested in getting roughed up but that still left enough to make a couple teams out of.
"Okay then!" Sirius nodded, evidently satisfied with the terms James established, "how about I be captain for one and James the other and we'll just pick people for positions as we see fit?"
No one appeared to have any objections about this as the murmured in agreement and waited eagerly for either Sirius or James to call out their names.
"You first, Mate, your party," James grinned as he nudged Sirius.
"Fine then," Sirius turned his head over towards the table his sisters were seated at, "oy! Aurora, you're my Keeper!"
Aurora looked over with a more than quizzical expression at this nomination.
"Sirius, I haven't played Quidditch in ages," Aurora reported, evidently hoping this would be the end of it.
"Come on! You were brilliant for Ravenclaw!" Sirius praised, "it's just like riding a broom!"
"It's been ages since I've done that as well," Aurora additionally noted but began making her way over to the pitch regardless.
"No way you're scoring on my Keeper, Potter," Sirius turned to James with a prematurely triumphant expression to which James rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, I'll see what I can do against your twenty-five year old sister whom hasn't set foot on a pitch in seven years," James replied as he gestured towards their peers, "Cassidy, get up here, girl!"
After making short order of filling out there team with people from various Houses and Qudditch experience, Sirius started to pass out brooms to the players who were to ascend the pitch first.
"We still need someone to keep score," James announced.
"I'll do it," Lily volunteered.
"Can we have someone who ISN'T snogging James tally points?" Sirius protested, before turning to Remus, "Are you snogging James, Remus?"
"Not at the moment," Remus smirked.
"That'll do!" Sirius decided as he gestured him over to the score board before realizing he had an extra broom and no player to hand it too.
That was when Sirius remembered they needed a referee.
"Winifred, would you join me for a moment!" Sirius called the girl out from the place she was standing off by herself. She approached him with a curious expression.
"We need a referee," Sirius informed her, "I want you to do it."
"Why? Do you suspect I'll be lenient with you?" Winifred appeared to be studying Sirius, as though to gage his sincerity in the request.
"No, I expect you to be observant and impartial," Sirius corrected, "rumor has you pegged as a Quidditch fan so you know all the rules and you have no reason to favor either side. That and it would be a good gesture to show you're ability to play nice with non-Slytherin."
"I don't play nice even with Slytherins," Winifred smiled but still took the broom and position Sirius offered.
Up in the air, James spied the scene below with cautious eyes before noticing Aurora had flown along side him.
"That girl my brother is speaking with, how well does he know her?" Aurora asked James.
"Wilkes? She's in our Year but she's a Slytherin," James replied, "past that I can't say why he would know her much more. She's Snape's cousin and that should be more than enough to put him off."
James realized he was prattling but he was attempting to process the information himself. He knew that Sirius had been speaking with Wilkes recently but they were carrying on like old chums on the green. Turning to his friend's sister, James saw that Aurora appeared both amused and warmed by this news. James also got the impression that Sirius's eldest sister might have more awareness of what was going on that James had indicated to her.
"For as similar as Sirius and I may be, it never fails to surprise me when I find something more that we have in common," Aurora commented to James before smiling and flying back to her position on the pitch.
"For as daft as you Blacks may be, it never fails to surprise me when I find one of you doing something mad," James muttered to himself before hollering to Sirius to get on his broom and play the game.
* * *
At nine o'clock, the party had all but officially wound down for the evening with guests taking their portkeys back home and leaving Sirius with fond birthday wishes, assurances of a grand time, and a horrible mess that would probably be tended to in the morning by someone Sirius hoped would be not himself.
As he had more or less anticipated, everyone in his Year from Gryffindor had decided to stay over with the exception of a Ravenclaw fellow 6th Year named Bronwyn Weaver who was a Muggle born like Lily and Gwen.
Best described as cute (though she was amongst some harsh competition with Lily and Winifred present), Bronwyn kept her shoulder length brown hair secured beneath a headband and displaying her lime green eyes which were widely peeled at the moment. The Ravenclaw girl gave the impression she felt out of place in the mix and was a challenge to coax into the conversation along with everyone else.
Although she was another odd one out, Winifred didn't appear at all put out to be the only representative of Slytherin in the room regardless of the fact only Sirius and Cassidy were the only ones who refrained from giving her a second glance.
Retiring to the billiards room for some evening tea and socializing before they splintered off to separate wings, Remus, Arabella, Cassidy, and Peter tossed about some darts while Sirius and Winifred played James and Lily in a game of pool that Winifred was sharking at the moment. For their part, Millicent, Gwen, and Bronwyn appeared content to simply watch either of the activities in progress.
"You're parents are archaic, Sirius," James informed as he took a shot for the four in their game of 8-ball, "it's insulting that your parents don't trust the lot of us to share the same quarters."
"Don't even get me started on all the things teenagers are getting away with in the Muggle world!" Gwen chimed along.
"I'm not going to listen to you complain for one moment, James," Remus called towards his friend from the dart board, "not when you're girlfriend has her own private room back at school."
Lily applied some more chalk to her cue, hoping no one would notice the intense blushing from her at the moment while James just laughed it off.
"You and 'Bella don't need your own room," Sirius decided as he took his turn on the table, "not when Hogwarts is FULL of empty classrooms."
Arabella looked tempted to chuck the darts in her hand at Sirius.
"This particular joke at our expense won't be dying down anytime soon I'm gathering," Remus sighed.
"Not until you give me something more amusing to ride you over," Sirius confirmed.
"Yeah, I'll be sure to get right on that." Remus rolled his eyes before committing himself to ignoring Sirius for a while.
"Are ye staying over with the rest of us?" Cassidy asked Winifred, effectively changing the subject.
"Considering I've already shown up uninvited I doubt I should impose anymore than I have," Winifred shook her head, "I'll be on my way after this game."
"Go ahead, Sirius imposes all the time," Cassidy snorted, "about time the bloody prat got a little something his way."
"It's no big deal if you want to," Sirius assured, "we have plenty of space but you'd be rooming with mostly girls from Gryffindor, save for Bronwyn."
"I don't have any specific problem with that," Winifred clarified.
From the dart board, Arabella gave Remus a meaningful look that she had very little intention of Winifred seeing but refrained from making any comments.
"Mostly I just know Severus and his family wouldn't approve in the least," Winifred went on.
"Well I'm not going to force you but I'm just letting you know that the offer is open if you want to take it," Sirius leaned on his pool cue, "we're not doing anything particularly impressive tomorrow, mostly lazing about much like this so it's not like you're missing anything if you turn me down."
"It's not as though I have any better plans for tomorrow," Winifred admitted, "from what it sounded like, Severus and his parents had every intention of tending to their own matters tomorrow with plans that excluded me."
"So you'll stay over then?" Sirius pressed.
"Why not?" Winifred shrugged.
"Alright then," Sirius gestured for Winifred to take her shot now that Lily was finished with her turn.
* * *
"I hate to be catty but really, what is Wilkes doing here?" Arabella demanded of Lily in a low voice as the shared a vanity in Aurora's bathroom to brush their teeth and wash their faces. They were the last of the girls to get themselves ready for bed and everyone else was already settled into the room they had been prescribed to sleep in, leaving Lily, Arabella, and their conversation to themselves.
"What do you mean?" Lily rinsed her face over the sink as she listened.
"Why in bloody hell is she staying over?" Arabella clarified, "Do you really think the extent of Wilkes's plotting is sitting around, braiding each other's hair, and giggling about boys?"
"What has she done to you personally?" Lily questioned as she reached for a towel.
"How about dropping one of my friends flat on her face in Potions?" Arabella crossed her arms in a pout, acting as though she were disappointed in Lily's memory.
"She didn't drop me, Nott did," Lily reminded.
"Oh, I'm sorry, you're right," Arabella sarcastically commented, "so tell me how you got on the dungeon ceiling again: flew up there on your own?"
Lily really didn't have much of a reply to this.
"Well, it's more my place to be upset about that than you," Lily finally stated.
Arabella didn't appear all that fond of this answer.
"I can't be insulted on my friend's behalf anymore?" Arabella fumed, "Lily, even if I ignored that, there's more to Wilkes than a cool grin and sense of fashion. She's a Slytherin and Snape's cousin and I can't see any good amounting of us getting all chummy with her. I'm telling you, that worm will turn at the first chance she gets."
"You're just being petty," Lily informed, disapproving of Arabella's behavior, "her House or family has nothing to do with Wilkes as a person. It's not fair to lump her in with Slytherin and Severus Snape just because she has a connection to them and you don't like either. We'll be full-fledge witches in a little over a year and schoolyard grudges are no means to make a proper way through life, Arabella."
"Why are you scolding me like a child out of control?" Arabella pouted her blue eyes wide, evidently upset. She glared at Lily with a harshness the redhead had never received from her before.
"I'm just keeping an eye on a girl we have no reason to trust and every reason to suspect. Everything I know about Wilkes is sneaky, manipulative, and cold; the type of girl who'd stab you before she flashed a smile. I don't like Wilkes NOT because she was SORTED into Slytherin or HAPPENS to share a few drops of blood with Snape, but because she IS a Slytherin and IS JUST LIKE Snape. In spite of all that, I haven't been rude to her in the least so far because you're friends with her awful cousin and Sirius invited her to stay. And I express an opinion to you in confidence and you paint me as some sort of bigot. How dare you, Lily Evans! You don't know everything about everything so don't talk down to me just because you assume you do!"
Arabella began gathering her things up in a huff.
"I'm bloody tired of everyone treating me like my opinion is worthless! None of you saw fit to tell me I was dating a werewolf because Remus's feelings were evidently the only important ones worth considering. Before that you and James were sneaking around with one another and I was, YET AGAIN, the LAST one to know while I sat there pouring my heart out over and over about how much I cared for him. And those are just the biggest drops in a whole damn bucket with you, James, Sirius, and the rest!"
Opening the bathroom door, Arabella was like a cauldron boiling over as she turned to face Lily once more before leaving.
"You all just don't understand what it's like for me. I'm not brilliant or gorgeous or some sort of unique wonderful that makes me a compelling person. I'm normal, Lily, I'm just average and the rest of you make me feel like that's just not good enough for all of you sometimes."
Arabella shook her head in disgust and slammed the door behind her as she left. Lily felt her jaw drop slack at Arabella's speech. Arabella was a passionate person and giving off a piece of her mind was nothing out of the ordinary for the blonde, but Lily had never been the one lashed by her tongue before.
What was more troubling was Arabella had a lot of very good points that Lily had no reasonable excuse for.
Lily had been inconsiderate of Arabella's feelings.
They had all been inconsiderate of their friend's feelings.
* * *
Like all the Black children, Sirius's bedroom was technically several rooms all interconnected with his own bath. It was the best way they could manage all the space in their home while horribly spoiling their children. Congregating in Sirius sitting room, James, Remus, and Peter always had a blast hanging about at Sirius's place since he kept plenty of toys and games about to keep themselves entertained.
In a way, Sirius was the only one of the Marauders who had a traditional (if not drawn out) childhood. After the death of his entire immediate and extended family, James had lost interest in acquiring playthings for himself for the most part. Remus had never really entertained many other people his age so he mostly owned books or things amuse himself. And Peter's mum had always kept him on a tight reign to really have many interesting things about his place.
So time at the Blacks was arguably well spent.
Idly fooling about with a football (Soccer if you're American), Sirius was burning off the remaining sugar in his system as he kept up with his friend's conversation as they lounged about the room and preoccupied themselves with their own toys.
"As much fun as it is spending the night with you gents, because it so RARELY HAPPENS, I wish your parents weren't so close-minded on the prospects of a co-ed sleepover." James joked.
"Yeah, I would have thought your parents would be more liberal." Peter added on.
"It's probably more for the benefit of other parents." Remus wagered.
"Or their own twist satisfaction in being utter hypocrites. I should be in therapy for all the snogging I walked in on!" Sirius worked on bouncing the ball from knee to knee without smacking himself in the face or knocking over something less fragile than his skull. "Anyway, my parents are really good about mucking up any romantic interludes in this house for their kids. My Mum has this sixth sense centered around knowing when one of us is snogging about on the property then she goes into her seek-and-destroy-the-mood mode. . . it's bloody eerie."
"So it wouldn't do me and Moony any good if we could shack up with our respective others anyway." James concluded.
"Mum would be in here with a lecture and bucket of cold water faster than you could say 'we were just talking, really'." Sirius nodded with a knowing scowl.
"Speaking of a bucket of cold water, did I miss when you and Wilkes got joined at the hip?" Remus inquired.
"What?" Sirius shrugged as he kept his footing up. Peter, James, and Remus exchanged glances amongst themselves.
"Look, if you're interested in her, just tell us, Mate," James encouraged.
"Not like you chasing Slytherin is anything new," Peter nodded, "you must get some sort of high running that thin line between love and hate."
"Knock it off, the three of you," Sirius insisted as he caught his ball while rolling his eyes, "I'm just looking to make friends with Wilkes."
"Oh bloody hell," Remus groaned, "do I have to remind you about how kittens die whenever you lie so wickedly like that to our faces?"
"No dead kittens, Moony," Sirius assured, "I'm sincere on this, I'm not looking to snog Wilkes."
"But understand our skepticism in all this, Padfoot," James reasoned, "you don't have any women friends to your credit."
"Precisely," Sirius agreed, "I'm seventeen and I've never talked to a girl I wasn't trying to snog or hadn't snogged already. I just want a girl who I can find entertaining and worth spending time with without something that involves fancy words and empty classrooms."
"What about Lily or Arabella?" Peter pointed out, "Or any of the girls in Gryffindor?"
"Millicent's too nice to warp with my twisted slant on things, I get the impression Gwen might be interested and I'd hate to lead her along, and as fun as Cassidy can be to talk to she has this point where you get the feeling she's holding out," Sirius answered quickly enough to show he put some thought into this, "and Lily and Arabella fall into the attempted snog and snogged categories."
James and Remus both went rigid at they turned their attentions even more so on Sirius.
"Wait, you kissed Lily?" James spat out, feeling pangs of territoriality begin to tear at his surface.
"No, Arabella," Sirius corrected before catching Remus's panicked look, "but LONG before you were seeing her, Mate."
"How long?" Remus demanded
"I never mentioned this to any of you?" Sirius questioned dumbly, "well it was long enough that it doesn't matter much anymore."
"You don't get to tell me that you snogged the love of my life and that it shouldn't matter in the same breathe," Remus informed with a cross look, "start talking."
"Arabella's the love of your life?" Peter gaped at Remus, "You're that serious about her?"
Remus looked a little caught off guard by Peter's questions as he turned away from Sirius to stare at him.
"Well, I - " Remus stammered.
"He must be if he's willing to get all flustered over something that requires a journey back to 3rd Year to have any relevance!" Sirius smirked.
"Moony, Wormtail, shut up, you're letting Sirius pull you off topic," James observed, "he's trying to duck out on why he's playing about with Wilkes."
Remus reluctantly went silent as he, Peter, and James returned their attention onto their mutual friend expectantly. Sirius threw his hands out, dropping the ball they held
"I'm being serious here!" Sirius laughed.
"Yeah, and we're all aware of what being SIRIUS entails traditionally," Peter noted, "why do you have to be friends with Wilkes? Why not some other girl who isn't Snape's cousin?"
Sirius sighed as it seemed he was aware that some explaining was in order but evidently didn't relish having to get into it.
"The thing is . . . I just have SUCH A PROBLEM with women in general." Sirius sighed in evident frustration. It appeared to James and the others that Sirius was looking for the proper words to describe what he was feeling and tragically coming up short.
"What do you mean by a problem?" Peter repeated in a scoffing voice.
In the back of his mind, James was half convinced he was about to hear another coming out speech like he had with Cassidy Kinkade a year back.
"Just how I act around them. It never about just getting to know them and it's not just about getting up their skirts. It's just nothing. It's like I'm passing time for the fun of it and anything past that is just too much effort for me to even find rewarding. The only women I can be decent around are blood relations and that's probably just because I've been around them my whole lives and have no desire to do anything randy with them." Sirius confessed.
James considered Sirius's self-awareness of being something of a womanizer and tried to figure some way to help him with it. That seemed to be what his friend was reaching out for, some kind of answer or solution to get him off this lonely path.
"Does this have anything to do with Florence?" Remus questioned. "Maybe I'm off the mark but I just think maybe she sort of scared you off on the topic of proper dating. Not that I blame you. Florence Copia has probably made you suspicious that anytime you try from to get to know a girl she's going to turn ugly on you."
"Maybe." Sirius shrugged. "I don't know. It's kind of hard to say. Maybe it's just me."
"I think if this was just who you were, Padfoot, you wouldn't be agonizing about it so much," James smiled sympathetically, "can we ask what provoked this revelation?"
"Just something that's been building the past few weeks . . . no, past year," Sirius guessed, "probably started somewhere around Lily. Not to say I'm harboring any feelings for your girl, James. In fact, I don't know if I EVER really felt for her how I should have . . . let alone how she deserved. I just realized I wasn't in a place where I could fall in love with ANYONE if I couldn't fall in love with someone bloody fab like Lily."
Sirius's friends offered no reply to this, evidently recognizing that he needed this to be more of a monologue than a dialogue if they were going to get anywhere close to helping Sirius sort out his feelings.
"Then when I was talking with Winifred Wilkes last week, I realized it was just fun going back and forth with her," Sirius went on, "probably more fun than just going at it with her."
"So you weren't flirting with her before or at the party today?" Peter raised an eyebrow.
"Oh I was flirting with her. I always flirt with women, charming is all I know," Sirius admitted before he started shaking his head and pulling at his hair in an agitated manner, "That's another thing! I never realized how insincere I must be. To go on and on to all these girls about qualities I adore in them. I'm just SAYING THINGS and probably just so these girls will like me."
"So what made Wilkes different?" Remus tried to keep the conversation on track.
"It's not that she's different, it's just she's enough like me to not let me pull the wool over her eyes with pretty words," Sirius explained, "she just threw out all these barbed words to keep me on my toes and called me on everything I was feeding her. Winifred pointed out again and again how casual I am with girls and it just got me thinking. Then there was a couple conversations I had with Aurora."
Sirius took a deep breath before pressing on.
"Basically we had to admit that we were getting a little too old to be thinking the world revolves around each other and maybe we needed other people to relate to besides blood. She's right too, Aurora is. It's not like we can sit back and say that the most we need is a loving sibling. I mean, for all I know because she's so invested in me that's why she ends up with prats like Malfoy. She just doesn't have the energy or care to find someone worthwhile."
"I don't think one has much to do with the other, Padfoot. Guys like Malfoy are tricky to figure since they're good at getting what they want and you've been down-talking him from day one so no one can accuse you of driving her into his arms," James rationalized.
"You're probably right on that, Prongs," Sirius relented with a sigh, "I don't know exactly what I'm going for with Winifred but it's not what all of you are suspecting. I'm seventeen years old and I've never had a girl that I just called a Mate."
"So you think Snape's cousin is a better emotional outlet than any of the other girls in the whole school?" Peter was noticeably skeptical, "Not to tell you what to do, Sirius, but what's stopping Wilkes from talking any kind of relationship you develop with her and handing it over to Snape to play with?"
"How about I don't think she'd do that?" Sirius tried, "I don't pretend Wilkes is a saint but she's had almost six years to try and shag me over if she was so inclined. I'm thinking if she hasn't done it by now then she probably won't have a whole lot of motivation to do it now."
"What about New Years?" James countered softly.
Sirius stiffened a bit at the mention. James didn't want to squash his friend's ambitions but he didn't want to seem him hurt infinitely more.
"Do you think she found out about that?" Sirius wondered.
"Who knows what Snape tells her?" James couldn't answer for certain, "He doesn't even need to bring up Remus, all he needs to do is mention how you 'tried to feed him to a werewolf' and Wilkes sets some sort of intricate revenge plot into motion."
Sirius thought about this deeply.
"I'd like to think she's not capable of something that cold-blooded and involved," Sirius admitted.
"I'd like to give her that credit too," Remus nodded sympathetically as he really had no troubles with Wilkes in the past, "but I really don't know much about Wilkes aside from where her allegiances lie regarding House and family. And that's about all you know too, Sirius."
"Yeah," Sirius sighed again, "still, I think I'm going to at least attempt to get along with her. She's about the only girl I can think of that's highly amusing to talk with and won't tempt me to queer our relationship by trying to snog her. I mean, Winifred went on and on herself about how us getting along would be pretty difficult if not impossible."
"I gotta ask, Sirius, why are you trying so hard?" James mused, "what are you expecting to get from all this?"
"Well, I was never one to back down from a challenge and I can't think of a harder pressed one that befriending Winifred Wilkes," Sirius flashed James his usual overconfident grin, "and as for what I'm expecting, I just want to prove that I can have something like I do with Aurora with another girl. Even if I develop the slightest rapport with Winifred that's better than I've had going on before. And something tells me the girl could probably use a friend."
"Can't argue there," James recalled the typically standoffish behavior of Wilkes and guessed she was far too used to guarding her personality, "she seemed to open up a bit at the party without Snape and her House hissing from behind her."
"Yeah, and that's the Win I want to know," Sirius decided.
"'Win'?" Remus questioned with an amused look.
"What, you think I should pet name her 'Fred'?" Sirius chuckled.
"I think you should put on those Muggle records Cassidy, Gwen, and Millie gave you so we'll have an excuse to tune you out," James laughed.
* * *
Aurora Black apparently had a fondness for blue as the color of her walls and the cushions and blankets on the furniture reflected this taste. Spacious and beautiful, most of the personal affects of Sirius's older sister were absent from the room aside from a few photographs and childhood memorabilia. The sparse decoration was due to Aurora's living independently in London more so than at her family home.
Still, the room was lovely and inviting.
Plotting out their sleeping arrangements for the evening, Lily and Millicent, under the cover of a blanket