To Have and To Hold: Sirius Black

Gid + Mar

July 30, 1980

"So you're telling me you think the Chudley Cannons will beat the Holyhead Harpies? Oh Merlin, you've finally lost it." I laughed, setting my cup of tea on the counter.

"I have twenty galleons riding on this, you better start praying that I'm right!" Sirius retorted, running a hand through his long hair.

"Sirius, why on earth did you think the Chudley Cannons would win? They're the worst team in the league." I remarked.

 You would've thought Sirius would know better considering he played for Gryffindor, but here we are. Honestly, if I would've known about his Quidditch preferences on the Hogwarts Express all those years ago, I would've seriously considered walking straight past his compartment without a second glance.

"They can make a comeback! I believe in them." He smirked, fully confident in his team.

"You also believe that pineapple is better on pizza so I can't trust your poor judgment, Siri." I laughed while Sirius just shot me a dirty look.

"It is better on pizza, your tastebuds are just screwed." He scoffed, running yet another hand through his hair.

In school, James had the messiest hair possible, constantly running his fingers through it to mess it up even more, trying to look like he'd just gotten off a broom. Sirius on the other hand was known for having the sleekest, most touchable mane. He also ran his hands through his hair, but it maintained its alluring style, falling perfectly above his shoulders.

To this day, the black-haired duo still continues their daily ritual of playing with their head of hair, and no matter how annoyed Lily and I pretended to be about their hair in school, we fell head over heels for the messy perfection.

Before I could insult his food preferences even further, a Dragonfly Patronus shot through the wall, levitating in front of our faces. We knew the Patronus to belong to Alice.

A very calm, serene voice erupted from the flying insect, "Hello, I just wanted to tell you that Frank and I had our baby, we, unfortunately, didn't make it to the hospital-"

Another voice interrupted her, this time a male voice, Frank, "Correction, Alice didn't think she'd be giving birth so soon, so she wouldn't leave no matter what I said."

"Frank, don't be dramatic," The airy voice continued, "Anyways, I delivered at Frank's mother's home, what a lovely woman, she helped me entirely-"

"Get to the point, Al." Frank chuckled, a faint baby's cries could be heard in the background.

"Alright, I suppose that's all." She concluded, "Oh, and his name is Neville, Neville Longbottom."

The dragonfly dissipated, leaving a faint 'o' shape on both Sirius and I's mouths, we hadn't expected that at all, we were waiting for them to tell us to meet at St. Mungos just as I had, not news that she'd already delivered.

"Aurora and Neville." Sirius started, a slight smirk pulling at his lips.

"Don't even dare Sirius, it's a wonderful name," I hissed, pointing a warning finger in his direction.

He stifled a laugh, "I suppose Marlene was right, Alice would get her way when it came to odd name choices."

A knocking sound could be heard on the door, quite rapidly. Both Sirius and I drew our wands, Sirius standing protectively in front of me while we made our way to the door.

Sirius looked through the peephole before getting out a breath and swinging the door open.

 It was Marlene, jumping up and down, clapping her hands like an excited toddler with an amused Gideon standing a few feet behind her.