Pawns & Players - Sirius Black

-64-

Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in the cage  - Billy Corgan

"Ah ! Miss Alexander, please come in. I have a few people here dying to meet you" Professor Slughorn pulled her into the circus-looking room, filled with way too many people and odors.

She walked in with a cheery smile, looking down at her silky black dress and the tall heels circling her thin ankles. Before she could even fix her composure, she was being pulled to the other side of the room, in front of a tall man, looking creepily old.

"Robert ! This is my student I've been telling you about for the past years, Laurel Alexander, unfortunately Mr. Lupin couldn't join us today, poor bloke, he's always sick" He presented her cheerily. "I'll leave you two to talk"

"Alexander ?" The man asked, his eyes growing bigger. "I'm-"

"Yes, that would be me" She smiled widely, straightening her back. "And, of course, I know who you are Mr. Dowson. How can I not know the editor of Mixture Monthly ! I'm a huge fan by the way" A soft giggle left her lips while reaching forward to shake his hand, imagining how fake she must've been sounding to people who knew her.

"Ah my dear, I recently read about your parents. I'm so sorry. He was such a great man your father" He nodded painfully. "How will the firms and mergers be distributed ? You see, he and I were very close. A few business deals were on the table"

"As you would probably guess, the legal procedures are moving on very slowly. I don't have much involvement currently but things will settle soon, I'm sure" She lied, and they both knew it. But it was enough for that conversation.

"I'll have to admit, I'm very impressed with your resourcefulness. I would have never thought your generation would know an oldie like me" He laughed with a condescending modesty, looking at the students around them.

Joining him, she watched everyone around her with their dates next to them, realizing she was the only person standing alone. 

Not that it was a surprise or anything. She could've easily accepted someone in the past few weeks, but coming to a party with someone she had never been seen around before would've definitely been seen as though she was trying to make someone jealous. And with Sirius using his boner as a replacement for both his limbs and brain for the past few months, the rumours really didn't need to be fed anymore than they already were.

The only couple that didn't seem forced like the others were, of course, James and Lily. 

They seemed to have forgotten everything that surrounded them except for each other while dancing in each other's arms, completely off rhythm and their laughs writing their own rhapsody.

They looked so peaceful as if they remembered their friends existed.

Well, they probably did remember that. Just not that she was one of them.

Turning her head around abruptly, she realized another person standing next to them, shaking hands with the old man.

"Sirius Black. It's a pleasure to meet my childhood hero sir" He smiled, leaning in and leaving his girlfriend watching him behind.

"Black ?" His eyes became wide open once again. "All this attention from youngsters, I must be dreaming !"

"You certainly are not sir, but I thought I was when I read the Tubeworm issue. It's crazy how people underestimate their importance in medical potions. Do they even know how revolutionary a potion that boosts the growth of toenails by nearly a doubled heightening is ? Though I wonder if Extracted Wool of Bat wouldn't be a smarter choice as a replacement for the protective shell around the Tubeworms"