Shooting Star

Chapter Four

"What am I supposed to wear?" I walked into Sirius' room.
"Nothing, if it suits you." He smirked.
"Ha ha. I meant to the James'. Do I wear dress robes? Or a dress?"
"Just a dress. Even witches love to look like ladies." He smiled.
"What kind?"
"Kind of fancy, I guess. But not, like..."
"Come help me."
He followed me into my room and looked through my closet. He emerged with a dress.
"No." I said.
"Why?"
One of my friends at school had gotten it for me as a joke. It's short, kind of, and with short sleeves. I always wore jeans and a jacket. She said I'm 'too modest' and needed to break out of that, since I was dating Sirius Black.
"No." I repeated.
"You'll look great. Put it on." He threw it at me and left.
"What, you don't wanna stay and watch?" I joked.
"Do you want me to?" He raised his eyebrows, turning around in the doorway.
I laughed and flicked my wand at the door, making it close in his face.
"Where are you going?" Mum raised her eyebrows as we came into the kitchen.
"James' parents have a party every Christmas Eve and I was instructed to go." I said.
"Who's James?" Dad asked, sounding exasperated.
"Sirius' best friend." I said.
"Are you sure you should go?" Mum asked. "You said it's not safe in your world."
They didn't know what was going on exactly. I had just told them the government was corrupt, and I didn't tell them that all the murders lately were because of it.
"Yes, Mum, it'll be fine." I kissed her cheek, then my father's. "Bye." I took Sirius' hand.
"Bye." He said. "Thank you for letting me stay. I appreciate it."
"You're welcome, dear. When will the two of you be back?"
"I'll be back tonight. Sirius will be back tomorrow evening."
"All right. Have fun. Be safe."
We apparated out.
"Sirius!" A pretty woman exclaimed, coming forward and throwing her arms around him as soon as we appeared. "How are you? Are you all right?"
"Hey, Mum. I mean, Mrs. Potter." His cheeks turned red as he looked down.
"It's Mum to you, mister." She smiled, patting his cheek and pulling back. "Are you all right, Sirius?"
"Yes, I'm all right." He smiled.
"You must be Eliza!" She smiled at me, hugging me too. "Sirius has told us so much about you." She said.
I raised my eyebrows at him. He smiled a little bit, looking away uncomfortably.
"Remus is already here. He and James are in the back." She said.
Sirius led me out, his hand still in mine.
"Padfoot!" James yelled when we stepped out the door. "Looking good, Taylor." He said to me.
"You too, Potter." I said as I hugged him. "Where's--"
"Here." Remus appeared beside us, Peter by his side.
"Hey." Pete smiled.
I hugged them both at the same time.
James handed a glass of firewhiskey to Sirius. I gave him a disapproving look, but he shrugged it off. "I guess I'll go get Evans." James said.
He returned shortly with Lily at his side.
"You look beautiful." I said as I hugged her.
"Thanks! You too." She smiled.
A few minutes later, Mrs. Potter stuck her head out the door. "People are arriving." She said.
We filed inside.
"I heard Professor McGonagal saying she was going to teach us Occlumency when we got back from break." Remus told us.
A few minutes later, Lily, Remus and I were studying. Peter watched James and Sirius drink.
"Hey, Evans?" James said after a minute.
"Prongs--" Remus began warningly, but he kissed her.
He kissed her! Ha! It was happening.
"Potter!" She shoved him off.
That was a short lived victory.
"Don't act like you didn't like it." He smirked.
"You're drunk, James." She said.
"No I'm not."
"We'll talk later." She huffed, turning back to me and Remus.
I looked at Sirius, and he just shrugged.
Normally he acted like he always did when he was drinking. Tonight he just kept getting quieter (which was unusual) until he came and sat by me. His arm was around the back of the couch where I was sitting, but I was leaned forward to talk to Remus and Lily.
"I don't think I'm comfortable with people looking in my head." Remus said.
Sirius pulled me back to sit with him.
"Sirius, stop." I said. It was something I said regularly. I sat back up. "Yeah, me either. I can't imagine it would be a pleasurable experience." I said, as he pulled me back again. "Sirius, stop."
Remus, James and Peter were staring at him, but he ignored it. He put his forehead on my cheek.
"Sirius, do we need to talk?" I asked.
He shook his head.
"Well, then let me work." I sat up. "Yeah, me either." I continued the conversation with Remus. "I can't imagine it would be a pleasurable experience." I repeated.
Lily was gaping at me, like she couldn't believe I could be so rude, especially to him. But I mean, if he wouldn't let me help him, there wasn't much I could do.
He sat up with me.
"Uh, yeah." Remus said. "I imagine not."
Sirius got up, and returned with a bottle firewhiskey.
"Sirius, love, you should probably--" I began.
He took a swig from the bottle.
"Padfoot, mate, maybe you should take it easy." James said.
"Sod off." Sirius said, sitting back down beside me.
"Well, let me have some." James said, grabbing the bottle from him and taking a swig.
"Potter!" Lily and I said.
"What? I don't want him to suffer alone tomorrow." He shrugged and handed the bottle back.
He and Sirius both always held their liquor well. Tonight they were both swaying a little.
"All right, Sirius." I removed the bottle from his vice-like grip. "You've had enough."
"Obviously not." His words were slurred a little bit. He tried to grab it back, but I handed it to Remus. "Give it back, Moony." Remus stuck it on a server's tray as he walked past.
I put my arm around Sirius' shoulder, playing with his hair. "Do you want to tell us what's wrong?" I asked gently.
"Besides hating life and everything about it?" He snapped.
"Why don't you stay here for the rest of the break?" James asked.
"I'm fine at home."
"Sirius--" I began.
"No." He said. "I'm going to get something to drink." He stood up unsteadily, but stood up nonetheless.
"It had best be water." I said as he walked away.
"Can't he see that we're just trying to help him?" James said irritably.
"He's drunk, Potter." Lily said. "So no."
"He doesn't see it sober either." I said.
Once everybody was leaving, we went to search for Sirius. He was passed out in the kitchen.
I peeked out the door for Remus and Peter. "He's in here." I said, just so they could stop looking for him. I knelt beside Sirius, shaking him. "Come on, love."
He stirred a little bit, so I didn't have to worry that he was dead.
"Sirius." I said, shaking him harder. "Come on. Let's go to bed." I didn't want to have to levitate him across the house.
I held his hair back as he threw up in the sink. His hair was getting long. Longer than usual, that is.
"I love you." He said as we walked out the door.
"Don't tell me that when you're drunk." I said quietly. "Come on. Where are you sleeping?"
"In my room."
"I'll take him." Remus said.
James had already gone to bed. He said he wasn't wasting his time looking for an ingrate. Those weren't his exact words, but it's the same concept.
"Thanks." I sighed and let Sirius go as Remus put his arm around him.
"All right, mate. Kiss your--"
"Shut up." Sirius said, giving me a sloppy kiss on the cheek. Remus smiled and raised his eyebrows at me.
Mr. and Mrs. Potter came in as Remus and Sirius were leaving. They both cast pitying glances in their direction before smiling at me. "I'm glad you came; thank you." Mrs. Potter smiled.
"Yes, thank you. I had a lovely time." I smiled. "It was nice meeting you both."
"Yeah, you too." Mr. Potter said.
"I know Sirius was glad you came. I'm glad he has someone who loves him as much as you do." Mrs. Potter said.
"You must love him a lot to have put up with him all night." Mr. Potter laughed.
"It's not easy." I joked back kind of uncomfortably.
Lily joined us. We thanked James' parents and said goodbye to each other, and apparated back home.
"How was it?" My mum smiled when I came through the door. Natalie scowled. My dad kept reading the paper.
"Good." I said. I didn't want to get too close in case they smelled the alcohol. They wouldn't be happy about that. They hated drinking. "I'm tired, I'm going to bed." I smiled and left the room.
"Why do you let her stay here?" Natalie demanded as I went up the stairs. "And bring her boyfriend thing?"
"Natalie." Dad said warningly.