Written In the Stars | s.b |

FORTY-SEVEN

Dreading her party and frankly, the rest of her life, Ariah began drinking while Meeka, Remus, Lily and her were setting up.

"C'mon don't drink it all before the party begins!" Lily exclaimed, reaching for the bottle.

"Hey - who's birthday is it," Ariah said. "Mine!"

"It's mine too," Remus said. "And I'm not acting like a buffoon."

"A buffoon? Good insult. I think I'm going to cry now," she said dryly.

Remus glared at his sister before walking over to the table of food, grumbling about how irritating she was.

"Maybe you should slow down," Meeka said warmly. She lowered her voice for only Ariah to hear. "Are you okay?"

Ariah nodded sloppily. "'M fine."

But she wasn't, and it showed on her face when Sirius entered the room of requirement with James and Peter. For a second, she softened, taking note of his exceptionally flouffy hair. It had grown a bit since the summer — he had grown a bit since summer.

Ariah winced at herself, turning away from the entrance and taking another long sip of her drink; the guilt eating away at her. She wanted to scream and cry and throw something. Instead she continued drinking.

Sirius had spent a majority of the party looking for Ariah. He wanted to talk to her and understand why she was so upset with him. But she kept dodging him or disappearing before he could say anything.

Finally, he found her hiding behind a table.

"Ri —"

"Shh," she said. "I'm hiding from Sirius, Meeka."

He could tell she was drunk, even if she hadn't called him Meeka.

"How come?" Sirius asked, crouching down slightly behind her.

"Beccccausseeeee, I feel guilty that I —" she looked at Sirius. "Wait a minute.... you're not Meeka."

"C'mon why are you avoiding me?" Sirius asked. "Don't you think I deserve to know why you're mad at me?"

Ariah shook her head. "I'm not mad..."

"Then what?"

"I'm not telling you that I fancy Sirius," she said. "Oh... oops..."

"You — you fancy me?" Sirius asked, his heart leaping at her words.

"No — nononononono," she said. "I love Frank. Frank Longbottom. My boyfriend."

"One 'no' would have been enough..." Sirius said sadly, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Hey Siri...?" she asked after moments of silence.

Sirius looked to hi friend, who was staring off into the distance. As she spoke, Sirius thought, maybe, she sounded much more sober. "Do you ever... do you think about that kiss?"

Sirius felt the air leave his lungs and the breath hitch in his throat. "That kiss?"

"The one we shared in year two?" she asked, continuing to look forward. "Because I do... I haven't been able to stop since it happened, really."

He wasn't sure how to respond. Of course he, too, thought about that kiss daily. He just wasn't sure if she were sober enough to know what she was talking about.

"Do you think it would be different?" she asked. When Sirius looked up to her, she was already looking at him — slightly closer than before. "Kissing one another?"