Written In the Stars | s.b |

FIFTY-FIVE

Sirius sat at the Gryffindor table, bouncing his leg up and down and chewing on his nails. His eyes were fixed on the doorway, waiting for Ariah to enter with Meeka.

"Mate, chill out," Peter said. "She will say yes."

"Is doing something so public really a good idea?" Sirius asked.

"Of course!" Remus said. "Ariah loves this type of stuff, and she's been listening to Hooked on a Feeling since the beginning of summer. You can't go wrong with this plan."

"Besides," James added. "Ariah can't say no if you ask her publicly. She's not that savage."

"Didn't Hugh Maines ask her publically?" Peter asked. "She laughed at him."

"Dude!" James smacked Peter on the shoulder. "Shut up. She won't say no, Sirius."

"Meeka said she's only turned people down because she's been waiting for you to ask her," Remus said.

"She did? Because Meeka might have just said that. And what if she's gotten tired of waiting for me to ask and agreed to go with someone else because I took too long or-"

"Mate, chill." Remus put his hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Ariah and you are made for each other. As her twin, I'm telling you she wouldn't agree to go with anyone but you."

"Here comes Meeka!" Peter shouted.

Sirius stood to his feet but stopped himself from stepping onto the table as he saw Meeka come in alone. She quickly walked over to the table.

"Where the bloody hell is Ariah?" Remus asked.

"She's refusing to leave her room," Meeka said. "I think something happened."

"What?!" James asked. "This is the worst time for her to have a mental breakdown."

"James," Sirius scolded. "Is she okay?"

Meeka shrugged. "She won't even talk to me..."

"Well, what are we going to do?" Remus asked.

Sirius bit his lip. "I don't know... I might just.... I might have to ask her at the dance..."

"That's so lame!" James groaned.

"No lamer than Lily laughing in your face and you having to go alone," Meeka said.

"I'm not going alone," James said, defensively. "I got a date..."

"Yeah, with Krazy Kat," Sirius said. "It's no big deal... I'll ask her to dance at the ball and then just... tell her how I feel. It'll be fine."

"So that's when I looked him in the eyes and said, 'no, you're the one with flat hair,'" Geoffrey said as Ariah and him walked into the Great Hall.

Ariah rolled her eyes. She should have just stayed in her dorm like she debated doing. She didn't really want Sirius to see her with Geoffrey Felton. But it was between being miserable and alone with Marlene's terror of a cat, or going to the dance with Geoffrey. It was a toss up, really.

"Ariah!"

She froze, hearing Marlene's voice behind her. Ariah turned, smiling slightly as Marlene approached her.

"You look beautiful!" she said.

"Thank you, so do you..." Ariah looked around in search for Sirius. "Where's.... your date...?"

"Getting us drinks," she said with a smile. "Right over there."

Ariah followed to where Marlene pointed, expecting Sirius but saw Matthew Harding's instead. "Matthew?! You're— you're date is... Matthew."