What Is and What Should Never Be | Sirius Black

4. Hallowe'en

EVERY YEAR on Hallowe'en, Hogwarts prepares a feast. They decorate the Great Hall with streamers and pumpkins and goblets full of candy, usually the ghost do a performance, and sometimes - if we're lucky - Headmaster Dumbledore books another entertainer. Needless to say, everyone looks forward to Hallowe'en.

"Did you hear Dumbledore brought a group of dancing skeletons?" A voice pipes in from behind me.

I turn to see Remus and I want to smile, I really do, but a part of me doesn't believe that he's actually speaking to me. When he looks at me expectantly, and I realized he's actually addressing me, I grin.

"No way, that's awesome!" I exclaim as Remus makes his way beside me to get away from the amount of students walking down the corridor.

"Yea, well, I was wondering," he pulls me out of the way of a couple first years that are a bit too hyper, "I blew you off for Hogsmeade - and you bought me a chocolate frog - so you wanna sit with me during the feast tonight?"

"At the Gryffindor table?" I ask, looking up at his tall stature.

He nods his head.

"You don't have to, I know you have Jiaying and-"

I cut him off by waving my hand a bit too quickly to show its no big deal.

"Jiaying's gonna be with David, Iman's gonna be with her Slytherin friends, and I'm sure Debbie won't mind." I assure and Remus nods, but I can't tell if he's happy or not.

"Great, I'll see you then." He says before disappearing into the crowd. I clutch onto my bag strap, unable to contain my happiness. I'm making progress.

When I walk into the Great Hall that night, I admire the bats that mount themselves contently to the charmed ceiling, and the enchanted pumpkins that float gracefully across the room. And, just as promised, the skeletons are dancing away at the front of the Hall. As I make my way over to the Gryffindor table, I see Debbie chatting happily with the Hufflepuff boys whose dorm we crash. Remus sends me a small wave that I match as I sit down beside him.

"Those are real skeletons?" I ask, motioning to the entertainers.

Remus takes a quick glance before shrugging at me.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they are."

"Who do you think they were? ...Are?" I try to phrase my question as Remus wraps an arm to pull me closer to him and out of the way of someone sitting beside me. I turn my head and Remus drops it back quickly. "Hello, Peter."

"What's good, Des." The boy smiles, immediately filling up his plate.

"What's happening, Castellanos?" Black and Potter take their seats across from the three of us and I turn back to Remus.

"They are always following you around?" I ponder and he smirks slightly.

"Pretty much," he teases, "they're a bunch of squares without me."

I laugh as Potter and Black yell an offended 'hey!' before filling up mine and Remus' plates with the delicious foods from the kitchens.

I try my best to talk to him while we watch the skeleton entertainment, every so often getting a comment from one of the other three, but for the most part they leave us to ourselves, which I honestly didn't think they would do. It's my impression that if I want Remus' attention, I have to catch him without Black, Potter, and Peter, but now I know I'm wrong. I bring up a conversation about the start of the Quidditch season coming up (to which Potter enthusiastically joins in and I don't mind because he has quite an insight of the game) when I catch Remus looking up at the ceiling for what feels like the 12th time.