claret, sirius black

10

chapter 10

ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT, Sirius Black asked Lenora to meet him in the Gryffindor common room, much to her dismay. He had even told her the password. 'Flabbergasted'.

James was sitting on his bed eating a packet of Droobles despite the fact Remus and Peter were standing up impatiently waiting to go to the Halloween feast. James was amazed that Sirius had gotten Lenora to meet him again, even more so to go Trick or Treating, of all things. According to James it was the perfect excuse to find out more about her, hopefully more about what she could be doing - unsurprisingly they still hadn't gotten very far in their investigation.

Sirius stood, looking like a prat. Remus and James took it in turns to laugh at him but Peter thought he looked cool. Sirius agreed. He hadn't gone too overboard with dressing up, he wore a black shirt, black jeans and a leather jacket. Lily Evans made him some makeshift fangs he could wear on his teeth, another pair for Lenora if she had decided to go through with the matching costumes. Sirius' dark hair was slick back, it would've looked ridiculous if he had worn it on any other day. He's already quite pale, so he refused to let Marlene and Mary put makeup on him. They ended up compromising, if they didn't put the makeup on then he'd have to give them some of his sweets.

"Try not to get too scared," Remus grinned as he ushered James to hurry up. The feast was about to start and the curly haired Marauder was growing hungry. Sirius shook his head, "Wouldn't dream of it."

Sirius met Lenora in the common room as she didn't want to go into his dorm, especially not when the entire Gryffindor house was watching her to see what she was doing. She had decided to dress up as a vampire in the end, dressed almost exactly the same as Sirius in dark trousers, a black shirt and a black leather jacket she had borrowed from Dorcas. Unlike Sirius, she wore makeup. A little bit of eyeliner and some bronzer to make her cheekbones look more shallow. Dorcas had suggested some red lipstick, but Lenora refused as she's too pale for it to suit her. Lenora had her hair down, brushed neatly as it reached her collar bones. Sirius gave her the teeth Lily had made, she had transfigured some hair grips into fangs that they could stick on to their canines. Lily told them that they should last all night. They both looked ridiculous with the fake teeth.

"See you do make a good vampire," Sirius smiled as he and Lenora left the common room, they were sure to avoid any teachers who would ask why they're dressed up and where they're going. It had just turned five, so it was dark and the children from Hogsmeade were likely to have already started Trick or Treating.

Lenora blushed, shrugging.

"So do you," she told him, looking at his hair. "How are we going to get to Hogsmeade without anyone seeing us?" She asked.

"Can you keep a secret?" He asked, Lenora nodded. He led her to a room, and inside the room was a statue. Lenora looked confused but left Sirius to do whatever he needed to do. The statue moved, revealing a passageway. "It leads to Honeydukes," he told her, smiling. The fake fangs hung over his bottom lip and gave him a slight lisp. "You can't tell anyone."

"I can keep a secret," Lenora assured him. She hoped he forgot about her telling her best friend about how she assumed he had a certain problem. She followed him behind the statue, the passageway was cold, dark and damp. Sirius lit his wand.

"I believe you," Sirius told her, turning around to look at her. He sounded sarcastic, Lenora couldn't tell. Sirius was adamant that she was keeping a secret, that's what he narrowed his suspicions down to. He and James decided that she wasn't up to something so to speak but she was definitely hiding something. The two boys check the map regularly, and almost every night she walks around the castle until she finally goes to bed. Remus suggested that she could just have insomnia but they dismissed it. She always looks as if she's about to fall asleep in her lessons and Sirius has still never seen her eat. At meal times she'll sit with an empty plate, or push food around a plate until it's turned into inedible slop. Her common room is in the same hallway as the kitchens but he's never seen her there, and the Marauders are always sneaking into the kitchens.

It didn't take as long as Lenora expected it to, after a freezing cold walk they were finally in Hogsmeade. Lenora was right, there was an abundance of wizard children walking around the village all dressed up in different costumes. The village was decorated with orange lights, lit pumpkins on every doorstep and in each window. It was almost as magical as the Great Hall during a holiday.

"Do you have a bag?" Lenora asked, her 'brummy' accent sounding even worse with the fangs in her mouth. She could hardly speak with them in. Sirius nodded, handing her a brown bag that he had taken from the Honeydukes basement.

Sirius was too nervous to knock on the first door so Lenora offered to do it so he could watch, he smiled as he watched her grin at the homeowner with a cheesy, toothy smile. Showing off the fake fangs. No one questioned how old they were, seven houses down the bags were half full and Sirius was finally happy knocking on the doors himself instead of asking Lenora to get extra sweets for him.

Two children ran in front of them, one wearing a halo on her head and the other dressed in a Hogwarts uniform. They must've been only six years old. Lenora smiled everytime they passed some children, telling Sirius how cute she thought they were. By the tenth house they had both given up with the fangs, they made their teeth ache and they both sounded as if they had a rolled up ball of parchment in their mouth as they spoke. Lenora kept both pairs of fangs in the pocket of her trousers. She wasn't impressed when Sirius put his in her hand - covered in saliva.

"Oo," Sirius said, rooting through his bag which was almost full with sweets. Lenora glanced up at him. "Blood lollipops, I've always wanted to try one."

Lenora screwed her face up. "Why?"

"They're so weird and gross," he laughed as he struggled to unwrap the lollipop, "It's what makes them so intriguing."

"Maybe you should eat it back at the castle," she suggested, there were only a few houses left that they were going to go to. Sirius shook his head, finally managing to unwrap it. Lenora frowned as he put it in his mouth. It looked disgusting and by the look on Sirius' face it tasted it as well. He licked it a few more times before stretching his arm out to offer it to Lenora. She shook her head, holding her hand in front of her face. "It tastes like metal." He told her, licking it again.

Lenora stepped away slightly, her face still screwed up as she watched him lick the lollipop.

"How do you know what metal tastes like?" She asked.

Sirius grinned, "James and I once dared each other to eat a coin." He put the rest of the lollipop in the bin.

"What."

Sirius laughed again, turning to go to the last house. He knocked the door and not long after a man answered with his daughter dressed up as a pumpkin.

"Trick or Treat," Sirius said, Lenora smiled as she stood beside him. The little girl handed them both a handful of sweets. Sirius thanked her.

Her dad looked between the two, his eyes narrow. Sirius assumed he had figured out that they weren't children. "Vampires?" He asked, looking at what they were wearing. Sirius nodded, it was a surprise anyone could tell what they were supposed to be since their costumes weren't exactly recognisable. Lenora smiled and nodded as well, waving at the little girl as Sirius began to walk up to the footpath. "Your teeth are scary," the little girl said with a smile, imitating fangs with her fingers. Lenora looked back at Sirius quickly as the dad shut the door.

Lenora kept her eyes on Sirius as they walked back towards Honeydukes, he was too busy rummaging through the bag of sweets to notice that she was looking at him. He smiled as he pulled out some muggle chocolate, "I knew someone had given us some." Lenora looked at the Twix. "I'm going to eat this before we get back, otherwise Remus will want it."

Lenora laughed, scratching her nose so her hand covered her mouth, "Trick or Treating is fun, I told you."

"Fine," Sirius smiled at her, "Trick or Treating is fun, I hope you want to do it again next year."