Elegantly Wasted: Sirius Black

20- Dance With Me?

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10th December 1976

The month of November passed in a complete blur. Nothing much took place other than Sirius' birthday. The 3rd of November. He turned seventeen so he was finally legal in the eyes of the wizarding world.

Everyone might have assumed that Sirius would throw a huge party and get wasted enough so that he couldn't even walk. Usually, he did. Not this year, this year he threw a more intimate affair.

All seven of the Gryffindor friends snuck out to spend the night in Hogsmeade with a few drinks and having a laugh with each other.

James and Lily have been dating for just over a month at this point and with only two and a half weeks till Christmas that meant Lily was ultimately going to be meeting James's parents for the first time.

James was meeting hers too but he wasn't nearly as nervous as his girlfriend. See Lily hadn't talked to her parents about this boy as 'the love of her life' for the last six years like James had done.

For now, it was after curfew, The Marauders and the four girls were laying on the couches talking about seemingly nothing.

James and Lily were lying together on the loveseat, Marlene and Laurie squashed on the armchair while Sirius, Remus, Peter and Mary were all on the three-seater. All in their Pyjamas.

"Can you believe that it's the tenth of December already, it's almost 1977!" Marlene said in excitement.

"I can't wait for the new year!" shouted Peter.

"You're all coming to my house for new year's right?" James said with his arm wrapped around Lily. The couple nearly took up the whole chair.

A string of 'yes' and 'obviously' was flung around by the group. It had been a tradition for all of them to attend the New Year's Eve party that James's parents threw every year.

"Mary and Dorcas are invited this year, aren't they?" asked Marlene who subsisted with the arms of Laurie wrapped around her.

"Yep!" James popped the 'p'

"So are Alice and Frank" Lily added.

The record player that had been playing in the background of their chatter had just begun to play the song 'Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy'

"I love this song!" half of the group groaned at the same moment.

Sirius stood up on the coffee table that was placed right in the centre of the chairs " someone dance with me, quick" he said as started dancing rather ridiculously.

They all broke out in laughter.

"Hurry! And someone higher it up I can bearly hear it over you idiots" he insisted.

Marlene scurried over to the record player.

James stood up and gave his hand out for Lily to take, she giggled but took it and they began to sway to the music.

Peter and Mary then got up to dance.

Marlene took to Remus.

Sirius looked at Laurie from his stance on the table.

"Dance with me Laur"

"I only dance with people when I'm asked properly" she smiled.

He stepped off the coffee table and offered his hand out to her.

"Then, Ms Laurie Devereux. Will you dance with me?" he put on a posh accent.

She slipped her hand into his "Of course, I'll dance with you Sirius" he pulled her up and over to the open space where all their friends were dancing.

Laurie placed her hands on his shoulders, and his hands snaked down to her midsection.

They started to sway along to the song.

"It seems highly proper to dance in your pyjamas, don't you think?" said Laurie.

"Absolutly"

She gazed up into his eyes.

"Ooh, love, Ooh, lover boy. What're you doin' tonight, hey, boy?" she sang in a whisper.

"Set my alarm, turn on my charm. That's because I'm a good old-fashioned lover boy" Sirius finished the chorus for her.

Laurie could feel butterflies in her stomach as they danced. She could feel how her heart had an odd tightness that she had never felt before. That's when she knew, that she did in fact like the boy that was holding her, the boy that was feeding her the lyrics of every song (not that she needed him to) the boy that had gone up and beyond for her since they were eleven years old. Laurie liked Sirius. She knew that now and there was no thought of what about Danny or anything else in the world. It was just Sirius. For the first time, she felt like it was ok to admit that in her head.

Twenty-six songs had played before they even thought about stopping. Over an hour and a half.

"The boys are back in town!"

"(the boys are back in town)"

"(the boys are back, the boys are back)"

"The boys are back in town again. Been hangin' down at dinos"

"The boys are back in town again" the group finished the last song together yet still in their respective duos, dancing like lunatics.

All of their feet were sore and they started dropping to the sofa's like flies.

Laurie didn't want to stop, but she saw her friends start to sit down and she didn't want to seem suspicious about her newfound feelings.

"I think I'm going to go sit down," she told Sirius.

"That's fine, I was going to go sit down anyway," he said, covering up the slight deflation her words brought him.

Bliss. That's what that night was. It was one of those times that you just knew you would remember everything about it forever, the words, the songs, the stupid dance moves some of them dared even the atmosphere. The mere feeling of the air that night.

It felt like nostalgic music, pyjamas, ignorance and yellow light. It smelled like candles and a mixture of feminine perfumes. Pure bliss.

Total nativity just for one night, when they could forget about the up and coming war and just be teenagers, not soldiers.

The truth is they were all scared. They had seen the latest articles in 'The Daily Prophet' about muggle villages being attacked and muggle-borns along with half-bloods being tortured.

Tonight they could be free and laugh.

When Laurie went to bed that night for the first time in a while she didn't dream of losing someone she loved or coming face to face with Voldemort himself. She dreamt of a raven-haired boy and the freeing air of her comforting home.

***

A/N

Happy 20th chapter!
This one is special.

-Leah