1807 / Marauders / Harry Potter

2 - The piano

'Well go up to her then.'

'Are you out of your mind Sirius?'

'You are lord James Potter! Your ego is bigger than you are. What could go wrong?'

'Nothing, I just don't feel like it right now.'

Sirius frowns. 'Acting a little strange prongs.'

'Prongs?' Regulus is joining the conversation again.

James, who was still looking at the woman, now turns his eyes back to the Black brothers.

'It's his nickname, since his house sigil is a stag.'

'What's yours then?'

'Padfoot.'

'Our house sigil is a raven.' Regulus frowns in confusion.

'I chose my own, besides, I adore wolfs.'

'I never knew that.'

'Because you never talk to me outside of formal occasions Regulus.'

James interferes, 'Let's keep it friendly tonight shall we?'

He wraps his arm around Sirius' neck. 'I say we go looking for some fine ladies.'

'You can do that perfectly fine on your own, I want to speak with our pianist for tonight.' Sirius grabs James' arm and takes it off his shoulder. 'Good luck prongs.'

He walks into the direction of the piano, getting glances from at least five ladies on his way there.

James looks at Regulus and raises his shoulders. 'If you would excuse me lord Black.'

'Of course, lord Potter.'

'Call me James.'

Regulus pauses, and then nods. James smiles and walks out of the crowd, towards the stairs on the side of the room.

Sirius has reached the piano, a waiter walks past with a tray full of drinks. Sirius grabs two and smiles at the waiter. He puts one down on the piano.

'What are you doing here?'

'Listening to the beautiful music for this evening.'

'You know you shouldn't be talking to me, you'll draw attention.'

'I don't care about attention, I will talk to whoever I please.'

'You're not leaving are you?'

'No i'm not.'

'I'm almost finished for this part of the evening, I'll find you in the halls.'

Sirius smiles. He got what he wanted.

The pianists name is Remus Lupin. Sirius has known him since they were boys. It was always the three of them, Sirius, James and Remus. Padfoot, prongs and moony. There was just one problem with that, Remus was no lord. He was the son of the head of staff in the house. He had lived here all his life, he was Sirius' only comfort when his parents turned on him. And his father noticed that, he didn't allow it.

'For a boy to play with his servants is one thing, for a man to treat him as equal is completely unacceptable.' Orion had said. Right in Sirius' face. Now that they were older, they were not to speak anymore. Sirius didn't agree, neither did James.

'Very good.' Sirius walks away from the piano. As he turns he scans the room for eyes looking his way. Especially his fathers, he however looks perfectly occupied by something else.

Sirius heads for the stairs on the side of the hall, the same one James disappeared up a few moments ago. Just like they had agreed.

When he gets upstairs he looks around to see if anyone is close, no one is.

'Prongs?' The nicknames prove themselves very useful for these type of situations.

There are a bunch of hallways up here, he could have gone anywhere.

'Prongs where are you?'

Sirius turns a corner and finds his friend, tangled up in what seems brown hair and a green dress. Sirius scrapes his throat.

The lady jumps slightly and James looks up with a smile. The woman is flustered and tries to fix her hair. 'Lord Black, my apologies I-.'

'No worries, it's lord Potter that should keep watch of his hands.' He smiles.

'Off you go, don't mention this, for your own good of course.'

The lady makes a small curtsy and runs off.

'I don't want to hear it Pads.'

'I won't mention it then.'

They smile at each other.  'When did he say he would come?'

'When the piano stops playing.'

'Let's wait for the silence then, much more fun than my previous activities.'

Sirius nudges him. He laughs.

'I thought you and-.'

'I thought I said I didn't want to talk about it pads.'

'You can't avoid it forever.'

'I can avoid it for now, you would know all about that.'

'That's unfair.'

They are interrupted by Remus turning the corner. The piano had indeed stopped playing.