The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

Standing On The Line

Sirius Black's heart was beating so fast that he was panting. He moved foot to foot in nervousness as the four of them stood on the line to be let into the Palais des Sports de Gerland for the show. There were loads and loads of people gathered about in long queues. James held an umbrella he'd conjured, and Sirius kept craning his neck to look at the round building on the far end of the lot where they stood.

"Your hands are shaking," James murmured, holding Lily's hand up to look at it.

Lily glanced at Sirius. "So are his."

Sirius turned about to look at her. "What?"

"You're so nervous, Sirius, you're making me nervous, oh my stars."

"Well both of you relax," Remus laughed.

"I can't. I can't handle this," Sirius said, "I feel like my entire insides are electric."

"They do," Lily agreed.

James squeezed her fingers and smirked at her as she echoed Sirius's nervous motions. He leaned over - not down - and whispered, "Have I mentioned, by the way, Evans, that you look really beautiful?"

She flushed. She was wearing a pair of wide-legged, high-waisted jeans with a big chunky red belt, a black cropped top that let the top part of her abdomen show ever so slightly above her belt, long kimono-style duster covered with embroidered stars of many colours, chunky plastic beads around her neck, and bright red platform slingback loafers. Her and Sirius looked far more the part of the activity than either James nor Remus looked, seeing as Remus was wearing two thick sweaters and a pair of corduroy pants while James had on his usual jeans, Gryffindor trainers, and a basic ringer tee under his wool coat. Remus's two sweaters made him stand out far more than anything Sirius had on.

Suddenly, somebody slammed into Sirius, throwing him off balance and knocking him into Remus. "Oi!" Sirius turned about.

"Sorry," the young boy said, his accent strange and voice low. He looked at Sirius intently for several seconds. "Didn't mean to. You alright, then?"

"Yeah, fine, just watch where you're going, alright?" Sirius answered, dusting off and turning back to looking at the venue looking before them.

The boy stayed standing there, his eyes moving from one to the other of them.

There was some commotion across the lot and Sirius was jumping on his tippy toes to see. "What's happening? What's happening?!"

Remus glanced over. "Looks like a big bus just pulled up."

"Oh my fucking hell he's here." Sirius turned and practically climbed James. "Help me up, Prongs, I have to see!"

James grunted as Sirius foisted himself up onto James's shoulders. James made a face, "It's a bleedin' good thing you're a hobbit."

Sirius's boots hooked under James's arms and he clutched his fingers into his hair. "There is a bus!"

Remus muttered, "Because I might've been lying."

Sirius stared intently across the lot, giving a running commentary about everything which happened for the next several minutes before James finally cut him off, making him get down. The entire time he'd been up there, though, the young man that had walked into him watched.

"Are you lost?" Lily's voice was gentle as she turned to the boy.

"Oh - no, not lost," the boy answered. "Sorry, just - blimey, I love your leather jacket." He directed this last bit to Sirius.

"Thanks," Sirius said, still straining to see despite having been demoted to his own natural height.

Lily ended up talking to the boy as Sirius jostled Moony for a play-by-play, wanting to know if Freddie Mercury came out of the bus. The boy, it seemed, was named Freddy Jenkins and he was French-British, a big fan of Queen, and glad to have somebody to talk to in the line while they waited for the show. But as he spoke, Lily kept getting the funniest feeling that she couldn't quite shake, especially when the boy would glance at Sirius.