the cadence of part time poets

Chapter 37: Sirius Turns Seventeen

You are the dancing queen,
Young and sweet;
Only seventeen,
Dancing queen,
Feel the beat from the tambourine, oh yeah!

- "Dancing Queen" ABBA, 1976

Wednesday 3rd November 1976

As surprising as the James and Lily relationship reveal had been, the fact that the girls remained livid over the Halloween gag did not come as a shock. None of them so much as glanced in the direction of any 4A boy in the three days that followed, which for Sirius could only mean that the prank must've been successful.

It was a bit startling for Remus to think of his friends as being 'together' together, but the more he thought about it the less weird it felt. James and Lily had both had feelings for one another for so long—even if one was more quick to admit it than the other—and regardless of how mad she was now, Remus hadn't missed the way Lily had been looking at James since the beginning of term. Really the most surprising thing was how long they'd been able to hide it, and how none of them had connected the dots. Tonya would've been killing herself over their blissful ignorance. He couldn't wait to tell her.

Utter betrayal from his best friend aside, Sirius was completely delighted with their victory and Peter didn't seem to mind all that much, but James spent the day bitter and lethargic after Lily had rebuffed him at every meal or meeting since. She'd even gone as far as to switch seats during lessons so that not even Remus could get a word in, and now at dinner—a full 72 hours later—Lily had propped up one of her textbooks between Mary and Marlene's shoulders to ensure there wouldn't be any chance for James to make eye contact.

"They'll get over the prank," Remus told him, sharing an amused look with Peter as James solemnly pushed his potatoes around his plate. "She didn't actually dump you, and it's not like you did something stupid like kiss another—"

"I got it, Moony," James replied cuttingly, and Remus swallowed a wry smile.

Across the dining hall, Lily and Mary stood up from their table, trays in hand. James was on his feet in an instant looking like he was about to rush her from the other side of the room, but Lily shot him a glare so fierce he could only sigh and drop back down on his bench seat in defeat. Obviously amused, Mary stuck out her tongue and drew her thumb across her neck before following Lily to the dirty dish tubs.

"Oh Mary," Remus tsked. James sighed and went back to mashing his roasted potatoes with his fork.

"He still moping?" Sirius asked, sliding in next to Remus with a giddy smile across his face.

"Just worried that Lily's actually gonna dump him," Remus murmured snidely.

"Don't say that!" James wailed; "If you put it out into the universe it might happen!"

"Or she might overhear," Peter supplied. "Subliminal messaging and all that."

James rolled his eyes before looking at Sirius. "Where were you? You were supposed to meet us for study hall so we could bunk off for your birthday."

"Got a bit sidetracked with Kimmy," he answered, "she was giving me my birthday present."

"What'd she give you?" Peter asked, looking Sirius up and down. He didn't even have a dinner tray on him.

Sirius sucked his teeth over a smug smile. "You really want to tell you what she gave me? Okay, two words: blow—"

Before he could finish all three of them were groaning.

"Oh fuck off," Remus moaned.

"And that's one word actually!" Peter lashed.

"Wow, Pete! I'm surprised you know what word I was talking about!" Sirius gasped, making Peter flip him off while James burst into a fit of laughter. Sirius kept cackling; "You were the ones who asked!"