I'll Follow You Anywhere

I looked down there to see if she was still laughing but instead my eyes were locked with a pair of bright blue ones. They were slightly red from crying and they turned immediately away after looking at me. Lora blushed as she turned back to Lily.

Maybe it wasn't the end of things between us after all.

-16-

"This will never work," I said, pacing back and forth while Remus and James put on their masks.

"Of course it will, I thought of it," James replied, winking at me.

"So we should be worried?" Remus joked as he combed his hair. I laughed a little, though my heart was beating hard in my chest. This plan was too risky. There were so many things that could go wrong.

"Stop fretting, young Sirius. This plan is foolproof. Just listen to the steps one more time. You were the mask. This whole masquerade Valentine's Day dance is just some cheesy masquerade dance so she won't be able to tell that it's you. Lily told me what Lora is wearing so you'll be able to recognize her. You dance with her, tell her how you feel and then bam! You two snog until your mouths fall off. See? It's flawless!" James exclaimed, inhaling deeply after his long speech of a plan.

"She'll recognize my voice, you wanker," I replied harshly. I was beginning to get annoyed by this.

"We've got it covered," Remus answered shortly, pulling on his cloak.

"How? How have you got it covered?" I asked, getting more and more annoyed by the second.

Remus grabbed my shoulder, which halted my pacing, and set me down on my trunk. He walked over to his own trunk and began rummaging around in it. I opened my mouth to find out what he was doing but he put up his pointer finger to shush me. After a few more moments of digging through his trunk, Remus pulled out a small, silver flask.

"Drink this," he said briskly, shoving the bottle into my hands. I glanced at it a moment cautiously.

"What is it?" I asked, still examining the mystery flask.

"It's a potion that our very own Moony whipped up. Your voice will be changed for about two hours, just long enough for you to declare your undying love for Lora. Told ya we thought of everything," James answered, sending me another wink.

"Well…what if…um-," I stuttered. Remus and James glanced knowingly at each other and then came and sat down on both sides of me.

"It's okay to be nervous, Sirius. This is a big moment for you," Remus whispered in a reassuring tone. I felt James clap his hand on back, trying to convince me silently that everything would be okay.

I sighed and replied, "I guess it's worth a shot."

-45 Minutes Later-

"Not so tight!" I yelled as Remus tied on my mask. It was a simple mask: black, silk and hid the upper portion of my face.

We stumbled out of the common room in a hurry and jetted off towards the Great Hall. Large groups of friends and students crowded around the doors, trying to push their way into the large room. Girls stood in clumps, peering over the heads of others trying to identify some of the other students. The sudden noises of people shouting their friends name to try to find them emanated over the crowd every few seconds. It was dim in hallway, to keep the era of mystery around the masquerade premise. Amidst the crowd, flashes of bright dresses and dark dress cloaks floated around, appearing and disappearing in a heart beat.

A heart beat. My heart moved quickly as my eyes glanced over the crowd. I tried to single out a girl with dark brown hair but the number was too big and I knew that I would never find Lora in this crowd.

James must have spotted my searching eyes and realized what I was doing. He leaned over and whispered quietly, though loud enough for me to hear over the screams from the crowd, "She's wearing a light blue dress. She has on a white mask." I nodded and edited down my search, adding in the variables that he had just told me.

After a few more moments of scanning my peers, I settled on the option that maybe Lora was already inside. I headed toward the ever-growing crowd with Remus and James at my side. We pushed and shoved our way through the stubborn youth around us. After what seemed like hours of trying to squeeze through the tight spaces and ignore the complaints from the teens around us, we finally made it to the entrance way.

The entire Great Hall was decorated like something out of the Renaissance era. Brightly colored tapestries hung from every wall. A table on the wall where the Slytherins normally sat was covered with delicious foods such as hams, puddings, tarts and pies. There was a very fancy fountain next to the medium-sized oak table. Pumpkin juice cascaded out of it eloquently. Students were already shoving their empty goblets under it to catch some of the delicious drink. It was dimly lit inside and you had to squint to really see the basic details of someone's face. Perfect.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed hold of my upper arm tightly and I whipped around to see James and Remus looking at me.

"We need to separate. If Lora and Lily see you with us, they'll realize right away it's you and this whole plan will have been a waste of our time and effort. So go mingle around, grab something to eat and drink and then go make your move on Lora when a slow song starts playing," James said to me clearly. Remus nodded behind him as they turned to go join Lily and Lora, who were now looking at the fountain and laughing about something. Oh, how I missed seeing Lora laugh.

"Have fun!" Remus said as he started walking away from me. I nodded and smiled, though my heart was beating fast now and I was growing more and more nervous by the second. I fumbled with my hands for a moment, wondering what to do now. I looked towards the stage that was set up where the Hufflepuff table had been just a few hours before. I realized that it was the Rising Phoenix's that were jamming out on stage. I had heard a few of their songs before but nothing to really get me hooked on them. I nodded my head along with one of the beats as I focused around the rest of the room. There was no one else I recognized. Every face was hidden behind exquisite masks. Some masks were decked out in jewels and sparkles. Others had adorned feathers of all sizes and colors onto theirs. Occasionally I would see a mask that resembled and animal. I saw a few owls, one tiger and someone who cleverly made their mask rotate every few minutes from one Hogwarts house animal to another.

I glanced back over to the food table to catch another glimpse of Lora. I settled my back onto a cold, stone wall and finally she came into my view.

Lora looked gorgeous. Her dress was a light blue and the bottom puffed out a little bit. A Silver necklace around her neck caught my eye. Her hair was down but it was in waves which looked stunning, framing her face. I watched her fiddle with a silver bracelet around her wrist as she laughed at something that Lily said. Lily was dressed in a dress somewhat similar to Lora's, only Lily's was emerald green and didn't puff at the bottom. Her hair was in curls in and up off of her neck. I saw her hand looped with James. He rubbed that back of her hand with his thumb and every once in a while whispered something in her ear. I couldn't see it but I knew that she was blushing at whatever it was. I made a silent wish to myself that I was over there with them, laughing and having a grand time. I wished that I had never gotten into that fight with Lora and that I could just go on secretly admiring her. I knew I had a plan to go through with though.

"When tonight is over, everything will be back to normal, only better because Lora will be my girlfriend," I reassured myself. It was only half-hearted though because, unlike Remus and James, all of the things that could go wrong were embedded in my head.

I reached my hand into my cloak pocket and clasped onto the cold metal flask. I quickly uncapped it with my thumb and pulled it out into the open. When no one was looking, I downed it in a second.

It tasted…heavy. It felt like a big, thick lump trying to find its way down my throat. There was no real taste to it but it was a problem trying to swallow it. After spending a few minutes of almost choking, I finally swallowed it completely. I opened my mouth nervously, uncertain about what would come out.

"Uhhh," a deep, unfamiliar voice said. I stepped back (slamming hard into the wall that I was leaning against) when I realized that that was my voice. I decided to keep my mouth shut for a while after that, so not to surprise myself anymore.

After about a half hour of walking around the massive crowd, I found Lora all by herself at the fountain. She was looking at the fountain cautiously, holding onto her goblet tightly.

I walked up to the other side of the fountain. She didn’t glance up at me, but remained fixated upon the cascading pumpkin juice.

"Need some help?" that deep voice asked once again, emanating from my mouth. She looked up suddenly, broken out of her trance, looked at me and laughed to herself.

"I suppose. I was just a little nervous that it would spill everywhere or something of the sort," she admitted. I was genuinely surprised that she didn't recognize me. I had expected her this whole time to catch on to what was going on and realize it was me instantly.

"Nah, unless the Slytherins have gotten here first," I joked. She laughed some more as I walked over to her.

"Why don't you let me help you out?" I asked smoothly, reaching for her goblet and prying it easily from her soft hands. Our fingers brushed as she let go of the cup and I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, her blushing. I dipped the cup underneath a stream of juice that was flowing down and pulled it back out, now filled with the liquid.

"Here," I whispered to her, holding out the cup for her to grab. She let her fingers brush over mine again and she let a smile escape from her lips as she looked up at me. She glided the cup up to her mouth, parted her lips and took a sip of the juice.

"Thanks," she whispered back, letting the cup depart from her mouth.

"So where's your date?" I asked, gaining more confidence now.

"I don't have one," she replied, her eyes daring me to make a move.

"Well I can't just leave you here all alone. Some guy could just come up and ask you to dance," I replied, fake worry in my voice.

"And how is that a bad thing?" she asked.

"Well it's a bad thing because then you wouldn't be able to dance with me," I replied confidently, letting my hand rest gently on her waist. She let out a small laugh and took a longer sip of her juice.

"What if I don't want to dance with you?" she asked me when she was finished drinking.

"Ouch. Now that hurts. We have known each other for about three minutes now and you just hurt me like that? Maybe I don't want to dance with you after all," I replied, mocking pain in my voice playfully.

"Aw, I didn't mean to hurt you," she said, fake sympathy in her eyes to keep our little game alive.

"Well you have. All I wanted was a dance-"

"Then let's dance," she interrupted, setting her drink down on the table and grabbing me hand. I smiled as she pulled me towards the packed dance floor. We danced along the edge of the crowd to a fast-paced song. I shook my head back and forth to make her laugh; it worked. I took hold of her hand and spun her around in a circle. I spun her out away from me, then spun her back in so that she landed in my arms. I wrapped my arms around her and said jokingly, "Why hello, Lora."

"Hey how do you know my name and I don't know yours?" she asked, putting on a pout.

"I'll tell you if you dance to this slow song with me," I replied, offering my hand. She took it and let me hold her against my chest. Letting my hand slip, she wrapped her arms around my neck and I let myself wrap my hands around her mid-back. I melted as I felt her against me. We kind of drifted into one as we danced. I felt her smile as she leaned her head on my shoulder and soon enough our swaying became more natural that breathing. Remorse swept over me when the song ended and a fast-paced one took its place.

"Oh, it's over?" she asked, clearly disappointed, just like me.

"Yeah. Bummer," I replied, upset by this. I had an idea though. I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the entrance of the Great Hall. She hurried along behind me. When we finally emerged into the empty courtyard outside of the crowded hallway, I pulled her back into my arms.

"What are we doing? It's freezing out here!" she exclaimed, clutching her arms and trying to conserve her warmth. I smiled as I pulled off my cloak and wrapped it around her. She smiled up at me and wrapped her arms around my neck again.

"You promised me that you would tell me your name if I danced with you," she said innocently, looking up at me. Our eyes locked and I looked away quickly.

"Well we aren't finished dancing now are we?" I asked her coyly. She looked confused but I just resumed my place around her mid-back and started dancing with her. She laughed at first but then she settled back in and we moved as one just like we had before. I let my head just rest on hers as we breathed and moved in sync. It just seemed so natural.

I felt something cold and wet land on the back of my neck. I looked up and saw that it had begun to snow. The Hogwarts grounds were getting covered once again with a blanket of fresh, white snow. I wrapped my arms tighter around Lora to keep her warm and we kept on dancing to our own silent, slow song. I didn't know how long we had been dancing but it seemed like ages and I never wanted it to stop.

When the snow around our feet had piled up to the point that our feet were cold, we stopped dancing. Lora remained in my arms though.

"Who are you?" she whispered to me, curiosity in her bright blue eyes.

"I…I can't tell you Lora. You would never understand."

"I might. Just…please tell me."

"I'm sorry. I just can't," I replied, sorrow in my voice. My confidence was dwindling and I felt a weird sensation in my stomach and throat.

If there's any time to tell her, it's now a voice in my head told me.

"Let me tell you something else though," I said to her, grabbing her hand gently. I tried to muster up the confidence that had suddenly dwindled away but nothing came.

"Tell me what?" she breathed. I could see the breath come out of her mouth due to the freezing air around us.

"I know you don't know who I am. And…I know that you would never care if you did know who I am, but I…I love you Lora. I wish I could let you know who I am so then I wouldn't have to hold it inside of me anymore but I…I just can't. Know that I care about you though. More than the world. I've loved you for a while now. How could I not? You're amazing. You're one of the most caring people in the world and you'll do anything to help someone. You're funny, and sweet and easily the most stunning girl that I have ever seen in my whole life. I…I just wanted you to know this, Lora. Whether you ever find out who I am or not, I just wanted you to know this," I exclaimed, a breath of relief following my small speech. I had finally told Lora how I felt. Granted she had no idea who it was telling her this but still…she knows that there's some guy out there that would give up the world for her.

Lora looked at me, awestruck. Her mouth was open slightly and I could tell that she wasn't breathing. She sighed when I finished though and smiled up at me. I could see tears forming at the corner of her eyes. She blinked them back but her eyes were still glassy.

"That…that was the sweetest thing I've…ever heard," she said breathily. She gave me a gorgeous smile and laughed to herself.

"What's so funny?" I asked nervously.

"I…I finally have a guy that feels this way about me, and he won't even tell me who he is!" she exclaimed. She wiped away a tear quickly and looked down. "Tell me-"

"I can't. I’m sorry, Lora," I interrupted. I looked down at her and saw a look of pain on her face now. Not physical pain, but emotional. I could see how bad she wanted to know my identity.

Confidence washed over me as I cupped my hands around her face and leaned in quickly. I let my lips press against hers. She was shocked at first but returned the kiss willingly. Time seemed to stop around us as we morphed into one.

When we finally parted though, I crashed back to reality. Lora looked up at me, shocked.

"What just happened?" she asked me.

"The best moment of my life," I blurted out. I immediately blushed as she laughed at my embarrassment. I couldn't help but laugh too. She stepped into me and looked up at me, her laughter turning into a small, curious smile. I felt nervous with her so close to me, examining me so closely.

She reached her hands up toward my face. Her fingertips touched the corners of my mask-

"No. You can't do that," I said firmly. I noticed that my voice had cracked though. Amidst the deep voice that I had temporarily acquired, I heard my normal voice for a split second.

"Oh no," I said, my voice growing less and less deep.

"What? What’s wrong?" Lora asked me.

"I…I have to go. Thank you so much for the best night of my life," I said quickly as I grabbed my coat off of her shoulders and ran out of the courtyard.

"But wait! What's your name?" she yelled after me.

"Maybe one day you'll find out," I replied, trying to put on a deep voice. I kept running though, down the corridor, down another corridor and finally turning into the Gryffindor common room. I sprinted up the stairs to the room I had been in just a few hours previous and flung myself on my bed.

"Yes!" I yelled to no one. The ripped off my mask and looked at it. Without warning, I burst into a fit of laughter, I was so happy. After I had finished laughing, I put my mask safely in the bedstand drawer next to my bed and set my cloak down on my trunk. After I slid off my shoes, I laid back onto my bed, replaying the night over in my mind.

I heard people begin to come through the common room door and soon enough, I heard the familiar footsteps up to the dormitory.

"Hey mate, how'd tonight go?" James asked me eagerly as he and Remus perched down on the edge of my bed.

"Best-night-ever," I breathed to him as I leaned over and let myself drift to sleep with thoughts of that kiss fresh in my head.

Best night ever.