Taste of Youth

The dinner before the train was set to leave was one of the biggest feasts I’d ever seen. Lily and Alice were chattering about their plans again and I was laughing at a prank the boys had done of a few Slytherin’s before they sat down. Sirius kept bugging me about my birthday, what day was it, what presents did I want, what had I done last year. I kept ignoring his questions opting to question him about the girlfriend he’s been neglecting and found that he did not in fact date her anymore. I listened to Lily lecture him about it. I didn’t mean to start laughing, it was just the concept of Sirius actually listening and abiding to any rules that didn’t involve Quiditch was comical.When the feast was over, the common room party was in full swing. I’d tried to avoid it entirely only to be caught by Sirius sneaking up the dorm stairs and he pulled back down into the party.

The boys had the whole thing planned out to a T, I’d never seen anyone so good at throwing a party before. Sirius had turned a couch near the wall next to the fireplace into a bar filled to the brim with every kind of wizarding drink made and was making his own concoctions with wild flourishes. James was moving about the room entertaining anyone who seemed to be getting bored and keeping everyone laughing with his astounding people skills. Remus had settled down with the people who weren’t interested in drinking or dancing and had easily made them all at ease in the environment. Peter was tucked away in the corner switching records at a constant rate and looking surprisingly comfortable to do so. It was impressive.

I settled down next to the fire with one of my books hiding between two seats. If I had a choice I wouldn’t be part of the part only for the reason that I didn’t like the noise and the socializing factor. After a while the couch was pushed a little away from me and Sirius slipped in across from me holding two Butterbeer’s. He banged my knee with his foot and apologized offering one of the drinks.

“What are you doing down here?” Sirius questioned me looking amused, “Hiding?”

“I guess the gig is up.” I made a face at him and smiled, “I’m not good with big groups.”

“You do alright with us.”

“I don’t have much of a choice.” I tilted my Butterbeer toward him, “The only reason I met you all so quickly was because Lily wouldn’t let me stay in the dorm.”

“She’s good at that.” He grinned and clicked the rim of his glass with mine, “Looking forward to Christmas?”

“I’m a Scrooge, I never look forward to Christmas. You’re not going to spend it with your family?”

Sirius shook his head, “Not if I can help it. Christmas with the Blacks is never a pleasant occasion.”

“I can only imagine.” I smiled and patted his knee, “I get it though, I never liked the Christmas’ I had with mine.”

He nodded slowly, “What do you want for your birthday?”

“Merlin, you boys are ruthless. It took me an hour to get Remus to leave me be.”

He laughed at me, “So answer the question and you won’t have to deal with it.”

“I don’t want anything.” I spread my fingers out from my glass and searched for a way to explain, “It’s been a really long time since people have asked me what I wanted and when they do now, I just…don’t have anything to say.”

Sirius took a second before he answered with a grin, “So you’re just a timid little Hufflepuff underneath all that Gryffindor armor.”

I laughed before I could stop myself, “You are ridiculous.”

“It’s why you love me.” He bumped my leg with his shoe teasingly, “On your birthday, we’ll go do something. That’ll be your present.”

“Aren’t those things supposed to be a surprise?”

“I never told you what we’d be doing.” He grinned as James poked his head in our space, “We running out of drinks and need a bartender?”

James grinned wide, “Right on, Padfoot. You’re up. Evening, Luce!”

As Sirius struggled to get up I smiled at James, “Evening, Jamie. Am I allowed back in my tower now?”

“Sure thing, Princess," James joked grinning warmly, "unless of course you’d like to stay and party.”

“Not at all.” I took James’ extended hands and hauled myself up banishing my Butterbeer somewhere.

“Hey!” Sirius protested as he brushed himself off, “You said you hated being called Jamie.”

I nudged the boy and grinned, “Lily said it was cute.”

Sirius let out a barking laugh, “Of course.”

“Lily and Luce are the only ones allowed to call me that,” James cuffed Sirius in the back of the head, “so don’t get any ideas.”

“Aye, aye Capitan Prongs.” Sirius saluted James and caught me by the arm as I was making my escape.

“Sirius!” I yelped as he nearly toppled me, “Stop doing that!”

His laugh managed to override the music and he hugged me from behind ruffing my wild hair with one of his big hands, “Night, Luce.”

I knocked the back of my hand against his stomach, “Good night, you pain.”

Sirius released me at the call for more drinks and I slunk off up the dormitory stairs. I could still hear the pump of the music when I reached the dorm door and I could still feel the boards vibrating underneath my feet. I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair as the door banged behind me. My fingers got caught in the tangles Sirius had created and I tugged them free taking several strands of my insane hair out as well.

Lily was still downstairs enjoying her last hurrah of the holiday season, so the dorm was terribly empty while I got ready for bed. It wasn’t too long ago that this emptiness would have been normal. I gave up trying to close the window on my side of the dorm and hunkered down in bed to think more than to sleep. It would be Christmas soon and I would be sixteen. One more year and I would be of age and able to do magic outside of the castle walls, one more year and I would be able to throw myself completely into the up and coming fight. One more year to be nothing more than a frazzle-brained teenager.