Meet you at the spot, half past ten o'clock
We don't ever stop, and we're never gonna change

8 : Here's to Never Growing Up (edited)

     As soon as it was midnight, Catherine threw the covers off of her. She was clad in a black sweater and her black jeans as she quietly tiptoed out of bed, careful not to disturb her sleeping friends. She tucked her wand in her back pocket and slipped out of her dorm, quietly padding to where the boys' dorms were and silently creeped in Fabian and Gideon's room. Entering, she saw the identical twins fast asleep under their blankets.

     She went to Fabian's side, gently shaking him. He moaned, peeping one eye open at her. "Cathy," he mumbled sleepily, sitting up in bed as he yawned.

     "Hi," she breathed out, "sorry to wake you, but what's the Slytherin password?"

     Fabian blinked at her before slowly processing her words. He murmured incoherently under his breath before slipping out of bed and to his drawers. He pulled one compartment out and rummaged through some papers before shutting it back close. He walked back to Catherine and whispered, "Muggles are losers."

     She snorted. "Merlin, that is a terrible password."

     Fabian yawned again, getting back under his covers and flipping his pillow to the other side. "Malfoy comes up with them, why don't you hex him while you're at it?"

     Catherine just giggled and gently ruffled his messy hair and Gideon's as well on her way out of their room. Quietly shutting the door behind her, she stepped to the direction of the Marauders' room, only to slam right into something. Catherine squawked, falling backwards just as a hand latched onto her wrist. She looked around, nothing but blank space in front of her yet she was certain a warm hand was gripping her wrist.

     A shimmer appeared in the air in front of her as a head full of curly black hair came into sight. She blinked. "Siri?"

     Sirius grinned mischievously at her, holding the invisibility cloak up in one hand. "'Ello, Cat. Tell me, do you normally drop by the boys' dormitories at night?"

     She rolled her eyes, shushing him. "What are you doing here?"

     "Just shut up and get in," Sirius muttered in a hushed voice, pulling her flushed against him as he smirked down at her reddening face. He threw the cloak around the both of them, slipping his arm around Catherine's waist to bring her closer to him.

     "Is this really necessary, Paddy?"

     Sirius shushed her in return, mocking what she had done to him earlier. "Have you got the dung bombs?"

     "Yeah," she replied, reaching over to tap the small bag she owned that had an extendable charm. As the two walked, Catherine mumbled, "Hey, Siri?"

     "Yes?"

     A small smile tugged up her lips as she whispered, "Thank you."

     Sirius stopped walking, making Catherine slow down as well to a stand beside him. He was watching her with a peculiar expression. "What are you thanking me for?"

     She shrugged. "I don't know — I guess for insisting to be my friend. You know, if it weren't for you I wouldn't have been close with the Marauders." She hesitated a bit before adding, "It's nice to have more friends."

     The planes of Sirius's features softened as he reached over to brush the back of his hand against hers. "Woman, you don't have to thank me for something like that."

     "I do sound pretty silly, don't I?" She laughed, waving a hand in the air dismissively before continuing to walk. "C'mon, let's get this show on the road."

     Sirius breathed out a chuckle, not even realizing that he was still looking at her fondly until she gave him an odd look. He cleared his throat followed after her until they approached the dungeons, whispering the password as the pair sneaked in silently.

     Catherine had continued walking, and were it not for Sirius swiftly pulling her back, she would've tripped over a Slytherin who buzzed himself with Firewhiskey and was currently passed out on the carpet. She shot him a thankful glance, carefully sidestepping the idiot before spotting a greasy mess of hair by the couches. On the emerald chesterfield nearby sat Nott, Goyle, and Crabbe — no sign of their leader wanna-be Lucius Malfoy.

     Catherine reached down to grasp the dungbombs out of her bag as she glanced at Sirius who was taking some soaps out of his pockets. 'What's that?' She mouthed.

     'It spawns crickets,' came Sirius's reply.

  Catherine leaned over to his ear to whisper, "Let's do their bathroom first, I have something for Snape's shampoo. Then we'll leave with dungbombs last. What about that?"

     Sirius winked at her in response as the two trudged their way passed Snape who was hunched over, furiously scribbling. Though he was extremely devoted to his stupid potions homework, he had his lip curled into a sneer as though he were mentally cursing Catherine and the boys. Catherine couldn't help it, a choked sort of snort escaped her, causing Snape's head to snap up and stare right into their direction. Sirius's hand clamped over Catherine's mouth as he tugged her closer to him under the cloak.

     Snape was staring hard at them as he hesitantly reached a hand out, narrowing his eyes while he tried to grasp at the air in front of him. Sirius immediately pulled Catherine to where their bathrooms are, far away from Snape who had nearly touched the cloak. As soon as the two had quietly entered the bathroom which was around the corridor, meaning hidden by public eye, Sirius hissed under his breath, "Are you bloody mental, Cat?"

     She rolled her eyes, smirking as she patted his chest — which was quite firm and muscular, if she must say — and slipped out of the cloak. "Calm down, Siri, the greasy monkey won't figure it out."

     Sirius snorted, pulling the cloak off of him as he began replacing all of the soaps with his magical one. "He's not stupid," he muttered before mumbling on what was the point of arguing when Catherine would never back down from a fight.

     Catherine's nose scrunched up from the slight smell that came from the boys' bathroom as she quickly searched for Snape's shampoo bottle (if he even had one) so that she could leave as soon as possible. Her eyes landed on a supply of toiletries labeled S.S. and surprisingly found a teeny tiny bottle the size of her finger that was filled halfway with shampoo. She smirked, swapping it with one of hers before glancing back at Sirius who was patiently waiting. Heat creeped up her neck when she realized he was staring at her with an odd emotion in his eyes.

     She coughed quite awkwardly, her eyes glancing around the room. Sirius smirked, cocking his head to the side as he watched her amusedly. He opened his mouth to say something when his eyes caught sight of the doorknob twisting. He cursed under his breath before striding to Catherine in two steps, bringing the cloak around them both as he slipped an arm around her waist.

     Catherine nearly squeaked at the sudden tug as she crashed sidewards to Sirius, her heart rate increasing in the thrill of almost being caught. She was stumbling over her feet when the door busted open to reveal Lucius Malfoy with that permanent haughty look on his face. She froze on her feet as Sirius placed his other hand around her mouth to make sure she doesn't blow their cover.

     They watched in anxiety if Malfoy would take a shower, hoping as hell that he wouldn't, but to their relief, he stood in front of a mirror. Sirius pressed his fingers tightly against Catherine's lips as she clenched her jaw hard, her teeth gnashing against each other while she tried her damn best not to laugh.

     Malfoy tousled his porcelain white hair a few times, staring at his reflection while turning his head side to side as he curled his lip to a smirk.

     This, Catherine could've handled. That was until he started talking to his reflection.

     "Merlin, Lucius." He winked at himself in the mirror. "You're so bloody fit and good looking. Why the hell doesn't anyone say this to you?"

     Catherine's knees gave up on her as tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. Sirius bit his tongue hard to prevent from laughing as he supported Catherine's weight, bring her head to his chest to muffle her soft laughter.

     When Malfoy finally left the bathroom, Catherine and Sirius bursted out laughing with their hands clasped over the other's mouths so they wouldn't be too loud. Soon, their laughs subsided into quiet chuckles as they withdrew their hands back to their sides. Sirius was grinning lopsidedly at her, making her breath hitch. "Come on," he finally muttered as he led Catherine back out of the bathroom.

     Catherine tagged along, preparing the dungbombs. The pair entered the common room that was gloomy and dark, making their way to Snape and Malfoy and his little group. The greasy monkey was now sifting through some homework papers as Catherine and Sirius went behind the couch. She bent down to her knees and rolled the bombs under the two couches. Instantly, she stood up and grasped Sirius's hand in hers, tugging him out of the Slytherin common room. Just as they entered the hallway, the Slytherins that were still awake started screeching their heads off.

     Sirius was now the one pulling Catherine as the pair made a mad dash back to their common room. The two, still giggling every now and then, settled down as they collapsed on the couch.

     "Oh, Merlin, that was bloody awesome!" Catherine laughed, breathing heavily as she reached over to slap palms with Sirius. "I must say, you're not that bad, Black." Her eyes caught the small heap of sweets from Honeydukes that the Prewett twins left for her. "Ooh, treacle fudge," she said happily and ate a bit.

     Sirius flashed her a cocky grin. "Back to the surname basis now, are we, Valentine?" His eyes dropped from meeting her gaze to staring at something on her cheek.

"Ah, the James Potter in you, I see." She cleared her throat and rephrased her words, "You were pretty awesome, Paddy."

     "And?" His smirk telling her that he wanted more praise.

     "And you were brilliant."

     "And?"

"And you came just in time with the Invisibility Cloak."

"And?"

     "There's nothing more! Bloody hell, Siri, you don't get contented that easily, do you?" Catherine couldn't help but laugh.

Sirius retorted, "Well, you missed out on the part with me being good looking through it all."

     She snorted, pushing herself off the couch. "Dream on, Siri. Anyways, I'm off to bed. Goodnight, Sirius Black."

     "Wait!" his voice suddenly stopped her as she whirled around to face him in confusion. Sirius stood up, hesitating slightly before striding closer to her.

Catherine's eyes widened as she suddenly staggered a step backwards from the boy who continued invading her personal bubble. "Siri, what are you — ?"

     Sirius hesitated at first before reaching a tentative hand forward to cup her jaw, using his thumb to wipe off the piece of eyelash stuck to her cheek. As he skimmed his eyes up from Catherine's cheek to her nose and to her eyes, he suddenly froze.

     Just then did Catherine realize how close they were standing to each other. Sirius's grey eyes bored into her jade green ones, they were so close that she could count each and every one of his lashes. Their noses were a few centimeters from touching, their foreheads nearly pressed to each other's since Sirius had to bend down to reach her height which was shorter than his.

     Catherine was suddenly aware of Sirius's fingers that were practically scorching her skin in the jaw as his hand slowly slid around the back of her neck. She couldn't breathe, she wanted to disappear this very moment. She knew her face must be scarlet red by now, and she wanted nothing more than to be hidden away under her blankets in her bedroom.

     Sirius was confused as hell. He didn't understand what in Merlin's name was happening. All that was running across his mind was that there was something about Catherine Valentine that was driving him to the point of insanity. As though he had to do something.

Catherine had to put a stop to this.

     Before he could process what was happening next, Catherine suddenly jumped away from him, laughing nervously. She cleared her throat as she avoided his eyes. "Thank you, Siri. You truly are living up to a best friend, yeah?"

He's been insisting since day one that they'd be best friends, she didn't want that line to be crossed to the point of no return. She was already in a fake relationship with his best friend, she would hate to be involved in something with Sirius as well in addition to it.

     Those words were a slap to his face, reminding him of his current situation and his friendship to Catherine. What was Sirius even thinking? He didn't feel anything for her, he was just having one of those moments where he had to find a girl and do a little flirting. That was just probably it. He needed someone to give him the attention he wanted.

     Sirius's eyes hardened as he forced out a chuckle, scooping the cloak in his arms as he nodded at her boyishly. "G'night, Cat." Then without a second glance, he spun around and stalked off to his bedroom.

»»•««

     "Oi, Cathy, get your arse up!"

     Catherine groaned, reaching over to smother her face with a pillow to muffle her heavy swearing at Lily. She heard Lily sigh deeply before the covers were snatched off her body. She hissed like a cat at Lily who just rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on, Cathy! You've got to come down to breakfast already! There's quite the surprise waiting for you."

     Catherine slowly sat up, stretching her slightly sore muscles before blinking drowsily at the redhead. "Did you eat without me?"

"No, I woke you a tad bit earlier today. James Potter caught up to me in the common room a while back. He asked me if I wanted to join him for breakfast since he had a surprise." Catherine snorted, knowing that their cover was nearly blown again. Lily continued, helping Catherine up to her feet. "Of course, I told him to bugger off. The toerag laughed before saying that he was joking and he actually just wanted me to tell you that he has a surprise for you at breakfast."

     Catherine eyed Lily for a moment, taking in her contented and delighted face. Though she knew the answer, she asked anyways, "Are you jealous, Lils?"

     Lily gave her the reaction she had expected. She bursted out laughing so hard that she had to hold herself up against the bed post for support. "You cannot be serious, Cathy."

Catherine shrugged as she started to prepare her clothes on her bed. "Dunno — was just curious from all the times Potter used to flirt with you and whatnot," she mumbled.

"And how do you feel about it being you now?"

Catherine paused, letting her mind wander to James Potter and his ridiculous grins and witty remarks and his strange knowledge on Jack Frost. She didn't even realize there was an odd half-smile on her face until she caught sight of Lily's shit-eating grin.

"You really do like Potter, don't you?"

     Catherine was unable to stop the sudden bark of laughter from escaping her before she quickly pressed her lips together to stop. She cleared her throat and attempted to answer seriously, "Yes, I do. Now, may I take a shower, Queen Lily?"

     "Yes, you may." Lily shooed her away in a silly gesture, causing the two girls to laugh.

     Catherine showered, taking her time to clean her hair with her favorite white-strawberry-and-mint scented shampoo and conditioner. She liked this one so much better than her previous one which was white-grapefruit-and-mosa-mint scented. She changed into her uniform, pushing the sleeves up to her elbows since their first class would be Care of Magical Creatures and they wouldn't need to use their robes outside. She ran a brush through her hair after using a drying spell on it and clipped a few strands of her hair to the side. The right side of her face had wisps of hair framing that part, whereas the left side was stylishly pinned up.

     The pair made their way to the Great Hall together, seeing as how Marlene and Alice had already left before Lily even woke Catherine up. As they walked through the doors, Catherine's eyes immediately fell on James Potter who was sitting on the edge of the table with his feet on top of the bench. He was wildly telling the other Gryffindors of how the Slytherins had been pranked right under their noses last night while he ate his plate of breakfast that he set on his lap.

     "You wanted to see me, Prongs?" she mumbled, eyeing him warily as though something terrible would happen. She slid into the seat next to him, grabbing an empty plate to set before her as she began to pile eggs.

     James halted his storytelling, his hazel eyes falling on the girl waiting for his reply. A huge grin lit up his face as he set his plate down and hopped off the table. "There she is! The Slytherins' worst nightmare has arrived!"

     "Gee, I sound lovely." She glanced over to his half-eaten plate to see that James had only eaten the yolks of his sunny side up eggs and left the egg whites uneaten. "Are you going to eat that?"

"No, you can have that," James said briefly as Catherine happily took his egg whites and gave her the yolks of her eggs.

     Their Gryffindors buddies cheered, the Prewett twins being the loudest.

"What did I ever do to earn myself such a lovely girlfriend? Who knew she'd have the same interests as I would?" James clicked his tongue approvingly while nodding his head as he made Catherine sit on the bench. "Pranking, Snivellus, Quid — "

     Catherine faked a gasp, her eyes twinkling as she looked up at James. "Snivellus? I didn't know you swung that way, James."

     The table laughed, Remus rolling his eyes good naturedly as Peter, who was sitting on Catherine's other side, choked on his pumpkin juice. James just muttered something under his breath before plopping himself his seat next to Catherine. "Anyways, speaking of Quidditch. I've got something for you," he spoke rather loudly and cleared his throat dramatically so everyone — Lily — was paying attention.

     James reached over Frank Longbottom and grabbed a huge turquoise colored box with a navy blue ribbon. The whole Gryffindor table gasped as James pulled another box out and placed it on top of the larger one. The second one he had brandished in front of everyone else was a small, velvet box and everyone knew what jewelry was inside of boxes like those.

     James leaned over to Catherine, placing his head level to hers, the close proximity making Catherine a bit dizzy. A gentle tug of his lips pulled his mouth into a small smirk. "Open the larger one first."

     Catherine was rather confused and slightly nervous by now. Everyone knew James Potter never gave gifts. On Christmas, he only gave to the Marauders and not even in public. To Lily Evans? The only gift he gave was his bloody presence. So this little session they were having seemed to set something off to the other students.

     Catherine gulped quite audibly, James's fanclub glaring at her rather viciously. They reminded her of something vaguely