Chapter 16: Hogmanay

Disclaimer: Everything you recognise still belongs to JK Rowling. I'm just playing with her wonderful creations.

Author Note's: Firstly, I would like to wish all the readers and PP admins a belated Merry Christmas. I hope it was a good one for you all. I'd hoped to get this chapter up before Christmas, but time just vanished on me. Beta kudos, as always, goes to DracoGurlFurever – thank you! Also, thank you if you left me a review for the previous chapter.

And, in exciting news, my wonderful friend, Meda, gifted me with another beautiful banner for this story for Christmas. I love it because it is so completely Sirius and Sophia.

So, without further ado, here is the chapter, and if you would like to leave a review, I would love to know what you think of it.

Chapter 16: Hogmanay

'So, Soph, what's the situation with Hector?' Melanie asked as soon as the door to their bedroom was closed.

'Huh?' Sophia asked. 'He's just a good friend, and that's all – why?' She put her bag on one of the beds and looked at Melanie curiously, only to see that her friend was looking ever-so-slightly flushed. 'You like him, don't you?' Sophia exclaimed, attracting the attention of the other three girls as well.

The flush deepened on Melanie's cheeks. 'Maybe,' she replied evasively. 'It's not as if he's bad looking, is it? You and he seem very friendly, though.'

Sophia noted the slight slump of Melanie's shoulders as she finished speaking. 'Melanie, there is nothing more than friendship between Hector and me, nor has there ever been anything there. We've just spent a lot of time together growing up – after all, I've known him longer than I've known any of you here. We don't get to see each that often these days, so, when we do, we have a tendency to get a bit excited. You should ask him to dance this evening; he's really good, so you'd be in safe hands,' Sophia replied with a smirk and a wink.

'Maybe I will,' Melanie replied shyly; all five girls started giggling.

The girls quickly unpacked their things before wrapping themselves up in warm clothes for the snowball fight. The Marauders were waiting in the hall for them, and Sophia quickly led them to Hector's room. After a quick knock, Hector emerged.

'So, what we doing?' he asked.

'Two words – snowball fight,' Sophia replied with a grin.

'Brilliant,' came Hector's reply. 'Glad to see yer all suitably dressed, too. It's Baltic out there!'

The teenagers all made their way outside, and the snowball fight began – boys against girls. For the next hour, the air was filled with the sound of laughter and shrieks as snowballs flew back and forth. Sophia concentrated her efforts on Hector, Remus and Sirius, whooping with pride when she managed to hit Sirius squarely on the back of the head and Remus squarely on the backside. However, it was Lily and Hector who had the best aims; apparently, the others had relied on magic to help guide their snowballs for too long. Eventually, the sky grew dark and the game came to an end, with the boys claiming victory.

'What do you want to do now?' Hector asked, looking around the group, rubbing his hands together for warmth.

'Not sure; what time is it, anyway?' Sophia muttered to herself as she looked at her watch. 'Holy moley, it's gone four o' clock! We need to start getting ready!'

'Getting ready for what?' Peter enquired.

'For tonight, of course!' Sophia exclaimed.

'Soph, the meal isn't until seven thirty. You can't possibly need three hours to get ready?' Remus asked, his face clearly showing his disbelief.

'Of course we do!' she responded, sounding equally shocked. 'Remus, we have one bathroom, and five girls – you do the math. Anyway, we can't waste any more time arguing with you lot, so we'll meet you in the entrance hall at twenty past seven, okay?'

'Yeah ... okay, then,' Remus replied, still looking completely bewildered.

'Soph, I have to be with my parents in the ballroom from seven, so I'll see you in there. We are all at the same table, so come find me, and I'll take you to it,' Hector said before Sophia left. She nodded her understanding, and the five girls left to go back to the castle.

The girls took turns showering before also taking turns to help each other apply makeup and doing their hair. Sophia had decided to wear her hair up in a loose chignon; she had left a few curls free to frame her face. It seemed completely paradoxical that a hair style that was supposed to look slightly messy and natural took so long to perfect, she thought.

She had sought out Lucy's help to apply her make-up; the mascara made her naturally long and curly eyelashes look even longer and thicker. Her dress looked beautiful on her – if she did say so herself, she thought wryly – and she finished it off by putting on the necklace that Sirius had given her for Christmas.

'Everybody ready?' Lily asked. The four other girls nodded their heads, and they all turned to leave the room.

The Marauders were waiting for the five girls at the bottom of the stairs.

'Wow ... you look ... just wow,' James stuttered quietly, staring at Lily, who blushed slightly in reply.

'Well, don't you all look smart,' Sophia said cheerily as she got to the bottom of the stairs and saw the boys, who were all dressed in their kilts.

'Indeed they do!' Naihm chimed in, looking over each of the boys in turn.

'Shall we go, then?' Peter asked excitedly.

'Yeah, I would say so,' Sophia replied. 'The ballroom is down the corridor and to the left.' Sophia pointed in the right direction; Remus led the way as everyone else followed. Sophia was about to move off when Sirius held her arm.

'What's wrong?' she asked quietly, quickly searching his face for a clue to what the problem was.

'Nothing ... I ... just wanted to say that you look really beautiful tonight, actually,' he replied, looking deeply into her eyes. She felt her cheeks flush and found that she couldn't keep his gaze. 'You're wearing the necklace I gave you,' he commented quietly, his gaze fixed on the flowers resting on her chest.

'Yeah,' she replied, unconsciously touching the flowers. 'I thought it looked nice with the dress.' He looked back up to her and smiled brightly, causing her breath to catch slightly. In a desperate attempt to compose herself, she cleared her throat. 'Anyway, we should probably get going; they'll wonder what's happened to us.'

The ballroom had been decorated with a Scottish theme – the dark panelled walls were covered with tartan banners, and the circular tables were covered with crisp, white linen cloths, on which were sitting vases filled with heather and thistles. The tables were arranged around the outer edges of the room in order to create a dance floor in front of the raised stage at the far end of the hall.

They located Hector, who led them to a table on the right-hand side of the room, near to the stage. Sophia sat down next to Lily, and Sirius sat on her other side, ready for the meal to be served at eight. At the arrival of the main course, Sophia had been forced to stifle her giggles at Lily's face when she saw the haggis.

'Good grief, Sophia,' Lily exclaimed. 'It looks vile!' For added effect, she prodded it suspiciously with her folk, wrinkling her nose up as she did so.

'Just try it, Lily,' Sophia answered.

'Aye, try it,' Hector added, taking a bite of his own haggis and smiling at her.

'I'm with Lily,' Lucy stated. 'It looks disgusting, and smells revolting, too.'

'I'll try it,' Sirius said; even though his stomach was churning at the idea, he was determined not to be outdone by Hector. Summoning his Gryffindor bravery, he sliced off a section of haggis, smothered it with potato in an effort to hide the food, or so it seemed, and shoved it straight in his mouth. Chewing quickly, he swallowed and grinned. 'Not bad,' he answered, to the unspoken question of his friends.

Seeing Sirius eat it and not die or vomit apparently gave the rest of the boys the push they need to try the haggis, too. After they had all eaten it successfully, Melanie and Naimh also braved it. While they weren't overly enthusiastic about it, they did say it wasn't completely unpleasant.

'Come on, you two, just try one bite,' Sophia coaxed.

Lily and Lucy looked at one another.

'I will if you will,' Lily said.

Lucy chewed on her lip as she looked at the food on her plate. Eventually, she gave a nod, and both girls simultaneously took a small bite. After two chews, their faces screwed up in distaste before they swallowed hurriedly and both reached for their glasses of water. The whole table laughed at their responses as both girls swore one bite of haggis was enough to last them the rest of their lives.

After the meal had drawn to a close, Donald appeared on the stage to address the guests and introduce the ceilidh band who would be providing the music for the evening. At the end of his short speech, he handed over control to the band.

'Good evening, everybody!' said the man playing the fiddle. 'Our first dance for the evening is the Military Two Step, so, gents, if you would like to take your partner onto the floor, we will run through the steps quickly before the dance starts.'

A few couples started to walk onto the dance floor, including Donald and Mary and Sophia's parents. Hector, who had been sitting next to Melanie through the meal, stood and asked if she would like to dance. Sophia suppressed a giggle as Melanie turned beet red before nodding in agreement and leaving the table. James, Remus, and Peter shifted about nervously; none of them apparently seemed to want to follow Hector's lead, but Sirius stood and held out his hand to Sophia.

'Well, Sophia – would you care to dance?'

'I would love to,' she replied as she took his hand, giving him a friendly smile as she did so. When they reached their spot on the dance floor, Sirius leaned into her and whispered in her ear.

'I'm counting on you to make me look good; you know that, don't you?'

She couldn't help but giggle slightly as he did that – partly due to what he was saying, but also because of the feel of his breath on her bare neck, which quickly sent goosebumps down her arms and spine. She nodded slightly to confirm that she would do her best.

All though the dance, Sophia gave Sirius short instructions about what he was supposed to be doing; after a few repetitions he was beginning to get the hang of it. Their polka was becoming fast and furious, causing them to start overtaking other couples as they toured the dance floor. By the time the band finished, Sophia was out of breath and dizzy, but she couldn't stop smiling.

'Well done! That was great for your first ceilidh dance,' she told Sirius as they walked back to the table.

'You know, I think I can see why you like this so much. I never would have guessed that dancing in a skirt could be so much fun!'

'Sirius! It's not a skirt!' she retorted, giving him a playful slap as she did so, which caused him to let out a bark of laughter.

Sophia danced the next dance with Remus, and found that he didn't have the same natural flair for dancing that Sirius did. Eventually, after nearly falling over their feet during one polka, Remus resorted to lifting Sophia cleanly off her feet and spinning her round for the polka sections, much to her amusement. The second dance also saw Lily and James up on the dance floor together, though Sophia noticed that they kept a respectful distance from one another. Still, it was a step in the right direction, as far as she was concerned.

Sophia partnered James for the third dance, which was the Flying Scotsman – the first set dance of the evening. Sophia and James were in a set with Remus and Lily, Sirius and Niamh, and Peter and Lucy; they had all subtly decided to leave Melanie and Hector at their table alone.

The dance actually went reasonably well, apart from when Sophia and James got slightly carried away during one part of the dance and collided rather forcefully with the top two couples of another set. Not that either of them were bothered by the angry glares they received after doing it – they were laughing too much to notice.

~~~~~

'Well, I'm far too hot in here – think I might go outside for a moment,' Sophia said, fruitlessly trying to fan herself with her hands.

'Think I might join you, if that's okay?' Sirius asked. Since he'd seen her walk down the stairs to the entrance hall, he'd wanted to get her alone to talk to her and ask her on a date, and this seemed the perfect opportunity.

'Sure,' she replied with a smile.

The night was perfectly still, with only a light covering of clouds in the sky, and the snow-covered ground reflected the light from the moon and the stars in an eerie fashion. They followed the cleared path around the edge of the castle in silence for a few minutes, Sirius staring at her surreptitiously all the while.

The ferocity of the dancing had caused her bun to start slowly unravelling; as a result, more strands of hair framed her face and neck, and her cheeks were red from the physical exertion. All of this gave her quite a dishevelled look, but, to Sirius, she still looked just as beautiful as she had at the start of the evening, when he had seen her walk down the stairs.

He'd watched her dance all evening, unable to do anything but smile at her as she skipped across the dance floor. He'd never seen her look so happy and alive – it was almost like she was a different person.

'So, you having fun, then?' she asked Sirius, breaking his silent study of her.

'Yeah, it's great. I take it that you're enjoying yourself, too – you haven't stopped smiling all night,' he chuckled.

'Oh, I just love all this. I can't wait until we do the Strip the Willow dance!'

Sirius's eyebrow shot up at this comment; all thoughts of his previous intentions were briefly lost as he seized the opportunity to have a bit of fun. 'My, that does sound interesting,' he said slyly.

'What?' she replied, sounding confused.

She really can be slow on the uptake on some occasions, he thought to himself. 'Strip the Willow?' he repeated, enunciating his words as salaciously as he could.

'Sirius! Get your mind out of the gutter!' He let out a bark of laughter when he saw the look of shock and righteous anger on her face.

'You are so gullible! I love it,' he said, putting his arm around her shoulders and giving her a squeeze as they continued walking, then leaving his arm casually draped round her. 'So, what's so great about this dance, then, anyway?'

Sophia's anger seemed to have passed as she enlightened him. 'Well, it's really easy and it's just a whole load of spinning done really quickly.'

'You'll have to partner me for it,' he replied.

'Okay, but you'll have to be the one to tell Hector. I always partner him for it, although I dare say he'll be happy to dance it with Melanie this year,' Sophia chuckled.

'You're probably not wrong there,' Sirius replied. There was a brief silence as Sirius attempted to steady his nerves before he spoke again. 'Soph,' he started, stopping gracefully and turning her to face him. She looked up at him curiously, and he felt his heart rate increase exponentially. 'I wondered if–'

'There you are!' Hector appeared from around the corner, and Sirius let out an internal groan.

What's with this twerp? Why can't he just bugger off somewhere and leave Sophia alone? he thought bitterly, while doing his best to smile politely at the offending 'twerp.'

'You've got to get back inside – it's nearly midnight!' Hector had reached them now, smiling broadly, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he had interrupted a private conversation. He linked arms with Sophia and proceeded to pull her in the direction of the front door again. Sirius sighed resignedly and followed the pair back inside.

Inside the hall, everyone was lining up around the hall to form a large circle. Sirius slotted himself into the line next to Sophia and Lucy and copied everyone else by holding hands with the person next to him. The leader of the ceilidh band was counting down to the New Year; as he reached zero, the whole hall erupted into cheers of 'Happy New Year!' The band immediately started up again, and Sirius listened as Sophia and everyone about him began to sing.

'Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

for auld lang syne.'

Sophia had started to swing her arms back and forth as the singing had continued, and had then let go of his hand to cross her arms over her chest. Sirius looked around the hall quickly to see everyone crossing their arms over their chest before grasping hands with their neighbour again, so he followed suit. Sophia gave him a wide smile as she continued to sing.

'And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp!

for auld lang syne.'

Sirius watched in bewilderment as everyone around the circle started bouncing in place; as the chorus started, he felt himself being pulled forward by Sophia as everyone in the hall ran into the centre of the circle.

'For auld lang syne, my jo,

for auld lang syne,'

He'd barely managed to keep up with her before she stopped and ran backwards again to where they had started. The second time, he was quicker and felt more sure-footed as they raced to the centre of the circle once more.

'We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.'

As the band played the last notes of the song, everyone cheered and clapped before wishing everyone around them a Happy New Year once more.

'Happy New Year, Sirius,' Sophia said, grinning broadly as she hugged him tightly.

His hands wrapped around her waist and lifted her slightly off the ground. 'Happy New Year, Soph. I hope it's a good one for you.'

~~~~~

At some time after three in the morning, the girls returned to their bedroom; all of them instantly went to bed, exhausted from their long and eventful day. Sophia, however, lay on her back, unable to sleep. Her body was still buzzing from the ceilidh and her head was swimming with thoughts about Sirius.

He told me I looked beautiful, she thought to herself, unable to stop a smile.

He was probably just being nice, another voice in her head replied. Besides, you've already decided that you don't want to risk the friendship you have with him ... right?

Yes, but when we outside together, I'm sure he was trying to tell me something before Hector arrived; and the way he danced ... it was amazing, the first voice countered, a slightly wistful tone to it now.

Yes, but he's Sirius – he can make any girl feel special, and that's why it probably didn't mean anything to him; he just sees you as a friend. You know that, and if you keep up with these thoughts, you'll only make it worse for yourself, the second voice argued, becoming more stern in its attempts to crush the first voice's wild imagination.

The argument continued in her head until exhaustion finally got the better of her and she fell asleep.

Author's Notes:

'Auld Lang Syne' was written by the Scottish Poet Robert Burns, and it is traditionally sung at the chiming of the bells on New Year's Eve. There are several more verses, but typically only the first two verses are sung at New Year. It's also often sung at the end of Scottish wedding receptions or ceilidh and on Burn's Night.

If anyone ever gets the opportunity to go to a real Scottish ceilidh, I cannot recommend it enough. They are full of fun, laughter and dancing – just be warned, they really can cause bruises. I know this from personal experience! In case anyone is interested in what some of the dances look like, try the following videos on You Tube:

Military Two Step

Strip the Willow

Auld Lang Syne

(I particularly like the part where he says, 'Please be careful!' It's a good warning because I have fallen over and brought down two people on top of me doing the running in and running out!)