let's escape reality, just you and me

[James Sirius Potter]

Things were finally starting to feel normal again. Or as close to normal as Sirius could remember things being for quite some time now. Leaning back in his office chair with his legs stretched out and his feet up on the desk, a mischievous grin played on his face.

While Claire was out for a meeting, Sirius had made use of his time by planning a night he hoped Claire would both enjoy, and remember for some time to come.

In the past month, they had been through absolute hell once again. Cato Blackwell had toyed with his mind and gotten under his skin in a way that had led him to lie to Claire, something he had never done before – and after which promised he never would again. (Tricking Claire into a date wasn’t technically lying, right?)

His daughter had been kidnapped, he had almost been killed, and Claire, she had been injured and still managed to save his life – and had to deal with his constant complaints of frustration and boredom over the weeks of healing that followed.

After all of that, they both deserved a night to themselves, to forget all the regular worries of life and just… be Sirius and Claire…

Sirius had only been back in the office for a few days, and was restricted to his desk work, interviewing, interrogating, anything that didn’t require any real physical effort – but at this point, even that was good enough for him. Immediately upon returning to work his mood changed, he was able to keep busy now that he had more than just files to look through.

He had people to assign to cases, paperwork to review and sign off on, meetings to be at, there was more than enough to finally keep him occupied, it was overwhelming and relaxing all at once. It kept him focused on what needed to be done – figuring out what the hell Blackwell wanted with all of them, and how to stop him.

But not tonight. An hour or so ago, when Claire had gotten up to go to the last meeting for the day, Sirius plan had gone into motion.

He ran a hand in his hair, sighed heavily and said, “Love, think you can handle this one on your own? I’m not really feeling up for the walk across the ministry right now… besides, you don’t really need me for this, do you?” He knew she would know it was a combination of a truth and an excuse – he was still having trouble with his knee, but this was also a meeting he notoriously skipped as often as he could get out of it – regardless, it had worked.

Once Claire was out of the office, Sirius grinned widely and waved his wand at all the files spread across his desk, so they would sort themselves out and go back into cabinets where they belonged. He then stood, steadying himself by leaning on his desk after sitting for so long, and stretched before apparating to a restaurant, reserving a table for the two of them that was on an outdoor balcony, private, and with an amazing view.

Since the night they got together the two of them hadn’t really had much of a chance to have a proper date – and Sirius decided it was long overdue to make time for it, whether Claire would agree or not. After all, he had been married before, and he knew that relationships just need these sorts of nights – especially with the amount of stress they had been under lately. Not to mention the constant threat to their lives, and those of their family and friends as well. Amongst all of that, a night of normalcy was just what was needed occasionally.

When he got back to the office he limped over to his desk and let himself sit, or fall rather, into his chair, and thought over how he was going to get Claire to come with him. Then he smirked a little, grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill and ink, and waved his wand so it would write, so she wouldn’t recognize it as his handwriting. Minutes later the previously blank parchment had the address to the restaurant scribbled on it, along with a time – 6:30pm – and a note saying someone needed to speak with him and Claire privately, regarding the Nex.

Since Claire had returned to work pretty much immediately after finding out he was going to recover, albeit slowly, she had been very focused on getting any information she could on the Nex, Cato Blackwell, and the missing “son” of his, Blaine (who appeared to be on their side now). The main goal for the aurors and the whole Department of Mysteries right now was to keep people safe, stop as many Nex members as possible – and finding out how to put this hell with Blackwell to an end once and for all.

Neither of them had really taken a break from it at all – Claire while running the department in his absence and Sirius working off of files at the house while recovering. This of course, meant that getting Claire to take a break from it all wasn’t going to be as simple as saying “Hey, let’s go out to dinner and not talk about any of this.” So, Sirius figured he could trick her into going to the restaurant by making it look like they were meeting a source on the Nex, and once they were there, his hope is that it would catch her off guard enough that she may just go with his crazy date night idea and in the course of the evening, perhaps finally relax.

Once the faux-note was in place on her desk, Sirius dug in one of his desk drawers for the bottle of whiskey he always had stashed, and took a long swig, pleased with his handy-work. Playing pranks on one another was something they had done since they were very young – and no matter how old they got, Sirius always found pleasure in seeing one of these plans unfold (even when they don’t go exactly how he expected them to). He slipped an old metal flask out of his pocket and filled it with the amber liquid, taking one more sip from the bottle before putting it back in his desk, and the flask in his pocket once more.

Then he stretched his legs out, put his feet up on his desk, grinning a triumphant and mischievous grin. That was, until he heard Claire coming back into the office from the meeting. Immediately his telling grin faded into the same annoyed expression he often wore when having to adjust the worn-out knee brace he constantly wore these days. He leaned forward and rubbed his knee, and pulled the brace more snugly around his leg and was fiddling with it by the time Claire reached their doorway.

“So, what did I miss?” he said casually while fixing the brace and pretending to be annoyed and focused on that, though he was mentally grinning. He was actually excited to have Claire annoyed with him for tricking her if it meant they could get a single night where they could put work, the Nex, and Blackwell aside, and actually enjoy themselves for a change.

[Claire Pierce]

Claire was tired. She was tired of sitting at her desk not doing anything active, because there hadn’t been anything good recently, no reason to leave the office for anything but some interviews and small incidents. She was tired of getting nowhere with everything going on. By now she was weary from months, and years, really, of this. It didn’t help that she was tired, worn out and exhausted and not sleeping, though that gone on for far more many years. Rest, a real break, didn’t feel like it was close at all.

It had been a few months of hell: late nights at the office and extremely late nights at home, too many days and nights in the hospital, more danger and trauma in a handful of months than anyone should have to handle, even in her job. Things were settling now, still tense, but at least they were normal, or some semblance of it. Claire was at work every day, long days but not as bad. Sirius was back in his seat across from her as of this week. She’d been in the office, only leaving for minor incidents or interviews and running around the building for endless meetings. That very day she had spent much more time meeting with people - their full staff, her teams, and a variety of people around the ministry - than she had had to herself (and Sirius). She wasn’t getting stir crazy from only being inside the building for the third day in the row, but she was a bit bored. It was a difficult balance, boredom and excitement, calm and dangerous circumstances.

Later in the afternoon, Claire pushed back from her desk and all of its papers and said, “We need to head over for the meeting.” Sick of the day and being in the office, she slipped on her blazer and pulled on a pair of heels she kept in the office for meetings like this one, the ones where she had to be more official than the aurors tended to dress. The heels were hardly suited to fieldwork, but they were good for this sort of meeting. Claire wasn’t one to care about appearances very much, but she did care enough about fulfilling all aspects of her role. Unfortunately, sometimes that included dressing the part of an official, one of the many things Sirius didn’t like.

Meanwhile, Sirius hadn’t made any similar moves to get ready for the meeting. As she smoothed down her hair, he looked over at her and sighed. He asked, “Love, think you can handle this one on your own? I’m not really feeling up for the walk across the ministry right now… besides, you don’t really need me for this, do you?” Considering this for a few seconds, she shot him an exasperated look. “Sirius…” She didn’t even have to say, Oh, come on. Really? to him. He could surely sense it anyways. But then she thought about his knee, even though she saw it for the excuse it also was. He knew that using his knee or any injury as reasoning would work with her, as long as it wasn’t a completely ridiculous claim. “Oh, fine,” she said, giving in.

“I think I’ll manage without you.” This was light, with a little smile, as she got the papers she needed to bring with her. Sirius was always trying to find ways out of meetings and Claire was often showing up to meetings with him, but this meeting was probably the one he skipped the most frequently, whenever Claire would let him or he could find any excuse. If he came he would likely sit there silently, bored and annoyed. “You have to come to the next one then,” she said, trying to be serious but ending up smirking a bit. “This is the fourth one in a row that you’ve skipped, and only one was when you were out. Someone is going to say something eventually.”

She left him behind in their office and headed out of their department and down to a meeting room, with her notepad and her papers for the others. Taking her seat, she made her excuses for him, already a bit jealous that he got to miss this. When she returned to their office, Sirius was bent not over his work but over his knee brace, adjusting it with his usual frustrated expression. “So, what did I miss?” he asked when she stepped inside the room. “I have notes for you, but not very much. Mostly an unnecessarily long argument that just went in circles,” she said, dropping her notepad onto his desk for him to go through her neat notes. She was just glad to make it through the meeting without getting a headache.

Draping her blazer around the back of her chair and settling back in her spot again, she turned to her desk and stopped. A note, with a time and place and a request to talk privately. “What is this?” Claire asked, her voice and focus sharpening. “When did this get here? How?” She passed the note over to him, silently asking for his opinion. “Well, that is hardly a private place,” she remarked after he read it, drumming her fingers on her desk and frowning a little.

[James Sirius Potter]

“Sirius…” Claire had said when he asked if she really needed him to attend this meeting with her. The look on her face said everything she hadn’t – really? He was going to skip out on this meeting again? His own expression didn’t falter as he waited for her to agree. And it didn’t take long, as he expected it wouldn’t when he used the constant and dull pain in his knee as a reason not to go. “Oh, fine. I think I’ll manage without you.” she had said lightly, with a bit of a smile as she gathered up the rest of her papers. Pleased with that answer he grinned a bit, but didn’t say anything, continuing to flip through the file on his desk as she got ready to go.

On her way out however, Claire added, “You have to come to the next one then,” she said, trying to be serious but ending up smirking a bit. “This is the fourth one in a row that you’ve skipped, and only one was when you were out. Someone is going to say something eventually.” To this Sirius merely grinned back a little and said with a shrug of his shoulders, “Honestly, let them say something. It’s all they’ll do.” As soon as Claire was gone from the office, his plan had set in motion – and he couldn’t feel more pleased with himself and actually excited to get a night to themselves for a change.

When he heard Claire returning to the office he the quickest thing he could think to do as he sat there with his feet up on his desk was to lean forward and pretend to be fiddling with his knee brace as she walked in – something he did often enough that she wouldn’t question – as he asked her what he missed. However, about halfway through pretending to adjust the brace with a look of faux-annoyance he found himself genuinely frustrated and wondering if it was time to retire the old and worn one for something new. “I have notes for you, but not very much. Mostly an unnecessarily long argument that just went in circles,” he heard her say, followed by the sound of papers hitting his desk.

“And that right there, is exactly why I don’t feel the need to make it to those meetings… It’s always the same thing, really…” he said as he finally finished fiddling with his knee brace and leaned back in his chair, leaving his feet up on the desk. He more or less ignored the notes she left on his desk, and caught himself as he almost smirked when he heard her say ”What is this?”, indicating that she had found his scribbled meeting place. “When did this get here? How?” she said as she passed the note over to him, clearly searching for him to offer an opinion.

“Well, that is hardly a private place,” she remarked after he read it, drumming her fingers on her desk and frowning a little. Sirius simply shrugged his shoulders, looking up from the note at Claire across their desks. “I think it came in with the memos this afternoon, but I didn’t take a good look at it then… Or half of this afternoons stuff to be honest… Skimmed it over and nothing was marked urgent, so…” he trailed off. He ran a hand in his hair and looked back down at the poorly written note, as though pondering what they should do about it.

“I suppose we have to check it out, right?” Sirius said finally, looking up at her. “I’m itching to be out of the office, I know you are too… Plus, you said it yourself, it’s a public place… So either this person is insane and plans to commit mass murder, in which case we should probably be there to stop it; or they are actually trying to talk to us and want somewhere safe, which is my bet. They may not even show. Worst case scenario, we’ve wasted a few hours waiting around and I get to have a few drinks.”

[Claire Pierce]

After kicking off her heels and replacing them with her original pair of shoes, Claire passed her notes over to him, while he resumed his commentary about the meetings. “And that right there, is exactly why I don’t feel the need to make it to those meetings… It’s always the same thing, really…” Sirius said, leaning back in his chair with his feet up on his desk, and she just rolled her eyes. “You’re not exactly wrong,” she admitted, “but unfortunately we are supposed to go. And you do happen to be the head of this department, you know. That sort of thing is kind of part of the job.”

Sirius only gave her a shrug in response to her questions at first, until he added, rather nonchalantly, “I think it came in with the memos this afternoon, but I didn’t take a good look at it then… Or half of this afternoons stuff to be honest… Skimmed it over and nothing was marked urgent, so…” He looked a little thoughtful as he studied it, while she tapped her fingers on the desk, considering the note. But then Sirius looked back over at her and said, “I suppose we have to check it out, right?”

“Oh, sure, here’s a meeting you’d like to go to. You just want something more interesting to do,” she said, a cross between exasperated and amused. “I’m itching to be out of the office, I know you are too…” Sirius went on, and she laughed. There was a bit of an imbalance between the two of them in terms of that desire. Sirius was desperate to get out, even if he pretended he was one hundred percent happy enough to be back in the office, just doing paperwork. “Home is out of the office,” Claire pointed out. “I’m itching to lie on the couch with a book.” She would have said to go to bed, but they both knew that was unrealistic. That wouldn’t be happening for hours, no matter what.

He went on, saying reasonably, “Plus, you said it yourself, it’s a public place… So either this person is insane and plans to commit mass murder, in which case we should probably be there to stop it; or they are actually trying to talk to us and want somewhere safe, which is my bet. They may not even show. Worst case scenario, we’ve wasted a few hours waiting around and I get to have a few drinks.” Shooting him a dark look at that last option, which she was sure he had tried to slide in there as if she wasn’t going to notice, Claire only reminded him, “This is not field work.”

Sirius was right, though; it wasn’t likely that anything bad would happen there - not that she would be too surprised, of course. These days anything could go wrong, and pretty much had. Despite that, she really felt like nothing useful was going to come of this. The real surprise would be if this turned out to be anything helpful or important. If the person showed, she figured it would be a waste of time, all information they already had, someone who wouldn’t be of much help. Claire had plenty of experience with this, enough failed meetings and pointless contacts.

Sighing, she said, “And here I thought I might have a peaceful night after work.” As much as she wished she could delegate this to someone else, she knew they had to go. She certainly wasn’t going to go without Sirius, either. If she was going to keep working, he was going to be there with her, now that he was back at work. With that settled, however reluctantly, she returned to work, as they still had time before having to leave. Claire shifted the conversation and focus to one of their cases until Sirius looked impatient to leave, and sure enough, it was actually time. “All right, fine, let’s go,” she said. Once she had neatened her desk and pulled her coat on, she followed him out the door.

[James Sirius Potter]

“You’re not exactly wrong,” she admitted, “but unfortunately we are supposed to go. And you do happen to be the head of this department, you know. That sort of thing is kind of part of the job.” she said as he settled back into his chair, watching her as she went over the papers scattered across their desks where the small note was laying. “See, but that’s why you being my organized and detail oriented half get to go… You can tolerate it without getting vocally annoyed or falling asleep… and you even brought notes.”

When she found the note and questioned him on it, he did his best to play it off as though it were any other scrap of paper that he had seen but not really looked at in the course of his day. When he said he supposed they should check it out she scoffed – “Oh, sure, here’s a meeting you’d like to go to. You just want something more interesting to do.” Sirius couldn’t hold back the grin at this point – but now it was appropriate timing at least. Through a smirk he shrugged and said, “Can you really blame me?”

“Home is out of the office,” Claire pointed out. “I’m itching to lie on the couch with a book.” At this he sighed somewhat dramatically, “while I can go back to laying around bored out of my mind or driving myself crazy over case files.”

When he gave her the many reasons, he was able to come up with on the spot for why they shouldn’t skip out on this meeting he didn’t miss the sudden dark glare at his last comment about having a few drinks. He also couldn’t resist the small, innocent grin when she told him this wasn’t field work. “Maybe not, but it’s the closest I’m going to get for now, isn’t it?”

It was clear that she had been looking forward to going home and relaxing – he couldn’t entirely blame her, he knew how little she slept. Compared, his own occasional pain induced insomnia was nothing to complain about. However, he was happy to see that her curiosity had peaked just enough – and he had been just insistent enough – that he wasn’t surprised when she finally said, “And here I thought I might have a peaceful night after work,” as though confirming his thoughts.

Claire clearly wasn’t thrilled about this decision as she didn’t speak of it the rest of the afternoon – instead directing their attention to one of their more recent open cases and continuing to keep the focus anywhere else until it was almost time to meet this fictitious informant. She must have noticed his eyes darting to the clock on the wall more frequently as she eventually said, “All right, fine, let’s go,” as she straightened up her desk.

Sirius did the same, piling papers into an at least neat looking stack before getting up somewhat slowly – even if a lot of walking wasn’t feeling good right now, neither was sitting for too terribly long. Trying not to bring attention to it he leaned on the desk only for a moment, stretching his leg as he pulled on his coat before limping out the door with Claire just behind him.

“So, you ready for this?” he asked with a bit of a grin, clearly in a good mood – just waiting for her to realize they aren’t going there to meet anyone. They apparated home first to drop off case files and other unnecessary work items – and Sirius decided changing into more comfortable but still nice clothes was appropriate – then they apparated to the restaurant, just before the 6:30 meeting time.

When they arrived the host asked if they had a reservation – he told them they were supposed to be meeting someone there, he wasn’t sure if they had made one (luckily for him it was a different host than was working when he made the reservation that afternoon). After giving their names she smiled politely and told them they did have a reservation and lead them to the private balcony table. Sirius gestured for Claire to follow first and he limped along behind them with a pleased grin playing on his face.

[Claire Pierce]

Once in a while, or maybe more often than that, she wondered whether it would be good to have separate offices after all. The conclusion she always came to was in two parts - the reality was that they didn’t last long apart from each other, even in the office, and that Sirius really wouldn’t get much done without her there to glare at him. He certainly wouldn’t go to any meetings, she knew that for sure. She tried to remember that in this moment, when he continued on like this. “See, but that’s why you being my organized and detail oriented half get to go… You can tolerate it without getting vocally annoyed or falling asleep… and you even brought notes,” he said, clearly satisfied with his point. “What would you do,” she mused aloud, “if I stopped bringing notes back for you? Or if I stopped going to the meetings?”

He smirked and asked, “Can you really blame me?” “Absolutely,” she responded easily, lightly. And then he dramatically sighed, continuing to be the most ridiculous person in her life, because honestly, and said, “While I can go back to laying around bored out of my mind or driving myself crazy over case files.” She rolled her eyes at that, though she understood. “You know, we are allowed to do things other than obsessing over case files. There is a middle ground between bored and obsessed with work while at home,” Claire pointed out. She was aware that she could be called a bit of a hypocrite there, having spent her fair share of time at home working on cases, but in her defense she also spent plenty of her free time with other activities: reading, writing articles and essays and books, researching, working on spells. The fact that a large amount of that was other work didn’t need to be brought into this. It wasn’t Auror work, thank you.

He gave her dumb grin and said, “Maybe not, but it’s the closest I’m going to get for now, isn’t it?” “Yes, it is,” she said pointedly, and then added, “Oh, don’t get too excited. Meeting an informant who will just be a waste of time - the real reason we get into this line of work.” With that she went back to work, trying to be productive with the rest of the afternoon, until it was time to go.

When she settled work for the day, she stood to pull on her coat and put a few things in her bag. Meanwhile Sirius got up slowly, stiff and uncomfortable, and leaned hard on the desk for a moment. It was brief, but she caught it. Of course she did; it was ridiculous of him to think she wouldn’t notice that, or the limp he tried his best to downplay or conceal all the time, as if she didn’t know when anything was even a tiny bit wrong with him. She had spent years at this point attuned to his injuries, to the way his walk had changed over the years, the limp coming and going and changing.

“So, you ready for this?” he asked, the grin firmly back in place, entirely too pleased to be getting this tiny taste of field work. Claire did not grin back, just rolled her eyes, as they walked out of the department and headed home first. “Oh, sure. I can’t contain my excitement,” she said dryly. While Sirius went to change, she cracked open one of her current reads and waited for him, before they apparated again, this time to the restaurant. Sirius spoke to the host and they were led to a table across the restaurant, tucked on a balcony.

It was more private than inside the main dining area, which was good for a conversation, but perhaps not good if there was trouble. Claire eyed the restaurant from this vantage point, arms crossed, waiting. Across from her, Sirius still looked satisfied to be out of the office, out of their home.

It didn’t take long, but some time did tick by, while Claire glanced between the entrance and Sirius, who was studying the menu. She checked her watch once, twice, and watched the relaxed way he ordered a drink and went back to looking at the menu. Then she suddenly said, flatly, “There is no informant to meet, is there,” in a way that was not a question, because she had realized what must be happening. It was a lovely night, spring finally arriving in London, and the restaurant was nice, and Sirius was smiling at her over the table. Claire frowned at him, at the table, but it looked like she wanted to smile. He was dramatic.

[James Sirius Potter]

After being seated at the table, left with menus to look over while they waited for a server, Sirius couldn’t help but wonder how long it was going to take Claire to figure it out. Surely it wouldn’t take too long. Then again, she seemed to have no idea yet that they were on a date – and Sirius found this extremely amusing to say the least.

Things had been so chaotic, so stressful and just overall tiring lately for them both – this was exactly the sort of break they needed, and sure he could’ve just suggested going out to her, but where would the fun be in that? This way there was no way she could try and put it off for another night so she could plan for it better or a number of other things she could have come up with – she had clearly been set on relaxing at home until this unexpected “meeting” came up – and getting Claire to change her plans didn’t happen easily unless it was important.

When the server came and asked what they wanted to drink he ordered his usual whiskey – and then went back to studying the menu when they left. He flipped through it casually, occasionally glancing up at her as he caught her looking at her watch for the first time once about ten minutes had passed – glancing at the door and then around what they could see of the main dining room from where they were secluded outside.

Sirius did his best to keep a straight and casual demeanor – not letting her know what great satisfaction he was getting out of knowing that this had worked out so perfectly. It was just a part of his nature – from childhood pranking, messing with people, taking things to far, it was just part of who he was. Over the years, all the hell he had been through, it had brought an end to much of that – but even after everything, Claire brought out that playful side in him and he loved that.

When the server brought back their drinks, he took he thanked them politely and smiled in that charming way he tended to do as he picked up the glass and took a sip, glancing again at Claire. Their eyes met for only a second as she looked at him, her watch, the door, the dining room and back to him but he was now watching out of his peripheral vision while looking down at the menu again. He knew I was only a matter of time – almost twenty minutes had passed with them sitting there in the relaxing spring evening when she finally spoke up.

“There is no informant to meet, is there,” she said in a way that very matter-of-fact and now he couldn’t help but smile at her in a very – you caught me sort of way. “I don’t know what you’re talking about… They must be late or something,” he said with a shrug as he took another sip of his drink. Though his smile said it all – no, there was no informant – and yes, they were very much in the middle of what might be the first real date they had managed to go on since getting together after the ball.

[Claire Pierce]

Claire crossed her arms and surveyed him across the table, her disbelieving, not-taking-any-bullshit look firmly in place now, partially just so she wouldn’t let her lips twitch into a smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about… They must be late or something,” Sirius said, shrugging casually, not even bothering to act this out. He was already grinning at her, clearly pleased with himself.

She snorted and said, “Oh, sure, pretend to be clueless here,” absolutely refusing to smile or smirk back at him. “I can’t believe you forged a note from an informant instead of doing actual work,” she said, but of course she can absolutely believe it, and she’s laughing. It's so unsurprising she's a bit disappointed in herself for taking a bit to figure it out. She's just so unused to this being a part of her life; it still creeps up and surprises her during all kinds of the moments, when she wakes at dawn and he's there beside her, when he murmurs a flirty comment in her ear and they're still at work, when he got her flowers, apparently when he engineers a dinner date. "You tricked me by using our work against me. I feel like the last hope for this case has been crushed, now that there is no informant here to give me secret information that could be the key to it all."

“You couldn’t just ask me to go to dinner tonight?” Claire asked, sounding amused. "Like a normal couple?" She knew, of course, that so much about them wasn't normal. Sirius had gotten her to go to a ball with him, and he'd worn a tuxedo and they'd danced, and it had been a ridiculously dramatic way for him to ask her out. Their relationship so far was already dotted with other drama - battles and hospital stays and secrets they shouldn’t have had to have - because of the reality of their lives. Their relationship had taken years and years to happen, after nearly a lifetime of speculation and predictions from everyone around them, a favorite subject of gossip, the source of bets Claire pretended to not be aware of but knew were rampant at the Ministry, in their department, and in their own family. After years and years of wanting and hoping and wondering, of ignoring and being resigned to it never happening.

He was ridiculous, honestly, spinning a date out of a faked informant meeting. He was ridiculous and charming and still mischievous, and he was thoughtful and observant and romantic, and he was hers. She loved him. Sometimes she still couldn't believe she got to love him, and sometimes still couldn't believe that he loved her too.

Claire didn’t say anything about this just now, just smiled despite herself and looked back down at the menu. When the waiter - probably impatient at this point - came back to their table moments later, this time she ordered some food, giving in and accepting this was what was happening. Then, eyebrow raised, she asked, dry and cooly casual, “So what’s your grand plan here?”

[James Sirius Potter]

From the moment she let him know that she had figured it out, all his attempts at keeping the act going went out the window – it was time to enjoy this.

Sirius watched as she crossed her arms, giving him a look of total disbelief – though he knew how hard she was trying not to let that turn into a incredibly frustrated smile. It was strange to most, how they could both get along so well and get on each other’s nerves so much – they drove each other up a wall and they always had from the time they were very young. Yet somehow, there was no one he would rather spend his days with – and though it had taken years, he was truly happy to find them together finally all these years later. Something about it just felt natural and right – even if they weren’t the best at being a couple. Though, maybe that was part of what made them so great together?

“Oh, sure, pretend to be clueless here,” she said to him, holding back the grin that he knew was fighting its way out. “I can’t believe you forged a note from an informant instead of doing actual work,” she said – but that was when she couldn’t hold it back and started laughing. “Don’t lie to yourself, Claire…” he said with a smirk. “Besides, I didn’t just forge a note, I came here and made reservations too,” he added, still looking rather pleased with himself. “Honestly, I’m surprised it took you so long to call me out on it,” he said, taking a sip of his drink as he leaned back in his chair, really relaxing just a little for the first time in what felt like ages.

It wasn’t like they never got to make time for themselves as a couple – but it certainly hadn’t been a first priority for either of them with everything going on lately. Since they had first gotten together it had been one chaotic hell and trauma after the other and once in a while they just needed a break – even if it was only a few hours to enjoy a nice dinner on a beautiful spring evening in London. When she ranted about how he had used their work against her, with her extreme sarcasm about how there was no informant to give her the secret information that would help them understand it all, he couldn’t help but continue to grin, taking another sip of his drink. “Oh, common now. You can entirely believe I used our work against you, how else was I going to pull this off?”

“You couldn’t just ask me to go to dinner tonight?” she asked him, sounding almost amused with his dramatic antics. “Like a normal couple?” It was when she added that “normal” part that Sirius shook his head at her. “Now you know as well as I do that nothing about us, our relationship, or our lives in general, is what anyone would consider “normal,” Sirius said thoughtfully as he took another sip of his drink – that was nearing empty by now. “Besides, where would the fun be in that? Hmmm?” he looked at her curiously as he asked her this – she knew him well enough to know nothing was ever done simply – it was always to some extreme, whether it was complex quidditch moves, overworking, cooking them a way too elaborate dinner or tricking her into a date.

For a little bit after that she sat there quiet, smiling to herself as she looked down at the menu before the waiter finally came back to get their food order and to replenish Sirius whiskey as he had finished off the first drink while she decided on food. He ordered enough food for himself and at least a whole extra person – though they both knew he was going to eat all of it there – and sat back in his seat, smiling at Claire across the table as she asked what his grand plan was.

“To be honest, this was it,” he said, smile still firmly in place as he sipped his drink. “From here, it’s whatever you want, my love. I got what I wanted out of this already – setting this up and seeing your reaction when you figured it out was more fun than I’ve had in a long time.” 

[Claire Pierce]

“Don’t lie to yourself, Claire… Besides, I didn’t just forge a note, I came here and made reservations too. Honestly, I’m surprised it took you so long to call me out on it,” he said, smirking and looking entirely too pleased with himself. “Okay, don’t dig yourself a deeper hole here,” she pointed out. “Maybe I don’t want to know how much time you didn’t spend on work today.”

He looked so relaxed now, leaning back in his chair, drink in hand, that she couldn’t help but a smile a bit more. It was softer and less conscious and, yes, maybe even relaxed, even if that was something of a foreign concept to her. Claire probably hadn’t really, truly relaxed in years, or decades, or possibly her entire life. There were plenty of stories of Claire as a child, arms crossed and ordering the kids around so she could run lunchtime herself, or stressed about a quidditch match in a way that was beyond her years, or powering through a book and refusing to put it down because she insisted on finishing it like it was homework for a seven-year-old. She had never exactly subscribed to free time, even as a kid, always running around doing something, whether that was quidditch at nine or seventeen, work at twenty or thirty five, pranks at fifteen, or one of the other million things she had always insisted on doing.

The point was that Claire didn’t really relax. She didn’t see herself doing it anytime soon either, but she had always envied the way Sirius could take some time - any time he was given or could grab - and relax, with a drink and game to watch, a book on her couch, a dinner with family. He was more easygoing than she was, even these days, a good match for her as always. But it was infectious enough, and he’d tricked her well enough, that she smiled back at him, felt her shoulders loosen somewhat, and let herself sink into her a chair a little.

Sirius shook his head at her following her question about being “normal,” which she didn’t really take seriously either but had to say. “Now you know as well as I do that nothing about us, our relationship, or our lives in general, is what anyone would consider “normal,” he said thoughtfully. “Besides, where would the fun be in that? Hmmm?” “We could try,” she replied, mostly just to be facetious, and maybe a bit of playing devil's advocate as always. But then, after a beat, she amended, “Well, maybe.”

She rolled her eyes at how much food he ordered - typical - and listened to him admit he didn’t have a “grand plan.” “To be honest, this was it. From here, it’s whatever you want, my love. I got what I wanted out of this already – setting this up and seeing your reaction when you figured it out was more fun than I’ve had in a long time.” Whatever she wanted, from here on. She didn’t know what she wanted; this was so new to her, in a way. They hadn’t really done this before, and it had been ages since she’d been in any relationship, and that had been a relationship with men who hadn’t been Sirius. It was all different when it came to him. “So glad I can provide some fun for you,” she said airily instead, because she didn't know how to handle this, even though she liked to seem like she could handle everything. “What I’m here for.”

[James Sirius Potter]

Gonna slow this down and make it last,
the best things fly by us so fast

From the moment that Claire realized she had been tricked into dinner Sirius hadn’t been able to stop grinning – this had all worked out so perfectly, it really couldn’t have unfolded any better. As they sat at the table on the terrace, looking over the cityscape, drinks at the table and a nice breeze starting to blow in the evening air, this was exactly the sort of break they needed – even if Claire hadn’t known she needed it. There was this sort of, never-ending need to be doing something, anything, that seemed to possess Claire – leaving her constantly working, even if she wasn’t constantly working on auror stuff. There were papers she wrote, spells she created or tweaked, and so much more – and as much as Sirius loved it, he also understands the importance of slowing down from time to time, something Claire just wasn’t good at.

Over the years he had always found little ways to make her take time out to relax – asking her to meet him for lunch or dinner, making her put down what she was working on to take at least an hour away from it all. There were times when he hadn’t been able to do that for her – when his children were young and consuming most of his free time, all the times he had been stuck home recovering from injuries of various severity – but whenever he could, he did his best. However, now that they were a couple, managing to slip away for a simple lunch, or a quick dinner at The Three Broomsticks, while always fun, didn’t quite feel like it was good enough.

Couples needed real time together – and with everything going on recently the only real time they had spent together had been while he was in the hospital and in the days shortly after that where she felt the need to watch him more closely than usual (in some ways, he felt like she still was). The grin still firmly in place he listed off a few of the other things he had managed to take care of while she was at the meeting that he had successfully avoided – only for her to remind him not to dig himself a bigger hole. “Maybe I don’t want to know how much time you didn’t spend on work today,”

To this he merely shrugged his shoulders as he took another sip of his drink, “At least I was doing something worthwhile and not drawing in the corners of case notes that I keep thinking will be useful if I stare at them long enough.” Though it might sound like somewhat of a joke, the truth was he tended to obsess over cases that went unsolved; the longer the files lingered around the office as an open case the more it drove him crazy – and he spent hours still sifting through everything they had already looked at a dozen times over, hoping to find the one tiny detail they missed. When he was in the office by himself, feeling frustrated with a current case or bored with the lack of anything to do besides filling out and sending off paperwork, he often turned to these files the same way he did when he couldn’t find something to do at the house.

Though he hadn’t always been quite the obsessing workaholic, it was something he had adapted to over the years – and something he occasionally found himself having a hard time turning off. Considering it was the nightmares of life that drove him to keep himself distracted with work of any kind, knowing Claire was naturally this sort of a busybody, when he got that way eventually, he would remind himself that they both need a break. Lately, with all that had happened in the last six months or so, there hadn’t been much of a chance for them to really slow down – especially for Claire – because even when he was in the hospital she was still constantly working (while he was constantly attempting to do anything but sit still once he had the energy to move about).

The best part about all of this, sitting there having dinner together that evening, for him, was the fact that Claire seemed absolutely uncertain of what to do with herself here. She wasn’t usually a drinker, and yet she had ordered a drink and something to eat, resigning to the fact that this was what was happening. Yet, she still didn’t entirely seem like she knew what to do or even say when he both commented on her saying they could be normal, also asking what fun that would be – only for her to say that they could try, maybe. Smiling a little he rolled his eyes and took a sip of his drink as she had asked him what his plan was – then admitting that there wasn’t one – he just wanted them to have a night to themselves to relax and enjoy each other. Beyond that, it was whatever she wanted – and it seemed like she didn’t quite know what to say to that, because she didn’t say anything further on it at all.

However, when he told her that he had gotten his enjoyment out of this already – getting to set up this date and tricking her into going – she retorted in a way that was very classic Claire. “So glad I can provide some fun for you,” she said airily, adding, “What I’m here for.” To this again, Sirius could only find himself grinning – sometimes, it was nice to know that no matter how many years had passed, and no matter what changed in the relationship between them both, that things were still in some ways, the same. They would pick on each other, be extremely sarcastic, attempt to trick one another (as he had successfully done tonight), and be everything you wouldn’t expect from a couple or even best friends – and yet they were both those things even after all these years. “Oh, I know,” he said playfully, sipping his drink once again. “You’ve always been around when I needed some fun, even if I have to drag you… or trick you…” he slipped in with a smirk, “into it sometimes.”

words: idk|| Claire Pierce|| notes: testing a template... ignore me