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Sirius Black was taking a break from judging. His head was resting on the table as he listened to a sixteen year old girl sing.
He had asked her to stop - twice - and she had paid no attention at all, even singing louder when his head dropped onto the table.
All the buzzers had gone off already, and Sirius was considering calling for security.
"How was that?" the girl asked.
Sirius peeled his face from the table, his eyes falling on the barely dressed teen on the stage. How could her mother let her leave the house like that?
The other judges looked at a loss for words, so Sirius leaned forward.
"That was absolutely the most awful audition I've had the displeasure to sit through," he told her.
He sat back again as she turned purple with rage, and that's when the screaming began.
...oOo...
"Look mate," James Potter told him. "They really want you to judge this, your agent really wants you to do this. Basically the only person who has a problem is you."
"I don't want to do this," Sirius stated.
"You're injured," James told him. "You have a broken wrist and you know it'll be months before you perform again. This will keep you in the spotlight, advertise you to different ages too."
Sirius sighed.
"It'll show you as more than a rockstar, people will see more of you than -"
"Fine," Sirius muttered. "I'll do it... but only because I know it'll help you if you tell the show that you were the one that convinced Sirius Black to sign up."
"Thanks mate," James replied. "I'll get a raise or something."
"What are best friends for?" Sirius muttered.
...oOo...
Sirius watched the screaming and swearing sixteen year old being led off the stage. Considering she had claimed to like his music when she had first walked onto the stage, she had decided at the end that he was an untalented, washed up rockstar.
And those were the nice things she was saying.
He dreaded the next act coming out. So far he had dealt with a scary brother/sister duo that had sung a love-song duet, a roller-skating opera singer, and the screaming girl - amongst all others.
He took a sip of his water, wishing it was some form of alcohol and waited for the next person to appear on the stage.
A small boy walked on, and Sirius hoped he was good. He didn't like telling kids that they didn't get through. The poor things would get really upset.
James led the boy to the middle of the stage, but the boy tried to follow him again as he walked away. After a moment, James knelt next to the boy, as the boy gripped his hand tightly, looking at the judges.
"Hi," Marlene said, from next to him.
"Hi," the boy replied, his voice soft.
"And what's your name?" Frank asked.
"Edward," he said. "But I get called Teddy."
"Well Teddy," Marlene continued. "What are you going to do for us?"
"Well, I was either going to sing, or I was going to do a puppet show rap battle," Teddy said. "My dad has the puppets just in case."
Sirius decided that he liked the kid, and secretly hoped to see the puppet show rap battle.
"I thought I'd leave it up to you to decide," Teddy continued.
"Singing," Marlene said.
"Puppet show rap battle," Sirius said at the same time.
They both looked at Frank Longbottom for the final vote.
"Singing," Frank decided. "If you get through, we'd love to see the puppet show though."
Sirius folded his arms and sat back in his seat in a sulk.
"So, what made you come on the show?" Frank asked.
"Him," Teddy said, pointing at Sirius.
Sirius uncrossed his arms and leant forward. "Me? Are you a fan?"
Teddy shook his head. "No, but my dad is," he said. "He said you were hot."
Sirius grinned. "Did he?"
Teddy nodded. "He has all your music too," he continued. "He sings it when he's cooking dinner, but dad can't cook very well. I think he's too busy listening to you to forget to burn things. Are you single?"
Sirius chuckled, he was starting to like this kid.
"Is your dad here?" Marlene asked, grinning.
Teddy nodded. "Yeah he is. He was excited when we found out Sirius Black was going to be a judge, because we were supposed to go to his last concert but I wasn't well. Aunty Hermione and Uncle Theo said they'd look after me so dad could take someone else with him, but he didn't go because he wanted to make sure I was alright instead."
There were a chorus of 'awww' throughout the audience.
"Your father sounds wonderful," Sirius said. "So, what are you going to sing for us?"
"I like Maroon Five," Teddy said. "I was going to sing their song."
"Okay, take it away, Teddy," Sirius said.
...oOo...
The three judges looked at each other as the boy ended the song. It wasn't brilliant, but he had talent - there was no doubt about that. With a bit of work, he could be amazing.
"Teddy, that was an excellent performance," Marlene began.
"We'd need to work on your confidence," Frank said, "but you're a cute kid, and I think you have what it takes."
Teddy's eyes moved over to Sirius.
"Is your dad here?" Sirius asked, grinning at him.
The worried expression faded. "Yeah, he is!"
"Well, maybe you should get him out here for the judging," Sirius said.
James disappeared, before pulling a reluctant man onto the stage and Sirius' eyes widened at the sight of him.
The man was tall - taller than him and wearing the dorkiest jumper Sirius had ever seen.
But even from that distance, there was something about those eyes and that hair that Sirius just wanted to brush out of the way that made Sirius get up from his chair, and run up the stairs onto the stage, stopping in front of the man and giving him a wide grin.
The man blushed.
"My dad is single," Teddy offered, helpfully.
"So I've heard," Sirius said, ignoring that his voice was heard by everyone. "So Teddy, does your dad want to go to dinner with me?"
"Yes he does," Teddy said, when the man stared at Sirius in complete shock.
"Wonderful," Sirius said. He leaned into the man, his hand covering the small microphone attached to him.
"What's your name?"
"Remus," came a shy voice.
"Remus," Sirius murmured into the man's ear. "I like it. You know, I'm suddenly very glad I agreed to judge this show. Tell me, would you do me the pleasure of letting me take you to dinner and a movie?"
Remus nodded shyly.
"It's a date." His lips brushed Remus' cheek as he pulled away. "Give James Potter your number, he's my best friend. You'll hear from me later, I don't like to wait around if I'm interested in someone."
Remus nodded, a shy smile on his lips, and Sirius looked at Teddy. "You know, a puppet show rap battle sounds fun, maybe you can show me it?"
Teddy nodded. "I love when my puppets rap battle," he replied solemnly.
Sirius grinned and returned to his seat.
"He's adorable," Marlene said.
"Yeah he is," Sirius sighed, his eyes on Remus.
"And a wonderful singer -"
"What? Oh, I thought you were talking about his dad," Sirius said, dragging his eyes away from Remus. "Shouldn't we be voting right now?"
Frank nodded. "A big yes from me," he started.
"A yes from me," Marlene added.
Two sets of amber eyes fell on him and Sirius grinned. "Definitely a yes from me too," he said, watching the kid's face light up.
He caught Remus' eye as Remus turned to leave, and threw him a wink.
It was a couple of minutes before James walked onto stage, folding up a bit of paper and sliding it into his inside pocket. He grinned in Sirius' direction.
Remus had left his number. Perfect!