Standing there in front of him, she felt the dizzying emotional vertigo of her heart plummeting at the same moment that bile clawed its way up her throat. She lowered her gaze and stammered out an apology to the visibly indifferent man in front of her. Circe, he wasn't even noticeably aroused! Turning quickly on her heel, she began to carefully extricate herself from the compromising situation she had foolishly placed herself in.

She mentally kicked and berated herself for her poor planning, all the while clenching her jaw and attempting to stem the prickle of tears brimming behind her eyes as she turned for the door. She should have made sure the attraction was mutual before she put herself out there like that. Being rejected in any capacity was hard enough, but to have done what she did... that was a million times worse. There was no passing off their interaction as a mistake or an accident. Oh no. That excuse was dead in the water thanks to her overzealous actions. Just thinking back on how she'd acted sent her into a fresh wave of shame and regret...

She had cornered him when he was coming back downstairs from using the loo. She had pounced, pulling him backwards into a darkened doorway, away from the party raging beneath their feet. He hadn't put up too much of a fight as she pulled him with her further into the bedroom, her mouth ghosting down his neck as her hands divided and conquered, gliding up and down his chest; one coming to rest on his sternum, securing his back to her front, the other following his treasure trail as it dove beneath the front of his trousers. She had felt him begin to stir to life beneath her careful ministrations, and she had been ecstatically joyful that he seemed to obviously feel the pull -the connection- between them in the same way she did.

That all came tumbling down when he playfully quipped in his gravelly voice that he didn't get into bed unless he knew whose name to scream out. She had blanched at that, horrified that he hadn't known it was her all along, as she honestly thought he had; after all, she had been eye fucking him all evening.

Her momentary pause was enough for him to quietly stammer out a guess at her name, cleanly hitting the proverbial nail on the head, and ultimately killing his budding erection. She had pulled back, eyes wide at the hesitation in his voice, only for him to spin around in her hold and stare open-mouthed at her now beet red face, inches from his own.

This is when she had tripped over a hasty apology and made for the exit as fast as her feet could carry her. There was no way she wanted to be in the same room with him any longer than completely necessary, so she went, just short of running out the room, down the stairs to the front door, careful to be quiet as she grabbed her purse and stepped out onto the front step.

If the party hadn't been spread out between the kitchen and the sitting room, she would have used the floo to leave, but as it were, she was more than grateful for apparation, despite having to walk a block to the nearest apparation point. At least with this method she wouldn't have to stare down the incredulous faces of her friends as they attempted to get her to stay...

When she got back to her flat, she hurriedly locked up, closed the floo, and reinforced her wards. Satisfied that would keep any of her nosy friends out for the time being while she could attempt to squash her embarrassment and self-pity, she slumped down on her couch, clutching her head between her palms.

She could have obliviated him. Now that she thought about it, she should have! After all, she didn't want to be around for the fallout, should he tell someone of what she'd tried to pull. How could she show her face to everyone again, after having misread that to such an extreme degree? And since he was who he was, he would undoubtedly spill to at least one other person. Talk about humiliating! Sweet mother of Merlin, she was doomed! Of course he would talk. It's what he did. Damn him, that Sirius Black.

OxOxOxOxO

He had stood, rooted in place, just a moment too long. Before he could get her name out properly a second time, she had rushed out an apology and fled the room. "Bugger!" he hissed, stumbling backwards until his calves hit the frame of a bed and he sunk down, his face cradled in his hands. How could he have bungled that?! She had been right there, exactly where he'd been imagining her for months now, and he'd gone and fucked it up. Of course he had! Shite!

When he'd first been grabbed on his way back down to Harry's party, he'd hoped it was her. He knew there was no way that could be, but he'd been more than fine with just imagining it was as things progressed. He wasn't willing to compromise his relationship with his godson for the chance at a wet dream like that, no matter how much he was attracted to her. He was determined, for Harry's sake, to never let on to his infatuation to anyone. Other than that one time he'd semi-drunkenly told Moony, but honestly that didn't count. Moony was a Marauder, and Marauders don't talk.

However, having said that, he refused to have even one woman saying he was a lackluster lover, and part of that package was having a name to put with a face; at least while their clothes were on the floor. It helped them stay in the moment better, he'd found.

When she'd hesitated, he'd known. The only woman in attendance who wouldn't happily spout out her name had to have been her. It just did. No one else would have a reason to withhold their name for the sake of their privacy- at least not if they were actively working on getting that acquainted with him. Unless it was Minnie, but there was no way in hell -cause he'd tried.

When her lips had pulled back from that one spot she'd been suckling on his neck, and her hands flew off his skin like they'd been burned, he'd known for sure. When he turned to face her, he would have done anything to turn back the time just a bit and for once just enjoy the experience without having to seem wholly attentive to his partner. Names be damned! Her face had said it all: she'd wanted the anonymity, and he'd buggered that completely with his big mouth and badly timed attempt at humor. Slytherin's left tit!

He pulled himself to standing and began to make his way back to the party, knowing she wouldn't be there. That wasn't how she worked. He dazedly shuffled in, honing straight in on Moony, who was talking animatedly with Aurora Sinistra. Remus looked up as he came over, the smile dropping off his face as he took in his disheveled best friend, who snatched up his tumbler of Firewhiskey and downed it in one.

"What the bloody hell happened to you?" the werewolf asked, frowning at Sirius as he handed back the glass of now vanished alcohol. Sirius just shook his head, and Moony blanched at the look on his face, then went about supplying an excuse to a worried looking professor as he guided his friend back out of the room and towards the unoccupied library.

"Okay, Sirius, what happened?" Remus started. "Last I heard of anything, you were headed up to take a piss, and then I don't see you for forty-five minutes! Talk!" Sirius winced as he took in his friend crossing his arms, his jaw set stubbornly.

"You're not gonna believe this... Someone jumped me on my way downstairs."

Remus scowled, concern visible on his face for a moment, before Sirius' meaning appeared to sink in. His friend's brows shot up into his fringe. "Who was it?!" Remus asked, smirking at the strange look on his friend's face. Sirius had never had that look before after a sack session, and Lupin was growing a bit worried. His worry only compounded when Sirius seemed incapable of giving an answer. Finally, Sirius shook his head as if riding it of a pesky wrackspurt, and gave a small, incredulous grin.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you... Besides, nothing ended up happening; she ran away. But despite that, she's pure magic, that Hermione Granger."