„You're staring." – Marlene said, not even looking up from her textbook as she was sitting in the common room by the fire.

"I'm aware." – Sirius answered with his head titled on the left side, examining several parts of Marlene's body as he was in front of him. He had a tiny grin on his lips before he heard a big thud as the girl spat her book down on the small table.

"Take your filthy eyes off me, Black."

He let out a small breath and leaned back on the chair. "Since you ask so nicely… it won't be easy though."

Marlene growled loudly. Sirius was always very flirtatious, but in the past weeks it was nearly unbearable. His terrible pick-up lines and really dirty suggestions drove her crazy for several reasons; getting tired of them was only just one of them. "Will you ever stop this?"

"Stop what, doll?"

"Calling me doll. Flirting with me. Thinking I'd ever touch any part of your body."

Sirius chuckled. "Oh, I definitely think about that a lot."

Marlene closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she slowly released it. "Well, I hope you have good imagination, because that's never going to happen." – She said before she picked up her book and left the boy alone with his friends.

"She's so into me." – He said, following her with his eyes until she disappeared behind the girls' dorms' door.

"What gave it away? The "take your filthy eyes off me", or the "never going to happen" part?" – Remus asked calmly, causing James and Peter laughing loudly.

"Or when she said she's going to hex you if you call her babe again?" – Peter added with a grin.

"Or when she…" – James started, but Sirius cut him off.

"Okay, shut up, you lot!" – He said angrily. – "I don't understand what her problem is anyway! How could she say no to that?" – He asked, gesturing up and down on his body with his hands.

Remus closed his book. "Maybe you should be nice with her."

"I am really nice with her." – Sirius replied with furrowed brows.

"Suggesting "unforgettable, long nights where you'd make her scream so loud they could hear her in the Slytherin common room" doesn't count as being nice, Pads." – Remus shook his head, but also smiled, thinking back about Marlene's reaction when Sirius said that to her.

James jumped up from the couch. "I know! You should make her jealous. That always works."

Remus growled, but Sirius eyes lightened up. "That's actually not a bad idea."

"You honestly want to take advice about girls from James?" – Peter asked in disbelief.

"Do you have any other idea, then?" – Sirius asked, crossing his arms.

Peter shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you really should be nice with her."

Sirius fell in silence for a few seconds, considering his possibilities, while Peter and James argued in the background. "I rather choose making her jealous." – Remus rolled his eyes and Peter growled in defeat, while James had a big grin on his face. – "But with who? I mean, she definitely isn't jealous of anyone and is the prettiest girl in this place."

"I could argue with that, but don't even think about flirting with Lily." – James said, but Sirius couldn't really hear him as he was so immersed in his own thoughts. Making her jealous sounded like a good plan, but how he could possibly make her jealous? She doesn't really care about anyone's opinion. His eyes moved around in the room like he was searching for the best answer, when the grey orbs fell on an old painting.

"McGonagall."

"Where?" – Peter asked, looking behind his back.

"No — I mean, I'll ask McGonagall out." – Sirius said with big eyes, making all of his friends fell in a deep silence.

Remus was the first who could speak. "Are you joking?"

"Think about it. We love Minnie. She loves us. She's Marlene's favourite teacher. Oh, she'll be mad jealous."

There was another long silence between them before James said with a grin, "Please do it."

"Sirius, this is the stupidest… oh you know what? Do it. I can't wait to see her reaction." – Remus said in defeat, but one part of him was really eager to see how their Transfigurations teacher would treat the situation.

Sirius watched Marlene while she was fiddling with a strand of her hair, carefully listening McGonagall's explanation about the todays' lesson. There was something in her look, something in her attitude, something in her personality that absolutely drove him crazy; and he knew he won't give up until he gets her.

McGonagall's voice woke him up from his daydream as she dismissed the class. He looked around; James' and Peter's grinning faces welcomed him while Remus just shook his head with a smile as he started to pack away his books.

Sirius cleared his throat and straightened up after he stood up from his chair. He casually walked forward and stopped in front of his Head of House's table – thankfully, Marlene was sitting at the front table, so with a bit of luck, she can hear everything.

"Hello Minnie." – He started, leaning against the table. As Marlene heard the nickname, she raised her head up to look at them; it was always good to see how McGonagall puts Sirius in place.

"Mr Black, I told you a thousand times before." – She started, not looking up from her parchment. – "Professor McGonagall."

Marlene looked at Lily next to her; she watched the scene carefully too. She'd just turned back to leave when James and Peter appeared next to them with Remus behind them. "Marlene, please watch this." – James said with an enormous grin. She frowned, but hasn't got a time to ask what was so funny, as Sirius started to talk again.

"You know, I was just thinking," – He started; turning his head back for a moment to see Marlene was still there. James and Peter quickly tried to wipe their grin away, nodding fast and looking dead serious. – "and since something is definitely working between us…" Marlene eyes widened and her mouth fell open; she started to grin while McGonagall's hands stopped moving, but her eyes still were on the parchment. "Maybe we should go on a date."

James covered his mouth with his hand and bit his palm to prevent himself from a loud laugh; Remus hid his whole face behind his palm while he was smiling; Peter simply and openly grinned like a child.

McGonagall slowly looked up; eyebrows furrowed in a way that made Sirius to straighten up immediately. "Mr Black… I don't know, nor I don't want to know what you and your friends up to again," – She paused, glancing at the grinning little crowd – "but I give you an opportunity to walk away silently and I'll act like this conversation never happened. Now, get out of my classroom before I change my mind."

But he didn't want to give up. "By changing your mind, do you mean if I try harder you'll go out with me? Right?"

James couldn't hold it back anymore.

"Alright, Mr Black." – McGonagall started, standing up from her chair. – "If you're so keen to spend some extra time with me, you can come for detention for the rest of the month, every Friday night." – She spun around and left the classroom, throwing an angry glance at James, too.

Sirius looked at their friends, letting out a defeated sigh before Remus said, "That was beautiful."

"Stop laughing, that was your idea!" – He yelled at James, who was fighting with his tears.

"Hey, I only said you should ask someone out, I never said it should be McGonagall."

Sirius grumbled and picked his bag up, walking out from the classroom with quick steps. Marlene hurried after him; faking a really sad face. "I'm really so sorry Sirius. I see how much it hurts."

He stopped. "Aren't you jealous, doll?"

Marlene chuckled. "Yeah, I'm raging, don't you see?" – Since Sirius remained in silence, Marlene continued. – "What, you seriously thought I'd be jealous?"

The others just reached them, and as they passed by, James shouted after them, "He made the whole thing just to make you jealous, actually."

"Thank you, Prongs!" – He yelled after him before he closed his eyes, rather not even looking at Marlene.

After she somewhat processed the information, she started to speak calmly. "So… let's make this clear. You asked our teacher out, you asked McGonagallout, just to make me jealous?"

Sirius shrugged. "Yes."

"That's probably the stupidest thing that a guy has every done because of me, and trust me, that list is very long."

Sirius ignored her comment and huffed. "Okay, you know what? I give up. I've had enough of your snarky remarks. I just wanted to go out with you. You aren't interested. I get it." – He said with an offended voice and almost walked away, but Marlene grabbed his forearm to make him stay.

"Sirius, if you really wanted to go out with me, why didn't you ever actually ask me out? If you just constantly flirting with me like you do it with literally every other girl, how should I know your intentions are serious?" – She asked heavily.

He looked deeply in her eyes. "I just thought… I don't know what I thought."

"So I've noticed." – She said, shaking her head which made him chuckling softly.

"I just knew you never say yes if I'd just simply asked you out."

Marlene shrugged. "Maybe I would've."

Sirius raised his eyebrows; both from surprise and excitement. "Does it mean you'll go out with me?"

But she laughed. "No, I won't. You had to try a little bit harder than that." – She winked and walked away, while Sirius lightly shook his head with a satisfied smile.