Lovesick

If you had told Sirius Black at the beginning of his first year at Hogwarts that he would fall head over heels for a muggle-born Hufflepuff, he would have laughed in your face, and then most likely would have spouted some pureblood propaganda bullshit that his abusive parents had drilled into him since he was a child.

But now, if you had told sixth year Sirius Black that he would be lovesick over Rowan Carter, the stubborn and loyal Hufflepuff prefect that was close childhood friends with Remus then he wouldn't bat an eye. Because this was no longer a hypothetical, it was the god awful truth, no matter how much he wanted to deny it.

And his friends made sure he remembered it, particularly this morning.

He had just been enjoying his breakfast, chewing on a piece of toast and jam, his grey eyes focused on said girl who was sitting on the table across from him, down to the left, giving him the perfect view of her as she sat with her friends, laughing over tea. She glanced over at him suddenly and he hadn't expected to be caught staring at her so openly, and was shocked when her brown irises met his, and the even more so when she gave him a heart-warming smile causing him to bite down on his tongue in surprise. The pain that erupted in his mouth was then enough for him to jerk his arms, dropping his toast on his plate, his elbow jutting out and knocking James in the stomach by accident, which had then caused his best mate to spill pumpkin juice on the both of them.

"Oh, come on, Pads!" James groaned, holding his hands out on the table to prevent dripping more of the juice on his uniform that had been freshly washed and ironed. "This is the third time this week!"

"Yikes," Peter muttered from where he sat directly across from them, popping a grape in his mouth.

Remus hadn't even bothered looking up from where he was reading the paper and instead, picked his wand out of his pocket, whispering a spell and with the wave of his wand, the two marauders were clean, no sign of spilt pumpkin juice about at all.

"Thanks, Moony," James said, patting down his now dry shirt before glaring at Sirius who sat next to him. He knew that his best mate was head over heels for the Hufflepuff prefect, but he didn't realise it was this bad until the week had begun… and it was only Wednesday!

"Sorry, Prongs. I bit my tongue, and then-," Sirius apologised, beginning to sort of explain the situation but James held his hand up for Sirius to stop, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose from where it had slipped down during the pumpkin juice debacle of the year.

"And then, Rowan looked at you and your heart exploded and caused you to go spastic," James finished. "Yeah, I know. It's been like that all week."

"Hey, it's not that bad!" Sirius defended with a scoff, but his grim expression softened as he realised it really was that bad. He was just in a little place called denial. But it's not like he could help it. She was intelligent, beautiful and from the small conversations he had held with her, he hung onto every word that fell of her lips. He was in all senses of the word, lovesick.

"No, it is that bad," Remus commented, looking up for the first time that morning. "You're almost as bad as James when it comes to Lily."

"Ha," Sirius said. "Almost is better than worse," The dark haired marauder pointed out.

"True, but you need to get a hold of yourself," Peter said, stretching his arms over his head. "I just saw her laugh her heart out when she saw your reaction."

Sirius glowered at Peter and didn't dare glance back in Rowan's direction should he be subject to further embarrassment. He really wanted to impress her, but he was sure so far all he had done was made a fool of himself. "Did she really?"

"Yup," Peter said. "But in that way that makes you feel like she was laughing with you, not at you. She's a sweetheart like that," Peter sighed, resting his chin in his hand. Even he could admit that Rowan was a beauty, and if he didn't know that Sirius was so serious about her, he would go after her himself.

"Not your sweetheart," Sirius bit back in a grumbled tone.

"Ooh, might want to back off there Wormtail, or Pads might bite off your head. He's a bit overprotective, kind of like a dog when it comes to marking their territory," James winked, the boys laughing at his joke.

"Sod off." Sirius pushed James away playfully but it just caused him to laugh some more. It was nice to have the tables turn for once, and tease his friends instead of have all of the teasing directed at him.

"She's looking at you right now," James said, and before he had even finished his sentence Sirius had turned back to see if she was, glowering at James when he saw that she was in deep conversation with the person sitting in front of her.

"You're a prat, you do know that right?" Sirius growled, his cheeks warming with embarrassment.

"Hey! I resent that. If I'm gonna be a prat, I'm going to be King of the prats okay," James said sarcastically.

"Good to see you're finally catching on, Potter," Lily laughed heartily with Marlene as they walked by the Gryffindor table as they were just leaving after breakfast.

"Ouch, you wound me, Evans," James said, pressing his hand to his heart, his face cringing as though he was in pain, but it was hard to keep a smile off his face when he was looking at his Lily.

"Good," She said curtly before leaving, causing a frown to settle on James face.

"At least someone put you in your place," Sirius mumbled.

"Come on, we're going to be late to transfiguration, you can ogle Rowan in class." Sirius rolled his eyes, but got up from his chair following his friends out of the great hall, berating himself for being so oblivious with his feelings, but he couldn't help it, there was just something about her that was dragging him in deeper and deeper and he wasn't about to fight it.

Potions had been a success that morning, much better than transfiguration which she had first. It had been hard to avoid the gaze of Sirius Black that seemed to follow her throughout the entire class, leaving Rowan flustered. She had caught his gaze that morning at breakfast, and gave him a smile because he had looked so cute with his ruffled hair as he chewed on his toast, and then she had laughed as he accidentally spilled his pumpkin juice over both himself and James in surprise. She had thought it was endearing and it made her heart warm at the sight. But the look he was giving her this morning in transfiguration was so different, and his heated gaze was making her nervous sending butterflies fluttering in her stomach and making her overthink every move she made should he be watching her.

So it had been a nice escape to leave and go to Potions where she didn't have to worry about making a fool of herself in front of him, allowing her to give her studies undivided attention. Rowan was pleased with herself, proud that she had been able to replicate the draught of the living death perfectly. It was one that she had always struggled with but her trusty partner Elias from Ravenclaw seemed to know what he had been doing and was more than happy to explain everything as they went, and they managed to brew it perfectly.

Most of the class had cleared out already everyone moving to their next subject, but Rowan had taken her time to clear up her desk and clean out the cauldron letting Elias go early as a thanks for the work that day. This meant that she left on her own, walking the now quiet hallway as she had a free period in between classes. Usually this wasn't an issue, but these were dark times that were approaching, and being a muggle-born walking the castle alone wasn't the greatest idea she had ever come up with.

Rowan was walking by minding her own business, making a mental list of things she had to get done when laughter suddenly bubbled up behind her. She turned her head to glance back only to see that it was a group of Slytherin's that she had run into before. She didn't know most of their names and she didn't care, but she recognised these three more than she would like to. She noted that it was Malfoy, Nott and one of the Lestrange sisters accompanying them in the middle. Which one though she didn't know, only that it was the sister that wasn't as big of a psychopath as the other dark haired witch.

"Filthy little mudblood," Malfoy scoffed as they walked past Rowan, shoving her shoulder as they did so.

Rowan glowered at them and chose to ignore it. She could deal with their pathetic words, they didn't bother her too much these days. A name only had power if one feared its meaning. She continued to walk on to her destination which she now decided would be the library so she could squeeze some more studying in, but suddenly they had started to talk louder and she knew it was on purpose.

"I can't believe trash like her is still allowed to enter Hogwarts," Nott scoffed.

"Can you believe that Black was staring at her this morning like she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen," Malfoy laughed. "Idiot spilled pumpkin juice all over himself."

"Clearly my cousin is blind," Lestrange commented, her voice like ice. "He obviously didn't inherit common sense with the Black name."

"He's a wretched blood traitor, that's what he is," Malfoy sneered. "Him and the lot of his friends, they're all pathetic. They aren't any better than the dirt that these mudblood's walk on."

"That's enough," Rowan spoke, her voice steady and strong as she turned to face them, a fierce glare directed at them.

They seemed surprised that she had reacted at all. They had done this many a time before, but she never responded to their antics, holding her head high as she walked away from them, but this time something was different. A glint of mischief was alit in Malfoy's eye at her obvious displeasure.

"Did I hit a nerve there, mudblood?"

"Call me whatever childish names you wish, but don't put down Sirius for having a heart unlike you cowardly snakes who seem to think that incestuous relations happen to make a witch or wizard more pure than someone else," Rowan said, her words as sharp as a knife. She could see the particular way it had hit Lestrange for she grimaced and looked away. Rowan wanted to laugh, especially considering she was the one with a ring on her finger, engaged to Malfoy, who she was sure had some blood relation to the Lestrange's somewhere along the line.

"Watch your tongue!" Nott jumped to Malfoy's defence. "How dare you speak to us like that? Do you know who we are?"

"Yes, Nott. I know who you are, three wretched human beings that aren't worth the time of day," Rowan said, sticking her hand into her pocket, her fingers grasping her wand tightly. She had a feeling she knew where this conversation would end.

"I think we ought to teach her a lesson," Malfoy said. "Don't you think?" Nott hummed in agreement but Lestrange just watched calmly moving to stand behind the two boys, not bothering to get involved in such filthy business it seemed.

Malfoy drew his wand out, firing away a hex that Rowan blocked with a graceful ease that most would be jealous of.

"Is that all you've got, Malfoy? So much for purebloods being superior, you two look like you need to repeat fifth year all over again," Rowan taunted, throwing a bat-bogey hex towards Nott who hadn't anticipated it since she had been paying her attention towards Malfoy. She hadn't missed a beat, her body twisting in the air as she moved herself away from the red blast that had been travelling her way, the hex crashing into a pillar instead of her. Lestrange was quick, throwing another her way that hit her left arm, making it feel like it had turned to stone, causing Rowan to gasp as her left side felt incredibly heavy, but it was a good thing she was right handed.

Malfoy then attempted to move closer to Rowan but she knew that was a bad idea.

"Colloshoo." She cast a Stickfast Hex at him, his shoes sticking to the ground, but since he had the momentum from the few heavy steps he had taken he fell to his knees with a loud groan. She then threw another at him that pulled the Slytherin tie from his neck and wrapped it around his eyes making him temporarily blind and yelping as he tried to get it off, but he didn't know the counter spell.

"Redactum Skullus." Her wand was pointed at Nott and soon his head began to shrink, an unearthly scream coming out of him. A small head, and with bat's flying out of his nose, he went running wildly as he tried to reverse the spell.

"Would you like to be next, Lestrange?" Rowan offered, standing there not having broken a sweat, with a grin on her lips. It was positively exhilarating to teach them a lesson.

"No," Lestrange said, looking quite calm and poised when inside she was fuming. But she knew that her battle was lost here. She was just about to reverse the hexes and collect her two idiots when Professor Slughorn came into the hallway after hearing the racket.

"What's going on here?" Professor Slughorn asked, but as soon as he readjusted his glasses and he saw the sight before him he looked to Rowan with a disappointed expression. With the wave of his wand, the hexes had been reversed leaving Malfoy and Nott as they were before she had decided to teach them a lesson. Feeling also began to return to her left arm as she clenched and unclenched her fist, glad that the hex had been removed. "Ms. Carter, was this really necessary?"

"It always is, Professor," Rowan quipped. Though she was known to be a quiet and kindred spirit, Rowan was also known for picking fights with bullies, but Slughorn had a soft spot for her. Plus there was the bonus that she was a prefect, and he did appreciate her judgement and outlook on justice.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was going to be a long day it seemed. "Ten points from Hufflepuff, and detention this Friday," Slughorn instructed. "Malfoy, Nott, Lestrange, detention on Thursday, and ten points from Slytherin."

They groaned, sending fiery glares in her direction.

"Each."

Rowan was sure that if the Professor wasn't there that she would be dead meat.

"Yes, professor."

Word had gotten out about a fight between Rowan and the three Slytherin's and it seemed as though she had become an overnight star with the way people were talking about her. She had obviously told her friends about how things had transpired, and the fact that she had taken down Malfoy and Nott so easily, but she had only meant to tell Beatrice and Wally but Alice had overheard and everyone knew as nice as she was, she had a big mouth, and suddenly it had all got out.

Now people were spreading rumours about how she had only attacked them because of what they said about Sirius, which was true, but they didn't have to know that. Then some went further to say it was because they were in a secret relationship and because she was a muggle-born and he was a pureblood that it was some sort of forbidden love and all Rowan knew was that it was getting out of hand.

Not to mention that she was sure that Sirius had heard because ever since he stared at her with curiosity every opportunity he got leaving her with rosy tinted cheeks whenever she caught his eye. She wasn't blind and she could see how handsome he was, but that was it. She was far too shy to ever approach him even though she had a feeling that he harboured some sort of feelings for her. They were more than acquaintances but she felt as though she didn't know him well enough to label them as friends even though she was friends with most of her cohort at Hogwarts. She only ever really interacted with him when Remus was around because they were such close friends, and she didn't know how to start up a conversation with him, especially when his friends were around as she knew they were known for their teasing. To put it simply, she wasn't very good with social interaction when it came to talking with someone she fancied, and it wasn't going to change any time soon unless someone threw a vial of Felix Felicis her way.

But she pushed all of this to the backburner, just wanting to get through her detention on Friday. Professor Slughorn had informed her that she would be participating in a detention with the one and only Sirius Black who too had managed to find himself into trouble that week after pulling a prank on you guessed it, Malfoy and Nott. When she had heard the news a grin was the first thing that appeared on her lips, and she ignored the teasing that her friends sent her way, and their words suggesting that Sirius had done it on purpose to 1. Prove a point to those idiots and get back at them for fighting with her and 2. To spend time with her in detention. But she didn't have time to indulge in such fantasies.

She arrived early to detention to give herself time to mentally prepare herself, handing her wand over to Professor Slughorn before taking a seat and waiting for Sirius to turn up.

The old door creaked opened, and she heard a rush of footsteps, and then the smooth and suave voice that belonged to heartbreaker Sirius Black.

"Sorry Professor, I was busy-," Sirius began but the Professor cut him off.

"Save it, Black. There is no issue, it's only been two minutes," Professor Slughorn said. "Hand over your wand, please."

With a curt nod, Sirius walked over, placing his wand on the table. "I have a teacher's meeting for the next two hours and I expect when I get back that you would have completed cleaning each and every cauldron in this room. You have ample enough time to do so," Professor Slughorn instructed. "Get to work."

"Yes, sir," Rowan said, watching as he walked out of the room before turning to look at Sirius who already had his eyes on her, making her cheeks tint a light pink.

"Hey," Sirius said.

"Hi," Rowan said meekly, inwardly berating herself for sounding so small. "We better get started."

"Right," Sirius said, grabbing two buckets of water that had already been filled with soapy water, along with a scrubbing brush for Rowan, handing it over to her, their hands brushing as she took it from him. She tried not to let the shiver show as their hands touched and instead tried to focus on something else. But then her eyes had found his forearms, admiring the way they looked with the white sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbow, moving up to his shoulders, then his chest where his tie was loose around his neck before finally reaching his face, watching his lips move as he spoke to her, breaking the silence.

"So, I heard about your fight with Malfoy and Nott," Sirius mentioned in a soft tone. "Are you okay?" His voice held so much worry that she almost wanted to swoon at the sound of his rich voice asking her if she was alright.

"You know, you are the first person to ask me that since it happened," Rowan laughed bitterly. Everyone had been so caught up in the drama and the juicy rumours that no one had even bothered to ask her if she was fine.

"Really?" He raised a brow and was looking at her with his soft eyes and she was melting from his concern.

"Yeah," Rowan sighed. "I'm fine, honestly. The only reason I even reacted to them was because they were talking shit about you," Rowan admitted, her cheeks warming up at her words, especially when he turned to look at her with those dreamy eyes once more.

"I'm flattered." He grinned.

"You shouldn't be. I-I mean, they usually call me all sorts of names, but I never do anything about it, but when they call out other people that's not right. I had to do something." She looked down at the cauldron she was scrubbing and mentally face palmed. She had never been this flustered around Sirius before but suddenly she was like ice-cream melting on a hot summer's day.

"Why would you do that? Stand up for someone like me? I mean, we're not even close friends, we barely spend any time together but you went to all that trouble to protect my name?" Sirius asked.

"It's the fact of the matter. That's why I stood up for you. Calling me frivolous names such as mudblood doesn't fuss me. I know the truth and that's all that matters. But with the way they were bad-mouthing you and your friends for being good people was unacceptable, and I decided to teach those ignorant tools a lesson," Rowan explained with an obvious passion. "It's not the first time I've had detention because of something like this and I doubt it'll be the last."

"You gotta stop doing that," Sirius said, his deep voice doing all sorts of things to her, causing her to lose track of her train of thought.

"What?" She asked, thinking he was referring to her attacking Slytherin's just because they riled her up.

"Saying things that make me wanna kiss you," Sirius breathed out causing her jaw to drop in surprise and her heart to beat that little bit faster.

"Oh," She said, biting her lip. "I-uh," She was speechless. She frowned when he began to grin at her and flicked some of the soapy water at him. "Oh, sod off, Black."

"What?! It's true, you have bewitched me, heart and soul," Sirius said a bit too ostentatiously causing her to laugh, and the sound made his soar causing him to laugh along with her.

When they had settled down a little she glanced back up at him to see him giving her a look so intense she didn't know what to make of it, all she knew was that it made her want to kiss him more than she had before.

"I mean it," Sirius said, his voice taking on a lower volume. "I've been meaning to tell you, for a while now, but every time I seem to gather my Gryffindor courage you look at me with those eyes and I just, I forget everything," Sirius admitted.

"I'm flattered I have that effect on you," Rowan was smiling so hard she was sure her face would crack soon.

"It's a bit cruel don't you think? Have you thought about my poor heart?" Sirius asked, taking a step closer towards her, dropping the scrub on the table next to the cauldron that was long forgotten.

"I haven't," Rowan said. "I'm sorry. But… have you considered that maybe my heart's hurting just as much as yours is?"

That was all the prompting Sirius needed to make the next move, grabbing her waist and pulling her closer towards him with his hands. His lips were needy as they moved against hers, one of his hands moving to cradle her head, his fingers becoming tangled in her brown hair as they kissed. Rowan had never felt more alive than when their skin touched and their lips met, burning a fire deep in the pit of her belly. She grasped at his shirt, pulling him closer to her as they shared a passionate kiss, hitting herself internally for not making a move earlier. To think she had been missing out on all of this all this time just made her heart ache more for him.

"I take it that means you're free for Hogsmeade this weekend?" Sirius asked, his eyes dropping from her gaze back down to her pink lips that were swollen from his kisses.

"I'm sure I can squeeze you in," She grinned against his lips, going in for one more kiss while they were alone, but even if they were caught in such a compromising position in detention, it didn't matter because it was totally and absolutely worth it.

A / N –

I hope this wasn't utter trash and that you guys enjoyed it! I just wanted to write about a Hufflepuff kicking ass and a soft Sirius Black. Leave a review to let me know your thoughts and help fuel my procrastination.

Much love, and thanks for your support.

Heroherondale.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters taken from the series, all ownership goes to J.K. Rowling. I only own my OC and creative genius.