Title: (Out Loud)
Author: Marian
Summary: Cute SB/OC – Self-confidant young prankster Sirius discovers himself attached to a girl in his course and house, with whom he spares teaching Potions to the third-years. They are friends and soon become something more, but it gets difficult to go on as they keep it a secret.
Censor: PG (?)
Note: I'm not English-born, nor have I taken a single English lesson other than self-imparted in like four years, what means that my contact with English has lately been only through Internet. Forgive, therefore, my lack of correctness in may expressions and my most probably numerous mistakes. I'm doing my best, and I'd gladly use some help there. If you see something that makes your eyes bleed, or you would like to be beta-reader, I'd be very thankful!
Homepage: Wouldn't eat candy from us: http://wouldnteat.candyfrom.us
E-mail: moran_marianne@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: They're not mine, nor I claim them so. OCs are, and so is the plot. For further information, please refer to my homepage.
Chapter 1 - Because a very beautiful teacher distracts himThey had set routine as a slow and safe game from which they lived. At school, there was little more to do than study and get along with their classmates, and they had made of their communication the calm diversion for a rainy noon, not much but a substitute, even with gaining weight, of the rest of their life. She was to fulfil the moments when his friends were busy, the empty evenings by the fire, the unending sessions in the library. He, on the other side, was for her the counterpoint to the rest, the discordant note in the busy and well-organised life that she compelled herself to, and supposed a big part of her laughter and jokes, softly whispered with his lips barely touching her cheek, that lightened her day.
They had been joined, at the beginning, by fortune. They had known each other forever, they had worked together in a pair of projects and they had spoken a few times about quite different subjects, normally related to school. Luck made, though, their positions to come gradually closer, playing with them and driving them to ways none of them would have ever imagine. To begin, it was chance that brought her to the third-grade's classroom, who McGonagall asked her to teach Potions to, and was also luck who put him there, while he was explaining a nestling the new training timetables. By then, nothing out of normal; their eyes met and they smiled in recognition, he lightly surprised of seeing her responsible of such a numerous group and she too conscious of the role that, for a few hours, she was meant to perform to be able to pay no attention to him besides that salutation. Some minutes after, while she affectionately greeted her new pupils, he closed the door to the dungeons after him, leaving her in charge of the situation.
That was the union link, in a way: nothing more innocent than a weekly Potions lesson to a set of twenty young lions, in which he soon showed interest and that he did not wait much time to help her to prepare, admired by the work it supposed and by how well she combined it with her own lectures. Nothing more innocent than a sixth-grade teaching fluid physics and magical mixes to everyone who wanted to assist to a revision course that McGonagall had considered indispensable, and nothing more innocent that a classmate of her pitying her and deciding to help her dealing with the students when they became too numerous, and feeling suddenly seduced by the world of Alchemy.
From then on, everything had been caused by curiosity.
From the unending hours making mutual company in the dungeons while they set up the working places and got the ingredients ready and filled blackboards with formulae, a comfortable friendship had come out. After all, they spent nearly all the time he had free together, suggesting ideas to make the didactic method better, and they ended sharing much more than impressions about classes. He was, undeniably, a Marauder, as she, laughing, often reminded him, and their conversation, invariably, drifted towards the group of sixth-grade mischief makers' favourite subjects that came to be, in general, pranks, pranks to Slytherins, Quidditch and Lily.
And from the comfortable friendship, with a bit of interest from them both, they had passed, nearly for surprise, to the illicit romance: in the dungeons, after a specially productive lesson, he hadn't been able to restrain himself and, shy, he had interrupted her at mid sentence with a soft kiss on her lips.
As a summary, it had been the day in which no cauldron had exploded nor had any liquid been dropped down. It had not been a perfect day, of course, and many potions had come out the bad way, but both teachers had finished the lesson with the impression that the kids had ended by learning something, and that made them happy, although the mistakes many still made.
She was collecting the little ingredients that some boys had let on the tables while he looked over, sitting on the teacher's table, the record they had been doing while observing the others work.
"They are getting better, don't you think?", he asked the girl, with a sceptical smile.
"They're not that bad", she whispered, amused. "The truth is that today has been a calm class, don't you think?"
He nodded with an affirmative noise.
"It is nice, when it doesn't all burn!", he observed, joking.
She looked at him with her brows knotted and a smile on her lips.
"If she sees you sitting on her desk she'll take points from us, Sirius", she reminded, walking towards him with her hands on her hips.
"The teacher doesn't have to come for anything, Mar", he complained, looking at her in the eyes. "Besides, I'm not ruining it in any way"
She raised her brows with a doubtful face.
"Whatever", she resolved, and tilted closer to him to read the paper he was examining. "Do we have many potions left to do?"
"Some of them", he assented. "There are some of them that could leave this now, you know. We could tell McGonagall and she could forgive them the punishment. Like Fowles and Henkins, you know?"
"They're good", she agreed. "But I'm not sure, professor McGonagall said that they were meant to do all of them, and with good results. I don't know if it would be right to forgive them because they're good at Potions."
"I don't know", he confessed. "After all, they don't have many left. But there are some of them that will never finish, hotshot."
"I know", she said, with a desperate expression. "Frank, for example."
"Uh!", he laughed. "You ought to know that Frank was always top in Potions!"
She looked at him, surprised.
"But he's a disaster, here", she pointed, with an incredulous voice.
"Here", he repeated. "Because a very beautiful teacher distracts him!"
She couldn't help but smile, with a trace of disbelief.
"You're telling me that I distract him?"
"I'm telling you that he pretends to be bad to stay longer", he explained. "You only have to look at the way he stares at you: he doesn't even blink!"
She looked to the ground, serious.
"You mean it? A third-year, already? And with me…?"
The boy nodded with a serious face.
"I'd say so. And he's not the only one. You're discovering a new world for them, Mar."
"The grown-up-girls world?", she joked.
"The incredibly stunning girls", he said, winking at her.
"Lackey Marauder" she sang, walking again away from him to go and tidy the closet in the end of the classroom up. "What do you want to get?"
He shook his head, with a pained gesture, although she, giving her back to him, could not see it.
"I can't believe it", he complained. "I tell you what I feel, straight from the heart, so difficult that it was!, and you say I'm lackey. I'm sensitive, you know?, and if I tell you that you're stunning it's not because any reason other than you are, indeed, and it's difficult for me to let it go, because I'm ashamed, what would you think of me?! And you laugh about it!!"
She shook her head with resignation and kneeled in front of the closet, not even bothering to turn around.
"I'm insensitive, Sirius", she admitted. "So difficult that it was for you, to say that; so red and unsure you was!"
He stood up, jumping from the table, and walked calmly, his hands on his pockets, to where she was.
"I pretend very well", he explained to the girl when he arrived at her side. "It's years and years of practice!"
"So that McGonagall doesn't catch you doing bad things?", she poked him, half laughing, at the time that she turned to look at him.
"To feign when James messes it up in front of Lily", he corrected. "Do you need some help?"
"No", she assured. "This is nearly done, I was just checking that there was nothing extra needed for the next class."
"And how is it? Do we have to go to the greenhouse?"
"Not necessarily", she said, rising to her feet. "There's enough of everything for a couple of weeks. Anyway, we can always tell Madame Sprout on Thursday, can't we?"
"Perfect", he said, with a seductive smile, while he took her hand theatrically. "And now, Ms. Moran, towards the library?"
She assented with a sigh.
"I have to finish my homework; Advanced Transfiguration", she commented. "Have you done them yet?"
He nodded slightly.
"James was doing them before the training, and I've done them too with him. They're easy, you won't take much to. Don't worry."
"All the better", she sighed. "I feel like locking in my room, cover myself with a blanket and see no more nestling until tomorrow!"
He chuckled softly, pulled her closer with a swift movement and put an arm around her shoulders.
"They're tiring, aren't they?", he said to her in a soft whisper. "It's nice to teach them, but are they heavy."
She nodded and rested her head on his shoulder.
"I'm a bit tired", she accepted. "I want some peace, to tell the truth."
"Let's go to the house, then", he suggested. "We do our Transfiguration homework fast, and you go to bed, well wrapped up and warm, and I make sure that no one bothers you."
She shook her head no.
"I'm alright", she assured. "It's nothing, it'll wash out. Besides, I thought you had already finished them."
"But I'll help you with them", he assented. "Let's go?"
She closed her eyes for a second and nodded.
"Aren't we leaving anything behind?"
The boy looked around, making sure of it.
"I'd say we don't", he said finally.
"We have to tidy the teacher's desk up", she pointed.
"I will", he offered. "You, sit and enjoy the peace around you now."
She shrugged and obeyed.
"Don't forget the cloak", she reminded him , while he was making a pile with the papers they had spread on the table.
"No", he answered, getting the piece of clothe and handing it to the girl. "Didn't you bring yours?"
"No, I have it at the residence."
"They'll take points from you", he pried, with a repellent expression.
"I have permission", she answered him, copying his tone.
"Ah, ah! And what about if they forget you do?! Points will be taken, points will be taken!"
She shook her head with a resigned smile.
"From the other two Marauders you get things, too?"
He looked at her with a fond gaze.
"Some of them", he assented. "From Remus, coarse things, for example. But, without any doubt, Jamie is the one I unconsciously copy the most, perhaps because we spend so much time together or because, simply, he's unique."
"He's also passed me some things", she coincided. "I guess that it can't be helped.
"I'm done", he announced. "Shall we go, beauty?"
"Put the cloak on", Mar told him, standing up and handing him the piece of clothe.
"It's not necessary", he answered, taking it and putting it on his arm. "I have permission too, haven't I?"
She agreed with a sweet smile that made the boy, all of a sudden, feel hot.
"Thanks a lot for helping me", she said, staring at his eyes. "I know it's rather boring and it's not even your job, and I feel very thankful, hotshot."
"It's a pleasure", he answered, shaking his head with a happy face, while he observed closely every detail in the girl. "It's not boring at all, and it becomes much lighter when there are two teachers, don't you think?"
She nodded again and leaned to affectionately nudge his chin with her forehead.
"Thanks a lot", she repeated, very softly.
"You're welcome", he answered, in the same voice. "You've got me to like Potions a lot, and it was very afar from the top in my favourite subjects list before!"
"I'm glad to hear so", she murmured and leaned back to look at him. "You've got me to bear better our nestlings."
He shook his head, still looking at her in the eye, and bent, hardly controlling himself, towards her.
"You're a great teacher", he assured.
"But you're much more patient than I am. Sometimes, I can't see what…"
He interrupted her with a finger on her lip, that she received with a puzzled look.
"You're so beautiful", he repeated, in a low voice. "I'm not buttering you up, I swear…"
She looked at him for an instant, completely serious, and then looked at his lips, only a few centimetres from her nose, for a second. He saw her glance and watched her, unsure, until he saw her close her eyes and bring her chin a bit forwards, tilting her head to welcome him. He needed no further encouragement to decide to kiss her, and soon they found themselves sharing a shy and unsure first kiss, embracing each other in the dungeons, with an overwhelming sensation of emptiness in their stomachs.
When they withdrew, the girl stared at the ground with an ashamed smile, while he breathed fast, still not believing what he had just done. For a moment, seeing her diffident, an apology ran through his mind, one that would erase the last instants and let them exactly on the point they were beforehand, wishing perhaps what had already happened but keeping untouched their friendship. He could not, though, make up his mind to act contrite and lose all that, so he soon set for the second best: he put his arm around her shoulders and warmly ruffled her hair.
"You alright?", he asked her.
She looked at him in the eye for an instant and looked somewhere else, while nodding.
"Shall we go to the house?", she suggested with a broken voice.
He half shrugged and assented, little convinced.
"As you want! You don't need to go to the library?"
"I don't know", she mumbled, still uncomfortable. "Is it necessary to look anything up?"
"No", he doubted. "To do the homework, at least, no. But if you want to develop anything further…"
She nodded and started to walk slowly towards the door, followed closely by him, that was in a hurry to predict her movements so that he wouldn't have to let her go from the embrace.
"Mar", he said softly when they were about to reach the door. "Don't feel bad. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever done."
"I hadn't ever", she answered in a barely audible whisper.
"Neither had I, and that makes it even more incredible, don't you think?"
"Incredible", she repeated, thinking aloud.
"It was", he confirmed. "Don't you think so?"
She doubted and knotted her brows.
"It was… beautiful", she finally agreed.
He smiled widely.
"Even at this you're great!", he joked, while he lowered his hands to her ribs and tickled her. She laughed and twisted, complaining between laughter. "Don't tell me you're sorry!", he asked her when she had calmed down. "It was beautiful, Mar, and I want us to be friends as usual, without feeling bad! Come on…!"
She looked at him, with an amused smile showing in her eyes, though her expression was still of doubt.
"It was very beautiful indeed", she assured, leaning back to be closer to him. "I feel a bit weird, but it'll go away, don't worry."
He nodded and kissed her head with a delighted noise.
"You know?", he said, with a hint of timidity. "I'd thought about it for rather long."
"In general, or…?"
"With you", he cut her off. "And I was dying to!"
"I also thought about it", she fell in, smiling at him. "You make me feel very weel, you know?"
"You do, to me, too", he affirmed. "Come on, let's go do our homework and you let me spoil you for a bit, so that your tiredness wears off?"
She acceded, opened the door of the dungeons and pulled him, holding his hand, to the house.
"You have nothing to do?", she asked when they were half-way.
"Not till they come back from Futurology", he whispered. "And then they'll have still their homework to do, so there'll be little brawl in the common room tonight!"
She nodded, tapping him softly on the shoulder in mocked compassion.
"School is unfair", she added. "How can they give us so much work to do? They don't let you be do-nothing!"
He looked at her with a pretended hurt grimace.
"We aren't do-nothings", he complained. "All we do is only so that the other Gryffindors have funnier lives!"
"You make my life funnier, indeed", she confessed, her cheeks reddening.
He preened exaggeratedly, putting his chest out proudly to make her laugh.
"I'm glad to hear so", he said, in a murmur, while they passed through the entrance whole.
The common room welcomed them in silence, nearly desert, since the weather was nice that day and most of the pupils were at the Quidditch pitch, watching the training session, and they walked instinctively towards the zone that usually occupied the sixth-grades and sat by the window.
"I have to go upstairs to fetch my things", she explained as soon as they dropped their bags.
"I'll go with you and put this away", he suggested, with a furtive smirk that she did not see and that escaped from his lips, responding a tiny diminutive plan that he had made up as soon as he had thought about going upstairs.
They climbed the stairs, she preceding and he following close, until they arrived to the third floor of the tower, that hosted their respective bedrooms.
"What do you have to get?", he asked as soon as they arrived to the landing.
"My Transfiguration books and a piece of parchment", she explained, turning aside to talk to him.
He, who was only expecting for her to stop, looked at her with a radiant grin before approaching her and caressing her cheek.
"Now I can't stop thinking about this", he confessed in a whisper, staring at her lips for an explanation and pulling her closer with his open palm on her jaw.
She eyed him, her brows raised, and unconsciously moistened her lips, movement that he observed in detail, just before leaning over, this time waiting for no permission, to kiss her again.
When they withdrew, she smiled at him, slowly shaking her head.
"You're impossible", she told him, half laughing.
He shrugged and let her go with a sad face.
"'Cause I kiss you", he said, in an infantile-complaint tone, turned around and put her hands on his pockets.
She nodded, with an expression of being unable to understand herself, and moved towards him.
"How sweet you are", she said, looking at him in the eye with a fond smile.
She tiptoed and kissed, her lips closed, him in the lips.
"I'm going to fetch my books", she said prior to pull definitely out from him and go to her room.
"See you right now, beauty", he whispered while she disappeared, while a blissful smile lightened his face.
Some instants later, she came out from her room with a pair of large books under her arm and found him waiting, sitting on the stairs that went to the seventh-grade's bedrooms.
"You're done?"
"Yes", answered the girl, expressively raising and knotting her brows. "Let's go?"
He nodded and stood up from the stair. With a theatrically gentleman-like gesture, he offered her help to carry the books, which he didn't allow her to deny, and they went down the stairs speaking about the homework they had to do.