Puppy Love

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or settings that you recognise and am not making profit of any kind out of this material, this is purely for shits and giggles.

Chapter Two

I tried to stifle a yawn as I sat down on my four poster bed that night. I crossed my legs, pulling them towards my body as I let myself relax. The other girls were sitting on their beds too, chatting away about this year and how interesting it was going to be which had apparently become a tradition of the girls dorm that I had to join in with.

All I wanted to do was curl up in bed with a book and read until I fell asleep, but Karen and Susan were not going to allow that. They had already resumed their Sirius Black conversation - seriously what is so amazing about that boy - and were waiting for me to respond with my input. All four of their eyes focused on me, their gazes questioning.

"Come on, Ryan. You've never told us what you really think of him," Karen said, trying to encourage an answer from me.

"Well, I... I don't really see what all the fuss is about," I said truthfully, getting the words out as quickly as I could and keeping my eyes fixed to my feet. I could feel their eyes boring into the top of my head as they stared at me.

"He's the most gorgeous human being on the planet," Karen informed me like I had just climbed out of hibernation and this was the most important fact I would need to know about the world. "And this year he will be mine,"

"Not if he picks me," Susan pointed out as if it were a feasible outcome that he would actually stick to just one girl. Their attentions where turned back to Black and away from my apparently ridiculous opinion of him. I was glad and managed to last the rest of the night only uttering a few 'mm hmm's and nodding periodically.

It became very obvious that both girls seemed to think they had something so special that they could turn the self-proclaimed playboy of Hogwarts into their boyfriend. I had to keep from laughing at the very idea of Sirius Black being anyone's boyfriend.

Finally they decided to get some sleep, lessons started first thing in the morning and they had both set their alarms so they would have plenty of time to get ready before breakfast, both of which were far too early for me. I slid under my duvet, too tired now to even open a book.

A piercing screech was what woke me the next morning. I rolled over to check the clock realising it was one of the girl's alarms. It was half six; breakfast wasn't for an hour at least. I grabbed a pillow and pulled it over my ears failing to drown out the ear splitting noise.

Finally it stopped and I breathed a sigh of relief at the sweet silence until it was punctuated by yet more noise. Two teenage girls rushing around the dorm getting ready, fussing over what to do with their hair or how much make up to wear to impress a boy who's name I shall not speak. Or think, starting from now.

The bathroom door clicked shut and the sound of the shower echoed off the walls. I wondered if I'd get in there at all this morning. I rolled onto my back, throwing the pillow aside and glaring at the ceiling of my four poster bed. The curtains were still drawn around me so I enjoyed the precious moments of calm in my own little cocoon, before I had to listen to girlish squealing throughout breakfast.

I lay there, listening to the girls getting ready and talking excitedly for a while longer and managed to drift in and out of sleep for a bit longer before finally dragging myself out of my cocoon.

"Ryan," Karen squealed as she played with her hair in the mirror.

"How does this look?" Susan asked from the other side of the room, indicating to her hair which was tied in a high pony tail, trailing right down her back in a waterfall of black. It looked good on her and showed off her features which were carefully accentuated with just the right amount of makeup.

"Um, it looks really pretty," I replied honestly, smiling quickly as I headed to the bathroom, noticing it was blissfully empty.

"Pretty?" Susan replied, eye brows furrowed as she tugged the band from her hair and let it fall loosely down her back. "I don't want to be pretty! I need to be hot, smoking hot," She discarded the band on the floor and ran her hands through her hair as she went back to the mirror.

I bolted for the bathroom door before either of them could ask any more question for me to get wrong. I ran the hot tap and stepped into the shower, letting the sound of the water drown out the girls who were now arguing over something to do with their makeup.

I had showered, dried, brushed my teeth and got dressed while the two girls were still checking their appearances in the mirror. Running a brush through my hair I grabbed my school bag and slipped out of the dorm before either of them could question me further about their appearances.

The common room was full of people on their way to breakfast. I spotted Adrian by the door and waved to him, weaving my way through the crowd to reach him.

"Morning," he said as I pushed him through the door and out of the crowded common room.

"Morning," I replied, leading the way down to breakfast.

"I'm starving,"

"You're always starving,"

"Well I'm a growing boy," He protested to justify himself.

"Yea, growing outwards," I chuckled to myself as Adrian lunged for me, threatening hexes. I dodged him easily, being smaller had its advantages and he was a Beater, built for strength not agility. We laughed our way down to the Great Hall and I managed to grab seats as far away from where the Marauders were sat as possible.

Adrian piled his plate with enough food for an elephant and started shovelling it into his mouth. I pulled a face which he pointedly ignored and grabbed myself a buttery crumpet. Karen and Susan giggled into the room a while after and as I predicted sat as close to Black as they could while being at a different table.

Thanks to my seating choice I was far enough away that I couldn't hear them. I could however still see them out the corner of my eye and their attempts to get his attention by hair flicking and eye lash batting. I really do despair for the female population of this school sometimes.

Professor McGonagall came round with our timetables, handing me Adrian's as well since his face was still in his plate.

"Great, double potions first," I sighed handing Adrian his timetable as he took a breather from eating.

"It's not so bad, we can partner up," He reminded me. "And you picked Potions remember,"

"I know," I replied. "I just didn't realise at the time who had also picked potions," Adrian knew who I was talking about. He knew the whole story having been there to witness it himself, so he knew why I hated Black. Not that that meant he agreed with my reasoning. He let it slide though since he agreed with my other reason for disliking him; being that he was a dick to any girl that fell for his trap and other people in general.

Adrian ended up with indigestion and sat hunched over, pulling a ridiculous face while I laughed. Consequently meaning we left a little late for Potions and had to run to arrive on time. Slughorn was standing at the door when we arrived, a smile plastered on his face as he greeted us.

"Good morning. Please check the board and find your seat," He told us.

"Check the board?" Adrian asked what I had been thinking.

"Yes Mr Locke, the seating plan is on the board. We had far too many disruptions last year," He cleared his throat and I knew exactly who he was referring too. "So this year you have a seating plan to help you get the best grades you can," He beamed at us both as we stared open mouthed at him. He waved us into the class room and we reluctantly headed for the front.

It was already surrounded by a group of students, looking for their name or arguing with who they had been paired with. At the front as expected, discussing their seating arrangements were James Potter and Sirius Black, their voices carried back to us as we waited to get a look.

"Who the hell is Ryan Dawson?" My blood turned to ice as I heard my name coming from none other than Sirius Black's lips. Adrian looked as if he was going to hit someone but I put my hand on his arm to try and stop him doing anything stupid. I knew I wouldn't actually be a match for his strength but he relaxed a little under my hand.

"She's a Ravenclaw, she's been in our potions class for years, Padfoot," Potter told him, like he should know. Why would he know who I am, no one pays attention to me right? That's how I like it.

"She? That's a boy's name Prongs, are you sure?" Black replied in his usual, I-know-everything tone. I gritted my teeth together and tightened my grip on Ardian's arm. Please tell me I'm paired with James and not him, please, please, please. I don't think I'll survive the lesson, let alone the year.

"Yea, she's really smart but really quiet. You're obviously just oblivious to any girl that doesn't throw themselves at you, mate," Potter laughed, slapping Black on the shoulder, Black laughed too.

"Only because that's the only type of girl, Prongsy," He grinned, that stupid lopsided grin that had so many girls swooning over him. I felt like throwing up but resigned myself to dipping my head and letting my hair cover my burning cheeks.

Other people had moved now so Adrian and I could get to the front and check our seats. I scanned across the parchment, the plan of the room drawn out with names written onto each on the desks. There was my name, right next to none other than Sirius Black. My heart plunged into my stomach and disturbed all the butterflies into a frenzy. Adrian had been partnered with Potter, clearly Slughorn had used the seating plan as a way to slit up those two without it seeming unfair.

Potter and Black were still talking nonsense as I grimaced at Adrian and went to find my seat at the back of the dungeon room as quietly as I could. It was always cold and damp in the dungeons but I was shivering more than usual at the prospect of being partnered to the one person in the whole school I would be happy never knew of my existence.

I pulled out my Potions book and tried to duck as far under my hair as I could possibly get. Slughorn closed the door and clapped his hands, sending everyone to their seats so he could start the class. I felt Black sit down beside me and lean back on his stood against the stone wall. I shrank into myself further.

"Hey," I heard his voice through my hair and prayed he wasn't going to start talking to me. "So you're Ryan Dawson, right?"

Damn.

I nodded, not even attempting to remove the wall of hair blocking him from my view. He sat forwards on his chair then, leaning onto the desk to get a look at me round my wall of hair.

"I'm Sirius Black," He told me, like I didn't know. I nodded again and turned to the page in the book that Slughorn was writing on the board. Sirius stayed leaning on the desk, looking at me while stared directly ahead and tried to listen to Slughorn explaining the potion we would be making. I couldn't help but be distracted by the face peering at me out the corner of my eye and I knew that my blushing face was probably redder than ever.

We were making Veritaserum and Slughorn was making a very important point that all potions be handed to him at the end as it was a Ministry controlled potion not to be used by silly teenagers. At which he pointedly looked from Potter to Black causing Potter to snort into his text book and Black to respond in as serious tone as was probably possible from him.

"I'm sure no one would be so irresponsible, Professor," Earning another snort from Potter who had to bury his face into his book to stifle the sound of his laughing.

And then we were left to make the potion and it was going to get harder and harder to avoid talking to Black. I read through the instructions while Black tried to balance his chair on one leg and nearly fell off. I had to summon all my self-control to stop from pushing him.

The next hour and a half was the longest hour and a half of my life. I managed to get away with saying as few words as possible to Black even though he was talking nearly constantly as we worked. He questioned everything I did while making his best attempt at ruining the potion. I don't think he was doing it on purpose, he just didn't seem to realise the importance of slicing the root to exactly one millimetre thickness or crushing the crystals to a fine powder without leaving lumps in it. We must have used double the ingredients we should have by the time I threw his away and did it again myself.

"What now?" Black said, throwing his hand into the air as I had taken over once again.

"Clockwise," I muttered, stirring our potion the correct way while Black decided to sulk in his chair.

"What?"

"You were stirring anti-clockwise, it should be clockwise," I managed a full sentence.

"Fine, do it your way," He retorted, folding his hands across his chest and leaning back against the wall again. I wanted to tell him it was actually the correct way from the text book but I also wanted to avoid talking to him even more. We were practically finished now anyway and as I stirred, the blue liquid in the cauldron slowly started losing its colour until it became perfectly clear and I knew it was done.

Slughorn appeared then, taking a sample of our potion in a vial and holding it up to the light before sniffing it cautiously.

"Well done you two, a perfect potion as always Miss Dawson. Mr Black hopefully you can learn from her this year," Slughorn said, moving on to the next desk and leaving me blushing furiously. So that's why he had paired us together.

Slughorn had collected all the vials of potion at the front of the class and congratulated Lily and Remus, Adrian and Potter, and Black and I on our practically perfect potions. Potter was busy high fiving Black at making a potion correctly so I grabbed my bag, stuffing my potions book in as I resisted sprinting from the room. Instead I settled for slipping behind Black as quickly and quietly as I could manage and out into the corridor. I would meet Adrian after but I couldn't stand being in that dungeon any longer.

I got half way to the staircase before I heard someone was calling my name. Someone with a deep, smooth voice that I had just about heard enough of to last a lifetime already. Why couldn't it have just been Adrian?

"Dawson, hey," I tried hard to pretend I couldn't hear it and kept walking. But his voice was getting closer; he must have been running to catch up with me. "Hey, Ryan?" I couldn't ignore it any more as Black was practically next to me.

I stopped and turned to look up at him through my hair. He stopped beside me and rubbed the back of his neck. If this wasn't Sirius Black, the always suave and confident playboy, I would say it was a nervous habit.

"Um, Ryan, is it OK to call you Ryan," He didn't wait for confirmation. "Look sorry about nearly making a mess of the potion," Black said. It took great mental strength on my part to stop from dropping my jaw open in awe. Sirius Black was apologising, was I hearing this right? "I guess I just didn't realise the way you stir it mattered. My potions never work that well but I though... I don't really know what I thought,"

I blinked up at him as he rambled on; clearly talking to girls when he wasn't trying to chat them up was new for him. Unless this was his trying to hit on me. Oh Merlin I hope not. It was the first time I'd really looked into his eyes, mostly I avoided everyone's eyes. They were grey but not dull, they were like minute storms, swirling and tumbling around his pupils. His dark hair fell around his face in a mess where he insisted on ruffling it periodically, giving him a permanent bed head look which I guess is one of the things girls liked. He was a fair bit taller than me and a lot broader from those years of Quidditch practice, and I suddenly felt very small in comparison.

"It's fine," I told him, gritting my teeth and dragging my eyes away from his. It was harder than I liked to admit. I had hoped that was the end of the conversation but no such luck.

"I was wondering if, well, would you mind maybe helping me with potions?" He asked, ruffling his hair again and avoiding my eyes. "I just... I really need to pass if I ever want to become an Auror," He added quietly, as though he was a little ashamed of wanting to do well. It didn't exactly fit with his rebel image.

He met my eyes again then. He looked so hopefully, like a stray puppy begging for scraps, that I felt almost sorry for him. Almost. But I was going to have to be his partner for the year anyway. Maybe if I helped him he wouldn't be such a pain to work with for the rest of the year. I don't think I can put up with correcting his every move in every potions lesson for the rest of the year.

"Sure," I forced out before I could over think the situation or change my mind. No matter what my feelings were towards him I would feel awful if he failed when I could have helped. A fatal flaw on my part I decided.

His face cracked into a lopsided grin as he realised I had agreed with minimal convincing, slapping a hand on my shoulder just like he would to James. I winced at the force and staggered a little but he didn't seem to notice.

"Thank you, Ryan. I won't be a pain in the arse I promise," He beamed at me and did a little dance down the corridor, no doubt to go and find the rest of the Marauders.

I stood there and watched him vanish up the stairs. Part of me was in shock that Sirius Black had just asked for help, part of me wondered if this was all just one of his plays to pick up girls but the majority of me was furious at myself for agreeing to spend even more time with Black.

What the hell have I got myself into?

A/N: Chapter two is here and I have revised chapter one too! I've been a bit lost with writing recently and today just really wanted to write ff for the first time in a while, so I'm rolling with it and hoping it will get me back on track with other writing too. I actually really missed writing purely for fun since all my original stuff has that niggling thought in the back of my mind that I could try to publish it one day and it has to be perfect for that and then I get overwhelmed by it. Anyway, this has gotten really long now so I'll get back to the next chapter.

Azealia x