"We were really drunk; you know how these things work." Emmeline Vance

CHAPTER TWO

I was sweating, which was odd.

Never in my six years of sleeping in the girl's dormitory had it ever been hot in the mornings; the castle didn't have central heating and there were no fires allowed in our rooms. On any other day it would've been cold, unbearably so, especially as the red leaves of the trees outside were crisp with frost and the autumn sun had barely risen in the watery blue sky.

I also had a pounding headache, which wasn't so odd as this was by no means the first time I'd woken up with a hangover. I couldn't be bothered to open my eyes yet – Lily would be up already, being Lily, but it was a Saturday and anyone with a shred of human decency would still be in bed. Snuggling back down into my pillow, I prepared to happily drift off again to the kingdom of dreams and spend my morning fast asleep.

But something wasn't right.

This wasn't my pillow, I realised with a jolt. It was too lumpy, and it smelt unfamiliar; a peculiar mixture of lemons and pine trees...not altogether unpleasant, but unfamiliar nonetheless. I wriggled my toes into the mattress, which, I discovered, also felt different; this wasn't my bed either. Mystified, I tried to sit up but found myself pinned down by a strange weight on my chest. I frowned in confusion and rolled over, seeking reassurance.

Instead, I collided with something big and heavy.

My eyes flew open in shock. Lying next to me, snoring with his eyes closed and one arm flung casually across yours truly, was none other than Sirius Black.

Oh.

And then it all came flooding back; the Quidditch after-party, James telling me to go look for Sirius, calling a truce on our arguments, going up to the boys dormitory with him, that startlingly passionate kiss and...everything else that followed.

Oh. Oh. Shit, shit, shit.

I sat up abruptly, dislodging Sirius's arm which caused him to frown and mumble something in his sleep, and looked around. I couldn't see much: it was not yet light outside and the curtains around the four-poster bed were drawn apart from a gap where Sirius's leg was sticking out. I spotted the door with a sigh of relief, standing ajar and sending a thin chink of light into the room. Time to escape.

Suddenly wide awake, I hastily pulled on the first item of clothing which came to hand and threw back the bed covers, wincing at the sudden stab of pain in my head from moving so fast. I glanced behind me; Sirius was still deeply asleep, his dark hair messier than ever and falling over his eyes with his arms flung out on the bed around him. He looked peaceful, beautiful even. It made me almost uncomfortable to witness him in this state of total vulnerability, but it was strangely hypnotising to watch the flicker of his eyelids and the rhythmical rise and fall of his chest.

I tore my eyes away and padded silently away across the dormitory. As I neared the door, I was just about to congratulate myself on my stealth when I tripped over something on the floor and almost cried out in shock.

So much for 007.

Someone stirred in the bed on the left; I whipped around to see James Potter rolling over with a frown on his face, but before I had time to panic, he had flung himself down on his front and began snoring loudly again. Rolling my eyes, I reached down to find out what had nearly blown my cover, and picked up something soft and familiar; my blue dress from last night with the zip ripped at the back as if someone had pulled it open in a hurry. I winced. How I was ever going to live this down I had no idea.

I left the boys dormitory without a backwards glance and hurried down the flight of steps to the common room, my head spinning not just from the fact that it felt as if someone was mining in there but also because of the realisation of what had just happened; I had slept with Sirius Black.

What a tramp, sniggered a nasty voice in my head. You're no better than any of those girls he meets up at the Astronomy Tower. Remember? The ones you always said had no respect for themselves.

This is different. This was a stupid drunken accident. No one is ever going to find out about this, and it's never going to happen again, I told myself firmly.

Sure, said the malicious voice. You're just scared to admit that you easily could've told him to shove it and left with your dignity intact, but instead you ended up staying the whole night. Tramp.

I silently cursed my conscience for being such a cow. To state the obvious, sleeping with guys who I know are morons brings out the worst in me.

I emerged in the common room to find far more people up than I had anticipated. Thankfully there was no one around from sixth year but I got a couple of funny stares from other Gryffindors who sat in the armchairs around the fire, and Marlene's brother in the year above raised his eyebrows at me questioningly. I avoided his gaze, all too aware of the fact that I had just emerged from the dormitory of the opposite sex, braless and clad in Merlin knows whose clothing, and in my rush to get out of there I hadn't had time to look in a mirror; seeing as I hadn't taken off my makeup last night, I almost certainly looked like the undead, and my hair, still in its once-stylish messy plait, had probably matted itself up into one colossal dreadlock. All in all, not my best look.

I slunk across the room – which, in my shame, felt about a million times longer – and rushed up the stairs to the girl's dormitory, pushing the door open softly.

Yup, just as I predicted. Two out of the four beds were occupied: one by Alice, who was sporting an uncharacteristic hickey on her neck, and the other by Marlene, whose blonde curls had lasted the night and lay spread out on her pillow like a halo. Lily's bed was neatly made and empty; I could hear the sound of running water from the shower. Stealth renewed, I crept across the carpet, being careful to avoid the piles of clothes that lay flung on the floor from last night, and collapsed onto my own gloriously familiar bed.

I wanted to sleep and forget everything that had happened, but by now the sun was resolutely up in the sky and light was streaming in through the windows. Undaunted, I lay down and shut my eyes.

Just as I was about to doze off, Lily ripped open the curtains around my bed. I could've ripped her head off in return.

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty," she said, far happier than anyone had a right to be at that time in the morning. "Everyone's up and we're all going down into Hogsme– whoa, what happened to you? You look awful."

I opened my eyes blearily. Lily was standing at the foot of my bed, long red hair still damp and darkened from the shower, wearing a white lace tank top and tight skinny jeans. She had her hands on her hips and was gazing down at me with a mixture of concern and distrust on her face, almost as if I'd already lied to her about where I'd been all night. Unfortunately for me, that part had yet to come.

"Charming. Eugh...what time is it?" I pulled my pillow over my head and moaned with sheer misery at the situation.

"Ten thirty. Best part of the day." Lily still sounded pretty suspicious so I decided to throw her off the scent before we got to the nosy questioning stage; this was bound to be a given, after being discovered sleeping in a stranger's T-shirt.

"Hey, whose T-shirt is that Emmeline?"

Great. Before I'd even had time to come up with an excuse, bam: we're into interrogation territory.

The inevitable question had come not from Lily but from Marlene, whose bed is right next to mine, and who was leaning over with a disturbingly hungry look on her face. I was wildly jealous of course but I could admit Marlene was stunning to look at; long blonde hair, wide-spaced blue eyes, killer figure. At this stage she also had a huge crush on Remus Lupin: as yet, it was undetermined whether these feelings were reciprocated, as Remus was generally pretty private when it came to his personal life and Marlene wasn't exactly the sort of girl to match this: in fact, she was the biggest gossip I knew.

Lily looked as if she had been going to ask that same question, and now both of them were staring at me intently as if they expected me to sprout wings. Believe me, I wanted to.

Seeing as no wings were appearing, it was time to put Operation Cover-up-the-fact-that-I-slept-with-Sirius into action.

"Oh, this old thing? It's a Ravenclaw's from seventh year. I borrowed it off him last night."

"That's where you were all night! A seventh year? What was his name?"

"I...er...don't know." Ok, that was lame. "I can't remember. We were really drunk; you know how these things work. Most of it's just a blur to be honest. All I can remember is downing half a bottle of Fire whiskey and then...nothing."

It seemed to satisfy Marlene, who looked a little disappointed that I couldn't remember any details of my imaginary shag but nodded understandingly nonetheless and turned back to painting her toe nails, but Lily looked unconvinced. Hey, she's my best friend; I'd worry if she couldn't see through me when I was telling a lie as obvious as this one. She gave me a look that said I don't believe you and you're telling me the truth later whether you like it or not and flounced off to blow-dry her hair.

I dragged myself out of bed and half walked, half crawled over to the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. I wanted to shower off every inch of last night, destroy every bit of evidence that it had even happened at all. I ripped off the T-shirt in a sudden fit of anger and threw it balled up into a corner. It could wait there in the dark until I had the decency to return it to its owner – no way was it staying anywhere near me to serve as a grim reminder of the capital crime I had committed last night.

I peered into the mirror gloomily, wondering how it was possible to look this dead and yet still be breathing. There were huge makeup smudges under my eyes that made me look remarkably like Remus; not particularly healthy, that one. As well as that, my lips were pink and swollen and screamed 'I've been snogging all night', my hair was indeed a giant dreadlock and I smelt all over of that same citrus and pine tree scent; Sirius's scent. Upon realising this, I instantly felt nauseous.

Let me point out that I hadn't just lost my virginity, as it might be logical to guess from the way I was reacting. I'm just utterly not the sort to sleep around: shagging guys I barely know only to have disgusting rumours about my sex life circling behind my back? Seriously, no thanks. Sure, I've had the odd boyfriend in the past, but none of them anything like Sirius Black and that's why I was so disgusted with myself: I kept my guard up, I prided myself on not letting anyone in that was his kind of arrogant or had his sort of reputation. Except I just had. I had let him in all too literally.

Eugh, inner conscience, you were right: I'm a tramp. Damn you and your principles.

It's true. You're a tramp my conscience agreed.

The shower was hot and perfect, and over way too soon; I had only just finished shampooing when there was a loud knock on the door.

"Hurry up, Emmeline! We're leaving in ten minutes!"

"I don't want to come! Just go with Alice and Marlene," I shouted, eyes closed and savouring the feel of the hot water cleansing me of my sins.

"Nope, you're not getting out of it this time: even Black was saying you're too antisocial the other day, and for once, he was right. Come on, it'll be fun! It was Peter's idea: all the boys are going too. I get to spend the next few hours with James drooling on my sleeve; joy."

All the boys. All the boys.

"Lils I'm definitely not coming. I just remembered – I've got this thing called free will."

"Very funny."

"Lily! Don't make me do this!" But I could already hear her footsteps fading away.

Perfect, absolutely bloody perfect. Now I had to see Sirius in person, with the whole gang along for the ride. Oh Merlin this was going from bad to worse; couldn't a girl have a typical morning-after to herself for once?

Apparently not; the minute I stepped out of the bathroom, Alice practically leapt in to take my place. Marlene was gone, probably off to flirt with Remus some more, which left Lily, lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling.

"I think James likes me," she said calmly.

"Well done Lily! Did you work that one out all on your own?"

"No seriously." She sat up and looked at me solemnly. "I think he really honestly likes me."

"Understatement of the century," I laughed. "That boy's been crazy about you since second year."

Lily slumped back down on the bed with a look of painful realisation on her face. "I'm a real bitch to him sometimes, aren't I?"

"No, of course not." I know right? White-lying brownie points to Emmeline. Too bad that was slightly overshadowed by the amount of normal lying I'd already done today. "He's the one that tormented your friend for five years and loved every second of it; you've got every right to steer well clear of him."

"A friend that called me a mudblood."

There was a pause. We'd never really discussed what had happened last year between her and Snape, mainly because I'd never liked him to begin with and Lily didn't want to hear another 'I told you so'. Just for the record, I would never have said that even if she had wanted my opinion. He may have been an evil greasy pathetic little slime-ball, but Lily was my best friend and had genuinely cared about him: who was I to judge her friendship with Snivellus? Sorry, I mean Snape.

"James has always been a bit immature," I said evenly. "It's taken him long enough to let the air out of his own big head if you ask me, but he's changed and he's not the same conceited prat he was when we were kids. Maybe it's time you gave him a chance."

"Remember last year when I said I'd rather go out with the giant squid?" she said with a small smile.

I grinned. "Something along the lines of 'I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it.' One of your finest moments Evans."

"He's still not exactly what I'd call boyfriend material," she mused. "Not the sort you could settle down with. I definitely don't see him as a being a good father, either."

"Who said anything about James being a father? Live in the moment. It's not like you're going to marry the dude."

"True, but it would be nice to think there was a possibility of some sort of a future with him..."

"Lily Evans. You're actually considering this aren't you?" I grinned, sitting up and staring at her in disbelief.

She looked a bit uncomfortable. "No. Not really. I was just thinking about what it would be like, you know, being James's girlfriend. He'd probably just go off flirting with other girls," she said hastily, as if to reassure herself that she still thought he was the same arrogant bullying toe-rag he'd always been and was never going to change.

"Sure," I smirked. "It's not as if he's had that opportunity already. Funny, not a single girl has ever expressed any sort of wish to go out with James Potter, popular sexy Quidditch captain that he is." She didn't even laugh at the sarcasm. "Come on Lily, he could have his pick of the lot, and guess what? He's turned down every single one of them."

At that moment, there was a knock at the door.

"Don't worry, I'm not coming in." Lupin sounded very embarrassed. "James sent me to say he's sorry but Hogsmeade is off. Hufflepuff had the pitch booked but their seeker's in bed with flu so it's available after all. James has organised emergency Quidditch practise.

And I thought it couldn't get any worse. At least in Hogsmeade I would've been able to distract myself with my friends and the budding romance between Lily and James, rather than spend the whole time desperately avoiding Sirius who would no doubt be taunting me with details of what exactly had happened last night. Now I had to not only avoid him, but do it on a broomstick to boot.

"Oi Remus! Are you sure it's for the whole team? We did literally just win the Cup after all."

"Yep, he wants the whole team. Sorry Em."

"Will Sirius be there?" I blurted out suddenly without thinking.

"Er...seeing as he's on the team and it's a whole team practise I'm fairly sure the answer to that is yes, Sirius will be there."

"Can't you tell James I'm sick?"

"We both know he'll drag you out anyway."

"Can't you tell him I've been savaged by wild rabid dogs?"

"Nice try. He says be on the pitch in ten minutes."

"Rats," I said moodily as Lupin's footsteps faded away. "You get to stay in and sleep while I have to go play Quidditch at – what time is it? I haven't even had breakfast."

Lily looked put out too, maybe because she'd planned on her first civil conversation with James in six years before he'd organised Qudditch instead, the singular thing he loved on an equal level to Lily herself.

"Why did you want to know if Sirius would be there?" she asked shrewdly.

"No reason. I had a fight with him last night. It's going to be a bit awkward," I said lamely, feeling bad.

So I lied, big deal. Its not like there was even much point as Lily saw through it instantly and was about to open her mouth to question it, before Alice emerged from the shower and began asking her questions about the upcoming Potions final. Talk about saved by the bell.

Fifteen minutes later – fashionably late in my opinion and really Remus, telling me to get ready in ten minutes while I'm standing there with a towel round my head? Who do you think I am? – Alice pushed me firmly out of the door.

"What's got into you? You love Quidditch normally. I've never seen you not be excited about flying around in the cold to chase after some magical flying balls." Alice thought Quidditch was stupid and a waste of time; this opinion remained the one weak link in our friendship.

"I don't feel well," I moaned, reluctantly dragging my feet down the flight of stairs. "Isn't there some sort of potion that'll make me throw up? That way I could spew all over Potter's robes and he might give me the day off as punishment."

Alice smiled ruefully. "They'll invent it one day. Honestly Em, I've never seen you like this. You're not actually ill are you?"

"No, I'm just tired. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"Oh yeah, Marlene told me! Seventh year Ravenclaw wasn't it? Tell me all the dirty details later!"

"Right," I muttered dejectedly, making my way down the rest of the stairs and out towards the Quidditch pitch. "Sure. All the dirty details."