"Hey Sirius" She said as she walked across the seventh year boys dorm and sat down on Remus' bed.

"Hey Alice," He took a second from rifling under James' bed to look up at her and give her a slight wave, his hair was falling down in his eyes and part of the room looked like it had been rummaged through. "What's up?"

She gave a meek little smile, not that he could see anyway. "Not much, what are you looking for?"

"I'm looking," a stack of written on old parchment papers were moved "for," an old shirt was tossed aside, "that damned invisibility cloak."

"hmm."

"hmm what?"

She smirked and smiled wide. "Sirius?"

"Yes Alice."

"The invisibility cloak is lying under Peter's bed."

He stopped, and closed his eyes under James' bed. "So it is?"

"Yep"

He crawled out from under the bed, stood up, walked over and grabbed it from plain sight. He ran it through with his hands. He turned around and walked for the door. "Thanks Alice."

"No problem."

And then he caught her eyes as he was about to walk past her. They were different. Her eyes were far away, and her brow was knit. When she noticed him looking at her she gave a half smile and shrugged. "What?"

"What is it?"

"What is what?"

"You look … you look troubled is all."

Her eyes turned sad. "It's Remus."

"What about him?"

Her brow knit again, though this time it was in contemplation, and when she spoke, her hands gestured to emphasize certain points or form a rhythm to help her speak. "It's just, he's reading."

"Remus reads a lot, what about it."

She rolled her eyes. "I know he reads a lot, but this time it's different. It's like," she struggled with how to phrase it. "He's disconnecting himself from the world, he's checked out, he's disengaging. Sirius, he's not here anymore." She leaned forward and touched his shoulder, "Would you, would you just make sure he's alright?" She looked up at him

He nodded twice then spoke, "Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll talk to him about it."

"Thank you Sirius."

"No problem." And then he brushed aside a bit of her hair from her face and leaned down, and pressed his lips against hers. It wasn't rough or passionate, it was just him, grabbing her shoulder and kissing her softly. He pulled back and opened his eyes. Her eyes did the same and she stared back at him in confusion. "I'm sorry."

She stared at him, though had a questioning look on her face. "It's okay." She said it softly and slowly.

"Really"

"Yeah, don't worry about it" He looked at her slightly nervous. She smiled. "Sirius, I'm not going to tell on you if that's what you're worried about. We just … kissed." She nodded her head. He gave a nod that both signaled agreement and for her to continue. "Look, I don't love you. I'm sorry, I'm just not a part of your fan club. It was good, don't get me wrong, but we're not going into some kind of relationship, it's not like we're going to be doing this kind of thing often. So, yeah."

He smiled. That was the first time a girl had ever not immediately started going into some kind of ill-advised rant on what does this mean, what are we, do you love me, what's the deal. Rather she was explaining to him. He liked it, she didn't care and neither did he. He didn't know why he did it, he just did. That was it, plain and simple, and she got it. It was nice.

"Thanks Alice." He looked at her and smiled and went to leave

"Thanks yourself Sirius, that was a good kiss." He laughed and hurried down the stairs.

She smiled and then flipped onto someone's bed. She wouldn't tell him. It was an interesting experience getting your first kiss from one of your friends and one of your brother's best friends. She was speaking truthful in saying that it was okay. It just was. It wasn't a big deal, well it kind of was, but it wasn't drama. It didn't have to be and why should it. She didn't love him, well she cared about him, I guess you could say she loved him, but not in a romantic way. She knew he had girls, but he was Sirius, and anyways it wasn't like that. It's not like he was asking her out on a date or anything, she wasn't lined up in his head as a conquest, so why not. She smiled, and then sniffed the air. Chocolate. She went over to Remus bed, stood in front of it for a minute, and then lifted up the covers. There towards the wall, was a bar of chocolate. She eyed the door and snuck it into her pockets. If this wouldn't help him, nothing would.