A/N Hey there! Back with chapter 2! I hope I'm not confusing everyone with the amount of idiotic detail I have in some places but absolutely nothing at others. Anyway, Sirius Black is hot af. Let us all acknowledge that in peace.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Ravenclaw-Gryffindor classes were not going so well. It had taken the combined efforts of Rowena, Bedelia, Anna, Andrew and Evelyn to keep Sia at bay. The worst period was probably History of Magic, where no one really paid attention and Sia's animosity towards Black increased tenfold. It wasn't just the fact that he had played a nasty prank on her. He was also unapologetically supercilious about it all. He even had the gall to comment on her hair after Potions one day.

"New look eh? Can't say it's working for you, Adams," he commented casually, passing by her after Slughorn had left.

This time, her friends were too far away to stop her as Sia pulled out her wand and blasted Black off his feet.

"Flipendo!"

Potter and Lupin had stopped walking and spun around to face Sia. She was too quick for anyone to stop her, as she hurled another jinx at Black.

"Tarantellegra!"

Black was immediately pulled to his feet by an invisible force and began dancing with gusto; completely throwing off the dark look of fury he was throwing Sia. People had started to gather now, some chuckling at the dancing Gryffindor, while others looked around in fear.

"Come on, let's go," whispered Rowena, pulling Sia away before any further damage could be done.

"Next time you think of saying anything to me, remember I know a Permanent Balding Spell," she called out to Black, unaware of Potter and Lupin trying desperately to fight back their laughter.

…

A week after the incident outside the dungeons, there had been several attacks on Gryffindors and Ravenclaws in the corridors. What had started off with Black's high-handed attitude, had escalated into a full-blown inter House war. It was now so bad, that Mary McDonald from Gryffindor and Samuel Davies from Ravenclaw had ended up in the Hospital Wing for two days.

The teachers had finally decided to intervene, starting with McGonagall during Monday's Double Transfiguration.

"For some unfathomable reason, students of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw have been engaged in various altercations of late," she paused, while Black and Sia exchanged dirty glances.

"In light of these circumstances, Professor Flitwick and I have decided to take certain remedial measures. You will each be assigned a permanent partner from the opposite House for each subject. As this rule cannot be implemented in each class, it will only be put to effect in Charms, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration."

She glanced around the class, waiting for any arguments, but other than a general murmur of displeasure, nobody said anything.

"Wonderful. For this class, I will pair you up immediately and Professor Flitwick will do the same after lunch."

"Ms. Adams, you will be with Mr. Pettigrew. Ms. Dupont with Mr. Potter, Ms. Diggle with Ms. Evans, Mr. Knightley with Mr. Lupin, Ms. Carlisle with Ms. McKinnon and Ms. Arden with Mr. Black," she finished, passing the last few students briskly.

Sia glared at Black as he sauntered over towards Rowena. Andrew and Lupin had stared an amicable conversation, while Bedelia looked pained to see Potter grin at her cheekily. Anna and Evelyn had been the luckiest, being paired with Marlene McKinnon and Lily Evans respectively.

Turning towards her partner, Sia resisted the urge to scowl as he shuffled uncertainly. Pettigrew was of average height, with blonde hair and watery blue eyes. He was the least extraordinary in the group of four Sia had come to despise.

By the end of the class, Pettigrew hadn't been reduced to pile of feathers, and no one else was any worse for wear. McGonagall thus deemed the arrangement successful.

Lunch was a completely different issue. Everyone was bursting with complaints or observations about their new partners.

"Potter is so annoying! Ugh! He just kept alternating between sending longing looks at Lily and guffawing at something with Black!"

"I hear you, Beedz. Since he kept staring at Lily, I could feel his eyes on us as well. It was pretty creepy," shuddered Evelyn.

"I quite liked Marlene. She's really funny and laughed her head off when Potter fell flat on his face," giggled Anna.

"I think everyone laughed at that. Even Remus couldn't stop himself from snorting. You know, he's actually pretty decent. I don't know why he hangs around with Potter and Black," supplied Andrew with a shrug.

"Speaking of Black, don't you have anything to say Ro?" asked Sia impatiently.

"There isn't much to say. He didn't say a word. Or do anything. Other than make weird faces at Potter," was all that Rowena had to say.

"Really?" Rowena nodded her head uninterestedly, as her friend continued to glare at her.

"Charms next. Wonder who we'll be partnered with there?" mused Anna.

"Can't be worse than Potter," muttered Bedelia.

Turns out things could be worse. Bedelia was paired with Black while Sia found herself stuck with Potter. Rowena was now with Pettigrew, Andrew had been paired with Lily, Anna was with Lupin and Evelyn with Marlene.

Things could only stay calm for so long. Potter continued to annoy the bollocks off Sia, as she groaned to herself and smacked her head on the table.

"Woah. Tone down the violence, Adams," he said with a grin.

She flashed him a murderous glare and he quickly backed away from her.

"I don't get you. Why do you always look like someone's made you try all the earwax flavoured Bertie Bott's Beans?"

"I think it's the general aura you and your friends seem to exude," she muttered darkly.

"Sorry?"

"Oh you will be if you keep talking."

Potter gave her an uncertain look before returning to the book in front of him.

It gave Sia a little relief to see her friends struggling almost as much as her. Rowena looked like she had just seen Snape's underwear and Bedelia looked like she had just smelt it. Clearly Pettigrew and Black were getting under their skins. Andrew had zero problems once again, as he chatted away with Lily, earning a number of doleful glares from Potter. Anna seemed to be intimidating poor Lupin with her excited chatter while Evelyn and Marlene didn't seem to have much difficulty working together.

…

"I cannot take this stupid arrangement!"

Sia jumped onto her bed and screamed into her pillow for a good 10 seconds.

"It's your fault to begin with."

"Excuse me?" she asked, raising an annoyed eyebrow at Rowena.

"You're the one that started this whole thing after you hexed Black after Potions that day."

Sia's mouth fell open in indignation.

"WHAT? I did not! He started it! I just did what I had to to salvage my wounded pride."

"Nuh uh. You could've let it go. Ro's right. You should be the last one complaining about the current situation," murmured Bedelia from behind the book she was reading.

"I cannot believe you guys," huffed Sia, pulling the covers over her head.

"Come on you guys. It's not all her fault. Maybe reacting in that way wasn't the best, but she had no control over how the rest of the students would react," said Anna, trying to broker peace.

Sia peeked out from under the covers, frowning at her friends.

"Fine, drama queen. It wasn't ALL your fault. Happy? Now come out," said Rowena, rolling her eyes.

"Very," grinned Sia, jumping up from underneath her covers.

"Better maintain that attitude. We have two more partners to be assigned. Who knows whom we'll end up with," said Bedelia, wisely while everyone else groaned.

…

"Umm, I'm really sorry about what happened to your hair."

Sia eyed Lupin coolly before tilting her head to one side.

"Why?"

"Because it was a stupid prank and it wasn't even meant for you. To be honest, it shouldn't have been meant for anyone, but what can you do," he sighed, shrugging.

"Why are you apologizing? You weren't even there that day," she asked, still suspicious.

"Well, we are a group after all and even though I wasn't part of this particular incident, I feel responsible for not stopping my friends."

He sounded sincere and Sia sighed. She had never disliked Lupin. He wasn't annoying or obnoxious. It was weird that he hung out with Black and Potter.

"Okay."

She heard Lupin sigh, before turning to his notes. They were learning the theoretical difficulties behind a Stunning Spell. So far, Prof. Hornswaggle had been busily writing on the board and was oblivious to Black and Potter's antics which were clearly unnerving Andrew and Anna.

They were passing notes to each other and Potter even managed to sneak a few to Lily, much to her and Bedelia's chagrin. He was sniggering at Black, his round glasses shining on the bridge of his nose as he kept throwing smirks at Lily.

Soon it was time to move on to the practical side of the lesson. Sia felt relieved to be able to distract herself from the idiotic Gryffindors surrounding her friends with their pathetic behavior. Lupin wasn't too bad and she felt like she would at least be able to tolerate his presence in class.

"Now, you will all be practicing the Stunning Spell with your assigned partners. Swap, after a few go's. You have half an hour to practice. Chop chop!"

Lupin aimed his wand at her and spoke the incantation. Sia immediately erected a shield in front of her and the spell bounced off it. Her partner frowned slightly, and tried again. She was able to deflect it once more. Her irritation was mounting as she saw Black from the corner of her eye. He and Andrew were engaged in a pretty intense practice. What annoyed her was Black's casual attitude. He seemed to be performing all his spells with a lazy flick of his wand while Andrew's actions looked much more concentrated and difficult.

"Shall we switch?" She heard Lupin say after managing to penetrate the shield twice.

"Alright." Just as she turned away from Black and Andrew, she saw her friend get hit by a perfect Stunning Spell.

Hornswaggle waddled up to them, beaming with pleasure.

"Excellent work, Mr. Black! That's the best Stunning Spell today! 10 points to Gryffindor," he said, while Black smirked at Potter. "Oh and Ennervate."

Andrew picked himself up from the ground, not looking too pleased with the situation. Nonetheless, he grunted a congratulations towards Black.

This little incident seemed to affect Sia poorly. Her efforts at stunning Lupin were quite paltry. The shields that he put up were getting stronger and stronger, while she felt her irritation mount.

"I think you're flicking your wand at the wrong moment. Try it again, I think it'll work better this time," Lupin said cautiously.

"Forget it, Moony. There isn't anything you can do to help here. They just don't make 'em as smart as they used to in Ravenclaw. Such a shame. Not even a nerd."

Sia's temper flared as she recognized Black's arrogant drawl. Forgetting all about the inter House bonding project, she aimed her wand at him and said the first thing that came to her mind.

"Everte Statum!"

Black was ready this time and lazily, deflected the spell.

'You won't catch me off guard again, Adams," he said, his grey eyes darkening.

"Levicorpus!" He brandished his wand in her direction, but she quickly put up a shield.

"You're far too arrogant, Black," she spat.

"That may be true, but I'm still going to have you hanging upside down in humilia-"

"Expelliarmus!" She yelled, before he could complete his sentence. Hornswaggle had started to move towards their place at the back of the class by this time.

"Stupefy!" Black fell with alarming grace, as Sia blew away a strand of her from the front of her face.

"What in Merlin's name is going on here? Miss Adams? Weren't you working with Mr. Lupin? And is that- " he paused to look at Black's stunned body on the floor.

"Ennervate."

Black immediately jumped to his feet, a nasty glow in his eyes. Lupin signaled to Potter, and they both held him back before any further damage occurred.

"Give me back my wand," he muttered darkly.

Sia chucked his wand back at him, but not before throwing him a dirty look.

"I am honestly astounded with your behavior. I thought you two would know better than recommence this silly rivalry between the Houses. Detention on Friday night. Both of you." He added, giving both Sia and Black meaningful glances.

"But sir, I have Quidditch practice on Friday!"

"I'm afraid that cannot be helped. Perhaps you should consider these things before getting into a fight with Mr. Black, Miss Adams."

The bell rang just at that moment, and Lupin and Potter quickly shoved Black out of the room, with Pettigrew following hurriedly.

Sia frowned and packed her bag, motioning to her friends to wait for her outside. As she was leaving, Hornswaggle gave her a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry, Miss Adams. I heard what Mr. Black said. However, I cannot excuse your actions even though you were provoked. However," he paused, amking sure that there wasn't anyone else listening, "That was a rather fantastic Stunning Spell. Perhaps try it on Mr. Lupin during actual practice next time." He finished with a chuckle.

…

"Sia, for Merlin's sake, keep it in your pocket."

She groaned as Bedelia continued to lecture her on the stupidity of 'whipping out her wand unnecessarily'. The journey to the dungeons after lunch was uncharacteristically gloomy as everyone was worried about what would happen in another class with Sia and Black in it together.

"Good afternoon class!" Slughorn beamed at everyone, though he didn't get quite a similar response.

"Right. Now your partners are written on the board, so have a look and then off you go. We shall be attempting to brew the Draught of Peace today."

"Fuck." Bedelia and Rowena exchanged worried glances as Sia made her way to the board to see who her partner was.

"You're joking," she said to no one in particular.

"Sia, please don't do anything stupid. You already have one detention," hissed Bedelia, making sure that no one else heard.

"And you're missing Quidditch," piped up Evelyn.

"Easy for you to say. You've got Lupin," Sia glared at her teammate.

"Just behave." Evelyn said before walking off to her desk.

"I will if he does," muttered Sia darkly, as she saw Black read through the list. She saw his shoulders become tense for a flicker of a moment before he shot her a glare.

"Padfoot, mate, don't do anything stupid. Please. I don't need to missing any practices this season." Sia heard Potter whispering into Black's ear as they approached her table. Potter had been paired with Andrew and they were both sitting behind her and Black.

The universe hated her. That was all she could conclude from today's events. Why else would she be partnered with Sirius Black for Potions?!

Her entire body was rigid as he sat down beside her. It was taking an intense amount of self-control on her part to not punch him in the nose. Everything about him wreaked arrogance and that was one thing she hated more than anything else.

The first fifteen minutes of the lesson passed without incident. Sia and Black had both refrained from opening their mouths, though the tension in the air was so thick it was almost comparable to Goyle's neck.

Sia was having difficulty focusing because of the awkward length of her hair. It wasn't long enough to be tied nor was it short enough so that it wouldn't fall into her eyes. She kept huffing and trying to tuck it behind her ears but the errant strands were proving to be a huge nuisance.

She heard Black snort as she attempted to add porcupine quills into the cauldron with one hand and continuously shove away her hair with the other. Irritation surged through her and she turned her head towards him.

"Something funny, Black?" she snapped.

"Not at all. But I stand by what I said earlier. The new look isn't working for you Adams."

"For your information, I didn't willingly do this to my hair," she hissed at him, making sure that Slughorn couldn't see.

"Whatever. Not everyone can carry off whatever hairstyle comes their way," he drawled arrogantly, giving his longish hair a shake.

"Please. Don't make me laugh. You couldn't pull off any look other than a drugged hippie," she scoffed.

"At least I can keep my hair in place."

"You're hair only stays in place because it's lifeless and dull. Just like you!" She shot at him angrily. She knew that this was a very idiotic thing to say, but she had never been good at comebacks.

"I think the entire Hogwarts population would beg to differ, Adams," he said coolly, but Sia could see that she had hit a nerve.

By this time, Slughorn had moved over to their table.

"I hope everything is quite alright. Mr. Black? Miss Adams?" he asked, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

"Of course, Professor. I was just having a chat with Adams. She was asking me for hair care advice," replied Black smoothly.

Sia bristled as a few people in the class sniggered at this statement.

"I see, er,"

"She's having a lot of trouble adjusting to this new and confusing stage in her experimental hair phase," Black added.

"Yes, Professor. I am. Perhaps, Black wouldn't mind telling you exactly how I came to make this curious hairstyle choice," she said, all the while glaring at the boy next to her.

"It was probably related to getting over a terrible break up. Or perhaps, an unwanted interference," countered Black, his gaze never leaving Sia's.

"Maybe, it was the result of some pathetic idiot who hasn't matured even a little since first year!"

"Right… I'm sure this is all extremely important but this isn't the ideal atmosphere for brewing the Draught of Peace," said Slughorn, emphasizing the last word.

He walked away after Sia and Black and turned their murderous looks away from each other.

In another ten minutes, Slughorn was happily announcing that Lily and Rowena's potion had successfully achieved the correct shade of blue.

"Well done! 5 points to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Now this is the kind of team work Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were hoping to inspire! Right, the rest of your potions should be a bluish color by now. Or if you were a little slow, then white."

Sia glanced at their potion and noticed, to her horror, that it was a bubbling viscous red. Black seemed to have noticed the anomaly as well and glared at her.

"What did you do?" he hissed.

"It wasn't my fault. You must have added something wrong!"

"I didn't. You probably read the instructions wrong with your stupid hair messing everything up!"

"My stupid hair wouldn't be messing things up if you hadn't aimed that blasted hex at me!"

"It's your fault for not watching where you're going!"

"MY fault?! I di-"

Right on cue, their potion exploded, coating the entire middle row in thick red sludge.

Slughorn sighed as a few girls squealed in disgust. Potter was snickering at Black's disheveled state, while Lupin buried his hands in his face. Rowena and Bedelia were throwing stern glances towards Sia but she was busy glaring at Black.

"Both of you please stay back to clean up this mess. And 10 points from both Houses."

…

Gah! What is going on? Why are they so annoying? *rolls eyes*

Shout out to anyone who got the FRIENDS reference in this chapter ;)

Read and review! Cheers!