Disclaimer:
Not mine. JK Rowling is queen of Harry Potter-dom, et cetera et cetera.

Author's note:
Yipeee! 6 reviews! Thanks mucho grandes to solitaireclay07 and David Fishwick for reviewing, AGAIN. Get that, kids! I have repeat reviewers! Which means people are coming back and reading my story. Which means they like it! And thanks to for reviewing for the first time (: Yayyyy! Cupcakes for all!

Sorry it's taken me longer than usual to get this chapter up. I had a lame couple of days.. and I'm kinda trying to figure out where I want this story to go..

But anyway! Cheers & happy reading! :D

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sirius was pleasantly surprised when he groggily shifted, half-awake, in the early evening. He had spent the rest of the morning and afternoon in bed with Isabella. She was sound asleep with her back pressed up against his chest. Her presence was unexpectedly contenting. Sirius bit his lip in uncharacteristic disconcertion. The feeling in his chest was unfamiliar, but not entirely unwelcome. Waking beside Isabella was a very grounding, homey feeling. It wasn't as if he had many pleasant memories of home to cling to, but she felt like what he expected his own home should have felt like. The Potters' were kind and generous, but being there, he sometimes felt as if he was an invader, an outsider just being given a temporary taste of what he would never have.

But the feeling he woke with after finding himself beside Isabella was a far cry from what he was used to. The most he had ever felt when waking beside a girl he had slept with was mild displeasure; not because he hadn't enjoyed the sex and now regretted it, but because he knew that they would now expect more from him. They didn't seem to understand that The Sirius Black was not the type to be tied down. Post coitus, these types of girls expected exclusivity. They expected hand holding and flowers and… love. But truth be told, Sirius had never loved any of the girls he had had these brief affairs with. He hadn't even loved Madison. He figured that the reason that they had dated for so long was because they both knew that they looked damn good together. It felt good to have the whole castle jealous.

Sirius knew that Isabella would expect nothing now. No doubt, she would be shocked that he had allowed her to sleep and cuddle up against him after the fact, but she would ask nothing of him... And for some reason, that made him want to give her the exclusivity every other girl craved from him. He couldn't figure out why and, again, felt oddly out of his element. He no longer had the upper hand, and it was her move and her decision that would either make or break him. He rolled away from her, facing the opposite direction. Unconsciously, she whimpered in direst before scooting herself back against him. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration and sat up in bed, figuring a hot shower would calm his racing thoughts… and heartbeat.

As he carefully left his bed and walked towards the lavatory, he silently cursed his treacherous pulse that responded so hopefully to the thought of these unique feelings aroused by Isabella's presence.

&&_________________________________

Isabella woke up and slowly rolled over. Despite the fact that she had not entirely expected him to be there, she felt her eyebrows crease as she stared at the empty space beside her. She could not decide whether she should be displeased by his absence, or contented by the fact that he had let her fall asleep with him, in his bed. In the darkness of the boy's dormitory, she blindly groped for her clothes, sinking her teeth into the inside of her cheek in sheer habit. Dressing in whatever she could find, she left Sirius' bed and tiptoed to Remus'. She was feeling guilty that she hadn't check on him since the morning. Glancing at the plate on his nightstand, still mostly full as she expected (but it was obvious he had eaten some food), she noiselessly drew his curtains open enough for her to sit on the edge of his bed. She squinted in an attempt to get a better look at him. Noting that he was still comfortably asleep, she brushed his hair out of his face adoringly, glad he was feeling even a little better.

The sound of the bathroom door opening startled her out of her reverie. She gently pulled at the end of the ponytail she had hastily thrown her hair into in nervousness. She heard the curtains of Sirius' four poster being pulled open, then the sound of the mattress depressing as he settled back into bed. She wondered what she should do now that Sirius had returned. Should she go back him? Or just disappear, as she expected he would have preferred? She bit her lip and anxiously stood, unsurely making her way back across the room.

His back was facing her when she reached his bed. She coughed quietly to get his attention.

"Sirius?"

He faced her when he heard her voice. He had been oddly disappointed when he had returned and she was not there. The sight of her dressed in his boxer shorts and too large for her quidditch t-shirt made the muscles in his lower abdomen tighten in arousal.

"Turn around," he barked, more insistently than he had intended. She started from the intensity of his tone and did as he requested; emblazoned on her back was his name. Black. Like she belonged to him. He groaned in appreciation and pulled back his comforter in invitation. She nodded meekly and tentatively crawled under the covers with him. The moment she was settled, he realized that she was much too far for his liking. He snaked an arm over her waist and pulled her into his shirtless chest. He smirked in satisfaction when she heard her breath hitch. Brushing the hair away from her neck, he kissed her tenderly.

"Where did you go?," he asked, though he was sure that she had come from Remus' bed.

"I… went to check on Remus," she said, almost sounding as if she was asking a question. He narrowed his eyes in the dark, pleased that she could not see this. He did not want to upset her by showing her any signs of unreasonable jealousy.

Jealousy. When was the last time he had felt this?

"Hm," he returned dismissively before returning all of his attentions to the soft flesh just beneath her ear. He felt her inhale slowly and then release the breath in a quiet, delicious moan. He nipped and tugged at the sensitive skin continuously, both to enjoy the sounds that she made and to mark her as his again.

He wanted her to crave him. He wanted her to forget Remus, school, her devilishly tempting innocence and everything else that wasn't Sirius Black in this moment. He just wanted her to feel… to feel the need, the fire, the ache. He wanted to be the image in her mind's eye that she saw every time she lay underneath someone with her eyes shut. He wanted to sear her lips with his kiss and he wanted to ruin her for every other guy that she would meet in her lifetime. She would never be able to kiss, touch, or be with any other man without first thinking of him, even for the briefest of moments. She would never be able to reach completion without wanting to scream out his name.

He wanted to make her feel exquisite. He wanted to make her feel like no one else could ever do what he could do to her. He wanted her to feel as if he was under her very skin, breathing the same breath and sharing one heartbeat. He wanted to make love to her.

Often, other girls he had been with would get caught up in the foolery preceding the actual act, and beg him to make love to them… Sirius had never used the term himself before. He had never before thought to make love to a girl. He had sex with girls, he shagged them, but he never made love to any girl…

But he wanted to make Isabella feel exceptional, without bothering to decide whether or not she was the exception. Doing so would only complicate what was best left as simple as possible for the meantime.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Author's Note:
Short chappy, sorry for that. And again, I really am sorry it's taken me longer than usual to get this chapter out. Just so you know it is now 3:30AM here in the States and I stayed up this late to finish this for you guys, my beloved readers.

On a totally unrelated note, my friend texted me today and said, "When was the last time you went to the gym?" Bugger, dude. What kind of person asks someone this? You might as well be saying, "Hit the treadmill, you fat piece of shite." You know why?! Because that's what it translates to in my head anyway.


Just joshing. Hahahah..
But c'mon.
You are severely lacking in the tact department.
Please pardon my use of the word Bugger. I was watching Nat from communitychannel on YouTube before I wrote that.

Coming Up:
I don't know.. Any ideas?