Disclaimer: No, I do not own anything related to Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling. I do own the plot and the original characters.

A/N: I apologize for taking so long. I didn't think it would take this long, I only thought maybe a week? I ended up joining track, so now I have something to do every night of the week and soccer tournaments on the weekends. Someone did give me the measurements for their heights, but silly me deleted the e-mail, so maybe I'll get it next time. Thanks for all of you who reviewed, it really helped me get off my lazy butt and write. (Some of you are probably thinking, lazy? She runs track, plays select soccer and is in the Swing Club, but yes, I am lazy.)

Teenage Crushes

Chapter 4: Thoughts of Sirius

The trip to the castle was quiet, seeing as how I had to share a carriage with him, and we both seemed to be caught up in our thoughts. The silence wasn't one of those awkward silences though, where you're fumbling for something to say, and what you come up with doesn't ever seem like a good idea to talk about.

The hall was already full by the time we got there. I quickly grabbed a seat between Aubrey and Allison, who were quite conveniently sitting across from the Marauders. He sat opposite Aubrey and diagonal to me.

Ah, the torture that my lovely, awesome, great best friends put me through.

As I sat down, I realized Allison, like the rest of us, had really changed over the summer. Her once frizzy midnight hair now hung straight and smooth halfway down her back. Her clear blue eyes were the same as always, though, but now they were set off by her summer tan. I sighed, while others got darker during the summer, I somehow managed to only get paler with a couple more freckles popping up on whatever skin was exposed to the sun.

The three of us, well, two not counting Aubrey since she was taken, would most definitely be the most sought after girls this year.

Allison and Aubrey simultaneously looked at Sirius, who was talking animatedly to him, then back at me. Great, they still thought I liked Sirius. No doubt they'd pressure me into dating him this year, especially with my newfound looks. Well, he could be my ticket to getting closer to him.

Sirius was a bit of a womanizer. I take that statement back: he definitely was a womanizer, and that's an understatement. Once in a while, he'd actually settle down with a girlfriend for maybe two weeks, which wasn't that often. He did look very good, I had to hand it to him, and he knew how to put the looks and charm to use.

Allison leaned over and whispered in my ear, "When are you going to tell Sirius you like him, or do we have to do that for you?"

Shocked didn't even begin to cover it. "You wouldn't dare," I hissed back.

Big mistake. I regretted the words as soon as they came out of my mouth.

If there's one thing you didn't do in our little group, it was make a dare. We were the craziest trio of girls at Hogwarts, and we accepted practically ever dare. The dares we didn't accept were the ones known to be impossible, but not after spending hours poring over tomes in the library, looking for a way to carry it out and make it possible.

She got a very evil smile on her face. "Oh, I accept your dare."

Crap, I really shouldn't have said that. Now I was in for it.

There was nothing I could do now except wait for the inevitable. She would tell Sirius, he would find out, and there was now no chance at all for a relationship with him.

Life was getting better all the time.

(And that previous statement was definitely sarcastic, in case you didn't catch it.)

-

Professor Dumbledore stood up at that moment since the first years were finally finished being sorted. He said the usual introductions (the Forbidden Forest is forbidden- looking at our group in particular while saying that- and introducing him and me, etc.) and seemed about to end the speech when he thought the better of it and added, "Dark times are coming upon us. I want each of you to do what you believe is right and think of the consequences of your actions. I must also insist that you consider staying here for the holidays; it is not necessary, but considering your personal safety, it would be a better idea. Now, I am famished, and I can tell and hear that some of you are, so let the feast begin!"

The Slytherins seemed amused by this last part and whispered quietly among themselves. Big surprise there. The only person who seemed to be seriously considering Dumbledore's words was him. He sat quietly in thought, like most of the train and carriage ride there. Wow, that must be so exciting, always caught up in your thoughts, and never being able to notice what is going on around you. I snorted, at least I wasn't nearly as caught up this year as I was last year.

Unfortunately, Aubrey heard the snort. It was rather louder than I intended. "What's up?" she asked.

"Nothing, just thinking about the Slytherins' reactions to Dumbledore's speech."

"Yeah, I noticed their reactions, too. They're all probably going to join that evil guy and help him. They're just a bunch of pureblooded gits."

I laughed at that. She was right. All those Slytherins seemed to care about was your bloodline. I usually got teased a lot for being a mudblood, but ironically, somehow, against all their beliefs of me having an inferior upbringing and having no magical background, I was a better witch than all of them put together.

Modest, aren't I?

When I was finally done stuffing myself with the delicious elf-made food (you couldn't get food this good in the muggle world), I muttered something along the lines of having to see Professor McGonagall about the Heads' dorms and left.

I wasn't that surprised, really, to find him following me. And I certainly wasn't surprised to find myself suddenly nervous with butterflies in my stomach, either. I had gotten used to the feeling over the years, which demanded that I become a master at hiding my emotions. Fortunately, I did become a master at it, so he never knew how he made me feel.

Professor McGonagall must have seen us get up and decided to wait for us just outside the Great Hall. "Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, I suppose you'll be wanting to know where your rooms are. Just follow me." She took off at that, not even glancing back to see if we were following.

She led us through a series of halls and stairs and more halls. She finally came to a stop in front of a portrait of a young girl, maybe six or seven, who was in a field of flowers that looked like lilies. I smiled slightly at this.

"This, of course, is going to be your rooms for the rest of the year. The password is going to be Jupiter's Lightning until you decide to change it. I expect you to turn in early tonight, seeing as how you two have classes in the morning." Again, she took off without looking back.

He muttered the password and walked in, me following closely behind. The sight took my breath away. The common room was absolutely gorgeous, decorated in all red and gold. It was roughly the same size as the Gryffindor common room, with red and gold couches and armchairs. The rug underneath my feet was red with gold trim and a gold Gryffindor insignia in the middle and over the fireplace hung a tapestry with the Gryffindor lion on it. I looked up to see a huge chandelier that was literally breathtaking.

There was a main staircase that went up about ten steps before splitting in two. I took the staircase on the right because it led to the door with Lily Evans, Head Girl engraved on it. With such an extravagant common room, I think you can guess what my bedroom looked like.

The walls in my bedroom were beige to even out all the red and gold. My bed was a huge four-poster with a canopy on it with sheer gold hangings. The duvet on the bed was a maroon color, and the sheets were gold. The pillows varied between the two colors. All the furniture in the room was mahogany. I saw a door to the left and opened it.

The bathroom was everything a girl could ever dream for. The bathtub was the size of a pool, and the shower looked as if four people could comfortable take a shower without getting too close. It even had two showerheads on opposite walls, so you could get twice the amount of water and pressure. I walked up to the bathtub and saw that it had buttons for various types of bubbles and scents.

Almost everything was done in white marble and silver in the bathroom, as if to make up for the red and gold everywhere else. The rugs in here were white, with smatterings of silver. There were two separate sinks, one for me and one for him. I decided to take the one on the right, since my room was closest to it and with a flick of my wrist, all of my make-up and toiletries were set-up in an organized fashion on the counter.

Being Head Girl definitely had some props, including being able to go to Hogsmeade whenever I wanted, provided, of course, that I was back by curfew. A curfew was meant to be broken, and I tended to break it… a lot. Thank goodness tomorrow was Friday and that meant some fun, but I couldn't spend the night anywhere considering what my friends and other students would think if I went missing.

I sighed. I still was and always would be naïve, innocent little Lily Evans to them. They would be shocked and horrified to find out what I did for fun on the weekends, but they didn't have to know, now did they? Some secrets were best kept secret.

-

After unpacking, I decided to go visit my old dorm and room. Aubrey and Allison were in there, giggling about something or other. "Come on! We have got to go talk to Sirius. Don't worry, we already told him that you liked him. I think he wants to ask you something," Allison said when she noticed I had walked in.

I knew I would regret that dare.

So I just nodded and followed them back down the stairs to the common room. Sirius, Remus, Peter and him were in the corner, probably thinking up a new prank. "Sirius!" Aubrey called. "Look, we brought her!"

Oh, bloody hell.

And I never use those words unless I'm really meaning it.

All four of them looked up. He looked confused, as though he had just now heard about it. "Oh, great, excuse me for a second, Prongs, Moony, Wormtail."

He started to go to a different, secluded corner of the room. I didn't follow him immediately, and Allison finally had to give me a little shove.

Great, just great. Bloody fucking hell.

Sirius seemed nervous. Well, that was a first. "Soo… I heard that you like me?"

I couldn't do anything but nod my head. I have this thing with saying no to guys. I really can't because I feel so guilty turning them down. I don't like making people feel bad.

He scratched the back of his head then ran his hand through his hair, something that reminded me of him. He had a tendency to run his hand through his hair whenever he was upset or nervous or frustrated.

And I was going to hook up with Sirius while I was still obsessed with him. I couldn't do that to Sirius, but I just can't say no.

"So, do you wanna like, go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend or something?" Sirius asked.

I smiled and said, "Sure, that sounds like fun," in a terribly fake voice, but he didn't notice.

"Cool," he said.

I had to get out of there. NOW.

"Well, I need to go study. I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Good night," I smiled again and stood up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek for effect. The excuse was foolproof, they honestly still thought I was a bookworm, which I was, but I didn't study ALL the time. I wasn't that much of a loser. The way I pulled it off, though, I think I might just have to take up acting; it'd be a pretty good profession for me.

I said my good nights and headed back to my common room, changed into my pajamas. That night I lay awake for a long time, thinking about Sirius.

-

A/N: This is the longest chapter yet, and I think they're just going to get longer. It's a lot easier now since I've got the basics down. Right now I'm swamped with projects (THREE IN ONE CLASS!) one big research project to do, so that kinda sucks. I also got majorly injured in soccer, so… yeah, that pretty much says it all. Thanks to all you reviewers, special thanks to lorett for such a long review. I promise to update as soon as possible.

A/N 2: Wow, it's been such a long time since I've done anything with this story, that I don't even know what I'm talking about in my previous A/N's. Very sad. I'm sorry for leaving you all hanging for so long!