"Afternoon ladies, how are we all this fine day." Sirius Black said strutting through the Great Hall and down the Gryffindor table like he owned the place.
Sarah, Donna and Lucy rolled their eyes while Lily glared at the intruder. Meanwhile Brooke who had decided to sit with them again was staring down at her plate not wanting to give Sirius the satisfaction of knowing how much he affected her after that kiss. She had managed to avoid looking at him, in both her classes this morning, as he sauntered in to Muggle Studies late not paying attention to his surroundings and was too busy joking around with James Potter and Remus Lupin to look around the potions classroom and see who was in his class. Brooke however always made sure to check out who was in her class, it helped to know who she could possibly be paired up with for group assignments in the future.
"Evans I was thinking about last night. I realised what a complete arse I was." Sirius told her with a mock apology.
To his response Lily rolled her eyes, Brooke remained silent still refusing to look up while the other girls stared at Sirius in shock.
Lily shot a quick glance to her best friend before turning to Sirius. "Please, if only I had a galleon for every time I heard that, I would be rich. You and your pal Potter don't respect woman and I don't have any respect for you. You've wasted enough of my morning I think you should leave." Lily told him harshly trying to make her words as cold as she could.
"Come on Evans you were completely right, I should know her name, I shouldn't have let her run off like she did either and I should have shown her that I cared and I… YOU!" Sirius cut himself off as he finally realised that Brooke was sitting right there. "You're the one from last night, the one that Lily caught me with."
Shocked at being recognised, Brooke looked up at Sirius with wide eyes, quickly she composed herself, not willing to give in and let herself get hurt by wishing for more from him. "Yes thank you for establishing that, I was trying so hard to remember who I was with last night so thank you for jogging my memory. You heard Lily you're not welcomed here it's time for you to leave." Brooke told Sirius looking straight into his eyes and trying to push all her anger and hate into her words. No matter how much she wished he would sit down next to her and put his arm around her back she knew that sending him away was better for her in the long run.
"Well aren't they are cheerful bunch." Sirius muttered to himself as he moved down to where the other three marauders sat. "What has their wand in a knot?"
"What's up with you?" James asked as Sirius sat down with a glum expression.
"Am I losing my touch?" Sirius asked not bothering to give the others any sort of clue as to what he was talking about.
"What are you talking about?" James asked buttering a breakfast roll and adding it to his plate.
"With the women, everyone adores me and yet I was just sent away just then. Every girl here begs for a second night in a broom closet and that chick over there who can kiss. Boy can she kiss she just looked at me like I was dirt." Sirius rambled.
"Why don't you tell us what's really bothering you?" Remus asked him sarcastically. Poor me, I'm Sirius Black every girl adores me and wants a night in a broom closet."
"Yes but a girl has never said no to me." Sirius whined.
"Well now they have, get used to it." Remus snapped. "Maybe if you treat girls right the good ones would come back. Anyway I have to talk to the Head Boy and Girl, I'll see you both later." Remus said storming out the Great Hall.
"What's his problem?" Sirius asked.
"I dunno, so was this girl from last night good?" James asked between bowls of cereal.
"All we did was snog Prongs, but yeah that was pretty amazing. Probably one of the best." Sirius replied not looking at James instead looking at his empty plate.
"What's her name?"
"I dunno she never told me, she's friends with Evans I think." Sirius replied looking over at Lily and the girl he snogged the night.
Brooke could feel him staring at her but she refused to look up. She was going to avoid him for as long as she could and that was going to be for the rest of the year. She was not going to catch him with Marina or any other girl. She had him for the night and it was an amazing experience. She could now say she'd kissed Sirius Black. That's all she needed. If that was the case why did she feel like she was breaking her own heart?
"Which one?" Peter asked joining in the conversation.
He had followed the gaze of his two friends. James was too caught up starring at Lily, to be bothered trying to work out which girl was Sirius' mystery girl. Peter on the other hand wanted to know. Sirius never lasted with a girl and this time Peter had a plan. When Sirius rejected this girl Peter would be there to comfort her and then she would see how much better Peter was than Sirius.
"Her. The Ravenclaw one across from Lily, with the longish blonde hair." Sirius said pointing her out to James and Peter even though James was no longer paying attention to him.
Peter froze at the sight. Sirius had snogged Brooke. Brooke had always told him that Sirius was never her type. That she hated guys like that, yet Sirius claimed he had kissed her. Did Brooke want to, or was she trying to push him away? Obviously there was a reason why she never told him her name and he wasn't going to tell him either.
"I thought Lily was friends with Snape?" Peter asked, trying to hide that time stopped for a few seconds.
"Are you crazy, after what he called her? She wants nothing to do with him." James told Peter without taking his eyes off of Lily.
"Oh yeah." Peter mumbled. He hated when James and Sirius made him feel stupid. Remus hardly ever did but there were times when Remus got carried away and didn't even realise he was doing it. James, Sirius and Remus just clicked; they didn't have to try to fit in with each other. Peter on the other hand, he always had to watch what he said and how he acted because if he didn't the other three would see that he didn't belong and just forget about him.
"So how should we celebrate the first day back?" James asked swiping his hand through his hair as he walked towards the Transfiguration classroom with the other three marauders.
"Oh I know, we can turn the Slytherin common room pink." Peter exclaimed with excitement.
Sirius, Remus and James turned to look at him with incredulous expressions, "Pete we did that back in second year, we need something better. More exciting." Remus told him.
"Oh yeah right." Peter replied quietly, hanging his head in shame.
"It needs to occur in the Great Hall during dinner." Sirius told them.
"Yes how about we turn the Slytherin's into snakes, the Hufflepuff's into badgers, Ravenclaw's into ravens and Gryffindor's into lions." Peter suggested, feeling like this was the greatest idea since they became animagi.
Sirius and James turned to face Peter, "come on Pete, be creative, the wannabe pranksters tried that last year." Sirius tutted. "Maybe you should just leave the ideas to the rest of us."
"We need something big, something that tops last year." James told them.
"And something to impress the girl I was with last night. Sooner or later she'll want me back. They all do." Sirius added.
Remus just rolled he's eyes while Peter nodded his head; he wasn't going to get anywhere if he didn't agree with his friends.
"Sirius I think this is a wakeup call, there are some girls in this school that have standards. Both you and James need to open your eyes and see that you will never get a girl that lasts if you treat them like they aren't worth anything." Remus said, trying to reason with his friends. "Besides James I thought you would have realised by now that the way you get other girls to date you isn't going to work with Lily.
The Gryffindor girls plus Brooke rounded the corner and were just behind the Marauders were in the middle of their conversation about getting girls.
"I don't want a relationship, come on now. I'm Sirius Black. I don't do relationships I just look for a good snog and last night was one of the best, of course I'm going to want to keep her around for a while, she'll be the first girl of the year and if she can snog like that I'm pretty sure she's great in bed."
Brooke froze in her tracks. She should have never done what she did last night, Sirius never treated girl's right and he was never going to treat her right. What he just said was proof of that.
Lily saw Brooke's reaction and wasted no time in storming up to Sirius telling him what she thought. "You are disgusting; I really hope that everyone sees how ugly you and Potter really are. You guys think that you'll have your looks forever but you won't you're only going to keep your sad excuses for a personality and no woman in their right mind is going to want to shag you when you're old and have saggy skin."
Remus looked impressed, he totally agreed with what Lily was saying. He tried to tell his friends that, except he never said it so harshly.
"You're exactly right Evans." Sirius said much to everyone's astonishment.
"What!" James exclaimed.
"What?" Brooke questioned.
"What." Lily stated in disbelief not knowing if Sirius was joking or being serious.
Everyone else halted, not sure if they heard right. Sirius Black who thought he was God's gift to women had just agreed with Lily.
"Yeah, you're absolutely right, I won't get any girls when I'm older and as you put it have saggy skin, so I might as well make up for it now and shag as many girls as I can." Sirius exclaimed sharing a high five with James.
"You're despicable." Lily muttered before storming off, dragging Brooke with her.
James felt guilty for agreeing with Sirius, but in a way he was right. What was the point of being good looking and the most popular guy in the school if you didn't put it to good use? Maybe Sirius was right, maybe he should forget about Lily and go out with the girls that actually liked him. Her father was wrong, there was no way she actually liked him.
Before the girls rounded the corner, Brooke fell back. "Wait I think I need to do something." Brooke said, feeling like this was the only time she would do something completely outrageous and completely out of character.
She stormed up to Sirius Black and slapped him hard across the cheek, hard enough to leave a mark.
"What the hell was that for? That's my best side." Sirius exclaimed.
Brooke slapped him again. "I can't believe I even gave in and did something I told myself I'd never do. I can't believe I still did it, and you know what last night never happened. It was a mistake, a horrible mistake. You're a jerk and it should never have happened."
"What the hell did I do?" Sirius shouted after her. "I thought last night was great."
"Ask your girlfriend." Brooke shouted back running after her friends.
"Girlfriend, what? I don't have a girlfriend." Sirius muttered loud enough for Remus, Peter and James to hear.
"It's probably PMS." Peter told him, glad that Brooke didn't have feelings for his friend. Maybe he still had a shot; maybe he could be Brooke's boyfriend. Maybe for once Peter Pettigrew would get the girl instead of Sirius Black.
"I don't want a relationship, relationships come with emotions and I prefer the physical aspects, isn't that right Prongs." Sirius told Remus turning towards James.
"Mm, yeah I suppose so." James mumbled, he had no idea what his friends were talking about because as they walked into the classroom he caught the sight of Lily Evans.
"You're bloody hopeless." Sirius told him making his way to the empty seat next to Brooke.
Sitting down next to the unknown girl, Sirius tried a different approach, the friendly understanding approach. "If you're only avoiding me because you think I have a girlfriend, I don't so I was thinking same place, same time tonight."
"How many times do I have to tell you, you're a jerk and I don't want anything to do with you so leave me alone." Brooke shouted, silently thanking McGonagall for running late.
"Come on love, why don't you just calm down, PMS or not you should join me tonight." Sirius winked, speaking loud enough for the class to hear.
Crack!
Sirius didn't have time to defend himself as Brooke slapped him again, this time on his other cheek. She slapped him with enough force that his neck cracked with the momentum of his head moving to the side causing the majority of the girls in the class to glare at Brooke.
"Miss Jameson, care to explain yourself!" McGonagall exclaimed outrage at what she had just witnessed. Sure there were times when she wanted to wring Sirius up by his neck but she never acted on it and Brooke was the last person she expected to attack Sirius.
"Well he's a self-conceited womaniser who uses people for his own pleasure." Brooke replied truthfully.
"Well no matter what your personal feelings of Mr Black are, you'll be serving detention for your violent behaviour I hope you don't repeat this incident again." McGonagall warned trying to sound fair. "Everyone to their seats." McGonagall glared at the Marauders who remained standing in the pathway between the desks.
"Now!" She yelled waiting for the marauders to move to the uninhibited row at the back. Everyone knew that was the marauders row.
"If you want I'm up for it tonight." Christiana whispered to Sirius as he passed by her.
"Sounds good, I'll see you there then." Sirius smirked, she knew where and when. It was the same time and place for every girl, that way he never got confused.
"He is such a womaniser. I thought that I wouldn't get attached because he wouldn't know who I was but it hurts more to see him acting like it doesn't matter." Brooke vented throwing Lily's pillow across the dorm.
"I'm sorry Brooke, but it's not your fault, you didn't do anything wrong." Donna said sympathetically, you just got caught up in the moment like every other girl has.
"But I did, I knew what he was like and I knew it would end like this." Brooke sobbed. "I'm madder at myself than I am at him." Brooke noticed that Lily was about to say something but cut her off. "No don't worry I still hate him. Why couldn't I have fallen for a nice guy like Remus or someone like that?"
"Yeah but you never snogged him and had the best snog of your life. Sirius knows how to use his looks and experience to his advantage, you were never going to stand a chance." Lucy told the girl. "We've all been there and we all wish it would have ended differently. I think every girl hopes to be the one to change a player into a boyfriend."
Brooke never intended to get affected by a kiss so badly. All she wanted to do was snog him just to know what the big deal was about. She was supposed to snog him and then move on to a guy who was more suitable for her. That was the plan. Then emotions, lust, fireworks and hormones got in the way.
"Oi Black, we need to talk." Sarah shouted once she spotted Sirius sitting too close to Felicity a 5th year Gryffindor for her liking.
Judging by Sirius' body language and facial expression it was too close for his liking, ever since he showed an interest in Felicity last year she had become very clingy.
Sirius excused himself and gratefully made his way over to Sarah. "What's up, Sar?"
"Don't call me, that, we aren't dating anymore." Sarah retorted.
"And whose, fault is that?" Sirius questioned trying to make her angry. Sarah was a good kisser and maybe if he pushed it far enough they could recreate old times.
"Look our break up was mutual, I'm not here because of that. How interested in her are you?" Sarah asked not bothering to offer much description on what she was hinting at.
"Who? Oh you mean Felicity. I'm not interested at all. In fact can you tell her to back off she's freaking me out." Sirius wined.
"Felicity isn't my problem and I'm not a prefect so I really have no jurisdiction. If you have a problem with her maybe you should ask Lily." Sarah said knowing that Sirius would not ask Lily for a favour and that Lily wouldn't do what he asked just to spite him.
"Well there is a way for you to solve my problem." Sirius responded wiggling his eyebrows and ignoring what Sarah said about Lily being able to help.
"Grr you really are a jerk, and to think that I dated you. No wonder she doesn't want to have anything to do with you if this is what you're like. I know the true Sirius, who actually cares about people once he gets to know them, and this, this isn't him."
"Are you finished?" Sirius asked, blinking twice having taking nothing Sarah said in. He was not one for showing he cared. "I've got to meet Christina in ten minutes.
"You're impossible, I know you like or at least want more from her so treat her right. Stop screwing Christina and start getting to know Brooke." Sarah told him not realising that she just reviled Brooke's name.
"Brooke?" Sirius questioned. "Who's Brooke?"
"Shit." Sarah cursed.
"You're friends with the girl from last night?" Sirius asked to confirm his suspicions.
"What, no." Sarah lied, "forget I said anything, I wasn't talking about the girl from last night. I ahh…" she trailed off trying to find a cover up.
"So her name's Brooke. Interesting." Sirius smirked.
"Please don't say anything, don't tell her I told you."
Sirius' smirk grew wider as he realised he could use Sarah. "So what has she said about me?"
"What!" Sarah exclaimed before regaining herself in order to answer. "Nothing. All she's said is that you're a jerk."
There was no need to tell him that she was completely in love with him or that his behaviour with girls was affecting her. Sirius did not need to know that. Not yet, especially since Sarah wasn't 100% that he wouldn't use this against Brooke.
"That can be changed. Thanks Sar, you have given me hope, starting tomorrow morning I will no longer be a jerk. I will shower her with flowers and compliment her every day."
Sirius concluded their conversation by giving Sarah a quick peck on the cheek before walking towards the portrait hole that allowed them to exit the Gryffindor common room.
"Where are you going?" Sarah called out to him.
"I'm late, keeping Christina waiting means wasting valuable time. She likes to get right into things if you know what I mean." Sirius explained, offering too much detail.
"That's disgusting." Sarah responded before following Sirius out the common room. "Sirius wait!"
Sirius turned around. "Look if you want to join me and Christina all you had to do was say so."
"Stop it okay. Stop with the inappropriate humour, it's not funny. If you like Brooke why don't you do something about it, instead of shagging that slut?"
"I will, tomorrow. But right now I have the chance of the lifetime to shag Christiana and I'm not going to pass that up. No guy in his right mind would."
"She doesn't deserve you. If you have sex with Christina I'll never talk to you again. If you truly like Brooke like I believe you do you'd respect her. You wouldn't be going after another girl." Sarah warned him.
"Look you're not a guy. You don't get it if a girl with a body like Christina's makes herself available than you go." Sirius told her, annoyed that Sarah was wasting his time with this useless conversation.
"No you don't get it. Lily was right, you're going to get old and ugly eventually. Girls like Christiana will want nothing to do with you and by the time you realise that you made a mistake and passed up the offer to be with the right girl it'll be too late. She'll be with someone who treated her right from the beginning. If you don't open your eyes now to what you really want you'll regret it later in life when you see her hand in hand with another guy beaming at their little child walking a few steps in front of them." Sarah ranted.
"Psh, I don't want that. What teenage guy cares about that? There are plenty of girls out there and who knows, maybe when I'm old and ugly I'll find the girls who are insecure and think they're worthless. I bet they'll want me." Sirius smirked before walking away.
"Don't worry Sirius I'll be there to say I told you so." Sarah muttered wickedly.
"What was that?" Felicity shrieked when Sarah walked back into the common room.
"What was what?" Sarah asked back innocently, Felicity was a slutty 5th year she was easy to get rid of.
"Why are you chasing after Sirius Black when you know he's mine?" Felicity shrieked.
"Oh, please he's not yours. No amount of flirting is ever going to change that." Sarah told her before flicking her hair over her shoulder, a trick she had learnt from Donna, before continuing up to the 6th year girl's dorm.
"Ok, girl's new plan." Sarah announced once she realised Brooke had left.
Brooke would be good for Sirius, there was an obvious attraction and it was clear that Brooke would make Sirius a better person. and Brooke would get together and they would be the it couple, Sarah would make sure of that.
A/N
Sorry for the long wait for an update. I had a lot of fixing up to do with this chapter. Hopefully you enjoyed it. I don't really want to keep dragging out that Brooke's upset, but I didn't know how else to show how affected she is by Sirius and how hard it is for her to hide the feelings she had kept hidden for so long.