A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! I love getting all of the positive feedback! Just to warn everyone: part of this chapter is RATED R! So if you are uncomfortable with sex scenes, then I'd advise you to skip it when it starts getting graphic!
Kisses on the Balcony
By ByeByeBirdie
Chapter 4: Of Numbers, Hickeys, & Fishing
"Hey," Sirius greeted when Riley walked into the empty dungeon that Sunday afternoon. He was already lying on the floor with a blanket as the dungeons often got rather chilly. "Where've you been? I've been waiting for an hour."
She shrugged and dropped on to the floor beside him. "I got tied up," she murmured, cuddling beside him.
His eyes narrowed skeptically, sensing something off about her almost immediately. "Are you okay?" he asked cautiously.
"Of course," she replied a little too quickly.
Sirius sighed. "You're lying."
Riley said nothing.
"You're still annoyed with me for yesterday, aren't you?"
A cringe passed across Riley's expression which pretty much told Sirius he was right.
"What do you have to be annoyed about, Riley?" Sirius sighed, glancing over the top of her head down at her frowning face. "There's nothing I can fix. Rachael and I are in the past. We're over and done with. Just because she wants to flirt with me doesn't mean I need to flirt back."
"I'm not angry," Riley iterated with a rather irritated sigh. "I just don't like how things were handled yesterday."
Sirius gave her an inquisitive look. "I'm going to need some elaboration."
"You just stood there," Riley sighed, sitting upright from her nestled spot beside him and turning her torso to face him. "You didn't do anything. You let Rachael and me stare each other down and when she tried to get you to buy her a drink, blatantly shoving it in my face, you barely acknowledged that I was standing right there. It just...it bothered me. That's all."
To Riley's surprise, he burst into laughter. "What am I supposed to do, Riley?" he snorted derisively. "We're not a couple, remember? At least not to the public eye."
Riley bit her lip sharply, forgetting that minor detail. She scrunched her nose guiltily. "Oh," she replied, feeling a little foolish at the moment. "Yeah."
Sirius glanced at her, a look on her face that read her stupidity, and cracked a smile. "There's nothing I could have done."
Riley simply nodded.
"Listen, Riley, if I could have done something, I would have," he admitted, reaching out to push a stray hair from her forehead. "I don't like the situation we're in any more than you do, but other than telling everyone what's going on between us, what other choice do we have but to endure the idiots attempting to flirt with us? Considering we're both fairly irresistible, it comes with the territory."
She cracked a smile, but he could tell she was still deep in thought over something.
When she said nothing, Sirius pushed. "So can you just forget about this and let it go?"
She glanced up at him and was going to nod and say yes because what else was there to say, but looking up at him, she knew she had to ask the question that had been on her mind within the past 24 hours. "How many girls have you slept with?" Riley asked slowly.
"What?" Sirius asked in surprise, whipping back his head so fast he slammed it against the wall. "Ow!" He whimpered as he rubbed the back of his head.
"No, never mind, I don't want to know," Riley quickly argued, shaking her head and glancing back down at the ground.
Sirius looked at her rather oddly, uncertain whether he wanted to press on or if it was better to leave it. "Er...okay."
She sighed and turned back towards him. "Except that I do."
"You do what?"
"I…I want to know, Sirius," she said earnestly. "How many girls have you slept with?"
Sirius groaned. "Riley, why do you want to know? You know you're not going to be happy with the answer."
"That's not the point," she argued.
"Then what is the point?" he asked jumpily. "What does it matter the number of girls I've slept with?"
"It doesn't," she admitted with a sigh. "Except I feel like it's a rather fair question knowing your history."
Sirius sighed. "Yeah, so my reputation isn't exactly one of boyfriend material," he muttered, shaking his head slowly. "I haven't hid that from you, or from anyone. But that's not who I am anymore. It was barely who I wanted to be then. It's always been about you and maybe I haven't shown it, but the only reason I was ever with anyone else was because I was desperate to believe you didn't mean anything to me considering the fact you hated my guts."
"I didn't hate your guts," she said pensively.
"Really? Because you took every opportunity given to you to tell me how much you hated my guts."
She grinned sheepishly. "Alright, maybe I wasn't your biggest fan."
He chuckled. "Look, both of our past reputations shouldn't have anything to do with us now. We're trying to shed our pasts, are we not?"
"Yeah," she said softly. "But sometimes a girl still wants to know who she's dealing with."
"You know who you're dealing with," Sirius whispered desperately. "You know I've slept around. What difference does it make how many people it's been with when you're the only one that matters?"
She frowned. She wanted to believe him, but she couldn't help but wonder how many other girls he's defiled over the years. She thought it was a rather valid question even if Sirius thought it wasn't. "It's not that it makes a difference," she admitted. "Because it doesn't. But I think it's a rather fair question considering who we used to be."
"Oh, so you'll tell me your number?"
"Do you want to know?"
He hesitated. He wasn't so sure he did. "I think we're both better off not knowing."
She let out a frustrated sigh. "And I think it would better if we did." Without another word, she pulled herself off the floor and wandered over to the only window, staring out into the abyss with wonder in her eyes.
She didn't know why she was so desperate to dredge up the past. She knew that she and Sirius had less than ideal pasts when it came to the opposite sex. Neither one of them had been all that great at relationships. Maybe they had ruined it for each other or maybe they could just never seem to move on from each other, but whatever the reason was, neither had a good track record. But there was something about the ease at which Rachael hung all over Sirius in Hogsmeade that had her mind racing with questions regarding who else felt that annoyingly comfortable with him. Who else has seen him naked. Who else has Sirius touched. She wanted to be able to ignore it, but until she got the answers she was looking for, she wasn't sure she could.
Sirius frowned, slowly climbing off the floor and walking towards her. He brushed her hair from the nape of her neck and kissed it softly. "You really want to know?"
She stiffened, nodding slowly. "I wouldn't ask if I didn't," she whispered.
He didn't respond immediately, letting his gaze follow hers to the snow-covered grounds. He wondered why she so desperately needed to hear the answer, but he wanted to be open and honest with her about everything. Even if it made him uncomfortably. He bit his lip and blurted out, "Nine."
She glanced over her shoulder and gave him an inquisitive look. "What?"
"That…that's how many girls I've slept with," he murmured.
"Oh," she said, surprised that he actually admitted it. "Oh."
"Er…one of them is you, though…does that count?" he asked.
Riley shrugged. "I guess."
Sirius sighed. "I know it may seem like a lot for a guy who's only seventeen but it was all so meaningless," he defended, reaching for her hand. "Just a way for me to pretend as if I was fine with the way things turned out when deep in my heart I wasn't. I can promise you, Riley, that none of them meant half as much to me as you do now."
She whirled around and stared at him with determination gleaming from her eyes.. "Then why haven't we had sex yet?" Riley demanded, her eyebrows arched.
Sirius dropped his jaw and stared at her. "Uh…well…you…but…I-I thought that's what you wanted!" he eventually cried out.
Riley looked at him like he had grown three heads which, even in the wizardry world, was a bit uncommon. "Why the hell would you think that?" she snorted. "Have you met me? I'm a sex girl. I like sex! I didn't sleep with four people just for the fun of it—that's my number by the way—I like sex, dammit, and I'm not afraid to admit it! And you have yet to have sex with me! Why is that? Why?"
Sirius stared at her. "Somehow I feel like we've switched roles."
Riley laughed and pressed her lips hungrily to his. He didn't question it, framing her beautiful face with his hands as he slipped his tongue into her mouth. He pressed her up against the cool window and she hooked her fingers into the waistband of his pants, drawing him close to her. When their lips parted, she wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled. "I'm sorry that I've been so moody these past 24 hours. I guess it really didn't have much to do with Rachael. More to do with us."
He blinked. "Huh?"
She smiled, running her fingers through the back of his hair. "When I saw you with Rachael, it just reminded me of the...the relationship you two had."
"Or lack thereof," Sirius corrected.
She shrugged. "I realize that all you two ever did was fuck, nothing more. But I was..." she trailed off.
His eyebrow quirked curiously. "Yeah?"
She made a face, realizing now what she so desperately didn't want to admit. "I was jealous," she muttered. She hastily added, "Not of her! But at the fact that she got to have sex with you for three months and you and I haven't yet."
"Technically, you got to me first. Two years ago," he said with a teasing grin.
She laughed. "A lot can change in two years."
"Uh, yeah, I've gotten better," he argued, winking playfully.
"Well, how am I supposed to know that?" Riley pointed out, her eyebrow arching and the ends of her mouth twitching upward in amusement.
Sirius hesitated. "Are we seriously arguing about my sex skills?"
Riley laughed. "Well why not? It's not like we'll be arguing about my sex skills. I'm bloody fantastic," she teased modestly, flipping her hair over her shoulder in a flirtatious way.
Sirius burst into laughter. "I do seem to remember that," he snickered, leaning over and pressing his lips to hers. "Y'know, this day did not turn out the way I would have guessed. First, you want to know how many girls I've slept with, then you complain that we haven't had sex yet, and now we're talking about our sexual abilities."
"Can we go back to complaining about not having had sex yet?" she questioned with a teasing smile.
Sirius gave her an adoring look. "We will," he chuckled.
"When? I need a day and a time," she said half-jokingly.
Sirius snickered. "I didn't realize you were a schedule kind of girl," he said good-naturedly. "I thought you liked spontaneity."
"I thought I did," she admitted. "But it's been six weeks!"
"Yeah, and two of those weeks we weren't even together," Sirius snickered.
"Why are you making excuses?" she whined.
Sirius gave her a look and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Because I think the moment's kinda ruined, babe," he teased.
Riley sat atop the windowsill, wrapping her legs around his waist and drawing him into her as she whispered in his ear, "I think I can change that." She pressed her lips to his firmly, a light moan escaping from deep inside her. He didn't waste time deepening the kiss, encircling her waist with his arms and slipping his tongue into her mouth, exploring each and every crevice.
"Oh Sirius," she gasped as his lips left hers and roamed to her neck, nipping it just right. He perched his fingers at the bottom of her sweater and slowly pulled it over her head. He threw it to the side and brushed her now messy hair behind her ear with a longing smile on his face.
"You are so beautiful, Riley," he managed to mutter, giving her another firm kiss on the mouth. She smiled bashfully at him as she slipped her hands underneath his T-shirt and caressed his rigid stomach. A smirk crossed her lips as she silently thanks years of Quidditch paying off for his sexy body
He pulled away and before he forgot, muttered the contraception charm. She smiled impishly and quickly stripped his shirt off, throwing it carelessly to the side as she resumed her fiery kisses on his lips, loving the feeling of Sirius' naked body against hers. Sirius practically slammed her against the window as his mouth made another delicious raid to hers. He cupped her breasts, admiring how well his hands seemed to fit over them before reaching around back and unhooking the clasp of her black bra, freeing her luscious breasts and leaving a clear path for him to bend down and suck her left nipple lightly. Riley moaned in ecstasy and ran her fingers through his hair, a shiver of delight running down her back.
Sirius pulled back and stared into her eyes lovingly, feeling so comfortable with her. His fingers handled the button on her jeans before reaching for her zipper. She quickly pulled off her jeans, kicking them aside, and leaving herself with only a black lace thong on, turning Sirius on immensely.
He felt himself harden, even more than he already was, at the sight of Riley's gorgeous body, as she unbuttoned his jeans and slowly tugged them down. She smiled giddily at the sight of his pulsating cock against his boxer shorts. She leaned in and kissed him sweetly on the mouth, feeling lucky just being in Sirius' presence.
"The blanket," Riley whispered into Sirius' ear.
He gazed at her with a look of confusion.
"The blanket," she reiterated with a suggestive look on her face, pulling him over to the blanket Sirius had lay out earlier on the other side of the room by hooking her finger into the top of his boxer shorts, causing him to stiffen just by the feel of her cold fingers against his skin.
He grinned flippantly and gladly followed her, their lips glued together the entire way there. He slowly guided her to the floor and ran his fingers up against her inner thighs, lightly tickling her soft skin. She leaned back, pulling him on top of her, letting his body mold into hers. She let her hair fall freely over the warm blanket, kissing him so deeply, neither one could barely breathe. She was writhing beneath him as he placed his fingers against the edge of her thong and with one last kiss, discarded it and stared at her neatly shaven private area, a feeling of lust immediately coming over him. He wanted to please her in ways no one has ever as he flicked his finger over the top of her clit, making her cry out unexpectedly.
"Oh God," she whimpered, tightening her stomach muscles as she arched her back and bent her knees up, placing her feet flat on the ground, letting go of Sirius altogether. She shut her eyes, wearing such an expression of lust, Sirius had to hold in his excitement as he slipped a finger inside her hot and moist opening. "Oh!" she cried out again, as he dipped another finger inside of her, inserting them even further. He was mesmerized by the expression of extreme desire on her face, her cheeks tinted vibrantly, as he rubbed the inside of her gently, causing Riley to groan satisfyingly.
He pulled his fingers out, much to the protests of Riley, and kissed the inside of her thighs, slowly making his way upward to her private area. He trailed his tongue up her right thigh and delicately dangled it against her clit, barely making contact.
She shuddered forcefully, opening her eyes to stare lustfully at him. She said nothing, but the moans coming from her lips said it all. With a smirk, he plunged his tongue deliciously into her opening, her cries filling the room. She stiffened beneath him, his tongue taking over every inch of her mind and soul. He continued to lick her all over her hot folds and brought his fingers up to massage her clit with his forefinger in a circular motion. Slowly at first, listening to the frantic pants coming from Riley's mouth, and then as his tongue darted in and out of her opening, he used his thumb to frantically rub up against her throbbing clit, emitting his own moan as she started to jerk uncontrollably.
Riley let out a loud cry before her whole body tensed as she came, breathing heavily as she started to relax against the blanket, her expression overcome with bliss. He glanced dreamily at her flushed face before kissing her frenetically, diving his tongue into her mouth.
"You still thinking about how many women I've slept with?" Sirius whispered, a sly grin crossing his face.
Riley chuckled warily and shook her head. "Not a chance," she murmured into his ear, kissing him softly against his cheek beside it.
Sirius nestled tightly between her parted legs and kissed her neck alluringly, trailing his tongue back down to her breasts, remaining there for a few seconds before a guttural gasp escaped from his mouth as Riley unexpectedly grasped his large, hard cock beneath him, stroking him firmly.
"Oh Merlin," he murmured, the sudden feeling of eruption already inside of him. He grabbed her hand away from his erection, knowing that if she kept it there he wouldn't be able to last. He pinned her arms above her head and gave her one last longing look before slowly entering her.
Twin moans of pleasure ripped through them, both filled with satisfaction and yearning. She wrapped her leg around him, breathing erratically and shutting her eyes tightly at the feeling of him inside of her.
"Oh Sirius," she whined as he thrust harder and faster. She arched her back again to regain a similar feeling of pleasure as he plunged in deeper. He kissed her firmly on the mouth as he pulsated inside of her, their hearts beating in unison. She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning her head back as she emitted another groan. He kissed her breasts gently as she reached down with her right hand and stroked her pelvis gently.
He could hear her pants grow heavier and it took everything inside of him to continue the rhythmic pace, needing to give her another orgasm before he let himself go over the edge. A moan filled the air and he couldn't be sure if it was his or hers, but he could feel her getting closer to climaxing. The noises she was making was driving him crazy, but he focused on moving in and out, in and out, in and out, slowly but surely as the elation grew inside of both of them.
"Faster," she whispered pleadingly, and he did as she said.
Her moans were no longer quiet and lustrous. They were cries of delight, loud and desperate, as she felt him pick up the pace. He was slamming into her, her nails gripping his bare back tightly. She had a strong feeling he'd have scratches there tomorrow.
He continued to thrust into her, harder and faster at her request, until she felt her clenching tightly around his cock as she screamed out his name and shuddered beneath him, her body spasming with utter desire.
That one movement had him crying out her name in pleasure as he emptied deep inside of her, that moment bringing such heat and passion of which Sirius couldn't compare.
He collapsed to the side of her and they both breathed heavily before Riley cuddled against Sirius' body, comfortably fitting herself into the nook of his neck and shoulders, wrapping her arm around his naked body. "I guess I can say that the moment was definitely not ruined," Sirius whispered teasingly into her ear, lightly kissing her forehead.
She smirked. "And I guess I can say that you have gotten better in two years," she whispered.
He laughed and she giggled, using that moment to stretch out and press her lips gently to his.
Neither could imagine being anywhere else but there.
Riley slid into breakfast the following morning, avoiding all eye contact with Sirius across from her, who was finding a sudden interest in the eggs on his plate at the moment. She felt her heart flip-flop just knowing he was there, flashes of yesterday crawling through her mind. She had tossed and turned all night, wanting nothing more than to be with him instead of alone in her bed. She dreamed of his tongue doing naughty things to her. She woke up disappointed than he wasn't there for her to kiss. This actually felt like the real deal, and while that should have scared her, she was more focused on just enjoying her time.
"Hey guys," she greeted, grabbing a muffin and digging in. "Everyone ready for the Transfiguration exam?"
"Of course," Remus spoke on behalf of the Marauders.
Riley rolled her eyes. "I don't know why I bother asking you guys anymore. You all seem to ace your Transfiguration exams every time you're given one. Which is ironic since I never see two of you with any books."
"Hm, I wonder which two you could possibly be referring to," Sirius contemplated, stroking his chin with a flippant grin.
Remus nodded at the textbook in front of him. "Well, it sure as hell isn't me," he snorted.
"Or me," Peter whimpered as he perused his notes.
Riley chuckled. "Definitely wasn't referring to myself either. Spent all yesterday cramming for the exam," she lied.
"Oh my God, Riles!" James cried from beside her, interrupting the conversation.
"What?" she asked frantically, paranoid.
"Is…is that…" he asked slowly, lifting her hair off her neck. "Is that a hickey?"
She cringed and slapped his hand away, blushing curiously.
Kay gave her a look. "Cramming for an exam, hm?"
Riley blushed. "Shut up."
"So who's the guy?" Lily asked giddily.
"There's no guy!" Riley argued, covering up her neck as they all tried getting a good look at her apparent hickey.
Kay gasped. "It's a girl?"
Riley threw the rest of her muffin at her. "No!" she cried with a laugh.
"Well, I'm pretty sure that hickey didn't just jump on to your neck," Remus snickered. "Someone had to have given it to you."
Crimson rose to Riley's cheeks. "Alright, fine, someone gave it to me. That doesn't mean I'm going to tell you who."
"I bet it's Rhett," Lily stated giddily.
Riley glanced at her curiously, trying not to show amusement by the irritated look that flickered across Sirius' face. "And why the hell would you assume that?"
"Well, you're working on a project with him and that means you've been spending a lot of time together. Your feelings are bound to come out at some point."
"No, they're not, because there are no feelings involved," Riley argued, hoping the subject would be changed soon.
"Oh c'mon, you broke up with him so suddenly, without telling any of us why by the way, and you're telling me that nothing is going to occur because of this?" Kay questioned, smirking.
"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying," she said irritably.
Kay rolled her eyes. "You've slept with half of the male population in this school and you're saying you're going to keep your hands off of one of the most eligible bachelors here? I don't buy it."
Riley scowled. "I have not slept with half of the male population in this school, but thank you ever so much for that overexaggeration."
Kay couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, fine. That doesn't mean you can't sleep with Rhett Davies."
"No, it just means I won't."
Kay sighed. "You're bumming me out. You can't have a gorgeous partner like him and not want to jump him."
"This conversation is making me slightly uncomfortable," James whined.
"We had our brief fling," Riley sighed, ignoring her oldest friend completely. "Now we're strictly project partners."
"You're continuing to bum me out," Kay pouted.
Riley couldn't help but laugh, shrugging. "Sorry. But if you want him, I'll certainly let him know."
"I have a boyfriend."
"Eh, it's just Lance. You can do better."
Kay glared at her.
Riley merely grinned.
Sirius finally spoke. "Hey, why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?"
They all stared at him before Remus replied sarcastically, "I don't know, why isn't the number 12 pronounced onety-two?"
Sirius gasped. "Why isn't it pronounced onety-two?"
"Because you're a moron," James replied immediately, not looking up from his breakfast.
Sirius hesitated. "That didn't even make sense."
"Oh right, and asking how to pronounce eleven makes sense?" James shot back with a grin.
Sirius scowled. "I think it's a legitimate question."
"Sirius, you never have legitimate questions."
He sighed overdramatically. "I just don't think you appreciate the fact that I am trying to provide well-rounded knowledge to all."
"Asking us how to pronounce eleven is well-rounded knowledge?" Remus asked curiously. "That's something I haven't heard before."
"Exactly! Because I'm trying to keep our minds alive with thought-provoking questions and you all keep shutting it down. Go ahead and be boring and one-noted. I prefer to be well-rounded, m'dear Moony."
That earned him six blank stares. "Y'know, you should consider just not talking sometimes," Lily chimed in with a smirk. "Seriously, try it."
"Please, like I'd last one minute without talking," he snorted.
"At least he's aware he's annoying," James suggested.
"Please! Like I could ever be annoying!"
"Anyone here think that Sirius is annoying, raise your hand."
Six simultaneous hands went up.
Sirius scowled while James merely grinned. "I rest my case."
James and Lily walked into the prefect meeting on Thursday night warily. It had been a week since their relationship had been outed and people were still gossipping about it. While still feeling slightly uncomfortable about the whole thing, Lily was taking it better than James would have assumed. He had come to the realization that she just stopped caring about what everyone thought in order to live in the moment with him. There were certainly times he could see her wariness - a crease in her forehead, a faraway look in her eye, hesitation in a frown. But overall, she had learned to ignore it. He appreciated her for trying to live above it even though he knew she was still bothered by it.
The moment James and Lily walked into the room, silence filled the room as all eyes turned to them.
"Hey!" Lily greeted cheerfully, ignoring the piercing stares. "Is everyone here?"
No reply.
But she expected that.
"Er...okay. Well, I want to thank everyone who help pick up the Valentine's Day supplies on our Hogmseade trip on Saturday. I think we have everything we need for decorations as of now so we can cross that off our list," Lily explained. "At next week's meeting, James and I will put up the schedule of who needs to be in the Great Hall at what time so we'll keep you posted."
Daniella threw her hand into the air.
Lily sighed. "Yes?"
"How exactly did you two get together?" she questioned.
Lily and James' mouths hung open in surprise, while the eyes of everyone in the room grew at the bluntness of the question. Remus burst into laughter just looking at his two friends' faces, which inevitably caused Fabian to burst into giggles.
James shot them both a glare before clearing his throat nervously, meeting the curious gaze of Daniela. "So, uh, what exactly does that have to do with Valentine's Day?" he sputtered.
"Valentine's Day is the day for love, isn't it?" Daniella bullshitted, a fake grin plastered on her face.
James shot her a look at the same time Lily snorted. "I don't think a prefect meeting is the proper time to be discussing this," she argued.
"Okay, well when is the proper time to discuss it?" she questioned further.
"How about never?" Lily suggested firmly. "Our personal life is our business only."
"Aw c'mon," Fabian whined. "Give us something."
"Yeah, is the sex good?" Rachael snickered, leaning back in her chair defiantly as everyone turned to stare at her in shock.
James glared at her as Lily's face turned beet red. "I don't think that's any of your business," James snapped.
"That means you haven't done it yet," she smirked.
Lily crossed her arms bitterly and glared at her. "I didn't realize you wanted a week of detention, LeBlanc," she barked.
Rachael rolled her eyes but kept her mouth shut about that. "Whatever you say, Miss Head Girl."
"Just tell us how you got together," Kyra said giddily.
Lily opened her mouth to protest.
"And then we'll go back to the meeting, I promise!" Kyra pleaded before Lily could object.
"C'mon, it's only fair," Randy spoke up. "We work with you very closely and have meetings with you once a week. How the hell are we supposed to get any work done with these burning questions in our head?"
"Really? That's the best you got? You can't work with questions swarming your minds?" James spoke dryly, his eyebrow shooting up into his hair.
Randy grinned. "I'm working on the fly here."
"We could go on strike," Fabian teased. "Imagine all of that extra work you two would have to do on our behalves."
"Take notes, Randy," James replied coolly. "That was actually a decent excuse."
Randy rolled his eyes. "Does that mean you're going to tell us?"
"No way in hell," James snorted.
"Then I say we go on strike!" Randy suggested, pounding his fist on to the table and jumping up from his chair. "Who's with me?"
Lily found herself laughing, much to the prefects' surprise. "Sit tight, Mr. Eager. No one is going on strike today."
"So you'll tell us?" Daniella urged, her eyes lighting up.
Lily shot her a look. "Why do you guys care so much?"
"Believe me, we don't," Severus Snape snarled.
Randy glared at him. "Sh, I think we're actually wearing them down."
"Not even slightly," Lily snorted.
"You do realize that if you give us the details, the ridiculous gossip going around this school could be put to rest," Daniela pointed out.
"The gossip that you put forth?" Lily pointed out, her voice slightly on edge.
Daniela grinned. "What better way to annihilate my own gossip than with actual facts?"
"This is up there with Randy's stupid comment about how he can't get work done without knowing," James drawled.
"Hey! I don't think the Head Boy should be calling anyone stupid," Randy pouted.
"He should if someone's being stupid."
Even Lily couldn't help but giggle, though attempted to give James a stern look for not being the best of role models.
"We've now wasted a good ten minutes discussing a relationship that is frankly none of your business," Lily sighed. "I wasn't aware you all wanted to be here until midnight tonight, but I can make that happen, y'know."
"Then I say we go on strike!" Randy cried out once again, pumping his fist into the air.
Lily groaned. "Don't make me dock points from you, Cattano."
"You'd have to dock points from all of us, because if he goes on strike, we all will, too," Remus chimed in with a smirk.
James glared at him. "Oy! You keep out of this."
"Yeah," Lily spoke, shooting Remus a look. "You already know the story so why are you defending them?"
"Because it's quite entertaining to see you both squirm."
"I can have you in detention scrubbing bedpans, Lupin."
"Y'know what? Suddenly watching you squirm isn't so entertaining."
"I thought so."
"What is the harm in sharing your story?" Alice spoke up, her eyebrow arching curiously. "Unless it involves something creepy and disturbing. Aw, hell, please tell me you didn't blackmail Lily into dating you. That sounds like something you'd do, Potter."
James glared at her while Lily couldn't help but laugh. "You want to be scrubbing bedpans, Alice?" he sighed.
She grinned sheepishly. "What? I don't think it's a very far-off assumption considering the girl punched you a month ago. Unless that is some disturbing form of foreplay, it's doesn't exactly spell out relationship to me."
"You mocking us is not going to get us to tell you anything," he snorted.
"Yeah, keep quiet, Fisher," Randy teased. "Did we ever really shoot down the possibility of going on strike?"
"I may be Head Boy, but I'll have no problem hexing you until your face turns blue," James retaliated immediately.
He shrugged. "Eh, it would go nicely with my blue eyes."
"Ah, so you're welcoming the idea of me trying?"
Randy shrugged, laughing carelessly. "C'mon, guys. Give us the juicy gossip so that we may then continue with this lame - er, I mean very stimulating meeting."
Lily sighed and glanced at James, who gazed back at her hesitantly. Eventually, he shrugged cautiously. "Y'know, they're never going to shut up until they get this information," he pointed out.
"That's true!" Alice chimed in.
Lily stared at James warily, wondering why she was even considering this. "But this is a prefect meeting…" she trailed off.
"Oh please, we gossip all the time during these meetings," Fabian pointed out. "At least one relationship is always brought up during a meeting. You never stopped it then."
"It was never about me then," Lily said with a sheepish grin.
"Well, it's about you now," LeAnn Withers said. "I think it's time you spilled."
Lily glanced over at James again, who shrugged for a second time. "It's your call, Head Girl."
Lily shrugged and pulled out the chair from in front of her, taking a seat with a reluctant sigh. "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this," she murmured. James grinned in total surprise and he pulled out the chair beside Lily and sat down, putting his feet up on the table.
The entire room erupted into excited cheers.
"Well, we can't tell you if you're screaming over us!" Lily cried with an unexpected giggle. Considering the entire school was convinced James had won her over as some sort of ploy, maybe this would tip the gossip in her favor for once. Maybe it was better to come straight from them than from the lies and rumors everyone else was spouting.
Or maybe it was a really dumb idea.
Guess there was only one way to find out.
"Well, it all started during Christmas break…" James began.
"When she clocked you?" Fabian snorted.
"Do you want to hear this or not?" he snapped.
Fabian grinned. "Go on."
He sighed and with one last reassuring smile from Lily, he delved into the story.
Riley snuck up to Sirius' room, knowing that James and Remus were at a prefect meeting and Peter was off with some girl. She creaked open the door and saw Sirius' hangings closed. She smiled before slipping herself into the hangings and crawling into his bed beside him, curling up to his side lovingly. "Hey babe," she whispered.
"Why is the word juicy written across your boobs?" Sirius questioned, barely glancing up from the Quidditch magazine he was reading.
Riley glanced down at her T-shirt and snickered. "Why are you an idiot?"
"I don't think those two are connected."
Riley tried to keep a pout on her face, but his devilish grin was so infectious that her mouth bent up a little at the corners. He glanced up at her and his eyes danced with a bit of enchantment just at the sight of her in his bed. She licked her lips and he leaned down, his light kiss igniting a passion of heat under her skin.
Her hands found his way into the fullness of his hair and her body surged slowly under his as he continued to kiss her fervently. The kissed like that for a long time, just breathing each other in the old-fashioned way of simply snogging. The kisses were slow and deep, but left Riley with a painful desire for more of him. His hands traveled up her waist and slipped under her thin, cotton shirt, traveling up under the loose-fitting fabric and reaching her breasts. Both of them sighed as his fingers tickled her left breast comfortably.
Sirius pulled his lips apart from hers, running his hand back down her stomach, just feeling the warm skin on his hand. He just stared at her beautiful frame, a look of longing desire on both their faces. Riley's cheeks tinted pink at the way Sirius was just staring at her, a slight, adoring smile planted on his face.
"What?" Riley finally had to ask.
His smile widened with more adoration and he brought his hand up to stroke her cheek with his thumb. "You're just so incredibly beautiful," he claimed, tilting his head to the side with admiration.
Riley's heart melted and she found herself feeling over-romantic at that moment, not finding Sirius' devotion maudlin or corny like she had expected. "Stop flattering me or my head is going to grow as big as yours," she teased.
Sirius brushed his lips lightly against hers. "I do not know what you're referring to. My head is a perfectly normal size," he laughed, bringing his forehead down to touch hers.
Riley curled up tighter against him, as he placed one arm beneath her back and the other around her chest, wrapping her up in his arms protectively. He kissed her again on the lips, this time more fervently, pushing her against the base of the bed powerfully. They pulled apart and Sirius nestled beside her comfortably, her head in the nook of his shoulder and neck at ease.
"So considering the guys could come in at any moment and we'd be screwed, what is on our agenda for tonight?" Riley asked after a few minutes of silence.
Sirius cringed. "Uh…actually, I'm hanging out with the guys."
Riley groaned in discord. "But you hung out with them last night," she complained.
Sirius gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, baby, but I promised them I would prank the Slytherins tonight."
Riley sighed overdramatically. "Well…then it better be a really good prank."
Sirius laughed and kissed her on the cheek adoringly. "Believe me, it will be," he teased, winking playfully at her. "Besides, I've been hanging out with you practically every night for the past couple of weeks and I have to say, I think the gang is on to me."
"On to us?" Riley cried out.
Sirius quickly shook his head and kissed her on her head. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm making sure they don't find out."
"And exactly what are you telling them?"
He shrugged. "Nothing really. I'm letting them make assumptions. And what else would they believe besides having meaningless sex with endless amounts of women?"
"That so better not be true."
Sirius laughed. "Oh please, like I said, I've been hanging out with you almost every night for the past few weeks. When would I find time to sleep with another girl?"
"Well, I don't know what you do for the ten minutes when you leave and saunter back to your room!"
"You think it takes me less than ten minutes to do the deed?"
"This isn't helping your case any."
He laughed and leaned down to kiss her. Soft at first but hungry passion overcame him and suddenly, neither one wanted to pull apart. When they eventually did, he smiled down at her with a pleading look of forgiveness.
"But that sure did," she giggled.
He laughed and gave her another quick kiss, squeezing her shoulder gently.
When he pulled apart, she smiled and slouched down more in order to be completely sheltered by him. "I love just being here with you," she whispered as she shut her eyes amorously.
Sirius' smile grew wider and a sudden feeling of heartwarming love just embraced him. I think I might actually be falling in love with her… He froze at that thought, wondering where that came from. They had only been dating for six weeks, two of them not even together, and that doesn't give someone the time to believe they're in love. He hesitated and thought about the past six years, though. Six years, he adored and envied not only her and the person she always was but also the life she lived—one he wanted so much to be a part of. And in the past month, he has felt a sort of attachment with her he had never felt before. With one more gaze at her sitting in his arms, her eyes closed looking so peaceful, he smiled again and didn't even bother to ignore that feeling anymore.
"And I…and I love being here with you," he whispered, brushing a strand of hair away from her face.
And so they sat there for a comfortable hour, just lying there in each other arms comfortingly. Not a word was uttered; not a kiss was given. They just sat there, their thoughts entwined into one in a relaxed silence.
Sirius stirred and glanced at his watch with a sigh, lightly shaking her out of her deep slumber. She groaned but unwillingly opened her eyes to glance up at him.
"Sorry hon, but we better head downstairs before someone comes up here and finds us. James and Remus will be back from their prefect meeting soon and Peter back from his date and we need to do some serious prank-creating," he said apologetically.
Riley grunted but slowly sat up in his bed. "Fine, fine. Have fun doing your guy stuff tonight. Go hex the Slytherins, gossip about girls, pound your chests, wear your pants around your thighs showing your butt crack, talk in deep husky voices about sports events, crack open a firewhisky, go fishing, have-"
"Fishing? Honey, I'm just hanging out with the guys. I'm not turning eighty-two."
"I cannot believe you guys wasted a whole hour talking about your relationship with the prefects," Remus commented for the tenth time that night.
James laughed and shrugged. "It was nice blowing off a meeting for once and just doing what we wanted to do."
"I think you mean what they wanted us to do," Lily snickered, muttering the password to the Fat Lady before crawling through the portrait hole.
"Eh, it was still nice just talking to them," James admitted. "We're usually barking orders at them that we never get a chance to know them on a personal level."
Lily nodded. "Except we didn't get to know them on a personal level. They just got to know us on a personal level. A little too personal."
"Nah, it was fun," Remus argued.
They glanced around the room and spotted Kay, Riley, and Sirius on a couch in the corner and walked over to them. Before any of them could say hi, Dezzy Potter was rushing up to them with a glare. "It's days like these that I wish I were a prefect!"
James gave her a curious look. "Huh?"
"Don't act dumb!"
"I'm not acting, I'm really dumb!" James argued. He paused. "Wait a minute, that came out wrong."
Dezzy gave him an irritated look. "You're a horrible example of a brother," she pouted.
"Thanks," James replied sarcastically.
"You are worthless!" she whined.
"Do you want to clarify or do you just want to keep accusing me of things?" James questioned.
"Skyler just told me some interesting things about your relationship with Lily," she explained, talking about her best friend who also happened to be a prefect. "Things that you had yet to tell me and I'm your sister!"
James rolled his eyes. "Oh c'mon, Dezzy, did you honestly think I went into that meeting believing I'd be gossiping about my relationship with a bunch of prefects? Some of them whom I barely know," he snorted.
"Apparently!"
James gave her a look. "Besides, did you really expect me to brag about my relationship with my younger sister?"
"Oh c'mon, James," Dezzy retorted. "Don't play the older brother card on me now. You had been talking nonstop about Lily Evans for six years now, pining after the girl relentlessly and whining when she rejected you for the umpteenth time, and now that you're with her, you don't want to talk about it?"
James groaned. "Dezzy!"
"What?" she asked innocently.
"So, you've been talking nonstop about me, hm?" Lily said with an amused smile.
"I hate you, Dez," James murmured.
Dezzy just grinned. "It's what you get for not telling me your relationship details first."
"How long have you been talking about me?" Lily continued with a teasing smile, staring up at him with a sly expression on her face.
"Not that long. She made it up," James replied immediately, an innocent smile on his face.
Sirius and Remus burst into hysterical laughter.
James glared at Remus. "I expected more from you."
Remus shrugged and said, in between laughs, "I can't help it. That was just such a blatant lie."
"What did I ever do to you?"
"Make me listen to hours of Lily-analysis," he replied, ducking as James swung at him playfully.
"Why do I waste my time with you guys?" James mumbled.
"So if you've been 'pining over me,' as Dezzy would say, for years, then how come this is the first time you've ever really done anything about it?" Lily questioned in all seriousness.
James gave her a look. "I asked you out for like five years straight."
"And not one of them was sincere," Lily argued with a shrug.
"That's not true!"
"Alright, maybe they were to you, but they weren't to me," she murmured. "Considering they were often preceded by an insult or a smug comment or hexing some innocent student or you running your stupid hand through your stupid hair to show off."
"My hair isn't stupid!" he gasped.
"Yes, that's the takeaway from what I said," she drawled with a smirk. "Sorry to say that your attempts to ask me out could be considered bogus considering you and I were on less than amenable terms."
"In other words, she hated your guts," Riley summed up.
Lily glared at her. "No," she argued slowly. "I just didn't particularly like his guts."
Riley and Kay burst into hysterical laughter.
Lily glared at them. "What is so funny?"
"Now, that was a blatant lie," Riley snorted, wiggling her eyebrows.
"Nuh-uh!" Lily argued.
Kay shook her head incredulously. "I seem to remember countless times you stormed into our dorm room claiming you wanted to throw James off a four-hundred foot cliff where there was nothing but spiky rocks waiting for him at the bottom."
Lily hesitated. "And you think that means I hated his guts?"
"Yes," Kay, Riley, Remus, Sirius, and Dezzy all replied in unison.
Lily turned to James sheepishly. "Don't listen to them. They don't know what they're talking about."
"Yes we do!" Sirius whined, jumping off the couch in debate.
"Oh please, Sirius," Lily snickered. "You never know what anyone is talking about."
He hesitated. "Hm, valid point. Carry on then," he replied, sitting back down.
They all laughed but no one spoke up.
"Oh, did we finish the Lily-hated-James-so-James-couldn't-date-her-until-now conversation?" Sirius questioned.
Everyone stared at him.
"Or do you guys just like listening to me talk?" Sirius grinned.
"So, about this whole Lily hating James thing!" Riley quickly interrupted.
Sirius pouted and crossed his arms, feigning hurt. "I don't like you right now."
"Eh, I'm used to that," Riley teased, shoving his shoulder playfully.
Kay shuddered. "You shouldn't be," she murmured. "You two have kept this whole friendly act thing going for over a month now. It still freaks me out."
"Yeah, me too," Peter urged.
"Totally weird," Dezzy added with a nod.
"Twilight zone action," Lily spoke.
"Slightly creepy if you ask me," agreed James.
"I half expected one of you to start screaming at the other by now and go back to the way it used to be," Remus admitted. "It's way too quiet around here. First, James and Lily get together. And now you two are being overly friendly. Is something in the pumpkin juice I'm not aware of?"
"I could yell at you for a bit if you'd like," Riley suggested with a grin.
"Nah, oddly enough, I actually like getting along with everyone."
"Hm, what's that like?" she asked with a mock sigh.
Remus laughed, shrugging. "Stress-free."
"Ah, see, there's the problem. I welcome stress into my life," she spoke sarcastically.
Remus rolled his eyes. "I think we're all allowed to be slightly wary on this new friendship of yours. Because if I recall correctly, and I know I do, before Christmas break, you stormed into our room looking angrier than I have ever seen you, ready to curse Sirius to his death, and then ten minutes later, you two went off to work on your project as if nothing was wrong."
"I knew we should've listened at the door that afternoon," Peter murmured from the love seat.
"What does it matter?" Sirius asked with a shrug.
"It doesn't really," Kay admitted with a shrug. "It just makes very little sense."
Riley sighed, running her fingers through her hair cautiously. "Well, to be fair, it doesn't make much sense to us," Riley lied.
Lily gave them a look. "Okay, well how about you start with why you guys started hating each-"
"Uh-uh," Riley interrupted blatantly.
"Not gonna happen," Sirius interjected.
"Nice try," Riley replied.
"Stop asking," Sirius added.
"Move on," Riley finished.
Remus sighed. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"
Awkward silence filled the room before Dezzy chimed in. "Okay, well I can't get relationship details out of my brother and I can't get the newfound friendship details out of Riley and Sirius," Dezzy pouted, shrugging hesitantly. "I'm pretty much useless here now."
"Nah, that's not true," James argued, shaking his head slowly. "You were useless when your first walked over, too."
"I hate you."
"Yeah, a lot of people have been saying that to me lately," James pondered.
"It's 'cause you suck," Sirius shot back.
"We're still having Quidditch practices at eight-thirty on Sunday mornings."
"DAMNIT!"
A/N: Another chapter and done. I hope you enjoyed some of the Sirius and Riley fluff. I'm trying to show the big difference between Sirius and Riley before break and after break in relation to their friends so I hope that's coming off. And it's obvious that now that Lily is with James, she's letting loose a little bit-i.e. blowing off a prefect's meeting to talk about her relationship, haha. Please review!