--

--

"So exactly what kind of mission are we talking about?" asked Janine for the third time as she watched Annie dance around the room, packing her things.

"I have to go talk to the vampires, try to get them to help us in the war." Annie replied, tossing another book in her trunk.

"And Sirius is okay with that?" asked Janine wickedly and her question had Annie stopping dead in her tracks.

"What? Why would it matter?"

"Well, the pair of you have been dancing around the fact that you want to jump each other's bones for the entire time that I've been here." Janine smirked and Annie tossed a sweater at her half-heartedly.

"Shut up Janine, we haven't been dancing."

"Yeah right, and judging from the fact that your t-shirt is wet, exactly in the pattern of his hands, I'd say your little dance turned into the horizontal hula." Janine chuckled at her friend's expense and Annie stared at her in open-mouthed shock.

"Well, it might have if Molly hadn't interrupted." Sirius appeared at the doorway, a small smile on his face, but his eyes were dark in an unreadable emotion.

"I knew it!" Janine cheered, looking from her blushing best friend to the man that had somehow managed to capture the blonde's attention.

"Shut up Janine." Annie barked as she busied herself with packing her trunk, trying her best to ignore the raven-haired man in her doorway.

"Well, I'll just leave you two to it." Janine snuck out the doorway, slipping past Sirius with a knowing smirk on her lips.

Annie ignored Sirius, who had entered the room fully and closed the door behind him. She continued to faithfully pack her trunk and tried her best not to think about the kiss they had shared downstairs. It shouldn't have happened.

"So are we going to talk about this or not?"

"Talk about what?" she returned without looking over at him.

"About our kiss."

"I…that shouldn't have happened."

He stared at her in shock for a moment before shaking himself out of it.

"So you kissing me, shouldn't have happened?"

He was playing dirty, and he knew it, but he also didn't care because he still wanted to cross the room, pull her away from her trunk and make out with her fiercely.

"I didn't kiss you, you kissed me." She retorted, knowing that she was lying through her teeth, and not caring, she couldn't be having feelings for this man, it was wrong. He was still on the run, he had to stay in this house, not allowed to go anywhere, and if they were together, where would that leave her? In the room next to his? It wasn't a life she wanted or could handle. She needed to be outside, she needed excitement, she needed a mission.

"Liar."

"I am not lying." She looked over at him and the emotion in his eyes became readable. Hurt.

"Look, I'm not saying that I didn't want to kiss you. I'm not saying that I don't want to cross this room right now and snog you senseless. But it isn't that easy. I have a mission to do, and thinking about you, when I'm supposed to be negotiating with dangerous creatures, it isn't safe."

"That's a cop out and you know it."

"Excuse me?"

"You don't want to admit that you like me, you don't want to admit that the fact that me wanting you just as badly as you wanting me has got you running scared."

"I am not scared."

"Yes you are, you're scared of me."

"I am not scared of you. I'm just…I don't like people, okay? I never really did, and when I lost my parents, it got that much worse. I threw myself into my schooling; I didn't have any friends, except for Janine, and she was the one that bridged that gap, not me. I didn't have anyone because then they couldn't leave me. When I get involved with you, then what? I know all about your school reputation, Sirius, and while I'd like to imagine that you've changed, forgive me for not wanting to take the chance that you'd get bored with me."

She stalked out the door past him, her trunk in hand and Sirius watched her go with a shocked expression on his face.

--

Okay, I know, a little dramatic, but I figure that having her parents die on her would make her a little wary of relationships and people. So I just had her do a little freak out before she goes on her mission, why? Because writing an angsty Sirius is almost as much fun as writing a happy Sirius.

Andrew's Slinky