A/N- Sorry for the delay peeps. I wont keep you, on with the show…

Anya Shuts Up.

Draco Malfoy flung himself onto his elaborate four- poster bed, and punched his pillow furiously. 'Stupid mudblood bitch.' He thought venomously. 'I don't even like her, I just felt like a bit of excitement.' Even as the various nasty, vindictive thoughts about Hermione ran through his mind one after the other, he knew it was the opposite of his actual feelings. He was hurt beyond all reason. He hated himself because of it. Years spent building up a cold, heartless Slytherin reputation, and he had left it all for a few precious moments. He had taken off his mask, just for a few minutes, and he genuinely thought she liked him. He had kissed her, fucking bared his soul, and all she did was tell him to go. 'Fine.' He thought furiously. 'Fuck the stupid little mudblood. I wont waste any more time on her.' 

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Anya slipped out of the corridor, like a cat, and Sirius followed her, keeping as much distance between them as possible, although he wasn't too sure why. He soon changed his position at her sharp words though,

"God, will you get a move on? You were dumb enough to stay behind, so be dumb enough to stick close!"

Sirius sighed and quickened his pace, until he was next to her. He marvelled at how silently she managed to walk along the enormous corridors. She seemed to glide. Another thing that he liked about her. Dammit.

Anya was furious with herself. She would much rather have undertaken this mission on her own, as opposed to with this fantastically arrogant, big- headed, stuck- up guy, who also happened to be devastatingly gorgeous. It irritated her profoundly how every time their arms touched, or there was any contact between them, she had to force down a sharp intake of breath. What was so special about the fact that he had just brushed against her arm? Big deal. Why did she care so much? She stubbornly kept her eyes on the corridor ahead, refusing to look at him. She didn't like him. He irritated her beyond all reason. Why should she look at him?

They tiptoed down the corridor until reaching a small door at the side, leading onto a long, dingy staircase. Anya slipped down it and Sirius followed her unquestioningly. He didn't quite know what it was, but he trusted her. Halfway down the stone staircase, which was badly lit by floating candles, Sirius spotted an odd ornament fixed onto the wall. It looked like a small stone gargoyle, and looked hideously out of place. Even he could tell that, and he was hardly knowledgeable when it came to ornamental décor. He watched as Anya walked down the steps towards the statue, and oddly ominous feeling building up inside. He was sure he had seen something similar to this in Grimmauld Place, which Remus had removed. He couldn't quite remember what it had done though. Just as Anya reached the step above the ornament, it clicked.

"ANYA!"

Just as Anya stepped onto the next step, the gargoyle sprang to life, and hissed venomously. Anya swung around, quick as a flash, but it was the wrong reaction. The gargoyle opened its fanged mouth and flew at her, and sank its mouth into her arm. Sirius let out a yell and darted down the stairs, wand out. He yelled a hex, and the statue let out a hideous scream before darting back to its stand, and freezing.

Sirius turned to Anya quickly. She was clutching her arm and swearing, rather loudly. She managed to conjure a cloth out of thin air, and held it to her arm, which was bleeding profusely. He took it off her, and pressed it against the bite.

"What the fuck was that?" she asked, and he was relieved at her lack of hostility.

"Sioluphus charm." He said, dabbing at the cut gently with one hand, and holding her arm steady with the other. "Loads of dark mansions have them. Defence mechanism."

She nodded. "Oh crap! The blood's going on my dress!"

He stared at the couple of drops of blood seeping into her white tennis dress. His eyes travelled up to her arm again, wrapping the cloth around her arm tighter. "What do you expect when you wear that skimpy thing?"

"It's not skimpy!" she said indignantly. He snorted.

"What kind of Auror wears a tennis dress on a rescue mission?"

"I do!"

She used her other hand to conjure a bandage up, and he took it. "Sit down." He said quietly. She settled on the step, before tutting impatiently. "Hurry!"

"Well excuse me for giving a shit about your mangled arm!"

He began wrapping the bandage around her arm roughly. "Ow!" she exclaimed. He stopped wrapping abruptly, and looked up at her. She looked furious. "If you're not gonna do it properly, then don't fucking bother."

"No, I'm sorry!" he said quickly. "ok, ok." He wasn't too sure why he was so desperate to bandage her arm, but he was. The contact was intoxicating. He continued to bandage her arm up, much more gently this time. Anya kept her eyes averted. She didn't want to look at the guy who was causing involuntary shivers to run up her arm every time he touched it. She didn't want to endure eye contact as well as the electricity that was positively sparking between them.

He finished up bandaging, and stood up, leaving her arm feeling oddly cold. He watched her stand back up again, ignoring the urge to take her arm and help her up.

They both continued to walk down the stairs. There was a loud creak, and they both froze.

There was a yell, an unfamiliar voice, and before either of them had time to react, they were knocked off their feet, and hurtled down the stairs. They both landed in a heap at the bottom, Sirius on top of Anya, with a loud curse. Anya let out a much more graceful 'oomph!'

"Very dignified Black. Very dignified." Came a cold drawling voice, and footsteps drew closer. Sirius struggled to get up, as Anya's breathing was becoming restricted, but he didn't seem able to. "Sirius." She whispered. "What?" he asked, sounding far more concerned than he thought.

"I can't move." She choked out.

"I'm trying to get off you!"

"No… my magic."

"What?" he asked urgently. The footsteps were getting louder.

"I can't use my magic. It's not working." She sounded slightly bewildered. A cold voice interrupted before Sirius could react.

"And Miss Williamson. Lovely and graceful, as always. Shame your incredible Theurge abilities aren't up to scratch at the moment, isn't it?"

"What have you done Malfoy!" roared Sirius.

"Black, I've tied you up, you dolt. And a friend of a friend gave me some information on draining Theurges. Never realized it would be so useful."

Anya arched her back against Sirius. He could tell he was hurting her. "I'm sorry." He whispered, before snapping back to Malfoy.  He felt his wand flying out of his pocket, and cursed loudly. Lucius' cold laugh echoed through the stone staircase.

"I expected it from an idiotic fool like you Black, but really, with an Auror I thought you'd be a little more…how can I put it? Cautious."

"Sirius, can you transform?"  He heard Anya whisper urgently to him.

"I need a wand idiot!" he hissed back. Before either of them knew what was happening, Lucius shouted an incantation, and they felt themselves being thrown down the stairs by an invisible force, and landing in a cold dungeon.

Anya scrambled up immediately and ran to the still open door, but it swung shut as she reached it. Both her and Sirius listened to Malfoy's retreating steps.

"Shit." She said, kicking the door.

Sirius sank to the floor, leaning against the wall, as she crossed the room, to stand opposite him. "Well this is fucking brilliant." He said. She didn't bother to reply.

Her long dark, chocolaty locks, caught the sun through the slit window, and contrasted sharply with the cold, dinginess of the dungeon. He tried to focus on something other than the brunette in front of him, but it was impossible. He was physically unable to tear his eyes away from her. No one had ever had such an effect on him before. It was terrifying, seductive, and exciting, all at once. She was regarding the floor of the room, with a look of vague interest. She traced her shoe through the dust, drawing meaningless shapes, and he remained fixated on her.

He stared at her for a while, and she regarded him with mild interest.

"This is not what I planned you know." She said mildly. "I guess I underestimated how much Gaston loves old Lucius."

"Gaston?" said Sirius, genuinely surprised. "You think?"

She nodded silently. "I'm just too trusting for my own good."

Sirius grinned through the darkness, and stood up. "Don't worry about it." He muttered.

"Yeah, easy for you to say." She said quietly. "You'll either escape, or die. Me, I'll either die, or escape, lose my job, and disgrace my mum."

"Not possible." He replied.

"Not possible to what?" she asked.

"Disgrace your mum. She must boast about you all the time." He said, slightly awkwardly.

She let out a snort. "I'm never good enough. She'll have a field day if she finds out Lucius Malfoy got the better of me."

He sighed, before replying. "Let her. Everyone else knows you're…-" he paused.

She looked at him curiously. "What? Everyone else knows I'm what?"

"Erm… a good Auror."

She looked slightly disappointed for a moment, before hitching back her unconcerned expression. "Yeah, well, no matter how good I am, Maria Williamson will always have been better. I am never gonna live up to my mother. Y'know, I started off trying to make her proud… but then the moany old cow turned it into a competition. I dunno how she did it. Vindictive bitch."

"It doesn't have to be a competition." He said quietly. "You could do your job for you. Not your mum."

"I do do it for me. But she worms her way in. "Anya, couldn't you have done it this way" or "When I worked for the Ministry, I would never have done that." God, I can't stand her."

"She can't be that bad."

"How'd you work that out?" she said disbelievingly.

"Well, she's got you as a daughter."

She laughed mirthlessly. "God almighty, I don't think this is the time for flattery!"

He grinned. "I can't help it if I'm effortlessly charming."

She stared at him, still laughing. "Effortlessly? I can't help think you're making an effort!"

"Excuse me for trying to lighten the atmosphere." He muttered.

"Could you please stop feeling sorry for yourself?" she said, her snappish manner back.

"Oh you can talk!" he snapped back. "You either have a holier- than- thou attitude, or a horrendous inferiority complex going on! Why can't you see that you're great? You could get anywhere, but you refuse to accept it! You're totally wasting your life, all because of some twisted, stupid mother- daughter relationship!"

"You are hardly in a position to criticise someone for wasting their life!"

"What's wrong with you! When you're at work, do you never stop to wonder why people are so eager to do you favours? Why they jump at the chance to help you? Why some people go as far as to bow when they see you?? Hey? I'll tell you, 'cos you're a fucking fantastic person. Everyone wants to help you and everyone thinks you're great! Fuck, I think you're great. Just stop feeling so goddamn sorry for yourself!" Sirius wasn't too sure why he was saying this. It was a combination of things. The unspoken attraction, the frustration of being caught, the anger at his own stupidity, the fury at Lucius Malfoy, and the fact that the one person who could probably get them out of this situation was feeling sorry for herself. It was all bubbling over into this outlet.

A startled silence greeted his speech. Sirius seemed exhausted by it, and sounded like he had just run a marathon. Anya watched him, before speaking, in an unusually quiet voice.

"That was a lovely speech Sirius, really great. Y'know, you could probably make a living outta…-"

"Oh shut up! For fuck's sake, do you ever listen? Why do you find it so hard to accept you're a good person? Do you let your mum get to you that much? That you can't see what's blindingly obvious? You're the most fucking talented woman I've ever met, and I'm not the only one who thinks that! And to top it all off, you're beautiful! Stop being so bloody self pitying!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" she yelled back. "You don't know shit about me!"

"Cut the mysterious crap Anya, it's getting tired!"

"You have no idea what my life is like, ok?" she shouted, tears in her eyes. You don't have a clue what kinda shit I go through, so maybe you should cut the flattery crap!"

"Maybe it's not just flattery. You can't take a fucking compliment, can you?"

"Not when it's from an arrogant prick like you!" she screamed back. There were angry tears streaming down her cheeks, and she was flushed. Sirius tried to shake away the thoughts creeping into his head. He thought she looked gorgeous.

"Oh that's mature!" he snapped. "Insults. Why don't you do your job and get us out of here? Or why don't you enlighten me on the finer points of your god- awful life? "

"I'm not telling you anything!" she yelled. "You are the most stuck- up guy I have ever met! You're so up your own arse, you can't possibly imagine anyone else having a hard time!"

"That's bullshit! I'll probably understand more than anyone else. And me, stuck- up? That's rich, coming from you, you power crazy bitch!"

"At least I'm not an arrogant fucker with the mentality of a caveman!" she yelled.

"Why don't you shut the fuck up?"

"Yeah Sirius, the truth hurts doesn't it?"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?"

"WHY DON'T YOU MAKE ME?"

At this, he grabbed her round the waist furiously, and before she had time to react, he smashed his lips against hers. He shoved her into the cold wall, kissing her forcefully until she parted her lips for him, and his tongue plunged in with hers. All the insults she had at the ready were wiped from her mind, but her anger was still there. She kissed him back, equally aggressively, if not more, as her hands slid up his chest and into his hair, before hooking round his neck tightly. She could feel the icy- coldness of the wall through her top, but ignored it in favour of the warmth of the body pressed against hers.

Suddenly, almost at the same time, they both pulled away, as though they had been burned. Sirius swung around, his back to her, and began cursing to himself. He couldn't fathom what on earth had just happened. One minute they had been shouting, then he had envisioned crushing his lips against hers, then… he was doing it. He couldn't ever remember doing anything like that before, and he couldn't look at her. He had been aware of the attraction, but had pushed it to the back of his mind, hoping it would go away. Evidently, that hadn't worked.

 Anya stood frozen, still against the wall, and raised a hand to her lips. They were still tingling oddly. She had no memory of ever being kissed like that before. It was bizarre. She was fairly certain he had grabbed her, and that he had kissed her. But that didn't explain why she had willingly kissed him back. She took a deep steadying breath, before breaking the silence that was threatening to spiral out of control.

"Well, that's one way to shut me up."