I woke up to the sensation of someone poking me squarely on the nose.

My body resisted; the bed was toasty warm and I was in the middle of a lovely dream about flying off to Paris on my broomstick, baking in the summer sunshine. I wasn't ready to wake up yet; it was the deepest I'd slept in weeks.

At first, my eyes stubbornly drifted in and out of focus, urging me to bury my face deeper into my pillow and go back to sleep. My pillow that was much too warm and…covered in hair?

I was suddenly wide awake, eyes flying open to realize that I wasn't in my bed after all; I had fallen asleep squarely on Sirius's chest.

Sirius, who had woken up before me for the first time since the first time was presumably trapped under the dead weight of my body, was watching me with an amused expression on his face as he extended his index finger toward me again, making contact with my nose in the same fashion he'd woken me up in.

"Oh, good," he sighed, faking immense relief. "When I woke up and you were still here I thought you might have died in your sleep or something."

"I didn't do it on purpose," I stifled a yawn while I spoke, sitting up and running a hand through my tangled hair, shivering now that I was no longer soaking in his body heat. He looked positively giddy.

"You look ridiculous when you're asleep," he teased, sitting up straight and using the headboard as back support, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Your nose twitches around." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You're an abomination," I snapped, but I picked up a corner of the blanket and slid under it, tucking it under my legs like the wall of a cocoon. "I'm trying to compromise for you."

My mind drifted back to the night before, and all the things he'd told me. (Well, most of the things. The serious mood may have made me feel sobered up, but the headache dancing between my temples right now was telling me otherwise.)

"I don't think oversleeping is the same as compromising," he pointed out, but the bemused look on his face told me he was glad I was there. "If you really wanted to take a step in the right direction you wouldn't have passed out last night."

"I always fall asleep after we have sex," I defended myself, letting my eyes shut again as I lay my head on his shoulder.

"After?!"he laughed, a loud bark of a noise. "After, Marlene?"

The full memory hit me all at once and I winced, squeezing my eyes shut tighter as if that would change the past. I remembered his emotional rambling fine and well, and I remembered rolling on top of him, kissing a slow line down his chest and then…

Oh. It was the exact same spot I'd woken up in. My face went red.

"No, no, don't worry about it," he continued on, waving his hand around and smirking. "An awkward conversation was a perfect birthday gift, all on its own."

"You're the one that basically told me you're falling for me, so I don't think I should be the one who's on trial here," I said with an eye roll and a smile.

I had meant to be teasing him back, but he didn't laugh.

"You know...I just might be," he said after a minute of thought, raising an eyebrow as he looked down at me, gauging for a reaction.

"Gross," was all I could think to say back, and then the laugh from his side of the bed finally came, contagious and too-loud. "It's not my fault I'm so irresistible."

"You drooled on my chest last night," Sirius said with a snort, pushing his shoulder into mine. "I think I'm capable of resisting you after that."

"You're powerless against my charms," I scoffed, sitting up and crawling over to the far edge of the bed, dramatically snapping my bra strap and letting it fall to the side, pouting my lips into a ridiculously over-the-top seductive pose.

"You look like you're about to sneeze, Marlene," said Sirius with a smirk, but his eyes never tore away from my bare shoulder.

"Fine, have it your way, Mr. Self Control," I sighed, sliding off the bed and making contact with the chilled wood floor. I crossed the room to the open bathroom door, stopping in the doorway to toss him a playful wink. "I can use your shower, right?"

"You're playing with fire," he warned, instinctively pulling back the covers and swinging his legs over the side of the bed to follow me.

"What happened to your ace resistance?" I feigned shock, clapping a hand to my chest as I watched him drawing closer, taking exaggerated steps across the little room. "Stay back, think of the drool!"

I barely had time to react before he ran toward me, picking me up and carrying me over the threshold into the tiled bathroom without missing a beat. I shrieked and messed up his hair in revenge; he somehow managed to tickle me until tears rolled out of the corners of my eyes while turning the shower on.

I wrapped my legs around his waist to brace myself against the spray of warm water that was cascading into my eyes and making my wavy hair fall straight and flat down my back. His lips met mine as he slid the shower curtain closed in one swift motion.

Sirius pushed me against the tiles of the shower stall, the cold wall causing goosebumps to spring up all down my thighs and arms. He began slowly sliding his hands up my torso as he helped me touch down into a standing position, blowing a raspberry into my cheek and splashing water into my eyes. I shrieked again, trying unsuccessfully to slap the stream of water in his direction.

"You're such a child," he laughed, shaking his hair in all directions like a shaggy dog after a bath. When he kissed me again, I could feel the smile still on his face.

Eventually, the silly air faded into heat, and his lips moved against mine with increasing urgency. My heart pounded against my rib cage and I ran my hands through his wet hair, bringing his face even closer to mine. He pushed his hips against mine in a steady pattern and I let out a content noise as his hands found the back clip of my bra, fumbling less than usual before he let it fall to the shower floor with a dull flop.

Eyes closed, I smiled in spite of myself as his lips took their usual path: the tip of my nose and the freckles dancing across it, my earlobe in the spot that made me squirm, the base of neck in the place that instinctively made me wrap my arms around him and pull him in as close as I could.

"Should we?" I asked into his ear, giving it a playful bite.

"You did promise me an additional birthday gift, Miss McKinnon," he replied in a low voice, putting his hands over mine and placing them on his hips. I found the waistband of his boxers, snapping it against his skin before I pushed them down.

He kissed me harder now, starting at my shoulders and then running his nails down my arms, giving my hands a playful squeeze before resting his familiar, calloused hands on my hips.

"Okay, you win," he growled softly, running his teeth over my lower lip between kisses. "You are irresistible." He slid his thumbs under the waistband of my underwear, breathing hard as he guided them to the tiled floor with the rest of our clothes.

A small sound escaped me as I felt him push his hips against mine again.

And that was when we heard the unmistakable sounds of James Potter entering the dormitory.

"Oy, Padfoot!" James shouted, letting the door to the bedroom fly open and clatter against the back wall. "You up yet?"

"I'm in the shower," Sirius shouted back through the open bathroom door after a moment of hesitation. He had to clap a hand over my mouth to keep me from laughing out loud and we froze in place, pinned up against the shower wall with our faces close together, sharing eye contact that was half apprehensive and half hysterical laughter waiting to happen.

"What do we do?" I hissed at him, looking with panic at my shower-soaked undergarments on the floor; even if they were dry I wouldn't be able to walk around in them.

"He'll leave," Sirius tried to assure me in a whisper, but bedsprings indicated that James had flopped onto his bed as he continued to shout.

"What was with you cutting out early last night?" James demanded jokingly. "We tried to find you 'round five but you were already in bed when we got back."

"Uh," Sirius stuttered, looking to me for help; I had dissolved into silent giggles, utterly useless. "I was just...tired I suppose."

"I know that tone!" James fired back with surprising speed and accuracy. When he spoke again, his voice was closer; he had to have been standing in the doorway to the bathroom now. Boys have no boundaries, honestly. "You had a girl here last night didn't you? Finally round things off with Lucy?"

"Lucy?" Sirius asked, sounding genuinely confused. I gave him a pointed look and saw the realization dawn on him after a moment. "Oh, no, we uh...broke up. She got tiring fast."

"What are you doing?" I mouthed at him angrily, but he just smirked back. Prat.

"I think I might try my luck with Marlene again," he added gleefully, speaking louder than necessary just to put me through the ringer.

"You don't have any luck when it comes to Marlene, mate." James laughed, and I heard the sounds of him crossing the bathroom floor and turning on the sink faucet.

"Never know," Sirius replied, winking at me and pressing his mouth lightly against my cheek, lips cold from the water still splashing down around us. "She's a firecracker."

"Fair point," James agreed, shutting the sink off and grabbing the only towel from the rack and wiping his hands with it (great, so much for that escape plan). "She's a right bitch when she wants to be, but that body-"

"Oh my god, do not finish that sentence!" I shouted out before I could stop myself, and Sirius erupted into raucous laughter so powerful that he had to double over and fall against the opposite wall of the shower stall in order to hold himself up.

"Marlene?" James yelped, his voice going up an octave in surprise. "We have to stop meeting like this." He was trying hard to sound apologetic, but I could hear the sarcastic laughter laced through his tone.

"Get out!" I whined, fighting back a smile of my own as I watched Sirius try and fail to compose himself. "And leave that towel."

"I'm going, I'm going," he sighed teasingly. "A little warning would be appreciated in the future."

Mercifully, I heard the sound of his footsteps exiting the bathroom and creaking onto the wood of the bedroom.

"Have you seen Marlene?" Another voice came floating into earshot, and I stopped laughing immediately. Lily. "I can't find her anywhere."

"Actually, I have a story I think you'll find quite illuminating, Lils." James replied haughtily, speaking entirely louder than necessary. "Come take a walk with me, we probably shouldn't be here right now."

In the distance, the dormitory door swung shut and the only sound left was Sirius's continued bark-like laughs echoing off the tiles of the empty bathroom.