A/N: Here's your weekly dose! A quick reminder – reviews can earn more chapters in a week! Ten reviews equals one bonus chapter. My Unknowns story, where I debuted this method, just had a record of 21 bonus chapters earned last week! Keep that in mind. ;)

-C

"Big day for you, darling," Sirius teased as his pawn moved forward two spaces. "Tomorrow, I mean."

Sanna rolled onto her side and glared at him. Tomorrow was the first Hogsmeade trip of the year, the much-discussed maybe-date with Gideon.

"So," he teased, "what are you wearing?"

Sanna looked down at her outfit and said, "My school things. Skirt, button-down. Socks. Not my favorite socks, but they're comfortable enough."

He chucked, brushed a bit of hair off her face and said, "You know I meant what you're wearing tomorrow, bug. Or is it a surprise? Tell me you're wearing something naughty. I want to tease him."

She narrowed her eyes, wondering how much Remus had told him about her knickers, as that was all she owned that might even be slightly construed as naughty.

"I don't want to know about you boys teasing each other," she joked, and he laughed, the only one she could make that joke to without them freaking out for the insinuation. "Wait a minute, he's the one you were talking about last year, isn't he?"

"Dunno what you're taking about," he said quickly, too quickly, and she took advantage of his discomfort to move her queen a bit closer. He moved his knight, as she'd hoped, and left his bishop out of her path.

"Yes, you do," she pressed. "Checkmate," she said once her queen was in place, and he groaned, rolling over onto his back and frowning up at the ceiling. She grabbed the basket of sweets he kept under his bed and curled up next to him, resting her head on his chest. He caressed her hair absently as she unwrapped a chocolate bar and broke him off a piece. She fed it to him before breaking off a piece for herself.

"No," he countered, and it took her a moment to recall what he was arguing. "I've no idea."

"Lies," she said, leaning against his torso but sitting up and looking down at him. She fed him another piece of chocolate and he sat up slightly so his mouth met her fingers. "You told me last year that someone other than Remus was wanking to the thought of me."

"How's James been at Quidditch?" he said, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "I know he's been reasonable as Head Boy, but he's always been a bit of a beast when it comes to Quidditch."

She flicked his nose and he grinned, opening his mouth to wait for the next bit of chocolate she was going to feed him. Sanna rolled her eyes, broke off another piece, and was about to place it between his lips, but he shocked her by wrapping his lips around her fingers to the second knuckle, well past what was necessary to get the chocolate, and he licked her fingers while she let go of the chocolate in his mouth.

"Gross," she groaned as he gave her an amused look and let her fingers free. "Sirius, that's disgusting. How am I supposed to eat any now?"

"If you're going to be so difficult," he said with a laugh, and he sat up slightly, snatching the bar from her hand, breaking off a piece, and holding it up to her lips. She kept them stubbornly closed for a moment, but he brushed to smooth chocolate across them and she began to open her mouth. He pulled it back from her mouth and she found herself leaning to follow it. He let her have it and broke off another piece, sitting up properly now, their torso's right next to each other, their faces surprisingly close.

She expected him to eat the new piece but instead he held it to her lips again. Sanna gave him a questioning look, but he just teased her lip with the chocolate until she leaned in, quickly this time, before he could move it away again. She did as he'd done, taking more of his finger into her mouth than necessary, and he didn't pull them out right away. His body jerked forward, but he stopped himself, breathing heavily, looking her in the eye.

She was about to ask him again when he did pull his fingers away, but he shook his head.

"Don't ask me these things, bug," he said earnestly. "Don't make me lie to you. You know I hate it."

She did know, and she wondered if she should ask him – as she had never before done – about the rumors surrounding their friendship. She wondered if she ought to ask him whether there was maybe something other than friendship going on, something other than the way she was with Anissa, the way he was with James. He was her best friend….?

Before she could come up with words to ask him something – anything, even things she shouldn't – the door to the dormitory opened and they both started, looking up at the entrant like deer caught in headlamps.

"Oh, hi Sirius," Peter said sheepishly. "James said you'd be here, Sanna. We've got our study session."

"Right," she said, giving Sirius an apologetic smile. "Rematch next week?"

"Yeah, bug, go on," he said, smiling and kissing her cheek. "Don't keep her out late, Pete. She's got a date tomorrow."

Peter blinked, puzzled, and Sanna flicked Sirius's nose again before she stood, brushing herself off. He barked with laughter, but Sanna ignored him as she grabbed her bag and followed Peter out. They made it to the corridor before Sanna said, "Peter, I have two very important questions for you, and I need you to answer them, even if you have to lie."

"Alright," Peter said, obviously nervous about the wording of the demand.

"First, when I asked you about people liking me last year, is the person you weren't able to talk about Gideon?"

"No," Peter said, too quickly and too high, obviously lying. She glanced at him and saw his cheeks had turned bright pink. She sighed.

Confirmation.

"Second question," she said, as though accepting his answer. "D'you think Sirius has a thing for me and has just never said?"

Peter tilted his head thoughtfully as they walked, obviously taking the question very seriously, which she appreciated.

"I don't think so," he said as they reached the library. "I mean, he's definitely never said anything, but he wouldn't, would he? I mean, Remus has always been a bit…mad about you, and it would be a violation of the code to go for you. But you two have always puzzled me."

"How d'you mean?" she asked, holding the door for him and following him in to their usual spot.

They unpacked their things and he whispered, "Well, I know you're best friends. But you each have other best friends, too. And James and Sirius might be close, but they aren't always touching and cuddling. They never share food. They don't really even hug, much less the kisses on the cheek. They aren't apart very much, but when they were, they didn't write each other half as many letters as you two do.

"I dunno, maybe it's a thing about James being a boy and you being a girl, but it's just a hard thing to understand. I don't have anything else to compare it to."

Sanna frowned, selecting a quill, and said, "I don't know what you mean. Boys are friends with girls."

"Well, yeah, but…." He shrugged.

"Lily and Remus are close friends."

"They are," he said with a nod. "But they don't do any of those things. I wouldn't worry about it too much, though. Sirius always says you're his best friend, and you always say he's your best friend, so does it matter what other people think?"

She supposed he was right, and they opened their textbooks to the chapter on Muggle religious customs.

"Dunno why she's not letting us cover Druids," Peter said with a frown. "It's the only one that makes any sense."

"There's lots of Anglicans about," Sanna said, rubbing her lip thoughtfully. "Like…that church by James's place, that's an Anglican church. Dunno much about it other than that, but we do know Anglicans exist. I mean, they obviously exist, they're in the book, but…."

She groaned, pressed the heels of her hands into her temples, and Peter gave her an apologetic, nervous smile. Sanna was glad she'd agreed to stay partners with Peter this year instead of giving in and partnering with Sirius. He knew a lot, but she and Peter managed to do quite well together, and he never had that horrible superiority that came from reading car magazines, listening to Muggle rock bands, and looking at Muggle pornography.

"Why don't we pick something…small and simple?" she said, rubbing her eyes. "Something that has enough for a report, but not so much we could write a bloody book on it?"

"What about this one?" he said, pointing at Manicheism. "Nobody really practices it anymore, so we can focus on historical practice, and extrapolate what it would look like today."

She almost asked him where he'd heard the word extrapolate, but she assumed it was from Remus and she decided she'd focus on the work at hand. She agreed to study Manicheism with him, and they started combing the shelves for more information on ancient Muggle religions. There wasn't much, so they agreed to check the Hogsmeade bookshop, mail-order bookshops, and perhaps even ask some professors for ideas. Sanna decided she'd leave Hogsmeade to Peter, knowing he wouldn't be bold enough to do the other two things.

They went over the information they did have that night, then went back to the Tower with a to-do list split for the pair of them. Sanna went straight to her dormitory, tossed her books and notes beside her bed, and rubbed her eyes.

"Have you picked out what you're wearing tomorrow?" Anissa said happily, sitting on her bed with a face mask on, watching Sanna with a smirk.

"No," Sanna admitted. "And before you chide me or pick out something glamorous, I want to keep it simple. I still don't really know what Gideon's expecting or intending for this date. Classy and simple."

"But pretty," Anissa said. "I told you, he really likes you."

Sanna rolled her eyes. Anissa could tell her all she liked, but it wouldn't change anything. She still wouldn't really know what Gideon was going for. She went to her closet and picked out a simple, black A-line dress with a Peter Pan collar.

"Oh, Sanna, no," Anissa whined. "Not black. Wear the pretty green dress."

"No, it's got lace," Sanna said, setting the dress aside and hanging it on the wall. "If it makes you feel better, I'll wear lipstick."

"Really?" Anissa said, perking up.

"Yeah, beige," Sanna said, knowing Anissa would want her to wear pink.

She ignored Anissa's whining, both that night and the following morning as they skipped breakfast and got ready together. Anissa borrowed a black-and-white pattered trapeze dress from Sanna, and the two girls combed and straightened their hair. Sanna helped Anissa with her false lashes, and smoothed white powder over her lids. A touch of black across the crease, black liner, and a dash of blusher and pink lipstick, and Sanna focused on her own face.

"I'm thinking of just drawing on the lowers," Anissa said, frowning. "I mean, I have some lowers I could cut up, but I do hate them."

"Fabian's not going to care either way," Sanna said, not bothering with more than the lipstick and a tad of blusher. She hated wearing false lashes, so she didn't bother. She didn't like the way the shadow and the liner didn't stay where she put them, so unless she had to, she didn't bother. It drove Anissa and Marlene mad, but at least Lily was practical about these things.

"I do wish you'd do something other than beige, darling," Anissa sighed. "Ah, well. Stubborn as, you are. Best be heading down or they'll start to worry we aren't going."

They did go down, and while Fabian looked completely at ease when he met Anissa in the entry, Gideon was pacing the Great Hall anxiously. Sanna nodded for Anissa to leave and told the couple to have fun. They left the castle and she crossed to the Hall, watching Gideon turn at the High Table and come back around. He looked up and smiled at her, pausing for a long moment to just look at her and smile.

"Hey," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You look…lovely. Won't you be…cold?"

"No, I won't notice a jot," she said, shrugging. "Ready to go?"

They walked to the village and talked about Quidditch. They arrived and went straight for the sweets, and Sanna enjoyed herself immensely as Gideon told her silly childhood stories about Fabian terrorizing their sister. She told him a few stories about her own sisters, but she steered clear of stories about the boys, just in case he would get tetchy about mentions of Remus or Sirius, or even James.

They spent the afternoon in the Three Broomsticks, eating, drinking, talking. He moved closer to her after he'd had a shot of firewhiskey, and when they walked back, he walked very close to her. They paused outside the castle and he paced for a moment, down several strides, then back to her, closer than he'd been before. She held her breath, and she tried to separate the blues and greens in his eyes to make a pattern of them.

"I've had a really great time, Sanna," he said eagerly. "I…I'd wanted to ask for a long time. I just…wasn't sure you'd say yes."

She wasn't sure if she should shrug or nod or say something, so she just crossed her arms a bit across her chest, and he must have thought she was cold. He took off his jacket quickly, and was already putting it about her shoulders, although he held on to it, stepping a bit closer to her, his lips slightly parted as he looked at her face.

"Could we maybe…do this again sometime?" He swallowed, and Sanna realized he was terribly nervous. The pacing, the way he kept pausing in the middle of sentences all day, it wasn't like him at all. She smiled a little and nodded.

"Yeah, I'd like that," she said happily. "It's been a very nice day."

He sighed softly, a smile blooming at the corners of his lips. He leaned his head closer, his eyes still locked with hers. Sanna could just taste the firewhiskey on his breath, and she was surprised when instead of feeling his lips touch hers, he pressed them gently to her cheek. They were warm and soft and gentle, not with the plucky confidence of the kisses Sirius placed on her cheek the evening before. Somehow this was sweet, tentative, not at all the way she was used to thinking of Gideon. She pulled back slightly and he was still gazing at her with wide eyes, happy.

"I don't want it to end," he said, "but I suppose we've both got work to do." He bit down on his lip lightly and her hair was blown up gently by the breeze. He smiled when this happened, and she laughed, smoothing it down.

"Anissa will be so annoyed," Sanna said, rolling her eyes. "She gets in such a tizzy when my hair gets mussed. And she's already in a foul mood on account of my makeup."

"Why?" he said, his eyes darting across her face as though trying to figure what was amiss with Sanna's makeup. "You look lovely."

"Thank you," she said, feeling her cheeks go hot. "It's my lipstick. She hates the beige, always wants me to wear pink."

"Oh," he said, frowning in confusion as he considered her lips again, then looked up at her eyes. "I suppose I don't know much about it, but I think the beige suits you. Seems a silly thing to worry about to me, but I guess we've all got things that matter to us. Anissa does like make-up, doesn't she?"

"Oh, yeah, she's stuck in the past," Sanna said with a laugh. "I mean, when Chloe was in school. She used to do Anissa's makeup when she was home, so Anissa's always been a bit obsessed with mod. Wants to look like Twiggy, except not so thin. It suits her. I just don't do it, too."

"Fair enough," he said breathlessly, and he smiled, moving a bit closer to her, still holding his jacket around her. "I really don't want to go inside," he sighed, smiling sadly.

Sanna's eyes traced the freckles on his face and an idea occurred to her.

"Tell you what," she said softly, "we both get our work done tonight, I'll walk the lake with you tomorrow before breakfast."

"Really?" he said, grinning. "Yeah, let's do that. I'll…yeah."

They stood there for a few moments longer before Sanna took the initiative and led him back up to the castle, inside, up the many stairs to the Tower, into the Tower. She passed him back his jacket, went up to her dormitory to grab her books, and came back down. Sirius slipped next to her and followed her out of the common room.

"How did it go?" he said happily. "I saw you were wearing his jacket in."

"He thought I was cold," she said with a shrug. "You boys always think we're cold."

"Did he kiss you?" Sirius asked, jabbing her lightly in the ribs with his elbow.

"On the cheek," she said, thinking of the tenderness in that small act.

"Aww," Sirius teased, and he kissed her cheek with a childish smacking sound. "Like that, bug?"

"Not at all like that, you gross boy," she said with a laugh. "Thanks for not licking my cheek, at the least."

"What, like this?" he said, and he laughed as she shrank away, but he managed to lick her cheek anyway. It would have been funny, if a bit gross, if not for a group of giggling fourth years who happened to see him do it.

Sanna sighed, rolled her eyes, and Sirius just shrugged, leading her to their usual study spot. He owed her Transfiguration help after that one.

A/N: So, the maybe-date went well, Sanna has agreed to a walk with Gideon, and Sirius is a silly, canine-like boy.

Review Prompt: How long until Sanna decides it was actually a date, d'you reckon?

Q&A: Ask me anything!

Cheers!

C