"Love and electricity are one in the same, my dear. If you do not feel the jolt in your soul every time a kiss is shared, a whisper is spoken, a touch is felt, then your not really in love at all."

-C.J. Franks

We need to talk. The sentence Sirius had been dreading, yet somehow knew was coming. Ever since her parents had been murdered Dorcas had withdrawn from everyone. Sirius would have been lying to himself if he hadn't expected it.

"Sirius, we need to talk," Dorcas told him, pulling him aside while everyone else began to go through the barrier.

"Okay. Can it wait?" he asked, desperate to prolong the moment.

"No."

"Okay." He took a deep breath and looked at her.

"I think I need some time apart. It's not you, really, it's me. I just...I want to be alone right now, to grieve and remember my family, and it's not fair to you to make you wait." she said slowly, determined not to cry.

"I don't mind waiting," he interjected quickly.

"I don't want you to wait. I want you to move on, okay?"

Sirius couldn't look at her anymore. "What, you want me to date other people and forget that I love you?"

She just shrugged. "Whatever you need to."

He stared at her for a moment, and then walked through the barrier. He didn't want her to see him at the moment, he knew his face was betraying him, and no matter how nonchalant he wanted to appear, her words cut like a knife. He felt like, for the first time, he had something good that was exclusively his, and now she didn't want him.

"Hey Padfoot. What took you....are you okay?" James asked, his grin fading.

"Yeah. Totally fine," he mumbled, stepping into a compartment with James and Remus. Dorcas didn't come in, even when Lily and Mary did, and he wondered where she was and what she was doing. At dinner she sat in her usual spot, in between Shannon and Mary, but she didn't talk to him, and he didn't look at her. He was looking at the other girls in the crowd trying to remember if any of them were pretty.

He did this continuously for a week, trying not to compare them to Dorcas, but in the end he gave up.

"The only way to get over her is to date another girl," James advised one night during Sirius's sulking session.

"I don't want to date another girl," he said moodily, watching her laugh at something Shannon was saying.

"Well you should," Peter piped up. "If nothing else, it could make her jealous."

"I don't want to use someone," Sirius snapped.

"I think Sirius has shown remarkable maturity," Remus commented, also looking over at Dorcas. "And I think Dorcas misses you."

Sirius's head snapped up. "Why do you think that?"

"I agree with Remus," James said. "I know her pretty well. I think she's just worried that she'll get you killed too, she feels pretty guilty over her parent's deaths."

"How? It wasn't even her fault!" he said, causing several people near them to look over at them alarmed.

"Don't yell Sirius," Remus said, casting a glance at Dorcas. She didn't seem to have noticed. "It's just survivors guilt."

"She'll come around, just give her time."

"What did you say again, Pete?" Sirius asked, giving Dorcas one last glance.

"Make her jealous?"

"Yeah. I like that."

"Hey...um...Dor, can I talk to you?" Shannon and Lily intercepted Dorcas on their walk back from Herbology.

"Sure. What's going on?" she asked cheerfully, watching Sirius as he walked several feet ahead of her.

"Well...don't get mad, but...Sirius is seeing someone," Shannon breathed out quickly.

"Why would I be mad?" Dorcas asked, flipping some of her hair behind her shoulders.

"Because....well, you're in love with him," Lily said as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I told him to see other people," Dorcas reminded them reasonably.

"Yeah...well. Okay. If it doesn't bother you, then no problem. We just wanted you to hear it from friends and not actually see it," Shannon said, shrugging.

"Who is she?" Dorcas asked.

"Cathy Miller," Lily replied, and the three all wrinkled their noses in disgust. Cathy was a seventh year Ravenclaw who was generally thought to be beautiful, though the Gryffindor girls all found her shallow and insipid.

"What?!" Dorcas said, feeling a pang of jealousy. "Cathy Miller?"

Her eyes were assaulted by Sirius greeting Cathy with a hug, and then offering to take her books. "No way..."

"That's what I said," Shannon said, also watching. "I thought Sirius had better taste than that."

"He does," Lily reminded them. "Dorcas, you're being stupid. You're going to lose him, and then you'll regret it. Ask for him back."

"No. If he wants to date other girls I am certainly not going to get in the way of that," she said, her pride getting in the way of how bad it felt to see him with another girl. She had thought for sure he would wait for her. Watching him with, tall, skinny, pretty Cathy made her want to scream and cry and hit something, but she was not going to show him that.

"Um...Dorcas..." Shannon murmured. "Are you okay?"

"Fine!" she replied too brightly. "Just fine."

"Dorcas!" Jack Epson was chasing after her, weaving his way in and out of students, one of whom included Sirius Black.

"Hey," she smiled, fingering the strap to her back pack.

"Hogsmead visit is tomorrow, and I noticed you're not with Black anymore. Go with me?" he asked in a rush. She kept walking and staring straight ahead. Behind her she heard someone swear loudly.

"Sure, why not?" she responded with a large smile, causing him to grab her hand and squeeze it once.

"Great. I'll meet you at your portrait. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds great. See you then," she said as she began walking up a stair case.

"What the hell was that?!" Sirius had caught up to her in about two seconds.

"What was what?" she asked, not looking at his face.

"THAT. A date with Epson!" he asked angrily.

"We've been over this Sirius," she snapped. "I thought I'd like to go out with someone, and he asked."

"What about me?"

"What about you? Aren't you the one seeing Cathy?" she asked, stepping through the portrait hole.

He cursed softly to himself. This was not what was supposed to happen. She was supposed to see him with Cathy and tell him she wanted him back, and everything would work out. She was not supposed to start seeing Jack Epson.

"Did you like him the whole time you were with me?" he asked accusingly.

"Yep, you caught me," she spat sarcastically as she rounded on him. "Everytime I was kissing you, I was thinking about him!"

"I hate you!" he yelled impulsively.

"Good. That makes two of us!" she spun on her heel and ran up into the girls dormitory.

"AHHHH!" Sirius yelled, grabbing a book and throwing it against a wall.

"Sirius!" Remus and James grabbed him as tried to run at the wall.

"What are you doing?!" James shouted as they restrained him.

"She's dating JACK!" he roared, sure the whole castle could hear him.

"I told you she would not respond positively to you dating another girl," Remus panted logically.

"AHHH!" Sirius shouted again, and the two drug him out of the common room and towards the kitchens.

"You look great," Mary told Dorcas as she looked in the mirror obsessively. Dorcas was in a knee length tan skirt that was swishy at the bottom. She had knee length flat boots on that came up to her knees, a long sleeved white shirt and a matching tan two buttoned jacket. Her hair was curled meticulously, and her make up made it look like she was barely wearing any at all.

"I think I'm ready to go," she said, finally looking satisfied.

"What I don't understand is why you're even wasting time with Jack when you know don't want to be with him," Lily was very against this whole arrangement. "Just tell Sirius you are in love with him."

"Can you just stop talking Lily? For five minutes?" Dorcas asked as she left the room, taking the steps two at a time. When she got to the bottom she ran into Sirius. He was standing there in a dark black turtle neck and jeans, his hair falling perfectly into his face. His face was dark and unreadable, and Dorcas bit her lip to keep her from gasping.

"Dora," he said softly.

"Sirius," she tried to side step around him, but he was prepared for her.

"You look..." he trailed off, giving her goosebumps.

"I'm late, Sirius," she said, but her voice sounded weak, even to her. This however, seemed to be the magic phrase because he stepped to the side, allowing her to walk past him. Dorcas walked away quickly, afraid her knees would give out if she looked back and she would start begging to have him back. Agreeing to see Jack was a mistake, she could tell that already. She was just going to hurt him, and piss him off, which is not what she wanted.

"Hey," Jack greeted her, taking her hand.

"Hey," she mumbled, removing hers quickly. He didn't seem daunted, and they walked out into the cold January weather.

"You look really nice," he smiled, and she could tell he was happy.

The two chattered about things on and off on the whole way to the village, and Dorcas found herself having fun although she couldn't get the image of Sirius out of her head. He didn't show up anywhere she was in Hogsmead, although she did see him talking quietly to Cathy, who looked angry at him. Jack noticed her looking, but didn't say anything, and neither did she. She was afriad of what would happen if she said something about Sirius to Jack.

Jack walked her back up to the castle, handing her a small purple bag full of Bertie Bot's. "I had fun," he said.

"I did too," she shuffled her feet awkwardly.

"I'd like to do it again, but I don't think you want to," he said softly, putting a finger under her chin and lifting her face up to his. "Before I let you go though, I'd like it if you let me..." and she stood up on tip toes and kissed up. She wanted to feel something, anything like she did with Sirius. Jack wrapped an arm around her, but she was aware of everything going on around her. With Sirius years could pass and she didn't notice, but she was hyper aware of everything going on around her.

When they broke apart she smiled. "You're a great guy, Jack."

He just nodded. "Thanks Dora."

And then she was gone, running as fast as she could, up stairs and through hallways as fast as she could, skidding dangerously when they turned left and right.

"HABBERDASHER!" she shouted at the portrait from twenty feet away, doing a running jump into it. Her eyes locked on him immediately, standing at the edge of the stairs facing her. His face was lit up in a smile, laughing with James who was couple steps behind him. She ran into the room, jumping over a chair and knocking over a second year. He caught sight of her right before she launched herself into his arms, pressing her mouth onto his hard. Sirius grabbed her and lifted her into the air, kissing her back as he pressed her against wall.

"The only thing I still believe in is you," she breathed in between kisses.

He didn't say anything back, just continued kissing her.

"Well good," Lily said, although neither of them heard it.

"How come you don't let me kiss you like that?" James asked, watching curiously.

"Because I have dignity," Lily sniffed, but she kissed James' cheek all the same.

"Bitch," a voice hissed behind Dorcas. She was walking late to the bathrooms pajama pants and a bath robe, in a good mood at having her boyfriend back.

"Excuse me?" Dorcas took around to see Cathy walking behind her.

"I'm sorry, can you not hear? I called you a bitch."

"Yeah, I thought you might have said that. Any particular reason why?" Dorcas paused in the hallway, prepared for a showdown.

"You stole my boyfriend," Cathy walked into Dorcas's personal space, her arms crossed across her chest.

"No, I let you borrow him for a moment. He was never yours," Dorcas said sweetly, taking a step back.

"Whatever. You only wanted him when you saw him with me."

"No, I wanted some space to grieve over something personal and gave Sirius some space as well. It's not my fault he decided he'd rather wait for me than date you."

"You're such a stuck up bitch!" Cathy swore. "You are not worth my time."

Dorcas just stared as Cathy walked past her, angry and confused. Cathy called her out, and then walked away like Dorcas had started it.

"Mental," she swore under her breath and then began her walk back to the bath room.

Twenty minutes later Dorcas walked into the common room to find it nearly deserted. James and Sirius were still up, but seemed ingrossed in different projects. Several third years were up, and a couple other kids were littered about. Dorcas ignored them and pulled the towel out of her hair, shaking it out and running her fingers quickly through.

"Hey pretty lady, why don't you come my way!" Sirius called over from his arm chair. She hesitated at the grin on his face, but the Cathy altercation replayed in her mind, and she walked over, sitting in his lap. Sirius wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Hey there," she grinned.

"Hey to you," he whispered, and began kissing her.

"Get a room!" grumbled James, getting up to leave, but the two didn't seen to notice.