Disclaimer: I own nothing pertaining to Harry Potter. However, I do hold the rights of Alyson Dumbledore, if you steal her I may have to report you to the authorities. Ok, maybe I'll just whine about it for a while until eventually I get over it. Happy reading!
Dedication: To Alice Paul and all the other women who worked so hard to get the 19th amendment, women's right to vote, passed. So, to all the 18 year old Americans (i don't know if that's anyone reading this), GO VOTE! It's very important and the greatest liberty you have. I wish I could vote for Bush, but I only just turned 17. Friends don't let friends vote Democrat.
Author's Note: I don't put Wormtail in my stories much. I'm sorry if that upsets you, but I don't really think he played a big part in the first few years at Hogwarts. If you really want him in the story just imagine he's there if he's not mentioned.
XxXxX
The next morning Sirius was sitting in common room waiting for James or Remus to come down. He felt he might burst keeping the events of last night to himself. He didn't know what had been running through Aly's mind when she had kissed him and why, of all times, she would kiss him when he was yelling at her. Sirius hadn't seen her yet this morning so he hadn't had any of his questions answered.
James was the first to come stumbling down the steps. He looked totally exhausted. He stopped startled when Sirius stood up to greet him.
He swayed as he said, "Dude?"
"What happened to you?" Sirius asked, concerned.
James shrugged as a girl came flying down the steps in nothing but a sheet.
"Oh," it had just dawned on Sirius what was wrong with James.
Remus appeared in the doorway with a smirk on his face.
"That's what I call entertaining. What happened to him?" he said motioning to James, who was looking around in awe of his surroundings.
"I think he got a memory charmed sent at him," Sirius answered smiling with one of his eyebrows up.
Lily and Aly came down the steps as the boys were talking. James attention turned to Lily. As they two girls walked past the three conversing boys, Aly didn't meet Sirius' eyes and speed up to pass them quickly.
"Wow, you're pretty," James droned at Lily. She looked at him in speculation, her brows contracted in confusion. She opened her mouth to say something, but noticing Aly speed out of the portrait hole, followed her.
XxXxX
Sirius didn't get a chance to talk about Aly with James or Remus. They spent breakfast trying to bring James out of his trance. Not just because he needed to be normal for classes, but because they really wanted him to tell them what he saw.
He didn't get a chance to talk to Aly either. She came into all the classes after him as if to ensure she wouldn't have to sit near him. She wasn't at meals and he didn't see her in the common room until he came down around 1 am to get one of his books so he could find out the countercurse to a charm he had just placed on James, who upstairs laughing his eyes out, unable to stop.
She was sitting alone by the fire, reading a book. Sirius walked over to her and sat down.
"Hey."
She jumped and turned to look at him, "Oh, hi," she said very quietly.
Sirius' throat went dry and he licked his lips and started, "Look, about last night,"
"Oh, yeah, that." Aly waved her hand carelessly in the air. "Sorry about that. It was just a totally maladroit action on my part." She spoke as if she was choosing her words very carefully.
"A what action?" Sirius asked confused by Aly's oversized vocabulary.
"A dumb action, ok," she talked with a very careful patience.
"Dumb?" Sirius gaped at her.
"Yeah, you know. A total, ah -- brain-fart. I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry," she looked up at him and met his eyes for a very brief moment and then turned away before he could see the lies glowing in hers. "I didn't mean to miss lead you." She stood up. "Good-night." With that she turned and ran up the steps as quickly as she could, leaving Sirius in shock.
She stopped in the cool spiral staircase, slid down on to her bottom, and cried.
Back down in the common room, Sirius sat totally dazed. He was sure she had liked him and now he had found out that it was just a "brain-fart". His insides burnt with pain and embarrassment. He didn't move; he just sat there in astonishment.
Around a quarter till two, the portrait hole swung open. A fourth year female walked in and noticing Sirius, came over to him, "Are you alright?" she asked concerned.
He looked at her and then nodded.
"Here," she said beguilingly. He smiled and let her lead him up the boy's steps.
XxXxX
There's an old saying "The wife's always the last to know." Aly wasn't anyone's wife, but the statement held true in this particular case. Something this hot spread quicker than anything Hogwarts had ever seen. The only problem was with the story spreading so fast that everyone had a different version. When it finally reached Aly, she heard such a messed up version that at first she couldn't believe it was true.
She consulted with Lily, who sighed and gave her the actual story, which she had gotten from Remus.
"When did you find out?" Aly asked.
"Breakfast."
"Breakfast!?" Aly exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me? How dumb do you think I felt finding out in the girl's bathroom after dinner?"
"I didn't want to upset you. I know you like him," Lily replied. When Aly opened her mouth to argue, she stopped her, "And whether or not you admit it, you do."
Aly slumped back in her chair. Kaylynn walked into the common room, chatting happily with her friends, seeming totally fine with the gossip circling around her.
"Slut," Aly mumbled under her breath.
Sirius came down from the boy's dormitory and sat down with the other Marauders. As people passed they pointed and whispered. Aly watched him, feeling that she had brought this upon him somehow.
She ignored the thought and he ignored her.
XxXxX
The next day, Aly had a heat of anger burning inside of her. She felt betrayed.
Her day seemed to get worse when after lunch, Andrew approached her.
"Hey, Al," he started.
"Hey, Andrew."
He put his arm up on the door frame and put his face down close to hers.
"What are you doing next weekend?" he asked and smiled.
"Nothing, why?"
"It's a Hogsmeade weekend and I was thinking I could sneak you in."
"Oh, I don't know," she started, "Maybe."
He smiled at her and then kissed her.
"Bye."
She made a face at him as he walked away.
When she reached the charms classroom, she leaned over to Lily and asked, "Do you have a mint?"
"Why?"
"Andrew kissed me and my mouth fells really icky now" she said sticking out her tongue.
Lily laughed and gave her a peppermint.
XxXxX
"Hey, Aly!"
Aly turned and saw Sirius coming towards her. She hadn't talked to him since their talk two days ago.
"Hey," she smiled.
"Are you going out with Andrew?" he asked without preamble.
She looked at him, "Why?"
"I saw the bastard kiss you and I was just curious to what you saw in that prick," he growled.
Aly looked at him, not sure what to say. When she found her tongue, she snapped at him, "What's it to you?"
"Nothing, never mind." He turned and was gone.
Aly watched him go and stared down the hall even after he was out of sight.
"Go after him," Lily said having witnessed the whole thing. "You know you want to."
After deliberating what Lily had said, Aly turned and said to her, "I'll be back later."
XxXxX
Sirius was sitting by the lake when Aly found him. In fact, almost in the same place they had been in three nights ago.
"Hey," she ventured slowly. He turned and with dark look in his eyes turned back towards the lake.
"So, look, about, what happened?"
"Stop," he said shaking his head.
"I'm not yours," Aly stated. "And if you wanted me to be, you sure have a funny way of showing it."
"Really," he said taking a swig from the bottle he was holding. Aly was to upset to even wonder where he had gotten it from in such a short amount of time.
"Yeah, sleeping with fourth years doesn't exactly say 'Hey, I like you.' I'd prefer flower over that any day." She sat down next to him. "What were you thinking?"
"I dunno," he answered shrugging. "Maybe it was a brain-fart. You know, a
mala-whatever action," he added darkly.
They both just sat quietly after his remark. The only sounds were the gentle rustle of the wind, the soft slapping of the water on the shore, and the occasional swish of the liquid of Sirius' bottle.
Aly, trying to break the ice between them, jokingly asked, "So, was she any good?"
Sirius turned and seeing the odd grin on her face replied, "Eh."
"Really? She was bad?"
"Nah, but I was," he said with bitter honesty.
"Your first time, I suppose."
"Nah," he said.
"Really?" Aly said her eyes going wide.
"Okay," he said seeing her face, "It was, but it sounds cooler if it wasn't."
"Alright," Aly said noting to herself that she'd never understand boy's egos.
They sat silently again until curioustiy took over Aly and she asked, "What was it like?"
"Little pervert, aren't you?" he stated taking a swig of his drink. Aly blushed and had a feeling Sirius knew it.
He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and leaned back onto his elbows. "It wasn't what I expected."
Silence fell again and then Aly asked the real question she wanted answered.
"Why did you do it?"
He could only see the back of her head because she was still sitting up and looking at the lake. He tried to decided from her voice whether he wanted to tell her the truth or not and finally resoluted to tell her the latter.
"Because I can," he stated and stood up. "And I'll do it again if I want." He turned towards the castle and before jetting off said, "Later, Aly."
She watched him run off until he was gone and then she turned back towards the water and watched it dance in the moon light.
She felt like a large weight had just settled into her chest and cursed Sirius for putting it there, not knowing that as he climbed the stair towards the Gryffindor tower, that the same feeling had just set in on him.
XxXxX
Another one! Wow I'm on a roll! I hope you liked it. The other one will be up in due time. I've got really big projects to do for US government and Modern American Issues; so, when I'm done with those I'll be able to start working a bit faster on the chapters.
So, until next time: Smile and review a lot. It cost nothing and is beyond any price. It's from a fortune cookie, except the review part, I added that.
