Chapter 14

"Morning, lovebirds. This was certainly interesting to see." James woke us up. I caught James and Peter looking at my bum, and I tried to cover my visible pink underwear with a blanket.

"Perverts. James, go look at Lily's knickers." I muttered.

"I might have done that already." He grinned and yet blushed slightly. God, I didn't need to know that.

"Prongs, you didn't tell us, mate. About time." Sirius grinned at his best mate. I swear these two share a single brain. I kissed Sirius and slowly got up.

"Listen, I don't have clean clothes, so I'll go to my room and meet you in the common room later. See you lot later." I left the boys' room, ignoring the wolf whistles and curious looks I received from other boys.

I slowly crept into our room, but little did I know that the girls were already waiting for me. "So, where have you been?" Lily wondered with a smirk plastered on her lips. She knew exactly where I was.

"I fell asleep with Sirius. I was exhausted after last night." I muttered while grabbing new clothes and fresh towels from my trunk. I swiftly entered the bathroom and got in the shower. After a few minutes, I heard Alice call my name.

"What?"

"Did you sleep with him?" Alice questioned me. I could've pictured the smirk on her face. I was in the shower, and she was shouting questions.

"No, I didn't. I had a very special night with him." I hollered back.

"James and I had a special night too. We slept together." Lily shared. Luckily, I finished my shower quickly just to hear more juicy details. I wrapped a towel around myself and furiously opened the bathroom door.

"What do you mean by 'slept together'? Did you two have sex?" I inquired.

"Yes, Viv, they did! Lily's face says it all!" Alice exclaimed happily. I was seriously happy for them; they care about each other very much. Sure, she didn't want to elaborate, but hey, it's her choice.

"We're happy for you, babes. I just hope you used protection." I joked. Knowing her, she probably took a birth control potion before the deed. Lily laughed and shoved me playfully.

"Now it's just Viv…you're the only virgin left here!" Alice teased me playfully as I stuck out my tongue. I quickly got dressed (because it was cold) in the bathroom, brushed my teeth and left with the girls to eat breakfast.

We had our delicious breakfast as usual. However, my morning was a little different than usual. Fletcher just had to come and ruin it.

"Hi Sirius, want to see my collection of trophies?" The tart loves dancing and to annoy me.

"Not interested." He replied coldly, placing his arm around me. I smirked at the bitch. She wasn't getting what she wanted, and I loved that.

"Hmpf!" She sighed angrily and stormed off. I resumed eating my meal.

"What was that all about?" James asked; he sounded confused.

"She wants Sirius's attention, obviously." Remus stated the obvious. Bless Remus for his intuition.

"Why? What for?" Frank wondered.

"Viv? You're quiet. What's wrong?" Sirius asked me.

"Nothing." I said. Okay, so I lied. I wasn't too excited about what happened. This is not the first time she's done it, and it won't be the last. It's pretty obvious that I can't stand her. Generally, I'm not a jealous person, but there's something about her that bothers me.

"Let's go outside, just the two of us." Sirius suggested; more like requested. He noticed something was wrong with me. I'm usually not this quiet.

I went outside with him. I fastened my scarf and held his hand. It was a very cold morning. "You froze up with Miranda came over. You know I'd never do anything to hurt you, right?" He said, looking at me.

I nodded. I knew I could trust him, but I still kept my guard up.

"I just wish Fletcher would stop messing with our minds." I admitted. It was so easy to share my feelings with him.

"She can fuck off, for all I care. Don't pay attention to her. The only woman I care about is the one I'm looking at." He gazed at me intently. Boy, this guy can deliver a message.

"It's alright Sirius, I trust you. She'll stop eventually." I assured him. My gut was telling a different story. Knowing her, she'll stop at nothing until we break up. She's had her eyes fixed on Sirius as soon as we began dating.

"Do you want to get out of here? There's something I want to show you." He earnestly offered. I nodded, wanting to leave the castle.

We went back to the Great Hall to tell the others that we were leaving. Recent news about Voldemort have been worrying us, and we were instructed to be alert of any suspicious acts.

"Pads, if anything goes wrong, you know what to do." James gave Sirius a look. And with that, we left.

We walked outside and stopped in front of the Whomping Willow.

"What are we doing here?" I wondered. What's so special about the tree?

"You'll see." He stated simply as he slowly approached the tree.

"Sirius! Stop!" I yelled. He's crazy! That tree can kill a person. It isn't called a Whomping Willow for nothing.

"Are you mad?!" I shrieked, panicking. I didn't want him dead. I ran up behind him and frantically pulled out my wand.

"Stay back, Viv! Duck!" He ordered as one of the huge branches threatened to hit us. He ran as quickly as he could to the trunk. He poked a large kind of lump on the trunk, something which immobilized the tree.

"You did you - ?"

"I'll explain everything soon. Let's go." He grabbed my hand and led me into a passageway inside the tree. I'm always amazed by the power of magic; I never knew that the Whomping Willow isn't invincible. The passageway was pretty scary, I tell you. It was dark and narrow, covered with spider webs. We went up a few stairs and found ourselves in a room. The door was broken and one of the windows was slightly open.

"Would you mind telling me why we're here?" I began to lose my patience.

"Do you know where we are?" He asked. I shook my head.

"We're in the Shrieking Shack." He finally said. I froze. I wasn't afraid, but I heard blood chilling rumors about this place. One of them was that witches were raped and murdered here. Another one was that Voldemort and his followers meet here.

"And we're here because…?" I asked, waiting for him to continue.

"Whenever it's a full moon, Remus, Peter, James and I come here and deal with the transformation. We try to protect him from hurting himself. It's absolutely heartbreaking to see it every time; seeing one of your best mates suffer like that. Dumbledore knows and was the one to offer Remus a place to escape during full moon."

"Dumbledore is an amazing person. So are you, for helping a friend in distress." I hugged him from his mid-section and pulled him closer to me. He smiled at me and kissed my lips softly.

"You're not such a badass anymore, are you?" He teased me. I stuck my tongue at him.

"Only when I have to be." I defended myself.

"On a serious note, if you would've been nicer in the past, you could've dated any guy you want." He said. I backed off from him.

"So now I'm just settling with you. Is that what you're saying?" It was my turn to tease.

"You're going to pay for that!" He exclaimed playfully before tickling me.

"S-stop it!" I managed to utter while laughing and trying to push his hands away. Finally he stopped.

"I know this might be a bit early to say, but I can see a future with you." He said, pulling me closer. This caught me by surprise; I never thought he would say something like this.

"How can you be so sure? We haven't been dating for a long time. What if you don't like certain things about me?" The questions I asked are definitely things he should consider.

"I wanted to share my feelings and I do feel a special connection with you, especially after last night. I never thought about a relationship until I got to know you better. And regarding not liking things about you, well, we'll deal with it." He opened up to me.

I let some air escape from my slightly parted lips, creating 'smoke'. I inspected every feature of his face: the growing beard, his thin lips, his smoky gray eyes.

"You're mesmerizing." I blurted accidently. He chuckled.

"You would've never said that to me a year ago." He stated. I laughed with him. Then we shared an amazing snog. He insinuated it by saying that it's a 'great way to get warm'. Who am I to disagree?

"Let's go back." He suggested right on time; I was about to freeze, despite being in a building. We went back to that scary staircase and the dark passageway, which led us battling with the Whomping Willow. We got away from the vicious tree as quickly as we could and ran back to the castle.

As we entered the castle, we ran so Filch wouldn't catch us and ask about our whereabouts. We were laughing like two mad people, at nothing really. We stopped at our portrait door and looked at each other, as we tried to catch our breath. Sirius pulled me close to him and kissed me passionately until we heard someone clear their throat.

"Well? What's the password?" The bitter man in the portrait demanded sourly.

"Chopped tentacles." I clearly answered as the portrait door swung open. We saw Peter and Frank playing chess.

"Where are Prongs and Moony, Wormy?" Sirius asked the pudgy boy.

"James is with Lily, and Remus is with Rebecca." Peter answered without looking up from the match. "Oh, Patricia looked for you, Padfoot." He 'naively' managed to add. Patricia was a member of Fletcher's posse.

"Cheers, mate." What would Patricia want from him?

"Well, I think I should finish the other assignments due this week." I almost forgot about them.

"How about we sit together and work on them?" Sirius offered. I chuckled and shook my head slightly. Not long ago, I wouldn't have given a rat's arse about papers or homework to submit. He tried to figure out why I was laughing.

"We certainly have changed, haven't we?" I asked.

"Yes, for the better. Get your things and meet me here in 10 minutes." He said before going up to his room.

I closed the door behind me after entering the room. There are three shelves on the wall parallel to my bed. On the middle shelf are my textbooks and notebooks. I grabbed one of the notebooks and three textbooks for my remaining essays. I took the notebook to write my drafts, which I will later on write on parchments. I carried them down to the common room where he was waiting for me.

"You're fast." I smiled at him.

He smiled back and said "Let's find a cozy spot and begin." We sat at the table not far from the fire and opened our books. As we discussed Binns' assignment, my mind drifted away, thinking about our possible future together.

I had absolutely nothing to worry about.

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