Six, seven, eight, nine. Minnie counted out the remaining students at Hogwarts at breakfast of the first day of the school holidays. Sirius loped through the door and swung himself neatly on to the bench next to Minnie at the Hufflepuff table.

'Can you believe it?' Sirius exclaimed. 'Not one other Gryffindor has remained at Hogwarts this Christmas! It's just me! The first thing I'm doing this morning is levitating my bed down into the common room and plonking it next to the fireplace for the next two weeks.'

'Ah, lucky you! I have two 4th year girls in my house and they've never been taught the difference between indoor and outdoor voices.' Minnie grimaced. 'They'll be gossiping, doing each other's hair, having pillow fights in their knickers…'

Sirius laughed and then hesitated for a fraction before saying, 'come join me in Gryffindor, you're more than welcome to show me your own nude pillow fighting prowess's.' He said it with a playful smirk but Minnie noticed a hint of genuine interest in those sharp eyes.

'Only if you show me yours first.' Minnie countered

'You'll show me yours if I show you mine. Sounds fair.' Sirius agreed.

Minnie laughed and then accidentally snorted making herself laugh harder. Sirius laughed at Minnie in hysterics and unintentionally knocked a glass of pumpkin juice onto her bacon and scrambled eggs which caused Minnie to fall sideways onto the bench and laugh so much that she began to silently squeak.

When Minnie entered Gryffindor common room later that day she found Sirius was true to his word and had brought his bed down from the dormitory and sat it square in front of the fireplace. He had also left great scrapes down the stair walls, 'turns out, trying to get an angular bed frame down a spiral staircase isn't the easiest thing in the world.'

Minnie spent every evening in the lead up to Christmas in Gryffindor common room with Sirius. She had gradually loosened up around him, as his quirks and flaws revealed him to be entirely human after all. His easy banter and cheeky nature kept her giggling most days, and she didn't know how she thought him to be so arrogant in the first place.

Christmas eve is one of the most enchanting days of the year, don't you think? Like it has a magic of its own that has nothing to do with wizarding magic, although there are some rather obscure branches of magic and maybe this day is one of them. All we know is on this night, Minnie decided that she would let Sirius all the way in. She would let him lead her like a sailor to a siren - without resistance or fear, and even though she knew it would be the end of her, she felt calm.

She didn't know quite why Christmas eve was the date chosen to give up her virginity and not last week, or next month, or any other date at all. Perhaps this particular date of the year had exercised its pull over her. Perhaps she had just slowly overcome her shyness and intimidation around Sirius. Perhaps she just craved relief from the fire inside her and she succumbed the way we all do eventually.

Sirius was never pushy with her, but I don't think I need to tell you that. While he liked to push the boundaries a little when in proximity with her body (forbidden fruits were Sirius' favourite form of nourishment) he'd respected her reluctance - admired her even and so he had little knowledge of her body under her school robes. Instead for the last few weeks, Sirius would work out his frustrations on the rare occasion he had any privacy in his dormitory.

If any students (or teachers for that matter) had entered Gryffindor common room around 7.30 that night they'd have found Minnie on Sirius' bed, completely disrobed and exposed, displaying her small rounded breasts and hips - her body smooth and young and the littlest bit plump in the most pleasant of ways. Sirius, however had remained fully attired in his usual casual wear – a white t-shirt and fitted black jeans, preferring to hold all the cards in their little power play.

If anyone had entered at 7.45 (and there really was no way to lock the portrait hole from the inside – but Sirius liked the risk), they'd have witnessed Sirius writing his name on the inside of Minnie's thigh. His hands holding her legs parted while the nib of his quill scratched at the sensitive skin. He had taken his time with this sweet torture, lazily dipping his quill in the ink pot between each letter and ensuring his penmanship was perfection.

Minnie squirmed as the intertwined pain and pleasure became overbearing, but unyielding hands kept her still. She was sure he must know how much she craved the relief that only he could provide, preferring to make her wait for it.

7.50pm saw Sirius admire his work, then swiftly pull his shirt forward over his head. He maintained eye contact with her as he unhurriedly unbuttoned his jeans, his posture relaxed and slightly cocky and while he no longer held her body still, she was powerless to move. For the first time this evening, she felt nervous, so she focussed on the breadth of his shoulders, watched the rolling motion of his muscles as he unclothed and the way his hair fell into his eyes. In one swift motion he dragged her by the hips towards him.

At 8pm Sirius was murmuring in Minnie's ear, nibbling at her earlobe, calming her – preparing her. He eased himself in, slowly but surely and Minnie scrunched her pink cheeked face into his shoulder as he took the last little bit of innocence she had left in the world.

Minnie woke slowly, feeling herself rise up through the layers of consciousness as her brain took stock of last night's events. She felt a little bruised and tender on the inside and fingertips on her mouth revealed slightly swollen lips from where Sirius had been a little rough.

Sirius, beside her, was out to the world. With his limbs askew and his expression relaxed, he looked vulnerable – just like she'd seen him in the library that evening, a lifetime ago.

He stirred at that second – as if he instinctively knew when he was being watched. They held gazes and she blushed at how intimately he now knows her – more so than any other human being besides herself. He raised his body and kissed her with a grin.

'Merry…Christmas…' She murmured between those all-encompassing kisses.

'Oh yeah!' Sirius bent over the base of the bed and began lobbing presents back to her. 'Looks like the house-elves weren't too concerned about us being down here.'

Minnie blushed at the idea of a couple of innocent little house-elves witnessing them in a state of undress and Sirius, catching sight of her face, laughed.

'Why don't you take a shower and get dressed. We can open the presents later.' He was grinning from ear to ear and looked like he was holding back a private joke.

In the girls' shower, Minnie spent a few minutes feeling wonderfully cheerful. The previous night went as well as she could have hoped and she wondered if she was any different now. Would she walk or talk differently? Would people be able to tell?

I feel the same, Minnie thought as she absentmindedly rubbed at the ink on the inside of her thigh. The ink, however, remained stubbornly attached to her skin – it wasn't even running. Rubbing harder just irritated her skin. Minnie took to it with soap, refusing to listen to the words floating into her head. He wouldn't write on me with everlasting ink. Would he?

Turning off the water and drying herself quickly, she threw on some clothes, Minnie suspected she would need full use of her wand hand this morning. With her hair wet and unruly, she ran back down the spiral staircase and into the common room.

'Sirius…' Minnie said, a low growl to her voice but Sirius was already out of his seat, hopping over the back of the couch, putting space between them. 'You did not write on me in everlasting ink, because if you did-' Minnie pulled her wand out and in a single stroke had the couch slide violently to the side of the room.

'Let me explain, Min. It's not everlasting ink, it's called bonding ink-' Sirius looked panicked. He didn't have his wand on him – it was lying uselessly on the floor by the fireplace.

'And what is bonding ink?' Minnie asked through gritted teeth.

'It's a semi-permanent ink. It lasts as long as we do. And by that I mean, we as a couple.'

Minnie heaved a sigh and sank onto a nearby armchair. 'Why didn't you just ask?'

Sirius twitched a lop-sided shrug. 'It… would have ruined the moment?'

Minnie ran her fingers through her wet hair. 'I'll have to get Madam Pomfrey to remove it.' Although she really didn't want to have that conversation with the prim and strict hospital matron.

'Or you could just leave it. Nobody will see.'

Minnie looked at Sirius and chewed on the inside of her cheek. 'At least you have decent handwriting. At least you didn't scrawl your name on me.'

The following six months passed like a fantasy of Minnie's own creation. Surely she must have stepped into someone else's charmed world? It was like someone had taken an iron to the fabric of her life and smoothed out the wrinkles.

In January, Minnie and Sirius had midnight snacks in the kitchen, willing away the cold with hot cocoa. They squeezed snowball fights out of February. March saw Sirius inherit from his uncle Alphard. April finally brought hints of Spring. May was all too quickly followed by June. June delivered a long awaited letter.

Minnie,

I really hope you're doing well. There is so much to tell you, but I won't do it in writing. I'll meet you at King's Cross at the end of term. It's finally safe for you to come home.

Love, Charlie and Cecilia.

Minnie was exuberant. She was going home, she was going to spend time with her family again. Minnie showed Anna the letter and her friend was pleased for her.

'I was kind of worried for you for a bit there. I'd actually asked mum if you could spend the summer holidays with my crazy muggle family – I'm sure you thought your last summer was exciting, but this one would have been something else.'

Minnie expected a similar response from Sirius, but instead he remained quiet, his brows knitted as he read and re-read Charlie's letter. When he finally handed it back to her, he said, 'ask him why he thinks it's safe now.'

'What? What do you mean?'

Sirius hesitated, not wanting to ruin her good spirits. 'The Death Eaters are still out there, still looking for blood traitors. It's not any safer now than it was a year ago.'

Sirius looked at her, sorrowfully, knowingly.

'Be careful, Min.'