Chapter Twenty-one;

Sirius awoke the next morning to Severus slowly inching away from him and out of his grip as slyly as possible. Sirius kept his breathing even, not wanting Severus to know he was awake. He grinned to himself and pulled Severus closer to his chest, snuggling. He heard Severus groaned and stifled a chuckle, letting out a yawn, "Stop moving, git."

"Then get your paws off me…" Severus hissed.

"Paws? You want paws? I can easily turn into Padfoot," Sirius offered.

"No! Do not turn into that mutt on /my/ bed."

"Our bed."

"My… bed."

"Our bed!"

"My bed, you mutt!"

Sirius rolled his eyes and snuggled more before he felt Severus jerk away and head to the bathroom. Sirius sprawled out on the bed and put his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. "Our bed," he said one final time before closing his eyes.

"MY BED!" Severus boomed.

Sirius groaned, 'How the hell did he hear me?' he thought to himself as he stood up and decided to start the day as he had classes. He looked around the room for some of his clothes and rolled his eyes as they weren't on the floor where he usually laid them. He checked all the drawers and grinned to himself when he found that Severus had given him one draw all to himself. He pulled out some pants and a robe, deciding under his robe he would go shirtless since he was lazy. He got dressed and walked over to the bathroom door gently knocking, "I take it you're feeling better," said with a pause, waiting to see if he would get a response. When Severus said nothing, Sirius shrugged his shoulders and continued. "I'm going to classes. I'll see you afterwards. Tell Sal to stop locking me out."

Sirius left Severus' chambers as he looked down at his muggle watch and found that his first class, one right after breakfast started in 4 minutes. He shrugged his shoulders knowing the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw class would sit patiently and wait for him not making a peep. When he walked into his classroom, he grinned to himself when he was proven right and began teaching. Each class was calm, which he was happy for and this is why he loved Wednesdays', no Gryffindor classes. He loved his Gryffindors, but they were very loud and loved throwing things in his class.

By time dinner rolled around, Sirius was slightly irritated that he hadn't seen Severus all day. Supposedly during lunch Severus was holding a detention and eating in his office. He saw on the head table and glared around for Severus, hoping he'd show up. When he saw a flash of black enter, his grin couldn't have gotten wider. He jumped up from his seat next to Remus and walked over to sit next to Severus, which he had never done before. Severus glared as Sirius plopped down into his chair and began eating cheerfully.

After Albus had said a few words like he does every night before dinner, Sirius nudged Severus from under the table. "What do you want, mutt?" Severus whispered as a reply, taking a sip of his goblet.

"Do you see the stares we're getting from Slytherin and Gryffindor? They probably think I've gone mental to want to sit next to you," Sirius said.

"You've always been a bit mental, that is nothing new, Mutt," Severus said dryly.

"That was rude," Sirius chuckled.

"Yes, well, I never claimed not to be rude, even to those I'm sleeping with… Oh wait; I'm not sleeping with you, am I?" Severus asked in a sarcastic tone.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Actually we slept together last night."

Severus glared, "That's not what I was talking about."

"Oh? Well, you're usually so literal, so I'm just taking what you said and responding in a literal way. I literally slept with you last night. Did you know you snore?" Sirius asked, laughing as their bickering caught Hooch's attention and she began laughing.

"You two are sleeping together?" she asked loud enough for everyone at the head table to hear but no students. All the Professors glanced at Sirius and Severus, and Sirius didn't think Severus could be more embarrassed.

"Why, yes, we are. Aren't we, Snevvy?" Sirius asked Severus, playfully nudging him.

Severus glared, "Shut. Up. Sirius." He hissed in a harsh tone.

Sirius glared back 'Ooh, no you don't. We're becoming official,' Sirius thought to himself, he figured the only ones who knew they were together was Remus and Albus - Albus because the old berk knew everything that was going on at Hogwarts, or at least almost everything. Sirius figured if he was going to get Severus to be comfortable with him they should first go out in the open and say they were dating, he wasn't sure why, but he wanted this, and he was damn well going to get it. "I will not shut up. It's true. We've been dating for three months," Sirius confessed, nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders and eating.

To say everyone was shocked into silence was an understatement. Everyone except Minerva, Albus, and Remus all stopped eating, jaws dropped in shock, and wide-eyed at Severus, who he knew was trying his best to glare a hole into Sirius. Sirius continued eating, finally glancing over at Severus who was hiding behind his hair and he could see through the strands his face was beet red from embarrassment. "Really?" Pomona asked from down the table.

"Yes! Really, why is this so hard to believe?" Sirius asked a bit agitated.

"We just…" Hooch trailed off.

"It's just a surprise…" Filius finished.

"Well, you can all get use too it," Sirius said, "Or don't. I don't care, and I'm sure Severus doesn't care either," Sirius stated as he grabbed Severus' hand which was lying on the table and intertwined their fingers. The Slytherins all widened their eyes in shock and the Gryffindors had a 'He's about to pull a prank' awaiting facial expression.

Everyone just stayed quiet, waiting for Severus' reaction. When nothing came from him Sirius squeezed his hand, "Uh, Sev?" he asked cautiously.

Severus' hand began to tremble slightly which worried Sirius until he felt Severus moving his fingers to wrap around Sirius' hand to hold it. Sirius smiled and everyone actually looked surprise, even Albus, Minerva, and Remus, they all expected Severus to hex him. Sirius wanted to throw them all a smug look, and he was about to but was interrupted by Severus jerking his hand back, "I… can't do this…" he whispered as he stood up and made a hasty flee out of the Great Hall practically running out.

Sirius gave a sigh, stabbing at his veggies on his plate with his fork, ignoring the stares from everyone. He looked up when he felt a palm on his shoulder and saw Albus, his eyes twinkling madly, "You should probably go after him, hm?" he asked, giving a smile. Sirius nodded his head quickly, standing up and following Severus' footsteps.

He morphed into his dog form and began sniffing the ground to find where Severus went, as he could've gone anywhere to find sanctuary. He followed his trail to a bathroom, pushing the door open with his nose and looking around; the dog frowned, if dogs can frown, when he didn't see Severus. He stepped inside and ears twitched when he heard a noise from a stall. He stepped over to the stall and listened, hearing Severus obviously getting sick, the dog began to whimper, scratching at the bottom of the stall and then morphing into a human to try and open it but finding it's locked, "Sev, open up, are you still sick? I can run and get you some Pepperup Po-" he began to say but was interrupted.

"Go away, Black… stay… away from me…" he said in between emptying his stomach.

Sirius frowned and leaned his forehead against the stall door. "Listen, I'm sorry. I should've asked you if you were ready to go out in the open with our relationship. I know I'm walking on eggshells here, okay?" Sirius admitted. He heard silence and then Severus shuffling around and sitting back against the door. Sirius rolled his eyes and pulled his wand out, holding it to the lock. "Alohomora!" he said clearly, listening as the lock popped and he pulled the stall open quickly, Severus falling on his back and glaring up at Sirius.

Sirius gave a faint smile before leaning down to help Severus, who was pale white from being sick up and supporting him to stand. "I'll take you to your chambers, and after you get into bed you can tell me to get the hell out, okay?" he asked, Severus didn't reply as they began walking to his chambers, Sirius just figured he was too sick to argue. They walked to his chambers in silence, Salazar instantly opening when he saw Severus with Sirius.

When they got inside, Severus pulled away and straightened himself out, and then walking over to his liquor cabinet and pulling out a bottle of Firewhiskey for himself. "Shouldn't you be… getting some rest?"

"I don't have a cold, Black," Severus admitted.

"Then… why did you get sick?" Sirius asked, frowning.

Severus didn't answer until after he popped open his firewhiskey bottle and took a gulp, shaking his head slightly at the burning down his throat. "I… get that way sometimes."

"You do?" Sirius asked. "What causes it?"

Severus debated on answering him or not, deciding he wanted Sirius not to yell it out of him he sighed. "Plenty of things. I get that way sometimes after… anything intimate we do, as well as when I just… don't know how to react to things."

"We haven't been intimate, Severus," Sirius said, quirking his eyebrow.

"We've kissed."

"You throw your guts up after we kiss?"

"Yes."

"Like… every time?"

"… Sometimes I don't, but I do get the urge to…"

"So this disgusts you enough to make you-" Sirius began but was cut off.

"No! You misunderstand!" Severus boomed, turning to glare at Sirius.

"Well then explain it to me!" Sirius yelled back, glaring as well.

Severus froze for a moment, dropping his gaze. "I just… I've never done this! Damn it! You expect me to just be used to it!"

Sirius was confused for a moment before it clicked "Wait, so… I was your first kiss?"

Severus' left eye just slightly twitched. "Get out, Black…"

"What? No! I mean… listen, I'm sorry, I'm not making fun of you or anything…" Sirius explained, trying his best not to giggle and be serious, he didn't want to giggle to be mean he actually thought it was a bit cute. "Listen, its fine. We can work on this together, yeah? I mean you know, go slow."

"I don't need to go slow, Black!" Severus yelled.

"Okay, okay, you don't… need to go slow; we can just lighten it up a bit."

"Oh yes, lighten it up, weren't you complaining about not getting enough sex from me just the other night? Now you want to try to lighten up to… whatever is before kissing!" Severus said, taking a seat in his armchair and sighing.

Sirius bit his bottom lip and tried to think of something to say, but when nothing came to mind he morphed into his dog form and trotted over to Severus, resting his head on his knee and whimpering. Severus sat back in his chair and placed his hand on Sirius' head, petting him gently. "I don't need to slow down, Bl- Sirius. I'm… used to it now. I don't… I mean the urge is… almost not there… if that makes sense," Severus explained, sighing heavily, "Listen, must we talk about this? Can we just go to sleep?"

Sirius wagged his tail, jumping into his lap and licking his cheek, Severus glared and pushed the overgrown dog off him and trailed after him as they both headed towards /their/ bedroom to get ready for bed.