Merlin, this is awkward. I mean he's sitting right there. What the hell am I supposed to do? Am I just supposed to ignore what happened the other day in the corridor and carry on like normal? Am I supposed to confront him about it? He did kiss me, not the other way around, so really this is all his fault and has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it takes two to snog (which I am quite sure is what we were doing by the end of it). Or maybe I should be looking to find prime real estate in the Netherlands, or something? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea…

"Miss White?" I heard Professor Slughorn ask.

I snapped out of my thoughts and tried valiantly to focus on him instead of Sirius' very large presence (which was still right there. Doesn't he understand how uncomfortable he makes me now? Why doesn't he just go somewhere else? Why does he have to sit right next to me? Oh yeah, that's right – because stupid Slughorn made us Potions partners this year. So really, this is all Slughorn's fault in the end). "Yes?"

"What is the key ingredient in this potion?"

What potion? Since when are we learning about potions? Most of the class was looking back at me. All those pairs of eyes were making me nervous. Why do people have to stare? "Um… is it… powdered brains of the Common Newt?" I ventured.

"Well done, Miss White! Five points to Gryffindor!"

Well. That wasn't so bad. Five points seemed a little generous, but really, who cared about that?

Yeah, so I was trying to take my mind off a certain person (who was still stubbornly there) – and I was failing brilliantly. Not even powdered brains of the Common Newt could take my mind off that kiss… or his hair… or his eyes… or really him in general…

"Hey Moony…"

"What do you want Sirius?" Moony looked up from the book he was reading and gave me a long-suffering look. The full moon was still a week and a half away, but already he'd started to act a bit moody.

"Do you think Millie likes me?"

I think he stared at me for at least a full minute. Then he put his book down and leaned towards me intently. "What did you do?" he asked slowly and clearly, as if he was speaking to an especially slow three year old pig. Or Snivellus.

I was affronted. "Why does everyone automatically assume that I've done something? Isn't there the slightest chance that someone else has completely stuffed things up?"

"What did you stuff up, then?"

"I didn't stuff up anything! What makes you say that?" Did I say that a little too fast? Did I sound a little panicked? Because really, I'm not worried about Millie and me or anything! Merlin's beard, she isn't even really my girlfriend! So what if I think she's hot… and her hair smells really nice (like really nice)… and that when she smiles, my heart skips a beat… or when she laughs, I get this uncontrollable urge to stare at her like an adoring puppy? I mean, I feel that way about most girls I meet… sort of… sometimes… when it rains in the Sahara desert… in an alternate universe…

"What did she say?"

"Nothing! She didn't say anything! Is that a good thing? Should I be worried? Should she have said something? Should I have said something?"

He gave me another stare. "Get some sleep Padfoot."

"Yeah… I think I'll go do that."

I walked into our dormitory and tripped over all the junk on the floor to flop onto my bed (someone really needs to clean our room – seriously. I think there's a new species of mould growing under Wormtail's dirty laundry pile).

Staring up at the canopy of my bed, I sighed.

Jeez.

And things were going so well! I think Millie was really starting to like me… or at least tolerate my presence for longer periods of time. Until…

Until my brother came into the picture.

And I got all moody about it.

And Millie yelled at me for that.

And then I kissed her.

And she kissed me back (yeah, that's right. The great Sirius Black, Hogwarts' resident lady killer's still got it).

And we snogged in an abandoned fifth floor corridor.

And I liked it.

A lot.

As in, I can't stop thinking about it, a lot (her lips were just so soft and her hair… Merlin her hair was just as silky smooth as it looked).

And now she's ignoring me, or worse, avoiding me.

So really, this is all my brother's fault.

Stupid brother.

"Hey buddy! What's up?" Prongs asked, bounding into the room like Christmas was just around the corner… which technically, it was, but still, no need to be so happy about it.

"The sky."

"Moony said you're having troubles with a certain pretty brunette."

"We're fine."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing! I honestly didn't do anything!" Did I?

"Then what's the problem?"

I sighed. I should just tell him. Tell him everything. Tell him how I coerced Millie to pretend to be my girlfriend, even though she can't stand the sight of me, to get revenge on Marissa and how, even though she wanted to stop the whole operation, I wouldn't let her because I'd gotten used to having her around and quite honestly, couldn't imagine what I would do with myself without having to prove to her all the time that I wasn't as big an idiot as she thought I was.

I should tell him that I didn't want to break up with her at all for the foreseeable future, because I liked the smell of her hair and holding her hand in the corridors and sitting a little too close than was strictly allowed in Potions (I don't think she actually noticed I did that – like today, I could feel how she was all tense and… disengaged in class – yeah, that's how close I sit next to her; and no, that isn't creepy. At all).

I should tell him that I wanted her to be with me as well and want to kiss me again as badly as I wanted to kiss her… (I sound like such a stereotypical teenage girl! Is this really how they think all the time? Because, quite frankly, it's exhausting)

I should tell him.

But I didn't.

Instead, I said, "It's complicated."

I could feel his eyes regarding me from the foot of my bed.

"Maybe she's PMSing?" he suggested.

"Hmm, maybe."

"Or maybe her cat died."

"She doesn't have a cat. She has an owl."

"Well, maybe her owl died then!"

"Her owl's fine."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

We lapsed into silence.

"So… what are you going to do?" he asked eventually.

"I don't know."

But I think I might have an idea…

"Prongs, do you know if Millie likes dogs?"