Chapter 21

A good couple of hours of scrubbing and polishing had passed in silence. Not a word had passed either Olivia or Sirius' lips since they had begun work and the only sound be heard was the wind whistling in through the ajar window.

An unspoken sense of awkwardness was present in the room. Sirius and Olivia stood on opposite sides of the room navigating around each other's movements.

Having been distracted by the movements of the trees in the grounds, Olivia noticed that she had been polishing the same trophy for so long that the finish was beginning to wear.

She moved towards the back of the room to start cleaning a new case of trophies but Sirius moved simultaneously. His damp cloth bumped into hers as it touched the glass.

As his finger brushed against hers, this time there was no denying the electricity running between them. He extended his grip to her palm before gliding his finger down her bare arm and winding it around him.

A shiver ran down her spine at his touch. Gently he brought his other hand up to her face and cupped her chin, compelling it to meet his.

She took little convincing and in one swift moment her lips were on his. Softly, he ran a coarse hand through her hair in an attempt to pull her towards him. Wrapping herself tighter around him she let out an inaudible gasp at the back of her throat.

She was trying to wrap her mind around how good at kissing he was – she had been a little too drunk to remember the finer details of their previous encounter. The practical side of her brain put it down to practise; the more romantic side called it instinct.

His lips were toying with hers, his tongue moving rhythmically beneath his. For moments it was hard to tell were Sirius left off and Olivia began. They were immersing themselves further and further into a wild kiss of passions.

And they could have guessed that there were two others in the castle, shirking responsibilities for precisely the same reason.

Lily and James were huddled up in a classroom which they had just emptied of four duelling third years. Lily was resting in James' arms as he kissed her softly down her neck.

"How do you reckon Olivia and Sirius are doing?" asked Lily.

"Do we have to talk about them right now?" James questioned reluctantly.

"I'll make it worth your while," she said waving a note in front of him.

He stared at her, baffled. "What the hell is that?"

"It's a tenner," she told him.

"What like the opera singer?"

She laughed. "No. It's money. Muggle money. Sorry, all my galleons are upstairs. Well, are you interested in a bet, Mr Potter?"

They approached the door to the trophy room expecting to hear shouts and bangs and clatterings however, all was still.

James pressed his ear up against the door. "Nothing," he informed Lily. "They've either killed each other or they're snogging. A tenor, or whatever that thing is, says they're snogging."

"No," Lily disagreed. "She'll have done something to him by now. I'm sure of it."

James began to turn the door handle. "Only one way to find out."

Upon her friends' entrance, Olivia jumped back from Sirius in such haste that she knocked the bucket over. Again.

"Look what you made me do," she said to Sirius, but this time she was laughing. She turned to Lily and James. "Doesn't anybody knock anymore?"

"Sorry Liv," James apologised hastily. "We, um, forgot you were in here."

"Like hell you did," Olivia said disbelievingly.

"Alright," admitted Lily. "We were spying on you. But it's not exactly as though there was nothing to hide was there? Olivia, are you sure you know what you're getting yourself into?"

Olivia regarded Sirius: his tousled dark mane, his endearing eyes, his cheeky grin and she resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't going to be able to continue to resist him. Not when he smelled so good.

She turned back to her friend and nodded.

"Now if we could have some peace," Sirius jerked his head towards the door, indicating James and Lily's swift exit: They closed the door firmly behind them.

"I think you have something of mine, Miss Evans," James said once they were out in the Hallway once more.

Reluctantly, Lily pulled the ten pound note out of her back pocket and clapped it down in James' hand.

"Something wrong, Lil?" James asked off her expression.

"Guess I'm gonna have to get used to not being the hot, new couple around here anymore," she sighed.

"You hated being the hot, new couple," James reminded her. "Besides, you'll always be hot and new in my eyes."

And with that he grabbed her in a kiss which swept her – literally – off her feet and he proceeded to carry her back to Gryffindor tower.