Thanks to those who reviewed! Lift The Wings and Remus4Lyphe, thanks for correcting me about the Washington thing. =))

C, I've been in school all these weeks. Whew! It's been tiring.

36. CAUGHT UP

"My apologies," Jasper said raspily, bowing his head a little.

"That's, uhm... alright," Jolie replied awkwardly. Sirius was staring at Jasper and Alice with an expression on his face as if he's never seen anything or anyone quite like them. It was true, in a sense, anyway. He picked up Justin in his arms and unconsciously cleared his throat.

Three pairs of eyes turned to Sirius. "I'm sorry?" Alice said politely. "I'm Alice."

"Hi," Sirius nodded, his voice a little louder than usual.

Alice smiled at him. "This is Jasper—"

"Alice!" A new voice called out.

Sirius, Jolie, Alice and Jasper all turned their heads in the direction of the voice to see who had come in intruding.

"Carlisle and I have been looking for you."

It was another man, a vampire, and he was gorgeous. He looked around seventeen years of age.

"Edward?" Jolie said. Edward looked at her and frowned.

"I know you..." he muttered to himself.

"Jolie Potter," Jolie introduced herself.

"Edward, this is one of Bella's best friends. She's already told you a lot of stories about Jolie and Jacob right?" Alice said in a cheery tone.

"Only if she can't help it," Edward muttered loud enough for them all to hear. Suddenly, he rushed forward and pulled Alice and Jasper out of the forest.

"We have to go," he said tonelessly, without even looking back at Sirius and Jolie.

They ran out of the woods—it was like watching a movie with the fast forward button on. They were exceptionally fast. Finally, they were completely gone.

Jolie scoffed. "Ugh, vampires," and she rolled her eyes.

"Vampires? Those were vampires?" Sirius frowned.

"Yeah. First time you've seen them? Don't you have them in the wizarding world as well?"

"Yeah, we do... But obviously, we try to avoid them. It's too dangerous."

"Well, in the Cullens' case, it's a bit different."

"What did the female one mean by 'Jasper's our newest vegetarian'?"

Jolie and Sirius started to walk back to the Quileute Reservation. "Well," Jolie explained, "The Cullens are different. They... don't drink human blood."

"That's got to be one in a million," Sirius laughed without amusement.

"Maybe... But, I'm not sure if it's true, though... They say that they don't harm the humans... But it's possible that it's all a lie. I mean, can a vampire really stay away from the scent of human blood?" Jolie shook her head.

"So what do they say they eat instead?"

"Animals. They just feed on animals."

"Where were they going?"

"I don't know, Sirius... I don't really like being in their company. They feel... cold. It's freaky for me. And the only reason why I didn't attack them is because of that treaty thing us wolves have with them."

"And that is?"

"As long as they don't hunt on our land... And they don't harm any humans, we won't reveal their secret. And we won't go killing them," Jolie said bitterly.

Sirius stared at her.

"They're forbidden to go to the Reservation," Jolie explained.

"But that blonde one—"

"—is exactly the reason why I'm not one hundred percent sure that they don't eat humans," Jolie completed the sentence. "Did you see how he was earlier? He was about to eat YOU, Sirius!" She added angrily.

"Don't worry about it. Just don't tell the other wolves, I don't want them to think that something serious happened. It doesn't matter."

"'It doesn't matter'? Of course it does! You could have died, Sirius, you understand that?"

"Yes. But I didn't, so..." he put a hand on Jolie's shoulder.

"But—" Jolie retorted quietly, staring into Sirius' eyes.

"Jo," Sirius chuckled, unblinking as he looked at her, "I'm fine."

They stared at each other for a little more. Justin was speaking gibberish and short words like, 'soil' and 'rock', but both Jolie and Sirius were oblivious to everything but each other.

Sirius stepped forward and kissed her again like he's never kissed her before. He took advantage of everything, and only their faces were touching. They didn't let go the whole time, and when Jolie finally gasped for air, she spoke. "Remus," she said as Sirius continued kissing her.

Sirius pulled away. "What did you call me?"

"I—what?"

"You called me 'Remus'."

"Oh—Sirius, I'm sorry, I—"

"No, no... I get it," Sirius said quietly as he backed away a little.

"Sirius... I'm really sorry... I was distracted," Jolie said in a purring tone.

She didn't understand herself right now. It was like she was a puzzle that had pieces that were wrongly shaped. She loves Remus, but there was always this part of her, from the very first day she met the Marauders, that was attracted to Sirius. She loves Remus, but she doesn't love Sirius—that's for sure... I think, she thought to herself. With Sirius Black it was like... 'the next best thing' for her. Though many would consider him 'the best thing'.

"Sirius! Jolie! Justin!"

They suddenly heard voices echo through the trees.

"I think it's them," Sirius said. "James! Where are you?"

"Where are YOU?" James' voice was heard.

"Jolie!" Jacob sighed, relieved. "We've been looking all over for you. Look, it's getting dark already—we didn't want to start the bonfire without you guys."

"Oh," Jolie said indifferently. "That's so thoughtful."

Out of the blue, Remus and James ran towards them. "Finally!" Remus panted as he held onto Jolie's hand. Jolie grasped it back. "C'mon, we better go. We've left Lily and the others back there at the house—" he stopped in mid-sentence, as if he suddenly realized something.

And unexpectedly, he turned his head to Sirius and frowned at him. But Sirius didn't see Remus' face—he was looking at Jolie.

"Where have you guys been to?" Remus asked in a totally different tone.

"What?" Jolie asked, distracted by some memory she was thinking of. "Oh. Just went out for a walk with Jus... we met the Cullens along the way."

"Were they all vampirey to you guys?" Jacob asked as he rolled his eyes.

"No, no. They were alright. That Edward is... annoying, though," Jolie complained.

"See? See! I've told you a MILLION times how pathetically annoying that blood-sucking leech is and you still—"

"Okay, okay, Jacob," Jolie laughed, stopping him from talking. "Don't hurt yourself. Hey, is Bella there already?"

"Yeah, she didn't want to start the campfire without you people also. Hey, James, Remus, Sirius, you guys go ahead, Jolie and I have some wolf stuff to take care of. It'll just be a minute."

"Okay, sure. We'll just see you there," James waved.

And the three Marauders left.

When all was silent, Jolie asked, "Wolf stuff? What do we have to do?"

"That was just a bluff, Jo," Jacob suddenly sounded serious.

"What do you mean?"

"I meant to get some alone time with you. We need to talk."

"About what?" Jolie asked a little irritated already.

Jacob looked around to see if the Marauders were still around. When he was sure they weren't, he began to talk. "Dad told me something earlier, okay? I'm not mad or anything... Just concerned."

Jolie frowned at him. Ugh, shit, she thought. I'm so freakin' stupid! Why does Sirius have to be so—gah!

"I'm going to ask something, and I want you to tell me the truth, you understand? Just the truth. Don't lie to me, you know it'll be no use. Jo—what have you and Sirius been doing this afternoon?"