CHAPTER 53 - Much Drama, Most High-School


"Oh Sirius! I was wondering if you could help me with some of my Transfiguration homework tonight? You're so amazing in the class!"

"Sirius, do you think you could give me a few pointers on flying? I'm just so clumsy when it comes to a broom!"

"Oh wow, is that a new shirt, Sirius? It really accentuates your looks, there probably isn't a guy half as handsome as you in the whole school!"

"It never ends," Sarah said with a twitching eye, watching in disbelief as Sirius was bombarded nonstop by a bevy of Hogwarts girls where he sat at the Gryffindor dinner table, all looking to get into his pants and get her out of the picture.

"It's disgusting, more like," Lily was doing enough glaring for the two of them, eyeing the popular boy like one would a flobberworm. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

Sarah really wanted to, but she told herself that she would work on trusting Sirius more ever since the night of the Quidditch match, and this was a very important step. A near impossible, bile-inducing step, but important.

To his credit, Sirius seemed to be handling this much more gracefully than she would have given him credit for a few weeks ago. Had they still been secretive about their relationship, Sarah had no doubt that Sirius would be reveling in all the female attention he was receiving. Now though he was actually rebuffing their affections, albeit with smiles that were a touch too sensual for Sarah's comfort.

Sirius would be Sirius, it seemed.

She'd had her own share of problems as well. Just the other night, Jenelle and Sarah had been walking to dinner when they'd been ambushed by a Ravenclaw. With a sneer on her face she introduced herself as Alessa Carmichael and declared that Sirius was hers.

"Are you certifiably insane?" Jenelle asked incredulously, eying the girl up and down in baffled wonder. "Last time I checked, your name wasn't Sarah."

Carmichael tossed her hair over her shoulder in a move that just had to have been practiced. "Sirius and I dated for four months," she spat like it was an accomplishment worthy of praise. "He and I were just on a break for the summer before you came along and ruined everything!"

"Woah, back up there, crazy person," Sarah held up her hands jokingly, but her eyes were anything but. "Look, you had your chance, and you obviously dropped the quaffle somewhere, so why don't you just back off before I make you?" She ended her sentence with a pointed look as she twirled Thorin between her fingers, an obvious threat in the motion.

"Hah!" white teeth flashed as Carmichael scoffed. "You think a tiny little bint like you is scary?" she hissed out.

Jenelle took a step forward, but Sarah held her back. The Ravenclaw took it as a sign of weakness and continued her attack. "The only reason my Sirius is with the likes of you is probably that he took pity on you!"

Sarah felt a bit insulted but more than anything she just felt tired; this was ridiculous. "So," she said slowly like she was talking to a two-year-old. "Sirius badgered, flirted, and pursued me since the very beginning of the school year, then proceeded to announce our relationship to all and sundry, out of pity?"

The other girl flushed but didn't back down, her voice reaching levels Sarah thought were only found in her Magical Creatures class. "You shut your trap! Just wait, Sirius is going to come to his senses soon enough and drop you like the foreign filth you are!"

"Oh that's it," Jenelle spat out, drawing her wand and shouting "Pilorum Destruam!"

Carmichael shrieked in surprise and pain as her shining, gilded tresses were pulled every which way by Jenelle's jinx, making it look like the girl had just been electrified. "OW! OW! You stupid snake bitch! Impedimenta!"

"You must be stupid," Jenelle said flatly as she allowed the jinx to hit her full on. "A tripping jinx on an unmoving target? How did you even pass fourth-year DADA?"

"Must have been due to her charming vocals, Jen," Sarah smirked viciously, "I bet all the monsters flee when they hear her coming. Probably think a banshee is about to get them with the way this one wails."

"You little whore! Incindio!" Her hair still tugging painfully at her roots, Carmichael raised her wand again and tried to actually burn Sarah, who ducked to the side as the fire spell whizzed over her shoulder. She and Jenelle both grew serious at the violent spell, but things ground to a halt when another voice broke their confrontation.

"My word! Montagnard! Waterbrooke! Stop this at once! Finite Incantum!"

"Professor Flitwick!" Carmichael cried piteously, her eyes tearing up at the sight of her Head of House. "They attacked me for no reason! I didn't do anything!"

"Is that so, Miss Carmichael," a voice of coated frost intoned, and Sarah and Jenelle watched with glee as the little liar balked at the judgemental look from the Charms Professor.

"What? I-of course Professor!" her eyes widened as she wrung her hands, "You're going to believe them over me?"

"I believe what my eyes and ears tell me, Miss Carmichael," he responded sternly, "and I was not five feet away when I saw you cast a fire spell at Miss Waterbrooke that could have caused severe injury! How dare you!"

Ahaha. I love it. Sarah was in heaven as the short man continued to tear Carmichael a new one.

"Detention for the next week and fifty points from Ravenclaw, Miss Carmichael!" he barked out, "and I shall leave it up to you to explain to your housemates just why our House has fallen to last place!"

He turned to Sarah and Jenelle with an apologetic look. "Miss Waterbrooke, Miss Montagnard, if you wouldn't mind, I have a student to escort to Headmaster Dumbledore."

Sarah nodded as innocently as she could. "Sure, no problem, Professor, we'll just be on our way then." Jenelle and Sarah booked it like a vampire running from daylight until they found themselves at the outer courtyard, giggling a mile a minute.

"Isolt and James I love justice," Sarah managed to get out over her tears of hilarity. Next to her, Jenelle wasn't much of a better position, clutching her stomach as she shook with the force of her laughter.

"That twat had it coming," Jenelle responded, and they moved to take a seat on a nearby bench.

Jenelle became much more solemn as she looked to Sarah in concern. "You okay though?" she asked gently, "It might have been a bunch of bull, but those were still some harsh things that girl said."

Sarah went quiet, thinking over what just happened as she focused on the quiet nature around her. She knew that Carmichael was only the start. She'd already gotten a lot of hateful looks at breakfast today when Sirius had kissed her in front of everyone without hesitation.

She parted her lips, the words slow but unhesitating. "It's fine," she smiled, "I can handle it."

Is it though? Can I handle it?


"It's not fine," Sarah later muttered to herself in the Great Hall as yet another girl cozied up to Sirius within her line of fight. Sarah was about ten seconds away from warding off all other girls with an assortment of sharp pointy objects, detention and possibly Azkaban aside.

"Merlin, it's like they came crawling out of the woodwork," Lily gaped in astonishment as a set of twins now moved in from a few seats down. "Black isn't even that good-looking! What is wrong with girls?"

"I'd agree, but apparently I'm one of the crazies too, remember?" Sarah asked sardonically, fingering her dinner knife absently.

"Down girl," Lily plucked the knife out of her hands, ignoring Sarah's small whine.

"Fine, take away my fun." Sarah huffed and crossed her arms.

Lily giggled slightly. "You need to get Black away from all those floozies," She tapped at her chin absently as her eyes drifted upwards in thought. "Where in the world can you go where you two won't be found?"

Ding.

"I predict cookies in your future, oh great and wise one."

Lily snorted, looking amused at the plotting expression that had taken over Sarah's face. "I'll take brownies this time, please."

"Done."


She managed to separate her boyfriend from his horde after dinner, running at a dead sprint with his hand in hers until there was no way that they were being followed. She teasingly instructed him to close his eyes and follow her lead, which brought out the playful side of Sirius. It took a lot longer to make the three passes necessary to summon the Room of Requirement as she had to fend off his wandering hands the entire time, but eventually she led him through the magically created door and into the perfect room.

She had to hand it to the castle; the Room of Requirement knew exactly what to transform into, providing a cozy little setting with a warm, crackling fire and an extra large sofa to lounge on. They'd both kicked off their shoes and socks to get comfortable in the beginning and Sirius had tossed his shirt somewhere about five minutes ago.

She was on her back now, Sirius draped over her and radiating heat as only a young man can do. The feeling of being trapped under him had her breath hitching as he covered every inch of her body but the majority of her was content to get lost in the feeling of his tongue in her mouth, her hands in his hair, and his hips resting in the crook of her legs.

She hesitantly drew up her knees and crossed her ankles behind his thighs, and was rewarded with a gentle thrust of his hips that sent shivers up her back and out of her mouth in the form of a small gasp. With her shirt halfway unbuttoned it was easy for his right hand to start carefully working the clasp of her bra, and for a moment she froze in a fit of nerves. He must have sensed it, for he increased the pressure of his mouth on hers, distracting her mind from what his hand was doing until it started sliding around to her front.

Her breath hesitated. "Sirius..." She wasn't sure what she wanted to say. Everything up until now had felt so good, but she'd never gone this far with anyone and she was terrified of the unknown.

"Shh," he whispered back, his mouth moving down to suckle at her neck. She ran her fingers through ashen waves, anticipation and dread curling in her stomach as his questing fingers slid under the loosened fabric of her bra to brush over uncovered skin.

A shaky exhale passed over swollen lips as he massaged her breast; this wasn't so bad, it was just skin, nothing that special. Then she flinched as his fingers began pinching and tugging gently, nerves once again rose.

"Sirius."

"Shh, it's alright love, just relax," he soothed, his hand retreating briefly only to start working the final three buttons of her school shirt. She let him slide the fabric and the straps of her bra off of her shoulders and then her arms entirely, and he sat up to take her in.

Her top was discarded onto the floor below, leaving her bare from the waist up, and she felt his eyes trail like burning fire up and down her torso. She crossed her arms, her hands coming up to hide her chest from him.

"Don't," he growled out as he grabbed at her wrists, tugging gently, but she pulled back. "What's wrong, Waterlily?"

Her face couldn't get any hotter, she was sure of it. "I...just-," she choked out, refusing to meet his gaze.

How could she give voice to her insecurities? They're too small, they aren't big enough, they're not what he wants. Her mind was whirling with doubt but the words caught in her throat. Pride and something very like fear stopped her from speaking any more, all she could do was examine the crimson fabric of the sofa and hope he understood.

He ripped her hands away to pin her wrists next to her shoulders, leaning in for a harsh kiss that tilted her world on its axis. "You're amazing" he murmured against her lips, "I can barely look away," and it wasn't what she wanted to hear exactly, but it was enough for her to meet his enthusiasm with her own.

He rolled them without warning, causing her to gasp as bare skin met her own sending shivers down to her toes. She threw her all into kissing him, desperate to focus on anything else but her newfound state of undress, but it wasn't long before his lips trailed away again. She braced her trembling hands on the cushion below her as he left a wet path from her mouth down her neck. He paused, lavishing the skin there with a little extra attention, then shifted her body forward with gentle prodding until he was eye level with his goal.

Her chin dropped to her collarbone as an airy gasp tore out of her. Her now shaking arms gave out and she dropped to her elbows instead, but he didn't stop, shifting to attend the other side of her chest and letting his hand take over the place his mouth had just occupied.

"Merlin, love, you taste good," he groaned against her skin, and she couldn't answer with how far gone she was. With her eyes firmly shut, darkness and the sensation of feeling surrounded her, offset by the crackle of the fire, the creak of springs underneath them, and the wet sounds coming from below.

So lost in the moment she was that nothing else registered until she felt his hands caress the slopes of her ribs and hips to cup her rear, pulling her hips down to meet his own. The world snapped back to terrifying clarity when she felt something different, terror overtaking her as she realized just what was rubbing against her.

Her eyes flew open with an accompanying gasp, "Wait!" She threw herself up and scuttled back until she hit the other end of the sofa, her legs drawn up to her chest and her eyes blown wide with fright.

"Wha-? Love, what's wrong?" Sirius looked completely bewildered at her sudden absence, but even then it was impossible to ignore just how sinful he looked. Her gaze quickly scanned from head to toe against her will, taking in tousled hair, ruddy cheeks, heaving chest and…

Oh hell no.

She stammered, not exactly sure how to word her feelings but absolutely needed to get it out no matter what. "I-I," she wet her lips nervously, "I wanna stop!"

He look of shock held for a second before it melted into harsh frustration. He dragged a hand through his hair, looking away and exhaling heavily. She felt a little guilty at the sight of his clenched jaw and the grip he held on the fabric at his thigh but didn't reach out to him as she normally would. This was as far as she could go right now. She just couldn't do anything more.

"Bloody buggering hell!" he cursed in a sudden explosion of anger, and she flinched into the sofa arm. His face smoothed out in regret as he reached out a hand to rub up and down her arm in comfort.

"Hey," he crooned out gently, leaning in to try and wrap her up in his arms. "It's alright. We don't have to do anything you don't want to." She allowed him to come closer, her panic fading as he smoothed his hands up and down her arms. Slowly, slowly, her muscles relaxed, and she took in a deeper breath, exhaling slowly through her nose.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, resting her head against his chest, "I'm, I'm just not ready."

He reached over the edge of the couch to grab her shirt, placing the wrinkled garment around her front and giving her a much-needed feeling of protection. "It's alright," he said again, giving her a waggle of his eyebrows, "Maybe next time, eh?"

She laughed weakly at his attempt to lighten the mood, but as she moved to give him a simple peck she couldn't help but feel troubled. Sirius was much more comfortable with touch than she was. He would never force her to do anything, she knew that with an iron certainty, but still...

The shadows still danced in merry shapes on the walls that surrounded them, but their cheerful excitement dimmed as the shadows seemed to grow. She shivered, and even the heat from Sirius and his embrace could not dispel her growing unease.