Chapter 4 – Confessions and Ice Cream Don't Mix

Disclaimer: We do not own anything that belongs to J. K. Rowling (unfortunately!) or we would be loaded. (And we're not!)

~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~

A rhythmic tap on the door made Heather open blearily eyes and grumble into the soft pillows that she had been sleeping on.

"Go away." she mumbled, slightly muffled by the pillows. She rolled herself back under the flowery eiderdown just in time for the second bout of knocking.

"Go away!" she repeated a little louder but the knocker didn't desist.

Muttering darkly about privacy in Bed and Breakfasts, she reluctantly got out of the bed and, winding the blanket around her for decency, she opened the door a crack.

"What do you want?" She peered warily through the space and her eyes widened as they saw the lithe form of Sirius Black leaning against the doorjamb. "Do you know what the time is?!" she screeched.

"It's eight o'clock a.m.," he said shortly and, moving her aside, he entered her room, flicking a dubious glance over the lace- and flower-covered furnishings.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing? You can't just invite yourself into someone's room!"

A lazy smile spread over his face and Heather's heart did an ecstatic skip. "I just did."

For the first time, she noticed the tray of breakfast he was holding in one hand and glared at him suspiciously. "What have you done with my landlady?"

"Tied her up and locked her in the pantry," he reported matter-of-factly and put the tray down on the table in the corner, carelessly picking up an ornament of a porcelain lady. "Aren't you going to eat your breakfast?" he asked as he turned the figurine around in his hands.

Heather grunted and moving towards him, she caught sight of herself in the mirror. Her hair was stuck up all over her head and she still had sleep-marks on her face from where her skin had creased in the night. She probably still had morning breath too.

She anxiously tried to smooth her hair down on her head before he could really notice it and the frantic movements caught his attention. Watching her out of the corner of his eye, he fought to hide a smirk.

He coughed and turned back to face her so that she would think he hadn't seen.

Swiftly returning her hands to her sides, Heather grabbed a piece of dry toast from the tray and nibbled on it. She wouldn't let him being here stop her from eating.

"Tea?" He offered to pour her a cup but she shook her head.

"What are you doing here, Sirius?" she asked mistrustfully.

"I've come to take you to the Quidditch match this morning," he said, as if it had all been planned, which it probably had – by him!

"Says who?"

"Says me. And if you don't get a move on, we're gonna miss it." He glanced at his watch. "So, go on. Get dressed. Unless you want to go wearing that duvet." He shrugged and his eyes sparkled roguishly. "I'm not complaining!"

Heather gasped. "Sirius! Get out of here! Go on." She pushed at him ineffectually, trying to get him out of the door.

"So, this is what English hospitality has come to," he sighed, mock-morosely. "Alright, I'll wait outside."

"You will not! And, if you hadn't noticed, we're in Australia!"

"Whatever. Be ready in 10 minutes," he called as he sauntered through the door. "And, if you're late, I'm coming back in, without knocking!" He closed the door softly behind him.

"Ooh! That man!" Heather almost stamped her foot. But, despite her anger, she began to get dressed.

She was just putting the finishing touches on her makeup when the door swung open dramatically and Sirius entered. His eyes moved around the room until they rested on where she stood, glaring at him with what could only be recognised as pure annoyance.

"Damn! I was hoping that you would only be half-dressed!" he frowned.

"Sirius..." she said warningly. "Are we going or not?"

"Your carriage awaits..." He bowed and opened the door for her.

"Which, in English, means that we're walking." Heather sighed and slid her feet into a pair of flat mules.

"Oh, ye of little faith." Sirius muttered before following her out of the door and shutting it carefully behind him.

~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~

"You know we could make a habit out of this..." Sirius mused as he and Heather walked out of the Quidditch match.

"What? Waking me up at disgusting hours just so we can watch sports that I don't even like?" Heather grumbled.

"You don't like Quidditch? But you always seemed so eager to come and watch Remus, James and I play..."

Heather raised one eyebrow, wondering how he could be so stupid.

Sirius sighed as he got her point. "You only came because I..."

"Let's not talk about this now." Heather pinkened slightly and Sirius grinned.

"Why? Are you embarrassed?" he teased.

Heather puffed out her chest proudly, attracting Sirius attention. "Embarrassed? Me? Never!"

"Sure..." he drawled and she frowned.

"I'm not embarrassed about the fact that I had a mega-crush on you; that I followed you about everywhere; that I wondered what would happen if I swooned when you were around; that..."

Sirius snorted. "You wondered what I'd do if you fainted?" he laughed.

"Swooned, not fainted. I wouldn't have actually passed out; only pretended to."

Sirius' lips twitched. "Ok, then. Just pretended to faint. What did you think I'd do?"

"I hoped you would catch me like a gentleman. Of course, you probably would have laughed as I fell onto the floor."

"I would have caught you!" Sirius fought hard not to laugh as he could tell she was being deadly serious.

Heather raised her eyebrow sceptically and caught Sirius' lips twitching with mirth. She frowned. "You're laughing at me! Stop it! This is exactly the reason I didn't want to tell you..."

Sirius was immediately contrite. "I'm sorry."

"S'ok." Heather wrinkled her nose. "Well, it was just one of the silly thoughts I had at the time."

"Just one of them?" Sirius urged.

"I'm not telling you about the others!"

"Come on! You know you want to tell me that you wanted my body! I used to catch you staring!"

Heather blushed again. "Oh... shut up!"

Sirius grinned triumphantly. "I knew it!"

Heather pursed her lips together in what she hoped looked annoyed but she couldn't help laughing. "Oh, that's it! I'm going!" she threatened. "Do you want an ice cream?" she said, eyeing the cart that was sat nearby.

"I'll get them," he offered but she shook her head.

"My treat. Now, you just stay there," she ordered and he nodded, watching her as she walked over to the cart and stood in the queue to wait.

"Sirius Black?"

Sirius turned around when he heard his name being called. He groaned when he saw a young man heading his way. If it were another one of those well-wishers, he'd hit something.

"Yes?" he said with a long-suffering sigh. "Who wants me?" He raised one eyebrow in inquiry and the man grinned a little sheepishly.

"You don't know me, but I'm Mark Anwyl." The man held out his hand and Sirius shook it reluctantly. "This is Murray Lyle." He thumbed his hand towards the older man who was stood slightly behind him, giving him disapproving looks.

"Mark, I'm sure she doesn't want us to do this..." he protested and Sirius' interest was peaked.

"Who doesn't want you to do what?" He smiled charmingly and Mark grinned back.

"Well, you see, we think that there's this girl who's hopelessly, madly in love with you and we..." Mark looked at Murray, who frowned. "...I mean, I would like to help you meet her. We work with her, you see and she's been having these dreams..."

"Mark..." Murray growled warningly in his rusty voice.

"Well, she has!" he complained.

"And, this girl..." Sirius interrupted the two men. "You're convinced she loves me just because she's had these dreams..."

"Yes! And she said that you two were..." Mark turned to the other man. "What did she say again, mate? Ah, yes... she said 'Sirius and I... It was a long time ago' and that's all she said and will say." Mark put on a silly female voice as he quoted Heather and Sirius snorted.

"So, I know this girl, do I?" Sirius was sceptical.

"Yes. Well, she says so." Mark wasn't so sure of his territory now as he looked at the man who stood in front of him.

"What's her name?"

"Uh..." Mark looked doubtfully at Murray, who shook his head.

"I'm having no part in this, Mark. You're on your own. Heather would scalp me if she even knew I was here, let alone letting you do this."

"Heather, eh?" Sirius said and Murray groaned. "Heather what?"

"Heather Harris." Mark confessed and Sirius' eyes gleamed with the newfound knowledge. "So you know her then?"

"Heather? I know her very well... We used to go to school together. In fact, she's just over there." Sirius smiled slowly as the two men jumped behind the nearest bush.

Mark breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god. I was hoping you were the Sirius she kept talking about."

"I thought you said that she only told you that."

"She talks in her sleep." Mark admitted. "Sometimes, she falls asleep at work – it's slow you see and she hasn't had much sleep since... Well, she hasn't had much sleep. And she sort of murmurs your name sometimes..."

"Does she say anything else?" Sirius asked, hanging onto every word.

"Err... not really. She wakes up before she says much else."

"Really?"

"Yep." Mark nodded. "Ain't that right, Murray?" He turned back to the older man, but he had his head in his hands.

Sirius turned to the man. "It's alright, you haven't done anything wrong..."

"Haven't I?" he asked ambiguously and Sirius frowned.

"No," he ascertained. "No, you haven't."

Murray just shrugged and turned to Mark. "We'd better get back before Heather catches us and before you tell him anything else!"

Mark grinned sheepishly again. "See you around, mate. Hey, maybe I could let you in at the Ministry one day so you could meet her!"

"She works at the Ministry?"

"Yeah!" Mark looked pleased that he had something else to tell. "She works with us, in Experimental Charms!"

"Come on, Mark..." Murray started moving away and Mark, after shrugging apologetically at Sirius, followed him, leaving Sirius grinning.

So, she's been dreaming about me, then...

"Here you go." Heather had returned and she handed him an ice cream with a chocolate flake sticking out of the side.

Sirius looked at her consideringly as she licked her own ice cream.

"What?" She asked as she noticed his expression. "Do I have ice cream on my nose?" She began to wipe her nose with her hand.

"No. You don't have any ice cream on your nose," he said slowly and she looked up at him confused.

"Good!" She said finally. "Because that would have been embarrassing!"

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "So, you think having ice cream on your nose is embarrassing, but hoping I would catch you if you swooned isn't?" he asked incredulously and Heather blushed.

"Let's change the subject," she said squeakily and he laughed again.

"Would it help if I said that I find you very attractive?" he drawled charmingly.

"You do? I mean... it could do." Heather glowed with the compliment.

"No, actually I don't. I was just asking..."

"Sirius!" she squealed and taking a handful of ice cream, threw it at him. They ended up with ice cream all over both of them.

Sirius scowled over a particularly big blob that sat on the end of his nose. "You're going to pay for that," he threatened and Heather's face twisted worriedly.

She backed away, her hands up but she couldn't escape the large ice cream cone that landed flat on top of her head.

"Hey! A cheaper alternative to a wizard hat!" Sirius said, pleased. "I think I've made a breakthrough!"

Heather growled and he removed the cone, smoothing down her hair. "There. All better," he placated.

"Sirius..." she said warningly.

He thought she looked adorable; her hair flattened with ice cream and her face wrinkled with anger. He gave her a quick kiss on her astonished lips and grabbed her hand.

"Come on. We'd better get cleaned up."

~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~

Authors' Notes:

Hiya!

A BIG thank you to everyone who reviewed. Martha and I have just started university and so have been very busy during the past week. We checked our e-mails and reviews yesterday (5/10) and were shocked and ecstatic to find that we had 6 new reviews! It was fantastic! We love you! J

Special thanks to Hopeful writer, Mrs Moony, Drachenaugen, Sapphireskies, and Veelastar.