Chapter 12 – Jumping to the Wrong Conclusions!

Disclaimer: We do not own anything that is recognisable as J. K. Rowlings!

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"Dammit! Damn, horrible, nasty… yucky dresses!"

Heather walked around the lounge, trying hard to pull up the zip on the back of her dress without ripping the delicate fabric. It wouldn't be good if she had to go out with a huge ladder down her back.

"Oh, buggeration!"

Giving up for the moment, Heather looked in the hall mirror to check whether her hair was still in place. She had let it grow a bit longer than she had in Australia and wasn't sure what she should do with it, so she had just pinned it out of her face. Seeing that it was fine, she began tugging at her dress again, just as Sirius walked through the door.

"Heather? What are you doing?" His eyebrows were raised to the ceiling as he watched her jump up and down to loosen or tighten the zip – anything to make it come unstuck!

"What does it look like? Haven't you see a girl put on a dress before?" she growled.

"Of course I have, just not like that! Here, let me help." He grabbed her arm to still her and, without any effort at all, slid the zip up to the top. "There! Now, wasn't that easy."

"Yeah, right… easy." Heather grumbled, while she adjusted the dress around her figure. She looked up, feeling his eyes on her. "What's wrong?"

Sirius blinked. "Are we playing fancy dress or are you planning something special for you and me tonight?"

"Sorry, Sirius, but I'm going out on a date!" Heather declared.

"A date?" He sounded strangled and cleared his throat. "With who?" he managed, just as the doorbell rang.

He'd obviously forgotten that she'd mentioned it earlier it the week, she thought with an affectionate glance. "Oh! He's early. Can you get that while I find my shoes?" she asked, wriggling her toes at him. He waved her off and turned to the door.

Opening it, he found a handsome man, slightly younger than him, standing behind it. He was wearing a dinner suit and was grinning happily at him. That was all he needed – how could he possibly compete with a younger, more handsome model?

"You must be Sirius," Heather's date said jovially.

"Yes, I am. And who might you be?" Sirius growled and Branson's eyebrows rose slightly.

"Didn't Heather tell you? I'm Professor Branson Leggett – a friend of Dumbledore's and Professor Snape."

Sirius had been willing to let in a friend of Dumbledore's but, as soon as Branson mentioned Snape, his expression blackened. "Oh really…"

"Sirius! Let him in!" Heather called from the kitchen and Sirius reluctantly stepped aside. "I won't be a minute, Bran," she directed at her date and he nodded.

"Branson? That's a funny name…" Sirius had run out of insults and so sunk as low as he could. He even winced when he heard himself inside his head.

"Yes, it's Irish. Like me!" Branson sat on the sofa, moving a couple of cushions. "Sirius is an odd name too…"

"It's a star." Sirius said shortly. "Heather? Are you…?" Sirius stopped short as she walked through the door. She did a little turn and looked at both men expectantly.

"How do I look?"

Sirius mouth went dry and he swallowed hard. What had seemed like a simple, innocent blue dress had turned into sirens' attire. The blue silk clung lovingly to every curve and left almost nothing to the imagination, the wide slit opening high on her thigh showing off her tanned legs and the low neckline sweeping down to reveal…

"You look beautiful, Heather! Just perfect." Branson interrupted Sirius' thoughts as he went over to her for a closer look. Sirius frowned; what was he doing, staring at her like that when she was going on a date with someone else? But still, there was no need for this Branson Leggett to drool all over his Heather like a lovesick puppy! Sirius frowned. His Heather?

Heather stared at Sirius a moment longer, puzzled at the menacing frown on his face. "What do you think, Sirius?"

"What? Oh, it's fine. Just fine. See you later…" Not wanting to see them off in case he was either physically sick, or he grabbed Leggett by his skinny little chicken-neck, he went into his study and closed the door.

Her mouth open slightly, Heather raised confused eyes to Branson, who was grinning happily.

"It's going great! He has all the signs…" he reported, gleefully.

Heather looked doubtful. "You think?"

"I'm as sure as sure can be. Now are we going to the opera, or are we just going to spend all evening staring at that door?"

"I vote opera!" Heather grinned and slid her arm in his.

Hearing the front door slam behind them, Sirius got up from his desk chair to stride angrily around the room, kicking furniture out of his way and muttering under his breath.

"How dare she? How dare she go on a date with him?! She's just asking for trouble…"

He kicked the desk chair over aggressively so it made a satisfying crash on the floor. His brows lowered ominously.

"What in hell are you getting worked up for?" Sirius gritted his teeth. "You don't own her – you don't even like her… most of the time." He stopped in the middle of the floor and pushed his hands hard into his trouser pockets. "Who are you kidding? You like her, you like her a lot."

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Sirius got out of bed and stretched, trying to get rid of the clingy 'just woken up' feeling. Groaning, he remembered the events of last night – him waiting around for her to return with no avail, finally going to bed, but still keeping one ear open, just in case.

He ambled across the room and to the door that led to the bathroom. Opening it, he was greeted to the sight of a half-naked man washing his face at the sink and humming 'Oh, what a beautiful morning'!

Seeing Sirius standing at the door, his mouth slightly agape, Branson smiled nicely.

"I'll be out of your way soon. Though, Heather said that she wanted to come in and have a shower in a minute."

A red haze mingled with confusion in front of Sirius' eyes. His voice was deadly calm. "So, you were proposing to have a shower with my… with Heather in my bathroom?"

Branson let out a short laugh, unaware of how close he was to getting knocked out. "Oh, no…" He turned to the door when he heard footsteps. "Heather, there you are. Explain this all to Sirius. I do believe he's got the wrong end of the stick."

Heather meandered into the bathroom in her habitual nightwear – an old, worn t-shirt – and grinned.

"I don't know whether you look better like this or like you looked last night, when we…" Branson paused, noting the barely-restrained violence in Sirius' eyes with interest. "…went to the Opera."

"Branson, you're just making it worse," Heather intervened, placing a finger on his lips. "Sirius, me and Branson are…"

"Lovers, I know," Sirius hissed through his teeth. "I just have an objection to shenanigans going on under my roof, without my knowledge or my permission."

"Lovers? Me and Bran?! We're not- Wait a minute, I now need your permission to take a lover?" Heather stretched to her full height of five feet two inches and stared Sirius down.

"Yes. In my house, you do."

"Oh, that is so rich! When I first moved in here, you said that I could have as many guests as I like, as many boyfriends as I like here and then, after my first date since I've moved here, you get testy?!"

"Maybe I should just go…" Branson shuffled out of the door, pecking a kiss on Heather's cheek as he went.

"I'll see you later, Bran," she murmured to the retreating man. "And, for your information," Heather redirected her attention to the man in front of her, "Bran and I are just friends. I invited him to stay the night, in the SPARE ROOM, because it was late and, in my opinion, unsafe to apparate the five-hundred-odd miles back to Hogwarts." Heather's blue eyes sparkled like hard crystals as she kept them on him, watching as he paled slightly with remorse and something else… something that looked suspiciously like relief.

"So…" Sirius started, "you're just friends, then."

"Yes, not that it is any concern of yours." Heather swiftly turned around and started out of the door, only to feel Sirius' hand gripping her shoulder. "What is it?"

Sighing, Sirius turned her around to face him. "I'm sorry. I was out of line."

"Damn straight you were."

Sirius removed his hand from her arm, letting her go, and she marched out of the bathroom. Sirius heard the door of her bedroom slam and cursed.

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A quiet knock on the door made Heather grumble into her pillow.

"Heather, are you ok? Can I come in?"

"I'm not in here! Go away."

The door creaked as it opened.

"What did you say?" Sirius asked quietly, his eyes taking in the fact that she was laid on the bed with her face deeply imbedded in the pillow.

Heather spun round until she was lying on her back. "I said I'm not in here. Go away."

Sirius moved forward and sat on the edge of her bed, giving her a watchful look.

"What?!"

"I'm really sorry, Heather. I didn't mean to be unreasonable, it's just that I had just woken up and found a man that I had only met once in my bathroom, using my soap."

There was a long silence and eventually Heather sighed unhappily, her anger dissipating. "I'm sorry, too. I should have really told you about Branson…"

"But you didn't want to wake me?" Sirius supplied with a wry grin.

"Mmm…" Heather sat up and looked at him directly in the eyes. "I am sorry."

"I know."

"So, you don't mind if I have friends staying over?" Heather asked tentatively.

Sirius hid his disappointment successfully. "No, as long as I know about it in advance. I don't mean to be pernickety but…"

"I know," Heather smiled slightly.

"Why, have you got plans?"

"Nah, not really. I'm not really interested in any men at the moment," she lied, biting her lip.

Sirius sighed. "That's surprises me."

"Why?"

"A woman as attractive as you should be surrounded by handsome men," he told her gloomily, before standing up and moving towards the door, totally missing the look of shock that had appeared on Heather's face.

"See you later, ok?" Sirius smiled slightly as he shut the door. "The bathroom is all yours."

Heather stared at the door and allowed her jaw to drop. He thought she was attractive? Maybe Bran had been right about the date…

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Authors' Notes:

Hello!

Wow! There were so many reviews for the last chapter! Thank you very much – it was the best Christmas present I had!

Anyways, sorry that this chapter is quite short! I promise the next one will be longer – I've already written most of it, you'll be glad to know!

Special thanks to:

Kori Lewis, DeadSEXY, Sam, Drachenaugen (I hope your exam went ok!), Hopeful Writer (I hope you and your "Sirius" sort it out! I promise they will be a couple soon), sapphireskies.

I love you all!

Love,

(Martha and) Squirrel.