A/N: I would like to thank all of my lovely reviewers SOOOO much! I can't tell you how much it means to me to log in and find that so many people enjoyed my newest chapter. Now that it's summer, I am making an effort to update sooner, because so many people seem so eager to find out what happens next. It's such a pleasure to see how many readers follow my stories, because I do this for you guys. I love to write, and I love the way my stories are turning out, but I do it for you. So I'd like to dedicate this chapter to everyone who reads this, and especially to those of you who have taken the time to review. Seriously, it makes my day.

BITTERSWEET

Chapter 11: Discussions

September 1976

"Can you believe the load of homework the professor assigned us?" Lily asked Hermione as they walked back to the Gryffindor tower after an Ancient Runes lesson.

"I know!" replied Hermione. "I mean, I would expect it later in the year as we approach our seventh year, and this is a crucial time as we're just beginning to specialize in a certain subject, but still! It's the first class of the year."

"Maybe she's just trying to scare us, and show us what our workload will be like as we near exams," said Lily.

"Could be," said Hermione thoughtfully. She shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to work on getting all of the other assignments out of the way when we get to the common room. That way we can concentrate on this over the weekend."

"Let's do that," Lily agreed. By this time they had reached the portrait blocking the entrance to the tower, so Lily spoke the password and waited for the fat lady to swing out, then crawled in.

Hermione entered right after her, and stopped still at the scene she walked into. Lily had frozen right in the middle of the room and was shooting a murderous look at James, who was reclining in an armchair by the fire. Sirius and Remus were engaged in a game of wizard chess, with Peter cheering them both on in turn.

At the sight of the two girls, however, everyone stopped what they were doing. James stood and awkwardly mussed his hair before a slow smile spread on his face as he looked at Lily. "Hey, Evans, looking good today," he said.

"Am I to take that to mean I look terrible on other days?" she replied frostily.

"No!" he yelled, then quieted down, his cheeks reddening. "You always look fine, er, well, it's just that today you look wonderful," he finished triumphantly.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Save it, Potter," she snapped. "I'm not interested." She strode over to the stairway and headed up the stairs to the dorm, leaving Hermione alone in the common room with the Marauders.

"So," Sirius drawled, with a glance over to James. "You're looking especially fine today, Hermione."

She laughed. "Deja vu. I seem to remember hearing those words less than a minute ago, although not from your mouth. Trying to see if you'll have better luck than James?"

"To put it crudely, yes," said Sirius. He smirked at her. "Is it having a better effect than James got?" he asked.

"Well, I'm not running up the stairs at the moment," said Hermione.

A four-way look between the Marauders was exchanged with much eyebrow raising and some low whistling. Peter and Remus were watching the 'show' eagerly, and even James was getting over his disappointment from Lily's reaction enough to enjoy seeing his best mate try to win the heart of the only girl who had ever been able to resist him.

Sirius' grin warmed up a few notches when he saw that Hermione might stay long enough for him to do a little flirting this time.

"If you aren't planning on going upstairs, how about having a seat over here with us?" he suggested.

Hermione looked around. The only chairs besides the ones already occupied were all the way on the other side of the common room, and she didn't think he meant those. "Where am I supposed to sit?" she asked.

Sirius plastered an innocent look on his face that didn't fool anyone. "I don't know... you could come sit on my lap or something since there isn't really anything else available."

Remus' face turned bright red with his continual effort to keep from laughing. Hermione looked helplessly around the room, and seeing that she didn't really have much choice, went over and perched precariously on the arm of Sirius' chair.

Sirius turned his full attention to her, the chess game completely forgotten. "You don't look very comfortable up there, sitting like that," he said. "Why don't you come down a little lower, like when we first met?" He winked at her. "Although I know something else I'd much rather you went down on."

Peter squeaked and nearly tipped the board over. Remus didn't know exactly how to react to something like that, but thought it was high time for another talk with Sirius. James merely raised an eyebrow and waited.

Hermione, however intelligent she may have been when it came to books, was next to clueless about things having to do with boys and the like. So it took her a little while to figure out exactly what he meant by that comment. But when she had gotten it, she gasped and turned an interesting shade of purple while toppling off of the side of the chair.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, she landed in Sirius' lap. She started struggling to leap up, but only succeeded in wriggling around a bit and not making any progress in moving from her current position. Sirius, being Sirius, took advantage of the situation.

"Glad you decided to come down to my level, Hermione. Did anyone ever tell you how sexy you look when you're on my lap like that?" said Sirius, giving her his prize-winning smile. He wrapped an arm possessively around her waist, but she pushed it off and stood up, albeit awkwardly.

Her voice shook, but she managed to make it sound strong. "I don't know what you're thinking, but I am not that kind of girl. Is that too hard for you to understand?"

"Aw, come on," he pleaded. "I didn't mean anything by it. Besides, do you know what you're missing out on? None of the other girls have had a problem with it."

Remus and James groaned in unison. Remus made a definite mental note to come up with some way to keep Sirius from insulting Hermione in the future, but it seemed as if it were too late to salvage the increasingly deteriorating situation at hand.

"And you honestly think that's going to get me back in your lap?" Hermione shrieked. "Have you gone insane? I thought that maybe we could have some kind of relationship, if not romantically, when I first met you on the train. But obviously you don't know me at all if you think that telling me about all of your former conquests in addition to making disgusting innuendos is going to get me to like you."

She paused, staring him in the eye. "I still have some semblance of hope for your friends, but I'm beginning to wonder what I ever thought I saw in you in the first place. I guess I was sadly mistaken." She gave him a meaningful stare before turning on her heel and following Lily's path up to the dorms.

"I just don't get it Prongs," said Sirius as he gazed at Hermione's retreating figure. "How is it that she's so different from all of the other girls? Anyone else would be dying to go out with me, but it's as if she doesn't even care. She's almost acting like Lily. Oh, sorry mate."

"Well, now you see what I've been going through," James said, frustrated. "Why are the two hottest girls of the year the only ones that don't go for us? I mean, I see girls swooning all the time when I talk to them. Just turn on the famous Black charms, Padfoot. You'll have her in bed in a week."

"That's the problem," sighed Sirius. "The 'famous Black charms' aren't working with her."

Remus stood up and walked over so he was standing directly in front of Sirius. "Now are you ready to listen to me?" he asked quietly. "Hermione is different that all of your previous conquests. She's special, and if you really want her, you're going to have to go about getting her in a different style."

Sirius nodded. "I do. I don't know what it is about her, but I really do want to get her to go out with me."

"Okay, then," said Remus. "Just one thing-- don't use her and dump her. That's not what I'm helping you to do."

Lily and Hermione sat on their respective beds in the girls' dorm. Hermione was on her back staring at the ceiling, and Lily legs were crossed and dangling over the edge of her mattress. Lily was attempting to write in her journal, but Hermione made no pretense of doing anything but thinking.

Hermione sighed, getting Lily to glance up from her work. "Anything you want to talk about?" inquired Lily.

"I just don't get it," said Hermione. "How is it that he's so sweet one minute and positively infuriating the next? Sirius is one of the sexiest boys I have ever seen, but honestly, half the time he acts as if he's doing me a favor by spending time with me, and that I should be grateful and immediately want to hop into bed with him. It makes me want to scream, but then I turn around again and he gives me one of those smiles…"

Lily laughed. "Is that what's been distracting you?" she asked. Hermione nodded. "Look," said Lily, "the way I see it, he's head over heels for you, but just doesn't want to admit it to himself. He's so used to having girls fall all over him, and here you are, practically refusing to give him the time of day." Hermione, looking outraged, began to interrupt, but Lily held up a hand to stop her.

"Let me finish," Lily continued. "He sees you as a challenge, and so is spending more effort trying to attract you. So many girls just hop into bed with him, he's never really had to work to get what he wants before. You're a mystery to him."

"So you're saying the only reason he wants me is because he can't have me?" Hermione asked.

"Not completely, but something to that effect," Lily responded. "That's part of it, but I think that Sirius really does like you. I mean, think about it. You're beautiful--oh, don't give me that. You're gorgeous, Hermione. I don't get how you don't see it. But you're beautiful, smart, witty, charming, and confident. Basically, the perfect girl for someone like Sirius."

"If I'm so perfect for him, why doesn't he just ask me out or something, instead of flirting with me then turning around and flirting with every other girl in sight?"

Lily sighed. "Because that's Sirius for you. You've got to understand, his longest relationship lasted two days. And that was because it was the weekend and they didn't feel like getting out of bed. He enjoys spending a night with a girl, but has never progressed beyond that."

"That's exactly why I don't want to do anything with him," said Hermione. "I have had one relationship in my life. It lasted six months, and the most we did was kiss."

"Don't you see?" said Lily. "Sirius needs you! You two will be perfect for each other!"

"Well then, tell me when he's ready. But there's no way I'm planning on going out with someone who wants to spend one night with me then have fun with someone else." Hermione spoke with finality, closing her part of the discussion.

"Look," Lily said, "let's go to the library. You and I could both use with a change of scenery, and besides, we've got a Transfiguration essay due Monday."

"Oh, my gosh!" Hermione shouted as she practically leapt up. "I can't believe I've been so distracted I almost forgot about it! I only have one and a half feet done so far, and she said one to two feet. We need to go research!"

Lily laughed. "Okay, I'll grab my stuff."

They stuffed their book bags full of textbooks and parchment, and were standing up to leave when the door burst open and three gossiping girls walked in.

"Lils! Hermione!" Jessica exclaimed. "What do you know? We were just talking about you."

Rae rolled her eyes. "That's Jess, discrete as usual."

Jessica elbowed her and kept talking. "So we were coming into the common room, and who do we see but the two most handsome bachelors at Hogwarts. Along with Remus and Peter, of course. And man, they had the weirdest looks on their faces. If I didn't know Sirius better, I would have sworn­ he had the look a man wears after his advances have been rebuffed. But this is Black we're talking about, and ­no one rejects him."

Tori jumped in with her part of the story. "James looked pretty much the same as Sirius, but then again he always looks that way after an encounter with you, Lily. Peter looked kind of bewildered, and Remus just looked like he was trying to hide a grin. Interesting, I tell you. So we were discussing who in their right mind would push away Sirius, and we came to the conclusion that no one would, and it must have been something else."

Jessica was about to take over, but stopped at the look on Hermione's face. "Girl, you didn't," she breathed. Hermione's firm nod was enough to tell her otherwise. "Oh, my gosh!" Jessica cried. "How could you? Do you know how many girls would kill to be in your shoes right now?"

Hermione shrugged. "I'm sorry for them, but, well, what can I say?"

"What can you say?" Jessica shrieked. "How about, 'I want you, Sirius'?"

"Maybe Hermione just doesn't like Sirius," Rae spoke up.

"It that true?" asked Tori.

Hermione started to answer, but stopped and blushed. Lily turned to her with a look of surprise.

"Wait a minute," said Jessica. "Let me get this straight. You don't not like Sirius, but you're not in his arms right now. Am I missing something here?"

Hermione shook her head. "That's exactly it," she explained. "All he wants to do it get me into his bed. When I'm in a relationship, I want it to be an emotional one instead of only physical. And until Sirius matures enough to understand that, I'm not going to do anything with him."

"Wow," said Tori. "Even though I totally disagree with that, I really admire you for standing up for what you believe in."

"Thanks," Hermione said.

"So, Hermione and I were planning on heading to the library to work on that essay for Professor McGonagall," Lily announced to the group in general. "Do any of you want to come with us?"

Jessica and Tori both thanked Lily, but declined. Rae looked thoughtful for a moment, then replied, "Thanks, but not now. I have some stuff I need to take care of in here. But maybe some other time."

"Okay then," said Hermione. "Shall we go?"

Lily and Hermione left the girls' dorm, leaving Jessica, Tori, and Rae talking behind them. When they got to the library they looked around for a quiet place to study, and saw Remus bent over a piece of parchment, scribbling furiously. He looked up and saw them, then waved them over to his table.

The two girls walked over to his table and pulled out chairs to sit down. "Hey, how are you guys doing?" he asked.

"We're fine, thanks," said Hermione, answering for the two of them. Lily nodded.

"So, um," began Remus carefully. "About that whole Sirius episode a little while back?"

"Why does everyone want to talk about Sirius?" Hermione practically screamed, earning her a fierce glare from the librarian. She quieted down, but continued. "I'm sick of thinking and talking about Sirius. I've discussed that incident with more people than I cared to, and I'm sorry, but I really don't feel like talking about it now when I came here to get away from it and work on homework."

Remus looked a little taken aback, but went along with her. "Well, then," he said. "Let's change the subject. How are you two doing on that essay for Professor McGonagall?" And so the three began discussing the various methods for transforming parts of one's body. None of them had ever studied together before, but each found it to their liking as both of the others had an intellect to rival their own. They spent a pleasant afternoon concentrating on transfiguration, and later charms, and Lily and Hermione found that although they had issues with James and Sirius respectively, they had no problems conversing with Remus.

A blond sat alone in a corner of the library, watching. The Gryffindors were oblivious to him, but he was definitely aware of them. Or more specifically, Hermione. He still knew nothing about her, save the fact that she was the prettiest, most confident girl he knew. She seemed to remain impervious to Black's charms, and that gave him hope. For when Black finally turned away from her, he would strike. And she would be his.