Okay, here's chapter 2. Sorry I took a bit long updating, but I've just been a bit busy. This one's a bit longer, hope you guys like it!

"After thorough investigation, we conclude that Mrs. Agnes Applebee's allegations of a bewitched teapot plotting to kill her are indeed, false." Sirius mumbled aloud as he skimmed and signed the final piece of parchment in the once foot-high pile that Moody had stuck him with 5 hours ago.

After placing that last page in his outbox, he stretched and sighed bitterly. 'Of all the kinds of paperwork I could have been filling out, he gives me all the false allegations. Why bother even recording them?!' he thought angrily to himself.

In truth he usually didn't mind doing this particular job because he found it amusing to read about crackpots like Mrs. Applebee who believed random household items were conspiring to murder them. Tonight however, was another story because his extra work had taken much longer than expected and he had been forced hours ago to call his date for the evening and cancel.

And canceling a date with a beautiful woman was something Sirius Black just did not do. He claimed it was against his principles. When asked what those principles were, he would reply, "To get laid whenever possible." He was only half joking.

Sirius was just reaching for his coat when he noticed one more sheet off to the side on his desk. "Oh bloody hell, just when I think I'm all done there has to be one more. Typical," he said to himself before reaching for it hastily.

But upon glancing at the parchment, he realized that this was not some crazy story about evil zebras or anything of the like. It was the form that Melissa had brought over earlier, which he had completely forgotten to sign. But even though he had forgotten about the paper, he definitely had not forgotten about Melissa. The truth is he had been thinking about her all night. Who could forget a girl like that? The way she just strolled in with such confidence. He loved that in a woman and with all the ditzy girls he was usually with who just fell at his feet, he didn't see this often.

Melissa was different. She was a challenge. One he'd definitely be willing to try.

Sirius quickly scrawled his signature at the bottom of the page, gathered his things together and walked out into the hall in the direction of Crouch's mailbox to drop it off. He walked rather quickly, since he did not particularly like being alone in the Ministry. Not that he was scared of anything of course, he just didn't feel all that comfortable there when the majority of the lights were out and everyone had gone home.

He turned the corner and noticed that one office midway down the hall still had its lights on. Apparently he wasn't the only one there working overtime. As he got closer, he realized the office which was not in darkness belonged to none other than Melissa Harwood. Immediately the wheels in Sirius's head began to turn.

"Me... her... all alone. This could be very interesting,' he said to himself quietly as a sly grin spread across his face.
Sirius gathered up his composure and ran a hand through his hair to give it that natural, rugged look that the ladies loved before walking up to Melissa's door and peaking in as he knocked twice.

"Melissa, what are you doing here all by yourself at this late hour? I thought I was the only one still around." He said as he strolled in and up to her desk.

Melissa clearly also assumed that she was the only one on the floor as she seemed rather startled when Sirius came in. "Oh, hi Black." She said somewhat awkwardly. "Yeah, I thought I was the only one here."

"It's too bad we didn't figure this out earlier; we could've kept each other company while we worked. I could stick around anyways and keep you company until you finish. I'm in no rush anyways. Maybe we could grab a drink afterwards." Sirius said smoothly. He always found it helped to offer to do something nice for a woman before asking her out. It gave them extra incentive to say yes. Not that they usually needed any more incentive after merely taking a look at him.

Melissa didn't look up from her book when he said this and he wondered for a moment if she had even heard him. Was she just really into that book or was she contemplating her response? He soon had his answer when she finally glanced up and replied, "Well actually, I prefer to work alone. Away from distractions." At this, the looked back down at her book and continued reading as if he was not standing in front of her.

Most guys would be discouraged by her fairly obvious hint that she wanted him to leave, but not Sirius. He still had tons of room to go with this.

"Healing In The Face of Danger, eh?" he remarked as he read the title of the book she had her nose buried in. Melissa was a trained healer and had once worked at St. Mungos but was recruited to go along on Auror missions for the Ministry and be available to fix them up quickly before they returned to the battlefield.

"Wow Black, you can read. I'm impressed," she replied with more than a hint of attitude.

Sirius chuckled. "Okay, okay you want to be alone. I get it. I won't bother you. Goodnight." He said with a charming smile as he turned towards the door.

"I don't mean to be rude Black," began Melissa, finally looking up. "It's just that I'm taking a course next week and I really need to get the reading done. Plus I have all my regular work to do. It's just really hard to fit it all in."

Sirius was torn for a moment. He had already told her he'd leave her be, but she had just given him an opening for more small talk. After silently debating with himself for half a second, he decided he'd go with the small talk. Just for a minute, then he'd leave.

"Oh, I'm really sorry for keeping you. But this course you mentioned, does that mean we're gonna be missing you around here next week?" Sirius asked, as if her time away was going to cause him great grief.

'I can see right through this guy,' She thought to herself. Being a rather attractive woman, Melissa was quite used to men trying different strategies to win her affections and the "we barely know each other but I'm going to act like we're the best of friends" routine had been done time and time again.

"Yes, I'll be at St. Mungos taking some extra training. It's a week away from work but it'll increase my salary so it's a really good opportunity. Which is why I really need some privacy..." Melissa knew she sounded rude. She knew he might think she was a bitch, but who was he anyways? They had never even had a conversation about anything other than work and now he was disturbing her when she needed to concentrate.

Sirius wasn't one to be shot down easily, but her tone told him she really wanted him to leave, and he wasn't going to push it.

"Okay, sure. I'll be on my way. Good luck with the studying," Sirius finished with a wink, always managing to squeeze in one last charming gesture. He walked out the door and closed it behind him before wiping the grin off of his face.

"This is gonna be harder than I thought."

"Oh come on guys, get a room!" laughed Remus Lupin from his seat at a booth in the back of the Three Broomsticks. He picked up a french fry and threw it in the direction of James and his red-headed beauty Lily Evans, who were all over each other across the table from him.

The couple broke apart and James flashed Remus a winning smile as he ran a hand threw his uncontrollable black hair, making it quite a bit messier. "Sorry Moony, but I can't help it if the lady wants me."

Lily smacked James playfully. "I'm sorry Remus. I suppose we just got a bit carried away." Lily and Remus were very close. Not in a way which would get him killed by James if the relationship was exposed of course. The two of them were just friends. Remus was probably Lily's best male friend, aside from James and she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable.

"Oh don't apologize Lily," Remus replied. "I was just joking with you two. Honestly, after so many years of you trying to tear each others hair out it's actually not that bad to see you... well... close." He finished with a smirk.

Lily and James had spent their first 5 years at Hogwarts at each other's throats and it wasn't until 6th year (when James finally deflated his ego) that they became friends and then a couple.

"Yeah yeah Lupin, we all remember those days. No need to bring them up because things are different now. Right honey?" he gave her a sweet peck on the mouth and smiled at her.

Before getting together with Lily, James had been much the same as Sirius. A different girl every night, and proud of it. Now however, he was a changed man. Just looking at Lily, even smelling her perfume made him feel all warm and tingly. (Though he wasn't exactly upfront about those feelings with his friends) Everyday he fell even more in love with her and though they had only been together 6 months in the real world outside of school, he was realizing more and more that he couldn't see himself with out her. It was actually something he had been thinking about quite a bit.....

"Of course that's right," said Lily as she tried to smooth out James' hair, the tone of her voice making it evident that she was touched by his simple gesture.

Lily turned back to Remus and the two began a conversation, but James didn't look away from Lily for quite a while.

Suddenly the door flew open and the three of them, along with the majority of patrons in the restaurant, turned to see a very frustrated looking Sirius trudging in the door. Spotting his friends he made his way to the back of the restaurant, plopped down beside Remus and began ranting. The thought crossed his mind that they may have been in the middle of a conversation, but they could get back to that later. He needed some attention right now, as he was feeling rather deprived of it.

After explaining his run-in with Melissa, the group sat in silence for a few seconds.

"Well?" Sirius said impatiently, "Isn't that ridiculous? She barely even gave me the time of day!"

"Hmm," began Remus, stroking his chin and resembling Dumbledore in some odd way. "Let me get this straight. You went into Melissa's office uninvited, with no real reason. You interrupted her while she was trying to work, and then you pulled the "we barely know each other but I'm going to act like we're the best of friends" routine?"

Sirius pondered this for a moment before responding, "Yes, yes that's about right."

"And you're surprised that she didn't snog you right there?" Asked James through a chuckle, "Honestly Padfoot, you have some things to learn."

Sirius clearly did not like the advice he was getting and looked extremely put-out and grumpy. That is, until Lily spoke up.

"So Melissa Harwood's going to be in that course? That's a relief, none of my friends at work are taking it and I was starting to think I'd be a bit of a loner for a week. I mean, me and Melissa don't know each other that well but I was partners with her a few times in 7th year Arithmancy. Imagine them making a class that consisted of all Slytherins, plus one Ravenclaw and one Gryffindor. If it wasn't for Melissa I would have died. I guess you take those chances with elective courses though...

Lily opened her mouth to talk some more about her elective classes at Hogwarts when Sirius interrupted her, the expression on his face similar to a troublemaker in Zonkos. In other words, the three guys sitting around her in Zonkos.

"Lily, you're a healer!" he exclaimed excitedly, "You work at St. Mungos!"

"Really? I'm a healer at St. Mungos? Thanks for letting me know, I really wasn't aware of that," Lily responded sarcastically.

"Oh hush," he continued. "You can put in a good word for me! Oh pleaseeee Lily please. I'll be your best friend! I don't need these guys, it could be you and me. Or, I could provide you with prolonged, incomparable pleasure." He said, laughing and dodging the spoon James had hurled at him.

Lily sighed. She hated being put in this sort of situation but at the same time she didn't want to let Sirius down completely. "Well, fine I'll see what I can do. But I'm not going to sound like your PR representative or something. I'll just see how I can fit you into conversation and I'll try to avoid mentioning your... less appealing qualities." She finished, as she watched Sirius shoveling Remus's food into his mouth.

"Fanks Liwy, I wiwwy apweciate dat." Sirius said, his mouth completely full. Inside, he was ecstatic. Finally he had an "in" with Melissa. Things just might go his way afterall.

Lily shook her head as she viewed the man across table, already wondering if this was a good idea.

"Don't mention it. Anything for a friend..."

Author's Note: Annddd that's that. Hope you guys liked it. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed for chapter 1 too! You guys are so nice, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Anyways, I know this chapter didn't take the story too much further but I still needed to introduce Remus and Lily and show some more initial interaction between Sirius and Melissa. Don't worry though, I do have a plot set out for this story and it's going to develop quite a bit so I hope you all keep reading! And keep those reviews coming! I love hearing from you all :D