The next day, Sirius and his fellow Gryffindors had double Herbology in the afternoon along with the Ravenclaws. Now, this was a good class in Sirius's opinion. It was fairly easy, and both James and Remus were with him in the class, along with Lily and Circe. He was still mad at Circe, and she in turn didn't talk to him anymore, figuring that he would get over his childishness and grow up. Not bloody likely, he thought to himself.

Now, this class was different than the others. First off Adriana had dropped her Ancient Runes class and transferred in here with them, and secondly, Circe had arrived late for class. This created an opportunity for Sirius. Remus partnered with his girlfriend Kira, Lily partnered with Adriana, James with Kelsey Smithettes (another ploy to try and make Lily Jealous), and that left Circe and Sirius. Sirius had purposely said no to everybody who had asked him. He smiled to himself and walked over to her.

"Tsk, tsk ... late for class Ms Bloom?" He smiled his most charming smile at her and she stared at him stunned for a moment, confused as to why his anger with her had just disappeared.

"I had to talk to Seamus." Circe replied. Her words felt like a blow which surprised Sirius. He didn't want to analyze that ...

"Well ... the thing about being late for class is that everybody usually partners up pretty fast." He tried to appear innocent as he spoke. "And since the class now has even numbers thanks to Ms Finn that leaves just you and me. Unless of course you want to partner with them," He gestured to a group of Ravenclaws who were 'below Circe's social status'. She starred at him suspiciously and he continued to smile at her with all the charm he could muster."

"Yah right," she forced a laugh.

"Come on ... be my partner?" He said stepping closer to her.

"Lily and I are always partners," her eyes darted to the station where Lily and Adriana sat and she frowned.

"Be my partner, please?" He asked, raising his eyebrow and emphasizing the last word.

She let out an exaggerated sigh of exasperation, but he could see a hint of a smile as she gave in. "Alright. Fine."

"Great!" Sirius grinned and grabbed her hand which she instantly and unsuccessfully tried to tug away. He then dragged her to the station that rested between Adriana and Lily's, and James and Kelsey.

"Circe! You're here," Lily said, looking from Adriana to Circe with a slightly guilty expression on her face.

"Sorry for stealing Evans," Adriana said as she looked from Circe to Sirius to their joined hands with a smirk. Circe tugged her hand away.

"Don't worry about it." Circe said.

Sirius heard James say something to Kelsey, and it wasn't hard to hear at all because he was deliberately speaking loudly. "You're looking very pretty today."

Sirius burst out laughing as Lily rolled her eyes. Everybody in the class eyed him for a second and then went back to their work.

The assignment today was to re-pot Griffith-root plants. Both Sirius and Circe had an easy time finishing, and they talked with the casual ease of old friends.

"Looking forward to Quidditch season?" Sirius asked her as he watched her from underneath the curtain of his bangs.

"Of course! I got a new broomstick this summer and I can't wait to try it out on the pitch." She leaned back in her chair smiling.

"Then don't wait," an idea formed itself in Sirius's head and the wheels in his brain turned like a well oiled machine.

"Huh?" She looked at him strangely.

"Well, the first Quidditch practice isn't for another week and a half, why bother waiting that long?" Sirius used all the charm he possessed as he spoke to her. She looked at his face, flitting around each of his features.

"What are you talking about, Black?" She leaned forward in her chair and dropped her voice so that it was just above a whisper. Circe knew him well enough to guess that what he was about to suggest was something they weren't supposed to do.

"Meet me in the common room tonight at 11:30. Bring your broom." Sirius said with an impish smile. Circe smiled back. "Alright Black, I'll be there, but you better not get me in trouble."

"I'd never dream of such a thing." Sirius grinned widely and leaned back in his chair. Tonight was going to be ... interesting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night after dinner James and Sirius went upstairs to the dorm room, both exchanging theories as to why Remus had not been at dinner. All of their theories came down to one explanation: Adriana Finn.

When they entered the dorm room the first thing they saw was Remus looking pitifully miserable. Neither James nor Sirius said anything until they had gotten settled in the room. James seated on his bed, and Sirius standing close to the window.

James started the Spanish inquisition off, "Why weren't you at dinner?"

Remus shrugged and Sirius decided to test the waters. "Yeah, Finn was asking about you."

"Right, Well-"

"It's about her isn't it?" James asked a curious expression on his face.

"That's why you're locked up here alone in your room." Sirius stopped pacing and turned to stare at Remus.

"This is certainly looking interesting, isn't it Padfoot?" James smirked as he turned to look at Sirius.

"Yes, yes it is Prongs. Looks like our friend Moony here is having some girl troubles" Sirius took a seat next to James and looked at Remus with a mischievous expression.

Remus took to long in answering so Sirius prompted him "Well ... is it about Finn?"

"Or Kira?" James piped in.

A thought struck Sirius, "Or Finn and Kira?" he said, while raising his eyebrows.

Remus ran a hand through his hair, "All bets on the last one."

"Ooh ... now this is going to be interesting." James smirked and Remus looked even more miserable.

"What happened?" Sirius asked, trying to hide a smile for the benefit of Moony.

"Well ... Adriana has been ignoring me lately so I figured it was about time the two of us talked," both Sirius and James nodded, what Remus said was true. "And one thing sort of led to another-"

"Moony, you dog you," James mocked slyly.

"- and Kira caught the two of us kissing and slapped me." Remus finished, without missing a beat, used to James's interruptions.

"Ouch." Sirius pitied his friend. "What are you gonna do?"

Remus shrugged. "I have no idea. It goes without saying that Kira is furious with me, and I have no idea what's going on with Adriana. Or even if anything is going on with her."

Sirius decided to get rid of his friends insecurities. "Take it from me Moony. Finn's been going crazy for you ever since we got back here. Now, I only know a bit of what happened last year-" Remus opened his mouth to say something but Sirius held up his hand and kept talking, "but whatever it was it sure had an effect on her. She wants you bad."

James added, "And you better take advantage of this, my friend. Cause if you don't you're gonna end up kicking yourself. After all, we all know how much you've liked her over the years."

"We wish you luck." Sirius finished.

With that, Remus went to bed, looking slightly relieved, and Sirius retrieved James's invisibility cloak –he had asked to borrow it earlier – and sat on his bed, waiting for 11:30 to roll around.

When the time came for Sirius to meet Circe, he got out of bed and went down to the common room. She was there, sitting on the couch looking adorably curious. She held her broom in one hand and was starring at him as he entered.

"Black," She said, nodding at him as he went over and stood in front of her.

"Bloom," He returned, nodding in the exact same way she had which got a laugh from her. He stuck out his hand, "Shall we?"

She looked a bit apprehensive for a moment but took his hand and stood up. "So how are we going to get out to the Quidditch pitch?" When he didn't say anything she continued "I figured that's where we're going. It is ... isn't it?"

Sirius laughed and pulled out James's invisibility cloak.

Circe looked at it with interest on her face. "I'm impressed. You gonna tell me where you got that?" He shook his head, still smiling. "I didn't think so."

Still holding her hand, Sirius made his way to the door of the common room and then started to fit the cloak around them and her broom. "You're going to have to stand closer to me," he said and she shuffled closer so that their entire sides touched. He let go of her hand and slid his arm around her shoulders, keeping them completely covered by the cloak. His heart beat a bit faster and Sirius cursed himself for being nervous. He was never nervous when it came to girls.

Together they made their way out of the common room and silently down the school until, after close to twenty five minutes of walking, they reached the Quidditch Pitch. Once in the safety of the darkness outside, Filch never patrolled the outside grounds, they removed the cloak and Circe stepped out from under Sirius's arm. He missed having his arm around her ...

"So ... what now?" She turned and smiled radiantly at him.

For a second Sirius was completely besotted by her and didn't say anything. Then he blushed, something he never did, and he was glad it was dark out and she couldn't see. "Well ... now we fly." He said simply, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"We?" Circe teased. "But you didn't bring a broom."

Sirius pretended to be chagrined and smacked himself on the forehead. "How could I have forgotten a broom? I guess we'll have to share."

Circe laughed as she got on her broom, "Yeah, I'm sure you 'forgot'". He smiled at her and then mounted the broom so that he sat right behind her. He slid his hands around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. Whispering into her ear, "let's go then."

She kicked off the ground and together they took a lap around the pitch. She was a good flier, something he knew from playing on the same team as her for three years and she made some sharp turns and loops to practice. Sirius tightened his hands around her waist. This was nice, he thought to himself. He really wanted to kiss her, but knew he should at least wait until they got to the ground, otherwise the surprise might cause them to fall.

They flew in silence for a half-an-hour when Circe finally lowered the broom to the ground. When they got off it, he hadn't removed his hands from around her waist and she turned in his grip to look at him curiously. Sirius leaned forward and kissed her lightly.

After the initial shock from his kiss, Circe melted into his arms and he slid his tongue into her mouth. She looped her arms around his neck and played a bit with the hair at his nape. Sirius groaned. Breaking the kiss, he whispered into her ear as he nibbled it "I want you so much." He kissed the side of her neck, feeling himself get hot with need.

Circe sighed and then pulled away, dropping her hands from his neck. She stared into his eyes, searching for something. Sirius opened his mouth to speak, to ask her why she had pulled away when she put a finger to his lips. "Come on Black ..." She started speaking, and she seemed sad. "You want everything in a skirt."

Sirius was so confused at the suddenness of her change in attitude. "You're not wearing a skirt," he teased, trying to lighten the mood.

She laughed, but it sounded forced. "Come on, let's go back." She started to walk back and Sirius stood there, stunned.

This was a huge blow to his ego. Circe had just walked away from him, Sirius Black. When she realized that he wasn't following her, she stopped and turned to look at him. "Are you pouting?" She asked, and began to laugh. He didn't see what was so funny. First she shot him down, now she was laughing at him?

Sirius bristled. "I do not pout."

Then, "Black ..." she began. "We're friends, right?"

He was confused. "Yeah, we're friends."

"Then let's keep it that way." A light bulb went off in his head and he realized what was going on. He smiled to himself. It wasn't that she didn't like him; she just didn't want to ruin their friendship. He felt relieved and tried to explain.

"No matter what we do, it isn't going to change the fact that we're friends." He was convinced now, that after his assurance, if he had tried to kiss her she would have let him. He took a step forward but she stopped him by putting out a hand.

"What if I don't want to do anything?" She shuffled her feet nervously and stared at him, her eyes impossible to read.

"What?" He was incredulous. Sirius's cockiness made it impossible for him to believe this. He couldn't fathom why she didn't want to make-out with him. All girls wanted to make-out with him. For Christsakes, he even had a freaking fan club!

And now she looked annoyed. "I have a boyfriend you know." There was an edge to her voice and he knew she was mad at him.

"Malloy, right?" He asked, feeling his insides twist painfully but since he wasn't used to the feeling he tried to ignore it. "What's your point?"

Circe stared at him in disbelief and he knew he had said something wrong. Probably said everything wrong. Christ, he thought, why did she have to be so damn confusing? Why was it her, of all people, to get him so flustered that he screwed everything up?

"You are the most arrogant, insufferable jerk that I have ever met!" She exploded. Sirius's eyes narrowed, but she kept talking before he could try and say his side of the story. "You've got this crazy idea in your head that every girl in this damn school wants you and if you even look their way they'll lift up their skirts. Well, it doesn't work like that, Black. Not every girl wants to screw you!"

"You're living proof of that," he muttered bitterly, and she heard him.

"UGH!" She turned around and started to walk away, making it to the door before she realized that it was after midnight and if she got caught wandering the halls she would land herself in detention. Circe turned and looked at him, fuming. "Are you going to go back inside, or stay out here all night?" she said coolly.

Sirius snorted and walked over to her. He was pissed off at her, and what made him even angrier was that he knew she was right. He was a conceited bastard, but she didn't have to be so rude about pointing it out. He jerked the invisibility cloak around them and opened the door. "After you, your highness." He whispered mockingly.

This time the silence as they made their way back to Gryffindor tower was not comfortable. Both Circe and Sirius were seething, and they walked awkwardly, careful not to touch one another. When they finally arrived in the common room, Circe turned and looked at him before going upstairs to her dorm.

"You know, sometimes you're a real prince." She said sarcastically and then turned her back on him and left.

Sirius sat down on a big, comfortable chair right in front of the fire, starring into the flames as he cooled off. After an hour, when he finally went to his bed he realized something. This fight he had just had with Circe had not stopped him from wanting her.

If anything, knowing that she was the one girl who didn't want him, made him want her even more.