That next morning, very uncharacteristically, Sirius and James were the first awake. James, after realizing that Sirius was in an extremely bad mood, had asked him what had happened the night before with Circe.

"Nothing," Sirius grumbled.

"Right ... I believe that." James had replied sarcastically. "Come on."

"Well, I kissed her." Sirius said as he got up, looking for his comb.

"Congrats."

"Hardly. She was mad at me about it!" Sirius exploded. "I just don't get her, there are dozens of other girls who are dying for a chance to have me look at them and she has the nerve to get mad at me!"

James burst out laughing. "The nerve to get mad at you? Come off it Padfoot. Not every girl is madly in love with you."

Sirius glared at his best friend. "Of course I know that! But still ..."

"You know, rejection really doesn't suit you." Sirius scowled which caused James to laugh some more. "Besides, Bloom's a friend. You shouldn't be chasing after her anyway."

"Evans is a friend, you shouldn't go chasing after her." Sirius mimicked, referring to Lily.

James held up his hand and looked at Sirius with a smirk. "But you see she isn't my friend. The girl loathes me, so that makes it alright if I shower her with attention."

"Stupid git," Sirius returned.

James burst into hysterics again and then Remus woke up. After blinking sleepily a few times he grunted "Morning," as he sat up.

"Morning Moony" James managed between laughs.

Remus smiled slightly, "What's so funny?"

Sirius said "Nothing" at the same time that James opened his big mouth. "Padfoot's just discovered that he isn't God's gift to women." Sirius grabbed the pillow that was the closest to him and threw it at James, hitting his friend in the face.

"Bout time you realized that mate." Remus said while searching for his clothes. He couldn't see his face, but Sirius knew Remus was smirking.

"Bloody hell," Sirius muttered, really not feeling up to being mocked by his best friends. He was still upset about last night and didn't feel like talking about it anymore.

"So, what really happened?" Remus asked.

And James answered in an annoying voice, "Bloom." Sirius chucked another pillow at him, but this one missed because James ducked.

Remus laughed out loud. "Come on now Prongs. Let's hear what Padfoot here has to say." He eyed the pillows near Sirius apprehensively, probably wondering when Sirius was going to start throwing them at him.

Sirius sat down on his bed frowning. There was no escaping it; they were going to keep harassing him until he told them. "She's a merciless tease."

Remus said in a tone of mock seriousness, "Of course she is she's a girl. But I want to hear the part where you realized that you're not God's gift to-" Sirius grabbed a fluffy blue pillow and nailed Remus in the face with it, cutting him off. Tears were close to forming in James's eyes as he was laughing so hard.

Sirius got angry. "I'm not that bloody arrogant you useless prats!"

James got up from his bed and walked over to Sirius, speaking as he went. "Course you are. It's part of your charm." He patted Sirius on the back, teetering on the edge of danger as James always did.

Sirius glared at him. "Well, you're just as conceited as I am."

James nodded in agreement, "Yup."

Remus spoke on his way to the door, "You're both pompous gits, but that's why everybody likes you." Sirius smiled a bit. Moony was right, they were both pretty full of themselves. "Now," Remus said in what they called his 'prefects voice', "get ready for school."

With those parting words, Remus left both James and Sirius alone with Peter, who was now snoring loudly. Sirius ran a hand through his hair and reached for his wand, casting the summoning spell a few times to retrieve the pillows he had thrown.

Finally, James had finished laughing and looked over at Sirius with an indulgent expression. "Look mate," Sirius scowled, but was a little curious as to what James had to say. "Bloom had a crush on you for years," this was news to Sirius, he had always figured that she was just into Remus, "but she gave up on you a while back. And now that you're slobbering all over her she's a bit insulted-"

"Why the hell would she be insulted that I'm interested in her?" Sirius was beyond confused, convinced that he would never understand the workings of a female's mind.

"Let me finish will you?" James said, standing up from his bed. "She's insulted because up until this year you never even considered her as a girl, she was just one of us."

"But that's because she was ... oh!" It dawned on Sirius. Circe figured that he was only chasing after her because she had lost weight. And while it was true that he was attracted to her because of her looks, there was more to it than that.

"And the light bulb goes off," James muttered, gathering his stuff as the boys began to walk to the showers.

"But it's not only because she's pretty," Sirius sad, not at all embarrassed to be talking like this with James. James was his best friend and he didn't care if he came across insecure with him. James would never judge him.

"Well ... than just leave it alone for a bit until she realizes that you do value her friendship. Maybe than she'll come around."

Sirius arched an eyebrow at the sudden insight that James had acquired. He elbowed James playfully in the ribs, "Since when did you become an expert, eh?"

"I've always been one. You've just been too stupid to come to me for advice." James voice held a tone of superiority and Sirius felt it was his duty to bring him back to earth.

"Than how come you can't advise yourself on how to get Lily to be able to stand you?" James scowled at him and made to smack him in the back of the head before Sirius ducked, laughing. James started to laugh too and they continued on there way to get ready.

After showering and going back up to their room to retrieve their wands they took one look at the clock and realized they were late. They woke up Peter, who scrambled to get ready, and rushed down to the Great Hall.

When they reached the hallway in front of the dining area, Sirius spied Remus and Adriana. They were holding hands. "Moony, Finn," Sirius nodded at each as he slowed down and walked with them.

He ran a hand through his hair and realized with a sigh that it was still wet. Oh well, he thought, James hadn't even managed to get his shirt on right (it was inside out).

They got into the Great Hall and all took their seats, and when Sirius tried to smile at Circe, she glared and turned away. Sirius frowned, and began a conversation with James. Bloody hell, but girls were confusing.

~*~A/N~*~ Hope you like this chapter ... !!