That night the entire Gryffindor Student body crowded into the common room to celebrate a good start to the Quidditch season and socialize. The Marauders, who prided themselves on knowing 'every' secret passage in the school managed to sneak down into Hogsmeade and purchase an abundance of sweets and Butterbeer for the party. They also snuck down into the kitchens and got the house elves to give them food. Overall, the party was a great success, with the Gryffindor team hailed as heroes.

It was also a great success from Sirius's point of view because he managed to stay on good terms with Circe. They sat together on the couch in front of the fire and talked for two hours with Jess Morin, Angela Hall and Fiona Davis, another fifth year girl. When one o'clock rolled around Mika Jones (A seventh year genius and Head Girl) spoke up that it was time they headed to bed. With her urging, all the other prefects, including Remus, convinced the crowds to disperse.

Sirius said good night to his fellow teammates and sat lazily on the couch not wanting to go to bed just yet as everyone headed up. Adriana, Lily, and Kelsey left, dragging Circe with them. She went reluctantly which he was pleased to note, and smiled at him ruffling his hair as she went past the couch, making Sirius smile stupidly. The Marauders, excluding Sirius, all went up to bed as the room started to empty and soon there were only six people left in the common room. Sirius decided it was about time that he went up to his dorm, and was about to do so when he was stopped by a hand on his arm. He turned slightly and looked into the eyes of Fiona, the same girl who had been hanging onto his every word earlier.

"Hey there Sirius," Fiona breathed silkily, looking up at him with a secretive smile on her lips. She was a very pretty girl, with thick dark blonde hair that shone like gold in the firelight. She had dark grey eyes and thick red lips. She had a petite body too, and knew exactly how to position it to get the 'right kind' of attention. She was short too; 5'5" and the top of her head came just to the top of his chest. He knew a lot of guys who had dated her, including Reese and Jess, and everyone who did spoke of her appraisingly. In fact, there were a lot of guys who dated her based solely on her 'talents', but they all got bored rather soon. She was best friends with Angela Hall, and he knew for a fact that she was interested in him. After all, a lot of girls were.

"Ms Davis," Sirius smiled back at her flirtingly, turning a bit more so that he faced her completely.

She laughed and ran her hand down his arm, her eyes flitting obviously down to his mouth in a practiced way. Fiona was a notorious flirt. "I like it a lot better when you call me Fiona."

"Do you?" He said, raising his eyebrow and leaning casually against the doorframe. To any woman who saw him by chance at that moment, they would have thought him to be completely gorgeous. A poster boy for good looks.

"Yes," Fiona said, stepping a bit closer to him, almost too close.

"Ok Fiona," Sirius said, leaning back a little so that he could keep his space.

Fiona laughed again and ran a hand through her hair, thrusting out her chest a bit. Sirius's eyes dropped to admire the area she was so determined for him to see. And he didn't feel at all like a cad for doing so because Fiona very obviously wanted him to. And besides, Sirius was a man, and men rarely passed up an opportunity to admire that which is admirable.

"You played a really good game out there." She breathed again, her voice meant to sound sexy. It would have too, if she hadn't mentioned the game. But mentioning the Quidditch match got Sirius thinking about Circe, and when he thought about her, no other woman seemed attractive.

"I played alright," he said, crossing his arms. "Bloom was what won the game for us though." Fiona scowled slightly which amused Sirius. A lot of girls at Hogwarts didn't like Circe, Lily, or Adriana because they were all very pretty, smart, and popular. Girls didn't like competition and those three girls were definitely competition.

"James caught the snitch. And you stopped Hufflepuff from scoring a bunch of goals." Fiona said, trying once more to get him to focus his attention on her breasts.

Sirius shrugged lightly, and decided he was ready to go to bed. Three other people had left the common room and now it was only himself, Fiona, and a fourth year boy whom Sirius didn't recognize who had fallen asleep in a chair.

When he didn't comment Fiona shifted positions again and spoke. "Well, aren't you going to ask me why I wanted to talk to you?"

He didn't reply, only raised a brow. He knew why she wanted to talk to him, it was pretty obvious.

"I was really hoping that you and I could get together sometime," Fiona purred. "You know, we could ... talk or something." This time it was she who raised her brow and he knew that if they ever got together the last thing they would do was talk. They'd probably stick to the 'something', and he had a pretty good idea what that 'something' was.

He didn't outright shoot her down, as he hated to do that. After all, you never knew when you would change your mind. Instead he gave her a mischievous smile. "Sometime." Fiona beamed up at him and seemed about to name a time when Sirius interrupted her. "But it's getting awfully late and I better get my rest. You know, being a star Quidditch player and all that." He turned back around and began to walk up the stairs to his dorm, leaving Fiona looking flustered and slightly annoyed.

By the time he dressed into his pajamas and slid into his warm bed Fiona Davis and her invitations had completely vanished from his mind. Instead, the only face he saw as he drifted off to sleep and the one that inhabited his dreams that night was Circe. His last thought that night, even through his bliss at having her treat him sweetly, was that he really needed to get over that girl.


The next day was a Sunday and Sirius and James decided that it was high time they do their homework. Since Peter decided to sleep in that day as he had done his homework the night before, and Remus was planning on spending the entire day with Adriana, Sirius and James were on they're own.

"I think these teachers are competing to see who can get me to crack first." James muttered scornfully as he flipped through his potions text book. Their potions teacher, Professor Smyth had decided to assign them a lengthy essay, as did Professor Flitwick (Charms), Professor McGonagall (Transfiguration), and Professor Erickson (Arithmacy). And even though both Sirius and James were exceptionally smart, being smart didn't save them from the annoyance of a long essay.

"Tough luck Prongs. Stress is the way of weeding out the weak." Sirius said in mock serious tones as he shoved several books into his bag for their trek down to the library.

James scoffed. "Weak? Nah Padfoot. I think the Professors are doing it out of spite, they want to see us fail."

"They love us," Sirius stated, knowing full well that even though their teachers acted stern towards the Marauders because they had to, deep down they loved the four boys for their antics, and for their brains. James, Remus and Sirius were easily the smartest boys at Hogwarts.

James shrugged and stood up off his bed, pretending to be unable to lift his bag which was stuffed with text books. "So ... heavy." He mumbled.

Sirius laughed and began to walk out of the room. "Weak!" He shouted back to his friend as he attempted to close the door in James's face. Prongs laughed and together the boys joked around as they made their way out of Gryffindor tower and down the halls.

When they were only a few corridors away from the library the boys were stopped dead in their tracks at the sound of several voices. They exchanged a look and each boy dropped their bag on the ground.

"Filthy Mudblood!" Sirius heard the vehement words spoken from around the corner and with a nod at James the two sprinted over to see what was going on. What they saw made Sirius's heart leap into his throat and his veins went hot with anger. He pulled out his wand and yelled "Stupefy!" the same time as James did.

Two of the fourth year Slytherins that had been standing around Circe hit the ground and the other three turned and looked over. Circe, who had tears streaming down her face and a nasty slash down one of her cheeks looked over at her saviors with relief. Sirius saw red at the idea that anyone had hurt her.

"What do you lot think you're doing?" James said his tone dangerous. The remaining fourth years, only one of whom Sirius recognized as Lucius Malfoy, all looked around nervously. They had obviously not expected this interference from the two most dangerous boys in the school.

"Stay out of it," a student at the back said, trying to sound brave but failing miserably as his voice faltered and cracked.

Sirius barked a cold laugh and pointed his wand at the stupid boy, "Impedimenta!" The boy was knocked backwards.

At the same time James yelled "EXPELLIARMUS!" and deftly caught the wands that had flown from the attackers hands. They looked terrified now.

Sirius turned to the boy that he figured was the ring leader and pointed his wand at him "Petrificus Totalus!" The boy's arms and legs snapped together and he hit the ground with his friends. The other boys got up and grabbed their friend, running off down the hallway. Sirius let them go, fighting the urge to chase after them and then turned his attention to Circe who was standing in shock, blood running down her cheek. Her shoulders were shaking and he realized that she was sobbing. She looked from him to James and then back at him and their eyes met for an intense moment.

James cleared his throat and spoke, "You OK there Bloom?"

She nodded slowly. "They ambushed me." She took a deep breath and spat out her next words, "bloody cowards." And even though she tried to sound brave, Sirius knew that she was completely shaken.

Sirius walked towards her as she spoke and touched her cheek. "You're bleeding," he said softly. She brought her hand up and touched the cut on her cheek, looking shocked at the blood.

"Do you need to see Madam Pomfrey?" James asked.

"I'm alright; the stupid gits didn't know any good spells anyway." She laughed nervously and Sirius put a protective arm around her, surprised at the urge. She looked up at his face and relaxed a bit in his arms. He suddenly realized something then that almost made him choke on his heart. It couldn't be possible, he thought.

"I know!" James said as the three started walking towards Gryffindor tower. "How bout a nice glass of Butterbeer to make you feel better?"

"Sounds good," said Circe shakily.

Sirius was the only one not smiling. In fact, he didn't smile for the rest of the night when the trio, along with the other two Marauders and Adriana, sat chatting happily. He had too much going through his mind. Uncharacteristically he went to bed early, claiming he had a headache. But as he lay there in his bed, starring at the ceiling he decided that what he had realized had to be true. It explained his obsession with her and his protectiveness. It even explained his reactions to everything she did.

Sirius Black was in love for the first time, and he was in love with Circe.


This realization wasn't any less disturbing when he woke up the next morning. In fact, after dreaming of her all night, the knowledge that he was in love only caused him more confusion than he had ever felt before. He couldn't help but wonder how this could possibly have happened. Sure, when Circe had come back after the summer she had toned up and become even more beautiful, but it was more than that. He liked spending time with her, he liked hearing her laugh. He liked everything about her, even the things that made him mad.

When Sirius took his usual seat next to James at the Gryffindor House Table at breakfast that morning he was still so deep in thought that he didn't hear Remus or James as they tried to get his attention. It wasn't until James 'accidentally' knocked a glass of pumpkin juice in his lap that Sirius finally noticed his friends.

"You stupid prat!" He yelped as he felt the juice spread over his robes. He glared at James who was howling with laughter. "Bloody hell prongs!"

Sirius calmed back down when Remus uttered a cleaning spell and the juice was instantly cleaned up. He mumbled quick thanks and sat back down.

"What's up with you anyway Padfoot? You've been starring off into space since yesterday?" Remus questioned Sirius.

Sirius shifted uncomfortably as James glanced down the table where Lily, Circe, Adriana, and Kelsey all sat. "You have been acting pretty weird since the attack yesterday." James pointed out the obvious.

"Just been thinking." Sirius mumbled in reply.

"Bout Bloom?" James asked a bit too loudly for Sirius's comfort so he kicked him underneath the table, bringing forth an expletive "OW!"

Sirius decided that it really wasn't the time to admit his infatuation, even if it was only to his best friends. "Naw, just been thinking about the attack. I mean, if people at school are attacking Muggle born wizards, than maybe there is some truth in the rumors."

This comment wiped the smile right off James's face as effectively as windshield wipers. It was a terrible thing, attacks on 'mudbloods' as they were so scornfully called. And rumor had it that the attacks, which had been going on for centuries, were becoming more common. It was almost as if somebody was leading pureblood wizards into attacking.

"No way," James said, attempting to smile again but it didn't reach his eyes. "These kinds of attacks have been going on for years, and while it may be completely disgusting, it's nothing new.

"Yeah," said Remus, who also looked uncomfortable. "Those kids from Slytherin were probably just mimicking something they'd heard at home. Thought they'd get some kicks out of ambushing Circe."

Sirius nodded, once again feeling dread well in the pit of his stomach. He's never considered the fact that Circe was Muggle born before, and if the rumors were true, that meant she'd be in a lot of trouble.

The three boys were silent for a somber moment until James decided to break the quiet. "It's probably high time we headed to class." Remus, Sirius, and James all got up from their seats and made their way to class.

James suddenly stopped in his tracks and groaned loudly. "Bloody hell! We've got double potions today and I forgot to finish that stupid essay!" Sirius too had forgotten all about their homework and the boys debated ditching Transfiguration to catch up. They had just decided they were indeed going to skip when they passed Professor McGonagall who 'escorted' the three boys to class.

As they made their way to their seats at the back of the class James groaned once more. "Professor Smyth is definitely going to give us detention for this." Sirius only nodded in agreement, his thoughts once more completely occupied with Circe Bloom.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter ... things are really starting to heat up and in the next couple chapters - wait! guess you'll have to read to find out :P ... Thanks very much for the reviews!! They mean so much :D