The Quidditch training sessions continued over the next month with Circe and Sirius meeting on the pitch two days a week and continuing training after practices every few days. Each session was torture for Sirius, the closer he got to Circe the more he wanted her. The more he loved her.

Of course, during this time Circe continued to date Seamus which drove Sirius completely mad. So mad, in fact, that he was seriously considering taking Fiona up on her offer and dating her. After all, very uncharacteristically of Sirius, he had not dated a single girl all year. He had not dated a single girl since he saw Circe on the train.

Sirius had finally decided to take James's advice and back off when it came to Circe. He no longer tried to kiss her or handle her when they practiced. Instead, he always acted as the perfect friend, joking with her constantly. And while it killed him to love her from afar, he did it because it was the only way he would get her to realize he wasn't just after her for the superficial.

The training sessions were perfectly OK in terms of things the students were allowed to do during their spare time. However, Sirius and Circe often got over zealous in their time together and more times than not stayed over curfew outside. This forced them to have to sneak back up to Gryffindor tower, desperately trying to avoid Filch's notice as they couldn't bear another detention.

While they only got close to being caught three times, on the second time things changed forever. Now, whether this change was for the better or worse is something that Sirius contemplated often for the rest of his life.

Circe and Sirius were quietly making their way down a hallway they had never been before - the damn staircases had changed again, causing them to lose their way – when Circe saw the ominous swish of a tail.

"It's Filch's cat!" She whispered urgently.

It took a second for the full importance of what she had just said to penetrate Sirius, who had been dazedly staring at her lips. Thinking quickly he grabbed her by the hand and together they took off down the hallway. And even though he knew that he should be scared that Filch was on his way, all he could think about was Circe. How cute she looked when she got mad, how her lips looked when they formed sentences, how beautiful she was ... how much he wanted her -

Suddenly, almost out of nowhere appeared a wooden door. Circe and Sirius stopped and eyed it warily.

"Have you found me some trouble makers, Mrs. Norris?" Filch was coming closer.

Without another thought, Sirius opened the door and pulled Circe into the room, shutting the door behind them.

She was breathing hard and standing still, starring at the doorway. Sirius looked around the room, still not dropping her hand. This was, by far, the strangest room he had ever come across and the contents along with the girl he was with, caused his heart to slam against his chest. The room was lit entirely by candles with a lone vanilla-raspberry incense burning somewhere off to the side. A large bed was the most significant piece of furniture and was covered in red, satin sheets. Everything about this room screamed romantic and Sirius gulped hard. Wasn't this exactly what he had been imagining just a moment ago?

"Where are we?" Circe breathed, as she disentangled her hand from his and looked around, surveying the room as he had just done. "What room is this?" She moved from his side, towards the bed, looking around with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.

"I don't know ... I've never been in here before." Sirius realized belatedly that he was sweating. His hand trembled a bit as he ran it through his hair. Odd, he could never remember being this nervous around a girl before. Circe was now close to the bed as she continued her inspection and his heart beat faster, something he had not even thought possible.

"Should we hide out here for a bit? To make sure Filch is gone?" She questioned as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"Sure," he squeaked, then cleared his throat and tried again, "yeah, why not?"

Get a grip! He thought, mentally kicking himself for acting like a virgin who still thought that girls had cooties. Regaining the cool that he was so famous for, Sirius walked across the room and took a seat next to Circe on the bed. It dipped slightly under his weight and she was shifted into him.

An awkward silence took over as she looked around the room, determined to survey everything but him. Sirius stared at his hands.

After a minute had dragged on, Circe valiantly tried at conversation. "So ..." she failed miserably. Another awkward silence reigned.

This time they both tried at conversation at the same time. "How'd you do on that test?" "Everything going good with you?"

Both Circe and Sirius also chose that exact moment to turn and look at each other and their faces were so close together that their noses almost touched. Circe blushed and Sirius gulped. They sat there like that for a moment, when suddenly, acting on impulse, Sirius leaned forward and kissed her.

When their lips touched he felt as if he had a fever, his whole body getting suddenly very warm. She pulled back slightly, eyeing him warily. He leaned forward and kissed her again, this time opening her mouth with his own. She did not protest, in fact, she didn't do anything, just sat there.

Sirius shifted on the bed, causing her to slide closer to him, as he slid his hand into her hair, cupping her head as he deepened the kiss. His other hand clenched into a fist beside him as he was overcome by lust so bad that it nearly caused him to explode. And still, she did nothing.

Finally, Sirius pulled back, starring into her midnight eyes. As he watched her, she fidgeted uneasily underneath his gaze. And since he received no encouragement to continue, he took his hand from her hair and moved so that he sat farther away from her on the bed. "Sorry," he mumbled, feeling like a complete idiot.

She didn't say anything and he leaned back so that he half lay, half sat on the bed; he covered his eyes with his arm.

"Sirius," she began, her voice tinged with an emotion he had never heard from her before.

He cut her off, "Don't bother explaining. I understand, alright?" She had made it clear that she did not want him, wanted nothing more than friendship – and he was currently doing a great job making her not even want that anymore!

"Sirius," she said again, this time more forcibly, he removed his arm from his face and looked at her, shocked to see that she had leaned closer. "Kiss me again."

He was flabbergasted at her request. This was not at all what he had been expecting. Circe had been shooting him down for months, and now she had completely changed her tune. But Sirius didn't bother wasting these precious moments on thoughts about the complexity of the female mind. Instead, he obeyed her. After all, her wish was his command.

Circe leaned over him as he kissed her. He placed his hand on her waist and, with gentle pressure, got her to lie next to him on the bed. Their kisses grew more urgent as Sirius's blood boiled. He removed his lips from her mouth and began to kiss her neck, savoring the taste of her.

"I want you," he whispered in her ear as she trailed her hand up his chest, teasing him with feather light touches. "I want you so bad I can't stand it." Sirius's voice cracked as he fought off the urge to roll over on top of her. He tried to take it slow, desperate to not scare her off.

Circe shifted her head and lay back on the bed, starring up at him with her ocean blue eyes, a slight smile covering her lips. "Yeah?" She teased him, cupping his cheek with her hand as he touched her stomach beneath her shirt.

Sirius knew that if they didn't stop soon he would lose control. He let his need show in his eyes as he fixed his gaze on hers. "Circe ... if you want to stop you are going to have to tell me now. If it's not now, than I don't think I will be able to stop ..." He whispered the words urgently, needing her to know exactly how he felt.

If she had asked to stop, he would have. It would have killed him, but he would have done it. But she didn't. Instead, she leaned up kissed him, whispering against his lips as she did. "I want you too."

Circe and Sirius did not make it back up to the common room that night. And when they entered it the next morning, both looking suspiciously guilty, they answered the questions of their friends by telling the gist of it. Their story was that they had had to hide out in an empty classroom so that they wouldn't get caught by Filch. Nobody asked any more questions as this was an extremely reasonable excuse, and neither Sirius nor Circe spoke of the 'incident' again for a while.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and sorry for the long span between updates! I've been so busy with school .. gah! I am trying to get as much of this story done before I leave for the summer since I won't be able to update at all from July to the end of August... Well ... once again, thanks to my fabulous reviewers! Means a lot!!