The common room was virtually empty since most of the students were taking advantage of the nice weather and had elected to spend their time outside. Most of the students inside were ones in fifth and seventh year and they were all frantically studying for the upcoming OWLs and NEWTs. But there were a sparse number of students who were just enjoying the empty Gryffindor Tower as a rare event.

Sirius had originally been planning on going to sit by the lake with his girlfriend of the week, Fiona Davis. But as he had been about to leave the common room to meet her he had overheard Circe and James deciding to play a came of Wizards Chess and had turned right back around and sat down with them. In the back of his mind he knew that Fiona would be furious with him, but he couldn't bring himself to pass up an opportunity to admire Circe.

Sirius leaned back on the couch where he sat next to James and across from Circe and smiled as he watched her scowl at the board as she suffered a bitter defeat.

"HA!" James jumped up from his seat and then sat back down. He looked at Circe with smug satisfaction and she glowered back playfully. "I beat you Bloom."

She clapped sarcastically, "I won the first game. It's a tie then."

"Can't have that." James said seriously as he used his wand to repair a piece and set the board back up. "Best two out of three then. Winner of this game is the undisputed champion and all that."

"Here, here!" Sirius said, as he swept his hair off his face with a casual elegance. Circe smiled at him sweetly before turning her attention to her game.

He had been greatly confused with her lately. It had been two weeks since they had slept together and she had not said a thing to him about it. Hadn't even hinted about it, instead, she had gone on as if nothing had happened. They stopped their Quidditch practices and she never hung around him unless other friends were present. He had tried to bring it up once but she had brushed him off. She didn't seem to want to talk about it all, but she didn't seem mad at him either. In fact, she continued to be friendly to him; if not overly friendly at times which had originally caused him to think that they would now start dating. But when he had seen her with Seamus, he realized that was not the case because they were still together. So he had started seeing Fiona.

His dating Fiona had brought about another confusing aspect to his relationship with Circe. She had been angry with him when she had originally found out, but after a day of ignoring him completely things had gone back to 'normal'. He didn't know what to make of anything anymore, and all he knew was that the more time he spent around Circe, the more he wanted to be with her. And it wasn't just sexual; he was convinced that he was in love with her. Absolutely and completely in love with her.

Sirius was brought from his musings by Circe's voice. "Bloody hell!" Circe grimaced as her king was shattered by James's bishop. He laughed as she glared at James.

"Say it with me Bloom, 'James Potter is the undisputed champion.'" She rolled her eyes as James put away the chess board.

"In your dreams Potter." Circe brushed a piece of a pawn off her jeans.

"Don't worry," James said as he stood up, holding his chess board. "Even though you won't say it, I know that you accept me as your superior." Both Circe and Sirius laughed at James as he glared down at them. He paused to let them finish laughing and then said, "Well, I'm off then."

"Off where?" Sirius asked eyeing James suspiciously.

James wrinkled his nose in displeasure, "I promised Wormtail I'd help him with his Transfiguration homework. I'm going to meet him in the library."

"Why not just do it in here?" Sirius asked James, knowing there was something he wasn't telling him.

"Lily's in the library." Circe filled in the blank, an amused expression on her face. Sirius muttered "oh" and James feigned a look of surprise.

"Evans? In the library? On a day like this?" He gestured outside and then smiled widely. "I better get going ... to see Wormtail you know. Catch you two later."

He was gone from the common room within seconds and Sirius began to feel slightly uncomfortable. Without the company of James, he and Circe sat alone in the corner by the window. It was the first time he had been alone with her in two weeks ...

Circe swept her bangs from her eyes, leaning forward in her chair and crossing her legs as she smiled at him. "Hi," She said shyly.

"Hi." Sirius whispered back, his heart beat speeding up. He cursed himself for being so nervous around her all the time. He wished that James was still there to make it more comfortable, but at the same time was ecstatic that he was finally alone with her.

"So ..." Circe said, fingering the table cloth that covered the table in between them. "What do you want to do?"

Sirius lifted an eyebrow. Somehow, he doubted that she would want to do what he wanted to do. He tried to think of an activity they could do that wouldn't give him the opportunity to think about how good it had been ...

An idea entered his head and he spoke without thinking, "Want to go upstairs?" Circe looked up at him completely flustered and she flushed. He mentally kicked himself, hard. That had definitely come out wrong. "Umm ... that's not what I ... I wasn't referring to ... that came out wrong." He finished lamely, blushing, once again asking himself the question, why her?

"Black?" She asked when he didn't say anything. She looked at him apprehensively.

He looked up into her eyes and was jarred by the intensity of her gaze. What was she thinking? He wanted more than anything to know. "What I meant was that we could go upstairs to hang out with Finn and Moony."

Comprehension dawned on her and she smiled slightly. "I was wondering where Ri had gone."

He waited a moment for her to say something else and when she didn't he spoke again. "So, do you want to go?"

"You're sure they're in there?" She asked, blushing slightly. He thought again about being with her and shifted in his seat. He wouldn't have minded at all if Adriana and Remus weren't in the room.

But there was no way she would have agreed to being in a bedroom alone with him. Not after what had happened.

"Where else would they be?"

She seemed to think about this a moment and then looked at him and smiled. "Alright... but if they're not we're coming right back down."

"Deal." Sirius stood up and walked towards the boys' dormitory, pausing at the entrance to wait for Circe who had taken her time. When she reached the entrance he gestured for her to go first. She looked at him skeptically over her shoulder and together they walked in silence until they reached the sixth years' boys' dorm room.

She paused to knock outside the door but Sirius, with a sneaky smile on his face made his way past her and opened the door.

And sure enough, there, lying on Remus's bed was Remus and Adriana. Adriana smiled at them as they entered the room but Remus just stared. Both looked extremely guilty.

"Hey!" Sirius said friendlily as he walked over and took a seat on his own bed. "We thought we'd join you guys in here, hope you don't mind."

Remus shot him a look that said he did indeed mind, but Sirius just smiled back at him. Circe, after the eyeing the room, decided to follow Sirius and took a seat next to him on his bed. When she sat down her leg and arm were pressed against him and a he shivered slightly. He moved his arm so that his hand rested on the bed behind her.

"So ..." Sirius began, trying to break the silence.

"What were you two up to?" Adriana asked, casting a look at Circe. Circe nodded so slightly that it was barely noticeable and Adriana raised an eyebrow. Sirius was once again amazed at the almost telepathic communications the girls seemed capable of.

"We were playing chess." Circe said simply. She did not mention James which Sirius found odd. He stopped himself from reading too much into it. "Then we decided to come and visit you guys."

"Right." Remus said, and cleared his throat. "Great." He shifted slightly and put his arm around Adriana who giggled.

Another silence followed and it was once again Sirius who broke it. "So Finn, what're you doing for the summer?"

Adriana shrugged "Not sure yet. You?"

Sirius started to answer as Circe moved slightly, leaning against his arm that was behind her. She turned her face to look at him and he didn't speak for a second, captivated by her beautiful eyes. But when he realized that both Remus and Adriana were looking at him, both seemingly about to laugh at the oddly flustered Sirius – a sight that few had ever seen as he always managed to keep his cool around women – he cleared his throat and answered her question. "I'm living with the Potter's now, so Prongs and I will probably think of something cool to do."

He had moved out from his parent's house a while back and couldn't wait for summer vacation at James's house. "You two will be up to a lot of mischief, no doubt." Circe smiled at him.

"I feel sorry for Mr. and Mrs. Potter." Remus joked. "Not only do they have to deal with Prongs, but they'll be left to keep you out of trouble too."

Adriana laughed. They all continued to talk about summer vacation and the upcoming exams for a good half-an-hour when James suddenly burst into the room, looking absolutely furious. He flopped angrily onto his bed before noticing that anyone was in the room. He mumbled a quick "hello" and then lay down disgruntled.

"Alright there Prongs?" Remus asked.

"Peachy." James replied.

Adriana and Circe exchanged a look and both smiled at a silent joke that only they knew.

"Everything went well in the library then?" Sirius asked, suppressing a smirk.

James grunted and Circe snickered. James sat up at scowled at her. "What are you laughing at?"

Rather than answering his question, Circe asked one of her own. "Is Lily still down there?"

Comprehension dawned on Remus and he grinned, at Sirius who started to laugh, his arm tightening a bit around Circe's waist. James's scowl deepened. "I wouldn't know."

Everybody laughed and James flopped back down on his bed, muttering insults at them under his breath. Remus whispered something in Adriana's ear and they both stood up. "We'll see you guys at dinner." Remus said taking Adriana's hands as the two left the room.

Sirius turned his attention to Circe. Her cheeks were flushed from laughter and her lips were curved in a cute smile. She noticed him looking at her and turned her face slightly so that their eyes met. "Hi," she mouthed, without any sound coming out.

"Hi," he whispered back. They sat there in an odd silence for a bit. Not quite comfortable because of the rapid beating of his heart, but not exactly uncomfortable either.

Sirius looked away from Circe when he heard James moving. He mumbled something that sounded like "I'm going to find Peter" and left the room, leaving Circe and Sirius all alone.

Reluctant to have another silence take over, Sirius opened his mouth to speak but was stopped when Circe kissed him. His surprise didn't last long and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her so that she half- sat on his lap.

She broke away from his mouth and took in a deep breath as he trailed kisses down the side of her neck, nuzzling the part where her neck joined her shoulder. He pulled his mouth away, and looked into her eyes, trying to figure out what she was thinking. He was incredibly aroused, and amazed at what a short time it had taken.

She closed her eyes and took in another deep breath. "Black ..."

Sirius flinched, knowing that she was going to tell him off. He waited on baited breath for her to finish speaking. When she didn't he pushed her gently away and stood up, walking over to stand close to the window, watching the students below.

"This is weird, isn't it?" Circe asked him and he turned around to look at her. Sirius shrugged and she continued speaking, "We've been friends for a long time and now its like-"

"You kissed me," he reminded her speaking softly, his stomach twisting in knots. He was dreading what she was about to say, but at the same time he wanted to hear her out in case it wasn't just another rejection.

"I know." She sighed and leaned back onto his bed, her legs hanging off over the edge. "I'm not complaining. I like kissing you." Circe seemed upset by her own words.

Sirius mouth dropped and he was sure he looked incredibly stupid. What exactly was she saying? He waited for her to continue.

"It's just so confusing, you know? We've been friends for years and now it seems that every time we're alone we go at it like rabbits." He barked a laugh and looked back out the window. "But then there is Seamus ... and Fiona" she mentioned Fiona's name with a tinge of bitterness marring her voice, but her bringing up Seamus felt like a blow and Sirius blinked several times, trying to get the look of pain from his eyes. "What are we going to do?"

He shrugged even though she couldn't see him. "What do you want to do?" He whispered and held his breath, waiting for an answer. He was past the point of caring if she knew how he felt, all he wanted lately was her and until he got her, nothing was going to change that.

"I dunno." She sat back up on the bed and looked at him, her brow and lips tugged into a frown. "I don't want to leave Seamus, but-"

"But what?" He interrupted, sounding angry. And for the first time in his life, Sirius felt horrible for every girl he had ever strung along or used. He didn't enjoy the feeling and vowed that he would never again treat anybody this way.

"But I like you" Circe breathed the words and she looked like she wanted to cry or scream or both. He ran a hand through his hair.

"OK" was all that he could manage. What else could he have said? There was no point in saying that he loved her, she had to already know that. "Well," he exhaled loudly. "Whatever you decide to do about it, it's up to you. But I'd really appreciate if you figured it out soon." With that said he started walking towards the door but Circe jumped up from the bed and grabbed his arm, stopping him.

Sirius looked over at her and when their eyes met he felt his heart stop for a moment. He realized that it was his curse that he loved her and that for as long as he lived he would never stop. And then Circe leaned up on her tip-toes and kissed him, tugging slightly on his bottom lip. He groaned and once again pulled her close to him, feeling himself get hot at being so close to her.

She pulled her lips away, still letting him hold her and draping her own arms around his neck. "What if ... what if we just sort of ... we could just figure things out as they happen, you know?"

He had no clue what she meant, but nodded any way. She smiled at him and he brought his head down, kissing the corner of her mouth and then kissing her lips. He tried to bring her even closer to him and couldn't think as he felt her run her hand through his hair.

He wanted her so much that he couldn't stand it. And he loved her more than that.

A/N: Two updates in one sitting! I'm so proud :P ... hope you liked this one!