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Sirius found Gari in the Gryffindor common room later in the afternoon, doing her homework from her morning classes in one of the huge chairs near the fire. Sirius unconsciously swallowed and felt his palms start to sweat slightly.

'Well, this is new,' Sirius thought, mentally checking his nervousness.

Sirius had never been ill at ease around girls. They came as naturally to him as transfiguration or charms did, only a little more so.

'Yeah, but you've never been such a prat to one before,' The good side of Sirius' mind reminded him. 'You've never had to grovel for forgiveness before. The girls have always come to you.'

Swallowing his pride, he walked farther into the room and sat in a chair across from her.

"Gari," Sirius greeted her, giving a somewhat subdued smile.

Gari glanced up at him, and began to put away her papers and books into her bag to give him her undivided attention. "Sirius."

"Listen, about what I said this morning," Sirius rubbed the back of his neck and raised his head to meet her soft gaze. "I'm sorry."

"Why?" Gari asked.

"Because…" Sirius paused and swallowed. "Because I hurt you. And…and I don't ever want to do that."

Gari just shook her head. "Sirius, I would love to believe you. Really, I would. But it's hard to hear this from the boy that everyone knows has snogged or shagged every girl in our year." Gari paused. "With the exception of Lily, Rayven, and me."

Sirius looked at the floor. "Well…"

Gari looked shocked. "You and Lily?"

"No!" Sirius held his hands up in defense. "No, just…well, in fourth year I ran into Rayven late at the astronomy tower. One thing led to another, and…we…er, snogged."

"Uh huh," Gari said absent-mindedly, still too stunned to reply. "Sirius, this isn't helping you very much by telling me this."

Sirius shrugged. "I just want to be honest with you."

Gari sighed and rubbed her temples. "Why me, Sirius? What's so fascinating about me?

"Have you seen you?" Sirius asked bluntly, smiling when he successfully got Gari to blush.

"Sirius, you know what I meant," Gari said, trying to will away the flushed look she had on.

"I…don't know," Sirius admitted. "I just know that I like being around you. I love the banter. I love the way you fight me every inch of the way." Off of Gari's look, he continued, "I don't know. I just like the way we are together."

Gari met his sapphire eyes and saw a flash of something genuine, something true.

'He really is horribly good-looking,' Gari thought reluctantly.

His dark hair was just the right sort of curly, enough so that it hung gracefully in his eyes a little, and that it came down to the nape of his neck. His eyes were the most beautiful shade of blue she'd ever seen, and they were framed by elegant, dark lashes. His high cheekbones and sensual lips revealed his aristocratic heritage

"Gari?" Sirius' voice broke her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah?" Gari shook her head. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"So, do you think you might want to give us a chance?" He gave a sad puppy look, and he looked so adorable that Gari responded unconsciously.

"Yes," Gari replied. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Sirius let out the breath he'd been holding. "Okay." He paused for a second. "Listen, I was going to go down to the kitchens to nick some food. Do you want to come?"

Gari nodded. "Behind the fruit painting?"

When he nodded, they started to walk toward the common room exit, but then Gari turned to him again and gave him a slightly suspicious look.

"Do you do this with all the girls you ask out?" Gari asked as they moved through the portrait hole.

Sirius flashed her a cheeky grin. "Yeah, I seduce girls with pastries. It's my specialty."

Rolling her eyes, but in a friendly manner, Gari started down the hallway toward the kitchens.

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"Let me get this straight," Lily started to say to James. The two had run into each other in the library, and James had pulled her aside. "You want to go to the Headmaster to ask him to throw a huge Halloween dance?"

James smiled. "Yeah, why not? We never have any dances here, just banquets and all that. A change might be good."

Lily considered it for a moment. She was about to refuse, but then she thought of Gideon. She could go with him!

Lily nodded and smiled. "Alright, James. We can go tomorrow to ask Professor Dumbledore."

"Fantastic," James grinned. "Are you going back to the Head tower?" Lily nodded, and James quickly added, "Me too; I'll walk with you."

They were half way to the tower, occasionally talking to each other, when they ran into several of James' least favorite people. Lucius, Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Rodolphus Lestrange sneered at James and Lily. James resisted the urge to trip Lucius Malfoy as he passed, but Lucius couldn't help but provoke James.

"Potter!" Malfoy called after James, and reluctantly, James turned.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" James tried to keep his tone neutral, finding it extremely difficult.

Lucius shrugged and smirked a little. "I just couldn't resist commenting on how…adorable the two of you look together."

James didn't know where this was going, so he just nodded, and said sarcastically, "Thanks, Lucius." He turned to leave, but Lucius tossed another comment at him:

"Yes, I always knew you and a mudblood would be meant for each other."

James stopped dead. He glanced at Lily, who was shaking her head.

"James, just ignore him, please," Lily whispered, with pleading in her voice. "Please, don't-"

But James was already halfway to Lucius. Instead of pulling his wand out, like Lucius would have expected, James punched him right in the jaw. The blow sent Lucius reeling, to the floor, and Narcissa gasped in shock.

"James, stop!" Lily tried to get his attention.

James kneeled next to Lucius on the ground and punched him again, this time on the nose.

"Lily, what the hell is he doing?"

Lily turned and let out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was Sirius with Gari next to him.

"He, er, snapped," Lily told Sirius, who did not look at all concerned for James.

On the contrary, he looked rather amused. Lily looked from where James was still punching Lucius, with Lucius fighting right back at him, back to Sirius helplessly.

"Sirius, can't you stop him?" Lily grabbed Sirius' arm and made him look at her.

Sirius shrugged with smile. "If I wanted too, I suppose."

Oh, if looks could kill.

Sirius threw his hands up in defense. "Alright, alright, I'll stop him."

Sirius managed to reach James through the gathering crowd in the corridor and grabbed his friend by the shoulders.

"Come on, mate," Sirius said to him, struggling to hold on to James. "Don't worry, he got what he deserved. He's not so pretty anymore."

James nodded, still fuming and panting. One of his glasses' lenses was broken, and he had a cut on his lip. Lucius, however, looked worse by far. Narcissa was currently tending to him, throwing dirty looks at James every once in a while.

"What the devil is going on here!?"

All of the students turned at the sound of the shrill voice. Professor McGonagall, Professor Stiffien, and Professor Flitwick stood in front of the students. Flitwick looked shocked, McGonagall livid. Professor Stiffien, however, glanced from Lucius to James curiously, as though going over what could have happened in her mind. Professor McGonagall quickly grabbed James to make him look at her.

"MISTER POTTER, YOU ARE HEAD BOY! YOU SHOULD NOT BE FIGHTING IN THE CORRIDORS OR ANYWHERE FOR THAT MATTER!" It was rather frightening, really. Professor McGonagall was as pale as a ghost, but her eyes were bulging.

Lucius Malfoy made a move to try and run for it, but McGonagall grabbed him with her other hand.

"AND YOU, MISTER MALFOY! HOW DARE YOU FIGHT IN THIS SCHOOL? YOUR FATHER WILL BE HEARING OF THIS! MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT THAT!"

"Professor?" Lily's rather tentative voice broke into McGonagall's tirade. "Please, James was only mad because Lucius called me a-"

"MISS EVANS DO NOT DEFEND HIM!"

"Minerva," Professor Stiffien interrupted. "I know James rather well." She cast a look of dislike at Lucius. "And Lucius too, for that matter, and I don't think James would have fought without," She glanced at Lucius again. "Provoking."

"Mary, I don't care if he was provoked! Look at both of them! Fighting is not acceptable under any circumstances," Professor McGonagall did not ease her hold on either of the boys.

"I agree, Minerva, of course," Professor Stiffien said calmly. "But I would recommend that you take into consideration the records of both these boys before you administer punishment."

Still fuming, Professor McGonagall nodded and released the boys. "Both of you will go to your common rooms. You will stay there until instructed to do otherwise. Potter, I will decide your punishment soon. Malfoy, I will talk to Professor Sigismund this evening. He will decide your punishment." She turned to address the others. "You should all move along to your houses. Good night."

As the Professors left, James glanced at Lily and caught her eye. She didn't look happy, but she didn't look disappointed in him either.

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a/n- Professor Sigismund is the DADA teacher in my story, as well as head of Slytherin house. I think you'll…enjoy him. Mwahaha... insert evil look here