Little bit of hot Gari/Sirius mush in this chapter. Woo!
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Remus hesitated before entering the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Rayven was next to him and noticed.
"What is it?" Rayven asked, putting a hand on his arm.
"Nothing," Remus shook his head.
"Not a fan of Professor Sigismund?" Rayven guessed, referring to their DADA teacher. Rayven wasn't so fond of the young teacher either.
"That's putting it nicely, Rae," Remus replied, grasping the handle of the door and pulling it opened. The door groaned as it let them into the classroom.
They took their assigned seats at the front of the room. Professor Sigismund was already seated at his ebony desk, writing furiously.
"He's probably already writing out detentions," Rayven whispered to Remus. "Stupid git."
Remus felt a smile tug at his lips, but it vanished when Professor Sigismund's normally sickeningly smooth voice cut into the air like a knife.
"Miss Lockley, no talking!" The Professor snapped.
"Class doesn't for another five minutes," Rayven argued.
"The moment that you step into this classroom, you are to be silent!" Professor Sigismund replied in a voice that said the argument was over. "Talk back to me again and I will give you a detention."
Remus hated Professor Sigismund with a vengeance. Sigismund was relatively young, only in his late twenties or early thirties. He reminded Remus of an older Sirius, only a Sirius that had been like the rest of his family. Sigismund had a technical and harsh handsomeness to him that made people hate him even more. His black hair was tied back at the nape of his neck with an onyx colored ribbon. He looked like he could be a vampire, with his pale skin and dark, haunted eyes.
Remus knew the hatred he had for Sigismund was a mutual feeling. Since the whole staff knew that Remus was a werewolf, Sigismund was fully aware of Remus' condition. Also, since Sigismund was an ignorant wanker, he hated Remus for being a monster once a month.
When Remus glanced at Rayven, he saw that she was glaring with hatred in her beautiful eyes at Sigismund.
After the rest of the class came in, Sigismund stood.
"Alright, everyone," Sigismund used his slimy teaching voice. "It's time to begin another," He glanced at Remus with a cold smile. "Wonderful year."
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Remus felt unbelievably relieved when it came time for lunch. Sigismund hadn't made any of his annoying, subtle remarks toward him today, but Remus knew that they were coming. He especially felt at peace walking with Rayven. He knew Rayven liked him and was attracted to him. Remus could hear her pulse quicken when he was in the room, he could feel her temperature rise, he could notice a slight flush to the cheeks, her pupils dilating. He noticed the little things, and it was tearing him apart.
He adored Rayven. But with his condition, Remus decided after the incident with Snape that it was never a good idea for someone to be near him. With the Marauders it was different; they had become animagus and could protect themselves. But with a lover, she would be completely defenseless. With his mind gone and the beast in control, Remus could kill her without a second thought. He wouldn't do that to the woman he loved.
"Did you just come from Sigismund's class?" Gari asked as Remus sat next to her at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.
"Is it that obvious?" He cast her a wry smile as he helped himself to some stew.
Rayven scowled. "I can't believe he yelled at me not thirty seconds into the class. In fact, class hadn't even started yet. Who the hell does he think he is?"
"The man just has this amazing ability to make twenty kids leave his class looking totally depressed," Lily added in mock admiration, while putting some green gelatin on her plate. "I'm so glad I took his N.E.W.T class last year, so I never have to see him again."
Rayven was about to respond, when Lily took a bite of the green gelatin and yelped, spitting it out.
"Lils, are you okay?" Gari asked, half laughing and half serious.
"Ugh! It tasted terrible," Lily wiped her tongue on her napkin and took a quick swig of pumpkin juice.
Rayven took in a sharp breath. "Oh, Merlin! Lily, look at your skin!"
Lily glanced down at her hands and gave a cry of horror. It looked as though she was turning green on the inside. Little veins of green began at her fingertips and then worked their way up her hands and arms.
"Lils, it's all over you," Gari looked at her friend in astonishment.
With another cry, Lily got up and ran for the hospital wing.
"Lord, what the hell was in that gelatin?" Rayven said, poking the gelatin with her fork. "Someone must have put a sort of hex on it."
"Who do you think did it?" Gari asked, but in the back of her mind she had a suspicion, and it made her stomach sink.
"Well, let's see," Rayven said sarcastically. "Which of the two biggest pranksters in school does not have a crush on Lily?"
"God, I don't believe him," Gari said, very much exasperated. "Look, I'll go find Sirius. Yell at him a bit, you know the drill."
Rayven and Remus nodded, so Gari got up and headed for the Gryffindor tower. When she reached the common room however, it was empty.
"Sirius!" Gari called for him, but no one answered. She muttered under her breath, "Bloody hell."
She moved through the Gryffindor wing, occasionally calling his name.
"Sirius!"
"You called, love?"
Gari paused outside the prefect bathroom. "Sirius?"
"Yeah?" Sirius' voice came from inside.
"Sirius, that's the prefect bathroom," Gari put her hands on her hips and leaned against the wall outside.
"Yeah, I know," Sirius replied, sounding rather relaxed. "James gave me the password. You know, I could live in here. These baths are so nice."
"I'll take your word for it," Gari replied, rolling her eyes.
"You're more than welcome to come and join me," Sirius replied, and Gari was positive that he was smirking.
"Listen, did you do something to the gelatin that was on the table at lunch today?" Gari asked, ignoring his previous remark.
"Haven't been in the hall all day, love," Sirius called back to her.
"Sirius, I've known you long enough to know that you don't need to be somewhere for your prank to take place there," Gari retorted, waiting for a response.
"Out of curiosity, what did this gelatin do?" Sirius asked.
"It turned Lily's skin green."
There was a pause. Then, Gari heard Sirius laughing on the other side of the door.
"Sirius, it isn't funny!" Gari called harshly to him. "I've never seen Lily look so horrified. I swear, if you had something to do with this, I'm never even looking at you again."
There was another long pause. "Look, I wouldn't do that to Lily."
"Right, because you don't hate or tease Lily ever," Gari replied sarcastically, rubbing her temples.
"I don't hurt you," Gari could hear a bit of impatience in his voice. "I've told you that before."
Gari sighed. She believed him.
"Look, there's no one else in here, and I'm decent, so come in," Sirius called to her.
Before she could think, Gari found her body moving of its own accord through the door and into the bathroom. The room was permeated with hot moisture from Sirius' bath and traces of the sweet smelling bath oils lingered in the air. Sirius had his back toward her and he had a towel wrapped around his waist. Droplets of water moved down his back and disappeared beneath his towel. Gari licked her suddenly dry lips as she saw a black tattoo of a phoenix on his right shoulder blade.
"This is decent?" Gari managed to ask him, finding her own voice lower and rougher than usual.
He turned towards her with a smirk, and Gari immediately felt her face heat up. She had noticed the nice, sleek muscles of his back before, but the front of him was…extremely nice. He was all tanned skin and smooth muscle, except for the defined muscles of his abdomen. The towel rode low on him, revealing a perfect hipbone. When Gari's eyes went up and down his arms, she noticed another intricate, black tattoo of a sort of wire winding around his bicep. She swallowed hard and reluctantly met his eyes.
"Like what you see, love?" He asked in a low purr, mischief dancing in his eyes.
Gari couldn't respond. This was wrong. She tried to keep thinking that as Sirius moved towards her.
"Sirius," Gari murmured as he reached out and his fingertips gently caressed her jaw. "We said we'd go slow."
Sirius just nodded and moved his fingertips over her lips and then down the side of her throat, drawing a shudder from her.
"Sirius," Gari protested weakly, his fingers continuing their journey down her arm until they leapt over to her waist.
"Just a kiss, love," Sirius murmured, his full lips hovering over her own. His grip tightening on her waist and pulled her against him. She felt the moisture on his chest seep into her shirt, cooling her heated skin.
After what seemed like an eternity, he brushed his lips gently over hers, just to give her a taste. When she didn't protest, he kissed her a little more firmly, but still achingly gentle. He wanted her to be the one to initiate a more passionate kiss, so until then he teased her with light, feathery kisses. He heard her groan in frustration, and he could help but smile a little. When she felt his lips turn up against hers, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hard in frustration. Her mouth opened against his, and he needed no further invitation. He parted his lips against hers and ran his tongue along her lower lip, enticing a moan from deep in her throat.
Her right hand fluttered up and down his back, caressing the tattoos and occasional scar. Her left massaged the nape of his neck and moved up to revel in the softness of his dark curls. Sirius' hands were busy caressing her cheek and stroking her brown curls. After a few moments, his kisses became more desperate and hungry, starving for love that he'd been denied for so long. The kiss winded down after a while, and Gari took in needed gulps of air when they broke apart. Sirius smiled a little and tucked a stray curl behind her ear, taking in the sight of her glassy eyes and parted swollen lips.
"Well, that went relatively slow," Sirius told her, letting his hand linger on her cheek.
Gari laughed softly and smiled a little. "So you really didn't do anything to Lily's gelatin?"
Sirius threw his hands up in mock exasperation. "No! Do you have any idea how badly beaten I would get if I did anything to Lily? James would kill me in an unpleasant way."
Gari nodded. "Okay." She suddenly registered the face that Sirius was still in just a towel and she turned bright red. "Um…I should probably let you get dressed."
Sirius nodded and flashed a cheeky grin, rolling his tongue on his teeth. "You can watch if you like."
If possible, Gari blushed even more furiously. "I'll see you later, Sirius."
When she left, Sirius picked up his clothing. As he dressed, he smiled and contemplated the puzzle of a girl that was Gari Bennett.
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::turns on fan for readers::
a/n- the prank on Lily was not just an excuse to jumpstart Gari and Sirius' relationship (but it sure worked ;) lol) and it will play a part in the rest of the story.