the correct chapter two.
please inform me of other typos/formatting issues/any mistakes.

"Sirius."

There was no reply.

"Sirius."

There was still no answer.

"SIRIUS!"

Sirius jumped. "What the hell?" he shouted, turning around and facing James. "I'm right here. There is no need TO SHOUT!"

"Well, I called your name about a million times, and I received no answer!" James exclaimed. "You were to busy looking across the hall at Hope's arse.

"I— What the hell? No I wasn't," Sirius complained. He put his fork into his eggs and began eating breakfast.

James laughed to himself and said, "so, what did you two get up to last night? I saw you go into one of the rooms."

Sirius choked on his bacon. "You did?" he whispered.

James made a face. "Yes… Was I not supposed to? I was going to congratulate you for finally winning her over, but apparently…" he trailed off. "Are you going to explain to me why this is a problem?"

Sirius looked around."You did not see us go into that room," Sirius said. "Do you understand that?"

"Yes master," James replied in a monotone. "I did not see you go into a room with Hope Dunc—" Sirius covered James's mouth. "Ok," said James, muffled. Sirius removed his hand. "What did you and Hope not do in there?"

Sirius sighed. "Nothing happened," Sirius said. "Nothing serious, anyway."

"So…" said James. "Why are we not allowed to talk about it?"

"Um," said Sirius. "Well, uh…"

"Hello, Hope!" said James loudly and a little over-enthusiastically.

Sirius looked up. Sure enough, there was Hope and Lily walking over. Hope was examining the floor, while Lily was looking up and stifling a yawn.

"'Morning, ladies," said James as Lily sat next to him and Hope sat across from him. "May I offer you some toast?"

"Yes you may," said Lily, taking some of the plate. James leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "Tired, Dear?" he asked.

Lily smiled. "Very much so," she replied.

Hope sat there avoiding eye contact with Sirius, who was sitting across from her on the other side of James.

James looked at her. "Wow, Hope. You look exhausted. What time were you up 'til?"

Sirius shot James a nasty look.

Hope looked up at James, reading his face to see what he meant by the question. After a few moments, she answered, "I went back to the dorms a little while after Lily. And I think you know how long she was up." Hope looked at Lily and gave her a discreet smile to show she meant no harm by it.

Remus sat down. He around at everyone's awkward faces. "Ok, what's going on?"

"Nothing," everyone replied in unison.

"I'm done," said Sirius at the same time Hope said, "I'm not hungry."

The two blushed and walked away.

Lily sighed. "Those two are so meant for each other," said Lily.

"I'll talk to him," he said.

"And I'll talk to her," replied Lily.

0o0o0

"Hey," said James.

Sirius looked up. He was in the common room. It was around seven, or 'rush hour' as the Gryffindors called it, the part of the evening where everyone in Gryffindor is in the common room.

"Hey," replied Sirius, looking up.

James sat down of the sofa in front of the fireplace with Sirius. He looked the direction Sirius was gazing in. James grinned. "Please admit it," said James, smiling.

"Admit what?" said Sirius, who was gazing intently at Hope who was across the room laughing with Lily.

"You want to forget that it happened because when you kissed her you actually felt something other than her body."

Sirius looked over at his best friend. "Nice way to put it."

"So you agree?" asked James.

Sirius sighed and went back to watching her. "I don't know, man. I've always thought she was ok, you know? She's good looking and nice and all, but it turns out she…. she actually has feelings for me. Like, real ones. Not just, 'oh Sirius, you're so fine,' feelings."

"And that is a very bad thing," said James, confused.

"It's just… After she left I was like, confused. I've fancied girls before, right? But most relationships I've had were feeling-free and no strings attached."

"I see," said James.

"I see," said Lily across the room. She was talking to Hope and had finally wormed out of her what had really happened the previous night.

"Yeah," said Hope. "So he knows now that I've liked him, which is extremely embarrassing. He probably won't talk to me ever again, now that he can say that he's snogged me." She sighed. "But I don't think he knew that every time he asked me out it tormented me because I knew I had to say no."

Lilly nodded. "I think he might come around," said Lily. "I did for James. Maybe he will for you."

"Maybe," said Hope.

The next morning, Lily woke Hope up at seven.

"Ug!" cried Hope.

"Come on! I want to go for a run before school starts." Lily said.

Hope rolled out of bed. "But Lily," she whined.

Lily walked across the landing in her pajamas to the boy's dorms.

Hope trudged along. 'What're you doing?" she yawned.

"I need to steal a sweatshirt from James," whispered Lily as she opened the door. Hope followed her in. "You'll wake them all up," she whined. "I doubt it. These lads are deep sleepers.

Meanwhile, Sirius, who hadn't had a good night's sleep, rolled over in his bed. His eyes opened as he heard voices in the dorm… Female voices! He stuck his head out the curtain of his four-poster bed and his eyes widened.

Lily was bent over digging through James's stuff and looking for a sweatshirt. He had a good view of her butt. But next to her was Hope, wearing loose pajama pants that were rolled down very low and a tight tank tom that came up rather high. She was yawning and stretching; her arms were way up in the air.

"Wow," said Sirius.

Hope turned and let out a small scream. Lily stood up, a big navy sweatshirt in her hand. "What?" then she saw Sirius.

"Sirius!" said Hope. "I'm barely wearing—"

"You're wearing what every other girl wears except you look much better in it," he said, grinning. "You should be comfortable with your body, Hopeful."

"Uh oh. We don't' want to start a war, here," said Lily. "Come on Hope, let's—"

"Lily?" muttered a groggy voice. Lily turned. James was standing up, rubbing his eyes. "What're you—doing—here?" he yawned.

"Oh, just borrowing a sweatshirt," she said conversationally. "Oh, and I like your boxers, James. They're cute."

James smiled and funny, sleepy grin.

"Ok, well, we'll be going now," said Hope, pulling Lily by the arm before Lily changed her mind about running and stayed here instead.

"What's goin' on?" asked Remus, sitting up and opening his curtains. He was wearing boxers and an undershirt.

Hope dropped Lily's arm and they both stared at Remus.

James and Sirius noticed and both started complaining.

"Hey, put a better shirt on," said James at the same time Sirius said, "what're you looking at?" to Hope.

Hope smiled. "Wow, Remus. You are…"

"Toned?" suggested Lily.

"Strapping," said Hope.

"Ok, enough," said Sirius, disgusted by the look of smugness on Remus's face. He stood up and put a hand on each of the girls' shoulder and pushed them out. "Bye-bye. Feel free to come back when it's only me in the room." And he closed the door.

Hope and Lily stood still on the landing.

"Wow," said Lily.

"Yep," said Hope. They turned to each other and grinned.

"That was so the best place in the world," said Lily.

"Did you see Remus? Wow, man. I didn't know…" she trailed on and on, and the tow girls had a rather fun time discussing the event as they jogged around the school.

0o0o0

Sirius was having a problem— he had been thinking about Hope all week. Never, ever a good sign. Sirius had always been the guy who believed in 'friends with benefits.' But friends with benefits meant no devotion to one single person. And Sirius did not want anyone else to be 'friends' with Hope. It's not like he could say that, though, because it'd ruin his rep. These feelings were really freaking him out.

James and Sirius were walking down the corridor when Hope stepped out of a classroom. James was talking about the Quidditch match that had taken place yesterday, when he noticed that Sirius was watching Hope. For about the twentieth time that week.

"Hope!" James shouted suddenly.

Sirius's eyes widened. "What the Hell are you doing?" he whispered urgently.

Hope turned her head to see James waving at her.

"Hope!" he said again, until she walked over. "Hey, Hope," James said. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," she said. "What about you?"

James shrugged. Sirius, meanwhile, was finding the ceiling very interesting.

"So, did you see the game yesterday?" he asked Hope.

"Yep. You guys were great."

James shrugged. "I can't take all the credit. After all, Sirius did pretty ok, too. Didn't he?"

Hope looked at Sirius, who glanced up. "Hi," he said stupidly.

She smiled awkwardly. "Yes. Sirius did very well."

"He's an excellent beater, isn't he?" James said.

Hope bit her lip and looked away. "Don't push it, James."

"Push what?" asked James conversationally. "According to Sirius, I didn't see you two walk into a room alone together at all."

Sirius froze. Hope froze. In fact, the entire hallway froze, and looked at James.

"What?" he asked.

Sirius whacked him across the back of the head.

"Uhm," Hope stuttered. "I'm—I'm g-going to b-be late for c-class," she fumbled. "I've got to go."

Sirius glared at James.

"What?" James asked, shrugging.

"You moron!" Sirius whispered urgently as they walked away.

"Who, me?" asked James innocently.

Sirius sighed angrily and ran a hand through his hair. "I wasn't planning on telling anyone this," he said.

"Why?" asked James. "I don't get what the whole problem is. You like her. She likes you… right?" Sirius didn't answer. "So shouldn't everything be all happy-sappy now?"

Sirius bit his lip.

"Not that anyone care what I think," said Remus, walking up to them, " but in my opinion, it appears that Sirius has a fear of relationships. I think you should talk to her."

James and Sirius turned to Remus.

"How did you know about this?" asked James conversationally.

"I'm all-knowing," responded Remus with a shrug. "And anyway, you just announced it to the whole corridor."

"How could you suggest such a thing?" whispered Sirius urgently. "No man should have to… talk about his… his… feelings!"

Remus rolled his eyes. "If you keep living like that, you'll never get a woman."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "And how many girls have you been with, Moony?"

"Hey. The point is, they'll never stay with you. Every girl needs to know she's loved, mate. She needs to know that you care. Eventually, it comes up in every good relationship."

There was a pause.

"And that was Dr. Remus Lupin, not only chocolate lover, but relationship god and expert!" began James. "Stay tuned, because up nest we have that freaky little old lady that's an expert on se—"

Remus covered his mouth. "Eleven-year-olds in the building, Prongs."

"Right. Gotcha."

Sirius rubbed his neck uncomfortably. He had a nasty feeling that he was going to have to do the unthinkable.

0o0o0

"Um, Hope?" said Sirius awkwardly after dinner. Hope was waiting at the entrance to the Great Hall for Lily. She felt herself heat up a bit. Dammit, she thought. I'm probably turning red. Stupid hot boy.

"What's up, Sirius?" Hope said as relaxed and laid back and casual and completely and utterly calm as possible. Obviously, she wasn't any of those things.

"Hey, Hope!" said Sirius, trying to be his smooth, suave self. He leaned against the wall next to Hope. "I think that we need to have a discussion."

"Really? About what, Sirius," said Hope, smiling and looking at him pleasantly.

"Oh, you know. Just have a chat. Catch up with each other. The usual," he replied, equally as pleasant sounding. It was quite obvious that each was trying to pretend that it hadn't happened.

"Okay. What would you like to talk about?" I'm going to make him say it, thought Hope. Suddenly, however, a crowd of people started to come through the door.

"Would you care to carry this conversation on elsewhere?" asked Sirius kindly.

"Elsewhere as in a broom closet or an empty classroom?" asked Hope. "That is very cliché, you know."

Sirius nodded. "Indeed it is. Therefore we shall continue it over here." He walked over to a portrait of a fat wizard sitting in a chair, sleeping. He tapped the top of the frame three times with his wand, and then said, "open."

The fat wizard grunted and woke with a start, then the portrait opened to reveal a long dimly lit corridor.

Hope giggled. "How handy," she said. She followed him into the secret corridor. "Where does this lead to?" she asked curiously, forgetting to act overly-pleasant.

"I can't remember," Sirius said. 'I haven't used it in a while."

"Oh," said Hope. "How did you find it?"

Sirius grinned. "I am a man of many talents."

"You're no man. You're a boy at heart."

Sirius looked up at the ceiling. "Hope," he said. "Hope, Hope, Hope."

"Sirius," she replied.

There was a silence. "Well?" asked Hope.

"Well what?"

"What did you want to talk about?"

Sirius stared at her. "Ok. I'm not going to beat around the bush."

"Good."

"I'm going to be straightforward about it. "

"You should be."

"I'm just going to be blunt and say it."

"Swell."

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her choice of words. "OK. Well, Hope, the thing is, we snogged."

Hope couldn't suppress a smile.

"That we did, Sirius," she said, looking anywhere but his face so that he wouldn't see that she was laughing.

Sirius leaned up against the wall again. "Hopeful, dear, are you laughing at me?" he said, smiling.

She sniggered. "Nope."

He smiled again. "I think you are," he said.

Hope turned her back on him. "No I'm not. Proceed with the conversation."

Sirius smiled to himself. "Okay. Hope, you and I had a good snog last week—"

Hope sniggered again.

"Hopeful, look at me when I'm talking to you please," he said, and he was grinning now.

"No," said Hope bluntly.

"Yes."

"Fine." She turned looked at the floor, and had her tongue in her cheek as she tried not to laugh. Hope didn't know why she found this so funny, but she did.

"Okay," said Sirius. "Once again." he put his hand under her chin and lifted her face up so that she was looking at him. She took one look at him and the corner's of her mouth started to twitch as she fought cracking up. "Hope, last week, at night, you and I, the two of us, walked into a bedroom and snogged. Comprende? We need to talk about that." He was still getting the same response from her. "Hope? Do you understand what I'm saying?" he said. "Do you know what a snog is? Do I have to show you?" He was laughing now, because Hope's eyes were watering. "We made out! In a room! Alone! And it was a pretty good snog, too… But that's beside the point. The point is, we have barely spoken since! What does this mean for us?"

Hope looked him the eyes, and before she could stop herself, she cracked up laughing. "Can't—breathe—" she said. Her face was turning red and tears were in her eyes. She leaned her hand against the stone wall and tried to get some oxygen into her.

Sirius threw his arms up in despair. "Why is this so funny? I was all prepared to be serious and have a relationship talk, something that I can say I've never had to do before, and you— you're— you're rolling on the ground laughing!" he was laughing, too, at the sight of Hope.

"I'm— a nervous— laugher—" she sputtered. She tried to compose her self. "But —but think about it! We're— we're in a secret corridor— and you're on the verge— of telling me what a snog— is— because you don't think I can— understand—you!" She continued to laugh. "Okay," she said. "I'm okay." She stood up straight.

"Ok," said Sirius. He leaned against the wall again. Hope did the same.

"So," said Hope. "What're we going to do about it?"

"What do you want to do about it?" Sirius asked leaning in towards her a bit.

There was a pause. "You know, we're not very good at these relationship talks," said Hope.

"You're right," Sirius said, moving closer to her.

"I'm not good at being open about my feelings," said Hope, looking into his eyes, then at the rest of his face. "But you seem to be. Otherwise you wouldn't have such a reputation with the ladies."

"What if I told you that I've never actually really fancied any of those girl?" asked Sirius, looking back at her.

"I'd say… Well, I'd feel used."

"What if I told you that there was one girl that I couldn't get out of my bloody head for a week?"

"I'd feel cheated that you were thinking of some other girl while you were eating my face."

Sirius smiled again, that ever-so-charming natural smile, the one he smiled when he was actually happy, and not feeling mischievous. "What if I said that the girl whose face I was attached to happens to be the very same girl I can't stop thinking about?"

Hope felt her face get warm again.

"What if I told you that we're not really getting anywhere, because we keep satin 'what if I said,' and not actually saying it?"

Sirius took a moment to figure that out, and then leaned closer to her face, so that they were inches apart. "Well, I, like you, am not very open with my feelings?"

Hope laughed. "We really are bad at these kinds of talks. Maybe we should both agree that we both really, really fancy someone—"

"—maybe even love?"

Hope smiled. Her stomach did a somersault. "—Maybe even love someone one very, very much and can't stop thinking about him or her. And maybe we should skip the rest of the talking part and go straight to the… other part." She was speaking in barely a whisper.

Sirius smiled his charming smile. "You mean this part, Hopeful?" he said, and kissed deeply. He pulled her close t her and ran his hand up her back.

Hope put her arms around his neck an pressed herself closer to him. She pulled away, ever-so-slightly. "Yes, I meant his part."