Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 15

Nina stood alone in the Great Hall, completely stupefied. What on earth was that supposed to mean? Okay…whatever it is you're thinking, forget it. Don't be ridiculous, Nina. Sirius doesn't like you like that. He's just teasing you again, like he always does. It's just your imagination. Yeah, that's it…my imagination. That's what it probably is. Crap, what if it isn't? How do I know? I can't ask him or anyone else. I'm not going to say anything that will make me end up looking like a fool. I'll just have to pretend I didn't hear it. How am I supposed to do that though? Ahh! I hate him! Why does he have to drive me crazy like this? Why am I so mental? Oh, there he is, sitting in the common room with his friends. Damn, I wish he was ugly. Okay…just keep walking. Don't look at them. Go up the stairs and into the dorm. That's it. Don't look. Walk straight up. Go to bed. Maybe in the morning you'll realize how stupid you were and everything will be back to normal.


Oh shit. Did I just say that out loud? What was that supposed to mean? What am I trying to do? Sirius, you idiot, why did you say that? You don't fancy her, do you? No, of course not. She's just a friend. Like Sara and Lily. Right? Okay… maybe not exactly like them. Maybe it's just that I spend a lot more time with her, so I'm confusing some sort of weird platonic attraction for love. Love? Oh, hell no. Sirius doesn't love anyone…does he? Alright, get a grip of yourself. You're just thinking crazy now. But she's the one who's driving me crazy! Okay, just forget about it. Go to the common room. Oh look it's your friends. Just go sit with them and relax. Aah, this is better. Don't even think about Nina and what you just said to her. Shit! There she is walking into the common room. Uh oh. She doesn't look terribly cheery. She looks like she's concentrating really hard on something. Damn, what if it's because of what I said? Okay, if she doesn't look this way and wave or say hi then I know it's because of me. She's walking by...come on. Look this way. Please. Shit. She walked right by and ignored me. This is not good. I don't want things to be weird between us. What do I do? Alright, in the morning, I'm just going to pretend I didn't say anything, she'll think she was just being stupid as usual, and everything will be back to normal.


The next morning as Nina walked down to breakfast, her heart beating fast, she kept telling herself not to be stupid and that everything was just in her head. Her biggest fear was that Sirius would start to treat her differently. No matter what she really felt for him, she still loved having him as a friend. Her fears were soon abated when she heard a familiar "Oi, Nina!" coming from the table. She looked up and saw Sirius motion her to come and sit with him. Sara and Lily were already seated across him with Remus and James. When she came closer to him she gave him a quizzical smile and he frowned at her.

"Why are you so late?" he asked.

"What's it to you?" she replied as she sat down. She looked across and noticed that James and Lily were sitting next to reach other.

"So, Nina. You missed the big news." Sara said suddenly.

"What news? What happened?" Nina asked her.

"Oh, nothing." Lily said rolling her eyes and turning slightly pink.

"What do you mean nothing?" James asked offended.

"It's not a big deal, James." Lily said turning even pinker now.

"Well, it is for me," he said indignantly and then turned to Nina and said with a cocky grin, "Lily is going to the dance with yours truly!"

"Oh!" Nina exclaimed happily. "That's wicked."

"I know." James said with a sigh. "All these years, and she's finally succumbed to my charms." Lily rolled her eyes and tried not to smile.

"So I guess we're all gonna be hanging out together then." Nina said while starting to eat her toast.

"We are?" Sara asked, "Who are you going with?"

Nina pointed to Sirius who was leaning back in his chair trying very hardto look uninterested in the conversation.

James looked across at him suspiciously. "Why you sneaky little—" James muttered before Remus kicked him from under the table.

"Sirius, you asked Nina to the dance? That's so sweet!" Sara said smiling at him.

"No it's not." Nina said dryly. "He didn't even ask me."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked confusedly.

"Well, Big Brother over here didn't let anyone come near me. He got all crazy saying all these guys were after my stuff or something weird like that and then he said I was too stupid to go with anyone else. So he told me I had to go with him." Nina said unenthusiastically and Sirius nodded in agreement.

"What else was I supposed to do?" he said with mock concern.

"Aw, that's still sweet." Sara said.

"Yeah." James said a little more skeptically looking at Sirius, "Very sweet."

"Well, I don't really mind." Nina said casually. "At least I won't be going with someone I don't really know. It'll be more fun and relaxed. Especially since I know you're not after my stuff, right Sirius?"

Sirius looked at Nina wondering if maybe she was hinting at something. What is she trying to tell me? Does she know that I really am after her stuff? No, of course not. She's just kidding around, man. Relax. Play it cool. He grinned cockily and said, "Yeah, Nina. You wish I was."

Nina rolled her eyes at him as they all got up from the table to head to their classes. See, I told you it was just your stupid imagination, she told herself as they walked on. He was just being his joking self as usual. Besides, why would he even be interested in you? You're not his type. Nina frowned to herself as she, Sara, and Lily entered their Transfiguration class. She noticed that Sirius had been stopped in the corridor by a couple of girls. See, he isn't even your type. Since when did you ever like the popular ladies' man kind of guy?

Sirius walked into the Transfiguration classroom five minutes later than everyone else, looking for a seat with his friends. James pointed to the empty seat next to him and Sirius sat down. He eyed the rest of the room, trying to see where Nina was sitting. James gave him a nudge and pointed a few rows down to where she was. Sirius shrugged his shoulders at James in a way to say, "What?" James raised his eyebrow at Sirius.

"What are you trying to tell me?" Sirius whispered to him.

"Nina is sitting down there." James replied back.

"So?" Sirius asked him again, looking very confused.

"I dunno." James whispered back to him with a small grin tugging at his mouth. "I just thought maybe you were looking for her."

"No, I wasn't." Sirius said without returning a smile. James just shrugged at his friend, a grin still plastered onto his face. Sirius tried to pay attention to what Professor McGonagall was saying, but his mind kept running away with thoughts. Shit, I'm making this too obvious. I don't want anyone getting any ideas. If one person knows, they'll all know, and then Nina will know for sure. And if she knows, then she'll start acting all awkward with me, I know it. I gotta be normal...go back to how we used to be. Just good friends...


"You are the meanest person I have ever met in my life." Nina said sullenly to Sirius.

"Listen, Nina. I'm telling you as a friend, I'm not trying to be mean. You don't need any more chocolate. You're getting too fat." Sirius tried to reason with her with a straight face while holding a bag of chocolate frogs. It was the day before the dance and Remus, Lily, James and the rest of the Prefects were busy running on last minute details before the event. Nina and Sirius were sitting on a couch in the common room waiting for the others to join them that evening. Nina was sitting comfortably on the sofa with her knees up to her chest. She was glaring at Sirius, who had just stolen her bag of chocolates.

"And don't look at me like that. I'm really not joking. I'm dead serious." Sirius said to her in a firm voice.

"You know what?" Nina said with irritation, "If I were any other girl, you'd be dead by now, seriously. I don't know why you enjoy bugging me so much. Or why I let you be so mean to me."

"It's 'cause you like the attention…or me." he said smugly.

"No, why would I like it…or even you for that matter?" Nina retorted. "It's because I'm too nice. I think I should start being meaner. Like you."

"Ha!" Sirius laughed. "You're incapable of being mean."

Nina sighed in frustration and sunk her head down on her knees. "Can I please have my chocolate back?" she asked in a slightly muffled and whiny voice while holding her hand out.

"Okay, I don't know why you still think I'm kidding about that." Sirius scolded her while shooing her hand away. "I'm not. We're going to the dance together, and I don't want to be seen with a fatty."

"What?" Nina yelled while putting her head up and looking at him indignantly.

"Yeah! You gotta look hot. I refuse to take an un-hot girl to the dance." he said resolutely.

"Then why the heck did you want to take me in the first place?" she asked angrily.

"Oh, I'm sure you can do some magic and make yourself look up to standard." he said airily.

"I hate you." Nina frowned and sunk her head back down on her knees.

"Whatever. I know you're secretly madly in love with me." he joked.

"Ha. That's a good one." Nina said dryly, her head still down.

"Why do you always think I'm joking around with you?" he asked her a little more seriously.

"Because you always are." Nina said matter-of-factly while looking back up at him.

"Really?" he asked her quietly and then moved a little closer to her looked her in the eyes and asked in a softer voice, "What if I'm not?"

"Oh shut up!" Nina laughed, her face slightly warm, and pushed him away.

Sirius grabbed her wrist and asked with a grin, "Are you blushing, Nina?"

"No." she replied, still laughing and trying to pull her wrist out of his grip, "Don't be stupid."

Sirius looked down at her wrist and looked a little surprised, "You have the tiniest wrists I have ever seen in my life." He looked slightly worried and then shoved the bag of chocolates into her hand. "Here eat these. You're looking a little thin these days. You gotta plump up a bit. I don't like really skinny girls, you know."

"Well, I'm not going to base my diet on what you like." Nina said, tossing the bag of chocolates away from her onto a table. Hmm, Nina thought to herself, I have to make sure he doesn't think that I like him or anything. I hate those girls that throw themselves at guys. If he or anyone were to ever really like me, they'll just have to tell me straight out. There's no way I'm going to put my pride on the line and admit to anything first.

Just as this thought crossed her mind, the rest of the gang cheerfully entered the common room, their faces full of excitement, all talking at once about how amazing the dance was going to be. Although he seemed to be listening, Sirius's mind was somewhere else. Man, I can't tell with her. Sometimes I think she might like me, and then other times I think for sure she doesn't. I can't say anything to her unless I get some kind of sign. Enough things in my life are screwed up right now, I don't need to add this to the list...

That whole night Sirius lay awake just thinking about Nina. He was trying to remember if there was anything that she ever said or did that would've hinted to her liking him. I can't think of anything! This is so frustrating. Okay, that's it. Tomorrow I'm going to try to weasel any type of information out of her. If I get any hints, I'll tell her.

He was starting to feel that he really liked her a lot, and he was scared.


A/N: Thanks for all the reviews from the last chapter! Hope this one was ok...don't forget to read the next chapter as well!