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

CHAPTER 21

Nina stormed out of the common room, absolutely fuming. She walked down the dark abandoned corridor aimlessly until she stopped, suddenly feeling very alone and scared. Oh crap. What am I doing? I don't want to fight with him again. I'm really getting tired of it. We only have a couple of months left in school; nobody knows what's going to happen after that. This is really stupid. I'm not even sure about what I'm so angry about. So what if he read my letter. I would've shown it to him myself anyways. Maybe I'm still upset about the whole Dana thing. Nina walked around the castle looking for him, but she couldn't find Sirius anywhere.

Sirius had left the common room and was heading straight out of the castle when he changed his mind. What am I doing? She just broke up with her fiancé. She's probably upset. I should've been trying to make her feel better. I mean, her family has practically disowned her, just like mine did. I should've told her that I could take care of her and that she didn't have to worry about being on her own. Instead, I just started another fight with her. I probably sounded really selfish. Oh, man. She's going to hate me even more now. I should go back and apologize to her. I hate fighting with her anyways.

Sirius went back into the common room and found Sara, Lily, Remus, and James sitting around the fireplace.

"Hey, where's Nina?" he asked them.

"She left." Sara said.

"Where'd she go?" he inquired.

"Dunno…she just walked out." Lily shrugged.

"Oh…okay." Sirius said and left the common room to search for her.

Several minutes later, Nina walked into the common room.

"Hey, Nina!" James called out. "Sirius was just here looking for you."

"He was?" Nina asked him.

"Yeah." James replied.

"Where is he?" she asked again.

"I dunno. He just went back out." he answered.

Nina went back outside and started walking through the dark halls. She started to hear noises all around her. It suddenly hit her how creepy the corridors were at night and began to wonder if maybe she should just head back to the common room. She heard footsteps. Crap. What if it's a professor? Or Filch? I'll get caught being out after hours. She was about to turn around when she saw a big black dog come bolting down the hallway. Nina let out a shriek. She hated dogs. She ran into the nearest empty classroom she could find, and to her horror, the dog followed her in.

"Oh my God," she said to herself and then she turned to the dog and pleaded, "Can you please go away? Shoo!" She tried to wave off the dog, but it didn't move. Nina could hear the footsteps in the hallway getting closer. The dog moved closer to her, making her move further into a dark corner of the room. She didn't know if she'd rather get caught by whoever was outside, or get eaten by the dog. Okay don't be stupid. He's not going to eat you. The dog completely cornered Nina and she just knew he was going to attack her any second now. She closed her eyes and prayed the dog would just go away. When she didn't feel anything after a few moments, she opened her eyes and found the dog just sitting in front of her, staring at her.

"Okay. That's good. You don't want to bite me…yet." she said out loud. The dog still sat there, looking at her intently.

She started talking to the dog again, "I know you must be really enjoying this, but I really need to go. So if you can just move out of my way—" Nina as about to step forward when he stood up.

Nina stepped back again. "Okay, okay, I'm not moving." Why isn't he letting me go? That's when Nina heard the footsteps outside the hall again.

"Oh, there's still someone out there." she said to herself. "Hmm…is this ugly dog trying to protect me or something?" As if the dog could understand what she was saying, the mention of the words ugly dog, made him pout.

Nina looked surprised. "Oh, sorry. No, you're not really that ugly. I just don't like dogs. So I think all dogs are ugly." The dog's pout didn't seem to go away. "I must look really ridiculous. I'm trying to reason with a dog." Nina tried to move away from the corner again, but the dog growled quietly.

"Alright. I'm not going anywhere." She slumped down onto the ground. I don't think he's going to hurt me. The dog moved a little closer to her.

"Stop," she held out her hand to the dog and he sat down, "that's close enough. So what am I supposed to do here? Wait until you let me go? Man, I'm going to kill Sirius. This is all his fault."

The dog looked up at Nina curiously and she started to explain the situation, more to herself than the dog. "The stupid jerk just had to blow up at me again, as usual. I'm getting really tired of it. I mean, I never used to fight with anyone. Then, all of a sudden, after the winter break, he just became some kind of angry mental fool. But he's only like that with me. I don't get it." The dog moved a little closer to Nina. "Maybe it's just me. I probably annoy him or something." Nina let out a sad sigh.

"Well that really sucks. I wish I could be more like Sara sometimes. She's so open and she doesn't care about what people think. I really wish I could tell Sirius how I really feel about him." The dog suddenly shot his head up and looked right at Nina.

"What?" she asked him. The dog put his head back down and moved a little closer to her. "Anyways, there's no way I could ever tell him. It's way too embarrassing. He'd probably never talk to me again." Nina had the sudden urge to pet the dog. She hesitated for a moment, and then started to pet his head. "I've never petted a dog before you know that? You look clean enough I guess. Anyways, what was I saying? Oh yeah. Sirius. You know, I don't even know why I got engaged this winter. Actually, that's a lie. I do know. I guess I was so sure that Sirius would never like me the way I liked him, so I just wanted to forget about him and move on. Well it obviously didn't work. I just got more depressed. And now that I finally broke up with Sean, Sirius is going off snogging other stupid girls. That's probably where he is right now. Stupid jerk. Oh well. It's not his fault. I'm the mental case who had to fall for the most sought after guy in the whole damn school. I hate that. I feel like Dana Abbott or something. I wish he was ugly. You know, I always found him intmidatingly good-looking. I could never talk to him before. He just had this "I'm too cool, don't talk to me if you're not" aura around him. But then when I really got to know him, I started to really like him...beyond his ridiculously good looks. So even if he wasn't so handsome, I probably would've ended up liking him anyways. Ugh. And why is it that guys always go for the biggest bimbo they can find? There are so many other pretty girls that have brains. Guys are so weird."

Nina looked down at the dog. "You seem pretty comfortable. Are you gonna let me go now? It's pretty late…I need to get back to the common room." The dog looked around, as if trying to listen for something, and then scampered quickly out of the room.

Nina got up and dusted off her clothes. I can't believe I just sat here for so long talking to a dog. She looked out of the classroom, making sure no one was there, and started to walk towards the common room.

As soon as Nina got to the portrait hole, she saw Sirius standing by it, as if he waiting for her. He was leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest, and had a slight frown on his face.

"Where've you been?" he asked her.

"What do you mean?" she asked him back.

"I've been looking everywhere for you." he told her.

"Oh…yeah I was looking for you too." she said.

"Mmhmm." He looked at her sceptically. "So, is there something you want to say to me?"

"Shouldn't you be saying something to me?" she asked him.

"Like what?"

"I dunno…like an apology maybe." she said with her arms crossed.

"For what?" he asked her almost indignantly.

"Don't be a jerk." she said. "You know what for."

"Fine." he sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have read your letter and I really shouldn't have gotten mad at you like that. There. Are you happy now?"

"I guess." Nina shrugged.

"So." he said with a sly smile. "Is there anything you want to say to me?"

"Um…" she thought for a moment. "No, I don't think so."

"Are you sure?" he asked her pressingly.

"Yeah…why?" she asked a little confused.

"No reason." he replied quickly. "So, we're cool then?" He stuck his hand out.

"Yeah." She took his hand and shook it. Finally, she thought as she made her way up to the dorm. We're friends again. I feel so relieved. I am never going to fight with him again.


"I haven't seen Sirius look so happy in a long time." Lily said at the table during breakfast the next morning.

"Yeah." Sara looked curiously at Nina.

"Don't look at me." Nina said to her. "I don't know what's going on."

"So Sirius," Sara called over to him from across the table, "what's gotten you into such a good mood?"

"Yeah, he's been happy ever since last night." Remus added.

"Ooh, something happened last night, eh?" Sara said excitedly.

"Wait, I thought you were with Nina last night." James said.

"No, he wasn't." Nina interjected before anyone got any ideas into their twisted minds. "I only saw him for like two minutes before I went to bed. And he didn't look like he was in that great of a mood."

"Oh, I think I was in a pretty good mood." Sirius smiled mischievously.

"Hmm." Nina said frowning slightly. "Well I dunno what happened before he met me."

"So were you with a girl?" Sara kept egging him on.

"Maybe." Sirius shrugged.

"Oh! You guys know what happened to me last night?" Nina asked suddenly remembering the dog. "I was looking for this retard," she said pointing at Sirius, "when this big ugly black dog just came out of nowhere and chased me into this empty classroom." Remus and James both nearly choked on their food. Nina looked up at Sirius, who was trying really hard not to laugh.

"It wasn't funny! I hate dogs! They freak me out!" Nina exclaimed.

"Hey! Not all dogs are bad." Sirius said defensively.

"Yeah I know." Nina continued on. "This one turned out to be not so...disgusting. It was weird though. I think it could understand what I was saying to it."

"You were talking to the dog?" Sirius looked at her like she was crazy.

"Er…well, never mind." Nina said suddenly feeling really stupid. "It's a long story."

"What did you say to it, Nina?" Remus suddenly asked her.

"Nothing important." Nina said cautiously.

Remus looked intently at Nina with a slight smile, "Are you sure?"

"I think so. Why?" Nina began to feel a little uncomfortable.

"No reason." he said and everyone continued eating their breakfast until the morning wave of owls came swooping into the Great Hall. A tawny brown owl dropped a letter onto Sirius's lap and flew away. He opened the letter and his already brightened face became illuminous.

"Oh damn!" he exclaimed with excitement. "Can this day get any better?"

"What happened?" James asked him as they all got up to head to their classes.

"Well, it looks like my Uncle Alphard left me a crap load of gold!" said Sirius happily while putting the letter away.


Nina and Sara were to meet Sirius in the library later during the day. Nina was waiting for both of them when Sirius came towards her.

"Hey." he said coming close to her and flicked her hair back. "Your hair smells nice."

"Oh. Thanks." Nina said uneasily, not sure of what he just did. They walked to an empty table and sat down next to each other.

"Where's Sara?" he asked her.

Nina shrugged. "She should be here soon."

"Hmm. So until then it's just me and you, eh?" he said with a cocky smile.

"I guess so." Nina said taking out her books.

Sirius moved his seat closer to her. "You know, you look really pretty today."

Nina gave him a quizzical smile, "Don't think flattery is going to get you out of doing any work, Sirius."

"What do you mean? I'm not trying to get out of anything. I'm being totally serious." he said earnestly.

"Right." said Nina disbelievingly.

"No, I'm really not kidding." he said and then asked with a quizzical grin, "Did I ever tell you how I had a crush on you in first year?"

"What?" said Nina with surprise.

"Yeah, I remember you used to sit in front of me in Transfiguration class and I used to just stare at the back of you head. You wore part of your hair in a clip. I always wanted to touch your hair. I think I even tried to a couple of times but you always turned around and scowled at me." Sirius reminisced.

"Oh my God." Nina exclaimed. "I remember that! I thought you were trying to pull my hair to bug me. I remember turning around and you always had this stupid grin on your face so I thought you were really irritating."

"No, that was supposed to be my super sexy smile that should've melted your heart." Sirius sighed. "Guess it didn't work."

"That is so funny." said Nina, grinning.

"Not really." Sirius frowned. "I had to give up on you after I realized that you didn't like me."

"How sad." Nina said, still smiling.

"Yeah," said Sirius, and then added with a smug look, leaning back into his chair, "But, by then I had all these chicks after me so I guess I got over you pretty quickly."

"I'm sure you did." Nina said as Sara finally joined them at their table in the library.


Throughout the whole time they were working together, Nina noticed that Sirius was behaving very oddly. Every five minutes, she saw that his chair was a few inches closer to hers, and every time he reached out to get a book or some notes from the table, he'd brush against her. When he wanted to say something to her, he wouldn't just start talking, but he'd touch her arm first to get her attention. At one point, Nina was about to get up from her chair to go and find a book when Sirius put his hand on her thigh and told her that he'd go and get it. Nina couldn't remember if he was always so physical with her.

Sirius's awkward behaviour didn't end at the library. During potions, Nina was standing behind her chair taking out her book from her bag. Sirius needed to get by her so he put his hands around her waist and moved by. He sat a few places away from her, facing her. Every time she looked in his direction, he was staring at her. She'd stare back with her eyebrows creased and he'd smile and look away. When she was still mixing a potion that he had already finished, he walked up behind her and moved her hair back away from the potion telling her not to burn her hair. Even during dinner, Sirius sat himself right next to her and found any excuse to move close to her or touch her. Nina decided to just ignore it. She didn't want to start anything up with him again. And besides, she had to admit to herself that she didn't exactly mind it too much.

Later that night Nina was in the common room reading a book when she heard a familiar voice singing behind her, "If I can't have youuu, I don't want nobody, baby. Girl, it's got to be youuu, I don't need no substitute, I need the real thing."

She tried not to laugh and looked behind her with a smile.

"What're you doin'?" said Sirius with what Nina now thought was definitely a super sexy smile.

"Reading." Nina replied as Sirius came around and plopped himself next to her.

"Pride and Prejudice?" He read as he snatched the book out of her hands. "What's this? A muggle book?"

"Yes." Nina said trying to grab it from him. "Can I have it back please?"

Sirius started to read a passage from the book. "Wow, how can you read this?"

He laughed and then closed it and tossed it back at her.

"Shut up. It's good." Nina said putting the book aside.

"I'm sure it is. So listen," Sirius said putting his arm around her, "I need some advice."

"About what?" Nina asked, aware of his arm around her. There he goes again with the touchiness. How long is this going to last? I think I might go crazy...God, he smells so nice. Aaah...

"Well…about a girl." Sirius said cautiously, but with a small smile on his face.

"Okay…" Nina felt a little uneasy. "But I should warn you, I'm not very good at giving advice. Especially when it comes to girls because I can't understand half of them anyways. Maybe you should ask Lily or Sara."

"No, I can't ask them." he said resolutely, playing with a few strands of her hair. "I'm more comfortable with you anyways."

"Yeah, I can see that." Nina muttered quietly and said, "So what's up?"

"Okay," Sirius let out a breath, "There's this girl. I've liked her for a while, and if she's really stupid, which I think she is, she doesn't know that I do."

Nina looked at Sirius like he was crazy, and he went on explaining his situation, "See, I actually had some strange feeling about her at the end of sixth year. I can't really explain it. It was just some odd feeling I had for a moment. Then after the summer when I saw her, she looked more beautiful than ever and I was a little awe-struck by her. I couldn't really talk to her as much as I wanted to. But then, we kinda became friends and I realized that what I felt for her was more than just friendship, but I was too scared to risk anything. Anyways, now I really don't care about the consequences. I just want to tell her that I'm crazy about her."

He's joking right? What is he trying to do? Okay, I'll just play along… "Alright. So does she like you?"

"I'm pretty sure she does." Sirius said.

What? Nina felt like screaming but asked in a calm voice, "How do you know? Did she tell you?"

"Well…actually, yeah." Sirius said thoughtfully. "She did."

Damn! Who is it? What other girls does he hang out with? Well, he's so bloody popular. It can be anybody. "Oh. So what's the problem?" Nina asked as serenely as she could.

"I don't know what to do." He sighed.

I know what I want to do. Kick someone's ass! "Just go and tell her how you feel." said Nina through clenched teeth.

"You think I should?" he asked her earnestly.

No, you jackass. You should just stay single and happy. Or be with me. "I guess, if it's what you want..."

"It is." he said sternly. "So how do I tell her?"

Nina started to feel irritated, "I don't know, Sirius."

"Oh come on, man. I need help. I've never done this before." he implored with her.

"Yeah right." Nina said rolling her eyes.

"No, I'm not kidding. I've never told a girl that I…" He stopped.

"That you what?" she asked him.

"You know…" he said motioning his hand.

"Care about her?" she asked.

"Yeah," He cleared his throat. "care…something like…that." Not care, you idiot. Love! Ha! What a chicken. She can't even say that!

"Ha! You can't even say it without stuttering. How are you going to tell her?" Nina questioned him.

"See! That's why I need advice. I don't know how to do this." Sirius looked a little dejected.

"I really have no idea. I'm worse at this than you." she said.

"Hmm." Sirius said looking at her. "Yeah probably."

"So…who's the girl anyways?" Nina asked unimportantly.

"Why do you want to know?" Sirius asked with a grin. Heh heh heh…she's jealous!

"I'm just curious." Nina replied.

"Ha! Well, I'm not telling you." Sirius said.

"Fine." Nina said opening her book again.

Hmm…she gave up quickly. "Okay that's it. I'm gonna go right now and tell her. There's no point wasting time, is there?" Sirius said confidently. Come on, tell me not to go!

"I guess not." Nina said flipping through her book. Aaaaahhhh! Don't go!

"So I'm leaving…now…to go and tell her." Sirius said again. Stop me, you fool! Tell me what I want to hear. Please.

"Good luck." Nina said still looking at her book. Bye. That's it. It's over. I'll never get to tell you how I really feel about you. Now go away so I can cry without you seeing me.

"Okay. I'll be back soon and tell you what happened." Sirius said still sitting down. She isn't stopping me. I can't believe it. The whole day I kept trying to stir her up by flirting with her shamelessly, but she didn't do anything. She's so stubborn! Why doesn't she just tell me? I don't think she's going to say anything until I do. I don't know how much more I can take of this. The sexual tension is getting too much for me. I can't even look at her anymore without thinking something that I know she would be horrified to know I was thinking.

Nina looked at Sirius, wondering why he was still sitting there. His brow was furrowed and he looked like he was puzzled about something. It wasn't until he heard James's voice that he looked up.

"Oi! Padfoot, we gotta go!" James's called from behind.

"Shit. I forgot." he said, sounding really frustrated.

"Where are you guys going?" Nina asked him, feeling a little relieved that he wasn't going to see this mystery girl just yet.

"Full moon tonight." he responded getting up from the couch.

"Oh." Nina said now feeling a little worried instead.

"Yeah. We really have to go." he said sounding a bit regretful. Blast this wretched moon!

Nina nodded, "You guys should hurry up then."

"Okay, I'll see you later." Nina said picking up her book. "Don't do anything stupid. Make sure you guys stay safe."

"Aw, are you worried about me, Nina?" said Sirius with a smirk.

"Not just you, stupid." she replied. As soon as they left, she grabbed her book and went up to bed. She couldn't sleep; she kept thinking about what Sirius had told her. She kept hoping that maybe he wouldn't get a chance to talk to the girl he was so crazy about. Or, even better, that he was just playing a joke on her. She felt uneasy and didn't feel like lying down. She grabbed her book again and went down to the common room. She sat by the fire and tried to read. Her mind kept wandering away. She thought she could hear howling sounds every so often, and it gave her the chills. She kept looking at the clock. Time seemed to be going by so slowly. By four in the morning, she felt really anxious. How late do these guys stay out?

Her question was answered a moment later when the portrait hole opened and the three boys stepped in. They all looked tired, and Nina noticed that Sirius was clutching his upper left arm.

As soon as he saw Nina sitting near the fireplace, his face broke out into a smile and he said, "Hey. You're still awake?"

"Yeah." she said getting up and walking towards them. "I couldn't sleep."

"You were waiting for me weren't you?" he asked with a cocky grin.

"No." she said smiling back at him. "I just couldn't sleep."

"Yeah 'cause you kept thinking about me, eh?" Sirius said still grinning and James cracked a smile.

Nina rolled her eyes. "What happened to your arm?"

"Nothing. Just a scratch." he said unimportantly.

"Look mate, I'm telling you, I can heal it." James told him.

"Are you crazy? I want to keep my arm, thanks." Sirius said, holding his arm protectively.

"Okay then. Suffer." James said a little annoyed. "I'm going to bed. 'Night." He and Peter headed up the stairs.

"Can I see it?" Nina asked Sirius.

"It's not a big deal." Sirius replied.

"So let me see it then." she said sternly.

"Fine." he said and took off his jacket. The fitted t-shirt he was wearing underneath was ripped at the arm and it was stained with blood.

"Ooh. That's a pretty deep cut, stupid." Nina said examining it. "Shouldn't you go to the hospital wing?"

"Are you mad? I can't go there. Madam Pomfrey will know who scratched me." Sirius said defensively.

"Oh. Does it hurt a lot?" Nina asked him.

"Just a little." Sirius said coolly. It hurts like a son of a bitch! Help me!

"Well, it doesn't look so good. Okay, wait here. I'll get something." Nina ran up to her dorm and grabbed some rubbing alcohol pads and a scarf.

When Nina came back down Sirius was sitting on a couch. She sat next to him and moved his sleeve up. The touch of her skin on his wound made him shudder inside.

"Can you take your arm out of your sleeve?" she asked trying to move the sleeve up further. The cut went up to his shoulder and his shirt was in the way. "I can't get to your shoulder."

"Oh." he said and slipped his arm out from underneath his shirt. It seemed like he was trying to flex his muscles as he sat up straight. Nina tried to keep a straight face and really tried to focus just on his cut and not the rest of his body. She took a pad and started to clean the wound. Sirius tensed up as soon as the alcohol seeped through the cut.

"It stings." she told him.

"Yeah I can feel that." he said, flinching a little. OUCH! I gotta get my mind off this pain. "So…tell me."

"Tell you what?" Nina said, still dabbing the cut with the alcohol pad.

"You don't trust me at all, do you?" he asked her.

"Yeah I do." she said absent-mindedly, concentrating on his arm.

"You don't." he said.

"How do you know?" Nina said looking up at him for a second with a frown and then returning back to the cut again.

"'Cause you keep stuff from me." he said matter-of-factly.

Nina stopped cleaning the cut and looked up at him and said defensively, "Look, if this is about Sean again, I told you, I was going to tell you first."

"No, it's not about that." Sirius interrupted her. I don't want to talk about that bastard!

"Then? I think you know almost everything about me." Nina went back to the wound.

"Yeah almost." he said.

"Well, it's not like you tell me everything, you hypocrite." Nina said, dabbing his arm a little roughly.

"Ah!" he flinched away from her.

"Oops. Sorry." she apologized and continued lightly again.

"Anyways, I would if you asked me." Sirius continued the conversation.

"You liar." Nina accused him. "I asked you who that girl was and you wouldn't tell me."

"Oh so that's what this is about." Sirius said knowingly. "You want me to tell you who it is."

"No. Stop twisting the conversation around. You always do that. Anyways, I don't care about who this girl is." Nina said. Besides, it's not good to care about people you plan on murdering.

"You don't?" Sirius asked her with a raised eyebrow. Ah, she's so cute when she lies. I just wanna...aaah...must...control...urge...

"No. Tell me anything else I don't know."

Sirius looked at the ground for a moment, contemplating something. "Fine." He finally said. "But this is something that nobody besides Remus, James, and Peter knows." He leaned really close to Nina and started speaking in a very low voice.

"So you know how we go off with Remus every full moon…" Sirius started to explain.

"Yeah…like tonight." Nina said.

"Well, it would be extremely dangerous for us to go with him just like this." Sirius said motioning to himself.

"Okay…" Nina said, listening to him more intently now.

"So in fifth year, James, Peter and I learned how to become…animagi." He finished.

Nina's jaw and the alcohol pad she was holding dropped. "WHAT?"

"Shh." he said.

"But how? That's so dangerous! Are you guys crazy?" Nina exclaimed.

Sirius shrugged. "It was worth the risk."

"Oh boy." She was quiet for a moment, and then asked, "So what do you guys transform into?"

Sirius cleared his throat. "Well, Peter's a rat, and James is a stag."

"And you are?" Nina asked him when a thought crossed her mind. Hold on…what if he's a….oh, no…

"Well…" he cleared his throat again. Nina could tell by the look of his face that he was a little nervous to tell her what he was.

"Wait a minute." Nina said and looked at Sirius piercingly. "I think I know what you are."

"Do you." he said with a knowing smirk. Ha! I totally cornered her in. She's gotta tell me something now.

Oh shit! Nina bit her lip and looked down feeling thoroughly embarrassed. What an idiot I am! How stupid could I be to talk to a bloody dog? It could have been anybody! This means he knew the whole day. Wait, he knows and he's still talking to me! Is that what all the shameless flirting was about? Okay, now I'm confused. Who's this girl then? Wait…it couldn't be…

Nina picked up another alcohol pad and continued clearing his cut and asked him as casually as she could, "So what did she say?"

"She?" He looked a little confused and then remembered. "Oh…I don't know yet."

"You didn't tell her?" Nina asked him.

"Not yet." Sirius answered her.

"Why not?" Nina could feel the butterflies in her stomach starting to fly around.

"I don't know how, remember." he said quietly. "You didn't tell me."

"I told you, I'm really bad at this stuff." Nina muttered. The blood was finally cleared up and the cut didn't look as bad anymore.

She pressed around it lightly to see if it was still bleeding, and it seemed to be dry. Nina noticed that Sirius had goose bumps. She looked at her own arm and saw that she did too.

She looked up to him and he already had his eyes fixed on her. She felt the butterflies fluttering around in her stomach again and looked away from him. Her attraction for him was so strong that she felt embarrassed even looking at him. She was nervous and didn't know what to do so she just continued prodding him with the pad needlessly and asked him if he was feeling cold.

"No." he said quietly.

"Are you okay?" she asked him, looking up again.

"I don't know." he said still boring his eyes into her.

"Can you stop looking at me like that, you're kind of scaring me." she said.

"Am I?" he asked her while turning himself towards her. I think that werewolf scratch has made him deranged or something.

Nina looked up at a clock and said, "It's pretty late, eh? People are going to be getting up soon.I think I'm going to head up to bed." She quickly got up and was about to turn to leave when Sirius got up and grabbed her.

"Hey!" he pulled her close to him. "You can't go anywhere."

"I'm just tired." she said, her heart pounding in her chest, both hoping and fearing what he was going to do.

"So am I." he said sternly, as if he was almost angry. All the months of frustration seemed to just bubble out of him. "I'm tired of playing this game with you."

"I'm not--"

"Shh." He put his hand over her mouth, and pulled her even closer towards him.. "You're going to say something stupid, I know it."

Nina frowned at him and wanted to say something back but Sirius, with his hand still over her mouth, leaned down to her ear and whispered, "Didn't anyone ever to teach you not to trust anything that could think for itself? It's too bad you don't like dogs." Nina felt a ticklish shiver run down her body as he kissed her ear gently, but she couldn't move. He ran his other hand through her silky dark hair and breathed her in deeply. He looked her in the eyes and said softly, "You're not going to say anything stupid now, are you?"

Nina shook her head slightly and he moved his hand from her mouth to the side of her neck, and kissed her, gently at first and then with a deeper urgency until they both knew that this was exactly what they wanted. And that was it. They didn't have to say anything else to each other. What they felt was beyond anything that they had the ability to express, and even the nagging voices in their heads seemed to be silenced. They realized that they had denied their feelings and attraction for each for the sake of their friendship, which they had almost lost completely in the process. The times were becoming more and more uncertain and they didn't know how long of what they had would last, and at that moment they didn't really care. They would have given up anything just to share it with each other because if, by chance, it would be their only, at least it would be a good one.


A/N: Okay folks...I think that's about it! This chapter is twice as long as the other ones so I hope you all liked it! I really didn't feel like writing anything depressing so I had to end it while everyone was still happy and ALIVE! hehehehe. Thank you so much to everyone who sent me a review, and especially those of you who sent me reviews for almost every chapter! I hope the ending isn't too abrupt. This isn't supposed to be a very deep or insightful story...so I just wanted it to end on a light note. If anyone is reading this the whole way through for the first time, I wouldn't mind still getting any reviews so that I can improve on anything. Thanks again!

Also, if you liked this one, then maybe you'd like to check out my other story called 'It's Not So Bad' (another Sirius/OC story)...I'd love to know what you think of that one as well!