A/N: I've been super busy lately, but I really wanted to get a new chapter out, so here it is! Thanks for reading, and a *huge* thank you for your reviews x

'Cause I'm In Too Deep

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts. Teach us something, please!" James said grandly, opening his arms wide as we went through the Entrance Hall again for the first time since arriving back at the school after the Christmas holidays.

It was strange to be back. The hall looked naked now it had been emptied of all the Yule themed decorations.

"Merlin, you really are a corny git at heart, aren't you?" Sirius said. "Has he always been like this?" he asked, looking back at Remus and Peter.

"Yes, I believe he has," Remus replied, walking behind them with Sally on one side of him and me on the other.

"It is kind of nice to be back though," Lily said, "feels like a second home in a way."

James took her hand, leading us to a spare patch of bench at the Gryffindor table. "Yeah, don't be so proud, Padfoot. You know you love Hogwarts just as much as I do."

"Aspects of it," Sirius acknowledged, catching my eye momentarily.

After the Sorting ceremony was over we all made a steady walk back to our respective dormitories, too full of food to move at any sort of speed.

Though we'd been trying our best not to talk about the cabin too much during the train ride and at dinner, considering Dorcas was already upset enough that she hadn't been allowed to come, every so often it was inevitable that one of us would slip something out.

This time it was Marlene.

"So are you two ever going to tell us what happened between you during your Seven Minutes in Heaven?"

I turned quickly only to find she was talking to Sally and Remus.

"They'll tell you what happened between them if you tell us what happened between you and Pete," James countered on Remus's behalf, causing Peter's cheeks to instantly stain with red.

Marlene flicked her hair back with a harrumph. "Forget it."

She'd been really cagey about what she and Peter had got up to in the cupboard ever since that night, even with us girls.

I honestly thought hell would freeze over before the two of them would get together in any kind of way, but then I had noticed she hadn't snapped at him as often as she usually would...

Judging from the smugness on James's face, I would've put my last galleon on him already knowing what had gone on anyway. It wouldn't have surprised me if he'd wheedled it out of Peter the very same night it happened.

I felt something touch the back of my hand and looked up to find Sirius had come to walk next to me as we climbed the staircase; his fingers brushing against mine as if by accident.

Pretending to use my hand to adjust the bottom of my shirt, I pulled it away and addressed the group, "Oh yeah, I forgot to say... Professor Mison's coming back as our DADA teacher."

Lily's eyes widened, "Really? Oh, that's fantastic news!"

"How did you find out about that?" Sally asked.

"He sent me a Christmas card," I admitted.

James gave a laugh, "Ooh, teacher's pet eh? Bet you loved that."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Getting a card from Professor 'I'm so tall and handsome and full of it'," James replied.

"Believe me, he's not all that handsome anymore," Marlene said. "I saw him in the hospital wing just after it happened. Looked like a living skeleton. Shame really."

"Strange how being imprisoned and nearly starved to death can do that to a man," Sirius replied darkly.

.o.

"Come on then, dish the goss," Marlene said almost as soon as the girls' dormitory door closed behind us.

Sally looked back at her blankly. "What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. What is going on between you and Remus? I can smell the sexual tension all over you since you were locked in that room together."

"That's kind of disgusting," Lily said, wrinkling her nose.

"You're not going to let it drop, are you?" Sally asked.

"Nope and nope," Marlene replied.

Sally sighed. "Fine, we kissed, okay?"

Marlene looked momentarily speechless, then all of her words seemed to come out at once. "OhMerlinIcan'tbelieveithowcouldyounotsaysomethingsooner!"

Sally cracked an unwilling smile as Marlene threw her arms around her.

"You should've told us sooner!" Marlene said again.

"Remus didn't want us to tell anyone," Sally replied.

"Why not?" Marlene demanded, "He's not ashamed of you, is he?"

"No, of course not. He's just a bit shy, I think."

Even though I knew Remus definitely wasn't ashamed of Sally, I also didn't believe the reason he wouldn't tell anyone was because he was too shy. I had a feeling it was probably more to do with his monthly transformations.

He'd never had a girlfriend for as long as I'd known him. Even Peter had been on the odd date that James had tried to set up for him.

"So are you together now, or what?" Marlene asked.

Sally shook her head slightly.

"No. I mean, we're still friends and everything, but I think it was a one-time thing. I don't even think he meant to kiss me that night. We just kind of got caught up in the moment."

I felt sorry for her. It wasn't nice wanting someone you couldn't have.

I know it seemed like there were no more road blocks between Sirius and I; we'd finally talked about our real feelings after all. But it wasn't that simple.

I was scared in all honesty. That he would lose interest the second we were official. Or that I wouldn't be enough for him.

The months of repressed feelings for him made it worse. Our relationship would've had a lot to live up to.

Of course, that didn't mean that I didn't find it excruciatingly difficult to stop thinking about him every five seconds. When he'd touched my hand on the stairs, it'd felt like my body was going to go into overdrive at just the slightest bit of contact.

Every last bit of my skin was yearning for him.

I just had to make sure I kept myself in check was all.

Sally seemed to make a concerted effort to gather herself, and I wondered if she was feeling the same way.

"Anyway," she said, "that's enough about me. It's time for you to tell us what exactly went on between you and Peter."

She gave Marlene an accusatory eye, and Marlene plonked herself sideways on her bed, resting her head on her hand.

"Let's just say I gave him the best time he's probably had with a girl in his whole life," she said smugly.

When all three of us looked at her in horror, she threw her head back and started to laugh.

"You lot have the filthiest minds!" she exclaimed. "All we did was have a quick snog, okay? Nothing less, and absolutely nothing more."

Sally still looked horrified. "But he's Peter... you can't stand Peter. You're always going on about how annoying and clingy he is around the boys."

Marlene shrugged a shoulder. "We were stuck in there for seven minutes with nothing else to do. It was either that or I'd have to actually talk to him. It was the lesser of two evils if you ask me. Besides," she added, "he's actually not a half-bad kisser."

"And I've officially heard too much," Lily said.

"Definitely," I agreed, trying to get the image of Marlene and Peter tongue-wrestling out of my head. "At least now we know why you haven't shouted at him since we got on the train. Twelve hours must be a record."

"Oh shut it, all of you," Marlene said with a smirk.

Unpacking my bag later that night, I pulled out the final pair of black socks ready to put in the trunk at the bottom of my bed, when a square of shiny card fell out along with them.

Picking it up, I studied the photograph that Sirius had taken of us in my bedroom, feeling the smile creep onto my face before I could stop it.

How had that snuck into my bag?

Bringing the photograph closer to my face, I took a minute to study the details; the way one corner of Sirius's mouth crinkled slightly when he gave a genuine smile, and the careless way his hair fell perfectly in place without him even needing to try, it seemed.

Though I hadn't noticed it at the time, I could also see now that his free arm had been wrapped around my shoulder, and I wondered how on earth I could have missed it.

Ignoring the heavy feeling that had settled in my heart, I hastily opened the top drawer to my bedside table and scooted the picture on top of the assorted junk in there.

I really was in too deep.

.o.

"Can't believe Potions is our first lesson," Sally moaned as we made our way down to the dungeons the next morning. "It's like they're trying to kill us or something."

I took what I hoped would be an invigorating breath in an attempt to wake myself up, but it was no use, my eyes still felt incredibly heavy.

"I'm so tired."

One too many late nights and even later mornings during the holidays had understandably had a sizeable impact on my sleep routine. My 7.30am wake-up alarm had felt as impossible as someone telling me to get up at the crack of dawn.

I was just musing over the idea of inserting two matchsticks underneath my eyelids to force them open when we walked past someone who managed to wake me up quicker than someone pouring a bucket of cold water over my head.

"I'll meet you in Potions," I said to Sally, already hanging back.

She checked her watch, "There's only 5 minutes until class starts..."

"I know, I won't be long."

She followed my gaze over to where Anthony Javerhops was stood at the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room corridor, looking restless like he was waiting for someone.

"Oh," she said in realisation. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I dunno."

She straightened her mouth. "Alright, but if you're not in class by the time Slughorn gets there I'm coming to look for you myself."

Waiting for her to be out of sight, I turned on my heel and approached the still agitated looking Anthony.

"Hey," I said, not knowing what other greeting to give to someone who'd inadvertently kidnapped a professor and almost strangled my roommate to death.

My voice made him jump, and he looked down at me through wide blue eyes.

"H-hi," he stammered, his focus darting around us as if already looking for a way to get out of there.

"How've you been?" I asked awkwardly.

"Er, yeah, I'm not bad thanks... Yourself?"

"I'm okay."

A moment of silence passed between us and then his shoulders slumped.

"If you've come to tell me what a crappy person I am, then you can save you breath," he said. "I know what I did and I have no idea how I managed to get out of doing time in Azkaban, and if there was something I could do to fix it, I would. But there isn't, so..."

"I don't blame you for what happened," I said. "You were under the Imperius curse. You didn't know what you were doing. If anything you were one of the victims."

Even as I said it, I could still picture his extremely large hands tightening around Mary's neck, choking the life out of her.

I looked back up at Ant again. His expression was tormented.

He was right about one thing; nothing I, or anyone else, could've said to him would've been any worse than what he was clearly already doing to himself.

"Have you been to see Mary yet?" I asked carefully, knowing it would be a loaded question for him. "I heard she's still in the hospital wing."

"No. I know it's bad but I can't face it. Seeing what I've done to her."

"She would want to see you," I told him definitely. "You know she wouldn't blame you. She loves you."

My speech made him look even more guilt ridden somehow.

"Maybe," he replied. "I know need to face up to what I've done. Sooner or later. I guess I could go see her after lessons finish this evening."

I smiled at him and he returned it half-heartedly.

"I better get to lesson anyway," I said.

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for Professor Sprout – said she wants to talk to me about my 'rehabilitation' back into Hogwarts, or something. She's worried people might give me a hard time because of what happened. What I did."

"Oh. Well, good luck with that..."

I still wasn't over Sprout telling me off because I hadn't gone to her as soon as I saw the warning signs with Anthony. She could be a ball-breaker just as much as McGonagall when she wanted to be.

.o.

"So, class, to start us all off this term I would like us to revisit the wit-sharpening potion," Slughorn told us, looking just as pompous as he had done before the Christmas break, "...Heaven knows it's something a few of you could do with," he added with a wry chuckle.

I pulled a sour face when a couple of his Slug Club bootlickers laughed at his rubbish joke.

"Could he be any more cringeworthy?" Sally said as we dragged ourselves out of our seats to fetch the potion ingredients.

"Are you alright?" I asked her, "You seem down."

We got to the front of the class and waited in the queue to the apparatus table that had been laid out.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

I turned to face her properly. "You can talk to me, you know. Is this about Remus?"

She cast her eyes to the floor, folding her arms against her chest.

"No," she stated. "...Maybe."

"If you like him this much maybe you should just tell him. He might not even realise."

"Why should it matter though?" she asked, throwing one arm out. "Either he likes me or he doesn't. Wasn't the fact that we kissed enough of a hint for him?"

"I think sometimes he holds himself back because he doesn't want anyone to get hurt. Himself or you."

"Hurt by what?" she demanded. "The only hurt he's causing me is by pushing me away when I thought he liked me. I can't stop thinking about him, Cheryl. It's eating me up inside."

I was about to give her some futile attempt at condolence when someone cleared their throat behind us.

We both spun around as one and saw Sirius standing there, right behind us in the queue.

Sally's head snapped back to the front. "How long has he been there?" she muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

He held my eye contact for a second before I drew it away.

"I don't know," I whispered.

Sally started muttering swear-words underneath her breath and I could practically feel Sirius's eyes burning on the back of my neck.

Despite the shaky start to the lesson, Sally and I had somehow managed to make a half decent wit-sharpening potion by the end of it.

We'd also decided through much discussion that Sirius could not have heard us, because if he had he wouldn't have been able to resist saying something about it.

After the lesson finished, I left Sally to go to her next class and started to head to the library to waste some time during my free period.

I hadn't got very far when I felt a presence at my side and smelt the scent of familiar aftershave.

"So, that's news about Sal, eh?" Sirius said, keeping his eyes to the front and acting so casual it was almost as if he'd been there the whole time.

"You heard that then?"

"You weren't exactly whispering."

"Why is he pushing her away?" I asked him, realising it was pointless to try and hide it now. "I thought he genuinely liked her."

We both headed towards the narrow staircase that led up and out of the dungeons and he glanced down at me.

"You know why."

"Because of-?"

"Yes," he replied before I could finish, not wanting to take the risk that I'd talk about Remus's werewolf affliction out loud.

"I wasn't going to say it," I said a little petulantly.

"He thinks he's not worthy of her," he revealed, his face grim.

"Honestly, I think she likes him that much at this point that he could tell her the truth and she wouldn't even care. She's falling hard for him."

"Yeah, well that's never going to happen," he said. "The only reason you and Lily know is because you found out for yourselves. None of us would've ever told you."

"I'm well aware of that, thanks."

He looked down at me again and his expression softened. "But if I was going to tell someone, you would've been at the top of my list," he said as we got to the single-file staircase, waiting for me to go in front of him.

I was taken by surprise by his sudden show of tenderness, and I tried to ignore the soft thudding of my heart in response.

"So what's your next class?" I asked, walking in front of him up the steps.

Sirius didn't respond right away, but I could feel him close behind me. "Don't have one until after lunch. You?"

"I have an hour to kill. I was going to go to the library."

"Sounds thrilling."

"Got any better ideas?" I challenged when we finally surfaced into the wider mouth of the corridor and he fell into step with me again.

"I might have," he replied non-committedly. "Depends who's asking."

I flickered my eyes at him and he smirked.

"Well if you're not too busy fermenting in the library, there might be something I could show you that you'd find quite interesting," he said.

"Oh really?"

When he didn't offer me any more information, I was forced to ask him exactly what he was talking about.

"Follow me and you'll find out," he told me mysteriously, definitely revelling in his own secrecy now.

As I let him lead me back through the school, I finally realised he was taking me to the common room.

But where I expected us to stop and take a seat at one of the tables or the collections of sofas, Sirius carried on walking until we reached the entrance to the boys' dormitory stairs.

"What are you doing?" I asked, stopping still as he went to walk up them like it was nothing.

He paused with his foot on the first step. "Like I said before, I'm taking you to see something you might find interesting."

Fighting with the suddenly dirty thoughts that decided to flood my brain, I held my ground.

"I can't come up into the boys' dormitory. It's not allowed."

He laughed. "Really? Where's your rebellious side? If they genuinely wanted to stop girls going up there, they would've put in some kind of preventative measure. Like with the girls' staircase."

"Maybe they just trust us more...?"

"Then that's their first mistake, isn't it? Come on."

"Can't you just bring whatever it is down to me?"

He sighed, tiring of my reticence.

"The thing I want to show you is a secret. I can't risk anyone else seeing it. Besides, I don't understand what the problem is; do you think I'm going to dive on you the second we get up there? We've been alone together in a bedroom before and I've managed to resist myself." He tilted his head. "Granted, not the last time we were in a bedroom together, but that wasn't exactly one sided so it doesn't count."

Squaring my jaw, I looked quickly over my shoulder to check that no one was watching before moving to follow him up.

"That's my girl!" he cheered, grinning broadly.

When we entered the boys' bedroom, the stench of dirty laundry and unopened windows hit me just as strongly as it had done the previous times I'd been in there.

"Luckily for us, the rest of the boys are all in lessons," he said, going over to the trunk at the bottom of one of the beds. "Doubt they'd be too pleased to find out I'm showing you this to be honest."

As soon as he said that, I found my curiosity well and truly piqued. Waiting with barely repressed impatience, I watched him move nearly everything in the trunk aside until he could reach down into the very bottom.

His hand resurfaced holding a non-descript piece of parchment.

He held it aloft like it was the original Magna Carta.

"That's what you wanted to show me?" I questioned, looking at it dubiously.

Straightening up, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wand.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he said, giving the parchment a firm tap.

Edging closer to his side, I felt my jaw drop as blotches of black ink appeared from nowhere and began to glide across the paper, winding around until they tapered into fine lines and started to become legible.

"This is what you used to find me that night, isn't it?" I said, gaping at it.

Leaning in towards him so I could see it better, I read the newly formed text aloud. "Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauders Map."

Unfolding the parchment leaves like an oversized leaflet, he extended it out in his hands. If I'd thought the front was impressive, it was nothing in comparison to what was inside.

Minute descriptions moved freely around the detailed diagrammed walls of the castle, showing the location of the students and teachers inside. It was like it had a psychic mind of its own.

"This is amazing," I murmured, "I can't believe you made this."

Sirius gave me a crooked smile. "We are pretty amazing, aren't we?" he agreed.

"And modest, as usual."

"Naturally."

"Why are you showing me this?"

"Because I wanted you to see it," he replied. "It's something I worked hard on."

His tone had become slightly defensive and I felt guilty for even asking.

"I do want to see it," I said, putting my hand on his arm to stop him from folding it back up. "I'm glad you want to share things like this with me."

He stopped trying to put it away. "Alright, let's not get all sentimental. It's just a map."

I found I had to withhold my amusement because I could tell at that point that it wasn't just the map. The map was more like a symbol. He was showing me it because it meant something to him.

Or maybe I really was reading too deeply into things.

"So, do you want to use it to go let off dungbombs in old Filch's office?" he asked, his eyes flashing mischievously.

"Hmm. Maybe save that for when James gets back," I replied.

He looked disappointed. "Had a feeling you'd say that."

When we'd finished poring over the map; laughing at some of the things it inadvertently revealed, like couples going into hidden corners for a quick snog, or the teachers rushing to the toilets mid-lesson...which was a lot funnier than it should've been, he returned it to its hiding place and came back to sit next to me on the bed again.

"So, what now?" he asked, his thigh accidentally resting against mine.

"There's only quarter of an hour left of my free period."

The time had gone fast.

"You'd be surprised how much you can fit into fifteen minutes," he replied.

The leg that was pressed against his began to feel like it was going to set on fire, but I knew if I moved it now it would make it into more a deal than if I just pretended not to notice.

Suddenly I found all I could seem to focus on were his eyes, like there was an invisible magnet drawing me to them. Examining all the different shades of grey they were made up of. His pupils looked big and dark, like they could swallow me whole if I looked too long.

As soon as my head started to swim, I dropped my gaze, catching it on his lips.

I knew I had made a mistake almost as soon as I did it. They were parted ever so slightly, inviting. Like he was about to say something, but the words weren't coming out.

Sirens had started to blare in my head making it difficult to think straight, and I had to blink a couple of times to clear my vision.

"So anyway," I said, getting abruptly to my feet, "I better leave before anyone comes up here. They'll probably think we've been up to something knowing them."

"Wouldn't that be just awful?" Sirius asked with a hint of irony, getting to his feet as well.

"Actually, I'm glad you brought up what happened between us in my bedroom," I said, pretending to straighten out my hair and clothes just to give me something to do with my arms.

"Oh yeah?" He ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, well we agreed to be friends, but then, well, you know what happened then..."

"We kissed," he said bluntly.

I could barely look at him. "Yes. And we shouldn't have done it. We weren't thinking straight."

"Twice," he said.

"What?"

"It happened twice. So I suppose we weren't thinking straight twice."

I gave him as unimpressed a look as I could muster.

He snorted. "I'm messing around. Friends is a step up from where we started last year, I would be honoured to call you my pal, Cheryl."

I nodded.

Managing to get to the door before me, he opened it and waited for me to go first again. Just as I stepped through, I felt a sizeable pat on my back.

"After you, best buddy," he said with laughter in his voice.

"That reminds me," I said, pausing in the doorway and pretending not to be irritated by what he'd done, "there was something else I wanted to ask you."

"I'm all ears."

"During the game at the cabin. When it was my turn to do the Seven Minutes in Heaven rubbish. Did you or James do something to the spinner to make it land on you and not Remus?"

It was something that had been niggling at me, and seeing as how things were purely platonic between us again now, I felt a degree of bravery I wouldn't have otherwise felt.

To my surprise, Sirius's mouth twitched. "Oh. If I told you that, I'd have to kill you," he replied infuriatingly.