December, 1973

"Holy crap," I repeated, running my hand through my hair, before it got stuck on a knot.

"You okay there, Kaiser?" Sirius asked, taking a step forward.

I gave him a look. "Are you serious right now?"

"Yes, actually," Sirius said. "Yes, I—"

"Black," I warned, before I looked at cloak in James's hand. "That's an invisibility cloak. How oh how did you get that?"

James looked confused for a second before he chuckled. "This old thing? This isn't an invisibility cloak! I mean, seriously. Do you really think we could possibly have something like that? You're dreaming."

I pointed my wand at him. "That won't work on me, Mister. Now tell me where you got it? Do the Professors know?"

Sirius smiled and took another steo forward. "You're obviously tired, Kaiser. Go back to bed. You're seeing things!"

I jabbed my wand towards him, causing him to take a step back. I glared at him before looking to the others. "I'm not going to tell anyone and don't tell me where you got if you're that adamant. But don't play me off as dumb."

The four boys looked amongst each other before Remus said, "So, um, do you want something?"

I smiled and lowered my wand. "Yes, actually. I want to use your cloak."

Sirius actually laughed, which caused all of us to shush him. "You're hilarious, Kaiser."

I gave him a look. "Well, why not? I'm not going to steal it."

"Well want do you want it for?" Remus asked.

"I want to go to Hogsmeade," I replied, crossing my arms. "And I need that cloak to go. But, if you refuse, I suppose I can always tell McGonnagal all about that cloak. It would explain a lot of pranks."

James laughed nervously. "Give us a minute."

The four boys huddled together and I didn't bother trying to eavesdrop. I guessed that they were probably trying to figure out if I was bluffing or not. In truth, I didn't know myself. But I really wanted to go to Hogsmeade and if I had to use threats, so be it. I had to wait another minute before the boys disbanded. Sirius had an annoyed look on his face when James stepped forward and held out his hand.

I shook it as he said, "You only get to use it once, or else we're calling your bluff. Deal?"

I thought about it and after a moment I nodded in agreement. I knew I could've tried to go to Hogsmeade multiple times, but I saw that James was completely serious. They would call my bluff and I wasn't sure if I actually was going to tell McGonnagal. If I did tell, then I probably wouldn't be getting a laugh as often I was everytime they pranked Severus, and that would be incredibly sad.

I gave them all one last smile before I made my way back fo my room. However, before I was able to, Sirius stopped me.

"Nice pjs, by the way," Sirius said teasingly, mostly likely as a way to get back at me.

My face turned completely red as I looked down at my teddy-bear print pajamas. Feeling incredibly hot, I shot a random spell at Sirius—not sure if it hit him—before I raced into my room, locking the door behind me.

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December, 1973

When the weekend came along, I was the most excited I had ever been. It was close to Christmas break and I wanted to go to Hogsmeade before I left for home. The Marauders agreed to take me before break and now I was waiting in the Gryffindor common room for them.

Marlene and Lydia had left together, while Lily was going with Severus. I couldn't help but smile when I thought about James's face should he see Severus and Lily together. But then I realized that the pranks would probably escalate and I wondered or not if it was appropriate to smile. I decided it wasn't, but then I found it really hard not to smile.

After waiting another minute, Sirius—all by himself—entered the common room, with a bag. He pulled out the cloak from the bag and beckoned me closer.

"Come on, then," He said. "To Hogsmeade we go."

"Where are the others?" I asked as he and I went under the cloak, it's material covering us completely.

"Peter is with Lydia, James is probably going to find Lily, and Remus stayed back to do homework," Sirius replied as we left the dorms and made our way out of the castle.

I nodded in understanding and we were silent as we made our way to Hogsmeade. However, we didn't go the usual way. Sirius led me to a secret tunnel that I didn't know was in the castle and we soon found ourselves in some sort of shop. I really wanted to ask how he knew of the tunnel's existence, as well as where we were. But I was afraid to talk lest we reveal ourselves, so I kept my questions to myself.

It was snowing in Hogsmeade and I stared at the buildings in wonder as I walked. I almost completely forget Sirius was there, but it was still pretty hard to. We were right next to each other as we walk and I felt really uncomfortable.

I also jumped out of my skin when Sirius whispered right in my ear, saying, "Does anyone else know you don't have a permission slip?"

"Only the girls and maybe Severus know," I said, hoping he heard my really quiet response. I also hoped Sirius would stop being so close to me. I felt my face becoming hot. "The professors too."

Sirius nodded in understanding before leading me into an empty alleyway. I was relieved when he took off the cloak, the cold air rushing against my bare face. I was also glad I brought my jacket just in case Sirius did just this.

"Are you sure I won't get caught?" I asked.

Sirius shook his head and walked back into the street. "Nope. But if we see Snivellus or one of the professors, you go right back under the cloak. Got it?"

I nodded and so we walked around Hogsmeade. Despite no longer being under the cloak, I stayed close to Sirius so he could put me under the cloak in case if an emergency. But that didn't stop me from gazing at the village with wide eyes and awe. I watched as people in my uear rushed by, talking amongst themselves. I saw some fifth years on dates and—

My eyes widened in horror and I yanked Sirius' arm, pulling him into an alley. However, I must've pulled him too hard because fhe moment we were in the alley, he pulled back his arm and rubbed it.

"What's your problem, Kaiser?" Sirius asked, slightly annoyed.

"Veronique," was all I said before the two of us heard my sister's voice.

"I could've sworn I saw Reese," Veronique was saying, her voice getting closer.

I froze in my spot as the footsteps got closer and right when she was about to appear in the entrance, I panicked.

Not really knowing what I was doing, I grabbed Sirius by the front of his shirt and pulled him down for a kiss. His lips were hot against mine and I was vaguely aware of Veronique saying,

"Ugh! Get a room you two!"

When her footsteps faded away, I stumbled away, gasping for breath. I looked at Sirius in horror, realizing what I had done. Sirius, however, didn't seem to be processing it. He stood there paralyzed and I kept my hands over my mouth, repeating 'stupid, stupid, stupid' over and over again in my head.

"I panicked," I finally said, not recognizing my own voice. "I couldn't let her see me—"

Sirius held up the cloak. "You could've use this." He didn't sound annoyed or angry...just bewildered.

I pressed my lips together and I felt my face become extremely hot. He was right and I had acted on impulse. I closed my eyes and couldn't believe how stupid I was. After a moment of awkwad silence, Sirius seemed to recover.

He cleared his throat. "Well, we should probably move on. Come on."

I looked at him in horror. "Under the cloak? With you?"

Sirius actually smiled at the look on my face. "You kissed me, Kaiser. You didn't stab me. Now come on."

Getting a hold of myself, I nodded and stood next to him. With the cloak shielding us, we resumed our journey through Hogsmeade. But it was awkward and halfway through I requested to go home. And so Sirius took me back to the castle.

When we arrived, he left me there before announcing he was going back to Hogsmeade. I barely registered his words as I way my way back to my room. After I changed into my teddy-bear print pajamas and I undid my hair, letting it fall down my back, I sat crossed leg on my bed. I didn't know how long I sat there, motionless. But one thought remained:

I kissed Sirius Black.

I found myself actually laughing at how ridiculous that sounded. But it happened and now I had no clue what to do. He hadn't seemed to have minded, but I just knew how awkward it would be in the following days. I found myself lookng forward to Christmas break.

My thoughts were interrupted by the opening of my dorm door. I sighed in relief when it was just Marlene who entered, but I wondered where Lydia and Lily were.

"One of these days, I'm gonna kill those boys," Marlene said, collapsing on her bed, covering her eyes with the back of her forearm. "So how was your day?"

"I kissed Sirius Black."

At my announcement, Marlene very slowly sat up on the bed, her eyes wide. She then very quickly and quietly sat down beside me, legs crossed under her. She looked at me and I looked at her back. Both of us held neutral expressions until Marlene said,

"I'm sorry...what?"

I sighed and nodded, looking away. "You heard right. I kissed Sirius Black."

"Oh. My. Gosh," was all Marlene said for a long while.

I was unprepared when she pulled me to my feet and dragged me to the bathroom. "What are you doing?"

Marlene filled up a cup with water and then I watched as she placed toothpaste in the water. When she mixed it, she passed the cup to me.

"Usually, to cleanse yourself from a kiss, you kiss someone else, someone better," Marlene explained as I took the cup. "But I can't tkink of anyone and so you have to gargle toothpaste water instead. Now go on."

I looked at the cup with suspicion before I did actually what she said, spitting the water into the sink when I was done. "What now?" I asked.

"Next you have to avoid Black until things are no longer awkward," Marlene replied. "That's the only way you get over this."

"I love how to just get to the point without asking how it happened, if I liked it, or how he reacted."

Marlene shrugged as she and I walked back to our room. "What can I say? My method works better."

When we sat down on my bed, we were silent for a long while as I tried to get rid of the minty taste in my mouth. It almost felt like burning.

"For curiosity's sake," Marlene began. "How did it happen? And how did he react?"

"He was very okay with it," I responded. "He recovered and then we moved on. As for how it happened, well... Let's just say that I sas doing something I wasn't supposed go do and Veronique was passing by. I kissed him to make sure she didn't see me. It worked."

Marlene raised her eyebrows in amusement before turning completely serious. "It's no wonder you didn't get into Ravenclaw. Kissing him must be, by far, the worst decision in your Hogwarts career."

I smiled and I was inclined to agree.

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So this was an experiment chapter. Tell me your thoughts about the kiss, as I wasn't sure I should've added it in the first place. Anyway, Read and review as always and stick around for the next chapter!