A/N: Merry Christmas Safari! I hope you enjoy this other fic as well. I had time to sneak off to write another one today before Christmas. This is also probably written for the December Scavenger Hunt. Thanks for reading! Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does.
"Marlene, where are you dragging me off to?" Fourteen year old Sirius asked. "I don't mind following you anywhere, but still… you aren't normally this mysterious."
She only grinned and placed a finger on her lips. "Shh, you'll get us caught if you keep talking." She placed her hands on her hips and gave him a playful look. "I thought you were good at sneaking around."
"I am! When I actually know where I'm going," he said pointedly. "Now tell me where we're going so we can stay out of trouble."
"I don't think so," Marlene answered as she kept walking.
"You're being so impossible. You know I hate surprises." He made a face as she placed a scarf around his eyes. "Can you at least take the scarf off my eyes?"
"No. That defeats the purpose of the surprise. Just take my hand."
He grinned. "You do realize that this is the first time you offered to hold hands with me, right?"
"Shut up, Black."
He stayed quiet, but not willingly. After a while he could tell that they were walking up the stairs somewhere. She opened a door, and he could feel wind on his face. "We're on the astronomy tower," he said as she removed the scarf from his eyes.
Marlene sighed and pushed his shoulder. "You're so impossible to surprise," she complained, making a face at him.
"I liked the effort," Sirius said, defending himself. "Why are we up here? That part is still a surprise."
Marlene smiled, and his heart did a flip. "There's a meteor shower tonight. I wanted you to watch it with me."
Sirius grinned at her. "Marlene, you know you only had to ask me out on a date. I would've said yes and gone without all of this sneaking around."
Marlene crossed her arms. "This is exactly why I didn't do it. You would've teased me nonstop and given me a hard time-"
She was cut off when Sirius suddenly pressed his lips against hers. "I normally save first kisses until the end of the date, but…" Sirius shrugged and looked sheepish.
"First date kisses are overrated," Marlene mumbled finally.
Sirius grinned again and took her hand as they sat down quietly. They didn't see any shooting stars right away, but he immediately found a constellation. "There's the Sirius constellation!"
Marlene rolled her eyes. "Is that the only constellation you know? You learned all about that one in our first year you know."
"Of course I know there's more than that constellation," Sirius said, pretending to look offended. "There's the big Dipper, Draco, Andromeda-" he pointed each one out and she sighed.
"I've got the idea now," she said as she looked up.
"I love Astronomy, really," Sirius admitted quietly.
Marlene looked at him in surprise. "Really? I never knew that."
He nodded. "Sometimes I wish I could just go out there and escape my family that way." He squeezed her hand lightly. "I'd want to take you with me of course though."
Marlene blushed though she hid it by looking down. She was definitely pleased by that response though. "I'd want to go with you too," she admitted shyly after a moment.
Their eyes met for a moment and she rested her head against his shoulder and looked back up quietly. "Oh, look! There's a shooting star!" She closed her eyes immediately to make a wish.
Sirius smiled as he looked down at her instead of closing his as well. She suddenly opened her eyes and saw that he had a look of adoration in his eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but he beat her to it. "Will you be my girlfriend?"
Her eyes widened in surprise. He could tell that she clearly hadn't expected that. "G-girlfriend?"
Sirius nodded. "I've liked you since first year, Marlene. I know I haven't always shown it, but I'm trying."
"I know," Marlene murmured breathlessly. "Yes… I'll be your girlfriend."
Now it was his turn to widen his eyes in surprise. He hadn't expected it to go that easily. "Really?"
"Always the tone of surprise," Marlene scolded lightly before resting her head on his shoulder again.
Sirius looked down at the time and saw that it was midnight on Christmas Eve. "Merry Christmas," he murmured. "Thanks for staying back at Hogwarts with me."
She nodded as they both went back to watching the meteor shower.