Summary: A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

Rated: PG-13, for now… next chapter, we'll see.

Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

Chapter Two

Measuring Up

Day four of detention began like the previous three. After exaggerating the necessity that Sirius and Claire get a move on the categorization or else not be allowed to go down to dinner until they had, Professor Lamont strode from the room and locked the door behind her.

"You know, maybe we can just leave," Claire pondered allowed. She walked over to the door and tried the knob. As expected, it was locked. "Alohamora!" Claire cried, tapping it with her wand, but to no avail: the door remained as immobile as before.

"Curse that woman and her knowledge of defensive spells," Claire muttered as she made her way back through the rows of desks to where Sirius was sitting, watching her with a bemused look on his face. She pulled herself onto a desk opposite him and exhaled in annoyance.

Sirius smiled pleasantly, and Claire looked up.

"So… did you do your homework last night, Sirius?" she asked.

He nodded. "I couldn't get stuff to categorize exactly the way she wants, though," he admitted. "It lists all the names and stuff, but in the wrong order." He paused for a moment and then asked, "And you? Did you ask your over-achieving Ravenclaw friends?"

Claire smiled and rolled her eyes. "I certainly did, and I got little Linnet Blakely to work out exactly how we managed that thing with the Greek, and it turns out we could also have gotten it to categorize in Latin or Catalan if we wanted."

"That's all charming, but what about English?" Sirius demanded.

Claire smiled more broadly. "Well, Linnet finally figured out how to get the Latin or Greek or Catalan to translate to English in the same wand movement, and I had her explain precisely how to do it to me, so… I think we're in business."

Sirius grinned. "Lovely. Thank that Linnet Blakely kid for me, will you?"

Claire looked at him thoughtfully. "Do you know her?" she asked curiously. "She's quite a nice little girl… well, she's actually not too little; she's a fourth year. A tiny fourth year, though. And bloody brilliant… Ravenclaw through and through."

Sirius shrugged. "Doesn't ring a bell."

"Short, skinny kid?" Claire supplemented. "Pale, big glasses, bit of an over-achiever?"

Sirius shrugged again. "Sorry, she doesn't sound quite like my type."

Claire let out a derisive snort.

Sirius could not think of a snappy reply to this quickly enough. Instead he supplemented with, "Indeed… now, Claire, show me that wand thing the kid taught you."

Claire obliged, and soon the two of them were sitting happily back on the desktops watching the immense stack of parchment, two quills, and a bottle of black ink categorize without aid.

"Lamont really is a bloody fool," Sirius observed.

Claire nodded thoughtfully. "Yes… poor thing."

Sirius turned to look at her and raised his eyebrows so high they disappeared under his shaggy hair.

Claire suddenly laughed. "Did I just say that? Sorry, I was sort of in a trance watching it..." She was referring to the categorization.

Sirius turned back to watch the two quills scratch out line after line on blank pieces of parchment, each in handwriting according to the person who had enchanted it. Thus, the large eagle-feather quill scrawled out categorizations in Sirius's cramped script while the smaller raven feather made annotations in a large, loopy cursive.

"Anyway," said Claire briskly, turning away from the oddly mesmerizing sight, "let's get on with those dirty secrets, shall we?"

Sirius remembered that that had been the plan from yesterday. He barked out a laugh. "You really want to hear my dirty secrets, don't you, Claire?"

Claire kept her cool. "I certainly do," she replied briskly. "So, first things first: who was your first shag?"

Sirius turned to stare at her. "Wait, so this means you're going to answer the same question?" he asked in semi-disbelief.

She shrugged. "Well, if you insist… though I'm sure you've already figured it out; you've already deduced why I'm in detention, right?"

Sirius was disappointed. "So just Zabini then, Claire?" he asked. He frowned. "Are you sure? I'd always heard you were a bit more active than that."

Claire blushed slightly, but then she laughed. "You, Sirius Black, have no right to call anybody 'active.'"

Sirius grinned at her, and said, "But you're sure, then? He was the first one?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "Well, I've been going out with him since the end of fourth year, so yes, I'd say he was the first one."

"And he's the only one, then?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "Well, seeing as I've been dating him ever since…"

Sirius nodded. "I see. So, Claire, when was the first time?"

Claire laughed incredulously. "I was asking you that!" she protested.

Sirius shrugged. "I'm asking you first."

Claire was still smiling absurdly. Then she came to her senses and her mouth closed. She thought for a moment. "Mmm… end of fifth year, I think. Yeah, it was my sixteenth birthday, I remember–" She suddenly blushed profusely.

Sirius laughed and leaned forward to tilt her chin upward toward him. "Hey, don't be embarrassed, dear," he said.

Claire grinned through her blushing. "Well, what about you, then?" she demanded.

Sirius grinned back at her. "I want more details first," he insisted.

Claire looked incredulous again. "Tell me your details first, pervert! And make them good, damn it!" she added as an afterthought.

Sirius burst out laughing. "Fine, don't tell me," he gasped at last.

Claire pursed her lips. "Maybe I won't. But I still want to know yours."

Sirius looked at her thoughtfully. She was so pretty, and so collected, and so exciting, what with being a year older than he was and having a boyfriend besides. What he would really have liked to do was lean forward and kiss her, and then make out with her in the deserted classroom while the quills finished their assignment for them. But that would never do; he had to be slyer.

"I'll tell you if you kiss me," he said.

Claire stared at him in shock for a moment. Then she said, "Sirius Black! You are exactly as my friends say!"

Sirius swept his hair out of his eyes and surveyed her haughtily. "Is that a crime?"

Claire shook her head back and forth in thought, her lovely violet eyes wide. "I'm not sure."

Sirius laughed. "Oh, come on, Claire! Do it for posterity!"

Claire laughed, too. Despite herself, she did not feel uncomfortable with this conversation. "'For posterity?'" she repeated. "How on earth would my kissing you aid future generations?"

Sirius shrugged. "Well, maybe not future generations, but–"

Claire shook her head. "Look, Sirius, I have a boyfriend. I can't be snogging random boys just so I can hear about how they lost their virginity."

Sirius shrugged again, and grinned despite himself. "Well, don't you want to see how you measure up to Dilys Merwyn? And besides, the tale of how I lost my virginity is fabulous; I wouldn't think you'd want to miss it."

Claire bit her lip in thought. Truth be told, she was feeling an overwhelming urge to kiss Sirius and just get it over with. But Hector – her subconscious interrupted. Claire shrugged that aside. Hector doesn't need to know. Besides, I've dated Hector almost exclusively for nearly three years straight; I deserve a break, don't I? And anyway, how would it hurt him? At this, Claire felt a small surge of self-disdain, because she did not want to become disloyal, however insignificantly, to the man she felt she loved so completely.

But Sirius was sitting there, examining his fingernails idly and looking overwhelmingly attractive. "Made up your mind yet, Claire?" he asked lightly.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine," she agreed, "but this loss-of-virginity story better be pretty damn good."

Sirius smiled slyly. "Oh, it is," he assured her.

Claire stood up, took a step toward him, and kissed him squarely on the lips. She pulled back a second later.

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "Claire, that was pitiful," he alleged. "Honestly, you make even Inessa Barrington seem skilled."

Still less than a foot away from him, Claire raised her eyebrows. "You've kissed Inessa Barrington? She is, like, the most un-whorish girl I know."

Sirius shrugged. "Yeah, well, don't act so surprised. And besides, we were drunk and she still couldn't kiss for shit."

Claire smiled. "My apologies."

Sirius narrowed his eyes more exaggeratedly. "What you really should be apologizing for is that pathetic excuse for a kiss you just gave me. Inessa Barrington's starting to look quite appealing by comparison."

Claire rolled her eyes. "I'll bet."

Sirius raised one eyebrow at her keenly. "You can kiss, Claire; I see you doing it to Zabini all the time. Now, if you want to hear that fascinating story in its entirety, I suggest you do it properly."

Claire exhaled in annoyance, and glanced skyward. "Sirius, what did you expect?" she began. But then she thought, to hell with it. She wanted to hear the story and she was sick of this detour into kissing abilities. Besides, she thought, he's Sirius Black; he'll always get what he wants in the end. In addition, though this was not as important, Claire Delacour was a good kisser, and she knew it. A tiny part of her did not appreciate being compared to Inessa Barrington, commonly regarded as the most ridiculously chaste, if correspondingly pretty, girl in Hufflepuff.

"Fine," Claire relented. She looked back down at Sirius to find him studying her with a bit of a grin on his face. Gently, she tilted his chin toward her and lowered her mouth to his.

In the midst of the passion of getting to kiss Claire, Sirius was impressed despite himself. The girl clearly knew what she was doing; not too much tongue, not pushing too hard, letting him feel more in control…

Shit, he thought, she's too good. I am never going to be happy again if I do not get to make out with this girl at some point in my life. He realized that this was probably not entirely true; he could be happy at some point, surely, and there were plenty of other girls out there who could measure up to Claire. But still… he was not currently infatuated with any of those other girls…

After a substantial period of time – enough for all of those thoughts to flit through Sirius's head, at the minimum – Claire pulled away. Then she raised her eyebrows as if to say, "Well?"

Sirius grinned at her. "I knew you had it in you," he said.

Claire smiled slightly. "How'd I compare to Dilys Merwyn?" she murmured.

"Blew her out of the water," Sirius stated at once.

Claire giggled. "I try." Then she stepped back to the desk opposite and sat down again. "Now then: you were going to tell me about that virginity-losing experience you had."

Sirius took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "Alright. You certainly earned the right to hear it, might I add–" and Claire smiled despite herself.

"How old were you?" she persisted.

Sirius smiled. "Fourteen."

Claire raised her eyebrows in amusement. "And who was the lucky girl?"

"Olivia León, then a sixth year," Sirius stated.

Claire squinted in thought. "Olivia León, Olivia León… which house?"

"Gryffindor."

Claire squinted some more. "Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly. "I think I remember her… pretty tan girl with long hair?"

Sirius nodded. "Correct."

Claire smiled at him. "And she was two years older than you, Sirius? You do get around."

Sirius winked at her and smiled. "That I do."

Claire got his implication and rolled her eyes. "By the way, Sirius, kindly don't mention that kissing incident to anybody outside of this room."

Sirius smirked. "Of course not." When Claire narrowed her eyes at him, however, he said sincerely, "No, don't worry about it; I won't." This wasn't entirely true; he would probably tell James, Remus, and Peter, but nobody more.

Claire nodded. "But on with that story, then… how did it come to happen?"

Sirius smiled slightly. "Quite simple, really: it was Christmas break, we were bored, and she had some alcohol on her."

Claire frowned. "That is almost the most boring story I've ever heard, Sirius."

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Fine. You want the details?" Claire nodded. "Then you'll get them," Sirius affirmed.

The gist of the story was as follows:

It was in his fourth year that Sirius lost his virginity to Olivia León, then a sixth year, over Christmas break. Olivia was quite pretty, with a tan complexion and green eyes, and she was bored; none of her friends were staying at school over the holidays. Similarly, Sirius's friends had all headed home at their parents' insistence, and despite James's offer for Sirius to spend the holidays at his house, Sirius had not signed up in time to take the train to London and so was spending Christmas alone.

The summer before fourth year had been the one in which Sirius grew. He was now tall, as tall as Dilys Merwyn (now a seventh year), who had commented such to him on the train on the first day of term. Now he was also very, very hot, and he knew it.

Olivia found Sirius in the common room and asked if he wanted to get drunk in celebration of the end of autumn term.

"Black? My name's Olivia. Olivia León. Listen, my friends and I bought plenty of swill before school ended. Want to join me for a shot of firewhisky?"

Sirius shrugged, swept his hair out of his eyes, and grinned.

Olivia laughed. She had dimples, as well as a very infectious laugh, and so he barked out a laugh, too.

Then he said, "I know who you are." He did; he knew who all of the pretty girls were, even if they were two years older than he was.

They went up into his dormitory (he couldn't climb the stairs to hers, after all) and soon the two of them were chatting like old friends, drinking bottles of ale and having a grand time. In truth, neither was terribly drunk; Sirius had been drunk several times before, and he knew that he needed way more alcohol than this to start losing control.

Olivia, too, did not drink much. However, she did start truly appreciating just how hot this Sirius fellow what. For one thing, he was taller and stronger than her boyfriend. For another, he was very good a flirting. And for a third, that damn Harvey (her boyfriend) had gone and ditched her for the Christmas holidays, the asshole.

When Sirius reached over and ran his fingers gently through her feathery dark brown waves of hair, Olivia stuck her hand out and ran her own fingers through his shaggy, darker hair. They laughed together.

Then she leaned forward and kissed him. It was as simple as that.

Pretty soon, the two of them were in their underwear, laughing and drinking some more, and then, still not really drunk, albeit significantly tipsy, they were naked on Sirius's four-poster bed. They were both highly enjoying themselves, and they both knew what they were doing.

Over the next two weeks of Christmas break, Sirius and Olivia had many more entertaining hours of getting drunk and having sex in Sirius's dormitory. Both of them knew that this was not a long-term thing, and they accepted it as such.

When school resumed again, they rarely talked. Olivia never told her boyfriend about what she had been up to during the holidays, and he never suspected. Though she and Sirius would say "hello" to one another in the corridors for the first few weeks of January, Olivia explained their sudden familiarity away to Harvey with effortless ease.

"We chatted a bit over Christmas break. After all, hardly anyone stayed at school over the holidays and he really is quite an amusing kid."

Sirius, for his part, told his friends about what had happened but emphasized how unimportant it was to him. "Oh, come off it, Remus. We both knew all along it wasn't going to be anything beyond the holidays," he said one evening, rolling his eyes.

"But how could you possibly feel… I dunno… comfortable doing it so… so… casually?" Remus demanded.

James laughed. "Look here. I wouldn't complain much if Olivia León invited me to get drunk with her. I'd probably play it by ear just as much as he did."

"Likewise," Peter agreed. "And after all, if both of them are okay with it, why do you care so much, Remus?"

Remus shrugged, and then threw his hands into the air in defeat. "Fine. Whatever. I don't care."

Sirius smiled slightly. "Well, I'm glad I have your permission for acting like a man-whore…"

James and Peter laughed, and Remus couldn't help but smile, too.

Now, Claire smiled. "And that was just the beginning," she mused. "Look at all the people you've done now."

Sirius shrugged. "Well, at least I enjoy life. But you, Claire, tell me more details about that first time with Zabini. We had a deal, remember?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "Fine. So, it was my sixteenth birthday and Hector and I had been dating for over a year. He snuck into the Ravenclaw common room one night – it wasn't the first time, we'd gone into one another's common rooms loads of times before – and then we went up to my dormitory and that was that."

"What about your roommates, Claire?" Sirius interjected. "I should think they'd be somewhat disturbed by the two of you–"

"They knew better than to come in, you think I hadn't talked to them before, fool?" Claire interrupted.

Sirius smiled. "My apologies. But Claire, why is this such a touchy subject for you? I'm sorry, but you're awfully closeted when compared to, say, me."

Claire smiled appreciatively. "I don't know… I guess I think that it's not really your business."

"Well, it's not," Sirius agreed, "but you were the one who wanted to trade dirty secrets."

Claire nodded. "I know… well, ask me something else, and I'll answer honestly."

Sirius grinned. "Ah, the possibilities…" he mused, cracking the knuckles on one of his hands sadistically until Claire said,

"Stop that, you freak of nature!"

Then Sirius laughed and countered, "Do you dislike me, Claire?"

She frowned, then stood up and came over to sit beside him on the desk, where she swung her legs back and forth and studied her fingernails for a few moments.

"Hmm… long hesitation: not a positive sign," Sirius mused with a hint of a grin, supremely unconcerned. After all, he knew that Claire liked him; she wouldn't have kissed him if she didn't. He had only asked the question because he wanted to kiss her again, and forcing her to admit that she did not dislike him seemed like a good lead-in to a make out session.

Claire, meanwhile, laughed. Then she turned to him and said, "No, I don't dislike you, Sirius. I don't dislike you at all. I actually quite enjoy having these little chats with you every afternoon."

Sirius couldn't help but grin more broadly. She was walking right into this; it was almost as if she wanted to cheat on that damn Zabini. "And I like you, too, Claire," he replied promptly. "I like you quite a lot. You are also highly entertaining to talk to. Even if you are in love with that Zabini bloke."

A corner of Claire's mouth twitched into a smile, but the other half stayed where it was. What have I done? she thought to herself. He liked her, it was quite obvious, but Claire was used to that, was used to having boys like her… it was something else, something that kept nagging at her conscience. As she stared distractedly into his lovely gray eyes, now only a foot from her face, Claire suddenly realized that she liked him, too. No, she thought desperately, I can't like Sirius, I can't! I'm in love with Hector! I love Hector!

And it was true, she did love Hector. But now she also had this aggravating attraction to Sirius Black, which was nothing like the way she felt for Hector Zabini, but which needed fulfillment nonetheless.

"Sirius, I–" she began, not sure what to say. "I don't–"

But now it was Sirius's turn to tilt her chin upward and bring his mouth to hers, and this time Claire didn't know what to do, because, try as her conscience might, she did not want to stop him.

Finally, Claire felt his tongue filling her mouth and realized amid her feelings of pleasure that she couldn't be doing this. "Wait!" she gasped.

Sirius pulled back, looking into her beautiful violet eyes concernedly.

"I – I can't do this!" Claire mumbled. "It's not… it's not right."

Sirius raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Oh, it feels pretty right to me, Claire."

Claire took a deep breath to steady herself, and Sirius brought his hand to her face to brush her shock of dark bangs off of her forehead. And while Claire stared at him, still not sure what she really wanted to do – indeed, that steadying breath had only made her want to keep kissing him – Sirius slid his hand to the back of her head and pulled her toward him, and kissed her again, more gently this time, so that Claire could resist if she wanted to.

But she didn't. Claire could feel her conscience urging her to walk away, tell him off, be loyal to Hector, anything. But the rest of her would not hear of it, and soon the protests of her conscience had died away to a steady hum of guilt, and Claire was sitting in Sirius's lap and kissing him more passionately than she had ever kissed Hector. (Of course, this was partly because Sirius was a better kisser.)

Meanwhile, the quills continued to categorize tirelessly, making a persistent scratching noise as they wrote out endless annotations on the parchment.

-

"You two have certainly come up to speed," Professor Lamont commented stiffly as she surveyed the hefty stack of neatly filled out parchment lying on the desk.

"Well, it took a few days to get into the swing of it, Professor," Claire explained.

"Now we're experts," Sirius added. He was feeling very contented with himself, and couldn't help but smirk slightly. He had just spent the last hour making out with Claire Delacour, a girl one year his senior who was already involved with a very good-looking and suave Slytherin, and they hadn't even been drunk.

"So… can we go down to dinner, then, Professor?" Claire asked sweetly, blinking a few times and brushing her bangs to one side.

Professor Lamont did not reply at once. Indeed, she might have been slightly annoyed, though her droopy eyes and perpetually moody countenance made it difficult to discern specific feelings.

"I suppose so," she said grudgingly, "but mind you two come on time tomorrow… and don't think you can slack off then, just because you did lots of work today!"

"Of course not, Professor," Claire said at once. She turned to Sirius and jerked her head significantly toward the door, implying that they should both leave.

Sirius gave her a hint of a smile, grabbed his book bag, and followed her from the room.

"Well, that categorization shit was a success," Claire remarked cheerfully.

"Yeah, don't forget to thank Linnet Blakely for me," Sirius replied.

Claire smiled. "Go thank her yourself." She paused for a moment, and then added, "She likes you, you know… sort of an infatuation, I think. She didn't say anything to me about it, of course, but it was so obvious." She changed her tone of voice. "Oh, Linnet, I have detention with Sirius Black and we have to do this categorization shit… could you help me figure out how to do it by magic?

"Oh, okay, Claire… wait, who did you say you had detention with?

"Sirius Black.

"Oh, him… oh, okay."

Claire shook her head and smiled pityingly. "And then you told me you had no idea who she was and that she 'didn't sound like your type.'"

Sirius smiled, too. "Well, she doesn't. And besides, how is it my fault if random girls I don't know start falling for me?"

Claire shrugged. "Well, it's not… but you could still go and thank her personally; it'd probably make her day."

Sirius continued to smile. "Linnet Blakely… the over-achieving Linnet Blakely… alright; can do. I'll be all gallant, and everything."

Claire looked at him sternly. "Yes, and be sure not to act like an ass as you usually do, because it would be a shame to burst her bubble."

Sirius grinned. "Calling me an ass, now, Claire? That's a bit of a departure from what you were saying an hour ago."

Claire blushed slightly and smiled. "Technically, I wasn't saying anything an hour ago," she murmured, glancing at her watch.

Sirius barked out a laugh. "I love it when you become flirtatious despite yourself."

Claire laughed too, and shrugged. "I'm glad you're entertained."

Hector Zabini came strolling around the corner, talking to a friend of his from Slytherin and looking distinctly jovial. "Claire!" he called out, hurrying toward her.

"Cher!" Claire responded, mimicking his joviality and come up to greet him. Zabini kissed her tenderly, and Claire smiled up at him. "What's the occasion?" she murmured.

Zabini shrugged. "Happy to see you. Happy detention is over."

Claire kissed him again. "Me too."

The anonymous friend from Slytherin rolled his eyes. "Are you two done yet?" he demanded jokingly.

"Oh, hello, Eddie," said Claire, pretending to have just noticed him.

Eddie, whom Sirius now recognized as Edric Nott, a seventh year who played beater on the Slytherin Quidditch team and who had given James six concussions over the past two years, rolled his eyes again. "Hello to you too, Claire." He had a drawling sort of voice that Sirius found somewhat annoying.

Hector Zabini laughed. "Glad that's all sorted out."

Claire turned back to glance at Sirius. "See you, Sirius!" she called, as Zabini put his arm around her and the two of them, accompanied by Edric Nott, began to make their way down toward the Great Hall.

Sirius frowned. He did not feel terribly hurt by the manner in which Claire had brushed him aside; on the contrary, he had expected no less. But he still felt a tug of envy as he watched Hector Zabini, who was as tall as Sirius himself and so a good head above Claire, lead her away.

Sirius continued to frown. The two of them were far too good-looking a couple: Zabini, with his dark skin and white teeth, and Claire, with her creamy skin and violet eyes. They'll have ridiculously attractive children, Sirius thought peevishly.

And Sirius did not like that Edric Nott. Then again, he didn't like any of the Slytherins.

"Nott is fucking enamored of her," said a voice to his left. He turned to see two girls, both of whom he recognized as Slytherins, watching Claire and Zabini as well. The voice had come from the nearer of the two girls, Audrey Granada, a tall sixth year with dark brown eyes frames by thick black eyelashes and short black hair, which fanned out at her chin. Sirius had never spoken to her in his life, though he knew who she was; from what he heard, she was something of a whore.

The other girl, shorter than Audrey and with weaker features, wrinkled her nose. "Yes, but I can change his mind… I mean, you think I can, don't you, Audrey?"

Audrey shrugged. "If you try hard enough… but think about it, Kelly; do you really want someone who lets himself get infatuated with his best friend's girlfriend?"

Kelly – Sirius hadn't known her name before Audrey had said it – opened her mouth, but then Audrey noticed Sirius watching them idly. "Nose out, Black," she said sharply.

He smiled at her coldly (normally he reserved his cold smiles for the males of Slytherin, but he was in an aggravated mood) and turned away, walking down the corridor in the direction of the Great Hall.

So Nott was in love with Claire, was he? Sirius nearly snorted derisively. So that was why he hadn't liked the looks of him… he would be sure to bring this up with Claire tomorrow during detention; he wanted to hear her take on it.

-

Down in the Great Hall, dinner had commenced and James, Remus, and Peter were sitting at the Gryffindor table, stuffing themselves with roast beef and plum pudding.

"How was detention?" James asked brightly.

"How's Claire?" Remus added, equally bright.

Sirius smirked. "Well, detention was lovely; Claire had some Ravenclaw girl teach her how to categorize by magic, so…" he suddenly remembered his promise to thank Linnet Blakely personally "…I have to go and thank the girl now," he finished.

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Which girl?" he asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Her name's Linnet Blakely. Apparently she's quite the little over-achiever."

Peter opened his mouth in surprise. "I know her!" he announced. "She's quite shy herself, but she has… nice friends."

James snorted. "Is she friends with Coralee Schuyler by any chance?" he asked airily.

Peter smiled. "Perhaps." Coralee Schuyler, a Ravenclaw fifth year with pretty blonde hair and freckles, had shown an interest in Peter of late.

Remus smiled, too. "Well, why don't you go along with Padfoot, Wormtail, and you can say hello to her while he's thanking the Blakely kid."

Peter grinned appreciatively. "I will."

"Well, get a move on, will you? I don't have all day," Sirius grumbled.

Peter stood up and the two of them made their way over to the Ravenclaw table, where Sirius spotted Linnet Blakely at once. She was a slight little thing with large round glasses, and she seemed to notice him immediately, too.

While Peter stepped off to the right to say hello to Coralee Schuyler, Sirius spotted Claire sitting further down to his left. She and one of her friends (a pretty girl named Dione Carlisle whom Sirius had dated for a while during the fall, and who, due to the unfortunate incident of running into Sirius making out with another girl, now harbored utter resentment toward him) had glanced over at him. Sirius smiled at Claire serenely, and then made his way past Peter to where Linnet Blakely was sitting.

She stared up at him.

"It's Linnet, isn't it?" he asked pleasantly.

She nodded.

"Well, I wanted to thank you for showing Claire how to do that categorization thing. It made detention today significantly more bearable."

Linnet nodded again, and smiled shyly. "You're… you're welcome," she whispered. Her friends had all turned to look at Sirius now, too, including Coralee Schuyler; Peter looked a tad put out.

"Right… well, I must be getting back to dinner now," Sirius said awkwardly. "Um… thanks again!"

Linnet Blakely smiled. She had a surprisingly pleasant smile; her teeth were straight and she had pronounced dimples, like Claire.

"Come on, Wormtail; let's get back," Sirius instructed briskly, and he and Peter turned back toward their table. As they went, Sirius looked over his shoulder at Claire, who was still watching him. She winked at him, and he couldn't help but smile back.

-

Back up in their dormitory that evening, James, Remus, and Peter demanded more information on the intricacies of Sirius's detention.

"How'd you cope with two hours of Claire?" Remus prodded.

Sirius grinned. "Oh, I told her I wouldn't tell her about how I lost my virginity unless she kissed me."

This was such a direct and Sirius-in-a-nutshell response that Remus, James, and Peter all burst out laughing.

"Are you serious?" James demanded at last, clutching his ribs in pain as he gasped for breath.

"I'm always Sirius," Sirius replied haughtily.

James rolled his eyes. "That joke would be far more amusing if you didn't make it twelve times a day."

"Let's try again," Remus substituted. "Are you speaking in complete honesty, Sirius?"

Sirius frowned. "I always speak in complete honesty," he replied. "After all," and here he grinned slyly, "I'm always Sirius, aren't I?"

"Oh, shut up already!" James groaned. "I'm guessing you didn't pull that shit on Claire… why can't you do us the same courtesy?"

Sirius pondered the question. "Well, I would have pulled 'that shit,' as you say, on Claire had she given me the proper lead in, but I distinctly do not remember her saying at any point during detention, 'are you serious, Sirius?'" He frowned in thought. "Or maybe she did, but I missed the cue..."

He would have continued to muse on in a similar fashion, but James interrupted, "Yeah, that's fascinating, Padfoot, but tell us what the result was of your demanding that she kiss you... wait, and why did she want to hear about how you lost your virginity in the first place?"

Sirius smiled serenely. "Oh, we were having a pleasant chat about it; Claire's quite one to swap the dirty secrets. But I told her she couldn't have the details unless she kissed me, because I mean – come on – I had to demand that sometime."

Peter, James, and Remus all laughed and shook their heads. "Well? Did she do it?" Peter demanded eagerly.

Sirius smiled more broadly. "Oh, yes…"

Remus stared at him in disbelief. "But, she has a boyfriend! I must say, my opinion of her has dropped severely…"

Sirius frowned at him. "Don't go rapping on Claire; it was my fault. But anyway, the first kiss she gave me was pitiful, but then we had a lively discussion on kissing inadequacies and she agreed to give it another try."

James snorted with laughter. "And you made out with her, did you?" he asked, and Sirius gave a shrug of affirmation. "I must say, Padfoot," James remarked, "that it is rather ironic… I mean, one night you're lamenting over the fact that Miss Delacour is out of reach, and the next you're snogging her for hours in a deserted classroom."

Sirius smiled slowly. "Yeah… I love my life." Then he looked around at his three friends. "By the way, I think it goes without saying that this information does not leave our dormitory. I mean, you know, for Claire's sake."

"No shit," James remarked, nodding solemnly.

Remus and Peter nodded their understanding as well. "Don't worry about it, mate," Peter added.

"Your dirty secrets are safe with us," Remus promised.

-

The next day at detention, Sirius skipped into the classroom happily and almost on time, eager to make out with Claire again.

Claire was a good ten minutes late, as usual. When she finally swept in, her dark brown hair pinned back elegantly to one side and her violet eyes sparkling, Sirius couldn't help but grin at her.

Claire gave him a pleasant smile.

"Late again, Miss Delacour," Professor Lamont commented woefully, looking at the clock. "You had best get to work straight away, then… I shall be back soon…" and with that, she left the room, locking the door behind her as always.

Sirius burst out laughing. "She really is clueless, that woman," he remarked.

Claire nodded fervently. "Mais oui… Hey Sirius, I was wondering last night, do you speak French?"

Sirius shrugged. "Bonjour… Je m'appelle Sirius… Le petit fromage…"

Claire smiled. "Impressive."

"Well, I try."

Claire continued to smile, though now it seemed more forced. "Listen, Sirius? I think we need to have a little chat about what we were up to yesterday."

Sirius exhaled slowly and sat down on a desk. He had been expecting this. "What, the 'snogging like bunnies' bit?"

Claire sighed and sat down opposite him. "It's just… I have a boyfriend. And I really like you, don't get me wrong, but… I love Hector. And I already feel guilty for what we did yesterday, and he doesn't even suspect anything."

Sirius frowned. "Don't feel guilty, Claire; it was my fault," he said suavely.

Claire frowned, too. "Don't say that, you fool! It was my fault as much as it was yours! And I really enjoyed it, Sirius; that's the problem! I really like you and I really liked kissing you, and last night after dinner I had to take a midnight stroll with Hector and think about you the entire time!"

Sirius grinned. "You thought about me the entire time?"

Claire smiled despite herself. "Well, not the entire time, but whenever Hector kissed me or I kissed him – nearly the entire time comprised of us doing that, you see – I'd get this flash of us snogging in here during detention! And I hated that I was doing that, Sirius!"

Sirius attempted to change his grin to a bemused smile, but it was proving difficult. "Well, what do you want to do about it?" he asked reasonably.

Claire shook her head slowly. "I don't know… I'll have to tell Hector some time, I guess… maybe not yet, but…"

Sirius frowned. "Claire, have you considered that you're really under no obligation to Zabini and that perhaps you could do with a break from him?"

Claire closed her eyes and seemed to think. Finally she said, "Sirius, you don't understand… but I know that you can't." She looked up at him searchingly with her beautiful violet eyes, and Sirius felt himself longing to kiss her again. "Sirius... you've never really been in love, have you?"

Sirius weighed his head from side to side, considering. Finally he shook his head and grinned sheepishly. "No, I don't reckon I have."

Claire nodded. "And that's just it: you don't understand. I… I love Hector, I really and truly do, and I like you, too, but I can't just break up with Hector because of it."

Sirius frowned. "Claire, why can't we just snog like yesterday and get it over with?"

Claire groaned. "Sirius, you aren't making this easy for me at all."

Sirius smirked at her. "Did you expect me to?"

Claire shrugged. "Well, no… but I was hoping you'd have a little bit of pity." She suddenly groaned, stood up, and came over to sit beside him, where she leaned her head against his shoulder and stared off wistfully across the room. "Sirius… don't you think I want to be able to kiss you? Don't you think I'd love to make out with you right now? But I can't do it… it's not fair to Hector and I really, really don't want to hurt him."

Sirius put his arm around her and turned his head to study her face. To his surprise, Claire was looking at him already. Their eyes were inches apart. It would be so easy to kiss her again, right now…

"What Hector doesn't know won't hurt him," Sirius murmured. Then he leaned forward those last few inches and kissed her on the lips.

It was a very sweet kiss, and Claire felt a little dizzy from it. But after a few moments she came to her senses and pulled away. "Sirius, don't!" she groaned. "Please don't!"

Sirius grinned despite himself. "Oh, come on, Claire," he complained, "just go with it."

Claire really, really wanted to listen to him, and she felt herself giving in again. Sirius kissed her for a few more moments until she came to her senses again and tried to pull away.

He wouldn't let her. He slid the arm that had been around her shoulders down to the small of her back, and pulled her into him, sliding his tongue oh-so-gently into her mouth and bringing up his other hand to caress her hair and bring her head toward him more firmly.

Claire relented. She was hardly aware of what she was doing, so sensual was the experience. When she came to her senses again, she realized that he had pulled her into his lap, and that she was straddling his waist now, her arms wrapped around him and her body pressed against his so tightly that she could feel his heart beating through his robes.

They both stopped for breath, and Claire groaned again. "Sirius," she whispered, burying her face in his neck, "what are we doing?"

Sirius kissed her forehead. "I should have thought it was quite obvious," he observed, smiling.

Claire kissed his neck, and then his chin. She loved how secure she felt, here in Sirius's arms. He was at least as tall as Hector, and slightly more muscular… Claire had always had a thing for tall, strong men; being with them made her feel safe.

Idly, Claire remembered that Sirius was nearly year younger than she was. It was strange; she hadn't thought about that in days. But then, after all, it didn't really matter…

Her lips were delicately swollen by this time, and she kissed his again, feeling guilty and adventurous all at once, and wanting this feeling never to end.

-

It was almost thirty minutes before either of them remembered the categorization they were supposed to be completing.

"Shit… we need to make those quills start doing our work for us," Claire murmured at last, pulling back from Sirius to look at him.

Sirius grinned. "Well, don't get up or anything."

Claire smiled and climbed off of his lap. Once standing on the floor, she stretched and took a deep breath.

Sirius continued to grin. "No, I was serious. You didn't need to get up."

Claire laughed, grabbed his hands in hers, and pulled him to his feet. They stepped toward the stack of parchment, extracted their quills from their book bags, and pulled out their wands.

"Now remember, you have to twirl it at the end to get it to change into English," Claire said, swishing her wand around and causing her quill to leap up and stand at attention.

Sirius put his arm around her casually and flicked his own wand; his quill dipped itself in the inkwell and made a few practice marks on a corner of parchment.

Within a few more moments, the quills were both categorizing at top speed, and Sirius and Claire sat back down on a desktop.

"So. Sirius," Claire began. "I see that you personally thanked Linnet Blakely yesterday."

Sirius smiled in recollection. "Oh, yeah. Nice enough kid… a bit shy, though."

Claire nodded. "Well, she was over the moon about it. I figured you should know… she came up to me in the common room later and told me that you'd thanked her." She changed her tone of voice. "Oh, Claire… so, Sirius Black thanked me for the spell at dinner… um… he's really nice… um… yeah."

Sirius barked out a laugh. "She thinks I'm nice, now, does she?"

Claire shrugged. "I figured I wouldn't correct her. Besides, it's best to let her have her little infatuation..."

Sirius smiled ruefully. "Yeah, 'little infatuation…' I suppose I should be flattered, right?"

Claire grinned. "Oh, I don't think you need the flattery, Sirius; you've already got more than enough self-confidence as it is."

"Why, thank you."

Claire gave an ironic sort of laugh. "Well, you're welcome, but… it does sort of get on my nerves."

Not at all perturbed, Sirius pulled her closer to him and turned to smile at her. "And why is that, Claire?" he whispered.

She squeezed her eyes shut as if trying to avoid looking at him, but then she opened them again and murmured, "Why do you think, Sirius?"

Sirius grinned. "I'm asking you, Claire."

Claire wrinkled her nose at him and leaned in closer. "You already know, Sirius."

He continued to grin. "I want to hear you say it."

Claire caught her breath and stared at him for a while, as if trying to decide if saying this were worth it. "Because there's no way to make you leave me alone," she said at last. "There's no way for me to resist kissing you or anything because you're too confident and you always get what you want."

Sirius smirked. "But you like it, Claire," he observed quietly.

She couldn't help but grin at him. "I do, so help me," she whispered. Then he kissed her again, and she allowed him to do so without protest.

Yay, I got four reviews! Wow, I didn't think I would get any!

Livid: I'm glad you were entertained!

Lainia26: Why, thank you; I will!

Potpoury: Thank you and thank you! I try; I certainly will!

IChooseTheScorpion: Haha, thank you. Yeah, I noticed that thing in OotP too. And yeah, I concur on the RAB thing. As for Snape… well, he's my knew character-of-whom-I-want-to-learn-more.

And please review if you've read this chapter; I'd like to hear your thoughts!