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: M, fosho.
Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
A/N: Yeah… I know it's been, like, two months. But now 'tis Thanksgiving Break and I've an afternoon free, so I figured I'd catch up on this story! The last month-plus has been rather entertaining and full of excitement, so I didn't really have a need or a desire to write more. That's the way it is with me: if I have something better to do than write fanfiction on a Friday or Saturday night, I do it. So, yeah, expect the next update… I dunno, Winter Break?
By the way, am I the only one who freakin LOVED HP4? I thought it was an awesome supplement to the book and I must admit that I am in love with just about every male character. Especially Cedric… JEEZE, did he have to die?
Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter Six
And Through June
Sirius awoke on Sunday morning feeling rather elated, though at first he didn't quite remember why.
Oh, yes! Annie! he recalled with a slight grin, sitting up and stretching lazily. His predicament was drifting pleasantly back to him: Hogsmeade trip after breakfast… Savannah Baron set to accompany him… oh, the day's prospects were looking affable!
After a leisurely shower, Sirius returned to the dormitory to find Peter, who was apparently still depressed over Linnet Blakely, steadfastly refusing to get out of bed.
"C'mon, Wormtail!" James prodded for the fifth time. "Just get up! She's not worth it!" He rolled his eyes and looked at Remus, shaking his head in brisk pity. "Honestly…"
"I don't want to go down there!" Peter shot back, picking up his pillow and covering his head with it so that his voice grew muffled.
"Why don't you take a shower, mate?" Remus suggested from across the room, where he was pulling on a T-shirt.
"Yes, I've found showers to be quite helpful in the past," Sirius piped up, rummaging through his dresser for a shirt of his own.
"Listen, can you just leave me alone!" Peter groaned, his voice still muted by the pillow.
"Sorry, I think I missed that," James replied pleasantly, yanking back the covers to reveal Peter's pajama-clad form.
"Prongs!" Peter moaned, peering out from beneath the pillow.
"Get up!" James snapped cheerfully, grabbing Peter's arms and attempting to yank him into a sitting position. He glanced over his left shoulder at Remus and Sirius. "Hey, help me out, will you?"
Sirius grinned; he pulled his shirt all the way over his head and then strode across the room with Remus. Together, they lifted the protesting Peter up and dragged him to the bathroom. "Get in the shower! NOW!" James ordered.
Peter groaned. "Ugh! Fine; just get out of here already!"
Smiling with satisfaction, James, Remus and Sirius left the room and listened intently for the shower to start running. Once that was assured, they turned around and crossed the room to sit on their beds.
"Poor bloke," James observed. "I don't understand how he can get so worked up over Linnet Blakely. I mean… she's Linnet effing Blakely!"
Remus smiled. "We should find him a new girl, Prongs. Maybe while Sirius's off with Annie today we could do some scouting."
Sirius barked out a laugh, quickly brushing aside slight pangs of inner guilt.
James laughed, too. "Sounds like a plan… though I was actually considering stalking Lily today, but – hey – your idea is good, too!"
Sirius barked out a laugh again (he couldn't help it; the prospect of spending the afternoon with Savannah was euphoric) while Remus rolled his eyes. "Prongs, dear, stalking Lily is not going to get her to go out with you any sooner."
James shrugged. "I know! It's just…" He grasped around for the right words. "Just… ugh, I like her so much! And now Padfoot is with Annie, so there's nothing I can do to distract myself!"
Remus chuckled slightly. "Distract yourself… Prongs, you are a sorry, sorry soul."
"Amen to that, mate," Sirius added, lying back on his bed to stare at the red velvet canopy overhead.
Peter emerged from the bathroom, hair sitting in damp clumps and fleecy towel clamped tightly around his waist.
"Ah! Feeling better, Wormtail?" James asked briskly.
Peter nodded. "I am, actually… showers do help; you weren't kidding, Padfoot!"
Sirius nodded sagely. "Ohhhh, showers," he sighed.
-
Down in the Great Hall, Sirius was disappointed not to see Savannah already eating breakfast. He did, however, run into Claire Delacour, who was walking down the marble staircase with two of her girlfriends and gave him a slight wink and half-smile despite herself as they crossed paths (Sirius found himself grinning back, perhaps a bit too broadly). Before sitting down he also caught sight of Linnet Blakely over at the Ravenclaw table, but felt no need to talk to her; that could only end awkwardly.
Soon after a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, and cream-of-wheat, Sirius headed back up to the dormitory with Remus, James, and Peter; pulled off his robes in favor of faded jeans and a black polo; and marched down to the foyer, where a large cluster of students planning to visit Hogsmeade was already assembled.
"So, we can meet for lunch at the Three Broomsticks around one, yeah?" Peter suggested halfheartedly.
"I'm down." James scanned the crowd briefly for Lily, and, not finding her, turned to Sirius. "What about you, Padfoot? Annie's welcome to come to lunch as well, so long as Lily comes along, too…"
Sirius gave him a slight grin. "I'll see what I can do."
He felt a hand on his elbow and turned around; Savannah Baron was standing there, looking very pretty in a denim skirt and modest collared white shirt, her long blond hair falling lightly down her back and over her shoulders in what was unmistakably a windswept (or perhaps blow-dried) manner. She had clipped all but a few wispy strands of her long bangs back with several brown bobby pins.
"Hey!" she said cheerfully.
Sirius grinned at her. "Hey." He leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. When he pulled back, Savannah grinned at him and wrinkled her nose. Sirius raised one eyebrow at her; she giggled and took his hand confidently. As they made their way out of the foyer and onto the grounds, James waved goodbye over the heads of the milling crowd.
"So… what do you want to do?" Savannah asked Sirius cheerfully.
He shrugged. "Honestly? I think we should go find some deserted alleyway and have a good snog."
Savannah laughed, not too uncomfortably. "Well… maybe later. Tell you what, why don't we go for a spot of tea or something, yeah?"
Sirius shrugged again. "Hey, I'm just saying…"
Savannah grinned. "We've got all afternoon, Sirius; we'll have plenty of time to do plenty of things."
Turning, he gave her a slow smile. "Mmm… that we do…"
He wasn't sure why he was being so overly suggestive. Thinking about it, Sirius realized that he wasn't in the mood for casual flirting today. What he really wanted was to bloody get with Savannah Baron again, to a greater extent than he had the night before. Casually observing his thoughts and feelings, Sirius realized that he was being the stereotype of a horny teenage boy, but he wasn't perturbed. If anything, the realization simply made him chuckle.
As they strode hand-in-hand down the main thoroughfare of Hogsmeade, glancing into the shop windows and talking nonchalantly about Quidditch, Sirius caught sight of Claire Delacour and Hector Zabini, who were standing with a group of their friends outside Honeydukes and discussing rendezvous times for lunch. As Sirius watched, Claire took Zabini's hand and the two of them headed into the shop while the rest of the group splintered off into pairs and trios.
Oh, Claire…
Sirius reminded himself that he was over her, and that he no longer could gain anything from lusting after her, but still...
He glanced back at Savannah, who was pointing and chuckling at a banner in the window of the post office which read "International Owl Post FREE!" in large sparkling letters; a tiny subheading added "except from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM, Mondays through Sundays."
"Advertising's so manipulative, isn't it?" she observed, running her fingers through her hair so as to flip it over one shoulder and turning to smile at him.
Sirius nodded. "Mmm."
He liked Savannah, but there was something missing from his relationship with her. For those brief weeks with Claire, Sirius had felt something he had never experienced before: caring about a person for more than their awesome looks and pleasant personality and sexy French-speaking abilities. He had liked Claire for her manipulative habits and her inadvertent disloyalty to Zabini and the fact that they had always been blatantly, forcefully honest with one another. He had liked – or, dare he say it, loved – everything about Claire Delacour, right down to the painful fact that chances were slim to none they could ever be together in the long run.
Sirius knew that the next time he found a girl like Claire Delacour, he was going to make absolutely certain that they got married, made lots of adorable children, and disposed of all inconvenient boyfriends in the quickest way possible.
Now that he thought about it, Sirius realized that he didn't believe in soul mates. Or rather, he didn't believe that there was a perfect woman out there for him. Perhaps James and Lily were meant to be together, sure, but he himself would be content with any girl who made him feel the same way he had felt around Claire Delacour.
Actually, he realized, now thinking in retrospect, the thing with Claire could have changed eventually. After a while longer we could have gotten sick of one another and just bitched all the live-long day about stupid shit.
Maybe it was for the best that his relationship with Claire had ended, then. He had gotten a taste of what he sought in life: a girl who was sharp and pretty and knew it; a girl who strove to attain her goals, however morally debased they turned out to be; a girl who was always completely frank with him; and all of those other personality traits that had made him click so well with Claire Delacour.
Sirius smiled inwardly. One of the best things about Claire had been the fact that she was a slut but didn't give a crap. For some reason, girls who knew they were attractive and weren't afraid to act the part just turned him on.
Take Gina Davies, for a counter-example. Every time they slept together, she would start grumbling about how she had such a fat stomach or how ugly her thighs looked, and he would have to reassure her that no, actually, she was fucking gorgeous.
Sirius remembered that first time they had gotten together in the changing room down at the Quidditch pitch toward the beginning of last year. He'd been flirting with Gina during practice for nearly two weeks, despite the fact that he was dating one of her roommates. Finally the team captain had grown fed up with them and had insisted that they stay behind to straighten out the lockers after the team had finished washing up. When they were finished Sirius had suggested that they take showers, and so they climbed into adjacent stalls, drawing the curtains but talking over the high white marble barrier between them.
Sirius had eventually threatened that he was going to come into her stall if she didn't stop teasing him. Then Gina had laughed and said something along the lines of, "Ha! And won't Clarabel" (that was the name of her roommate with whom Sirius had been romantically involved for about two weeks now) "be pleased by that!"
Sirius had barked a laugh back at her, and, knowing Gina had been asking for this all week, and not wanting to let the opportunity pass them by, stepped out of his shower, yanking the curtain of hers back just enough to stick his head in.
"Hello," he had said pleasantly, looking Gina up and down through the steam.
Gina had shrieked. "What the fuck, Sirius!" She'd tried to cover herself with her hands, but then started laughing and couldn't stop. Sirius laughed, too, and then he stepped straight into Gina's stall and kissed her smack on the lips, holding her against the cool tile wall.
The rest was history.
But Gina was nothing like Claire. Gina was fun, Gina was a bit of a slut when it came to Sirius, but she was not Claire.
And Savannah was not like Claire. Savannah was sweet and entertaining and quite pretty, but she was also somewhat shy and unconfident.
Linnet Blakely was nothing at all like Claire, but Sirius didn't really consider what they had had to be an actual relationship.
Claire was the closest Sirius had come to finding a girl he could truly worship and dedicate himself to. But Claire was still lacking, because she was, for all purposes, out of reach.
Also, Sirius wasn't ready to settle down with a girl just yet; he loved playing the field.
That was why he had been so excited over this date with Savannah, he realized: this was his element, treating a new girlfriend to a good time and enjoying a subsequent month or so in which she would lavish attention on him until he grew tired and moved on.
But the fact that he suddenly understood, with every part of his being, what he really wanted in a girl made Sirius feel strangely content. He felt impervious to hurt, even more so than he always had before; he felt as if his life suddenly had a purpose: to enjoy himself, and at some point find a girl who made him feel the same way Claire had.
And he, Sirius Black, was going to find someone else like that.
Just not yet.
-
"Sirius, what are your faults?" Savannah asked him as they lay side-by-side on the lakeshore, having taken off after a somewhat awkward lunch with James, Remus and Peter in search of a more secluded locale.
"Mmm…" Sirius murmured. He turned toward her and ran his fingers down her neck, brushing her long hair away on the side nearest him. "Well, I do have one fault: I'm really a vampire." He leaned forward and bit her gently.
Savannah giggled. "That's pretty appalling."
Sirius nodded. He trailed kisses up her throat to her lips, and then said, "And you? Any major flaws I should be aware of?"
Savannah grinned. "Mmm… nah; I'm flawless."
Sirius barked out a laugh. He considered all the possible responses she could have given to this question, and felt that most of the girls he had ever been with would have given the same genial, sarcastic answer.
Claire wouldn't have. She would have been honest and said something about manipulating everyone or letting him manipulate her too much or something.
Gina would have complained about her gut, just to hear him say, "No, no! Your stomach is fine. It's perfect. Shut up, Gina; you are perfect."
Who cared what Linnet would have said.
Sirius decided that he didn't like the sarcastic response to the question as much as the honest one. Something about flagrant honesty appealed to him.
Savannah was trailing her long, slender fingers over his face and through his hair. It felt quite good; Sirius gave her a half-smile. Then he leaned forward, kissed her, pushed her back onto the grassy lakeshore, and rolled on top of her. Savannah wasn't half bad of a kisser; Sirius trailed his tongue over her lips and then into her mouth, and she yielded at once, running a hand around to the back of his neck and trailing the other one down his spine so that he shivered slightly with pleasure.
Laughing slightly, Sirius pulled back to look at her. "Hi," he murmured.
"Hi," Savannah whispered back. As always, Sirius was struck by the sharp contrast of her dark eyes next to the flaxen and gold of her hair.
"Is your hair naturally this color?" he asked, bringing up a hand to inspect a silky clump of it.
Savannah nodded. "Yeah… it sort of bothers me sometimes, you know, the dark-eyes-light-hair thing."
Sirius frowned. "Why?" he demanded, trying to sound good-natured but in truth wondering if she'd fucking lost her mind. It's, like, the best combination ever, he thought to himself.
Savannah shrugged. "Well… it is sort of unusual, isn't it?"
Sirius continued to frown. Was she just pulling one of those oh-I-hate-my-body-heh-heh-do-compliment-me schemes? "Yeah, unusual and awesome."
To his surprise, Savannah suddenly giggled. "Actually, yeah; I know. I just don't like to sound conceited so I usually just… I dunno."
Sirius raised his eyebrows at her for a moment and then laughed. "Oh really? Yeah, I was going to say…"
Savannah laughed again. "You have good coloring, too," she added. "Dark hair, light eyes… I swear, we contrast people are so fortunate!"
Now Sirius grinned. "This is true."
"But it can look good when people match up, too," Savannah added. "I mean… well, Amos is a cutie, and he's got the brown hair-brown eyes thing going on."
Sirius nodded. "Yeah, Amos is sooooo hot."
Savannah giggled. "And Gina, too… she's pretty, and she has normal coloring… not like us; we're freaks."
Sirius barked out a laugh. "This, too, is true." He leaned down and kissed her again; Savannah arched up against him and slid her hands along his back. He noticed that she made adorable sounds sometimes in the fit of passion, high-pitched moans of pleasure. It was rather arousing.
"Jeeze, Annie, why are you so hot?" he demanded when they had pulled apart again.
Savannah laughed. "Why are you so hot?"
Sirius shrugged. "Well… genetics had something to do with it, I think."
Savannah kept laughing. "Yeah… hey, have you ever met my sister?"
Sirius shook his head. "Why? Is she as hot as you?"
Savannah smiled complacently. "Of course not. But she's a hottie, all the same… so I hear, anyway."
She reached for her bag, which had been discarded to the side prior to their sitting down. "That's her," she added, handing Sirius a wallet-sized photograph of two girls sitting at an outdoor café.
The girl on the left was Savannah; the girl on the right was evidently her sister. Both had golden-blond hair, but the sister's eyes were a pretty golden-green and her hair lay in slight waves, contrasting sharply with Savannah's long, straight ponytail. The sister's nose was different from Savannah's as well; while Savannah's was straight and almost sharp, her sister's was small and ski sloped. The two girls kept looking at one another and giggling.
"Mm… I dunno, Annie; she's pretty hot," Sirius admitted, holding the picture next to Savannah's face and letting his eyes dart from one to the other.
Savannah laughed. "Thanks… I haven't seen her since Easter Break."
"How old is she?"
Savannah shrugged. "Like, twenty-two or something? She's five years older than I am..."
Sirius couldn't help himself from asking, "And you get along?"
Savannah put on an exaggeratedly taken aback expression. "Yes, of course." The she laughed yet again. "Well… usually. But yes, we're quite close. She's not magical, you know… my dad's the magical one in the family, and I seem to have gotten it, too, but we were awfully sad when I got the letter from Hogwarts and it turned out we wouldn't be attending the same school."
Sirius nodded slightly, feeling indifferently distant from this world of close familial relationships. "What's her name?" he asked, glancing at the picture again.
"Annette."
Sirius barked out an ironic laugh. "So what, do you both go by 'Annie?'"
Savannah smiled. "Everyone asks me that. And nah; at home I'm Sav and she's Nettie. Only people here call me Annie; it's quite odd, actually."
Sirius grinned. "Sav… I like that better. And how about 'Savvy?' I think that'd be an appropriate nickname, don't you agree?"
Savannah laughed. "Please don't; if you lot called me anything but Annie I'd experience severe emotional anguish."
"So be it, Annie," Sirius replied graciously. Then he kissed her again.
-
Later on, after having glanced at his watch and deciding that they ought to spend some time up in his dormitory before James, Remus and Peter came back from Hogsmeade, Sirius and Savannah lay on his four-poster bed, examining the embroidered cloth canopy overhead.
"How long have you liked me for, Sirius?" Savannah asked.
Sirius didn't miss a beat. "Oh, ages. I mean, well, when you were going out with James I didn't really think I should act on it, and the last few months have been pretty busy, but… probably, on some level or another, since about fourth year."
Savannah grinned. "Yeah, I'd say about the same."
Sirius turned to smile at her. Actually, he'd sort of made all of that up. Well, perhaps not entirely – Savannah had always been pretty, especially since she'd started putting slight effort into her appearance sometime during fourth or fifth year, and she'd always intrigued him to a certain extent, but he hadn't actually wanted to get with her until a few days ago.
But there was no reason to tell Savannah that; there was no reason to tell any girl that. The only girl with whom Sirius had ever been completely honest about his feelings was Claire, and that had only been because he had been fucking crazy about her.
Oh, Claire…
Sirius regularly told his romantic interests that he had liked them for longer than he had. There was something anti-quixotic about proclaiming, "Well, I decided I wanted to get with you on Saturday, and then we hooked up and decided to go out on Sunday… so yeah, I reckon it's been about four days." It was infinitely better to stretch the truth and say, "Oh, I've always thought you were gorgeous and this weekend I finally decided to do something about it."
So he really was something of a hypocrite, Sirius realized. He found scathing honesty appealing but failed to practice it himself. But ah well; he was still a young, confused adolescent; he reckoned he could get away with it.
Savannah had leaned forward and kissed his neck. Now she was slowly trailing her tongue up toward his jaw line. Sirius inclined his head and kissed her passionately. He ran both hands up under her shirt and then trailed one down, lightly, over her denim skirt. Savannah made another one of those high-pitched noises of content and Sirius couldn't stop himself; he grabbed her and pulled her closer to him so that they were pressed together beneath the embroidered canopy.
Then he rolled over, pinning her to the bed. He pushed up her shirt and traced his fingers over her pale stomach; he pushed it still higher and ran his index finger along the contours of her ribs until Savannah said, grinning slightly, "Why don't I just take it off, yeah?"
She peeled off her collared white shirt and tossed it onto the floor; Sirius looked her up and down. Then he shook his hair out of his eyes, grinned at her, and kissed her on the lips once again.
Soon Savannah had her hands up under his polo, and then it, too, had been discarded. He rolled off of her slightly so that they were lying on their sides, face-to-face. Then Sirius trailed kisses down her neck until he reached her collar bone, where he sucked at her pale skin for a few moments until, smiling in satisfaction, he said, "That'll leave a mark."
Savannah laughed gently. "Way to kill the number of shirts I can wear this week without looking like a complete whore."
Sirius grinned roguishly at her. "I try."
Savannah didn't answer; she winked at him and leaned into his neck. Sirius laughed despite himself and made a show of trying to hold her away, but soon gave up and let Savannah suck and nibble at his skin without protest.
Eventually, she rolled back and said smugly, "That'll leave an even bigger mark."
Sirius shrugged. "Ah well; I always was a fan of turtlenecks."
Savannah giggled. They had just leaned in and were kissing each other again when the dormitory door opened with a very audible creak. Sirius and Savannah both turned toward the sound, Savannah scooting closer behind Sirius.
A very amused looking James was standing in front of Remus and Peter. "Why hello, you two! Long time, no see!"
Remus opened his mouth, but then coughed rather sharply into his hand, evidently trying to conceal laughter.
"We were just going," Peter supplemented, grabbing Remus's arm and kicking James in the back of the leg to get him to stop looking smugly at Sirius and Savannah.
The three of them ducked out of the door and shut it with a resounding slam.
Sirius and Savannah burst out laughing.
"Well, that was substantially awkward," Sirius observed, even though he hadn't been bothered at all.
"I'll say," Savannah agreed, blushing slightly. "Um… maybe we should get up now, yeah?"
Sirius shrugged. He made a great show of glancing at the clock on James's bureau. Then he said, "Yeah, I reckon so…"
He straightened Savannah's mused hair idly as she pulled her shirt back on – from past experience, he knew that girls seemed to like that. Then he pulled his own shirt on, gave Savannah a last passionate kiss, and stood up, helping her to her feet as he did so.
"This was fun," Savannah observed casually, taking Sirius's hand as they made their way out of the room. She was grinning.
"Yeah, it was," Sirius agreed, and he was, for once, being honest. He might not have felt the same way about Savannah as he had felt about Claire, but he did highly enjoy making out with and spending time with her, and that was what mattered.
For the moment, anyway.
-
"So how was your date, Padfoot?" Peter asked that evening. He grinned naughtily. "I mean, the part we saw seemed to be going quite well, but…"
James and Remus chuckled appreciatively. "Yeah, I'll say," Remus amended.
"She does have quite a nice body, I'll give you that," James added.
Remus rolled his eyes at James. "I still can't understand how you don't feel incredibly awkward walking in on your best friend snogging your ex."
James shrugged. "Well… I dunno, I guess it is sort of awkward, but… hey, I'm counting on this to get with Lily, remember?"
Sirius shook his head in pity. "Prongs, you're my best mate but sometimes talking to you just depresses me. Have I ever told you that?"
James grinned. "Yeah, well… yeah. So tell us about Annie, then, why don't you?"
Sirius shrugged. "Oh, I dunno… we certainly had fun. I like hanging out with her. And I'm realizing more than ever how hot she is."
Remus frowned, taken aback. "You never realized that?" he demanded incredulously.
Sirius shrugged again. "Well… I always knew she was pretty, but… just, there are lots of pretty girls at Hogwarts. Hell, most girls are pretty. And plenty of them are a mite more noticeable than Annie, if you get my drift."
Peter nodded his understanding. "Yeah, most girls are pretty. And hey, why are there so many more good-looking girls than there are good-looking boys? I mean, what's up with that?"
Remus grinned. "Who knows, but I'm not complaining."
James chuckled. "Oh, come now, you both know that's not true…"
"Sure it is," interrupted Peter briskly.
Sirius barked out a laugh. He wasn't sure which side of the argument to take; each promised many utilizable jokes and sarcastic comments. Eventually he pronounced seriously, "Well, I don't know about you, Prongs, but I personally find myself attracted to loads of girls but a very scant number of boys."
"And the only explanation for that is that all boys are ugly?" James replied, grinning, while Peter laughed, raised his eyebrows and repeated,
"A scant number?"
Sirius blew Peter a kiss. "Oh, you know it, Wormtail."
Later on, as he lay in bed trying to fall asleep, Sirius thought about Savannah yet again. She was very pretty, as was that older sister of hers, but neither was brazen about it. Sirius wondered dully why girls like Claire Delacour seemed to flaunt their beauty openly, while others like Savannah Baron did not.
Oh, but Savannah did, he realized. She dressed well and wore light makeup and put a uniform effort into her appearance. So why was it that she had never stood out to the extent Claire did?
It was, Sirius decided, because Savannah knew she was pretty but didn't know she was hot. And there was a difference: Claire Delacour was hot; Gina Davies was hot (when she was naked, anyway). Savannah Baron was pretty. Lily Evans was pretty. Sirius wasn't sure wherein the difference lay, but he felt that it had something to do with how much attention the girl in question received from the opposite sex. The girls who knew, not only that they were pretty, but that everyone else thought so, too, were the hot ones. People could be pretty and not realize it, but to be hot one had to be aware.
Oh, he was so philosophical.
-
The next few weeks proved to be quite entertaining. At breakfast on Monday Sirius intentionally folded his starched collar to display the large hickey Savannah had left him; when she saw him in the hallway on the way down to breakfast she promptly burst out laughing.
"Sirius," she gasped, coming close and laying a cool palm on his cheek to push his head to the side in mock punishment, and also so as to examine his neck more closely, "cover yourself!" She flipped up his collar for him.
Sirius laughed easily and slung his arm around Savannah's shoulders; she promptly wrapped her own around his waist and whispered in mock seriousness, "I'll show you mine later, in case you wanted to see the products of your handiwork."
Sirius barked out another laugh. "Well, you could just show me now," he replied, turning to Savannah and pulling her sweater away from her neck so as to peer down at her collarbone rather blatantly.
"Sirius!" Savannah shrieked, laughing again.
"Ew, Padfoot, what the hell is that?" demanded James, yanking Sirius's collar back down and gawking at his neck exaggeratedly.
Savannah was still laughing. "Put it back up, put it back up!"
James grinned. "No, I'd rather the whole world be as amused as I am." He examined Savannah's neck. "Hmm. You seem to have hidden yours fairly well."
Sirius chuckled. "Nah, it's lower, mate."
"Sirius!" Savannah shrieked again, boxing him gently with one hand; he grinned at her and gave her a swift peck on the forehead.
Glancing over her golden-blond hair to wink at James, who was laughing, Sirius saw Tara Nevan and Evetta Niall striding toward breakfast. Both were glancing at him and Savannah surreptitiously; Tara had a remarkably bitter expression on her finely-featured face. Sirius grinned, let his gray eyes travel back down to meet Savannah's dark brown ones, and kissed her smack on the lips.
Turning to see what Sirius had been looking at, James smiled pleasantly. "Good morning, Tara!" he called.
"'Morning, Tara!" Sirius added, feeling very elated.
Savannah settled into the crook of Sirius's arm as they walked and gave Tara and Evetta a friendly nod.
Tara gave a rather forced smile. "Hey," she said.
Once Tara was out of earshot, Savannah murmured, "What's up with her?"
Sirius shrugged, and then grinned at her. "Oh, she's just madly in love with me. It's nothing; don't let it bother you."
Savannah smiled somewhat smugly. "I see, I see."
Sirius barked out a laugh and kissed her again.
-
Savannah turned out to be chaster than Sirius had initially anticipated. Two weeks after their first date, alone in his dormitory with her while James, Remus and Peter made themselves scarce, Sirius brought up the subject for about the tenth time.
"Annie, our kids would be so hot." They would be, too, Sirius thought to himself. They'd have contrasting coloration just like we do.
Savannah laughed. "Well, of course!"
Sirius smiled and ran his hand across her stomach. "I think we should make a baby. What say you?"
Savannah giggled. "Maybe someday. Not now."
"Well, how about just having sex, then?" Sirius asked, feeling the need to be blatant.
Savannah shrugged. "Again, maybe someday. Not now."
He frowned. "Why not?" He ran his hands through her hair and down her uncovered stomach to her skirt, which was still on, albeit extremely rumpled.
"Well, I always imagined I'd wait until I got married," Savannah replied in a sing-song voice. She frowned. "Or at least engaged."
Sirius raised one eyebrow at her. "And why is that?"
Savannah shrugged. "I don't know… I just always figured I would. Make it more special, you know?"
Sirius lowered his first eyebrow and raised the other one in turn. "Oh, it can be plenty special anyway."
Savannah tilted her head first to one side, then to the other. "I dunno… You aren't a virgin, are you, Sirius?"
He barked out a laugh. "No, I'm not."
She nodded. "Figured… and who have you done it with?"
He shrugged. "You want me to list them?"
Savannah giggled again. "No, don't. Just… how old were you the first time?"
He made a show of pretending to think. "Er… fourteen."
Savannah let out a bemused gasp. Then she collected herself and said in a frank tone of voice, "Well, Sirius, sorry, but I'm not down for having sex. Not yet, anyway."
Sirius didn't give up yet; he flopped down next to her so that they were looking at one another. "And what's your definition of sex?"
Savannah shrugged. "What's yours?"
Sirius hadn't really given it a thought before now. He shrugged, too. "Whatever." He decided to change the subject. "How far have you gone with a guy?"
Savannah squinted slightly. "Um… third. With James."
Sirius gave an exaggerated wince. "Ooh, my best friend… Well, this isn't awkward."
Savannah giggled. "It doesn't have to be."
Sirius raised one eyebrow. "So what are you up for tonight?" he asked pleasantly, striving to move on and hoping vaguely to move beyond second base, where they had been affably lodged since that first date.
Savannah shrugged, and then rolled completely onto her back to study the embroidered canopy. "Let's wait until it's been… say, a month before we do anything more. I want to be sure we're still together and… all of that."
Sirius exhaled audibly and rolled back on top of her, then propped himself up on his arms so that they were looking into each other's eyes. "Okay."
So they waited another two weeks. Then Sirius came up behind Savannah, slid his hand down her skirt, and whispered, "It's been a month."
The subsequent night's activities proved quite enjoyable.
Sirius never pushed Savannah for more, and he wasn't entirely sure why – he had pushed most of his other girlfriends until they gave in, one way or the other – but it probably had something to do with the fact that Sirius respected Savannah. He knew that they didn't have the most emotionally intimate of relationships – indeed, what they did have was really just based off of the fact that they both were good-looking and enjoyed hanging out and hooking up – but he respected her as a friend, as an athlete, and as a person.
Because that was all it really came down to: Savannah was a sweet, funny, clever, pretty girl with whom Sirius was perfectly content to be somewhat infatuated.
-
Soon it was June and term was coming to an end. Sirius was greatly enjoying Savannah Baron, though he knew that they were still somewhat emotionally unattached. Or at least, he was; while they had interesting conversations regarding their classmates and their plans for summer, Sirius knew that he would never, ever tell Savannah about his real problems. She talked about her family, sure, but Sirius simply listened apathetically and did not complain about his twisted domestic life.
Besides, though, this summer he would be returning to James's house; what was the point of lamenting over something already a year in the past?
They never fought. They were perpetually laughing and joking. But all in all, there was nothing between them but relaxed friendship and overactive hormones.
"You will write to me, right?" Savannah demanded in a jokingly authoritative voice as she straddled Sirius one afternoon in his dormitory.
Exams were over, James was off in pursuit of Lily, and Remus and Peter had been considerate enough to find a location other than the dormitory in which to consort.
"Ew, no," Sirius replied sarcastically, running one hand down Savannah's arm to her waist and sliding the other one into the back pocket of her Capri shorts.
Savannah giggled. "Well, I'll write you letters. And you'd damn well respond, too."
Sirius smiled at her serenely. "Yeah, yeah..."
Savannah grinned at him; she kissed him rather passionately on the lips and then pulled back, looking him in the eye. "I'm serious. I mean… well, are we staying together through the summer, or not?"
Sirius shrugged noncommittally. "I hadn't really thought about it."
Savannah nodded slightly. "Well… we're going to Italy come July, and I'm not sure what Annette and I have planned specifically, but… I mean, I'm down with staying committed, but…"
Sirius suddenly smiled despite himself. "No, no; have your fun in Italy. Believe me, Annie, I don't… I mean, don't take this the wrong way, but… I feel like our relationship is a lot more about two attractive people being socially compatible and snogging a lot than about, like, deep stuff."
Ooh. That had been a bit unromantic and insensitive; he should have thought it through more. Sirius winced internally, hoping Savannah would react positively to his sudden voicing of what he had known since their first date.
To his relief, she nodded again, though she was no longer smiling. "I guess…"
Sirius brought his hands up to her shoulders. "I mean… well, I really like you, Annie, and I do enjoy spending time with you, and I think we get along great, but… just, it's all very school-ish, you know? Like, I think we're more friends than the type of people who would ever get married or something."
Now, Savannah smiled slightly. "Yeah, I see what you mean." Then she sighed. "So is that it, then, Sirius? Are we breaking up for the summer? Or forever?" She shook her head and laughed a bit. "I'm sooo confused."
Sirius gave her a gentle smile. Truth be told, he wasn't in the mood for corresponding with Savannah all through the summer. But truth also be told, he wouldn't say no to getting back together/hooking up with her next year. "I don't want to break up," he said slowly. "I just… I think we'll both have more exciting summers if we're unattached."
Savannah's face twitched into a ghost of a grin. "Probably." Then she wrapped her arms around him and exhaled audibly. "Wait, so we're off for the summer, but on again next year?"
Sirius trailed his fingers down her back and hooked them into the belt loops of her shorts. "Sure… I mean, if you're up for that."
Savannah nodded into his chest. "Okay," she said in a small voice.
Sirius was afraid that she was more saddened by this news than she let on. "But term's not over yet," he reminded her quickly. Savannah glanced up at him and he continued, "I'm not ready to give up on you that quickly! Jesus, Annie, we have until the train gets into King's Cross to make the most of this!"
Savannah laughed. "That we do."
Sirius rolled over and pushed her beneath him; he kissed her passionately and ran his hands up and down her back. Savannah slid her hands through his hair and to the nape of his neck. Sirius trailed one finger down her shorts and between her legs, waiting for the high-pitched squeak he knew Savannah would be emitting any time now.
Savannah began to breathe more heavily, and Sirius smiled to himself. This was such a pleasant way to end the school year.
-
The commencement ceremony for the seventh years was the next day, and after a late brunch the students were due to be released for the summer. Sirius accompanied James up to the owlery, where he was sending a note to his mother informing her of the time to meet them at the King's Cross, and gazed down at the Hogwarts grounds. The ceremony for the seventh years was taking place on the lakeshore, complete with music and speeches from Dumbledore and the Head Boy and Girl. It was all rather quaint.
Later, walking alone down a corridor to meet up with his friends at brunch, Claire Delacour, who was, it turned out, intentionally walking alone, accosted him. "Sirius!" she called.
He turned around to look at her, surprised at this outburst. "Claire," he acknowledged with a nod.
She grinned at him fondly, and he grinned back reflexively.
"What's up?" he asked.
Claire shook her head, avoiding the question. "Come walk with me, Sirius," she instructed.
"Can do."
Together, they strode up a side corridor and then down a narrow flight of steps until they reached a secluded landing.
"So," Claire said brightly, turning to face him.
He had forgotten how beautiful she was, with her dark hair, violet eyes, high cheekbones and creamy, perfect skin. She had shed her commencement robes and was wearing a floral-printed rose-colored skirt and button-up short-sleeved silk-trimmed white shirt. She looked overwhelmingly mature, put-together, and beautiful.
"So," Sirius replied.
Claire grinned at him again. Then, without warning, she leaned forward and pecked him quickly on the lips.
"That's to say goodbye," she informed him.
Sirius let out a surprised, happy laugh. It was probably the happiest laugh he'd ever given in his life.
"But Claire, that was nothing," he began. "If you're really saying goodbye, say it like you mean it."
Claire shook her head slightly in marvel, but Sirius didn't care; he leaned forward and kissed her passionately on the lips.
But it only lasted a few moments. Soon Claire pulled back and said, "Okay, Sirius. Okay."
They stared at one another for a few more moments. Then Claire said,
"Um… I'm really going to miss you. And I mean, I've missed you this last month, as well, but now it's like… forever."
Sirius nodded, feeling very solemn. "Yeah, I know," he murmured. He lifted a hand and began to trace the contours of Claire's perfect face with one finger, but she reached up her own hand and lifted his away.
Claire bit her lip, looking suddenly quite morose. "How's Savannah?" she asked calmly.
Sirius shrugged. "Eh, she's fine. We have fun, you know. It's nothing like what we had, but… I dunno." He suddenly groaned, appreciating more than ever that Claire was the only girl to whom he was completely honest. "Claire, I love you," he muttered.
Claire stared at him for a few moments. Then they both burst out laughing at the awkwardness of it all.
"I mean… you know," Sirius continued, grinning sheepishly and tossing his hair out of his eyes, "I really do. And I always will, probably. But – oh, you'll appreciate this…"
Claire raised one eyebrow. "Do tell."
Sirius grinned at her slyly. "I've finally discovered what I'm looking for in a girl."
Claire snorted. "Have you now?"
Sirius nodded. "I have. And all I want is somehow who makes me feel the same way you did." He grinned at her broadly. "So be flattered, Claire. Be very, very flattered."
She giggled. "Oh, I am." Then she sighed and came to join him by the landing window, leaning against the sill and staring out over the forest. "So, I'm marrying Hector. A few more years, I reckon, and then officially…"
Sirius joined her at the sill and gazed out over the forest also. "And is that what you want, Claire?" he asked.
She paused for a moment and then nodded. "It is. I mean…" She turned to look at him, her dark slant of bangs falling across her eyes. "I love you, too, Sirius. Know that. But… I'm marrying Hector. And I know I probably won't really see you ever again, so just know that…" She sighed and giggled. "Just know that this is quite cliché, but I'll really miss you and I'll never forget you and... just…" She shook her head a few times, searching for the right words. "…Thank you," she said at last.
Sirius raised one eyebrow. "Wow, that was incredibly cliché; you were right. Thanks for what?"
Claire grinned. "Just… for everything. It's been fun. Even if we did get caught."
Sirius laughed. "No problem. And thank you, Claire, for…" She smiled expectantly. "For… all of that stuff, too. And for showing me what I want in life."
He would have blushed, except that he never blushed, and besides, he was with Claire; being honest with Claire was not embarrassing.
Claire smiled sweetly, her dimples standing out as always, leaned forward, kissed him briefly, and said, "So… au revoir."
Sirius winked at her, and she laughed. "See you," he said.
They parted ways.
-
On the train ride to London, Sirius sat with James, Peter and Remus, contemplating the summer ahead.
"Well, you lot can come down to Devon and visit, like, whenever," James informed Peter and Remus pleasantly. "As soon as your parents let you, say, I want both of you coming and keeping us company."
"Heaven knows the trouble James and I will get ourselves into without your expert moral guidance," Sirius added.
Remus rolled his eyes. "We're going down to France for a bit… getting back, say, August? Or we might be going in August; I don't remember."
"Yeah, I reckon we're traveling, too," Peter piped up. "My mum wrote me a letter with the details a while back… visiting cousins or something…"
"Well, get away at some point," James instructed them, waving the delineated constraints aside with his hand.
There was a knock on the frame of the open compartment door. "Any room?" Savannah asked pleasantly, shooting Sirius a dark-eyed glance over Remus's head.
He grinned at her. "Sure, sure, always room for one more…" He scooted along the bench to make room, and Savannah took a seat.
"Where's Lily?" James asked, trying to keep his voice casual.
Savannah rolled her eyes and laughed. "Oh, she refused to come over here with me… still back in our compartment, actually… I was going to head back in a bit and check on her…"
"Allow me," said James at once, leaping to his feet.
Savannah grabbed at his shirt sleeve. "Sit down, you imbecile; she's not going to go for you if you keep doing that!"
James sighed loudly. "And what would you have me do differently, Annie?"
She shrugged thoughtfully, and leaned back against Sirius's shoulder; he put his arm around her reflexively. "Well… I'd say, for one thing, don't go pissing her off right now. Wait until next year, at the very earliest."
James narrowed his eyes for a moment in contemplation and then said, "Fine. But you'd best..." He trailed off.
Savannah raised one eyebrow. "I'd best what?"
James sat down and stroked his chin in exaggerated pensiveness. "You'd best come visit us this summer," he said at last. "You and Lily, and the two of you can stay at my place in Devon… we can pick a week when my parents are out of town, even!"
To Sirius's approval, Savannah laughed comfortably. "That does sound like fun, I'll admit, but I don't know how my vacation schedule's working out or what Lily's doing…" She turned to Sirius. "I'll keep you posted, yeah?"
He shrugged. "Sounds good." It did; having two girls share the Potter manor with him and James for a week could prove highly entertaining. Not that making it happen would necessarily work out, that was, but the idea had merit.
Savannah then smiled slightly. "It's a bit crowded in here, isn't it?" she murmured in Sirius's ear.
Sirius quirked one side of his mouth into a grin. "Just a bit… shall we bounce?"
Savannah nodded evenly. "Let's."
Remus met James's eyes and they both grinned; Peter laughed.
"Don't wait up," Sirius called over his shoulder as he and Savannah set off down the train to find a private compartment in which to say farewell.
-
At the station, students and parents milled about in search of one another. Sirius, holding Savannah's hand on one side and talking to James on the other, stepped through the gateway from Platform 9 ¾ back into the Muggle world.
"Yoo-hoo! Jamie! Sirius!"
Mr. and Mrs. Potter were standing to one side with Tara's parents and Tara, whose hazel-green eyes narrowed slightly as Sirius turned to give Savannah a final kiss goodbye.
"Have a nice summer," he said sincerely, brushing her long bangs out of her dark eyes and kissing her forehead.
"You too." She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.
Sirius gave her a slight grin. "Snog lots of hot guys in Italy."
"I will… snog lots of hot house elves at James's house."
"I will."
Then Savannah was gone, hurrying over to her father and mother and her sister Annette, who looked just as pretty as she had in the photograph, and who gave Sirius a bemused grin and a short wave.
He grinned, too, and waved back.
"Come on, Padfoot," James quipped in exaggerated irritation, dragging him over to the Potters and Nevans.
"Ready to head home, you lot?" Mr. Potter asked pleasantly.
"Sure thing," James said vaguely, glancing over his shoulder to watch Lily, who had also found her parents and was now chatting with Savannah.
Sirius saw where he was looking and barked out a laugh. "Oh, come now, Prongs," he muttered as they followed James's parents toward the exit, "It's summer vacation! You don't need to worry about her until September!"
But he, too, glanced over his shoulder. Audrey Granada, who was standing next to two handsome young men who were surely her brothers, glanced at him antagonistically with her dark eyes for a moment before turning away; Brynn Merwyn offered him a friendly wave from amidst her gaggle of cousins and siblings; Linnet Blakely gave him a weak, awkward smile; and Gina Davies broke away from her parents and older brother, ran up to him, kissed him smack on the lips, and said, "Keep in touch, love!"
"Hey!" James yelped, trying to sound affronted.
"Oh, you too, dear! You'll be captain next year, I reckon!"
And after briefly kissing James as well, Gina ducked out and returned to her smiling family.
Tara rolled her eyes but then giggled. As they headed toward the Nevan's magically enhanced car, she turned to Sirius.
"So what's the deal with you and Savannah Baron now?" she asked innocently.
"We're off for the summer, now that you mention it," he replied evenly, shooting James a roll of the eyes over Tara's head.
Tara pulled her long light-brown hair back into a ponytail idly. "Sounds like fun."
Sirius shrugged and offered Tara a half-smile. "It could be."
Reviews! (and yeah, I know they have that weird "reply" thing now, but I don't wanna bother with it)
lilyskywalker3 – yay, I'm so glad you liked it! Heh heh, the James/Lily stuff will start in year seven, I reckon. Or maybe this summer; I dunno…
SeaNymph – Mmm... yeah, I wish he were real, too. Heehee, I'm glad you like my name! My brother and sister and I all have crazy French names because our last name is quite standard and American so my dear French mum wanted us to not sound like foreigners… mind you, then we moved to the US so it all became sort of pointless, but whatever.
lavizsla – yes, I find them to be rather realistic as well. This story'll definitely have the James/Lily stuff, but not as the main storyline because – face it – the story's not about them. I figure we'll get James/Lily action some time next year.
MaraudingChick – Haha, yeah, I should have made them fight.
dixio – Yeah, people totally hook up all the time… now that I'm a senior I'm truly starting to appreciate it (wink, wink). And yeah, I started this story because I didn't like that in most other stories Sirius finds some perfect chick all of the sudden and then (after a drawn out and often tedious struggle) conforms to her gentle will.
Lainia26 – Nah, Linnet can stay a shy loser. Are there really lots of other characters like her? I always thought that in the other stories some nobody girl (like Linnet) turns out to be Sirius's true love or whatever, and then she turns out to be kind and perfect and everything. But in this story, Linnet's just some innocent victim of Sirius's being bored. And she was pretty much just a one-chapter thing. And I'm glad you aren't that into her because I'm not, either.
Scarlet – why, thank you!
Padfootz-luvr – haha, glad you like Savannah. I totally have a friend like her who got with a guy very much like my portrayal of Sirius and now he's in college but they still hook up whenever he comes back to visit… it's quite sad, actually; I keep telling her she should move on and stop letting him fucking use her. Heh, but ANYWAY, yeah, I'm flattered by your comments on my OC descriptions! I love inventing characters; it's wicked fun.
The Cotton Candy Kisses – thanks!
indiecookiedough – thanks!
tulips car – yes, yes; all I can tell you is to stay tuned!
Potpoury – Thanks! Yeah, I thought the name was cool, too… it came to me during one of my OC-name brainstorms when I was bored during econ.
A/N: Thanks to everybody who's gotten this far! I love writing this story and I promise I won't give up on it, so please don't fret if updates take a while. Also, (did I say this before?) I'm a freakin' review WHORE! Reviews make my day, and I LOVE responding to them, so if you write something long and opinionated and fun I'll most certainly respond and write something back to you. Soooo…
…PLEASE REVIEW!
Kisses,
Simone