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 ;)

Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

A/N: I just got back from Europe, and in the midst of massive jetlag I decided to update this story!

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Chapter Nine

Torment and Temptation

The train ride proved immeasurably awkward. Savannah Baron was trying to appear cool, collected and indifferent; Tara Nevan was growing increasingly close to throwing her arms around Sirius in a crystal clear reaffirmation of ownership; and Evetta Niall was proving very easy on the eyes. Remus and Peter attempted to alleviate the tension by making light jokes and talking animatedly to each girl in turn.

"So, Tara! Still riding those horses?" Peter asked hesitantly.

Tara nodded distractedly, inclining her body away from Sirius's to look Peter in the face for one brief moment.

Remus winced. "Um… think James will be Quidditch captain this year, Annie?"

Savannah met his gaze coolly. "Yes, I do think so."

Sirius couldn't help but be tremendously amused by it all. At one point, he caught Evetta Niall's eye, and couldn't help but give off a ghost of a grin. She smiled back, clearly not fully understanding what was going on.

Amidst all this, James and Lily returned from Head duties, talking loudly and obliviously.

"I cannot believe you made that joke!" Lily was reprimanding, barely-concealed laughter hanging on her every word. "It was disgusting! We want the new Prefects to respect us!"

James laughed heartily. "They will, I swear!"

The compartment door slid open with a loud bang, and everyone looked up expectantly.

"Oh hello, you lot!" Lily said pleasantly, her eyes drifting about the compartment and lingering on Tara and Sirius. Her smile fell slightly as she glanced at Savannah and raised one eyebrow.

James came in behind her, utterly oblivious. "Hello! Moony, you missed our instructional meeting for the junior Prefects… good thing you're a senior."

Remus smiled slightly. "Good thing."

"Well hello, Evetta!" James chirped cheerfully, turning away from Remus and taking in the occupants of the compartment for the first time. "And Annie… and dear Tara…"

Tara raised her eyebrows at him. "Hello, Jamie," she replied nonchalantly.

Lily was now standing in the doorway, her arms crossed, making it clear that she was perfectly aware of the current situation. She and Savannah were looking at one other and exchanging some imperceptible girl message. Then, with a start, Savannah stood up.

"Lily and I are going to go find another compartment, if any of you lot want to come," she said, refusing to look at Sirius. With a very fake smile, she said, "It's getting a bit crowded in here…"

James looked at Lily, perplexed. "Oh, don't go leaving, Lils! We only just got here!"

Lily smiled wryly, her green eyes bright, her pretty red hair tied into a half-pony tail and hanging smoothly over each shoulder.

"We need to have some girl time," Lily replied frankly.

Savannah nodded in agreement and ran a hand through her hair, brushing her long bangs out of her dark eyes. As she walked past him, Savannah raised her eyebrows at Sirius in a mixture of bemusement and disappointment. He wasn't quite sure what to do, so he smiled back. Savannah rolled her eyes.

James frowned as the two girls left the compartment. Then he glanced back around at the remaining occupants, and finally, realization hit. He fought hard to conceal a grin as he caught Sirius's eye and shook his head with a look that said quite plainly, "You are so fucked, man."

Sirius tried very hard not to grin back. He so did not care.

-

Dinner would have been awkward as well, had Sirius not chosen to blatantly ignore Tara and Savannah both – if he ignored the situation long enough, they would be forced to come talk to him on their own terms.

In the meantime, Sirius flirted with Evetta Niall.

"So Evie, where did you travel this summer?"

Evetta smiled again at the use of her nickname. "Well, my family stayed in a resort on the Costa del Sol for a while. My grandparents and a few cousins came down to visit–"

"How many cousins do you have?" Sirius cut in. He knew that girls loved to talk about themselves; if he was going to hook up with Evetta before solving the situation with Savannah and Tara, he needed to play to this fact.

"Oh, I have quite a few," Evetta replied, taking a bite of shepherd's pie and smiling at him, her pretty brown eyes wide and sparkling, "but most are a bit older. The two that came down to stay with us are my Muggle cousins from Kerry, one's your age and the other is a few years younger… and what about you, Sirius?"

She had a slight brogue. Very County Cork. It was sweet and endearing. He especially liked how she pronounced his name.

"You lived in Cork, didn't you?" he asked, ignoring her question.

Evetta nodded. "I did, but we moved over to England when I was nine."

Sirius smiled. "You have siblings, Evie?"

She nodded. "I do. Younger sister – she's a second year. Ravenclaw."

Next to Evetta, Tara was watching the conversation and pointedly trying to catch Sirius's eye. "Have you met Evie's family, Sirius?" she put in. "Her mum's been to the manor before…"

Sirius shook his head and avoided looking at Tara. "Can't say that I have."

Tara said nothing for a moment; then she looked down at her plate with a slight huff.

Evetta seemed oblivious to Tara's discomfort – or maybe she was just overwhelmed by the fact that Sirius seemed so interested in her life.

"And what did you do this summer, Sirius?" she asked eagerly, taking another bite of pie and glancing at Tara for a brief moment – no doubt she knew about their escapades.

Sirius shrugged as he reached for a basket of sourdough rolls. "Hung around. But anyway, Evie, what classes are you taking this year? N.E.W.T.s over, then?"

She nodded and proceeded to talk about herself again. Sirius scarcely broke his gaze from her brown eyes the entire meal.

So what if this was incredibly sleazy? Evetta was looking extremely well-kept and polished – read: hot – and Tara should have figured out by now that she and Sirius were obviously not a couple.

A short way down the table, Savannah talked animatedly to Lily, Peter, James and Remus. Sirius chose to ignore her.

-

On the way to Arithmancy the next morning, Sirius felt exceptionally optimistic about the day's potential. He had eaten breakfast across from Evetta again, and was almost completely positive that she was now entirely down for him. Indeed, as he had surveyed her that morning – freshly showered, hair pulled back in a wavy black ponytail and pretty jeweled earrings dangling at her ears – he had wondered why it had taken her so damn long to realize her true attractiveness potential.

Sirius had then swept his hair out of his eyes and said, "You look very pretty this morning, Evie."

She had blushed prettily and grinned; most boys were not so forward.

"Well… you look very nice yourself, Sirius."

He brushed that aside with a wave of his hand. "Well, I did wake up early to apply perfume and give myself a manicure…" Next to him, Remus rolled his eyes over the top of the Daily Prophet he was perusing, but Evetta giggled. She had a very cute giggle.

"So that's what happened to my perfume," James remarked, sitting down on Sirius's other side and pretending to glare at him. "Why… you little bitch!"

Sirius grinned at him. As always, James understood his intentions perfectly.

The night before, everybody had been too tired to talk much, but Remus had managed to remark, "Man, that was one awkward train ride!"

James had chuckled. "Whatever; you'll work it out, Padfoot!"

Sirius had nodded in agreement. "Of course!" Then he frowned and clicked his tongue in disapproval. "Have faith, Moony."

James nodded as well. "Lily's talking to me now! Isn't it wonderful?"

Peter laughed, but Remus winced. "That's brilliant, Prongs… but Sirius, don't do anything stupid… I mean, no offense, but I thought you liked Annie, and now here you are all over Evetta Niall…"

Peter chuckled. "And did you ever actually end the thing with Tara, mate?"

Sirius had shrugged, and then grinned unconcernedly. "I do like Annie. I mean, I guess I do. But… look, whatever, it'll all work out eventually, right?"

Remus winced again. "If you say so…"

James laughed jovially. "Of course it'll work out! Anyway, let's go to bed… plenty of time to talk tomorrow."

They hadn't gotten around to talking yet, though, because Peter didn't have Arithmancy first thing in the morning and James had woken up late.

As he continued to flirt with Evetta, Sirius caught sight of Savannah and Lily, seated a ways farther down the table. He did not, however, see Tara.

"Where's Tara?" he asked Evetta when Tara's name came up amidst a discussion of dorm mates.

"She doesn't have a class first thing in the morning today… sleeping in, last I checked," Evetta replied.

Sirius nodded in approval. "I love that," he said seriously.

Out of the corner of one eye, he caught sight of James raising an eyebrow bemusedly; evidently he was being too obvious about his intentions.

Down the table, Sirius noted that Savannah was pointedly avoiding looking at him. Lily, however, kept glancing at him, and Sirius could not figure out why.

Then, on the way up to Arithmancy, having walked Evetta part of the way to Herbology after telling James and Remus he would catch up to them later, Sirius felt a tap on his shoulder.

He whirled around to find Lily Evans staring at him with her green eyes, her eyebrows raised. "A word, Sirius?"

Sirius quirked one eyebrow at her, already guessing what this was about.

Girls…

"I suppose so, Lily, but make it quick," he said primly. "I don't want us both to be late on our first day of class…"

Lily nodded seriously and steered him by the arm into an empty classroom, closing the door behind her.

"Look, Lily, I'd love to snog you, but I don't think James would approve," Sirius said bluntly, attempted not to grin as he patted her on the shoulder consolingly.

Lily was not amused; she rolled her eyes and said, "Sirius, you have got to stop this."

He raised one eyebrow at her again and dropped his hand back to his side. "Stop what?"

He knew, of course; he was just playing dumb because that was what one did in these situations.

"Stop treating Annie like shit! Look–" and here Lily took a step closer so as to glare into his gray eyes more acutely "–she really likes you, and I know you like her, unless you've suffered some sort of brain damage between two days ago and today, and I just think you need to consider what you're putting her through!"

Sirius waved one hand carelessly. He could understand why James liked Lily so much; it was so sexy when attractive girls got all riled up and started shouting at him. Lily's cheeks were turning slightly pink and her green eyes were brighter than ever. Her auburn hair framed her face pleasantly. If only she would start lapsing into French, she would be almost as irresistible as Claire Delacour.

"Sirius!" Lily pointed a finger at him threateningly. "It's bad enough that you treat all those other girls like shit, but I am not going to let you do that to one of my best friends!"

Sirius frowned at her. "I don't treat girls like shit!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't start, Sirius! You date these girls and then you ignore them, you get with other girls, you break their hearts… nobody deserves that! And Savannah definitely doesn't deserve that!"

Sirius huffed loudly to show that he was mildly annoyed and sat down on the desk behind him. "Lily, Savannah and I are broken up! I can do whatever the hell I want until we're back together."

Lily threw her hands in the air. "You're unbelievable, Sirius! If you cared about Annie at all, no way would you be treating her this way! Did you know that last night she was in tears over how you were acting on the train?" She took a breath and then continued, "And Tara Nevan, Sirius? What the hell are you trying to pull there? Annie told me you hooked up with her once but I swear you must've done it all summer judging by how distraught she looked!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, even though Lily had a valid point. "I don't like Tara," he said tiredly. "She's just hung up over me. I like Savannah, honest." He stared back at Lily now. "But I'm not dating Savannah, and as long as that's the case, I don't see what the issue is."

Lily narrowed her eyes. "Sirius, don't you dare try to act like you're an idiot. I know you're a smart boy. Why don't you just think for a change about how Annie must feel, knowing you're going to end up together but realizing she's not worth enough to you for you to end this stupid bullshit with Tara and get back together with her already?"

Sirius shrugged. "Tara knows we're through."

Lily huffed angrily. "She does not! You need to tell her it's over, Sirius, and the longer you put it off, the worse it'll be!"

Sirius was mildly surprised that Lily was angry about Tara, rather than about Evetta. But then again, he hadn't done anything with Evetta yet; odds were Lily wasn't aware of that aspect of the situation.

"Okay, okay," he muttered, deciding that Lily had a somewhat valid point: it was probably a good idea to officially end things with Tara before hooking up with Evetta.

Lily was still glaring at him. "I don't understand how you and James think this is funny. Maybe that's his problem, that he spends too much time with you…"

"Hey!" Now Sirius was insulted – but only for James; he had had plenty of girls yell plenty of similar expletives at him in the past, and didn't consider it something to take to heart. "Don't go ranting against Jamie! I'm the arse, honest! He's a really great guy–" and here Sirius winked cheekily at Lily "–as you would know if you'd just date him already."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Sirius, we both know that neither you nor James knows anything about love."

Now Sirius was very insulted – but again only for James; he had heard that quip about his own inability to love many times before. "James knows plenty about love! He loves you, Lily… though I can't understand why, considering what a whiny little bitch you're being…"

Whoops. He shouldn't have said that; Lily's eyes filled with tears.

"Fuck you, Sirius! You know absolutely nothing about love!" She turned on her heel and was about to storm out of the room when Sirius, suddenly feeling terrible – he had made plenty of girls cry, but never because he called them cruel (if accurate!) names – grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Wait! Lily, I'm… I'm sorry. You're not… you're not a whiny little bitch."

The bell signaling the start of class rang, but they both ignored it as Lily glared back at him, her eyes still red with hurt. "You do realize that every girl at this school is too good for you, right, Sirius? I don't understand how any of them can be attracted to you, you're such a stuck-up prick…"

Sirius rolled his eyes; he'd heard all this before – though granted, it was usually from a girl he'd just broken up with or cheated on. "Lily, you know so little about me, I don't think you have a right to say anything," he stated tiredly.

Lily rolled her eyes right back at him. "Don't play that card, Sirius. Actions speak louder than words, and what I've seen you do has betrayed plenty."

She was quick. Sirius liked that in a girl, and he once again commended James internally on his taste in women.

Now Lily spoke in a slightly gentler tone. "Sirius, I dragged you in here to warn you. I don't think you quite get it… I mean, honestly, have you ever truly cared about a girl?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her. He had definitely cared about Claire one hell of a lot, but he wasn't sure if Lily deserved to hear about that. Instead he gave her the vague reply of, "Well, yes, I have."

Lily looked curious. "Who?" she asked, sounding unnecessarily surprised; Sirius surveyed her haughtily.

"None of your business."

Lily frowned, and idly pulled her red hair back into a ponytail with her hands, securing it with an elastic band. "Well, not Annie, obviously," she said scathingly.

Sirius shrugged one shoulder. "Annie's nice, but there's no way we're ever going to move past that attractive-friends-who-like-hanging-out-and-hooking-up stage." He gave Lily a searching look. "You know?"

Lily raised one eyebrow at him. "Have you ever moved beyond that stage, Sirius?" she asked disbelievingly.

Sirius quirked one corner of his mouth into a grin. "Why yes, I have."

Lily frowned again. "With whom?"

Sirius shrugged innocently and smiled at her. "That's for me to know and you to find out."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh, come off it, Sirius; if we're going to miss class to talk about how wrong you are you might as well spice it up with some names!"

Sirius frowned instead. "Have you ever cut class before?" he asked her.

Lily shook her head. "Never! But I suppose we may just be very late."

Sirius nodded fairly. "Well… seeing as I have absolutely no inclination to tell you anything…"

Lily rolled her eyes again. "Sirius, don't get me wrong, I think you're a nice guy… just… you really don't appreciate the damage you cause."

Sirius frowned. "And Lily, I think you're a nice girl, but you really don't appreciate how happy you would be with James." He smiled slightly. "I'll tell you what: you give James a chance, I'll get back together with Annie and stop being an insufferable prick."

Lily put her hands on her hips. "Are you kidding me?"

Sirius shook his head and grinned at the incredulous look on her face. "Look, I know it completely betrays the purpose of your dragging me in here, but think of how much fun it could be!" Sirius swept his hair out of his eyes and gave her a sharp look. "Come on, Lily. Do it for Annie."

Lily snorted in disgust but then twitched one corner of her mouth into what was almost a smile and looked Sirius over thoughtfully. "If you stop being a prat first, then maybe," she said at last.

Sirius grinned a bit; "maybe" generally meant "yes."

"Well, let's go to class, then!" he suggested cheerfully.

Lily rolled her eyes but then said, "Yes, let's." She followed him out of the room.

-

Arithmancy proved mildly noteworthy. When Sirius and Lily walked in late together, many eyes widened.

"Tardy on the first day? Five points each from Gryffindor, Mr. Black and Miss Evans," Professor Vector, their young teacher, said.

There were few seats left. Sirius found a spot off to the side of the classroom between Audrey Granada and Rabastan Lestrange, and Lily squeezed into the desk Savannah had saved for her.

A few minutes into class, Sirius caught sight of a note zooming along the floor. It came to a stop underneath his desk, and he instantly recognized James's handwriting.

Where the bloody hell were you?

Sirius leaned down to scratch his leg and picked up the piece of parchment casually. He wrote on the back,

Your future wife was lecturing me about conduct with girls. Don't worry, I put in a good word.

Sirius let the note flutter back beneath his desk and then tapped it with his wand when Professor Vector's back was turned; it zoomed away toward James and Remus's desk.

As he glanced over his shoulder to catch James's eye as he read the note, Sirius noticed Audrey Granada watching him bemusedly. She had her elbow propped up on her desk and was leaning on her palm, twirling a strand of dark hair around her finger idly. She raised one eyebrow at Sirius, and he – unsure of what else to do – returned the gesture. Meanwhile, James read the note and, looking up at Sirius, flashed the thumbs up sign and a quick grin. Sirius grinned back.

Audrey smiled as he turned back to face front. Sirius wasn't sure why she kept paying attention to him – until Professor Vector announced that, "as mentioned at the start of class," their first project of the year would be completed with the person "sitting on one's left."

Well, shit.

Sirius turned to Audrey Granada, raising both of his eyebrows this time. She shrugged resignedly.

As the bell rang signaling the end of class, Sirius turned around and shouted to James and Remus, "You couldn't have saved me a seat?"

James shrugged, and said primly, "You were late for class, young man!"

Sirius turned back to glance at Audrey, who was now packing up her book bag. "Look here, Black," she said briskly as she tucked her dark hair behind her ears and stood up, "this is not a big project. It'd be great if you could hold off being a prick and just complete the damn thing with me."

Sirius looked her full in the face. "Fine," he said shortly, turning on his heel and walking toward the door to meet his friends.

Savannah was talking to Lily and continued to avoid his gaze. Sirius felt a teensy bit bad; he still liked her quite a lot. She also looked uncharacteristically gorgeous today, no doubt in an attempt to make him regret the fact that he hadn't been talking to her. Savannah's blond hair was long and blown straight, her dark eyes were bright and shining, and her makeup must have been perfectly applied considering how healthy her skin looked.

But Sirius knew that as soon as he started talking to her, Savannah would come right back to him. He would spew some bullshit about the aggravating Tara Nevan and all of that, and then everything would be just peachy.

-

Sirius was surprised when Savannah came up to talk to him in the common room that evening; he had been expecting to have to initiate conversation himself.

He had been sitting next to Remus discussing potential plans for the next full moon, which would be arriving in two weeks.

"I don't know if it's safe to go into the village again," Remus was murmuring, pretending to scratch out and rewrite a line of the essay in front of him.

Sirius shrugged. "That was a fluke! It'll be fine this time, I swear!"

"Er… Sirius?"

He turned around to find Savannah, looking exceptionally put together, just as she had that morning in Arithmancy, standing by the far end of the couch. He gave her a quick glance over, taking in her black trousers, fitted red short-sleeved shirt, and long hair pulled back in a low ponytail.

That girl didn't cut corners when she wanted to impress.

"Yeah?" he asked her casually, looking her in the eye.

Savannah bit her lip for a moment, and then jerked her head pointedly toward the portrait hole. "Let's talk."

Sirius turned briefly to glance at Remus, who had looked up from his essay and was watching.

Remus nodded pointedly. "Go ahead," he said.

Sirius turned back to Savannah. "All right," he agreed, finding that his heart was pounding slightly. This conversation would certainly prove interesting.

They crossed the common room in silence and exited the portrait hole into the seventh floor corridor.

"Liking school so far?" Savannah asked hesitantly as they made their way to the right and up a staircase to the floor above; she seemed to know where they were going, and Sirius figured he'd just follow along.

"It's alright," he replied pleasantly.

Savannah nodded.

They walked on in silence some more. How awkward! Sirius was beginning to grow slightly sick of this. He liked Savannah a lot, but the awkwardness was distressingly cliché, and, to his mind, completely unnecessary. He was on the verge of breaking the silence with a blunt question about what she wanted to talk about, when Savannah spoke again.

"I hate this," she muttered.

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "What's that?"

Savannah looked over at him, and she suddenly looked so sad that Sirius almost wanted to forget the whole Evetta Niall thing and sweep Savannah up into his arms there in the corridor.

Almost.

"This!" she repeated, her dark eyes wide with barely concealed tears. "This! I hate this awkwardness! I hate not talking to you! I hate it!"

Then suddenly she was crying, tears running silently out of her perfectly-made up eyes and falling in trails down her cheeks.

"Oh, Annie–" He opened up his arms and she ran into them, and they stood there in the corridor, Savannah's face buried in his chest as she cried and cried.

Sirius sighed slightly. What a pain in the ass this was. If he hadn't liked Savannah as a person as much as he did, he would definitely not be putting up with this girly crying nonsense.

Actually, the realization was slightly disheartening. Indeed, he loved Savannah as a person – she made an excellent friend, she was fun to gossip with, fun to hang around with on long evenings – but his feelings of romantic attraction were purely superficial. As he stroked Savannah's back consolingly, he knew that at heart he was only doing it as one friend to another.

When Savannah had finished crying, she wiped her eyes. "Sorry," she whispered, looking up into Sirius's eyes, her arms still wrapped around his chest, his arms still around her shoulders.

He smiled at her consolingly. "It's okay."

They stared into one another's eyes for a few more moments. Sirius knew Savannah wanted him to bridge the few inches between them and kiss her, but was that really the best thing to do? He still fully intended to get with Evetta Niall; kissing Savannah would send mixed messages.

Oh well.

Sirius leaned forward, Savannah closed her eyes, and they shared perhaps the sweetest – if most ambiguously-intended – kiss ever to occur in that empty eighth-floor corridor's history.

When they pulled apart, Savannah was smiling, looking almost relieved. Sirius smiled back at her easily; there was no reason to ruin the moment.

"Sirius, what's the deal with you and Tara?" She was calm and in control now. After all, he had just kissed her; there was no reason to expect a negative turn of events from here on out.

"Nothing," Sirius said flatly. "We got together a few times over the summer and she's completely hung up on me. That's all."

Savannah nodded. "A few times?" she repeated. "I thought it was one drunken night."

Sirius brushed that aside with a wave of his hand. "Well, it might have been a few more times than that, but whatever; same difference." Savannah looked slightly hurt, so he looked into her eyes earnestly. "Honestly, Annie, Tara means nothing to me. It was just summer fun. It's completely finished now, forever. I promise."

Savannah smiled a bit, but then looked at him in disapproval. "So why is she still hung up on you, Sirius?" she asked lightly.

Sirius shrugged. "I dunno." Yeah, seriously, he added to himself. Why can't Tara just take a hint already?

Savannah smiled again, but worriedly. "Sirius, you need to end things with her. Officially. Then maybe…" She trailed off.

Sirius smiled at her graciously. "I know I do; don't worry, I'm getting around to it."

Savannah nodded in approval, and then looked at him expectantly. "And us…?"

Sirius shrugged one shoulder. "Well, I still like you, definitely," he replied casually. "So I don't know… what do you want to happen?"

Savannah fought hard to conceal a smile of pure delight; this was all she had wanted to hear ever since that awkward day on the train. "Well," she said briskly, crossing her arms, "if you end things with Tara, then we can talk about us."

Sirius smiled at her and shook his head. "Do I have to?"

"Yes!"

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Fine!" He opened his arms again, wondering what he was getting himself into. "Celebratory kiss?"

Savannah's face burst out in an overjoyed grin, but then she said stoutly, "Nope! Not until you break it off with Tara. I refuse to do something like that to another girl."

Sirius laughed in disbelief. "Oh, so I imagined that kiss a few minutes ago?"

"What kiss?" Savannah asked, pretending to be puzzled. Then she laughed too. "No, that was because you were consoling me. It's different."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Is it?"

Savannah nodded frankly.

"Do you need to be consoled again…?"

She rolled her eyes. "No! Now let's go back to the common room; I have an essay to proofread."

Sirius laughed again and slung an arm around her shoulders as they walked back down to the seventh floor, and Savannah grinned and let him do it. They talked easily as they made their way along the corridor below, and Sirius was glad that, at the very least, this aspect of the situation had turned out decently.

For now, anyway.

-

"You told Savannah all that? I thought you wanted to get with Evetta!" Remus quipped in disbelief. It was late at night and Sirius was sitting on the floor by his bed filling his friends in on the day's events.

Sirius grinned. "I do!"

Remus shook his head. "That's terrible."

Sirius frowned. "Why?"

Remus turned his palms skyward in disbelief. "Why? Because you essentially told Savannah you want to get back together with her, and now you still plan to go hook up with Evetta! That's why!"

Sirius frowned. "Well, again, we aren't back together yet. Relax, Moony."

James nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's not like he wants to date Evetta; he just wants a good snog before committing himself to Annie again!"

Sirius nodded at James. "Thank you!" He turned back to Remus. "You see, Moony? It's like right before you get married, you have to have a bachelor party. This is my bachelor party before I get back together with Annie!"

Remus shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"I think it'll all turn out alright," Peter piped up. "Most things do, don't they?"

Sirius shrugged one shoulder. "With luck."

"What did you say to Lily earlier?" James asked abruptly. "You know… about me?"

Sirius grinned. "Plenty! Lots of great stuff." He grinned more broadly and caught James's eye. "And then I got her to agree that as soon as I go out with Annie again, she'll give you a chance."

Remus's mouth dropped open in shock mingled with amusement. "She what?"

James's eyes widened. "She what?"

Peter laughed. "She what?" he asked, but only because the other two had said it; Peter had heard just fine.

Sirius laughed jovially. "She'll go on a date with you as soon as I start treating Annie right again!"

James's eyes were still wide. "She will, she will? Padfoot – do you realize what this means?"

Sirius shrugged. "That she wants on your body?"

James's face was breaking into an immense grin. "Yes! And it means that you had better hurry it up with Annie, mate! And I mean hurry!"

Sirius laughed again. "I will, I will! Don't worry, mate; I've got your back!"

Remus frowned slightly. "I don't think Lily would approve of this Evetta Niall business…"

Sirius shrugged. "Whatever. It's not like she knows…"

James, however, was nodding vigorously in agreement. "No, Moony's right," he said earnestly. "Padfoot – Sirius!" Sirius turned to meet his eyes. "You know I don't ask for much, but this is really important. Please don't do anything to mess it up. Don't make Lily angry."

Sirius nodded; if James was taking that side, he had to honor it. "All right, mate," he replied slowly. "I won't."

With any luck, he could keep his word.

-

For the rest of the week, Savannah was friendly as ever – but, much to Sirius's mild annoyance, entirely platonically so. She often asked Sirius delicately, "Talked to dear Tara yet?"

When he shook his head, she always frowned and gave him a look of severe disappointment so that he squirmed and said, "Don't look at me like that!"

Savannah would laugh. "Talk to her, yeah? Then I'll have nothing to be disappointed about ever again."

Sirius often tried to work the situation to his advantage, but facetiously enough that Savannah wouldn't take him too seriously. "I need to get pumped up," he might reply, opening his arms and beckoning her into them – though she always stood her ground. "Hug? Kiss? Snogging session in a broom closet? Annie, I need your help!"

She would laugh and laugh, her dark eyes squinting. "No! Besides, it'll be so much more fun if I continue to refuse until you've done as I've asked…"

Sirius would nod fairly; this was undoubtedly true.

On Friday at breakfast Savannah, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter sat in general close proximity to one another at the Gryffindor table, helping themselves to bowls of fruit salad and platters of thin, hot crepes.

Savannah had just sat down across from Sirius, her long hair pulled back in a clip, her feathery bangs hanging down into her dark eyes. "Good morning!" she said cheerfully, reaching across the table to peel a crepe off the top of the stack.

Sirius nodded at her pleasantly. "'Morning."

"'Morning," James, who was sitting next to Sirius, mumbled through a mouthful of crepes and strawberries.

Lily had sat down next to Savannah, her red hair pulled back sharply in a high ponytail.

"Lily," James added with a nod, swallowing quickly so as to speak clearly again.

Lily smiled briefly. "Good morning."

Tara Nevan was walking past the Gryffindor table to a place beside Evetta Niall. As she passed behind Savannah and Lily, Tara looked over at Sirius and smiled warmly.

He smiled hesitantly back. Tara was ridiculous. He hadn't really talked to her at all this past week, though whenever she saw him walking down a hallway with Savannah – or any other girl, but especially Savannah – her face turned bitter for a moment. Then she would smile at him broadly, as if attempting to console herself.

The other day she had walked up to him in the corridor between classes and demanded point-blank, "What's up with you and Savannah Baron, Sirius?"

He had looked over at Tara blankly. "Nothing," he had replied. "We're just friends."

Tara had nodded, looking relieved. "Well, I…"

She had trailed off, still looking at him hopefully. Just like Savannah, Tara seemed to have been putting extra effort into her appearance lately in an attempt to make Sirius show renewed interest. Her long, light brown hair was soft and shiny as ever, her hazel-green eyes clear and deceptively innocent-looking.

"I have to get to class," Sirius had put in quickly, offering Tara a ghost a grin and a slight wink. "I'll see you around, Tara."

He probably shouldn't have been so flirtatious, he realized in retrospect. He still hadn't officially told Tara they were through, and she obviously hadn't figured it out herself yet.

As Sirius watched Tara disappear to farther down the table, he noticed that Savannah was watching too. When Tara had sat down, he turned to face back across the table.

Savannah raised her eyebrows at him inquisitively. "Told her yet?" she asked lightly.

Sirius winced. "No."

Savannah nodded. "Well, you ought to do that soon… it's Friday, you won't want to be all alone tonight…"

Sirius quirked one corner of his mouth into a grin. "Yeah, party planned for tonight. Celebrating the start of another delightful school year. Gryffindor common room, nine o'clock."

"Or our dormitory, if it gets too rowdy down there," James put in quickly. "We don't want things getting out of hand."

Savannah smiled. "Maybe we'll drop by."

Lily, however, gave James a sharp look. "Things cannot get out of hand, James. You're Head Boy; you aren't supposed to be supplying underage students with alcohol."

"Says who?" James demanded, pretending to be indignant.

Lily rolled her eyes, but Savannah laughed. "Is that actually in the rulebook?"

Lily smiled a bit despite herself. "Well… I don't think so." When James grinned triumphantly, she added, "But still!"

James rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, Lils," he said consolingly. "We won't let things get out of hand."

-

Later that afternoon, after his last class of the day had finished, Sirius was annoyed to find himself sitting in the library with Audrey Granada, taking notes on the second chapter of his Arithmancy book as the first stage of the project they had to have completed by next Friday.

"I'm not going to lie, this is pretty boring," he observed after the twentieth minute of sitting at their tiny table.

Audrey shrugged. "Whatever. It's not like it's hard."

Sirius nodded in agreement. "But still… I'm about ready for a break."

Audrey exhaled slightly and looked up from her own parchment of notes. "Fine," she replied curtly, sticking her notes in her book to mark her place and tipping her chair back on two legs.

Sirius twirled his quill between his fingers a few times and propped his elbow on the table, leaning on his palm. "So… plans for tonight?"

He was through caring that she was in Slytherin; sitting in the corner of the library and taking pointless notes just because they needed to turn in an outline with their final paper was just about the most boring thing he'd ever done. It was time to make conversation.

Audrey shrugged. "Of course."

Sirius smiled vaguely. "And those would be…?"

Audrey yawned and stretched her arms up over her head, still balancing the chair on two legs. "Why do you care?" As she spoke, she took her hair down from its ponytail and then tied it back up.

Sirius frowned. "I don't, I'm just bored as all hell and figured I'd make conversation."

To his surprise, Audrey smiled. "Figured." She wiped one eye with a finger and tipped her chair onto all four legs again. "I don't know, maybe I'll just kick it with your brother."

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "Are you pals?"

She quirked one corner of her mouth into a grin. "Of sorts."

Sirius understood. He winced. "Oh man… Granada, I don't want to know about you getting with my little brother!"

She laughed easily. "Don't ask, then!"

He shook his head. "Why can't you pick on people your own age?"

She shrugged. "Where's the fun there? You run out of people sooner or later and then what are you supposed to do?"

He found himself grinning broadly, though he wasn't sure why. "You're ridiculous."

She shrugged again, and grinned back at him. "You're telling me this?"

He shook his head in amusement. "You make a great first impression."

She shrugged a third time. "Why should I bother making a good impression when you already either know or assume everything about me that you'd ever want to know?"

He nodded. "Fair point."

She tilted her head to one side and tucked a wisp of dark hair behind one ear. "It's really weird we never crossed paths when we were little."

He felt his brow furrow. If this turned into some quip about his family, he was pretty sure he'd have to cuss her out.

Catching his expression, Audrey added, "I mean… you know." Sirius continued to frown, and suddenly she burst out laughing, tipping her chair back on two legs again. "You're ridiculous, Black! It's not like I give a shit how your beliefs differ from your family's!"

He shrugged. "Whatever."

She laughed again. "Lighten up! You think people care, but they really don't."

He shrugged again. "Some do."

She shook her head. "No, people are just wrapped up in their own little worlds. Either you find love or you don't, and if you don't there's no point in stressing about it."

He wasn't sure how that had anything to do with it. "What are you talking about?"

She smiled genuinely. "You know exactly what I'm talking about! Everyone's just off in his or her own little world, and all you can really do is fall in love and make friends and find something to connect with, otherwise you just go on living your own isolated life, playing the field and having a different kind of ball."

He raised one eyebrow. "Oh."

Audrey laughed again, and this time she tipped her chair too far back and fell over. "Shit!"

When she hit the library floor, however, she grinned unconcernedly and righted her chair, climbing back into it.

"So I guess you're okay?" Sirius asked lightly.

She rolled her eyes. "No, I think I ruptured something."

Sirius snorted. "Pity."

She nodded. "It is."

He stared at her for a few moments. "You're right, I guess," he admitted suddenly. "It's kind of depressing, though, isn't it?"

She shrugged for the umpteenth time. "Only if you don't find love and don't have friends."

He raised his other eyebrow. "So not you?"

She tilted her head first to one side, then to the other. "Well… I have friends, but many of them are quite stupid. Love… it comes and goes."

He laughed suddenly. This was oh-so-true. "I know."

She raised a dark eyebrow. "You've been in love, right?" She nodded, as if answering her own question. "Yeah, I'll bet you have."

He raised both eyebrows at her, quite surprised; just about every other girl he had ever talked to in his life had not deigned to assume this. Then he nodded. "And you have too, right?"

She nodded as well.

They sat in silence for a few moments, each lost in his or her own thoughts.

"Who was yours?" she asked finally.

Sirius opened his mouth, but then shook his head in disbelief. "Why are we talking about this?"

She shrugged yet again. "Why not? It's not like I even care, Black. We both already have a whole preconceived view of one other; it's not like it's going to change any time soon."

He frowned. "What's your view of me?"

"Mmm…" She tilted her chair back on two legs again. "Well, you betrayed your family politically, so you must have some emotional issues… you love your friends, obviously… you get with girls because you can and it makes you superficially happy…"

"Superficially?" He frowned at the word.

She nodded. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. It's just one of those things you do to stay happy. Like a game."

He looked at her. "You make me sound so shallow."

She laughed easily. "You are!"

"So are you."

"I know!"

He felt himself beginning to smile again. "And you, Audrey Granada, you get with all those boys because you can. I bet you have them eating out of the palm of your hand. You have loads of friends who are probably just envious of you for being prettier and smarter than they are–"

"You think I'm pretty?" she interrupted casually.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "No, you're hideous."

She laughed.

He gave her a half smile and continued, "–and you probably have a few real friends, too. And you've been in love. And you have a family that loves you, right? And really just the perfect life; you do whatever the hell you please and everybody just fawns over you. Half the school hates you for doing the things they wish they could do, and you're ridiculously competitive at Quidditch because… I don't know, you're competitive. You like a challenge. Something."

She laughed and laughed then. "You know absolutely nothing about me!"

He grinned. "And you know absolutely nothing about me!"

She nodded. "This is true. But I was pretty close, right?"

He shook his head. "Not at all. You can make assumptions, but you don't actually know anything."

She nodded again. "Likewise."

They sat in silence for a few moments. Audrey righted her chair onto all four legs once again.

"I really wish you hadn't told me about getting with Regulus," Sirius remarked.

She smiled. "Sorry about that. He's a fun kid, though... you're probably a lot alike."

Sirius snorted. "In bed, or in general?"

She laughed. "In general! He just cares more about what people think, I bet."

He raised and lowered one shoulder. "Who knows? Who cares?"

"Not you, obviously."

"Who were you in love with?" Sirius asked suddenly. This conversation was very surreal and very random, and he couldn't help but be curious.

Audrey frowned. "Hector Zabini," she replied after a moment. "Probably the best-intentioned boy ever to set foot in Slytherin."

Sirius wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but that certainly wasn't it. "Hector Zabini?" he repeated in disbelief. "But he's been with Claire forever."

Audrey nodded. "I know. Depressing, isn't it? At heart, Sirius, I'm just a hopeless romantic."

She had called him by his first name. This conversation was getting more and more surreal by the moment.

"Yeah…" He trailed off for a minute, and then said, "Were you ever together? Ever?"

She shook her head. "That's the tragedy of it. I've known him for ages longer than Claire Delacour ever did, my father's from Cadiz and his family is all in Morocco, see?"

Sirius nodded. He knew that there had long been strong ties among the old wizarding families of the Mediterranean.

"Then we both ended up at Hogwarts," Audrey continued. "We'd been friends forever, not that Claire ever thought about it that way. When the two of them got together it was pretty depressing. A while back I tried to see what would happen if I made my move, but he was completely enamored of her by that point. All such a waste of time…" She smiled at Sirius sadly.

He was still in complete shock. "Small world," he remarked, knowing the comment probably seemed out-of-the-blue to her.

Audrey frowned. "Is it?"

Sirius nodded, refusing to elaborate. "Why did you tell me all this?" he asked instead.

She shrugged. "I figured you'd understand."

That wasn't what he'd been expecting either. Suddenly he laughed. "What the hell, Audrey? Why are we having this conversation? Why are we talking at all? I don't even like you!"

He realized he had called her by her first name, too. How fitting.

She laughed as well. "Because we're the same! Haven't you realized it? We're both obnoxious and confused and get whatever the hell we want!"

He shook his head. "That's not true at all."

She smiled sweetly. "I know, but wouldn't it be nice?"

He nodded, and smiled too despite himself. What a day this was turning out to be. "You're really crazy."

She grinned. "Can't please everyone."

He nodded again. "I loved Claire Delacour," he said suddenly. "So much, you can't even imagine... or maybe you can, actually."

Audrey's eyes went wide. "Well, you should've told me earlier! You could've had her and I could've had Hector and we all could've lived happily ever after!"

Sirius laughed and shook his head.

Audrey still looked shocked. "Claire Delacour, Sirius? Claire Delacour? How do you even know Claire Delacour?"

He smiled and shook his head again. "I have no idea why the hell I just told you that." He half hoped she would think he had been kidding.

"You really did, didn't you?" She was looking straight at him now, obviously not at all on the verge of thinking he had been having her on. "You really did… man, do I feel you."

And before he knew it, he was telling her all about the detentions with Professor Lamont the previous spring, all about Claire Delacour and how much he had loved her, but also about how he had realized that all he wanted out of any girl was to feel the same way he had felt around Claire, and about how, even though it was quite depressing, he had gotten over it (sort of), and did not dwell on it too much, and was really rather enjoying life.

Audrey listened and said little. Finally she said, "I know exactly what you mean."

They had missed supper by this point. All work on the project had been forgotten.

"We should be friends, Sirius," Audrey said suddenly. "We really should. I mean, I know we don't actually like one another, but–"

"You're alright," Sirius interrupted.

She smiled easily. "So are you. Actually, I think most people are, you know? They just have lots of preconceived notions."

He nodded. "Yeah."

They sat in silence for a while more. Then Audrey said, "Well, we should probably meet tomorrow to finish this outlining, at any rate."

He nodded again. "Yeah. Tomorrow afternoon, say?"

She nodded as well. "All right."

They stood up and left the library, both puzzling over how, despite all those years of being the whore of Slytherin and the whore of Gryffindor, respectfully, neither had realized how incredibly compatible they were.

-

Sirius was tipsy as all hell. It was fantastic. The party had started later than intended, after the younger students had gone to bed. Now it was nearly midnight.

Moments before, Tara Nevan, looking pretty sober, had slinked up behind Sirius, who had been sitting on one of the couches laughing about how the floor was tilting, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Tara!" he exclaimed, turning his head and pecking her on the lips. She grinned at him and leaned in again, obviously hoping for another kiss, but Sirius wasn't feeling it. He stood up happily and skipped across the room, past Savannah and Lily, who were sitting on either side of Peter and laughing heartily about something.

"Did you drink, Lily?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"No, but it's absolutely hilarious watching the rest of you do it!" she replied, grinning at him.

Savannah laughed as well. "Talk to Tara, Sirius!" she shouted cheerfully, obviously not having seen that kiss a few moments before.

Not like it mattered; that kiss had meant absolutely nothing.

"I will, I will!"

Sirius continued across the room, catching sight of the girl he was really looking for: Evetta Niall, who had taken one shot of firewhisky and some spiked butterbeer and was either pretending to be buzzed or else was an utter lightweight.

He wrapped an arm around her. "Hey, Evie."

She grinned back at him, her cheeks flushed. "Hey, Sirius!"

He jerked his head toward the dormitory stairs suggestively. "Wanna take a walk?"

She laughed and laughed. "I'd love to!"

They were about to go up the boys' dormitory stairs when Sirius remembered that Remus had already retired to sleep, that loser. And there was no way Remus would approve of Sirius taking Evetta Niall up to their dormitory if he was already in it.

"Wait!" he exclaimed, whirling Evetta back around.

"What?"

"Moony's up there! We can't bother him! You go up to your dormitory and I'll meet you there!"

Evetta laughed again. "What are we going to do there?"

Sirius grinned at her and tossed his hair out of his eyes. "I want to talk to you about stuff! Here, I'll be right back. Meet me there!"

She giggled and said, "Okay, okay!"

As Evetta disappeared up the dormitory steps, Sirius hurried up his own. He reached his own dormitory, brushed aside Remus's questions emanating from between the hangings of his four-poster, and grabbed James's invisibility cloak. Out in the hallway, Sirius transformed into Padfoot beneath the cloak and hurried down the stairs.

As a dog, he could go up the girls' dormitory stairs no problem. Though the spiral staircase turned into a slide whenever a human boy tried to climb up, male animals needed to be able to use the stairs incase female students had male pets. Sirius had always felt that being able to go up those stairs was a very positive perk to being an Animagus.

He reached the door to Evetta Niall's dormitory, transformed back into a human, stuffed the cloak into his pocket, and stepped inside.

Evetta was sprawled on her bed, utterly relaxed. "How did you get up here?" she asked him, sitting up and smiling.

He grinned back mischievously. "I have my ways."

He crossed the room and sat down beside her on the bed. Evetta's long black hair was mused and wavy, and her brown eyes sparkled. She looked pretty damn hot.

They looked at one another for a few more moments. Evetta opened her mouth to say something.

"I think Tara–"

There was no way Sirius was going to let Evetta start thinking about Tara at a time like this. He leaned forward and kissed her on the lips.

She took in her breath in surprise, but was obviously quite pleased. He slid a hand behind her head, pulling her closer to him, and deepened the kiss. Evetta was a decent kisser – but only decent. Sirius was too tipsy to think about this very much, however.

He pushed Evetta back onto her bed, kissing her all the while. She wrapped her arms around his neck and arched her back, pushing herself into him. They lay there for quite a while, kissing one another more and more passionately. Kissing while drunk was proving, as always, to be quite fun.

Sirius wasn't sure how long they lay there making out, but suddenly he heard a strangled cry of, "What the hell is this?"

He and Evetta broke apart and looked toward the sound. There stood Tara Nevan, her hazel eyes quickly filling with tears as she watched her best friend and the boy she was in love with passionately kiss one another in her own dormitory.

Talk about betrayal.

Sirius sat up quickly. "Hello, Tara!" he said, trying to be cheerful.

Evetta looked terribly guilty. She was biting her lip nervously.

"Er… Tara…" she began.

"Fuck you both!" Tara shouted, turning on her heel and leaving the dormitory, slamming the door behind her.

"Tara, wait!" Evetta shouted, standing up and trying to follow her. She turned to look at Sirius. "Er… I thought…" She trailed off, obviously unsure of what to do. "Well, fuck!"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Tara and I were over; don't worry about it."

Evetta stared at him in disbelief. "She's my best friend!"

Sirius fought back a biting urge to say, "Well, was your best friend, at any rate." Instead he shrugged.

Evetta turned on her heel and left the dormitory as well, leaving the door open behind her.

Sirius sighed, stretched, and stood up. Well, this was certainly fucked up. Oh alcohol… he was pretty sure he wouldn't have done something this destined to backfire if he hadn't been drunk.

Crossing the room, Sirius transformed back into Padfoot, put on the cloak, and headed downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs he transformed back into himself and looked around the common room, still wearing the invisibility cloak. It was one in the morning, and most of the occupants had already headed up to bed. Tara was nowhere in sight; she had probably left through the portrait hole for a midnight walk or something. Evetta sat by the fireplace, looking emotionally distraught, clearly waiting for Tara to come back.

Sirius felt a little bit bad… but then again, Evetta shouldn't have gone along with making out with him if she had known Tara would be so hurt, and Tara should have figured out earlier that their relationship was over.

Well, at least she could be one hundred percent sure of its finality now. Tomorrow Sirius would track down Savannah and inform her that all had been remedied, albeit definitely not in the way he had originally intended.

---

A/N: SO sleazy! If a guy ever does this to you, kids, you should dump him.

Reviews for Chapter Eight!

lilia: Thank you!

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Lainia26: yes yes, we'll see!

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…And thanks to people who reviewed other chapters, too! Next chapter should be up soon-ish. Sirius will stop being an absolute sleaze, hopefully.

Review?

Love,

Simone