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: Yay, update! The next will be up eventually; I'll never give up!

Chapter Ten

Moving On

Sirius awoke the next morning feeling utterly relaxed. Remus had just finished taking a shower and was crossing the room wrapped in a towel. Peter was rummaging in a drawer for clothes. James was currently taking a shower; Sirius could hear him singing.

"Good morning, Padfoot," Remus said pleasantly as he reached his bureau.

Sirius nodded, sat up, and stretched.

The previous night rushed back to him.

Oh man… good thing he didn't care about Tara's feelings.

"Hey, what did you and Evetta do last night, Padfoot?" Peter asked, echoing Sirius's thoughts, as he pulled on a shirt. "I saw you two go upstairs but…"

Remus turned around to stare at him.

"Did you hook up with Evetta, Sirius?" he demanded, sounding somewhat irate.

Sirius frowned at him. "Well, yeah, but I don't see why you're getting so worked up over it."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Sirius! You were supposed to break things off with Tara, get back together with Annie, and let everyone live happily ever after!"

Sirius shrugged. "Well, Tara walked in on us, so that takes care of the 'breaking things off' bit…"

Remus's eyes widened. "She walked in on you?"

Peter fought hard not to laugh. "Damn. Sounds pretty awkward, mate."

Sirius looked at Peter unconcernedly. "Yeah, pretty awkward."

Remus shook his head. "Man, you'd better hope Lily doesn't find out about that. She'll be bloody miffed."

Sirius winced. "Yeah, well, what can you do?"

Remus frowned in exaggerated thought. "Well, this is just going out on a limb, but not hooking up with the best friend of the girl you're supposed to be officially breaking things off with while still being unofficially committed to the best friend of the girl who your best friend wants to date is probably a good idea."

Sirius frowned, trying to follow him. Then he grinned bashfully. "Ah well; can't please everyone."

Remus rolled his eyes again but couldn't help but smile.

James strolled out of the bathroom fully clothed.

"What did I miss?"

"Sirius hooked up with Evetta," Peter chirped.

James grinned easily. "You did?"

Sirius nodded, smiling as well. "I did indeed."

Remus groaned. "Yes, he did, but Tara walked in on them and now everything's a right mess…"

James raised one eyebrow. "Sounds like it," he observed cheerfully. Then the magnitude of the situation hit him. "Oh man… wait, Padfoot – if Lily finds out about this and… I dunno… messes everything up somehow–"

Sirius brushed that aside. "Don't worry about it; I'll talk to Annie today and everything will be just peachy."

James nodded. "Yeah..."

Peter grinned. "How do you get yourself into these situations, Padfoot?"

Sirius shrugged ruefully, and Remus shook his head and refused to say anything more.

-

Sirius did not see Savannah or Lily at breakfast, though he did see Tara, who promptly got up and left the hall when he entered. A while later, Evetta walked in and sat down by herself. She gave Sirius one look of soul-wrenching guilt; he looked away haughtily.

He heard whispers here and there; a few sixth-year Gryffindor girls leaned forward to converse with one another as he passed, as well as when Evetta arrived. Sirius did not especially care; he was used to occasional bouts of negative gossip, and he knew that it always blew over.

Evetta, however, looked a nervous wreck. She wore cloth pants and had pulled her hair back in a limp ponytail. She ate her breakfast in silence, not smiling.

Remus gave Sirius a look from across the table. "You should apologize to Evetta, you know." It was the first time he had spoken since they had been upstairs in the dormitory.

Sirius glanced down to the end of the table, where Evetta leaned dejectedly on one elbow and silently ate her oatmeal. The other girls in her dormitory sat nearby but were busy gossiping to one another; they gave Evetta an occasional look of disgust mingled with delight over the drama of it all, but otherwise paid her no heed.

"She'll get over it," Sirius replied stoutly, refusing to let this get to him. He had done this before, many times, and the girls always eventually came around.

Remus sighed and turned back to his oatmeal.

Savannah and Lily entered the Great Hall soon afterward, both looking very pretty in loose jeans and sweaters. Savannah came up behind Sirius and poked him in the back. "Good morning," she said cheerfully.

He leaned his head back to look up at her. "Hey there."

Savannah raised one eyebrow. "Funny thing I heard on the way downstairs this morning. You and I need to have a talk, Sirius."

Sirius smiled confidently, glad that she wasn't beating around the bush. If only Tara had been this self-confident! Savannah's familiar straightforwardness and sincerity made him want to win her over again.

"That we do."

Her mouth quivered slightly. "Right… well…"

Lily coughed and jerked her head pointedly farther down the table. Savannah brushed Sirius's shoulder with her hand as she passed and said, "We'll talk after breakfast."

Sirius nodded. Then he made the mistake of shifting his gaze from Savannah's understanding dark eyes to Lily's condescending green ones. She gave him a look of unmistakable disdain and disappointment.

Well, shit.

After breakfast he and Savannah made their way out of the foyer and onto the grounds, saying little. It was a beautiful September morning; the sky was clear and the trees were beginning to change color. They made their way toward the sparkling lake.

When they were out of range of the voices of the other students lounging outside in the fresh morning, Savannah said briskly, "So. Explain yourself."

Sirius stopped and turned to look at her. Her long blond hair hung over her shoulders, looking soft and windswept, as always. Her light bangs were brushed to one side. Her morose dark eyes showed her disappointment. She was so much more elegant than Tara, so much more mature than Evetta – Sirius knew, right then and there, that there was no way he was going to let this situation not end in his favor.

He cleared his throat. "It's pretty simple, really – I got drunk last night and hooked up with Evetta."

Savannah winced. "Why, Sirius?" She sounded almost pleading.

Sirius gave her a ghost of a grin. "Well, you kept withholding everything from me, and my drunken self knew that I wouldn't get anywhere trying to hook up with you, so…" He smiled at her. "Annie, it meant absolutely nothing. I woke up this morning and my first thought was relief – because I knew you'd understand where I was coming from."

This was not entirely true, but he didn't care; at this point, he simply wanted to move on.

Savannah nodded slightly. "Sirius, you do realize that was incredibly sleazy, don't you? I mean, apparently now Tara's not talking to Evetta and Evetta's an emotional wreck and… I dunno, you do feel bad about that, yeah?"

Sirius nodded briskly. "Of course I feel bad, but… well, it's not the kind of thing I like to dwell on, you know? Shit happens. People get drunk."

Savannah nodded again. "I know. Shit happens." She sighed. "I don't know, Sirius… I really wish you'd just broken things of with Tara earlier. Then none of this would have happened…"

He nodded in agreement. "This is true."

Savannah looked up at him. "You don't like Evetta at all?"

He shook his head at once. "No! Or I mean, she's cute, I guess, but... look, Annie, anything I feel for Evetta Niall is purely superficial and only comes out when I'm incredibly drunk. And all we did was kiss, anyway. And I… I don't even know her."

Again, this wasn't entirely true – though it was indeed true that they had not gone past kissing. At present, however, Sirius had no interest in hooking up with Evetta Niall; the poor manner in which she was taking their current predicament indicated to him that she was lacking in both maturity and self-confidence.

Never mind that her actions also demonstrated sincerity and remorse.

Savannah sighed. "Sirius, why do you do these things?"

He sighed, too. "I don't know." Savannah still looked incredibly hurt, so he decided to bust out a new tactic. "Annie, tell me, what do you want me to say? What do you want to happen? The ball's in your court now; I know I did something incredibly stupid but now I'll do whatever you want."

Again, this was only the partial truth; he knew at heart that he would always be in control, so saying this was largely to make Savannah feel better.

She sighed. "It's just… you've really hurt a lot of people."

"Accidentally," he replied briskly. "Look, Annie, if I want to hear a lecture on my mistakes, I'll talk to Remus or Lily. I just…" He hesitated, and looked at her sincerely. "I wish you'd take solace in the fact that I've learned my lesson and will never do anything like this again."

(Of course, he would never intentionally do something like this in the first place; shit just happened.)

Savannah sighed yet again, clearly unsure of what to say. Sirius decided he needed to take matter into his own hands more directly.

"Savannah Baron," he said, kneeling down in front of her and clasping her hands in his so that she smiled a bit despite herself, "I really, really like you. You're beautiful and smart and funny and great at Quidditch and no matter what happens I know I'll always want you as a friend… though preferably as more." She giggled slightly. "All I want right now is for you to forgive me my stupid drunken actions and understand that the only girl in the world who means anything at all to me is you."

She bit her lip for a moment but soon could not help herself; she grinned. After all, this was all any girl ever wanted to hear.

"Annie, Annie, Annie," Sirius murmured, shaking his head. Then he tossed his hair out of his eyes and grinned at her slowly. "Come on, Annie. Don't leave me like this."

She laughed out loud then, pulled him to his feet and kissed him soundly, her right arm wrapped around his neck and her left hand on his shoulder, pulling him into her. Sirius kissed her back, his arms around her, the sun shining overhead and the great blue lake shimmering. When they pulled apart they were both smiling, the silly smiles of two old friends reunited at last, of two people who were, for the moment, perfectly content in one another.

"Annie, will you go out with me? Again, I mean?" Sirius asked her.

She laughed again. "Yes, I will." Then she tried to look severe. "But you'd better stay clean, you hear? No more getting drunk with anybody but me, and so on…"

Sirius smiled at her happily. "Why would I ever want to?"

They leaned in and kissed one another again. Sirius wrapped his arms around her so that when he stood up straight he lifted her off the ground, and she shrieked with delight. It was all wonderful and familiar, and it was a beautiful autumn day. Sirius didn't care that he hadn't been entirely honest, he didn't care that he would never feel for Savannah the way he had felt about Claire. Right now, he was happy to have a girlfriend he could have fun with, a girlfriend he respected as a person, and, perhaps most importantly, a girlfriend who would force Lily to go on a date with James.

-

Sirius knew that Lily was disappointed with him. When he and Savannah strolled back up to the common room, hand in hand, laughing at the occasional glance of a gossiping sixth year, Lily fought hard to conceal her frown.

"Well, hello, you too!" she said briskly.

Savannah gave Lily a look, and Lily briefly raised her eyebrows. Sirius was sure Lily had spent the morning lecturing Savannah on why it would be a good idea to not give in to him just yet – and it was all for naught.

HaHA! Take that, Lily! he thought triumphantly.

"So, Lily dear," Sirius said smoothly, "I think a double-date is in order…"

Lily shook her head at him slightly. "Oh, Sirius Black…" She turned to Savannah. "Hey Annie, care to pop upstairs with me for a minute?"

Savannah grinned despite herself. "Sure thing, Lils." She squeezed Sirius's hand briefly and followed Lily upstairs. Sirius knew she was dying to spill the events of the last half-hour. Girls were weird that way.

As the two of them disappeared, James came downstairs. He raised his eyebrows at Sirius. "How did it go?"

Sirius grinned. "Excellently."

James grinned, too. "Brilliant. I knew you'd pull it off."

Peter came down behind him, shaking his head bemusedly. "Way to go, Padfoot. What did you tell her?"

Sirius grinned more broadly. "I got down on one knee and begged her forgiveness."

James and Peter both laughed. "Cute," James observed.

Sirius nodded modestly. "That it was."

-

Sirius was in the library with Audrey Granada, but he was definitely not working.

"So, I heard a scandalous rumor about you today," Audrey said politely as they sat down at a table.

Sirius grinned. "Did you?"

She nodded. "Hooking up with the best friend? That's pretty shady, mate."

Sirius laughed. It was very funny that Audrey Granada, the girl for whom he had always harbored, at best, polite indifference, was calling him "mate."

"Yeah, not the best of moves."

"Why did you do it?"

He shrugged. "Why not? I'm back with Savannah now, so it all worked out."

She smiled pleasantly, obviously somewhat amused. "You really don't care, do you? Hook up with some random girl, ruin her friendship with another girl, and then just move right on back to your cute, preppy, Quidditch-playing cover girl… it's all one and the same."

Sirius frowned, but then he smiled back at her. "Honestly, I don't really care about Evetta or Tara. I mean… I hooked up with Tara all summer, but it was pretty much because… I don't know… I was bored. I mean, why not, right?"

Audrey nodded.

"And then Evetta… well, she's cute. I figured I might as well; I mean, I wasn't officially back with Savannah yet, so I knew that… that…"

"…That you'd be able to get down on bended knee and beg her forgiveness and she wouldn't be able to get that angry?" Audrey put in.

Sirius nodded. "Pretty much."

Audrey smiled. She pulled her dark hair back into a ponytail with her hands, but, finding that she had no hair elastic on her wrist, let it drop back down over her sweater-clad shoulders.

"I didn't hook up with your little brother last night, in case you were wondering."

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Actually, I'd tried to banish all thoughts of that from my mind…"

Audrey smiled again. "He's just somewhat immature. I don't know. I was in the mood for someone older."

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "You're ridiculous, Audrey Granada. Have I told you that?"

She nodded. "I think so." She leaned on one arm casually. "Anyway, I didn't do anything last night but read a book and go to bed. Can you imagine? My friends all got drunk, but all I wanted to do was read. It's pathetic, isn't it?"

Sirius laughed again. "Oh, don't even pretend to think it's pathetic. You know perfectly well you don't give a shit what your friends think."

Audrey giggled. "Well, I feel bad for them when they're sad, but yes, I don't really care much what they think about me."

"So it's not pathetic."

"It's not."

He paused. "Why didn't you hook up with my brother?"

She shrugged. "I already told you, I didn't want to."

"How often do you hook up with people?"

"Oh, I often date them, too. I'm not 'easy,' Sirius; I just don't have any trouble finding a man when I want one."

Sirius laughed yet again. "Don't worry, I won't judge you."

She burst out laughing. "You 'won't judge me?' Sirius, for your entire life up until yesterday you've judged me!"

Sirius nodded. "And yet here we are, on a first-name basis."

She grinned. "So getting with Nevan was pretty silly of you. You know that, right? Getting with Niall's only to be expected, but getting with Nevan was silly."

Sirius nodded again. "Oh, I know."

Audrey frowned. "Did you sleep with her?"

"Tara or Evetta?"

"Tara, of course."

Sirius shook his head. "Nah. Seemed inconsiderate."

Audrey nodded. "Definitely."

"But you've slept with my brother?"

She laughed. "No, not quite. I could have, but like I said, I'm not that much of a whore."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Really? I thought you had."

"I thought you'd slept with Tara."

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"You're really not the best person," Audrey observed.

Sirius frowned at her. "This from you?"

She shrugged. "I don't mind; I'm just pointing it out. I mean, if I were Savannah Baron, I sure as hell wouldn't be taking you back this quickly."

Sirius shrugged as well. "Well, you're not, so it doesn't really matter, does it?" he said, a bit too icily.

Audrey gave him a look. "That wasn't very nice."

He raised one eyebrow. "Wasn't it?"

She shook her head. "Being mean to me won't get you anywhere, Sirius."

He stared at her for a few moments. Then he said, "I know."

Audrey took a deep breath. "Your brother's really affected by your family, I think."

Sirius frowned. "Can we not talk about this?"

Audrey looked at him. "If you really don't want to… I don't even mean by their idealism, though; I just mean by the fact that they disowned you."

Sirius found himself glaring at her. "Can we not talk about this? Jesus, Audrey…"

She winced. Then she said, "I'm sorry. It's not my place."

He leaned on one arm and looked at her stonily. If there was one thing he never wanted to talk about with anybody, it was his family.

Audrey stared right back at him. She brushed her short bangs more securely to one side and looked at him with her dark, thickly-lashed eyes. "No offense, but you need to chill out."

Sirius shook his head. "Actually, I can do whatever the hell I want, remember?"

Audrey sat back and crossed her arms. "Sirius, I'm not going to judge you. It's not like I don't have family shit too… I mean, it's different, sure, but I'm not going to tease you or ridicule you or… I don't know… blame you…"

Sirius frowned again. "Audrey, why do you even care? Why do you give a shit about anything in my life? How can I even be sure that I trust you?"

She scratched her chin and thought for a few moments. "Well… I can see why you wouldn't. But honestly, it wouldn't hurt, would it? What's the worst that could happen?"

Sirius shook his head. "I don't know. Something awful. My friends could die."

Audrey raised one eyebrow. "Sirius, don't forget, I already know everything about you."

He opened his mouth to interrupt, but she continued, "I mean, not about you, but about your circumstances. About your family. About everything."

He opened his mouth again, but she wouldn't let him talk. "If I ask you a question about anything beyond stupid school trivialities, I personally think it's ridiculous that you're afraid to answer me."

"I'm not afraid," he put in, ready to be thoughtful, "I'm just… I… I just don't talk about my life with people. It's not any of their business."

"Don't you talk about it with Potter and them?"

Sirius shrugged. "To a certain extent with James, yes. But I mean… they already know everything, and they know how I feel, too; they don't need me to talk about it to understand."

Audrey was staring at him intently. "But I'm not them, Sirius. I like talking – you might have noticed. I want to talk about it."

Sirius looked up at her, and their eyes met. "Someday, maybe. Not now." Then he shook himself. "Jesus, Granada. Why do you want to be my friend so badly, anyway?"

She shrugged. "Why do you want to be my friend so badly?"

"I don't."

"You aren't acting like you don't."

He nodded fairly. "I feel I should warn you, I've never managed to be 'just friends' with a girl."

She shrugged again, and smiled. "I'll be the first, then."

-

It was Saturday night, and James and Peter had already returned from Hogsmeade with butterbeer and candy for all, but Sirius was in no mood to spend time with a crowd; he hadn't done anything sexual – beyond kissing, that was – in a good couple of weeks, and tonight all he wanted to do was spend time with Savannah making up for it.

They left their friends in the common room and made their way out into the empty corridor. It was nine o'clock at night; plenty of time to find a cozy corner of the castle.

As they had exited the portrait hole, Sirius had caught sight of Evetta Niall, watching him and Savannah and looking scandalized, and Tara Nevan, ignoring Evetta and looking furious. He was pretty sure Remus was still a bit annoyed at him as well – but whatever; everyone would get over it eventually.

"Where to?" Sirius asked Savannah in a cheerful undertone as they set out down the empty seventh floor corridor. He had his arm around her shoulders and she had her arm around his waist. Savannah's long hair was down and he enjoyed the feeling of it on his arm. She wore the outfit she had been wearing that morning – a fitted V-neck sweater knitted in various shades of blue and a pair of jeans.

"Let's just see where we end up," she replied, looking up at him and smiling suggestively.

Sirius grinned at her. "Alright."

They continued up several flights of stairs, speaking in undertones.

"What did Lily say to you when we got back?" Sirius asked pleasantly – not that he really cared what Lily said or thought.

Savannah snorted derisively. "She rolled her eyes and told me my actions disgusted her but that she loved me anyway."

Sirius frowned. "I don't see what's so disgusting about it. If two people like one another there's no point in holding unnecessary grudges."

Savannah nodded. "Yeah, that's what I told her."

Sirius smiled serenely. "She's really just trying to deny the fact that she desperately wants on James."

Savannah laughed. "You may be right. I don't know, though… I'll talk to her about it again. Tell her to come on a double-date with us, and all that…"

Sirius looked down at her and smiled. "That's my girl."

Savannah grinned. As they continued to walk down the narrow sixth-floor corridor they now found themselves in, Sirius pulled her toward him and kissed her. Then they found themselves immobilized for several moments as Sirius deepened the kiss.

God, was Savannah ever a better kisser than Tara. Sirius wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her until next Saturday.

Still not stopping the kiss, Sirius steered Savannah backward toward the nearest door, which he knew led, like all the other doors along this hallway, to a guest office used by visiting Ministry members and temporary staff.

The room was dark and windowless, though the small fireplace sputtered to life as Sirius shut the door behind them. Savannah leaned away from him for a moment to look around.

"What is this place?"

"Guest office," Sirius replied promptly, leaning in to kiss her again and pushing her gently down onto the small sofa before the fire. Flames danced merrily on the dark walls and on the thin brown embroidered carpet as Sirius pulled off her sweater and dropped it on the stone floor behind them.

He wanted things to heat up. He stopped kissing Savannah on the lips and instead trailed kisses down her neck and over her breasts and stomach. When he reached her trousers he looked back up at her. Her hair had grown somewhat disarrayed, but it looked sexy that way. She gave him a seductive smile, and he leaned back up quickly to peck her on the lips as he unzipped her pants.

Soon those, too, were discarded onto the stone floor. She sighed slightly and leaned back to stare up at the stone ceiling and rest her head on the sofa's armrest as he slowly slid his hand into her panties.

The evening was going splendidly so far. Funny to think that this time yesterday he had hooked up with Evetta Niall.

Savannah found it funny, too. A while later, as they sat in one another's arms kissing occasionally and staring at the fire, she remarked with a small chuckle, "You're on a roll, Sirius."

He pretended to wince. "Annie, why do you bring up these things?"

She giggled, climbed off of his lap to kneel before him on the carpet, clasping his hands in hers, and smiled at him sweetly. "Just to make you feel guilty."

He grinned despite himself. "Well, it's working."

She looked beautiful, lit from behind by the fire in the fireplace, currently wearing a sweater and no trousers. She brushed her hair out of her face and eyed his crotch.

"Happy to see me?" she remarked airily.

He laughed. "As always."

She unzipped his jeans and leaned in.

He sighed and closed his eyes.

A perfect Saturday night.

-

On Sunday Sirius came across an interesting sight: Remus and Evetta Niall, talking in the library. He had come to meet Audrey Granada – they hadn't finished everything yesterday, what with talking so much – and hadn't expected to run into anyone else.

Evetta glanced at Sirius but refused to meet his eyes as he passed their table; Remus gave him a small smile.

Sirius found Audrey at their usual table toward the back.

"Looks like Niall's found herself a new man," she observed, pretending to be coy. "Pity for you..."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh, ha ha."

Audrey smiled. "They've been talking ever since I got here. I think he's reassuring her not to take you seriously."

Sirius rolled his eyes again. Then he smiled. "Hey, want to hear a clever pun?"

Audrey laughed despite herself. "No."

Sirius nodded in understanding. "Fine. Your loss."

-

Later that night, he asked Remus about it.

"Friends with Evie, now, are we?"

Remus shrugged, but then smiled. "Well, I felt bad for her and figured she might want somebody to talk to who wasn't absolutely furious with her."

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "Wow. Slick move. Maybe you should date."

To his surprise, Remus blushed. "I'm not going to date her, Sirius; I'm not you. I just thought she might need somebody to talk things over with."

Sirius nodded, but kept his eyes exaggeratedly skeptical. "Mmhmm… well, Moony, I support you. What's she saying anyway? How much she hates me?"

Remus titled his head first to one side, then to the other. "Actually, she's not that naïve. She's angrier at herself, I think. Doesn't have the energy to hate you. She really just wants Tara to forgive her so they can move on."

Sirius nodded again. "Mmm. Well, that's all fascinating."

Remus quirked one corner of his mouth into a frown. "Padfoot, you really messed up with this one. Evie's really sweet. She didn't deserve this at all."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh, cry me a river." Then he smiled amicably. "Look, Moony, nobody deserves anything. You can tell Evie I apologize, or she and Tara can reunite over mutually hating me, or whatever. I don't care. I've moved on."

Remus nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know."

---

Reviews!

Dixio – Heh, me too.

FireQueen618 – Thank you :)

Beckers123 – Thank you!

Freja Lercke-Falkenborg – Thanks! In this case I meant Niall from Irish lore (she's Irish, for one thing). Niall of the Nine Hostages founded a dynasty of Irish kings. Evetta will play a bigger role in coming chapters. Can you guess how?

Pinkandpurple – Thank you!

La Mariposa -Carp- – I'm glad you decided to investigate, too!

Pazas 1917 – Thank you!

Please review, even if it's just like ":)" or ":(" or something; reviews make me dance around with joy! Or at least grin broadly.

Love, Simone