Disclaimer: I believe it is a well-known fact that I am not affiliated with J.K.Rowling, Warner Bros. Studios, or Scholastic Publications, the people who really own Harry Potter and all it's names and trademarks.
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We spent Thanksgiving in the traditional manner, this time with the added company of Lily and Abby. They provided more incidents to laugh about; Adriana and I had run out of humorous events to recount in our six years of carrying on the tradition. They also contributed greatly to our nail polish collection.
Adriana kept shooting me sidelong glances, thinking I wouldn't notice. She seemed to be pondering whether or not I had told the truth about being in love. I would have told her in a second, but I was a very cautious person. Not wanting to upset my new boyfriend (it felt so odd saying that) I told none of them of the events that had passed this morning.
As we all headed down the stairs for dinner, I felt very self-conscious in my jeans and sweatshirt. I was the only one wearing Muggle clothes; even Adriana had opted for her usual wizard's robes. I was thinking about doubling back and changing, but I had told Sirius I would see him at dinner. Speaking of Sirius…
A hand reached out, and grabbed mine, dragging me into a broom closet. In five seconds, I was inside the closet, and in a pair of arms. I looked up to see Sirius's grinning face. "That was smooth." I commented, a little breathlessly.
"So it would seem. But it's like fishing. It takes a while, especially if you're being picky."
"How many girls have you randomly snatched and dragged in here?"
"There was one girl. She was really pretty, and I think her name's Olivia."
Suddenly, I was struck with how cliché this was. We were certainly not the first couple to be in this closet together. Feeling like I was fulfilling some requirement for being in a broom closet, I stood on tiptoe, and clasped my arms around his neck. He leaned in, and my eyes fluttered shut.
BANG!
The closet door rattled, and I jumped, my nerves on edge. The top of my head bumped into his nose, and he let out a hiss of pain. "Omigod, I'm so sorry!" I cried, reaching up to see where I had hit him.
He laughed, and moved his hand to show me a spot that was slightly pink. I placed my hand on it, my fingers gently caressing his soft skin.
"I'm sorry. What was that bang?" I asked.
"It sounded like one of James's dungbomb mines just went off."
"Dungbomb mines?"
"He charms packs of dungbombs to go off when someone steps on them, then makes them invisible and plants them in various place around that castle. Sort of like a whoopee cushion."
"And of course, it's all James's invention?"
"Entirely." A grin suggested that this wasn't the truth.
A brief pause told me that there were no more sounds of students passing through the halls. "We should go to dinner. Adriana is probably freaking out."
"One last thing." He swiftly leaned down, and gave me a soft kiss. It was slow and sweet, and completely knocked me out.
He drew back, grinning and a little breathless. I smiled up at him, still intoxicated by the feeling of his lips on mine.
"Again?"
"Just a quick one." I closed my eyes as once again his lips caressed mine, leaving just as loopy as the first one had. We exchanged nods, and exited the closet, and they rhythm of walking slowly cleared my head.
I followed Sirius to the Gryfendor table, and we squeezed in, choosing spots near where The Marauders and their respective girlfriends sat. Adriana had joined us, so as to continue a Quidditch debate she was having with Abigail, and Louis had joined as well. It was quite a crowd, so my entrance with Sirius hadn't been noticed.
After I spooned some food onto my plate, and returned my left hand to my lap, it was enveloped in a larger hand. Something I never got over about men was how warm and soft they were. I always expected them to be harsher. While Sirius's thumb traced circles on my hand, I was having trouble scooping up peas one-handedly. I never was very graceful with a spoon. Sirius was worth it, though. Having a boy's hand in mine was a novel and exciting feeling, made all the more thrilling by the fact that we were the only people who knew that our hands were linked. Even though I didn't know the reason for the secrecy, it still made everything all the more exhilarating.
"I'm going to turn in." I announced, when I was full.
"Goodnight!" Everyone chorused.
"I felt a brush of lips on my cheek, and a murmured, "Goodnight, Kitten." From Sirius. When I looked up, he was twisted around in his seat, fiddling with a strap on his bag. Very smooth, Sirius.
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Sirius
My eyes followed her was she walked out the great hall. It felt like a balloon was being inflated inside my chest with pride. That was my girl.
I heard a delicate cough from the chair opposite mine. I turned to face Adriana, who was looking at me with one perfectly plucked eyebrow poised. "Very suave."
"Oh really? Please, tell me, who is this I am 'in love' with?" Wow. I was a really good actor.
"Olivia." She wore an annoyingly smug expression.
"What gives you that impression?"
She raised a manicured hand, and ticked the reasons of on her pink-nailed fingers as she listed them. "You call her 'Kitten'. Pet names are a major sign of affection. Two, she woke up this morning in a rather bad mood. She told me she was getting her glasses; which would have taken her fifteen minutes. She comes back, half an hour later, positively glowing. And finally, three minutes ago, you were engaged in a rather intense staring contest with her ass." She looked very pleased with herself as she dropped both her hands back onto the table. "The only thing that I'm wondering is why you didn't want her to tell anyone. She sucks at lying; I could see right through her. Could it be that you have a couple other girls, all who you carefully instructed not to tell anyone that you were dating?"
"That's ridiculous. I fricking love her!" I clapped a hand to my mouth, as she beamed at me.
"I knew it!" She shrieked, causing people in a twenty-foot radius around us to give us odd looks.
Shit. I glanced around, and leaned in. "Shut up and listen." That got her attention. "Don't tell anyone about this. Seriously, I mean it. For Olivia's protection more then anything else."
The knowing smirk had vanished. In its place was a puzzled, slightly worried expression. "Don't go dragging her into anything that's get her hurt." She scolded, adopting a maternal tone. "And while I'm on the subject, don't go cheating on her or hurting her in any other way, either. If you do, I'll hex your ass."
"Yes ma'am." I muttered. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have Charms homework."
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Olivia
The next two weeks were bliss. Homework was a breeze, the holidays were coming up, and, of course, I had Sirius. Mmm…Sirius. Just the thought of him put a smile on my face. Over the past few weeks, I had been lassoed into broom closets, discreetly passed sweet notes, and…well, snogged in dark alcoves. I've learned that kissing isn't as disgusting as it looks. At least not while you're participating in it. See, I've never really had a serious boyfriend before (-doing best to ignore cheesy Sirius/serious pun-) so things like making out are a bit alien to me.
One night, about an hour before curfew, I slipped through the castle, to the place I usually met Sirius. It was a shadowed corner, where we were hid from the occasional passing prefect, teacher, or ghost. A portrait of an elderly woman, who lay snoozing against her frame more often then not, and glared down her beaky nose at us the rest of the time, only observed us. I didn't care.
"Kitten." His breath tickled my ear, and I jumped as his arms snaked around my waist, clasped at the small of my back.
"Hey babe." I stood on tiptoe to kiss him, his lips sliding over mine. He moved to press me against the wall behind me. Our bodies were so close. I felt my mind slowly fogging, and melted into your steady hold. Just like almost every other night for the past fourteen days.
Neither of us noticed a pajama-clad Gwen, shuffling through the corridor in pink fuzzy with a towel wrapped around her hair. The school gossip heard a gasp of breath from where we were, and squinted, peering into the shadows, spotting the telltale black of Sirius's hair. With a scandalized gasp, she putters off to go tell her friends that Black has a new beau.
The next day, between classes, I found myself in a lavatory, standing in front of a sink, washing my hands, and listening to the morning's gossip.
"- yeah, she saw them snogging last night."
"Wow. I was wondering why he turned Julie down last week."
"Did Gwen see the chick he was with?"
"No, she just told me she saw Black looking very intimate with this one girl."
"Maybe it wasn't a girl, maybe that's why he's so quiet about it…"
I had frozen at the word "Black", not hearing much after that, but at that last comment, I let out a snort of laughter, causing the three other girls in the lavatory to look at me.
"Do you know who it is he's seeing?" One of them asked me.
I gave a shrug, and beelined for the door. That wasn't conspicuous, Olivia.
Three classes later, I had heard countless theories on Sirius's new love interest, none of them coming close to the truth. My personal favorite was the one cooked up my a group of fifth years I had Defense Against the Dark Arts with: "I heard that he was a vampire, and he wasn't kissing the girl, he was killing her!" "That's why he's so pale!" "Yeah. Jess was missing from class today, maybe it was her!"
The Jess they were talking about was in the hospital wing for some Scandinavian stomach flu.
Just before lunch, I was once again snatched into a closet. I knew why, as soon as I saw Sirius's expression.
"Who did you tell?" He demanded, his face set in a cold look. It had been ages since I'd seen him so mad.
"I didn't tell anyone." I spoke softly, fear causing me to shrink back.
"Don't fucking lie to me, the whole goddamn school knows!" He yelled, banging his fist on the door. I was terrified.
"I didn't say anything to anybody! What's the big deal, why can't they know?" I knew this wasn't supporting my argument much, but I was starting to get pissed. Being falsely accused doesn't sit well with me.
"Why can't you just trust me? I thought that's what couples were supposed to do; trust each other!"
"I trust you, and you should trust me when I say that I didn't tell anybody!"
This blew the wind out of his sails. "I'm sorry, Kitten, it's just been a stressful morning."
"It's okay. But seriously, I didn't tell anybody anything. I think someone saw us last night." I was relieve he had back off, but the fear hadn't quite worn off.
"Damn." He placed his hand on my upper arms, running them up and down comfortingly. "You're shaking." He sounded concerned.
"You're scary when you're pissed."
"I'm sorry, Babe." He engulfed me in a tight hug. "I'm just worried, is all."
I wondered for the umpteenth time what could possibly make him worry so much about people knowing. To show him that I had forgiven him, when I drew back, I initiated a long, sweet kiss. "It's okay. It just brought back memories of the last time I had had an argument in a broom closet."
He gave me a startled expression. "This was your ex?"
I couldn't meet his gaze. "No. It was last year."
"Oh."
I erased the tension, by kissing him again. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and his hands rested comfortably on my hips. He intensified the kiss, his tongue begging for an entrance, which I readily gave. Minutes later, we broke apart, panting and flushed.
"We should o to lunch."
"Damn these meals that keep interrupting us."
"Damn them indeed."
"Shall we go?"
To my very great surprise, he laced his fingers through mine, and opened the door, grasping my hand possessively in his.
We went through the halls to the great hall like such, and were rewarded with odd stares and hushed whispers. They continued on, until we reached the great hall. There, amid the cacophony of mealtime, the comments and stares spawned, until they made me feel as if the back of my robes had gotten caught on my underwear or something. I squeezed Sirius's hand for reassurance, and he tugged his hand out of mine, and moved it to the other side of my waist, resting on my hip and holding me close to him.
We sat together at the Gryfendor table, his arm still around my waist. Remus and Lily beamed at us, while Abigail and James gaped. Adriana just rolled her eyes in a way that said, "What took you so long?"
All through lunch I was plagued by depressing comments, such as: "Damn, the sex must be good if he's sticking with a butterface like her" and "She's so not his type; he doesn't go for nerdy girls." With every stinging comment that he heard, his arm tightened around my waist, and his hand moved up and down my side.
That night, we relocated our rendezvous to the Gryfendor common room, where we joined the other three couples. We had managed to snag the best seats by the fire; me and Sirius lounged on one end of a sofa, Lily and James on the other. Peter and Remus held their respective girlfriends on their laps. James kept nuzzling Lily's neck, and Remus was finger-combing Abigail's hair absently. It was all rather homey, if you shut one eye to block out Peter and Panda-Amanda licking each other's faces.
"What do you want for Christmas?" I asked Sirius, determined that we wouldn't become a conversation-less couple.
"You." He said into my hair.
"How about a block of cheese?" I asked him, rolling my eyes.
"Nah, that's for Peter, the rat." He reminded me.
"So what for you? A box of kibbles?"
He shook his head. "A rawhide bone is better."
"Mkay." I snuggled closer to him, resting my head on the soft skin between his shoulder and collarbone.
"Are you staying for Christmas?" I heard Lily ask James.
James shot a guilty look at Sirius. "Nope. My parents want us home."
"Oh." Lily looked crestfallen.
"Come with us." Suggested James. He kicked my toes with his foot. "You too, so Sirius doesn't mope around all vacation."
"Can't. I'm visiting Grandma."
"I though you hated your family, and they hated you."
"I do. Grandma isn't really my Grandma. She's this lovely lady who goes to my church, when she's home, and makes me come visit her on breaks. Now that he kids have grown up, she gets lonely during the holidays."
"Have you counted her cats?" Sirius scoffed. "Are there numbers that high?"
"She's actually," I replied, giving him a sly look. "More of a dog person."
"So you're ditching me to spend Christmas with your cat-er…dog-lady poser Grandma?"
"Nope. I'm ditching you so I can spend Christmas with my Grandma, her boyfriend, and Adriana." I laughed at his confused expression.
"I thought old ladies thought dating was for the youthful and energetic or something like that."
"Well, Grandma isn't an old lady, really, even though she's seventy something. She still works as a photographer. She fell madly in love with this guy she met in France, and he comes to visit her every now and then."
"How romantic." Sirius drawled sarcastically.
"I know." I continued, pretending not to hear. "She made me bring Adriana one year, and so now its kind of a tradition."
"You and your traditions." He grumbled, his lower lip protruding dangerously.
"You're too cute when you pout." I told him, kissing his nose.
This made the pout worse. "I'm not going for cute. I'm going for disgustingly sexy."
"That's when you scowl." I grinned, as he tried to scowl, but kept laughing instead.
"You two are nauseating." Abigail declared cheerfully.
"Let's see if we can beat them." Remus suggested excitedly, and promptly stuck his tongue in her mouth.
"I surrender." I croaked, fighting the gag reflex.
"Aw, come on, Kitten. We can do better then that." He rolled on top of me, grinned carnivorously before covering my protesting mouth with his. Obviously I wasn't protesting for long, especially when his soft lips trailed down my neck onto my collarbone.
"Ew! They're kissing! Get a room!" giggled an overexcited first year, obvious pleased with himself for using the phrase 'get a room' in correct context.
Sirius abruptly rose to his knees. "Sod off!" He barked.
Terror-stricken, the first year scuttled back to a dark corner. "Such a wonderful father you'd be, Mr. Black. So loving and encouraging towards the little ones."
"All I need is a kid. Wanna go make one?"
"What!" THUNK! I fell off the narrow couch and onto the ash-flecked rug in shock.
"Just kidding, babe," sang out Sirius, extending a hand to help me up.
"What's Olivia doing on the floor?" asked Lily.
Under their odd looks, I flushed, and slid back onto the couch. To show me that he really meant to harm, Sirius dropped a demure kiss on my cheek, and settled his arm over my shoulders. I relaxed into his embrace, glad to have him there beside me.
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Author's Note: Thank you all for your support. I'm sorry I haven't responded to reveiws, I will do that with the next batch, assuming you're in the mood to reveiw after that terribly chapter. Sirius is so bipolar...I don't like it. It's in for some major overhauling when I stop acting all loopy. I'am sorry I went...two days over my two-week hiatus. I appologise most sincerely. It is over three-thousand words, though. 3,054 crappy words. I almost feel bad posting it. Maybe it shouldn't. But then why would I be typeing up and author's note?
See? I told you I was loopy. I'll shut up now before I make you all loopy too.
With much love toanyone at all who's reading this;
Salvation-ala-mode.