Don't Let Your Guard Down
chapter 30

here you go...another chapter! Hope you guys like it! Don't forget to review! Thanks to the 37 of you who reviewed my last chapter!

Disclaimer: you know who i'm not.

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"Hey guys?" Lily asked. "Have you seen-"

"SHHHHH!" everyone exclaimed.

"Seriously, a hello would have been just fine," Lily said. Lily turned to Kacie. "What's going on?"

"We're listening to Sirius and Lucie argue," Kacie whispered.

Lily put her hands on her hips. "Do you guys always sit on the steps and listen to Sirius's fights?"

Remus, Peter, Kacie, and James looked up at Lily. "Yes."

"This is wrong," Lily reprimanded. "This is only Sirius's and Lucie's business. It's their personal life!"

"So does that mean you're not gonna listen?" Remus asked.

"GO TO HELL!" Lucie shouted.

"Move over," Lily said, as she sat down next to Remus on the stairs. "So what are they fighting about?"

"Well Kylie overheard Robyn tell Krisztian-" Peter started.

"The short version please," Lily said.

"That was the short version," Remus whispered.

"Oh," Lily said and turned her attention back to Peter. "Continue."

"Well Krisztian was caught with a letter from Georgie who supposedly saw Sirius kiss some girl in an empty hallway," Peter said.

"The short version would have been Lucie found out Sirius cheated on him," Lily said.

"Hey, be glad I didn't go into detail about how Robyn told Krisztian and what was in the letter Georgie wrote," Peter noted.

"I thank you for that," Lily said with a laugh. She turned to the group. "So, what girl?"

"Haven't heard that part yet," Remus said. "If you would stop your yapping, maybe we could hear."

Lily whacked Remus over the head but shut her mouth to listen to the fight.

"I thought you changed! I thought you were different!" Lucie cried out.

Sirius just stood there and shifted his weight. "I am."

Lucie laughed meanly. "Really? Because kissing another girl when you have a girlfriend completely contradicts that statement!"

"Look Luce," Sirius said calmly. "I am a changed man."

"Oh but what? You want to be a changed man with this mystery make out girl?" Lucie asked haughtily.

Sirius didn't say anything and instead stared off into space.

"OH MY GOSH!" Lucie cried out. "You do want to be a changed guy with this girl! You want a relationship with this girl."

Sirius once again said nothing.

"Okay, now I've got to know who this girl is," Lucie said. "What tramp is stealing my boyfriend?"

"Lucie," Sirius said calmly. "It isn't like that. I like you…I really like you."

"So then what is it?" Lucie cried out. "Is this girl a better kisser than me? Is this girl paying you? Is-"

"It's not like that! I'm not that petty or stupid!" Sirius exclaimed, getting aggravated. He hesitated. "Okay, that's debatable."

Lucie glared at him.

Sirius sighed. "You were my first real girlfriend. The word commitment was used first with you."

"Commitment?" Lucie asked with an evil laugh. "Obviously you don't know the definition of commitment." Lucie sighed. "Who's the girl?"

Down the hallway, around the corner, and down the stairs, Gigi showed up. "Hey guys," Gigi said.

"SHHHHHHH!" they all hissed.

"If you don't like me, just tell me," Gigi said.

"Sirius and Lucie are fighting," Lily said.

Gigi froze. "Oh…about what?" Gigi asked. "Did he use her bra as a catapult to throw water balloons at the first years?"

Everyone turned away from looking up the stairs and looked back at Gigi. Gigi gave a sheepish grin. "It's been done," she said with a shrug.

"For your information, he snogged another girl," Kacie said.

Gigi's face got really flustered and she had a hard time standing up. "Did…did you hear who?"

"No, they got really quiet at that point," James said. "Plus you walked in and interrupted everything."

Lily looked up at Gigi suspiciously. "Why do you care?"

"If I'm gonna ridicule Black, I need all the facts," Gigi lied.

Just then, Lucie came storming down the stairs. She stopped when she saw the five friends try to scramble away. She looked right at Gigi. "Thanks a lot." And with that, she whisked between James and Peter and stomped off.

All six friends turned their heads towards Gigi with questioning looks. Gigi shrugged, "I gave the bra back to her."

"Hmm, that sounded more like an I hate you thanks," Remus noted.

Gigi shrugged again. "She was mad that we stole it in the first place."

"Okay stop!" Lily cried out. "You did not steal her bra and you did not throw water balloons at first years."

"Well not since fifth year," Gigi muttered.

"So what's going on here?" Lily demanded.

"I don't know," Gigi said. "I just don't care about Black's life that much. I was trying to make light of the situation."

"What are you guys doing here?" Sirius asked, turning the corner and standing at the top of the stairs.

"I was just proving to James that the stairs really were made of granite," Remus said guiltily.

Sirius turned to James. "The only way to truly be sure is to lick the stairs."

"Yeah…I don't care that much," James decided.

Sirius stared at all the guilty faces. "What did you guys hear?"

"Oh not much," James said with a shrug. "You talked about the weather, you mentioned Quidditch, and I think she said something about apples and oranges."

"We didn't talk about any of those things," Sirius said.

"Well maybe you should have," James said. "Would have been a much more enjoyable conversation."

Sirius put his hands on his hips and then froze when he noticed Gigi standing in the background. "Oh," was all he could think of to say.

"You kissed another girl?" Remus asked. "I thought you finally learned what commitment means!"

"Look, that conversation-" Sirius started.

"Who was the girl?" Lily asked.

Sirius stopped mid-sentence. "You didn't hear that part?"

Everyone shook their heads and both Sirius and Gigi let out a sigh of relief. "It was no one important." Gigi tensed up when he said that but just turned her head and looked away. Sirius tried making eye contact with her but she refused to look at him.

"But you said you wanted to be a changed guy for this person. You said you want to be in a relationship with this person," James said. "That doesn't say 'no one important' to me."

Gigi cleared her throat. "You said those things?"

"Actually no, I didn't say any of those things," Sirius said nervously.

"You didn't have to!" Peter cried out. "Lucie figured it out from the look on your face!"

"How do you know?" Sirius snapped. "Were you in the room? Did you see my face? Did you hear every word that came out of Lucie and my mouth?"

"Sirius, you-" Gigi started.

"Sirius?" Peter, James, Lily, Kacie, and Remus all exclaimed.

"What?" Gigi asked casually. "Isn't that his name?"

"To every person on this earth but you," Remus answered.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you thought his name was asshole, jerk, or butthead," Lily said.

"Never did I call him a butthead," Gigi argued.

"Not to his face," Kacie muttered.

"You are so missing the point," James said.

"Can we get back to him?" Gigi snapped, pointing at Sirius.

"So are you and Lucie over?" James asked.

Sirius nodded.

"And who's this mystery make out girl?" Remus asked.

"Can we please stop calling her that?" Sirius insisted.

"Sure," Remus said. "Tell us her real name and we'll call her by that."

Sirius paused. "Mystery make out girl is fine."

Gigi stood up. "I'm gonna go," she said abruptly, not daring to even glance Sirus's way.

Sirius gazed over at her. "Me too," Sirius said, and we walked back around the corner and into his room. Gigi walked down the stairs and out of the common room.

"What's with those two?" James asked.

"I don't know, but they've been acting really strange for two days now," Lily said.

"Maybe Gigi is the mystery make out girl," Peter said. All five friends exchanged glances and burst out laughing.

"Ha!" James exclaimed, holding his side from laughing so hard. "That'll be the day."

Lily paused for a second. "They have kissed before…"

The other four friends stopped laughing and paused to think about it. "Yeah, but then Gigi completely humiliated him and told him it meant nothing," Kacie noted.

"That's true…" Peter said slowly.

"Let's ask them by subtly working it into a conversation. Make it subtle," Lily said.

Gigi came back just then. "I forgot my book." She glanced at all five of her friends staring at her intently. "What?"

"What do you know about the mystery make out girl?" James asked.

"So…I'm guessing we'll try the subtle thing another time?" Lily questioned.

James shrugged and turned back to Gigi. "So…what do you know about her?"

"That someone should send her an 'I'm sorry you had to kiss that thing' card," Gigi retorted.

"Hm," Remus said. "I don't think Hallmark makes those cards."

Gigi rolled her eyes and left.

"Something is seriously up with that girl," Kacie said. "There's gossip to be spread about Black and instead she's doing homework."

"Sirius is acting strange too," James concluded.

"Well what makes you think that?" Lily asked. "He seems to be acting the same as usual to me."

Sirius appeared at the top of the stairs again. "Don't you guys have a better place to be hanging out?"

James pointed to the books and parchment in Sirius's hand. "Where are you going?"

"Library," Sirius answered and descended the stairs and disappeared.

Lily turned to the group. "Yup, something is definitely up," Lily confirmed.

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"Giliba wait up!" Sirius called out, jogging over to her.

Gigi looked up and tried to hide the smile that was creeping up on her face. "If you're here to ask me about what Dibbles was teaching in Muggle Studies, once again I have no idea."

Sirius laughed. "Just wanted to see what you were up to."

Gigi gave him a warm smile. "What are we doing?"

"Talking," Sirius said. "It's called a conversation…ever have one before?"

Gigi hit him playfully. "I mean what are we doing? You and me. Us."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Us?"

"Did you and Lucie really break up?"

"I'm not sure," Sirius said. "Does telling me to go to hell, fuck off, and never talk to her again constitute as breaking up?"

Gigi smiled. "Yeah, in girl language that pretty much means you're broken up."

"Then yup, we're through," Sirius said.

"So what does that mean?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure it means she'll slap me if I tried to kiss her," Sirius said. Gigi gave him a look. Sirius shrugged. "I don't know what this means."

"Okay, I have another question," Gigi said.

"Sure I'll make out with you," Sirius said with a grin.

"That wasn't the question," Gigi said.

"You sure? Because I like that question," Sirius said with a laugh.

Gigi hit him again. "Did you mean what you said? About wanting a relationship with the mystery make out girl?"

"You know the name of the mystery make out girl, you don't have to call it that," Sirius said.

"Well I wasn't positive if it was me," Gigi said with a shrug.

"Huh?"

"How do I know it's not someone else?"

"You think I made out with someone else after I made out with you?" Sirius asked.

"It's happened before," Gigi muttered.

Sirius backed away a little. "Are you always gonna throw that in my face?"

"I don't know," Gigi said. "Are you always gonna do it?"

"NO!" Sirius cried out. "I did it once!" Sirius sighed angrily and looked up at Gigi. "I didn't snog anyone after I snogged you. Damnit Giliba, I didn't even kiss Lucie since you and I kissed!"

"Because she was fucking mad at you! She wouldn't have kissed you even if you were dying and needed CPR!" Gigi exclaimed.

"Well I don't know about that," Sirius said. Gigi gave him a look. "Yeah I would have died."

"You are so not getting the point!" Gigi cried out.

"So this is how it's gonna be?" Sirius asked with a heavy sigh. "Every time we get together, we're gonna yell at each other?"

"It's been that way for a year and a half," Gigi said icily. "I've gotten rather used to it." Gigi sighed. "We were stupid to think this could work." Gigi gave him one more look and then turned around and walked the other way.

"So that's it?" Sirius called out helplessly. "Giliba, I know I hurt you." Gigi just shook her head back and forth and kept walking away. "I turned to Hayden because I was afraid! I was falling for you…hard and I didn't know how to handle it!" Gigi slowed down but kept walking. "I think I loved you!"

Gigi stopped and turned around. She just looked up at him but didn't say anything.

"And believe me, the moment I figure out what the hell the definition of love is, I'll tell you if that's what I was feeling," Sirius said.

Gigi looked at him apprehensively and bit her lip.

"I was scared of what I was feeling," Sirius said. "I have always been a player and I was a one night stand guy. So I figured acting like what we did didn't happen and ignoring it would make it go away."

"Did it work?"

"We're in the same place we were a year and a half ago, aren't we?" Sirius asked.

Gigi gave a slight smile. "You hurt me ever again, and you're a dead man."

"Got it," Sirius said, taking a few steps forward.

"Don't think I won't hex you," Gigi said.

"I understand," Sirius said, taking another step towards her.

"I've turned you pink for three days," Gigi said. "Don't think I won't do it again."

"I've learned the countercurse," Sirius said with a smirk.

"Then I'll turn you orange," Gigi noted.

"I'll start working on the countercurse," Sirius said, creeping forward.

There was only a little bit of room between Gigi and Sirius. Gigi looped her arms around Sirius's neck. "You better not screw this up. Orange is not your color."

Sirius threw his head back and laughed. Then he looked sincerely into his eyes. "I'd be an idiot to screw this up." Gigi nodded in agreement and placed her lips on his and he eagerly returned the kiss.

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"It's a simple question!" Sirius cried out, sticking a piece of toast in his mouth.

"Asking whether I've ever seen a pig have sex is not a simple question," James said. "It's not even a normal question."

"Of course it's not a normal question," Remus said. "It came out of Padfoot's mouth."

"But what does it look like?" Sirius asked. "Do they do it in the mud? Or what about if you go to a zoo, could you just happen to come across two pigs humping?"

Peter glanced at his piece of bacon and pushed it back. "I am officially never eating bacon again."

James looked at his ham. "Yeah, ham is out too." He pushed his plate back.

"Hey boys," Kacie said.

"Kacie," Sirius said gently. "We are not boys. We are mature grown men."

Kacie thought about what he said. "Hey kids."

"Mature grown men?" James asked, raising an eyebrow. "This coming from the guy who's asking about pig sex."

Lily put down her piece of ham. "Excuse me?"

"How bout horses?" Sirius asked, chomping down on some oatmeal. "Ever see them have sex?"

"Sirius," Remus said. "We haven't seen any animal have sex."

"Except you of course," James said to Sirius.

"You guys do realize that you're having this conversation at the breakfast table, right?" Gigi asked.

The boys just gave her a blank stare.

"Where people actually like to eat," Gigi said. "Without seeing it come back up."

"Oh c'mon, it was just a simple question," Sirius said.

"No, a simple question would be how are you," Lily noted.

"How are you?" Sirius asked.

Lily rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Fine."

"Now," Sirius said. "Have you ever seen a pig have sex?"

Lily shook her head in disbelief. "Why do I even try?"

"We learned back in first year to just let it go," Remus said. "Don't answer any of his dumb questions and he'll get bored."

"I will not get bored. I want to know what pig sex looks like!" Sirius said. "Oooh, blueberry scones!"

"See?" Remus said. "Now he's over it."

"Does he ever take time for a breath?" Lily asked, watching Sirius stuff a scone and a croissant into his mouth at the same time.

"We tend to like it when he's stuffing his face," Peter noted. "It's the only time he's not asking stupid questions."

Gigi stole a glance over at Sirius and even though his mouth was completely full and he looked like a chipmunk with his cheeks puffed out, she smiled. Sirius saw her looking at him and winked back at her.

"Hey look Si, there's Lucie," Remus said.

Sirius glanced over at Lucie sitting at a nearby table and shrugged.

"She's whispering," James said.

"So?" Sirius asked, taking a sip of coffee.

"It's never a good thing when a girl is whispering," James noted.

"Why not?" Gigi, Kacie, Lily questioned.

"Because when girls whisper, it's usually them coming up with a plan to get back at a guy who made them mad," James said.

Gigi looked at him. "You guys know about that?"

Sirius glanced over again. "Oh c'mon. That doesn't necessarily mean she's plotting to get revenge against me."

"She's pointing at you," James indicated.

Sirius paused. "I'm a dead man."

"Maybe you shouldn't have cheated on her," Remus said.

"With Gabriella," James added.

"What?" Lily and Kacie asked.

"What?" Sirius questioned.

"What?" Gigi cried out.

James shrugged. "Mystery make out girl is too long of a phrase."

"So you decided to call her Gabriella?" Sirius asked.

"We decided to just take one of your old hook up buddies and pretend that she's the mystery girl," James said.

"Well that's stupid," Sirius said.

"No its not. Who else would you have snogged?"

"Look, why don't you just not call her anything at all?" Sirius snapped.

"Oh c'mon Sirius. This is the girl you supposedly want a relationship with. I didn't think it was possible but you were with Lucie for nearly two months. And now you want a second relationship…and you're not gonna tell us who the girl is?" James wondered.

"We'll find out," Peter said. "We're expert eavesdroppers."

"Yeah I know," Sirius muttered. "You learned it from me."

"So?"

"There is no girl," Sirius said.

Everyone except Gigi exchanged looks and burst out laughing. "You haven't even gone a week without a girl," James said.

"Can we talk about something else?" Gigi demanded.

Everyone slowly turned to her. "We're mocking Sirius and making him uncomfortable and you don't want to be a part of this?"

Gigi took a piece of toast and crammed it into her mouth. "Nope." And with that, she grabbed her books and left the Great Hall.

"Hmm, not the answer I was expecting," James said.

"Seriously, what the hell is wrong with that girl?" Kacie asked.

"She's been disappearing lately, she's been smiling way too much, she doesn't want to make fun of you," Lily noted.

Kacie looked at her and then gasped. "Oh my gosh! She has a guy…a boyfriend!"

Sirius spit out his coffee. "Ew, Sirius!" Remus cried out, jumping up off the bench. Sirius ignored him and paid attention to Lily and Kacie's conversation.

"And she's hiding it!"

"I'm sure that's not it," Sirius said quickly. "She just got out of a relationship with Jesse. And it's Giliba, she doesn't have boyfriends. She has one night stands and that's it."

"And where did she go right now?" Lily asked, completely ignoring Sirius.

"Muggle Studies," Sirius said really fast before anyone else could respond.

Lily and Kacie stared at him. "She doesn't take Muggle Studies."

"You sure? Because I'm pretty sure she's taking it," Sirius said.

"Sirius…you take Muggle Studies," James noted.

Sirius gave a sheepish grin. "Okay, I'm leaving now. Bye."

"Something is wrong with him," Remus said, shaking his head.

"Yeah…he left half a scone on his plate!" James exclaimed, picking it up and stuffing it into his mouth.

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"So you and James have been getting along pretty well," Kacie noted a few days later, blowing on her fingernails.

Lily looked up from her magazine and shrugged. "I suppose."

Gigi looked her up and down. "Oh don't act all casual. You know you're so happy about that."

Lily shut her magazine quickly and crept forward. "I can't believe how nice he's being!"

"I think he just realizes being friends with you is better than shutting you out," Gigi said with a shrug.

"Friends?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows. "He so wants me."

Gigi and Kacie laughed at her joke. "I'm glad you can finally joke about it."

"Who's joking?" Lily asked with a wink.

Gigi and Kacie laughed again. "Does this finally mean we can put the dart board away?"

"We should find a good home for it," Lily said. She turned to Gigi. "You want it? We have plenty of pictures of Sirius you can place on it."

Gigi laughed uncomfortably. "I'm good for now."

"Look, there he is," Kacie exclaimed. "Don't you wanna complain about how ugly he is or how big his head is or how he needs to learn what a brush is?"

Gigi went back to flipping through an old magazine. "Maybe another time."

Kacie pouted. "It was more fun when you hated him. At least I got some amusement out of it."

"Hello ladies," Sirius said suavely with a wink.

Gigi thought about what Kacie said and looked up at Sirius. "Go away."

Kacie turned to her. "That's the best you could come up with?"

Gigi turned back to Sirius. "Go away…you jerk."

"You work on it," Kacie said.

"How are my three most favorite girls doing?" Sirius said, winking again. Sirius turned to Gigi and shrugged. "Well two favorite ladies," he directed towards Lily and Kacie.

"Stop acting so charming," Lily said, taking her magazine back from Gigi. "None of us will go out with you."

"Is that why you think I'm here?" Sirius asked. "Because I want to hit on you girls? Because I want one of you to keep me entertained? Because I'm bored and I want to snog one of you?"

All three girls exchanged glances and looked up at Sirius. "Yes."

"And it ain't gonna happen," Kacie said.

Sirius paused. "Damnit," Sirius muttered and then turned around and left.

"I wonder what snogging him would be like," Lily said.

Kacie and Gigi stared at her.

Lily looked up. "Oh…did I say that outloud?"

"Ask Gigi," Kacie said, turning to look at the girl

Gigi choked on air. "What? Why would you ask me? What makes you think I've snogged Sirius?"

"Because we've seen you," Lily said.

"What? How?" Gigi cried out.

"When we were out in the woods way back when getting drunk," Lily said.

Gigi bit her lip and let out a nervous giggle. "Oh yeah…I forgot you were there."

"Seriously, what has gotten into you lately?" Lily asked, finally closing her magazine.

"What do you mean?"

"You're so…jumpy," Lily decided. "And happy."

"Yeah, who's the guy?" Kacie asked, closing the bottle of nail polish.

Once again, Gigi choked on air. She sat there for several seconds, trying to come up with something to say. Lie and tell them she has a random hook up guy who they probably don't even know or care about. Lie and tell them she doesn't have a guy? Or tell them the truth about Sirius? She paused. Yeah, the truth was probably best.

Gigi turned to her friends. "I don't have a guy." Or lying is always a good option.

"Then why do you disappear all the time?" Lily questioned.

"It's getting closer and closer to graduation. I have been in the library studying and doing homework," Gigi said.

"I'd believe that if your grades didn't still suck," Kacie said. Gigi threw a pillow at her.

"C'mon guys. Jesse and I just broke up," Gigi said. "And I'm better at one night stands, not boyfriends."

Lily looked at her curiously. "That's exactly what Sirius said."

Gigi decided not to respond and opened her DADA book.

"Okay I'm hungry," Kacie announced.

Gigi and Lily looked at her for her to continue.

Kacie shrugged. "That's it. That's all I wanted to say."

"There's this new invention that will help you with that," Lily said. "It's called food."

"My toenails are wet," Kacie pouted. "I can't walk right now."

"You are such a girl," Lily muttered.

"Yeah, it's a quality most guys like," Kacie said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh really?" Gigi asked. "What guys?"

"That was mean and heartless," Kacie said. "But I'll forgive you if you go get me some cookies."

Gigi gave her a look.

"Fine, stay a bitch," Kacie said.

Lily got up from the couch. "I'll get you some cookies."

Kacie beamed. "Thanks," she said. "And some brownies."

"And I could use some hot chocolate and an apple," Gigi said. Lily turned to her and glared. "But suddenly I'm not very hungry."

Lily laughed and left the room. She headed down the stairs and down a few hallways to get to the kitchens thinking about how wonderful her friends were. She turned right to get to the entrance of the kitchens but immediately backed up and peeked her head out from the corner.

"Cookies, brownies, blueberry pie, and soda?" Nancie asked. "Do you want me to get fat?"

James laughed. "I'm not trying to get you fat," James said. "The pie has fruit in it! It's healthy!"

Nancie laughed along with James and looped her arm around his. "I'm glad you asked me out," Nancie said sincerely.

James shrugged and smiled. "And I'm glad we're going to try this commitment thing."

Nancie smiled back at him. "James Potter…my boyfriend. Has a nice ring to it."

Lily just stood there completely frozen as James and Nancie walked in the opposite direction.

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oh wow...what's gonna happen next? I thought James and Lily were gonna get back together, so why is he with that slut (hehe)? When are Lily and James gonna get back together? Is "the gang" gonna find out about Gigi and Sirius?

review to find out!