Black Blood

Disclaimer: I don't own Sirius or Dumbledore. If I did, they'd be dead anyway, so ya know... Aww, that made me sad to type...

A/N: I'm sorry for the lack of updates, guys. This semester is seriously kicking my ass. I don't have time to write for fun AT ALL anymore. I'm on Spring Break right now, which makes no sense because there's still snow on the ground here. Anyway, I thought I owed you guys a chapter before my classes start up again on Monday and I'm just as busy as before. This chapter is basically mush with no plot, but I needed a break from all the action in the last chapter. I hope you like it anyway. Thanks for reading.

Luv, Liveley

Chapter 9 - More Than Healing

Sirius looked up from the bed as Raven entered the room carrying a bowl of yellow liquid and some cloth. Dumbledore, standing next to the bed, also turned to look at her and smiled.

"Thank you for coming right up, Miss Ashe. I mended Sirius's ankle, but I gathered that he'd rather have someone more attractive than myself tend to his lesser wounds.

Raven smirked. "I'll bet he would. Would you like me to go and find someone?"

"My dear," said Dumbledore, laughing lightly, "in my opinion, you are more than adequate."

"It's my lucky day then," Raven responded, sarcastically.

Sirius let out a forced cough, a cough that sounded oddly like "sexual harassment."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and smiled at Sirius. "Mr. Black, it might interest you to know that Miss Ashe is no longer my student at Hogwarts, and I, therefore, am free to flirt shamelessly with whomever I wish."

Raven began to laugh, and Sirius looked up at her. "Well, he has seen his share of girls in his time." He turned back to Dumbledore. "You've got to be closing in on the big one-five-oh, soon, right?"

"Touché. Your jealousy is noted. Yes, I am old, Sirius. Thank you for reminding me."

Sirius grinned. "My pleasure."

"Miss Ashe, has the Felix Felicis worn off at this point?" asked Dumbledore, turning again to Raven, who had come further into the room now and was standing a few feet from him.

"Yes, it has. And truth be told, it's a relief," Raven replied. "You have no idea how annoying it is to be that optimistic all the time."

Sirius and Dumbledore both began to laugh at this remark. Then Dumbledore stood and walked to the door.

"I'll leave you to it then, Raven. Thank you for all your help in retrieving Sirius this evening."

Raven smiled and nodded, and then Dumbledore left.

Sirius grinned at her and patted the space of bed next to where he was lying with his upper half propped up against the headboard. "Alone again, Ashe."

Raven smiled fakely. "You can stop pretending to be hurt now."

He scoffed. "Pretending? Look at my face! It's severely disfigured!"

Raven rolled her eyes. "It was like that before."

Sirius grinned. "Thanks, Ashe, I needed that."

"No problem," Raven said, sitting next to him on the bed. "Okay, so..." Raven dipped a small cloth into the bowl of murtlap essence and squeezed it out so it wouldn't drip all over Sirius, "this might sting slightly."

Sirius puffed out his chest in what he thought was a very manly way as though he were trying to impress her. "I can take it."

Raven smirked. "All right then."

However, no sooner had Raven touched the cloth soaked with murtlap to a cut on his cheek did Sirius start to wail with exaggerated pain.

"Ow, ow, ow, oooooow! It buuuuurns!"

Raven sighed. "It does not."

He scoffed. "It does so!"

Raven moved the cloth over another cut, this one right above Sirius's eyebrow.

Sirius jumped because the cut there was much deeper and he did experience a mild, shooting pain. "Ow, motherf--"

"Black!" Raven cut him off, "God, you big baby..." He continued to moan. "Oh, come here!"

Raven set the cloth back into the bowl, placed both of her hands on the sides of his face, and pulled his head gently forward so she could blow on the wound above his eye. She did this for several seconds before she noticed Sirius looking up into her eyes dazedly, like he'd been put under a spell.

"...What?"

He smirked, but said nothing.

"Black, what?!"

Sirius leaned forward and kissed her. When he pulled back a second or two later, Raven rose an eyebrow at him.

"That was punishment," Sirius pointed at her.

"Punishment? For what?" she asked.

"For doing something as stupid as you did tonight, Ashe."

Raven bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Black... Crabbe and Goyle just came out of nowhere and grabbed us before we could do anything. I should have been paying attention..."

"Wha--" Sirius realized that Raven thought he'd meant something completely different. "Raven, no, that's not what I was talking about. That wasn't your fault, okay?"

"Whatever you say..." Raven looked away, not sounding convinced. "What did you mean, then?"

"Risking your life and pretending to be my cousin to come and get me out," Sirius glared at her. "It was reckless and stupid."

She smirked. "Worked, didn't it?" She returned the murtlap-soaked cloth to Sirius's cuts.

"You could have gotten killed! I'm not worth that."

"Dumbledore wanted to leave you there till morning. You'd have been dead by then, Black!" She sighed. "This doesn't even hurt, does it?"

He gave her a sexy smirk. "Twinges a bit when you first put it on."

Raven rolled her eyes. "And you had me blowing on it."

"I think this confirms you actually do care about me some of the time."

"I care about dogs, Black," said Raven, teasing.

Sirius's smirk grew. "Same thing."

She laughed. "I'm sorry, that was mean. You know I was just kidding."

He shook his head. "I kinda like it when you're mean to me, Ashe. I've never had a girl be mean to me before, excepting family."

"Oh really?" Raven asked. "Well then, I'm honored to be the first. Speaking of Bellatrix..." she trailed off, unsure of how to ask him.

Sirius furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"...Was it her?"

"Was what her?" asked Sirius.

"Well, did she do all this?" she gestured to the cuts on his face and his newly mended ankle.

Sirius nodded grimly. "Snape helped a bit, but for the most part."

"To her own cousin?" Raven's eyes grew round with sympathy.

"I told you my whole family hates me. Especially Bella. She'd have killed me if I had cracked and told her what she wanted to hear."

"It's one thing to want someone dead; it's another thing to cast the spell that does it..." said Raven.

Sirius smirked. "Well, I'm not dead yet."

She smiled. "Okay, back to the healing process." She dipped the cloth back into the murtlap. "You had cuts everywhere when I found you. Take off your shirt."

Sirius grinned widely. "Oh, Ashe, I've waited so long to hear you say those words to me."

She glared. "I could go get Dumbledore back up here to do this, you know."

He laughed. "I'll get them later. You don't have to."

"Well, do you want me to get you anything else?"

Sirius smirked yet again. "Well, it's almost two in the morning; I want what every man wants..."

Raven rose an eyebrow at him.

"...Burritos," he finished.

Raven giggled. "You want me to go get you a burrito at two in the morning?"

Sirius shrugged. "You offered."

"Only if I can take Yolanda," Raven smirked.

"You wanna ride my woman?!" exclaimed Sirius.

Raven laughed. "God forbid, right? I was joking."

Sirius ran a hand through his hair to get it out of his eyes. "Actually, I think tha'd be kind of sexy..."

"Me falling off in mid-air would be sexy, huh?"

"Don't you know how to drive?" he asked.

Raven shook her head.

Sirius gave her a sexy grin. "I'll have to give you lessons sometime."

"Well, I can ride a broom. How is it different?"

"In the air, not a lot. It's harder on the ground, believe it or not."

She nodded. "On the ground there are roads and oncoming traffic."

"Well, let's go! I'll teach you." Sirius started to get up out of his bed.

"Black, don't! You're hardly in any condition to drive!" Raven placed both her hands on both of his shoulders and guided him gently back onto the bed.

He smirked up at her. "Quite the little mother, aren't you, Ashe?"

Raven winced. "Please don't compare me to your mother, Black."

He laughed. "Believe me, I'm not. My mother? Hate her. You? ...Not so much."

"Be still, my heart," she grinned.

Sirius laughed again. "No, wait, I can to better than that."

"Uh-oh, you're losing your touch, Black," she smirked.

"I am not! I'll prove it!"

"How? More pick-up lines?"

"As if those have ever worked on you," Sirius sighed. "I have an entire list of pick-up lines that don't work on you."

"Just because they don't get the response you want?" she asked.

"Well, you see, Ashe, there's a reason they call them 'pick-up lines.' They're actually supposed to help us guys out a bit."

"Well, maybe you don't need any help. Maybe you would have been fine just being yourself. Ever think of that, Black?"

"I could work on it," Sirius smirked, "for you."

Raven laughed. "You should get some rest," she said, getting up. "You've had a long day."

"Well, so have you. We could rest together..."

"Something tells me we wouldn't be getting a lot of actual resting done."

"Come on..." pleaded Sirius. "What if I'm afraid of the dark?"

Raven smirked. "Are there evil clowns living under your bed, too?"

He gasped. "How'd you know about that?"

"You mean you waking McGonagall up in the middle of the night and telling her that? Remus told me."

He smirked back at her. "Well, it's true... They're scary..."

"Uh-huh. I think you'll survive, Black," said Raven, pulling the covers up to Sirius's chest and patting his cheek teasingly. "Goodnight."

Sirius chuckled and looked at the clock. "Good morning."

Sirius sighed as he looked down at a sleeping Raven in her bed. There was a painting on the wall above her bed of a stern looking witch with large, rectangle glasses, watching him disapprovingly. It was to this painting that Sirius spoke, quietly.

"Even sound asleep she's getting to me."

The painting apparently didn't like being directly addressed in this way and left through the ride side of its frame, answering him as she went, "I can see that for myself, young man."

Sirius smirked. Dumbledore had set up this house as a safe-place for Order members. It had a number of homey rooms and a large common room where they could hold meetings. Sirius had battled with himself in his own room about invading Raven's privacy at four in the morning while she slept, but he hadn't been able to restrain himself. He had to talk to her now. He figured Dumbledore would have insisted that Raven stay there for the night rather than go home alone.

He perched himself on the edge of her bed and tapped her shoulder lightly. Raven shifted, opened her eyes with a flutter, and stared up at him for a few seconds. Sirius winced, remembering the last time he'd snuck into her room, then in Gryffindor Tower, and waited for her reaction. But Raven closed her eyes again and turned over, putting her back to him and sinking into her pillow. Sirius waited a few seconds more and then reached out a hand to tap her shoulder again. But before he made contact, Raven opened her eyes and turned around so quickly that Sirius jumped back and put his hands up in the air, as though showing her he had no weapons.

"Black!" Raven whispered, "I thought I was dreaming or something. What are you doing out of bed? You're supposed to be resting so you can heal. Do you need something?"

Sirius sighed. "Just you, Ashe."

Raven blinked. "What?"

"I couldn't sleep. I need to know what the deal is between us."

"Black...can this wait till morning?"

"No, not really. I think I've done my share of waiting for you to come round, thanks."

Raven sat up and looked at him. "What does that mean?"

"I made a move way back in the middle of my seventh year, your fifth. You pretty much told me to shove off. Am I stupid to think that's different now?"

Raven bit her lip. "No..."

"Okay, that's what I like to hear. So where are we then?"

"How should I know, Black? You've done this more than me," Raven answered.

"Not like this I haven't. It was easier before. 'Get the goods and move on.,' that type of thing."

Raven closed her eyes and put up a hand. "Okay, no need for details."

"Sorry," he smirked at her uncomfortable state.

"Well, how is it different from me? It's not like you don't want the same thing," stated Raven.

"Okay, maybe I do...I really do...but I'm actually not only looking forward to that, which is a new thing for me."

"Yeah, well congratulations on graduating into the world of the emotionally mature, Black," Raven teased. "You might run into James and Lily, they've lived here quite some time now."

Sirius grinned. "I'm not asking for a trophy or anything."

"Then what are you asking for?"

"...A chance?" he asked. "...Just a little one?"

"How do you know it's not just going to turn into the same thing it was with all those other girls you threw away?"

"Because..." Sirius faltered and felt himself turning slightly red for maybe the second or third time in his life, "...I feel more now than I did with the lot of them combined?"

He could tell she liked that answer, but she still persisted. "But you said you couldn't resist a challenge. What happens when I give in and it isn't a challenge anymore?"

Sirius looked into her eyes. "Kiss me," he commanded.

Raven turned one shade pinker and dropped her gaze to the duvet covering her bed. "No.."

He smirked. "See? Always a challenge..."

He brought her face back toward him and kissed her deeply.

A/N: God, that was so cheesy, I couldn't write it without crackers! But it's done at least. Hope you liked it. Leave me a review, will ya? I miss those. I need some cheering up; my hamster, Newsie, is on her death bed! Thanks!

Luv, Liveley.