Thanks to all of my reviewers who had encouraged me to continue writing for the next chapter. Thanks a million! I am now working with blackinkwhitepaper, who has many wonderful ideas. This chapter was mostly her work.
Kate paced back and forth in front of the library, reciting phrases in her head. She felt clueless as to broach this subject. It wasn't really any of her business, but she somehow felt the urge to speak up. It was a little like discovering your friend had a secret girlfriend or boyfriend whom they never discussed.
Remus appeared at a quarter to eight at the top of the stairs. He looked exhausted, his light hair streaked with grey. He was sporting a new scar across his collarbone, visible just under his shirt and robes.
"Morning, Kate," he greeted her. Kate offered Remus a slight smile and proceeded to back him up into a small alcove that housed a suit of armour.
"You're a werewolf! Why didn't you tell me?"
Remus' eyes grew wide and a look of fear etched itself onto his face.
"I don't know what you're talking about…" he mumbled, trying to duck away. Kate grabbed a fistful of his robes and hauled him backwards.
"Remus, it's alright, I won't tell anyone."
He spluttered for a moment, then looked into her face with a strange mixture of pride and confusion.
"How did you find out?"
Kate managed a chuckle.
"We're doing a project on bloody werewolves, brain boy. Plus…you're a pretty bad liar."
"Really?" Remus asked, looking slightly disappointed. "Always fooled everyone else…" He shook his head. "They should've put you into Ravenclaw, Kate."
Kate dipped her head, rolling her eyes.
"Why does no one think I belong in Gryffindor?"
It was from there that Kate's friendship with Remus advanced. Werewolf or not, he was one of the kindest people she had ever met. The only flaw in their friendship was the promise that long hours spent with Remus meant long hours spent with Sirius Black and James Potter as well. She didn't mind Pettigrew so much, he was more annoying than anything else.
And James, she quickly discovered, spent his days lusting after Lily Evans, the beautiful red-haired Potions princess. So enthralled was he by her beauty that he rarely paid attention to other girls. Sirius, however, could be described only as a downright whore. He claimed that he would shag any girl that would go out with him, prompting rolled eyes from his friends and sounds of disgust from Kate.
"C'mon, Katie, you know you'd shag me if you got the chance…"
"I don't think so, Black," she replied haughtily. There was no denying Sirius' good looks and charm, but he was so arrogant and foolish. Plus, he was intent to flirt with every girl he met. Kate prided herself on not being 'easy', and she also prided herself on not being shallow. And only a shallow girl would fall for Sirius Black based on appearance.
"Well, if you won't shag me will you at least help me with my History of Magic homework?"
Kate slammed down a copy of Hogwarts, A History and glared.
"Are you putting me on? We've got History of Magic next class which should be in about…" she quickly consulted the clock tower visible just above the spiked roofs of the castle, "fifteen minutes."
Sirius groaned.
"Rush job then?" He gave her a suggestive wink and Kate resisted the urge to toss her book at him. Instead she just rolled her eyes.
"Maybe Remus will help you. He's a lot nicer than I am."
Remus snorted loudly and accepted Sirius' half-finished history of magic homework to look over. He quickly scanned the parchment and handed it back.
"Good start, Padfoot, but I'm not doing it for you." Remus began collecting his things. "You've got five minutes…I'd try to fit in some more about Gargolivich the Great if I were you."
"What?" Sirius wailed. "I wasn't there when we learned about that! I don't remember anything!"
James tossed a Blood Ball at his friend and Peter snickered loudly.
"You were asleep, Pads. Maybe that's why you don't remember a thing."
Sirius groaned loudly and buried his head in his arms.
"I'm going to fail Defense Against the Dark Arts and my mum's going to kill me. Mind you, she'll probably try and finish me off anyway…"
Looking back, it was all Sirius' fault. Actually, the blame could be sorted evenly out to James Potter, Sirius Black and Severus Snape. History of Magic, just before lunch, and the classroom was buzzing with forty restless fifth years. Sirius was tipping backwards in his chair, dark shaggy hair falling over his eyes in that manner that somehow managed to make girls swoon. James was giving Snape the evil eye from across the classroom. Peter Pettigrew's head was resting on his desk, snoring lightly. Binns was droning on about giant wars in the sixteenth century. Kate, normally an attentive student, found her attention wandering out the high arched window, out onto the rolling emerald lawn, edged by the dark forest.
"What do you think, a Boogy-Bat hex? Think that'd make Snillevus' ugly face a little prettier?" Sirius whispered to James. The handsome Quidditch player sniggered quietly and gave his friend an encouraging nod. Kate jerked out her reverie.
"NO!" She hissed as Sirius discreetly raised his wand. "You musn't! You'll get in such trouble, Sirius!"
He gave her an admonishing look.
"It's Snivlly, Kate."
Kate didn't quite know why she didn't want Sirius to get in trouble, or why she was suddenly acting so prudish and prim, but she grabbed his wrist before he could cast the spell.
Too late. Sirius' wand went off with a bang and a puff of brilliant purple smoke. Severus Snape toppled from his chair as everyone in the classroom jumped in surprise. When Snape resurfaced, his usually lank black hair had turned a delicate shade of violet.
The entire classroom roared with laughter while Snape spluttered in confusion. James and several other Gryffindors slapped Kate on the shoulder, apparently under the impression that she had hexed their Slytherin foe.
"MISS JONUS!" Binns' reedy voice wafted above the din. "Detention, my classroom, six o'clock! And Mr. Brown, you will be joining her. I hope you have learned your lesson about distracting the class."
Binns pressed his lips primly together and returned to his usual monotone. Kate's face heated in a furious blush. Sirius, who scored himself detentions all the time, returned to tipping backwards in his chair and occasionally winking at whatever girl looked his way. Kate wondered how many detentions she would get if she permanently wiped that smug smirk off his handsome face.
When the clock in the tower above the courtyard rang out six o'clock, Kate was pacing back and forth outside Binns' classroom. She was still fuming.
You shouldn't have gotten involved, Kate. You should have just let it be. Stayed clear of it, minded your own business. And the little voice in her head argued, But they were going to hex Severus, who didn't really do anything wrong.
And Kate allowed a tiny smile to creep onto her face.
Maybe you do belong in Gryffindor.
Her mood was only made worse by the arrival of Sirius. He smirked when he saw her crossed arms and bitter expression.
"First detention, Kate?"
She growled.
"As a matter of fact, yes it is, Black. Unlike you, I don't go around causing trouble."
Sirius gave an airy shrug.
"I don't go looking for trouble…trouble follows me."
Kate just rolled her eyes, wishing that he would stop spouting cheesy excuses and just get on with detention. Binns' classroom, though, was empty, save for two pails of soapy water and two sponges sitting on a nearby desk. On the blackboard he had written instructions: to clean all the desks of chewing gum and other damages-without magic.
"This is brilliant!" Sirius crowed after reading the sentences on the board. "We can just skip, go back to the Common Room…"
"No!" Kate grabbed his wrist. "Sirius, I'm not getting in trouble because of you again."
He groaned loudly and shoved his wand into his pocket.
"You'll be the death of me, Kate."
A few hours later, Kate was on her hands and knees, scrubbing at a particularly nasty spot of ink on the underside of one of the desks. Even with her back to him, Kate could feel Sirius admiring her backside.
"Enjoying the view?" She snapped, spinning around. He looked away guiltily, dark eyes searching for something else. His gaze landed on the darkened window.
"I'm sorry that you have to be here," he mumbled suddenly. Kate glanced up, shocked. Did she just hear an apology come out of Sirius Black's mouth?
"Did you just say sorry?" She demanded, soap and water dripping from the sponge in her hand. Sirius shuffled his feet, looking bashful.
"Yeah. So?"
Kate shook her head, mystified.
"It's just…you never apologize. For anything. Ever."
He cracked a smile, and to Kate's horror, something behind her bellybutton jerked forwards. A warm feeling was growing in her stomach, something that made everything feel warm and golden. She quickly shook the sensation off, disgusted to find her fingers trembling slightly.
She quickly changed to subject to a more neutral topic: bloodlines.
"Your brother is Regulus, right?"
Sirius pulled a disgusted face and wrung out his sponge.
"Unfortunately. He's my mother's favourite, you know…small wonder, she's a bitch, he's a twerp."
Kate gasped a little at the blatent insult to his family.
"You shouldn't call your mum that…"
Sirius crossed his arms.
"Figured you for mummy's little princess."
Kate gave him a cold stare, but still found herself unable to completely hate him as she had before. Was she going mad? Had one single apology forced this horrible crush onto her?
"My mum's dead," Kate muttered. She was beginning to regret mentioning family. Why the hell had she thought that this was a 'safe' topic to broach, when obviously both of them carried so much baggage?
"Oh," said Sirius. "I'm sorry, that's awful." And there was legitimate sympathy in his eyes when her gaze met his, genuine concern that was, to be quite frank, a little heart-melting.
Kate didn't reply with 'it's fine' as she had for so many years. Instead she murmured,
"She was very ill. She's in a better place now."
But that didn't stop the tears from clouding her eyes as the months, the years, of pain flooded back to her. She felt stupid and childish, crying like this. She was a Gryffindor, not an infant. She wiped the tears angrily from her face.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled. Sirius was looking at her with pity on his face, and she felt shame burning her gut. She didn't want pity from anyone, certainly not Sirius Black.
"Don't be." He pointed at the clock. "It's nearly midnight. We should be going now."
Kate waved her wand, replacing the sponges in the soapy buckets. The classroom looked cleaner than before, aside from the years of graffiti etched onto the desks in permanent ink.
She and Sirius exited the classroom, walking slowly down one of the long corridors on the third floor. Kate felt a sense of comradely that had been absent before, she found herself liking Sirius, maybe even a little too much.
Their idle conversation about how boring Binns' class was was interrupted by loud footsteps.
Sirius and Kate both froze as they grew louder. Heavy feet, defiantly adult. Sirius's hand wrapped around Kate's wrist and she felt herself being dragged into a broom closet.
They were pressed together, and Kate noticed just how much taller Sirius was than her. She didn't like the idea of being so close to him, despite her growing attraction. It wasn't appropriate for them to be standing pressed this tightly together…
"Sirius, it's fine, we'll just tell the truth…we were in detention!"
"Shh!" He hissed, one hand covering her mouth. His palm tasted like soap, and Kate let out a squeal despite herself. The footsteps, very close to the broom closet now, froze.
And suddenly Sirius' mouth was covering hers, his arms sliding around her waist and pressing her tightly against his chest. And Kate had to admit, she enjoyed it. Her fingers found their way to clutch the front of his shirt, drawing them even closer together…and then it was over. They broke apart, both panting for breath.
"Shite," said Kate quietly. She couldn't believe that she had just snogged Sirius Black in a broom closet. Even worse…she had enjoyed it.
Sirius was staring at her with those dark eyes, obviously full of lust. His fingers were playing with her red and gold tie. She stilled his hand with her own.
"Sirius, that was a mistake."
A hurt look passed fleetingly across his face and Kate felt a little guilty. There were easier ways to let someone down.
"You look really beautiful right now," he murmured. Kate felt her heart drop through the floor. Was she being brainwashed? Poisoned? Had Sirius slipped her a love potion whilst she wasn't looking? Why the bloody hell did she even like him? He was at worst arrogant and foolish, at best he was charming and sly.
"Why I like you, Sirius? You're just so…"
Sirius toyed gently with her fingers and lightly brushed her cheek with his thumb.
"Charming? Handsome?"
Kate shoved him lightly on the chest.
"Annoying was the word I was looking for. "
Jo was sitting on Kate's bunk when she returned to the dormitory. She put her wand light out and glared at her friend.
"Your detention was supposed to end an hour ago. Where in the bloody hell were you?"
Kate laughed quietly and shook her head.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Oh yeah?" Jo challenged, leaning forwards.
"Snogging Sirius Black in a broom closet on the third floor," said Kate. Jo's mouth fell open like an unhinged trapdoor.
"You're kidding!"
Kate just smiled and closed her eyes.
Okay, so sorry for the slightly cheesy ending. I just couldn't think of anything to finish up with. Also…I am trying SO HARD to not make Kate a Mary-Sue. I realize that is has become a bit of a conflict because she 'hates' Sirius but she kisses him and seems to be falling for him. Anyway, I'd love to hear what you all think of this chapter. Want more romance or to see more of any other characters? I love you all!