N/A Bet you can't guess who the " flustered Romeo" is…

Year: Fourth

Day: Night before she has to leave

Time: 11:30 Pm

" Marianne?" Lily nervously whispered into the common room. After no reply she stepped cautiously down the few remaining stairs and searched the room slowly with her eyes. But there wasn't a single thing that showed anyone had even been in here for hours.

She heard a few quiet footsteps behind her as Lisa came down the stairs as well.

" Lily did you really expect her to be down here?" Her friend sighed. Lily looked around the room again and then shook her head sadly .

" No." She replied. "Knowing her she probably stormed right through here and went on a walk to let off some steam." Lily glanced worriedly at a pocket watch someone had left on a table. "But I thought she'd have to be back by now. It's almost midnight."

Lisa gave her a disapproving glance as they walked towards the portrait hole.

"I doubt a t little walk is going to make it all better this time Lily." She snapped as they climbed through. "I think you really hurt her this time." She added after a second, her voice a bit quieter.

At this Lily rolled her eyes and groaned.

"You can't possibly think she's serious about this can you?" She asked impatiently, but a hint of curiosity was in her voice. It was kind of interesting.

"Judging by her reaction to the things you said and her 'strange' behavior lately, yes, I absolutely do." Lisa replied calmly.

They were both silent for a few minutes as Lily seemed to think all of this through. The way Marianne had been avoiding commenting on Lily's rants about Potter lately, the way she had fled the room every time he walked in with one of his girls, coming up some kind of quick, mumbled excuse of studying for tests they knew she didn't have. Sometimes they were even for classes she didn't even take. The way she always looked as if her mind was somewhere else, how she always seemed so happy after Muggle studies. They had that class together didn't they?

Marianne really did like him.

"Calling him an immature, self centered, idiotic, girl charmer, wasn't a very smart thing to do was it?" She asked.

"I should think not." Replied Lisa. "Ranting about how she must have lost her mind probably didn't help either." She added, she smiled a bit though and Lily chuckled.

"Honestly though how did Marianne think I would react?" She dramatically asked the tapestry she was walking past.

"I don't like it very much either but I guess we just have to deal with it." Lisa sighed. "And at least it's not Potter." She added smiling again. Lily glared at her but smiled back.

After walking around for a little while longer Lily pointed out that they would probably find her faster if they divided and conquered.

So while Lily went to check the library and the rest of the side of the school they were currently on, Lisa would go and check the grounds. It was in fact, a rather nice night and it wouldn't be the first time Marianne had decided to take a night time stroll after curfew.

They agreed to meet at half past midnight back at the common room. At a long empty dark corridor they wished each other luck and went their separate ways.

"Marianne?' Lily whispered. She found herself doing so every few minutes while she constantly checked every nook and cranny that could fit a fourth year girl. The library had been completely empty and she had thought Marianne would probably have been there. She herself had snuck into the library at night a few times when upset. There was something about reading a good book alone in a library after dark by the moon light reflected from one of the huge windows between the bookcases.

Irrational situations began to slowly creep into her mind as midnight grew steadily closer. What if she had run into one of those guys Sev had been hanging out with lately? He had promised they wouldn't dare do a thing to hurt her. But Marianne wasn't her. As if to increase her fear apparently something else besides midnight was growing closer.

As she rounded a corner she realized by the sound of almost silent foot steps, someone else was roaming the halls nearby.

She quickly hid herself in a niche in the wall and waited anxiously for the steps to pass her. She didn't even bother to check who it was. When the footsteps finally faded she sighed in relief and slowly peaked her head out to check down the corridor.

"Looking for someone?"

Lily practically had a heart attack as her hand shot almost immediately to her wand. She spun around as fast as she could and held her it in what she hoped looked like a threatening grip. Then she realized she was holding it right in the face of the last person she wanted to be running into that night.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Sirius lifted his hands in a mock truce and watched, in an almost pleased way, as she lowed her wand back to her side.

"What are you doing here Black?" She glared at him accusingly. He shrugged.

"Just walking around a bit. What are you doing?" He asked as if walking in almost complete darkness at midnight in the corridors of the school was perfectly normal. Then again, for some it was.

" I'm trying to find someone." She said impatiently looking over his shoulder. He looked behind himself as well and then turned to look at her with a look of mild interest.

" Are you looking for Marianne?" He asked. She was completely caught off guard at this and stared at him for a brief second in surprise before slowly narrowing her eyes in suspicion

" How do you know she needs to be looked for ?" She questioned him cautiously. He shrugged again casually.

" I saw Lisa a while back and she was whispering her name, and looking around like she was worried ." He replied. "That's what you've been whispering too right?" He asked. She nodded.

"So what if I'm looking for her?"

"So, did you guys have a fight or something?" He answered. She ignored the bit of concern she thought she might have heard in his voice.

"Something like that." She muttered. And without another word on the subject she had turned and started walking back in the direction she had been going. After a few minutes however she felt him walking next to her.

"What did you fight about?" He asked as her eyes darted all over the surroundings for a trace of her friend. She sighed. She did not have the time for this.

"We disagree in opinions on a certain…. peer of ours." She replied after seeing he wasn't going to leave anytime soon.

"Which guy?" He asked. She again was momentarily shocked and again ignored the slight concern she thought she heard in his voice. This time though because she was too busy scanning every inch of the hall with her eyes.

"What are you talking about?" She asked as she ducked her head into a classroom.

"Which guy does she fancy?" He elaborated. "And why don't you approve of him?" She stopped walking for a minute to look at him.

He looked perfectly composed staring back at her in the dim light. Despite this appearance however she managed to detect the slightest bit of worry in his eyes. She again turned and kept walking in the direction she had been going. This time she walked a bit faster.

"Why should I tell you who my friends may or may not fancy, it's should be none of your concern Black." She stated when she knew he was just about to ask again.

"True enough." He replied simply after seeming to think it over. "I was only curious. You don't have to tell me."

Time passed on as they both walked silently, to busy to talk more , both checking every class room, and behind every statue and tapestry. Not needing to mention when they saw nothing. She didn't ask for his help but she didn't deny it either.

When it was 2 minutes till midnight however, they had pretty much given up on finding her anywhere on this side of the castle.

Closing a final classroom door Lily gave an exhausted and disappointed sigh. Sirius checked his wristwatch and, speaking again for the first time since he had appeared, told her that they should probably start their way back so they could get some sleep. She nodded tiredly and turned in the direction of the Gryffindor tower.

"She's probably perfectly fine." He said reassuringly as they grew closer. She glared forward.

"She probably still wants to kill me though." She said grimly, though it was more directed to herself then as a reply. He nodded knowingly.

" It happens." Was all he had to say.

And moments later they were standing before the fat lady.

" Icicle" Lily muttered the password as if it were a type of bad tasting medicine. The fat lady yawned awake and then smiled as if quite pleased by something.

"What?" Lily asked impatiently. "Isn't that it?" She watched at the fat lady seemed to nod, grin, and point above Lily's head with her eyes, in one fluid motion. Growing slightly annoyed Lily glanced above her.

A small clump of spiky, green leafs with a few little red berries and some tinsel that had apparently only just materialized itself, was hovering there.

Sirius's head was in his hands and he was swearing repeatedly under his breath.

"Shouldn't you take care of that before you go up to bed?" The fat lady asked, obviously enjoying the predicament.

Lily felt completely trapped. She just, couldn't, do it. First of all this was Sirius Black. James Potter's equally annoying, and immature best mate! With the added bonus of being the schools biggest girl charmer, it was as bad if not worse then if she were to kiss Potter! Not to mention if Marianne found out…..She tried not to focus on thinking of the actual reason she was out in the halls right now in the first place.

There really couldn't have been a worse situation.

" James is going to murder me!" Sirius whispered. Then Marianne can murder me right afterword when he tells everyone why he did it. She thought.

" Let's just get it over with then before someone shows up out of nowhere ." She sighed after thinking it through. "That seems to be happening to me a lot tonight." He gave her a half-hearted smile and then reluctantly walked closer to her.

She leaned just as close as she could get to him without actually touching him and then waited. He just stared down at her though, looking completely terrified.

"I can't…" He stared at the floor behind her. She groaned and rolled her eyes.

" Come on you do this all the time." She told him. He lifted one of his eyebrows and looked at her questioningly.

"Back stab my best friends?" He asked.

"No," She rolled her eyes again. "Kiss some random girl." He smiled.

"You're not exactly 'some random girl' Evans." He pointed out.

"So pretend I am." She replied. "No body will ever even know about this. Trust me."

He stared at her for a little while longer. She stared right back. Why couldn't he just do it so they could get it over with and then get as far away from each other as possible?

" Fine."

And then there was a hand on her cheek another on her shoulder and Sirius Black was kissing her, and the fat lady was clapping enthusiastically next to them. To her it had been a wonderfully dramatic and incredibly enjoyable performance. There was a little *pop* above them and the plant disappeared, but Lily barely noticed it.

For what seemed like hours the world consisted of only her and Sirius. Standing alone somewhere in complete silence and darkness. There was no Hogwarts, no murderous friends, and no fat lady; there were no thoughts at all.

Then, like a splash of cold water, reality came back as quick as it had left. Sirius pulled away just as fast and at the exact same time that she did. Apparently it seemed at some point one of her hands had made its way into his hair. No thoughts became thousands all at once, and the fat lady became perfectly silent, just as she too became real again.

All this happened in simply, because someone had walked quietly over to the portrait, and whispered "Icicle."

The fat lady swung forward and she walked in slowly not bothering to acknowledge the two people standing inches away, beet red, staring at her. Another girl came seconds after the first but did not follow her in. She, stood right on the spot like a statue, as Sirius muttered a quick " G'night" and practically dove through the hole.

"Lily, please tell me it was because you got 'stuck' and it just disappeared precisely right before we got here." Lisa said to her shoes.

Lily nodded.

"Looks like you found Marianne." Was all she could say. Then she turned and climbed slowly through the hole, Lisa following her, and they walked silently up to bed.

N/A It's one in the morning! Yeah that was a long chapter and took forever to get to the point but I do that sometimes!

N/A What else is there to do at from midnight to 2: 00 am on a Saturday then edit the story you wrote at 1 am the night before?