Disclaimer: the usual...

Author's note: Another chapter, this one is Sirius&smirk included, promise ;) Thanks for the review.


Caught?

After the party I went to bed, completely exhausted. It was four in the morning and my feet were killing me. I rolled into my bed and fell asleep immediately.

I woke up the next afternoon. My whole family had slept in, except my mother, who had been running the household as usual. Her energy and enthusiasm about something as boring as the household always made me wonder whether she was on some kind of drug, or something.

I spend the entire day hanging around lazily, reading a bit and recovering from a mild hangover. My brother was suffering from a huge hangover and I couldn't help but snigger at his obvious misery. The wizard who would find a working antidote against hangovers would be a rich man.

The next day I decided to do some homework and I stayed up in my room most of the day. After a late dinner I went back upstairs to reread my favourite novel, an old edition of a collection of macabre tales. My parents had always indulged their daughter's bookishness.

At eleven o'clock I changed into my nightgown. When I had taken off my shirt and skirt and reached for the gown, there was a loud crack. Someone just Apparated in my room. I grabbed my wand and spun around to face the intruder.

"That's what I call a warm welcome," Sirius said, his eyes travelling over my body.

I pointed the wand at the door and uttered, "Colloportus!" The door sealed with a squelch.

"Silencio!" Sirius grinned, aiming his own wand at the door.

"You are insane! You've only been here once before. You can't just Apparate here. You could have gotten splinched!"

"Of course I wouldn't have. I do it all the time."

"What about Anti-Apparition protection?"

"I noticed last time there's only Anti-Apparition around the whole property. Once you get inside the garden, Apparating is easy."

"You are such an arrogant arse."

"Be nice, Carden."

"To you? Sorry, not possible."

He gave a mock sigh and taking off his cloak he said, "I knew I should have brought my dragonskin gloves."

I frowned. "Why?"

"Because no one can handle you without them."

"Oh shut up, Black. Why are you here anyway?"

"For one of the smartest students in our year you do ask surprisingly stupid questions. Why do you think I'm here?"

"To piss me off?" I guessed, pretending to be completely serious. "Well, that's working, I can tell you."

"I'm here to get back at you for being incredibly cruel to me in Flourish and Blott's. That was not a nice thing to do, miss Carden." He gave me a stern look, pointing his finger reprovingly at me.

I chuckled. "How did you fix your… er… problem?"

He glared at me. "By thinking of very, very unpleasant thoughts. Such as Severus Snape and professor Binns. It worked quite well, actually."

"Watch your mouth! Severus is a friend of mine and I like professor Binns."

He looked incredulously at me. "You have got to be kidding me. Snivellus I can understand in some weird, sick way, with your Slytherin thing going on. But Binns? That man is so boring he could put a dragon to sleep. The only reason I got an OWL in that class is because Remus actually took notes in class. And you're taking it NEWT level!" He shook his head. "I always knew Slytherins were mad, but this proves it beyond any doubt."

"Mad! The only mad one here is you, Apparating into my room out of thin air."

"Most people Apparate out of thin air."

"Don't get smart with me!"

"What were you going to do about it?"

"Drop the arrogant smirk, Black, I know what you're thinking."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do. It's not so difficult to guess."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Prove it."

I narrowed my eyes at him, walked over to him and kissed him. I slipped my tongue in his mouth and let it battle his. Sirius's chuckle turned into a surprised yelp when I pushed him forcefully against the wall and unbuttoned his shirt. I kissed his torso, moaning in delight. His muscles were clear-defined and hard. I dropped to my knees, undoing his belt.

His hands, which were caressing my shoulders, moved to my arms and he lifted me to my feet.

"Nice try," he said, looking amused at my smirk. "But this time I'm in control."

He twirled me around and now I was the one pushed against the wall. I wrapped my legs around his hips and tugged at his bottom lip with my teeth until he replied with a fierce kiss that left us both panting.

"How do you suppose I get my pants off now?" he said, grinning.

"Table, there," I panted. He held me close while he walked to the small table that was full of books, parchment rolls, perfume bottles, make-up and crèmes. Placing me in the middle of it, several bottles were pushed over the side, shattering on the floor. Neither of us noticed it, being taken up in a passionate kiss. Any remaining barriers between us were disposed off in seconds.

Sirius pulled back a little to look me in the eye and smiled. I noticed his canines were somewhat pointy, which made him look a bit predatory as he took in my body with a ravenous gleam in his eyes, slowly pulling it closer to him. My breath hitched and I cried out when we were finally joined together.

Suddenly the blissful look on Sirius's face turned into a horrified one. He was looking at the door. I followed his gaze and froze. The doorknob was moving.

"Miss Carden? What was all that racket? Is you all right?"

"Who is that?" Sirius hissed.

"Our house elf," I hissed back. Then I shouted, "I'm fine, Dinky. I just dropped a bottle of perfume on the floor."

"Is Miss sure? Dinky thought she hears voices," the ruddy elf persisted.

"Make her go away, I won't stop now. I will take you in front of the little hag if I have to," Sirius threatened.

Bugger, no problem imagining that…

I shouted at Dinky, "I was just talking to myself about the bottle."

"Very well, does Miss want Dinky to clean it up?"

Sirius gave a low groan, resting his head on my shoulder.

"No, I'll do it myself."

Sirius started moving against my body again and I could barely contain a moan. In a high voice I said, "Goodnight, Dinky."

"Goodnight, Miss." Little footsteps were moving away from my door, but my attention had already turned to Sirius.

"No. Bloody. Charm. On. The. Bloody. Walls," he groaned to my skin.

"Stupid," I agreed.

Sweating and panting we worked our way to a climax and breathing heavily Sirius buried his head in my neck. "Merlin's socks, that was close." He laughed.

I wasn't so amused. "You should go. Dinky's bound to tell my mother. She'll be up here any minute."

He nodded. "You're right." He scurried around looking for his shirt. Watching his tall and toned figure made me want him again. Unconsciously I licked my lips.

Sirius had noticed it and looked at me in slight disbelief. He walked over to me and grinned, "You wanton woman, you're making this very hard for me." He dressed himself and pulled me close for a last deep kiss and then Disapparated.

I quickly put on my underwear and my night dress and removed the spells from the door.

"Evanesco," I muttered, pointing my wand at the mess on the floor.

The door opened and my mother's head peeked inside. "What is going on, dear?"

I pretended to look puzzled. "What do you mean, Mother?"

"Dinky told me there were voices in your room and she couldn't get in."

I rolled my eyes. "I was just changing into my night dress and I dropped a bottle of perfume on the floor. I was telling myself off for being such an idiot. It was a very expensive bottle."

"Ah, I see."

Leave, just leave.

My mother walked inside and sat herself on the edge of my bed.

Great.

"You know, Evan Rosier was quite taken with you."

"Oh, Mother, he was just being polite. I'm just a girl compared to him."

"You're not, Niamh." She smiled at me. "I can't believe how fast you've grown. Your father told me lots of men were asking him questions about you. We'll have no trouble finding a suitable husband for you." She got up and walked over to me. " I know you'll make the right choice." She gently laid a hand on my cheek and kissed me goodnight.

Then she frowned. "Is that cologne I smell?"

My stomach turned. "Yes, must be Rowan's. I went to say goodnight a little earlier."

"Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight." I stood there for a long time staring at the door. It seemed I didn't get any time off, before the matchmaking started again. After mulling it over for hours and hours in my bed, I decided that I at least had another term at Hogwarts and until I graduated, nothing would happen.


I saw him again on Platform 9 ¾ . He winked openly at me. My jaw dropped in indignation.

Narcissa read my face wrongly and sputtered, "Honestly, I can't believe he would wink at you. You've hexed him into the infirmary a dozen times. One would say you've scared him off."

Seems I've used the wrong scare tactics, then.

"Well, Cis, he is a guy and all guys just follow their dicks. And Sirius's actually has a compass attached to it that will lead him to anything with cleavage," I sneered crudely and threw Sirius a death glare.

He grabbed his chest and staggered backwards, mocking an injury.

I wish my looks could actually kill, because then you would be nothing more than a pile of smoking ash.

I rolled my eyes and stepped on the train. "Come on, guys."

We found an empty compartment and were joined by Marcus, Devon, and Gareth. We talked about the parties we had all been at and our graduation plans. I had a huge lump in my stomach, because I knew there would not be any plans for me after graduation. I would have a ring on my finger, tying me to some respectable Voldemort-supporting pure-blood wizard.

I stared gloomily out of the window.


Five compartments ahead

"Lily!" James shouted, jumping up from his seat.

The girl opened the compartment door. "Hi everyone!" She looked at James and blushed. James had invited her to his New Year's party and they had finally kissed.

"Come and sit with us."

"I was looking for Zarah, actually," Lily answered.

"She'll find you soon enough. She can come and sit here too, Moony doesn't mind," Sirius said, giving his friend a wink, who repaid him with a nasty glare. Lily giggled.

"Fine," she gave in and sat next to James. They soon had eye for no one but each other, Remus was reading a book, which meant he was residing temporarily on another world, and Peter had already gone off to look for his girlfriend.

Sirius sighed. He was bored. He thought about his last visit to Niamh and grinned at the thought they had almost been caught. He sure would have liked to see the look on Bran Carden's face if he saw his daughter being shagged by a blood traitor.

He remembered their little encounter on the platform. No one but him had noticed that her lips were slightly parted and that she had looked him up and down with a hungry expression on her face. That was, until he had winked at her. It had immediately provoked the reaction he had hoped for – he liked teasing her – and she had cast him a deadly look.

She couldn't resist him, but would rather go to hell than admit it. He wondered when he would be able to meet her again. Just thinking about her had brought a tension to his body that made his black jeans uncomfortably tight.

He groaned. This was going to be a long ride.


Hogwarts

Great… Just absolutely great! How am I going to avoid this?

I was staring at an all too familiar scene in one the Hogwarts corridors. One that I had managed to avoid ever since second term had begun, five weeks ago. Sirius Black, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin were yelling and shouting at Severus Snape, Devon Malfoy, and Marcus Crast.

Bugger! Too late.

James had noticed me standing a little behind the Slytherins and sneered, "Look who has showed up. The Slytherin Ice Queen. Watch out guys, or she'll freeze your balls off."

The Slytherins all got their wands out and Devon yelled, "Take that back, you wanker."

"Really, Devon, after seven years here you'd think I can take care of myself. I don't need to you to stand up for me." I gave him a rather cool look. "Besides, the day I'm disturbed with anything Potty says is the day hell freezes over." I shot a nasty glance at Potter. "Whether that is by my own doing or not."

Sirius grinned. "She's got you there, Prongs." He twirled his wand loosely and looked entirely unconcerned at the three wands that were pointed at him. It infuriated me.

"Don't get me started on you, Black. I'll celebrate the day your balls freeze over, because that will be a blessing for many a girl at Hogwarts."

Sirius clutched his heart. "And here I thought you liked me." The look in his eyes reminded me of five weeks of him cornering me in the hallways and sneaking off for a session of -- well, things you normally don't do in hallways.

"Thinking has never been your thing. I suggest you just give up trying."

Peter Pettigrew yelled a spell that sent me flying at least ten feet across the corridor. Sirius looked startled, but had to defend himself from the Slytherin hexes.

I jumped to my feet and ran back to the group. I managed to jinx Pettigrew so badly he lay unconscious to the floor, which caused James to attack me. Just in time I conjured a shield and the curse bounced off.

"WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME IS GOING ON HERE?"

We instantly stopped casting spells at each other and looked to see who had caught us.

Bugger! McGonagall! Well, at least the Marauders will be punished as well.

"In my office, all of you. Now!" McGonagall bellowed.

After she had taken Pettigrew to the infirmary, McGonagall marched into her office and placed herself behind her desk and left us standing in front of her. Sirius had managed to stand next to me and mumbled, "You all right?"

I nodded very slightly and then almost shrieked. The impertinent bastard had just grabbed my arse.

"Mr. Black, stop mumbling and tell me what was going on."

Black gave his Head of House a charming smile and said, "Well, we got into a small argument and --"

"A SMALL ARGUMENT? You were practically tearing down the walls! And I am particularly disappointed in you, Mr. Potter and Mr. Lupin, Head Boy and Prefect! You have shamed your house."

James opened his mouth to say something.

"Not another word, Potter. You will receive two weeks of detention. All of you," she added, looking at Severus, Devon, Marcus and me. "And I will inform professor Morton."

She threw a last angry look at all of us. "You will report to my office tonight at seven o'clock. Dismissed."

We left the office and split up immediately.