A/N: Hello, all, I'm back! I hope you've all read the new notice I posted up on Ch.1 - it's pretty important. Very, very sorry to all of you who couldn't get a reply to your review - I promise I'll be doing a mass-reply chapter sometime soon. Enjoy!

CHAPTER TWELVE:

Goner

"He should be any moment now," she whispered to herself, keeping herself hidden in the shadows. She applied a layer of lipgloss and checked her appearance in the compact mirror. She seemed rather self-conscious of herself as she carefully sniffed her clothing and frowned to herself. Taking out a small bottle of perfume, she gave herself a couple more whiffs of the fragrance.

She waited confidently, a broad smile on her lips.

"Tonight's the night," she murmured, bright grey eyes glittering eccentrically.

"I - just because Leona is such a blasted crybaby, it's not my fault! No one told her to go look at the pictures, just because she was being nosy doesn't mean -"

"She wasn't nosy! Don't call her nosy!"
They were rowing again - Sirius had brought it up first thing after he, Natalia and Lily had entered the common room. So far,

Sirius seemed to have the upper hand, Natalia was having some trouble shouting comebacks at him. Everyone else had returned to the common room, and all were disgruntled to see that nobody was willing to let up.

"Why - why are you defending her so much? You - I thought you don't even like her that much!"

"How would you know? I'll have you know, I had a wonderful time with her in Hogsmeade today and that might've changed my feelings about her -"

"I've never seen you take such an interest in her before! You used to complain about how clingy she was and how she'd just pop out of nowhere and -"

"Lynx, if you're not going to apologize, there's no sense talking to you," Sirius said shortly, before storming out of the common room.

Natalia glared after him in disbelief. "You brought it up, you bloody git!" she shouted after him.

"Nat, don't you think..." Lily said softly. Natalia turned her head to Lily, her glare dropping instantly. Lily thought she looked tired, as if the bickering at taken a lot out of her.

"What is it?"

"Don't you think... don't you think you should apologize?" Lily suggested. Natalia looked at her incredulously.

"What?"

"I mean, think about it; it wasn't very nice for you to take those pictures, Leona was obviously embarrassed about it and well, you may have taken the revenge thing a bit too far this time..."

"But -"

"Lily's right, Lynx," said James, looking almost reluctant to admit it. "I mean, Leona had nothing to do with it, yeah? And she felt really bad about it, and you just jumped on Sirius for nothing..."

Natalia's mouth dropped. "But he yelled at me!"

"You yelled back," said Remus reasonably.

"Malia!" Natalia turned to her for support. Malia shrunk under her gaze.

"I - I already went to Leona and apologized to her," she said. "I felt really bad, so, er..." she drifted off slowly, feeling guilty for not telling Natalia earlier. "But - but Leona was really nice about it,"

Malia added encouragingly. "She didn't hold any grudges after I apologized."

"Just - just apologize to Sirius, for starters," said Lily. "I know Leona isn't very fond of you, even before all this, but just make amends to Sirius, for friendship's sake. Right, Peter?"

Peter nodded, "It's getting tiresome to stay in the same room as you two," he squeaked out. Natalia frowned at him. "I mean, but not when you're not rowing," he added quickly. "It's not annoying when you're not rowing! Because when you aren't - I meant that -" Remus lay a comforting hand on Peter's shoulder, and Peter shut his mouth.

Natalia seemed to struggle with herself, but her shoulders finally relaxed and her face held a yielding expression.

"Fine, I'll apologize," she muttered, "But I've got to go find him first. Merlin knows where he's stormed off to." She walked out of the common room in search of Sirius.

"Well, glad that that's all sorted out," said James cheerfully, "Anyone up for a game of Exploding Snap?"

Lily rolled her eyes at him, but took the cards that were dealt to her.

"Sirius..." whispered Leona, a sudden, deep, sultry voice that rattled Sirius in a way he had never felt before. He was lost in her bright grey eyes, not noticing that she had wrapped her arms around his neck until pressed her lips against his, massaging his lips gently. He returned the kiss feverishly, pushing her against the wall, wanting more, needing more, like his life depended on it.

Not wanting to continue his argument with Natalia was not the only reason why he stormed out. He had glanced at the clock and found that it was almost eleven o'clock. Before Leona had left, she had whispered in his ear to meet him near the dungeons at eleven. Just in spite of Natalia, Sirius had planned to go. And now, here he was, lost in Leona's charm and exhilarating scent.

Suddenly, at the high point of their fervent kisses, when their tongues were wrestling for domination in their hot, moist mouths, Leona broke the kiss. She smiled at him teasingly, shaking her head and laughing when Sirius whined in frustration.

"Be mine, Sirius," she said in that same, intoxicating voice, a voice that drove him crazy with longing and desire.

There was not even a choice, in his mind, and Sirius nodded eagerly and proceeded to her lips again, but Leona stopped him, raising her head to beside his ear.

"Promise me, Sirius," she said, breathing softly into his ear. "Promise me, please."

Adoration and love for her was already pounding against his ears, but when she blew delicately into his ear, he felt his heart thumping out of his ribcage.

"I promise," he murmured, before sending hot kisses up her neck, making her gasp. There was no doubt in his mind; he would always love Leona, always her, just her, always. Everything about her was perfect - from her hair, to her face, to her smile, her scent, her laugh, and the way she moaned when he found her sensitive spot...

She ran her fingers through his dark hair, enticing him more as he ran his hands up and down her back. She purred into his ear as he vehemently kissed her lips and held her small body up from her quaking knees. He could feel the first button coming undone from his shirt as Leona pressed her cool hand against his chest, causing a hitch in his breath at the coldness of her hands.

He heard footsteps coming, but he didn't care; all he needed to hear was the sound of Leona's exhilarating voice, the way she breathed, the way she said his name...

"Hello - is anyone there?" someone called. Gasping, Leona hurriedly disconnected herself from Sirius' lips and brushed her hair rapidly. She buttoned up Sirius' shirt and combed it flat, winking at his dazed face. She slipped away into the darkness before Sirius had a chance to react.

"Hello-o, is anyone - Sirius? What are you doing here?" the voice asked, sounding surprised. Sirius turned around and came face to face with Natalia. She was looking at him curiously.

"I - I was with Leona," he said breathlessly. "We were - I was - and she left..." he let out a low whimper as he huddled on the floor. Taken back, Natalia stared at him.

"Sirius, are you all right?" she asked, touching him softly by the shoulder, sounding worried. Once he felt her touch, he lashed out and stood tall, glaring at her.

Nobody but Leona can touch me...

"No, I'm not alright," he thundered. "You - you sent Leona away! She never liked you, and you sent her away! Because of you, I can't see her anymore, I can't hear her voice, I can't feel her skin, and it's all your fault! You're the reason why we were never together before, you scared her from loving me freely! Well no more," he snarled, taking no note of Natalia's completely blank face, "Leona and I will love each other, because I'll protect her from the likes of you. And you can't do anything about it."

Natalia blinked a couple of times.

"Erm, then I'm happy for you," she said, giving him an unsure look. "Um, I was just going to the common room... you coming?" she asked him hesitantly.

"You're not going to stop Leona and me from loving each other?" accused Sirius dangerously, his gray eyes storming with suspicion.

"Sure thing, Black," Natalia said, sounding cheerful. "Now come on. You might want to straighten your shirt a bit and comb your hair some more." She had a glassy look in her eyes that immediately vanished when Sirius blinked, and nodded consentingly at her.

"What's up, Padfoot?" asked James. After around a week of the worshipping of Leona, everyone had forced James to start asking Sirius where he had misplaced his logic.

"He's been drooling about her all week!" blazed Natalia, who shared all of Sirius' classes and was thoroughly drained from his 'I wish Leona were here' whines.

"Obsessive compulsive, if you ask me," stated Lily, who had been snapped at when she lightly commented that Louise had looked slightly tired one morning.

"You're his best mate, do something about him!" said Natalia, looking at James pleadingly. Exchanging glances with Peter and Remus, he eventually relented. He really needed to consider getting simpler friends. Werewolves and Cupid-struck were not usually found in your average batch of mates.

Sirius didn't answer his question, but sighed, a dreamy look that seemed forever imprinted in his eyes. He said, "I - I can't stop thinking about her, Prongs, s-she's perfect," he turned to face his friend, his face so full of feverish love that it scared the trousers off of James. Figuratively, of course. "Do you know what love is, James?" he said softly. "Because I do. It's the most wondrous feeling in the world... to be, in her presence."

James tried to give Sirius what he thought was an understanding look. It looked more like he was between constipation and inhaling dung.

"That's... nice," he said carefully, with his understanding look. "Where is Leona now?"

"In the girls' dorms," breathed Sirius, as though the dorms were a holy shrine, "doing her Potions essay."

"Ah," nodded James, the look of yearning on Sirius' face was seriously starting to creep him out, "so... how's your classes lately?"

"As dark as a Lethifold when she's not around, but as bright and perfect as a newborn unicorn when she is," came the reply. James could feel his left eye twitching from the sappiness of his words.

"Wow... so, there's another Quidditch game coming up in three weeks," said James, eager to change the subject. "Who do you think is going to win, Ravenclaw or Slytherin?"

"Leona finds snakes fascinating," answered Sirius. "She says they are so peculiar and interesting, like giant Flobberworms with a paint job."

"Uh... huh..." James slowly inched away from Sirius, before bolting for the portrait hole. Luckily, Sirius didn't seem to notice (he was too busy thinking about Leona.) For some reason, as James escaped, the comparison Leona made with snakes made him think of something Natalia would say. James told himself he was going delusional.

When James dashed out of the common room, everyone looked at him expectantly.

"Well?" they chimed in all at once.

"He's a goner," he said, shuddering. "Never a more lovesick swine. This was worse than when my great-uncle was trying to woo a Muggle with a basket of black plums fifteen years ago. Turned out to be exploding balls used in Muggle warfare. It took out Mum's entire side of the family," he shook his head sadly.

Chapter End Notes: Aah, poor Nat. It'll get better soon, though, I promise. Ugh, I hate Leona. Even though I'm the one who created her XD

Love you guys!

ArcanusRose