A/N: I'd like to thank midnight zoe for her help with this chapter. I put myself in a little hole there for awhile, and she helped me get out of it. :)

Chapter Twenty-eight

Sirius-ly Confused

I woke up from pleasant dreams to two identical redheads staring down at me with big, wide eyes.

"Ah!" I screamed, flailing as I sat up, nearly falling out of bed. Tonks shifted back into her normal self as she and Lily burst out laughing, clutching their sides.

I fell back on my pillows, trying to catch my breath. "Merlin! Don't you two ever do that again, you stupid shifter and witch!" I yelled. "You'll kill me!"

"And you, stupid Nike-because-I-have-no-other-words-to-describe-you,will kill us if you don't spill!" Tonks said, sitting on the left side of my bed, staring at me with an excited expression.

"Spill? What am I spilling? I have nothing to spill," I said, confused.

Lily sat on the right side of the bed, mirroring Tonks. "No, silly, we don't mean literately! What we mean is, we need details."

"Details?" I looked back and forth between them, becoming more and more confused by the second.

"Yes! We wanna hear what—"

"Good moooorrrrning, my lovelies!" James sang, throwing my door open and walking in, pulling one of my chairs next to Lily.

I blinked over at him. "Very theatrical entrance, Prongs."

"You think so? See, I couldn't figure out how I wanted to sing—"

"James, shut-up!" Lily said, clamping her hand over his mouth. "You interrupted something very important."

"Oh?" he asked through her hand, raising an eyebrow. He took Lily's hand in his and said, "What did I miss?"

"Sadly, we missed it, too," Tonks said. "But we know it happened."

"It?" I questioned. Groaning and trying to sink into my pillows, I said, "Guys…what the hell are we talking about?"

"I hope you know you're not being funny, Nike," Lily said, pouting.

"I'm not trying to be funny!" I exclaimed.

"She's not," Remus said from my doorway. "Because as funny as she is when she's not trying to be, I'd expect a lot more than this from her if she were trying."

"Oh, good morning Remus," I said dryly. "Why don't you come join the party? Seems it's here, in my room, at seven, and the only one who didn't know of it was the host. Namely, me. Tell Sirius to come on in, too."

Shaking his head at me, he came over and stood at the footboard. "I don't think we want Sirius here at the moment. He's in a real testy mood."

"Great. What'd I do this time?" I asked sarcastically. "Can't I get a break around here?" Lily and Tonks exchanged matching knowing looks.

"You don't think…?" Tonks trailed off.

"He must've," Lily agreed. "But why would he care?"

"Huh?" James, Remus, and I all said.

"Why don't you tell us, Nik?" Lily asked. "I'm sure we'd all rather hear it from you. Besides, I don't want to be wrong and embarrass myself over something based on a hunch."

"Erm…" I yawned and stretched. "Okay, give me a hint. I need one."

"New Year's," Tonks said, unable to keep the excitement from her voice.

"Okay, next—oh." I blushed, hoping they weren't looking at me but knowing that I had all eyes on me.

"What?" James asked. "I NEED to know, Nik! The suspense is KILLING me!" He grabbed my shoulders and started to shake them, my head flopping like a rag doll. "TELL! ME!"

"I—"

"She kissed Napier."

I swear the room got colder and it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. My eyes flew to my door where Sirius stood, leaning against my door, staring at me.

"YES!" Tonks said, jumping up with her arms in the air, like she'd just scored.

"WE KNEW IT!" Lily yelled, grabbing my hands. "I'm so happy for you Nike!" she squealed. Remus smiled, like he wasn't surprised, but James' reaction wasn't quite as nice as the girls' or Remus'.

"You did…what?" His voice was barely a whisper, his eyes showing disbelief. I fidgeted under all their stares.

"I-I was…" I jumped up and bolted for the door, trying to get away from all of them and the confusion swelling inside of me. Sirius grabbed me by my waist and looked at me.

"Don't you want to tell them?" He was smirking, but it wasn't his usual one.

"No!" I shouted, twisting out of his grip, taking the stairs two at a time and bursting out the front door. I didn't stop running until I was in the woods, glad for the exercise.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" I demanded of myself. "Why are you bothered by what they think?" A fieldfare chirped, looking at me from its perch on the tree.

"You look confused," the bird said, cocking its head at me. The fieldfare was small for its kind, but it was unmistakably tough; you could tell from the little tuffs of feathers missing from his backside.

"Very," I replied. "I just…do not understand all these human emotions."

"They must be very different than how we are."

I grabbed a hold of a branch and swung myself up, climbing til I was on the branch opposite of the fieldfare. "You would not believe it! You see them every day, but it is so hard to comprehend what is on the inside."

The little bird ruffled its feathers. "But you do not miss being one of us."

I hesitated, thinking about it. "Yes…and no. I love it here now; I like how it seems I belong somewhere, that I fit there better than I did when I was with you guys. But…I do miss the simplicity of the forest creatures."

"You knew since you were able to think that you were not normal, in either world. Nothing will be easy for you."

"You are right. When I look at it that way, I have plenty of other things to worry about, like the threat of the darkest wizard of all times making a return. When I think about that, the whole ordeal about the kiss with Gary is nothing. So what if Sirius and James don't like it? They can go screw themselves; I really don't care."

I dropped from the tree and looked back up at the fieldfare. "Thanks. It keeps me sane if I can take a break and step back into this world every now and then."

"Do not worry; you are always welcome here, whenever you need us." I dipped my head to the bird, then walked back to the house, head held high and ready to fight the world, barefoot and in my pajamas.

"Were you talking to a bird?" I turned around to look at Sirius who was standing in the shadows of the trees.

"Are you surprised?" I asked, smirking.

"No. Not at all."

I laughed and walked over to him, then frowned. "Why are you spying on me?"

"I'm not spying on you, idiot. I was told to come out and see what the heck is wrong with you. They said you're awfully moody today."

"They said that? Or you said that?"

"Erm…maybe both."

"Have you looked in the mirror? Seriously Sirius! I don't know what the hell is wrong with you! You seemed fine yesterday, and then back there in the house you seemed like somebody stepped on your tail! And now, just a few seconds ago, you seemed perfectly normal! I just don't understand—"

"You don't understand? There's nothing to understand, Nik! I just don't see what you see in Napier." He clenched his jaw, glaring down at me.

I was shocked. "That's what this is about? You're jealous?"

"I'm not jealous," he snapped. "And I never would be. There's nothing to be jealous of."

"Oh really? Then what's got your boxers in a bunch?"

"I-I just don't want to see you get hurt, okay?"

"Why? Why is that any of your concern? Who says that you even need to know what goes on in my life?"

"Because I care about you, Nik!" he yelled. I stared at him with wide eyes, and he just looked back at me. He sighed then said quietly, "I didn't think it was hard to see that."

"Look, Sirius," I said, taking a deep breath. "There's nothing romantic going on between me and Gary. It was a tradition that was the cause of the kiss, okay? I care for him, yes, just like I care for you, or James and Remus. I just think it's stupid how you and James try and control me—"

Sirius moved suddenly, and his lips were on mine, desperate, needing. He kissed me in a soft but firm way, then pulled his lips from mine and said, "I wish you'd just shut-up sometimes."

I looked at his face, so close to mine, seeing his features up closer than I had ever before, and tried to sort through all the confusing thoughts running through my head, all at once. He took a step back, giving me some space.

"Okay, maybe I don't want you to shut-up. You're scarier that way," he said in a thoughtful tone.

I took a step towards him, then stopped. What are you doing? I asked myself. Sirius was looking at me, as if he was wondering the same thing. I looked at him, then down at my feet and said,

"I'm just so confused."

"Yeah," he said, laughing. He put his arm around my shoulders and started to lead us back to the house. "Me too, Nik, me too."

A/N: Well...how'd you like the chapter? Huh? Huh? Nobody liked it as much as me, because at the moment I'm REALLY wishing I was Nike! Haha.

So, my Thank-you's:

Guest: Awww thank you SOOO much! I really wished I had a hundred reviews too...I'd be crying with happiness (maybe...) if I did. I'm so glad you like it! Ah...yes. Now, see, about that question...how do I put this? Let's just say, so as not to confuse anyone, that Nike understands and can speak all languages, but she doesn't know she can. Hope that helped! :)

Nisaba (since I am Sehsat, so it can't be me reviewing!): Thanks for the review!

Alrighty! So R&R guys!

Nike