Sirius went out of his way to avoid Aly the next day. She took this as a personal insult at first, but it soon turned to self doubt. Maybe she was a bad kisser. Maybe she had done it wrong. Maybe it was some sort of dare. She didn't know, but the longer she sat and thought about it the more upset and troubled she became.

She was headed to dinner that evening, feeling like a complete failure at life, when she spotted the Marauders head out as well. She made a quick decision to get to the bottom of this. She needed to know what the previous night had been about.

"Hey guys," she said coming up behind them. All of them turned to face her, greeting her with a smile, except Sirius.

"Hey, Aly," Remus greeted.

"You guys don't mind if I steal Sirius for just a sec, do you?" she asked. "We'll catch up."

"Be our guest," James said, his face changing as he glanced at Sirius' face.

Aly grabbed Sirius by the top of the arm and pulled him towards a secluded corner. He allowed himself to be drug, but refused to meet her eyes once she stopped.

"Care to tell me what is going on?" she asked as calmly as possible. Having him in front of her was making her even more unsure of herself.

He stared at his shoes as he shuffled his feet.

"Do you really have nothing to say about it?" Aly asked exasperated.

"It was nothing," he finally said without looking up. "The atmosphere of the room…"

"The atmosphere?"

"I just," his head shot up, "It was a, uh," he thought then found the word he was searching for, "A brain fart. On both our parts, I think."

Aly's eye narrowed.

He nodded at her and said, "Alright. I'll talk to you later."

Aly had no idea what he had meant. Did he regret it or not? Did he think she regretted? He hadn't answered any of her questions. She caught him hard by the crook of the elbow. "It wasn't a mistake on my part," she said. "And I really don't think it one on yours either."

With that she moved past, half hoping he'd stop her, but when he failed to do so, she made her way out to Hagrid's. She had suddenly lost her appetite.

XxXxX

She waited for days for him to say something to her, anything. It never came.

Aly figured he had gone off and found some other girl to comfort him after his mistake. She had given up all hope on any sort of salvaging of whatever type of relationship she would've had with Sirius, be it friend or other. The day she had made the decision he passed her in the hallway. He was alone which was odd, but Aly was too focused on what she had to say to him to ask about it.

"Still nothing to say, Black? Go figures."

He didn't stop and kept walking.

"Fine!" she yelled after him. "Walk away. That's what you're good at. Kiss me then run off to some other skank. I thought I meant more to you than that. I guess I was wrong."

He stopped but didn't turn.

"So, who was it this time?" Aly snapped at his back. "Last time it was a 4th year. Did you at least manage to get a 7th year? I mean I hope you managed to get someone good. Cause you succeeded in losing a friend so I hope she was a good lay."

"ENOUGH!" he bellowed as he turned to face her.

"Don't you yell at me," Aly snapped.

His chest was heaving as he stared at her. "Is that all you think of me?" he barked. "That I can't handle things without a girl? That that is all that you are to me? That I thought it was a mistake?"

"You said---" Aly tried to argue.

"I said what I had to say, Aly. We've been here! I didn't mean to go back. I want, god how much I want, to just move past everything and put the past in the past and be with you, but things don't work like that."

Aly was stunned. Never in a million years did she expect him to say he wanted to be with her. She figured he was anger at her or upset. She stood silently, her mind racing, until she realized that he was waiting for her to say something.

"Why can't we be together?"

He smiled a sad smile. "Because. Because I don't know how."

Aly rolled her eyes. "What does that even mean?"

He took two steps towards her, but seemed to think twice about it and took one step back. He rubbed his hands together and said, "I want you, Aly."

Aly merely stared at him blankly. He already established that.

"Like," he struggled. He balled up his fist and licked his lips before carefully saying, "I want you want you."

Aly's mind still didn't comprehend what he meant until she watched his eyes rack down her body.

"Oh," she breathed out. She thought about it for a quick second and then asked, "Why is that a problem?"

"Aly!" he yelped.

"What?!" She was so confused.

"I can do that part," he said in a high pitch voice. "It's the part after that. The relationship part I can't do."

"You've never done," Aly corrected.

He blinked quickly. Apparently he had never taken that into consideration. "What if I lose interest after the, the…"

"Sex," Aly supplied. For all his experience in this area, Aly thought Sirius was awfully awkward about talking about it.

He flinched and shhh-ed at her. "There are portraits," he snapped in a whisper.

Aly looked around. The only frame on the wall was of a very old wizard. He was examining the grass in his picture, scissors in hand. Aly sighed and shook her head. Of course her being the headmaster's daughter would cause a problem for the troublemaker in front of her. He didn't want any sight or sound of this conversation to make its way back to the headmaster.

"Well," Aly calculated carefully in her head. "There's only one way to find out." She put her hand on the top button of her blouse.

His jaw dropped. She continued to the second and the third as he stood staring.

"Alyson Patricia," he gasped moving quickly to block anyone's view of her now showing bra.

"There's no one here but you," she said snippily.

Still, he moved her away from sight of the portrait.

"Plus, either you can see them or someone else can," she said using one of her defense mechanisms.

He glared at her.

"It's true. Any other boy can have access to…"

"Please, button your shirt," he requested, his eyes shut. "I can't think when your bra is showing."

"Either you have them or you don't. Make up your mind."

He peeked through his squint. "Please do your buttons. Please," he begged.

"Ugh, really? Sirius Orion Black, what is wrong with you? You pull girls into closets as a hobby, but you can't stand the sight of my bra. Honestly, what is wrong with you?" She buttoned up the lower two buttons. He reached out and buttoned the top one.

"You're different, Aly," he said simply. "You've always been. You know that."

"But whhyyy?" she whined loudly.

He put his index finger over her mouth to silence her. "I don't want just your body, Aly. I mean, don't get me wrong, I do want it, but I want to wake up next to you after."

"You've never---"

"Shh. I'm not done," he cut her off. "I am willing to try. But I'm worried I'll hurt you if I can't keep my hands to myself."

"You won't," Aly said confidently.

He shrugged.

"You won't," she insisted. "Let's try. For a little bit. We won't have to tell anyone so if it doesn't work everything can back to the way it was without any problems."

He looked at her, different emotions flashing through his eyes. Finally, he said, "Okay. Let's try it."

She smiled and wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. He hugged her back.

She pulled away, telling him, "And just for the record, we will not be having sex."

He smiled. "I'll try to control myself."

"Not likely," Aly commented.

Sirius laughed a deep bark of a laugh.