Chapter 24

His words were still throbbing in her brain when Olivia skulked back into her room.

"Friends with benefits?" She scoffed. "Who does he think he is?" She bunched her pillow into a ball and pressed it into her middle as she leaned over it, sitting on her bed in thought. He had called off the bet, and that was still fresh in her mind as well.

He'd called off the bet, and still wanted her.

That thought irritated her because she couldn't understand why. Why were men so confusing? She sighed heavily. Olivia thought staying away from him would be a good idea, it meant not having to be around him. She tried to make herself believe that whenever she was around him, she hated him. Dismissing the breakdown over him earlier in the year, she thought about it rationally. She didn't love him, Olivia didn't dare admit that it was ever love she felt for Sirius Black. She lusted after him, surely, but love? What was love anyways?

Mentally falling off the train a little as she continued to think about her situation, Olivia realized that the only way to get Sirius Black out of her hair, was to give him what he wanted, and in return she'd make sure she got exactly what she wanted out of it in the bargain.

Olivia grinned to herself evilly. He could have her, but she'd take his soul for it.

Sirius lingered in the common room that evening, staring out into the snowy sky. It was an eerie sort of night, it was dark but the snow bathed the land in an ethereal glow.

He heard her throat clear behind him, but he couldn't bring himself to look at her. He smiled when Olivia's impatience sparked across the room like a lightning bolt.

"Happy Christmas." She said, trying to sound pleasant.

Finally Sirius turned, still half leaning into the window. "Happy Christmas." He returned a little reluctantly.

"What were you thinking about?" She asked at length.

Sirius shrugged. "How completely messed up my life is."

Olivia smiled sadly, knowing exactly how he felt. She came toward him then, and Sirius wasn't sure why, but it felt as if his heart had leapt into his throat. He couldn't help but feel the electricity between them.

"About earlier," He managed to say. "I'm sorry."

Olivia lifted her shoulders delicately and tried to put another smile on her face, trying to ignore the hollow feeling she suddenly felt inside.

"I wanted to know if you were serious…."

"Of course I am!" He said brightly. "Haven't you known all along?" Sirius smiled at Olivia's stricken look.

Playfully she frowned. "That is NOT what I meant Sirius Black and you know it!"

"I can't help it, when I get the opportunity…." Sirius shrugged.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "I wanted to know if you were serious about being friends."

Sirius looked at her this time with no trace of humor in his eyes. "Of course I am."

"Even without the benefits?" She asked with a smirk.

For the first time in their entire acquaintance, Olivia saw Sirius's ears go red. She bit her lip trying to suppress a laugh.

Sirius stood up to face her, he was almost towering over her, smiling mischievously.

"Ever since I saw you that first day Olivia, all I wanted to do was have benefits with our friendship," He said with a cocky grin, he stopped a hair's width away from her, and Olivia's skin prickled with gooseflesh.

She bristled. "Is that why you made that bet? Because you thought it would be easy to win those benefits?"

Sirius stepped back, looking wounded. "Of course I didn't."

"I don't understand Sirius, you made the bet because you didn't find me easy?" Olivia asked, getting red in the face. They'd been over this fight so many times, yet it still angered her to the core.

"Are you easy, Olivia?" He drawled.

Olivia's face flushed with color. "Obviously not." She said through her clenched teeth. "I meant, why did you make that bet if you didn't think I was easy?"

"For the exact opposite reason, you were a challenge!" He nearly shouted.

Olivia seethed. She hadn't come down here to pick a fight with him, but it had happened, and she was going to finish it.

"You son of a b-" Olivia swung back her arm, fully intending to slap him. She was surprised when he caught her hand mid air and smiled, grasping her wrist firmly.

"I don't think so." He said with that irritating grin.

He was so close to her then, for a moment she forgot she was angry with him. Her whole body responded to his nearness, she felt hot and dizzy.

It wasn't a surprise after that heated moment, when Sirius closed the distance between them, gently pressing his lips to hers in a passionate fury.

Her body betrayed her, and any attempt to retreat fled in an instant. He deepened the kiss, parting her lips with his tongue, exploring, tasting. Olivia could have melted into the floor if he hadn't been holding her so closely. She felt his hand come up her side and she shivered, cupping her breast ever so slightly, Olivia could have died in that moment in pure bliss. His thumb brushed over her nipple, as if he could sense it through the padding of her bra. In submission, it hardened as if answering to his call. He made a throaty groan as he bent his head to her neck, grazing a fiery path to her ear.

She whispered his name in passionate agony and it brought him back to reality with a shattering force.

The magic broke as he pulled away gasping for air, with a startled look on his face. She knew her cheeks were the color of ripe apples, and her breath came in raggedly.

"I'm sorry." He said stupidly, running a hand through his hair, unsure of what to say. He was panting, and clearly trying his hardest to stay cavalier.

Olivia stared at him, and rolled her eyes in complete annoyance. She grabbed him by the shirt, and pulled him to her again like a wild woman.

She brazenly kissed him with all the passion she could pull from the depths of her being, and felt his body relax against hers as he began to reclaim her lips.

"But I thought-" He tried to get out. Olivia promptly shut him up with another mind blowing kiss.

He pulled away from her again and looked deeply into her eyes. "I don't want to do anything you don't want to. I understand-"

She kissed him hard. "Don't ruin this with talking." She murmured against him.