A small study break

(and that bloody smirk)

Emilia's last year at Hogwarts was treating her well, in her humble opinion. It was only the beginning of October, but things so far were going smoothly, as far as living at the castle went.

"What the hell did you do that for!?"

Ah, the joys of magic.

"Dunno, I'm bored," shrugged Sirius nonchalantly, holding back a mischievous grin. He had just, for the hell of it, charmed her quill and parchment to grow legs and run away from her. He was bored, after all, and a bloke had to do what a bloke had to do.

"Well, go find your entertainment elsewhere," she snapped, shooing him away. She had been trying to write her DADA assignment, albeit failing miserably. "And for the love of Merlin, please let me finish this damn essay."

"Finish?" He scoffed, clearly amused. "You've only written your name!"

She rolled her eyes, deciding to ignore him. She wasn't really concentrating on her homework, but was still set on using her time on something productive. She pulled out a second quill from her bag, along with a piece of parchment, and threw him a smug smile.

Sirius groaned, using his wand to poke her cheek, eliciting another eye roll from Emilia. "Come on," he whined, poking her again, this time on her side. "Let's go find the lads and sneak out to the Three Broomsticks. Oh, and Lily," he added cheerfully.

She threw him a look, "I still need to write to Max, I promised him I'd update him as often as I could. Plus, Lily is probably already tucked in bed reading."

"That's exactly why we should go!" Sirius said excitedly, getting up abruptly. "And you can write your dear brother later, when there aren't more important things to do."

With that he pulled her arm, forcing her to stand up, and with a flick of his wand everything scattered on the table began to neatly tuck itself inside Emilia's green bag. "This hardly qualifies as 'more important'" she muttered bitterly, but slung her now closed bag over her shoulder and followed him out of the library. "Honestly, not everyone can master every class without revising."

"Are you calling me brilliant, Ems?"

She smacked the back of his head, "Tosser."

Barely half an hour later, after Lily had changed out of her pajamas (she had been tucked in bed after all) and Sirius had managed to convince Remus into going out with them, they were on their way through one of the castle's secret tunnels. None of them could see anything because it was pitch black, and James had bet Sirius he couldn't get to the other side of the tunnel without falling on his face, so no one was allowed to use their wands.

"Oi! Watch it Lily," Emilia winced, her foot having just been stepped on by her friend. "You have a heavy step for such a small person."

"Very funny," came Lily's sarcastic response from somewhere to her left. "Remind me again why we're doing this?"

"There is really no viable reason at all," Peter's voice answered from the back, where he was walking with Remus. "We just hang out with a bunch of idiots."

Remus laughed, stretching his hand out in order to (hopefully) pat Lily on the back. He quickly learned not to try his luck in the dark when Emilia's hand slapped him away, "Who the fuck—"

"Sorry!"

"Remus for the love of Merlin, keep your hands to yourself, will ya?"

"I meant to grab Lily's shoulder…"

The rest of the Marauders snickered while Remus, thankful no one could actually see him, blushed a deep shade of scarlet. The group kept walking, stumbling really, towards the other side of the tunnel. Somehow, they all made it out unscathed for the most part, except for a couple of scratches here and there.

They made their way to the Three Broomsticks in more time than was needed, thanks to their brilliant idea of not using light, but when they got there, they were immediately ushered to their usual table by a smirking Madame Rosmerta.

"I was wondering when you'd show up, love," she said, smiling at Sirius.

He merely grinned back, pecking her lightly on the cheek. "I keep my word."

Emilia rolled her eyes at their antiques and turned to him as soon as she left. "You need to stop flirting with her, she's so much older than you are."

"How else would I get free drinks then? And she's not that much older…"

"Such a pig," Lily scolded, but grinned all the same. She was sitting next to James, who she seemed to be tolerating more this year. Emilia made a mental note to ask her about it later. They had been so busy adapting to the workload this NEWT year brought that she had barely any time left to just sit and talk with Lily like they used to, seeing as they fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. She could tell, though, that something had happened between them over the summer. They yelled less at each other (less being the key word), and her glare seemed to be less serious and more mocking than it used to be.

"We're getting absolutely plastered tonight," Sirius declared loudly, pulling Lily into a one-armed hug and ruffling her hair. She screeched and pushed him away, to which he pouted comically. "I need some dancing tonight, I'm completely over NEWTS."

"And by dancing you mean some random girl," Peter interjected with a laugh.

Sirius frowned, shaking his head. "No, today is all about hanging out with the lot of you."

Emilia laughed, and reached over to pluck the book from Remus' hands, "No more of this for tonight."

"Hey!"

"Come on, Moony, lighten up. Look, even Lils here is having fun," James laughed, shielding himself as Lily tried to slap his chest.

"I'll have you know that I was completely blackmailed into coming here by the promise of half a stash of Three Musketeers."

Emilia rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out teasingly. "I didn't say when I'd give them to you though… Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?"

"Oh sod off Em, I'll steal them if you don't give them to me," Lily laughed, scooting back as a drink was placed in front of her by Rosmerta, who had just brought in a round of firewhiskey and butterbeer.

Peter clapped his hands together excitedly, and Remus groaned, but smiled anyway.

"Have fun on my behalf kids," she said, and with a wink she was off back to the bar, swaying her hips along the way.

Sirius smirked, taking his drink and lifting it in the air. "Cheers, to the best year yet."

We all laughed and lifted our glasses and after a loud clink, swallowed the first of many drinks of the night.

She was dancing. It was late. Her head was spinning in the loveliest way, yet a telltale voice in the back of her head told her it was alarming. She could see Remus and Lily laughing back at the booth from her corner of her eye, just as James walked over and asked Lily to dance. Funnily enough, she didn't snap at him, but threw her head back in a loud laugh, pushing her hand in his as he grinned at her. He pulled her up and they walked closer, Lily grinning back at Remus with a small wave. Emilia giggled (giggled?) and shook her head, turning her attention back to the guy he was dancing with.

Who was this again?

She couldn't even remember his name. But did it really matter?

As he slipped a hand around her waist, pulling her closer, cupping her arse, she decided that it didn't. He was handsome enough. She smelled his strong cologne and wrinkled her nose, but it didn't really matter. It was a one-time thing anyway. He probably didn't like the way her hair smelled, or the way she danced, but who were they to judge each other. They were there to get one thing, and one thing only. She buried her face into his neck as she swayed her hips in time with his and lifted her head a few inches, her eyes taking in the blurriness of the dimmed lights and the people around her. The bloke –Paul? Merlin, was she really about to make out with a Paul? –weaved his fingers into her black, short hair, and she was about to look at him when she caught a familiar pair of grey eyes looking straight at her from over some girl's shoulder. She grinned at Sirius, but he didn't grin back. Instead, he whispered something into the girl's ear and walked away without a second glance at either of them.

"Oi! Wait up!" Emilia yelled, trying to catch up with Sirius. She had immediately followed him out of the bar and into the cold air, not giving another glance to her potential snogging partner. Some things were more important than a good snog, like her best mate looking like he wanted to kill someone.

Sirius turned on her, focusing his stormy grey eyes on her. "So?"

She was immediately taken aback by the harshness in his voice, but put her hands on her hips either way. "So what?"

He smirked, leaning back on the brick wall casually, as if he wasn't looking murderous a mere second ago. "How was he?"

"How was who? That bloke I was dancing with? Sirius you're being absolutely ridiculous! What's got your knickers in a twist?"

He ran a hand through his hair, a sign she knew very well meant he was annoyed, but his smirk didn't falter. "I'm perfectly fine, Emilia. You seemed to be having fun though. What did you follow me for?"

"I saw you walk out, I thought you were mad or something," she said, frowning as he let out a bark of laughter.

"I'm not mad, I just can't watch you do that again."

She didn't know if it was the amount of drinks she had had, or if she was simply thick, but she was completely at loss here. "I don't –I'm sorry, do what again?"

Sirius sighed, and he seemed uncomfortable as he gestured widely, "That thing you do. You snog someone and then you feel like rubbish afterwards!"

Emilia frowned. Either her best mate had gone completely bonkers, or she was imagining this. "I'm not sure I'm understanding—"

"Don't lie to me," he snapped suddenly, taking a step forward. She could suddenly see just how heavy he was breathing, and she could tell he had had his fair share of drinks too by the way his eyes were glazed over. She wanted to look away, but felt like she was frozen as she stared at him. "It kills you, one meaningless bloke after another. I've known you for years, Ems, you're not like this. You don't want this, yet you do it every single time."

Now she was just mad. How dare he? "That's rich, coming from you. You're the definition of "meaningless snog"! You were just dancing with some bimbo—"

"That's not the point!" he barked, his voice extremely loud in the cold air. "I don't care! It doesn't affect me like it affects you, Ems. I know it doesn't. You feel like rubbish after it and you're just… Fuck, you're just filling in some emptiness and it's painful to watch!"

"Oh, so now I'm empty, is that it?" Emilia scoffed, her hands turning into fists at her side as she glared up at him. "You don't know anything, Sirius. You're being an arse. Why do you even care about what I feel? I wouldn't do it if I wasn't okay with it –Bloody hell, why am I even explaining this to you!?"

Sirius looked at her for a few seconds, before he smirked dangerously. She knew that smirk, only she had never seen it directed at her. "What do you feel, Emilia?"

She stared up at him, and shook her head. "What-?"

Suddenly he had taken her shoulders and she was pressed between the brick wall and her best mate's chest. Now that was something she never thought would happen. He leaned down until his mouth was next to her ear, "Do you ever feel this?" he asked, breathing against her neck.

Emilia shuddered, not exactly sure what was happening, but to be completely honest, she wasn't desperate to stop it either. She wasn't sure if that was due to the alcohol running through her veins, but then again, she probably wouldn't even be in this situation if it weren't for alcohol.

Sirius smirked at her again, that smirk she couldn't quite place, and pulled her even closer to him by the waist, one hand cupping her face as he looked down at her. "You see, Ems, I don't think you've ever been kissed right, by someone who actually cares about you, by someone who knows you…"

She was about to protest, but the words caught in her throat as she the tip of her nose touched his and she realized just how close he was.

It was then that it hit her.

That smirk.

That bloody smirk.

That was the smirk he gave to girls he ended up snogging or in bed with.

She knew she should have pushed him away, should have said something (something along the lines of "what the hell are you playing at?"), but really, who was she to argue when it felt so damn good?

So instead, she smirked back up at him (which she could tell surprised him), and during a burst of confidence, wound her fingers in his (incredibly) smooth hair and brought his face closer, to the point where their breaths were one, and looked directly up at him, "Show me."

And Merlin, did he show her.

A/N: Ok then, here it goes. This is sort of like the first oficial chapter because it's where the story actually starts. Please review, I beg of you.

Nicole xx