Chapter 31: Rendezvous
Sirius was already waiting for Ariadne inside the mysterious vanishing room on the seventh floor when she arrived, after concentrating on the memory of the last time they had been in the room and turning the doorknob that appeared in the blank stretch of wall.
"I've never seen you this punctual before," she commented, dropping her heavy bag to the floor.
"Wouldn't want to keep the queen of scheduling waiting," replied Sirius from the four-poster bed, where he was lounging with his arms behind his head.
"So is that the secret to getting you to come to Transfiguration on time? Promise to make out with you in the hallway five minutes before class?"
"I certainly wouldn't object," said Sirius with a smirk, jumping down from the bed and crossing the short distance to where she stood. She pressed a hand against his chest to stop him before he got too close. "I don't have all the time in the world, Black. Ancient Runes exam tomorrow, so let's keep it quick."
"Mmm, let's see how you feel about that in about ten minutes," he said into her hair, now gently running his hands up and down her waist.
Ariadne couldn't deny that there was something about his touch that seemed to distort her sense of time. Everything seemed to slow down, yet she couldn't move fast enough, and when it was over, she wished it could have lasted longer.
She scrambled to push Sirius's robes off his shoulders and grabbed his tie to fumble with the knot. Sirius, on the other hand, showed a much greater sense of control, now slowly unbuttoning her blouse while brushing his lips against her throat.
Still impatient but confounded in her frantic attempt to disrobe him by the sheer number of individual buttons on his shirt, Ariadne gave in for the moment and let herself succumb to the pace Sirius had set and all the sensations he was provoking. He slowly backed her into the bedpost nearest the fireplace as he finished undoing the buttons on her blouse. Then he moved his lips ever so slowly from her throat, lower and lower, down to her exposed chest. Ariadne fleetingly wondered how many girls he had done this with. Judging from his skillful ease and confidence, it was not an insignificant number. But as she roughly pulled his mouth to hers, she realized she didn't care. If it had been fifty girls, she wanted to be the fifty-first.
…
"So, Morrigan? What do you think?"
With great difficulty, Ariadne pulled herself away from the Arithmancy lecture she had been deeply immersed in. "What do I think about what?" she snapped.
"Have you been listening to anything I've been saying for the past five minutes?" whispered Sirius, seeming a bit annoyed that he didn't have her full attention.
"Unlike some, I actually attend class in order to pay attention to the lecture, not as a social hour for party planning," Ariadne said between gritted teeth.
"Ah, so you did catch at least part of what I said."
"I tuned you out after I heard the word 'party.'"
"The details aren't that important," said Sirius, waving his hand dismissively. "Just wanted to know if you'll come."
"Come to what?"
"The masquerade, obviously."
When Ariadne continued to look puzzled, Sirius sighed under his breath. "Honestly, Morrigan, sometimes I think you're living on Neptune in its retrograde orbit. How else could you forget that tomorrow is Halloween?"