Tears of the Ages

"Back off, sleaze!" Aurelia yelled, while pushing Danny Roven away from her.

Tremming's group of friends had been badgering her endlessly for a week since the students' return to the castle. Danny had gotten on her last nerve when he started following her. When he made to lift up the back of her skirt, she had turned around and shoved him back into his friends. She automatically grabbed for her wand, but it was not in her pocket. She looked up at Roven, who twirled it in his fingers with a grin.

"Don't you have some slut to pay?"

"Ya know, I've been meaning to talk to you about that, Lia. I'm running a bit low on cash lately, but I was wondering if you do--"

"Finish that sentence and you'll regret ever thinking it."

All four guys made 'ooo' sounds and laughed behind him. Danny leered and stepped closer.

"I dunno," he said, his eyes roaming her chest. He took a step closer and Aurelia took a step back. "Will it make you angrier if I do? 'Cuz the fury makes for one hot--"

Roven grabbed her shoulders and moved into the curve of her body, squeezing her arms hard enough to make her gasp.

"Stop it! Geroff me!"

The struggle made her drop her rucksack and she tried to stomp on his instep, but his feet kept shifting across the floor. Placing his hands tightly around her elbows so that she couldn't bend them, he made to move his head closer in order to kiss her. She turned away and tried to push him backward, but he was holding on too tight. Her teeth grit, but all the guys just laughed at her. As Danny pressed his lips to her skin, beginning to lick the side of her face, she suddenly felt his hands release their grip and his body was shoved away from her.

"Stay off her, pillock," Sirius said venomously.

Aurelia looked up to find an unfamiliar sight: the boy's face looked absolutely vicious. After Roven had regained his balance, he stood face to face with Sirius, grinning.

"What's the matter, Black? You want her for yourself? After all, you are a...marauder."

"Touch her again and you'll find out why your house is named after a bird, and why mine isn't."

Danny put up his hands as Sirius pulled out his wand. He knew better than to initiate the situation ahead unless he enjoyed visiting Madam Pomfrey. "Hey, mate, I just wanted a peek. Eric says it's a nice view and from what I can tell..."

"I'll give you berks thirty seconds to get out of here before I start hexing your arses all the way back to West Tower."

Roven and his group backed away slowly, his eyes still on Aurelia. After he smirked, he turned around and continued walking. Without a word or the slightest hint of movement, Aurelia's wand flew out of Roven's hand. Sirius caught it in midair and handed it back to Aurelia. When Roven turned around, Sirius just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Twenty-three, twenty-four..."

Lia thought she saw their pace quicken a bit.

When they were out of sight, she picked up her bag from the ground and walked to Sirius, putting her hands around his chest. His body sort of stiffened beside her, but he let his arms relax and wrap around her as well. When they separated, Aurelia sighed deeply and smiled up at him.

"Thanks, Sirius."

"Any time," he said, with a quick return of the smile. His expression then turned serious as he said, "Those guys so much as bump into you..."

"I'll let you know."

"Damn right you will."

They began walking down the corridor in the opposite direction of their next class.

"When did you become the hero?"

"When you became the damsel in distress."

"You joking? I had the situation completely under control."

"Was that before or after Roven started licking your face?"

Aurelia pushed Sirius into the wall, saying, "Shut it!"

Neither could hide their smirks and all the way down the corridor they were teasing each other, never giving one another a break. Until of course Professor McGonagall, who happened to be filling in for a sick prefect, found them loitering and sent them off to class.

- - - - -

Over the next two weeks, the pair of them had been quickly growing closer in more intimate ways than friends usually grew. They chanced to end up next to or across from each other at meals. They walked to classes together even if they didn't take the same ones.

When spotted dropping Lia off at her desk, Sirius was often asked by a disgruntled and confused Professor Gevrit what he was doing in a N.E.W.T. Ancient Runes class. His reply was, "Just thought I'd expand my knowledge on the concept of reading these giant rocks, sir. How does one go about translating the thrilling text?" More than once, his brilliant imitation of the poor teacher had resulted in him being chased from the classroom, leaving a party of laughing schoolmates in his wake.

James had noticed the attention his best friend had been giving Aurelia and was quick to take the mickey out of him when he came back to the common room one afternoon. Surprisingly, however, Sirius took the browbeating rather well and James thought, because of the things he had said the previous day, that he was the reason Sirius asked Lia to be his girlfriend.

The school, seeing this coming a mile away, was not particularly shocked at the news. Tremming and his friends made sure they were well away from Aurelia at all times for fear of feeling the wraith of the protective boyfriend. It was bad enough when she hadn't been seeing him.

When Lia finally told Silvia in person, she got the retort she had expected.

"You can do better than Black," she said carelessly.

"Oh really?" Lia said, smiling. "And who would you say is better?"

"Just about anyone."

Aurelia gasped in a mock-hurt way.

"You've always said it's not the brains or the heart you count. It's the bloody looks." At that, they both laughed. "If you say Sirius is not the most handsome fiend you've ever laid eyes on, I swear you've gone mental."

"He's all right," she said with a sly grin as Aurelia watched her with expectant eyes. "For a Gryff."

"Oh, and I supposed you've got a contender in the snake pile, have you?"

"As a matter of fact..."

"Please don't tell me you've gone googly-eyed for Rosier!"

"How did you--"

"Blimey, Via, I heard rumors from my very unreliable sources, so I'd hoped they were wrong..."

"What's wrong with him?"

"Via! ROSIER? You could pick better trash out of a dust bin!"

Silvia pounced and the two cousins ended up wrestling on the floor for a few minutes. Ultimately, Silvia won the bout and Aurelia was forced to shamefully submit. They went their separate ways when the clock struck midnight.

When Lia walked through the portrait and into the common room, she was lifted off the ground, held underneath the waist, and the resulting squeak issued from her throat ended as she settled back on the ground. She turned around to meet Sirius' lips only inches from her own. Flashing him a smile, she quickly kissed his cheek and spun on her heels, heading to the girls' stairs.

Sirius followed close behind and once she reached the stairway, he grabbed her around the waist again and pulled her backwards, into him. "I don't want to sound concerned or anything, but," he said, than making a mockery of mothers everywhere, added, "where have you been?"

"Went for a stroll around the castle," she replied simply. Sirius made a face that displayed his disbelief. "Hey, you're not the only one whose got the well-developed skills to sneak out after dark."

He shook his head and let his hands slide from their position on her curves. "It's not that. Just...how ever did you get past Woldrum?"

"Ha ha," she said. "You think you're so terribly witty. Crack on with your little jokes. I've only gotten detention once for being caught out past curfew. And how many times have you?"

"That's completely beside the point." Sirius nearly pushed her up the stairs, but made sure she didn't fall. "Off to bed with you."

"Coming to tuck me in, then?" she said, moving up the stairs ever-so-slightly.

Once their eyes were locked, Sirius moved to place his foot on the first step when he realized what he was about to do. "Why, you little--!"

Aurelia jumped up another stair and grinned. "Oops, I forgot. You can't come up here, can you?"

"When I find a way, you won't be safe anywhere, Lia!"

"Oh no!" she said, with faked shivers. "I'm so scared."

The grins stayed until Aurelia reached the top-most step.

"G'night," Sirius said, and Lia blew him a kiss, imitating the ever-popular girlish tactics she had often seen flaunted on the very location where she now stood.

It seemed so surreal, being as who she was staring down at was Sirius Black and the fact that he was staring up at her with just as much avidity. But far from feeling odd, the whole thing fell into place exactly where it should. It felt right. Which in turn made it feel very wrong.

- - - - -

"Silvia!"

The nasal voice followed her wherever she went. After she'd avoided him on several occasions, she honestly thought he would realize she didn't want to see him. Couldn't he get a clue? She had had a narrow miss in the library earlier that day. Now, he had been tipped to her whereabouts because of a greasy-haired git. Snape was going to get what was coming to him.

He was such a spoil sport sometimes. All she'd done was play a few harmless pranks on him. He had blown it way out of proportion. Mostly they weren't even her fault--a result of truth or dare. Apparently Silvia was a favorite because she picked dare every time, and always followed through. That was what had also led to this situation. That stupid game with her stupid dorm mates.

She had been dared to snog the next boy she saw. Unfortunately, that boy happened to be a past boyfriend. She could have cursed her bad luck if she wasn't so concentrated on fleeing from him. She didn't want to waste a detention on someone as worthless as him. That is what led to her current predicament, dashing through the corridors in hopes of losing the Ravenclaw. At present, it was not working out for her.

Momentarily taking refuge behind a statue, she wiped a piece of newly violet hair behind her ear. She heard the approach of footsteps and stiffened, her body taking the same posture as the statue before her in hopes of concealment. It didn't quite work out in her favor.

Footsteps stopped and taking a peek at the floor she could see definite male shoes standing in front of the statue. Silvia bit her lip and tilted her head to the side for a moment to see who it was. Her head was brought back to its previous position quickly. She had seen a complexion darker than her pursuer had. That was a good sign.

"You look ridiculous," a deep voice admonished, amusement seeping through.

Silvia took the opportunity to inspect the person again. Tanned skin, dark hair, dark eyes, handsome features, wearing green. It was Evan. She sighed before whistling and walking around the statue.

"Fancy seeing you here."

Evan raised an eyebrow at her act of nonchalance. "What were you doing behind that statue?"

"Looking for my quill?" She tried a sheepish look, but he saw through it. She grinned. "Well, you know that friendly game of truth or dare the girls got into the other night?"

"Oh." His eyes narrowed. "You mean the one where someone set my Charms essay on fire?"

Silvia smiled brightly. "That's the one. See, being the outgoing person that I am I naturally had quite a few dares." She ignored his snort. "One of which was to snog the next boy I saw. Unfortunately...it was a Ravenclaw that I'd had a thing with before. And now..."

"He's clinging?"

"Exactly!"

It appeared that Silvia was going to say something else when she was cut off by the sound of footsteps.

"Silvia? I know you're hear somewhere! C'mon, we need to talk!"

"Damnit! RUN!" Silvia grabbed onto Evan's arm and dragged him down the corridor, searching the walls lining it as she went. Suddenly she spotted a door and hauled it open, pushing Evan in first before following. As the door closed, they were submerged in darkness. They were also in very close quarters. Apparently she had chosen a closet for a hiding spot.

She dropped her hand and fumbled in the darkness until she found her wand. "Lumos," she muttered, letting the light flood the tiny enclosure. Her fingers noticed the texture of her wand felt different than it normally did. Looking down, she realized why. It wasn't her wand. "What the hell? Whose is this?"

A hand plucked the wooden device from her fingers. "That would be mind."

"Oh. Well, sorry."

"It's f--"

Quickly Silvia covered his mouth with her hand, her other on the wand as she whispered, "Nox." Faintly, they could hear feet shuffling past them. It was a few moments later that she allowed her hands to drop to her sides, but she didn't move from her position.

"Sorry. I panicked...a little," she whispered as a way of apology.

"I never imagined you would run from a guy," said Evan, sounding amused. He was probably smirking, but due to the darkness it was not a surefire thing.

One of her hands was resting near his arm. She pinched him. "It's not running. It's purposeful avoidance. Do you know how long it took for me to get that guy to leave me alone the first time? I had to send a rather disparaging letter to his mother! Old fart even had the nerve to insult me."

Evan chuckled, which earned him another pinch. "What did she say? That you were ruining her perfect little angel with your flamboyant actions?"

"No, it had more to do with my hair."

"Your hair? Who would have seen that coming?" He said sarcastically, for which he received another pinch. "I've had just enough of that!" He grabbed her wrist and then searched in the dark until he found the other one.

"Hey!" Silvia cried out indignantly, trying to get her wrists free from his hold.

"Are you always so violent?"

She laughed. "You're just figuring out I'm a violent person? Thought you knew me better, Rosier."

He grinned, although she couldn't see it. "See, I thought that Silvia Colton temporarily trapped in a closet with a boy wouldn't react so violently."

Silvia's eyes widened at the implication that for the most part was true. "Why, you--!" She growled the rest of the sentence before laughing slightly at a joke all her own. "Perhaps I just don't like you, Evan."

"I highly doubt that."

"Oh really? And why's that?"

"Simple case. That, limited in space this closet might be, there isn't really a viable reason for you to be pressed against me so much." Evan smirked down at her.

If she had had the ability of her arms, her hands would have been on her hips. "And do you have a problem with that?"

"No, I'm rather enjoying it. "

"Good to know one of us is," she retorted distastefully. It didn't matter that she was lying through her teeth. She had thought it a stroke of luck that she had a reason to drag Evan into a closet. Despite her reputation, she liked to leave the illusion of chance meetings and how things progressed from there. So far, it had never failed her. Granted, Evan was a great deal smarter than most of the males she usually went after.

"Maybe I can improve things for you?" He looked down at her, and brought her arms up to wrap around his neck. He let his hands rest on hers while his head lowered. Their lips met and Silvia smiled, despite herself. She opened herself up for the kiss.

When they decided on finding some sort of oxygen, she was still grinning. "I think that improved things considerably," Evan muttered as he ran his hands across her shoulders.

"I'd have to agree," Silvia replied before putting pressure on her toes to connect their lips again. She took her time to explore the caverns of his mouth, letting him have the same privilege. Eventually her hands went down from around his neck to flatten across his chest. She took hold of the emerald tie he wore and loosened it sufficiently.

Evan removed his mouth from her and kissed his way to her neck and then up to her ear. At one spot she gave a moan and from this reaction, he knew he had found a spot. Grinning, he made his way back to her mouth. His hands made to pull at the bottom of her oxford, tugging it from her skirt.

They were too wrapped up in each other to even notice when the room flooded with light. Blinking, they turned to the source and saw the aged face of Woldrum. He seemed particularly displeased when he saw the occupants of the closet--green really gave it away. Notorious for causing trouble.

"Mind closing the door?" Evan asked, looking down pointedly at Silvia.

The caretaker made no motion of movement so the pair sighed in response. They rearranged their clothes and walked past the old man, out of their hiding place. He made to say something when Silvia held up her hand. "We know! Detention for indecent behavior...blah, blah, blah."

She started to walk away and turned when Evan didn't follow. "Hey, Rosier! I've still got your wand!" She held up the object in question. He grinned.

"I guess I'd better be going. Can't let that girl get away with stealing a piece of my property."

Once they had rounded the corner, they burst out laughing before running hand in hand to find another unoccupied room where they could continue their previous actions.

- - - - -

"Take a look at Perkins in that Muggle blouse," Sirius said, giving a low whistle, his eyes dancing. "And were you checking out Henderson in the Quidditch match today, Moony? I know Prongs was looking up her robes."

"She's got nice knickers, what can I say?" James replied with a mischievous smirk.

"I still don't think you should be on the hunt, Sirius." Remus' general attention was focused on his open Charms book. His eyes were skimming the pages while his words were directed at his friends, which gave him the unique quality of being able to read and speak at the same time on two completely different subjects. "You have a girlfriend...or have you forgotten?"

"Of course not," said Sirius, still gazing across the grounds at Emily's chest.

"I don't think Lia would like you looking at other girls," Remus stated.

"He can look all he wants," Lia said brazenly, walking up to the group, causing Sirius' gaze to falter. He peered up into the bright sunlight where Aurelia stood and his mouth formed a grin. Lia stepped over James, who was sprawled out on the ground ripping edges of his homework, and took a seat in between Sirius' outstretched legs, lying back and leaning against his chest. She lifted her head and said, "As long as I'm the only one he's snogging."

Sirius coiled his arms around her belly and cradled her. He leaned his head forward and they kissed. "Just a couple others here and there," he said, once they had pulled apart. "Hope you don't mind."

"Funny," Lia said, dipping her head back to the skyline.

She realized how silent the other two had been since her arrival and couldn't bare the thought of them being uncomfortable around her just because she was dating their best friend.

"So, how are the rest of my boys?"

"Fine, thanks," said Remus, marking the page of his book and closing it gently.

"Same 'ol," James replied.

"You both look a bit, I dunno. Weirded out. Do you mind us...?"

Remus hesitated before saying, "No, of course not."

"Go ahead. Snog away," James replied, but his answer took even longer than Remus'.

Lia smiled. "Seems like you two are a little jealous. Would you feel better if I were kissing you?"

Remus and James laughed but Sirius pushed her head to the side so she could view his narrowed eyes. "Thought we just went over this. You snog me."

"And if you want that to continue, then let me do as I bloody well please," Lia said, grinning broadly. She turned her head to face James and Remus in a business-like fashion. "Now, which one of you would like to go first?"

They all chuckled and it was then that Aurelia noticed the little rat-boy was not among them.

"And where is dear Peter?"

"Had to stay back with Slughorn," Sirius said, smirking like he knew something she didn't, which was true.

"Mixed up the ingredients in the Bulbadox Powder," Remus explained.

"It was a glorious mess!" said James, recollection all over his face. "Green slime everywhere. It's supposed to turn from gray to blue, if you get it right, that is. And it should also harden, but Worm's got runny halfway through."

"He's still in the dungeons. Slughorn's giving him a few pointers about reading directions."

It wasn't long before Remus gathered his books into his bag and stood up, heading back to the common room to study for an Arithmancy exam. They bade him farewell and watched him walk back to the castle.

When conversation came to an abrupt halt, James resorted to tearing whole pieces of paper in half. Aurelia noticed initials sketched on a corner reading 'LE', and it made her snigger.

"You still fancy her, James?"

The messy-haired Seeker looked up, confused, and could only manage a, "Huh?"

"Think she's found out your deep, dark secret, mate," Sirius teased, setting his chin on top of Aurelia's head.

James had followed Lia's gaze to the ripped paper lying on the ground beside him. "Yeah, what of it?" he asked, a bit defensively.

"Just curious. Lily was just saying last night--"

"Did she mention me?"

"Keep your head on, Prongs," said Sirius, now lowering his head to kiss Lia's neck.

Aurelia smirked, both from James' reaction and because the kisses tickled. "In fact, she did. Don't worry, I put in a good word for you, not that you needed it. She told me she thinks your head has deflated a bit. And she likes it when you 'forget' to push the third years down the stairs."

James grinned. "Do girls talk about guys like that all the time or only on special occasions?"

"Depends," Lia said simply, acting as though she wouldn't elaborate. "I complain about Sirius all the time and Lily used to do the same with you. Now that she's dishing out compliments, I'd say you're in a better place than you were."

James stuffed his papers and books back into his bag and stood up. He looked at the two leaning against the tree. "I'll talk to you later. I've got practice soon. And Lia"--she looked up, eyebrows raised--"thanks for that."

"Anytime," she replied and as soon as James was out of earshot she said, "Alone at last."

Sirius tightened his grip around her belly playfully and asked, "So what sort of things do you complain about?"

"Just that you don't kiss long enough." Aurelia turned on her side so she could view him properly. Her eyes had begun to ache from looking up too much.

"Well then, let me save you the trouble," he said, leaning down, but their lips only brushed and he pulled away, peering down at her. "Take a couple deep breaths, love, because you won't get the chance for awhile."

Aurelia rolled her eyes and inhaled dramatically, then felt his mouth on top of hers. Soon, they were engaged in a breathless snogging session, quite literally.

- - - - -

Being pulled by the arm into the abandoned corridor, Aurelia really had no choice but to comply with his demands.

"Sirius, class is about to start!" she protested. He had decided spur-of-the-moment that they would ditch, without his girlfriend's consent.

"Don't worry. They'll still be there when we get back."

She smiled and allowed herself to be dragged to the broom closet down the hall. Sirius released her hand and slowly kissed the side of her mouth. They drew closer, teasing, tasting, and Sirius' hand slid over the handle to open the closet door when he bumped into something that called out an indignant "Ow!" Utterly surprised (for it was their closet) both Aurelia and Sirius turned about to find an even more surprising sight.

"EMILY?"

"REMUS?"

Both prefects' faces flushed crimson.

"All right, Moony!" Sirius said in his most congratulatory-male voice. The embarrassed couple made to maneuver around, but Sirius prevented that. "No, no, no. You stay. We'll go."

While the two couples separated, Aurelia was making facial gestures to alleviate Emily's supposed self-consciousness. They were both grinning by the time Sirius shut the door again completely. Once down the hall, Sirius and Aurelia just looked at each other and grinned.

"Where to, love?"

Sirius placed his head out to check around a corner into a classroom and snatched up Lia over his shoulder. She almost screamed, but caught herself and broke into silent giggles. He brought her into the empty classroom and placed her up against the wall. Instead of acting as the subdued partner, as was her usual instinct, she grabbed his hair and pulled him down into her lips. They continued this vigorous foreplay for quite some time before Aurelia mentioned she thought she'd heard a noise.

They quietly got off each other and commenced to leaning nonchalantly up against the blackboard. When McGonagall walked past the room, she heard Aurelia's shoe screech against the floor. Sirius' eyes popped out at her in an irritated fashion and she grimaced.

"Mr. Black and Miss Colton," the professor said accusatorily. "I'm sure you have an excuse as to the reason for your absence from class."

"You see, Professor," said Sirius, "we got lost."

McGonagall almost let a snort escape her. "You've spent five years at this school and you inexplicably got lost, and so much so that you've missed half of a class period? I don't fully understand why, but somehow I just don't believe you. Return to your lessons." When the two students didn't move, she ushered them out the door with her hand gestures. "Now!"

Grinning the entire way down the hall, Sirius and Aurelia were followed by McGonagall until she made sure they were in their classroom and punished for being late. Considering the circumstances, both were not upset in the slightest.

- - - - -

"You know, things don't seem to be working out..."

Aurelia's head spun around from the sketch she was working on in her notebook. Her hand stilled over the parchment, the coal pencil clutched loosely in her hand. Her lower lip began to quiver. "Via--are you breaking up with me?"

The Slytherin stuck out her tongue, despite her age. Then her face hardened and her hands went to her hips. She let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes. I can't stand your cold feet at the end of the bed any longer."

"You said you didn't mind!" The Gryffindor pushed her notebook out of the way. She stood up and pointed an accusatory finger at her cousin. "You said that they were cute, like flobberworms!"

"I lied." Silvia waved it off, as if her cousin should know this was a risk with her person. "What can I say?"

"I'm dying inside." Lia brought her hands to her chest to reside over her heart, though her words lacked the drama they required for one to be taken seriously.

"Good. But don't you dare stain my carpet." She flicked her dyed hair while buffing one of her hand's nails against her chest.

"Jerk."

Silvia sidled up to her cousin. She put on a sickeningly sweet smile and cocked her head to one side. "You know you love me, Lia." She batted her eyelashes.

"Most of the time," she said, sitting back down and placing her notebook once again in her lap. "Now, when I see you hexing my boyfriend on the other hand..."

She rolled her eyes, scrunching her face in distain. "That again?" Aurelia sent her a particularly nasty look. "It's not my fault. He started it. Mine was purely retaliation."

"You sound like a two year old," Aurelia admonished.

Silvia stuck out her tongue again.

"Now you look it," her cousin continued. "C'mon, can't you just 'leave it at that' for once?"

Silvia came to sit down next to her cousin, her knees drawn up to her chest. Her head fell down to rest upon her knees. "Why don't you ask him to stop hexing me?"

"Because..." The auburn-haired cousin shifted her eyes from Silvia back to her sketch. Ironically, it was a sketch of the topic of conversation. A rather rough sketch if one was to ask the creator, but a sketch nonetheless.

"Because, why?"

She could feel grey eyes similar to her own boring into her. She tried to ignore them and concentrate on getting the adorable smirk on the figure to have a hint of mischief within it. Eventually it was too difficult. She could never outwait the patience of her cousin. "You know why!"

"It's not like it should matter." Her voice seemed smaller, almost softer for some reason. She fiddled idly with the green tie adorning her neck.

"Merlin, Via, do you know what they'd think?" Aurelia was exasperated. They had had this conversation before, usually with a drop in topic because neither wanted to fight with the other. "What would your friends say? The Black sisters? Malfoy?"

"What do I care what they think?" Her face belied her anger and frustration. She did not give a damn what people thought about her so why did Aurelia? "I happen to believe that blood is thicker than water, Lia. Just because Bella and Cissa don't play well with Sirius doesn't mean everyone's the same way!"

"I...Via, I can't."

"No. You won't. There's a difference. You don't want to take a chance at losing your precious friends...even if the repercussion is losing a cousin." Silvia stood up in a fluid motion, her hands already clenched into tightly balled fists.

"Silvia--"

Her cousin did not allow her to continue her plea. "Admit it. They're more important to you now."

"It's not like that! It's just that I...well, I don't want..." Aurelia was clenching the pencil within her fist, while her notebook was clutched at her chest. It was acting as a security blanket for her at the moment.

Violet hair shook in the still room. A small noise of disgust filled the otherwise silent atmosphere. She held up her hand to stop any further attempts at reason. "Save it. I don't want to know. I won't keep you any longer. Run along to your friends, Aurelia." They both noticed the icy tone that had crept into her voice.

Silvia made to leave the room, though being as she was already on her feet it was not a hard task to complete. What stopped her was the sudden extra weight latched onto her otherwise mobile appendage. Aurelia was clutched her arm, having dropped the notebook to the floor.

"That's not it and you know it. You know me, Via." Aurelia's grey eyes were wide and pleading. She did not want her cousin and confidant to be angry with her. For her, making Silvia upset was even worse than upsetting Lily.

The Slytherin let out a chuckle, low and menacing. "I thought I knew you. Turns out I was wrong."

Her hand went to remove the two hands grasping her forearm. She could feel the charcoal pencil digging partially into her skin. It was unintentional, she was sure. She lifted the hands from her and threw them back at their owner. Then she went towards the door once more.

"Silvia, please stop."

She did stop, briefly. "No. Not until I have a reason to. Good-bye, Aurelia." She turned her head back to look forwards once more and walked out the door, leaving her cousin alone.

"Shit. What did I do?" Aurelia held her head in her hands and was clutching at her hair in despair. She didn't know how to fix this.

- - - - -

Silvia walked down the corridor, hearing her heels click against the stone surface. How could Aurelia be like that? After all they had been through, she chose friends over family! It was beyond aggravating. Sure, the whole ordeal had been horribly exciting when they were younger. Sorted into different houses, yet still the best of friends. They would set up times and places to have a secret get-together and inform each other on anything worth mentioning. In the past few years they had been a little more open about what they did, always finding ways to flaunt their secret relationship underneath everyone's unsuspecting noses.

They were sixteen now and the glamour of the situation had faded for Silvia. She did not mind if anyone knew about their friendship. Why should a silly school rivalry get in the way of their bond? It should not have. Apparently, Aurelia disagreed on that front. She was more worried about what her housemates would think once they found out. Personally, Silvia could not care less what her own housemates thought.

"I should have just left it alone," she muttered to herself, thinking that it would have been better to just go on pretending than to vent on her cousin. She stepped over to a wall, letting her fist meet the hard surface. Her face followed gentler to lean her forehead against the cold surface. Maybe it could calm the fury inside of her. She closed her eyes.

"Colton, you look depressed. First year escape again?"

Black. Typical that it would be his voice that would cut through her revelry. Not to mention he was one of the deciding factors for her fight with Aurelia. Idly she wondered how quickly and quietly she could dispose of him. Her cousin would be livid then of course and that might not have helped matters. That didn't lessen her strong desire to hex him.

"I'm not in the mood Black. Go find your girlfriend," she added as an afterthought.

"I'm on my way to find her actually, until this happy little interlude." His sarcasm was practically projected at the girl who was still leaning against the wall.

"She's over there." Silvia's slim finger jerked in the direction that she had just come from. Maybe he would leave her alone then. "Or at least she was a few minutes ago."

Sirius growled. "What did you do to her?"

Her eyes rolled, but only the stone saw. She pushed herself off the wall to turn and face him. "Relax. We were just having words," she said, beginning to walk away from him, thinking the confrontation over. Actually looking at him had not helped her in the matters of wanting to hex him. It was a natural response of hers, to see either the ugly mug of Potter or Black and she went reaching for her wand.

"Words?" He looked confused and indignant at the same time.

"Yes, Black. It's how intelligent people communicate. Too bad you don't know about that, huh?" Silvia left him there, still with the confused and indignant look on his face, although it seemed indignant was beginning to weigh out over any other emotion he held. She pushed open the front doors to the castle, despite the hour, and walked out onto the trim lawns. Her destination was unknown to her, but something about the fresh breeze and scent on the air calmed her like nothing else could.

- - - - -

Sirius reached an agreement on his emotion, angry, but found his adversary long since gone. "Prat," he muttered, walking with his hands in his pockets to find an auburn-haired girl who was sure to put him in a better mood. He found the supposed location she had resided in void of her presence.

"If I had 'words' with my evil-addled cousin, where would I go to sort it out?"

His feet traveled down the hallways in uncertainty as to where he should go. He reached the main staircase that did not move and led to all of the other staircases and in effect everywhere else in the castle. "Astronomy tower?" he asked himself, looking at one of the steps. "No, too romantic. Common room?" His gaze fell upon the direction from which he had just come. "Well, obviously not. Owlry?" He looked again. "Too...smelly. Lake?" he questioned the air, eyes falling on the doors that Silvia had previously walked through. "Perfect!"

Sirius' hand wrapped around the metallic handle and pulled it open towards his body. He stepped outside into the crisp air. Only a few strides out onto the lawn when he felt something splash onto his nose. He wiped it off, dismissing it. Another few drops fell before they were too numerous to count. Then a loud crack of thunder shook the sky as a bolt of lightening illuminate the dark clouds above. "Brilliant," he muttered, annoyed already.

In perfect contrast, Aurelia freely allowed the rain to fall all over her face as she stood by the bank gazing up into the darkness. She welcomed it. It calmed her, making it possible for her to forget the problems she knew she would have to face eventually. She still held her notebook at her side, but the paper became damper with every drop. She didn't care so much, deciding it hadn't been that good a rendering anyway.

I'll never capture that damn perfect grin, she thought absently.

A chill crawled up her spin and she had an impulse to look behind her. As she stepped to turn, she walked into the lean form of Sirius. A gasp escaped her lips, but it quickly turned into a lopsided smile.

"Well, hello there," he said, grinning as he watched droplets roll down her cheeks and glide off her chin.

"Hey," Lia sighed, and she turned back around to face the lake.

Sirius, however, had not just come out to look at her. He slid the notebook from her loose grip and held it up, peering at the drawing. Apparently, he had come to look at himself.

"This me?"

"That's you."

After a scrutinizing once-over, he asked, "Do I really look all runny?"

Aurelia glanced at the notebook, which was close to soaked now, and saw the charcoal drifting from one end of the page to the other, obscuring the drawing so much so that it was barely recognizable any longer. She shrugged it off as she redirected her eyes at Sirius.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that."

She felt herself shiver a bit. The school-approved blouse she wore was not enough to keep out the cold on a night like this. Sirius saw her muscles quiver, even for that second, and he shed his robe and draped it over her shoulders. And to her utter surprise, he wrapped his arms around her chest to warm her.

"How chivalrous," said Aurelia, touching her nose playfully to his cheek. "Where is the Sirius I know and love?"

"I'm afraid he's occupying a couple dog catchers at the moment, but there's no need to worry, miss. We've got the situation under control. We also hope the imitation we've sent you is significantly less problematic than the original."

They uncharacteristically cuddled for awhile, looking at one another and staring out over the lake, until the clouds overlapped and the rain began to pour down in sheets. They started for the castle at a run and when they reached the steps, they slipped on the slick stone. Their attempts to suppress their laughter were foiled. Sirius pulled back the door, ushering his girlfriend inside. When they bounded into the entrance hall, they realized just how much noise they were making and the laughter came to an abrupt halt.

Sirius shook his head wildly like a wet dog to get the hair out of his eyes, and once they were exposed they fell upon Aurelia. He smirked and nodded his head slightly in her direction. She raised an eyebrow and looked down into the black robes to find that her blouse had obtained a fair amount of water on their journey.

She glanced up at Sirius to find quite an attractive sight. His hair was messy and dripping water onto his nearly-transparent, white shirt. The rain had made the fabric stick to his skin, as it had with her own, and she could see everything almost as clearly as if he hadn't had a shirt on to begin with. A smirk now formed on her face.

Sirius began with, "We need to--"

"I'm all for it," Lia said, cutting across him.

She grabbed his hand tight, their fingers interlocked, and she led him up the stairs to get somewhere a little less 'out in the open.' Without the knowledge of having done so, Lia had dropped her notebook at the doors, neither taking notice of its absence nor caring of its plight.

- - - - -

It had been surprising to Silvia that the rain held a certifiable chill in it at that time of year. But really, it just acted as a distraction from the turmoil of her thoughts. When she had first set out there had only been the wind's kiss across her body in the night hours. But as she walked it had begun to rain. That, in and of itself, did not bother her much. She had always fancied rain.

The problem was she had no clue where she should try to relax. Her first thought had been the forest, but at night there would be more activity within it. Next she had wanted to visit the lake, but that only made her think of Aurelia, whom she was ardently trying to avoid thinking about. So she had let her feet carry her where they would.

She wound around the castle grounds, finding her way to the greenhouses. A small smile crossed her face. Her hand touched the glassy surface, tracing it as she neared the doorway. Clasping the handle, she crossed the threshold, letting the rain fall upon the shined surface around her instead of on her. She wandered, examining the plants that surrounded her. It was comforting.

Closer inspection of a clump of wormwood found Silvia a small grass snake. "You don't belong in here," she whispered softly with a sweet, underlying tone. She had always been fond of snakes. She lifted the reptile into her hands, letting it curl around her arms.

With her blouse sleeves already rolled to her elbows, she could feel the roughness of the alternating tan and black scales across her flesh. Her fingers played under the neck of the snake. Being that it was non-venomous, she had nothing to fear from it. Reluctantly, she allowed the snake to resume its course. Silvia could not help but let a sigh escape her.

"Somehow, I never thought Herbology was your subject."

Turning quickly at the sound of the voice, Silvia came upon the sight of one of her favorite housemates. She relaxed her body from its previously tense position. "I didn't think it was yours either."

Evan made a face. "It isn't. I was fixing an assignment when it started to rain."

"Would you like to head back together?" She put on a charming smile that lacked some of its usual sparkle. She hoped he would not notice.

He stripped off his dragon-hide gloves and put them on the table beside him. Circling around the table, he came to stand beside her. He put his arm around her shoulders, letting her cold form take some comfort in his warmth. "You should be wearing a coat."

Looking up at him, Silvia let out a chuckle. He didn't have one either. "So should you."

"I guess we'll just have to suffer together." Evan didn't seem particularly broken up about the arrangement. They had begun to walk towards the entrance to the greenhouse, leaning upon each other more than necessary.

"Or...we could wait out the storm." She grinned wickedly whilst taking hold of his shirt and pushing him back towards the exposed section of wall nearest them. She took little time in capturing his lips with her own. Soon enough they had switched positions so that her back was now against the wall.

At some point during their impromptu snogging session they remembered their surroundings. "Via, perhaps snogging in the greenhouse isn't the best idea."

"Afraid of plants, love?"

"Not all, but knowing how we are, we'd end up crashing into the growing mandrakes with consequences not favorable to either of us," he pointed out, as much as it pained him too.

"Bugger, I forgot about those. I suppose we'll have to brave the weather after all." Silvia gazed out the translucent walls and then back at the male specimen before her. Taking his hand, she smirked. "Come on, Rosier, let's go take a shower."

She pulled the two of them out into the rain. Leading the way, she charged across the grounds. Peering over her shoulder, she saw the amused look on his face. It was then that her feet slipped from underneath her. Her grip on his arm caused him to fall as well. A few moments later the two burst out laughing as they realized they were in a puddle of mud.

Once they could stand again, albeit shakily, Silvia sidled up to Evan. She wrapped her hands lazily around his neck and put light pressure on her toes to extend herself high enough to reach his lips. After a sufficient amount of time, she pulled away, an impish grin on her face. "Catch me if you can," she said, running away and laughing into the night air.

Evan could not help but grin as he went after her. He caught up near the castle steps, catching her around the waist. She shrieked in delight. Easily, he lifted her into his arms. He carried her the rest of the way up the stairs. He had to relinquish his hold on her to open the door. She did not complain much.

Inside, the couple surveyed each other, soaked clean through with mud splattered all over their persons. They both grinned, having almost identical thoughts. "My, my, Miss Colton. We can't let you go around in those soaked clothes. We should get you out of them right away."

"I would have to agree, Mister Rosier. We wouldn't want you to get any mud on the carpets." Silvia grinned while taking his hand again. They quickly made their way to some place more private.

- - - - -

Woldrum was used to many things in his line of work. Mischievous children were a given, random mishaps were seemingly not ambiguous. He had seen stairs covered with icicles, rodents filling the Great Hall, and even a very angry squid after the lake was filled with pinkish bubbles.

He had never seen this.

Well, he had seen this before, but not this. There were mud and water tracks traced all throughout the castle. An ordinary predicament to be sure, even if they were produced when all students were required to be within the confinement of their House dormitories. The real curiosity was that they branched to both the Slytherin and Gryffindor houses. There could be no possible way a Gryffindor and Slytherin would even consort with each other.

"It's just not right," he growled bitterly.

Much to his pleasure, he had found a notebook along the way. He hoped desperately to catch the careless students with the evidence at the scene of the crime. The problem was that it was so waterlogged that he could not tell what it had been used for or to whom it belonged. He was going to have to talk to the headmaster again about these students.

- - - - -

"Lia, you going to the Quidditch match tomorrow?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" she whispered out of the corner of her mouth without turning to look at him. It was a well-practiced method she had used regularly throughout the year. At least she wouldn't get in trouble and Sirius could take all the blame. What were boyfriends for?

"You skip them sometimes to go off and...come to think of it, I dunno what you do. Something evil and conniving, no doubt." She rolled her eyes. He turned around in his seat and asked, "Peter? You going to the game?"

"Mr. Black?" addressed Doundry from the front of the room. "Do you have something to share?"

"No, Professor. Just had an itch."

"Than you are too busy to give us a demonstration of the new spell we've just been discussing?"

"Of course, Professor. It'd be a pleasure."

How on earth Sirius would pull it off, Aurelia hadn't the slightest inkling. She knew he would though, and she was anxious to see his method unfold. She wouldn't have thought he'd been listening all class period, but one never knew with him.

Sirius took his time walking to the front of the classroom, accidentally dropping his wand in front of James' desk so he could whisper the spell. Doundry asked for a second volunteer to pose as Mr. Black's opponent. It just so happened that a Slytherin was willing. Doundry called him Avery. Aurelia had seen him hanging around in Silvia's group, so she knew that the demonstration was about to get even more interesting.

Avery slid into a dueling position as Sirius stepped in front of the professor's desk. Mr. Black was to initiate, Mr. Avery was to defend. Simply said, not so simply done.

Sirius wound his wand arm up as if to pitch in a Muggle sport and once the wand was pointed at its target, Avery's feet were knocked out from under him as if he had just tripped . He fell face-first onto the floor, groaning into the ground. Sirius grinned smugly and offered the boy a hand. The Slytherin shoved it away ungratefully, pushing himself up. They got back into positions and the scene replayed almost exactly. The second time Avery got up, his eyes were only slits.

Aurelia couldn't make out any of what Avery had said, being in the farthest row from the front, but she knew it wasn't friendly chit-chat when Sirius' fist collided with the boy's face. It was better than watching Quidditch. It made Lia's heart pound.

After the professor had separated the two, she heard her name from the front of the room.

"That little spat aside, what did you think of Mr. Black's demonstration? Accurate?"

"Merciful Merlin, I am so turned on right now."

"Lia!" whispered Lily fiercely from the seat next to her.

"What was that, Miss Colton?" Doundry asked pointedly.

"I said, 'As well as is allowed,' Professor."

"Ah. Good."

Class continued, though Sirius was asked to visit the headmaster. He gathered his things from his desk, nothing smug about his expression. Aurelia grabbed the hand that was resting on the back of his chair while he retrieved his rucksack.

"What did he say to you?"

Sirius' jaw came forward a bit before he shook his head and walked down the aisle.

The hallway was bright, the sunlight shining through the windows falling across the stone floor. He clenched his fists hard enough so that his short nails dug into his palms to create red indentations.

"You know what's sad, Black?" Avery had taunted, loud enough for his ears alone. "That when your family disowns you, you resort to prats and a trollop to keep you company."

He deserved every bit of what he got. He deserved more, in fact. If there hadn't been a teacher in the room, Avery would have gave Madam Pomfrey a good reason to resign. Of course, he didn't tell any of this to Dumbledore once he was being questioned on the situation. After awhile, the headmaster gave up and issued a punishment. Sirius reached the door only to be called back again and inquired about the notebook Dumbledore held up.

"Sorry, Professor. I have no idea who that belongs to."