Siriusly Deluded

Ch. 9: Reactions

One afternoon in mid-November, Lauren's roommates were in the seventh year girls' dormitory of the Ravenclaw wing. Robin, as usual, was gossiping. Karen was trying not to listen as she proofread her History of Magic essay. She hated it when girls talked about each other behind their backs. It was so vindictive and catty. Didn't they realize that they were only thinly veiling their obvious jealousy? Luckily they were only talking about cute boys at the moment.

She started listening with rapt attention when the subject turned to Sirius Black. Robin was going on about how sexy his grin was, how sparkly his eyes were, how fine his body was...yada, yada, yada. She knew all that. She wasn't blind. All of the Marauders were quite attractive...well, with the exception of Peter. He was just weird. Potter had that intelligent yet athletic sexy thing going on. But he really knew how to be a jerk. Karen did notice that he had become much more bearable lately. And Remus...well, he was just Remus: a total sweetheart. But Karen was not one to dwell on the obvious. Plus, she had known that Sirius and Lauren belonged together since her friends' reaction to the rumors third year.

Rowan, a tall, thin auburn haired girl, suddenly turned to her and asked, "Hey Karen, did I see Sirius Black kissing Lauren at the window a couple weeks ago? Or was I dreaming?" with her heavy Scottish accent.

Karen saw Robin's eyes grow as big and round as saucers.

"I'm afraid to know what your real dreams are like if you think you had one about Black kissing another girl," she replied wryly, turning back to her paper.

"What?! So that wasn't a dream?" Robin sputtered. Rowan even looked slightly surprised.

Karen didn't even blink an eye.

"Wow, I didn't know that Lauren was such a slut. Those are the only type of girls that Sirius Black dates, you know," Robin said with more than a slight twinge of jealously and menace in her voice.

"Well, I don't think--" Rowan started in a disapproving tone.

She was cut off by a fuming Karen, who screamed, "Just because he never asked you out doesn't mean that he only dates whores!" Karen hadn't been this angry in a long time. It wasn't so much that Robin had said that. It was the fact that she had probably just voiced the opinion of ninety-nine percent of the school once news got out about Lauren and Sirius. She did not want her friend to get hurt by a bunch of brainless gossipers, spreading rumors that weren't true. And...well, the comment really offended her, too. Her reaction wasn't all out of sympathy. Third year, she went out on one date with Sirius. She was such a stupid little fan-girl back then, thinking her life would be perfect if only she was dating one of the most popular boys in the school. But, after being with him for about half an hour, she knew that something was wrong with him. Like part of him was missing. Well, after she had gotten over the pain of that shattered crush, that is. She wasn't completely devo! id of emotion. Add that to Lauren's poorly hidden feelings towards him...she was pretty sure what that last piece of the puzzle was.

Nicolette's eyes grew wide. She did not like what was going on at all. Karen and Robin had never gotten along, but they managed to hide it pretty well, mainly by steering clear of each other. But now, she was pretty sure the Slytherins in the dungeons had heard Karen's response.

A tense silence filled the air for several minutes.

Then Lauren suddenly burst into the dormitory. She was completely tired out from double Potions in the dungeons. She dragged herself over to her bed, throwing her bag down on the ground beside it. Then she looked around the room. Something really strange was going on in there. All the girls were avoiding her gaze, quite obviously on purpose. She hoped they hadn't been talking about her...What was going on?

She lowered herself slowly onto her bed, staring pointedly at Karen the whole time. But then Rowan spoke from across the room.

"Er, Lauren," she started. "Are you--"

She was cut off by Robin, demanding in a bitter tone, "Did you go out with Sirius Black?"

Lauren was surprised by her roommate's question, so much so that she barely noticed they way it was asked. She really hadn't done anything with him publicly. Well, it wasn't like they snuck around. It just so happened that whenever they spent time together, it was just the two of them.

"Yes," she stated slowly, taking a quick glance over at Karen, who was shooting daggers at Robin. This was really weird.

"When?" Robin demanded again.

"Uh, what do you mean? We've been together for about a month, I guess."

"Are you kidding?" Robin asked mockingly.

Lauren was offended. Was it that hard to believe that she was dating Sirius?

"Of course she's not kidding," Karen snapped.

"Well, Sirius doesn't do that. He only goes on one date with a girl, then the next time, it's someone new."

Lauren didn't know what to say to that. That was exactly what he had done...before her. But she didn't want to tell Robin what Sirius had said to her in the Room of Requirement. It was none of her business.

"Well, Lauren's not just a girl. She's Lauren, our roommate. And you're happy for her, aren't you Robin?" Karen said bitingly.

"Y--yes," Robin stuttered. She was scared that Karen would have another outburst. She thought she was lucky to not have been strangled earlier.

Lauren looked over at Karen, knitting her brows. What happened in there before she came in?

Karen made eye contact with her. Lauren cocked her head to the side, silently asking the question. Karen rolled her eyes in Robin's direction, motioning that she shouldn't worry about it. Lauren hesitated. She wished that Robin would have just asked, instead of accosting her the way she did. Realizing that Karen had probably prevented the inquisition from being worse, she then smiled appreciatively at her friend.

~~~~~

The next day, a blustery and cold Saturday, was the Quidditch game between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. No one doubted the outcome of the game. James was one of the best Chasers the school had ever had. Sirius was a very aggressive Beater. Lauren knew where all that pent up anger stemmed from. She was glad he had an outlet for it. He would probably be a very different person if he didn't spend some time whacking flying objects around. The other Gryffindor players were also quite talented. The team was highly favored to win the Cup that year, especially as they had done so for the past three.

Lauren had attended few games over her years at Hogwarts, mainly because the Ravenclaw team was nothing to write home about. However, sometimes her friends had been able to convince her to go to a game. It took her a while, but she usually got into them.

She walked towards the entrance of the Great Hall, where she was supposed to meet Lily, Remus, and Peter. She still felt horrible about standing in the Gryffindor section instead of her own house's. But at least they weren't playing each other. Nevertheless, she was wearing her plain black robe, refusing to openly support any house.

When she reached the Gryffindors, she smiled shyly. She still wasn't completely comfortable with them. It took her a really long time to open up to people, to be able to be herself around them. But there was something about Remus...like he knew what she was thinking. It kind of freaked her out since she knew so little about him, yet she thought it was nice at the same time. And Lily was really easy to talk to. But at least they had been fellow prefects for the past few years. She didn't even know Peter at all, but she got a weird feeling around him. She couldn't place it though...

"Hey guys," she said.

A chorus of hellos greeted her back.

"Shall we?" Remus asked wryly.

"We shall," Lauren and Lily both replied at the same time, laughing as they linked up on either side of Remus.

"Come on, Peter," Lauren said, offering her arm to the pudgy boy. He eagerly accepted it and began the long trek to the field with the rest of the gigantic crowd.

Lauren stood between Remus and Lily during the game, which only lasted about thirty minutes. Not to mention the points the team earned by catching the Snitch, Gryffindor totally trampled the Hufflepuff team.

After the match, Sirius ran up to Lauren. Lauren surprised even herself when she jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. "Can I get a victory kiss?" he asked, grinning furiously. "I suppose..." she trailed off as she leaned in to give Sirius a quick kiss. Afterwards, they gazed into each other's eyes, unaware of everything around them until they heard the distinct sound of a voice being cleared.

"Mr. Black, will you please put Ms. Walker back on the ground?" Professor Dumbledore asked amusedly. Lauren blushed as Sirius lowered her to the ground.

Lauren could swear she saw the twinge of a smile in the corner of the Headmaster's mouth as he walked away, shaking his head.

~~

Afterwards, there was a huge victory party in the Gryffindor common room. Even though it was practically unheard of for students of other houses to come, Lily and James insisted that Lauren attend. She guessed it would be alright. If the Head Students didn't have a problem with it, neither should anyone else.

During the beginning of the party, Lauren felt extremely uncomfortable. It was a strange, unsettling feeling, being around a group of people who knew each other so well. Not to mention the less than friendly looks she was getting from many Gryffindors, all girls of course. Apparently they were not very happy about losing their favorite flirting partner. She tried to ignore them as she talked to Remus, whom she had decided she liked the most out of all Sirius' friends. She thought Sirius was off somewhere with the rest of the team; it was too crowded to see across the room. Lily and James were sitting not too far away near the fireplace, seemingly completely oblivious to the throng of people surrounding them. They were so cute together. She hoped they'd realized how perfect they were for each other...until she saw James lean in to kiss Lily softly. She smiled. She couldn't be sure, but that didn't look like a first kiss...

After what seemed like eons (but was probably only ten minutes) to Lauren, Sirius returned with two butterbeers in hand. She smiled again. Butterbeer was her favorite drink.

Sirius noticed that a lot of the Gryffindor guys were checking out Lauren. Sure, all of them were younger than him, but he didn't like it one bit. His reaction surprised him. He had never been jealous before. But then again, he had never been in love with a girl before either. He hadn't told her that yet, of course. It was too soon. When he told her that, it was going to be at a time that she wouldn't doubt its reality. It would take enough of his Gryffindor courage to do it, and it wouldn't do for her to not believe him when he finally did.

"Hey, stranger," he said as he handed her the drink. Then he quickly put his arm around her waist, holding her possessively.

"Thank you," Lauren replied with a smirk. He had never done that before. It was so obvious that he was jealous. Strangely, she didn't mind. She always thought she would if a guy was possessive with her. But with Sirius it was different. It felt like he was protecting her instead of obstructing her.

"I assume Moony kept you company while I was away," Sirius said with a grin. "I apologize."

"Hey!" Remus said, looking slightly offended.

"Aw, you know I didn't mean it like that," Sirius said as he turned to Remus.

"Yes, you did, but we should be thanking you for taking a shower," Remus said with a smirk.

"Okay, I did. But will you forgive me?" Lauren rolled her eyes as Sirius used the pout on Remus, who sighed resignedly. She laughed.

"It's good to know that I'm not the only one who falls for that," she said teasingly to Remus.

"I know. You'd think I'd be immune to it after all these years. But the dolt really knows how to get what he wants," Remus replied.

They both laughed at Sirius' insulted expression. This time he turned the pout on Lauren.

"Oh, hush," Lauren said, hitting him lightly on the arm.

"I didn't say a word," Sirius murmured into her ear.

"I think that's my cue to leave," Remus said with a grin as he turned to walk away.

Suddenly, loud music started blasting from across the room. The volume was turned up so loud that Lauren could feel the music reverberating inside of her.

"Come on, let's dance," Sirius yelled into her ear. Well, at least that's what Lauren assumed he'd said. She could barely hear over the deafening music.

Lauren hesitated, looking down at the ground. Sure, she was okay with dancing at balls. Give her choreography, and she was happy. She had learned the steps at such an early age that they were like second nature to her. And with Sirius up in the astronomy tower, everything felt so natural. But, here, at this exclusive Gryffindor party, she wasn't sure. She thought she'd almost prefer flying.

She looked back up at Sirius. He must have said "Please," because his expression was one she knew all too well. She sighed and took his outstretched hand as he led her out onto the makeshift dance floor.

"Of course he wants to dance in the middle of everyone," Lauren thought when Sirius stopped. He smiled at her and started moving to the beat of the music. Those people at the balls had been right about him. He really was a good dancer, totally comfortable with himself.

Sirius was glad that someone finally had the sense to play some music. He had a lot of extra energy. He was always like this after Quidditch matches. Maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was smashing around the Blacks, er...the Bludgers, he meant. But he didn't want to think about that. Sirius smiled when Lauren slowly eased into dancing. She was so cute. Every movement she made was small, just like her. He moved closer, placing his hands loosely on her hips.

They stayed like that for a little while, moving in sync. But suddenly someone's shoulder rammed into Lauren, slamming her forward into Sirius' chest. Sirius caught her easily, holding onto her arms to steady her. He gazed down into her eyes. She looked a little bewildered.

"Are you okay?" he asked with as much concern as he could at the volume level at which he was forced to speak.

Lauren nodded. Then she surprised herself again by wrapping her arms around Sirius' neck, not moving back an inch. Sirius responded quickly, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist and pulling her as close as possible.

Lauren could hear Sirius' heart racing from where her head was resting on his chest. It had a rhythm entirely it's own. She convinced herself that it was the reason she couldn't pull away. She buried her hands in his hair.

Until that point, Sirius had just planned on dancing innocently with her. He knew she was a little wary about public displays of affection. But the game had gone too well, the music was too loud, and she was just too damn close. All his predispositions flew out the window. His hands started uninhibitedly moving up and down all over her backside.

Lauren bit back a moan as she felt Sirius' hands on her back. They were so warm; she could feel his touch burning through her clothes. And their bodies were pressed flush against each other. She didn't even want to think about that. Up in the astronomy tower it had been different, a lot more playful. But this was so...blatantly sensual. It was too much for her to handle. She needed to distract him. She pulled his head down, kissing him with more passion than she ever had.

Sirius' eyes flew open. She'd never kissed him like that before...not that he was complaining. He closed his eyes as he became accustomed to it, gripping her waist firmly.

The song ended. There were a few seconds of silence before the next one started. Well, at least there should have been. A fifth-year boy nearby caught sight of the couple and started catcalling appreciatively. Pretty soon everyone in the room was staring at them.

Sirius didn't hear any of it. Lauren, however, noticed that her eardrums weren't pulsating with pain anymore. And then she heard it--absolute silence. She broke away from Sirius quickly, leaving him open-mouthed and confused. Lauren blushed furiously. She buried her face in Sirius' chest, afraid to look at anyone out of fear that she would start crying out of embarrassment.

The next song started up, a slow one. People gradually returned to the way they were before, dancing and laughing and goofing around. Once he felt it safe, Sirius used a hand to tilt Lauren's face up to his. She opened her eyes slowly, giving him a weak smile. She had been squeezing her eyes shut, trying to block out all of the intruding stares.

"Do you want to leave?" he asked anxiously.

She simply nodded slowly.

He took her hand again, leading her through the crowd and out the portrait hole. Then he stopped, enveloping her in a comforting hug.

Lauren felt like sobbing into his shoulder. She had never been so embarrassed in her life. But she held back her tears. "You don't have to leave the party. It's for you," she said firmly.

"Yes, I do. And I want to. There's no point in going back if you're not there," he said gently.

She gave another weak smile as she slipped her hand into his.

He grasped her hand, squeezing it reassuringly as he led her down the hallway. He wasn't sure what to say to her. He wasn't sure if he should say anything to her. 'That was probably horrifying for her,' he thought. Most students didn't know that much about her. Probably just that she was a seventh year Ravenclaw, a prefect, really smart, quiet, and damn hot. Well, that last part was mainly him, but people would be stupid to not see how beautiful she was. After thinking about it, he figured he was glad that most people were stupid. Maybe she'd be with someone else instead of him.

He planned on leading her back to the Ravenclaw dormitory, but changed his mind. He needed to do something to make it up to her. She went to his game and his party, where everyone had managed to embarrass her tremendously. His thoughts turned to the Room of Requirement and he made a sudden turn in the hallway. He started thinking hard about what he wanted to be there--something that would make her feel comfortable.

Meanwhile, Lauren was trying not to replay the recent events over and over again in her mind. She tended to do that when something bad happened. It was not a good habit of hers. She really wanted to go back to her dorm and do some homework. At least that would take her mind off of it. But then Sirius made a sharp turn down a corridor, leading her away from her dorm. The path looked vaguely familiar. It took her a while to realize where he was going: the Room of Requirement. Lauren was wary about going there again. She really wasn't in the mood to make-out. That's why they'd left the party in the first place. But her heart did a little flip when he opened the door and she looked inside the room.

There was a large, plush couch and a small table. On the table sat a tea set and a plate of scones. Sirius let go of her hand slowly. They walked over to the couch, sitting in silence for a few minutes.

Then Lauren slowly stood up. She walked over to Sirius, who looked up at her questioningly. She cautiously sat on the arm of the sofa. Then Sirius realized why she had come over there. He put his hands around her waist, pulling her into his lap. She kissed him on the cheek before she snuggled into him, her face by his neck. He sighed contentedly as he played with her hair and ran his fingers soothingly over her arm.