Siriusly Deluded

Chapter 20: Questions

When Sirius woke up, he found Lauren already awake and gazing up at him.

"Good morning," he said sleepily.

"Good morning," she replied.

"What're you doing?"

"Just watching you, thinking..." she answered him, drawing on his chest lazily.

"Uh oh," he joked, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her face.

She was so tired that she didn't even notice what he'd said.

"What were you thinking about?" he finally questioned her softly.

"Um, well, I was thinking about that night before Hogwarts," she told him.

Sirius frowned, not wanting to enter this dangerous territory with her when they'd been having such a good holiday. He cleared his throat and asked, "What about it?"

"I might have been dreaming, but that night, did you...say that...you loved me?" she asked hesitantly.

Sirius sighed in relief. "Oh...yes I did."

"Really?" she asked, a huge grin threatening to spread across her face.

"Really," he answered softly. "I did love you back then, even though I didn't want to admit it to anyone. And I still loved you all through school, even though I really didn't want to admit it to myself."

She slid upward so their faces were level and whispered, "Me, too." Then she kissed him softly. He responded gently while sliding his hands down to her lower back. He stroked the exposed skin there lightly and she sighed into his mouth before pulling away and resting her head on his chest. His fingers continued the motion, pausing only when she murmured something incoherent about his heartbeat and music.

They had a very late (and large, in Sirius' case) brunch in the dining room before settling into studying again, at Lauren's insistence. Sirius really didn't have a choice. It wasn't snowing outside and the existing blanket of white on the ground was getting rather dingy and slushy. James would hex him if he started working on the motorcycle without him, and as much as he would have liked to, he couldn't spend the whole day lying (and occasionally doing a few other things) in bed with Lauren.

After several hours of reading, he was quite through with studying for the day. Having glanced discreetly at the book she was reading, Sirius exaggeratedly closed his book and sighed loudly.

She glanced over at him, but didn't say anything.

So, naturally, he sighed again.

"What's wrong, Siri?" she asked him, for the first time voicing the shortened version of his name she hadn't used since they were children.

He paused, smiling at the nickname before explaining with a pout, "I forgot my Muggle Studies book back at school."

"Well, I'm reading the chapter right now," she said. "You can use my book when I'm done."

He pulled his famous puppy-dog expression as he wheedled, "But it's the only thing I have left to do."

"Oh, okay. I'll just work on some Potions while you--"

"I don't think that will be necessary," he said, cutting her off as he slid closer to her.

"But you said--"

He placed a finger to her lips, silencing her once more.

"How about we try this?" he suggested, picking her up from the couch and scooting into her former position before lowering her into his lap.

"Oh," Lauren said softly, realizing that she could be awfully dense sometimes. She shifted into a more comfortable position before opening the book back up and beginning to read.

And she was making surprisingly good progress until Sirius leaned forward a little, placing his chin on her shoulder to more closely examine a diagram at the bottom of the page.

She turned the page slowly, giving him time to stop her in case he hadn't finished reading yet. Apparently the fact that she was turning the page was not at the forefront of his mind, since he pressed a light kiss to her shoulder as she did so.

She froze, the page still between her fingertips, until his warm lips were no longer making contact with her skin. But his chin was still resting on her shoulder.

She absently scanned the pages, sure that she would have to go back and read them again later. Sirius was a fast reader, and kept up with her pace, and once beat her to the end of a page. Taking advantage of the pause, he tilted his face down and kissed her neck softly.

From then on, he made it into an unspoken game. Whenever he finished reading a page before her, he'd kiss her as a reward to himself. Of course, he also hoped that she'd just give up on the stupid assignment (it was Muggle Studies, after all, who cares?) and just snog him already.

Her eyelids fluttered closed when his lips touched her skin after she finished reading the last page of the assignment. Sirius watched out of the corner of his eye as her hands drooped and the book slid softly out of her lap and onto the carpeted floor as he continued to make a trail of kisses up her neck.

"Why is it that we never get any studying done when we're around each other?" she asked quietly as she leaned into him, her eyes still closed.

"Oh, I get plenty of studying done," Sirius murmured against her neck, "just not from books."

"I see," Lauren commented absently.

"For example," Sirius began, "I've studied you and found out that you have one freckle on your neck, two on your left shoulder, and one on your right shoulder." He kissed each of the aforementioned freckles in turn.

"I've also discovered that you have the smoothest skin," he continued as she turned to face him, gently caressing her cheek.

"And that you have flecks of black in your eyes," he added as he gazed into them. She watched as his eyes began to sparkle.

He slid his hand slowly down to her waist. Then he began to speak very softly, and she had to lean into him even more to hear what he was saying as he slid his hand under her shirt slightly. "And that you're ticklish right...here."

Her eyes widened and she gasped as his fingers brushed the skin right under her rib cage. She jumped up immediately in fear of a tickling attack, and rightly so. He looped his arms around her waist quickly, pulling her back to him. But she fought valiantly and wriggled out of his grip. He slid off the couch gracefully but ended up landing on her when she tripped in her haste to get away from him.

"Ow!" They said it simultaneously. Her knee was in his stomach and his dead weight hit her like a ton of bricks. He recovered more quickly than she did, pulling himself up so he was straddling her, thereby trapping her beneath his knees.

"Please," she begged when he looked at her, an evil grin spread across his face. He ignored her request (or in a way, complied with it, since she didn't add the "don't" at the end) and brought his fingers to her waist, tickling her manically.

Tears of mirth were streaming down her cheeks and her stomach ached from laughing so hard. "Sirius. Please. Stop." she begged. He was merciful, pausing to kiss her temple, her forehead, her cheeks between her words.

He was mid-tickling-assault when the door swung open. "And just what is going on in here?" her father's voice asked loudly.

They were so scared that they didn't notice the hint of amusement in his voice. They simply stared up at Mr. Walker in wordless fear, mouths gaping open, frozen in place. They knew the position they were in did not appear very innocent.

He chuckled as he took in their reaction and let the door swing shut, calling back to Sirius as he left, "Try her feet."

"DAD!" Lauren yelled in exasperation as Sirius' lips instantly morphed into that same evil grin.

"Your feet, huh?" he said, holding her down between his knees as he reached his arm backward.

"No," she said defiantly, biting her lip in preparation. She would not laugh.

"You sure?" he asked softly as he slid his hand down her shin.

"Yes," she breathed. She was lying, of course, and she didn't know quite how she did it when he was looking at her and touching her like that.

He gripped her ankle tightly, then slid one of his fingers lightly against her heel.

"That doesn't tickle, huh?" he interrogated her quietly, fully aware of the fact that she visibly shivered.

"No," she answered, truthfully. That wasn't where--

He brushed two fingertips along the arch of her foot.

"Ah," he murmured when she gasped in response.

She took advantage of his loosened hold on her and scrambled out from under him. He grabbed at her and pulled her into his lap.

Her feet were in close proximity, and he held onto her waist firmly as he used his recently acquired knowledge.

She was gasping to breathe from holding in the laughter and not having any other option; she placed her chin on his shoulder. Then he simultaneously tickled her stomach and her feet, and she was a goner. She burst out laughing, spraying saliva all over his neck.

"Hey," he cried indignantly. He wasn't disgusted though. Honestly, it was practically the same thing as kissing his neck. They don't call it swapping spit for nothing.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," she said softly into his ear. God, she was so embarrassed. She'd just spit on him. How attractive.

He shuddered. She was smart enough to deduce why. She looped her arms around his neck and lifted her head slightly, blowing on his ear lightly.

A shiver in response, and he tightened his grip on her waist when she did it again, biting his lip hard. Once more, and he let out a short bark of laughter, cut off when she boldly tugged on his earlobe with her teeth.

"Merlin," he groaned, and he turned his head to the side to kiss her properly.

And kiss her properly he did.