Siriusly Deluded

Chapter 22: Imagination

When they got back to Lauren's house, Sirius went upstairs to go to the bathroom while Lauren went to find her parents. Her father was asleep on the couch, snoring softly with a plate of partially-eaten cookies on his chest. She laughed and went over to him, setting the plate on a nearby table before kissing his cheek and saying, "Happy New Year, Daddy."

Her mother was in the kitchen, pulling a tray of cookies out of the oven. Lauren looked around, noting that just about every surface of the enormous kitchen covered with tray upon tray of cookies. "Hi, sweetie. How was skating? Did you see your father asleep out there? He's turning into such an old man. Fell asleep after testing only the twelfth batch!"

Lauren stifled a giggle and said, "Mum, what's with all the cookies?"

"They're for all your friends! Aren't they lovely?" Mrs. Walker answered excitedly.

"They look yummy...but don't you think you should go to sleep? Dad looks cold out there..."

"He's probably snoring, isn't he?"

Lauren laughed and confirmed her mother's suspicions.

Mrs. Walker rolled her eyes. "I hate when he does that."

Lauren was glad that Sirius didn't snore, but she wasn't exactly going to tell her mother that, for obvious reasons.

"I suppose I should wake him up then?"

"Yeah, mum. I don't think the couch is very comfortable."

"Alright, love. Happy New Year!"

"You, too," Lauren called back as she made her way out of the kitchen towards her room.

After Lauren made it to her room, she sighed contentedly and sat on her bed for a minute before going into her bathroom to get ready to go to sleep.

When she went back out into her room, she immediately went back to her bed. Skating had made her exhausted and the cold made her feel like snuggling up under her covers. Ashes meowed from the foot of the bed and Lauren picked her up, holding the kitten against her chest as she lay down. Both of them fell asleep the instant her head hit the pillow.

When he got up to his room, Sirius took a quick shower and pulled on a pair of pajama pants (foregoing the shirt) before heading to Lauren's room. He shivered as he walked through the slightly drafty hallway, but he knew that he'd be warm soon enough.

He didn't expect, however, her to already be asleep by the time he got there.

She was curled up into a tight little ball on one side of her bed, the blankets pulled up to her chin.

Sirius carefully crawled onto the bed and lay down behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back against his chest. Ashes meowed again from the disruption and he gave the kitten a soothing pat before whispering, "goodnight," and falling asleep himself.

By the next morning, their last before returning to Hogwarts, a thick layer of snow blanketed the ground.

Sirius woke up first again and immediately smiled when he looked out the window.

"Lauren!" he said excitedly.

"Mmm?" she said.

"Wake up!"

"Five more minutes," she begged lazily, suddenly turning in his arms and snuggling against his chest.

Sirius sighed. If she was going to do that, then he'd have to give her...at least six more minutes.

It ended up being forty-five.

"Hi," Lauren said sleepily after fully waking, looking up at Sirius.

"Good morning. However do you get to class on time?" he joked.

"Karen throws stuff at me until I get out of bed," she said, smiling.

"I can think of a better way to get you up."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah," he murmured as he leaned in to kiss her.

"Are you awake now?" he asked when he pulled away several minutes later.

"Of course I am, dragon-breath."

"Hey! If you're going to insult me, I insist upon being called dog-breath!" he exclaimed, looking mortally offended.

"Okay, okay, I'm awake," she said with a laugh.

"Good. You ready to go frolic in the snow?" Sirius asked eagerly.

Lauren laughed again. Only Sirius could say "frolic in the snow" and not sound completely ridiculous.

"Alright."

The morning hours passed by quickly as the two made snow angels and built snowmen of each other (Lauren had to snog him silly to make it up to him when he saw that the one she'd made resembled Hagrid more than it did himself, especially as the one he'd sculpted of her had angel wings).

After a break for lunch and hot chocolate, they went outside again.

During lunch, Sirius mysteriously acquired a cookie sheet from a house-elf, refusing to tell Lauren why until they got outside.

"So what's it for?" she asked when they were behind the house.

Sirius took out his wand from his pocket and transfigured the baking pan into a sled.

"Have you ever gone sledding before?" he asked her with a grin.

"No, I haven't," she said slowly.

"It's fun," he said, hoisting the sled up under one arm. "I promise."

"Okay," she said, letting him lead her up the large hill at the back of the Walker's property.

She soon discovered that she really did like sledding, as she did anything that involved Sirius' arms wrapped around her.

They spent the rest of the afternoon racing down the hill, laughing, kissing, and generally tumbling around in the snow.

They were standing up after falling off the sled at the bottom of the hill when Lauren glanced at Sirius' hands.

"Sirius, where are your gloves?"

Sirius looked down at his hands, surprised to see that they were still there, since he hadn't felt them for the past few hours. "Er, inside?"

"Siri," she chastised, "You don't want your hands to get frostbitten, do you? I would hate for them to have to be cut off..."

"Oh, why is that?" he asked seductively, stepping closer.

"Because I find them very useful," she said, suddenly grabbing onto his hands and placing them inside her jacket.

She inhaled sharply when he moved his hands down a little, slipping them underneath her sweater and onto her skin. She shivered as his frozen fingers forged a fiery trail over her stomach, finally coming to rest at her waist. He pulled her body towards him and kissed her as he ran his hands up and down her sides until they were both trembling, and not just from the cold.

When they pulled away from each other to catch their breaths, Sirius glanced up and noticed that it was already getting dark outside.

Not really caring too much about the time or the impending temperature drop, he leaned back in for another kiss.

Lauren stopped him, though. "Siri, I don't want to go back inside either, but I meant what I said about your hands."

He ran his fingertips over the skin he knew was ticklish, causing her to gasp, before removing one hand from under her jacket, holding onto it tightly as they made their way back inside.

They had a simple dinner consisting of tomato basil soup, Lauren's favorite, and French bread with Lauren's parents before heading upstairs to start packing their stuff to go back to Hogwarts.

About an hour later, Sirius had just stuffed the last of his belongings into his trunk when he heard a soft knock on the door.

"Sirius, do you know where Ashes is? I haven't seen her all day," Lauren's voice called from outside his room. The kitten was rather rambunctious and curious when she wasn't lazily sprawled out on her back on Lauren's pillow, so she was worried that Ashes was getting into trouble somewhere.

Sirius looked around and his eyes quickly settled on the missing kitten.

"She's in my slipper," he called back with a frown.

Lauren came in the room and walked over to the side of his bed and saw Ashes happily curled up inside of the slipper, her tiny gray head peeking out of the heel.

"Aww, Sirius, that's so cute," she said quietly.

"But, she's in my slipper," he repeated, looking desperately at the floor.

Lauren rolled her eyes. "Just take her out and put her on your bed. She probably won't notice anyway."

He sighed and knelt beside the slipper, leaning over it to remove the sleeping squatter. From this angle, it was quite adorable, and he couldn't stop himself from lightly rubbing the kitten's nose with his index finger.

Ashes, woken up immediately and probably a little cranky for the same reason, found the lock of hair hanging in Sirius' face rather tempting, and she reached up a paw to bat at it playfully, claws fully extended.

"Ow! You little devil!" he exclaimed, jerking away quickly.

"What happened, Sirius?" Lauren asked concernedly, walking over and kneeling down beside him.

"Your cat tried to claw my eyes out!" he said indignantly, gesturing wildly at the kitten, which was yawning and stretching out her legs languidly. He was holding his other hand over his face.

"Ashes!" Lauren said reprimandingly. The kitten glanced up at Lauren and blinked her big blue eyes innocently, as if asking, "Who, me?"

Lauren couldn't help but smile. She turned to Sirius slowly.

"Let me see," she said softly, pulling his hand away from his face and brushing the offending strand of hair out of the way. There was a set of three pink parallel marks on his cheekbone right under his eye. It didn't look horrible, but it didn't look pleasant either.

"What's the damage?" he asked grimly, locking his gaze with hers.

"Oh, I'll think you'll survive," she answered after a brief pause, shaking her head in mock concern.

"Any treatment you recommend, Healer Walker?" he questioned, a sly glint in his eyes.

"Perhaps...a kiss...would make it better?" she suggested, tilting her head to the side in contemplation and tapping her index finger against her chin lightly.

"Sounds reasonable," he murmured, sliding closer to her.

She placed her hands on his knees, then leaned up and brushed her eyelashes over his cheek in a butterfly kiss before pressing her lips against the wound gently.

She pulled away slowly, leaving her hands on his knees. She glanced up at him, noticing that his eyes were still closed.

"Actually, I have a few more injuries I was hoping you could take a look at," he said softly.

"I'll see what I can do," she whispered back.

His eyes were open now, and they were still shining wickedly.

"There's this one right here," he began, pushing his hair off of his forehead with his hand. She leaned up again and kissed his forehead tenderly.

"And here," he said, gesturing towards his other cheek.

"Here," he murmured, indicating the tip of his nose.

"And here," he said, pointing at his right earlobe. She obliged, then ran the tip of her tongue along it gently.

"Ahh--here," he finished abruptly, pointing at his mouth.

She traced his lips with her finger lightly, the corners of her own mouth turning upwards slightly in a small smile. "There doesn't seem to be any problems here," she teased.

"Oh, but you should check, just in case," he countered huskily.

"Just for the sake of medicine?" she questioned, arching a brow in feigned doubt.

"Of course," he replied.

"Right then," she whispered, and leaned forward, grazing his lips tentatively. She pulled away slowly, smiling when he pouted.

"You reckon you need a more thorough examination?"

He nodded furiously, scooting closer to accommodate her.

She captured his lips with hers slowly, then delicately slid her tongue over the seam between them. He parted his lips in response and allowed her to explore his mouth gently, sighing into hers more than a few times.

"What's the diagnosis?" he asked breathlessly when she pulled away.

"I think I'll have to run a few more tests," she answered, using his knees for leverage to stand up.

He gazed up at her confusedly.

"An overnight stay might be required."

His expression immediately morphed into one of extreme happiness, but just as quickly changed to a frown when she started heading towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To get my pajamas," she replied, putting their game on hold.

He jumped up and grabbed something out of his trunk.

"You can wear this," he said, holding out a worn-thin long-sleeved Gryffindor Quidditch jersey. He'd had it since third year, when he finally made the team. It was obviously too small for him now, but he'd kept it for sentimental reasons. And since he knew he'd have to relinquish ownership of the slippers to Ashes, he might as well give the jersey to Lauren. The fact that he'd get to see her in it was just a coincidental bonus.

She raised her eyebrows. It looked a little...risqué. 'He saw you in your underwear the other night,' she reminded herself before she stepped forward to accept the shirt. 'You wanted him to see you in your underwear.'

She went into the bathroom and changed, pulling on the jersey, which was incredibly soft. She was rightly concerned about its modesty (or lack thereof) and self-consciously tugged the bottom hem down, trying to cover her thighs.

She was blushing when she stepped out of the bathroom, still fruitlessly attempting to conceal more of her legs.

Sirius did a double-take when he saw her. He knew she'd look good in it--she looked good in everything--but he didn't think she'd look that good. The thin material clung to her body in all the right places, and he found it rather adorable the way she was trying to pull it down, her hair falling into her slightly pink face.

Sirius figured the way to help her stop worrying about the shirt was to continue their game. He also silently thanked Ashes. The kitten really was looking out for his best interests, he decided as his eyes flicked over Lauren's body once again.

Then he lay back on his bed, moaning exaggeratedly.

"Mr. Black? Are you alright?" she asked with a smirk, walking over to the bed and standing beside it.

"I think I'm dying," he said overdramatically. "Your cat must have rabies."

"You'd better watch out, she might hear you," Lauren advised with a quick glance down at the kitten, which was asleep, again.

"Right, Padfoot must have got rabies from...the squirrel that bit him the other day," he said, shrugging slightly.

Lauren reached out and pressed two fingers against his wrist, pretending to take his pulse.

"Well, it looks like there's nothing we can do for you," she said, trying to hold in a laugh when he gave her a look of mock horror. "Do you have any last wishes?"

Sirius winked at her and patted the bed beside him as he flashed her a devilish grin.

"Now, I don't think that's entirely appropriate," she said with a laugh, shaking her head.

"It's a matter of life and death," he said gravely, casually lifting the blankets off the bed.

"Well, if you put it that way..." she conceded much too quickly, slipping under the covers next to him.

"So you're sure there's nothing you can do?" he asked after they got settled.

She smiled. "Well there's one thing...but it's only for very special patients."

"I can assure you that I am a very special patient," he said in a business-like tone.

"And how would you go about doing that?" she asked with a smirk.

Sirius returned the smirk as he scooted closer to her, then tilted his face down and began to press kisses from the collar of the shirt up her neck. His hand, which had lain still on her waist before, began to slowly slide over her hip and onto the smooth skin of her thigh.

She gasped, moaned, then slid away from him. "All I needed was some proof of insurance," she said with a sigh, "but I suppose that will have to do."

Sirius arched a brow at her tone, but asked, "So what's this special treatment?"

She moved back towards him and whispered breathily into his ear, "Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."

He shivered visibly, then cleared his throat and said, "That sounds promising." He had no idea what that was, but yes, it definitely sounded promising...

"Doesn't it?" she whispered.

"Yes," he was able to whisper back before her lips were on his.

When they pulled apart, it was ironic yet expected that they were both struggling to breathe. Lauren lightly placed her hand on Sirius' chest.

She acted surprised to feel the hammering of his heart, paralleling the rhythm of her own. "Amazing," she said brightly.

"Hmm?" Sirius asked, pausing from making a trail of kisses along her jaw line.

"You seem to have had a miraculous recovery."