The Best of Times

Sirius slipped into the hospital wing unnoticed. He gave a quick glance to Madam Pomfrey's office and seeing it empty, went to Jen's bed. He dropped the cloak over the back of the chair he pulled closer to the occupied bed, and then propped the Marauders map against a goblet on the nightstand, before sitting down.

Although the lamps were very dim, Sirius could see that Jen's hair and skin were back to normal. Sleeping soundly on her side facing him, having kicked off all the blankets but a sheet that draped just below her hip, he spied the band of her knickers. She was wearing one of those sporty black tank tops she fancied so much. He gently reached down and pushed her hair behind her shoulder and fought the urge to tangle his fingers into it as he'd done many times before.

He took a few moments to think about his past courtships. His reputation was quite a bit worse than his actual exploits, but up until Jen he didn't really mind. If the girls thought he would dump them after a few weeks, or days even, it made it that much easier. He really didn't have as many girls as everyone seemed to think. But James was the only one who knew it. He normally stayed away from Gryffindors as a rule, because sharing a tower with a would-be ex-girlfriend was not a happy thought. There were two Ravenclaws he fancied last year and a Hufflepuff at the beginning of this year. He did date a lot, but usually got bored after one or two dates.

Then Jen transferred in last year. She'd been attending the Salem Academy of Magic in America when she and her mother had relocated to Manchester. Though unusual, transfers were not unheard of, and when she sat across from Sirius at the sorting ceremony his heart dropped into his boots. He was smitten at once. Unfortunately, Lily, who had offered to be Jen's native guide, had warned her new American friend about the Marauders and Jen did not seem to be affected by his charms. In fact, the elusive transfer student had managed to thwart his every effort with what seemed complete impassiveness. And it annoyed Sirius that she could so easily dismiss him. It had taken all last year and the first few months of this one to wear her down.

The sleeping patient took a deep breath and rolled onto her back, laying an arm above her head. She groaned softly and licked her lips in her sleep, leaving them slightly parted. Sirius leaned in closer and brushed her bangs from her face. There was a gash, about six centimeters on the right side of her forehead just below the hairline. Her cheek was also discolored, but in this light he couldn't tell how badly. He softly kissed the cut on her head. From my teeth, he thought with culpability.

Another soft groan.

He gently wove his fingers into the hair at her temple, content to just look at her. Even as Jen slept, she had an independent, defiant air about her. He smiled and stroked the satin of her tresses between his fingers. Sound asleep she was still getting to him. He took a deep breath as heat began to gather in his gut. He leaned closer and softly kissed her lips.

With his fingers still laced in her hair, he caressed her temple with his thumb. It was Sirius' chivalrous defense of her that finally convinced Jen to give him a chance at courtship.

She'd dated a Slytherin sixth year, Charles Mendes, her first year at Hogwarts. Her new friends had all warned her about the reputation of the Slytherins, but she shook them off saying she wasn't raised with the same biases as they had been; and that Slytherin students deserved the same respect as the other houses. Jen had been with Chuck almost two months when she broke off. It had been a rather sudden break, one day she said how great he was, the next she was seething at the mere mention of his name. Sirius had asked her countless times what had happened, but she adamantly refused to say. All he knew was that after their break, the Slytherins took a strange interest in tormenting Jen. Secret notes would vanish before anyone else could read them, leaving Jen close to tears. Passing girls would make sly comments only Jen could hear, and boys would corner her endlessly. Ultimately Jen avoided the Slytherins as a compulsion all the way to the end of the term year. At the beginning of their current term, the tormenting had tapered off, but there were two or three Slytherin boys that wouldn't let it go.

The instance that held Sirius' memory happened not long after the start of the new term last September year.

It was only dumb luck that Sirius had forgotten his ink and quill in Potions. When he'd backtracked to the classroom he'd caught Charles Mendez trapping Jen. He had her pressed up against the wall and was murmuring something to her while she was crying freely. When she saw Sirius enter her entire body showed signs of desperate relief and Jen's eyes were pleading with him.

"Do you mind, Black? Ms. Lennox and I are in the middle of something right now."

"Not at all, Chuck. I just came back for my quill. And my fellow Gryffindor, of course." He politely reached around the Slytherin for Jen to take his hand.

Charles turned on him. "But we're not finished," the Slytherin hissed.

Jen had already ducked out of his clenches, whimpering. "Let's go Sirius, please." She grabbed her bag from the floor and was standing behind Sirius.

Sirius continued to stare at Chuck. "Oh, I think you are done."

He turned, placing a protective hand on Jen's back to escort her out when Chuck called out, "This isn't over, Lennox!"

Sirius stopped dead and turned. In three strides he was mere inches from Mendez's face. "Yes it is. And if you come anywhere near her again, I'll kill you with my own hands."

Charles only smiled. "I look forward to it."

Jen's movements distracted Sirius from his thoughts when she stretched her arm over her head and arched her back, pulling her tank up over her navel. Sirius smiled. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she's doing that on purpose. He was getting an ache in his groin he didn't want to have to take care of alone. He kissed her again, softly licking her lower lip.

"James?" Her voice was just a whisper, and she didn't so much as flutter an eyelash.

"James?" Sirius sat upright and glared down at Jen's still lucid face.

"Mmm." A grin began teasing the corners of her mouth. "If Lily or Sirius catches you down here there'll be hell to pay."

With arms over his chest, he mocked, "That's not funny."

"Ah, c'mon." Jen finally cracked her eyes and let her smile widen. "It's a little funny."

Sirius leaned back down and lightly brushed her lips with his own. "And here I thought I was the tease of the two of us."

She smiled and vaguely shook her head. "I fell." Her gaze became a bit distant as she remembered what brought her to the hospital wing.

"Yes."

"You caught me."

"Yes." He looked somber. "I'm so sorry."

"Not now." She squeezed his hand with a conspiratorial grin. "But when I get out of here." she gestured around the room, and continued, "Then you will be."

Sirius fully expected her to still be furious. He thought she'd yell, cry, and hit him; anything. "I'm really going to pay, aren't I?" he asked. But she only smiled at him with a mischievous twinkle.

She then sat up and tangled a hand into the hair at the back of his neck, pulling him closer. "And then some." She started to lean in for a kiss, but stopped and drew her head back looking at him with furrowed brows. "That's one helluva shiner," she said and turned his head to get a better look at the blackened eye. "Did I do that?"

He shrugged a shoulder. "It's possible. We knocked each other around pretty good. I notice you've still got some bruises."

"Yes, but I had the benefit of treatment from Madam Pomfrey. I can't believe she'd just let you walk out of here like that!"

He smiled at her concern for him. "I think you kind of like me."

Her concern was replaced with good-humored astonishment. "It's always about you, isn't it? Me, me, me. You're absolutely hopeless."

"Oh, you love it, and you know it." He took her arms and pinned them behind her back. "You wouldn't know what to do without me," he teased, brushing his lips over hers.

"Really?" She tried to lean away, but he held her securely. "Now see, I was going to offer to kiss all of your boo-boo's better, but if you'd rather keep on with your ego-"

He sealed their mouths with a firm kiss. For a moment she tried to resist, but relaxed as his tongue found its way past her lips. He released her hands to pull Jen closer and her arms found their way around his neck.

"God, you're yummy," she said into his mouth, grinning madly.

"Talk, talk, talk. That's all you girls ever do." He wove a hand into the hair at the nape of her neck and gently, but firmly, pulled it back.

She tipped her head back allowing him to trace her jaw with his mouth.

Her hands had found their way to his shirt and were quickly pulling the buttons loose. She pushed the shirt open and drew her hands around to his back bending her head to his shoulder. Just the feel of his skin was an enormous arousal. She breathed a throaty breath where his collarbone met his throat before she nipped at the bone.

He began to slowly push her back down, shifting to lie beside her. He shrugged his shirt off and pressed his lips to hers with a bit more force. He leaned on one elbow and as he claimed her mouth, he brushed his hand across an already pert nipple through the tank. A hand grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him deeper into the kiss, and another slid down his side to the band of his pants. His mouth moved down her neck; to her shoulder as his hand found its way beneath the tank. He was sliding his hand up her stomach when she jerked.

"Ow! That hurt!"

He looked up at her, confused. He'd barely touched her.

She was smiling at him. "Bruises," she explained, nodding at her abdomen.

Sirius pulled her tank up and saw several discolored ribs. "Oh." He traced them gently then looked up at her. "Should we be doing this?"

She shifted onto her side and grabbed the front of his pants jerking him closer to her. "Don't even think about stopping."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Only paint me green." She ginned as she started to unfasten his trousers.

"That's one way to keep other men away from you." He nipped at her ear.

"Mmm," she hummed and leaned into him. "Getting a bit possessive, now?"

"Absolutely," he acknowledged and pressed her back into the bed and made short work of removing the remainder of clothing.

They didn't seem to care for conversation anymore as they focused on each other; their normally vital sex was much slower this time. Although strong and hard, Sirius was paying more attention to her reactions, moving more slowly because of her injuries. Jen clung to him more firmly and her throat released deeper sounds. He spent more time kissing her. Her fingers didn't scratch.

And this time she waited. In the past, she would throw herself into climax, knowing he would follow shortly, but this time she waited for him. She knew all his signs and forced herself to wait. It wasn't easy. So they erupted together, fiercely clinging to one another, moaning, grunting and crying into each other's necks. He squeezed her tightly to his body ignoring the pain when she clutched a rather painful bruise on his back.

All too soon he collapsed, panting, onto her neck. She was still wrapped around his body, holding him firmly in place with her legs and arms, breathing as deeply as he. When she finally allowed him to roll off her, Sirius leaned in for a slow, deep, probing kiss.

Jen rubbed her hand down his arm. "Better than normal?" She smiled.

He turned onto his back, languorously. "Yes. What was that?" he asked amazedly.

As she snuggled into his arms, nuzzling against his chest, she felt he meant something else. She immediately pushed the thought aside. She had felt it too, but she wasn't ready to say it. It was best to leave that for another time; a time when they weren't naked.

"When does Madam Pomfrey come in to check you?" he asked, changing the thought stream.

"Sometime after dawn." She toyed with a few of his chest hairs. "But you spend enough time here to already know that!" She giggled.

"Hey, no teasing in the afterglow!" He smiled and shook her gently, then kissed the top of her head.

Her arm wrapped around his waist as she tried to pull herself closer to him. She felt sleep creeping back up on her.

"Do you mind if I stay awhile?" He ran a hand across her shoulders

"I'd be mortally offended if you didn't." She closed her eyes happily. "Anyway, I don't think I could move to let you go."

"I don't think I could move to go." He kissed her head again allowing sleep to come to him.

*** *** ***

The following morning, Sirius joined his fellow Marauders and Lily at breakfast a bit late and looking quite tired, although pleased. He nudged Peter aside sitting between Wormtail and Moony and across from James and Lily. He tiredly reached for a muffin, and started pouring syrup on it.

The others looked at him as though he'd gone mad.

"Sirius," James said and leaned forward taking the syrup from his friend's hand. "What is it you think your doing?"

"Breakfast," Sirius replied, putting a hand over his mouth as he stifled a yawn. "Most important meal of the day," he tried to explain.

James set the syrup back on the table. "I realize you must have had a good time last night, but have you forgotten you have a Transfiguration test today?"

"Not I," Sirius said smugly grabbing a pitcher and, stifling another yawn, poured juice into a cup, and then looked at his best friend. "I've been excused from classes today." He smiled broadly. He knew, with rest or not, he would've aced any test in transfiguration. It was his best subject. "Today, I get to idle the hours away while you are stressing through tests and potions and charms." He bit into his syrup-swollen muffin, and then discarded it from his mouth into a napkin. "That wasn't butter, was it?"

"No," Lily said, looking very suspiciously at the sly dog. "How did you manage to get out of a test?"

Sirius sniggered and looked at Lily. "You may be surprised, but I actually told the truth." He took a piece of toast from Peter. "Madam Pomfrey wanted to know how Jen ended up blue."

"Green," Remus corrected.

Sirius smiled. "Green, then." His smile grew wider. "Pomfrey thought I was so remorseful, she gave me a day off to recover from being so wicked."

"What? You being wicked?" Remus scoffed. "How could she believe that?"

Sirius tried at leisure to find something on the table he wanted to eat (he was too satisfied to be that hungry) when he looked up and saw Jen enter the Hall. He followed her eyes as her gaze darted along the Gryffindor table. When she saw Sirius, she smiled. He smiled back, feeling great relief at seeing her up and about. Even knowing there was no lasting damage, Sirius still felt Guilty for tormenting Jen to the point of their accident. He did enjoy teasing her and Jen did retaliate quite well, but last night he'd gone too far. He smiled more broadly as he thought of how close they had gotten the night before, he never thought he'd want to get as close to any girl as he did Jen. And seeing her gaze at him, he felt his heart swell.

That is, until Jared Jones stopped her and all his good humor was flushed away. The Ravenclaw captain was holding Jen's arms as though he owned her.

As Sirius started to rise, Remus grabbed his arm and pulled him back to his seat. "He's just asking how she's doing." Remus was well aware of the tell tale signs of Sirius loosing his temper. And Jared Jones manhandling his girlfriend was definitely one of them. He knew Sirius was jealously possessive of the people he cared about, romantically or not. Countless times he'd served detention because he'd hex an offender at the wrong time for insulting, or hurting one of the Marauders. He'd even spent a week with Filch because an idiot Ravenclaw had mistreated Lily.

"He doesn't have to do it with his hands," Sirius sneered, pulling his arm from Remus, but making no further effort to rise. "What does he think he's doing?"

"Didn't you say the Ravenclaw's were out on the pitch last night?" Lily queried. Sirius briefly looked at her, his scowl confirming her question. "I'm sure He's just concerned about how she's doing. I mean, you said it yourself the team witnessed a pretty tough tumble."

"But he doesn't have to touch her." Padfoot's voice was growing very low. "And she doesn't have to let him."

"Are you serious?" James scoffed at his best friend. "I know you're not honestly jealous of a Ravenclaw?"

"I would be," Peter interjected worriedly. "I mean it took you almost two years to get her to look at you, Sirius, with anything but disgust. And here comes Jared Ravenclaw, all suave and tall, handsome," he sniggered at his friend's expense. "And not at all conceited. If she were my girl, I wouldn't let her go around touching other boys." And as if to punctuate his comment, Jen leaned up and kissed Jared's cheek.

"You're not helping, Peter," Lily chastised, shifting to block Sirius's view of the interaction. "Don't do anything stupid," she said to Sirius.

Sirius flicked his agitated eyes to Lily. "Like what? Kiss another girl?"

"Sirius," Remus said all too calmly. "You know there's nothing to be upset about. She likes you, she's with you. Lily's right, don't do anything stupid."

"She was only thanking him!" Lily snapped, trying to deflect another of the couple's famous fights.

Sirius shook as he watched Jen start to make her way to their place at the table and then turned to James. "And what's your opinion?" he asked a little more sharply than intended.

Shaking his head, James knew he had to say something quickly. Jen was only a few seconds away. "I don't know. I mean she hasn't been with anyone but you for a long time, but then I wouldn't like it very much if Lily kissed just anyone. We all know she does like you. Still, kissing Jared, right here in front of everyone?" James wouldn't meet his best mates eyes. He fully agreed with Sirius for being angry, but he didn't want another scene to erupt because the two could never come to understand each other fully.

Obviously making his own decision, Sirius settled himself on the bench and grabbed another slice of toast. He began to angrily butter it as Jen took a seat beside James.

She wrapped her arm companionably around his shoulder, snatching bits of food from her friend's plate. "Hi," Jen said brightly as she situated herself and started to fill her mug with juice. "What's good today?" she asked looking over the breakfast platters before them.

"Jared's mouth seems to be pleasing," Sirius snarled, glowering through his bangs. The toast in his hands had just about been destroyed with his abusive buttering.

Jen stopped her search for something tasty and looked at the top of Sirius' head. Something had occurred between the moment she entered the hall when he smiled at her and now as the innocent toast crumbled in his clutch. She then scanned each of her friends with question in hopes of finding a clue to the situation. Seeing only their nervousness, she then thought of the last few moments and grinned. He's jealous! Her heart almost leapt. He really did care about her. But of course, he was being irrational; again. "Well," she started, not wanting to give him the upper hand for even a moment. "I wouldn't know. I've never wasted any time on his mouth. His cheek of course is something entirely different."

The groan she heard escape from both Lily and James immediately told her this was the wrong tactic. She looked across the table at Sirius who finally looked up at her, eyes ablaze. She turned to Remus for support and saw his eyes slowly close, waiting for an explosion.

"Oh, c'mon!" she exclaimed while trying to catch Sirius's eyes beneath his bangs. "You don't honesty think I'd have anything to do with Jared?" She smiled thinking this was some kind of a joke, however when the only reactions she got were her friends studiously hiding behind the pretence of eating breakfast, she looked back to her boyfriend for explanation. "You can't honestly believe I'd let him try to 'chat me up' right in front of you?" She reached across the table and laid a hand over his wrist. "Who would be so stupid as to try to chat up Sirius Black's girl in front of every one?" she finished with a grin, hoping to release the tension.

"I never said you were my girl!" Sirius snapped, quite louder than he intended. Unfortunately the deafening silence that swallowed the comment stretched past their immediate area at the Gryffindor table and continued to the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables. It would only be moment before it reached Slytherin.

"Sirius!" Lily scowled at him, completely astonished. "How could you even think--"

"No," Jen's voice was clear and loud, as though she wanted everyone in the great hall to hear her. "Its okay, Lily." Then slowly rose and stepped away from the bench. "He's right," she said, glaring at her boyfriend. "He never did say I was his girl. That was my mistake." Then turned and walked briskly from the room.

"Charming, Sirius," Lily hissed as she rose to follow her friend. "Real charming."

Glaring at Lily's retreating back, Sirius slowly shook his head and reached for another slice of toast. When he noticed the silence had not dissipated, he looked first at James, then Remus and finally Peter. They were all staring at him, mouths agape. "What?" he asked, then realized he was getting similar looks from most of the students surrounding them. The only exception was the Slytherin table where the students were smirking and whispering to each other. Sirius began to feel uneasiness creep in over his jealous fury. "Really, what?"

James was the first to recover from shock. "You could've picked a better time for that."

Remus nodded. "Not to mention a better reason. She really meant no harm, Sirius." He started to gather his books; doing wonderful impression that he was disgusted with his friend.

"Guys, sincerely, what just happened?" he demanded his friends.

"Sirius," Peter smiled at Padfoot's idiocy. "You just dumped her in front of the whole school."

Astonished that Peter would say something so thick, Sirius scoffed: "I did no such thing."

"You just told her she wasn't your girl," James replied, knowing his friend had once again let his mouth run away with his brain.

"No, I didn't." He shook his head in defense. "What I meant was I never told anyone she was my girl."

"You're going to try to get off on a technicality?" Remus snapped as he gathered the last of his supplies and stood. "It doesn't matter what you meant or even what you said. What matters is what she heard. And she heard you brush her off right here in front of everyone."

"But that's not what...." He looked imploringly at Remus, then James. "It didn't really sound like that, did it?" When he saw several other students nodding in response to his question he suddenly felt terrible knowing how hurt Jen must be feeling. Especially after last night, he thought in retrospect. "Bollocks." He swung his feet over the bench and headed for the door. He knew this one wasn't going to be easy to smooth over. As he reached the end of the table, he noticed both Snape and Regalus smirking at him. Bloody wankers, he thought as he exited the hall.

*** ****

"Jenny!" Lily shouted at her friend who was striding down the hall, forcing her to run in order to catch up. Finally she reached out to place a hand on her shoulder to slow her. "Jenny, wait! I don't think that he meant it that way."

Brushing her hand beneath her eye, hoping to hide the tear that escaped, Jen shook the hand away and continued running away from the embarrassing scene down the hall. Jen took a deep breath. "What other way could he have meant it?" Then lowered her head and watched her feet in their race to get as far from Sirius Black as possible. "I knew most of our meetings didn't mean anything, but I thought last night..." She couldn't hide from Lily the tremor in her voice. "I can't do this, Lily, not now."

"Jen!" Lily's response was cut off by Sirius' shout.

"Tell him to leave me alone." Jen snapped at Lily and picked up her step. "Just make him go away."

"Would you just give him a chance to explain?" Lily took hold of Jen's elbow and tried to stop her friend.

Jen looked up at her friend, then down the corridor where she saw Sirius racing towards her with James, Remus and Peter close behind. The hallway was vacant, save she and Lily and the Running men, as everyone else was at breakfast. Though she hated herself for it, Jen couldn't help but feel that tug at her heart whenever she looked at Sirius. That once hopeful love she felt was quickly mutating into cold-heartedness, as she thought of how easily he'd dismissed her.

"Jenny, wait!" Sirius shouted again.

Jen resolutely shook her head and turned heel and continued away from them, mentally kicking herself for thinking that he could really care more about her than just for a romp in the hay. She was so relieved she kept her mouth shut instead of almost telling the bastard she loved him the night before. "How could I have been so stupid?" she mumbled.

With patience quickly draining away, Lily firmly grabbed Jen's arm to stop her from running. "The two of you are always going off at the mouth and misunderstanding each other." She held ground firmly until the Marauders met them at the spot. "I don't need another sleepless night with you crying under the covers. Just let him explain."

"Jenny, listen." Sirius skidded to a halt behind her. "You didn't hear me--ugoooh..."

All explanation was cut off as Jen spun around and her foot landed between his legs with the force of a rogue bludger. Several gasps and groans followed from the nearby boys as Sirius fell and curled onto the floor, everyone cringing in sympathy.

Jen turned back to Lily who stared wide-eyed at the moaning heap of Sirius. "Any chance of him misunderstanding that?" she bellowed, then spun around and took off for Gryffindor tower.

"Oh." Sirius rolled from his side to his back, then back onto his side. Then raggedly pulled his wand and aimed it at Jen's back. "Petrificus Totalus," although he whimpered, the spell was clear.

"Sirius! No!" both Lily and Remus shouted when they realized what he was doing, but neither were quick enough to stop the spell. Jen's body stiffened and fell firmly to the ground.

"Son of a bitch," Sirius moaned again as he tried to regain control of his body that was still wailing in protest. "Fuck, she can kick."

"We have to get them out of here," James said. "If one of the Professors sees this they'll both be in detention until they graduate."

"Not to mention losing all our house points," Remus added helping James heft Sirius to his feet.

"Mobilicorpus," Lily cast as she waved her wand at Jen whose body immediately began to float. "Peter," she said, turning to the remaining Marauder. "Go to class and stall for time." She glanced at her wrist. "We should make it before the bell, but just in case try to distract Professor McGonagall."

"I can't lie to McGonagall!" Peter whined.

"Since Jen and Sirius are already excused tell her we just wanted to see them back to the tower. You won't be lying!" Lily said impatiently. "We are trying to see them back to the dorm. Just don't tell her the rest."

"She's not stupid, Lily," Peter pointed out. "She'll know something's up."

"Have you a better idea?" she snapped.

"I'll go with him, I'm sure I can think of something if you're late." Remus said as James pulled one of Sirius's hands around his shoulder while his other hand still clutched his groin. "You can handle this, right?" he asked James who nodded. "Good. But don't linger up there. Let the two of them sort this out. It won't do for the Head-boy and girl to be late for a test. McGonagall with have kittens."

Lily glared at Remus for this joke about their Head of House's Animagus form. With James aiding a limping and still moaning Sirius behind her, she quickly turned and led the levitated Jen to Gryffindor tower.

When they entered the tower a few late wakers were scurrying about the common room, gathering supplies and heading out the portrait, lest they be late for class. Lily surpressed a grin and directed her paralyzed friend to the sofa. "Now listen to me," Lily scolded as she rested Jen's frozen form on the sofa. "Don't go running off; give him a chance to explain. Alright?" Lily could see her friend relent slightly, though Jen glared up at her from her horizontal position. There would still be an argument no doubt, but at least Jen would let him try to explain why he had humiliated her in front of the whole student body. "Good then. Finite Incantatum."

Jen abruptly sat up and stared into the fireplace as James helped Sirius to sit on the opposite end of the couch.

"Now be good, you two." James glared at each of them. "Lily and I didn't risk detention for you two to throw each other around the common room."

Sirius nodded, and readjusted himself on the sofa. "Thanks, Prongs," he said and looked truly grateful that Lily and James had gone to such lengths to make sure Jen would sit and listen to him. He knew she misunderstood him, and thanks to Prongs and his girl, he had the chance to explain to the only girl he ever really cared for what he'd meant.

James retuned the nod, and with a wink turned and took Lily by the elbow and rushed away, hoping they'd still have time to get to class.

"The others explained to me what happened back there. You weren't listening to me," Sirius finished what he tried to tell Jen before she took precautions in the hallway that he wouldn't be fathering any children.

"I heard you just fine," Jen gritted out between clenched teeth. "I'm not your girlfriend. And you needed to make sure everyone knows that." With arms crossed defiantly over her chest, she fought to not let him see her cry.

"No, that's not what I meant." Then turned slightly and cringed as his trousers pinched, reminding him the pain was still quite real. "I meant that Jared didn't know that we've been together."

"Oh, please," she turned her head and sneered at him, sarcasm dripping from her tongue. "Everyone knows we have been together. At least, I thought that we were a couple." She looked back at the fire. "I guess I was wrong. Now my reputation as a slut is complete." This time she really did cry; the discrete tears of utter understanding.

He slowly edged closer to her. And laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and said, "Nobody thinks that."

Again, she glared at him. "Talked to Regulus lately, have you? Chatted with Snape, perhaps? You've been listening to the flattery of Charles Mendez maybe?"

Sirius knew she was trying to bait him, but he still felt his temper definitely rising. What wild-ass point was she trying to make anyway? "Since when have I ever cared about Slytherin's?" Why was it that women couldn't just let a man apologize? Why was it always about them being right? "Since when have you?"

"Since you decided to humiliate me in front of everyone!" she shouted. "You couldn't have waited until we got back up here? Could you? You just had to make another attention grabbing scene that would have the girls falling all over you, didn't you?"

"Humiliate you?" He turned fully to her and matched her glare. "You're the one who decided it was okay to start kissing other boys in front of the school! Talk about being humiliated! Peter was almost laughing at me!"

Jen shook her head in disbelief. "You are impossible. I was really flattered that he was showing me so much concern. It's not often a girl gets treated like she's important around here." She stopped abruptly to prevent more tears. Seeming to make a decision, she took a deep breath. "All he wanted was to ask how I was doing."

"Wouldn't a more appropriate response have been 'I'm fine Jared, thank-you very much?' Couldn't you just shake his hand or punch his arm?"

"Fine!" Jen bellowed and stood. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't think it was that big of a deal!" She then grabbed a pillow from the sofa and threw it across the room. Remembering her promise not to start a brawl before Sirius explained, Jen began pacing angrily around the sofa, periodically slapping the headrest to punctuate her feelings. "Girls don't punch people in the arm!" SLAP! "It was a harmless peck on the check!" Wham! "He was just worried because he saw me fall!" THWACK! "When did you become so concerned about who I talk to?"

"I don't care who you talk too, Jennifer." He stood, though a bit more carefully then Jen had, still nursing his wounded nether regions, and faced her. And said all to firmly, "But, I do care who you kiss. I thought I made that clear last night!"

Clenching her fists and still glaring she tried to make sense out of his last comment. It was just like a man to make inferences out of nothing and expect that obscure actions communicated where words would be better. Try as she might it just didn't make sense to her. "What?" she asked for lack of a better coherent thought.

"Last night," Sirius said a bit more calmly as he stepped closer to her. He risked his groin to gingerly reach for her elbows, looking deep into her eyes. "I thought you understood."

"Understood what?" Jen wailed, almost hysterical in her confusion. What was he trying to say?

"Bloody hell." Sirius thought she was being abnormally thick. He was actually going to have to say it. With a held breath he jumped into the deep end. "That I love you," he snapped. He was furious she'd made him show this weakness, and didn't want her to see any more. Then shoved her back and sat back on the couch, leaning on his knees with his hands clenched firmly in his hair.

Jen stood staring at Sirius for several moments letting what he said sink in. She knew she loved him; she had for sometime, but didn't want to make any kind of an overture for fear of scaring him off. But now, He'd just told her he loved her, a bit reluctantly, but he did say it out loud. Slowly she knelt beside him on the sofa and took his face in her hands pulling it around to meet hers.

When his eyes stayed down, refusing to meet hers, she leaned in and began to shower soft kisses on his face. Tender, tentative kisses, until he began to respond and wrapped his arms around her waist.

So thankful that he hadn't pushed her away, Jen's kisses became more profound. Feeling her chest clench she matched his embrace and buried her face in his neck holding him tightly. "I love you back," she murmured and tightened her hold.

He responded by pulling her onto his lap and squeezed her closer. The two were content-for the moment- to just be sitting holding each other.