Never Listen to a Word I Say

"Hey! Shut up already!" a boy's voice rang out.

"I'm going to bed," Valeri said, turning on her heel and slamming the door shut of the girls' dormitory.

"Yeah, go lick your wounds!" he yelled at the door, then sat back down. "What wrong with her? She's acting weird all of a sudden."

James was staring transfixed at the door, then turned to Sirius, grinning widely, "Hate to break it to you, mate, but looks like she fancies you."

When Sirius woke up the next morning, he had a plan worked out in his mind. He dressed quickly, then hurtled himself out of Gryffindor Tower, running into the Entrance Hall. He stopped and quickly glanced into the Great Hall, spotting her near the middle, talking to her friends.

"Hey," he said, Valeri looking up at him, her smile fading. "Can we talk?"

"I suppose," she said in a bored voice, and she led him outside, sitting under an oak tree.

"I think I know why you're upset," Sirius said, one hand running through his hair.

"Let me guess. James told you," she said, almost totally confident.

"Well...yes, he did. He told me that you fancied me."

Valeri rolled her eyes and looked away towards the lake.

"What was that for?" he asked, raising one eyebrow at her.

"Nothing. Just that you never figure things out for yourself. You always need help from James or Remus. You even need help from me, now that I think about it."

"So basically you're saying that I'm like Peter?"

"In that way, yes."

"Bull! I'm way better than that!"

"I know that, Sirius. Why do you think I fancy you and not Peter?"

"So it's true?" he asked, a hint of hope in his grey eyes.

Valeri sighed.

"I knew it," James's voice called from the branches above them. He hopped down and sat on Sirius's right.

"James, why do you have to tell him everything?" Valeri asked.

"Simple. He fancies you and wants to know where you are at all times." James said, evading Sirius's strikes to punch him.

Valeri rolled her eyes again.

"Re-phrase my question, James. Why do you have to tell me everything?"

"James tells everyone everything," Remus's voice called out from the branches, and he, too, jumped down, sitting next to Valeri.

Valeri looked at him, up at the branches, and then to James.

"Let me guess...Peter is up there as well?"

"No," Remus said, "He's not. He's in the library doing Charms homework from two weeks ago, even now that we have a new assignment."

"Now, back to the fight from last night," James said, changing the subject. "After you went to bed, we talked, and I dragged it out of Padfoot, here, about fancying you. We think that either you enjoy saving him from 'the mob', or he enjoys you saving him, or you both enjoy having each other around."

"Or," Valeri added sarcastically, "We just found out that our friends have lost their minds."

"Valeri's choice," Sirius said, and he and Valeri broke into laughter as the other two looked at them, wiggling their eyebrows suggestively.

"The point is," James continued over the dying laughter, "that you two fancy each other, but you insist on making the other jealous. We're going by what Sirius told us last night." He added, seeing Valeri's look of anger coming.

Suddenly Valeri stood up, expression pensive, and she said, "I need some time alone, no spying, and no friends, just alone. I'll meet you guys in the Common Room." And she took off for the castle.

* * *

"Ok, so the motion is..." Valeri was muttering under her breath, doing the new Charms homework.

She slammed her fist down on the table, startling a couple first years, two tables away. "Dammit! Where's Remus when you need him!"

"Right here," Remus said, appearing from behind her, then added in a low voice, "but make it quick, it is full moon and I've got to be going."

Valeri shoved the parchment and book at him frustrated and within minutes Remus had written the motion on the parchment.

Kristi, Valeri's friend since second year, lured Valeri into conversation, not veering off the subject of Sirius.

"You know you like him," Kristi said, smiling a knowing smile.

"I don't like him," Valeri protested, stubborn.

"Oh yes you do, Val. You probably go home during the summer, hugging your pillow close to you at night, kissing it, imagining it was Sirius, and probably sounded out your name with his, Valeri Black, or maybe, being a good feminist, Valeri Hollenbeck-Black."

"Shutup!" Valeri said, annoyed by the complete accuracy of her friend's guesses.

Kristi yawned widely, and then placed a hand on Valeri's shoulder.

"I'm tired, so I'll go to bed. Think about what I said ok?" Kristi got up and walked to the girls' dormitory, closing the door behind her.

"Finally," a male voice said behind her, making her jump. She turned her head, and, to her embarrassment, almost kissed Sirius Black. "Can I sit here?"

Valeri nodded, blushing slightly.

"We need to talk," Sirius said. "Good news and bad news."