The Thief

The Thief

by Water Neko

"Damn that Sirius!" my fellow fifth year Ravenclaws chorused as I entered the dormitory. I was about to say the same thing, but stopped.

"How did you---" I began, looking around at the other three girls.

"How did we know what you were going to say? Simple. You've said the same thing almost every night for the past three weeks," Carol Johnson answered.

"All right, Christina, what did he do to you this time?" Laura McGomrey asked enthusiastically. She always looked forward to my nightly bashing of Sirius. Sirius Black had been a thorn in my side ever since first year, although his best friend, James Potter, wasn't nearly as bad.

Maggie Bones flicked a strand of hair out of her eyes and grinned. "Bet he put a fake spider in your pumpkin juice again, didn't he?"

"No. Actually, he dipped my ponytail in his inkwell during Divination. I kind of threw him across the room," I muttered sheepishly.

"So that's what the yelling was all about. I wondered what was up," Maggie shook her head.

"How bad is it?" Laura wondered.

I brought the end of my ponytail over my shoulder and showed them. The last three inches of hair were midnight black instead of their usual fiery red. I suppressed the urge to blow up again and settled for gritting my teeth.

"If he ever does something like this again, I swear, I'll---"

"Relax, Christina," Carol jumped off her bed and came over to inspect the damage. "It'll wash out." Her brow creased for a moment. "Did you get detention for pummeling Sirius?" She was worried. I had gotten five detentions already this year.

"Amazingly, no. The insufferable git took the full blame for it, even though this'll be his fifteenth. I swear, why does he insist on torturing me? Switching my quills with the sugar ones from Hogsmeade, turning my hair lime green, dying my robes purple, why does he do this? Why doesn't he torture anybody else? Why me?"

Suddenly, my roommates started giggling.

"What in Merlin's name is so funny?"

Maggie held back a snigger. "I always wondered why he paid so much attention to you. Now I know."

"Just what the heck are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She gave me a devilish grin.

"No."

"HE LIKES YOU!" all three of them chorused.

"And what, pray tell, gives you that idea?"

"Why else would he stick up for you like that?" Laura raised a questioning eyebrow.

"So he can torment me about it later," I said, though I couldn't see why this wasn't obvious to them. He likes me? They can't be serious!

I stormed off to the showers and let the warm, relaxing water flow over me. The ink in my hair went down the drain with some help from the shampoo. I sighed. Why had he stood up for me?

Because he loves to infuriate you, a little voice my head replied. He enjoys seeing you scream with fury, it continued. He loves watching a sensible, top-of-the-class student moan with frustration. Don't let it get to you.

I shook my head, clearing myself of those thoughts. After pulling my robes back on, I turned to go back to my dormitory, then stopped. I was still frazzled about the incident earlier, and I doubted I'd get any sleep. Instead, I thought that I'd try being a bit more adventurous than usual and take a nighttime walk to clear my head. I just prayed I wouldn't get caught.

I walked past the boys' dorm, into the common room, and out the portrait hole. My feet led me down the Ravenclaw House tower and into an unfamiliar hallway. Even after five years at Hogwarts, I still got lost once in a while. I looked around in the darkness. Where was I?

"I thought I might find you here," a voice whispered from behind me.

I whirled around only to come face to face with Sirius Black: that cocky, arrogant, good-for-nothing Gryffindor who set a new record for detentions. He looked at me with a satisfied smirk.

"So tell me, Christina Lain, what's a top student like yourself doing lost in the corridors at this time of night?"

"Just because I'm good at schoolwork doesn't mean I know everything," I replied coolly.

His smirk faded. "No, it most certainly doesn't," he said softly.

"Have you come to torment me again, Sirius? Because I've really had it with you. Ever since we were first years, you've put fake spiders and snakes in my food, stolen my school supplies, made fun of my achievements, dipped my hair in ink or some other disgusting liquid, and---"

But before I could end my rant, the boy I despised so much lifted my chin, and gave me a searing, passionate kiss.

When he pulled away from me, my head was spinning.

"---And you're an incredibly good kisser," I finished weakly.

I finally came to my senses and wiped my mouth off in disgust.

"What on earth did you do that for?!" I shrieked.

"I would think that that would be obvious." With that cryptic statement, Sirius turned and left.

Arrgghh! Is there no end to his madness?! That thought racked my head until morning came. I tossed and turned, trying to get some rest, but all in vain.

The next day, I groggily made my way downstairs to breakfast. My fellow Ravenclaws noticed I hadn't slept a wink last night and asked me what was wrong, but I hardly heard them. All I could think about was Sirius and -- I chastised myself at this -- his kiss.

After eating, or in my case not eating, I trudged to the Owlery. Selecting a common barn owl, I hastily tied my note to Sirius to its leg. I hoped he'd read it.

Sirius-

Meet me at the base of Ravenclaw tower at 1:00 this afternoon. See you there.

-Christina

Since it was Saturday, I knew he wouldn't be bogged down with schoolwork. Or at least I hoped he wouldn't. Sending the owl on its way, I stumbled back to my common room and waited for one o'clock to come. When it finally did, I walked down to the base and searched the mass of students. Sure enough, he was there.

"Christina, I had to turn down a perfectly good game of Exploding Snap with James. This had better be good," he growled.

I nodded. "Follow me," I commanded, and led the way to a secret passage that only the students in my House knew about. When we were almost there, I stopped.

"Promise that you won't tell anyone about the place we're going to," I said solemnly.

"I swear not to tell a soul. Now, can we move along?"

When we reached the passage and got out the other end, Sirius had to stifle a gasp. All around us were trees and flowers of every sort, and a crystal clear brook ran through the middle.

"Christina, where are we?" he finally croaked.

I faced him and grinned. "Welcome to Rowena's Paradise, a.k.a. The Claws' Snogging Grounds."

Sirius turned a magenta hue. "You mean you want to---"

I cut him off fast and laughed. "Sorry to ruin your day, but I just brought you here to talk."

"Rats," he said in mock disappointment.

"Sirius, tell me just one thing. Why do you torment me so? Why not pick on the Slytherins or somebody?"

"Oh, no particular reason. I just love you more than anything in the world, that's all."

He what?

I heaved a sigh and sat down on a smooth rock. "All right," I admitted, "You've won. You've succeeded in confusing, infuriating, and frustrating me to no end. I am utterly defeated. And I also should mention that you've managed to steal something besides my Potions ingredients."

"And that would be---"

I gulped. Here goes nothing. I stood up, summoned every ounce of courage that I could muster, and faced him. For a split second, my eyes lingered on his unruly black hair and piercing black eyes. Then, without hesitation, I pressed my lips to his, hoping my kiss was just as full of passion as his had been the previous night.

I backed away reluctantly, and looked at his reaction. His eyes were wide with shock, but his expression was otherwise unreadable. Then his gaze softened and he took my hand into his, pulling me closer to him. Finally, I answered his question.

"My heart."