ALEX.
Completely confused about what had just happened, Alex quickly returned to Gryffindor tower to hide in her bedroom. She had no idea what just happened and why she returned Sirius's kiss. It was stupid she ought to know better. At least now she knew why every girl fell to Black's feet like complete idiot.
Only when she entered the bedroom she felt safe. Alex got in bed and stared at crimson bed ceilings. She tried to understand why she acted like that. Yes, Sirius was good looking and he was not stupid, but all that sleeping around with girls made him very unattractive. She was completely aware that she had a crush on him like the next person, who had some good pair of eyes in their head. Also she was completely aware that becoming one of many in Sirius's list was no good at all. That is why she had pushed all her childish feelings and crushes deep down a long time ago.
She tried as hard as she could to understand why tonight she kissed him back. Alex could not come to a logical explanation. Was it really just some stupid teenager's hormones? Could it be that? Couple excruciating hours later, she could not think of anything better and finally fell asleep.
As usual, Alex woke up first of the girls in the bedroom. She slowly got ready for the day, there was no rush, and there was plenty of time until breakfast.
"Came back late again?" she heard Lily's question. She was still in bed and watched Alex, who was already ready to go down to the Great Hall.
"Yeah, couldn't sleep," Alex said simply. "You know me," Lily was already used to Alex's absence at nights, because she knew about her insomnia. That is why she did not probe any further.
"Don't wait for me, I'll see you down at breakfast," Lily got out of the bed and started to look for her robes. Alex just smiled and headed out of the room.
It was early; barely half of the students was in the Great Hall. Alex slowly sipped her coffee and ate some sandwiches. All the food in Hogwarts was so good and tasty, but probably it was because anyone could find something that tickled their taste buds the right way.
"Good morning," Sirius's cheerful greeting caught Alex off guard. She looked around and realized that Sirius was alone without the rest of Marauders (Remus once had told her about their nicknames, knowing that she could keep a secret). Sirius sat across of Alex and grabbed a plate full of pancakes.
"Morning," Alex answered him very sweetly (too sweetly), she smiled and returned to her breakfast without even trying to keep up the conversation. Sirius was very disappointed.
Sirius looked at Alex for a couple of minutes, she did not even looked at him, and she just smiled to herself and looked across the Hall.
Finally, he broke the silence and spoke: "Can you please explain to me what happened last night?"
"Was I mistaken for thinking that you are not complete fool?" Alex looked straight into Sirius's eyes, in which she could not find any imperfection. They were beautiful, and she cursed herself for thinking that. "Because I thought that you know what a kiss is. Sorry Black, but I thought much higher of you, because now you are looking at me like I just told you that grass is in some other color not green."
Sirius stopped chewing pancakes and tried to figure out what just happened. There once again was silence between them, looked like Alex is already thinking about something else almost like what she said was nothing special. Sirius tried to breathe in and almost choked on pancakes.
"It takes two to tango, so why did you kissed me back?" after quick chewing session Sirius asked.
"Apparently I wanted to kiss you Sirius Black," she said it so simply looking somewhere over his shoulder. This started to irritate Sirius. She just stated the fact, just like that.
Alex noticed that Marauders entered the Great Hall; she knew that they would sit with Sirius, but she did not wanted to speak to them now. Alex stood up hoping that Lily would not be mad at her for not waiting and prepared to leave.
"Have a good day!" she smiled her simple but warm smile and left.
While she was walking away she herd behind her back very confused Sirius's "Aha", which mixed with the rest of Marauders "Good morning!"
School year has started and Alex was very happy about that, because she liked learning very much. She energized herself with new information and knowledge, and that was one of the reasons why she loved Hogwarts so much.
Professors were not kind to seventh years and after just one day homework piled up in the speed of light. That is why after dinner Alex went to library and started studying, because she liked to do everything as soon as possible.
"You owe me some explanation, miss!" Remus said very quietly but strictly. He sat across from her and started to empty his bag.
"Csst," Alex put her index finger to her lips trying to tell Remus that he is acting too loudly for library.
Remus just kept looking at Alex, ignoring her attempt to shut him up. Alex just kept doing her homework without looking at Remus. After a while, Remus spoke again, but this time even quieter: "I'm waiting for explanation!"
It was clear from Remus's determination that Black has told everything about the kiss. She was surprised just a little; she did not expect nothing much from him. Alex completely understood Remus, because she was not the girl who jumped everybody's bones left and right. And she knew that there was no escape from this conversation.
"What do you want to know?" she asked quietly looking straight into his eyes.
"Why is Sirius so suddenly obsessed with you and why did you kissed him?" there was disbelief and surprise in his voice, because both of these things did not go well together with Alex's personality.
"I have no idea why Black is obsessed with me, and apparently I just wanted to kiss him back, that's it. I can't figure it out myself why I did that," she looked around to check if there was no one listening on their conversation, because that's what she needed the least – someone gossiping about her kissing Sirius.
"I'm sorry, but – what?!" Remus asked very harshly. Alex shot a deadly stare at him, trying to communicate to Remus that he was acting too loudly.
"Can you please calm down? I know it was a mistake. I'm not planning on jumping Black's bones every time I see him," Alex answered calmly, "if you don't mind, I would like to return to my potions essay." Alex tried to end this conversation because she was afraid that Remus would notice that she was not that sure about what she just said.
And Remus didn't ask anything, they just did their homework in silence until the closing time.
*
In evenings, Alex participated in girl's bedtime ritual despite the fact that she could not fell asleep for many hours afterwards. However, she liked to do that, she liked to get ready for bed and talk about some gossip. This ritual was one of the rare things that made her feel that someday everything could be fine in her life.
There was a silence in the room for a while now; everybody was asleep except Alex. She listened to the sounds of the room – someone turned to other side, there was some swoosh of the blankets, someone mumbled in their sleep. She looked at the clock; it was almost 1 o'clock in the night. Alex assumed that at this late hour common room should be empty and she could read The Daily Prophet left by someone down there.
She sneaked out of the room and checked that common room was empty. Alex sat down on the sofa in front of the fire. On the ground there was some issues of Prophets, she picked one up and started to read. After a while, she realized that tonight might be the night when she falls asleep sooner than usual, because Alex was not even through the Prophet when her lids started to feel heavy.
She put the paper on her lap and stretched; she leaned back over the armrest of the sofa and felt how her hair touched the floor. These little things in life that made her happy, she started smiling.
"Why are you not in bed so late, Watson?" she almost fell to the ground when she heard the voice. Wait, was there some humor in the question?
She quickly turned around to see who was speaking, and there he was – Sirius Black, he had just came in through the portrait hole and was coming straight to her. He was smiling the most charming smile (at least he thought that) that he could manage. Without a word, he picked up Alex's legs, sat down and placed them on his lap. The movement was so simple and fluid like it was something that he did every day like, for example, breathing.
"What's wrong with you? Why do you never sleep?" Sirius asked, leaning against sofa and looking at Alex.
"I'm insomniac for many years now, but I don't think this is very interesting subject to talk about now. May I ask why you are not in bed?" and that was true, she did not think that her insomnia was something interesting. She looked at the fire, she actually did not wanted to talk to Sirius right now. She should have just went upstairs and get some well-deserved sleep.
"I don't know, didn't seem such a boring subject to me," he laughed, "well, I was in the kitchens, I was... starving." Pause, that Sirius made, was suspicious; Alex looked at him. Shit, shit, shit! He was not looking at her face, but at her breasts.
But of course tonight of all nights she needed to put on a bit too small T-shirt and she wasn't wearing a bra. Shirt hugged her torso perfectly revealing almost everything. Alex tried to find The Daily Prophet to cover herself, but of course, it had fallen down when Sirius moved her legs.
Sirius looked at her face and raised an eyebrow, he looked truly surprised, for a very long time they looked in each other's eyes. And then Alex's brain completely disconnected from her body, she leaned forward and touched Sirius's lips with hers.
At the same moment, Sirius put his hands around her waist and pulled her closer. She was almost sitting in his lap, when she felt his hands on her body. Sirius moved his hand from her waist and found his way to her neck; he gently moved her head and tried to make this kiss deeper. He succeeded.
Alex put her hand in his hair and started to play with it while other hand rested on his chests. This kiss was completely different from previous one, which had happened many days earlier, that was more passionate and demanding from both of them; it was more intimate than before.
They came up for air, Sirius unlocked their lips, but he did not let her go. Alex felt his heart beating in his chests, seemed like it was racing like stupid. She looked in his eyes, fire from the fireplace reflected in Sirius's grey eyes making him look wild. He gently brushed Alex's cheek and sighed.
"What are you doing woman?! You are going to be the death of me," he said quietly, but there was no anger in his voice. He touched her neck; apparently, he felt the scars and looked at them. Alex cursed herself for forgetting to heal them.
"Isn't that what you usually want – some girl jumping your bones? Like most of the girls have already done that," she actually tried to distract Sirius from her scars, but also wanted to hear an answer to this particulate question.
Sirius looked in her eyes and stopped touching her scars. Alex let the breath out, not even knowing that she was holding one. "Watson, that is the last thing I want – you jumping my bones," he said very seriously.
She closed her eyes and started to smile. Sirius was right; she should not do that. Alex even does not wanted to be next one in his never-ending parade of girls. She was surprised that Sirius was the reasonable one.
"Why did you started to smile?" his voice was very confused. She opened her eyes and managed to get out of Sirius embrace. They now just sat next to each other on the couch.
"You are right, I'm not going to jump your bones," she stroked his cheek with her fingers. "Sorry, it is not going to happen again," and she stood up, kissed his forehead and walked away leaving Sirius on the couch watching as she went.
REMUS.
It was the day after the full moon and Remus was lying in the hospital bed while outside the window new day announced itself with bright sunlight. Last night was hard even with the help of James and Sirius, and now Remus felt that in his body.
Sleep, that's what he needed now the most and maybe some potion for pain from Madame Pomfrey, but he could manage without it. Remus was not sure if Marauders would visit him in the lunch break if he will not be out of here by then.
He felt his eyelids starting to get more heavier and heavier, when he was almost asleep he managed to hear Madame Pomfrey speak, it sounded like "dreamless sleep potion", "twenty four hours", "you don't sleep otherwise", "you can meet your friends tomorrow". Remus did not know if it was dream or reality because he was asleep just seconds later.
"Moony, wake up! We brought you food!" James yelled completely oblivious that he was in the Hospital Wing, where you should act quietly.
"Prongs, you know that they feed me here too," Remus replied prompting himself in upright position, he took the package and looked what they have brought.
"Stop it, we are just worried about your health," Sirius winked so strikingly that it was possible that all school now knew about Remus's secret.
"Don't worry we decided to skip history of magic to spend some time with you," James plopped in the chair and put his feet up on Remus's bed. "All you need you can read in the books, so no point going to today's lesson."
History of Magic, so it meant that it was Wednesday. Remus shook his head; it meant that he had dreamed about the dreamless sleep potion and everything Madame Pomfrey said.
"Let's play some exploding snap!" Peter suggested already taking cards out of his bag. Therefore, they spent some time playing the game, eating food and laughing too loud.
"Out!" shouted Madame Pomfrey running towards them, it was clear as day if they did not comply, it would be them lying in these hospital beds. "How dare you! Mister Lupin needs rest not your yelling! Out! Get out!" she had already pinched Peter by the ear and was dragging him out. "You two – out!" she shouted over her shoulder to James and Sirius.
"Sorry, see you later," James managed to say while leaving the Hospital Wing.
"I will let you out before dinner, by that time everything must be fine with you," Madame Pomfrey was now puffing his pillows after the dramatic shouting match. "I will give you something for pain and you will be as good as new," she hurried to her room after finishing with Remus's pillows.
As promised Madame Pomfrey gave him something for pain and let him go to the Great Hall for dinner. Remus dressed quickly and was about to leave, but then he turned around and went to the last bed of the Hospital Wing.
He sneaked around the blinds, which was covering the bed and looked at Alex. She looked grave, her face was all scratched, and arm was in bandages. Remus was sure that the damage was worse than it seemed. He realized that it was Alex to whom Madame Pomfrey gave dreamless sleep potion, because she did not wake up when Remus squeezed her arm.
He stood by her bed for a while still holding her arm. Her breath was slow but stable; she was going to be okay. Remus leaned and kissed her forehead, and then left for dinner with his friends at the Great Hall.
SIRIUS.
September was fast coming to an end, there was maybe a week left till October. And all this time Sirius couldn't stop thinking about Alex, because he was determined to find out something more about her, and her words "Sorry, it is not going to happen again" kept haunting him at all the hours of the day.
All this time he was secretively watching Alex. He realized very quickly that she was the most brilliant creature he had met in his life. Alex was nice and polite, always talked to everyone who started the conversation with her. And sometimes she was angry and even scary, but that wasn't because she didn't have a reason. But still she was amazing.
Sirius realized that almost everyone wanted to be near Alex just for a little while. She radiated peace and comfort, and who didn't wanted to be near the person which can make you feel good even just for a couple of minutes. On the other hand, Sirius noticed that Alex liked to be alone, and she liked to be alone very often, most of the time she sat alone at the Great Hall, in the common room or anywhere else in this school.
Now she was doing her homework alone in the common room, Rodger Boot went to her and started some conversation, it looked like he tried to flirt with her. What the hell does he want?! Sirius surprised himself with these kind of thoughts. Get away from her! She does not need you! He thought very angrily.
"Sirius what are you planning to do this evening?" all his angry thoughts was interrupted by Megan, to whom Sirius liked to spend some very boring evenings.
"Go away!" he groaned not even looking at her. He did not took his eyes off Alex and that bastard Boot. He heard Megan leaving mumbling something under her nose.
Remus looked up from his book and looked at the direction Sirius was looking. Then he looked at James who also had noticed that something was wrong.
"Padfoot, dear," James said in a very sweet and mocking voice, "if you are planning to continue to pretend that you are reading DADA book but not looking at Watson, then please at least turn the book right side up. Otherwise you are holding it wrong for the past half an hour."
It got Sirius's attention, now he was ready to explode, he shut the book close with such a force that over the common room fell grave silence, then he threw book on the floor and rushed upstairs to their bedroom.
Morons, he thought shutting the doors behind him. He crushed into his bed, crossed his arms and looked straight into the bed ceilings. Sirius did not understand why Alex rejected him; he could not find any explanation to that. Why the only girl he liked, didn't even looked at him? Other girls still tried to jump his bones occasionally, so he was not the problem.
Sirius in his life was rejected only a couple of times by a girl, and he never knew what to do in situations like that. Sirius signed, he thought that he had fooled his friends, that they did not notice him watching Alex. To fool Marauders was a very hard task to do, and apparently, he did not succeed.
James, Remus and Peter showed up in the room later that evening. Sirius pretended that he does not notice them, but he was sure that they would not go to bed without saying a word.
"Why don't you just speak to her?" James asked stripping down his uniform and putting on some pajamas.
"Because she doesn't like me," oh, what a bunch of lies, but now it didn't mattered.
"Padfoot it is very hard to believe your words, because Alex is not that type of girl who doesn't like someone without a reason, well, except Slytherins but who even likes them," Remus said deep in his thoughts.
"Okay, maybe it is not true, but she made very clear that she doesn't want to do anything with me," Sirius felt anger and sadness building up inside him again.
"Just grow a pair and talk to her, if you like her so much," James said pulling a blanket over his head.
Sirius turned to his side and did not speak anymore, because he was not ready to lie to his friends anymore. Yeah, maybe talking to Alex wasn't the dumbest idea after all.
Sirius heard that everybody was asleep, there was also no sounds coming from the common room. He took the Marauders Map and started to look for Alex. He hoped that tonight she was out of her bed because she could not sleep. She wasn't in the common room, bedroom or the kitchens. He searched the castle, and finally he found her in the Astronomy Tower. There she was.
Without thinking Sirius grabbed James's Invisibility Cloak and left the boy's bedroom, he knew that it was forbidden to be at the Tower outside the lessons, but he didn't care. On the way to the Astronomy tower Sirius wondered if Alex had ever been caught outside the bed in the middle of the night.
He reached the top of the tower and saw Alex leaning against the wall. It was so windy up there; he did not understand how Alex wasn't freezing, because all she had on was just some pajamas, sneakers and a coat.
Her arms were crossed across her chests and she was looking in the distance. Sirius very slowly and quietly moved closer to her, he wanted to see her face, but he did not dare to move close enough so that she could feel his presence. They both stood on both sides of the stairway leaning against the wall, but only one of them was visible.
Sirius looked at her face, she looked sad, no, not sad. Alex looked like all the sadness and depression of the world was on her shoulders, like she was the one who must suffer it all. In the night her eyes looked much darker than in the daylight, they wasn't honey brown with little fires playing in them from the fireplace, because these Alex's eyes Sirius remembered the best. Her eyes was sad and dark, nothing like he expected to see this evening.
Only then, he realized that she was crying, tears fell silently across her cheeks disappearing behind the collar of the coat. It took all of his strength not to take off the Invisibility Cloak and hug her. He wanted to hold her in his arms an tell her that everything's going to be okay, that he will revenge everyone who had done harm to her.
It was impossible that Boot was the reason for her tears, no way. His hands made fists and he was ready to go and punch that bastard senseless or hex him into next century. Alex moved and he forgot about his revenge plans.
She walked to the railings, Sirius's heart skipped a beat, but Alex just took out from her pocket a letter and a wand, without words she flew letter up in the air and lit it on fire. Then she waited for it to burn down and air to carry ashes away, Alex wiped her tears away and left the tower. Sirius stood there for a moment and then returned to the Gryffindor Tower.
Next morning Sirius woke up from the noise that rest of Marauders was making, that wasn't fair, it was Saturday and Saturdays were meant for sleeping.
"Pads! Wake up! Let's go eat, I'm starving," James yelled and threw a pillow to Sirius.
"Fine," Sirius sounded grumpy, but when he got out of bed, a big smile was plastered on his face.
Entering the Great Hall Sirius automatically started to look for those chocolate brown hairs with caramel highlights, but they were nowhere to be found.
"Oi, I think I'm going back to bed..." James rubbed his stomach and pushed away his empty plate. "Or... I will go to library to study, we have a lot of homework," in a completely different tone finished James; he followed Lily with his eyes while she walked past them.
Sirius could bet everything he had, that just now while James was telling them about sleeping, Lily was telling some other Gryffindor that she will go to library. Sirius smiled, Prongs was unbelievable.
"See you later!" James waved at the Marauders and very briskly left the Great hall.
"I don't want to admit it, but Prongs is right, we have a lot of homework," Remus laughed. "But I will go to the common room to study, do not want to see Prongs making a fool of himself in the library. Are you coming?" Remus still laughed.
"Not now, maybe later," Sirius said shortly already eating his second breakfast. "Tsee youh lather," with a mouth full of pancakes Sirius tried to speak.
"How charming," Remus felt disgusted watching a piece of pancake fall out of Sirius's mouth. "Right, see you later at the common room. Come Wormtail let's go."
When he finished his breakfast, Sirius went outside. It was very warm and sunny Saturday; it was possible that this was the last decent day in this autumn. He started to walk towards the lake, thinking that he could lay beneath some tree and soak in the sun before going back inside. But then he saw Alex, she was sitting on the bench by the lake. And without thinking he went straight to her.