Disclaimer: I own nothing. Sadly.
A/N: hey guys! Here's chapter 5. Sorry for the long wait. I was away for a few weeks and I've been busy getting ready to start my freshman year of college. I'm so excited, but there's so much to do. Anyways, here's the chapter.
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James was ecstatic. It had been three days since `the most confusing day of his life,' as he dubbed it, and he hadn't thought about Lily, or love, or relationships, or feelings since then.
`The world makes sense again' he thought happily to himself, as he sat down in the common room to start his homework. `Ugh. Defense homework. Where's moony when you need him?'
As if on cue, Remus, Sirius, Sarah and Lily came trooping through the portrait hole. Sirius still hadn't been able to get Rachel alone to ask her about Sarah. He was planning on doing it today, but he had no idea where that girl had gotten to. Oh well. He'd just talk to her when he saw her.
"Hey prongsie, what's up?" Sirius asked, jumping over the back of the sofa James was sitting on and landing on top of all his schoolwork.
"Well, I was doing my defense homework…and then you decided to grace us with your lovely presence." He replied sarcastically.
"Ah, I see." Sirius said, making himself comfortable.
"Sirius." James began.
"Hmmm?"
"Move your fat arse off my stuff or you'll be viewing the world from a whole new perspective as a dust bunny on the carpet."
"Fine! Jeez, no need to get snappy. You sound like a bloody girl on her monthly." He said, grumpily, moving from his spot on the sofa to the floor.
"Ahem, Sirius," began Lily. "You really should avoid making wise cracks about girls' periods when there are girls in the room."
"Ok! Fine. I'm just gonna sit here and not talk, because everything I say gets me into trouble."
"Hey guys, what's up?" Rachel asked, just joining the group.
"Nothing, just working on this damned essay." James grumbled. Rachel just chuckled and took a seat next to Sirius on the floor and took out a book. After a few minutes, Sirius leaned over and whispered to her.
"I need to talk to you about something…alone."
"oookay, um I'll meet you back down here once everyone goes to sleep."
"K, sounds good." Sirius answered and went back to reading his textbook. He found that he couldn't concentrate though. His mind kept wandering to the concentrating girl next to him.
`Her hair smells like vanilla' he thought to himself. `Mmmm. I feel like running my hands though it, and then running my hands down her perfectly shaped body and then maybe…o god. What am I thinking?' Sirius suddenly realized that he was sweating slightly, and his pants seemed to be a little too tight…
`O my Merlin. This is certainly new. When did I start feeling like this for Rachel?' `Maybe it was that night in the kitchens when you couldn't help but notice the way she licked her ice cream cone with that delicious tongue…the one that could also be used for licking other things…' `o…ok. I need to stop this. Think of something else…um…potions class…. Ugh…o shit I still have to do my essay in that class…' `think about whatever you want, but you can't deny the fact that you want Rachel.' ` I can't believe I'm arguing with myself. I've officially lost it.' `Yeah. You probably have.'
"Sirius…Sirius…OI! SIRIUS!" screamed Sarah. "Are you ok? You look constipated and confused at the same time."
"Yeah…I'm ok."
James raised an eyebrow at Remus. Sirius not making a comeback at Sarah for her comment…something was up.
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"Hey, you wanted to talk to me?" Rachel had crept down to the common room after she was certain her roommates were sleeping.
Sirius looked up from his place on his sofa and was immediately rendered speechless at the sight of her in short boy shorts and a tank top. He shook his head. ` This is definitely not the time.'
"Er…yeah." He made room for her on the sofa. "I actually wanted to talk to you about Sarah."
"Oh." Rachel said, trying to hide her disappointment. He wanted to ask her if Sarah would consider going out with him. That meant he was interested in Sarah. `Well it's not like you have dibs on him or anything' `I know, it's just that I've sort of developed a small crush type thing on him.'
Sirius, sensing her hesitation, immediately realized his mistake.
"No! It's not like that. It's just that Remus wants to ask her to go to Hogsmede with him, but doesn't know if she feels that way about him. So, being the good friend that I am, I volunteered to talk to you."
Sirius could almost feel Rachel's relief. "Oh! Well, she hasn't told us specifically that she likes him, but now that I think about it, she has been talking about him more and more…so I think he should go for it."
"Ok. Great. I'll tell him tomorrow." Sirius was having a really hard time controlling himself while sitting next to Rachel. He had never had to do it before. Any time he wanted a girl, he got her. But this was different. This was Rachel. His friend.
"Sirius…are you ok? You're looking at me really weird. Do I have something on my face?"
"Hmmm? Yeah, it's just that…" and before he even knew what he was doing, before his mind even had time to talk some sense into his heart, he had leaned over and kissed her.
Rachel couldn't breath. Here she was, in the dead of night, talking with Sirius, her friend, and he kisses her.
`O god, what is going on! I can't do this! This is Sirius, the heartbreaker.' `Yeah, but you like it'
"No!" Rachel all but yelled, pushing Sirius away. "What are you doing? Is this some kind of joke? What, have you run out of sluts to sleep with and decided `oh, well there's still Rachel. She's my friend, I'm sure she won't mind' or is it that…"
"Rachel! Stop!" Sirius interrupted. "It's nothing like that! I can't believe you still think of me that way, or have you not noticed that I haven't been with anyone since before last year ended?" he was beginning to get angry. How could she think so little of him?
"I can't believe you think that I would just use you like that. You're one of my best friends. And lately, I've just been thinking of you as more…and didn't know how to say it, so I did the first thing that came to mind." He continued, trying to understand the look on Rachel's face.
"Sirius," Rachel began, not knowing what to say.
`I can't date Sirius. What a disaster that would be!' `Yes, but didn't you just say you had a crush on him?' `Maybe, but that doesn't mean I want to act on it!' `Okay, whatever you say…'
"I…we…I gotta go." And she got up and ran up the stairs to the girls' dorm. She shut the door as quietly as she could and leaned against it, breathing heavily and trying to comprehend what had just happened.
`Oh Merlin. I can't believe that just happened. I can't date Sirius. He's a great friend, but I wouldn't trust him as a boyfriend. How would I know if he would be faithful? Ugh! I can't believe he kissed me! Just goes and screws up our friendship. I can't think about this right now. I'll tell the girls tomorrow and see what happens.' With that decision made, Rachel climbed into bed, and tried in vain to fall asleep.
`I can't believe she has such less faith in me!' Sirius thought to himself as he watched Rachel flee the common room. `She wouldn't even let me explain completely. She should trust me by now. I would never want to hurt her. She has no right to think any of that.' He climbed up the stairs to the dorm, fully intending to give Rachel a piece of his mind tomorrow. `Thank God it's Saturday and I don't have to wake up for classes.'
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"She looks like she's dead" Lily whispered to Sarah the next morning, referring to the sleeping Rachel. She was sprawled out on her stomach, with one of her arms hanging off the side of her bed. Her mouth was slightly open and her soft and even breathing could be heard in the room.
"I wonder what's wrong with her. Rachel never sleeps this late. It's almost 1 in the afternoon!" Sarah said, with a worried expression.
"You think we should wake her up?"
"Yeah. Try shaking her a bit."
"Rach. Rachel, wake up" Lily said, shaking Rachel. Rachel turned over on her back, stretched, and went back to sleeping.
"Rachel!! Wake up!" Sarah said, a bit louder. Slowly, Rachel opened her eyes and looked around.
"God. I feel like shit." She said groggily, sitting up. She tried remembering why she was so tired and felt so bad. It hit her full force mid yawn.
"Oh. Shit. Damn. Fuck." Sarah raised and eyebrow at Lily, who in turn just shrugged.
"Um…Rach, are you ok?"
"No! I can't believe he did that! He has no right to just go and do that!"
"I'm sure he doesn't" Sarah replied, throwing a confused look at Lily.
"Exactly! What was he thinking? I'm telling you, that boy has no common sense."
"You're right, he has absolutely no common sense."
"Yeah, and…wait, did I tell you what I'm talking about? Oh my god, I wasn't talking in my sleep was I?"
"No, you never told us." Lily said, making herself comfortable on the edge of Rachel's bed.
"Oh, well then how come you guys were acting like you knew?"
Sarah just shrugged. "Cuz sometimes it's just better to rant, and you look like you need a good rant."
Rachel sighed. "I do. But I also need some advice."
"That's what we're here for."
"Ok, well, yesterday when we were all sitting in the common room, Sirius told me he wanted to tell me something…" Sarah and Lily sat and listened patiently to Rachel's story. Neither of them had ever seen her this distressed before and were extremely worried.
"…And then, he started looking at me all funky and next thing I know, he's kissing me!"
"WHAT!" Sarah and Lily screamed. "SHIT! This is huge!"
"I know! I never even knew he felt that way! It was so random! He started saying something, but before he even finished his sentence, he kissed me!"
"Wow." Lily said. "So what are you gonna do?"
"I don't know!" Rachel wailed, flopping back down on her bed. "God! He can't do that! I'm so pissed at him! He could have talked to me, but nooo Sirius Black doesn't talk…he just skips right ahead to snogging!"
"Well, how do you feel about him?" Sarah asked
Rachel thought for a minute. " I don't know. I love hanging out with him. He makes me laugh, and he's a great friend. I can talk to him about stuff, and he's always willing to help. But I don't think I'd be able to handle him as a boyfriend. I'd always be worrying about where he was, and whether he's cheating on me. And I'd always be paranoid that he'd get bored of me or something. I just feel like dating him would be more trouble than it's worth."
"I think you should talk to him, you know, let him explain."
"Unless he plans on apologizing for what he did, I am not talking to that infuriating boy." Rachel said stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Rach, don't you think you're being a bit immature about the whole thing? I mean it was just a kiss."
"Just a kiss? Just a kiss? No. See, I have never dealt with guy complications before. It's always been so simple. If I like a guy, I ask him out. If I get bored of him, I dump him. If I feel like it, I shag him and if I don't then I don't. How the hell am I supposed to deal with one of my best friends kissing me? None of my previous rules apply to this situation! I'm completely lost!"
Sarah and Lily rolled their eyes at each other. "Rach, you're blowing this completely out of proportion. You really need to talk to Sirius."
"No I don't, and I won't." And with that, Rachel got off the bed, and marched into the bathroom.
"Completely hopeless, that one is." Lily mused. "Come on. We should probably go and see how the guys are doing."
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In the boys' dorm, about the same time the girls were trying to wake Rachel up:
"NO! you can't make me get up!" Sirius screamed, holding on to his bed for dear life.
"Padfoot! You need to get up! It's almost 1 in the bloody afternoon!" Remus said, pulling one of Sirius' legs, while James tried to loosen his grip on his sheets.
"No! I don't care! I just want to sleep!" Suddenly, the corners of the sheet came out from under the mattress, causing Remus to go flying backwards, along with Sirius. They landed in a tangled heap on the ground, half under the next bed and half not. The sheet was twisted and knotted somewhere in between the two bodies and it was near impossible to distinguish one from the other.
"Bloody hell! Sirius, look what you've done now!" came Remus' muffled voice.
"Me!?! You were the one that was pulling my leg!"
"Well if you had just woken up like a normal person, I wouldn't have had to do that!"
"Well if you had just left me alone, like a good friend would have done, we wouldn't be in this bloody mess!"
"Um…guys, I hate to break this up and all, but you might want to get off the floor." James said, amusedly, sitting on the bed. A few grunts and yelps of pain later, Sirius and Remus sat on the floor side by side, both looking extremely flustered.
"Good, now, Sirius, would you like to explain what's going on?" James asked, taking control of the situation.
Sirius opened his mouth to respond but Remus interrupted. "And don't try to say there's nothing wrong, cuz we know there is, and don't say you won't tell us, cuz you're gonna end up telling us either way."
"Oh yeah and why is that?" Sirius challenged.
"Well because if you just tell us by choice, then that's all fine and dandy, but if you try to say no, just be warned that we have plenty of blackmail items on you that we've gathered over the years."
Sirius looked as if he was still going to hold back, but then relented. "Ok, ok. Fine. I should probably tell someone anyway." He took a deep breath and began telling them about the feelings he had been having for Rachel and how he didn't know how to express them.
"…So I kissed her."
Silence.
Complete and utter silence.
"Hello? Are you guys dead? Say something!"
"You…that is to say…you…she…" James tried to get out.
"What he's trying to say, " Remus began, trying to comprehend it himself, " is that you were talking to Rachel last night, and realized you had these feelings for her and instead of talking to her, you kissed her?!?"
"Yes" he said meekly.
James got off the bed, walked over to Sirius and whacked him over the head.
"Ow! What the bloody hell was that for?"
"Sirius! You are the biggest moron on the face of the earth! You can't just go up to a girl and kiss her without knowing how she feels first! Even I know that!"
"He's right, " Remus added. "It's bad if you do that with any girl, but Rachel is your friend. Things are gonna be complicated as hell from now on."
"I know! It's just that she looked so bloody hot in those tiny shorts and tight shirt and I just couldn't stop thinking about how good she would look out of them…and before I knew it, I was kissing her! I honestly didn't mean for it to happen!"
"Sirius…from what I just heard, it sounds like what you feel is lust. You're attracted to her physical beauty." Remus said
"No, no. It's not just that. I mean yeah, she's sexy as hell, but I love just being with her. I love making her smile and laugh. She's great to talk to, and seems to understand me better than I understand myself."
"Ok…well how did she react to your kiss?" At this, Sirius clapped a hand over his eyes and groaned.
"She completely flipped out. She started screaming and ranting about how I was just using her because I couldn't find anymore sluts, and that I don't respect her as a friend…how can she think so little of me? I haven't been like that for a while now! I can't believe she has such little faith in me, in our friendship."
"Sirius, mate, I think you need to talk to her before things get completely out of hand."
"No. I won't talk to her unless she apologizes for how she reacted."
"Sirius, you're acting like a child." Remus said through gritted teeth.
"I don't care." And with that, Sirius went to the bathroom to change so that he could go to breakfast…lunch.
"Come on." Remus sighed. " We should see what's going on with the girls. It can't be worse than this."
James snorted. " Don't be too sure. If Sirius is this dramatic, just imagine what Rachel will be like. Girls are insane. They blow everything out of proportion. That's why I always say"
" I know! I know! It's best to just not get emotionally involved with girls. I know prongs. But we don't have time to deal with your issues right now. We need to go see Sarah and Lily." Remus said, exasperatedly.
"I do not have issues. I'm just the most practical and logical of the group."
"Yeah, ok Prongs."
"Well look on the bright side. Sirius said that Rachel said that Sarah probably likes you back."
"Yeah, but thanks to the oh-so-wonderful-Sirius, I probably won't get a chance to ask her out for a while."
"Oh, don't worry. Everything will work out in time. Rachel and Sirius are not ones to stay angry for long."
"Yeah. I guess you're right."
Down in the common room Sarah and Lily were sitting on the sofa talking quietly. Remus was about to say something to them, but James held out his hand to stop him. The girls had not noticed the boys' presence yet. He smirked, turned to Remus and winked before walking to stand behind the sofa and bent down a little bit.
"AAAHHHHH!!!!" he screamed as loud as he could near the girls' ears.
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!" both girls screamed. Sarah jumped up high in the air and landed hard on the ground, while Lily swung her arms backwards, slugging James straight in the face. Remus just watched the scene with a highly amused expression on his face.
"ARG!!" yelled James, bringing his hand to his injured face. "What the bloody hell was that for?!!?"
"Ohmigosh! James! I'm so sorry! I thought you were coming to attack us or something, and it was just a reflex to swing my arms! Are you ok?!?" Lily asked frantically.
"Yeah, I'b fide. But I thik by dose is broked." James said thickly, holding his sore nose.
"Oh! Here, I'll fix it." Lily took out her wand and said a healing spell that instantly fixed James' nose.
"Thanks Lil! How'd you know how to do that?"
Lily snorted. "Please, I've been friends with you four natural disasters since I was a little girl. You'd probably all be dead by now if I didn't know these handy little spells."
"Yeah, you're probably right. Smart thinking. Hey Sarah, you alright?" Sarah had picked herself off the floor and was now seated on the sofa, watching the exchange between James and Lily with interest.
"I'm fine." She said, waving it off. "I'd be more pissed, but I think Lily already punished you enough."
"I've warned you not to do these kinds of things before, prongs." Remus said, walking over and sitting down next to Sarah. "They always back fire on you."
"I know, but it's still fun."
Remus rolled his eyes at this. "So we came down here to see if you guys were up to date with the whole Rachel, Sirius thing."
"Oh yeah. How much do you guys know?" Lily asked.
"How much do you guys know?" James questioned, narrowing his eyes.
Sarah rolled her eyes. That seemed to be happening a lot to James lately. "We know that Rachel came down here to talk to Sirius last night, and that he ended up kissing her."
"Yeah. That's basically what happened. And now Sirius is angry at her because she still think of him as a playboy/heartbreaker."
"Oh. Yeah, and she's mad at him because he `screwed up their friendship and he has no right to do that.' That is a direct quote…or close enough. Oh by the way, did Sirius tell you guys what he need to talk to Rachel about? We forgot to ask her."
"Oh…er…no." Remus said, nervously.
Lily narrowed her eyes at the two boys. " What's going on? Why are you two looking so twitchy?"
"Nothing's going on. Why would anything be going on? Honestly Lil, Have some faith!" James defended.
"Anyway, I think we have bigger problems at hand." Remus said, trying to change the subject. It worked…for now anyway.
"You're right. Rachel and Sirius not talking to each other. This is not good. And they haven't even seen each other since `the incident.' It's gonna be hell when they come face to face. Neither are very good at hiding their emotions." Lily said
"So, what do you think we should do?" James asked. Before anyone could answer, the sound of two doors closing could be heard. Then, Rachel and Sirius could be seen coming down the steps of their respective dorms. At first, neither noticed the other.
"Hey guys, what's up?" they both asked at the same time, referring to the four friends situated in the middle of the common room.
The silence was deafening. While Sirius and Rachel glared daggers at each other, Sarah, Lily, James and Remus looked between the two nervously.
"So…who's hungry?" James asked, hoping they would just forget what had happened. They didn't.
"Sarah, Lily, I'll be in the library doing some homework. I'll be back in a few hours." Rachel said, briskly. Then, without a second glance, she turned at walked out of the common room.
Sirius just made an immature face at her retreating back and went to sit on a chair by the fire, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You know, both of you are being incredibly childish." Lily said matter-of-factly. "If you just talked to…"
"No. I won't talk to her unless she apologizes." Sirius interrupted.
"Rachel is the same way. She won't talk to him unless he apologizes." Sarah said, sighing.
"What! What did I do that I need to apologize for?!?"
The other four just stared at him incredulously.
Sirius sighed in defeat "Ok fine. Point taken. I shouldn't have kissed her."
"Now he gets it." Remus muttered.
Sirius just glared at him.
"Still, if you just…"
No! I won' t talk to her. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm bloody starving. I'll be in the kitchens."
"This is not good." James said after Sirius had left.
"Thank you captain obvious. Care to share some more of your wonderful insight?" Lily said, sarcastically.
"Well, if we're not doing anything here, we might as well head down to the great hall for some lunch." James said, standing up.
The four went down to eat lunch, where a few students were still finishing up.
"Hey Lily." Lily looked up.
"Oh hey John! What's up?"
"Nothing really, what about you?"
"Lot's of drama…but nothing we can't handle."
"Oh. Well I was wondering if you wanted to take a walk outside with me later today, say around 6ish?"
"Yeah! That'd be great. I'll meet you right by the doors."
"Ok great. See you then." And he walked back to his table.
"Ooo Lil! He just asked you on a date!" Sarah squealed.
"That is not a date." Lily insisted. "We're just taking a walk, and getting to know each other better."
"Lil, you just listed two things that you're going to do. Both of which are done on dates."
"Not to mention some other things." James said smartly, winking. Sarah kicked him under the table.
"Ow!" he said, rubbing his leg. `Well this is good. At least I don't feel like murdering John anymore. Lily's going on a date. Whatever. Score! I don't feel anything.' James though happily to himself.
"Oh god. I need to figure out what to wear!" Lily suddenly exclaimed, jumping up. "Come on Sarah! We need to go!" And with that, the two girls hurried out of the great hall.
"So, when are you gonna ask Sarah out?" James asked Remus.
Remus sighed. "I dunno. I think I'm gonna wait till Sirius and Rachel sort out their issues. We don't need anymore drama right now."
"Good thinking moony. You always are the sensible one. Come on. I still need help with the defense homework."
The two boys left the great hall, for a brief period of peace before all hell would break loose in the Gryffindor common room.
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A/N: and there it is! What'd you think? Review with comments/suggestions. Again, I'm always open to constructive criticism. I really appreciate it. if you have any ideas/preferences, don't hesitate to tell me!
Till next time then.
~Xoxoxo~
Jdeppfan56
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