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“Um,” I saw awkwardly, “Mum, this is Sirius…”

My mother smiles and steps forward, reaching for the hand Sirius has offered most likely by reflex. She shakes it, and then grips it tightly before letting go. “Of course,” she says in her ‘charming’ voice. “I remember you from the funeral.” She lets her eyes drop, shaking her head. “An unfortunate way of meeting indeed.”


Sooo dramatic and sooo fake.


“It’s lovely to see you again, dear,” she says sweetly.


Sirius nods, a small smile on his face. “And you.”


“Um, we’re going upstairs now,” I say.


“If that’s all right with you,” he interjects smoothly.


He’s being polite. Why is he being polite! It’s only my mother, for Merlin’s sake.


“Doesn’t he want a tour?”


“No,” I snap.


“Arianna…” She’s pursed her lips. What a rude child I am being. My apologies, mother. She cuts her eyes towards me, warning written in the dark color.


Oooh, this means trouble.


Yeah, like I care.


“I’ll show him around after dinner,” I relent, “but right now he’s really tired. Aren’t you,” I stress, giving him a significant look.


“Er, yeah, that’s right. Thanks for the offer, Mrs, uh, Charmon.” He nods his head awkwardly and follows me past her out of the living room.


On the staircase, I sigh. “I hate her,” I tell him.


He gives me a smile, this time real. “I know, Arian. It’ll be fine. You’ve got me, haven’t you?”


Cocky jerk.


“Well, this is my room,” I say with a sigh, opening the door and holding my arms out.

“Voila.”


What he does, though, is not what I expect: he starts laughing.


“What?” I snap.


But he just keeps laughing, shaking his head.


“Sirius!” I punch his arm hard.


“You,” he gasps in between bursts of laughter, “you—your room! It’s—” He shakes his head, leaning against the doorway and trying to catch his breath. “It’s purple!”


I roll my eyes.


Honestly, only Sirius would find that funny.


“Yes, it is,” I agree, glaring at him now, hands on my hips.


He manages to strand straight again, though still grinning. “I’m sorry, Arian, love.


“Yeah. I don’t see what’s so funny.”


Other than the fact my room is a five-year-old’s dream.


He puts his hands on my shoulders and leans in to give me a kiss. “It’s, um, not?” he says, and I can hear the question in my voice.


“Pfft. I like it,” I lie, just to be contrary.


He gives me a startled glance then smiles knowingly. “Right.”


“Jerk!” I sing out.


“Sorry, Aria,” he says again, meekly this time.

I hold and angry glare for a few moments before cracking. I give in and kiss him. “I’ll show you around.”


* * *


“So…”


I cross my arms grumpily and ignore Drew’s attempt at conversation.


Sirius nudges my foot under the table, sliding his hand into mine and giving it a comforting squeeze, low enough so that my mum and Drew can’t see.


I sigh, glance at him, and say, “Yeah. So. May we be excused?” It’s mocking and meant to sound that way. Like I need their permission for anything.


Smartly, my mother chooses to ignore it. “You certainly may, Arianna — after dessert.”


“Are you kiddi—” I start to hiss furiously, before Sirius’s foot connects with my ankle. He shoots me a serious look and I reluctantly give. If being polite to her means he stays, well, then I guess I’ll have to be polite. Ha, ha. Yeah, right. “Fine.”


“That’s a girl.”


That’s an annoying attempt at being a mother. Too bad I’m not a dog; I’d probably appreciate the effort much more if I were.


“I’ll go grab the dessert,” Drew says, giving me an overly cheerful smile. I scowl back and cross my arms.


“Thanks,” Sirius says, voice equally as cheerful. I scowl at him too and he kicks me.
Such a nice boyfriend.


I sigh.


“Oh, very well, Arianna,” my mother snaps. “Go on; leave. Just stop your moping, for goodness sake.”


“Very well,” I sneer as meanly as I can, pushing back my chair and stomping from the room.


“Thanks for the dinner, Mrs Charmon,” I hear Sirius say as he leaves the room. “It was great.”


She chuckles. “It’s a pleasure to know someone appreciates it, Sirius.”


I throw myself onto my bed and scream into my pillow.


“And here I thought having you around would make things better,” I huff as Sirius closes the door behind him.


He sits next to me and takes my arms, pulling me into a sitting position. Gently, he slides his arms around me, pressing his lips against my jaw. “They really aren’t that bad, not compared to my family.”


I sigh and lean back against him, feeling him place his chin on top of my head. I don’t have an answer for that. I mean, yeah, the stuff he’s told me about his family is pretty horrible, but I doubt I’ll ever fully agree.


“You know what I want really bad right now?” I ask dreamily.


“What, me?” he teases.


Idiot.


I nudge my shoulder against his. “Yes, but. Also. My dad’s carrot cake. He made the best. He would bake it late at night, and Jill and I would always wait till he went to sleep then go downstairs and eat it. The whole thing, except for sometimes we saved him a piece. I never realized how much I loved it.”


I feel his lips against my cheek. “If there’s a recipe, maybe we could try baking it tomorrow,” he says softly.


I give a sad smile. “That’s okay, but thanks anyway.” It wouldn’t be the same thing.
“All right,” he says, drawing his arms back from around me.


I turn to him. “No, that is not permitted.”


He smiles. “Oh yeah?” he says teasingly. “I thought you didn’t like having me here.”


“That’s not what I said,” I tell him with a frown. “Having you here is the only thing that keeps me sane. If you even think about leaving I’ll slap you.”


He laughs. “There’s the Arian I’ve been waiting to see. I’ve missed your quick wit and pleasantly kind comebacks.”


How can one think of a good comeback to that?


“Mmnppf,” I mumble. “Kiss me, you idiot.”


He laughs again and puts his hands on my shoulders, bringing my face closer to his. His breath tickles my cheeks and his grey eyes are warm. “I’d be happy to.” And he does.


His lips are warm and still taste of the peaches we ate for dinner. His tongue presses into my mouth and I lean into his embrace more fully, just praying we can stay like this forever, that neither one of us will have to break away. That I can just loose myself in this kiss and my mum and Drew and the dad that no longer exists in my life will all just fade away. That all of it was a dream, a horrible dream, and staying locked together with Sirius will be a way to wake me up.


He slides a hand under the bottom of my shirt and moves it against my stomach, his touch cold and surprising. I jolt back, cheeks heating up.


His eyes are apologetic. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” He hesitates, searching for the right words.


“Get carried away?” I offer.


He grins. “No, frighten you.”


“I’m not frightened,” I protest, face warm. “It was just sudden is all.” And not really unwelcome. Just … sudden.


“I won’t, if you don’t want me to.”


“No. I don’t mind.” More than don’t mind.


“Oh yeah?” he says wryly. “You jumped.”


“I didn’t!” I say, affronted.


He nods, the teasing smirk still in place. “You did.”


“Well, Mr I’m-So-Great-At-Freaking-Aria-Out, are you satisfied?”


“That you admitted you were freaked out I touched you? That’s not really something one wants to hear from one’s girlfriend. So I guess the answer would be, no.”


I hit his shoulder. “You’re a git,” I tell him. “And, I wasn’t freaked out,” I add belatedly.


He laughs. “Sure,” he says in a tone that suggests he believes none of it. His grey eyes are calculating. “So … want to try that again?”


I feel my face flush. I don’t know what I’m so embarrassed about. Sirius has touched me before … just … not like that. And I’m not sure what to think of it.


He misreads the look on my face. “Or not.”


“No. No, I mean yes. Wait, no? I mean…” I sigh in exasperation. “Just kiss me, okay?” I fume.


He laughs, bringing his face closer. “As you wish,” he says mockingly, bringing his lips to mine again.


* * *


The feel of his thumb smoothing circles on my bare stomach is comforting. I move my face into his shoulder, sighing contentedly. Sirius’s breath falls across my face evenly, the slow rhythm of the mostly-asleep.


“Sirius?” I whisper, lifting my head slightly and peering into the dark to try and see his face.


One of his eyes flickers open, and he tightens his arm around my shoulder. “Yeah, love?”


I’m silent for a moment, needing to tell him a million things but unsure of how to put them into words. “Thank you. For being here, I mean. You deal with my mum and Drew better than me.”


He gives a slow chuckle and brings his hand from under my shirt to smooth across my face. “I like being here. Don’t thank me, it’s a million times better than being home.”


“Yeah, but still … thanks.”


He smiles, his lips soft against my forehead. “Love you, Arian.”


“I love you,” I breathe, and his eyes shut.


“Night,” he murmurs, and I fall asleep in his arms.

---

A/N: AHH. I am /so/ sososososo sorry. It's been, what, two months since the last update? >> Life has been crazy and I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and write. Well, that's a lie. But I've been more interested in drawing stuff lately -coughs at DA account- and kind of haven't had much motivation to write anything Harry Potter-related.

But at least there was some intense making out?

I'M SORRY.

It'll definitely be a faster update next time.

But anyways, how was everyone's Christmas/Hannauka/ect? I got a graphics tablet for Christmas and some friends (IloveyouGrant) came to visit for like a week (we got back from Palm Springs yesterday -happy dances-), but now there's school tomorrow and I kind of want to die. Darn you, school days that require waking up at six in the morning when you've got sleep to catch up on. Darn you to heck.

OHANDALSO: The /real/ reason for the song quote at the beginning of the chappie is that the music video was filmed at my school! Like, the beginning scene is filmed in my english classroom with my performing arts teacher passing out tests.

So I'm sorry again, but I hoped you liked it? xD