And There Were Always Two... - oc x r. lupin & oc x s. black

- 14 -

"Don't you fucking trust me?" Mavis drawled, attempting to have Sirius try their Befuddlement Draught.

"No, I fucking don't," Sirius answered, leaning further and further away from her.

"Bastard," she said, dumping the spoonful back in the cauldron and resuming her seat. "I think we're done."

Mavis looked up and saw that Remus and Ashley were already exiting the classroom.

"Still annoyed with those two?" Sirius asked, tilting the cauldron to pour the potion into a bottle.

"Yeah," Mavis growled. "I don't like the way he looks at her."

"Oh shut up!" Potter interrupted. "Compared to you two, they're two-year-olds in a sandbox!"

"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean," Mavis said venomously, wiping her hands and standing up with her bag.

After giving their potion to Slughorn, Mavis grabbed Sirius by the strap of his satchel and pulled him along. They were walking along a hallway far from the potions classroom, and Sirius grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Dunno."

"Wanna go up to my dorm?" asked Sirius.

"Fuck no, you sick-" Mavis cried in outrage.

"-Not like that, you horn-" Sirius started but stopped when he saw Mavis laughing at his reaction. "Unless you want it to be."

He suddenly changed the power balance by pushing her up against the wall. Her breath hitched, but she didn't let it show on her face. She smirked and licked her teeth. Slowly. Making him watch.

His hands were resting against the stone wall as he towered over the short girl. He dipped his head to her ear.

"So what were you thinking?" he said in a low voice.

Mavis stared at him. Well, this was different.

"Oi!" she heard a familiar voice shout. Potter was jogging down the hall. "Control yourself, Sirius!"

Sirius pushed himself off the wall and faced his friend.

"But she started it!" he said and his demeanour quickly changed to that of a two-year-old.

"I'm sure she did-" Potter said, walking up to them.

"-He's the one who invited me into his dorm."

Potter looked back at Sirius, "she is not coming to our dorm."

Mavis wanted to both thank and kill Potter for interrupting. Part of her wanted to know what Sirius would have done while the other was scared that any of it happened.

"While you two sort out whether or not I'm allowed in your dorm, I'm going to go and find some food."

Mavis turned on her heel and walked off.

The last thing she heard was Sirius shoving Potter back and growling, "look what you did."

* * *

Mavis and Ashley wandered down to breakfast, where there were new sitting arrangements. Ashley sat in between Remus and Peter, while Mavis and Sirius sat next to each other. James sat on the other side of Sirius.

She watched Ashley and Remus across from her. Ashley took her half-used tea packet out of her mug and put it in Remus', as he scooted the honey over to her side after putting a dollop into both teas. The way they acted all couply made her want to gag.

Sirius stood up to reach across the table, spearing a few breakfast sausages.

"I thought you drank coffee?" Sirius asked as he spied the tea in Remus' mug.

"Turns out it's banned at Hogwarts," Remus shrugged.

Sirius sat back down and started eating his omelette. Mavis reached over to his plate and stole a sausage.

"Oi!" he exclaimed as she bit into it. "Give that back!"

Mavis shoved the rest of it in her mouth and flipped him off.

She saw James shudder and look away.

"What?" she asked pointedly after swallowing.

"You all make me feel so single," James answered.

Both Remus and Ashley looked up from stirring their tea. Sirius swung his head around with a surprised look on his face.

"I beg your fucking pardon?" Mavis growled.

"Rem and Ashley are acting like an old married couple and Sirius and you... well, I don't know how you haven't snogged each other's faces off yet!"

Ashley blushed hard and looked back down, and Remus visibly leaned away from her. Sirius growled at James.

"You can have any shitting girl in Hogwarts, other than Evans of course, and you're whining that your mates have friends who are girls?" Mavis argued. "How egotistical."

"What do you mean any girl? It's not like I could have had you!" James argued, thinking he was making a smart point.

"There was a time that you could've," Mavis growled.

"What!?"

"You heard me," she said, glaring at the bespectacled boy. "But you chose dimwit Evans."

James looked shocked.

"So that's why..." he muttered slowly.

"Yes."

James glanced at Evans and then back at Mavis, but Mavis stood up from the table. She walked off, embarrassed out of her mind and still mad at James. There were footsteps following her, so she ducked into the girls' bathroom and locked herself in a stall.

That's where she broke down.

Tears ran down her face and she felt like she could breathe. After a minute of punching the stone wall and incoherent crying, she was ready to step out of the bathroom.

Unfortunately, she found Sirius Black right outside, leaning against the wall.

"So you finally told him, huh?" he asked rhetorically.

Mavis nodded.

"Does it feel any better?"

"No," she said thickly.

Sirius approached the girl and she dived into him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest. She started sobbing again as he rubbed her back. He smelled of cologne and smoke and for some reason that calmed her down.

"Where's Ashley?" she mumbled.

"She tried to follow you but Remus stopped her, saying you probably want to be alone."

"Then why are you here?"

"I didn't really care what Remus said," Sirius shrugged, "What about we get your music playing thingy and go for a walk, huh?"

Mavis wiped her eyes, "no, sorry, I've got transfiguration. Pete'll be lost if I'm not there."