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

- 16 -

"Give it the fuck back!" Mavis ran after Sirius, who was smirking with her walkman in hand. "If you drop it I will gut you right here!

Sirius danced out of her reach all the way back to the Gryffindor common room. Her growls just made his stunt so much more satisfying. She chased him around the couch until she finally cornered him. He just shot his arm up and the short little girl couldn't reach the walkman.

"Merlin be damned, just give it to me!" she said, standing half an inch from him.

"Only if you promise to come to my birthday party," Sirius told her.

"You sound like such a child!"

"And you don't?" he scoffed, and then scrunched up his face to mock Mavis. "Give it back! Give it back! Your face is stupid! Give it back!"

Mavis just stood there with her arms crossed over her chest. Her glare would have made a lesser person run. She finally opened her mouth to say, "I never said your face is stupid!"

"Ah! So you like my face, do you?" Sirius told her.

Mavis smirked and pressed Sirius against the wall. She opened her mouth to say something with a thickly laced innuendo, but never got the chance.

"Take the music thingy," he said, pushing her off himself. "Just come to the party, okay? I promise it'll be fun."

Mavis stared at the walkman suddenly returning to her hands, and then back at Sirius who was already stalking off to the boys' dormitory. He wasn't the type of person to give up that easily and he had never given up the chance to rile her up with his words. Mavis sighed. Maybe he was just in a bad mood. To be fair, one of his best friends was sick again, so he was in his right to act a bit off.

In her dormitory, she found Ashley passed out on the wrong bed with her uniform still on. She hadn't come in last night, but that was usually once in a while.

"Ash," she whispered, gently shaking her. "Wake up, Ash. We've got to get you off Evans' bed and into your pyjamas."

Ashley grumbled and sat up.

"I wanna go to sleep!" she whined.

"I hush up, we both know Evans will freak if she sees you on her pristine bed."

Ashley slipped off the bed and wandered over to her own. She changed into her night clothes while Mavis adjusted Evans' sheets so they looked just as the brat had left them. Once she was done she changed into her pyjamas and also went to bed.

* * *

The two girls went down to breakfast later than usual the next day, due to Ashley's sleeping extravaganza. The girl overslept by an hour and even Mavis' attempts proved futile to wake her.

They sat down at the table at their usual spots, except Lupin was missing. Ashley looked shocked.

"Where's Remus?" Ashley inquired, not even sitting yet.

"He's still sick," James informed her, eating his porridge while reading the Daily Prophet.

"Relax," Mavis told her. "Just sit and eat breakfast, Ash."

"You're lying." she leaned across the table and snatched the newspaper out of his hands. "I saw him yesterday, he's fine now."

James looked up at her, slightly aghast.

"He's upstairs," Sirius answered. "In our dorm. Doesn't want to be disturbed and all that shit."

"Is he coming to class?" Ashley demanded.

"No."

Ashley nodded and left the Great Hall.

Mavis watched her go with a surprised look.

"Oh well." She shrugged. "Scoot your arse, Sirius. You're in my spot."

Sirius was piling sausages onto his plate again and looked like he couldn't be bothered.

"Go sit next to Peter."

Mavis huffed.

"As much as I love darling Pete, you're still in my spot," Mavis growled.

"Well, I got here first,"

Mavis smirked and sat down on Sirius' lap. She pulled a plate over and started putting food on it. He was tense beneath her, especially when she stole a couple of sausages from his plate.

"Whatever," he grumbled and scooted closer to James.

Mavis slid off his lap, slightly disappointed that she barely got a rise out of him.

She ate his sausages and drank some juice quietly. James had resumed reading his newspaper and Sirius was a block of ice.

"Whatcha got there, Potter?" she asked, leaning across Sirius to get a look at him. "I didn't know you could read."

James just stuck out his tongue at her.

Mavis sighed completely bored with her company.

"Pete?"

The pudgy boy looked up from his morsel, surprised to be talked about.

"How's life?" Mavis continued, shoving another sausage in her mouth.

"F-fine," he stuttered. "You?"

"Been better. You going to Sirius' party?"

Peter's eyes were as wide as saucers. It was true, barely anyone paid attention to him. Mavis found it sad.

"Yeah."

"Cool. Then I know at least one fun person who'll be there."

"Hey!" both Sirius and James exclaimed.

"I'm fun!" James insisted.

"I'm a fucking drama queen," Sirius said. "What's more entertaining than that?"

She wanted to smile - finally, Sirius was saying something - but she resisted. A small victory could be sacrificed for a greater one

"Whatever," Mavis said, rolling her eyes. "See you there, Pete."

She got up from the table and aimed for her next class.