Ellie the Marauder | Sirius Black

|7| You're A Terrible Liar Snugs

My eyes were puffy and my nose was red as I walked back towards the castle with Remus. We were headed toward Gryffindor Tower to pig out on chocolate and Pepper Imps, but I was moving slow. The emotionally draining events of the day and terrifying realization that I had the hots for my best friend really took the energy right out of me. Remus eventually got impatient with my lallygagging and stopped abruptly.

"Okay Snugs. Hop on." he said leaning down for me to hop on his back.

"W-what?" I asked.

"I'd like to get there before I graduate, so please hop on." he replied.

"If you say so..." I hopped on happily and we continued on our way at a much brisker pace than before.

Once we gave the fat lady the password and headed into the common room we were immediately greeted by a concerned and confused Sirius Black.

"Snugs?" he said softly. He looked almost hurt. I ducked my head into Remus's shoulder and whispered to him that I didn't wanna talk to him yet.

"Here, you head on up, and I'll try to talk to him... I'll just let him know you need some time." he whispered.

I headed up the stairs but stopped when I was out of view. I could hear them talking down below and I sat down on the steps to listen.

"Moony, what happened?" Sirius asked, voice dripping with concern.

"She had a panic attack." Remus informed him.

"It's been ages since she's had one though! Not since her mum died." Sirius countered.

"Well she received some Er- shocking information today." 

"What information!? Is anyone hurt?! What aren't you telling me Remus!?"

Remus's voice became a little more difficult to hear. "She saw you and Susan in the hall."

"Yes? And? What does that have to do with this?" Sirius said annoyed.

Remus groaned. "It has everything to do with it."

"Still not following..." Sirius said confused.

"Think about it Paddy. She saw you snogging another girl and then she got upset..." he trailed off.

"Oh Merlin. Oh no. No no no." Sirius muttered to himself. "Are you sure?!" he pressed.

"Absolutely positive."

"Where is she?" Sirius asked.

"She's waiting in the dorm, we were going to eat candy... Sirius stop! Just give her some time!" Remus scolded.

"No." 

Stupid stubborn boy. His animagus should really be a mule. 

I heard as footsteps walked up the stairs I was sitting on. I quickly got up and scurried into the boys room quietly before the footsteps reached the door. In my rush, I forgot that I was there to hang out with Remus and flopped onto Sirius's bed,  laying on my stomach with my face buried into his pillow. It smelled like him and it calmed me down, oddly enough.

The footsteps stopped at the door. A moment passed and then a couple of soft knocks. I didn't answer. Slowly the door creaked open. I heard as the figure made its way across the room and then felt as the bed shifted with their weight as they sat down next where I was laying.

"Snugs?" Sirius said softly. "Ellie?" he tried again. I buried myself deeper into the pillow. "Ellie, s-she kissed me." He said as if he was in pain. I wanted to shout at him. I want to to yell 'I KNOW' but I couldn't move. I couldn't face him. It all felt so surreal. "Ellie. She kissed me. I-I didn't kiss her. I was trying to get her off of me!"

I turned my head so that it was on the side facing him. "What?" I mumbled. I saw him now. His hair was much messier than usual. His eyes were red and bloodshot.

"Ellie. I didn't kiss her. I don't even like her." he said.

I tucked my head back into the pillow. "That's harassment you know." I mumbled. He chuckled softly.

"Scoot over." he said. I shifted like a little worm to the side... taking the pillow with me. He reached down under the bed for the spare he kept in case I spent the night and laid down next to me.

Now, I had laid beside Sirius hundreds of times. We had been best friends since we were 11 and I spent the night in their room at least once a week, though he usually ended up on the floor. However, this particular time, unlike any of the others, I had butterflies in my stomach. I felt as he started to gently play with my hair. It was so relaxing. I scooted closer to him and felt him laugh softly. "Oh you don't hate me anymore?"

"I never hated you." I mumbled turning my head to face him. "I hated Susan." He laughed again. "It's not funny. I almost punched her in the nose." He laughed harder.

"Ugh!" I groaned as turned my self to the side, facing away from him.

"I'm sorry Snugs." he said. I was silent. "Ellie. I'm sorry for everything."

"It's fine. I don't even know why I cared. I-I just was upset you didn't tell me you were going out with Susan." I lied unconvincingly.

He sighed deeply. "You're a terrible liar Snugs." he said in a lower voice.

I turned onto my other side to face him. "I wasn't lying." I lied again, even more unconvincingly. He rolled his eyes.

"If I saw you snogging some random guy in a hallway I would want to punch them in the nose too." he said with the faintest smirk on his face. "I would have been upset, but not because you didn't tell me about him. I'd be upset because it should have been me."

My breath caught in my throat and I could feel my face getting hotter and hotter, my heart beating faster than a hummingbirds wings. This could not be happening.

"What?" I squeaked.

"I said I'd be jealous if someone else kissed you." he said fully smirking at my blushing face. "Just like how you must have felt earlier."

"I wasn't jealous." I grumbled noticing just how close his face was to mine. I could feel his breath lightly wafting onto my skin blowing the little baby hairs around my face.

"Yes, you were.." he said quietly, slowly moving closer to my face. I hadn't kissed anyone before, but I had a pretty good idea that that's where this was headed.

So as he began to lean in closer, lips almost touching mine, I did the only thing I could think of.

I turned into a cat.