Barking Mad (Sirius/OC)

You leave and you leave again

Chapter 52

Don't say you need me when

You leave and you leave again.

~ Pretty When You Cry - Lana Del Rey

Sirius and I were sitting on his favourite couch by the fireplace one cold November night. People had been surprisingly okay with me dating Hogwarts' most desirable bachelor. Many had told me they'd seen it coming from miles away, especially since our big fight last year. "You could cut the sexual tension with a butter knife," I overheard a third year mumble in passing.

Others said that Sirius had made his choice, even though it was one they didn't understand and one that made them silently hate my guts. The latter group assured me that only a few rotten apples truly wished me ill.

I didn't really have to look very far to find those either. There was Sheila, Sirius' ex who had been convinced that he would come running back with a huge apology for his crude behaviour. She'd managed to create a small group of people who gave me the stink eye whenever I passed them in the corridors. To my surprise that group included Anabelle and her best friend, but I tried not to let it bother me too much. "Some people are just desperate for a hobby," Sirius had told me reassuringly more than once. "It would be mean to deprive them of their one joy in life."

I suppose he did have a point. Somewhat. A little.

"You're going down, Black," I told him as I threw my card on the table.

"That's what you think," Sirius answered me with a competitive glint in his eyes.

I snorted. "I know it, Mr. Black. You've got nothing on me."

"Oh," Sirius drawled with a wink, "I've got plenty things on, for and with you, dove. And I'll be sure to withhold each and every one of them if you kick my arse at this game."

I gave him a narrow-eyed look. "There's a word for that, you know."

"It's called Blackmailing for a reason, darling."

I shook my head in mock disgust. There was just no winning with him. "So you're telling me that you won't allow me any of your 'things' if you don't win?"

Sirius nodded gravely. "I'm sorry, my darling little dove, but it's a cruel world." He clutched his chest as if it physically pained him to tell me this.

I rolled my eyes. "I call your bluff," I told him seriously, before throwing down my other cards as well.

I smirked when I saw Sirius frown as he studied them.

"Brilliant," he finally said. "Well played."

I smiled broadly at his praise. He slowly started inching closer like a lion ready to pounce its prey. I licked my lips and swallowed. A month ago I would have been extremely nervous, but now I felt wicked anticipation chase the nervous chills down my spine. I don't think that feeling was ever going to pass. Not with Sirius.

"I think someone's ready for her reward," he told me softly, his voice barely audible.

"I thought you were withholding all your 'things'."

"I lied," he confessed, before his lips claimed mine. His right hand supported my neck as if he was holding the most valuable treasure in mankind's greedy history. I knew how he felt. I laid my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me.