Sugar & Spice

*Rosie's Point of View

I collapsed into my seat (which had, from the fourth day after my enrollment, been officially dubbed 'Tammie's seat') next to James and laid my head on the table, closing my eyes. Immediately all the surrounding chatter of dinner was blocked out and I sighed in contentment. I am positive I would've fallen asleep were it not for the very fact that I was sitting where I was.

"Tammie," James said somewhere near me and snapped his fingers near my ear. I rolled one of my eyes open and looked up at him. "Wow - Padfoot's right - you do look like shit," He commented.

"Thanks," I mumbled, but without the venom I injected into my voice when speaking to Black. I just didn't feel the need with James. I also didn't bother telling him off for calling me the stupid nickname Black had come up with.

"What's up Rosie?" Asked Remus, glancing at me as he piled his plate as high as was possible with spaghetti bolognaise. I groaned.

Black hadn't gone back on his word; every single night for the last week he'd kept us up well past midnight, pushing me as far as I would go, and I was utterly exhausted because of it.

It was now the end of my third week at Hogwarts and I'd learnt a lot: Black was an asshole, girls roved the corridors in bitchy packs, boys couldn't keep their hormones in check, Black was exceedingly arrogant, teachers gave out way too much homework, lessons were hard... and Black was one very arrogant asshole.

I mean, he seemed to have become comfortable enough around me to be able to point out all my little flaws and insecurities without a qualm. He scoffed when I couldn't get my head around a certain spell, or when I was so tired I was falling asleep in our tutoring sessions. But even more infuriatingly, he seemed to be constantly trying to seduce me by somehow turning on a shocking amount of sex appeal at least once every couple of days. I don't know how he did it - it was like a switch.

I decided to explain it very simply so they would understand easily without much effort on my part.

"Black," I grumbled shortly before closing my eyes again. I could hear and feel James chuckling heartily next to me though.

Then I felt somebody sit on my other side. A very warm somebody who trailed their index finger up the curve along my spine, forcing a warm shiver from me.

"Think of the devil," I muttered to myself before slapping away the hand, careful not to be gentle. I still hadn't bothered to open my eyes.

"Ouch, Tamms - that hurt."

"I've got enough shit on my plate without you coming onto me all the time, Black." I heard a fork scrape against a golden platter right next to my right ear, but ignored it.

"Pff - like I'd have you anyways, Tamms. Just look at you," He scoffed, suddenly disdainful.

This was another thing he did. I think it was specifically designed to make me feel even lowlier about myself. I actually felt my spirits drop and though I would never ever show it, his words cut deeper than they should have.

I opened my eyes just in time to see James cuff Black about the head with the flat of his hand. Sirius ignored him, not phased in the slightest, and began shoveling food into his mouth at a rate that both held me fascinated and utterly disgusted me.

"You know you're an inconsiderate toe rag, right Black?" I angelically pointed out. He smiled condescendingly, and turned back to his food, completely dismissing me.

I rolled my eyes to myself and stood up, deciding I was going to have an early night, tutoring be damned.

"Where are you going?" Black had obviously been paying more attention than I'd thought, as his head shot up at the movement.

"Bed," I said shortly and turned to walk off before I fainted from lack of sleep, if that were possible. I felt some body's large, warm fingers curl about my wrist and after tugging fruitlessly I turned back, surprised.

I was greeted with the sight of Black sitting lazily with one leg either side of the bench; he was the one who effortlessly held me back. He hadn't bothered to move away from his seat or even drop his fork.

I tried to shake him off again, but he held on tight, catching my eye as was his habit, and looking me directly in the eye.

"I've got to tutor you tonight and I'm not getting in trouble with McGonagall just because you're PMSing," He stated coolly, arching his eyebrow.

I gasped at this nasty remark before I could stop myself and redoubled my efforts to get away from him, but to my consternation there wasn't even the tiny hint of strain in his calm expression as he held me back.

His biceps didn't even rise against his shirt - I'd expected at least that much - while anybody watching could see that mine were pulled completely taut. He never looked away from me, and my face heated up under his level gaze.

So slowly it was almost imperceptible, he began to pull me closer to him. He hardly seemed to notice that I didn't want to be anywhere near him.

Suddenly I saw red and quicker than it took to think it through I'd stepped up to him and slapped him with all my might across his face.

His head snapped to the side with the force of the blow and I felt my nails kiss his cheek before I let my arm drop. My hand stung horribly; I flexed it to get the little shock waves off.

Everybody in the vicinity was suddenly quiet, shocked that I'd slapped the infamous Sirius Black.

I stood stock still, probably more shocked than everybody else staring at us. I wasn't prone to violence but I quickly decided he'd gone well past the point of deserving it.

Black slowly turned his face to me, touching the bright red mark lightly with the tips of his fingers. A slow sexy grin spread across his face as though I'd just done something very intimate to him.

"Oh man... nobody, and I mean nobody, has ever done that to me before. Oh, do it again please," He said quickly at the end, so that the words ran together slightly.

My eyes widened at that; I felt as though I had a spotlight trained on me, there were so many people glaring or staring at me, but I was too upset to care.

I stepped up very close to him so that I could whisper in his ear.

"Black, I wouldn't go there with you if you were the last man on this planet," I purred in dangerously low tones before straightening up.

"Don't you people have anything better to do than stare?" I said very loudly, prompting half of Gryffindor and some of the nearby Hufflepuffs to hastily turn back to their food.

I shot one last evil glance at Black (he was still grinning as though he'd just had his first kiss), and stormed out of the hall.

*Sirius's Point of View

"What the hell is wrong with you?" James demanded harshly, knocking my elbow off the table to get my attention. My fork clattered loudly to the floor from the jolt, but I barely even noticed.

She'd slapped me! The first time I'd ever been slapped by a girl, and it had done nothing but turn me on. I had a feeling that it would only be sexy if Tammie did it though, but I couldn't quite pinpoint why.

"Yeah?" I asked, slightly dazed, having difficulty wrenching my eyes from her departing form. God, Black, get a grip!, I thought, and then snapped out of it.

"She's one of the nicest girls in our year, and she's new and you're going out of your way to make her life difficult! What the fuck is wrong with you, Sirius? You never act this way towards anyone - let alone girls." James said hotly.

I turned to him, surprised. He actually looked like he might sock me. I had to admit, he had a very valid point. I was definitely not a nasty person - I could get along with anybody who was half decent, and I genuinely liked to help people but... I didn't know how to act in this kind of situation and I couldn't seem to help myself, try as I might.

I felt horribly guilty all of a sudden.

"I don't know," I said quietly and turned back to my food, trying to figure out what exactly was going on with me. James huffed, Remus nudged him, rolling his eyes and Peter watched us from the corner of his eyes.

We all fell into a moody silence which lasted until the next day.

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*Rosie's Point of View

The second I woke up the next day I felt emotionally dirty somehow. It was like having a bad taste in my mouth that I couldn't get rid of.

I dragged myself out of bed well after the last couple girls had left the dorm to go down to breakfast and quickly did my daily routine, minus the makeup - I wasn't in the mood for it today.

By the time I was ready I had five minutes to get to my Transfiguration class.

Even if I ran I knew I would be late.

As predicted, I arrived ten minutes late and as soon as I quietly pushed open the door, cringing, McGonagall's head snapped up, her look pinning me motionless.

I bit my lip, embarrassed by all the people craning their necks at me... with one exception. Obviously 'Mr. Black' wasn't above doodling in my exercise book, which I'd left with him during our last tutoring session. I made a mental note not to do that again.

"Detention, Miss Tamsworth - and you too, Black." His head shot up and he stared at her, speechless for a moment. I smirked.

"I didn't even do anything!" He cried out indignantly.

"And ten points from Gryffindor for your seeming lack of basic manners -" I was beside myself now, doing my utmost not to burst out laughing as I weaved my way through the tables and students to our desk. "- I delegated the task to you, did I not Black, of making sure Miss Tamsworth settled in satisfactorily? Well that includes helping her get to class on time," She glanced at my pink face (caused solely by my efforts not to laugh) and I could swear I saw the ghost of a smile tug at her lips.

I glanced at Black who was scribbling mutinously in my exercise book. As I reached him I finally realised that he was genuinely angry.

He shocked the class silent by stabbing the quill viciously through my text book and tearing it to pieces, finally throwing it in McGonagall's direction. I knew Black; he had very good body coordination. He'd missed on purpose.

The whole time his face was completely deadpan, not showing even the tiniest bit of emotion I knew he felt.

I was utterly speechless when he stood and lobbed his broken quill against the wall, before sweeping the ink, school book and spare parchment off of our desk onto the floor, splattering the ancient stone floors with my luminescent blue ink.

McGonagall didn't even blink.

"Ten detentions Black, and you shall be scrubbing my floor directly after class. You know as well as all my other students that I do not tolerate this kind of childish behaviour in my classroom." Black opened his mouth to speak, suddenly looking defeated and ashamed by his outburst now. "Sit down!" She said sharply, losing patience with him.

I pulled sharply on his hand, forcing him to sit down. He immediately covered his face with his hands. If I hadn't been sitting so near him I wouldn't have noticed that he was shaking slightly.

McGonagall continued with the lecture as if nothing had happened, and the rest of the class turned back towards the front, unanimously fearful of feeling her wrath.

My jaw had dropped open and I looked to James for an explanation. He shook his head solemnly and looked back at his quill, which looked like it had been suspended above his parchment the whole time. He still didn't write anything.

I realised something then. Something very important actually.

There was something going very wrong in Black's life.

I suddenly found I didn't dislike him so much any more. I vowed right then and there to find out exactly who he was and what was bothering him so much that he would lash out like he had.

I realised that we weren't that different after all; Sirius Black and I had something in common.

We both had issues.