Sugar & Spice

*Rosie's Point of View

One week later found me eating breakfast sitting in between James and Remus, my porridge slowly dripping from my stationary spoon down the front of my blouse as I read up on Vanishing Charms.

I only wrenched my eyes away from my page when laughter reached my ears. I craned my neck to see Black saunter into the Great Hall, to cheering from James, Remus and Peter. I rolled my eyes, ignoring them, and turned back to my book.

A warm hand pressed to my back snapped me from my concentration once more.

Black indicated for James to move over a little bit so he could sit next to me. James rolled his eyes, but obliged.

Black sat right next to me with his legs straddling the bench distractingly close, his knees brushing my bum and knee; I scooted away until my side was pressed right up against Remus, but other than flashing me a quick smirk, he didn't seem to mind.

I huffed and one more time I turned my head back to Level VI Charms, trying to ignore the boy sitting irritatingly close to me. I failed when he nudged me in the arm.

"What, Black? What do you want? Can't you see I'm trying to read my fucking book?"

Black completely disregarded my foul mood.

"Baby, you know I love it when you talk to me like that, but the effect is kind of ruined when you've got oatmeal slopped all down your front," He said, pointedly looking towards my chest.

I looked down in dismay and found he was right. I sighed and waved my wand at it, leaving nothing but spotless blouse in its wake. Black's eyebrows rose.

"What?" I asked, catching his expression with a smug sense of pride. "Think I can't do any work by myself, Black?" I asked loftily, smirking.

He looked at me, mouth slightly open, and I frowned slightly. James elbowed him sharply and Black seemed to snap out of whatever it was, looking around to make sure nobody had seen. His cheeks were a deep shade of pink.

I began laughing at him, delighted that he had been un-smooth for once.

"At least I didn't spill porridge on myself like a big baby," He snapped, but I just kept laughing. It had been a while since I'd really felt anything; I'd been so immersed in my studies I hadn't really paid attention to social interaction.

"Oh, so you can give it, but you can't take it?"

"Yeah, sounds about right," James grunted tiredly around a mouthful of bacon butty.

"Shut up, you," Black irritably knocked James' arm, and... James' butty fell to the floor.

There was complete silence as James gave Black a look that - in my opinion - only would have been appropriate had Black been a hated arch-nemesis.

I burst out into hysterical giggles. The things boys get angry about. Honestly, I thought to myself, standing up and grabbing my things for class.

Somebody caught my arm as I was leaving the Great Hall, and thinking it was Black I turned back with a scowl on my face. The scowl disappeared when I saw it was James.

"Oh, hey James. What's up?"

"Well, I don't know what your plans were for the holidays, but I always have people over for Christmas, and I was wondering if you would like to come?" He asked sincerely.

The most genuine smile I'd had in ages crept across my face.

I had been planning on spending Christmas alone in my dormitory, because there was just no ways I was going to go home to spend it with my father. My brother might be there, too, but it was always a less-than-fun gathering. We never even had a Christmas tree anymore, unless we were putting up appearances for visitors.

I knew that other people loved Christmas, but I always wished it would just be over so we could stop pretending to be a happy family - not that we pretended particularly hard. Just the year before we (Father and I) had had a screaming argument as Tom desperately tried to disperse the tension. The most remarkable present he'd received that year was a black eye, though granted, it had been accidental.

"Really? Wow James... thank you!" I exclaimed, pulling him into a quick hug before turning and striding away down the corridor, feeling ridiculously smiley.

Maybe I'd be able to have a proper Christmas this year. If I did, it would certainly be the first I could remember.

*Sirius's Point of View

"I wish I could make her smile like that," I grumbled to myself as James took his seat next to me again.

"Yeah, well, you don't possess the necessary charm and good-looks that I do, my friend," He said, pulling up his collar and playing snooty. I shoved him playfully.

"Shut up, you. You weren't meant to hear that. You know, I would probably be out of my mind with jealousy if I didn't know you were insanely in love with Evans." James snorted, and then looked around to see Evans sitting a few seats away chatting animatedly to her friend.

James ruffled his hair, and turned back to me, frowning slightly.

"...uh... what?" He asked, sounding a bit dazed. I could only stare at him in amazed disbelief.

"You have a disease, you know that right, James? If I didn't know better, I'd say somebody was slipping love potion into your pumpkin juice every morning," I said, looking around for my books and bag, which seemed to have spread themselves far and wide since I'd sat down for breakfast.

James snorted, and began shoveling food into his mouth as fast as he could when the bell sounded, signaling that the students had to leave now to be on time for class.

As I made my way up the stairs that led to the classrooms, I thought of Tammie. Interestingly enough, this was occurring with increasing frequency.

But she was just... so alive. Full of fire.

I chuckled aloud to myself, remembering the time she'd slapped me, and drawing a couple of odd looks from two passing Hufflepuffs in the process. I ignored them.

I peeked into the classrooms I passed, not paying attention to where I was going. I flinched spasmodically as I heard a familiar voice call my name from inside one of them.

"Mr Black?" McGonagall called. "I think you'll find you're supposed to be in this classroom," I sighed and doubled back.

Before I'd even stepped back into the classroom I'd already gone back to my thoughts.

*Rosie's Point of View

I sat in Transfiguration, listening intently to McGonagall's lecture, but not absorbing a single word of it. I'm sure if she glanced at me, she'd notice how glassy and unfocused my eyes looked, but I was thinking about, well, Black.

His mischievous smirk, the glint in his grey eyes when he was thinking of certain things... it was really starting to piss me off.

I didn't like the feeling that I had a crush - yes, a crush - on Black. He was obviously used to girls flinging themselves at him at the bat of an eyelash, so there was no way I'd be another one of them.

I was jerked out of my thoughts as a wadded-up piece of parchment hit the back of my head. I whirled around to come face to face with a haughty-looking boy with a mop of white-blonde hair.

"Hey," He said softly. I cocked my head to the side, frowning. I was sure I recognised his voice from somewhere. "You're a Tamsworth, aren't you?"

"Yes..." I said, not sure where this was leading.

"Funny, I never knew Augustus had a daughter - I know your brother, Tom." Black heard him and turned around in his chair. When his eyes landed on the boy with blonde hair he curled his lip and snarled. I blinked at him.

"Fuck off, Malfoy," I raised my eyebrows at him in surprise as the boy, Malfoy, smirked at me.

Black took my arm roughly and turned me around. I shook him off, and looked at him questioningly. It wasn't like him to be so rude to people, with the exception of me. He leaned in so his lips were right next to my ear. I suppressed my warm shiver as his hot breath tickled my neck.

"He's a Death Eater, Tammie. Be very careful around him," He said. My eyebrows shot up, but I managed not to look back at Malfoy. I realised now where I knew his voice from - he'd been there that night when the Death Eaters left the school.

"Thank you," I said. It was rare that I was so nice to Black, and he looked surprised for a moment before he gave me a stunning smile, leaving me slightly breathless.

"My pleasure," He said genuinely, his eyes darting around my face and landing on my lips.

I exhaled to myself, licked my lips nervously and ran a hand through my hair to recover myself.

*Sirius's Point of View

I was doodling in McGonagall's class, trying to ignore the influence Tammie's presence had on me, but slowly the sound of her voice penetrated my mind, and my forehead creased. I turned around to see she was talking to Malfoy.

To my alarm he was smiling at her in a way I immediately recognised. It was his trademark sleazeball grin, the one that (to my bemusement) almost never failed to get a girl in bed.

The thought of it nearly made me physically ill. The idea that somebody so lowly and scum-ridden would covet someone like Tammie was utterly loathsome to me.

Before I could stop myself I snarled and swore at him (a very stupid move on my part), and yanked her around. He gave her one last vile leer, and threw me a look which meant, a) He'd get back at me later, and b) He would have her no matter what it took.

I made a mental note to kick the living shit out of him before he could try.

I was brought back to earth when Tammie wrenched her arm out of my grasp and looked at me askance. I decided it was my job to protect her from him no matter what, and that meant informing her of some things. I rolled my eyes to myself; she was so blissfully ignorant of the goings-on at Hogwarts.

I leaned down so that I could whisper directly into her ear. I was extremely gratified to feel her failed attempt to repress a shudder against me as my lips grazed the soft spot on her neck.

"He's a Death Eater, Tammie. Be very careful around him."

"Thank you," She said when I withdrew, completely sincere. It took me aback for a moment - it was very unusual for her to let her guard down with me like that... ever.

It was like she kept this invisible wall up between herself and everybody else. Every so often it would slip a bit, like sometimes when we were alone, practicing various charms and spells in our tutoring sessions, but it never fully came down.

Like it had now.

My own response came completely naturally to me. I felt a huge smile spread across my face before I could stop it, and I said the first thing that came to mind.

"My pleasure." I said, and I meant it, too.

I couldn't stop myself drinking in her features, the way her eyes slanted exotically and the way her eyebrows curved. Her lips drew my eyes the most though, the way they always seemed a bit pouty and raw, like they were hurting from the cold.

I got this feeling that I might do something very stupid, when a dangerously quiet voice shook me out of the trance I'd fallen into.

"Ms Tamsworth - Mr Black. Would you like to tell me what exactly is so much more interesting than my lecture?" We both looked up, chagrined to find that McGonagall was standing right in front of our desk, arms folded, eyebrows raised.

"I was telling Tammie here what you were saying about the theory of human transfiguration, Professor. I am her tutor after all, so it's my job, right?" I lied smoothly, completely straight-faced. She rolled her eyes and flashed Tammie an indecipherable look before sweeping back up to the front of the classroom to continue with the lecture.

Tammie leaned over to whisper right into my neck at the base of my ear. It was my turn to shudder, my body going into overdrive as her warm breath tickled my neck.

"You are such a suck-up, Black," She said without her usual venom, looking as though she was very satisfied about something.

To my annoyance I couldn't seem to come up with any kind of decent retort. She was the only person who could ever do that to me - leave me speechless. It was completely exasperating.

The bell rang at that moment, and the class was dismissed. Tammie stood up to leave, but I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. She splayed across my lap, completely thrown off balance by the force of my tug. I noticed her skirt had ridden up and I bit my lip, for a second forgetting what I'd wanted to tell her.

She stood up as though she'd been electrified and cuffed me around the head, not putting much effort into it. I chuckled, coming back to my senses.

"Class is over Black." She said, raising her eyebrow, but she couldn't fool me; I could see her hands twitching nervously at her sides. I grabbed the chair she'd been sitting in before she'd stood up and dragged it a bit closer, indicating with my head for her to sit down. She grudgingly did, crossing her arms and leaning away from me.

I motioned her closer; it would be impossible to whisper what I wanted to tell her from this distance, as there were talking students swarming all around us. She leaned in.

I grinned wolfishly before running my hand through her hair next to her ear, gently tangling my fingers in it. She tried to pull away sharply, but I lightly held onto her hair, keeping her in place. Her cheeks blazed scarlet.

I was really enjoying myself now.

"How would you like to go to Hogsmeade, Tammie?" I murmured silkily into her other ear; my fingers had threaded themselves solidly through her dark locks, and I took a moment to marvel at the soft, thick quality of it. Anybody watching us would think I was doing something highly inappropriate for a classroom. I could feel her breathing speed up against my neck.

"Don't be stupid," She breathed. "I don't have permission… and there isn't even a trip tonight."

"Ah, but you're forgetting I have an invisibility cloak, my dear," I said softly, inwardly smug at how she seemed to be having difficulty pronouncing her words.

I felt her nod, so I withdrew my hand and sat back in my chair, watching her. I could feel the lopsided grin on my face as I surveyed her crimson cheeks, fluffed-up hair, and her red bottom lip, presumably from where she'd bitten it.

She lifted her chin so she could look me in the eye and I felt my grin widen slowly.

"Yeah, I meant to ask you about that," She murmured, glancing around to make sure nobody was listening. "How are we going to do it though? Without getting caught, I mean."

I stood up and held out my hand to help her up. She ignored it and stood by herself. I rolled my eyes and led the way out of the classroom.

I motioned her to follow me and she grumbled quietly, but followed me. As soon as we'd turned the corner, I pulled her behind an old suit of armour.

"Wha -" She began, but I shushed her, pulling out the Marauders' Map from its usual place in my back pocket.

She eyed it with a great amount of suspicion. I smiled innocently at her and she raised an eyebrow. I always got distracted when she did that.

"What's this rubbish?" She asked, elbowing me lightly in the stomach. I blinked.

"This is not rubbish, Tammie. It's the single most powerful tool any troublemaker at Hogwarts could ever possibly want. Observe," I pulled out my wand and tapped the middle of the plain parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," I whispered softly, just in case anybody was passing by the statue.

As soon as I spoke the words, spidery tendrils of ink seemed to bleed out from the tip of my wand, spreading out across the page. In less than ten seconds I held a map in my hands.

I watched Tammie with an unconscious smile on my face as she gasped quietly in delight and leaned closer so that she could see it more easily. Her hand reached in the pocket of her pleated school-skirt and she pulled out her gold-rimmed glasses, perching them on her nose so that she could see it more clearly.

"Wow," She breathed. A couple more moments passed and I didn't say anything, watching as words failed her. "Wow," She said again and I laughed.

"What? Aren't you going to congratulate me?" She looked up, frowning.

"Why would I congratulate you?"

This was getting better and better. I smirked and bent my knees so that my eyes were level with hers.

"Because I made this map," She stared at me, mouth open for a second, before she recovered.

"No you didn't," She said, completely sure. I frowned.

"Yes love, I think you'll find I did. With a little help from James and Remus. See look, that's us. Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail and Prongs," I said, pointing near the title at the top. She'd heard us call each other by our nicknames before, so she couldn't not believe me.

She stuck out her hand and grabbed mine, beaming. I was confused by her sudden mood-swing and frowned as my hand was shaken vigorously up and down.

"I hate to compliment you in any way, shape or form Black, but this… this is absolute fucking genius." I smirked, catching on as she let go.

"Got that right, love," I grabbed for her hand, but she stuck in her pocket. I rolled my eyes and grabbed her upper arm, pulling her out into the corridor once more.

"Let's go shopping." I said in a high-pitched girly voice. She punched my arm and I winked at her before she laughed and legged it down the corridor.

I grinned and took off after her.