Sinners

There's a drumming noise inside my head that starts when you're around
I swear you could've heard it, it makes such an almighty sound
Louder the sirens, louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven, and hotter than hell
- Florence and the Machine

"Sirius, why did you have to grab the most bloody stubborn witch possible?" James complained as they made their way out of the cellar, locking up the room and making sure it was secure. Remus chuckled and Sirius sighed deeply. He had never in his life, been so insulted. No one ever dared to pick fights with the great Sirius Black, but she had degraded him to the point that he smacked her across the face and threw her to the corner, before storming out of the cellar in anger.

"This is going to be much harder than I thought," Sirius said as he collapsed on his chair beside the crackling fire. Remus and James joined him, occupying the other two seats. The three of them were exhausted after that interrogation, even though it had lasted for only half an hour. But the way she spoke, the way she handled an argument was excruciatingly tiring.

"Maybe we should try and catch another one?" Remus suggested, warming his hands by the warm fire.

"Catching witches isn't like catching cats, Remus. They're too clever, too conniving - it would take weeks for us to finally get another one," James sighed, running a hand over his face, "Maybe we should try to be polite to her. She'll start liking us a bit and then she'll tell us her secrets."

"James, did you see her in there?" Sirius hissed, "She's too bloody smart! Plus, why in hell would she tell her secrets to the heads of the Witch Hunting Council?"

"We need something to motivate her," Remus said.

"Like what?" Sirius questioned, "We know nothing of her history! We don't even know her last name! I say, that we continue these interrogations - every morning; and not right after feeding her - we should have her a little weak, asking for answers in return for food."

"That could work," James nodded.

"But that is so cruel," Remus sighed, shaking his head, "She's so young - barely nineteen."

"Remus, having sympathy for these creatures is fatal," Sirius hissed, "I know that you're infatuated by her looks but you need to push those thoughts out of your mind! They affect your better judgement and soon, she'll manipulate you into helping her escape! Remember - nothing that comes out of her lips is true."

James and Remus nodded quietly. They were all a bit shocked by the events that took place down in the cellar; they had never seen a witch or even a woman that strong and clever minded, carving out arguments in the most deadliest of ways. Remus was rubbing his temples with the tips of his fingers while James was staring into the fire. Sirius was sulking over all her accusations when James suddenly broke his trance by asking, "So ending on a happier note, are you excited about the Witch Hunting Council's Ball?"

"Ecstatic," Sirius said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Remus chuckled.

"It sounds quite boring," he sighed, "Just another ball, like every other. Women with their pretty dresses and drunk men."

"Rubbish!" James said, his hazel eyes glowing as he tried not to laugh, "This ball will be different! We can change our stubborn mind sets and -"

"He's only saying that because Lily Evans is coming to this ball," Sirius sighed, talking to Remus. He was suddenly hit by a pillow and he burst out laughing at James' reddened cheeks and embarrassment of being caught by his best friends. James Potter had always nursed a special fondness for the daughter of Gilbert and Jade Evans; she had captured his heart with her dark, red hair and emerald green eyes. Every time she came with in a five mile radius of him, James immediately became a stuttering mess.

"Mary will be there too," Remus raised his eyebrow at Sirius.

Sirius groaned, "Don't remind me."

The day flew by with the three of them either having go's at each other or by carving plans out on how to get the witch in the cellar to cough up some answers for them. As they inched closer to the afternoon, Remus insisted on sending down some food as they needed to keep her alive in order to answer those questions. Sirius gave him permission, and Remus soon went down with some bread and butter, as well as a large jug of water.

The clock began to tick towards six p.m which was when Sirius finally decided to change out of his bloody clothes and take a shower for this upcoming event. He stepped into his bathroom and pulled a chain, which started a small water fall from the ceiling so that Sirius could have a quick and easy shower, standing up instead of lying in dirty water for a long time. He sighed with contentment as the warm water pounded down on him, slowly erasing the blood of his body to make it clean and pure again.

As the blood mixed with the water, he thought about how many times he had hit her. He did not feel guilt or remorse; Sirius was too stubborn to feel those emotions. He had begun to hate her with a roaring passion; even her beauty wasn't as gorgeous anymore - it all seemed fake, a ploy to help her escape. Every thing about her infuriated Sirius and he could not wait until they were done with the interrogations and he could finally murder her.

Sirius sighed, ran a hand through his wet hair and pulled the chain hanging from the ceiling, stepping out of the shower. He could hear the soft sound of their carriage approaching, which made him groan. The time of attending this damn ball had finally come. He walked to his closet and pulled out his father's black suit, very carelessly fixing his hair. He stared in the mirror, for one split second, seeing his father standing there; after all, he had inherited his good looks from Orion Black.

A knock on the door broke his trance. James and Remus were standing in the doorway, looking dashing in their own black suits, "Ready to go?"

Sirius nodded and the three of them went downstairs. They were about to step out into the open when Remus suddenly grabbed Sirius' arm and asked, "Sirius, should we leave some food for Iris?"

Sirius yanked himself free of Remus' grip and said harshly, "First of all, Remus - do not call her Iris. She is not human, she is a witch; a creature. She does not have the decency to have a name all to herself, especially one as pretty as Iris. Second, we need to make her weak. You do realize that giving her food regularly will make her stronger, allowing her to actually escape?"

"Yes, but -"

"Then we have an agreement," Sirius said dismissively, stepping into the carriage after James. It was a dark night, with stars littering the sky above. Every time Sirius looked out into the forest, he remembered how he had run out, barely clothed in the cold night to catch Ir - the witch. It ran chills down his spine, thinking of how he had lunged forward and grabbed her - and it absolutely terrified him to think of what could have happened if her beauty had worked and he had slipped, letting his hands slacken and allowing her to escape. Any one who spotted a witch was soon found dead; they killed him or her. But these witches were completely hard to find because they looked just like normal humans did, acted like them, ate like them, talked like them. If was only their practices that were quite different; and even those were difficult to spot as most of them were conducted at night.

They were now out of the forest; riding across the town to the Mayor's house, where he was hosting this ball for the three gentlemen who had vowed to "Free England of these demons". The house was brightly lit, with tons of activity in it's aura. They could hear the band playing and lots of laughter; the house surrounded by carriages from which beautiful women in dresses were coming out of and highly influential men. As their carriage rolled in, the mayor stepped out of his house to receive them.

"Ah, my boys!" he laughed heartily as the three of them walked forward, "Welcome to my home and your party."

"We can't thank you enough," Remus began to say, "We really -"

"Rubbish!" the mayor said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "Come on, boys. Go have some fun."

They smiled politely but once the Mayor had turned his back on them, Sirius rolled his gray eyes while James was struggling not to burst into laughter. Remus sighed and nudged Sirius, "Stop it, you two. He's not that bad."

"Did you smell the alcohol on his breath? I almost died!" Sirius said as they walked into the massive mansion. As they stepped into the royal home of the mayor, every one turned to look at them and suddenly, every one burst into applause. Remus and James grinned uneasily, while Sirius gave a simple nod of his head. He then leaned a bit into James and whispered, "Guess who's clapping for you?"

"Everyone?" James laughed.

"Lily Evans seems to be very proud, James," Sirius winked. James' jaw dropped slightly and he began to look around for her obsessively, "Yes, very subtle, mate."

"Oh, shut up, Sirius," James laughed.

Sirius chuckled and left James to his stalking. He began to explore the party, socializing and occasionally taking a glass of wine from the serving waiters. He was half way through his third glass when he collapsed on a chair, suddenly feeling guilty for how he had hit the witch today. Maybe it was the alcohol; it always made Sirius unnecessarily emotional, for if he had been sober, he would be fuming over the fact that he had not hit her enough.

He felt someone snake their arms around his neck. Seconds later, lips pressed to his ear and whispered in a seductive voice, "Follow me, Mr. Black."

Sirius sighed as she withdrew her arms. Indeed, acting like the hypocrite Ir - the witch had accused him of, he followed her up the stairs and into a slightly darker ally, away from the party. She pushed her back to the wall and when Sirius grabbed her gently around the waist to pull her to his own body, she put a hand on his mouth to stop him from kissing her.

Sirius sighed against her hand. She was looking up at him with her electric blue eyes, asking, "When will you talk to my parents?"

He shook his head, removing the hand from his mouth, "I told you, Mary. Now is not a good time for me to get married."

She withdrew his arms from around her, "That's what you always say."

"I can't," Sirius lied, "I've got too much on my hands at the moment, love. I need to catch these demons; once we've got the situation under control, I'll ask for your hand," he said. She was still looking down, her eyes displaying her grief. He sighed inaudibly and picked up her small hand and kissed it, "I promise."

Her eyes snapped up, "You swear?"

Sirius nodded, "I swear."

She giggled and then threw her arms around him, pushing her body up against his. Smirking with victory, Sirius slid a finger under her chin and crushed his lips with hers. She groaned in pleasure as he easily parted her lips; his intoxicating taste making her lightheaded. He pulled back to let her breathe, burying his face in her neck, planting hot, wet kisses all the way up to the hollow beneath her ear. He licked that, earning a surprised squeal from Mary. He smirked again and bit her earlobe, after which she moaned out in extreme please.

She guided his hand on her waist to her breast, gasping out his name as he cupped it. Through her extravagant dress, she kicked a leg free and wrapped it around his waist, pulling him closer and into her. Her hand was slowly sinking lower and lower and before she could pull him in too deep in the pleasure of it all, he backed away, pressing up against the wall.

She sighed, "Oh come on, Sirius."

Suddenly, she raised an eyebrow and advanced forward, settling down on her knees. "Don't," Sirius said weekly, but she had already unbuckled his belt. She let out a strange giggle that broke the spell she had him under and he pushed her shoulders away, stepping out of her reach, "I don't want to commit another sin."

She sighed, "We've become sinners anyway. There's no going back, so let's just continue to … sin."

"Mary," Sirius shook his head, buckling his belt, "We can't."

"We certainly did last time," she reminded him.

"And I regret doing that every single day," he said, "We just can't, alright? So - just - just leave me alone."

"Sirius -"

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE, DAMMIT!" he yelled, snapping like a band. He glared daggers at the poor girl, who backed away from him, almost in fear. He turned away from her pathetic face and walked right out of the small corridor, feeling lousy for denying being the hypocrite he actually was. It made him feel worthless and low, as low as those vile creatures. Maybe even lower than them, seeing as he was using Mary for pleasure, making false promises to her that he would never fulfill. If he was going to -

"SIRIUS!" he turned around to see a flushed James, running to him with a look of utter annoyance. He took sharp gasps of air as he caught up with his best friend, demanding with irritation, "Where in hell have you been? I've being looking all over for you!"

"I -"

"They've found a witch meeting, just by the forest, around five kilometers from our home," James said breathlessly, "We have to go. We have to go now."

Thank you so much for the reviews! :)

Gryffindork, thank you so much for pointing out those flaws! That really helped me in improving this story! :)

Well, enjoy chapter four and please review as they make me smiiile and update faster! Seriously, they do!