DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything. Everything belongs to JK Rowling.

Wake Up Your Sleeping Heart

Marlene knew it was his bed.

The first time had been an accident; she had been so blindly drunk that she hadn't even bothered to check whether she was plopping into James' bed or someone else's. After all, the room had been spinning in front of her eyes and she had been too busy trying to keep the contents of her stomach in place to notice or even care. When she had woken up the next morning due to Remus' unexpected and unwelcome singing in the shower (her head had felt like it was being smashed against the pavement repeatedly and he was an awful singer), she had realised her mistake and had ran off before anyone could actually find out exactly where she'd spent the night.

The second time hadn't been exactly an accident, but it hadn't been her fault. Marlene was aware she kicked in her sleep — it wasn't conscious and she didn't know what the hell could be happening in her dreams or body for her to move so much, but while James had always put up with it while they were kids and even later on, his bed at home was certainly much bigger than the one offered by Hogwarts, so it hadn't been much of a problem because there had been space. His litter, however, was an entirely different matter. In his defense, he'd always been a good, incredibly patient friend who had put up with her kicking well enough until then, but after how terribly Ravenclaw had kicked their ass at Quidditch that day and how beated up he'd been, James had evidently had enough. So, he had moved her during the night to the bed right next to his, that had been empty, without her even realising. Marlene had almost kissed Peter in gratitude for being so clumsy, because him tripping on James' broomstick and letting out a loud curse had woken her up before the owner of the bed could see her there.

The third time… well, it had been her fault. She'd had a bad dream and she was too dependent on James to actually deal with it on her own, so as she had been doing since they were four, Marlene had stumbled out of her bed under Lily's disapproving (and jealous, even if she still didn't want to admit it) gaze and had sneaked inside the boys' dormitory only to find James hadn't been there. It wasn't unusual — sometimes James did get some, even if he wasn't as insatiable as others—, so Marlene had decided to use his bed either way, seeing as he wasn't going to make much use of it himself that night. However, sleep hadn't wanted to take her, and for some reason, her eyes had kept drifting over the empty bed right next to his — it hadn't been made, but the pillows and blankets had been left neatly placed, and they had seemed to be calling her. With the memory of her nightmare still fresh in her mind, the invitation had been too tempting, and she had changed places once again. Although, she had made sure to set an alarm herself to be out of there early in the morning, and had left the bed the same way she had found it not to create suspicions.

After that embarrassing episode, there had been no way back. Every time she had a bad dream, which happened at least once every two weeks, she pathetically sneaked into that bed; sometimes, that wasn't even the reason, and she lied to herself saying the boys' beds were better than the girls', even if James' bed was no longer that appealing. There were times she'd gone only to find its owner was in fact there, and she'd had to suck it up and either go back to her own bed or settle for James' less comfortable one.

Marlene didn't know what exactly was about Sirius Black's bed that was so infuriatingly enticing, but she found herself going back there every time.

Perhaps it was the fact he was so obsessively clean it was ridiculous, and his bed was always unmade and yet perfectly tidy and welcoming, contrary to the rest of the boys', which were a mess — James complained about her kicking, but he wriggled so much that his sheets were always half-way on the floor, the same as his pillow; in Remus' bed you could find from books to chocolate frogs wrappings to despaired socks; and Peter's bed smelled weird… plus, he was almost always there anyways.

(Yes, Marlene had tried them all. She could understand why some girls in school hated her and called her a slut, even if the reasons behind her bed-touring had been purely research-motivated.)

It could also be that Sirius' bed was just in the right spot of the room, because at night, the moonlight illuminated it safely, chasing away all imaginary demons; and in the morning, the sun seeped through the window in such a delicious way that it bathed her in light and warmth, making her start the day peacefully.

Or, Marlene reluctantly accepted to herself, maybe it was just the idea that it was Sirius Black's bed…

Now, she prided herself in not being one of those girls whose knickers fell off whenever he merely looked at them, but she had to admit there was something surrounding his charismatic and arrogant persona, something almost mystical about sleeping in his bed — mainly because it was common knowledge he didn't take any girl there. She was crossing a line no one else ever had, and it thrilled her. The fact that she slept surrounded by his musky scent also was a plus — she hated how good he smelled, and how that earthy, woody and oakmoss scent was so sensual it made her had the most confusing dreams; not bad, but controversial, because he was most likely in them, and not necessarily painted in a bad light.

Marlene was sure he didn't know what she did — otherwise, she wouldn't have heard the end of it. On two occasions, he had nearly caught her. Once, she had come in only to find him sleeping there, resulting in her tripping with something on her way out the room and almost waking him up. Another time, he'd come earlier than usual from one of his dates, and Marlene had had to jump at the speed of light out of his bed and climb onto James'. It had been only a question of luck he'd been too tired to notice his bed hadn't been in the impeccable state he'd left it in.

"Here again?" James asked her that morning from his own bed, with a sleepy, teasing grin.

Marlene had been tidying Sirius' blankets, already on her way out, when her best friend's voice startled her. She turned to look at him, stopping herself from making fun of his hair because if it was usually a mess, when he woke up it was simply uncontrollable. The fact that he slept shirtless was also noticeable. Lily would have a fit, if she saw him.

"You were spread on your bed like a drugged hippogriff," Marlene lied, casually. "You didn't leave me any room."

"Since when has that stopped you?" he pointed out, arching an eyebrow.

"You looked tired."

James snorted a laugh. "Whatever you say, Marley," he said, clearly not buying it, but opting to let her get away with it. He reached for his glasses on his nightstand and got up, stretching and yawning dramatically. "Just make sure not to leave any scrunchies behind this time. I had to tell him it was from Jones."

"Hestia Jones?" Marlene asked, horrified, suddenly forgetting the topic at hand. "Hufflepuff's seeker? She's in third year!"

"Merlin's beard, Marley. What do you take me for, a paedophile? Not her!" James exclaimed, offended. "Her eldest sister, Hermia. She's a year older than us and finishes school this year."

"Oh," Marlene said. "Yeah, I know who she is. Are you seeing her?"

James shrugged in what attempted to be a nonchalant way, but they both knew that was not an attitude James could pull off, at least not in situations like those.

"We've been together a few times. Maybe I'll ask her to Hogsmeade this weekend."

"What about Lily?"

James shrugged again, but this time the slight wince in his expression couldn't be hidden.

"A wise man has to know when to give up."

"So what are you going to do, seeing as you're neither wise or a man?"

He threw her a pillow that she caught easily, even if she was laughing and James had a smile on his face. They were Chasers and teammates, after all.

"This time I mean it, Marls. She's clearly not interested, so I'm gonna date someone who is."

"And do you see a future with Helen?" Marlene asked, skeptically.

"Hermia," he corrected, rolling his eyes. "And I don't know, Marlene. I'm not looking for a wife, just someone to have a good time with, who could maybe become a girlfriend."

"That's not you," she pointed out. "You're either everything or nothing."

James didn't deny it, but said, "I've had my flings."

"Which were precisely that. Flings. Meaning nothing. It just proves my point."

"Well, what about you, huh?" James narrowed his eyes at her. "When are you telling Padfoot you've been sleeping on his bed?"

"I haven't been—"

"Don't insult me by lying to me, or I'll take it personally."

Marlene shut up because he was right, but that didn't mean she wanted to have that conversation. She grabbed a random jumper that was lying around, put it on to cover her braless breasts under her pyjamas and stuck up her chin daringly.

"I'll see you at breakfast," she said, making James huff.

"You can't avoid me forever!" she heard him say, but she ignored him and left the room.

On the way back to the girls' dormitory, she crossed paths with a few students that were already heading to the Great Hall for breakfast. Some guys eyed her curiously and others with a hint of interest, while most of the girls looked jealous, disgusted or both. Marlene was so used to it that she paid them no mind, but when she arrived at her dormitory, Lily, Mary and Dorcas were already awake and getting dressed, and they all stared at her when she walked in.

Dorcas merely wasted a glance and rolled her eyes, going back to buttoning her shirt. Mary let out a laugh, and Lily blinked in surprise.

"Is that Remus' jumper?" the redhead asked, frowning in confusion. "I thought you slept with Potter."

"Well, our orgies get so messy sometimes we also confuse our clothes. I think Peter's wearing my thong."

Mary laughed again and even Dorcas smirked.

"Couldn't you just have saved that comment for breakfast? I would've loved to see Emmeline's face hearing you say that," Mary smiled.

"I can repeat it," Marlene grinned, going over to her wardrobe to change into her uniform. "I'll have to be careful Hermia Jones doesn't hear me, though."

"Hermia Jones?" Lily repeated, just as Marlene had wanted. "Why her?"

"Because she's been seeing James, and I don't think she'd appreciate ideas of orgies between him, me and his friends."

Lily's face changed radically at her comment and even though she tried to hide it, all of them saw the way the shock at the news quickly transformed into something else. Honestly, they are so stubborn, Marlene thought exasperatedly, when her friend tried to pull the exact nonchalant attitude James had and failed miserably.

"I think she would mind you sleeping with him more," she replied, a bit haughtily.

"Well, she will have to learn not to mind it because that's not negotiable." Marlene shrugged. "Besides, she doesn't have anything to worry about. We're like siblings… it would be incest."

"What about Black?" Lily bit back, arching her eyebrow and, in that moment, she was so perfect for James that Marlene wanted to scream.

"What about him?" the blonde asked, really acting like she didn't care.

"You're not that close to him, and you're always… I don't know…"

"Fighting? Driving each other mad?" Mary suggested.

"Yes but no."

"The expression you're looking for is, sexual tension," Dorcas chimed in, unhelpfully.

"Yes, I believe that is," Lily smiled brightly. "Thanks, Dorcas."

"Always a pleasure," the girl said, throwing Marlene a mocking smirk.

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Please, we've discussed it. Black stole James from me, but he's important to him, so I have to tolerate him. There's no sexual tension."

"Stole him from you?" Mary scoffed, amused. "What are you, five?"

"Clearly," both Dorcas and Lily answered, making Marlene frown.

"Alright, enough. Let's get ready for breakfast. I'm starving."

They dropped the subject, but Marlene knew it was going to come back eventually. Her relationship with Sirius Black, as platonic as it was, called people's attention — after all, it was true there was something particular about them. At first, she thought it was merely competitiveness; for James, for Quidditch, for who could be the best at everything… but as the years passed, things between them had changed. Somehow, she could keep up with his teasing and challenges like no other, and he respected her for the manner she carried herself with in a way that not even her best friends did. There was an understanding between them as well, something she sometimes didn't even have with James — probably because there were some similarities in the way they had been brought up, or some of the experiences they'd had to go through, that had made them much more skeptical, mistrustful and bitter than their mutual best friend. After all, James had been born with a silver spoon, not only in the material sense (the Blacks and the McKinnons were repulsively wealthy as well) but mainly in the emotional and affectional department. Euphemia and Fleamont Potter were in love, and they had brought up their son in a safe and loving environment, making James the warm, open, affectionate and admirable guy he was… Her case and Sirius' were completely different, and even though they had never properly discussed it, the knowledge and understanding was there, underlying and shaping their interactions. There were lines they never crossed, there were topics they avoided, there were unwritten codes that they respected.

The fact that Sirius Black was also the very depiction of his name also helped to stir up the hornet's nest. The brightest star in the sky… it seemed ridiculous, but Marlene couldn't deny it was incredibly fitting. Wherever he went, whatever he did and however he did it, Sirius always managed to shine like no other; he was talented, confident, charming and infuriatingly smart… and that was attractive, whether people (she) liked it or not. The only other person who could actually compete with him was James, but even then, James was another thing. Marlene couldn't explain it, but everyone could see it… especially because the man himself liked to show it off.

His outstanding looks were merely a plus. Marlene hated that his hair was so shiny and looked so soft, and that it fell on his face in just the right, elegant way. She hated that his body was strong and fit, that his face bone structure seemed carved by the gods themselves, and that his usual mocking smirk only accentuated how handsome he was. But the feature that annoyed her the most were his eyes — so bright and yet stormy, the colour of the gray mist she used to see often in the Scottish Highlands, back to when her mother was alive and took her and her siblings there on holidays.

Sirius Black seemed to be personally designed to frustrate her.

So, yes, she could see where the curiosity came from. They gave off some odd vibes around each other, especially her.

"Here, Remus," Marlene told him when she and the girls arrived at breakfast, giving him the jumper she'd taken from their dormitory. They sat near the boys, as per usual. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he smiled, amused. "But this isn't mine."

Marlene frowned. "You were using it yesterday, and I took it from your chest."

Remus' smile only widened, exchanging a look with James, who stuffed an insane amount of porridge into his mouth to stop himself from laughing. Peter, as always, looked as lost as she was.

"Yeah, but—"

"Stealing my clothes, McKinnon?" a voice interrupted him, making Marlene freeze and turn slightly on her seat to look at the person behind that voice, who was standing right behind her with that mocking smirk of his. "That's a whole new level of obsession. Even for you."

And Sirius Black sat next to her, freshly showered and shaved, and proceeded to steal Remus' toast despite his complaints and eat it casually.

"This is yours?" Marlene cocked an eyebrow. "I didn't know you owned something other than the school uniform and that pretentious black leather jacket."

"Even someone as hot as me can get cold sometimes, McKinnon."

That comment made James, Peter and Mary laugh, while Marlene and Lily snorted and Dorcas and Remus rolled their eyes.

"So humble, Black," Lily commented, sarcastically. "How can that jumper even fit around your head?"

"You'd be surprised how skillful I can be with my body, Evans," he replied with a grin. "I can show you, if you want."

"Tempting," the redhead replied, with a cold smile. "But no, thanks."

Sirius shrugged and poured himself some pumpkin juice. He took a sip before turning slightly to face Marlene, edging a bit closer so he was trespassing her personal space, but she didn't move an inch, standing her ground.

"What about you, McKinnon?" he smirked, challenging her. "Instead of stealing my clothes, you can actually take them off."

"Only if you promise me the experience will be better than that of Diana Flatbury's," Marlene replied, cocking an eyebrow. "Didn't she jinx all your underwear for it to turn pink whenever you're feeling a little... excited?"

Sirius narrowed his eyes and glared at his friends, who were pretending to be very busy with their food while the girls laughed. Marlene smiled, because she wasn't supposed to know that.

"I can assure you her experience was more than satisfactory," he finally said. "It was the expectations she had after it that made her a bit angry."

"A bit?" Peter repeated, incredulously.

"A bit like a banshee, you mean," Remus supplied.

"Ravenclaws," James chuckled. "They have witty tricks, you can't deny that, mate."

"I'm sure some girls will still find your baby pink underwear attractive, Black." Marlene smiled in fake innocence, drawing her face even closer and brushing his lower lip with her thumb, conscious of the looks she was receiving not only from her friends but from nosy people around them. "But I've never been very fond of pink."

That was true, she hadn't worn pink since she was five.

"I'm positive you'll change your mind when you see it on me, Kitten," he grinned, not ever one to back up from a challenge. "It suits me, if I say so myself."

Marlene laughed because the mental image of him looking at himself in the mirror wearing a pink boxer was a funny one.

James groaned. "Merlin, it's too early for this."

"For once, I agree with Potter," Lily commented.

"Yeah, resolve your sexual tension later," Dorcas added, almost bored, looking at her watch. "We'll be late for Potions."

Christmas and New Year had come and gone, and Marlene had had to go and spend it with her family back home. She couldn't see much of her friends, not even James, because her aunt Elise had been visiting and she had forced her to tour around society's gatherings the whole time.

Usually, Marlene would ignore her, but her sister Margaret had begged her not to leave her alone, especially because it had been a year since she had finished Hogwarts already and she wasn't married, which was an outrage to their aunt, who had taken upon herself to find her a suitable husband between the elite. Margaret, even if she was older than her, didn't have her attitude or defiance; in fact, she didn't know how to say no and was too sweet for her own good, so it was only thanks to Marlene she hadn't ended up married to a Crabbe or a Flint or someone worse. Her oldest sister, Mallory, had also needed her help to look after her newborn twins, as her prestigious job at the Ministry took a lot of her time and her husband Greg was too much of an asshole to actually take responsibility, even if his job was less demanding than his wife's. Her brother Matthew, the oldest of them all, had not even bothered to make an act of presence, which didn't surprise her one bit considering how tense the relationship between him and their father was. She was actually on her brother's side on that one — he hadn't been the best father in the world, after all, not going to his only son's wedding just because the bride was a Muggle and all that.

When she had come back to Hogwarts, Marlene had thought things would get better, but that hadn't been the case. Sixth year definitely wasn't a piece of cake, and the teachers were expecting too much from them; with James still resentful for what had happened during their last game with Ravenclaw, he overworked them to their limits and Quidditch consumed a lot of her time. Not to mention, Benjy Fenwick, her most loyal fuck buddy, had given her an ultimatum — he wanted them to get serious and exclusive or else he was done.

Marlene liked Benjy, she truly did. But he had shown he didn't know her at all if he was asking that of her, so that had ended as well.

All in all, the last couple of weeks had been both physically and emotionally draining and, even though Marlene had promised herself over the Christmas break that she wouldn't go back to Sirius Black's bed, that was precisely what she ended up doing.

It was amazing, how powerful that bed was. Marlene had spent hours twisting and turning in her own, unable to sleep because of the many thoughts going through her mind. But it was only moments after she wrapped herself in his sheets that she fell asleep.

It didn't last long, though. After what seemed only a few minutes, Marlene woke up slowly and confused; she had been sleeping so deeply that the action of opening her eyes cost her greatly and when she finally could and was met with a pair of gray ones, it took her awhile to process what was happening. In the state of haze that she was, she thought it was a dream.

Marlene groaned in protest and hugged the pillow tighter.

"McKinnon…"

"Shut up," she mumbled incoherently. "I wanna sleep."

"Yeah, me too."

"Then, get in and sleep."

"With you?"

But Marlene had already fallen asleep again and it wasn't until a while later that her consciousness started working again and she woke up in a startle, her eyes opening wide and in horror. She sat on the bed, the blood rushing to her head too quickly and making her vision blurry. It was still dark and the only light was the usual moon glow coming from the window, but something wasn't right.

She turned and found Sirius Black, lying on his back with his arms crossed under his head, looking at her with raised eyebrows and a smirk tugging at his lips, as if he was being greatly entertained. Which she didn't doubt he was.

"Black!" she exclaimed, horrified. "What—How—"

"I think I should be asking the questions, don't you think?" he said, his voice barely above a whisper, without moving an inch. "And please, be quiet, McKinnon. You don't want to wake up the lads, do you?"

Marlene was usually quick to react, especially to preserve her dignity, but this turn of events had completely destabilized her. Her brain was taking its time waking up as well, and taking in the sight of him wearing nothing from the waist up.

When she finally could gather her wits, she noticed she was blushing, which was something she'd done about only three times in her life, but there she was… She was thankful that nobody could actually see her, not even Sirius, because the moonlight made everything around them look black and white, as if they were in an old, silent movie. He was still staring at her with a smirk dancing on his lips and, in normal circumstances, that would have infuriated her, but these weren't normal circumstances at all, and when Marlene could bring herself to articulate some words, she left that clear.

"I'm sorry," she whispered in a thin voice, making Sirius' eyes go like plates.

She couldn't blame him — she doubted she'd ever apologised to him in her life, but this time, she felt like she had to. For the first time since she'd started doing this, she realised the magnitude of her actions. Sirius was a private guy with plenty of emotional issues that liked to keep people at arms' length, and everybody knew that, especially her — she knew how he felt about people invading that privacy or trying to knock down those walls that were so hard to build in the first place. She knew, because she was the exact same, and she wouldn't have liked to find someone in her bed either.

"I shouldn't be here," she went on. "I promise it won't happen again."

Marlene began to uncover herself and get out of the bed, already searching for her slippers around the room, when Sirius left his previous laid-back position and sat on the bed as well.

"McKinnon…" he started, his voice incredibly soft; much softer than she would have expected. But she didn't look at him and made to get up, until she felt his warm, large hand around her wrist, stopping her from removing the blankets off her body. "Marlene, stop. It's fine."

At that, she was the one surprised. First, because she hadn't been expecting him to be so nice about such a violation of privacy and property. And, secondly, because he had called her Marlene.

Hardly ever did they call each other by their first names.

Marlene looked at him almost frightened, only to find he wasn't mad or offended, or even acting cold towards her. On the contrary, the expression on his face was soft, just the way his voice had been, and his eyes were unbelievably kind. She frowned at him.

"Are you alright?" she asked him, because apart from calm, he also looked tired. Not the way someone looked after sex, if that was in fact what he'd been doing, but a different kind of tired — the kind that's been developing for a while and had grown its roots inside you.

By all answers, Sirius shrugged, which made her frown deepen. She forgot momentarily about the situation she was in, and slid closer to him.

"What happened?"

"Same as you," he answered, tilting his head and looking at her curiously. "Couldn't sleep."

"I was sleeping, before you woke me up," she bit back with a tiny smile which made him smirk too. "Come on. Why couldn't you sleep?"

Sirius actually thought the answer but he didn't seem to find it.

"Life, I guess," he shrugged. "What about you?"

"The same, I guess," she replied, narrowing her eyes at his poor eloquence. "Didn't sex help?"

"I wasn't having sex, McKinnon." He rolled his eyes, as if offended. "We have a Transfiguration quiz tomorrow."

"You had sex the night before your History of Magic O.W.L. And you still passed it with an E."

Sirius grinned at the memory, but still answered: "That's different."

"I don't see the difference."

"I actually like Transfiguration whereas I didn't give a fuck about History of Magic."

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Well then, what the hell were you doing out so late?"

"Walking around the castle," he replied, sincerely. "That's what I do when I can't sleep."

"Really?" she blurted out. "That's what you do when you aren't in bed?"

"Sometimes I am having sex, but not all the time. I'm not an animal…" he seemed to think about it for a second and, smiling, added, "well, not entirely."

Besides his last comment that she couldn't make sense out of, Marlene was actually surprised by his words. Whenever she didn't see him in bed, she always assumed it was because he was out with a girl — she'd never thought he had the same problems she did with falling asleep.

"I knew it was you," Sirius suddenly commented after a while in silence, making her look up. He was staring at her with a strange look on his face; he had never stared at her like that before and Marlene couldn't read the thoughts or feelings behind that expression.

"Me?"

"The one sleeping in my bed," he clarified, arching an eyebrow. "I'm not an idiot, McKinnon. I make my bed in a very specific way."

Marlene wanted the ground to open and swallow her. Once again, she found herself flushing, and cursing herself for being such an idiot. Of course he would notice someone was sleeping in his bed; this was Sirius Black they were walking about and Marlene had never been exactly thorough doing things, even if she had actually made an effort at making his bed.

"Besides," he went on, casually. "It's starting to smell like you."

At that, Marlene felt tragically offended… and hurt.

"I'll let you know that I shower every day —"

"Merlin, McKinnon, I didn't say it like it was a bad thing," Sirius cut her off, rolling his eyes. "You actually smell nice and your perfume is very… distinctive. Even if James denied it, I knew you weren't sleeping on his bed."

Ignoring the ridiculous way her stomach flipped at his compliment, Marlene took a moment to really pay attention to their situation. Somehow, they were sitting with their legs crossed, facing each other and yet sharing the blanket; their knees brushing under it. He was shirtless and even though she'd seen him like that before, it was the first time she was this close and could feel the warmth he radiated; the moon was right behind his head so his face was partly covered in darkness, even if his eyes were like a beacon to her, thanks to how near their faces had ended up. She didn't even know when that had happened.

"Why didn't you say anything?" she asked, her voice in a whisper. "If you knew what I was doing."

Sirius stayed silent for a while, studying her face. For the first time that night, he seemed a little uncomfortable, and he broke their gaze to give a look around the room.

"I knew that if I did say something, you would stop coming," he admitted, quietly. "And I didn't want you to."

Out of all the things he could have said, Marlene hadn't been expecting that one.

"Why?" she insisted, trying to hide her astonishment.

But Sirius didn't give her an answer — what he did instead, was to generate her more questions.

He kissed her.

And it was so out of the blue, so unexpected and yet, so unbelievably good that Marlene gasped against his soft lips, and his tongue… his tongue slid slowly and gently inside her mouth, meeting hers in the most delicious way. It was slow, and warm and incredibly careful, something she wouldn't have associated with him, but that somehow made sense. All she could do was sigh against his lips, lifting her hands to press them down his nape and arching into him, bringing him as close as possible while keeping the gentle sliding of lips and tongues going. One of his arms surrounded her small waist entirely, placing her on his lap, while his other hand went to hold her chin softly, only to move to the back of her head and kiss her a little bit harder.

Marlene had had lots of kisses and, even though she would deny it to everyone, she had thought about kissing Sirius several times. However, nothing she could have experienced before or imagined in her head could have compared to that moment.

Sirius was good, so, so good that he put every single guy she had ever kissed to shame. But it wasn't only that — it was the care and passion he was holding her with, the thorough way he was exploring her mouth that was making her toes curl and her heart feel like it was about to explode. His scent, so present already on his bed, was the most powerful it had ever been, and it was making her head spin as if she'd had a thousand glasses of firewhiskey.

Her hands went to his chest, palpating how strong and warm he was by digging her nails on his skin. His heart, she noticed, was going crazy as well, and she tilted her head to kiss him even deeper. Sirius gasped and the grip on her waist was tightened while he nibbled on her lips.

"Damn you, McKinnon," he whispered, his voice hoarse and breathless; his mouth still on hers, making her feel every word. "I swear, you're going to be the death of me."

"Shut up, Black," she mumbled back, although he could feel her smile as well. "And keep kissing me."

And, for the first time since they had known each other, he did exactly as she told him.

Marlene lost track of the time they spent kissing — just kissing, because they did nothing else. It could have been hours or days, but she didn't mind, and it seemed neither did Sirius. They would have been happy to keep going until they died due to air necessity, but what a way to go that would be, Marlene had thought. Kissing Sirius Black was certainly worth it.

It wasn't until sleep started calling them that they stopped. They had somehow ended up lying on the bed; lips and legs messily intertwined, arms around each other, and hairs all over the pillows; the blankets tangled in between them.

"We should sleep," Marlene suggested, because they really should. Even if she would have wanted to do that forever, biology didn't agree with her. "We do have a Transfiguration quiz in a few hours."

"I'm sure Minerva would understand," he grinned, lazily.

She snorted a laugh. "Minerva would give detention to our great-grandchildren if she knew what we were doing."

"Already thinking about having great-grandchildren with me, Kitten?"

"Come on, Black," she said, ignoring his comment, although her lips twitched up in a tiny smirk. "Let's go to sleep."

She started wriggling, trying to tidy the sheets. It probably gave him the wrong impression, because Sirius tensed a little bit.

"You're leaving?" he asked, making her stop what she was doing to look at him.

"I wasn't planning to," she replied, slowly. "Do you want me to leave? Because I'd understand."

She truly would… what had happened was enough for a night. But Sirius stared at her for a long time, only to let out a sigh, as if she was dumb, and in a quick, effortless movement, covered them both with his blanket. Marlene grinned and pressed herself against his chest, hiding her face in the crook of his neck. Sirius put an arm over her waist and sunk his nose in her messy blonde waves.

"Goodnight, McKinnon," he whispered.

"Goodnight, Black."

And if Marlene thought Sirius Black's bed made her sleep well, sharing it with the man himself was a completely different experience — a much more fulfilling and productive one.

They absolutely smashed that Transfiguration quiz the next day.