Chasing The Stars | Marauders | Sirius Black

21 ~ And So It Began

Fully loving Marlene in this chapter, she's my spirit animal.

After having listened to Sirius' grumbling the entire walk through the castle, which consisted mostly of;

"Bloody witch, trying to rip off my fucking arm" and "Not telling me anything", the pair reached the Astronomy Tower. Eloise pushed open the door, checking they were alone, she walked in and faced Sirius,

"We need to talk" she stated simply and Sirius ran a hand through his raven hair,

"Yeah, that's the third time we've..." he lowered his voice, "kissed. N-not that I'm counting" he stumbled, having seen Eloise's smirk,

"Well..." she began, searching his face and sighing at his blank expression, "What does it mean?"

"What does it mean? Well you know I like you Puff, what else do you want it to mean?" Eloise thought for a moment, playing with the charm on her necklace,

"The thing is...we have some issues" she said and Sirius frowned,

"Issues?"
"Well come on Pads, you're not really one for 'settling down' are you?" she explained, making quotation marks with her fingers. "And as for me, I don't think I'm ready for a relationship yet - after Wood and all"

"Well what do you propose we do? We can't just do nothing...there's obviously something between us Lou" he argued and Eloise bit her lip in thought. He was right, there was something between them, whilst neither were sure what it was exactly, they couldn't deny it. There were feelings, feelings that were so far only expressed by prolonged stares, occasional touching, and, as of the last few weeks, a couple of stolen kisses. But Eloise wasn't ready, not to mention the strain it would put their friendship under. What would happen if it didn't work? Eloise would like to think that their friendship was strong enough to survive anything but what would happen if love got involved? Hold on she thought love? Oh Merlin's Pants Eloise Potter. Pull. Yourself. Together.

An idea sprung to her mind,

"Why don't we meet in the middle?" she shrugged and Sirius raised a brow,

"Meet in the middle?" he inquired,

"Yes, we don't get into a relationship, nor we do act like anything but friends-"

"Ummm, I'm not seeing any benefits for me in this plan, Gorgeous" he interrupted and Eloise rolled her eyes,

"But when we're alone, we can...you know..." she said, raising her eyebrows somewhat suggestively. Sirius, not bothering to be subtle whatsoever, finished Eloise's sentence for her,

"We can SNOG!" Eloise pinched the bridge of her nose at his little outburst,

"Well yes, to put it bluntly, we can snog" she sighed and Sirius pumped the air with his fist,

"I very much like this idea" he said, grinning like a child on Christmas,

"Good, but you can't tell anyone" she said, pointing a finger in his face,

"Ok I won't, but neither can you" he lifted his own finger and tapped hers with it, making her laugh and tap his finger in return.

Soon enough it had turned into a full-on, finger, sword fight. When Sirius finally won, Eloise interrupted his victory dance,

"I am going to tell Lily though" he stopped, mid-shimmy,

"What? Why do you get to tell someone and not me?" he asked, pouting and crossing his arms,

"Well first of all-" she said, holding up a finger, "Lily is my best friend, not to mention the fact that she happens to be very good at giving advice" Sirius scoffed,

"What about James? He's my best mate" Sirius argued and Eloise put a hand on her hip,

"He's also my big brother and has the biggest mouth in Hogwarts" she pointed out and Sirius didn't reply, "Am I wrong?" she asked,

"Well...no" he admitted begrudgingly and Eloise grinned in triumph,

"So we agree on not telling James?" Sirius nodded in reply, his lips still in a pout, "And can I tell Lily?" Eloise asked, giving him her best puppy-dog eyes. Sirius tried to look away from her pleading face, but she kept standing in front of him. Eventually he groaned,

"Fiiine!" he said sulkily and Eloise grinned, grabbing his hand and intertwining his fingers in her own,

"So it's settled then?" she asked, "We're meeting in the middle?"

"Well I'd prefer to meet in a broom cupboard...but yes; we're meeting in the middle".

And so it began.

~~~

"Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily! Lil-"

"WHAT!?" Eloise followed the enraged shout of her best friend and walked into her dormitory to find Lily glaring at her from her bed, a large textbook resting on her lap and Luto curled up into a little ginger ball by her feet.

"You'll never guess what just happened" Eloise said breathlessly. Lily watched with a single eyebrow raised as the petite, brunette girl (although the tips of her hair had turned blonde in her happy state) flopped down on her bed, a dreamy grin on her face.

"Eloise, are you alright?" Lily asked, "You look like you've taken Amortentia". Eloise merely turned her head and looked at Lily, "Have you taken Amortentia?" she asked cautiously but let out a sigh of relief when Eloise snorted,

"No Lils, but you're close" she said with a grin and Lily frowned.

Eloise, getting bored of waiting, couldn't hold on any longer,

"Me and Sirius KISSED!"

"Oh. My. Merlin. Merlin's Beard! Merlin's Pants! Merlin's saggy left-"

"Yes Lil, Oh my Merlin indeed"

"OhmyMerlinohmyMerlinohmyMerlin! GOOD GODRIC! You guys Kissed!"

"You're more excited than I am! It's not even the first time."

"Marlene!!" Came a scream from the redhead's mouth "MARLENE!" the girl came skidding into the room

"Jesus fucking christ! What? You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"ELOISEANDSIRIUSKISSEDOHMYMERLINTHEYKISSEDTHEYKISSEDTHEYKISSEDMARLENEAREYOUUNDERSTANDINGTHEYKISSEDTHEYACTUALLYFINALLYKISSED!" Marlene looked at Eloise

"Did you get a word of that?"
"Nope, but I got the gist she was trying to tell you that me and Sirius kissed again...Oh shit I wasn't supposed to tell anyone else." She punched Lily gently "You arsehole, Lily this was supposed to be kept on a down low and you just told the whole of Gryffindor"

After calming Lily down and filling Marlene in on any details, Eloise began to explain.

"So you're not together?" Lily asked and Eloise shook her head,

"No, we both agreed to stay friends but-"

"YOU'RE FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS!"

"Sorry?" Eloise asked confused after Marlene's outburst,

"Friends with benefits" she repeated, "A pair of friends who do the dirty without being in a relationship" Lily and Eloise shared a look and faced their blonde friend,

"Do the dirty?" Lily asked and Marlene groaned,
"You know what I mean! Hanky panky. Bow-chicka-wow-wow. Pop goes the weasel-"

"Okay Marls, I think we got the message" Eloise laughed, "But that's not what's happening between me and Sirius. It's just casual kissing and-"

"Occasional groping" Marlene interrupted, causing Lily to fall back on her bed, clutching her stomach as she giggled at Eloise's glare and Marlene's innocent smile.