Potter | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 21

Groaning, Jenna walked past Sirius and towards a free telescope. "Just take out your quill and let's get this over with."

     "If you insist," Sirius smiled charmingly and walked towards her.

      "Miss Fortescue!" Professor Sinistra called on Alice, who was staring up at the sky as Lily was busy with the telescope and writing the charts on her own.

"Yes, Professor?" said Alice, turning around.

"When I said observe the stars, I certainly did not mean look at them dreamily; I wanted you to study them."

"Yes, of course." Alice nodded shyly, blushing. Professor Sinistra merely shook her head and moved on.

Sirius, who had watched the scene, sniggered to himself. And that was enough for Jenna to get furious and punch him hard in the arm.

"Ouch! What was that for!?" Sirius groaned, holding his arm in pain.

"For laughing at my friend," she said sternly, returning to gazing the stars through their shared telescope.

"What's your deal with me, Potter?" Sirius asked, but shockingly to Jenna, there was no hint of joking or teasing in his voice.

"What do you mean?" she asked flatly, avoiding his gaze.

"You're mean to me," he said earnestly, frowning slightly.

"Aw," Jenna chuckled. "Am I hurting your feelings, Padfoot?" she imitated a lofty voice and pinched his cheek teasingly.

But when she saw him as stern as one could be, with no hint of grin on his face, she sighed and looked away again.

"Well? What's the matter?" he insisted. "You were fine with me in first year. What happened? Are you mad that I stole James away from you and replaced you as his best friend?"

"Don't be silly," Jenna rolled her eyes, though slightly irritated at Sirius's choice of words.

"Then tell me!" he huffed. "I know Evans doesn't like me because I know she despises immature arrogant toe-rags such as me and James – according to her, that is. But not you. I know you're just like us. Or at least... used to be. What went wrong?"

"It's complicated."

"Who said I wanted simple? I like freaking complex," he grinned.

Jenna stared at him blankly. "You don't even remember, do you?"

     "Remember what?" Sirius frowned, confused.

"You – you –" Jenna tried to say, but each time closed her mouth.

"What!? Spit it out!"

"You stole my first kiss!" Jenna finally hissed in a hushed voice so no one else could hear.

"What!?" Sirius said loudly, grabbing everyone's attention.

They remained quiet until everyone had looked away before Jenna said, "Second year? Oh, come on! You don't even remember kissing me!?"

"Well – err – no one's a great kisser in second year," he tried to reason with a grin.

Jenna punched him again on the other arm.

"Ouch! Okay, okay. I deserved this one." he said, raising his hands defensively. "When, though?"

"James had invited you over to our house for our traditional Christmas party," she explained. "We were alone in the kitchen and then when we were going back to the hall, we passed a mistletoe. And then you asked me if you could kiss me–"

"–Ha! There! I didn't steal your first kiss!" Sirius said triumphantly. "I remember now! I asked you! And then your hair turned all pink and then you smiled and shrugged shyly. So there. I didn't steal anything. You gave in on your free will!"

"That's because I thought you actually liked me!" Jenna hissed. "But then we went back to school and I heard you were with that git Angelica Bennet. I was furious!"

"Why? Did you get jealous? Did you like me?" He smirked.

"I swear to Merlin, boys are so thick!" Jenna huffed to herself. "First of all, I didn't like you. I just thought that you were handso–" she stopped herself rather late.

"Oh, yeah?" Sirius grinned the most arrogant grin he could muster.

"Secondly," Jenna cleared her throat, carrying on. "You don't go around kissing someone and then go out with other people on dates by the Black Lake or any other cheesy place like that! No one's supposed to do things like that even in their seventh year! Let alone when they're thirteen!"

"Well, I mean it wasn't a big deal if you really think about —"

"It was to me!" Jenna retorted in defeat. "It was my first kiss, so it was a big deal to me, and it broke my heart when I saw you with another girl the next week. It was as if you didn't even give a damn about me or my feelings. I was only twelve, okay? I felt used at the time, and I was really heartbroken because of you!"

"Alright, alright!" Sirius sighed, and then said the last thing that Jenna ever expected to hear from him, "I'm sorry."

Her head promptly turned on him, just to make sure that this wasn't another one of his jokes.

But in the way he was looking at her, she knew that he meant it.

"Are we good now?" he asked gently.

"Yeah, I suppose," Jenna shrugged, looking away and up at the starry sky.

     She then said playfully, "But you should be grateful that I didn't tell James, or you would be joining the headless hunt before Nearly Headless Nick."

Sirius gave out a laughter which sounded more like a bark. "Yeah, he would've killed me on the spot."

There was long moments of silence while they went back to star gazing and writing their charts.

"What happened to your hair, anyway?" Sirius asked, changing the subject. "Why turn it brown after five years of weird colors?"

"You know... just trying on different looks."

That was a lie. Truth was, Jenna couldn't turn it back to blue ever since she had talked to Remus, for some reason.

"Well, not that my opinion counts on the matter," Sirius started, "but I liked it more when you got all weird with your hair colors."

"Thanks," Jenna muttered, looking away.

But when Sirius said that, she couldn't help but remember her mother's old words, saying,

"Don't be with someone who wants your normal side. Fall for the idiot who enjoys your craziness."

But Jenna quickly shook her head and reminded herself that she didn't feel that way about Sirius.

"Hey, Jenna?" said Sirius, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Can I tell you a secret?" he said, lowering his tone and looking deeply into her hazel eyes.

"What?" she raised a brow, slightly curious.

"That night – the night we kissed back when we were thirteen," he gulped before saying, "I-I lied at first when I said I didn't remember it. In fact... I never forgot it."

Jenna's eyes widened. "You remembered? Then why didn't you say so?"

"I-I don't know," he shrugged, sighing. "I guess I just didn't want to make it seem like it was such a big deal to me."

Jenna took aback. "It was a big deal to you? The famous Sirius Black?" she grinned.

"Of course," he said softly, looking back up at the beautiful night sky.

"But... why?"

Sirius just smiled. "Because that was my first kiss too."