"𝒮＆ℳ" － ℛ𝒾𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒶

January 30th, 1994

     Sirius sat on the floor of Nikki's dorm room, back leaning against the post of the bed as he fiddled with the Walkman in his hands.

     Nikki was sprawled out on her bed, laying stomach down as she idly flipped through her Astronomy textbook.

     "How do you think Professor Sinistra would react if I wrote on my star chart that the brightest star in the night sky was in my bedroom?" She joked, propping her chin up against her hand.

     Sirius snorted. "I'll do you one better — you've been fucking the brightest star in the night sky."

     "How eloquent," Nikki sarcastically teased, stretching her hand out and gently carding her fingers through his hair, combing it out absentmindedly.

     He melted into her touch, head falling back onto the bed as his eyes closed. "Shagging? Getting laid by? Banging? Making love to? Any of those strike your fancy?"

     Nikki let out a burst of quiet laughter, pushing herself up and scooting towards the end of the bed. She pressed a soft kiss to his forehead.

     "I can't focus on anything..." she admitted softly, lips drawn into a small frown.

     His grey eyes cracked open, glancing up at her as a curtain of ginger hair covered the sides of his face. "Lils?"

     Nikki chewed on her lower lip, bright brown eyes dulling with somber sorrow.

"You knew her for longer than I did," she said quietly. "...It's a bit strange how quickly we all clicked together; hell, I stayed at Lily's house for part of that Christmas break."

Sirius' mouth curved into a bittersweet smile. "That's Red for you — always focused on helping others more than herself; it's why her and James suited each other so well."

He pursed his lips, shoving everything that threatened to burst out of him due to today being Lily Potter née Evans' birthday down.

"James was the mum friend."

Sirius let out a soft sigh, setting the Walkman aside on the floor as he shifted to face Nikki, kneeling in front of her.

"Want to do something stupid that might get us killed by Moony?"

Nikki tilted her head to the side, lips spreading into a mischievous grin. "What do you have in mind?"

Sirius smirked. "Nick a bottle of Firewhiskey from his cabinet and go up to the Astronomy Tower? A toast to Lily or something to that extent."

Nikki's only response was to get off of her bed, flipping her hair over her shoulder and grinning.

Sirius stood up, lacing his fingers with hers and summoning a pair of glasses with the lenses poked out.

He had 20/20 vision, why the hell would he actually need glasses?

(Sirius could practically hear James' guffaws over needing glasses for the disguise to work after Sirius had spent years ribbing James over requiring glasses.)

     Sliding the frames on, he tossed his hair dramatically. "How do I look?"

     Nikki rolled her eyes affectionately. "You look the same as you always do — it's like you just stole James' glasses again. I'm not sure how the glasses disguise you enough that nobody assumes that you're Sirius Black."

     Sirius grimaced, nose scrunching. "Shall we go get sloshed, then?"

     He poked her in the side, lightly adding, "Then again, it doesn't take much for you to get plastered..."

She shoved him in the shoulder, though the effect was diminished as a result of her head just barely coming up to his shoulders.

Sirius pulled on their intertwined hands, careful not to tug too hard and cause her to stumble over her own feet.

     They left her dorm room, ambling through the halls of Hogwarts as if they had all of the time in the world. The rest of the school, Nikki assumed, were either in their common rooms, the library, or getting dinner in the Great Hall.

     They slipped into Remus' office, scribbling down a note on a spare piece of parchment and replacing the glass bottle of Firewhiskey with the paper.

     Identical mischievous looks glinted in their eyes as they exchanged a silent high-five, leaving the office and heading straight for the Astronomy Tower.

Nikki shivered as they ducked under the barrier, wrapping her arms around herself as they sat down on the ledge. Their legs dangled down, a few inches of stone the only thing between them and falling to their untimely deaths.

"It's only the end of January," Sirius said dryly, shifting so that he could shrug his jacket off and wrap it around her shoulders. "It's not warm enough for a skirt."

"...It was a little warmer earlier?" Nikki sheepishly defended, her fingers fiddling with the hem of her skirt and attempting to pull it lower so that more of her skin was covered by the heavy velvet material.

Sirius bit back laughter. "Because you were inside the entire day. It's just a bit warmer inside the castle compared to outside."

He jabbed his wand at the bottle of Firewhiskey, causing the cork to pop off of the neck of the bottle.

"Should warm you up a bit," he murmured, handing the alcohol over to Nikki.

Her lips spread into an amused grin. "Bugger, my master plan to get alcohol has been discovered."

Sirius brought one of his legs up to the ledge, bending it at the knee as he leaned his back against one of the many stone pillars. He let the other leg dangle over the edge.

"We're being so uncouth," Nikki dramatically exclaimed as she tipped the bottle back. Her nose scrunched at the sweet burn of the alcohol hitting the back of her throat, shuddering. "No glasses or anything — straight from the bottle."

"Don't try to outposh me, love," Sirius responded easily, taking the bottle Nikki handed him and drinking from it. He welcomed the familiar bite of cinnamon-spiced whiskey. "You won't win at that endeavor."

He held the neck of the bottle loosely, letting it hang over the edge of the Astronomy Tower.

Nikki tilted her head to the night sky, inky blackness enveloping the grounds of Hogwarts. The only pinpricks of light came from the stars.

For Sirius, his family tree was mapped out in the sky, the faintly glowing lights his ancestors. He cocked his head to the side, squinting up at the constellations.

"...Want to hear a myth about the Orion the Hunter and Scorpius constellations?" He asked out of the blue, glancing at Nikki out of the corner of his grey eyes.

She let out a soft hum, fingers idly tapping out a staccato rhythm on the ground of the tower. "If you're offering one... hey, you can't hoard the alcohol!"

Nikki nudged his thigh with her foot, teasing him. He flicked his eyes over to her, stretching across his body and passing the Firewhiskey back to her.

"Maybe we'll be memorialized in Hogwarts: A History for being 'those two knobheads who got wasted in the Astronomy Tower and fell off the edge,'" Sirius joked, brushing his thumb against the side of her hand. "Lily would be disappointed."

"Because we made it into Hogwarts: A History and she didn't, or because we were being utter idiots and getting tipsy on the ledge of a tower?" Nikki bantered back, taking a pull from the bottle and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Marlene would be proud, though. James—"

Sirius snickered. "We wouldn't be in danger of falling because he'd wear us down with his mum-friend squawking. Merlin, he'd have a bloody aneurysm if he saw us up here."

He rested his head against the pillar, dark hair falling to just barely brush his shoulders. Sirius frowned, flexing the fingers of his left hand and relaxing them soon after.

"I still can't believe it's been twelve years..." he trailed off mournfully, voice barely above a whisper. "It feels as if it's been barely a week and, simultaneously, a bloody lifetime since their deaths."

Sirius shook his head, face darkening as he struggled against himself to push his grief away from the front of his mind.

Nikki frowned sympathetically as she handed him the bottle of Firewhiskey. "What's the myth about your Zodiac sign and the constellation your... middle name is named after?"

He arched a singular eyebrow. "You do know that I'm not going to — I dunno — break down in a sobby, weepy mess or whatever if you say Orion. Or my father."

Sirius brought the bottle up to his mouth, tilting it back. "He doesn't even deserve the title of father; Monty's my dad in everything that matters."

He took Nikki's hand in his, raising it to point at the constellation that depicted Orion, the infamous Hunter of Greek myths of old.

"Orion in Greek mythology was a famed hunter, a giant," Sirius began, gesturing with his other hand as he recounted the events that occurred in the myth. "He slew countless animals, regardless of if they were land or sea creatures. Orion didn't care."

He traced out the stars that made up the constellation with their interlocked hands.

"He soon grew too arrogant — that's a common theme in mythology, whether humans or gods; arrogance is one of the few commonalities between the mortal and the immortal — and pronounced to the heavens that he would not rest until he had succeeded in hunting and killing all of the wild animals of Earth," Sirius continued, his voice rising slightly as the story progressed.

Nikki listened to his silky-smooth tone, lips curving around the words as he articulated each syllable.

"Gaia, the goddess of the Earth and mother of the Titans, was angered by Orion's insolence. Gaia is also the grandmother of Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Hades, Poseidon, you get the picture."

Sirius grinned mischievously. "So she sought the aid of a scorpion and asked him to slay the giant hunter. Orion initially wasn't afraid of the scorpion. How could one so small and insignificant ever dare to challenge his might?"

His volume rose as he wove the tale of Orion and the scorpion, getting closer and closer to the climax of the myth.

"But Orion was challenged, challenged as he had never been before," Sirius said. "Orion couldn't defeat the scorpion, regardless of how hard he tried. He panicked, deciding to flee."

He leaned closer to her, a fire sparked beneath the depths of his molten silver eyes.

Her heart skipped a beat.

"The scorpion saw his opening and took it. Orion was stung by the scorpion's poisonous tail."

Sirius gestured at the constellation with the hand that was loosely wrapped around the neck of the Firewhiskey bottle. "And Orion, the Great Hunter, was himself hunted and slain. Gaia, in eternal gratitude, ensured that the scorpion's success and Orion's shame would forever be marked in the stars for all to see."

He pursed his lips, eyebrows furrowing. "Doesn't make sense, really, why Grandfather Arcturus named his only son after a guy who gets his shit rocked by a scorpion... but the Scorpius constellation was placed into the sky next to Orion's; when the stars move, it will always look like the scorpion is chasing after Orion."

Sirius' mouth curved into a satisfied smile. "Sometimes I find the constellation just to laugh at how similar it is... it's strange, really, he seemed fine one day — accidentally saw him at the Ministry — and then Red, James, Remus, Marlene, and Peter had apparated into my flat and chucked the Prophet at me."

     He chewed on his lower lip, resting his wrist against his knee. "Something about his heart? It's a bit ironic, really, Red kept insisting that I was going to destroy my liver or elevate my risk for a heart attack, when all along dear old Father was the one she should have been worried about."

     "Maybe I should take that bottle from you, then," Nikki teased, "don't want to strain your heart."

     "The Black Family is immune to any diseases caused by the excessive consumption of alcohol," Sirius said loftily, even though he passed her the Firewhiskey without complaint.

     Anyone who knew Sirius Orion Black the Third well knew that, as the alcohol began to seep into his mind, he used bigger, more elaborate words. It was a consequence of his upbringing.

     He snickered. "I always thought Reggie had decided 'fuck it' and did something that shocked the life out of him... literally. Though I didn't exactly have time to ask, he had vanished after a month or so."

     Nikki frowned deeply, shifting closer to Sirius so that her leg brushed up against his. He reached out, tracing tiny circles into the soft flesh of her lower thigh with the pad of his thumb.

     "We had a party," Sirius added, his eyes staring up at the stars that bejeweled the velvety black night sky above them. "A 'Thank Merlin Orion Black Finally Kicked The Bucket' party — we snuck Reg out of Hogwarts."

     He snorted out a rough laugh, one that bore no humor to it at all. "I'm surprised we were able to sneak him out, actually, he had his NEWTs just a couple weeks after. And Voldemort was at the height of his power... I don't think they had many Hogsmeade visits that year; we tried meeting up on those weekends."

     Sirius swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing as he quietly said, "Lily was there when I shattered after Regulus..."

     His throat worked to force out the last word, but it was no use. He couldn't finish his sentence.

     Nikki handed him the Firewhiskey wordlessly, her head feeling as if she had been spinning around nonstop.

     She shook her head, scrunching her nose up and trying to shake the feeling out.

     "She came to my flat and just sat on the couch..." Sirius trailed off, his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to recall the words Lily Evans had told him. "I told her that she should just leave then if she asked me if I was 'fine.' Lils said that she 'wasn't planning on it... but... y'know if you're not really fine... I'm here if you want to talk about it instead of bottling it all up.'"

     He let out a breath of air, head thunking against the stone pillar as if it took too much energy to hold up. Sirius tilted the bottle back once more, draining the last dregs of the half pint of Firewhiskey.

     "I held out for an hour or two, I think," he mused, the circles he was drawing onto her thigh gradually growing bigger as his thumb swept across the hem of her skirt. "Then completely broke down — I don't think her shirt was the same after that day."

     Nikki's breathing grew strained, her skin tingling as she unconsciously clenched her thighs together. Jolts of electricity radiated from where his fingers brushed against her skin.

     His touch was fire and ice at the same time, igniting a blaze deep within her that begged to be satiated.

     Sirius let out a soft hum, flicking his eyes over to her. "I just realized," he said softly, "you could have brought your star chart up here. Would be pretty easy to fill out."

     Nikki bit back a whine at the mention of homework. Honestly, her fingers were shaking at her sides already.

     Her tongue darted out, wetting her lips anxiously. She wanted him.

     "Kiss me," she breathed out, turning her head to face him.

     Sirius raised an eyebrow, his lips curving into a grin. "You're not usually this blunt, love."

     Nikki pouted coquettishly, pulling her legs up underneath her and shifting until she could throw one leg over his own. "I need you."

     She leaned into him, pressing feather-light kisses and trailing her lips across his jawline. Her brown eyes were wide in an imitation of doe-like innocence.

     Sirius pulled her closer, his hands settling on her hips as he continued to circle the pads of his thumbs just under the hem of her skirt.

     "Stop trying to act so innocent," he scoffed affectionately, his lips brushing against hers as he spoke. "I know you're a little minx."

     Nikki closed the gap between them, a bruising kiss. Sirius' grip on her hips tightened as she raked her fingernails through his hair.

     He teased her, flicking his tongue just inside her mouth and then pulling it back again. They could taste the cinnamon of the Firewhiskey on the other's mouth. She let out a low keen, feeling as though she were about to melt into a puddle of pure ecstasy.

     Her hips rolled against him, desperate for any friction that would result.

     "You're so needy," he murmured against her lips, pressing their foreheads together with the lightest touch. "We're going to get caught if we're not careful, darling."

     The pet name caused her to lose all semblance of control. Her cheeks flushed, eyes darkening as she replied, "Then we'll just have to stay quiet... you can manage that, right, love?"

     His brain short-circuited at the seductive purr of her voice, a strangled noise coming out of the back of his throat.

     "Shhhh," Nikki teased, slowly tracing the outline of his lips with her pointer finger.

     His eyes narrowed dangerously, the color of steel. "You're playing a dangerous game, Coley..."

     His lips trailed down the side of her neck, ghosting over her skin as he taunted her.

     Her lips parted, body arching against his touch. Nikki whimpered, splaying her hands out across his chest over the fabric of his shirt.

     He smirked against the hollow of her throat, his fingers slipping under the hem of her velvet skirt and creeping up her thigh.

     "You sure you want to risk getting walked in on?" Sirius breathed out lazily, his breath fanning against the sensitive skin of her neck.

     Nikki shivered, rocking her hips against him as she nodded fervently. "Merlin please."

     "I'm not Merlin," he huffed, nipping at her shoulder. Sirius could barely speak coherently through the fog that clouded his brain and blocked out everything except Nikki on top of him and his hardening dick. "Merlin will not be fucking you until you can't walk tomorrow."

     She felt dizzy, aching for him. Biting back a soft moan, Nikki desperately let out a mewl.

     "Shhh," Sirius mocked, hiking her skirt up past her hips. "We have to stay quiet."

     His thumb pressed down gently on her swelling clit over the gradually dampening fabric of her underwear.

     Her hips bucked forwards, causing Sirius to let out a low groan, his head falling back against the stone pillar of the Astronomy Tower.

     One of Nikki's hands trailed down his chest, her fingers deftly popping the button of his jeans open and wriggling the zipper down.

     "Coley," he rasped, voice ragged. He lifted his hips up off of the ground, shifting and sliding his jeans down just past his thighs.

     He fumbled for his wand, casting a Cushioning Charm at the ground underneath them. He pointed the tip of his wand at Nikki, murmuring the incantation for a contraceptive charm in an undertone.

     He gave a slightly crooked grin, circling his thumb around her nub slowly as he gently pushed her underwear to the side and slid his index and middle fingers inside her, curling his fingers and sparking a gasp out of her.

     'Every sound that fell out of her pretty little mouth,' Sirius thought to himself, 'was like a drug.'

     He moved slowly, as if they had all the time in the world. His fingers pumped in and out of her languidly, sliding easily through her wetness.

     "Fuck," she whined, her head dropping onto his shoulder as her thighs shook. "Sirius, please," Nikki begged, swallowing harshly.

     "You're so wet for me," Sirius cooed, the tips of his fingers striking just the right spot against her walls.

     Her mouth fell open in a breathy moan. The pride at being the one to cause the angelic sound shot straight to Sirius' cock at the sound. He caressed her cheek with the knuckles of his other hand, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

     "Let me know when you're ready, love," he whispered tenderly in her ear, "I don't want to hurt you."

     "I don't care," Nikki pleaded, thrusting her hips downwards so that his fingers went deeper. "Fuck me."

     He swallowed harshly, pulling his fingers out of her entrance. He lifted his hips once more, allowing Nikki to pull his boxers down, and he angled them so that he could...

     They let out identical guttural groans as he bottomed out, cock buried deep inside her. Sirius paused, aching to snap his hips forwards but giving her time to adjust to him.

     "God, love," he murmured, breath tickling her ear. "You're a bloody goddess."

     Nikki's lips spread into a seductive smirk, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to his pulse point. "I'm not God, dea—"

     Her cocky command cut off into a shaky scream as he bucked his hips upwards, thrusting into her.

     "Quiet," he reprimanded lightly, voice coming out as a low growl. "I don't think even you could talk your way out of getting caught with a supposed murderer balls-deep inside you."

     She pressed her palms into his shoulder blades, fingernails shallowly digging into his skin.

     Sirius' grip on her hips lifted her up off of his dick, pulling her back down harder as he let out a ragged breath at the feeling of her sinking down on him.

     Her skirt flipped back down, covering them up as much as a velvet skirt possibly could.

     Sirius' pace was relentless, pounding into her as his muscles tensed. They didn't have much time, he knew that, the professors' rounds had probably already started.

     "Bloody fucking hell," Nikki swore, each word coming out as its own individual sentence rounded out with the sharp slaps of their hips colliding together. "Sirius!"

     "Say that again," he demanded, eyes a deep, dark grey. "Please say that again."

     "Sirius," Nikki rattled off, his name spilling out of her lips barely a second after he finished his order. "Sirius!"

     They froze at the sound of footsteps at the base of the Astronomy Tower, the noise just barely making it to their brains beneath the haze of the scorching touches, caresses that they gave each other.

     "Fuck," Sirius cursed lowly, letting his grip on her hips loosen slightly as she sunk down into him again. "We're going to have to bullshit it."

     Nikki's chest heaved as she attempted to regain a normal breathing pattern. She shifted her position slightly, stopped by Sirius' hands clenching around her hips.

     "Don't do that!" Sirius rasped, burying his head into her shoulder. "I won't be able to hold myself back."

     The door creaked open, Nikki and Sirius' heads snapping around to the entrance to the Astronomy Tower in the same motion.

     "Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me," Remus Lupin huffed, knowing exactly what was occurring. "Really?"

     They fumbled, unsure of how exactly to talk their ways out of this situation. Nikki coughed awkwardly. Sirius' throat bobbed, swallowing roughly.

     "For Merlin's sake... I'm leaving; please don't get caught again. And — here's the professor lecture — go the fuck back to bed."

     Remus spun on his heel, striding out of the tower and letting the door slam behind him.

     Nikki looked at Sirius.

     Sirius looked at Nikki.

     They burst into identical peals of laughter, foreheads pressing against each other as they attempted to reel back their mirth.

     "Well..." Sirius drawled, snickering. "That sounded like a go-ahead to me..."

     His words were punctuated with his hips snapping forwards, careful to not unsettle her and send her tumbling over the edge of the Astronomy Tower.

     That's a bit of a mood killer.

     He reestablished a steady rhythm, thumb of his left hand circling her clit even as he slammed into her.

     Their carnal pleasure dragged them closer and closer to the edge of oblivion.

     Fire pooled deep in Nikki's stomach, a coiling spring that snapped and sent her rocketing to pure bliss. Her lips fell open in a silent scream.

     Sirius' hips stuttered, feeling her pulse around him. With a faint grunt, he shattered, dissolving into unadulterated pleasure as his forehead fell onto her shoulder.

     He pressed a soft kiss to the side of her neck, brushing her hair away from her sweaty skin gently.

     "I love you," he murmured against her neck.

     Nikki hummed softly, her lips curving into an affectionate smile. "I love you, too."

     Sirius sighed softly, pulling back from her the tiniest bit. "We'll probably have to sneak back to the common room..."

     He huffed. "I wish we could stay here forever."

     She laughed, running her fingers gently through his hair as she combed through the silky dark locks. "Might be a bit cold."

     Sirius carefully pulled out of her, grabbing his wand from where it had clattered to the stone floor and muttering a cleaning spell.

     Flashing her a soft smile, he got to his feet, pulling up his boxers and buttoning his jeans. Stretching his hand out to her, he pulled her up to her feet, wrapping his arms around her and resting his cheek on the top of her head.

     Nikki curled her body into his embrace, her head resting on his chest. "You think we can talk our way out of this now?"

     Sirius snorted. "It's... if I'd have to guess... one in the morning? Depends on who catches us; I don't have high hopes for the glasses disguise working against Snivellus... Minnie would murder us for being bad examples to Harry."

     Snickering, Nikki glanced up at him through her eyelashes. "Then we better do everything we can to avoid them and stay quiet."

     Sirius kissed the top of her head, his lips brushing sweetly against strands of her ginger hair. "I could say the same to you. After you, love."

     "So chivalrous," she teased, rising up onto her tiptoes and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

     Their muffled laughter continued until they stumbled into Nikki's dorm room. They threw on the first pair of pajamas they could find, collapsing under the covers.

     Their bodies clicked together subconsciously as if it was simply second nature. Sleepily, Sirius twirled her hair between his fingers.

     He was the luckiest bloody person in the world.

Word Count: 4,369 (heehee I'm immature)