CHAPTER TWENTY
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POTIONS HAD NEVER BEEN Winnie's strong suit, and the laxative incident that had occurred years ago didn't exactly make Professor Slughorn like her any more.

When she arrived in the classroom, she put her things on an empty desk, trying to ignore the fact that the Gryffindors were the ones who were also in the lesson that day. She had been spending a lot of time by herself lately, and she honestly felt quite bad about not seeing her other friends as much.

It became impossible, however, to ignore this fact when James sat down right next to her, dumping his books on the desk.

"Winnie! We have not had nearly enough quality time as of late," he announced and she raised her eyebrows. He looked offended. "How dare you deprive me of my Winnie time?"

She laughed and shook her head. "My dearest and greatest apologies James. I'll never let it happen again, I promise you," she assured lightheartedly, honestly missing him in the brief time period where she hadn't seen him as much.

The lesson began and Slughord began to lay out the steps for completing a Potion for Dreamless Sleep. He also directed them to where they could find additional information regarding it in their books.

"I'll prepare the ingredients," James volunteered, already prepared to cut and grind as needed. Winnie nodded and began to look at the instructions on the board in more detail.

After finishing the first few steps, she waited for James to finish his portion. "So...I heard that you have a little bit of a problem," he began, intently focused on the potion ingredients. Winnie froze.
"What kind of problem?"

"Oh you know, of the snogging sort," he replied casually without looking up.

Winnie gasped. "No!" she defended, already knowing it was too late. It was fair that he would tell his friends, she had told hers.

"Yes," James grinned, finally looking up at her and then back at Sirius a few desks away. He was paired with Lily and looked as though he was having the easiest time of his life — she was fantastic at Potions.

James passed over some cut ingredients and Winnie grumbled as she added them to the brew, making sure she was stirring in the right direction.

"Look, I'm not trying to tease you by bringing it up," James said rather seriously, grinding the next ingredient in a mortar and pestle.

"I thought it was your duty to make fun of me, James," Winnie joked, rolling her eyes at his statement. James laughed.

"While that may be true, there's something...I just thought it was worth mentioning since you're both my dear friends," he explained, actually looking rather troubled as he grinded away. "He's been pretty screwed up about it, Winn."

Winnie put down the ladle she was stirring with and frowned. "He wants you to have your space and isn't going to push it again because you said no," he went on, handing her the grinded ingredient. She scraped it into the cauldron absentmindedly, focused on what James was trying to say. "But he told me some things, and I just wanted to kind of see where you were at with the whole thing."

She forgot which direction she was supposed to be stirring and realized she had done it far too many times. "And not to just go and tell him, because you're my friend too and whatever you say stays between us," he clarified quickly.

Winnie put down her ladle and turned to James, a torn look on her face. "Louise told me that things changed when he met me and he hasn't been...messing around with other people since. Is that true?"

James nodded truthfully. "Yeah, hasn't had much interest in anyone else for a while now. She's right. He mentioned that was one of your reasons for not wanting to."

"Can you blame me?" she asked, shrugging definitively.

James laughed a bit and shook his head. "No you're right, Sirius got around."

"I just didn't want to sign up for that," she told him, sighing. "I need to talk to him, though. I've done my talking to other people. I've talked it to death, James."

"Well, let me tell you, can't think of anyone better for my best mate," James encouraged with a smile, putting a hand on her shoulder. Winnie rolled her eyes and then widened them immediately after once she realized that their potion was bubbling over.

     "Oh, shit! What did you do?" she exclaimed, standing up abruptly in a bit of a panic as the liquid teetered dangerously close to the edge of the cauldron.

     "What did I do? This seems like your fault!"

     "I think we're both just shit at Potions, James!" They were now gathering the attention of their fellow classmates, and they found it extremely hilarious.

     "Um, fuck, reparo?" Winnie tried, pointing her wand at the cauldron that was now leaking onto the desk. A fire erupted from the liquid, growing more than she thought possible. Both her and James yelled at the development. "My bad!"

"No shit!" James agreed, jumping back with her as they examined their disaster.

And then, as quickly as it had started, the fire went out with a simple steam of water. "You're welcome, idiots," Lily teased while Sirius cackled from behind them.

"Potter! Atkinson!" Slughorn scolded through the smoke that still hung in the air above their desk. "Out! You're quite done for today! Pack up your things!"

"What?" Winnie asked incredulously, staring at Slughorn who appeared dead serious. She supposed that neither James nor her were anywhere near his favorite students.

"Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose of the learning bit, Professor?" James pressed on, putting on a very convincing curious expression.

"Out! Now! Detention for the both of you!" Slughorn commanded, pointing at the door. Winnie almost commended him, in a way. That was the most backbone she had ever seen him have.

Winnie silently packed up her things while James did the same. They shuffled out of the classroom while the rest of their peers silently watched, and Winnie was just about ready to roll over and die of sheer embarrassment.

"Well, you've got all the Winnie time you want now," she scoffed, looking down at her watch now that they had what was basically an entire period to fill.

James just grinned at her.

__________

Later that day, she thought back to all of the Sirius related conversations she had been having recently and decided it was time to reach out to him. But since he had been really all over the place lately, bouncing back and forth from the library, common room, and who knows where else, she was going to get a bit creative.

She skipped up the stairs to the owlery with a letter in hand.

My dearest friend Sirius,

I think that we should talk, just me and you. If you're still willing. If you are, meet me by the lake at dinner.

From your very dear friend,
Winnie

She shooed the owl on and hoped that he would receive the message as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, she headed down to the lake to wait in case he decided to show up. She had given him a hard time, so she wouldn't exactly blame him if he decided that he was all done with giving her the time of day.

In hindsight, she realized that maybe meeting outside near the time it would be getting dark in February wasn't the best idea she had ever had.

"You are my dearest friend," Sirius' voice came from behind her. Shivering, she turned suddenly at the sound. "Or as I so intuitively declared when we first met."

"You came," she said, breathing a little sigh of relief. "I want to apologize to you."

"You don't have to," he brushed off, shrugging in an attempt to come off indifferent.

"I wasn't listening to you when you were trying to get me to hear you out and that wasn't fair," she argued.

"You had every right to think those things."

She paused.

"Everyone keeps telling me that you actually mean it. Is it true? Coming from you and you only," Winnie sighed, wanting to hear it to finally settle this insecurity that had been plaguing her mind.

Sirius smiled at her, not in his joking, sly manner, but in a soft way. He took a few steps forward.

"Winnie, love, I promise there's no one else but you. I'm not just trying to mess around," he told her, probably the most genuine she had ever heard him. "You'd think for someone so smart, you would've caught on by now."

She room a few steps forward too, close enough to where she could feel his breath on her face. Cautiously, he put a hand up to brush a piece of hair away from her face like he did that night in her kitchen. Her stomach was working overtime to try and contain the butterflies.

"I can't stop thinking about you, Winn," he admitted, smiling to himself a bit more. "You're driving me mad."

"And you make me really mad...like you make the hallways rain on me and won't leave me alone in detention mad," she said, trying to beat the feeling in her stomach down aggressively. Sirius' eyes didn't leave her face. "But I can't quit thinking about you, either."

She stepped as close to him as she could possibly get, the warmth of his breath hitting her face. He nodded, answering her silent question. And they kissed.