Chapter 21: First Time For Everything

Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to JK Rowling. I'm simply playing with her creations.

Author's Notes: As normal, beta credit to DracoGurlFurever for her hard work and a huge thank you to all the Admin staff here. Also, thank you to you for reading ... this was quite a hard chapter for me to write for some reason, so I'd love to know your thoughts on it, and I hope the wait has been worth it. ;-)

Chapter 21: First Time For Everything

The next day, there was a stilted silence between Lily and James and an awkwardness that hadn't been there for much of the year. Sophia could tell that James was treading on eggshells in his efforts to avoid upsetting Lily again, and for her part, Lily was clearly embarrassed by her reaction and unwilling to talk about it. However, as the week dragged on, the pair slowly seemed to work their way back to a tenuous friendship, and Sophia fervently hoped that they would both work past this incident, given enough time.

The next Friday saw the first Apparation lessons take place in the Great Hall. Sophia and Sirius walked down to the hall hand in hand along with the rest of the sixth-year Gryffindors. The tables had all been pushed back against the walls of the Hall, and towards the front stood the four Heads of House, along with someone Sophia didn't recognise. She guessed this must be the Ministry official who had been sent to instruct them.

The students all gathered in the hall, a constant level of chatter filling the space as everyone anxiously awaited their first lesson to begin. Sirius was in an active discussion with the rest of the Marauders about the benefits of Apparation, but Sophia was too focused on observing the teachers, keen for the lesson to start, to participate.

Eventually, the small wizard she didn't recognise stepped forward and cleared his throat. The students all took immediate notice, and the chatter died down as everyone turned their focus to the front of the hall.

'Good evening, everyone,' he said, his voice slightly reedy-sounding.

Sophia's attention was captured by his thin, white hair. Even, Dumbledore, at his great age, didn't have hair that white, and this wizard didn't look old enough to rival the headmaster. He was also rakishly thin and frail-looking, and privately, she worried about his overall level of health.

'My name is Wilkie Twycross, and I am to be your Ministry Apparition instructor. My aim, over the coming weeks, is to prepare you for your Apparation tests.'

Twycross went on to emphasise that, under normal circumstances, Apparation was not possible within the walls of Hogwarts, and Sophia saw Lily give Sirius a smug grin at which Sirius merely rolled his eyes. Twycross asked the students to spread themselves out within the hall, and the Heads of House moved from their sentry posts behind the Ministry official out into the crowd of students, shepherding them into suitable positions.

Once everyone was placed correctly, Twycross flourished his wand, causing large wooden hula-hoops to appear on the ground in front of each of the students. Twycross proceeded to drill into the students what he called the 'Three "D's" of Apparation,' which were: 'Destination, Determination, and Deliberation.'

After a brief bout of instruction on how to use the 'Three "D's,"' the students were allowed their first attempt at Apparation into their hula-hoop.

Sophia focused all of her mind on the hula-hoop in front of her, studying it so closely that she even began to note the grain of the wooden floor boards and the scrapes that scarred its surface after years of students' use and abuse. She noted the blackness that filled each dent and groove and the imperfect patterns the marks made on the floor. She then turned her focus to imagine herself occupying the space, her body folding in on itself, into nothing, from where she was now, only to unfold and re-materialise in the space she was focusing on a moment later.

Finally, on Twycross's command, she summoned all her magical strength to allow her to Apparate. Holding herself tight through effort and concentration, she turned gracefully on her heel, squeezing her eyes shut to allow herself to focus on the image of her re-appearing within the hoop.

However, as she spun, nothing seemed to happen; when she opened her eyes and saw the hoop, still empty, in front of her, she knew she had failed. Looking up and around the hall, she quickly realised that she was not the only person to have struggled on their first attempt. Sirius was looking at his hoop like it had personally offended him, Lily looked despondent, and Peter ... well, he just looked confused.

For the next hour, Sophia focused all her energy on trying to Apparate, but to no avail. So far, no-one had been able to successfully make the trip five feet into their respective hula-hoops; as Twycross dismissed them, she knew that everyone was secretly wondering if they would ever master the skill.

*

The following week followed much the same pattern as every other week, with only Sophia's level of homework increasing. She and Sirius were spending all the time they could afford together, though she did sometimes have to leave him and go to the library with Lily. Sirius really was a distraction as far as getting homework done was concerned, and the library was the one place she knew he'd never voluntarily enter if he had any other choice.

That Friday saw the second Apparation lesson take place. It followed much the same format as the first one – Twycross re-iterated the 'Three "D's"' to them before letting them loose to try to Apparate into a hula-hoop.

After forty-five minutes of fruitless attempts, and feeling slightly dizzy from all the spinning on the spot, Sophia suddenly felt her whole body being squeezed tightly. She panicked, thinking for a moment that her ribs would surely break under this amount of force, but then, as quickly as the crushing sensation had started, it ended.

Standing with her eyes still firmly shut, Sophia panted a breath, then began a mental check of her body. She did not feel any pain anywhere, so she was pretty certain she hadn't spliced herself. Slowly, she peeked one eye open and saw the hula-hoop surrounding her feet. She'd done it!

Snapping her eyes completely open, she broke into a stunned, but extremely excited, grin. It was then that she realised that everyone in the hall was looking at her; her cheeks flamed red quickly upon noticing all those sets of eyes staring.

'Well done, Miss ... er, what was your name, dear?' Twycross asked, having walked over to her while clapping his hands.

'McKinloch, sir,' she answered quietly.

He smiled warmly at her. 'Well done, Miss McKinloch. Do you now see what can be achieved by using Destination, Determination, and Deliberation?' he asked, turning his attention to the rest of the students in the hall. 'Now, we have fifteen minutes left, so keep practicing!'

Sophia managed to Apparate one more time before the end of the lesson, and Lucy had also managed one successful trip along with one of the Ravenclaw boys. Remus had come extremely close to managing his first attempt at Apparation, but, unfortunately, something had gone slightly wrong; he had managed to splice off his little finger. His yowl of pain upon arriving in his hula hoop had caused all four Heads of House to descend upon him. All the students had stopped to watch the proceedings, and, after a bang and a puff of purple smoke, the teachers had backed away to reveal a whole-again Remus, now looking decidedly embarrassed.

Once in the common room, Sophia settled herself next to Sirius, leaning into his side as his arm wrapped around her shoulder. The group of sixth years spent the evening chatting, Melanie and Niahm playing Exploding Snap. Sophia was relieved to see that, two weeks on, Lily and James seemed to be perfectly comfortable with each other once more. She just hoped James had enough sense to wait long enough before asking Lily on a date again.

When it came time to go to bed, she gave Sirius a long hug as their friends walked up to their respective dormitories.

'So, I'll meet you down here in the morning, then? And then we'll go into Hogsmeade?' Sirius asked, pulling back from their hug but maintaining his grip on her waist, his palms flat against the small of her back.

Sophia nodded. 'Yep, I'll be down about nine-thirty,' she replied, smiling brightly but beginning to feel oddly nervous about the idea of their long anticipated 'official' first date.

'Great,' was his only reply before kissing her good-night. As they let go of one another, Sirius squeezed her hands, grinning at her before he left to go up to his own bed.

Climbing the stairs to her bed, Sophia's stomach still rolled with nerves over the coming date, and she prayed that she would be able to sleep.

*

'Hamish!' Sophia scolded as she emerged from the bathroom, her hair still hanging in wet tendrils around her face. Her grey cat lifted his head slowly and blinked at her sleepily but otherwise made no effort to move. Sophia marched over to her bed and carelessly dropped her hairbrush on the cover before hastily reaching over to drag her cat off of her jumper. 'There had better not be cat hairs on this, Hamish,' she muttered. Hamish, for his part, remained in his sleep-induced relaxed state, and as a result, was twice as difficult to move. 'You have the whole bed, Hamish. Why couldn't you sleep somewhere else, huh? You always have to sleep on my clothes.'

Lucy giggled from her place on the other side of the room. 'You know he does it because it smells like you, and because he knows it annoys you.'

'Hmm,' Sophia replied. 'Well, he certainly won't get any treats today,' she continued, pointing a finger at Hamish, who gave a pathetic-sounding meow in response. She picked up her jumper and surveyed it for any grey hairs, then decided to cast a quick Scourgify to be on the safe side.

Once certain that it was clean, Sophia pulled the jumper on over her head and then turned her attention to her hair. Picking up her wand again, she began to dry each curl and ringlet with meticulous attention to detail. She couldn't understand why it was that she was feeling nervous about her date with Sirius, a feeling made worse by the fact that one particular curl refused to hang properly and was instead sticking out at a right angle from her head.

'I hate my hair,' Sophia grumbled with frustration, glaring at the curl in the mirror.

'You do not "hate" your hair,' Lucy chided from the other side of the dorm room, barely managing to suppress a giggle.

'I do!' Sophia exclaimed, turning round to face Lucy. 'It never does what it is supposed to do!' Sophia focused her attention on her reflection again. The butterflies that had taken up residence in her belly were fluttering around chaotically, and her misbehaving hair was doing nothing to quell her nerves. Picking up the offending curl, she aimed her wand at it once more, muttering a charm to get it to hang straight. When she released it, and it jumped back into its former position, she threw her hands up in the air. 'Oh, for Merlin's sake, I give up! I swear, sometimes it would be easier to shave it all off and just have a wig!'

The rest of the girls giggled at Sophia's exclamation as Niahm went to her rescue. 'Hold still a minute,' she said as she spun Sophia forcefully round. Sophia watched in the mirror as Niahm took hold of the curl and won the battle that Sophia had just lost. 'There now, nothing to worry about,' Niamh soothed.

'Thank you,' Sophia said meekly. 'I'm being silly, aren't I?' She turned around to face the other girls sheepishly.

'Maybe just a smidge,' Lily replied, smiling warmly.

'I just want everything to be perfect ... it's our first proper date.'

'We know, but you have been together now for a month. I seriously doubt Sirius would break up with you because you had a curl out of place,' Melanie assured her, an amused grin on her face.

'Why do I feel this nervous? I mean, I've spent loads of time with him before now. It's not like we don't know each other.' Sophia fidgeted nervously with her hands as she glanced around at her friends.

'Stop worrying, will you? You're beginning to make me nervous!' Lucy joked as she walked over to where Sophia was. 'Just enjoy the day and let him take the lead. Then, this evening, you can fill us in on the details.' Lucy gave Sophia a wink which caused a few giggles to escape from Sophia. It was enough to take the edge off her nerves, for the moment, at least.

~~~~~

'All set?' James asked Sirius as they prepared to leave their dorm room.

'Think so, yes,' replied Sirius, giving himself one final look over in the mirror. 'Now, you do remember what I told you, don't you?' Sirius asked, turning to face the rest of the Marauders.

'You mean, when you said that, if we do anything to muck this date up for you, you'll hex us all to within an inch of our lives?' Peter asked innocently.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at his friends, 'Yes, that. You do promise that you won't pull any pranks on Sophia and I today, right?'

'Us?' Remus asked, equalling Peter's look of innocence.

'Play pranks?' James continued, joining them. 'When have we ever done that?'

'Don't play coy with me, Prongs,' Sirius threatened, though there was a slightly playful edge to his tone. 'I still remember what you did when I was on that date with Julie last year. She broke up with me shortly after that little fiasco.'

'Ah, yeah, but she was stuck-up. In many ways, we did you a favour there,' James stated nonchalantly. 'Sophia would have seen the funny side.'

'It was a fantastic prank, too,' Peter said, clearly fighting back laughter from the memory.

'Your faces were a picture,' Remus added, a mischievous look gracing his features.

Sirius also had to fight back laughter at the memory. He'd been on a date with Julie Anderson, a Ravenclaw girl in their year. They had been enjoying a quiet moment on the outskirts of Hogsmeade together when the other Marauders doused them both with jets of water.

Sirius had seen the funny side of the prank, but, sadly, Julie hadn't been so impressed. How was he supposed to have known that you couldn't get a silk top wet? When Sirius had refused to reprimand his friends for their behaviour, Julie had broken up with him. James was right, she had been a bit stuck up, but that still wasn't the point. Desperate times called for desperate measures ... he had to get them to promise to behave.

'Okay, well, just remember that, if you ever go on a date with say, oh, I don't know...' Sirius paused to stare at the ceiling while he tapped his chin before looking back at James with a glint in his eye, '...Lily Evans, I have the right to payback ... with interest,' he said slyly. A smug grin played on Sirius's face as he watched the colour drain from James's.

'We promise, Pads,' James said quickly.

'Good,' Sirius said happily, giving James a pat on the back before leaving to meet Sophia in the common room.

He bounded down the stairs and glanced round the common room before he spotted Sophia by the portrait. She stood alone, her gaze fixed upon her hands, fidgeting. It was a clear sign that she was feeling nervous. Sirius quickly crossed over to the other side of the common room before he snuck along the wall to where Sophia stood. He was positioned just out of her eye line now as he carefully crept up behind her. He quickly reached out his arms and wrapped them around her waist as he leaned into her ear to whisper, 'Miss me?'

Sophia physically jumped in his arms as she let out a simultaneous shriek at his attack before relaxing. Her hand came up to clutch her heart as she breathed in deeply before answering him.

'You prat! You frightened the life out of me!' Sirius wasn't too put off by her choice of words as Sophia was laughing as she spoke.

'Sorry, Soph. I just couldn't resist,' Sirius said, through a large grin, rocking her in his arms. After a couple of seconds, he released his grip and stepped round in front of her. 'Hi,' he said, still smiling as he looked into her eyes.

'Hi,' she replied through her own smile before he pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

'Shall we be off then?' Sirius asked as he held out his arm for her to take. She smiled and nodded; they linked arms and he led her out of the common room.

It was mid-February, two days before Valentine's Day, and there was still a cold nip to the air. The ground still showed evidence of the hard frost that had occurred the night before, but the sky was a crystal clear blue with only a few high, wispy white clouds. Sophia and Sirius carefully made their way down the path through the grounds of Hogwarts towards Hogsmeade.

'So, what are we doing today?' Sophia asked as they entered the village. The streets were filled with the usual sea of schoolchildren, and Sophia spotted quite a few faces that she knew, though she could not see any of the other girls or the other Marauders.

'Well, I thought we could go to Madam Puddifoot's, and I would treat you to lunch,' Sirius replied. He wasn't thrilled with the idea of going to the cafe, especially as it would be decorated for Valentine's Day, which would mean vomit-inducing levels of pink, frilly, lacy decorations, but he thought it would be the place that Sophia would expect to be taken to. However, the raised eyebrow she was giving him made him doubt his previous assumption.

'Madam Puddifoot's? With all the lace, frills and hearts everywhere? Do you honestly want to go there?' she asked sceptically.

'Yes?' Sirius replied hesitantly.

'Are you sure?' Sophia replied, still sounding very sceptical. 'If you really want to go there, then we can, but I would be just as happy going to The Three Broomsticks. I guess I assumed that is where you would prefer to go, too. I didn't have you down as being a pink lace kind of man.' Sophia gave a shrug and waited for him to answer, but a smile was desperately tugging at the corners of her mouth.

'Well, it would depend on where the pink lace was,' Sirius responded with a wink, making Sophia blush slightly. 'But you're right; I'm not keen on it framing a window. I just thought that would be somewhere you would want to go.'

'Well, it's an okay place, but if you're not keen on going there, I'm happy to go elsewhere.' Sophia gave him a smile which he returned, grateful for his reprieve.

'Three Broomsticks it is, then,' he said happily before taking her hand and leading her in the direction of the pub. As they entered, Sirius spotted the other Marauders sitting at a table in the centre of the room. His friends looked up at him, and each smiled and waved as Sirius and Sophia passed them, although none of them tried to engage the pair in conversation. Sirius and Sophia waved in return before making their way over to a corner booth at the back of the pub.

'What would you like to drink?' Sirius asked as Sophia removed her coat before sliding into the corner seat.

'A Butterbeer would be lovely, thanks,' she replied with a smile. Sirius nodded before walking across to the bar and placing the order with Rosemerta. She quickly sorted out his order, and Sirius was soon back at the table with two Butterbeers in his hands.

He slid carefully around the table and handed Sophia her drink. 'There you go. Cheers.' They clinked their bottles together gently before each taking a sip. He studied Sophia closely as she put her bottle down the table. She kept her eyes down slightly, and there was a certain amount of tension in her muscles. 'Soph, are you okay?' he questioned.

She looked up at him with a slightly panicked expression. 'Yeah, fine ... why?'

He shrugged. 'I don't know, you just seemed tense ... almost like you were nervous, or something.' He watched as her cheeks turned an attractive shade of pink. 'You are ... you're nervous, aren't you?' He chuckled.

Sophia let her face fall into her hands. 'I'm that transparent, aren't I?' she groused. 'You must think I'm mad or something.'

Sirius gently pulled her hands away from her face, a warm smile on his face. 'I don't think you're mad. In fact, I find it highly endearing.' He pulled one hand up and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles, noting the way her cheeks flushed at his gesture. 'Besides, I'm not one to judge. I was feeling a tad nervous about today too.'

'Really?' Sophia's tone was slightly disbelieving.

'Really,' he replied, as reassuringly as he could. 'The last time I went on a date, the girl broke up with me two days later due to my so-called friends' actions towards us.' Sirius chuckled slightly. 'So I had to use some pretty strong persuasion techniques to ensure they wouldn't do a repeat performance today. Don't want you breaking up with me, too!'

Sophia giggled. 'What did they do the last time you were on a date, then?' she inquired, clearly relaxing now that the conversation had started.

'Well, let's just say that they doused us with water, declaring we needed to "get a room,"' Sirius replied, a hint of mirth in his tone causing Sophia to giggle once more.

'Sounds like something they would do, all right,' Sophia agreed.

'Yes, hence the reason I was so determined that they wouldn't interfere today!'

'Indeed. I mean, being doused with water is fine in late May, when it's warm, but if they did that to us today, we'd turn into icicles!' Sophia joked. 'If it's all the same to you, I would rather not turn into an icicle any time soon.'

'You and me both,' Sirius grinned, placing his hand over Sophia's that was resting on her thigh. She turned her hand over so that she could grasp his hand in acceptance of the gesture and gave him a shy smile.

The pair ate their lunch leisurely before ordering another couple of Buteerbeers to round off the meal. The conversation had flowed easily, and Sirius was pleased to note that Sophia was acting her normal self, her nerves from the start of the date now long forgotten. As they finished their drinks, Sirius decided it was time to move on from the Three Broomsticks to the next part of his agenda.

'You ready to go?' he asked, a bubbling excitement in his tone.

Sophia twitched an eyebrow up at him. 'Go?'

'Yes, go. As in, leave, vacate the premises. Surely you are familiar with the concept?' he teased.

Sophia playfully slapped his arm. 'Yes, I think I grasp the concept. What I meant was, where are we going?' she asked, chuckling slightly.

'Ah, well, that is the surprise, isn't it?' he replied, a large grin on his face.

'Hmm, so you're not giving me any clues, then?' she asked.

Sirius shook his head, still grinning.

Sophia picked up her glass and drained the dregs of her Butterbeer before turning back to Sirius with a smile. 'Let's go!'

Sirius paid for their meal and drinks before escorting Sophia back outside into the village. The weather was still cold but clear, and made for pleasant walking conditions.

'So, which way?' Sophia asked, looking up and down the main street.

'We are going that way,' Sirius replied, pointing in the direction of Hogwarts. Grasping her glove-covered hand in his, he led her down through the village, turning right down a lane just on the outskirts that led to a wood.

They followed a path into the woods and walked a short way until they came to a man-made clearing. In the clearing, there was a short wooden bench covered with intricate carvings of ivy twisting up the legs, arms, and back of the bench, and there was stone-carved bird bath that formed the focal point of the garden. Surrounding the bird bath were the outlines of a formal flower bed, but, due to the time of the year, no flowers were blooming yet. In from the edge of the trees crept a carpet of snowdrops.

'Sirius! This is beautiful!' Sophia gasped upon seeing the spot. She turned disbelieving eyes on him and he smiled, pleased that she liked it.

'I'm glad you approve,' he said, albeit somewhat smugly.

'It's ... well, it's ... how did you find this place?'

Sirius chuckled. 'I'm a Marauder, Soph,' he teased. 'Finding places no-one else knows about is just part of our repertoire.'

She rolled her eyes. 'Of course; how silly of me.'

Sirius grinned winningly before directing her to the bench and sitting beside her.

'Feeling cold?' he asked, seeing Sophia rub her hands together. He noticed the tip of her nose and the high points of her cheeks were pink also.

'Hmm, a wee bit, but I'll be fine,' she replied smiling.

'Well, maybe this will help. It's why I brought you here in the first place.' Sophia gave him an enquiring look as he pulled out his wand. With a swish and a flick, a ball of blue-bell flame was floating in front of them.

'There you go,' he said. 'You can warm your fingers on that.'

Sophia smiled, pulling off her gloves and holding her hands up to the flame to warm them. Sirius, meanwhile, reached into his coat and produced a packet of marshmallows and some sticks.

'Marshmallows?' Sophia asked, sounding surprised.

Sirius nodded, smiling broadly. 'A little bird told me that you love to roast marshmallows, and seeing as I'd never done it before, not to mention that the idea of legitimate arson involving food was very appealing to me,' ... he winked ... 'I thought we could try it.'

Sophia giggled once more. 'Yes, I can see arson being very appealing to you, the pyromaniac that you are,' she teased, her blue eyes sparkling. 'And would this "little bird" happen to have long red hair?'

'She might,' Sirius replied. 'She told me this would be all we would need ... she did tell me the truth, right?' He raised an eyebrow in inquiry. He didn't fully trust Lily to tell him the full truth, thinking she might quite like him to look a fool.

'Yes, she did,' Sophia replied with a smile. 'Would you like me show you what you are supposed to do?'

Sirius nodded and handed over the various items and watched with curiosity. He'd approached Lily to ask for her help for something special to do on their date, trying to find out something that Sophia loved that he didn't yet know about. When Lily had first suggested roasting marshmallows, he'd been utterly confused. He didn't even know what a marshmallow was. In fact, he'd thought Lily was playing a trick on him. It was only the reassurance of Melanie that these marshmallow things were real that had persuaded him. At his request, Lily arranged for her parents to send two packets of marshmallows to Hogwarts ... one for his date with Sophia, the second for him and the rest of the Marauders to try ... and a packet of roasting sticks.

Sophia ripped open the marshmallows, pulling out a pink one and skewering it on one of the sticks before handing it to him, an all-too-innocent smile on her face.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, giving the marshmallow a critical look. 'A pink one?'

Sophia continued to smile but he could tell she was desperately trying not to laugh.

'Why can't I have a white one?'

'Because,' she drawled, making it sound like she thought him stupid, 'the white ones are my favourite.'

'They taste the same! Or I think so, anyway,' he argued, still refusing to accept the offending pink marshmallow ... it simply mocked his ... manliness.

'Well, if they taste the same, you won't mind having a pink one, then,' Sophia countered. Sirius decided she looked entirely too smug.

'Fine,' He sighed resignedly, plucking the stick from her hand. He watched as she speared her own (white, his subconscious muttered darkly) marshmallow before she turned back to him.

'And now we roast,' she state simply, gently placing the marshmallow into the blue flame.

Sirius mimicked Sophia's action, turning his marshmallow as Sophia rotated her own. When the marshmallows were golden brown around the outside, Sophia slid hers out of the flame and popped it into her mouth, pulling it off the stick with a smile.

Dubiously, Sirius copied her once more, careful to stop any of the marshmallow dripping over him as he brought it up to his mouth. Marshmallows, he decided, were definitely better roasted.

'Oh, Merlin!' he moaned, the sugary, sticky ooze of the sweet coating the inside of his mouth. 'This is bloody amazing!'

Sophia giggled. 'Even though it was pink?' she teased.

Sirius glared at her, but he couldn't hold it for long, instead breaking into a grin once he'd swallowed. 'Shut up and give me another one,' he demanded.

Sophia plucked his stick from her hand and slid a white marshmallow on this time. She roasted it for him before holding out the stick for him to take the marshmallow in his mouth. Her smile was brilliant as she watched him eat. As soon as he had finished, he reached out to her and pulled her towards him for a kiss. Her lips were sweet and slightly sticky, much like his own, but he didn't mind. Deepening the kiss, he slipped a hand into Sophia's curls, keeping her close. Sophia's own hands gripped his shoulders as she leaned into him.

Slowly, though, Sophia drew back, a shy smile on her face as she met his gaze. 'More marshmallows, I think, don't you?'

They sat there roasting and eating the marshmallows until they were all gone. Sirius ended the bluebell flame spell before standing from the bench, turning then to give a hand to Sophia. He didn't let go of her once she was standing, instead drawing her closer to him, wrapping an arm securely round her waist.

'Did you have fun?' he asked, using his free hand to brush her curls back away from her face.

'I did,' she replied softly, smiling warmly in gratitude.

'Good.' He punctuated the word with a chaste kiss. 'We should probably head back now, though,' he suggested reluctantly. It was only really the cold that was making him feel like returning to the castle.

Sophia nodded, slowly freeing herself of his grip on her waist and grasping his hand with her own as she turned to walk back out of the garden.

On impulse, he stopped, swinging Sophia back to him, a mischievous grin on his face. He barely gave Sophia a moment to steady herself as she squeaked at her sudden change of direction. He caught her securely in his arms before dropping her backwards.

'Sirius!' Sophia exclaimed.

Sirius just grinned before kissing her once more, feeling smug as he felt Sophia's hand at the back of his neck.

Suddenly, though, Sophia's foot slipped on the ice and they both crashed to the floor. Sirius just managed to brace himself on the arm around Sophia's back to stop him from crushing her completely, but both his knees and his elbow throbbed painfully from their hard collision with the ground.

Sophia groaned in pain, reaching a hand up to touch the back of her head, her eyes scrunched up in pain.

'Soph ... you alright?' Sirius asked, concerned for her.

'Yeah, fine, just banged my head,' came her reply, though her voice was oddly tight. Slowly, her eyes opened and she looked at him. 'And my bum really hurts,' she confessed, her cheeks turning pink; she laughed slightly as she spoke.

'I'll kiss it better, if you like,' Sirius replied, with a grin and an eyebrow waggle.

Sophia hit his bicep with her palm. 'I think you've done enough!' she giggled. 'Promise me, no more bouts of spontaneous romantic gestures? I think they cause more harm than good.'

'Okay, only planned, pre-arranged shows of romantic affection from here forward,' he said seriously. 'I'm sure I can manage that no problem,' he added, his tone self-deprecating.

Sophia snorted. 'True. How about a compromise ... don't dip me backwards for a kiss when there is ice on the ground?'

'Deal. I suppose we should get up, though,' Sirius said wryly.

Sophia nodded. Slowly, they untangled themselves, and Sirius struggled to his feet, wincing at the pain in his knees before holding out a hand to help Sophia up. Keeping a steadying arm around her, they both limped their way back to Hogwarts.

For the rest of the evening, Sirius was mocked by the rest of the Marauders for his failings, but Sophia had reassured him that she had loved the date, and for him, that was all that mattered.