Ahh, Sweet Madness | Mai

[sirius orion black]

Oh how he loved evading dull moments.

Joined only by the sound of distant chatter and footsteps, Sirius Black lay flat on his back in the middle of a frequently-deserted hallway, having just narrowly avoided a rather close encounter with the ever-cheery Argus Filch. Even panting and sprawled out as he was on the cool floor of the small passage just short of the fourth floor corridor, the boy managed to keep up his air of casual elegance. In his opinion, that just made his win even more satisfying (and Filch's more disheartening, he hoped.)

Honestly, the nutter had it out for Sirius since day one. Sure, the Gryffindor may have set off certain items from one very special joke shop in his office on numerous occasions... and maybe once or twice put some in his pockets... oh, and there was that incident with the cat's collar, but there really was no reason to go into that one.

The point was that no matter how many times Sirius attempted to say or do something nice for the decaying old cad of a groundskeeper, the man continually refused to give him the benefit of the doubt. Instead, he had taken to keeping an annoyingly close eye on the boys (particularly James and Sirius) - confiscating their belongings and, whenever possible, placing rather large lumps on their heads with whatever he had in his hand. Somehow he must've known that they wouldn't bother going to a teacher about the abuse.

Honestly, if he didn't know any better, Sirius would think Filch was developing a crush, but of course, he did know better. The old cad was probably too obsessed with the ruddy furball he dragged around to notice anything that walked on two legs (that he wasn't about to torture, anyway). Besides, Sirius had just eaten lunch and he would have preferred to keep it inside for at least a little bit longer.

In any case, it was avoiding this sort of harsh confrontation (which may or may not have been merited depending on who you were and how much you knew about what one dashingly handsome Gryffindor may or may not have done to anger the grumpy old git) that landed Sirius in this position, his breath shallow from having darted up four flights of stairs and through several corridors before finally losing the fool and collapsing to the floor.

How was it that someone so old who ran like that managed to keep up with him for so long? Maybe he really should take James' advice and get into Quidditch...

Too bad he wasn't the 'team' sort.

[maia-lynn faith hart]

Okay so maybe standing by the lake hadn't exactly been Mai's best ever idea, after all, she knew how clumsy she was and how she was very accident prone, so when some third year boys had decided to have a race around the lake on their brooms and one of them had ended up knocking her into the water, she really shouldn't have been very surprised, but of course she was, and now she was going through the castle, soaking wet and having to use the corridors that very few people went through, to make sure she didn't run into the caretaker Filch who would most likely go mad over the fact that she was dripping water all over the floors.

"Stupid third years." Mai muttered irritably as she walked, her arms folded over her chest grumpily. "Don't even know how to dodge somebody when flying, bloody idiots." She ran her hands through her soaking wet curls, pulling them into a ponytail so that they would stop falling into her eyes. She continued walking, not really paying attention to where she was going, when she turned a corner and tripped over something, letting out a scream of surprise.

Mai groaned, landing on top of something soft, she looked down to see what she was lying on, only for her eyes to widen as she realized it wasn't a something, it was a someone. Sirius Black to be precise. Suddenly the girl was all too away of how her soaking wet shirt had gone quite see through and was clinging to her. Her cheeks flushed bright red and she looked at him.

"Oh my God, I as so sorry! I'm such a clutz, I really didn't mean to do that, I am so sorry!" She stammered, her words quick and rushed. Shut up, shut up, shut up! She told herself mentally. Stop babbling like an idiot! Oh God, why do I have to be so clumsy, why did it have to be him of all people that I fall on top of? Is my life not horrible enough, that I have to add to it by falling on top of the guy I like while soaking wet with a see through shirt on!

[sirius orion black]

Sirius’ breathing calmed, but the boy remained on the cool floor where he’d decided he would wait until his brilliant mind came up with some sort of plan. There had to be something he’d never done before in this bloody castle.

That was the problem with familiarity, wasn’t it? Sure, it was comfortable, but after a while, nothing was new, and where was the fun in that? It became more and more difficult for the marauders to top the stunts they’d pulled off the year before, and Sirius was finding it harder to avoid falling into a routine. Some might say it couldn’t be helped, but Sirius Black was all about proving the impossible possible. If his life alone wasn’t proof enough, well, he’d just have to work a little harder to convince you.

I mean, it wasn’t every day that you could lay on the ground and have young girls literally falling all over you, was it? Well, it may have been for Sirius, but that wasn’t something he minded. What could he say? He was only human. Everyone needs some sort of stability, right?

Smirking, Sirius propped himself up as much as he could on one elbow, though he didn’t bother to suggest that the girl move. Personally, Sirius wasn’t too bothered by the situation in which they found themselves. Water or not, contact with a pretty girl was, well, that was self-explanatory, wasn’t it? Not only was he human, he was also a rather extraordinary teenage boy, and that was enough on its own. A little water (Merlin’s beard, he hoped it was water… eh, what did he really care?) on the clothes never hurt anyone.

At her apology, the Gryffindor simply smiled, shaking his head a bit. “The way I see it, you’ve got nothing to apologize for,” teased Sirius, grinning devilishly. Personally, Sirius liked when girls blushed. Not only did it mean that he was doing something right, it also tended to be quite flattering. “I mean, I am laying in the middle of a hallway,” he pointed out to make his words seem a bit more… innocent.

[maia-lynn faith hart]

"Um yeah, right, still sorry, I should have been watching where I was going." Mai stammered again, her cheeks burning even more as she wished she hadn't worn a white shirt that day. She avoided looking at him, well, tried to avoid looking at him anyways, but he was just so god damn good to look at. Mai chewed her lip as her eyes ran over his, from his dark hair to his grey eyes, to his chiseled chest, which she had now realized she was still on top of.

She blushed again, wishing to whatever God might exist that she wasn't so easily embarrassed. But that was the thing, with anyone else she wouldn't have been, she simply would have stood up, brushed herself off and told the person not to lie in the middle of the hallway, but this wasn't just anyone, this was Sirius Black, the boy she had been crushing on for about four years now, ever since she had ended up as his potions partner in third yeat and he given her that smile.

The smile that made her heart beat faster and slower at the smae time, and made her stomach flutter and her cheeks burn bright red. So instead of acting like a normal human being and getting up, Mai continued to lie there, cursing her own stupidity while very much enjoying their closeness and wishing she had the guts to wrap her arms around his neck and press her lips to his.

Then again, maybe that wouldn't have been such a good idea, he would never like her, he was Sirius Black, absolute sex God and ladies man extraordinaire, and she was Mai Hart, the bushy haired clutz who couldn't even string two sentences together in his presence.

[sirius orion black]

Sirius continued to grin as she simply remained on top of him. He would’ve laughed if he didn’t think she was embarrassed enough as it was, but it couldn’t have been that bad, he realized, watching her eyes as they slid over him. He couldn’t blame her, of course. Sirius Black was a lot to take in. Still, she wasn’t exactly hard on the eyes herself, but Sirius decided he would spare her the examination… at least so long as she insisted on lying on top of him.

Shifting slightly under her weight, the boy pulled back his other arm to hold them both up. While he hadn’t really meant it that way, this only managed to bring them closer. Naturally, him being Sirius, and all, this didn’t bother him a bit. Proximity was something that Sirius was very used to, particularly when he was dealing with another girl. When it came to members of his own sex, well, he’d figure that out when he actually had occasion. He couldn’t say he wanted to be close to any other lads, but it was very difficult to make him feel uncomfortable, so it wasn’t likely that anyone could bother him in that way. It was just easy to be settled in different circumstances when you were so comfortable with who you were.

Sadly, Sirius had no problem with making others feel uncomfortable, regardless of whether or not he had an unfair advantage. In fact, he rather enjoyed it. Sometimes the thrills he got out of bothering others to no end worried him (in hindsight, of course… at the time, he didn’t really think too much about it). Was he exhibiting Black-like cruelty? No, Sirius was better than that. This was just harmless fun, and it was fun he’d been looking for, right? So with that in mind, he took advantage of the shrinking space between them and shifted his grin to a smirk before saying, “Perhaps… but then we would’ve been in a very different situation,” in that low, deep voice of his.

[maia-lynn faith hart]

Mai's breath caught in her throat as he pulled her even closer to him. Shivers ran down her spine as she felt his breath on her cheek. Her eyes widened at his words, Oh God, oh God, oh Gid, oh God! She panicked silently. Is he flirting with me? She discarded the thought almost immediately, it was more likely that the giant squid would crawl out of the lake and ask her to marry it, than it was that Sirius Black would actually hit on her.

Really, who was she compared to him, he was the gorgeous charming guy that everyone loved, and she was the awkward clumsy nobody that everyone just looked right through. She chewed her lip nervously, wishing she could think of something witty and charming to say, but all she could think about was how good his body felt against hers and how nice he smelled and how gorgeous his smile was. Hoping that getting a little bit further away from him might help her think clearly, Mai pulled herself to her feet, her cheeks still burning bright red.

She crossed her arms over her chest almost immediately, attempting to cover up the fact that you could see her bright turquoise bra through her shirt. "And what situation would be be in then?" She asked, avoiding looking at him, her brown eyes focused on a spot on the floor next to him. That was such a stupid thing to say, why can't I think of anything normal, I'm such a bloody idiot, I should just become a nun or something, that way I'll never have to face another guy again.

[sirius orion black]

Sirius’ smile returned as she moved, deciding it was only polite to stand as well since from this angle, well… he did have some decorum. Once he was to his feet, the Gryffindor dusted himself off before turning his attention to the girl again. “Well, if you didn’t notice, I was obviously doing something wrong,” answered the boy ‘humbly’, shaking his head slightly. Of course, he was only joking. In fact, if he hadn’t known that she did notice, he might be in a very different mood. Still, her insecurities betrayed her in a way that left Sirius rather pleased.

Ok, so virtually anything could leave Sirius feeling pleased with himself, but he couldn’t quite help that, could he? In fact, he felt bad for all of the people who thought that his ego made him a git. The poor fools couldn’t see that this was truly the way to live. When you spent so much time concerning yourself with what other people (with whom you were not romantically involved… that was a special circumstance) thought, you were really just wasting your life away. There would be no pleasing other people unless you could somehow read minds, and even then you’d simply be making yourself miserable. It was important to know that you were the only person who mattered because by being who you really are, you could know real friends from fake ones.

”It’s Mai, right?” questioned the boy, his brow furrowing thoughtfully. Sirius had always been quite gifted when it came to remembering the details about people. From things as simple as names to favorite foods or birthdays that really only came up in one conversation were easily remembered by the young Black as if there were a separate section in his brain for the storage of these memories. Maybe it was just part of being a people person. Who knew?

[maia-lynn faith hart]

"Y-yeah." Mai stammered. "Mai Hart." She nearly groaned at the irony of her name, she was Mai (Pronounced my) Hart, who was born on Valentines Day. Of course, it was better than her full name. Really, Maia-Lynn? What had her parents been thinking? Okay so she liked the fact that she was named to honor her two grandmothers, May and Linda, but seriously, it was an annoyingly long and silly name and when she was a child she hadn't even been able to say it right and used her say her name was Maiwa-Wynn.

Then it actually hit her that he knew her name, he actually knew her name, nobody ever remembered her name, seriously, it was like the second they heard it it suddenly disappeared from their minds. She gave him a small, nervous smile, but still refused to meet his eyes. She tucked a strand of wet hair behind her ear absently, trying to distract herself. "And you're S- Sirus."She stammered. "We have a lot of classes together."

She shivered slightly, cold from the lake water and the fact that the castle wasn't exactly brilliantly heated. "Um, I should probably go." She mumbled, turning to walk away, but being who she was, she of course slipped, falling flat on her face onto the hard stone floor."Ow." She mumbled, wincing, as she lay on the ground, wishing it would open up and swallow her whole, saving her from this embarrassing situation.

[sirius orion black]

Maintaining that grin of his, the boy nodded. “Sirius Black,” he introduced, though he was sure he didn’t need to. He did recognize the girl, of course. They’d been partners in Potions once, but he really only recognized her because she was a Gryffindor of the same year. Personally, Sirius wasn’t a huge fan of Potions. Sure, he was a decent brewer, but that was just all the more incentive to not want to be in the class. At the time, he was sure he’d either been flirting with someone across the classroom (as he is known to do… it’s more fun when there’s the danger of being caught) or joking with James or Peter. Well, he wasn’t exactly known for his endless attention span.

The Gryffindor winced when the girl fell as she tried to make her escape, moving to help her up. This was the more unfortunate part of the effect he had on the opposite sex. Sirius couldn’t understand why girls would go through so much trouble when he was around. In all honesty, if they were themselves, he was just as likely to like them as he would if they were whoever it was they thought he wanted them to be. In this instance, however, he could see that it was more likely the water that had her tripped up than his presence.

The best thing for him to do would be to offer to use a charm to dry her off once he’d helped her to her feet so, naturally, this was precisely what he did not do. “Why don’t you let me walk you to the Common Room,” he offered. Sure, this may have seemed a perfectly decent thing to do, but when he knew that the best thing would be to remind her that she could just be dry in a second, well, his motives seemed slightly less innocent. “There are a lot of stairs from here to there, you know?” he added teasingly. Well, he wasn’t really the sort to feign innocence, and even if he were, his reputation usually preceded him.

[maia-lynn faith hart]

"Th-Thanks." Mai mumbled, blushing even more than she had been before, if that was even possible. "I'm not good with walking, I think my feet might be trying to kill me." She joked feebly, stealing the joke her brother tended to favor, as well as the many short jokes he enjoyed, as he was 6'7 with his little sister only being 5'5. "And stairs were never exactly a good place for me to be either."

She chewed her lip again and barely stopped herself from running her eyes over him again. Bloody Hell,what is wrong with me, I'm acting ridiculously! He's just a guy! Just like every other guy I've met. Apart from the hair, and the face and the eyes, and the body... What was I talking about again? Mai blushed at her own train of thought, then again as she realized that he didn't know what she was thinking.

"So, um, what exactly were you doing, lying on the floor in the middle of the hall?" She asked, grasping at straws for what to say, she didn't know what to do, she had never been in this situation before, she wasn't the lovesick girl who blushed and stuttered. At least she wasn't with anyone else, but for some reason he made her stomach flutter and her palms sweat and her cheeks burn bright red. Why was it that this one guy had that effect on her.

[sirius orion black]

Sirius chuckled softly at her joke. Well, at least she could joke about it despite the color flooding into her face. Most people, the boy found, didn’t like to make fun of themselves, which was just ridiculous considering that the alternative was generally having to deal with people laughing at you. Funny people got away with a great deal more than the average bloke. The way Sirius saw it, just about anything could be made into a joke, and he was happy to make fun of himself should the opportunity present itself (though it rarely did.) He may have had an ego, but at least he realized that it was the tiny flaws that made people interesting, so why not get a laugh out of it?

As for the floor, well, what sort of explanation did you give for that? Sirius was an honest person, but only with the things that mattered… to him (there was a distinction). For everything else, he admittedly tended to, erm… embellish. It kept things interesting, you know? But if it seemed the other person actually wanted the truth, he might later give it to them. Here, however, he had no reason to be honest (not that there was really any reason to lie either; Sirius preferred to take the route that would either be more fun or cut over the mundane.

So, offering his arm to the girl as they walked, Sirius answered, “I was… gaining a new perspective,” jokingly, a slight smirk the only sign. Frankly, the possibility of the conversation veering to Filch wasn’t exactly enticing, so Sirius decided he would avoid it. One thing that had been consistent throughout each year at Hogwarts was his run-ins with the old man, so it wasn’t exactly something anyone would be shocked to hear about. “And just how did you end up like this?” the boy inquired curiously, gesturing to her wet clothes.

[maia-lynn faith hart]

Mai took his arm tentatively, her own hands shaking slightly. "A new perspective?" She asked, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Of what, the ceiling?" Okay so it wasn't exactly a good joke but at least it was something, better than stammering and mumbling some incoherent reply anyways. She walked carefully beside him, keeping her eyes on her feet, partly to make sure she didn't trip over anything and partly because she knew if she looked at him she'd just end up stuttering again.

She couldn't help but groan at his question, God she hated how accident prone she was, it was almost impossible for her to do anything without somehow hurting herself or somebody else. "I was st-standing near the Lake and some idiot on a broom knocked me into the water." She told him, tugging at the sleeve of her wet shirt self consciously. "I was walking down the less used corridors to try and avoid Filch, he'd go mad if he saw I was getting water all over the floors."

She continued to stare at her feet, suddenly finding the stitching on her boots very interesting. "Bloody idiot c-couldn't even fly rightly though, how hard is it to simply dodge a person?"