Summary: Sirius Black just might be more sentimental than you think when he takes you on a trip down memory lane.
Prompt used: “Sorry how do you spell that?”
Word Count: 4.1k
Warnings: mild angst, smoking, fluff, kissing
A/N: This is for @sweeterthansammy ’s 1k writing challenge! I hope you enjoy. Flash backs are italicized, and the prompt I used is bolded!
The weather was a little bit chillier now that the sun was dipping down in the sky, chilly enough for a sweater or a light jacket. Something you didn’t have much time to think about with the spontaneity of Sirius’ plans and just how urgent he’d been making them out to be. Really, there was no rush and he knew that, of course he knew that, but he was far too eager for his own good and you knew that.
You were certain he’d under dressed when you found him standing by the front door, leaning against the frame in that tattered old jean jacket. The one there’s no chance in him getting rid of, not in a million years. It’s got a myriad of holes here and there in the faded, washed out denim, the cuffs having seen better days as the frayed material dangles down half torn. A miscellaneous pin from James is still on there, even that bright yellow smiley face is stuck on the collar that you’d put there ages ago. It was more than a well worn article of clothing, that much was for sure.
You managed to break away from James and Lily’s conversation, more so Lily, and any other time you wouldn’t have minded a single bit. You absolutely wouldn’t have, but with Sirius calling you from the floor below in the small Potter home, you find yourself having no choice but to give in to saving the conversation for later in favor of quieting the raven haired wizard.
You walk down the stairs until equally tattered converse come into view, then those same old black denim jeans, the those frayed jean jacket cuffs. You smell the distinct smell, something that’d only further been confirmed as you reach the very last step.
“Either I’m a fool, or time just stopped,” he says, flicking the ashes from his cigarette as he smiled down at you.
The corner of your mouth quirks up, the kind of smile he knows isn’t a hundred percent sweet.
“I think you’re just a fool, Pads,” you say, that smile widening a fraction. There it is. He walked right into that one and he knew it, rolling his eyes. “And I don’t think Mr. Potter would approve of you smoking in his beloved family home.”
“Which is exactly why I’m standing outside,” he grins before bringing the cigarette back to his lips, throwing his hands up as he takes one step backwards through the threshold of the doorway just so he can officially say that he is in fact outside and not at all breaking the rules of the residence.
Sirius Black liked to bend the rules when he could, he liked to walk on the wild side just about every chance he got no matter how trivial it may be. He claims it’s the only way to be, claims that’s what having fun is all about and anything less is boring. Nonchalance is simply in his nature.
“Yeah, I’ll bet you are,” you counter, hopping off the very last step when he tugged on your hand to urge you out the door.
He pulled the door shut behind him and stopped you in your tracks, making you turn on your heel before you could take another step forward. You look up at him with a narrowed gaze and await an explanation as to just why it is he’s gone and stopped you when all he’s done the past ten minutes is tell you how desperately he’d wanted to go. So you stand and your stare and you watch as smoke blows past parted lips, lips that quirk upwards in a smile as he looks at you.
In that moment, he dips down, pressing his lips on yours in a kiss that’s as smoky as ever and the gesture alone has your smile pressing into his kiss. A smile that’s genuine just as much as it’s teasing.
“I thought we had somewhere to be?” You say, breaking away as you look up at him with a raised brow.
“We do,” he says, taking another puff before you snag the cigarette right from between his fingers, dropping it to the little stone walkway before putting it out beneath your boot.
You take notice of his pursed lips that fight a smile, at the squinted gaze he’s got set on you as you spin on your heel and walk ahead, leaving him to stand there and stare after you for a fleeting moment or two. You’ve got all the amusement in the world sitting on your expression and he doesn’t even need to see it to know it, he can tell just by simply hearing the laugh fall from your lips. He can see it as he catches up to you within a second’s time.
“How very rude of you,” he says in faux offense, but it’s not too long before you feel the tips of his fingers brushing against yours.
“How very generous of me,” you counter, and his scoff doesn’t go unheard.
The next time you look up at him, he’s got those sunshine yellow shades on, those obnoxiously yellow sunglasses that sit on his nose seemingly more often than not. James had gotten them for him at the town fair just a few years back, a gift just for laughs that he’d gotten with the rest of his tickets. They were bright and they were bold and very much fitting for the year nineteen-eighty-one, but he’d gone and kept them. Of course he did.
Sirius Black kept every single thing his friends have ever given him no matter how ridiculous or trivial it may have seemed. Even when he was just a child still stuck in his dreaded family home, he’d saved a shoe box from a pair of dress shoes he absolutely hated wearing, one pair of dozens that inevitably got scuffed up just a little too much for the liking of his parents before they’d gone and bought him a new pair to look more presentable for the family image. Aside from that, he’d kept a shoe box, one that he had tucked under his bed.
Inside were all the letters that James and Remus had sent him by owl over summer break, each and every letter even if it was simply James complaining about some nonsensical thing or a joke or if it was Remus writing to see if he’d gotten his Hogwarts letter yet. He kept all of them. He kept the four leaf clover James had stumbled upon, and he kept that special quill Remus had swiped from Snape. He never knew his best friend had a knack for being mischievous until that moment.
He’d read those letters on his best nights and his worst, read them just for so. They were tattered and worn at the creases where they were folded, but he didn’t plan on getting rid of them any time soon.
Over the years that sentimental collection grew and grew, adding to it a myriad of pressed flowers and leaves from Lily, and bookmarks from Remus, postcards from James that were the absolute most ridiculous he could find. You added to it with miscellaneous letters and a guitar pick you thought he might like. He never used it, he didn’t want to ruin it. He kept that feather boa you’d found and even that lucky coin. He kept it all.
Sirius Black was more sentimental than he let on, he’s got a softer heart than he showcased to most, he kept every one of those things no matter how stupid or trivial it may seem to someone else. But he’d never in a million years admit it. James had found it once, but he never said a word about it.
“You never did tell me where we’re going,” you say, kicking a pebble out of your way as you walked along the cracked sidewalk.
“I believe that’s the point of a surprise, love,” he says, and you catch his smile as you look up at him, lips pursed as you nudge him with your elbow.
“You’re terrible at surprises,” you tease, your smile in your voice and had he not been wearing those sunglasses at sunset, you’d have been able to see his eye roll. But you knew him well enough to know he’d gone and done it regardless of the visual confirmation.
“Have I ever told you you’re a pain?” He asked, his chuckle following his words as he grins ahead, glancing down at you briefly.
“Yes, and I take that as a compliment,” you say, hearing his continued laughter as he shakes his head.
You try and put the pieces together, try and pick up any hints to put together any form of information that just might lead you in the direction of where you could possibly be going. It was in town, that you knew for certain. It was somewhere, local otherwise he’d have taken Mr. Potter’s car. The attire was no use in a giveaway because there was not a single chance there’d be an occasion where you’d find Sirius taking you somewhere in which you’d need to dress to the nines. The days of pristine suits and freshly polished shoes were far behind him, he hated dressing up with everything that he had.
He didn’t even dress up above and beyond for James and Lily’s wedding; well, he did, but he dressed down his suit with a half loosened tie that wound up being a headband and that tattered pair of converse. And he even wore those same old yellow sunglasses.
It was early evening, and things don’t tend to stay open for that much longer, so that narrows things down just a little bit more. Makes things just a little bit clearer, but it all proved to be not as helpful as you’d like it to be.
The small town was dotted with street lamps casting the area in a warm glow as it began to get darker and darker outside. The surrounding trees held reddening leaves that dropped and fluttered to the ground when the breeze sifted through them. And it’s only then that it hits you, the smell of coffee and spice that wafts through the air the closer you get. The sweetened air the closer you got. You even heard that familiar little clang of the bell over the door.
It wasn’t until then that you’d realized that maybe this was his surprise, that it absolutely was judging by the way he’d been biting the inside of his cheek to stifle his grin.
“Sirius Black, is this what I think it is?” You ask, your brow raised as the corner of his mouth quirks upwards.
Your question is answered when that smile breaks through, when you do indeed stop in front of the door to that ever familiar coffee shop and he holds the door open for you to step inside. It’s noticeably warmer than the chilly weather outside, cozier than ever as the smell of coffee washes over you. It looked just the same as when you were here last, felt just as inviting as it always did.
There were a few carved pumpkins sitting outside the door, an assortment of fall decorations littering inside the small shop. Each of the little wooden tables have cozy orange table cloths, and string lights are hung. The entirety of the shop smelled like fall festive drinks and what was left of the pumpkin rolls and muffins, not to mention the sweeter than sweet scented candles that were lit.
He tugged on your hand as he stepped up to the counter.
“Can I get a black coffee with two creams and a hot chocolate?” He asks, dropping your hand to dig around for his wallet in the pocket of his jacket.
That was another thing, Mr. Potter had gifted him that very same wallet a handful of years ago. It was a hand-me-down, but that was the least of his concerns when he was given the leather wallet. He didn’t care about the scratches or worn corners. That was the first real gift he’d ever gotten that had true thoughtfulness behind it.
He remembered your order like the back of his hand, and he’d gotten the same thing every single time.
The drinks were ready in no time and he put some money on the counter with a little extra for a tip, handing you yours as he headed towards that ever familiar table tucked away in the corner by the window.
He ran his hand through his hair, sitting those sunglasses back on the top of his head once more to push his hair out of his face. Your smile was fond as you looked at him, a stubborn chunk of black hair dipping over his forehead and brushing against the tip of his nose anyway.
“Remember this place, love?” He asks, a knowing smile playing on his lips.
“As if I’d ever forget,” you say, a laugh leaving your lips.
Of course you did, it was hard to forget the one and only place you’d met Sirius black in a few years back.
It was a hectic afternoon, customer after customer flooding into the coffee shop especially now that the fall season was sweeping in at last. Things were always busy around this time of year, things were always busy around this time of day, so you’d come to expect the rush hour by now after all this time you’ve worked there.
Things were fairly simple once you got the hang of it, once you were able to do things with a practiced ease and it made the line of customers a little bit easier to move along. Most of them you knew by name, most of them you knew their orders because they never failed to get the very same thing each and every day that they came in. Some of them came in every day, some of them came in every week, some of them even had a select day of the week that they stopped in for their usual order.
It was one of the things you liked about working there. The regular customers were friendly as ever and made the workload a little easier given the prior knowledge of just what they get and how they like it, and it makes the time fly just a little bit faster.
The day hadn’t been your finest, you’d gone and spilled half a cup of hot chocolate on your apron, one you didn’t have the time to swap out and you’re quite sure you’d still had a smear of flour on your face from catching up on baking that morning before opening time. But that clumsiness was only in your nature and it was everything you expected from yourself.
“Y/n, can you cover up front? There’s someone waiting.”
That clumsiness only heightened at the sight of a new face, one you don’t believe you’ve seen frequent the shop before. He’s got a mess of black hair he keeps tucking behind his ear, yellow sunglasses dangling from the collar of a Queen t-shirt as his gaze focuses out of the window to his left. He’s got a pack of cigarettes tucked in the front pocket of his jean jacket and pin on the other.
You quit your staring, you quit while you were ahead as you smoothed your coffee stained apron.
“What can I get for you today?” You ask, capturing his attention as he looks at you.
You swallow thickly as your gaze meets gray eyes, a half smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. You take notice of the dimple in his chin and the strands of dark hair that dip down over his forehead as he leans against the counter.
“Just a black coffee with two creams, please,” he says.
“Your name?”
“Sirius.”
You nod with a smile as you snag a cup and the marker from your pocket, turning on your heel to head towards the coffee as you uncapped your marker before you very quickly made that realization and spun back around. In the process, you nearly tripped over your own two feet and you can feel the heat blossoming in your cheeks.
“Sorry, how do you spell that?” You ask, biting the inside of your cheek.
You hear the softness of chuckle as he looks at you, surprisingly not out of mocking even with the way you just made a fool of yourself in front of him. He spelled it out for you with a smile, and you turned away without tripping this time. You made his drink just how he’d asked, your heart racing in your chest the entirety of the two minutes it took to make it as you thought about his smile.
You tried your best to stall, to steal a little bit more time before you had to go back to the counter to face him once more. To give yourself a little more time to let the heat in your cheeks cool off.
You pressed on the lid to his cup and took a breath, turning around and heading back to the counter where he stood leaning against it still.
“One coffee with two creams for Sirius,” you say, setting the to-go cup on the counter as he dug around his pocket for some money.
He counted it out in his palm as his hair fell in his eyes, quickly brushed away as he ran his hand through his hair and set the money down in exchange for his drink, and a little extra for a tip.
You notice the way his gaze lingers on you for a little bit longer, you notice it as the seconds pass and your heart races. It lingers on you and you can see the way the corner of his mouth quirks up as he does, spinning the cup in his hand out of an absentminded habit as his gray gaze finally meets yours.
“You’ve got a little something on your face, love,” he says, pointing to his own cheek as a signal for your own face.
Your hand shoots up immediately to swipe across your cheek, the heat in your face flooding back once more as you swipe your fingers across your skin, pulling back to see that dreaded flour on your face that you knew was bound to be there from that morning.
“Oh, uh, thank you,” you say with a laugh and a smile, his following soon after as he nods.
There’s a sort of tension that simmers as you meet his gaze once more, as it bounces to his smile and you’re not quite sure if time actually stopped or if this is some cliche moving moment happening to you in the middle of your shift, or neither and you’re just being ridiculous. That, it’s probably that one.
Either way, you find yourself interrupted by the ding of the bell to your side on the counter from a customer growing impatient, a call of your name sounding over your shoulder just behind you. It all brings you back to reality.
“Have a nice day, Sirius,” you say, watching as he nods.
“I’ll see you around.”
With that, he offers you that same smile that had your mind on it for a ridiculous amount of time, that smile that made your heart race, and he turned away and headed out that door with a little ding of the bell over the door. He headed down the sidewalk as he snagged a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it before he disappeared around the corner.
“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?” Sirius asks, grabbing your attention as he gazes at you over the rim of his cup, gray eyes full of amusement.
“About what?” You ask, playing into it with a half smile even though you know you’re bound to be met with a tease.
“That time you tripped over your own two feet. I mean, do I really have that effect on people, love?” He jest, feeling you kick his foot just under the table.
There it is.
“Must you be so cocky, Pads?” You ask, your gaze glimmering with amusement as you purse your lips.
“I’m afraid I must,” he says.
You roll your eyes as you sip on your drink, eyeing the smile forming on his lips. “What?”
He chuckles as he shakes his head, his gaze dropping down as he swirls his drink in his hands and bites the inside of his cheek. His stare is more amused than ever as he looks at you again, that same lingering gaze set on you in the very same way it had been all those years ago and you knew it couldn’t have meant anything good. If it was anything like that very first time, you were bound to feel your cheeks grow hot even though you’ve known the troublemaker for years.
He doesn’t say anything at first, quiet as he lifts his hand and swipes it across the top of your lip and all the way to the corner of your mouth. He’s just as amused as he wipes away some hot chocolate that’s been left behind from your sip, his chuckle immediate.
“You’ve got a little something on your face, love,” he says, and you hear that teasing tone in his voice that he’s always got, that mischief dancing in his eyes.
“I truly think it’s you that’s the pain,” you huff, biting back your smile.
He chuckles. “‘S that so?”
You nod as you smile at him. “Very much so.”
He bites his lip momentarily as he looks at you, that pesky chunk of his hair falling back down in his face. “I take that as a compliment.”
He used your earlier words, of course he did, that’s just how Sirius Black is. Taunting and teasing in the most lighthearted of ways and that’s something that’s always been so, that’s something that always will be so forever and ever.
He’s got the tip of the arm of his sunglasses between his teeth, having given up on using them to hold back his hair as he looks around the little coffee shop where it all began, as he looks out the window at passers by, the corner of his mouth quirking up when he feels your gaze on him. It widens a fraction as he feels you get up, feels you swing around the edge of the table to take a seat in the booth bench next to him rather than sit across from him.
You’re quiet for a few moments as you rest your head on his shoulder. The foot traffic in the shop was dwindling as it neared closing time, growing less and less busy until it was starting to become just the two of you there. But you weren’t so focused on the details, not when you’ve been in your own little world with the one stealing your attention right next to you as you sat in your usual booth in the corner.
This was it, this was where it all began, this was where you’d met the chaos that is Sirius Black. The chaos that’s brought nothing but good into your life, nothing but a thrilling excitement that only he could bring.
You lift your head and look up at him, his gaze falling on you within a moment’s time. You see that smile, that smile that makes your heart race a mile a minute. You see it and you mirror it as you look at him. It’s only a matter of seconds before you lean up and press a kiss to his lips, soft and sweet and tasting of hot chocolate and coffee and a little bit of that smoke that never quite left his lips.
You kiss him before you wrap your hands around your cup, feeling his eyes on you. You take a sip as you stifle your smile, the arm of his glasses between his teeth once more as that smile he’s got remains as you look at him. You smile when you look away, head shaking as you nudge his foot with yours.
This is where it all began a handful of years ago. This is where you met Sirius Black for the very first time.
➴ Author Note: I can’t believe an anon forced me to listen to a 1D song but you know what… them lyrics was good. I hope you like it, it’s angst as fuck for some reason.
Sirius Black watches from a corner, drinking something he can’t remember the name of, but that is strong enough to make him forget the pain growing inside of him.
She dances and laughs, and spins around with people she has never met before. She makes the room gravitate towards her, as if she’s the light those people need to live. Men and women stop in their tracks to look at her, smile and speak as if an old friend was.
She doesn’t fear the attention. She’s not afraid of this, no.
When she’s tired, all she does is look towards the corner Sirius spends most the night in. She has tried to get him to dance before but he refuses, because he knows she doesn’t want people to know that when the night ends, he will be the one taking her home. This is their secret.
Sirius is the first to leave the place, walking a couple of streets to where he parks his bike. He is often tempted to show her what it can do, but he can’t expose himself and his magic like that, no matter how much he trusts her. He just can’t.
After a few minutes, she sneaks up behind him, kissing his neck and laughing. She spins around like she’s still on the dance floor.
“What’s wrong, babe?” She whispers against his mouth.
I want more, he thinks, but never again will he speak those words. He knows the consequences.
He shakes his head, “nothing.”
Another laugh, one kiss in the dark that gets her moaning, and she’s against his back on the bike passing the streets of London like… magic. He can hear her breathing and feel it fall against his neck. She moves a little bit closer to him, making his heart go wild.
He isn’t sure for how much longer he’ll be able to take it. Almost afraid his heart will give out. She is killing him each time she kisses him, each time she welcomes him to her house, then closes the door on his face after he asks for more…more…more. He should know better.
There’s nothing she’s afraid of, except for falling in love. Sirius can see the fear present when he holds her hand, when he hugs her after climax. When he tells her that he’s in love with her, begs for a chance to prove to her their relationship is fate, all she has to tell him is…
…”No. It’s not real. Come back to the real world. Goodnight.”
Sirius turns off the bike and she gets off. She runs up to her doorstep and opens the door, going in. She leaves the door open for Sirius to come in after her.
He could turn on the bike and go home. He’s tired of showing her he knows her worth and he’s not with her for a game. What more can he do? How can he stop this madness from occurring if this madness is keeping him alive? He’s weak. He can’t help it.
“I think it was her friends. Told her that I’d break her heart and she doesn’t want that to happen.” Sirius tells James while the two are shopping for the summer vacation.
James, who doesn’t know and doesn’t bother to learn how to hold back, laughs at his friend. It’s not an uncommon thing to see… not since Sirius met her. “It’s not her friends. Just like a month ago she was not testing you to know if you knew her worth. You’re a fool, mate.”
Sirius shoves James, but he knows his friend is right. He’s done all he could to be there for her and take that fear from her heart but nothing’s worked.
“I can’t help it, James. I love her. Nothing’s going to change that. Each night she calls and tells me all of her dreams and I know I want to be there with her when she makes them happen. But, I also know that she won’t let me. It’s killing me, James.”
He turns his face when he sees the pitiful look that Prongs is giving him. “We can tell. Mum tells me about the late night calls. She also told me the phone has not rung in almost a week.”
Sirius nods, sighing and letting his head fall down. It’s his fault.
A week ago he again told her he loved her, he hasn’t talked to her ever since. He misses the late night calls and the talks of hopes and dreams. He misses her, plain and simple.
“We’re in the middle of a war,” Sirius whispers all of a sudden, “and I’m here, worried about some girl that will never love me back. I’m a fucking idiot.”
“Love is complicated, would it not be, I know a few hundred thousand artists who would be out of business.” James tells him, grabbing a box of cereal Sirius hates. “Even if we weren’t at war, she still would exist. You still would be hurting over her. This has to end, Sirius.”
Sirius watches as James goes to the checkout. He runs up to him, “I’ve got something to do.” As he receives approval from James, Sirius takes off.
It’s past midnight during mid-winter, London is covered in snow and the golden lights that illuminate the streets reflect upon it, making it seem as if the ground and the top of the houses are glowing. This is such a beautiful sight that Sirius needs to take in, forgetting for a few moments what he’s going there, and the war, and all the pain.
“Sirius?” It’s her voice that brings him back. Making him turn around in surprise. Some people walk past them, some have tears running down their faces. Sirius looks behind her and sees the cinema closing up, with a big poster of a new horror movie at the front.
She loves horror movies. She’s not afraid of them. No, she’s not afraid.
He clears his throat. “Was it a good movie?” She nods, smiling. He fights himself to not get lost on that smile and let his lips speak the words his mind is begging him to speak.
“I can’t keep doing this. I know I’ve said this before, but I can’t.”
She’s holding his hand before he’s gone, because each time he’s told her he can’t do this, she’s been back at his door.
She’s kissing him before he can’t react, but when he does, instead of pushing her from him, he brings her closer to him.
➴ Author Note: No, I’m not in a Harry Potter phase. I am simply posting unposted fics while I manage to finish new ones. You may call it lazy, I call it genius.
Out of all the times Sirius could’ve chosen to cheat he had to do it first week of school. As if walking in on Sirius and Marlene making out in the Common Room hadn’t been humiliating enough, now she had to put up with the gossip, gazes and laughs for ten months. Fantastic.
She scoffed, drawing a long breath of the cigarette between her lips and breathing out the smoke short after, watching it disappear into the wind and fixing her gaze on the moon. Most of her friends warned her about Sirius Black, but she didn’t listen. She thought his intentions were honest, that he had changed and was worth fighting for; in that moment she realized she had been an idiot, a puppet he had used to have some fun and prove himself irresistible. But that wasn’t the worst part, no. She could get over a heartbreak; most people did through their lifetimes. No, the worst part was that Marlene had been her best friend - hell, she even considered her a sister. Somewhere deep in the back of her mind, she had been expecting Sirius to pull something, hell she even had been surprised it took him so long, but Marlene?
Was she supposed to expect her best friend to betray her like that, even after been friends for ten years? She didn’t know where she went wrong with them, if she had been so horrible to deserve such pain. But one thing was clear, it hurt like hell.
“Enough,” she said out loud, hoping if she did so she’d follow her advice and let it pass. She couldn’t keep thinking about it. She wouldn’t find an answer because there wasn’t a question. Sirius must had been tired of being in a relationship and Marlene must had been a liar all along but she hadn’t noticed. Letting herself fall back against the grass, she finished her cigarette and killed it, throwing it to the side. She had pitied herself enough, now it was time for people to do it - which, she was sure had begun.
It wasn’t as if those two treacherous bastards had thought about backstabbing her in secret to spare her from the public humiliation. She had been one of the last students to go into the Common Room after classes, she was well aware she hadn’t been the first one to see them.
It would be fine, she told herself. Ten months wasn’t that long of a time and before she knew, it would’ve passed. She’d graduate and she would leave Sirius, Marlene and the pain behind as if it never happened in the first place. Yes, it was going to be hard and she would have to put up with a lot of shit and it was going to come from friends, other students and even some of the professors (she was sure Minerva would give Sirius detention twice as much as a form of revenge for hurting her), but there was nothing she could about it. Even if it was going to be fine in the end - and she knew it would, the path there was going to be painful.
She heard footsteps coming from her side, but she didn’t bother to look up to see who it was. It was stupid, weird even, she knew he didn’t care about her feelings - that much had been proved, but she also knew he would look for her to apologize because he couldn’t fathom the idea of someone thinking he was a horrible person for the wrong reasons.
He sat down next to her, looking forward. He seemed tense, nervous even. She couldn’t bother herself to hide the pleasure his discomfort brought her and allowed a humourless laugh to escape her lips. He sighed next to her, forcing his gaze up to avoid looking at her.
She didn’t know when the tears had started to fall, she just knew she didn’t had the strength to wipe them off her face and so, she let them run hoping that he wouldn’t notice.
“I,” he started but stopped right after, the words getting caught in his throat. She couldn’t look at him even if she wanted. He took a deep breath that came out ragged right after. “I came to apologize, and if I have the chance, to explain what happened.”
“You were gonna shag Marlene when I walked in. That’s what happened,” she explained for him. It came out as harsh as she felt the words and he winced. “You can apologize now.”
Sirius turned around, the moonlight was right behind him and so it was difficult to distinguish his features, but even in that moment, from her position on her back she could see the storm that were his eyes, and the redness around them; as if he had been crying too.
He took a breath before speaking, clearing his throat to get rid of the soreness. “I don’t know how it happened and I didn’t want it to happen. It was a mistake and I am, believe it or not, sorry. Marlene had been flirting with me since school started again and then this morning I was in the Common Room waiting for James and Remus and she started talking about how she loved me first and it wasn’t fair that we weren’t together; next thing I know she’s all over me. I know the damage is done but, that is the truth and you had to know.”
His voice came out ragged, sore. He had wasted his throat out prior the conversation. It was for a moment she doubted, until she heard him sniff; that and how he pursed his lips together told her all she had to know. Indeed, he had been weeping as well. She cried for a lost love, for a friendship that had meant nothing, but what did he wept for? What had he lost?
No, she thought. It couldn’t be, even if the thought made her skin tingle. Sirius Black didn’t, and had never loved her. If he had done so, then he wouldn’t have done her like that.
“Now I know,” she said while nodding, breaking apart from her thoughts. Her own mind driving her insane. Her voice cracked and it made Sirius aware that she was sobbing. He tried to touch her but she stopped him, slapping his hand away. “Just leave.”
It was a simple request. Leave. He had broken her, it was painful enough to know she had to see him in the halls, in class, in the Common Room, the last thing she needed was for him to pester her until she forgave him. She couldn’t, not in that moment. The wound was fresh, her heart was ripping apart and she had trouble breathing.
She wanted him to leave, but he didn’t. She sobbed out loud, shaking. It was in that moment she knew, she had reached bottom. It was one thing he knew about her sadness, another to show him how her hopes and dreams for them had died.
Sirius wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her closer to him. He buried his head in the crook of her neck, kissing the exposed skin.
If she killed Sirius but didn’t use magic, would she still go to Azkaban or to a muggle prison?
Azkaban was a horrible place and she wouldn’t risk being imprisoned there - although he was making it difficult to think about the consequences, but a muggle prison? She wouldn’t think twice before kicking his ass into the afterlife.
“You’re not listening to me, huh?” She was. Much to her own despair, she was.
Grunting, she got up from the couch and walked up to him. Sirius felt her anger and it scared him enough to make him walk backwards until he hit the wall.
Standing at arm length from him, she cleared her throat. “So, let me get this straight - James being the idiot he is thought that to make our uncle-aunt-nephew night more interesting, it would be fun to use the cloak for hide-and-seek?” Sirius nodded. “And I dared to leave for a second to get some water, so instead of using his actual blanket to wrap him up and put him to sleep- like I asked… You wrapped him up with the cloak and… lost him?” Another nod.
Even if it meant going to Azkaban, murdering him sounded like an appropriate response. But first, she had to find the four months old running through her apartment… being invisible.
Sirius didn’t lose him on purpose, alright, but he still did. He was old enough to understand that giving a child a cloak that would make him invisible was not a good idea at all but there she was looking for an invisible kid after his parents entrusted them with his well being.
“Fine,” she sighed. “Let’s split. You look through the kitchen and living room and I will check the bedrooms and bathroom. Be careful while walking, use a stick or something.”
Before he could agree or disagree - which he wouldn’t, she left for the master bedroom.
She walked with caution through the room, taking steps so small it got her wondering if she was moving at all. She wanted to see the comical part of the situation, imagine Harry running around and the two of them searching like idiots - it did sound fun, but it was also dangerous and what scared her the most was that, it didn’t seem like Sirius understood that. He was so used to be reckless, to not think about the consequences of his actions that sometimes he’d put other people in danger without realizing. Of course, Sirius didn’t want people to get hurt, but he needed to start thinking before he acted, otherwise it wouldn’t be long until he found himself in a dark corner, with no escape option whatsoever.
Kneeling down, she checked under the bed but all she found were her sneakers. Since she had checked the rest of the room, she got up from the floor with a long sigh. After exiting the master bedroom, she went into the guests’, carefully opening the door and stepping inside. Repeating the same process again, with no sign of Harry there either. Now, even more worried than before, she sat down in the bed and tried to think. Where would have Harry possibly go? Their apartment wasn’t big and all windows and doors were locked with magic and locks to ensure their safety with the ongoing war. He couldn’t have gotten far, right?
She looked towards the crib Sirius was supposed to put him to sleep and then a thought entered her mind. What if? Oh, Merlin! She scolded herself for not thinking about it earlier, then she ran towards the living room, where Sirius was still searching through for the child. Upon seeing her running around, all colour disappeared from his face.
“Be careful! You could step on him!” He caught her in his arms, forcing her to a stop.
She had the gift to laugh at the most inconvenient of times - hell, she couldn’t attend funerals because she would laugh the pain off. However, this time as she fell into his arms, shaking as she laughed and laughing even more as she watched Sirius’s confused face, she had a good reason. All the time she had worried Sirius had lost Harry, however, she had missed one important detail. When was the last time he saw him?
“I can’t believe I’m being the mature one but… I don’t think this is a laughing matter.”
“Sirius,” she shook her head and took a breath before continuing: “when was the last time you saw Harry before losing him?”
He thought about it for a moment, then replied: “when I wrapped him with the cloak.”
“And where was that?”
“In the room, where his crib is.”
She nodded. “Right, and now explain to me how could a four months old jump from his crib without us noticing? Or at least without me noticing?”
She waited for a few seconds and then, boom! Realization hit him right in the face and he let go of her and sprinted towards the room. Still giggling she followed him, a bit slower though. She had run enough for one night - and one life as well. When she reached the door to the room, Sirius had Harry in his arms - the baby was still asleep, unaware of the mess his uncle had just created for a simple distraction. Sirius was relieved, kissing him on his head and whispering words she couldn’t hear from where she was standing.
It got her thinking… She was sure as hell going to wait until he grew at least one brain cell before having children. Next time - and she was sure there would be a next time, he’d end up losing him for real. It was bad enough it was happening to her nephew but, her own kids? Oh, hell no, then she would murder Sirius without thinking twice and then her babies would grow up without parents because she would go to Azkaban. She couldn’t let that happen.
“Love!” Sirius called her out of her thoughts, smiling at her. “I didn’t lose him! You should have a little bit more of faith in me from now on!”
Pairings:Sirius Black x reader, Remus Lupin x reader’s brother, Sirius Black (post-Azkaban) x reader, Sirius Black x Slytherin!reader
Word Count: 2,663
Warnings: Torture, injury,
A/N: Ahh!!! Time to get excited I am finallyfinishing this damn story. I’m guessing there will be around 5-10 more chapters to tie up loose ends, unless I get a stroke of genius and continue the story lol. Thank you so much to everyone who still reads my stories and an extra thank you to everyone asking how I’ve been and taking time out of their day to think ab me, like UGH so sweet!!! Anywaysss lemme know what you guys think or if there’s anything you’d like to see/are confused about!
“Always were such a gossip,” Sirius teased, his figure slowly coming from the shadows, his wand out and poised. “I think you have me confused with Cissy, always had trouble keeping those pretty lips closed,” Bellatrix returned, turning her attention towards Sirius. “Yes, well, the pretty ones are always easier to remember,” Sirius said, slowly advancing. He didn’t dare look at you; the last thing Bellatrix needed to know was that not only were you Remus’ sister, but she could hurt Sirius just as deeply through you–almost a sort of two-for-one. It was a good thing he didn’t, for you were still seated, cradling your throbbing ankle. “Just as shallow as always, I see,” she sneered, “It seems as though your time in Azkaban taught you nothing, cousin.” “Back on the Dark Side, all loud and proud, and your precious Lord hasn’t even fully risen to power yet; seems as though you learned just as much as I did,” he threw back. Her face contorted in rage, and her words came out like a growl. “He broke me out of Azkaban! He saved me! How can he not be what he once was, yet touch Azkaban–no, break Azkaban? No one has escaped from Azkaban, the precious prison where you filthy Muggle-lovers love to throw true witches and wizards like me!” she shrieked madly. “First of all,Iescaped from Azkaban, all by myself, no Dark Lord pulling the strings with the dementors in league,” Sirius sneered. You held your breath as he spoke to her so brazenly. “And Good Godric, you are just as deluded as ever. He’s the one who put you there! You wouldn’t have even ended up in that godforsaken place had it not been for him! Neither of us would’ve been! Can’t you see that? You are only as important to him as what you can do for him. You are nothing to him. Can’t you see that?” And then, the cave was filled with bright green light. All noise ceased as the blood swam in your ears. A silent but surely blood-curdling scream to everyone else ripped from your throat, Sirius’ name leaving your lips as the pitch-black replaced the deadly green. You pulled yourself up against the bars, pain seeping into your screams as you did so, but you had to see he was okay; he had to be okay. The silence stretched on, Bellatrix’s enraged, heavy breathing filling the quiet. The feeling was seeping from your limbs, your knees on the verge of collapse, chest beginning to heave with angry, suffocated sobs.
“Oh, hit a soft spot, did I? Getting a bit touchy,” Sirius laughed suddenly. With a spring, he jumped back up, his hair bouncing with him. The feeling returned to your body like a tidal wave, and your knees finally gave out, but with relief. She hadn’t gotten him; he was still here and somehow going to save all of you. From your spot on the ground, you could’ve sworn you saw a flash of a shoe visible from the light of the mouth of the cave, but a second later, it was gone. “How dareyou speak of him like you know him! Like you understand him?! You know nothing!” she yelled, her voice rebounding off the walls of the tiny cave. “This is nothing like the last time. That was nothing but a blip in my Master’s grand plan. Your preciousfriends, ickle Jamesy and Lily with itty, bitty, baby Potter. All of them, they all meant nothing. Their deaths meant nothing. In fact, I’m told it was amusing for my Master to chase James as he fruitlessly searched out his wand, almost as amusing as Lily throwing herself in front of my Master’s wand, as if it would do anything at all. Stupid, stupidgirl–but really, what did we expect from a filthylittle Mudblood.” And then, Sirius lost it. Flashes of every color burst from the tip of his wand spells flying left and right. Using your good foot, you pushed off of the ground and flew to the corner, covering Alastor and Circe, the latter balled in his lap, doing your best to shield them. “You don’t get to say their names! To talk about them!” he shrieked madly, looking more and more like his cousin as he did so. “I’ll kill every last one of you!” “I wish I was there! I wish I would’ve gotten to see my Master leech the very last drop of light from James’ eyes!” she shrieked, cackling as she threw her own defensive spells. Amazingly, the two hadn’t been hit yet, still throwing curses with as much gusto as before. Idly, you wondered what had happened to her henchmen–shouldn’t this be the exact situation they were here for? Squinting in the darkness, you found them all strangely slumped over, dead to the situation around them.
Concerned for Remus, you next looked for him. Confused, you saw him working his way to a standing position, grimacing in pain as he did so. How was he standing on his own? Then, a second later, you saw a freckled arm appear from nowhere, and a second after that, Remus had been swallowed by the darkness. “What the hell?” you whispered, furrowing your brows in confusion. “What is happening?” Alastor whispered, a crazed look on his face now that Circe couldn’t see him. “It’s alright. You guys are going to be okay,” you reassured them. “That’s Sirius Black,” he whispered, terrified. “Like hell we’re going to be okay.” “The Daily Prophet’s propaganda machine never ceases to amaze,” you whispered, mostly to yourself. “He’s here to rescueus. He’s not bad, not evil, and certainly not a sodding Death Eater. It’s all a lie.” “And why would I believe that?” he frantically whispered back, spells still pinging off the walls. “If he’s a Death Eater, then why the hell is he trying to kill Bellatrix in their own cave?” you hissed, trying to remain patient. “You’ve just got to trust me on this. Okay?” He gave you a look but nodded slowly after a minute. “Alright,” he said, encircling Circe tighter. “I’ve got to get out and help him, please tell me you have something to pick a lock with?” you whispered. “There’s a rusty nail under that bench, in the hole in the rock. I never knew how to use it,” he said, nodding to the opposite corner of the cell. Feeling incredibly thankful for your Muggle cousins your mother called ‘bad influences,’ you pressed a chaste kiss to his forehead. “We’re going to make it out of this, okay? Almost there,” you said, gripping his face seriously. He merely looked at you with the same expression as always.
Crawling over to the bench, you dug the nail from the hole with your fingers, shaking as you turned to the bars to poke your arm through the bars. Putting all your weight on your left foot, you fumbled about for a bit as your hands searched for the lock. Finally finding the lock, you pushed the nail in and quickly got to work trying to pick the lock. Twisting your wrist to try a new angle, you cursed loudly when you dropped the pin. “No!” you all but screamed, trying your damnedest to get the pin and help Sirius. “Alohomora,” you suddenly heard a young girl’s voice whisper. With a click, the lock opened, and the door swung open. Confused but grateful for the assistance, you figured your best bet was to crawl and keep in the darkness. Heart pounding in your ears, you trusted Sirius not to hit you by accident as you got closer. Finally, when you were within arm’s reach, you took a deep breath and went for it. Reaching out, you wrapped both arms around Bellatrix and held tightly as she screeched in shock and thrashed madly in your arms. Pushing off with your good foot, you took her to the floor. Through her thrashing, you managed to get your hand wrapped around hers and pried her fingers from her death grip on her wand. The tell-tale light clatter of wood on stone gave you a new rush of energy. “What? Who?” she shrieked, trying her best to turn and see who had her. “Leave! Him! Alone!” you yelled, holding tighter as she thrashed. “It’s over, Bellatrix,” Sirius suddenly huffed. Just as shocked as she was, you turned your neck and saw Sirius, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Remus, and Tonks all standing with their wands pointed directly at the two of you. You were pleased to find Hermione gripped Bellatrix’s wand in her hand. “The filthy Mudblood darehold my wand?!” and the thrashing started once more. Ignoring the pain, you hooked your leg around her hip, turning to smother her. “Shut up!” you roared, bringing your fists down on her. “Y/N?” Sirius said, his voice laden with surprise. “Somebody get the bloody attack dog already!” she shrieked from under you. You felt a strong arm wrap around your torso and lift you from Bellatrix with ease, all the while thrashing to get back to her. “We’re leaving,” Remus heaved, his chest stained with blood. “And we’re taking them with us,” you said, pointing to Alastor and Circe, who were just now crawling timidly from the cell. “It won’t matter,” she said, grinning a mad smile as her teeth were red with blood. “We’re going to win.” “No you won’t,” Harry spat, looking angry. At his anger, Bellatrix let out another cackling laugh. “Silencio!” you shouted, snatching Sirius’ wand from his hand. Sirius looked at you, highly offended, and you placed the wand back in his still outstretched palm. “I was tired of hearing the bloody twit squawk.” “I second that. In fact,” Hermione added, “PetrificusTotalus.” And with that, Hermione used Bellatrix’s own wand to bewitch her into stillness, her face frozen in an angry shriek.
“With her own wand,” you clucked, giving Hermione a small smile. “Excellent touch.” “I vote we leave,” Ron said, looking around anxiously. “I second that,” Remus said, laughing breathlessly. Tonks wrapped her arm around Remus’ waist and slowly led him from the cave. Hermione guided Alastor and Circe out into the snow, Harry and Ron following. Just as you turned to leave, Sirius spun you around and pulled you to him. “I’m so, so, sorry, Y/N,” Sirius said against your ear. “C-can’t, breathe,” you choked out. He loosened his grip, but didn’t let go. “I never meant any of what I said–” he started, but before he could finish, you reached up and grabbed hold of him, wrapping your legs around him.
“I’d kiss you, but I’m pretty sure I got sick back there,” you laughed with tears in your eyes. Joining you in laughter, Sirius held you tightly against him. “I’m so glad you’re okay, Godric. I was so worried about you and–” seeming to remember, he dropped you and whipped around. “Moony!” “Ow!” you yelped out, your ankle exploding in pain once more. “Are you alright?” Sirius said, spinning around to you once more and looking concerned. “Better than I was when I first arrived,” you joked–he didn’t laugh. “Just broke my ankle, is all.” “Oh, well, if that’s all then,” he rolled his eyes at you. Turning his back to you, he squatted slightly and held his arms out. “Go on, then.” Rolling your eyes but grinning, you hopped onto his back. As the two of you stepped out of the cave and into the cold night air, you saw Hermione speaking to Alastor and Circe. “I’m alright, honest. I can stand on my good foot, you go and see my brother,” you said as Sirius came to a halt. “Are you sure? I can have Ron take my place,” he asked you, turning to look at you. “Promise,” you smiled, pecking his cheek. Smiling back, he gingerly set you on your feet, looking concerned when you winced. “Are you alright?” Hermione asked them. Dropping to her knees, she enveloped Circe in a hug as she cried freely. Alastor didn’t answer; he still had the dead look in his eye, staring blankly into the distance, seemingly indifferent to the cold around him. You were about to walk over to him when you saw his eyes swim back into focus. “H-Harry Potter?” Alastor blinked, life slowly seeping back into him. “Yeah,” Harry half-smiled, walking up to him. “Are you okay? You’re bleeding.” “I’ve been bleeding for months,” he answered darkly. “But not anymore, thanks to you.” “Honestly, I barely did anything at all,” Harry answered honestly. “In fact, I wasn’t even supposed to be here.” “But you are,” Alastor said simply. With a rush of emotion, you realized Harry was the answer. Though he might not have been the formidable wizard his reputation held him up to be, you saw he was the equal to Voldemort; he was the life to Voldemort’s death, the good to his evil. He always had been. More importantly, though, the people believed him to be Voldemort’s equal, the only hope against him. As long as Harry lived, and as long as people saw him living, fighting against Voldemort, hope would live on. Looking away from Harry and Alastor, you noticed Ron approaching you, shrugging out of his coat. “Here, you’ll freeze,” he said, holding the dark-blue fabric out to you. “Oh, no, I’m alright,” you lied, a cold shiver betraying you as the wind picked up. “I’m not taking it back,” he said stubbornly. “Besides, if you get this one all bloodied up, maybe Mum will buy me one of my own finally.” “Alright, thanks, Ron,” you said after a moment, smiling and taking the heavy fabric from him.
Pulling on the still slightly-warm fabric, the forest around you was suddenly filled with the yells of Sirius. “What? So, you just figured you go on and take him on yourself, did you? Aren’t you supposed to be the bloody smart one? I mean, exactly whatis the point of the mirrors if you don’t even alert me to at least let me know what you’re walking into? You could’ve died, you stubborn, detrimentally independent, crazy bastard! And then what? Just gonna leave me then too?” “No, of course–” Remus started, looking both pained and guilty. “No, I’m still bloody talking,” Sirius cut him off, looking fierce. “Don’t you ever do that to me again, Remus or I swear on James’ grave it’ll be me who finishes the job. In fact, if they hadn’t already done you in so well, I’d take you to the floor right now for putting me–us, through this. Matter of fact, where are the miserable sods? I’ve got some things to work out just now.” Tearing off once more towards the caves, Harry and Ron followed him dutifully while Tonks stood with Remus, grabbing his face and wiping the grime from it, the tears in her eyes freely falling.
“Oh, darling,” she said softly, pulling his tall frame down to her. After a moment, you saw Remus’ shoulders shake slightly, and looked away from the tender scene. “Guys, they really need a doctor, as does Y/N and Remus. We need to go,” Hermione fretted, using a cloth to sop up some of the blood on Alastor’s face. “I’ll go on and take Remus to Hogwarts, Madam Pomfrey will know where to start. The rest of you can meet us, yeah?” Tonks suggested. “Here, take Alastor too, I’ll bring Circe. I don’t think I’m strong enough to apparate with both just yet,” you said. “I forget they aren’t old enough yet,” Tonks sighed, gesturing for Alastor to join her. “Go on, Alastor, Circe, and I will be right behind you,” you assured him. “Alright,” he said, his voice dead again. With a pop, Remus, Tonks, and Alastor disappeared from view, leaving you, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Circe and Sirius in the cold.
Pairings:Sirius Black x reader, Sirius Black x Gryffindor!reader, marauders era! Sirius Black x reader, Marauders x reader Warnings:Dueling, violence, blood/injury Word Count: 3,683
“Please,” Lucius scoffed. “It’s likely Sirius here would be expelled if he was found in another duel.” His blonde hair glinted white in the pale moonlight, and it was mildly distracting.
“Been watching me then, have we? I don’t blame you. I mean, I am simplydevilishly handsome,” Sirius responded, checking himself out in the glass panes of the greenhouse. Bellatrix made an exasperated noise, and Lucius clicked his tongue.
“Sorry, handsome. I don’t swing that way,” Lucius sneered, Bellatrix giggled from next to him.
“Sure?” Sirius grinned maliciously.
Lucius’ skin was already ghostly pale, but somehow it turned paler. Looking over at him curiously, he mouthed Yaxley’s name, and you immediately caught on to him. Your mind conjured the image of the two blonde boys trapped in a heated embrace. Grinning a little, you closed your eyes and took a deep breath, pushing the thought. After a beat, Bellatrix gasped, and Lucius produced an almost howl of rage.
“Stop that!” he growled.
“Twitchy…” Sirius crooned. At his utterance, you pulled the bubble back, and their eyes unglazed and refocused on the two of you. “Let’s not play with our food.”
“How did you do that?” Lucius yelled, his pale features pink with rage.
“You like it? It’s a specialty of mine,” you grinned at him. Just as you turned to Bellatrix, you saw a slight flick of her wand, and you went airborne. Time seemed to move in slow motion as you soared through the dark night–the greenhouse, however, was coming up on you at an alarming rate. As quick as your brain could, you cast a hovering spell; it managed to catch you before you hit the ground, but not before you crashed through the roof of the greenhouse, glass shattering all around you. Several shards slit your skin, and you yelled in fury.
“Twitch?” Sirius called, voice sounding anxious as the sounds of spells clashing filled the night.
“Alright!” you called, gritting your teeth and steeling your stomach as you pulled a decent-sized shard of glass from the inside of your forearm. The feeling nauseated you, but you had to get back to Sirius. Hasting to help, you trampled over the broken glass and pots inside the wrecked greenhouse, taking care to steer very clear of the tentacula plant.
Bellatrix and Lucius were flinging spells with all they had, and you could tell it was all Sirius could do to simply block them. Bellatrix must’ve thought that would’ve taken you out, as neither of them looked over to see if you were coming. Seizing the opportunity, you pushed open the glass door and used your own wand to fling Bellatrix. She was sent flying and landed with a dull thud against a large tree trunk nearby. Even from the distance you could see her eyes bulge as she gasped like a fish out of water, trying to get air back into her stunned lungs.
From your left the sound of breaking glass sounded and you turned to find Sirius tucked into a roll, sending himself far away from the exploding glass. Just as he came to a stop, he twisted his wand towards Lucius and sent his wand flying into the air with a simple disarming spell. Turning back towards Bellatrix, she struggled to get to her feet. Her savage hair was whipping wildly in the wind, and the sight gave you an idea of your own. Pointing your wand, you grinned and spoke.
“Calvorio,” and with that said, her hair began falling from her scalp. The first few chunks caused shocked gasps to fall from her lips, but after the fifth or sixth tuft, she was beginning to truly freak out.
“Lucius!” she screamed, causing the blonde to whip his head around to look for her. Sirius seized his chance and sent him flying backwards.
“Wha’ in the ruddy hell?!” a gruff voice began booming from somewhere nearby. You and Sirius locked eyes–fun as this was, Lucius was right; another fight would not be good for Sirius’ standing.
Bellatrix was positively wailing now, her hands shaking as they ran over her quickly balding head. Using her noises as cover, you ran back towards Sirius and grabbed his robes, pulling him back from advancing on Lucius.
“Come on, we have to go!” you said, pulling on him, but for all the good it did, you might as well have not said anything at all.
“Sirius, we have to go!” you pushed, this time raising your mental voice to where he winced and covered his ears.
“Oi!” he called, turning back to you.
“Sirius, if you want to live to duel another day, we’ve gotta disappear, and we’ve got to do it now!” you hissed desperately. The gamekeeper’s footsteps began to shake the ground with their proximity and intensity. Just when you thought he’d be caught, he whirled around and pushed you back into the tunnel, which closed off at a flick of his wand, and the two of you were consumed by the darkness.
“Wha’s wrong? Ou’ here screamin like you bin stung by a skrewt,” the gameskeeper said gruffly, likely coming up on Bellatrix and Lucius. “Good Godric! The greenhouse! Ooh, Professor Sprout is notgoing to be happy abou’ tha’.”
“Who cares about the stupid greenhouse? Clearly, she’s been cursed; even you could see that you oaf,” Lucius sneered, causing Sirius to get riled up once more. You grabbed his wand arm and put it down, putting your other hand to your lips.
“Oaf?” the gameskeeper boomed, equally outraged. “Now you jus’ watch yer mouth, Malfoy. C'mon, let’s go see wha’ Slughorn has ter say abou’ it all,”
And slowly, the sobs of a deranged Bellatrix grew quieter and quieter until all you could hear was the wind whistling through the now shattered frames of the greenhouse.
“C'mon,” you said after a moment, grabbing Sirius’ wrist. He grinned after Lucius and Bellatrix in a pleased sort of way and let you drag him into the tunnel, whistling a tune softly.
“Are you whistling?” you asked, laughing slightly.
“We just got ol’ Lucy and Bellatrix nice and stuck. Even Slughorn can’t ignore the broken greenhouse!” he let out a barking laugh into the tunnel, and you couldn’t help but join in at the thought of a bald Bellatrix getting berated by Slughorn.
“Nice jinx, by the way, she loves her hair,” Sirius said, winking as you smiled back at him. You thought a funny feeling erupted in your stomach, but it must’ve just been the excitement of them getting into trouble.
“Wasn’t it? I thought she’d like it,” you laughed at the image of her hair falling out onto the dark grass, her deranged sobs filling the night air as she tried to keep it in place with her fingers. “Gives excellent ammunition for later.”
“You’re gonna get into trouble for that one of these days,” Sirius said as the two of you slowed to a walking pace in the dark, dank tunnel.
“I’m friends with you lot; I’m always in trouble,” you reminded him, laughing.
“Touche, Twitchy,” he laughed back. “Though, it’s mostly James, and I really that get into trouble–everybody’s got a soft spot for Remus, ya know, the teenage werewolf.”
“I was aware of that, funnily enough. And I think you forget about Peter. He doesn’t get any special treatment.” you reminded him, with an image of an anxious Peter wringing his hands behind James as McGonagall scolded.
“Well, I was trying to, and here you are bringing him up again,” he teased, shaking his head, a smile on his face.
“What’s your problem with him, anyway?” you asked him, “I mean, I know he’s always preferred James, but it seems it’s about all the two of you can do to sit in the same room anymore.”
“I dunno, I’ve never really liked him. Prongs does, of course, because Peter absolutely fawns over him. I don’t think he’d even be brought along if he didn’t spend every other minute kissing James’ arse–and I’m supposed to be the arrogant one,” he rolled his eyes.
“So, you don’t like him because he doesn’t have a slightly homoerotic infatuation with you?” you asked, a laugh slipping through your lips.
“Well, when you put it like that, I suppose it does sound a bit odd,” he laughed with you, “But really, that’s just part of it. I dunno, I just don’t trust him. There’s something about him that just rubs me the wrong way, can’t quite put my finger on it. Can’t believe the little sod made it into Gryffindor, sometimes I think every now and then that hat makes a mistake.” Sirius said.
“Well, it’s bound to. It’s a hat, innit?” you laughed.
“And then there’s the whole thing with his Animagi being a rat. I mean, come on, does that not make anybody else nervous?” he pointed out, looking at you imploringly.
“It’s a little weird, I suppose. But we can’t exactly go judging each other for our animal forms. I mean, does Remus strike you as a werewolf?” you asked.
“Well, of course not, but that’s not voluntary, is it? He didn’t choose that form. I mean, James choosing a stag makes sense– bloke has to be the biggest one out of all of us–plus it just sounds cool, stag,” he said in a funny voice, making you laugh. “I dunno, I think mine makes sense. A big black dog,”
“Dark and scary looking, but really a softie at heart,” you teased, nudging him with your shoulder. The two of you finally entered back into the castle, older students milling about as they made their way back to their common rooms. As you made your way into the main corridor, the two of you saw a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin lip-locked in a notch in the walls, causing a slight snicker from the both of you–though, they didn’t seem to notice.
“I dunno, I think Peter’s makes sense. I mean, he’s a rat of a boy. Always nervous, always simpering, rubbing his hands together like he does, always trying to worm his way out of things,” you said, understanding Sirius’ point of view more and more as you spoke.
“Precisely. Sod makes me nervous, and I’ve got my bloody eyes on him,” he all but growled, a dark look coming over his hooded features. For a second, he looked just like a true Black. He must’ve realized the same thing because, after a moment, he shook his head and let the boyish glow back into his cheeks.
“Now, yours, well yours makes perfect sense. A cute little bunny wabbit,” he said, turning to you and brushing the tip of your nose with his finger.
You rolled your eyes, though your heartbeat funnily from his touch; the boys loved to tease you for your inherently cute and slightly feministic animagi of a spotted white rabbit, the spots being the same color as your hair.
“I’m not cute,” you grumbled, beginning your ascent up the stairs to Gryffindor tower for the second time that night.
“Say that again, but slower,” he teased, laughing at you. Just as you were about to retort with a smart remark, your foot caught on one of the stairs, and you let out a swear word as you tumbled forward. Sirius managed to catch just before your face smashed against the staircase, and for that, you were grateful.
“Thanks,” you said, blushing slightly as he helped you up, hands resting on your hips to steady you.
“Alright?” he asked, his storm grey eyes holding yours.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” you said, turning to continue up. He kept a hand on the small of your back the rest of the way up, probably just ensuring you wouldn’t fall without him noticing once more.
“And where have you two been?” the Fat Lady asked, looking appraisingly down at you and Sirius, probably knowing it was nothing good. You were grateful for the long sleeves that hung on your robes–they blocked the dozen slits decorating your arms. They stung as the fabric brushed against them occasionally, and you were happy you made it to the common rooms for the night so you could shed them.
“Out,” Sirius said, eliciting an exasperated sigh from her. “Pillyknox.”
And with that, she swung open, grumbling about a lack of respect as she did so.
“Oi!” James called immediately upon seeing his best friend. At the noise, James rose from his spot on the couch and bounded over to Sirius, running a hand through his hair subconsciously as he did so. “What were you doing out by the greenhouses?”
“How’d yo–you checked the map, didn’t you?” Sirius asked.
“Course. The two of you just bloody disappeared after Twitch here spent all night in a mood. Makes a bloke nervous,” he said as the group of you made your way back over to where James had been seated. Remus and Peter sat on the floor next to the couch, locked in a game of chess; Peter squealed with delight as Remus’ rook took out a knight of his, the sound of scattering pieces joining his laughter. Lily was laid out on the couch, reading a book, her scarlet hair glinting off the roaring fire behind her. Several boys watched her as she read, and their eyes fell as she grinned up at the arriving James, all looking quite put out.
You followed Sirius to the couches and noticed about the same number of girls’ eyes trailing him. Disgruntled, you tore your robes off, seemingly momentarily forgetting about your arms. Hissing, they reminded you of their presence.
Lily’s head flicked up from her book at your telltale wince of pain, and she gasped softly.
“Your arms,” she breathed, closing her book.
“What the bloody hell happened?” Remus asked, concern lacing his tone as he got up from his game.
“I’m getting to it,” you said, pressing your sleeve to a cut above your eyebrow.
“Oh, stop it, you’re just going to make a mess,” she said, pulling out her wand. “Tergio.”
And with a funny sucking sensation, for the second time that day, you felt all the blood be siphoned off your face. Putting your other sleeve to the same bloody spot, it came back dry, and you smiled at her.
“Cheers.”
Turning, you made to sit against the couch when all five let out an involuntary gasp.
“Fuck,” you sighed, knowing it had to be another cut. “Who knew greenhouses could put up such a fight.”
You tried to joke, but evidently, whatever had made them gasp was too consuming.
“Well, what is it then?” you asked, starting to get worried.
“Well, goodnight, boys,” Lily finally spoke, handing her book to James and picking up your hand.
“What?” you asked blankly.
“We’re going to see Madam Pomfrey, of course,” she replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“No, we aren’t,” you said, pulling your hand out of Lily’s as you neared the door.
“What?” she blinked. “Twitch, your arms are covered in cuts, and the entirety of the back of your shirt is soaked in blood. We have to go.”
“No, they’ll know the greenhouse was me, which means they’ll know it wasn’t just me, and Sirius can’t get into trouble again. There’s only so much even Dumbledore can do,” you reasoned, shaking your head.
“James,” Lily sighed, looking to him for support.
“Er,” he started, rubbing the back of his neck. On the one hand, he was surely worried about you and wanted nothing more than to please Lily, but on the other, he didn’t want to watch his best friend leave Hogwarts because of their behavior.
“Thanks,” she said venomously. “Twitch, seriously, let’s go.”
“She’s right,” Remus sighed finally.
“Thank you, Remus,” she sighed gratefully.
“I’m not going,” you said, crossing your arms stubbornly–you fought the hiss of pain that would prove their point.
“You are so bloody stubborn,” Lily said, putting her hands on her hips and taking a calming breath. You met her glare with one of your own, and after a moment, she unclenched.
“Fine,” she said breezily. “Let’s go up to your room then, boys.”
“Sorry?” James said, coughing slightly on his tea.
“Well, if she won’t go to Madam Pomfrey, she’s going to have to let us close up the cuts because her shirt is the same color as the scarlet drapery. Dunno about you lot, but I don’t fancy my blood drenching my shirt scarlet.” Lily said in a commanding tone.
“She’s right; she’s losing a lot of blood,” Remus said thoughtfully, his hands brushing your back ever so slightly. Your stomach clenched with nerves at the thought of not only leaving your wellbeing in the hands of the Marauders, but having them do so in their bedspace with you at least semi-undressed.
“Right, I’ll just lead the way, then,” James said haltingly, probably nervous about having girls in his room as well.
“Wait!” Peter squeaked, rushing up to James and whispering frantically in his ear.
“Right, Wormy, yes, go on and do that. Thank you.” James said evasively, his face slightly ashen. With that, Peter darted up the stairs immediately.
“I’ll grab my kit,” Remus said and followed Peter up.
“Right then, follow me, ladies,” James said suavely, smirking back at the two of you. Lily rolled her eyes but took his outstretched hand.
You were starting to feel a little funny and figured it best to move more slowly than usual. As you did so, you noticed people around you watching the group of you, eyes flitting between James and Lily and Sirius and you–evidently, they couldn’t tell which was a juicer. They whispered loudly behind their hands, making it hard not to listen in passing.
“Nosy sods,” Sirius shook his head, evidently noticing as well. He followed you up and remained almost silent as you followed Lily into the room.
The rooms were decorated in nearly the same way as the girls’, but their room was already undoubtedly messier. Various items of clothing were strewn everywhere, and bits of parchment resting on every other available surface–most were in Remus’ handwriting. It hadn’t even been a day, how the hell did Remus write so much already? Where did this mess come from?
Peter was seated on his bed cross-legged, munching on a chocolate frog as he watched the group of you. His bed area was decorated with candy wrappers and crumbs.
“Here,” Sirius said as James shut the door behind you all. With a grand sweep, he knocked everything on his bed onto the floor and beckoned you.
“Thanks, Siri,” you smiled and sat on his bed. “I dunno what you guys were planning to do, but we should probably get to it. I feel a bit funny.”
“Moony!” Sirius barked suddenly, causing you to jump a bit.
“Calm down, Pads, I’ve got it right here,” he responded, shuffling back across the room with a small chest in his hands. His arms and hands were littered with scars, and you felt a rush of sympathy as you sat littered with cuts of your own. Remus had to do this once a month, for forever, with the only hope of his being he never hurt anyone–hurting himself instead was of no matter.
Remus, seemingly in the element of a Mediwizard, took your arms in his surprisingly soft hands and turned them over once each.
“Mostly superficial, aside from the one on the inside,” he noted, gesturing to the area you’d pulled the shard out of on your left arm. “Go on and lay down on your stomach.”
“Yes, Mediwizard,” you teased. He gave a small smile as you turned to lay down.
With your face in Sirius’ sheets now, his smell was overwhelming. Pine needles were the first scent you could pick out, like the bed of a forest. The sickly sweet smell of the tobacco he insisted on smoking was next, covering everything in a light layer. You were amazed the smell held up like that over the holiday–there was no musk, no heavy smell like he slept there every night, but the scent held up enough to decipher it.
“You really should go see Madam Pomfrey to close those up,” Lily said once more. Turning your head, you found her lounged across what must’ve been James’ bed–it was right next to Sirius’. You said nothing but made sure she saw you roll your eyes. “Fine, go on, then. Be stubborn.”
“I will, thanks,” you responded, grinning slightly. It was her turn to roll her eyes.
“Er, Lily, could you come lift Twitch’s shirt?” Remus asked, clearing his throat several times.
“Eh, Sirius can do it,” Lily shrugged, having grabbed a book from Remus’ pile and flipping through it. Stuck between hissing for her to do it and liking the idea of Sirius doing it instead, you remained quiet.
“Er, I mean alright,” Sirius said from next to you.
“Not as if you aren’t well-practiced in that,” James laughed as he collapsed next to Lily. You stiffened at the thought.
“C'mon, Lils,” you said, suddenly less interested as Sirius was already so well-practiced. With a small sigh, Lily pushed off of James’ bed.
“Great, cheers, mate,” Sirius griped, throwing James a dirty look. Seemingly realizing his mistake, he winced back apologetically as Lily lifted your shirt gingerly.
“So, what happened, anyway?” she asked as she resumed her spot.
“Why don’t you tell it, Twitch?” Sirius offered.
“Too tired, you do it,” you said, your head beginning to spin. Just as you were about to say something, you heard the chest open and knew Remus was seconds away from helping.
“Well, after we left the Great Hall, she was still pouting and pissy, probably planning to mull over it all night–hate it when she does that. So instead, I suggested we go after them.” Sirius started.
James let out an appreciative rip of laughter.
You felt Remus’ hands begin to touch against your back, and somehow, the room seemed to spin faster.
“Guys, I think,” you started, interrupting Sirius’ story. “I don’t feel…”
You tried to get the sentence out, but your tongue wouldn’t cooperate before the darkness took you under.
Pairings:Sirius Black x reader, Sirius Black x Gryffindor!reader, marauders era! Sirius Black x reader, Marauders x reader
Warnings:language, hinted fighting
Word Count: 3,240
A/N:Holy shit I’m aliveeee. School kicked my ass this semester as always :) but it’s all over now. I’ll probably be uploading another chapter of this soon and I even opened up my Grimmauld Place doc for the first time in months. Idkkkk. Anyways Merry Christmas and enjoy! Because it’s a bit of a cliffhanger I’ll be posting the next chapter hopefully tomorrow!
Ambient noise filled the Receiving Chamber as you walked into the towering castle. Turning towards the Great Hall, the sound only increased. Each of the tables had a few dozen people already seated, chatting quietly. The girl from Hufflepuff with a horrid case of acne seemed to have found the right salve, and the redhead from Ravenclaw started wearing glasses. Turning towards the Slytherin tables, you took your time to scowl at a haughty-looking Narcissa Black. She turned to her deranged sister and whispered, and both of them turned towards you, giggling. Your face flushed with anger as you looked at the two of them; whatever had been said had now been told to the whole group, and they all turned towards you, snickering.
“What?” you snarled, unable to hold back. This, of course, only caused them to slightly lower their laughter but continue.
“Problem, mates?” Sirius said, stopping beside you and draping a playful yet protective arm around your shoulders.
“Not at all, cousin of mine,” Narcissa said, smiling wickedly. Even as hateful as she was, there was no denying her beauty; her pale skin and equally pale hair seemed to almost twinkle underneath the thousands of floating candles lighting the hall.
“Cousin?” Sirius snorted. “Haven’t you heard? I’ve been disowned, not your family anymore, Cissy,” he sneered, using Bellatrix’s nickname.
Disowned? You knew he came to James’ early this summer, but had no idea that was the reason. It took everything in you to quell your curiosity. Besides, to get any real answers out of Sirius, you knew you’d have to get him alone.
“You say that as if that’s a good thing,” Bellatrix hissed from next to Narcissa, her lip curling as she glared at Sirius.
“Honestly, it’s about bloody time,” Narcissa sniffed. “Never did behave as a Blackshould.”
But Sirius ignored her, instead choosing to respond to Bellatrix.
“A good thing?” Sirius snorted, “Bella, darling, let’s be reasonable here. I hate you, you hate me, now we’re not even family,” Sirius rolled his eyes, continuing walking once more towards the Gryffindor table. “Even you have to admit it’s better this way. Now you hateful, snobbish, deluded lot can have your way with each other without any interference from little old me.”
“Oh, it is; we’ve finally gotten rid of the blood traitor.” Bellatrix snarled, enraged he’d bad mouth their family. “Look at you, hanging round with that mudblood. It’s pathetic.”
The group of you simultaneously tensed at the word Bellatrix used.
“Indecent, really. I expected better of you,” Narcissa sighed, her lips turning up in a small smile. James stepped in at that point.
“Watch your mouth, Black,” he said, taking a step next to Sirius.
“Careful how you speak to a lady, Potter,” Lucius sneered from a couple spaces down. Narcissa’s eyes flicked down to his spot, and her grin grew.
“Uh oh, looks like I’ve made the Mudblood lover angry, watch out, everybody!” Bellatrix cackled, her wild mane of hair shaking with laughter.
“I would, or maybe you should ask Severus here what happened last time he pissed Jamesy here off,” you lilted, gesturing to the sallow boy hunched over in front of them. His head snapped up, and he blushed with anger. Smirking, you decided to push him farther; if it wasn’t to be a secret anymore, you might as well have fun with it.
Closing your eyes and hoping it worked–you’d never done it on so many people–you took a deep breath.
Communicating in your special way with one person was easy, pushing the same thought to several people was possible–but much more difficult. It’d taken till 4th year to push to more than two people at once. Conjuring the image of an upside-down Snape, with his sickly, pale legs on display, you pushed hard towards the seated Slytherins in front of you. Clenching your fists, you pushed harder, finally breaking into a smile as you heard each of their gasps.
Suddenly, you felt a hand on the small of your back, steering you away. Opening your eyes, you found it was Sirius leading you.
“Come on, Twitch,” he said, pulling you towards an already seated Remus and Peter.
“It’s all right, I’m done,” you shrugged, smiling nastily at a glowering Bellatrix over your shoulder. Suddenly, she was on her feet.
“How did you do that?” she screeched madly, her wand in hand.
And then all hell broke loose.
Suddenly Remus, Lily, James, Peter, and Sirius all had their wands drawn, pointed at the equally tense group in front of you. Narcissa, Lucius, Severus, and Avery had joined Bellatrix. Your temper was running wild, heart hammering in your chest, the sound drowning out much of the chatter in the Great Hall–or perhaps everyone had stopped to watch.
“Like this,” you sneered, this time pushing an image of a wailing Bellatrix, sobbing as her hands were covered in boils. Just as she opened her mouth to hex you, Slughorn’s massive figure teetered into view.
“Malfoy? Black? Potter? Black? What in Merlin’s beard is going on here?” he said, looking confused.
“Bellatrix here pulled her wand on Y/N. We’re just backing her up, Professor,” Lily simpered, batting her eyes at Slughorn.
“As are we,” Severus said severely, lowering his eyes at James, the both of them still holding their wands to one another.
“Alright, alright. Enough! You boys–the testosterone between Slytherin and Gryffindor will be the death of this school–everybody put down your wands!” he bellowed, causing everyone who wasn’t already watching the scene to look at you now.
“Now then, you five, get to your table,” he said, pushing the group of you forward. James and Severus glared at each other until James sank into his seat and was distracted by Lily whispering in his ear. Your eyes, however, had yet to leave Bellatrix’s–who glared at you still from her seat at the Slytherin table.
“Let it alone, she’s insane,” Sirius whispered into your ear as the two of you sat opposite James and Lily. Pulling up an image of you viciously hexing Bellatrix, you pushed to her again and were pleased to watch her fist hit against the table, causing everyone nearby to jump.
“Maybe I’m just as bad,” you shrugged, watching her squirm in her seat.
“Hey, look at me,” Sirius said. Unable to tear your eyes away, you continued to fuck with her, pulling up various hexes for her to watch.
“Hey,” Sirius said once more, this time grabbing your jaw with his hand and pulling your face to look at him, “I said look at me. Stop.”
Something in the tone in his voice kept you from smartly retorting–besides, how were you supposed to focus with his storm-grey eyes boring intensely into yours. A tingly feeling erupted in the depths of your stomach, and you complied. After a moment, you came to your senses and pulled yourself out of his grip.
“Fine,” you grumbled, cheeks beginning to heat as Sirius’ fingers left your face tingling.
“She’s gonna end up killing that cousin of yours one of these days,” Lily said, looking at the two of you from her seat with James across the table.
“You say that as if it’s a bad thing. She’d just as soon curse you dead right in this bloody hall,” you grumbled, crossing your arms.
“They’ll get theirs,” Remus reasoned, closing his book as Dumbledore scraped his chair, rising to begin his speech.
“Yeah, I’ll be the one giving it to them,” you replied, growling slightly.
“That’s my girl. Give ‘em hell, Twitch,” James smiled, popping a bite into his mouth. “I’ll be right behind you,”
“Alright, you two,” Lily said, quelling the two of your aggression. Though you remained silent, you seethed in your seat and caught Bellatrix’s eyes frequently. The surrounding chatter quickly quieted as Dumbledore reached the podium.
“Another year passed, another year started,” he began, smiling warmly at the students around him. “How lucky I am to stand before your smiling faces. How fortunate we are to fill you with knowledge.”
Though he continued speaking, James’ commentary drowned him out.
“That’s not all they’ll be filled with, eh, Pads?” he grinned, nudging Sirius’ arm from across the table. Sirius didn’t have time to respond before James yelped.
He pulled his leg up from under the table where you’d kicked his shin and used his other hand to rub his bicep where Lily had pinched him.
“It was a joke,” he pouted.
The two of you shared a small grin and turned back to Dumbledore.
“–but that’s of no matter. Now, let us welcome a new batch!” With that, he spread open his arms in greeting, and the doors of the Great Hall swung in. Led by a tight-lipped McGonagall, the first years shuffled quickly behind her, their faces a mix of intense anxiety and awe of the room before them.
“Oh! Just look at the ickle firsties!” Lily simpered, smiling widely at the group–a small boy with curly black hair tripped over his robe.
They reached the top of the room, and all stiffened as McGonagall grabbed the ancient hat and placed it on the rickety stool.
“This is the Sorting Hat, its job is to place you in your House. The House which the hat places you in shall be your family here. You shall dine together, study together, and sleep in the same rooms. Once I call your name, take a seat on this stool and place the hat on your head. That hat shall then place you, and you will take your seats at your table.” McGonagall explained, eyes dancing over the students. One of the students towards the back seemed to actually be shaking.
Unrolling the piece of parchment, she cleared her throat.
“Abernathy, Owen,” she called, and a boy with curly back hair shuffled his way to the stage.
“Do not fancy trading places with any of those lot,” Peter muttered, looking anxious for them.
“Wasn’t that bad, Wormtail,” Remus responded, casting a quick look back at him.
“Easy for you to say! The hat didn’t take nearly 10 minutes with you, did it? Thought I’d broken the bloody thing,” Peter quivered, remembering the day. James and Sirius laughed under their breath.
Hufflepuff clapped loudly as the first of the new batch came to join their table.
“Crawden, Caleb,” she rang out. A round of applause from Ravenclaw.
“DePonte, Leila,” a small girl with long brown hair seemed to tip-toe to the front and sat down on the chair. The hat had no sooner come to rest before it shouted, “Slytherin!” She grinned and danced towards the table on the far end of the room.
“Definitely a Slytherin,” you and Lily said at the same time.
“Flintwood, Jacob,” another round of applause from Ravenclaw.
“Bloody hell,” Sirius sighed.
“No new Gryffindors this year, then?” James finished.
“We’re only at F,” Lily said.
“Yes, but this must not have been a good batch. There are only about a dozen left,” Remus pointed out.
“Gold, Penelope,” another Hufflepuff. You exchanged a glance with Sirius.
“Gore, Ben,” a small boy with black hair similar to James’ detached from what must’ve been his twin and walked up to the stool. After shooting a nervous glance back down at his brother. He placed the hat on his head.
“Gryffindor!” the hat ripped. Happy to have at least one, your table erupted into thunderous applause. Finally, a new Gryffindor.
“10 sickles says his twin gets in,” Sirius grinned, sticking his hand towards James.
“10 sickles says he doesn’t,” James grinned back, reaching a hand across the table.
“Gore, Wren,” a girl who looked just like her brother traipsed up to the stool and shot a hopeful glance towards your table.
James and Sirius shared an excited grin as she placed the hat on her head.
“Gryffindor!” The boy let out a visible sigh of relief as his twin punched her fist in the air in an excited sort of way.
“Whenever you’re ready, mate,” Sirius teased.
“Oh, shut it, pretty boy,” James grumbled, laying a couple of silver coins in Sirius’ outstretched hand.
“Have you ever noticed, even when I’m being insulted, they can’t help but notice my looks,” Sirius said, lifting a spoon to study his reflection. You all collectively rolled your eyes and sighed.
As your eyes settled, they happened to land on Bellatrix, who still sat glaring at you from her table. And just as though the last few minutes hadn’t happened, the anger settled back into you tenfold.
Dinner passed quickly, though you didn’t eat much, instead spent your time stabbing at your food.
After the annual speech from Dumbledore, it was off to the common rooms for the night.
“Are you still upset?” Sirius asked as the group of you began trodding up the never-ending staircases to Gryffindor Towers.
“No,” you lied. He gave you a knowing look, and you looked away. There was just something about Bellatrix that grated you beyond belief. Perhaps it was Sirius’ connection to her, or your years of quarreling, all starting after she’d laughed as you gave a wrong answer in first-year Transfiguration. The thought alone sent your blood boiling, and it was lucky Peter and Remus happened to be trailing behind, or you’d have slinked back and searched her out in the halls.
The group of you had finally reached the portrait of the Fat Lady at the entrance, her smiling graciously as her students disappeared behind her.
“Twitch,” Sirius whispered as James and Lily stepped through. Remus gave the two of you a curious glance, but followed in after a hurrying Peter.
“What?” you grouched.
“Come on,” he jerked his head back down the stairs. Before you could ask him what he was on about, he grabbed your hand and pulled you down the stairs.
“If we hurry, we might be able to catch them,” he said, looking back at you as he ran. His dark hair whipped around his face, and a mischievous smile pulled at his pale pink lips as he grinned back at you.
Sirius would be the death of you.
The two of you sprinted through the winding halls and down the towering staircases. You’d been so distracted by the sight of the sun setting through one of the glass panes, you didn’t even see Nick. Feeling as though you’d just stepped out of an icy shower, you yelled out an apology to him as Sirius raced on, his tight grip on your hand forcing you to keep up.
“Be more careful!” Nicolas yelled back, sounding grumpy.
Finally, out of breath, the two of you skidded into the stairwell leading down to the dungeons. Grinning, you realized what he had in mind.
The corridor was filled with the robes of the Slytherin students heading back down into their own common rooms for the night. Your eyes flitted over everyone’s head, looking for the wild bunch of curls. Finally, you saw them just about to disappear into the same hole dozens of other Slytherins had, in a wild act of desperation, you called out.
“Trixie!” you shouted. It worked. She dove back out of the hole, shoving two Slytherins to get past. “Fancy a little duel?”
“C’mon Lucy, you know it’ll be fun,” Sirius taunted, prompting the white-blonde boy to whip his own head in search. Each of you had a favorite to fuck with; For James, it was Severus–though Sirius never said no to joining in–for you, Bellatrix, for Sirius, it was Lucius. Remus thought himself to be, and truly was above all it; he only got involved when it was about to go too far.
Just as the two had locked eyes with you, you turned to Sirius and smiled. Nodding, the two of you took off at a sprint once again.
“Coming to get me, Trixie?” you yelled out, taunting her. You heard her let out an annoyed shriek, but she didn’t dare pull her wand with the looming threat of Professors so nearby.
“Where are we going?” you hissed to Sirius as he expertly sprinted through the maze of hallways–you really had to start studying that damn map.
“On the grounds, by the greenhouses. Nobody should be out there this time of night,” he panted, turning quickly and bounding up the set of stairs in front of him.
“Scared, Y/N? Is that why you and lover boy are running?” Bellatrix yelled, likely needing to hear your voice to know where to follow; she and Lucius had fallen far behind in their confusion of the entangled corridors of their own dungeon.
“You wish, you twit,” you laughed. At the end of your sentence, you heard the thunderings of running footsteps and knew they were on your trail again.
“Come on, Lucy. Keep up, won’t you? My mother runs faster than you,” Sirius laughed.
After another few quick turns, you were running up a sloping tunnel. Seconds later, the two of you came out just a few yards from the greenhouses, panting wildly.
“Now what?” you said, putting your hands on your knees and forcing deep lungfuls of the cool night air into your body.
“Now, you duel,” Sirius said, putting his hands on his head and catching his breath.
“What?” you said. Dueling was always the way he and James handled their disagreements, but they didn’t understand the more refined art to girl arguments.
“If you aren’t angry enough to duel, you aren’t angry,” Sirius shrugged, grinning at your surprised face.
“You best hope I don’t turn my wand on youafterwards, Sirius,” you hissed at his dark face.
“Here they come–I’d start thinking of spells if I were you,” he grinned, pointing his wand at the opening that now was leaking the sounds of arriving footsteps. You took his advice and conjured all the hexes and jinxes you’d watched them perform over the years.
“Merlin, did you have to run through the entirety of the castle?” Bellatrix hissed as she saw your faces in the moonlight. “Couldn’t you have found an empty classroom like a normal person?”
“Come on now, cousin; where’s the fun in that?” Sirius grinned, looking utterly relaxed as he leaned against the greenhouse, twirling his wand in his hand.
Pairings:Sirius Black x reader, Sirius Black x Gryffindor!reader, mauraders era! Sirius Black x reader, Marauders x reader Warnings:Language, slight bullying (?) Word Count:3,196
Y/N POV
“What does he want with me, though?” you hissed anxiously to Lily, adjusting your robes as you followed her. You’d never been invited to any ‘Slug Club’ events.
“Dunno, he’s alright, though. Little snobbish, but harmless,” she shrugged, leading the way.
“Maybe it has something to do with my gift,” you wondered aloud. “What if it has something to do with my gift?”
“I thought we were the only ones who knew about it?” Lily asked, turning to look at you with her bright, emerald eyes.
“Well, you, James, Sirius, Peter, Remus, McGonagall, and Dumbledore,” you said, frowning as you realized the number kept growing; you doubted how much longer you’d be able to keep it a secret.
“Maybe one of them let it slip? I mean, it’s not exactly an express secret, is it?” Lily asked.
“Not really. But if the whole school finds out I can push thoughts into people’s heads and potentially make them do things, well, I’d never get left alone,” you said. “And that’s the best-case scenario.”
“I suppose that’s true. We’re an understanding lot,” she grinned, turning to you as she slowed her pace.
“I’ll say; took in a psychic and a teenage werewolf. Maybe it isn’t compassion so much as it is a desperate need for adventure,” you teased.
“For Potter and Black? Undoubtedly a pathological need for adventure; me? Compassion, definitely compassion,” she teased back.
Stopping suddenly at a solid compartment door, she turned towards you and fluffed your hair.
“Alright, mum, thanks,” you sighed, swatting at her hands as they brushed your robes. Laughing at your comment, she pushed open the doors to expose a spacious compartment filled with about 8 people.
Groaning to yourself, your eyes first fell to Lucius Malfoy and Theodore Nott. Standing in the middle of them was Severus Snape, hair greasy as ever. His eyes followed Lily for a while until they met your icy glare.
“Malfoyand Snape?” you hissed, tugging on her robes, “I thought you said Slughorn was alright?”
“Lily! Hello, my dear!” Slughorn called jovially. At his words, every pair of eyes fell onto the two of you. “Oh, and I see you’ve brought the lovely, Y/N.”
“Hello,” you smiled sheepishly, not really sure what you were doing there.
“Well, now that we’re all here, shall we?” Slughorn said, gesturing to a round table with seats for all in the compartment.
Lily walked forward and chose a seat, you filled the one next to her. A Hufflepuff you recognized as Wendy Slinkhard sat next to you and gave you a small smile, which you returned.
“Have a good Holiday, Lucius?” Slughorn asked the blonde seated next to him.
“Excellent, Professor, excellent. My father sends his best,” he smiled graciously, his voice as oily as the hair of the boy next to him.
“Ah yes, Abraxas, good man,” Slughorn laughed, his belly falling up and down.
“Slimy git,” you whispered, causing a giggle to bubble from Lily’s lips. At your noise, Slughorn’s eyes fell to the two of you and broke into a great smile.
“Lily, Lily. Whispering again, are we?” he said, though there was no tone of scolding.
“Well, it’s just Malfoy mightget offended if I called him a slimy git to his face, sir.” Despite her words, she smiled serenely, and Slughorn let out a loud laugh.
“That he might, that he might,” he allowed, still laughing. Smugly, you turned to a highly annoyed Lucius and grinned.
“And you! Ms. Y/L/N! It’s a wonder we haven’t met yet,” Slughorn smiled, now turning to you.
“I’m in your Potions class, sir,” you said, slightly annoyed. Lucius and Theo snickered, and you shot them murderous glares.
“Ah, yes! I remember now, your Draught of Living Dead was almost as good as my two stars’!” he laughed, gesturing to Snape and Lily. “Sorry, so many students, you understand.”
“Almost,” you said, forcing a laugh out as Snape’s smug face swam before your own.
“You should see her charmwork, sir. She outdoes me every class,” Lily offered, smiling at you. It was true; where Lily was truly gifted in Potions, your subject was Charms.
“Yes, I’ve been hearing great things about Y/N, lots of great things,” he smirked. Lowering his voice dramatically, he leaned forward as much as his massive figure would allow. “Some of which are truly incredible. Is it true?”
Sighing, you knew he was referring to your gift.
“So much for a secret,” you pushed to Lily, eyes falling to the Slytherins. She gave a sympathetic shrug.
“Yes, it’s true,” you pushed, looking into Slughorn’s black eyes. He let out a great rip of laughter, and everyone in the compartment looked incredibly confused except Lily.
“Sorry, sir. But is what true?” a Ravenclaw boy you knew to be named Holden said.
“Y/N here is truly gifted. More so, I daresay, than anyone in this room.” Slughorn complimented, looking at you with a special glint in his eye. Your bruised ego was soothed as the Slytherins glared at you from across the small table. “Y/N here holds a gift I’ve seen in any capacity only once before.”
In front of you, you saw Snape straighten his back, and his face lost what little color it ever held.
“How?” Lucius snapped, “Sir?” he added as Slughorn’s head snapped to him.
“This is how you slimy git. You can hear this, can’t you? Well, no one else can. See, I can put my thoughts right into that empty blonde head of yours–I mean, seriously, it feels especially spacious up here.” you pushed, smiling maliciously at the icy blonde as his eyes were stuck open in horror. “I could make you do whatever I want, if I pleased, been working on it. And when I say whatever I want, I mean whateverI want. I wouldn’t push it, Malfoy.”
Lucius was looking at you in horror, mouth fallen open. Unlocking your eyes, they fell to Snape, who wore a look of mild interest.
“Would you like a taste, Snivellus?” you sneered, peering into Snape’s black eyes. He looked shocked for a moment but quickly recovered back to his constant glare.
“Lovely, isn’t she?” Slughorn laughed, having no idea you just threatened the Slytherins in front of you with mind control.
“Lovely,” Snape sneered, still looking at you. “Tell me, wherever did you learn such a thing?”
His tone was condescending interest, but behind the facade, you could see his eyes burning with envy.
“Didn’t. Born with it. The first time I did it, I was still in diapers,” you shrugged, loving the way this answer seemed to infuriate him more.
“Fascinating,” Slughorn breathed, his massive figure pressed against the table in interest. His gut spilled over onto the table, and you vaguely wondered whether he had much feeling around his massive midriff.
The rest of the train ride was spent in the compartment with Slughorn as he gushed about both previous and current students. It wasn’t long before you all felt the train begin slowing down, causing Slughorn to trail off.
“Ah! She’s slowing now, it seems. Best be off to your compartments!” he said. “Snape, Malfoy, Nott, I’ll see you later tonight? To welcome all the young new Slytherins?”
“Certainly, sir,” Nott said, smiling his awful smile as the group of them slithered from the room.
“Lily, dear, whenever you’re passing! Same for you, Ms. Y/L/N!” he called as the two of you made to leave.
“If I ever make it down to that wretched dungeon,” Lily teased, causing another great rip of laughter from Slughorn.
“Come now! You know you love that Potions room!” Slughorn called into the hall from his room.
From the semi-crowded hallway, Lily allowed a soft laugh as everyone returned to their compartments. Though, you didn’t make it too far before you were halted by an incoming Ravenclaw.
“Oi, Evans!” a tall, blonde boy called, coming to rest by her side. “Good Holiday?”
“Alright. What do you want, Boot?” she sighed. The boy looked shocked at her bluntness, and you shook your head. Boys fawned after Lily almost as girls did after Sirius, yet Lily’s suitors had much, much less luck. You understood, of course, Lily was gorgeous with flaming locks of hair and the brightest green eyes you’ve ever seen–but after a while, it started doing things to one’s self-esteem.
“Just wondered if you fancied a Hogsmeade trip?” the boy asked, leaning against the wall, trying to recover.
“The first one’s not for weeks,” she said, looking confused.
“I know, though I just might go ahead and ask. You know, before anyone else does,” the boy said, smirking down at her.
“Oh!” she said, looking shocked. “Like a date?”
The boy seemed to be losing confidence as Lily spoke, and you bit your lip to keep from giggling.
“Er, yeah. Like a date, if you want,” the Ravenclaw said, eyes falling to the floor.
“Oh, er. I’m sorry. No,” she said, smiling apologetically.
“Why not?” the boy asked, affronted.
“Because I said so, you git,” she responded, getting angry.
“You haven’t got a reason! Can’t just turn down a man without reason. Not like you have a boyfriend or anything,” he pouted, sounding more and more childish as he spoke.
“I do have a reason: I don’t want to. Besides, maybe I have got a boyfriend,” she said maliciously, her red hair shaking down her back as she angrily crossed her arms.
“Where the hell are you going with this?” you asked, confused. Lily ignored you.
“Oh yeah? Where is he then?” the boy asked, taking a step closer.
He was bold; you’d give him that. Super creepy, but bold.
“He doesn’t have to be with me all the time for me to say no to you,” she fired up. “No means no, you prick.”
Grabbing your hand, she made to walk away, but the boy caught her by the elbow.
“James!” Lily suddenly called out, putting a scared tone in her voice. It was purposeful, you knew. She loved to tease James, always giving enough lead to get him on it, but neverquiteenough.
Not even a second later, you saw James’ messy-topped head poke out of the compartment down the hall. At the sight of her and a male in such close quarters, he reached you in seconds. James’ eyes locked on the Raveclaw’s grip on her arm, and upon notice, the boy dropped her like she was poison.
“Oi!” he called, a dark look coming over his face. At the sound of his friend, Sirius’ curls came poking out a second later. A grin came over his face as he saw the determination in James’ step, and he followed, jogging to catch up. At the sight of James and Sirius approaching, the boy took a slight but noticeable step back.
“Oh, not so tough now, are we?” Lily snapped, walking to meet James. “He couldn’t take no for an answer. I told him I had a boyfriend, but…”
“Boyfriend?” James repeated, torn from his anger. The rolling waves that were just leaking from his essence turned to bright swirls, and you shook your head as you watched him look at her.
“Oh, shame on you, Lily. You know how he feels about you,” you pushed defensively; It was one thing to tease James, but the excitement rolling off of him was tangible. The cloud that would come when she shut him down once more would likely bring you down as well. That was one of the downsides of being psychic; others’ moods were genuinely infectious, for better or for worse.
“Oi, got a problem keeping your hands to yourself?” Sirius said, taking charge of the situation as his friend stared in shock at the redhead in front of him.
“Well, I didn’t think she was serious. Didn’t mean to hit on your girl, Potter.” the boy said, backing into the wall.
“Well, that’s not the point, is it?” James said, suddenly coming to his senses. Pulling Lily behind him protectively, you noticed how she gripped the top of his arm and rolled your eyes.
“Really laying it on thick, aren’t we?” you pushed, annoyed at her toying with James. She met your eyes with an identical glance, but she wasn’t the only irritated one here; you returned it.
“If she said no, she means no, you prick,” James said, advancing towards the boy.
Sirius took a step closer, smiling maliciously at the boy in front of him, and sensing danger, you too grabbed his arm like Lily had James’.
“Alright, come on, boys. I think he gets it,” you said, pulling Sirius back. You could feel the Quidditch games with James in his biceps.
“No, I think he could use a refresher,” Sirius said, taking another step forward but allowing your grip on his arm.
“Precisely what I was thinking, Padfoot,” James smiled at Sirius. Just before you physically stepped in between them, another voice sounded.
“Problem, boys?” Remus said, appearing behind you, stalling their advance.
“Yeah, Boot here never learned to keep his hands to himself,” Sirius said, backing from the boy considerably.
“Lily called, and I walked up to find him bodily restraining her,” James said, gesturing to the redhead behind him.
“Is that true?” Remus turned to the Ravenclaw.
“Bodily restraining?” the boy repeated, incredulous, “I just grabbed her arm!”
“So you were gripping her body, in a manner meant to restrain her?” Remus said, lowering his eyes. You found yourself staring; Remus’ anger was so seldom seen. The boy blushed with anger, but turned and left the group of you nonetheless.
“Come on, we’ve arrived,” Remus said, gesturing for the group of you to follow him and Peter.
Knowing a particularly interesting conversation was about to unfold, you let James and Lily go first, holding Sirius back,
“Hang on, trust me,” you pushed, smiling at him as he looked at you confusedly. He grinned back, and you swore your heart skipped a beat.
“What was that about?” James asked quietly. “You could’ve handled that. Hell, just last year, I watched you hex that 7th year Slytherin.”
“Dunno, though you might have liked to. Guess I was mistaken,” she shrugged, an airy tone in her voice.
“No!” James said hastily, “No, no. Of course, I’d like to–you just threaten to hex me as well every time I’ve tried.”
“Well, perhaps I was a bit hasty with you all these years,” she lilted ambiguously. Ahead, you saw Remus’ pace slow, and you knew he too was listening.
“What’s that mean?” James said, louder than he meant to. Excitement was beginning to leak out of him; you could feel it in the air around him; it was lighting color spots all over the compartment, like big, colored bubbles visible only to you.
Lily merely shrugged nonchalantly and smiled at him slightly.
“And don’t think I missed that part where you called me your boyfriend,” James continued on, determined to get her to reply.
“Yes, well, if you’re just going to continue telling people we’re together anyway, we might as well be, yeah?” Lily said, a small smile on her lips.
Practically dripping with emotion, James came to a complete stop. Being too wrapped up in the feelings exuding from James, you ran straight into him and nearly fell, Sirius catching you just in time as he was behind you.
“Oi, Prongs, the hell?” Sirius said, looking properly shocked, as though you hadn’tbeen listening in.
“Lily’s just called me her boyfriend,” James said, looking at Sirius with an expression of pure elation.
“Cheers, mate! That’s great, just when I was starting to think it’d never happen,” Sirius smiled, wrapping an arm around his friend.
“I’ve just agreed to date him after nearly 6 years of begging, and yet he embraces Sirius first,” Lily said, shaking her head at the boys before her.
“Sorry, Lils. I’mnumber one in James’ life,” Sirius said haughtily, releasing James but keeping a protective arm around his shoulders. James rolled his eyes, but grinned at Sirius.
“I can see that,” Lily laughed, rolling her eyes as well.
“Lovely as this is, mates, we’re stopping up the hall,” you said, turning around to glare at a Slytherin as she bumped into you.
Grabbing James’ hand, Lily pulled him away from Sirius, their robes billowing in their haste.
“You nosy girl,” Sirius teased, poking your side as you two made your way to the platform.
“Oi! Remus was listening too,” you defended, though you laughed.
As you neared the exit, the sound of pounding rain wafted through the doorway, the smell of warm, wet pavement following soon after.
“Why is it always bloody raining?” you grumbled, pulling the hood of your cloak over your Y/C/H hair.
“Fucks up my hair every year,” Sirius groaned, equally upset.
“Pads! Twitch! Come on!” James called, waving you all ahead.
The carriage carrying the four of them began moving, and you and Sirius held your breath, running into the rain, jogging to catch up. James held the door open for the two of you and grinned as Sirius grabbed his outstretched hand, pulling him into the carriage.
“Faster, Twitch!” Sirius yelled, a wide grin on his face as he held his hand out to you. Finally, your fingers wrapped around his hand and James grabbed your other, pulling you into the dry carriage.
“Gross,” you muttered, using your sleeve to dry your face.
“I thought you liked the rain?” Remus asked, looking teasing.
“I do,” you answered shortly. “Doesn’t mean I want to be out in it when it’s pouring bloody cats and owls.”
“Oh, I’m starving,” Peter whined, looking hopefully up at the castle, largely ignoring the conversation.
“How? You about bought out the trolley,” Sirius laughed, swaying slightly with the carriage. Peter turned to scowl at Sirius, who playfully grinned back.
“I bet Moony here is looking forward to dinner as well,” he then turned his attention towards Remus, nudging his knee.
“And why’s that?” Lily asked from her seat next to James.
“That pretty Ravenclaw he fancies always sits right behind him at meals,” Sirius smiled, jeering at a blood-red Remus.
“Oh, piss off,” he mumbled. Sirius let out a barking laugh and leaned forward.
“Oi, Moony, I’m just fucking with you, relax,” Sirius said. Your favorite goofy grin lit up his dark features, and you couldn’t look away. As you made your way up the hill to Hogwarts, the moonlight lit at his bone structure, highlighting his carved features. His dark hair was tucked behind his ear on the side closest to you, putting his cutting jawline on full display.
Suddenly, you felt a nudge against your foot and tore your eyes away from Sirius to find a smirking Lily. Blushing furiously as she’d caught you, you tilted your neck down and hid your face behind your hair.
“Finally,” Peter squeaked after a few minutes of idle chatter, hopping from his seat. The group of you followed, and you smiled up at the towering castle in front of you; you were home.
Pairings:Sirius Black x reader, Young Sirius Black x reader, Marauders x reader Warnings:language, fighting, very very slight hints of smutish behavior Word Count: 2,721 A/N: The next story I will be uploading a part for is ‘A Shit Tutor’, so all my fellow Draco stans, fear not, more is on the way. Anywayyyy hope you all enjoy this chapter, enter Lilyyyy!
Ch 3: Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff
Just then, a group of Hufflepuff girls came walking down the aisle, and after having made eye contact with a smirking Sirius, all started giggling and whispering intensely, shooting off random bright smiles as they passed. Peter smiled at one in the back hopefully as they slowed, and to your intense surprise, she smiled back timidly.
“Emmaline Nelson, Hufflepuff obviously, she’s in our year. I believe we have Transfiguration together this year if you fancy talking to her,” you pushed to Peter, who blushed something awful and stared at his feet.
“Aaaand, here we go,” James sighed playfully as Sirius beckoned one forward with his finger. She and her friends had evidently been pondering entering and stood in wait at the door. They all watched with jealous eyes as she approached him.
“Hello, love,” Sirius said, donning the silk voice he always did when talking to girls. A bitterness seemed to fill you entirely.
“Hi,” she giggled, going red in the face, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Something you needed?” Sirius asked, grinning cockily at her.
“Uh,” she stuttered, giggling more.
“I might be sick,” you rolled your eyes as you looked at James, who made a gesture of agreement.
“Not really. Just, I mean, if you ever like, want a study partner or something, or whatever,” she seemed to be losing her nerve as Sirius continued to rake his eyes over her. “You can just let me know, ya know if you want.”
Leaning back, feeling suddenly intensely annoyed and wanting to look anywhere but at the two of them, you got out Jinx and began stroking him as he perched on your knee.
“Pretty bird,” the girl breathed, smiling at Jinx. You pulled a face in response, but hers told you it came off ruder than you intended.
“To study?” Sirius smirked, looking at her accusingly.
“Yeah, or whatever,” the girl smiled, grasping the ends of her hair nervously. It was simply more than you could take.
“Happy as I am the two of you are going to, er, study, perhaps spare us from the rest, yeah?” you quipped as Sirius smirked and opened his mouth to silkily retort.
Everyone’s eyes fell upon you, and you curtained your hair over your face, returning to stroking Jinx.
What the hell was that? Girls flirted with Sirius all the time; there was never a moment you didn’t catch at least one set of eyes on him. Sirius was hot, cocky, sexy, arrogant–but with the talent to back it up. And top it all off with a gorgeous set of dark curls framing a shadowed, structured face with high cheekbones and dark eyes. It wasn’t hard to see why he encaptured the attention of so many.
Face burning, you realized you found him hot too. Incredibly so.
The girl then looked at you, affronted, but turned nonetheless and stormed from the compartment.
“The bloody hell was that, Twitch?” Sirius said in an offended tone, gesturing to the storming Huffelpuffs shooting you dirty looks.
“Nothing, I don’t know,” you said quickly, tearing your eyes from the group of them. All four boys were peering at you confusedly, and you stood up sharply, causing Jinx to fall from your lap. Hissing in pain, you looked down to see three claw marks on your knee as he was shocked by the abrupt change. He hooted sharply at you and went back into his cage, turning away from you. “I uh, have to go to the bathroom.”
Face and knee burning, you walked with your head down to the bathrooms, mind reeling the whole time.
Sirius was no stranger to being flirted with, regardless of present company–hell, last year, he’d taken to snogging several on the couches in the common room as the younger years trailed off to bed. You remembered feeling annoyed when he did so, but that was logical, right? Who the hell wanted to watch that? Especially week after week with girl after girl. Perhaps you were just being prudish; sure, all the experience you had involved Alekand Nole, a dare, and a broom closet, but surely it was abnormal to blow through girls like that? Or do those kinds of things in front of prying eyes, right?
Pushing open the bathroom door, you groaned internally as you saw the same girl whispering angrily with her friends. Their looks turned murderous as you walked in.
Great. Well, too late now.
Trying to be quick about things, you almost made it out without a scene, but just after washing your hands, you were stopped.
“Oi, what the hell is your problem, Y/N?” the girl asked, her blonde hair shaking as she rolled her neck angrily.
“Excuse me?” you said, turning around to face them, temper already flaring.
“You heard me. What do you care what I do with Sirius, not like he’s your boyfriend or anything.” her friend giggled ruthlessly as she sneered, “Tell me, how is it that you’re best friends with the bloody Marauders, the hottest guys in our year and you can’t get even oneof them to snog you?” she said, laughing haughtily as her friends howled. Your blood boiled as their biting laughter filled the little room. “Not even that trail along. What’s his name, Peter?”
At the jab of both you and your friend, you snapped.
“See,you, unlike me, are a whoring slag who can’t wait to be the latest notch in his belt. AndI, unlike you, have self-respect, love. It’s quite simple,” you all but growled, turning to walk out of the room. You heard the outraged noises and almost made it back to the compartment when you felt a harsh tug on your hair.
“The bloody hell?” you yelled, jerking backward as she pulled, pain rippling from your scalp.
“I am notawhoring slag, you bitch!” she screeched, lifting her arm up to strike you. Seizing your chance, you bent and rammed your shoulder into her stomach, knocking her wind out and sending her flying onto her back.
After years of having an older Muggle, boy cousin who tormented you for sport, you learned how to take care of yourself.
“Y/N?” you heard Sirius’ voice sound out suddenly. In the midst of it all, the girl had gotten an iron grip on your hair and was now using her legs to kick angrily at you from the floor as her hands held you in place by your hair.
“Let go of my hair, you cheating whore!” you screeched, trying futilely to pry her deadlocked fingers from your hair.
Footsteps sounded down the compartment hallway, followed by various annoyed noises as they were pushed against the sides, Sirius barrelling down the hall to reach your voice.
“What the hell?” he questioned. “Let her alone!!”
For a wild moment, you thought he was telling you to leave her alone, but a second later, you felt a pulling sensation around your midriff. Yelling out, you reminded him of her grip on your hair, and he yelled out an apology and dropped you, warning James as he came skidding to a halt seconds later.
“What in the bloody–” Remus cut off, seeing the girl kicking at you like a monkey from her back.
“Little help whenever would be great, boys!” you called, scratching at her arms and wrists to loosen her grip on your hair. “Only bitches pull hair!”
“Stupefy!” someone called, and suddenly you were airborne. As you flew back, you noticed several strands of your Y/C/H hair had come loose in the girl’s fists.
You hit the ground with a thud and gasped as you fought to force air back into your stunned lungs.
What happened next was utter chaos.
Spells went flying from behind you at all angles as each of the boys shot a different hex at the wand that’d sent you flying. Various crowd members who had poked out to figure out what all the noise was about began screaming and jetting off in different directions in the cramped hallway space, trying to dodge the bouncing hexes. Spells then started flying towards the boys in retaliation, and finally regaining your breath, you got to your feet and pulled your wand to help.
“What in the hell is going on here?” you heard the voice of Lily Evans enter the scene, and James immediately straightened and fluffed his hair before she came into view. Finally, she broke the crowd and turned, glowering at the group of you.
“Should’ve known you gits were involved, honestly Remus, you’re a Prefect!” she hissed, scolding the boys, who all began to interject.
“Y/N? What’s happened?” Lily asked, walking concernedly over to you as you sopped the flow of blood free-streaming from your nose. Seemed the twit managed to get one good hit in.
“Thatslag attacked me; evidently, somebody’s a little sensitive,” you sneered, lowering your eyes at the girl in front of you who was now sporting an ever-growing nose as small antlers were making their way out of her head. Looking down, you saw her hands twitching violently and smiled at the boys in front of you.
“Is that true?” Lily turned to the girl, who was bright red with embarrassment and fury.
“I wouldn’t have had to if the stupid bitchhadn’t poked her nose where it doesn’t belong!” she screeched, pointing her finger at you accusingly.
“Well, it looks like you’re about to do the same, Pinnochio,” you jeered, causing her to pounce once more, this time being dragged back by the male Hufflepuff Prefect.
“Alright everyone, show’s over! Back to your compartments before I hex the lot of you nosy sods!” Lily yelled at the onlookers, causing all to duck back into their compartments, shutting the doors tightly behind them.
“Excellent handling of the situation, might I say, Ms. Evans,” James simpered, already kissing Lily’s arse.
“Potter, you are downright shameless,” she said, lowering her bright green eyes at James as he grinned back boyishly, “And you, Remus, been shirking on responsibilities again, have we? I’ve just finished situating the first-years when I hear what sounds like a fightat the Gryffindor end of the train! Honestly, theleastyou could do is control yourlittle friends if you’re going to leave the rest to me, yeah?”
“Right. Sorry Lily, most rude of me…” Remus nodded solemnly, feeling as though he wholeheartedly deserved her reaming. Lily seemed to soften slightly under Remus’ guilt, and she breathed out, relaxing her shoulders and unclenching her fists.
“Well, I dunno about everyone else, but I’m starved,” you said, pulling your sleeve back to see the bleeding had finally ceased.
“Come here, Twitch,” Remus beckoned, pulling out his wand once more, “Tergio.”
You felt the funny sucking feeling of all the blood leaving your face, and you wiped a spot to find your fingers clean.
“Cheers, Moony!” you smiled as he blushed slightly and grinned back.
“I could’ve done that,” Sirius said, sounding oddly annoyed, “Come on then, here comes the trolley.”
Sure enough, you heard the comforting voice of the old woman with the Honeydukes trolley wafting down the hallway as she made her way down the train.
“Care to join us?” James asked Lily hopefully, gesturing forward with his arm. Not bearing to see your friend’s crestfallen face when she likely refused as always, you intervened.
“I’ll make sure he’s on his best behavior,” you pushed, looking at her meaningfully. “C’mon, Lils, he’s really not thatbad…”
And to your intense surprise, she caved.
“Alright,” she sighed, stepping into the cabin. You didn’t need to be part psychic to feel the excitement rolling off of James as she stepped by him, sinking into the seat next to his.
“Didn’t even know Hufflepuff’s fought,” Remus sighed, collapsing into his seat.
“Haven’t even made it off the train, and little Twitchy is already getting in duels,” Sirius jeered, knocking your knee with his hand. A rush of heat flooded you, and you blushed, hoping the others would take it as embarrassment about the fight.
“Well, if you’d stop entertaining rubbish like that, I wouldn’t have to,” you quipped, glaring at Sirius before offering him a small smile. Peter giggled at your comment and kept checking the window every few seconds, anxiously awaiting the trolley.
“Oh, believe me, I’ve learned my lesson,” Sirius said, looking at you rather intently. Before you could blush again or give yourself away some other way, Lily spoke.
“Oh, I see. So I tell you off about those girls of yours for years, and you can’t get it through that thick skull of yours, but Y/N gets in one little row…” Lily shook her head, leaning back before she could get her temper going again.
“Amazing, isn’t she?” James said quietly, his voice in awe as he gazed, mesmerized at Lily–who blushed pink at his comment.
“Oi, Prongs, mate. We can all hear you,” Sirius laughed, whispering playfully at his friend. Everyone’s laughter was interrupted at the arrival of snacks.
“Anything from the trolley, dears?” the old woman smiled sweetly at the group of you.
After spending most of her time there dolling out Peter’s numerous sweets, each of you had your treats, and she was off to the next compartment.
“Coconut ice and cauldron cakes?” Lily laughed as you happily sucked on a coconut cube. As you sheepishly looked around, you caught Sirius watching you, his eyes seeming darker than usual, somehow.
“What? They’re my favorite!” you defended, loving the way the sweet spread across your palette. After months of your grandmother’s unimaginative cooking, this was heaven–it had to be.
“Oooh, can I have a chocolate frog?” you asked, seeing Sirius’ stack on his lap.
“Help yourself, Twitch,” he shrugged, opening one of his own. “Alberic Grunnion?”
“Oh, you boys best stand up and salute!” Lily laughed as Sirius read out the name. The boys merely shared confused looks.
“The maker of the dungbomb!” you explained, to which they all erupted into a chorus of ‘oh’s’ playfully gave a salute to the card in Sirius’ hand.
As you leaned in to grab a chocolate frog, you caught a whiff of the new fragrance potion he must’ve been trying out. He smelled of pine, smoke, and something sweet you couldn’t quite name. As you were distracted, your hand brushed across the seam in his jeans, and the both of you met eyes, you blushing a furious shade of red.
“New potion?” you pushed after a second, unable to bear the awkward silence between the two of you. He nodded imperceptibly and smirked slightly.
“Very nice.” you complimented. He shot you a small smile, and James turned to Lily.
“Have a good Holiday, then?” he asked her, looking hopeful.
“‘Was alright, try as Petunia might to make it hell. I wish Muggle schools and Hogwarts had opposite schedules,” she sighed, drawing one of her long legs up onto the seat.
“My god, could you imagine? Virtually never even having to see Blakely anymore?” you said, painting a dramatic look of longing on your face.
Everyone laughed, Peter actually choking on the three cauldron cakes he’d stuffed into his mouth.
“Apapneo,” Lily said, pulling her wand. Peter coughed once and looked up at Lily.
“Thank you,” he wheezed, smiling as he dabbed at his now watery eyes, bits of chocolate spilling from his mouth.
“Uhm, Lily Evans? Y/N Y/L/N?” a small girl in blue-lined robes asked, looking wide-eyed at the boys around you.
“That’ll be Slughorn, then?” Lily said, rising from her seat.
The girl nodded and ducked off, running back to the Ravenclaw section of the train.
“What’s he want with you?” James asked bluntly, looking put-off that she was leaving.
“Charming, Potter. He happens to like me. And Y/N, evidently.” Lily said, smiling at you. “Let me just get my robes,”
Using her wand, she sent her robes flying from her trunk, and you dug yours out.
“Have fun, girls,” Sirius said as the two of you made to leave the compartment.
“See you there, boys,” Lily sang back.
“Save us a carriage seat,” you said, turning back to shoot a wink at Sirius. His face looked funny for a minute, but he recovered quickly and shot one back.
Pairings:Sirius Black x reader, Marauders x reader Warnings:none, slight language (but that’s for every chapter rlly) Word Count: 3,108
As if on cue, you heard a knock at the door just as your foot touched down onto the landing. The sound of quick, heeled footsteps sounded immediately after; Grandmother briskly coming down the hall followed by the slower steps of Blakely as he surely wanted to gaze curiously at your friends.
“Prongs!” you breathed upon seeing James, smiling fondly at the messy mop of black hair atop your friend’s head.
“Twitchy!” he smiled back, opening his arms in greeting. You wasted no time in falling into them, smiling into his chest as his hug signaled the true return to Hogwarts.
“Mrs. Killianis,” James said, suddenly formal as he looked to your severe grandmother behind you. Following his gaze, you saw her eyes narrowing as Sirius and Remus all but fell out of the car, Peter’s wheezing laughter following them out.
You smiled fondly after them as Remus brushed the dirt from his knees, frowning up at Sirius. Sirius grinned back and ran a hair through his raven black hair, brushing it from his eyes.
“Hello, Mrs. Killianis,” Sirius said, his voice taking on a tone you’d never heard before. You and James glanced warily at each other.
“Hello, boys,” she said stiffly, her eyes now staring rudely at the scars littering Remus’ exposed skin.
Remus cleared his throat, clearly catching your grandmother’s eyes. “Shall we get your trunk then?” he said, clapping his hands together as he smiled at you.
You offered him a sympathetic smile and pushed an apology into his head at your grandmother’s rudeness.
“That’d be great, Moony, thanks.” you nodded. Peter followed him up into your room dutifully. After a moment or two, you heard what sounded like a reprimanding noise followed by a sharp smack and idly wondered what was going on.
“I suppose you’ll be staying at the school for the Holidays again, yes? Blakely and I were planning a trip,” Grandmother said suddenly–it didn’t take a genius to figure out you weren’t invited.
“Definitely,” you answered briskly. The choice between a Hogwarts Christmas with the boys and a visit to Grandmother’s sister’s house in the States with Blakely was a no-brainer.
“Lovely thing Hogwarts does, providing a home for the holidays,” James grinned, putting an emphasis on ‘home.’ Grandmother lowered her eyes, but Remus and Peter were already coming down the stairs, hauling your heavy trunk between them.
“Bloody hell, Twitch,” Remus huffed, blowing his thin brown hair out of his eyes, “What’d you pack?”
“Mind your tongue, boy,” Grandmother snipped as the two of them passed through the front door. “You won’t behave like the heathensthat you are in my presence.”
“Er,right,” Sirius scoffed, rolling his eyes and laughing under his breath. “C’mon, Twitch, don’t want to be late.”
Eager to leave the situation, you quickly followed the boys out and made your way into the baking heat. Just as they made to load your trunk, you clucked your tongue as Peter fumbled his end and dropped it roughly into the undoubtedly magically enhanced trunk.
“Sorry,” Peter winced, rubbing his hands together in an anxious sort of way.
“S’Alright Wormtail. Now, shall we get a move on, then?” James said, using his wand to swing open the car door for you. You heard your grandmother let out a small gasp, and Blakely took a step back. As most parents took the time to drop their children off at Platform 9 ¾, the journey there was generally a sort of grace period if you wanted to use magic; the Ministry wouldn’t take the time to differentiate each use of magic on this day between parents and students. Per wizarding law, they’d never seen magic as you didn’t use it during your time here–aside from your special gift.
“Please,” you said, turning to leave without glancing back.
“You aren’t going to say goodbye?” you heard Remus ask. You turned to answer him before you slipped into the car, but he wasn’t talking to you.
“Excuse me?” Grandmother said, clearly affronted he was saying anything more than ‘hi’ and ‘bye.’
“Honestly, Moony, just let it alone,” Sirius moaned as he made his way back out of the car to gather him.
“You aren’t going to see your granddaughter for 9 months, surely you’re going to at least say goodbye?” Remus pressed on, equally affronted. Sirius took a step closer to his friend, and you saw your grandmother’s eyes fall upon the several tattoos that already littered his arms; Sirius lived to upset his family, and tattoos were such a Muggle form of rebellion it only bolstered his point.
Her eyes then fell to the both of their wands, which were gripped tightly in their hands, and let out a breath she’d been holding. Lowering her eyes but acquiescing nonetheless, she sighed.
“Goodbye, then,” she said stiffly, nudging Blakely, who was locking eyes with a mischievous looking Sirius. Glancing behind Blakely’s head, you saw a dish hovering dangerously above his head and looked to see Sirius’ wand pointed right at it. Rolling your eyes, you pushed the dish back with your own and threw a knowing grin at Sirius.
“Naughty, naughty boy,” you said silently. He grinned back boyishly at you and threw you a wink.
“See you next summer,” Blakely allowed, lowering his eyes at you and grinning in an awful sort of way. You could’ve sworn you heard a growl on your right and found Remus glaring at Blakely, who swallowed harshly and disappeared back into the house. At that, you slipped into the front seat next to James, the rest of the boys piling into the backseat, Remus scolding Sirius for shoving Peter out of the way to get in first. Fondly, you smiled and listened to them bicker.
“Merlin, glad that’s over.” Remus shook his head as James smoothly pulled away from the house. “Don’t know how you do it all summer.”
“Aw, what’s the matter, Moony? Not a big fan of familial tension, are we? I think it’s rather quite nice; reminds me of home,” Sirius said with a fake voice of longing. James looked through the rearview mirror and rolled his eyes at Sirius.
“Muggles giving you hell again?” Peter squeaked from the backseat, grabbing the head of your seat and leaning up towards you.
He’d always been a mousy boy, but after his first successful transformation, his commonalities with his Animagi only became more pronounced.
“When do they not, Wormtail?” you laughed, throwing a gum wrapper at him playfully as you popped a piece into your mouth.
“Ooh, is that gum?” Sirius asked, peering over your shoulder from the backseat.
“Yes, but it’s Muggle-gum.” you reminded him.
“Bit boring, but it’ll do. Jamesy won’t let me smoke in the car,” Sirius sneered, looking amusedly at an annoyed-looking James in the mirror.
“It smells! Isn’t my fault Dad has the nose of a bloody hound,” he defended, looking disgruntled at the thought of being a do-gooder.
“Good ol’ Fleamont, what a chap,” Sirius laughed, spreading out on the backseat and draping his arm along the seats. He reached and affectionately gave Remus’ hair a tussle, jostling Peter in the process, who grinned.
“So, now that we’ve all been reminded how horrible my lovely grandmother is, how was everybody else’s Holiday?” you asked as James drove the car expertly around the busy London streets–Muggle driving was a skill he was particularly proud of.
“Oh, you know, wonderful as always. Mother only threatened to have me disenfranchised and disgraced twice this year, so that’s a mark better than last Holiday.” Sirius laughed, blowing bubbles with his gum but frowning in disappointment when they popped.
“Didn’t you go to Prongs’ early this year?” you asked, remembering James’ letter that Sirius had arrived a few weeks into break.
“Yeah, don’t know why the evil hag insists on having me around anyway. All she does is dote on Regulus and send the nearest object flying at my head. Don’t even get me started on Kreacher…I don’t think I’ll go back next year.” a dark look came over his features, and you found yourself staring at him.
“What?” you asked, shocked at the nonchalant tone of his serious words.
“Yeah, I didn’t so much go to Prongs’ early this year as I did run away,” he said, looking slightly sheepish as you looked accusingly at him.
“What? What happened? Why didn’t you tell me?” you gasped, turning in the front seat entirely to glare at him.
“Dunno, I mean, I’m telling you now, aren’t I?” he shrugged.
“Well, go on then, tell me more,” you insisted.
“Just more of the same Twitch. You don’t understand,” he paused, and his usual carefree, light demeanor vanished and was taken over by a dark cloud that seemed to fill the car. “That house, it’s like a black hole. It swallows you whole. It’s like a bloody residential dementor. Every decent thought you have gets sucked into the black wallpaper, every horrible thought you’ve ever had on repeat, magnified. I can’tbreathe in that house; they’re all so cozy, so comfortable in that dark, that evil. The Noble House of Black, it’s killing me slowly, draining the life out of me.”
He seemed aware of how much he was saying, how serious he’d gotten, because, at the end of the little speech, he let out a deep breath and forced a laugh, rubbing the back of his neck subconsciously.
“Nothing like Prongs’ here, for example,” he grinned up at his friend, who shot him one from the mirror.
“I mean, you basically already lived there,” James shrugged. “Besides, Mum was thrilled–you know, I think she likes you better than me sometimes.”
“Oh, she definitely does, mate. Euphemia and me? Kinda besties,” Sirius grinned, and the dark cloud dispersed. You found yourself staring at Sirius, chest full of emotion. The quickness with which he dismissed himself was almost worse.
“And, Moony? How was yours?” James asked, filling the silence.
“Decent, I suppose. Though I’ve almost worked my way through every decent book worth reading at the library closest to home, all the rest are the silly little Muggle books in that dingy section they have in the back…though I started reading this one called the ‘Bible’; Merlin does it tell some truly fantastic tales…whales eating people, turning water to wine, healing the blind–this Jesus bloke even rose from the dead! I reckon he was some type of early wizard or something, don’t know how the Muggles don’t…” he trailed off while the rest of you shared knowing glances. Moony was prone to monologues full of on-the-spot thinking, constantly prattling on about something he’d read in some book.
“You’re doing it again,” you shot a meaningful look at Remus, who blushed scarlet at your mental words and trailed off.
“Hey, no fair!“ Sirius whined from the back seat at you. "I wanted to see where he was going with that. There definitely could’ve been something in there well worth making fun of!”
“Opportunity missed, Padfoot.” James hissed in sympathy at his friend, smiling at him in the rearview mirror.
“You all leave Moony alone. Just because he gets abnormally excited about really obscure Muggle things doesn’t mean we get to make fun of him for it,” you shot a smile at Remus in the back seat, who rolled his eyes but nonetheless smiled around sheepishly.
“How was your summer, James?” Peter asked from the backseat, leaning up hopefully.
“Alright, my parents set up a little Quidditch pitch in the back; Sirius got his arse handed to him a couple times,” James smirked, throwing a playful grin at his best friend in the backseat.
Wormtail laughed gleefully at James’ story as he described a match while Sirius sat up indignantly, poised to argue.
“I’m a Keeper, Potter. Not a sodding Seeker. Not too quick to tell everyone how miserable you were at trying to get the Quaffle in, though, are you?” Sirius quipped from the backseat.
“Down, boy. We all know how great of a Keeper you are, wouldn’t have won that last match against Ravenclaw without you..” you pushed into Sirius’ head, stroking his bruised ego. He met your eyes in the rearview and smirked up at you, clearly appeased by your comment. Lounging lazily once more in the roomy backseat, he turned to Peter.
“What about you, Wormtail? Your Holiday good?” Sirius said, cocking his head at his friend with a mischievous glint in his eye.
“S’alright..” he trailed off, looking around nervously as Sirius grinned at him.
“Really? Didn’t miss having Prongs’ arse to kiss?” he sneered at his friend, who blushed and stuttered.
“Let him alone, Pads,” Remus smiled at his friend from across the seats.
Just as the boys began to bicker more harshly, James pulled into the parking lot at Kings Cross, and the group of you piled out of the car.
“Wormtail, go find us a trolley,” Sirius said, and with a wave of his hand, Peter was gone.
“Obedient little bugger, isn’t he?” Remus said praisingly, rubbing his chin.
“Why d’you think he’s made it this long?” Sirius laughed, lifting his trunk out of the car as Peter came wheezing around with the trolley.
“I’ve got it, Y/N,” Peter said, exerting tremendous effort to lift your trunk until Remus saw him and reached in to help.
“Thanks, Peter…always so helpful.” you pushed to him in thanks. You saw him blush violently and smile to himself.
Your gift had taught you many things, but perhaps above all: people were so easily manipulated, one well-timed compliment, and it could send a person fawning. Though you weren’t shy to use it to your advantage, it was lucky a person of your moral stature had the gift. It could be so easily used…perhaps it was thoughts like these that led to the Sorting Hat’s consideration of your placement in Slytherin.
Half an hour later, your trunks were placed in the train’s storage carriages, and the group of you were lounging in a compartment, your various pets making random noises as they settled in for the long train ride.
Jinx hooted sleepily in his cage before lifting his wing and drifting off to sleep. Sirius’ handsome jet-black Screech Owl, BamBam, seemed to take a cue from Jinx and buried his head into his wing as well. They almost resembled salt and pepper shakers as they stood next to one another in direct contrast. To most everyone’s intense surprise, Remus’ pet was a fluffy siamese cat named Cleo. Unsurprising, however, was Peter’s choice of a pet rat named Nibbles. Though, Nibbles was on his last leg–most common rats only lived a couple of years, and Nibbles had been with Peter since first year.
“What’re you doing?” Peter asked, sitting up interestedly in his seat as Sirius drew out his wand and flung open the compartment door.
“Having some fun,” Sirius shrugged, the grin you all loved so much donning his face. James watched his friend and broke into a smile; Peter seemed to be struggling to sit still with excitement; even Remus peered over the top of his book to watch.
Fully aware he was holding all of your attention, Sirius pointed his wand at the wall opposite your door.
“Carpe Retractum,” Sirius said, and a length of rope came spouting out at the end of his wand. “Bollocks…what’s that one to get something to stick to something else?” he asked into the compartment after a moment.
“Epoximise,” Remus answered from behind his book once more, seemingly having seen everything he needed to.
“Right, cheers, Moony,” Sirius smiled and did the incantation, sticking the other end of the rope to the wall. Pulling on his wand, he seemed to test his theory and smiled in success as the rope pulled taught–effectively making a tripwire.
“Very nice,” you complimented, to which you received a playful little bow of his head.“Might I suggest something, though?”
“By all means, Twitch,” Sirius said, gesturing to the tripwire.
“Omnino dissimulare,” you spoke, pointing your wand at the length of rope. As the white beam of light hit it, the rope disappeared from view, and you smiled triumphantly. You’d been working hard on that one towards the end of last term and were worried you’d have to start over with the holiday break.
“Excellent!” Peter cheered, clapping wildly at the two of you.
“Where’d you learn that?” Remus said, finally putting his book down and looking at you curiously.
“Been working on it for a bit. Found it in a book Madam Pince let me take home last Christmas,” you answered, feeling a bit smug that you’d impressed Remus.
“Pince let you take home books?” Remus said, incredulous.
“You know she pities me,” you laughed, waving a hand. “Though, she did threaten to turn me inside out if there was so much a creased page–so only marginally.”
“Wait, wait!” Sirius called, pointing to the door excitedly; Peter was positively quivering.
A group of already-robed Slytherins came strolling past your window, and you smiled in anticipation. At the last second, Sirius jerked his wrist and tightened the rope, sending the group of Slytherins sprawling across the floor.
The group of you exploded into laughter, and they all got to their feet, whipping their wands out, looking for a culprit. Given the rope was invisible, however, they found no such thing and resigned to giving the group of you ugly looks before grumping off.
“Oh, very good, Padfoot,” Peter simpered, laughing heartily as tears of joy rolled down his plump cheeks.
“A little juvenile,” Remus scolded, smiling ruefully at his friends, “But funny. However, as a Prefect, I am not to indulge in such behavior and as such must sincerely reprimand you.”
“Most eloquently spoken, dear Moony. Tell me, does being a Prefect mean you have to be just a bit of a prat on principle?” James asked his friend, painting a serious look on his face as Sirius and Peter erupted into laughter. You let out a small giggle as Remus blushed slightly and put down his book.
“Well, you should sure as hell hope not,” Remus began, smiling mischievously at his friend. “Imagine fawning after Lily Evans for years, at her often utter disgust, only for her to end up being a prat. Talk about unfortunate, mate.”
The group of you were in stitches over Remus’ response, and even James let out a laugh.
“Touche, Moony. Touche,” he laughed, shaking his finger at Remus in a playful manner. A warm feeling spread through you; you were so happy to finally be going home.
Summary: Good or bad, sometimes all you need is closure.
A/N: Again, it’s been ages since I’ve posted anything but I had this one sitting in my drafts so I thought I’d go back through, fix it up a little and post it. Originally it was 5k + so I’ve broken it in half. I’ll post the other half once I’ve finished going through it. I really hope you like this one ! x
It blankets the city in a thick sheet of rain, thunder rumbling in the distance as the lightning flickers through the dark clouds. It was wild and chaotic, the worst storm that London had had in months; the big, fat drops of water enough to send everyone scurrying under cover. The drizzly evening matched your mood perfectly as you sat in your car, goose bumps prickling along your skin from your damp clothes, the windshield fogging up even more with each frigid breath.
You close your eyes and sigh, clenching and unclenching your fists around the steering wheel as you war with yourself. You’d made the decision with a clear head this morning, convincing yourself it was what you wanted to do, but now you weren’t so sure, a rolling train of insecurities flooding through your mind. Opening your eyes you glance over at the box sitting on your passenger seat, a thousand memories you didn’t want to think about mixed in with the knick knacks. That damn box had been mocking you for the last five days and you’d finally had enough. After all, you were the one that had the ridiculous notion in your head that doing this was going to bring you some kind of closure; that seeing him again, when neither of you were angry and out for blood might take away some of the hurt.
Sucking your bottom lip between your teeth you look through the window, to the townhouse your parked in front of, the large front windows lit up from inside. You loved those windows, the way the sun would pour in first thing in the morning, warming your favourite spot on the couch. It didn’t seem fair, that the house you used to call home still had so much life to it while you were barely making it through each day, drifting further and further from the person you used to be. Your car keys jingle in your hand and once again you’re fighting yourself over what to do. You don’t even know if he’s home, you could just drop the box off at the door and leave, make a clean getaway and go back to pretending your moving on with your life but…
No. Despite everything you need to see him.
Dragging the box up onto your lap you give yourself no time to overthink before heading out into the rain, shivering as cold water runs down your back. You hurry up the driveway but by the time you make it to the front step your still saturated, the reasonably neat bun you’d worn your hair in now a soggy, limp mess at the back of your head. The flood light comes on above you and you freeze, eyes wide as the lock on the door clicks. You start wondering how quickly you can run back to your car before he realises who it is but before you can make any kind of choice the door swings open.
Summary: Good or bad, sometimes all you need is closure.
A/N: Again, it’s been ages since I’ve posted anything but I had this one sitting in my drafts so I thought I’d go back through, fix it up a little and post it. Originally it was 5k + so I’ve broken it in half. I’ll post the other half once I’ve finished going through it. I really hope you like this one ! x
It blankets the city in a thick sheet of rain, thunder rumbling in the distance as the lightning flickers through the dark clouds. It was wild and chaotic, the worst storm that London had had in months; the big, fat drops of water enough to send everyone scurrying under cover. The drizzly evening matched your mood perfectly as you sat in your car, goose bumps prickling along your skin from your damp clothes, the windshield fogging up even more with each frigid breath.
You close your eyes and sigh, clenching and unclenching your fists around the steering wheel as you war with yourself. You’d made the decision with a clear head this morning, convincing yourself it was what you wanted to do, but now you weren’t so sure, a rolling train of insecurities flooding through your mind. Opening your eyes you glance over at the box sitting on your passenger seat, a thousand memories you didn’t want to think about mixed in with the knick knacks. That damn box had been mocking you for the last five days and you’d finally had enough. After all, you were the one that had the ridiculous notion in your head that doing this was going to bring you some kind of closure; that seeing him again, when neither of you were angry and out for blood might take away some of the hurt.
Sucking your bottom lip between your teeth you look through the window, to the townhouse your parked in front of, the large front windows lit up from inside. You loved those windows, the way the sun would pour in first thing in the morning, warming your favourite spot on the couch. It didn’t seem fair, that the house you used to call home still had so much life to it while you were barely making it through each day, drifting further and further from the person you used to be. Your car keys jingle in your hand and once again you’re fighting yourself over what to do. You don’t even know if he’s home, you could just drop the box off at the door and leave, make a clean getaway and go back to pretending your moving on with your life but…
No. Despite everything you need to see him.
Dragging the box up onto your lap you give yourself no time to overthink before heading out into the rain, shivering as cold water runs down your back. You hurry up the driveway but by the time you make it to the front step your still saturated, the reasonably neat bun you’d worn your hair in now a soggy, limp mess at the back of your head. The flood light comes on above you and you freeze, eyes wide as the lock on the door clicks. You start wondering how quickly you can run back to your car before he realises who it is but before you can make any kind of choice the door swings open.
Summary: Good or bad, sometimes all you need is closure.
A/N: Again, it’s been ages since I’ve posted anything but I had this one sitting in my drafts so I thought I’d go back through, fix it up a little and post it. Originally it was 5k + so I’ve broken it in half. I’ll post the other half once I’ve finished going through it. I really hope you like this one ! x
It blankets the city in a thick sheet of rain, thunder rumbling in the distance as the lightning flickers through the dark clouds. It was wild and chaotic, the worst storm that London had had in months; the big, fat drops of water enough to send everyone scurrying under cover. The drizzly evening matched your mood perfectly as you sat in your car, goose bumps prickling along your skin from your damp clothes, the windshield fogging up even more with each frigid breath.
You close your eyes and sigh, clenching and unclenching your fists around the steering wheel as you war with yourself. You’d made the decision with a clear head this morning, convincing yourself it was what you wanted to do, but now you weren’t so sure, a rolling train of insecurities flooding through your mind. Opening your eyes you glance over at the box sitting on your passenger seat, a thousand memories you didn’t want to think about mixed in with the knick knacks. That damn box had been mocking you for the last five days and you’d finally had enough. After all, you were the one that had the ridiculous notion in your head that doing this was going to bring you some kind of closure; that seeing him again, when neither of you were angry and out for blood might take away some of the hurt.
Sucking your bottom lip between your teeth you look through the window, to the townhouse your parked in front of, the large front windows lit up from inside. You loved those windows, the way the sun would pour in first thing in the morning, warming your favourite spot on the couch. It didn’t seem fair, that the house you used to call home still had so much life to it while you were barely making it through each day, drifting further and further from the person you used to be. Your car keys jingle in your hand and once again you’re fighting yourself over what to do. You don’t even know if he’s home, you could just drop the box off at the door and leave, make a clean getaway and go back to pretending your moving on with your life but…
No. Despite everything you need to see him.
Dragging the box up onto your lap you give yourself no time to overthink before heading out into the rain, shivering as cold water runs down your back. You hurry up the driveway but by the time you make it to the front step your still saturated, the reasonably neat bun you’d worn your hair in now a soggy, limp mess at the back of your head. The flood light comes on above you and you freeze, eyes wide as the lock on the door clicks. You start wondering how quickly you can run back to your car before he realises who it is but before you can make any kind of choice the door swings open.
Your throat constricts, your heart beating so fast inside your chest you’re worried it might just give out. Sirius stands there in the doorway, bathed in the soft glow from the house, wearing a thin t-shirt and a pair of grey sweats. His curls are deliciously messy, haphazardly pulled back in a loose bun and there’s more scruff on his face then you were used to seeing. You force yourself to swallow around the hard lump in the back of your throat.
His brow dips as he looks at you dripping on his welcome mat, clearly as surprised to see you as you were over being caught. You shuffle awkwardly on the spot, feeling your cheeks get warm. “Hi…” You thrust the box towards him with the lame greeting. “I found some of your stuff mixed in with mine and I just thought I’d…drop them off.” “In the middle of a thunderstorm?”
His voice is like a hard slap to the face, at the same time making you miss him more while also dredging up all the heartbreak you’d tried squashing down. Your relationship had crumbled to pieces in front of your eyes eight weeks ago and by the abysmal end you weren’t on speaking terms. You’d packed up your things and walked out without so much as a backwards glance.
“Yeah… I was - I was on my way… home.” You choke out the last word. You didn’t think of the apartment you moved into home and you don’t think you ever will. This was your home, the place you’d shared with Sirius for the last five years, the place you missed with your whole heart.
Sirius blows out a long sigh and shoves his hand through his hair, tangling it up even more. He chews the corner of his lip, eyes darting between the box in your hands and your dishevelled appearance. An awkward, miserable silence settles between the two of you as you lightly bounce on the balls of your feet. “I guess it’s kind of cold out here,” His tone isn’t angry but it’s not all that welcoming either. “You can come in while the rain eases.”
Yes.Yes… that’s all you want. To go inside and forget all about the last two months, and the three before that were you and Sirius were constantly at each other’s throats. You want it to all go back to how it was before, when you knew that he was who you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. When your friends didn’t have to feel guilty over spending time with one of you and not the other. You just wanted it to go back to when Sirius loved you more than anything else… You knew it wouldn’t though. There was no going back.
You shake your head as you take a step back, willing the few tears in the corner of your eyes to stay there. You place the box down, suddenly remembering why you were there in the first place. “I - I gotta go.”
No more than five feet down the driveway you feel Sirius’ hand grab your arm, stopping you from leaving. His grip isn’t tight, you could pull away if you wanted to, but his touch feels like a live wire on your skin and you can’t move. Another crack of thunder - this one closer - sounds above your head, the rain cascading down over your body as you look up at your ex, his shirt now glued to his body, accentuating the planes of muscle under the fabric. “You can’t drive in this weather,” He reasons. “Come inside.”
Against your better judgement you let him lead you into the house, immediately missing the warmth of his touch as he lets you go to close and lock the door. You wrap your arms around yourself, only now realising how much you’re actually shivering. Sirius seems to notice as well because he frowns, his hand twitching by his side as though he’s trying to decide if he should reach out to you again. He looks conflicted, like he’s tossing up over whether he should care or not that you’re cold.
“I can get you some dry clothes,” He says, motioning towards the hallway. “Why don’t you have a shower and warm yourself up, I think there’s still some of your stuff in the cupboard. I … I didn’t go through it.” “It’s fine,” You force out, your voice no higher than a whisper. “I don’t want to impose and I really should be going anyway.” “I told you, you can’t drive in weather like this. A shower won’t hurt right? You’ll feel better.” It might hurt, you think. But truthfully a shower did sound pretty good right about now.
Once you agree you follow Sirius down the hall, stopping a couple of doors before he does. You flip on the light in the bathroom, breathing in deeply as you smell his body wash lingering on the air. Everything looks exactly the same - minus your makeup littering the vanity and it makes you kind of sad. Sirius taps his knuckles on the door jam, making you jump as you turn to face him. He holds out some clothes, looking at everything except you as you take them gratefully. There’s a bitter sting in your chest as you notice they’re his clothes. You suppose there’s nothing of yours still here but it still makes your throat feel dry as you hold them against your chest. “Thanks,” You mumble. “Take all the time you want, don’t feel like you have to rush or anything.”
He walks away and you shut the door, leaning back against it heavily as you bring the clothes up to your nose, inhaling the scent on them, catching the barely there whiff of your perfume. It was the t-shirt you always used to wear to bed. Faded, old and full of more holes then a golf course, but you loved it and not all that long ago Sirius loved seeing you in it. Leaving them on the vanity you turn on the tap, letting it warm all the way up before stripping out of your clothes. You step under the stream of water, cold feet burning as the water hits them. It’s the right kind of pain though. There wasn’t much better than a shower when you were cold.
For a few minutes you just stand there, the heat relaxing some of the tension in your muscles. You think about everything that had happened tonight, confused why Sirius was acting the way he was. There was a part of you that had assumed he’d slam the door in your face, spit something hurtful and tell you that he never wanted to see you ever again. Best case scenario you thought he wouldn’t open the door at all, just leaving you standing outside looking like the fool. The fact that he was being kind of… nice made you feel guilty for thinking those things about him. Just because you weren’t dating anymore didn’t mean that he was going to stop caring. Of all the things that Sirius was, he was never cruel. Tonight more than proved that.
Rinsing the body wash off you stepped out of the shower, digging your toes into the fluffy mat as you grabbed your towel, the steam still swirling around the small room. You take your time drying off, nervous about heading back there and facing him. You don’t know how to talk to him anymore, even though at one point he’d been one of your best friends - long before he was your boyfriend. You’re just slipping his old t-shirt over your head when the light cuts out, bathing you in sudden darkness. You reach blindly for where you think the switch is, flipping it a couple of times when you find it, groaning when it does nothing to help. It takes a couple of goes but you finally find the door handle, fully expecting that the bathroom globe had just blown and the rest of the house would still be lit up. The whole house is in darkness though, the hairs standing up on the back of your neck as you head towards the living room, an eerie kind of silence filling the house. It’s too quiet without the background noise of the tv or fridge, the only sound coming from the storm outside. “Sirius?” You call out hesitantly, the lightning flashing in the windows casting long shadows along the walls.
You feel something graze across your shoulder and you turn quickly, the scream dying in your throat as you see Sirius standing behind you, his face lit up by the torch on his phone. “The whole streets out,” He says flatly. “Does your phone have much battery?” “Uh…” You head back into the bathroom, the light from Sirius’ phone making it easier to see where you left yours on the vanity. You frown when you check the battery levels. “It’s only got about thirty three percent, won’t last long.”
Sirius groans, scrubbing a hand over his face as he looks off towards the living room, a frown on his face, his expression guarded, unreadable. “You don’t remember if we had a torch do you?” “I don’t think so,” You answer, wrapping your arms tight around yourself. “I think there’s some candles in the lounge though… or there was.”
Without a word he shuffles past you and walks down the hall. You follow behind him, watching as he grabs some candles from the cupboard on the tv cabinet. It feels a lot like he just packed you away, hid all the things that reminded him of you. He grabs the matches from the same cupboard, striking one and lighting the candles he’d scattered across the coffee table. Soon the room is illuminated with a soft light. It feels warmer somehow, like it’s taken the chill off the room. Sirius sits on the couch and suddenly that awkward silence is back.
Biting your lip you move across and sit down, keeping as far from him as possible, holding your hands tightly in your lap. You hate how it is between the both of you, how this breakup had rocked the two of you down to your core. While you were simply trying to make it through each new day, Sirius had put walls up around himself and was clearly in no hurry to let you know how he was really feeling. You bite the edge of your lip and wring your hands together. “Crazy storm hey?” You aim for light hearted customer service voice but it comes out forced and a little flat.
Sirius scoffs. “You want to talk about the weather? Really?” “Well it doesn’t seem like you want to have any other kind of conversation… actually it seems like you prefer not talking at all, so let’s just sit here in awkward silence.” “There’s nothing to say.” “You and I both know that’s not true. I just want you to talk to me Sirius, hell yell at me if it’s going to make you feel better; get everything off your chest. Just say something.” “Why now y/n? Why do you suddenly want to air all our dirty laundry? It’s not like you were this desperate to talk about it before.” “That’s not fair,” You reply, digging your fingernails into the palm of your hands. “I tried talking to you, for months before we ended things Sirius. You’re the one that never wanted to deal with it.”
Sirius stands abruptly, stalking to the other side of the room before whirling back to face you, that unreadable expression - the one he’d been wearing since he opened the door - finally breaking. You can’t see him properly from all the shadows in the room but you can see enough to notice the hurt in his eyes. He opens his mouth a couple of times, trying to find the right way to say what he wants to. When he can’t, he storms from the room. You watch him go with a frustrated sigh.
It was all coming to the surface, everything before and after the breakup, all of the feelings the two of you had buried, squashed down and tried to pretend didn’t still exist. The flood gates were open and good or bad the two of you needed closure.
summary: when a slytherin classmate asks you out, you gladly accept. but why is sirius so upset about it?
warnings: angst + fluff
word count: 3.0k
note: not sure if the title makes sense but i was listening to i wanna be yours by arctic monkeys while writing this soo…. enjoyy
“who were you just talking to? seemed awfully friendly.”
a smile pulled at your lips as you approached your friends, grinning at lily’s question. “vincent richmond. he’s in our year.” you replied.
“who!?”
and that would be sirius black, who nearly spat out his juice at your mention of the boy’s name. “vincent richm-” you go to repeat but sirius interjects again. “no, i heard you. what i meant to say was.. why?”
you ignored sirius and turned back to lily, “as i was saying, he asked me to go to hogsmeade with him this weekend.” you tell her excitedly.
“he what!?”
“sirius please, i’m trying to have a conversation with lily.”
sirius shook his head, moving closer to you. “so what did he say when you rejected him?” he asked as he raised his eyebrows. you rolled your eyes as you let out a sigh. “i didn’t reject him.” his eyes grow wide, “you didn’t?” he almost whispers as if saying it too loud might get him in trouble.
“i didn’t.”
“why not?” his voice is much louder now. you look at him with disbelief and confusion. “why not? uhh i don’t know. maybe because he’s nice-”
“nice? he’s a slytherin! lily, tell her she can’t go on this date.” he looks over to your friend. she shrugs, “she can make her own decisions, sirius. in fact, i encourage it.”
sirius’ mouth opens in shock. “encourage it? why?”
“well, she’s been hung up on-” she’s cut off by a nudge. her eyes widen as she realized what she’s almost revealed. meeting your glare, she offers you an apologetic smile.
“i mean, you know, it’s just a date. let her have fun.” she awkwardly stumbles through her sentence, shamefully looking down to her food once she’s finished.
“homework!” you suddenly call out. “i forgot my potions essay in the dorm, i’ll go fetch it.” it wasn’t a lie, you really did forget, but thankfully it gave you the opportunity to leave the conversation and get away from sirius.
you couldn’t believe him. why was he so against you and vincent? it annoyed you to no end, or rather it confused you. but that seemed to be your friendship with him, confusing. sirius black was in possession of something very dangerous, charm. and unfortunately, you fell victim to it.
everyone knew he was a natural flirt. all he had to do was flash a cheeky smile and girls fell at his feet. and oh, how you tried not to fall for it, tried to resist. but the heart is a fickle thing, is it not?
but the risk of your friendship was too big. during your time at hogwarts, sirius had become a very good friend of yours. he was spontaneous, fun, but most of all loyal. you treasured the relationship you had with him, and not wanting to jeopardize it, you decide to keep your growing feelings for the boy to yourself. who even knows if he felt the same?
it was hard at first. so much so, that lily took notice how your gaze lingered on him, how you laughed a little louder at his jokes. once she confronted you, you knew you couldn’t keep it from her. however, telling her of your feelings had proved to be helpful. somehow getting everything off your chest aided you in getting over the long haired boy. although, not completely.
once you retrieved your homework, you quickly made haste so as not to miss your first class when you were stopped by sirius. “what?”
“are you really going to hogsmeade with richmond?”
you let out a sigh, running a hand through your hair. “i am.” sirius’ shoulders sag at your answer, head slowly hanging down. “but why?” you stayed silent for a moment, waiting until sirius meets your eyes once again. “because he asked me.”
“you can’t go out with him.” he insists to which you rolled your eyes. “why is that?” you challenged, crossing your arms over your chest as you stared him down. “b-because he’s a slytherin!”
“so?” you tilt your head at him. “so? so, he’s evil?” he exclaims. “evil? sirius, you don’t even know him.”
“neither do you!”
your hand comes up to your temple, rubbing it in frustration. “exactly, so i’m going on this date to decide for myself what kind of person he is.”
“but-”
“why are you against this? as my friend, i’d think you want me to be happy.”
sirius jaw clenches at your words, “is that what you think? i don’t want you to be happy?” you press your lips together as you shrug your shoulders, “i don’t what else to think, sirius!”
“i’m only acting this way because i want you to be happy; i’m looking out for you!”
“looking out for me? you haven’t given me a valid reason as to why i shouldn’t go out with vincent.”
“yes i have.”
“no, you’ve only shown your contempt for him about twenty times over.”
“i told you, he’s tricking you. he’s a snake.”
“because that’s the only reason someone would ever express interest in me. to make me the butt of some joke?”
sirius looks taken aback at your statement, “that is not at all what i said, you are not listening to me.”
“i think i’ve listened enough.” you huff. the tension is high, a few of your fellow students lingering in the hallway to listen in on the argument. the both of you are practically fuming with anger. “oh have you?” sirius snarks. you nod at him. he shakes his head, “you know, i’m only looking out for you,” his voice is stern. “i don’t want to see you get hurt.” he added.
“i can take care of myself.”
sirius nodded, lips pursed as he let out a sigh, “fine. but don’t come crying to me when it all goes to shit!” he called out before turning on his heel. “don’t worry, i won’t need to!” you yell at his retreating figure.
-
it’s hogsmeade weekend, which means it’s time for your date with vincent. you had been giddy about it all week, save for the spat you had with sirius. you haven’t spoken to him since, not that he made any effort either.
nonetheless you were gonna go on this date and you were gonna have a good time, regardless of what sirius thinks.
with the help of the girls, you picked out a great outfit and did your hair. after a small pep talk from your friends, you were off to hogsmeade. vincent told you he’d meet you at the three broomsticks and from then on you’d see where the day takes you. the girls sent you off while they went to honeydukes, wishing you good luck as they did so.
-
“she’s really going on the date.”
“sorry mate.” james comforted sirius as he laid on his bed, head buried in a pillow. the boys had decided to sit this hogsmeade weekend. mostly for sirius’ sake. he didn’t want to risk the chance of running into you, of running into you and vincent. “it’s just one date, pads. who knows what’ll come of it.” james continued. “but now she’s angry at me.” sirius groaned.
“i don’t blame her.” remus decides to speak up. sirius lifts his head from the pillow. “et tu, moony?”
“you were being a git. she’s right to be angry with you.”
“i was only trying to warn her- how could she go out with him?”
“well, i’m sure if you told her the actual reason you don’t want her going on this date, she wouldn’t currently be on the date.” remus pointed out, james nodding in agreement. “he’s right, pads.”
“oh, what do you know? you’ve been pining after lily for the past six years and she still won’t give you the time of day.”
“okay, i know you didn’t mean that. you’re hurt because the girl you’re in love with is currently on a date with someone else. so i forgive you. cheap shot, though.”
sirius gasps, “woah, woah. in love? i’m not in love with y/n.” he says, looking up to his friends who now have unamused looks on their faces. “i’m not! wormy, back me up here.” sirius urges peter, who looks away awkwardly, not saying anything. sirius mouth falls open. “really, wormtail?”
“it’s pretty obvious, padfoot.” peter spoke softly, james and remus both hum in agreement. “obvious to everyone but him. and y/n, apparently.” remus adds. sirius shakes his head.
“i’m not in love. she’s my friend and i want the best for her.” james goes to interject but sirius continues, “okay maybe i have a little crush, but can you blame me? she’s amazing. she’s so smart and brave. and funny. and i love spending time with her, it’s the best part of my day-”
james, remus and peter all share knowing glances as sirius rambles on, fighting off smiles when sirius gets up to pace around the room all the while still talking.
“.. her hair always sits so pretty and she smells amazing and it’s not that i don’t want her to date, i just don’t want her dating anyone but me-” sirius pauses in his rant and his pacing. his eyebrows furrow before his eyes widen as if he came to a realization.
“i’m in love with y/n.”
“finally!” the boys shout in unison at his revelation, getting up to pat him on the back. they celebrate for a bit before sirius freezes. “i have to stop that date.”
-
it had been thirty minutes and vincent still hasn’t shown up. you’d stood outside the three broomsticks for five minutes before deciding to go in to look for him. when he wasn’t inside, your mood started to deflate, but you decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. so you went back outside and kept on waiting.
while your patience was growing thin, your anger was getting stronger. you were ready to leave and look for your friends when you heard vincent’s voice.
“i told you!” as he came closer into view, you saw that he wasn’t alone. he was joined by a group of boys. and they were laughing, some were even pointing at you. furious, you stomp over to vincent.
“do you know how long i’ve been waiting?”
the smug look on his face doesn’t falter, “30 minutes? give or take?” he smirks at you and your face drops. “what?”
vincent let out a barking laugh, “oh, you didn’t actually think i was interested in you, did you?” your eyes widen in shock, unable to find the words. “oh you did, didn’t you? too bad.”
your fists clench at your side at the sound of his voice, his laughter, his friend’s laughter. “so what, this was all just some dumb joke?”
“a bet, dollface. i suppose i should thank you, i’m a few galleons richer because of you. pay up, fellas!”
“you’re awful.”
“good thing i don’t care.” his friends break out into laughter once more, oh the dreadful sound. you were about to storm off but not before reaching for your wand and casting a few jinx spells.
-
you were currently being comforted by lily and marlene. they’d found you in the common room, sobbing on the couch. you would have gone up to your dorms but since everyone was at hogsmeade you had settled for the common room.
your sobs have stopped by now, but tears still flowed freely down your cheeks. “i’m such an idiot.” you sniffled. “no, you’re not. he’s the idiot.” marlene assured, her hand comfortingly resting on your back. “she’s right. you are an amazing girl and he’s an absolute arse for doing that to you.” lily spoke.
“merlin, he was right.” you sighed, burying your face in your hands. lily and marlene share a confused look, “who? vincent.”
“no,” you groan, “sirius-”
frantic footsteps can be heard suddenly, interrupting you. they get louder and louder until they reach the common room. you freeze at the sound of his voice. all four of the marauders are now in the room. you quickly wipe away at your tears and attempt to regulate your breathing. they spot lily and marlene first.
“girls, have you seen y/n-” james’ voice falters as he walks closer and spots you on the couch. at his abrupt silence, sirius quickly runs over to see why james had stopped talking. sirius freezes at the sight of you. surrounded by tissues. eyes red and puffy and cheeks flushed.
remus and peter soon join them, equally shocked at the situation. “what happened?” remus spoke softly, voice concerned. “nothing.” you quickly say, hoping they didn’t hear the crack in your voice. “but you’re crying.”
“i’m fine.”
“are you sure-”
“yes!” you look up to see the boys’ worried looks, you heave a sigh as you feel another tear falling down. not trusting your voice, you gesture to lily and marlene, giving them the okay to tell them what happened.
“vincent.”
sirius’ jaw clenches at the name, he has been quiet all this time, his eyes never leaving you. “the date was just some stupid bet with his friends. to see how long y/n would wait for him.” the boys gasp as their faces contort into disbelief, shock and anger.
sirius huffs, nostrils flaring as his fist clench at his side. he quickly turns to leave the room, ready to give vincent a piece of his mind when remus stops him. “don’t do anything stupid. you need to be here for her right now.” sirius sighs before realizing that remus is right and turns back to you.
“that’s awful, y/n. what a git.” james curses, shaking his head sympathetically. everyone nodded in agreement.
“are you okay?” sirius asks, the room falling silent. standing up from the couch, you finally meet his eyes, his familiar grey orbs bring a sense of comfort despite the tension between the two of you. you nod at him. “you were right.” you whispered. when he says nothing you continue, “he was bad news and i should’ve listened to you. could you gloat at a later time, though? not really in the mood.” your voice is shaky as more tears escape.
“and don’t worry, i won’t come crying to you.”
sirius lets out a sigh, “what if i come to you?”
you cautiously watch as sirius strides over to you, opening his arms and bringing you into his chest, nestling his face into your hair. you tense up for a moment before melting into him, wrapping your arms around him.
lily gestures for everyone to leave, nodding her head at the door. they all follow suit, quietly exiting the room to give you some privacy.
you start sobbing quietly as sirius holds you close. you feel his hand come up to stroke your head. “i’m sorry.” you snicker. sirius pulls back, enough so he can cup your face. “hey, you have nothing to be sorry for.” he assures you. you shake your head. “i do. i should’ve listened you and then we fought-”
“that was my fault.”
“but you were right about him.”
“i didn’t want to be! everything i said was out of pure jealousy. if i knew what he was up to, trust me, i would have been a lot more persistent.”
“you were jealous?”
sirius looks down at you with a fond smile, “love, i’m jealous of anyone who holds your attention for more than a minute.”
your mouth slightly opens at his statement. sirius lets his words sink in. it’s a confession. of sorts. he so badly wants to scream how utterly in love he is with you, but he decides he’ll tell you tomorrow. with your favorite flowers, maybe some sweets from honeydukes. and definitely in a more romantic setting.
“just a heads up, me and the guys are definitely gonna make vincent and his foul little friends pay. i’m sure james already has some ideas.”
you let out a laugh, “no need, right now they’re all covered in boils and throwing up slugs.” you tell him proudly. sirius gives you an amused look, “i’ve taught you well.”
-
some time later the both of you are on the couch, his arms around as your head rests on his chest. some of your housemates had come and gone, pausing as they saw the two of you entangled together.
sirius absentmindedly played with your hair as the two of you engaged in conversation about anything and everything. your tears had stopped long ago and now you could barely remember the entire vincent fiasco. now you feel at ease, at peace. in his arms.
“…you should’ve seen snape’s face. oh, it was priceless-” sirius pauses his story as he feels your breathing even out. when he looks down, he finds your eyes closed, your face cuddled into his chest. he couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face as he watched you.
careful not to wake you up, he adjusts slightly on the couch so you can stretch out more comfortably, movement freezing when you stir. once he feels you settle once more, his hand comes up to stroke the top of your hair. you nuzzle more into his chest at the gesture and sirius hopes you don’t feel the rapid beating of his heart.
he contemplates on waking you up, you probably would be more comfortable on your bed, but he selfishly decides against it, opting to hold you in his arms a little while longer.
a few moments pass and you’re still sleeping soundly on sirius’ chest. he looks down to your face and heaves a sigh. the events from earlier are still at the back of his mind. the nerve of vincent richmond.
“you did not deserve that.” he whispers softly. “you are so fucking precious and you don’t realize, huh?” his thumb traces over your cheek, “you deserve the world and everything beyond,” he breathes into your hair. “and i will make it my life’s mission to give you just that.” he pressed a soft kiss to your head before stroking over your hair once more.
tomorrow. tomorrow he’ll tell you everything. how deeply he feels for you, how you make his heart swell with a simple smile, how he cannot bear the thought of you with someone else. tomorrow he’ll tell you everything he just said and he’ll make sure you’re awake to actually hear him.
you were laughing as lily explained james potter’s latest attempt at wooing her. “i seriously don’t know how he comes up with these ridiculous nicknames.” she exclaimed. “i don’t think we want to know.” you countered, shuddering at the thought of seeing inside james potter’s mind. or any of the marauders’ minds. “you are absolutely right. ignorance is bliss.” lily agreed. “that it is, my friend.”
“i just don’t get it. girls throw themselves at him all the time, yet he continues to pester me.” the red head sighs before taking a sip of her butterbeer. “have you ever thought that he might genuinely have feelings for you? so other girls simply don’t interest him?” you narrowed your eyes at her and she averted your gaze. “still. you’d think by now he’d take a hint or at least give one of them a chance. i mean look at sirius.”
“what about me?”
your conversation is interrupted, said interruption sliding in the chair next to you. you and lily share a similar look of confusion as sirius black is now seated at your table. “so? what about me?” he speaks up again after a moment of silence. you shrug, “nothing. what do you want,
sirius?”
you and sirius were.. friends. you got along well, much to your surprise and despite what lily insists, you do not have crush on him.
“now, why would you assume i want something? it’s hogsmeade weekend, can’t i sit with you girls and enjoy this fine day?” sirius exclaims, leaning back in the chair. you almost roll your eyes, “you can, but you haven’t done so since just this moment so i ask again, what do you want, sirius?” he looks at you for a moment before conceding,
“fine, so there’s this ravenclaw girl-”
he’s cut off by unison groans from you and lily. “we are not gonna help you with your girl problems, black. go ask potter or remus.” lily’s voice is stern as she crosses her arms over her chest. “they can’t help with this.” he whines, looking between the two of you. “why not?”
“this girl is… persistent. she’s not taking no for an answer and i need to get her off my back.” he explains, his voice is frantic, the desperation sinking through. you sighed, “and how are we supposed to help with that?”
“well not so much you and lily as much as just you.” he says hesitantly, looking at you with pleading eyes. your head tilts in confusion, “why just me?”
“because james likes lily.”
“what does that have to do with anything?”
before he could answer you, a figure enters the three broomsticks and sirius softly gaps, eyes widening in panic. “oh no, oh no.” sirius mutters, you and lily are now even more confused than before. you turn to him, “sirius what are you on-” the hand around your shoulder shuts you up. “i’m sorry, please just play along for a minute.” he whispers to you as he pulls you closer. “what-”
“sirius!” you see a girl approaching your table, her smile gradually fading as she gets closer, noticing sirius’ arm around you. “sirius, hey. i’ve been looking for you.” she greets him, ignoring both you and lily. “well, you found me. though, i am a bit busy. my girl can’t get enough of me. not that i’m complaining.” sirius smirks and gestures to you, placing a kiss on your cheek. you freeze, too stunned to speak. you see lily fighting off a laugh, hand coming up to cover her mouth, hiding her smile.
the girl’s face drops, shoulders sagging as she looks between you and sirius. “oh. well, whenever you’re free, let me know. i’d love to get to know you better.” her voice falters, doing her best to put on a smile. she straightens her shoulders and promptly exits the pub. once she’s out of sight, you slap sirius’ hand off your shoulder, “what in merlin’s name was that?” you raise your voice at him, lily finally letting out the laugh she’d been holding in.
“i’m sorry, i’m sorry. i panicked.” sirius puts his hands up in surrender, an apologetic look in his eyes. “that was you panicking?”
“that was i wanted to ask you before. i wanted to know if you were willing to pretend to date me, just until she’s out of my hair.”
your mouth hangs open at his request, you start shaking your head no. sirius takes a deep breath, closing his eyes almost as in preparation for what he’s about to say. “i didn’t want it to come to this but… you owe me.”
“i owe you?” you questioned and he nods. you’re about to ask him what he’s on about but he beats you to it. “transfiguration, fifth year.” your eyes widen as you gasp.
you were absolute shite at transfiguration and with owls coming up, you were getting nervous. it wasn’t your proudest moment, but you had practically begged sirius to help you. he agreed, thankfully. the two of you spent many late nights in the library, going over the material and eventually you got the hang of it, passing your exams with flying colors. you were extremely grateful for sirius’ help but you had felt bad about taking up so much of his time. he told you it was okay but you insisted that you ‘owe him one’.
you let out sigh, “fine.” you agree half heartedly.
“thank you! you are heaven sent, did you know?”
“what happened with transfiguration fifth year?” lily inquired, her interest now piqued. “he helped me with something so now i owe him a a favor.” your explanation was vague so lily made a mental note to interrogate you about it later.
“don’t you think that the little stunt you pulled earlier was enough to send her packing?”
sirius starts shaking his head no, “absolutely not. you heard her “whenever you’re free”. i called you my girl and she still persisted.”
“so what now?”
“nothing too extreme. we just have to be more affectionate from now on, at least when she’s around.”
“you mean like kiss?” sirius smiles at your question. “if it comes to that. but we don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”
you sigh as you face away from him, meeting lily’s eyes. a huge grin graces her face as she takes a sip from her butterbeer. “i think it’s a great plan.” she says and your eyes narrow at her. “oh, i’m sure you do. how long do we have to keep it up?” you ask sirius, eyes still glaring at lily. he shrugs, “a week, maybe a couple. if she doesn’t get the hint by then-”
“a couple of weeks?” you turn to look at a grinning sirius. this was going to be… interesting.
-
in the following weeks you and sirius fell into a routine of hand holding and lingering touches. the girl, who you’d come to know as vivian morgan, was a year below you and sirius. meaning no classes together where you’d inevitably have to sit next to sirius. (and risk him distracting you. he’s proved to be very skilled at that.) your charade would only have to be kept up in the great hall and occasionally throughout the castle if she was nearby.
you’d found it rather peculiar how effortless it was for sirius to pretend the two of you were a couple. although it didn’t take long for you to get used to it as well. it felt natural and easy, a little too much. the way his hand found yours, the way he put his arm on your lower back as he guided you to your desired destination, the way the conversation between the two of you flowed so casually. it felt too natural, it felt real.
you made a habit out of reading in the courtyard during your free period, today was no different. too engrossed in your book, you don’t notice when sirius sits down next to you. a hand around your shoulder startles you out of your trance. “sirius.”
“hello, love.”
you ignore him and the tingling sensation from where his hand rests over your clothes, continuing with your reading. you feel sirius shuffle closer to you and rest his head on your shoulder to peer into the book in your hands. “oh, you’re studying.” he notes when he sees that you’re holding a potions textbook. suddenly his head shoots up from your shoulder, you turn to him in surprise. sirius digs into his pocket and pulls out a packet. “then you need this.” he holds up a packet of chewing gum. your eyebrows raise in question. sirius chuckles at your confusion, “doesn’t gum help you focus when you’re studying?”
“how did you know that?”
“well, i was your tutor all throughout last year. bound to pick up some things.” you nod at him, bottom lip tucked between your teeth.not knowing what to say, you turn back to your textbook.
it was unsettling how well he knew you, noticing your little habits, some of which you weren’t even aware of.
“something wrong?” sirius asks suddenly. you look back to him, “why would you ask that?”
“you’re doing that thing where you bite your lower lip when something’s wrong or something’s bothering you.”
your eyes slightly widen at his assessment, unable to find the words to respond. “you do it quite often actually, makes me worry.” he adds. “you're… observant.” you finally manage. “when i want to be. so what’s on your mind?”
you shake your head, “nothing.” sirius doesn’t buy it. “come on, tell me!” he nudges you with his elbow. “really, it’s nothing-” he suddenly moves closer, hand coming up to rest on your cheek as he slowly turns your face, making you meet his eyes. his fingers move to tuck your hair behind your ear. your faces are inches away from each other. your breath hitches as he stares deeply into your eyes. “what are you doing?” you whisper.
his eyes flicker down to your lips before moving back up to your eyes. he leans in, but you freeze, unsure of his intentions. is he gonna kiss you? you hadn’t done that before. there’s a part of you that’s scared. but you’re not sure if it’s fear of the kiss itself or fear that maybe you might enjoy it. before you can decide, sirius mutters something.
“vivian’s heading this way.”
your mood instantly deflates and you break eye contact, which seemed a lot more difficult earlier. “okay, she’s gone. that was close.” he breathed, letting go of your face as he moved back, putting some space between the two of you.
you try to fight it, desperately pushing away that feeling of disappointment, but it makes its way through, filling you with frustration. none of this is real. you have to remind yourself of that quite often as of late.
-
you’re not sure how much longer you can take this. this ruse of yours seemed to be taking an emotional toll on you. you find yourself wanting to be closer to sirius, but then you’re reminded of the real reason any of this is happening. and that’s the only reason he’s being so affectionate, the only reason he touches you. and why that upset you had been bugging you for a while, until recently. you denied it as much as you could, it was just the circumstance, is what you told yourself. but as the days went by it was much harder to convince yourself of that. so much to your dismay, you finally accepted it.
you had feelings for sirius black.
but now it’s all too complicated. you fear that any more of sirius’ fake affections would cause you to expose your true feelings. feelings which you were sure sirius did not reciprocate, he’s just a really good actor. for the sake of your heart, you decide to put an end to this charade. it had been long enough. if vivian morgan hasn’t come to her senses then that’s not your problem.
you find him in the great hall. taking a deep breath, remembering this is for the best. as you walk closer you notice sirius making his way over to the ravenclaw table. you raise your eyebrows in question when you see him taking a seat next to vivian. your heart drops as you see him lean closer to her. you force yourself to look away, storming out of the great hall as fast as your feet could carry you.
sirius finds you in the common room. you had a book in your hand, biting your lip, but it didn’t seem like you were reading. “hey, the others said they saw you, but you left rather quickly.” you barely reacted to his voice. when you didn’t answer, sirius walks over to you, sitting in front of you. “are you feeling alright?” still no answer. “y/n-”
“i saw you with her.” you cut him off, not meeting his eyes.
“who? vivian? i was-”
you interrupt him again, “what was the point of all this, sirius?”
sirius is confused. “the point of what?” he asks. “this.” you gesture between the two of you. “you ask me to help get vivian off your back and after weeks of pretending, you decide to pursue her anyway. then why have we been doing what we’ve been doing?” you exasperate, finally looking up at him. “pursue? what are you on about, love.” he’s truly at a loss, wondering what caused your mood to change so suddenly. “sirius-”
“if you had a problem with this, you should’ve told me. i never wanted you to be uncomfortable.”
“i wasn’t uncomfortable. that’s the problem.” you mutter the last part, hoping he hadn’t heard it. “what does that mean?” sirius tilts his head in question. “nothing.” you quickly say, moving to stand up from the couch.
“no, stop saying it’s nothing and actually talk to me!” sirius exclaims, making you jump. when he sees your wide eyes, he offers you an apologetic look. you stare at him for a moment before shaking your head. as you walk past him you hear him sigh, you don’t make it very far when you feel a hand curl around your arm and pull you back. you gasp as sirius’ hands reach up to cup your face. before you can say anything, sirius crashes his lips into yours.
it’s alarming how easily you fall into it, deepening the kiss as your arms go around his neck, pulling him closer. his lips are soft, inviting and feel so good against yours. it takes everything in you to pull away from him. you let out a breath and sirius rests his forehead against yours. “sirius-”
“i wasn’t flirting with her. or pursuing her.” you’re both still trying to catch your breath. “then what-”
“i was telling her off. once and for all.” a smirk graces his face. “why?” you can still feel him on your lips, like he’s stained you. “so we could stop pretending,” he leans down, lips ghosting over your mouth. “and we could do this for real.”
your breath hitches, “do what?”
a wide grin stretches across his face as he pulls you in once more. “this.” he whispers huskily and kisses you. you’re thankful he’s holding you or you surely would be falling to your knees. it feels as if a weight has been lifted off your shoulders and you can’t help but smile against him.
he breaks the kiss after a few moments. “you do feel the same, right? i mean, lily told me you might but-”
you cut him off with a laugh. “what are you laughing for?” he asks incredulously. “sirius, i am crazy about you. i thought it was you who didn’t reciprocate.”
“why didn’t you say anything before?”
“why didn’t you?
“i tried!”
“when?”
sirius thinks for a moment, “remember that day in the courtyard?” you nod. “well, vivian wasn’t actually heading our way. I couldn’t help myself! i wanted to kiss you but chickened out at the last moment.”
you gasp, “sirius!” he chuckles at you, “and there may have also been a few times where she wasn’t even around but i wanted to hold your hand so i told you she was.”
when you’re silent, sirius fears he might’ve upset you. an apology sits on the tip of his tongue when he hears you giggle. “you are unbelievable. all this time. is that why asked me to be your pretend girlfriend?”
he nods shyly, “partially. it started off as just pretend, should’ve known i’d fall for you. but i really did want vivian to leave me alone, though.”
“so what’d you tell her earlier then?”
“i told her that my heart belongs to you. and only you.”
“oh really?” you muse, arms going back around his neck, hands interlocked behind his head. he smirks, “yours to do with as you please.” he hums.
“then i guess it’s only fair that mine is yours as well.” you touch your forehead to his. “what a high honor you’ve bestowed upon me, my darling.”
