12 Grimmauld Place (23/?) 

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!

Masterlist

“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.

Perpetual Freak (6/?): Greenhouse Grudges

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.

Perpetual Freak (5/?): To the Dungeons

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.

Perpetual Freak (4/?): The Carriage Ride Home

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.

**************************************

Taglist:@whiskeypowder@fortheloveofaqueen

The Perpetual Freak (3/?)

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.

**********************************

Taglist:@whiskeypowder@fortheloveofaqueen

The Perpetual Freak (2/?)

Ch 2: Aboard the Hogwarts Express

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.

************

Taglist:@whiskeypowder

Holidate Excerpt

This is if you want to see what you’re getting yourself into before you read my (completed) holidate series

Minor spoilers will be included in my in depth synopsis as well which will be below the cut, but I tried to keep things neutral in the excerpts

In-depth synopsis = your basic friends to enemies to lovers trope mixed in with some fake dating, an arranged marriage trope going on in the background, some angst, and some nice fluff to finish off with

Ch.1 Christmas

“Are you going to the Christmas party?” I was sure he already knew the answer and I had to refrain from rolling my eyes.

The pureblood societies celebrations were always over the top, but the Christmas one was infamous and it was blasphemy to not make an appearance. This year it was at the Malfoy’s.

“What do you think?” I gave him a bored look and he shrugged.

“I was hoping you grew a backbone and finally stood up to them.” I took a deep breath. I couldn’t really say anything. I didn’t want him thinking that at this very moment all I wanted was a backbone.

“Well you still show up to them.” He didn’t say anything and only sipped his drink. “They’re not bad people.” I mumbled, feeling the need to defend my family, especially in front of this stupid blood traitor.

“So the rumours aren’t true then?” I squinted my eyes at him, hoping he wasn’t about to say what I thought he was referring to. “Your parents aren’t marrying you off to Tiberius Nott?” I turned away from him. My heart was suddenly in my throat. How did he even know? “That’s what I thought.”

“You know nothing,” I hissed at him. I would’ve yelled it but I didn’t want any attention to be drawn to us, even if there was only one person left on the other side of the room. I had never had a partner throughout my nineteen years of life. I just wasn’t interested. Everyone around me was too immature or were beneath my family and those few who weren’t I just wasn’t interested in. My parents were fine with this as they wanted me to focus on my studies instead, but now that I had left Hogwarts, it seemed that my parents had changed their mind and were now stressed because I didn’t have a suitable husband lined up.

Ch.3 Valentine’s Day

“You didn’t even come to answer the door when I got here and you’ve been awfully snappy.”

“I’m so sorry, did you want me to greet you on arrival with flowers and give you my undivided attention while you try to change everything about me?” I didn’t like his tone but this was familiar territory for me so I knew I could handle it.

“You’re such a drama queen.”

“Says you, princess.” I rolled my eyes at him and turned back to his clothes. I picked a nice navy jacket and matching pants with a black top.

“Here, try this.” I threw the clothes on top of the bed with a bit more force than necessary and went back to sitting on the wooden chair.

“Well?” He motioned for me to turn away while he got changed and I folded my arms across my chest and did so.

“It’s not like you’re not already half naked.”

“Don’t act like you don’t love what you see.” I rolled my eyes at that and felt a wave of heat rush over my body. So maybe my eyes fell once or twice during our conversation. I was curious.Sirius had very defined muscles and I couldn’t even fathom how he got them considering I had never seen him do any type of physical activity.

Ch.6 Mother’s Day

“Yeah,” Sirius hummed, “she’s the golden child.” He squinted his eyes playfully at me and I shook my head playfully at him. “A perfect daughter.” He was mocking me but for once it was all in good fun.

“Well if you think she’s so perfect, then why won’t you marry her?” Walburga was frowning and I almost choked on nothing but the air around me as my mouth went dry. What was it with everyone talking about marriage today?

“Mother.” I had never heard Sirius’ voice so low. So dangerous. He had stopped looking at me to turn to his mother.

“Well you can’t give me a reason as to why you shouldn’t marry her so I don’t understand why you’re making such a big deal out of this.” She shrugged her shoulders as if Sirius was being the dramatic one.

“They’ve been fighting for the past month about this.” Regulus was looking a bit too proud of himself and both Walburga and Sirius shot him a dirty look. I’m sure Walburga didn’t want me to think that her family was fighting, and Sirius, of course, hadn’t wanted to disclose with me what he was fighting with his parents about.

“Oh we still have plenty of time, though.” In a perfect world my voice would have been a normal pitch and I wouldn’t have spoken so fast.

“But do you?” Walbergua gave me a sympathetic look and for some reason I felt bad about myself. “You’re almost twenty, most people are expecting by this time.” No one said anything and I learnt where Sirius got his desire to constantly continue a conversation from. “You won’t be fertile forever.” I heard Regulus snigger but I wasn’t processing anything that was happening. I was looking at Walburga and I could feel Sirius move next to me but I was sure that I was watching them from afar rather than being present in this awful situation.

“She’s not going to marry me if you go on like this, now let’s move on.” Sirius was snappy and he wasn’t making eye contact with me. For some reason I wanted him to give me his usual reassuring smile and I hated that I had come to rely on that.