Chapter 1
“ Black, I’ve had enough of you. You shall be moved at once !”
The Professor’s eyes scanned the classroom finding an unfortunate soul to place the misbehaved student next to and your gaze wandered to various corners to avoid gaining his attention but it backfired miserably.
“ Go sit over there, perhaps a Ravenclaw will make you understand.”
The Professor huffed a sigh of frustration before turning back to continue their lesson albeit with gritted teeth.
You’d gone four years without ever having to interact with the infamous Sirius Black, he seemed to find himself in most of your lessons and yet he never acknowledged you. Now, Sirius had begrudgingly gathered his books and said an exaggerated goodbye to his friend James as he walked to the other side of the room and sat next to you. Immediately he was bored and his head found its place on the desk you tried desperately to ignore him, his curly hair kept gaining your attention as you felt the sudden need to feel it beneath your fingers. You physically shook yourself for neglecting the information the Professor was saying, it was important for the upcoming assessment and couldn’t neglect your studies over a boy.
Still, you never liked to see someone fail an exam or essay, you tried to help. For the greater good, you reached out to shake Sirius’ shoulder to wake him up, his hair tumbled over his face until he slowly turned to face you with his head still against the desk. His mouth was covered with his arm but his dark eyes were puzzled.
“ You need to keep awake otherwise you’ll fail.”
His eyes roamed over your features before a smirk could be briefly seen.
“ Spoken like a true Ravenclaw.”
“ I should hope so otherwise I’d think the sorting hat needed replacing.”
You dismissed his teasing and continued to write whilst Sirius’s eyes widened, stunned by your quick reply it only intrigued him further. Surprisingly, he began to take notes and soon enough the lesson finished.
The seating plan didn’t change and Sirius continued to sit next to you and with that a sort of mutual agreement arose. When Sirius got bored, he asked questions and you’d quickly reply to avoid being caught but he started to agree with your answers, he wanted to hear you talk more since your voice sounded to him like a soft melody he’d think about at night. When you weren’t looking, he’d doodle on your notes and pretend to be shocked at your accusations but by the end you’d also made little drawings on his work.
“ You should meet my mates, I’d bet you’d get along with Mooney.”
The Professor had yet to enter the class and the class was alive with conversation. You looked at Sirius expecting a mocking grin but he was like an obedient puppy waiting for your reply.
“ Perhaps another time Sirius… I appreciate the thought, I mean that.”
Sirius could only grin at the idea of you one day sitting amongst his friends.
After lessons you were walking through the corridors with your head held down remembering Sirius’s excited expression before you felt a tight grip on your robes which only dragged you down until you fell back against the cold stone floor, your books strewn across the space. Looking up with a dazed gaze you saw the taunting colour of green and could only groan with dissatisfaction. Three girls stood above you before the ring leader pulled you up by your hair and pinned you against the nearest wall, her arm held across your throat.
“ I see your Sirius’s new plaything, it seems he has a thing for damaged goods.”
Her minions behind her only snickered before the Slytherin girl pressed harder, further restricting the airflow.
“ I’m nobody’s plaything, you fuckin' deranged bitch.”
She made a noise of disgust before driving his fist into your stomach but before more lies could spill from her lips, Sirius shouted from the other end of the corridor his fists tightly clenched. The girls were momentarily confused but it gave you the opportunity to drag your foot up and use all the force you could to kick her to the ground which only had her minions rushing to her as she curled into herself. They frantically tried to soothe her sobs of anger; Sirius had ran to you as you stood clutching your bruised body, he didn’t waste time in grabbing your hand and running away.
The voices became distant and faded, Sirius checked the surroundings before dragging you to a window with little space. His hands went to your face as he inspected you in great detail, his eyes were drowning in concern before he realised the position you both were in.
“ You alright, princess, sorry I couldn’t save you earlier”
“ I’ll be fine Sirius, the bruises won’t last.. but how did you find me ?”
He scratched the back of his neck, pulling out a piece of parchment from his pocket.
“ Oh you know just happened to find this map.” With a closer inspection, it looked blank but you suspected it was another one of his friends clever invention.
“ Thank you Siri, any later and I might of come out a lot worse.” Sirius moved forward closing the space even further and tucked a fallen piece of hair behind your ear.
“ I’ll always be there for you no matter what.”
Sirius had grew to become a friend but now with his nose nearly touching your own and his charming words he made you feel warm and protected like nothing could harm you so long as Sirius was beside you.
Weeks went by since that eventful meeting in the corridor and everything felt strange, Sirius began to move his seat closer to your own each lesson until at points your hands would briefly graze before a blush spread across your embarrassed face; Sirius seemed to grin in those moments leaning back in his seat to gain the attention of one of his friends. He’d walk you back to your common room after dinner and would wait until you had answered the riddle from the eagle knocker before saying goodnight to his ‘ princess in the high tower’.
“ Planning to go with anyone to the Christmas Ball ?”
“ Not really, I’ll go but I doubt I’ll enjoy it.”
You were walking to lesson together with the rest of the Marauder’s in front. The Christmas Ball was extravagant with soft blue lights, tables filled with food to meet all tastes and couples dancing their last before returning home for the holidays. Sirius looked annoyed as his friends peered over their shoulders to laugh at him and you took the opportunity to tease him.
“ I assume you’ve had hundred of girls practically begging to take them with you.”
“ I always do but this time I wanted to know if you’d like to go with me ?
Nearly stumbling over your robes, you didn’t forget how popular Sirius was amongst the girls whenever you walked together some would often rush to his side just to get a second of his attention but he shook them off like pestering flys.
“ Sure Siri but you better be a good dancer.”
It was hard to contain your excitement for the impending ball, you’d acquired a new dress fit for the occasion, a floor length gown with small flowers spread across the chest that filtered down to the hem; the light blue colour would blend in with the atmosphere and you could only hold it against your body, picturing yourself dancing with a certain boy.
Each day passing only brought the event closer but as you worked harder each lesson you started to feel more tired, more pains in your body and soon you found yourself being dragged to Madam Pomfrey after nearly collapsing in class. The nurse attended to your pains explaining that with the winter season illness was bound to spread and you felt at that moment like the most unluckiest person.
“ But the Christmas Ball, it-it’s tomorrow. I need to go.”
“ If you overexert yourself anymore, my dear, you’ll find yourself in a much worse condition. I’m sure whoever desperately wants you at that ball will understand.”
Madam Pomfrey gave you some potions which would help with the headaches and pains but nothing else could be done other than rest. With a written note to be handed to all of your teachers you didn’t need to worry about missing a lesson but that was your least concern.
What about Sirius ?
You were watched closely by your friends in Ravenclaw, they kept you in bed and stopped any attempts of escape. The next day, your pain was overtaken by silent tears hidden under the cover of the bed as everyone left for lessons, you were left alone to eat your prepared breakfast but to eat, you found it difficult.
That evening, the girls tried desperately to not show the joy on their faces as they twirled around the room in their dresses whilst your own was still hung up on the wardrobe, the sight of it only bringing more despair.
When all had left with promises of bringing back some dessert, it was silent apart from your choked sobs; you wished you could’ve told Sirius but none of your friends took your requests seriously, no one believed you were going with Sirius Black.
Sirius meanwhile was shuffling nervously, all of his friends had gone inside to enjoy the ball whilst he still stood outside waiting to see you. James had come out with Lily by his side, the two spending as much time together as possible and yet neither had confessed their feelings, they thought he should go see her… Sirius ran off before they could finish their sentence.
Despite the long sets of ever changing stairs, Sirius had ran to the eagle knocker of the Ravenclaw common room. Sirius had answered the riddle quickly as his reasoning to get inside was overwhelming.
You were staring blankly out the open window and hoped at least Sirius was dancing and having fun probably with a swarm of girls around him, the thought making you laugh. Hearing heavy and hurried steps you assumed it was one of the girls before Sirius stormed through the door and promptly straightened himself before cautiously approaching your side, his hand reaching out to wipe away your fresh tears.
“ What’s wrong, Princess ?”
You fell into Sirius’ awaiting arms and tried to hide your face into his neat suit shirt. He was wearing a black waistcoat and a fresh white shirt underneath, he’d thrown away his jacket as he ran from Lily and James, for dramatic effect ofcourse.
After hesitantly retelling the events to Sirius you hid away in shame and lightly pushed away from him, trying to plaster a smile.
“ You should go back to the party, I’m sure you’ll have just as much fun without me.”
“ But you’re wrong, I can’t just leave my girl here to suffer. We don’t need a fancy ball to have fun as long as it’s you and me, a good time is expected to follow.”
My girl …
Sirius had moved to hold your hands, his grip felt warm and comforting. Gently guiding you out of bed, he moved to grab the dress and raised his eyebrow waiting for your response. Running for privacy with small smirk, you put on the dress and shortly stepped out to see his reaction; he was speechless and could only walk in circles around you admiring both the dress and your beauty. Eventually, his hand was presented to you and he performed a mock bow, taking it he led you to the middle of the room where the slow music from the ball could be softly heard.
His hand found its place at your waist and his other was met with your own as you both struggled to avoid tripping and find a rhythm; soon you both were gently swaying to the fading music with the high glow of the moon lighting the room. Sirius’ gaze hadn’t fallen from yours and his face was so close to your own making heat rise to your cheeks.
“ See, aren’t you having a great time ? Who needs people, music or food anyway it’s so overrated.”
“ Sirius, I can survive without music or people but food.. you need that to live.”
“ Perhaps I only need you.”
The charm of his words enraptured you, his confidence filled the room and seeing his face move closer to yours you closed your eyes and felt Sirius’ gentle and loving kiss. You kissed him back as perfectly as you could but in reality neither of you had experience despite Sirius’ attention from women. It took some time for you both to separate and not fall to the desire to kiss again and he laughed out loud, his joy had caused him to grip your hands and run out the room ready to tell the Marauders the anticipated news.
Soon after you both fell into a relationship, his friends cheered at the news patting Sirius on the back; you grew to know each Marauder personally and took a great liking to the more quiet Remus who greeted you every morning and helped whenever he wasn’t in pain or missing lessons. In opposition Sirius’ brother in arms, James, would jest and make exaggerated tales of Sirius whilst simultaneously taking a brother-like approach… Peter however, he never said anything original, merely a byproduct of what had already been told.
After a few months, both exchanging romantic gestures and heated kisses at night, Sirius wrote to you during the summer holidays to ask if you wanted to have dinner at his house. You were ecstatic, Sirius didn’t talk too much about his family and on the rare occasion he did a furrowed brow could visibly be seen.
When you’d arrived at Grimmauld Place you hadn’t foreseen such a family with ever lasting tension; sitting amongst Orion, Walburga and Regulus they examined your every move to the tiniest detail like the way you held your knife, suddenly the need to eat became extinguished. Walburga’s eyes hovered over you, every attempt to politely defend yourself only made her look of disgust deepen.
“ This one, that you have dragged into our home, isn’t even a pure blood. By having her eat with us it only taints our status.” She snarked.
The night only deteriorated afterwards as comments were thrown around the room with venom spilling from their sentences; Sirius only stopped once he finally noticed how distraught you were, feeling as if you’d never be accepted into the Black family.
Sirius saw no value in trying to live amongst his family, running away after that night to move in with James.
Time felt fleeting after you all left Hogwarts, Dumbledore trusted you all enough to join his Order which you greatly considered and eventually accepted. Sirius’ motorcycle for a time became his pride and joy, often being his priority.
Whilst you and Sirius had only just moved in together despite years of dating, James and Lily had already gotten married and the atmosphere of their scenic wedding made most swoon with adoration. Sirius stood next to you during the reception, tipsy but conscious enough to keep his arm around your shoulders with kisses pressed against your hair; he’d whisper about how beautiful you would look as a bride.
A cooling breeze brushed against the hem of your own wedding dress some time later as Lily stood amongst your small set of bridesmaids albeit heavily pregnant. The War carried on, fearing that waiting for a moment of peace to get married was unachievable, Sirius proposed. Since that dance in the Ravenclaw tower your skills hadn’t improved but neither cared as you both danced, trying to enjoy that small moment of forgetfulness. Looking back, you wished that day was an unbreakable cycle.
“ I have to leave, to find them.”
“ W-wait Sirius what’s going on tell me.”
“ James and Lily…I-I”
Sirius had woken you up one night, his eyes were red from crying and the hands gripping your shoulders were painfully shaking. When James and Lily went into hiding with little baby Harry the details of their whereabouts were concealed and many in the Order, like yourself, were kept in the dark assuming Sirius had that answer.
“ What about Harry ?”
“…”
“ I’ll go with you Sirius, you can’t go alone.”
“ No ! It’s best you stay as far from it as you can. You are the one person I need to keep safe.. I can’t lose you too.” He spoke with gritted teeth but his anger wasn’t directed at you.
Sirius took off his wedding ring and gave it to you with a kiss desperately pressed against your lips, his hand held against your head, tears started to spring to his eyes, he left with a final whispered message before the door was slammed shut. You never saw Sirius again, not until the papers proudly displayed his photo.