Chapter 1

"Hogwarts! Hogwarts! Hoggy-warty-HOGWARTS! TEACH US SOMETHING, PLEASE!"

"James, if you don't shut up, I swear to Merlin, I will..." I groaned, but my voice died off as James made his way into the room, his friend following closely behind. Just by taking one look at them I knew that they couldn't be up to any good. They looked far too "casual." James was leaning against my bookcase nonchalantly as Sirius sauntered toward my spot on the floor in the middle of the bedroom. He looked around at the yellow walls and at the posters and artwork that adorned them.

"Nice place you got here, Lizzy Grace," Sirius spoke with a grin. "Lovely artwork." His hooded eyes shone with amusement, just waiting for me to blow up on him.

I rolled my eyes rather than giving in.

"I know," James added, peering at one of my paintings, "My baby sister has quite the talent."

Meanwhile, I sat in silence, waiting for an excuse to tell them to get out of my room. But they only stared around my room, suspiciously calm. I raised an eyebrow as Sirius picked up a bundle of dried flowers sitting on my dresser. Finally, I cleared my throat expectantly; Sirius's smokey eyes turned to meet mine. I could feel my brows furrow involuntarily as I took in the familiar features of my older brother's best friend. His tall stature. His angular features. And that small smirk that always seemed to be playing on his lips.

I turned my attention back toward my trunk that I was packing. It didn't matter how attractive Sirius Black was; his looks would never make up for when he opened up his big mouth. Without looking up at either of the two, I asked, "What do you two want anyway?"

Sirius was the first to reply to my remark, his boyish smile still ever present, "Ah, dear Lizzy, you haven't even finished packing your bags yet." He walked further into my bedroom and glanced down at the open suitcase on the floor in front of me. "Aren't you excited for your final year at Hogwarts? We know that we are." He and James shared a knowing look at one another.

I glared in his direction. "Don't chide me, Black. Just because I'm younger than you doesn't make me a stupid git. I can tell that you two are up to something." I ran my gaze from Black's to my brother's own identical, hazel eyes. Brushing a strand of black hair behind my ear, I stood up.

"Mum told me to check up on you. Make sure you had your trunk ready," James said innocently, placing his hands up in surrender. "I wanted to make sure that you're doing well."

Snorting in disbelief, I turned to grab my text books from my desk. Normally, James had always been the classic overprotective brother. But, more often than not, I found it more annoying than anything else. After all, I had skipped a grade and ended up in the same year as James, anyway. Supposedly that called for more protection than normal in James' opinion. However, when he was paired up with Sirius Black; I was always the object of torment in the summertime. Of course.

Just as I turned around with my stack of textbooks in hand, Black bent down into my trunk. Picking up my journal, he asked with faux innocence, "Oh, what's this?" Her gaze flickered over to him and immediately her cheeks turned a bright shade of crimson.

Black had received the response he was looking for. A challenging smile grew on his face. "I see," he taunted whilst raising his brows at me, "There must be some very interesting thoughts in here..."

Without thinking, I made a quick grab for the journal; but Sirius was faster. He raised the book out of reach and grinned.

I glared up at him and spoke in a voice like dragon's breath, "Oh come off it, Black. You already got the response that you were looking for, so just give it back." I denied my urge to punch him, knowing that it would only result in myself either breaking a hand, pissing off James, or getting caught by Mum. Or some hellish mixture of all three. Rather, I opted for the classic baby sister pout.

I turned toward James with the most pitiful of expressions I could muster and whined, "Please, James."

I could see the conflict in his eyes. Utterly embarrass me (because he and I both knew that Black would willing tell the rest of the Marauders about whatever was in my journal). Or just leave me alone like a good brother should. I was praying that he would choose the ladder. But in a split second, my dreams were crushed. James' open mouth contorted into a wicked grin as he taunted, "I don't know. You did eat my last Cauldron Cake, Lizzy."

An argument was on the tip of my tongue when I noticed Sirius slip the journal into his jacket. At that moment, my heart skipped a beat. I watched in horror as James and Sirius ran out of the room. A split second later, I willed my feet to move. As I chased after them, the boys gleefully threw the journal back and forth through the hallway until they sprinted into James's room. Just as I reached the door, it slammed shut. I made a quick motion to grab the door handle, but my heart fell when I heard a distinct click and Black cackling.

I rapped on the door, yelling, "James!"

An innocent "Hmmm?" was the only response I received... besides the boys' obvious snickering.

"JAMES!" I exclaimed angrily, resting my forehead on the door. "Why are you two so infuriating?" I snapped. The room was silent. Are they reading it? I thought to myself. Suddenly, in the pit of my despair, a thought sparked in my mind. "Oh, James," I called out, my voice sickeningly sweet. Silent response. "You wouldn't want me to tell Lily about this, now would you?"

I smiled when I heard a rustle behind the door. Someone tripping over a chair. A groan. The door unlocked and swung open, causing me to step back in surprise but there was James at the door holding my journal. I grinned cheekily as James returned the leather-bound book to my hands. When I glanced up from the pages, I was greeted with my usual from Black: a very annoyed scowl. With an extra smile of satisfaction, I inspected the journal for any lost pages.

"Alright," I declared with finality after a full inspection of the journal. "Have a nice day you two."

Sirius scoffed at me, no doubt wanting to tell me to shove it; but there was no way James would ever allow that. On the other hand, James was looking at me with pleading eyes.

"Lizzy, you won't say anything about this to Lily, right?" he questioned, all seriousness in his voice.

I turned around and made my way down the hall. "You're lucky that I'm nicer than you."

I grinned at the crowd of people around the Hogwarts Express. I had always loved the process of getting on the train, seeing how much people had changed over the summer and seeing people that I had missed seeing so often. When I had finally pulled myself away from my parents, I made my way toward the express. I unloaded my trunk from the trolley and was in the process of loading it onto the train when I heard my name being called.

"Lizzy!" a familiar voice shrieked; but before I could turn around and greet its owner, I was pulled into a hug. Surprised, I stumbled backward and lost my footing, falling to the ground. I looked up to find Lily standing in front of me with a sheepish smile on her face.

"Damn Lil, chill out," I commented with a grin, still on the ground. She laughed, throwing her head back and smiling up at the high ceilings. Her vibrant green eyes crinkled at the edges, displaying her happiness clearly on her face.

"Sorry." She said, looking back over at me and offering a hand to me. "I just haven't seen you all summer! And I missed your freckled face!" She laughed again, asking, "How was your holiday?"

If anyone here was freckled it'd be her, especially after the summer holiday was over. I thought.

I rolled my eyes lightheartedly and smiled. I had always been very grateful to have Lily. She was very inviting when I'd been moved into her year nearly four years ago. I was pretty intimidating for a second year to get moved in with all of the third years, especially at that age. And it made it even worse to think that my older brother had been very popular in the Gryffindor house, whereas I tended to stay off onto the sides more. It was hard to make friends, but Lily had been more than willing to invite me to spend time with her and Marlene. And in the end, we all became extremely close.

I glanced over at my brother and his group of friends down the train. James was sat down on his trunk laughing and something Peter had done (it looked like Peter had tripped over an untied shoelace). Next to them, Remus leaned against the train, his lean figure relaxing against the scarlet metal as he flipped through a piece of parchment. And Sirius... Shit. He caught me looking. Shit.

I looked back over at Lily, running a hand through my mess of black hair. "It was alright," I began, "As good as it could be with two obnoxious teenage boys, two doors down the hallway all summer long." I gave her a look that must have explained everything.

I jumped upon hearing the sound of the train's whistle cutting through the white noise.

Lily took a step onto the train, giggling, "That reminds me, would you mind if we sat with James on the train. I haven't seen him all summer either." She raised her eyebrows hopefully.

"Alright, alright," I sighed theatrically, following after her. "Just don't make me sit next to Sirius."

Lily grinned, as she ushered me down the train. "How was he this summer?"

"Just as obnoxious as usual. You know he was constantly devising stupid little plans to annoy me... Like all summer long!" I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I'm just sick of it." I gave her a pointed look.

"I know what you mean," Lily said, placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

As the train began moving, I followed behind her. We only walked down one train car to find the boys sitting in one together. I was surprised to find the compartment very empty, only James and Remus sat across from each other. Shrugging, I sat down next to Remus. He smiled tiredly at me and spoke, "Hey, Liz. How are you doing?"

Remus was another person that I had been grateful to have around. I enjoyed his bookish nature and constant supply of sarcasm, and I really couldn't help but think he was more brotherly than my own older brother. Nonetheless, Remus had always welcomed me to events and been my partner in classes before I had adjusted to being in a whole new grade.

"I'm okay," I replied with a smile. "What are you reading?"

He sat up a little straighter, now towering over me. He raised his eyebrows slightly before speaking, "Well, James finally forced me to read Quidditch Through the Ages." He shrugged, "It's alright, not as bad as I thought it would be."

I smiled and was just about to say something when Peter and Sirius walked into the compartment. I glanced up to find that Marlene was there too, Sirius's arm wrapped around her waist. I cocked an eyebrow as he sat down next to James and Lily. He raised his gaze to meet mine for a second, and then quickly shifted to James, who appeared to be whispering sweet-nothings in Lily's ear. Sirius's looked over at Marlene.

Sirius and Marlene had been on and off for a while. When they were on, it usually didn't last very long before they would start yelling at each other. I had observed this for who knows how many years now. It was just a part of life in Gryffindor. But at the moment I was glad that they were on peaceful terms... for the moment.

I smiled at Marlene and Peter and looked out the window, admiring the landscape go by. There was something about being in the compartment with Sirius that put me on edge. I didn't particularly get along with him... at all. There was just something about him that made me really uncomfortable, or rather annoyed.

"So how's that journal treating you, Potter?"

I tore my eyes away from the landscape to look at Sirius. Shrugging and deciding to play it off, I retorted with a smile, "Wouldn't you like to know." I leaned back in my seat and ran a hand through my hair, looking back out the window. Take a hint. I thought to myself.

"What's in it anyway?" he asked, despite my clear bluntness.

I looked back over at him from the landscape. He ran a long-fingered hand through his hair and stared at me intently. I rolled my eyes. "What's it to you, Black?" I stared back out of the window, wanting nothing more than the conversation to be over. But I tensed up again when Sirius started again.

"I just want to know what all you write in there," he said, fake innocence taking over his voice. "You're always carrying it around with you everywhere, your nose buried in it. I'm just curious." His voice was growing more sly with every word he spoke. I narrowed my eyes to match his. At this point, everyone had stopped their own conversations and were listening in to ours.

I laughed mockingly and replied dryly, "Why are you always looking at that piece of parchment? What is it you always say..." I began rhetorically, "... you solemnly..." I could feel him glaring daggers into me, but I didn't want to stop. I glance around, nobody else was listening to us; so I pushed him a little further. "Come on, Padfoot. Do tell."

Sirius stood up roughly and left the compartment. The door to the compartment slammed shut, causing everyone to fall silent. I stared at the door with a judgemental glare. Go off and pout then. Huffing, I turned toward Lily.

"I think you should go apologize," James said, looking at me solemnly. His usual grin had been wiped right off.

"How do you even know I did anything wrong?" I questioned. "Why do you always blame me first?"

Remus sighed slightly. "James is kind of right, Liz. If you want to get along at all with Sirius, you need to be the first to step up and apologize. We all know that our friend is not the most humble of beings." Remus smiled slightly, his green eyes peered over at me softly.

But I remained set in my ways. "So?" I questioned. "Why does that mean I have to be? And he's not my friend." I looked up to see Lily and Marlene staring at me pleadingly. I sighed, glancing out the window. "Fine."

Peter leaned over and handed me a box of Bertie Botts. "He likes the strawberry ones," he stated.

Taking the box, I got up grudgingly and followed the way Sirius went down the hallway of the train, dragging my feet. I looked in nearly every compartment, unable to find him. I groaned this was starting to get really annoying. After a while, I felt like giving up. Maybe I could just go sit was Gideon and Fabian Prewett; we had been close friends before I had moved up a grade, not that we weren't friends in the moment.

Just when I finally came to the conclusion that I would go sit with the Prewett twins, I discovered Sirius sitting alone in a compartment. He was looking out the window, watching the countryside fly by. I groaned audibly, ignoring the strange looks I received from passers-by. Chewing on my lip, I mustered up the courage to knock on the glass door. He turned around and glanced at me dully and looked out the window once more. Great, just fucking great. I rolled my eyes and opened the door.

"Get out," he stated dryly, not even bothering to look at me.

Mental groan. I sat down on the empty seat.

He whipped his head around to glare at me. "What are you deaf?" he asked harshly. "I told you to leave."

This time I did groan. Why did I agree to do this? "Look," I said a little more severely than I had intended. "I don't want to be here. You surely don't want me here. But James said that I needed to apologize to you for whatever reason." Sirius sent me an annoyed glance. "So," I continued pointing my finger at him, "You need to come back with me to everyone else, and we'll act like everything is great. And, you'll pretend that you don't hate me."

Sirius continued to look out the window and ignore me. "OH FOR MERLIN'S SAKE! SORRY!" I blurted loudly. "Get over it! It wasn't like you haven't done the same thing to me for years now!" I huffed, jumping up off my seat.

I had one hand on the handle to the compartment when Sirius muttered condescendingly, "That's a really shitty excuse for an apology." I noticed the edge of his mouth turned upward ever-so-slightly. He looked at me from the corner of his eye.

My mouth dropped open. Is he serious? "You've got to be kidding me," I stated angrily, and I was appalled to find that he was actually laughing. "You're such a prick!"

He stood up from his seat and looked down at me, he had at least six inches on me. "Is that so?" His features were cool and collected.

I could feel my hand just itching to smack him.

"Yeah," I stated angrily. "You are!"

Sirius's mouth twisted into a smirk. His gray eyes watched me lazily like it was some kind of a game like he really enjoyed messing with me. He sat down again, stretching out across the seat and ignoring my angry comments.

"Are you going to sit down and shut up or can you just leave already?" he finally stated, peering over at me with a bored expression.

I frowned, really wanting to leave, but I weighed consequences and I knew Marlene would check in to make sure that Sirius and I were on good terms (or at least good enough terms to not be glaring at each other from across the table at dinner). And Lily would be somewhat disappointed if we started out the school year with Sirius and me already on wretched terms. AND James would be pissed if he had to deal with his litter sister arguing with his best friend... Yet again... What else was new?

I sighed, defying every bone in my body that told me to just leave the compartment altogether. With a grumble, I sat down across from Sirius and opened the box of Bertie Botts that Peter had given me. In my peripheral, I noticed Sirius turn towards me. Without warning, I stuck out my arm and offered him some. We sat in silence, eating Bertie Botts and staring out of the window.

"So are you going to come back to the compartment? Or am I stuck like this for the whole train ride?" I finally asked.

Sirius smirked, stilling looking out of the window. "I didn't hear a proper apology," he declared.

Kicking the wall of the compartment, I confirmed, "And you're not going to get one."

Sirius hummed quietly in response and laid down fully on his seat, facing me. After a while, he spoke, "So, in that case, while you're here, can you answer me this?"

I raised my eyebrows at him as if to say, Go on.

"How did you know about my nickname?"

I returned my gaze to the ceiling and focused on the light fixture of the compartment. "I may or may not have a particular aptitude for finding secret passageways in at Hogwarts. So it's really no struggle to overhear everyone's conversations, whether I mean to or not." I closed my eyes, beating my foot steadily against the wall.

Sirius hummed again and muttered, "Creep."

Before I could even think, a scoff escaped my lips and I sat straight up. "Are you fucking kidding me?" I asked. Sirius raised his eyebrows slightly in response. "You're the one who has a map that tracks everyone in the castle!"

Sirius's eyes widened as if he were surprised to know that I was aware of his map. But rather than yell or argue with me or even glare, he just relaxed back into the cushioned seat muttering, "Touché."

I looked over at my brother's best friend. The school's heartbreaker. Gryffindor's pranking king. The bane of my existence. I had to admit he could carry on an entertaining conversation, despite his being a total arse. I found myself smiling at his teasing nature, something I never thought I would do, ever. But.. his knowing smile was amusing somehow.

Sirius leaned toward me, elbow resting on his knee. "And how might one find these secret passageways in Hogwarts, anyway?" His eyes were steady until I noticed just a flicker of curiosity behind them.

I smiled smugly and returned, "Wouldn't you just love to know?"

Okay, I've been redoing this for a while. This story was previously called A True Gryffindor and then Delightful Chaos on my other fanfic account. But I decided to just redo it on this account and yeah...