Ebony laughed, and she wasn't the only one who did. The entire Gryffindor common room had burst into fits of laughter as James Potter, the absolute goob that he was, had managed to tangle both himself and his wand in one of the Gryffindor house tapestries that hung elegantly off the walls. He had been putting on some show of course, for non other than Lily Evans - something about it being destiny them beings chosen as Head Boy and Girl, and that fate demanded she go on a date with him. He didn't even get to properly finish before his flourishing and prancing had wound him up (literally) and he'd become one with the fabric.

Everyone was watching and laughing as James attempted to unravel himself - and of course only seemed to get himself more wrapped up in the darn thing - but Ebony was keeping an eye on Lily. She hadn't seen her friend in 3 months, and Ebony was so excited to be back at Hogwarts for her and Lily's final year. The welcome feast had just ended, and everyone had made there way up to the common room. It was in this time, when Ebony had had a chance to reunite with her best friend, that she'd noticed some changes in her demeanor.

Lily was watching James battle with the tapestry, and, like usual, she didn't appear to find the whole thing very funny. Arms crossed, one eyebrow raised, and then - and Ebony was sure she saw it before anyone else did - the corner of Lilys mouth twitched, and she smiled.

"Oh for pete's sake," Ebony heard Lily grumble half heartedly. James, who could neither see nor hear Lily continued to tango with the wall decor. "James. JAMES!"

James seemed to slow his movements down for a moment, "Lily! Do not fret. This tapestry is no match for James Potter! Nothing a little magic can't fix -" Ebony saw the outline of James wand arm underneath the dark crimson fabric begin to raise as he said this.

"No no no," Lily's eyes widened and she took a few steps forward, "No. No magic. You'll just bloody hurt yourself."

James scoffed, "Me? Hurt myself?! You doubt my magical abilities! I will show you -"

Lily had had enough of this, "If you stay still and put your wand down," she paused to breath, pinching the bridge of her nose as she thought, "then maybe - and I said MAYBE Potter - I'll let you take me on a date."

And this time James properly froze. If anyone had been looking at Ebony, they would have noticed she had too.

As if he was speaking through unmoving lips - of which he probably was - a frozen James Potter replied, "I think you will find I am no longer moving then."

The Gryffindor common room burst, yet again, into another fit of uncontrollable laughter as Lily moved forward and began to unravel James from his fabric cage. This time Lily Evans joined in.


"Dear Ebony,

We are less than a week into summer vacation, and I have received a total of 12 elaborately written, decorated, and signed love letters from - you guessed it - none other than James Potter. This imbecile seems to actually be under the delusion that he has a chance. Speaking of chances, he has none. Completely self centered. If love letters are suppose to be about professing your love and adoration to someone else, then I have no idea what these are. Unless he's professing his love to himself and his "handsome Quidditch skills". I am without a doubt that Sirius at least helped, if not wrote, a large chunk of these. I mean, who uses the word 'doohickey' in a love letter? (and you know exactly what he was referring to when he wrote that.)

Thank you, by the way, for your singular and completely normal letter. It brought with it some sanity through these confusing and troubling times."

Ebony emphasized every word as dramatically and comically as she could, performing it to her dorm mates as Lily sat on her four poster bed, face in the palms of her hand, shaking her head with both laughter and confusion. As Ebony finished reading, Lily glanced up at her and groaned.

"What have I done?" She looked both panicked and amused.

Ebony plonked herself down next to her best friend and through her arm around her fondly, "You've entertained his ego. Which is something I'd never have recommended doing, if you'd checked with me first."

There other roommates - Olivia, Rachel, and Autumn - all sat on their four posters in there pajamas, like Ebony and Lily. They were grinning and laughing themselves. Ebony knew they were all on the same page as her. After all, they'd all had to hear Lily complain about James for a larger part of their 6, and now going on 7, years at Hogwarts School. The fact that Lily seemed to be changing her mind was mind boggling to all of them.

It had also been mind boggling to James Potter. He'd been bright red and completely unable to converse properly upon reappearing from under the tapestry. Lily had mumbled something to him about 'their first Hogsmeade trip of the year' and 'he'd better be paying' before Sirius had come to drag him away. He'd just been nodding and staring at her in some state of shock.

"Oh darn," Lily leaned back against her pillows and starred up at Ebony nervously, "Eb, I think he may have finally got to me."

"Hmmm," Ebony cocked an eyebrow as she pulled herself off Lily's bed and walked back over to her own, making sure to place Lily's old letter back in her case. "At what point did that happen exactly?"

"I don't know!" Lily cried, "I was just standing there, thinking how absolutely annoying he was, like usual, and then suddenly it seemed endearing!"

"Being tangled in a wall fixture is endearing?" Ebony questioned comically, and she heard Autumn snort from the other side of the room.

Lily frowned to herself, "Well, not particularly," then she glanced back up at Ebony. "What harm could a date do, though? I mean, you've said it yourself. James Potter is certainly not a fuck boy. It's not like he's just trying to get into my pants - right?" She seemed generally lost.

"Anyone who pines after one person for over 6 years, and then turns beat red upon finally landing a date, is not trying to purely get into your knickers Evans - though I'm sure he wouldn't mind that at all." Eb winked at Lily, who turned scarlet and through her face back into the palms of her hands again.

"Oh, what have I done," Lily grumbled into her pillow.

"Already answered that one, sugar." By this point, Ebony was exacerbated with the topic. She pulled the covers of her own four poster over herself, and snuggled herself into the pillow. "We should thank you though, for making our first night back nothing short of interesting. People will already have something to gossip about tomorrow!"

Ebony just laughed as Lily groaned loudly into her pillow for the hundredth time.


Of course, Ebony hadn't been wrong. Lily had been mortified to find out that her upcoming date with James Potter - Quidditch captain and school heartthrob - was, of course, gossip worthy. Ebony found it hard to believe she'd be shocked by this. Anyone who was attractive, had an interesting love life, and/or was on one of the four Quidditch teams, was automatically flagged as gossip worthy. James Potter was Gryffindors captain, he was handsome, and he'd been pining after Lily for years, making this entire thing incredibly interesting. Made sense people would talk about it.

This story circulated first, quickly followed within the first week by Sirius Black and Gwen Preachers summer fling rumors. Ebony only had to wait 2 weeks before she started hearing her own name.

She'd had 2 summer flings she new the school body would be more than excited to hear about, especially considering one was with Ravenclaw Quidditch captain, Anthony Clearwater. She had actually been expecting him to be bitter, considering she'd practically shattered his heart, and had been prepared to do damage control for her reputation. Nothing nasty emerged, which was a relief, and Ebony was able to glide through the first few weeks of term with little to worry about socially.

Academically was a whole other ball game. She was still prepping for NEWTs, which were this year, and she did not have a light course load. Ebonys inability to choose between wandlore and healing as a profession had landed her in nearly every class imaginable to take at NEWT level. Luckily, she'd completed an internship at Ollivanders this past summer, and was beginning to conclude wandlore was what she wanted to do. This internship had actually become a topic of gossip in itself, since she'd shared it with Anthony Clearwaters younger brother, Oliver. Oliver was a 6th year, and, of course, half the school had surmised on there own that, after Ebony had finished with Anthony, she'd then fucked his brother, Oliver. Ebony found this absolutely hilarious - mostly due to the fact that she'd actually attempted to do just that but Oliver had been completely uninterested.

From hearing this line of school gossip, one might conclude that Ebony was not popular amongst her classmates. The exact opposite could be proven. Ebony was gorgeous - short, curvy, with medium length auburn hair, and large blue eyes. She was a Gryffindor chaser on the Quidditch team, she had a lot of friends, good grades, and was in good standing with all the professors. She participated in clubs and the school choir. She tutored the 1st-3rd years. She just also happened to have a lot of sex, and the school body liked to keep track of it. Ebony had concluded in her 5th year that secondary schools and high schools (magical or otherwise) were exactly like living inside a gossip magazine.

Ebonys closest friends were, of course, her dorm mates - especially a certain Lily Evans. She was close with people from every house - including some Slytherins, oddly enough. She'd even been friendly with the Marauders 4 - regardless of Lily's distaste for James in prior years.

It was funny to Ebony that, out of the 4 boys in her house and year, she hadn't slept with - or even kissed - a single one. Peter Pettigrew had absolutely no sex appeal, so she wouldn't have counted him. Remus Lupin was not her type, and he seemed to always be preoccupied or sick anyways. James Potter was, of course, infatuated with Lily Evans. That left Sirius Black, and, well, Ebony couldn't do anything with him either.


"Fuck you," Ebony was in fits of laughter again. It seemed the Gryffindor common room was the best place for that. Ebony, James, Lily, Remus and Sirius were all sat around the same set of couches by one of the many fireplaces. Remus was reading, James was attempting to hold civilized discussions with Lily, and that left Sirius and Ebony sat on the floor.

"I'm not lying," Black sniggered, "Just because all you heard about was Gwen doesn't mean she's all I got this summer. 9. I beat you by 2." He stuck out his tongue.

Ebony shoved him, and Sirius pretended to fall back dramatically, landing with an over exaggerated crash on the floor behind him, "I've been wounded! Prongs! It's assault!"

James looked over, amused, his eyes flashing between Ebony and Sirius before turning back to Lily. Whatever they were talking about, they were fully engrossed. Ebony fleetingly thought how cute they looked before she turned back to her victim.

"Abuse? You think that's abuse, Black? No, this is abuse." Ebony launched herself at Sirius, landing herself on his lying form with her full weight, effectively jabbing him in the stomach and lungs. This sort of behavior wasn't strange for them - they had spent 3 years on the same Quidditch team.

Sirius gasped in probably what was a mixture of mock and real discomfort, "You utter bitch!" He exclaimed. Grabbing Ebony around the middle, he shoved her hard against the couch to there right. Ebony used the momentum of his shove to land herself on the couch properly, crossing her legs and swishing her hair gracefully.

Black raised his eyebrow, "You trying your stuff on me?"

"Stuff, what stuff?" Ebony matched his stare with a smirk, before winking at him and causing both his eyebrows to shot upwards in what looked like an attempt by them to leave his forehead all together.

Sirius pulled himself into a sitting position on the floor below Ebony. He rested his arm on her thigh gently, giving her a comically calculated look. "If your making moves on my Winters, you know I'll be forced to make moves back. It is, unfortunately, in my nature."

"Sounds absolutely unfortunate and completely horrific. Lets not." Ebony laughed and Sirius smirked, removing his arm and moving to stand. He seated himself next to Ebony, slinging his arm casually around the back of the couch.

"Flirting with me is not horrific Eb, I'm offended you think so," Sirius's gray eyes laughed at her as the corner of his mouth twitched. He was so bad at pretending to be serious, Ebony thought, even for comedic effect.

"You must be doing something right if we're looking at your summer numbers alone. Maybe some of my own skill has rubbed off on you accidently." Ebony smilled cockily at Sirius.

"What skill is that? I'd absolutely love a live demonstration," Sirius was raising his eyebrow challengingly at her now.

"Oh, you wish," Ebony went to shove him again, but Sirius dogged out of her way. He looked like he wanted to laugh again - he always looked like he was about to laugh.

"Maybe I do wish," Black teased, "I'm sure I could learn quite a lot from you." He looked at her calmly.

So now they were flirting, Ebony thought.

"Oh, I'm sure you could," Ebony teased back, smirking, "But I'm not about to demonstrate my skills for you just to benefit your sex life."

"Oooo, someone's bitter they didn't get laid as much as me this summer," Sirius was unashamedly laughing again.

"Just because you had sex with more people doesn't mean you had more sex, so you can shut it," Ebony shot at him.

"Testy testy," Sirius wagged a finger at her, just as Lily and James seemed to be coming out of there confined bubble.

"Why does the conversations you two have always sound so vulgar," Lily mused from the opposite couch. Ebony turned and noticed that James had an arm wrapped around the back of the couch where Lily was sitting. Mind you, Ebony realised, so did Sirius, but Sirius and Ebony weren't sitting that close. They were close but not close close.

"Because, Evans," Sirius responded, "the best conversations are always the vulgar ones. What sort of boring vanilla conversations are you having?"

Ebony let out a small laugh at that, and Lily glared at her in fake anger.

"I think you only tune in for the vulgar parts anyways," Ebony jabbed, "We were actually just discussing how horrific it would be to flirt with Sirius Black, of which, I've concluded, it would be very horrific."

"Hey!" Sirius gave Ebony a decent shove that knocked her over. Shooting Sirius a defiant glare, Ebony arranged herself comfortably on the couch and shoved her legs across his lap.

"There. Now your my footstool. So, ha," It was Ebonys turn to stick her tongue out at Sirius.

"I usually am, love. That's nothing new." Sirius gave her a comical look before turning back to James and Lily. "What?"

James and Lily were fixing Sirius and Ebony with an odd look. It was a sensation entirely new to Ebony, having Lily and James unified by one emotion and facial expression. Usually they hosted the opposite emotions, and directed at each other.

Ebony decided to pry too, "Have we done something?"

Ebony watched their eyes flicker to each other, and she felt like she instantly knew where this was going. She new Sirius did too, because he shifted. Ebony decided to pull her feet off his lap and sit up properly.

"We were just trying to decide," Lily finally spoke, and she waved her spare quill at the two of them dramatically, "If you two...have had sex." She dropped the quill back down to her lap and squinted at their reactions.

And again, Ebony was surprised how unified both of their faces looked.

Ebony couldn't help but glance over at Sirius, and she was relieved to see he too looked like he was on the verge of laughing himself into hysteria. Unfortunately, looking at each other was the only push they needed, and before Lily and James could say anything else, both Ebony and Sirius were doubled over in fits of laughter.

Ebony recovered first, "No, no. We haven't." She breathed, trying to stop the giggling.

Sirius was shaking his head next to her to back her up, but of course he had to say something like, "Unfortunately for Ebony, no. She has not experienced the wonders of my sexual skill."

And Ebony went to shove him again.

Lily did not look convinced, or, at least, she looked confused by this response, "Why?"

Ebony scoffed, "What do you mean why?"

It was James's turn to finally chime in, but he was eyeing Sirius quizzically and not Ebony, "You've told me more than once you think she's hot."

Ebony was not surprised by this statement, since she was already aware of this, but she still raised her eyebrows and turned towards Sirius, "Why, Sirius, you never said! We must go fuck in your dormitory immediately!" Ebony made to jump over the back of the couch comically, which made Sirius chuckle and roll his eyes.

"She knows that Prongs. I'm also aware she thinks I'm inherently good looking as well," Sirius paused, eyeing James, "We still aren't going to have sex."

"That makes absolutely not sense," Lily decided.

"To you," I added, giving Lily a humored look that she tried and failed not to return.

"No, wait," James looked strikingly like Peter did when he was trying to write any sort of school essay - in other words, very daft - "You're attracted to each other, are both aware of this, get along very well, both have stupidly high sex drives, and you have no interest in having sex with each other?" James paused, letting that sink in, "I'm with Lily, thats down right confusing!"

Sirius and Ebony glanced at each other again, though this time because neither of them knew what to say. There was an odd silence between the four - techniqully 5, since Remus was still reading and occasionally looking up with a bemused expression on his face.

Sirius decided to break the silence. "As fascinating as this subject is," he leaned forward to grab his school bag, before standing and dragging his spare hand through his hair, "I'm going to head to bed." He bowed dramatically to James and Lily, and then turned to Ebony, made the stupidest face he could, causing her to laugh, winked at her, at headed towards the boys dormitory.


"I want an explanation!"

Ebony had left shortly after Sirius, thinking James and Lily would want to stay down in the common room to have some time just the two of them. Lily had followed her up shortly however, and was apparently in the spirit of demanding things.

"I don't know what to tell you, Lils," Ebony had thrown on her pjs and was sitting on her bed facing her friend, who stood in the doorway with her arms crossed. Ebony shrugged as she grabbed her brush off her nightstand and began to brush her hair slowly.

Lily sighed, dropping her arms, and strolled across the room to sit on Ebonys bed. "I mean," she started, "If I didn't think you were attracted to Sirius, then that'd totally be fine, but that doesn't really seem to be the case."

"Just because you are attracted to someone doesn't mean you try to sleep with them Lily!" Ebony feigned shock, and Lily snickered.

"Trueeee," She raised her eyebrow at Ebony, "For everyone but you that is."

Ebony pretended to be wounded, pressing her hand against her chest with a shocked expression, "Lily!"

"Oh please," Lily rolled her eyes and waved her hand at Ebony, "You flirt with everyone. You even flirt with Sirius! It's confusing."

Ebony shrugged, "If I'm honest," and she paused as she tried to piece together what she thought, "I'm not saying I wouldn't sleep with him. I just...can't?"

"WHAT?" Lily now seemed even more confused. "No, now wait, what? What does that even MEAN?"

Ebony laughed at the comical confusion on her friends face, "Because," Ebony explained slowly, "He's a player."

Now Lily paused and gave her a look that Ebony had only ever seen on McGonagall, "Now really, Eb, have you looked in the mirror?"

"Exactly!" Ebony exclaimed, "Neither of us can sleep with each other!" Ebony seemed to think that this was self explanatory, but Lily was still looking at her like she'd sprouted antlers. Ebony sighed dramatically, placing her brush back on the nightstand and flopping down onto her mattress. "Lily, if one of us caves to the sexual tension then that makes the other a better player."

Lily blinked, "Really? That's what this is about? Both of your egos?"

"Essentially," Ebony replied thoughtfully. She'd never really thought about this before. "It's kind of like an unspoken rule, I guess. Or maybe he just isn't interested. Either way, I'm not going to join the line of obsessed girls just to try and land him. He gets enough attention."

Lily shook her head, standing. Their other dorm mates had started to trickle in from the common room, and it was getting late. "He's interested," She commented, as she walked over to her own bed, "And so are you, I think. I know you well enough to know when you're attracted to someone."

Ebony shook her head, "He's good looking. Doesn't mean he's my type."

"He's exactly your type! You guys are practically the same person!" Lily seemed convinced, "Admit it, Ebony. You two are power couple material."

Ebony blanched, "Hold up, hold up! Just because you're going on a date next weekend with your ex-nemesis doesn't mean you get to start coupling me off with his best mate. Who said anything about relationships?! Don't come near me with that word!" Ebony pretended to gag over the edge of her bed, which Rachel and Olivia seemed to find very funny. Lily just shook her head scornfully.

"Alright, Ebony, but James and I are placing bets now. Don't make me lose money." Lily seemed done with the conversation, and with one last amused glance towards Ebony, she rolled over under her sheets and began to drift off to sleep.

Ebony thought this whole thing was comical. She scotted herself down in her own bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. The entire thing wasn't even worth her time. She already had several dates falling into place next weekend, and a mental list of classmates she wanted to at least makeout with by the end of this semester. Sirius Black wasn't anything Ebony wanted to be worrying about - regardless of how attractive he was, or how much of an apparent "power couple" Lily and James seemed to think they'd be. No, Ebony wasn't interested, and she knew Sirius wasn't either. She decided she'd ignore the small voice in the back of her head that said otherwise - that voice could fuck right off.

If Ebony had been in the 7th year boys dormitory within the past half hour, she would have witnessed a remarkably parallel conversation go down between James and Sirius. As both Ebony and Sirius lay in bed attempting to fall asleep, they found their minds drifting. Ebony rolled over, exasperated, and Sirius dragged his hand through his hair in frustration. They both couldn't help but wonder, "What if?"


I hope you liked the first installment of this new series! Leave a review letting me know what you think of the plot and my OC, Ebony Winters. I wrote so many drafts of this chapter, and, honestly, I'm only half pleased with how this turned out, but I'm hoping it'll get better as I develop this OC. If you have any ideas or theories, review and let me know! Don't forget to follow/favorite if you want to keep up with the story! -Caitie