Disclaimer: The Harry Potter world is the property of JK Rowling and all relevant copyright holders.
1
Pack up all my care and woe
Here I go, singing low
Bye bye blackbird
Where somebody waits for me
Sugar's sweet, so is he
Bye bye blackbird
-o0o-
"Who's the girl next to Evans?" James asked, and with a sigh Sirius looked to see who he was talking about. James' constant obsessing with Lily Evans was starting to tire him more a little. He gave her a quick look. Long black hair, about Lily's size, and he couldn't remember ever seeing her before. So he shrugged.
"I think she's in Ravenclaw," Peter said and the other three boys sighed at the same time.
"Thanks, genius," James said. "We can all see that she is considering the colors she's wearing. I was hoping for a little more information than that."
"Why do you even care who she is?" Sirius asked.
" 'Cause, Evans has been spending a lot of time with her. Think she's her new friend."
"And?" Remus asked and sat up. "Don't think snogging her is gonna get you any further with Evans."
"No..." James looked around, and his eyes fell on Sirius. "But Sirius snogging her might."
"I'm not gonna shag some girl just so you can get closer to Evans."
"You don't have to shag her, just... see her for a few weeks and that way..."
"No!"
"Sirius!"
"Why would that even work?"
"All girls fancy you. All you have to do is give her one of those smoldering looks, and she'll follow you around like a little puppy, introducing you to her friends."
He'd never had problems finding girls, and he'd done it now and then, not like he was a virgin.
"I'll find out her name, her schedule, and you'll invite her to Hogsmeade next weekend trip," James said and he was already on his way.
"You're gonna chat up a girl you're not even interested in just so he might get closer to Evans," Remus said with an amused smile while looking at Sirius.
"It's not gonna work anyway, I'll let her down easy and it'll all be good and he'll be off my back for a while." Sirius laid down in the grass with a smile on his face. "And he'll owe me a favor."
It wasn't exactly fair. James had done more for him than anyone he'd ever met and that summer, between his fifth and sixth year, he'd even moved in with James' family. They'd practically adopted him to help him stay away from his own horrid family. So no matter what he said, he knew that if anyone owed anyone a favor, he was in James' debt rather than the other way around.
He turned to Remus again."You know who she is, don't you?"
"Sure," he said with a smile. Since he was a prefect along with Lili, he was the one who knew her best. To James' dismay, he didn't give anything up. "But I'll leave the fun to you two."
"Yeah. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun," Sirius muttered.
-o0o-
Two days later, James sat down next to him in the Great Hall during breakfast, dropping a parchment in front of him.
"Her schedule. Her name is Evelyn McHale, sixth grader like us, half-blood, and from what I could tell, quite pretty so it won't be that much of a task for you to have fun with her for a couple of weeks. She's also very good at Astronomy and Potions, which you might find useful," James said with a smile. Sirius wasn't that good at any of those things. "And she takes Muggle art."
"Muggle art?"
"Yeah. So do your best Mr. Charmer."
He looked at the parchment. "Alchemy?"
"Yes, that's how she met Evans, I think."
"You do realize that this might not work."
"It'll work." James started to shovel food into his mouth with a satisfied grin. "I know it will."
"What if she has a boyfriend?" Remus asked with a smile playing on his lips.
"She doesn't."
Sirius simply shook his head and shrugged again. He'd give it a try, it would probably go to hell, but at least he'd given it a shot, and James would get off his back about it. Besides, the full moon was coming, they'd have a nice run in the woods, and he'd feel better again. That was something to look forward to.
-o0o-
Two days later he saw her, or the girl he thought was her, in the library, alone by a table, and he sat down opposite her.
"Are you Evelyn McHale?" he asked and fired off a smile, which was completely useless because she didn't even look up from her book.
"No, I'm not," she answered and kept taking notes.
He took a closer look. "Oh, I... I thought you were." He was pretty damn sure that this was the Ravenclaw girl he'd seen with Evans.
"I'm Evelyn Saunders, I was however named after Evelyn McHale." She still wasn't looking up from her notes.
"Oh..." He cleared his throat and searched his mind. "She... wasn't she the witch who... she invented something."
He had not fucking idea who Evelyn McHale was, but given that this was a Ravenclaw girl, and it wasn't unusual that the house you belonged to was the same as your parents did, and Rawenclaws had a history of being clever and invent stuff—it didn't seem that farfetched.
"No. She jumped from the observation deck of the Empire State Building in New York."
"She could fly?" He was really confused.
"No. She couldn't. She landed on UN limousine parked on the street, had her picture taken." She slammed her books shut, and for the first time she looked at him. She had big, almond shaped eyes, very blue and an amazing mouth. "I'm named after, what is considered, the most beautiful suicide in history." And then she took off.
Sirius was dumbstruck. Who named you daughter after a suicide? He kept looking at her and noted that she had very nicely shaped legs. In general, she was very pretty and snogging a little with her didn't seem as that much of a task all of a sudden.
-o0o-
He found her again the next day, and this time he decided to appeal to her intelligence. That always did the trick with the Ravenclaw girls.
"Evelyn, just the girl I was hoping to meet."
"Really?" she asked with an amused smile and raised eyebrow. "Why is that?"
"I heard you're good at Potions, and I'm currently... lacking, a bit. Kinda wondered if you'd give me a few private classes."
"Lacking?"
"Yeah, was hoping you'd be able to help me." He fired off the smile that tended to get the girls a bit swoony.
"Cut the act, Black!" she said and that girly smile she'd had was completely gone. "What are you really after?"
"What?!" he said and tried to sound indignant. "What do you mean?"
"You don't need private lessons, so what are you really after? If it's just to get into my knickers, I'd suggest giving some other girl chocolate or something. Or that smile, I'm sure there's girls who falls for that... nasty stuff."
"Nasty?"
"Yes. Some other girl, 'cause there is no way in hell you're getting into my knickers. I wouldn't even let you into my car. That I don't even own."
"Car?"
But before he managed to collect himself, she was already on her way.
"Hang on! Evelyn!"
"No! I know what kind of a guy you are, and I'm not interested. Really not!"
"And what kind of a guy am I?"
"The kind of guy who invites a girl to Hogsmead, have some fun, possibly some shags over the next couple of weeks, and then you're done."
To be fair, he'd done that, but he wasn't that bad, and it wasn't his fault that girls threw themselves at him. He was just a guy, he had a dick and on occasion he liked to use it. So he got a bit pissed.
"Hey! I'm not that bad and that's hardly fair of you. Judging me like that."
She turned around and glared at him. "So this isn't a lame opening to invite me to Hogsmead?"
He sighed. "Yeah, but... It's not just to shag you, I'd like to get to know you."
She studied him and took a step closer. "Get to know me?"
"Yeah. Hang out, spend some time with you. Stuff like that."
She kept studying him, and then she stared at him. "Oh come on! Is this about Lily?" she asked and when he almost swallowed his tongue, she looked furious. "Merlin's beard! This is really a new low from you guys! I can't believe you. You'd... chat me up just so I'd introduce you and James to Lily. That's... disgusting!" she yelled and started to walk away. When he tried to step in front of her she pushed him away.
"Evelyn!"
"No! Really! That's... what the hell is wrong with you? Using people like that! I'm a person, I have feeling, and you just hurt them."
He watched her stomp off, and he really felt like a class A ass.
-o0o-
He found James in the Great Hall, doing some homework and sat down next to him.
"Scamming a highly intelligent Ravenclaw might not have been our best move," he said.
"What?"
"It took her about five minutes to figure out what I was doing, she's pissed..."
"By all rights," Remus interrupted him with a laugh.
"Yeah," Sirius agreed. He was sort of forced to, because Remus had a point. "And she's probably gonna tell Lily, and... you can figure out the rest."
"How did you blow it that bad?" James turned around and the all drew a breath when they saw Evelyn come towards the Gryffindor-table. She leaned over next to Lily. "Oh! This is bad," James muttered.
"Yeah..." Sirius agreed.
Lily looked up, straight at them and starred daggers at them. She slammed her books together, strode over to them and slammed her books next to him and James.
"You two are the most disgusting, horrible and... mean people I've ever met. Shame on you!" And then she took off, followed by Evelyn.
Remus leaned over the table towards them. "I think you blew that one."
"You think?" James said with a deep sigh.
-o0o-
Sirius went to Hogsmead without a date the following weekend. He saw Evelyn inside the quill shop. He debated with himself for a while and finally decided to go inside. She sighed loudly when she saw him.
"What?"
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. You were right, it was low and... mean and whatever else it was you called it."
"It was Lily, actually. Think she labeled it as disgusting and horrible," she said with a sarcastic smile. "I'm sure I could think of a few other things to call it. Like... abominable, loathsome, creepy..."
He couldn't help it, he laughed. "Very impressive. That's a lot of synonyms."
She seemed to relax a little and even smiled. "So why are you really here, this time?"
"It really was to apologize. I saw you through the window and... figured I owed you that."
She picked up her package, put a few coins on the counter for the lady behind it. A lady who smiled at him and winked.
"Well. You've apologized. Thank you for that. If you excuse me, I'm going to meet Lily, and I'm sure you understand why she's not very keen on seeing you."
"Yes, I can see why."
He watched he leave and realized he'd done that quite a few times—watch her leave, and each time he was a little more fascinated by her. And when she, this time, gave him a smiling glance over her shoulder, he knew he had a big, rather silly, smile on his face.
"You should buy her a gift, as an apology. I know exactly what she'd like."
He turned around and looked at the short, chubby woman behind the counter. "Really?"
"Yes, I do."
Evelyn was having breakfast while reading a book about famous muggler artists. Being a half-blood with a muggler dad who had been the one who raised her, she didn't need it, per say, she just enjoyed it. She'd always enjoyed drawing and when she found out she could take a class in muggler art, she'd done it. She'd taken the one in wizard art as well, but actually enjoyed regular art better.
When and owl dropped a big, heavy package in front of her, she thought for a second it had been a mistake, but then saw her name on it and opened it.
It was an art set, with pencils, watercolors, brushes, ink, quill—the full set. She'd been eying it at Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop for months, maybe even years, but had considered it too expensive. She picked up the card and opened it. "I really am sorry" was all it said, but she knew who it was from and looked up towards the Gryffindor table. Sirius wasn't there.
She picked up her things, including the art set in its beautiful wooden box and went to find him. He was sitting underneath that tree, the one they were often sitting by, looking at girls passing and when he saw her, he smiled, got up and met her.
"Why?" she asked.
"I think the card was pretty self explanatory," he answered and stopped a few steps away from her. "The lady at the shop suggested it, she said you'd been looking at it a lot. It might have been that she just wanted to sell..."
"No," she interrupted him. "I have."
"Good."
"Well... thank you."
"That all?"
"I'm not letting you into my knickers just 'cause you bought me art supplies."
He laughed. "I didn't expect you to. Paint me something instead," he said and turned around to go back to his friends.
The box was getting was too big to carry around the full day, so she went back to the Ravenclaw tower to stash it by her bed. She couldn't help herself and opened it again. It really was beautiful, and she happened to know exactly how much it cost. She'd been pining for a really long time and had been saving up. Actually getting close to being able to buy it without ruining herself in the process. He must really be sorry or really want to help his friend getting closer to Lily.
-o0o-
Lily was very practical about the gift. "You got it, be happy about it, but don't let it ruin your judgement."
"I'm not going to," Evelyn said. "But it did cost a lot. I mean... I've been saving for ages. And it's beautiful."
"So... draw him a picture of a few naked women, and I'm sure he be thrilled."
Evelyn laughed. "I'm not gonna do that!" She looked at Lily. "How long has James been chasing you?"
"I don't know," she shrugged. "It started to get really annoying last year. This year it's been more in the line of what he did with you. Sort of sneaking around the back way."
"And we hate him—because?"
"He's and arrogant asstwat. Hexes people left and right, just generally messing with people because he can and... so smug and annoying. Not even mentioning he's shagged every willing girl in the school."
"Those are good reason," Evelyn agreed. "One of them seems okay though. The one with lighter hair... Remus, is it?"
"Yeah. He's okay. At least not extremely annoying. You know him?"
"We had a few classes together during our fourth year. He was away a lot."
"Yeah. Think it's his mom who's sick or something."
Later that night Evelyn started to paint something for Sirius. It wasn't a naked woman. She would've been able to do that, but didn't want to give him the satisfaction. Instead she did a painting that was more typical to her usual style. It took her a couple of days and instead of handing it over, she went up to the owl tower and sent it to him. Just for the heck of it.
He found her the next day in the library.
"Wanna tell me what that was?"
"A mechanical butterfly."
He looked at her. "I'm trying to figure out what that implies."
"Nothing," she said with a shrug. "I just like doing things like that."
"Okay," he said and sat down on the other side of the table. "I liked it. It was really nice."
She didn't answer, she had no idea what to say and instead nodded. He sat in silence for a while and then smiled. It was a very annoying smile, because he looked incredibly good when he did it.
"Soooo... Evelyn, what are the chances I can convince you to see me again? Not because of James or Lily, but because I'd like to."
"I'd say slim to none."
He chuckled. "I'll take slim since I think they were non-existing just a few days ago. I guess I'll just keep trying to wear you down."
She eyed him cautiously and was annoyed when she realized that she would like to see him again. Or more... start seeing him. Or something like that. But she was still not sure why he wanted to. Since he had basically said that he'd keep asking her, she assumed she could wait until he asked the next time and try to make up her mind about what she really wanted until then.
"Well, I'm sure you know where to find me."
"I'd say I can find you whenever I like," he smiled and got up. "Until next time."
"Next time," she answered and turned her attention back to the book.
-o0o-
"Would you loath me if I agreed to... see him," she asked Lily.
"Sirius?"
"Yes. He's... I'm not sure what he is."
"Playing you?"
"Yeah. That's probably what he's doing," Evelyn said with a sigh and looked at her friend. "I should probably stay the hell away."
They were lying on the grass by the lake. Evelyn on her belly, drawing, and Lily on her back reading a book. The book was currently resting on her stomach, and she looked at Evelyn.
"What is it that is starting to change your mind?"
"He's... persistent, and by now he knows I'm not going to introduce you to him or suggest a double date."
"Good, because I wouldn't agree to either of those things."
"I know." She laid in silence for a while and then turned over to her back as well. "I don't know... it's probably stupid of me."
"Maybe, but you might get a nice shag out of it. I've heard he's very good."
"That's not gonna happen!"
Lily just laughed. Evelyn was still a virgin, she had been to dates, but generally hadn't been all that impressed with the guys. She knew Lily was a virgin as well, so the comment was obviously meant just as teasing. On the other hand, it was a warning as well. Guys like Sirius expected that when they were 'seeing' a girl, and she wasn't prepared to do it. Not... with someone like him. Someone who it didn't mean something to.