Disclaimer: All things recognizable belong to J.K. Rowling, the only things I own are Elijah, Levana and Ariadne.
A/N This is pretty much outright AU, but only to a point where some happenings in the book are changed slightly.
Sirius turned the collar of his muggle jacket up against the wind, cigarette in between his lips lit just a moment earlier by shaky hands. He was not going to look back at St. Mungo's. He was fully aware that he should not be smoking, as he had quit about four years previously, as a promise to her, but war screws everyone up, and he knew for a fact that this particular promise was okay to break, as several days earlier he had caught her smoking too. And today, he particularly needed the nicotine.
"Diggle wasn't kidding when he said you practically lived here these days." Scowling, Sirius turned to face Rita Skeeter, most annoying journalist on the planet.
"What do you want Skeeter? If it's to ask how I escaped Azkaban, you can forget about it, I'm not telling anyone, least of all you." He was exhausted, emotionally, mentally, and physically. He hadn't slept properly in three years. Not since she left him. Not since the fight. Even less since Azkaban.
"That's all died down in light of recent events, you know that? I'm here to talk to the man who almost singlehandedly allowed the darkest wizard of all time to prevail." Rita replied taking a sip of coffee she had gotten in Muggle London.
Sirius paused and inhaled the nicotine he had promised her he'd stay away from before they joined the war. He directed his attention towards a group of punk rockers walking into the disguised entrance of St. Mungo's. He gestured towards them, "They're the ones you should talk to, they were much closer to her than I was." A brief expression of pain shot across his face after the lie left his mouth. They understood her in a way he couldn't, he could've said that, because they believed her when she said she wasn't a Death Eater. He groaned inwardly remembering that day as it was clearly on of his top ten worst days of his life, tying with going to Azkaban and losing his best mate.
"Listen Black," Rita said sharply, "you know damn well that I want to speak to the man who drove Ariadne Romswell to this." She then gestured towards the disguised magical hospital. "And we both know that she wants to be heard this time."
After thinking for a moment, Sirius crushed the remains of his cigarette with the heel of his boot. "She prefers Carters, stay away from us." Then he walked back into St. Mungos.
A couple days after Rita's failed attempt at getting Sirius to speak with her about Ariadne Carters, she turned to people that had witnessed firsthand the story unfold. The culmination of her efforts led her to Remus Lupin and Levana Hewitt, respective best friends of Sirius Black and Ariadne Carters. An invitation to tea with the lovely Ms. Hewitt in hand, Rita made her way up the steps to a charming bungalow in a muggle suburb.
"Thank you for the invitation." Rita said upon entering Levana's home. A coat rack hopped forward and nuged Rita's shoulder.
"No need to be alarmed, it just wants to take your cloak." After depositing her green clock on the animated coat rack, Rita turned and flashed the witch with dirty blonde hair a dazzling smile, before being taken aback by the scarring on her face and premature streaks of grey in her hair. The other witch paid no mind to Rita's out right staring and gestured gracefully towards the stairs. "Remus is waiting in the upstairs sitting room. We can talk freely there."
A tentative first step onto the stairs solidified Rita's resolve to find the story and she bravely made her way up the stairs. Following Levana down the hall into a room with a fireplace. A man was sitting in a plush armchair near the fire, grey marring the mousy brown hair on his head. He sat there oblivious to the entrance of the two witches as he was gazing into the flames, perhaps searching for insight into his own existence. Remus looked up at the two witches in the doorway before saying "Let's get to it then."
Levana sat on the floor, leaning against the base of the chair Remus occupied. Rita, after taking the seat across from him, pulled a yellow legal pad that she had developed a fondness for out of her magically enlarged bag, and carefully extricated an acid green Quick Quotes Quill. "So what exactly led to Ariadne's supposed leap to the dark side?" Rita started off.
Levana and Remus shared a glance before Remus replied with, "The cookies." Which caused all three to grin slightly. "Seriously though, if you want the whole story, we're going to have to start it a lot earlier than that."
"How much earlier?" Rita asked cautiously.
Levana pursed her lips and thought for a moment then said, "Oh about second term of our sixth year?"
Remus nodded in agreement before adding for Rita's benefit, "That's when Sirius realized she existed."
"Do go on." Rita encouraged her Quick Quotes Quill at the ready.
Ariadne and Levana walked through a first floor corridor on their way to Transfiguration. Ariadne wore her hair in loose brunette waves in contrast to Levana's dirty blonde hair that had been cut short. It was Ariadne that spoke first. "Father was absolutely furious when he found out why I was taking the courses I am."
"And exactly what were they again?" the blonde witch paused before continuing. "Oh yes, all of them. I'm in Ravenclaw and I'm not taking that many classes. What are you doing, having an academic pissing contest with Lily Evans?"
The brunette sighed and shook her head exasperatedly. "Ana that's besides the point. Father thinks my career choice is too dangerous for a woman."
"Well it's not like you're chasing dragons." Levana replied sarcastically.
Ariadne stopped walking and gazed thoughtfully at the space in front of her. "That's not a bad idea, maybe he'd have an aneurysm and die." Levana stifled a laugh. "What? At the very least I'd get away from him."
The two witches laughed as the entered Professor McGonagall's classroom, attracting the attention of four young wizards in the back row. The boy sitting in the middle left chair raised his head from the table top and shook his somewhat long dark hair from his face. A lazy grin slid into place as he regarded the two witches a couple rows in front of him. If only they were facing him… "Eh Prongs, you know who those birds are?" He elbowed the boy sitting to his left.
The wizard, now identified as Prongs, glanced towards where his companion was looking. "Nope." He replied popping the 'p' sound.
"You're both daft." Said a boy to Prong's left. "Surely after stalking Lily for what, four years, you'd be able to recognize her best friends outside of Gryffindor." The boy had mousy brown hair, a shabby appearance and was looking expectantly at Prongs.
"You can't expect him to know absolutely everything Moony." The chubby boy on the first wizard who spoke's right chimed in.
Prongs was distracted by a blur of red hair rushing down the aisle to take the open seat on the blond witch's left. With the space on the right of the blonde taken already by the brunette, only the space next to the aisle was open. "And there's my darling Lilyflower." Prongs said loudly enough for the redhead to her.
A look of rage crossed Lily's face as she turned in her seat to snarl at Prongs. "I am not your darling anything." Moony outright laughed at James Potter's expense. Just then, the final member of the class entered. It was a wizard, from Slytherin.
"I don't understand women, mate." James complained to his best friend.
"I wouldn't suggest asking Black for help." The newcomer sneered. "When has he ever managed a relationship longer than a quick shag in a broom cupboard?"
"Move on, Greengrass, wouldn't want you to get whatever disease that ruined my so-called life as a 'respectable' pureblood." Sirius growled back.
"Elijah! You're on time today." The brunette exclaimed happily. Elijah Greengrass looked towards her and smiled.
"Ariadne! You're not wearing your tie around your head." Elijah mocked as she grinned widely back.
"Shut up and sit your ass down Greengrass." The blonde demanded.
Elijah rolled his eyes and his grin softened to a playful smirk. "As you wish Lady Levana." And then he traversed the two rows to the open seat right next to Lily Evans.
Needless to say, James spent the entire lesson fuming.