Circle of Friends
*Chapter One*
by Ashley (Hype)
NOTE: This is a relatively long series, but it will be worth your while...BTW, it kinda starts at a rush, but it gets better.:)
Sirius Black has been around women since January 13, 1966, the day he had been brought into the world, or more precisely, into Dublin, Ireland. His mother and three older sisters raised him along with his little sister, Marreline, without the help of their father, Conor Black. Conor Black was a wizard with "the curse of the Irish," or more commonly known as a drinking problem. Conor, like many others, was a large supporter of the Irish Quidditch team. One day, while under the influence of Bergen`s Fire Whiskey, he attempted the Wronski Feint and plummeted to his death.
This devastated the Black family. However, Sirius was only two at the time of the accident and his younger sister only six months old, which left them to be cared for by four women. Well, in Sirius`s case, perhaps fifty or so women later in his life. You see, Sirius was a womanizer and one creative little devil, as his mother, Angela Black, learned early on as he progressed through his childhood....
The smell of freshly-baked sugar cookies wafted through the air and found young Sirius Black`s nose. Almost immediately, his mind began to form a plan on exactly how to make those cookies his...
Sirius skidded into the kitchen, the soles of his shoes screeching against the tile floor. "Quick, mother! The Minister of Magic just landed in our back yard! He demands to speak to you!"
Angela stood there, arms folded across he chest, her face dubious.
"You go on out!" Sirius continued desperately, flailing his arms about in the air. "I`ll guard the cookies!"
Angela stood still, looking down at her frantic son.
"Quick! Hurry!" he exclaimed, but to no avail. He knew she wasn`t buying this act again...
"Si, just how stupid do you think I am? The cookies are for after dinner."
Sirius sighed and slumped away from the kitchen. He was bored of staying home all day. Staying home in Ireland...And cookie-less, at that....
In fact, it took him for more years to convince his mother and sisters to move to England. It took hours of long and drawn-out conversations, which was unmeasurably grueling to a wide-eyed eight year old mischief-maker, to convince them that England would indeed be better for the lot of them. None the less, he convinced them. On a cold and bitter morning, the Blacks packed their belongings and set off for England. Little did he know, England would be where his life truly began.
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Now ten, Sirius wandered through the muggle village near his English flat, which was crammed with various shops, cafes and people, his messy jet-black hair occasionally falling into his blue eyes. He was looking for his kind, the wizard folk. They weren`t too hard to find in a muggle crowd, or in any crowd for that matter. Most of them wore odd-colored robes and were accompanied by owls perched upon their shoulders, hooting happily. However, much to his great disappointment, he was not having much luck.
Attracted by a candy shop`s display in the window, Black sauntered into the store, his eyes already feasting upon the assortment of sweets. That was when he saw him. In the furthest corner of the store, a boy about his age was madly shoving candies into his pockets while the owner of the shop was lazily reading a comic book. Although, this was no ordinary boy. He was a wizard. Sirius could tell easily by the dark blue robes and the snowy owl who looked over his shoulder disapprovingly. Sirius smiled and walked over to him.
"Hey," said Sirius, making the boy nearly jump out of his skin. The boy stood guiltily, his mouth opened slightly from shock. Surely he thought he would be punished. Si, however, had other plans. "So you`re one too?"
The boy blinked, still staring at him with a shocked face. "Huh?"
"I asked, are you one too?"
The boy shifted uncomfortably, from his situation or from the weight of all the candies, which were sticking out at odd angles from under his robes, he did not know which. "Er..One what?"
"You know," Sirius began, leaning toward the boy as to not be overheard. He whispered, "a wizard."
If it were at all possible, the boy`s eyes grew wider. "Wha... how... how did you...you..."
"I`m one too," explained Si simply.
A look of relief washed over the boy`s face. "Och! You scared the be jesus out of me! I don`t think I`ve seen you before. What`s your name?"
"Black. Sirius Black. But you can call me Si," replied Sirius, holding out one of his hands to greet him.
"Oy, the name`s James Potter. I reckon you`ll be calling me James, seeing that I have no nickname," James said with a grin, shaking Sirius`s outstretched hand. Sirius and James laughed and started walking out the door, or more accurately, running out the door. As soon as James took one step, the sweets that had been stuffed up in his robes fell, flooding the floor with hundreds of candies. They exchanged quick glances before dashing out of the store, the owner`s angry voice howling behind them. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
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Sirius and James entered the Black threshold, finding Marreline and a red haired girl playing a muggle game of Exploding Snap. The red haired girl raised her head, her eyes lingering on Sirius, then straying to James. At the sight of James, she instantly stuck out her tongue, as if on habit, scowled, and went back to playing the game.
James looked madly at Sirius, why, Sirius did not know, and stormed off to Sirius`s room, Sirius following reluctantly behind him. Once there, James slammed the door behind them, shaking the pictures hanging on Sirius`s wall.
"What is she doing here?!" roared James.
Sirius was extremely confused at this point. "Who? My sister?"
"LILY EVANS IS YOUR SISTER?!" James howled, his face turning red from anger.
"What?" Sirius asked, dumbfounded.
"Yeah...That`s what I`m thinking about now, save I would have committed suicide by now if Lily was my sister!"
"Lily? Lily who?"
"Lily! Your sister, Lily!"
"I don`t have a sister named Lily," Sirius began, holding out his fingers and ticking them off as he counted his sisters. 'Let`s see, there`s Flora... Rosemary... Thyme...and Marreline. No Lily there..."
"Erm... So Lily isn`t your sister?"
"Uh...Who is Lily, anyway?"
"The nasty little brat downstairs..." James began, scrunching his button nose up in disgust. "I hate her. Always have and always will."
"Why?"
"Because she`s a pesky little know-it-all brat that will go into Slytherin!"
Sirius Black rolled his eyes, doubting all of this was true. She seemed nice to him... After all, she had only stuck out her tongue at James, not him. But then again, nearly every girl seemed nice to him...
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The feuds between Lily and James went on at a steady pace as they neared entering Hogwarts for the first time. Sirius truly did not see what was so bad about Lily Evans. In fact, he had somewhat befriended her, though he kept their friendship hidden from James, who would surely explode if he knew that his best friend had befriended his worst enemy.
"Si," Lily began, looking up from her stack of books, "why does James hate me?"
Sirius well recalled the exact words James had told him when he had asked the same question. He shook his head mentally, deciding that she wouldn`t take the news well. "I don`t know, Lil."
"Oh...okay. Well, what do you want to do now?" she asked, snapping her copy of Hogwarts: A History shut.
"I don`t know... Having fun would be nice," Sirius said sarcastically, knowing that Lily would never agree to that.
"Okay!"
Sirius nearly fell off his bed at her words. Lily just didn`t strike him as the person who liked to have fun. James, on the other hand, was an extremely different story... "Er... You do?"
"Oh, honestly, Si. I know how to have fun!"
"You do?"
Lily was starting to look angry. Sirius shivered, remembering the last time she had gotten angry. You see, Lily had quite a temper. If anyone thought James`s anger was anything, multiply it by ten, square it, multiply it by ten again, cube it and add and thousand. Roughly, you would end up at about one fourth of her anger. It surprised him to no end that Lily did not leave a trail of wounded victims, or at least not often, in her wake when she went on a "raging rampage," as James and Sirius referred to her outbursts. He almost laughed right on the spot, pitying her future boyfriends. She sure would keep a tight chain around their necks.
"Okay! I believe you, Lil! I believe you!"
Her face relaxed and she smiled. "Let`s go spy on Potter!"
This time, Sirius did fall off the bed, but caught himself with his arms before his face hit the floor. "WHAT?!"
"You heard me."
"Damn...I was hoping I was having a delusion..."
"Well, no such luck, Mr. Black. Let`s go," she said, offering her hand to help him up. He took it and got to his feet, making him stand a head or so taller that Evans.
"Now?"
"SIRIUS CORNELIUS BLACK!"
"Yes, ma`am. Whatever you say..."
She smiled sweetly up at him, perhaps thinking something along the lines of ' sucker.' She took his arm and dragged him out of his own room and out of his flat, onto the grassy field that was his front yard.
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They walked all the way to James Potter`s house, which was a rich estate at the edge of the town, complete with its own Quidditch field, magical gardens and lake. Sirius walked up to the front gate confidently, accustomed to the splendor of the large estate. When he reached the iron gate, a butler greeted him.
"Welcome, Master Black. You will find Master Potter in the fencing room. A Russian fencer has come to challenge him. Master Potter is in the process of winning as we speak. Or shall I say, "Getting Mediaeval on his ass?" That`s what you refer to it as, am I correct?"
Sirius grinned and nodded while Lily giggled behind him.
"Very well, then. Would the young mistress care to be escorted to the door?" the butler asked, turning his head to Lily. Lily looked terrified at the very idea of being escorted by anybody over fifteen. Sirius chuckled a bit as Lily Evans shook her head furiously, her green eyes wide and unruly red curls flying every which way.
The butler smiled curtly, seeming to understand. "Very well, miss. I trust the two of you will have fun?"
"Yes, Jeeves. We plan on it," Sirius rushed, getting a bit irritated at the butler`s bantering. Lily grinned mischievously at Sirius, which, perhaps, sent the wrong message to good ole Jeeves, for he smiled and nodded, saying, "I see."
Lily giggled and took Sirius`s arm and started towards the estate`s door. They could distinctively hear the butler mumble, "Kids today... I swear..." It was all they could do to keep from bursting with laughter.
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James was, as Sirius would say, getting mediaeval on the Russian`s ass. And, much to his dismay, sweat was pouring down his back. As this was a formal match, he had to wear his formal fencing uniform, which he absolutely loathed. The material was sticking to him, forcing him to put more effort into his motions, though it appeared as if he was moving along quite nicely to the spectors of the match.
Ah, the spectors. He had been surrounded by them since he was born. Of course, it wasn`t as if he did anything special. His family was extremely wealthy and an extremely respected family, regarded as the tops of the wizarding society. So naturally, he had people breathing down his back twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. If it were at all possible to have another day or hour, James was quite positive they would breathe on them as well.
The Russian challenger, Marcus Chinoviski, thrust his sword quickly at Potter`s chest. James avoided it, quickly turning to the side, only to be charged at again by Chinoviski. This move did not in anyway help Marcus, for it only made James Potter more grumpy then he currently was. Potter, who had been practicing his new move, swished his sword in a sideways motion, bring the side of it to Chinoviski`s wrist, causing the sword to fly out of the challenger`s hand and across the black marble floor, clattering as its metallic surface skidded a good seven feet away.
Marcus Chinoviski was rendered without a weapon. The two boys stood for a brief moment, staring into each other`s eyes before dashing madly across the floor to retrieve the fallen object. James, however, was the quicker of the two, for he dived through midair, landed next to the sword and grabbed it quickly. He jumped to his feet in an instant, bringing one tip to the sword to Marcus`s throat, the other to his chest. The Russian gulped nervously. "Game over," said James in a low voice, as though he was growling. The crowd burst into applause, giving him a standing ovation, as they always did.
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Lily, hooked arm in arm with Sirius, nearly waltzed right into the Potter Estate, knocking a second butler over in the process.
"Oh...I had no idea he with this rich!"
"What does that matter?" asked Si, who had never really taken in the surroundings of James`s house. Lily just laughed at his blank face.
"So, how are we going to do this?" Lily asked, twirling a lock of her curly red hair around her index finger. Sirius stood there, staring down at her in a near trance-like state. She looked so adorable when she did that. How could James hate her so much? He thought, looking down into her almond-shaped brilliant green eyes. It just didn`t seem possible...humanly, even... to hate a creature like Lily Evans.
"Hello? Sirius? SIRIUS?!"
Sirius was shaken, literally, back to his consciousness.
"Are you okay?"
"Uh....yeah...I`m fine."
Lily raised an eyebrow and looked at his curiously. Deciding that he was indeed back to the Sirius Black she knew, mischief glinted back into her eyes. "Show me Potter`s room! I`ll hide there... say, in the closet... and you go find him and bring him to his room. Start talking... Talk about all the good stuff. You know, girls...embarrassing moments... is he gay?
"WHAT?!" Sirius screamed, causing a maid to look at him, completely startled out of her wits by his outburst. Sirius couldn`t believe his ears at the last thing she had said.
"Well, it was just an idea..."
"JAMES POTTER? GAY?! What would that make ME?!"
Lily grinned. "His sex toy, of course."
"Lil! I`m ELEVEN years old! Not eighteen!"
"Well...You never know, Si. You just never know..." Lily found Sirius`s reaction quite amusing, watching his black hair sticking up at all ends, his frantic gestures of frustration. She tried not to, but a giggle escaped her throat.
Sirius huffed a bit and started down a stone corridor, taking longer strides than necessary, muttering the whole way, "I am NOT gay...I am NOT gay... I am NOT gay..." He knew that he wasn`t, but just saying it out loud made him fell better. Lily quickened her pace and scuttled along the endless corridors and stairways.
They reached James`s room some twenty minutes later and walked in. Lily turned to Sirius quickly and grabbed his upper arms, looking up into his dark blue eyes. "You know the plan, right?"
"I am NOT gay."
"Si, shut your yap. I was joking!"
Sirius was relieved beyond explanation. The truth was, he was as far from gay as you could get. He worshiped women. "Thank you GOD!"
Lily suppressed a smile, then turned serious. "This is a vitally important mission, Black."
"How is it that you can make everything a vitally important mission?" Sirius asked, remembering the time he found her raiding his kitchen refrigerator for large quantities of food. Lily had been looking for chocolate by the pound, for it was her favorite sedative choice of food. She had just finished off a fight with James and was terribly upset and angry, come to think of it. She was making something she called "Chocolate Stuff", which had about as many calories as there were people in the world. None the less, she had eaten two or three pans full of it, claiming it was a "vitally important mission".
"Si, it is important to me. I need to know all the dirt in his life," she grinned. "Preferably if he is gay and if so, who is he seeing?" Lily drew the back of her hand to her forehead and mocked a reporter in an overly-sappy tone, "Our readers simply must know!"
Sirius laughed. It was true, James was quite the socialite. The public eye had kept a close watch on James Potter since the day he was born, July 31, 1965. "What ever you say, Miss Evans..."
Lily gave a distinctive nod before shooing him out the door, closing it behind him.
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James Potter lowed the swords from the challenger as his parents rushed towards him from the side of the room and dragged him off for a picture or two for Witch Weekly. As it turns out, at age eleven, James Potter is quite an eligible bachelor.
"Mr. Potter, what were you thinking during this fight?" asked one reporter.
James personally thought that the answer was rather obvious. "Er...win."
"James! What did you think of your opponent?"
"Well, I never really got to meet him, actually. I just fenced with him..."
"James Potter! Do you have a girl in your life?"
"Who? My mother?" he asked, his head beginning to hurt from all the commotion about him. However, the reporters laughed and smiled, saying things like, "He`s so adorable!" "That kid has quite the sense of humor!" and so forth. That`s when the questions began to get a little out of hand for his taste. He tried to answer as many as he could before he became extremely irritated.
"What`s your favorite kind of cookie?"
"Erm... Chocolate chip."
"What kind of shampoo do you use? Our readers must know!"
"Uh... The blue stuff." Again, the audience laughed, though he had no clue as to why they did.
"What exactly is your shoe size?
"No comment."
"Is it true that you will be joining Hogwarts this fall?"
"Most definitely!"
"Who is your best friend?"
"Sirius Black."
Sirius`s ears perked up at the mention of his name over the crowd of hysteric and adoring fans of James Potter. Sirius, being no midget, looked over the heads of the crowd and called, "OY! JAMES!"
James turned his head and spotted Sirius, who was waving his arms about frantically over the crowd. He grinned and made his way over to his best friend, reporters and admirers following in his wake. Grinning, James clamped a hand on Sirius`s shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Cover your ears, Si. You`re about to get your first taste of fame." Sirius looked at him in terror as James opened his mouth and said loudly over the mob, "This is my absolute best friend, Sirius Black!"
It went dead silent for a split second, then more voices burst open noisily with questions. Sirius was stunned that anyone would want to know anything about him or his relations to James. The press gathering soon turned into a field day over Sirius and James, declaring that both of them were to be put on the Most Eligible Wizard list at once. Sirius had to admit that he rather liked being a most eligible wizard. Already such advances in life at the age of eleven...
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It took nearly an hour for James and Sirius to detach themselves from the public eye. And when they did, they went straight for James`s bedroom, where little did James know, Lily was lurking about in his closet.
"So Si, how did you like your fame, eh?" James asked, flopping down onto his bed in spread-eagle fashion.
"It was okay..."
James raised one of his black eyebrows, a small smile lingering on his lips as he propped himself up on his elbows. "Just 'okay'?"
"Alright, alright... It was great." Sirius said reluctantly, though a grin was clearly plastered upon his face.
The look on James`s face seemed satisfied as he let his elbows collapse back onto his bed, his hazel eyes reverting to the high ceiling above him. "Just you wait... The next Witch Weekly will have your face on the cover."
Sirius was dubious, though he wouldn`t mind if it did happen. He changed his track of though, remembering Lilly was in James`s closet. "Why do you hate Lily?" Si asked abruptly.
"Er...she`s a know-it-all that will go into Slytherin..."
Sirius winced knowing that Lily was listening to their every word from behind the closet door. Perhaps he could get a less pompous answer if he kept going. Perhaps there really wasn`t a reason as to why James hated Lily so much."That isn`t really a good answer, James. Can`t you think of something better?"
James rolled his eyes, suddenly sitting in the upright position, legs hanging off the bed, feet just barely skimming the wooden surface of the floor. "Sorry if my brain isn`t working at it`s all high and might level right now, Si. It is a Saturday, you know."
"Seriously James, why do you hate her so much? She`s really not that bad..."
James`s hazel eyes grew wide and he turned his head to Sirius, the look of shock as if it was the time when Sirius first met him returning once again to his features. "Sirius Black, Lily Evans isn`t snogging you, is she?"
Sirius fell out of his chair; it seemed to have become a pattern whenever he was around either Lily or James since both of them say such abrupt things. "POTTER!" shrieked Black, who was still on the floor, to shocked to move. "Where did you get that idea?!"
James Potter looked down at Si. "Well, it just came to me..."
Sirius threw his hands up over his head in both exasperation and anger, striking a resemblance of an over-excited orchestra conductor. "It just came to you?!"
"Well...yes..."
"It certainly didn`t come to me!"
"So Evans isn`t snogging you?"
"Good heavens, no!"
James mumbled something that sounded like "good...", which cause Sirius to jump back to his feet.
"James, are you hiding something from me?" Sirius demanded, pounding a fist on the nearby table, causing the glass of water on it to topple over. Sirius didn`t notice the glass break when it hit the floor. Instead, his eyes were fixed intently on James Potter.
"What?"
"Do you like Lily Evans?!"
"WHAT?!"
"You heard me!"
"LILY EVANS?!"
"Yes! Lily Evans!"
James turned scarlet, which Sirius was glad Lily couldn`t see. "Er... where did that come from?"
Black crossed his arms over his chest impatiently. "It just came to me!"
"Oh, sod off..."
"Answer me, James Ramsey Potter, this instant!"
"You sound like my mother...."
"ANSWER!"
"Er...No. I don`t. There."
"You hesitated, James."
"I did not!"James whined. He may have been a rich boy, but he was an extremely stubborn one.
"Yes, you most certainly did! Am I your best friend or not?! I have the divine right to know who you like and who you don`t like!" Sirius retorted, glaring at James, who was now three shades deeper than his usual blush.
"Fine, then! I like her, okay! Happy now?!" he gasped miserably.
Lily, having pushed her ear up too forcefully on the closet door, fell out of the closet, tumbling onto the wooden floor....
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DISCLAIMER: I own the plot. Almost all characters and names mentioned belong to J. K. Rowling , her publishers, and her sponsors. Marcus Chinoviski goes to whoever will claim him. Jeeves goes to whoever wants him...He is a really nice butler, people.
NOTE: Okay...***sighs nervously***.... This is my VERY first L&MWPP ever. Er... Is it good? It will, in fact, be a romantic comedy later on. Moony and Wormtail will come later. Well... let me know what you think. BTW, I would like to thank all of the people who reviewed my other stories! You people are the best! I plan on putting a complete thank you to the people who have/ will review(ed) my Dark Wind series and/or this series. Ta!