July - Chapter One

The summer of 1977.

That was the summer I ran away from home, the summer I became friends with a girl, the summer I fell in love with said girl but didn't realise. I met her in the summer of 1977 for the first time.

It was the second week of the summer holidays and I'd just climbed out of my window. I'd grown bored of vandalising my room so I decided to take a walk. I started walking in the direction of the abandoned play park I'd discovered last summer. It was late in the afternoon, the ground was dry and dusty from the heat wave and the sun was casting a hazy orange glow on everything.

When I reached the play park I saw her for the first time. She sat on a swing humming quietly to herself as she swung gently. Honey blonde hair fell down her back in light waves and dark cornflower blue eyes gazed out at the horizon.
I walked slowly over to the swings and sat down quietly, watching her whole time, wondering if she knew I was there.
Presently, she stopped swinging and turned to face me curiously. We stared at each other, neither willing to break the silence.

"Hi." I said finally.

"Hello." She smiled. Her voice had a slight lilt to it.

"I'm Sirius Black."

"Violet Hale." She replied, still smiling.

"Do you come here often?" I asked. I had no idea what to say to her. Something about her left me feeling dazed and lost for words. Maybe I was going down with something. Why else would I of all people be lost for words?

"Yes, do you?" she asked looking amused and curious both at the same time.

"No really."

She turned back to looking at the horizon languorously and toyed with the hem of her white skirt. "The sky's pretty."

I stared at the oranges, yellows and pinks mixed together in the sky. "Er... yes."

Smart, Sirius, really smart, I thought, scolding myself in my head.

"Well, I'd better go home now." She said, smoothing down her skirt as she rose from the swing, the chain squeaking ominously.

"Will you be here tomorrow?" I blurted out before I could catch myself

"Maybe." She smiled brightly.

I nodded my head.

She jumped over the low park fence gracefully, humming all the while. As she walked away, I realised she was barefoot. I watched her until she rounded a corner and was out of sight.

Sometimes I try to figure out which season people are. Remus, for example, is autumn. James is spring. And Violet is most definitely summer.

I stayed in the park until nightfall and the stars were shining down. The heat of the day refused to fade.

" she wasn't even my type." I said to myself, chewing on a blade of grass.

I preferred the dark-haired, exotic type of girl. English roses were for to overrated, in my opinion. Just like purebloods.
I slowly got up, threw away the blade of grass and started to make my way make home when it suddenly occurred to me. A dog had probably pissed on my piece of grass.

I'd been chewing on dog piss.

"Back again, Mr Black."

"As are you, Miss Hale."

I hadn't planned on going back to the park again, but without noticing, my feet had taken me back and there was Violet reclining on the parched grass with her eyes shut. Dark eyelashes stood out against her pale skin. She was barefoot again.
I lay down beside her.
Golden hair fanned out around her like a halo.

"You don't wear shoes." I stated.

"No." She smiled serenely.

"Why?"

She shrugged. "Why bother with them? You don't need them in summer."

"I suppose." This was disgraceful. Everything I said around Violet sounded ridiculous.

"What's your favourite season?" Violet asked suddenly, blue eyes now open and staring straight at me, waiting for my answer.

"Summer." What? No, it wasn't. It was winter! Summer brought back memories of my family and their disgust for me. But now... Summer was beginning to make me think of Violet.

"Mine's autumn. Summer always seems a tad overrated." She picked a daisy and started twirling it between her fingers.

I tilted my head so I could see her properly. "That's what I used to think."

"Until?"

You. "I don't know, I just changed my mind." When I met you. "Why did you choose autumn?"

"For the colours of the leaves." She said dreamily,, "And it seems like the underdog of the seasons. Spring is when everything is new, summer is freedom, winter has snow and autumn is just... autumn. Everyone forgets about the pretty leaves."

I felt my fingers brush hers.

"Summer is pretty too," I couldn't tell it I was talking about Violet or summer anymore. They were becoming one. "Do you come here every day?"

"Yes. Do you?"

"Yes. Why do you come here?"

"Why do you?" she asked, evading the question.

I shrugged, avoiding the question too.

"When's your birthday?" she enquired curiously.

"July the eighth, 1960. When's yours?"

"Twelfth of October, 1960."

I grinned. "So I'm older than you?"

"Yes."

"Your nickname is officially 'Kid'

"I'm only a few months younger that you! That's not fair!" Violet laughed.

"Sure I can, Kid."

She pointed a finger at me threateningly. "I shall begin to dislike you, Sirius."

"No, you won't." I drawled, smiling lazily. "You'll love me just like I love you."

For the rest of the week Violet and I met at the play park every day. The weather stayed hot and dry. We would stay late into the night, talking about anything and everything.
When she questioned me on the subject of where I went to school, I replied vaguely, "Boarding school in Scotland."

She nodded and continued making a daisy chain.

"What are you like at school?" Violet asked after a minute silence.

I considered for a moment.

"A player," I confessed, ruffling my hair sheepishly.

"Really?" Violet laughed, then frowned, confused. "You seem so unlike that now."

I was startled by the abrupt change in her demeanour but I just brushed it off.

"I suppose I'm not trying to fit in now." I said thoughtfully, playing with a blade of grass.

"So it's all an act to fit in?" she confirmed.

"In a way," I said. Violet looked confused. I sighed. "With my friends, my proper friends, I don't have to try to fit in but with everybody else I do."

"Well, you learn something new every day." She murmured and rolled onto her front, kicking her legs in the air.

I stared at the setting sun as it slowly turned the sky a deeper red. Rays of light shone out and made Violet's hair gleam in the hazy light. I'd never noticed before but she had freckles lightly dusted on her nose. Now I saw them standing out starkly against her pale skin, I wondered how I'd missed them before.

"What are you like at school?" I asked, my eyes following the tiny dots on the bridge of her nose.

She wrinkled her nose and the freckles seemed to dance. "Quiet, I suppose. Unnoticeable." She looked me in the eyes and smiled wistfully. "You wouldn't notice me."

I felt myself redden faintly under her stare. "Sure I would, Kid."

"Maybe, maybe not," Violet said, more to herself than me.

We stayed side by side until darkness fell and the stars came out. I could hear her breathing lightly beside me. Our fingers grazed against each other but neither of us made any move to pull away.

"Why do you come here every day?" Violet whispered.

Could I really tell her why? That I was a disappointment to me parents, that they hated me, that they would prefer it if I was dead? I knew if they could get away with killing me, they would. I was the white sheep of the family.

I settled for a half truth. "My parent and I don't get on that well."

"Why?" She propped herself up on one arm so she could look at me.

I shrugged. "Difference of opinion." I paused. "Why are you here every day?"

She lay back on the ground, smiling and closed her eyes. "I always come here in the summer. It's my special place."

Another week passed and we were outside at night when it started to rain fat, heavy drops.

"There's a thunderstorm coming " I recognised the oppressive atmosphere.

"The gods are angry." Violet said, raising a hand to try and catch the raindrops. "I never sleep during thunderstorms."

I stared at her. "Neither do I."

She laughed, delighted. "I've never known anyone else who couldn't sleep during storms either. My friends all think I'm crazy."

I smiled at her simple childlike laugh. It radiated nothing but pure happiness.

"Now you're not alone in your craziness, Kid."

Violet stood up suddenly and held out her hand. "Come on."

"Where to?" I asked, getting up.

She pointed to a tree just outside the play park. "There's a tree house in there. It'll stop us from getting wet."

"Is it safe?" I asked doubtfully.

"Of course," Violet said rolling her eyes. She took my hand and pulled me out of the park and over to the tree. She looked at me and saw the doubt still lingering in my eyes. "I promise," She whispered softly, barely audible over the wind and rain.

With that, I followed her up the tree and into the tree house.

Thunder and lightning soon started we watched as the lightning streaked through the sky, lighting it up and then plunging it into darkness.

"I always thought lightning was kind of like love."

I looked at Violet, wondering what she meant.

She laughed, seeing my confused expression and explained, "It fills everything up and you can't do anything to stop it. It just happens anytime, anyplace. It makes even the darkest time impossibly bright."

I stared at Violet as she started out the widow of the tree house, watching the lighting tear the sky apart with a small smile playing on her lips. At a time when most others would be, to put it bluntly, scared shitless, she was at her calmest.

"I guess you're right," I said finally, still watching Violet without her noticing.

"If you keep on watching me for much longer it'll just start getting creepy."

Or not.

I could hear the smile in her voice.

I looked away, grinning to myself for no particular reason.

We stayed up in the tree house for the rest of the night, not falling asleep once. We played "I spy" and Violet unleashed her complete lack of observation.
"I look at things as a whole rather than in detail!" She protested, laughing.

"Maybe you need glasses, Kid." I poked her in the side, grinning.

"No tickling!" she shrieked, laughing, "It's against the rules!"

"And what rules are those?" I asked, tickling her mercilessly now I'd discovered her weak spot.

"My rules!" She managed to get out between gasps.

I informed her that, unfortunately, her rules didn't count.

Once the tickle battle was over and won (by yours truly) and Violet had regained some of her composure she asked me, "What's the upper class like?" (I had told her my parents were high up in the social circles.)

I frowned at her question. I automatically disliked questions that had anything to do with my family, but I decided to answer it anyway.

"It's regimented," I said. "You learn French, what is and isn't acceptable to talk about over dinner, how to hide your emotions. You have to fit into the mould your parents want. Then, once you're of age, you're forced into an arranged marriage. And you learn to dance." I added as an afterthought.

"That sounds...interesting," Violet finished diplomatically.

"It's crap," I said frankly.

Rays of early morning sun were starting to appear through the window and the bright blue sky showing promised another hot day.

"Dancing sounds fun though."

I laughed. Trust Violet to find the good in everything.

Violet and I spent the rest of our holidays together, meeting at the play park, until the two last weeks.
I' d just climbed through the window back into my room after spending the day with Violet, when straight away I was hit with the cruciatus curse.

To cut a long story short, I ran.

The last I saw of the House of Black was my darling mother with a snarl twisting her face and Kreacher, peering out from behind her, grinning gleefully.
I apparated out of the house to the Potters and landed on their doorstep with a thump.

"Sirius mate, what are you doing here?" James asked, surprised when he opened the door.

"I left home." I said simply.

Prongs broke into a wide grin. "Finally! That place was a rubbish!"

"So true." I grinned back. I stepped inside and explain myself to Mrs Potter. The room which I had stayed in before was given to me and it was firmly stated that I would stay with the Potters for however long I wanted.

"So why did you leave?" James asked when we were alone in his room.

I frowned. "They hit me with the cruciatus curse as I got back to the house. I'd had enough so I left."

"Well done for finally leaving." James said seriously before visibly brightening. "We have two weeks of the holidays left."

"Two weeks to play quidditch." We grinned at each other and simultaneously ran to the broomsticks.

That night, I lay in bed exhausted from playing quidditch for hours on end.

My thoughts began to drifting towards Violet. What would she think when I didn't turn up tomorrow or the day after or any day at all? Would she worry? Would she even care?

Although I had kept in contact with Prongs, Moony and Wormtail throughout the summer, I had never once told them about Violet. I wasn't quite sure why. Part of me didn't want to share her and the other part of me wanted to keep her a secret for some irrational reason.
Besides, if I told my friends they would think I was shagging her and I wouldn't do that to Violet. She was... Well, she just was.

I smiled as I remembered her freckles, the roll of her eyes when I called her 'Kid' and how she felt like the very essence of summer...

But she was a muggle and I was a wizard. I was going to Hogwarts for my seventh year in two weeks and she was not.

I punched my pillow. Life must carry on.

"I'm Head Boy."

"I'm Quidditch Captain."

James and I stared at each other in shock, each of us holding up our badges in awe.

"You're Quidditch Captain!"

"You're Head Boy!"

I stared incredulously at James as he stared in disbelief at the badge in the palm of his hand.

"You know what this means, don't you?" I said quietly, starting to grin. Prongs looked blankly at me. "Evans will have got Head Girl which means you two will have to spend an inordinate amount of time together. You finally have a chance with her this year."

"You're a genius, Padfoot!" Prongs yelled excitedly, trying to make jumping up and down look manly. He was failing.

"I know," I said smugly.

"But, hey, you got Quidditch Captain! Well done, my friend, well done!" James said, taking a break from jumping.

"Yeah..." I couldn't quite believe I'd made Captain. Part of me wanted to run and tell Violet.

"I'm still on the team right?" James asked worriedly.

"Nah, I thought I'd try to lose the cup this year, so I'm going to kick you off," I said seriously.

"Idiot." Prongs punched me on the arm playfully and I laughed. The cup belonged to Gryffindor this year.

My thoughts went back to Violet. I think she'd be proud that I made Captain.

Two days later the summer holidays were over and James and I were pushing our trolleys through Platform 9 ¾ having just said good-bye to Mr and Mrs Potter.

"I can't believe it's our last year," I said, wistfully staring at the train.

"My last chance to make it with Lily." James said determinedly and glanced down at his Head Boy badge, making sure it was still there.

"Padfoot! Prongs!" We turned and saw Peter jogging through the crowd towards us, his pale blonde hair blowing in the wind.

"Hey Pete," James said, an easy smile on his face as Wormtail arrived, out of breath from running.

"Hey James, how were your holidays?" he asked.

"They were good. Padfoot joined me for the last two weeks," James replied. "How were yours?"

"Alright, I suppose. I was mainly helping my mum around the house," Peter said cheerfully. "Have you seen Remus yet?"

James was distracted, probably looking for Lily, so I answered, "No, we haven't yet."

I scanned the crowd, briefly looking Moony, but saw no sign of him. We waited for another five minutes then decided to get on the train and wait for him there. We weren't worried though. It was a well known fact that Moony was always late for nearly everything.

We were sprawled in the very last carriage at the back of the train when Moony finally showed up, minutes after the train had pulled away from the station.

"Late as always, Moony." I grinned.

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled and slouched in the seat beside James.

He laughed suddenly. "So, I see you got Head Boy then Prongs."

"That I did." James grinned proudly.

"Are you not meant to be at the Head meeting then, preparing for the prefect meeting which is in..." Moony glanced at his watch "... ten minutes?" He smirked.

"Bugger." James stated simply and dashed madly out of the door.

We stared after him and then burst out laughing. "Evans will have a fit when James turns up," I said.

"That'll make this year interesting," Wormtail said, smiling.

"Well, I'm off to the Prefects meeting now so I'm not late," Remus declared, standing up and stretching.

I pondered for a moment. To spy on the Prefects meeting or not?

Watching Evans forced to deal James would be hilarious...

"You know, I think I might tag along." I said suddenly.

"What are you planning?" Remus asked, instantly suspicious.

"Nothing," I said innocently, throwing in a smile to further convince him.

Somehow Remus looked even more suspicious. Hmmm ... maybe the smile was a bit of an overkill...

"Peter, you'll be okay by yourself for a while, won't you?" I asked him brightly.

"Yeah, sure!" he said, nodding eagerly.

I grinned in thanks and followed a wary Remus out the door and down the corridor.

"What are you planning Padfoot?" Moony asked as we walked.

I grinned. "Just some simply spying. Don't worry." I flashed a quick smile at a group of girls we passed and they swooned, giggling. "I just want to see if Evans will kill Prongs. Which she probably will."

Remus let out a brief laugh and shook his head. "Poor Lily."

"Poor Lily? You mean poor Prongs! She'll probably have him beheaded by the end of the meeting." I protested.

Remus grinned and we reached the prefect compartment at the front of the train. "You're right for once. Anyway, I leave you here."

"I'll just...loiter." I told Remus and reclined casually against the wall.

He rolled his eyes and entered the compartment. Never been down here before, I thought as I surveyed the part of the train I was in. Voices were heard from within and not a minute later there was a loud screech which I guessed was Evans. That really didn't take long, I thought, grinning.

"Not listening...idiot...stupid...immature..."

Poor James. Evans really didn't know that what she said actually hurt him. She may have thought the insults bounced off him like he was made of rubber but I knew better. James was glue and they stuck to him. If Evans bothered to look properly she'd see the injured look in his eyes.

I frowned at her ignorance. Stupid witch.

"Hey Sirius."

I broke out of my brooding and saw two girls standing in front of me giggling and blushing.

I grinned easily. "Hello ladies."

More giggling. Why did girls always giggle? It was so damn high-pitched. What was wrongs with a proper laugh?

"What are you doing down here? We were looking for you." The taller of the two girls asked. Ah... I recognised them now. They were with the group of girls I smiled at.

"Just waiting for my friends. What brings such beautiful girls like you looking for little old me?" I smirked handsomely. The short blonde definitely looked more familiar than the other. I glanced at her tie. Hufflepuff. Had I slept with her at a party last term? It was a possibility... Haley... Hatty... Harry... No, that was a boy's name and I was sure as hell not gay. Maybe Haley then...

"We were just wondering how your holidays were?" The blonde asked shrilly. Yep, definitely Haley. She was the one who wouldn't shut up so I resorted to drastic measures to shut her up. Drastic measures = a bed. Or broom closet, whichever is closer.

"They were average." Lie. "Of course they would have been better with you two there." Another lie.

More giggling and heavy blushing.

"Well, we should be going now. Bye Sirius!" They left still giggling and gossiping down the corridor. Haley threw me a coy smile over her friend's shoulder.

Not going there again.

There was more muffled yelling in the prefect compartment. I looked in and saw all the prefects trying not to laugh. Most were unsuccessful. I smirked. James would not make it through the year unscathed. I heard a loud thud from the compartment and saw James rubbing his head while Lily stood fuming, holding a large book. I squinted to make out the title. "Uses and Properties of Chickens Teeth." Funny, I would have thought that would be a lot less heavy.

"Meeting over!" Evans barked and prefects started running out of the compartment, not bothering to contain their laughter anymore.

"Best prefect meeting ever!" Remus choked out between laughs once he came out.

Evans stormed passed and James came out seconds later, a wounded expression on his face.

"She hit me," he said dolefully.

"I heard." I said, smirking.

"You two! Traitors! You shouldn't be laughing!" James cried, brandishing his wand at us once he saw us laughing at him.

"Sorry," Remus said, attempting to keep a straight face.

"I'm not," I drawled. "The day Lily Evans is your girlfriends will be the day I keep a girl longer for a week."

"In other words Prongs, not happening." Moony said, patting him on the back consolingly.

"She will fall for me, she will," James said, his face set determinedly.

Remus and I shook our heads at him. He was a lost cause.

As we made our way back to our compartment, I could have sworn I saw a flash of gold hair, exactly the same colour as Violets.
That was impossible. She was a muggle.

But I still missed her rolling her eyes when I called her 'Kid.'