First Glance

AU: In which there is no war with Voldemort, just a bunch of kids, being kids.

If there was one thing that Ava loved about the Hufflepuff common room it was the smell of cinnamon and freshly brewed English breakfast tea that always seemed to hang in the air, the scent practically stuck against the soft cushions of the warm yellow couches. This paired with the comfortable warmth of the crackling fireplace made a dangerous pairing for her. It tended to morph from a graceful saviour into her greatest downfall, for she usually would find herself curled up in a single worn out arm chair, with a hand-knitted blanket draped over her feet as she delved into the world of a new classical novel she had picked upon her travels during the holidays in between studying at Hogwarts.

So that is why Ava decided to have some self-control and spend the day studying in the grand and magical library she had in such close proximity. Whenever she stepped foot into the library, she would find herself in a world of focus and that was exactly what she needed right now with the mountain of work she had to get through, not to mention the fact that her N.E.W.T examinations that were fast approaching. She hadn't realised how much content she had to get through, the workload creeping up on her.

What she hadn't expected was for the once quiet library to be filled with students, especially considering it was a Saturday, and for most, a day of playful Quidditch between houses. With a heavy sigh, she squeezed herself through the crowds, being careful not to trip over bags or books that had been thrown carelessly aside before she found the aisle she had been looking for. With the wave of her wand, the few books she needed were now floating beside her and she was quick to borrow them with the intention of heading down to the Black Lake where she hoped it would be quieter.

There were only a spare few students down at the lake, a few she recognised, some she did not. She had the day to herself, her two friends had decided to spend their day playing chess with the Ravenclaw's in a student competition that was being held today. Ava was glad, because it meant a day to herself to do what she pleased, not that she didn't love her friends Jazmin and Winn, but she wasn't keen on watching a bunch of people play chess in silence for a few hours considering it wasn't even magical chess. Shaking the thoughts from her head, she let out a sigh, locating a free spot by the lake. She placed her bag down by a great willow tree nearby and sat down, ruffling through the old rucksack til she found the book she had been looking for. With a determined grin she began to read up on her divination studies, trying her best to wrap her head around the concepts.

Hours had seemed to have gone by and Ava was confident in her ability to pass her divination quiz that would be coming up on Monday. She pushed the book aside with a yawn before standing up and stretching, not noticing the stares she was receiving from across her left where the Marauders were too studying. Ava had unintentionally caught the eye of Sirius Black and he watched as she performed her defensive charms for DADA. What she hadn't realised was that it wasn't the first time.

They had been practicing Patronous charms in class, but Ava had been unable to produce one as of yet. Small wisps of white light would escape the tip of her wand, but she had yet been able to produce a complete corporeal Patronous which was disappointing on more than one hand.

Sirius had been watching her from across the way, his friends too busy to notice that he had gone quiet. Remus's nose was buried in a book as he memorised fifty or more protective charms that they had been prescribed as homework. Peter was keeping himself occupied as he lay on the grass, an apple in one hand, taking the occasional bite from the crunchy red lady, his wand in the other had as he practiced the movement of his wand for a particularly difficult charm that he hadn't been able to master in class. And James Potter, was lying flat on his stomach, his head propped up by his hands, as he sighed longingly, his eyes staring longingly at the love of his life, Lily Evans who was sitting by a nearby tree, her long legs stretched out before her, and a few friends by her side as they giggled and studied for their exams.

Though James had been staring at Lily, he had also been paying attention to Sirius who had previously been ranting off to him about how terrible his life at home had been these past few months, what with his mother being a cold hearted dictator, and his father an abusive arse who was forcing him to attend all sorts of ridiculous pureblood events and dinners over the holidays, leaving Sirius bored out of his mind. But suddenly, the chatter in his ear had stopped and though it took him a few moments to snap out of gazing at the love of his life, he turned to see that something, or better yet, someone was now occupying Sirius's time.

A grin formed on James lips as he saw Sirius watch the girl across from them practice what was an obvious attempt at trying to create a Patronous. He pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and squinted a little, and suddenly the recognition set in.

"Nice work mate," James commented, shoving Sirius's shoulder playfully. The movement and sudden sound had also alerted Remus and Peter who had turned their attention back to their friends.

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked.

"Ava Zhang," James said simply. "She's in our divination class."

"No, you're thinking of Eliza that's in our divination class," Remus corrected. "Ava is in our transfiguration and charms class. I don't know how you could confuse the classes up considering you barely even turn up to divination."

"Oh, oops," James said, sitting up. "But, again, not the point." James turned his head to look back at Sirius. "Were you checking her out?"

"No," Sirius scoffed. He wasn't. He was just trying to figure out what she was doing, and in all honesty he felt bad for her. It was a particularly hard thing to achieve a corporeal Patronous, he would know after all it did take him a while to create one of his own and he had been practicing yonks before they even began covering the topic in class. He ran a hand through his hair and did his best to act casual. As far as his friends knew, this was the first time he had ever given Ava attention like the way he had just. But in reality, he had his eye on her for a while now, noticing her sitting in the back of the room in their transfiguration classes, even more so since their encounter in the forest, the one he vaguely mentioned to his friends over a month ago.

"So then what's with the eyes you were giving her earlier?" Remus asked. Though he had his nose in his book, he had been looking up every now and then and he too caught the unusual behaviour. It wasn't news that Sirius was well acquainted with the female population of Hogwarts, but they all knew it was a cover, a mask he wore. But that look in his eye, it had been one that Remus had never seen before. It was one that he saw James frequent when he was speaking to Lily.

"What look? I have no idea what you're talking about," Sirius denied, crossing his arms defensively.

"It's the same dumb struck look that James gets when he looks at Lily," Remus said.

"Ha, it totally is," Peter chimed in. "You don't fancy her do you?" Peter asked, leaning forward in curiosity.

"No."

"Yes," James said at the same time as Sirius. "You do! I've never seen you look at a girl like that before." Suddenly a chat that he had with his best mate a few weeks ago came back to him. "Is she the girl that you were talking about before? The one that sat with you as Padfoot last month?" James asked, suddenly sitting up straighter in excitement.

"Yeah, she is," Sirius grumbled, looking away from his friends. The reason why he hadn't said anything about his growing crush on Ava to them was because he knew that nothing would come of it. He was so messed up and she was this pure young woman who had shown him kindness once and he wasn't going to ruin any of that. Plus the added fact that he knew James would tease him relentlessly after the way he had done so with Lily.

"Oh mate, you are so in lov-," James didn't get to finish his word because Sirius had raised his hand, whispering silencio, the wandless magic leaving James unable to speak.

"Shut up," Sirius said.

"Why don't you go and talk to her at least? Show her some pointers. Her wand movements all wrong, and if she isn't using a strong enough memory, then there's no way she'll be able to create a Patronous," Remus suggested, removing the spell that Sirius had cast over James.

"Yeah, why not? Nothing to lose right? Not like you fancy her or anything," James said with a knowing grin.

Sirius rolled his eyes at his friend's antics. "Fine."

"Peter, make sure James doesn't do anything stupid, like yell out anything inappropriate."

"You mean like that time he yelled out-," Peter was just about to finish his sentence, but Remus sent him a wide eyed look, shaking his head and motioning for Peter to stop and he closed his mouth, giving an awkward laugh instead. "Yeah, sure," Peter finished lamely.

"Ugh, this isn't working," Ava huffed, rubbing the side of her temples with her fingers, her wand resting behind one of her ears.

"Having a bit of trouble there?" A pleasant voice asked, the baritone smooth and rich, sending shivers down her spine. It was a voice that she knew meant trouble. She turned around, doing her best to keep her expression relaxed and neutral in the face of Sirius Black, aka the guy she had been crushing on since third year, but knew that nothing would ever come of it. It was her secret crush that she and only she could indulge on, knowing that it was a dream that would never come true.

She had spoken to him a handful of times, mostly in class and at times on the quidditch, but they were in no way friends, merely acquaintances.

"Just a tad," Ava admitted, grabbing her wand once more and holding it by her side. "Have you managed to master this insane charm?"

"As a matter of fact, I have," Sirius said, a smile growing on his face when he saw a mixture of surprise and exasperation appear on her face.

"Wicked," Ava breathed out. "Honestly, I've been trying for the most part of the day and all I can manage to get out are these tiny pathetic wisps of white light and nothing more."

"I happened to notice that and decided to come and give you a few pointers." He cringed internally at how pompous he had sounded, but clearly Ava had thought it was him trying to be funny.

"Oh did you now?" Ava asked, tilting her head to the side. "You best be careful there Sirius, you're starting to sound like a Ravenclaw, I thought you were a Gryffindor."

"Hey, we Gryffindor folk can be studious too you know," Sirius teased. "I just thought you might like some help is all." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers, eyes not moving from where they met hers, waiting for her to make the first move. It took all of her self-control to stop gazing into his eyes that seemed to pull her in, but she did it, at least not before memorising the depth of his grey irises.

"Well, if you could spare a minute of your precious time, it would be much appreciated," Ava said.

With a nod, Sirius moved closer towards her, standing next to her. "Well, the first thing you need to do is master the correct wand movement," Sirius said. "You don't have to wave your wand, you just need to keep your arm angled straight, and just above your shoulder length," Sirius said, watching as Ava did so.

"Is that fine?" She asked.

"That's great," Sirius said.

"Well that could be one of the reasons I did it all wrong," Ava said, before closing her eyes, the charm falling off her lips. A brighter light, came out of her wand, but that was it. She frowned, bringing her arm back down. "Or not." She turned her head to look at Sirius. "Maybe it's just me."

"Trust me, this charm is incredibly hard to cast."

"That makes me feel so much better."

"What memory are you using?

"The first time I ever flew on a broom. It was amazing. I was probably only about five or six years old and I was in my backyard with my dad and he gave me his old broom, and he let me ride on it all by myself, and it was the most amazing feeling ever," Ava said, a smile on her lips.

"That sounds like an amazing memory."

"It was," Ava said, her smile falling from her lips. "I lost him shortly after that, it's one of the last memories I have with him."

"Maybe you need to use something stronger? Think of something else that makes you happy?"

"I uh, I can try," Ava said lamely, turning back to the spot she was standing in. She took a deep breath and raised her wand, closing her eyes as she thought of any memories that would do her good. Her mind flashed with images of her at home during the holidays hugging her parents, then to the day she had been sorted into Hufflepuff, then the first quidditch game she had ever been to, the colours and sounds then morphed into her best friends Jazmin and Winn, even into Sirius at one point, and how he made her feel. And finally, it went to that black dog she had found a couple weeks ago, roaming the entrance to the forbidden forest, wet and cold and hungry. She thought about how warm and happy she had felt when she had helped it, it then sparked this energy and feeling of her future dreams and how she had wanted to become a healer, she remembered the first time she had ever healed someone, remembering what it had felt like to help that little girl in first year who had been bullied and suddenly she felt this pull, and her eyes burst wide open as the light sprouted from her wand, the movement so powerful it sent her stumbling backwards, her shoulder bumping into Sirius who was too mesmerised by the charm she had cast.

"It's a…" He wasn't sure he could finish that sentence.

"It's my dog!" Ava exclaimed with excitement.

"Your dog?" Sirius asked dumbfounded, his eyes darting over to look at her.

"No, I mean, it's not my dog. It's this dog I saw a few weeks ago down at the forbidden forest."

Her Patronous barked, running around her form gleefully before nuzzling his head into her hand before disappearing in the air.

"Oh wow, I can't believe I did it," Ava breathed out. She turned to Sirius with a beaming smile, giving him a tight hug, not caring in the moment. "Thank you, thank you!"

"No worries," Sirius laughed, snapping out of his momentary shock. He knew that if the boys were spying on them right now, which they would be, they would be cackling after seeing that her Patronous was a dog. It was known that these sort of things were something of an eye opener when it came to matters of the heart, and if it wasn't for James and Lily sharing a similar Patronous, he would have laughed it off as more than a legend at most, but after seeing it with his own eyes, he was shook.

"So, you don't mind me asking what you were doing in the forbidden forest those few weeks ago?" Sirius asked. He knew all too well, but he wanted to hear her thoughts, that and he wasn't ready to part ways with her just yet.

"I, uh, was having a bad day and just decided to go for a walk, and I happened to stumble across this black dog, it was the cutest little thing. But he was all wet and sad looking so I went over and helped the poor fella out," Ava said, a smile forming on her lips at the memory.

"I take it you like animals," Sirius laughed.

"Oh, yes, I love them. I have an owl as a pet, but I wish Hogwarts would allow us to have dogs. I would adopt that stray in a heartbeat."

"How do you know he's a stray?" He asked.

"I don't know, I just get this feeling that he is," Ava said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Sounds like you have a new friend."

"Yeah, but I haven't seen him since. I think I scared him away with all my talking," Ava said.

"Hmm, perhaps you did, you do talk quite a lot," Sirius joked.

She narrowed her eyes at him playfully before breaking out into a smile. She found that talking to Sirius this much left her cheeks heated, and hurting from how much she was smiling.

"Well, uh, thank you for helping me with this. I don't think I would have been able to do it without you," She said shyly, and he found that it was the most adorable thing.

"Perhaps there is something you could do for me in return? I haven't studied for divination at all, and I could use a few pointers before the exam," Sirius said.

"I'd love to. Maybe after tomorrow? I was going to head down to Hogsmeade for a bit and I know a really great place we can study and grab some drinks." It was only after the words were out of her mouth that she realised it might sound like something a little bit more than just studying, but Sirius took it in stride, giving her a heartbreaking smirk that made her legs feel like jelly and her heart beat faster.

"It's a date." He didn't say a word more as he turned away, only sending a wink her way, causing her cheeks to bloom with a blush.

Ava turned away from him, and picked up her bag, sparing a glance back at him only to see his friends patting him on the back with grins. With a grin of her own she began walking back to the castle, a skip in her step, and a cheery tune whistling from her lips.

She had a date with Sirius Black, and she had to say, it felt pretty magical.

Nearly six years since their first date, Ava sat in her small apartment in the middle of the cold and blistering London, waiting for her husband to arrive back home. Ava was wrapped up in a warm blanket on the couch of her apartment thinking of how she would deliver the exciting news.

Yes, Ava had gotten married to Hogwarts sweetheart Sirius Black. After their first study date they had begun seeing each other more regularly, and at first it had been hard. Sirius had shown so much interest only to recline back into himself, unsure of himself, claiming that he wasn't good enough for her, that he was the rotten apple of his family. It had taken a lot of convincing from herself and his friends that there wasn't a shred of truth to his statements, and somehow he had come to his senses.

Ever since they had been going strong and it was only two years ago that Sirius had proposed and they had gotten married. James and Lily had beaten them to it first of course, and then once more when young Harry was born, the little bub now nearly 3 years old.

Ava was shocked out of her thoughts when she heard the crack of Sirius returning to their home through apparition. She begged her legs to move but she remained still on the couch. She figured she better stay there considering the bout of dizziness that she had experienced earlier that morning, that being one of the reasons she had spent most of the wintery day curled up on her couch and flickering through the channels on television, a muggle invention that proved to be quite entertaining.

"Honey, I'm home," Sirius called out, the cheesy line causing her to smile, a warm fuzzy feeling erupting inside. Hearing him say that every day when he returned would never get old. As a young girl she had always yearned for partner, or a soulmate for life, and finding it in Sirius was just the cherry on top.

"I'm in the lounge," Ava called out, hearing his footsteps approach moments later.

"Hey sweetheart," Sirius greeted, plopping down on the couch after throwing his leather jacket onto the back of a nearby chair. He slid into the spot next to her, leaning over to press a kiss to her lips.

"I missed you today," Sirius said. It had been a long day but it was all worth it when he got to come home to her.

"I missed you as well," Ava said, leaning forward and capturing his lips once more. But before either one of them deepened it, she pulled back, reminding herself that she had something to tell him. Knowing Sirius they would get carried away and then she would soon forget what she had to tell him.

"Clearly not as much as I missed you," He chuckled, moving back in for another kiss only to have her finger placed on is lips pushing him backward. He looked at her with surprised eyes, especially when a grin erupted on her face.

"I have something to tell you first," Ava said. "Then you can kiss me all you want."

"Or, how about if I kiss you and then you can tell me later?"

"I don't know, I think you're going to want to know," Ava said, a secretive smile on her lips. She knew that Sirius would be over the moon to hear the news, and she couldn't wait to see his reaction.

"Alright then, get on with it love."

"I'm pregnant."

"What?" The emotion dropped from his face for a moment as he stared at her in shock. Judging by the smile on her lips and her hand that was resting on her belly, the blanket that was covering her now falling on the sides, he looked back up at her eyes, searching them for the truth. "You're…"

"Pregnant. We're having a child, Sirius."

"Merlin! We're having a baby!" Sirius burst out in excitement, jumping forward and grabbing his wife in a tight hug. "We're having a baby."

"I know. I only found out this morning."

"I love you so much," Sirius declared, pressing his lips to her with a bruising pressure, his hand cradling her head as he conveyed just how much he loved her.

"I love you too," Ava giggled as he pulled away, wiping away the happy tears that were falling from his eyes. At the sight, her eyes too began to water, but she kept them at bay. They had been trying to have a child ever since they got married, but time after time, nothing happened, nothing seemed to be working, and so to find this out, it was a miracle. Some would say it was almost magical.

"I can't believe, we're going to be parents. I'm going to be a dad," Sirius breathed out, wonder written all over his face. He had wanted a family of his own for so long, and now he was finally getting there.

"You're going to be the most amazing father," Ava said.

"You're already the most incredible mother," Sirius declared. "We have to tell James and Lily, and Remus and -," Sirius was cut off with a kiss from his wife.

"We'll go over later tonight and tell them all the good news, but for now, let's just enjoy this moment," Ava said, leaning her forehead against his, her eyes sparkling with happiness.

"I love you, have I said that yet?"

"I don't know, I think so. I mean, you're the one that married me."

"Best decision I ever made."

"Damn right."

A / N – This was just pure fluff.

My other fics have been full of angst and the fluff bug was biting me and telling me to get back to the good stuff.

Please leave a review and let me know your thoughts. I'd love to hear what you liked about this fic! Thank you for all the love and support.

Til next time.

Heroherondale.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters/plot devices/content that have been taken from the world of Harry Potter. That all belongs to J.K. Rowling, and respectively, I only own my OC and creative genius.