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Summary: Deveral, Devery for short, Leafwood is a slender, quiet and kind-hearted student from Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But unlike other witches, Devery nurtures a deadly secret: she comes from a long line of Sirens. Rare magical beings who can bewitch and control anyone with the sound of their voice.

As a mute by choice and Siren by birth. Her life is going nowhere until Sirius Black, a stormy eyed seventeen year old with a passion for freedom, suddenly announces he wants to date her.

Deveral doesn't know how she feels about Sirius. Before seventh year, he barely acknowledged her existence and when he did, it was either to play a prank or act nervously around her.

However, when the evil Lord Voldemort, a power hungry wizard who would do anything to get the last Sirens in existence to join his cause, and his followers learn of Deveral and her family's powers, Sirius springs to the rescue and Deveral begins to notice that Sirius is actually rather patient at heart.

But the nightmares of Sirius's past leave him blind to Deveral's growing affections and Deveral takes up love to try and remind him who he really is because a wizarding war unlike anything their world has ever seen is brewing and will be soon upon them.

And they say, studying for your NEWTs and simply being a seventeen year old will be hard.

But when another deranged wizard, threatens to come between them, Sirius has to act fast. But will they ever find the love that they deserve?

A/N: Hey guys! I am currently writing my own romance novel and one day when I had writer's block, this story appeared. Since, I have always wanted to write a Sirius/OC fanfiction, I thought why not do it as well? I read a lot of Harry Potter fanfiction as a teenager and have always had a soft spot for Sirius Black in the Marauder era. Writing this story is helping me get back into my own novel. It is like taking a little vacation to refresh my writer brain before I go back to my other story (which is vastly different to this story). I will update when I can and until then enjoy and let me know what you think! :)

How is how Devery communicates:

1. Telepathically (Italics)

2. Signing (Bold)

3. Using her voice (Normal text)

"To me sometimes a mute sky is more expressive than the roaring sea"
― Munia Khan

Prologue

"My fingers, toes, and wands are crossed that we will not have a repeat of last year," Lily Evans, her best friend, commented while taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

Deveral, Devery for short, Leafwood, stopped eating.

The two Gryffindor girls were at the Great Hall, enjoying the start of their seventh year at Hogwarts with their last 'welcome back' feast.

As always, the great school of witchcraft and wizardry went all out with the food. It was like a thanksgiving feast multiplied by two Christmas lunches. The house elves were the best cooks and everybody in the Great Hall knew it.

All of the students, stretched across the four long tables, and the teachers at the front were happy to stuff their tummies with more than they could swallow. Well everyone except, Lily Evans. She barely touched her plate except nibble on some bread and pumpkin juice.

Lily put down her goblet and ran a hand through her long red mane and finally met Devery with her green eyes. The two orbs reminded Devery of emeralds but unlike the stone, Lily's eyes reflected her every emotion and right now, all she could see was stress and more stress.

"How so?" Devery questioned with her telepathy, one of the very few ways she could communicate with her fellow wizard.

Devery was a mute by choice but her selective mutism wasn't triggered by a social anxiety disorder or anything traumatic. To alert others of her muteness, she had to wear a black choker.

Devery came from a long-line of Sirens, ancient beings that could charm and control anyone with the sound of their voice. Not many people knew that about the Leafwoods. The rest of Devery's family was also mute by choice. It was both a protective choice and one of self-preservation. The wizarding world hated Sirens and back in the day they were killed until treaties were drawn up and in exchange for their survival they would remain silent. They all wore necklaces to communicate this and these necklaces were also an extra magical guarantee that they wouldn't speak. The necklaces silenced their voice boxes while wearing it.

There were not many Sirens left in the wizardry world these days and Devery was pretty sure she was the only one at Hogwarts. She was an only child. But even without the ancient treaty, Devery would still choose to be a mute. If someone wanted to be in her life, she wanted the connection to be as authentic as possible. She only spoke when she knew for sure the person on the receiving end, liked her for who really she was inside not by some love spell she concocted with her voice.

It took Lily years of solid friendship to earn the sound of Devery's voice. She only just heard it this past summer and to her greatest relief, Lily did not look at her like she was enamored with her or anything. The redhead just sat back, shot her signature unamused Evans look and said, 'is that it?' Devery remembered laughing after that and Lily smiled. It was the first time she heard her best friend laugh.

Before that, they mostly communicated through hand written notes and BSL (British Sign Language). Lily went out of her way to learn, that in their first year, which shocked the living daylights out of Devery. Before that, the only people who were interested in talking to her were her family, teachers and Severus Snape when they used to be friends but all of that ended when he called Lily a mudblood back in fifth year.

These days, BSL was Lily's second language. A few of Devery's other friends picked up a few BSL here and there. Like her dormmates, Raven Warren, her friend from Ravenclaw and to her shock, a few Marauders. Her fellow Gryffindor, James Potter learned some BSL because he wanted to impress Lily Evans and Remus Lupin because he genuinely wanted to be her friend. The other two boys who made up their squad, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew didn't share the same interest. Peter just ignored her like everybody else who couldn't be bothered to accommodate her disability of sorts and Sirius? He was a whole other story.

The telepathic communication came along a lot later. Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts pulled out that talent from her head in her fourth year. The lack of talking, amplified Devery's mental capabilities and grew her natural abilities for legilimency and occulmency. Severus and Lily also helped with her with learning telepathy and the three had many conversations without speaking.

Thanks to them, she was able to hold telepathic conversations but only with her closet friends because it was something she had to practice at daily. Now that Severus was out of the picture, Devery could not send a mental thought his way. The friendship was beyond repair but she also suspected that Severus used his occlumens to block her out. She could only send Lily, her thoughts now and receive hers via legilimens. Due to such amplification, she was also getting along well with her wandless magic.

"How so?" Devery asked again and Lily sighed.

"They won't stop staring," Lily replied and Devery knew who without asking but that didn't stop her eyes from looking over, further up the Gryffindor table where she knew the Marauders sat.

Lily was not the only one to feel their eyes. Devery's eyes automatically fell on Remus first, he was listening to Peter and as if he sensed her gaze, he waved with a smile.

Devery returned his wave with a smile and Lily yanked her hand down to hold but she ignored her. Remus's light green eyes laughed at that and Devery rolled her eyes to communicate what she thought of Lily's sudden shyness.

Remus then signed that they should catch up later in the common room and Devery nodded enthusiastically.

Apart from letters over the summer, she hadn't talked to Remus much lately.

Remus smiled again and returned to his meal and conversation with Peter. Pettigrew ignored her so Devery looked to James next and he winked when their eyes connected which Devery gladly returned. Lily smacked her shoulder for that one and again, Devery ignored her protests.

Underneath all the bravado, James Potter really was an all-round nice guy. He had changed a lot since his bullying days in fifth year. James then signed with a big grin that they should join them and Lily pretended to gag on something foul. James's face fell and Devery felt her heart sink at that. Unbeknownst to her best friend, she always kind of had rooted for James Potter when it came to the person of his affections, Lily Evans. She thought they would suit each other and she hoped that Lily would finally see that light this year before it was too late for James. But she didn't tell Lily that, oh no, she valued her existence too much for that and she did have to be supportive of her best friend's feelings.

Devery then checked to see if the cost was clear and when Lily went to nibble on some bread, she signed to James to be patient and he nodded with thoughtful eyes, he mouthed thanks before returning to his own meal.

That was when, Devery wished she pulled her eyes away but it was so use. She was weak when it came to those grey stormy eyes ever since she first saw them when they were eleven. And it never did matter what happened before between them, it never did.

Sirius Black returned her stare with an intensity that seemed to grow everyday and it burned right through her body that she got shivers. Was it snowing? She wondered and she doubled checked to see if the Great Hall's ceiling was still showcasing a brilliant night sky, full of stars and floating candlelight. It was. No snow in sight.

Then against her better judgment, she looked at Sirius again. She couldn't explain it. There was just this pull, this sense of gravity that when she knew where he was, she had to look and marvel. She thought he was cute in sixth year but those few months of summer seemed to have seasoned him out into the realm of handsome. Sirius looked broader in the shoulders and his face looked a little longer, like he grew more into his angelic features. Black arched eyebrows, high cheekbones and a strong jawline with a nice dash of brown stubble. His long nose suited his more symmetrically aligned face and his black curls were longer, the tips rested on top of his shoulders and his lips looked fuller, particularly the curve of his lower one.

But unlike in sixth year, she learned and vowed to have more self-control when it came to checking out Sirius Black in seventh year. She looked back into his grey eyes of steel, allowed her body to feel that familiar lurch of butterflies one last time and severed the connection.

She pushed her yearlong crush down again and buried it. As far as she could tell, Sirius didn't like the mute girl and never would. His interests laid in the normal teenage witch variety at Hogwarts. The boy was a player. Boys wanted to be him and girls wanted to be with him.

Black only knew how to disrupt the moment when it came to her anyway and she forced herself to look at Lily but her skin still felt Sirius staring in their general direction.

"No Black. No Potter. We will enjoy the most of our seventh year, do you promise?" Lily reached for her hand and Devery shook it. The crazy shenanigans of last year will not be repeated this year.

"I promise," Devery forced a smile and she returned to her meal and Lily did the same. The two girls then allowed the loudness of the Great Hall to wash over them and for a couple of moments, their heads were clear of Potter and Black until Professor Dumbledore called for attention.

The great and aging wizard in his gold and blue robes, welcomed the new first years and he outlined the usual rules. The Forbidden Forest was out of bounds, the great lake and the whomping willow was also to be avoided at all costs. He then went on to announce the names of the new Head Boy and Head Girl of Hogwarts.

Lily perked up in excitement and nerves beside her and held her hands tightly. Devery took much joy in her friend's sudden upbeat energy. Lily was particularly bouncing in her chair and Devery made sure she stayed seated with her grip.

"I am proud to announce that this year's Head Girl is no other than Miss Lily Evans of Gryffindor," Professor Dumbledore's big voice boomed through the Great Hall and the Gryffindor table jumped up in cheer. Devery stood up clapping, while Lily covered her face in shock before another Gryffindor, Mary, one of their doormats, pulled her to her feet.

They cheered and congratulated Lily before Professor Dumbledore called for quiet once again. Devery then helped Lily settle down into her seat. She was overwhelmed at being chosen as the new Head Girl. She worked hard for it and deserved it.

"It is so going to be Remus," Lily whispered and Devery thought so too. Remus was a prefect for Gryffindor too and the two girls looked towards the Marauders in anticipation, eyes locked on Remus only to hear the impossible.

"And I am proud to announce that this year's Head Boy is Mr James Potter of Gryffindor!"

"Ten sickles that she hexes him," Peter blurted.

Devery just rolled her eyes while she continued to stare at the fire in the Gryffindor common room.

She will never forget the look at her best friend's face when Professor Dumbledore announced James as the new Head Boy. Lily turned as white as a ghost. She was dumb folded and so was Devery and the rest of the school.

James was a good guy but not squeaky-clean Head Boy good. Maybe in a couple of years but not now. What was Dumbledore thinking? Even James was genuinely shocked. Devery then remembered watching the two of them, follow Professor McGonagall out of the Great Hall to have a meeting with Dumbledore. That was the last she saw of them.

"Twelve sickles," Peter suggested and Remus agreed to the wager but not Sirius, which surprised her.

The boy loved to make bets. Where he chose to sit around the fire, also shocked her. Black sat on the same couch as her instead of join Remus and Peter on the floor, where they played a game of exploding snap.

They were waiting to see James and Lily and it was nearly eleven o'clock. The other girls in Devery's dormitory retired to bed a while ago. They thought they might as well get some sleep before the show that was Lily pissed off at James woke the whole tower up.

Devery couldn't blame them for thinking that and she thought it was smart of them. But what she didn't understand was Black sitting on the same couch as her and watching the fire too in silence.

Over the years, Sirius had four settings when it came to interacting with her. One was ignore the living daylights out of her. Two was pull the occasional prank on her and bully her which he stopped doing in fifth year, thankfully, after she hexed him good with her wandless magic. Three was just stay away and glare in her general direction and four was to be nervous. The fourth setting was a new one that formed in sixth year. The boy struggled to form two sentences around her, which baffled Devery so she took no notice of it.

But this sudden behavior, she could not sweep under the rug. Black was acting funny with the closeness and she intended to find out why. Remus also picked up on Sirius's strange behavior.

"Did something happen between you two?" Remus signed to Devery and she shrugged.

"I have no idea. It's weird and I am feeling really uncomfortable right now," she signed back. She knew it was rude whenever she did BSL around people who didn't understand but Peter and Sirius were used to it by now, they didn't care or so she thought. Her hands froze when she was about to sign something else to Remus when she caught Sirius frowning at them both.

"Pete and I are still here, you know? So quit talking like we're not," he snapped. He genuinely sounded hurt?

"Sorry mate. I was just asking how Devery's summer was. I'm just used to signing… she is more comfortable with signing than writing," Remus said and Sirius's narrow grey eyes grew soft. Devery smiled at Remus and his observant eyes. He was a great friend that way. He always knew what made her feel good about herself and what didn't without her explaining why. It was true that she hated writing as a form of communication with others.

It took longer and parchment and ink was not cheap. Plus it was more inconvenient and she felt less able as a person. She used to carry her quill, pens, inkpot and parchment wherever she went and still did but she tried not to use it as much. It was a sore spot for her already fragile self-esteem.

Sirius was looking at her now instead of the fire so she took a deep breath before she looked at him with what she hoped was an apologetic look.

She then reached into her robes to pull out a small scrap of parchment and a pen. Then Sirius did something that shocked their already shocked minds further. He gently stopped her.

Sparks shot up Devery's skin when his larger hands engulfed her wrists and her heartbeat went into hyper drive.

"It is okay. I am sorry for snapping," Sirius said in a much softer tone and one of his thumbs suddenly rubbed soothing circles into her skin. Devery could only stare at his huge pale hands on her much more tanned skin. Unlike her fellow British students, Devery was half cast with her mixed Mediterranean and French background.

Sirius's hands looked good on her skin. It was a nice contrast and Devery admired his long and elegant fingers. He had piano playing hands with quidditch player palms. They were rough from all those years of holding that bat as a beater. It wasn't a bad kind of rough either. Just rough and it made her soft skin tingle, weirdly.

"Moony, can you please translate for Devery?" Sirius suddenly asked and he moved to sit right beside her with his long muscular arm resting behind her head on the couch. Devery looked at Remus in alarm. What the hell was going on here?

Sirius's other hand then moved to give one of her hands a brief squeeze before he took it back to rest on his lap.

Remus cleared his throat loudly, shrugged his shoulders at Devery and agreed with an odd look at Sirius.

But Sirius only seemed to have eyes for her and Devery thanked her lucky stars for being mute for once. With Black this close, there was no way she could string a single sentence together with her voice. She could feel her hands start to sweat with nerves. Up close like this, she could smell his natural earthy scent and Devery could see luscious his eyelashes really were. Any girl would be envious by how thick and curled up they lay around his steel-like eyes. It was like he was born with natural mascara.

"How was your summer, Devery?" Sirius asked with avid interest and Devery quickly glanced at Remus to check if he could see her hands, her somewhat shaking hands start to sign.

"It was good, she says. Nice and relaxing for a couple of weeks before Lily came over to stay for the rest of it. Then it was fun. Adventurously fun," Remus smiled at the last part.

"Yeah?" Sirius prompted but Devery didn't look at him while she continued to sign, she kept her eyes on Remus.

"They went to London and ran into Raven in Paris, you know that chaser on the Ravenclaw team?" Remus continued to translate and Devery looked at Sirius when she suddenly felt his body stiffen beside her.

"Yeah, I know that guy," he answered with a stiff jaw and Devery grew worried.

"Did I say something wrong?" She quickly signed to Remus and he shrugged.

"What did she say?" Sirius looked between them.

Devery then clicked her fingers to get Remus's attention and she continued with her story about Paris and explained how they explored the Louvre.

She hoped Remus understood her signage. He hasn't signed places with her for a while.

"She says they then became lovers. She loved it," Remus quickly translated and Devery nodded vigorously to back him up, not quite progressing what Remus just said until it was too late.

"You guys, WHAT?!" Sirius exclaimed with sudden dark eyes and clenched fists?

Remus and Devery then quickly shook their heads in embarrassment. Both of them quickly turning red in the face and Devery signed at Remus frantically and he still translated.

"No way. That did not happen! We went to the Louvre!"

Remus then congratulated himself on finally getting that sign right and he continued to translate Devery against his better judgment.

"Remus, you know I am still a bloody virgin! For Merlin sake, I haven't even been kissed yet! You know I am a nun! Oh god, Remus! Why are you translating this? Stop translating!"

Devery then threw a pillow at Remus's head to make him shut up and she hid her flushed face in her robes. How embarrassing?!

Meanwhile, Peter just laughed in the background until Sirius whacked him with a pillow to shut him up.

"Ow!" Peter groaned and rubbed his sore head. Sirius was freakishly strong when he wanted to be and rough.

"I like the Louvre too," he quickly said to save Devery further embarrassment from Remus's poor translating skills.

"My uncle took me there once. The Mona Lisa is really small," Sirius said and Devery strangely felt something play with her long black hair. Probably a spider crawling along her back. A spider with fingers? She suddenly felt and she looked behind curiously to see Sirius's hand on her back? Which he quickly took back when she gave him an odd look for touching her in the first place.

"Art is boring in my opinion," Peter finally spoke up from the floor. He was now busily counting out his sickles for the bet.

"No surprises there," Devery quickly signed and gave Peter the stink eye. He did laugh at her for being an unkissed virgin. Remus burst out laughing.

"Art is not boring. It is full of expression and poetry. I could stare at it for the rest of my life and yet still find meaning in it. Art is life," Sirius looked at Devery pointedly and she couldn't help but smile a little and he returned her smile with a grin before looking at Remus.

"You know what, moony?" Sirius then glared at Remus, which sobered him up immediately. His friend looked scary when he glared.

"You are a shit translator. You can hardly keep up." Devery felt his body tense up again and she knew it was from frustration.

"Well it is not my fault you didn't take the BSL classes Professor McGonagall offered in first and second year. I am doing my best here," Remus returned the glare.

"Then sodding teach me this year, you grump," Sirius prompted with hard eyes and everyone grew lost for words. Devery's feelings of embarrassment then turned back to feelings of unsure unease. Peter dropped his sickles everywhere, genuinely stunned.

Devery then pointed at Sirius to get his attention and mouthed out the word 'for real?'

"Yeah," Sirius nodded. "In all seriousness, I want to learn BSL. I mean, do you really want Remus there being an awkward chaperone, every time I ask you out on a date?"

Then Sirius was the one to cover up his mouth and turn red in the face. Devery had a feeling he didn't intend to say that last bit. She felt her jaw drop and Remus translated her reaction without visual prompting.

"What in Merlin, padfoot?" Remus blurted out. Sirius wanted to date Devery? Since when?

It was completely left field of him and he suddenly wondered if Sirius took too many bludgers to the head over the summer when they played quidditch at James's house. Peter thought the same thing too.

Devery had no idea what to say, so she let her body do the doing for her, she stood up and turned to escape to the girl's dormitories but she didn't get very far when Sirius grabbed her wrist.

Her feet screeched to a halt and distantly in her stupor, she thought she heard Lily and James, yelling at each other as they entered the common room. She turned her head to check but all she got was a huge eyeful of Sirius Black's sternum. Then her stomach was doing the butterfly dance thing again and she could do anything but ogle. The pull she felt towards him was back and it was back in full force.

He left a few buttons open on his white shirt and his Gryffindor tie was hanging loosely under his messy collar. All she could see was his pale chest, a little bit of black curly chest hair and his strong neck.

His Adam's apple was bobbing, up and down. He was breathing hard as if he was struggling to piece together words. His hand around her wrist then went around her waist and Devery finally looked up at his face in alarm.

The way he looked at her now, stilled her body to the bone with a heat she couldn't decipher. His grey, beautiful eyes were as dark as a stormy sky and there within them, brewed a thunderous feeling. If someone asked her later what happened, she would probably say time just stopped like they did in those romantic movies. She was suspended in space by the heat Sirius stared at her face with. She then felt his other hand stroke the side of her face with his fingertips.

"So soft," he whispered in a huskier sounding voice and his arm wrapped around her waist pulled her closer and Devery would remember tomorrow that she didn't mind that at all.

She really liked being pressed up against all that lean muscle. And she would remember how she liked the feeling of his black curls tickling her face when he rested his forehead against hers. Sirius then mumbled something about Raven not taking his girl's first kiss before he was doing exactly that.

It was a delicious brush of mouths and due to her stupor; it was quite easy for Sirius to turn the kiss into a carnal one. His tongue stroked hers and it was the briefest of strokes because time suddenly snapped back into motion. Remus pulled Sirius away and punched out his lights and Lily banged him up further with a hex.