A/N: So I have been using some of the same characters throughout my recent one shots. After that I thought I might as well use these characters in a full story about the Marauders Era. Lily and James shipper of course – a long with a SB/OC

I posted something similar to this first chapter a while ago as a one shot and reviews told me it was left too unfinished – so I decided to make a whole story of it ;). I've got this all planned out - it will be a 6 chapter story taking place at Hogwarts and post-Hogwarts.

Enjoy this first one…

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Remus Lupin was looking into the flames in the fireplace at number 12 Grimmauld Place. The light from the flames danced across his aging face. His serious expression watched the flames as if they were telling him something. It was only natural for him to be so serious. It had been almost a month after the evil Lord Voldemort had regained his full strength. There was need for worrying in times like these – who knew what he was up to this very moment?

"Lupin?" A voice suddenly asked behind him. Remus did not turn around or jump in surprise.

"I thought you had gone to bed already, Harry," Remus spoke quietly without turning his head away from the flames.

"I had," Harry answered. The almost fifteen year old boy walked over to Remus and sat down next to him on the floor. "I couldn't sleep." Remus only nodded. The two of them sat in silence for a while, just watching the flames, before Harry spoke again. "I couldn't sleep because I was thinking. I was wondering if Sirius ever dated anyone."

Remus turned his head for the first time through the conversation. A smile slowly formed across his dry lips. "Oh I think he did his fair share of dating," Remus replied with a chuckle. "Perhaps more than his fair share."

"Right," Harry said thoughtfully. Once again, he hesitated before continuing, "Remember how you once told me that my father used to date a lot as well?" Remus nodded, still facing Harry. "Well he eventually found my mother, so I was wondering if Sirius ever found that… special someone."

Remus turned his head again to face the fire. The serious expression suddenly reappeared on his face. He hesitated before answering. "Have you talked to Sirius about this?" A wave of memories crashed over him.

"No," Harry answered honestly, "I did want to ask a question that might upset him." He had his head turned, his eyes burning into Remus' neck.

Remus let out a sigh that was slightly louder than what he had intended. "There was one," he eventually spoke.

"Who?" A new voice asked. Hermione Granger, Ron and Ginny Weasley suddenly came into the living room. Hermione was the one speaking. The three of them sat down on the floor as well and looked at Remus, curiously waiting for him to answer. "Sorry if we're interfering."

"That's all right," Remus answered ignoring her first question. He was hoping someone would change the subject quickly. "What are you all doing out of bed?"

"Are you going to continue the story?" Ginny asked, ignoring Remus' question and crushing all hope of avoiding the subject. "Who was it?"

"Her name…" Yet another voice spoke. Sirius Black appeared from the kitchen and joined the others in the living room. "Was Reilly Cope Roberts, if you must know." He sat down on the floor next to Remus and let out sigh. Remus glanced at Sirius, who slowly nodded. He knew what Remus was thinking. "I guess I'm the one, who should be telling the story." Remus turned around to face the children, who were sitting in a semi-circle around Sirius and him.

"Great," Ron said with a grin.

"Shut up, Ron," Ginny hissed. "Only if you want to, Sirius." She smiled calmly at him

Sirius smiled sadly in return. "That's quite all right. I had a feeling I would have to talk about this sooner or later anyway."

"So how did you meet?" Hermione asked excited. "I suppose it must have been a very romantic setting."

"I wouldn't say that," Sirius chuckled. "You see, we went to school together. Actually, she was best friends with your mother, Harry." Harry looked surprised at first, but then smiled. "She, Lily and Maya Cunningham were always together. Even though they were in our year we hardly saw them. We talked to them on rare occasions like in classrooms or when James hopelessly tried to ask Lily out in fifth and sixth year."

"Why didn't you see them?" Hermione asked, not wanting to miss a single detail.

"Sirius would be busy pulling a prank or showing off in front of girls," Remus asked simply.

"Hey!" Sirius said defensively. "That wasn't all I did, Moony!"

"No," Remus said. "But you didn't spend your time in the library like Reilly, Lily and Maya." Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione laughed at this, but Sirius only smiled a little.

"I'm the one telling the story!… anyway it must have been around March 1977, our sixth year. The Quidditch season was well on the way, Slytherin leading with Hufflepuff in second. We hadn't played our best matches that year, and just before our match against Slytherin our third chaser fell ill.

"Oh did you win?" Ron asked eagerly.

"The following year we did," Sirius answered with a satisfied grin. "But that is a different story. We had had several tryouts for weeks with no luck at all. I don't know the story behind why this happened – I like to believe it was an all girls' slumber party with pillow fights and truth and dare -" he grinned and glanced at Remus, who rolled his eyes and desperately tried to hide the smile on his lips, "but somehow Maya convinced Reilly to try out."

"As a dare?" Ginny asked with raised eyebrows.

"No way!" Ron said out loud. "She would never make the team."

Remus and Sirius laughed. "That was what I thought when she showed up for tryouts," Sirius said.

---- March 1977 ----

A girl with curly brown hair tied in a ponytail and bright blue eyes was standing on the Quidditch pitch looking around at the other Gryffindor students. Sirius Black and James Potter were walking towards her and the other student from the other side of the pitch. "This is silly, Prongs," Sirius complained. "We have a game in four days. Even with daily practice, we can't teach a new recruit all of our plays."

"George Henderson is in the Hospital Wing with a broken arm, Padfoot. He already told Michael he won't be returning to Quidditch this season. Apparently he wants to focus on his O.W.L.S this year." James explained calmly. "As a captain, Mike doesn't really have a choice. We need a third chaser."

Sirius let out a sigh. He suddenly noticed the girl standing in front of him. "Well well well," he said with a smirk. "Who would have known you knew the way to the Quidditch pitch, Roberts?" Reilly raised her eyebrows and glanced at Sirius. She did not answer his question. "Have you been on a broom since first year?" he continued asking her.

Reilly turned her full attention to Sirius this time. She took a few steps towards him and smiled innocently. "Care to bet on that, Mr. Black?" she asked.

Sirius sent her one of his infamous grins. "Good luck."

"Thank you," she said untouched by the grin. "But I'll be quite all right." With that she walked away from Sirius and joined the other students. Michael Easton had just called them together and one by one he sent them flying in the air.

A few of the third years had problems getting into the air. James and Sirius shared a tired look before Michael sent the fourth years into the air. Finally, they had a game going. Michael had asked his team to remain on the ground, since so many had turned up and wanted to join the team. The teams were not fair at all. One team was dominating the other team.

"Who's that girl?" one of the beaters on the ground asked. He pointed straight into the air.

"She's quite good," Michael said and held up a hand to his forehead to block the sun. This way he was able to get a closer look. "She's fast and her throws are excellent."

Sirius took a closer look. As the other two chasers, James and he would have to be able to work with whoever was picked. He had a feeling she was the one. He put his hand in the middle of his forehead to block out the sun, and maybe identify her. He was very surprised when he did. "That's Roberts," he said quietly.

"I guess we found our new chaser," Michael said satisfied. "T'is about time."

The tryouts ended and everyone headed back to the castle. "Roberts!" Sirius called after Reilly. She turned around. "Good flying," he continued once he caught up with her.

"Thank you," Reilly said with a smile. "You sound surprised."

"Honestly I am," Sirius answered. "Welcome on the team – keep flying like that and you'll fit in perfectly."

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"How did she do then?" Hermione asked.

"She scored 120 points the following game," Sirius said. Harry and Ron looked at each other wide-eyed. Sirius nodded with a wide grin, remembering the look on his own face after that match. "She surprised everyone."

"So what happened afterwards?" Hermione asked wanting to get off the Quidditch subject. "Did you and Reilly go out?"

"Of course!" Sirius said with a grin suddenly feeling like he was back in the sixteen year old's shoes.

"So you didn't date her?" Harry asked puzzled.

"Sure I did," he grinned again. "No one can stand the charm of Sirius Black."

"Just tell the story as it is or I will," Remus said tiredly. He suddenly remembered what had happened afterwards. "They didn't go out until several months after," he chuckled, "an unusually slow reaction of the charm of Sirius Black." The teenagers shared a confused look as Sirius rolled his eyes but kept quiet. Remus moved his feet into a more comfortable position and straightened his tired back. "In the following month Sirius and Reilly exchanged more words than they had in the previous 5 years, yet he didn't try to kiss her or ask her out."

"Why?" Ron blurted out. Ginny elbowed him in the ribs and Hermione rolled her eyes dramatically.

"I wasn't interested in her in that way," Sirius answered.

Remus laughed out loud at that answer. "Ha! Liar! You were just too late," he looked back at the teenagers and explained, "you see, Michael Easton had asked Reilly on a date to Hogsmeade two weeks after the before mentioned Quidditch match – the two of them were kind of an item for about three months. No one really noticed them breaking up, before Easton snogged Priscilla Clark in front of everyone at the final feast in June. Reilly was furious."

"A hell of a punch she gave him," Sirius laughed at the memory. Harry, Ron and Remus joined in on the laugh.

"So did you comfort her afterwards and then started dating?" Ginny asked. Remus could tell she was hoping for every possible romantic setting.

"Not exactly," Sirius replied, "I hate to admit it, but I was a typical teenage boy at the time. Exams were done and I was anxious for school to finish. The summer was all planned – James and I would play Quidditch all summer as well as plan some pranks with Remus and Peter when they came to visit us." He glanced knowingly at Remus. "I didn't see Reilly again before we were back on the Hogwarts Express."

"Boys…" Hermione sighed.

"Just wait," Sirius said with a smile. "Reilly had changed that summer – up until now, she had worn her hair in a pony tail every day, but had now decided to let it hang loose. Point is; she looked amazing."

"It was rather small changes," Remus added. "But Sirius wouldn't shut up about her for the next two weeks whenever he was alone with Peter, James and I." He smiled at Sirius, who looked at the floor, trying to hide a smile.

"Why didn't you just talk to her?" Ron asked.

"Right," Sirius said with a laugh. "When was the last time you did that, Ron?" Ron's face turned red, and now it was his turn to look at the floor. "You have to remember that I was only seventeen – and to be honest I had never had problems talking to a girl, but this was different. I just didn't realize that at the time." He let out a quick sigh before continuing. "The right moment never came up. Sure, I saw her in classes and at Quidditch practice, but girls always seem to travel in packs, so it was impossible to talk to her when she was alone." Ron and Harry looked at each other and nodded slowly. Hermione and Ginny were too caught up in the story to notice, but Remus noticed and smiled, remembering what it was like to be a teenage boy.

"How did you do it then?" Harry asked.

"We had a few problems before anything happened…" Four tired but interested gazes stared back at him, so with a sigh he continued, "Right, you want to know how it happened?," They all nodded. Hermione and Ginny leaned forward to catch every word. "It was October and time for the first Hogsmeade trip. It was an incredibly cold day – the winter winds had already started, but that couldn't stop any of us from going…"

----- October 1977 ----

"I never thought I would see the day where Lily Evans ditches her best friend to go on a date with James Potter," Reilly said as she and Lily were walking down the main street of Hogsmeade. The two girls pulled their red and gold scarf higher up as another wind blew past them, leaving icy trails on their skin.

"Who said I would leave you?" Lily asked innocently.

"I give you fifteen minutes tops," Reilly said. "Come on, Lils, you know you want to go somewhere more private with James – just the two of you."

Lily opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. Reilly tilted her head slightly and raised her eyebrows. "You wouldn't mind, would you?" Lily asked slightly embarrassed.

"Not at all," Reilly laughed. The two of them walked into Honeydukes Sweetshop where Reilly noticed four familiar faces. "Speaking of the devil," she said with a smirk and walked inside. Lily followed her.

"Lily," James said excitedly and walked over to Lily. She smiled widely as he took her hand in his.

"Honeydukes eh, Pettigrew?" Reilly said with a bright smile and raised eyebrows.

"You're good, Roberts," Peter said and handed her a sickle.

"Pleasure doing business with you, sir," Reilly said with yet another smile.

"What's going on?" Remus asked as he walked over to them. Sirius was right behind him with a bag of sweets in his hand.

"I kind of made a bet with Roberts here," Peter explained. "She figured the first place we would go would be Honeydukes, but I thought we would go to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer."

Remus and James laughed. James whispered something in Lily's ear and soon after the two of them had left the store. "I better get going," Remus said "I have to get… something from Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. Care to join me, Wormtail?" Peter looked extremely confused. "Just come," Remus said impatiently. With that he left the store and Peter followed him with a shrug.

Sirius looked around the shop and realized that Reilly and he were the only ones left in the store besides the owner. He knew it was only a matter of seconds before the place would be swamped with Hogwarts students. An awkward silence took over the place. "So," Sirius finally said.

"So," Reilly repeated.

"Great friends we have, huh?"

"The best," Reilly said sarcastically with a small laugh. "What are you up to?"

"Me? I'm not sure – but a drink would be nice," Sirius answered. He hesitated a second before asking, "Want to join me?"

This time it was Reilly's turn to hesitate, as if she was waiting for something else to happen. "Sure," she finally said with a reassuring smile. "Why not?" Sirius returned the smile.

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"I knew something romantic would happen," Hermione said with a smile.

Ginny smiled as well. "Do continue," she said.

"Well," Sirius continued. "Since Remus and Peter had left us…" he paused the story and turned to Remus, "thanks for that, by the way." Remus smiled quickly and waited for him to continue the story. "- and both Lily and James were out on dates, and Maya had met a seventh year Ravenclaw earlier that day, so she was out on a date too, I took Reilly to Madam Puddifoot's. It wasn't supposed to be like a date, but both the Three Broomsticks and the Hog's Head were full."

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"Here you go," Sirius said with a smile as he came down to the table Reilly had picked out. He placed a mug with hot tea in front of her, before sitting down on the opposite side of the small table.

"Thank you," Reilly said with a smile and carefully took a sip of the tea. There was an awkward silence for a few, long minutes. Reilly held the tea mug tightly in her hands to warm them up. "Sirius can I ask you something?" she asked suddenly.

"So I'm Sirius now?" Sirius asked with a grin, the two of them had never been on first name terms before. When he saw Reilly raise her eyebrows he continued quickly, "Shoot."

"Is this really your idea of a fun time in Hogsmeade? I mean wouldn't it be more fun to be buying all the sweets in Honeydukes with your friends rather than drinking tea with me?"

'No!' his mind thought "I think that is really my decision to make," Sirius said thoughtfully. "I already bought sweets in Honeydukes, so I don't mind spending my afternoon with you. We are team mates after all, right?"

Reilly smiled and lifted her mug. "I'll drink to that."

"Cheers."

They stayed in the small tea shop for an hour. The conversation from then on flew without any awkward moments and was only interrupted when they paused to laugh. Finally they stood up and walked out onto the streets. The wind picked up again and slowly flakes of snow started falling from the grey sky. "We have about an hour until we have to get back," Sirius said. "There's something I want to show you."

Reilly nodded and followed him. The two of them walked side by side away from the main street in Hogsmeade. They soon reached the outskirts of the small village. "Wow," Reilly said as she realized what Sirius wanted her to see. "The Shrieking Shack. I always thought that was just a myth."

"You've never seen it before?" Sirius asked and walked up to the fence.

"Never," Reilly answered and followed him. "I can understand why people think the place is haunted." She suddenly felt a rush of cold wind all over her body. She wrapped her arms around her body to stay warm but couldn't seem to regain the heat.

Sirius took a step back to stand behind her. He hesitated but seeing her freeze like that made him forget why he had been hesitating. He took a step towards her and wrapped his arms around her. At first she was surprised but she soon gave in and leaned against his chest, feeling the warmth of his body against hers. "They say it is the most haunted house in Britain," Sirius whispered in her ear. "I say, it is the most exciting." The soft scent of her hair reached his nostrils, and he tightened his grip around her softly.

"You've been there?" Reilly asked.

"Of course."

Reilly turned in his arms and looked up at him. Snowflakes had found their spots at the tip of her hazel hair and didn't seem to want to come off. "Will you take me there some time?" She asked him.

He eyed her shortly then grinned widely. "Are you sure?" she nodded slowly. "Then I better do that. Some time." The second silence between them that day suddenly hit. Their eyes locked and none of them knew what to say. Finally, Sirius spoke up again, "Listen Reilly," he said nervously. He swallowed hard and looked into her eyes. "I've been an idiot the past few weeks. I was just so convinced that all that was said was true, so I chose to ignore what people that I trust were telling me."

"Are you apologizing?" Reilly asked without taking a step back and out of his embrace.

"Something like that," Sirius answered honestly. "And that's not something I do often. There's just something about you, Ray…"

"Sirius?" Reilly interrupted but Sirius continued without listening to her.

"You're fun to be around, you're bright, you aren't afraid to visit the Shrieking Shack…"

"Sirius!"

"You even made a bet with Peter as if it was the most normal thing for a girl to do, and you -"

Sirius wanted to continue but stopped as Reilly pressed her lips against his. He was used to him being the one to kiss the girl first, but here she was kissing him before he had even tried to kiss her. It didn't take him long to kiss her back though. He deepened the kiss and pulled her closer. He felt her folding her arms around his neck and pull his face down to her.
They eventually pulled apart to catch their breath. Reilly smiled confidently and took a step back, forcing Sirius to break the embrace. "You didn't let me get to the part about how beautiful you are," he whispered and placed his forehead against hers.

She giggled, "You'll just have to give me a speech on that later." She tip-toed and placed a quick but sweet kiss on his lips. "We should be getting back," she said and took a step back, forcing Sirius to break the embrace. Sirius nodded slowly, not wanting to leave. The two of them walked back to Hogsmeade in silence –both thinking about what had just happen. For once, no words were needed.

"There you are!" Lily said with a smile as she saw Reilly.

Reilly returned the smile as Lily walked over to her. Sirius speeded up and joined Peter, Remus and James, who were walking in front of the girls. "How was your day?" he asked them.

"Quite good," James said with a grin. Remus and Peter nodded with a smile. "Yours?"

"Oh," Sirius answered and turned his head. He sent Reilly a smile, which she returned. "It was great."

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"We officially started dating a week after," Sirius concluded the story.

"Why were you calling her 'Ray'?" Ron asked.

""Why were you calling her 'Ray'?"" Ginny asked angrily in disbelief. "That's not the question we need an answer to first!" She turned to Sirius, "What happened two weeks earlier? What made you apologize?"

Sirius chose to answer the less complicated question first, "'Ray' was a nickname her family had always called her. Something about her not being able to say 'Reilly' when she was a toddler, so she called herself 'Ray'. Her brother was in his seventh year when we started at Hogwarts, and after he left, her closest friends continued to call her by her nickname. That time in Hogsmeade was probably the first time I used it."

"And the other story?" Ginny asked again.

Sirius smiled sadly. "It's a long story really."

"Please tell," Hermione begged. "She sounds really nice, Sirius."

"Yeah…" Sirius said lost in his own thoughts. "If I remember the details right, you have to know the story from the beginning." Hermione and Ginny shared an excited look.

"But that really is another story," Remus continued for him. "It's time for bed." The four teenagers looked dissatisfied. After a few complaints they slowly made their way back upstairs. "Are you all right?" Remus asked as soon as he had heard the bedroom doors shut.

"I'm fine," Sirius said with a nod. "I miss her, Moony." Remus nodded understandingly, after that recollection he couldn't help but miss her too. He stood up, squeezed Sirius' shoulder, bid him goodnight and walked upstairs as well, leaving him by the dying fire – alone with his thoughts and memories.

A/N: DONE! Hope you liked it ;D