The morning of September 3rd was unusually cold and the students in the Great Hall were subdued at breakfast. All, that is, except for Sirius Black and James Potter. The pair was entertaining a group of third years with a nose biting teacup that had fastened itself onto Gideon Prewett's freckled nose. By the time Lily and Jackie had arrived in the great hall, yawning and discussing their course schedules, the crowd around the Marauder ringleaders was so thick that they were blocked from sight. Lily and Jackie seated themselves at the only empty spaces beside their dorm mates Alice, Marlene and Mary.
"What's first, Lily?" Jackie asked her friend, taking a bite of toast and trying to ignore the shrieks of laughter coming from down the Gryffindor from the Marauders' antics.
"Potions," Lily answered promptly, spooning brown sugar onto her porridge. "Merlin, they're revolting," she added, glaring down the table where a group of bold fourth year girls were crowded around James and Sirius, both of whom seemed to be enjoying the attention. Jackie took an extra large bite of toast to hide a grin. The only reason Lily was staring daggers at the fourth year girls was because, although she wouldn't admit it, she harbored a recently acquired soft spot for the Quidditch captain. Constant fighting and flirting could do that to a person. Not to mention James' Quidditch uniform.
"Come on, we're going to be late," Jackie said hefting her bag onto her shoulder and rising from the table. The other four followed suit and they exited the Great Hall, down the hallway in the direction of the dungeons. After avoiding a trick stair and Peeves who was dumping buckets of rat spleens he had stolen from Professor Slughorn on unsuspecting passersby, the seventh year Gryffindor girls thought they had avoided all the obstacles they were likely to encounter that morning. They had avoided all except-
"Good morning, ladies," Sirius Black had snuck up behind Jackie and Lily (who had been bringing up the rear of the group) and looped his arms easily around each of their shoulders. His signature lopsided grin, tousled hair, loose tie and untucked shirt were all in full force this morning and despite the early hour he was wide awake and cheerful.
"Stuff it, Black," Jackie muttered as she and Lily extricated themselves from Sirius.
"Ouch! Easy, O'Shay- I thought you were a morning person," Sirius said, feigning hurt.
"I am," Jackie responded irritably.
"Just not when you're around, mate," James said good-naturedly, appearing at Lily's elbow. Lily blushed slightly as James' arm nudged hers but Jackie was sure she was the only one who noticed. In their fifth year James had been downright dreadful, asking Lily out on dates nonstop and cursing other students in the next breath. In their sixth year, James had grown up a great deal and refrained from hexing anyone (despite Sirius egging him on) and rather, using his time to admire Lily from afar. By this year, he was Head Boy, Quidditch captain and was actually tolerable to be around. His best mate on the other hand…. Sirius was only happy when he was rebelling against something.
"You're no help at all, Prongs," Sirius sighed as the descended the steps to the dungeons. Slughorn was not yet in the classroom so Jackie and Lily took their usual spot at the table next to Marlene, Alice and Mary who were all comparing answers on the homework that had been assigned. James and Sirius swiftly sat down at the same table with Jackie and Lily while Remus opted to sit with the other three girls. Jackie didn't blame him- there was only so much James/Sirius one could take.
"What did you write for the homework?" Sirius asked leaning over to inspect Jackie's neatly written essay.
"I don't think so," Jackie said sliding her paper away from him, but as she leaned away to produce an ink bottle from her bag, Sirius reached over and grabbed her parchment.
"Sirius! Give it here!" Jackie snarled lunging for her essay but Sirius stood, holding her homework above his head so that it was out of her reach. Lily and James were lost in a conversation concerning Head Boy and Girl duties and had not noticed the disturbance. Cursing her shortness, Jackie made several feeble swipes for the parchment but Sirius reached out a hand and pushed her away casually while reading over her answers at the same time. Finally she stopped and waited, arms crossed over her chest, until he offered her essay back.
"Good, we got the same answers," he said serenely, handing the paper back. Jackie glared at him and sat back down before he could cause any more problems. With his best friend's attention focused solely on Lily, Sirius slid his chair around the table so he was sitting right next to Jackie. "I was thinking of throwing a welcome back party this weekend," he began, conversationally.
"You do that," Jackie said through gritted teeth.
"I could get a hold of a few crates of firewhiskey…"
"Fantastic."
"Of course we'd have a good amount of food from the kitchens…"
"Even better."
"Maybe I could convince James to get some Zonkos firecrackers…"
"Sounds great."
"You're not excited at all, are you?" Sirius said in exasperation.
"Not particularly. Why? Is it hurting your feelings that I'm not?"
"But you came to all the other parties we threw," Sirius pointed out. Truth be told, Jackie and Lily had been to all the Marauder parties. They wouldn't normally associate with the Marauders outside of classes but neither of them would turn down an opportunity to dump a drink on Sirius or James' heads. Additionally, the food that that James always managed to acquire was superb.
"Look," Jackie said. "If you throw a party, I'll come but don't expect me to be queuing up with the rest of your fan club for autographs and free snogs." Before Sirius could retaliate, Slughorn swept into the classroom and in a booming voice instructed them to begin brewing a calming potion to ease even the most worried of minds ("That will be a handy potion to know for the stress of NEWTS!" Slughorn added jovially).
Jackie turned immediately to Lily; they were always partners and because of this they always received top marks from Slughorn. To Jackie's surprise however, Lily and James had already begun compiling their ingredients and divvying up jobs. Lily shot an apologetic glance towards her friend, but Jackie grinned. As much as she dreaded being stuck with Sirius, she couldn't help but be excited for her friend. Lily and Jackie had been friends since their first year and Jackie couldn't count the number of times they'd stayed up late into the night talking about their future Prince Charming. It looked like Lily was finally accepting that James might just be that knight in shining armor.
With a sigh, Jackie turned to Sirius who was looking innocently at back at her, eyebrows raised. "Are you actually going to help this time or am I going to do all the work?" Jackie asked him.
He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his trousers and leaned back in his chair with his feet on the desk. "Just tell me what to do, boss" he drawled.
Jackie scanned the list of ingredients briefly. "Can you get boomslang skin and a few sprigs of monkshood?" she asked, looking up expectantly.
"Sure thing," Sirius responded letting his chair fall back to the floor and rising to his feet. He paused on the way to the ingredients cupboard to drop Ashley Digsby a wink. Jackie rolled her eyes as the blonde giggled and turned to whisper excitedly to her partner, Laura Bove. The two Hufflepuffs were beautiful and had been quite friendly to Jackie the few times she'd talked to them but they each had the mental capacity of a flat bottomed cauldron.
By the time Sirius returned with the requested ingredients, Jackie had set the flames under the cauldron to boiling and added witch hazel. She took in his self satisfied smile as he sat down. "You're pleased with yourself," she grumbled, glaring at him but still not quite sure why she was so annoyed.
Sirius merely flashed her a crooked grin. "You'd be impressed with the effect I have on women, O'Shay," he said lazily. They both turned to look at Ashley and Laura who were whispering behind their hands and staring avidly at Sirius, both oblivious to the fact that the fire beneath their cauldron had burned out.
"I'm well aware of your reputation, Black," Jackie said crisply. "Pass the boomslang skin?"
Sirius did so obligingly and Jackie added it to the potion. "So… You planning on taking any bloke to the party?" he asked casually.
Jackie glanced up to snap at him but to her surprise she found that he was carefully cutting the monkshood sprigs into neat, even pieces. The fact that Sirius Black was actually doing work without being told was startling enough to leave her speechless. After she had regained her composure she said "No… I guess it's pointless to ask if you're bringing anyone?" Sirius chuckled. It was well known that Sirius never brought girls to parties- he merely picked them up there. Many of them.
"You've got that one right," he scoffed.
Jackie sighed and stirred the potion for a minute before asking something that had been tugging at her conscious for a while. "Will you ever settle down with a girl or will you always shag 'em and leave 'em?"
"'What are you on about? Where's the fun in that?"
"You are such a tosser… I'm serious."
"So am I."
"That was funny the first fifty times… You didn't answer my question."
Sirius made a fuss over passing her the monkshood to avoid answering the question. "That's not the way I roll, O'Shay. What, have you caught the Lily/James bug? You on a quest for the perfect man now?" he said finally, wiping plant residue from the edge of his knife with his thumb. Jackie added the monkshood then turned to Sirius and opened her mouth to say something but Slughorn interrupted her.
"Please bottle a sample of your potion and place it on my desk, then you may leave!" he boomed out to the class. Jackie turned away from Sirius, glad for the distraction- she wasn't sure she wanted to say what was on her mind. She poured their potion into a flask and turned it in while Sirius cleared away their desk. By the time she'd turned around to head back to their desk, it was empty and the only thing left of Sirius was his heels disappearing around the edge of the stone doorframe.
She felt her stomach sinking but she couldn't quite say why. Trying to ignore the feeling, she hitched a smile on her face and forced herself to laugh jovially at whatever joke James had just made. Their group was the last to make its way to the top of the stone staircase behind a group of chattering Slytherin girls who were all abusing Professor Kettleburn's unorthodox teaching techniques.
Jackie had just made her way through the stone doorway behind James and Lily and turned down the right hand corridor with the intend on following them to lunch when something jerked her backward so suddenly that she stumbled. With an effort, she managed to wrench away from whatever was pulling her down the hallway. She spun around and came face to face with Regulus Black. He was standing smugly, staring her down, having just released the strap of her bag.
"Muggle-born," Regulus began silkily, but before he was able to finish his sentence, Jackie heard the sound of feet scuffing the floor behind them. Regulus paused and looked over her shoulder at the newcomer, but Jackie refused to turn her back to see who it was. She'd had too much experience with Slytherins in the past and she trusted the younger Black no farther than she could throw him.
"Step away from her if you know what's good for you."
At the sound of the newcomer's voice, Jackie whipped around. Standing in the middle of the deserted corridor was Sirius. He was staring daggers at his little brother and every muscle in his body was tight; his forearms so tense that they were shaking and the ropy muscles stood out beneath his rolled up sleeves.
"Ah, my dear brother-" Regulus began quietly but he was cut off by a snarl from Sirius. Jackie opened her mouth intending to stop them from whatever verbal battle they were about to start, but she was cut off by a cold hand resting on her should, fingers brushing the bare skin of her collarbone. In that moment Sirius launched himself at his brother, Jackie moving out of the way just in time. With a solid crack, Sirius's fist collided with Regulus's jaw and they tumbled backwards into a tapestry of a knight and dragon. After a brief scuffle which involved a great deal of swearing from Jackie and attempts to pull the pair apart, Regulus staggered backward, panting.
"Until next time brother," he snapped, then spat out a mouthful of blood before turning on his heel and stalking around the corner out of sight. Sirius made a move forward but Jackie quickly stepped in front of him and placed her small hands bracingly on his chest. His hair was tousled, lip bleeding and knuckles white and clenched in his temper.
"Sirius, leave it," Jackie began more roughly than she'd intended and he looked around at her as though surprised to find her there. The sound of pounding feet rounded the corner and Sirius and Jackie looked up to see Lily and James standing, panting before them.
"We realized you weren't behind us," Lily said by way of explanation. "James heard a fight- what happened?"
"Regulus," Sirius answered curtly. "It's fine. He's gone."
There followed an awkward pause in which some unspoken understanding seemed to pass between James and Sirius. "Well," James said awkwardly, clearing his throat. "We'll eh… meet you two at lunch." He reached out and grabbed Lily's hand, pulling her away down the hall. She agreeably entwined her fingers in his and gave Jackie one last look over her shoulder before allowing James to lead her away.
Thankful for the moment alone, Sirius paused and took a moment to examine Jackie. She stood before him, cheeks flushed and loose hair flying around her face. Her dark blue eyes were flashing with adrenaline and a harsh worry line had appeared between her eyes; a common occurrence for her. Without really thinking, Sirius reached out a single finger and trailed it down her face, smoothing the line between her eyes. "Stop worrying," he told her. She flushed even more deeply and looked away embarrassed. "I'm sorry," he added finally, the backs of his knuckles still resting against her cheek.
"For what?"
"Regulus."
"You don't have to apologize on his behalf."
"He's my moronic brother. Someone has to."
She snorted with laughter and shook her head. "You're not your family."
"Yes, well thank Merlin for that," Sirius sighed, tousling his hair lightly. He stooped to pick up her bag which she'd dropped in the fray and put it over his own shoulder. "Shall we?"
"I can carry my own bag," Jackie began.
"Oh here we go," Sirius said turning to walk away towards the Great Hall with Jackie reluctantly trailing after him. "It starts again… 'I can do it by myself. I don't need anyone's help.' Can't I be nice for once?"
"You're never nice."
Sirius shrugged, allowing it. "Well, you just had to break up a fight between two Blacks. It's the least I can do." They rounded the corner and entered the Great Hall, wending their way through the crowd to the Gryffindor table. "Besides," he added. "One of these days you're going to realize you don't have to fight me on everything." He dropped her bag into her open hand and she caught it by the strap, the sudden heaviness causing her to stoop quickly with the weight. Sirius turned his back, leaving her at an open seat beside Lily and slouched down the length of the table to take a seat beside James and Remus. Jackie stared after him for a minute, caught between two emotions. Half of her found him to be an arrogant prat who played with, and broke, women's hearts as readily as a child with a new toy. The other half, however, couldn't help but be stuck on the unnerving way he seemed to know her better than she knew herself, the way he cut through her exterior as flawlessly as a knife. His casual good looks and the way he knew exactly what to say to make a girl swoon were an added bonus.
Defeated, she sighed and dropped into a seat, accepting a plate of chicken from Lily. Despite her façade of normalcy through the rest of the day, Jackie would spend this time silently reliving her encounter with Sirius. Sirius himself, kept a close eye on her and when she lapsed into daydream he saw a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.