I'm pretty sure there are a million of these kinds of stories out there, but this idea's been floating around my head for months. Hope you enjoy it!
Sirius' POV
Sooo…James is a git.
Right, now that we've established that, let me explain why.
0o0
"Hey, Mrs. P," I said casually as I walked through the side door of the Potters' house into the kitchen, "James here?"
"What? Oh, yes dear, I think he's upstairs somewhere," she responded, waving her hands vaguely. Suddenly we both heard loud music that I didn't recognize blasting from upstairs. (Think "Carry On My Wayward Son") Odd, I thought, I didn't think James liked muggle music.
"Thanks."
As I walked away I could hear Mrs. Potter muttering, "Ugh…can't hear myself think…damn muggle music…told…stop listening to that rubbish at home…"
I shook my head, smiling slightly, and followed the loud rock music to…wait, the bathroom? Whatever. Now I can totally scare the shit out of him.
But when I opened the door to the bathroom, it wasn't my best mate I found in the shower. No, oddly enough it was a girl. At first I thought it was Evans, and I was about to go running into James room begging for details when I realized that instead of Lily's curly red mane, this girl had straight black hair.
What the hell? Then, as it sank in that this wasn't Prongsie's beloved, I began to look at more than her hair. She was skinny, but not anorexic-looking, (which was good, 'cause who wants a girl that looks like they're gonna break if you hold 'em too tight) and was probably only a little shorter than me. Her back was to me, so I couldn't tell what her face looked like, but if she was in James' shower, she must be hot.
She must have sensed my presence, though, because she turned her head towards me saying, "James, you ass-hat, how many times do I have to tell you to stay out of the bathroom when…I'm…you're not James."
"Neither are you." But I was right. She was hot. And she had an American accent, which was confusing but intriguing.
"Um…he's probably in his room," she said when I didn't move. It was kind of weird how calm she was. Most girls freak when you walk in on them in the shower; trust me, I know. This one was going the subtly-try-to-cover-up route. "So, uh, you can leave now."
"Oh, right. Sorry about walking in on you." My apology was offset by the smirk on my face, but I did leave the room.
0o0
"Well! Someone's been busy this summer!" I exclaimed as I barged into Prongs' room.
"Padfoot! What're you doing here? And what do you mean? And why do you have your trunk with you?" James replied as he sprang up to give me a hug.
"My parents kicked me out, so I was hoping I could stay with you."
"Of course, Pads," he said after a moment's hesitation that I pretended not to notice, "but what did you mean by being busy?"
"That American girl in your shower," I replied as we plopped back down on his bed. "I mean, don't get me wrong, she's hot, but whatever happened to sweet Lilykins?"
"There's a girl in my shower?"
"Um yeah! That's that music you hear."
"Oh. I was wondering about that. What did this girl look like?" James asked, looking like he was deep in thought.
"Really Prongs? What were you, drunk?" At this point I heard the music shut off and a door down the hall close.
"Just humor me, please."
"Oookaay. Uh, tall, skinny, long black hair, bright blue eyes…"
"Oh Merlin!" he shouted, jumping up from his bed and running down the hall.
What the hell is going on around here?
As I followed James down the hall, albeit a bit more slowly, I heard a screech and a yell, followed by laughter, both masculine and feminine. I reached the door in time to see Prongs pick up the hot chick and twirl her around several times before setting her back down.
"Ali! Why didn't you tell me you were getting back today?" he yelled with a smile so big I thought it'd break his face in half.
"I thought you knew!" she yelled back, her smile matching his.
Who is this, some kind of childhood "friend"? I don't remember him saying anything about her, but she does look sort of familiar.
"How would I know? You're school doesn't end until next week, and I thought you were gonna stay in America with your boyfriend for a couple days after that. Which, don't think I've forgotten about you breaking our agreement."
Or not.
"Um, hi, remember me? Your best friend who you just said could live with you? Who the hell is this?" I said, tired of being confused.
"So that would make you Sirius, right?" the girl said, smirking at me.
"Yes. And you are?"
"Alyssa," she replied, and then turned back to James. "I bet you really wish you could crawl in a hole and die huh?"
"Shut up." He muttered, looking supremely uncomfortable.
"Don't get mad at me, Jamie. You're the one who kept this from him, and now you get to tell him."
"Whatever," he replied brilliantly before turning towards me.
"Seriously, who is this? And why didn't you tell me about her? And what about Lily?"
"Oh right, Lily! How's she doing, it's been months since…"
"Ali!"
"Fine, I'll ask after you're done, just hurry up, I wanna hear about my friends."
"Only you would have friends at a school you don't go to, in a country you barely live in."
She only stuck her tongue out at him, so he turned around again to explain to me, finally. "Well, you see, Ali is sort of…um…well…"
"Come on Prongs, just spit it out already!" I exclaimed, my patience evaporating. I don't like not knowing what's going on.
James just kept stuttering, so the girl, Ali, I guess, stood up from her bed, walked over to me, and held out her hand. "Hi Sirius. I'm Alyssa Potter. James' twin sister."
So that's why she looked familiar.
0o0
Ali's POV
Sirius stood there stuttering for a few minutes, which I didn't mind, since it gave me free reign to stare at him. I may have gone to an all-girl school all through puberty, but I still knew a hot guy when I saw one. No wonder James never let me meet this one. I mean, Remus is pretty hot, and I guess you could call Peter kind of cute, but this Sirius guy was just on his own level.
My ogling was interrupted when Sirius found his voice, even though the only thing he could say was, "How the hell?"
My dear brother was awfully busy looking guilty, so I decided to explain things to his poor, confused best mate.
"Well, see, I was supposed to go to Hogwarts with Jamie here, but then my parents realized that Dumbledore might not be too happy to get both of us at once. Let's just say we both love a good laugh. So our parents sent me to Beauxbatons, but it only took me like, two years to get expelled from that hellhole, so Mum and Dad sent me to an all-girl magical school in California."
"How did I not know about you?"
"James, being his normal annoying overprotective self decided not to let me meet his womanizing best friend. Well, that plan's shot to hell now, huh Jamie?" I asked, enjoying my twin brother's discomfort immensely.
"Shut up Ali. And you never explained why you're home so early." Finally, I would get to tell someone who would be excited instead of just disappointed!
"Well, first of all, Justin and I broke up, and I'm sorry I broke our agreement because he was an asshole, which brings me to my next bit of news."
I glanced at Sirius, or Padfoot, I think his nickname was, and saw his eyes darting back and forth between us.
"Which is?" James asked, getting impatient.
"Guess who finally got expelled from Muldrich's School for Witches?"
"No way! Really? How'd you do it? I thought they were really lenient."
"Well, remember how I said Justin was an asshole? I caught him cheating on me on one of our shopping weekends with some skank a year below us, so I got myself some revenge. I guess Muldrich's lenient rules don't condone making a girl's clothes invisible and charming her hat to yell 'skank' every time she tried to say something. Something about boundaries, or child pornography or whatever. I have no idea, I wasn't listening. " I finished proudly.
"Bloody hell, sis! Remind me never to piss you off." James laughed.
"Yeah, well, we had been going out for a year and a half. Just because I only saw him once a week didn't give him the right to cheat. But anyway, now I get to come to Hogwart's with you!"
"Yes!" he yelled as he fist pumped. Then he turned to his friend and explained, "Ali's been trying to get expelled from that school the entire time she's been there, but they have almost no rules, which is why our parents sent her there. But now she can hang out with us our entire last year at Hogwart's!"
I saw a smile starting to form on Sirius' face. I wasn't done messing with him yet, though, and James really deserved a big fight for keeping this beautiful man away from me for so long.
"Well, not the entire year. I have to spend some time with Lily, and if you're still annoying the hell out of her, I don't think she's gonna want to be around you. And of course I have to fit in some time with Remus and Peter!"
James face went as white as his animagus form, and I knew he'd get back at me later. But for now, I was just enjoying the drama.
"Wait, WHAT?" Sirius yelled. "She knows the other Marauders! And LILY! For Merlin's sake, Prongs, what is wrong with you?"
"Now, Padfoot, just calm down for a sec…"
"Yeah, Sirius, calm down. I mean, of course I had to get to know Lily, when James came home for the summer and she was all he could talk about. And Remus and Peter just happened to drop by when I was home during the summer after first year."
"They've known since first year! Merlin, this explains all those mysterious letters Remus is always sending, and why sometimes I'll catch you and Lily actually talking civilly! I can't believe this!"
"Oh calm down, Siri, before you have an aneurysm. Anyways, aren't Remus and Peter coming over this afternoon?"
0o0
"Moony!" I yelled loudly as I bowled into the tall lanky teenager leaning against our counter. He wrapped his arms around me to keep us both from falling and laughed at my exuberance.
"Hey there, Catscratch!"
"Ugh! How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that? I mean, come on, it was just once, and I barely got you!" He could not keep holding this over my head. And if I was going to Hogwarts this year, he just couldn't keep calling me that.
"Barely got me?" he asked incredulously. "I still have the scars, Ali."
"Okay, that was so not my fault."
"Whatever Catscratch." He smiled, finally letting go of me.
"Ugh! Oh, hi Wormtail. I didn't see you there." I said after catching a glimpse of him as I turned around.
"Hi Ali!" he squeaked.
"I am so confused right now," I heard a deep voice say from the doorway to the kitchen.
"Just go with it Pads, we wouldn't want your brain to explode." James responded as he pushed past Sirius to greet his friends. Sirius then proceeded to tackle them all and I decided that I would be safer up in my room for now. At least until tonight.
0o0
Sirius' POV
I woke up later that night to see James' silhouette looming over me and barely stopped myself from punching him in the face. I mean, really Prongs? I grew up in a houseful of Slytherins; I don't like looming shadows!
He must have somehow been able to tell that I was awake, because he whispered, "Come on, Sirius. The moon's starting to rise. Moony and Wormtail are meeting us in the woods behind the house."
I just nodded and got up to put some clothes on.
When we got outside I could feel my canine instincts starting to take over in anticipation of my change, and caught an unfamiliar and somewhat frightening scent on the edge of my senses.
I didn't have long to wonder about it, though, because Remus' transformation was underway. After a few years of seeing it monthly, it was no longer sickening, but I was still eerie and kind of scary. His entire body seemed to elongate, and while he no longer looked human, he couldn't pass for anything even closely resembling a wolf. James and Peter shifted and took off after him into the woods while I stayed behind for a moment laughing at how much it resembled a game of tag.
I was about to shift and join them when I caught that same scent again, only this time stronger. I was almost able to identify it, but it soon became unnecessary when a large black panther came around the edge of the house. It stopped short when it saw me, and the dog in me wouldn't allow me to move. So we just sat there staring at each other.
Its body was long and sleek, shining slightly in the bright moonlight, and it looked so smooth that part of me wanted to pet it. That would be crazy though, seeing as though this was a wild animal. Then the panther shook its head, as if it hadn't meant to stare at me so long, and loped off into the forest. As it turned away, I finally noticed that its eyes were a piercing shade of blue.
Taking after the panther, I shook myself from the insane train of thought, shifted, and ran into the forest. When I finally found my friends, the panther was there, too, and it was chasing after James.
Later I would realize that the chase was playful, and in no way resembled a hunt, but at that moment I just acted on instinct. I chased after the huge black cat, not registering that it shouldn't be this easy to catch, and soon found myself looking down at those eerily familiar eyes. And what was even stranger, the panther seemed to have a smile on its face.
Then I felt something nudging my side a little less than gently, and turned my big black head to see James trying to get me off the animal with what looked like panic in his eyes. The pieces began to connect sickeningly in my mind as I climbed of the cat, and if it hadn't been for Moony I would've shifted right then.
I mean, it was bad enough that James had a twin sister he didn't tell me about, and it was even worse that the other Marauders were already friends with her. But her knowing about Remus' furry little problem? That seemed like almost too much.
But then I looked around and saw that Remus was no longer in the clearing with us, so I decided to put my anger on hold to go keep him from doing something he'd regret in the morning.
0o0
"Are you fucking kidding me, James?" I yelled when all of us, or the Marauders, at least, were finally human again and sitting again in the clearing in the forest.
"Would you keep it down? My parents still don't know we're Animagi'" James said, trying to calm me down. It had the opposite effect.
"So you admit it! She's an animagus? How the hell could you have told her that Remus was a werewolf?" I exclaimed.
Now James was getting worked up, too, so he yelled, "Well, I couldn't exactly keep it from her! She's not stupid! What was she supposed to think when one of my friends came over every full moon during the summer? I asked Remus if I could tell her, and he not only agreed, he offered to tell her himself!" he finished, a bit too smugly for my taste.
But he had gotten his point across. Remus had never told anyone about his curse before, or so I had thought. He'd never even officially told us. We just kind of figured it out on our own. So if he trusted Ali enough to tell his deepest, darkest, secret, I guessed I had better start liking her.
And speaking of the devil…
"Hey, what's all this yelling about? You lot are going to wake Mum and Dad." Ali said as she walked into the clearing, her hair flowing uncontrollably around her face. It made her look almost wild, which was fitting, I guess.
"Oh, Sirius is just mad because you know about my furry little problem. And I personally think that he's totally jealous of your animagus form. It's so much cooler than his." Remus said with a…was that a wink? Hang on, was Remus…flirting?
Who is this guy and what has he done with my best mate?
"Oh yeah, Siri, 'cause there are so many other reasons for my brother to have his friend over every full moon…"
"That's what I said!" James interjected.
Ali rolled her eyes and continued, "And as for the jealousy thing, I know he is."
She and Moony both laughed as she walked over and sat on his freaking lap! And James just sat there and let them.
"Um, did I miss something?" I asked, staring pointedly at the two of them.
"Oh yeah," Ali said with a wicked smile, "we've been dating for years."
"WHAT?" Too much, too much, too much, too much…
Then I realized that Ali and Remus were laughing, while James just rolled his eyes and shared – or at least tried to share – a look with Peter, who was staring at the ground. Finally he gave up and turned to me to say, "That's just Ali."
"If you're jealous, Pads, I'd be more than happy to sit on your lap, too." Ali smirked…must be a Potter thing.
"Don't be a slag, sis."
"Don't be an ass, bro."
"I'm sorry, when did I give you permission to call me Pads?" I interrupted.
"Jeez, I thought Remus was the one with a stick lodged permanently up his ass." Ali commented.
"Hey!" both Moony and I yelled.
"What? You know it's true." She said to Remus, whose lap she was still sitting on.
"Whatever Catscratch." He smirked in response.
"Okay," I said before another round of banter I didn't understand was launched, "I'm going to go blow my brains out now."
"Make sure you clean up afterwards, Tampon!" Ali yelled as I walked away.
The nickname made me turn back. "Excuse me?"
"Well, since I'm not allowed to call you Pads…" and then they all dissolved into laughter. Assholes.
Dear Merlin let that nickname not catch on.
So there it is. I'm not sure yet whether this will become a multi-chapter fic, it depends on the response I get and whether I get any more ideas for it. If I continue, I warn you that it'll probably just be shameless fluff; I'm not great with plots. Oh, and I'm not completely sure when Sirius moved in with James. The book just said that he was sixteen, so this is set in the middle of the summer after their sixth year, and Sirius is about to turn seventeen.
:D Anyway, let me know what you think!
Mel