A/N: Sorry this is a long one right off the bat, with another long one at the end (I promise A/N's will never be this long again) but I wanted to warn people of some things so I don't have to worry about any complaints about things that I won't change anyway. This story will mostly follow along with the books (once it reaches that time period) up until you-know-which part of OotP, because I just had to "fix" certain events of it if this story was going to continue, and that messed up HBP, too. I'll just be adding in an element or two or ten here and there. This will start somewhere around Harry's first birthday and continue on from there, but the focus is on Sirius Black and what was going on with him, so don't expect tons of the other characters all the time. After all, Sirius was supposed to be the best looking and most mischievous of the group according to J.K. Rowling herself, so I assume he had to have a life that didn't absolutely revolve around the Marauders and later the Golden Trio. Some things had to be conveniently forgotten for the sake of the story working. If you find it difficult to conveniently forget things then at least you've been warned. Having said that, please don't inform me of every hole in the "real" HP universe, because I know (it's fan fiction so it's kind of expected anyway. I'm not J.K. Rowling, after allཀ).

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Part One: the Ball and Chain

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Chapter One

Sometimes you can just tell when the day will inevitably be bad. There are simple signs to clue you in: your alarm clock not going off (or, God forbid, going off early), stubbing your toe on the way to the bathroom, your hair looking like a 70's reunion rock concert, your shoes inexplicably disappearing from the place where you know you left them, and even your breakfast catching on fire are sure signs of an impending bad day. Sirius Black had experienced none of the aforementioned signs that morning.

He had slept in late on purpose since he had nothing planned for the day — only waking up because his conquest from the night before had decided she wanted another go before she got out of bed. When he'd finally stumbled into the bathroom, he had managed to climb into the shower without injuring any of his toes, and his shaggy pitch-black hair fell perfectly into place over his dark gray eyes, as always. He finished dressing — finding both shoes innocently by the door pretending they hadn't considered moving themselves just so they could witness one of Sirius's famous temper tantrums for the third time that week — and walked into the kitchen only to find that the girl wanted to know whether he wanted her to make a late breakfast or an early lunch for him.

Even losing any chance he had of seducing that particular girl back into his bed hadn't put a real damper on the rest of his day. He'd stuttered over her name — Mary, Marie, Marcy, Marcia, Martha...he was sure it started with an "m"...or maybe that was the one from the last night. Alright, fine, he didn't remember at all. So sue him. She had completely flown off the handle and yelled something about him using her. Well, really, what did she expect? She had left her seventeenth birthday party, which was being held at a club, to run off and shag a twenty-something-year-old man who had obviously blown off his date to hit on her instead, and she expected flowers, chocolate, and a committed relationship? Instead of ruining his day the situation gave him a good laugh, and laughing was definitely something on the good day list the last time he checked. Of course, what's-her-name hadn't been overly pleased when he laughed, but how good her day went was right at the top of Sirius's list of things he would never bother to think about again. All in all, he had been looking forward to a very pleasant day.

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Sirius was currently aiming a scowl at his former headmaster while wondering just where the hell the day had taken a turn for the worse without his noticing. He would have taken a bad hair day or any number of stubbed toes instead of this. He eyed Dumbledore suspiciously. No headmaster randomly took a notion to invite former students to secret meetings without notice, especially ones as infamous for trouble-making and promiscuity as Sirius Black. And of course nothing was in the old man's eyes to give him away except for that ridiculously annoying twinkle.

Sirius was quite on edge, as one of his worst memories had been sitting here like this with Dumbledore, and had been very unpleasant for him. His whole life he'd been prone to causing extraordinary, and unfortunately sometimes cataclysmic, magical phenomenon: apparating from place to place at will since he was a toddler; transfiguring very nearly anything he wanted from the age of six; casting and upholding impossible numbers of spells, hexes, curses, and charms; and performing complex magic among other things, all without having even had his first wand yet. These occurrences often happened when he was in an extremely heightened emotional state, but was much more controlled than the outbursts experienced by most wizards and witches. Extreme anger, sadness, and frustration seemed to work the best; he'd even learned how to make the bursts of power happen by simply thinking of the emotions.

Finally, it had all come to a boil when he was sixteen. He'd been vacationing with his family in the Alps, and had become so furious at his parents for criticizing his friends and his life in general that he had brought the impressive chateau they were staying in down around their heads. Even now he couldn't say whether it had been intentional or accidental, he supposed it was a mixture of both. After living with James for the rest of the summer, he'd been summoned to Dumbledore's office upon returning for his seventh year at Hogwarts. The talk that followed unsettled him completely. The professors couldn't come to a conclusion about his magical abilities, and had finally started talking about running tests and the like. He'd gotten up and walked out, refusing to go back no matter how many times he was summoned. He would only go now, three years later, because Dumbledore had taken a wizard's oath that he would not be treated like a lab rat to satisfy their curiosity.

Soon enough Sirius got bored waiting for Dumbledore to get to whatever point he had. He began having random objects break around the room, waiting for a house elf to rush forward to clean up the mess, and quickly repairing the damage before any of the poor elves could do anything. He was amused by the way the house elves would stop in their tracks and stare around with their big, creepy eyes looking for whoever the culprit was. Of course, since Sirius didn't have a wand out he was immediately overlooked, which he found even more hilarious.

He quickly returned to scowling when Dumbledore reprimanded him, "Mr. Black, kindly stop teasing my house elves. Your skills with wandless magic are not to be taken so lightly."

"Oh I'm not taking them lightly, Headmaster," Sirius was sure to emphasis the man's formal title, "I realize that being able to do wandless magic at will is very rare, especially when you can control it, and I take using the skill to amuse myself very seriously, no contradiction intended, of course."

"Of course," he thought he might have seen a smile tugging at the corners of Dumbledore's mouth, "You may call me Albus, Sirius. You are no longer my student."

After a long silence that might very well have been awkward if Sirius hadn't been too bored to notice it, he finally questioned a bit unkindly, "Did you want something with me, Albus, or was my company enough to please you?"

Dumbledore watched him, and it seemed to Sirius that he was sizing him up for something. Sirius was getting ready to speak again when the old man finally spoke, "It's refreshing to hear someone speak their mind around me. It's really very annoying when grown wizards and witches are too nervous around you to even be able to snap at you properly, you know. But, alas, onto more important matters than an old man's woes...there's an assignment from the Order for you. I expect you are interested?" There was that damned twinkle in the man's eyes again. What the hell did he have to be so happy and amused about all the time anyways? The wizarding world was at war for pity's sakeཀ

Of course they would expect him to be interested. When no one else will do it everyone assumes Sirius Black is the man to turn to. It drove him crazy with rage at times, luckily for the delicate instruments in Dumbledore's office this wasn't one of those times. After all, it had to be good fun if Dumbledore had a hand in it — probably illegal, little chance of success, near certainty of death, that kind of thing...what wouldn't be fun about that?

After becoming aware of the headmaster studying him closely, Sirius replied, "It depends what the assignment is. Judging from the ones you usually pin me with, I'd say I can only take the really dangerous and exciting missions, you know." Maybe it was just him, but Sirius could have sworn he saw Dumbledore wince at the barely concealed resentment.

"You only get the jobs you are qualified for, Sirius." When no response came from the younger man, Dumbledore continued, "You have heard of the recent deaths of certain important men, I'm sure?" Sirius's eyes shot up to meet the headmaster's, and after a moment he nodded in affirmation. "The murders were amazingly organized. There are no witnesses, no suspects, and no leads. I want the murderer caught."

Sirius winced inwardly at the mention of murder. "All of the men were death eaters weren't they?" he demanded, narrowing his eyes in challenge.

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, indeed they were."

"Then why do you want the person who killed them caught? The wizarding world is at warཀ Exterminating a few death eaters who happen to have enough political and economic power to do real damage can't be considered murder in times of war. It isn't considered murder when aurors kill death eaters, or when people die during battle," Sirius said hotly.

Dumbledore kept his calm demeanor as always as he tried to calm the young man in front of him, "No, Sirius, aurors and other people in battle don't commit murder by killing death eaters. I never said I wanted to turn the person in to the ministry, I just want to know who it is. No orders to kill those men came from anyone in charge on our side of the war, and that doesn't sit well with anyone. The entire inheritances from the victims were not left to anyone in their families, but were sent to various unnamed accounts. The money was soon moved and appears to be untraceable. We are afraid that the men are actually being executed by Voldemort so that he can have their entire fortunes in his possession."

It amazed Sirius that anyone could think that Voldemort would do something like that. Sure, he didn't bat an eyelash at the act of murdering even his own followers, but Sirius somehow thought Voldemort wouldn't bother just for their money. The way he saw it, Voldemort didn't need money. If he wanted something he would either threaten, torture, or kill anyone who stood in his way of getting it, and he certainly wouldn't leave payment for anything he took. If for some reason Voldemort did require money, Sirius doubted he would kill a follower who had so much power in the world to get it. He'd probably just have said follower give him the money instead. Yes, Sirius definitely thought that the leaders of the light side were either a little too paranoid or just not using their time to think things through.

He chose to keep his opinions he himself. Even though the headmaster had said he didn't want to turn the person into the Ministry, Sirius didn't trust him enough to tell him that he knew who it was. "So, you want me to find out who's good enough to be killing death eaters without leaving any clues behind? How ever did you people peg me as the type for danger and excitement, anyways?"

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Half an hour later Sirius was stalking into the Three Broomsticks with another scowl on his face. He was going to get wrinkles if he kept this up. That thought just made his expression even more angry. People at the tables nearest the door looked up from what they were doing to stare at him as he stomped in. He shot them a menacing glare before making his way to the bar.

"Well, look who it isཀ The infamous Sirius Black coming to pay me a visitཀ It's been ages since I last saw you, you know. You should come around more often. What'll it be?" Madam Rosmerta greeted him with enthusiasm he normally would have reciprocated.

Instead he offered her a dry smile, "You know me, Rosie," he used the name that he and James had used since their fourth year at Hogwarts, "I don't give a damn what it is as long as it's unbearably strong and highly intoxicating."

She started searching through her selection of liquor and immediately started chattering away about what had been going on with her since his last visit just before Harry was born. He tried to pay attention, but he was still too preoccupied with his own thoughts of dead death eaters. She set a glass full of purple liquid in front of him. He saw with some trepidation that the contents of the glass were bubbling and hissing while sending off clouds of steam.

He mentally shrugged, and took a gulp of the stuff. It numbed his mouth and made his throat feel like it was on fire. Sirius found that it was rather pleasant. He took another gulp. He made a mental note to ask her what the hell this stuff was once she got finished talking. This stuff really was highly intoxicating, he was feeling a tiny bit light-headed already. Sirius had taken several more generous swigs from his glass before he noticed that the woman across the bar from him was quiet. He lowered his glass from his mouth, where he'd been about to take another drink, and looked at her.

After several moments she said teasingly, "Sirius, dear, I asked how you've been?"

Well, at least he knew why she'd been looking at him strangely. "Alright," he said briefly.

"Well, what have you been doing all this time?" she pressed.

"Not much. Babysitting Harry when Lily lets me. Working every now and again," he provided with a shrug.

She smiled and nodded, "Yes, I was so excited when I heard about Harry being born. Why I..." she paused when she noticed that Sirius had stopped listening and had taken another drink. She turned the conversation back onto him, "So what kind of work do you do then?"

He almost answered, but even in his inebriated state the warning signals went off in his head. He didn't need to talk about that. "Just the odd job here and there, nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about," he answered, inadvertently switching on the "charm" as a defense mechanism.

He heard giggling nearby and missed the look that Madam Rosmerta sent him after his answer as he turned to see three pretty women with their heads together sitting further down the bar. One of them whispered something to her friends, as another one giggled again, and the last blushed and turned to look at him. Her eyes widened when she saw that he was watching them, and the blush deepened as she spun back around and whispered something to her still laughing friends. Suddenly the laughing stopped and all three heads turned to look at him. The thought occurred to Sirius that a nice little romp between the sheets would take his mind off death eaters, murders, and that git of a headmaster quite nicely.

He told Rosmerta, whose odd look had turned into frowning at him, to bring three more of whatever the ladies were having because he noticed that they'd been running low since the barmaid was talking to him. Then he got up and sauntered over to them. Once he was standing directly behind the three, he asked, "I don't suppose you have room for one more in your company?" All of them spun to look at him. Apparently they had been studiously ignoring him since he'd caught them talking about him, and hadn't seen him walk up. He repressed the urge to laugh, which was somewhat difficult because of the drinking he'd just been engaging in. Thank Merlin for the Black family's ability to drill nonchalance into his brain.

He arched an eyebrow when none of them said anything, and one finally stuttered something about having plenty of room. He smirked and took a seat, figuring he'd have his way with one of them that night. He was as thankful now as he had been in his schooldays that there were rooms for rent upstairs.

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A/N: Sorry for long notes and a short chapter (the chapters should get longer). I just wanted to take care of some things that I expect will come up if anyone is reading this. I'll just label everything into sections so you can skip over parts that either don't interest you or don't apply to you. I realize that most of you hate wading through A/N's, which is why I said everything in the first chapter so you can just check this out first and see if any questions or complaints you have are already addressed.

Plot

When this story popped into my head, it began right before Sirius escaped from Azkaban. I realized that there was just too much stuff that would be almost unexplainable if I started the story from there. When I tried to start writing it, I ended up in tons and tons of flashbacks trying to explain actions, events, and other elements. I decided that instead of having an elaborate network of flashbacks (since I'm not a big fan of those myself) I would just start over with the time period of this chapter and write everything as an actual part of the story. I said all of that just so you would realize that it's all pretty firm in my mind and that it won't be changing. Please don't write me with suggestions about what should happen, as I already know exactly what's going to take place.

Magic

I realize that a lot of what has/will be said about what kind of magic people can do is either not backed up or completely proven wrong by J.K. Rowling. I said at the beginning that a lot of things would have to be conveniently forgotten, and I guess that what is possible with magic is one of them. I've just taken a lot of liberties, particularly with Sirius and a character who will be introduced in the next couple of chapters. I figured that, hey, it's magicཀ So even if Hermione happens to read it in a book, or a teacher happens to say it, that doesn't necessarily mean it's concrete. We muggles are constantly changing what we think is possible in science and stuff. I figured that just because the majority of witches and wizards aren't able to do something doesn't make it impossible.

Characterization

Sirius isn't the happy-go-lucky guy who spends all of his time pulling pranks and getting into trouble with his friends in this story, as you might have already figured out just from this chapter. You'll probably think that his behavior is erratic and without a point at first, but everything will be explained. There is a reason for every way he acts, I promise. For now, let's just establish that he does have extraordinary magical abilities, he uses women, and the big thing would be that he is definitely not like he was when he was younger, but is trying his best to not let anyone, particularly his friends, know that anything is different or wrong.

Romance

The first few chapters won't have any of the romance that you're kind of promised in the summary. I couldn't just drop a random OC in at the very beginning. Don't worry, though, once it gets to that point — which will happen before the tenth chapter, that's the only bone I'll be throwing you on the subject — the romance will be pretty much so a constant thing.

Reviews

I just wanted to let everyone who reads this know that I'd really appreciate reviews if you like it. Just please DO NOT make any predictions in them. If you happen to be correct in whatever you say then everyone else will assume that I took the idea from you. If someone happens to guess something important then it's very likely that I'll just discontinue the story because I don't want people thinking that the whole thing is based on someone else's imagination. If you already said what's going to happen it'll ruin it for everyone else anyways, no matter if there are two or two thousand other readers.

And one last thing (I promise), I don't like people sending me huge messages about why they hate anything about a story. If you hate it you don't have to read it. I'm not holding a gun to your head and forcing you to select this story from the thousands upon thousands of other stories, nor am I forcing you to continue reading if you decide you don't like it. Therefore, I really don't think anyone, especially me, should have to spend time rolling our eyes at any flames. If you do decide to be completely ridiculous and spend your own time reading and then writing a review about a story you hate, then it's me (and everyone else with any level of sanity) who will be laughing at you for being so stupid (for the first offence) and immature (for the latter offence).

I hope I haven't scared anyone off of reviewing or made myself into a TOTAL bitch. Just keep what I said in mind please, and take into consideration the reasons for my requests.