As the cold November winds started to sting with droplets of icy rain, Sirius Black pulled his leather jacket tightened around his throat, bunching up the homemade scarf he had around his neck. The start of the winter was, as it always is in London, bitterly cold and horribly spent many days traveling on foot, his bike always parked out beside the alley close to Grimmauld- as flying it was strictly against Dumbledore's wishes, and Sirius was trying his best to behave. It was, after all, one of the conditions to his taking custody of his sixteen year old Godson.
And so, as responsible, sensible adults do, Sirius was on his way to a job interview. It wasn't as though he needed the money, of course. He had plenty of that now that he once again had control over the Black Family estate and accounts, plus the retribution payout that the Ministry had awarded him for wrongful imprisonment and unnecessary suffering. It was more on the principle- Normal adults had jobs, and Sirius wanted to be normal. To be out among people.
However, there was a stigma attached to his name in his own world- and everyone in Wizarding London knew it. There were whispers, everywhere he went, around every corner- and this he did not like. He did, however, have an old love for muggle music. He was of the 70's rock movement in London, some of the music that shaped the entire modern culture had been the sounds that filled the night when he and the other Marauders had sat around, drinking and smoking, laughing about their near death experiences from the war, their brushes with Death Eaters and the like. Sirius smiled against the cold at the memory.
He was on his way to an interview, if it could be called as much, with a record store not more than seven city blocks away from Grimmauld. He picked it for his knowledge of at least the older music, and had been listening to the radio most of the time since he'd escaped prison, he felt he knew a fair amount about the new- and for it's close proximity to home. The owner of the store was an aging burnout, a survivor of the Beatles drug craze, and was advertising for a manager to take some of the pressure of business off.
Sirius rounded the last corner, and felt hot liquid running down his chest before he had time to know what hit him. "Oh my God!" A woman said, wrapping her scarf from around her neck and using it to dab her coffee off his scalded chest.
"I am so, so sorry. Bloody hell. I really just didn't see you." The woman gushed, and as continued to blot. Sirius blinked back from the initial shock and pain of the splatter. The woman he'd collided with- He'd never seen her before. If she wasn't a muggle he'd be thoroughly surprised. She had short hair, in a pixie cut that he was sure Tonks' would be proud of. She had a long yellow peacoat and matching rainboots with her jeans tucked in, a yellow sunfower in her hair. Sirius smiled in spite of the stinging from the coffee. She was a pretty thing, obviously flustered and embarrassed. He shook his head and smiled again.
"Really, it's fine." He said kindly. In the back of his mind he knew the interview was going to be missed- and he noted to call down the the record shop for a possible redo, but if not it was no real loss to him.
"I am so sorry. I was- I was trying to catch a bus." She sputtered. "I'm, uh, really late." She continued to pat at Sirius' now fairly dried chest. She looked at her hand and noticed she was still touching him, and she drew back- her face burning red.
"Well, how about I give you a lift?" Sirius ask. My bike is just up the road a bit. "I live just a few blocks up- I'm sure my bike will beat the bus there."
"I, er-" She stammered again, her face flushing red once more. Sirius shrugged and grabbed her hand, leading her on a quick walk to the alley where his Harley was waiting. She'd given a few protests on their way, but now seeing the motorcycle, she started to back up.
"Really, it's alright. The bus will be-" She turned to point and Sirius surprised her when she turned back to him; he stood right before her with an extra helmet held out.
"Where are we going?" He ask, smiling once again, this time in a very mischievous sort of way.
"A muggle?" Remus ask, placing his glass of whiskey down on the table between the two. Sirius nodded as he swigged down the remainder of his own drink. He cringed and turned the glass upside down on the table.
"She is." He confirmed. "She smacked into me, her coffee when all down my shirt, inside my jacket. Poor thing was so frustrated she used her own scarf to try and clean me up. Went to apologize and mentioned she was late. So- I gave her a ride, and waited outside for her meeting, and took her to lunch." He grinned at his friend, who seemed less than amused.
"Sirius- She's a muggle..." Remus repeated.
"Piper." Sirius reminded Remus. "And why do you keep saying that?"
"In case you forget. She was pretty, I get that. And she giggled when you smiled, batted her eyelashes, like they all do. But she is a muggle, Sirius. And you are one of the most, possibly third only behind Harry and Dumbledore, and you, you... She can't protect herself. She doesn't have any clue our world exists." Remus could tell he'd hit a nerve. Sirius, while never committed to any of his many girlfriends, but he always spent every fling with a fiery passion until it fizzled out.
"Yeah." He nodded, turning the glass back over and refilling it, taking all the whiskey down in one pull. Remus seemed satisfied he'd gotten through to his friend, and was pulling his coat on when he heard Sirius speak again. "How many times was it a muggle girl you took home with you before you took up fucking my baby cousin, Moony?" He was bitter, there was no doubt about that. Remus knew this was just par for the course for Sirius, but still, he did not turn around when Sirius made his statement. Instead, his bit his tongue and took his leave. He did, at the moment, have a job after all- one he needed to be up for in the morning and he had no time to sit and argue. Sirius would come around, he always did.
Sirius however, slammed his fist on his table when he heard the door shut behind his best friend. He hadn't meant what he said- On the contrary. He loved that Tonks and Remus had each other, and they were damn good together. He hoped very soon Remus would get Hope's old ring out of the chest he kept it locked in and slide it down on the young metamorphagus' finger. But Remus didn't understand.
Sirius was not careful like Remus, it was part of their balance. Sirius was reckless, passionate, bold. He never calculated his steps, rather he jumped in blind and made a plan in the air. The same was with his new Muggle friend, Piper. There was something about her that was different that the witches he often had falling all over him.
He thought perhaps it was the fact that she didn't know him from Adam. To her, he was just some bloke who got in the way of her morning but made it up by replacing the coffee and buying her lunch. She smiled brightly and was brilliantly smart- Her meeting, he found out, was with a muggle elementary school, a job opening starting in the spring with children who need special help, whether from family problems or learning disabilities. She spoke with such passion about the children she hoped to help. Sirius couldn't help but sit and listen.
She wasn't after his name, his money, a moment in the Prophet. Piper was something he'd never had before in a woman. A friend.
Her conversation was sweet, but not flirty. And Remus was right in his assumption, she was pretty. Not in the classic, overly made up pureblood witch sort of way, but rather in the sort of way where it was without any kind of attempt. Sirius dug into his pocket and found the napkin where her number was written, along with her name and the 'i' over 'Piper' dotted with a little heart. He's been the one to ask for it, and when he took her home she stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. Sirius laid her number down beside his phone and trudged up stairs, his mind buzzing from his outburst, the alcohol, and the thought of the girl in the bright yellow coat.
Post OOTP, Sirius lives story, will carry through to the end. I would love to have some feedback on our first chapter, even if it is a little lacking in the action area. Thanks for reading!