Author's Note!

Hey! Welcome to the new 'Forever and Always'!

This is a rewrite of my original story with the same title in the hope that this one will be a million times better. I hope you enjoy it and remember to leave a review if it entertains you! Thank you!

Chapter Two - The Start of Summer

(thanks to 'AnotherJilyShipper' for reading and editing this!)

Disclaimer: Rowling owns it all, Merlin praise her.

Enjoy!

I awoke early the next morning, the summer sun peeking through a gap in my curtains. James had obviously opened a window in the night, a cool breeze brushing over my skin. I sat up and looked around, inspecting the room. My back and palm were beginning to hurt again, James' spell wearing off. He was still sleeping, however, so I'd deal with it until he was awake.

Despite the missing wall, almost everything in the room was exactly the same. Both of our beds were mirrored, mine being in the furthest corner of my room and his in the opposite corner across from mine. The walls were decorated in red and gold, just as our Hogwarts dorm was. Everything else was also Gryffindor themed, from the carpet to the wardrobes. Even the lights beside our beds were red and gold. The only major difference was that in the corner opposite my bed was a hot tub, large enough for four people to sit in. To this day I was still amazed at the size of his house.

James had a whole collection of items on his side of the room. He had Quidditch equipment hanging on the walls with posters of his favourite team sitting beside them. How anyone could love the Chudley Cannons though was beyond me. Photos of his family and our group were also dotted around, a big photo of all of us at Christmas on his bedside table. His clothes were thrown across the floor, both clean and dirty, a habit that proved difficult to stop. Empty sweet packets were stuck to the carpet and messily thrown next to the rubbish bin, obviously failed attempts to throw them in. He was a messy git.

My side of the room was completely different. I'd only been here an evening but my suitcase was tidily sat at the foot of my bed. No doubt my clothes would join his on the floor very soon. I had decorated my side with posters of motorbikes and pictures similar to James'. They seemed rather bare compared to his, though. All of my Quidditch equipment was in my suitcase, so I'd have to put them up later.

I sighed, moving over to the end of my bed and kicking the suitcase onto its side, allowing me to open it to reach in for my clothes. I picked out some shorts, the weather outside looking bright enough to sit out in. We both had en-suite bathrooms to our rooms, myself deciding to take a quick shower.

James was still snoring away when I was putting on my shorts. I didn't know what time it was but I knew it was definitely time to wake him up. It was almost a tradition at this point for myself to wake him up incredibly early. My sleeping habits had caused our entire dorm, Remus and Peter included, to stay up into the late hours of the night and then wake up a couple of hours later ready to go. In my eyes I was doing them a favour. It provided so much more time for activities.

Touching my aching back, I tiptoed over to James' bed, quietly enough for him to not notice me. I inched my face towards his ear, his messy black hair sticking up all over the place. On a final thought I pocketed his glasses, well aware of his fiery temper in the mornings - he and Evans were more suited than even he knew. The less eyesight he had, the less damage he could do to me.

I breathed in, and in one loud shout awoke him from his dreams. 'James!'

He shot up like a bullet, his eyes almost snapping open. He looked around, clutching his covers to his chest. 'Dammit, Sirius!' he groaned, flopping back down onto his pillow. So far, so good.

'A week,' he grumbled into his pillow. 'You had a week of uninterrupted sleep, James, be grateful of that much.'

'So you should be,' I grinned to myself, putting his glasses back now I was out of danger. 'It's time you woke up anyway.'

'No, Sirius,' he moaned, looking up in my direction. 'It shouldn't be time. Not at all.' He picked up his watch. 'Six o'clock, Sirius. For Merlin's sake, go back to sleep!'

I waved my arms in protest, 'I've showered, I'm dressed! Get up.'

He asked me to leave using some words that shouldn't ever be used, pulling his covers over his head. I noticed a dribble mark on his pillow.

Grinning to myself, I sat beside his bed. 'Dreaming of Evans again, were you?'

'Piss off,' he grumbled.

'I couldn't help but notice your dribble patch, James. That only happens when you dream of Evans, right?'

'Piss off.'

'Many years of observation has led me to believe that only when you dream of red hair and emerald eyes does saliva leave your mouth and set on your pillow.'

'Piss. Off.'

I laid back on the floor to my own stupidity. I yelped and touched my cut once more. The spell seemed to have stopped the bleeding but it was definitely reopening.

'Okay, fine,' I finally said, 'if you wont reply to that then maybe you'll get up to fix my bloody back.'

'Your back is bleeding again?' he asked from under his covers, not bothering to look for himself.

'No, it's just opening up and it hurts. A lot.'

His eyes poked out from beneath his sheets. 'You said 'bloody back'?'

'An expression, James,' I reminded him. There were rough lines under his eyes, the beginnings of what appeared to me to be wrinkles.

'Are you getting old, mate?' I grinned.

This time his whole head poked out, his hazel eyes definitely awake. 'What?'

'Under your eyes,' I smiled, 'looks like bags.'

He immediately touched his eyes, jumping out of his bed in just his boxers and running to his bathroom. The boy was nearly as obsessed with the way he looked as I was.

'You're an arsehole,' he shouted from his bedroom, turning on his shower anyway.

I grinned, distracting myself by picking up a toy bludger and throwing it against the wall. Mid throw I heard something from the window nearest to James' bed, a soft tapping. I looked over to see the silhouette of a bird outside, James' bird. I quickly stood up and opened the blind and window, allowing the bird to come inside. It appeared James had only opened my window and not his own.

'Poof!' I exclaimed, the tiny bird nibbling at my fingers in acknowledgement. 'What you got there, buddy?' I asked him, picking the letter from his feet and throwing it onto James bed. He hooted twice, quickly disappearing out of the window again. 'Good to see you too,' I murmured sarcastically.

Poof was James' birthday present from his parents in his first year. James hadn't initially picked the name Poof, but he took so long to decide so I jumped in and named it for him. He wasn't too happy at first but he got used to it.

I scratched my palm, wondering how long the messy haired kid was going to take. Sighing, I sat on his bed and picked the letter up. It was obviously addressed to James, but that didn't stop me from trying to recognise the handwriting. I could tell whose it was just by glancing at it, I'd copied the bloke's work enough times.

'What's that?' James suddenly asked, towel wrapped around his waist. That had to be the quickest shower ever.

'Letter from Moony,' I told him, throwing the small piece of parchment to him. 'What's it about?' I asked as he read it.

He softly sighed, looking at me with a little less life. 'His transformation is this week. I so wanted to be there for him but his parents have strict regulations.'

I nodded, knowing exactly how he was feeling. 'I get it, I do, but he's done it before on his own. The thing that sucks most is that his next one will probably coincide with the week we go back to Hogwarts.'

James shook his head, walking to his drawer for some underwear. 'I already checked, it's about a week before. He's still got enough time to stay with us for the last week.'

'Good,' I smiled, walking to my bed and facing away from him so he could get dressed. 'Anything about Pete in there?'

James quickly read through it again. 'His mother is ill again, something to do with her stomach. He wrote to Remus a few days ago.'

'Fair enough,' I spoke, turning around to see him in a pair of shorts also. 'You going to reply to that?'

He shook his head, 'Not just yet, my parent's should be home now, we need to see them about your back.'

I nodded, walking to my suitcase to pick up a clean shirt, one that allowed room for my back to breathe without the fabric rubbing.

'Hey,' James spoke, 'where'd Poof go?'

'Back outside,' I told him. 'Didn't stay for long, not even for a treat.'

'Weird,' he shrugged, opening the door opposite my bed. 'Now, let's go and fix you. May take a while, but...'

I punched his arm, brushing my hair out of my eyes. 'Fixing me would be a lot easier than fixing you.'

He walked to the stairs at the end of the hall, laughing mockingly at me. 'You're joking? You have way more problems than I do, physically and mentally.'

I agreed, but didn't want him to know that. 'Rubbish, take away your biggest problem and you're useless. No eyesight and you'd be screwed. How would you look at dear Evans every day?'

He ran his hand through his hair. 'I have enough of a mental image to not need to look at her ever again.'

We descended to the second floor, still going down the stairs that led to the ballroom. 'But what if she was naked, Prongs?' I teased. 'You wouldn't want to not to be able to see her if she was in her birthday suit.'

He gazed at me as though I was the devil. 'You haven't won,' he told me as we stepped onto the huge ballroom floor, 'but I will give you this round.'

'One point to me,' I chuckled cockily, his eyes flaring momentarily, then joining me in the laughter.

We stepped into a large kitchen, a small table set out for James and his parents, obviously used to save time. The first floor consisted of the huge ballroom in the middle, with a lounge either side. The lounge on the left was ours, furthest to the back of the house, and the lounge to the right was his parents (or the 'Family Room'), closest to the front of the house. Behind that was the dining room and in front of James' was the kitchen. There was a bathroom both sides and a hallway between the walls of the ballroom and the outer rooms. On our side was a door that led to a basement, with something amazing inside it.

'Izzy,' James greeted cheerily.

'Mr James,' she smiled, 'you're up early! Mr Sirius as well!'

She was also so happy to see us. 'Morning, Izzy.'

'What have you got for us this morning?' James asked her, sitting down on the four person table.

She blushed slightly, looking at the floor. I didn't know house elves could blush. 'Nothing yet, Mr James, I didn't expect you until lunch. I can have bacon, eggs, and toast ready in a few minutes?'

'That'll be fantastic, Izzy,' I smiled, 'I'll make the coffee.'

'Whoa!' James protested. 'Coffee? I think you'd be better with juice, you're not allowed coffee, remember!'

I rolled my eyes, making for the fridge instead of the coffee machine. I picked out some orange juice and retrieved two glasses from the cupboard beside it, allowing room for Izzy to pass by me to get to their enormous oven.

I went back to the table, James already sitting down. 'No helping us, then?' I asked him, pouring his drink for him.

He pushed his glasses up his nose, grinning. 'My house, you wait on me.'

I thought for a moment. 'That isn't how it works?'

'It isn't?' he questioned, still smiling. 'I could have sworn it was.'

I shook my head, 'No. It isn't. You wait on me, the guest.'

'Fine,' he agreed, placing his hands on the table and leaning forward. 'What would you like to do today, Sir Padfoot?'

'That's more like it,' I pointed, sitting back on my chair, smiling dumbly.

He stared at me for a moment. 'Well?'

'Wait, you actually want me to pick something to do?'

'Sure, you've had a rough few days. Kicked out onto the streets, left abandoned, not a soul left to carry you on their shoulder.'

'Ouch,' I grinned. 'I'll take it.'

'You deserve it,' he smirked, raising his glass to me.

'Right. How about we find your parents so they can fix me up and then we'll pick something?'

He laughed, 'No need for that, mate, they're behind you.'

I spun around, finding myself face to face with Mr and Mrs Potter. I gaped, not expecting them to be awake this early. It was barely seven!

Mr and Mrs Potter were both aurors well into their late sixties. However, the looked younger than McGonagall herself. They had greying hair, Mrs Potter's a little less so than his. His hair was just like James', standing up in several directions and naturally messy. They would have been identical had his not been grey.

Mrs Potter had light blue eyes, whereas James' took after his Dad's, completely hazel. It seemed that James was just a copy of his father. I don't think he shared any major similarities with his mother, other than his fuller lips and smaller nose and ears. To be honest, he was the perfect combination of the two of them, taking only their best qualities. He could have been described as perfect to some people, excluding Evans.

The stared at me with a surprised smile. 'Sirius!' Mrs Potter exclaimed, rushing over to hug me. 'How are you? Why are you here so soon, we didn't expect you until the end of summer.'

'You're five weeks early, m'boy,' Mr Potter chuckled, patting me on the shoulder and sitting beside me on the table. 'Why come early? Did anything happen at home?' he asked with the same angry glare that James had used. Mrs Potter sat opposite me, next to James, after helping Izzy with a heavy pot.

'Yes, actually,' James answered for me, his face angry and red once more. 'His mother -'

'Let the man answer for himself, son,' Mr Potter sternly requested. 'What happened?'

'Things didn't quite go to plan at home, with the family and all,' I answered vaguely, 'so, I decided to seek refuge here with you for the summer if that's okay?'

They both nodded, inspecting me. 'Why did you leave, Sirius?' Mrs Potter asked me.

I sighed, not wanting to go too far into detail, James sitting back silently on his chair. 'My mother and I had our last argument. Words were exchanged -'

'As were spells,' James interrupted.

'- And I packed my things and left. I've been disowned.'

Mrs Potter put a hand to her mouth, reaching out with her other one to put it above mine. Mr Potter sat quietly, looking at his son. They always seemed to be able to communicate without words.

'I'm so sorry, dear,' Mrs Potter sympathised. 'I knew you argued, but I never knew how badly!'

Mr Potter put his hand up, interrupting his wife. 'What sort of spells, Sirius?'

I looked at James, who nodded. I stood up and unbuttoned my shirt. 'That's where I need your help. James could only do a temporary spell to heal it.'

I took my shirt off and showed them my back, the cut running from top to bottom.

'Merlin, Sirius,' Mr Potter exclaimed, pulling his wand from his pocket and heading to the door.

'Charlus, where are you going?' Mrs Potter exclaimed, glaring at him.

'I can get them arrested for this, with his back as evidence,' he growled. 'It's inevitable. Behind bars.'

'It's not worth the trouble, Mr P,' I told him, looking to James again. 'They'd pay the ministry off and get off free. They always do. At least if we leave them alone they'll forget about me and I'll have no more interactions with them. They'd hold a grudge if we went to court against them.'

He stared at me as though I were mad, and then at his wife. She nodded, her hands running down the broken skin. He finally exhaled, moving back towards me and spinning me around, checking my back.

'No spell can truly heal this, Sirius,' he informed me. 'Your best bet is dittany.'

James snapped his fingers, grinning, 'I knew it!'

'Then why didn't you use it, 'smartest boy in your entire year'?' his mother questioned.

'We have some in the house?' he asked, scratching his black hair, frowning.

She sighed, pulling her wand from her pocket and summoning it, a little bottle flying to her hand.

'In my defense,' James protested as she glared at him like all mothers did, 'I can't use magic yet.'

She sighed, Mr Potter grabbing my shoulders and holding my as though I were made of glass, crushing my bones so I didn't get dropped.

'Why so tight?' I asked, Mrs P opening the bottle.

'Have you ever had dittany poured onto you, Sirius?' he questioned. I shook my head. 'It hurts, a lot.'

'Sure it does,' I grinned, winking at James.

'This will sting, Sirius,' Mrs P announced.

'Don't worry, Mrs P, I can handle anything and everything the world throws at me.'

I was cut off as she spread the dittany over my back, an intense burning and electrifying pain running across my entire body. I felt my back shrivel and tighten, as though I was being sewn together.

'Holy Merlin!' I shouted in pain, my eyes watering. No healing was worth this. 'That bloody hurts!'

They were all grinning around me, even Mr P. I felt the last drop hit the bottom of my back, Mr P finally letting me go.

'Don't be such a baby, mate,' James chuckled. 'We all thought you were a man?'

Mrs P playfully slapped his hand, stopping his teasing. 'Anywhere else, dear?'

I reluctantly showed her my hand, going through the same process as I had before, yelping like a dog when she smothered my hand in the liquid. A long, white scar was left in the disappearance of the cut.

'You'll have one on your back as well,' she informed me, going over to one of the cabinets and pulling out some bandages. 'Unfortunately the cuts were left too long to heal with no scars.'

I shrugged, now at the itching stage of the healing. 'Just some new battle scars to add to the collection.'

'Speaking of, Sirius, are you sure about not going after them? We would win the case, son.'

I adamantly refused. 'Not a chance, I don't want to see them ever again.'

He nodded in defeat, Izzy announcing breakfast was only moments away. Mrs Potter stood me up again. 'I want to bandage these to stop you scratching them. You could open them up again.'

I nodded, the process only taking a moment. By the time she was done and I had my shirt back on, Izzy had laid the table and set out the food so we could all take what we wanted.

We ate for a moment, James reading his father's newspaper as he did. 'Have you seen this, Dad?' he asked him with a mouthful of bacon, throwing the paper towards him, miraculously not hitting anyone's food.

'What?' I asked him, looking between the two of them. 'Is it another attack?' I asked James. He nodded.

There had been many attacks over the past year or so, mainly aimed towards muggles and muggle-born wizards. All innocent people, just caught in the supposedly 'wrong' bloodline according to the attackers. It was one of the main reasons I had left my family, all of them being supremacist bastards. They agreed with the attacks, and being from a rich heritage of 'pureblood' wizards, they had nothing to worry about. They were all for ridding the world of muggles, whereas I was up for kicking the attacker's arses.

'A small one,' Mr Potter observed, looking through his large glasses. 'Two deaths and three injured.'

'Is that all?' I murmured sarcastically. 'When will this guy stop, he knows he can't win this war, right?'

Mr and Mrs P looked at each other, then back at me. 'That's the thing, Sirius,' Mrs P whispered, 'he thinks he can. Even Dumbledore has been cautious with him. Something is different about him.'

The room was eerily quiet. 'There have been thirty deaths in the past three months,' Mr Potter continued for her. 'Nobody can track down this monster. He has something that all other dark wizards have never had, something that makes even the ministry scared.'

James coughed, sipping his orange juice. 'You'll get him, though,' he smiled. 'You and the other aurors, I mean. You were personally there to help Dumbledore take down Grindelwald. If you could do that then you can get this guy.'

Mrs P smiled, 'James, in case you hadn't noticed, we're old now! It's getting difficult, only a handful of us older aurors remain.'

Mr P nodded. 'There are a few young and brilliant auror trainees but none of them really stick out as amazing. Our career is unsightly to most. There aren't as many of us as there used to be.'

James and I looked at each other knowing what they said was true. Many of the attacks had been directed at older aurors, the ones who could really make a difference. Not many people wanted to be aurors anymore, it was too frightening, too risky.

'Anyway,' Mrs Potter suddenly half-shouted, cheerily. 'Don't you boys worry about it. Focus on Hogwarts and enjoy your last two years.'

'Sure thing, Mrs P,' I chuckled, putting the discussion behind us. 'I'll keep your boy out of trouble and we'll make these years memorable.'

James winked at me. We'd planned a lot of new pranks before we'd broke up for the summer, and with an almost finished project we'd be unstoppable. Along with the rest of the summer, we'd have enough ideas to tear the school down.

They laughed, Mrs P looking at the plates on the table. 'Right, you boys go on and do whatever it is you usually do, I'll clear up.'

'You sure, mum?' James asked, his hands going to help her.

She nodded, sternly looking at him until he took his hands away from the table. 'Enjoy yourselves today, there will be plenty of jobs eventually.'

We accepted her offer, disappearing from the room quickly and heading to our lounge. 'Depressing subject, wasn't it,' I whispered to him.

He nodded gloomily. 'Old,' he tutted to himself. 'They aren't old.'

I wanted to agree with him but he was completely wrong. His parents were old. The had wrinkles, grey hair, Mr Potter often walked with a stick. They were getting far too old to carry on and James was completely oblivious to it. I supposed that if you loved your parents you would see them as invincible.

'What shall we do today, then?' I asked him instead, taking his mind away from the subject.

'Quidditch,' he grinned immediately without any hesitation.

I stopped walking, 'I thought it was my choice?'

He also stopped walking, heading back towards the ballroom instead. 'You revoked that privilege the moment you asked me.'

We opened a door, heading across the shiny floor and under the enormous chandelier, making our way to his room. I guessed we needed to collect our brooms and appropriate clothes before we headed outside.

'Fine,' I agreed. 'What if I hadn't have wanted to play Quidditch?'

'I would have beaten you until you did,' he laughed to himself, running his hand through his hair.

We reached the second floor. 'Are Moony and Wormtail coming over at all this summer, then?' I asked him.

'After we receive our OWLs,' he told me, heading up to the third floor. 'I figure they'll want to compare results and then go to Diagon Alley or something for our supplies.'

'Sounds good,' I nodded.

'We can't really do it any earlier,' he continued, 'with Moony's furry little problem and Wormtail's mother being ill all the time.'

That had crossed my mind. 'I do wish we could have joined him, I would have liked a night of running around.'

He caught my drift, grinning to himself. 'We can always go for a little run tonight in the forest?'

'You're a brilliant man with brilliant ideas,' I told him.

'It has been known to happen,' he laughed with me.

We walked into his room, Poof flying around and hooting happily.

'Ah, there you are,' James shouted at him, making the bird jump a little bit. It was only small, the poor thing. 'I have some food for you in my drawer.'

He walked over to his bedside table, opening a draw and taking a handful of small treats from a plastic bag.

'They stink,' I told him, scrunching my nose.

'Yeah they do,' he chuckled, used to the smell. He placed them on his windowsill, Poof flying over to them and nibbling at them furiously.

'He must be starving,' I observed.

'He is,' James said, slightly worried. 'He hardly ever eats anymore.'

'Weird,' I agreed.

He stood there for a moment, arms crossed, staring at the bird. He then shook his head, muttering to himself. 'Get changed, mate, we have a full day of Quidditch ahead of us.'

I smiled, walking over to my suitcase and picking out my Quidditch clothes. 'I'm going to kick your arse.'

Author's Note

Thanks to all of you if you stuck through to read this note, and please Review! I'd like to know where you want this story to go and what you think is going to happen!

As I am only going over and editing the chapters of the previous version of this story updates should be fairly regular, at least until I am writing fresh content again.

Thanks for reading! Until next time!

P.S. I'm actually working on my very own original story right now! It would mean a lot to me if you could visit my profile and check out the Facebook link for it? Thank you!