"Are you freaking kidding me, you whore?" Lilly yelled at Ariel as they walked down Hogsmeade.

"Hey" Ariel whined even though she knew Lilly didn't mean it. They headed towards the castle and decided to walk back there.

"Sorry, but are you kidding me? There is no way in hell I am letting you go out with him, because then that will just make Sirius help James more so he didn't feel left out when you were with him." Lilly complained, but they both knew she was just being a dramatic queen and truthfully didn't care. Although, Ariel was kind of shocked because Lilly had started using their first names.

Ariel had just told Lilly the whole story of what happened on Christmas day and James' side comments, and Sirius not defending himself, but Lilly being herself, had jumped to conclusions.

"Lilly, chill out. They are both at Sirius' house at the moment anyway. He's running away, and James said he was welcome at the Potter's. His family disowned Andromeda, his cousin, and that was his only cousin he liked, so he decided that he had enough of his crazy family, I don't know, but something's not right with his family. The way he never talks about them. It just seems strange." Ariel explained.

"Well you're one to talk; you don't talk about your family." Lilly shot at her. Ariel sighed; this was true.

"It's different; my parents have basically already disowned me." Ariel muttered.

"I thought your parents were muggles, how can they disown you?" Lilly asked, fiddling with her red fiery hair, in between her fingers. Ariel looked at her and she knew that Lilly was trying to find out the truth. Her green eyes sent out sympathy to her and she sighed.

"Well there's no point hiding it forever." Ariel muttered, and so she began. "Basically when I was eleven, I got a letter for Hogwarts; my parents understood and decided to let me go. So my father took me to Diagon Alley. My little brother wanted to come and I decided to let him. We went to get everything I needed and then we went into Ollivanders. My father went to Gringotts to get a little more money out, so it was just me and my brother. I picked up a wand that had a negative energy towards me, causing the nearest living thing to explode, my brother. My father came back and saw his dead body on the floor and ever since they hated me. They said I couldn't go to Hogwarts, so we moved to France but then Beauxbatons took me in and eventually they realised I was forever going to be a witch. We finally moved back here, and they still have never forgiven me. I'm waiting, and waiting as the years go by, hoping that one day, something will change, but it never does. I know they would prefer it if I just left, so that's what I will do, eventually, I will grab all my things and leave, knowing they will never want to see me again. It's life though; I just have to suck it up." Ariel said with no emotion in her tone. Lilly had an outraged look on her face.

"Oh Ariel..." She said.

"No, I don't want your pity. It's been five years, and I know it wasn't my fault. Bad things happen to people, that doesn't mean they are bad people." Ariel said shrugging her shoulders. "I'm over it."

"No, I don't agree with the stupid Black family rules. Maybe I don't want to marry a pure blood. Maybe I don't want to be a Slytherine. I'm ashamed to be a part of this family." Sirius yelled at his mother. Regulus took a step towards Sirius. "No, Regulus. I'm tired of being compared to you. You have always wanted to be an only child, well now you can." Sirius turned to his mother. "You traditions are sick, the way you treat other people is appalling, and you're not fucking royalty. In my opinion you have more bad blood in you then any muggle born." Sirius yelled, he picked up his bag and headed towards the door, where he knew James would be waiting for him on the other side. This is what made him the outcast of his family, his Gryffindor bravery was shining through him, and was the only reason why he was capable of leaving his family.

"What brought this up son?" His father asked him.

"Andromeda, Ted and Nymphadora" He said, telling half of the truth.

"They put you up to this?" His mother screamed. He turned around with sickening look on his face.

"No they didn't. They made me see the light. Andromeda was the only sane person in this family, and you fucking disowned her. Now that she is gone, I don't want to be a part of this family anymore." He said. "I can now do whatever I want, talk to whoever I want, love whoever I want to love."

"Love? What's this all about love?" Regulus asked "If I knew you any better I would have thought-" He stopped half way through sentence after realising what he was about to say.

"Sirius, how could you?" His mother cried.

"You are no son of mine, boy!" His father yelled in astonishment. "Get out, get out of my house. You are no longer welcome here!" Sirius sighed and made his way out the house. As he reached the door he turned around and saw his mother sobbing and his father's furious face. But Regulus just stood there frozen. His face was speechless. Sirius gave him a small brotherly smile before exiting his once use to be home.

"Hey Snowball. Miss me?" Ariel, who was sitting on Sirius' bed, talking to Remus and Peter about the new transfiguration homework, turned around to see a smirking Sirius with a laughing James behind him.

"SIRIUS!" She yelled, jumping off his bed and running towards him to give him a hug.

"I'll take that as a yes." He smirked. She didn't let go of him.

"Are you okay? I was so worried. Are you staying with Prongs? Did you just leave?" Ariel flooded him with questions. He separated himself from her and put his hands on her shoulder. Her prominent eyes stared down his cloudy ones.

"Ariel, calm down. Everything's fine, I moved in with Prongs, McGonagall gave me enough time to get my family 'issues' sorted out." Sirius said. She nodded and he gave her a smile. "Come here." He opened up his arms and pulled her into a hug. "You're more distraught then I am." He chuckled.

"Shut up." Ariel dug her face into his chest and muttered into him. She pulled away to see an open armed James standing behind Sirius. He had a smile on his face and was ushering her to come into his welcome back hug. "Can I help you?" Ariel asked James with a confused look.

"Well where's my welcome back hug?" James asked with puppy eyes and furrowed his eyebrows. Ariel fussed her way over to James and started talking in a baby voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry Jamie. I forgot the baby of the group likes all the fuss." Ariel said giving him a smile and then stroking his hair out of place, which he then fretted over to put back into place.

"You know he's really not that bad." Ariel whispered across to Lilly during their Transfiguration class. Professor McGonagall was preparing everyone for their O.W.L.S that where next month.

"Who?" Lilly mouthed to her. Ariel motioned her head over to a studying dark haired boy. Lilly looked behind her to see the one and only James Potter. He had his head down and his quill scurrying away on his parchment. Strangely Sirius, Lupin and James were all top class student, even though they did disrupt the lesson, all the time. Peter though, did struggle.

Lilly shook her head with wide convincing eyes but Ariel gave a pouting look with puppy dog eyes. Lilly shook her head again. Ariel pulled a face.

"I told him I'd help. He really likes you." Ariel muttered quietly. Lilly opened her mouth but was cut off by a stern looking Professor McGonagall.

"Evan's, White. I'm sure whatever it is you are talking about can wait until after class. It can't be as important as passing your O.W.L.S, now can it?" She said causing Lilly and Ariel to shrink back into their chairs. "Right now..." She carried on, and Lilly and Ariel started jotting down notes on their parchments and eventually the class ended.

"Why not?" Ariel asked Lilly as she pulled her books closer towards her and they made their way to lunch with the wave of students surrounding them.

"I've been sure about not dating James ever since I was eleven, and I'm pretty sure this one conversation is not going to change anything after five years. It's inevitable whatever you do." Lilly clarified.

"Just give it a go." Ariel whined. A hand grabbed hold of her waist and pulled her into another body and there was a grinning face right next to her when she turned to see who had taken a grasp of her.

"Give what a go?" Sirius asked.

"Err, nothing...?" She stuttered unconvincingly.

"Yeah, I'm going to go now." Lilly said pointing her finger to anywhere but near Sirius and Ariel. She walked away and found her way through the crowd to some other girls in Gryffindor.

"So, you going to keep that hand around my waist or is it going to go back into your pocket?" Ariel asked Sirius who was smirking down at her.

"Depends" He replied.

"Depends on what?" She asked.

"Whether you want it there or not." Sirius said cheekily. They made their way to the Great Hall and walked up to James, Peter and Remus who were digging into their traditional Friday fish and chips with a cup of pumpkin juice.

"Finally." James yelled, standing up, raising his hands and giving a singular round of applause causing a lot of unwanted attention. Ariel blushed scarlet and sat down next to Peter. Sirius sat down next to her with the largest grin on his face Ariel had ever seen.

"What?" Ariel asked as James sat down glaring at everyone who had given him disgusted looks, particularly Lucius Malfoy and his girlfriend Narcissa Black. He turned his attention towards Ariel and Sirius.

"Before you say anything Prongs, I wouldn't jump to conclusions." Remus cut in before James could let the words flow out of his open mouth.

"I think it's too late for that." Peter laughed taking mouthful of pumpkin juice and nearly choking.

"Moony, Wormtail, shut up, let the happy couple tell us how it happened." James hushed them, and crossed his arms and leaned forward on the table with his eyes open wide looking at Sirius and Ariel for the story.

"What? How did what happen?" Ariel asked confused.

"Well, you know..." James started, but was cut off my Remus hitting his over the back of the head and giving him a glare. "Why did you do that? That's just mean." He said looking at Remus who just glared at him trying to tell him something through his eyes. "You mean they're not?" James said a little disappointed, and Remus just nodded his head before turning back to a now hysterical Sirius.

"I fooled you Prongs." He said, but then when he saw James' face his smile dimmed slightly. "April fools?" He said slightly apologetically with a sheepish smile. James had a death glare on his face.

"How does that work, It's December?" Ariel muttered, looking at Remus, who just shrugged his shoulder and looked back down on his plate that had one last chip on it.

"Oh, I'm going to kill you Black." James hissed. Now thankfully for Sirius, he was on the other side of the table so when James lunged forward he could just get up and run out of the Great Hall like a terrified little girl he was. James followed him and the last three Marauders, sighed before heaving themselves up and off the table to go and find the moron twins.

"Moony?" Ariel whined, as passed through the Great Hall's doors. Remus looked at Ariel as she linked her arm through his and made their way down to the lake where they were bound to find a playful duel between Sirius and James. Peter, who was reluctant to leave his lunch followed behind them. "What was that all about?" Ariel asked.

"Nothing for you to worry about Snowball." Remus was like her older brother, even though she was the second oldest out of the Marauders, Sirius being first, Remus had that older brotherly love. James however, was the mischievous cheeky, little so and so that loved to tease her and run around and play games. Much like a younger brother. She hadn't quite pinpointed Sirius yet, but she knew that Peter, to her, was just another person who happened to be there.

"Moony!" Ariel pleaded.

"Fine, Padfoot–" Remus started but Ariel didn't hear the rest of the sentence and never would as a panting dark haired boy came running up to the three Marauders, glaring at Remus as if he could kill him.

"Padfoot what, Moony?" Sirius asked in a tone as if to say 'if you dare finish that sentence I will murder you with my bare hands.' James came running up towards them looking curiously at them all. Ariel just stared at them all in confusion wanting to know what was going on, and what they knew that she didn't.

"Nothing..." Remus said. Ariel unlinked her arm from Remus' and pulled a frustrated look before scowling at James' who was starting to smile.

"Look, I'm fed up with all this secrecy, I have no idea what you bitches are hiding from me, but it's starting to piss me off, and I don't like being left in the dark, so you better tell me what the fuck it is your keeping from me, before I personally remove your balls from their sack!" Ariel threatened in an aggressive tone that made them all take a step back away from her. She looked at Peter, who looked at Remus who looked at James who looked at Sirius who was looking at her. Then everyone's gaze turned to Sirius' and he felt uncomfortable as he raised his hands in defence, shaking his head and taking yet another step back. It was silent for about two minutes as all four boys cowardly said nothing.

"Oh, what real men you are." Ariel said sarcastically before storming off back to the castle. As she reached the castle she looked behind her to see James complaining at Sirius and Remus nodding his head approving what James was saying. Then there was Peter who was adding a few comments, showing his view of whatever they were talking about. Sirius kept jumping back with excuses and was pointing and James and yelling. Ariel turned her back on them with a sigh.

"Boys." She muttered before making her way to the common room to drop of her belongings.

"I don't care Padfoot, I'm tired of having to cover for you when you let something slip, just tell her already!" James yelled at Sirius.

"But I –"

"Prongs is right, Paddy. She's one of us now, and we can't keep lying to her, it's not fair on us, or her." Remus said nodding in agreement with James.

"Why is it me, you're the one with this huge colossal love problem with Evan's. Why are you suddenly all interested in me, it's a crush, it will pass." Sirius reasoned.

"It doesn't seem like a crush if you ask me." Peter squeaked. Sirius looked at him just about to mention that no one had asked him but James had grabbed a hold of his shoulder and he turned his head to look at his brother. The dark haired boy, with his charming good looks, looked through his circular glasses at his best friend.

"Sirius, he's right. This has got way past a crush, I mean, look what happened with your family. You can't turn around and tell me that was all just because of Andromeda." Sirius sighed at James. He never called him by his first name.

"Okay, I'll tell her." Sirius nodded. James face rose into a smile.

"Right, you go do that, I'm going to ask Lilly out again, I haven't done it today." He said giving Sirius another smile. He returned the gesture and the four founder Marauders walked up to the castle.

"He's doing what?" Lilly screamed at James who was standing there impatiently.

"I told you, he's telling Snowball, I mean Ariel that he likes her, now –" He was cut off by Lilly practically jumping at him with a hug. He was frozen in shock that he almost didn't wrap his arms around her. She pulled away with a grinning face and looked at him.

"It's about time isn't it?" Lilly said to James who just stood there like a melon. His whole body was frozen as if he couldn't believe what had just happened. Lilly Evans had willingly, voluntarily hugged him. He had a grin that reached his eyes, and Lilly started waving her hand in front of him checking to see if he was still there. He blinked before looking down to see her.

"Erm, yeah, I finally convinced him to just tell her." He said a little bit more aware of his surroundings.

"Oh James your brilliant!" She exclaimed pecking him on the cheek.

"Lilly will you go out with me?" He asked a little shaken at the thought of Lilly Evan's just kissing him on the cheek.

"No." She said skipping off happily to Potions.

James stood there with the rush of people around him and sighed before laughing to himself and heading off in the direction Lilly had gone, making his way to his next Potion's class.

"Snowball." A hand grabbed Ariel's arm and caused her to come to a halt. She turned around and saw Sirius who was giving a polite smile.

"Yeah?" she asked. Sirius said nothing but just dragged her out of the moving crowd of students that was crashing in all different directions. But he didn't stop; he pulled her along until they made their way back down to the lake. "Snuffles, where are you taking me?" She asked following him willingly.

"I don't really know." He said shrugging as they reached the edge of the forbidden forest. He sat down at the trunk of a tree, hiding in the shade, unable to be seen from the castle, but with a nice view of the lake. Ariel took a seat next to him.

"We are going to miss Potions." Ariel said a little worried.

"Believe me when I say, that's a good thing. It doesn't matter anyway; you are like top of the class after Lilly any way. Seriously that girl knows everything!" Ariel gave him a look as if to say 'really?' "I'm serious!" He said and then they both started laughing.

"I know you are, honey." She said patting his head with a smile. His eyes lit up slightly as they smiled at each other. "Is there any reason of captivating me and bringing me to the edge of the forbidden forest?"

"Oh, I'm captivating you, am I?" He cocked a smile and she laughed in embarrassment. He sighed as if to inform her that he would let it pass. They just sat there and looked up at the enchanting castle. Ten minutes must have passed before they realised the grey clouds over their heads.

"Come on, we should probably get inside before it tips it down." Sirius said standing up and then lifting a very sleepy Ariel up.

"I was beginning to get comfortable." She complained as she brushed off the leaves on her robes. He sighed and they began to walk towards the castle, and he was right, it started to tip it down. Ariel screamed and laughed and so did Sirius as they ran towards the castle.

Ariel stopped abruptly, causing Sirius to turn around and look at her. Her beautiful curls had turned into waved because of the dripping wet rain soaking it. She was squinting, trying to resist the rain from getting in her eyes. Her robes looked like they were drowning her, and Sirius couldn't possibly think of a reason why she would stop dead in the middle of a field in the pouring rain.

"You didn't tell me why we came down here." She said. Sirius let out a small laugh.

"I hardly think this is the time or the place." He said looking form her up into the sky at the rain falling on his face.

"Tell me." She said still wanting to know. He looked at her and then around him. He sighed and then took a few steps closer to her. His face was inches from hers and they both knew what he was about to do as he leaned in.

"Sirius – " Ariel whispered.

"You're ruining the moment." He said. She cracked a smile and felt his lips crash down on hers.