Chapter Eight

Evans and Andromeda

"James."

James looked up from the horrible stack of Potions homework that had piled up over the week. "Yeah?" It was a freezing cold Saturday in mid December. No one could wait for the seventeenth, on the coming Thursday, when term would end and winter break would begin.

Sirius smiled wickedly. "You," he announced, "fancy Lily Evans."
James reddened considerably. "Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do NOT!"

"Do TOO!"

"DO NOT!"

"Well, then," said Sirius smugly, "how come you write — look, see, you're writing 'L.E'on your Potions homework?"

"I am n—" James looked down at his paper. Apparently unconsciously, he had drawn those very initials all over it.

"Sirius, you spy," he growled.

"Hey," said Sirius, holding his arms up in innocence, "I was just trying to steal your Potions notes."

"Oh yes, a very excusable crime," came Remus's dry voice from the other side of the dormitory.

"I know!" cried Sirius, apparently unaware of the sarcasm. "I am not a spy! And," his smug look returned, "James likes Lily Evans. And I can prove it. The first fight James ever got into with Snivellus? In the line for the Sorting?"

Remus got a rather uncharacteristically wicked glint into his eyes. "What was it about?"

"Noooo," yelled James. "It was just to annoy her — him! I swear it was! SHUT UP, SIRIUS!"

"It was about him calling Lily a fire-cat, which poor ole lovestruck James took as an insult! And then—" Sirius choked on his laughter "—she told him to stop and he said—"

"IT WAS TO BUG HER!" screamed James.

"Anything you say, my dear Lily!"

"AUUUUUGH," yelled James, leaping on top of Sirius and viciously tackling him. "It — was — to — annoy — her!"

Sirius was laughing so hard, it was a wonder he was still breathing. But come to that, Remus wasn't exactly crying. Actually, he was. Tears of glee were streaming down his face. Peter, a bit confused, was giggling nervously all the same.

James's face was blood red. "I do not fancy Evans!"

"Oh, you do too," contradicted Sirius. "You looooove her."

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"DO NOT!"

"DO TOO!"

"Give it a rest, the both of you," sighed Remus at last as his tears subsided and his laughter ended. "James, it's obvious you like Evans, and we all know that, so leave him alone, all right Sirius?"

"But Remus," whined Sirius, mocking a pained expression, as James shook his head violently in protest, "what kind of a friend would I be if I didn't tease him thoroughly and completely for this?"

"You wouldn't agree to a very good one, would you?" replied Remus.

"Nope," answered Sirius cheerfully. "I, Remus, am a good friend. And it's written on page four hundred fifty one of the Good Friend handbooks. All friends must tease each other." He grinned. "The number of times I've told Andromeda that..especially when she started dating Ted Tonks. The Gryffindor Quidditch team captain? The Muggle born."

"Bet your mum wasn't too happy about that," commented Remus.

"Furious, so was my auntie," said Sirius happily. "Meda was delighted."

"I haven't met Andromeda yet, y'know," said James, silently thanking his luck that Sirius had become distracted.

Sirius's eyes widened. "What is this madness?" He jumped off his bed. "C'mon! We gotta go meet her."

"Sirius, it's Saturday!" protested Remus.

"We'll have no idea where she is!" pointed out Peter.

"There's only one place Andromeda ever is on Saturday," said Sirius. "The library. She'd get along real well with you, Rem. Nerdy thing."

"Oh, shut up," Remus said, but he was grinning and he got to his feet.

"She doesn't like her library, though," went on Sirius. "Or the one at our house. They're both full of dumb books that claim that Muggle borns and half bloods are completely below us and that we're kings and queens and they're not, total junk like that. And there're a couple ones that she says gives her nightmares — wimp," he added affectionately, "although they are creepy — full of Dark magic and torture spells and things like that, and this one she never, ever, ever looks at it, it's full of dangerous creatures like vampires and evil centaurs and werewolves and giant spiders called Aracoma — hey, are you all right?" he asked, noticing how white Remus had gone. He was pale as a sopping wet sheet of paper.

"Y-yeah," Remus mumbled, sitting down to steady himself. "I'm fine." He felt slightly dizzy with horror pulsing through him. He couldn't help asking, "So, Andromeda's afraid of werewolves, is she?"

Sirius shook his head. "Nahh, I've tried to tease her about that hundreds of times, but she swears she isn't, she's just afraid of permanently evil things, the way she sees it, werewolves are only dangerous twelve out of three hundred and sixty five days, whereas like, vampires and boggarts and acracmontula and things like that are always evil. She's terrified out of her wits of spiders," he added, a devilish grin on his face. "Once she saw the tiniest little piece of lint and ran away screaming. She never heard the end of that."

"Sirius, for all your going on about her, you're terribly mean to her," James said, grinning.

"Yeah, well, I make up for it," Sirius replied, also grinning. "This one time, I remember, I was..six, I think. She was eleven, and home for Christmas, and we— Bellatrix, Narcissa, Reggie, and I— were having a massive snowball fight, and then Bellatrix— she was twelve— found this wicked tiny spider that was somehow still alive, and she enlarged it and stuck it on to the snowball— using magic, the Ministry couldn't tell it was her, see, 'cuz my auntie was out— and she threw it at Andromeda, and oh, I will never forget her scream. And then she ran off, and who could blame her, I mean a spider basically hit her in the face, and I was so mad at Bella, because even I knew Meda is dead scared of spiders, and I wasn't older than five! So I picked up a rock and threw it at Bellatrix!" He grinned. "She still had the mark— right here." He touched his hand to right above his eyebrow. "Only I am allowed to tease Meda," he added in means of explanation and Remus's horrified, albeit a bit amused, glance.

"Well then," said James, "you're gonna drag us if we don't come along with you to see Andromeda, aren't you?"

"Yup," replied Sirius cheerfully.

"Let's go, then," sighed Remus. "I have been wanting to meet the ever famous Andromeda Black."

And the four set off towards the place they thought they'd never be forced to— the library.

XxX

"So this is the library," observed Sirius. "I've never been here."

"Never?" whispered Remus incredulously. "How can you never have come?"

"Why are you whispering, Remmy?" asked James in normal tone.

"The librarian—" began Remus, but he was cut off in seconds.

"Keep your voice down!" came a pinched sounding yell from the corner. "No talking in the library!"

"Is a bit strict," finished Remus. "She never seems to notice how much she's yelling..oh, whatever. Where's Andromeda, then, Sirius?"

"She'll be in the fiction section on weekdays," Sirius informed his friends, voice lowered to a whisper, "drowning her brains in romances. She says she has to, to clear her brain, but I think she just wants to spite her mum. And I think she's obsessed with them." He grinned. "On weekends, though, she'll be in the history section. Nerd..where's the history section, Remmy the Nerd?"

Remus glared at him. "Don't call me that."

"Okay, Remmy the Nerd."

Remus rolled his eyes. "It's this way here," he sighed, leading his friends down the aisles, "just behind this shelf.." He lingered slightly. "You know," he said hesitantly, "I don't think Andromeda would like me very much.." What Sirius had said about her not liking Dark creatures at all simply wouldn't get out of his head.

"'Course she would, you idiot," said Sirius impatiently, "Andromeda'd like a werewolf if he was nice."

A feeling of warmth and relief washed over Remus. "Would she really?" he asked, hardly daring to believe that, completely without meaning to, Sirius had answered his wishes, all his wishes..

But wait..if Sirius had said that, was he implying that he..

"Would you?" he added, trying to keep his tone light.

"'Course I would," Sirius said impatiently. "And so would she. Werewolves are only monsters twelve out of three sixty five days; they're usually pretty decent the rest of the time. I already told you. Come on," he whined, pushing past him, "I haven't seen Meda in months.. what is it with you and your obsession with werewolves?"

For a split second, Remus wanted to tell them his Secret, they wouldn't mind, they thought werewolves good and normal—

but no, Sirius would change his mind once he found out he actually shared a dormitory with one.

"All right," said Remus, standing aside, dancing over the obsession question. Sirius stepped into the aisle, scanned it quickly, and when he finally saw who he was looking for— a tall, slim, dark brown haired girl, thumbing through the books. "Meda!" he cried.

Andromeda didn't have to turn around, only one person in the world called her Meda with that joy in his tone, and that was—

"Siiiiri," she drawled, turning and enveloping him in a hug, which he fought off quickly.

"Meda, Meda, I missed you," said Sirius as he was released, and James couldn't help but notice the slight shell he kept around him, the I'm-tough-I'm-not-hurt-by-anyone-or-anything, appeared to be melting away as he actually admitted to missing someone, admitted to someone except the four of them that he had a weakness. He'd only ever confided in them like that, and extremely rarely. "We were talking about you—"

"How can you not talk about me?" demanded Andromeda, swishing back her hair but amusement plaguing her eyes so the four knew she was kidding. James had an inkling of who Sirius most resembled in his family.

"—Well, we were actually talking about this girl James fancies—"

"I do not fancy her!" objected James forcefully. Andromeda laughed. James liked her laugh. It was sweet and high, but at the same time comfortable and relaxed.

"C'mon, you guys, let's sit down, then," said Andromeda, leading the four of them to her favorite circle of chairs near the fire. "Sirius, aren't you gonna introduce me to your friends?"

"I'm getting there," answered Sirius maddeningly. "And then, I don't know how, we got talking about you — oh, yeah, I was telling them how much I teased you about Teddy.." Sirius's eyes flickered with malice as an evil grin spread across his face.

Andromeda reddened. "Shut up."

"And then," went on Sirius, "James said none of them had ever met you, and then it occurred me, that since the school year started, I haven't come to see you once!"

"Git," said Andromeda playfully, poking him in the shoulder. "I've wanted to see you like crazy, Si, but I've no idea where you'd be.."

"Well,you're always in the library," Sirius continued. "So I dragged my friends along, and for some reason Remus thought you wouldn't like him, which is stupid, because Remus is a nice guy. That's Remus," he added, pointing to Remus. "Lupin."

"Pleased to meet you," Remus said politely, shaking Andromeda's hand. Andromeda smiled, pleasantly surprised at the boy's gentlemanlyness.

"And you," she replied. She turned to Sirius. "I like him," she proclaimed, and Remus flushed a happy pink.

"That's James," Sirius pointed out. James grinned. "Potter," Sirius added.

"We haven't stopped hearing about you since September, and that's three consecutive months now, we're getting a bit tired of it," James joked.

"Yeah, well," said Andromeda, a grin sliding over her face, "I doubt I'll hear the end of you three all summer!"

James grinned. He turned to Sirius. "I like her," he proclaimed.

Andromeda smiled. "I like him," she told Sirius.

"Good," said Sirius, pleased. "And this, Meda, this here, is Peter Pettigrew." He pointed.

She looked carefully at Peter, scouring his face. He backed away nervously.

I don't trust him was the first thought that came to Andromeda's mind. Through all the years she'd spent in her family, Andromeda had learned to be a fantastically good judge of character. Something about Pettigrew, something about the way his eyes darted around, told Andromeda that he wasn't to be trusted.

She was too polite to say this to his face, though. She forced a smile on her face. ''I like him," she lied through her teeth. "Yes. Like him loads. Mm-hm. Yup." I can't lie for my life, she thought sadly.

Oh, well, Sirius buys anything I say.

"So tell me about school," she demanded, trying to put Pettigrew out of her mind.

"Meda," complained Sirius, "what is there to tell about school?"

Andromeda laughed, eyes twinkling as she leaned forward. "Because," she said forcefully, "I want to know how hard the teachers have been working you, because not one single prank has been played all year! And it's been months! What happened to the Sirius who put newts in Bella's bed just to hear her scream?"

Remus, James, and Peter laughed. "You never told me about that," grumbled James.

Sirius laughed too. "Well, Meda," he said, "you're right, I haven't played any pranks. I mean, I've thought of about a thousand, but they all involve four people, and whenever I get it all planned out, Remus goes and disappears!"

"Disappears?" repeated Andromeda, as Remus turned red.

"My mum, has, erm,.." Remus scoured his mind— what lie had he made up for last and this month's transformation? Oh, yes.. "My mum has terminal illness," he said, trying to look sad.

"I'm sorry," Andromeda kindly said.

Sirius looked slightly ashamed of himself. "Sorry," he said quickly.

"It's fine," answered Remus, looking slightly abashed. Sirius barely ever apologized for anything. Of course, if he genuinely hurt one of them, he'd look at his boots and mutter a "didn't mean it." or something of the like. Remus had no memory of Sirius actually looking him in the eye and saying sorry.

Andromeda seemed to bring out the best in him.

"So tell me," Andromeda broke the silence, "about your Christmas plans."

"I doubt Mum'd want me home," said Sirius, smile flickering somewhat.
"Probably not," agreed Andromeda flatly, knowing that not even Sirius would be thick enough to believe her if she denied it. "I'm staying here, too."

"Meda wants to spend Christmas with Teddy," Sirius told his friends knowledgeably, a grin spidering across his face. They nodded knowingly, identical smiles across their own faces.

Andromeda blushed a brilliant scarlet. She reached out and swatted Sirius on the arm.

"Anyways," she said significantly. "How about you, James?"

"I'm not sure yet," James replied. "I might stay here, because my cousin Serena, in –hey, she'd be in the year just below you, Andromeda, and in your house too— Serena Mildred Tole? She's my mum's sister's daughter."

"Yeah, I know Serena," recalled Andromeda. "I like her."

"She told me Hogwarts get magical at Christmas."

Sirius burst into quiet laughter. "It is magical," he reminded James.

James swatted Sirius. "You know what I mean."

Sirius assumed an injured look. "Everyone's hitting me today," he complained.

Remus swatted him. "For good measure," he explained, grinning.

"How about you, then, Remus?" asked Andromeda. "You going or staying?"

Remus hesitated. "It depends," he said thoughtfully. "I mean, I want to stay here, but Mum might want me back, so..I'm not.. sure.."

The five whiled away the hours, talking until six. James, Remus, and Peter automatically stood up as the dinner bell rang. Sirius hung back hesitantly.

"Si," said Andromeda, "I needa talk to you. In private." Sirius looked at his friends.

"You guys on ahead," he told his friends. They nodded and headed off. Andromeda went close to Sirius and spoke quickly.

"Sirius. I don't trust Peter."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Meda, Pete's one of my best friends."

"I know he is. But I'm just telling you to watch out. Don't entrust him with anything precious. All right?"

"And—"

"Sirius, just trust me!"

Sirius laughed. "All right, Andromeda. Whatever."

"Give me your word that you'll be careful!"

Sirius shook his head. "Andromeda, you're overreacting."

"Sirius! Your word."

Sirius heaved a sigh. "All right, Meda, I give you my word I'll be careful."

"Good," said Meda, the bounce returning to her step. "C'mon, I'll walk you down to dinner. Maryna won't mind if I talk to my cousins for one day."

"Who's Maryna?"

"Ted's sis – ah, my best friend."

Sirius laughed evilly.

XxX

Years later, in a cell in Azkaban, Sirius screamed with bitter laughter.

If only he'd used his brain.

If only he didn't switch.

If only he kept his word to Andromeda.

A/N: Alas, I have not fallen off the face of the earth, I've just been incredibly busy. Updates will be few and far between, but I'll try to construct a regular schedule. Also I'm really not that proud of this chapter or the next one either, I find it kind of dumb. Review and tell me if it is.