A/N: In which a deal is struck between two unlikely allies.
Toffeeloveryes: Oh! I was confused with the 'ocean eyes' comment lol. That is a really nice song! I think on some level, Sirius and Regulus do still care about each other, but you're right, I guess it does depend on where you are in your life. I do have an idea as to what will happen between the brothers before Sirius is thrown into Azkaban and Regulus meets his fate, but I don't think it will end up bringing them closer together. My ideas for that part of the story won't be written up for a long time though, so they may change. We'll see!
DarkLordofMemes: Why thank you. I had a little too much fun writing that scene I think!
ssjbura-briefs: I can imagine that too! I'm really looking forward to writing Vivian when she's an adult. As for Regulus, his character and path will be further developed in Season 2, which will set the stage for Vivian's own direction in Season 3...it sounds confusing but it should all make sense once we get there. I have a lot planned for that part of the story, but Regulus will definitely have a lot of screen time in the future
LunaEvanna Longbottom: Welll we'll get there eventually. I'm still going to write out my original plan for the first kiss, it's just going to be slightly altered. I guess I should just stop saying that it's going to happen soon though, because it seems that every time I say that I end up extending it even more lol
Idon'tknoworcareanymore: Thank you! Hope you like this early update! :)
Percabethazyne: I know, it's taking way longer than I planned! This chapter is going to set the stage for more relationship development. And Gavin will be in the next chapter!
haleygur7: Thanks!
x3sunnydaay: I did have fun writing that chapter ;)
A Simple Cactus: Thank you!
Marnie Quiera: Here you are :) And Gavin will have a scene in the next chapter! As for Lily, she is in the Slug Club, it was just irrelevant to mention her in the Christmas party scene because of the mayhem/everything going on with the Marauders. Speaking of Lily, though, this chapter is going to introduce a new plot with her and James, so there's that! It's about time that we start building some other friendships up, I think
Chrysanthemum: True, it's going to take a while longer for Vivian to admit that she likes him. I'm thinking that she's going to go kicking and screaming the whole way at this point, but maybe she'll surprise me
Guest: Thanks so much! Glad you liked the last chapter, I had fun with it! I was originally going to have Sirius continue being stubborn for a while longer, but this seems like it makes more sense to me. He can't keep pretending that he hates her or it's going to take another 40 chapters for them to get together haha. Happy 2020 to you as well!
LilyBlack18: Glad you're enjoying the story!
Let's bring in the new year with a new chapter ;) Happy 2020, everyone!
Chapter Forty | Iuncta iuvant, alta petit
[Union is strength, it seeks the heights]
Sirius Black has spent much of his Hogwarts career running through the castle after hours. Alas, it is a necessary evil when one has taken the unholy vows of the Marauding lifestyle. Many sleepless nights have been dedicated to building up the reputation of being the dishonorable prankster that he has cultivated, which of course means that he is not only well-equipped to set up said pranks, but also quite practiced where it concerns making himself scarce from the scene of the crime. To summarize, running away from trouble happens to be his forte. There is just one issue with his escape plan on this particular night, and it comes in the form of one Slytherin prefect who happens to believe that she hates Sirius Black just as much as she ever has, regardless of any event that has occurred in the recent past. To claim that said recent events have altered her perception of his character would not be false, but Vivian Blair is a stubborn and prideful creature, and these traits hold a certain sway over her actions even now.
She lets him drag her all the way to the fourth floor before the reality of the situation resettles itself, and she realizes several important facts:
One: Sirius Black is not allowed to be walking around the castle after curfew and therefore, by revealing himself in such a manner, is practically begging for House Points to be taken away.
Two: he has basically just made her seem like she is somehow connected to his prank – and, more so, Filch is probably looking for them both at this very minute, thinking that she is some kind of accomplice to his ridiculous firework display.
Three: he is grasping her hand, and has been grasping it ever since he first locked his fingers with her and had breathlessly pulled her away from that corridor on the first floor.
Four: Sirius Black has just called her gorgeous.
Now, there is a fine balance that must be maintained when one has entered into an antagonistic relationship with another. Vivian wouldn't necessarily refer to Sirius Black as her arch-nemesis or anything so childish, but she would claim him to be a natural rival of whom she is in direct unalignment. Far be it from her to make up the rules of rivalry, but she highly doubts that calling one's rival 'gorgeous' fits the bill. Which leads to yet another realization.
Five: she feels, inexplicably, uncontrollably, disturbingly pleased with this – only she can't quite tell if it's real pleasure or just prideful smugness, that he has clearly lost his mind to such an extent.
Either way, it doesn't stop her from wrangling her hand away from his the first moment she can.
"What are you doing? Filch is probably right behind us – " Sirius begins to say, glancing past her and into the gloom of the castle beyond. He sounds slightly panicked and slightly excited, as if he thinks that this part of his ridiculous prank is the most fun. The escape, that is.
Vivian, having had all of her realizations and feeling better equipped to handle the strange situation that she finds herself in now, immediately fires back, "What are you doing? You can't just grab me and – and pull me through the fucking castle like this – Salazar, you do know that your hair is on fire, right?"
This is delivered in the sort of manner that speaks of secondary thoughts pressing their way into the forefront of one's mind, as a sort of shock wave of awareness that had not been had moments before, but quickly takes priority over one's speech. The words aren't said in a manner that seems degrading or sarcastic, but rather alarmed.
Sirius is a bit alarmed himself. This shouldn't be surprising, seeing as he happens to think that his hair is one of his finest features (though, to be fair, he also thinks that his every feature is best), and takes more time than most teenage boys grooming it into perfection each morning. When she points out that his prized hair is smoking, he immediately starts freaking out.
Vivian watches for several seconds as he erratically pats it, before she snorts out a laugh and snickers, "I was joking. Your hair isn't smoking."
Sirius quickly realizes that she had indeed been joking, for his hair doesn't feel any more out of place than it ought to, having run through the castle to escape Filch's imminent punishment, and scowls quite fitfully at her. Joking about his hair is crossing the line, after all.
"Your shirt, though, actually is smoking," Vivian adds, casting a glance down to the hem of his once-crisp button up. The garment has certainly been put through the wringer tonight. In fact, the same could be said for Sirius Black as a whole. Besides his unkempt hair, his person is littered with soot and grime from his run-in with the floor. His loosened tie is askew, one of his sleeves is rolled up higher than the other, and his eyebrow is slightly singed. Also, true to her word (this time), the hem of his shirt is in fact smoldering just so.
There is an adage, though, that goes something like this: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice…
Well, in other words, Sirius doesn't believe her this time, and doesn't even deign to cast a glance down to said hem lest he fall prey to her sarcasm a second time tonight.
"I hate to use this phrase, but I'm actually being serious," Vivian drawls, and raises an eyebrow at him.
Sirius scoffs at her and starts to say, "Nice try, Godric, but I –", and then promptly cuts himself off when he finally does look down at his shirt, only to realize that she is right. "Merlin's Balls put it out!" he exclaims, and trips backwards into yet another maneuver of complete and utter gracelessness.
Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that Vivian is only too happy to do exactly that, she'd be beside herself at the sight of him frantically patting his shirt in an effort to stop it from smoldering. As it is, she feels that, every once in a great while, it is actually in her best interests to listen to him. This is a prime example.
Before Sirius can achieve the salvation of his ruined shirt, Vivian points her wand at him and smugly says, "Aguamenti," and a stream of water immediately drenches him.
Now, at this moment in history, there are only two things that Sirius Black hates most in the world. The first is having one of his pranks backfire on him. The second is being woefully assailed by a Slytherin. Considering that the events of tonight has brought about both of these, he is not entirely pleased with the end results, which he makes quite clear when he lifts his head to glower at Vivian.
Still, if one is optimistic enough (Gryffindors typically are), there is always a silver lining to any injustice. He is, after all, alone with Vivian Blair, which had been the entire reason for his prank to begin with.
"That was completely unnecessary," he tells her, still glowering.
"I disagree," she replies, still smug.
"You've just made it that much more difficult to escape Filch," he gruffly points out, and starts to wring the water out of his shirt, which is beginning to create a discriminating puddle on the floor.
Vivian watches with a smirk and shrugs, "I wasn't involved in your little prank, so it hardly matters if he catches me."
Sirius spears her with a look, pauses, and then chuckles, "Oh Godric, you really are such a novice."
It's the way he says it, all arrogant and knowing, that makes Vivian narrow her eyes. Her smugness takes a turn into pride when she scoffs, "What's that supposed to mean?"
He raises a singed eyebrow at her and shakes his head. "Do you actually think that Filch will let you go without a detention? He's practically lives for punishing students. He won't give a rat's arse that you weren't involved. You were there, which means you share the responsibility of my spectacular prank." Sirius sniffs and adds, "Really, you should be honored. It was my best work yet."
Vivian crosses her arms and sneers, "Oh please. You were practically rolling around on the floor for the entirety of it. I'd say that if anyone was a novice, it's you."
Sirius, self-declared Marauder that he is, doesn't appreciate that. He crosses his arms, too, and retaliates, "I did that for you, to stop you from setting off the tripwire. I took the fall for you, Blair."
Vivian doesn't appreciate this. "Took the fall for me? Didn't you set that whole prank up to mess with me?"
"Well yeah, but my reasons were innocent enough."
"You set a fucking roman candle off in the middle of the corridor. How is that innocent?"
"It got your attention, didn't it?" he wonders, eyes flashing. The words make her pause in surprise. He takes advantage of that. "It made you laugh…" he says, and takes a step towards her.
"At you," she scoffs, and takes a step back. Inside, she suddenly can't stop thinking about the way he'd said –
You're gorgeous.
"At me," he repeats, but unlike her, he sounds vaguely proud of this, and takes another step forward.
There's something in his expression that makes Vivian's heart absolutely take off. It's difficult to describe with words alone. It's those confusing side-effects again, which make her breathless and fumbling. If she was being entirely honest with herself, those side-effects aren't nearly as confusing as they had been in the past, but honesty has never been something that Vivian Blair has dealt with in too much detail, which is why her current dilemma is so difficult to explain.
She could say that the slightly possessive nature of Sirius Black's eyes in that moment is what makes her lips part and her breath shorten. She could say that, the nearer he gets, the more her body erupts into shivers. She could even claim that perhaps she wants him to be closer – wants him to take that final step – to press her against the wall and to claim some part of her that is anchored in every depraved and shameless element of humankind –
Yes, she could say all of those things, but she doesn't, because of one reason:
It frightens her.
Jane Austen once said: "It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy; it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others."
Timing is everything where it concerns matters of the heart, and Vivian Blair's own heart is not yet aligned with that of Sirius Black's.
Sometimes, love is as light as a butterfly's wings fluttering overhead; sometimes it is as dark and as encompassing as the night sky, when the stars have gone out and the moon has been hidden behind heavy smog and rain clouds. At other times still, it is nothing more than a whisper sent out into time and space and never returned. Love is a mirror with a thousand sides, and sometimes when you look at it, it reflects back upon you, while at other times you will never see its reflection at all. That's the problem with love, you see. It's a fickle creature, built on pride and jealousy. The core of it is pure, but human nature contaminates it as it is wont to do to pure things.
"What are you doing?" Vivian breathes, for the second time that night, and presses herself to the stone wall of the corridor.
And if some part of her wants him to follow – to press her further against it – well, time is not aligned with such things tonight.
"Aha! I've got you now, you filthy rule-breakers!" comes the voice of one Argus Filch, whose hand descends upon Sirius's shoulder before any further words or actions may be made. Mrs. Norris, scraggly cat that she is, releases a meow that seems quite smug, and Filch, insane maniac that he is, purrs, "That's right, dearie. We've got 'em, and they're not going to like what we've got planned."
Vivian's eyes locked with Sirius's, who is now looking at her with an expression that seems to say 'I told you so'.
"I had nothing to do with that ridiculous prank – " she tries to say anyway. The thick energy that had just existed in the spaces of the hallway now drops away, and she remembers herself again. Most specifically, she remembers that she will not let Sirius Black's stupid prank interfere with her valuable time.
"Quiet!" Filch snarls at her, and grabs a fistful of her collar, now pulling both her and Sirius down the hallway with a dark smile on his face. He gleefully declares, "A month's worth of detentions, I think, for destroying a dozen paintings and decimating an entire corridor!"
"A month?" Vivian repeats, mouth dropping open.
"Really?" Sirius grins, sounding quite hopeful.
Vivian shoots a glare at him, but he can't find it in himself to mind. They say that the end doesn't always justify the means, but in this instance, he begs to differ. After all, he had set up that prank in hopes of landing himself in one single detention with Vivian Blair, so that he could talk to her properly about that mysterious task, but instead he's been rewarded with an entire month of one-on-one time with a girl that he's quite certain he finds more attractive every single day.
They also say that all's well that ends well, don't they?
Word has a habit of spreading like wildfire through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Sometimes there is some usefulness in the gossiping nature of its students. This is not one of those times. Well, not for Vivian, anyway.
"Shouldn't you be more focused on your task, Blair?" Mulciber hisses at her when they're sitting in Potions the next morning. "You do realize that you've got a deadline, don't you?"
"Oh shove off," she returns, crossing her arms as she glowers over at Slughorn, who is lecturing them on the merits of using dittany to treat wounds.
"You're wasting time, running around and landing yourself in detentions with that filth – " he continues, as if she hadn't spoken.
Vivian turns to glare at him and sneers, "I've already told you, I ran into him on my prefect rounds and that stupid squib thought that I was somehow involved – "
"Ahem. I do hope that my Slytherins are paying attention," Slughorn intervenes, sending a glance over at Mulciber and Vivian. "You'll be tested on this! Now, why don't you all prepare your work stations so that we can get started."
Vivian is only too happy to do that, if only because it gives her an excuse to remove herself from Mulciber's presence. As if she needs him to tell her what she's already aware of. A month's worth of detentions with Sirius Black is bad enough without everything else she has to deal with.
After taking some time to set up her cauldron for today's potion, Vivian heads over to the storage cabinet to collect some dittany. The nature of this potion is relatively simple, so they'll be working alone today, thank Merlin. Of course, just because she'll be able to spend much of the class at her own desk doesn't mean that she'll actually be left alone. That would obviously be too much to ask for.
"Bravo, Blair. I was thoroughly impressed with your aptitude to rack up so many detentions in just one night," James says as he joins her in the storage cabinet. He sends her a smirk and adds, "Keep it up and we might even offer you the title of 'Honorary Marauder'."
Perhaps some students would be over the moon to hear such a thing from the legendary James Potter. Vivian is not one of them.
"Who knew it was so easy to surpass the bar you've set," she drawls, and begins riffling through the dittany to find a sample that is as intact as possible.
James grins. "Well, you can't receive all the credit. Padfoot did all the hard work, after all."
Vivian glowers at him. "Yes. I know," she responds through slightly gritted teeth.
"You do realize that this whole thing means, don't you?" he wonders, raising an eyebrow at her. He isn't even making an effort to gather any ingredients for his own potion, which is yet another source of annoyance to Vivian. As such, she doesn't reply, and merely sends him one more hard look before deciding to just settle on the best looking sprig of dittany that she can find and be done with it. As she picks one out, James sighs and pushes up his glasses. He decides to take it upon himself to inform her, "Sirius Black just got himself a month's worth of detentions. For you."
Vivian, now completely gritting her teeth, hisses, "Yes. I know. As we've just gone over, I've also been punished."
James shakes his head. "You don't get it. This is monumental. He told you he thinks you're gorgeous! Don't you understand what's going on here?"
Now Vivian is really quite frustrated for several reasons, the lesser being that she's stuck in this cupboard with James Potter, one of the Gryffindors that she loathes the most; the greater being that she had just spent the better part of last night in Filch's office while he gleefully outlined a month's worth of punishment for a crime that she hadn't even committed, with Sirius proposing ideas for detentions in a manner far too happy to be normal. As such, she hadn't exactly gotten much sleep last night. It certainly doesn't help that Sirius seems to have retained his pleasant mood in spite of it all. Listening to Potter's speculations about Sirius's apparent insanity isn't exactly something she's interested in doing right about now.
"I understand completely," she assures him in a tone of voice too sarcastic to be sincere. Turning to face him, Vivian scoffs, "He's finally proven that he needs to be locked up with all the other mental weirdos in St. Mungo's."
With that, she shoulders her way past him and sends him one last sneer before ducking back into the Potions classroom, leaving Potter to stare at the door as it swings closed.
He lets out a grumbled sigh and mutters, "…Knew that since first year…" before turning to grab the first sprig of dittany that he sees and following her out.
When he returns to his desk, Sirius leans towards him to whisper, "What were you doing in that cupboard with Blair? Did she say anything about last night?"
James just rolls his eyes at him and throws the dittany at his face.
He spends the remainder of class watching Sirius send notes to Vivian (who promptly uses them to feed the flame beneath her cauldron), and decides that perhaps Sirius had been right after all: maybe the Marauders do need to hold an assembly. The more notes Sirius sends Vivian, the more determined he is, and the more careless he becomes. Really, it's only a matter of time before he completely decimates the dishonorable reputation of their group.
An intervention is necessary…but said intervention would be far more productive if it involved both parties, and James has an idea that might end with more than one person getting the girl of their dreams.
"Lilyflower! Lilyflower! Lily – "
"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" Lily demands, turning on her heel to face one James Potter, who skids to a rather ungraceful halt before he runs right into her. He somehow doubts that such an action would make a good impression on this fine morning.
Lifting his hands in surrender, James laughs, "But your name is too beautiful not to embellish – "
"Just tell me what you want. I'm busy," Lily cuts in, and then adds, "If this is about the prefect meeting later today, I've already told you when it is, where it's being held, what the dress code is, and what the topics are going to be, so you should've run out of useless questions by now."
James pauses, runs a hand through his already mussed up hair, and hesitantly chuckles, "Er, right. Well actually most of those questions were very relevant to the matter at hand, but anyhow – I think we need an intervention, Lilyfl – Lily."
He sends her a large grin as if he hopes that it might make her more willing to listen to him, and waits.
Lily stares at him for one long moment before releasing a frustrated huff. She closes her eyes and tilts her face heavenward, as if she's silently praying for patience. James just continues to smile widely and appreciates the view.
"We, as in you and me, need an intervention," she repeats, sounding quite impatient.
James lifts an eyebrow and snorts, "We don't need an intervention. We already know that we're destined to be together." When he sees the murderous haze encroaching into her expression, he hurries to clarify, "I'm talking about Sirius and Blair, obviously. They're beyond hopeless, and Sirius has gotten a bit pathetic since he's realized that he fancies her."
This seems to be news to Lily, who is surprised enough to bypass James's 'destined lovers' bullshit in favor of saying, "Wait. Sirius Black, who has a new girlfriend every week, fancies Vivian Blair?"
James pauses. For a moment, he considers defending his best mate's dating reputation, then thinks better of it and just shrugs, "Well yeah. Haven't you noticed?"
Lily shoots him a raised eyebrow and responds in a clipped tone, "I try not to notice anything about you or your friends, Potter."
James just waves her words away and responds, "We are a bit difficult to keep up with, I suppose." Then, seeing that her eyes are narrowing, he hurriedly asks, "Look, you're a girl, right? You'd know what to say to Vivian to make her realize that she also fancies Sirius. I'm proposing that we work together, for the betterment of the human race."
Lily seems to be at the end of her rope. She rubs her forehead and sighs, "Potter, if you spent half as much time on your Head Boy duties as you do on your friends' relationships, my life would be so much easier."
"Right, we can enter into an arrangement, then," James replies, smiling widely at her once more. "I take on some of your workload and you agree to join Operation Vivirius."
Lily looks at him blankly. "That sounds like an infection."
James' smile becomes even wider. In a proud voice, he says, "I know, isn't it great?"
She doesn't seem to appreciate the finer points of his plan, and just mutters, "No, it really isn't."
In contrast, he doesn't seem put out. James Potter has a high tolerance for the pain that his Lilyflower occasionally inflicts upon his poor soul. He knows that she only does it because she doesn't want to admit that she's head-over-heels in love with him, so he just patiently shrugs and edges towards her (noting that she's wearing a flowery perfume today, how lovely - ) before saying, "We can work out a better name for our operation later. What do you say?"
Lily rolls her eyes at him and scoffs, "I don't have time to play matchmaker for Sirius Black. If he can't get a girl, it's hardly my problem. I've got my marks to keep up with and my Head Girl responsibilities and – "
"Yes, yes, I know, but didn't you hear about the firework incident last night?" James questions, though it's rather unnecessary. The whole school has heard about that by now. The corridor that had witnessed the spectacular display has been cordoned off by Filch, and it's become something of a landmark within the school, gaining the sort of popularity that a tourist attraction might hold. James, seeing that Lily is very much aware of said prank (and not appearing all that impressed with it, at that) points out, "You know how Sirius is. This is only the beginning. Think about how many more corridors will be destroyed in his efforts to get Blair to talk to him! Think about the priceless portraits that will be ripped to shreds; the ancient statues that have been here since Merlin's time; the – "
"Okay you can stop now," Lily cuts him off, "I know you don't actually care about portraits and statues. If this is one of your grand schemes to get me to go out with you, Potter, I swear to Godric – "
"It's not!" James cries, and almost adds 'mostly!' to the end of his exclamation. He shakes his head and says, "Sirius and Blair have just landed themselves with a month's worth of detentions. If Operation Vivirius doesn't work out by the end of the month, we can go our separate ways. In fact, I'll even promise that I'll never bother you again."
He nearly grimaces when that comes out of his mouth, but Lily looks positively delighted. She raises her eyebrows and turns to study him more closely, appearing as though she's a little more interested than she'd been a moment before. James, upon seeing said interest, straightens up and quickly adds, "I won't even say hello to you. In fact, I won't even look at you. I'll never say your name again."
Oh Merlin, but he actually does grimace when he says that. He hopes this is worth the sacrifice.
Lily beams. "You should've started with that, Potter. I would've been much more willing to hear you out," she tells him, and he grimaces again. "Okay, fine, I'll help you. But if at any point I want to end our agreement, I have full right to do so. And if this scheme of yours fails, you're not allowed to say a single word to me for the rest of your life."
James immediately pales. "The rest of my life?" he squeaks.
Lily smiles smugly. "The rest of your life," she repeats, before holding out her hand. "Deal?"
James stares mournfully at said hand and heaves out a sigh. Suddenly, this intervention seems like a very bad idea.
"Fine," he says with a fierce frown, and reaches forward to shake Lily's hand. "It's a deal."
She gives his hand two firm shakes before forcefully wrangling it out of his and sniffs, "Good. I'll see you at the prefect meeting later today, then, and afterwards, we can start planning." And then his ladylove turns on her heel and leaves him in the dust, and as James watches her go, he decides right then and there that Sirius is going to have to step up and stop being a complete and utter idiot, because if he doesn't…
Well, James Potter is going to kill him.