Summary: Andrew Knight knew that things were going to change his Sixth Year at Hogwarts. With his friends and the Marauders on his side, he knew it would be full of fun adventures and even some romance along the way. However, it seems a darker path was awaiting them as they reach their Seventh Year . . .

Pairing: Sirius Black/Male OC

Changes to Character(s): N/A

Spoilers To: Harry Potter

Type of Story: Chapter-Filled

Book(s)/Movie(s) Belongs To: JK Rowling

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A/N: Hi, y'all! Work has been awful this week, but luckily, I had this chapter pre-written and edited before it began. I hope you all enjoy!

A few days had passed since Lily's outburst and things had simmered down to a state of awkwardness. The Marauders had respectively given her some space as both sides considered what to do next, both not finding it easy to find the right words.

Throughout that time, the Evans girl had asked a favor from her Ravenclaw friends to hide out in their common room until she could confront them.

Dorcas was more than happy to invite her.

"Of course!" Meadowes had exclaimed. "We have an empty bed in my dorm that you can use. It would be great to finally have someone with common sense join our House."

"Oi!"

"No offense, Knight."

The Gryffindor—regardless of her robes—seemed to fit right in. She could be constantly found speaking to their Ravenclaw dormmates about a variety of unique, complex subjects which quickly captured their attention as well as their excitement.

Her discourse would inspire multiple organized debates in the common room as well as other competitive activities amongst the crowd of blue robes, making people wonder how she was ever sorted into any other House.

Because of this, it didn't surprise him to see the two girls sitting in front of Rowena Ravenclaw's statue with a chessboard in between them, a look of deep concentration on their faces.

"Who's winning?" Andrew asked, sitting next to them.

Lily commanded a piece to move forward before she answered. "It looks like a draw."

The pieces seemed to come to the same conclusion and began to violently attack each other until nothing but debris was left on the checkered floor. Dorcas and Lily seemed unsatisfied at the result, but shook hands nonetheless.

"Reparo," Dorcas casted before slipping the repaired items back into their box. "Good game, Evans. Many wouldn't have made it that far against me."

"Xenophilius Lovegood was the only one who could beat her," the Veela confirmed. "Said something about Nargles giving her strategy away."

Andrew could still remember the look of surprise on Dorcas' face as her final pieces were destroyed. Lovegood only gave her a placid smile before pulling out a notebook and writing something down—which they later figured out was an article that scrutinized Nargles' intelligence in his newly founded magazine The Quibbler.

He had to admit. It was an interesting read.

Lily shook her head in disbelief before leaning her head back against the white marble. "If they were real, they certainly weren't helpful this time around."

A short pause took place among them with only the sound of wind to fill the background. The rest of the Ravenclaws had departed early from the Tower for breakfast in an attempt to get ahead of their timetables. It was a great fear for the blue-and-bronze students to appear late to any event.

With that thought in mind, Andrew looked at the door as if already expecting someone waiting for him. "We should start heading down."

"Oh, is Black already here?" Dorcas jeered. "Have you two finally—"

"Oi!" Andrew interrupted, red already forming on his cheeks. "We're just friends. You know that."

"Like how Marlene and I are friends?"

Lily gaped. "Wait, wait. I didn't know the both of you were becoming a thing. When did this happen?"

"During our trip to Sweden this summer," Dorcas began. "My family and I traveled to Kiruna and bumped into the McKinnons, so we decided to hang out together. We had hot chocolate and a couple of snowball fights. It wasn't until we were watching the northern lights—"

Before Dorcas could finish, a loud knock sounded across the room. The startled teens stood up when they heard the voice of their unexpected visitor. Andrew groaned as Dorcas muttered amusingly, "Your boyfriend is here."

"Pipe it down," Andrew told her in a faint voice, getting up to get the door. "He's just worried about me."

"They're so into each other."

Ignoring them, he opened the door to see an annoyed and frustrated Sirius yelling at the eagle-shaped doorknob.

He let out a small laugh at the sight.

The Tower's eagle was a protective barrier between them and the rest of the Houses and was known for its various tricky riddles. Their founder, in her pursuit of knowledge, had placed it to only allow the truly knowledgeable to enter.

However, it backfired as many students were incapable of solving the questions, leading them to sleep outside on the nearby staircase.

Andrew had gained a stiff neck his Second Year because of the fixture.

Sirius' ears turned red when he saw him standing at the door and was prepared to speak when the eagle spoke once again. The golden figure almost seemed amused at the boy's actions as it restated its riddle.

"You measure my life in hours and I serve you by expiring. I'm quick when I'm thin and slow when I'm fat. The wind is my enemy. What am I?"

"Some help, Knight?" he implored angrily, glaring at the ceiling. "Bloody hell! I'll break it if it says it again."

Andrew smiled. "A candle."

The eagle released a screech of approval before returning to its permanent station. The two boys looked at each other—a questioning look on both of their faces.

"What are you doing here?" the Veela asked, leaning against the doorframe. "You should be eating with the boys."

Sirius scoffed. "I could say the same about you."

"We were just about to be on our way when you tried to barge in," he replied calmly. Andrew saw the Gryffindor's unconvinced look and looked behind him before continuing. "We were accompanying Lily."

"Oh."

The Gryffindor's eyes seemed to have softened at the sound of Evans' name. Although he may not express it much, he truly and deeply cared for his friends—a quality Andrew admired about him.

He could see it in his subtle touches, in the random jokes he tells.

Their friend group all knew he was never one to express his emotions externally, always seemingly worried about how they would react if he did.

Andrew saw the tension quickly return to Black's shoulders.

He recalled their previous conversation and felt guilty about his reaction. Sirius was only trying to protect him, and he wasn't helping in lessening his fear. Rowena, he came up to check on him just now because he wasn't at breakfast.

However, the Ravenclaw knew exactly how to cheer him up.

"Do you want to sneak off to Hogsmeade after curfew?" he asked impulsively. "I don't have any rounds tonight, and I'm in the mood for a butterbeer."

Sirius' attitude immediately became mischievous. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Our perfect little prefect has finally become a delinquent."

"Everyone loves a fallen angel," Andrew said cheekily. "I take that as a yes then?"

"It's a date," the Gryffindor said with a smirk, heading down the tower stairs. "I'll see you down at the Great Hall."

An excited shriek came from behind Andrew.

"Hush, Dorcas! He was joking!"

That didn't stop the warm feeling from enveloping him.

After their interaction in the Ravenclaw Tower, Andrew tried to avoid any eye contact with Sirius when they came into contact, knowing he would feel his heart flutter every time he didn't. He would try to push his attention into his studies as best as he could.

It was a lot easier said than done.

In trying to lessen the Gryffindor's concerns, he even tried to be more accepting of help from his friends. However, it was hard to do so whenever the Marauders had decided to declare themselves as his personal bodyguards and follow him around.

Andrew was walking down to the dungeons for Potions later that afternoon when he felt a sudden rush of relief as crushing weight was taken off his back. He turned to see a head of familiar messy hair walking beside him.

"Potter, can I have my bag back?"

"No can do, little wind spirit," he said, swinging the backpack over his shoulder. "I can't let you hurt yourself. I must join you in your perilous journey to your next class."

"It's not that heavy, and I'll be completely fine," Andrew groaned, trying to reach for his stuff. "Don't be a prick."

James pouted. "Ouch, that's no way to speak to an old friend."

The two sixth-years had known each other for many years—since diapers to be exact. They were the only kids in their neighborhood which made way for their inevitable friendship to bloom for the boys.

Andrew would always try to keep them safe as James continued to cause trouble, leading to multiple injuries between them. It brought constant grief and laughter for his parents as they brought their children home after their play dates.

However, after his father's death, the two Brissette-Knights had moved away to a small family home in France. Their friendship was deferred from the distance which gave room for Potter to get closer with the Marauders.

A fact he didn't mind. The boy enjoyed their company.

"At least, I'm more delicate with you than Evans," the Ravenclaw replied, looking carefully at him. The boy looked heartbroken at the comment, and he immediately felt bad for bringing her up.

"Sorry."

James nodded, looking ahead of them.

"Lily feels bad, you know," Andrew said in an attempt to reassure him. "She's just embarrassed. She's planning on talking to you and the boys whenever she's ready."

James looked unsure, but his stride did look a bit more upbeat. Andrew, with a bit of hesitation, let him go on with carrying his bag. They were two staircases away from his class when James spoke up again.

"Is Lily right?"

Andrew stopped walking. "What do you mean?"

"I've been pursuing her for years now," Potter said, a disheartening tone in his voice. "I thought that by showing her how dedicated I was to her she would see that I'm serious about having a relationship."

The Veela stayed silent as he mulled over his friend's words.

"I think," Andrew started, trying to find the right words, "that you are a sweet and caring bloke, and there are a lot of people who would love to go out with you. It might be time to experience what else is out there aside from Lily."

The Gryffindor looked uncertain, but he didn't argue against the idea. "Thanks, Knight."

"You're welcome. Now, let's hurry up before we're late for class."

James dropped him off at the dungeon door with a dramatic bow before quickly parting ways. Andrew pushed the wooden door open and saw tables lined with cauldrons in front of disgruntled groups of Slytherin and Ravenclaw students.

Scanning the room, he found Dorcas sitting in the corner of the room—messing with a bowl of beetle eyes—before heading in her direction. Unfortunately, he had to pass a section of glaring Slytherins to do so.

Wonderful, Andrew thought, pushing past the first row of tables.

"Filthy half-breed," one of them muttered, not even bothering to whisper. "Veela whore."

As he moved past them, Andrew let some of his charm linger behind—causing them to smile and wave eagerly at him. They turned to each other, telling each other to move to give Andrew a seat next to them.

The Veela waited until he reached his seat to release them from his spell. He chuckled as the Slytherins' expressions slowly turned back to disdain at the sudden, magical manipulation.

Seeing their reaction, the teen realized he enjoyed it more than he would like to admit.

"Hey, Dorc," he said, taking a seat next to her. He opened his bag to pull out his textbook. "Ready to burn our eyebrows off again?"

She shook her head with a laugh. "That only happened once, and I recall you adding too many fire seeds to the potion."

"I swear it said five seeds."

A few moments later, Professor Slughorn entered the room with a jovial smile on his face. He proceeded to remind them about the class' syllabus and expectations before introducing the lesson, going into considerable detail about the history behind the Essence of Insanity.

"Now, before we begin," Slughorn proclaimed, "Dumbledore has advised us to encourage inter-house unity in our classrooms in these troubling times, so I have decided to place you in pairs with someone from the opposite house."

Objections were immediate from the students.

Looking around, Andrew felt sick at the thought of working with someone aside from Dorcas—especially since most of the Slytherins had shown relentless prejudice against Hogwarts' muggle-borns and beings.

"I hear your clamors of despair, but this decision is final," he said tensely, twiddling his thumbs. "I will now announce your assigned partner."

Slowly, the class became suffocating as the students were forced to join their counterpart—not bothering to hide their disgust as they did.

The Veela waited impatiently until he heard his name.

". . . Andrew Knight and Severus Snape."

A chill went down his spine as he sat down next to his withdrawn classmate. He hastily nodded at Snape—a stringy, pallid looking boy with oily hair—before looking at his textbook, already making a list of the missing ingredients from their table to distract himself.

Luckily, Severus wasn't interested in speaking to him either.

They worked silently throughout the entire process, avoiding as much contact as possible. Just as Andrew was about to drop a tendril of valerian root into the boiling pot, he felt a hand tighten around his wrist.

"Don't touch me," he reproached, yanking his hand away from the Slytherin. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Snape sneered. "It should be a teaspoon of powdered root."

"But the book—"

"Powdered."

The Ravenclaw huffed before grabbing a pestle. "A please would be nice."

"I just have to excel in this class," Snape spat, venom filling his voice. He stirred the cauldron in anger. "I don't need to share pleasantries with beasts."

The words rang painfully in the Veela's mind, echoing repeatedly in his head. A flourish of anger, pain, and embarrassment went through as he clenched his hands shut. He closed his eyes as he tried to take a breath.

Their cauldron exploded.

The unfinished concoction flew into the air, landing on nearby desks and students. Severus looked down at his drenched robes with a repulsed expression which quickly turned into immense fear as red splotches appeared on his skin, causing him to frantically scratch at the marks.

"You!" he shouted, trying to tear off his green robes. "You did this!"

The Potion teacher approached them at the sound of loud, painful cries. His face full of distance worry as he witnessed his student's chaotic behavior.

"Oh, dear," Professor Slughorn muttered, looking at the empty pot. "Could I have a group of volunteers to take Mr. Snape and anyone else affected to the infirmary? Mr. Knight, please speak to me after class."

Andrew watched as his classmates were led out of the classroom, taking deep breaths to calm down his rapid heartbeat.

You're okay. You're okay.

"Wrong ingredient?" Dorcas asked, approaching him from behind.

"He got a little too cocky," the Veela answered, pushing back any last traces of magic left in him. He almost felt guilt at what he'd done, nearly rushing after them to apologize for his involuntary actions.

However, he couldn't help but hear his mother's harsh words echo through his head. Don't apologize for your weakness. It will show them who truly is in power.

"He deserved it."