Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the wonderful wizarding world and all credit must be given to Ms. JK Rowling, however, anything unrecognisable is of my own creation.

This chapter is M Rated for coarse language.

Chapter 32: Pandora Black

It's been a few weeks since Sirius slayed the Basilisk, and this evening is Slughorn's Christmas Party. I'd planned on just wearing the red dress that I wore to the Potter's New Year's Ball, but yesterday this gorgeous gold evening gown had appeared in the girls' dormitory with a note from Dumbledore. The note explained that the dress was a gift, wished me a pleasant evening at the party, and apologised for his absence, which I was to pass on to Horace. Lily, Dorcas, and Marlene made a huge fuss over this dress, and immediately made me try it on. It's empire waisted in design, and the material falls elegantly to the ground. The fabric is a fascinating shade of gold, which shimmer subtly. I feel very beautiful in this dress. I am currently all dressed for the Christmas Party and have been watching Lily fuss over her makeup for almost 20 minutes now.

'Lily! If you don't hurry up those boys will get bored and go play Quidditch.' James is Lily's date tonight, and we'd just received a patronus from Sirius informing us that him and James were waiting in the common room. I knew that if we made James and Sirius wait too long they'd get bored and cause some sort of mischief. Lily waved her hand towards me as she responded.

'5 more minutes.' I sighed.

'Fine. I'm going to keep James and Sirius from getting distracted.' Lily absentmindedly nodded, as I left the dormitory and descended the stairs. I found James and Sirius dressed very formally in amongst the rest of our housemates in the common room. The common room swiftly fell silent as I appeared at the bottom of the stairs, meaning I flushed red. A breathtaking smile appeared on Sirius's lips when he saw me: he jumped to his feet and wondered over to me, shoving a gawping first year. Sirius kissed my hand as he reached me.

'Hey gorgeous, you weren't exaggerating about this dress. The old coot's got style.' I smirked.

'You look as handsome as always.' Sirius kissed me.

'Thanks, where's Evans?'

'She's still Prongs proofing her makeup.' Sirius laughed, whilst I found myself admiring Sirius's family robes. I'm glad Sirius got over his issues with wearing his family robes, because he really does look stunning in them. The silence was broken between us when Sirius spoke.

'What you thinking about?' I smirked.

'How much I love these robes?' Sirius took hold of both my hands and gave me a strange look, before responding.

'You're a strange witch, Granger.' I giggled, as Sirius pressed his lips to mine, to which I threw my arms around his neck. We were still kissing when Lily appeared, and only knew she was there because she spoke.

'Eww... do you two have to do that in the common room?' I pulled away from Sirius who was still smiling: he spoke.

'Don't be a hypocrite, Evans. I've seen you at it with Prongs in the boys' dormitory, you're no prude.' I watch Lily flush red as Sirius commented, and I was sure she'd have slapped him had James not interrupted.

'Lil, you look beautiful.' This compliment had Lily's attention; so she started flicking her hair and acting like she normally does around James.

'Thanks James... you look great.' James chuckled, offering his arm to Lily. 'Shall we?' Lily giggled, but nodded, whilst taking hold of James's arm. I watched the two of them walk over to the portrait, whilst Sirius fed my arm through his and spoke.

'Let's go show you off.' I followed Sirius out of the common room after James and Lily.

I don't think I've ever seen the dungeon so busy. There are lots of house elves running around, obviously organizing the party, and then the guests who are just starting to arrive. It's quite an exclusive guest list: Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black; Regulus, who has a girl from Slytherin on his arm; Xander Boots, attending with his date; Orla Edgecombe and her date; Lily and James; me and Sirius; Snape, who's come alone; a few members of staff; and of course many of Slughorn's ex-students and acquaintances. As we entered the dungeon there was a house elf holding a tray of drinks, Sirius picked up two glasses, handing one to me as he thanked the house elf. I managed to take a sip of drink, before Horace spotted us.

'Sirius, my lad... and Miss. Granger! It's splendid you could make our little gathering.' I smiled towards the potions master, responding to his statement.

'Thank you for inviting us, Professor. Albus sends his apologies, I'm afraid he won't be able to attend this evening.' Horace glossed over this apology, and seemed more interested in pointing out his successful ex-students. We were introduced to several esteemed witches and wizards: Sirius as the eldest heir to the Black Family, and me as Dumbledore's second cousin, twice removed and accomplished seer. It was around 30 minutes, before we were allowed to sit down, and as we sat at the table where James and Lily were, James spoke.

'Professors pet.' Sirius glared at him.

'Hey! I am not!' Lily took James's side.

'You so are Black... Slughorn was in his element: and Regulus is fuming.' I glanced over to where Regulus was sitting at this point, to find him shooting daggers at Sirius. Narcissa was attempting to comfort the young heir to the Black Family, though, as I continued to look at Regulus I could tell his irritated exterior was just for show. I glanced back to Sirius, who was now staring at his brother.

'Siri, dance with me?' This distracted Sirius, just like I'd planned, and as I got to my feet he accepted my hand. After the initial arrival, the party was great fun: I danced with Sirius, and a few more of the guests introduced themselves. We took advantage of the catering and watched James making a fool of himself, whilst attempting to dance with Lily. It was almost 9:30 when the photographer arrived and Slughorn cornered Sirius and I again.

'Sirius, my boy, bring the lovely Miss. Granger over here for a photo.' Sirius and I both knew where this photo would end up. We're being put on the shelf, which was bound to happen eventually, because all the members of Slug Club end up on Slughorn's shelf. Sirius led me over to Slughorn, and that's when I felt the new memory forcing itself into my head.

I fell as Sirius attempted to catch me. As per usual, everything went black before the new memory came into focus: in this memory my younger self was sitting in my parents' hallway. I was waiting to go to Harry's house, where I'd be spending the remainder of my summer. My younger self was excited about visiting Potter Manor, and it wasn't long before there was a knock on my parents' front door. Younger Hermione jumped to her feet and answered the front door to find Sirius. I watched my younger self flush a little red at the sight of Sirius: Sirius grinned.

'Good morning, Hermione.' Sirius is still unbelievably handsome... and by the looks of it my younger self is harboring a little bit of a crush on him.

'Padfoot?' A ridiculously handsome smile appeared on Sirius's lips.

'The one and only... you ready to go, hun?' I watched little Hermione flush a deeper shade of red, but nod, before disappearing back into my parents' house to collect her Hogwarts trunk. Sirius stepped into the house behind me, and was greeted by my mother. I feel kind of weird seeing my mum interacting with Sirius, though I'm not sure why. The memory then followed my younger self through the house I'd grown up in. Little Hermione fetched her Hogwarts trunk, and hauled the heavy trunk down the stairs. I could hear Sirius laughing as my younger self descended the stairs: and I was definitely right about little Hermione having a crush on Sirius, because I could now remember how awkward I'd felt whenever I heard his gorgeous laugh... plus in this memory little Hermione had been bright red ever since she'd answered the door to Sirius. Sirius smiled at her as she appeared at the bottom of the stairs with her trunk. 'Good to go, love?' Little Hermione nodded, before hugging and kissing mum. Her face dropped when she walked out the front door and found Sirius stood beside his motorbike. Sirius chuckled.

'It's alright, I brought you a helmet.' I watched my younger self pale.

'Sirius, I don't like flying.' Sirius grinned.

'Nope, you're scared of falling: and that won't happen with me.' Sirius pulled a couple of helmets out of the sidecar; one of the helmets being the helmet I brought him for his seventeenth birthday. He gave the second helmet, which was more modern, to little Hermione. 'Here, you can wear Pandora's helmet.' I watched Hermione examine the helmet, before glancing towards Sirius.

'Pandora has her own helmet?' Sirius nodded.

'Yeah, I'm teaching her to drive this bike.' Hermione looked disgruntled at this point.

'Does Mrs. Black know you're teaching her 12-year-old daughter how to drive a flying motorbike?' Sirius chuckled.

'Hmmm... she does now.' I could tell this response confused little Hermione. I, on the other hand, was stunned by this cryptic response. I'm Mrs. Black!... and my reckless irresponsible husband is teaching our precious little daughter to drive his motorbike. Sirius continued talking in the memory. 'Pandy, is perfectly safe... I'd never let anything happen to her.' I would be having words with Sirius about teaching our daughter how to ride that flying motorcycle. I do like the name Pandora Black though: and from what I've seen of Pandora, she definitely suits the name. I get the impression that she can make all hell break loose if she wants to, kind of like the Marauders. The memory finished at this point, as my younger self gazed towards Pandora's motorbike helmet. I opened my eyes to find myself sat in a chair with Sirius crouched beside me.

'Sorry, I didn't quite catch you in time.' I noticed the dull headache now, from obviously hitting my head. I placed a hand to my head, glancing around to notice that I'd gained quite a bit of attention. Slughorn appeared with a potion vile as I glanced around.

'Here, my dear, drink this. It'll help with the headache and concussion.' I drank the potion before glancing towards Sirius. I hit him, which made an expression of surprise appear on his face.

'What's that for?!' I grinned.

'Something you haven't done yet.' Sirius frowned, rubbing his arm.

'That's not fair.' I chuckled, before attempting to stand, but falling back into the chair. Sirius continued speaking. 'Steady, love.' The guests around us had returned to the party, meaning I decided it was safe to tell Sirius about the vision.

'You were in this vision.' Sirius's eyes widened as I told him this, but he allowed me to continue. 'You were picking me up from my parents house, to visit the Potters. You're still ridiculously handsome, and I think I might have a crush on you. You brought you're motorbike to collect me. I wasn't impressed because I don't like flying.' Sirius interrupted at this point.

'I have a flying motorbike?!' I could see the excitement in his eyes as I nodded.

'Hush... let me finish. You said I could wear Pandora's helmet.' Sirius interrupted again.

'Pandora? One of my daughters?' I nodded.

'Yes. I'm liking the names we choose: Pandora and Myranda are nice names.' I could see Sirius reading into what I'd just said, and was slightly amused as he responded.

'We?... You're their mother?!' I giggled with a nod.

'I think so, you suggested I am, in the vision.' Sirius kissed me all of a sudden, which nearly caused me to topple off the chair. It wasn't a long kiss, and afterwards Sirius just gazed into my eyes: I spoke. 'You doubted that I was their mother?' Sirius shrugged.

'Always a chance I fucked up... it's a running theme in my life.' I giggled.

'Sirius, you're not a fuck up: you're brilliant.' I kissed Sirius again. 'Now, come on, Slughorn's probably still waiting for a photo.' Sirius grinned, helping me to my feet. I straightened out my appearance, because if I'm going to be put on some dusty shelf, then I at least want to look presentable.

A/N: Hey! Hope you enjoyed this next chapter. Remember to review. Love RoxannetheLaugh x.