Disclaimer: All names, places and characters in the following story (excepting Alijanna, Silva and Richard Dumbledore, Sandra Longbottom, Nythan fighters club, Pendon fighters club and Bhogavati night club) are the intellectual property of J.K Rowling. I have no right to them call my own or make any money from them (which is unfortunate but unavoidably true).

Chapter 1: By The Lake

"You would though, wouldn't you?" Sirius Black looked to his left, shading his eyes against the rays of light almost too strong to be from an autumn sun, which filtered through the trees and gazed towards the dappled lake. Or rather, towards the young woman standing on a leafy branch which overhung the deep blue water. Her school robes had been discarded in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the tree she had scaled and she now stood on the branch, in only her lacy, black underwear preparing to dive. James Potter, who was lounging idly next to him, fanning himself in the heat, barely glanced in her direction before replying "no". Sirius stared at him in shocked disbelief, "But why? Look at her, she's incredible, she looks like a…." he cast around looking for a good description, "a corrupted angel".

This statement brought a loud, derisive snort from Remus Lupin, "angel, how poetic, it must be love". Aside form throwing a large pebble at him, Sirius ignored him and refocused has attention on James.

"But why? She's beautiful." She really was, but not in a conventional way. She had definite curves and certainly wasn't the thinnest girl in school, but she did look really physically fit. She wasn't tall either, being only up to about Sirius' shoulder, about 5" 5 but her height didn't diminish her beauty, only made her seem consistent. Her hair colour was interchangeable, at the moment most of it was a dark copper brown, which must have been pretty close to her natural, but several chunky streaks of it were a rebellious lime green. Her lack of clothes meant that you could see the large, vivid orange and red phoenix tattoo, which covered the left side of her stomach past her bellybutton, her diamante belly bar giving it a sparkly nose which glittered in the sunlight. She was the ultimate "I don't give a fuck" rebellion chick. Which Sirius had to admit was a big part of the appeal.

"Too much baggage, mate. That girl has major family issues for a start. I hear she left home in the middle of the summer, lives with her uncle now, I'm sure he's a really good influence", James replied. This last comment brought laughs from both Moony and Wormtail, who were sure that a petty criminal who made half his income from dodgy games of wizard poker and the other from selling stolen goods, couldn't be a good influence on anyone. Especially someone who got detention at least once a month for general insolence and lack of decorum.

"In case you forgot," Sirius said, with slight heat, "I left home when I was younger than her".

"Yeah" said James distractedly while attempting to swat a wasp with his wand, "but you had an excuse. Your family's a bit nuts, hers, aside from her prick of a brother, is relatively normal. Besides she's a Slytherin". From James' point of view this last was one of the worst crimes anyone could commit, and, under normal circumstances Sirius would agree, but she didn't act like a Slytherin. Maybe the hat made a mistake…….

"I have to give her points for the swimming idea though", He continued, "why is it always so hot just after we go back to school. It's like the weather's laughing at us". At this point, as if on queue, she ran along the top of the branch, then cartwheeled and dived head first into the centre of the lake, doing a forward roll in mid air for the pleasure of her audience before slicing the water cleanly.

"Look at that", Sirius exclaimed, "perfect balance. She must fight for Nythan".

Moony looked both surprised and interested, "how can you tell? She could just be naturally gymnastic".

Sirius considered carefully before answering, "it's in the way she walks, have you seen how she bounces on her heels, she always looks like she could drop into a fighting stance at a moments notice". By this time Sirius was so deeply engrossed in describing what made a perfect fighter, that he hadn't noticed that on mention of the word "Nythan" James had sat up and, for the first time taken a real interest in the conversation.

"Why do you care if she fights or not?" he demanded, interrupting Sirius' flow, and glaring at him with narrow, accusing eyes. "I thought you didn't do that any more, you promised you were finished with it".

"I swore that I'd never go back to Pendon after I stopped speaking to my family", Sirius' voice took on a defensive tone without him realising it, "and that I'd have nothing to do with any of it while I was staying with your parents, because I know how they feel about violence and law breakers in general. But…", he shrugged, "I'm not staying with them any more, and besides Nythan is completely different to Pendon. Not that it's likely I'll ever be given a membership there".

"Why not? Are they very exclusive?", asked Moony, ignoring James' silent disapproval and continuing to look interested. Sirius tore his attention away from James and prepared to answer the question, but, to his great shock Peter spoke before him. His slightly squeaky voice grated on Sirius' nerves.

"Oh yes", his shrill voice piped, "I heard you need a respected member to sign you in as a guest, another member to propose your membership after 3 months of being a guest, and yet another member to second your membership before they actually give you a key to the changing area". After receiving a nod from Sirius which confirmed that his information was accurate, Peter looked pleased that, for once, he had known more than the others about something. However his smug look faded when he saw the glares that James was now directing at him.

"I can't believe that you're all ok with his involvement in this, it's completely illegal" , exclaimed James heatedly. This statement brought gales of laughter from the other 3.

"Since when have you cared about breaking rules" Mooney asked, successfully swatting the wasp which James had missed earlier.

"This isn't a rule, it's a law. None of the little school rules we break could get us killed or sent to Azkaban".

"Really" Sirius mused, lowering his voice, "none of them? I seem to remember there being a law somewhere about needing to register if you're an animagus. And I can think of several monsters in the forest which would kill you as soon as look at us, yet you never protest about us going in there. Maybe those 'little rules' we break all the time are as serious as the law I'm planning to break".

"Those are different" James protested, "they……."

Sirius interrupted him "of course their not, your just being hypocritical". The once friendly afternoon chat about a pretty girl had suddenly broken down into a tense atmosphere, which was bordering on an actual fight. So many of their conversations these days did Sirius realised. Increasingly Prongs talked to Moony before him now. Sirius supposed that this was partly his fault. Since James and Lillie had started going out 2 months ago, she was all James talked about. This had been made worse when Moony had started going out with her best friend Sandy. They had begun having long, dewy eyed conversations about their girlfriends which Sirius, who got bored with girlfriends after a week of their company, found incredibly tedious. So he went out walking in the evenings to avoid living in Couples Ville, borrowing the invisibility clock which James now only ever used on full moons. He had missed things in those evenings by himself, the girls had become a firm part of the group, and he now played a less active role, standing on its fringes. He had to admit the sudden change in dynamics had made him kind of bitter, and he felt almost….jealous.

This time, however, a row was prevented by a loud, shrieking shout which echoed across the lake. "Alijanna Dumbledore" Professor McGonagall 's furious yell could be heard over half the grounds. "What do you think you are doing?"

A small smile and "swimming professor" were all the answer she got from the girl in the lake.

Her face went white and she looked apoplectic with rage. Then she yelled "Mobilcorpus" and Alin flew through the air towards her, landing on the bank. Another flick of her wand and a fluffy white dressing gown appeared and wrapped itself around the girl, tying its strings in a tight knot. "Headmasters office, at once".

"what did I do?" the girl indignantly spluttered, her wet hair dripping onto the back of the dressing gown, leaving a dark wet patch from the muddy water.

"Indecent exposure for a start" professor McGonagall replied, "now start walking madam".

By the time Alin had wound her way passed them towards the castle, and they had watched her being admonished twice for walking with the dressing gown hanging open, they were all in such fights of laughter , that the fight and its tensions had been forgotten.

To be continued……

Authors note: Hey guys hope you liked the first chapter of "Ties stronger than blood". As it's my first do you think you could go easy on it. Anyway please R&R, constructive criticism is always welcome.

Luv to you all Sparkles xoxo