Sirius' Jewel

A/N: okay, here's the next chapter! Just wondering, do you guys want me to finish out Hogwarts and then make a sequel or just keep it as one big story? Please, PLEASE, review and let me know. Anyways, here it is…

Oh and I think we've establish that I own none of the wonderful characters in this story except Jules, so yea, here it is….

Chapter 10:

"Okay, so let's see what we can do tonight." Sirius said. It was our last session before O.W.L.s and I was coming along pretty good, if I do say so myself.

"Hexes or dueling?" I asked, pulling out my wand.

"Hm, let's try a duel. We haven't done that yet." He replied, with a nod. "And don't worry, I'll go easy on you." He added, giving me a sly smile.

"Oh, will you now? Well, we'll just see who needs to go easy on who." I said, raising my eyebrows at him. I conveniently "forgot" to tell that where my hexing and curses sucked ass my dueling and fighting skills were near perfection. I was gymnast; I always had been. I might not be to cast the complicated spells, but I could dodge them and kick ass.

We faced each other and bowed. Then, with our wands at the ready, he started. He tried to disarm me and I block him. I sent a curse his way and he countered it. He got me with the Impedimenta curse, though. I moved slower than a snail and he took that opportunity to disarm me.

"Ha! Looks I've got you now, doesn't it?" He said, grinning at me. The curse was starting to wear off and I was moving quicker.

Sirius stood at the ready, and we started the duel again. The object now was to get my wand back. I could do some wandless stuff, but not much yet. So, I resorted to my gymnastics and fighting skills. He sent a hex my way and I back flipped out of the way. Sirius was thrown off for a second, but it was just long enough for me to cart wheel around him and grab my wand. He recovered, but I got into a full body bind and that was that.

"Where did you learn those moves?" He asked, when I let him out the body bind.

"Well, I've been a gymnast since I can remember and I refined those skills through the dueling classes at my old school." I said, as he stood up. "Those classes focused more on the fight aspect of dueling than the curses and stuff because we already had a class that dealt with that."

"That's really cool. Well, I think you're ready for the exams." He said, with a smile. "So, we'll cut it short tonight to celebrate with everyone else."

O.W.L.s week came and went. They weren't as hard as I expected and I didn't think I did too shabby. But now that they were over there were only a few days of school left in the year. I had nowhere to go except the Leaky Cauldron or a foster home.

"Miss Starr, Professor Dumbledoor would like to speak to you." McGonagall said, walking into the common room one evening.

"Okay," I said, standing up from where I was sitting with Lily and following her. We went to a stone gargoyle and when McGonagall gave the password, it jumped aside revealing a winding staircase that was like an escalator. I went up alone and knocked on the door when I got to the top.

"Come in." Dumbledoor's voice called from the other side. I opened the door and stepped inside. "Ah, Jules, please have a seat."

"Am I in some sort of trouble?" I asked, sitting down.

"No, no, of course not." He said, laughing. "I merely wanted to talk to you about next year."

"What about next year, sir?" I asked, confused.

"Will you be coming back to Hogwarts?" He asked, folding his hands in front of him.

"I would like to, yes." I said, nodding. "I mean, if that's okay with you, of course." I added quickly.

"That would be great." Dumbledoor said, smiling. "Now where will you be staying this summer?"

"Um, well, I'm not really sure." I said, with a shrug. I assumed I'd either go to a foster home or back to the Leaky Cauldron."

"Well, I have lined up a host family to take you for the summer. That is, if you're interested." He said.

"Who?" I asked, curious.

"The Potters." He replied. "You don't have to go with them, but you should think about it." He added. If I did accept this, that meant a whole summer with James, and, inevitably, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. I mean, James was okay and all, but we weren't nearly as close as Sirius and I were. We were still kind of hostile towards each other. I wouldn't mind Remus at all, he was a cool guy and Sirius…well, I couldn't let Sirius know that I liked him; I just couldn't. So, I would be myself towards him. Peter was, well, Peter. And that was to say that he was the tag along, so there wasn't much I could do about him. If I didn't go, though, it was more than likely that I would be placed in a foster home and I didn't want to go through that again.

"I'll go with the Potters." I said. "But could I ask a favor, sir?"

"Certainly." He said, with a slight nod.

"Could I take two weeks to go back to LA?" I asked. I figured I was going to have to ask him either way, so I might as well do it now.

"Ah, yes, I knew this would come up." He said, smiling. "Yes, you may have the two weeks on two conditions: first, you must not go until July and second you must take someone with you."

"Alright," I said, somewhat confused. "But why July?"

"Simply because I think that is the best month for vacations." He replied, his eyes twinkling. "I think that's everything, then. Have a good summer, Jules."

"You too, Professor." I replied, standing up.

"So, Lily, I was wondering if you wanted to come back to the States with me in July." I said, as we looked for an empty compartment.

"Oh, I would love to, but July is always when my family goes on holiday." She said, apologetically. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it." I said, shrugging. "Where you guys going?"

"The Caribbean. My dad heard that there one thousand things to down there, so of course he wants to go." She replied.

"Sounds like fun."

"Yeah, as lone as I don't have to be around my sister, Petunia, too much." She said, nodding. "She'll drive all the good-looking guys away."

"Oh, well, you'll always have James Potter after you and he'll drive all the guys away." I said, as we sat down in a compartment.

"True, but you have to spend the entire summer with him and his friends." She said, with an evil smirk. I hadn't told her very much about my tutoring sessions- at least not about the ones with Sirius.

"Yeah, well, they really aren't as bad as they seem. I mean, yeah, James is still an arrogant jerk, but he has a certain charm to him." I said, with a shrug.

"I think you've been spending too much time around them due to tutoring." She said, laughing.

"You're probably right." I said, laughing too.

We passed the rest of the journey to King's Cross laughing and joking. I wished that the train ride would never end, but instead it ended much too quickly. I wasn't overly excited to be staying with James, but I guess it could've been worse.

Lily and I walked through the barrier together. She saw her parents and we walked over to them. Lily looked just like her mother- vibrant auburn hair and bright green eyes. Her mom was the motherly sort of person, too. Her dad seemed like the kind of guy who, if you crossed him, would make you pay. But around family and friends he was very kind and personable. After introductions were made, I hugged Lily good-bye and went to look for James and his family. I saw him standing a little ways away from Lily's family, along with Remus and Sirius.

"Um, excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Potter?" I asked, approaching them.

"Yes?" Mrs. Potter said, giving me a warm smile. "Oh, you must be Julia."

"Yes, but call me Jules." I replied, returning her smile.

"What's going on?" James asked, looking from me to his parents.

"Oh, well, Dumbledoor owled us wondering if we would be willing to play the part of a host family." She said, cheerfully. "And we said we'd be delighted to."

"So, she's staying with us all summer?" James said, not looking all too thrilled about this.

"Yes, she is." Mr. Potter said firmly, and James looked down at the ground.

"Well, actually the first two weeks in July I'm going back to LA." I said, with a shrug.

"How about we get going." Mrs. Potter said, trying to cover the awkwardness of the situation. "We still have to drop Sirius and Remus off."

So, we set off from King's Cross. James, Remus, Sirius, and I all squished into the back seat. Guess who I got to sit by? Sirius. I was torn between disgust and bliss.

Remus lived in a suburb just outside of London, in a quiet secluded neighborhood. His house was a decent size- not huge, but not a trailer either. I saw his parents looking out of the window in the front room. Remus sighed before bidding us good-bye. The expression on his face was one of sadness. His parents didn't look to thrilled to see him.

Next we dropped off Sirius. He lived in a gloomy part of central London. As Mr. Potter pulled up, Sirius looked very reluctant to have to leave. He took his time getting out of the car and getting his things. James got out with Sirius. He said something and Sirius nodded. They gave each other a swift hug and then James got back in the car, while Sirius walked slowly- and grudgingly- up to his house.

okay, i hope you guys liked it! and now please review!