Renegade

Disclaimer: Sad to say, I don't own Sirius Black. If I did, I would not have killed off the closest thing Harry had to a father because he's been through enough bullshit already in his life!

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­A/N: Those of you who reviewed, thank you very much! Those of you who have me on story alert and didn't review, what were you thinking? Hehe. I'm glad you liked the last chapter and I hope you like this one also. By the way, I finally updated my author profile since it was over a year old. It has my most recent email address and my website link if anyone wants to check it out. Just thought I'd mention that. Thanks, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 5 – Quid Pro Quo

Lily the cat ate her food happily in the kitchen. Sirius had decided to bring her from his house so she wouldn't be alone. After Raven had made breakfast burritos to Sirius liking and he had eaten six of them, he looked up at her expectantly.

"So, tell me."

Raven took a deep breath. "Well, what do you think you know?"

"I know you're not twenty-five."

"Well, you'd be wrong. I'm almost twenty-six," she smiled, mysteriously.

"Care to explain that then?"

"Not really."

"Well, you're about to if you want to actually make it to twenty-six," said Sirius, mimicking what Raven had said to him earlier.

Raven rolled her eyes. "I don't look twenty-six, because I don't age."

"What are you talking about?"

"And I don't die."

"You're immortal?" asked Sirius, disbelievingly.

She took another deep breath, and answered in an attempt to get the worst out first, "I'm a vampire."

Sirius tensed visibly and choked out, "A vampire?"

Raven nodded without taking her eyes from his.

Sirius shook his head. "But there aren't even any vampires left! There was this whole big fiasco at the Ministry like twenty years ago, about vampires being hunted to extinction."

"Almost to extinction, yes. I never understood exactly how the Ministry could be sure they'd gotten them all. Some were asleep. They're very rare in Europe now. Most live among humans peacefully. They don't feed. There are quite a few more in America."

"Raven, you don't even have fangs," said Sirius as his eyes wandered to her teeth just to make sure.

"I don't grow fangs unless I thirst for blood. I don't thirst for blood unless I forget to take my potion every twenty-four hours."

"What potion?"

"The Wolfsbane potion. It was developed as a cure for lycans, but when they found out it only made their symptoms less severe, they tried it on vampires. Vampires and lycans..." she trailed off as she noticed Sirius' obviously confused expression. "What?"

"Lycans...?"

"Werewolves. Vampires and werewolves are very similar creatures. Basically the only difference is that werewolves are affected by moon cycles while vampires can turn at any time. And lycans are uglier," she added offhandedly.

"Hey! My best friend is a...lycan or whatever you call it. So you take the potion and then what?"

"If I take the potion, I'm normal; I can't turn into a vampire. Vampires without the potion are victims to the smell of blood. If they see or smell blood, the vampire in them takes over and who knows what they could do. If I take the potion, I can be in the sunlight, I can eat regular food, and I won't be able to turn."

"Can you eat garlic?"

Raven laughed. "I'm actually quite fond of garlic. The garlic thing is bullshit, as well as the holy water, and the crucifixes and so on. Almost all of that stuff is bullshit. Pretty much the only thing that can kill a vampire is a stake through the heart or continuous direct sunlight because they can heal themselves."

"So how old were you when you were bitten?"

"Nineteen."

"And then you came here?"

Raven nodded. "With my cousin, Josh."

"What about your parents?"

"They're dead," she said without expression.

Sirius's eyes brimmed with sympathy. "I'm sorry. How did they…"

"My mum died giving birth to me, and my dad…well, he didn't really want me after that. I grew up with my uncle, Josh's dad."

"So how did you get bitten?"

"Well, my uncle died when I was nineteen… I don't know, I guess I was all depressed and I met a cute guy who said he knew how I felt. Next thing I knew, I was a vampire and Josh said I had to hide somewhere so no one would find out."

"And you've been here ever since?"

"Pretty much. I guess I could go back… I've learned how to deal with it now. No one would ever find out. But I like it here. Miss Josh though."

Sirius smiled. "So…is that all?"

"Yeah, I guess," said Raven, looking up at him. "I think you have me beat."

"What do you mean?" asked Sirius.

"You have a better reason to be a renegade than I do."

"Oh," Sirius nodded, "but I wish I didn't."

"Yeah, I'm sure you do. So…what about this werewolf friend of yours?

"Remus. What do you mean, what about him?"

"I don't know… When was he bitten?" asked Raven.

"When he was little, before he came to Hogwarts."

"He went to Hogwarts?" Raven seemed slightly shocked.

"Yes. Dumbledore didn't see any reason why not. He made arrangements for him. Do you remember that tree on the grounds? The Whomping Willow, everyone called it?"

Raven thought for a moment and then nodded. "I think so."

"It was planted the year Remus came. There's a secret passageway under it that leads to a shack in Hogsmeade."

"The Shrieking Shack, you mean?"

"Right, but it was only ever haunted by Remus. He went there to transform. That's why James, the rat, and I became Animagi, you see? So we could be with him."

Raven smiled. "I'm sure that meant a lot to him. You didn't disown him for being a werewolf."

"We had lots of fun."

"Oh really?" Raven smiled. "Well, I think I should meet him."

"As long as you don't like him better than me," Sirius gave her a wink. "I think I should meet your friend next door, too."

"As long as you don't like her better than me," she smirked.

"No worries," he replied. "So those burritos really hit the spot… What's for lunch?"

Raven grinned somewhat maliciously. She leaned forward and whispered, "Mr. Black, you are my lunch."

Raven opened the door and stepped backwards to let Sirius saunter in. He froze when he saw another woman sitting at Raven's kitchen table, looking him up and down. He glanced quickly at Raven. Sensing his apprehensiveness, Raven placed herself between them and gestured from one to the other.

"Jordan, this is Sirius. Sirius, Jordan.

"Hi," said Sirius uneasily.

"Hellooo," replied Jordan all-knowingly.

Raven gave Jordan a look. She had a way of looking as though she could tell everything about a person by just being in their company.

Jordan broke into a smile. "I've heard all about you. Are you a witch, too?"

"Jordan…" warned Raven. "First of all, it's a cardinal sin to tell any Muggle of your magical powers so unless you want me to wipe your memory, I suggest you—"

Jordan held up her hand and grinned. "Don't get your knickers in a twist, Raven, I'll be good."

"Thank you. And secondly, females are witches, males are wizards." She turned to Sirius. "Sorry, she made me tell her everything a few years ago."

An amused grin crept along Sirius' lips and he shrugged. "It's okay."

He took a seat at the table and helped himself to Raven's 'chocoffee', which is what Sirius' had insisted on calling it after he'd been there every morning since to have her coffee mixed with hot chocolate.

"I was just telling Raven how I haven't seen her in so long. She seems to be preoccupied lately by something...or someone," suggested Jordan, slyly.

Raven rolled her eyes and stepped on Jordan's foot under the table.

She ignored it. "So has she told you everything, Sirius? All her deep, dark secrets?"

Sirius smiled widely and turned to Raven questioningly.

"What?" she asked, returning his smile.

"You have more than one deep, dark secret?" he asked, leaning forward on his chair.

"You already know my one deep, dark secret."

"You sure about that?" he asked.

"Quite!" Raven gave his shoulder a push and the back two legs of his chair snapped back down to the floor.

Sirius put his arms out to balance himself. Then he narrowed his eyes on Jordan. "Does she treat you like this?"

"Oh no," said Jordan. "But then again, she'd be barking up the wrong tree if she did."

Raven gasped and stood from her chair, pulling Jordan up with her by the arm. "All right, Jordi, that's quite enough. You'll be going now." Jordan was forced to stand and walk behind Raven to the door. Sirius was laughing.

"Wha'd I say?" she asked innocently. She turned and nodded her head to Sirius. "I guess I'll be going now. Nice to meet you, Sirius."

"Likewise," he replied.

"Have fun," she called as she took the porch steps two at a time and retreated to her own house.

Raven sat back down at the table and sighed.

"I like her," said Sirius.

Raven smiled. "You would."

"You didn't have to kick her out, you know."

"I do every morning she's here. She has to be at work in five minutes."

"Oh," Sirius nodded. "She's very direct, isn't she?"

"I'm surprised you noticed," joked Raven as she refilled his cup.

"So if you were a vampire right now, could you read my mind?" he asked as he took a sip immediately.

Raven groaned. "Oh, we're talking about that again?"

"Well yeah, I want to know."

"Yes, I could read your mind," she answered.

"Good thing you're not a vampire right now then."

"I don't need to be a vampire; I already know what you're thinking, and the answer is no."

"You do not know what I'm thinking right now."

"You're thinking you want me to make you more breakfast burritos."

Sirius laughed. "Oh come on then! You know you want to…"

She shook her head. "No, I really don't. There are some blueberry muffins Jordi brought over."

Sirius took one from a basket on the table. "She as good a cook as you?"

"If I say yes, will you go bug her every morning instead of me?"

"Are you kidding?" Sirius took a bite of the muffin. "You are the only woman…" Sirius took one of Raven's hands, leaned forward, and looked into her eyes adoringly, "…at this table."

Raven giggled.

"Hey, do you have any vampire books?"

"Yeah, a couple."

"Okay, we're reading those…" Raven cleared her throat and Sirius smirked. "You're reading those next. Okay?"

"Why?" Raven asked, furrowing her brows.

"Because I want to know what it's like."

"They make it sound like it's a gift. Like it would be cool to be a vampire."

"And it isn't?" asked Sirius.

"Of course it isn't. To thirst for blood? To kill people for it? I mean, sure, teleporting is cool, and being able to heal yourself, but—"

"Hang on, teleport? Is that just another word for Apparating?" asked Sirius.

"It's like Apparating, but it's not disappearing and reappearing somewhere else. It's moving like everyone else does, only much, much faster. Faster than humans can see anyway."

Sirius shook his head. "I'm getting a headache."

"Don't think much, do you?" she teased.

Sirius smiled at the joke. "So do you ever see Josh? Why don't you go back?"

"Yeah, I see him every once in awhile. Like I said, I just like it here now."

"You like being cut off from the world?" asked Sirius.

"Your best friend is a lycan, right? I'm sure he's told you how hard it is being a werewolf. You try to hide it, but people find out and then it all blows up in your face. It's better here. No one asks me questions I don't feel like answering." She put on a smile and kicked Sirius lightly in the shin. "Then you came along."

"Oh don't give me that. You're relieved."

"Relieved of what?"

"Relieved that I know and I'm not freaked out or scared of you."

"You're not scared of me? You haven't seen me as a vampire, Sirius. You'd be scared."

"I would not! I'm not scared of werewolves, and vampires don't bite dogs, do they?"

"Not unless they're desperate," she teased.

"So when Jordan was talking about your deep, dark secret, she meant that you were a vampire, right? I mean, she knows, doesn't she?" Sirius gestured out the window.

"Jordi? She's my one and only friend, of course she knows."

Sirius frowned and scoffed. "Your only friend?"

"You sure you wanna be my friend?"

"If that's your best offer," he said in an undertone.

"What was that, Mr. Black?" asked Raven, although she had heard what he said.

"Uh, I think you heard me," he grinned at her.

"Right…" Raven flushed slightly.

A/N: Raven's a vampire. Well, lah-dee-frickin-dah! Not terribly clever seeing as I luv vampires and want desperately to be one, lol. I had to really refrain myself from going off about Spike from Buffy and Lestat. Anyway, what do you think? Was it obvious? No one guessed it in his/her review so I hope it was okay… Please, please review! Luv, Liveley.