Disclaimer: If I had the money or was J.K. Rowling, I wouldn't be attempting to help my friend sue her parents. If I was rich and JK Rowling, I would have the money to buy a lawyer instead of myself! Needless to say, I'm quite upset about not owning Harry Potter and co or anything you may recognize from other places that aren't under the 'stories authored' section of my profile!

Oi, it's Cher again, with another update.

All of you waiting for updates on Trickery and Confusion, NOT HUMAN, or SMwT will just have to be patient, as I haven't quite finished them yet.


Previously:

Encounters with unfriendly people were rare for the four. They were about to get the first when they were about eight and a half.

Chapter 3 – Snape and the other Blacks

The four children sat in 'their' bench by Madam Malkins on their traditional weekend visit to Diagon Alley, during which the four would go to the shopping strip, stay at the Leaky Cauldron for the weekend, eat as much ice cream as they could, and prank unsuspecting stuck-up kids. Oh, sure, they were all filthy rich and not afraid to flaunt it in the least, but they were nowhere near as snobby, rude, or all around distasteful as the others were. They had a modicum of modesty.

As they laughed and joked about the latest prank they had pulled (including a wand shop, confetti, and very loud party music), none of them noticed a very big shadow grow over them.

Remus was the first to find him in semi-darkness, and poked around in an attempt to find his best friend's hand. Caden had always been a bit closer to him than any of the others were, and the same went for James and Sirius. While James and Sirius were more boisterous, noisy, and generally more hyperactive, Caden and Remus were quiet, observant, careful, and intelligent beyond belief, though James and Sirius were clever too.

Caden was soon alert, though he kept his head down to where he was whispering into Sirius's ear. He attempted to send warning sounds through the weak bond the four possessed and hoped that James didn't do anything… stupid.

His little eight year old head didn't know how he possessed the foresight to know that this could only turn out to be a Potter Disaster.

"Well lookie here, if it isn't ickle-Sirius and his little friends!" one of them cooed, and all of the kids winced at the baby-ish tone.

"Poor Cousin Sirius, having to stoop so low as to have friends with those filthy blood-traitors!" the voice screeched, laughing shrilly at the end.

Another laugh was added to that, even if it sounded very forced, as if the person was loathe to be there, and a snort of disdain was added from yet another, though whether it was from disgust of their own party or the children sitting on the bench, no one knew.

While Caden could restrain himself from attempted homicide of the speakers, James, apparently, could not.

"Why you! How dare you talk about my family that way!"

"As Black's cousins, I believe that we have the right!"

"Well shut up!"

Caden groaned at his twin's eloquent response and decided to step in before he got a black eye.

He didn't know where the words came from, but he knew that it was the right thing to say.

"And as his twin, I believe that this is the right time for me to shut him up. I'm Caden Potter, and… you are?" he spoke, dripping disdain into the last two words, like Hermione in Sorcerer's Stone.

The others sneered back at him, though Remus caught on fairly quickly.

"Who we are is of no concern to you, stupid blood-traitors!"

Remus growled lowly under his breath in an effort to keep his own temper, but laughed at their redundant insults.

"You're repeating yourselves, or is that a side effect of all the inbreeding?" Caden sneered, once again wondering where the more impressive vocabulary came from, but he knew what he said.

"You little insolent brat!" the one to the right screeched.

Caden and Sirius watched amused, as Sirius's anxiousness had long since disappeared; watching his friends verbally abuse his relations was absolutely hilarious.

With his attention elsewhere, namely the smaller looking boy behind and to the side of the three sneering at them, Remus didn't' notice the fist that was thrown towards his chest – the repercussion of James's badly swung fist at one of the older kids.

He groaned as he was thrown backwards, and Caden growled loudly at the assault to his friend after catching him deftly.

Suddenly seeming much, much more mature and wise beyond his years, Caden stood up, waving his hand in a motion to convey his wish for his friends to get up also, and walked so that he was just inches in front of their attacker, a pre-teen with dark hair.

James and Caden were natural born leaders, but in this case, Caden was the front man, the martyr protecting his family willingly.

"You hit my friend."

Purposefully repetitive and harsh.

"Why, I do believe I did. Are you going to do anything about it kid?"

Instead of giving a verbal answer, he curled his fist tightly and swung it at the idiot's stomach, unconsciously pushing magic into it to give it more power. In reality, he knew that he could have just fought back with magic, but reasoned that power was one of those things to be kept quiet until the opportune moment.

The other figure, who had snorted earlier, laughed outright this time, and the one who forced their laugh did the same. What really caught Remus's attention, was the short snicker that came from the small boy behind them.

"Congratulations! You're the first people to be able to shut her up!"

All were completely surprised when they heard this coming from a rather short teenager with dark hair. Even Sirius stared, as he'd never seen any of his cousins even relatively friendly before, though he didn't see them that often.

"Oh, sorry, I'm Andromeda, and this is Narcissa."

Still staring like the idiots they were, they just nodded dumbly.

Always the sensible one, Remus was the first to remember his manners. "I'm Remus Lupin."

While everyone else stared, still, Caden snapped out of it. "Caden-"

"-James" said person interrupted,

"Potter."

"Creepy," Andromeda and Narcissa drawled.

"Hey, who's that?" Remus asked, allowing his curiosity to take over.

"Oh, that's Severus Snape. His parents left him with us this week in the hopes of getting ties with Blacks. And they think their actions and veiled words are indecipherable…" Andromeda scowled and muttered, before calling the boy over.

"Snape, this is my cousin, Sirius Black, and these are his friends, James, Caden, and Remus."

Snape stood by Narcissa as he was introduced to the four, and she pushed him forward slightly to take Caden's proffered hand.

The Black cousins were sort of confused, as from what they had heard from their family, Potters were the lightest of light and would never associate with those of slightly darker heritage.

Could their sources be wrong?

Maybe.

They would just have to wait and see.

Who knew, maybe they would get to meet both Potter parents and children.

They were brought out of their musings as Sirius's bark of laughter cut through the crowds.

"Severus! You've got ice cream on your shirt!" he said as he reached out to wipe it off and the other boy blushed slightly; he was always told that first impressions were everything.

"Oi, and you Sirius! You're just as bad, if not worse! Don't you remember how long it took to clean up the dining room last night?" Caden reasoned maturely before breaking a broad grin.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Andromeda Black watched as her sister (singular, because Bellatrix just didn't get along with anybody) and cousin played with their friends, who had become like annoying littlepests of brothers,in Diagon Alley – again.

All she remembered of her fair haired sister was a shy little girl who was quiet and disliked very much attention, but looking at her now, she saw a free girl who wasn't afraid to be who she was.

It made her happy to see them all together and happy.

Sirius was… well, he was Sirius. There wasn't much more she could say about that.

Severus was much like her sister, being quiet and shy before, but loud, funloving, and an all around good friend now, at roughly ten years of age; all of them were.

When she looked at Remus, though, she sensed that there was more than the happy child that sat there next to Caden, giggling as they wrote down things on the pad of paper. She sensed that he held a secret, but she would let him keep his own secret. It was his own.

Caden and James were, contrary to popular consensus of twins, almost like opposites. Their noise levels differed, and their levels of observation did too. One thing she did learn though was that neither was a morning person. Oh boy, that had been a cold morning.

The group was a bundle of trouble, though.

Why, just last week, she had gotten blamed for a prank they had pulled in the ice cream parlor!

She pitied Hogwarts, even though she still couldn't figure out what houses they would be in.

For Narcissa and Sirius's sake, she hoped that they were in Slytherin.

-0-0-0-0-0-

The two Blacks, Potters, Remus, and Severus sat in a circle on the living room of the Potter's small vacation house as they planned their first year at Hogwarts.

At the moment, they were discussing what houses they thought they would be in.

"Hey guys, I don't think it should matter what house we're in. Promise me that it won't matter. Promise that we won't pay attention to the house rivalries. Promise me that we don't lose each other."

They all looked at Narcissa like she was crazy, though agreed.

It shouldn't matter. A group made up of people with varying personalities was the best type, and that was what the houses were classified by – personality traits.

In the end though, they all agreed with her, making pinky promises with each other, which was, indeed, a very tedious process.


Once again, a filler chapter, or interlude of their younger years. I promise the chapters will get much longer into the school year, but it's hard writing time breaks like this, skipping a large amount of time and making it all connect and make sense!

Anyone noticing the quotes brought from PotC? I didn't mean to!

Polls are still open, but the house poll will be over by the time I post next chapter!

House:
Gryffindor: 15 (I decided that I would ignore these, as I don't want them to be all in the same houses, and I have already declared that Caden is not at all like James in personality, even though they fit.)
Ravenclaw: 9
Slytherin: 8
Hufflepuff: 1
Anything but Gryffindor: 1 (Can I put my vote in here too? That's 2 now, then!)

Pairings:
Not slash: 4
Caden Sirius: 12
Caden Remus: 15
Caden Severus: 14
Remus Caden Sirius: 16
Caden Severus Lucius: 1

New one: Animagus:

Coyote, wolf, dog, tiger, cat, panther, lion... pick! And if you've already stated what you'd like, it'd be awesome if you could tell me again!

Wow, look at all of those reviews!

If I had the time or patience, I'd reply to the anonymous ones here, but, as you know, I'm a lazy bum, so no deal.

Anyway, REVIEW for me and make me smile!

-Cher (aka Fear of Apathy, but you think I'm an idiot for writing that, right?)