December 1973 - Fourth Year - Age 15

"I think you need to take a visit to the hospital ward..." Lily told Esme in a stern voice as they were returning back to the common room from an evening in the library. Severus had turned up in the hopes of finding Lily alone but upon seeing that she was already sat with Esme, he decided to hide in a corner behind a pile of books instead.

Esme didn't usually go out of her way to terrorise him but the case usually was, wherever she was, Black and Potter would be more than likely turn up eventually. He hadn't wanted to take that risk today.

"What are you on about?" Esme replied, stifling a yawn as she sluggishly hauled her bag back onto her shoulder when it slipped off.

"That! Right there!" Lily exclaimed, pointing at her. "You've been so tired recently! You look dreadful-"

"Thanks Lil..." Esme smiled wryly. She wasn't wrong, she had bags under eyes almost as big as Remus'.

"You know that's not how I meant it. I just mean that lately, you've been fighting to stay awake through classes, you're constantly yawning, you could barely keep your eyes open back there in the library!"

"That probably had something to do with the fact you felt the need to read out every "interesting" fact you find in a book."

"I mean it, Es!" She huffed before ducking her head closer to hers. "Have you gotten your period yet? Maybe you're suffering from blood loss? How heavy is your flow?" She whispered.

"Lily!" Esme jerked away from her, pulling a horrified face.

"What?" She laughed. "Too much?"

"Way too much. You're such a freak..." Esme whined. They entered the common room and both flopped down onto the sofa in front of the fire.

"I'm fine. I'm just tired from quidditch practice and that..." She assured her, pulling her jumper over her head and using it to create a makeshift pillow to prop her head up.

"That being...?" Lily persisted, folding her arms. she hated knowing that there was obviously something that Esme was keeping something from her. It wasn't even the fact that she had a secret, it was that she was genuinely worried for her. Normally she would have assumed that she had been sneaking out with the boys late in the night, but the only one that looked as tired as Esme was Remus- except he usually always looked a bit peaky.

"If I had a mother, I'd like to hope she wasn't half as nosey and pushy as you." Esme raised an eyebrow at her.

Lily opened her mouth to respond but was distracted when another body collapsed onto the sofa beside her.

"Hello, Evans." James drawled, running a hand through his hair as he gave her a toothy grin.

"Goodbye, Potter." She replied, not even sparing a moment to look his way.

It didn't discourage him. In fact, it would have thrown him off if she had reacted any other way.

"Hello Esme. Hello James. How are you Esme? I'm good thanks, James. Yourself?" Esme muttered to herself.

"When, have we ever had a conversation that went like that? I would never ask you how you are...besides, you're the first one to bring up if you're not." James replied, leaning forward to look at her past Lily.

"Very funny." She mumbled tiredly, rolling her eyes.

There was another soft thud as Sirius seemed to appear from nowhere, falling down into the arm chair closest to Esme. Immediately he kicked his legs up and moved to rest his feet on Esme's lap, making a point of attempting to jab her stomach with his feet. He had no interest whatsoever in engaging in a conversation with Lily. As far as he was concerned, she was friends with Snivellus and that was enough of a reason to think she wasn't all there. Not to mention she never laughed at a single one of his jokes, another reason to think she wasn't all there.

"What're we talking about?" He asked, leaning back in his chair and tilting his head back as he poured the last of his sherbet into his mouth, tapping the bottom of the packet to make sure nothing was left behind.

"Periods. Now piss off." Esme answered, shoving his feet off her immediately.

James pulled a face but Sirius didn't even flinch. He gasped and placed a hand over his heart.

"No way, you too? I just knew it was only going to be a matter of time before me and you synced up." He exclaimed, tossing his empty sweet packet into the fire. The flames immediately turned a vibrant pink as they engulfed the sherbet that had been stuck to the inside of the packet.

"Tell me, Lily. Are you also in sync with Birdie and I?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. "I really think that's something we could bond over, don't you think?"

"I'm going up, are you coming Esme?" Lily asked, refusing to enter into a conversation with either boy. Esme couldn't help it, she snorted with laughter at Sirius. She didnt know how Lily managed to keep a straight face when they came out with stuff like that. Sirius rolled his eyes and fell back into the chair once more- Evans didnt have a funny bone in her body.

"No, I've had four years of this now, I'll survive." She answered.

"Sweet dreams Evans, I trust they will be if they're about me!" James called after her, swivelling around on the sofa to watch her as she left.

"I admire your dedication to the cause." Esme told him, pulling her legs up onto the sofa and tucking them beneath her as she nestled her head into her jumper/pillow.

"What are you doing?" James demanded, returning his attention back to her the moment he noticed she was getting comfy. Sirius moved to take the place that Lily had left and looked back and forth between the two as he twirled his wand between his fingers.

"Getting comfy, why?" She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.

"There's no time for that! It's time for our evening run!" He exclaimed.

"You can piss off. We did enough bloody laps at practise yesterday." She shot back before she lowered her voice. "If you think for even a second, after I spent all night with Remus without a single hour of sleep, that I'm leaving this common room for the rest of the night, think again you speccy twat."

James and Sirius shared a look, trying their best to hide their smirks. "A simple no, would've sufficed." He feigned hurt, pouting at her. "Sure I can't tempt you?"

He jumped up from the sofa as she suddenly made a move to kick out at him. Sirius caught her leg before she could do any real damage and he gripped her leg tightly, looking down at her in amusement.

"You really are on your period, huh?" He commented.

He groaned as Esme pushed herself back up from her slouched position and punched his arm as hard as she could. "Dead arm..." He wheezed, dropping her leg.

"Good. Now be quiet."

Sirius frowned, rubbing the spot on his arm where she had hit him but he did as he was told, waving to James half heartedly as he left for his run with Dirk Cresswell. Esme couldn't help but notice that he looked about as enthusiastic as Esme had been at the thought of a run.

Esme sighed in relief as she was finally given the peace she had been desperate for all day. She settled back into the sofa and leaned her head on her jumper, closing her eyes. It couldn't have been more than five minutes of silence between the two before Sirius began to use his wand as a drum stick, beating it against Esme's leg that was still outstretched over his lap.

"Sirius." She growled, refusing to open her eyes.

"Yes, Birdie?"

"That's very annoying."

"Oh. Right. Okay. Sorry" But he didn't stop. In fact, he only changed the beat, this time joining in his free hand, slapping her shin in time with his wand.

She peeked one eye open at him. "Get your hand off me before I break it."

"But I'm bored..." He whined, throwing his head back and staring up at the ceiling. "Let's go do something!"

"I'm tired. Go do something with Remus." She told him, pulling her leg back and pushing herself up straighter. It was clear she wasn't going to get any peace with Sirius around.

"Non surprisingly, he's more tired than you are." He answered.

"Do something with Peter then."

"I don't know where he is."

"Then look. That'll keep you busy."

"No..." He whined. "Come on...please? Peter could be anywhere and you know what he's like, he's so nervous to do anything." He looked at her hopefully, twirling his wand between his fingers. "Don't be so boring..." He trailed away, knowing how much she hated when he said that.

She stared at him blankly for a few more seconds before tossing her head back and sighing. "Fine, but no longer than half an hour, okay?"

"Deal." He agreed, jumping up to his feet. He ran up to the boy's dorm, taking the steps two at a time as he went to collect James' cloak from beneath his bed. As long as the secret was kept between the five of them, James never had a problem with any of them borrowing the cloak.

The curtains were pulled shut around Remus' bed, he was was more than likely fast asleep already. The day after his change was usually the worst for him, he barely had the energy to do anything other than attend his lessons so it didnt surprise Sirius that he had already turned in for the night.

He took a double take as he noticed Peter sitting on the end of his bed, engaging in a conversation with Alex Whitlock and Dean Waters. Where had he been? His bed was littered with empty sweet wrappers and he was already half way through a packet of Sour Spiders.

"Peter? You been up here the whole time?" He asked, bending down under James' bed to retrieve the cloak.

He nodded his head, leaning forward to see what Sirius was doing. "I came up with Remus earlier but he's asleep now."

"Perfect, Sirius! Just the man." Alex announced, falling back onto his bed and propping himself up by his elbows.

"I usually am, but how may I help on this particular occasion?" He called up to Alex whilst he was shoving the cloak into his bag from beneath James' bed.

"Who would you rather? McKinnon, Evans or Donahue?" Dean answered, tossing a jelly bean up into the air and missing it completely as he attempted to catch it in his mouth. Instead, it bounced off his forehead and fell to the floor.

There was a loud bang as Sirius smacked his head off the base of the bed. He swore loudly before slowly crawling back out from under the bed, rubbing the back off his head angrily. "What?" He asked.

"Shag, Marry, Kill?" Alex confirmed.

Sirius pulled a face at them. "Out of all the girls in Hogwarts, why those three?" He looked over to Peter who just shrugged, laughing it off despite the small rush of colour to his face.

"Because we're going by house and our year. Those are the only three in our house and in our year that are actually worth playing the game with. It wouldn't be as fun if we included Dorcas. We're doing a weirdos round next."

"Take Donahue out and I'll play." He told them. He felt bad for Dorcas, she really was rather odd but completely harmless. Esme adored her so he wasn't sure he liked the idea of her ever finding out Sirius played a game in which Dorcas was considered to be in the weird category.

"No way!" The two boys exclaimed simultaneously. "Where's the fun in that? We won't tell her what you said, we'll tell you ours if you like?"

Sirius sighed and sat down on the edge of his bed. "Fine, but make it quick." He didnt want to risk Esme getting sick of waiting and going to bed instead.

"Easy. Kill McKinnon because she loves herself, shag Donahue because she's fit as anything and marry Evans because she seems like she'd treat you nice." Dean answered, laughing. "I would've married Donahue but I couldn't be arsed for the fact people would constantly never actually believe someone that fit would marry me. Too intimidating."

"Kill Evans, shag Marlene and marry Donahue. Evans would make me look thick all the time. Marlene is fit but annoying and I don't care how many people wouldn't believe Donahue married me, it means I'd be married to a Veela anyway." Alex answered before all three of the boys then turned to look at Peter who was busy licking the sour remnants from his fingers.

"Please tell me you didnt answer." Sirius scoffed at the very thought. He knew exactly where Peter would have put Esme.

He shifted awkwardly. "They made me!" He pointed at Alex and Dean.

"We did not!" Alex laughed. "You were the first one to answer. Kill McKinnon, shag Evans and marry Donahue!"

Sirius just shook at his head and stood up, heading for the door. He knew Peter would have chose that. "I would've put money on that." He said, leaning against the door frame as he threw his bag over his shoulder.

"I'll play when you come up with the weirdo round." He told them.

"You can't do that!" Alex complained. "Come on, Peter answered! Who cares if she's your mate. You're telling me you've never even thought of her that way? Not even once?"

"Not even once." He replied. "She's like my sister, it's just weird. James would say the same thing, so would Remus."

"James said he'd shag Esme!" Peter squeaked. "That's way worse than what I said, Sirius. I only said it so I wouldn't have to kill her!"

"Kill Marlene, Shag McKinnon, Marry Esme..." Remus' voice could be heard faintly from behind his curtains. Peter breathed a sigh of relief.

Sirius choked on his own breath, clearing his throat before he was able to speak. Dean and Alex were in stitches at the sight of Sirius Black in the hot seat for once.

"I'll think about it." He growled, leaving the room and running down the stairs. He practically crashed into Esme at the bottom of the stairs as she was heading up to the girl's dorms. She stumbled backwards and into the brick wall behind her.

"Ow!" She exclaimed, hitting his arm. "Look where you're going. I thought you'd forgotten about me. What were you doing up there?"

"Nothing!" He answered quickly, turning her back around and marching her toward the common room door, glancing behind him nervously.

"Okay but you've wasted at least ten minutes of your half an hour..." She said, only just managing to grab her jumper in time as Sirius pushed her along by her shoulders.

"Yeah...okay." He nodded, not even listening to her. He would be having words with James later.