Had fun writing this one, hope you have an equal amount reading it.

Thanks for your reviews and everything, you're the best x

Meet The Parent

I sucked another huge mound of ice cream off my spoon and wondered when the ache in my heart would go away. Even the triple flavour medicine of Neapolitan's chocolate, strawberry and vanilla couldn't get rid of it.

I had finally arrived back home yesterday evening, and after seeing how quiet I'd been on the car drive back from Kings Cross my mum had used the time to repeatedly ask me what was wrong.

Though it had killed me to tell her about Jesse and me, considering I hadn't even told her I was seeing anyone, she'd actually been really sympathetic about all of it. Not that it'd really helped me very much right at that moment.

"Chel?" I heard my mum's voice in the hallway now, the spoon still in my mouth.

If she was home from work then it meant it was 6-o-clock already.

"Where are you?" she called again.

"In the kitchen," I called back dully.

She came in and put her bag on the counter, glancing over at me as she did.

"You're still in your pajamas?" she said in surprise.

I looked over at her guiltily. With her freshly highlighted hair in its perfect chignon and her smart work clothes, she made me look like something that would guard a bridge in comparison.

I put another spoonful of the chocolate layer in my mouth in response.

"Do you have to eat it out of the tub?" she lamented.

Rifling briefly in a top cupboard, she came to sit next to me at the kitchen table, placing a bowl down in front of me as she did.

"I know it feels like you'll never get over it, but I promise you, you will," she said assuredly. "One day you'll look back and all you'll remember are the good memories of when the two of you were together."

I scooped out a dollop of the strawberry stripe into the bowl she had given me, doubting if I would ever be able to look back at mine and Jesse's relationship without feeling anything but guilt and regret.

She brushed back a strand of hair from my face. "He was your first love. You just need to give it time. And maybe when you get back to school you can talk to him again. Be friends."

"I might have an early night," I said, not wanting to think about things like first loves.

She retracted her hand. "Oh, it's a bit early isn't it?" she said, glancing at the clock. "What about dinner?"

"I'm not hungry."

She tried her best to smile at me. "You've filled up on ice cream that's why," she chastised me lightly.

"Probably," I agreed with a weak smile, not wanting to tell her that even talking about what had happened made me feel sick to my stomach.

I could see the concern in her eyes as I got up from the table and took the half empty ice cream container back to the freezer.

"Alright then, you go and have a rest," she said. "You probably just need a good sleep."

It felt like she was reassuring herself more than me and I couldn't even bring myself to grunt an answer, getting out of the room as quickly as I could without raising attention to avoid breaking down in front of her.

When I got up to my bedroom, I collapsed face first onto my bed, pushing my head into my pillow.

After countless minutes of uncontrollable red-faced sobbing, I suddenly and unexpectedly found I was unable to cry anymore and I sat up, taking stock of myself.

Feeling sorry for myself like that wasn't working. Nor was sitting in my pjs all day eating junk food. I needed to get a grip. And judging from my general odour right at that moment, having a wash wouldn't hurt either.

.o.

Wrapping a towel around my dripping hair, I stepped out of the bathroom feeling, if not good, then a lot better.

Something about the process of water running down my body seemed to take some of the hurt along with it, pulling it down the plug hole.

Gathering up my nail varnishes while still in my bath robe, I started to paint my nails a gothic dark red colour that my aunt had bought me for my last birthday. Something I would never normally think of wearing.

Afterwards I fanned my fingers out and admired my work, thankful that I hadn't bothered to cut my nails in a while.

On a roll now, I gingerly picked my makeup bag out of my still unpacked suitcase and pulled out a lipstick to match.

I knew it was silly to be doing all of it with nowhere to go except bed, but it was taking my mind off things and making me feel better somehow.

With my fresh red nails and lips in tow, I slotted a cassette of the top ten hits I'd recorded off the radio during the summer holidays into my mini portable radio and laid back on my bed with my headphones on, blasting the music as loud as my ears could take it to drown out my thoughts.

'Mama, just killed a man

Put a gun against his head

Pulled my trigger, now he's dead.'

I pressed the pause button on my cassette player and sat up in bed quickly, my eyes darting to the window. I could've sworn I saw...

-Clack, clack, clack-

Something was stood outside my window tapping on it.

Dropping my headphones on my bedside drawers, I cracked it open, careful not to push off the large, magnificent looking bird that had perched on the outside ledge.

"What're you doing here?" I mumbled, and the unknown yellow-eyed eagle owl side-stepped briefly before thrusting out its leg for me to take the attached parchment, looking like the task was beneath him.

Glancing at the door to check if my mum had heard the row, I untied the knot quickly and unravelled the note.

My heart rate quickened. Could it be from Jesse?

I looked at the scrawled writing on the paper.

'When are you and Jesse getting here? J'

Reading and rereading the solitary sentence, I wracked my foggy brain for what it could mean.

Even though it was signed with a 'J', I knew I could rule out Jesse as the sender unless he'd started referring to himself in the third person.

"Oh Merlin," I breathed, eventually piecing it together.

It was from James. He was talking about the cabin. All of my friends were expecting me. Us. They were expecting both Jesse and me to be there.

But it made no sense, we had only broken up from school the previous day, and Lily had said we would all be meeting there on the first Wednesday of the holidays, not the day after we'd broken up.

I checked the calendar hanging on my wall. It was Wednesday.

Picking a pen out of the pencil case lying on the desk underneath my window, I hurriedly wrote a response.

'Can't come anymore. Tell the girls I'm sorry. Have fun.'

Gesturing that I was ready to the owl, it stuck its leg out again and allowed me to attach my note. As soon as I was done, it was off, flapping its ginormous wings and disappearing into the night sky.

Satisfied that it was officially dealt with, I settled back on my bed and put my headphones back on.

'Mama, life had just begun

But now I've gone and thrown it all away.'

I had managed to get through around 7 songs and was halfway through belting out 'All By Myself' as loud as I dared when something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye again.

"What now?" I muttered, dropping my headphones to my neck.

When I opened the window, the eagle owl was back on my sill looking as done as I was. It held its leg out without even looking at me this time.

The note attached only had two words on it. In block capitals.

'WHY NOT? J'

I wasn't in the mood for this.

Grabbing my pen again, I squeezed it a little too hard as I wrote my message back.

'Jesse can't come anymore and I'm not up for it.'

I specifically didn't give any details of why Jesse couldn't come. I wasn't ready to tell anyone we weren't together anymore, let alone James through owl post.

This time I didn't let myself get too comfortable, sitting on the chair at my desk and lazily watching the sky for signs of life that would bring my reply.

But when half an hour passed, I started to relax a bit.

It seemed they had finally taken the hint. The owl was probably off hunting somewhere by now.

Heading to the toilet, I came back in my bedroom only to find a familiar pair of yellow eyes glaring at me from the other side of my window.

The grumpy owl was back.

'Come anyway,' the new note read, 'It'll be a laugh. Lily wants you to. J.'

I closed my eyes and begged for the patience I needed to put up with this. Nope. The patience cupboard was bare. I knew he'd added the bit about Lily just to try and pull me in and it wasn't going to work.

'I'm not coming.'

I tried to make my response as clear as possible so he would get it through his thick head.

I watched the owl fly away until I could no longer see it and made a mental note to close my curtains this time, but the sight of it flying right back to me made me pause.

It had been less than five minutes, far too quick for a response.

"What are you doing?" I asked it, seeing my undelivered note still strapped to its leg.

It held it out to me, as if rejecting it.

"Take it to them," I urged it, trying to gently nudge it away.

It pecked irritably at my hand and I pulled it back quickly.

Again, it held its foot out to me.

I furrowed my brow and took the note off, completely flabbergasted.

"Why won't you take it?" I asked it.

Unwrapping the note, I peered down at it and soon realised why it wouldn't take it.

It wasn't my message. It was a new one.

I read it aloud.

"We insist."

They insist?

My eyes darted immediately out of the window, scanning the horizon and the street below, but I couldn't see anyone.

"That's impossible," I murmured, looking suspiciously at the bird and pulling my robe tighter around my body nonetheless. Even my next door neighbours wouldn't have been able to reply that quickly, let alone Potter from some cabin in the middle of nowhere.

I had just shut the window and picked up a book to distract myself when I heard a firm rapping on the letterbox.

Lowering the book slowly, I stopped moving, my ears pricking to hear who it was.

My mum and I very rarely got any form of visitor as it was. An unexpected one after dark was almost completely unheard of.

All I could make out was muffled voices.

My curiosity getting the better of me, I got up and padded quietly onto the landing.

"Sorry to disturb you like this, Mrs Morland," a polite voice said.

I craned my neck a little further and nearly fell right down the stairs when I saw who it was.

It was James.

It was James fricking Potter. Stood on my doorstep. Talking to my mum in a weird respectful voice I'd never heard him use. Ever.

Oh God, oh God, oh God, I ran panicking back into my room.

This couldn't be happening. This could not be happening.

I wasn't even dressed.

And my hair was wet.

And I was wearing bright red lipstick.

Oh God, oh God.

Yanking my underwear on, I pulled a pair of jeans from my wardrobe and bounced around the room as I tried to get both legs into one trouser leg.

"Aah!" I collapsed on my bed with both legs flailing in the air.

My hair would just have to stay wet. There wasn't time to fix it. Besides, it was James's fault for just thinking he could turn up like that. It was just so...inconsiderate.

Once dressed, I pulled my door back so hard it swung on its hinges and stepped onto the upstairs landing in time to hear my mum say, "Looking for Cheryl? Yes she's in, but I don't think she's expecting visitors."

Practically flying down the stairs towards her, she looked back at me in slight alarm.

"Or maybe I was wrong," she said, eyeing my very obvious effort to look presentable, as well as the lipstick.

"Your friend's here to see you," she told me, and I noticed both the confused tone in her voice, considering I'd pretty much never had a friend turn up unannounced since ever, and the use of the word friend. Singular.

At least he was on his own.

I gave James a forced smile that nearly cracked my cheeks to have to give, and he looked back at me like he was ready to burst out laughing.

"You didn't tell me you had a sister, Chez," he said to me, nodding towards my mum.

"Oh," she laughed, looking at him with a newfound fondness in her eyes.

"What are you doing here, James?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"We've come to pick you up, remember?" he replied from the doorway, as if we had agreed on this and I had simply forgotten.

"No. I said I wasn't coming, remember?" I said, my eyes flashing dangerously at him.

"Oh," he said, pretending to look disappointed. "But we've come all this way."

My mum looked between us as if unsure what to say. I had already got her permission to go to the cabin, but neither of us had been aware it was tonight.

"We?" I demanded.

"Yeah," James took a step to the side and there, down at the bottom of my drive, stood another figure. "Sirius is here too."

My stomach literally dropped to the floor at the sight of him, standing in the midst of my very Muggle street, looking way too cool to be seen dead in his surroundings.

His face was heavily shadowed and it was impossible to see much of his expression from the distance he was at.

"What's he doing all the way out there?" my mum asked, her hospitality kicking in, "Come on in out of the cold," she called out to him, beckoning him in with her hand.

"No, wait," I went to say, but James was already talking over me.

"Yeah, come on, Padfoot," he agreed, gesticulating with his hand too now. "Don't be shy!"

"We won't bite," my mum said with a laugh, not knowing what she was letting me in for.

Sirius stepped up behind James and stood in the doorway, his gaze meeting mine only for a second before moving to my mum.

"Hello, Mrs Morland," he said, using the same weird, polite voice as James had, though it was slightly less practised.

He actually looked like he didn't want to be there almost as much as I didn't want him there.

As he ran a distracted hand through his long hair, I saw the judgement pass across my mum's face before she could hide it. He didn't really fit the 'nice young man' quota quite as much as the short haired, bespectacled James did.

She gave me a furtive glance and I knew she was dying to ask me a dozen and one questions and she couldn't because they were standing right there watching her.

"Would you like to come through?" she asked them anyway.

"We would love to, Mrs Morland," James replied with a grin.

With another surreptitious glance towards me she led them past me into our front room.

I didn't even try to fight it anymore. It was obviously happening whether I liked it or not.

Still with my slicked back wet hair, I followed them in.

"Oh, Cheryl, your t-shirt's on inside out, love," my mum said when I walked in.

I peered down and sure enough the seams were visible and the colour faded.

"Great," I muttered, once again cursing them all for making me get dressed in such a hurry.

I saw Sirius smirk a little in response, and my eyes wandered down to his outfit.

Black trousers, black t-shirt and a black leather jacket. I had to admit he pulled the 'bad boy' look off extremely well.

James on the other hand wore a red plaid shirt and light blue jeans, which only served to further the wholesome demeanour he seemed to be giving off.

"Sit down if you want to," my mum said to them, nodding at our sofa. "It was really nice of the two of you to come all the way here to pick her up. You could probably do with the cheering up, couldn't you?"

She looked at me expectantly and I tried to shake my head.

"Why is that?" James asked mildly.

My mum's eyes widened as she realised her mistake.

"Oh. They don't know?" she asked me in an undertone, something that was pointless considering we were all in the same room.

"Know what?" Sirius asked, his polite voice slipping into his normal one.

James elbowed him discreetly. "Has something happened, Cheryl?" he enquired instead, looking at me with exaggerated concern.

"Me and Jesse broke up," I replied in a low voice.

Something in Sirius's expression changed as he looked at me, but he didn't say anything, ignoring James's gaze that momentarily flickered to him.

"She's taken it hard," my mum told them.

"Well we're very sorry to hear that," James replied, recovering himself and reverting back to acting like someone's great-grandpa.

An awkward silence passed between us all and my mum got up.

"I forgot to ask," she said breezily, "Does anyone want a cup of tea?"

She was already at the door before we'd even said yes please.

Even Sirius said he'd have one, and I didn't even know if he actually liked tea.

As soon as I heard her footsteps retreat into the kitchen, my head shot around to them.

"What the hell are you doing in my house?" I demanded.

"Your mum invited us in," James answered obviously. "She seems like a lovely woman, by the way."

"You can drop the act now, James," I said, "No-one's around to hear it."

"I don't know what you mean," he replied with infuriating innocence.

I looked to Sirius instead, who was clearly suddenly finding it all thoroughly amusing.

"Seriously, you need to just leave," I told him.

"We can't leave now, your mother's just gone to fetch us a tea," he replied as if I had suggested something unthinkable.

What had happened to the Sirius who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else?

"Exactly," James agreed with him. "We're guests in your house now, Chezza. Where are your manners?"

I glared at him, itching to shove his manners where the sun didn't shine.

"What exactly are you hoping to achieve with this?" I asked.

"We're going to drink a nice cup of tea with your lovely mum, and then we're all going to go to Pete's cabin," James answered. "And by the way, why didn't you tell us you and Jesse had broken up? I thought we were closer than that. We could've consoled you."

"I'm not going anywhere," I replied adamantly, pushing away the image of what James and Sirius 'consoling' me would entail exactly.

"Then neither are we," James said smugly.

"So what are you going to do, stay the night?" I asked sarcastically.

"I wouldn't give him ideas if I were you," Sirius replied.

I opened my mouth to argue some more, but was interrupted by my mum coming back with a tray of teas.

"Milk no sugar for you," she said, handing Sirius a mug imprinted with a dog in yellow sunglasses, which he examined with a raised eyebrow.

"Milk, two sugars for you James," she said with a smile.

"And ours," she said to me, passing me one while she kept the other for herself.

"So..." she said, filling the silence, "Tell me a bit about yourselves. I suppose you all know one another from Hogwarts?"

"Oh yes, we're all really great friends," James replied animatedly, taking a drink from his tea. "Isn't that right, mate?"

"Yeah," Sirius replied with slightly less animation. "Great friends."

Again his gaze met mine, but I couldn't bring myself to hold it this time, dropping my eyes to the carpet.

I had never told my mum about the fact I was bullied. I had always been too ashamed to admit it to her, as if it would make her see me in a different light.

And I was kind of glad of that fact now, considering the two culprits were currently sat right in front of her. It would've been extremely hard to explain it.

"Have either of you decided what you want to do after school?" she asked them, putting her steaming mug down on the marble fireplace.

"I'm going to train as an Auror," James answered without even needing to think about it.

"An Auror?" my mum asked.

"It's a bit like wizard police," I explained.

"Oh, very impressive," she said. "How about you?" she asked, turning to Sirius.

"Sirius wants to become a professional motorcyclist," James answered for him before he had chance to respond.

My mum's eyebrows raised. "Oh really?" she said, obviously not quite as impressed by that.

"He's just joking, Mrs Morland," Sirius said. "I'm going to train as an Auror too."

My mum nodded, looking like she didn't understand the funny part.

"Mum thinks motorbikes are the devil's work," I said.

"I just don't know why anyone would bother risking their life on one of those things," she said. "Just to show off, I think."

Sirius and James shared a look and James chuckled to himself.

"Funny you should say that, because Sirius here does actually own a bike," he said.

My mum looked mortified at having stuck her foot in her mouth.

"It's fine," Sirius assured her with a smile, "You're probably right."

I studied him, amazed at how unrecognisably gracious he was being with her.

"And it flies," James added with a mischievous grin.

My mum looked at them uncertainly for a moment before laughing.

"Now you're having me on again," she realised. "You didn't tell me your friends were so funny," she said, turning to me.

"Hilarious," I commented.

"So what do you think, Chez," James said, setting his own mug down and rubbing his hands together, "Are you going to come with us and have some fun at the cabin? Roaring log fire, lots of mulled wine – non alcoholic, of course," he added, "and all good wholesome entertainment."

"Like I said before," I replied, refusing to give, "I don't think I can unfortunately. Mum has already asked me to stay in tonight to help her with the housework, haven't you mum?" I gave her a meaningful look.

But she just shook her head and I could already tell she hadn't picked up on it.

"You, do housework?" She half laughed, "That would be the day."

I gave her eye daggers, feeling my cheeks burn, but again she didn't seem to notice.

"Go on and have some fun with your friends," she encouraged obliviously. "You could do with getting out of the house. You're always cooped up in here when you're not at school."

My eye daggers turned into gigantic swords, the redness of my face deepening, but, not surprisingly, again she didn't seem to notice.

At this point it just felt wilful.

"Fine," I said, preferring the idea of the cabin to this slow torture.

James grinned at me. "Excellent."

.o.

Not bothering to fold anything, I stuffed all the clothes I thought I might need over the next couple of days into an overnight bag on my bed.

"How's it going up there?" my mum shouted up from downstairs.

"Fine!" I replied, still a bit miffed with her that she'd got me into this.

I listed the items I needed off under my breath to help me remember them.

"Pants, socks, bras, pjs, toothbrush, toothpaste, wand..."

A short knock on my bedroom door interrupted my thought process.

"Come in," I called, picking up a hair tie and putting my slowly drying hair up into a loose top knot to get it out of my face.

The door cracked open and Sirius appeared at the opening.

"Your mother sent me up," he said in explanation to my questioning look. "Apparently you'd be 'up here all night' if left to your own devices."

I rolled my eyes at her lack of confidence in my packing abilities.

Living in a Muggle household meant magic was officially off limits and I had to take the long way around to complete every chore.

Having to give up the Accio charm every time I went home was particularly tough.

"I'm nearly done now anyway," I told him, refusing to focus on the fact that he was in my bedroom.

As I carried on throwing in more of my things, he closed the door behind him and started to look around the room; picking up a Muggle pen and dropping it back down, and examining the television remote like it was something alien.

If I'd thought he looked out of place on my street, then seeing him stood in my room was on a whole other level. More than anything, he looked really tall.

"Who's that?" he asked, and I peered up to find him inspecting one of the posters on my wall.

"His name's Hutch," I replied, feeling embarrassed that he was able to see this incredibly non-magical part of my life.

He made a disdainful face.

"What kind of name is hutch? Sounds like something Professor Grubblyplank would keep a Knarl in."

"It's his character's name," I replied, super aware that I was defending a fictional character. "He's in a TV show, you wouldn't understand."

"You like him?" he asked, faint amusement on his face.

I went back to packing. "Yeah," I shrugged, severely downplaying the obsessive way I watched every episode purely to ogle the actor.

He looked back at the poster. "He's so-" he tilted his head as if to look at him from a different angle, "-blonde."

His focus moved a bit further around the room until it landed on a black and white image of Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire.

"Who's that?" he asked. "He's better. Sort of."

I carried on packing, ignoring his commentary on my taste in men now.

"I suppose your taste in women is flawless," I said dryly.

He turned around to me and laughed.

"I have to admit, I do have a preference for brunettes."

"That's all it takes?" I asked, keeping my voice measured.

He thought about it for a bit.

"I've recently developed a thing for shorter hair," he commented, walking over to my bed and sitting down on it.

I couldn't tell if he was teasing me because I'd just cut mine.

It was hard to keep up with him; he was like a whole different person than the last time we'd spoken. He seemed relaxed and good-humoured.

I couldn't understand what had changed since then, and I'd stopped trying to work him out.

Before I could put my attention back on the task at hand though, my eyes caught on a bra I'd left hanging on my wardrobe door and I rushed over to get it before he could notice.

"What's that?" he asked as I whipped it behind my back.

"What?"

"What are you hiding behind you?"

"Nothing."

I started to edge towards the washing basket, but he got up from the bed and walked over to me before I could make it.

"Show me," he insisted, smiling uncertainly.

He reached behind me with his hand, but I pulled it away just in time.

Seeing it as some kind of challenge now, he reached around me with his other arm, but again I was able to swipe it away.

"Stop it," I warned.

"Tell me what it is and I will," he replied. "Is it your diary?" His mouth curved at the prospect. "Have you written anything about me in it?"

"It's not my diary," I huffed, finding it harder to keep it from his grabbing hands now.

With him so close in front of me, I stumbled backwards and nearly fell back on my desk, sending the lamp clattering to the floor. He caught me around the waist and I righted my footing, but as I was distracted his hand moved around the other side and snatched the flimsy cloth from my grasp.

He held it up with a frown, and I saw his eyes widen in understanding when he realised what it was.

Unfortunately for us, my mum chose that exact moment to walk in the room to check what was taking us so long.

"What was that row?" she asked, looking from me to Sirius's arm on my waist, and finally to the bra still held aloft in his grasp like some kind of trophy.

I pulled his hand down quickly and threw the accursed item in the basket.

"I was just helping Cheryl pack," he said, stepping back from me.

Seeing him looking uncomfortable under my mum's scrutiny nearly made me laugh out loud, until the same suspicious glare was turned on me.

"He was just helping me pack," I repeated innocently.

"Mm," she replied doubtfully. "Well hurry it up, poor James is waiting for you downstairs."

Poor James. Pfft.

"Okay," I said.

As soon as she was gone, Sirius let out a barking laugh.

"Shh!" I hissed, "Do you want her to hear you?"

"I don't think she likes me very much," he observed.

I couldn't even begin to deny it.

.o.

"Done," I said triumphantly, finally finished and attempting to zip up the overstuffed bag.

Sat back on the bed again, Sirius leaned over to give me a hand, his strong grip making light work of it.

"So whose decision was it?" he asked, pulling it closed and reclining back to look at me.

"What do you mean?"

"To break up," he said.

I had almost forgotten about it what with them turning up like they had. I felt the dull ache in my heart start to come back and I tried to block it out.

"It was a mutual thing," I replied simply.

I reached down to slip a pair of boots on over my jeans, and as I did I noticed my t-shirt was still on inside out.

"Can you turn away a second?" I asked, grasping the bottom of my top in explanation.

Sirius's eyes travelled down the front of my shirt, and then he picked up my bag and walked to the door, keeping his face turned towards it.

Moving quickly, I righted my shirt.

"Okay you can look now."

He turned back to me, putting the bag strap over his shoulder.

"It's never a 'mutual thing'," he said matter-of-factly. "That's just something people say to make it easier for the one who got dumped. One person always makes the final decision."

I took my thick winter coat off the hanger and slid my arms into it, looking at him darkly.

"Fine, he broke up with me, happy?"

"Not really," he replied.

I knew I wasn't being completely truthful, but it was a lot easier for him to think I'd been dumped outright than for me to admit what had really happened. That Jesse had been willing to stay with me, and all I'd had to do was look him in the eye and tell him I didn't feel anything for Sirius.

And I hadn't even been able to give him that.

"To be honest I always thought if one of you were going to do it, it would be you," he said.

"Are you two ready yet?" my mum shouted up, and I could hear the irritation peaking in her voice. "What are you doing up there?"

"I'm coming!" I yelled back, heading towards the door.

"Don't get my hopes up," Sirius said in a low voice.

"What?" I said, wondering if I'd heard him right.

"That we're finally leaving," he clarified.

.o.

"Well it was an absolute pleasure to meet you, Mrs Morland," James said, shooting my mum a charming smile as he led the way out.

"You too James, love," she replied, and I could tell she was being really earnest about it.

Of all the people I'd have predicted my mum would build a bond with, it definitely wouldn't have been Potter.

She was still waving him off when he was halfway down the drive.

"I think he's gone," I pointed out.

She looked across at me and gave my arm a nudge.

"What about him?" she asked hopefully, nodding towards him.

"What about him?" I asked, getting ready to recoil.

She gave me a small meaningful smile.

I gaped at her, horrified.

"Mum, no! He's Lily's boyfriend. Plus...he's James," I added, as if that should be enough of a reason in itself.

"Bye Mrs Morland," Sirius approached us from behind me, and I could tell by the smirk on his face he'd heard everything.

"Bye Syrus," she said with a noticeable lack of warmth, obviously still irked that she'd caught him with his hands on my negligee.

I cringed at the way she mispronounced his name, but Sirius just seemed to find it funny.

"Take care of her," she warned him as he went to stand next to James, as if he would be the sole perpetrator should something bad happen to me.

"Oh, he will," James called back with a knowing smile.

"Hold on a minute," my mum said before I could get to them.

I stopped and turned back to look at her slowly.

"How are you getting there?" she asked, her arms folded. "You're not taking that boy's bike, are you? No offence to you, Syrus, but I don't want Cheryl riding on something dangerous like that."

James stepped forward with his hands lifted like he was trying to diffuse a hostage situation.

"We would never put your daughter at risk like that," he assured her. "We came in my parents' automobile. They're giving us a lift there."

"Alright then," she said reluctantly, clearly not wanting to doubt the honesty of her new favourite, "In that case tell them thanks from me. And look after yourselves."

After we said our goodbyes, I peered around the street but I couldn't seem to see any sign of a vehicle that wasn't on someone's driveway.

"I didn't know your family owned a car, James," I said, finding it strange considering he was a pure blood.

"They don't," he replied baldly.

"But you just said... then how are we-?" I was stumbling over my words in my bemusement.

I stopped talking as we came to a stop in front of a black motorbike, parked alongside the kerb at enough of a distance to be out of sight of my house.

It even had a sidecar.

"You lied?" was all I could think to say.

Sirius grinned devilishly. "Only a little."

"Think of it more like protecting your mum," James offered. "What she doesn't know can't hurt her. Besides, it's perfectly safe, right Padfoot?"

"Of course she is," Sirius replied, looking at the bike proudly.

I might've known he'd make his bike female.

"Well?" he asked me, obviously looking for some positive feedback on his baby.

"It's...nice," I said, wondering just how securely the sidecar was actually attached, and then picturing it coming loose while I was in it sending me flying off across the road.

"It's a 1960 Royal Enfield Bullet," he said, looking more enthused than I had ever seen him.

"Hop on then," James said impatiently, "We've got some time to make up."

I moved to climb into the sidecar pit, before James called me back again.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" I asked.

"The sidecar's mine," he said, "You're on the back of the bike."

I stepped away from it as Sirius went ahead and got into the driver's seat, preoccupying himself with checking the various gauges.

I suddenly realised that I would be left to straddle him.

"Why don't you get on the back and I'll ride in the sidecar?" I countered desperately.

"Really Chezza?" James said tiredly, "Have you ever heard of weight distribution? We'll have toppled over before we can get past Stratford. I'm sure you can force yourself to hold onto Padfoot for a couple of hours. Don't be so childish."

I looked at him drolly, wondering if he knew how ironic that insult was coming from him.

Sirius turned the key in the ignition and the bike rumbled to life.

"Are you two getting on or what?" he asked, talking louder to compensate for the noise.

Before I could argue anymore, James leapt smoothly into the sidecar, pushing my bag down right into the nose of it.

"Fine," I said mutinously, striding over to the spare patch of bike seat behind Sirius and swinging my leg over.

He looked over his shoulder at me with a twitching grin.

"I'm afraid you'll have to actually touch me if you don't want to fall off," he said.

Letting out a sigh, I lifted my hands and placed them tentatively at the sides of his waist.

James flicked his eyebrows at me suggestively and I looked away resolutely.

Facing forward again, Sirius checked his small, circular side mirror once and then we were moving, pulling off into the road.

Rolling along the familiar streets at a steady pace with the breeze breathing on my face, I found myself actually starting to enjoy it. This enjoyment stopped, however, when I felt the front of the bike rear up underneath us before dropping back down with a heavy 'clunk'.

"What's going on?" I asked nervously, tightening my grip on Sirius ever so slightly but still keeping the front of my torso at a safe distance from his back.

Neither of the boys answered, and I looked down at James only to find him chuckling to himself.

Before I could ask him what was so funny, I felt the front rear up yet again, but instead of dropping back down this time it stayed in place...like we were doing some sort of prolonged wheelie.

Then the back end of the bike started to follow suit.

In an instant the whole of the vehicle, sidecar and all, had lifted entirely from the ground and began to speed upwards into the air.

I'm not sure if I screamed out loud or just in my head.

Completely forgetting about my attempts to keep a polite distance from him, I lurched forward and wrapped my arms completely around Sirius's body, pulling myself up towards him and squeezing my legs around his hips until there was absolutely no way of telling where he ended and I began.

Scrunching my eyes shut, I pressed my face into his back, refusing to look down at the rapidly shrinking ground.

"I thought you were kidding when you said it flew!" I shouted, but it just came out muffled against his jacket.

Sucking in deep breaths to stop myself from having a panic attack, the scent of Sirius's aftershave and the leather of his coat filled my nose.

I could feel the vibrations of his laughter against my cheek.