A/N: Okay...I'm rusty so please be gentle! Honestly, this story wasn't even supposed to be a full story, it was just like a little thing I wrote as a stress reliever because I have always loved Sirius. But then the characters starting coming to life in my head and I keep building onto the plot...so here we are now, attempting to turn it into a full fledged story! I hope you like reading this as much as I liked writing this. If you did, please drop a review!

Chapter 1

"Isa!" James yelled, pounding on my door. "Isabel, open up!" Sighing with annoyance, I rose from my seat in front of the mirror where I was getting ready and opening the door for my slightly older brother. He stood in the doorway, an anxious expression on his face.

"What?" I asked him, gesturing to the four t-shirts he held in his fists. "What's this? Did you forget how to get dressed again?" I teased. "Black can help you with that."

"I-no!" He protested. "I was going to ask you - Evans is coming, yeah?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I teased, cracking a sly smile.

"More importantly, is Dorcas Meadows coming?" Sirius Black opened his bedroom door and popped his head out down the hall. I rolled my eyes, ignoring him. It was one thing when my brother constantly asked after Lily, following her around like a lost puppy dog, but it was another when Sirius used girls like tissues - once, and then threw them away.

"I thought you were on about Gwyneth Jones, that bird that graduated last year?" I grouched. "Honestly, Black, I can't keep up."

"Better than moping over Amos Diggory all summer," he retorted, but wisely closed his door before I was able to chuck anything at his head. My cheeks felt slightly warm at the mention of my ex's name; it had been a couple months, but the wound was still relatively fresh. It wasn't fun being dumped.

"Isa," James was pleading, looking at me with his big hazel eyes.

"What? Oh-er-yes, she's coming," I checked my watch. "Should be here in about ten minutes. Why?"

"I need your help!" He said desperately. "Which one of these muggle bands does she like?" I wanted to laugh, but stopped as I saw how serious he looked. Biting back a smile, I examined each t-shirt in turn. Two of them were hopeless; The Black Rabbit Feet and the Hairy Armpit Brigade were two things I never, ever, wanted to be within hexing distance of.

"Where the hell did you get this one?" I laughed, holding up the armpit t-shirt.

"Don't ask," James murmured. "I had to pay a muggle street vendor."

"How did you pay him?" I asked curiously. "We don't have any muggle money-"

"I don't want to talk about it!" James said loudly, plugging his ears. I laughed, delighted.

"Oh, James," I giggled. "Maybe if you just gave her some space for a bit, honestly, she might come around. It's just that when you're always so...well, constantly available, it's hard to see you clearly. Take a step back, give her a chance to miss you. But if you really do want to impress her, wear this." I pointed to the final shirt, a simple black tee with a Beatles logo emblazoned over the chest. I knew Lily loved them.

"Give her some...let her miss me...you know, you might be on to something with that," James muttered, mostly to himself. He took all three t-shirts back. I could tell he was seriously considering my piece of advice. Honestly, it was clear to see that James had changed a lot over this last summer. Well, really, ever since Black was forced to move in with us.

It happened about six months ago. His parents were absolutely awful, basically abusive. He'd arrived at our house bearing physical signs of a fight, babbling some nonsense about being blasted off the family tapestry, and hadn't left since.

Back to James. As a kid, he had a cocky, arrogant streak in him about a mile wide. Over the years it had gradually, gradually thinned, but as he transitioned from boy to man it had become all but nonexistent. Well, it would never completely be gone - especially when he looked at himself in the mirror and did that annoying fingers-through-the-hair thing. But, that was part of the charm, I guessed. And he was my brother; I loved him no matter what. Even though I felt constantly in the middle of the tug of war between him and my best friend, Lily.

"Oh-here she comes!" I shrieked, clamping my hands to my cheeks as I saw my fireplace begin to spit out green flames. A distant - but growing louder - whooshing noise could be heard coming from the chimney, and I pushed desperately at James. "Go, James, quick!" He turned tail and fled, barrelling straight into Black's room. The door slammed shut behind him, rattling in its doorframe.

My face broke into a huge grin as the green flames spit out a disheveled, tanned, red-headed Lily Evans.

"LILY!" I shrieked at the top of my lungs, rushing towards my best friend.

"ISA!" She yelled back, laughing and crashing into me.

"Oof!" With the wind knocked out of me, we staggered backwards as one, laughing.

"Merlin's balls, you're so tan!" I gasped, holding her at arms' length. Her green eyes popped magnificently against the newly acquired skin tone, which she had accumulated from spending her last three months in Greece with her parents. Hence why I hadn't seen her all summer.

"You're so - well, not," Lily said jokingly, and I rolled my eyes.

"You're the only ginger I know who actually gets tan!" I protested, and ran back to my desk to sit back down. I only had half a face of makeup on; I rarely wore it, but when I did it was a very exciting occasion. "By the way, you look hot as fuck," I told her, eyeing the strapless white shirt she wore over stick straight white jeans. "I love the outfit. Trying to impress anyone in particular?" I arched an eyebrow at her. I knew the answer already, but I had to at least try and put out feelers for James.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, unless Landon Diggory is going to be there-" I winced slightly. "Oh god, I'm sorry Isa," Lily said, bringing her hands to her face.

"No no, it's okay. You're allowed to talk about him. Just because I was d-er, mutually agreed to break up with his brother doesn't mean we can't ever talk about the Diggorys again." Landon was Amos's twin brother, whom Lily had been fawning over for nearly as long as I had been dating Amos. In my opinion, Amos was much more attractive and likeable, but Lily did always have a soft spot for guys who were a bit odd. Which boded well for James, he was as odd as they came.

In the meanwhile, though, my heart had somehow fallen down into my stomach region. Amos probably was going to be there. Gwyneth Jones - who had graduated from Hogwarts last may - was throwing this party, and Amos was part of that crowd, along with us.

I quickly turned back to my face in the mirror, trying to keep it together. How were you supposed to let go of someone you'd talked about marriage with? We had been planning on getting married right after Hogwarts. Towards the end of last year, though, I'd felt him pulling away. I knew what was going to happen, I wasn't stupid. So when he started to hint about not wanting a future together anymore, I pretended to go along with it, pretended I was feeling the same way. In reality though, I wanted to scream and beg him to stay.

Part of me wished I had, but a bigger part of me was glad I'd kept my pride. I could at least say it was mutual, even though deep down I knew it definitely wasn't.

The next hour or so flew by in a whirl of finishing up with makeup and clothes, catching up with Lily, and sneaking a bit of firewhiskey. By the time we were almost ready to go, I was already feeling the effects of the liquor.

"Izzy!" Loud banging was shaking my door in its frame. Sighing loudly, I set down the shot glass that I had already brought up to my lips. I stood up from the bed where I sat with my friend.

"Black!" I snapped, flinging open the door to reveal the bane of my existence, the person who unfortunately now lived down the hallway from me. "My name is not Izzy. It's not Izza-bell, it's Isa-bel. You've known this since we were eleven." I stumbled forward slightly, and Sirius grabbed my elbow. I could see his face flicker with surprise as his eyes moved downwards, almost too quick for me to notice, taking in my dress. We locked eyes for a moment, and a weird sort of feeling rushed through me. It must have been the last shot I'd taken hitting me - that was what it felt like.

"Yeah, okay, Izzy. Do you guys have any Firewhisky? James is out." He pushed past me and strode into my room as if it were his own. "How you going, Evans?" Black said to my friend, who nodded politely but also turned up her nose slightly. We had a pact - we did not like Black.

"It's over there," I sighed, pointing to the desk.

"Looks like someone's already started!" He snickered, and probably for the fifth time tonight, I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, it's a party, that's what people do," I snapped somewhat waspishly. "Take some and go, Lily and I are trying to talk."

"About how cute you find James and I?" Black jokingly batted his eyelashes, quickly siphoning some of the alcohol with his wand and bewitching it to follow him like some sort of strange, amber-colored blob.

"Disgusting, James is my brother," I announced, pushing at his back and steering him out of the room.

"Not what I meant and you know-"

I slammed the door on Black's face before he could finish that thought.

"Jesus," I grumped. "That boy gets more and more annoying every single day. What are you making that face for?"

"Nothing!" Lily quickly wiped a sly grin off her face, giggling softly to herself.

"Bloody hell, Lily, you're such a lightweight," I groaned. "Keep it together, we've got to be flooring out of here in ten minutes and you know what happened to Kitty VanHeiven, the witch who floo'd drunk and ended up in - oh wow, I sound exactly like my mother," I instantly sobered up slightly, but countered this by taking another shot of firewhisky. I made a face as the fiery liquid burned down my throat.

"Here's to our last year at Hogwarts," Lily said, standing to her feet and holding out her glass for one more. We clinked our glasses together and toasted.

xXx

I stumbled through the hallway, messy emotions twisting with firewhisky through my gut. Music was thumping; I could feel every beat echoed through my entire body. My drunken, muddled brain tried to sort through the images I'd just seen. Gwyneth, tears streaking her face, pulling Sirius into a room in a manner that didn't suggest their usual snog-fest...maybe she was upset he'd found another bird to shag? Frank Longbottom, nervously showing me the ring that he was going to propose to Alice with…

And Amos. Of course, always Amos.

Tears burned at the backs of my eyes, threatening to spill over. I could feel actual, physical pain in my chest. Heartbreak is much, much worse than you'd expect. That's what they don't tell you. And just when you think it's over, when you've finally healed a bit...well, you see him laughing with his friends and taking shots with Aimee McAdams, having the time of his life.

And then he's walking over to you with those sparkling blue eyes and he's asking if he can talk to you, asking if you can stay friends. Saying that he'd rather stay mates than nothing. And you agree, you agree because you don't want to lose him completely but also maybe because you don't want him to know how badly you're hurting.

We were supposed to get married, Amos. How can I pretend we're just mates? At least, that's what I wanted to say. Instead, what came out of my mouth was, "Sure, Amos. of course. We can be friends." And then I saw Lily chatting up his twin brother, and Amos going back to Aimee, and their perfect A names...I had turned right around and marched up to Lily, telling her I was leaving but that she should stay and enjoy the rest of the night. James could help her get home. She had tried to say she was fine with leaving early, but I had insisted. Part of me just wanted to be alone, and part of me saw that she really wanted to stay and talk to Landon. I couldn't ruin the night for both of us. That's what I told her. Then, I had all but run back down the hallway, and that's where I was now.

I opened the first door that my hand hit. Shuffling into the dark room, I quickly realized I wasn't alone-

"Oh!" I gasped as my eyes latched on to sudden movement in the near darkness. Two bodies sprung up, and I backed up quickly, muttering my apologies awkwardly. I stepped into the next room - thank Merlin, a bathroom. Locking the door quickly, I rested my hands on the sink and stared up at my flushed face.

I winced, hard, as I took in bloodshot green eyes full of unshed tears staring back at me. Well, not completely unshed. Possibly as I had made my way down the hallway, one or two may have escaped. I squeezed my eyes shut hard before reopening them. Conjuring up a glass, I filled it with tap water and forced myself to chug the entire thing.

When I was done I turned away from the mirror, closing my eyes again.

Inhale, exhale. Whenever I was starting to panic, or spiral, my dad would remind me to breath. Just breathe. Breathe in, breathe out.

I knew this was probably a bad idea, but I had to get home. And I could not walk back out there in front of everyone to the fireplace in the living room. I held my breath and prayed to whatever god was listening that I wouldn't splinch myself.

Crack.

I stumbled slightly upon landing, immediately falling to my knees. I coughed, hard, retching slightly - my head was spinning completely out of control. I heavily regretted each and every one of the shots I'd pounded. I could barely think straight - it was a miracle I'd apparated myself home.

I stood up in the dark living room, balancing against the oversized couch as I walked towards the kitchen, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. I quietly removed my shoes as I passed over the wooden floors, not wanting to wake my parents - not wanting them to see me this intoxicated. I don't remember ever being at this level, and I had a sinking suspicion that I may be spending some quality time with the toilet - specifically with my head in it - later on. Thank god our house elf, Daisy, hadn't noticed my arrival, either.

I gently pushed open the heavy oak door, fumbling for the lights -

"-St. Mungo's! I don't know what to do, Euphemia. It's been seventeen years," I heard my father's voice break with emotion, and I stopped dead in my tracks. I peeked my head around corner, seeing the light spill in from the cracked door to the study on the other side of the kitchen. I stared like a deer caught in headlights, my heart pounding.

"It's going to be okay, my love. She's back and that's all that matters. We can go to St. Mungo's first thing tomorrow morning after we drop the kids off at King's Cross. They won't allow visitors tonight, it's too late - but we'll get there as soon as we can." Mum's voice was comforting. I knew I should not be listening to this conversation, but my feet seemed to be rooted to the ground. I was afraid if I tried to sneak away from this close to them, they would hear me - and I didn't want them to see me. Not like this. But I began to shuffle back quietly, sliding my socked feet backwards on the floor.

"And what about Isabel?" My father murmured. My ears perked up at the sound of my name.

"What, you want to tell her about Amalia?" My eyes narrowed in suspicion. Tell me what? Why hadn't they said James's name as well, why just mine? And Amalia...Amalia was my father's younger sister. James and I had never even met her - she was always wild, the rebel of the family. She'd run off with some of her crazy friends when she was young, maybe nineteen, and they hadn't heard from her since. There were whispers that she was struggling with addiction to Felix Felicious, but she couldn't be found, or contacted - she didn't want to be.

"I don't know," my father admitted. "She's already had such a rough summer. And school starts tomorrow...I don't know that it would be fair to put this on her as well. Better for her be comforted by this for a little while longer, even if it's not the truth."

My mother was silent for a moment. "We shouldn't have waited this long to tell her."

"I agree," my father's voice sounded strained. "But we rather missed our opening, didn't we? We were going to tell her at the beginning of the summer, but then that Diggory git dumped her and she's been heartbroken." The wheels in my brain spun slowly. What did they mean, tell me? About the Felix Felicious? I'd known that ages ago. Mum had sat James and I down when we were young and talked about addiction, and how it was a disease.

I also wanted to smile at my father's use of the term "that Diggory git," but I was too busy trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together to be very amused.

"Telling your daughter that her real mother and father are not who she thought they were is no small thing," this time it was my mum's voice that cracked, and my jaw dropped nearly to the floor. What the bloody hell did that mean?

"Do you think she'll see me as less of a mother when we tell her, Fleamont?" My mother was close to tears now. "That's what I'm scared of. I'm so glad Amalia is back, and that she's okay...but this has really caught up with us now. Amalia is her real mother. And we don't know what state she'll be in when she wakes up...she's been gone for Isa's entire life. What if she wants to take her?" My hands flew to my mouth. I took a step back, physically reeling as though I'd just been punched. What the actual fuck were my parents talking about? Was I that drunk? Had someone slipped something into my drink?

"She won't take her, Euphemia. I promise you that. Isa is ours, she is your daughter, in every way but biologically." I think my father was hugging my mother now, because their voices became muffled and I couldn't make out what they said next.

But I had heard enough. My mind was going a million miles a minute, connecting the pieces...I was Aunt Amalia's daughter? My parents...they had adopted me from her, without ever telling me? Without telling anyone? I turned back towards the living room, nearly knocking into the couch on my way out. My vision had suddenly grown very blurry, and I wiped angrily at my eyes.

They had been lying to me my entire life. And now my aunt - my mother? I wasn't sure what to call her now. Was back, and in St. Mungo's. The day before my final year at Hogwarts. What was I supposed to do? My first instinct was to tell James, my older brother by 11 months. But I shook that thought from my mind. I wasn't even supposed to know. I wasn't sure how he'd take it. Pushing open the front door, I sighed with relief as I stepped back out into the night air.

Shoeless, I ran. I relished the feeling of my feet slamming hard into the pavement. Was I being a tad dramatic? Maybe. But I was absolutely panicking. My aunt - my crazy, absentee, potions addicted aunt...was actually my mother? Who the hell was my father, then? This made my actual father my uncle, and James...my cousin.

We lived in a neighborhood of few houses, and for that, at this moment, I was grateful. No one was out to see me sprinting and crying through the night, down to the dead end, and turning into the trail in the woods. I kept running until I broke through to the other side, into the now abandoned playground that James and I used to play in as children. I barely even felt the sticks and stones cutting into the bottoms of my feet.

Now I really let the sobs come. All of the emotions from that night - seeing Amos for the first time since the breakup, and now this much bigger news - the fact that my entire identity had suddenly changed - it was all too much.

I sank down into one of the swings and cried, resting my head in my hands. I cried until I felt I had drained every bit of moisture from my body, and then some.