In The Present

Sirius was dragging Jane by the hand fully aware that his companion was probably going over her life choices and regretting quite a few.

"Honestly, Black, do you see this as at all wise?"

Reaching the end of the Quidditch field Sirius turned to face the slightly shorter female, "Honestly, Potter, have I ever cared about what's wise?"

"I do suppose not," Jane grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, "What are we even doing out here?"

"Setting a prank," Sirius repeated for the upteenth time, his tone earning an eye-roll from the girl.

"No shite," she muttered, gathering all of Sirius' attention in less than a second as he was suddenly staring her down; eyes wide and mouth slowly splitting into a grin.

"Jane Potter," he began, "Did I just hear you utter a curse word?"

"Tch," the Ravenclaw shook her head, her expression incredulous, "You're really not that funny, Black."

"Padfoot," Sirius corrected before adding, "And I like to think I'm quite hilarious."

"What?"

"Well most of my jokes—"

"No," Jane waved her hand dismissively, "Why did you say 'padfoot'?"

Sirius returned her confused expression before beginning to set up the prank he had oh-so-carefully planned, "Padfoot, Love, it's what my friends call me."

With a scoff Jane joined him on the field, aiding in arranging the firecrackers, her reasoning was that if they both worked it would be done faster, if you have a single thought that she had instinctively moved closer to him you should banish it from your mind we haven't gotten that far in the story yet. "And since when would you consider us friends?"

With a predatory grin Sirius shot back, "Would you consider us more than friends?"

"Oh for the love of—" Jane rolled her eyes, returning to the prank at hand as she set out the last of the firecrackers. However when she turned back Sirius was significantly closer than he had been a moment ago, and his eyes had an unmistakable gleam in them as he grinned.

"Call me Padfoot," He repeated.

"No."

He stepped closer, into her personal space, Jane's pride refusing to allow her to step back, and wrapped strong arms around her before leaning down to rest his forehead against Jane's. "Come on."

"Not happening," Jane replied, seemingly unfazed as her breath fanned across the boy's jaw.

Though as 'unfazed' as both parties seemed, they were both practiced in hiding their true emotions, hence why neither could tell how affected the other truly was. "Padfoot," Sirius repeated, his fingers playing with Jane's braid.

"Give up," Jane returned, lifting one of her own hands to tangle it in Sirius' own loose hair.

"Not until you say it, Love," Sirius muttered, his voice dropping low and quiet, unknowingly causing a hitch in Jane's breathing. He refused to even admit to himself that the stuttering of his heart was more than just a health problem to get checked out. Jane's other hand had moved to his hip and her fingers slipped just a bit lower before she regained her hold and lifted herself onto her toes to whisper in his ear,

"Bite me."

"Don't tempt me," Sirius smirked, eliciting a small laugh from the girl.

"If I do remember correctly," Jane replied, keeping her own voice rather quiet, "We did have a time limit coming out here."

She dropped back down to her heels, Sirius not quite getting what she was hinting at as she detangled herself from him.

It wasn't til she was half-way to the building that Sirius remembered the original reason they had gone out to the Quidditch Field and he quickly ran after her. Both of them pausing just inside to watch the Gryffindor team exit the changing rooms for a late night practice, only for a wrong step to set off a line of firecrackers. The excitement from that setting off each of the firecrackers in quick succession, causing both Jane and Sirius to laugh.

A while later they were sitting in the hallway studying.

…

More accurately Jane attempted to study while Sirius continued to bug her into calling him 'Padfoot'. The fact that it had gone on this long was the only thing sticking Jane's pride into not saying it.

"Come on," Sirius groaned, pouting as he lay on his stomach staring up at Jane, though the pout did make Jane chuckle, "Just say it, just once."

Finally she put down the book, watching him with a look that most of the school had dubbed the 'Ravenclaw Stare'. But it was basically just inquisitive. "Why is this so important to you?"

At that even Sirius was confused, he wasn't sure. Maybe it was just that she refused to say it, or, "You always call me 'Black'."

"It is your last name," Jane pointed out, noticing the slight pink colouring that had risen to Sirius' neck and jaw.

"Yeah, well," Sirius shrugged, unsure how to continue, "I'd rather it not be." His teeth dug into the flesh of his cheek, his eyes focused on the floor, he didn't like talking about his family, much less being reminded that he was related to them.

Instead of any ridicule that he had been expecting Jane's voice was soft when she answered, though she wasn't looking at him, "We can't change facts, Sirius." When she looked to him he let their eyes meet, and Jane offered him a sad smile, "Just how they affect us."

"Do you ever talk about it?"

Jane's lips slipped into a smirk though the sadness stayed in her eyes, "Do you?"

"Touché," Sirius admitted quietly.

"Do you want to?"

"Pardon," Sirius asked, raising his eyes to the signature blue eyes of Jane.

"Talk about it," she clarified, swallowing and giving a shrug, "I mean, if you wanted to tell someone…"

"Would you?" Sirius replied, "I mean, if I told you, would you tell me what happened?" Jane's gaze darted away and she worried her lip before nodding slightly. "My parents were—are pureblood elitists. When I was sorted into Gryffindor and not Slytherin I defied tradition. They weren't impressed," Sirius cleared his throat, refusing to look at Jane, and casting a silencing charm around them before he continued, "They… they tried to purify the bloodtraitor out of me. Father thought he could beat my traits away, make me a respectable pureblood son," Sirius scoffed, smirking, "Guess that didn't really work. They always preferred Regulus, he's a better son than me."

"He's also kind of a pompous ass," Jane muttered, earning a bit of a snicker from the boy next to her.

"Last year I ran away," he added, "I actually live with you and James now, most of the time."

Jane nodded, "I know."

"You do?"

Turning to Sirius Jane rolled her eyes, "Did you think you could keep something like that a secret, Padfoot?"

A grin split on Sirius' face, "You called me Padfoot."

"Don't let it get to your head," Jane muttered.

"Your turn."

"Right," Jane sighed, leaning her head back against the wall, "I'm not really sure where to start."

"Well typically when telling a story you would start at the beginning," Sirius snarked, earning a light smack from the girl beside him.

"Just keep the silencing charms up."

"George Sullivan," the redhaired boy introduced, vaguely gesturing to the group behind him, "These are my siblings… Mostly."

"Jane Potter," Jane replied, crossing her arms over her chest, "Mostly?"

"Mostly," George replied snarkily, not actually answering the unasked question.

"Ah highly suggest ignoring 'im at all times," another girl cut in, her appearance much like the boy's, "Mary Sullivan. Ya must be the exchange student, you're in our year."

"When I said the beginning I didn't mean that far back," Sirius cut in, causing Jane to roll her eyes.

"Fine, what you want to know is what happened, yes?"

"Yes."

Jane watched Sirius for a moment before she shrugged, "I watched my best friends die, and then I attended their funeral with the last living member of their family. I spent three years with that family; and then I watched them all die."

well shit, plot

so i'm gonna take this chance to apologize because I won't be updating for a bit as I have mid-terms in two weeks and I really need to catch up on all my school work. I love all the input and thank you to everyone who's been reviewing it's kind of like my life blood or something. So if you have any requests or thoughts and you get them in before I finish a chapter I'll do my best to include them. Honestly though this was supposed to be light-hearted and funny and wow that's not happening but yeah.. so basically you know what happened. i'm gonna stop writing now and the next chapter will have a flashback of what actually happened probably