All credit for Harry Potter, the world the story takes place in, and the characters belong to JK Rowling.
The house was quiet…to quiet…
"Lily? Where's Harry" the paranoid werewolf called up the stairs cautiously, making no move to venture further into the foyer.
"You will never believe this," was her returning answer, coming into view from the kitchen, "But he's gone shopping for potions ingredients with Severus."
He gaped at her in disbelief.
She smiled.
"I know how you feel, I said the exact same thing! I was sure that Harry hated Sev, I mean why else would he prank him so much? But Harry beat him in a game of chess last night and ever since they've been the best of friends... In all honest, I'm still trying to figure out what's going on! Anyway, they'll be back before dinner if you want to stay."
It wasn't like the little one to play a game with someone he hated and then become friends with them. With this piece of information, and the fact that he knew the child and the child's father, it was safe to assume that something was up. Something interesting was brewing here, he was sure of it.
The question was what though…
Yeah, he was definitely sticking around. He wanted to see what would happen next!
~X-x-X~
The young Potter actually had a behaved side to him…who knew? Severus Snape certainly hadn't, that's for sure. The little brat had been acting strange ever since he'd beaten him at a game of chess the night before. It was a little unnerving to have anyone that looked like his archenemy actually acting civil towards him. He wasn't quiet sure he liked it either.
But he would put up with it to please Lily…that's the only reason he had but up with it for this long. When he had actually acted nice towards him, the potion master had been amazed. He'd latched onto the possibility that he might be able to get along with the boy more for his mother's sake.
Thus entered the suggestion, from the boy himself, that they should hang out more and get to know one another. This had prompted the suggestion that Harry go Ingredients shopping with him. If it had been anyone else to ask, he would have said no immediately. That time was how he relaxed and he didn't want to give that up…but he could refuse the redheaded beauty nothing.
So to market the two had gone, armed with a rather long list she needed to try and make the Wolfsbane Potion for Lupin. Seemingly random components, the properties of several of which seemed to negate each other's effects. How the potion worked with all of them, he wasn't sure…
While the bat robes wearing git was trying to puzzle out the potion's make-up, the little boy accompanying him was trying extremely hard not to laugh. It couldn't be that easy to full adults…
He'd added to the list several herbs, roots, and dried animal innards to the list from his mother so that he could actually get them. For the prank he had in mind, a certain potion was required. His mom's collection of ingredients was vast, but it didn't hold all the supplies needed for it though. Hence the entire operation of coming along. To make sure everything was picked up that was necessary.
~X-x-X~
The six year old looked from the book and picture of a perfect Love Potion to the sludge bubbling away in his mother's cauldron, then turned away from the fumes.
It was suppose to be a nice lavenderish pink color with gently swirling steam that smelled of rose. Not the gray-green color his was, with it's belching of truly foul smelling orange fumes.
This couldn't be right…could it?
Most likely not, now that he thought about it. Who in their right mind would actually take something that smelled this bad?
This was stage one of 'Operation Ditch the Greasy Hairball.' Brewing a Love Potion and getting it into the git to make his mum see he was a bit unfaithful. Hopefully that was all that was needed for the plan to work, but incase it backfired he had other plans…or he did. He'd written out a vast and elaborate plan to get rid of the bat, but it had already disappeared when he'd gone back to the library to get it the other day. He suspected either his mom had found it, which was unlikely because she would have exploded by now, or Moony had done something with it.
While the child of the Marauder leader sat in the basement studying his creation lost in thought, he forgot one very important fact. That he had left the door to the kitchen open, and therefore the horrible smelling orange vapor could escape into the upper rooms…where his mother and Moony were.
Two people he didn't want to know what he was doing.
When she noticed the strangely colored gas, Lily knew something was up. It had never been a good sign when the house was quiet and strange things were going on. When she entered the scullery she noticed that the door to her Potions room, i.e. the Basement, was wide open, a room that was off limits to everyone but her unless she was with them.
And at this moment, the house was silent, her son was missing, their was orange gas everywhere, the door to her room was open and she was most definitely not with whoever was in there.
All of this leading the to the only plausible explanation. Her son was in her private room, where he knew darn good and well that he wasn't allowed.
Without further thought, she pushed the semi closed door all the way open and stalked down the wooden steps, descending into the unknown of what her child was planning. Why, oh why, did he have to take after his father so much? It was ridiculous, but she was pretty sure what had caused it.
Sirius…
Well if it was that, he could help her deal with it.
Deciding this she paused momentarily to whip out her wand and send a Patronus message to the dog Animagus, not even thinking about the fact that she had been avoiding him for a reason the past year. Soon she was on again, pausing outside the only closed door in the hallway she'd entered at the base of the stairs. It was obvious it was the one being used seeing as it had the orange vapor…
She pushed it open without hesitation, nearly turning around and backing away as soon as she entered.
The gas seemed to cover the room vast clouds, emitted from her large cauldron. Hunched over said cauldron was her little clone… he didn't seem to notice the mess, or the fumes, or the fact that she had stumbled onto him. He just kept focusing on the potions book in front of him, one from her private collection in the library, and the stirring of the contents of the vessel.
From where she was standing, she could see both the page he was turned to and the what the container held.
Love Potion…and a more than seriously wrong potion.
"Harry, do you mind telling me what in Merlin's name do you think you're doing?" she asked, masking her anger with a tone of curiosity.
At the sound of her voice he jerked around to stare at her, a guilty look already on his face, thus slinging some of the potion onto the table.
She raised her eyebrow in question.
"Well?" she demanded, her anger now apparent.
"Um…" he mumbled, his eyebrows crossing in an effort to think of a suitable explanation.
"Never mind, I don't want to hear it right now. Get your bum upstairs and go to Remus's for the night. Tell him what you did, he'll understand why and what to do. I've got to clean your mess up before someone gets hurt and think of your punishment."
When he made no move to comply, her eyes narrowed.
"Now," she instructed, her words sharp.
Hastily, he left the room and headed upstairs. After a few minutes she heard the familiar sound that always accompanied Floo travel.
With a sigh, she walked over to her ingredients cupboard and pulled out one of the masks she used whenever she had to work with a potion that had dangerous fumes that would be harmful to breath in. She didn't know what these were, but better safe than sorry right?
Back to the matters at hand.
'How am I going to get rid of this?' she thought to herself, considering the sludge her son had brewed. At the very least, she now knew that he hadn't inherited her brilliance at potions…
On another note, what was she going to do to Harry? More importantly, why had he thought this a good idea in the first place? He knew the consequences for him being in here without her permission, yet he did it anyway.
He would have only done it if it was really important, but it wasn't! A Love Potion? She didn't even have most of the ingredients for that, she thought to herself as she scanned the text he'd been following. How could he have…
And then it hit her.
When he'd gotten back from shopping with Snape, he'd gone back to acting like he usually did around her boyfriend. Neither of the two adults could figure out his strange behavior and had therefore chalked it up as typical adolescent conduct.
After getting over that, Severus had remarked to her that their had been several seemingly random things on the list she'd given him and then asked if she was sure it was the right components for whatever potion she was planning on preparing? After she told him she was sure and asked to see the list, most of the items he'd thought were on their weren't and not in the bags he'd brought back. They'd chalked it up as him perhaps spending to much time bent over a cauldron and inhaling fumes he shouldn't be.
Now she knew where the disappeared articles had gone to. Prongslet had made a new list and given it to him in place of hers with his needed
And as for who the target was, most likely Sev. Who else would he dare try such a prank on…
Her musings were interrupted by a throat clearing behind her.
Much like her son a few minutes before, she whipped around to stare at the doorway and was met by the sight of Padfoot.
"You rang?" he asked, a smile flashing across his face. For a moment she was reminded of the day in the Ministry right after the trial and him baring his heart to her, but she quickly pushed it out of her mind. She needed a clear head now.
Gesturing around the room, she said, "Your godson decided to try his hand at brewing a Love Potion, I can only assume for Severus. This is his result. Since you're the one who got him started pranking in the first place, you can help me deal with it."
"Nice…" she was sure she heard him mutter appreciatively, turning away from her.
His smile faded though as he examined the smoke, then walked over to look at the "Potion."
"He forgot to include the Ashwinder eggs before stirring counterclockwise and adding powdered Dragon scale…" he mumbled, picking up the mixing spoon and giving it a swirl.
"What?" she demanded, suddenly cautious. Maybe she had found the one who had given him the idea.
"Oh, James and I had tried to brew a similar potion in school," he explained, gesturing at the pot, "We got about the same results."
"So you know how to get rid of it?" she asked.
"Yep!" he exclaimed, pulling out his wand and waving it the cauldron.
"Everio…" she heard him whisper under his breath.
The gray-green colored mess promptly vanished, but left their gas behind. She looked at him questionately.
"That goes away with time…" he assured her, turning to go back up stairs. "Is that all you needed me for?"
"Um… no," she found herself saying, causing him to stop mid-step.
"I need your help coming up with Harry's punishment. I haven't been able to think of anything since I found out about this whole ordeal."
He turned to face her, his eyes voicing his confusion. "Where is Sprog anyway?"
"I sent him to Remus's for the night so I could clean up and he could get taken to St. Mungo's. He'd most likely in the care of the third floor healers right about now."
The whole idea would have gotten the raven haired child in a lot of trouble, but to actually brew it…? She had no idea what to do to him for this, other that to entrust Molly would carry out whatever she decided tomorrow when he went over to the Burrow for his lessons with the rest of the Weasley children.
Silence fell over them until, "Maybe it would help us come up with something if we got out of these fumes. I've only been down here a few minutes, and already I'm feeling a bit lightheaded."
She nodded, and followed him back into the kitchen. Once back aboveground, they sat down at the table and began throwing ideas for possible punishments back and forth. After what seemed like only an hour, Lily looked over at the clock to discover that instead three had past and it was now close to ten o'clock.
"Would you like to stay for supper?" she found herself asking after he excused himself. For some reason, she really didn't want him to go.
After the issuing of the invitation, he froze where he stood just as she froze in her seat. It was things like that that proved her right when she thought she shouldn't be alone with him, actually even around him.
Whenever he'd come to visit Harry, she'd been in another room with some excuse not to see him. Whenever her son went over to his flat, she had Remus take him.
She had been sure that if she were alone with him, she'd admit that she'd lied to him when she let him believe she used him. That she was truly in love with him, and that it had broken her heart to say she didn't.
She wouldn't even have invited him to stay longer and eat if it hadn't slipped out of her mouth, and now it was two late to even retract the invitation! Pursing her lips and turning to stare out the kitchen window, she waited for his answer.
When none was forthcoming, she snuck a glance at him and was shocked to see him still frozen in surprise, his body in the exact same position he'd been in when she'd asked about five minutes before.
"Sirius?" she asked, her voice causing him to jerk upright and began opening and closing his mouth in an imitation of a fish, that was admittedly pretty good.
"Y-you want me to stay?" he asked, finally managing to form coherent words. His tone was an attempt at casual, but unable to hide the hope in his voice.
NO, NO, NO! SAY NO!
"Yes, why wouldn't I?" she found her mouth saying, completely ignoring the warnings her heart were yelling into her brain.
THIS SHOULDN'T BE HAPPENING! SHE HAD A BOYFRIEND WHO WAS GOING TO PROPOSE SOON! SHE HAD REASONS FOR STAYING AWAY FROM SIRIUS, THIS COULD RUIN EVERYTHING!
But she just didn't care… after all, this was the perfect time to start working on their relationship. She'd promised James.
A smile spread across his face.
"Ok…" he agreed.
"Ok…" she repeated, returning his smile.
They fell quiet for a moment, which became an awkward silence. Finally, after what seemed like forever, she turned away from him and headed for the cupboard.
"Is Pork Chops, mashed potatoes, and a salad alright with you?" she called over her shoulder, inspecting the contents of the small space.
"Um…yeah! That sounds fantastic," he responded, sounding a bit unsure of himself. Inside though, he was truly excited. How long had it been since they'd just hung out, let alone spent any time together? The rat's trial didn't count, with him making a fool of himself and all…
After the food was finished and leftovers put up, the two found themselves back at their seats. Each was drinking a Butterbeer, talking in the familiar manner they had gained through years of close friendship.
Their conversation varied, covering just about all topics. Memories of James, about Harry and how he was doing lately, about Remus and how Sirius's thirteen year old cousin Nymphadora seemed to have developed a crush on him… everything except for their falling out and her relationship with Severus Snape.
As the night progressed, she found herself holding his gaze longer that strictly needed, and so past midnight they sat and caught up with each other, only pausing to get new drinks… Until her emotions got the better of her.
As they talked, she found herself watching his lips more and more often, instead of listening to him. In the short time they'd been together, she began to notice things about him that she'd once knew but forgot…
Spending time with Sirius was nothing like dates with the Potions Master. There was no pretension here, no hidden meanings, no elaborate designs to try and empress her.
Her feelings came back at her, and began to attack her. An inner battle seemed to be taking place, between her and her heart, it which wanted so badly to tell him her feelings.
He was in the middle of a rather funny story about a resents Wizengamot trial in which an elderly Wizard was petitioning them for something from his twin brother. The two were from a rather important family and so the case had been brought in. It wasn't until they were actually in session that they found out the matter was over a pair of underpants. It seemed the first one believe his younger brother had stolen them… when she snapped.
Leaning over to him, she grabbed him and pulled him over to her so that she could plant a soft kiss on his shocked lips.
"Lily?" he asked, confused for yet another time that night.
"Sorry," she whispered, "I've just been wanting to do that for so long…"
She might have said more, but he had already beaten her to it. In the process of that single sentence, he had gotten up from his seat and walked around the table. When he reached her, he slowly quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her up. Before she knew what was going on, his lips were on hers.
He could taste her, that faint flavor that was distinctly hers. Cinnamon and vanilla, mixed with the Butterbeer and chocolate they'd eaten earlier. A heavenly combination to him.
"Siri…" she whispered breathlessly, trailing off as they broke apart. "Please…"
He knew what she wanted, and though it would kill him after he could deny her nothing.
Wordlessly, he took her hand and led her to the room that had once been theirs.
~X-x-X~
The next morning the first thing he noticed was the scent of her hair in his nasal passages. The second was it had to be real because for the first time in awhile he didn't have a hangover.
Slowly, and gently so as not to wake her, he reached over to take her hand and pulled it to his lips.
Glancing at her angelically sleeping face to make sure she was still out, he kissed her palm and each of her fingertips.
"Oh Lily," he whispered to her, "If only you felt for me what I feel for you…If it were so, I would finally be able to wake up to you every morning. I would be able to tell you how much I love you every day for the rest of our lives…"
After putting her hand back down, he buried his nose in her hair once more, breathing in her scent.
A few moments later he reluctantly rolled her warm body off his, still making sure to do it in a way that would not wake her. Quickly circling the vast room, he collected his clothes and dressed before turning for the last time to her sleeping form.
She lay in a tangle of sheets, her hair spread out in a curtain of red around her on the pillows. In the sun that fell over her face, it looked much like flames.
How he loved this woman…but it was she he couldn't have for she wanted naught from him…Naught but this it seemed…
The Fates were indeed cruel deities, offering him this taste of heaven, yet cruelly taunting him that that was all he would have. He could not have his dearest dream, to plant his seed within her and dream of a future as a family. An experience such as this when two people became one, only to have her go back to that Snake which he was sure she would do…
With a sigh he turned from her and fled his only true home. As he left, he did not know the result of their actions and the chaos that would ensue.
A/N: Sorry for taking so long!
Reviews Please!