1 July, 1977
Barely two weeks "home" and I can't stand it. I don't know what's wrong with me. I have never been this restless on a holiday before, although it probably has something to do with Sirius Black confessing that he's fancied me for the past two years. I told him that I would figure out how I feel, but honestly, this is all just too surreal. How can you decide if you're attracted to someone when they've been nothing but a nuisance for the past six years? I hate growing up.
Annicka Llewellyn
8 July, 1977
I took my apperation test today, I passed! I'm so excited that I don't need to use floo powder anymore, or take a bus or broom to get around. It certainly is a perk of being 17.
Annicka Llewellyn
"Knock, knock," Annicka called out as she entered the Lupin's kitchen through the open back door.
"Good morning Ann," Mrs. Lupin greeted her as she set a full plate down on the breakfast bar, "would you like some breakfast? I made plenty."
"Oh, no thank you Amanda, I already ate," Annicka replied easily. "I just came to return Remus' book, and he promised me a new one," she held up the thick leather bound volume as proof.
"He should be down in a minute, the small of food always waked him up," Amanda replied with a fond smile for her son.
"You know, sometimes I wonder how he manages to be so active and punctual at school and so lazy at home," Annicka commented dryly.
"Easy," Remus answered as eh descended the stairs behind her. "It's because my mum doesn't care when I do something as long as I do it."
"Oh, well, that explains a lot," Annicka retorted sarcastically. She looked over as Remus sat next to her and was surprised to see that he was wearing only a pair of pajama bottoms, "Well it's good for you that you don't usually eat breakfast like this."
"What's wrong with it?" Remus asked, still sounding a little sleepy.
"If the Gryffindor girls saw you like this you'd have to beat them off with a broom," she answered trying to fight back a laugh at his indignant expression.
"Okay, you can stop teasing me now," he grumbled and took a bite of his toast.
"Well, if you went upstairs and put a shirt on I wouldn't have to tease you," she retorted. He paused, a fork full of eggs half way to his mouth, and turned to her with a glint in his eye.
"Do I make you uncomfortable?" he asked turning so she had a full view of his bare chest.
"Remus, I am not about to become the first member of your inevitable fan club, I just want to get on with my day." Annicka held out the book she had brought back, and after moment of staring at her he took it and went back to his room.
"Well done," Amanda complimented her, "I can never get him to do things by teasing him. I have tired."
"I have the advantage of not being his mother," Annicka replied with a smile.
"So what are you in such a hurry to do today?" Mrs. Lupin asked congenially.
"Well I have some things to do in town, and I'm meeting with a few realtors," Annicka answered as Remus came back.
"Realtors?" he asked, handing Annicka another large book.
"I'm looking into selling my parent's house. I haven't decided on it, but I wanted to get a professional opinion on it." Annicka explained as she took the book and stood to leave.
"Why don't you do all of that tomorrow," Remus suggested. "You can stay here today and hang out."
"Yeah, hand out with us," a new voice said from the doorway. Annicka turned to see James, Sirius and Peter standing there.
"That's nice of you, but I really do have so much to do today," she declined with a stiff, artificial smile. "Thank you for the book Remus, it was nice to see you again Mrs. Lupin," she nodded to the boys in the doorway and left out the back door. Seconds later someone called out to her.
"Annicka wait!" Sirius came jogging up to her. "If you don't want to stay because of me-"
"Sirius life is complicated enough without making up motives for other people," she interrupted abruptly. "I've been putting all of this off for too long. I really just need to take care of it today. I'll see you later," she added hastily and disapperated.
31 August, 1977
The summer has flown by, and other than one brief moment over a month ago I haven't seen Sirius. Despite this lack of contact, or maybe because of it I finally know my answer to his question from the end of the school year. And that answer is "yes". Tomorrow will be the start of a very interesting year.
Annicka Llewellyn
Annicka and Remus said their good byes to the Lupins in King's Cross, crossing onto Platform 9 ¾ on their own. They separated almost at once, as Annicka quickly navigated through the crowd to the center of the platform where Sirius was already waiting for her. "Hello you," she sighed in greeting when she found him.
"Hello," he replied sounding as nervous as he looked. They were both silent for quite some time amid the hustle and bustle of the platform before Annicka prompted, "Are you going to ask or do I have to?"
Sirius laughed nervously, took a bracing breath and asked, "Annicka will you go on a date with me?"
"Yes," she replied promptly.
Sirius stared at her in surprise. "Yes?" he asked not quite believing it.
"Yes," she repeated with a serene smile. Sirius' heart leapt for joy, he seized Annicka, pulled her close and kissed her passionately. Lily and Alice were walking down Platform 9 ¾ looking for their friends when Lily suddenly stopped in her tracks making Alice run into her. "What is it?" Alice asked. Lily merely pointed to a couple in a passionate embrace. After a moment Alice understood, it was Annicka and Sirius, her jaw dropped.
"There you are!" Mary called out and she and Margo quickly joined them.
"What are you staring at?" Margo asked impatiently. Alice and Lily could only point out the couple holding their interest. "No!" exclaimed Margo.
"Is that?" asked Mary.
"It is," confirmed Alice.
"It can't be!" Margo exclaimed.
"It is," Alice assured her. Remus found them then. A group of four girls standing stock still was hard to miss.
"What are you all looking at?" he asked the girls all pointed to Annicka and Sirius in silence, they were still kissing. The amused smile was wiped from Remus' face. "That's impossible!" he exclaimed.
"Apparently not," argued Lily, finding her voice at last. Almost as though Lily's statement was some kind of cue Annicka and Sirius broke apart, both of them grinning like fools. "You are far too good at that," Annicka complained playfully.
Sirius' grin grew wider, "Really?" he asked sounding very pleased with himself. Ann rolled her eyes and looked away so he wouldn't see her blush. She froze when she saw Mary, Margo, Alice, Lily and Remus staring at her and Sirius with identical expressions of surprised betrayal. "Oh, no!" she moaned quietly.
"What?" Sirius asked immediately concerned. Annicka nodded over to her friends. He glanced over, and seeing their expressions quickly deduced the reason for her distress. "You didn't tell them did you?" he asked gently, "Not even Remus?"
"From the look on his face, I take it you didn't tell him either," she responded a little petulantly. Annicka took a deep breath and continued, "I don't want to fight," she stated, "we should just tell them everything and get all of this over with." Nervously Annicka turned to face her friends, smiling when Sirius took her hand. They approached their small group of spectators, gaining another look of surprise. "So – you're probably wondering . . ." Annicka tried to sound casual, but wilted under her friend's stares. "Sirius and I are going out!" she suddenly exclaimed.
Sirius looked rather surprised by the panic in her voice. All five of her friends continued to stare at her for a moment longer before Lily spoke, "Black," she addressed Sirius, "would you mind if we borrowed Ann for a minute?" she asked sweetly.
"Not at all," Sirius replied with a slightly confused smile. He was even more confused when all the girls surrounded Annicka, herding her away and ripping her hand from his. "What just happened?" he asked turning to Remus.
"Don't ask me," he replied dispassionately. "I have no idea what has been going on." Remus' tone put Sirius on his guard, expecting his friend to lash out. "Let's go find James and Peter," Remus suggested, walking away before Sirius could respond. Sirius sighed and followed after his friend.
Lily dragged Annicka down the length of the train to "her" compartment. The girls all piled into the compartment, the last one in closing the door behind them. All four of her friends started talking at once. "How long has this been going on? Are you out of your mind? How did this happen? Is he a good kisser?" they all paused to stare at Margo when he asked the last question. "What?" she asked defensively, "we saw them kissing. I'm only curious."
"Back to the point," Lily stated taking control of the conversation. "What on earth is it that you are dating Sirius Black?"
Annicka sighed and prepared to explain, "Okay, this is all going to sound crazy." She qualified before continuing, "At the end of last year Sirius cornered me in here and told me that he has fancied me since 4th year, and he asked me out."
"4th year!" all the girls shouted in surprise.
"I know," Annicka agreed. "That's why I told him I need the summer to think it over."
"And you decided to go out with him?" Mary asked still incredulous.
"If you had seen him, heard him, you wouldn't be so surprised and you wouldn't worry so much about my sanity," Ann concluded.
"So back to my question," Margo prompted, "is he a good kisser?" Annicka started blushing, and Margo started grinning. "What is it like?"
"It's kind of like kissing all of my boyfriends at once," Ann explained. She continued when she saw their confusion. "Patrick was a year older and had a girlfriend before, so he was experienced. Jeremy was the sweetest guy in the world, so he was always very tender when he held me. Marcus was so passionate – I went weak in the knees every time he touched me. With Sirius he holds me so tenderly, kisses me with so much passion, and he really knows what he's doing."
"So, he is a good kisser," Margo concluded. The girls all laughed a little and started talking about their summer. Lily had the biggest news, being made Head Girl, she didn't know who her counterpart was, and they were discussing theories when there was a knock on the door. Annicka opened the door to reveal Remus standing in the hall.
"Lily," he addressed the redhead. "It's time for the prefect's meeting."
"Oh! Right," Lily exclaimed and jumped up. The girls all filed past Remus leaving him and Annicka alone. After a moment of silence he turned to leave and she reached out to stop him. "Remus, please don't," she begged.
"Don't what?" Remus asked tersely.
"Don't pretend you're not angry, not with me," she pleaded, "I know you're angry and I am sorry, but please let me explain."
"Explain what?" he asked feigning ignorance.
"I was going to tell you about Sirius asking me out as soon as he and I had talked, but you saw us before I could," Annicka explained desperately.
"When did he ask you out?" Remus asked sounding suspicious.
"At the end of last year," she confessed, "but I didn't say yes until today!" she rushed to add.
"Why didn't you talk to me about this over the summer?" Remus asked accusingly, "You kept this to yourself for months, why?"
"Remus you have disapproved of every boyfriend I've had," she tried to explain, "Sirius is one of your best friends. I didn't want to ruin your friendship over something like he and I going out, especially when I wasn't sure it would happen at all." Annicka waited as Remus thought it all through for a full minute.
"Okay," he sighed, "okay, I won't cause trouble for you, but I will be having a conversation with Sirius," he added sternly.
"Okay," Annicka agreed. She walked with him down the train. Remus went on to the Prefect's compartment while she sat with Sirius and Peter. They had only a few moments together when a group of Slytherins, including Regulus Black, stopped by the door. "Oh look, you finally got yourself a girlfriend," Regulus sneered at his brother.
"Jealous?" Annicka asked before Sirius could respond.
"Why would I be jealous of a mudblood cow?" Regulus replied venomously.
"It's better than being a pureblood pig," Annicka retorted with a smile. The Slytherins were speechless with rage, "Bye, bye now."
James and Remus approached as Sirius stood with his wand drawn. "Let's go," one of the boys said and led them away.
"Is everything okay?" James asked as Remus went straight to Annicka's side.
"Of course," she replied with an easy smile. She took Sirius' hand and pulled him back into his seat. "Where have you been?"
"Prefect's meeting," James answered.
"Why were you there?" Annicka asked confused.
"I'm Head Boy," he answered with a shrug. Annicka started laughing, and she didn't stop for a while.
1 September, 1977
Things went better than I had any right to expect. The girls were incredulous, but I think they've accepted it. Remus was furious that I didn't' tell him about all of this before he saw Sirius and me kissing on the platform. I think he's calmed down enough that he won't hit Sirius, but I don't know what he'll do in the end. This year is going to change everything.
Annicka Llewellyn
Annicka descended the steps from the girl's dormitory the next morning and was surprised to see Sirius waiting for her. "Good morning," he greeted her with a grin. "Good morning," she replied with a smile of her own. Sirius offered his arm, and they went down to breakfast, drawing the eyes of half the school. Their feud was almost as famous as Lily and James'. Their friends all looked at them warily. As if they were expecting them to have gone back to the way they were before. Everyone ate in relative silence, once the schedules were passes out everyone did what they always did, compare them. Ann and Sirius found that they had almost every class together. Sirius was overjoyed. Ann was a bit more reserved. "Sirius, now that we're together I feel like I can say this to you and you will believe me," she announced.
"Okay," he replied mentally bracing himself.
"It is my one goal in life to get into the Ministry of Magic. My grades have to be the best they can. So if you distract me, or we're working together and you somehow screw me up, I will kill you," Annicka informed him with absolute sincerity.
"Don't you think you're overreacting a bit?" Sirius asked nervously.
Annicka paused for a moment thinking, "No," she answered. "I wouldn't worry, you're brilliant. I'm sure everything will work out." She kissed Sirius on the cheek and left.
"You'll get used to it," Mary said leaning over to talk to Sirius, "She's always like that." All the girls left together, following in Annicka's wake. Once he's had time to process things Sirius seemed to return to his usual lighthearted self. Later that day Annicka was in the library, using some free time to study. "Is this seat taken?" a male voice asked.
Though she didn't really need to Annicka looked up and saw Regulus Black standing next to her, "It's open," she answered.
"I'm sorry about the train," Regulus apologized taking the seat on her immediate right.
"I understand," she replied easily.
"You do?" he asked skeptically.
"Of course, you have to keep up appearances," before he could argue or agree she continued, "Besides I wasn't exactly Miss Susie Sunshine to you either."
"No, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered someone named Susie," Regulus joked.
Annicka laughed, "You know what I mean. Why don't we both say we're sorry and leave it at that," she suggested with a smile.
"Sounds good," Regulus agreed. "So I was right last year wasn't I?"
"About me and Marcus, or me and your brother?" Annicka asked conceding.
"Both," his smile was a bit smug.
"Yes, you were right," Annicka confessed. "Don't gloat, it's an unattractive quality," she added when his smile widened.