Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the stuff J.K. Rowling created.

Chapter Fourteen

Doughboy

Even though it was Saturday, I still woke up really early, something I had always done. Tonks and Lily were still asleep, so I crept downstairs to the common room. The fire was blazing in the stone fireplace, something that I had grown attached to in my two weeks time here at Hogwarts. I walked over to it and sat in one of the chairs closest to the warm comforting glow, enjoying the silence of the early morning. The seat wasn't how I remembered it being though, which was strange.

"I figured you were the type that was an early riser," James said from behind me.

I jumped up and faced him. "What are you doing there? Since when are you up and about this early and alone? Sirius told me you Marauders never get out of bed 'til eight!" I felt extremely embarrassed and James looked flustered too.

"This is an exception. I needed to talk to you alone."

I sat down on the floor in front of him. "You could've just asked me later. You didn't have to get up at five a.m."

"We'll be busy later setting up pranks for Regulus and his friends. And you'll be with Lily and Tonks having some girl bonding time. Right now's the only chance I've got for now."

"'Girl bonding time'?" I asked skeptically. "Really? Are you serious?"

"No," he said derisively.

"Fine," I huffed. "What do you want?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "When you and Remus were sneaking out after curfew, I kinda thought…well, you know, that you two were…"

"Remus and me?" I laughed. That was hilarious. "You know Remus likes Tonks whether she knows and likes it or not! Besides, Remus is my friend, nothing more."

James relaxed. "Good. I mean…I thought that was the case but Remus usually gets…" James stopped.

"Remus does what?"

"Forget it. It's none of my business I guess. Anyways, Peter and I followed you two in Animagus form so we could follow you by smell." So that thing in the hall I saw last night was Peter.

"You know we snuck into the professors' meeting or whatever. No big deal. You heard everything?" Actually, I was kind of relieved some others had heard. Maybe for once I wasn't the only one confused.

"No. Peter was the only one who got in. He climbed under the invisibility cloak and sat on Remus' shoe. When Peter's a rat he has an even shorter attention span than he usually does, and mind you that's saying a lot, so he only heard Adda and Malfoy's mom arguing, and the deal for you to get a wand. But that wasn't all, was it?"

"How come you didn't ask Remus?"

"Because… I don't know."

I figured I could trust him, so I told him what had happened at the meeting. When I finished James was silent. Finally, he said,

"That's some bad news."

"Who's Voldemort?" I asked. I figured since I was giving him answers, he could return the favor.

"Voldemort was as evil as they get and he was the most fearsome wizard of all times. To this day people are still afraid to speak his name, thinking it's still voodoo. He was completely mad. He split his soul eight times and put them in Horcruxes, which are things that protect them, which made him extremely hard to kill. His followers were called Death Eaters, and they were merciless just like their master. My great-great-grandfather, Harry Potter, was the only person who lived when Voldemort tried to kill him. He was called The Boy Who Lived, and was prophesied to be the only one who cold defeat Voldermort. After seven years of fighting and endless torture and deaths, Harry Potter succeeded. But for some reason, somehow, Voldemort is rising again, and if he's more powerful than before, we're all as good as dead. Especially…"

"…since the Ankh-shifter is the only one who can defeat him? Yeah, I know. I pay attention when Weasley teaches."

We sat in companionable silence for about an hour, lost in our own thoughts. I heard someone coming down the stairs and wasn't surprised to see Lily. She walked over to me and froze. The look on her face was utter confusion and…was that jealousy? I shook that ridiculous thought away. Lily hated James, even if most of that hate had died down in the past weeks.

"This isn't what I expected," she said icily to James.

James was tongue-tied. It seemed Lily rendered him speechless more than anyone else.

"You two think exactly the same. Next you're going to think something's going on between me and Sirius!" I said smiling. Lily's face turned red and her and James exchanged glances.

"Actually, that's what Tonks and I originally thought," Lily said while James said,

"Is there?"

I sat there, stunned for a moment. Lily and James took that silence as a yes.

"That boy!" Lily growled. "Can he not lay off? It's always the same!"

"I can't believe he didn't tell me! We never keep secrets," James said. "I guessed as much from the way you two act around each other, but—"

"Whoa, hey! Umm…what?" I asked, uncomfortable. "You think Sirius and I… No! How many times is that going to happen? First you think Remus—"

"Remus?" Lily shrieked. "Oh if T… Never mind."

"I was mistaken. Last night they snuck out—"

"James!" I hissed.

"What?" Lily and James said in unison. Where James sounded innocent, Lily sounded furious.

"You weren't going to tell them?" James asked, bemused.

"I was! Not you!"

"What did you do?" Lily demanded, sitting on the arm of James' chair. So I told her.

Lily was a great listener, just like James. It was freaky how much alike they were, even though they had some minor differences.

"That's horrific," she replied after I finished telling her everything. I was taken aback that she wasn't mad about what we had done. She only had one question, "But how did you sneak in there and weren't seen?"

I looked at James. It was up to him to inform her of their secrets.

"Magic," he replied with a roguish smile.

"Oh thank you Captain Obvious," she retorted.

"You're very welcome." A couple kids came down the stairs and almost tripped and fell the rest of the way from the sight they saw. It wasn't everyday that you saw Lily Evans and James Potter being civilized to each other.

Lily stood up after she finished trying not to laugh at the kids. "You want to go to breakfast?"

"No thanks," I said. "I'm not hungry right now."

She nodded, understanding. Her and Tonks had learned I wasn't into eating much in the mornings. I'd rather just drink something. She cast a sideways glance at James.

"What about you Potter?"

James looked startled, but of course he responded normally. "You mean me Evans? Are you sick? On something? Maybe you're not really my Lily-flower. Who are you and why did you take Polyjuice potion to turn into Evans?"

"Forget it," she snarled.

"Yes, I'd love to come, even if it's not the real you. I'll take what I can get." He smiled sweetly to her, which she pointedly ignored.

"See you later Nike," she said, and together, Lily Evans and James Potter walked out the room. That was a sight I'd never expected to see, and I didn't expect to see it ever again.

I must've dozed off sitting in front of the warm crackling fire, because at first I wasn't aware of what was around me. But when I opened my eyes, I saw Sirius leaning against me, staring at the fire. I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"You Marauders have got to stop sneaking up on me! You're going to give me a heart-attack! I swear, if Peter ever does that, I'm slapping him."

He sat up and laughed, making me feel better. I'd been worried about him, but he looked a lot better today, not nearly as depressed.

"Does he scare you?" he asked teasingly. "Remember: he's more scared of you then you are of him."

"Uh, no. Of course not. He just creeps me out. I never liked rats or mice," I said. "And do not start lecturing me about animals. Even though you're a dog and everything…I think I know more than you do."

"Yes ma'am. Whatever you say ma'am."

"Oh shut-up," I said, sitting up so I could smack him.

He caught my hand and then dropped it, looking away. "Are you attracted to fire or something? Or do you like sleeping on hard surfaces?"

"I was talking to James and Lily earlier."

"Oh. Sounds like the ideal thing to do in the morning, hearing Prongs and Evans argue. Should make anyone's day."

"He just wanted to know where Remus and I went last night, and then when Lily heard she freaked out."

Sirius frowned. "You and Remus…" His eyes darkened.

"If you come to the same conclusion as James did, I'm hurting you. Already this morning Lily and James combined have though I'm having an affair with all of the Marauders except Peter. It's starting to irritate me."

"With all of us huh? Can't choose who you like the most? You busy girl." He smirked. "We are kind of alike, but then we have some differences in personality…"

"I'm gonna say this again: shut-up."

"But if you had to choose between us three… Hmm… I supposed Remus wouldn't be on the top because you'd have to live in fear of him eating you every full moon."

"Actually, Remus is on the top of my list, now that you mention it. If only he weren't completely bonkers over Tonks." I sighed dramatically.

He ignored me. "James might be first, but you never know. But then Remus and James are off-limits at the moment because they're hopelessly in love with your two best friends."

"I just said that, Sirius," I tried again. But like before, he ignored me.

"Is Peter even in this? No, probably not. He freaks you out…and he's gay, so there's that little detail."

"Sirius Black!"

"What?" He looked at me innocently.

"Are you trying to tell me that if I was looking for someone I should choose you?"

"Am I? I have no idea. I'm just trying to think like you."

"So you want to be a girl now?" I smiled. "Who'd be on the top of your list? James? Remus?"

He wouldn't be put off. "Let's see…if I was a girl, I think I'd date my present self. But I'm not, so…" He sighed in mock disappointment. "There goes that idea. But I'm not talking about me. Just you."

"Well if you were, you could carry a mirror around," I suggested. "You could follow yourself everywhere, you could talk to yourself…"

"Ooohhh…I get it. Thanks for the idea. I never would have come up with it myself."

"Of course you wouldn't've." I patted his arm like I would if he were a dumb little child.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing Sirius," I said tiredly, like I was a teacher exasperated at a student who no matter what just couldn't get the concept. "Just insulting your intelligence."

"Aren't you temperate," he said sarcastically.

"Always."

Sirius stood up and offered his hand. "Come on, I'm hungry."

I rolled my eyes but let him help me up. "You are such a guy."

"Yep. I wasn't serious about me being gay."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! I think I'd be able to tell."

"What about both?"

"No."

We walked out of the room and into the hallway where some students were loitering. One girl glared at me and elbowed her friend, pointing. I looked down and realized I was still holding his hand. I dropped it quickly. Lily and Tonks weren't kidding when they said that girls really liked him. Jeesh. Grow up people.

"You never know with you," I said.

"Why would you care?"

"What is it they say? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?"

"So now I'm your enemy?"

"You're somewhere in between."

"Yes! I have my own category!"

"You're a moron."

"That's why we get along so well. We're a pair of morons!"

"Jerk."

"Thank you."

We sat down at the Gryffindor table, which was almost completely full. I'd say not many kids here were morning-people, if I had to take a guess. I didn't spot Remus, Tonks, Lily, James, or Peter. I looked around for Gary, but couldn't find him either.

"It's just me and you this morning?"

"Seems like it." I reached for some cereal that I had yet to try, but Sirius shook his head at me. "You don't want to eat that."

"Why not?" Suspicion started to sink in.

"Let's just say it's not good for your health."

"Care to explain?"

"That's Regulus' favorite cereal, and every morning he comes over and steals our table's supplies. Today I put a potion that makes him blurt out the truth and he won't be able to quit until the potion wears off." He paused, thinking. "Actually…go ahead, if you want. That would be—" He stopped, looking over my shoulder. "When you speak of the devil you summon him and his twin," he muttered.

I turned around and saw Regulus walking our way with a pale skinned girl (even paler than Remus on the full moon) that had long and wild curly black hair and cold, soulless signature blackish-grey eyes that labeled her a Black. She was average height, but the way she carried herself told me she was a fighter.

"So this is your new pet," the girl said in a voice filled with hatred and utter madness. I didn't like the way she said 'pet'. It made it sound like I was something Sirius would and couldn't wait to throw away soon, which really made no sense to me.

"Dominatrix," Sirius said icily.

She laughed. "Don't sound too happy to see me cousin." Another psychotic family member? Oh gods, poor Sirius.

Regulus leaned over me and grabbed a handful of cereal. He looked at me and then back at Dominatrix.

"This isn't like the others in his collection. She might be one of us." Collection? Now I was starting to get mad.

Sirius shot up, towering over his brother and cousin. "She is nothing like you."

Regulus smiled brutally. "Little bit protective are we? Interesting."

"Tell me, are you implying she's like you?" Dominatrix asked Sirius, looking me over with cruel eyes, like she couldn't wait to torture me, all for fun.

"Hey Regulus?" I asked, keeping emotion out of my voice.

"Yes?"

"Were you a cute little baby?"

Dominatrix snorted. "Cute? Far from it! He was the ugliest—"

"Well that's too bad."

Regulus, getting the message, stepped quickly away from me, like putting distance between us would stop my magic. Ha. Fat chance there.

"Nike, no," Sirius said. "He isn't worth it." By that I knew he meant I needed to be watching what I was doing. You never knew. Maybe they'd count turning teenagers into whiny little crying babies as "hurting" them.

"Let me tell you who isn't worth your attention or time," Regulus said to me. "Why don't you join us? You could have whatever you want. We can see you were meant to be in Slytherin, not that pathetic House Gryffindor. The Sorting Hat made a mistake. Only great ones belong to Slytherin, and you are one of them."

I tried not to lose my temper, and some part of me tried not to panic. Was he right? Had the Sorting Hat made a mistake? Was I really bad? Was I meant to be in Slytherin? I had no idea, but I was sure of one thing; I needed to figure out who I was before I could answer those.

Shaking those thoughts from my mind, I realized what else Regulus had offered me. Ugh. This guy was creepier than Peter, and that was saying a lot.

I noticed something. "Forget it you creep. No one tells me what's best for me except me." I gestured to the cereal in his hand. "I wouldn't eat that if I were you."

Dominatrix hissed angrily and Regulus frowned. Apparently they hadn't liked my answer. However, Sirius, on the other hand, was looking at them smugly.

"Nice try. You may deprive us of you, but you won't deprive me of my cereal. Soon, you'll see the truth, and you'll come." He stuffed the handful in his mouth, chewed it, and swallowed it.

Sirius grinned wickedly, adding to the smug look. "For once you should've listened."

"I hate listening!" he yelled. "No one is as awesome as me! Except maybe Peter." Dominatrix looked at Regulus strangely, as if he had lost his mind. I agreed with her on that part. He'd kind of just insulted himself, I'm sure.

"I absolutely loathe Sirius and Potter! They're so perfect and fearless! I hate those two and Lupin! They get the three girls that should be all mine! They don't deserve them!" Now that seriously scared me.

"Regulus!" Dominatrix ridiculed him. "How dare you be jealous of the family traitor! How dare you love a mudblood!" Man, was it in their family genes to yell all the time?

Regulus, who seemed to be in a trance, didn't hear her. "I'm scared to be the Seeker for Slytherin because I know Sirius and Lupin will surely kill me!"

"Be afraid. Be very afraid," Sirius said in a deep, haunting voice.

"Potter will beat me, and I'll shame my whole House! I'm infatuated with the Dark Arts, but I suck at everything I do! I'm obsessed with cookie dough. I sneak into the kitchens every night and demand the house-elves give me all the cookie dough I want. I couldn't live without it."

"Okaaayyy doughboy," I said. Sirius laughed at the name, accepting it.

"What's going on here?" Professor Vera said, glaring at me like it was all my fault. For once, it wasn't. I'd surprised us both.

"Regulus just came over and decided to be truthful with us," I said ingenuously.

"We've heard enough, so we're leaving," Sirius added.

Professor Vera's eyes narrowed, but he didn't stop us. Regulus was still babbling on.

"Doughboy? You couldn't have picked a more perfect name. You're a genius," Sirius said when we were out of the Great Hall.

"I could've done without certain parts of that information. Now I'm disturbed. I'm glad we left when we did, I don't think I could've handled much more without losing it."

"You've already lost it," he chuckled. "I've got to warn you though," he said soberly.

"About what?"

"They're not people you should be messing with. Especially Dominatrix; her name says it all about her." I thought of the definition, and then looked at him, alarmed.

"They let people like that come here?"

Sirius shrugged. "If they let a fugitive like you in, they can't deny access to someone like her." Strange enough, that was the answer I'd expected to come from him. "But seriously Nike, stay away from my family. You don't know what they're like."

"Then tell me."

He shook his head. "You don't want to know."

"How long is that potion supposed to last?" I asked, changing the subject, sensing he didn't want to talk about his family. That was a touchy subject, I knew, and I didn't want to press him. If he wanted me to know, he'd tell me.

"With as much as he ate…I'd say about an hour or two."

"Wow. That's some pretty powerful stuff."

"Yep. The worst deserves nothing but the worst."

I rolled my eyes at him and opened my mouth to speak, but he said, "Yeah, I know. Moron."

"I don't sound like that," I protested.

"Sure you do." He grinned. "Come on, I want to show you something before we go our separate ways."

"Does that witch have one eye?"

"Looks like it," Sirius replied.

"It's…interesting. Definitely something I've never seen before," I managed.

Sirius laughed. "This isn't what I wanted to show you."

"Oh! This is another secret passageway."

"It is smart-one." He turned to the statue and tapped it with his wand, muttering, "Dissendium." The witch opened up, revealing an opening that any normal sized person could crawl through.

"Let me go first so I can light the way," he offered.

"And how are you going to do that?" I teased.

"With my dazzling personality of course!" he said as he crawled through the passage.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I called after him.

I heard his laughter and he said, "Come on Witchy Nike. Don't be scared."

I crawled on my hands and knees, following a light from ahead of me. "Me? Scared? Ha! Nice one," I said.

"Hey, watch right there, it drops off pretty steeply," he said in a serious tone.

"Hmm? Where?"

"Be—" and then I felt myself falling. My fall was cushioned and I both felt and heard Sirius' laughter. "Told you."

"Sorry," I said as I got off him.

He smiled. "Don't be. Not your fault, it's all mine."

I picked up his wand from where it had fallen and tried the words they had said many times before, "Lumos." The light from his wand lit up the whole room.

"What?" I asked. The look on his face was confusing me.

"Nothing."

"Good." I walked off and left him in the dark.

"Nike!" he called. "I can't see! You're going to make me run into a—Ow!" he yelled. "There's a wall!"

"Why are you moving you idiot? Of course there's a wall!" He grunted. Sighing, I walked back towards him. The area was empty.

"Sirius?" I called. Silence met my words. I started to get worried. "This is not funny!"

I heard a growl and turned around just in time to see something run at me, knocking me to the ground. It was a huge black dog, blocking me from getting up.

The dog started to shift and in seconds the dog was replaced with Sirius, who was grinning.

"Scared ya didn't I?"

"Scared me? You gave me a freakin heart attack! What is wrong with you?"

He got off of me and took his wand from my hands, and then helped me up. "That was my goal." We continued walking.

"What'd you do to your eye?" His left eye looked bruised, but not too badly.

"These walls are pretty solid." The look he gave me said 'You know perfectly well what happened'.

"Really? I had no idea!"

"You learn something new every day."

"So…where does this lead to?" I asked after a moment.

"You'll see soon enough."

"Why are you so mysterious all of a sudden?"

"Mysterious? Nah, I'm just being secretive."

I sighed in exasperation. "Same difference."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he pushed aside my response as we came to the end. There was a wooden ladder that allowed you access to a trapdoor.

"Your curiosity will be no more in just a moment. Just be patient."

"I hate it when people tell me that."

"One other thing we have in common," he said as he climbed the ladder. He looked back down at me when he was a few feet from the top. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot…we're eighteen and not in Hogwarts anymore."

"Do you really think we look that old? We're thirteen. Who exactly is that going to fool?"

"We both look older than we are, no insult intended. Nothing's wrong with that…you'll fool everyone."

"Keep talking Black. You're putting yourself in a deeper hole."

He shut-up. "Just trust me."

"That's a scary thought." I followed him up the ladder and through the trapdoor into a…candy store?

Sirius quietly shut the door and turned to me. "Welcome to Hogsmeade. My name is Sirius Black and I'll be your tour guide for today."

A/N: I don't really have much to say for this chapter, unfortunately. I'm not sure it's one of my favorite chapters…but some of my favorite sayings are in here. I love Sirius and Nike's sense of humor…don't you?

Also, to Can't Hide From Insanity…do you still like Doughboy? Great idea, Twin. I love it! (If you don't get the whole Doughboy thing, well I don't get it either, so you'll have to ask her…)

Next chapter: Nike's outta here!

Let me know what you guys loved, hated, any ideas, what your favorite part/parts of this story is so far, or just anything!

Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, puh-lllllleeeeeeaaaasssseeeee?

R&R friends!

Nike