Disclaimer: is not, was not, and never will be mine! All credit to the incredible JK Rowling! I do own the plot and some characters though!

Chapter 14: Mistletoe and Butterbeer

"They're late."

Dorea Potter glared at the front door as if it was an offending object, the reason her son hadn't arrived back on time. She had been suppressing her motherly urge to complain about lateness for the last hour, but now this was just pushing it. She knew Sirius was a rule bender (as she liked to call him to defend him in her head) but she had thought he had more respect for her and her wishes than this. As his mother, the one he got to choose.

"We know mum, just relax a bit. You can shout when he gets Mione back. Anyways, the girls will be here soon!" James placed a soothing hand on her shoulder. He wasn't worried so much as curious as to where the two of them were. Despite his bravado and his mother's height, Dorea Potter was a formidable woman and when in a rage Sirius was terrified of her. He wouldn't risk her wrath if he could avoid it. But he wasn't worried, of course not. His brother could take care of himself. Right?

"Bloody clumsy fool! Always saving his arse dammit!" Hermione cursed as she paced up and down the street, deep in thought. She had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do. She could quite easily send a message via her patronus to the Potters, but her underage magic would be detected as she was beyond the wards of Potter Manor, and not in the presence of a fully fledged witch or wizard. Just then, an idea struck her.

In a fit of preparation in true Hermione style, she had grabbed everything that could possibly be of use and crammed it in her beaded bag, which now held compartments. Rooting around inside, she found a simple aging potion, the very same Fred and George had used in their fifth year. Glancing in a pocket mirror, she stared at her old self back from 2001. These were only muggles, she thought, even if they suspect I'm the same person there's no way they could actually think it was me. Reaching in again, she pulled out a fake ID naming her as Sophie Wilkins aged 23, and she was set to go. What an end to the day...

"I told you I wasn't carrying a weapon officer! Can I go now?" Sirius tried his best to remain calm when, in reality, he was panicking. Where in the name of Merlin's sagging balls was his wand? If it was on that bus then he was done for. Exposure to muggles, muggles harnessing magic, Azkaban for life. The exact order of operations, which equalled his doom. Okay so maybe he was over reacting, but a lot had happened in a short space of time and – "Hello gorgeous". A young officer, possibly one on some sort of work experience, was approaching his cell. He was proud to see a faint blush spreading across her cheeks, adding a nice bit of colour to her otherwise pale face. "I don't supposed you could let me out based on my good looks could you love?" might as well have some fun while I'm stuck here, he thought to himself.

"St-stand back facing the wall, I'm armed!" her voice shook as she spoke, but she seemed to mean it, so Sirius retreated to the 'back' of his small cell, which as far as he was concerned wasn't really much different to where he was before. She entered, and Sirius realised she was even shorter than he had thought. Maybe he could give her the slip? He was pretty nimble since him and James had dung bomb fights all the time, and you needed to be able to dodge them in order to survive. But as he looked at her, he realised she stood little chance of maintaining whatever this arrangement was with the muggle Aurors if he got away; in fact, why had they let a rookie into a cell alone? He watched as she pulled a plastic bag from her uniform and inside –

"My wand! I mean – shit" now he'd done it. He'd most likely ruined his chance of playing the misjudged but handsome victim now; he really should have played indifferent. At least he knew his wand wasn't lying around on the streets of London! The girl was looking at him like he was a madman as well as dangerous. "I – um yeah..." he scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "It was just a joke between friends. I was clumsy and fell, but the old hag – err lovely lady, mistook it for a weapon. Like I said complete misunderstanding" he trailed off, knowing he was becoming less and less believable with every word he was saying. Changing his tactic, or going back to it he supposed, he leaned in towards her; but not so much that she would feel threatened. As he expected, she froze and he slowly backed her into a corner. "Now beautiful, I'm very sorry I'm having to do this, but I don't really fancy spending the night in this place, know what I mean? So if you just give me my wand-" he gently but firmly tugged it out of her hand, "I'll be on my way".

Suddenly however, she grabbed his arm in a steel like grip, "Honestly mongrel, when I decided I wanted to have some different types of experience over the Christmas holidays, I never planned on busting you out of muggle prison. What are you doing here you absolute fool!?" Sirius just stared at her; absolutely certain he had never in his life seen her before. Until he looked into her sparking blue eyes, which twinkled with mischief. She saw recognition in his eyes, but blatant questions too and that thoroughly entertained her, "I think you're losing your touch Siri, honestly I thought I had taught you well when it came to disguises and pranking! You're a disgrace to my name!"

"Merlin's pants Dorky, HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME? I was going to kiss you and give you the drop! Oh my god, I was going to KISS you, do you know how wrong that would have been?" Sirius gaped at the girl he had grown up with, not bothering to suppress his shudders at what he had nearly done. "Who – what – who even are you? I mean at the moment, god Dorky, never go blonde. Why are you here?" he just didn't understand what had happened. He had gone from despair to plotting to confliction to plotting to a complete loss of words. And honestly, Sirius Orion Black, lady killer and love of all women was never speechless.

"It's polyjuice dunderhead! You know I want me be an auror right? Well there are thousands of applicants each year, and I want, no I NEED to get in. There's nothing else out there. So I'm building up work experience in as many different fields as possible, and how many applicants can say they've worked in a police station? If I get a good collection by summer, I
can enter a direct entry advanced auror course, which would mean if I get good NEWTS I have a guaranteed job" Dorcas Meadowes trailed off, her eyes blazing with a fire of passion Sirius had never seen in her before. She was a light-hearted, jokey girl, one of the main reasons the two got on so well. When Sirius was stuck with his awful family, he would turn to Dorcas at all of the pureblood socials and they'd make fun of all of them. She knew how to put on a perfect, polite front and she had taught him how to play the perfect pureblood as well.

"Jesus Dorky, never known you so fiery... It sounds good, when did you learn to become organised?" Sirius quipped. "Shit we need to get out... or well I do. Mione's probably stressing and the girls are arriving tonight".

"You're right Siri, just wear this and walk out. I've been... experimenting" She winked and walked away. "I'll see you at New Year's, you better have my presents or you're in for it and you know I'll win" she called over her shoulder as she skipped away. Shaking his head, Sirius looked down at the silver chain in his hand. He knew he could trust Dorcas, so taking a deep breath; he put it on and walked out.

Hermione sat opposite the station, still pondering what to do to get Sirius out. She was at a complete loss as to what to do about this, but there was only one choice so far. The Potter's were highly influential within the ministry, so hopefully some underage magic could be sorted out...

"Well, I'd put that away if I were you Mione, don't want you getting expelled do we?" Hermione jumped out of her skin, and though she would later deny it, she let out a scream of shock. She felt ghost lips just beneath her ear and heard the most gorgeous chuckle, as his sweet breath washed over her face.

"I will KILL you Sirius Orion Black, you absolute bloody IDIOT!" Hermione was laughing through her cursing though, so her threats were not particularly heavy. "Come on, your parents will be worrying..."

An hour later, they rushed up the drive of Potter Manor, and Sirius threw the door open. "Do not fret fair people, for we have returned!" He exclaimed, before promptly cowering behind Hermione after seeing the look of murder on Mum's face. "I'm sorry mum, we got... caught up."

"He means he got arrested by the muggle police" Hermione decided Sirius deserved to be dropped in it for all the grief he'd caused different people in the space of about an hour, to be honest it was actually impressive. She heard choking, and turned to see James going red in the face in an attempt to keep his laughter in. He turned and hid his face in Marlene's shoulder, who had arrived with the rest of the girls not long ago. Hermione grinned and rushed to Lily and the rest, pulling them into hugs and knowing that she had found a true family. She belonged.

A/N

I give you all full rights to hate me! Writer's block is a bitch! Also, sixth form sucks. I love my subjects, but the amount of work is actually ridiculous!
I have semi overcome my writer's block, so I think I'll be updating more, but I am struggling a little! BUT I HAVE IDEAS NOW! FINALLYYYYYYY.
The next chapter is fluff, so sorry for those who are wanting action. But OH just you wait until the following chapter, because CUE MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER! And lots of action and tension I promise!

REVIEW PLEASE! EVEN IF YOU HATE ME FOR MY LACK OF UPDATES. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

I love you all!

Rads x