Disclaimer: Anything that's familiar doesn't belong to me.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait between updates! I wasn't feeling very motivated to write this story for a while, but don't want to leave it incomplete so promised myself I'd try and get something out this weekend - not super happy with it but I think it's eased me back into the Marauder's world, so hopefully these next updates will come faster.

Happy reading :)

Chapter Forty One: Someone Like You

The water reflected on the cave like room, throwing the ceiling into a dancing light spectacle. Jude ducked her head under the surface of the lake, enjoying the unusual warmth. She assumed this place was an underground hot spring of somesort, though she wondered how natural it was, staring at the beautiful pebble lined bed at her feet.

The last time she was here she wasn't in any state to take in the wonder of the place, drenched in blood and distressed after Sirius and Bellatrix's fight. It's why she thought to bring him down here, far away from Carmichael, and perhaps it would offer him the same comfort it had given her that day.

She broke the surface of the water once more, she hadn't ventured too far out, wanting to keep an eye of his unconscious body. Jude thought it best to sneak the antidote through Sirius' frozen open mouth, as well as some sleeping draught she got from Madam Pomfrey when she hurt her arm all those weeks ago.

She swam towards the shore, enjoying his soft snores filling the room. She wasn't sure what made Sirius have a change of heart about her, she hoped it wasn't pure jealousy at seeing her with his brother? She sighed, thinking of Regulus… he let his brother get drugged with Love Potion so as to teach him a lesson about how he treated women? She knew they didn't get along, but she didn't think they actively disliked each other. James had only been her brother for less than a year, but there's near nothing she wouldn't do for him, and she couldn't imagine not speaking to him.

She glanced up at the ceiling, thinking about James up on seventh floor, guilty at not being with him. She hoped he was okay… Lily and he were quite combustive, and she'd hate to think they were up there ripping into each other.

She glanced to Sirius as she heard his groan and she pushed herself out of the water, quickly throwing on her dress and rushing to him as he straightened up, blinking groggily.

"What… where…Jude?"

"Yes, it's me. We're down in the underground lake you took me to ages ago. Do you know what happened?"

He looked grumpy, trying to find his bearings, and Jude had to stifle a smile… a confused Sirius was quite adorable.

"Whose shirt is this?" She laughed at that, of course that's what he takes the most offence to.

"It's Remus', he literally gave you the shirt off his back, so maybe we should be a little bit nicer."

He looked momentarily abashed, "Well, this looks nice on Remus. It's not really very me." He unbuttoned the collar, still frowning at the neat checkered blue shirt, "And it doesn't go with these trackie bottoms!"

"Sirius, I think your clothes is the least of our problems right now."

He was still grimacing at his attire when he finally looked at her, and his expression slackened immediately. "Easy for you to say, look at you."

She touched her wet hair, Lily's hardwork completely ruined, as her charmed curls straightened to their natural style in the water, and her makeup had probably washed off, or worse, ran, she bit her bottom lip, "Sorry. I looked different an hour ago, Lily curled my hair, and-"

"You look beautiful. I like you like this."

She laughed, "Wet?"

His eyes widened, "Pardon?"

She frowned, "Well I'm wet. I was just swimming while waiting for you to come to."

"Ah. Of course." He smiled, shaking his head, "Fuck. Sorry."

She looked at him in disbelief, why was he apologising for swearing in front of her, she's heard him do so plenty of times before.

"Everything's coming back to me. I'm just remembering James and I fighting. Ugh, I'm going to kill Carmichael."

"So you know you were on Love Potion?"

"Yeah. Why else would I like that infernal woman."

Jude sighed, shaking her head, "I don't understand why she would do something like that."

"You wouldn't. You're so…honest. That bint doesn't have a genuine bone in her body. Her eyes are fake, her hair's fake, I wouldn't be surprised if other things are fake as well." He wagged his brows so she got his implication, but she was distracted by his words. Sirius clearly put her on some pedastal thinking her better than Azura, but didn't she have to change her appearance to get his attention? Or acceptance from any of their friends. "What?"

Jude hesitated, and he straightened up.

"Love, what is it?"

She could feel her face flush… did he just call her love? Well, she knew that he probably called a lot of girls love… she needed to not get a hold of herself. She went to tuck a strand of hair behind her ears, but she realised that it was clinging together in thick wet tendrils, and not very pleasant to touch.

"Jude. Did I do something that I don't remember?"

"Oh no no. It's stupid, it's not important!" She dismissed her thoughts, it wasn't the time to discuss why Sirius kissed her all those months ago and was yet to acknowledge it, or the fact that it took her looking completely different for him to ask her out, and could that potentially have some weird competition with his brother? "We should probably discuss what happened though. Because we're not going to need to decide how to go forward."

"With what? Aren't we just going to get Carmichael in trouble for being a manipulative bitch."

Jude's shoulders dipped, but she knew she had to tell him everything. "Carmichael bought the love potion from Snape."

"That git. He has probably been having a right laught at James dating her these past few months." His eyes widened, "Oh but this is perfect! He'll be expelled!" He laughed, happily.

"It's a bit more complicated. That potion that I had allergic reaction to, that was his doing as well, Gender Change potion. Azura bought some and was able to get into our room because Mary let her in."

"Pixie? Why would she do that."

"Because Azura was blackmailing her, I think. She found out that Mary bought a love potion from Snape. One that was intended to be used on you." She stared at him, as his dark brows furrowed, "But then she didn't for ages. I don't know, maybe she got cold feet, realised it was wrong. Until the start of term. She said she sent you chocolates with the potion in it."

Sirius was quiet, and she could see his disappointment. He liked Mary, and it must feel quite a break of trust to find out about this.

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry."

"I don't want this to happen to you." She was surprised as her voice broke, and tears trickled down her face. She was shocked at her reaction and quickly wiped at it, embarrassed, and Sirius quickly moved towards her, engulfing her in his arms, "I'm sorry. I'm being silly."

"No. I'm sorry, we were meant to be on our first date and I got dosed on love potion."

"You can't control that." She swallowed, relaxing her head against his shoulder, her back against his chest, she glanced up staring at his freshly shaved chin, she could smell his aftershave. "It's not just that. Snape swapped the love potion for poison, and that's the one that Peter ingested."

"WHAT!" She felt his muscles tense around her, and watched his jaw clench. "I'm going to kill that bastard."

Jude placed her hand on his which were on her waist, trying to calm him down, knowing that telling him not to be rash would be useless, much better just to try and physically calm him. She didn't blame him for being furious, he just found out that someone tried to kill him and used a dear friend as their weapon. She rubbed his arms but she could still hear his heart beat thunder at her ears.

She turned, jostling out of his hold, but wrapping around him quickly, hugging him at the neck, and he quickly returned it, holding her tightly against his chest.

"There's just one more thing I have to tell you and I can stop ruining your night."

He pulled out of the hug to look at Jude, moving into a kneeling position too so that he was now taller than her, "You ruining my night is an impossibility."

She bit her lip, breaking eye contact, knowing that no matter what he said, this news would hurt him.

"Is James alright?" Sirius glanced up, "I assume that if you got me an antidote… I didn't hurt him, right?"

"No, no, James is alright. I think. He's with Lily, Remus and Peter are with Azura." She brushed a dark lock behind his ear, his hair was growing out again after he cut it for Alexandre's funeral, and she preferred it. It looked more like him. "Sirius, Regulus knew about the love potion. He knew that Snape sold it to Mary to use on you, and Azura on James. But he said he only found out after the fact and he said he didn't know anything about poison." She hastened to say as his grey eyes swirled with emotion, so many brimming in there she just about managed to pick them out like leaves in a lake; surprise, disappointment, hurt, and eventually simmering into painstakingly curated nonchalance.

She sat back, her barefeet cushioning her butt as she peered up at him, patiently waiting for him to process this new information.

"So I suppose if we tell on Carmichael, she'll rat out Mary."

Jude nodded, "She said that she would. We said that we'd wait for you and James to weigh in, since you were the ones that were mostly affected by all of this."

"Well I just accidentally got dosed today, James has been this way for weeks, so I'll support his decision."

"And I didn't know." She hugged herself as she processed what almost happened to her brother today, and her skin crawled, unsettled with guilt. How could she have not known that he was being hoodwinked?

"Hey. None of us knew."

"You kept saying it must be love potion, and we kept saying you were paranoid."

"Well, that is true." He stated with a small smug expression that quickly disappeared at the look on her face, "But I only knew that because I knew he never wanted to date her and he was planning on dumping her."

"What? He was?"

Sirius' face fell, and Jude realised he had let something slip. She gave him a piercing, pleading look. She had told him everything, it was his turn to share now.

"I'm not supposed to say…"

"Oh."

"Oh don't look like that, you can't look at me like that, I'll tell you anything if you turn those doe eyes on me. Ohhh." He grumbled, "Please, I don't want to break my promises to James just because we're…" He didn't finish the sentence, gesturing between the space that separated them and she looked at him expectantly but he didn't finish the sentence.

She frowned, and he leaned forward.

"Dating?"

It was his turn to look at her expectantly, and she nodded and he beamed, and it was like she had a mirror charm on her as she reflected the expression.

"So James didn't want to date Azura?"

He sighed, "Well, I guess I already let that slip. I'll tell you the rest, but you have to tell him you used all your feminine wiles to get it out of me."

"So you want James to think I seduced the information out of you?"

"Oh Godric, no." He sighed, "Well, I suppose he is going to be pissed enough with me for dating you, he can't be that much angrier if I fill you in about Carmichael. She was blackmailing him because she saw you two together months ago the day Gryffindor played Ravenclaw, and he didn't want her to spread the rumour and attract attention, so he said he'd pretend to date her if she'd shut up about you. We all knew it was fake once he told us about you, and he said he was going to break up with her once he got back."

"So James was only able to get dosed with love potion because he was trying to protect me?" Her voice was small and Sirius shook his head aggressively.

"No. James was dosed with love potion because Azura is a scheming banshee and Snivellus is an evil prat." He glowered at the lake as if the suspects in question were floating there, "I hope James does decide on telling on him."

"But then Mary would get in trouble. Peter almost died."

He sighed, "I'm sure we'll be able to prove she thought it was love potion she put in those chocolates. And maybe it's not the worst thing if Mary got in trouble. She let Azura hurt you, and then didn't say a word for months."

"I don't think she knew I was going to be hurt."

"I don't care." He said firmly, "She didn't think Azura was sneaking in to tuck you into bed." He let out a long breath, "This is such a mess." She watched his face sink into sadness, "You're sure he knew?"

"I asked him myself." She didn't need to ask who he was talking about, "Regulus said that he thought it would be a good lesson."

"What?"

She chewed on her bottom lip, "I don't know. I don't think he understood the full extent of what it was that was being done. It seemed like just a harmless schoolboy prank, I suppose."

"Don't make excuses for him."

"I'm not." Her eyes widened in defence of herself now, "I'm… just saying that he seemed remorseful when I pointed out the ramifications of these actions."

He rolled his eyes, "Well of course he was remorseful in front of you." He laughed, shaking his head, "I can't believe that I almost considered not asking you out because of him."

"Why?"

"Why?" He laughed, "Were you not on a date with my brother earlier today?"

"No! That wasn't a date. He made it very clear."

His eyes narrowed, "Did you think it was one, then?"

She made to brush her hair behind her ears and was annoyed to find it wet still, "I… Yes."

"Oh."

"Sirius."

He stood.

"Well I'm sorry you didn't get your first choice Black Brother. Don't blame you though, he is oficially the heir, and everyone's favourite. So of course, of course you prefer him."

"Sirius!"

He laughed, "Of course this would happen. This is karma for Selina."

"Selina?"

"Selwyn. I slept with her when she was dating Regulus. But of course I didn't know at the time. But I did definitely know that you were on a date with him today. Fuck. What is wrong with me?"

"Nothing except your inability to listen!" She was surprise at her voice, so loud echoing through the cave. He stopped pacing, finally giving her attention, "Yes, I thought that Regulus might have asked me out on a date, and I said yes. Because I wanted to go on a date. I wanted to get dressed up, and have Lily fuss over my hair, and Marlene dissect every letter of Regulus' note. But I didn't want to go on a date with Regulus. You've been avoiding me for weeks. I don't know what I've done wrong-"

"Nothing. You've done nothing. Godric, I'm fucking this up already. I'm ruining everything. James was right." She could feel the anxiety leak off him.

"You spoke to James about me?"

He nodded, "Yes… he could tell that I liked you. And he didn't think it was a good idea, it's why I was staying away…"

"James doesn't want us to date? Why?"

"Probably because I'll never be good enough for you."

She stepped forward, reaching for his chest, feeling his heart racing, sensing that his self-hatred to be something more than just what he was letting on, "What's going on in here?"

He shrugged, and then his eyes were suddenly misty, "I didn't really think it was completely over between us. We were fine up in the caves earlier today. I even thought we were doing better. He's really okay if I died?"

"Oh, Sirius." She stood on her tiptoes, and hugged him and he lifted her right off the floor for a moment as he clutched her in his arms so tight. She kissed his head, not knowing what she could say to make him feel better. "I'm so sorry."

He hugged her for minutes, and she wished she was bigger, taller, that she could envelope him, make him feel safe and warm like he was doing to her right now.

She unfurled from him, and stepped back, "Look at me. You were kind to me when I couldn't even tell anybody how lovely you were, because you're good, Sirius, you didn't have to be nice to me, and talk to me when most people didn't even acknowledge my presence. I have liked you before I knew what it was to like a person, I didn't understand what this feeling was. And when we were in Paris, and I saw Rabastan Lestrange aim his wand at you, I felt like my heart was being torn out of my chest because I have never wanted to speak more than I did in that moment. And, I did. Because I like you so much. You are so far from my second choice, Sirius Black. You are the reason I have choices. And for that, you are my only one."

"Oh, my love." He grabbed her by the back of her head and kissed her. It was different to the first time they kissed all those months ago, in her bedroom, in her little mask. That time it had been featherlight and cautious, this was reckless abandon and all sensations. His tongue traced her lips and she let him in, and she followed his lead, throwing her hand around his neck to give her leverage and his hand was sturdy at her back.

It felt like hours when they eventually came up for air, and she could tell her face was flushed from the activity.

"You're beautiful. Judalia, I-"

"Wait." She put her fingers on his lips to stop him. "I want you to close your eyes."

He looked at her confused, but then did as asked. She knew she promised Charlus, but she thought if this was going to be the start of Sirius and her, then she wanted them to have complete honesty. She undid the glamour charm on her hair, and then plucked off her contact lenses.

She moved his hand from over his eyes, and his face flickered from confusion to surprise.

"It's… you."

She nodded, "Charlus says it's really important that I keep this on. But I want you to know the real me. I don't want you to think I'm fake like Azura."

"You're as unlike that girl as humanly possible and I'm so grateful for that."

"Well, you said she wears contact lenses and glamour spells on her hair. Like I do."

He blinked, amazed, "I suspect for completely different reasons." He grabbed a lock of her natural bronze hair. It was a unique colouring, and stood out quite easily in a crowd. But that wasn't the distinctive feature that Charlus worried was easy for anybody to notice.

Jude had gold eyes.

"Well, I know the eyes are old news, but this is me. I'm sorry, I hope you don't feel lied to."

He frowned… "I…I…"

Her lip quivered as she breathed shakily, "I am sorry for lying. But it's just my hair and eyes… I understand if this is upsetting, but Charlus said-"

He suddenly covered her eyes with his large hands, and then parted his fingers so that she could peak through in confusion, as he gasped.

"You! I kissed you!"

"Yeah, for like an hour." She laughed.

"No… no at my birthday party at your… that was you?"

"Yes…wait, didn't you know?"

"Didn't I know that I kissed you four months ago? No! I spent ages looking for you, and I was told that you were Cece!"

"Oh. Well, it was me."

"Why didn't you say something!"

"Well…I couldn't talk for like, a while."

"I mean, now. Before. Once you could! Why?" He looked completely flustered.

"You didn't bring it up, and I didn't want to be weird. I mean, I just had a masquerade mask on… well I guess you also walked in when I had my contacts off. Are you… upset?"

He shook his head, "Am I upset?" He laughed, "No… I'm in shock. I thought I was going insane, mad over just a kiss." He shook his head, confused, "Who's Cece then?"

Jude shrugged, "Did you maybe kiss someone else at the party?"

"Love, I know I used to be a bit of a man whore, but I usually remember how many girls I kiss at one party." He grinned, "But that doesn't matter. Godric, look at you."

"Still think I'm pretty?"

"Firstly, I said beautiful. You're beautiful. You were beautiful five minutes ago wearing the face that I search for in corridors, classes and common rooms. And you were beautiful five months ago when I was too blind to see you, and I'm probably going to regret that all my life. You'll be beautiful fifty years from now, I'm sure of it."

"Fifty? That's a lot of years." She laughed.

"Not enough." Her eyes widened, surprised at his proclamation.

"You like me that much."

He smirked, "Sure. I like you that much."

She traced circles on his chest which drummed beneath his fingertips, letting his words sink in.

"Thank you." She muttered, unsure how to respond to his kindness.

"Thank you." He swallowed, "I didn't think I'd ever have something like this. Someone like you."

Those three words said so much. The tremble in his voice, the brightness in his eyes, his fingers on her chin.

She decided, for old time sake, she wouldn't tell Sirius how much she liked him.

She'd show him.

She merely tilted her face up and his lips were on hers again.

She smiled into the kiss, even if so much of her life was still a mystery, she knew one thing at least, and even if it was irrational, she felt it to be the truth in her gut.

Jude had never felt this way about anybody else before.

And she doubt she ever will again.

At least she had that.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Feedback will be so appreciated!