There and Black Again

"I can't believe you let them get to you again," Narcissa said with a sigh as she wedged herself between Sirius and

Lucius on the couch. She laid her head on Lucius' shoulder and frowned. "You could have gotten in more trouble than just two weeks worth of detention. Lucius, you almost used an Unforgivable on Potter. And Andre cracked Smith's skull."

"I know, I know," Lucius said. "We go over this every time. But sometimes you have to put people in their place.

Those four walk around the school like they own the place. And I seem to remember you getting about half of Crucio out before Sirius here clapped his hand over your mouth that day Potter nearly drowned Snape."

"He deserved it." Narcissa smirked. "The look on his face was priceless when I punched him in the face the next day."

Sirius burst out laughing.

"What?" Narcissa asked, grinning sheepishly.

"You hit James in the face?"

"Punched," Lucius corrected. "Hard."

"Don't you remember?" Narcissa asked. "He was picking on the little Flint boy and I just snapped. Walked right up to him and punched him."

"Shattered his glasses," Lucius added, obviously trying not to crack up.

"You laughed for an hour after we told you," Narcissa said and looked up from Lucius' shoulder. "How can you not remember?"

"Oh... I," Sirius stuttered. He chuckled nervously. "Okay, now I remember. You came back to the common room fuming and Malfoy here started crying he was laughing so hard."

Lucius cocked his head and smiled at Narcissa. "See, he remembers."
______________________________________________________________________________

Sirius sat on his bed that night trying to sort out everything he was feeling. Millions of things were racing through his head at the same time, pulling him in every which way. There was just too much to think about.

One of these things was how he was suddenly and completely attracted to Narcissa. She was everything he'd ever wanted in a girl and more. It made him sick to think that he'd mistreated her so badly in his real life. Not only did he turn his back on his family, but he distinctly remembered the look of devastation on her face the night he left.

It wasn't only the guilt, though, that had him going insane. She was with his 'best friends' girlfriend for Merlin's sake. That and she was his cousin. Now, this really didn't create as much of a problem as most would think. Many purebloods married first and second cousins. Hell, even his parents had been first cousins. It was the principle though. In his own time while everyone was talking about how gorgeous his cousins were, he vehemently denied any attraction to them, especially Narcissa.
"That's sick," was his usual answer. Followed by, "We're family"
To which, after his sixth year, James would reply, "Not anymore."

Which led to his next problem. James, Remus, and even Peter were supposed to be his best mates, but in this world they hated him nearly as much as he hated Snape. It was killing him that instead of helping them plan their next late night prank or transforming at the full moon, he was gallivanting around with Jr. Death Eaters.

He'd gone too long without them to only have them ripped away again. Especially by some snot-nosed Smith. Merlin how he hated that guy. Even during his original years at Hogwarts it took everything he had not to hex Smith for being such a pompous git. And now that pompous git had replaced him.
______________________________________________________________________________

That weekend happened to be the last Hogsmeade visit of the year. Sirius planned to make the most of it by purchasing half of Honeydukes and then get smashed at the Hogs Heade. It hadn't occurred to him until the night before the actual trip that he was still the Black heir and, by default, still loaded.

By the next morning Andre, Greg, and Lydia Greengrass joined with Sirius as they headed out of Hogwarts. Sirius frowned as they started down the path. He looked around and asked Andre, "Where's Cissy and Malfoy?"

"Taking advantage of an empty dorm," Lydia giggled.

Sirius' frown deepened.

"Oh, don't look so surly," Andre said and poked him in the shoulder. "We all know how jealous you get when they're together, but you can't always be the third wheel."

"I'm not jealous," Sirius pouted. "I just don't think they should be 'taking advantage of an empty dorm.'"

"And why not?" Greg asked. "I seem to remember you doing it on numerous occasions."

"It's different."

"It's not," Andre said seriously.

"I don't think they're only up there to shag anyway," Lydia said. "Cissa says they've not been getting along too well lately. She thinks he's 'distracted.'"

And just like that Sirius' day began to improve.
_______________________________________________________________________________________

That is, it began to improve until they hit Honeydukes. It seemed that all the students wanted to start their visit with candy; James, Remus, Peter, and David included. Sirius could hardly stand the sight of them huddled together in the corner. He knew they were up to something by the look in James' eye and the way Peter's tongue poked out of the side of his mouth. All Sirius knew was that he didn't want to be anywhere close when they attacked.

"What do you think they're planning?" Andre asked softly and jerked his head in their direction. "Probably something ghastly."

"How do you know the level of what they're planning?"

"The look on Potter's face. He looks even more gleeful than he usually does when they're plotting," Andre observed.

"And look, Lupin's nervous and excited at the same time. He knows it's wrong but joins in anyway. And Pettigrew's practically peeing his pants with excitement. And that damn Smith. Looks so smug, doesn't he?"

"You can really read them, can't you?" Sirius asked and picked up a box of Cockroach Clusters. He grimaced and threw them back.

"So can you," Andre said. He shrugged. "Usually."

"I've been feeling off lately," Sirius said quickly.

Andre shrugged again and grabbed a couple of boxes of Chocolate Frogs. "So when did you start wanting to snog Cissy's brains out?"

Sirius' eyes widened. "How did you..."

Andre lifted his eyebrows. "I didn't. Until just now."
______________________________________________________________________________