Harry Potter 1. Prologue

**Similar Hearts**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my original characters. J.K. Rowling is the real mastermind behind the Harry Potter universe.**

**Prologue**

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I was sitting in a grassy field against a large willow tree, a large, clear, blue lake in front of me. The sun was shining, the birds singing, and the distinct smell of spring was in the air. I smiled as a gentle breeze blew, carrying the smell of rain to come. It was a beautiful day. I sighed and closed my eyes, leaning my head against the old willow tree behind me. I was content and happy, a lot happier than I had been for a long time. I had just started to think about taking a dip in the lake, when the scenery suddenly changed.

I became very cold and empty feeling, as though all of the happiness had been sucked out of me. Now, instead of the tall willow i had been resting my back on, I was leaned against a stone, cold wall. Instead of the grassy field, I was in what appeared to be a dungeon. There was no longer a lake in front of me, just metal bars. Then I felt it. There were chains on my wrist, securing me to the wall. My eyes grew wide as realization hit me like a slap to the face. I was in a cell. I was in the wizards prison, Azkaban. I _was_ a prisoner. I struggled against the chains, trying to break free from them, but it was no use. I was trapped.

I had finally started to get over my initial shock when I heard it. It was a faint rattling sound, almost too quiet for me to hear. I didn't know what it was until it got closer, and that's when I realized that the rattling sound was breathing. More precisely, a dementor breathing. As it got closer, the room got colder and colder. Soon, it was in front of my cell, hovering above the floor. My heart caught in my throat as I looked at the cloaked figure. It was wearing all black, it's cloak tattered and old looking, it's hood hiding it's face. Fear flooded my entire body as the dementor turned to look at me. I watched as the dementor took out a key with its decayed, rotting hand, and put it in the key hole to my cell. It opened my cell and slowly glided towards me.

The only thing I could hear was the dementor's long, rattling breathes and the pounding of my heart in my head. My hands grew clammy and I began to feel sick as I looked up at the foul creature in front of me. Nothing happened for a while. The dementor simply stared at me with it's black, featureless face. I stared back at it, expecting the worst. Suddenly the dementor moved its long hands to the hood of its cloak, slowly pulling it off of it's head. That's when I realized what was happening. The dementor was about to perform the dementor's kiss on me! I struggled against my chains, using the last bit of energy I had before it leaned towards me, only 5 inches from my face. Everything got colder. Four inches. I stopped struggling as I began to feel empty. 3 inches. I couldn't move. 2 inches. What was happiness? Who am I? Why am I here? 1 inch. What had I done to deserve this? Then there was total blackness.

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**Hey guys! So here is the prologue to my first story called ****Similar Hearts****. It's a Sirius BlackxOC story with mostly romance and friendship, but with action as well! I know that it's short, but it is a prologue after all. I'm going ahead and posting my first chapter, but after that I'm going to try to update weekly. Who knows, sometimes I might update more than that. :) Anyway please review and follow because I promise I have a lot more in store!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hi again! So I just want to say thanks to my first reviewer Disneygirl1598! It really means a lot and I'm glad that you liked my Prologue! :)**

**Disclaimer: Sadly I didn't make the Harry Potter series, so I own nothing except my own original characters.**

**Chapter 1: And So It Begins**

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I woke up in a cold sweat. I was shaking all over, and it took me a few minutes to comprehend everything. I _was_ sitting in a cell in Azkaban, but now I was sitting on my small bed in my room. The dementor's kiss, it should have taken my soul, yet I don't feel soulless. Then again I don't really know what it feels like to not have a soul. After a few seconds, I realized it was all a dream, well more like a terrible nightmare. I sighed out of relief and fell back onto my pillow. I closed my eyes and was almost asleep when I suddenly realized, today was the 1st of September, the day I went back to school, the day I went back to my favorite place in the world, Hogwarts. Feeling very awake all of a sudden, I looked at the small clock on my nightstand. The hands pointed to 5:27 AM.

_ Well, I might as well pack my trunk_, I thought as I leaped off of my bed onto the cold wooden floor. I rummaged around my room to find everything I needed. Spell books, robes, wand, I checked them off one by one as I threw them into my trunk. After packing everything, I still felt as though I was missing something. That's when I heard a tapping on my window. I turned around to see a small, brown, barn owl trying to get it.

"I knew I was forgetting something," I said excitedly as I walked towards the window. I opened it and let in the owl. It jumped from its place on my window ledge and took flight into my room. It made a few circles until finally landing on my shoulder. "Hello Canopus," I said as I stroked the owl. "Find anything good to eat?" The bird nudged my finger as though to say yes. Canopus was my owl obviously. I got him when I was very young, before I was even a first year at Hogwarts. He's been my best friend ever since. Actually he has been my only friend. He doesn't really deliver letters like most owls do. I don't really have anybody to write to and nobody writes to me, so his delivery services aren't exactly needed. He's more of a companion than a messenger. I used to bring Canopus with me everywhere, but that stopped when my uncle adopted me. He told me that he wouldn't have any unsanitary creature in his house and to get rid of him, but obviously I didn't exactly do what my uncle told me to. It's quite funny that he wouldn't want an owl in his house considering he's a wizard and all. I think that it's just another attempt to ruin my life, but I have been wrong before.

"Ok boy. Today's the day, the day that we finally get to go back to Hogwarts," I said excitedly to the bird still perched on my shoulder. "Now listen. It's the same as always. Just go to Hogwarts and wait for me in the owlery. You should know the way by now. I'll visit you that night after the feast. Ok?" Canopus nudged my finger again. "Ok good. You better go before uncle sees you," I said as I walked towards the now open window. I put out my finger, which Canopus then jumped on. I petted him one last time before I put my finger out the window and watched as he jumped gracefully into the air and soared away.

I then shut the window, which was letting in a small draft, and walked back towards my bed. I looked at my clock again. 7:01 AM. About an hour and a half to go before I have to board the bus to King's Cross. I sighed and decided to go ahead and change. I found the only clothes that I didn't put in my trunk. I ended up wearing a pair of blue jeans and a light blue camisole with a dark blue jumper over it and some white trainers. I brushed my long, blonde hair to get all of the tangles out and didn't bother to put on any make-up. Why should I? I don't care what anyone thinks of me. After all that I checked the clock again. The hands pointed to 7:15.

_ Ugh_. This was going to drive me insane. Having nothing else to do, I went downstairs to start on breakfast. I had just started to cook some bacon when my uncle came downstairs.

"Blimey!" he exclaimed, as he rounded the corner into the kitchen. "What the bloody hell are you doing up so early?!"

"I had a bad dream and woke up early," I said, not bothering to tell him what my dream was about, like he would care.

"Oh boo hoo. Poor baby had a bad dream," he said, coming closer to me, his pale, gaunt face now in view. "Just because you have a bad dream doesn't mean you need to wake the whole bloody house!"

"You're the only other person in the house," I said. Then there was a resounding crack. It took me a minute to realize what had happened until i felt my cheek warm up where he had slapped me.

"What have I said about back talking me?!" He asked angrily. Most people would have backed off and complied to his wishes, but I wasn't about to roll over like some dog. Besides, I was used to it. I had been dealing with his abuse for years after all. I could take it.

"I wasn't back talking you. I was simply making a statement," I said, staring straight into his beady, black eyes. **Smack!** He hit me on the same cheek. I could feel a bruise already forming there.

"Tell me what I've said about back talking me!" He yelled, his pale face becoming redder by the second. I didn't answer him. **Smack!** Same cheek.

"I said tell me!" **Smack! **

"Tell me!"

"NO!"I cried out! **Smack!** This time I fell to the ground. I was about to get up when his large foot came down onto my stomach. He kicked me and I let out an involuntary scream. I tried to get up, but he grabbed me by my jumper and brought me up to his face. I tried to glare at him as much as I could, but I could tell that it was a very feeble attempt.

"Know your place," he growled before throwing me to the floor. "I'm going back to bed. I expect you will be gone by the time I wake up." He glared at me one last time. Then, he walked away from me, towards the stairs, his footsteps loud and heavy. Just before he went up the stairs though, he turned around again. "Oh, and if you wake me up again, I can assure you that I won't be as forgiving the next time," he growled out as he turned back around and walked up the wooden staircase. I heard his heavy footsteps above just before I heard the slamming of a door.

I laid there on the floor, coldness seeping into me despite my still warm cheek. I felt empty, devoid of all happiness. I felt as though a dementor was next to me.

_I wish my dream had been real_, I suddenly thought._ No, I didn't mean that. To be without a soul is much worse then where I'm at now. I should be happy that I'm alive, that I have a roof over my head. That's more than most people. No, I'm glad that my dream wasn't real. _I tried to get off of the floor, but my legs ended up collapsing beneath me.

_Pathetic_, I thought. _I'm absolutely pathetic. _So, I just simply laid there, the smell of burning bacon wafting throughout the air.

_Pathetic._

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**Hey guys! So now you finally get to see some of Jessalyn's home life. It isn't the best. I know this chapter was a little depressing, but don't worry, the next one will be much more upbeat! She will finally board the Hogwarts express and maybe make some new friends? You'll have to read to find out! I will try to post the next chapter in a few days! So, please review and follow! :)**


	3. Chapter 2

**UPDATE: I have recently changed my name from fullmetal27 to malfoyswag to match my new Harry Potter instagram fan account! If you would like to follow me on instagram the username is malfoyswag! (Same as my name on here.)**

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**Hey there! I decided to go ahead and post this chapter because I am so excited for this fan fiction, and I really want to get others as excited as I am! Anyway, thanks to my new followers and those reading this story! It really means a lot to me! :)**

**Disclaimer: The wonderful world of Harry Potter and anything Harry Potter related belongs to Ms. Rowling. The only thing I own is my original characters.**

**Chapter 2: And to Hogwarts We Go**

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The sun was shining through the windows of the double decker bus I was now riding. People of all types were on this bus, businessmen, children, housewives, but from what I could tell, I was the only wizard. It made me feel as though I had a huge target painted on my back. I know that there's no way that they could tell that I was actually a wizard unless I did magic in front of them, but it still made me feel uncomfortable. I'm not used to being around muggles. The only time I really am around them, is when I go to Hogwarts and when I come back from Hogwarts. The rest of the time, I'm either around wizards or alone.

After being in the stinky, smelly bus for over an hour, I was glad to get off and smell the fresh air. Sighing, I walked into King's Cross Station and looked at the large clock on the wall to my right. It read 9:52 AM. There was still an hour and eight minutes before the Hogwarts Express would depart, carrying me away to my safe haven. I smiled at the thought, but quickly stopped as the bruise on my right cheek began to hurt. I had ended up putting on some makeup to try and cover the bruise for the time being. I figured I would wait until I got to Hogwarts, and then go see Madame Pomfrey the day after the feast, pretending that I fell down the stairs and landed on my side or something. I would have tried to heal it myself, but seeing as I'm underage and my healing skills are quite terrible, I decided that it wouldn't be in my best interest to do so.

After getting a cart to put my trunk on and walking around aimlessly for a bit, I decided to grab a bite to eat since I ended up not eating any breakfast before I left. Let's just say that when you pick up a piece of bacon and it ends up turning into a powder because it's so burnt, well, it isn't exactly edible at that point. I walked over to a small café and ordered a milk and a biscuit with the little bit of muggle change I had left over from my bus ticket. I sat down at an empty table and ate my breakfast in silence as I watched all of the muggles walking by, a few running to make sure they were't late for their train.

Watching muggles run around wasn't the most fun thing to do, and I soon found my thoughts wandering. I began to think of Hogwarts with its long corridors, moving staircases, and secret passages, an easy place to get away from the outside world and to just get lost in. That's what I normally did with my time at Hogwarts: go to classes, try to do my homework, get bored and end up walking the castle with only my thoughts to keep me company. Nobody bothered me and I didn't bother anyone else. It was nice and serene and I loved it. After a while, my eyes grew heavy, my lack of sleep catching up to me.

_I'll just lay my head down and rest my eyes for a little bit_, I thought as I laid my head onto the cold table in front of me. _Resting my eyes for a few minutes won't hurt. Right?_ No sooner had I thought this then I was suddenly fast asleep.

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I felt a tapping on my shoulder and woke up, opening my eyes slightly. I made a sound that was a mixture between a groan and a sigh before closing my eyes again and trying to go back to sleep. Then I felt the tapping again, this time accompanied by a voice.

"Excuse me miss," said the voice. "You've been asleep for a while and I thought that I would wake you up so you don't miss your train, unless you already have missed your train. Oh, I knew I should've woken you up sooner. I'm terribly sorry. Oh, I'm so stupid." I looked up and blinked slowly, a timid, upset man with short, brown hair coming into view.

"Huh?" I finally said back.

"Um, your train. You did come to board a train right? Unless you didn't. You could have just been here waiting for someone, or just come here for no reason other than eating at this coffee shop and sleeping. Oh dear. I just interrupted your nap for no reason didn't I? Oh, I'm so stupid. I'm terribly sorry miss," he replied. It took me a few seconds to process the jumble of words coming from his mouth. Train. Sleeping. Nap. Suddenly, it hit me. I was supposed to board the train to Hogwarts and I fell asleep!

"Crap!" I yelled, catching the man off guard. "What time is it?!"

"Oh, um, it's 10:57," he said after looking at his wristwatch. My eyes widened in shock. I had 3 minutes to board the Hogwarts express before it left.

"Thank you so much," I said to the man who I could now tell worked at the café. I then grabbed the cart containing my trunk and ran out the door. I was soon running quickly towards platform 9 3/4, running past many muggles, a flurry of apologies coming out of my mouth as I bumped into quite a few of them. After what felt like forever, I had finally made it to the wall between platforms 9 and 10. Without stopping, I ran through the wall in question and came out into a sea of people, mostly parents, waving at their loved ones as the train began to depart. Without even thinking, I pushed my way through all of the people to the front of the crowd, grabbed my trunk from the cart I had been pushing, and threw it through the closest window to me. There was a shattering sound as my trunk broke the window, glass scattering everywhere. I didn't notice though as I was too busy jumping in through the window myself. I rolled across the floor of the compartment I had just jumped into, bits of glass from the shattered widow scratching me in the process.

"I did it!" I said while laughing. "I made it on time!" I looked up and my good mood suddenly vanished as I looked into the eyes of 4 very confused and scared looking boys. These weren't just any boys though. These were the famous Marauders comprised of James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. Here they were right in front of me, and here I was, smashing and jumping into their compartment through a window. I was speechless and so were they. After what seemed like hours, but were only seconds, one of them spoke up.

"Um, I have a question." It was Sirius Black.

"Uh huh," I managed to squeak out.

"Yes, um, well might I be the first to ask what in Merlin's beard was that?!" He yelled at me.

"Well, um, you see," I stuttered back.

"Yes," he urged.

"I got here early and decided to go to a café where I feel asleep, but a nice yet kind of strange man woke me up and reminded me I had a train I needed to catch, and I only had 3 minutes to get here before it departed, and so when I got here, it was already leaving, and I just couldn't miss the train and be stuck at my uncle's all summer, so I decided to jump into the first compartment I came to, which happened to be yours, and I just panicked okay!" I said quickly, letting the story become one huge run on sentence. Everything was quiet, and I waited for them to scream at me or hex me or something to that effect. Instead, I heard laughter. It was quiet at first, but soon it was huge. Black taking huge barking laughs, Lupin chuckling softly, Pettigrew snickering and snorting, and Potter laughing the loudest of them all. I looked up at them in surprise, but soon began to laugh myself. After a few minutes, I began to realize what I was doing. I was _laughing,_ with the M_arauders!_

The Maurauders haven't ever done anything to me personally, but I still don't particularly like them. To be honest, they all seem like a bunch of gits who just like to cause trouble. Lupin doesn't seem too bad though. Out of all of them, he seems to be the only one who's half decent. Sure Pettigrew's ok as well, but there's just something about those beady, watery eyes that just don't sit well with me. Plus, he is always stealing from other people. Homework, quills, candy, you name it, he's stolen it. Then, there's Potter. He's almost like the ring leader of the group, so, of course, he's the one who causes the most trouble. Normally it's just harmless pranks, but once he used a spell on Severus Snape that made his nostril hair grow 10 feet long and stay that way for 7 days straight with no way to reverse or stop it! By the end of the first day, Snape was tripping over his own nose hair. On top of that, he's _obsessed_ with Lily Evans, which wouldn't be a bad thing, if he didn't ask her out almost every day. I feel somewhat bad for Potter though. It must hurt getting called an arrogant toerag by the girl he loves every single time he asks her out. Then there's the biggest git of them all, Sirius Black. Black has completely mastered the art of flirting, though I think it comes naturally to him. All the girls call him the bad boy of the marauders and, because of his good looks, fawn all over him. It's disgusting. I mean I will admit that he's not a bad looking guy, but he's also an arrogant flirt who likes to lead girls on and then break their hearts. To me, that's worse than making someone have 10 foot long nose hair for a week. It just infuriates me that even after him breaking so many girls' hearts, they still throw themselves at him like a bunch of idiots. I mean the fact that he has never gone out with anyone his whole life has to tell you something.

And now, here I was, in the floor of _their_ compartment, _laughing_ with them! I could hardly believe it, but it only took me a few seconds to make everything right again. I stopped laughing, put on a straight face, and got up off of the floor.

"Sorry 'bout that," I said looking at them all. "Seeing as we are now allowed to use magic, it will only take me a few seconds to clean it up." I brought out my wand and pointed it at the window pane which was now missing a whole lot of glass.

_Ok. All I have to do is fix this window and then I can be on my way. Ok. Here I go. _I started to wave my wand, but suddenly I realized something. I forgot what spell to use. I stood there rooted on the spot, staring blankly at the sharp edges of glass left in the window pane. _Oh no! What's the spell?! I remember we learned it in our first year charms class. Oh, think Jessalyn, think!_ That's when I heard it, laughing. I don't know which one started it, but soon they were all laughing again. I could feel my cheeks heat up from embarrassment.

"You really are something aren't you!?" Potter said through his laughter.

"Oi! Remus! You're smart! Tell the girl the spell to fix the window!" Black said through his barks of laughter.

"Why don't you just tell her?" Lupin said after his fit of chuckles died down.

"'Cause I don't know what the spell is either," Black said back, still laughing.

"Honestly. It's a first year spell. Quite easy to remember," Lupin said exasperatedly.

"Oh come on Mooney! You know that I don't pay attention in charms, or in any class really," Black replied, showing his perfect, white smile.

"Of course not. You're too busy checking out the girls." It came out of my mouth before I could stop it. It was quiet, almost a whisper, but it was still loud enough to be heard. Loud enough for _him_ to hear. Black turned his head towards me, his eyes wide in shock.

"Sorry. I don't believe I caught your name," he said, looking at me with his striking, grey eyes which were still opened quite wide.

"That's 'cause I didn't say my name," I replied, gathering up the courage to stare back at him with my own dark, blue eyes. "It would seem that you pay as much attention here as you do in the classroom." I heard a few chuckles coming from Potter as I continued to stare at Black.

"And what's your excuse?" he finally said back.

"My excuse?"

"Yes. How come you don't remember the spell. Obviously you didn't pay much attention in class either," he said as he continued to look me straight in the eye.

"Well, I found it more benefitting to catch up on my sleep than learn about some charm that will only help me in situations like this, and I don't plan on jumping into a moving train through a compartment window again," I said, somewhat shocked at my new found courage and smart mouthed attitude. Suddenly, Black started to laugh, then Potter, then Lupin, and then Pettigrew. They were all laughing because of me, because of something I said. I made the Marauders laugh _three_ times because of something that _I_ did! What was going on around here!?

"First, you break into our compartment, through the window no less! Then, you can't remember a first year spell, and then you give me a smart mouthed attitude! James was right! You truly are something!" Black said, laughing as he did so.

"Um, yeah. I guess." This was definitely not the reaction I was expecting. "So, what's the spell to fix this thing Lupin?" I asked, pointing to the shards of glass still littering the floor of the compartment.

"It's reparo," Lupin said, smiling at me as he did so.

"Right, thanks," I said back as I once again pointed my wand at the glassless window pane. "Reparo!" Suddenly, all the small shards of broken glass came together to fit like puzzle pieces in the window pane. "Alright. Well, I'll be going now." I put my wand back into my pocket and picked up my trunk. I was just about to open the compartment door when-

"Wait!" It was Potter this time. "Why don't you just stay here, with us?" He asked, smiling at me.

"Yeah! Great idea Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed. "We could always use a fun, pretty girl like you around!" He said as he flashed me his shiny, white smile and winked.

_Ew._

"Um, no. I don't think that, that would be a very good idea," I said back.

"Why not?" It was Pettigrew this time.

"Because it just wouldn't. Now if you'll excuse me I really-"

"It's no use," Lupin said as he looked out the now fixed window.

"Excuse me?"

"Seeing as you're the last person on the train, every compartment will be filled by now except one. The only one with any room being ours," he said, still looking out the window. "Not only that, but I'm not so sure that people are going to want to share their compartment with the crazy girl who jumped through a window into a moving train." At this he looked back at me, smiling slightly.

"Oh. I guess I didn't really think about that." I said, frowning in return.

"Cheer up! I'll let you sit on my lap if you want," Sirius said as he flashed me another one of his smiles.

_This is going to be a very long train ride for sure._

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I set down my cards quickly and breathed a sigh of relief when they didn't explode. We had been playing exploding snap for hours now. Lupin had won once, Black twice, Pettigrew none, and me and Potter both had won three times. This was the tie-breaker game. The loser would buy the winner whatever candy they wanted from the trolley. I don't know how I ended up in a situation like this, but I must say that I was somewhat enjoying it. To get the chance to wipe that smirk off of Potter's face would be priceless. Not to mention making him buy me candy. It was a dream come true.

"Your going down girly," Potter said, setting down his cards.

"Oh really now?" I set down my last pair of cards, praying that they didn't explode. Suddenly, Potter's cards exploded in his face and I was victorious. "Yes!" I screamed.

"And the winner is, um," Sirius was holding up my arm and looking slightly confused.

"What?" I asked, looking at him.

"Well, I still didn't get your name," he said, grinning sheepishly at me.

"It's Jessalyn. Jessalyn McClendon," I replied as I smiled at him. Wait a minute. Did I just smile at _Sirius Black_?! What is wrong with me.

_I'll just get through this train ride, and then everything will go back to the way it was before_, I told myself. _They'll forget about me and I'll forget about them. That's the way it's suppose to be, that's the way it needs to be, and that's how it's going to be_. There I had convinced myself.

"Beautiful name for a beautiful girl," Sirius said, winking at me in the process. Yes, things definitely needed to go back to how they were before. "And the winner is Jessalyn!"

"That's not fair. You cheated!" Potter said pouting and crossing his arms.

"Oh, suck it up mate and just buy the girl some candy," Black said, rolling his eyes.

"Fine. Come on Jessalyn," Potter sighed as he stood up and opened the compartment door, me right behind him.

"Oh! James! Could you get me a few chocolate frogs? Oh, and some Bertie Bots Every Flavored Beans. Oh, and maybe a licorice wand too!" Pettigrew wheezed out in his nasally voice. James simply raised an eyebrow at him in return.

"You know what, I'll just come with you guys," He finally said, getting up and walking out of the compartment with us.

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**Sirius's POV**

Jessalyn, James, and Peter had just walked out of the compartment, closing the door behind them, when I turned to Remus who was right sitting next to me.

"So, what do you think about Jessalyn," I asked Remus nonchalantly.

"She seems nice. Why? Are you thinking about asking her out or something?" He replied, quirking an eyebrow at me in the process.

_Oh great. Not this again_, I thought as I stared a Remus. Remus had always been trying to get me to go out with someone since the beginning of 3rd year. He said that with me flirting with girls so much, if I didn't go out with one of them soon, it would send a bad message or something stupid like that. Of course I hadn't listened to him. Remus may be book smart, but I'm not exactly sure if he's girl smart.

"No. You know that I don't date, Mooney," I finally said back.

"I know. I know. I was just kind of hoping that you would actually be interested in a girl for once in your life," He replied, looking away from me exasperatedly.

"I have been interested in girls before," I said defensively.

"Oh, so that's why you flirt with every girl you see, but have never gone out with one?" he asked as he turned back towards me.

"Obviously I've taken some interest in a girl if I'm flirting with them." I countered.

"Oh, I see. So you take an interest in girls, just not enough to ask them out."

"Now you're getting it," I said, smiling at him. Remus just shook his head in return. "Anyway, that's not why I brought Jessalyn up. I brought her up because of her name."

"Her name?" Remus questioned, raising an eyebrow again.

"Yeah. Doesn't it sound familiar?" I replied.

"Well I would certainly hope so considering she's in our year, in our house, and she had every single class with us last year."

"Seriously? She's in our house?" I said, very surprised. Remus simply sighed. "And I was talking about her last name," I continued. "Haven't you heard it outside of school somewhere?"

"Not outside of school, no," Remus replied as he looked out the window of our compartment.

"Maybe her parents are important in the wizarding community," I said hopefully.

"No, at least not that I've heard of", he said as he watched the scenery go by. The now setting sun, shedding light onto his face.

"Oh. Ok." I sighed.

"Maybe your thinking of a name that's similar to McClendon, like McClivert. You know, the wizarding clan that lived on the Isle of Drear?" Remus supplied as he looked back at me.

"Seriously Remus? I thought that I had just said that I don't pay attention in class," I replied, frowning slightly.

"Well then, I don't know what to tell you mate. Sorry."

"It's ok," I said, still frowning slightly. I looked at the floor, deep in thought.

_McClendon. McClendon. McClendon I've heard that name before, but __where?_

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**And that is the conclusion to the second chapter of this ****fan fiction! I hope you guys liked it, and I hope I got the Marauders personalities down! It was kind of hard to do so in this chapter, but I'm hoping it will be easier in the next chapters to come! Anyway, I will try to post the next chapter soon, so please review and tell me what you guys think about the story so far! :)**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey! Thanks to those of you who are checking out my story and thanks to my new followers as well! I hope that you are liking the story so far! So, please review and tell me what you think! Thanks so much! :) Oh, and also everything is in Jessalyn's POV unless otherwise stated (like in the last chapter). Just thought ****that I would clarify that to avoid any confusion!**

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, the owner of everything Harry Potter. I am simply a huge fan who only owns the characters I have created myself.**

**Chapter 3: And We're Finally Home**

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I had just recently gotten back to the compartment, an opened box of Bertie Bot's Every Flavored Beans in one hand and a toffee flavored bean in the other. That's when I saw Hogwarts castle in the distance outside of the newly fixed window. It was dark outside and a crescent shaped moon hung low in the sky, surrounded by tiny twinkling stars.

"Wow. I hadn't realized how late it had gotten," Potter said, coming in and looking out the window as well. "We must have been playing exploding snap for longer than I thought."

"I suppose so," Lupin replied. "Well, I guess we had better put our robes on now." We all agreed and had just changed into our robes when the train stopped. We were at Hogsmead station and very, very close to Hogwarts. I smiled as I thought about finally getting to travel down the long, dark corridors once again.

"What are you smiling about?" Black asked as he looked at me curiously. "You were thinking about me weren't you?" He flashed me another one of his signature smiles and winked at me. _Ugh_.

"No," I said in return. " I'm just happy that we're finally here." I stood, finally snapping out of my daze. Potter, Lupin, and Pettigrew had already gotten their luggage down, and were heading out of the compartment and into the crowded hallway.

"Come on guys," Potter said, still standing in the compartment doorway. Wait a minute, _guys_? As in plural?

_He's probably just being polite_, I thought.

"You go on ahead," Black said. Potter raised an eyebrow, but ended up simply nodding and pushing his way into the hallway. I looked at Black curiously. "What?" he asked.

"Why didn't you go with Potter?" I said, still looking at him curiously.

"No reason. I just didn't see the point in him waiting for us, Plus, I didn't want to leave you all alone," he supplied as he reached up and got his trunk down off of the luggage rack. I could tell that he was lying. There was another reason he stayed back with me, but what was it? I finally stopped staring at him and reached up to get my trunk as well, but before I could even grab the handle, Black had already lifted my trunk off of the rack.

_Wow that was really nice of him. _Wait a minute, _nice_. Was that git actually being _nice_?!

"Um, thanks," I said, taking my trunk from him.

"No problem. _Unless_ you want to repay me with a kiss?" he said, flashing me a flirty smile. _Of course_. I simply rolled my eyes at him and started to make my way towards the still crowded hallway. "Wait!" Black said as he grabbed my arm.

"What?" I said, looking over my shoulder at him.

"Um, how was your summer?" This question caught me completely off guard, and I'm sure that Black could see the confusion on my face.

_What's he up to?_

"Fine I suppose," I replied, turning toward him, "a little boring. Why do you ask?"

"No reason. Just trying to strike up a conversation." A lie. "So, it was boring you say? You mean you didn't travel at all or go on any vacations with your _parents_?"

"Um, no. I just stayed at home."

"I see. I see. So your parents were busy with work or something?" he said, raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah. Something like that." I looked away from him. Realizing that I didn't hear any noise outside of the compartment any more, I turned around to find the hallway completely empty. "We should probably go," I said, reaching towards the compartment door and sliding it open.

"Right," Black said, following me out into the now empty hallway. We walked down the hallway and outside, the moonlight being our one and only light as we walked towards the crowd around the carriages. I figured that he would walk off to find the rest of the Marauders once we got there, but instead, he stayed right beside me.

_This is weird_, I thought. _He's obviously up to something, but I have no idea what_. We didn't speak a single word until we got into the carriage. The last carriage to be exact, and, being the last carriage, the only ones in it. Somehow I had ended up alone with Sirius Black _again._

_I should have left earlier before he could have stopped me_, I thought as I looked out the window of the thestral drawn carriage. Not many people knew that the carriages were drawn by thestrals, or at least from what I could tell they didn't. Most people wondered about how the carriages could move without horses or anything pulling them, and the few of us who knew how they could kept mostly quiet so as not to appear mental or something. I looked out at the stars in the sky. I had just found Canis Major, locating the star Sirius when the Sirius right next to me began to talk.

"So," he began. "You had said earlier that your parents were busy. What were they busy with. What's their jobs?" I looked at him, confusion crossing my face once again.

"Why the sudden interest in my family?" I asked as I scrunched my eyebrows together.

"Don't do that. You don't want your face to get stuck all scrunched up like that. I mean, you wouldn't want to ruin it with it being so pretty and all," he said, once again winking. Maybe he wasn't winking. Maybe he just had a twitch or something. _Doubtful_.

"You're avoiding the question," I replied, my face still scrunched up.

"So are you," he said as he reached over and lifted up my eyebrows with his long fingers. I quickly batted his hands away, now scowling deeply.

"I don't have to answer you if I don't want to," I said, crossing my arms and looking out the small window of the carriage again.

"And neither do I," he said, still looking at me.

"Fine," I said back. Black sighed and looked out the window on the other side of the carriage. Silence engulfed us. After a while I finally broke it.

"How was your summer?" I asked, looking towards him and instantly regretting my decision to talk.

_ Why did I ask that?! _Sirius turned his head towards me, obviously surprised that I had talked too.

"It was good," he finally replied. "Well, the end of it was anyway. The beginning was absolute hell." He looked out the window again, the moonlight washing over his handsome face. Wait a minute, _handsome?!_ What was wrong with me today. First I _smiled_ at him, then i thought that he was being _nice_, and now I thought that his face was _handsome_. Could it be that I was beginning to not think that Black was a complete git?! That I was actually beginning to, dare I say, tolerate him?! "You wanna know what the best part about this summer was though?" he asked, turning back towards me.

"What?" I said in return.

"Meeting you!" Nope. I still think he's a git.

"You didn't even meet me over the summer!" I said as I glared at his smiling face.

"Yeah I did! I met you before the term officially started, so technically I met you during summer!" He continued smiling that perfect smile of his, while I continued to glare at him. Eventually I rolled my eyes, and looked back out the window, to see the huge, stone castle of Hogwarts looming in front of me. We passed the great, iron gate, and continued to head towards the huge castle ahead. After a minute or two, the carriage stopped and Black jumped out of it. I smiled, happy to be there and happy to finally be able to get out of that carriage. I was about to jump out of the carriage myself, when Black offered me his hand. I raised my eyebrow at him to which he simply smiled back. I cautiously took his hand and let him help me down.

_Git or not, Black can be a gentleman when he wants to be_.

* * *

After pushing our way through the crowd of excited students waiting to get inside the great hall, we found the rest of the Marauders, fighting over what appeared to be the last of Pettigrew's candy.

"Really? Do you really need to fight over candy when we're about to eat?" Black sighed.

"Padfoot! Jessalyn! There you two are!" Potter exclaimed, smiling at the two of us. "And we aren't fighting over the candy, we're fighting over this!" He showed us a card. I'd seen cards like that before. They were the cards that they put in the chocolate frogs' packages. Though I have a few of them, I had never really gotten into collecting them like the Marauders obviously had.

"Let me see that!" Black exclaimed, grabbing the card from Potter's hand. Suddenly his eyes grew wide in surprise. "This is a card of the wizard Ptolemy! The rarest of all the chocolate frog cards! No one in all of Hogwarts castle has one of these!"

"I know," Potter said, snatching the card back from a now very excited Black, "and it's mine."

"No it isn't!" Pettigrew exclaimed in his nasally voice, swiping the card from James. "It was my chocolate frog box!" Pettigrew held up the chocolate frog box that he was holding.

"Yeah, that you bought with _my_ money!" Potter exclaimed as he quickly took the card back. "It's mine!"

"No," Black grabbed the card again. "It's mine," he said smiling.

"How's it yours?!" Potter and Pettigrew both asked together.

"It's mine because this is the last card I need to finish my chocolate frog card collection. While you two," he said pointing to them both,"still need Cornelius Agrippa. You know, the card that _I_ already have."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Pettigrew exclaimed, his round face becoming increasingly red. "It's mine!" he cried, grabbing the card.

"No it's mine!" Potter grabbed it back.

"No, it's mine!" Black grabbed it this time.

"No, it's mine," Lupin said, finally having enough of the argument and deciding to intervene. He grabbed the card from Black and quickly put it down his trousers. "There. Now, if you want it back, I expect you all to calmly and rationally talk it out amongst yourselves." They all stared at him wide eyed, their mouths hanging open, speechless, until-

"What the hell man?!" Black yelled at Lupin, still wide eyed.

"I don't even know if I want it any more," Pettigrew said, defeatedly.

"Well, I still want it," Potter said as he began to come towards a now very frightened Lupin who began to run away into the crowd, Potter right behind him. Using, this moment, I quietly slipped away from the quarreling Marauders and into the crowd of students.

_There, now they'll forget about me and I'll forget about them._ I smiled contently, happy for things to go back to the way they were. All of the students were now filing into the great hall, its ceiling sparkling with all the tiny stars that could be seen outside at this very moment. I was just about to go through the large doorway when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Black standing there, looking confused.

_Of course it's him._

"Can I help you?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Why'd you walk away?" he asked, concern dripping from his voice. No, I must be wrong. Why would he be concerned about _me_?

"Oh, I just thought I would go ahead and sit down," I said. It wasn't exactly a lie. I was going to go sit down, just really far away from him. Black searched my eyes for a few seconds before nodding and walking into the great hall with me, his hand still on my shoulder. We sat down next to each other at the quickly filling Gryffindor table. People talked loudly, excitement in their voices.

"So, what happened with the card?" I asked. Why I bothered to asked, I'll never know.

"Oh, James just tackled Remus to the ground and demanded that he take off his trousers to which many a girl screamed in delight," Black replied, shrugging his shoulders. "No biggie."

"Of course. And what of Pettigrew?" I asked, looking at the now thinning crowd of people entering the great hall.

"Oh, he rolled over there and tried to push James off of Lupin. Which, he completely failed at by the way."

"How so?"

"James pushed him to the ground and made him land on his butt which contained his last chocolate frog. He's probably still out there crying about it," Black told me, smirking as he did so.

"So you just left them and came to find me?" I asked very perplexed, my eyebrow raised once again.

"Well yeah, I didn't know where you went." I scoffed at this."What?" he said confused.

"Nothing, it's just, you act like we're friends or something, Black."

"Well, we are. Aren't we?" I looked at him, my eyes wide at the fact that he would even suggest such a thing. I was about to set him straight, when I heard what sounded like a shriek and the quick pattering of feet coming towards us. Well, towards Black.

"Sirius!" a high-pitched voice cried. I had heard that voice before, that annoying high-pitched voice. And suddenly, I knew who it was.

"Cindy!" Sirius cried back as she wrapped her tan arms around his neck. That girl with the banshee scream is Cindy Sanders, the prettiest girl at Hogwarts, or so people say. She has dark brown hair and dark green eyes, but they're the type of green that people could get lost in with their many speckles of hazel. Not only that, but she also has a great figure. I don't know if she gets it from working out all the time or not eating or just really good genes, but it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that she's the type of girl that all the boys go crazy for. I could confirm this by the look on Black's face as she put her tan face right next to his pale one, her arms still wrapped around him.

_Well, at least she stopped me and Black's conversation. _I gave a sigh of relief and that's when she looked at me. Well, more like glared at me.

"Jessalyn! What are _you_ doing _here_?!" she said in her fakest, sweet voice.

"I'm sitting here obviously," I replied, crossing my arms. She moved from her spot behind Black and squeezed right in between us.

"Now you're not," she replied, making each word come out sickly sweet. I didn't care if she wanted to sit next to Black. What I cared about was the fact that she would push me off to the side like rotting meat or something. I glared at her, wishing that lasers would come out of my eyes at this very moment.

"So, Sirius, how was your summer?" she asked, turning to him and giving him a smile so large that you could count every single one of her white teeth.

"It was great! How was yours?" he replied, smiling right back at her. Wait, that's not what Black told me when I asked him the same question. I glanced at Black to see him looking back at me as Cindy told him all about her partying days down in the Bahamas.

_Why did he lie to her, or did he lie to me?_

"then after chugging all that firewhiskey, he took the lifeguard and threw him in the water! I mean who does that?! So then,"

"Cindy! We've been looking everywhere for you!" I looked in front of me to see Lily Evans and Alice Prewett on the other side of the table. I had to suppress a groan from escaping my mouth. Lily Evans and Alice Prewett, well, Alice was nice and Lily was nice most of the time, but they were also highly annoying. Alice was always so timid and emotional over _everything_, One time in transfiguration, she refused to turn the rat she had into a cup even though Professor McGonagall ensured her it wouldn't hurt it. Then when Professor McGonagall tried to demonstrate to her she ran crying from the room. And then there's Lily. Like I said Lily's nice, but if you get on her bad side, like poor Potter had, then she's not. Plus, she's always criticizing other people for not doing things the way that she does them. Not only that, but she hung out with that slime ball Severus Snape until last year when he called her a mudblood, and when your best friend used to be a slime ball slytherin, well that just doesn't sit right with me. Maybe the main reason I don't like them is because they are best friends with Cindy and the fact that I have to share a dorm with them. Let's just say, being shut up with 3 annoying, squealing girls just isn't for me.

"Oh, Lily! Alice! I was just catching up with Sirius!" Cindy squealed, smiling as she did so. I rolled my eyes once again. Lily and Alice must have seen me because suddenly, they were staring at me, very confusedly if I might add.

"Oh, hi Jessalyn," Alice finally said.

"Hello Alice, Lily," I said in return. Lily simply nodded in reply.

"You guys look so surprised! I must say, I was too! It's not every day that you see Jessalyn McClendon not hiding in a corner somewhere!" Cindy laughed her cute, little laugh, though to me, it sounded like a witch's laugh.

"I don't _hide in corners_," I said, glaring daggers at her.

"Oh. So what do you do then? Go off somewhere and dream about the day you'll get a boyfriend even though you know that day will never come," she replied in that sickly sweet voice of hers.

"Cindy, don't you think that's a little harsh?" Black spoke up. Suddenly Cindy whirled around to face Black once again. She smiled at him.

"Oh, Sirius! I was only joking with her! Wasn't I Jessalyn?" she asked, looking back at me with her green eyes in what appeared to be a threatening way.

"Yeah, sure," I replied, too tired to argue anymore.

"See!" she said, smiling at Sirius for what must have been the 100th time by now. "Now what were we talking about earlier before we were so rudely interrupted?" She turned to glare at Lily and Alice. Alice shrank back while Lily simply glared right back at her. That's one good thing about Lily. She wont take anyones crap even if it is Cindy's. "Oh yeah! So then my dad finds out and he got so mad! I mean it's not like I'm the only one who went skinny dipping or anything!" I was just about to get up and walk to the other end of the table, tired of being in Cindy's presence, when Lupin came running through the great hall towards us, nearly pushing over Lily and Alice in the process.

"Jessalyn!" he cried. Then he looked over at Sirius who was pretending to listen to Cindy's story about her parents trying to take her new broomstick away. (As if she actually uses it.) He turned back towards me. "Here! Take this card and don't tell anyone you have it!" he whispered. He quickly slipped the card under the table. "Take it!"

"Ew, gross. There's no way I'm touching that," I replied, wrinkling my nose at him.

"You have to!" he said, still whispering. "My life depends on it!" Just then Potter ran in.

"Remus!" he yelled. "Take off your trousers and give me that card!" He ran straight towards Lupin and me.

"Please," Lupin begged.

"Fine," I sighed. Lupin quickly handed me the card. I put it in the pocket of my robe just as Potter had reached Lupin.

"I don't have it," he said as he put up his hands.

"Yeah right! Just take of your trousers and give it to me!" Potter yelled. Then he looked next to Remus and saw Lily and Alice standing there, both looking quite shocked. Suddenly, his face turned a bright red color as he opened and closed his mouth, obviously trying to say something.

"L-l-l-lily!" he finally stammered out. "I um, didn't see you there! Um, funny story actually hehe. Um you see-"

"Save it Potter," Lily cut him off. "I don't want to know, nor do I care what a toerag like you does in his spare time."

"No! No! It's not like that!" But Potter didn't get to explain what happened, as the sorting hat was brought out and placed on the stool at the front of the great hall. Everyone sat down and got quiet, along with Pettigrew who had just come in, wheezing and panting. And, of course, he sat down next to me.

_Great_, I thought as I tried to not breathe in the sweaty odorous smell that he was giving off.

* * *

I barely paid attention to the sorting hat's song, as I was too busy trying not to breathe in Pettigrew's disgusting sweat fumes. I did catch a few words of it however. It said something about a terrible war and great sacrifices to come or something like that. Of course I knew what it was talking about though. Well, everyone did. It was talking about the great Wizarding War. The great Wizarding War is basically just a war between a group of people calling themselves Death Eaters and the aurors who are trying to stop them from doing any more of their villainous acts. The worst thing they had done so far had been when they killed a whole neighborhood full of muggles. The Death Eaters are definitely very evil, but they aren't really seen as an army. They're seen more as a gang of sorts, so most people aren't that worried about them. If they knew what I knew though, they would be.

After the sorting hat's song, the small first years lined up in between the tables, waiting to be sorted. Some looked very excited, while most looked terribly frightened. I barely paid attention as the first one to be sorted, a small girl with red hair, came up to the stool and sat down. The sorting hat was placed on her head, and after a while screamed out Ravenclaw. Everyone clapped while a few of the Ravenclaws hooted and whistled. After the fourth or fifth one to be sorted, I felt as though I was about to fall asleep when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked next to me to see Cindy leaned over, whispering in Black's ear, him smiling the whole time. I rolled my eyes.

_Yet another reason to hate Black. _Then, when Black leaned over to whisper something in Cindy's ear, he smiled at me and winked. I rolled my eyes again and looked away as he continued to smile at me.

_I swear, if I keep rolling my eyes this much they're gonna end up popping out of my head. _Then, once all of the first years had been sorted, Dumbledore got up to give his yearly welcome speech.

"Welcome everybody to another wonderful year at Hogwarts! It's so good to see all of your cheerful faces, both new and old," he said, his blue eyes twinkling and a small smile plastered onto his face. "I'm glad that all of you could make it here, though some might have used more unconventional ways to get on the train." He cast his eyes on me and smiled. Soon everyone's eyes were on me. I could feel my face heating up from all of the attention and simply stared down at my feet. "Now, enough talking. I hope you all learn a lot and have fun this year! On to the feast!" Suddenly, piles of food appeared on the tables which were empty just a few seconds ago. I could hear a few of the first years gasp as I piled my plate with food. I was just about to take a bite out of the lamb chop in my hand when Cindy turned to me.

"That idiot who jumped through the window was you?!" She said, her perfect eyebrows raised. I nodded. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised," she scoffed.

"Wow! It really was you!" Lily said in disbelief. "When we heard that somebody had jumped through one of the windows, we started to take bets on who it was. We were all too scared to find out exactly who did it though, in case it was some mental kid. Alice had actually bet on you though." I turned to Alice, surprised that she would even remember me when making this bet.

"Why me?" I asked her as she looked away.

"Well, just 'cause I knew that it would have to be someone pretty gutsy and brave to do something like that, and you were the first person to come to mind," she said, still looking away.

_Gutsy? Brave? Is she sure she's talking about the right person?_

"More like pretty stupid and mental if you ask me," Cindy laughed.

"Too bad nobody asked you, huh?" I said back, finally taking a bite out of my lamb chop. I could hear everyone around me chuckle except Cindy who simply crossed her arms and looked back at her still empty plate.

"So, Lily," Potter said after a few minutes. "About the whole Remus trousers thing-"

"Haven't I already told you that I don't care Potter?" she said, not looking up as she cut her steak.

"I know, but look, I didn't mean it like that. You see, in the carriage ride to the castle, Peter opened his chocolate frog package and it turns out it contained a really rare card, so Peter and I started to fight over it because I bought it and all. Remus tried to stop us, but-"

"What about Sirius?" Cindy said, interrupting Potter this time. "I know that he collects those chocolate frog cards as well, so where was he when all of this happened?"

"Hm? Oh he stayed back with Jessalyn. So, as I was saying-"

"What?!" Cindy cried out. Then she put her sickly sweet smile on and looked towards Black. "Sirius, why would you do such a silly thing?"

"Yeah Sirius," Potter said, finally giving up on telling his story. "You stay back for a little snog session with Jessalyn or something?" He smiled. Suddenly, I choked on the juice I had just been drinking, to which Pettigrew reached over and patted me on the back.

"E-exuse me?" I finally said, still coughing.

"I said, did you two stay back and sn-"

"No! Don't say it again!" I said looking back at Potter wide-eyed. I looked over to Cindy who sat there with her mouth opened wide and to Sirius who was laughing loudly.

"What can I say. She couldn't resist me," he said, looking over at me and smiling.

"Yeah right," I scoffed. I looked at Cindy again to see her giving me a look so nasty that it would make even a troll cringe. Then she turned back to Sirius and put another one of her huge smiles on.

"Oh, Sirius! I never got to finish my story earlier!" She turned completely towards him, so that her back was blocking me from Black. It was obvious that she was trying to prevent me from talking to him.

_As if I would want to._ The rest of the feast was merely Potter trying to flirt with Lily, Cindy and Sirius flirting, and Lupin trying to inform Pettigrew of all the health conditions he would gain if he continued to eat like he did. Afterwards, we all walked towards the Griffindor common room, where we obtained our trunks we left outside the great hall, and went upstairs to our dormitories. I walked to my four poster bed and plopped down on it, happy to finally be awy from the Marauders

_If only I could get away from them__, _I thought, looking towards Cindy who was telling Lily and Alice every single word she spoke to Black at the feast. I turned over and smiled, looking up at the ceiling. I had just realized something. I was finally at Hogwarts. I was finally home.

* * *

**And there it! This chapter took a while for me to make, so I hope that you enjoy it! So, as you can see in this chapter, Jessalyn _really_ doesn't like Sirius. Perhaps she'll have a change of heart soon, or perhaps not. You'll have to read to find out! I will try to post the next chapter very soon! Anyway, thanks for reading and be sure to follow and review! :)**


	5. Chapter 4

**Thanks to my new reviewers Ravenna nightxxx and Aqua444 and to those of you following and reading this story! :)**

**Disclaimer: I never have nor will I ever own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling owns it all while all I own are my original characters.**

**Chapter 4: And it's Time to Visit the Owlery**

* * *

Even though I felt as though I was about to pass out from exhaustion, I still had to go see Canopus. I had promised him that I would visit him after all, and I couldn't just break a promise I had made to my only friend. So, I laid in my bed, pretending to be asleep, as I waited for Cindy to stop telling Lily and Alice about how cute Sirius was for what must have been the 1000th time.

"-and the way he said my name and would glance over at me every so often must mean that he likes me!" Cindy squealed.

"What about what Potter said about Sirius and Jessalyn snogging?" Lily asked, exhaustion evident in her voice.

"Shhhh! She's right there you know!" Alice whispered, hurriedly. Then I heard footsteps coming towards my bed. I laid completely still as the footsteps stopped right next to me. Then, I heard the subtle sound of a curtain moving, as somebody looked at what appeared to be my sleeping form. Then the person closed the curtain again and walked back to the other side of the room.

_Could they tell that I was pretending?_ I didn't care that they were talking about me. What I cared about was what they thought was going on between Black and me, and whether or not there's an even bigger target on my back now than there was before.

"She's fast asleep, and even if she was awake, why would you care?" I heard Cindy's voice again and the squeak of springs as somebody sat on a bed, probably Cindy's.

"Well, I just don't want to be mean to her," Alice squeaked out.

"You mean you don't want to be mean to her face. I see how you are Alice. You pretend to be nice to everyone and then talk about them behind their backs," Cindy scoffed.

"That's not true!" Alice said louder than before. "I just don't see why we need to be mean to Jessalyn all the time. I mean, what has she ever done to us?" Alice whispered.

"Does it matter? What matters is that she's weird and I don't like her," Cindy said back, probably rolling her eyes as well.

"So just because you don't like her, we aren't suppose to?!" Alice said, trying to keep her voice low, but failing.

"Well if you like her so bloody much then why don't you just hang out with her. But if you do, I must warn you, I won't associate myself with you any more. I also won't be able to ensure that nobody will be mean or pick on you either." I heard Alice squeak and then there was silence. After a while I had started to think that maybe they had all gone to bed. I was just about to get up when I heard Cindy's high-pitched voice once again.

"I must say Alice," she began, "I'm quite surprised that you've been harboring these thoughts for such a long time. I may not always be the nicest, but at least I'm honest with people."

"That's enough Cindy!" Lily exploded. I heard Cindy gasp, obviously surprised at Lily's outburst. Then Alice broke out into sobs. I could hear Lily trying to comfort her as Cindy forcefully shut the curtains to her bed.

_And they still think that I'm asleep?_ I thought, somewhat amused. _Nobody could sleep through all of this racket._ After what felt like forever, Alice's quiet sobs finally stopped and I could hear Lily snoring. Knowing that they were all asleep, I opened the curtains to my bed and got down slowly, not wanting to wake them. I put my house slippers on and tied a bath robe around me. Then I quickly and quietly opened the door to our room and slipped outside. As soon as I had shut the door to the room, I bolted down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Once i got to the common room, I looked around to make sure that nobody was there. Seeing no one, I then quietly pushed open the portrait of the fat lady who gasped in surprise.

"More of you? Gosh! Don't you kids ever sleep?" she said as I closed the portrait back. Wait, _more_? I was just about to ask her what she meant, when I heard footsteps coming towards me. I quickly hid behind the nearest tapestry I could find. The footsteps kept coming until they stopped right in front of me. I could feel my hands grow sweaty as I stopped breathing, trying to be as quiet as I possibly could.

"Thought I heard something," the person in front of me mumbled after a while. It was the voice of a boy, probably a Prefect. Then, I heard the boy walk down the staircase leading away from the Gryffindor common room and away from me. I didn't dare move until I was absolutely sure he was gone. Minutes went by until I moved out from behind the tapestry. I sighed, realizing that I needed to get to the owlery quick before I got caught.

The owlery was on the complete opposite end of Hogwarts castle, with its entrance being through a door on the seventh floor. It would take me a while to get there, so I began running quietly down the stairs and through the hallways. I had just reached the seventh floor when I heard what sounded like the meowing of a cat. I looked down to see Filch's cat Mrs. Norris. Then I heard it. It was Filch!

"Students out during curfew?!" Filch's raspy voice came out, sounding very excited. I was just about to run down the stairs, away from Filch and his stupid cat, when somebody grabbed me from behind. A large hand was placed over my mouth before I could cry out and I felt some sort of soft fabric go over me. I was about to bite the hand that was just placed over my mouth when I saw Filch turn the corner, his face alight with happiness. He ran to Mrs. Norris who continued to meow at us.

"Where are the students?" Filch asked, looking around as his smile began to fade. "Hm. Maybe they went down the stairs?" Filch then grabbed Mrs. Norris and walked right by us, not even looking in our direction.

_You mean he couldn't see us?_ Wait a minute, _us_? That's when I remembered the large hand covering my mouth which I promptly bit.

"Ow!" somebody yelped. "Dang, you've got a hard bite there!" the person said as they shook their hand out.

_Hold on! I know that voice!_ I turned my head around to see Sirius Black along with Peter Pettigrew and James Potter all smiling down at me. Well, except for Black who was grimacing in pain. That's when I realized something. Sirius Black had been the one to grab me from behind and now he's standing here holding me. Wait! Sirius Black was holding me?! I quickly stomped on his foot and turned around, pushing him away from me.

"Ow! What the hell, woman?!" he cried out, now holding his hurt foot.

"What the hell to you too!" I yelled as I glared at him.

"Shh! Don't let Filch hear you!" Pettigrew whispered back. I turned my glare on him now, making him recoil in fear.

"How did you-?!" I said, more quietly this time, but with anger still in my voice.

"How did we what? Make it where Filch couldn't see you?" Potter asked somewhat proudly. "Why we used this of course!" He said as he lifted something off from around us. Then, he stuck his hand out to show me what appeared to be some sort of cloak.

_Oh, so that's the fabric that I felt._

"That still doesn't explain why Filch couldn't see us," I said as I crossed my arms.

"Oh, but doesn't it?" Black said, not holding his foot anymore and smiling at me. He then took the cloak from Potter and threw it over himself. Suddenly he disappeared, except for his feet.

"You mean you guys have an invisibility cloak?!" I said in awe. "Oh, and I can still see your feet by the way."

"Right, sorry," Black replied as he laughed sheepishly. "I sometimes forget that I've grown taller since first year." He must have bent down because then he was completely invisible, feet gone and all. I jumped as I felt someone grab me around the waist from behind.

"Scare you, love?" Black's deep voice said in my ear. I quickly jumped away from him and whirled around to see the three Marauders laughing.

"I thought you said to keep quiet?" I said, crossing my arms and scowling.

"Your right. Sorry!" Potter laughed out, more quietly this time. I simply sighed, turning on my heel and heading down the hallway, away from them.

"Hey where are you going?!" Black called to me.

"Away from you three," I replied as I turned a corner. I heard the sound of feet running after me.

_Of course_. I turned to the three marauders who were now next to me.

"Can I help you?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at the three.

"We wanna come with you!" Potter said as he smiled at me.

"No," I said quickly. Then, I began to walk even faster down the dark corridor towards the owlery.

"Why not?" Potter asked sounding somewhat disappointed.

"Because," I said, not turning to look at him.

"Oh, good argument," Black said this time. I turned to glare at him to find him smiling back at me._ Ugh._ We had just reached the end of the corridor and were facing the large wooden door to the owlery when I stopped suddenly.

"Why do you want to hang out with me so badly?" I asked, turning to look at them. They all seemed somewhat taken aback by my question. Then, they looked at each other before turning back to face me.

"Because we like you!" Black replied, smiling as he looked back at me.

"What?" Now _I_ was the one taken aback by what _they_ said.

"He said that we like you," Potter replied as he grinned down at me.

"You guys like me?" I asked, still surprised by what they said. I figured that my constant glares, eye rolls, and attempts to get away from them would have driven them off, but here they were still wanting to be around me. Not only that, but they said that they _liked me_?!

"Of course!" Pettigrew replied, now smiling at me.

"But, why?!" I asked very astonished. Even _Pettigrew_ liked me?!

"'Cause your funny," Potter began.

"And pretty," Black continued.

"And really nice!" Pettigrew finished.

_Wait, funny?! Pretty?! Nice?! They must be playing a trick on me. They're probably about to throw something at me, or shout April Fools or something! Right?! _But as I looked at their smiling faces, I could tell that they were being serious. There I stood, simply staring at the three still smiling Marauders, at a complete loss of words. I felt like an idiot as I let my mouth hang open in utter surprise and shock. After what felt like forever, I finally squeaked out one word.

"Wow." I said very quietly. So, quietly in fact, I bet that they didn't even hear me. I cleared my throat. "Well, I guess if you guys _really _want to come with me, you can," I said as I looked away from them. I could see them out of the corner of my eye, smiling even wider than they were before. Finally getting over the shock of what just happened, I opened the door to the owlery and walked in, the Marauders right behind me.

"What are you going to do in here?" Black asked, looking around at all of the owls perched in their nest. "You didn't have an owl with you when you boarded, I mean _jumped_ into the train." He grinned at me. I could feel the corners of my mouth turn up as I looked back at him.

_Did I just smile at him again?_

"My owl flew here," I said, quickly looking away from him.

"Why?" Pettigrew asked just as a large snow owl flew in front of him, almost knocking him down the spiral staircase that we had just begun to ascend. Luckily Potter grabbed him just in the nick of time.

"Because I'm not really supposed to have an owl," I replied as I continued to climb the old wooden staircase.

"Oh. Is it because your parents are muggles?" Black asked somewhat enthusiastically as he climbed up the stairs behind me.

"No, they're wizards," I said back.

"Oh, I see," Black replied as we got to the top of the stairs which led to a small landing. I stepped out onto the landing and walked over to a small, brown barn owl. Canopus was still wide awake and hooted as he saw me. I grinned at him.

"Hi boy," I said, stroking his head with my finger. I held out my hand, which the small owl then jumped on. "James, Black, Pettigrew, meet my owl Canopus!" I held Canopus out to them, smiling. Suddenly, the owl jumped from my hand and flew around before finally perching himself on Black's shoulder. Canopus nuzzled his head against Black's face as Black began to pet the bird with his finger.

"Well would you look at that," Potter said, laughing.

"You know, they say that owls are a very good judge of character," Black said, grinning down at me.

"I'm pretty sure they say that about dogs," I corrected him, the corner of my mouth turning up slightly.

"Well, I'm sure it applies to owls too," he replied as he continued to pet Canopus who hooted softly. I shook my head but still continued to smile slightly.

* * *

Somehow, after getting tired of watching Sirius pet Canopus, we ended up sitting on the floor of the small platform of the owlery, being sure to avoid owl droppings, and began to talk about quidditch. We had just started talking about the Chudley Cannons versus the Falmouth Falcons, when James turned towards me.

"I never knew that you liked quidditch so much, Jessalyn." I looked back at him and shrugged my shoulders.

"Yeah. It's a fun pastime. Sometimes I'll even think up quidditch plays when I get bored or something," I replied.

"Have you ever played before?" Sirius asked me, still stroking Canopus's head.

"I used to when I was younger, but that was a long time ago," I said, now looking at him.

"You sound like an old man or something," Sirius said laughing.

"Do not!" I said defensively.

"Do too!" He poked me on the forehead this time. He continued to laugh along with James and Peter. After a while, I began to simply smile back at him. I had finally realized something about Sirius. When he flirts, it's sort of like him joking around or playing with you. That's why he flirts with every girl he meets. He's just trying to get them to laugh. It still doesn't excuse his flirting, but it does make him seem somewhat less of a git.

_Wow, I've certainly changed in the last hour_, I thought. _And had I been referring to them by their first names now?_

"You should try out for the team this year!" Sirius exclaimed, instantly snapping me out of my thoughts. "If you make it, which I know you will, you'll be on the team with me and Prongs here!" He nudged James who smiled at me and nodded.

"Well thanks for the offer, but I'll pass," I replied as I shook my head.

"Why not? If it's because of the captain, Daniel Baker, then don't worry. Sure he might be a huge git, but he's still a good captain and all. Plus-"

"No that's not it," I cut him off and looked away from his striking, grey eyes.

"What is it then?" he asked, still looking at me. I hugged my knees to my chest as I continued to look away from him.

"Well, if you haven't exactly noticed, I don't really put myself out there. It's not that I care what people think of me or anything. It's just that, I don't exactly like to have a lot of attention on me."

"Well you're going to have to stop that," Sirius said somewhat sternly as he stopped petting Canopus. I looked at him, surprised in his sudden change of voice. "You can't let other people run your life. If you want to try out for quidditch then you should try out for quidditch." I continued to look at him for a while, still somewhat surprised.

"Ok. Maybe I will then," I finally replied. Sirius smiled at me, his grey eyes twinkling. After a while, I smiled back at him.

_I really have changed_.

"Oh, by the way, where's Remus?" I asked, remembering that one of the Marauders was missing.

"He's on his Prefect duties," James replied, reaching over to pet Canopus while Sirius took a break.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot that he was a Prefect," I replied as I watched Canopus coo slightly. "Wait a minute, why wasn't he in one of the Prefect compartments during the train ride?"

"We convinced him to pretend that he wasn't feeling well and needed to lie down," Sirius said, going back to pet Canopus as well.

"How'd you do that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Remus may be a trouble making Marauder, but ever since he became a prefect, he'd stopped participating in as many of the Marauder's schemes. He had actually started to take the job somewhat seriously. That's why it's surprising that he wouldn't go to the Prefect's compartments to fulfill his duties.

"We might have told him that if he didn't, we were going to tell everyone who he fancies," James replied, looking away somewhat guiltily.

"Wait, Remus _fancies_ someone. As in _really fancies_ someone?" All three of them nodded. "Wow. That's surprising. Is it someone in another house?" I asked, not expecting them to give me a straight answer.

"Yeah! He fancies Laurie Jamenson from Ravenclaw," Peter ended up replying. James and Sirius glared at him, making him jump back slightly. He put out his hand to steady himself and ended up putting it in owl crap. _Ew_.

"Don't worry," I said, bringing Sirius and James's attention back to me. "I won't tell anyone."

_As if I had anyone to tell._

"Thanks. Oh, and could you please not tell anyone else about the whole invisibility cloak thing?" James asked, smiling sheepishly. "I would rather people not know about it. I mean it is how we get around the castle at night without getting caught."

"Sure. No problem," I said back to them. "Wait a minute. Isn't Lily Evens a Prefect too?" I asked. As soon as I said her name James perked up. _Oh dear._

"What about Lily?" he asked quickly.

"Um, she's a prefect right? If so, why isn't she out doing her Prefect duties and patrolling the hall? She was asleep in our room when I left there."

"Oh, that's because Lily and Remus take turns on their prefect duties. Lily does one week while Remus does the next," Sirius supplied.

"Oh. Is that allowed?"

"Dumbledore allows it. He was actually the one who suggested it," Sirius said back.

"Oh really? I wonder why he would do that for them, but not anyone else?" Now I was curious. There must be a reason why Dumbledoor would do that. Sure he was random, but he always had a reason behind everything he did.

"It's because of Lupin's condition," Peter said in his nasally voice. Sirius and James glared at him even harder than they did last time. This time Peter almost fell off of the platform.

"What condition?" I said slowly, looking between them all.

"He, um, wets his bed at night!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Huh?"

"Yeah!" James continued. "He's a real bad bed wetter. Actually, it's so bad that he doesn't even want to go to sleep!"

"Then why does he only do his Prefect duties every other week? Why not every week?" I asked, knowing that they were obviously lying.

"Because he only wets the bed every other week!" Peter said. We all looked at him in confusion. "What?" he asked as he looked back at us.

"Right," I finally said, not convinced at all. "Well, this has been fun and all guys, but I think it's about time we went to bed. Unless of course, you have to finish whatever it was you were doing before you found me?"

"Oh we were just going out for a stroll," Sirius said as he smiled at me. "But, I think you're right. I'm getting pretty sleepy myself." He yawned to prove his point. Then he got up and walked over to Canopus's perch which was filled with straw and small animal bones. "Well there you go birdy. You said his name was Canopus right?" he asked, looking towards me.

"Yup." I nodded.

"Wait, I think I'm remembering something from astronomy class, the one class I somewhat paid attention to. Isn't Canopus a star or something?" he asked as he held out his hand for Canopus to jump on.

"Yeah. The second brightest star in the night sky." Turns out, I'd paid attention in astronomy too.

"I knew it! Well, sorry to break it to you little birdy, but Sirius is still the brightest star isn't it?" he said, putting the owl right up to his face. Suddenly, Canopus lunged forward and nipped Sirius's nose with his beak. "Ow!" Sirius yelped. I laughed along with the other two Marauders who hadn't just gotten their faces nipped by an owl.

"You were right Sirius! Owls are a good judge of character!" I said in between my fits of laughter. This was the most I'd laughed in a long time. Sirius looked at me slightly surprised as he stood there holding his nose. Then, he smiled and began laughing along with us.

There I stood. Laughing with the Marauders once again, but this time I didn't try to stop. I didn't question it either. I simply continued to laugh.

* * *

**So, it looks like Jessalyn is warming up to the Marauders somewhat! Of course they still aren't exactly friends, but they're close to it! Oh, and about the owlery and its location. The Harry Potter movies depicted the owlery outside, not connected to Hogwarts castle, but in the book it's actually connected to it on the 7th floor near the Room of ****Requirement. Just thought that I should clarify that. Anyway, thinks for reading and please review and follow! :)**


	6. Chapter 5

**So once again I would like to thank those of you who are reviewing, following, and reading this story! It means a lot! Also, I'm sorry for the late update. School just started, so I've been really busy with homework, dance, softball, and all that stuff! So, from now on, I'm going to try and update at least once ****every week! Hopefully that will work out well! Anyway, I hope you like this chapter! :)**

**Disclaimer: Seeing as I'm not rich, famous, or J.K. Rowling, I don't own the Harry Potter series. The only thing that I own are my original characters!**

**Chapter 5: And it's Quidditch Time!**

* * *

I didn't get much sleep that night for multiple reasons. Reason #1: The Marauders and I didn't get back to the Gryffindor common room until almost three in the morning. Reason #2: Once I did get to bed, I kept wondering what Remus's condition was, as I was sure that it wasn't bed wetting. And reason #3: When I would stop thinking about Remus's condition, I would start to think about what the other Marauders said about liking me. I came up with all sorts of answers to both. By the time, I had gotten to the great hall for breakfast that morning, I had decided that Remus had delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS) and that the Marauders were really tired and delusional when they told me that they liked me.

_Yes, that must be it. We were both completely out of it. That's why I did what I did and they did what they did_, I told myself. There was still this small part of me that told me that I was wrong, but I pushed it to the back of my mind, not wanting to hear from it. I had just sat down at the almost empty Griffindor table when someone sat down right next to me. I turned my head to see Sirius, smiling back at me.

"What are you doing up so early for?" I asked as I reached for a piece of toast. _And why are you sitting next to me?!_

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied. He reached over to get some bacon.

"I asked you first," I countered, now buttering the toast in my hand.

"Peter's snoring woke me up," he replied as he munched on the bacon in his hand. "I know a lot of people snore loudly, but Peter's is like a bloody whale! And when he's not snoring, he's whistling through his nose! I have no idea how I've dealt with it for the past five years!" He reached for another piece of bacon as a slight frown etched its way onto his face.

"Reminds me of Lily," I said, biting into my now buttered toast.

"Wait a minute, Evans snores?!" Sirius asked, surprised. "Wow! Wait 'till James hears about this! Is that why your up so early?" he asked, chuckling slightly.

"No. I just couldn't sleep," I replied, now reaching for some orange juice.

"Ah! You must have been thinking about me then," he replied, giving me one of his signature smiles and winking.

"What do you want, Sirius?" I sighed, realizing that I was still calling him by his first name.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he turned towards me, confusion evident in his voice.

"I mean," I began, finally turning my head to look at him, "why are you sitting here?" Sirius raised one of his eyebrows

"Because I want to sit next to you," he replied, one eyebrow still raised. _Great_. My conclusion was falling through. "And I also wanted to talk to you about quidditch," he continued.

"What about it?" I asked. "You do realize that I never actually said whether I was going to play or not."

"You said maybe, and really, maybe is just a yes in disguise," he said as he smiled at me. "Anyway, tryouts are at the end of the week, so I was thinking-"

"Wait, you mean try outs are in six days? Why so early?" I interrupted him, putting down my orange juice and giving him my full attention.

"Hm? Oh, it's because it's Daniel Baker's last year at Hogwarts, and I guess he really wants to win or something," he said back.

"But you guys have won for the past three years in a row," I replied, now thoroughly confused.

"Which will make it that much more embarrassing if we lose this year," he said, still looking at me. "Anyway, as I was saying earlier before _somebody_ interrupted me," he continued, poking my forehead, "I was thinking that every day leading up to tryouts, me and you could go down to the pitch and practice after classes are out. What do you think?" He smiled his huge, perfect smile at me as though urging me to say yes.

"What about James?" I asked, still not entirely sure about the whole thing.

"Oh, he goes to the library after classes are done," Sirius replied, rolling his eyes as he did so.

"What?! I didn't even know that James knew where the library was!"

"He didn't, until he went with Remus one time and found out that Lily Evans goes there everyday, right after classes are through," Sirius replied, shaking his head. "I definitely don't want to go there and watch James gawk over some girl while Remus actually does his homework."

"What about Peter?"

"Don't particularly want to hang out with him either," Sirius replied, frowning slightly. "That's why I'm asking you to come to the pitch with me." He smiled at me once again. I was just about to reply when I heard a high-pitched, shrill voice cut through the air like a knife.

"Asking who to go where with you?" I turned around to see Cindy standing behind me.

_Can this day get any better?_

"Oh, hi Cindy!" Black said as he turned to smile at Cindy. "I was just asking Jessalyn to come practice with me for quidditch tryouts." After hearing this, Cindy turned her head to look at me, giving me the fakest smile she could muster.

"Oh really? I didn't know you were trying out for quidditch Jessalyn?" she asked as she continued to smile her huge smile.

"Well I am," I replied, seeing right past her.

"Well, isn't that just great! I was actually considering trying out as well!" As soon as she said this, I began to choke on my orange juice. Sirius reached over and began patting me on the back.

"I have a feeling you do this often," he said as he continued to pat me on the back.

"Y-you want to play quidditch?!" I finally choked out. "You do realize that, that will require actual work. You might even start to sweat."

"I'm well aware of the risks, but I want to spend more time with Sirius," Cindy replied, smiling at Sirius who had just stopped patting my back. "Won't it be fun!?"

"Yeah! We can all hang out together!" Sirius said as he smiled at us both.

"Yeah. Sounds like a blast," I bit out sarcastically. Cindy turned and glared at me as Sirius reached over for some juice. I glared right back at her, my blue eyes meeting her green ones. We stayed like that until Sirius turned back around. That's when Cindy asked the question that would ruin the rest of my day.

"Can I join you guys for your little quidditch practices?" she asked, smiling at Sirius. I wanted to scream no right then and there, but before I could, Sirius gave the answer that I'd least wanted to hear.

"Sure! Just meet us after classes are out at the pitch!" He smiled at her with his white teeth. She smiled back at him with her equally white teeth. That's when I realized that today was going to be a _long_ day.

* * *

I ended up slipping out of the great hall before most everyone got there. It was quite easy seeing how Cindy ended up squeezing herself between me and Sirius once again. Only this time, she was a mere three inches from him. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. The only exciting thing to happen was when Peter accidentally set his eyebrows on fire during potions class. Professor Slughorn put it out, but I must say, it was quite funny seeing him run around like a madmen, screaming something about how his horoscope was true or something. Who knew Peter read horoscopes.

After nearly falling asleep in almost every class, I was actually quite happy to go to my last class of the day, History of Magic. I could get all the sleep I wanted in there and not have to worry about getting in trouble. Sometimes I think that Professor Binns forgets that he's even teaching a class. I think that he's just talking to himself most of the time. I had just laid my head on my desk, not even 5 minutes into class, when I felt something hit my head. I lifted my head up to see a crumpled piece of parchment on my desk. Looking to my left and slightly behind me, I saw Sirius, his hands behind his head while he whistled. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and winked. I raised my eyebrow, but nevertheless opened the piece of parchment now in my hand.

There was a small note written at the top of the parchment. It said:

**Hey! You excited for quidditch after this?**

_Dang it. I had almost forgotten about that._ I sighed, taking out my quill and ink pot.

**If I say yes, will you leave me alone? **I quickly scribbled back. I crumpled the piece of parchment, turned around, and threw it at Sirius. I just barely missed his head. No more than ten seconds later, I felt something hit my head again. I quickly opened it and read the one word reply.

**Nope.** I turned around and glared at Sirius who simply smiled back. I turned back around and quickly wrote a simple three letter reply on the piece of parchment. I crumpled it up and threw it right at Sirius's head. It hit him square on the forehead. He rubbed his forehead and gave me a pouty face before opening the crumpled up piece of parchment. I had to suppress a laugh as he read what I wrote on the parchment. His eyes widened along with his mouth as he saw the giant word **GIT **along top it. He looked up at me and pretended to gasp while putting his hand over his mouth. I, on the other hand, had to actually put my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.

As I turned back around, I saw Cindy glaring at me out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look at her and smirked slightly as I shrugged my shoulders. Then I laid my head down on my desk and closed my eyes. I didn't open my eyes the rest of the class, no matter how hard Cindy glared at me or how many pieces of parchment Black threw at me.

* * *

"Jessalyn, love. It's time to wake up," I heard someone say, my eyes still closed.

"Go away," I replied slowly. Then I felt someone poke me on the forehead with their finger. I quickly grabbed the person's finger with my hand and squeezed very, very hard until I heard a scream.

"Ow!" Someone yelped. That's when I realized who it was. I looked up to see the grimacing face of Sirius Black. "What did you do that for?!" he asked as he held his now red finger.

"I don't like it when people wake me up," I replied, very grouchy that I had been woken up from my nap.

"Yeah. I noticed," Sirius said somewhat bitterly. I got up and looked around. Upon realizing that the only people that were left in the classroom were Sirius, Professor Binns, and myself, I figured class had just let out. I sighed and quickly packed up my things. Then, I headed toward the door and out the classroom, Sirius right behind me the whole time.

"Where's your little shadow?" I asked Sirius after I had waken up somewhat. We were heading towards the quidditch pitch and even in my drowsy state, I still remembered the fact that Cindy was coming.

"Who?" he replied as he caught up to me. It wasn't that hard though considering how much longer his legs were compared to mine.

"Oh, sorry. Let me rephrase that," I started. "Where's your giggly, annoying, high-pitched shadow?"

"Oh. You mean Cindy?" he said back.

"Ah. So even you think she's annoying huh?" I replied as I smiled slightly. I looked over at Sirius who appeared to be deep in thought.

"Well," he began, "she can be a tad overwhelming at times."

"A tad?" I scoffed.

"Ok, maybe a little more than just a tad," he said as he looked back at me. The corners of his mouth were turned up slightly and his grey eyes were twinkling from the sunlight.

"So, where is she," I asked, quickly looking away from his smiling face. "Did she get sick and won't be able to come?!" I asked, very hopeful. Sirius laughed a little.

"No, she just went to get her broom from her room," he said, still smiling somewhat. "You really don't like Cindy, huh?"

"Well, she isn't exactly my favorite person in the world," I replied as I finally looked back at him, his eyes still twinkling.

"Well, I can see that, since both of your personalities are so different, but she's still a nice, kind girl," he replied, still looking at me.

_Wait a minute. Nice? Kind? I'm pretty sure that Sirius has the wrong girl._

"Right," I replied, not wanting to get into a huge discussion about Cindy. Plus, we had just arrived at the pitch. Sirius got out two brooms and a large trunk from what appeared to be a supply closet. He handed me one of the brooms and kept the other for himself. Then, we walked out to the middle of the grass covered quidditch field. The sun was shining, the sky a beautiful blue color without a cloud anywhere to be seen. It was a wonderful day for quidditch.

"Why don't we go ahead and warm up?" Sirius said as he mounted his broom. "Cindy has to travel all the way across the school, so she won't be here for a while." As he finished, he kicked off of the ground and soared into the sky. I quickly mounted my own broom and did the same. I was a little shaky at first, but I soon got the hang of it. I smile as I did circles around the field, as fast as I could. The wind on my face, the sun beating down on me, the light whiz of the broom, it was perfect. It made me feel free, like I could do everything. It made me forget the world for a few second. Now I remember why I love quidditch so much.

"Hey hot shot!" I heard someone call. I stopped my broom, high above the pitch, and looked around. Then, I saw Sirius not very far away from me, smiling his signature smile. "Try to get me!" he yelled as he began to back away from me even more. _  
_

"Now why would I do that?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow. I might like being on a broom and playing quidditch, but that doesn't mean I like chasing Sirius around.

"Oh? You afraid you can't catch me or something?" Sirius said, now smirking instead of smiling. I rolled my eyes.

"No. I just don't want to," I replied, now slightly irritated. I turned my broom around. Now intent on getting away from Sirius, I began to fly away from him.

"That's ok. I understand why you wouldn't want to embarrass yourself like that," Sirius continued. I suddenly stopped my broom, not bothering to turn and look at him. "I mean, I am the best on the team after all. It makes sense why you would be scared to-" He never got to finish his sentence though because I was suddenly coming towards him, as fast as I could, on my broom. I saw him flash a quick smile just before he turned around and flew away, me right behind him. I must say, he's very fast on a broom, but not fast enough. In a few second, I had already caught up to him. I was just about to tag him or push him or something, when he suddenly made a very sharp turn to the left.

"He's better than I thought," I muttered as I switched directions and headed towards him. This time, right as I was about to reach him, he completely stopped. I quickly turned my broom so as to not run into him. "How did he-" I began.

"I'm just better than you, love," Sirius called out as he went by me. How he even heard what I said, I'll never know. I glared at him as he got farther and farther away from me. Then, he stopped and turned around. "What?! You given up yet?!" he yelled to me as he flashed me a smile.

Now, I was mad. The git was taunting me for heaven's sake! Sirius Black was taunting _me_! I could feel a scowl form on my face. This time, I was going to get him! I got myself ready and quickly shot forward like a bullet. I couldn't tell for sure, but I'm almost positive that Sirius looked surprised just before he turned around and shot forward as well. I could feel sweat forming on my brow as I concentrated on catching him. He swerved right, I swerved right. He swerved left, I swerved left. He looked back at me and winked before going even faster than before. I glared at his back and shot forward as well. He weaved between the goal posts and back around. I followed, only two inches behind him. Now one inch.

I was just about to hit him in the back of the head when he turned and smiled at me. It wasn't one of his usual smiles though. It was different somehow. It wasn't just a smile. It had meaning to it. It was almost as though he was trying to say something, but what?! I suddenly realized what I had been thinking, and that I had been staring into his grey eyes for the last few seconds as I rode right by him. That's when it all happened. I could feel my cheeks get hot right away and, because of my stupidity, swerved right into him.

"Oi!" Sirius exclaimed as he too lost his balance. Before I knew it, we had both crashed our brooms and had landed in a sprawl on the ground, but for some reason, it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. That's when I felt something beneath, something that definitely wasn't grass. I slowly looked down, to see Sirius underneath me. I was stunned when I realized that I was laying on top of him. I could feel my blush from before deepen.

_What's wrong with me?!_ I thought as Sirius opened his eyes to look up at me. He propped himself up on one elbow while rubbing the side of his head with the other.

"You know, if you wanted me, you could've just told me. You didn't have to tackle me to the ground," Sirius said, now smiling and winking at me.

"As if!" I exclaimed, still blushing as I looked away from him. For some reason, I didn't bother to get up. "Besides," I continued. "You deserved it, for being such a big git and all." I looked back at him to see him still smiling at me. I could feel the corners of my mouth turn up as I began to smile as well. Then, I felt Sirius begin to chuckle beneath me. It was silent at first, but then it got louder and louder before I too was laughing along with him. Here I was, laying on top of Sirius Black, laughing with him _again_!

_I must be crazy_, I thought. _I need to stop_, but no matter how much I tried, I just couldn't stop laughing.

"Well, isn't this cute?" I heard a voice slash through the air. I looked up to see Cindy standing over us, broom in hand, her fake smile plastered on. I could feel my eyes widen, and I quickly jumped off of Sirius. "What were you two doing?" she asked as she watched Sirius stand up as well.

"Oh you know," he said as he wrapped his arm around my waist, "this girl just couldn't keep her hands off of me." He looked down and winked at me. I had finally gained enough control to muster a glare at him.

"That's not what happened," I said as I turned to Cindy, who had replaced her fake smile with a glare, a glare directed at me.

"Oh really? Well what about when you tackled me to the ground and- Ow!" I had stomped on Sirius's foot before he could continue. "Dang it woman! Would you stop doing that?!" he said, letting go of me to jump up and down on his unhurt foot. I simply glared back at him.

"Don't you think you should be teaching us something now?" I asked as I continued to glare daggers at him.

"I was about to before you stomped on my foot!" he exclaimed. He slowly dropped his hurt foot that he had been holding and cringed as he placed it on the ground. "Well, now that I know it's not broken," he said as he moved his hurt foot around, "why don't we start with positions. You two both know all the positions of quidditch right?"

"Yeah," I said, rolling my eyes as I did so. "What idiot wouldn't?" I suddenly looked over at Cindy. "You don't know them, do you?"

"What's that suppose to mean?!" she glared at me.

"Nothing," I replied, smirking and looking away from her. I could still feel her green eyes boring into me before she turned back to Sirius.

"Yes, I know them," she said to Sirius in her usual fake, sweet voice.

"Ok, good!" Sirius replied, acting as though nothing had happened between me and Cindy. "Well what position do you want to play?"

"Well, when I was younger, I always wanted to play chaser," I replied, looking at him.

"That makes sense. You are really fast on a broom. You're almost as fast as me actually." He winked at me. I glared at him. I thought I saw Cindy glaring at him too, but when I turned to look at her, I realized that she was glaring at me instead. "What about you, Cindy?" Sirius asked, turning to Cindy. Ok, so either he was ignoring Cindy's constant glaring at me, or he was too stupid to notice it. Either way, he didn't say anything about it.

"Oh, um, I would like to play chaser as well!" she said in her sugary sweet voice. "You might have to help me though. Since, I have never played and all." She looked up at him and batted her long, thick eyelashes. I groaned.

"Of course!" Sirius flashed her a smile. "Well, why don't you mount your brooms and I'll go get out the quaffles." Sirius turned around and walked off towards the trunk he had gotten from the supply closet earlier. I mounted my broom and had just begun to ascend into the sky when I felt someone grab my leg. I looked down to see Cindy with a very scary look on her face.

"What?" I asked her nonchalantly.

"I want to know just what you and Sirius were doing earlier!" she said as she tightened her hold on my leg.

"Why? Are you jealous?" I asked, smirking slightly. This time she yanked on my leg hard. I lost my balance for a few seconds before regaining it to cast a glare at her. "What the hell?!"

"Stay away from Sirius," she began, still casting an awful look at me. "He's mine, so don't you go trying to steal him from me. I guess I shouldn't really be worried though. I mean look at you. You're nothing special. Not pretty, yet not ugly. You're plain. You're boring. Why would Sirius ever want you?!" Her words hit me like a slap in the face. I could feel anger rising in me. I was just about to say some very unladylike things to her, when Sirius came back, two quaffles in hand.

"Alright guys. So, what did I miss?" he asked, smiling. Cindy quickly let go of my leg and smiled back at Sirius.

"Oh, nothing," she replied, still smiling as I continued to glare at her.

* * *

For the past hour, we had been doing scoring drills. Well, I had been doing scoring drills while Cindy struggled to stay on her broom. Of course, she used these opportunities to flirt with Sirius, asking for him to guide her and such. So, it ended up just me, throwing the quaffle into the different goalposts. I had just done it for what must have been the thousandth time when I felt a presence beside me. I looked to my right to see Sirius, smiling at me.

"Good job, but can I show you something that will make you a lot better?" he asked.

"Sure," I replied, slightly wary of what he was going to do. He began to descend towards the ground. I shrugged my shoulders and followed him until my feet hit the grassy ground below.

"Ok, just stay mounted," he said as he unmounted his own broom. "So, when you throw the quaffle," he walked behind me, "try leaning forward a little bit. Like this." He grabbed my shoulders and pushed them forward somewhat. "Now loosen your grip on the broom," I did as I was told, "and go like this." This time, he wrapped his arms around my own and grabbed my hands, slowly moving them towards the end of the broom. "This should keep you more balanced when you throw the quaffle," he said with his arms still around me. His breath tickled my ear and sent a shiver down my spine. I could feel my cheeks heat up slightly.

_What the hell is wrong with me?!_ I thought, slightly panicked. That's when I felt the gentle pitter patter of rain on my head and looked up to the now dark, cloudy sky.

"Well, the weather sure changed quickly," Sirius said, looking up as well. He let go of me, to my relief, and picked up his broom. "We better put this stuff up and get inside. I don't know if Cindy is capable of flying in this type of weather yet. She just figured out how to fly on her own after-all." I unmounted my own broom and walked behind him, towards the supply closet. Then, I heard a loud bang and turned around to see Cindy on the ground, holding her foot.

"Ow!" she began to cry.

"Cindy!" Sirius exclaimed. He dropped the broom and trunk he was carrying and rushed towards her. I dropped my broom and ran right behind him. As much as I hated Cindy, I still couldn't watch her sit there in pain. "Are you ok?! Are you hurt?!" Sirius knelt down and asked her. She nodded, grimacing in pain. The rain had gotten much harder now.

"I- I hurt m-my ankle," she choked out through her tears.

"Oh no," Sirius said as he gently took the foot that Cindy was holding. He looked at it. "Well, there isn't a bruise or anything, but if it hurts this bad then you must have sprained it or something." He gently picked up Cindy and held her in his arms as she continued to cry. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he looked at me. "I'm sorry, but can you put the rest of this stuff up?" he asked me. "I have to take Cindy to the hospital wing."

"Sure," I nodded in understanding.

"Thanks!" He then turned around and ran off towards Hogwarts castle. As Sirius continued to get farther and farther away, I noticed Cindy looking over his shoulder and smiling triumphantly at me. My eyes grew wide as realization hit me

_She was lying about getting hurt!_ I clenched my fists together as I glared at her until I couldn't see her any longer. I turned around and picked up the three brooms that the three of us had been using. I thought about breaking Cindy's in two, but decided against it since it was a new top model brand broom that I certainly couldn't afford. Then, I grabbed the quidditch trunk in my free hand and dragged it along beside me as I marched towards the still open supply closet. I put up the three brooms, being sure to throw Cindy's in the dark, dusty corner, and picked up the trunk to put on the shelf above my head. I lifted it up, but, not being able to reach the shelf, got on my tippy toes. I still wasn't tall enough. I sighed and jumped up, trying to throw the trunk onto the shelf.

"Yes!" I said as I was finally able to place the trunk on the shelf. Then, I heard a squeaking noise and everything suddenly got very dark. "No!" It took me a few seconds to comprehend that the door to the supply closet had probably closed which was why everything was so dark. I reached into the pocket of my robe, now soaked from the rain, and found my wand. "Lumos," I said. The tip of my wand lit up immediately revealing to me that I was indeed correct. The door had closed. I reached towards the doorknob and tried to open the door to no avail.

"It must be locked," I continued to talk to myself. "No problem." I pointed my wand at the door. "Alohamora!" I jiggled the doorknob again. It wouldn't budge. "Alohamora!" I jiggled it again. Still nothing. "Alohamora! Alohamora! Alohamora!" Nothing. By now I was growing very frantic. I was stuck in a dark, small, dusty closet after all. I decided to try and break down the door instead, so I backed as far as I could in the tight space and rammed my shoulder against the door. All that I accomplished from this was that I now had very bruised shoulder.

"Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!" I began to pace the small area of the closet. "I'm stuck! I can't get out! No one's here! Oh man! I'll have to wait until tomorrow when Sirius and Cindy come to practice! Unless someone notices I'm gone and they search for me. Why would anyone notice I'm gone though? Oh no! What if I run out of air?! I'm going to die!" After a few more minutes of hyperventilating, I had somewhat calmed down. I sat down and leaned my back against the wall of the small closet, wiping my sweaty, rain stained face with the sleeve of my robe. I tried to close my eyes and rest, but to no avail. I was just think of burning down the door when I heard someone screaming something. I didn't know or care who it was, I just wanted to get out of there.

"Hey!" I yelled as I banged on the door. "Help me! I'm locked in! Please! Help m-" The door swung open suddenly to show a concerned, drenched Sirius.

"There you are! I've been looking for you!" he said as relief washed over his face.

"Thank you so much!" I exclaimed. "I'm so happy that you came back! Why did you come back by the way?"

"It's no problem. I was coming back to make sure you were ok and that you put everything up, but I couldn't find you," he said. "I'm guessing you accidentally closed the door and locked yourself in?"

"Yeah, I tried opening it, but it didn't work," I replied as I looked up at him.

"That's because there's a really powerful enchantment on it that McGonagall used so no student could open it. Good thing each player has a key though." He continued to smile at me as he jingled a key in my face.

"Why'd she do that?" I asked.

"Some stupid Slytherins sabotaged a bunch of our equipment a few years ago. Of course one of those Slytherins was my brother." Sirius spit out, hatred in his voice as he said brother. I had heard about Sirius's brother, Regulus Black, but I had never really known much about him. Just that he's in Slytherin, in the same year as Sirius and me, and hates Sirius's guts.

"Oh," I replied as I picked up my still lit wand that I had put on the floor earlier. I held it up close to my face. Suddenly Sirius's face lost it's hatred and was replaced with a look of concern.

"What happened to your face?" he asked as he reached out towards me. He placed his hand onto my cheek and stroke it gently with his thumb. It took me a few seconds to process what was going on. That's when I realized that he was touching my bruised cheek. The one that my uncle had hit. I must have accidentally wiped the makeup off earlier.

"Oh, um, when I was taking the trunk to the closet, I couldn't see where I was going and accidentally ran into the wall," I quickly covered up.

"With the side of you face?" he asked, obviously not believing me.

"Yeah." I continued to stare at him.

"You're lying," he said, his grey eyes boring into me. "Did someone do this to you?" I wanted to lie. I wanted to say no, but for some reason, I just couldn't. Not with him looking at me the way he was. Not with his grey eyes staring at me like that. I was at a loss for words. I couldn't say anything at all. "Someone hit you didn't they?" he continued, his voice beginning to rise. "Who? Who did this to you?!"

"It's none of your business!" I yelled, backing away from his hand that was still placed on my face.

"How is it none of my business?!" he asked, matching the volume of my voice.

"You aren't the one with the bruise on your face, Sirius! It doesn't concern you!" I continued to yell.

"Yes, it does! I'm your friend Jessalyn! Friends care about one another!" His face was becoming more and more red by the second.

"You aren't my friend! I don't care what you said last night about liking me or wanting to be around me! I don't care about you hanging out with me! You aren't my friend! Not you or the rest of your little Marauders! I don't need friends! I don't deserve friends! I can't have friends!" Anger clouded my vision for a moment before I could see clearly again. I wish I wasn't able to though as I looked into the surprised and hurt face of Sirius Black. "I'm sorry," I choked out before pushing past him and into the rain. I began to run towards Hogwarts castle, Sirius's face still clearly burned into my head.

_That was the right thing to do_, I told myself._ He was getting too close. I had to push him away somehow. I couldn't let him know. I can't let people close to me. I just can't have friends. I can't have friends._

* * *

**Sirius's POV**

_I_ _can't have friends_. I continued to hear her voice over and over again. _I can't have friends_.

"Why can't you have friends?" I whispered, as I turned around and watched her run towards Hogwarts. Her figure got smaller and smaller as she got farther and farther away from me. I sighed. Now, I was even more interested in her than I was before. I wanted to know her more. I wanted to help her, but if I try to get close to her, she will just push me away. I began to walk back towards Hogwarts castle as well, not caring that I was getting completely drenched. There was only one thing on my mind- Jessalyn.

_Who are you parents? Who hit you? What's your life like? Why do I recognize your name? How can I help you?_ There were so many unanswered questions in my head, but one thing was for sure. I needed to get close to Jessalyn. I needed to be her friend. I needed to help her. And, I won't stop until I do.

* * *

**So... what did you think? This was a very dramatic chapter, I know! But, I really hope that it was good and that you liked it! Next chapter there will continue to be some tension between Sirius and Jessalyn, but I also want to throw some James in there as well because I mean, who doesn't love James! Anyway, please review and follow! It means a lot! :)**


	7. Chapter 6

**A huge thank you to all of my followers and reviewers! I appreciate it! :)**

**Disclaimer: I wish I had come up with the idea for Harry Potter, but I didn't. All rights to J.K. for her fabulous book!**

**Chapter 6: And Am I Going to Tryout?**

* * *

After Sirius and my little encounter in the supply closet, I went to see Madame Pomfrey right away. She quickly healed the bruise on my cheek after I told her how I hadn't been paying attention and got hit in the face with a quaffle. After getting done with me, she went over to Cindy, who was laying on a bed, to tell her for the hundredth time that she hadn't actually broken anything. After all of this, I began to ignore and ultimately avoid Sirius. Of course, this was kind of difficult considering I had all of my classes with him. At first, he would just look at me with this somewhat pleading look, but soon he began to basically stalk me. Everywhere I went, he was there. He would sit next to me during every class. He would follow me wherever I went: to Gryffindor tower, to the library, he even tried to follow me into the girl's lavatory once. The only time he wasn't by me was when he was out at the quidditch pitch with Cindy. You would think that those few hours he was gone would bring me some sort of peace, but of course, it didn't.

When Sirius wasn't around, the rest of the Marauders were. James, Remus, and Peter would take Sirius's place, just not to the extent of Sirius. They would simply sit next to me in the library or common room and try to strike up conversation with me.

"Why aren't you with Sirius out at the quidditch pitch?" Remus would say.

"You're still trying out for quidditch, right?" James would continue.

"Can I have one of your sugar quills?" Peter would chime in. At this point, I would simply pick up my books, hand Peter my already sucked on sugar quill, and walk away. Now that I think about it, Peter might have actually eaten that sugar quill that I gave him. I wouldn't put it past him. Anyway, this worked for a while. Then, the day before quidditch try outs, Sirius cornered me, and it stopped working all together.

I had just gotten out of a long, boring double potions lesson and was making my way through the dungeon corridors towards the Gryffindor common room. I must have been super tired or super crazy because, before I knew it, I was in front of the Slytherin common room. Of course, I knew where the Slytherin common room was. Anyone who explored Hogwarts as much as I had would know where it was. It was a hidden door on one of the walls of the dungeons. A door which I had never bothered to go in. Of course, I couldn't get in even if I wanted to. I would need the password.

I found it rather strange though that somehow I ended up here, in front of the Slytherin common room. I also found it odd that Sirius wasn't right behind me like he normally was. I felt somewhat relieved that he was gone, yet somewhat worried at the same time. I felt almost like I needed him right now, but why? I was just about to turn around and go the other way when I heard a voice scream out at me.

"Oi! Who are you?!" I looked up to see two large Slytherin boys stalking towards me. One had long, straight, blonde hair which he tied in a ponytail at the back of his head. And the other one looked almost exactly like Sirius!

_ Who are these guys?!_

"Oh! Sorry! I just, um, got lost. I'll be going now," I replied, trying not to let the uneasiness I felt, show in my voice. I felt like I need to get away from them and quick! I turned around again, but before I could take a single step forward, one of the boys grabbed my hair! The boy who grabbed my hair yanked back hard making me stumble backwards. I quickly regained my balanced and instantly reached for my wand in the pocket of my robe. Before my hand even got to my pocket though, the other boy had grabbed my arms and pinned them behind my back. I struggled against him to no use. He was a heck of a lot bigger than me and a heck of a lot stronger too.

"Now wait just a minute," the boy holding my hair said into my ear as he put his wand to my cheek. "I asked who you were, but you never told me. So, why don't you tell me. What's your name?" I could feel my head pounding as fear rushed through me. I quickly pushed my fear away though and soon replaced it with red, hot anger.

"Why should I?" I spat out. Trying to glare at the boy I couldn't see.

"Because I asked you, and I'm the one with a wand pointed in your face," the boy replied smugly. "So, I'm going to ask again. What's your name?"

"It's...Jessalyn," I replied, realizing that this guy meant business. Just who was he though?

"Ok, _Jessalyn_," the boy who was holding my hair began. "Why don't we play a little game. It's called what kind of blood do you bleed." At this point he let go of my hair and began to walk around to the front of me as the other boy continued to hold my arms behind my back. "It's quite a fun game really." He stopped in front of me. It was the boy with the long blonde hair. I thought his name was Lucien or Lucius or something of the like. His first name didn't really matter though. All that mattered was his last name, Malfoy. One of the biggest pure blooded families there was. It was a known fact that his whole family supported Voldemort and that his parents were both deatheaters, though they often denied it. I could feel myself casting a terrible look at him as he leaned in close to my face.

"You see, the rules are quite simple. You will tell me if you are a blood traitor, half-blood, or mudblood, then my friend here," Malfoy said as he pointed to the boy holding my arms behind me, "will help me to determine if what you are saying is true or not by looking at a little bit of your real blood." I cringed as the corners of his mouth turned up a tad. I didn't think that he do anything to me while we were at school, but I could still feel a small bit of fear creep into me. He was a Malfoy after all. I wouldn't put it past him, especially now with everything that's going on with the wizarding war and all.

"I guess, I'm a blood traitor," I replied, trying not to show the fear now implanted inside me.

"Should have known," Malfoy scoffed. "So what family do you belong to? The Fulcens? The Strines? How about the Twinsepts or the Dauntes?"

"None of them," I replied as I made myself continue to look at him.

"Oh really? Well then what family _do _you belong to?" he asked, now looking at me with more interest than before. This time, I looked away. I didn't know what to say. If I made up a name, they would instantly know that I was lying. If I said that I was from one of the well known pure-blooded families, they would eventually figure out that I wasn't, and then who knows what they would do to me! I was trapped in a corner with no way out.

"Are you gonna tell me, or am I going to have to _make_ you tell me?" Malfoy said, pointing his wand at me.

"Just tell us," the guy behind me said. His voice sounded almost exactly like Sirius's, but just a bit lower.

_Wait a minute! This guy looks and sounds almost exactly like Sirius! Could this be-_

"Regulus! Let her go _now_!" I heard a voice boom out. The voice sounded exactly like Regulus's, but a bit higher. _Sirius! _I felt the hands keeping my arms behind me let go, and I quickly stepped away from them. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?!" Sirius asked as he came closer to Regulus, anger evident in his face.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the biggest blood-traitor of them all. I must say, I'm surprised that your mother is still able to live knowing that one of her sons is a muggle loving idiot," Malfoy said, smirking a tad. Sirius turned his angry gaze upon Malfoy now. He quickly strode towards Malfoy and grabbed his shirt collar in one hand.

"I wasn't talking to you, now was I Lucius?! But i guess I am now. So tell me, what the hell were you doing?!" Sirius growled out. I was somewhat surprised by his sudden change in character. The usually laid-back, fun-loving guy was now completely scary and rage-filled. If I was in Malfoy's position right now, I would be scared out of my mind, yet Malfoy continued to smirk at Sirius.

"Oh, we were just having a little bit of fun. Weren't we Regulus?" Malfoy looked towards Sirius's brother who nodded. Sirius glared at them both.

"What the hell does that mean?!" Sirius blared out.

"What do you think?" Malfoy's smirk became much more evident after saying this. Sirius's anger also became more evident.

"You git!" Sirius exclaimed as he pulled back his other hand, balling it into a fist. A fist that was meant for Malfoy.

"Stop!" I exclaimed, grabbing Sirius's shoulder just before his fist made contact with Malfoy's nose. "He isn't worth it," I said, looking up into Sirius's sparkling, grey eyes. Sirius looked at me for a moment before finally un-balling his hand and putting it back at his side.

"That's right Black. You listen to your little girlfriend there!" Malfoy sneered. "Now, we must be getting to the great hall. It's almost dinner time and I would hate to miss out on the _wonderful_ food they serve here." Malfoy pried Sirius's hand off his shirt and began to walk away.

"Nice to see you again, _brother_," Regulus said as he turned around and followed after Malfoy. Sirius continued to glare at both of their backs before finally turning to me, concern now in his eyes.

"What did they do to you? Are you alright?" Sirius asked me, putting both hands on my shoulders and leaning down to look into my face.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, looking away from him. "They were just being gits and playing a joke on me."

"So, they didn't hurt you?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine," I said. "Thanks for helping me out by the way." At this I gave him a small smile of appreciation and began to walk away, towards the great hall as well.

"Wait just a minute!" Sirius yelled after me, quickly catching up to me.

"What is it?" I asked in a somewhat exasperated way as I continued to walk. Sirius quickly grabbed my arm, making me stop in my tracks. I turned around and looked up at him. I cringed as I looked at the sadness and confusion on his face. he had the same look the other night when we got into our little argument.

"Look, Jessalyn, I don't know why exactly you think that you can't have friends. I know that it's none of my business, and maybe one day you will tell me why and it will be, but anyway, the point is, I want to help you. I want to help you through whatever it is that's going on and I want to be there for you. I want to be your friend, so please, just let me." I felt deep regret and sadness rush over me as I continued to stare into his eyes. He had said this to me so sincerely, so kindly, but I just couldn't. I just couldn't let him get close to me again. I couldn't let him be my friend. I couldn't put him into danger like that.

"I'm sorry Sirius, but no. I can't let you," I replied. Hurt suddenly crossed Sirius's face, and I had to look away. I could still feel his eyes boring into me though as I looked down at the floor.

"Fine," Sirius said back to me. "Have it your way then. I won't bother you anymore. I won't try to talk to you. I'll stay away from you." Sirius then turned around and quickly walked away from me, leaving me alone in the cold, dark dungeon hallway. I had thought a few days ago that him saying this would make me the happiest girl in the world, but it didn't. The slight anger in his voice, the hurt on his face, the confusion in his eyes, I just couldn't take it. It didn't make me happy. It ended up making me sad, confused, and angry as well.

I put my back against the dungeon wall and slowly slid down onto the floor. I cupped my face in my hands. What was wrong with me? Why was a feeling this way? Then, I realized why. Sirius was probably never going to speak to me again, but that's what I wanted. Wasn't it? Was I really doing the right thing?_  
_

* * *

I ended up not going to dinner and instead came straight to my room. I opened the door, expecting the room to be empty. To my surprise, it wasn't. Cindy, Alice, and Lily all sat there on Cindy's bed, obviously talking about something. As soon as I opened the door though, all talking ceased. I ignored them as they stared at me while I walked towards my four-poster bed. Before I could get there though, Cindy had jumped off of her bed and stood in front of me.

"Well lookie here. If it isn't, oh what's your name again. Sorry, it's easy to forget someone like you even exists," she said as she smirked at me. I glared at her.

"I'm not in the mood, Cindy," I spat out. I made to move around her, but she quickly stood in front of me again.

"Oh come on. I'm just trying to have a conversation with you. Is that so wrong?" She gave me her fakest smile which slowly turned into a smirk I rolled my eyes and stepped around her. This time she didn't try to block me, but she still continued to talk. "Oh and by the way, quidditch practice with Sirius has been so much more fun without you!" she said, turning around to watch for my reaction. "Now, I get a bunch of alone time with Sirius. It's so great! Me and him even snogged the other night." I jolted to a stop, my hand, balling into a fist at my side.

"Shut up," I said in a low voice.

"Oh? What's wrong? Does someone have a little crush on Sirius? Didn't I tell you that he would never want someone like y-"

"I said shut up!" I said more loudly this time. I could feel anger bubbling up within me. Not because of what Cindy said about Sirius, but that she was talking about Sirius in general. I didn't want to think about him right now. I couldn't.

"Make me," Cindy said as she took a step towards me. I was just about at my breaking point when I heard someone chime in.

"That's enough, Cindy." It was Lily's voice. I looked over to see Lily looking somewhat sympathetically towards me, or maybe it was just my imagination. "Come on. We need to get some dinner before they stop serving it," Lily continued, getting up from the bed.

"Yeah, Lily's right," Alice said as she too got up from the bed. I couldn't see her as i still had my back to her, but I could tell that Cindy was having a hard time following Lily's order.

"Ugh, fine," she finally groaned. I heard the sound of footsteps and the door opening and closing before silence finally settled over the room. I collapsed onto my bed, finally glad to be rid of Cindy. I had been avoiding her all week as well as Sirius, though I normally do try to avoid Cindy in the first place. As I laid there with my thoughts, I continued to think about one thing. It was the one thing that I couldn't get out of my mind, the hurt on Sirius's face.

* * *

I woke up the next day with the room being the same as when I fell asleep. I was the only person in it. I looked at the clock hung up on the wall of the dormitory. It was only an hour until quidditch tryouts. I had already decided that I wasn't trying out for quidditch, but now that the date was upon me, I was regretting my decision.

_Maybe I could tryout?_ I thought to myself. _No, it would put me too close to Sirius and James. I have finally gotten them to leave me be, I can't get close to them again._ I felt a twinge of pain in my heart as I thought this. Why was this affecting me so deeply. I mean, I barely even know the guys, yet here I am getting all upset over them. I sighed, not even understanding myself, and slowly pulled my covers off of me. I got up and quickly got dressed. Then, I walked downstairs to an almost empty common room.

I had already expected the common room to be scarce on people today, considering how today was quidditch tryouts and all. Most people would either be down at the field watching, or trying out themselves. There was one thing that I wasn't expecting though, and that's that I would see James Potter sitting in one of the chairs in the common room, yet there he sat, all dressed up in his quidditch gear and everything.

"James?" I asked, somewhat uncertain that it was him until he looked up at me. "Shouldn't you be down at the field?" I walked over towards him.

"Shouldn't I be asking you the same thing?" he retorted. I looked away from him, remembering that I shouldn't be talking to him. I was just about to walk away when he began to speak again.

"Look, Jessalyn," he started. "I don't know what exactly happened between you and Sirius, but I know that he's really upset. He has been ever since you stopped coming to his little quidditch practices. I know he said that he was going to try to talk to you, and I guess he did because now he's even more miserable than he was before."

"Why?" I said in almost a whisper. "Why is he so upset. We barely know each other."

"Well, you know how sometimes, you can just look at someone and instantly know you like them?" James asked. "Well I guess it's kind of like that. When Sirius first met you, he automatically knew that you were his friend or something. I guess when you flew through that window, we all did."

"I did not _fly_ through the window! I _jumped_," I corrected him. James cracked a small smile and began to chuckle slightly as I did the same.

"See it's stuff like that, Jessalyn. It's stuff like that that we are going to miss. All of us. All of the Marauders," James said, now smiling at me. "That's why Sirius cares so much. That's why we all care so much. So, I don't know why you stopped talking to Sirius or any of us for that matter, but I really wish that you wouldn't do that. I really wish that you would talk to us. And, I really wish that you would tryout for quidditch." At this, James handed me a something that I had originally not seen before. It was a quidditch practice uniform. I looked at it, my mind still somewhat in a daze by what he had just told me. "What do you say Jessalyn? Will you tryout?" I continue to look at the uniform, so many thoughts swarming my head at the moment.

_Could I do this? Should I do this? Could I be friends with the Marauders? Could I have friends? Is what James told me true? Does Sirius care? Do the Marauders care? What should I do?_ And the biggest one of them all. **_Am I going to__ tryout?_**

* * *

**Okay guys, so I hope that you liked that chapter! I tried to make James act all serious in this chapter which was hard because he's just such a nice, funny, fun-loving kind of guy, but you know that he has to have a serious side! So there was a lot of drama in this chapter as well, but once everything gets resolved between Sirius and Jessalyn, I will tone down on the drama and just have a lot of fun drama-free time! I have a lot planned for this story, and I really appreciate those of you who are reading, favoriting, following, and all that stuff! It means a lot and it's what drives me to write more! So thank all of you so much! I will try to have the next chapter out in about a week or so! Thank you all and please remember to review and follow! :)**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! Sorry this took such a long time! I've been really busy these past two weeks though, and haven't really had a lot of time to write. Luckily I had enough time to post this chapter though! :) Thanks to those of you following, reviewing, and reading this story! It means a lot! So, I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: All rights to J.K. Rowling, the amazing book writer and soon to be screenwriter!**

**Chapter 7: And... That Doesn't Even Make Sense!**

* * *

It was a blazing, hot day. As I stepped outside, the sun sent its beams of light to shine down on me, making it feel even hotter than it already did.

"Ow!" James cried as he stepped outside, the sunlight blinding him. "Dang it's hot out here. It's gonna be hard to see with this sunlight. Good thing we aren't trying out for seeker huh?"

"Yeah, I guess," I replied, not looking him in the eye. I heard James make a sighing sound. I guess I wasn't exactly being friendly, but I couldn't help it. It felt awkward, all of it. Here I was, going down to tryout for quidditch, something which I had promised myself I wouldn't do, and I was still confused. I had agreed to trying out and put on the quidditch practice uniform, but did that mean that I was also agreeing to be friends with the Marauders? Can I have friends? Did I decided that I _should_ have friends?

"Hey Jessalyn." I was snapped out of my thought by James. I looked up to see that James had stopped walking and was looking at me. I stopped walking as well, a few steps ahead of him.

"Yeah?" I finally replied in confusion.

"Can you promise me something?" he continued.

"It depends. What is it?" I was looking at him, his deep, brown eyes not leaving my dark, blue ones.

"Can you promise me that you will try your hardest during tryouts?" He smiled at me, a goofy yet handsome smile. I smiled back at him.

"Sure," I replied, still smiling. Maybe I could have friends after all.

* * *

"James! Where have you be-" Sirius stopped short, his grey eyes now trained on me. I smiled a tad and gave a small sort of wave. Sirius's shock quickly turned to something like betrayal or hurt. I really didn't think that I had hurt him that badly, but apparently I had. He quickly looked away from me, turning his back towards me and facing James.

"Come on James. Tryouts are about to start," Sirius said, putting his arm around James and walking swiftly towards the grassy field ahead of us. I sighed.

_Maybe I shouldn't have come_, I thought. _Well, it's too late now._ I slowly walked towards the field as well. Once I got there, I looked around. There were about 20 or so people trying out. Some were just standing there within their own thoughts, but most were talking excitedly to the person next to them. I recognized a few of my fellow Gryffindors, but there were some that I had never seen before or just didn't know the names to. I looked around for James and Sirius. I knew that Sirius didn't want to talk to me, but in those few minutes with James, I had finally made up my mind. I had realized that I wanted friends, just a few, and that maybe I could have some.

I had just spotted the top of James's head, recognizable by his mess of unruly black hair sitting on top, when somebody stepped right in front of me, blocking my path.

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to show up." It was Cindy.

"Shove off, Cindy," I said, not in the mood.

"Oh, now don't be rude. I was just coming over to say good luck," she replied. She gave me one of her fake smiles as she continued. "I don't really think it matters though considering there's no way you would ever be good enough for the team. You aren't exactly very _noticeable_." I was just about to retort when I heard somebody shouting.

"Everyone! Can I have your attention!" It was Daniel Baker. A tall, blonde-hair, brown-eye boy of 18. He was very muscular and toned, perfect for a beater. "Hey everyone!" he yelled again. Everyone continued to talk as though no one was shouting. Realizing that his yelling wasn't working, Daniel brought out his wand and touched his throat with it, mumbling something as he did so. "EVERYONE!" Now his voice was as loud as a bullhorn. Everyone immediately brought their attention to him. "Thank you!" he said as he removed the wand from his throat. I looked over to see that Cindy was now gone.

_Thank goodness._

"Now," Daniel began, "it's so good to see all of you out here for some quidditch, but I know that only some of you are good. Actually, I'm sort of confused as to why a few of you are trying out at all."

_Sirius was right. He is a git._

"Anyway," he continued, "you all will be put to the test today during tryouts. We'll all start out with a few laps around the field, nothing too fancy. I just want to make sure that all of you know how to ride a broom." At this, he looked pointedly at a group of second years in the back. "There are a bunch of brooms over there. Unless you brought your own broom, I suggest you get your butt over to that pile of brooms and get a good one." he pointed over to a pile of brooms across the field. We all looked at one another, slightly confused. "Now!" Daniel yelled. We all jumped and quickly took off for the pile of brooms. I was one of the first ones to get there, and quickly dug through the brooms, looking for a suitable one. I had finally found it, the broom I had been using the night me and Sirius trained together. I was just about to pick it up when somebody else's large hand wrapped around the handle and took it. I looked up to see Sirius's face just before he turned around and ran back down the field, but not before turning his head to give me a pointed look.

I was shocked for a moment. It took me a while to comprehend what had just happened, and by the time I had, I was the last person to pick a broom. It was a Nimbus, but it appeared to be just shy of 50 years old. I sighed, picked up the broom, and ran back down the field towards everyone else.

"Good," Daniel began once I had made it back. "Now we are going to do those laps that I was telling you about. Everyone mount their brooms and get to flying!" Everyone, including me, quickly mounted our brooms and flew up into the sky. Daniel was right when he said that a few of the people couldn't fly, but most everyone could. I started out slow, but soon picked up speed as time went on. I began to whip past everyone. I smiled as the wind blew my hair around. I felt almost happy again. That soon ended however when another person rammed into me.

"Ah!" I screamed. I lost my balance and flipped over with my broom. Here I was, hanging from my broom with just my arms. I looked over to see who knocked me down. I expected it to be one of the second years who couldn't fly, but I was dead wrong.

"Oops! My bad," Cindy exclaimed, smiling at me as she flew away. I could feel my mouth drop open. I would have said so many things to her at this moment, if I wasn't dangling from a broom almost three stories off of the ground that is. I used the anger that I felt towards Cindy and began to pull myself up. One of my arms slipped off though, and I was left dangling by one arm. I hand began to slip, struggling to get my other arm back up to the broom. That's when I felt somebody grab my sides and lift me up enough to where I could mount my broom again.

"Thanks," I said breathlessly as I turned towards my savior. It was Sirius. I stared at him, slightly stunned that he would help me. I was just about to say something else when he flew away without a word. He was using the silent treatment on me, and it was working very, very well. I was just about to follow him when I heard Daniel's voice boom out from below.

"All right everyone! Get down here!" We all slowly descended to the ground, unmounting our brooms, and moving towards him. "Not too bad. Could have been better though. Now for the next part! I want you all to divide up into four separate groups based on what you want to play. Keepers over here, chasers here, seekers here, and beaters are right here with me," he pointed to where everyone was supposed go to as he talked. "All right! Get to where you need to be!" We all quickly scrambled around. I ran towards where the chasers were located to find that almost everyone else had the same idea.

"Hey Jessalyn." I turned to see James smiling at me. "Sorry about Sirius. He just needs some time. I'm sure he'll come around eventually."

"Yeah. Maybe," I replied looking around for Sirius. I was surprised to see him in the group for potential keepers. "Sirius plays keeper?"

"Hm? Oh yeah. He's been playing keeper ever since he first got on the team in his third year. He's really good," James said, turning to look at Sirius as well.

"Is that so," I said back.

"Ok! Now that that's settled," Daniel's voice boomed again, "let's get started!" Each group ended up doing simple drills. The chaser would fly across the field grab the quaffle from Daniel, fly towards the goal posts, and shoot while the beaters hit bludgers towards them and the keeper tried to stop the shot from going in. While this was going on, the seekers all looked out for the snitch. Whoever caught it first would almost definitely be the seeker this year. It was a complicated, yet effective way to try people out.

5 minutes into it, everyone was red faced and sweating like crazy, even Cindy! Nobody had made any of their shots except for James. I made three really good shots that I had thought would have gone in, but somehow Sirius had managed to block them all. Come to think of it, he had been trying super hard to block all of my shots, and he always made sure that he was keeper whenever I went.

"Ok! Last time around now!" Daniel called down to all of us chasers. We nodded. James was up first. He soared into the air, quickly grabbed the quaffle, dodged all the bludgers, and made a goal! Not surprising though since it was James and the keeper was terrible. The next five kids to go all missed except for one who got nailed in the shoulder with a bludger. Luckily it didn't do any serious damage, but nevertheless, he walked off the field crying like a baby. Somehow that kid reminded me of Peter. Next up was Cindy.

"Go Cindy!"

"Yay Cindy!" I looked up into the stands to see Lily and Alice cheering as loud as they could. I rolled my eyes as Cindy whipped her hair over her shoulder as she gave them a smile. She then mounted her broom and soared, or should I say sputtered, into the air. She flew towards Daniel, almost hitting his as she grabbed the quaffle from his hands, ducked as a bludger almost hit her face, lost her balance, and threw the quaffle under the goal post. I knew that Cindy wasn't good, but I figured that all that practicing with Sirius should have made her better.

_But were they really practicing quidditch?_ i quickly pushed the thought from my head. I couldn't be distracted by such thoughts. Besides, what do I care what Sirius and Cindy were doing. Sure, I wanted to be Sirius's friend now, but that doesn't mean I want to know all the gory details of his life.

I was quickly snapped out of my thoughts when I realized that it was my turn. I mounted my broom and quickly flew into the air. I raced past Daniel, grabbing the quaffle as i did so, dodged three well aimed bludgers, and got the the goal posts. Of course Sirius was there. I had to make this, even if Sirius was the keeper. I quickly threw the quaffle towards the goal post to Sirius's right. I aimed it for just a bit below his arms reach. He swooped down towards it, but he was too late. It went in! I smiled proudly and went back down to the ground where I was met by James.

"Good job! Not many people can get it past Sirius!" he exclaimed as he smiled at me.

"Thanks!" I replied, feeling much more confident than I had before. I heard a whoop, and looked up to see a small, third year boy holding something up in the air. By the shine it was giving off, I deduced that it was the snitch and that the boy had caught it and now was the newest seeker for Gryffindor.

"Not bad everyone!" Daniel yelled, landing on the ground. Everyone else who had been in the air begun to descend as well and soon we were all standing around in a big sweaty circle. "Well, that's the end of tryouts! I will be posting who made it tomorrow, so be sure to check the announcement board in the common room! First practice will be a week from now so prepare yourself! It's going to be rough! Now, you are all free to go!" I heard a few yells and whoops of laughter. I felt myself smile as well. Then I saw someone walk off towards the locker room. It was Sirius.

"Sirius! Hey, Sirius wait!" I yelled after him as I ran to catch up. He didn't stop walking. I quickly lunged forward and grabbed his arm. "Sirius wait! Look, i'm sorry for being so harsh to you the other day! I'm sorry for not letting you be my friend and telling you that you weren't my friend, but I honestly didn't think that I could have friends. I'm still not completely sure actually, but I want to give it a try! And I don't want you to not talk to me or be mad at me because..because.. I want you to be my friend!" He had stopped walking, but his back was still to me. I held my breathe in anticipation for what he was going to say.

"You know it's kind of funny. You never want to talk about yourself, even when somebody is concerned and wants to help you, yet here you are telling me about yourself and exactly how you feel. I find it ironic," he said very slowly. Then he pulled his arm away from me and walked into the locker room, leaving me shocked and confused.

_I knew he would be upset, but I never thought-_ I stopped myself. No. It didn't matter how upset he was. What mattered was that I show him I was being truthful. What mattered was that I show him that I want him to be my friend. That's what mattered, and I would do whatever it took to do that.

* * *

I sat in bed, wide awake, listening to Lily snore. It had been a long day, and as soon as I had eaten and taken a shower I went off to bed. Too bad I couldn't sleep though. There were too many thoughts running through my mind.

_Did I make the team? Is Sirius still mad? What should I do? How do I show him that I care?_ Finally, I had just given up and gotten out of bed. I put on my robe and slippers and quietly slipped outside. I made my way down to the common room and out into the hall, ignoring the cries of the Fat Lady about how I had woken her up from her peaceful slumber. I ran down the hallway, into another hallway, down a set of stairs, up another set of stairs. I did this for a while until I was finally confused about where I was, but it didn't take me long to figure it out. I was somewhere along the third floor near a set of classrooms. I sighed.

It wasn't any fun anymore. I used to run around and get lost in Hogwarts, not knowing where I was. Then, I would try to find my way back to Gryffindor tower. Sometimes it took me all night, sometimes it took me a few hours, but that was the fun of it. It helped me to get my mind off of all my problems and just focus on the present, but now, after doing it so many times, it had become too easy. I knew how to get back and it was no fun.

I had just started to make my way back towards Gryffindor tower when I heard footsteps coming from behind me. I turned around, but nobody was there. I shook it off, thinking it was just my imagination, but then, as I began to walk, I heard them again. I quickly turned around. No one. Now I was frustrated.

"Who's there?!" I called out. "I said, who's there?!" No answer. I narrowed my eyes and turned back around beginning to walk back to Gryffindor tower once again. I heard them again, the subtle sound of shoes hitting the floor. This time they were closer to me than they were before. I began to run and then quickly stopped. This time, something hit my back. Well, more like someone. I turned around to Sirius Black on the floor, half of his body invisible. I reached down and grabbed the invisibility cloak still halfway on him.

"So you were spying on me, huh?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

"No! You just happened to be going back to the Gryffindor common room like me, and I didn't want to talk to you," he quickly replied.

"So you stayed hidden in your little invisibility cloak huh?" I asked him. He nodded as he stood up slowly.

"Can I have that back now?" he asked me, extending his hand.

"No. Not until you hear me out," I said, seeing my chance.

"Look, Jessalyn. I'm not in the mood and I don't want to hear what you have to say, so just give me it back." Sirius moved towards me.

"No," I replied. I looked over to see that I was nearby one of the staircases, the railing of one of the halls directly behind me. "If you don't listen to me I'll throw it over the edge," I said, holding the cloak over the edge of the railing.

"No! That's not even mine! It's James's! He'll kill me if I lose it!" Sirius quickly blurted out, a look of sheer panic on his face.

"Then just listen to me. It will only take a minute," I pleaded. My eyes locked with his grey ones. I could see him thinking of all of his options. Finally, he gave in and nodded.

"Fine, but only a minute." I smiled. That was all I needed.

"Look, Sirius. There are some things going on in my life," I started. "No, I can't tell you about them because it would be too dangerous. You can't know, James can't know, nobody can. But, that's not because I don't trust you. It's because I'm trying to keep you safe. That's why I said I couldn't have any friends. If I have friends, then they want to know more about me, and if that happens then they are in danger. That's why I wouldn't let you be my friend because you were curious. You wanted to know about me and I understand, but you just can't. I just can't tell you. I can't tell anyone. that's why I've never had friends and why I said that I never will, but now... I guess I want some. I know it sounds stupid, but the few days that I hung out with you and the rest of the Marauders were some of the best days of my life. It was hard for me to say that before, but now I know that it's the truth. And now, I think that I can have friends. I think that I can handle it without putting you guys in danger. I...I want friends. I want you to be my friend Sirius. I'm sorry." I stopped talking, not knowing what else to say. I looked away from him. He probably thought that I was crazy. After a few minutes I had just about given up and turned around to leave when he finally spoke up.

"I think I understand," Sirius said slowly. "I might not agree, but I do understand. I think that I would like it if we were friends. I know I would like it if it wasn't just one-sided." I looked over to see him smiling at me with his beautiful pearly white smile. I smiled back at him.

"Does that mean we are friends?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes," he replied. I felt happiness well up within me, a happiness that I couldn't describe."On one condition." Now it was gone.

"What's that?" I asked looking at him.

"If you ever want to tell me what's going on, please do. I'm here for you Jessalyn and I don't want you to deal with this, whatever it is, alone. So just promise me that you will come to me if you want to tell me anything. You don't have to be strong all the time. So do you promise?" He looked me directly in the eye, a sense of hopefulness and concern being played in his own.

"Yes. I promise," I replied. A huge smile broke out on his face, a smile that was reflected by my own.

"Good! It was getting so hard to give you the cold shoulder especially when you look so cute," Sirius said, winking at me. I couldn't help but laugh. Sirius was back! We were laughing together! We were finally friends! I didn't know that having friends would feel this good.

* * *

The next day, I woke up bright and early. I didn't get much sleep because, after our discussion, me and Sirius walked back to the Gryffindor common room where we sat and discussed quidditch for hours. He also apologized to me for being an ass during quidditch tryouts to which I quickly forgave him. I was exhausted, yet happy and excited at the same time. I wasn't worried about keeping people away from me and it felt good! I ran down the stairs of the girls dormitory, taking them two steps at a time. I had just made it to the bottom step when James ran up to me.

"You made it! We made it! I'm just so excited!" James yelled, picking me up and swinging me around in a circle before setting me down again.

"What?!" I asked, giggling as I did so. Wait was I giggling? I must have been really happy.

"Go see for yourself!" James exclaimed, pointing towards the announcement board. I ran towards it and found the piece of paper titled_ Quidditch Tryout Results_. I smiled and quickly read it.

**Quidditch Tryout Results**

**Keeper: Sirius Black**

**Seeker: Marcus Williams**

**Beaters: Daniel Baker and Brian Karr**

**Chasers: James Potter, Jessalyn McClendon, and Cindy Sanders**

The first thing that hit me was happiness, then utter confusion. _Cindy_ got on the team?! I stared at the board, shock on my face. I heard someone come down the stairs of the boys dormitory.

"What's wrong?" It was Sirius, still clad in his pajamas. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something." He smiled, walking over towards me and James who was now behind me. I simply pointed at the list. His eyes scanned over the list, stopping on my name. "You made it!" he exclaimed just before he let his mouth drop open. He must have read the last name on the list. _Cindy Sanders_.

"But, how did she...that doesn't even make sense!" Sirius exclaimed.

"What doesn't make sense?" A voice cut through the air like a knife. We all turned around to see Cindy smiling at Sirius.

"Oh Cindy! Did you see the tryout results?" James quickly said.

"No, but I already know that I'm on it," she replied pompously.

"How do you know that?" I asked somewhat suspiciously.

"Because I'm amazing, and it's all thanks to that training Sirius gave me. We should do that again sometime," she said, winking at Sirius and walking away. I stared after her, something fishy was going. I didn't know what exactly, but I was going to figure it out.

* * *

**Well, that's it for now! Sirius and Jessalyn finally made up! I'm so happy because now I can have some fun with them being friends without Jessalyn getting all upset and cautious! I'm going to try and get the next chapter up sometime next week, but it's homecoming week at my school, so it might be later than that. It all depends. Anyway I hope you liked it! Be sure to review and follow! Thank you all so much! :)**


	9. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! Sorry once again for the late upload! I've just been really busy these last few weeks, but here I am now! Anyway, thanks so much to my followers and reviewers! You guys all get a virtual hug from me! :) Anyway, let us begin!**

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is screenwriting a movie, and I'm so excited for it! Oh, and by the way, I don't own anything to do with Harry Potter. :/**

**Chapter 8: And How Are You Two Even Related?**

* * *

I was still standing there, in shock. I couldn't possible comprehend why or how Cindy was put on the quidditch team. I mean, it just made no sense! I could tell that James and Sirius, who had been training her all week, were shocked as well seeing as how none of us were saying a word. We all just stood there, staring after Cindy who had by now made her way out through the portrait hole and out of the common room.

"What's going on?" I heard Remus who must have just come downstairs ask. "Hey, what's wrong with you lot? You all look like you've seen a ghost or something." Remus continued to talk, but I just kept my eyes glued on the now closed portrait hole.

"Oi!" Remus waved his hand in front of me. I quickly snapped out of my trance to look up at him. "What's with you?" he asked imploringly. I simply pointed towards the announcement board. Remus raised an eyebrow and slowly walked towards the announcement board where the paper that had _her_ name on it was pinned up. He looked around the board and quickly spotted the quidditch tryout results. I could see him reading it as he moved his finger across the paper.

"Hey, you all made the team! I can't understand why you are so upse-" he cut himself short as his eyes widened. Then his shock was replaced by confusion. "But I thought you guys told me the Cindy was terrible?" Remus asked, now turning to look at Sirius and James who had also stopped staring after Cindy.

"We did," James answered. "I went down one day to see how Sirius and Cindy had been doing, and she almost took my head off with a bludger."

"Well isn't that what you're suppose to do with a bludger?" Remus asked.

"Yeah. Too bad she was trying to get a goal, mistook a bludger for a quaffle, and completely missed." James replied as he rolled his eyes slightly.

"Then how did she make the team?" Remus inquired.

"I have no idea," Sirius said, shaking his head slightly.

"Well, at least you three made it!" Remus said happily. "I know! Why don't we go celebrate! We can go get some food from the kitchens and have a picnic or something." Remus smiled at the three of us and began to make his way towards the portrait hole.

"Wait!" James called after Remus. "Where's Peter?"

"Still upstairs asleep," Remus replied as he looked back at the three of us.

"Well, shouldn't we go get him?" I asked.

"Well, you wouldn't want to wake him up now would you?" Remus asked as he smiled slightly. I shook my head, smiling as well. "Good. Now come on." And with that we made our way down the stairs to where the kitchens were located. Me and my new friends.

* * *

"So I see you two made up," Remus said as he munched on an apple. We were sitting under a tree near a ledge overlooking the Black Lake. It was beautiful day. The sun was shining and there was a slight breeze in the air that carried with it the scent of fall weather to come. We were all sitting on a small blanket that Remus got from the house elves in the kitchens. There was also a small picnic basket in front of us which contained almost every type of food imaginable (also from the house elves). We had all been fairly quiet until Remus had spoken up.

"Yup. She just couldn't stay away from me," Sirius replied, wrapping his arm around me and smiling.

"As if!" I exclaimed pushing him away, but nevertheless smiling. I was thankful that things between me and Sirius weren't awkward. I was glad that we had made up so quickly, but there was still a part of me that knew that I would eventually have to tell him why I didn't think I could have friends, why I was trying to protect people, and I was not too happy about that.

_But for now, I just won't worry about it. Right now I'll just have fun with my friends._

"So, Jess, you ready for our first practice tomorrow?" Sirius's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned towards him.

"Yeah. I guess so. I'm kinda nervous though and wait a minute! Did you just call me Jess?!" I asked him with one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah! I thought it would be a cute nickname for you! Unless you want me to call you love instead?"

"No! No, that's ok! Jess is good." Everybody laughed and began to once again eat the delicious food in front of us.

"Mmmm. Mmmmm." I looked over at James who appeared to be very much enjoying his sandwich.

"You ok there?" I asked him.

"Hm?" He said, looking over at me. I could tell that he had shoved too much food into his mouth considering how his cheeks were bulging out like a squirrel's.

"Just making sure you were ok. It sorta sounded like you were snogging the thing. What? You pretending it was Lily or something?" I said, making Remus and Sirius laugh. James's eyes got big and he quickly threw his sandwich at me. It made contact with my shirt, mayonnaise smearing all over it.

"Hey! I think that's a good look for you Jess!" Sirius laughed out. I narrowed my eyes and threw some of the mashed potatoes that were left on my plate straight towards him. I must have had really good aim because it ended up hitting him smack dab in the face.

"You were saying?" I smiled at him. He wiped the potatoes off of his face with one hand.

"That's it!" He threw his sandwich at me, but I ducked quickly allowing it to hit James's face instead of mine.

"Ha! Payback!" I exclaimed, pointing at James. James had finally swallowed his sandwich and was able to actually form words now.

"Oh. Now it's on!" He yelled, jumping up and grabbing a plate full of food to throw at us. Sirius and I did the same, and soon we were in a huge food fight. Food was flying every which way hitting everything and everyone, including Remus who was trying to get us to stop. By the end of it all, we were all sprawled out on the ground, covered in food, laughing our heads off. I could just imagine what anyone would think if they found us like that. We must have been a sight to behold.

"So, now that you lot are done being crazy, you want to go back to the common room?" Remus questioned.

"Well we can't exactly go back into the castle looking like this." I motioned towards my blouse which was now quite colorful from the many different types of food flung at it.

"She's right. We aren't supposed to know about the kitchens much less get food from the kitchens. I'd rather not get in trouble. If I get any more detentions with McGonagall, I think I might go insane," James replied.

"So what do you suggest we do then?" Remus asked us. We all sat up and looked at one another, not having a clue as to what to do.

"Well, there is one thing," Sirius began seriously.

"What's that?" Remus inquired. Suddenly, Sirius got a devilish grin upon his face. Remus shrank back a little bit, fear growing in his eyes. Then Sirius got up and did something that none of us could have predicted. He picked up Remus and flung him into the Black Lake!

"What the hell Sirius?!" I exclaimed, jumping to my feet and running towards the edge of the ledge just in time to see Remus's head pop out of the lake water below.

"You better be bloody glad that I can swim Sirius!" Remus yelled up at us.

"Well, I wouldn't have pushed you in if I thought you couldn't swim, mate! Who do you think I am?" Sirius yelled back at Remus, laughing slightly.

"I think your a git!" Remus yelled back.

"Ha! I've heard that one before!" Sirius said looking towards me. I laughed sheepishly in response. Then, James stood up and walked to where we stood at the edge of the ledge overlooking the lake.

"You know, I think a good swim would actually hit the spot!" he said, smiling at the both of us. "Cannonball!" he yelled before jumping into the dark waters below. Upon hitting the water, his jump made huge waves which drenched an already wet Remus. After a few seconds a laughing, happy James's head popped out of the water. It was very much a contrast to the scowling, unhappy face of Remus.

"Come on in! The water's fine!" James yelled at me and Sirius.

"Ladies first," Sirius said, gesturing towards the lake below and winking at me.

"No thanks," I replied quickly. "I mean you've heard all the stories about how there's a monster at the bottom of the lake and the water doesn't look very clean and-"

"Are you scared to jump in?" Sirius asked me.

"No!" I retorted. "I just don't particularly want to jump into a lake with monsters in them." I crossed my arms and looked away from him. I could feel my face growing red from embarrassment. Then I heard Sirius chuckling, and my face got even redder.

"Well, maybe you just need someone to help you take that leap of faith, huh?" Sirius mumbled. I looked up at him just in time to see him smile at me and pick me up bridal style.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" I yelled at him.

"Helping you take that leap," he replied just before jumping off the ledge with me in his arms. The ledge was only few feet above the water, so it only took a few seconds before the two of us hit the warm water below. I should've been glad that it was still sunny out, or the water probably wouldn't have been as warm. The water surrounded me and Sirius, and I held my breath as I struggled to get out of Sirius's hold.

_ I might have finally accepted Sirius as my friend, but that doesn't mean I want him to hold me like this_, I thought as I continued the struggle. Sirius wouldn't let me go however and a few seconds later he had swam to the top with me. I popped my head out of the water and breathed in the sweet, sweet oxygen from the air.

"So, what did you think, love?" Sirius asked me as he smiled.

"I thought you weren't going to call me love?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I said that love wouldn't be your nickname. That doesn't mean that I won't call you it now and again," he replied, winking at me. I rolled my eyes and pushed myself away from him, now treading water to keep myself up. James swam over towards us with a mischievous smile on his face. Sirius looked cautiously at him and began to say something just as James splashed a huge amount of water into his face.

"Ha! You should've seen the look on your face just now!" James exclaimed as he laughed. Sirius glared at him and splashed some water onto his face which made James stop laughing very quickly. Soon they were having a water fight which was almost as big as our food fight was. I simply shook my head, tired from today's events. I noticed Remus swimming towards the edge of the lake and followed him until we reached dry land. I sighed and plopped down next to Remus who was simply watching Sirius and James's water fight.

"I don't understand how two boys can have so much energy," Remus began. "I guess you're tired to?" he questioned turning to face me.

"Yeah, I think I've had enough rough housing for today. I'm not exactly used to this kind of thing you know," I replied. I hugged my legs to my chest and looked out towards the sun which was beginning to set.

"I know," Remus said after a while. "I also know why you are scared to have friends." I snapped my head around to look at him. I could feel my eyes grow big and even though I was drenched in water, I could feel myself begin to sweat.

"What do you-"

"On the train ride where you told us your name, Sirius mentioned that he had heard your last name before. McClendon, huh?" Remus stared into my eyes as he continued to talk. "Well, I guess that piqued my interest, and seeing as I had nothing else to do at the time, I found myself looking through books in the library for your name, something that Sirius would never do. Of course I couldn't find anything, but that was before I looked in the restricted section."

"You looked in the restricted section? I thought that only students with written permission from Professors were allowed to do that?" I asked cautiously.

"Yes that's true. I might be a prefect, but that doesn't mean I always follow the rules," Remus replied upon my accusing looks directed towards him. "Anyway, while looking in the restricted section I found an interesting book with an article on Edwin McClendon. Pure-blood, Slytherin, and a mass murderer of muggles if I remember correctly." Upon him saying this, my body went numb with fear.

_He_ _knows._

"Upon further inspection, I found out that there is a huge pure-blooded family that came from this Edwin McClendon. A huge family which can be traced down to a Walter McClendon who married a Diana Flint. After marrying the couple went on a rampage of muggle killing and torturing. Eventually they were caught, and taken to Azkaban, the wizard prison. 394. They ended up killing 394 muggles before they were caught. Yet somehow, in the midst of all their killing, they had a baby. A little baby girl of which they named Jessalyn Diana McClendon. You are their daughter." I had looked away from Remus at this. I didn't want to see him glare at me. I didn't want to see his judging face. I just wanted to get out of there, but I couldn't move. It felt like I had become rooted to the ground. I didn't say anything. I didn't do anything. I just sat there in sadness and fear.

"Jessalyn," Remus finally said. I was surprised. His voice didn't come out harsh or accusing. It came out soft and understanding with a bit of sympathy as well. "Jessalyn, please look at me," he continued. I plucked up the courage to finally look at him. His green eyes were looking at me with a sort of kindness I had never seen before. I suddenly didn't feel afraid or upset in the slightest. I felt almost at ease.

"I don't completely know the whole story, but I think I understand enough to see why you are the way you are today. I think I understand why you are scared to have friends," he said solemnly looking at me. "Look, if you ever need to talk to someone or need help, just know that you can come to me. Ok?"

"Ok. Thanks," I said. "Promise me you won't tell anyone about this?"

"Of course. I promise," Remus said, now smiling at me. I smiled back at him. I was suddenly very glad to have him as my friend.

"Oi! You guys having a moment up here or something?" I heard Sirius's voice say. I looked over to see a drenched Sirius and James climbing onto the shore.

"Something like that," Remus replied as he stood up from where he was sitting.

"Now I'm freezing!" James said as his teeth chattered.

"I'm a little chilly myself," Sirius said back to James. Not a second after he said that, Sirius had taken his shirt off. "Ah. Much better," he sighed as he laid down on the ground. He put his arms behind his head and closed his eyes without a care in the world. I couldn't help but look at him. He wasn't very muscular, but he was very toned and fit. His chest was flawless, a fair light color. His hair was a dark black color and was still sopping wet from his quick swim. It was weird. He was so casual, yet elegant at the same time. Could anyone actually do that?

"How exactly does taking off your shirt help you from being cold?" Remus asked exasperatedly. Suddenly, Sirius's eyes popped open. I must have still been looking at him because soon his grey eyes were trained right on my blue ones.

"Because the shirt traps all of that water in it," he replied as he continued to look at me. Soon he was smiling his signature smile at me. I could feel my face grow hot and a blush creep onto my cheeks for the second time that day. I quickly looked away from him to which he just chuckled. I stood up, a blush still evident on my face.

"Can we go now? It's getting late, and I need to finish my History of Magic Essay." I turned my face away from all of them and began to rock back and forth on my heels. Sirius stood up as well.

"Sure, but you might want to fix something first," he said, walking over to me.

"What's that?" I asked, trying not to look at him.

"You can see your bra through that blouse of yours." I felt my face get hotter and hotter as I stood there stunned. "Nice color by the way. It really brings out your eyes," Sirius continued as he winked at me. I honestly don't think that my face could get any hotter than it was right then.

* * *

Once I had finally gained the skill to talk, I called Sirius a pervert, punched him in the arm, and proceeded to dry myself, using my wand to produce heat. Now, I was walking through the hallways towards the Great Hall for some dinner. I was in a pair of freshly cleaned clothes and I still smelled of soap from my shower. I could already smell the scent of food wafting from the Great Hall as I rounded a corner. Bam! I hadn't been paying attention and accidentally ran into somebody.

"Sorry!" I exclaimed as I began to pick up their books that they had dropped in the collision.

"No, it's my fault. I-" The person had stopped in the middle of their sentence.

"What is it?" I looked up as well to see Sirius. No wait. It wasn't Sirius. It was somebody who looked like Sirius, but they had colder eyes and an expressionless face. It was Regulus! I looked at him in shock as he stared back at me similarly.

"You're that girl who was stalking around our common room the other night!" Regulus said.

"And you're the boy who tried to assist in my murder!" I said right back.

"We weren't going to murder you!" he replied. He stood up with some of his dropped books now back in his hands.

"Oh, just maim a little then?" I countered, standing up as well.

"No! Besides, it wasn't even my idea. It was all Lucius's," he said. "Anyway, can I please have my books back so I can get going?" I transferred the books from my hands to his. "Thanks," he said as he began to walk around me.

"Wait a minute!" I called towards him.

He stopped and without turning around said, "What?"

"I was just wondering. How are you and Sirius even related?" I asked. He looked over his shoulder at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, when a man and a woman love each other, sometimes they-"

"You know what I meant!" I stopped him. He chuckled a little bit and turned fully around to face me.

"I'm guessing you mean how Sirius and me are so different yet we are related?" he asked. I nodded. "Well, we aren't really that different. The big difference between us is that I kept to my parents wishes while Sirius did the opposite. Besides that, we are very much the same though Sirius would never admit it. Sometimes I wonder, if I had the guts to go against my parents-" At this Regulus looked away thoughtfully, but that didn't last long. After a few seconds he had snapped his attention back to me, the same emotionless look that he had before now coming back.

"I need to go," he said very suddenly. "Why don't we just pretend like none of this happened and never speak to each other again, alright?" He turned back around and began to walk away.

"Wait! Why?" I asked.

"Because you're Sirius's friend." That was all he said before he had turned around the corner and left. I stood there, confusion left in me as I stared at where he once stood. There was something strange about that boy, something different. He seemed confused and almost hurt, but why? I shook these thoughts from my head and continued towards the Great Hall. Now the only thing my mind was the thought of eating food.

* * *

**Well, that's it for now! I guess you guys found out some ****stuff about Jessalyn huh?! Don't worry, there's still a lot more that nobody knows about...yet! Anyway, I'm going top try to get the next chapter out sometime next weekend. I will be traveling to Florida then, so I should have plenty of time to write the next chapter, or at least get started on it! Anyway, thanks for reading this chapter! I appreciate it! :) Until next time!**


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Harry Potter, Friendship, Romance