December 3rd, 1976

They were official.

Sirius Orion Black and Nicole Muriel Weasley - although she was known as Nicole Muriel Granger - were boyfriend and girlfriend, and they had been since their first date on November 13th.

"I'm bored," Sirius said, two simple words that spelled certain destruction. A bored Sirius Black was a catastrophe.

James snorted. "Is it because you can't move because then you'll wake up Nic?"

Nikki had fallen asleep midway through the History of Magic lecture, head resting on Sirius' shoulder. All of the sixth year students regretted taking the class into their NEWT levels, even Lily Evans and Remus Lupin.

It was a trial to suffer through, although most students took it as a period to nap in. Which was good, given the fact that they didn't have that much free time for napping.

"Fuck off, Prongs," Sirius rolled his eyes, shifting his arm slightly to flip James the bird.

Remus yawned, barely able to stay awake as well. "Both of you, shut it. There's some people who are trying to sleep here."

He pointed at Peter, who was sprawled out on his desk letting out soft, quiet snores, himself, and then at Nikki.

"We don't have much longer," James whispered, "then we're going to DADA. Brennan said we were practicing dueling this class. And then she also hinted at the Patronus spell for the extended DADA lesson."

Professor Brennan had gathered up all of the highly proficient DADA students in all of the years she taught, forming an advanced class of sorts that met once every other week.

Sirius frowned slightly. Regulus was also part of that class, and the space between the Black brothers felt like a literal itch that he just couldn't scratch, regardless of how hard he tried.

At some point, shouting "how are you?" in French - comment vas-tu? - just wasn't enough. He didn't know if Regulus was lying, he didn't know how badly his baby brother was faring at 12 Grimmauld Place ever since he had left the house with two fingers held high, and he didn't know if Regulus had been forced into taking the final plunge yet.

'Reg was only fourteen...'

He swallowed. He couldn't think about this. He knew that it would be the only thing running through his head if he did.

The bell rang as the students of Professor Binn's sixth year History of Magic class shot up from their seats as if they were scalded.

"I'm a bloody pillow," Sirius snorted gently, trying to use a single hand to pack his bag with the parchment he and Peter had been using to play a Muggle game called tic-tac-toe with. At least, they had been until Peter had fallen asleep, quill dragging through one of the games. "But I think she might not like sleeping through the dueling lesson."

"Want to Aguamenti it?" James posed innocently.

Sirius stared at James. "Do you want to get murdered? We are not waking Nikki up by pouring water on her."

"You could always just... shake her awake," Remus teased, shaking Nikki's shoulder.

"Bloody hell," Nikki groaned, blinking her eyes open. "How long was I out?"

A small smile pulled at the corners of Sirius' mouth. "Since the first word out of Binns' mouth. Merlin, that monotone could kill someone. Maybe you should rename me to Pillow Black."

She shrugged, stretching as she stood up from her seat. "Your shoulder is very comfortable. You should feel proud of yourself."

Sirius stood up as well, the group heading out of the classroom together. "I should feel proud of myself... because I have a comfortable shoulder?"

His face was knit together in an expression of complete and utter bewilderment. Remus snickered to himself at the pure confusion that emanated from Sirius.

"Mhmmmm," Nikki hummed softly. "DADA next?"

"I'm way too excited to duel someone," James grinned widely.

Lily sighed long-sufferingly. "Hopefully Professor Brennan doesn't match you and Se-Snape together. The classroom would be destroyed by class' end."

"If you're still hung up over Snivellus, I swear to Merlin, you need to duel him or something to get your aggression out," Sirius huffed, nudging the shorter redhead with his elbow. "He called you-"

"Sirius." Lily's voice was firm, unyielding. "I remember what he called me. I was there. And I would like to move on from this conversation."

Peter frowned, thinking. "Is there going to be a tournament or something for this? Like March Madness for basketball in America?"

"...Pete, I don't think you remember that my former parents are the definition of inbred, arsehole, pureblood elitists," Sirius said slowly, his Gryffindor tie draped across his shoulders as if a beacon. "I don't know what basketball is, let alone some American tournament for it. Nikki, you're American. Do you know what this... March Madness?... is?"

Nikki responded easily, falling into the lie that her and Professor Dumbledore had concocted about her being from America. "Not entirely... remember, I'm a pureblood as well. The only things I know about Muggles are what I've learned from my Muggleborn friends back in the good ol' States - or, No-Majs there."

"There's a bracket," Remus began to give a succinct explanation as they walked to their next class. "Winners move on and losers are done. The winners play other winners until eventually there's only one left."

"I don't think she's going to do that," Nikki responded, pulling her hair back into a ponytail with the elastic band on her wrist. "Would be a bit boring for everyone else, just watching duels happen."

"But then we could also bet on the results," James pointed out. "So maybe not."

They stepped into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, chairs and desks inside pushed to the walls of the room and leaving a wide space in the middle of the classroom for the duels.

Sirius absentmindedly twirled strands of Nikki's ginger locks around his index finger, the six's eyes drawn to the sheet of parchment with names written on it.

"Bugger," Remus cursed under his breath. "I don't want to fight Mary MacDonald. She's a sweet girl."

"Does Moony have a crush?" Peter said in a sing-song voice, laughing under his breath.

Remus raised his hands in the air exasperatedly, letting them fall a second after. "Since when does calling someone a sweet girl mean that you have a crush on them?"

"...Lilyyy," Nikki drew out the last syllable of Lily's name in a way that was meant to convey innocence but failed horribly. The mischievous smirk on her face was the main cause. "Do you want me to fuck up Snape or no?"

James choked on air as he strode to the front of the crowd, trailing his finger down the list of names.

It stalled on Nikki's name, written on the parchment with a line drawn from her column to Severus Snape's on the other column.

Sirius snorted. "Give 'em hell."

He wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder from behind. "Jamie, who am I against?"

James let out a groan, resting his hand against his forehead in mock agony. "How could she?! Brothers in all but blood, and we're made to duel each other!"

"I'm surprised he let the 'Jamie' nickname slide," Sirius pondered, murmuring in Nikki's ear. "Ever since I met him he was insistent it was a M-Effie nickname."

Nikki said nothing about the near slip-up. But it was obvious to anyone who knew Sirius Orion Black well.

Euphemia Potter was his mum. And that was that.

"Be careful, Nikki," Lily warned, emerald green eyes wide with worry for her friend. "He's a good dueler. Always has been."

Nikki smirked, raising her chin confidently. "Snape may be good at dueling, but I'm obviously much better. He has no experience with me, and he ain't seen nothing yet."

"Careful," Remus muttered quickly, "he's coming."

"If he hurts you," Sirius started, gently spinning Nikki around so that he could look into her eyes, "he'll regret it for months."

His eyes glinted with a dangerous fury, one that warned people against messing with those that he called his own. It was a small list, but he was protective over the list.

The Potters. Nikki. Remus. Lily. Peter. Regulus.

Hell would rain down upon those who dared to mess with the eight people Sirius treasured above all else. He would fight Voldemort himself in an abandoned Knockturn Alley offset behind Borgin and Burke's if he needed to, his own safety be damned.

He shifted his head to the side, feeling his neck crack.

Professor Brennan opened the door that connected her classroom to her office, striding through it and descending the staircase that led upwards into her office.

"The list taped to the wall behind my desk shows your dueling partners," she began. "Please find your partner and make sure you're far enough away from others so that all the duels can go on at the same time without anyone being pressed for space."

Pressing a feather-light kiss to Nikki's forehead, he stepped back from her. "Let me know if he's being an arse, yeah?"

"I can handle myself," Nikki said gently, eyes glimmering with an eagerness to get started. "But I will if needed. And focus on James more than me; I won't be the reason you end up in the hospital wing."

Sirius waved the warning off, hand fluttering aimlessly through the air. "Better me than you. And Prongs would cry if I went to the hospital wing due to us dueling in class."

She smiled slightly, the two splitting off and finding their partners.

Severus Snape didn't say a word to her. He was all business.

That was fine with Nikki. She grew up with six brothers. She could handle herself in a schoolyard duel, especially one that was class-sanctioned.

"We will continue shuffling partners, depending on how long each duel takes," Professor Brennan informed the sixth years. "And, begin!"

Barely a second after the blonde professor had given them the signal to start dueling, Nikki had already ducked under a scarlet spell that would have hit her skull.

Flicking her wand, she muttered, "Rictusempra."

She was going to test the waters first, find out exactly how good the Slytherin sixth year actually was at dueling.

The Tickling Charm seemed like a good place to start.

He took a step to the right, the spell painlessly impacting the wall behind him.

"Flipendo!"

Nikki conjured up a shield through a single word, - Protego - pursing her lips slightly as she thought quickly.

Flashes of bright light were visible out of the corners of her eyes, Nikki focusing intently on the sallow-faced young man in front of her.

She fired three Stunning spells, one right after the other. Nikki, through her jaunt into the past, had learned how to use nonverbal spells, and she used it to her advantage.

You never let your opponents know what to expect. Bill and Charlie had told her that it was one of the cardinal rules of dueling, along with never standing directly in the path of a spell - even if you had a shield charm up.

She ducked once more, sickly yellow light soaring harmlessly over her head. Flipping her head up, Nikki wordlessly let loose the Knockback Jinx, followed near-immediately by the Disarming Spell.

Severus twisted his body around both of the spells in a way that seemed as sinuous as the snake on his house crest.

He fired a wordless spell, the first one that actually hit its target. Nikki's head jerked back due to the force of the spell, cheek stinging from where the spell had shallowly sliced her skin open.

Raising her fingertips to her left cheek, she brushed at the faintly bleeding wound. Flicking the scarlet droplets of blood away, she raised her eyebrow.

"Is that all you got?" Nikki scoffed, resorting to words to try and throw him off. "I'm in agony."

She flicked her wand out as he opened his mouth, a green jet of light flying towards her opponent and hitting him square in the chest.

"What was that-"

His words were cut off by a green, slimy slug bursting forth from his mouth, almost as if Severus Snape had vomited it up.

"Accio Severus Snape's wand," Nikki said clearly, enunciating each and every word. "That's for Lily Evans. Call someone a racist slur and you get worse."

A loud whoop sounded from her right, Sirius Black catching James Potter's wand as it came soaring through the air.

"Prongsie got beat!" He crowed, tossing his hair back over his shoulders as he lowered his hand to help pull James up.

James pouted, partially as a joke and partially because he was slightly upset he had lost. Although he would never admit it. "Dammit Pads - woah."

His eyes landed on Nikki's innocent facial expression, darting down to the gradually growing pile of slugs next to one Severus Snape.

"Sirius," he said, completely and utterly delighted, "I might need to steal your girlfriend."

"What the fuck's that supposed to mean?" Sirius asked, flipping James' wand in his hand and offering the handle side to his brother in all but blood.

"Turn around," James uttered in awe.

Sirius spun on his heel, a coy smirk stretching across his face. "Well, well, comeuppance for what he called darling Evans last year?"

His eyes narrowed as he saw the crimson blood dripping as if from a leaky faucet down Nikki's face.

Sirius crossed the distance between them within two seconds flat, hands going up to cup her cheeks.

His thumb brushed against the soft skin of her cheek, trying to quench the blood flow. "You're bleeding."

Nikki smiled, wincing at the way the motion tugged against at the shallow cut. "I'm fine. You should see the other guy," she assured, tilting her head downwards at the pile of slugs.

"Please Merlin say there's no countercharm," Sirius murmured under his breath. Sue him, the prick had called his so-called "best friend" a racist slur that strongly reminded Sirius of his parents.

The M-word, at 12 Grimmauld Place, was thrown around like it was bloody candy.

And the arsehole had made his girlfriend begin to bleed. His jaw clenched as he traced the cut on her face with his wand, muttering, "Episkey."

Nothing happened.

He furrowed his eyebrows, grey eyes clouded as he thought. "Weird, that normally should have worked with how small the cut is. Do you have any idea what spell hit you?"

"It's school dueling," Nikki dryly stated. "He's not going to whip out an Unforgivable or anything. And it was a nonverbal."

Sirius' nose wrinkled at the mention of the three Unforgivable Curses before passively smoothing itself back out. He tapped the end of his wand to her cheek.

"Vulnera Sanentur," he said the incantation almost in an undertone.

Nikki's skin began knitting itself together almost instantly, the bleeding slowing and eventually coming to a halt.

The young man frowned pensively, thinking. "That's odd... we normally only use that one on our monthly adventures."

"You'd make a very good Healer, Sirius," Nikki teased gently, "a welcome sight to see at my bedside."

"If you're in a bad enough state to warrant being confined to a bed in Mungo's," Sirius started, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and walking with her over to James, who was nearly bouncing on his feet in his eagerness to congratulate Nikki on besting Severus Snape, "I will definitely not be happy. You know, I think I'd be right pissed, actually."

It was similar to his feelings at his former house, although he couldn't exactly place why he felt this way for Nikki. She was like Reg, in a way, how he would do anything - legal or illegal - for her safety.

He wasn't happy when Regulus had gotten slapped across the face so hard that his head had collided with the bloody awful vase on the second floor hallway of 12 Grimmauld Place - no.

Sirius shook himself like a wet dog, forcibly shoving the thought from his head.

"Nikki," James started, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, his smile as wide as she had ever seen. "That was bloody brilliant!"

She smirked, screwing her face into a look of innocence. "Now, now, James. Lily might get jealous."

It was difficult to note the differences between James Fleamont Potter's face in that moment and the scarlet red Quaffle.

"There's no countercharm, by the way," Nikki noted almost as if it were an afterthought.

James' eyes widened to the size of galleons behind his glasses. "...I'm buying all your chocolate from Honeydukes next Hogsmeade weekend. And inviting you over to Potter Manor for part of winter holidays."

Nikki smiled at the invitation. "I'll see if I can convince Lily to come over, as well. I'm staying with her and her family for the break... hopefully you can fund my chocolate addiction."

"Oh no," Sirius gasped overdramatically. "Prongs is going to go broke!"

"It would be worth it," James said gallantly, almost as if he thought it a great honor to dig himself into a hole by buying Nikki all the chocolate her heart desired.

"Well done, everyone," Professor Brennan raised her voice to be heard over the chattering of the Gryffindor and Slytherin sixth years - not interhouse conversation, of course, the House rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin stemmed many generations. "Class dismissed, except for those in the Advanced DADA Club."

"...Est-ce que je veux savoir pourquoi Severus Snape vomit des limaces, Sirius?" A soft, slightly British-accented voice questioned from behind them, the speaker one Slytherin fourth year Regulus Black.

Sirius spun on his heel, replying in crisp French. He had to pretend like he and his baby brother were mortal enemies, right? "Nikki l'a maudit lots de notre duel lors du dernier cours... je pense que c'est une amélioration par rapport à ce qu'il dit habituellement."

"For Merlin's sake, Sirius, none of us know French!" Nikki groaned, elbowing him lightly in the stomach.

Remus, Lily, and Peter walked up to the gradually growing group.

"What's this about French?" Remus asked, smiling kindly at the younger Black brother. "Good afternoon, Regulus."

"Good afternoon, Remus," Regulus replied pleasantly.

"Nikki, what did you do?!" Lily fretted, shaking her head. "It's still going on!"

The ginger-haired young woman merely twirled her wand between her fingers. "There's no countercharm. Learned it from my eldest brother, Bill."

'Maybe I shouldn't have said that,' Nikki thought to herself. 'But, how could anyone possibly figure out my time travel secret from just Billy's first name?'

"I think you're in love, Sirius," Remus teased, elbowing his friend in the side.

"Shut it, Moons. And, Lils, he deserves it," Sirius scoffed, running his hand through his unruly hair so much like his brother's in color. "With what he called you last-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Lily uttered, each word coming out clipped and intentional. Lily Marie Evans had no interest in discussing the incident that had occurred after OWLs, the incident that had resulted in the shattering of her friendship with her oldest friend.

Marlene McKinnon let out a low whistle as she strode through the door of the DADA classroom. "Well done, whoever gave Snape a taste of his own medicine! I could kiss them!"

"Please don't," Sirius snorted, "then I'd have to hex you."

"...Nikki, dearest Nicole," the seventh year Gryffindor said, hands clasped under her chin and eyes shining nearly as bright as her golden blonde curls, "anything you want from Hogsmeade and I'm your girl."

"Hey!" James exclaimed, playfully nudging Marlene in the shoulder. "I'm buying her chocolate, thank you."

"Comment vas-tu?" Sirius hushly questioned his little brother, singular eyebrow raised curiously. "A mère et le père sont des connards comme d'habitude?"

Regulus frowned, grey eyes darkening as he thought of a suitable response that wouldn't cause Sirius to go on a one-man mission armed with only his wand and Gryffindor courage - bordering on recklessness, but Regulus definitely wasn't going to be the one to tell him that - to set fire to 12 Grimmauld Place.

Or possibly explode it. Regulus wouldn't put it past his older brother.

"Aussi bien que je peux l'être. Ma mère est toujours furieuse que tu quittes la famille."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Maybe she just needs to bloody get over herself already; it's been months."

He hadn't realized that he was speaking in English instead of French until Nikki, Remus, Peter, James, Lily, and Marlene had all snapped their heads up to peer at him in bewilderment and curiosity.

"...Nothing," he shrugged off the looks. "Don't worry about it."

Regulus pursed his lips, unsure of what to do. "Je te verrai plus tard alors, je suppose?"

Sirius' heart gave a pang at the hopeful look in his little brother's eyes so similar to his own, guards completely dropped and every wish visible in the grey depths. "Je vous aime, mon petit frère."

"Je ne suis pas un bébé," Regulus grumbled, which caused Sirius to snicker under his breath at the disgruntled way Reg's eyebrows knit together. "Je vous aime, mon grande frère."

He cracked the tiniest of smiles and walked off to join the rest of the Slytherins that had gathered nearest to the door.

'Someone,' the younger Black brother noted, 'had conjured up a silver bucket for Sni-Severus to... deposit the slugs into.'

He sighed mentally. 'Sirius has corrupted me, hasn't he?'

"The Patronus," Professor Brennan began, walking up and down the rows of neatly arranged desks, although no student was sitting at them, "is a defensive spell, used to protect the caster from Dementors and Lethifolds, the sole defense against these Dark Creatures."

Remus hid a flinch at the last two words.

"Bellatrix is going to be getting mighty comfy with the Dementors," Sirius informed James, quiet enough where they weren't overheard. "She's already gotten the Mark; Mummy and Daddy dearest along with Aunt Druella and Uncle Cygnus were practically fawning over it before I gave them the two-fingered salute and left."

James frowned deeply. "Are you sure you're okay after them, Pads? You can talk to me, you know that."

"I know, Prongs," Sirius whispered back. "I'm fine."

It was a complete and utter lie, but Sirius didn't want to drag James down into the disaster that was his mental state.

"Additionally, corporeal Patronuses - those that are a complete animal form instead of just a white, glowing shield - can be used to pass messages from one person to another, where only the person or persons who receive the message would be able to hear."

Remus grinned, muttering to the rest of the Marauders, "Lucky you lot already know yours, right?"

"You too, Wolfy John McWolf," Sirius said in an undertone, tone snarky and light-hearted.

"To conjure a Patronus," Professor Brennan explained as she screwed her face up in thought to demonstrate, "you have to be able to picture the happiest memory you have in your head, saying the incantation Expecto Patronum."

Swirling her wand in a circle as she said the incantation, a vibrantly glowing white shape grew larger and larger out of the tip of her wand, sprouting legs that ended in four paws and-

Some of the younger students gasped at the sight of the large polar bear.

Sirius raised his eyebrows at Regulus, who - after shooting a quick furtive glance around to make sure nobody was looking at him - stuck his tongue out at his older brother.

He did not gasp, thank you very much. It was a very proper exclamation of awe!

"Your Patronus shows what's in your heart. It has been known that two people who love each other very much could have matching Patronuses, although it is usually found in Patronuses of the opposite gender," Professor Brennan continued. "Let's get cracking, everyone! This is a very difficult spell - some Aurors aren't able to produce a fully corporeal Patronus - so don't feel discouraged if you can't."

James wrinkled his brow. "Maybe the Auror Department needs new employees, if four fifteen year olds were able to find out their Patronuses and they can't."

"Oh bloody hell, of course you lot already know how to do this," Nikki rolled her eyes. "Need another crossword? Or do you lot want to show it off?"

"Expecto Patronum," Sirius said clearly, swishing his wand through the air in a brief circle as he pictured his younger brother and him ice skating through one of the ballrooms in 12 Grimmauld Place that Kreacher had transfigured the floor into ice. He wasn't sure how old they were, only that it was a slightly fuzzy memory - maybe six and four?

He wiggled his eyebrows at his girlfriend as the large dog burst forth from his wand and skidded on the floor, circling itself and trying to catch its tail.

Nikki snorted softly at the playfulness from the dog Patronus. "I should have known."

There was a meaningful tone to her voice, although it was hidden from anyone who didn't already know their Animagus forms.

James and Peter followed suit, Peter's face crinkling as he focused. The stag and rat materialized, glowing white and translucent.

Sirius and James sent their Patronuses after each other in a manner that somewhat resembled a chase, although it was unclear which animal was the chaser and which was running away from the chaser.

Nikki took in a deep breath, letting it out through her nose. She closed her eyes, picturing all the happy memories that she had.

When her, Fred, and George found that scrap of parchment that eventually turned out to be a map of everyone at Hogwarts and their exact movements? No, that wasn't good enough.

Her and Percy's eleventh birthday when they had gotten their wands? When she was sorted into Gryffindor? No and no. They weren't happy enough memories.

Almost as if her subconsciousness was trying to advise her, a brief flicker of a memory of her and Sirius talking in the Astronomy Tower late at night played in her mind, the stars the only light.

She could almost smell the leather of his jacket draped around her shoulders and the slight hint of cinnamon that was constantly permeating Sirius' clothes and skin.

"Expecto Patronum," she whispered, almost as if a prayer, as her wrist glided through the wand movement. Her eyes opened, coming face to face with the dog before her.

It - she - wagged its tail, body slightly smaller than Sirius'.

A funny choking sound came from a couple feet to her left.

'Oh bloody buggering fuck.'

Sirius didn't know where to look. His eyes darted from his Patronus - which had begun to fizzle out - to Nikki, to her Patronus, and then back to Nikki. He swallowed forcibly, Adam's apple bobbing.

"Oh shit..." James cursed under his breath, warm hazel eyes flickering between his two friends.

Regulus froze from across the room, wand slowly lowering as he studied the commotion.

James turned to Remus, muttering rapidly under his breath, "You have the Map, right?"

Remus frowned pensively, honey colored eyes gazing into James' hazel as if he was struggling to piece together a particularly difficult Arithmancy problem.

"Yes... why?"

"Because both Sirius and Nikki are-"

The aforementioned sixth years had already left the room, heading in completely opposite directions.

James let out an exasperated huff, finishing his sentence, "-going to run from their problems."

Remus rummaged through his bag, eventually coming up victorious with a blank parchment piece clutched in his hand.

"I'll go after Nikki," James asserted as he took the parchment from Remus. His eyes locked with Regulus Black's.

James Potter was no idiot, let it be known. Sure, he might be a bit oblivious, Quidditch-obsessed, and maybe a bit too proud of himself for his own good, but he wasn't an idiot.

Right now, Regulus Arcturus Black would be a much better help for Sirius than James. And James was fine with that.

As long as Sirius got some sense smacked into him - either literally or figuratively.

James tilted his head towards the door, a subtle motion that went unnoticed by everyone except Regulus.

Raising his hand, he pointed a finger at his eyes and then jabbed that finger at Regulus.

The meaning was clear: I'm watching you. Don't fuck this up.

Well, maybe that last part was added in the privacy of Regulus' own head. He brushed the thought off, striding straight for the Astronomy Tower.

If Sirius wasn't there, he'd eat his broomstick.

James Potter split off from him the second they left the classroom, pulling out his wand and tapping the parchment with it.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

His eyes tracked the moving footsteps, a small scroll next to each displaying their name in an overly elaborate cursive - Padfoot swore to murder them if they ever uttered a word over the handwriting style that had been drilled into him at the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.

James thought the name was poppycock.

Benjy Fenwick, Barty Crouch Jr., Pandora Rosier, Nicole Weasley...

'No, no, no, n-wait a minute.'

James' eyes widened as he began to piece things together.

Nikki was a ginger, like the rest of the Weasley's. She had a gigantic family. Her boggart was of Molly Prewett - well, Weasley now - and Arthur Weasley along with the rest of their brood dead. And she had an older brother named Bill... the oldest Weasley child.

James swore viciously, words that - if his mother heard him - would result in being very familiar with what, exactly, soap tastes like.

How was that even possible? No Time Turner should be able to kick you-

James paused, doing some quick mental math. Molly and Arthur had recently had a pair of twins in August, Percy and Nik-Nicole. Merlin that was weird. His friend was a baby now!

Time Turners shouldn't be able to boot someone nearly two decades back into the past.

He shook his head, focusing on the problem at hand. James kept the map open, tracking his friend through it and coming up on the alcove she had holed herself in behind the door that pretended to be a wall.

"Nice American accent," James said casually, squeezing his way into the little nook Nikki was in. "Would have fooled me if I didn't have the Map. Care to explain why you've time-traveled?"

A strangled sound came out of Nikki's mouth, the young woman unsure of how to go about this confrontation. Should she lie? Or be blunt about everything?

"Maybe breathe a little first... don't want you suffocating." It was an awful attempt at humor, but Nikki snorted weakly nonetheless. "Sirius wouldn't be very happy with me."

Nikki frowned slightly at the name. "I... one of my dormmates had a Time Turner," she slowly began to explain, leaning against the wall and letting her head drop back against the stone. "Me being me, I was curious and decided to pick it up. It was broken or something, and next thing I knew I was here."

She reluctantly brought her head back down to meet James' steady gaze. "And in love with someone who is... nearly seventeen years older than me."

James winced. "Yeah... that's... errr... not the best... but it'll work out. Everything will work out fine, and hopefully Sirius doesn't freak the fuck out when you go back to your time."

He chewed on his lower lip, thinking. Due to his Animagus form, he could smell the stress-panic-confusion-love emanating from her very body.

James sneezed. Honestly, couldn't people try to not feel eight billion emotions at once? It gave him a headache.

"Sirius is head over heels for you, and not just because you beat ol' Snivelly in a duel earlier today," James tried to joke. "And it could always be worse; Orion and Walburga Black are second cousins."

Nikki shuddered. "Don't mention the pureblood inbreeding..."

"Hey," James said, resting his hands on her shoulders. "It might be difficult, but aren't the best things in life the most difficult ones? Hell, I've been chasing after Lily for six years - and counting - and it's one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do, but it's worth it. Because it's for her."

"Thanks, James," she smiled weakly at him. "Why'd he run out?"

James pursed his lips, nostrils flaring in frustration at the elder Blacks' stellar parenting tactics. Even in his head the word dripped sarcasm from every letter.

"...It's... hard... for Sirius to say the words 'I love you.' And I'm not explaining why - it's his business. Just. He's probably mentally processing the fact that he does love you, and you love him, and it was just so much piling on him - he bottles everything up until it explodes, it's his fatal flaw - that he couldn't handle it and ditched."

Nikki craned her neck, looking down at the map. "Don't bother trying to hide it from me," she said wryly as James tried to pull the map away from her view. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. Found it my third year and my twin brothers' first; nicked it from Filch."

James snorted. "For all it's worth, I really do think that you and Sirius are good for each other. You're both stubborn as all hell, and too reckless for your own good at times, but you'll do anything for each other. And it shows."

He squeezed her shoulder gently with his hand. "Now go after your lover boy."

Nikki rolled her eyes affectionately. "Thanks for the pep-talk, Jamesie... but I wouldn't advise you to tease me given what you saw with the slugs."

James clamped his mouth shut immediately, dramatically bringing his finger to his lips in a shushing motion.

"You're an idiot," she laughed, nudging his shoulder with her hand. "But you're a lovable idiot."

She ducked out of the alcove, eyes bearing a determined set to them as she walked briskly to the Astronomy Tower.

James screwed his face into a pleased, smug expression as he pumped his fist.

One conversation down, two to go.

Across the grounds, Regulus eased the door to the Astronomy Tower open, hand gripping the stitch in his side.

"Come to join me in contemplating life, Reggie?" Sirius asked dully, back to his younger brother as he leaned against the side of the tower.

Regulus frowned, perplexed. "How'd you know it was me? And if you could move away from the ledge, thanks, my heart would appreciate it."

"Afraid I'll jump?"

A silence stretched between the brothers, unsettling both of them regardless of how they tried to hide it. Sirius sneezed, shaking his head as if to clear a scent from his nose.

He was.

The acrid tang of dread that seemed to fill the air between him and his baby brother.

Regulus picked his way over to his older brother, carefully lowering himself to the ground and letting his legs dangle over the edge. "I don't think Hagrid would like cleaning up the splatter that used to be Sirius Black."

Sirius snorted, a sound that seemed to force its way out of the seventeen year old.

"Don't worry, Reg, I'm not that reckless or mentally fucked to jump," he said absentmindedly, grey eyes flicking to his side to glance at Regulus from out of the corner of his eye. "I knew it was you because I could smell you."

Regulus fixed Sirius with a dry look, lifting his arm and sniffing his robes. "I don't smell," he objected, a lofty tone that did nothing to hide his offended expression.

Sirius barked out a laugh, flinging his arm over his younger brother's shoulders and pulling him close. "To anyone who's not an Animagus, yeah."

He winked. "But unfortunately, I am. And don't go shouting it to the Slytherin common room, mind you, I've been dabbling in illegal means since second year to do this."

Regulus' face sobered at the mention of illegality. "Not as illegal as Bella."

Sirius flinched. "I... if they try forcing you into Voldemort's gang, I want you to go to James'. I'm not letting you get a death sentence tattooed on your arm."

Regulus rested his head on Sirius' shoulder, almost as if they were watching the fireworks displays on November 5th for reasons unbeknownst to the Black family - some Muggle holiday - on top of the roof of 12 Grimmauld Place, nine and seven years old again.

"I'll do my best," Regulus replied doubtfully, "although I'm sure they'll have prepared for that. And don't even try to brush off what happened at the advanced DADA lesson."

Sirius stiffened at the mere mention, arm slowly slipping off of where it was draped across Regulus' shoulders.

"I thought you were a Gryffindor," the Slytherin fourth year teased, although he was careful in his prodding. Sirius could either close himself off if Regulus kept pestering or open up and become vulnerable.

What worried Regulus was that he wasn't quite sure which way Sirius was leaning at the moment.

"Why did you run?"

Sirius let out a long, slow breath, fiddling with his wand in between his fingers. He rolled his wrist out, still fidgeting.

"Well, when you've been called worthless, useless, a disgrace to your last name, a degenerate ingrate, and someone who will never amount to anything since bloody birth, you tend to internalize it and assume that a person would never love you THAT much where their bloody Patronus changes."

Sirius spoke in a clipped, dissociated tone, almost as if he were reciting the most dreary, pointless Daily Prophet article that could possibly be found.

'Something on the thickness of cauldron bottoms?'

Regulus wrinkled his nose, trying to brush the thought off.

"I think you were just proved wrong," he said delicately. "That's your Animagus form, and your Patronus. Bloody show-off."

Sirius clicked his tongue in an imitation of their mother. "Now, now, Reggie, don't curse. It's very improper."

Regulus rolled his eyes. "Shove it, I'm trying to get through to your thick head."

He paused, chewing on his lower lip as he wondered where to go from here.

"You know that I love you, and I've heard from Pandora Rosier who heard from her Gryffindor friend that James Potter has also professed his love for you nearly ten times in the past day, and that you have said it back."

"Took nearly six bloody years, though," Sirius mumbled.

Regulus shoved his shoulder, light enough to not get pushed off the Astronomy Tower but hard enough that he moved a couple inches.

"You still said it. So what's different with... Nikki, is it?"

Sirius frowned, thinking. "I-you know how I'd do anything for you and the rest of the Marauders, and bugger the law?"

Regulus nodded patiently.

"It's... something like that," Sirius admitted, running a hand through his hair and tugging lightly on the dark strands. "I just don't know how to explain it - she got cursed by Snivellus and... I-I don't know what I wanted."

The next four words were said in an undertone, only the light breeze blowing through the tower pulling the sound across to Regulus.

"And that scares me."

"Why does being in love scare you?" After speaking and waiting for Sirius' response, the younger Black brother scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Oh don't give me that look, you know you love her! You just don't want to admit it!"

Sirius groaned, "You're insufferable."

Regulus smiled cheekily, merely waiting for Sirius to expand on his whispered statement.

"Because I sound like our bitch of a mother," Sirius murmured, squinting at the faint hints of stars in the sky as the sun began to set. "I wanted Snape dead, Reg... he hurt her and-"

He took in a shaky breath. "I don't want to be like her. I'd rather be in bloody Azkaban than be anything even remotely similar."

Regulus tutted, resting his hand on Sirius'. "Remember, Mother doesn't have a heart. Maybe she was capable of love once, but not anymore. Just the fact that you love me, love James - Merlin what are their names? - Lupin, Pettigrew, and Nikki shows that you are nothing like her."

Sirius cracked a tiny smile. "You think Granny Irmy and Grandpa Polly surgically removed her heart?" He let out an over dramatic gasp. "Is Mother hollow?"

"If Grandmother Irma and Grandfather Pollux ever heard you, they would be scandalized," Regulus snickered silently.

"You should tell her," he advised, seemingly out of the blue. "Or at least say that saying 'I love you' can be a struggle for you, given that it was you and me against the world for fourteen years."

A long-drawn out silence came after Regulus spoke. He began to count silently, in the privacy of his own head.

'One, two, three, fo-'

"...You really think I should tell her?"

There was someone coming. Sirius sniffed, trying to place the scent over the cocktail of determination-nervousness-confidence.

A hint of chocolate, maybe? Or coconut-wait.

The ghost of a self-satisfied smile flickered across Regulus' face, smoothing itself out after a moment. "Yes. She'll understand. And if she doesn't... you can send her to me."

"...What am I going to be sent to Regulus for?" Nikki asked lightly, head tilted to the side.

Sirius and Regulus spun around, almost in unison.

"You'll know," Regulus said simply, an innocent expression on his face. Shooting a glance at Sirius, he uttered a string of rapid French. "Dis-lui ou je jure devant Merlin que je vais jeter un sort à tes cheveux rose fluo."

He got up from the floor and slipped out of the Astronomy Tower, leaving Sirius and Nikki alone to deal with the awkward silence that had resulted.

Sirius swallowed anxiously. "...Reg just threatened to hex my hair neon pink if I didn't tell you something... and I'm not very confident that I could pull the look off."

Nikki snorted. "You first, then?"

She fiddled with the ends of her ginger hair, the motions of her fingers through her reddish-orange locks sending wafts of the coconut smell into the air.

Sirius' nose twitched at the tropical scent. He rather liked coconut, although he hadn't had much experience with it before.

"It's.... hard... for me to say that I love someone," he started awkwardly, hand moving as if to run through his hair and then jerking to an aborted stop. "Even James, Regulus is the only person who I have been able to say that I love since we met - strange, that, he looked like a wrinkled mandrake when he was first born."

He flashed an unsure smile. "But... I think I do. Love you, that is, bloody hell I'm shit at feelings."

Nikki grinned. "I think it's very obvious that I love you too. But if it's hard for you to say, you don't have to. I know, and you know, and that's that."

He let out the softest breath of relief, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her close to him, chin resting gently on the top of her head.

"Maybe a nickname," he mused quietly, "that only we know what it means."

Nikki smiled into his chest. "You Marauders and your nicknames. It reminds me of that Muggle thing, actually, three hand squeezes - one for each word."

"Huh... similar, I guess, but you'll have to give me time to come up with a good nickname. It took us nearly two weeks to figure out ours," Sirius said, voice gentle in a way that was only heard by the people closest to him.

"My full name's Nicole, if that helps," she told him, rising up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

It took Sirius a week to come up with a suitable nickname that described her personality and would express all of his jumble of feelings for her, but it just felt right rolling right off of his tongue.

Coley.

Nicole was his Coley.

The sheer amount of content-happy-love that burst from both Sirius and Nikki every time he said her newfound nickname nearly gave James, Remus, and Peter migraines, but they never complained.

They suffered in silence, as they knew that Sirius and Nicole - Padfoot and Coley - belonged together in the same way that it was always Padfoot-and-Prongs, James-and-Sirius.

Sirius and Nikki would never be broken apart. And woe to those who tried.

Word Count: 7,457