"ℒℴ𝓋ℯ𝓇, 𝒴ℴ𝓊 𝒮𝒽ℴ𝓊𝓁𝒹 ℋ𝒶𝓋ℯ 𝒞ℴ𝓂ℯ 𝒪𝓋ℯ𝓇" － 𝒥ℯ𝒻𝒻 ℬ𝓊𝒸𝓀𝓁ℯ𝓎

December 23rd, 1993

     Nicole Weasley exhaustedly threw her quill down on top of her half-finished Potions essay, burying her head in her arms after Sirius Black let out his fifth exasperated sigh in the time span of two measly minutes.

     It was quiet other than Sirius' constant shifting in place, his inability to sit still rankling at Nikki, Fred, and George — who actually had homework up to their ears over the winter break.

     The homework load of the seventh and fifth years was nothing to scoff at.

Harry Potter groaned, tossing a stack of Muggle comics at his godfather, who was currently sprawled out on the floor flipping a spare Sickle into the air, catching it, and flicking it back up again. "Nicked some comics from Dudley earlier this summer; don't rip them or it's my arse on the line."

"Thank Merlin," Nikki mumbled, her voice an undertone quiet enough where nobody heard her.

Sirius propped himself up on his elbow, mock tutting. "Harry James, what a foul potty mouth you have!"

"Coming from you?" Remus idly raised an eyebrow, stretching his foot out just far enough to lazily kick his friend in the side.

"You know, I think that's worse than the last words I heard from Daddy Dearest as I got the hell out of Grimmauld flipping 'em all off," Sirius gasped, his hand draped over his forehead in a suitable impression of a damsel in distress. "You've wounded me, Moony, and I shall never recover."

     George shifted awkwardly in his chair, fingers drumming out a relentless tattoo on the wooden desk as he mentally prepared for the utter disaster that would ensue from whatever would spill out of Sirius' mouth.

     Nikki didn't want to ask. She didn't want to know.

     "Do we want to know?" Harry arched an eyebrow.

     "Not particularly, nearly went three for three on the Unforgivable Curses," Sirius hummed, closing his eyes as he folded his left arm under his head like a pillow.

The silence was deafening, everyone's shoulders snapping backwards as their spines straightened sharply.

"He tried to what?"

Nikki hissed out the four words, her eyes narrowing as she forced the words out between gritted teeth.

Sirius' grip tightened around the Sickle in his right hand until the edges dug into his palm. For fuck's sake, he thought he had a better grasp over his mouth than that.

"...You... do realize how fucked up that is... right?" Fred questioned slowly, reaching across the desk and gently pressing Nikki's hand onto the table. "Also, Nic, no apparating off to blow up some random Black Family thing."

Sirius flipped over, laying on his stomach as his grey eyes darkened, looking uncharacteristically serious. "Do not blow up any Black Family property."

     It was a warning, index finger pointing directly at Nikki.

     "Father might have been a piece of shit bastard, but he was a paranoid piece of shit bastard," Sirius declared sharply, his voice rising with each word. "The mausoleum's a Wizarding monument; you'll be arrested if you tried to Reducto it."

     Nikki swore violently, eyes blazing with fury.

     "He's dead anyway," Sirius mumbled, a jet of green light flashing deep in his subconscious. "And you sounded scarily like Lily Evans there, Fred, I think she's said those exact words to me before."

     Frederick Gideon Weasley had, in fact, recited verbatim what Lily Potter née Evans had dryly stated to a hungover, pissed-at-the-world sixteen year old Sirius Black.

January 24th, 1976

     Lily Evans stared morosely into the flickering, smoldering embers of the gradually dying fire, the Gryffindor common room abandoned.

     She wasn't expecting anyone to be there, if she was being honest, it was just past three o'clock in the morning.

     And most of the fifth year Gryffindors and up were cocooned in their beds, sleeping off the hangovers that would greet them with a fist squeezing on their skulls until they swore that they could hear the bones cracking.

     Lily sniffled, wiping at the tears that steadily dripped down her cheeks like the icicles outside of the tower with the sleeve of her jumper, hastily thrown over her pajama top.

     She whirled around at the sound of feet clomping down the staircase, the cadence almost as if the person making all the racket wasn't taking steps down the stairs but instead slipping off each step and holding themselves up by a fierce grip on the banisters.

     Her hand shot out to conceal the letter in front of her, crumpling the innocuous sheet of Muggle looseleaf paper beneath her palm.

Lily Evans' emerald green eyes met those of liquid silver, though at first she didn't recognize them.

The flames that lit up Sirius Black's eyes, the mischief and fierce loyalty to his friends that defined his entire being, his joie de vivre was conspicuously absent in the hollow look that stared back at her now.

Saying that he looked like shit was being generous. The dark bags under his eyes made him look like he was a ghost, the clammy pallor of his usually fair skin adding to the effect.

"Black," Lily addressed her year mate, lips pressed against themselves as if she was holding back a reprimand, "you look like death."

Sirius snorted, a rough sound that forced itself out as he dropped down the final stair. "Yeah, feel like it too."

He beelined for the couch across from the armchair Lily was curled in, face planting on the plush material and pulling one of the pillows over his head.

"No more talking, 'kay?" He grumbled, squeezing his eyes shut against the stabbing pains against his temple. "You can keep staring into the fire like it's the answer to all your problems — what, trouble with Snivellus?"

Lily snapped, bristling, "Well it's your own fault that you're suffering from the consequences of throwing a random party for no reason and drinking your body weight in alcohol!"

A single grey eye peeked out from under the pillow, singular immaculate eyebrow raised. "We're not friends, Evans, stop trying to act like my mum."

Muttering to himself, he scoffed, "Get enough of that from Prongs."

The Gryffindor Quidditch jumper that he wore was just slightly smaller on him than it usually was, Lily noted in the back of her mind.

The "POTTER" emblazoned on the back between his shoulder blades was a clear reason about why.

"...Why are you wearing Potter's shirt? Don't you have your own?"

Sirius flinched, a hazy memory from last night flickering to the front of his subconsciousness of what had spilled out of his mouth up in the fifth years' dormitory when him and James were engaged in a fierce tug-of-war for the possession of the shirt.

It's mine, Mother!

He groaned, burying his head deeper under the pillow. Strands of his dark hair were visible from beneath the cotton rectangle.

Lily Evans arched an eyebrow. "It's a bloody jumper."

"Jealous, Evans?"

Lily threw the pillow behind her back at him, chucking it at his back with all her strength.

"Fuck, Evans!" Sirius swore, yanking the pillow off of his head and propping himself up on his elbows. "If you could not whip things at me, thanks, I'm in no shape to dodge them."

Sullen, Lily huffed, "You did this to yourself; don't expect me to coddle you. Actually, come to think of it, why are you up at three in the morning? You should be sleeping it off."

Sirius let out a bitter chuckle, eyes darkening. "I don't sleep. Usually get one or two hours a night and crash for half a day; James hates it."

"...Why don't you sleep?" Lily shifted on her armchair, curling her legs beneath her and opening herself up to a quiet discussion.

Sirius shrugged, his mouth staying firmly shut.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Merlin, and I thought that we were going to actually have a calm, quiet conversation!"

"Mhmmm... pass," Sirius hummed, pushing himself into an upright position on the couch, folding his legs under his body until his legs crossed. "I don't like talking about my fucking feelings."

He brought his fingertips up to his temples, moving the pads of his fingers around in small, neat circles.

"You might need to if you're going to resort to self-destructive tendencies such as drinking yourself into a coma," Lily deadpanned.

Sirius' last shred of composure snapped clean in two.

His head jerked up to stare into her eyes, his gaze stormy. "Evans, when your own bloody parents think that you're the worst thing they ever did — even though they're bloody related — just because of the color of your tie, you see how well you cope with it."

Lily's lips parted, forming a small 'o' in surprise.

But Sirius wasn't done. The floodgates were opened. He continued ranting, his voice rising with each word until he was practically shouting.

"I get piss drunk to drown out the fucking voices in my head, voices that sound too similar to my parents' for comfort! To — hopefully — mask the niggling thought that I'm too damaged, too, too traumatized to actually be a good friend! Reggie starves himself to be in control of one measly thing in his life," Sirius burst out, raking his fingers through his hair.

(He should stop talking. Sirius knew he should stop talking and shut up. Lily Evans wasn't his friend. Hell, he didn't even tell his friends what he was currently hurling at the redhead across from him.)

But Sirius kept talking.

"OH, AND I JUST FOUND OUT YESTERDAY THAT THE CRUCIATUS AND IMPERIUS CURSES WERE AGAINST THE BLOODY LAW!"

He seemed to collapse against the couch with the last word out of his mouth, energy completely depleted.

Lily was speechless. She opened her mouth, closing it a heartbeat after.

'What do you even say to that?' She thought to herself, heart aching for the young man whose head was buried in his hands across from her.

"Spare me the fucking pity party," Sirius scoffed, the bread that Peter forced him to eat to sop up the alcohol he had consumed the night prior curdling in his stomach. "I despise sympathy."

Lily Evans took in a breath. She released it with a rapid flurry of words.

"My sister called me a freak and told me not to come home for Easter holidays."

"Your sister sounds like a right bitch."

"She is not-" Lily fiercely defended, the deep, inner part of her that reminded her of times before Hogwarts with Petunia blistering with fury.

Sirius interrupted her with a low keen, one that sounded out of place on the classroom troublemaker.

"Evans," he said tiredly, hand rubbing at his forehead fruitlessly, "if your voice gets any louder you're either going to wake the entire dormitory or I'm going to ralph. We've already woken Reggie."

The soft sound of footsteps echoed as the person the noise belonged to descended the spiral staircase slowly.

"Sirius," Regulus Black murmured, pressing his fist against his mouth to push back a yawn. "You're going to wake up the entire dormitory."

Sirius sighed. "Can't have Hogwarts thinking that we actually like each other... sorry, Reg, go back to bed."

He tossed a blanket at his little brother, face whitening as his gradually growing migraine vehemently protested the action. His stomach flipped.

Regulus pushed the blanket off his head. He remained silent, cocking his eyebrow as he looked intently at his older brother.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Spare me the lecture, Reg, I already heard it — Evans, you tell anyone that Regulus was in here and I hex you; 'm not playing around."

Lily's hands rose in the universal hand gesture for surrender. "Why would I tell anyone? I don't exactly want to get in the middle of the pureblood politics given that I'm, you know, a Muggleborn."

Regulus fiddled with the hair tie wrapped around his wrist. "I came to spare us all the hours-long shit fit that would occur if you got sick-up in your hair."

He stepped around to the back of the couch, fingers combing through Sirius' hair gently. He gathered it into a passable bun, wrapping the hair tie around the ebony locks to hold them up.

"You're a godsend, really," Sirius murmured, hand reaching behind him and squeezing his little brother's hand.

His stomach rebelled. Sirius' face turned a pasty white, cheeks tinged with a faint green color. "Evans, you might want to conjure up a bowl or something, don't think the Firewhiskey will look as appetizing the second time 'round as it did the first."

Lily Evans burst into action, waving her wand and conjuring up a bucket. She pushed it with her foot until it was in front of Sirius on the couch.

Sirius' hands darted down to the bucket and, nestling it in between his knees just in the nick of time, proceeded to puke up what felt like all of his guts into the bucket.

Regulus' hand rubbed tiny circles onto his back as he violently hurled.

     Sirius gagged, the few strands that Regulus couldn't pull up dangling in front of his eyes. He blew out a breath, trying to flip the locks out of his eyes.

     "Yep... definitely worse coming back up."

     His nose scrunched. Stretching out a hand, he stated, each syllable clearly enunciated, "Accio letter."

     A scroll of parchment flew down the stairs and smacked into his hand, Sirius hissing under his breath at the force with which the parchment hit him.

     "Evans," he added, grey eyes lightening as a small smirk stretched across his face, "want to burn the letter your sister sent you?"

     Careful to not upend the bucket into his lap, he dug into the pocket of his pants and unearthed a regular, unassuming lighter with a swirled S.O.B embossed on the front. He flicked it with his thumb, sparking the fire to life.

     Sirius Black held the Muggle lighter to the corner of the parchment, silently watching it as the paper caught fire and burned, taking his mother's words with it.

     He tossed the parchment into the fireplace when the flames threatened to lick at his fingertips.

     He extended the lighter out towards Lily, the flame outstretched towards her in a silent gesture of companionship.

     "You... do realize how fucked up this is... right?" Lily cracked a tiny grin, uncrumpling the ball of paper and catching the end of it on fire. "You're a pyromaniac."

     Sirius shrugged. "It's a Muggle lighter; she'd throw a shit fit if she found out. And it just shows how insignificant other people's opinions about you are. Don't let your sister bring you down."

     "...Can I give you a hug?" Lily blurted, wringing her hands in her lap.

     Sirius watched her curiously. "Who are you and what have you done with Lily Evans?"

     "I think," Lily started as she came closer, sitting next to Sirius on the couch and vanishing the bucket's contents, "that friends share things with each other. And, since we both shared something deeply important to us, that makes us friends. Friends give each other hugs when they need it."

     "Sirius sandwich!" Regulus exclaimed, the nearly fourteen year old hopping the arm of the couch and pinning Sirius between Lily and himself.

     Regulus, Sirius, and Lily stayed on the couch in the Gryffindor common room, curled together as they stared into the fire silently.

     Sirius blinked, snapping out of the memory.

     He fiddled with the Sickle still in his hand, relaxing his grip and wincing at the bite of the metal coin against his palm.

     "Lily showed James and I comics like these before," Sirius noted, eyebrows furrowing as he took one from the pile and flipped it open. "James' favorite was either Captain America or Thor; mine was Superman — HOLY SHIT!"

     Remus grinned, hand in front of his mouth to hide his facial expression.

     "Harry, I'm going to need to borrow your glasses for a second," Sirius explained rapidly, a blinding smile crossing his face. "Love, if this works, we're going on a date tonight!"

     Nikki's nose scrunched in confusion. "...Err... Sirius, the entirety of Britain is going to be looking for you... and I don't particularly want to go on a date with a dog."

     "Explain later — Harry, I'm going to see if the Clark Kent effect works on everyone," Sirius continued, taking Harry's glasses from the teen's hand. Narrowing his eyes and focusing on the glasses, he rested his hand on the narrow frames.

     "Gemino," he whispered as if a prayer.

     A duplicate pair of glasses appeared next to Harry's. Sirius laughed, running his fingers through his hair as he thought.

     "You can do wandless magic?!" Fred burst out, his eyes widening.

     Sirius shrugged. "Yeah, always have had a bit of a talent for it. Comes with being a troublemaker in the Black family. It's gotten us out of a lot of trouble before."

     He glanced up, chewing on his lower lip pensively. "Don't kill me for this, Coley," he stated, lips quirking into an innocent smile while standing up and sliding the glasses on carefully.

     "Don't kill you for what?" Nikki asked, bewildered.

     Sirius replied by opening the door to Remus' office and strolling down the corridors of Hogwarts, hands shoved carelessly into his pockets.

     Nikki let out a stream of muffled, incoherent cursing as she hopped up from her seat at a desk and jogged towards the door.

     Harry, Fred, George, Nikki, and Remus all stuck their heads out of the door, heads one right on top of the other.

     It was... almost normal? Nobody was freaking out over the 'mass-murderer Sirius Black' striding down the hallway as calm and smooth as you please.

     He took a lap of the hall, coming back into Remus' office and closing the door behind him. He leaned against the door, folding his arms and smirking.

     "It worked for Clark Kent," Sirius said calmly, lips twitching as he swept his arm down at his waist in a mock bow. "Why can't it work for Joseph King White?"

     Remus sighed. "Not this name again... also, took you bloody long enough to remember! You pulled this during undercover missions!"

     "Okay, no more homework for you," Sirius lightly declared to his girlfriend, looping his index fingers in the belt loops of her jeans and pulling her into himself. "We're sneaking out. I still need to get you lot Christmas presents — bit difficult to finish your holiday shopping when you're cooped up in the castle the entire time."

     "...Yeah, I can talk myself out of this," Nikki agreed, smiling. "Lead the way."

     George pretended to stick a finger down his throat, mock-gagging. Fred snorted.

     Harry handed the Marauder's Map to Sirius. "Don't get caught."

     Sirius laughed, "I've made an art out of sneaking in and out of places. We'll be fine, but thanks for the Map, Bambi."

     It only took them twenty seven minutes to sneak out of Hogwarts and apparate to Diagon Alley from Hogsmeade. The enticement of fresh air as a human being in the open was addicting to Sirius, the taller man loping ahead through the tunnel as if the chance would disappear.

     Sirius tilted his face up to the sky, breathing deeply. "Fucking finally!"

     Nikki tucked herself into his side, red and gold Gryffindor knitted scarf wrapped around her neck. "First stop?"

     "Gringotts," Sirius decided, wrapping his arm around her waist. "The goblins won't give a shit as long as we pay them — also, I'm spoiling you tonight. You're not paying for anything."

     "And everyone says chivalry is dead," Nikki snorted, cheeks rosy pink from both the cold and a blush.

     Sirius hummed, dropping his head and planting a kiss to the side of her head. "You're a goddamn treasure."

     He paused. "...We probably should drop by Ollivander's after Gringotts. I'm getting a bit sick of using someone else's wand when I need one... and wandless magic is a bit more taxing."

     An hour and a half later, the bell strung atop the rafters of Ollivander's rang as Sirius and Nikki stepped through the door, their fingers laced together.

     The elderly wizard looked up, his pale blue eyes sharpening behind his glasses as he recognized them.

     "Ebony wood, dragon heartstring, rigid, thirteen inches."

     Sirius' eyes widened slightly. "Shit," he mumbled to himself, fingers tightening around Nikki's.

     "...I'm sorry," Sirius replied, deciding to bullshit his way out of it like he bullshitted every Divination and History of Magic exam in his school career. "Whose wand did that belong to, because I'm certain it wasn't mine?"

     "My," Garrick Ollivander said idly as he began to innocently pull wand boxes off the shelf, "I haven't seen you in twenty five years."

     Nikki tilted her head to the side, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. "Why were you getting a wand at nine?"

     "Is that really the biggest thing we have to worry about?" Sirius hissed back frantically.

     "Family tradition," Ollivander explained, popping his head out from behind a shelf and placing an open wand box on the counter. "All members of the Black family receive their first wands at nine."

     Nikki and Sirius froze.

     "Try this one."

     Sirius coughed awkwardly. "Errr... I know that you know who I am..."

He didn't want to say it.

Ollivander blinked owlishly, his only response, "Cedar wood, Phoenix feather, whippy. Twelve inches."

He gestured to the wand, face placid as if he was just serving yet another eleven year old customer in Diagon Alley.

"...You might want to cast a shield charm," Sirius murmured, eyes flicking down to Nikki's beseeching ones. "I might have blown up the statue of one of my ancestors the first time."

Fighting back laughter at the action that was so obviously Sirius Orion Black the Third, Nikki waved her wand in the air, conjuring up a glowing silver shield in front of her.

     Sirius, wiggling the wand out of its cushioned box, gave it an experimental wave, ducking as all of the lights in the shop shattered.

     Shards of glass rained down from the ceiling, Sirius clapping a palm over his mouth to keep from bursting into a fit of completely uncontrollable laughter.

     "Definitely not," Ollivander muttered, placing another box on the counter. Sirius had barely picked up the wand before it was snatched from him.

"No, no," Ollivander declared, piling more boxes onto the counter. "Try this one — blackthorn, dragon heartstring, stiff, fourteen inches."

Nikki snorted at the last three words, her mind blackened due to growing up in a house with three older brothers and three younger brothers.

"Dirty mind," Sirius teased in an undertone, snickering at her face. He picked up the wand, waving it through the air in an elegant motion. Showers of gold and silver sparkles filled the air from the tip of the wand.

"Ah," Ollivander uttered, turning his back to the counter and idly commenting over his shoulder, "if I was selling this wand, it would cost twelve Galleons... excuse me for a moment, I'll be putting the other wand boxes away."

He left without another word, arms full of stacked wand boxes.

"...Should I... just take it?" Sirius wondered, confused. "This is strange, strange for Ollivander even."

Nikki shrugged. "He can't exactly write in his ledger or whatever that he sold Sirius Black a wand... but if it happens to have disappeared, he can't be an accomplice."

Sirius placed fourteen gold Galleons on the counter, and they left the wand shop without any other words spoken.

They ambled down the street of Diagon Alley, ducking into the Leaky Cauldron and leaving the Wizarding world for the Muggle world, making sure to stash their wands away where nobody would see them.

"Where do you want to go, love?" Sirius asked softly, slipping his hand into the back pocket of her jeans and lightly tugging her into his side.

Nikki hummed, scrunching her nose in concentration as she thought. "I have absolutely no idea," she replied, laughing.

Sirius snorted. "We'll leave it to chance, then," he declared, offering Nikki his hand. "I'm going to spin you around, and you point in a random direction, and we'll start walking!"

Her eyes sparkled as she took his hand, Sirius beginning to twirl her under his arm. Their laughter blended together, Nikki coming to a stop and pointing her arm aimlessly.

     "Hey, a Muggle record store!" Sirius exclaimed in an undertone, grinning. "Nice pick, I want to catch up on what I've missed."

     They crossed the street, Sirius pulling the door to the store open and ushering her through. He chewed on his lower lip pensively.

     "So," he started, dragging the vowel out, "pick out any records that sound interesting to you, and we'll listen to them in one of those little glass room things. They're organized by genre, alphabetical order by band. Lils brought me here once when the rest of us were undercover for the Order."

     Nikki spun around, pivoting on her heel as she took in the aisles stacked with records. "This is incredible."

     Sirius leaned against one of the shelves, simply watching Nikki's awestruck face as his lips curved into a subconscious smile.

     "We split up, find the records, and meet back here in fifteen or so minutes?" Nikki asked, her eyes bright.

     "Sounds like a plan," Sirius replied, tucking a strand of her ginger hair behind her ear. Kissing her on the forehead, he strode purposefully towards the sign that read "ROCK" in big, bold block capitals.

     He rifled through the records, pulling out ones that he remembered from his years at school and the limited amount of time between graduation and Azkaban. His fingers traced the album title displayed proudly on the record case.

     They met up just a bit over fifteen minutes later, records stacked in their arms. Slipping into one of the glass-walled rooms, Sirius locked the door behind them, depositing his stack on the tiny table.

     "Good!" He cheered, picking up the two pairs of headphones that connected to the same record player. "It's split! We don't have to alternate."

     Nikki cocked her head to the side, confused. "So... how are we going to play these?"

     Sirius snorted. "Don't worry, I was trained in how to operate Muggle music devices by Lily and Remus. I don't think I'll break it."

     Nikki rolled her eyes affectionately. "Please don't break it."

     Sirius slid a record out of its case, an eagle perched on a crown prominent on the black cover.

     "Welcome to the beauty known as the band Queen," he said, setting the record on the player and settling one of the pairs of headphones onto Nikki's ears.

     He put on his own pair and dropped the needle onto one of the grooves of the record, letting the music play.

     Nikki jumped at the sound that went into her ears, not expecting it. Sirius snickered, stepping closer to her and singing the words softly.

     Ooh, love, ooh loverboy

     Their heads bobbed to the beat of the song, Nikki's smile growing with each word.

     "I'd like for you and I to go romancing," Sirius hummed, fingers curling around her hips and pulling her into him. "Say the word, your wish is my command."

     He dipped his head, kissing her softly. Nikki's fingers tangled in the ends of his hair, rising up on her tiptoes.

     I learned my passion
     In the good old-fashioned school for loverboys

     Nikki smiled into the kiss, pulling back slightly. As she spoke, her lips brushed against his. "This sounds like something you'd play nonstop."

Sirius laughed. "Guilty as charged."

He flipped through the stack of records, his thumb tracing small circles on her hip over the thick fabric of her jeans.

"James found this song first," he explained quietly, setting up the record player and starting to play the song. "Then it was the only thing we would play on Lils' old record player for months."

It went straight into the lyrics, no overture leading into the song.

You ain't nothin' but a hound dog

Nikki burst into laughter, her shoulders shaking as Sirius spun her around under his arm. They danced together, lacing their fingers together as they moved to the music.

You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
Cryin' all the time
Well you ain't never caught a rabbit
You ain't no friend of mine

You ain't nothin' but a hound dog

Nikki giggled, flipping her hair over her shoulder as the song played out its last few notes. "Solid, but I think I liked the last one better."

"Good, you like Queen!" Sirius responded, his lips quirking into a mischievous smile. "If you didn't, that's a dealbreaker."

His eyebrows furrowed as he studied the records. "I don't know this one... 1988 release. Want to try it?"

"Why not?"

Picking up the needle of the record player, Sirius placed it carefully onto a random groove in the record, waiting for the song to start playing.

I went to a party last Saturday night
I didn't get laid I got in a fight uh-huh
It ain't no big thing

They danced to the song, laughing as the other person brought out dance moves that were more and more ridiculous with each lyric.

Kiss me once
Kiss me twice
Come on pretty baby kiss me deadly

It didn't take more than seven words.

Tension crackled between them, the electricity pulling them closer and closer together until they were flush against one another.

I know you like dancing with me oh yeah

Kiss me once
Kiss me twice
Come on pretty baby kiss me deadly

"Kiss me deadly, pretty baby," Sirius teased, his voice husky.

Nikki brought him to her level with her fingers curled around his shoulders, kissing him fiercely in response.

His hands slid down her sides, tapping the backs of her thighs with his index fingers. She jumped, trusting Sirius to catch her as she wound her legs around his waist.

He pressed her back against the back wall of the listening booth, supporting her.

Nikki's heart hammered against her chest, gripping the material of his shirt as she pulled him even closer.

Sirius tilted his head a bit to the side, eyes darkening as he leaned further into the kiss.

To Nikki, he was intoxicating. And she couldn't get enough of it. She whined as he pulled away ever-so-slightly, chasing after him.

"Careful, love," he whispered, kissing her pulse point gently. "Muggles have something called public indecency..."

"You started it," Nikki retorted, her breath hitching as Sirius nipped at her shoulder.

"No sass."

He set her down carefully, making sure that she was balanced before letting go of her thighs.

"One more song?" He murmured into the hollow of her throat, not wanting to move away from her.

"You're being a tease." Nikki swallowed hard. "And I do not have the self-control to resist it."

Sirius smirked, taking a half step backwards. "All part of the Sirius Black charm, I'm afraid."

He cupped her cheeks with his hands, dropping a kiss onto the tip of her nose. "Choose a song."

Nikki hummed, worrying her lower lip between her teeth as she thought. "I remember Disney had good songs..."

She flipped over the record case, reading the list of song titles on the back. Sliding the record out of its case, she held it up. "...Do you know how to skip ahead to the ninth song on the soundtrack?"

"Mhmmm," Sirius said idly, leaning over her shoulder. "I don't remember Aladdin; probably came out while I was in Azkaban."

He huffed out a breath at the mention of the prison, taking the proffered record from Nikki and setting the needle to play the song.

I can show you the world
Shining, shimmering, splendid

His arms wrapped around her waist from behind, spinning her around until she faced him. Nikki brought her hands up to his shoulders, resting her cheek on his chest as he let his chin fall on top of her head.

His heartbeat was steady, calming her even as they both listened quietly to the song playing softly through their headphones.

A whole new world
A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no, or where to go

They swayed to the soft melody, eyes closed as they relished the ability of being able to be together and not have to pretend.

In that record store, Nikki and Sirius could be themselves, without any pressure from the outside world or fear of Sirius being discovered by the Ministry. It was a safe haven from the troubles that faced them when they returned to the magical world.

A whole new world
That's where we'll be
A thrilling chase, a wondrous place
For you and me

He pressed his lips to the top of her head, brushing against her hair as he breathed out, "I positively adore you."

"I love you, too," Nikki whispered into his shirt, not wanting to leave his embrace.

"...You know," Sirius mentioned, his thumb trailing small patterns on the sliver of exposed skin at her waist, "I think this movie's rather new; I remember seeing it on the theater marquee as we walked here. Want to see it?"

Her eyes widened, looking like a child in a candy shop. "I've never been to a movie theater before!"

He laughed, eyes softening with affection as he gathered up their records, taking their headphones and setting them back on the table.

"I wish I knew what happened to our old records and Lils' record player," he grumbled, combing his hair back out of his eyes with his fingers. "Because I would get some of these."

"...Could we drop by a bookstore eventually?" Nikki pleaded, pulling out the puppy dog eyes that she knew was Sirius' weakness.

"I guess that if the Clark Kent glasses disguise works for me, I also have to have a kryptonite," Sirius sighed dramatically, digging the tip of his finger into her side and snorting at her squeals of laughter.

"We could also get Moony's Christmas present," he mused, setting the records on a cart as they passed by.

They left the records shop, noses scrunching at the cold gust of wind that immediately battered their faces.

—————————————————————————

Four hours later, Nikki and Sirius stumbled out of a bookstore that they had been browsing for the past two and a half hours.

Well, Sirius stumbled out of the bookstore, loaded down with bags of books. Nikki giggled at the look on his face, a look of fond exasperation.

"Hopefully Uncle Alphard doesn't mind the fact that the majority of my inheritance will be spent on books and chocolate," Sirius joked, shifting the bags in his right hand further up his arm so that he could thread his fingers together with the fingers on Nikki's left hand.

Nikki shrugged, her eyes bright with happiness. "There's worse things to spend your money on."

Her eyes fell on a large silver wheel in the sky, tiny carts attached to each spoke as the wheel revolved around and around.

"What's that?" She exclaimed, raising her hand and pointing.

"...Lily mentioned it once... it's part of the fair; we went on a field trip the last term of sixth year for Muggle Studies," Sirius mentioned, his eyebrows furrowing as he struggled to pull the name out of his head. "...Oh, a Ferris Wheel!"

His eyes widened as a memory hit him with all the force of a rampaging herd of hippogriffs.

May 20th, 1977

"Congrats, kid, you won a fish."

The last thing seventeen-year-old Sirius Black expected to happen after hearing that he had won the toss-white-ball-at-glass-bowl game thing was getting a plastic bag unceremoniously dropped in his hand.

With a live fish.

What the bloody hell just happened?

"...Thanks?"

He loped over to where James, Lily, Remus, Peter, and Marlene had gathered by the funnel cake stand.

(Marlene, although she was the year above them and wasn't in their Muggle Studies class, had snuck out of Hogwarts to join them.)

"Evans!" Sirius called out, holding the plastic bag in his cupped hands even though he didn't really know how to hold a bag with a fish — was there even a right way to do so? "Evans! Evans, what do I do now? Why did I get a fish?!"

Lily snorted, holding the stuffed deer that James Potter had spent countless pounds in attempt after attempt to win for her.

"The fish is yours now," she explained, laughing. "That's the prize of that specific carnival game."

Sirius' eyes narrowed skeptically. "You're bullshitting me. You have to be; a bloody two year old could win that game!"

Peter shook his head. "Nope, it's the game. That's why all the fish are in the glass fishbowls with dyed water."

"I can barely keep myself alive!" Sirius exclaimed, gesticulating wildly with the arm that was not holding the goldfish. "How can anyone expect me to keep a fish alive?"

Lily shook her head. "It doesn't matter that much, Sirius, carnival goldfish normally die after a day or so anyway."

Sirius straightened. "I take that as a challenge," he declared firmly, raising the fish to eye level. "Don't let me down, buddy."

"Time to win Feesh Jr."

Nikki cocked her head to the side, confused. "Who?"

Sirius strode towards the entrance of the fair, dragging Nikki along with him. "I won a goldfish the last time I was at the fair; named him Feesh. Had a funeral for him and everything — apparently fish are flushed down the loo so that they can be one with the sea again."

He slammed the money needed for two tickets at the fair down at the teller with all the intensity of a man on a mission.

Once inside, Sirius beelined for the game, Nikki snorting and fallowing after him with amused curiosity.

He puffed out a breath, blowing his hair out of his eyes as he joined the queue.

"We might be here for a while, might not," Sirius murmured, hand sliding into the back pocket of her jeans as if it were second nature. "Depends on how quickly I win."

"You're going to play until you win, aren't you?" Nikki asked, a singular eyebrow raised.

"Obviously."

They passed the time spent waiting in line talking quietly about whatever came to their minds, sticking close to each other's sides as if they didn't want to be separated for even a moment.

Sirius idly mused that he had a valid reason for wanting to stay close to his girlfriend after she disappeared out of the blue when he walked away from her.

"Be my good luck charm?" He said innocently, lips drawn into an overdramatic pout. He knew how to dial up the puppy dog eyes until it was near-impossible to resist.

"I see how it is," Nikki joked, flicking him in the shoulder as she laughed, tilting her head upwards to look him in the eyes. "You just love how I'm your good luck charm."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "You know I love you."

Nikki let out a soft hum. "I do."

"You know," he said casually, stepping up to the front of the line and cracking his knuckles, "I reckon that won't be the last time you say those words to me."

He flashed her a roguish grin and a wink, taking the small white ball from the attendant behind the booth — honestly, that seemed like a shit job — and breathing deeply.

Sirius flicked his wrist, sending the ball forwards to the rows of glass fishbowls lined up in a neat triangular formation.

The ball sunk into the bright red water with a soft 'plink.'

"Feesh Jr.!" Sirius exclaimed, a giddy smile stretching across his face.

He took the plastic bag from the employee behind the barrier, the goldfish inside swimming circles around the bag.

"We have become fish parents," he cheerfully declared, holding the plastic bag with all the care of a newborn infant. "His name is Feesh Jr.; sorry that you don't get a say in his name."

Nikki snorted. "You're an utter idiot... but you're my idiot."

She paused, a blinding beam crossing her face. Sirius loved when Nikki smiled; he would do anything to see it.

"...Could we go on the Ferris Wheel?" She asked hopefully.

"In the wise words of Freddie Mercury," Sirius said grandly, pecking her on the cheek as they started to make their way over to the Ferris Wheel, "say the word, your wish is my command."

Word Count: 6,759