December 1, 1976
9:32 am
Gryffindor Girls Dormitories

Just as she had predicted, Anneliese had been a complete mess ever since she got back from Slughorn's party. The entire night, she had been tossing and turning with a pit in her stomach that was hard to distinguish between nerves and butterflies when she thought of Sirius.

There was the constant dilemma in her mind of whether or not she should have chased after him in the corridor at night or let him process his thoughts like she had been able to. Anneliese just wanted things to be clean and neat without anything more confusing than it already was.

Dorcas, Alice, Lily, and Marlene had gone over a dozen scenarios with her of what to do in the morning, all of which were just whims of thought. Those daydreams followed her into the night when she had finally been able to get a wink of sleep.

Or maybe an hour or two more than a wink.

The sunlight was streaming through the tower windows, creating a diamond pattern on the stone floor and crimson carpet because of the patterned iron work. Unfortunately, these bright beams hadn't hit Anneliese in the face as they did Lily's bed to wake her up.

The blonde girl had fallen asleep on her side facing the door, and one hand underneath her pillow with the other barely brushing against the floor with dangling fingertips. She was so exhausted from the events and staying up so late the last night that her body had betrayed her mind's intentions.

She had slept right through Sirius leaving.

Her shoulder slowly started to roll off balance against the mattress, so much that her hand hit the ground with a sudden jolt. Dark blue eyes flying open, Anneliese was abruptly aware that the bed Marlene usually occupied next to her was completely empty.

She stood up so quickly that her head spun, and a hand was extended against the carved mahogany bedpost to stabilize herself. Squinting her eyes to read the brass clock up on the mantle, Anneliese let out a loud groan.

The Hogwarts Express had left half an hour ago.

"No, no, no!" she cried, holding her head in her hands as she furiously paced around the room. "Why didn't they wake me up?"

As if the dormitory had read her mind, Anneliese noticed a small note on her bedside table.

a - we didn't want to wake you up because of how tired you seemed, and we know that you were going to talk to sirius, but it seems best if you do it when you're fully awake. have a happy christmas! we're going to miss you. - marlene, alice, dorcas, and lily

Anneliese reread the note what felt like ten times before angrily pulling a sweater over her tank top and running down to the empty common room and throwing it into the fire.

Only being able to stand watching it burn for a few moments, Callaway sat down on the edge of the cushy orange couch and buried her forehead in her knees with a defeated sob.

This was the first time she had ever cried over a boy, and she hated it.

December 1, 1976
4:58 pm
Platform 9 ¾

Just like when they had taken the Express to Hogwarts at the beginning of their sixth year, Sirius once again was almost completely quiet as he looked out the window and thought of the blonde southern girl that had thrown his entire world and the way he viewed himself for a loop.

The last night, he had been completely euphoric.

Granted, the same feeling had certainly happened with him and a girl many times after one of Slughorn's parties, but that was always something physical.

With Anneliese, their lips or skin didn't even have to meet for him to get that feeling.

The thing about feeling that happy and full, though, was that when it was gone, it left Black with an empty sensation that he couldn't get rid of.

"Hey, I'm sure she just slept in or something," Remus reassured Sirius. "You'll see her soon."

"A bloody month is not soon," Black snapped back, making himself wince at his own tone. "Sorry, I'm just a bit.. on edge at the moment."

"No, it's fine," Remus replied, looking at him warily. "I get it."

"Merlin, how do you do this with Leo?" Sirius sighed, running a hand down his face. "Not even know when you're going to see each other again?"

"Well, letters obviously help," Lupin shrugged as he took a hearty bite of chocolate. "But I think that if you can maintain a friendship, or relationship, or whatever over only letters and nothing, uhm, physical like you in particular normally do, then that really proves something."

"And if you can't?" Sirius asked as the train came to a halt and they all started to gather their things. "Then what?"

"Then you're entirely screwed and love doesn't exist," Remus replied sarcastically.

Sirius's face genuinely paled.

"Moony!" James exclaimed, hitting him over the head with a chocolate wrapper. "My son is fragile at the moment! We can't be making jokes like that!"

"I am not fragile," Sirius grumbled as he pulled down his trunk. "I'm just confused because I thought something was going to happen this morning and it didn't."

"Uhm, Pads, you had a mental breakdown like an hour ago when you got Dumbledore as your chocolate frog card," Peter said wisely with a slow nod of his head. "That's fragile."

"I need a brownie," he declared as they stepped off the train. "Farewell Moony and Wormy, I will not even remotely miss either of you."

Pettigrew and Lupin simultaneously flipped Black off as they walked away to their families, but Sirius and James just blew them a kiss.

Before they even had the chance to try and find Euphemia and Fleamont Potter, the two boys were tackled in a warm embrace from behind that told them they had been found first.

"Oh, I missed you boys so much!" Mia said with a choked up voice as she gripped her sons tightly. "You have no idea."

"From the fact that I have lost the ability to breathe, I think I do," Sirius coughed out dramatically, but there was a wide smile on his face. "Actually, Mia, I'm like choking- thank you."

"So, did anything beyond the usual insanity happen?" Fleamont asked once the boys had been released. "And just don't tell me if it was illegal."

"No-" Sirius quickly said, but James cut him off instantly with a wide grin.

"YES."

"James, don't-"

"Sirius completely-"

"I will hex you-"

"BOYS!"

They both whipped around to see Euphemia with her hands on her hips glaring at them, not completely unlike James when he was waiting for his friends in the common room. Quickly breaking apart and coughing uncomfortably, they both just looked at her for a few seconds.

"I think that you might want some brownies to go along with the shock," James said, picking up his trunk from off the ground where he had dropped it when Mia attacked them. "Just in case."

Fleamont gave them a weary yet amused look as they all linked arms and promptly apparated into the large yet cozy kitchen of Potter Manor.

Much to the boys delight, there was already a tray of rich chocolate brownies waiting on the counter that filled the room with a delicious, homey smell, but Mrs. Potter deftly blocked them from grabbing one with one swift motion that was highly practiced from blocking her sweets from the boys.

"You get brownies after you talk," she said, pointing to two barstools around the oak island. "Sit and explain."

Realizing that he wasn't going to be able to avoid this, Sirius took in a deep sigh and ran a hand down his face before turning to the Potters with a tired expression.

"I like this girl," he stated, fidgeting with his fingers.

They all look at him expectantly.

"What?" Sirius asked dubiously with raised eyebrows. "That's it."

"Oh Merlin, I'll just say it for you, then," James sighed with a shake of his head at Sirius's lack of explanation. "Okay, so you guys know when we went to the Leaky Cauldron before our first day back?"

"Yes," Euphemia said, nervously exchanging a glance with her husband that maybe they shouldn't have let the boys go out. "What of it?"

"Well, we assume that some prick was bothering A," James started, but Fleamont cut him off.

"A what?" he asked with confusion. "A girl?"

"No, no," James said with a laugh as Sirius grinned. "Her name is Anneliese, but we all call her A. Or everyone does but Sirius, who absolutely refuses to call her anything but her last name, Callaway."

"Okay, I called her Anneliese once," Black jumped in defensively. "You just weren't there."

"Mhm, sure," James said dismissively. "Anyways- wait, has she ever called you Sirius or Black or anything besides Grey Eyes?"

"Nope."

Sirius paused for a second as he turned to James slowly with a glare.

"And did you really have to rub that in?"

The two parents exchanged a look of panic at the argument forming, and Mr. Potter quickly cut it off.

"Okay, so what you've been trying to tell us is that Sirius knows a girl and they've almost never called each other by their names?" Fleamont clarified. "Is that all?"

"'Is that all,' he says," James scoffed with a roll of his eyes, clearing his throat to give them one simple word in response. "No."

"Okay, James is going to completely fuck the story up if he says it," Sirius started with a defeated sigh. "So please, let me do it."

James let out an excited squeal like a toddler.

"So, some prick was bothering her at the Leaky Cauldron," Black started, his eyes narrowing slightly. "And she needed someone so that she could say she had a boyfriend and he would leave her alone. And, well, we were there and she, uhm, she kissed me."

"Incredibly unique first meeting," Fleamont said with an approving nod. "Please continue."

"I haven't actually heard this name before," Euphemia cut in. "Have either of you ever mentioned her, or is this just a sudden thing?"

"Oh, she got expelled from Ilvermorny," Sirius shrugged casually. "I asked her once, and she just told me that she killed someone."

Fleamont nearly spit out his hot chocolate, while Euphemia started coughing rapidly.

"Oh, it was a joke," James reassured them, then turned to Sirius with wide eyes as a sudden thought occurred to him. "Wait, it was a joke, right?"

"No, she doesn't seem like she would kill anyone," Black said, but his tone was becoming hesitant as he pictured the little green leather notebook. "Right?"

There were a few moments of silence before the Potters, once again, realized they needed to start the conversation over to get rid of any confusion.

"Okay, so southern girl expelled from Ilvermorny who probably didn't kill someone," Sirius stated firmly, placing his palms flat on the table. "Kissed me to get rid of prick at Leaky Cauldron. Never thought I was going to see her again."

"She then got sorted into Gryffindor and got into a huge argument with Sirius on the first night," James continued. "Absolutely awful start. They would freak out if they saw each other now."

"So she saw right through you?" Euphemia asked, and Black nodded with a tiny wince. "That's rare."

"Yea, and she made a very vocal point about it," Sirius told them. "Literally took every single chance we could to argue."

"But the weird thing was that they seemed to be 'happening to run into one another' way too much for it to just be a coincidence," James said with a small smirk. "And then, all of the arguments started to turn into what Remus called off the charts sexual tension."

Sirius let out huff as the other three exchanged a mischievous three way glance.

"Yea, so it turned from hate into sexual tension and hate and then into sexual tension and playful arguments and then all of that with a shit ton of jealousy," James told them wisely. "And that is when our dear Padfoot's seventeenth birthday comes in."

Sirius let out a loud groan as he dramatically slammed his forehead against the island.

"I was a fucking idiot," he said with a muffle voice into the light oak wood. "I hate myself for that night. Literally so horrible, I don't understand what came over me."

"What did he do?" Mia sighed. "Actually, do I even want to know?"

"He broke Fabian Prewett's nose because he was 'too close' to A," James revealed bluntly. "Sorry, you weren't going to say it."

"Sirius!" Euphemia shrieked. "That is not how you do go about things! Breaking noses!"

"Believe me, Callaway made that very clear to me!" Sirius said back with raised hands. "Oh, now time for fucking Leo."

"Who is Leo?" the parents asked in unison.

"Leo's her American friend who came to visit and- don't look like that Sirius, he basically saved the Anneliese Black's bet arse. Without him, A and Pads would probably still want to kill one another."

"Oh yea, and him and Remus are a thing now," Sirius said, trying to divert the subject away from the Anneliese Black bet. "That's all you really need to know about him. Moving on-"

"What's the Anneliese Black bet?" Fleamont prompted.

Sirius sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

"The whole school had basically put them together since the beginning," James explained with a grin. "Like even the professors. It's honestly exhausting to see them dance around one another, you have no idea. Anyways, we decided to make a bet out of it."

"But, it's a bad idea and we burned the papers," Sirius finished with a satisfied expression. "James charmed them so that they wouldn't tear, but we could still burn them. Just threw them in the common room fire one night, and that was that."

Potter felt a jolt go through his stomach.

He had used an Anti-Burning Charm.

They were still in the fire.

"Is everything alright, son?" Fleamont asked, seeing the sudden change of James's expression from amusement to dread. "You don't look too well."

"Of course I do," Potter replied, snapping out of it as he ruffled his hair. "Continue, Sirius."

Black gave him a bit of an odd, suspicious look before continuing.

"Anyways, things are really good between us now," he said with a smile. "Better than ever. Everything's kind of cleared up, even after.."

He pushed duelling club out of his mind.

Those spells were behind them now.

"Everything's cleared up," he corrected himself. "Last night at Slughorn's Christmas party we crashed the whole thing and let all the not invited students in together."

"And?" James prompted with a sly smile.

"And we, uhm, slow danced," Sirius said sheepishly. "It was rather nice, actually."

Fleamont and Euphemia both looked like fish with their mouths hanging open.

"Okay, why is everyone so shocked that I slow danced?" Sirius asked shrilly. "It is not that big of a deal, I promise you!"

"No, it's definitely a big deal if Sirius Black slow danced with a girl," Fleamont muttered not so quietly. "She's a miracle worker."

"But that doesn't really matter," Sirius said, ignoring them with a bit of a sad expression. "This morning, I thought something was going to happen, but she never even showed up to say goodbye."

"She's staying at Hogwarts?" Euphemia asked curiously. "Why not go home?"

"I dunno," Sirius shrugged, getting a bit pestered at the inquisitive Potter gene. "May I have a brownie now that you know?"

Realizing that they had pushed him to his limit of explaining things, the couple both handed each of their sons a brownie.

That night, James dreamt of a list in amber flames refusing to burn.

Sirius dreamt of a dark green notebook.

And Anneliese dreamt of brass clocks that were always past nine.

potter manor is so fucking chaotic

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