Memento Mori » Sirius Black

01

CHAPTER ONE — THE THING ABOUT SIRIUS BLACK

Olivia Madden considered it rather bad luck that she'd lived next door to James Potter her entire life.

It was even worse luck that their parents had become such good friends, giving them no choice but to bond during their childhood. It was then particularly unfortunate that they both ended up sorted into Gryffindor house during their first year of Hogwarts. And absolutely fucking disastrous that despite James finding his own gang of morons to hang around with, he still claimed to enjoy spending time with her – his favourite person and longest serving best friend.

Worst of all? Liv, hand on heart, would probably die for that idiot.

The morning of September 1st 1976, however, had Liv questioning her loyalty. In fact, she was so exhausted with James incessantly talking her ear off about his unbearable crush on Lily Evans, that by the time they reached platform 9 and 3/4, the sight of his friends emerging from the crowd actually filled Liv with relief, rather than dread.

"There they are!" James exclaimed, throwing up a hand and waving enthusiastically. Liv slowed to a far less enthusiastic stop beside him, arms crossing over her chest. "Do you think they see us? Should I shout?"

"Don't even think about i–"

"Potter! Madden!" Sirius Black called out, striding towards them with an irritating smirk on his lips. "Miss me?"

Liv could not help the scoff that slipped out of her mouth, arching an eyebrow in only half amusement as he approached them. Missed him? Sirius Black? That would be the day.

She watched as the crowd seemed to naturally part way, allowing Sirius to pass straight through. It was something Liv really hated recognising as a regular occurrence, because that was just the thing about Sirius Black – he couldn't help but command attention everywhere he went.

Dressed in his newly perfected signature style; black jeans, fitted white t-shirt and leather jacket, the muggle inspired combination that he knew might send his mother into an early grave (with a bit of luck), and his long dark hair, and the assortment of bracelets on his wrists, and the rings decorating his fingers...everyone was staring at Sirius Black as if he was some kind of God.

And don't get a Liv wrong, she could perhaps, from somewhere incredibly deep within her, fantom a tiny, minuscule amount of understanding over the attraction to him. Because that was another thing about Sirius Black – whilst reckless, obnoxious, and largely insufferable, he was also rather witty, charming and, above all, irritatingly handsome. And as much as Liv wanted to hate him, she couldn't fully commit to it.

James and Sirius met in the middle of the platform and embraced in a dramatic hug, as if they were reuniting lovers who had been torn apart by unfortunate circumstances. To be honest, there was a little part of Liv that was convinced those two really did have some sort of great big love story going on, even if it was only platonic.

"Sirius, mate, it's so good to see you!"

Liv rolled her eyes. She knew for a fact they'd actually seen each other only three weeks ago. As always, Sirius had spent some time at Potter manor during the summer. Both boys made sure Liv knew plenty about that when they attempted to unleash pranking hell on her. She'd have thought they would've known better than to mess with her by now, but Liv had learned that guys were incredibly stupid – and apparently they didn't come any stupider than James and Sirius.

Once the boys let go of one another, Sirius' gaze drifted towards Liv, a faint grin gradually smoothing across his lips.

"Sirius," she acknowledged.