Never Ending Surprises (Marauders era love story)

The Holidays

~Seri~

I walked slowly downstairs, dragging my feet. I was hardly awake, my eyes thick and heavy with sleep. My groggy self was becoming progressively disgruntled at my stomach's decision to be hungry. I walked into the kitchen and poured myself some cereal before going into the sitting room and turning on the TV, sitting on an armchair to the right of the small screen.

The sound boomed out of it and I scrambled to lower the volume. I saw movement behind me and quickly turned. There was mumbling as if someone was waking up on the couch.

What the fuck?

I stood up and moved cautiously to the side of the room where the light switch was. I flicked it on, and a mass of extremely messy black hair shot up from the couch. I jumped back into the wall in surprise, holding my hand across my mouth (now covered in milk and cereal). The unknown human turned around slowly, most likely to see who had been stupid enough to crash into a wall.

"Sirius?" I said, very much surprised to see his face grinning back at me.

"Hey Seri, I forgot you were staying at James's for the summer," he patted the couch beside his leg and I joined him, rubbing my eyes as they adjusted to the light. Sirius' face was lightly bruised, particularly around his right eye, and he was holding his hand gingerly to avoid it moving. I stared at him momentarily, realising what had happened. 

"Well, I don't remember you coming in last night," I said, trying to feign confusion, "when did you turn up?"

"Around midnight" he replied, now eyeing off my unfinished cereal.

"You can have it," I said, not feeling very hungry anymore, "I probably won't finish it anyway"

I yawned and picked up the remote, changing the channel on the TV to some black and white sitcom. I curled up against my side of the couch, Sirius slumping onto his back and slowly finishing off my cereal. We watched a few episodes before we heard footsteps coming down the stairs, both of us ignoring the fact that he looked like he'd been severely beaten up. 

A loud thump indicated that James had finally reached the last stair and was stumbling into the main kitchen area.

"Let's have some fun shall we?" Sirius jumped up suddenly, grinning from ear to ear. I smirked back. Sirius slipped into the kitchen as James walked into the sitting room.

"Morning sunshine," I said cheerfully as he pushed me over on the couch. He rubbed his eyes and my stomach grumbled.

"A bit hungry are we?" he said smiling. He obviously hadn't had enough time to wake up yet.

"Yeah a bit" I grinned back and stood up suddenly, "come with me to get some cereal?" 

I leaned in and whispered into his ear, don't say anything about his face. 

James nodded, confused, and followed me into the kitchen. Sirius was sitting on the table, leafing through a newspaper, with a newly refilled bowl of cereal.

"Hey Sirius," I said casually, walking over to grab some breakfast and sitting next to him. James, however, was gaping over at his best friend. Sirius was barely concealing his laughter.

"Hey James," he said, finally controlling himself, "nice house you've got here." 

James stood there for a few more moments and then finally stuttered some words.

"W-what the hell are doing here?" he said, staring suspiciously. I smiled at James but then it suddenly hit me. I turned to Sirius.

"Well, I thought it best for a change in scenery," he said, grimacing slightly, "my parents....well let's just say that they don't really want to see me ... anymore" 

He trailed off, looking down at his cereal. I stared expectantly at James and I could practically see the light bulb go off in his head.

"Hey," James said excitedly, moving lightning fast past any mention of Sirius' parents, "why don't you move in with us?" he was practically jumping up and down, and Sirius looked hopeful.

"Well if your parents are ok with it"

"Don't worry, they will be," I said, they turned in surprise at my voice.

"Yes I'm still here," I said exasperatedly and heard two sets of footsteps coming into the hallway and making their way towards the kitchen.

"Well, why don't you ask them now?" I said, sitting back and yawning as I could pretty much guess what happened next.

~Sirius~

James' parents had thankfully said yes. Though I wasn't completely surprised, they were like my secondary- no, real parents- after all, and the kindest adults I'd ever met. I didn't dare go into details about my old 'home', but I couldn't help but wonder if Seri had a sneaking suspicion already.

I woke up earlier than usual on the last day of the holidays, and the day we finally got back to Hogwarts. I heard noise from the spare bedroom beside me where Seri was staying, I was staying on a mattress in James's room.

I groaned, deciding to get up and take advantage of an early start instead of the last-minute scramble I usually had to get ready on these days. I packed slowly, James had packed the night before, and eventually got dressed and made my way downstairs to make some breakfast.

I smelt eggs and bacon, and I practically let my nose lead me into the kitchen. Seri was standing with her back to me, already dressed, and making bacon and eggs in the pan in front of her. She turned at the sound of my footsteps and smiled brightly.

"Mornin'," she said, picking up the last of the bacon and setting it down on the already set table.

"I thought I should make some breakfast to thank James and his parents for taking me in."

She smiled again and gestured that I could start eating, laughing at me as I was now eyeing off the food. I sat down and dug in, Seri leaning back on the counter and admiring her handiwork.

I looked up at her and realised at that moment how much she had actually changed from last year. She had grown slightly taller, though all of the marauders would probably still look down on her, apart from Wormtail that is. Her hair had grown a bit longer and sat nicely above her waist, slightly lighter from the strong sun this summer.

She had grown into her body-shape more, and fitting into her outfit of faded jeans; a grey, sleeveless shirt and those bright purple converse she loved so dearly. I also noticed I was staring at her, and quickly turned back to my bacon.

"What," she said, looking down to see if something was on her clothes.

"Nothing," I said quickly, "you just look a bit different that's all" 

She frowned, narrowing her eyes at him jokingly.

"Good different or bad different," she said smiling.

"Definitely good," I said, winking and she grinned back, turning to the door as James walked through, basically drooling at the smell.

A/N Hey guys, I would love it if you could like (or even comment ;)), it would mean the world to me.