The summary of this story is pending. Rating later may change to M.

NOTE: This story is primarily focused on SiriusOC and is only written for fun.

Welcome to my story, if anyone cares to read it. It's taking a lot of thinking to decide to post it. I've been working on this story for about a year and a half just for fun and decided that as long as I'm writing it, I might as well share it. I am far from a professional writer and, as I said, am merely writing this for fun. Updates don't have a set schedule. I work on this nearly daily, though how much is written depends. I am a college student and my studies come first. Right now my plan is to try to upload a new chapter when I get to about 5000 words. I split my story up into scenes, and they vary in length depending on what is planned to happen. Ever since I've been writing it, I have been sending it to my friend, who reads over it and provides feedback, and I will not post anything until she's had a look at it and given feedback, so this may delay updates as well. Hopefully they stay fairly consistant though.

I've just started rewriting what I'd had (over 200,000 words), and the rewrite is what I'm posting here. What you see in this chapter is what I have so far. Since I'm rewriting and drawing from material I've already written, I'm hoping to move fairly quickly through this part of the story. The story is split into two parts: 5th year-Halloween 1981 and the second war. I don't yet know if it will stay one story or split into two.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter and the world JK Rowling created. I only own the characters you do not recognize from Harry Potter.

This story is centered around the marauders, specifically Sirius and an OC. I hope the OC does not scare you away and you give my story a chance. Sorry for the long author's note. They'll be shorter from now on.

I hope you enjoy and I'd love to hear your feedback.

Fate

Chapter One

Fate has brought us to this time and place...
It is up to us to decide where to go from here...

A loud boom momentarily filled the Gryffindor common room, followed by a cloud of smoke and raucous laughter. As the smoke cleared away, James Potter's scowling face appeared, blackened by soot. Grumbling irritably, he set down his hand of Exploding Snap cards and removed his glasses, using the sleeve of his robes to wipe them clean. His fellow marauders continued to laugh at his expense, driven on by the cross look upon his face. James ran his sleeve across his face in an attempt to clear off the soot, but it only resulted in smudging it further.

"Shut it, gits," he growled, giving up on removing the soot and replacing his glasses. He only succeeded in causing the laughter to grow louder.

"Sorry, Prongs," Remus managed to choke out as he attempted to calm his laughter, a losing battle. "But you were so confident going into this game. I've never seen anyone lose that badly."

"Not to mention how shocked you looked when you realized that you'd lost," Peter gasped out before dissolving into another bout of laughter.

James's scowl deepened. "Laugh all you want. I say Padfoot cheated."

Sirius shot James an offended look. "I would never, Prongs. I hate that you would even think that."

James rolled his eyes as Sirius grinned at him, setting down his winning hand on the coffee table in front of them.

"Want to have another go?" Sirius asked, gathering up the cards.

"Not with you I don't," James replied bitterly.

"You ought to be studying, anyway," Remus spoke up from the chair he sat in, a Transfiguration text book open on his lap. "The O.W.L.s aren't over yet. Not until Transfiguration in the morning."

"I'm bloody tired of studying," James replied.

"Besides," Sirius added, "We've got Transfiguration in the bag."

"Yeah," James agreed. "You don't accomplish what we did without excelling in Transfiguration."

"If you're so proud, why don't you share your accomplishments with Lily?" Remus asked even though they had decided long ago that should they succeed, no one would ever be told their secret. "It's bound to impress her."

James's face fell. "She hasn't so much as looked my way since this afternoon, no matter what I say to her."

"What about Dawson?" Sirius asked, giving in to Remus and pulling his Transfiguration book into his lap, absentmindedly flipping the pages to somewhere in the middle of the book. "She's her best friend. Talk to her about it if you're that upset."

James shook his head. "You saw the way she looked at me before she went after Evans. Between the two of them, I've already been chewed out plenty for the day."

"Maybe they're trying to tell you something," Peter said, causing James's gaze to turn to him.

"Yeah, that girls are too touchy."

"Maybe it's just the girls you hang around, Prongs," Sirius said, his gaze on his book. "Morgan Devereux certainly agrees with me plenty."

James pulled a face. "A bit too much information there, mate."

Sirius grinned and raised his eyebrows at James just as the girl in question sauntered into the common room. A fellow fifth year, Morgan Devereux was easily the girl in Gryffindor House who turned the most heads. She was tall, with long dark hair and brown eyes that always seemed to have a devious glint to them. Despite living so far north, her skin always was perfectly tanned, giving her an exotic look. She was one of the more desired girls in the school, but she favored Sirius and usually saved her time for him.

Sirius was known for spending a lot of his time with multiple girls, stealing away in a broom cupboard between classes or after curfew. There were many girls who were after his heart, but he did not tie himself down, moving between most girls that showed interest- as long as he deemed them worthy of his time. Morgan was a rarity in that he always went back to her for more. She was more of a constant than any of the other girls, but they still couldn't be called anything more than friends with benefits. Sirius would have what you could call a relationship with a girl every now and then, but they were few and far between, and lasted two weeks at most.

Morgan glanced at Sirius, meeting his eyes and giving him the smallest of gestures before heading to the back corner of the common room. Sirius's grin grew, and he closed his Transfiguration book with a snap.

"I'll see you gents later," he said, leaning over and dropping the book into James's lap before standing, stretching his arms over his head before sauntering off to where Morgan had gone to wait for him.

"Whore," James called after him.

Sirius waved his hand at him, but did not reply.

James glanced at Remus and Peter to remark to them about Sirius's habits, but both of their attentions were riveted on their Transfiguration textbook and notes. Sighing, James glanced at the textbook Sirius had deposited in his lap. Reluctantly, he cracked the book opened. He didn't really have anything better to do anyway.

"James?"

Raising his head, he squinted up at the girl standing over him. With her long and wavy honey-colored hair, large blue eyes, and small frame, Samantha Dawson was not the most intimidating looking girl, but he still shifted uncomfortably beneath her gaze. He frowned at the girl who was her sister in every way but blood, nearly flinching away when she shifted her arms to cross over her chest.

"What do you want?" he asked her. "I thought you were mad at me."

Samantha shrugged and dropped down beside him. She turned so that she was facing him, her elbow resting on the back of the couch, her cheek resting in the palm of her hand.

"Lily's the one who's mad at you," she reminded him.

"Yes," he agreed. "And you're the one who shouted at me before going after her."

"You were being an arse."

"Oh, come on. Snape's an absolute git. You hate him just as much as I do."

"Yes," she admitted, inclining her head slightly. "But I also respect the fact that he and Lily are…were…best friends."

James's hazel eyes brightened. "So they're no longer friends then?"

Her face twisted into a scowl. "Don't act so pleased with yourself. It was terrible, what he said to her."

James shrugged. "I only helped her realize what an arse he really is. He hangs out with Rosier and his group. She should have seen it coming."

"She doesn't know about them like we do. You can't blame her."

"Haven't you told her?"
"Sure, but you can't really understand the extent unless you live it, I think," she mused.

"I guess," he replied. "So are you ready for the exam tomorrow?"

Her face fell, causing him to laugh.

"Come on. You take the most excruciatingly detailed notes in that class, and whenever you have a spare moment, your nose is buried in said notes or the textbook and you have your wand out practicing. There's no way you can't know the information."

"Easy for you to say," she told him. "You and Black are the best in our year at Transfiguration. Which is surprising, if you ask me."

"Why is that so surprising?" he exclaimed, insulted.

"The two of you aren't the most studious is all."

"Sure," he grumbled before gesturing at the book on his lap. "Want some last minute tutoring? It couldn't hurt. Maybe a last minute miracle will happen and you'll suddenly understand it all."

She narrowed her eyes at his last comment, but then gave him a grateful smile. "I think that would be a good idea."

James moved closer to her, moving the book so that it rested in both of their laps and flipping through the pages, looking for material he thought would most likely be on the exam.

"I'm never going to make an E," Samantha said softly as she looked down on the pages James had stopped on. She'd studied them several times, but still wasn't entirely sure how to execute the spell they called for.

"Hey," James said, voice stern. "You can't talk like that or you'll never get through. Have you gotten Adrien to help?"

Samantha nodded. "He was helping me throughout the year but he's been busy studying for N.E.W.T.s lately. He and Nichole are in the library studying for their last test, I think."

"Your brother never had any problem with Transfiguration."

She scowled at his comparison of her and Adrien. "I seem to be the only one in the family who doesn't understand this subject," she said bitterly.

"If you'd rather be tutored by someone who isn't going to make fun of you for not quite grasping the subject," Remus drawled from where he was seated, his eyes still glued to his book, "I'd be more than happy to be of assistance."

"I may need to take you up on that," Samantha said, looking sideways at James as she made to stand.

James reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back down.

"I'll help," he said, briefly glaring over at Remus. He pointed down at the page and began to explain the spell on the page. She leaned over to get a better look, running what he said through her mind in a hope to memorize it. She hoped that she would be able to pull off the exam in the morning. It was the only way she would be able to pursue being a healer.

Twenty-four hours later, the common room was fairly quiet, a surprise since the fifth and seventh years had been expected to be celebrating their completion of their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. But they seemed to be out of energy and were sprawled in different areas of the common room or already up in their rooms, collapsed on their beds. The other students, having been snapped at to be quiet for months while the fifth and seventh years had tried to study, were careful to be quiet in fear of being snapped at again.

Exhaustedly running her hand through her hair, Samantha descended the stairs from the girls' dorms and into the common room. A quick glance around the common room found her brother stretched out on one of the couches near the fire. His eyes were closed and his shaggy brown hair looked as if he had not bothered to take a brush to it at all that day. She shook her head at him as she approached.

When she reached him, she dropped down, sitting on his legs. He grunted softly at her sudden weight and cracked open an eyelid, revealing an eye just as blue as his sister's.

"What?" he said, sounding slightly irritated over his rest being interrupted.

"I would have thought you would have been celebrating the end of exams with Nichole," Samantha said, ignoring her brother's irritation.

Adrien made the effort to fully open his eyes and he blinked at her for a moment before he replied. "We decided to take the night for ourselves. We're too exhausted to really do much more than lie around." His eyes narrowed accusingly. "I wasn't planning on the added effort of talking."

She grinned at him, leaning back against the sofa to tell him that she did not plan on moving. "Sorry to inconvenience you."

His legs shifted beneath her before he kicked them upwards, pitching her forward and propelling her to her feet. She stumbled when her feet hit the ground, and her knee knocked painfully into the coffee table before she was able to regain her footing. She turned to glare at her brother, who was watching her as he chuckled. The look on her face only caused him to laugh harder. She glared at him a moment longer before she sank to the floor, crossing her legs, propping her elbows on her knees and resting her chin in her palms, staring up at him.

"You're not very nice," she huffed at him.

He inclined his head towards her. "I could say the same to you what with the way you just dropped on me."

"It was the only way I could have gotten your attention."

One of his eyebrows rose in a way that reminded her very much of their father. "I'm fairly certain calling my name would have sufficed."

She shrugged. "Perhaps. But that's much more boring."

"That's a matter of opinion," he muttered, but she could tell that she had won, and that he would amuse her at least for a little while and hold a conversation with her.

"How do you think you did on the exam?" he asked her, a sigh in his voice as he realized he would not be left alone. She knew him well enough that he was only pretending to be annoyed.

She shrugged, none too pleased with the change of topic. She had decided not to think about it until she got her letter with the results that summer, and Adrien was making that a hard thing to do.

"Well, I hope you did well," he said. "I'd hate for all the time I spent tutoring you this year have gone to waste."

She frowned deeply at him. "Whether or not I wasted your time is not what I'm concerned about."

He gave her an easy-going smile. "It'll be fine, Kiwi. I think you understand Transfiguration more than you give yourself credit."

"I wish I was as certain as you seem to be."

Adrien watched her for a moment before he shifted on the couch so that he could reach into his robes. A moment later, he drew out a piece of folded parchment.

"I got this in the post the other day."

He pushed himself up, swinging his legs off of the sofa, as he held the letter out to her. She reached up to take it, curious as to what it was. Unfolding the parchment, she noticed how crinkled it was and how worn the edges were, as if it had been read countless times. She was vaguely aware of James sitting himself beside Adrien as she read over the letter.

"You've been invited to play for Puddlemere United?" she exclaimed, looking back up at him with a grin.

"That's brilliant!" James said excitedly, clapping him on the back. "Have you accepted yet?"

Leaning forward, James snatched the letter out of Samantha's hand so that he could read it, ignoring the look she gave him.

"I'm not going to accept," Adrien said quietly, causing James to freeze, his excitement disappearing.

Samantha was not so surprised. Though she'd been excited for him, she'd doubted he would accept. He had another career in mind.

"Not going to accept?"

His face was filled with more incredulity that she thought would be possible. His mouth gaped open, his hazel eyes wide behind his glasses, the letter threatening to fall from his hand.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, one that a lot of people would kill for. They're one of the best quidditch teams in the country. Why wouldn't you accept?"

Adrien appeared deep in thought for a moment before he answered. "It is a wonderful opportunity," he agreed. "But I have other plans."

"What other plans do you have that could possibly be more important than playing for Puddlemere?"

"I'm going to join the aurors," Adrien replied.

James's mouth snapped closed, his face relaxed, and a sober demeanor fell over the group.

"There's a war starting out there," Adrien continued, "One that's already claimed a lot of casualties, and the numbers are just going to keep climbing. I've watched my family fight for what they believe, I've watched them die for what they believe." He turned to face James and there was a determined glint in his eyes. "And I'll be damned if I don't join them."

Silence fell over them. The war had been starting for awhile now. Adrien and Samantha had already lost most of their family to fighting for the war. Their father was Mad Eye Moody's, the head auror, second in command. When home, they were exposed to what Voldemort and his followers were doing to those who did not support their ideas. At school, they were able to escape and, besides stories that occasionally appeared in the Daily Prophet, they didn't hear much of it. But Adrien was done with school, and he would become just one more member of Samantha's family who was going to risk their life to try and make things right. She knew that it wouldn't be long before the war never left their minds, not completely.

"I've been thinking more and more of becoming an auror," James said softly. "Dad would love if I followed in his footsteps." James's father, Charles Potter, had been an auror, though he was now retired. "And I'd like to know that whatever I'm doing, it's making a difference."

Samantha drew her knees up, folding her arms on top of them and resting her head on her arms. She never liked it when conversations turned to the war. It always made her stomach flutter worriedly. They tended to avoid talking about the war, especially at school. Adrien always made a point to avoid it when she was around. He knew how much it worried her. But it was getting harder and harder to avoid talking about it. It was impossible to avoid talking about something that was becoming an everyday part of life.

Adrien nodded. "My dad's thrilled. My mum hates the idea but she understands."

"Are you going to join the Order?"

"Yes. I've already spoken to Dumbledore. I'll start going to the meetings once I leave school."

The Order of the Phoenix was the group of witches and wizards Albus Dumbledore had gathered together to fight against Voldemort and his followers, and the war they were leaving in their path. Adrien and Samantha's mother, father, aunt, and uncle were all involved, as were James's parents. It was dangerous. Voldemort knew they were a threat, and targeted them when he could. Their homes were surrounded by the strongest of protections charms, their meeting places kept secret with spells. But sometimes, information was leaked. Sometimes protection charms failed. This was how most of the Dawson family, once large and prominent, was down to its last six members. This was why the Order's numbers were dwindling.

"I'm going to join the Order once I finish school," James said. "It will be nice, knowing what's going on at the meetings instead of trying to guess from what mum and dad are saying."

Samantha had similar plans, but she didn't say so out loud. James knew she did, and Adrien knew she intended to join, but he was against it, so she avoided talking of it in front of him. James seemed to have noticed that she had fallen silent when their conversation turned, because he glanced at her before changing the subject.

"We're going to miss you around here next year. You're the best quidditch captain we've had in years."

Adrien gave him a smug look. "I know."

Samantha snorted. "Don't sound arrogant or anything," she muttered.

"He won us the quidditch cup this year," James told her. "He's allowed to sound arrogant."

"Sorry if I don't agree."

"Just because you don't like quidditch-"

"I like quidditch," she protested. "I just don't like brooms."

"A pity," James said. "If you were anything as good as your brother, we wouldn't have to worry about finding a chaser that will be good enough to replace him."

She shook her head. "You will never get me on a broomstick, Potter."

James gave her an impish grin. "That's what you think."

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't even think about it."

Adrien chuckled. "If you succeed, make sure you take a picture for me."

Samantha gave him a dirty look. "You're supposed to be on my side."

"And why is that?"

"Because you're my brother."

"I didn't exactly get a choice in that matter," Adrien said with a grin. "But I'm going to bed." He stood and ruffled the top of her hair before heading towards the stairway to the boys' dorm. "Goodnight," he called over his shoulder, ignoring the glare she gave him as she smoothed her hair.

"I think he's got the right idea," James said, rising to his feet and stretching. "I could sleep for hours now that those bloody exams are out of my way."

"Tell me about it," Samantha agreed, reaching up to grasp James's offered hands and allowing him to pull her to her feet.

"I've come up with a brilliant plan to get Lily to speak to me again," James told her as they headed towards the back of the common room.

"The two of you were never really on speaking terms, James," Samantha pointed out as she headed towards the stairs to her dorm. James followed.

"Yes, thank you for reminding me," he said, leaning against the wall at the foot of the stairs. Sighing, Samantha paused to listen to him. "But last night, I couldn't sleep for a bit, so as I was lying awake in my bed, I came up with a brilliant plan to get us back to where we were."

"If you hadn't been torturing Snape in the first place, she wouldn't have been forced to defend him, and if she hadn't been forced to defend him, he never would have called her what he did. You deserve for her to be completely ignoring you.."

James rolled his eyes impatiently. "Just listen."

She sighed. "Alright, alright."

"I figured out that if I come up with an apology that shows her how mature I can be, she'll come running back into my arms."

"She was never in your arms, James."

"A small flaw in a plan that is otherwise brilliant."

Samantha raised an eyebrow at him. "Wait a moment. Did you say that it took you lying awake half the night to think of apologizing to her?"
"It's brilliant, isn't it?" he asked her excitedly.

She shook her head at him. "I do have to admit, it might help in some way."

"Great," James replied. "Can you help me figure out what to say?"

"No."

"Oh, come on Sam."

"No. Lily's my friend and I'd rather not get stuck in the middle of this. Get Remus to help."

James sighed heavily. "Fine."

She smiled. "Goodnight, James."

"Goodnight," James grumbled after her as she disappeared up the stairs. He turned and began to head to his dorm to find Remus to harass him about helping him come up with a decent apology. Sleep could come later.

"He's still out there," Samantha said bitterly to the red-haired girl sprawled across her bed. "He won't leave until you come talk to him. He's threatening to sleep in the corridor."

Lily groaned loudly as she pushed herself into a sitting position. "I don't want to talk to him. Or see him for that matter."

Samantha shrugged. "I'm fairly certain the only way he'll leave is if you go tell him to yourself."

"I'll bet if you asked Potter and Black, they'd get rid of him for you," Amber Channing said from the bed across from Lily's. Her long blonde hair was tied back in a messy bun while she painted her nails, likely getting ready for a night with her latest boy, a sixth year Hufflepuff.

"No," Lily and Samantha snapped at once.

Amber shook her head at them, glancing up from her nails. "It was just a suggestion. You're the one who doesn't want to talk to him."

"Can you blame me after what he called me?" Lily asked her.

"I tried to tell you," Samantha said. "Especially when he started hanging around with Rosier and his group.

"I know," Lily sighed. "And I did try to talk to him about that group back before Christmas. He tried to turn it back to Potter and his friends, but I told him the difference was that they didn't use Dark Magic. He seemed to listen to me but nothing really changed, and I just pretended not to notice."

"It's best to just stay away from that whole group," Samantha said. "The lot of them are no good."

"I wish he'd never gotten mixed up with them," Lily sighed. "He didn't used to be like this."

Samantha shrugged. "He was put in Slytherin. It was bound to happen," she told her, though she disagreed with what Lily had said. She was certain Snape had always been the way he was.

Lily stood from her bed, looking as if she were about to march to her death. "I suppose I'll have to go ask him to leave. I'll be back in a moment."

Amber and Samantha watched her leave before turning back to one another.

"I honestly can't say I'm too upset about what happened," Amber told Samantha. "I didn't like her hanging around with Snape."

"I hate to agree," Samantha replied. "But I wasn't too angry about it either."

Amber snorted. "You could have fooled me. What with the way you told off Potter."

"He was being an arse to Lily, too, not just Snape."

"You really ought to teach him why Lily hates him. If he'd learn to be less…Potter-like, he might have a chance."

"I've tried countless times. He's over exuberant. He's always been that way."

" I see Lily's already cracked and gone crawling back to her Slytherin boyfriend."

They turned to find Morgan in the doorway, a sneer on her face. Beside her was Courtney Lismore, another dorm mate and Morgan's shadow. Courtney's light brown hair was never out of place and she always wore clothing that accented her olive green eyes. When she didn't have to wear the uniform black robes that students were required to wear to class. She was nearly as popular with the boys as Morgan was, though Courtney always made a point to stay away from Sirius Black, likely by Morgan's orders.

"Not that it's any of your business," Samantha told her dryly, "But she's only asking him to leave."

"With guys like Potter and Snape chasing her around, she doesn't seem to have much a future, does she?"

"She's got a better future than you," Amber snapped. "At least she doesn't go around throwing herself at any boy she can get her hands on."

"You're one to talk, Channing," Courtney spoke up.

Amber's eyes narrowed but she remained silent. She didn't need to explain herself to anyone, especially Morgan and Courtney.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Samantha asked Morgan. "I hear it's been awhile since you've thrown yourself at Black. He may forget how desperately you want him and find someone else to entertain him."

Morgan pursed her lips. "I don't think there's any chance of that. There's not much better to choose from. At least not in Gryffindor."

Samantha snorted. "As if I'd be interested in a boy like Black anyway."

"No," Morgan agreed. "Only boys like McCalman."

Samantha's mouth snapped closed and her gaze dropped from Morgan's. Amber's eyes narrowed dangerously. Morgan glanced between them, a smirk on her face.

"See you guys later," she said before spinning on her heel and heading out of the dorm, Courtney following behind her.

"Don't listen to them," Amber said to Samantha once the door had closed behind them. "They have no idea what they're talking about."

"The whole school knows," Samantha argued. "When I broke up with Oliver, he made sure everyone knew about it."

"Yeah, but he told everyone that when he told you how he felt about you, you ran. And that's not what happened. So technically, they don't know anything about that."

Samantha rolled her eyes. "Is that supposed to make me feel better about it?"

Amber opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted when the door to their dorm burst open and Lily came storming in. Silently, they watched her as she made her way to her bed and fell forward onto it, pressing her face to her pillow.

"So, how did it go?" Amber asked, breaking the silence.

With a frustrated sigh, Lily rolled over to look at them. "He tried to apologize. Said that it only slipped out. I told him that it was too late; that I've been making excuses for him for years and that no one can even understand why I talk to him. I told him that he doesn't ever deny that he and his little Death Eater friends are aiming to join You-Know-Who. He didn't even deny it then. I told him I couldn't do it anymore; that we've chosen different paths. And I left."

"You're better off not hanging around him anymore anyway," Amber said. "Like you said, he's well on his way to being a Death Eater. You don't want to be associated with him."

Lily shrugged. "I suppose so."

"Is he still out there?"
"Merlin, I hope not. I have to go on patrol with Remus soon and I don't want to have to talk to him again. What if he still hasn't left?"

Samantha sighed and stood from her bed. "I'll go check and get rid of him if he's still there."

As she made her way through the common room, Samantha hoped that Snape had left. She really did not want to talk to him. Only the fact that Lily probably didn't want to talk to him even more had made her offer to go check for her. When she climbed out of the portrait hole, it didn't take her long to spot his dark figure slumped against the wall and she couldn't ignore the disappointment. She'd hoped that he would have left.

"Why are you still here?" she asked him as she approached, not trying to sound friendly. "Lily made it perfectly clear that she wants nothing to do with you anymore."

He narrowed his eyes at her as he straightened up from the wall.

"It's none of your business," he told her, his voice a low growl. His greasy black hair hung in his face, partly obscuring his dark eyes, and far from the first time, she wondered how Lily could ever have been friends with him.

"Lily's my friend," she replied. "That automatically makes it my business."

"You're just like the rest of your family, getting involved with things that you're better off staying out of."

"At least I'm standing up for what's right instead of following someone who thinks he's above everyone else."

He scoffed. "I happen to agree with the Dark Lord."

"And you're just like the rest of them. I suggest you leave. Lily doesn't want to see you."

Snape's eyes glinted angrily as he stepped closer to her. She clenched her jaw tightly and returned his glare as he stood over her, looking at her down his nose.

"You're not very smart, are you?" he asked her lowly. "Making an enemy with every single Slytherin in this school."

"Is there a problem here?"

The voice came from behind Snape, who stepped away from Samantha and turned to find Sirius Black staring hatefully at him.

"What are you doing here, Snivellus?"

"I was just leaving," Snape snapped.

With one last glare at Samantha, Snape strode away down the corridor, brushing past Sirius, who turned to watch him leave. Once Snape was out of sight, Sirius turned back to Samantha.

"You're welcome, Dawson," he said to her when she remained silent.

She rolled her eyes. "I was doing fine without your help."

"Really?" He raised a dark eyebrow. "It seemed to me that you couldn't get him to leave."

"I would have," she snapped.

He raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine. Whatever you say."

She watched him a moment longer before she turned and headed back into the common room. Sirius watched her go, and when she disappeared into the portrait hole, he shook his head and let out a short laugh. It always amused him to talk to her. She was one of the few girls who didn't chase after him, and he enjoyed talking to someone who wasn't trying to talk him into a broom cupboard, even if all she did was snap at him. With another shake of his head, he followed her into the common room to find his friends. Summer was closing in and they had a lot to do before they were separated for the two months of summer.