Renegade

Disclaimer: Sad to say, I don't own Sirius Black. If I did, I would not have killed off the closest thing Harry had to a father because he's been through enough bullshit already in his life!­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­A/N: I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long! I didn't really realize it because I'm also uploading this story on Mugglenet they're way behind you guys because it takes longer for the mods to approve the chapters (and they're not as good at reviewing). I've also been extremely busy with midterms and family issues, but I'm on Spring Break now, so I'm suddenly able to get a bit of writing done. The last chapter was a little bit too mushy for me, and I had intended for this chapter to contain less of it. However, I have failed, yet again, in my attempt to suppress the mush, and rather than leave you even longer without a chapter, I decided to let it go. So here's a very short seventh chapter. I hope you can stand it. Your frustrations on the shortness or the mushiness of it can be expressed in a review. Thank you.

Luv, Liveley

Actually, I did end up lengthening it a bit, just adding stuff here and there, so hopefully you won't find it as short. Still, enjoy.

Raven watched amusedly as William emerged from Jordan's bedroom wearing only his boxers. He gave her a cheeky grin as his sandy blonde hair fell into his handsome face.

"Good morning, Raven." He sat across from her as Jordan set a plate of waffles in front of him.

Raven smirked. "Not too modest, are ya, Will?"

William shrugged. "You're Jordi's best friend. We're practically family."

Quickly, Raven turned to survey her best friend. "Does this mean he finally came to his senses and asked you to marry him?"

Jordan let out a short laugh. "Ha! As soon as that happens, I'll jump out of my wheelchair and do an Irish jig!"

The two women giggled as William frowned. "It's only been two years…"

This spurred a new chorus of laughter.

William sighed as he doused his waffles in syrup and began to eat. "You lot are so mean to me."

"Well all I'm saying is you might as well ask her to marry you now because at the rate you move, you'll have a six-year engagement," Raven commented.

"Ha…ha…ha," he mocked as he took another bite of his breakfast. "Changing the subject, Jordi tells me you've got a dark horse in the running."

Raven glared at Jordan, who smirked. "What? It slipped out… And I didn't say you had 'a dark horse in the running,' I said you had the look of someone who's being shagged regularly."

"Jordi!" Raven gasped. "For your information, no one's shagging anyone around here with the exception of you two!"

"Well," said William, pulling Jordan into his lap as he pushed his plate away, "can't argue with that."

Jordan grinned as Raven shook her head. "Gross. Okay, I'll be going now."

"Wait, I want to come see Rio," William said, planting a kiss on Jordan's cheek and nudging her off his lap so he could stand. "Last time I was here he'd run off, remember?"

Raven smiled. "Gotten lost is more like it. All right, come on then, and put some clothes on, won't you?"

He looked down at himself. "What for?"

Jordan smirked as she pointed to a coat rack next to the door where several spring jackets were hung. "Put on my coat."

William strode toward the rack and lifted from it a blue jean jacket with a butterfly on the back. "But this is a girl's coat!"

She grinned. "Yes, I know. It's a bit nippy out there, isn't it?"

"Aren't you coming?" asked William.

"No, she's not," Raven answered for her.

"…Why not?" questioned Jordan.

"Because if Sirius happens to show up, you'll have a field day, won't you?"

Smirking, Jordan crossed her arms over her chest. "That's exactly why I want to come."

"And exactly why you're staying here."

"No, I'm coming!" protested Jordan.

"Do as you're told," said Raven with a grin as she pushed open the front door and went down the steps.

"But…"

William gave her a wink and then reiterated sarcastically, "Why can't you just do as you're told?"

She smiled.

"Be right back, love," said William, and he followed after Raven.

Rio encircled William as he entered, wearing Jordan's coat over his bare chest and boxers.

"What, you couldn't find a pair of Jordi's flip-flops you liked?"

William chuckled as he scratched Rio enthusiastically. "Hey buddy, how are ya? I missed you."

Raven smiled as she watched them. William looked up to her, shrugging. "I always wanted a big dog like this."

"You tell me that every time you see him. If I ever mysteriously disappear, he's yours. I'll even let you feed him." Raven nodded toward the bag of dog food next to the back door.

He grinned at her and made his way enthusiastically to fill Rio's dog dish with food. Rio followed at his heels and gave what sounded like a bark of happiness when he received his meal. As William patted Rio's neck fondly and then straightened up again, Raven noticed that he was looking past her. If Rio hadn't been busy enjoying his food, he would have given Sirius a proper greeting. Raven turned and, with a gasp, locked eyes with Sirius, who was standing in the doorway. He rose an eyebrow questioningly at her, but before she could say anything, he'd let the screen door slam, leapt and cleared the porch steps, and continued back into his own house next door.

Raven glanced back at William who was wearing a look of guilt. "Nice to meet you, too, Sirius."

"Oops…" was all Raven could say.

"Sorry, Rave. It's my fault. You want me to go over and explain?" William offered.

She shook her head emphatically. "I think you've done enough, Will, if you know what I mean."

He shrugged. "Well I am partially in drag, you know," he said, straightening Jordan's jacket around him. "That's gotta count for something."

Raven giggled. "I'll be sure to point that out to him. Show yourself out, will you?"

Will nodded. "See you later."

"Let's hope you're fully dressed next time."

When Raven entered Sirius's living room, she found him staring moodily at the ceiling. She sat facing him, waiting for him to speak. When he didn't after several minutes, she placed her hand on his far cheek and turned his head to look at her.

"Hi."

Sirius pretended he had just noticed she was there, giving her a look of complete surprise. "Oh, hi there, Raven, didn't see you. Been here long?"

Raven smiled slowly. "Sirius…that was Will."

"Yeah…and?" He rose an eyebrow at her again.

"And he was—"

"Half-naked," Sirius cut in.

"Except for Jordi's jean jacket, yes," agreed Raven, sounding calm.

"Jordi's…"

"Jean jacket, mmhmm. With a pretty, rainbowy butterfly on the back."

"Oh," said Sirius, his eyes dropping to the floor.

"He's Jordi's boyfriend. He had just gotten up and insisted on coming over to see Rio before he left. Dog lover. You would have liked him."

Sirius glanced timidly up at her, looking extremely ashamed of himself. "Bugger."

She smirked. "Of course, I did have a thing with him before he dated Jordi."

"What!" Sirius demanded, quickly.

"I'm kidding!" giggled Raven. "Honestly, he's like a brother to me."

"A thing, huh?" asked Sirius. Raven shrugged. "Are we a thing then?"

She smiled at him. "Well, apparently you think so. Already jealous about an innocent little thing like finding a reasonably attractive man standing half-naked in my living room?"

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Reasonably attractive?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "Yes, reasonably attractive. I think Albus Dumbledore is reasonably attractive, too. Does that make you feel better?"

"Not in the least. I think Dumbledore's as handsome as they come." He gave her a roguish grin.

"As are you, Mr. Black."

His impish grin turned into an evocative one. "You never answered my question, Ms. Ashe."

"What question, Sirius?"

"Are…we…a thing?" he asked again.

"You tell me."

"Well…" Sirius considered. "I suppose one could say it was only a kiss."

"I recall two."

"All right, two kisses—"

"And that could be termed pure coincidence," Raven pointed out. "They were pretty good, though…"

"Pretty good?" challenged Sirius. "I may have spent the last twelve years of my life in prison, Ms. Ashe, but I do think I can manage more than pretty good."

Raven giggled at his defensiveness. "Sirius, you need to lighten up, okay? I was teasing. Trust me, the kissing was more than pretty good, it was…" she bit her lip, "sexy as hell."

The ghost of a grin played around his mouth, but then he looked up at her and rose his right eyebrow. "But you said…"

"Sexy…as hell," she repeated.

Sirius seemed satisfied with this judgment. "Well, I suppose you are right. Once is an accident; twice is a coincidence; and three times is…"

"…A thing?" supplied Raven, biting her lip again and not meeting his eyes.

"A thing," Sirius repeated as they both looked slowly up at each other. Both faces broke into a grin before they kissed ardently for the third time.

Remus stepped out of the fireplace and turned immediately red in the face as Sirius and Raven looked up at him in a tangle on Sirius's sofa. Sirius was soon giving Remus a look of death while Raven was smirking at him upside down.

"Hello, Remus," she said pleasantly.

Sirius looked down at her again and said before Remus had time to respond. "How did you know that was Remus?"

"You have more than one best friend who's a lycan?" Raven asked.

"Well, no." he answered. "You can tell he's a werewolf somehow?"

"Yes, I can," she said. "Sirius, can you get off me? If he gets any redder, he's bound to explode.

"Oh, right." Sirius obliged and turned to Remus to make introductions. "Moony, Raven Ashe. Raven, Remus Lupin."

"It's nice to meet you, Remus," said Raven, getting up from the couch and shaking his hand and giving him a warm smile.

Remus shook hers with a puzzled expression on his face. "You're a—"

"Vampire, yes," Raven supplied.

"I've never met one before," he justified.

She smirked again. "How fortunate for you."

"So…" Sirius was still trying to work this out, "you guys can, like, tell?"

"It's more that we can sense a difference," explained Raven, "from our own kind as well as from humans. It can be blocked, of course, but as neither of us were expecting to meet the other…"

"What can be blocked?"

"Well, if I didn't want Remus to know that I was a vampire, I could consciously prevent him from sensing it. But it would get harder and harder to do the longer I was with him. At least for me, it would. Older vampires are more powerful."

"I thought you were twenty-five," said Sirius.

"Well, yes, but vampires live forever. There are some that are centuries old – ancient vampires. To them, I'm only an infant. The older vampires are, the more powerful they become."

Sirius looked to Remus. "Is it the same with werewolves?"

"No," said Remus. "With werewolves, it depends on the wolf. Some wolves are more submissive with others are alphas, leaders. The most powerful werewolves are going to be the alphas, but they're also more in danger of being attacked by other alphas looking to take over."

"So Greyback'll be dead any day now?" asked Sirius, hopefully.

"No one would dare attack him; he bit most of them when they were children. They know he's the most powerful."

Raven was now standing at Sirius's front door. "Well, I'll let you gentleman talk. It was nice to finally meet you, Remus. If you want to say and eat dinner, I'm making Sirius something anyway, so feel free."

"Sure, thanks," said Remus.

Sirius watched her go and then turned to grin at Remus. "She cooks for me."

"I see that."

He continued, a dreamy sound in his voice, "Her burritos are straight from heaven."

Remus laughed. "Have you asked her to marry you yet?" he asked, jokingly.

Sirius grinned. "Any day now."

Remus then cleared his throat and glanced at his friend disparagingly. "I take it she knows everything then?"

"You mean that I'm wanted dead or alive? Yes," said Sirius, "and she believes me."

Remus nodded. "I just wanted to check on you. Though you might be getting lonely, but by the look of things when I got here…"

"Hah…yeah…" remembered Sirius, grinning slowly. "I thought it was just that I haven't really seen a woman in over twelve years at first, but it's not. I would have dated her before Azkaban when I was twenty."

"Yeah, you also would have broken her heart when you were twenty and she would hate you now."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Okay, well, if you want to get technical here, she would have been thirteen then and I wouldn't have gone there. I was just saying hypothetically, you know?"

Remus didn't say anything.

"I know you think it's just because I've been deprived from contact with the opposite sex for the past twelve years that I'm rushing into this relationship with Raven, but it's not and I'm not. I really like her and I don't plan on breaking her heart, all right, Moony?"

Remus smirked. "I didn't even say anything, Padfoot."

"Yeah, well I've known you since we were eleven and I know what you think, so just…don't think it. Can you do that?"

He shrugged. "All right."

"Good," said Sirius, smiling. "So, how's everything in the real world?"

"Wait, can I just ask one thing about this?"

Sirius sighed. "Go ahead."

"Where exactly do you see this going?"

Sirius was silent for a minute, so Remus went on.

"What happens if Harry needs you in the future? I mean, haven't you noticed that that boy gets into more trouble than you and James put together and he doesn't even go looking for it."

Sirius grinned widely at this. "I have noticed how much like James he is, Moony. If Harry needs me, I'm going to be there for him. I'm at least going to try and make up for not being there the past twelve years."

"I know you will. But what about Raven? She's just going to wait here for you? That's what I'm asking. How serious is this going to be? What exactly is it?"

Sirius smirked and leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees. "It's a thing."

Luv, Liveley.