Sugar & Spice

*Rosie's Point of View

The next morning I woke up and the first thing I did was look around to see if Black was still in his bed. He wasn’t. For reasons I couldn’t quite explain, I kind of wished he had been.

I tried to go back to sleep but the rumbling in my stomach forced me to get up. I bumped right into the doorframe and I nearly fell down the stairs on my way but I finally made it to the kitchen where there was a hot pot of coffee already sitting on the stove. I poured myself a cup, added cream and sugar and drank deeply.

“You’re up early,” a voice behind me observed and I jumped, almost slopping my coffee all down my front.

I whirled around to find Black slouched lazily along the couch, drinking from a large mug and watching me with a smile.

A tension I hadn’t realised was there seemed to slip off my shoulders. I walked towards a comfy-looking armchair nearby and sat down, closing my eyes. I finally answered.

“So are you,” I retorted, breathing in the fumes from my drink and relaxing deeper into the squishy embrace of the chair. He chuckled and I laid my head back. Maybe I would go back to sleep after all.

“I woke up about half an hour ago. Couldn’t sleep.”

“Hmm.” I nodded sleepily. I opened my eyes to look at my watch, then groaned. “Oh man,” I grumbled. “It’s only 7:30. I’d go back to bed if I could actually get up,” I added as an afterthought.

Even though I’d closed my eyes again I could practically hear Black’s answering smile, and before I could catch myself I smiled too. He was very good company, if truth be told.

“Do you need waking up?” His voice purred, closer than before.

“Black. Must you constantly harass me?” I asked, exasperated, but not bothering to open my eyes. After about a minute when there was no answer, I finally opened my eyes to see why. Black had seemingly appeared from nowhere and was sitting on the arm of my armchair, looking down at me with that familiar glint of mischief in his eye.

I jumped and half my hot cup of coffee spilled into my lap.

“Ow!” I yelped, tiny tears stinging my eyes as it burned my skin. Black rolled his eyes and waved his wand at the spilt coffee so that it disappeared.

“God Tamms. Don’t be such a baby,” He said, smirking at me. I huffed and slammed my head back against the armchair, closing my eyes in the process. I hoped he would go away.

He didn’t. I felt his hand cup my cheek.

“Black -” I started through gritted teeth.

“Shh,” He whispered abruptly, cutting off my protestation. I opened my eyes and found myself nose to nose with him. My breathing became erratic. “Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t like me,” He whispered, glancing down at my lips.

“I don’t like you,” I blurted automatically and he let out a bark of laughter at that, drawing away slightly, but still cupping my cheek. I smirked up at him.

“Morning!” A womanly voice chirped. I jumped as though electrified, and looked around Black to see Mrs Potter standing in the doorway of the living room watching us with a tiny smile playing around her lips.

Black fell off the chair and then jumped right back up, looking for all the world as though he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Mrs Potter and I exchanged an amused look.

“Uh, um - morning... Mrs Potter,” He greeted before gingerly sitting back down where he’d sat before (the arm of my chair). She smiled serenely at us both and then breezed by into the kitchen.

“Is anybody hungry?” She called from the kitchen. Black and I glanced at each other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The week running up to Christmas was the best I’d ever experienced. We would build snowmen, have snowball fights, and play quidditch (none of us were really any good apart from James, but we tried). In the evening when we were completely exhausted we’d come inside, have a delicious dinner (courtesy of Mrs Potter) and then watch movies (I was very surprised, but pleased to find that the Potters had embraced this form of muggle entertainment) or play board games. Somehow I always managed to fall asleep against somebody, be it James or Remus, and once Black.

I was gradually becoming more and more comfortable around Black (except when he caught me by surprise by winking or grinning roguishly at me), and I found he was actually quite, well, sweet.

Four days before Christmas I suddenly realised that I hadn’t bought him or the Potters (excluding James) presents. I quickly excused myself from dinner and ran up to my room to think what I could buy them. I’d just finished figuring out what to get James’s parents when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in!” I called, having to shout across the room because I was sat on the windowsill.

James came in and immediately came to sit beside me.

“What’s up Rosie?” He asked, watching me with concern. I laughed nervously and scratched the back of my neck. I knew I had been acting strangely for a little while now, but for some reason I couldn't seem to stop the weird behaviour.

I knew exactly what it was about, but I couldn't bring myself to come to grips with it. I almost just wanted it to go away.

I looked up at James seriously, thinking. He may be one of my best friends but he's still Black’s best mate....

Fuck it, I thought. If I don’t tell somebody I’ll explode.

Before I could even open my mouth though, he spoke.

“It’s Sirius isn’t it?” He asked shrewdly and I winced, but nodded. He smirked. “So...?” He asked innocently, as if he was totally ignorant. I poked him in the side and he laughed. “Ow! That’s not an answer Rosie!”

“Yeah, I know... that’s the point,” I said, sobering and looking down at my hands. James sighed.

“Come on. Say it – you’ll feel better when you’ve got it out of your system.”

“He scares me,” I said quickly and James frowned. “Not anything like that. It’s just... This is so frustrating!” I said, my voice raising.

“You fancy him, don’t you?” He asked me quietly, smiling slightly.

“I do not fancy Black, James.” I snorted and tried to push him off the windowsill. We both knew it for the lie it was. “And don’t tell him I said he scares me James, or so help me God -” James’s hands went up in surrender as he laughed.

“Alright, alright! I promise!”

“Good... now what should I buy him for Christmas?” I asked, laughing as he raised one eyebrow at me. “I’m serious,” I said, trying to get the grin off my face.

“Thong,” He replied immediately and I laughed.

“Don’t think so.”

“Okay... a personal toy set. Something he can use.” He suggested, grinning evilly at me.

“What kind of...” I trailed off before catching on and hitting him on the arm as he cackled. “Eww! James, be serious!”

“Sorry! I don’t know – get him some sweets or something,” I rolled my eyes.

“Thanks for the help, James. Now I know what you got me,” I said, pretending to be sour. He winked and stood up.

“You’re a smart girl, Rosie – I know you’ll think of something... but right now I’ve got some people to annoy,” He said, ruffling my hair before he left.

I sighed and leaned my head against the cold window, looking out over the Potters' 'winter wonderland' garden. The sounds of wrestling boys reached my ears and I smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wake up, guys! It's Christmas!" The excited yell reverberated through James's room.

I heard a muffled curse from somewhere near Black as he was pulled bodily from his bed. I giggled and snuggled deeper into my bedding before I too was dumped unceremoniously from my sofa-bed, falling with a crash to the floor, still tangled in my duvet.

I heard James leave the room loudly to go wake everybody else in the house.

After a few minutes I sat up, completely disregarding how messy my hair was and looked around, my duvet curled around me.

Black was sat cross-legged on his bed, balancing a breakfast tray on his lap and pouring himself a cup of tea. He looked like he was having trouble opening his eyes. I just looked at him for a couple of minutes, noticing how natural he looked in the morning - not smooth and confident like usual. I found that seeing him like this (tired and cranky, funnily enough) made me think of him as more of an actual person than just 'Black'.

"Hey - is there enough for two?" I asked, desperately craving a cup of coffee. He silently held up the cafetiere of coffee, rubbing his knuckles in his eye, and patted the space next to him on the bed.

I stood and sat a couple feet from him, mimicking the way he was sitting, and took a cup and saucer before pouring myself a cup of steaming coffee and dunking copious amounts of honey and cream into it. Though he eyed the honey with a dubious look, he said nothing.

"Merry Christmas," He mumbled, his voice deeper than usual with sleep. I felt my face crack into a huge grin, and I wasn't sure why.

"Right back at you, Sirius," I said, before gulping deeply from my cup. He looked at me thoughtfully. "What?" I asked, wondering if I had sleep in my eyes or had spilled any coffee down my nightshirt.

"Nothing," He replied quickly, just as James and Remus bounded into the room with Peter bringing up the rear looking like he wanted to go back to bed.

It was a pretty good haul - James bought me a huge package of assorted sweets from honeydukes, Peter bought me a quill, Remus bought me a book and a scarf and Black bought me...

"A locket?" I asked, staring at the necklace which had been presented in a maroon velvet box. I was stunned - it was beautiful. About the size of an acorn it was pure gold and covered in old-fashioned-looking swirls and patterns and was supported on a very fine gold chain. After a few moments Black cleared his throat, jogging me out my emotional moment. Nobody'd ever bought me anything like this before.

"Uh, I know it's probably not your style but you know, I thought it kind of-"

"It's beautfiful," I interrupted, looking up at him. He took it off me and clasped it around my neck where it settled low down my chest over my nightshirt. "God, and to think I just bought you some gloves and a scarf!"

He grinned, back to his normal un-nervous self in a second.

"They were dragon skin and the scarf matches my eyes perfectly," He said, his voice going high-pitched to mimic a girl's. "Do you like it, at least? You don't have to say you like it just to avoid hurting my feelings, you know."

I shook my head.

"No! I really do... Thanks, Sirius," I said, and gave him an awkward hug. At first he tensed up, but then he relaxed into it, at which point I hastily let go. He felt really good. Large and warm and strong. He smelled good, too. Manly good, like wood and musk.

I stood up off the bed.

"Should we go down and join the others?" I asked, nodding to the door. He sighed and we made our way downstairs where we were both pulled into a hug by Mrs Potter, which caused our heads to bump together slightly. She thrust two neatly wrapped packages into our hands and we handed her ours.

"Merry Christmas!" She said, patting my back and thanking me for the copper set of cooking pots I'd bought her.

For the rest of the day we lounged around, watching loads of christmas movies and eating chocolate and homemade mince pies.

"Oh man," I groaned, while clutching my stomach and leaning my back against Remus's side. "I think I've gained half a stone {Author's Note: to all you americans out there, that's about 7 pounds} in the last half-hour," Remus and James snorted.

"Rosie, you couldn't put on weight if you tried," James scoffed, while Black pinched my stomach.

"Look! I can't even grab anything! And you've eaten more than me today!" I tried to wave him off but he started tickling me. I cried out for help from James, Remus and Peter, but they didn't take pity on me. They simply smirked at us. Bastards.

"No!" I cried, tears of laughter streaming down my face as Black expertly tickled my stomach.

Suddenly he stopped, looking up. I sat up and looked up to see Mr Potter standing there smiling down at us.

"Sorry to interrupt the fun everybody, but you just received a letter, Sirius," He said, and handed it to him before leaving the room.

Sirius looked bewildered until he turned the letter over and groaned loudly. He flopped backwards so he was laying flat on the ground and held the letter directly above him with two hands. I lay down a few feet from him and prodded him in the ribs.

"What's so bad about it?" I asked, concerned.

"It's my parents," He said sourly. I didn't miss the look he threw at James, Remus and Peter.

"Well open it!" I said, wanting to know what it said. He did.

As his eyes travelled down the page his expression grew more and more appalled. When he got to the bottom he started at the top again and read aloud:

"Dear Sirius,
We will be having a full family gathering this year and you must attend tonight if you wish to continue to consider yourself a part of this family.
In addition to this, we have heard word that you have befriended a Tamsworth. Good work - there may be hope for you yet. Bring her when you come, we wish to meet with her.
Your Parents."

There was a stunned silence after he finished. Well, not stunned on my part - I was completely used to this kind of communication from my father. Black turned and stared me in the eye.

"What?"

"Well?" He asked me, narrowing his eyes.

"What do you want me to say?" I asked, bewildered.

"Aren't you supposed to sympathise and say 'Oh, your parents sound so awful!' or 'Aw, I feel so sorry for you!'" He said sarcastically. I narrowed my eyes at him. I'd had far worse from my father and I could tell that Black was the type of person who hated it when people gave him sympathy. So I didn't.

"No." I said simply and took a deep breath. "My father is worse," I added in a rare moment of sharing. Black snorted as he crumpled up the letter.

"Yeah right," He said, throwing the letter into the fire. I shrugged and leaned myself against Remus's back again.

"When do you want to go?" I asked, feeling a bit strange.

"You want to go with me?" He asked incredulously while James's eyebrows shot up.

"Well I asked, didn't I?"

Black inhaled deeply through his nose and closed his eyes. Then he began to rub his temples. After a slight pause I reached over and awkwardly patted his back, unused to the physical contact.

I'd found out what was so wrong with his life: his family.

Now to find out what could be so awful about them that they got to Black so much.