Finding fireworks || Sirius Black

05

"Fat chance" Sirius said, grinning.

"One day I'm going to kill you and make it look like an accident, Black"

"You couldn't live without me" he winked at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Fine, whatever, be annoying. Since you enjoy torturing me, let's go" I stormed off, and they followed.

I hadn't realized how much I had missed them until we were walking down the street chatting and joking like we were back at Hogwarts. There was no denying they were too much fun to be around. I was laughing hysterically at something Black had said when we arrived at the pub where I was meeting Jax. It was the same pub where we had our first date, The Oaks Inn. I got us a table and sat across from them, looking around to double-check that Jax hadn't arrived yet.

"So, how did you meet him again?" Potter asked.

"I was out running and barreled into him by accident"

"That's my girl! You sure know how to impress a guy" Black said, laughing. Potter had joined him, but I was slightly thrown off by his choice of words. My girl was not something I ever thought I'd hear him say about me, not even as part of a harmless joke. I was so flustered I forgot to reply.

I didn't have a lot of time to dwell on it because Jax walked through the door right that second. He saw me, then them, and raised an eyebrow in question. I smiled and waved him over to the table.

"Jax's here. Please, remember he's a muggle" I whispered. Both of them smiled mischievously and turned around to get a look at him. Oh crap.

James' POV

I didn't know what to say or think. I couldn't do anything but look from Padfoot to this Jax guy, to Padfoot, to Jax again. If you made a muggle clone of Sirius, it wouldn't resemble him as much as Jax did. It was eerie. Had Jocelyn picked him because of this? Or was she as oblivious to this as she pretended to be? Surely not? It was impossible not to notice. Jax looked more like Sirius than his brother Regulus did. It was weird. It was freaking me out, big time.

"Hey, gorgeous," he said, leaning in to kiss Jocelyn. I averted my eyes, just because it was rude to look at people kissing.

"Jax, these are... Uhm... James and Sirius" she finally said. I realized that this was probably the first time she had ever said my name since I could remember. It sounded really nice when she said it.

"He's her cousin, we're visiting for the holidays" Padfoot jumped in. Was he freaked out that he was talking to a copy of himself? Jax seemed to be a bit unnerved by it, though he was trying hard to hide it.

"You're related?" he asked.

"He is, I am not" Padfoot seemed unfazed by this Jax guy.

"Who are you again?" Jax was fixed on Sirius, Jocelyn shifted uncomfortably on her seat.

"Just a friend of James'"

"Right" he glanced over at Jocelyn and she smiled at him sweetly.

"I'm sorry, remember I said we had guests tomorrow? Turns out I got it wrong and they came today. I didn't want to cancel on you at the last minute, but couldn't leave them alone at my place, my cousin only comes rarely and my parents would freak out on me and Sirius lives with James so I thought I'd bring them along..." was Jocelyn rambling? Was she nervous because Jax made her nervous or because we were here? I was so confused.

"It's cool, no worries. Family is family" he kissed her head. "What do you guys want, then?"

"Burger and chips, please," she said. I looked at Padfoot, who shrugged as if to say 'whatever she said' and so we ordered the same. He walked over to the counter to order. What a gentleman.