Black // Marauders

16. Easter

Three days into the Easter holidays and the Potter twins had already had several arguments with Remus, after Sirius managed to fill James in on every last detail, causing him to not have spoken to Persie for almost a full week.

She was sat in the living room, flicking through the Daily Prophet and scanning an advert for James' broom he got for Christmas. Nimbus 1001. 1.67m long. Clipped tail for extra aero dynamics. Classy. She drew her eyes to the door as it opened and James stuck his head in to look around.

"Can I help you?" She asked, looking around the room for what she thought he was looking for.

"No, Sirius. We can't sit in here." He called out of the door, before slamming it shut. Persie pushed herself off the sofa, throwing the newspaper to the side and walking over to the door, screaming out into the hallway, "What is your problem James?!"

She slammed the door again, twice as hard, before sitting herself back down on to the sofa again.

"What's going on Pers?" Lyra sighed, opening the door and sitting down on the coffee table.

"He's in a mood with me. I don't know." She muttered, waving it off as she flicked through the paper, attempting to find her lost page.

"Would you like me to have a word with him?" Lyra asked.

"No, Mum. It's fine. Just don't bring it up. He'll come around." Persie sighed, waving her hand dismissively, "I'm going outside. I need some fresh air anyway."

"Okay, well, see you later." She murmured as Persie shut the glass door, walking out towards the lake and looking up towards the tree. She shrugged and began to climb up, swinging her legs over the thickest branch before lying down and looking up through the branches. In a week, she'd be of age ... in a week she could do whatever she wanted to do ... in a week she could be whoever and no one would care because she would be seventeen. No more putting up with James' moods - apparition could deal with that - and no more living with Sirius Black. That might take a while to get used to.

"Are you alright up there?" Someone asked from below, almost making her roll out of the tree and on to the floor. This made her head dangle downwards and stare at the speaker.

"Oh. It's you." She stated bitterly before pushing herself up against the trunk of the tree and folding her legs.

"Look, I'm not here to cause trouble, I just want to apologise." He said, frowning slightly, "Can I come up? I don't like shouting."

"Yeah sure whatever." She replied, picking at her nails as he scaled the tree and sat in front of her, straddling the branch.

"Please don't be mad at me, Pers. James is already." He sighed, looking over towards their house.

"You think you're the only one he's mad at?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at him for the first time.

"I know he's mad at you too. I just came to say that I'm sorry for what's happened and I think we should just draw a line. It was a mistake and I'm sorry." He apologised looking at his dangling feet.

"Nah, it's fine. There may have been a little over-reaction on my part." Persie replied, smiling.

"Little? You probably would have killed everyone in that room if you hadn't of left." He laughed, matching her smile.

"Have you heard from Lily?" She asked, looking hopefully towards him.

"No. She won't talk to me. I've sent her owls, but she just doesn't reply." He sighed, looking up at the sky, "I'm sure Ava will have talked to her though."

"Yes, Ava that's a great idea." Persie realised, grinning slightly.

"She won't talk to me either but that's because she believes you." He muttered, shaking his hair.