018. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
everything has changed
7:30 A.M., 12/24/1976
"IT'S Christmas Eve!"
"Bloody hell, James! Shut up for once in your life!"
Saiorse's head was throbbing for three exact reasons. For one, it throbbed from the aftermath of the atomic alcohol consumption the night before. Second, James just direly having to scream the obvious in her ear, and then finally, the huge knot she had gotten on her forehead on the bed above from James's yell. The pounding of her head had become incredibly loud in her ears, the girl beginning to shake her hung over sister that was sprawled out beside her.
"No." Lily groaned childishly, pulling Saiorse's pillow over her head. The latter rolled the girl off of the left side of the bed, shoving her to the ground with a loud smack. Lily groaned again, fuming as she glared up at Saiorse from the wooden floor beneath her.
"Blame your snogging buddy, Lils." she smiled, the smile dropping as quick as humanly possible when she watched her sister calmly get up from the ground. She took it as a sign to run as soon as Lily lunged for her, dashing out of the entryway to the next room, slamming her body against the wooden door.
"Saiorse!" Sirius yelled, startled as he threw his arms around his bare chest, as if he had something to cover. "What are you doing here? Can you not see I'm basically naked?"
Saiorse slid down the door, snickering loudly as Lily banged on the door to get in. She turned the lock, letting out a breath of relief. "First of all, Sirius, I may or may not have pushed Lily off of the bed while she was hungover and is chasing me in a fit of rage, and second, you're weird as shit."
"Did James yell in your ear too?" Peter asked from beneath his own silk sheets, rubbing his tired and hungover eyes. She nodded, squealing as Lily had somehow gotten the door unlocked, and opened.
"I'll kill you, Saiorse Josephine!"
"Lily, no! You will not cast the jelly legs jinx in this house!" James yelled as Lily barged in.
"Too late."
9:45 A.M., 12/24/1976
"YOU insubordinate children! Did I or did I not tell you to not heavily drink!"
Euphemia Potter's shrill voice rang throughout the wooden walls of the Potter household, the six teenagers stood in front of the woman, all with sunglasses sat on the bridge of their noses. Sirius just grabbed her hand, spinning her into a dip. "It's all good, Mia. We had a grand old time, didn't we, Prongs?"
"Yes, mum, and isn't that what matters?" James asked, sticking his bottom lip out at his mother. She couldn't help but crack a small grin, shooing the two boys into the dining room as she prepared breakfast for the six children.
"Alright, so, here's the plan for today." Lily began, helping Euphemia set a large plate of scones in front of Sirius, who in turn grabbed about five of the pastries. "Each of us will have our own rooms to wrap in, and we're actually going to be doing Secret Santa tonight. We'll set all of our presents out individually, and we'll all gather in the parlor at midnight to open them. We're not waking up at 4 in the morning tomorrow, James, and we will not be shoving people off of beds either, Saiorse."
"Watch out, she might make a Lily list if we aren't careful." Saiorse whispered to the four boys, stirring her spoon around the yogurt in her bowl.
"Oh!" Lily gasped, clasping her hands together. "A list. What a great idea."
Sirius groaned as he slammed his forehead on the wooden table, whining like a small child. "Lily, you're talking way too fast for my brain to comprehend."
"Oh, I apologize for my dear sister, Sirius." Saiorse told him, rubbing the boy's back in a nurturing way as he looked up at her and nodded, looking for sympathy. "Not all of us have the attention span and brain size of a labrador. Must be rather difficult."
"Nice." Remus whooped, leaning over to table to high five Saiorse.
"You wouldn't even know the half of it." James scoffed, making both Remus and Sirius throw a sharp glare his way. "What?"
Lily cleared her throat, trying her best to drive the tension from the room the group was in. "Saiorse, you'll have the parlor. Sirius, kitchen, and please, don't eat everything." Sirius threw his hands up, making Saiorse laugh as his jaw dropped in a defensive way. "James, drawing room. Peter, dining room. Remus, the boys' bedroom. Lily, the girls' bedroom. Got it?"
"Yes, sergeant." Saiorse saluted, placing her untouched granola onto Peter's happily outstretched hand. She grabbed her glass of orange juice, voluntarily sipping until the drink came completely spewing from her lips. "Oh, my God."
She tried to get the taste from her tongue, grabbing Lily's glass to take a sip from hers. "What the hell was that?"
Sirius and James snickered from beside her, silently high fiving from beneath the table. "Did you do that?" She sneered, shoving the boy's arm from beside her. He just shrugged merrily, placing a rather large salt shaker in her hand.
"I wouldn't trust Sirius and James making my drink next time, Saiorse." Peter grinned, shrugging as he turned down to his full plate. She simply watched the two boys like a hawk the rest of the meal, racking her brain for a way to get them back.
12:07 P.M., 12/24/1976
"COME on, come on, turn into the bird. Feel the bird inside of you. Wait, wait, no, that's really weird."
Saiorse sat on top of her bed in the Potter house, softly muttering to herself as she tried to shift into her very own animagus form. She knew she had done every process correctly, placing the mandrake leaf into her mouth for a month, which had given her the detention in the beginning of the year. She knew she had kept the potion in the moonlight, she knew she had brewed it entirely accurately. But for some reason, she still couldn't turn into that little blackbird.
"Jesus, Saiorse, just turn into the fuckin' bird!"
"Saiorse, what in the blazing hell are you talking about?" James asked from her door, making the girl jump from her bed. Sirius stood in the doorway, looking at the girl with an impossible knowing curiosity.
He couldn't help but assume that the redheaded girl was doing what he thought she had been doing, but it seemed almost fantastical. Why would Saiorse Evans direly need to become an animagus? He knew why the boys had done it, for their Moony, but there was no reason she would have needed to change.
Unless she knew.
Which could have been impossible.
But somehow, Saiorse Evans seemed to know everything.
"Just, uh, talking to myself." She nervously responded, rubbing her palms from where she had dug her nails so deep into them.
If Saiorse were to be honest, she had no clue why she had wanted to be an animagus so badly. It almost felt like she needed to, like something inside of her was telling her to at least try. It was a rather good thing to have under your belt, being an animagus, especially in Saiorse's case. Turning into a small, unnoticeable bird when any minor inconvenience upset her? Utter ingenious.
"Interesting." Sirius softly spoke, shutting the door of the two girls' room as he kept playing with the idea of Saiorse knowing of their dear friend's condition.
3:15 P.M., 12/24/1976
"YOU'RE not coming in while I'm wrapping, Sirius." Saiorse scolded from behind the parlor door, trying to figure out a way to make the two records look not like two records.
"Oh, come on, dear Saiorse." The boy groaned from behind the door. "I swear I won't tell anyone who you got. Scout's honor."
She ripped the piece of large tape from the spool, a bunch of feathers inside of the wrapping paper to make it look as if it had been a wrapped pillow. Placing two packs of his favorite cigarettes inside of the feathery pile, she had finally placed the last piece of paper over the gaping hole. "Saiorse."
She set the present beneath the large and lit up Christmas tree, going over to the door that Sirius had all his weight pressed up against. As Saiorse ripped the door open, Sirius Black had become sprawled out onto the floor, quickly getting up to greet the girl. He stuck his hand out for her to shake, grinning like a little boy.
Saiorse took his outstretched hand in hers, watching with a confused stare as he giddily, yet vigorously shook her hand. "Miss Evans."
"Mr. Black."
He stood for a moment, staring at the girl's face, his hand still enclosed over hers. His eyes flickered over her face, slowly getting closer and closer, their noses inches apart. Saiorse had no clue what he was planning, why he was acting so strange all of a sudden. She knew what he was doing felt weird, but then again, she didn't exactly want it to stop altogether.
She had been ripped from her thoughts at she felt herself lurch forward, Sirius's face disappearing behind her to the pine tree behind them.
"No, Sirius — "
"Saiorse! Let's see who you got!"
"Sirius, no!"
He grabbed the present from beneath the Christmas tree, checking everywhere around the wrapped object to where a name could be seen. Saiorse snatched the gift from his hands, sweeping her foot beneath his leg as he feel back with an umph. She cheered as he laid on the ground with defeat, tossing the present onto the couch beside them.
Saiorse's victory had been short lived, the girl's laughter quickly cut off by her scream as she had been yanked down atop the boy. "W-When a girl says no to showing her presents, she means no to showing her presents." Saiorse smiled breathlessly, flicking the boy softly in the middle of his forehead.
"And when a boy asks to see a present, he should have the right to see a present."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah."
"And why does this boy feel so desperately entitled to see this present?" Saiorse asked him softly, still straddling Sirius's waist.
"Because." Sirius answered just as quietly, shrugging as he tried to keep the blush from spreading across his cheeks. Saiorse giggled as she smashed feathers into the boy's face, toppling over as he unexpectedly got up, beginning to straddle her as she was caught off guard.
"Because why?" She asked him again, grabbing a feather that sat woven into the black tendrils of his hair.
"No clue." He smirked, leaning forward onto his hands. Somehow, Sirius could feel his heartbeat quicken as he stared the smiling girl beneath him, watching as she began to laugh as she plucked the feathers from his hair. He felt as if he could watch her smile all day, watch as she felt absolute joy, even if it was just for a fleeting moment. As long as she was smiling, he felt like everything would be alright.
The moment was burst completely as the parlor door rammed open, revealing Remus Lupin and Lily Evans rambling to each other about the chemistry of Potions. As they caught view of the two on the floor, the boy of the couple began to snicker as he plopped down directly next to them.
"Are we uh, interrupting something?" Remus asked, raising his eyebrows. Saiorse just pushed his face away from her, wriggling out from beneath Sirius.
"Someone decided it would be a good idea to try snd steal my present to see who I got." The Hufflepuff told the two, grinning triumphantly as Sirius flipped her off. She simply did it right back, sticking her tongue out at the boy. "Go finish your wrapping, Sirius."
"But — "
"No buts."
"Snitch."
"Sirius."
"Alright, alright, mum."
12:00 A.M., 12/25/1976
"ALRIGHT, who's first?" Remus clapped, sitting on the small couch with his seventh cup of coffee as he watched the five children in front of him wring their hands nervously, yet excitedly.
"I personally believe oldest should go first." Sirius shrugged, trying to hold back a boyish grin as Saiorse lightly kicked him in the shin. Remus rolled his eyes, waving his hand for the boy to pick the present marked with a neat Sirius Orion Black out of the wrapped bunch.
His smile was exceptionally bright as he tore through the paper, his eyes widening as feathers completely coated the shirt he had been wearing. He threw a look to the girl who sat beside him as she shrugged, trying her hardest to suppress the smile that was forming on her face. He quickly shoved the two packs of cigarettes into his pockets, gasping as he took view of the records that sat in the wrapping paper. "You didn't."
Sirius's voice, which had been considerably lower beforehand, came out in a loud squeal. In his hands stood two records, The White Album and A Day at the Races being completely fawned over by the boy. He threw his arms around the girl's neck, burying his face in her hair.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." He laughed, her hair muffling his voice. She patted his back, snickering at the giddy smile that would sit upon his lips for the rest of the night.
"Why did it have to be oldest goes first?" James sulked, picking at his nails. "Who's next anyways?"
"Saiorse." Lily answered, taking his hand to trace the lines on James's right palm. "She was born first."
"Haha, suck my balls, James." She whooped, flipping the boy off from across the room. He returned it with just as much gratitude, giggling as Lily's fingertips tickled the inside of his hand.
Sirius hummed, shoving a large, wrapped square into the girl's lap. He nodded as she hesitantly pit her hand over the wrapping paper, shyly and carefully peeling the paper back. Her eyes met two records, both completely sheathed in a large bundle of bubblewrap. She peeled it back with a smile, throwing her head back with a loud laugh at the sight of the record's cover.
The first record that sat in her hands had been Lie - The Love and the Terror Cult by Charles Manson, the album made by the man who led the Manson Family in the late 1960s. "Sirius, what the fuck?" Saiorse asked, not being able to control the laughter that erupted from her throat.
"I-I thought he was your favorite." Sirius answered, trying his absolute hardest to keep the explosive laughter inside of him. She handed the record to Remus, revealing the second in her right hand.
A Day at the Races.
"Oh, Sirius." Saiorse awed, holding the vinyl record to her heart. "I genuinely enjoyed everything. Thank you."
"No, dear Saiorse, thank you."
a/n
sorry for such a shit chapter like this was kind of really horrible but 🤩🤩
anyways, i have a complete plan set out for saiorse's future and she may die, but then again...she may not 👴🏼 pls im having such a bad habit rn of not even focusing on whats going on in the story NOW and moreover in the future. pray 4 me. and also put your theories as to how it would end because i love reading them hahdjdkkajdhcc
anyways this was pretty crapily written so ill probably redo it someday but for rn i couldn't care less <3 ajhrjdjskshdhf alright love you bye