July 1977

Potter Manor

               Thea Potter snuck down for a midnight snack. She couldn't sleep. How could she? With everything that was going on? People were dying everyday and she had the luxury of sleep and studying. 

She quickly walked down the staircase to the kitchen. Winky had gone to bed long ago, so she was up to her own devices, not that she minded. She brought out a saucepan, sugar, milk and cocoa powder.

She measured and combined the ingredients, adding them all in and stirring to create the hot chocolate. 

"Can't sleep?" someone called out.

Thea jumped and turned around to see Sirius Black standing in the doorway.

"How--" Thea started.

"I heard you coming down. I couldn't either," Sirius confessed.

Thea nodded and turned back to her saucepan.

"Would you like some?" she asked, nodding her head towards the swirling chocolate. Sirius walked forward, but he could smell it before he saw it.

"Hot cocoa? Isn't that for children?" Sirius asked in disbelief.

"So?" Thea asked, "it's good."

Sirius laughed and shook his head, "Merlin, alright. Thank you."

Thea nodded curtly and smiled slightly. She grabbed two mugs from the cabinets and poured the steamy liquid in. She handed Sirius the mug and he stared at it for a little bit.

"Are you alright?" She asked. 

"Are any of us, really?" Sirius replied.

"I suppose not," Thea conceded. 

Thea pushed herself up, so she was sat on the counter. They drank in silence to the sound of the summer night, under the stars and the moon. 

"Come with me," Thea said quietly as she got down from the counter. Sirius quirked a brow, but she just shot him a bored expression. 

He followed her up the staircase, down the hall and into her bedroom. It was dark, but the moonlight illuminated the messy bed and reflected off of the stars that were floating on the ceiling. It was as if she became a bedroom. It was whimsical and ebbing with magic, but the magic wasn't deliberate or forced, it was natural and pure. 

He followed her as she opened her window and climbed up to, what he presumed to be, the roof. 

"Can you hand me my mug?" she called down quietly. He looked across from him and saw her mug situated on the window sill. He handed her both of their beverages and then hoisted himself up. 

It was a beautiful. Truly. Sirius felt like he could see the whole world. He could see the forest that surrounded the house, the lights of the distant muggle village. But most importantly, when he looked up, he could see every single star in the sky. 

"We don't have to talk. But I've found that it's peaceful up here and I can think," Thea said quietly to the Black boy. 

"Thank you," he whispered. 

And they did sit in silence for quite a long time. In his head, Sirius was naming all of the stars as they has been his only solace as a child when he was punished. 

"It's Regulus's birthday today," Sirius eventually whispered.

"He's turning 16?" Thea asked. Sirius nodded. 

"Happy Birthday, Regulus," Thea said to no one in particular. 

"I didn't send him anything," Sirius confessed. 

"Oh," Thea replied.

"I haven't spoken to him since I left. He won't talk to me," Sirius continued, "I just- I just wish that I had been better."

"How so?" Thea asked quietly. 

"Perhaps, he would have been with me and I could have protected him," Sirius said.

"In Gryffindor?" Thea asked. 

"Or in Slytherin," Sirius admitted quietly, "I talk about how much I hate them and some part of me does. My entire family has been in Slytherin and they're all awful, well, except for Andy. But mostly it's disappointment in myself. I was always told that I had to be in Slytherin. Always. And when the hat said Gryffindor, I hated myself. How could I not be in Slytherin? How would I tell my parents? It turns out, I didn't have to. Bellatrix told them immediately after, she was in 7th year at the time. They were so disappointed in me. They have been in the past, but never like this."

Sirius lied down on the roof and Thea joined him. She looked over at him and she blushed a little at their proximity, nothing more. 

She swallowed thickly, however. She was almost in Slytherin. That was almost her. Being a disappointment in her parent's eyes and her brother's eyes. 

"It seems as if you and I were switched at birth," she said with a bitter chuckle.

"What?" Sirius asked her.

"You can't tell James. This stays between us," Thea said, looking deeply into his eyes to know that he was sincere when he nodded. She turned away, she couldn't look at him. 

"I was so close to being in Slytherin. The hat said I was a perfect fit, but I begged it to put me in Ravenclaw. I knew James would never look at me the same way again. But the thing is, is that after I fully threw myself into being the most Ravenclaw girl ever. I studied endlessly, I didn't go out for fear of meeting the Slytherins. Because I always knew deep down that I was just like them, but I have never been prejudiced nor have I ever had an interest in hurting someone. So it just confused me," Thea revealed. 

"Oh," Sirius whispered. She was almost in Slytherin. She was almost like everyone that he had ever hated. 

"Please don't think ill of me," she whispered. 

Sirius stared at his hot chocolate. He had a little bit left and it was particularly dark at the bottom of the mug. 

"I don't," Sirius eventually said, "Merlin was in Slytherin, right?"

Thea nodded and slightly smiled. She shifted her head so she was looking at Sirius. He was looking back at her. They looked at each other for a few moments, though it felt like years.

She could hear her thoughts screaming at her. They were telling her to stay. 

"I should go. I promised to help James with quidditch plays in the morning. You should get some sleep too," she said as she got up. Sirius sat up and watched as she jumped down from the roof and into her window. 

He stayed up for a little while longer, thinking. She was right, it was peaceful.

"Happy Birthday Reg," Sirius quietly whispered, hoping the wind would carry it to him. Then Sirius clambered down and into Thea's open window. 

When he entered her room, he noticed she was sound asleep. The moon kissed her cheeks and made her look angelic. He smiled softly to himself, but quickly shook his head.

This was James' sister. The same sister that he had promised to never pursue. He could never go for his best friend's sister, but a voice in the back of his head reminded him of the hypocrisy of it all. 

He quietly exited her room, making sure to shut the door softly.