Taking her mum's advice was harder than Jo expected. So far, she had managed to stop tracing her scars most of the time but that only solved one of her problems. She hadn't gotten the chance to properly apologize to Kate or Marlene; they had gone on holiday with the McKinnons and Jo didn't want to ruin their only break from their messed-up reality.
Jo couldn't tell anyone what was going on and Lily hadn't sent back a letter. She imagined the redhead sitting on the familiar brown couch by the new fireplace keeping an eye on Harry and James while they played with toy blocks. James would have his glasses off-centered on his face, and be matching with his son's jet black, tangled hair. A chuckle escaped Jo's lips for she was lucky enough to inherit Euphemia's tamer tresses instead of the signature Potter flair. Hers weren't exactly straight, like Lily's or wavy like Marlene's, but it certainly didn't look like she had been playing with electrical sockets in her free time. And yet in everything else, she and James looked practically the same. The same hazel eyes, full round cheeks, and crooked smiles.
Joanna then wondered how her nephew would turn out. His eyes had changed color, resembling an olive shade of green rather than her and James's honey brown. Would she have something in common with Harry? Would he think of her as the cool aunt who brings more gifts than can fit under the tree? She couldn't help but also think about Sirius's role in Harry's upbringing. Where would he fit into all of it? Yeah, he was Harry's godfather but... Jo stopped herself before thinking too much about that because Sirius Black had called her "bloody difficult" and that's what she had to live up to. If she trusted too easily, she would make sure not to trust him at all.
"Maybe you should run after one of the muggle-borns instead. I bet that might get the reaction you're looking for from Walburga," she hissed when Sirius recapped their latest interaction, or lack thereof, to Peter before an Order meeting.
"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Forget it," she mirrored his own comeback.
He walked toward her, everyone else had gotten quiet, "What were you implying with that statement, Potter?"
"Oh, we're on last names now?"
His nostrils were flaring. And his eyebrows were furrowed. With him towering over her, she could feel his breath on her face.
"We are if you were implying what I think you were."
"And what is that?" If she tiptoed enough, their noses would touch.
"You really think... You reckon it's just in my nature to shag everyone left and right? Because if you do, you're no better than them." His voice cracked at the last part.
Her resolution faltered slightly. She didn't mean to feed into the false schoolyard narrative of Sirius's promiscuity, but she did.
She stammered, "I—I—" But upon making eye contact with Remus she remembered why she had made the comment in the first place.
"I'm simply saying I can't trust you. Because according to your remarkable judgment, I trust too easily. And it might just be my stubbornness speaking, but you can't change my mind about that."
"Would you move on, Joanna? It was a-a-a slip of the tongue. Are you so insecure about being stubborn — of all things — that you can't possibly let this go?"
"A slip? Are you joking? Go on. Tell me what I'm insecure about because you made me tell you everything I wanted to keep buried, and then blindsided me when you went off and changed the damned plan without telling me!" She had raised her voice by the end of the sentence.
YOU ARE READING
The Other One | Sirius Black
Fanfiction"I'm sorry, I just... remembered something," she muttered as her fingers traced the scars on her throat. He placed his hands on her shoulders before whispering, "It's just me." "It's just you," she sighed. ...
