James Potter x Sirius Black Masterlist
⨳An Acceptably Wrinkled Timeline - 212k - Sirius Black is dead.
On the brink of passing on, he is visited by a friend of Harry's from the future, who offers to send him back in time to make things right. Can the most brash and reckless member of the Marauders right what's gone wrong? Or will he only succeed in making things so much worse? Moreover, will he be able to rebuild the bridges he's already burnt...or are there some friendships that are simply over long before their time?
2.✸ and a love that I dreamt of came to me at my worst - 90k -
Golden boy James Potter has it all, a family with his high school sweetheart, a job playing his favourite sport and close relationships with his four best mates from school. However, after failing to make the starting line up for Puddlemere United, his perfect life begins to unravel before his eyes.
Sirius Black seems to finally have it all worked out. He has found his place professionally in the Department of Mysteries and his personal life is largely drama free. If only he could stop pining after the one thing he can never have.
Or, Prongsfoot navigate the personal and professional challenges of their early 30s and fall in love along the way.
3. ✸you'll see me in hindsight - 35k -
Professor McGonagall was still talking but Sirius had been unable to adsorb a single word in several minutes.
Twenty two years. He’d been gone twenty two years.
He’d missed more than two decades. Been gone more years than he had even lived.
____
A mishap with a time turner flings Sirius far into the future. Everything has changed, not least of all, Sirius’s very best friend.
4. ✸Object Permanence - 230k - “Promise me something, Siri.”
“Anything,” Sirius said quickly. There was nothing he would be unwilling to do for Euphemia Potter. He owed the Potters everything.
“Don’t let James run off and marry her without telling him how you feel.”
Sirius froze, shock rendering him momentarily speechless. Effie just stared at him, eyes brimming with soft understanding.
“I - I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sirius stammered.
She raised an eyebrow. “I think you do.”
After Hogwarts, everything is perfect for James Potter and Sirius Black – best friends, roommates, and now partners in the Ministry’s Auror training program. But with the spectre of war looming, Sirius seems determined to put himself in danger and James finds himself wrestling with increasingly intense feelings for his best friend.
Or, James and Sirius realise they are far more than platonic soulmates.
A slow-burn, post-Hogwarts, Marauder Era story filled with angst, fluff, unhinged pining, unprofessional workplace behaviour, and shameless meddling from Effie and Monty Potter.
5. ⨳Twisting Fate - 159k -
Sirius figured after being killed in front of his godson and having to listen to his cries of agony that that would just be a sad end to his sad life and he can finally rest in peace and beg for James' forgiveness when he sees him again.
Waking up in his old bedroom right before he started his fifth year wasn't how he imagined the afterlife.
It was 1996. Sirius Black was an escaped criminal who was trapped until the end of his days, hating his life, hating what he has become, and never having the opportunity to be there for his godson.
He wakes up in 1975, panicking, confused, and somehow managing to time travel 20 years into the past.
6. ✸A far better thing - 30k - Sirius has saved James from a lifetime of wedded misery to Sirius's cousin, but now they have to face the fact that what Sirius got James into instead is pretty, well. Serious.
And that joke would be funny even if Sirius wasn't engaged to James, but he is, so it's extra funny.
It starting to look like it might be the only thing that is, though.
7. ✸shooting stars, falling objects - 724k - Remus shook his head slowly. “Peter was there. And I saw the body.”
James' stomach dropped. The body. As if Sirius were no more than a discarded shell.
“Well, I didn’t,” James said flatly, crossing his arms. “If I had, I’d have known it wasn’t him.”
“You were a teenager, James,” Remus said gently. “You panicked. You couldn’t have known what would happen that night. When are you going to forgive yourself?”
In 1978, just three weeks before graduation, Sirius Black died a hero, protecting Peter Pettigrew from a Death Eater ambush. Five years later, James Potter is the only one who believes he survived.
A post-Hogwarts Marauder Era AU about missing memories, love that defies death and the dangerous secrets of the Great and Noble House of Black.
James doesn’t plan on kissing Sirius. No. He’s not into blokes. But when his friend suffers from a nightmare, unable to calm down, what other choice does James have? Sirius is his best friend. His soulmate. His ride-or-die. A kiss is a small price for helping him.
But is that all he’s doing? Helping? Or is he providing an outlet for the desires that have been simmering in the background of his mind for a while? Desires he was too scared to act on until now?
With the end of Hogwarts fast approaching and the responsibilities of adult life lurking on the horizon, the last thing James needs is to start questioning his plans for the future. They always included a red-headed girl and a white picket fence. Not a whole lot of uncertainty and a dark-haired bloke who uses arrogance to mask a host of insecurities. His best friend. A person James adores with his whole heart. A person he, for some reason, can’t stop kissing.
Or, a story where James Potter is the last to know he’s in love with Sirius Black.
9. ✸These golden beacons (i see nothing but black) - 21k -
It's Christmas, and the extremely Gryffindor James Potter has hopelessly fancied untouchable Slytherin Sirius Black in secret for months now.
What he doesn’t know is that they’ve got remarkably similar secrets.
10. ✸In plain sight - 30k - Seventh year isn't turning out the way James had hoped. His parents are unwell, he has been partying more than he should and for the first time in his life his grades are slipping. On top of all that, he is starting to have strange feelings for his best friend.
11. ✸Welcome to the Black charade - 138k -
As heir of the house of Black, Sirius has done all he can to ensure his family’s heritage would remain as impecable as it has always been. He is on top of his classes, captain of the Slytherin quidditch team and follows the obligations and responsibilities that come with his title as well as he can.
It doesn’t really matter that his own happiness isn’t part of the equation or that he doesn’t believe in the pureblood superiority his parents preach. As long as he performs his duties, his parents won’t pay too much attention to Regulus, and his brother’s safety has always been the one true priority in his life.
In his sixth year though, James Potter – Gryffindor’s golden boy - is threatening to unravel the carefully crafted persona he has built.
12. ✸Love me like my demons do - 130k - James knows he should be happy - or at least as happy as someone who's 19 and involved in a war can be. He has the girl of his year-long dreams, a flat with the best friend he could ever hope for, and he's fighting for what is right. Despite all that, something is missing. Unfortunately, finally figuring it out only leads to a bigger mess. Fortunately, sometimes even a mess can lead to good things in the end.
Sirius has never really set the bar at happiness per se, but he always thought that getting to leave his family behind, living with James, and watching his friends be happy would be more than enough. As it turns out, family is never as far away as one wants it to be, friendships can be fickle things, and happiness is a very subjective emotion. But if Sirius was ever good at anything, it was at fighting for what he loves.
Or - as if leaving school, figuring out their lives, and fighting in a war wasn't already enough, things really start getting complicated when both Sirius and James have some unexpected epiphanies, the Order realizes they have a traitor in their midst, and Regulus Black turns up on Sirius' and James' doorstep, soaking wet and asking for help.
13. ✸When loyalty becomes courage - 48k -
“Hufflepuff!” The hat called aloud making Sirius wince. He knew the whole school was looking at him, judging him. Everyone had expected him to be sorted into Slytherin, but he’d marched up to that bloody hat stool with only one thought.
- Or an AU when all the marauders are in different houses.
14. ✸The Hopping Pot: the adventures of Messrs. Padfoot and Prongs - 96k - After Sirius Black leaves his home for the last time to live with James Potter, the troublemakers of Hogwarts have the entire summer to spend time together. Sirius turns tedium into revenge plots against Snape, James has mysterious magical artifacts in his family that the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black could only dream about, and the Potters had no idea what they were getting into when they agreed that of course Sirius was part of the family! James and Sirius find their friendship growing even closer and into something more while they learn more about the mysterious Hopping Pot.
15. ✸Their Constellations - 65k - “It's you,” James said. Sirius was confused as to what James was saying. He thought at first he was talking about the constellation that had provided Sirius with his name, but James was looking directly at him, not the sky.
“What are you talking about?” Sirius had a feeling he knew, but he wanted James to say it out loud and confirm it.
“The person I like. It's you.”
*Sirius is keeping his presentation as an omega a secret. He doesn't want it to affect his friendships or his life. But when things come to light, he finds that the outcome is a lot better than he would have originally thought.*
16. ⨳Marauder's Guide to Saving the Wizarding World - 139k -
“What about you?” Sirius demanded, looking up at him, voice still slightly slurry but barely so, as if he was powering through it with sheer willpower alone.
There was a strong pang somewhere near James’ heart. “I’ll be alright when you get better.”
“Pretty sure that despite your best efforts, you two are not actually one being,” the girl remarked drily.
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James and Sirius compete as a team in the Triwizard Tournament, there is something strange going on at the castle, Skeeter enjoys writing about them a little bit too much, and the Dark Lord is on the rise. And that is only the start of it.
Featuring James and Sirius being brilliant at everything but each other
17. ✸Dear Sirius - 227k - Thrice weekly in the Evening Prophet's entertainment section, Sirius Black answers all your questions, from the mundane to the complicated to the just plain weird.
18. ✸The Wedding Date - 25k - All James wants to do is get through the weekend nuptials joining his ex-wife and old-school rival without publicly falling apart. When his blind date is waylaid by an unfortunate work incident, his best friend steps up as his fake date and what is already shaping up to be a difficult weekend is about to become a lot more complicated.
Or an extremely self-indulgent fake relationship AU (very) loosely based on The Wedding Date.
19. ✸Uncertainty - 23k - He knows what he’s going to see as he rushes through the door. There is a desperation in his steps, a doom awaiting. There, in the entrance of this house which he’s never seen before, but familiar still, his best friend lays lifeless on the carpet. He looks older, his hair is shorter, and he’s dead.
Sirius screams.
He is laying on his four-poster bed in his dorm, drenched in sweat, his hand is clutching the sheets, and his breath is labored. For a moment, he doesn’t know whether he is dreaming or awake.
20. ✸Supernova - 86k - From the outside, it may look like James Potter has everything one needs to be happy. An abundance of talent, a prestigious job, a beautiful wife, an adorable child. So why can’t he let go of the past? Why does he still see silver eyes and a crooked smile when he dreams at night?
It's been six years. Six years since Sirius Black left England. He practically ran away from the country and hasn’t stopped running since. When he has to return to parts of his old life, he tries his best not to dwell on the past.
What luck then, that the past is one of the first people he runs into.
-
“What, so the French sent a cursed Curse-breaker?”
There is humour in James’ voice, signalling that this isn’t meant to insult, merely falling into the way they always used to talk to each other. It’s almost too easy reciprocate, to answer with banter that still feels too familiar and pulls at Sirius to be released. He bites his tongue.
“I can assure you, cursed or not, I am still excellent at my job, Auror Potter,” he says pointedly.
21. ⨳You're fair and I'm insane - 106k - “I love you, Pads,” James murmured, the words torn from him in reflex, too small and inadequate, incapable of holding what he meant them to. “You know I do.”
“I know.” Sirius’s mouth curved into something that might have once been a smile, worn down by years of holding too much in. “You love me.”
“You just don’t want me.”
Five years ago, Sirius laid his heart bare to James, but James was not ready to meet him where he stood. Now that James has finally caught up, he fears he might already be too late.
22. ✸When i put on a show - 52k - James will never understand her friendship with Snape, and that’s fine, just like it’s fine that she rejects him that day on the lake. The thing is, James kind of hates her back—can’t really stand what a stuck-up prude she is. He’s got his own reasons for pursuing her, and like he said, those reasons are strategic.
As long as people think he fancies her, he’s safe. As long as people think he fancies an unattainable girl, they won’t be looking at the way he really fancies an unattainable boy.
Because he's James's best mate, Sirius offers to help set James up with Lily. What he doesn't know is that James fancies him and is enlisting Lily to help set James up with Sirius - while pretending in public that James fancies Lily. What could go wrong? James/Sirius, queerplatonic James/Lily.
23. ✸knock me down a pit and watch me wallow - 42k - If universe wanted seventeen year old James Potter to admit he’s an adult now with all the appropriate complications, Triwizard Tournament news were not the way to show him.
24. ✸Kiss me tonight - 24k - Freshly divorced and out of the closet, James Potter finds himself all alone at Christmas for the first time in years. So instead of being sad at home, he decides to take a trip to Scotland. There, at the Hog’s Head Inn, it quickly becomes apparent he should have checked the brochure more carefully, but maybe there’s a silver lining to it all.
James spluttered. “So, you’re suggesting we just share?!” He looked between the two of them: the innkeeper, whose eyes kept darting to the impatient patrons waiting by the bar, and Black, whose eyes—crisp, grey eyes—were travelling from James’s shoulders to his boots.
“I might have an old sleeping mat in the cellar, if one of you would prefer the floor?” the innkeeper said dryly. “Or if you don’t want the room at all, I’ve got other people in here waiting for a vacancy.”
James opened his mouth to protest, but Black dropped a hand on the counter, palm up.
“Just give us the bloody key.
Newly single dad James Potter is trying to remember who he is outside of nappies, nursery runs, and the ghost of the life he had planned. The days are long, London is loud, and his phone screen is cracked—again.
As James stumbles his way through a new job, managing life as a working parent and tentative thoughts about dating after divorce, life throws him a curveball in the form of Sirius Black—brilliant, free spirited and absurdly attractive.
26. ✸I would never fall in love (unless it's you i'd fall into) - 25k -
At thirty-two years old, Sirius Black has never had a relationship that's lasted longer than a month, has never had a real connection with anyone, has never even had sex, and he's officially given up.
Enter: James Potter. Gorgeous, kind, accomodating James Potter who makes Sirius feel wanted for the first time in his life.
Maybe he ought to give this romance thing one more try.
27. ✸A life returned in pieces - 24k - “You need to have yourself looked at,” Lily pleaded. “You can’t do anything for Sirius right now.”
“I can’t leave him,” James shook his head.
“He sacrificed himself for us, Lily!” James snapped. “I’m not leaving him!”
Lily sighed, her lips pressed to a tight line as she gave up, settling in next to him into the hospital chair.
When Voldemort attacks Lily and James, Regulus warns Sirius, who immediately hurries to their rescue.
