The moment he caught sight of her, he couldn’t stop staring, and he stood there rather stupidly with his wand pointed at James, though he wasn’t doing anything. The next thing he knew he was hit with a Stunner and fell backward into darkness. When he came to, he saw the face of James, Peter, and Mad-Eye hovering over him.

“What have I told you about CONSTANT VIGILANCE?” Mad-Eye scolded. He smacked Sirius hard across the face and stumped away furiously.

“They’ll be here,” Sirius assured her impatiently. “I mean…Andromeda was late to her own wedding for crying out loud. She’s perfect in every way except for her timing. Horrible sense of it, let me tell you.” He paused, noting that for the first time that morning—in fact, for the first time in weeks perhaps for Sirius—he saw a smile curve Aurelia’s elegant mouth, accenting her tantalizing dimples that added to the sculpted beauty of her face. Her teeth too, so pearly white, so perfect.

“The music’s about to start,” he said quietly, and held out his hand to her.

Aurelia snapped her eyes at once onto him to meet his gaze, and raised her chin as though she were trying to keep some upper hand in a battle of wits taking place between them. “I suppose we had better get this over with then, shall we? Excuse me, Lily dear,” she added to Lily, and then she took Sirius’ hand and they proceeded to the dance floor just as the music started to play a slow and gentle sonata.

The two Death Eaters stopped a few feet away from the wolf. The wolf lowered its head in acknowledgement of their presence, and then it transformed into a man even taller than Remus—maybe close to seven feet. His face was pale and rather gaunt, but otherwise he was peculiarly handsome, with long flowing blue-black hair that reached his shoulders, and fell over and framed his face very elegantly.

Pain seared all around Sirius’ neck, burning, scorching, strangling. He gnashed his teeth together, fighting not to yelp in his agony. The corners of the world were smoldering and blackening slowly as Sirius struggled. His lungs began to labor, as did his heart, and he knew by the draft of wind on his fur that he was being half-dangled over the side of the viaduct....

The four friends apparated to a small coppice of trees just outside of the village. They lit their wand tips, as it was beginning to grow dark, and quietly made their way through the trees towards the quiet little village, totally alert and wary of any movement around them.

There was a great shrieking cry, like one for battle, and Sirius whipped around in time to see a red flash before his eyes and then—

Nothing.

Aurelia made a strangled noise in her throat that was between a laugh and a cry, and Sirius couldn’t help but notice the way she fumbled shakily with her things as she finished tossing them into her overnight bag. But then the tremulousness was gone as she zipped it shut and slung it over her shoulder.

“Goodbye, Sirius,” she said haughtily, shaking her hair in the same manner and brushing past him.

There, in the sitting room, Aurelia was curled up on the sofa flicking through a book of names, while Sirius sat with an arm over the back of the sofa, peering at it as well. In one hand, Aurelia held the book, and in the other, was a half-eaten chocolate covered strawberry. On the coffee table, beside a parchment with a list of name brainstorms, with a column for boys’ names and a column for girls’, there was a whole box of strawberries dipped in gourmet chocolate.