Sirius had dreaded September 1st coming around. Not because Harry and the other kids were leaving, exactly – of course he would miss them, especially Harry – but rather because the house would return to being silent and oppressing. No more Fred and George blowing things up, no more Molly Weasley screaming at them, no more Ron and Hermione and Harry plotting in corners, and no more Ginny helping both groups cause chaos. No, after September 1st, Sirius knew that the house would go back to its brooding silence and that terrified him.

Not that he would admit to being terrified, of course, except maybe to Remus. But his old werewolf friend had been having a harder time than usual lately. Apparently the werewolf packs were being stirred up by whispers of Voldemort's return and so Remus had been tasked with keeping tabs on them. More often than not Remus had been returning to headquarters exhausted and bruised, making Sirius wince with sympathy and offer up firewhiskey and bruise balm.

Remus's crush on his little cousin was amusing to tease him about on those occasions when Sirius felt that Remus needed a break from the reality of their lives. Making Moony blush had never been that hard when it came to girls, but Sirius was about fourteen years out of practice and he appreciated the chance to brush up on his skills.

Muffled sounds from the kitchen momentarily got his attention, but then he realized it was probably just Molly Weasley cooking again. They didn't get along well. She seemed to consider him a bad influence on Harry, which made Sirius resentful. Yeah, okay, logically he knew it was hard to get over thirteen years worth of fear when it came to living with a convicted killer (even if that conviction was wrong), especially when you had kids to look out for, but she had to know that Sirius would never, ever, hurt Harry.

She didn't like him around any of her own children either, which was amusing because Sirius had let slip to Fred and George that in his day, he had been quite the prankster. Remus had rolled his eyes while Sirius dropped hints for a solid month tormenting the twins about the true identity of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. Really, it was Remus's fault because he had mentioned to Sirius that Harry got the Marauders Map from Fred and George. Once Fred and George knew that Sirius was Padfoot and Remus was Moony, they hadn't left them alone. It probably wasn't the best way to convince Molly that he was trustworthy, but Sirius hadn't much cared at that point.

A knock at his door interrupted his musings. He had been laying on his bed staring at his old muggle posters and pictures but he got up and answered the door, smiling a little in polite welcome at Emmeline Vance when he saw her.

They hadn't been great friends at Hogwarts – he had been too close to James and she had been too close to Lily to be able to hang out much without their respective friends jumping down their throats – but after Hogwarts and during the First War they had gotten closer. The dark haired, brown eyed witch was a gentle sort, he had come to realize, and easy to talk to. She had been reluctant to believe Remus when Moony had told her about what really happened with Sirius on the morning after Lily and James were killed, to hear Remus tell it. Sirius didn't blame her. It was a strange story.

"Molly wants to know if you want dinner," Emmeline offered. She had a low voice, musical and gentle. "Roasted chicken and potato soup."

He was hungry, but his distaste in making nice with Molly Weasley long enough for her to feed him dinner must have shown on his face because Emmeline grinned. Molly and Sirius had had another row earlier that day and he'd be shocked if the whole damn house didn't know about it. "I'm not all that hungry," he said.

"Liar," Emmeline said, voice amused. "You're just avoiding Molly."

Sirius shrugged in agreement. "I'm not quite ready to make nice."

"Well," Emmeline said, raising an eyebrow at him. "I was going to get Chinese take away tonight. Should I get enough for two, or are you still not hungry?"

That got a full smile out of Sirius. "Chinese sounds great."

"Fantastic. I'll be back in half an hour. Hide in your room until then and I'll tell Molly you're already asleep." She turned around and went back down the stairs, leaving Sirius snickering quietly behind her. Remus had probably put her up to it, he thought, but it was still nice to have someone checking up on him and being willing to take his side on things.

True to her word, half an hour later they were eating fried rice and potstickers and spring rolls on his floor. Emmeline was very good at using chopsticks, while Sirius was fumbling a little more. She was nice and didn't make fun of him for it, but when a potsticker went flying across his room and smacked against a bikini-clad muggle girl on his wall and left a streak of sauce, he heard her snort with laughter. "I'm a bit out of practice," he said, sneering at her elegantly. That just made her giggle more.

"I take it all of this was rebellion?" She asked, gesturing at the muggle girls and the Gryffindor banners on his walls with a spring roll.

Sirius nodded. "And there are permanent sticking charms on the lot of them, so they're not going anywhere. I figured if I had to deal with my mother's portrait not being able to be removed, they shouldn't be able to remove these either, even after I left."

"You ran off midway through the summer between fifth and sixth year, right?" Emmeline asked. Her tone was a little too casual – musical her voice might have been, but that just made it easier to read her when she was trying to get information.

Sirius nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's right. Turned up at the Potters halfway through the night, July eighteenth. Why?"

Emmeline shook her head quickly. "No reason really. I'm just..." she trailed off and sighed, then met his eyes ruefully. "I'm just trying to reassure myself that you're the same Sirius I knew at Hogwarts when we were all young and stupid. I spent fourteen years hating you, only to have Remus Lupin turn up on my doorstep and tell me you were innocent. It's still a bit hard to believe."

He was more than a little shocked at her frankness and she grimaced. "Sorry. After the end of the last war I stopped mincing my words. I've kind of forgotten how to be nice."

They sat in an awkward silence for a few moments before Sirius raised a box of fried rice and tried a smile at her. "This is nice."

The expression that spread over her face was one of relief and she gave him a thankful look. "I'm glad. I'm always happy to help you hide from Molly."

"Do you two not get along?"

Emmeline looked away and shrugged. "It's not that. It's her brothers."

Sirius suddenly remembered that Emmeline had dated Fabian Prewett, one of Molly's two younger twin brothers, for several years at Hogwarts and through the war. "It's just easier if we don't interact," Emmeline said. "Whenever she sees me she gets this weird look in her eyes and I don't know if she blames me or what but it's just easier if we don't talk. Or see each other."

"Why would she blame you?" Sirius asked before he winced at his own stupidity. "Sorry, no, you don't have to answer that."

Emmeline looked at him with a razor sharp smile that had no humor about it. "Thanks. It's not exactly a good dinnertime conversation."

They finished eating quietly. Emmeline didn't seem upset, Sirius noted thankfully. He didn't want to hurt her, especially by asking stupid questions that he should have known better than to ask. With the exception of Remus sometimes, the topic of the First War was usually off limits no matter who he spoke to. Too many dead people, too many barely-healed wounds to pick at and start the bleeding again, too many betrayals and terrible memories.

She left soon after the food was gone. The quick smile she had given him before she left reassured him that she wasn't angry with him, but there was still a hint of bitterness around her that made him feel like he'd done something wrong.

That night, he wracked his brain trying to remember things about Emmeline at school and during the First War. She had been best friends with Lily Evans, all through school, and she had been Maid of Honor at the Potter's wedding. His memories of the Potters wedding were bright, shining in his memory... or at least he remembered them being bright and shining before the Dementors had gotten ahold of them. Now he couldn't remember anything about that day except that it was happy and he had no idea why.

He scowled, not wanting to sink down into that dark place. Back to Emmeline. She had dated Fabian, who had been a year above her, from fifth year on. She had always had a song on her lips – he dimly remembered Lily commenting once that Emmeline's mother had sung on the radio and that the love of music (and the glorious alto voice) ran in the family. He remembered Marlene (oh god, Marlene, now there was a memory) being jealous of the dark-haired Vance girl's voice – Marlene herself had been the first to admit that when she sang, it was like a cat getting its tail crushed by a rocking chair.

Lily had been responsible for fueling Emmeline's love of muggle music, and the number of Beatles songs Emmeline had known by heart would have been embarrassing except, well, it was Emmeline. She had played the piano as well. Maybe he should brush the dust off the old family piano in the sitting room and ask her to play something, he mused.

After the war, he had no idea what had happened to her. Part of that was because he was in prison, obviously, but also he hadn't heard much about her from Remus except that she had been ready and willing to join the Order the second time around. She seemed happy, from what he had just seen, but bitter. Very bitter.

The next morning he woke and knocked on Remus's door. The man wasn't in his room so Sirius ventured down to the kitchen and found him making a pot of tea. Sirius smirked. "How typical," he teased his old friend.

Remus shook his head and poured Sirius a cup as well. "Hungry? Molly left some leftovers from yesterday's dinner in the ice chest. I can't believe this place still has an ice chest."

Sirius rolled his eyes and accepted the cup of tea. "Merlin forbid anything in the Noble and Ancient House of Black is from this century. And I actually had dinner last night, Emmeline brought me Chinese take away."

"She did?"

"Yeah. Listen, Remus... what happened with Emmeline after the war?" Sirius was hesitant in asking.

Remus gave his friend a weird look. "What do you mean?"

Sirius shrugged. "She doesn't seem like the same Emmeline I remember."

Remus gave a harsh laugh, very much unlike him. "Who's the same, Sirius?" That was enough to make Sirius shift in his seat uncomfortably. Twelve years in prison had made his social skills very sub par, and thankfully Remus took pity on his friend fairly quickly and sighed, shaking his head. "She took Fabian's death really hard, and then Lily... and she was close with Alice too, Alice Longbottom. Bellatrix tortured them, you know that, and from what Emmeline said to me once, she went to visit and Alice screamed at her, just pure terror until she left. Emmeline had a very rough time of it after everything was supposed to be safe and good again."

"She just seemed really bitter. I remember her singing non-stop at Hogwarts and now she looks about as ready to break into song as my damn house elf does."

Remus was shaking his head quickly, an intense look on his face. "Don't ask her to sing, Sirius. She doesn't sing any more."

"What? She never shut up at Hogwarts," Sirius said, confused.

"I know. But don't talk to her about singing. The last time I heard her sing was fourteen years ago on November 1st, a year and a day after James and Lily. After that, she swore never to sing again."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Remus admitted. "She wrote a song – it was the only time I ever heard her sing something she'd written herself – and, well, it was hard to hear. It was about the war, people who died... I was a mess listening to her. I can't imagine how she felt singing it. She vanished for a few years after that day, might have gone to America, might have gone to Australia, or she might have gone to the bloody moon for all the letters she sent. Just don't ask her about singing."

"Alright," Sirius agreed. He wouldn't ask her, but if the piano just so happened to get cleaned off, and if he just so happened to be mangling a song (his mother had forced him to study the piano for four years until he could plunk his way through a song very unwillingly) and she was in the room...

With that in mind, Sirius finished his tea and went to dust off the piano.

When Emmeline next came over, a few days later, it was for a meeting. Sirius greeted her from his seat at the kitchen table and motioned her over, pointing at the seat next to him. She gave him a strange but pleased look as she took the chair, then accepted a mug of hot cider from him as well after unwrapping her scarf. The weather had been cooling off fast outside since the start of September and the fall wind had blown color into her cheeks.

Halfway through the meeting she passed him a note. Snape was speaking and Sirius had been glaring at him, not even trying to hide his hostility, until Emmeline poked his elbow and pointed at the scrap of paper. Chinese after? it read in her loopy handwriting. I'm starving.

He grinned at her and nodded slightly and then resumed glaring at Snape, though he was in a slightly better mood with the promise of food. He could smell Molly's cooking coming from the oven but Chinese take away on the floor of his room with Emmeline sounded like a much better time than trying to make nice with Molly Weasley and being social with the rest of the Order.

This time when she knocked at his door, she had brought orange chicken and beef lo mein. She chased the noodles around her paper plate with her chopsticks and Sirius laughed her until she chucked a piece of orange chicken at his head. "Did you really just throw chicken at me?" He asked in disbelief.

"So what if I did?" She asked, raising her chin proudly. "That's what you get for laughing at me."

"It's just so third year," He said, shaking his head. "I'm halfway expecting McGonagall to come in here and blame it on me even though it's not my fault."

Emmeline laughed, the quiet sound making Sirius smile despite the orange sauce in his hair. "You did start most of the food fights at Hogwarts, so she would be completely justified in blaming you. However, I'm Hufflepuff enough to own up to my own actions to get you out of trouble."

"You're no Hufflepuff," Sirius said. "You're a Gryffindor."

Emmeline shrugged. "I don't know. I would much rather be with people that accepted me no matter what rather than being among people who have something to prove. I never felt bold enough to be a proper Gryffindor." She poked at a piece of beef with her chopsticks, looking down. "I wasn't fiery and determined like Lily or passionate and brave like Marlene. I was just trying-too-hard-Emmeline." That last part was said with a twist to her mouth like she was quoting someone.

"I know James would have straight out collapsed at two Lilys," Sirius said, trying to lighten the mood. "And I don't think the world could have handled two Marlenes."

"No, I don't think it could have," Emmeline said. "God, Marlene. I loved her and hated her all at the same time. She was everything I aspired to be but didn't have the daring to try to be."

"No one could sing like you though," Sirius ventured, trying to contain his emotions every time Marlene's name was mentioned. She had been the love of his teenage years and the idea that she hadn't made it out of the first war was still a shock, even though he'd attended her funeral. The Dementors had taken the sharp passions out of the memories but he did remember loving her. He doubted anything could take that away, even if he couldn't remember exactly what it felt like to love her, and to be loved by her. "Marlene was always insanely jealous of your voice."

Emmeline looked up at him with a slight smile. "I... sorry. I forgot that you two had something before the end of the last war, didn't you?"

Sirius nodded, noting that she had completely ignored the mention of singing. It seemed Remus was right, as per usual. "I loved her," he said simply. "Though it terrified me to say it at the time. I was nineteen, I had no idea what I was doing."

"And we're much better at knowing what we're doing now, aren't we?" Emmeline asked with a raised eyebrow. The question was so ridiculous that Sirius burst into laughter, spilling beef lo mein onto his floor.

"Shit," he swore. Emmeline was still giggling as she directed her wand at the mess and cleaning it with a wave, then doing the same for his hair, which still had orange sauce in it. "Thanks Emm."

She stilled for a second. "No one's called me Emm in years."

"Sorry?" Sirius asked. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to apologize for that or not.

Emmeline shook her head. "No, it's fine. It just reminds me of things." At his look she continued. "Things like being in the common room surrounded by my friends, and back during the first war when we actually thought we had a chance of winning, and watching James lead you idiots to the Quidditch victory in seventh year. They're all good memories, but... they're memories. And I don't want them to be memories, I want them to be real."

That was enough to send them both back into silence until eventually Emmeline sighed and stood up. "I should get going. Thanks for the company."

"Thanks for the food," Sirius returned. He was happy that she wasn't apologizing for bringing up memories – it wasn't that they were bad memories, exactly, it was just that they were memories, like she had said. And he had lost most of the happiness from them because of the Dementors. That fact made it hard to sympathize with her easily, but she seemed to appreciate the fact that he wasn't an emotional wreck at the mention of their old friends.

"Same time, same place on Thursday?" She offered. If he hadn't been watching her hands as she picked up the plates, he would have missed how she was shaking slightly. Whether it was nerves or repressed emotions, he didn't know. He hoped it wasn't that she was nervous around him. They seemed okay when they laughed and joked, and she was offering to meet with him again two days from now.

"Thursday sounds good," he confirmed. "Hey," he said as she made her way towards the door. She paused and turned slightly, not looking at him directly. "The world couldn't handle two Emmelines either."

He saw her mouth twitch into a tiny smile and she met his eyes briefly. "And I shudder to think of the chaos two Siriuses would bring." She opened the door and then stopped again. "Thank you. And can you call me Emm? I think I like the reminder from you."

"Sure thing, Emm. See you Thursday."

Oh god what's this Vee's doing another multi-chapter story? Why yes, yes I am! Yet another I have all plotted out so updates should be fairly quick/regular. Leave a review and let me know what you think!

-Vee/amerikanka