As Harry journeyed down the hall to follow Mrs. Weasleys cheery call to dinner he glanced once more into the dusty living room at 12 Grimmauld Place.

He stopped at the sight of Sirius sitting alone at the rattling boggart infested desk, holding the sealed locket he Ron, Sirius, and Hermione had each failed to open.
Sirius looked thoughtfully at the locket before bringing it to his lips and whispering gently into its side.
Harry tilted his head in curiosity as the locket clicked open and revealed a hand sized projection of a young woman with black hair and a crown of bright stars. The woman beamed at the sight of Sirius, who smirked back and sighed as he slightly shook his head.

"You got it open." Harry said walking to his side.

Sirius turned his head quickly in surprise, unaware he had company.

"Oh, uh, yes, it suddenly came back to me." He nodded, the girl still smiling up at him.

"Another family member?" Harry inquired now looking over his shoulder.

Sirius gave a single bark of laughter. "No no, it would have stayed in the rubbish bin if that were the case." He paused. "No, young Harry, believe it or not this was once my girlfriend." He said with a tight smirk.

Harry was taken aback, he had never thought of Sirius as the romantic type.

But then again, he didn't really know much about Sirius at all.

At a closer more concentrated glace, Harry saw that the young woman was quite beautiful, probably in her early 20's. Her eyes were bright blue and her skin pale and smooth. She looked wonderfully composed and put together; The complete opposite of Sirius who looked upon the image with wildly disheveled hair and tired dark circles under his gray eyes.

"Where is she now?" Harry asked.

"The tropics, last I heard... studying magical creatures of the land and sea." He answered.

Just then Mrs. Weasley poked in her head and ordered them both to the table. They both obeyed and the locket was snapped shut and tossed onto the couch.

Dinner was crowded and energetic, Mrs. Weasley had made yet another delicious meal that filled Harry well. But an unavoidable emptiness laid in his stomach as his thoughts lingered once more to tomorrow's hearing at the Ministry.

Finished with dinner and forced conversation, Harry left the table and walked back to the living room, soon followed by Sirius.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Sirius asked brows furrowed in concern.

"Fine. Just nervous about tomorrow."

"Mmm...yes... I wouldn't fret about it too much, I'm sure Dumbledore has it all under control."

"Yeah... Sure... I just can't seem to get it off my mind."

"Well we could always stun some more Doxies?" He joked.

Harry laughed reluctantly as he shook his head leaning against the couch and looking at the tired old tapestry that hung on the wall.

"Why don't you tell me more about your family?" He suggested.

"Believe me Harry, those tales would only unsettle you more." He joked as he grabbed the locket from the arm of the couch and put it in his pocket.

"Tell me more about her, then." Harry nodded to his pocket. "I'm sure you had an exciting dating life."

Sirius laughed heartily as he sat down and squinted suspiciously at Harry.

"Fine, but only because you're right. I did have an impressive lineup of girlfriends."

"No you didn't." Harry quipped.

Sirius laughed as he pulled the locket from his pants pocket.

"You're right, I didn't."

He then brought the locket to his lips once more and murmured "Leatherwing."

At this the locket cracked open once again to reveal the beaming girl, now smoothing her hair to the side as the crown of stars twinkled.

"Amelia was someone very special to me . . .Get comfortable young Harry, if I'm going to tell this story, I'm going to do it right."

Harry sat opposite him and waited for the tale to begin.

"Our romantic tragedy begins my sixth year at Hogwarts. James, Remus and I had just successfully planted an exploding potion into the cloak pocket of umm... someone whose name has suddenly slipped my mind."

"Snape." Harry offered with a smirk.

Sirius smiled back mischievously

"Anyways...we had made ourselves late for Transfiguration and were sprinting to class in hopes of avoiding the wrath of McGonagall."