A/N: Okay, so first off…yeah, I have to say that I forgot that Sirius looked younger in the forest just before Harry 'died'. So I'm still trying to figure out a plausible answer to your question, hushpuppy22. Also, I'm hoping this chapter will answer some of your other questions.

Sirius woke up late the next morning, as, apparently, had Lily. The first thing he heard on waking up was someone running past his door.

"YOU ARE LATE!" a shill, female voice was yelling.

"I KNOW!" Lily yelled back. "Shut it, you lousy excuse for a watch!"

"Don't get snippy with me, young lady! It's not my fault you decided to stay up all night."

"Did anyone ask for your opinion? No I didn't think so. So why don't you just…" he didn't hear the rest of her sentence as she'd gotten too far from his door.

Sirius chuckled lightly and rolled over in his bed. He'd missed real sleep. However, no matter how much he tried to get comfortable again, he couldn't go back to sleep. So instead, he sat up and looked around, which he hadn't bothered to do the night before.

His room was almost exactly as he'd remembered it, despite the obvious wear of age, and possibly the fingernails of a little girl, judging by the strips torn out of the Muggle posters. He was impressed by her stubbornness. She'd obviously wanted this room pretty badly.

He stood and stretched. Waking up stretching was much nicer than back-from-the-dead stretching. The thought occurred to him that he probably shouldn't say that out loud. It did sound creepy, after all.

He dressed slowly and meandered down the stairs, expecting Lily to have left already. He was wrong about that. Just as he reached the bottom of the stairs, she ran past him, still yelling at her watch, only by then she seemed to be speaking French, and the watch was shouting, "LATE! LATE! LATE!" over her voice.

Sirius shook his head and walked into the kitchen. Ginny was leaning against the counter, reading the Daily Prophet.

"Why are you reading that garbage?" he asked.

Ginny laughed. "Well, it's not so bad anymore. Rita Skeeter retired, thank Merlin. And Lily's been keeping the Prophet honest for the past few years, so…"

"Lily works for the Daily Prophet?" he asked.

Ginny shook her head. "Not exclusively. She writes for almost all of the newspapers and magazines occasionally. Anytime they have something no one else will do, she'll do it. If they pay well enough."

"Ah. Is that why she's…?" he said, motioning out the door to indicate what she was doing right then.

Ginny shrugged. "It could be part of the reason. That, and, apparently writers don't keep very normal hours."

"Well, I hope the watch is very understanding. Those weren't exactly nice words she was using."

Ginny laughed. "If it's any consolation, I don't think the watch speaks French."

Sirius grinned. "So, where's Harry, anyway?"

Ginny's eyes had returned to the newspaper. "He went to work already. He had to go early to talk to the Minister."

Sirius nodded. "I see. I would have thought he could be the Minister of Magic by now."

"He could be," Ginny said, flipping a page in the newspaper.

"And he isn't because…?"

"Because he doesn't really want to be."

Sirius nodded again. "Right. Ginny, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," she said, finally looking up from the newspaper.

"Well, yesterday, it just seemed like Harry wasn't happy to see me."

"That's not a question," Ginny said wisely.

"I was just wondering…why was that?"

Ginny shrugged. "He just handles surprises differently than most people, I suppose." She was hiding something, he could tell.

"Oh," he said simply, deciding not to mention it. "So, what can a person do for a living around here?"

Ginny laughed and set down the newspaper. "Maybe you should wait to worry about that. One thing at a time, you know?"

"Still, I should at least start thinking about it now, right?"

"Sure, if that's what you want to do," Ginny said.

"I was thinking maybe I could—"

Suddenly Lily's voice cut into whatever Sirius was about to say. "MUM!" she yelled. She ran into the kitchen, her left hand covering the watch on her right wrist and muffling its words. "Mum, have you seen my bag anywhere?" she asked, almost whining.

"The last time I saw it it was on the back of the couch—"

"Thanks," she said, and ran off again.

Sirius looked at Ginny again. "Well, she's obviously very busy."

"Well, I wouldn't say that. She's just very Lily."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning she's pretty much always late. Which is why I got her that watch when she was 13."

"And it's been driving your family crazy ever since?" he guessed.

Ginny laughed. "Yes, something like that."

"Found it!" Lily yelled from the living room. "I'll see you later! Bye!" They heard the door open and close quickly, indicating that she was gone.

Ginny sighed. "Look, Sirius, I'm sorry to do this to you, but I have to run some errands today, and Harry thought it might be better if you stayed in the house for now, since people won't react very well and most people don't know the story and all. I know you hate being stuck in one place but…"

Sirius shook his head. "I completely understand. It would just be for today, right?"

Ginny nodded. "So, I'll see you later then," she said as she left the kitchen.

He nodded. "See you later."

Sirius was in his room, taking down the decorations when he heard the door open and close downstairs. Feeling sure it was Harry, he quickly walked down the stairs and into the living room, where he saw not Harry, but Lily. She was sitting on a couch writing something on a piece of parchment, frequently looking at something else sitting next to her that he couldn't see very well. Her hair was falling out of the careful ponytail she'd had it in that morning and she seemed to be angry at something.

She looked up as he entered the room and waved at him, and then returned to whatever she was writing. He walked to the couch and sat down next to her, trying to see what it was, but she pulled the paper away from him before he could.

"Oh, so you're the secretive sort, hm?" he asked, grinning.

She didn't look like she was in the mood for a joke. "Is there something you want?"

"Well, as long as you're asking, lunch would be nice. Maybe some wine and conversation," he hadn't stopped grinning yet. When she didn't smile in return, he said, "What? That was funny."

She shook her head. "At any other time, maybe," she said.

"Alright, and why not now?"

"Because," she said, trying to sound patient and looking at whatever was sitting next to her, "I'm very busy right now, I've got a lot of work to do. And I'd really appreciate it if you could—"

Suddenly someone opened and closed the door again. "Lily?" a female voice called. "Lils, where are you?"

"In here," she called, returning to what she was writing. "But I'm a little busy right now, Rosie."

Rose entered the room then. She was very pretty, but almost opposite in looks from Lily, aside from their shared red hair and pale skin. Rose, unlike Lily, was tall with long fingers and a tiny waist. Rose's eyes were blue and round, unlike Lily's almond shaped brown ones. Rose was also wearing what appeared to be an engagement ring, although he couldn't be sure. Perhaps she, like Lily, wore a ring just because she liked it.

"You can take a break," Rose said stubbornly. "I really need to talk to you."

"About what?" Lily whined, upset about losing her focus.

"Wedding details, what else?"

Lily sighed, and pushed her papers to the side. "Don't you ever miss the good old days? The ones where we had conversations that didn't involve white dresses or flowers or other such nonsense?"

"Well, you're in luck, because this conversation doesn't involve any of those things." She seemed to notice Sirius for the first time as she walked farther into the living room. "Oh. Hello," she said politely.

"Rose, this is Sirius Black. Sirius, this is my cousin Rose," Lily said. "She's getting married in a few weeks, I promise you she's not always this crazy."

"Six weeks, to be exact," Rose cut in. "Well, to be really exact, 38 days, 4 hours and 32 minutes," she continued as she sat down on the other side of Lily on one of the chairs.

"But who's counting, really?" Lily said sarcastically.

"Lily, please don't do that now. You know this has to be perfect. I've be—"

"Been planning since you were five, I know. Really, though, in 23 years, you haven't been able to plan one whole wedding?"

Rose gave her another warning look. "Anyway, I'm here to ask you about the bridesmaid's dresses."

"Why are you asking me? It's your wedding."

"You'll be wearing the dress, I think it's only fair that you decide."

"And you also can't figure out which one you like best, right?" Lily asked.

Rose smiled. "I hate that you know me so well."

Lily shook her head, hiding her smile. "Alright, fine, I'll go dress shopping with you. Tomorrow. If," she said, pausing dramatically, and the hopeful look on Rose's face fell just slightly. "If you go looking for a flat with me before. I'm meeting with a few people tomorrow, so it should work out well."

Rose didn't hesitate. "Of course! Thank you, I love you, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Lily said. Rose kissed the top of her head quickly, even though she tried to pull away before she could.

"Bye, Sirius," she called as she left, "It was nice meeting you."

"You, too, Rose," he replied.

Next to him, Lily sighed. He turned and saw that she'd returned to her work.

"So," he said, and Lily let out another heavy sigh at his interruption. He ignored it. "You're looking for a new place to live now?"

She looked up at him, clearly annoyed. "Yes, Sirius. I've been looking for a new place to live for months now."

"Why?"

"Because, Sirius, I'm 26 years old. I shouldn't be in my parents' house anymore."

"So before now, you just haven't been able to find one you like?"

She seemed to be trying really hard to focus on what she was writing, and his questions were clearly bothering her. "Yes. That and… Merlin, I can't believe I'm having this conversation."

"And…?" Sirius said, trying to get her to finish her sentence.

She scoffed. "And no one wants to let me rent a flat because I don't have a steady job, and therefore I don't have a steady income."

Sirius nodded. "That…actually doesn't make any sense."

Lily nodded. "I know," she said. "It's so stupid, and it's not like I couldn't borrow a little bit of money if I absolutely had to…" her voice trailed off and she went back to writing.

Sirius was silent for a minute. "Out of curiosity, who is Rose getting married to?"

Lily didn't look up right away, and for a moment he thought she hadn't heard him. Finally, she said, "Scorpius Malfoy."

"Well, that's shocking."

Lily nodded. "Yeah, it is. A Malfoy and a Weasley. You should have seen Uncle Ron's face when she told him they were engaged. No one had expected it to last that long."

"Except you?"

Lily laughed, finally. "Well, I only saw it coming because Rose gets a bit…obsessive sometimes."

It was Sirius's turn to laugh. "Oh, I see. How long have they been together, then?"

Lily shrugged. "They were a couple while we were in school, but they went their separate ways after graduation. They started dating again three years ago, I think, and they got engaged in March. I helped Scorpius pick out the ring." She said the last part with a touch of pride in her voice. She hadn't looked up from her writing.

"And what about you, then?" he asked. "Is there a certain special someone in your life?"

Lily didn't answer for a while. When she did answer, several long moments later, she simply said, "No" and continued to write.

He thought about continuing the conversation, but decided against it. It didn't exactly seem like something she wanted to talk about.

They heard someone else come in, and seconds later Harry was standing in the doorway.

"Hi, Lils. Hi Sirius," he said, a small, secretive smile on his face.

"Good news?" Sirius asked, his eyebrows raised, fairly certain he already knew the answer.

Harry's small smile grew into a grin. "The best."

A/N: Phew. This took WAY longer than I had originally expected. So first I would like to say I'm sorry to all of you who were waiting especially my sister, silent romantic (whose name does, in fact, have a space in it). Please don't kill me in my sleep.

This chapter is dedicated to my bestest best friend Jen, a.k.a. I Might Be Slytherin, for being awesome and very much like Sirius, and therefore a template for me. Also, for saying the phrase "Dude, Voldemort's JACKED!" while we were watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

It's also dedicated to my amazing boyfriend, who will someday read the Harry Potter books (trust me) for making me feel pretty.

And finally, another thanks to my aunt and beta reader, to whom I must apologize for the typos, I was tired when I wrote this.