Amelia had read through all the letters Black had given her. She had taken each one, individually, and carefully read through them once. Then twice, then in some cases a third time. Each time she had then neatly folded the letter and put it back into the envelope.

So it was like this that Black then found her, later in the term. He had been studiously at the edge of her sphere, hovering in her peripherals, since they had gotten off the carriages at the welcoming feast, trying to make sure he was there if she wanted to ask him something about what he had written, tell him off, anything. But she had seemingly ignored him for the first month of term, even including the first Quidditch game (which was a feat in itself given they were opposing seekers).

He decided the best way to get her to actually talk to him was to just go up to her an actually do it. So at the Great Hall the night before a weekend trip to Hogsmeade, he took a deep breath, and actually walked up towards her.

Amelia was sat, reading, at the end of the Slytherin table, picking at the last of her meal when he walked up to her. Sirius, deciding the best solution was to play everything very, very cool, sidled up to her, sat down, and swung his arm around her with no warning at all. She jumped when she felt the heat of his skin.

"So, Bangcroft, when are you going to give it up and go out with me?" he said.

Amelia was staring at him. It was at about this moment he thought he may have miscalculated the approach and gone far off the deep end.

"Give it up and go out with you?" she mused. "What exactly am I supposed to 'give up'? Please, enlighten me."

Sirius felt his face warm. "Well I-I just meant…that is…"

Amelia quirked an eyebrow. A few tables away, Lupin, Potter, and Pettigrew were looking on with some interest and some perturbed expressions.

"Well your grudge I mean!" Sirius finally blurted out.

"My grudge?" Amelia said dramatically. "What grudge could I possibly have against you?"

"Well, you—Look, you're obviously mad about the summer still. About me not talking to you. But it wasn't my fault! It was all Bellatrix!"

Amelia stood up. "I'm not mad at you because of that Sirius. I don't particularly wish to associate with you at all at the moment, that's all."

She turned and started walking away. Sirius lurched up and followed her.

"But why not? I'm smart, I'm handsome," he gave his best grinning smirk, the one that sent the girls squealing. Amelia didn't even flinch, and continued walking.

Sirius grabbed her arm. "Amelia! Look, I'm sorry about the summer. I should've realized Bella was trying to sabotage me. But I didn't and, I am truly sorry."

Amelia turned and came in close to him. "You-Know-Who has been targeting me. My family. And Bellatrix was behind it, I'm sure. Because of you. I can't be seen with you, Sirius." She turned and again started walking. Sirius was stunned, briefly cutting a look to Bellatrix holding court in another part of the Hall. Amelia was already outside the Great Hall, making her way towards the dungeons and the Slytherin Common room. Sirius raced after her.

"Amelia!" Again, he grabbed at her arm. "I understand. But I thought…" He took a deep breath. "I think we have a real connection, OK? I don't know what it is, but…It may not be You-Know-Who and…well, would you throw that away for the possibility of something bad?"

"Sirius…" Amelia sighed. "You don't understand, you don't know what it's like. Your family is on his side." She started to pull away.

"Ok, ok," he said, moving his hand to hers and squeezing. "I understand. How about we just…make it look like we're studying?"

"Look like? No one will believe that," Amelia said.

"They will. Trust me. I can control myself." He smiled that crooked grin, and Amelia felt something warm tingle in her chest.

"Ok…fine. But keep Bellatrix away from me."

Sirius smiled, a true grin. "I'll do my best."

Amelia and Lily were having lunch together on the rocks beside the lake, enjoying the late summer, early fall sun that warmed the rocks, but kept a steady cooling breeze going across the lake.

"Sooo…" Lily said, smiling like a cat with a canary in its mouth.

"So what?" Amelia said, ignoring the look and stabbing a fork into her fruit.

"So you've been having a lot of study sessions with Sirius lately. Or should I say 'study' sessions?" she said, putting air-quotes around the word 'study.'

"I don't know what you're talking about," Amelia said, turning her nose in the air and pretending innocence. "We haven't done anything."

"Oh please. And you have to tell me, we're best friends. You have to dish." Lily was staring bullets at her now, and Amelia couldn't help but laugh.

"Ok, ok," she said, holding up her hands in a placating gesture. "What do you want to know?"

Lily gave her a look before returning to her yogurt.

"Ha, alright. Yes, we've been having study sessions. And maybe one or two—"

Another look.

"—Or a few—"

The look returned.

"—Or more than a few—"

"Oh, come on Amelia!"

"Ok, fine. It's more like one or two actual study sessions, and the others are…" Lily was rapt. "…Of a different type."

"Ohhh, you like him!"

"No!" The look. "Ok, yes. Maybe a little. But Lily, it's all we do!"

"What is?"

Now Amelia was the one giving the look.

"Right. I just wanted you to admit it."

"I did not admit anything."

"As good as. Continue."

"Fine. Though there's not much else to say, like I said, it's all we do!"

"Well, is he at least good at it?"

Amelia thought of the way Sirius' lips felt on hers, of the way he could be so gentle and so rough in the same kiss, of the way he made her feel, all with only his lips. Of the way he respected her when she said she didn't think that they were ready for that yet.

"Oh yes," she said, almost blushing. "He's very good."

"But you want…more?" Lily asked, watching her reaction carefully.

"Yeah! I want us to, you know, last. Wouldn't you?"

"So what's the problem? If you want it to last and so does he, you should be fine."

"But that's the thing: I don't know if he does. We don't talk at all. Every time I see him, all we do is, well, you know. I don't know anything about him. I don't even know if I like him all that much."

"But you just said you did."

"Well, I like what I know of him, stuff I hear from other people about what he's done for them. About how he is. But whenever I see him, I'm not sure I like what I see."

"What is it you see?"

Amelia chewed her lip, getting her thoughts in order. "Well, we actually start every time—or almost every time—trying to study. But he always is distracted and annoying and he never wants to do work."

"And you expected different?"

"I thought maybe he would try, after last year! I told you what he said on the train!"

"True. What else?"

"Well, he's always flirting with other girls, and I know that we're not exclusive or anything, we don't call each other boyfriend and girlfriend or anything like that, but he does it in front of me! And then doesn't understand why I'm upset. You know?"

"Yeah. Didn't you also tell him that he had to look like he didn't like you?"

"…Yes."

"So maybe he's just selling the charade. Anything else?"

"His family." Amelia grew serious. "I can't stand them."

"You don't know that, maybe they're really nice, and just don't know how to show it."

Amelia leveled a look at her. "Or maybe not," Lily conceded. "But you haven't met them all yet."

"Lily. They kept me from him all summer on the word of Bellatrix. I don't think I'm going to like any of them. Plus…you know who they're associated with."

Lily sent a glance heaven ward, as if asking for help. "But you also have to remember Sirius can't choose his family, and he's underage, so he can't really get away from them. And he was placed in Gryffindor; for centuries, Blacks have been in Slytherin. Perhaps that's a sign."

"Then why was I placed in Slytherin?" Amelia winced at the wail that crept into her voice. She hadn't meant to let that little insecurity get out.

Lily sighed, concern on her face. She could see how much Amelia was tortured by this, even if her friend kept it closely locked down. "That I can't answer you, only the Sorting Hat can. But perhaps it's not for you, but for Sirius, and everyone else. You show everyone that being in Slytherin isn't what makes you bad, it's what you do. For all these years, there's been this stigma around Slytherin, but you're one of the people that change how people look at the house. You should be proud of it. You're ambitious, and strong-willed, and smart, and funny, and courageous. Don't let what everyone else thinks change that."

Amelia nodded softly. "Thanks."

"And Sirius should know that. He needs to get to know you as much as you do him. And the best way to do that is to tell him you're not happy."

Amelia looked at her friend in wonder. "Lily, how'd you get so good at this? You don't even have a boyfriend."

Lily sighed, looking put out. "I know. I don't know why, I'd be perfect in a relationship. Or at least, I think I would be."

"We need to change that."

"First let's get your relationship worries on track, then we can worry about mine!" Lily said, standing up and gathering her things. Amelia laughed and followed her friend up to the castle as the bells began to chime for classes to begin.

Sirius and Amelia shared more than a few classes this semester, since the administration thought it was funny to throw together the Gryffindors and Slytherins, which made most classes very tense these days. Since they had been in classes a few weeks already, Amelia was not surprised to see Sirius in her History of Magic class, in was one they had together, after all. And after her talk with Lily, she was hoping that she could speak with Sirius about their—well, her problems with their relationship, or non-relationship.

But that wasn't possible during class today; they a test, and in History of Magic a test was call for seriousness. As soon as Amelia sat in her seat, the test was laid down in front of her, and her glance towards Sirius showed he was already absorbed in the paper, shoulders hunched, and a hand already mussing his hair. Amelia turned back to her own parchment and began.

It wasn't until the bell rang for the end of period that Amelia pulled herself up from her paper again, though she had finished about five minutes before. She had be checking her work one last time, and she hastily scribbled a sentence into her essay before handing in her paper. She gathered her books and pens, and headed out with the rest of the class, relatively subdued after the hour-long test. Amelia beelined towards Sirius, intending to catch him before his next class, which she did not share with him.

"Sirius," she said, touching a hand to his shoulder. As he turned, a piece of paper fluttered out of his pile of books, and Amelia reached down to pick it up. She turned over the paper, glancing over the scribbled words quickly, then again.

"Amelia, I…" Sirius said, his hand reaching to take the paper from her. She snatched it back and continued reading.

"Sirius, is this what I think it is?" she said very quietly, reading over the writing, which was about Goblin Wars and famous witches and wizards and advances in magical understanding. The history of magic.

He stayed silent.

"Sirius?" she said, looking up at him, eyes large. She didn't know exactly what she was feeling right now: anger, definitely, confusion, disappointment. Fear. It was all warring in her eyes.

Sirius did not reply. His eyes said he was warring with himself as well.

Amelia couldn't stand there and watch it. She whirled on her heel and almost ran to her next class, ignoring Sirius' voice as he called her name. She didn't want to talk to him.

It took her all day to decide what to do. She chewed her lip, worried her hands, mussed her hair throughout classes all that day. She noticed Sirius wasn't in the Great Hall during dinner, though she knew that he would never willingly miss a meal. She decided she knew what needed to be done.

"Professor Binns?" she called, knocking on the professor's office door and pushing it open. It was made sure the door was never locked now, since the professor was a ghost, and if it was locked, no one would be able to get in.

"Miss Bangcroft," the professor said in his dry, dulling voice. "What brings you to my office so late?"

"I-I have something to report. Cheating, on your test today."

"I'm surprised it took you so long to come to me, then. Usually you are the first to report treachery found," the professor said, floating up from his seat and through the desk to where Amelia stood, just beside the door, as if ready to flee at any moment.

"I was…unusually conflicted. It was…someone important to me who did…it," she said haltingly, fighting the words as they came out of her throat.

"Ah. This wouldn't have anything to do with Sirius Black, would it?" the professor said.

Amelia looked at him in surprise. "How'd you know?"

"He came in here before lunch and admitted it. Said that someone had made him realize it was wrong to have cheated." He looked at her kindly. "I'm assuming you were the one who made him realize it."

Amelia couldn't speak for the shock. It didn't make any sense to her; the Sirius with whom she had been in contact with would not have done something like this, admitting he was wrong at all. He would not accept punishment willingly.

"I told him to repot the Mandrake crop this year, as punishment. Though I am interested to know how he did it."

Amelia held out the parchment, hand shaking. "Cheat sheet," she said.

"Oh. How…Muggle-like. No magic at all, hmmm…We should look into wards against non-magical cheating, or everyone will start with Muggle conventions…" Professor Binns mused to himself. He seemed to notice Amelia was still there. "Oh, thank you, Miss Bangcroft. You may go."

Amelia walked out of the office still in a haze of confusion. She moved with now knowledge of where she was going, and somehow ended up outside the Herbology rooms, in the cool breeze of the oncoming autumn. Sirius was in there, looking exhausted, earmuffs firmly secured as he uprooted the baby Mandrake, its screech splitting the air a moment later when it realized what had been done. Amelia slapped her hands over her ears as Sirius stuck it into a pot and began quickly covering it with dirt. Once the Mandrake had been fully covered, he leaned back and took off his earmuffs, wiping his forehead and running a hand through his hair, leaving a streak of dirt on his face. He then looked up, taking in the darkness outside the greenhouse, the castle above, and Amelia, standing there, staring at him. Their eyes met, and Amelia tightened her jaw. Her emotions were no longer running wild, and she nodded at Sirius with a cooling smile playing on her lips. She was good for him, she realized as she turned and moved up to the castle again. She just needed to make him see it.

Amelia was not happy about this. Being chased through the halls was not her idea of a fun day, and she was scowling so much nowadays that she thought that her face might freeze that way, just as her mother had cautioned all those years ago. She rounded another turn into a populated hallway, and her frown deepened. Normally, this type of hallway would mean that Bellatrix and her cronies, who were the ones chasing her, would stop their pursuit. Like any other bully, Bellatrix was scared of the authority that walked Hogwarts halls, and she had no protection here due to name or influence. But today, Amelia was not so sure this was the case, and she didn't want to take any chances.

What to do? She chewed her lip nervously, casting a glance around the hall. She spotted, then, her way out.

"Bangcroft!" She heard Bellatrix's voice from behind her, and launched herself towards her goal.

Sirius was standing with Lupin, Pettigrew, and Potter, as was his usual game. Amelia was already on top of him before he could have had time to react, pulling him away from his friends and into a corner, and sealed her lips to his, silencing protests or reactions of surprise. She heard Bellatrix enter the hallway, the scattered gasps and the sounds of people rapidly moving out of the way. Amelia did not unseal her lips, did nothing but press herself closer to him.

Amelia and Sirius had been fighting, lately. It was nothing new, nothing that she was not used to since they started doing whatever they classified their relationship as. There were the little things, like him saying stupid things. "Are you PMSing?" was one of the ones she particularly hated. There were other things, like her refusal to help him in Quidditch or to do his homework for him. He thought she pestered him, she thought he wasn't serious enough for his own good. His constant flirting. Her refusal to set up Lily with James. And, of course, there was the one thing she didn't know if she could forgive. Sirius' cheating was something that weighed on Amelia's mind quite often; in classes she had with him, she wondered if he was doing it again, if today was going to be the day he was caught by someone not charmed by his mysteriousness and good looks. Alternately, it was mistrust and fear that gnawed at her when she thought of him and his cheating. She knew that she had been good for him, that she was probably the reason that he had gone to Binns and confessed, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she had to constantly watch over him.

She heard Narcissa convince Bellatrix to give up; she heard the sighs and natural shift of sound returning, just as in a forest when a threat disappears out of sight. But she did not move for what seemed like a long while. It had been a long time since she had been able to kiss Sirius, and she had forgotten how much she had missed. Not that she would ever willingly admit it.

When she finally broke the kiss, he stayed a few moments in the goofy expression of someone waiting for a continuation and still very confused. When he realized that her lips were not be returning to his—or perhaps how silly he looked—he opened his eyes and smiled crookedly at her.

"So, are we ok now?" he said. Amelia did not like the arrogant, knowing tone in his voice. Even if she had been ready to forgive him (which she had), that tone meant that that notion was now thrown out the window.

She scowled, and slapped him. The sound, and Sirius' surprised expression, drew the gazes of every person in the hallway.

"You were a convenience," she said in a clipped voice, turning on her heel and marching away.

"Then why'd you take so long to end that kiss?" Sirius called behind her. It stopped Amelia in her tracks, angry that he'd been able to see through her. But without a word, she continued on her way.

"Dude," James said, slapping him on the back. "You totally got her with that one!"

"Hmm…" Remus murmured, scratching his chin nonchalantly. Sirius' relationship problems were only vaguely interesting to him, apparently. "But perhaps, that was not in your…best interests."

"Ha, of course it is, Remus!" James laughed. "She's got to know her place, right, Peter?"

"Yeah!" Peter said, rubbing his hands together. "She's got to know who wears the pants in the relationship."

Sirius cast a hard stare at both of them. "And what the hell would you two know about relationships?" he growled, before stalking off down the hallway.