Clasping the small piece of paper in her hand, she opened the front gate to a small red townhouse. As she mounted the steps to the porch she took out her wand and lit the piece of paper on fire. As it turned to ash in her hand the wind caught it, taking it far away from her grasp. She watched as the ash floated in the spring wind, there was no point in stopping it. It was just ash.

On either side of the cobblestone walk way was a small stretch of grass from the gate to the large rose bushes in front of the townhouse. Magdalene mounted the steps to the porch and rang the bell when she arrived. The door was black, with white trim. The windows had black shutters on either side, and when one looked into the windows they saw romantic looking curtains hanging over them. Magdalene smiled slightly as she heard footsteps on the other side of the door.

"Hello, who is it?" asked a female voice.

"Magdalene Markus."

"Who did you have a sex dream about the last day I saw you?" asked Lily Potter on the other side of the door. Magdalene flushed slightly and bit her bottom lip.

"Demetrius," she responded. She stood back as she heard locks being undone on the door. Lily, wearing jeans and a purple sweater, opened the door and stepped onto the porch, looking up and down the quiet city street.

"I wasn't expecting you," she said as her hands rested on her pregnant belly. Her green eyes had a tint of surprise in them, which made Magdalene regret not writing before she came to call.

"Dumbledore gave me the address," Magdalene said. "May I come in?"

"Of course," Lily said opening the door wider as she reentered the house. Magdalene followed and closed the door behind her. Lily offered to take Magdalene's coat, and hung it on the coat rack near the door. She then turned and walked down a short hallway that led to the back of the house where a kitchen and sitting room were.

"I didn't think we were going to see you again after last night," Lily said honestly as she entered the kitchen.

"Why?" Magdalene asked taking a seat at the kitchen table. Lily brought over a pot of tea she had been making and poured Magdalene and herself a cup. She then sat down across from her best friend and answered her question.

"Well, Sirius told us you two fought and he thought you wouldn't come back because of it."

"We fought because he came onto me," Magdalene said with some annoyance. "The jerk hasn't changed in the three years since I've seen him."

"You expected him to?" Lily asked and then took a sip of her tea. She put her cup back down and spooned some sugar into the cup. She swirled it before taking another sip, this time appearing satisfied with the taste.

"Well, I don't know," Magdalene said breathless. "Yes, yes I did."

"I hate to break it to you, Maggie," Lily said looking Magdalene in the eye. "He has changed to some degree. He still manages his stress by having sex with women. And you stress him out a lot."

"What does that mean?" Magdalene asked with raised eyebrows. She had been stirring her tea with her spoon, yet to take a drink of it.

"Well, he's been looking for you for three years," Lily said with a slight groan. She held her stomach and closed her eyes in pain for a moment. Magdalene sat up straight and looked at Lily with concern.

"What's the matter?"

"Harry's just kicking," Lily said rubbing her stomach. "Anyways…Sirius has been looking for you because he shares that connection with you. He was determined to find you and bring you home—I think he loves you, Maggie."

"Whoa, whoa," Magdalene said holding up her hand, motioning for Lily to stop speaking. "What?"

"That's how he's changed. He may be sleep with any woman that crosses his path, but his heart is only set on you. I mean, he's been looking for you for three years," Lily said with a shrug. "He hasn't done anything else. He lost his job at the Ministry because he didn't focus on his work. Dumbledore made sure that he stayed busy for the Order, but that doesn't make money…Maggie, he may be with other women, but that's only physical. You know Sirius is a very affectionate, physical man. When it comes to love, Sirius is a one woman kind of man…and I'm sure you're his one woman. Your blood connection is probably why he's falling for you. You two share something that even James and I don't have, and we're married! You have a strong connection to him and Sirius has never felt something so strong. He loves you Maggie, I'm sure of it."

Magdalene felt sick to her stomach. Despite the desire that burned deep within her, she didn't want Sirius to love her. She would never admit that she wanted him or even loved him out loud though. She liked it better when she thought he was a womanizing bastard who occasionally got on her good side with his charm and affection. If Lily was right, and Sirius did love Magdalene, that meant she would have to face him about it eventually. She'd have to turn him down and break his heart.

"Maggie?" Lily said her name with some concern. Magdalene blinked and looked at her best friend with a sigh.

"He can't love me," she whispered.

Lily frowned. "Why? Because then it means you were wrong about him all these years? Or is it because you've been in love with him all these years too and you are too proud to admit it?"

"I haven't been in love with him," Magdalene said confidently. She was a very good liar. She touched her necklace and held up the diamond for Lily to see. "This is Demetrius' remains. His ashes; squished so tightly they became a dirty little diamond. Do you think I would carry this around if I was in love with Sirius all this time?"

"I think you loved Demetrius and you love Sirius," Lily said. "You loved Demetrius for a long time and he betrayed you, but that doesn't change the fact that you loved him. He was a good man and he did take care of you, just too late. You will always love Demetrius, Magdalene and there is nothing wrong with that."

Magdalene smiled slightly. She missed her best friend. Lily always helped her to see things from all perspective, making issues clearer so that decisions could be well thought out and made quickly.

Lily continued, "I think that you love Sirius, but you have a lot of Daddy issues, Magdalene. In your eyes you've never been treated right by a man so you have issues with them. Your Father abused and hated you, hardly allowing you to put faith in him or any man. You learned very on that you had to rely on yourself because even when you Father was abusing you Demetrius, who claimed to love you, never stopped it and he eventually left. By the time you met Sirius you had stonewalled all men. You didn't trust him, which I don't really blame you, but the point is because of that you're not willing to give him a chance now even though you do have strong feelings for him."

Magdalene could only stare at Lily. Where was all of this coming from?

"We are complex creatures with complex emotions," Lily said. "We never feel one thing for someone. Our lives are full of ambivalence."

"Have you been studying Muggle psychology?" Magdalene asked.

Lily laughed. "Well my parents are Muggles, Maggie," she said as she stood up from the table. She picked up the empty tea cups and took them to the sink to be washed. She leaned against the counter and groaned again. Magdalene looked at her concerned. "Don't worry," Lily said. "It's still just Harry."

"Is he supposed to kick that much?" Magdalene asked naively. She knew nothing about having children. Lily laughed at her as she came back to the table.

"He can kick however much and whenever he wants," Lily said. "Even if it means in the middle of the night—which Mommy does not like," she added the last part as she tilted her head down, speaking to her belly.

Magdalene smiled and bit her lip, nodding her head. She had no desire to have children. She didn't want to bring a child into this world mostly because they were messy, annoying, loud, and bratty; but most of all she didn't want to have a kid when she was a blood sucking monster. She didn't want her child to grow up the way she had.

"No, she threw me out like I was a dog," a man's voice echoed from the front of the house. Magdalene recognized it instantly as Sirius' voice. Lily hadn't mentioned that Sirius was over and upstairs with James.

Lily frowned slightly and turned to Magdalene who raised her hand to stop Lily from speaking. She stood up slowly, leaving her hands on the chair as she looked out at hallway that led to the front of the house.

"Like she hadn't been leading me on while standing in front of me in her jeans and sexy black bra, the teasing—"

Sirius Black stopped dead in his tracks in the small hallway. James was just behind him, it appeared they had been upstairs talking. Magdalene raised her eyebrows at Sirius, as she stood in the kitchen and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Go ahead," she said. "Finish it."

Sirius frowned deeply and rubbed his hand through his hair as he looked at the ground. Magdalene rolled her eyes and marched down the hall, shoving by Sirius and James. She opened the front door and slammed it harshly behind her. She was fuming as she passed by the gate, closing it quickly, and then walked down the street.

"Magdalene!" shouted a voice behind her. It was Sirius, coming after her. She didn't stop. She didn't want to look at Sirius, let alone talk to him. Her mind was racing with anger. "Maggie!" He caught her arm and pulled her around into his chest. Magdalene glared up at him with dark grey eyes. Sirius frowned and released her for a moment.

"You can't just run off like that," he said.

"Oh," she said. "You want to talk about this now? You couldn't finish your sentence in there—or is it because I'm fully clothes? Now you don't know what to say because I'm not showing you my bra?"

"Would you shut up," he said. "I was just expressing my frustration about what happened last night to my best friend. If you can look me in the eye and say that you didn't call me a bastard or womanizing pig as you talked to Lily then I'll be out of line, but otherwise you'd just be a hypocrite."

"Actually I called you a jerk," she said still glaring.

"Well that seem rather mild considering the alternatives," Sirius said with a soft smile. Magdalene continued to glare at him. He wasn't going to charm his way out of this conversation. "I'm sorry, Magdalene. I'm sorry."

"I don't think that makes it better, Sirius."

"Then tell me how to make it better," he said with annoyance. He was looking at her with aggravation. She could see in his eyes that he was frustrated with her. He was wondering why she had to make things so complicated for the both of them. Why couldn't she just be happy to see him and let them be together? Why was it always a fight with her?

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I don't know how you can make it better without changing yourself, and I don't even know if I want you to make it better."

"Why?" he said grabbing her arms and pulling her against him. Magdalene could feel his hard muscular torso pressing against her body and it made her want him a little. She remembered what his naked tattooed upper body looked like and she craved to see it again. "You don't think I would change for you? I've spent years looking for you Magdalene. I care about you—"

"You said you cared about me while at Hogwarts," Magdalene interrupted pushing her hands against Sirius' chest. "And yet you never tried and dated me, you dated other girls. And now, you say you've cared about me for years…you've been looking for me for years…all the while dating other women!"

"Fine," he said releasing Magdalene. "Fine. I won't date other women."

"What?" Magdalene looked at him confused.

"I won't date other women anymore. I will stay single until you think I've proven myself to you."

Magdalene stared at Sirius bewildered. What was he saying? That he wanted to be with her and he'd stop seeing other women while he waited for her to come around? What was that going to prove?

That I want to be with you and no one else, he said into her head. Magdalene frowned and bit her bottom lip, shaking her head.

"That doesn't make it better, Sirius," she sighed. "If you wanted to be with only me, you wouldn't have been with Abigail."

"What was I suppose to do, Maggie?" Sirius looked at her with angry eyes. "Pine for you, wait all my life for you to show up again? I didn't even know if you were coming back, if you wanted to come back—"

"Of course I wanted to come back!" Magdalene shouted.

Sirius stood up straight and shook his head. He turned on his heel and walked away from Magdalene, giving up. Magdalene was shocked to see him do it. She bit her bottom lip, suddenly unsure of what to do. To her surprise, he stopped abruptly, turned around and walked back to her. He grabbed her waist and kissed her passionately on the lips, lighting a fire in her heart and center. She couldn't help but kiss him in return, playing with his tongue and tasting his mouth on hers. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and let him hold onto her, engulfing her small framed body with his large one. He pulled away slightly and looked at her eyes, they had returned to their natural green color. His arms were still wrapped around her.

"I'm going to say something," he whispered. "And you don't get to say anything in return because you left, you left with out any words." Magdalene didn't say anything, even though she wanted to. "I know you're complicated. We're both complicated. And you've been hurt—but I'm pretty sure that I love you because despite being with other women, I always wake up the next morning thinking of you."

Magdalene made to speak, but Sirius put his fingers to her lips. "Don't speak." She frowned as he pulled his fingers away. "I'm pretty sure that you love me too. I want to work this out, but I can't if you're not willing to also."

He released her body and she bit her bottom lip, looking at him with sad eyes. She didn't want him to let her go. She enjoyed the feelings of his strong body pressed against hers. His hands remained on her hips, slowly tracing against the exposed flesh just above the waistband of her pants.

Can I speak now? She asked. Sirius smiled at her and said, "Yes."

"I'm scared," she whispered. "The man who was supposed to love me the most destroyed me, and the only man I ever loved left me, came back and then died. I'm scared that you're going to do the same thing."

Sirius touched Magdalene's cheeks. "That's a risk we both have to take."

Magdalene frowned and stood on her toes to kiss Sirius again. He smiled at her and nuzzled his nose against hers, then kissed her deeply. She held onto his arms and beamed at his dark blue eyes.

"Is there anything else?" he joked.

"Yes," she said seriously. "Sometimes you can just be a real ass."

Sirius laughed a bark like laugh that warmed Magdalene's heart. He stroked her hair behind her ear and left his hand on her neck.

"Alright I'll work on that," he said, then kissed her slowly. "Do you want to go back inside now?"

"Maybe," Magdalene whispered. "But what are we going to tell them?"

"That we made up and kissed," Sirius said taking Magdalene's hand to lead her back into the Potter's house. She frowned slightly. She didn't want to admit out loud that she had thought of Sirius the last three years; or that she was too proud to admit that she probably loved him; but she did like kissing him in the neighborhood street.

It was rather romantic, Sirius said. Magdalene punched his shoulder as he laughed stepping up the porch into the house.

"Oh," said Lily surprised as Sirius and I entered the kitchen. She was moving around the table in the nook of the house, setting it for dinner. "I wasn't expecting you two to come back."

James stepped into the nook and smiled at his best friend.

"So you guys dating now?" he asked.

"No," Magdalene said before Sirius could answer. Sirius looked at her with raised eyebrows. He didn't say anything, but it was obvious that he wasn't expecting her answer. She frowned deeply; did Sirius think they were dating now?

No, Sirius said. I don't think we're dating.

Alright, good.

Lily and James were looking at Magdalene and Sirius oddly because they were looking at each other but not saying anything. Lily pinched Magdalene's arm and she jumped.

"What?"

"You two were just staring at each other," Lily shrugged. "Like you were staring into each other's souls."

"Maybe we were," Sirius said sitting down at the table. James brought a casserole dish to the table and set it down on a hot pad. He sat down as Lily made to pull her chair out. She stopped and held her stomach for a moment, taking a deep breath. James immediately put down his serving spoon and made to get out of his chair.

"No, no," Lily said. "It's fine."

"Are you sure?" Magdalene asked. "Because you've been doing that a lot today."

"It's fine," she insisted. "He's just kicking. He's going to be a handful of trouble."

"Well with me as his Father," James smile squeezing Lily's hand. "And Sirius as his godfather, of course he is."

Lily smiled and nodded her head as she sat down. "Hopefully Maggie and I can make him into a responsible young man then."

"You don't want me to raise your child," Magdalene said softly as she served food onto her plate. "I'd be a horrible mother."

"Why do you say that?" Sirius asked.

"First of all," Magdalene said softly. "I'm a blood sucking monster—"

"That doesn't mean you're a bad Mother," Lily said as she began to eat the casserole off her plate.

"Well it either means that my child will be born half immortal like I was," Magdalene said. "Or they'll grow up being ashamed of me."

"No," Sirius said. "You are nothing to be ashamed of."

"Is it so bad being half immortal?" James asked.

Magdalene frowned slightly. "No, I suppose not."

"Sure, you had a bad childhood, Maggie," James said. "But you're not your Father. You've learned from your experiences and I'm sure because of it you'll be able to raise a child properly."

"Thank you, James," Magdalene said with a smile. "At least somebody is confident."

Magdalene forked some casserole into her mouth so she wouldn't have to speak anymore. She didn't want children, and she couldn't bring herself to believe that she would be a proper mother because of what she was. Vampires weren't known for their good parenting skills; and despite the witch that was inside of Magdalene, her vampirism ruled her world. She couldn't bring a child into that life. She didn't want to.

The rest of the evening was pleasant. Magdalene was happy that Sirius had caught her and convinced her to stay with him. She hadn't realized how much she missed her friends until she actually spent time with them. Sitting around a table, playing cards, drinking fire whiskey, and laughing made Magdalene's heart sore. She couldn't remember the last time she had laughed that much, let alone spent time in the company of others. It seemed that Sirius finding her was the best thing that had happened in a long time. She felt as if she had never left…It didn't matter that three years had passed and she was a full fledge vampire; or the magical world was falling to pieces because of the hostile take over by Lord Voldemort. The only thing that mattered was that moment of brief happiness. Magdalene held it close to her heart because it was the last bit she'd have for years to come. As she sat at the Potter's kitchen table she had no idea the pain she was about to endure in the coming year.