"Wake up sleeping beauty", Jessica heard someone call. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Lily sitting on her bed.
"Lily," she said sleepily. "When did you arrive? Are you early?"
"Early? What are you talking about?" said Lily laughing. "It's past eleven, I got here few moments ago."
"Past eleven? Really?" she said stretching. " Sorry I wasn't awake when you got here, I intended to."
"I know you did, and it's okay. So did you have a good Christmas?"
"Lovely Christmas, I should say. And you?" And they went on, talking all day.
Jessica really missed her long talks with Lily, just the two of them. Lily told her everything that had happened between James and her, and Jessica told everything that had happened with her. By night fall they finally seemed to catch up with everything.
"Oh Jess, I never want to get behind again, I promise you right now, I will give you more attention next term, I will divide my time more properly."
"Good idea, I am not complaining," Jessica said smiling. "I did not enjoy all the alone time last term."
"You could at least get yourself a boyfriend," Lily gave her a gently tap on the shoulder. "It would make things a lot easier for me."
"Hey I don't choose to be boyfriendless it just happened that way. I think I am too smart, that's why the guys run away." But they were laughing now.
"I need to ask you something," said Lily catching her breath. "James wanted to spend New Year with me. Do you mind if he comes to spend the night here? Then we can go back together to Hogwarts the next day. I told him I needed to talk with you first."
"I won't mind if he comes," she said, imagining how it would be like having James over. "I think it will be fun."
"Do you think your parents will mind?"
"Are you kitting? Meet a pure-blood wizard, they will be delighted," she said brightly.
"Thanks, he is sending an owl tomorrow, so I can let him know."
The next few days they spend having lots of fun, Jessica always enjoyed her holidays and Lily just made it better. They spend a lot of time with Willy and Mrs. Thompson, they went shopping almost everyday, and for ice-cream at the diner near their house.
"So, Jess, you never told me what happened with your secret admirer." Her dad started asking her on dinner time.
"Lets say that it ended before started," said Jessica.
"You know who send you the notes?" he pushed on.
"No, dad." He had a puzzled look on his face, but Jessica did not care, she did not want to tell the whole story again.
"When will your friend arrive Lillian?" asked Mrs. Thompson, trying to take the focus out of Jessica.
"He will get here tomorrow morning", said Lily.
"How is he coming?" asked Mr. Thompson.
"I told him that the easiest way was to apparate. He will be here ten o'clock in the morning."
That night Jessica had a hard time falling asleep. Next morning James would be there, they would go out all together, and she was going to feel like a third wheel, making her really depressed. She decided she would call her next door friend and ask him to go with them, so she would not be alone. Brian Mitchell was her first boyfriend, they dated two summers ago, he was really cool guy, but Jessica never trusted him enough to tell him her secret, that she is a witch.
Next morning there were a lot of excitement over breakfast. It was Saturday morning so Mr. Thompson was home as well. Willy had his full Gryffindor uniform and his fake wand in hands.
After breakfast the whole family and Lily went to the living room to wait for James. Precisely ten o'clock they heard a loud crack. All the Thompsons let a scream out. Willy covered his eyes.
Jessica was very surprised, she saw two people instead of one. She was expecting just James Potter, but he was accompanied by no other the Sirius Black himself.
There were moments of silence. No one spoke, not even Lily.
"Welcome, both of you, so which of you is James?" Mrs. Thompson decided to break the uncomfortable silence.
"That would be me. You must be Mrs. Thompson, Lydia I think?" said James looking at Jessica who nodded. "Nice to meet you. I have to apologize, I brought a friend with me. He came to stay with me last night, I didn't have time to send an owl ahead."
"Not a problem," said Mrs. Thompson. "And you are?" asking Sirius.
"My name is Sirius Black," he said extending his had. "And is a pleasure to meet you."
But Mrs. Thompson did not say anything, she just looked at Jessica, who felt her face burn, she was sure that she was red all over.
"Are you two real wizards? I mean do you come from a family of wizards too?" asked Willy.
"Yes we are, even our grandparents, and great-grandparents," said James.
"Wow," said Willy.
"And by the looks of it you are a wizard too. Can you do any spells?" asked Sirius.
"Of course not," snapped Jessica. "You know very well that I am the only one in my family."
"Come down, I was just kitting," said Sirius. "Do you mind if we have a word? In private."
But Jessica did not say anything. They were staring at each other, Jessica with piercing eyes. The air was really heavy, Jessica was really angry because Sirius showed up without asking and Sirius seemed to be really calm with the whole situation and it annoyed her even more.
"Willy we need to go to the store. Shall we go now?" Mr. Thompson was standing up, and so did Willy, soon they were out the door.
"Oh, come on, I will show the room you are spending the night," said Mrs. Thompson. "James, Lily, follow me." And they left the room. Lily closed the door on her way out.
They were still looking at each other.
"Now, Jessica, I know you hate the idea of me coming here to your house," he said with caution. "I need to explain why I came. But I need you to hear me first. Will you listen?"
"Okay, It can't hurt," she said coldly.
"Exactly" Sirius pointed to the couch waited until Jessica had sat down, then he sat by her. "I did not plan this, I thought I was spending New Year with my family, but once again things got out of control. You know I am the least favorite person in my house and there is not even one person who really likes me. They think I am a disgrace, that I dishonored the family name when I was put into Gryffindor house.
"I had a very bad fight with my mom, and I don't think I am coming back, I got all my stuff and took it to James house last night. It didn't occur to me that he was leaving the next morning, since his parents already had plans I didn't have any choice but come here or spend the night alone. James convinced me to come, because he did not want me to stay alone."
He paused for a minute to see with Jessica would say something, but she didn't. And then he continued.
"I will stay out of your way, you won't even notice I am here. I know I screwed things big time with you and I lost my chance. But I would be more then glad to at least have you as a friend."
He was waiting for an reaction, but Jessica did not say anything again.
"Now would be the right time to say something," he said finally.
"Can I speak now?"
"That would be good," he said relieved.
"I am really sorry for what happened with your family, I am sorry that your mom doesn't see the good person you are, you are wonderful Sirius, really. Although I say you need to learn to control your temper a bit. I am not angry about Aslyn and I am sad because of what happened to Severus, and I do understand he has some blame on it also.
"I am glad that you came. I would be even more upset with you stayed alone. You don't need to stay out my way because I think is a great idea us being friends. I mean I lost Lily, you lost James. It's good to think I won't be alone."
Sirius had a big smile on his face. He stood up and started walking towards the door.
"I am glad we got that taken care of. Will you show me your house?"
"Yes." Jessica showed him the main floor and the backyard and then they went upstairs so Sirius could have a tour of the bedrooms and bathrooms. Their last stop was at the guest bedroom. They found Lily, James and Mrs. Thompson sitting just talking.
"Hello there. Did you guys resolve things?" asked James.
"Oh Yes, we did.," said Sirius proudly. "We decided we won't deny it anymore, our love is too strong, we will get married, tomorrow." .
But everybody blasted into laughter. Jessica sat by her mom, who was sitting alone in a bed and Sirius sat by James and Lily, in the other bed.
"Are you expecting mail? I see an owl flying towards your house," said Sirius
"No, I am not." She did see an owl, indeed, she hurried to open the window. She got the letter and let the owl go. Jessica found a small note inside.
Dear
Jessica,
I got your present on Christmas Morning.
I
really liked it. And you shouldn't have worried about me.
Once
again you surprised me, like always.
I miss you and see you
soon at Hogwarts.
Severus Snape
Lily asked to read it, and Sirius read it with her. His happy face was gone.
"You send him a gift?" asked Sirius.
"I am aloud to give my friends presents," said Jessica raising her eyebrow.
"How come I didn't get one?" he asked again.
"Well, we are friends for less then one hour now, so don't complain," she smiled.
"True" said Sirius.
Everybody started laughing again.
Later that afternoon they decided to go for a walk, show the muggle neighborhood to James and Sirius, they found everything very peculiar, asked a lot of questions about everything around them. They stopped at the diner for ice-cream. It was a perfect day, not what Jessica had pictured a year ago, if someone came to her and said that she would be spending her last day of the year with Sirius and James she would say they gone crazy, followed by a hysterical laughing attack.
She would like to have a bit of romance between her and Sirius. Lily and James would often lock lips in front of them, making Jessica feel very uncomfortable. Sirius was taking his talk about being friends very seriously, Jessica did not mind having him just like a friend, he was lots of fun, he made her laugh like not other person ever did.
On their way back to her house a car stopped by them, Jessica recognized it at once, it was Brian Mitchell's car, the neighbor she dated.
"Hello Jessica, I thought I wasn't going to see you," said the boy from inside the car. "Your mom said you will leave tomorrow morning. Do you have any plans tonight?"
"Actually I do have plans." Jessica thought he was being very rude, totally ignoring her friends, he did not even say hi, pretended they were not even there. "These are my friend from school. They will spend the night with me."
"Oh, hello Lillian," said Brian, finally noticing her friends. He came out of the car, he was very tall, blond short hair and green eyes. He shook hands with James. "Hi my name is Brian, me and Jessica go way back, we grew up together."
"Nice meeting you, my name is James, James Potter," he said with a sight sneer.
Brian exploded in laugher. "And I see you brought your gang with you, at least one of them," he said looking at Sirius.
Jessica felt her face burn with embracement, she remembered she told Brian about James and his friends. They talked about them every summer, how much she disliked them.
"And you are?" Brian asked Sirius, snobbish.
"Sirius Black," he said coldly.
Brian was laughing even harder. Sirius looked like he might get is wand out any minute now, his fists were clenched.
"I am sorry," Brian tried to stop laughing, his eyes full of tears. "It's just that I never thought I would see you with these two, not after everything you told me. I mean I thought you loath them with passion," he made a greater effort to stop laughing. "Are you walking? Don't you people drive? Come on I will give you and your friends a ride back to your house."
"No thank you, I will walk," said Sirius quickly.
Brian stared at him, he stared back, both of them were very tense.
"Thank you for the offer Brian," said Jessica politely. "It's okay, we will just walk back, it's just a few blocks away."
"If you say so. Well, if you change your mind about tonight give me a call, we will go do something fun," he said with a rather nasty grin, eyeing Sirius from top to bottom. "And if I don't see you again Happy New Year, call me when you get home next summer. We will go out." He hopped in the car and left, rather fast. Lily was the first one to speak after he left.
"Honestly Jess, I can't believe you actually kissed that moron."
"What? You kissed him? Did you date him?" Sirius looked disgusted.
"I dated him a summer, he was nicer then," she said. "He did change a lot."
And they started walking again. Lily and James walked in front of them. They were talking in almost like a whisper, they would giggle every once and I while. It was very uncomfortable. Sirius did not speak again until they got home. Willy came running to the door when they arrived.
"Do you want to play a game of chess with me Willy?" Sirius asked.
"Really? Sure, it's up in my room." They went upstairs, Lily and James went to the living room, when Jessica walked by they were kissing. She went to the kitchen to offer her mom help, but Mrs. Thompson had everything under control.
Jessica went up to get ready for the evening. She was the first one ready but she stayed in her bedroom until her mom called her downstairs. When she got to the dining room everybody was already waiting for her. Sirius was talking with Mr. Thompson and both were laughing uncontrollably. Jessica was glad Sirius mood was back to normal.
It was a wonderful evening, every thing was perfect, and everybody had a great time. Right before midnight Mrs. Thompson explained a family tradition. They would write their goal in a piece of paper and open it the following year and see what they accomplished and what they didn't.
Jessica got her list and felt very embarrassed as her mom made her read it aloud.
Study very hard for the NEWTs
Read at least
twenty books
Decide what career I want to proceed
Be open to
new experiences
Ignore Potter and his gang completely
She felt even more embarrassed when no one said anything.
"Wow, I was way off, wasn't I?" she broke the ice. "The most disturbing thing is that I don't know what I will do after I am done with school. I mean most of the students my age already know what they want to do, but I have no idea."
"It's okay. You still have time to work on it," said Mr. Thompson.
"Ignore us, hey?" said James smiling, he was resting his head lazily on Lily's lap.
"Yes, but I also wrote be open to new experiences. And I did, didn't I?
"You sure did, and I am very glad we made peace," said James.
"Me too," said Sirius.
The rest of the family read their goals. Then, Mrs. Thompson gave them blank pieces of paper and pencils, Sirius loved writing with pencil.
"Look it's not messy like our quills and parchment," he commented.
"You write all your goals for next year and if we don't get the chance of being all together again I will send an owl if your goals," said Mrs. Thompson.
Jessica already knew what she wanted.
Study hard for
the NEWTs (again)
Get good grades on my NEWTs
Decide what
career I want to proceed (again)
Be open for new experiences
(again)
She gave a little thought, considering if she wanted to write what she was thinking. After a few seconds she wrote.
Be in love
Quickly she folded her piece of paper in four and gave it to her mom. After everybody was done Lydia put them all in a box. At midnight the celebrated New Year, Sirius and James went overboard shooting sparks out of their wands, making Jessica's family admire the little show.
Lily ad Jessica surprised the boys in their bedroom after the Thompson's went to sleep. Lily snuggled comfortably under James blanket. Sirius set on the bed making room for Jessica. They slept less then two hours that night, as the late hours of night arrived their conversations got sillier and sillier to the point Jessica stomach muscles hurt after laughing for hours.
Jessica woke up sleeping on Sirius bed, tucked in warmly under the blanket. Sirius however was asleep on the floor next to his bed. Jessica watched him with a overwhelming sense of respect growing inside her. She decided to wake him up.
"You didn't have to sleep on the floor," she whispered.
"I wasn't sure," he whispered back. "Didn't want you to freak out like last time."
"I wouldn't," she said softly positively beaming at him. "Anyway, you better come and try to get some rest before my mom comes to wake us up."
She got out of bed letting Sirius have it back. She woke Lily up who understood without a word it was time to go back to her own bed. Jessica hardly closed her eyes when her mom came knocking on her door. All four looked like zombies over breakfast.
"Now, I was thinking", said Mrs. Thompson. "It will better if you guys just apparate in Hogsmeade. We can't fit all of you in my car. Is that okay?"
"Not a problem," said Jessica. "I never did that before. It should be fun."
After breakfast they gathered at the living said their goodbyes. Right before Jessica left her dad whispered into her ear, "Love can be easily mistaken by loathing." Jessica was shocked, but a split of seconds they were all the way in the platform at Hogsmeade.
"What did your dad say?" Lily asked.
"Nothing important, dad stuff," said Jessica trying to figure out what he meant. "What do we do now?" she asked. "Do we have to wait for the Hogwarts Express? That will take forever."
"No I heard they send a few carriages for the seventh years that just apparate instead hiding the train," replied Sirius.
They waited a few more minutes and people started showing up. And before long, carriages started lining up in front of them.
It felt nice to get there earlier. Jessica had time to unpack before she went down to the welcome back feast. Not mentioning she took a long nap, enough to recover her lack of asleep.
The month of January flew by. Her teachers were loading her with homework, she was extra busy with potions. Remus was getting really good, and they were doing homework all together, Remus, Jessica, Lily, James, Sirius and Peter. Ashlyn convinced Professor Slughorn to trade partners after what happened between Sirius and her. So now, Peter and Sirius were together and Ashlyn got Snape as a partner. Jessica did not talk much with Severus, he was avoiding her. She was spending most of time with Sirius, they were always together and Severus did not dare come near them.
Early in February they played Quidditch against Ravenclaw and they won. They were now one game away from finals. They had to play against Hufflepuff, early March and if they win, final would be against Slytherin.
Gryffindor Tower was in a festive mood that night. Everybody was excited about the final, no one cared about homework, they were singing, playing and laughing. The excitement was so big that after everybody went to bed Jessica could not fall asleep. So, like always, she decided to go down to the fireplace.
After a while she heard the portrait open, someone was coming in, but who could it be? who went out in the middle of the night? She looked around and she saw, Sirius, James and Peter. They froze as soon as they saw her.
"Where did you guys go?" said Jessica interested.
"Remus wasn't feeling well so we took him to the hospital wing," Sirius told her.
"Is he alright? I want to go see him." The three got really uncomfortable with the question.
"Madam Pomfrey says he can't have any visitors, that's why we came back, he will be better in couple of days," said James. They made their way to the dormitories but Sirius came and sat by Jessica.
"I was wondering, I don't have a date to go with me to Hogsmeade on Valentines Day," he said. "And if no one asked you I was wondering if you would go with me."
Jessica did not believe what she heard. Was he asking her out on a date, did that mean they still had a chance? Since she did not say anything he started talking again.
"If you are going with someone already it's okay. Did someone ask you?"
"Oh no, sorry, I was just thinking, do you mean go with you like on a date?" she asked
"Uh, no, just like two friends" he quickly added. "That's how much I appreciate your friendship," he said making fun.
"Okay then, we will go together," she said laughing.
"Can't sleep?" asked Sirius.
"Yes, to much excitement."
"I don't blame you, it was a big day for you." he said. "Do you mind if I join you?"
"Uh, you already did," she added.
"And are you okay with it?" he asked and she nodded smiling.
Sirius put his arms around her and they stayed there watching the fire burn, Jessica dozed off for a bit, then she woke up and stood up.
"What's going on?" asked Sirius.
"I am not sleeping down here again. I'm going back to bed. Good night Sirius." He stood up and started walking to his dormitory too.
"Good night Jessica, sweet dreams."
On Valentines morning Jessica made sure to put the cutest outfit she had, although Sirius said they were going as friends she still wanted to look good. Before she left her bedroom she thought a bit about her admirer, he did not write again since Christmas, although she was almost sure it was Severus she couldn't say it was him. Jessica waited until Lily got ready. They were almost out the door when something occurred to Jessica.
"Wait a second Lily". She opened and trunk and got her diary out, two pieces of parchment fell down.
It was to two letters she got over Christmas. One from Severus, and the other from her admirer.
"Lily look at this." Lily hurried to look at the letter. "The hand writing, they don't match. It's not the same person who wrote the letters. So Severus it's not my admirer."
"Oh my goodness, you are right," said Lily, she got the letters and was analyzing it closely. "How come we didn't think of it before?"
"No idea. Now I am back to the beginning. No idea. Do you think it could be Sirius?"
"I know you want to be him, but I don't know. Sirius is more confident then that. I don't picture Sirius afraid of telling you about his feelings." Lily gave the letters back and Jessica put them back on her trunk. "We don't want to be late, I will think about it today and I we can talk about it later."
"Deal," Jessica agreed.
They met the boys outside the Great Hall. Jessica noticed that Sirius made an extra effort to look nice also.
The day, once again, was perfect. They had a great time together. Sirius got Jessica a very cute Valentine card and I box of chocolate.
"Thanks, I have a card for you too." She got his card out of her pocket and gave it to him. It was without a doubt a friendship card. Jessica got a little disappointed, but she liked it anyway.
"How about we stop to get a butterbeer?" asked Sirius. "We have just one hour left."
"Great idea," said Jessica, following him to the Three Broomstick.
Sirius got Jessica her drink and they went looking for an empty table. Jessica saw Lily and James sitting nearby, they waived, but before Jessica could even think about joining them Sirius got hold of her arm and started walking in the opposite direction. Then, she spotted Severus sitting alone, Sirius changed directions once more and finally chose a table.
"Sorry, not feeling social today. I wanted to talk with you." But before he could continue a boy sat by him.
"Sirius what do you know about the Shrienking Shack?" said the little boy.
"Regulus, now it's not a good time," he hissed. The boy looked at Jessica and turned back to Sirius.
"You should try to make peace with mom, you know. You will make things even worse if she finds out you went out with a muggle."
"First of all, Jessica is not a muggle, she is a very gifted witch," Jessica was glad Sirius did not let the boy away with such a comment. "Second, I don't care what mom thinks. I am never going back. I already made plans."
"Whatever, if you say so," said the boy named Regulus. "Anyway, some boys dared me to go into the Shrienking Shack, and I was wondering if you think it's true what people say about that place. A guy down the street said he heard lots of screams there last week."
"Regulus, why do you think you need to do this kind of things?" said Sirius rolling his eyes. "If I were you, I would keep away from the Shrienking Shack. It's very dangerous. I am not sure what's inside but I heard the screams myself and it was not a pretty sound. So don't do it"
"Okay, you convinced me. I won't do it," and he left.
"My little brother," said Sirius.
"I didn't know you had a brother at Hogwarts."
"I do, he is in Sytherin, he doesn't talk to me that much, you know. Because of my family history." Sirius went very quiet after that.
"Did you really hear screams over at the Shrienking Shack?" asked Jessica.
Sirius was laughing. "I knew you were going to ask me about that. Can you keep a secret?"
"Yes, of course," she said.
"There is nothing there," he said. "I've been there lots of time."
"Inside the Shrienking Shack? How did you get there?" Jessica asked surprised.
"I can show you," he whispered. "Do you want me to take you?"
"Uh, I don't know," she shivered. "Are you sure there is nothing inside?" she asked worried.
"Yes, there is no harm if you go there today, the screaming comes just once a month, and already happened this month, you will be totally safe." Sirius insisted.
"Okay, I want to see it," she said trying her best to trust him.
"I will take after dinner," he added. "I need to speak with James, Remus and Peter before I take you there."
"You wanted to talk with me about something, what is it?" asked Jessica.
"Oh, nothing, we don't have time now. It's time to go."
After dinner time Sirius took her outside and they walked into the forest.
"We need to get through there," said Sirius, he pointed to Whomping Willow.
"Are you barking mad?" She was horrified. "Do you think I can get past the Whomping Willow? Maybe this is not a good idea."
"Relax, I made arrangements," he said getting hold of her hand for comfort.
"Aaahhh," Jessica screamed.
"What's the matter?"
"Sorry, sorry, a rat just ran by me," Jessica watched the rat get close to the Whomping Willow, and he sat right on the trunk of the tree which stopped moving at once. "That is really odd," she said
"Coast is clear, we can get through now." Sirius ignored her comment. They got into a hole that took them below, they were under the Whomping Willow. "Lumos" said Sirius, holding his wand in front of him. They walked for a long time, Jessica panting a bit trying to keep up. They finally got to the end of the tunnel. Jessica could see a light coming trough a small opening.
"Are you sure it's safe Sirius?" she said still feeling skeptical.
"You got to trust me okay?" he said with conviction.
Sirius pulled himself out of the hole then helped Jessica up. She looked around and had no doubt she was inside the Shrienking Shack. The windows were boarded up, as she looked around she saw lots of furniture, smashed to pieces. The place was so spooky it make her automatically hold Sirius arm very tight.
"I know it's not a pretty sight," said Sirius, rather enjoying Jessica's proximity. "Let me take you to the top, it has a beautiful view."
They went up a crumbling stairs. The whole place was trashed, everything was broken, and it was extremely dusty.
When they got to the top Sirius went close to a window and pulled a board out, and then another one. Jessica got closer to look at the view, her mouth dropped, he was right. It was the most beautiful thing she ever seen.
"It's Hogwarts," said Jessica. She could see the whole castle, the night was falling and the lights inside Hogwarts were on, the sky was multi color because the sun setting. Jessica could not take her eyes of the view for a few minutes, she looked at Sirius and found that he was looking at her, not the view.
"What? That's something wrong with my hair?" Jessica tried to fix her hair but Sirius got her hand before she could get to it.
"No, it looks great." he said. Jessica stomach felt very sick, Sirius was looking at her, the way he did long time ago. "I need to tell you something." Jessica didn't say anything, just kept looking inside his eyes.
"Jessica, I think I am in love with you. I wanted to tell you a long time ago, but I couldn't. I didn't think you liked me, well, I actually knew you didn't like me. So I had to approach you in a different way. I always liked you since first time I saw you on our first journey to Hogwarts, but you and Lily glued together and every time James and I tried to impress you, we looked stupid.
"When I got to my third year, I started going out with lots of girls to see if you would get jealous, maybe get in line," he laughed nervously. "But it didn't work, I think it made it worse. Then I kept waiting for the right time to tell you this, but the time never came. I knew the seventh year would be my final chance, so I planed everything in advance.
"I wrote you a letter during summer, to start getting you ready for what was about to come. I don't even know if it worked. It seemed to me that you thought Remus had written the letters. So I stopped little by little since you did not think it was me at all. Then the whole fiasco happened right before Christmas, I felt my insides burn with hate when I saw Snape kiss you, I honestly thought it was all over.
"But you surprised once again, when I got in your house, you were very kind to me, and I don't even know if I deserved it. It was great to start all over, to be your friend, it was more then I could ask for. Since we are doing so well as friends I decided to tell you about my feelings, so I know once and for all if there is even a small chance you will love me back."
As he finished, Jessica was blown away, she felt happy in a way never thought possible.
"Thank you for the ring," she said, knowing she sounded stupid but it was the first thing that came to mind.
"Welcome." Sirius was still holding her hand looking at her with warmth and respect in his eye. "So, do I have I chance with you?"
"Sirius I've waited for this moment the whole year," she felt very emotional. "First to know who my admirer was, then as the year went by I wished it was you all along." He came closer, they were almost nose to nose. "I need to tell you that your plan worked very well, because I thinkā¦" she paused to create a bit of suspense and to put the right words together. "I might be in love with you as well." She could see herself reflecting in his eyes.
Sirius smiled widely. He held her by her waist pulled her towards him and hugged her, very tight, she did not want to let go, her heart was racing, she was so happy that she thought she was going to explode, felt like a balloon was expanding inside her.
He let go and looked into her eye. "I am the luckiest guy alive," he said and to her surprise Sirius chuckled and kissed her on the lips.
