August 23 of 1979 - Borrow, Blue and New

When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth. Jess C. Scott

Emmeline, clearly, wasn't entirely thinking, no matter the reasoning or the amount of fire whiskey that she had been drinking throughout the evening, and even the few glasses of Muggle champagne, but she had been careful the past few months to keep a certain amount of distance between Sirius and her since they had kissed in her flat. There had been times where she'd woken up more than a few nights with her skin heated and her lips tingling as though he had just been there with her and she wasn't entirely sure what it was that her mind was doing to her besides driving her crazy. It was a strange line for her to be straddling, to be completely and utterly fearful of what that meant in the long run, of the fact that she quite possibly could be in love with the man and the fact that she wanted him to keep pushing closer to her.

What tipped her off to the fact that she was certainly not thinking clearly was the fact that somewhere in the evening she had ended up on the dance floor with Sirius and his arms pulling her tight against his chest and his eyes darting from Lily and James, not entirely covert in the fact that they were sneaking far more kisses than they were just an hour previous to the fact that somehow Remus had grabbed Mary and pulled her onto the floor as well, his hands lingering on the woman's hips for a few moments longer than necessary. If Sirius' focus wasn't elsewhere right then, he would have wondered whether or not one of his best friends had developed feelings for Mary Macdonald the past few months, granted, if he wasn't more than a little fearful of the fact that there was a sincere possibility that Emmeline might run once she realized where she was, Sirius probably would have directed them over to the couple a few minutes earlier.

The dress that Emmeline had picked to wear for the wedding was simple straight lines that cling to her hips, dipping low in the back and a deep v neck that had managed to show the strip of skin between her breasts. It was the intense red of her heels that had pulled Sirius towards her, an effort to keep anyone else away from her on the floor that happened to be incredibly transparent in every sense of the word. Emme may have resisted initially, still unsure of how to act around him after everything that he had said and the things that he had not said before letting him invade her space and leaning into him more as the night went on.

However, now that she was wrapped in his arms with his fingers dancing across her spine, neither of them were keen on going anywhere else besides right where they were. It didn't take long before Emmeline's fingers were threading through his hair and one hand slipping underneath the collar of his shirt, her fingers toying with the expanse of skin there. Emmeline wasn't entirely sure how much of the fogginess that was floating through her head was the alcohol she'd been consuming or just the contact that their skin was making.

Pulling her face back away from Sirius' neck for a few seconds, there was a soft smile on her face when he toyed with the end of her ponytail, chuckling for a second before nuzzling his face against cheek, Emmeline's voice quiet when she finally spoke, "James and Lily look happy, I haven't seen them like this in a long while."

There were a few seconds of silence between them where Sirius looked at the couple before nodding his head, "James waited a long time for her."

"Their fights are just as intense now as what Mary told me about," Emme said with a laugh, resting her forehead against the crook of his neck for a few moments, "Sirius?"

"Yeah, love?"

Emme hesitated, her movements pausing for a few long seconds before she pushed up on her toes and a soft smile on her face when she was almost eye level with him, her hands resting on his shoulders before one slid down to the tie that was around his neck and pulled him the rest of the way until their lips connected together. It was short, shorter then she would have liked, but he pulled away moments later and raised his hand, letting his knuckles brush against Emme's cheekbone and looked down on her almost apprehensively. "Emmeline, what are you doing?"

Letting out a breath that she wasn't entirely aware she'd been holding, she shook her head for a few beats before finally meeting his eyes and giving him a gentle look, "I was trying to say okay," she admitted quietly, biting down on her lip for a few seconds before dropping her gaze. "That I'm in this."

Emmeline wasn't entirely sure what to do when Sirius froze, or again when he hesitated touching her more than he already was. If there was anything that she had learned about him since they had finished at Hogwarts it was the fact that he was always the one that gravitated towards being a man of few words and significant action. It made her hesitate as well, her heart clenching that maybe everything had simply changed in the months that she had got her head back together and tried to figure out where it was that she was at, that maybe now was the time that he was wanting to change where they were headed. Staking a step back, her red heel connecting with the flooring again as she started to pull out of his embrace shouldn't have been surprising in the least but he almost instantly tightened his grip around her waist, pulling her flush against him. "You were scared."

"I thought you were going to hurt me," she said softly, her face coloring. She hadn't imagined that he would stick around for that long, or that he would simply keep being there for her in the midst of everything or that he would ever show up with simple things like a slice of cake when she'd had a rough day or that Sirius would be the kind of man to help work some of the blood off her hands after long shifts within the hospital or working with the Order. "You've done a pretty good job of proving me wrong though, Mr. Black," she teased, one of her hands moving to wrap around his jacket's collar. "I'm sorry it took me so long."

Sirius shook his head and let his forehead drop down against Emmeline's for a few second, "You're not wrong," he said softly. "I could have hurt you. If it was two years ago, I probably would have, but you're…" there was a long hesitation, shaking his head before squeezing her middle gently and pressing a kiss against her forehead and leaning down to press another one onto the tip of her nose. "I'm different now, and you are too. And Emme? I'll do everything possible to keep you from getting hurt, by me or anything else. I'm in this with you, that isn't changing, love."

"You do anything reckless, and disappear on me?" she said quietly, leaning in close, "You'll be in serious trouble, buddy."

"I think that I can handle that," he said, keeping his voice quiet before glancing around the room, noticing that the people were starting to dwindle down and at some point, James and Lily had disappeared to their rooms and Mary was leaning on Remus with her head on his shoulder at one of the tables. "Hey, come 'ere," he said softly, looping one of his arms around her waist and pulling her back to him, his hand resting against her cheek and his thumb brushing against her jawline and slanting his lips down against hers.

He wasn't as hesitant as she had been, though most of what he did was with an air of confidence and a steady hand, even if it wasn't the smartest decision that he could be making. Emme's hands were grasping at his shirt for a few long seconds in an attempt to pull him closer to her before someone cleared their throat behind them and whoever it was chuckled when Emmeline pulled away and fell back down on the heels of her shoes, easily burying her face in Sirius' jacket. "Figured it would be better me interrupting you than forcin' poor Mary to do it."

"Trust me, I've walked in on worse with that woman," Emme grumbled, shaking her head for a few seconds and sighing, pulling away from Sirius and letting her fingers grasp at his, unable to keep the small smile from her face when he interlaced their fingers.

The grin that was on Sirius face twisted into a satisfied smirk before glancing between Emmeline and his best friend, shrugging his shoulders, "Lil and James already disappeared, figured I didn't need keep their delicate sensibilities sheltered anymore, and it's about time that your innocence was broke."

A sharp elbow landed in Sirius' side at the comment, a gentle yelp escaping his lips at the unexpected bit of pain and causing eyes to turn on the trio and Mary to wander over with a smile on her face before raising her eyebrows at Remus before glancing at Emme with a mischievous look on her face, "Trust me on this one, Remus is definitely not as innocent as you seem to think, Black."

There was a second with Sirius perked up while Emme tilted her head and kept her eyes on Mary before she realized just where it was that her cousin was going with this, and it had nothing to do with the possibility of Remus and Mary being involved, currently or previously. The color on Remus' cheeks probably should have been a tip off to her, at least initially, but it wasn't surprising when the man beside her couldn't keep his curiosity at bay in the least. "Now now, I never thought that you would be the kind of person to kiss and tell, Mare, but please do tell!"

"There was this particular time that I walked in on Emme on top of Remus," Mary said, her grin widening when a blush bloomed on Emmeline's cheeks and down her neck, the color not taking long before it was spreading down her breasts at the implication. "If I recall, it was rather clothing optional."

Remus wasn't entirely sure what it was that Mary was playing at, or if it was simply that she didn't know how far it was that Sirius's feelings towards Emmeline ran, or if she really did have no clue what it was that had happened in the particular situation that she was talking about. If the brunette woman did think that there had been something going on between he and the Slytherin, to say that she was entirely mistaken didn't begin to describe the situation. "Fucking hell," he mumbled when he caught his best friend's eye, Emme already placing one hand on the man's chest before stepping in front of him and turning to glare at Mary.

"First of all, mean joke, woman, I'll retaliate and it won't have to do with short sheeting your beds, second of all, gash across Remus' chest and no way of knowing who was walking through that door when you're always doing it unannounced," Emme grumbled, shaking her head for a few seconds before glancing at Rem and mouthing sorry before pushing Sirius back again before she actually felt him relax again when the realization hit him that it wasn't quite what it sounded like. "Now that we've sorted that, I'm going to go in search of some Hangover Potion so I don't wake up regretting that last Firewhiskey."

It wasn't as though there was something that would easily explain all of the situations that they had got into over the years, not by a long shot, and Emme wasn't going to deny that she had a history with some of the men that were in the Order, and outside of it, that Sirius would eventually need to learn to get over. She had to contend with the fact that he had an intense relationship with someone that looked like Marlene Mckinnon who was all long, lean legs and a certain air of sophistication that Emme never really was going to be able to achieve even on her best day. Remus though? Her relationship with Remus was more about keeping that boy as protected as feasibly possible and making sure that he was really doing okay.

Her fingers were tight around her forearms as she gave Adelais a small smile when she handed her the Hangover Potion, sighing when a warm hand landed on her lower back before taking the potion like a shot and letting a small smile grace her features at the flood of warmth it provided across her body. There was a small grunt of acknowledgement behind her before another hand landed on her hip and gave it a small squeeze, "Remus, really?"

Emme didn't even bother with preamble, or with wanting to pause and instead shook her head as she turned around, leaning back against the bar and raising her eyebrows, "I'm not the one that made out with my ex, so I wouldn't start this fight."

"We weren't together, Emmeline," Sirius said, his voice low as he stepped back into her space, one of his hands landed back against her hip and pulling her back close against him. "It was before I'd told you I was in this with you."

"That doesn't make it okay!" she said, one hand against his chest and pushing him back a few inches so she could breath, trying to clear her head enough to think. "Remus came into Mungo's hurt, badly and came to me because I wouldn't ask questions. I don't know what happened, and I really don't care when it comes down to it because it's done. But the fact is, Black, someone started to walk into the office and we couldn't risk having questions as to what it was that happened to him or why he was in the office. So, yeah, I threw my shirt off and got on top of him to cover the cut and give a good reason why he was there, you can't say the same thing about what happened with Mckinnon and you know it."

"Emme..." he started, stopping and running a hand through his hair and shaking his head. "You weren't the only one scared of this, and I run when I'm scared. I'm good at ruining this shit, just ask Marlene... I did a pretty spectacular job in Hogwarts ruining our relationship. I'm not good at healthy relationships or making sense or actually showing that I care about someone if they aren't the boys, but Marley's safe."

There were a few long moments where Emmeline was frozen, the potion finally begin to kick in and fully clear her head for a few seconds and letting out a soft breath of air. It brought a lot of questions in her mind of what would happen when things got rough. They were bound to at some point in this kind of climate, and particularly given their temperaments. Would there come a point where it was easier for him to fall back on the connection he had with Marlene and ultimately destroy what it was that they might build together? Would he actually do it?

The thought caught her breath in her throat and she felt herself struggle for air before dropping her eyes down to the floor and dropping her hands away from his chest. Swallowing roughly, Emme's fingers began to toy with her ponytail, chewing on her lip for a few long seconds before nodding her head. "You could end up breaking my heart," she said softly, raising her eyes to meet his for a few seconds before biting her tongue to keep herself from saying anything else for a split second. "There's a chance I could break yours too. If you're trying to make this work, even though you're scared, that says enough for me," Emme said quietly.

"I could die," Sirius admitted, acknowledging the danger in this war, and in the position that he had placed himself in, for the first time with her there, slowly stepping into into her space and giving her enough time to stop him again before nodding his head, tugging her closer to him and against his chest while one of his hands wrapped around her hip and his other hand delved into her hair. "Me dying would hurt you."

"Would kill me," she corrected gently.

The look that Sirius gave her as a consequence made her eyes sting with tears and nodded his head reluctantly at her admission, "I don't want to do this without you, and I don't want to end up hurting you, but I…" his fingers were gentle when they moved down to massage the back of her neck, the movements careful and delicate despite the callouses that were marring his fingers and palm while the movement forced Emmeline to relax into him. It was the gesture of her submitting her trust to him that caused him to let out a heavy sigh and continue the statement, not wanting to leave the words lingering in the air between them, "I can't promise anything."

She barely nodded before standing a fraction of an inch taller on her toes, the heels barely off the ground before pressing her lips against his before he held her tights against him and pulled away carefully, almost reluctant to lose the contact of their lips, "We'll figure it out as we go," she said quietly, smiling gently as his fingers flexed against her hip for a moment as she wrapped her arm around his neck and her other hand rested on his chest. "Let's go to bed."