AN: the usual disclaimer blah blah blah.

So...sorry about the incredibly long wait for an update. I've been very very busy with work and just starting grad school...no excuses though! I'm really sorry and hope that people are still reading. Please read? Please? Please?

Chapter 6- The War

Dorcas bounced a one month old baby Harry on her leg. She grinned as he gurgled happily at her. Lily walked into the kitchen and roller her eyes.

"Don't get him all worked up or I'll never get him to sleep." Lily said but Dorcas ignored her friend.

"Harry's going to be a brilliant baby tonight. Aren't you Harry? Dorcas asked the baby and he made some spit bubbles in return.

"So what about you and Sirius?" Lily asked in a casual manner. She turned from her friend and worked on starting dinner.

"What'd ya mean?" Dorcas asked now making faces at Harry who giggled at her.

"You know what I mean." Lily sighed in exasperation. "It's been two years since you got back together. Aren't you going to get married?"

"I don't know." Dorcas said not taking her eyes off of the baby. Lily looked concerned.

"What do you mean you don't know?" She asked.

"I don't think that Sirius wants to get married." Dorcas answered at last and Lily looked surprised. "Not to anyone I mean." Dorcas quickly clarified.

"What do you want?" Lily asked taking the baby from her friend and watching her face carefully as Dorcas thought over the question.

"I'm not sure anymore." She sighed and buried her head in her hands. "If you had asked me in sixth year I would've said that I wanted to marry Sirius. Now though, there's so much that happened. Marlene's dead, and so many of our other friends too. I just don't know." She looked up at Lily. "I'm not as brave as you are." She gave a half smile. "Ravenclaw, remember?" They both shared a brief laugh.

"Dori- you can't let the bad things stop the good ones from happening too. Otherwise, there'd be no Harry." Lily said kissing Harry's head.

"Yeah. You're right. I'm being a coward. It's just I love him so much Lily, I don't know what I would do if something were to happen to him." She gave a tight smile. "I guess I just don't want to rock the boat."

"If he asked you…What would you say?" Lily asked and Dorcas paused for a moment. A dreamy smile spread across Dorcas' face.

"I'd say yes." They both laughed as Harry gave a loud burp and both women began to shower the baby with attention. Neither noticed Sirius watching them from the doorway with a contemplative look on his face.

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The next day found Dorcas at work still distracted by her conversation about Sirius with Lily. If she was really honest with herself she did want to marry him, and soon. It seemed like everyday they heard about more people dying or disappearing from the Order.

The first had been Marlene. Two weeks- only two weeks! – after they had all banded together with Dumbledore, Marlene, her husband Andrew, and their little baby, had been found murdered in their beds. After that everyone put up anti-apparation jinxes on their homes. Dorcas still had nightmares about the night she found out about their murder.

"Hard at work or hardly working?" A bright voice interrupted.

"Hey Emmeline." Dorcas greeted. Emmeline Vance was an Order member that Dorcas saw regularly since they both worked in similar areas at the Ministry. "Hardly working this time."

Dorcas grimaced as she surveyed the Charm she was supposed to be undoing. Someone had put a pretty powerful spell on a muggle and supposed to undo and obliviate the muggle's memory before a magical law enforcement agent- Emmeline- could place the muggle back with his family. They both surveyed the poor muggle for a bit frowning.

"It's just getting worse." Emmeline muttered.

"I know." Dorcas replied. "It makes me sick thinking that some bastard probably got off on torturing-"

"Hi Mr. Rookwood." Emmeline interrupted spotting Augustus Rookwood lurking behind them. Not wanting to raise suspicion by appearing to be friendly she rolled her eyes at Dorcas. "Honestly Meadowes, you're getting worked up over nothing. Just let me know when you're finally finished." She raised her brows and walked away nodding at Rookwood.

"Meadowes." Rookwood said politely before continuing on his way. Dorcas frowned and bent back over her calculations she was working on. But her mind wasn't focused on that. Could Rookwood be working for Voldemort? Why else would he be lurking around her? She shuddered and forced herself to focus on work. She really wanted to have this muggle sorted by the end of the day. Sirius was taking her out to dinner tonight, an event which had become rarer and rarer as the war continued. They'd moved in together last year, but with their respective jobs during the day and Order work at night, they often had to forgo traditional dates. She wondered how he'd managed to set this up. But it was the perfect time to tell him her news.

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Sirius paced the pavement outside the restaurant in front of the restaurant as waited for Dorcas to arrive. He patted his pocket to reassure himself that everything was still going as planned. He heard someone calling his name and looked up to see Dorcas bounding down the street. He couldn't help but grin slightly at her slightly disarrayed hair and her coat buttoned incorrectly.

"Sorry I'm late." She said as she was only a few paces away. "God! My hair's a mess- I'm sorry. I wanted to look perfect but I got held up with this case…" Sirius cut her off with a kiss. His arms held her close and she wrapped her arms around his neck. After a moment he pulled away.

"You look gorgeous." Sirius said and Dorcas blushed as he kissed her nose playfully. "Now let's get in there and eat."

"Good idea!" She replied with a grin and they entered the restaurant- a nice muggle place near where they lived in London. Soon they were seated and had ordered, having a great time relaxing with each other over a bottle of wine.

"Dori, there's something really important I wanted to ask you." Sirius said as the waiter took away their plates. Dorcas smiled at him.

"What is it?" She was feeling full and happy but became more serious once she saw the look on his face.

"Well I know you think that I just want things to stay the way they are but I don't." He began.

"Sirius, what are you saying?" Dorcas asked in a slightly panicked tone. Her heart began to beat faster. He couldn't be breaking up with her could he? She put a hand over her stomach.

"Just that I know it's been awhile but-"

"I'm pregnant." Dorcas blurted out and then promptly slapped a hand over her mouth. He looked at her in shock and she blushed. "I'm sorry. I know you never wanted that, at least not with me-"

"What are you talking about?" He said surprised at her words. Dorcas blinked back some tears and looked at him confused.

"Weren't you going to break up with me?" She asked hesitantly. Sirius looked at her for a second before he began to laugh. She blushed. "Sirius-"

"No, I'm not breaking up with you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring he had bought over a month ago.

"Oh!" Dorcas gasped and her hand flew over her mouth, a few tears traveled down her face.

"I've been working up to asking you for over a month." He gave her a rueful smile. "Sorry I bollixed it up, love." He opened the box and Dorcas saw the ring she'd mentioned to Lily over three months ago.

"How'd you-"

"I know you better than you think." He said with a mischievous grin. She reached out to touch the ring but he pulled it slightly out of her reach. "Well?"

"Of course it's yes." She said in a low voice and Sirius grinned at her and took her left hand in his. After a moment of silence, he quickly put the ring on her finger and bounded around the table to kiss her heartily. They pulled apart slowly, unaware of the whole restaurant staring at them.

"I love you." He said quickly with a soft look in his eyes.

"You make me so happy." Dorcas said and he pulled her close. She buried her face in his chest. "I love you too."

"Do you want to tell everyone or go home and celebrate in private?" He asked.

"Let's go home." Dorcas said with a smile. "We'll tell them in the morning." And with that they paid their bill and went home to celebrate their engagement and the pregnancy. That night, they forgot about the war, they forgot about the danger and they were just a young couple in love about to get married.

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