Sorry it's been so long, but since you were so patient I wrote you one super long (for my starndards at least) chapter! Nearly six whole pages guys! I was out of town on a mission trip and let me tell you, it was the. Most. Incredible. Experience. Ever. If you've never gone on one, I highly recommend it. You will learn things about others, yourselves, and God that you never dreamed were possible. Hope y'all enjoy; please review!

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Mirror, Mirror
Milkshakes

"...So gimme a second to get this straight," Sirius said, laughing incredulously, as he held up a hand. "You two," he indicated Dorcas and Fabian, "got married!?"

They were gathered in the living room again. It was still morning—around ten-thirty—and it had been nearly two weeks since Sirius had arrived in Other World. The television was finally off. It had come to forcing themselves not to look after Harry all day: poor kid was a right mess after what had happened in the Ministry and the subsequent knowledge bomb Dumbledore had dropped on him about the prophecy. Everyone felt obliged to at least go through the ordeal with the kid, but Charlus insisted that the younger crowd take some time off. After all, there wasn't much they could do from their end, so there was little sense in agonizing over the living world every second of the day.

Despite everyone's intentions to listen to the older Potter's advice, their actions had still made it necessary for Charlus to steal their remote and charm the television's control panel not to work. He stopped over in the evenings and passed the remote off but he took it back with him after everyone had seen Harry off to bed. Thus, they could pass their mornings guilt-free, in the knowledge that they were doing all they could, without punishing themselves by constantly watching the boy's despondency.

Currently, Sirius was kicked back on the sofa against the wall and Dorcas was sitting in the middle of the floor on a bean-bag chair, facing him. Fabian had thrown a pillow against her knees and was lying parallel to Sirius' couch, absorbed in a sketchbook. Lily was on the other couch: legs crossed, book in lap, and feet enveloped in her signature, lumpy, over-sized socks. Tinkerings and beepings came from the direction of the adjacent kitchen where James and Gideon were laboring over some special treat like a pair of housewives. Sirius, of course, kept this simile to himself, as he was hoping to receive said special treat. Marlene was upstairs, sleeping in late.

Dorcas nodded proudly, thrusting her hand forward so that Sirius could see the diamond ring. Fabian looked up from his sketch—a little bird in a bird bath—and grinned

"Posthumous marriage," she said, smiling, "We decided we wanted to make it good and official, get it down in writing. Happened about three months after I had...y'know…" she shrugged, speaking of her death of course. Sirius had picked up on that over the past two weeks. Even those who had come to terms with their death rarely spoke of the actual event.

"Except of course," called James from the kitchen, "That the definition of posthumous means that one person is still alive…" Dorcas rolled her eyes.

"No one asked your opinion, Jimbo," she called.

"Don't call me that," James said irritably, and Sirius mouthed the familiar words along with him, learned after years of experience, drawing a few smiles from the assembled audience.

"But what I can't get over," Sirius continued, "Is that no one thought to tell me until now that these two buggers had tied the knot! Am I not due that knowledge?"

"Of course sweet pea," said a new voice, "But we still thought it would be much more interesting to place bets on how long it actually took you to notice the ring." Sirius grinned, as always, as Marlene waltzed into the living room and pecked him on the cheek. "...Lily, this means you owe me a Sickle. And Gideon, I'll collect on those eight Knuts."

His smile wore away as that sunk in.

"You called bets on my observance skills?" He sputtered, and Marly nodded sweetly. "James!" He cried, "Surely you weren't involved in this?"

"'Course not!" Came the exuberant reply from the kitchen, followed by a stage whisper of, "...that'll be two Sickles Lily." Marlene laughed at Sirius' hurt expression and kissed his cheek again before she joined James and Gideon in the kitchen.

"Looks good boys," she said and they heard the clink of glasses. Sirius perked up as James walked in levitating seven tall cups. The substance inside was a strange pinkish brown color and full of dark chunks but Sirius had seen the amount of sugar that went in to it so he gratefully accepted his.

"Berries and chocolate," James assured his wife as he passed her a glass. "Harmless milkshake."

"Have to take your word for it," she muttered. Gideon followed James in and joined his brother and sister-in-law on the floor, tailed by Marlene who curled up at Sirius' side and began loudly slurping her milkshake.

They ate contentedly for a moment before Sirius heaved a dramatic, satisfied sigh and said, "Guys...this is perfect."

"Cheers," toasted Gideon.

"Cheers," everyone else agreed emphatically.

Sirius noted a particularly happy smile growing on Lily's face. She glanced over at Fabian and Dorcas and crinkled her nose in delight before looking right at Sirius. Catching his confused stare, she dropped her gaze and smiled mysteriously into her milkshake.

"What?" Sirius said frankly. She just shrugged aloofly.

"Oh nothing," she said, taking a casual sip. "Just...a little thought." James locked eyes with Sirius, both nodded, and her husband slipped the milkshake out of Lily's hands and held it aloft.

"Spill!" he demanded. Lily made a few feeble attempts at taking back the glass but James' arms were too long for her reach.

"Why pick on me!?" she cried, as Sirius started chuckling. "Can I not just put two and two together without having to share the answer with everyone!?"

"If you're going to get cute and cryptic about it, then yes," said James.

Lily huffed. "Well, it's just that…we are on the subject of weddings…" No responded. Apparently, this was not the reaction Lily hoped for, for her expression grew indignant when everyone just blinked at her.

"Oh come now!" she said. "Must I spell it out for you? Dorcas and Fabian got married. Which means…"

More blinking.

Lily sighed resignedly and said, "Oh fine, I'll spill. The only thing that could make all this more perfect…would be another wedding..." Everyone froze, most of them in mid-bite, as Lily's premonition finally clicked into place. As one, the room turned to stare at Sirius and Marlene.

Sirius blinked.

"Honestly," Lily continued. "We all knew it was going to happen, we just thought we'd all be alive for it. But now we're here and lots of time has passed and it's not like these two have never made quick decisions. It just so happens that this would be a right, quick decision. We all knew that within a week of joining the Order together." She sat back with a happy smile and surveyed the shocked expressions around her with mild confusion.

Through her little speech, Sirius continued to blink. Wedding? He, Sirius Black, get married? Of course, in the past few years he'd vaguely thought about it, but there had only ever been one girl for him. He glanced down at that one girl, still ignorantly sucking on a milkshake already half-gone. Hadn't he dreamed about spending their lives together? Hadn't he fantasized about growing old together? But if those two happy, ideal endings couldn't occur...didn't they still deserve to be dead together? Didn't they still deserve to get married?

"Marls," he said tentatively, nudging her. "What do you think?" She surfaced from her ice cream reverie and glanced up to see everyone still staring at them.

"Wait," she said suspiciously, "She meant the two of us!? A wedding..." She trailed off and looked up at Sirius, who nodded encouragingly. She hesitated for a split-second before setting her milkshake down and grabbing his wrist.

"Come here," she said grimly, standing and dragging him towards the door. Sirius tumbled off the sofa and miraculously onto his feet; he caught Lily's guilty face just before he was outside and the door had slammed behind him. Marlene had her arms folded and was biting her lip. She rocked back and forth on her toes and stared at him. He was still trying so hard to process her change of mood and how quickly this had escalated that it was a moment before Sirius realized this action meant that he was supposed to speak.

"Er..." he said. She rolled her eyes and bit her lip harder. If Sirius didn't know any better, he'd say that Marlene didn't know how to handle this. Which was impossible because Marlene always knew how to handle things.

Just then, there was a slight noise from within the house, one Sirius wouldn't have heard if he wasn't already listening for it; it sounded like a small crash and a muffled cry of indignation, followed by a sharp hiss for silence. He glanced back at the nearest window and saw a flash of red hair duck back behind the drapes. He rolled his eyes. Every word he and Marlene were saying was probably being charmed and picked by those inside.

However, a very pointed throat-clearing brought his attention back to the girl across from him, who, if she looked any more annoyed, might have had steam coming from her ears.

"Well?" she said, sounding very irritated. (Her foot was starting to tap, which made clear thinking so much easier for him.)

"Well...?" Sirius replied, hoping for a hint at how he was supposed to navigate these uncharted waters. Was she about to start laughing and say, "Honestly Black! Gullible much!?" or was she seriously considering Lily's idea? However, the expression on her face—biting lips, wouldn't meet his eyes, how sheepishly hunched over she was—he'd say she was...scared. Or, at least very, very nervous.

"Well what do you think?" she said. There were walls up around her, he could tell, and her eyebrows were quirked up as if fearing an answer she knew she'd receive.

"I think Lily enjoys playing Matchmaker too much," he said honestly. Marlene nodded and forced a laugh, though she still didn't meet his eyes. Perhaps he was reading in between the lines too much, but Sirius had discovered even more about the puzzle that was Marlene McKinnon over the past fourteen days. Taking the chance that she really was scared and insecure about this, which was a slim chance but all the signs were there, he took a step closer to her and lifted her chin.

"But I also think Lily's very good at playing Matchmaker," he said. "I think that a lot of what she just said in there is true. I think it could happen...what about you?" She opened her mouth, closed it, and stepped away from him so that his hand fell back to his side.

"I want to talk," she said.

"We are talking," Sirius said, instantly regretting his words: She glared at him furiously.

"I mean without touching," she said, rushing through all her words, "Without cute gestures, without pretending, without, you know, use of that olde tongue which maketh all conversations fair. No flirting. No influencing. Just talk."

"Just talk," Sirius echoed.

"The truth." She specified.

"You know the truth." He promised. She uncrossed her arms and ran her fingers through her messy hair.

"Sirius..." she said, sounding tired, "You said...that same night that you came home—here! dammit, I meant here—the night you came here...after you woke me up..."

"...I said that I love you Marly," he said, angling his own head to catch her eyes, "I meant that, you know..."

"No I don't!" she cried taking another angry step away from him. "I don't know that Sirius! You said all that after we had already slipped right back into the—the flirting, and the kissing, and the..."

"That doesn't make it any less true!" Sirius said. "Do you have any idea—" he took a step forward, ducked his head, and finally caught her eyes, "—how much I missed you? Any idea how much I thought about you? ...Marly..." he put his hands on her shoulders and she didn't take a step back like before. He almost sighed with relief as he continued.

"...You were one of the few happy memories that I wanted to-to keep. During—" he swallowed and her expression changed to show that she had filled in the blank. Sirius supposed there had been a meeting called where everyone agreed to never bring up those years. All he had to do was trail off, everyone would nod, and the subject would quickly be changed. But this time he wanted to address all the issues on the table, no matter how painful.

"...During those years in Azkaban." He forced out. Her jaw dropped and she began to speak but he pressed on her shoulders and silenced her with a look. "Thinking of you kept me sane," he said. "And no matter how hard they tried—no Dementor could ever take that way." Her bottom lip trembled and she may have started blinking faster than usual but Sirius pressed his point.

"And when I say I was thinking of you, I don't mean our...late nights. I mean making faces at McGonagall's back every time she turned around during mission briefing. Or banging on pots to wake the others up in the mornings, two hours early. Or slinking out of headquarters at night when we were supposed to be on lockdown just to go feed ducks at the park..."

"Or to go roller skating," she murmured, a slight smile growing on her face. "Or out for midnight ice cream."

"Exactly," Sirius said emphatically, "I told I loved you and I wasn't bluffing Marls. I meant that. This is not a fling. And in all honesty, it never was." He chuckled before he continued, "Truly, how many people just "on a whirl" go out for midnight ice cream?" She smiled and he squeezed her hand. "See? ...We were just too stupid to accept it."

She smiled again and leaned her forehead against his.

"I'm ready if you are."

"Admit it then," Sirius challenged, still grinning, "I don't remember you responding anything in kind that night...Go on, say it."

She batted her eyelashes and rose on her tiptoes until their mouths were just barely ghosting over each other, her breath on his lips making his hair stand up.

"Sirius," she whispered, and her lips lightly, tantalizingly, moved over his when she spoke. "I love you."