Sirius blinked. "She killed … your grandparents?"

Violet nodded. "My dad's. They're both squibs, you see. As far as pureblood fanatics are concerned, they're a disgrace to wizarding bloodlines because of it. You know, my dad is even considered a muggleborn by some people."

"But … why would she do that?" Sirius asked. "She married your father so wouldn't she have known …"

"Oh, yes she did," Violet agreed. "At first she ... tolerated it. She told me once when I was a child that it wasn't the best of circumstances - falling in love someone who could be considered a muggleborn - but if she wanted to stay with my dad, then she had to accept that his immediate family wasn't … idyllic. But he had other relatives, who had magical lineage and I guess that made up for it in her eyes. And for most of our lives, we were pretty content - although, mum didn't like visiting dad's parents, and dad didn't like visiting her parents. But that could be normal for any family. But then, You-Know-Who appeared on the scene and began uniting people with the same ideals. And mum still had friends who were in that sort of a social circle. You know the one," Violet said.

Sirius nodded. Unfortunately he did know all too well.

"Anyway, she began going to meetings. She'd come back late at night, pale and exhausted looking but so … inspired," she said, her eyes glazing over slightly. "I remember the night early in the summer, just before it happened. I came home later than usual because I was out with friends in the nearby muggle town – and I always had to sneak around when I did that because of mum - and when I got back they were arguing. And it was …" she shook her head, as if in disbelief. "I'd never heard them fight like that. My dad was talking about muggle killings and how muggleborns were being persecuted by Death Eaters over in Britain and if my mum was going to support that kind of thing, than he didn't want to be with her anymore." She swallowed. "And then mum was saying that he was being ridiculous and flying off the handle and dad said something along the lines of 'then you'd better off me too because your friends say I'm as good as a muggleborn'. At this point, I'd hidden by the staircase just outside the kitchen, where they were, so I could listen. Mum was shouting back that he had magical blood from his other family members and he clearly wasn't a mudblood – that's the word she used – and then dad as good as threw her out of the house and told her not to come back if she was going to continue to support this. And she left. She just walked up the front path, out the gate and apparated away. And I snuck out the back door and went around to the front and pretended to come home for the first time that night and he believed me." Her eyes blurred with unexpected tears as she remembered it, but she didn't let them fall. "I asked about mum but he just said he didn't know where she was. We got the news the next day that my dad's parents had been found dead in their home and, with mine and my dad's testimony of the fight the night before, there was enough evidence to strongly suggest that it had been mum who killed them."

Sirius didn't know what to say and after a still, tense moment, he told her that.

"Who would?" Violet laughed humourlessly. "Dad and I haven't even mentioned her since it happened. Even when he applied to come back to Britain, he didn't mention her, although they all knew anyway." She sighed heavily. "So now you know."

"I'm sorry."

Violet looked at him incredulously. "Why? You had nothing to do with it."

"Well, I know that, but I've been such a prat to you these past couple of weeks," Sirius replied.

Violet considered him for a moment before saying, "Yeah, I guess you have been. But it wasn't without reason. I was unnecessarily cold to you at the end of last term. I wouldn't have wanted to speak to me much either."

Sirius swallowed nervously. "Well, erm, about that … that wasn't actually the reason I began avoiding you."

Violet frowned slightly. "Then … what was?" Sirius didn't answer right away and it worried Violet. "Sirius?"

"I was afraid of getting too close to you," Sirius told her, staring resolutely at the grass. "And I was afraid that I'd open up to you and you'd leave me. And I was afraid for you – if my family or the people they're close to found out how I-" he broke off.

Violet watched him, her mind racing. How he what? She wanted to scream at him to tell her, but she decided to leave it for the moment and focus on what he'd said before that. She shifted closer to him and put a hand on his arm. "Sirius, I'd never leave you because of something you told me. I'm pretty sure you can't beat what my mother did."

Sirius snorted. "You haven't met my family."

"No," Violet agreed, with a rueful smile. "But from what you've told me, I can only assume they're as bad as my mum. I guess we're just stuck with each other," she finished cheerily.

Sirius grinned at the ground before he glanced up at Violet, who was smiling at him. "I suppose I could live with that." He suddenly became aware of just how very close they were sitting. He could see every little detail on Violet's face; every individual eyelash she had, even tiny, light freckles she had that he hadn't noticed before. His eyes darted down to her lips for a split second, still curved upwards, before he began to talk again. "I promised James and Lily that I would tell you-"

"Sirius!" Lucy shouted. She'd jumped out of a cluster of trees and shrubbery by the path up to the castle, if Sirius hadn't been mistaken. Sirius whipped his head around and Violet sighed in disappointment as reality hit her. What was Lucy doing out here anyway?

"Lucy, what are you doing?" Sirius asked, irritated.

"The real question is what are you doing?" she exclaimed.

"Talking to Vi," Sirius said, a touch of guilt in his voice. Violet picked up on it and bit her lip. "What are you doing out here? Don't you have class?"

"Don't try to change the subject," Lucy retorted, balling her hands into fists by her side. She turned her glare to Violet. "Ever since she got here she's had you wrapped around her little finger and now I find you THIS close-"

"What?" Sirius exclaimed.

"- all because she's so innocent and – and fragile with her dead mother and that's terrible, it is, but-"

"Lucy, what are saying?" Sirius barked, frustrated.

"You just feel sorry for her because she's had a tough time and so she's - "

"What are you accusing her of, exactly?" Sirius exclaimed angrily. "Trying to lure me away from – from who? You?"

Violet thought of the time Alexa had seen them together in this very spot and said mildly, "I feel like this has happened before." Sirius nearly laughed, but his anger was too great. Violet stood up. "I'm going to head up to the castle. You two can sort this out by yourselves."

"No, Vi, don't go," Sirius said as she began walking up.

"It's ok," Violet called back. "I'll see you at dinner." With a polite smile directed both at Sirius and Lucy, she turned and headed up the path to the Great Hall.

Violet was sitting with Marlene, James, Remus and Peter when Sirius and Lucy arrived in the Great Hall, half an hour into dinner. On the surface they looked fine, but there was something bubbling just below the surface and they all knew it, except for Peter who seemed oblivious.

"Oh good, they have roast beef tonight," Lucy said, sitting down.

Sirius sat next to her glaring silently into space.

James exchanged a glance with Violet, who shrugged slightly in response.

"Did you see the house points coming into the Hall," Lucy asked them all. "Gryffindor's coming first!"

And the conversation continued from there. As dinner went on, Sirius caught Violet's eye as he was eating and he smiled faintly at her, a gesture she returned, relieved. Part of her had been worried Sirius would go back to avoiding her.

After dinner, they all walked up to the common room together. Sirius fell into stride next to her and said to her quietly but with a casual air, "Can you meet me in the common room just after midnight tonight?" Violet frowned slightly, obviously confused, but nodded and Sirius went back to the front of the group where Lucy was walking with Marlene and Peter.

They spent the evening in the common room, where Sirius did not directly engage her in conversation again. When they all went up to their own dormitories, Sirius locked eyes with Violet and she nodded, as if to say, that yes, she would be here.

Then he kissed Lucy good night - quickly and on the cheek, not nearly as affectionately as usual - and she, Violet and Marlene went up to the dormitories. Mary, Amber and Lily came up a little later and the six of them went to bed by eleven, but Violet sat up, watching the hands tick on her watch with the red velvet of her bed hangings concealing her from view.

At five past twelve, Violet stuck her head out to peer around the darkened dormitory. She could hear her five roommates breathing slowly, deeply and Violet hoped that they really were asleep.

She pulled on a heavy, knitted jumper over her singlet and pyjama shorts, grabbed her wand and slipped her feet into soft-soled shoes, before darting quickly to the door, opening it half way and slipping through, shutting it with a soft click behind her.

She crept down the spiral staircase to the common room, which was glowing faintly orange from the dying embers in the fireplace. After a quick look around, she realised that no one was there and wondered what Sirius had called her down here for.

"Hey!" Sirius whispered, as he popped out of thin air beside her and she jumped, pressing a hand to her mouth to stop herself from screaming. He smirked at her fright and she glared and hit him on the shoulder.

"How did you do that?" she asked and even as she said it, her eyes drifted to the silvery cloak that she'd held once for James before. "Is that ..."

"An invisibility cloak? Yeah. It's been in James' family for generations apparently," Sirius said. "But we get to borrow it for tonight. Perks of being a marauder." He grinned at her.

"Will we even fit?" Violet asked.

Sirius nodded. "We can usually fit all four of us under it if we bend a little," Sirius said. "So we should be alright.

Violet raised an eyebrow. "And what would you four need to be sneaking around under an invisibility cloak for?"

Sirius only winked, before he threw the cloak over himself and Violet, and together, they headed out the portrait hole. The Fat Lady, accustomed to the shenanigans the Marauders got up too, whispered quietly as she swung open, "Don't expect me to stick around in my frame forever! If you aren't back by two, I'll be in the monks' painting on the fifth floor and you can come and get me yourselves."

Sirius and Violet made their way around a corner and into a shallow alcove, where Sirius, still under the cloak, pulled out some parchment.

"What's that?" Violet whispered.

"Me, James, Remus and Peter made it," Sirius whispered back. "Watch." He pulled out his wand and tapped it. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Violet's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as ink began unfurling on the page, forming lines and words. It was a map of the castle, she could see. "Look, we're here," Sirius said, pointing to their names next to each other. "We have to find Filch on here and make sure he's out of the way …" Sirius murmured to himself, scanning the pages.

"This is amazing. You four made this?"

"Yep," Sirius replied, popping the 'p'.

"People do not give you lot enough credit," Violet said, sounding stunned.

"Oh, we know," Sirius agreed. "There he is. Down on the second floor. It looks like there are some prefects on the sixth floor, but lucky for us, they're on the wrong side. We're going to the fourth floor, by the way," Sirius told her. "Mischief managed," he muttered, tapping the parchment. The ink disappeared. He slid the parchment back into his jacket pocket and took Violet's hand. "Come on," he said.

They arrived at a large, ornately framed mirror on the fourth floor, taking a short cut that Violet didn't even know existed. Sirius reached out from under the cloak and tapped the mirror with his wand, murmuring something incomprehensible, before the mirror's glass seemingly melted away. Violet looked apprehensively into the dark space but Sirius was already moving into it, so she, also still under the cloak, had to follow.

Behind her, the glass reappeared and Violet could see out of it into the corridor quite clearly. It was the only source of light in the room, no matter how dim, so she stayed by it. Sirius whipped off the invisibility cloak and dropped it to the floor, before waving his wand to light three lanterns on the wall of what Violet could now see was a vast passageway, narrowing a little before leading off somewhere she couldn't see. The empty space made her nervous, so she moved closer into the warm light and asked Sirius, "So, what's the reason for all this secrecy?"

"Lucy doesn't want us to be alone together anymore," Sirius said bluntly.

"You're alone with me now," Violet pointed out, after a second.

"I know. I was supposed to just tell you after dinner. But I thought that was stupid," Sirius told her.

"The whole idea is stupid," Violet said bluntly. "We're friends. And we have a free lesson together. What are we supposed to do then? Find some other people and just sit by them the whole time?"

Sirius was silent.

"We are! Oh, sacre bleu, that is ridiculous!" Violet exclaimed. She looked at Sirius, standing there with his hands in his pockets, looking unhappy and she instantly regretted what she said. "But, look. I guess as long as I'll still be your friend, if it's what you want to do – what you have to do to make Lucy happy - then … it's fine, I guess."

"It isn't though," Sirius muttered.

"What? What do you mean?"

Sirius swallowed. "It isn't what I want to do." He looked up at Violet, standing stock still, bathed in the yellow light from the lanterns. Take a chance. "I want … you. I was upset over the holidays and – and afraid to get close to you and… Lucy was just there so I – so we – it was mistake. Being with her, I mean. She's like - like bloody Alexa Payne all over again but it's worse because we're all in the same house this time and you share a dormitory with her and it would probably tear the all the sixth year Gryffindors apart …" he trailed off, realising Violet had not moved.

"It would," she said after a second, swallowing and nodding slowly. "It would tear us all apart." Violet looked at him with her magnificent blue eyes, devoid of any emotion, and began walking slowly to the mirror entrance.

"Wait," Sirius called out. "Wait, that's it? I tell you all of that and you just decide to… to leave?"

Violet stopped but didn't turn around. "Well what do you want me to do, Sirius?"

Her tone was so even and calm, it made him angry. "I don't know. Anything! You could start by not suppressing what you actually feel for other people's sakes – that could be a start!"

Violet's jaw clenched and unclenched. "I don't know what you mean."

"You! You never think about what you want! It's like you're a … a ... roobot," he said. "You know those muggle things?"

Violet snickered in spite of herself. "A robot, do you mean? How do you know about them?"

"I read the muggle newspapers in the summer. There were reviews for … for fillems about them," Sirius said. Violet laughed softly at his pronunciation of films. "This isn't funny! You're like a robot. Whenever someone does something you don't like you smile or cover it up with a joke and pretend it doesn't hurt you." Violet's smile dropped. "It's not healthy! You can't keep subduing yourself like that. Honestly tell me what you want right now and then we can go."

"I want to go back to bed," Violet said quietly, moving to the mirror again.

"You said you wouldn't leave me if I opened up to you!" Sirius said, desperate. Violet stopped, just at the mirror. "You're breaking your promise to me." Sirius could see just from her stillness that he had gotten through to her somewhat and he strode over to her taking her hand and pulling her around to face him. "Vi, just tell me that you don't want me like that. We'll forget I ever said anything and we'll back go to the way things were-"

He was cut off as she kissed him. For a split second he just stood, shocked at the sudden turn of events. But then he came to his senses and kissed her back, almost in relief, and pulled her closer.

But then Violet broke away, staring at him as if she'd done something unspeakable (and in her mind, she had, because he was with Lucy, and even though she didn't like it she had to respect that). "I'm sorry. I-I don't know what came over me-"

"No, shush," Sirius said, effectively shutting her up by kissing her again. He could feel her laughing reluctantly against his lips and he couldn't help beaming himself as he pulled away after she conceded.

She bit her lip, trying to keep from smiling back but failed. "Ok," she said softly. "So it might be my turn to apologise for being an idiot."

"Nah," Sirius grinned. "You only needed me to give you a poke or two in the right direction."

"What are we going to do now?" Violet asked, her smile fading as she realised what a mess they were in.

Sirius, too, lost his smile. "I should … I should tell her."

Violet bit her lip. "But that would hurt her."

Sirius frowned. "Wouldn't it hurt her to … to not tell as well?"

"Well, yes," Violet acknowledged with a heavy sigh. She and Sirius were quiet for a moment, thinking through their options. Or rather, Violet was thinking, Sirius was busy marveling at the fact that he was currently standing there with his arms wrapped around her waist. "Do you still want to be with-"

"No," Sirius said quickly.

Violet tried to ignore how much that pleased her.

"Maybe I should … break it off with her … but we should just keep 'this' quiet for a little while. So we don't make her think we're making fun of her," Sirius suggested hesitantly.

Violet paused for a moment before nodding slowly. "If she found out we were hiding it though, she'd be mad."

"I know," Sirius agreed.

"She'd probably kick me out of the dormitory," Violet half laughed.

"That wouldn't be so bad," Sirius mused. "You could come and sleep with me." He waggled his eyebrows at her and grinned, and she raised an eyebrow at him. "Right, yeah. That was a bit insensitive. Sorry."

"Besides," Violet continued. "It doesn't have to be for ages. Just to give her a little bit of time to … to let you go."

"Yeah," Sirius nodded enthusiastically. "It'll be hard keeping us a secret from the others though," he said. "Maybe we should just … no."

"Just what?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me!"

Sirius cringed internally. "I was going to suggest we wait until we start seeing each other. Just in case we – or I, really, since you seem pretty good at hiding things - screw up."

"Oh," Violet swallowed. It did make sense. If they were found out, there could be quite a few people upset with them; primarily Lucy, but also Lucy's other friends and Connor and maybe even Alexa Payne and her group. "I mean … is that what you want?"

Sirius hesitated. "No, I don't want that. Do you want that?"

"... No."

The next morning, Violet woken up by Marlene shaking her. "-let, you need to get up now otherwise you'll miss breakfast!"

Violet sat up and checked her watch, resting on her bedside table and yelped, realising that she really was late.

"You slept in much later than usual," Lily said to her, as Violet threw the covers off of her. "Any reason why?"

Violet barely glanced at Lily, "No. Why?"

Lily shrugged but turned away, her suspicions remained.

So I've had a terrible couple of days but editing this while listening to the Arctic Monkeys and the copious amounts of heavy rain outside was pretty therapeutic. So I'm quite ok now. Your follows and favourites and, in particular, reviews made me feel a lot better too - they really did make me smile when I was feeling miserable. Thank you all so much. (Starcrier - I'd like to say that this is the worst thing that happens/I make reference too, but we all know I'd be lying, because we all know how the basic story of the Marauders goes. I'm just going to say sorry in advance, in case I crush any more hearts).

Also, I just want to point out I made a mistake in a previous chapter, where I said Connor Ollivander was Head Boy, but also said Frank Longbottom was Head Boy. Clearly that isn't the case - Frank is the one and only Head Boy, and Connor is simply a prefect. I've gone back and fixed this, so if you're just reading now and didn't get that, don't even worry about it. In fact, maybe even forget that you read this and the fact that I made this mistake. Onwards, I say.