Part Ten:

"And then Art brought me here and you were all yelling in the yard and then Sirius was there and…" Catherine trailed off before finishing lamely with, "You know the rest."

The room fell silent. Remus and Peter exchanged a look, while Lily stared in horror at an antique lamp Sirius had acquired long ago from a second hand shop. James shuddered involuntarily and reached for Lily's hand. Sirius shut his eyes, tightening his grip on Catherine. She should be dead. His imagination easily began putting together the torment Bellatrix would have unleashed upon Catherine once she was caught…all because of him. She would have been tortured and murdered because he had the audacity to love her.

The front door opened, breaking the silence as the Prewetts stumbled into the room. Fabian caught Sirius's eye and shook his head once. No sign of Catherine's mysterious rescuer. Gideon shut the door behind them. "Warmth." He quickly took up a position beside the heater. "Oh, warmth! How I have missed you!" He looked around the room. "Marlene didn't make it back yet, then?"

"Not yet," Remus said softly, a touch of coldness in his voice.

"You didn't find Art." Catherine glanced from one Prewett brother to the other, looking very much like an abandoned puppy. Sirius felt an irrational stab of jealousy and pulled her protectively against his side.

"I don't think Art wants to be found," Fabian replied. "If anyone knew he rescued you, he'd find himself dead faster than you can say 'you-know-who'."

"Voldemort doesn't care about Catherine," Sirius told him. That much he was sure about. Once Voldemort decided you should die, you were dead within the day. If Voldemort wanted Catherine dead, she wouldn't be here right now. "This whole thing was Bellatrix's and Regulus's pet project. He probably didn't even know about it."

"Fabian," Gideon said from his place by the heater, "He doesn't know."

Fabian turned towards Sirius. "The Lestrange estate is under nearly as many magical protections as this place. To even get on the grounds, you have to have the Dark Mark or be escorted by someone who does."

Sirius stared at him, trying to let the words sink into his already overwhelmed brain.

Lily's brain was working faster than his. "Art is a Death Eater," She breathed. She turned to Catherine. "You said he had a tattoo on one arm? Do you remember what it was?"

Catherine scrunched up her face, trying to remember. "I…there was so much going on. I think there was a snake."

James had picked up a piece of parchment and was scribbling on it furiously. He passed it to Catherine. Sirius glanced over her shoulder to see a rough sketch of the Dark Mark. "That's it." She confirmed.

Lily straightened up in her chair. "And you said he had dark hair?" She asked excitedly.

Catherine nodded. "And his eyes were gray, like Sirius's."

A shadow crossed through Lily's eyes as her face fell. "Right." She glanced at the ceiling for several moments before standing. "Sirius? Where do you keep your herbs?"

That was the most random question he'd ever heard. "Uh…in the little spinny thing Cat got for me," he replied. He forgot what it was called, although he did have to admit that it made finding things in his cabinets much easier.

"I meant the ones you use for potions, not the ones you use for dinner," Lily elaborated.

"Oh, uh…" he had to think about that one. He never had been all that fond of potions. It wasn't very flashy and it required spending hours in front of a cauldron. Oh, and reading. There was so much reading for potions. "I think everything's down in a corner in the basement?" He guessed. He hadn't really bothered with the subject since Seventh Year.

"Because that'sa sensible place for it." Lily muttered. She shook her head as she climbed to her feet. "I'm going to go put together a dreamless sleep potion." Without giving anyone a chance to respond, she quickly retreated from the room.

James frowned. "What was thatabout?"

Sirius shrugged. Lily's issues were really not at the top of the list of things he cared about at the moment.

Remus sighed, "You two are really thick, you know that?" He shook his head. "She was hoping Art was Snape." Seeing James open his mouth, Remus held up a hand. "And before you say anything, Prongs, just stop and think how you'd feel if Padfoot decided to become a Death Eater and devoted his life towards killing people like you."

James was silent for a moment. "I'll go talk to her," he said finally. He moved to follow Lily, nearly colliding with Marlene McKinnon as she came in the front door.

"Everything's quiet at the Lestrange estate now," she announced, joining Gideon by the heater. She studied it curiously. "What a remarkable thing…"

"Isn't it?" Gideon remarked, making room for her. "It just…makes heat. I have to remember to tell Arthur about it."

Sirius ignored the conversation, turning his attention back to Catherine. "Cat, I don't mean to be…judgmental, but you haven't told us and I really, really need to know…whydid you ever leave class to begin with?"

"Because of the note from Peter," she said simply.

"What?" Peter sat up quickly in his chair.

Catherine nodded. "I wouldn't have gone if it wasn't from one of you. The note said that Sirius had been ambushed and that James and Remus took him to the hospital and that Peter was supposed to come get me and take me there immediately." She dropped Sirius's hand and fumbled in her jeans pocket for several moments before producing a folded piece of parchment. Wordlessly, she handed it to him.

"I didn't write…" Peter started, visibly shaking.

"We know you didn't, Pete," Remus told him kindly.

"It's probably from Regulus." Sirius unfolded it and immediately recognized the handwriting. Well. That was a surprise. How large wasBellatrix's reach? "I take it back. Regulus didn't write this. Lucius Malfoy did." He handed the letter to Remus.

"You're sure?" Remus looked at it quickly, then passed it to Peter.

"Positive. I can look at a page and memorize it, remember? When Regulus and I were kids and Mum would leave us with Narcissa so she could go do whatever it was she did, we used to swipe the love letters Narcissa got from Lucius and make fun of them." Sirius shook his head. "That's most definitely his handwriting."

"I…I….I need…" Peter suddenly bolted from the room, looking ill.

Remus stood. "I'll talk to him."

"I'm sorry," Catherine said softly. "I didn't mean to…I know that Peter isn't to blame. I was so stupid. This is all my fault."

"This is notyour fault," Fabian told her. "This is what Death Eaters do. They prey upon people they perceive as weaker or inferior to them. Half-bloods, Muggle-borns, Muggles, other magical races…. If they have their way, we're all going to end up enslaved or dead."

"You're a pure-blood," Marlene reminded him.

"I'm a blood traitor and proud of it," Fabian corrected. "I'm as dead as everyone else."

"This is what I'm fighting for," Sirius said quietly. "What we're all fighting for. I'd rather face death than live in Voldemort's world."

"You sound like Lily," James remarked. Sirius jumped. He hadn't even seen him return, but there he was, leaning against the doorframe between the front parlor and the main hall.

"Yeah, well," Sirius gave his best friend a small smile, "I might have borrowed part of that speech from her. Your wife's a rather bright witch, you know."

"I do." James grinned. "Although it does get a bit infuriating when she's always right about everything."

"So what happens now?" Catherine asked.

"We'll go report to Dumbledore about what happened," Gideon replied. "He might want to talk with you himself, make sure you're okay and all. We'll have to step up security. Maybe Fabian or I could enroll in your classes as extra back-up or something."

Catherine was silent as she thoughtfully turned her eyes on Sirius. "I'm not," she frowned, "I'm never going to be safe here, am I?" There was acceptance in her voice.

Even if they hadn't just completely failed to keep her safe, it wasn't worth lying about. James was right. Catherine had a right to know everything before she made any decisions. "No." He hesitated, then added, "At least not as long as they think we're together."

She gave him a wane smile. "Even if we weren't, that won't stop them. Not now." Catherine laughed slightly. "I've made quite a mess of my life, haven't I?" She looked away and wrapped her arms around herself. "Pathetic," she whispered.

Fabian cleared his throat. "Uh, I think we'll go, er, report to Dumbledore now."

"We will?" Gideon asked. Fabian hit him on the back of the head and he glared at his brother. "Right. Yes. We will. Come on, Marlene."

"I'm going to help Lily with her potion. You both go on without me." Marlene linked her arm with James's. "Come on, Potter. You know your way around this place."

Suddenly, there was a flurry of motion. The Prewetts threw on their coats and were out the front door, while James and Marlene quickly disappeared down the hallway. Sirius could hear the door to the basement open and shut, and then they were alone. The silence was instantly suffocating. Sirius stared at the carpet. He wasn't quite sure what to say. 'Well, it looks like your father was right about me' really didn't seem appropriate. "Catherine?"

She glanced up at him.

"I'm sorry." He sighed, feeling the weight of the situation settle heavily upon his shoulders. "I'm so sorry. I never meant for this to happen to you. If I'd known this would happen, I never would have picked up your pen in that coffee shop."

"I know." Her voice was dull. "Well." She paused, then repeated, "Well. Professor Cromwell keeps trying to talk to me about art school. He has a friend in Rome who expressed interest in having me study there. I could probably transfer." She paused. "You know? I wanted nothing more than to go to art school last year. I just knew Mum and Dad would go postal if I even considered it, so I didn't. And now, well, now I don't care if they do." She looked away before adding, "Maybe that's the good that comes out of all of this."

Rome was certainly safer than London. Putting over a thousand kilometers between Catherine and Bellatrix would certainly help increase Catherine's life expectancy. And it sounded like this would actually let her pursue her dreams. It was just…she'd also be over a thousand kilometers away from him.

Maybe that was what she wanted.

She certainly wasn't acting like she expected him to continue to be a part of her life. He didn't blame her. He knew he wasn't exactly a catch. Instead of contributing to society or getting educated or doing any of the things responsible young men were supposed to do, he was living off his inheritance and playing the part of the devil-may-care rebel. Hell, he spent large amounts of his time committing various felonies for the Order and his own family wanted to kill him. He certainly couldn't offer anything resembling a stable life. And as for romance? He was pretty pathetic when it came to the romance department. His only real girlfriend before Catherine had been Andrea McLauflin, and that hadn't exactly ended well. Okay, it had ended in his total and complete humiliation in front of the entire student body at Hogwarts. While he'd thought he was in love with Andrea, he certainly never felt for her the things he felt for Catherine.

"Cat?" Sirius broke the silence again. He waited until she looked at him, then took her hand in his. "James says I'm an idiot." He ignored her confused look and charged ahead. "He also says that I need to, well, to tell you everything. So, here's what I think." He took a deep breath. "If you can go to Rome, do it, because you'll be safe there. It kills me to think about you being that far away, but, well, I love you and I'd rather you be safe and far away than in a cemetery here."

She stared at him, shock written across her face.

To their left, the door opened. "I'm sure Padfoot doesn't think…" Remus was saying. He froze and Peter collided with his back.

Sirius looked up at the ceiling. "Really? You do this to me now?"

"Let's go find Prongs," Remus announced. He began walking backwards out of the room dragging Peter along with him. The door to the hall swung shut.

"Sirius?" Catherine's voice was hesitant. He looked back at her. She was still staring at him, the shocked expression giving way to disbelief. "Did you just say that you loved me?"

"Uh," he rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah. I didn't do it right, did I?" He wasn't quite sure howa bloke was supposed to confess love. James had just followed Lily around everywhere, asking her out. Peter once planned an elaborate dinner date for a girlfriend he was in love with. Remus, well, he didn't know if Remus had ever been in love. It was a safe bet, however, that one probably shouldn't say 'I love you' for the first time when telling one's girlfriend that she needed to hide from one's murderous relatives in a foreign country.

"You love me?" Catherine asked again.

"I love you," he confirmed. "And I know that this is the worst timing…" He was cut off as Catherine kissed him. His brain managed to tell him that this was a positive reaction as her arms slid around his neck, and then he didn't really think about anything for several minutes.

She broke away far too soon. He certainly wasn't done. Sirius reached for her and felt her push him away. "What are we doing?" Catherine whispered.

"I thought you were snogging me," he replied, his mind still foggy. He'd been hoping things would continue to their natural conclusion. The moment she'd kissed him, all he'd known was that he needed this, needed to celebrate that she was alive, needed to…live. Talking certainly hadn't been part of the equation. Somewhere in the back reaches of his mind, an alarm was sounding. This was not good.

"Your cousin tried to kill me. You're fighting a war against evil personified. I'm about to go hide in another country." Catherine sat back. "Doesn't any of this sound insane to you? What are we thinking? This, you and me…it can't work. In what world could it ever possibly work?"

"Do you love me?" He asked.

"Of course I do," Catherine started, "But…"

"But nothing." Sirius forced himself to sit up. "Maybe it's crazy, but there's got to be a way. This, you and me, it could work. Maybe we'll be the next James and Lily, or maybe six months from now we'll decide that we never were right for each other, but we won't know if we don't try." He held out his hand to her. "I want to try."