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Cecilia spent the next two weeks in a melancholy mood, leaving her room only to hunt. For some reason, everything depressed her. She wished Harry was still here, and with a jolt realized that she was probably feeling the same way Sirius had been, and now found herself being more and more able to identify with why he had been so upset when he found out Harry could no longer stay at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Remus came to visit her in the early evenings as frequently as he possibly could (excluding the full moon), but this still meant that she was alone often, and therefore forced to spend much of the time thinking. She confessed a lot of her thoughts (most of which had to do with Sirius) to Remus.

"Does he ever talk about me at all, Remus?" she asked him one day as they sat next to each other on her bed.

"I try to bring you up in conversation every so often, but he doesn't seem all that willing to talk about you." He sighed. "Very honestly, I can't blame him."

Cecilia's eyes flashed and she sat up as tall as she possibly could in her fourteen year-old body. "Whose side are you on?"

"It's not so much a question of whose side I'm on, Cecilia," he said, "but more of a question of whose side I can sympathize with. You are and have always been one of my closest friends, and I love you dearly, but what you did to Sirius left him ruined. I don't really understand what made you do what you did, which, in fact, only you truly do, because you left right afterwards and distanced yourself from all of us. But I was the one who had to witness what exactly the aftermath was, so I can truly sympathize more with Sirius and understand his actions."

Cecilia slumped back against the wall, breathing deeply. "I can't say that I don't understand what you're saying. But it's definitely not doing anything to make me feel better about all this."

"I don't think you will feel better until you talk to him."

"I want to, Remus!" she exclaimed. "All I want to do is tell him how sorry I am and try and explain myself, but I know he won't listen to me! He's a proud man, and proud men never easily forgive. And I must admit that I'm somewhat afraid of him, of his rage! I have no chance."

Remus started speaking hesitantly as he ran his hand slowly, thoughtfully through his hair. "I- have a plan, I think, that will maybe get the two of you talking again. But you have to promise me that you'll let me do whatever it'll take to mend your broken relationship."

Cecilia closed her eyes as she felt a headache coming on. "You can do whatever you want, Remus. I just want to end this fight. I hate fighting with him."

Later that night, for the first time since Harry had left, Cecilia decided to go down into the kitchen. She didn't know why exactly, but she figured a change of scenery would probably do her good. It was around one o'clock in the morning and it seemed, as she walked down the steps, that everyone was asleep. She had no clue how many members of the Order actually stayed in the house during the year, but she was relieved to remember that, since Snape was a teacher at Hogwarts, she wouldn't run into him at all. She remembered their last encounter with more than slight distaste.

Remembering Snape also brought Albus back into her mind, and she thought about something that she had not thought about in a while- why exactly had he brought her here? She knew it was mostly for her own protection, but he had also mentioned in passing that there was a job she needed to do. What was it? He had never told her! The matter left her mind, however, when she walked into the kitchen and found Remus, oddly, still awake, and waiting for her, it appeared.

"Hello, Remus," she said, a slightly confused smile on her face. "You're up late."

"I've talked to Sirius," he said quietly. Cecilia felt her heart skip a beat.

"You have?"

"Yes. I explained some things to him, and he said that he might be willing to talk to you. He's up in his room and he said that he wouldn't mind if you were to go up now."

"Are you- are you sure?" All of this seemed almost too good to be true!

"Positive." He beamed. "You gave me permission to do all I could to help you both, and I have. I think it would be a smart move if you were to take advantage of it and go up to see him."

Cecilia ran and giddily hugged him. "I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you!" Almost unconsciously, she kissed his cheek and ran up the stairs, her black dress flowing behind her.

When she reached Sirius's room, she hesitated for a moment because the door was closed. She took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself and form some coherent sentences in her head to say to him. She knew that if she took the time to stop and think about things now, she would never get the courage to actually go inside his room, so she steeled herself, knocked once on the door, and walked right in. Sirius was sitting on his bed, flipping through a photo album, his dark hair falling in his face. He turned around and, seeing it was her, quickly shoved the album into his bedside dresser.

"What are you doing here?" he growled menacingly, his black eyes fixed on her.

Cecilia was confused. "But- but- didn't Remus? He said that- wait a second." She stopped and cocked her head. A creak sounded from the hallway behind her. As she turned, the door to Sirius's room slammed shut and there was a click. She practically flew to the door and tried to leave, but she found it to be locked.

"REMUS!" she screamed, trying to practically rip the door off its hinges as Sirius shouted incoherently, outraged, behind her.

She heard Remus's voice reply softly from the other side of the door. "Again, Cecilia, you gave me permission to do all I could to help you, and this is what I decided would work. Now you two have no choice but to talk."

"LET ME OUT!" she shouted hoarsely.

"Not until you two say all you have to, and you two DEFINITELY have a lot to say. I would suggest you start talking, because I'll let you out as soon as you two have resolved your differences. Good night," he said, and Cecilia heard his footsteps grow fainter and fainter as he walked away.

"No, Remus!" she yelled, though she was almost positive he could no longer hear her.

She turned around slowly, exhausted and beaten, and tried to figure out what the hell she should do next.