A/N: I know, it's been so long you'd forgotten I existed. Well, not only do I have another 2 chapters written to type and therefore should be updating fortnightly at the least, I've made a deal with myself that I have to write a chapter of this for every chapter of my other fic, so looking good there... I also have to say that the quality of this and the next chapter is not brilliant, but bear with me, chapter 13 is back to my usual. Oh, and I'm having keyboard issues, so please forgive any typos (or log into my account and change them, chocolate fish...) Good to be back, enjoy!

-for you!

Sirius awoke to a pounding headache. Sharp, grating pains rewarded his every move. He groaned, keeping his eyelids tight shut. Then a slight weight pressed against his chest, and a sweet voice lilted very close to his ear.

"Good morning, Sunshine."

Slowly, he opened his eyes, wincing at the flood of bright white light as it pressed against him. It was forever before his eyes finally adjusted to the harsh morning. Laura sat on the edge of his bed, her face smiling kindly, her hand pressed lightly against his chest. He grinned at her.

"We've been here before, haven't we?" he said, remembering the day a few short months ago when he had awoken to her last. Her smile broadened. She nodded sedately.

"You seem to have a bit of a thing for getting yourself into trouble, don't you?" she said teasingly, her hand stroking his chest.

Then the full reality of it hit him. She was his, really his, she loved him and he loved her and they could stay together forever because they were all that mattered…

"Laura?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you." The words flowed from his mouth so easily! Those words he had evaded for so long were so simple to say after all.

She smiled. "I love you too," she said, and lay down on the bed next to him, wrapping her arms around him. He held her close, unable to stop a blissful grin from spreading over his face at the knowledge that she was his, his at last, and they could stay there as long as they liked because nothing could ever tear them apart; she belonged to him and he would never ever let her go.

Even in his contentment, Sirius' head felt like it was about to explode. "I feel terrible," he said heavily.

She snorted into his chest. "No shit, Sherlock."

He frowned. "Who the hell is Sherlock?"

"Sherlock Holmes! The detective?" he tried to shrug. She sat up and looked at him incredulously. "You don't know who Sherlock Holmes is?"

He struggled to sit up. "No. Should I?" She stared at him for a few seconds, then her shoulders slumped in realization and she shook her head.

"Man, you must have had a deprived childhood."

Sirius laughed derisively. "You have no idea," he told her, "One day, you should meet my parents." She looked at him sadly for a minute before helping him sit up on his pillows and leaning against him.

"I guess you never had Barney, either," she said sadly. Sirius snorted.

"What's that, a great-uncle?" He felt her shake her head against his chest.

"I can't believe you've never heard of Barney…" she began humming a cute, kindergarten-type melody.

"I love you,
You love me,
We're a happy family
With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you
Won't you say you love me too?"

He chuckled, then yawned. For the first time since he had awoken, wrapped up as he was in his joy and love for Laura, he looked around him.

He was in the hospital wing. He'd guessed that much. The beds around them were all full, and a distinct smell of woodsmoke filled the air. Outside the bay windows that lined the ward, the pale pink of dawn had only just begun to peer over the distant hills on the horizon. A few people turned restlessly in their beds and groaned helplessly. "Why are you here?" Sirius asked. "You should be in a bed here, or at least in a bed in your dormitory. Look how early it is."

"Madam Pomfrey gave me a cream to fix the burns on my face and said she'd ordinarily keep me overnight, but after 'that foolish Professor Kettleburn,'" she put on a high voice that sounded uncannily like Madam Pomfrey, "blew up the Hall, she didn't have enough room for me to stay, so I could go. I told her I'd rather just stay with you."

"How did she take that?" Sirius asked, grinning at the thought of the matron's face.

"She looked at me like I'd just shoved half a lemon down her throat, but she probably figured she couldn't stop me." He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. "Oh, and Merry Christmas," she added happily.

Sirius started. Of course! It was Christmas Day! As he realized this, the wide doors to the hospital wing slowly inched open. Three house-elves wearing Hogwarts togas and positively laden with presents of all sizes surreptitiously crept in. The poor things looked as though they were about to crumple under their massive burdens. Sirius almost laughed; they looked rather comical. The first one placed a sizeable pile at the foot of Sirius' bed.

"Thanks, Squeaky," he said.

"You're welcome, Master Sirius," the elf squeaked. "Miss Albrite's are there too."

"Thank you," Laura said. "And Merry Christmas."

The elf bowed its head. "And to you, Miss," he said. He shifted the pile of presents on his shoulder and tottered off.

"How did you know its name?" Laura asked, sitting up properly and looking at him.

"James and I have been in the kitchen millions of times," he replied. "We know most of them by name. Hey Polly!" he called to a female elf currently unloading presents onto Cyndi MacMillian's bed. Se turned around. "Merry Christmas!"

Laura laughed. Within moments, he house-elves had left the room. Dawn slowly began to illuminate the ward as it wakened into life around them. Madam Pomfrey bustled out of her office and, seeing that Sirius was awake, made her way over to him.

"You're awake, are you?" she said sniffily, bustling around him and applying some sort of potion.

"Guess so," Sirius replied brightly. "Merry Christmas, Madam Pomfrey." She did sniff this time.

"Yes, and a fine Christmas I'm going to have with this lot," she replied, waving an arm at the full ward. Sirius was struck by a very strong suspicion that she blamed him.

"It's not his fault," Laura said indignantly. She tutted.

"He was," the matron said, pointing at a bed near the door. Sirius thought that it was Professor Beery, but he couldn't be sure, the Herbology teacher's head had swelled so big. "I've tried everything, I can't get it to go down."

Sirius tried, and failed, to suppress a laugh. Madam Pomfrey gave him a disapproving look, which he ignored. He began to run his hands through Laura's hair, taking comfort when she snuggled into his chest. The matron tutted again.

"Madam Pomfrey?" Laura asked. "Could you put some Christmas music on, please?" The matron gave them a look as though there was nothing she'd like to do less, but a few minutes after she bustled away, God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs could be heard playing through the ward. Laura laughed. "What's this, a remake of the Muggle version? Original, you wizards, aren't you?"

"Hey," Sirius said in mock-indignation. "You're one of us now, so no insults." She laughed again, and somehow her lips found his; everything else became obsolete as she shifted her slight weight over him and her tongue began darting between his teeth; he couldn't help thinking how perfect it was, no matter how many people out of the large fraction of Hogwarts ensconced in the hospital wing were watching them.

The song tinkling cheerfully on behind them would always remind Sirius of blissful, all-consuming happiness now.

There was a slight cough from behind them. "Not interrupting anything, are we?" came James' drawling voice.

"Prongs," hissed Moony, and even though Sirius hadn't opened his eyes yet, he could see the werewolf's pointed look in his mind's eye. Friends, he thought; sometimes they make you laugh, sometimes they make you cry, and sometimes they make you want to jump on them and strangle them…

Laura pulled away from him. He reluctantly let her go and turned to face his two best friends in the whole world. "Merry Christmas," he said smoothly.

Moony grinned, mirth sparkling in his grey eyes. "You, too," he said. "Sorry about him," he rolled his eyes at James, who had found Peter's bed by the door and was noisily attempting to wake him up. "He felt a bit lonely this morning." Sirius snorted. "Are you two going to open those, or were you too busy?"

"Oh," Laura said happily. "I'd forgotten about them." Moony laughed lightly.

"Oh, and thanks for the puzzles," he said, his eyes smiling kindly at her. Sirius saw her smile back, a similar expression in her eyes.

"You're welcome," she replied cheerfully. "I thought you'd like them."

"James liked the paddle thing, too," he said, glancing back to where James was now enthusiastically helping Peter sit up. "He played with it for at least half an hour before I decided it was safe to come up here." Laura grinned, watching James and Peter fondly.

"He's such a little kid," she laughed. "Does he ever stop moving?"

"I think he did once," Sirius said thoughtfully. "That time at Peter's…"

"That was because you strapped him to the bed," Moony pointed out.

"Oh." Laura giggled. "Yeah. That's right." Peter finally managed to stammer out something that made James back away hurriedly. "Merry Christmas, Wormy," Sirius said cheerfully. Peter coughed weakly and nodded.

"How are you feeling?" Laura asked. "You were caught in the worst of it, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I'd been wanting to ask you that myself," Sirius said conversationally. "How in Merlin's name did you manage to get yourself stuck under a desk in the middle of a fire when there usually aren't even any desks in the Great Hall?"

Moony snorted, then forced his face into a sober expression. "Sorry," he said, with an expression like he was having trouble keeping a straight face. "It's not funny. Peter?"

Peter sniffed. "I don't know how I got there. I don't find trouble. It just… finds me."

"Spoken like a true Marauder, my friend," James said proudly. "Trouble follows us around like… like a secret admirer."

"Like Eva," Laura said, laughing. James laughed too, and suddenly Sirius found himself joining in, even though laughing at Eva's expense was the last thing he felt like doing, and once he started he couldn't stop, and within moments, Remus and Peter were doing it too, and all the emotions, the tensions between them evaporated and they became consumed by the laughter that bounced between them.

The joke wasn't even that funny, Sirius thought, helpless with laughter. It just felt so good to laugh like this, like they hadn't done in ages, and forget for a moment that last night was the second time this year that Sirius had almost died. So good to forget everything except the fact that they were still there, the Marauders, and now, finally, Laura.

What felt like ages later, Sirius wiped tears of mirth from his eyes and coughed. "That felt good," Moony pointed out happily. The statement brought one last harsh bark of laughter from James' throat.

"You don't do it enough, Moony," he croaked, standing up from where the laughter had dumped him on the hospital wing floor.

"Perhaps not," Moony rebutted, "but you do it too much."

"How can you possibly do that too much?" James asked, rubbing his behind ruefully. He'd landed on it rather hard, thought Sirius.

"Well, the way you do it, your arse must be bruised all over," he pointed out dryly. James just shrugged. Sirius went back to what he had been doing before: opening a present wrapped in hot pink paper, marked in silver ink with To Sirius, From Laura.

The wrapping fell away to reveal – Sirius didn't know what it was. It was a cube that fit neatly into his palm, made up of smaller squares. Each side was coloured differently. Coloured lights flashed at him briefly.

"Thanks, Laura," he said slowly. She looked up at him surprisedly, then saw the box in his hands.

"Oh! You're welcome." She turned back to her own presents.

"What… what is it?" She giggled and took it from him.

"It's called Rubik's Cube Revolution. It's like a Muggle puzzle. You mix the sides up," she began rotating rows of the smaller squares, "and the aim is to get them all back to the way they were. This one's cool," she said, flashing him a grin, "it makes noises." Sirius jumped as a grainy fanfare erupted violently from the cube. He grinned too.

"Cool," he said, envisioning the fun he was going to have annoying Moony with it. As he looked up, he noticed that the werewolf seemed to be thinking along the same line. He chuckled and took the cube back from Laura.

"How long before you find it mysteriously broken?" James whispered.

"A week?" Sirius suggested hopefully. James raised a doubtful eyebrow.

"I'm giving you 'till Wednesday."

Sirius grinned. And for a moment, one shining moment, nothing else mattered. He could deal with Eva, with the people out there who thought that the still-packed hospital wing was his fault, with everything else he was going to get this school year, as long as Laura's arms stayed around him and he and James could still laugh at Moony together.

Things were going to be all right.

Later that night, James Potter lay awake, listening to the sounds of Peter snoring. He wasn't tired; he was bored.

"Moony," he whispered, "are you asleep?"

A grunt. "Yep."

"Oh." James frowned. You could never tell if Moony was being sarcastic or not, and James knew that people sometimes sleep-talked in ways that made sense; his father, for example, could hold a perfectly rational conversation in his sleep. "Really?"

A laugh. "No, James."

"Oh." He paused. "I'm going to see Sirius." He sat up decisively, throwing off his blankets. He heard the sound of Moony sitting up too.

"James, don't," the werewolf said sharply.

"Why not?"

"He's with Laura." Perhaps he sensed that James was about to say 'so?': he kept talking. "How would you feel if Lily Evans was finally yours and the two of you were alone together, and then Sirius came bursting in?"

James considered this. "I'd probably sock him one," he admitted. "But they're in the hospital wing, Moony, what are they going to be doing? And besides, it's Padfoot. The situations are completely different."

There was silence for a minute, and James took that for Moony's assent. Just as he was about to get up, however, his friend spoke again, mild disbelief colouring his voice. "You can't honestly tell me you didn't notice, James Potter."

"Notice what, Remus Lupin?"

Moony sighed. "Laura isn't like all the others, James. He really likes her, has done since about a week after school started this year. He's actually serious about her."

James knew Moony was scolding him for not noticing what was happening to his best friend. He had noticed something was different, thinking back to their conversation the day before, but it was so unlike Sirius that he'd dismissed the idea. Could it be true? Could Sirius really feel about Laura the way he felt about Lily Evans?

He decided to give the idea a chance and slumped back into bed. About an hour later, he drifted off to sleep amid imagined scenes where he pulled Lily from a blazing fire and she fell madly in love with him…

A/N: Please review or I'll lose motivation again, and you now know the full scope of what that does to me. I will also email a picture of a cookie or a cake to evryone who reviews (trying a new tactic; empty threats weren't working) so indicate your preference... Next chapter should be soon, until then, adiós!

-for you