Luise_Mau: Wow, thanks for your wonderful review! I'm so glad that you're enjoying Emmeline's and Sirius's characters. I hope you enjoy this next chapter:)

iceandfire 105: Perhaps because I enjoy torturing you?;) Lol just kidding – but here it is! The next chapter for you! Hope you like it.

Thursday

November 11th

3:12 am

Gryffindor common room

Sirius felt as if the bottom of his stomach had disappeared. "What?"

Marlene bit her lip, her eyes full of unshed tears. "Emmeline's gone. We can't find her anywhere."

"She and Marlene went to the library together after dinner, and Marlene left at eight o'clock," Lily explained to Sirius. "No one's seen Emmeline since then."

"She promised she'd be back by t-ten," Marlene began to cry. "She said she had some extra homework she wanted to d-do. I waited up for her, but she never c-came, so I woke up Lily and… and t-told her everything," she bent her head down, and Lily patted her shoulder consolingly.

"Have you tried looking for her?" Sirius asked. His legs felt like water, and he perched himself on a nearby armchair.

"We can't, it's way past curfew," Lily said. "We'd all get detentions."

"So we should just let our best friend stay missing?" Marlene snapped tearfully.

"Lily, you're a prefect – you could go looking for her without getting in trouble," Sirius stood up again, and Marlene suddenly looked hopeful. Lily shook her head, however.

"I'm not on duty tonight, so I'm not allowed. I'd get in trouble. Look, Marlene –" Lily turned to her friend. "Emmeline probably just fell asleep in the library or something. I'm sure she's fine. We should all go back to bed, and in a few hours, get up and tell a teacher if she's not back yet." She rubbed Marlene's back. "There's no reason to get so worked up. I'm sure everything will be fine."

Marlene didn't look convinced, however, as she turned her tear-stained face imploringly to Sirius. "Sirius – please."

Sirius looked back at Marlene, and they had an immediate understanding: he knew beyond a doubt that neither one of them was going to sit around and do nothing if Emmeline was missing. He turned back toward the boy's dormitory.

"Hold on," he said before hurrying up the stairs. A minute later he came back down, carrying James' Invisibility Cloak under his arm.

"Is that…?" Marlene's eyes widened as she stared at the Cloak. Sirius turned to Lily.

"I'm going to help Marlene go and find her. Is that alright with you?" Marlene beamed, looking immensely relieved.

"Well… I, er…" Lily stammered, taken aback. She looked extremely reluctant to consent to their rule-breaking, but after a moment she sighed, conceding. "I guess so. But if you guys aren't back here within two hours, I will have no choice but to tell Dumbledore what's going on. Assuming you don't get caught, that is."

"Fine," Marlene said hurriedly. "Let's go."

Without further ado, Sirius followed Marlene out of the portrait hole. Lily watched them leave, a worried expression on her face.

Once they were outside in the Fat Lady's corridor, Sirius handed Marlene the Cloak.

"Here, you take it."

Marlene looked confused. "What? I thought we were going to look for her together."

"We only have a couple hours, and we can cover more of the castle if we split up," Sirius explained. "You can search the dungeons and the first three floors, and I can take the rest."

"Won't you be seen?" Marlene looked uncertain as she took the silken material from him. Sirius shook his head.

"I've snuck out at night loads of times. I don't need a Cloak to stay hidden," he said confidently. Marlene pressed her lips together, and nodded.

"Well, if you're sure…" she unfolded the Invisibility Cloak, which shimmered in the darkness. "Be careful, won't you?"

"Yeah, you too," Sirius turned to leave. "Meet back here in two hours?"

"Yeah – and Sirius?" she added, and he turned back toward her. Her wide eyes seemed to shine brightly in the gloom as she looked at him. "Thank you."

Sirius pressed his lips together. "It's Emmeline," he said simply. Marlene smiled, grateful that he understood what Lily couldn't.

"Yeah."

And with that, they went their separate ways – Sirius turned around and swept off toward the North Wing, while Marlene hurried off to the Grand Staircase, pulling the Cloak over her head as she went. In a matter of seconds, they were both gone.

~/~

Sirius ran for a few seconds before slowing down to a stop. He glanced over his surroundings, making sure no one was there, before transforming into a black dog. He knew he would have a much better chance at finding Emmeline if he were in his Animagus form – all of his senses were sharper, and he would be able to blend into the shadows better with his dark fur. Eyes bright and ears pricked, Sirius bent his head down and began to sniff along the ground, trying to pick up any trace of Emmeline he could find.

Sirius trotted through the North Wing and along the seventh-floor corridor; the stillness of the empty castle allowed his already keen senses to magnify everything tenfold. Occasionally he would pick up a faint scent of someone and follow it, but it always ended up being a teacher or a prefect on guard duty, and he had to quickly dart away before he was seen. He continued on with his search, trying to stay optimistic, but worry constantly weighing down on his heart.

~/~

After almost an hour of searching, Sirius was beginning to grow weary. He sniffedalong the corridor outside the Astronomy Towers without any expectation of finding anything, but when he had reached the south end, he suddenly stopped – his ears pricked up and his nose quivered.

Someone was up in the Astronomy Tower.

It might have just been another teacher, but Sirius was desperate at this point – he ran down the corridor and turned right, bounding up a flight of stairs. The steps began to spiral upward, and he continued to run, panting from the effort. Finally, he made it to the top landing – he leapt quietly up onto the parapet and looked around:

Sitting cross-legged atop one of the turrets, and silhouetted against the dim moonlight, was Emmeline, gazing pensively out into the clear night sky.

Her back was to Sirius, so she didn't immediately see him. However, in his joy at finally finding his quarry, a small yelp escaped him – Emmeline whipped her head around at the noise, and laid her eyes on the massive black dog that was Sirius.

"What the –?!" she screeched, practically falling over from shock. She jumped to her feet and scrambled for her wand; Sirius winced, realizing a second too late he was still a dog.

"Stay back!" Emmeline pointed her wand at Sirius, her hand quivering and her eyes as round as saucers. Sirius, cursing himself, gave a small whimper before quickly transforming back into a human.

"Hey," he held his hands up to her, placating. "Hey – it's alright! It's only me."

Emmeline looked as if she had just received the shock of her life. She dropped her wand, blinking several times as she tried to register what had just happened. "…Sirius?" she whispered, as if afraid she was seeing things. She stepped back, touching a hand to the stone turret behind her.

"Yeah," Sirius took a tentative step toward her, hands still held up. "It's me."

Emmeline didn't say anything at first: she only stared at Sirius, her mind clearly trying to work out what had just happened. "How did you do that?" she finally asked faintly, giving him a bewildered once-over.

"Er…" Sirius slowly walked forward and picked up Emmeline's dropped wand. He straightened up and handed it back to her. "I'm an Animagus. I'm sorry if I scared you, but you weren't exactly supposed to see me… people don't really know yet…"

Emmeline said nothing. She only stared at Sirius, unable to form any words.

"Marlene's been worried sick," Sirius went on awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "She and I have been all over the castle looking for you. She'll be glad to know you're alive," he added, trying to sound cheerful. Emmeline still said nothing, and finally looked away from Sirius toward the door behind him. It was difficult to tell in the dark, but it almost looked as if she had been crying.

"…Is everything okay?" he asked after a moment, beginning to grow concerned. Emmeline glanced down at her hands before turning away.

"Tell Marlene I'm fine," she muttered, her back to Sirius. A cold wind began to blow from the north. "I just wanted to be out here for a bit."

Something was clearly wrong, but Sirius didn't want to push her too much for answers. He looked at Emmeline for a second before slowly walking up to stand next to her on the parapet. They were both silent as they gazed out toward the darkened grounds. "What happened?" he asked after a minute, his voice soft. He glanced over at her, noting how she leaned her head against the turret, tears now streaming down her face. She closed her eyes.

"Reggie broke up with me," she whispered after a moment. Sirius opened his mouth slightly, staring at her with surprise and concern.

"Oh my God…" he said after a moment, and he had a strong urge to comfort her. "Emmeline, I'm so sorry."

She pressed her lips together, looking miserable. "Yeah."

There was a short silence, where Emmeline stared out toward into the starry night with her lifeless gaze. Sirius looked at her, worried.

"It happened tonight?" he asked quietly. She closed her eyes again before nodding.

"In the library," she mumbled, opening her eyes again. "Right after Marlene left. He came up to me and he… he said…" Her eyes began to fill with tears again, and she gulped down a restrained sob. "He said he'd b-been… thinking things over … and… and he…" her shoulders began to shake. "He said he wanted t-to… to…"

She began to cry, unable to finish. Sirius, his heart breaking for her, moved over and pulled her into his arms. She pressed her face into the fabric of his shirt and sobbed unrestrainedly, wrapping her arms around his torso as she did so. Sirius had his arms wrapped around her heaving shoulders, with one hand resting on the back of her blonde head. For about a minute they stayed like that, and Emmeline, controlling herself, quieted her choked sobs before pulling away.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, hiccoughing. She didn't look up at him as she wiped her eyes. "I've been a mess all night."

"No," Sirius said quickly, putting his hand on her shoulder. "No, it's okay. You've a right to be upset."

"I should've seen it coming," she sniffled, and shook her head. "He'd been acting strange for so long – and I should've realized he… he was going to…"

She couldn't continue, and she looked down, closing her eyes. Sirius didn't know what to say, so he opted for silence, rubbing her shoulder and upper arm in a soothing motion. Neither one of them spoke for about a minute, and Sirius eventually removed his hand from her. The wind picked up again, the cold air ruffling their hair and stinging their skin, and Sirius shivered, glancing around.

"Have you been up here all night?" he eventually asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets for warmth. Emmeline sighed, turning and gazing out toward the grounds.

"Yeah," she walked over and leaned against the stone turret again, picking at her nails. "It's what I like to do when I'm upset."

"What – freeze to death?" Sirius asked, and was glad to see she smiled slightly at that.

"No," she gazed out toward the sky again and wiped her eyes. "I talk to my mum."

Sirius stared at her for a second, confused, before he realized what she meant. He felt as if the ground had been knocked out from under his feet – her mother. He had no idea… they had never talked about her before. Sirius suddenly felt like the biggest idiot in the world.

"Oh," he said after a moment. He didn't know what else to say.

"It's alright," Emmeline looked over at him. "I'm not sad about it or anything – it happened when I was just a baby. I don't really have any memories of her," She turned to look back up at the sky. "I just sometimes like to think she's still here with me."

"She is," Sirius said, and quickly added, "I mean – the people we love are always with us, even after death."

Emmeline smiled lightly. "That sounds like something Dumbledore would say."

Sirius couldn't help but grin too. "Yeah, I s'pose so. But that doesn't mean it's not true."

"Yeah," Emmeline smiled down at her hands. A comfortable silence stretched between them.

"So, are you…?" Sirius began awkwardly, and Emmeline looked up at him. "Are you… okay?"

Emmeline smiled before nodding slightly. "Yeah… I think I'll be fine. I didn't realize Marlene was still awake and looking for me - I came up here because I didn't want her to get upset. I promised myself that after tonight I would try to act as normally as possible so I wouldn't worry anyone too much."

Sirius chuckled. "I think it's a little too late for that."

Emmeline sniffled before smiling again. "Just a little."

Sirius laughed, and Emmeline did something that surprised them both: she moved forward and threw her arms around him in a tight embrace. Sirius was surprised, but hugged her back anyway. His heart began to beat a little faster.

"Thank you," she mumbled into his shoulder, and Sirius smiled.

"You're welcome."

Their embrace lingered for several seconds longer than what was probably intended, but Sirius wasn't complaining. He felt he could hold this girl in his arms forever and it would be enough.

"So…" Emmeline finally pulled away, looking up at Sirius with her large, teary eyes. She sniffled, and wiped her running nose. "You're an Animagus, then?"

Sirius couldn't help but laugh again. "Oh. Erm… yeah, I am," he shook his head. "Could you maybe not tell anyone, though?"

Emmeline grinned. "As long as you don't tell anyone I've been up all night on the Astronomy Tower talking to my dead mum."

Sirius nodded, "Deal."

Emmeline giggled, and Sirius was happy to see she was beginning to look like her old self again. Suddenly remembering, he checked his watch, and saw he only had about twenty minutes to get back to Gryffindor Tower before Lily tattled to Dumbledore.

"I need to head back soon," Sirius looked back up at Emmeline. "Do you want to come too, or would you rather stay up here a bit longer? I can explain to Marlene where you are…"

"No, I can come," Emmeline said immediately, wiping her eyes one last time. "I should be okay now. Also, it's getting pretty cold out here," she added, shivering. Sirius nodded before taking her hand and leading the way toward the exit.

~/~

They walked together through the dark castle, not saying anything for fear of a prefect or someone spotting them. However, Sirius didn't mind, knowing they had a lot more to talk about later, mostly regarding her break-up, his secret Animagus form, and perhaps even her mother. He hoped they could talk soon, but until then, he was just happy that, after this emotionally hectic night, she was back with him, safe and sound.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter! I got this one out as fast as I could, so I hope you liked it!

Reviews are love:)