Disclaimer: Hands up who doesn't own harry potter!!! ME ME!!!

A/N: Yep, been a little too long i suppose...but here it is, over 6.000 words long which hopefully makes up for the delay!!!

Chapter Eleven: The Bells Revealed

Ella hadn't moved since Sirius slammed the door and left her alone in the room. That was ten minutes ago. She would have been busying herself by counting the number of books in the room but after Sirius' biting remark, she felt that maybe, for the first time in her life, she would have to face something head on. She could live with Sirius nudging her in a flirty gesture. She could deal with Sirius trying to kiss her. Ella could deal with the possibility that Sirius had feelings for her because she could easily ignore them. Before, Ella could just put it down to the fact that she was overanalysing every situation but now, Sirius' words were concrete. Now that Sirius had blatantly stated that he had feelings for her, there was no more speculation; no more justifying that he had a girlfriend and therefore couldn't possibly like her; no more feeling as though she was definitely not his type. Now it appeared that it didn't matter that he had a girlfriend, or that she was not his type. He liked her.

Ella felt sick.

The next day was definitely not what Ella had expected. She had learned a lot about Sirius over the last couple of weeks and was expecting him to be either moping around or in a rage over their argument. One thing was for sure, he would ignore her.

That is why it was such a shock when the next morning, Sirius barged into Ella's room and lightly shook her awake. He leant over her with a small smile on his face.

"Ella, it's snowing! Wake up and get dressed, we're going out."

Ella was sure she was dreaming. She stared at Sirius with bleary eyes, then closed them again to return to slumber. Unfortunately for her, Sirius wasn't a dream and was adamant in his task of waking her up.

"Come on, come on, come on! If you don't get up now, I will drag you out of bed." He said more urgently, shaking her a little more vigorously this time. Ella finally sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes.

"What the hell's going on?" She asked, referring to the fact that Sirius was quite happily talking to her when he should be off sulking in the lounge room.

"I told you, it's snowing. We're going out." Ella looked at him warily. Maybe she had dreamed their argument? It seemed the only explanation for his behaviour.

"I see nothing exciting about going into the backyard." She answered and attempted to snuggle back down in her pillows. Sirius wouldn't allow this though, and pulled the doona away from her.

"I don't mean the back yard. We're going out into London."

"What? No, we can't, they've got the alert system activated. We leave and they'll know. Now give me back my doona so I can go back to sleep." She was not only angry at him for suggesting something so absurd, she was also angry that he wasn't acting how she expected he would. How dare he do something she didn't expect from him? The nerve!

"Sorry, I need you to get up and get dressed so we can get out of this house for a day."

Ella rolled over and looked him up and down. He was already dressed in his usual red boots, jeans and shirt combo, although his shirt looked more pirate-like than his usual ones. Clearly this was him dressing up a notch.

"You're serious about this?"

"Dead serious." He said with a smile. Ella couldn't believe he was joking about the very topic they had been arguing about the previous night. Clearly this was an impostor Sirius. She was intrigued.

"You mean to say you've found a way to get past the alert system?"

Sirius nodded in response. She thought for a moment. She had wanted to get out of this godforsaken house for ages now, and it appeared her wish could be granted today. Then again, what would happen if they were caught or recognised in London? Sod it, she thought and walked to the wardrobe to choose some clothes.

"Remember, we're going into London, dress nice." Sirius said and left her to it.

Sirius was waiting by the back door when Ella came down, very rugged up. She didn't really have the best selection of clothes to choose from but she had done her best with a basic jeans and overcoat combination while the hat and scarf Molly had knitted her made for the warmest accessories. Sirius opened the door signalling her to go through. A gust of wind blew snow onto the doorstep. As she walked through, Ella eyed Sirius.

"Aren't you going to put a jumper or jacket on, or anything?

"Nah, I'll be fine. I like the snow."

"More like you didn't want to ruin your outfit," she mumbled, then continued louder, "Well if you get cold, don't come crying to me.""

Sirius heard this comment but decided to ignore it. The door closed behind him and they were standing in the backyard, snow settling in patches on the ground.

"So, how do we get out of here then?" Ella asked, expecting some elaborate scheme to get to the 'outside' world. A dramatic display of magic may also rid her of her remaining anger toward Sirius.

"It's simple, we walk straight through. We don't exist, how can an alert system be alerted to something that doesn't exist?"

Ella was mightily let down. She rolled her eyes and attempted to storm toward the house but Sirius took her hand and led her through a gate in the tiny backyard that she swore wasn't there before. They were suddenly standing in the street behind Grimmauld place, perfectly safe and sound while there was not a siren to be heard, indicating an escape. Ella looked around, stunned.

"It - it worked."

"Of course it worked, I'm not stupid."

"But it's just so unbelievable. I know we're not supposed to exist but it's not like we're invisible, the alert system should have gone off!"

"Then how come it didn't?" Sirius replied with an extremely smug expression on his face. Ella looked at him in awe.

"That's unbelievable." She repeated. What she didn't see was Sirius putting his wand back into his pant pocket.

Sirius and Ella walked a couple of blocks before they stopped at a muggle bus stop. No sooner than they arrived, the bus pulled up. Sirius got on and payed for both their tickets with muggle money while Ella stood waiting outside, as if not sure what to do.

"Come on love, I can't wait here all day, I've got a schedule to keep." The driver said, irritated.

"Oh, sorry sir, I've just never really been-" She was about to say she had never been on a bus before but shut up at the looks she was getting from Sirius and the driver. The driver looked slightly concerned and Sirius looked rather amused. He leant in to speak to the driver.

"She's Welsh." He said, and as if this explained everything, the driver nodded and finally pulled the bus away from the curb. Ella swatted Sirius once they sat down.

"Ow, what was that for."

"How dare you make fun of me, you know I've never been on muggle transportation before."

"That's why it was so funny!"

"Where'd you get muggle money from anyway?" She asked quietly.

"Apparently when I died I left Harry all my money, so I asked him to take some out of the vault and exchange it for muggle money."

"Why?" Ella asked, slightly confused. There would be no reason for him to have muggle money.

"Just figured it might be cool to go shopping at some stage."

"Right." Ella said, not entirely sure he was telling the truth.

She busied herself with watching her surroundings. She suddenly understood the appeal of train-spotting; muggle transport was very fascinating. After they drove a few blocks, Ella was interested in where they were going.

"So, where are you taking me Mr. Black?"

"I just figured we'd hit the Soho district you know? Nothing classier than strip clubs, and who knows, maybe we'll find those whores you heard Harry, Ron and Hermione talking about!"

"I can only assume you're joking."

"However did you guess? We'll just get off at the West End and just go from there, does that sound more appealing?"

"Very appealing."

Sirius was having the time of his life. Ella was getting a little pissed off. How was it that every single shop they went in to, she would be completely ignored while Sirius would immediately get the attention of the attractive sales assistant behind the counter? Even the male sales assistants noticed Sirius before they noticed her. Sirius had caught on to the general script of going into a shop and flirting with the girl behind the counter which left Ella to browse around by herself. The last few stops were clothing shops, as Ella had figured her very casual dress was one reason she was continually being shunned and was set on getting a new outfit. She skimmed the racks and picked out as many clothes as she could hold. The mere fact that she loved shopping was enough to keep her anger at bay. She made her way to the counter to ask permission to use the change rooms.

"Excuse me, is it alright if I try these on?" She asked. The sales assistant, Ashley as her badge indicated, looked Ella up and down, then nodded before plastering a smile on her face and returning her attention to Sirius. He was leaning against his elbow on the counter, his other hand on his hip in a typical flirtatious stance.

"So, are you from around here?" Ella heard Ashley ask as she waltzed into the change rooms. She unravelled her many layers to try on the pile of clothes she brought in with her, all the while listening to the conversation at the counter.

"I didn't think you had been in here before, I'd certainly remember someone like you." Ashley purred. Ella rolled her eyes as she pulled a dress over her head.

"It's definitely a shame. Otherwise I'd shop here all the time, provided you were working of course." Sirius answered.

Ella found the whole conversation nauseating and decided to block out Ashley's irritating giggle and Sirius' smooth tones.

The full length mirror stood just outside her cubicle so she was continuously making the short trip to check out her selection of clothes. Three dresses, two pairs of pants and a shirt later, Ella couldn't help but listen in to the conversation again.

"So, where would I go to find you normally?" Ashley certainly was forward.

"Ah you wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

"Try me. I'm very open minded." Ashley prompted.

I bet that's not the only thing that's always open, thought Ella as she left her cubicle to see herself in the full length mirror.

"You really want to know where I'm from?" Sirius asked. Ella continued surveying the dress in the mirror. She liked it. It was yellow, cute and flowed gracefully.

"All right, I'm from the past." Ella let out a stifled laugh as she heard Sirius' answer.

"Oh you kidder." Ella saw Ashley hit Sirius on the shoulder in the reflection of the mirror.

"I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

"Well it would explain your retro wardrobe."

"And what's wrong with what I'm wearing exactly?"

"From where I'm standing, absolutely nothing." Ashley replied sultrily.

Ella scoffed a little too loud as she saw Sirius grin back at Ashley. This finally brought Sirius' attention away from Miss Ashley the shop assistant. He looked at what Ella was wearing and looked impressed.

"That looks really great, you should buy it." He said.

Ella tried extremely hard not to laugh as she saw the look on Ashley's face when Sirius stopped paying attention to her.

"It's such a nice dress." Ella said despairingly to the mirror.

"No need to be forlorn about it, just buy it."

Ella was about to say something but was cut off by Ashley.

"Come now Sirius, don't pressure the girl into anything. If she doesn't want to buy the dress, she doesn't have to."

"Are you seriously saying she shouldn't get that dress? Come on, it looks great on her."

Ashley turned up her nose slightly as she looked at Ella.

"Well it is a very nice dress." Ashley made clear not to comment on Ella at all. Ella looked slightly put out from this comment and re-entered the change room to get back into her own clothes. She resurfaced with the large pile of clothes in her hands.

"You going to get the dress?" Sirius asked.

Ella dumped the clothes on the counter for Ashley to put back on the racks. This gave Ella some form of satisfaction, knowing that she had made more work for the insufferable shop assistant.

"No, I think I'll leave it."

"But-"

"I said, I'll just leave it." Ella said pointedly, with a look which indicated further questions were not welcome. Sirius clearly understood as he directed his next comment at Ashley.

"Well it was very nice to meet you Ashley, but it appears Ella here has not found what she was looking for and we'd better get going."

"You're with her?" Ashley asked, not very politely. Ella gave her the best death stare she could muster. Sirius simply laughed.

"That would be why I have been talking to her this whole time."

"Oh, I thought you were just being friendly because she-"

"Because I what?" Ella cut her off.

"Oh, nothing." Ashley replied. Although Ella was the taller girl, Ashley somehow was able to look down her nose at her.

"Right, we best be off, see you Ashley."

Ella didn't bother saying goodbye or waiting for Sirius, she had already left the shop. Sirius didn't come out for a good five minutes. When he surfaced, he held in his hand a piece of paper which Ella guessed was not his receipt.

"Let me guess, she gave you her number."

"Actually, she wrote down two numbers."

"Pity you don't have two phones then."

Sirius noticed Ella's sharp tone and didn't completely understand why she was being snappy.

"Actually I don't even have one phone. Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong, I just appear to be invisible whenever I'm with you." Needless to say, Sirius was confused at this remark. He had been talking to her all day, even while he was flirting with eager shop assistants.

"Invisible? It was my idea to take you out, how could I be ignoring you?"

"Not you, the stupid sales people around here! You walk into a shop and you get five star service and everyone's phone numbers while I get ignored and then scoffed at because people can't believe I'm actually out for the day with you!"

"What? That's just silly." Ella just rolled her eyes and kept walking. Sirius thought she was being rather unreasonable but didn't comment. He valued his life.

An hour later, Sirius was finally convinced Ella was not being paranoid about the 'evil shopkeepers'. They had gone into a jewellery store in Hatton Gardens where Sirius was greeted instantly and shown the wares while Ella was left to browse the cabinets, genuinely interested in buying something. She was looking at a beautiful but simple ring which had taken her fancy. She had turned to ask the shop assistant a question but found both women across the room showing Sirius…well showing him nothing but their charm and best flirtatious smiles. Ella walked over.

"Excuse me, would I was wondering if I could get a closer look at that ring over there."

One girl stared blankly at her while the other rolled her eyes and made her way across the shop to the ring of Ella's desire. Sirius noticed this and thought that maybe Ella hadn't been overreacting after all. He decided to do something about it. He excused himself from the remaining shop assistant and waltzed over to where Ella was standing and put his arms around her waist.

"Found something that takes your fancy dear?" He asked. Ella turned her head and raised an eyebrow at him, successfully sending her message across that she thought he was mental. Sirius winked for her to play along.

"Yeah I found the most beautiful ring." Ella replied, feeling quite foolish.

"Splendid! Although I have to approve of the ring of course. Can't have you frolicking around with a cheap, ugly engagement ring now can I? What would people think of me?"

"You two are to be married?" Asked the rather put out shop assistant.

"Yes I proposed, oh, how long ago was it now Eleanor?"

This comment rendered Sirius a rather dirty look from Ella, but she had decided this game might be fun.

"It was what, two weeks ago now? We've been searching for a ring ever since, but Sirius here won't let me get anything less than exquisite."

The snow had been falling steadily all day. Ella and Sirius stood against the barrier overlooking the Thames, laughing about their recent ordeal.

"Could you believe the look on her face when you said you didn't approve of the ring because it was too cheap?"

"Well I had to say something or she would have expected me to buy it for you!"

"But did you have to suggest her shop was, hang on how did you put it? 'a sub standard quality for what we require'?"

Sirius and Ella burst out laughing at this stage.

"Well the bitch deserved it. I'm sorry I thought you were being paranoid."

"Ah, forget about it, the jewellery store experience made up for that." Sirius laughed again but did a massive shiver at the same time. He hadn't even thought to buy a jacket even though they had been shopping all day. Ella rolled her eyes at him.

"Did I not say you should put on a coat before we left."

"Yeah but I didn't think it would get this cold."

"It's snowing, how could you think it wouldn't get this cold?"

"Well, I just wanted to get out of the house, and I didn't have my coat that goes with this outfit." Ella looked at him disbelievingly. He could be such a priss sometimes. Sirius looked toward Ella hopefully.

"I could always share your coat…couldn't I?"

"If anyone should be offering a coat it should be you, you're the guy."

"Yes but I am a very cold guy at the moment. Couldn't I at least snuggle?"

Ella snorted with laughter.

"Snuggle?"

"Yeah, like this." Sirius came up behind Ella and slid his hands under the bottom of her coat so his arms were circling her waist underneath. It would have been a beautiful, romantic gesture had he not been shivering uncontrollably and making Ella cold.

"AH your hands are cold, I can even feel them through my jumper!"

"Told you I was freezing!"

"Well you didn't have to make me cold too!"

"Oh stop sooking, we'll warm up soon."

It suddenly occurred to Sirius how close he was to Ella. In his haste for warmth he cuddled close to her, his chest flush with her back. It was the closest they had been since their argument, a topic which Sirius dare not think about at the moment for fear of remembering how much rejection hurts.

"Oh, come here." Ella said, unravelling her scarf and wrapping it around Sirius' neck while they were still entwined.

"Thanks." Sirius said, teeth chattering. His face was cold so he buried it in Ella's shoulder, his nose cold upon her neck now that her scarf was gone. While Ella hadn't reacted at all to his gestures, innocent or not, Sirius couldn't help but relish in the fact that he was extremely comfortable and content at this moment. He could feel her move ever so slightly as she breathed steadily. Sirius wasn't sure if the reason he was warming up was because of Ella's emanating body heat, or his own at the thoughts now running through his head. The vibration through her shoulder as she spoke was taunting him.

"I have a question."

"Shoot."

"Why did you call me Eleanor?" Sirius didn't answer straight away.

"I don't know, I just took a stab that Ella was a nickname for your full name or something."

"Well, you guessed right."

"Ah, so am I allowed to call you Eleanor now?"

"Um, no because that isn't my name."

"But you just said-"

"I meant that you were right about Ella being a nickname."

Sirius shifted so his face was now buried in her neck, his breathing slow, breath warm against her skin as he spoke.

"It strikes me as odd that I'm asking you this after knowing you for so long now, but what exactly is your name?"

"You'll never guess." She said, her voice sounding not exactly normal. Sirius didn't notice much as he was intoxicated by her scent.

"Mmm…Elizabeth?"

"Nope." Sirius held her tighter.

"Elaine?" He asked even more lazily, if that were possible.

"No." Ella replied quietly. Sirius' lips were mere centimetres away from Ella's neck as he spoke. He shifted again and he swore he imagined what he felt. He must have imagined that he could feel her quickly beating pulse beneath her skin.

"Isabella?" He asked, making sure to graze his lips against her skin. It was purely to test his theory. As he felt Ella shake her head to indicate that wasn't her name, he felt it again. Ella's pulse was racing, beating extremely fast beneath her skin. He dare not move for fear of losing her pulse point. She could wear all the vacant expressions she wanted and control her breathing to her desire, but she couldn't control her heartbeat. It was the first sign Sirius received that indicated she did feel something for him. He nuzzled in as close as he could, so as to cherish the moment. If she wasn't going to act upon whatever she felt, he was going to make the most of what he could have with her. If it were possible, her heart raced faster as he did this.

"Do you give up?" She asked quickly.

"Okay, so what is your name?" He asked without trying to contain his grin, even though he knew she could feel him smiling.

"Esmeralda."

His head shot up quickly at this and she turned to meet his gaze, which was quite comical.

"Like the hunchback bloke?"

"Well, no not the hunchback, his lady love, Esmeralda."

"Are you serious?"

"No I just told you, I'm Esmeralda, you're Sirius." Sirius gave her a squeeze at this comment. Somehow they had been around five weeks without reference to the well worn joke.

"Oh shut up, you know what I meant."

"I did, and yes, that is my name. My mum loves those old stories and thought her first daughter should pay homage to her love of them. This short lived tradition ends with me though, my brothers have very boring Welsh names."

Sirius burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing Esmeralda, its just that every time I look at you all I'll be thinking now is 'THE BELLS! THE BELLS!'"

Ella swatted Sirius at this comment and pulled away from him.

"For that comment, you can freeze!" Sirius simply laughed and linked his arm with hers.

"Come on, lets go back."

They took the bus to head back toward Grimmauld Place. After five minutes of driving, Sirius exclaimed.

"Oh, I forgot to give you this." He reached into his pocked and pulled out a small velvet bag.

"What's this?" She asked.

"Well that's why you're supposed to open it Esmeralda."

"You're going to call me that all the time now aren't you?"

"Yep."

Ella didn't even bother rolling her eyes and opened the bag. Inside was a ring, not as elaborate as the one she was looking at in the jewellery store, but a beautiful ring nonetheless. It was a rather heavy, silver piece with a simple scratched pattern and small yellow gem in the middle.

"Sirius, when did you- you shouldn't have, I bet it was far too expensive!"

"Not really, don't worry about it. I got it in a pawn shop while you were looking in that bookshop. Besides, I think my fake fiancé deserves a pretty ring, don't you?"

Ella smiled, and tried the ring on all of her fingers until she found the one that fitted best.

"Look at that, a fake engagement ring fits on my fake wedding ring finger, how appropriate." She commented as the ring slid onto her right ring finger. She looked over at Sirius.

"Thank you, that was really nice of you."

"No problem. At least I know your name now."

They walked through the back door of Grimmauld place talking and laughing after their very eventful day. This was immediately about to end as they turned around and saw an irate Remus staring them down. Their faces dropped.

"Where the hell have you two been?" Ella was about to answer but Sirius stepped in front of her and beat her to it.

"It was all my idea, we went out for the day."

"Went out? What do you think you two were doing? You could have been spotted, or something could have happened and everything could have been changed!"

Ella attempted to reassure Remus that everything was alright.

"Remus don't worry, nobody even came up to us, they –"

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN PEOPLE DIDN'T SEE YOU."

"DON'T YELL AT HER! I told you it was my idea!" Sirius yelled back.

"Well that was obvious, only you would be so reckless! And you're no better, following him along!" He added to Ella.

"You know what, yell at me all you want but keep Ella out of this!"

"Sirius, I can take care of myself –"

"Just go upstairs, I'll deal with this. Like I said, it was my idea."

"But-" Sirius sent her a look which clearly meant not to mess with him at this moment. She stared back just as hard. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Fine then, we'll go into the lounge room." And before she could protest, Sirius had dragged Remus into the lounge room and slammed the door in her face.

"Sirius-"

"Look, before you start just hear my side of the story okay?" He didn't wait for Remus to respond and simply continued. "You have no idea what it's like being stuck in here, in this fucking satanic house for over five weeks. I vowed NEVER to come back here again and yet here I am, only to find out I'm dead along with my best friend, have no family and no future! And what's worse, I have to go back and go through it all again!"

"I don't-"

"IM NOT FINISHED! It's not only me, Ella's been stuck here too and I'm sure it's just as bad for her, I mean who the fuck would want to stay here? At least I had you to come tell me about everything; she knows absolutely nothing! She's been stuck here trying to find out what happened to her and had no contact with her family or friends while everyone keeps telling her it will all be okay when they don't fucking know anything. We just had to get away from it for one day, and nothing happened, well apart from her cracking the shits at a shop assistant, and it's not like people would recognise us from Hogwarts, I mean we're fucking dead for Merlin's sake!"

Sirius hardly remembered what he was yelling about but he was sure he made his point clear. Remus stood there, rubbing the back of his neck.

"So what is it, you're in love with Ella?" Sirius' head shot up and stared at Remus as though he was crazy.

"How – why do you think that?"

"You always acted this way when you were interested in someone. Defend them, do something to make them feel special."

"Yeah, well it doesn't mean I'm in love with her." Sirius mumbled.

"Then what does it mean?"

"That I like her, and now we have to go back and I'll never find out what could have happened."

Remus looked as though he was going to say something but stopped himself before the words left his mouth.

"Despite all this, what you did was extremely reckless and irresponsible."

"Reckless and irresponsible mean the same thing." Sirius corrected automatically.

"I suppose you're right."

There was a light knock at the door and Ella entered with a tray of tea and scones.

"Ah, the yelling stopped so I thought it would be safe to come in." She said timidly. She gingerly placed the tray on the coffee table and joined Sirius on the couch. She looked pleadingly to Remus.

"I'm so sorry Remus, we just needed to get out of here and we-"

"It's alright Ella, Sirius has informed me. Apparently no harm came to you both so I will not discuss the matter further."

"Oh well in that case, did you want to see the ring Sirius got me?" She asked as held her right hand out for Remus to inspect. Remus raised his eyebrow at the ring, then at Sirius.

"You bought her a ring?"

"Yeah you see the thing is, we were pretending to be engaged and you can't pretend to be engaged without a ring, so I went and got that ring – "

"You were pretending to be engaged?" Remus was mightily confused. Sirius must have been, well, serious about liking Ella.

Ella woke the next morning to a delicious smell wafting up the stairs. The smell could only mean one thing; pancakes. But not just regular pancakes, Sirius' pancakes. She rushed into the kitchen, clad in her pyjamas and exclaimed,

"YOU MADE PANCAKES!"

"I KNOW!" Sirius shouted back, spatula in hand.

"I'll set the table." Ella quickly rushed around the kitchen finding all the jams and spreads she could, then she ventured to the fridge to get fresh cream. After setting the table, she sat down, impatiently circling the ring on her finger.

"Oh come on, there's a whole stack there, can't I just have one?"

"No, you've got to wait for the whole lot to be done, you know that."

"Well maybe I wouldn't be so impatient if you didn't have to be so pedantic about setting up the stack perfectly."

"Appearances are everything! That's why my pancakes are so damn good."

"Well just hurry up."

"I'm on the last one now."

Once the stack was complete, Sirius placed them on the table and Ella immediately took the first couple of layers. Sirius stared as Ella with his mouth open.

"You know, when you eat, you really are not very ladylike." Ella had to wait to swallow her mouthful before she answered.

"Well compared to you, I never was ladylike, you would have to be the most feminine bloke I've ever met."

"And yet the ladies still find me charming, funny that isn't it?" He retorted, shovelling pancakes into his own mouth.

Their banter continued until the stack was gone. Ella looked to Sirius, her eyes pleading. Sirius rolled his eyes back at her.

"All right, I'll make you some more. I swear, with how many pancakes you devour you should be the size of a house."

"Well lucky you don't make your pancakes too often then isn't it?"

"Well you certainly make me suffer when I do. Do you deliberately make me slave over a hot stove or do you just like tormenting me?"

Sirius had returned to the stove and turned it on, while Ella followed him with her dishes.

"No, it's simply because you are the best pancake maker around." Ella stated casually, and, without realising it, gave Sirius a quick peck on the lips out of appreciation.

As soon as she did this, she realised she had done something wrong. She turned quickly, avoiding his gaze and busied herself with arranging her knife and fork on her plate carefully. Sirius still hadn't moved. He was in shock. For weeks he had waited for a moment like this and finally, it had happened. Ella had kissed him. He knew it hadn't meant much but it gave him all the confidence he needed to initiate something more although this didn't mean he wasn't scared shitless of the outcome. He lightly touched her on the arm and she reluctantly looked his way. He continued to stare at her. Ella was sure she had never seen him this nervous before as she saw his eyes dart quickly over her face. Still grasping her arm, Sirius leant toward Ella, pausing halfway as if re-thinking his decision. Ella hadn't moved. Eventually, their lips made contact. It was short and sweet. Sirius had pulled away to gauge Ella's reaction. As he predicted, her face was impassive.

That was until she ran her hand over his cheek to eventually rest upon his neck. She did this with unnecessary slowness. To Sirius, it was torture. Fortunately, his second burst of confidence came as he looked into her eyes. She stared straight back at him, but every now and then her gaze flicked between Sirius' grey eyes to his inviting lips. Her head motioned forward. It was all the encouragement Sirius needed. He closed the gap briskly, taking her top lip between his own. He kissed her slowly, luxuriously, lazily. He had fantasised about this moment for weeks now. He felt no need to rush. His arms snaked around her waist as he continued to kiss her with all the tenderness he possessed. Ella continued to return his kisses with equal tenderness, slowly running her lips across his. It wasn't exactly how she imagined kissing Sirius Black would be. She had envisioned passion and burning lust rather than a sweet, romantic kiss. She decided it was up to her to change this. She closed the gap between them. Her hands laboriously made their way beneath the comfort of Sirius' black shirt which was untucked from his jeans. The sudden sensation of Ella's hands on his skin made Sirius' eyes open wide. He was overcome with a sudden feeling of desire, one which was gladly reciprocated. Their bodies were now pressed firmly against the other's, kisses becoming more and more desperate and needy as time continued. They were suddenly aware that the kitchen was not the most appropriate destination for a make out session. As their kisses became more heated, Ella running her tongue across Sirius' bottom lip, they made the slow journey toward the kitchen door. Destination: Lounge room sofa.

By the time they reached the door, Ella had succeeded in deepening the kiss, Sirius responding with sheer audacity. They barely had time to breathe as the other ran their hands through the other's hair while their unoccupied hands ran up and down each other's bodies with antagonising slowness. Their kisses had become quick and fierce. Only when Sirius' body pressed flush against Ella's did they realise that they had reached the door. Sirius' hand untangled from Ella's now cropped locks to use the door handle. He was expecting to push the door open, but only managed to press himself further into Ella. He tried the doorknob again, to no avail. He made a frustrated whimper. Ella pulled her lips away from Sirius' just enough to murmer,

"You have to pull."

"Hmm?" He answered, as he reclaimed her lips. The vibration as she spoke was far too pleasurable to ignore. It took every ounce of Ella's self control to pull away again.

"The door opens the other way." She finally managed. Sirius, his forehead resting against Ella's, stared into her eyes, his breath pleasantly mingling with her own. It took him a whole three seconds to figure out that she meant he would have to open to door the other way in order to escape the confines of the kitchen. As soon as he opened the door, Sirius saw Remus appear at the bottom of the stairs and wished, for the first time in his life, that he could curse his friend.

Sirius quickly slammed the door shut and Ella captured his mouth again.

"Mmm." He stated.

"Hmm?" Ella replied. He didn't want to let her go but he knew Remus was no doubt about to enter the kitchen.

"Remus – awake." He managed to get out while Ella was still so close. Ella pulled away.

"Fuck." She exclaimed, still staring at Sirius' mouth. He smirked at her and pulled her close again.

"Did Esmeralda Powell just swear?"

"Damn right I did." Sirius was about to kiss her again but Ella squeaked. The door handle was turning. Ella ran back to the table while Sirius occupied himself toward the stove. Ella turned to Sirius, looked down, and squeaked again.

"What?" He said, looking everywhere for the source of her panic. He soon realised. His jeans were tight but apparently not tight enough.

Fuck, okay, Dumbledore and McGonagall making out…nope, not working…Peter naked…shit…um…um…

The door had opened and Remus was now in the kitchen with them. Luckily he greeted Ella first and didn't notice Sirius having a breakdown at the stove.

Stove! Sirius thought and slammed his hand on the hot filament.

"Fuck!" Came his exclamation. His hand was now rather burnt, but as he shook it to get rid of the horrible sensation, all he was thinking was; thank Merlin that worked!

A/N: So that was...well that!!! What did you think? I know it's a little choppy, but their day was particularly eventful and i wanted it all to be in one chapter. Hopefully the way Sirius and Ella finally got together was believable (told you ella would have a weak moment!!!) and hopefully it was written okay. Oh, and as for Sirius' behaviour (ie. not ignoring Ella or moping around), just know that he felt extremely guilty for what he said to her the previous night so was trying to make it up to her! Were any of you even wondering why the story was called 'the bells'? Well, even if you didn't, now you know!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO MY REVIEWERS!!! You guys are like sunshine on an otherwise cloudy day...or rather an email in an otherwise empty inbox!!! I love your feedback (and also love how long some reviews have been...i enjoy reading them) so review away!!! Stay tuned because, unfortunately, Ella and Sirius have to go back soon and the plot kicks off again!!!