A/N: I can't believe we're at chapter 20 already! And that this story has passed 100 reviews! Your response to this story makes me so happy, and I really hope you'll continue to love it throughout! Christmas is approaching, and this chapter is not featuring one, but two Blacks! Hope you like it!

Six weeks proved to be a long time. When only half of them had passed, Aurelia was already doubting whether she would be able to go through with it. She had only seen Snape once since he agreed to make the potion, except for the occasional run-in in the corridors. He had owled her about a week ago, upon starting on the potion, to get a hair from her. It was something about genes, or DNA. To be honest she had no idea what he was talking about, but when he said it was something she shared with the baby, it was as though it suddenly made sense. It was her baby. Of course, it would share something with her, something in her hair, in her entire being. She wondered if it would get her hair. If it would turn out silvery blonde like hers, or pitch black like James'. Or perhaps something right in between, like a soft brown.

But then it struck her. The reason Snape needed that hair; to make sure she would never find out. She would never know if it was a little boy or a girl, if it would have her or James' hair. She wouldn't know, because it would never be. Their baby, who perhaps only existed in her mind, would never be. Because she had asked Snape to make that potion, to help her end a life before it had even begun.

"Merlin, Fawley! Do you have your mind set on ruining every single potion we make this term?!"

She had lost it again; her sense of reality. Once again, she found herself in potions, completely lost because of just that – potions. It didn't bloody help that they were attempting to brew draught of living death, which didn't seem too far from what she would be drinking in three weeks.

"Sorry," she mumbled to the raven-haired boy, whose eyes she couldn't bring herself to face, before she grabbed her book and quickly made her way out of the classroom which was suffocating her.

She was already halfway to the Hufflepuff common room when she was interrupted by someone grabbing onto her wrist, an action which was way too familiar. Unfortunately, the eyes she faced upon turning around weren't deep brown – they were the coldest shade of grey.

"Are you alright, Fawley?"

Biting her lip, the blonde shook her head, using every bit of determination she had left to hold those tears back.

"Don't call me that," she said painfully, voice low. She hadn't seen Sirius since his birthday, and to have his brother grab her wrist, stare at her with those cold eyes and call her Fawley was just a horrible reminder of how much she missed him. How much she missed all of them.

"You've not improved one bit. Snape's not teaching you, is he? He is brewing something for you."

"He told you?!"

"He hasn't told me shit, Fawley. But you're completely absentminded and you've ruined all our potions over the last month. Quite frankly, I'm concerned."

"About your grades, maybe…"

"About you!"

"For Merlin's sake, Black! You don't even know me!"

"Oh please, Fawley. I've known you since we were five."

"Don't. Call. Me. Fawley."

"Alright, Aurelia. Now, will you tell me what the bloody potion is for?"

"I can't…"

She had no reason to trust Regulus Black. Well, besides from the fact that he had warned her about her parents betrothing her to Rabastan, and about Rabastan being a death eater. But besides from that, she had no reason to trust him. But then again, she hadn't had any reason to trust Severus either – it had simply been a matter of running out of choices. But now there she was, all alone, with three more weeks until Christmas, realizing that perhaps there was an alternative to going through those three weeks alone.

"Are you going to make me guess? It's obvious you need to talk to someone, Faw… Aurelia. You can talk to me."

"Why? Is this another plot to win me over? Because I'm not marrying you, or any bloody Slytherin, ever."

"Wow. Relax, Aurelia. I'm not interested in marrying you. Is it too wild to assume that I might need a friend, too?"

"I thought Snape was your friend."

"Right, I'll just go have a heart-to-heart with Severus. Brilliant idea. I'm sure he's a great listener."

For what seemed like the first time in weeks, Aurelia smiled. She hadn't expected Regulus to be making jokes, which really was more of Sirius' thing, but it was funny; the idea of anyone going to Snape for emotional support.

"So, are you going to tell me? About the potion?"

"Not here."

And that was how Aurelia Fawley found herself in the room of requirement with Regulus Black, which, only hours ago would've been an incredibly strange situation, but which now seemed oddly natural.

"How in Salazar's name did you find this place?"

The boy was in awe, circling the room with a sparkle in his eye that she had never seen before, running his hands on every item there. He was different to his usual self. The utter lack of coldness in his eyes made the resemblance between brothers much more apparent. Regulus was slightly skinnier, much more properly attired, and had shorter hair, but apart from that, there wasn't much telling him apart from Sirius. It made her wonder if Regulus was always wearing that too familiar pureblood mask, and if anyone else had ever seen him without it.

"Well I… I didn't," she mumbled in response, turning her gaze to the floor, away from the boy who reminded her so much of Sirius. Sirius, who didn't deserve any of the bloody pain she kept causing him.

"Oh. Someone showed it to you?"

The blonde nodded slowly, without turning her gaze up from the floor. While she wanted nothing less, she couldn't help but to think of James and the night he had showed her that same room, and told her that he loved her more than he thought possible.

"Merlin, Fawley! It's a bloody terminus potion, isn't it? I can't believe I didn't see it until now," the boy suddenly exclaimed, looking just as shocked as he did horrified.

Aurelia didn't know how he had figured it out, or how she wasn't panicking at the fact that he knew. But the facts remained. He knew now. And she wasn't alone in that anymore. For better or for worse.

"Please don't tell me it's Sirius'. Merlin, I'm going to strangle that bloody twat!"

"How many times do I have to tell you? There is nothing going on between me and Sirius!"

"Say that again, would you? Like you mean it, this time."

"Sod off, Black."

"I bet you tell him that all the time.

"I'm serious!"

"No, I'm pretty sure he is."

"Merlin, you're impossible! It's James'," she finally snapped, realizing that continuing any mindless arguing wouldn't get him to stop. But the truth definitely did. The Slytherin stopped in his tracks, eyebrows raised and chin dropped, where he stood in the midst of the room of requirement, simply staring at her. He dropped down onto the chair opposed from her, looking as though he had just found out that Lord Voldemort was actually his mother on Polyjuice potion.

"Potter?" he finally asked, regaining some of his posture and taking a deep breath before running his hands through his hair.

The young witch nodded carefully, her eyes wandering back and forth between her new-found friend and the floor, terrified of what might happen now that yet another person knew her secret; a person who had no real incentive to keep it.

"Does he know? Does Sirius know?"

"No. I've only told you and Snape. Both bloody Slytherins, I don't know how I ever became that stupid."

"We're not all like Lestrange, you know."

"Apparently not."

"So, are you going to tell them?"

"Definitely not. No one else can know. You'd better keep your mouth shut. Now, what about your secret? You said you needed a friend."

"Oh, I think that's enough drama for one day, Aurelia. Let's save mine for tomorrow."

As it turned out, Regulus' drama was even worse than Aurelia's. Somehow, listening to it, and trying to guide him through it, made her forget about her own problems for the moment. That fact alone made her feel like a terrible person.

Regulus was trapped within Lord Voldemort's circle, and she was the only person who knew both that he was a death eater, and that he didn't want to be. If only that were the case with her brother. Her idiot of a brother who believed every word that came out of that monstrous man's mouth. Nevertheless, Aurelia was glad that Regulus had told her. She couldn't very well let him go through something like that on his own, in fact, she was pretty certain that would be the death of him. And so, she decided to trust him, to help him – despite the fact that he was a death eater. Because she just knew he wasn't lying. And then there was the fact that she wasn't alone anymore either. That she had someone to talk to, to share her messed up thoughts with.

"Even if you did know where to find it, you can't very well just wander off on your own without any idea on how you're going to destroy it, or how you're going to keep all of it secret from the Dark Lord!" the blonde argued, throwing herself back on the couch in the room of requirement, just about two weeks' time after she had first brought Regulus there.

"Don't act like a bloody Gryffindor," she added, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared her friend down.

"Would you rather I acted like a Slytherin?"

"In this case, yes."

"Alright, I'll just go back to being his faithful servant then."

"Ha-ha, very funny. We'll figure it out, Reg. Once we know where to find it in the first place."

"I don't know, Fawley. I'm worried about what he'll make me do over Christmas."

"There's no point in worrying. You don't know that anything will happen. But if it does, you be careful, alright?"

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay? I really don't mind."

"No. Not if it will make him suspicious. Just stay safe. I'll be okay."

Truthfully, Aurelia couldn't wait for Christmas to be over and done with. If she had the choice, she would skip it entirely and wake up after New Year's with no memory of it. But she didn't have that choice. It was something she had to face, and she had to do it alone. She already knew it was going to be the worst thing she would ever have to do, but she still longed for the time when she wouldn't have to hide her growing parts under Hogwarts robes anymore, and when she wouldn't have to stay away from her friends anymore; if they still were her friends, that was.

"Owl me, alright?" he asked, standing up from his chair and stretching his arms over his head as he yawned. It was late, the girl realized. Most students were going back home to their families for Christmas the next morning, but Aurelia had found a way out of that, as she did most things.

"I will. Don't do anything stupid, Reg."

Aurelia didn't leave the room of requirement for hours, and when she finally did leave, Regulus was likely sound asleep in the dungeons since long. The Hufflepuff couldn't sleep. In fact, she hadn't been able to sleep for days. There was this constant bubbliness in her chest; and it wasn't a good one. There was only one week left now, one week until Christmas, until the potion would be ready. It made her terribly nervous and horrified, because she had yet to decide if taking that potion was the right decision.

Deep down, she knew it was the right thing do, and in reality – the only choice she had. But it was a bloody painful choice to have to make, and she wished she didn't have to. She wished someone else would just choose for her.

"Fawley!"

The startled girl tripped over her own feet while running down the stairs in the middle of the night, and landed in safe, strong arms at the end of the stairs. Strong, bloody arms that she was doing her best to stay away from.

He reeked of firewhiskey and those muggle cigarettes he always smoked, and it wasn't difficult to understand that there had been an end of term party – likely in the Gryffindor common room.

"You can put me down now, Sirius."

"Thanks, but I'd rather not. You know, you'd probably disappear."

"Sirius! Put me down," she demanded, and quite instantly found herself back on solid ground, taking a step back and wrapping her robe tighter around herself.

It became silent, just then. As if the lack of closeness brought the pair back to reality; a reality in which so many things were left unspoken, and they hadn't seen each other in nearly two months.

"What are you doing with Regulus?" he asked, utter disgust in his spluttering voice, as he spoke his brother's name.

"Have you been spying on me? I told you I needed some time, and you've b…"

"Some time, Fawley! You said you needed some time, not two bloody months and counting! I've been worried sick about you, and then I see that you're spending time with that Voldemort-loving twat! Him, Fawley. You're choosing him over me?!"

"Muffliato," Aurelia quickly whispered, flicking her wand, as she realized that Sirius would wake up the whole castle if she didn't stop him.

"Merlin, Sirius! He's my friend, alright? And if you weren't such a presumptuous arse, perhaps you would've realized that your brother actually needs you! Now, get your arse into bed before I hex you into the courtyard."

"That's a lot of talk about my arse, Fawley. One might think that you w..."

"I'm not joking," she warned, truly out of patience with both him and herself. Quite frankly, they both seemed rather unreliable at the moment. Him because of the firewhiskey he clearly had had too much of, and her because… well, because of reasons she didn't care to admit to.

"Alright, alright. I'll go to bed. But Fawley, can we please go back to normal? I don't think I can stand it anymore; you avoiding me. I'm not him, you know. I would never… take you for granted like that. And I know you don't feel that way about me and… that's okay. But can we just go back to being friends?"

No longer able to hold those persistent tears back, the blonde nodded vigorously, pulling the much taller boy in for a hug; one she needed desperately. One that could make her feel both safe, and even more devastated at the same time. One she never wanted to end.

"Are you going home for Christmas?" the eighteen-year-old asked with concern, as he reluctantly let go of the girl he never wanted to let go of.

Nodding in response, Aurelia turned her gaze to the floor to hide her lie. She hated it, lying to him, avoiding him – all of it. Perhaps it could all go back to normal, after Christmas. Well, not all of if, of course. But her friendship with Sirius, maybe she didn't have to lose that just because she'd lost everything else.

"Owl me if you need to get out of there, alright?"

"I will. Merry Christmas, Sirius."

"Merry Christmas, Fawley."

A/N: Thanks for reading! So, what did you guys think? Do you trust Regulus? And what about Sirius? Can they go back to being friends? And WHAT is going to happen over Christmas? Let me know what you think, and if you liked this chapter, please follow, favorite and review! Every single little or long review makes my day 100 times better, and I just love hearing from you guys!