"Let it grow, let it grow, let it blossom, let it flow. In the sun, the rain, the snow, love is lovely, let it grow." – Eric Clapton, 1974

"Can I open my eyes?" asked Gemma Rawnsley.

"No," replied Sirius.

"What about now?"

"Not yet, love."

"Are we – ouch! - fucking - did you just lead me into a bush?"

"Sorry, but you were squirming against me and I sort of … lost track of the terrain."

"Squirming? I'm shivering! You told me you had an indoor surprise, so I dressed accordingly, thinking it was going to be in a pub or something. Didn't expect to be trekking through the snow … hold on, why are you slowing down? Wait, does this mean -"

"Happy Valentine's Day," he muttered into her ear as he removed his hands from her eyes. Gemma felt excitement rush through her.

"A frozen lake. And a tent," she muttered in disbelief as she studied the scenery in front of her. She tried to squash her disappointment as she bit her lip; Sirius had pulled back the proverbial curtain to reveal a deserted campsite just outside of Hogsmeade.

"Ha!" he said. A small chuckle escaped his lips.

"What?"

"The look on your face. You really think this is everything, don't you?"

"I- I -" she stuttered and Sirius cut her off with a chaste peck, taking her hand. Gemma rolled her eyes and playfully huffed as she trudged through the snow behind him.

When they reached the makeshift shelter, Sirius opened the tent and motioned for her to step inside. The Hufflepuff gave him saucy wink before ducking down and entering the tent. When her eyes finally adjusted to the tinted light, Gemma let out a small gasp of wonder and felt her jaw start to drop. Sirius had used several Transfiguration spells to expand the inside of the tent, making it into an unconventional, but awe-inspiring bungalow. The Sixth Year dropped her stuff and slowly took a couple steps forward as her eyes surveyed the surroundings walls; they were covered with magical red rosebushes. She reached out and plucked a few petals, crushing them between her fingers and inhaling sharply to revel in their fresh scent.

"Well? Do you like it?"

Gemma turned to see Sirius standing in front of the large pile of blankets and pillows. She playfully tackled him in one swift movement and they both landed in the middle of the soft bedding cocoon he had made for them. She gave him a few small pecks while she held his face in her hands.

"It's – mwah! – amazing. It – mwah! – took my breath away. You really – mwah! – are a magical genius.

"Ha!" Sirius laughed again. "You really think this is everything, don't you?"

"W-what?" Gemma pulled away from him and sat up. "There's more?"

"Of course there's more! But this is the last thing, promise."

Sirius reached into his pocket, pulled out a small yellow box and placed it in her lap. She timidly looked at him through her fringe, still in disbelief that her Valentine's Day surprise was this elaborate. He motioned for her to open the box and Gemma smiled as she pulled out a rose quartz pendant dangling from a long silver chain. She felt a warm, fuzzy feeling explode from the base of her skull and lazily filter out to the rest of her nervous system; it showed up every time Sirius surprised her. She knew it was a bit silly, but felt that despite all of his insecurities, Sirius really did love her if he put this much effort and emotion into showing her how much he cared.

Yet, a wisp of sorrow pushed through her thoughts. Sirius' love transformed her wild personality into something more calm and peaceful, like the glassy smooth surface of the Black Lake on a still morning … which meant that when she returned to school for her Seventh Year, she would be a catastrophe and mess without him. But she took a deep breath, quickly squashed her urge to run away and decided to live in the moment. In the here and now. She slowly put the long chain around her neck and closed the clasp, letting the pendant settle between her small breasts. Gemma caught his excited grin and felt a frown start to tug at her lips.

"What, you don't like it?" Sirius panicked. "I charmed it to shimmer when I'm thinking about you."

"No! No, I love it. It's just … well, your surprise puts mine to shame, really."

"I'll be the judge of that," he said with a smile. Gemma rolled her eyes and got up to grab her leather fringe shoulder bag. She reached her entire arm into the sack and after a few moments of rummaging, pulled out a hand painted black shoebox. Sirius promptly tore it out of her hands, flipped open the top and uncovered each one of her gifts.

"A bottle of firewhiskey! How did you know I loved this particular vintage? And oh that smell - I think this is the finest strain of gillyweed I've ever seen! Merlin Gemma, a motorbike magazine, some dummy wands, and … DOG TOYS!" Sirius' face immediately burst into the biggest grin she had ever seen. "Look, I know we're supposed to have passionate sex right now, but can youplease throw this fluffy Snape for me outside? Please?"

Gemma saw the puppy-like expression on his face and snorted with amusement. Although she desperately wanted to rip off all his clothes, she couldn't resist the pleading look in his eyes. It was too cute to ignore. She nodded her head in agreement and Sirius immediately pulled her towards the tent door. As soon as the couple went back out into the winter weather, he swiftly turned into his animagus and wagged his tail excitedly.

"You really are one of a kind, Sirius Black," Gemma muttered. She tossed the fluffy Snape across the field of snow and he scampered after it. Yet, as he sprinted back for another round of fetch, the Seer suddenly felt her eyes focus on the view of Hogsmeade behind him. The quaint little houses were calm and serene, but as a bright green leaf slowly fell off a completely bare tree and landed at her feet, Gemma felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

"What? What's wrong?" Sirius asked after he quickly changed back into his human form. Gemma looked down at the leaf and then back Hogsmeade as the hairs on her arms stood at full attention. Her pulse quickened.

"I can't explain it … but I have a feeling something really fucking bad is about to happen."

Aeryn Miller shifted uncomfortably in her seat as Witches and Wizards around her shouted over the sound of pints being poured; she bristled after a gentleman brushed against her to avoid an oncoming patron. She knew the pub was busy, but thought the clientele would at least have the decency to say sorry.

"Here you are, dears!" their aging server chirped as he placed their lunch on the table. As the man quickly went back to the kitchen window, Aeryn looked down at her fish and chips and frowned. Although she appreciated that Peter was picking up the tab, she wished he had chosen something a little more … romantic.

"Isn't The Crinkly Boot such a great place?" Peter said before heartily diving into his own fish and chips. "It's decorated like a real Muggle pub! And the food! Yum! I knew you'd like it … 'cos you know, you're a Muggleborn." He forced several chips into his mouth and smiled as sauce ran down his chin.

"Yes it's wonderful, dear," Aeryn muttered as she reached out and took a sip of her water. She desperately wished she could be at Madame Puddifoots, drinking her favorite red velvet cake tea instead.

"So what did you get me?" Peter said with a grin. Aeryn's mood brightened. She turned, opened her handbag and handed him a delicately wrapped red, white and pink package.

"You're going to love it," she beamed. Peter dropped his food and smeared his greasy fingers over the shiny paper as he ripped open the package.

"A … oh. What is this exactly?" the Gryffindor frowned as he pulled out a silver box.

"It's a cigarette holder!" Aeryn answered joyously. "I know I told you stop … but if you're going to continue to smoke, I thought you should at least do it in style. It's custom made – I got your name engraved on it and everything!" Peter skeptically flipped the holder open and cocked his head to the side as he evaluated it.

"I'm trying to quit, Aeryn," he growled. His mood turned sour.

"No you aren't," she replied with a teasing grin as she took another sip of water. "You stopped for a month - and I'm very proud of you for that – but now you're at it again."

"Smoking is a guilty pleasure I need to stay away from, Aeryn!" Peter snapped as he pushed the holder across the table. "Don't you see that? I need to quit now, before a habit really starts forming! So - so stop encouraging me with silly presents like this! I should be staying away from cigarettes, not carrying them around." His expression turned malevolent. "I haven't had one in a week, you know!"

Aeryn couldn't help but let her mouth flop open in surprise as tears started to gather in her eyes. She had planned her gift for weeks and spent a lot of money to make sure it was perfect … but he just gave it back to her, uninterested in ever using it. As Peter continued to consume his lunch and ignore her completely, Aeryn felt disappointed with her boyfriend for the first time in her life. She had pulled out all the stops – and what had he done? Taken her to some dingy pub in the middle of nowhere and rejected her gift. Their Hogsmeade trip was supposed to be about him making things up to her, but his behavior seriously underwhelmed her.

And that was how her saintly image of Peter Pettigrew finally cracked, much like her impressions of the other Marauders weeks prior. She felt a newfound melancholy bubble up to the surface and instead of laughing and brushing off his rebuff, she allowed herself to feel hurt and upset by his actions. A lone tear escaped one of her eyes, but she remained silent. Aeryn tried to say something – anything to let him know how disappointed she was - but her mouth glued itself shut.

Peter looked up from his lunch and caught her distressed gaze. His fork landed on his plate with a clang! when he realized what he'd done.

"Oh Aeryn, I'm sorry, I -"

She had been frozen moments earlier, but was surprisingly mobile after he started to acknowledge his wrongdoing. She felt embarrassed, panicked and raced out the door; Aeryn didn't know where she was headed, but she had to get out of the restaurant. After walking a few blocks and keeping her head down to avoid attention, she slowly started to blubber as she staggered into the snow. What a horrible Valentine's Day, she lamented.

"Aeryn? Is that you?"

She didn't want to be seen in this state, but turned nonetheless to see Cora standing a few meters away from her with the other members of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

"Hi," Aeryn muttered. Cora registered the look in her eyes and turned back to her teammates.

"Fuck off, you lot - go drink whiskey and ogle some Fifth Years. Move along, nothing to see here!" she barked and then glared at them when they began to snigger. After they left, Aeryn started to sob and felt Cora put her arms around her and hug her with solace.

"There, there. I'm sure whatever happened isn't the end of the world," she muttered in her ear. Aeryn finally felt a smile spread across her face when they both pulled away.

"I'm sorry to do that to you," she said as she wiped away the tears and snot from her face with the sleeve of her red jumper. "But I just needed a hug."

"There's no need to explain yourself!" Cora laughed. "I know what it's like to need one!"

"Well, thanks anyways," Aeryn sniffled. As she took a deep breath and blinked away a couple more tears, she finally settled down. A genuine giggle escaped her lips and for the first time that day, Aeryn felt loved.

A few moments later, the sky turned dark and stormy. The Gryffindor caught her friend's cautious expression and looked over her shoulder to see what she was looking at. A bright green light was bursting into the sky, causing the clouds to start to form some sort of shape, some sort of picture or image … And as a crack of thunder echoed throughout the town, the Dark Mark officially emerged above Hogsmeade.

Aeryn immediately heard screams of terror; she reached out and grabbed Cora's hand as black tendrils raced through the air and spawned willing Death Eaters. Without a word, they barreled down the street towards the Castle to try and escape the oncoming attack. However, their flight was short lived. When Aeryn and Cora scampered across the cobblestones and took a right, jets of grey light hit both of them in the chest.

"Confrigo!"

"Stupefy!"

"Incarcerous!"

"JAMES!" Lily Evans screamed. She yanked her boyfriend out of the way to avoid the oncoming rope snares; the spell narrowly missed the couple and barreled past them. Before James could move a muscle, Lily's expression hardened and she pushed him behind her and covertly extended her arm around the brick wall.

"Stupefy!" the Head Girl forcefully muttered. Her spell crept up on the unsuspecting Death Eater and hit them in the shoulder. The servant's body hardened and fell to the ground, paralyzed.

A deafening silence skulked into the courtyard - signaling that the coast was clear - and Lily and James collectively peaked their heads out to see the fate of their recent foe.

"Ha!" Lily said with a soft smile as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Take notes for your Auror exam - bravado isn't always effective."

"I thought I'd never see the day," James sighed playfully as he ran a hand through his extremely messy and slightly burnt hair. "Are you really giving me dueling pointers right now -"

"Crucio!"

"Bloody hell!" he exclaimed in surprise as they both dodged the Unforgiveable Curse.

"Over here!" came an urgent whisper. Lily turned to see an old man with silver dreadlocks motioning for them to come to the secret door he was standing behind.

"Smithers!" James exclaimed and guided her into the adjacent building.

After the old man swiftly closed the door behind them, Lily put a hand to her chest and attempted to settle her rapidly beating heart. Her head began to throb and she took a deep breath to remain calm, but it was her first time ever being in real danger. It was terrifying. Smithers resumed his post and seconds later, pulled in another innocent bystander.

"Miss Evans, is that you?"

Lily felt someone tug her left arm and looked over to see the middle Minot sister, who was staring at her with pleading eyes. Lily tried to comfort her by putting an arm around her shoulders. She felt soothing words form on the tip of her tongue, but soon realized that Gabrielle wasn't the only scared student in the room.

Lily felt her maternal instinct kick in as she did a quick headcount. So far, Smithers had rescued nineteen other students and turned The Purple Inkpot into a makeshift safe house. Her selflessness began to kick in and she quickly tended to the rest of the students, asking if anyone was hurt or impaired; she even placed some of the house kittens in the laps of frightened youngsters to make them feel at ease.

"Lily!" Frank called from across the room. Lily perked up as she saw Alice cross over with him.

"Thank Merlin you're here. Smithers started pulling people off the street and we know Zidane and his parents are doing the same over at Maestro's music shop," Alice informed.

"Too bad, really," Frank said with a half smile as James joined them. "I heard Tarantellegra was in the middle of cutting a record when the attacked started."

Smithers pulled another person inside.

"Prongs!" Remus shouted desperately. The werewolf staggered over to them and enveloped his best friend in a staunch hug. "Where are the others?"

"We don't know," Lily said softly and hugged Remus when he offered her a comforting embrace as well. "Peter and Aeryn should be at The Crinkly Boot if I remember correctly and Sirius -"

"Already on it," James said as he pulled his two-way mirror out of his corduroy jacket. "Padfoot?"

"I'm alright, Prongs!" Sirius gasped as his face appeared. He kept turning his head back and forth as he threw glances at his wailing girlfriend. "But I don't think she is. She's hysterical, mate."

"Where are you?" Lily asked as she snatched the mirror out of James' hands.

"We're two blocks from Zonko's," Sirius answered. "Gemma, you need to breathe, baby -"

"Padfoot!" Remus barked as he grabbed the object out of Lily's grasp. "The Aurors have just arrived, but you need to get indoors. Now."

"I know. Love, you're not making any sense! She keeps saying this whole thing is her fault –"

"Look, outside!" someone gasped, grabbing everyone's attention. Lily looked out the window and saw a mass of young students standing with none other than Marianne as she battled a Death Eater with a flurry of offensive spells. Lily remained speechless as she watched the Prefect lunge over debris and attack her assailant. One of her spells finally hit the Death Eater in the chest and she protectively huddled the others behind her as the black figure fell to the ground.

"Over here!" Smithers called across the courtyard and Marianne rushed the entire group over towards the door. The newcomers poured into the room and the shop owner slammed the door shut after Marianne finally tripped inside. Lily watched her catch her breath and try to process the situation, just as she herself had done minutes earlier.

Yet, when Marianne's gaze finally caught Remus' longing stare, Lily saw relief quickly wash over her face, which caused the Gryffindor to smile slightly. Even though Remus had proclaimed that Marianne never wanted to speak to him again, the girl still showed a large release of anxiety when she realized he was safe and unharmed. Lily quickly glanced at Remus, who couldn't keep his eyes off Marianne, and noted that he had the exact same expression on his face.

"Marianne!" Gabrielle squealed and practically tackled her. The Ravenclaw snapped away from Remus' intent gaze and wrapped her in a hug, covering her sister with kisses as she muttered French words of affection into her ears.

"It was all so sudden! I-I was at Honeydukes with Phoebe and we got separated. I don't know where she is!"

"Don't worry, I'll find her," Marianne whispered and she kissed her head one more time before swiftly racing over to the door. Before Smithers could stop her from leaving, the Prefect shot out onto the street and a determined Remus quickly ran after her.

"Bloody hell," James muttered. "Alright, I'm going to find Peter and Aeryn – Frank and Alice, you can stay here or go find more trapped students, up to you – but Lily, you need to go after Remus and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"I'm on it," she answered unwaveringly. Alice and Frank nodded their heads and slipped out the back door and into the fray.

"I'm sorry this ruined our Valentine's Day," James said delicately as he pushed a strand of red hair behind her ears. "But think of it this way – we're getting real life experience for our NEWT exams. It's like we're studying – something you love to do!"

"Shut up," she growled playfully.

Yet, just before Lily and James parted ways, they caught the other's concerned glances, rushed into each other arms and passionately kissed. Lily lost herself in his caress and tried to push all of her worry and anxiety out of her mind.

"Oooooooh! Lily and James, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Come on," she laughed before throwing the giggling child a stern look. "I'll see you back at the Castle."

James grinned and gave her one last chaste kiss. The two Heads then slipped out the backdoor and parted ways to accomplish their separate missions.

Lily's heart raced as she carefully tracked her two classmates through the dangerous streets of Hogsmeade. After dodging an Unforgiveable, she slid across the snow and ran into a wall; she caught her breath and continued down the alleyway. She suddenly heard several spells being cast, followed by a piercing scream.

Without delay, Lily shot out of the shadows and rushed to Marianne's side after she threw herself over Remus' limp body. The Ravenclaw quickly became frenzied and out of control as she wept with extreme remorse and Lily felt a sorrowful ache in her chest.

"No - he – he – he jumped in front of it! He sa-saved -"

"Marianne, we need to get him to the Hospital Wing," Lily said firmly as she placed a hand on her shoulder. "Remus is going to be ok."

"You don't know that!" the girl wailed. "I don't know what spell hit him, he could be in a co-coma!"

"Marianne," Lily whispered as she took her hand and blinked back tears, "we must have faith. The universe truly looks out for those who deserve it – so if Remus sacrificed himself, then he will not be harmed … Now come on, let's get him back to the Castle, just in case I'm wrong."

Hours later, Marianne Minot chewed her left thumbnail for the third time and finally drew blood as she ripped off a large hangnail. She didn't notice the pain, however, and continued to anxiously stare at Remus as he recuperated in the Hospital Wing.

"Marianne," Lily said softly. She placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm going to get some food from the kitchens, do you want anything?"

"No," she said barely above a whisper. She started to chomp on one of her other perfectly shaped nails. "I'm not hungry."

Out of the corner of her eye, Marianne saw Lily throw her a sympathetic look before leaving, but filtered out the positive moment and instead focused on the day's tragedy. She felt a fresh wave of unhappiness crash over her - overwhelming her already exhausted defense system - and emitted a small sob of heartbreak.

For the next hour, Marianne remained silent as her mind whirred with worry, concern, apprehension, fear and unease. She went through a full range of emotions within a matter of minutes; she was guilty for causing him harm, angry that he was stupid enough to get in the way of a spell she could have handled without his help and then depressed that her thoughts had turned so vicious.

Her emotions finally got the best of her and the Ravenclaw felt her eyes slowly close as her body succumbed to extreme fatigue. Twenty or so minutes later, her old alarm made its way back to the surface and Marianne twitched and snapped awake to check if anything had changed with Remus. His eyes started to flutter open a few minutes later.

"You're awake," she said breathlessly. "Thank Merlin, you're awake."

She shot up from her chair and stood at Remus' side as he started to register where he was. His gaze flittered around the room until she reached out and lightly touched his hand. He met her relieved stare and froze.

Marianne had been waiting for this moment for hours, but now that it was here, she felt speechless and thunderstruck. How could she even begin to thank him? But instead of showering him with verbal gratitude, Marianne sat down on the side of the bed and picked up his hand. She placed his fingers on her cheek, nuzzled his cold skin, and soon, found herself delicately kissing his knuckles.

Remus ripped his hand out of her grasp and started to curl into a ball, facing the other direction. Marianne's tender thoughts turned angry. Her eyes narrowed as she disregarded his recent wounds and shoved his shoulder.

"What is it about me that repels you so?" she spat. "Is it because I'm annoying to study with? Is it because I slapped you? Is it because I'm too rich - oh Remus, I can't help that I have money – or is it because I'm not pretty enough?"

"No!" he cried out frantically as he turned to face her. "You're beautiful. Breathtakingly beautiful, in fact."

"Then what is it?" she asked. "What is wrong with me?"

"Nothing," he said as he adverted his eyes away from her. "There's nothing wrong with you." He took a moment to pause. "I'm the problem."

And that's when she remembered the most important detail from their last encounter - "Please, Marianne, there's something I have to tell you."

"Remus?" she asked blindly. He met her gaze again and she saw that he had tears of dread forming in his eyes.

"I'm – I'm - "

He choked on his words as he let out a sob of despair. For a moment Marianne thought he wouldn't be able to continue, but he pressed on.

"… a werewolf."

Marianne felt a surprised cry tumble out of her mouth; her heart swelled with concern as her hands flew to her chest. She understood the burden he was carrying, for even though Remus was the definition of a good-hearted and caring person, every Full Moon he changed into something dangerous. And at last, she pieced together why he rejected her. He withdrew from any sort of deep relationship because he feared her reaction to his lycanthropy.

"You must think I'm a monster," he whispered.

"No!" she exclaimed as she lunged forward and jumped into his white bed, melding her body next to his. Her reaction took the werewolf by surprise and she felt him jerk away from her. She remained by his side, however, and gave him a soft smile as she touched his cheek. "I think you're the bravest person I've ever met … and I think I've fallen in love with you."

Remus finally responded to her touch and nestled his face in her hand. Tears of happiness – and not of sadness or misery – rolled down his cheeks as he whimpered gently. She wrapped her arms around his shaking frame and for a quiet minute, they comfortingly cuddled each other.

After Marianne took a deep breath, she looked over at Remus and felt her mouth gravitate towards his. However, the boy put his fingers to her lips and stopped her from kissing him.

"I fell in love with you the moment you asked me to help you find the answer to our OWL practice question. And for two years now, I've stayed in the shadows … because I know that a girl like you could never be with a bloke like me."

"But -"

"Regardless of how you feel, you have to understand that we can never be together - you have to learn the same thing I did. What would happen if you introduced me to your parents as your boyfriend?"

"They would accept you," she said matter-of-factly.

"No, they wouldn't."

"You've never met them, how do you know that?"

"Because you're supposed to marry a Lord or a Count," Remus answered. "They may be tolerant, but they would never let their eldest daughter be with a nobody. Especially a werewolf nobody." His lips turned into a sharp frown. "It's not logical for us to start something together. You have to see that."

"But I don't want to be logical!" she countered forcefully, but after a few seconds passed, her tone turned soft and pleading. "I want to be happy."

The two Seventh Years stared into each other's eyes, stunned into silence. Marianne threw her cares to the wind and like Remus' self-sacrificing stunt, let her actions speak louder than her words; she leaned over and gracefully pressed her lips against his, inhaling sharply when their kiss deepened. Although she was inexperienced, she felt her need and desire outweigh her propriety and kissed him without shame. Remus responded just as voraciously and their gentle embrace turned messy, chaotic and frenzied as they clawed at each other.

"… What if we kept it a secret?" Marianne said breathlessly as she pulled away from him. "What if nobody had to know?"

"I have a feeling Lily already does," Remus snorted softly and moved to resume their earlier caresses.

"But you'd be willing to do it," she said sternly. "To take the risk."

"Yes," Remus confirmed. Marianne felt her heart explode with joy. "But only on one condition." She peered up at him curiously. "You have to continue to wear whatever perfume you applied to your neck. It smells like … like sandalwood … and vanilla. And it's the most intoxicating scent I've ever encountered."

"Remus, I didn't put on any perfume this morning," she said with a slight snicker. "That spell must have really knocked the sense out of you."

"Not all of it," he muttered playfully as he snuck his arms around her waist and crashed his lips down upon hers.

Author's note: yay Remus and Marianne! :D :D