She rose from the snowy ground just as the darkness began to lighten, ever so slightly, giving way to the strange kind of day time which only comes into being during the winter. A part night, part day which never seems entirely entrenched in either world and yet also seems synonymous with both. Ana could almost laugh at the similarities between herself and the slowly coming dawn.

Her footsteps crunched through the snow as she walked back towards the gates and it was only the unevenness of the sound which told her that she was shaking. Not just her hands, as usually happened, no; her entire body was racked with shivers as even her teeth clattered together loudly. That, she thought ruefully, was what you got for staying out all night in a pretty dress during a bitter Scottish winter. She reached the gates through sheer force of will and once they were closed behind her, after some unsteady wand work, she paused a moment, her back pressed against the domineering stone walls surrounding the castle grounds, as she thought as to where she would go. No one had come looking for her – if they had tried Hogwarts would certainly have been their first attempt. Then again if they Flooed the castle and found her absent what need would there be to come in person? Yet a tiny part of her twisted painfully, perhaps the remnants of her soul she thought bitterly, at the thought of no one coming for her. She clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms hard – until she could feel some semblance of pain. That wasn't her soul talking; she knew that if nothing else. It was her heart.

In truth there was only one place that thing, that hardest of hearts, wanted to take her. The only place she could feel truly at home. There was only ever Grimmauld Place; with its people and its memories…even if they were no longer entirely real. She peered through the iron bars, looking back to the castle, just in time to see a distant dark figure, wrapped tightly in a swaddle of clothing, marching out of the castle doors through a gap so slim she could not see it from such a distance. She would recognise her father anywhere…mentally Ana cursed herself. She couldn't think like that. Severus Snape wasn't her father, not anymore. Her father was dead. If she allowed herself to think otherwise she might say otherwise and then she'd been in ten barrels of shit and no mistake.

Turning away from the sight of one of the few people whom she could depend on Ana decided to take the lesser of two evils. Steadying herself for a moment, drawing in a deep breath which no longer clouded before her eyes – a sure sign of how cold she was, she turned neatly on the spot and Apparated home. On the doorstep she had to cling to the doorframe in order to stop herself from falling down the steps onto the street below. Her breathing was ragged and her head hurt from all the hours of tears she had spilled. Slowly, gradually, she straightened and reached out for the icy doorknob. It turned smoothly and she pushed the door open, half stepping and half staggering into the hall.

She was met by a very irate looking Remus Lupin; leaning against the foot of the staircase and staring towards the door as if willing her to walk through it.

"ANA!" he exclaimed as soon as he caught sight of her, "Merlin's beard, Ana, we were…are you alright? Oh…Sirius!"

He stepped forward speedily as she lost balance and fell forwards. Remus caught her deftly and lowered her with himself onto the floor. The banging open of a door followed by a staggering string of swear words and the scent of embers brought with it Sirius Black. He was looking down at her with a face which was pale and eyes which were set above even darker shadows than usual.

"Fucking hell what's wrong with her?" Sirius exclaimed.

"I don't know…she just opened the door and fell in…" Remus answered worriedly.

"Has she been cursed?" Sirius responded urgently. "Shit…shit …what do we do? Remus what do we…?"

"Shut up…" Ana croaked, pushing at Remus as she dragged herself into a sitting position, "I'm cold and tired - not dying; you prat."

"Right…right…into the front room – the fire's on in there. Remus; fetch some tea yeah? And put some Pepper Up in - I'll help her."

Then, without any forewarning to what his actions would be, he reached down and scooped her up into his arms. Admittedly the bravado was marred by his staggering under her weight at first but he pulled the entire thing back manfully as he kicked the door leading to the front room open and installed her smoothly onto the sofa in front of the fire without a hitch. He disappeared from her view for a moment as she settled back; allowing the stiffness in her back, legs and neck to intensify briefly as she relaxed her muscles for the first time in what felt like days.

"Here," he returned with a blanket which he laid across her body before perching next to her on the cushions.

For a long moment he simply looked down at her, as though not sure what to do, before finally, hesitantly, he moved a strand of damp hair from her forehead and murmured,

"What happened?"

She did not speak for a long time. Remus returned to the room, laid down the tea and took a seat opposite them both in an armchair and still her silence lasted. Sirius leaned forward and picked up the cup, offering it to her. She reached out, wordlessly flinching as her shaking hand trembled, before curling her fingers into a fist and dropping the arm back to her side. Sirius shuffled closer and, after helping her sit up, made her drink the tea slowly until half the cup was gone. The heat of the drink hurt her teeth at first and the Pepper Up had a bitter tang; yet the warmth from the liquid spread through her quickly. When she leaned back she felt more exhausted than she had since the days of Azkaban.

"The others are still upstairs mostly…" Remus broke in with his even tone, "Molly, Arthur and Tonks are in the kitchen but all the children have rooms and I hope they're asleep…"

Sirius laughed.

"Not likely," he explained, "If I know Harry he'll be steaming and plotting…"

"Harry's okay?" Ana asked suddenly; causing both men to look down at her.

"Yeah," Sirius replied, "Yeah he is…thanks to you. Don't shake your head woman, I saw you when I broke into the clearing. You had put yourself between my boy and the Death Eaters. Just because I didn't mention it at the time doesn't mean I didn't notice…"

"He held his own…" Ana objected gently.

"Oh I know – James' son isn't he?" Sirius and Remus exchanged a small smile before the former added, "But still it was bloody stupid – and if I think it's stupid you know that Remus was having a small stroke…"

Remus made a grunting sound; though whether of acceptance or denial Ana wasn't sure.

"…but you saved him; Ana. You saved both of them and then; I don't know what happened – Remus explained some of it but…" he stopped as he saw she had turned her head away.

Ana had squeezed her eyes tightly shut. There were no more tears; they were all gone, but there was pain – pain as she thought about Blacktooth's eyes, pain as she thought about what he had done to her, so much pain…

"Ana? Come on love; tell me."

She took in a breath; slow and deep, before; with eyes still closed and head turned away, beginning to speak.

"Most people my age are afraid of something. My nightmare was him; Blacktooth. And it was all real because I had the proof on my wrist. So when I saw him I just…I couldn't stop myself. Everything went black…no – no that isn't right…"

She opened her eyes and looked up into Sirius' grey ones before correcting,

"Everything went red – blood red. And I killed the fucker; and I'm not sorry. I never will be."

"No one expects you to feel remorse, Ana," Remus gently inputted, "But the way you left…we were so worried about you – don't you know that?"

"No," she replied in a half whisper, "I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"S'alright," Sirius smiled softly, "No harm done. Now what I really want to know is how the bloody hell you strolled through Fiendfyre like it was drizzle?"

Ana smiled and gave him a faint wink before replying,

"Magic!"

"Really?" he answered drolly, "I would never have guessed that one. Go on; tell me your secret. It was damned impressive whatever it was."

She shifted slightly in her seat, sitting up and allowing Sirius more room so he could sit back properly, her legs pulled unceremoniously onto his lap in order to give more space, before answering carefully,

"Part of it was just controlling it – Fiendfyre's easy when you know how. But because I wasn't the caster that alone couldn't have saved me. Remus' necklace – the one imbued with protective magic? That did a good half the job for me."

"Easy when you know how…would you listen to her? You'd think she was talking about basic Transfiguration – not deadly flaming serpents…"

"Where were you Ana?" Remus broke in through Sirius' pointless chatter; despite the warning look Sirius gave his friend at the abrupt turn of conversation.

"Hogwarts," she answered – following her usual route of not telling lies; only half truths.

"We checked there…" Remus interrupted.

"By the lake," she corrected him softly, "I sat by the lake all night…hence why I look like a banshee minus the wail."

"You sat by the lake all night? Are you mad? It's minus ten degrees in Scotland right now!" Sirius was wide eyed with incredulity as he stared at her.

"Yep," she answered blandly, "Mad as a Hatter – that's me."

"Ana…" Remus began; his tone denoting that he definitely wasn't about to enter into the jesting.

"Leave it Remus," Sirius stepped in, causing both her and Remus to look at him in surprise. "She's had a tough night let's just…there's time – later we can talk about it. Go and tell the others she's alright will you? I think Molly's close to a full breakdown back there…"

Remus hesitated for a moment, his gaze swinging from Sirius to Ana and back again, before nodding slowly and getting up to leave. However before he could Ana called out,

"Remus?"

He turned back to look at her expectantly.

"Thanks. Really; thank you. For caring, for being here…for everything. I'm grateful, don't think I'm not, I won't forget."

His sober expression instantly softened and she thought that when he smiled he was probably one of the most handsome men she knew. She returned his smile and kept it firmly fixed on her face until the werewolf had left the room. In fact it was only when she felt Sirius shift slightly that she refocused on him. He, as seemed to be the norm lately, was watching her with that same inscrutable expression she was quickly becoming accustomed to.

"You saved Harry last night," Sirius said, raising a hand as she tried to interrupt, "No, come on, I got Remus off your back – you can at least let me say by piece."

She nodded, sullenly, before waiting for him to finish with what she hoped was a look of patient expectation.

"You saved Harry…but you saved me too. I saw that, Ana, you deflected a curse headed straight for me and took one yourself as thanks. If you hadn't been wearing your necklace you would have…I don't know," he sighed, his eyes darting away from hers before coming back again after a pause, "You risked your life for me, for Harry – and I know you've told me a thousand times you would but I never really believed it. Not until last night."

Ana said nothing, merely allowing him to speak. However inside a rush of emotions were coursing round her body; both ones she wanted to experience, more than anything, and ones she didn't want to think about – ones suppressing and ones rising higher and higher…

"…and I know that there's…there's something going on; between us. Stop me if I'm wrong but I don't think I am, am I?"

She hesitated. She could tell him he was mad, right now, stop it all in its tracks before it had even begun…

"No," she replied without even realising she was speaking until the words had left her mouth, "No you're not wrong."

Sirius nodded slowly, his expression intense.

"I know…for the love of Le Fay this is hard. I'm not used to being in this sort of position, you know? Azkaban isn't really the place for it and before prison…well before that I was a proper knob…rebel without a cause and constant trouble make extraordinaire…"

"Some things never change," she answered with a smirk, causing him to lightly slap her legs, still covered in the damp skirts of her dress, in admonishment.

"Yeah well you might have a point but…what I'm saying is that I need to be there for Harry now. I need to be fully there for him; you know? So I'm…I'm not saying never but I'm saying…I suppose I'm saying not now. Whatever it is there's time, when the war is done with, to think about, to…you know what I'm saying, don't you? I bloody hope so because I'm not even half sure myself…"

She smiled and reached over to take the hand which was resting warmly on her shins with one of her own. She could see the worry, the conflict, clearly on his face and strangely enough she had never been gladder.

"I agree with you Sirius. I am your friend and I don't want to lose that but you're right. Harry is the priority – winning this war is the priority. If we're both still alive after that…well we'll see."

His expression instantly cleared as he grinned.

"That was what I hoped you'd say; I always knew you were a woman after my own heart…"

"Even when you pinned me to a wall, tried to curse me and tied me up on the kitchen floor the first day we met?" she asked playfully, releasing his hand and leaning back, allowing her eyes to drift shut as she did so.

"Well you were breaking into my house…" he defended.

"No; I wasn't," she answered, her reply interspersed with a yawn, "I'm a Secret Keeper. I'm practically a key all in myself."

He had no answer to that and so Ana smiled, eyes still closed, and allowed the crackling of the fire and the warmth of his body next to hers carry her off into much needed, long overdue, sleep.

A/N: I know there will be questions about this so I'll do a little A/N here to try and avoid confusion. Yes; they agree they have certain feelings for one another. HOWEVER. I believe it would be untrue to my characters to assume either Ana OR Sirius would want to become involved when they are fighting in this war. At least...not yet. Never say never darlings! But Sirius would put Harry above any romantic feeling, no matter how strong, and Ana would do the same out of respect for him. Plus her father is Sirius' long time enemy and, knowing Sirius Black, that, whether kept secret or not, would put strain on anything they entered into together - and Ana wouldn't want that for anything. She'd want to do it right or not at all. So if you're wondering why you all just got cock-blocked - there you go. Sorry! Back to canon next chapter!