I looked at Sirius uneasily after Ali left. I didn't know exactly what she expected us to fix. It wasn't like this was something to could be easily fixed with a kiss and an apology. This was extensive damage. It was kind of like when the foundation of a building is damaged then you can't just slather a coat of paint on it and call it good. That might make the damage less noticeable but it isn't going to stop the building from collapsing. It required extensive rebuilding to make it stable again. Sirius and I were the same in that sense. Our relationship was going to need to be rebuilt and I didn't know if he was willing to put in that much work and sacrifice enough for it.

"I'll see you around," I told him off-handedly before turning to return back to the castle.

"Is that just it?" he scoffed. "Are you just going to walk away? You're not even going to bother to try and talk this out?"

"What could we possibly say that would fix this?" I inquired dubiously. "A round of apologies isn't going to fix this."

"I know that!"

"Well then what could possibly be said that could make this whole disaster go away, huh?" I demanded hotly. "What magical words do you have that are going to make this all okay again?"

"I – I don't know yet. I just need you to level with me."

I snorted, "'Level with you'? How am I supposed to level with you when I'm so incredibly angry that I can't think straight? How am I supposed to rationalize through this when I'm just barely keeping myself from exploding?"

"Well if you're mad at me then just explode already! Just get it out all into the air so we can deal with this, Cherry!"

"I'm not just mad at you! I'm mad at everyone! I'm mad at you for turning a blind eye to this. I'm mad at Potter for making everything so painful. I'm mad at Ali for putting in this position. I'm mad at myself for letting Evans do this to me. Oh and don't even get me started on Evans. She's lucky that her head's still attached to her bloody body! So tell me, how am I supposed to have a rational conversation with you when it's all I can do to keep myself from becoming violent?" I snapped harshly.

"Fine, you want to be violent? Hit me. If that's what it takes for us to work this out then fine. Hit me all you need to."

I shook my head with a sigh, "I'm not going to hit you."

"Why not? If it's going to help us work this out then you should hit me," he insisted.

I rolled my eyes, "Sirius, I don't know why you suddenly think that violence is the answer but I'm not going to hit you. That won't solve anything."

"Fine then if you don't like that method then let's try something else." Suddenly I was being pinned against the trunk of a maple tree, my hands being firmly held above my head. His lips collided with mine as if he were trying to pour every ounce of passion we'd ever felt in our relationship into the kiss. My knees quickly become a gelatinous mess and my will power crumbled again. How did I ever delude myself into thinking that I could live the rest of my life without kisses like that?

He pulled his lips away moments later, luckily not letting go of my hands or my knees probably wouldn't be able to keep me standing on my own. "I'm not giving up on you," he informed me, his breath slightly ragged. "I don't care if you reject me a thousand times or if you flee the country to try to get away from me. I'm not going to give up. I'll follow you wherever for however long it takes. I don't care if I have to beg for your forgiveness for the rest of my life. I'm willing to do it. I'm not giving you up, okay? It's never going to happen. I'm going to get you back. I don't know when and I don't know how but I'm going to do it even if it takes the rest of my life."

I shook my head at him, "You don't get it, do you? You could apologize a thousand times and that would fix the real problem. Potter and Evans will still hate me and that's always going to affect things. I'll never be able to make them like me and I really don't fancy the idea of going back into the pits of hell. I don't want you to grovel for forgiveness. If you want this to work then we have to figure out a way to work around that."

"I'll fix it," he promised. "I'll tell James and Lily that the next time that they give you grief that they'll have me to deal with. I will personally make sure that this never happens again. If James even looks at you the wrong way then his arse is mine, alright? I can't make Lily stop arguing with you but –"

"I can handle Evans if we're on a level playing field," I assured him. "She and I have hated each other for years now and I don't expect that to change overnight. I just don't want her to lord over me anymore."

"I promise that she won't. I will make sure that she and James know that I'm not going to tolerate them treating you like a second class citizen anymore. I'm sorry that it's taken me this long to do something about it. I really did think that things were going to work out on their own and I'm sorry that I was so naïve about it. I never meant for you to suffer because of it. I'm going to make this up to you, okay?"

I sighed, "You know when you talk like that you make it really hard for me to stay mad at you."

He risked a small grin, "That's kind of the point, love."

I chuckled and nodded, "I suppose you're right. Okay fine. You get one more chance but this really is the last one. If you muck this one up then all the kissing and sincerity in the world isn't going to be able to save you."

His grin widened, "Thank you! You won't regret it!" He planted an excited kiss at my lips, causing me to nearly laugh at his enthusiasm.

"You're welcome. Now can you please stop pinning me down? My arms are starting to go numb," I told him, trying to hide my pleased smile.

"Um no," he replied simply. "I quite enjoy having you in this position."

My eyes nearly bugged out of my skull. Sirius hadn't spoken like that to me since before we started dating. In fact, he never really said anything that could possibly be translated into anything relatively sexual. He kept this loosely kid friendly in our relationship. Now the air felt heavy as if it were charged with electricity "Do you?" I managed to question.

He nodded, his mouth moving dangerously close to my unprotected neck. His lips danced feverishly along my collarbone, causing me to gasp for air from sheer surprise. My gasp quickly turned to a moan as he expertly began to move his mouth to the base of my neck, his teeth nipping carnally against the tender skin. His hands relinquished their hold over my arms, moving to my hips

My knees began to spasm underneath me, causing me to wrap my newly freed arms around his neck to steady myself. He suddenly pulled away from me and I immediately worried that his previous demand of celibacy was rising to the surface again. "What's wrong?" I inquired, worried that I already knew the answer.

"If we don't stop right here then I'm not going to make any promises that I'll be able to stop myself from shagging you right here," he told me with a little bit of a smirk. "I figured that you wouldn't want the entire castle talking about us having sex in broad daylight for everyone to see, would you?"

"Oh so you're just worried about my honor then? Well that's very considerate of you, especially since you're the one who seems to be eager to give me a reason to have a bad reputation," I retorted.

"Well perhaps it's only temporary. Maybe I intend to eventually make an honest woman out of you."

I snorted playfully, "Yeah right. Who says I'd let you?"

"Like you have a choice?" he scoffed, his eyes gleaming jokingly. "Now, let's get out of here before I really do shag you in front of everyone."

I sighed mockingly, "If I have to." To be honest, if he wasn't going to take me off somewhere to shag me then I most likely would have clubbed him over the head and dragged him off to have my way with him to punish him for being such a tease. He'd denied me sex long enough and I wasn't going to let him get away with doing it for any longer.

Sex with Sirius was better than I remembered. It probably had something to do with the fact that this time there wasn't any guilt involved. This time there was only adoration and desire. It was well worth the wait but I still would have much preferred that I hadn't had to wait so long.

"What changed your mind?" I questioned as we laid on a mattress that he'd Transfigured out of an old textbook that had been lying around. "Until today you've been almost determined to make us a celibate couple. What changed your mind?"

"I realized I've been an idiot," he replied, stroking thoughtlessly along my forearm. "I'd been so convinced that sex was the whole reason we got into this mess that I tried to keep it away. I figured we'd be better for it."

""This mess' being your ex-girlfriend using me to test your fidelity? If it is then I'm pretty sure that sex wasn't the reason that whole thing exploded. I'm pretty sure it happened because you used Ali to get Potter and Evans closer together," I pointed out honestly. "Besides, 'this mess' got both of us together so it couldn't have been too much of a complete disaster."

"That's very true," he agreed, kissing my forehead. "And I promise not to try to keep my hands off of you again."

"Oh really?" I inquired dubiously. "So you're just going to feel me up all the time? When we're in public or in class or in front of the professors?"

"Maybe," he nodded.

I rolled my eyes, "If you do then I might actually have to hit you. I might love you but you're going to have to keep your hands to yourself sometimes."

He groaned unhappily, "Fine but I won't enjoy it."

"You don't have to enjoy, you just have to do it," I informed him.

"Fine," he huffed childishly, crossing his arms in front of him. "But if I do this for you then you have to do something for me."

I raised an eyebrow at him, expecting his request to be perverted at the very least, "Do I?"

He nodded, "You have to give me the list of rules that Evans gave you."

"Why?" I questioned, dumbstruck by the innocence of his request. I was expecting something a little more sexual and a little less serious.

"Because I just need it, okay? Do you still have it?"

I nodded slowly, "Yeah but why –"

"Just don't worry about it," he assured me, ending my interrogation with a well-placed kiss on my jawline. "Just let it go, okay?"

I nodded, eager to drop the potentially painful in pursuits of a significantly more pleasurable one, "You know, you're going to have to make up for all those weeks that I slept alone because of your crazy theory."

"I intend to," he assured me.

"You'd better. It's going to take ages to make me forgive you for it," I informed him in a mockingly serious tone.

He gave me a wolfish grin before rolling playfully on top of me, "Well in that case I'd better get to it…"