("Promise me something. Please.")

("Anything. I'll promise you anything, love.")

("You have to let me go first. Let me go first, Marlene, because I can't stand living without you. And I promise I'll come find you on the other side.")

When Sirius finally came back home, he only got a glimpse of his Manor's living room before his fiancee literally jumped on him and hugged him tightly, burying her face in the crook of his neck. His heart broke as he listened to Marlene's sobs, feeling guilty that he'd caused her so much sorrows. Cupping her face with his hands, Sirius didn't waste his time and kiss the woman of his life, making sure that she understood from the kiss about how much he loved her and missed her, and that he was sorry it took him so long to come back home to her. He barely pulled away from Marlene when Harry squeezed himself between the couple, hugging Sirius just as tightly as Marlene did. The boy had gotten so tall, and there was an ache in Sirius' heart when he realised how much he'd missed. He turned his attention to Payne and Hunter, giving the both of them kisses on their foreheads. They were all his children, and he and Marlene were the parents. They were his family, and he'd die a thousand deaths for them.

Regulus was the second one to greet him after Marlene and his children. He knew how Regulus insisted to go with Remus when the werewolf took Charlie and Tonks to see him at Bathilda's house. If it weren't for the fact that he was dealing with matters regarding the Triwizard Tournament, the younger Black would have come. Therefore, when Regulus nearly tackled him to the ground to hug him, Sirius let him. Despite their age, Sirius sometimes still saw his brother as the shy and timid five year old who came to his room during thunderstorm. They were separated for almost two decades, and they only got close again. It felt like a cruel fate when he was captured and Regulus had to be the one to see it. But at least he was back home, with the brother he loved deeply. Sirius would make sure that he would do his best to keep his family safe, and to never leave them again.

That was why Sirius nearly lost it when he found out that somehow, Harry's name came out from the Goblet of Fire. Just when he thought everything would be alright, his boy had to be a part of the legendary dangerous tournament. It took Remus talking him out of it to stop him from hexing Crouch, who he suspected as the one to enter Harry's name. He knew how the sadistic bat disliked Marlene strongly for the fact that she outranked him. Sirius felt it was perfectly reasonable for him to sue Crouch, even though he realised that his number one suspect should be Igor Karkaroff, who was an ex-Death Eater. But good ol' Remus told him to take it easy and leave it to Dumbledore to take care of everything. Sirius only agreed when he remembered that Moody would be teaching DADA that year, leaving the post of Head Auror for Sirius to take over. The Pureblood knew that with both Dumbledore and Moody around, Harry would be safe.

"What are you thinking about, love?" Marlene said, snapping Sirius off his reverie.

It was in the middle of the night, and they were in bed together. Marlene was tracing the BLOOD TRAITOR scar on Sirius' chest that the Death Eaters carved out as a form of torture. When the witch first saw it, she burst into tears. She cried so hard she alerted everyone else in the Manor. Long story short, Sirius successfully traumatised his family by accidentally showing the scar. Remus and Regulus got really mad about it, and they swore to make all the Death Eaters pay for what they did to Sirius. Dorcas tried everything she knew on Healing to make the scar gone, but it was to no avail. Irina suggested to have it remove the Muggle-way, and Sirius did as she suggested. But again, it didn't work. The only one who didn't fuss about it was Harry, but that was only because the boy knew how much Sirius hated it. Ever since then, except when he was with Marlene in their room, Sirius took extra-care to cover it up.

"Nothing," Sirius replied, giving Marlene a quick peck on her lips. "I was just thinking who was it that put Harry's name in."

"Hm… Well, if you ask me, I don't think it matters who put his name in. I think it's more important for us to find the solution to all of Harry's task."

Sirius smirked. "Isn't that called cheating, Minister McKinnon?"

"Not really, no," Marlene laughed. "It's not cheating as long as no one finds out about it. And I bet you the other champions all get help."

"You're right. You're always right, love."

"That's because I know how dumb you can be, Mister Auror."

"Again; you're right."

The coupled shared a long, deep kiss. Without breaking the kiss, Marlene shifted herself around so she was straddling the handsome Pureblood. This prompted Sirius to chuckle. "Mar, if you keep this up, we're going to explain to Harry why he's having another sibling."

"All right, all right," Marlene huffed mockingly, resorting to lying on top of Sirius, her head pressed on her fiance's chest. "We're not going to do that tonight. Fine."

The couple shared a laugh before they fell into a comfortable silence. They were quite for sometime in that position, both of them lulled by the calming sound of each other's breathing. It was awhile later when Sirius broke the silence. "Do you…do you remember that day when you found me up in the Astronomy Tower?"

("Black? What are you doing? Were you thinking of jumping?")

Marlene tensed a little. "To be honest, it's not…it's not exactly a memory that I look back fondly. But yeah, I- I remember that day."

("Sod off, McKnickers. What do you care anyway.")

"Actually, I wasn't going to jump... I know Lily didn't tell you, but the night before, she saw me stumbling into the common room, bloody and bruised. She took me to the newly hired Madam Pomfrey, and insisted I got taken care off. That was pretty much how the fiery flower and I became friends, really."

"What were you doing then, up there? If you weren't going to jump."

There was a long pause before Sirius answered.

"I… I was praying."

To say that Marlene was caught off guard would be an understatement. After all, no matter how much Sirius tried to deny his heritage, the man was, first and foremost, the purest of all Purebloods. There was a reason why he was one of the most feared Purebloods in all of Europe.

"And what did you pray for?" Marlene asked slowly, once she recovered from the shock.

"I asked for a miracle," Sirius said, looking straight into Marlene's eyes with pure love and adoration in his stunning grey eyes. "I had no one, remember? I was just disowned, my brother wouldn't talk to me, and I just got into a fight with my friends. So, I asked the Big Guy for a miracle, if He truly was the divine and ultimate Being in our universe, like what the Muggles believed. I told Him that I needed a reason for me to keep going – for a miracle. And then you came, the miracle I asked for."

Marlene could still remember that night very clearly, as if it just happened the other day. The year was 1976, and it was their sixth year. Everyone had heard of the news about Sirius being disowned by his parents just a week before the summer ended. Being neighbours with the Longbottoms, who were part of the Sacreds, Marlene knew from her brother, who was friends with Frank Longbottom, about how Fleamont Potter didn't waste a time to adopt Sirius the moment the rebel Flooed into his home, barely alive because of all the beatings he received from his parents. As the Heir to the Black fortune, Sirius had to deal with a lot of the Slytherins who felt that since he was no longer an official Black, they could do whatever they wanted with him. Typical of Sirius, instead of reporting it to his friends, at the very least, the proud bastard took it upon himself to deal with all of them.

One day, he just snapped.

("I get that life's been a bitch to you, but to risk two lives because you felt like you had enough… For Merlin's sake; one of them is your own best friend!")

("I know. I'm sorry. Prongs, I really – ")

("Don't call me that. Only my friends are allowed to call me by that name.")

("No… Don't say that. Don't…don't do this.")

("And to think, I wanted you to be my brother…")

("James, please – ")

("You disgust me, Black. Turns out you're no different than them.")

Marlene had never seen someone so heartbroken.

"I fell for you right then and there, you know?" Sirius said softly as he absentmindedly traced circles on her arm. "With Evans, it was different. She was fussy. Mothering. Told me what to do and what not to do the whole time I stayed in infirmary. You though, you were different. You've always been different. When you walked into the Astronomy Tower that night, I knew you'd be the one to guide me through everything. You're my light when everything is dark, Mar."

"Why did you purposely cheat on me though? In seventh year. We'd been going out for a few months, and everything was going so well." It had been almost two decades and Marlene was still bitter about it. She always hated the thought that there'd been other girls that had kissed Sirius too other than herself.

Sirius sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I told you I did it because I was scared. I was so in love with you, and yet I didn't have anything to offer you. And I heard from Longbottom how your parents were looking into marrying you off with someone who wasn't a troublesome punk like me. It wasn't easy but for your happiness, I willingly traded my own."

"Thank goodness Remus and Dorcas got together in time to set us back together again quickly," Marlene said, mock-glaring at Sirius. "And I swear to Merlin, Sirius; if you do something like that again, I'll rip your balls off with bare hands."

"Love," Sirius laughed, burying his face in Marlene's hair. "If I ever do something like that again, I'll personally hand over my balls to you. Though technically, you've owned them since the day you walked into the Astronomy Tower."

The couple shared another round of laughter, feeling contempt for the first time in years. Christmas was coming in a week, and they had a relatively calm year, save for the fact that Harry was a Triwizard Champion. They had three amazing children whom they loved dearly, two nephew and niece that they adored so much, and brothers and sisters that they trusted more than anything in their lives. Marlene didn't think it was possible for her life to get even better because all she ever wanted was a nice life that she could enjoy it with her family.

That was, until Sirius decided to break the silence again.

"Hey, Mar?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's get married."

Ron had only been to a wedding once before, in all of his fourteen years of life. He was only seven back then. It was the marriage of one of his father's many cousins, who then moved to Switzerland just months after the wedding. That was the only wedding he'd ever been too. Having six siblings meant that it was impossible for his parents to take them all with them to weddings and such, unless it was family. As a boy, Ron didn't care much about it. From the only wedding he'd been too, Ron had already decided that if he ever got married, it would be the simplest wedding of the century. He'd only invite his really close friends and direct families. He simply didn't have the patience to deal with all of the details required from weddings. Besides, since his family was rather poor, he thought that a simple wedding would be the best option.

That was why his eyes still couldn't believe how grand everything was, as he entered the Main Entrance of the Black Manor, where the wedding of the century was held.

The wedding of Sirius Black and Marlene McKinnon.

The wedding was held on Christmas Day, with only six days of preparation. Everyone called it a Fairytale Wedding because of how amazing it was for such fancy and glamorous wedding to be held with only such little time. Ron heard from Harry that there would be two thousand people in attendance, and that it was all the work of Andromeda and Nymphadora Tonks. With two children and one Godson, and their respective jobs demanding their time, Sirius and Marlene trusted the two Tonks women to take care of everything. According to Harry, his Godfather merely gave a large sum of money to his cousin, saying that he didn't care what the mother and daughter planned for the wedding as long as it was safe from danger and unwanted visitors such as reporters like Rita Skeeter. Since the instruction was very vague, the Tonks women agreed that once the safety issue was dealt with, they'd use the rest of the budget to make sure Sirius and Marlene had a great wedding.

However, Ron later found out that there was actually one other request Sirius made.

And he found out about it with the rest of the guests once the wedding started.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are all gathered here to celebrate the union of two souls; my own big brother and the love of his life."

"I don't know Mr Black could marry off people," Ron heard Hermione whispered to Malfoy. She was sitting next to the blond in the front row, seeing that she was without her parents because they were Muggles. The wedding had just begun, and she wasn't the only one who was a little taken aback upon seeing Regulus Black acting as the wedding minister.

"As Head of the Sacreds, he's allowed to do practically everything," Malfoy explained slowly, tilting his head to the side so Hermione could listen to him. "The Founding Families, formally and legally known as Fundactricis Familias, were the ones who not only founded the Ministry, but also the ones who came up with Lex Magicae – the Law of Magic. There are seven families that are known as part of the Familias. They are the Blacks, the Malfoys, the Longbottoms, the Gaunts, the Ollivanders, the Fawleys and the Potters. Out of the seven families, the Potter family is the only that is no longer included in the Sacreds, because of their rather…impure status in the eyes of the Pureblood Law. Anyway, because the Head of the Black family has always been the Head of the Sacreds for centuries, one of the rules they made was about the Head of the Sacreds having the power to marry off people."

The look of pure admiration on Hermione's face as she listened to Malfoy's explanation made Ron wanted to puke.

"You really have to show me the books about the Sacreds one day," Hermione said, looking at Malfoy as if he just proposed to her.

"Of course," Malfoy replied with a smile, giving the girl's hand a kiss.

Apparently, Ron wasn't the only who had enough with the interraction between the couple

"Draco, stop talking," Lucius said flatly. "You can continue romancing Miss Granger after the ceremony is done."

"Yes, Father," Malfoy replied, chastised.

"Do you, Sirius Orion, take Marlene Elizabeth…?"

Ron was sure that Sirius was barely listening to a word his brother said, judging from the way he was staring at Marlene. From the moment Marlene walked down the aisle with Remus Lupin, the handsome Pureblood's eyes were practically glued to the stunning vision that was his future wife. Standing beside the groom was Harry, who cried when Sirius asked him to be his bestman. Dorcas Lupin was maid of honour while Irina Black was the bridesmaid with Nymphadora Tonks. Little Payne was the flower-girl-slash-ring-bearer. The three-year-old insisted to her parents that she was more than capable to do both jobs all by herself. Ron might not know a lot about weddings, but from what he saw, he could tell that everything went smoothly.

"And by the power vested in me as the Head of the Sacred Twenty Eight, I hereby pronounced you bonded for life. Brother, you may now snog your newly married wife."

There was a round of chuckles from all of the guests as Regulus waved his wand over Sirius and Marlene, the silver rain that came from his wand slowly turned into a glowing golden ribbon that surrounded the newly married couple, the Bonding Charm offically Sealed them as couples for life. The guests all clapped when Sirius spent a good twenty-five seconds kissing Marlene, earning cheers and whistles as well, especially when they finally pulled apart. A House-Elf then made an appearance, announcing that reception would be held in the vast backyard of the Black Manor. In unison, everyone moved from the Manor's Grand Ballroom to the backyard, where there were tables and chairs set for the guests. Ron was quite surprised that his family was included in the VIP area with the Tonks, the Malfoys, and the Longbottoms. They were all given a piece of cake and wine, or juice for the underage, as they waited for the groom and bride to make their entrance.

The newly married Blacks' entrance was accompanied by the sound of an unfamiliar song that Ron could only guess as a Muggle one. Everyone cheered when the couple went to take their posistion to start their first dance. From where he was sitting, Ron heard Hermione squealed that the title of the song was Annie's Song by a Muggle American singer named John Denver, also adding how she absolutely loved the song. Ron had to agree, the song really was beautiful, and fit the occasion really well. The Lupins and the other Black couple were the ones who first joined the dance, the mentaking their respective wives to take their positions not far from the married couple, who looked far too engrossed with each other to realise when the first song had ended. Shortly before the second song ended, Ron saw Harry made his way toward him. Thinking that his best friend wanted to talk to him, Ron waved his hand at the green-eyed bloke. Therefore, it was perfectly understandable for Ron to be shocked when Harry gave his hand to Ginny and asked her to dance with him, causing his little sister to blush furiously. On the other table, refusing the fact that he'd been one-upped, Ron saw Malfoy quickly asked Hermione to dance with him. By the time the third song had begun, a lot of people had joined the dance as well.

The twins were the first ones between all the Weasleys to join the dance. They had gone to dance with their Quidditch team mates, Fred with Angelina Johnson while George with Katie Bell. Their parents joined them shortly, followed by Charlie and Tonks who quickly stole the show with their dancing when the music changed into something more up-beat. Percy, on the other hand, was busy talking with his friend Oliver Wood, walking side-by-side along the the forest that was still part of the Black property. Ron remembered Harry telling him one day that the forest that surrounded the Black Manor was as ancient as the one that surrounded Hogwarts. The young Seeker said that the land had been the property of the Black family since the very first Black, Arthfael, who was said to be part-fae. It was believed that he was the illegitimate son of the Fae Queen Mab of the Winter Court. According to Harry, magic felt extremely strong during winter times all over the property. He even noticed that there were times when he noticed that Sirius' and Regulus' appearances looked rather different during winter; their skinned lightened and their hair darkened almost to a blue shade. Harry suspected that their fae bloodline was the reason why the brothers were such great wizards, and why they looked the most comfortable at the Manor than anywhere else in the world.

"Well damn, Ginny looks like she's going to explode," Bill whistled, eyeing their little sister. The oldest Weasley was the only one left sitting with Ron.

"She looked exactly like that during the Yule Ball too," Ron answered, smiling fondly even though he had half a mind to punch Harry for having the audacity to ask his little sister to dance two times.

"What about you, kid? Who did you go to the Ball with? I heard from Percy, who came to visit that night, that you had someone with you."

Ron felt his ears going red in an instant, and he could only imagine they got worse when he saw the smirk on his big brother's face. "I'm going to kill that prat," Ron muttered, earning a chuckle.

"How did you get to go with the daughter of a Slytherin Sacred anyway?" Bill asked, sobering up with a curious look on his face. "The Slytherin Sacreds are known to be very prejudiced. Most of them look down to us Weasleys because they consider us blood-traitors, even though we're a Sacred too. She's a Greengrass. I went to school with her cousin, and he was an arrogant prick."

"I don't feel like talking about it, to be honest. I think I'll go get some air."

"Aw, come on! We're already outside, for Merlin's sake!"

"Talk to you later, brother."

Ron ignored his big brother calling out his name, and made his way into the Manor. He'd been around for a couple of times before, and even though he hadn't completely memorised everything, he knew enough to make his way around to the room where he usually stayed in whenever he came to visit. His conversation with Bill brought back memories of the Yule Ball. When Harry told him that he should go ask Astoria Greengrass to the Ball, Ron thought his friend had gone crazy. The Seeker explained that it was the perfect solution to Ron's dateless problem, seeing that Harry was going Ginny. Ron still found it hard to believe that Harry had suggested such a thing to him, no matter how many times Harry repeated his suggestion. He even forgot to punch Harry in the face when the young Seeker revealed, carefully, that he was taking Ginny to the Ball. Ron barely knew the Greengrass girl, except for the fact that she befriended his little sister, and that she was the younger sister of Malfoy's House-mate. In the end, Ron agreed that his best friend was right. So, just a week before the Ball, Harry took Ron to Ginny's Charms class that she shared with her Slytherin friend.

("You… Well, um, you look nice, Green - I mean, Astoria.")

("Thank you… Y-you don't look so bad either, Mr Weasley.")

All his life, Ron was told by his parents to be wary of Slytherins. He didn't hate them, but he was wary of people from the House of the Serpent. When he first met Malfoy, the animosity they both had was instantly created. It was no secret that Arthur Weasley and Lucius Malfoy were nemesis back when they were at Hogwarts. It was only normal that their children inherited the feud as well. Therefore, Ron truly never saw the possibility of himself being somewhat civil with the young Malfoy. If he was to be honest, he could now even call the Slytherin his friend. But Ron accepted it, no matter how preposterous it was. After all, despite everything else, both he and Malfoy had something in common, which was their love toward Quidditch. The fact that they both cared deeply for Hermione and Harry just added the reason to their weird friendship. After four years, Ron no longer had a problem accepting Malfoy as his friend.

However, the last thing he expected, was to meet someone like Astoria Greengrass.

The sweet, soft-spoken, and lovely Slytherin who was like an angel among the lot of malicious snakes.

Harry and Ginny had agreed that they'd go with Ron to pick up Astoria from the Slytherin Dungeon, lest any older Slytherin would try to hex Ron and Astoria if they were alone. Ron was a little apprehensive, still worrying that he looked like terrible in his dress robes, even though they were ones that Harry's family bought for him. The thought flew right out of his mind when he saw Astoria standing patiently in front of the entrance to the Slytherin common room. She was wearing a white, halter-necked, mermaid dress that fit her newly-cut hair perfectly. Her make-up was modest, a lot like his sister's, but that only made her looked even more angelic, especially when her big blue eyes beamed at the sight of him. Ron knew he wasn't that good with words. His mouth had no filter, and he often stumbled upon his own words when he was nervous. But he was positively convinced that he had dumbed down by eighty percent at the sight of the petite Slytherin.

The two made quite the impression when they came together, hand in hand. Nearly all of the Slytherins glared at her, their disapproval was pretty obvious even for the blind to see. Except for Malfoy and his friends, the Slytherins all had hostile looks in their eyes, even Astoria's own big sister. He felt how his date shrunk in fear at their scrutiny, and like a switch, he instantly became protective of her. Tightening his grip around her hand, Ron pulled her closer, as if to say that anyone who dared to mess with her had to deal with him. That seemed to anger the Slytherins even more, and Ron knew that if it wasn't for the fact that all of the professors were gathered there in the Hall with them, those stuck-up Pureblods would probably send a hex or two on their way. They had a great time together, dancing along to Merlin-knew how many songs. When it was time for bed, Ron gentlemanly dropped her off in front of the Slytherin common room, after making sure that one of Malfoy's friend, Nott, would look after her.

"Ouw!" a girl squeaked when Ron ran right into her, just metres away from the room where he was headed. She was half-running, and the force caused her nearly to fall over. Lucky for her, Ron was quick enough to catch her hand before she fell.

"Merlin, I'm sorry. I didn't – Astoria?" Ron said, even when he felt his ears going red at the thought that the girl he had been thinking about suddenly just appeared right in front of him.

"Oh, hi, Ronald," the girl muttered, tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear nervously. "I- I thought you were Potter."

Ron smiled, shaking her head. "Nah, it's just me. Harry's out there, dancing with my sister. Seeing at the rate he's going, I have no doubt that he'll probably ask her out next year."

"Well, that's good," Astoria replied, also smiling. "Merlin knows how long Ginny has liked him. I mean, she's had the biggest crush on him since forever, right?"

"Yeah. Except, I think Harry also likes Cho Chang." When he thought how it'd break Ginny's heart if Harry asked Chang out instead of his sister, Ron suddenly felt like breaking his friend's nose.

"Really?" Astoria asked, looking surprised.

"Yeah. Just don't tell anyone about it," Ron quickly added.

It made the Slytherin smiled again, and Ron decided that she had a pretty smile. "I won't tell anyone. I promise."

They were quiet for sometime until Ron felt the atmosphere was getting too awkward. "What are you doing here? In here, I mean. I saw your family out there, sitting with the Notts."

"I was looking for the loo… What about you?"

"I'm going to my room, to avoid my annoying brother. Harry and his family are nice enough to give me my own room, since I spend a lot of time here during the holiday. I think Hermione and Malfoy have theirs as well. Separately, of course. Not together because that would be highly inappropriate." Ron felt like slapping himself in the face for being really stupid.

"Of course," Astoria said, smiling as she nodded her head in agreement, seemingly uncaring of the fact that Ron just babbled like an idiot. She tucked another loose strand of her hair behind her ear before speaking again. "Well, I think I should I go back. My parents are probably looking for me."

"I'll walk you back in," Ron offered. He was a little taken aback when Astoria quickly shook her head.

"No, I don't think that'd be a good idea," she said, giving him a sad smile. "It's not that I don't want you to. I just… My parents don't like it when my sister told them I went to the Ball with you. So…"

"I get it," Ron said, reaching out for her hand to give it a light squeeze. "I'm not offended, really. I'm used to it."

"I'm sorry. I really am," Astoria said, patting their clasped hands with her free one.

Ron shook his head, smiling in assurance. "Don't worry about it, Astoria. You go ahead then, lest your parents send out a search party."

Her laugh sounded like the soft chime of a bell, almost pixy-like. She gave him a departing nod before she made her way to the backyard. Before she took a turn, she stopped and turned around toward him. "You're a good person, Ronald Weasley. You really are."

"Thank you," Ron said, feeling himself beaming at her. "And I told you to call me Ron, didn't I?"

Astoria laughed. "Well, only if you promise to call me Tori."

NOTES: Hello! I'm back - FINALLY! Whew, second year of college is absolute EXHAUSTING. I barely have time to do anything that is not studying, honestly. I'm now in the middle of my mid-term exam, actually. But I really didn't feel like delaying an update any longer, so I tried my best to finish this chapter so I could update tonight. As usual, I haven't proof-read it. So, I'm sorry for that. Hopefully, you guys like this new chapter. AND OH, ONE MORE THING! I want to ask you guys something. Since I'm keeping Hinny as one of the few canon pairings here, do you want them to be together in Harry's sixth year (which is canon) or much sooner? Tell me what you think, okay? Anyway, thanks for reading :)