NOTE: This story is primarily focused on SiriusOC and is only written for fun.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter and the world JK Rowling created. I only own the characters you do not recognize from Harry Potter.

It is just after midnight but it's close enough to Sunday. I finished the last scene about an hour ago and wanted this up before I went to bed so I proofread quickly. I'm sure I missed some errors but hopefully I caught all the major ones. I've been writing a lot more lately so look for updates to continue every other Sunday as long as I can keep it up. I forgot to mention this last time but if something other than computer issues is keeping me from updating on time and it will be more than a day or two late, I will most likely post a note on my profile with the heads up. So if I haven't updated feel free to go see if I've made a note. If I haven't, it's likely just because I'm close to being able to update.

***I toyed with raising the rating to M because of this chapter but decided that it wasn't descriptive enough to deem raising it. If anyone feels like I should raise it to M, just let me know and I will gladly change it.

Fate

Chapter Thirty Seven

Sirius suppressed a smile as he watched Samantha from the doorway of their bedroom. She was hanging some of her rarely worn robes in their closet that had not yet been unpacked.

"You'd best be standing there for a reason," she said without turning around to face him. "And not just slacking off on your unpacking."

He shook his head, leaning against the door frame. "What's the rush? We've got everything important unpacked."

"I want everything in its place," she replied, finally turning to face him. "And I'm tired of living amongst boxes."

He glanced around the bedroom at the various boxes stacked in the corners. They had unpacked most of them throughout the day.

"We still have tomorrow, too, you know," he reminded her, stepping into the room. "And we got most of our stuff unpacked. Why don't we take a break tonight?"

She stared at him for a moment before turning back to the closet to hang another pair of robes. "What sort of a break?"

He shrugged although her back was to him. "Well, I recall promising you that when we left Hogwarts, I would teach you to duel. We haven't really had time to start, but I thought tonight would be a good night."

She turned back to him, surprise in her eyes. "I thought I'd have to bring it up first," she told him, her voice reflecting the look in her eyes. "I had to beg you to agree to it in the first place."

Sighing, he stepped up to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I know, but later I decided that I agree with you. Even if I hope you're never put into a position where you need it, I would rather you did know just in case. Especially now that we're a part of the Order. So are you still interested?"

Her lips split into a smile and she nodded. "Of course I am." She stood up on her toes and pressed her lips against his.

He pulled her against him in response. "Or," he mumbled against her lips. "We could just stay like this all night."

She laughed softly and allowed him to kiss her a moment longer before she pulled away. "I believe I was promised a dueling lesson."

He sighed loudly as he slid his hands to her hips. "Fine, fine."

He grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her from the room. She allowed him to pull her along, a grin on her face. A few minutes later, they had the furniture in the sitting room pushed against the wall, the kitchen table moved against the counters. Sirius quickly put up a silencing charm. He doubted it would end well if their muggle neighbors overheard.

Since the space they were using was limited, and they didn't exactly want to damage their flat, Sirius decided to alter how he and James had been taught in training a bit. He wanted to focus on simpler things that could make a big difference in a life or death situation.

"When we were taught to duel our fifth year," he told her as his hands guided her into a stance that would be a good starting point, "The focus was more on being able to cast effective spells quickly and less on movement. But when you're dueling with an opponent who's trying to kill you, you also need to be moving. Not necessarily constantly, but you have to be ready to dodge anything you aren't quick enough to block."

He spent time showing her the best way to move out of the way of a spell as quickly as possible. He walked her through it without any spells being cast first, showing her the best way to move depending on how the spell was coming towards her. In training, they had also learned to anticipate their opponent's moves at the same time, but he did not want to try to teach her too much at the same time.

After a while, he declared her ready to try dodging a real spell. He instructed her to concentrate on either blocking or dodging the spell and not to worry about sending anything back yet. That would be a different lesson entirely.

To amuse himself, he chose to send only one spell at her, a tickling charm. She was able to evade it for a while, but he grew increasingly faster and eventually she slipped up. After she had stopped twitching, she threw a glare at him and he grinned back in return.

He hit her with the charm several more times, but at the end, whether it was from determination or just because she was a fast learner when she put her mind to something, he was not able to get to her anymore.

"Alright, alright," he finally relented after his arm was growing tired. He backed up to where the sofa rested against the wall and lowered himself onto it with a groan. "I give up."

She grinned at him and moved to join him. She collapsed beside him on the couch and leaned her head back against the wall, breathless.

"That was a dirty trick," she grumbled, narrowing her eyes at him. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she tried to catch her breath. He was sure some of that was a result of the charm and not just her dodging.

He smirked and shook his head. "Sometimes I think you forget that you're dating a Marauder."

With a sigh, she leaned against him, shifting her head so that it rested against his shoulder. "And I think that you sometimes forget that I am perfectly capable of retaliating."

She felt him stiffen against her for a moment before his hand slipped around her waist and came to rest at her hip. "And if you turn my hair blue again, you'll have to deal with much worse. But feel free to do it to James whenever you please."

"You're always shoving your friends out for humiliation."

He shook his head, his eyes rolling. "Marauder."

Silence fell between them then for several minutes. Sirius's hand moved up to her arm, his fingers brushing lightly against her skin, causing her to shiver. She tilted her head up to look up at him and he leaned down to press his lips to hers. She turned towards him, resting her hand on the back of his head, her fingers tangling in his hair.

The moment was ruined when Sirius stomach growled loudly. She could not help herself; a laugh bubbled from her chest. A moment later, Sirius joined in, and then they were laughing against each other.

When their laughter had quieted, Sirius sighed. "I suppose I should go start dinner."

But he made no move to get up. Samantha smiled and squeezed his hand.

"Why don't we go pick something up?" she suggested. "We've been stuck inside all day packing. It'll be nice to get out of the flat, even for a few minutes."

"Still involves moving. I like it right here," Sirius murmured. His eyes were now closed, his body relaxed. When his stomach growled again, he groaned. "Alright, alright. I'm getting up."

He stood, making it look as if it took more effort than it did. He pulled her up behind him.

"What should we get?" he asked her as they made their way out of their building.

She shrugged. "I don't particularly care. You pick."

"I'd eat anything about now," he warned her, glancing around them.

They ended up deciding on a small Chinese take-out not far from their flat. Instead of bothering themselves with moving the table back, they sat back down on the couch to eat. They knew that moments like this would soon become rare between their jobs and work from the Order. While they could, they enjoyed it.

It was not often that Sirius found time to teach her, but he managed at least one evening a week. Once they attended a regular Order meeting, it seemed to take up most of their free time. Sirius and James volunteered to help with surveillance of certain areas that they suspected a Death Eater meeting place was located. They took shifts along with a few other volunteers and were often out late into the night or rising several hours early so that it would not interfere with work. Marlene came up with an idea for them to construct a complex map to mark all movings of the Death Eaters that they knew of in an attempt to pinpoint any important locations. Samantha volunteered to help with that project and on many nights when they were not meeting with the Order, Samantha and Marlene would get together to work on it.

James and Lily, both wanting to move out of their homes, decided to move in together, much to the surprise of their friends. They knew James would jump at the chance, of course, but they expected Lily to not want to make such a commitment. But it made sense that if they wanted to move out of their homes that they move together. It did not take them long to find a place. They found a small home outside of London that Lily fell in love with and two weeks later, in mid-September, they moved in. James's parents were sad to see him go, but he and Lily promised to come over for dinner at least once a week.

On a Friday night the week after they had moved in, James stepped through the door to the smell of dinner cooking. He was surprised. He'd been at training until seven and then he had gone on surveillance for two hours. Now, it was nearly ten o'clock and he was sure Lily would have eaten without him.

When he stepped into the kitchen, she was at the counter chopping vegetables. He was going to wrap her arms around her and ask her what she was doing cooking so late, but then he noticed how quickly se was chopping. An aura of anger hung over her and he swallowed, wondering what he had done to cause it.

"Lily?" he called hesitantly. When she whirled around, her green eyes burning, he flinched. "You're…you're cooking dinner?"

A smile tugged at her lips though the anger pulled the corners back down and he knew that whatever had her so angry, it was not his doing.

She turned back to her vegetables, pouring them into a pot where he could see a roast cooking. "I was going to cook you dinner for when you got home and we were going to have a nice dinner together. Until I got that bloody phone call."

James glanced at the telephone on the wall. They only had one so that Lily could keep in touch with her family, and besides observing a few phone calls, the muggle object was fairly foreign to him.

"Who…who was the call from?"

She slammed a lid onto the pot. "My parents."

"So you're mad at your parents?"

She pulled another pot out of the cabinet over the stove, slamming it down onto the stove top. "No James," she snapped. "I'm not mad at my parents."

"Ah." For the life of him, he would never understand how a woman's mind worked.

She sighed heavily and turned to face him, placing a hand on her forehead. "I'm sorry. I know that's what it sounded like. But no, it's my sister I'm angry with."

James frowned and stepped closer to her. "What has she done now?"

Lily's face fell, her hand dropping back down to her side. "She's gotten married."

For a moment, James could only stare. He didn't quite understand what Lily meant. "What do you mean she's gotten married?"

"I mean she had a wedding last weekend," Lily exploded. "In which she got married to that boyfriend of hers, Dursley. And mum and dad were ringing to ask what was so important that I missed my sister's wedding. And then I had to explain to them that I had no idea there was going to be a wedding."

He was stunned. He knew that Lily and her sister had grown apart since she had learned she was a witch. He knew how Lily felt about her sister's fiancé – husband, he had to remind himself. But he also knew that though Petunia and Vernon had planned to get married that summer, they had postponed the wedding to an unknown date.

"I thought…they'd postponed it?"

"They did," Lily exploded. "Until I moved out. And then they decided they couldn't wait any longer and planned a small wedding."

He shifted his weight. "You don't think she did that just so you wouldn't come to your wedding, do you?"

"Why else would she have done it? The timing was too perfect."

James shook his head and stepped up to her, placing a hand on her arm. "She's your sister, Lily."

Lily took a shaky breath, running a hand through her hair, and anger draining out of her. "Perhaps she didn't plan it that way. But she didn't invite me either way. Why does she hate me?"

Her voice broke. James slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. Pressing her face into his shoulder, she moved her hand to his back, clutching his robes as if she expected him to float away.

"She doesn't hate you," James told her. "She's your sister. She just doesn't understand and she covers that up with acting hateful. But she can't hate you."

"You've never met her," Lily murmured. "How can you know?"

His arms tightened around her and he placed his chin on the top of her head. "I just do. Deep down, she still loves you. She still cares for you. And I don't think anything can take that away from her."

She nodded against his shoulder, emitting a sigh as if she were releasing all of the frustration she had built up against her sister.

"Maybe you could give her a call sometime," James suggested softly. "Just to ask how she is."

"Maybe," Lily agreed. She was not ready to at the moment, but maybe one day she would be.

"Here," he said, pulling away and leading her to the table. "You sit down. I'll finish dinner."

Lily tried to protest. He'd had such a long day and just by looking at him, she could tell he was exhausted. But James would not listen, assuring her that he could sleep all day the next day if he wanted. So she sat and allowed him to finish cooking their dinner. And as they ate, James managed to bring a smile to her face that only he could conjure.

Samantha sighed when she heard the key in the lock signaling Sirius's return home. She had just finished placing the steak, roasted potatoes, and green beans she had cooked for dinner on their plates. He had good timing. She heard the door open and close, and then his footsteps. She was pouring wine when his arms wrapped around her waist and his lips brushed across her cheek.

"What's all this?" he asked her.

She turned in his arms, shaking her head at him. "You know what it is," she told him before he pressed his lips against hers. "Happy birthday."

"I'm surprised," Sirius told her several minutes later when they were seated at the table with their plates of food in front of them. "James warned me you weren't much of a cook, but this is really good."

Samantha scowled. "I'm not that bad. This wasn't that hard to cook."

"Mm hm," Sirius agreed though a mouthful of food. He shoveled another forkful into his mouth.

"Slow down," she told him, watching him with an amused expression. "What's the hurry?"

"I've got something I want to show you," he told her through another mouthful of food. "I bought myself a present."

She paused from where she was lifting her fork to her mouth. Setting it down, she looked at him through narrowed eyes. "What sort of a present?" she asked him slowly.

The grin he gave her made her eyes narrow more. She had given him his present that morning: four tickets to the first Puddlemere United quidditch match of the season, which would take place in November. He'd absolutely loved the gift and had promptly informed her that if one of his friends could not make the date, she would be expected to attend. But it had not been the present that he had been hinting at since the end of July when a muggle motorbike had caught his eye. He'd known she was not going to give him one, however, because she had flat out told him several times that she did not intend to buy him such a thing. But the look he was giving her now told her he had done what she should have known he would do.

"You bought a motorbike," she said flatly.

He grinned widely at her and stood from the table. Grabbing hold of her shoulders and pulling her to her feet, he began to pull her towards the door. "Wait until you see it," he told her excitedly. "It's a thing of beauty."

She allowed him to drag her out of the building and away from their dinner. There was no use trying to argue with him when he got like this. She saw the bike before he pointed it out to her, parked against the curb in front of their building. It was large and black and as much as she did not like the idea, she had to admit that it fit him. But only in her head. Not to his face, of course. Because then he would think she agreed with his decision to buy it.

"Well?" he asked her when they stopped beside it. "What do you think?"

She shrugged, glancing at him. "I dunno. It's nice, I suppose."

He turned to look at her, his face incredulous. "Nice you suppose?" He grabbed her arms and turned her so that she faced the bike once again. "It's beautiful."

A smile tugged at her lips. "Fine," she conceded. "It's beautiful."

"I don't believe you."

She shook her head. "Believe what you will." She stepped closer to the bike, running her hand over the handle bars. "So is this an ordinary motorbike or have you done something to it?"

Sirius grinned and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Right now it's just an ordinary muggle motorbike. But James plans to help me turn it into more than that. We want it flying by Christmas."

"Flying? What, brooms aren't enough for you?"

Sirius snorted and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Think about it, Sam," he told her as they made their way back into their building. "Who else can say that they've got a flying motorbike?"

"You're not going to make me ride it?" she questioned, glancing at the bike over her shoulder. That had been half the reason why she had argued against it in the first place.

"I thought we could go for a ride in the morning." When her face fell, he chuckled. "I won't force you, but I'd very much enjoy it. It's my birthday, after all."

"Don't you try and make me feel guilty," she snapped as they stepped back inside their flat. "It won't work."

"So you're not even going to consider it?" he asked with a look that looked too much like a pout for her to keep a smile off of her face.

"I didn't say that," she replied. "I'll think about it."

He grinned and she knew that he took that as a yes. She sighed, but he cut it off with a kiss, his hands slipping around her waist. Pulling her against him, he trailed kisses along her jaw to her neck.

"I don't know about you," he murmured against her skin. "But I'm not very hungry anymore."

"Mmm." Her eyes closed. "Me neither."

She moved a hand to the back of his neck. The kisses he placed on her neck made her knees weak and she gripped his upper arm with her other hand to keep herself standing. His hands slipped under her shirt and to her waist, pulling her as close as he could. She still did not feel close enough.

His lips found hers again and she leaned into him, the hand on his neck holding him to her as she kissed him back deeper. He made a sound of approval in the back of his throat. Sirius bent down quickly, slipping one arm under her knees, the other sliding up to her back, and he scooped her up in her arms, causing her to exclaim in surprise. He began to head down the hall and when he reached their bed, he slowly lowered her down to the mattress, lowering himself with her. Their lips never pulled apart.

She moved her hands to his shoulders, her fingers curling and clinging to him. His hands slipped back under her shirt and she shivered at his touch. She fisted her hands in his shirt before she began to pull it over his head. His feet kicked off his shoes as he undid the button of her trousers and began to ease them off of her hips. Her hands began fumbling with the buckle of his belt.

He suddenly cursed, pulling away from her and reaching toward his feet.

"What are you doing?" she asked him breathlessly.

"Can't get my bloody socks off," he grunted, sitting up when he still could not reach his feet as Samantha giggled at him.

It took a moment of struggling, but then he was leaning back over her as he kicked his trousers to the floor, leaving him only in his boxers.

"Okay," he said, sounding proud of himself, as he began to trail kisses along her neck.

"Do you always have a problem with removing your socks?" she teased.

"Shut up," he mumbled, capturing her lips with a heated kiss to keep her from teasing further. Her hands slipped back to his shoulders and then she slowly began to run them down his back, feeling the muscles move under his heated skin. Her hands came to rest at his hips just at the edge of his boxers. A moment later, she began to ease his boxers off of his hips.

Sirius pulled away from her then, his grey eyes filled with a desire she had never seen in them before.

"Are you sure?" he asked huskily, his hands already sliding her shirt up. Merlin, he wanted her. He wanted her with every aspect of his being. But he would not push her into anything. He wanted her to want it just as badly.

"Yes," she gasped. "Positively certain."

He smiled then, moving a hand to her hips, his fingers lightly tracing her skin along the edge of the elastic of her panties. She shivered at his touch, moaning softly as she brought one of her hands up to the back of his head, pulling him closer to her so that she could kiss him again. Sirius kissed her deeply, deciding that this was the best birthday present that she could ever give to him. Herself.

They woke late the next morning in each other's arms. After showers and breakfast, Samantha reluctantly agreed to accompany Sirius on a ride on his new motorbike. He took it slow for her and when they pulled back in front of their building, she had a smile on her face. The afternoon was spent cleaning the flat and cooking. For Sirius's birthday, their friends were going to come over for the evening. It would be the first time they would get together for something that did not involve the war.

By seven o'clock that evening, Samantha had baked a chocolate cake and set out different finger foods. Sirius had set out several bottles of firewhiskey as well as a bottle of wine.

"Do you think you have enough to drink?" Samantha asked teasingly, eying the bottles.

Sirius shook his head. "One can never have enough to drink."

She shook her head as Sirius pulled her close for a kiss. A knock sounded on the door then, followed by James's voice. Sirius groaned.

"Perfect timing as always."

Remus and Peter arrived not long after James and Lily, and soon they were talking and laughing together, for once steering clear of the topic of the war.

"Whatever happened to the map?" Sirius asked. It had not been in his trunk when they had left Hogwarts, and he had been too busy saying goodbye to the school to give it much thought. But now, here with his friends, he remembered it.

"It got confiscated by Filch," James grumbled. "He tried to activate it and ended up getting insulted. When I snuck down to the kitchens for food for the party our last night there. Suppose he's stored it in his office. If we're lucky, someone will unconfiscate it someday. I would hate for our best project to go to ruin."

"Well, now we have another project to focus on," he said, causing James to grin widely.

"Do I want to ask what that project would be?" Remus drawled as he helped himself to a chocolate frog.

"Well, Moony old chap," Sirius replied brightly. "I purchased myself a motorbike yesterday and James and I decided we should make it much more interesting. Would you like to help?"

"I think I'll sit this one out," the werewolf replied dryly.

"What do you plan to do with it?" Peter questioned.

Sirius shrugged. "Right now we plan on making it fly. But if you have any other suggestions, they are highly welcome."

"Did he really buy a motorbike?" Lily asked Samantha. The two of them were seated on the couch, each with a glass of wine in their hand.

Samantha rolled her eyes. "Yes. He knew I wasn't going to get him one so he bought one himself. And now he's got it in his mind that they're going to make it fly."

"They'll figure it out, you know," Lily told her. "They're rather good with charms when they put their mind to it."

"I know," Samantha muttered. "That's why I'm not happy about it. Merlin knows what they'll get into with a flying motorbike."

"Just as long as James doesn't get one as well."

Samantha snorted. "That's the difference in the two. James will do as you ask. Sirius just does what he wants either way."

Lily smiled. "Yes, he is a rather good listener, James."

"To you. He doesn't listen to anyone else."

Lily shrugged. "As long as he listens to me," she said with a grin.

Eventually they were able to stop their conversations long enough to cut the cake. James was quick to say how surprise he was that Samantha had managed to bake a perfectly fine cake without any mishaps, which had earned him a jab in the ribs and a sharp glare. Remus reassured her that it was really good and since Remus had a bit of an obsession with chocolate, she took it to be true.

They boys had begun sipping on the firewhiskey earlier, but once they finished their cake, they began to grow louder and more rowdy as they drank more heavily. With a roll of her eyes, Samantha cast a silencing charm around their apartment so that they would not disturb the neighbors.

"Why did we decide it was a good idea to give them firewhiskey?" Lily asked with a sigh, glancing over at the loud-as-ever Marauders seated at the kitchen table. Currently, Sirius and James were competing to see who could stuff the most chocolate frogs in their mouth. Peter was loudly cheering them on, his speech a bit slurred. Remus was just shaking his head. Drinks usually did not affect him, at least not as much.

"It's his birthday," Samantha replied with a smile. "They don't get to relax like this very often anymore."

"That's true," Lily murmured. "James has been stressed all week. It's nice to see him relaxed for once."

"It's nice to see them all relaxed," Samantha said as she stood to refill her glass with wine. When she passed by Sirius at the table, though it didn't seem as if he was paying her any attention, his arm shot out and snaked around her waist, pulling her down into his lap with a strength she was surprised he had considering how much he had had to drink. "Sirius!" she protested. "Let me go." She tried to pull away, but his arms held her in place.

"Stay and talk to us, Sammie," Sirius slurred, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

Samantha shot a look at Lily, which only caused James's attention to turn to her.

"Lily," he exclaimed loudly, hoisting his glass of firewhiskey in the air. "Come sit over here."

"I'm quite comfortable over here, thank you," she replied.

But at her refusal, his requests became louder and more obnoxious, and she finally groaned in frustration and stood from the couch. When she reached the table, she quickly slid into the empty chair beside James before he could try to pull her in his lap as Sirius had done with Samantha. James was a rather uncoordinated drunk and she was certain she would have ended up being deposited on the floor. Come to think of it, she was surprised Sirius had not ended up doing that very thing to Samantha.

"Sitting here is boring," Sirius whined as he attempted to pour himself another glass of firewhiskey. Half of it ended up on the table instead.

"Yeah," James agreed. "We should go for a ride on your motorbike or something."

Sirius instantly brightened at the suggestion, but Samantha, Lily, and Remus firmly said, "No," simultaneously, causing him to deflate.

"You guys are no fun," he grumbled.

The next hour was spent in a similar fashion. Either Sirius, James, or Peter would suggest something they could do that would be dangerous to their health or their surroundings and Samantha and Lily and sometimes Remus, who was looking more asleep than drunk, would instantly shoot down the idea. Eventually, Remus excused himself and wandered off to the guest bedroom to lie down.

Peter and James, at one point, were arguing over the last chocolate frog and they began to wrestle. If it could be called that. It was more stumbling around each other as each attempted to grab the other. James eventually pushed the smaller boy onto the couch and when Peter landed, he muttered something about being comfortable. By the time James made it back to the table, Peter's quiet snores filled the room and Sirius had eaten the chocolate frog.

Lily stifled a yawn. "Perhaps we ought to go. It's rather late; I'd like to go to bed."

"Mm…bed," Sirius murmured into Samantha's shoulder, his arms tightening around her waist. "Can we go to bed and have a repeat of last ni-?" He broke off with a grunt as Samantha, cheeks rapidly turning red, elbowed him sharply in the stomach.

"If you continue that sentence, you'll be sleeping on the floor," she told him with a glare.

She was lucky James was drunk because although he was staring at them curiously, she knew he would not remember it come morning. Lily gave her a smile, but she did not saying anything.

"Come on, James," the redhead said as she stood up. "It's time to go home or you'll never get up tomorrow."

James groaned loudly as Lily pulled him to his feet. Samantha watched with an amused expression on her face.

"Are you sure you can get him home?" she asked.

James staggered, and Lily grabbed him to support him. "I think I manage," she said with a smile. "At least we've got our own place to go to. I'd hate to have to try and sneak him past his parents."

Samantha grinned at the thought. "Well, just be careful," she said.

She grabbed Sirius's hands with her own and pulled until he let go of her waist. Ignoring his loud protests, she stood and moved to get the door.

"I'll see you Monday," she told Lily as she and James stepped into the hall. Since Lily was working as a potion maker at St. Mungo's, they sometimes ran into each other and most days, they took lunch together.

When Lily and James made it to the staircase, she closed and locked the door and switched the lights for the main room off.

"Time for bed," she announced as she moved back to Sirius.

He grumbled, but clumsily rose to his feet with the help of her steadying hands. When he stumbled, she sighed and grabbed his hand, pulling his arm around her shoulders and allowing him to lean against her.

"I love you, Sam," he mumbled nearly incoherently as they stumbled down the hall.

"I'm sure you do," she replied with a smile as they made it to their bedroom. She deposited him on the bed, deciding he could just sleep in his clothing that night, before moving into the bathroom to brush her teeth and change into her pajamas. When she stepped back into the bedroom, Sirius was struggling to remove his clothes. He'd managed his trousers, but was fumbling with the buttons of his shirt and she sighed.

Moving back to the bed, she sat beside him and brushed his hands aside to undo the buttons herself. He gave her a lopsided grin and leaned forward to give her a kiss. His aim was off- he only got the side of her mouth- but he quickly corrected himself. She allowed it, but when his hands began to sneak under her shirt, she gently pushed him away.

"Not when you've been drinking," she told him, slipping his shirt off of his shoulders. Depositing it on the floor, she pushed him down to his pillows before crawling over him to her side of the bed. No sooner had her head hit her pillow did he roll over to face her, his arm draping across her stomach.

He began to mumble something she could not understand so she tangled her hand in his hair. "Go to sleep," she told him. He fell quiet and it was not long before he began to snore. With a smile, she shifted closer and closed her eyes and decided that overall, it had been a good night.

End Chapter