Hello all of my great readers!

As promised, chapter 49!

Nothing new from me, as always: read, review, and enjoy!

"A little to the left," Lily said as she stood from the doorway of the living room. I cocked my head to the side, narrowing my eyes as Sirius sighed, lifting his wand once again to move the couch a few inches from where it was. He set it down, eyeing Lily apprehensively. She nodded her head, grinning in response. "There. That's perfect."

"That's exactly where it was ten minutes ago when I started moving the furniture in," Sirius grumbled, pocketing his wand and turning to help James with the rest of the boxes. I stifled a giggle as he walked by.

"Darling, you ARE a wizard," I said, grabbing his hand and squeezing in lightheartedly. "At least you didn't have to physically move it. Seems pretty easy to use your wand, if you ask me."

He grabbed my face, kissing me firmly on the cheek. I let out a loud laugh as he jokingly pinched my side. Lily and James had finally gotten out of their one bedroom flat and into their first house. It was a cute little cottage that was nestled into the west edge of Godric's Hollow. It was just the exciting distraction we needed, especially after being attacked at the bar.

The living room was open, a large window adorned the left wall. It overlooked the garden, which was surrounded by a rustic wooden fence. The kitchen was painted a hideous fire-engine red, but knowing Lily, that wasn't going to last much longer.

"At least we have everything moved from the apartment," Mary called out with a huff, setting down the last box in the entryway. The wood paneled floors creaked beneath her feet as she shifted her weight on them. "Even with magic...Lily, you have too much stuff."

Lily, who had moved to the kitchen to start unpacking various dishes into the cupboards, let out another tinkle of laughter. "It's all wedding gifts!" she called down the hallway, craning her neck around the corner to get a good look at Mary. "You'll understand when you get married. You can't get rid of ANY of it."

Mary rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "I have no plans of getting married," she called back, her voice echoing through the empty house, "but if I did, I wouldn't have time to sort through materialistic things. Put me in a cave somewhere, for all I care."

Sirius shoved his way through the front door, levitating the coffee table that had haphazardly been set in the front yard until it could be easily taken care of. Mary and I parted ways, allowing Sirius the space to get through. I stepped into the way of the front door, the late fall breeze blew over the threshold. I shivered in response, rubbing my arms to keep them warm.

"You don't know materialistic until you've seen Haley's underwear collection," Sirius interjected, setting the coffee table down in front of the couch he had just moved. He bumped it with his knees, scooting it across the wooden floors so it was centered in the middle of the living room furniture. "I didn't even know one could have so many different KINDS of underwear."

"You sound like you're complaining, Padfoot," James teased, nudging his best friend with his elbow as he passed by with a side table and lamp. He set them down to the right of the couch, pocketing his wand with a quick flick of his wrist. "Lily doesn't have much of a diversity-"

I heard her stomp down the hallway from the kitchen, poking her head into the living room. "How about we move the conversation along from my underwear collection," she said through her teeth, glaring daggers toward the two boys. "How is the living room coming along?"

Sirius collapsed onto the couch, kicking his feet up on the coffee table. He casually rested his hands behind his head, sinking deeper into the cushions. "It would be much farther along if Haley would do something for once."

My jaw slacked in disbelief as I turned my glare to him. I bent over, ripping open one of the boxes and rifling through it. A box filled with living room decorations and paintings to hang on the wall. "I have been doing something!" I reached into the box and pulled out a purple and blue vase. "See, I could- oh, Merlin, Lily this is hideous."

Lily lurched forward, ripping the vase out of my hands and stuffing it back into the box. "This box can go in the attic. In storage. Where it will never see the light of day again." I cocked an eyebrow, sending her a questioning look. "It's all from my mum and dad, things that I can't get rid of in case they ask. Also, Tuney got me that vase. It's quite awful, isn't it?"

Mary and I laughed as I sealed the box back up before banishing it up the staircase. I put it toward the pile of holiday decorations that would also go into storage, though I put a reminder in the back of my mind to sort the box at the back of the attic.

"Sirius, look at the time," James shouted from the top of the stairs, tapping the watch that was tethered to his left wrist, "we're going to be late meeting Fenwick and Bones for guard duty."

My boyfriend hopped off the couch, adjusting his long-sleeved shirt and tucking a few locks of his black hair out of his face. "Wouldn't want to keep Benjy waiting," he replied with an eye roll as James thundered down the stairs. "Though I'm sure Alice wouldn't be too keen on being stuck with him all night."

"Benjy is such a nice guy," I said with a humph, crossing my arms over my chest, "he may not have all the pieces to the puzzle, but he really does try hard!"

James stopped in the entry way, shoving his feet into a pair of sneakers that lay by the front door. "I would rather have guard duty with the giant squid," he said pointedly, grabbing a jacket that was splayed over the railing of the staircase. "It would be more helpful to me than Benjy Fenwick would."

Sirius walked up behind me, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. "Better Benjy than Peter, let's everyone be honest." Mary and James nodded their heads in agreement, muttering under their breath. I kept my opinions to myself, remembering the reaction I had gotten just a few short months ago from talking bad about Peter Pettigrew.

James scuttled into the kitchen to kiss his wife before moving toward the front door, holding it open for his best friend. Sirius leaned forward, planting a quick kiss on my lips before heading out the door, pausing to pat James on the shoulder. It had become their guard duty ritual, something to say they would get through the night together.

...

Mary and I ended up spending the night with Lily, who didn't want to be alone in the new house by herself. Curled onto the couches in the living room together, we awoke to the sun peeking in through the small crack in the drawn curtains. I stretched my legs, kicking Mary in the shoulder with the heel of my foot.

She groaned in protest, adjusting her body so my foot was no longer resting near her body. It fell unceremoniously onto the gray cushion of the couch.

"Well isn't this a sight for sore eyes," I heard from the threshold of the living room. I jumped off the couch, the intruding voice scaring the morning sleepiness right out of me. Lily let out a shriek as she tumbled off the love seat, crashing hard onto the wooden floor. The intruder let out a loud laugh, doubling over with her hands resting on her knees. "You should have seen your faces!" she said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Very funny, Alice," I said with an eye roll, untangling my legs from the fleece blanket Lily had let me borrow. "What are you doing here? I thought you had plans after guard duty?"

She snorted, glancing around the room with raised eyebrows. "And I thought you three were going to get more unpacked last night."

Lily stretched her arms over her head, moaning lightly. "We got the kitchen and guest bedrooms unpacked," she said matter-of-factly, "then we found a brand new deck of Exploding Snap cards..."

Alice laughed as she bent down, yanking the blanket off Mary. She whimpered in response, pulling her knees closer to her chest. "Well, get up, ladies. Let's get some breakfast. No use in all of us having big girl jobs if we aren't going to use the money."

"I'm a bartender," I said, shielding my eyes from the sun, which had started to shine even brighter though the crack in the curtains. "Does that count?"

Evidently it had, as less than thirty minutes later, I was swaddled in my winter cloak and a wool scarf as I dragged my feet down the pathway of Lily's new garden, the late-fall wind blowing my hair over my shoulder. I let out a shiver as I followed Alice and Mary toward the main road, both of them wanting to try a breakfast place in Godric's Hollow.

I shivered as we walked against the wind. I could feel my nose and cheeks start to numb, the cold wind burning against my skin. We reached the restaurant in record time, though, each of us taking the time to peel the layers of clothes off before settling down at the table in the small nook the waitress had set aside for us.

"Guard duty was unimpressive," Alice started as she pulled a menu closer to her, flicking through it with general interest. "I walked around with James and Sirius for the entire 8 hours. Those two boys are too much for me sometimes, I don't know how you ladies deal with it."

"Rarely we deal with them together these days," Lily replied as she wrapped her hands around the warm cup of coffee the waitress sat in front of her. She paused to stick her nose in the steam, taking a deep breath. "It seems that James and Sirius may have finally grown out of their jokester days."

"I wouldn't go THAT far," Mary said, taking a swig of her water, "remember last week when Sirius penned that incredibly sexual letter from Edgar Bones to his wife? Then she came up to the bar after the meeting to take him home? And he had no idea what she was talking about?"

"So we can all agree," I said with a grin, "that Sirius has some growing up to do, yet being a married man has made James a tad more responsible."

Lily placed her chin in the palm of her hand, resting her elbow on the table. "What can I say? I whipped that boy into shape."

The four of us giggled, knowing full well that if James had the chance to pull some shenanigans with Sirius, we knew he would jump at the opportunity. They were just few and far between these days.

Mary leaned over, stealing the morning copy of The Daily Prophet from the empty table next to us. She flicked through it momentarily, her eyebrows rising in shock as she scraped her gaze over the paper. Alice took a small sip of her hot coffee, not wanting to burn her tongue. "What is it, Mary?"

Mary laid the paper down onto the table, smoothing it out with her bare hands. "Sirius's brother died last night?"

"What?" I asked, leaning forward to get a better look at the article, "Regulus?"

Mary turned the article, looking at me with wide eyes.

Regulus Black Dead by Drowning

Regulus Black, son of recently deceased Orion Black, has died, from what has presumed to have been an accidental drowning.

"Bloodied with fish bite marks everywhere," said one visibly shaken witness, "he had to be pulled from the water off the coast. Must have washed up days ago, was just floating in a cove."

Black, aged 18 at the time of his death, had recently gotten a job at the Ministry of Magic, planning to follow in his father's footsteps. He was a recent graduate of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and a member of the Slytherin house. He was a seeker for the house quidditch team, playing from his third year of schooling until his graduation.

It is unclear what Black was doing in the ocean at the beginning of November.

Regulus Black is survived by his mother, Walburga Black, and an older brother, Sirius Black. He is preceded in death by his father, Orion Black, who passed only a few short months ago.

I looked up from the article, my eyes locking with Lily, who was watching me closely. "Do you think Sirius knows?" she asked, her hands wrapped around her coffee mug to keep them warm.

I leaned back in my seat, shrugging with uncertainty. "Don't really know, to be honest. If he does…it was from this article, I'm sure."

"I do know one thing, though," Alice said as she dug into the omelet the waitress had set down in front of her, "it's a terrible time to be a Black."

None of us could disagree.

…..

I headed back home not too long after Mary discovered the article, apparating into the kitchen of the apartment Sirius and I shared. I heard clinking of glasses and muttered voices coming from the living room. Furrowing my brow, confused at the noise, I padded through the hallway, sticking my head around the corner.

Sirius and James sat on the couch, a bottle of half-empty firewhiskey sat on the coffee table in front of them. I inched my way into the living room, trying not to make much noise. James spotted me, his face breaking out into a large grin.

"Haley!" he cried out, nearly spilling the drink he had poured himself into a small shot glass, "you are just incredible, have I ever told you that? You are perfect for my best friend." He paused to slap Sirius on the shoulder, who had turned to look at me with a sloppy, toothy smile. "You helped us move into the new house." He paused again to take the shot. "The new house. That I bought with Lily freakin' Evans."

"It's Potter now, mate," Sirius corrected him, picking up the bottle and pouring his own shot into the glass James had just put down. He knocked it back quickly, a shiver going up his back.

I perched myself onto the arm of the couch, wrapping my arm around Sirius's shoulders. He turned to kiss my hand, pouring another shot and handing it over to James. "What are you two doing getting drunk at 9:30 in the morning?" I asked with a laugh, running my fingers through Sirius's shaggy, black hair. "Isn't it a little early for-"

"It's five o'clock somewhere, Hals," James interjected, picking up the shot glass. He held it in the air for a moment, opening his mouth to formerly cheer the group, though he wasn't able to get a word out before Sirius cut in.

"My brother is dead."

James and I glanced at each other, my hand freezing on the top of Sirius's head. James slowly put down the shot glass, clasping his hands together between his knees. Sirius leaned forward to pick up the firewhiskey, taking a swig straight from the bottle.

"Regulus is dead and I didn't help out nearly enough to save him."

"This isn't your fault," I started, shaking my head slowly, "you can't blame this on yourself. They said it was an accident in the paper."

"An accident," Sirius scoffed, "more like he got involved with the death eaters and then backed out. They probably killed him and threw his body in the ocean. Why else would he have been at the sea at the beginning of November?" He paused to take another swig from the bottle. "We didn't even live NEAR the sea."

"I'm real sorry, mate," James said, clearly sobering up a bit at the turn of conversation.

The three of us went quiet, allowing each to get swallowed up in their own thoughts. I peered down at Sirius in time to see him take one more swig out of the bottle. His eyes were sunken and sad, telling a different story than the bad-ass cover he tried to portray.

It got me thinking. Maybe, just maybe, he had more feelings about the deaths of his father and brother than he originally led on.