The weather hadn't yet broken when the terrible new found it's way to the Gryffindor common room. James was sent to the headmaster's office during Defense Against the Dark Arts for causing a book to fly around the room, stealing papers off other people's desks. He didn't reappear at lunch or at dinner.

"Your dad must've done a number on him," Sirius told Aly as they ate. "Seems like such a lame prank to be punished for."

They had all settled in for the evening when Professor McGonagall entered the common room.

"Mr. Black," she announced as she entered, her lips pursed tightly.

"I didn't do it," Sirius announced. She cleared her throat. "Sorry, Professor," Sirius told her, "Reflex."

"Mr. Lupin, Mr. Pettigrew, I need to speak to you as well." She looked around, and, after realizing that Lily and Aly were the only other two within earshot, she turned to the boys and said, "Mr. Potter, James, went to hospital this afternoon."

"What?"

"Why?"

"He is fine, but his father was admitted last night."

"Is he ok?" Sirius asked quickly.

McGonagall's lips turned white as she said simply, "No."

There was a loud intake of air.

She continued slowly. "He apparently caught pneumonia from Mrs. Potter and has been battling for it for a few weeks. And," she paused. All of them held their breath, praying what they knew was coming wasn't going to be what was actually coming, "He passed about an hour ago."

Aly's insides froze as McGonagall said this. The boys all looked like they were about to hurl. "Where is James now?" Sirius asked in a hushed voice.

"He's at the Ministry. James is the sole Potter now. He has to be the one to take care of the arrangements. The headmaster is assisting him." She studied the boys for a few moments then said, "I'm sorry to have to be the bearer of such devastating news."

She left without much notice from any of them. They all looked at each other, none truly able to believe the news they had just heard. They all sat silently, none really knowing what to say. Aly's mind was completely blank. All she could manage to think was James is an orphan now. He has no parents at all. She knew these were not words to be spoken out loud.

Eventually they all went to bed. Aly looked to Sirius before they parted, knowing she should probably find something to say to him. Nothing encouraging came. She merely blinked at him. He nodded his head to show that he understood, and they parted.

XxXxX

James was gone for a week. There was no word from him except for updates from McGonagall. Dumbledore was with him the whole time which frustrated Aly. She needed to vent to someone, and she knew he was the only one who could stand to listen.

Lily threw herself into her work even more so than usual. Aly allowed this without any joking comments. Aly was also very careful around the three remaining Marauders. It was liking walking on egg shells anytime she talked to them. They all seemed to carry some of the weight of James' unseen grief on each of their shoulders.

Sirius said little to Aly throughout the week that James was gone, but she was glad he would come and sit with her and hold her every so often.

According to McGonagall, James insisted that the burial be private. This meant that none of them were invited. When Sirius protested, Mcgonagall informed him, with a great deal of patience, that James, and only James, would be attending the burial.

"This was his decision, Mr. Black, and we must respect it."

James returned on a Sunday night. He looked tired and so much older than when he left. When he entered the common room, it seemed as if the air stood still. Each and every one of them was waiting for him to speak to gage what was the appropriate tone to take.

James looked at all of them before leaning into Sirius and saying a loud whisper, "Pad, look what I swiped from the ministry." He handed Sirius a brown leather satchel.

"Whoa, wartcap powder," Sirius said in awe.

"Wanna do some damage?" James said and raised his eyebrows.

"Always," Sirius said with a wicked smile.

The boys entered into a huddle, Remus more hesitant that the others, and the quick whispering following.

Aly knew James needed to deal with this. She also knew that boys were very different than girls and that crying to his friends was probably not the way he would like to deal with it. So she let him plan exaggerated ploys against other students. She had gone to her father to request that he advise the teachers to turn the other cheek when they caught the Marauders in action. She even allowed herself to be a victim of James torments. Sirius was sure to not be present for these pranks, but Aly was sure he took part in planning them.

One morning, however, her patience was tried. She woke up to a loud thud. Mary let out a very loud groan of pain. Aly rolled over and realized that her bed was on the ceiling. In fact, all of the girls furniture was attached to the ceiling of their dormitory. She spent a few moments trying to get her barrings and managed to drop to her feet below. She was furious however. She had had enough of James. The day before he had caused all of the girls clothes to switch with each other in all 4 of the different houses. It had been a day of chaos as the Great Hall was filled with piles of clothes and sorted through.

Aly stormed down the stairs in one of Sirius's tshirts and a pair of pajama shorts. James was waiting at the bottom of the steps smirking. "Did it work?" he asked eagerly.

Aly's eyes narrowed.

"It did! Yes!" He pumped his fist. "First big one on my own."

"You think this is funny?" Aly snapped and shoved him. He fell back against the back of the couch, but smirked. "Look, I've been nice about this, but you have got to stop being a child and deal with this."

"Deal with this?" James said quietly. "Deal with this?" His tone rose. "How can you possibly tell me to deal with this? To take on the weight of my entire family being gone? To realize that I am all alone, with no one to call me own? No," he stated. "No, no, no, no, no, NO!" His voice rose an octave with each no. "I can't do that. I just want to go back to Christmas when everything was the way it was suppose to be. I want to just be a normal kid." He crossed his arms and just stared at her.

Aly looked back. She wasn't sure what to say to this. So she stood and looked at him. After a few moments like this, his eyes went wide, and he leaned towards her. "Well?"

"Well, what?" Aly asked feeling lost.

He rolled his eyes and said, "Sirius and Lily are always saying what great advise you give. Don't you have any wisdom to impart upon to me?"

She pursed her lips and thought for a moment. Good advise? Hardly. And even if, what could she possibly say to him about this? "Well, all I can say is make them proud. Be the son they'd want you to be. Just because they aren't here doesn't mean that they aren't always with you. How's that?"

He thought it over and then nodded, "Very nice. 'Make them proud.' I can do that." Over head there was another loud thud. A shrill yell followed, "Potter!"

"Uh oh," James smiled, "Gotta go," He sprinted from the common room, but not before Lily caught sight of him as she ran down the stairs.

"You are dead, Potter!" she yelled.

"Not yet, Evans!" he was heard yelling as he ran out the portrait hole.

XxXxX

Aly wasn't expecting it when it finally happen. It had been a normal day. It was blandly sunny outside, still cold, but it had loosened its hold the castle. It was a Tuesday. Looking back on it, Aly would never remember how important it had been to her that morning that Sirius would not wear his toboggan to class. That seemed insignificant to her now. Or how she had been jealous of the fact that he had been paired up with a pretty Hufflepuff during charms. That made no difference to her.

She had felt things that she never imagined existed in this world. She never thought she'd have to grab onto her surroundings to keep from losing herself. Her eyes had rolled back into her head. Her lost control of her limps which had shaken beyond her control. A spell fell over her, and she lost all the air in her lungs. She had lost herself in the overwhelming emotion so much that she started to cry.

Sirius's breathing was ragged as his eyes went wide in concern. "What's wrong? He pushed his hair, which was plastered to his forehead with sweat, out of his eyes.

"I'm fine," Aly choked out as she looked up at him. He took a few quick gulps and rolled over. Aly felt his arm slide under her neck and him pull her close.

He rocked her slightly and slowly, making "shh" noises, and kissing her forehead. "I'm so sorry," she heard he keep whispering over and over again.

Once her heart had slowed down, and her breathing had returned to normal, Aly placed a small amount of space between them and luxuriously ran her finger across his jawbone. Again, she heard him whisper, "I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

"Hurting you. Making you cry." He pushed some of her hair off of her bare shoulder. It was sweaty too so the hair clung to it.

"You didn't hurt me," she replied in alarm, pushing herself up into a sitting position. It was very dark behind the canopies of his bed. His wand was sitting, lit, on the headboard. It cast angular shadows around them. She blushed as she realized that she was entirely exposed. She tried to yank the sheet up to cover herself, but it was wrapped around Sirius. His hand disappeared over the side of the bed and reappeared with his school shirt in it. He handed it to her, never taking his eyes off of her face, worry still etched into it.

Aly quickly did the buttons and looked back at him. "Really. It didn't hurt," she insisted. It was only partially true. It had hurt, in the beginning. She had never really understood the whole linguistics of the process. It wasn't that she didn't know how it all worked. She just never really thought about it. So it had taken her breath away when he had originally hit her resistance. However, that pain was quickly forgotten.

"You cried. I never meant, you should have said something before," he mumbled.

"I cried once it was over," Aly pointed out. "And it was out of emotion, not pain." She pulled her legs, which she had curled up under her shirt when she had put it on, out and scooted over to him. "It's a good thing."

He looked skeptical.

"Question: if it hurt and made me cry, would I want to do it again?"

His eyebrows raised and a smirk spread across his face. "Prove it," he challenged.

With one sweeping scope, the shirt she was wearing was up and off. They had been trying to be quiet, for the sake of his roommates, but, as he pulled her to him be the ankles, a giggle escaped her lips.

XxXxX

Aly woke feeling a little sore. Sirius had been less gentle with her the second time. Admittedly, she had enjoyed it more, but she was still feeling the aftermath. She rolled from her side onto her back. Sirius was snoring softly next to her. She didn't want to disturb his sleep. However, she couldn't help but lift the sheet. She had never before seen that which makes a male a male, and she hadn't had the opportunity to fully examine it the night before. As she looked at it, she heard a groggy voice say, "It's not polite to stare."

In horror, Aly dropped the sheet. Sirius, who's eyes were still half closed with sleep, stretched. He then ran a finger over the skin that he could see through the shirt she had pulled back on before she slept. "Your whole body blushes," he commented.

She laid back down next to him, placing her head on his chest to hear his heartbeat. They laid there for a while. Aly could've stayed like that forever, but, eventually, Sirius announced, "Gotta pee." He found his boxers and slide between the curtain with ease, as to not expose Aly.

Aly immediately heard Remus's voice. "Sirius! You're here?"

"Yeah," she heard him reply. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well," Remus hesitated. Aly could picture the look on Sirius' face in her mind. She was sure he had that look that forced whomever he was talking to to continue. Sure enough, Remus did. "I just know that you had Aly with you last night. And, well, you never stay. I mean, you're a runner."

"I'm just going to the bathroom," Sirius replied stiffly.

Aly heard the door open and close. She laid there, on her boyfriend's bed, and thought over the short conversation she had just heard. What did Remus mean by "runner?" She could've guessed but Sirius had returned, and she chose to just ask him.

"What did Remus mean when he called you a 'runner?'"

Sirius, who had pulled the curtains shut harsher than necessary, laid down and closed his eyes.

"Sirius, tell me," Aly pushed. He ignored her still so she poked him between two ribs. He flinched and sat up with his back to her.

He took a deep breath and proceeded to tell the comforter, "A runner is a guy who sleeps with a girl, but doesn't stay in the bed with her afterwards."

Aly had nothing to say to this so he continued, "I'm normally not here in the morning...after."

"You're here now," Aly pointed out to which he shrugged. "So," Aly ventured, "You've never stayed after?"

"Sometimes, but never for the whole night," he said dully still not facing her. His shoulders were sagging.

"But you're here now," Aly stated again, this time to herself. She was having trouble wrapping her mind around this fact. He was a runner. He, literally, loved 'em and left 'em. But there he sat. She asked, cautiously, "Did you want to leave?"

"At one point, I almost did," he mumbled. He looked over his shoulder at her suddenly fallen face. "It wasn't because of you. I was scared. There's an element of intimacy that comes with waking up next to someone, and I wasn't sure I was ready for it." He turned and his face softened, "But then I saw you sleeping. Your eyelashes look so dark, and you make this cute noise with your lips. And I just, I wanted to wake up here, next to you."

Aly smiled at him, and moved to kiss him, but stopped. "What?" he asked. He looked as if he was worried he had offended her.

Aly placed her hand over her mouth. "Morning breath," she explained.

He laughed aloud, which prompted a pillow flying through the air from James' bed at them. He then wrapped his arms around her and smothered her in kisses.

XxXxX

Envy ran wild throughout the school, at least throughout the female half of the population. After hearing that Sirius stayed throughout the night with Aly, every girl that had been with him had talked and realized that this was the first time this had happened with any of them.

Aly's embarrassment was impossible to hide. The entire school knew that she had slept with Sirius (of course, most people already thought that this had already happened). A blush crept upon her face almost as soon as the previous one had vanished. It seemed like everyone was talking about her and Sirius. Even if people weren't, Aly still felt like a million eyes were on her. What made it worse was she knew her father knew, and he made it no secret that he knew. He scheduled Hogwarts first (and only) ever sex education class for all 5th years and up.

Aly sat mortified as glaring eyes narrowed in on her during the day-long Saturday class. The boys and girls were separated onto different sides of the Great Hall. Lily sat next to Aly and looked just as embarrassed. Aly meant to ask her why, but, to Aly's utter horror, McGonagall was the one who started the class.

It was the worst 8 hours of Aly's life. She hide behind her hands, and watched in complete horror as McGonagall demonstrated the proper way to use a muggle safe sex device that Aly swore she'd never touch as long as she lived. Aly heard mumbling about something called the "seven spells" break out as McGonagall began passing out the small, square packages that the greasy balloon things came in. Aly had no idea what the "seven spells" were, and asked Lily, who proceeded to ask Mary.

Mary giggled and stated with an air of authority, "The seven spells is a process of spells and charms used to prevent getting pregnant. I would think you'd know this already," she stated as she stared at Aly.

Aly's persistent blush returned with a vengeance.

She asked Sirius about it after the class. He had been standing in the front hall with the other Marauders complaining about how lame the class had been.

"Can I talk to you?" Aly asked him.

"Sure," he said. Lily made a move to take Sirius' place in the group, but when James' hand reached up and ruffled his hair, a rare glimpse at the old James that Aly would have been happy to see if she hadn't been so preoccupied, Lily let out a noise of disgust and proceeded up the stairs.

"Evans! Come'on!" James yelled after her. He looked surprised by his remark.

"Question," Aly told Sirius once they were safely out of the earshot of the others.

"Answer," Sirius responded.

"Did you, use, uh, the seven spells when we, uh, you know…"

Sirius smiled at her as she stuttered through her question. "Of course," he responded.

"Oh, ok. Good." Aly felt relieved. She also felt incredibly stupid. Why hadn't she thought about this before they had done...it.

"Als," Sirius said lifting her chin with his index finger, "I'll always take care of you, you know that."

XxXxX

Aly did not let the sex ed class discourage her and Sirius' relationship. Still, in the beginning, she felt shy and reserved around him. She did not like being that vulnerable around anyone. However, the more they were together the more she opened up and began to feel comfortable with him. She couldn't help feeling like he was holding back on her as well. One night, during a rather heated argument, she found out just how much he had been holding back. He had let his walls down, and Aly's entire body turned bright red as she laid sprawled across his bed, both breathing heavy.

Sirius looked at her and laughed. "You look like a beet!"

Aly swatted at him.

"Why so red?" he asked propping himself up on his elbow so he could get a better look at her.

She pulled the sheet around herself, trying to restore as much of her dignity as she could, and whispered, "How loud was I?"

His bark of a laugh followed.

"I'm serious," she groaned pulling his pillow over her face.

"No," he commented, "I'm Sirius. You're merely embarrassed."

Aly let out another groan of anguish. "That loud?"

He chuckled as she felt him run his finger down her ribcage. As a result, her heart skipped a beat. "I found it quite nice," he commented lazily. Her body which had subsided to a pink, burned red again. "I've never made a girl make those kinds of noises," he said thoughtfully. "Or quite so loud."

Aly groaned yet again. "I can never show my face again."

He pulled the pillow off her face. "Als," he stated very seriously, "It's not that big of a deal. It's happened to all of us here at least once or twice. In fact, I know you've heard others as well." That was true, she thought. She had heard certain noises, some stranger than others, but she never thought she'd be one of those girls.

"Come on. It was great. Don't rain on the parade." He was smiling quite proudly and he laid back down on the bed and gazed at the ceiling.

"For you," Aly mumbled thinking about the noises she had emitted.

"What?" he sat up quickly. His hair fell into his face. "But you said..."

Aly, realizing how he took what she had said, sat up as well, "Not like that. I just meant...the noise." She couldn't bring herself to say anything more, blushing again. His smile returned. "I want to die now," she mumbled.

He let out one harsh laugh. "Really?"

Aly's eyes sparkled mischievously. "No."

"Good," he said laying back down and pulling her back down on top of him. She laughed letting the sheet fall off of her.

XxXxX

After that day (Sirius had received a standing ovation from the other Marauders when they arrived downstairs. Aly turned a rather nice shade of burgundy), their "coupling," as Aly called it, was more frequent. Aly had come to see why girls would be willing to be labeled "sluts" if they could feel half of what Sirius managed to do to her. She still felt very naive about many of the going ons that happened between Sirius's sheets. And that was another thing: he always made it a point to be in a bed when it happened. Aly figured it was due to his usual exhaustion and sleep that followed the. . . well, coupling. Lily insisted that it was because Aly was more than a hook up in a closet to him and he wanted to make that very clear. "It's so sweet," Lily assured her. "Amos did it wherever he felt like it. Sirius respects you." Aly did have to agree with her on that. However, she rolled her eyes as Lily added, "Who would've thought? Sirius Black a decent human being." Lily followed this with a playful laugh.

Regardless of how close they were, Aly always felt weird about asked Lily questions about all of this, but she had no choice since she had literally been raised without any knowledge of it. Lily patiently answered all of her questions the best she could (she had had an additional sex education class at her muggle school before arriving at Hogwarts), and, when she didn't know the answer, she would ask Mary or Melanie about it. Aly would have asked them herself, but 1) she knew she would turn beet red and mumble through the question and 2) the girls were under the pretense that she was now the most experienced girl in the school and she didn't want anyone thinking she was unworthy of Sirius's skills. The two girls proved to be quite helpful. Thanks to them, she managed to make Sirius freeze, jaw dropped, eyes going back into his head, before he collapsed. She felt, finally, equal to him in this situation.

However, as much as she enjoyed the new connection she felt with Sirius, she felt as if their "bonding" so to speak was interfering with the rest of her life. Lily had engrossed herself in N.E.W.T. prep already that when Aly wasn't talking about Sirius with Lily, Aly felt as if she never saw her. She made this argument with Lily one day, and Lily sniffed and replied, "Not my fault." Aly, in return, playfully nudge Lily with her elbow. Lily cracked a smile, "Not that I blame you. I hear he's rather talented." Aly stared at her for a second and then busted out laughing.

"Come on, Lils," she begged once she regained her composure. "Come have lunch at Hagrid's with me. The books, and boys, will be here when we get back."

Having convinced Lily to finally agree, they set off together on the clear day. As they reached the edge of the woods, Snape appeared. Lily froze, but Aly edged her on. "Kepp walking. I'll get rid of him." She strode quickly over to him. "She doesn't want you here," Aly snapped.

"Good to see you got out from under your boyfriend long enough to spend some time with her," he snarled lazily in return. Aly ignored this, not even cracking a blush, and restated, "She doesn't want you here." Aly turned to leave, but she heard him state, "Her dad's not doing well. She needs you around more." She didn't turn back to acknowledge his comment.

As they entered Hagrid's hut, Hagrid beaming with excitement at the sight of them, Aly asked, "Lily, how's your dad?"

Lily's face darkened. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you haven't mentioned him much since your mom died."

Lily kept her features hard and took a seat. Hagrid, having noticed Lily's change at Aly's question, sent her a look of inquiry. Aly shrugged. "It's good to see you two," Hagrid boomed as a way to attempt to cover the rough patch in the conversation. "Been too long. Far too long." He then busied himself with making tea. Aly watched Lily who took to stabbing Hagrid's wooden table with one of the forks that had been placed on it for lunch.

"He's paying too much attention," Lily mumbled after she stabbed the table with particular venom.

"Who?" Aly asked watching the fork's handle vibrate as it's prongs stuck in the wood.

"He keeps trying to act like we're friends still...like he never called me..."

Aly knew this was clearly about Snape and his snooping. Aly had seen him hanging around the portrait hole and the library more than in the past. "I'm sorry, Lils," Aly supplied, not having anything else to say.

Hagrid dropped their tankards onto the table and filled them up. Aly and Hagrid talked lightly about the weather, Fang, and the ever present news of the Death Eaters. Lily remained quiet the entire time. Hagrid motioned Aly back as they left. "She ok?"

Aly look at him and replied, "She will be."

XxXxX

"There you are," Sirius said jumping up as she entered the common room. She had deposited Lily at the library, hoping the books would comfort her. Aly moved past him and leaned over the table to look at James. "I have a job for you involving your two favorite things." She smiled wickedly. She knew her plan was ingenious. He couldn't say no. But still, he looked at her skeptically. "Why would I do something for you?"

"Because it involves being near Lily and torturing Snape."

His eyebrows rose in interest. "I'm listening..."

XxXxX

Aly had no real intentions of allowing James to torture Snape. However, she knew that this would definitely get her the response she wanted. James took to following Lily very closely. Aly had told Lily that her dad had request James follow her, which in turn meant he followed Lily. Lily was severely peeved by this, but, since Aly seemed to have no problem with her dad making this decision (which was rare to Lily thinking it was real), Lily silently sulked.

"Why is your dad having James follow you?" Lily screeched. James had been particularly close and nosy today. Aly thought Lily was going to punch him the face at one point.

"Cause Death Eaters are trying to kill me," Aly explained calmly as she practiced the new charm they had learned, sending birds flying around the room. "And we're pretty sure there are some in the castle."

Lily looked frightened but this news, but still managed some venom as she asked, "Well why does it have to be Potter? Why can't Sirius do it?"

Aly put down her wand, and asked Lily, with a little fake exasperation, "Do you honestly think my dad's gonna give Sirius any excuse to be near me as much as possible?"

Lily cracked a smiled. "I guess I get that."

"You could just hide out up here all the time. Or stay away from me," Aly suggested slyly. She knew Lily's answer to this would a resounding "no." Before telling Lily about her "dad's" decision to have her trailed, Aly made a huge heartfelt speech about how it was almost their last year together and they didn't know what would happen after the graduate and how she might be killed sooner or later. Aly managed to fake some tears as well. And it worked like a charm. Lily seemed to agree with everything Aly had said and wanted to be with her as much as possible. So, James was always near Aly, and Aly was always near Lily.

As a result, private time with Sirius became limited. Aly tried to explained to a perturbed Sirius why this plan was important, but he wouldn't hear any of it. He merely shook his head and walked away. He seemed most upset by the fact that James was the one always around. Sirius always looked at them rather darkly whenever he found them alone. Aly wasn't all that pleased about those times either, but, if spending time alone with James was a help to Lily, it was a sacrifice she was willing to make.

James was, as first, a little disappointed in the lack of Snape bothering. Snape seemed to catch onto the plan very quickly. He started to get really sly about how he tried to corner Lily. James and Aly were always right there though. There were even times when it seemed that Lily was starting to warm up to James. Occasionally, Aly would see her laugh at his goofy behavior despite herself. When Aly mentioned, of course, Lily denied it. "He's stupid, and he's Potter. That's all I need to say."