AN: This takes place before the chapter on Sirius' drinking. I wanted to play around with this idea a little bit more. Hope you enjoy!

Summer 1996

"Darcy, can you go see if there's an owl at the window?", Remus asked.

"Yeah, one second", she replied as she scribbled down the end of a sentence for the essay she was working on.

"I think he asked you to do it now", Sirius said in an uncharacteristically stern voice. Darcy's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"I'm going to", she said. "I just didn't want to forget what I was writing."

"Just go check."

Darcy stood from the table and did just that. She was back a second later. "Nope. Are you expecting a letter?"

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore should be writing soon", Remus responded.

Darcy nodded and went back to her essay. The silence that had been comfortable was now loaded.

She stood up once more.

"What now?", Sirius asked.

"I left some of my Charms notes in my room", Darcy replied, annoyed. "Is that okay?"

"Watch it", he said sternly.

"You started it."

Remus cleared his throat. "Go get what you need, Darcy."

She turned and walked up the stairs.

"What's your problem?", Remus asked his best friend.

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you picking fights with her? She hasn't done anything."

"You asked her to do something."

"And she asked me to wait a second", Remus reminded him. "Which was fine. You've been on edge all day, what's wrong?"

"Besides the fact that there's a war going on? Oh, nothing much."

Darcy came back down before Remus could respond. She took her seat again and went back to her essay.

Sirius stood up and walked directly to the cabinet where the alcohol was kept. Remus stared at him and Darcy followed him with her eyes. Sirius poured himself a glass of firewhiskey.

"Moony, do you want anything?"

"No, because it's two o'clock in the afternoon."

"Sorry, is there a law against drinking before the sun goes down?"

Remus left the conversation alone.

"Darcy, do you want some water?"

"I'm fine", she replied quietly. "Thanks." She glanced up at Remus and he merely shook his head.

"You can take a break if you want, sweetheart", he told her.

"Actually I think I'll go up to my room." Darcy collected her things and went upstairs. She hated it when Sirius drank in front of her. It brought back horrible memories of her uncle, and she never wanted to associate the two of them together in any way. He had been acting odd ever since the end of the school year–specifically after the incident at the Department of Mysteries, which Darcy was still grounded for. Sirius had been angrier that night than she had ever seen him, but she wasn't scared. No, she knew he wouldn't hurt her. That didn't mean she liked getting yelled at, though.

It had been weeks, and while Darcy knew she was going to be on restriction more or less for the entire summer, Remus didn't seem angry anymore, unless she asked to do something that she would obviously not be allowed to do.

Remind me, whose fault is it that you can't go visit Hermione?

Sirius, however, had not been himself since. He rarely called her love anymore, now it was just Darcy, and occasionally miss when he was in an even worse mood.

"Give her a break, okay?", Remus said. "She's going through all of this too."

Sirius didn't respond.

Darcy came back downstairs for dinner and stayed with them in the sitting room until her predetermined early bedtime came.

"What if I stay in my room but I just do homework for a bit?", she tried. Nine o'clock was way too early for someone her age.

Remus shook his head. "No, Darcy. You brought this on yourself."

"I know", she sighed dramatically. "Can we push it to nine fifteen?"

"It'll take you until nine fifteen to get up to your room and get ready. Go on."

Sirius was listening to this conversation and massaging his temples. Being thirty-five apparently meant drinking affected him more. Bullocks, that was. His head was killing him.

"Just go, Darcy", he snapped when she opened her mouth again.

"I was just gonna say goodnight", Darcy said defensively.

"We can come up", Remus offered.

"It's alright." She accepted a one-armed hug from Remus and a kiss on the cheek. "Night."

"Goodnight, sweetheart. I love you."

"Love you too. Night, Sirius."

"Night."

Darcy lingered for a moment before leaving the room. It shouldn't have bothered her as much as it did, but he had always said goodnight kiddo, or night, love. He didn't even try to give her a hug.

Remus saw the hurt on her face as she walked away. "You didn't have to be so hard on her."

"She didn't have to argue with you."

"We've both heard that girl argue, Sirius, and that was not arguing", Remus shook his head. "She's a teenager being forced to go to bed before ten during the summer. Of course she tries to bargain with us."

"Well, she shouldn't. She knows we won't budge."

"You're making too big a deal out of this, relax."

"She's lucky she wasn't punished more harshly for what she did", Sirius remarked.

"We agreed twelve years ago–"

"Yeah? Twelve years ago she didn't break into the Ministry and almost get herself killed."

"I'm not saying I disagree with what you're thinking, I'm saying we shouldn't undo a decade worth of work over this. Believe me, when we got home that night I wanted nothing more than to make sure she couldn't sit comfortably for a few days."

Sirius sighed deeply. "You've got a point."

Darcy woke up the next morning feeling a bit apprehensive. She got out of bed and walked into the hallway, pausing outside Remus' room. The door was closed, which it usually wasn't when he was awake. Then she remembered, the full moon was that night.

It would just be her and Sirius all day.

Darcy braced herself and went down to the kitchen. Sirius was reading the newspaper at the table.

"Morning", she said through a yawn.

"Good morning, love. Breakfast is on the counter."

Love? We're doing that again?

She nodded. "Thanks." She got herself a plate and sat down across from him.

"What are your plans today?"

Darcy looked up at him. "Homework, I guess. There's not really much else I'm allowed to do."

"No, I guess there isn't."

"What about you?"

"Well, I've got a werewolf to keep an eye on", Sirius replied. "Other than that, nothing."

Merlin, was this painful.

Darcy finished eating as fast as she could so she could excuse herself and escape to her room. She hated this.

Later in the day, Remus walked into her room and closed the door behind himself.

"We need to talk about Sirius", he said.

Darcy put down the book she was reading. "Is he still mad about what I did?"

"No, and neither am I. He's...it has been really difficult for him to see things get dark again. He was like this for a while right before your parents died, when he couldn't see you three very often."

"I feel like everything I do makes him mad", Darcy said. "This morning was a little better, but it's awkward. I wish we could go back to normal."

"We will, cub. It just might take a while."

Darcy nodded and mustered a smile for him, ignoring the tightness in her chest.