The next few days passed in a flurry of hospital wing visits, moving speeches to the entire school from the headmaster during breakfast and in depth interviews in said headmaster's office.

Though each and every one of the group (apart from a muddled Lily) would swear it was Bellatrix Black who'd fled from the scene none of them had actually seen her face or could prove her guilt...so Lily's attacker remained free to roam the corridors.

Lily herself was also, for lack of a better word, free having been let out of the hospital wing despite worries from Madam Pomfrey, managing to stumble back into an even more overprotective group of friends. Though the succeeding weeks passed without incident her freedom seemed to mean she was unable to grab even a few minutes alone no matter how hard she tried. James stuck to her side like an over-trained guard dog while the girls refused to let her sleep alone.

Secretly she was glad. She'd never been able to think she'd be scared while in the castle; the place which felt more like her home than the muggle suburb had ever been. With one of her friends constantly by her side she felt safe, barely suffering from the nightmares Madam Pomfrey had warned her about.

"Is that your owl Lil?" Daxia spoke up as a pecking sound echoed around the common room. As it was a full moon the boys had headed out and due to Lily's accident, and Daxia being more overprotective of her girlfriends than ever, they hadn't even had to try to stop the small red fox from going with them.

"I think so," Lily frowned in confusion as she made a move to get to her feet.

"I'll go!" Adiya cut in with a grin, jumping up and letting Merlin (she'd bought and named him as an excitable eleven year old new to the wizarding world) in, plucking the letter from his leg "Here," she said passing the envelope to her friend once the barn owl had been thrown a treat and turned back to the window to head up to the owlery.

"My parents never did understand that the post was supposed to arrive in time for breakfast," Lily chuckled with an eyeroll as she ripped open the small envelope. A groan passed her lips as she read over the card inside "Petunia's wedding invite," she informed them holding the piece of card up.

"No way!" Daxia laughed plucking said card from her friend's fingertips (passing her her mother's letter back) "Mrs Evans and Mr and Mrs Dursley would like to cordially invite you to the joining of the Evans and Dursley families," she read out in an over exaggerated posh accent "Vernon and Petunia will look forward to your attendance on the twentieth of April hey! That's over Easter!"

"Bloody hell they are organised!" Mary exclaimed as she stole the invite from Daxia.

"Yeah it's scary," Lily nodded grimacing when she remembered the endless planning over the summer holidays "And it's over Easter so I can't use school as an excuse not to go," she explained; ever since her sister had flat out refused to allow her an actual part in the wedding (not wanting her future husband or in-laws the chance to properly get to know Lily) she'd been determined to miss it all together "I'll think of something."

"We could come!" exclaimed Daxia with an excitable grin "I've always wanted to meet the lovely Petunia," she added with a wink, she'd been able to meet Mrs. Evans a few times both on the train platform and over the previous summers but Lily's magic hating elder sister had always been absent "Plus it'd be well interesting to see how muggles put on a wedding."

"Didn't know that kind of thing interested you Dax?" Adiya spoke up; being a halfblood she had been able to see an event like a wedding on both sides of the spectrum "They aren't that different."

Daxia shrugged "Maybe there's more fun to be had at a muggle wedding and I'll never know unless Evans lets me see Petunia marry that oaf."

Lily chuckled as she shook her head "Now I know there's definitely no way you're attending this wedding."

Smirking Daxia shrugged, to her that sounded more like a challenge.

Waking up was always the worst part of the day for Daxia; especially when she'd fallen asleep on the cramped sofa in the common room (instead of her comfortable armchair, given to Lily to keep her relaxed and happy). She groaned as she shuffled in the tight space, frowning when she felt a body lying next to her. He was on her left arm, his legs trapping hers between them as his hand gripped onto her right stretching it over his chest.

Her nose tickled against his stupid long hair as she woke properly, eyes flickering open as she scowled at the inconvenient position she found herself in. Sirius had obviously arrived back to the Gryffindor common room, thought she looked too comfortable so pushed her over and claimed most of the sofa for himself.

"You're glaring."

She tried to wriggle free but he held onto her tighter with a smirk "Black let me go."

"You're comfortable."

"You're irritating."

He chuckled huskily and sleepily "We're going to be late for potions."

Sighing irritably she attempted to shift from beneath his weight again "Well you need to move then don't you!"

"We had another bad full moon," he said quietly, eyes still tightly shut. Going silent Daxia glanced up at him with a worried expression "He's so restless, we used to calm him when we went out with him but it's almost like he's letting it play on his mind that this is our last year here. I know he's worried about what's going to happen to him once we leave."

Daxia nodded slowly knowing she was the only person allowed to see Sirius like this. To everyone else he was the rebel without a cause, always up for a laugh and a prank. She was the one he came to with his worries whether they be about his friends, family or something in between no matter how rubbish she was with advice. He had always found it nice that there was actually someone out there who wanted to listen to him, to hear his inner thoughts without judgement or a joke.

"Sounds like you could use some help," she said quietly, regretting the words almost immediately as his eyes snapped open. Getting to his feet he didn't even look down to her as he strode over towards the boys dorms.

"We're gunna be late for potions."

With a roll of her eyes she also stood, stretching out her limbs and heading up to take a quick shower (avoiding the sly grins from already showered Adiya, Lily and Mary). She threw her hair into a messy bun once she'd dressed, grabbed onto her school bag and followed her girlfriends down to their potions class. She'd taken her seat next to Adiya while Lily took the empty one beside a cheery Marlene; she'd taken out her potions book and settled in ready to learn.

All before the boys even managed to leave their dorm.

They strolled in late looking like they'd just rolled out of bed (though Daxia knew they'd been down to the hospital wing to check on Remus before heading to class). James's hair was messier than usual as his hands rubbed at his eyes, Sirius yawned loudly as he dropped into his seat at the back of the room while Peter simply placed his head on the desk with a groan. They had also dressed sloppier than usual; Daxia sure Peter was even wearing odd shoes.

"Oh!" Sirius suddenly exclaimed glancing around with red, tired eyes to ensure Professor Slughorn hadn't arrived yet "Still up for Hogsmeade tomorrow Marlene?"

The rest of the class gaped on at the scene as Daxia glanced around with wide eyes. Had he already asked her to go to the village with him? Or was this it now? He didn't even look back to her as she arched an eyebrow in his direction. Sat beside him James was looking up to him from where his chin was resting on his folded arms, again not even acknowledging that Daxia was in the room.

The blonde sat beside Lily, who was looking towards her friend with a weary glance in her eyes, grinned "Yeah course!"

Sirius nodded once "Tomorrow it is then."

Marlene spun around to face Daxia, a wide grin on her face as she mouthed the words 'thank you' turning back when she received a shrug in reply.

"You okay?" Adiya whispered leaning towards Daxia with a concerned look on her face. Both she and Lily had woken in their seats in front of the fire before Sirius and Daxia had even stirred, snapping a photo and exchanging smug grins.

Daxia jumped as she glanced at her friend "Of course I am," she insisted before slamming her potions book onto the table top, narrowing her eyes towards the back of Marlene's head bent towards Lily as she planned the next day with a smile on her face.

Adiya sent a tentative glance around towards the table of Marauders, Sirius had his head leant on the top of his desk while James and Peter stared back at her with similar expressions of caution. Sirius and Daxia rows were never good for fellow Gryffindors; hexes flew and insults were shouted but there was never any outcome. Neither of the two would admit to the underlying reasons behind their argument only allowing it to escalate so Adiya, James and Peter all knew they'd have to be on guard.

The two groups of friends remained separate once the Potions class had ended, Daxia and the girls hung back as the boys went to rush off to see Remus. As Slughorn held the Marauders back (no doubt trying to convince James to attend his next Slugclub meet by inviting the remaining two members; It was only a matter of time) the girls slipped passed them without a word (only a small wave from Marlene to Sirius followed by an eyeroll from Daxia).

"Hey Lestrange!"

Lily, Adiya and Mary all bumped into Daxia as she practically jumped to a halt. Marlene and Hestia called their goodbyes as they joined their fellow Ravenclaws, Taylor Jones and Marietta Goldstein, while Daxia turned to the person calling her name.

Ludovic Bagman was grinning as he strolled over to the four Gryffindor girls, a swagger in his step as he arched an eyebrow towards Daxia. Star of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team he definitely thought he was something special "Hey Lestrange," he repeated "I've been waiting for you to emerge."

Physically cringing the girls closed up around Daxia, ready to grab her if a Quidditch argument broke out. Hufflepuff were Gryffindor's first game the next week and tensions were already running high. As this was James, Adiya and Daxia's last year to win the cup with James as captain (missing out to Ravenclaw in the closest tournament to date the previous year) they were extra determined to win and even less tolerant towards other house players.

Noticing the boys finally leaving the potions class Daxia straightened up, twirling a free strand of hair falling out of her bun around her finger "Hey Ludo," she greeted, in a tone her friends had never heard from her before, as she took a step towards the smirking Hufflepuff.

"I was wondering what you were doing in Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Ludovic asked with a wonky smile, hands stuffed into the pockets of his robes "And if you wanted to attend the village with me?"

Shocking all of her friends (Lily throwing a helpless glance over to James who shrugged in confusion as Sirius frowned deeply) Daxia giggled musically "Oh I'd love to!"

"You'd what?!"

Daxia rolled her eyes as the shout went up, folded her arms over her chest as she turned to face Sirius "And what does it have to do with you Black?" she asked with an arched eyebrow "You'll be busy with your date, what I'll be doing is nothing of your concern!"

"I…but…he's a Hufflepuff!"

"Marlene's a Ravenclaw."

He tensed his jaw as his eyes narrowed over to a smug looking Ludovic Bagman, his fingers curling into fists as the Quidditch player leant towards his best friend "See you tomorrow then Daxia," he said dropping a kiss on Daxia's cheek before disappearing off into the crowds of students heading to their next lessons, sending Sirius another smirk as he went.

As James reached forward to grab Sirius by the arm, mumbling about how they needed to go and check on Remus, Daxia turned and stormed towards the Gryffindor common room.

Lily frowned as she looked to Mary and Adiya in confusion "Did Daxia just agree to go on a date with Ludovic Bagman?"

"Bagman?! Ludovic Bagman?!"

Daxia sighed loudly as she reached over to grab onto her broomstick "Leave it Potter."

"We play them next week Lestrange! First game of the season! Hufflepuff!"

"You're going to have a heart attack if you continue."

"You're going to lose us the cup if you continue!"

Daxia let out a laugh as she wandered from the changing rooms, Adiya rushing after her "Oh James, you are over dramatic," she chuckled ignoring Sirius leaning against the wall waiting for his friends arrival "You seem to forget Black is dating a Ravenclaw, the house who stole the cup last year?" she continued shoving Sirius's shoulder as she passed him.

Before Sirius could retaliate Daxia was on her broom and zooming away, James calling that neither Black nor Marlene played Quidditch so it therefore didn't count after her.

"Are you really doing this?" Adiya asked as she flew up after her friend, the two girls hovered side by side with smirks on their faces as they stared down to where James was sending Sirius up to the stands.

"Quidditch practise?" Daxia replied glancing down to her broom and Quidditch robes "Well, yeah."

Adiya rolled her eyes as both her and Dax dove down to the ground where James was calling for a team meet to discuss the plan for the next few hours "You know what I mean," she whispered as they landed, standing at the back behind the rest of the team.

Though James didn't speak to her directly she knew he was still mad at her for whatever reason as he sent them off on a run around the vast Quidditch ground. She huffed as she started at a jog, glaring at the back of James Potter's messy hair as it bounced with each step he took. Her breath came out as a dark cloud as she turned to Adiya hissing "He's such a git. He knows I hate running."

"I need my seeker agile and fast Lestrange!" James called over his shoulder.

Daxia's bad mood lasted throughout all of the following ground exercises James put on; she ignored the new members of the team, scowled toward the captain and kept her back to the stands holding a heckling Sirius Black.

The flying exercises cheered her up slightly, being her strong point in their training. She flew rings around almost every other player (including James) and sent Sirius a few pointed looks as she rocketed past him. Her balance and posture were tested as she lowered closer to the ground to watch James release the balls, her broom wobbling beneath her a few times due to the strong winds being sent her way. She rolled her eyes as she kept her seat knowing this was Sirius's stupid idea of a prank.

Normally he'd never think of touching the Quidditch pitch with a prank; it was like their neutral ground, but clearly her ignoring him and agreeing to go out with a rival from another house had bothered him so much he'd forgotten the agreement.

She was showing off when the wind came again. She hadn't been holding on but standing as she reached out for the snitch, ready to pull off a spectacular catch in front of her captain to prove she could be both agile and fast without having to run around the ground to show it.

Instead her broom shook beneath her and she was thrown headfirst into the mud.

"I'm going to kill him!" she exclaimed loudly as she jumped to her feet, James grabbing her around the waist before she could storm up to the stands "Let me go Potter!"

"Killing Sirius won't help Vix!" he argued before pointing towards her, oddly bent, left arm "A trip to the hospital wing will though."

"He did it on purpose!" she winced as she finally felt the pain pulsating through her broken bone "Just because I'm going out on a date? What's it got to do with him?"

"Nothing," James agreed as he walked her over to Adiya who was waiting to escort her to Madam Pomfrey "It's me who should be annoyed by your date with the star of our next opponent," he added practically passing Daxia into Adiya's welcoming arm, wrapping around her friend's shoulders "I'll take care of Black you make sure you have a fully functioning arm by next week!"

Daxia had ranted the entire way up to the castle, threat after threat towards Sirius Black left her lips as Adiya rolled her eyes and nodded along.

"Don't you think he could be, y'know, jealous?" she asked quietly once the school nurse had fixed Daxia's arm, placing it into a tight support to rest it over the next few days.

"Jealous?" Daxia asked once she'd thanked Madam Pomfrey, promising to both take the potion given to her to strengthen her arm and that she'd visit her for a check-up in the next few days' time "Of what? How much better I am at Quidditch than he is? He's never been bothered before!"

Adiya chuckled to herself as the two reached the Gryffindor common room, speaking the password and climbing in through the portrait hole "Will you help me out here?" she asked Lily once she noticed both her and Mary sat on their usual sofas, playing with Lily's kitten Shadow between them. Mary, who didn't have an owl of her own, had smuggled him in under the pretence that he was her kitten so he had become a bit of a Girls' Dorm Mascot.

The redhead's eyebrows arched in shock as she glanced up from where Shadow was rolling around on the cushion "What happened?!" she questioned pointing to Daxia's arm brace.

"Black," her friend grumbled, flopping onto her armchair "He made me fall off my broom!"

Lily nodded as she settled back into her seat, Shadow diving into her lap "I knew he was jealous."

Before Adiya wandered up to take a shower she turned to Daxia with a knowing smile on her lips "Told you!"

She woke the next morning late, sprawled across Lily's bed in her separate head girl dorm. She was underneath the quilt and clearly alone as her feet hung over one side of the bed while her fingers curled over the edge of the other "Lil?" she called out sleepily, eyes still tightly shut and she shuffled into a sitting position tugging the quilt around her.

She yawned loudly as she ran a hand through her knotted hair (falling asleep with wet hair in a plait never did her curls well). Rubbing her eyes she forced them open, the door leading to Lily's en suite bathroom shut and the sound of a shower running echoed through the room. Groaning she collapsed back on Lily's comfortable pillows.

They'd retreated up to bed before boys arrived back from Quidditch (James and Sirius) and the library (Remus, Peter and Benji). Though Lily had insisted she was feeling up to sleeping alone Daxia had followed her into her room. They'd sat cross legged eating Lily's private stock of Honeydukes' finest chocolates as she listened to Daxia rant on about Sirius's ridiculous behaviour both outside their potions lesson and at the Quidditch pitch. Lily had giggled as she'd tried to explain to Daxia that maybe, just maybe, both her and Sirius were jealous of their respective dates to Hogsmeade the next day.

Daxia had scoffed and pointed out that she and Sirius were friends. She'd informed Lily of the muggle boy she had spent practically her entire summer with (pointing out how different he was in both looks and personality to her best friend) and reminded her of the list of girls who were noted as Sirius Black's conquests. She'd ranted on about his 'tart-like' nature and choice of women for around ten minutes only stopping when she noticed the look on her female best friend's face, Lily had smirked so Daxia had changed the subject to asking her if she'd French braid her recently washed hair..

"Are you still in bed?" Lily laughed as she emerged from the bathroom, fully dressed and with her hair hidden beneath a towel.

"It's comfy," Daxia protested shuffling further down the bed once more, recovering her head with the quilt "And you kept me awake last night."

"Ha!" Lily replied as she sat at her dressing table, unravelling her hair and beginning to run a brush through it "You snore and kick out in your sleep! If there was anyone kept awake last night it was me!"

Daxia narrowed her eyes "I do not snore."

"Oooh yes you do."

Practically falling out of the bed Daxia landed on the floor with a gentle bump, still wrapped up in Lily's thick quilt "I'm going in the shower," she announced as she curled up on Lily's rug, burying her face in the lilac coloured material she was bundled up in.

"No you aren't," Lily rolled her eyes as she nudged the Daxia-parcel in the middle of her floor with her foot "You're lying on my rug like some weirdly shaped caterpillar."

It took a further ten minutes before Daxia moved properly; she'd jumped in the shower before quickly getting dressed. Fully giving up on her hair, with the charms she usually used to straighten it failing miserably, she asked (begged) Lily to do something (anything) to help and ended up with yet another French braid messily laying down her back. Keeping her make-up natural and minimal she found herself trailing after Lily towards the great hall not long after her shower, yawning and rubbing at her tired eyes.

"You'll ruin your eyeliner!" Lily warned in a hushed tone, nudging Daxia's hand away from her eye as they sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"I'm barely wearing eyeliner Lil," Daxia retorted as Mary and Benji greeted them and the four Marauders appeared on the other side of the table.

"Not wanting to impress your date then Dax?" Sirius teased reaching for the toast and continuing when Daxia blatantly ignored him "How's your arm?"

She glared across the table to him as she bit into her own piece of toast. Before she could come up with some witty retort to get him to leave her alone she found herself distracted from her friends by a tap on her shoulder "Oh!" she squeaked, a grin coming to her face as she turned in her seat to see Ludo Bagman smiling down to her "Ready to head off?"

He nodded as his eyes scanned the Gryffindor table "I was unsure about asking you today," he informed her, quickly continuing when he noticed the glares being sent his way by her girlfriends sat before him "I mean, I thought you'd be busy with Quidditch practise," his eyes slid across to James "But maybe Gryffindor are up for bottling the title yet again this year."

"We practise more than enough," Daxia insisted, grasping onto his forearm and dragging him away from the table before James and Sirius could retaliate.

Normally Daxia adored Hogsmeade. She loved the quaint shops and picturesque scenery. She loved nipping into Madam Puddifoot's for a cup of tea and strolling into the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer and a gossip with Madam Rosmerta. Honeydukes Sweet Shop was her favourite place on the planet closely followed by Zonko's Joke Shop a few stores down…

She really did admire the school's trips into its neighbouring village yet, with Ludo Bagman continually ranting on about Quidditch and refusing to accept any kind of subject change, that first trip in her seventh year was proving to be the worst.

"…so then I took matters into my own hands!" he was exclaiming as Daxia glanced wishfully into the window of Gladrags Wizardwear. She would have given anything to be being dragged into there by Mary or Hestia to spend hours upon hours avoiding giving them her opinion on every single item of clothing they spotted "Grabbed the quaffle myself didn't I! He wasn't too happy let me tell you…"

"Why don't we go into The Three Broomsticks?" she asked quickly as she noticed the pub out of the corner of her eye.

He pulled a face as his gaze followed hers "I was hoping we could head to the Shrieking Shack…I know a few ghost stories you could snuggle up to me to listen to."

Trying not to visibly shudder Daxia rubbed at her arms "I'm just…really cold y'know?" she said leading him over to the pub, dodging beneath his arm threatening to drape over her shoulders "And thirsty!"

"Really?"

"So thirsty," she insisted as she placed a hand on the welcoming door of the pub "I may die."

Though he narrowed his eyes with suspicion he followed her in, allowing her to send him to grab them a table as she headed over to the bar.

"Good date Lestrange?"

She jumped at the sound of his voice, a smile forcing its way onto her lips as she turned to face Sirius "The best!" she lied with a grin "He's so lovely," she added, turning to glance over to where Bagman was sitting looking incredibly bored at a table by himself.

Sirius raised his eyebrows asking "Really?" in an uninterested manner.

"Yep! Don't know why I never gave him a chance before!" Daxia answered a little too quickly "How's your date?"

"Oh, amazing," Sirius nodded though with Marlene heading off to meet with Hestia, Taylor and Marietta for a few moments he didn't even know where she was "But when is a date with Sirius Black not amazing?"

As Daxia rolled her eyes she caught sight of someone heading back to the private booths on the other side of the bar from the toilet, a someone with enviable red hair who had told Daxia she was staying in the castle to use the time to study. Grasping onto Sirius's sleeve and ignoring his protests she dragged him over to the other side of the bar, shushing him once they were stood outside of the booth Lily had slipped into.

"What are we doing?" he asked in a hushed tone, bending slightly so he was speaking directly into her ear.

"Listening!" she replied, placing a finger over her lips and ignoring the goosebumps trailing down her neck at his close proximity.

It took barely a few seconds before Sirius and Daxia were eyeing each other with shocked and amused looks on their faces; sat in one of the private booths, talking about everything but their head boy and girl duties, were James Potter and Lily Evans.

"He told me he was giving first years flying lessons as a punishment!"

"She told me she was using the time to study!"

Silently hi-fiving, their previous disagreement totally forgotten about, they made the move to get closer to the booth. Wondering if their friends, the friends who supposedly irritated one another no end, were on an actual date they decided eavesdropping was their only answer.

Sending Bagman a glance to ensure he was keeping himself busy (and deciding him staring into space did that exact job) Daxia crouched beside Sirius, leaning her shoulder against his to steady her balance.

They had just made out the sounds of their names being uttered by their best friends when the first window exploded.

Happy Birthday Sirius Black!