A/N: heavy chapter alert! I seem to be on a roll of giving you guys and Bess a little taste of bliss before grabbing it away again!

xXx

In the end, Sirius did spent the next week in detention for setting off hundreds of fireworks in the Great Hall, as he scared the living daylights out of several students and Professors Flitwick and Sprout, even though they did see the funny side in the end.

So Bess and Sirius stole hours together where they could, dodging in to empty corridors and classrooms, and finding secret places in the grounds to explore during their free periods, though Sirius still hadn't managed to get Bess in to a broom closet.

They had tried to keep their relationship on the down low, as Bess put it, so that they could have time to work things out, but after the first few days, when Sirius couldn't help but kiss her at every opportunity, Bess had resigned herself to the fact that the whole school would be party to their PDAs, and had just had to try and tone them down somewhat rather than stop them completely.

Not that she was complaining - every moment she spent with Sirius was like heaven on earth. Though she'd been incredibly embarrassed when Jasper had figured it out during their Thursday Defence Against the Dark Arts class and sent her a look and a wink before he left their class.

Cuddled together in the evenings once Sirius returned from his detentions, they'd talked at length about what Sirius had done, and about Bess' worries over both of their safety.

She'd explained that she thought the Death Eaters had been coming for her when Snape had attacked her, and although she was glad he'd not been after her because she survived what had happened at Christmas, she couldn't be sure they wouldn't try to finish the job one day.

She'd even mentioned her meeting with Dumbledore, and said that if she could remember what happened to her, maybe she'd be able to do something to help, whether that be with the war, or giving information on the people who hurt her.

Sirius had reiterated James' warning and asked her to be careful next time she tried to remember something.

However, they hadn't talked about their relationship, and their wants and needs other than to confirm that they were now together, and neither of them was thinking of this as just a short term thing.

And because they avoided that conversation, they quickly hit a major snag.

At one point towards the end of their second week together, and eager to see Sirius before his next detention, Bess had accidentally interrupted a private conversation between the boys, and Peter had asked her to leave, just as he had that day at dinner in the first week of term.

She'd apologised and walked off, and even though Sirius had admonished Peter and run after her, she'd told him to go back to the boys.

She'd felt incredibly upset, and rejected by her friends, and had decided in a fit of upset, that from then on she'd just wait for him to come to her if he wanted to see her - she didn't want to interrupt his life too much, and she'd convinced herself that evidently she had no tact, and didn't know where to draw the line.

Which is why, that weekend, Bess found herself in hot water with her best friend.

"Is this fair?" Lily asked as they sat in the library, rain pelting the windows as they studied. Bess had explained her plan, but Lily wasn't happy.

"I don't know, but I have so much stuff I have to do and so much magic I have to learn, and I don't want to take up too much of Sirius' time because I know what it's like to not have enough time with the people you love! I don't know what the big deal is. If he wants to see me, he'll just come to me."

"They're not dying, Bess! They're off gallivanting around the castle! Sirius shouldn't have all the power in the relationship!"

Bess winced. She couldn't help but think no, they're not dying, but they might.

She shook her head and tried to get rid of the horrible thought. "He doesn't though."

"Right, so telling him that he can drop in on you when he fancies it isn't giving him all the power?"

"Well what am I mean to do? It's not like I've spent five years learning the dynamics of your lives here, is it?" Bess asked in an annoyed whisper, putting her quill down on her parchment and leaning forwards. "I don't want to lose him because I'm being..." she didn't want to say needy, but couldn't think of the right word.

"If you lose him because he's being an arse, that's his fault, isn't it?"

"But he's not! I suggested it!"

"Who's not, and suggested what?" James asked as Sirius and he walked up to their table.

Bess sat back in her chair and shook her head as she picked up her quill and tried to find her place again. "Nothing," she said, with an edge to her voice.

Lily sighed loudly, looked up at James, and said, "Please leave, we're in the middle of a private conversation."

"Well that's harsh," James replied, his face falling as he came to a stop in front of their table.

"And that's exactly how Bess felt when Peter told her to leave yesterday," Lily replied stonily.

"Lily," Bess hissed, glaring at her friend.

"Well it's true, isn't it?" Lily asked, hitting her fist against the table lightly.

"Lily, this is none of your business, and it was already sorted out," Bess replied just as stonily.

"Really? So you told Sirius you're coming to Slughorn's party with me tonight so you can't see him, did you?"

Bess opened and closed her mouth. She'd completely forgotten she'd promised to go to Slughorn's latest soiree. "That's tonight? I'm so sorry, I didn't think... It's just, Slughorn has parties like every week..."

"And he has detentions like every day," Lily said, flicking her wand to send all of her things in to her backpack before swinging it over her shoulder, "you need to work out how you're going to handle this relationship, because I'm not losing you because you're stubborn to see that if you're always on Sirius' timetable, you'll never have time for yourself. I've seen it happen before, and I'm not going to let it happen again," she whispered angrily before stalking off.

Bess dropped her head to her hands and let out a strangled frustrated cry. She knew she was being stupid, an awful friend, and could see Lily's point of view. It had only been around two weeks since she and Sirius had become an official couple, and she'd already spent most of her free time with him, and had forgotten that she was meant to spend the evening with Lily. She felt awful.

"What was that?" Sirius asked, sitting down in front of her as James slowly dropped in to the seat next to him.

"Honestly? We need to set some boundaries in our relationship, and Lily's right, it can't always be on your terms, Sirius, even though I said it should be. Sometimes I'm going to want to be in the library, or with my friends, and sometimes you're going to want to be off with your friends, but we need to find a way of making sure we're equal in this," Bess said with a sigh.

Sirius sent James off and took Bess' hands in his, "Love, I should slot in to your life and vice versa. But at the same time, I'm always here if you need me. Ignore Peter, he's just being a dick, and don't worry about Lily, she'll come round. We just need to make a plan."

In the end, they decided to carve out time together without impacting their friends too much, which meant a few changes, like, but not at all limited to: dinners, where they brought their two friendship groups together (even Solstice's boyfriend couldn't be annoyed that she was sat with Sirius when his girlfriend was sat right next to them); Bess' library visits were only interrupted occasionally by Sirius' appearance to steal a moment or two with her before he went off on an adventure with James; and Sirius taught Bess how to send notes throughout the castle so he'd always be contactable outside of detentions.

They'd decided equity was key, and so far, it was working well. They'd managed to strike a happy balance between being together and being independent.

xXx

Two and a half weeks later, at the start of the second week of December, Bess, who was sat at the breakfast table with Sirius' arm wrapped around her waist as he chatted to his friends and she read her new Transfiguration textbook, heard a timid squeak from behind her.

"Sorry, are you Bess Coulson?"

Bess turned to see a little brown haired first year boy with large glasses and a worried expression on his face. "That's me..."

"Professor Dumbledore asked me to give you this..." he said, trailing off and handing her a letter with a shaking hand. When she took it, he immediately ran back over to the Hufflepuff table.

Opening the letter with a spare butter knife, Bess read:

Miss Coulson,

Please come to my office at seven o'clock this evening. We have much to discuss.

Professor Dumbledore

"...we have much to discuss? Do you think he heard anything?" Sirius whispered in Bess' ear.

She'd told him that she might be summoned by Dumbledore if he heard something about her past.

She shook her head and pursed her lips, re-reading the note. It had been over a month since she'd spoken to Dumbledore and shared the overview of what she knew, and she'd not had any correspondence with him since. "Not sure..."

"Do you want me to drop you off?" Sirius asked quietly, before placing a kiss on her cheek.

She felt a flutter of unease - she really didn't like lying to him - but schooled her features and just said, "Thank you, but no. I have a feeling these are going to become more Regulus... and I don't think Dumbledore would appreciate my boyfriend dropping me off every time!"

"Love... did you just..." Sirius said, trailing off and frowning, "did you just say your meetings would become more Regulus?"

Bess cocked her head to the side before breaking out in to a giant grin. "I've been doing that for three days, how have you only just noticed?"

"Thought it was just me hearing things. Three days? Really?" He replied with a chuckle before leaning in to peck her on the lips.

"I also keep saying 'why so Sirius' but I don't think James has picked up on it yet..."

Sirius grinned and rubbed his nose against hers. "You sure you don't need me to drop you off?"

"Yes," Bess said as she put her things in her bag and swinging her legs over the bench before standing, "and in any case, it's boy's night tonight, and I just saw a redhead who I have to cancel plans with. So I'll see you properly tomorrow?"

Sirius grinned and nodded as she leant down and kissed him deeply. When she stood up straight she saw James pretending to jab his fork into his eyes, and Remus trying not to laugh behind his goblet. Peter was, she noticed, staring at a seventh year Hufflepuff girl and drooling slightly.

She rolled her eyes at James' display but didn't say anything - she'd decided that anything that made Remus laugh today was good - it was the full moon today, and he'd been looking rough all weekend.

Stalking off to find Lily, she smiled to herself - things were going great and she was looking forward to her meeting with Dumbledore later.

She was excited to find out what he thought they should do next.

xXx

At seven o'clock that evening, Bess found herself inside Professor Dumbledore's office again, with the painting of Professor Phineas Nigellus Black once again blind folded and wearing mufflers.

As she waited for Dumbledore to finish his work, she found herself imagining the boys running down to the Whomping Willow while she sat awkwardly in Dumbledore's office, trying not to eat his entire bowl of sugar quills.

Before she could sneak any more than five quills, Dumbledore finished his correspondence and looked up at her over his half moon spectacles.

"I thought tonight we would try to find a way of finding the diary and the cup" Dumbledore said, leaning forwards in his chair. "I think it would be best if we waited to find the ring for now, as you mentioned that Voldemort would go to the shack first if he sensed his Horcruxes were in danger?"

Bess nodded.

"Good," Dumbledore said firmly, before looking over at a cabinet. Bess recognised it as the one containing his pensieve and wondered what memories he'd managed to collect in the past month. "I think I have found a way to find out where the other two are."

"Really? How?" Bess asked eagerly.

"Have you tried to remember any details from the book series you mentioned to me?" He asked, putting a weird emphasis on book series.

Bess shook her head. "Not really... I've tried to remember the answers to things like 'which students are future Death Eaters," she said, watching as Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, "but I was in so much pain from trying I had to stop."

"Pain?"

"Yes... when I try and force a memory, it feels like my head's about to explode. Well... it actually feels like my whole body's about to explode... but the pain's worse in my head, and my vision goes."

Dumbledore pursed his lips. "Have you tried this a lot?"

"No, only once."

"Would you try to remember again?"

"What do you mean?"

"Would you try to remember something? To... as you put it, force a memory?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

"I don't... I don't know... like I said, I haven't tried it since the last time," Bess replied apprehensively.

"Bess, this may be the only way we can find the remaining two Horcruxes. I do not want to ask this of you, but I think that you will need to try and remember who Voldemort entrusted the Horcruxes to, and where they would have hidden them."

"Professor, I already told you who has them in nineteen-eighty-one and where they are then. I don't-"

"Bess, this is your decision. You don't have to do anything you don't want to," Dumbledore said, clasping his hands together. "But if I am correct, this will be the quickest way to find them."

Bess sighed and frowned. She didn't want to try, she knew how painful it would be and it had taken her hours to get over it last time she'd pushed too far.

However, she knew that Dumbledore was right. They needed to know where the other two Horcruxes were if they were to defeat Voldemort, and she was the only one who could know that - if only she could remember when Voldemort gave them to Lucius and Bellatrix.

A second later, she thought of Sirius and what he would go through if she failed.

So instead of refusing, she just nodded and reached forwards to take a sip of her water.

Settling back in her chair, Bess pursed her lips and began to try to remember where the black diary was kept. She focussed on its size, its colour, its pages, until she began to think about Ginny, and the Chamber of the Secrets, and on and on she went, retracing the second Harry Potter book, trying to remember if she'd missed any important facts.

As she tried to focus more and more, she found the dull ache in the back of her head begin to move forwards.

And as she thought about Flourish and Blotts, and Gilderoy Lockhart, Bess began to see black spots.

Just like the time she'd tried to force a memory before her last meeting with Dumbledore, pain quickly overtook her.

She began to gasp and her heartbeat escalated.

She was about to stop trying as she felt the pain rush over her like a wave and begin to pulse.

Just as she felt herself being pulled under and tried to stop searching her mind, she heard Professor Dumbledore say, "keep trying, Bess."

So she did.

And she was rewarded with more pain that she'd ever felt in her life.

She could hear someone screaming.

It was irritating, and it hurt her ears, but she couldn't move from the pain pulsing through her, and she couldn't tell the person to shut up.

Such pain... she could feel her hands clutching to her head, tears streaming down her face, blood trickling from her fists as she dug her nails in to her palms, but nothing would stop it.

Just when she thought she couldn't take any more, the black spots overtook her eyesight and suddenly everything went dark.

xXx

For a moment, Bess thought she might have fainted - she felt no pain. But when she opened her eyes, she realised wasn't on the floor of Dumbledore's study anymore.

The ceiling above her was dark.

Rather than made by stone, like Dumbledore's office, it looked like it was made from Mahogany, with beams running the length of the room.

Bess groaned as she sat up slowly, her hand moving to her head which felt fuzzy. Her vision was blurry, and she could only make out details of things if she really concentrated.

She made a mental note to never suggest pulling a prank on James which involved stealing his glasses. Having bad vision like this was too disorientating.

It took her a few moments to right herself before she began to look around the room, trying to focus.

The room was large, with a gigantic rug lain across the floor. It had an intricate design which reminded Bess of the Bayeux Tapestry which she'd studied in primary school.

The walls were covered in panelling and what looked like gold leaf, and it seemed whoever had decorated had spared no expense.

As she got to her feet, she turned to take a better look at the features of the room. As she did, she gasped slightly, and clapped a hand to her mouth.

In front of her stood two figures. She narrowed her eyes to focus, and realised they were two men, talking to each other in hushed whispers. They seemed to be arguing over something, though Bess couldn't hear what they were saying.

"Who are you?" She asked quietly, as she tried to step backwards, looking around the room for an exit.

When neither man answered, she frowned.

"Who. Are. You?" She asked again, this time louder.

Again, neither man moved, or indicated that they knew she was there.

She stopped moving, and instead looked closer, trying to make out more details.

The two men were standing in front of a beautiful and rather large fireplace. The mantlepiece seemed to have been carved out of a single piece of marble, and contained a roaring fire.

They were dressed in rather formal black robes - the younger man's were peppered with bright silver embroidery, whereas the older wizard's were stitched in green.

As the younger man turned away, facing in to the room and therefore towards Bess, her eyes widened and she clapped her hand over her mouth again to try and muffle her yell.

They both had white-blonde hair, while the younger had grey eyes, pale skin, and a sneer that could curdle milk.

Lucius Malfoy.

Bess realised with a start that he could neither hear nor see her, when he walked towards her and... after a moment... walked straight through her.

She stared between the two men frantically, trying to figure out which one she should stay with, before she felt herself being tugged by an invisible force in the direction the younger man had gone.

She ran to try and catch up with him, and fell in to step behind him as he strode purposefully across the incredibly large entrance hall which housed a beautiful marble staircase, and in to another room.

This time, the room's walls were laden with books.

Malfoy Library.

She stared around the room in horror and awe before she noticed the young man stop in front of a rather large collection of old books in the far corner.

Running to get over to him in time, she managed to stand to his side just as he withdrew a black book from his pocket.

Bess recognised it immediately as Tom Riddle's diary.

She watched as Lucius pulled out a rather large tome entitled, 'Creatures of Britain and Their Habitats,' hollowed it out using his wand, and placed the small black book inside it, before placing the larger book back on to the shelf.

He swallowed nervously and pulled out a beautiful silver fob watch.

Bess, who had asked Sirius to teach her how to read wizarding watches just two weeks previously, stared down at the hands, her eyes widening as she took in the date before Lucius closed the silver case and placed it back in his pocket.

As he turned to leave, she reached out a hand to try and touch the book, but before she could get anywhere near it, she felt a yank in the back of her head, and the world she was in fell away.

Her vision faded to black once more.

xXx

This time, when Bess woke up again, she knew she was back in Dumbledore's office.

The pain which had gone while she was at the manor, returned with a vengeance and was like fire, burning every part of her over and over again.

At some point in the time she'd been gone, she realised, she'd fallen to the ground, and was writhing around on the floor.

As her hearing came back, she realised the screaming was still going, and she was just about to ask Dumbledore to stop whoever it was, when she realised it was her.

She could feel the older wizard's hands holding on to her wrists tightly as she thrashed.

She could hear him calling her name in a panicked voice.

It took her, from her count, around seven minutes for the pain to lessen enough for her to stop screaming.

It was another five before she stopped writhing.

And another five after that before she could open her eyes and take in the stone ceiling and the faces of old Headmasters and Headmistresses staring down at her in horror, fear, worry, and compassion.

When Bess had calmed down enough to stop writhing and trying to claw at her own face, Dumbledore had released her and slunk back to sit on the floor with his back to his desk, staring at her as she regained her mind.

Finally, almost twenty minutes after Bess had felt herself pulled back in to her body, Dumbledore spoke.

"Bess... I must apologise. When you said pain, I could never have imagined..."

Bess felt a single tear fall down her cheek, mingling with sweat and blood.

She managed to choke out, "I know where the diary will be in September Nineteen Seventy-Eight," before she succumbed to the darkness once more.

xXx

A/N: so nervous to find out what you guys think of this one!

Who else thinks Sirius is going to be pissed off when he finds out Dumbledore got her to push past her block? *Raises hand*

Thank you again to my lovely reviewers, Guest, Ghost Claw 001, CharlotteGryffindor, Angelicsailor, idreamtosmilealways, and Pewz!