Poppy's POV

We were soon back at school and I found the consistency of lessons and work the routine I needed right now. The first week back both Sirius and I had been to see Dumbledore, discussing what had happened at dinner with his parents. Sirius had told him everything and then I had regaled what had happened with Regulus in the time Sirius and I had been parted. I could see the concern in his eyes and knew he was thinking the same as me which cemented my idea that Regulus was crying out to be helped, not knowing how to escape the life he was trapped in. Dumbledore, however, said nothing on the matter but reminding us we were safe whilst we were here, suggesting we consider staying over the Easter holidays. I was already staying, having discussed this with Sara and Phil as I wanted to get ahead with my revision for exams. Dumbledore suggesting this though also gave a hint as to the danger I was potentially in and I knew Sirius realised this as well.

Afterwards, it had taken a lot of persuasion on my part to tell him that this wasn't his fault as he really did blame himself and he spent a few days sullen and down as a result. James had been a good help during this time, reinforcing my views that this wasn't his fault. Thankfully, after James and I told him he needed to stop being a moody bastard he had come round and gone back to being his usual chipper self which was a relief. Sirius insisted on sticking close by me though, the both of us being far too aware of the many watchful eyes at the Slytherin table. Regulus had kept his distance, although sometimes at mealtimes I would glance over and catch him looking. Our eyes meeting but he would never do anything, simply holding my gaze for a few seconds before looking away. He looked the same as he had at dinner, the usual bored expression on his face which I was still so sure was just a mask. I hadn't spoken to Sirius about it but every now and again I would catch him looking over at the Slytherin table, so I knew he was at least thinking about it which was enough for now.

The second week in January was James's birthday and we all gathered in the Heads dorm for a traditional party, although Remus wasn't here as he wasn't very well. There was something about this which raised my suspicions, but James's good mood was too much for me to linger long on it.

"So Pop, what have you got me?" James asked me excitedly the moment I stepped into his common room with the girls, making me laugh. I'd forgotten to bring his present with me to breakfast in the morning and he'd been pestering me ever since, greatly hyping something that I didn't think deserved quite so much hype. He followed me like a puppy, watching me excitedly as I produced a small item from my jean pocket, giving it a tap to enlarge it. "Two?!" he exclaimed, and I grinned as I handed them over.

"The top one's just something small" I said but he tore into it like a child as Sirius came to stand next to me, arm around my waist and a smile on his face. James's face lit up when he saw it, looking intently at it before beaming up at me.

"Pop, I love it!" he told me, putting it aside so he could hug me. It was a photo of us as a group from when we went to his at Easter and I'd had it framed for him, thinking it was one of the rare ones where we were all in it. He smiled widely as he let me go before tearing into his other one as the others all helped themselves to drinks. When he opened it, he laughed, extracting the hip flask from the box. "Poppy you know me so well" he said with a grin, getting up to hug me tightly. "Thank you so much. You know you didn't have to" he said quietly.

"I know but I wanted to" I replied, seeing him still smiling when we pulled away.

"Pad I'm warning you now, if you ever let her go, I am going to swoop in there and take her" James told Sirius with a grin, making him laugh as he held me close to him.

"Well good thing I'm not going to let her go then, isn't it?" Sirius replied confidently and I saw James smile widely, as though the thought itself made him happy.

"Best man, remember" James told him, naturally making me blush. Quick as anything, Sirius punched him causing James to stagger slightly.

"Just because it's your birthday doesn't give you a free pass to be a dick" Sirius said, making James laugh loudly before he moved away, heading incidentally to Lily. I could feel Sirius's nervousness which had come from James's comment as he turned me slightly to face him.

"Stop freaking out" I told him softly with a smile, putting my arms around him so I could pull him towards me and kiss him. Given that we were with our friends I kept it short, not wanting to cause a scene and seeing him smile when we pulled away.

"Funny, I was going to say the same to you" he told me, making me laugh. I saw Sirius's eyes flash to a point over my shoulder and turned to see James and Lily happily chatting away together, Lily playing with her hair more than usual. "That looks encouraging" he whispered in my ear and I nodded, smiling. "Maybe we won't need to get involved" he continued, and I grinned.

"I think they're going to need a push at some point" I told him, turning back around and seeing him grinning. "Just not quite yet" I said before he surprised me by kissing me again.

"So hot when you're scheming" he murmured, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Hey, we staying in our room tonight?" I asked, thinking it strange we hadn't discussed this.

"James wants to have a guys night here for his birthday" he replied, looking oddly guilty. "Is that okay?" he asked, and I nodded, smiling.

"Of course it is, you don't need to ask me" I told him and he laughed before kissing me again.

"I love you Pop" he said softly, my heart fluttering.

"I love you" I replied softly, giving him a kiss.

"Alright you two, enough of the PDA. Come on" Fiona's voice made me turn and I saw that everybody had all taken a seat and were just watching us.

"Stop being bitter that Masters isn't here" Sirius told her and I saw her blush as everybody else laughed. She scowled at him, throwing a cushion which he caught easily as I moved to get us a drink. "That really showed me" he teased her, making me shake my head but I was smiling. As I made my way back over, I handed Sirius a drink, noticing that James and Lily had sat next to each other on the sofa, Sirius having managed to squeeze his way on. He stood to offer me his seat next to James, making me smile as he sat on the floor by me, putting an arm around my legs and as the others squabbled about what games to play, I found myself gently playing with his hair. Fiona and James were arguing about whether to play 'Never have I ever' which I think we'd effectively killed the number of times we'd played it, and so James won with his Ring of Fire. As they set it up, I used the opportunity to glance around at everybody, seeing how much more relaxed and open Alice and Frank were with their relationship now, Frank having his arm around Alice who was curled into him. It made me smile as I saw how happy the pair of them were before noticing Peter and Suze were also sat exceptionally close and, looking closely, noticed they were secretly holding hands, neither acting like anything was happening. I turned next to Lily who had her eyes on James, watching him as he and Fiona sorted the cards out and disagreed over rules, noticing she was smiling as she did so. She must have felt me looking as she glanced at me, blushing as everybody started shouting suggestions for rules. I raised my eyebrows at her and she rolled her eyes, making me grin as she shuffled over to me.

"Guna give him a special birthday present tonight?" I whispered and she blushed even harder, hitting me.

"Poppy!" she hissed, motioning to Sirius sat right next to me and James who was a mere few feet away.

"They're occupied" I told her, rolling my eyes at her dramatics but I'm pretty sure Sirius at least was listening. "So, are you?" I asked her, waggling my eyebrows and she shook her head at me.

"He doesn't like me" she said so quietly I barely heard it.

"I'm not being funny Lily but I'm pretty sure he's flirting with you" I told her equally as quietly. She seemed surprised by this, eyes widening, and I smiled at her. "Seriously" I told her. She didn't get a chance to reply as James tried to sit back down and turned to us with a frown when he saw Lily sitting in his seat.

"Oi Evans. Get out of my seat. I'm the birthday boy so I have to sit in the middle" he told her, making me laugh at his pouty tone. Lily rolled her eyes, but she was smiling as she moved back over, and he smiled widely as he resumed his seat.

"I only moved because it's your birthday" she told him, and he grinned at her.

"I'm totally good with that. You know I need to be centre of attention" he said, and I rolled my eyes, turning my attention to the game. Now that I had planted that seed in Lily's head, I hoped it would grow a bit and make her think that this really could happen.

James's POV

I'm pretty sure Poppy had said something to Lily and, seeing as it was my birthday and I had some alcohol in me, I decided to start to up my level of flirting and was astounded when Lily returned it. It was possibly the best birthday present I could have and although Ring of Fire forced us apart, I made sure to look at her frequently, finding her doing the same. I only smiled at her, resisting the urge to wink at her thinking that might be too much right now, but I couldn't help but feel elated. I made sure to not drink too much, remembering we had to go support Moony tonight and noticed Pad and Wormtail doing the same.

"I'm telling you Poppy's getting suspicious" Pad murmured to me as the game ended and we were discussing the best way to sneak out from Frank.

"Is she?" I asked him surprised and he nodded. His eyes were fixed on her and he had a small frown on his face.

"We're going to have to be careful. Maybe give Moony a heads up" he continued as I looked at the girls who looked like they were planning their route back to Gryffindor.

"But surely she won't work it out?" I asked, thinking it was quite an obscure thing to guess.

"I wouldn't be so sure. Besides, I don't like keeping things from her. Not after…well, she's just always honest with me" he told me slowly, adjusting his last sentence slightly. I turned to survey him, but he was still looking at Poppy. I had a feeling that they were keeping something from the rest of us and knew it was something to do with Poppy and her abilities but hadn't pushed it, figuring there was a reason she hadn't said anything. I know I always joked about being his best man but the more I saw them together, and the longer they were together, the less of a joke this turned into. And I know we were still at school and only eighteen but since dinner with his parents, I'm pretty sure marriage was something that Pad now thought about more and more often. It wasn't something they would do any time soon, but I had a feeling they'd talked about it at the very least.

"Prongs" Pad brought me out of my thoughts, and I blinked, realising that the girls were looking at me.

"Huh?" I said, seeing Poppy and Fi roll their eyes at me.

"We were just saying we're going now" Fi told me and I nodded.

"Sure, sorry. Are you guys going to be okay getting back?" I asked and for some reason saw Lily and Poppy grin.

"What you mean between me being head girl and Poppy able to scout ahead sneakily? Yeah, I think we got it" Lily told me sarcastically and I couldn't help but grin, thinking she was even hotter when she was thinking like a Marauder.

"Have fun tonight" Poppy told me, surprising me by coming to give me a hug. I hugged her back tightly, hearing her laugh when I squeezed her before she gave Pad a hug and I heard him whisper something to her which made her smile and nod before they kissed. "See you tomorrow" Poppy said as she led the girls out, the others all waving at us as they went.

"Do you find Poppy even hotter when she thinks like us?" I asked Pad, watching them go and heard him laugh.

"You have no idea" he replied, making me grin.

Poppy's POV

Remus reappeared Monday morning and he still seemed peaky. I felt really bad that he had missed James's birthday and had told Sirius that I thought it would be nice if they did something extra so that he was included. He had grinned at me but nodded and I had a feeling he knew something I didn't. Anyway, the next week I noticed Lily and James flirting a hell of a lot more and it would seem that Lily had listened when I told her that James was flirting with her. They were still dancing around each other, and I wondered if it was the final push, I would need to give them.

Anyway, Thursday night I went to the library with Aidan as Will had conveniently disappeared at around the same time as Fi had left the Gryffindor table at dinner and Aidan had told me that he thought Will actually really liked Fi. I couldn't help but feel really pleased with the way it had worked out although I did feel bad for Aidan as I think he was still a little down about being rejected by Lily. As we walked to the library, I tried to talk to him about other girls, but he just laughed at me, telling me he was honestly good for now. We worked solidly until Madam Pince kicked us out at eight but by this time I had managed to complete most of my work and had even managed to do some revision as well. I said goodnight to Aidan on the third floor, the both of us heading for opposite sides of the castle and made my way back to Gryffindor. I was on the fourth floor and the castle had been relatively quiet so far but as I rounded a corner, I heard a set of footsteps ahead and looked in surprise when I saw Regulus on his own. The both of us stopped briefly in surprise as this was the first time either of us had been on our own and I saw him hesitate before he continued towards me and so I too continued walking. We were almost at a point where we would pass each other when I saw him duck into a classroom and a second later, he reappeared, motioning me in. I paused, heart rate increasing at why he wanted me to go in but figured I could at least use my magic to take him if this was some sort of set up. As I hadn't gone in, he appeared once more, rolling his eyes in the way I had seen him do when calling Sirius dramatic which made me smile for some reason as I headed in, hoping nobody had seen us. He was leaning against a desk, arms folded and surveying me as I moved in and I stood opposite him, putting my bag on a desk.

"Evening" he greeted me in what I had come to call a 'standard Slytherin drawl'.

"Evening" I replied cordially, wondering what he wanted. There was a brief silence where he looked at me, as though weighing up what he wanted to say.

"You and Sirius caused a bit of a stir with your abrupt departure over Christmas" he settled on and I frowned but wasn't sure what to say. "My family weren't best pleased" he finished, and I shrugged.

"I'm not convinced Sirius was happy with what he heard at the table when we left" I said slowly, thinking that was possibly the understatement of the year so far. Regulus sighed and ran a hand through his hair as though in agitation, much like Sirius did. "I hope we didn't cause any…problems for you though" I told him softly and he seemed to sag a bit but shook his head.

"I'm supposed to be watching you" he admitted, making my eyes widen as his hand drifted once again to his left arm, rubbing it as though it irritated him.

"Is that why you wanted to talk to me?" I asked him. He didn't answer immediately before he shrugged.

"I…I don't know why I wanted to talk to you" he said quietly, looking around the room instead of at me. "I just…wanted to make sure you were okay" he said so quietly I almost missed it. I looked at him in surprise, his eyes finally meeting mine. "I know, don't ask me why" he continued with a slight smile.

"Regulus why are you telling me all this? Why do you keep warning me?" I asked after a moment's consideration. He frowned at me, as though he were confused by my question, but I stayed quiet, wondering what he would tell me.

"It feels like the right thing to do" he said slowly.

"But…surely this can cause trouble for you? What if someone finds out you keep doing this?" I asked softly. For some reason this made him grin slightly, taking me by surprise again. I felt like by this time, my eyes were probably a permanently blue colour.

"My parents have been teaching me occlumency for a few years now. I know it's not much but it's something at least" he admitted. I guess this was something; at least he was trying to safeguard his mind. "Did you…did you tell Sirius about our conversation?" he asked me now and I nodded. "What did he say?" he asked, and I sighed.

"He thought you were playing me" I admitted, and I saw him roll his eyes at this and I'm pretty sure I heard him murmur 'typical' under his breath. "Come on, what did you expect? After everything your parents said to him. He knew as soon as we stepped foot in the door that something was going on" I told him honestly.

"But why would I have warned you they were trying to recruit you? That they know about your magic?" he questioned, and I shrugged.

"If they do want me it makes sense to get somebody to try and befriend me doesn't it? Get me on your side early so you can bring me over" I told him, and I saw his eyes widen as though he hadn't thought about it.

"That's not what I'm doing" was all he could say and once again I saw that vulnerability. He was only in the year below us but in this moment, he seemed much younger, looking disappointed and afraid.

"I want to believe you, I do, but even you have to admit it's suspicious" I replied.

"You want to believe me?" he asked, a note of hope there and I nodded. "Why? I can't imagine Sirius does" he told me with a shake of the head.

"Because I think you don't really agree with your family" I said slowly, his eyes firmly on me now. "And, if that is the case then I want to help you" I admitted but he shook his head at this.

"You can't help me, it's too late" he said bitterly. "The least I can do is warn you. But you should probably stay away from me" he told me, flinching back as I leaned towards him. This made me pause before I leant back, not wanting to freak him out. "Look just, be aware that you're being watched. They still want you and the next time they ask you…it won't be my family who does it" he said, his voice low and I felt my heart go. "I'm supposed to be feeding information back regularly so they…so they know your movements" I tried my best not to freak out and nodded.

"I'm staying here for the Easter holidays" I told him, and he looked at me in surprise.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked, and I attempted to give him a smile.

"Because it's better for you to be here than at home" I said quietly, and he got what I meant. At this he leant towards me slightly, a small frown on his face.

"Poppy why are you trying to help me?" his voice barely above a whisper. I leant forward myself and took his hand, seeing him look down at this as I gave his hand a squeeze.

"Because I know you're a good person Regulus. And you're Sirius's brother, I know you're not like the rest of them" I told him before dropping his hand and getting up, grabbing my bag, his eyes on me the whole time.

"Poppy?" he asked as I was about to leave. "You're not lying to me, are you?" he asked quietly. I gave him a sad smile before shaking my head.

"I can't lie Regulus" I told him, pointing to my eyes and I saw him look surprised before he gave me a small smile. "I just hope you're not either" was the last thing I said before I made my way up to Gryffindor, my mind crammed with thoughts.

James's POV

I had finally finished my potions essay and was just stretching when I saw Poppy come through the portrait. She looked around, clocking us by the fireplace before she made her way over, her eyes a stormy grey which I knew to mean she was thinking about something. She had a small frown on her face as she sat on the sofa next to Fi and I glanced over to where Pad and Moony were playing chess, seeing the former was watching her as well.

"You okay Pop?" Sirius asked her quietly. I was aware that everybody else had looked up at this point and were looking at her. She kept her eyes on Sirius as she nodded and even, I saw the momentary flash of purple before they went back to grey. He looked like he was about to stand but she shook her head and he stayed where he was.

"Finish your game" she told him before getting a book out of her bag and opening it, looking down. Everybody else went back to what they were doing but I kept my eyes on her and saw that she wasn't actually reading. Looking at Pad I could see he was doing his best to concentrate but he kept looking at Poppy who was still resolutely staring at her book, but her eyes weren't moving.

"Should one of us go over?" Lily's voice made me jump and I looked over at her to see that not everyone had gone back to what they were doing. She was frowning as she looked at Poppy and I could therefore tell that she knew Poppy had lied when Padfoot asked her if she was okay.

"I'm not sure" I told her as she looked back at me. I couldn't imagine what it would be but the fact she had looked specifically at Sirius and not looked at anybody else made me think it was only him she wanted to talk to. "She looks like she's thinking about something so maybe she needs some space" I continued, and Lily considered this for a moment before nodding. She looked over at Poppy one last time before turning back to her own essay although she was still frowning. I looked over at Pad and saw him and Moony having a hushed conversation before he got up, Poppy looking up at last. He motioned her to him, and she nodded, the pair of them disappearing to a quieter area of the common room. I felt bad for watching but at the same time apparently couldn't look away, seeing Poppy's eyes change to a slight golden colour as she spoke to him. As she spoke, I could see first his agitation before he froze, and I saw the flash of anger across his face. Poppy was still talking to him, but he shook his head and got up, the anger radiating from him. I watched slightly stunned before he said something to her, and she leant away from him as he stormed across the common room and disappeared up the stairs.

"Please tell me you will at least go over now" Lily whispered, making me jump. It would seem she had also been watching and I nodded before getting up and heading over to Poppy, her own eyes flashing a dangerous orange.

"Pop you okay?" I asked her gently as I sat next to her and she shook her head. "Err should I go see Sirius?" I asked cautiously and she sighed but shook her head.

"No, he needs five" she told me, leaning back on the sofa and turning to me, her eyes gold again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked and she shrugged, glancing around the common room.

"I just…I bumped into Regulus just now" she told me quietly and I frowned, now beginning to understand what the problem was. "Sirius isn't very happy with what I told him about it" she said. I didn't want to ask too many questions, not when we were out here and so instead put an arm around her, and she allowed me to pull her to me so I could hug her.

"You know he just loves you. The thought of something happening to you…upsets him" I told her as she rested her head on my shoulder.

"I know" was all she said. I wasn't sure what else to say so decided to not say anything and she seemed content to just sit like this for a moment. After a few minutes I felt her sigh before she sat up, turning to give me a smile.

"Thanks James" she said, and I smiled back at her.

"Any time" I told her honestly.

"Right, I'm going to go see him. Could you keep the guys down here for a bit?" she asked, and I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Only if you promise you two talking will not lead to sex" I told her and she laughed at this, making me smile.

"I can make no promises" she said cheekily before she dashed off, not giving me a chance to reply and I saw her turn at the staircase and wink at me before disappearing. Yup, we were rubbing off on her far too much.

Poppy's POV

"How you doing?" I asked Sirius cautiously, finding him laid on his bed staring at the ceiling. He jumped, having evidently not heard me come in before he got up from his bed and motioned me to him. I shut the door and went to him willingly as he wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly to him.

"I'm sorry. I just needed some time to calm down" he murmured, and I nodded, understanding that this was a difficult topic for him. "The thought of something happening to you just, makes me mad" he told me, echoing James's words earlier.

"I know, I feel the same about you" I said quietly. "And you know that's why I want to help your brother. He's just like you Sirius, and surely everyone we can bring back to the light is a win?" I asked him, feeling him briefly tense. "Look, I've spoken to Polaris about it" I admitted and at this he pulled away to look at me in surprise.

"You didn't say?" he questioned, and I shook my head.

"She was…keeping an eye on him for a bit to see if I was right" I told him and I saw he was still surprised. "She agrees with me, that we can change him. She thinks it will be pivotal in this war" I said.

"Really?" he asked, and I nodded with a small smile.

"But I don't want to do this without you" I said, and he sighed, one hand coming to my face, his thumb gently running over my cheek.

"You won't have to" he told me, and I felt myself relax, smiling more widely. "I trust you. We just…we have to be careful" he said, and I nodded my agreement.

"I know. We will" I said before he kissed me, pulling me flush against him. It was an intense kiss, and I could feel him putting his unspoken words and emotion into it so that it was charged. I felt a flood of desire surge through me, as though I needed Sirius in this moment and knew he felt it too as his hands strayed to the front of my shirt. I pulled away at this and he frowned at me as he loosened my tie.

"James told me he would only keep the guys downstairs if I promised we didn't have sex" I told him slightly breathless.

"I need you right now" he growled out, his hands coming back round me to hold me tightly against him.

"Let's go to our room then" I said, and he growled. "Come on, it's only fair" I told him, attempting to wriggle out of his grip but he held me firmly. "Quicker we go…" I told him with a smile before he kissed me once more.

"Okay. Right now" he conceded, taking my hand and pulling me from the dormitory. He made me laugh with his intensity and at the bottom of the stairs he turned to give me one last kiss before we made our way across the common room.

"Pad?" I heard James call, but Sirius shook his head and I heard James laugh as we didn't stop moving, Sirius managing to successfully get us quickly out of the common room and leading me to our room.