~Sorry for the delay! I've had no time!~

Ch12: Harsh Love

What in the bloody hell could she want? Sirius asked himself when he opened the door to reveal Sarah.

"What the hell do you have to tell me at five o'clock in the morning?" he exclaimed as he peered outside to see that the sun wasn't even hovering in the sky yet.

"Is that any way to greet your girlfriend?" she retorted, smiling in spit of his attitude.

"At five o'clock in the morning it is!" he teased as he took her hand in his and kissed it gently.

That is what I love about him, Sarah thought to herself,

I can come over at five and he'll still be patient and understanding… Well, most of the time anyways. she smiled and suddenly felt very confident that he would understand what she had to tell him. They walked to the couch and sat down.

"Sirius, there's something you don't know, don't know about Lucius," she stammered.

"How dare you say his name in front of me!" Sirius cried, dropping the hand he was holding.

"Shhh! This is a good thing! I mean a good thing for you, for us." she continued, as she braced herself,

"Lucius he's, he's a Death Eater."

"He's a what!?" Sirius exclaimed as he began to pace the room.

"Please just calm down!" Sarah pleaded.

"Calm down! Calm down! I will not calm down! You knew about this?! Sarah how stupid have you been?"

"Stupid? I am anything but stupid. I did you a favor!" she screamed, hurt that he didn't understand.

"A favor! Ha! You endangered your family and friends, not to mention yourself! Sarah, he works for Voldemort, he helped kill John!"

"No he didn't, I asked. And yes, I did do you a favor." she protested.

"How?" was all he asked.

"I love you so much that I went back there!" she exclaimed, obviously exasperated.

"Back where?" he questioned, his eyes dark, with a hint of danger.

"To-to his house, to my past! I made sure him and I were over! That we had nothing left unsaid! I did that for you!" she told him, hoping to the Gods that he would understand, but knowing that he probably wouldn't.

"Well, you have a funny way of showing it!" he snapped.

"You know what? I seriously thought you would understand. But I can see that I was wrong. You're just a pompous ass." she retorted. Ignoring the name calling, he asked,

"Understand what?"

"Understand the sacrifice I took, for you!" she looked at him, her eyes brimming with tears. No, she thought, I won't cry in front of him, not this time!

"And if you can't be thankful, then maybe we are better off as friends."

"Fine," his voice was like ice. And Sarah felt herself shudder as she turned to leave.

"Where are you going? Not to the traitor's?"

"He's not a traitor, and yes I am.' she told him.

"Sarah," he pleaded,

"He'll betray you, betray us!"

"There is no us, and no he won't." she said, her voice barely above a whisper. She had one foot out the door and was about to leave. Her head told her to go, go and never look back, but in her heart she knew she still loved him and always would.

She wanted to laugh, she wanted to cry, and she was dangerously close to doing both. But most of all, she wanted to run into his arms, just one last time. Instead, she asked,

"We'll still be friends?"

It was a question, and he knew it, but he didn't answer.

Am I really going to let her walk out of my life? he asked himself, possibly forever. But instead of telling her he loved her, instead of kissing her, instead of holding her, he just stood there and watched her walk away with the sunrise, tears sliding down his face.

Sarah chewed on her nails nervously as she rang the doorbell of the old-fashioned mansion. It looked glorious in the sunlight, but Sarah wasn't in the mood to notice the texture or shading.

Pondering over what she had just done, she knew that she had done the right thing. The scary thing is, she mused, is that I actually thought we would make it this time…

She had barely enough time to think about these words when the door was answered by a thin, blond haired woman.

"What do you want?" the woman asked, with just the hint of jealousy and venom that Sarah needed.

"None of you concern. Now, where is your husband?" Sarah asked, her voice as cold as the other woman's.

"He's not here, but I'll be glad to take a message," the woman retorted with cold politeness.

"Like hell you will. No, I'll wait." Sarah laughed and secretly knew she had won this round.