Auria spent the next month in complete bliss. The ice grew thicker and the snow fell harder as January passed into February. Her relationship with Sirius was perfect, she couldn't ask for a better boyfriend. Despite the piles of homework they were getting Sirius always went the extra mile to make her feel special. He took her skating on the pond one afternoon, sent her messages almost everyday, and kissed her every time they saw Snape in the halls.

The Marauder's had always been the most popular students in the school. People were constantly trying to become friends with them or a least been considered cool by their standards. Being Sirius' girlfriend Auria now received a lot more attention. People she had never spoken to would now greet her kindly in the hall or step out of the way when she passed. Since Sirius was the first Marauder to have a serious girlfriend, as a couple Auria and Sirius were looked up to. Each couple in the school tried very hard to be just like them, holding hands in the hall, stealing kisses here and there. However, try as they might, none of the boys could ever match Sirius' skills at romance.

His true skills began to show a week after she'd become a Phoenix. Sirius, Auria, Lily and James were sitting in potions class one afternoon (Remus and Peter didn't take it anymore) working on a particularly difficult potion.

"Hey" said Lily as her nudged Auria's arm.

"Uh, what?" she said looking up confused.

"Here, it's from Sirius" replied Lily handing her a small piece of parchment.

Auria looked down the bench at Sirius. He flashed her a grin and pointed to the parchment. Slipping it under the desk, she read it.

"You are the most beautiful woman to have ever graced this school, believe me, I've seen the girls in the school. You radiate beauty."

Auria blushed and looked down at Sirius again. "Thank you" she mouthed to him, holding the parchment to her heart.

Sirius smiled and called, "it's true."

"What's true Mr. Black?" snapped Professor Verge.

"Just that we need three grasshopper legs for this potion" he replied politly.

"I see," said Verge sarcastically. "Now stop talking and get back to work."

A minute later Lily passed her another note, this time rolling her eyes. Auria looked down and read it.

"And he is the ugliest, after Snivellus of course."

Auria clapped her hands over her mouth to suppress a giggle. She glanced sideways at Sirius who trying not to laugh as well.

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A few days later Auria receive a pleasant surprise at breakfast. As she sat down she noticed that there was a plate of French toast sitting in front of her.

"French toast!" she exclaimed. "But we never get French toast." She looked beside her at Sirius, who quickly looked away.

"Oh, Sirius, you didn't."

"Well I know it's your favorite" he replied, tucking his hands under the table.

"But, how did you get the house elves to do it?" she asked.

"Um, I went and asked them to" he said casually.

"Thank you," she said giving him a kiss on the lips. Auria gleefully ate every last bite of the French toast.

As they were heading towards transfigurations class Auria slipped her hand into Sirius', but he quickly pulled away.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a concerned tone.

"Oh nothing" replied Sirius tucking his hands up his sleeves.

"Yeah right. Let me see your hands." Auria grabbed his left arm and pushed up his sleeve.

His hand was red and had blisters on it.

"What happened?" she asked, her eyes widening.

"Ok, I made a deal with the house elves for the French toast" he said confessing. They would make it specially for you if I spent three hours washing dishes."

"You washed dishes for three hours for me? You are the best boyfriend a girl could have," she said beaming with joy.

"Here" she said, pulling him into an empty classroom. Gently Auria took on of his hands in hers. She brought it to her mouth and kissed the palm of his hand. Then she planted a peck on the tip of each finger. When she was done she picked up the other hand and did the same thing, all the while staring at him. Sirius simply gazed at her.

"This is such a turn on" he thought to himself. He slid his hands down her arms and then pulled her in for a kiss. Sirius could feel her warm smooth skin beneath his rough fingers as his hands tucked themselves under her shirt and slide around her waist. Auria placed her hands on his chest, feeling his strong muscles. They stayed that way, Auria wrapped in his arms, kissing, until the bell rang.

As soon as it sounded they parted, each slightly out of breath. They grinned at each other and then Auria leaned in and whispered, "tonight". They picked up their bags and ran all the way to class. That night was the first night they snuck out to an empty classroom for some alone time together. Although Sirius occasionally tried to reach farther up her shirt, Auria would gently push his hands down, thinking it too early in the relationship for that sort of thing.

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The Saturday after the French toast Auria received a second pleasant surprise at breakfast. She did not even look up when the owl post arrived and so was surprised when an owl landed directly in front of her. Auria untied the note from around the owl's ankle and opened it.

"Meet me at the Pitch in 20 minutes. Dress warmly. Love Sirius."

Auria quickly choked down the rest of her breakfast and ran up to Gryffindor tower to get dressed. Fifteen minutes later she reached the Pitch and began looking around for Sirius. She couldn't see very well from beneath her blue fuzzy winter hat, nor breath very well behind her matching scarf.

"Don't you look cute" said a voice from behind her. She spun around to find Sirius leaning against the changeroom wall with his broomstick in hand. He was dressed in a long, black winter cloak and leather gloves. Auria thought he looked very sexy standing there with the wind blowing his snow flecked hair into his eyes.

"Be quiet, it's freezing cold out," she said playfully. Pointing to the broomstick she asked, "where are we going?"

"You'll see," Sirius said getting on the broom.

She came over and sat down beside him, both her legs over one side. Sirius pushed off the ground and they flew into the air. They soared around the school and headed towards the mountains.

Half an hour later Sirius landed on the side of one of the snow capped mountains near the school. Auria hopped off the broomstick and began rubbing her hands together. Sirius pulled out his wand and made a little fire to warm their hands with. Once feeling returned to their fingers Sirius took hold of her hand and led her towards a cave in the mountainside.

"Siruis, where on earth are we going?" she asked as he led her into the pitch darkness of the cave. Auria pulled out her wand and was about to mutter lumos when Sirius put his hand over her wand and whispered, "No, you'll ruin it."

Sirius seemed to know where he was going, despite the growing darkness. Finally, after what seemed like an hour he stopped.

"We're here," he said.

"Good" Auria replied, panting. It was not so cold as the outside in the cave, especially without the wind, and Auria was beginning to get hot.

Sirius pulled out his wand and said "Extremum lumos." The tip of his wand lit up, illuminating the entire cave.

Auria gasped with joy. They were standing in an enormous, high ceiling room filled with huge stalagmites and stalactites that rose from the ground and hung from the ceiling. Instead of being made of stone they were made of ice, and they sparkled with every color of the rainbow in the light of Sirius' wand. These pillars of ice reached back in all directions, as far as the eye could see and bathed the room in shimmering white light.

"This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen" Auria exclaimed, her eyes wide trying to take it all in. "How did you find this place?"

"I have my ways," he replied with a devious grin. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small gold box. "Happy one month anniversary" he said handing her the box.

Auria was speechless. She opened the box and stared open mouthed. Inside was a silver watch, with diamonds all around the faceplate. The hands were made of gold and each number had a tiny blue crystal beside it. Upon closer inspection Auria saw that there was a small glass window to the left of the three. She leaned in closer towards the light of Sirius' wand so that she could read what was written inside. It said 1 month.

"It'll change every month, so that you can keep track of how long we've been going out. When it's been more then a year the inscription will change to years."

"Years huh?" replied Auria raising her eyebrows.

"I know it's only been a month but, I hope so," he said cupping her face in his hands.

"So do I" she replied softly, kissing him. Sirius took hold of her hand and put the watch on. It fit perfectly.

"Thank you, it's so beautiful. Oh, I almost forgot. I have something for you too" she said "but it's back at the school."

"Then let's go" he said happily.

Carefully they made their way out of the cave and flew back towards the school. They were just flying over Hagrid's cabin when Auria asked Sirius to land. He set down beside the tiny hut and watched Auria run off into the woods. She returned a minute later carrying something small, brown and furry in her arms.

"Here's you present," she said, setting the creature down. It was a niffler. As soon as it saw Sirius it bounded towards him and began happily licking his face.

"Look at the collar" said Auria.

Sirius held the niffler still and looked at the black leather band around his neck. Inscribed on a little gold plate said, Jake Black, aka Sniffilus.

Sirius started laughing so hard that it was several moments before he could speak. "He's great, thank you" he replied, scratching Jake behind the ears.

"You said if you ever had a dog you'd want him named Jake, so here he is" Auria said proudly, very happy that Sirius liked his gift so much.

"Do you have any idea the havoc we can reek on the school with him?" Sirius said, his deep brown eyes widening with excitement.

Auria grinned devilishly at him. "Want to find out?" she replied.

Sirius nodded and stood up. They put their arms around each other and headed back towards the school, Jake barking happily behind them.