Disclaimer- I disclaim it all though I've never claimed any of it in the first place.

Authoress's Note- Hello, I'm back! I've been away a bit, haven't I? And I left you at a very crucial turning point of the story too, didn't I? Yes, I know shame shame Elladora you'll have to do better! Anyway as a few of you have guessed this story is nearing its end. (tears) I predict between two and three chapters are left to wrap things up (they aren't written yet, so...), BUT there will be a sequel! (jumps up and down excitedly) It will be the summer between sixth and seventh year with a lot more Lily/Jamesness. I will most likely provide the title of this coming sequel and a few hints for what I have planned for it in the last chapter of this fic. Happy reading! E.D.J.

(1) In case anyone's not well educated in astronomy, this is the shape of the moon right before it turns full. A three-fourths moon if you will.

(2) I credit this to my uncle who said it over Christmas, and I thought it was hilarious.

Beautiful reviews! How I love thee!

ThelovelyladyLily- Ah forgiving people for getting Sirius's eye color wrong is nice! Just give them a little nudging review that says they'd better change them or else! Or else what you ask? Well that is for me to know and you to find out... (cue evil laughter) I'm glad you liked clinging, hysterical Em! Heh heh. That scene was quite fun to write. Yes, stupid blokes. No understanding of the girl language whatsoever. If you didn't see the above, yes this story is winding down. I predict two to three chapters are left just to tie up a few loose ends.

Skippy- I'm glad you liked the 'Blokes don't understand girl!' part as well. Heh. Yep it's quite true. And your welcome about the information about buying LifeStrong bracelets via my review of Serena van der Woodsen!

brooklyngirl- Ooh how would you kill your friend with a spork and two pineapples? Oh the mind boggles! I would be upset too if one of my friends got Lady Knight before it was released (if I'd been into the books when it was released. I just discovered Tamora Pierce last year)! Huff... Yes I know I am most unkind for making you wait for 'it' but I'm evil that way!

Auramistealia- I'm glad you like the story!

MagicFairyDuster- Yes oh so much tension and I'm glad you love James's one-liners. Hee hee. Yep it IS always the quiet ones who turn biserk, innit it?

Tash- I'm glad you liked the chapter even though I delayed 'it' even more! Ooh you're from Australia, the Land Down Under? Most cool. And I assume when you say it was 35 degrees you mean Celcius (is that how you spell that? We don't use it except in science. (shrugs) because 35 degrees Fahrenheit (Merlin, I don't even know if the degrees we use here is spelled right! I'm hopeless...) is rather cold and not boiling! And you've never seen snow! (gasps) Don't they have mountains with snow anywhere in Australia? Go find some and see some snow!

vixen black- Appreciate your honesty but constructive criticism would have been much better than a mere insult.

Ch. 24- All It Takes Is A Little Moonlight

Sirius blinked up at the waxing gibbous of a moon (1) floating eerily above the dark sea waves as he wrestled tiredly with his tumulus thoughts. The moon would be full soon, and that meant Moony's transformation would in evidently occur. Sirius grinned inwardly despite his grim demeanor; he knew that even when the four of them were in France, they'd find some way to make this coming full moon memorable.

He needed something to cheer him up because, quite frankly, the entire summer holiday thus far had been a bloody nightmare: one disaster after another. Whether all of those disasters had been solely Sirius's fault was yet to be seen, but, in his mind, each and every plan had been smashed into a thousand, irreparable pieces—no matter who had caused it.

And what was he left with? Absolutely squat. And a nice steaming bowl of squat (2) wasn't worth much these days.

Sirius ran his fingers through his dark hair and sighed. Had the plan to change himself for… her had any effect whatsoever? He wasn't sure it had, and, now that he thought about it, Sirius wasn't sure he wanted it to have the effect he'd first intended. Why did he want to be with someone who couldn't accept him for who he really was? What was the point of changing so much of himself that irked Monica when in evidently he'd revert back and get her angry and loathing him once more?

The whole façade seemed to have much too many holes than Sirius could count, and he vaguely wondered why he hadn't noticed them before.

Perhaps he'd allowed his friends too much control over the situation.

No, that wasn't it. No one had forced him to follow their advice, and he knew that they had only good intentions at heart.

No, Sirius knew he had only himself to blame for the mess that had become his life, romantic or otherwise.

"So what are you going to do about it?" piped up the little voice in his head that always sounded a bit too much like Remus for Sirius's liking.

"I dunno," Sirius murmured.

"You're hopeless," replied the voice, a touch of wryness to it. "Completely hopeless."

Monica dug her toes into the soft wet sand at the edge of the water and shivered as the cool waves crawled up the shore to lap around her bare feet before retreating once more.

When she'd set out from Hestia's house, Monica hadn't had a definite plan as to what she wanted to do. All she knew was that she had to do something.

She'd actually gotten up the nerve to try and call on the Potters's home, but their house elf had informed her that 'young Master Black' was out. A wave of relief had washed over her followed by a stab of guilt.

So Sirius was out? He had to come back sometime! And then…

Monica didn't allow herself to think further because most likely any thoughts involving 'and then' would send her hightailing it back home to England in mere minutes.

So Monica waited. And waited. What was taking the bloke so bleeding long?

"Maybe he's off shagging that French blonde wench," suggested the more treacherous part of her mind.

"But they broke up!" protested Monica out loud, a hind of panic edging her voice.

"So?" replied the awful voice icily. "That never stopped him before."

"That's not true! You're wrong!" she squawked, putting her hands to her ears in an effort to block out the voice.

"Am I?" said the voice lightly. "Am I wrong? Ah I can just see them now… their clothes flung all over the room—"

"Stop it!" shouted Monica, feeling angry tears prickle her eyes as she fought that horrible part of herself. "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! He's not like that! I know he's not like that!"

And, as soon as Monica voiced that profound belief in Sirius Black's moral character, the voice stopped, and she was filled with certainty and new-found hope in what she was trying to do.

Both Sirius and Monica were each lost in their own thoughts when Sirius felt his foot catch on something, and Monica looked up to see the dark shape that had kicked her in the side go flying through the air and tumble head over heels into the sand beside her.

"Longbottom?" he yelped, sucking in a long breath as he stood up and brushed sand out of his hair and clothes. "What the hell are you doing out here so late?"

"Same thing as you," retorted Monica somewhat defensively, crossing her arms over her chest and peering up at Sirius as he cursed and shook even more sand out of his dark hair.

"Brooding over your messed up life then?"

"Pretty much."

"Fun, isn't it?" said Sirius, more than a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"Not particularly," she replied evenly, keeping her gaze fixed on the tumbling waves, so he couldn't see how red her eyes were.

"Well, sorry for tripping over you, Longbottom," said Sirius, stuffing his hands into his pockets and turning toward the Potters's house further up the beach.

"No, wait," said Monica, leaping up and catching his arm. "Please. Just stay here with me for a little while."

Sirius bit his tongue to keep back the resounding "yes" that was trying to force its way out of his mouth. Instead he scuffed his foot in the sand and murmured, "I don't think I should. I mean—"

"Sirius Black!" she shouted, letting her temper get the better of her. "If you would just pull yourself out of your little pity party for just one minute, so I could tell you—"

"What? Tell me what?" he cut in hotly. "How much of a git you think I am? How much you hate me? How you think the only reason I could possibly fancy you is because I'd like to get you into bed?" Sirius's voice shook with barely contained rage. "Believe me, I've already heard all that from your friends."

Monica gawked at him and said meekly, her voice barely above a whisper: "They—they told you that?"

"Yes!" he snapped. "And frankly I think it's horrible for you to think that you're so high and mighty that you can judge people without even getting to know them!"

She gaped soundlessly at him for a few moments before slowly saying, "I guess I deserved that…"

"You're damn right you do!"

"And you have every right to be angry…"

"You're damn right I do!" interjected Sirius.

"I'd just like you to know that I don't think that about you anymore," Monica murmured, not meeting his eyes. "I think actually I know that… I fancy you as well."

"I mean really how could you… you what?" he exclaimed, unable to believe his ears.

"I fancy you, Sirius," she said, grinning slightly. "And I'm beginning to wonder why it took me so long to see it."

"When? How? Are you sure it just wasn't because I tried not to act like myself, so you wouldn't hate me quite so much?" Sirius asked suspiciously. "Because I don't think I can stay like that for much longer."

To his surprise, Monica laughed. "While it was nice to not have you trying to charm me every hour of the day, I think your normal self is adorable: charm, innuendos, and all." She winced suddenly. "Just not too dirty of innuendos?"

"I'll try," said Sirius, grinning for the first time in a long, grim day. "So… what's next?"

"I think this is the part where you either kiss me or ask me out. Or both." She grinned wickedly. "Aren't you supposed to be the resident expert in that particular department?"

"Yes, but—" Sirius stammered, backing away from Monica's Cheshire cat grin. He yelped when his feet were immersed in cold seawater.

"But what?" she asked innocently, batting her eyelashes coyly and following right along after him, not minding the water at all.

"I dunno," Sirius admitted. "But—"

Just then, he stumbled on an unseen rock below the surface of the water and fell on his arse, cursing as the cold water bit through his clothing.

Sighing deeply, Monica stuck out a hand to help him up.

With a wicked grin, Sirius grabbed her hand and yanked her down in the water beside him.

"Sirius!" she shrieked, splashing water at him. "Damn you! You, you, you awful—"

He cut her off by doing the thing he did best. He kissed her—hard.

Heh heh. (cheeky grin) Decided I'd make it just long enough to make Sirius and Monica finally admit their feelings for each other, kiss, et cetera actually there really is no et cetera. They're not going to be doing more than kissing, folks! Just a warning in case you were getting your hopes up for that. Anyway also the chapter is short enough to leave ya'll wantin' more! (winks) Hopefully... Anyway I hope you all thought it was as cute as I did! Then again, I'm a terrible romantic who would probably think anything they'd do was cute... Reviews? E.D.J.