Chapter 19- Finding the Hope to Carry On.

It was relatively dark and late, when a combination of Raine's persistence and Pomprey's reassurance that Raine was well enough to return, that Black brought a still pale and slightly shaking Raine back to the Gryffindor tower.

The common room was deserted from any human soul, the fireplace softly glowing its last red ambers as Sirius carefully laid Raine on the couch being extra vigilant his hold did no touch any bruises or sore spots.

"Really Sirius", mentioned Raine lightly, "You didn't have to carry me up all those stairs."

"It's what a white knight, like myself, would do for any beautiful lady," replied Black huskily with a flourishing bow, "and anyway you're very light so it wasn't such a strain."

Raine smiled shyly up at Black as he snuggled his handsome face into her uncontrollable brown hair. "What did I do to deserve you?" she whispered happily. "What did you see in me?"

"Well my infatuation started," began Sirius, "with you wearing a very revealing back on a green dress and may I say this now without you taking it the wrong way… wow! You looked hot…and I have seen many good-looking girls."

"And bed as many, I guess", said Raine thoughtfully as Sirius give her a quizzing look for the comment.

"Yes," coughed Sirius, "well…I was young and foolish…and a prat…but it has all changed for me since …since you accepted me as your boyfriend." And he added cheekily, "Like you could say no to such a gorgeous person like me. I am Sirius Black the heartbreaker."

"Are you sure you can wait?", asked Raine.

"As long as it takes," replied Black solemnly, "If I've learned one thing from all my encounters that it is never as good as when you are in love with the person."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Have you ever been in love?" enquired Raine, turning her head to read the expression in his dark eyes. She wanted to know if she was pushing any boundaries that he did not want to go down. And instead of being angry, like she thought he would be, Sirius smiled as he brushed some hair back behind her ear.

"Only twice," he said honestly, "with the first girl I lost my virginity, she was two years above me when I was in fifth year - a shapely blonde from Ravenclaw. I chased her for a whole year but she thought me as a pup but she caved at the end. Prefect bathroom holds many memories."

"It was going so well until revealing where you ….did it, Sirius." Raine pulled a disgusted look into her face which Black only laughed at and kissed.

"You wanted to know," he pointed out, "I can't help it."

"And the second?"

"Who do you think", stated Black as he tighten his hold on her and snuggled deeper into the vanilla smell of her hair, thinking that she would know instantly. He waited with baited breath and ready to become embarrassed.

"Amy Greenleaf", guessed Raine, "the Head Girl from last year."

"Her!" said Black in disbelief, "you think I loved her?" He had retracted his head from her hair and pulled the fragile Raine onto his lap so that he could view her face.

"Yeah," came a nervous reply. Raine was panicking. Definitely the wrong answer. Opps! "Well," trying to justify it, "you went out with her the longest of any of the girls if I remember Sara telling me correctly and she said…."

Black interrupted Raine with a passionate kiss. "No more listening to Sara and don't mention her in my presence because I want to hurt her very much for what she did to you. Raine, the only other girl I have ever cared about…is …is," he voice went dry and the words stuck in his throat.

"Zelda?"

"Eeeuuu," shuddered Padfoot, "that was horrible mental picture Raine. That was cruel. She's like a sister to me!" He gave another shake as if to remove the horror away.

"Sorry" said Raine meekily, "I just don't know who is the second could be."

"You! You idiot!" shouted Black into the silent common room.

"Oh!" Raine started to go bright red as it sank in and with Black gazing with such overpowering emotions, she began to wriggle in his arms. "That's nice." She mentally kicked herself for that comment. Great way to tell your 'official boyfriend' that you might love him too. Seriously what is wrong with you! Now he is going to go in the huff, realise that you are truly an idiot and dump you. Raine, don't say a thing the next time! She turned her head slowly to face Sirius, ready for whatever angry retort he might have but was surprised to see him checking his laughter. "What's so funny", she demanded.

"You're such a novice," laughed Sirius, "That's nice," he said mimicking Raine's voice, "You're so cute when you go red when you think you blundered…which you did… but that's what I love about you …and your body," said as an afterthought and if to prove his point he kissed her ardently.

Although enjoying the kisses Sirius was raining down on her, Raine herself was feeling tired and wanted nothing more to curl up and go to sleep. "Sirius…I need my bed if I have to deal with all the heartaches your fan club are going to have tomorrow …if we want to make it official."

Black pouted. He didn't want her to go so soon but then he realised that he had been with her since the afternoon and therefore should not push her to stay especially the ordeal that she had been through. An angry Raine was nearly as scary as a Lily. "Ok," he said so mournfully that Raine giggled slightly, "I'll carry you to your bed," and grinned at Raine's expression of shock.

"I can manage", Raine began to say but was lifted up anyway by the strong Black who headed for the girls' stairs. "You won't be able to…" Again Raine saw the twinkle in Black's eyes and the grin which herald his Marauder mode.

"I know how to by-pass that since third year," murmured Black and mumbled the spell, pointing his wand to a guarding gargoyle. "No problem." With that out the way, Raine was left with nothing to argue about and allowed Black to manhandle her.

They were inside her room when Raine noticed that there was something wrong. Firstly, it was eerily quiet. She could not distinguish Sara's breathing, in fact there was no girls here tonight, but did not think about the meaning of this when she saw the corner of her room. She let out a little screech as she saw the totally chaos. "Put me down Black," she said with such a force that Sirius was taken aback by her manner. "How could she be so cruel!"as she stared at the total damage of all her possessions.

It was not until Sirius concluded that the burnt out hole where a bed had once been and ripped clothing laid all over the place was once where Raine use to sleep. He watched desperately as Raine walked around the bomb site slowly taking everything in, tears were beginning to form in her blue eyes and when she had made a full circle, Black could not do anything but hug her for reassurance as she softly cried into his shirt.

"Why me," she wailed and that is when Blakc's heart tugged inside of him. Too many times he had let her down but this was something he could fix – even if it was temporary.

"This is all my fault," he muttered over Raine's head, "If I hadn't been born a jerk, hadn't had a horrible family who loved the Dark Side and actually cared for people more, then you wouldn't have lost your best friend….but please let me help…."

"This isn't your fault," Raine glancing into the pained face of Sirius, "I never want you to feel guilty about all of this. I chose to fall in love with you knowing full well it would hurt Sara…but you know what?" Sirius shakes his head lowly. "I wouldn't change it for the world… if it meant that I had you."

After that, they stared at one another, gazing into each other eyes deeply, wondering why the other one was so good to them. However this was broken as Raine could not contain the yawn echoing her exhaustion.

"That's it", said Black firmly as he picked Raine up once more, "you're sleeping with me", Raine was about to protest, getting the wrong idea, "we're not going to have sex. Calm down I respect you too much to disobey your ideals but I am not letting you sleep on the couch in the common room…which leaves my bed. It's very comfy." The last statement made Raine laugh.

Entering the boys' room again, Raine must admit it looked better in the dark when you could not see the mess. Sirius laid her on his bed and put a finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet. Two other snores identified them to Remus and Peter sleeping soundly. Quietly, Sirius searched through his clothes and found an extra long shirt which was clean and could act as a nightie for Raine. "Here," he whispered, "you can change in the bathroom. Be careful of the cold tap". H grinned as Raine looked slightly frightened at the prospect of being alone in the bathroom that could be pranked to the gunnels. "It's ok Raine. Nothing will happen to you."

"Better not" she said threatening, " or I will do some hexing of my own."

Sirius chuckled as she disappeared into the bathroom. Left alone, Black took the opportunity to change from his school clothes into his boxers and a white t.shirt and tidy up the area around his bed and his bed. It took a good five minutes to rearrange and work out which sheets went where but finally it resembled something of a normal bed. Getting cold in his sleeping gear, Sirius jumped into to bed and waited for Raine. The squeaky floorboards gave told Sirius that Raine was now heading in his direction.

This is a bad idea. Very bad but kind of exciting as well…but none the less bad! Raine thought as she dumped her clothes near the bed. She gingerly pulled some covers back and slipped into the double beds that seventh years got as a privilege. "Sirius", she whispered, "are you awake?" She was right on the edge on the side that she entered and did not want to disturb anyone.

"Raine", murmured Black, "move your arse over here now before I come and pounce."

"You wouldn't…"she trailed off, "you would."

"You know me too well," smirked Black into the dark. "I'll behave. Merlin's honour."

He heard Raine snorting but the pressure on his right indicated that she had moved closer and the vanilla scent evaded his nose and breathed in deeply. As Raine decided to take the lead of the situation and turned her back on Black and said goodnight over her shoulder. She shivered slightly even though she knew that the covers were not letting any cold air in. Her heart was strangely pounding wildly in her chest, waiting for something.

A minute later, Raine felt an arm round her waist pulling her back which came in contact to a hard chest in seconds and the familiar burrowing of Sirius' head into her shoulder. "Night Raine", he muttered softly. "Sweet dreams."

Feeling at complete ease and whole, Raine smiled and wrapped her arm round his, "You too."

"Told you, I would behave! I don't know about the morning though." Raine shivered in anticipation.

Sirius was trying to eat his breakfast with three eagerly happy faces staring at him intently that he couldn't concentrate putting a spoon in his mouth. "What is it!" he shouted exasperated at the strangeness of the morning.

James started by turning to Remus, "Now Moony don't you think that was a bit rude?"

Remus nodded, "Especially since we didn't break any school rules … or Marauders' rules which I can not say for dear old Padfoot."

This kind of banter had been happening between the rest of the Marauders since they woke up to find a peaceful Sirius and Raine cuddling in their sleep. Of course, Black had been the one to wake up as the camera flash was very bright, even a blind man would know a picture had been taken. Sirius first concern was that it had affected Raine, but her head had been buried into his shoulder thankfully. She looked so gorgeous in one of my shirts that I could have behaved very badly indeed if the guys hadn't been there, he mused on the memory. However before he could lung at the smug Remus or wake up his girlfriend with a morning kiss, Raine stirred, herself, and turned completely red as she noted more than one person staring at her.

Bringing back to reality and unable to contain himself, Peter blurted out what everyone wanted to know, "Did you sleep with her?"

Prongs threw some toast at Peter and Remus, being in reach, cuffed the back of Peter's head with his hand. Sirius scowled as he put his spoon down, "No, I did not sleep with Raine and if I did it's none of your business. Any one is yours!" He pointed looked at each one telling them they were crossing a thin line.

As Sirius predicted, James and Remus had triumphant gleeful faces on them, as they continued to beam at Black. "He's maturing at last," cried Moony.

"I thought I would never see the day", screeched James, "my wee Padfoot has become a man!"

"I've been a man for a while," said Sirius pointedly, "and here is another drop of information. Raine is now my girlfriend official. So no hitting on her…no telling her bad stories about me…and for Merlin's sake leave out any references to ex-girlfriends! I want this to work. She deserves better than me but thankfully she insane."

"Well, if you're together," questioned Peter, "why aren't you sitting with one another, snogging each other faces off instead of having breakfast like a civilised person."

"She is different," growled Sirius as if he was explaining to thick children, "We are going to tell everyone after breakfast so I wanted some peace and quiet…but I was wrong!"

"You're not scared what people might think?" asked Remus. "Is that your reason for her not sitting next to you?"

"Raine decided not to join us" Black emphasised, "since I seemingly put her off her food".

James was going to make a quip that Raine's choice was down to Padfoot being ugly but he was beaten by another.

"Glad to hear it's not because you are embarrassed of her" came a feminine voice behind.

As Sirius turned round to refute that comment, Zel had squeezed in between him and James, and stole Remus' last piece of toast. Unlike most morning, Zelda was quiet for five minutes as she ate the cold piece of bread and her school clothes looked like she had just thrown them on at a rush.

"Things ok Zel?" asked Sirius slightly concerned with his strange, sisterly friend who had set up him with Raine. He would always love her for that.

"Uncle Jo, a far relation, has been killed by the Dark Lord", Zel said simply, nonplus at the stricken faces around her, "Letter came at two in the morning.It should be in the papers tomorrow. I couldn't sleep after that… then laid my head on the pillow and woke up to realise that I was late."

Silence filled the space as the Marauders realised that the dangers growing outside was now affecting people they cared about. It sombre them all into thinking about losing one close. Then Sirius cuddled Zelda tightly while telling her "I'm so sorry." Zel accepted all the condolences with a small smile at each person and then return her attention to Black.

"I came over to have a word with you," Sirius nodded while Zelda continued; "privately…I know that you were hoping to speak to Raine…but please."

"It's fine Zel. She now my girlfriend official so nothing can go wrong."

When they passed Raine, Sirius signalled that he would speak to her later and blew a kiss in her direction which got some funny looks from people. However Raine ignored them and concentrated on Black leading away a very sad looking Zelda. She nodded slightly to confirm that she understood although she was slightly disappointed.

Finding an empty room, Sirius turned to Zelda to start the conversation.

With a shaky breath Zelda started off with a statement "My personal hell is nothing compared with what Raine will be going through in the next few months. I need to know if you will stay with her all the way or I'm going to keep you in this room till you swear to break up with her."

"What?" enquired Black, "What has Raine have to do with the death of your uncle?"

"Nothing," stated Zel, "except that is was her brother who put the curse on him which killed him. The famed Avenging Angel. What a crap name for a bastard."

"You can't know it was him," argued Sirius, "Raine is not like her brother."

"No, she's not," confirmed Zelda seriously, "but my sources are the best and they wouldn't lie."

"Who?" asked Sirius, who was finding all the mystery intriguing since it was coming from Zel who was a bit ditzy herself sometimes.

"A dear old friend….pheonix something," she said waving her hand to show how unimportant it was.

Quietness filled the air as Sirius tried to picture where this conversation was heading. What has this to do with me going out with Raine?

"The reason I question about your loyalty to Raine is that rumours are already flying about her being a death eater since her brother has began to voice his opinions openly and these recent attacks will make Raine a target." Zelda became earnest, "I've seen it Black. It's not a happy ending."

"How can you…."

"The Sight runs high in my family as well as being the heir to Ravenclaw," said Zel with a small smile. Black was to say a little gob-smacked at the two revelations that he had never known, which brought a quiet giggle from Zelda. This helped Black to return to the present.

"I will protect her from her brother", stated Padfoot with a maturity rarely seen, "and all those gits at Hogwarts. I think I love her too much to see her get hurt." Black blushed slightly at admitting his deep feelings.

"That's all I need to know", Zel voiced as she started to make her way to the door of the classroom.

"Zelda?" asked Sirius tentatively, "Will the war with He Who Must Not Be Named ever end happy?"

"Of course," Zelda said with conviction, "the good always win."

With that she quickly disappeared into the crowd of students with a confident stride like death hadn't knocked at her door this bright morning.

What a terrible writer I am when I can't remember the hair colour of Zelda. Thank you for pointing out that it is in fact brown not blonde. Where would I be without you guys – probably in a padded room! Anyway thank you and I will go and sort out my mistakes! Tanks again and please tell me what you think. Honest is sometimes the best policy.