A/N: Still determined to finish before July 16th!

Chapter 54: The Faded Star

It had taken quite a bit of effort for Remus to pull himself out of bed the next morning. I swear, if Sirius ever pops open another bottle of wine, or anything alcoholic for that matter… he thought grumpily as he got dressed. He needed a cold shower desperately, but judging by the sounds of the water running in the bathroom next door, someone had beat him to it. Remus decided to take it later and simply hoped that the horrible feelings he was having all over his body would melt away with some breakfast. He had woken up in the middle of the night, quite startled by his dream. Yet, as he bitterly admitted to himself, he had gone straight back to sleep in hopes of catching the dream again. And he had caught it. And it had continued. He had let it continue. And he had woken up in the morning, feeling absolutely nauseous and disgusted with himself. Kierra was his friend. A friend that's probably still pissed at you no good reason… he reminded himself as he descended the staircase. But all the same, he shouldn't have dreamt about her. He shouldn't have indulged himself with thinking about her further in that manner. She was not his to fantasize about.

And yet, some small voice in the back of his mind attempted to reassure him of his actions. It was just a dream. A harmless dream at that. He certainly wasn't hurting anyone by fantasizing about Kierra. And it was a silly dream, so far from reality. In the dream, Kierra had approached him in a way he had ever seen her do. She had acted with a seductive sort of confidence—something the real Kierra had scarcely been able to do when they were dating many years ago. The way she came at him, doing things she had never done when they dated…Surely, there was no harm in just thinking about it. It's not like he was going to act upon his dreams—

"Sirius!"

Remus had been so caught up in his thoughts that he had run right into him as he entered the kitchen.

"Sorry about that," he said quickly, forcing a smile at Sirius, who did not return it.

"No problem, wife-kisser." Sirius replied coolly. "Breakfast is on the table."

Remus looked over his shoulder as Sirius exited the kitchen and sighed. "Is there any point reminding you that you technically haven't been married to Dominique since 1981?" he called after him. He received no response. With another dismal sigh, Remus sat down to the breakfast Sirius had made, meditating briefly on the possibility of Sirius meddling with his breakfast before tucking in.

Before Remus could so much as digest his first bite of toast however, the kitchen door swung open again, and Dominique appeared, dragging—to Remus's great surprise—Sirius and Kierra behind her. The pair of them looked quite put out at being dragged in, and protested greatly about not being hungry, but Dominique would not have it. She simply glared at them and forced them into seats.

"Don't make me chain you down." She said, pulling out her wand.

Remus cocked an eyebrow at Dominique. "D"—

"I couldn't sleep all night" Dominique said, cutting Remus off.

Sirius folded his arms across his chest and rolled his eyes. "Wonder why…"

Dominique narrowed her eyes at him, tapping her wand against her side. "Yeah, you sound like you know. Why don't you tell me?"

"Well, I was thinking a guilty conscious maybe"—

"Guilty conscious?" Dominique echoed. Her hands were on her hips and she was looking at Sirius quite dangerously. He seemed to neither notice nor care. "What do I have to feel guilty about? Maybe last night I was, because I felt bad for getting everyone angry…but I haven't done anything wrong! We weren't married anymore when you got sent to Azkaban. We still aren't married."

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh as he tilted back in his chair. "And you don't seem very keen on remarrying. You know it's only a matter of time before the ministry comes crawling back to Dumbledore and I'm declared innocent, and you haven't mentioned the prospects remarrying once."

"Well, I figured we'd deal with that when we crossed that bridge." Dominique replied curtly.

"Deal with it?" asked Sirius, cocking an eyebrow. "As if it were some sort of problem? No, I don't think so. If marriage to you is something that needs to be merely dealt with, then I don't see why we should waste your precious time on it."

"Alright, this is getting out of hand." Remus finally spoke up. "Sirius, you aren't even giving her a chance…you're just looking for things to argue about."

"I'm not looking"—

"Oh, shut up Sirius and listen to me for once!" Dominique said angrily. He glared at her but did not say anything. "Dealing with your loss was one of the hardest things I ever did. You knew you were innocent, but I didn't. Can't you get that into your thick head? I thought you were mad, betraying your best friends and putting it all on Remus"—

"Putting it all on Remus?" Kierra asked, glancing from Dominique to Remus. "What do you mean?"

Sirius sighed. "You were in the states when this happened. We suspected that Remus was the spy."

"For Voldemort?" Kierra asked incredulously, but when she saw the heavy frown on Sirius's face, she decided that perhaps this was not a topic to further pursue with him.

"Yeah, for Voldemort." Domininque replied. She turned back to Sirius. "I thought you were the scum of the earth for doing all of that! I lost all my good friends except Remus in one night…I hated you. And yet I couldn't believe it either because I loved you…I thought I knew you. And I never got over the shock. I ran away from the wizarding world just to put it all behind me, and when I come back around, you escape from Azkaban. Everything came rushing back to me…and it drove me insane…I needed comfort. I just got really weak and fell back on Remus for support. And I don't know how many times I have to tell you, Remus didn't initiate anything." And with slight hesitation, she added quietly, "He didn't even kiss me back."

A long silence met this statement. They all just stood there for several moments. Kierra looked at them in turn. Remus and Sirius both stared at their feet, while Dominique stared expectantly at Sirius. Finally, Sirius broke the silence with a sigh.

"Alright then."

Dominique beamed and looked over at Remus, who smiled slightly. "So I'm not a wife-kisser then?" he asked.

Sirius rolled his eyes and shook his head, extending his hand out to Remus, who took it. "Course you're not. Sorry about that, mate…"

"Well!" Dominique said brightly, turning to Kierra and Remus, "Now that we've got that taken care of…Kierra, I'm sorry I blew up at you like that yesterday. I never should have said the things I said. I certainly didn't mean it. I know you're not…well…leeching. Remus had told me all about the night you found out about Edmund and how you met by chance. I don't know what got into me…"

Kierra smiled slightly. "It's alright. You're just defensive of your Lupin. You always have been."

Dominique blushed. "Have not."

"D, the only reason why we haven't spoken all these years was because you got defensive over him when he and I broke up! Remember? You were trying to make me feel all guilty about it, and I got mad…and you called me selfish?" Kierra reminded her, smiling at the remembrance of their immaturity.

Dominique laughed. "It's coming back to me now…God, I was terrible to you. I'm sorry"—

Kierra shook her head. "I wasn't so nice to you myself." And with a small smile, she turned to Remus. "Come to think of it, I wasn't very nice about you either. Dominique provoked me to say some mean things about you"—

"It's all in the past." Remus said with a smile as he waved his hand dismissively. "I don't think I should care to know what you said about me when we broke up. Let's forget about it, shall we?"

Kierra grinned sheepishly. "I suppose I haven't got any right to hold anything against you now, have I?"

"None whatsoever." Remus replied. "Now, what do you say to painting Sirius? No one's due here for several hours…that should give you enough time to strip him down"—

"Yeah, about that…" Dominique started, but Sirius but her off.

"I think this is going to be the highlight of my year…getting painted nude." Sirius said with a sigh. "Man, if Harry knew what his godfather was doing in his spare time…"

Having no particular desire to see Sirius naked, Remus had retreated to the kitchen to clean up when the others had gone upstairs. As he began to work his way through the pile of dirty dishes in the sink though, he heard Kierra letting out an exasperated groan, followed by the sound of Sirius pleading with someone—he could well imagine it being with either Dominique or Kierra.

"But I don't want to!" he heard Sirius complain in a voice that nearly qualified as a whine.

"You said you would!" came Kierra's voice.

Remus grinned as he tapped the sponge he was holding with his wand and charmed it into cleaning the dishes itself. Wiping his hands clean, he headed out of the kitchen and followed the sounds of his friends, who were now practically shouting at one another. He found them in Sirius's room with the door left open. Sirius was standing on his bed, clutching his shirt in one hand and making a fist at Kierra with the other.

"You can't make me!" he retorted. Sirius glanced up to see Remus enter the room, smiling at the scene with amusement. "Oy mate—help me out here!"

Kierra glanced over her shoulder to meet Remus's eyes. The sides of her mouth twitched, but before he could see a smile form on her mouth, she had turned back around to face Sirius. "Sirius Black, if you don't take off your pants right now, I'll do it myself!" she said, pulling out her wand.

Sirius and Kierra spent the next twenty minutes arguing over nudity in paintings. Phineas Nigellus, Sirius's great-great-grandfather, had appeared in his portrait and offered some snide bit of commentary, much to the displeasure of Sirius. He had agreed with Kierra that nude paintings could indeed be beautiful works of art, but recoiled when Kierra explained that she wanted Sirius as her subject. Kreacher had also expressed his opinions on the matter, but in a much more indirect manner. As he passed by Sirius's room, he had peered in momentarily, but was immediately kicked out by Sirius. As he stumbled off to go back to cleaning, he muttered under his breath something about lecherous filth of the house, which had prompted Sirius to threaten him with freedom.

Half an hour later, Kierra and Sirius had come to a mutual agreement—Sirius would be painted with a white sheet draped around his waist—and the painting had begun. For almost an hour Sirius sat up straight in his bed with his feet grounded to the floor, his chest puffed out and his arms stretched at his sides. Remus and Dominique had left the room at Kierra's request. ("I don't appreciate wit when I'm trying to work!" she had scolded Remus as she pushed him out when he made a comment about hanging the finished painting over the mantle of the fireplace.) Two and a half hours later, Kierra and Sirius emerged into the kitchen where Dominique and Remus had been making lunch, looking quite tired but pleased with themselves; though Kierra looked more pleased than tired, and Sirius looked more tired than pleased.

"Finished already?" Dominique asked as she set four plates onto the kitchen table.

Kierra nodded, smiling slightly as Sirius plopped onto a chair and buried his face in his arms that rested on the table. "Yes, with the help of a few good painting charms, I got the job done. Poor Sirius is a bit sore though from holding his position for so long…"

"I looked pretty damn good though…" Sirius muttered in a muffled voice, his head still resting in his arms. "Show them the painting, Kierra…"

Kierra sighed and raised her wand, pointing it at the door where they had come from. "Accio!" she said.

A moment later the door flew open and a large canvas whizzed into the kitchen. Kierra lunged forward and caught it abruptly. She took a few seconds to examine the painting herself, frowning immensely as she did so. She had then either decided that there were no flaws in the painting, or that they were too late to fix, as she had turned the canvas around to show the painting to Dominique and Remus.

Sirius had been quite right. He did look good. Most of the painting had been white. Even Sirius's pale skin was close to blending in with the background. His long, shaggy, black hair however, contrasted greatly and seemed to be the focal point of the painting. Kierra had painted Sirius looking away from her, so his dark gray eyes glanced tiredly to their right, where Kierra had painted an open window—something that did not exist in Sirius's room. He had one window, but it should have appeared behind Sirius in the painting, not to his left. And the window had always been left closed. And through this open window poured sunlight, hitting Sirius's chest in such a way that it seemed to illuminate him, outlining the contours of his body, making him look magnificent and slightly cherubic.

"Replicus."

Remus looked up. He hadn't even noticed that Kierra had summoned a blank canvas into the kitchen. It hovered in the air next to the painting of Sirius, and after a few moments, Remus saw color ooze onto it. A minute later, Kierra was offering Dominique the replica of the painting.

"For your own viewing pleasure." Kierra said with a broad grin. "I want to keep the original. I've sort of gotten attached to it in the few hours I spent with it."

Dominique smiled but did not say anything as she accepted the replica from Kierra.

The winter holiday Remus, Sirius, Kierra and Dominique had shared seemed very distant now. It was the last time the four of them had gotten to stay up all night laughing and talking, and most importantly, relaxing. As the new term had rolled in, Remus found himself too wrapped up in work to come to London more than a couple times a month. If he wasn't grading papers or preparing exams, he was making contacts with the werewolves in the area or having dinner with Kierra and her high profiled, ministry-connected friends, trying to create some allies for the order. He had only spent a handful of long weekends with Sirius in the past few months, half of which occurred during full moons, where Remus would transform for one night, and spend the rest of the weekend trying to recover.

Remus knew he was walking on thin ice. Sirius's letters became progressively shorter and grimmer. Whenever Remus came to visit, Sirius's mood would lift immediately, but then fall back down just as quickly when the shortness of his stay dawned on him. Remus knew it was his fault, he knew it wasn't good for Sirius to brood alone in his house with no one but Kreacher and Buckbeak for company. He knew he had a responsibility to spend time with Sirius, as a friend. And he would. He was going back this afternoon to spend the entire week with Sirius.

It was already May, and at the Aveyron Acadamy, students were getting ready for final exams. The first few days of the week were dedicated to review sessions, while the rest of the week classes had been cancelled in order to allow students to study. Kierra, whom Remus had ended up confiding in about the growing tension between him and Sirius, offered to take his review sessions for him so he could have the entire week to spend with Sirius.

"It's like he's your little, neglected wife or something…" Kierra joked Friday afternoon, as Remus was getting ready to go. He rolled his eyes as he packed up his briefcase full of papers to grade, should he get a few hours to himself at the headquarters. Kierra merely grinned. "You two would make a cute couple…"

Remus did not look up from his attempts to lock down his briefcase as he imagined himself standing arm in arm with Sirius while they smiled blissfully at each other. He shuddered slightly and shook off the thought. "Except Sirius seems pretty content with Dominique, and I—I'm—well, I would be content with a female companion." Remus said, feeling himself blush slightly.

"And I'm sure you'll find one. Actually, that reminds me"—and Kierra smiled coyly at him—"I have a lady friend whose taken a fancy to you…I think you'd like her. She's very bookish and sweet, but fearful shy. Would you be interested?"

Remus looked up at her. Not particularly, he thought. He already had a lady friend of his own that he'd taken a fancy to. His dreams about Kierra had not stopped at Grimmauld Place. Months after his first dream of her, Kierra continued to enter his dreams from time to time. He felt extremely guilty about them, for knowing and allowing these dreams to dictate his regard for her. He had grown increasingly tense around her over the months, most particularly when she exhibited her less-than ladylike decorum in dress and manners. For example, at the moment she was wearing a see-through red blouse that showed off her strapless bra, paired with a black leather skirt that looked too short to be legal to wear in public.

"Er—are you going somewhere?" he asked suddenly.

Kierra smiled. "Yes, I am. While you're over at headquarters making amends with Sirius, I will be on a date!"

"A date?" Remus asked, with more surprise in his voice than he thought polite. "I mean"—

Kierra laughed. "Well, I thought it was about time I move on with my life…plus Sirius—the big mouth he is—told Kingsley I fancied him"—

"Doesn't Kingsley have a girlfriend?" Remus asked. He felt as if a weight had fallen into the pit of his stomach.

"Well, yes. But he told Sirius he had a distant cousin living in the area who was…well, closer to my age." She said sheepishly. "Anyway, do I look alright?"

Remus looked over her once more and frowned. "You look nice"—

"But?"

"…but it's a first date…you don't want to give him the wrong the wrong impression. Perhaps you should dress a bit more—er—conservatively." Remus said with a tentative smile.

Kierra frowned as she retreated to her room. "But I like this outfit!" she complained. "My date's in about half an hour, what am I supposed to wear then?"

Remus abandoned his packing and followed her into her room. She was standing in front of her closet, frowning as she rummaged through it. "He's taking me to a really posh restaurant"—she groaned as she brushed aside a black t-shirt—"it's times like these I really wish I was living with Dominique…I could just borrow her clothes…"

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have criticized your clothes…" Remus said. "You really do look nice…I just don't want that guy thinking he can take advantage of you…"

Kierra nodded. "I get you…and I appreciate your concern. But"—

"Well, how about this one?" Remus asked, pulling out knee-length black dress with long sleeves and a high collar. Truth be told, it was a bit ugly and old-fashioned looking, but that was beside the point. It was modest looking, and covered most of Kierra's body…

Kierra made a face. "I've only worn that dress once—to a funeral."

Remus shrugged as he replaced the dress in her closet and went to go sit on her bed. As Kierra continued her search for a new outfit, she looked over her shoulder once to see Remus. "So, you never answered my question. Are you interested in seeing Sheila?"

"Sheila?"

Kierra rolled her eyes. "My friend! The one who likes you…can I set you two up?"

Remus frowned. "I don't know any Sheila…how does she know me?"

"She works at the school, silly. She's the headmaster's secretary…I'm sure you've seen her."

"Oh." Remus thought back to the few times he had gone to the headmaster's office and met with his secretary. A petite little woman with jet black hair, who always seemed too busy pouring over parchments of files to notice anyone walk into the office…that was Sheila. "She…she likes me?" he asked uncertainly. "I didn't even think she noticed me when I would come in."

Kierra grinned mischievously as she pulled out another black dress from her closet. "Well, she definitely takes notice when you leave." Kierra laughed as Remus pulled a scandalized face. "What do you think of this one?" she asked, holding up her black dress over her. It was slightly shorter than the funeral dress Remus had picked out, but definitely looked like something of this decade. He shrugged, and Kierra immediately kicked him out so she could change clothes.

Several minutes later, Remus found himself in the living room again, ironing one of his robes that he had wanted to take with him to Grimmauld Place. As he carefully folded his pressed out robes and placed them in his bag, he looked down and noticed the state of his shirt. It was a bit tatty looking, but it was the only shirt he had with him at the moment. Perhaps if he ironed it out a bit to make himself look a bit more presentable…

"Er—Kierra?" Remus asked as he tapped lightly on her door.

"Mmm?"

"How much longer are you going to be?"

"Just a few minutes—I'm trying to decide what knickers to wear—why?"

"You plan on showing him your knickers?"

"No! But what if he does see them? What if there's a gust of wind or something, and my dress flies up? I don't want him seeing my high-cut granny knickers!"

"Er—right then."

Remus backed away from Kierra's door and pulled off his shirt, spreading it out on the ironing board. He could have done the ironing in his room, but the board was just so big and bulky, it was easier to leave it in its spot in the living room. He pressed the iron firmly against the sleeve of his shirt, running it as hard as he could against the fabric to speed up the process. He knew there was nothing wrong with taking off his shirt in Kierra's presence…but at the same time it did seem wrong. Maybe it was because of Kierra's readiness to walk around their flat in revealing clothes and to sit around in skirts without crossing her legs, that Remus felt at least one of them had to have a higher sense of propriety and modesty…

As he finished pressing his shirt, Remus tapped the iron with his wand to turn it off, and hastily put on his shirt. Halfway through, he realized he was putting it on backwards in his haste. He took his shirt off again, turned it around and attempted again. As he pushed his head and arms through the shirt, he heard Kierra's door swing open. Remus inhaled somewhat sharply, and immediately pulled down on his shirt to cover his torso. He glanced sideways to see Kierra looking at him casually while she patted her hair lightly with one hand. She looked amused.

"I know I can't walk around topless in here, but you're more than welcome to." Kierra said with a grin.

"That's alright." Remus more brusquely than he intended to as he passed by Kierra to go to his own room to pack a few more items in his bag. "I was just ironing the shirt I was wearing, that's all…"

He heard Kierra laugh. "Oh, your shyness would suit Sheila so well! You never gave me an answer, by the way. Are you trying to imply you don't want to see her, or do I keep changing the subject before you get a chance to answer?"

"It's the latter. And I guess I'll give it a shot."

"Shall I arrange something then?"

"Sure…"

"Excellent! I'll talk to her when I next see her…"

"Great." Remus forced a smile as he emerged from his room with his traveling back and briefcase. "Well, have fun on your date, and…well, I'll see you next week then."

Kierra smiled and waved, and a moment later he disapparated. She grabbed her wand, and then looked down at herself, trying to decide if she should stick it inside her dress. She tucked it inside through her neckline, but made a face when she saw that it made a long, unsightly bulge in her dress. She headed back to her room and rummaged through her closet, and pulled out a pair of black, knee length boots. She smiled, grateful to have such a friend like Dominique to have taught her all these fashion tricks. She kicked off her sandals and pulled on the boots, tucking her wand into the leg of her right boot. Pulling herself to her feet, Kierra headed back to the living room to retrieve her purse, but stopped as she ran into the ironing board. Kierra pulled out her wand, and with a flick, the board folded up and tucked itself underneath the futon. She sighed as she made a grab for her purse that was lying on the futon. Remus was usually good about staying tidy and putting things away. But he did seem a bit distracted today…even when he agreed to go out on a date with her friend Sheila, he complied with very little enthusiasm. Come to think of it, he seemed to be distracted and somewhat tense for several months now. Spending less and less time with Kierra, and more time holed up in his room, or outside jogging. Kierra snorted at the thought of Remus exercising…jogging in the neighborhood park with tennis shoes and sweats. And yet it was a reality. He would go almost every day, and would come back in a sweat, but apparently with enough energy to retreat to his room to do a few dozen sit-ups, some sort of muggle exercise that strengthened the abdomen. Janine and Harvey, who were both healers, were big fans of muggle fitness, saying witches and wizards could take a leaf out of their books when it came to health and wellness. Kierra laughed at them when they insisted that she too, should be more active, but she knew they were right. It certainly was making a difference on Remus… She couldn't help but raise her eyebrows slightly in surprise when she saw Remus pulling his shirt on—his long, lanky figured seemed to have gained considerable definition—and she could see that his fitness routines had certainly not been fruitless efforts.

Lucky gal, that Sheila… she thought with a grin as she disapparated for her date with Kingsley's cousin.

"Sirius, you're pretty good with the potions, aren't you?" Remus asked as he took a sip of pumpkin juice.

Sirius cocked an eyebrow at him. "Decent enough…couldn't make a wolfsbane potion if my life depended on it though. But you're already aware of that, aren't you? Why do you ask?"

"Oh…well…" Remus fingered the rim of his goblet nervously. Why did he have to be completely abysmal at potions? He wasn't particularly keen on even Sirius knowing. "Well…I needed a sleeping draught. I know it's pathetic that I can't make them, they're simple enough…but there it is. I need one. Not a strong one…I don't have much trouble sleeping…but just one that causes dreamless sleep." He looked up expectantly at Sirius, waiting for him to laugh or grin, or even wiggle his eyebrows knowingly at him. But he didn't. On the contrary, he looked rather concerned.

"A potion for dreamless sleep?" Sirius asked, rubbing his chin. "A sleeping draught isn't what you want. If you're not having trouble sleeping and you take it, you might fall into a permanent sleep. But I think I know a potion I could make for you that makes your sleep dreamless. Er—so—are you having really bad dreams then? Nightmares?" He looked uncertainly at Remus, seeming concerned yet unsure about invading his privacy.

"Well…not quite, to be honest." Remus replied, averting his eyes from Sirius and opting to stare at his drink instead. "I just…well…I've been having a lot dreams lately…that I shouldn't have…and I know they're meaningless, but they still trouble me…"

Sirius shook his head. "Dreams aren't meaningless, mate. Well, not all the time. So—er—have you been dreaming about"—Sirius raised his eyebrows at Remus—you know…certain people…"

Remus sighed and nodded slowly. Sirius was one of his best friends. Of course he'd be able to see right through him.

"It's alright, mate…" Sirius said, patting him on the shoulder lightly, "It's normal. Well, I think it is anyway…you know, when you're all lonely, your mind tends to wander…"

"Have you ever dreamt"—

Sirius nodded, and bowing his head low, he sighed. "Fraid I have. Just once…in the beginning of the year when no one was around. It was so random…man, I still can't look Hagrid in the eye sometimes…"

"Hagrid?" Remus asked, his eyes widening suddenly. Perhaps they weren't talking about the same thing after all…

Sirius bit his lip in realization. "Oh damn. You weren't talking about—damnit. Nevermind then. Just what the hell were you talking about then anyway?" Sirius demanded, looking slightly irritated at having accidentally admitting what he felt was a dark secret.

Remus fought back a laugh. "I'm sorry…"

Sirius glared at him, but suddenly began to smile in the knowing way that Remus hated. "Oh…so you're having dreams of ladies then?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at Remus. "Or is it just one specific lady?"

"Sirius"—

"Does her name begin with a K?"

Remus had opened his mouth to tell Sirius to shut up, but there burst of flamed erupted from the fireplace, and Tonks tumbled out onto the living room floor.

"Wotcher"—

There were two more bursts of flames, and in the next moment, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mad-Eye Moody were helping Tonks up.

"Nice of you all to drop in!" Sirius said cheerily as he summoned a case of butterbeers. "We were just talking about Remus's love life!"

Remus glared at Sirius. "We were not"—he began, but was immediately cut off by Tonks.

"Really? You're not with that Kierra girl, are you?"

Kingsley raised an eyebrow at Remus. "You're not, are you? I thought she was seeing my cousin."

"She's on her first date with him right now." Remus said with a smile, hoping Kingsley would not demand an answer for the first question.

Sirius raised his eyebrows at Remus. "She's seeing him?"

"Sirius, you're the one who passed on all the information to Kierra about him!"

"Oh—that's right." Said Sirius rather glumly. He took a sip of his drink and fell silent as the others continued to talk.

It took several minutes to convince Kingsley and Tonks (Moody didn't seem particularly interested in Remus's affairs, thankfully) that he didn't really have a love life, except that Kierra was going to arrange a date between him and one of her friends. At this, Sirius's ears perked up.

"You didn't tell me about that, Moony." Sirius said, with a look of amusement on his face.

"I was getting to it…" was Remus's reply as he got up. "Sirius, come and help me get some food from the kitchen."

"Oooh, I'll help!" Tonks said brightly as she got up, but Remus held up his hand at her.

"Tonks, you just got here, give yourself a rest." Remus said with a smile. "Sirius?"

Sirius followed Remus into the kitchen, and leaned his head against the wall as he watched, with much amusement, as Remus busied himself in making snacks for the others.

"So…you've got yourself dreaming about Kierra to the point you'd like to shag her"—

"Think you could keep it down, Padfoot?" Remus asked in a slightly irritated voice. "Sort of defeating the purpose of us coming over here…"

Sirius grinned. "Right. And now she's hooked you up with one of her friends. What's her name?"

"Sheila."

"Do you know her?"

"I've only seen her a few times. She's a secretary at the school." Remus replied. "But she doesn't have anything to do with this. I just want to know if you can make me the potion…"

Sirius laughed. "By the sounds of it, these dreams don't seem bad at all. Why do you want them to stop?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Because…I'm not dating Kierra and I never will."

"Why not?"

"Because…"

Sirius rolled his eyes and mimicked Remus. "Because! Honestly, Moony. What are you, ten?"

Remus scowled at him. "That's supposed to be my line…"

Sirius grinned. "Tables have turned, mate. They always do when you start fancying girls. You always seemed to lose all rationale when it came to talking about girls you liked. But anyway, that's neither here nor there. Point is, I don't think you need any potion. You clearly enjoy these dreams—don't look at me like that"—Sirius said when Remus looked indignantly at him—"you know you do. And you feel all guilty now because you think you shouldn't. Who gives a damn? They're just dreams! They'll probably go away once you hook up with this Sheila lady, that is, if you like her anyway. And if they don't go away, and you don't seem to like Sheila, then screw it, suck it up, and ask Kierra out."

"Easier said than done, Sirius. I doubt Kierra even likes me like that, and anyway, she lives with me."

"So?"

"So? If she says no, it'll be completely awkward! She'd end up moving out!"

"So?"

Remus sighed. "But I'd still see her at school…and in the order"—

"Remus, you're looking at this wrong." Sirius said sigh a sigh. "You're making way too big a deal about this. So she says no…so she moves out and it's all awkward…who cares? It'll pass away soon enough! It's not the end of the world!"

Remus sighed again, admitting defeat. "I'm not as brave as you, Sirius."

Sirius laughed as he helped Remus arrange sandwiches onto a plate. "You were a Gryffindor, mate. Course you're brave."

"Not when it comes to women though."

"Touché, Remus." Sirius said with another laugh as they carried two trays of food out to the living room. "Don't worry, you'll come around soon enough."

"I'm assuming this means no potion."

"Damn straight. You know what the say, Carpe Diem. Seize the day. Enjoy those dreams while they last, Moony. They're bound to disappear sooner or later."

Remus rolled his eyes and jabbed Sirius in the back with his tray as they entered the living room. Sirius laughed, but as he took in the sight of his living room, he stopped immediately in his tracks, causing Remus to bump into him, almost dropping his tray.

"What are you"—Remus peered around Sirius, and immediately understood why Sirius had fallen still—"Hello, Severus."

Severus Snape stood with his arms folded over his chest, glaring at Remus and Sirius.

"What're you doing here?" Sirius asked. "Is Harry alright?"

"That remains to be seen." Snape replied coolly. "I was just checking to make sure you were here, Black. It seems as though your godson had the notion that you had been taken to the department of mysteries. Proof enough of his lack of competency in occlumency"—

"Hold on"—Sirius took several steps forward until he was standing only a few feet away from Snape—"Harry told you he dreamt"—

"Of course not. Umbridge summoned me to her office, where I found him, along with cronies Granger, Lovegood, Longbottom and the two Weasley children. She asked me to give her a bottle of veritaserum to question Harry on your whereabouts. She believed that he was attempting to contact you."

"He never contacted me." Sirius said, though he looked a bit distant.

"What is it, Sirius?" Tonks asked, getting up quickly.

"Buckbeak. He was injured earlier today. It took me a couple of hours to tend to him. I wonder if Harry came by then and didn't find me…"

"It's quite possible. All he said was that they had Snuffles, whom I assumed to be you." Snape said, raising his eyebrow ever so slightly at Sirius.

"That is me." Sirius replied, too deep in thought to give Snape an ugly look. "So he still thinks I'm at the ministry?"

"I can't say. Umbridge kicked me out when I told her it would take a month to make veritaserum. Whatever he may think though, I doubt Potter and his friends have managed to escape Umbridge and her inquisitorial squad." Snape replied.

"Severus, can you go back and check on them?" Remus asked. "I have a bad feeling that given the chance, Harry would find a way to get into the department of mysteries to look for Sirius."

Snape, who looked quite tempted to spit on Remus for making a request of him, simply nodded. "I'll stop by Umbridge's office, asking to have a word with one of my students. I'll send a signal if Potter and his friends are safe." And with that, Snape waved his wand, and in a burst of flames, he disappeared.

The group spent the next hour sitting in the living room—except for Sirius, who had opted to pace around nervously—waiting. Why hadn't Snape sent a signal yet? That clearly meant that Harry and his friends were not alright. Some had happened. But why hadn't Snape appeared with an update of the situation? Just then, flames burst again in the living room, and Snape reappeared before them. Sirius had never been so happy to see him in his life…

"Where is he?" Sirius asked at once.

Snape, who normally took the time to glare at Sirius and remark at him snidely, looked quite grave now. "I arrived at Umbridge's office to find all of my students, who are in the inquisitorial squad, half conscious. I barely managed to get the story out of Mr. Malfoy. It seems that Granger told Umbridge a cock-and-bull story about how they were trying to reach Dumbledore, to tell him the weapon they were making him was ready, and then offered to show Umbridge were it was hidden. She then led Granger and Potter off to discover the weapon, and it was sometime after this that Potter's other friends attacked their captors, leaving them in the state that I found them."

"Where did they go?" Moody asked, swinging his magical eye on Snape, who shuddered slightly at the sight of it.

"I searched everywhere, and eventually found Umbridge in the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey told me she had been attacked by centaurs."

"They led her to the dark forest?" Sirius asked, looking quite amused. "Brilliant…"

"Not quite." Snape cut in. "I went looking for them there, but could not find them. Nor were they to be found anywhere in the school, which leads me to believe that they still think you are being held captive by the Dark Lord."

Sirius's smile fell. "They went…" he muttered. "They all went…"

"Let's head out." Kingsley said immediately as he and Tonks got up.

Sirius made forward to join the group, but Snape held his hand up. "Dumbledore is due here in an hour or so. He'll need to be informed. And you know his instructions to you"—

"My instructions can go to hell." Sirius replied, turning to the door to beckon Kreacher, but to his surprise, he was already here, peering into the living room and watching the sight with slight fascination. "Kreacher!" he said quickly, trying to brush away the uneasiness he felt at the thought of Kreacher eavesdropping on the conversation. "We're all going to the department of mysteries to save Harry and his friends. They think I'm there. You tell Dumbledore all of this when he comes. Do you understand?"

"Yes, master." Kreacher said, bowing ridiculously low. Sirius raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised at the lack of side comments from his house elf, but immediately shrugged it off as he joined the others and disapparated.

Dominique burst into the living room of Twelve Grimmauld Place with a much larger bang than she had expected. She picked herself up from the ground, dusting off the ashes and soot from her robes. The house was dead silent. She took a few steps inside the living room. There were two trays of sandwiches and cookies on the coffee table, and several bottles of butterbeer and goblets of what looked like pumpkin juice.

"Sirius!" she called. No answer.

"Sirius! Remus!"

Silence. Where were they? They were both supposed to be here. Unless they had gone out…but no, Remus wasn't so foolhardy as to let Sirius sneak off with him, even under the guise of a dog or invisibility cloak…

"Remus! Sirius!" she called again as she took a few more steps towards the hallway. Just then, the screeching sound of Mrs. Black sounded, causing Dominique to jump. But what came next startled her even more—a cold voice throwing a stunning charm at the portrait to silence it—a voice vaguely familiar, but one that she did not entirely recognize. She took a couple of steps back, clutching tightly to her wand. A moment later, Severus Snape appeared at the entrance of the living room, pocketing his wand.

"Severus!" Dominique breathed, loosening her grip on her wand considerably. "What are you—where's Sirius? And Remus?" When he did not answer, she inhaled sharply. "Are they alright?"

"Lupin is alright." Snape finally said.

"But Sirius?" asked Dominique, her voice growing high and anxious. "Where did they go?"

"Department of Mysteries," replied Snape, "Potter had a vision that the Dark Lord had taken him"—

"Sirius?"

"Yes. Sirius." Snape said with some effort. "He thought he was seeing into the Dark Lord's mind. However, it was the reverse. The Dark Lord planted the scenario in Potter's mind. Ignorant of this fact however, he and his friends went to the ministry with the intent to save his godfather, only to find that it had been a trick to lure him there. Sirius, Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley and Moody were here when the news reached me, so they all went to retrieve the others. Dumbledore came here and briefly explained to me what happened at the ministry. It seems as though several death eaters had arrived and attempted to take the prophecy that Potter had found with his name on it, and kill the children. The order members arrived in time to prevent that though."

"And Sirius?" Dominique repeated, her eyes wide with concern. "Is he alright? Is he going to be alright?"

Snape's cold, black eyes did not avert from Dominique's gaze as he shook his head.

Dominique felt her knees go weak. "He's not"—she started to whisper, but the look on Snape's face said it all. She felt air rushing out of her lungs as Snape nodded, confirming her fears with a small nod.

Her hand immediately fell to her stomach as she breathed hard, practically gasping for air. He couldn't be…she had only seen him a week ago. He had kissed her on the lips and said "See you next week then." It was today. She was supposed to see him today…

Dominique vaguely felt a hand on her shoulder and being led to sit down. She felt someone sit down next to her. She recalled Snape's image, but it seemed a bit distant at the moment…Sirius was gone. She would never see him again…

"Dominique"—

Dominique looked up to see Severus's gaze upon her. She was startled at the difference in his countenance. A thin trace of concern on his face…

She opened her mouth to speak, to tell him he could leave, knowing he must be feeling very awkward at the moment. But no words came out. Dominique buried her face in her hands and cried.

Kierra jumped off the futon, hairbrush in hand, as she belted out to her favorite Weird Sisters song, "Petrify Me." She smiled proudly as the song came to an end. It seemed like perfect day to let loose with music, to dance and sing to heart's content, as Remus was not home, nor was their elderly neighbor, Mrs. Danglar, who had gone to Venice to visit her daughter and was generally not fond of Kierra and her loudness, as she constantly told Remus when they happened to run into each other.

Kierra turned off her wireless with a flick of her wand, and set out to making dinner. Dancing and singing for two hours straight certainly worked up an appetite. Half an hour later, Kierra halfway through with a pizza she had made. Another perk to not having Remus around. Though he ate whatever she made without complaints, she knew he preferred cheese pizza. But with him not around, and not due for several more days, Kierra happily piled a mountain of mushrooms on her pizza. She wondered how he was getting along though with Sirius. He had seemed so distracted when he left the day before. But he would cheer up soon enough. Kierra smiled inwardly as she popped open a bottle of butterbeer, thinking of how excited Sheila had been when Kierra told her Remus was interested in her. Well, he hadn't exactly said he was interested, per se… but he agreed to go out with her all the same. And he would be interested in her after their first date, which she had set for next week.

She had thought of going along with a double date, bringing Kingsley's cousin Michael, but that plan had changed after her first date with him. It had been a complete dud. While they might have been related, Michael was nothing like Kingsley, neither in personality nor in looks. He was several inches shorter than Kierra, which she couldn't help but feel very conscious about throughout the date. He was also extremely quiet, and tended to mumble a lot—nothing like the deep, smooth voice his cousin Kingsley had...

Kierra was suddenly taken out of her reverie at the sound of a pop from the living room. Kierra, who had tilted her chair back on two legs, nearly fell over at the surprise. Remus had just apparated, looking thoroughly distraught.

"Remus!" Kierra exclaimed, jumping up immediately. "What are you doing back so early? And"—she wrinkled her eyebrows in concern as she looked over his appearance—"what's wrong? Did something happen?"

Remus frowned, but did not look at her. He usually looked down at his feet when he felt unhappy or uncomfortable, but now he was staring past Kierra, though looking at nothing in particular. Slowly, he nodded.

"What happened?" She asked, taking his things and putting them on the table. She returned to him and led him to the sofa, sitting him down next to her. "Something with the order?"

He nodded again, finally looking her in the eyes. He had to tell her. Firm, strong voice he told himself. He had forced himself to be strong in front of Harry and his friends. He would do so now as well. "Sirius—he—he's"—

"He's not alright?" Kierra asked suddenly, her eyes widening with concern. "What happened to him?"

Remus shook his head, his gaze dropping to his hands. He took a deep breath and looked Kierra in the eyes again. "He—he's dead, Kierra"—

But before he could go further, before he could tell her that Bellatrix Lestrange had done it, before he could tell her that he died in battle, protecting Harry and his friends, a lump formed in the back of his throat, obstructing any sound from getting through. He tried to clear it, but it strained his eyes. Tears built up in his eyes, but he couldn't let them fall. But before he could stop them, they were falling freely, and next thing he knew, he was wrapped in Kierra's arms, crying into her lap.