A/N: Continued thanks to everyone who is still reading this. Almost at the end... Well sort of. After all I do have TWO endings. She stays.. She goes... Whichever one should I post? Who knows... Naturally I think the common response is to post both of them.

Olifantje-emma: I am very, very happy that you like the story. Thank you for the review! That part with Sirius being serious (ah the puns...) was one of my favourite parts as well. I hope you continue to read and enjoy

Linac428: Once again thank you for another review ;) Yes, everyone wants both. I might do both. Which though do you think would be MORE interesting?

Don't forget to review people. It makes a writers day :) We just live for the stuff!

Chapter 8

When the rest of the school came back to start the new term, it was to find plenty of stories about what Sirius and Serena had been up to while they were gone.

Lily and Remus were surprised, if pleasantly. James on the other hand just nodded as if he had known, which hadn't gotten a good reaction for Lily.

"He told me what he was planning before... and he sent me a letter to tell me it had worked out well."

"And you didn't tell me?" Lily was annoyed, and ignored James who was trying to apologize. Sirius and Serena were amused. For her own part, Serena had forgotten to send a letter to her friend, but didn't think she would blame her. That honour was going to James, and apparently Sirius, who was now getting the third degree from Lily for not letting her know.

"So I've heard some interesting stories already." Remus said softly from Serena's side. "Is it true he threw you over his shoulder and carried you out of the common room?"

Her face a bright red, Serena shook her head. "I can't believe Brad told everyone!"

Once again entering the conversation Sirius threw an arm around his girlfriend's shoulder and announced proudly that it had been he who had told everyone that story. He gave a loud groan at the elbow in his side.

"That is NOT going to get you on my good side." Serena huffed, then smiled at Remus. "Did he tell you the story of how he was skipping in the snow outside and tripped over his own feet and fell face first into the snow, ending up with a bloody nose, and crying like a baby before the nurse could heal it?"

Everyone laughed loudly at this, except for Sirius who was glowering at everyone in hopes to stop them. This only caused them to laugh louder.

"You were skipping!" James bent over, laughing too hard.

"You broke your own nose!" Remus wiped at his eyes. "All the fights you've been in and no one ever did that. Then you do it to yourself!"

This statement caused everyone to start laughing anew. Serena smiled and went on tiptoes to kiss Sirius' cheek. "We laugh because we love you dear." This wiped the death look he was shooting Remus clear away, instead his typical grin slipped onto his face. Everyone exchanged looks at this, clearly never seeing Sirius act like this.

"I really never thought I'd see the day that Sirius was in love." Lily mused out loud.

"All the marauders are getting girlfriends. It just leaves me and Moony." Peter whined sullenly. Remus clapped him on the back and assured him that he could come to the library with him to study, this just caused Peter to whine more.

"So in between your likely snog fests with the lovely Serena, did you manage to come up with the greatest prank ever for our final year?" James asked, an eager light in his eyes.

"Actually yes..." Sirius leant down and kissed Serena on the cheek. "I'll see you later. Right now the Marauders need to have a little meeting..." Grinning, the boys followed Sirius out of the room.

"You don't happen to know what he planned do you?" Lily asked, worry on her face as she watched them leave.

"I didn't even realize he was thinking of one at all..." Serena sighed. "I suppose I should have. But he never mentioned anything any of the times I saw him. And there wasn't much time that he was off on his own."

"Spent that much time with him did you...?" Lily looked at Serena sideways, amusement etched on her face.

With the start of the new term, and the school year half over, Serena suddenly started to panic that she had gotten severely sidetracked from her plan. She had been so focused on Sirius, and the rest of her friends, she had not been able to find out anything about Peter, or if in truth he did ever meet any of the future death eaters.

To make up for this, once school started up she almost became fanatical in trying to catch Peter in the act of doing anything that looked wrong or suspicious. She barely got any sleep since she spent most of the night awake, staring at her copy of the Marauder's map, hoping to see the dot that marked Peter, move out of the Gryffindor area.

Sirius became concerned when the normally perfect student dozed off in the middle of their charms class.

"Are you okay...?" Sirius asked, right after Serena had practically collapsed into the seat next to him at dinner.

"I'm fine..." She yawned, and dropped her head onto her arms on the table. "I just haven't been sleeping as well as I would like. I just need some good sleep." She yawned. "In fact I'm just going to grab a sandwich and head off to bed..." She brought her head up and smiled sleepily at Sirius, giving him a quick kiss before grabbing a sandwich and walking back to her bed.

"When I go to sleep, she's usually asleep..." Lily said, confused from across from Sirius. He watched his girlfriend leave dinner with a concerned expression on his face.

While he was concerned for her, he didn't start to get worried until one night he suggested that they spend some alone time together in the room of requirements. Serena had laughed him off, and said she really needed to go to sleep early that night. He couldn't deny that fact since she was obviously sleeping through so many classes. He became worried though when the next day she fell asleep during Defense against the Dark Arts.

Once the class was finished, Sirius grabbed his still sleepy girlfriend's arm and pulled her down the hallway, away from the concerned looks of their friends.

"Is there a reason you're dragging my arm out of its socket?" Serena yawned while asking this. Sirius stopped in a dark corner of the school and turned to her.

"Are you going behind my back and seeing someone else?"

"What?" Immediately Serena was awake. "Where in the hell did that come from?"

"Well it's the only explanation that I can come up with. You didn't want to spend time with me last night, so you could go to bed early. But you obviously didn't sleep since you just fell asleep in class." Sirius raked his hand through his long dark locks, making them more disheveled then before.

"I am not cheating on you." Serena said softly. In her head she was beating herself up over how stupid she had been lately. It had never once occurred to her that anyone would notice her unusual behaviour. She hadn't thought that Sirius would put two and two together and come up with three.

"Then what are you doing?" He asked, hardly convinced.

"I'm..." Serena started to explain herself, but what exactly could she say. Sirius I'm staying up all night following the movements of one of your best friends in the hopes that I see him cavorting with future death eaters, that he will one day tell the whereabouts of your other friends to, therefore causing their deaths, and your imprisonment... "It's none of your business what I'm doing at night!" Serena growled, resorting to a defensive position out of her inability to explain herself. She winced at the hurt look that passed over Sirius' face. "I'm not cheating on you..." She repeated.

"A month ago I would have trusted just you saying that..." Sirius shook his head. "But you're hiding something. If it's not cheating, what is it?"

Serena grew annoyed at his persistance in this even when he knew she didn't want to talk about it. She pushed her hair over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes at the taller Sirius. "I don't have to report everything I do to you, do I?" She turned around and walked away, in her mind she said it was because she was angry with him, but in reality it was so she didn't have to see the heartbroken expression she knew was there...

A/N: That was shorter then I would normally upload, but once again I am victim to the good chapter break. :)

Thanks for reaching the end of the chapter though. Fluffiness is gone from this chapter...