Disclaimer: I only own Malika, Jane and Cynthia, everything else belongs to J. K. Rowling of course.

A/N: This chapter is definitely better than the last one. I want to dedicate this chapter to Sirius, because it's probably his happiest in the whole story.

Chapter 16

June 1995

The months passed by quickly, Malika's Private Werewolf Support Service ran smoothly.

It didn't have many members, except from herself, Jane, Kingsley, Tonks and Cynthia, only six other people had joined them. But with the additional help from a few werewolves who were able to brew extra supplies of Wolfsbane Potion or happened to know a safe place to transform, they were able to help a lot of other, less fortunate werewolves.

Of course, not every werewolf they had talked to accepted their offered help, but Malika hadn't expected that either and for now she was satisfied with what they had done. She was sure they had made a difference, even though it was a small one.

During the next few months, nothing important had happened and Malika and Remus lived their lives together more or less like they had done for the last eight years.

The only thing that bothered Malika, was the fact she still kept a big secret from Remus.

Because of the Support Service, Malika had for the first time gotten the opportunity to get to know Cynthia better. It was strange actually, there had been a time in which she had seen the other woman on an even more regular basis than now (mostly when they were still at school), but in the almost four years when they had known each other back then, they had never even talked to one another. They had simply hated each other, without even considering giving the other a chance. Now, however, in the last five months in which they had to work together, they had both tried to put their dislike for each other aside and had been surprised to realise they got along quite well.

But Malika still didn't really trust Cynthia, some things weren't that easy to forget and she didn't want Remus to know yet she worked together with his ex-girlfriend. She was trying to convince herself that he wouldn't want to know anyway, but Malika knew deep inside that she was just too afraid of losing him.

For the same reason, she tried her best to hide her relationship with Remus for Cynthia. Cynthia herself had told Malika she regretted what happened between Remus and herself. What if that meant she wanted another chance with him? But after two months, Malika was pretty sure Cynthia suspected something, although she never came out straight with it, she dropped little hints about it. Maybe Cynthia tried to gain her trust, but Malika didn't give in, just not yet.

000

One day in June, Malika was home early from work. Remus wasn't home when she arrived there and she decided to take the chance of spending a nice, quite afternoon with a book. It had been a long time since she had last had the chance to relax without having to worry about anything.

However, she didn't have the chance to fully pursue that plan, because only a few moments after she had settled down on the couch, a strange noise reached her ears. It sounded a bit like a dog scratching at her door, but she was sure there didn't live any dogs in this building.

It was a bit suspicious, to say at the least. Carefully, she made her way to the door, wand at the ready. Malika flung the door open, and stared for a moment at the sight before her in surprise, before stepping aside.

A huge black dog entered the apartment and watched her while she carefully locked and safeguarded her door. Once she was done, she turned around to find the dog had changed into a man.

For a few moments, Malika just stared at Sirius, and Sirius simply stared back. It had been years since they had last seen each other, and they hadn't really parted on friendly terms then. Besides, they hadn't expected to come across the other, so it was only normal for the both of them to stare at each other in stunned silence, wasn't it?

They both seemed to realise they were staring at the same moment, and consequently spoke at the same moment too. Coincidently, they also asked the same question.

"What are you doing here?"

The funny side of the situation broke the tension a bit, as they started laughing for a moment, before Malika spoke.

"I think I have more of a right to ask you that question, Sirius, since this happens to be my flat."

"Your flat?" Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Dumbledore sent me here, he gave me this address, but he told me Remus was living here."

Malika felt her face grow hot, Sirius still didn't know about her and Remus. She wasn't sure she wanted him to find out either, and certainly not like this, but now she didn't have a choice. She sighed.

"Yes, Remus is living here too, Dumbledore must have forgotten to mention it to you, we share this flat."

Sirius frowned. "Well, you seem to have conveniently forgotten to tell me either, as did Remus. Although I must say I'm not surprised."

The bitter tone in his voice didn't escape Malika and she closed her eyes briefly to push back the tears that she felt forming slowly.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, please Sirius, let us not argue. I want to be able to be happy to see you again."

Sirius sighed. "You're right, I'm sorry too. It's really good to see you and we shouldn't let the past come between us."

Malika smiled and approached him, pulling him into a hug. Sirius returned the hug, pulling Malika close to him and burying his face in her hair. It felt so good to have her close again and it filled him with a warmth he seemed to have forgotten about long ago, only now Sirius realised how much he had really missed Malika.

They were still holding each other when the door to the apartment opened again.

June 1978 (one year after the Marauders graduated from Hogwarts)

It was a warm day at the beginning of summer, the kind of day which should be spent outdoors, preferably sunbathing or swimming. But Malika didn't have much time to relax these days.

She had just finished her first year of Auror training, together with Sirius and James, and the three of them had passed with flying colors.

Theoretically, they had some time off for a month or so now, but since there was a war going on, they could be called in to help at Auror Headquarters whenever they were short on people.

Besides that, all three of them were part of the Order of the Phoenix, which certainly took a lot of their time too. Of course, Lily, Remus and Peter were also part of the Order and spent a great deal of their time working for Dumbledore too. Lily, with her training to become a healer, was also very busy, and Malika didn't see a lot of her best friend these days, most of the information she got about Lily, came from James. Whatever kind of jobs Remus and Peter were doing, Malika didn't know, but they too always seemed to be busy. Malika didn't really care whatever Peter was up to, but she greatly regretted she didn't see much of Remus, only at Order meetings and Marauder get-togethers, for which she was always invited for some reason (she suspected because Lily didn't want to spend whole evenings with Cynthia).

Cynthia Robertson. Only thinking of the name made Malika nauseous, but she couldn't avoid meeting the girl on various occasions, because she seemed to accompany Remus almost everywhere, except on Order meetings. Malika had been wondering for some time now how Remus managed to hide his part in the Order for Cynthia.

Remus and Cynthia had been together for a year and three months by now, and there still was no sign they would break up anytime soon. After all that time, Malika had started to give up any chance to ever be with him, but she couldn't bring herself to date other men.

It was not like she had much time to do so anyway. Between Auror training and work for the Order, she also had put much time in planning a wedding. James and Lily would get married in a week, and since Malika was the Maid of Honor, Lily had asked her to help with part of the planning.

This was exactly the reason why Malika was walking down Diagon Alley today, on her way towards Madam Malkins, who would provide the clothes for the wedding party. It was way too hot to try and fit clothes, but it had to be done today, since it was one of the only days where both she and Sirius had time and Lily had insisted that their clothes should match, since Sirius was the Best Man. Thus, Malika was making her way into Madam Malkins, where, thankfully, Sirius was already waiting for her.

000

After two hours of trying and fitting clothes and making sure every part of their dress robes matched each other, Malika and Sirius made their way through Diagon Alley together, heading for Florian Fortescue's, happily chatting.

For those who didn't know them, it would seem like they had always been friends and nothing had ever happened between them that could cause awkward situations. It almost seemed like their relationship and the months after they broke up had never happened.

Almost, because those who knew Sirius very well could sometimes find him staring at Malika with a look of longing and love in his eyes.

Malika, however, never noticed this and she was happy how things had turned out between them. Not long after Sirius had started dating other girls, the awkwardness that had existed between them had disappeared and they had been the best of friends ever since then. Malika didn't feel jealous anymore of the girls Sirius dated, but that could also be because none of them ever lasted long. Yes, between her and Sirius, things were going really well.

If only it could be this way with Remus. But ever since Remus had started dating Cynthia, he had become distant and Malika felt like she didn't know him anymore. It had been very hard to accept Remus' relationship with Cynthia, but Malika thought it would have been a lot easier to cope if it hadn't caused a break in their friendship. The truth was, Remus barely spoke with Malika anymore, the almost tangible hostility between Malika and Cynthia didn't help them either and it had been obvious from the very start that the two girls couldn't stand each other.

Malika shook herself out of her thoughts as they arrived at Florian Fortescue's and Sirius led her to a table outside, standing in the shade in a corner, away from the crowd.

After they had placed their orders, Malika joked, "Are you sure you have time for this? Shouldn't you spend your little bits of free time with your girlfriend?"

Sirius blinked once. "I broke up with Patricia two days ago."

Malika raised her eyebrows. "Patricia? What about that Wendy girl you brought with you three weeks ago?"

Sirius frowned, as if trying to figure out who Wendy was again, then comprehension dawned on him. "Right, Wendy, I broke up with her the day after, she didn't stop complaining about you lot."

Malika formed an 'Oh' with her lips, but didn't say anything. She had always known Sirius put his friends far above his girlfriends and she also had a feeling he didn't really care much for most of those girls anyway, but Malika refrained from commenting on that, it wasn't her place to say anything about his love life.

Their sundaes arrived and they ate in silence for a moment, enjoying their ice creams and watching the crowd.

Sirius was the first to speak again, asking in a would-be casual voice, "What about you, do you have a boyfriend yet?"

Malika turned to him from watching the crowd and shrugged. "No, but I don't really care, I don't have enough time to maintain a steady relationship anyway."

Sirius snorted. "Come on, Malika, if everyone else can do it, why wouldn't you? That's a very cheap argument."

Malika looked away and shrugged again but didn't respond.

"Is something wrong? You know you can tell me."

Malika merely shook her head and kept silent, but Sirius pressed on.

"But don't you miss having someone special in your life? Don't you miss someone always being there for you?"

Malika turned back and stared at Sirius for a moment before finally speaking. "Sometimes, but I believe I have my friends to always support me. What do you want to know, Sirius? Why are you suddenly so interested in my love life, why are you so intent on getting answers out of me now?" She felt herself getting agitated while she was speaking.

Sirius watched her carefully for a moment before answering quietly. "I've always been interested, Malika, and I suppose I'd like to have certain questions answered because I do miss you."

Surprise was etched all over Malika's face, it was obvious this was not what she had expected. When she didn't answer, Sirius continued speaking.

"Come on, Malika, you know of all the girls I dated lately there hasn't been any that was really special to me. There hasn't really been anyone since you. You are the only one I ever loved, Malika, and I still love you."

Malika stared at Sirius in shock, eyes wide and mouth almost hanging open. She had truly been convinced that he was over her and only saw her as a friend. And now he suddenly confessed his true feelings for her, and just like last time, she had no idea how to react.

After a long moment of silence, Sirius sighed and started speaking again. "I know you probably don't feel the same about me right now. But Malika, I also know you haven't really been with anyone since we broke up. I never knew why exactly you broke up with me, but I would like to have another chance. Maybe this time we could make it work, I could make you happy if you let me. I'll understand if don't want to, but you have no idea how happy you would make me if we could try again."

Malika looked down at the table, biting her lip, heart pounding in her chest. She couldn't bear to look at Sirius right now, for fear the tears that were building in her eyes would spill over. He had completely taken her off guard and she didn't know what to say to him now.

"Don't you miss what we had sometimes?" Sirius whispered.

Malika sighed. Yes, she missed it sometimes, she missed having someone taking care of her, more so since her parents died and Remus started almost completely ignoring her. But in her heart she knew she didn't love Sirius, and never would, because she loved Remus.

On the other hand, Malika thought bitterly, Remus is with Cynthia and he will never be mine, I lost my chance with him.

With a jolt, Sirius' words finally came trough to her, he wanted another chance, he was giving her another chance too. Maybe she didn't love him, but he did obviously love her, he wouldn't be able to make her truly happy, but she could at least make him happy. After all, I do care about Sirius, Malika thought, maybe not really in the way he wants me too, but I care all the same, and he deserves to be happy.

At that point, Malika decided that, if she couldn't be happy herself, she could at least make one of her best friends happy, by giving him what he wanted, her love, even if her heart wasn't truly in it.

She closed her eyes for a moment, pushing away all sad feelings carefully to the back of her mind. Then she looked up again and faced Sirius, who was looking back at her with an anxious expression on his face.

Somehow, Malika managed to smile a little when she finally replied to his last question. "Actually, I do miss what we had."

A careful grin appeared on Sirius' face. "I knew it, I take it this means it wasn't a total disaster."

Malika laughed. "No, definitely not." A genuine smile, the first since the start of this conversation, had now replaced the previous half-smile. A short pause fell between the two of them, but the tension had been broken, Sirius watched Malika expectantly, waiting for her to continue.

"Maybe you are right, Sirius, maybe it's a good idea to give it another try…"

Malika wanted to say more, but she didn't get a chance. Sirius had jumped off his chair with a whoop of joy, almost ran around the table and spun Malika around in a circle. It seemed like he hadn't heard the 'maybe's' in her words, or he simply chose to ignore them, but whatever was the case, the look of pure joy on his face made all Malika's last doubts disappear completely.

When Sirius finally put her on the ground again, he sat down on Malika's vacated chair and pulled her down on his lap. "Let's finish our sundaes, it would be a shame to let them go to waist, don't you think." He grinned at her and Malika smiled back. But instead of taking back up his own spoon, he took Malika's and started to feed her ice cream.

Malika laughed. "Sirius, what would people think if they saw us," she scolded playfully.

"I don't give a damn."

"I knew you would say that."

For a moment, Malika started to wonder what Remus would have said, but she quickly banned that thought, she wouldn't think of Remus, not anymore. And to her own surprise and joy, Malika realised she was actually quite content, almost happy even, sitting here on Sirius' lap, being fed ice-cream and definitely not thinking about Remus.

Suddenly, Malika was pulled from her thoughts by something wet and cold sliding from the corner of her mouth across her cheek. Sirius grinned cheekily at her. "Oops, I seem to have missed the last spoon a bit."

Malika raised her eyebrows, but grinned back at him nonetheless. "And I'm sure it was a total accident."

Sirius winked at her. "Of course it was, let me clean this up for you, miss."

But instead of taking a napkin, he leaned closer to her, licking away the ice-cream from her cheek until he reached her mouth. As he reached her mouth, he briefly glanced up at her, as if making sure she was all right with it, before fully kissing her.

They kept kissing for a long time, until the lack of air made Malika pull away. For a moment, they just stared into each others eyes, letting the knowledge that they were indeed back together really sink in.

Then, Sirius grinned cockily at her. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist my charm forever."

Malika laughed and slapped him playfully on the shoulder. "You arrogant prig!"

Sirius merely flashed her another grin, before kissing her again.

000

Please review…

I only received one review for the last chapter (thank you S.c.ou.s.er.4.li.f.e), hopefully I get a bit more for this one.