"We're going." Remus said from outside of her door. Holly hadn't come out to the other parts of the apartment sense Christmas. He would hear the shower turn on late at night, but that was the most he heard of her all week. She had apperated in and out of her room for work, and ate out. "You need to get out."

"NO." she was being stubborn.

"At least do it for Lily." No reply. "Or James?" still no answer. "Or at least ME." she wasn't saying anything. "I know your sitting on your bed, fully dressed and you've been pacing back and fourth contemplating wither or not you should go."

"How did you know?" Holly looked in the mirror. She was wearing a pretty gray skirt and a navy top, all ready to go to Sirius' house for New Years. But she was still mad at him.

"Call it Werewolf's intuition." he chuckled. She opened the door. "And you look just fine, so no need to make anymore excuses. You can't avoid him forever."

"Wanna bet? You'd be surprised…"

"Holly. You've missed him too. If it makes you feel any better, he's absolutely miserable."

"Yeah, it dose help." with that they left for Sirius'.

The house was full of people. This came as no surprise. Holly and Remus only knew a few people, it seemed that most people were from Sirius' work.

"About time you two showed up!" James said greeting them half way into the house.

"Sorry, but it took me a half hour to get Holly out of the house."

"Funny Remus." she said slightly punching him in the arm. "I'm going to go find Lily. Later you two." And she walked over to where Lily was standing talking to Lonna, and her husband, John.

"Did it really take you a half hour to get her out?" James asked seriously, as they walked into the kitchen.

"More or less twenty minutes." Remus got a glass and got some water.

"I think Sirius did it this time. I don't know how he's going to recover from this one." James said picking up a bowl of assorted candy, and picking through it.

"The thing is he didn't do anything."

"I know he didn't. You know, I had to drag him out of bed to go to work yesterday?" he found what he was looking for an popped it into his mouth.

"That doesn't surprise me at all." Remus took the bowl away from James and started to pick though it himself.

"And why would my two best friends be hiding in the kitchen when the party's out there?" Sirius said entering the room.

"Just talking about you, that's all."

"Naturally Moony, what else would you be talking about?"

"I don't know, normal things?" James teased. "So are you going to do it tonight?" Sirius grinned a mischievous grin.

"Do what?" Remus asked, a bit cautious.

"Remember what I told you I was going to do on Christmas?"

"Yeah, but I thought…."

"You think one argument is going to stop me?"

"No. But…"

"But nothing Moony! Though I'm might need some help." Sirius said looking right at Remus.

"How?" James asked.

"Like convincing a certain someone to talk with me for five minutes uninterrupted, so we can talk this out."

"I take it you've tried to talk to her already." James asked.

"Yes, and she ignored me, all she did was ask if anyone wanted to grab any food."

"Ok how are we going to do this?"

"I've got a plan. So here's what were going to do." Sirius said brining Remus and James into a huddle.

"Holly, can I steel you away for a moment?" Remus said coming up to her a half hour later. Holly was grateful for the interruption. She had been talking to Lonna's husband, John, who turned out to as interesting as a flobberworm, she had zoned out and was thinking about whether or not he had a hair piece or not.

"Oh, yeah…what?" she said breaking out of her deep thought on John's hair.

"Can I have a word with you?"

"Of course Remus." she walked away with him. "Thanks, I owe you one." she whispered, following him towards the stairs.

"Anytime."

"Remus, where are we going?" she said as they climbed the stairs and made their way to the Sirius' study. "You didn't pull me away so we could look at books did you?" she teased him. He laughed.

"No, I didn't bring you here to look at books. Come here, I want to show you something." She gave him a hesitant look, he took her by the wrist and lead her outside to the balcony.

"Nice view." she said, wrapping her arms around herself to keep her warm.

It was a lovely view. Sirius had a big back yard, with lots of trees, and a large hill covered in snow. The half-full moon illuminated the ground making the snow sparkle, and looking so perfect. But it wasn't perfect. There were paw prints, like from a dog, all over the back yard. Holly figured it must be a local. Sirius had always wanted a dog, but never managed to get one.

"It's a wonderful view Remy. Now that I've seen it, can I go inside, I'm cold. And it's like ten minutes to midnight…"

"This isn't what I wanted to show you. I…oh drat." he said lamely.

"What?" Holly said shifting her eyes around, wondering what was going on.

"I forgot the drinks, be right back."

"Drinks?"

"To celebrate. The New Year. Hold on I'll be right back."

"You do know I'm still with Sirius right? As a big of idiot as he is, I…"

"Don't worry, I'll be back in a moment."

"I'll go with you…"

"NO!" he protested a bit too loudly. "Um…just stay here. I'll be right back."

"Ok." she wondered if he had lost his mind, but nodded and turned back and began to gaze out into the yard again. She bounced a bit on her feet to keep warm. She heard a faint thump, like a door closing, but ignored it. Suddenly she felt a jacket drape around her shoulders.

"Here. I thought you might be cold." Sirius said softly.

"Thank you." she said slipping it on all the way. "Is this your old Quidditch jacket?"

"Yea, I stole it back from you in seventh year, it's always brought me luck, and I thought now was a good time to bring it back." his words were soft, and almost planned.

There was a weird silence between them. While Sirius look right at her, Holly looked at the ground.

"Holly, I know you think that I talked to your boss, but I didn't." she finally looked at him, but didn't say anything. "But I know who did."

"Who?"

"It was James."

"James? Why would James go and talk to my boss? Did you set him up, because that's just like going yourself." Sirius shook his head.

"No. I didn't. Lily did. We're all worried about you." he made a bold move and moved closer to her. "I know you don't think I know how hard you work, and that you need all this protection. But I think I've got an idea. I could never do the job that you have."

"Yes you could. Matter of fact, I think you'd enjoy it." she gave a half smile, and took a step closer to him. She looked at him. He got a hair cut, his hair now laid just above his jaw line, but it still fell in his face on that one side. She wanted to move it out of the way so she could look in his eyes. But she restrained herself.

"I couldn't. Trust me. I know you work hard, but I can't help but feel jealous."

"Of what?"

"You co-workers, Remus, even the Death Eaters you beat up to some extent, just for the simple fact that they get to see you. They get to be with you."

"Oh. Sirius, I'm sorry I yelled at you. We both had way too much to drink and…"

"Shh…" he wrapped his arms around her, and just held her there. He shifted his head a bit to look at his watch, five minutes to midnight. He told himself he had better get a move on things.

"I remember you saying at James' wedding that you didn't want to run away with me right away." she looked up at him and finally moved his hair out of his face. "I also remember you telling me two weeks ago, that you wouldn't run away with me then either because it was too soon." she laughed a bit. "But I want to know that when your ready, I'll be there." he pulled away for a moment and pulled something out of his pocket.

"Sirius what are…" he took her left hand and slid something on her ring finger.

"It's a Promise Ring." he beamed. "Just to remind you that I do love you and all you have to say is when. What do you say?" Holly was breathless. She looked down at the ring. It was just a plain silver band. She moved her hand right to her face, and she looked at it closer.

"What dose it say?" something was inscribed on it. But in the dark she couldn't make it out.

"H.J.B. Your middle name is still Jane isn't it?" he said lightly, taking her hand into his own, kissing it lightly.

"Yeah."

"So? What do you say?" she bit her lip, trying to suppress a smile.

"Yes." she said a huge smile coming to her face. Sirius' smile spread from ear to ear. He hugged her tight, picked her up and spun her around. He set her back down and kissed her gently. The alarm on his watch went off briefly.

"Happy New Year Lovely." he whispered, and kissed her again.