Disclaimer The movie quotes, once again, belong to Disney.

A/N Thank you to the two of you who reviewed.

Chapter 2 June 11, 1993, 5:04 A.M.

As they walked along in the pale morning light, Renee had to smile at Sirius. It was painfully obvious it had been a while since he'd had this much freedom. He would bound ahead of her about twenty feet, find something interesting to sniff at, thoroughly examine it until she caught up, and then bound ahead again. The pristine lawns and cookie-cutter houses of the London suburb had never been quite so disturbed.

"Padfoot, I'm not picking that up," Renee insisted, pointing dejectedly at the slobber-coated stick he had just dropped at her feet. He whined piteously, sat on his haunches and gave a bark of encouragement. She sighed, bent down, and grasped the end of the soggy bit of wood between two fingers. "Alright, if you insist," she accepted, feigning annoyance. "Fetch!" She threw the stick with all her might further down the sidewalk.

He charged after it, leapt into the air, and caught it while it was still six feet off the ground. Then, he ran back and dropped it into her waiting hand. They repeated this process numerous times, until Renee threw the stick and Sirius watched it go, panting madly. "Tired?" she asked. He nodded vigorously.

They rounded a corner and Renee recognized the path they were taking. "Padfoot?" she inquired, as they started past the playground of an old grade school. "Are we going where I think we're going?" The rising sun reflected off a slide and swing set with which she was intimately familiar. He kept walking as though he hadn't heard her. "Padfoot?" He looked at her over his shoulder, nodded solemnly, and started running. She followed.

They ran past the school and down a side street until they reached a park. They turned down the street that bordered it and put the park on their right. Padfoot didn't stop until he had reached a house somewhere in the middle.

He waited for her to catch up, then ran to and scrambled over the backyard fence. She heard a latch click open, and, after catching her breath, followed him through the gate, closing it behind her.

"Padfoot," she called. No answer came. She took several cautious steps and shifted to a whisper. "Sirius?"

Something behind her grabbed her arm. She yelled and jumped in surprise, spinning around in mid-air and landing, at full alert, in her animal form. Sirius started to laugh at his little prank, but stopped short when he saw her deep brown cat-shaped eyes narrow and heard the growl start in her throat. "Renee, I..." he started, backing away. She licked her chops. He took another step back. "Stripes, please! I didn't mean to scare you like that! I was just...Ahh!" He cried out in fear at the idea of becoming snack to a very large albino-white Bengal tiger. She leapt on him and they landed hard on the garden path. Just as he looked ready to wet himself, Stripes licked him affectionately and turned her growl into a purr.

"Merlin, Stripes!" he cried as soon as she was off him. "What d'you do that for? I could've had a heart attack!"

"Just a little payback," she told him casually, returning to her human form, "Besides, you're much too young to have a heart attack. Mess your pants, maybe..." She broke off laughing.

"That's not funny," he stated seriously, glaring at her.

"Oh yes, it is!" she exclaimed, still laughing fit too burst.

He groaned. "Look! Do you want to meet Buckbeak, or not?"

She stopped laughing. "Of course." Now that she was here, there was no way she was passing up the opportunity.

"Alright, then. Follow me, and keep to the center of the path." Sirius informed her rather belatedly, as he led the way around the corner of the house. "I don't know what might be growing in here."

"Which begs the question," Renee asked, as she turned away from the curious herb she'd been examining and made to follow him. "Why did you leave Buckbeak here in the first place?"

"This house and the yard are unplottable, and anything else my dear old dad did to fend off prying Muggle eyes." he explained hurriedly, as though trying to say it without having to think about it. "It was the only place I could think of where he could stay hidden." He stopped as they reached a small clearing in the foliage that, covered in a patch of knee-high grass, constituted what was left of the lawn. "Wait here." With that, he shifted back into Padfoot and disappeared behind a tree of unidentifiable parentage, or at least for Renee.

She heard snapping of twigs and shifting of bows, and then Padfoot returned, holding the end of a length of chain in his mouth and leading the creature attached to its other end into the clearing.

"Oh!" Renee gasped at the sight of the animal that was half-eagle, half-horse. She recovered quickly, however; she knew Buckbeak, if he were anything like his fellows, would not appreciate someone gawking at him from three feet away. What he would appreciate, and what she was perfectly willing to give him, was respect. She took a step back with her right foot and swept her hand in front of her in a deep bow worthy of either a twelfth century knight in shining armor or a twentieth century maiden in t-shirt and jeans. "Maiden, ha! That's laughable. Am I honestly still young enough to call myself a maiden? Then again, I am a witch. I have nearly twice the normal human life-expectancy, maybe I haven't quite reached the age of what could be called 'old maid,' just yet."

Unaware of the direction Renee's thoughts had taken, Buckbeak eyed her closely and then bowed in return. She stepped to him immediately and stoked his beak affectionately. "He's beautiful," she sighed.

Buckbeak narrowed a questioning eye at Sirius, who was fully human again and standing at his side. "Take it from me, my friend," Sirius told him, heartily. "That's quite the compliment coming from her. She knows her birdbrains." Buckbeak sent him a piercing glare that would have eaten strait through most titanium walls. "I suppose I should say eagle-brains," Sirius corrected himself quickly. "Which, of course, are by no means comparable to ordinary birdbrains. Renee here has quite a long history with gryphonic creatures." He turned his eyes on Renee, who had been watching him interact with the fantastic beast as though watching a tennis match, and softened his voice as he said, "And a great love for them as well."

She turned to him at his change of tone and told him, "So much for not remembering."

"It comes in flashes," he admitted, "Bits and pieces."

She rested her hand gently on his arm and looked in his eyes. "It'll come back, Sirius." For a second, she thought she could see a flicker of blue amid the clouds of grey. Then, it was gone. His eyes slid down to focus on her hand. They each stared at it for an instant, and she pulled back and returned to focusing on the head of her newest feathered friend. "Why would anyone, even the Ministry, think it necessary to execute Buckbeak? He doesn't seem the least bit dangerous. Quite the contrary, actually. All he did was glare when you called him a birdbrain."

"That's because he knows me and he knows I didn't mean it like that," Sirius explained. "When Lucius Malfoy's little demon child called him a 'great, ugly brute' he knew full well the brat meant every word."

"Wait a minute, I read about this in the Prophet, the Education Section I think." Renee said, then asked "Malfoy called him a what?" She turned to the hippogriff, "No wonder you attacked him." She turned back to Sirius and asked seriously, "Was Malfoy trying to commit suicide?"

"Oh no, he wasn't quite that stupid. He knew Hagrid wouldn't let Buckbeak kill him. He was trying to get Hagrid fired, more than anything else. At least, that's Remus' opinion on the subject. I've never had the 'pleasure' of meeting the Malfoy heir as a teenager myself, but Remus said Draco was quite looking forward to ending Hagrid's teaching career."

"That's horrible! Hagrid is great with magical creatures! I'm not so sure about the teaching bit, but..." she broke off not knowing exactly how she would defend the introduction of a gryphonic creature on the first day, especially to a class that included Slytherins. It might have been better for him to start with a topic with which respect is commanded rather than necessitated. Unicorns, for instance, would have done nicely, not even that smarmy Malfoy git's son could find something to insult in them, and even if he did, the unicorn itself wouldn't care. "We all make mistakes," she finished lamely. "I'm sure he'll get better at it as time goes on."

"Yeah, I guess so," Sirius muttered, obviously distracted, and Renee knew in which direction his thoughts had turned.

"Sirius, it was not your fault."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, startled from his thoughts.

"Lily and James, it wasn't your f-"

"That's rich coming from someone who doesn't even know me," he interrupted.

His use of her earlier words caught her off guard and she stared into the distance, mindlessly stroking the plumed neck in front of her, before she responded, "I- I'm sorry I said that, Sirius. Those words weren't meant for you."

Sirius nodded to show he understood, though his eyes remained downcast. Renee knew, however, that Sirius did not understand what she meant and his next words confirmed it. "I thought I knew him. I thought I had him all figured out. WHAT DOES VOLDEMORT WANT WITH A SNIVELING WORM LIKE PETER?"

The person she had meant those words for was not, in fact, Peter. She had meant them for the man to whom she had been speaking, or rather, the man to whom she thought she had been speaking. She had always known Peter the actor, Peter the liar, Peter the coward; it was Peter the hero that she'd found tough as nails to swallow, even while Alex tried to convince her that she was setting up camp on the bank of a river in Egypt. Nevertheless, swallow it, eventually, she had, right after she forced down its counterpart: Sirius the traitor.

"I don't know, Sirius," she answered his question. "I assume it had something to do with being the easiest target near enough to Lily, James and Harry."

"Easiest target," he gruffed. "That's what I thought Remus was."

"Remus?" she asked, beyond the scope of skeptically, "Are you kidding?"

"No, I'm not. He had something Voldemort wanted, and Voldemort was in a position to get him something he wanted."

"What?"

"He's a werewolf. Voldemort was recruiting werewolves."

"Yes, but what could Voldemort possibly-?" she cut herself off. "Alex!" she gasped. "You thought Voldemort might have offered Remus the overturning of the Werewolf Registration Act?" she asked. He nodded. "Sirius, do you honestly think Alex would have wanted anythingto do with him after he sided with Voldemort, IF, that is, Voldemort let either of them live that long?"

Sirius looked her dead in the eyes as he said, "You don't have to explain to me why it was stupid, Renee. I already know."

"Oh."

He pulled away from woman and beast and started to pace the clearing, losing himself in his guilty thoughts, "I was a fool and a half not to trust Remus, but I managed to convince myself he was capable of the level of deceit necessary to pull it off. Then I convinced James. Little did we know that it was Peter all along."

"Did Lily ever-?"

"No. She never did accept the idea. She had doubts about the plan. Major doubts." He broke off, thinking, and then exclaimed, "Merlin! I wish we'd listened to her."

Silence fell between them, a long agonizing silence. Desperate for any topic that would steer Sirius away from thinking about the events of October, 1981, Renee suggested, "We'd better go back. I'm not fond of the idea of your mother peering out a window and spotting us."

Sirius brows knit together. "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"She's dead," he stated flatly. "Snuffed it six years ago, give or take."

"How do you know?"

"It was something Remus saw fit to mention," he said, then added, waving the idea away as though it were a foul odor, "He probably spotted her eulogy in the paper or something."

"Bet it was short," she commented and chanced a sly look and grin in his direction. He looked surprised at first, but when he saw her grin, a grin of his own slid up his face and settled in for the long hall as he started to laugh. His bark of a laugh rang in her ears for several minutes afterward, but she loved every moment of it.

"Now we really ought to be going," Sirius said after he'd calmed down. "Or we'll wake the dead, and I'd really rather avoid that." Renee wondered what he meant by that and then remembered that the Black family cemetery took up the back half of the yard.

Sirius gave Buckbeak a final pat, changed to Padfoot and, tail swishing madly behind him, ran along the path and out of sight. Renee secured Buckbeak's chain around a tree, honored him with an appreciative smile and bow and followed Padfoot's loping steps.

They arrived back at her front door without any incident. Before turning the key in the lock, however, she turned to the canine and informed him, "Now, Padders. You do realize that this means that it is now well passed bedtime for a certain black-haired 'Bonzo.' Don't look at me like that," she added, as his tail ceased its wagging and he sent her a look of deep annoyance. "Whether you appreciate my terminology or not, you are going to bed, and I don't care what time of day it is." He gave a heavy dog-ish sigh and skidded through the doorway the instant it was opened far enough.

Renee closed and secured her door behind her and turned round to face Sirius. He was treating her to a mock-glare for which, she thought, he ought to invest in a patent.

He tried to start a protest, but she stopped him with a hand and an insistent verbal cue, "Ehnt! This isn't up for discussion. Get." She shooed him down the hall and led him to a door. "You can sleep in here," she said as she opened it.

"Isn't this your old room?" he asked with genuine curiosity.

"Yes, but now it's the guest room," she offered, while he viewed the basic furnishings.

"I just have one question," he insisted as she started to walk away. "What are you going to be doing while I'm asleep?"

"I don't know," she answered honestly turning back around. She thought for a second and continued, "I'll probably go back to bed myself. I'm not fond of starting my day at three a.m."

True to her word, Renee went to her bedroom and attempted to fall asleep - not bothering to change out of her jeans - but a nagging doubt in the back of her mind kept her from doing so. It took her several minutes to realize what it was. "He led the witness," she thought, her eyes springing open in horror. "He told me exactly what I was supposed to see in that newspaper picture before I saw it. Of course, I saw Wormtail! I was expecting to." She felt like such a fool. And yet...

She got out of bed and searched the pockets of the pajama pants she'd worn earlier for the bit of parchment she'd stuffed in there on her way to the attic. She found the note first, pocketed it for further examination later, and then found the picture. She took it back to her bed, flipped on the lamp on her nightstand, and studied the image once more. There he was again: the rat she'd seen a million times before. Was it possible that this boy's pet rat could simply be Wormtail's double? Could there be another rat out there exactly like him in every detail, from the slightly darker grey grease-mark that went from the bridge of his nose to his left ear to the missing right front toe? She had to admit to herself that, no matter how unlikely or implausible, it was entirely possible, and the idea had her insides clenching into a tight knot of dread.

She set the clipping on her nightstand and pulled out the note that seemed so very much like it had come from Remus. It had even been sealed with one of the wax stamps Alex had given him as a Christmas present in their third year. A smile crossed her face as she remembered the looks on their faces when he opened them. That had been the moment Renee had realized they liked each other. Though they both adamantly denied it for three additional years, the memory was indeed priceless.

There was no way Remus would have let Sirius anywhere near those stamps... Unless, he trusted him. That settled it! She had to contact Remus. She pulled out her wand and, addressing her message to Remus Lupin, she thought of all the questions that were buzzing around in her head. "Sirius is here. Did you really write that note? Is Sirius really innocent? Is Peter really alive? How can you be sure?" She forced her mind back to the memory of that Christmas long ago when they'd all been together and happy, exchanging presents in the common room, and muttered, "Expecto patronum." A shining silver version of her own animagus form burst from her wand, landed softly on the floor on the far north side of the room, leapt - at an angle that could just as well have been straight up - with all its might, and disappeared into the ceiling.

That done, Renee got up again and paced the room until Remus could have a chance to reply.

Fifteen minutes later, the already brightening room was again illuminated further as a familiar, brilliant, shimmering, silver cloud of mist entered from the same direction the tiger had left. It hovered in front of Renee at about wand level. As Remus' voice spoke from the midst of it, it flashed brighter in time with his speech. "Good morning, Renee. It's been a while since I've heard from you. How was Greece?" Renee rolled her eyes at this but smiled a bit as well. "Leave it to Remus to take all the stress out of the escaped-convict-in-the-house situation." And yet, if he was acting so unconcerned... She didn't want to get her hopes up.

"To answer your questions," the message continued, "Yes, thrice. Followed by, 'I saw him myself two nights ago.' I give you my word Renee that everything I wrote in that letter is true. Sirius is innocent of all the charges that have been brought against him. Although after Peter's escape, the only proof I have to offer you is the word of myself, Sirius and three teenagers: Harry and his two best friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. This, combined with the trust of Albus Dumbledore, may well be enough for you to except the idea, but the Ministry remains unconvinced.

"I am glad to hear that you didn't kill Sirius on sight. I sent the letter with him because I had my doubts about his ability to explain himself adequately to you.

"Take care, and tell Sirius, 'Hello,' from me. Your dear friend, Remus J. Lupin."

The light slowly faded as the cloud dissipated, leaving Renee standing alone in her bedroom once more, thinking, "Why does he always insist on using the 'J?' It's not like John is that interesting of a middle name anyway."

Now fully assured that her doubts had been unnecessary, she returned to bed and fell asleep immediately upon her head hitting the pillow.

Hours later, she was having a very strange dream. She was on the griffin reserve in Greece, a place she hadn't been for over a year but one she knew as a second home. She was working with Abeni, a young female leonic griffin - one with the front paws and legs of a lion instead of the more typical eagle talons - who was the only child of the reserves two best breeders. Her arrival had been long anticipated and, in the dream, she had earned several impressive injuries by getting into a paws-to-talons fight with one of the males closest to her age.

Somewhere in the middle of cleaning the wounds, Renee realized she needed the bathroom. She mounted her broom and flew to the tamers station, but when she got there the door to the women's room was closed with a sign on the door saying, "Out of order."

Feeling very desperate now, she turned to the men's door and found another sign:

"Ask for key."

She went to the front desk and begged the tamer on reception duty to give her the key. On returning to the restroom, key in hand, she opened it to discover that the toilet had been replaced by a fallen log. Cursing the infernal "woodsy" people who ran the place, she closed the door behind her and... Woke up.

She jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom as fast as her legs could carry her, her bladder screaming at her all the while.

After relieving herself of her body's most pressing need, she recognized the taste of cotton in her mouth, and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. While she walked down the hall, she thought to herself that the broad daylight that had been flooding her bedroom since she first started to drift into unconsciousness was going to make it impossible for her to do so again. In which case, she might as well call it good enough until nightfall.

When she reached the kitchen, she found Sirius holding open the refrigerator door and sticking his head in as far as it would go in a search for sustenance.

"Good morning, Sirius," Renee said from directly behind him.

He jerked his head up in surprise and, consequently, hit it hard on the roof of the refrigerator that also served as the floor of the freezer directly above it. He let out all the air he had in his longs in a single puff, and the icebox let out a low thunk as skull and plastic collided. He pulled back from the offending cold box and turned to face his assailant, while rubbing his aching head.

"Good morning," he muttered.

She rushed to him and attempted to inspect his head as she said, concerned, "Oh Sirius! I'm so sorry! Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he insisted wearily, while brushing her concernedly fluttering hands away from his rapidly swelling head. Renee settled back reluctantly with a look of pity she hoped he wouldn't reject. But Sirius, being who he was, avoided her eyes, closed the refrigerator door and stepped away from it till he had set his back to both it and her.

"Sirius?" Renee asked, cautiously inserting a note of curiosity in her voice. He slowly turned around to face her. Upon noticing her change of expression, he visibly relaxed. He could handle curiosity much better than pity. "What were you doing in there?"

"I was looking for something," he said evasively.

"What?"

"Something I could cook."

She snorted as she tried to restrain from laughing.

"What?" he asked, indignantly.

"You can't cook."

"I wasn't trying for anything difficult," he admitted.

"Sirius," she told him seriously, "You once nearly burnt down this house trying to make toast."

"Well, how was I supposed to know that darn fool muggle contraption works without tinder?"

Renee just shook her head.

"You ruined it anyway," he muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"You were supposed to still be asleep."

She gave him an inquiring look.

"I was going to bring it to you in bed."

Her look turned to surprise. "Wow Sirius, that's..." she thought for a second. "Nice of you."

"Yeah, I guess so," he agreed unenthusiastically. "I just thought, you took me in and believed me and all, so I should try and do something for you, you know?"

"Tell you what, Sirius." Renee said, testing. Sirius looked up at her. "We'll make it together. Sound good?" She gave him a bright smile of encouragement.

He smiled back, and, again, she noticed the blue return to his eyes for a second. "Yeah," he said, "That'll work."

After they finished the meal that they agreed to call brunch, Renee and Sirius found themselves sitting on opposite sides of the kitchen table lost for words and starring at each other.

Renee broke the silence, "Um, well we better clean up the dishes."

Sirius mumbled something that sounded as though it were to the affirmative and stood up. They gathered everything together and moved to the sink. Moments later, they found themselves on either side of a half-full dishwasher gazing into each other's eyes.

This time, Sirius was the first to speak, "Is there a reason you use this thing?" he asked, pointing at the strictly-muggle contraption below them, "Or is it just because it's here?"

"What? Oh! Uh, actually there is. It's far more convenient."

He gave her a 'Yeah right,' look.

"No seriously, I just put 'em all in there with some soap, shut the door, turn it on, and don't think about them again until their clean."

"You could charm them clean. That would be faster."

"Faster, but not more effective. You know me and my scurgify charms," she said with a shrug.

"Hmm," Sirius grunted. He reached in his pocket for something, and then, realizing the something wasn't there, he turned to Renee. "Do you suppose I could have my wand back?"

"Oh," Renee said, remembering that she still hadn't returned it. "Yes, of course." She pulled out her own wand and pointed it in the general direction of her bedroom, "Accio, wand." After a moment, it came flying in from the hallway. She caught it and handed it to Sirius, who took it gratefully.

Sirius turned back to the dishwasher and passed his wand over it in a grand sweeping motion, while saying clearly, "Scurgify." Instantly, the food residue vanished, the scent of antibacterial agent hung in the air, and every dish sparkled as though it were brand new.

"Wow, Sirius!" Renee exclaimed, "I think I'll insist that you stay here indefinitely, so you can clean my dishes for me!"

Her statement had been in jest, but Sirius sounded serious when he said, "I don't think I can stay very long. I'm putting you in danger being here at all. I should leave tonight."

Tonight? She thought, but there was so much more she wanted to ask him, wanted to tell him, and she hadn't even had that kiss she had mentioned yet! She shook her head and then desperately tried to think of a reason for him to stay that she could actually tell him. "No, you need a full nights' sleep, Sirius. That much is clear. I'm not letting you fly off across country on barely two hours rest."

"All right," he conceded, "But as soon as night falls tomorrow I need to be getting as far away from here as possible. I won't risk the Ministry catching you aiding and abetting for my sake."

She nodded, she could accept that.

"So, that means we've got about thirty-two hours to use up while we're together," Sirius said with a kind of forced chariness. "Got any ideas?"

"Well," Renee stalled as she pretended intense thought. "We could hang around in here," Sirius' expression dropped noticeably, "Or we could go to the school grounds." Before she could finish her sentence, he was all dog again and headed in the direction of the front door, barking and wagging his tail all the while. She laughed and followed him out the door.

They spent the rest of the morning and much of the afternoon reliving childhood memories. Renee raced Padfoot up the stairs and pushed him down the slide. Padfoot found a tree branch with which they played tug-a-war and fetch. Renee got on a swing and Padfoot chased back and forth after her on the ground. Padfoot bowled Renee over and licked her face, and Renee wrestled him off and scratched him behind the ears.

Despite the facts that the last time they had been on the playground neither one of them had been a dog, their time then had been tainted by the knowledge that it would end swiftly if Sirius' parents ever found out, and their time now was eaten away by the threat of the Ministry catching up with Sirius, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day. All through it, Renee laughed and joked and Padfoot barked and wagged his tail.

"Ah, Padfoot," Renee sighed, as she scratched the great shaggy head that was resting on her stomach as she lay in the grass of the ball field. "I wish you could stay longer."

He whined and thumped his tail once in agreement.

It was then that her stomach growled, and she made the suggestion that they return home for a meal she insisted on referring to as, "l'inner."

A while later, they were sitting together on her sofa, tuna salad sandwiches resting on the coffee table in front of them.

"Tell me again what this thing is that you're making me sit through," Sirius asked, showing how little enthusiasm he had for the idea.

"It's called a movie, Sirius. You remember those, right?" she teased, as she stood and walked to the entertainment shelf to find the video she wanted.

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I remember movies," he insisted. "I remember spending hours in Muggle Studies class with that wacko Professor Spellburg, 'gaining insight into the muggle awareness of magic' by watching old Bewitched episodes and fantasy flicks, which were, I might add, anything but accurate."

"Do you remember anything else about them?" Renee asked innocently, while removing the tape from its box and sliding it into the machine.

"No, not really. Why do you ask?"

"No reason."

"Hmm," he said suspiciously, but made no other comment. That is, until a fox Robin Hood and a bear Little John started walking through the forest together.

"I remember this!" He almost shouted it in his enthusiasm. From that time on, the screen held his rapt attention.

Renee smiled as she watched him. This was precisely for what she had been hoping.

Then the moment of full recognition dawned. Little John addressed Robin Hood, "Why don't you quit moaning and moping around? Just marry the girl." To which Robin responded, "Marry her! You don't just walk up to a girl, hand her a bouquet, and say, 'Hey, remember me? We were kids together. Wanna marry me?'"

"Stop the tape," Sirius insisted, standing up to get closer to the screen. Renee fumbled for the remote and hit the pause button. "Go back a bit." Renee hit rewind and play in rapid succession. Robin repeated his line.

"I remember," Sirius said in aw. "I remember as if it were yesterday." He walked back to his seat in a daze. "You did this on purpose so I'd remember, didn't you?" She grinned evilly at having been caught.

"What do you remember, Sirius?"

He turned to stare at her, as he said. "I proposed to you, right there in the middle of the movie, in front of everyone too: Lily and James and Alex. We were watching this movie with them, and it came to that line, and I thought it was the perfect opportunity, and I leaned over to you and said, 'Well, I don't have a bouquet, but will you take a ring?' and I handed you the one I'd been carrying around, and you... What?" He broke off because while he had been speaking one long shining silver track had been laid down her cheek.

"'Yes,'" she choked, finishing the story for him, "I said, 'Yes.'"

"Are those good tears, or...?" he never finished his question. All she could do was nod in answer. "Come here," he said quietly, and took her into his arms. "I've missed watching movies with you," he murmured.

"So've I," she agreed. "This one in particular."

He pulled back from her a little and looked into her eyes. His eyes shown a clear and startling blue, as though the heavy clouds that lingered there had finally parted to let the sun through. This time neither of them had any inclination to break the moment. It lifted and swirled around them and lost all meaning as a measure of time. Their kiss was long and sweet and gentle, something thirteen years in the making.

Eventually, they got around to finishing the movie, but neither of them paid it very close attention. It got so bad, that, about the time Skippy was shooting his arrow into Prince John's backyard, Renee had to ward off Sirius by snatching her sandwich, taking a huge bite, and saying through it in triumph, "There! Now I have tuna breath, so you'll have to find some other form of entertainment." To which Sirius responded by grabbing his own and saying, "Not if mine is worse than yours."

When it came time for bed that evening, they stood on the threshold to Sirius' sleeping quarters lost in each other and saying good night for an incalculable amount of time. Finally, Renee pulled back, whispered a last, "Good night, Sirius," and slipped down the hall. It was only just before she disappeared behind her door that she heard him say dreamily, "Good night, Renee."