A/N: Tada! A new chapter. Now tell me how much you love me. You know what that means... REVIEWS!

So I am at 98 reviews... As a nice little present to the person who gives me that 100th review. I shall do WHATEVER you want in the next chapter. You want a rave scene, it's there. You want to see Severus turned into a clown... well somehow it'll get done. I will be at your beck and call for a chapter. :) Well as long as it doesn't change the story dramatically... We'll see :) No matter if people don't like Harry and Draco, I'm not going to split them up...

Chapter 35

I was confused for a moment when I woke up the next morning to the sight of red and gold instead of my normal green and silver. Sitting up in the bed only made the confusion grow, because I realized that other then the fact that I was in a different bedroom, I was also naked in that room. A shifting to my side caught my attention.

Sirius was laying in the bed next to me on his stomach, and as completely undressed as I was. The sight reminded me exactly what had happened the previous night; my offer to spend the night, the acceptance, and the obvious end results of that.

And other then the realization that this was going to change things, there wasn't too much regret at what had happened. How could there be when Sirius happened to be absolute perfection in bed? My own lust for the man hadn't been for naught.

But my own physical desires for the man hadn't led to this happening. It had been my own need to try to at last help fix some of the problems he was having emotionally, and mentally. Hermione had been right in that regard, it seemed I was the only one here he felt close to. Whether this was another side effect of our connection, I don't know... but it certainly meant I had a role to fulfill in his life.

In fact I felt rather responsible for his current mental state. After all it had been me who had brought him back to life.

While I had been thinking all this through, my eyes had not left Sirius, who by now had woken up and turned onto his back.

"Staring at me with adoration after a night of glorious lovemaking then?"

I rolled my eyes, pulling the sheet up around my body for no other reason then to deny him the right of seeing me naked again.

"Sort of reminds me of when I first met you... at least the first time meeting you awake." Sirius sat up, stretching out his long limbs, completely comfortable in the fact that he was naked with nothing covering him.

My lips tilted into a smile of their own accord remembering that time. I had been standing in the middle of his room, naked, gripping a sheet tightly around me.

"Seemed so inevitable at the time that we would end up naked together in bed." Sirius laughed as I smacked his shoulder.

"Why are you always such a smug bastard?" I tried to sound annoyed, but instead I just had to laugh at him.

"Well I'm a smug bastard, as you put it, at the moment because I finally managed to get you to admit you like me by sleeping with me." He had leaned into me while he said this, his silver eyes moving down my body causing the familiar chills to go down my spine.

"Did I need to sleep with you for you to know I liked you?" I sighed but he just laughed, pulling away.

"For me to know you really liked me, yes."

I had always known Sirius was a physical being. To be loved meant to love each other in the physical sense. It was hard for him to realize that loving someone went beyond touching, kissing and sex. I had told him already that I liked him, but until I jumped into the sack with him the words meant nothing. This was likely nothing new either, not a side effect of the resurrection, but in fact just a part of his personality.

"Did you have a nightmare last night?" I decided the best choice was to change the subject before I moored myself in the depressing idea of what last night really meant.

The bright smile on the Gryffindor's face gave me all the answer I needed. Well other then fabulous sex, the night had accomplished something.

"It's time for breakfast..." I said, slipping off the bed, the sheet still wrapped around me, effectively shielding my body from view. My clothes were strewn around the room, suggesting the frenzy they had been taken off in last night.

"Can't miss that either..." Sirius was grinning, I didn't even have to see him to know he was. "After all we missed dinner last night. I'm sure the rumours are flying. Some people are probably green with envy..."

With my shirt over my head, I stopped dressing, a realization hitting me at that moment. A thought that had me twirling around to glare at Sirius who was still smiling brightly on the bed, in no rush to get dressed.

"You...You..." I shook my head, trying to get clear thoughts through it and into my mouth. "You're happy not because of what happened... you're happy because you think you won!"

A flicker passed behind his eyes before he controlled it.

"I'm happy about last night because I wanted it to happen." His voice was soft, controlled.

"That may be true..." My brows were furrowed. "But you're ecstatic now because you've just won over Severus. You know damn well what everyone is going to think after we didn't show up last night to dinner after going to Hogsmeade together. Even if you didn't realize it before, you do now, and you're happy about it!"

I was rather disgusted with the man at the moment, that he could be thinking of what had happened between the two of us as part of his little competition with Severus. Never did it cross my mind that was the reason why it had happened, but it was a happy little side effect in Sirius's mind.

It's always when you're in the mood to throw something that you find nothing at hand to accomplish this goal. It didn't really speak to my own annoyance at the man to bunch up the sheets that had only moments ago covered my body. But I would say he understood well enough my feelings toward him at that moment.

My own anger stemmed also from my horror that Severus would know about this...

Really I am not a brave person, so I almost decided to forgo breakfast completely that morning. Until I realized that my absence would cause further rumour speculation amongst the students, and likely the staff. The teacher who had such a good time she missed dinner and breakfast...

Never sleep with someone if you're not ready to accept the implications of the act.

When I stepped through the doors into the Great Hall, I thought that perhaps I had misjudged everyone. There was no immediate silence when I walked in for breakfast, no turning of heads, no gasps of surprise. Perhaps my absence from dinner had apparently not been noticed.

I wish...

Black eyes were colder then normal, watching me as I took a seat at the table. McGonagall's expression was disapproving. Tonks was grinning widely, wiggling her eyebrows at me. Next to me Irma nudged me in the side, an amused expression on her face.

"Did you have a good time in Hogsmeade?"

Groaning, I put my head into my hands. Small mercies were that Sirius couldn't make it to breakfast. He had a few wounds to nurse after all...

"Don't worry dear. No one really noticed..." At my sudden look, the old lady shrugged. "Well, most of the students didn't notice."

I kept my eyes on my plate, pushing the food around unhappily. My choices were starting to seem like bad ones lately. So spending the night with Sirius had seemed like a good idea at the time, but in the harsh light of the morning it was certainly anything but. Though granted, there was no dispute about Sirius's abilities in bed...

Soon after my entrance in the hall, Severus got up and headed out. Since I wasn't exactly hungry, or that desperate for the company of the other teachers, I got up quickly and followed him out. I chose to ignore the pointed looks I received as I did so.

"Severus!"

I managed to catch up to him outside his classroom.

"Professor Snape." He drawled out icily.

Oh he was annoyed...

"Severus..." I followed him into the dungeon classroom. "I'm sure you've heard some things..."

"I have a class."

I sighed heavily, pushing up onto a desk to sit and watch him as he moved behind his desk.

"You're not actually angry with me for sleeping with him are you?" I tilted my head, watching him behind his desk, messing around with some papers. At my question the shuffling paused, and his hands scrunched up the papers. "You are angry with me. If one didn't know better, one would think you were jealous of what happened."

"I am never jealous." His voice cracked, eyes staying fixed on the desk and away from me.

"Strange how your not jealous sounds jealous." I muttered. "You know I am not going to get into this with you. Try not to get too depressed about this."

"You slept with Black!" His eyes shot up, glaring at me before he seemed to recall that he was supposed to be calmer about this. "I'm not depressed. That's just disgusting. If you're in love with the man or what, I don't care."

"Oh for crying out loud. I don't love him. I just slept with him. You really need to remember that in today's day and age, one doesn't need to love someone to have sex. If you need to know the details though, I did it because he was breaking up, he was wounded and he wanted someone to be around when he woke up, to make sure he wasn't losing it."

For a moment Severus said nothing, just watching me as I got angry.

"Do you think perhaps I might care that the man is falling apart? Or that anyone would believe that excuse?"

I snorted in annoyance.

"It wasn't an excuse." I crossed my arms, narrowing my eyes at the hawk nosed potions master. "But truthfully enough it wasn't the only reason, no. Sirius happens to be extremely talented in bed."

Okay so now I was trying to annoy Severus. A little jealousy wasn't too much to ask.

The teacher across from me was starting to get a tick above his left eye as he watched me.

"Are you through?"

I slipped off the desk, sighing as I did so. There was probably no real chance that Severus was going to show any signs of jealousy. At the moment the only real emotion that he was going to show was that of disgust for me having the gall to sleep with Black.

"Out of curiousity..." I made my way around his desk with determination, keeping my eyes on him. "If I suggested that we had sex... what would you do?"

Shocked at my question, he had taken a few steps away from. I smirked at the movement since it indicated his unease with my suggestion and my nearing presence.

"Well I think that answered my question." I chuckled softly, though there was a note of bitterness to the laugh. At that comment his movement stopped, seeming to try and appear calm and collected.

"I actually had something to discuss with you." I leaned back against his desk.

"And here I thought you just wanted to rub sex with Black in my face." His face twisted unpleasantly, likely at the mention of Sirius and sex in the same sentence.

I laughed again completely amused at his discomfort with that whole subject matter.

"No rubbing was intended." I shook my head. "Actually, last night..." When his tick appeared again I hurried on. "While we were still in Hogsmeade, Sirius and I discovered something. Apparently our connection isn't just a distance thing. We can feel strong emotions and pain from each other. In fact I've been having nightmares frequently over the past two months, and it turned out that they were Sirius's. That's actually the reason I stayed the night with him..."

Severus regarded me with a slight amount of interest at the description of the problem.

"It never occurred to you that this was possible?" His voice dripped with a certain sarcastic amusement.

My nose wrinkled up displeased with Severus for pointing out my mistake, and with myself for having missed the possibility.

"Most magical connections result in the people involved sharing emotional connections along with the physical. Though usually the people involved don't necessarily have sexual relations upon finding this out."

"You're starting to sound jealous again Sevvie." I frowned at the man. "I didn't sleep with him because we share pain."

"I apologize. You slept with him because you're in love with him."

"I am not!" I pushed away from the desk, taking a step toward the dark haired man, who was at that moment taking a step away from me. "Just because he's good in bed doesn't mean I love him. It is a modern time where women can sleep with guys for a purely physical reason. Right now I could sleep with you. It wouldn't necessarily mean anything. After all you don't give a shit about me do you?"

He opened his mouth at this last question to answer me, but instead he closed it, choosing to scowl at me instead.

"Mr. Montgomery hasn't done anything unusual. He's a normal eleven year old student." He changed the subject on me.

I sighed, leaning back against the desk again. What had I really expected, a fierce denial about him not giving a shit about me?

"Well actually I am very happy to hear that. Contrary to what you might think, I actually like the kid. Sirius hates him. He loves Kerstan Faust though."

"Of course. One's a slytherin, the other's a gryffindor. Personally it's the other one I don't trust."

I blinked at him. Out of the two boys, Kerstan didn't really seem the one anyone would ever be distrustful of. He was happy, and open. The fact was that if you asked him his deepest, darkest secret he would likely tell you without a second thought. It was a bit confusing for Severus to not like him. Sirius's dislike of Cain was likely due to his house, but for Severus. He didn't usually mistrust based on house placement... though no one would deny that he gave more benefit of the doubt to his own house.

"What reason do you have to not trust the boy?"

He frowned, appearing to think hard about what he was going to say to answer the question.

"He's too happy."

A brief moment of time passed before I burst out laughing, an act that was certain to gain me a scowl but I couldn't care at that moment. I was too busy being bent over with the laughs racking my body.

"You are not a happy person are you Sevvie?" I sighed,straightening up and calming down my laughter. Just as I thought the man was busy scowling at me. "Are you dreadfully mad with me for sleeping with Sirius?"

"No."

I furrowed my brows, trying to figure out if he was telling me the truth or not.

"You're lying to me." I grinned, finally figuring out the man's only real tell. When he lied, his nose actually twitched slightly. It wasn't really noticeable, but I had been trying to figure it out for quite a while, after all it was rather important to me. "Your nose twitches when you lie. Did you know?" I pointed at the offending appendage. Severus pushed my hand away, looking uncomfortable with the idea of someone having discovered something as important as his lie detector.

"I am only mad because of who you slept with, not that you slept with him."

"Right, so I am just caught in the middle of the Black/Snape feud then? Sirius is overjoyed at having had sex with me since he thinks it made him the winner. And you are angry because you think it made him the winner as well. One question."

He looked a little wary of me, but nodded to accept the asking of the question.

"Have you found the horcrux yet?"

"No. I'm still checking the Slytherin common areas..."

"Fine." I walked back around the desk. "I think I am going to stay away from you and Black. You can find something else to include in your feud. Now I am going to spend as much time as possible solving my own problem so I can get away from both of you!"

"Aine..." Severus actually started to move around the desk, looking almost contrite about things but anything else he might have said were cut off by the arrival of the students for his first class of the day. Not wanting to have them think anything amiss, his face set itself into his usual mask of stony indifference.

Pausing for only a moment, I quickly retreated out of the potions classroom, heading to my own rooms. Perhaps slamming the door hadn't really been necessary.

I had the best intentions the night before but apparently I had been the only one. Sirius had enjoyed himself, yes, but more important were the effects the act had on his feud with Severus. He had never been overjoyed that I liked the Potions master, and this was a quick and simple way of winning.

And as for Severus himself... well he didn't have me in his bed so that wasn't going to be a notch on his belt. The thing was that he wasn't unhappy that I had slept with Sirius, he was unhappy that it was Sirius that I had slept with. If I had decided to jump into the sack with Professor Flitwick, that would have been fine, hell he wouldn't have even cared if it was Voldemort in my bed, but Sirius? Well that just went against the grain.

Both men were certainly off my Christmas lists.

The entire event had decided me on the issue of work relationships.

After my class that evening, I chose to avoid dinner. After all it would have been entirely uncomfortable dealing with both Sirius and Severus. The former preening, the latter scowling. For a brief moment I missed the obnoxious attitude of Matt. Thinking about the man made me remember that he was dead, a death for which I happened to be the cause. It adequately managed to calm me down about the deadly triangle I had involved myself in. Instead it made me remember that there were bigger, more important things to deal with. Like having a psychotic, powerful, dark wizard on the run who happened to enjoy killing poor defenseless muggles, some of whom happened to share a relationship with me bringing to mind the possibility that he may or may not have been after me.

"Aine?"

I winced hearing my name, expecting to see Sirius or Severus waiting outside my rooms, instead I relaxed seeing only Hermione standing there, apparently waiting for me. I relaxed though, until I remembered that she was friends with Sirius, so she could be there to berate me on my choice of sleeping with him, or possibly congratulate me. She might even expect further things from me in relation to the man. If she thoughy one night... one really fantastic night... of sex was going to end in me marrying the man, then she had some bats flying out of her belfry.

"Hermione, as pleased as I am to see you... It's late, I'm tired and no I am not going to marry Sirius just because I slept with him!"

"You slept with Sirius?"

I sighed, deciding that perhaps I shouldn't always blurt things outloud under assumptions, because more often then not the assumptions are wrong and all you accomplish is what you were trying to avoid.

"I was kidding." I moved past her, opening my door. There was no surprise when the witch entered my room after me. At least she was nice enough to close the door after herself.

"As thrilled as I am to hear that, and as worried as I am that you seem unhappy about it... That's not why I'm here. Have you heard about the theft at the London museum?"

I spared a moment to be thrilled that she was here on business, before remembering that the business was not one that anyone should be thrilled about.

"Yes. I have a student who adores everything muggle, she keeps up with the newspapers. She told me about the theft since she thought it was odd. She doesn't know much about muggles if she thinks stealing things is odd. We do it all the time."

"She's smarter then you then."

I frowned at the witch, never pleased when anyone insinuated that I wasn't intelligent. So I wasn't smart enough for Ravenclaw, but I wasn't an idiot. I was a professor at NYU for crying out loud! Did people in this country not understand that you had to be intelligent to work there?

"You might have taken an interest if you knew what was stolen."

"The article didn't give a list of things. If it had been anything really important it would have been mentioned. If it was something important to the wizards, there would be a hell of a lot more aurors at the school now then just the one." My foot was tapping now. It had been a rather difficult day, and I wasn't really in the mood for 'guess what the muggle stole'.

"Well they don't know what they're looking for I'm sure." She pulled a piece of parchment out of a pocket in the jacket she was wearing. "You're supposed to be an expert in rituals and the such aren't you? As much as a muggle can be of course. Do you think you could look at this and tell me if there's anything odd?"

I grabbed the parchment away from her, more annoyed at her suggestion that a muggle would know less about rituals then a witch like her. After all it had been a muggle who had resurrected Sirius Black. She had never come out and said it, but I knew well enough that Hermione knew what had happened, if not the exact hows or whys.

My eyes skimmed the paper quickly, uncaring about what kind of artwork had been stolen from a museum. I stared though at one of the things listed, my breath catching in my throat.

"Is something wrong?" Hermione moved closer, placing a hand over my own holding the paper. "Do you recognize something?"

Gaining my control, I pushed the paper back into her hand, smiling slightly.

"I'm just shocked at the gall someone had to steal all of that. It's all worth a fair penny."

Not surprisingly, the brunette witch didn't seem to buy my story, watching me closely but I kept the smile on my face. After a few more moment, she sighed and put the parchment back in her pocket.

"If you think of anything let me know."

"Is this even part of your job?"

"I need to make sure that this isn't connected to the NYU break in. It's my job to keep an eye on these sorts of things, yes." Her eyes narrowed on me, causing me to worry what the next thing she was going to ask. All I could hope was that she wasn't going to push me about the things that had been stolen. "You slept with Sirius?"

I groaned, dropping onto my couch.

"It was partly your fault you know. All that talk about him being wounded, and broken..." I tugged on a lock of my hair, frowning up at her. "He looked depressed, and he was having these nightmares so I offered to spend the night with him. Big mistake that was."

She sat down next to me, her lips pursed. "You didn't have to sleep with him..."

The look I gave her caused her to smile slightly.

"Sorry... Even though I am married, I realize that it is Sirius Black. Highly unlikely he would let a girl sleep with him, without... other things happening." She gave me an apologetic smile.

"Exactly. The other things weren't the problem either. It's the after effect that is. He's all proud of himself. It's like he bagged himself the biggest fish. I half expect him to dangle me upside down and take pictures with me."

The image caused Hermione to laugh softly, before covering her mouth at my heated glare.

"Then of course there's the fact that he keeps rubbing it in Severus's face." Upon saying his name outloud my annoyance grew. "And that man. He doesn't even seem to care that I slept with another man at all. He just cares that it was Sirius. He can't stand the man. I expect if Sirius were to sleep with Irma he would be outraged."

"You haven't slept with Professor Snape have you?" Hermione's eyes were wide, and she couldn't hide the disgust that crept into her voice.

"No. But I can'tt really say I wouldn't..." My voice trailed off at the discomfort in the other woman's face. It was never easy to hear about one of your teachers and sex, especially your least favourite one.

"Well not to sound biased... but Sirius is a better choice."

This comment made me huff softly.

"No offense Hermione, but no he's not. I like Sirius, he's a great guy and hopefully after I cool off after this, we'll still be friends. But he's not really cut out for any serious relationship."

This didn't seem to dissuade the girl since she was smiling at me. Granted it was hard to convince someone that you didn't like a man, not after just admitting that you had sex with said man or that he was a great guy. Great guy + great sex... well it usually adds up to a relationship.

"Well I need to get back to Ron. Never am sure if the house will still be standing or not..." She pushed off the couch. Being the dutiful hostess, I got up as well and walked her over to the door. "Really, if you think of anything about any of those things that were stolen, let me know." She smiled and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. "And don't be too harsh on Sirius. He's not really sure how to show affection except through physical means. You will have been the first girl he has had sex with since before Azkaban... that's a very long time. It means something..."

I didn't answer, and she left.

I knew well enough that I meant something to the man... Well I was going to forgive him. Though he deserved a few days of hanging in the breeze. There were far more important things to deal with though, far more important.

"Sirius!" I burst into the Gryffindor's room without so much as a knock. Part of me was half disappointed that he was calmly sitting on his couch reading a book instead of half naked playing twister. It was really a ridiculous thought since who plays twister half naked on their own? Though frankly the idea of him reading for pleasure was slightly ridiculous as well. I had an itching suspicion that the book was likely not a great work of literature...

"Aine. Are you finally speaking to me again? You've done a rather wonderful job of avoiding me all day, I'd hate to see you ruin it on purpose."

I waved off his bad humour.

"I have to speak to Harry. Now."

His head tilted as he looked at me, before he stood up, pushing some hair out of his face. It was hard not to stare at the movement of his hair or his hand, but I managed to look firm and in control.

"You can use the fireplace."

After doing some things that I am completely incapable of doing, Harry's face appeared in his fire, looking a little tired. Not strange considering the time of night really.

"Sirius... I was a bit busy."

"I don't need to know doing what." Sirius's lips twisted unpleasantly. There was no doubt as to what he was imagining in his perverted little brain. "Aine said it was important, so don't blame me."

I moved to the fireplace quickly, dropping onto my knees in front of it.

Speaking to a face in a fire is a very odd thing indeed. Unlike in the movie versions of the books, it wasn't a face in the coals, but was actually more of a free floating head made out of the flames. It sort of just floated in space, bouncing about like flames tend to do. Now the fire head of Harry was looking a little tired. He had off his glasses, his eyes in the flame drooping shut, staying open only to wait for me to tell him what I had to tell.

"Hermione visited me tonight. She had heard I knew something about rituals and artefacts I suppose. So she wanted me to look at a list of things stolen from the London museum. I assume you know about that. I didn't tell her anything, because frankly I'm wary of her involvement in all this. I told her I didn't recognize anything, but that's not true. There was something on that list." I paused and took a deep breath.

The fire version of Harry was now wide awake, and now had on his glasses. There was concern etched on his face mostly for Hermione's safely in all likelihood. He had tried hard enough to keep her out of this, and without any say in the matter she had jumped right in. Even if she didn't have a clue as to what was going on, she was inching closer day by day.

Suddenly Harry's head disappeared from the fire, and a rather ruffled looking Draco appeared. His hair was mussed, and there was a dark scowl on his face. I somehow suspected that Sirius's suspicions had been correct as to what Harry had been busy with.

"Would you just damn well tell us MacKinnion."

"It was a clag a bhais. Granted the museum apparently didn't know what to call it. On the list it just said, third century wooden cylinder covered in oghum alphabet. But I'm positive that's what it was. Who ever broke into that museum stole a death bell. Someone's planning on resurrecting someone."

Harry's head had appeared back in the fire. I wondered how Draco liked being pushed out of the way, but the serious look on the golden boy's face wouldn't have brooked any argument on the matter.

"Weren't there other things stolen?"

"Sure, but nothing important. In all likelihood they were just stolen to cover up the intended target. People would have cared if one thing was missing, but a bunch just sounds like random theft. And as I now know, you wizards really have no clue what you're looking for."

The face in the flames grew quiet and thoughtful. Behind me Sirius had seated himself, glancing back at the man and he looked sick to his stomach. Whatever ideas were running through his head were not pleasant ones.

"I had you resurrect Sirius because you were the only one who could." Harry spoke softly. "Therefore, if Voldemort had plans on bringing his body back to life he would need you..."

I swallowed hard, thinking of the break in at NYU. Apparently I had been the intended target. They needed me and the clag a bhais. With one thing now in their possession, they only needed the second to achieve their goals. I really hated being the one thing standing in the way of what they wanted. It was a daunting position.

"Aine..." I blinked up, now looking at the aristocratic features of Draco. If it was possible, even he looked worried. I hoped it was at least partially on my behalf. "Are you sure no one else knows how to perform the ritual?"

A moment's thought brought me to nod in response. It was certainly true that no one that Voldemort would know of would be able to perform the ritual. There might have been some people around the world who knew how, but they weren't telling anyone. The person I had learned from had been the owner of a small grocery store up in a little village in the highlands of Scotland. She was now dead. This kind of information wasn't something people boasted about. Unless Voldemort decided to interview every person, he was unlikely to find anyone. Not to mention why bother looking for someone, when he already knew of a person to perform it.

"He can't just do what he did before to gain a body?"

"We destroyed all the bones of his fathers..." The floating head of Draco seemed to shrug. "It looks like your it. Don't worry though, Hogwarts is perfectly safe."

I snorted at this comment. If there had been one thing I had learnt while reading the books, it was that no matter how safe anyone thought the school was, it wasn't. Death eaters pretending to be teachers, mean ministry officials, all out fights in the hallways, and even the appearance of Voldemort himself in the school didn't speak too highly for it's security.

"It'll be fine..." Sirius's arms circled around my waist from behind, pulling me back against his chest. As panicked as I may have been, I couldn't deny that there was a sense of security being held in his arms, and I calmed down a bit. In front of me in the fire, Draco was smirking.

"Glad to see you two are getting along."

Quickly Harry pushed his way back into view, glaring off to the side to what I had to assume was Draco.

"Just be careful. I'll look into things. And if you see Hermione again, make sure you keep her out of all this."

I rolled my eyes, since our first meeting pretty much all I had been doing was trying to keep the witch out of things. Especially my things. Not surprisingly though, Hermione had her own idea about what she needed to know.

"Good night. I'm sorry we interrupted anything."

Harry smiled at this.

"Nothing important." At this we could hear a mutter of indignation come from Draco off on Harry's side. "Don't worry. Everything really will be fine. Just find me that horcrux."

The flames flickered down, now settling back into to a natural fire.

"I really won't let anyone hurt you." Sirius said with conviction behind me, his breath warm on neck.

And I believed him.

I turned around in his arms, kissing him soundly on the lips. Partly in gratitude for the reassurance, and partly just because I wanted to.