Gideon was more than true to his word. Sadie suddenly found it nearly impossible to so much as walk between classes without his company, and he even refused to go to bed until he had seen her disappear safely up to her own dormitory. They'd had quite the heated argument over whether she would be sleeping with him from then on or not, but he had ultimately given in when she had assured him that she and the other girls in her dorm would be a force to be reckoned with on the miniscule chance that anyone tried to attack them in their beds. He still seemed reluctant to let her out of his sight, and he was always waiting for her in the common room when she came down first thing in the morning.

At first, his newfound concern had felt incredibly sweet and romantic, and it was certainly a nice change from his earlier behavior. However, after several days of this, Sadie was growing more than a little bit annoyed. His protectiveness was bordering on controlling; he would scold her any time that she tried to go anywhere without him, and he seemed particularly intent on keeping her from ever being too close to Sirius. Sadie imagined this had to do with the position he had found them in the morning after she'd been attacked. The problem was, she didn't feel that she could really get angry at him for this because the fact was that she did have feelings for Sirius. She was trying to forget about him, truly, but that was much easier said than done. She felt so guilty about it sometimes that it made her nauseous. The only reason she was alive was because Caroline Prewett had wanted her to continue to make her son happy.

And then there was the added fact that Gideon still didn't know the full circumstances under which his mother had been killed. Sadie knew she was being cowardly, but she still felt guilty enough as it was about Caroline's death without Gideon also blaming her for it.

By the time her birthday rolled around, Sadie felt as though she was once again on the perpetual verge of an emotional breakdown. She missed Sirius and her other friends, was about at her wits end with Gideon, didn't feel as though she could break up with him, and still had regular flashbacks to Christmas Eve night. Add to that the stress of her upcoming O.W.L.s and the trapped feeling from Gideon's controlling behavior, and, well, Sadie was not much herself at all.

On the morning of her birthday, she was startled awake by the sound of her dormmates shouting "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SADIE!" She squealed and tried to sit up quickly, got tangled up in her sheets, and tumbled out of bed, landing on the floor with a loud thump. Her friends laughed loudly and pounced on her, whacking her repeatedly with pillows. Sadie shrieked and struggled to disentangle herself from her bedding, but it felt like an age before she was finally able to scramble away from the other girls and grab her own pillow to join in the fight.

Only when they were all completely exhausted and breathless from both laughter and exertion did they finally collapse in a heap on Sadie's bed, still struggling to contain their giggles. They finally managed to calm down after a couple of minutes until Marlene grinned.

"It's a good thing the boys can't get up here. Can you imagine the looks on their faces if they had walked in on us all having a pillow-fight half-naked? I'll bet James would die and go to Heaven right then and there." And the giggles erupted once more, especially as Lily tried and failed to look completely disgusted at the thought.

"Well, according to Sirius," Sadie began slyly. "It would only be returning the favor. Apparently, there was an incident right before break involving Lily, a visit to the boys' dorm, and my brother in a bath towel?"

Lily looked as though she could have fried an egg on her face as the other girls gaped at her with open mouths. "How have you not told us about this?!" Mary yelled.

"Must have slipped my mind," Lily sniffed. "It's not like it was anything to get excited over."

Sadie smirked knowingly but didn't say anything. Sirius had said that Lily hadn't been able to look away from James. He could have been exaggerating, but Sadie had her own suspicions that her friend felt more than disdain for her brother. She was, however, happy to let things run their course. She was sure they'd get there eventually.

"Presents!" Alice suddenly shouted, and the other girls leapt to their feet excitedly. Sadie grinned and sat up as they each grabbed a gift off of their nightstands and hurried back over to her. Within a few minutes, Sadie had opened a package of her favorite Honeydukes sweets from Alice, a book on Herbology that had only been released the month prior from Lily, a lovely purple headband from Mary, and...

"Marlene!" Sadie squealed as she peaked into the gift bag the blonde had just handed her. She reached inside, cheeks burning, and slowly pulled out a lacy, pale pink, barely-there bra and thong set. The other girls erupted into giggles, and Marlene grinned.

"Look," she started. "I don't know how close you are to having sex with Prewett or anyone else, but that's not the only purpose for those! Just wear them when you need a little confidence boost. Trust me, it works wonders. Even if no one else can see what kind of underthings you're wearing...you know you look like a sexy little minx!" Sadie blushed further but grinned in spite of herself. "I thought the pink suited you better than some of the blacks and reds that they had."

"They really are pretty!" Mary gushed.

The girls continued to giggle and chat until Lily glanced at the time. "Merlin, we've got to get down to breakfast! Besides, I'm sure there are several boys who are anxious to see you, Sade."

Sadie forced a smile. Gideon would surely be waiting for her down in the common room as usual, but she assumed she wouldn't be able to see much of her brother or other friends until that night after everyone had gone to bed. It was tradition. On each of their birthdays every year, they would all meet in the boys' dormitory to open presents, eat treats, and play games until they all passed out. She was especially grateful for the tradition this year, given that she figured Gideon wouldn't give her much of an opportunity to hang out with the boys during the day.

Sure enough, when the girls walked into the common room, Gideon looked up an immediately beamed at Sadie. He strode forward and kissed her hard, whispering, "Happy Birthday."

Sadie smiled and glanced over his shoulder to see James lounging in one of the armchairs, the other boys crowded around him and laughing loudly. She thanked Gideon and pressed a kiss to his cheek before sliding around him and throwing her arms around her brother's neck from behind.

"Happy Birthday, Jamie," she sang, releasing him and moving to perch on the arm of his chair. The boys grinned at her.

"You too, Sade!" James sat up straight so that he could ruffle her hair. Sirius leaned forward and touched her headband.

"This is new! From one of the girls?"

Sadie beamed. "Yes, Mary! Isn't it lovely?"

"It's very you," he grinned.

James wagged his finger at her. "Don't think this means you're going to get our presents right away! You know the rules!"

Sadie laughed. "I'm well aware. I'll be there. Wouldn't miss it."

An arm slid around her shoulders. "Ready for breakfast?" Gideon asked. Sadie cleared her throat and stood up.

"Sure thing. See you guys."

Sirius frowned as they disappeared through the portrait hole. That git was getting on his nerves lately. He had no reason to be trying so hard to keep Sadie from him and the other boys. She was completely smitten with Gideon. Everyone knew it.

That bitter thought was forced from his mind as James suddenly stood up, reaching a hand up to mess up his hair. "Evans!" He cried. Lily flinched and frowned at him. "Don't I get a birthday kiss?" Sirius rolled his eyes as Lily simply scowled at him and continued walking. James pouted and sat back down.

"You need serious help, mate," Remus shook his head.

James's head shot up. "Moony, you're a genius! Sirius! Help me!" Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Teach me your ways! You're a pro at picking up girls!"

"Except for the only one that actually matters," Sirius thought ruefully. Out loud, he said, "Yes, well, we can't all have my effortless good looks and charm, Prongsie." James just glared at him, and Sirius sighed. "Look, mate, I have a lot of experience with girls who aren't Lily Evans." He shrugged. "She's an enigma. I haven't got a clue why she isn't interested. Merlin knows I'd go there if we were both into that." He made a show of biting his lip and looking James over appreciatively. The other boys roared with laughter as James shoved his face away.

"Save it for my sister, you idiot!" Though he was smirking in amusement. The four continued to laugh and joke as they casually made their way down to breakfast. They had nearly made it to the Great Hall when Cynthia approached, twirling a strand of dark hair around her finger and smiling coyly.

"Good morning, Handsome," she greeted in a sultry voice, placing her hands on his chest. "Fancy finding ourselves an empty classroom?"

Sirius glanced at James. "Er...well, it's James's birthday..." But James waved a dismissive hand and winked.

"Go on, Pads. We'll catch you later."

And so, Sirius somewhat reluctantly allowed his girlfriend to grab his hand and pull him into one of their most frequented unused classrooms. Within moments, she had him pinned against the door and was kissing him heatedly. She was an extremely good kisser, and it should have been easy for him to lose himself in the encounter and enjoy himself thoroughly. Unfortunately, however, as was becoming more and more of a regular occurrence, he simply couldn't bring himself to do it. After a couple of minutes, he finally pulled away and looked at her regretfully.

"You okay?" She asked breathlessly.

"This...This isn't working..." Sirius told her quietly. "I'm sorry, I really wish..."

"This is about Sadie Potter, isn't it?" Cynthia's eyes flashed dangerously.

Sirius swallowed hard. "Look, you're an incredible girl, and I really have grown to care about you. You deserve to be with someone who can give you their all, and...I'm just not that person."

She looked livid, and Sirius was almost scared. "I have tried and tried." Her voice trembled with rage. "I have tried to keep your attention even as I've watched you pine over her constantly because I thought you must have at least been somewhat interested in me or else you wouldn't have asked me out. I figured you would get over her eventually. Well, you know what? You are so not worth it." She scoffed and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Screw you, Sirius Black. And screw her too." She shoved him out of the way and stormed out of the room, leaving Sirius to stare in miserable silence at the walls around him.

The last few students were trickling off to bed, and Sadie was waiting eagerly for one of the boys to come and tell her that they were ready to get started. She and Gideon were seated in front of the fire, and she was playing absently with the necklace he had given her. It was pretty, and she very much appreciated the gesture, but she wasn't much of a jewelry person. Still, it made him happy to see her wearing it, so wear it she did. They'd had a lovely day, but by now she was more than ready to relax and celebrate with her other favorite people.

Finally, Sirius came bounding into the room and grinned at her. "Ready?"

Sadie nodded enthusiastically. "I'll be right up!" He gave her a thumbs up and disappeared back up the stairs. She turned to Gideon to tell him goodnight, but he was frowning at her.

"What was that about?"

"Oh," Sadie smiled. "We were just all going to celebrate James and my birthday. It's what we do every year..." She trailed off, seeing that he still looked extremely unhappy. "Is...there a problem with that?"

Gideon hesitated. "Up in their dorm?" She nodded, and he took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm not sure how comfortable I am with that."

She stared at him in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"Well..." He looked her in the eyes. "What's going on between you and Black?"

Sadie's mouth fell open. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means that I walked in on you in his bed last week!" Gideon blurted.

"Yes, after I was attacked! What, do you think we were up there getting it on while I could barely move and we were surrounded by my brother and our friends?!"

"Well, why were you with him and not your brother? And the two of you seemed mighty cozy together."

Sadie's fists clenched angrily. "Sirius has been my best friend since first year! We're close friends! That's something you're going to have to learn to deal with, because that relationship means so much to me!"

"Yeah, well, I might find it a little easier to 'deal with' if there weren't rumors going around that his girlfriend walked in on the two of you shagging this morning!"

Sadie pushed this new and unexpected information to the back of her mind. "Rumors?! You're telling me that I can't celebrate my birthday with my best friends because of some stupid rumors?!"

"Well, are they true?!" He demanded.

"Of course they're not true!" She exploded, feeling more than a little wounded. "But it's real nice to see how much trust you have in me! Especially considering I've literally been with you since the moment I left my dorm this morning!"

Gideon glared at her. "Look, the point is, there have been some red flags lately, and I'm not comfortable with you spending the night in his dorm."

Sadie blinked back tears. "Fine. Whatever. I'm not much in the mood to celebrate anymore anyway. So thanks for that." She stood and marched furiously up the stairs to her own dormitory.

The room was already filled with the quiet, even breathing of the other girls, which Sadie was grateful for. She did not feel much like having to explain why she was crying to any of them. She sat on one of the window seats and took deep, shuddering breaths as she gazed out over the lake. After a couple of minutes, she had calmed down enough to see things with a bit more clarity.

It was not up to Gideon to decide who she spent her time with. She was not going to let him dictate her life. She stood up resolutely and wiped the tears from her face before creeping quietly back down the stairs. She peaked into the common room to see Gideon still seated at the couch, staring at a book, though his eyes weren't moving. With another jolt of fury, Sadie hurriedly snuck back upstairs. So, that was the game he wanted to play?

She pushed the window open quietly and glanced around to make sure none of the other girls had woken up before transforming into her animagus form. It was as though a huge weight was lifted off of her chest as she flitted through the open window and soared toward the other side of the tower. She came to perch on the ledge of another window and tapped the glass with her beak. She saw four faces turn and stare at her in confusion before Remus leapt up and hurried over to let her in.

As soon as she was inside, Sadie transformed back into herself and smiled stiffly. "Thank you. Sorry that took me a bit."

"What happened?" James questioned. "We went down to see where you were, and Prewett said you weren't feeling well and had gone to bed."

"Yes, well, he was mistaken," she answered, her voice clipped. She walked over and placed a silencing charm on the door. "Now, let's get this thing started, yeah?"

The boys glanced at each other uncertainly but agreed. Before long, they were all gathered around a pile of various pastries, bottles of butterbeer, and a game of Exploding Snap. Sadie was feeling completely at ease within minutes, and she refused to let her fight with Gideon ruin their night.

After a couple of hours, James glanced at his watch. "Alright you lot, where are my presents?"

The rest of them laughed, and everyone pulled packages out. James opened all of his first.

"Wow, Sadie!" He exclaimed excitedly as he opened her gift. It was a miniature Quidditch field with 14 players that would play Quidditch like Wizard's Chess. "This is incredible!"

Then it was Sadie's turn. She opened a large box of chocolates from Peter, a beautiful new set of quills from James, and a pretty little journal from Remus. Sirius then cleared his throat same handed her a soft-looking package. He looked nervous.

"Happy birthday, Sadie Mae," he said quietly. The other boys were eagerly trying out the new Quidditch game. Sadie smiled softly and took the package from Sirius. Tearing open the paper, she was hit with the most wonderful combination of smells she could have ever imagined. Somehow, it smelled like wet earth, cocoa, leather, and teakwood all at the same time. Breathing deeply, she pulled out a large, impossibly soft blanket. It was a very pretty lavender color with a white finch printed in the center. For a moment, Sadie could only gaze at it in awe.

"I'm sorry it's not perfect," Sirius mumbled. "I tried to find something like it to buy for you, but I couldn't find anything anywhere, so I had to make it myself, and I've never done anything like it before..."

Sadie tore her eyes away from the blanket to gape at him. "You made this?"

"Well..." He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah...Like I said, I couldn't find one to buy, so..." He shrugged helplessly. "I've been working on it since just after Christmas. Barely finished it last night. At first I thought that maybe I could just buy a normal blanket and charm it, but after some research...If you want the magic to last, you've got to sort of weave it in as you make it. It wasn't too difficult once I figured out what spells to use."

"You mean it's not just a normal blanket?" Sadie asked in confusion.

He laughed sheepishly. "Erm, no. I designed it to be sort of the ultimate comfort tool." Sadie continued to look baffled. "Well, I'm sure you've noticed that it smells like...well...whatever you find most comforting. I got the idea from Amortentia, and it will probably smell pretty similar. Besides that, it's got temperature regulating charms, and it should kind of wrap you up and feel like a hug. And...as long as I did the spell right... it's supposed to help keep bad dreams at bay..."

Sadie felt a lump rise in her throat. She carefully set the blanket down on the closest bed and walked over to wordlessly wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his neck. His own arms encircled her automatically, and he pressed his lips to the top of her head.

"Thank you," she was finally able to whisper after a moment. He simply tightened his hold on her, and they stayed like that until the other boys finally looked away from their game and began to tease them. They grinned good-naturedly and joined back in the fun and games.

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, Sadie used the invisibility cloak to sneak back up to her own bed. She wrapped herself up in her new blanket, breathed in deeply and, despite having to wake up only a few hours later, had the best sleep she could remember having in a very long time.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!

WindSongEnchantment: Haha YAS! That's what I like to hear! Yes, I'm getting a bit of whiplash from Gideon, and I'm the one writing it!

bluehairedraven: Gideon really is a good guy deep down. He's just dealing with some things right now. I feel like grief makes people a little crazy for a while. Thank you so much! It's always lovely to hear from you and know that you are enjoying things!