A/N: Sorry I've been gone so long. I just hit a point in this story where I had the plot outlined but I couldn't write the chapters. I started a new story in the King Arthur section, and started writing some poetry and short stories for a literary magazine at my school. Then today I came across the story and realized that my head was bursting with ideas and such for it. So, after a long hiatus, I should have a bunch of chapters posted up.

Chapter 25: Fires Go Out

"Owww" Sirius said as Gretchen threw him by the arm into the rough, stone wall. They stood together in the crevasse, stuck between two walls. Rubbing his arm, Sirius glared at Gretchen, whose eyes gleamed through the dark.

"I just thought I'd let you know that Peter Davies asked me to Hogsmeade, and that I'm going to say yes."

Sirius gaped at her, open mouthed.

'Didn't she know?' he thought. 'She must know.' Closing his mouth, he nodded briskly.

"Alight, then."

"Alright?" Gretchen's voice sounded wondering.

'Doesn't he know?' she thought. 'He must know.'

"Yea, have fun." He replied uninterestedly.

'Hear the bitterness!" he thought desperately, 'don't go out with that ponce!'

"Fine! I will!"

'Tell me not to go!' Gretchen thought, 'tell me not to go!'

But as they so often do, their emotions blinded them. In half a blink, Gretchen was walking swiftly down the corridor, her heart aching, leaving Sirius alone in the niche in the wall.

Sirius let out a defeated roar, punching the wall hard with one balled fist. As he stared at the crimson blood welling up and dripping down his fingers, Gretchen wiped the tears from her eyes, squared her shoulders, and approached Peter Davies.

- - - - -

Lilly and James strolled through the castle, arm in arm before heading back to the Head's Common Room. James sat on the couch first, as Lilly settled into an arm chair. Steeling himself, her turned to Lilly.

"Lilly, I've been thinking and I need to tell you something. Get it off my mind."

"Alright." She said, flipping through an issue of "Which Witch"

"Well, we've been dating for a few months now"

Lilly put down her magazine, looking at him questioningly.

"And I think you're beautiful, funny, and . . " he gulped, looking down at his hands, "and . . well,"

"is it getting warm in here?" she asked, before getting up to open the large, iron worked window.

"I love you."

Lilly stopped, her hand on the opened window.

"Oh, James." She said softly, casting her eyes to the ground.

He stood shakily from the couch as she walked over to him and reached up to touch his cheek. As her glittering emerald eyes met his, he saw that they were filled with tears.

"I'm sorry. I can't."

She ran to her room, swiftly entering and shutting the door firmly. James fell heavily onto the couch, not really realizing that he had sat down, and stared unseeingly into the fireplace.

As he felt a strange chill twenty minutes later, he blinked and realized that a wind from the open window had blown the fire out.