Hello hello, I am back with another chapter! The next update may take a while because I am in the middle of a semester and currently have papers to write. The next chapter will finally feature present-day Sirius in a bigger time jump.

Fun fact: It seems as though I named Eliza after Dracula's wife in Bram Stoker's Dracula, which also has Gary Oldman in it

Song of the Day: The Way that I Do by Durand Jones

"A penny for your thoughts?"

Eliza's father sat across her from her seat at the fire escape. He handed her a glass of coquito and patted her on the knee. "You've been very quiet since you came back. Normally you'd be baking something by now."

"I'm too sad to bake, pa," Eliza leaned her head against the wall. After a quizzical look, she elaborated.

"I told you in my letters."

"I have. The neighbours have been wondering about the owls," father said amused. "I told them I've been laying out traps for my newest magic trick." He reached behind her ear and produced a quarter.

Eliza rolled her eyes, but it was meant in an affectionate way.

"C'mon. What is it?"

Eliza pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped it arms around it.

"When…when mum married someone who was anti-muggle, how did you feel about that?"

Father crossed his arms and looked at the ceiling in thought. Eliza never talked about mother much with her father. They had written letters to each other, mostly about Eliza, but outside of that Eliza didn't know if they had talked to each other.

"The Rosier dude? Oh I couldn't give a damn about him," father said honestly. "For the longest time I held it against your mother that she married someone like that, but…seeing what she did to make sure you were always safe, I wondered if it was done out of necessity. Guess I'll never know now, right?"

It didn't help Eliza at all, so she let out a big sigh.

"What is it?"

"It's Sirius."

"It's always serious these days."

"That wasn't a joke, pa!"

Father smirked. "Just needed to see you smile. C'mon, what's wrong?"

"I talked to Lily's son yesterday," Eliza told him about the encounter and what it was like to show him all of the pictures. Her father listened intently, scratching his beard every once in a while in deep thought. "And I… I don't know. It made me think about what it would be like if all of those things never happened. You should have seen the kid's face when he told me he would rather live with me."

"Well, why can't you? I'm sure the Dursley's would gladly give him up from what you've told me."

"Dumbledore's orders."

"Dumbledore be damned," father crossed his arm and gruffed. "But what does this have to do with that – " her father said a vulgar word.

Eliza told him her suspicions, the way that things never added up properly. Her father knew those days well. It had taken Eliza two years to go back to the London, let alone take a step into wizarding world of the city. The closest that Cornelius Fudge had offered her was a small audience with Black in Azkaban.

But she had refused. She couldn't do it. She couldn't look him in the eye. She would have cracked.

Her father listened intently.

"I think," he said slowly. "I think you need to talk to him, if you ever get the chance."

"We won't get the truth if they suck his soul. That's what they wrote in the Daily Prophet. They will never let him talk," Eliza took out the newspaper that she had been sitting on and thrusted it into her father's hand. "I'll never know why it all happened."

Her father took out the glasses he kept in the pocket and read through the article.

"What kind of justice system is this that doesn't put people on trial?" he frowned.

"I tried, but they didn't listen to me. It never made sense to me that –" Eliza ran a hand through her hair in frustration. "He was so against his brother being a Death Eater. How could he betray them in the end? It doesn't make sense!"

Eliza accidentally hit her hand against the window and hissed.

"Sorry…it's been tiring. You've been hearing this for 12 years. I'm sorry."

But when she looked up, she didn't see a look of absolute pity. Father contemplated, a hand on his greying beard.

"Would it do you good if you got to talk to him one last time at least?" father questioned. "Even if it means breaking your heart again?"

"Yes," Eliza pressed her forehead against the window and looked down onto the streets. She saw cars slowly coming, the arrival of the muggle family Christmas brigade. "I…I think it would."

Eliza did her best to enjoy Christmas eve before going back to Hogwarts in the morning. It was the one thing she was good at besides healing and the only magic she did outside of the small things. So far, she had no need to use defensive spells on anyone nor did she need to jinx anyone into oblivion. It should stay that way.

"Ah, Eliza," Remus was already dressed, though he used a cane to support himself. "I was wondering when you would return."

"Hip?"

"Yes, you ought to teach me –" Eliza tapped his hip again and shrugged.

"If I told you how to do it, you wouldn't need me around. Besides, you're terrible at healing."

"I think you're right," Remus smiled. "I don't think I'll make it out for the food."

"I know the drill. C'mon, I got you some things –" There were a pile of presents in Remus' office. They looked through the presents that came from them. Eliza was surprised to see a tin of homemade minced pies that Molly Weasley had sent along with knitted gloves and a rubber duck in the shape of the Queen of England.

Remus pulled out his new sweater. "You didn't have to," Remus looked at her. "This – is this from –"

"Don't complain, it's rude," Eliza pointed out. The sweater was perhaps a little bit on the higher end, but it she hadn't given Remus anything for years.

"A complete lexicon of dark creatures in the Highland?" Remus looked at the book. "Oh this I could definitely use."

"What and the sweater not?"

"I've been so shabby all year the kids will notice."

"Let them," Eliza crossed her arms.

"I didn't get you anything big," Remus looked abashed. He nodded towards a present under the tree. "I found it at Hogsmeade when you were out."

Eliza pulled out the small packet that had her name scribbled in it. A hardcover of a complete translation of Ancient Mesopotamian Medicinal Magic fell out. Eliza's jaw dropped.

"Not anything big? This has been out of print for centuries!"

"It was half-price."

Remus was far too fragile for Eliza to give a big bear hug to, so instead she kissed him on the forehead.

"You are amazing. Do you know that, Moony?"

She noticed how his cheeks had turned red, making him look lively despite the pallor of the full moon.

"I'll save all of the pumpkin roasts for you."

"You don't have to."

"I will," Eliza insisted.

Professor Trelawney joined them for Christmas lunch, and so did Harry, Ron and Hermione. There seemed to be some tension in the air between the three. Eliza decided it was best not to interfere, but she was dragged into the conflict never the less.

Minerva walked up to her with a stern look on her face.

"Eliza, did you happen to gift Harry something for Christmas?"

"Yes," she shifted in her seat. Wasn't that allowed. "But why –"

"Was it a firebolt?"

"Goodness no," Eliza widened eyes. She had money, but not enough to buy a firebolt without any trouble. "Why?"

"Well, Ms. Granger was concerned and I thought it best to consult with you. She's worried that it could be from Black," Minerva frowned. "Tell me… you don't think you can look into it, do you? I'll have the firebolt. Flitwick and Hooch will check it for jinxes but it will be nice to know where it came from."

Eliza felt her hands go numb.

"I…, he…" Eliza did the numbers. Yes, Sirius could absolutely afford a firebolt because he was ultra rich due to his uncle. Besides, it wouldn't have made a big dent in the vault given that he didn't need the money for anything else.

How would he had ordered it?

Order forms were charmed in a way that the Goblins will know if the vault number belonged to the person who wrote it, Eliza thought. Maybe he put down a different name but put down his vault number.

But wouldn't the ministry be looking at it?

This is the wizarding world, Eliza realized. They don't think about money movements and Goblins don't care about the ministry of magic.

"I'll look into it," Eliza ran a hand through her dark hair. "I, uhm, I guess I could find out things. I have a contact or two from the Slug Club days."

"Thank you," Minerva looked at her in pity and squeezed Eliza's shoulder. "Are you doing alright?"

Eliza took a deep breath. "I'm fine, truly."

"If you need someone to talk to," Minerva started. "I'm right here."

She gave professor McGonagall a weak smile. "Alright, Ms. Minnie."

*

Christmas, 1976

Eliza decided to stay at Hogwarts. She did not dare go to Rosier's manor for Christmas, citing that she had too much to do. It had been slightly frowned upon by her mother, but she had understood nonetheless and expected her to come home for the summer.

"Everyone will be at the Black family dinner," Regulus had looked up from his book. Slughorn would have his Christmas dinner soon. Regulus made the decision to stay as well. "Are you sure we want to stay here with a bunch of… degenerates?"

She brushed off the dust that had landed on her dress robes. It was a nice blue with silver and gold embroidery.

"I'm more worried about what will happen over Christmas than anything else," Eliza closed the last button.

"The dark lord won't show up if that's what you are worried about," Regulus said absentmindedly. "I'm afraid my brother has done enough damage that it's up to me to fix it – you're done?"

"Yes," Eliza hooked her arm around Regulus. "Take it away."

She ignored the looks that were sent her way as the two walked down the corridors to a tent that was set up by the lake. Slughorn, after much prodding from Eliza, had taken interest in Regulus. Sure, he was from the ancient house Black but it didn't not escape Slughorn that Regulus would potentially join Voldemort. Slughorn was very much anti-dark wizard, but never mentioned it publically.

"He's a wonderful seeker. He plans on playing for England when he leaves school," Eliza had lied. "I'll bring him along once."

Regulus would need to know other people outside of death eaters, Eliza had decided. In a way it was passing him off as one trophy to another.

It was a rather drab party. There was food, there was music, there was a lot of talking.

"Lily, I want to get out of this dress as soon as possible," Eliza stood close enough to Lily for her to hear. She was aware that Regulus was watching her every once in a while.

"This is stupid," Lily argued. "Why can't you talk to me like a normal person?"

"You know why," Eliza hissed. "I can't…they can't know. They'll kill her for being a blood traitor. This is the only way I can protect mum."

"By marrying a bigot?" Lily glanced at Eliza. "Truly, how does that help the situation?"

"Outside of Hogwarts it does," she whispered. "Regulus wouldn't hurt a soul."

"That's what I thought about Snape," Lily's gaze darkened. "I swear. Lizzie, if you ever dare to say that word about me even in defence, it's over."

"I'll rather go to the grave."

"Great, now will you please face me?"

Eliza walked around. Every once in a while she'd talk to someone, but instead she found herself fishing for the pastries. When the air got stuffy, she walked out alone and out near the lake. She needed to see the moonlight on the water, the feel of the cold winter air against her skin.

She was tired. Really, what she wanted to do was kick up her feet and wear the cosiest pyjamas that exist. Her bun was already itching from being up so tight and it was all too heavy from Sleakeazy's hair potion. She scratched at her scalp.

"Psst."

Eliza jumped up.

No one was there.

"Pssstt, Shafiq!"

She grabbed her wand that she had stowed away in a compartment of her boot.

"Who goes there?" she demanded. "I know a hex or two, I can tell you that! Show yourself."

"Jeez, Eliz'. Black, you never mentioned how uptight she was," James Potter emerged from thin air and so did Sirius.

"What do you want?"

"We are here to party crash," James grinned. "But Padfoot here saw you laying around and wanted to know if you had finally called it off with his brother."

"I haven't," Eliza crossed her arm. "Doesn't concern him anyway. If you want to annoy Lily, I assure you that she's not in the mood. Snape has been running around all day trying to apologise to her again."

"I'll still try," James eyes gleamed. "See you on the other side, then!"

James was gone as soon as Eliza could bat an eyelash. She was alone with Sirius.

"Going to hex me?" Sirius asked. He nodded towards the wand that Eliza clutched in her hand.

"No," she put it away again. "Why are you still here?"

"When I asked you to keep my brother safe, I didn't say to put him in the hands on another lunatic."

"There are multiple people in the Slug Club," Eliza crossed her arms. "If he notices how brilliant a person can be even if they're not from a pureblooded family, surely he'll come to his senses."

"Please, Slughorn just wants him on a list of people he knows," Sirius accused. "I mean Evans is just a tick for his diversity box, isn't it?"

"Lily is the brightest witch of her age. Besides, if he's around Snape and Mulciber all the time –"

"Snivellus? Is he in Slug club?"

"Obviously not!" Eliza frowned. "But that's beside the point. It's better than nothing."

"Better than free will? He never asked to be in the Slug club –"

"What do you want me to do!" Eliza exclaimed. "You wanted me to keep him safe. I'm doing it as best as I can. We're both not going home this Christmas."

"How is that helpful?"

"It will delay things by a year," she reasoned. "Or at least a summer. The further he is away from your parents influence, the better I can…"

Eliza stopped. It did sound rather manipulative.

"The better you can manipulate him?" Sirius finished.

"Well then that just makes me a Slytherin, doesn't it?" she sat back down on the grass and didn't look him in the eye. She felt terrible. She hated it. All of it. She wanted to go back home to her father. Her life was easier when she was living in the muggle world. "What else am I supposed to do? I can't change him."

Sirius shrugged. "He could openly defy our parents, for one, but maybe that is too much. What's the Slug Club for you, anyway? As far as I know, you only plan on becoming a healer. You're not good at anything big except gossiping and hitting things."

Anger flashed through Eliza's body.

"What's it to you?"

"I just want to know, no harm in that."

She glared at him. She tried to look at any signs of contempt, anything that may make it seem as though he was angling for something.

"Muggle medicine," Eliza said finally. "I want to mix the two."

"Muggle medicine?" Sirius looked around before closing in. "What's a proud pureblood got to do with –"

"I'm not."

"Not what?"

"A pureblood," Eliza took a deep breath. "You'll be happy knowing I'm ruining your family line, so might as well."

It was a whole mess. Her mother married Rosier to save face and then lyed about where Eliza was growing up. Now that she was of school-age it was time for her to make her debut into world. And then, to hide all of the scandal, they arranged the marriage with Regulus. Eliza was fine with it. Regulus had been nothing but kind to her and never once let out a comment about her being friends with bloodtraitors, which felt like a conundrum when he had been friends with Malfoy. Maybe he thought she would grow out of it from the way he would stare whenever she was around Lily.

"I thought you just had a like for muggle things," he muttered. "But of course, it makes sense."

Perhaps it was the cold, but she felt a shiver go up her spine. He was extremely close to her, an inch closer and she could practically kiss him. He wasn't any bad looking. Perhaps he was a little bit more rough around the edges than Regulus. Eliza was not blind to his looks, but she would never tell him that. It didn't matter either way when all he did was leave a trail of broken hearts at school.

"I gotta go," Eliza whispered.

"Do you? It seemed like you came out to have a break."

"We can't be seen together."

It was too open. It was dark. Eliza struck out like a sore thumb with her blue dress robes. The two were hidden right behind a tree, exactly where Lily and Eliza would hang out to look for herbs in the water, so if anywhere anyone would come looking for her there.

Sirius pulled at the ribbon that was holding her hair up. Her hair brushed down as a hand tucked the strands of hair behind her ear. Heat rushed to her cheeks. He was too close.

No, this was an entirely compromising position. She couldn't really run if she tried.

But did she want to run? Maybe, just maybe, in this whole orchestrated soap opera, she wanted one moment that wasn't controlled. Perhaps Sirius only liked her because he was something that he couldn't have, or just the thought of her pissing of his family – or rather him pissing them off – gave him joy.

"The risk is what makes it fun, Shafiq."

He closed in and Eliza felt herself getting pressed against the tree. It wasn't the most comfortable situation to be in with the tree bark poking at her exposed skin. Sirius had snaked a hand to her waist as he deepened the kiss. She knew that her lipstick would be gone, disappeared in a smeared mess on their faces. She didn't know how long they were at it. It could have been merely seconds, it could have been hours. Her blood was pumping too much for her to ear anything, her senses were on fire.

"W-we should s-stop," Eliza said. It was the first coherent thought that came back to her head. Sirius did stop.

"Do you really?"

"No."

He went back in for another kiss, but was interrupted by someone calling out.

"Eliza?" Regulus was far away, standing at the entrance of the tent.

Eliza's eyes didn't leave Sirius as she moved away, wiping her lips. She waved a hand over her face, getting rid of any traces of lipstick and reapplying it. The ribbon got snatched out of Sirus' hand and went back to tying her hair.

"Coming," she called out. "I just needed some air, that's all."