A/N: It's finally here, you guys, the next chapter! I am baffled at the fact that this story has over 40 reviews, nearly 60 favorites and over 90 (!) followers! It makes me so glad to hear that you like my story, so please don't hesitate to continue to let me know. On another note, I am sorry this update has taken so long. I've been traveling and haven't had the chance to write, but I'll try to make it up to you with a few quicker updates now!

Aurelia Fawley was fuming. Of all the arguments she had ever had with her mother this was, by far, the worst. She had come back to Fawley Manor in good faith, seeing that her parents' letter had, in other words, said that they agreed to her terms. But naturally, as soon as she arrived at the bloody house, her mother had started throwing hexes and yelling at her about what a spoiled brat she was. By this point, she really shouldn't be surprised anymore, yet she still was.

"You think you're just brilliant, don't you? Making a bloody contract for us to agree to! When I was your age, I had already been betrothed to your father for four years. And I'll have you know that you're still underage and it is up to us to decide what to do with you!"

"So you'd marry me off to a rapist just because you had to marry dad when you were seventeen? That's rich, mother, really."

"Oh please, Aurelia. I did not raise you to be such a drama queen! I will not have you using such a vocabulary, and especially not when talking of Rabastan Lestrange!"

"That's right, you raised me to be a murdering blood purist, I must've forgot! Sorry to disappoint, mother. Now, you will agree to my bloody terms or so help me I will marry the first muggle I come across!"

"You treacherous little prat! I vow to Merlin I will…"

"Ambrosia," her father finally warned, interrupting his wife from where he stood in the doorway, having silently observed as he so often did.

"You are no better, father. To think that I actually trusted you!"

"I was only trying to protect you, dear. This war is coming whether we want it to or not."

"And having me marry Rabastan is your idea of protecting me?"

"We were obviously mistaken. We will agree to your terms, so long as you come back home."

"We will do no such thin…" Ambrosia refused, once again being cut off by her husband.

"Ambrosia!" he warned, a second time, managing to silence his wife, much to Aurelia's surprise. She rarely saw her parents argue like this, but when she did see them argue, it never played out the way it did now. Something was off. The way her mother grew quiet, not overthrowing her husband as the Malfoy she was… Yes, something was off, and Aurelia had every intention to find out what it was.

"You will marry a pure blood wizard, not a day later than your 21st birthday," the older witch bid, staring her daughter down, earning a small nod in response.

"Not a damn half-blood, not a blood traitor, someone appropriate."

"Yes, mother."

"Fine. You're moving back in right this instant and I do not want to hear any complaints."

"I will not be locked up in here like some house elf! I want permission to come and go as I wish."

"Of course, dear," Charles sighed, casting a quick, yet stern glance at his wife who remained silent at the notion.

"Alright, then I'll see you tonight," the girl bid quickly, hoping to get away without the refusal of her mother, in vain of course.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Ambrosia hissed, looking as though she was about to snap any second now.

"To see my boyfriend. And not to worry, mother, his blood is perfectly pure!" she spat out, before taking her leave.

She would've flooed to the Potter house, but seeing that such transportation would require her revealing her whereabouts (and possibly said boyfriend's identity), she uncharacteristically walked out the front door, and slammed it shut as she left.

Summer would be over in a blink. It always was; so, she could live with the fact that she would have to spend it at her parents' house. For once, she couldn't wait to go back to Hogwarts. There, she could be away from all the darkness that had infested her life. She could be alone with James, and she could drop the bloody act she had to keep up around her family and their friends. At Hogwarts, she had her own friends now. Friends who liked her for who she was, not for who they wanted her to be. Somehow, she felt as though this year, Hogwarts might become the sanctuary she had yearned for all these years; a home.

It didn't take long for the Knight Bus to arrive at Fawley Manor, despite its off location in the moors of Yorkshire. For a moment, she wished she was old enough to apparate rather than having to take the bus, something which she knew very well how to do, but technically wasn't allowed to learn just yet. But then she remembered the agreement she had just made with her parents, and she wasn't at all excited for her seventeenth birthday anymore. Because seventeen was one step closer to twenty-one. One step closer to her deadline; and it wasn't a pretty deadline.

While Fawley Manor was an undeniably handsome building, framed by beautiful scenery, the Potter house just oozed of home, which was a whole different kind of beauty. Words couldn't describe the relief Aurelia felt at being back there, and while her realism objected, she wished she could stay there for the remainder of summer.

A tall boy with messy black hair and rounded gold frame glasses came running out of the house at her arrival, nearly kicking her off her feet as he ran into an embrace. Her boy. Her boyfriend. Well, they hadn't exactly defined their relationship, and she had never called him that out loud before she said it to her parents just moments ago, but she knew what they were. That was all that mattered. She loved him, and he loved her.

"What happened, Lia?" he cried out, as he grabbed her shoulders and took a step back to inspect her face which, judging by the look on his face, was a bit roughed up.

"Mother happened," she replied calmly, placing her hands on his arms in an attempt to calm him down.

"Really, James, it's nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about? Damn it, Lia, you're bleeding!"

"It doesn't matter. They agreed to my terms, I'm not marrying Rabastan!"

"That's great, love. But we should really get you inside so mum can have a look at you, alright?"

As she nodded, he dropped his hands from her shoulders and led her into the house, where they were intercepted by its remaining three residents.

"Oh darling, you're bleeding!" exclaimed Mrs. Potter as she immediately pulled out her wand to start cleaning the cut on the pale girl's face.

"So I've been told," Aurelia mumbled, throwing an annoyed glance up at James. Truthfully, she was amazed at having these people care for her, but there was something about the attention, about the pity, that made her uncomfortable. She had never had anyone fuss over her like that, except for the very few occasions when her father had been home to witness her mother's many punishments. The way James and his parents were acting just now, it made her feel as though she should be pitied; as though she was a victim of sorts. And while deep down she knew she was a victim of her mother's harsh ways, she didn't appreciate feeling like one.

"Did they agree?"

Sirius voice cut like a knife through all the noise of worried voices, and inflicted a silence in the room. A much needed silence for the sixteen-year-old.

"They did. I've got five years. Or well, nearly five years. February 1982. But I have to move back in, at least until I'm seventeen."

"Move back in? Oh, hell no. You expect me to let you go back there when they throw bloody slicing hexes at you?!"

"It's not like it's a daily routine, James. It's their only requirement, and summer will be over in a blink. I'm going back."

"No, you're not."

"What do you want me to do James? Leave and never look back? Never see them again? It's like you don't know me at all!"

"Well, maybe I don't," the young wizard concluded, hazel eyes colder than usual as he turned his heel and decidedly walked up the stairs.

"James!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed in a harsh tone, following her son up the stairs in a rush.

"Don't worry, dear. He'll come around. I suspect Sirius here has a better idea of what you're going through than I do, so I'll take my leave. Let me know if you need anything, I've got quite the stash of pepper-up potion, or murtlap essence should you need it," Mr. Potter said with a kind smile before he too, left the hallway.

"He's just trying to protect you, you know," Sirius mumbled, in a brave attempt to break the silence that filled the hallway since the older wizard left.

"Yes, well, I've been taking care of myself for the past sixteen years. And I've already got enough people telling me what to do."

"Too many, Fawley. But Prongs isn't one of them," the boy remarked, putting his left arm over his shoulder and leading her towards the kitchen.

"Now, how about a butterbeer and that murtlap essence?" he continued, conjuring a bottle and a flask and setting them down on the table before sitting down and pouring the butterbeer into two glasses.

It was quite obvious that Mr. Potter had been correct in his assumption. Sirius did know how to deal with this. Aurelia could only guess that his parents had put him through similar ordeals while he was still living there. She had met the pair on several occasions, and Mrs. Black was an intimidating woman to say the least, much more so than Aurelia's own mother. Ambrosia Fawley was quite collected and sociable, believe it or not. But once in a while she would throw a fit worthy of Morgana herself. But Mrs. Black, despite the exterior smile during social events, had a darkness to her eyes that Aurelia's mother couldn't nearly match. Just thinking about it gave Aurelia the chills.

"Walburga nearly killed me, you know," he calmly stated, breaking the silence as though he had known exactly what she was thinking.

"When she kicked me out of the house… It really scared James, seeing me like that. And this…" he said, gesturing at her bruised and bloodied face, "this probably reminded him of that, and scared the shit out of him. Hell, it even scared the shit out of me, Fawley."

"I'm sorry, Sirius. I didn't know. Mother would never…"

"You tell yourself they couldn't possibly…" he mumbled, cutting her off, once again as if he knew what she was going to say, what she was thinking.

"… because they carried you for nine months, nursed you as a baby, you know. But that's a dangerous thing to tell oneself, Fawley, and if you're going to insist on taking care of yourself, you'd better do it properly."

Now here was a boy who never seized to surprise her. Sirius Black was lecturing her, sounding rather old and wise, to be honest, and it was shocking beyond belief.

"How old are you?" she asked, shaking her head in disbelief at his sudden seriousness and proclaimed wisdom, and took a sip from her glass of butterbeer.

"Well, I'm two years older than you at least, so I'd say that gives me some serious credibility."

"I don't believe that for a second, you're seventeen and that's that."

"Not for long, I'm not."

"Right, and how long would you say 'not for long' is?"

"No way, Fawley. You made the mistake of giving away your birthday, I'm not making the same one," he grinned, any sign of the previous seriousness gone as the twinkle in his eye returned.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Padfoot! Will you stop trying to chat up my witch?!"

James had entered the kitchen, and if he had been angry before, that was no match for the look he was sporting now. He was staring his friend down with nothing but fire in his gaze, and as his tone had warned, it seemed as though he had simply snapped.

"Relax, mate, I wasn't trying to chat her up," Sirius grunted nosily, as he got up from his chair and bumped into James' shoulder as he left the kitchen.

It was a troublesome realization. While she had wondered about their many arguments, and suspected that they had something to do with her, it still threw her off. James was jealous, and obviously thought that Sirius fancied her or something. But that couldn't be right, could it? Sirius was a bloody womanizer, and quite cosy with Marlene for that matter. But Marlene hadn't been around much lately, and Aurelia had yet to figure out why.

"He was only trying to explain your behaviour, James."

"Well, I'm sorry about that. But it's obvious he fancies you, and…"

"We're friends, James, and he understands… all this."

"He understands, now does he?"

"Oh, damn it, James, are you trying to argue with me?"

"I'm trying to keep you!"

"Well, you can start by apologizing… to your best mate. You know, the boy who you helped when his mother tried to kill him? That guy."

"Bloody hell, Lia! Why do you always have to be so right?"

"Padfoot!" the boy then exclaimed, leaving the kitchen just about as quickly as he had entered it, running up the stairs after his friend. And Aurelia was alone again, quietly sipping her butterbeer and padding the cut on her cheek with murtlap essence, hoping that it wouldn't take too long to heal.

She knew she couldn't stay long, and she wanted to talk to James, to simply be with him, before she left. But that didn't really matter now, when he had been arguing with Sirius and was trying to work it out. She hoped they could. It wasn't much to work out, really. It had to be a misunderstanding, as Sirius couldn't possibly be harboring any secret feelings towards her. He was Sirius Black for Merlin's sake. He could have just about anyone he wanted… But then again, so could James. And for whatever the reason, James had chosen to be with her.

She realized then what he had said, upon seeing them when he entered the kitchen. He had called her his witch; his. That was all she needed to hear. It didn't matter that she'd have to spend the rest of summer at Fawley Manor. It didn't matter that her head was still throbbing with pain from the cut, and it didn't matter that she didn't have a family to rely on; because she had him. She had him, and that was all she needed.

A/N: James' & Sirius' arguing has been explained. What do you think? Did you know all along? Does Sirius really fancy Aurelia? And will she go back to live with her parents? Please let me know in a review if you liked this chapter, tell me what you thought of it, or what you think will happen, or just ask me a question! It lights up my day! Don't hesitate to follow or favorite if you liked this story and want to know what happens next! You guys are awesome!