A/N: Yay, I updated faster this time! Thank you so much for reading, favoriting, following and reviewing! You guys are amazing, and I hope you'll like this chapter where a certain someone makes a comeback!

It would take Aurelia more than two months of nagging before she finally got the Black-brothers to agree to a meeting, in February, with the sole reason that it was all she said she wanted for her birthday. Needless to say, she had been met with several objections to her persistent pleading over the last few months, the most recent ones suggesting other things she might want for her birthday. The pair were desperate to avoid one another, but as Aurelia's birthday approached, they found themselves without much of a choice, and both agreed to meet just a few days before February 15th.

As several silent hours passed that Monday evening, the girl's concern only grew larger. The only thing both brothers had agreed upon was that if they were to meet, to try and work things out, she was not to be present. It was between them, they had both said. And while naturally, she understood that they were right, her nerves were still killing her. It was nearly ten in the evening, and she hadn't heard from either of them since before they had both gone to the room of requirement to work things out.

After (not so) patiently waiting for yet another fifteen minutes, the young witch decided that she couldn't spend another minute in the Hufflepuff common room, and left with determination to find her friends, hoping that they hadn't managed to kill each other.

In a way, she was relieved upon finding Sirius alone in the room of requirement, although his dejected body language was enough to tell her what an immense failure their meeting had been.

"What happened?" the girl asked hesitantly, as she sat down on the sofa next to the boy who hadn't looked up since she entered the room.

"What do you think happened?" the boy roared, as he got up from the sofa to start pacing across the room, which only appeared to get bigger with each step he took.

"The hypocritical little deatheater still blames me for getting out of there when he's well aware that I'd be as good as dead if I'd stayed. Not that he cares. He's just like them. Worse, even. Please tell me you didn't know, Fawley. You didn't know, did you?"

His furious expression softened along with his explanation, and finally, he was in tears rather than anger, much like Aurelia had been upon finding out that her brother had taken the mark. And as pained, grey eyes looked up to meet hers, she was struck with guilt for having kept that from him for so long.

"I'm sorry, Sirius. It just… it wasn't my place to tell."

"For fuck's sake! How long have you known?"

Just like that, he was back to anger, desperately throwing his arms around in the air, with overly dramatic movements.

"Sirius, did you even hear him out?"

"Hear him out?! Why in Godric's name should I listen to a bloody death eater? And why are you friendswith him, huh? Don't tell me you are one of them too!"

"Don't be an arse, Black. Sit down, and take a bloody breath. You know very well that I would never, never, join them even if my very life depended on it."

"I don't know anything anymore-" the boy begun, but was cut off.

"Sit down, will you?! This pacing of yours is making me nervous."

"Fine!" he complained, crossing his arms as he reluctantly sat back down on the sofa.

"I'm worried he's going to get himself killed, Sirius. That's why I've been trying-"

"Well he's only got himself to blame for that, he can rot in Azkaban for all-"

"Sirius!" the Hufflepuff finally roared, after the pair had cut each other off countless times, neither wanting to hear what the other had to say. Aurelia imagined that was much how the conversation between the two brothers had played out earlier that evening.

"He isn't loyal to them. I'm afraid he might try to take down the Dark Lord on his own, and despite whatever happened between the two of you in the past, I'm sure you wouldn't let your own brother walk into that trap."

"Wait… He wants to kill Voldemort?" the eighteen-year-old asked, face full of disbelief.

"That's what he says, yes."

"But he's sixteen!"

"That's what I've been trying to tell him."

It was silent after that, Sirius staring at the floor again, dark locks covering his face – hiding him from her. He was impossible to read in that moment, but that hurt look in his eyes had glued to her mind, and she couldn't help but to think that it wasn't the first time she had hurt him. And how she hated knowing that, that she just kept on hurting him, over and over again. He deserved so much better than that.

"Are you alright?" she finally asked, hesitantly moving over to his side of the sofa, her fingers gently scratching along his back – an action that had become quite habitual between Aurelia and her canine friend, but which perhaps was slightly too intimate for her friendship with human Sirius.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just… feel like such a twat. I'll try and talk to him tomorrow. But thanks, Fawley. For… looking out for him."

"It's not like that. He looked out for me first. He's a good person. He's just a bit reckless, that's all. And he could use his brother."

"Yeah, I suppose… You might be good for each other," he mumbled, turning that grey gaze to the floor again, his voice weak and disappointed.

"Merlin Sirius, you really don't know your brother, do you?" the girl grinned, causing her friend to look up at with furrowed brows and quizzical eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh no, I'm not going to be revealing any more of his secrets, you'll just have to ask him yourself. But as I've told you before, we're just friends, and that's not going to change."

"And what about us?" he asked, looking right at her this time, not an inch of hesitation in his face.

"What about us?" the blonde replied innocently, despite knowing exactly what he meant – despite having thought the same thing.

"Is it ever going to change?"

There was no denying the instantaneous increase in her heart rate, nor the blood that was suddenly rushing to her face with his words. With what his words confirmed. And while they were completely overthrowing, these were still feelings that she wasn't quite ready to face just yet.

"I… I don't know," the witch finally replied, lowly, yet honestly.

"I'm still in love with him," she admitted reluctantly, turning her gaze away from the boy in front of her, and her mind wandering to another dark-haired Gryffindor. One with hazel eyes and a smile that could light up the world.

"Of course you are… I'm sorry. I just thought maybe you… Never mind."

There were a great many things she wanted to tell him right then and there, as he tore his disappointed gaze away from hers and she knew she had hurt him yet again. She wanted to tell him how terribly safe she felt in his arms – when all the world was threatening and ever-changing. How nobody had ever understood her as he did, and how her heart raced when he looked right through her with those intense, stormy eyes. She wanted to tell him that she should never have given him a hard time over that kiss in the first place, because it had been just as much her initiative as it had been his. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, too. But alas, she couldn't, because she didn't know what all that meant yet. She didn't know if it could ever mean anything, nor change anything. Because the truth still remained; she was in love with James Potter – despite however much he had hurt her. Despite the fact that he was perfectly happy with his new girlfriend.

So, rather than saying all those things, Aurelia Rose Fawley stayed stubbornly silent, desperately ignoring the agony that doing so caused her.

"I should go to bed," the silvery blonde girl finally mumbled, forcing herself to get up from the sofa and leave him. In all honesty, the mere thought of sleeping alone in her dorm was awful, but she couldn't very well make a habit of snuggling up next to Padfoot whenever she was the least bit lonely or upset. It wasn't fair to either of them, especially him.

"Goodnight, Fawley. And thanks again, for Reggie…"

"Don't thank me, Siri… I only ever cause you harm, it was the least I could do."

"You could never cause me harm, Kitten. Sweet dreams, and I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

"Alright," the blonde agreed, with a weak smile before leaving him and the hidden room to make her way down the many stairs that led to the dungeons.

Walking through Hogwarts' corridors after curfew was not only prohibited, it was also plain stupid. If you weren't in the possession of an invisibility cloak or the Marauder's map, or both - being caught was somewhat of an inevitability.

And then he suddenly appeared, in the fifth-floor corridor somewhere between the Prefects' bathroom and the staircase, warm hazel eyes open wide where he stood frozen in front of her. There weren't enough words to describe the absurdity of the situation. It was as though she had made him up in her head; him and their entire relationship. As though she had imagined knowing him, but really didn't. And then there he was, in the flesh, looking at her like only he could, and it all came back to her. It had been real. She hadn't talked to him four months, but she did know him, and he knew her.

"Lia," the tall boy breathed softly, standing still in his spot, as though moving even the slightest would scare her away like a frightened deer.

"What are you doing up?" he asked, looking around the empty corridor before settling on her again with those intoxicating eyes.

"That's none of your business," she mumbled in response, crossing her arms over her chest as to hold herself together and him away.

"I missed you," he continued, voice just as soft as she remembered it, although the words were taunting her.

"Don't, James. You don't get to say that," the blonde managed, shaking her head at him to stop the tears from escaping her eyes. She had missed him, too, though. She had missed him so much she could barely get up in the morning. But this had been his choice. His fault. Not hers.

"I'm sorry. This isn't how I wanted things to play out, I just… I want you in my life, Lia."

"Well, how did you want things to play out? Were you going to keep seeing her behind my back? Is that it?"

"Of course not! I just didn't know. I didn't know that she felt that way. I thought there was no chance… and I was drunk and overwhelmed."

"So, what was I then? A distraction from her?"

"I loved you, Lia. I really did."

"Did."

"It's not like that, I still love you, I just… She's the love of my life."

"And you're mine," she mumbled under her breath, reluctantly tearing her eyes away from his apologetic face. She hated him for it, for apologizing and explaining. It was unbelievable, how you could both hate and love a person so relentlessly, at the same time.

It was silent for a long time after that, grey eyes stuck on hazel, both students frozen in their place, and in a way, frozen in time as well.

"Can't we just be friends?" James finally pleaded, breaking the silence, breaking the spell. And while one part of her wanted nothing more than to say yes, to make him feel better, there was another part of her that could never be just friends with him. A part of her that she didn't trust around him – the part that might just as well ruin everything she had built up over the last four months. And so, she knew they couldn't just be friends. She knew, because it would either break her down to be that close to him and still not have him, or that weak part of her would take over and she would throw herself at him at some point, ruining everything; ruining their so-called friendship, his relationship with Lily, ruining things with Sirius – whatever they were.

"I wish we could," Aurelia admitted, tears defying her and finally escaping her eyes.

"I really do," she continued, her pale hand grazing against his as she pushed past him and continued down the corridor towards the stairs and Hufflepuff common room just after midnight on February 14th, 1978, heavy tears falling down her cheeks.

It was a curse, loving him. If only she didn't, she might be happy, despite all her hardships and despite the ongoing war. If only she didn't, he could still be a part of her life. But she did, and she always would, and that was a terribly painful realization.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Do you think she can ever be friends with James? And what is going on between her and Sirius? If you liked this chapter, please follow, favorite and review! Every single opportunity I get to hear your thoughts is priceless to me, and it just makes me super happy!

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