A/N: I'm SO excited for you guys to finally read this. Most of this chapter was written early on in this fic, and it's definitely one of the big moments I have planned out for this story. We are getting closer to the end, you guys (not close, only closer, I promise). As usual, thanks so much for sticking with me and for reading, favouriting and following!

"Marriage?!" Aurelia exclaimed in defeat, as she rushed out of the floo in Sirius Black's apartment on boxing day 1979. She had received a simple, yet beautifully enveloped wedding invitation that very afternoon, and could not bear to stay in her parents' suffocating house one minute longer.

"It's barely been a year since you graduated and now they're getting bloody married?! Hell, my mother has been trying to marry me off since I was fourteen, and I'm not even betrothed!"

"I think that's my cue." Remus Lupin got up from his chair and made his way to leave the kitchen, where Aurelia had just found the two young, yet rugged-looking wizards drinking fire whiskey.

"And how does this not concern you, Remus? I'm sure you'd do a better job explaining this to me than his loyal dog would."

"Me?! His loyal dog? Then please, Fawley, do tell what you are. It's been over two years and you still refuse to move on from him! Bloody Hufflepuffs!

"I really should get go…" Remus was cut off, and forced to sit back down in his chair, playing the role of the silent observer in the heated argument between the two rather failed pure bloods.

"It's barely been two years, and I love him for Merlin's sake!"

"Well, so do I. Sit the fuck down, Fawley. As much as I do enjoy a feisty woman, this isn't a good look for you."

The eighteen-year-old sat down with a thump on the chair at the far end of the dining table, arms crossed over her chest, grey eyes glaring at the dark-haired boy at the other end of the table.

"So? Explain."

"There's… They're… damn it."

Sirius Black was rarely at a lack of words, but now he was mumbling, glancing all around the room trying to avoid her glare. He didn't know what to say, and it scared her.

"She's pregnant," Remus finally said, matter-of-factly. His statement was followed by an inevitable, and ironically, pregnant silence. James was getting married. He was starting a family; one that didn't include her. Lia leaned back in her chair, relaxing for the first time since she had gotten there. There was nothing she could do about this. No matter how devastating it was, it was out of her hands. She had lost him; truly this time.

"Alright," she mumbled, looking up to meet the terrified grey eyes of Sirius Black, that were glued to her as though anticipating her reaction.

"Alright?" he asked hesitantly, in disbelief, glancing over at his friend for a second before turning his gaze back to the girl, a confused expression on his face.

"Tell him I'll be there."

"He invited you?"

"For Merlin's sake, Sirius, do you really think so little of me? Yes, he invited me. And if he's happy, then I suppose I'm happy for him," Aurelia lied. She wasn't happy, not for a second. She was ruined, but she'd be damned to let him in on that little secret.

"Just don't tell anyone," Remus muttered under his breath.

"Really, Moony? You don't trust me to keep this one secret when I haven't told a single soul about your secret over the past two years?"

"You're right. I'm sorry, Lia. I really should get going now, though."

The tall blonde wrapped one of his arms around the girl and kissed the top of her head before heading towards the floo, nobody trying to stop him this time.

"Let me know if you need anything, alright? And you take care, Pads."

With the sound of a raging fire, Remus Lupin had left the apartment, leaving behind an awkward silence between the pair that remained. They were more similar than they cared to admit, Sirius and Aurelia. Both raised in strict, conservative, and abusive pure blood families. Both with a death eater for a brother, and both with strong belief that such ideals were wrong.

"I should probably leave, too," she mumbled, getting up from her chair, constantly avoiding his gaze.

"Stay."

His voice was low and husky, and while it wasn't hesitant, she could swear there was a hint of uncertainty to it. Yet, he too got up from his chair, and he walked over to her, forcing her to meet his eyes.

"I can't," she whispered, on the verge of breaking down right in front of him. And she couldn't do that.

"You're hurting, Fawley. You can't go back to that place like this, to those people. Stay."

He knew her all too well, and as her eyes were starting to tear up, a slight nod was all she could muster before he had his arms wrapped securely around her.

"I know how you must feel," he mumbled into her neck, and all of the sudden, it was there. That need to scream rather than to cry, the urge to let him know just how wrong he was. After all, Sirius was just another one of all those people who seemed to think that James had always been meant to be with Evans; that Aurelia had just been another step along the road, inevitable collateral.

"You have no idea how I feel!" she raged, something hurdling in her chest. Something that felt like nausea and butterflies, like she wanted to scream her lungs out, break down, or just faint; perhaps all three at once.

"He's starting a family without me, Sirius! He's having a child. A baby," her voice faltered at that last word and she sunk together into a small pile on Sirius Black's kitchen floor, him following suit. A hand rested on her back, softly, as though he was afraid he might break her. As though he couldn't see that she was already fucking broken.

"Talk to me, Fawley. Please. I can't help you unless… unless you talk to me."

"He didn't want me," she mumbled, her voice nearly inaudible.

"He chose her, he didn't want me. Then why in the name of Helga would he want my baby?"

"What are you on about, Fawley?"

"Please, Sirius. Tell me I made the right decision, because I'm not sure I can… I just can't," she pleaded, teary eyes looking up to meet his stormy, confused gaze.

"What decision, Fawley? I don't…"

"I took the bloody potion, Sirius! My baby… our baby! I… I killed it!"

"You… You were… he knocked you up? When? When did this happen?"

"Two years ago. On Christmas. I took the bloody potion two years ago, on the day."

Sirius was at a loss for words, simply sitting there on the kitchen floor, holding her together when she was just about to fall apart after everything that had happened over the last two years.

Aurelia had no idea how long they were sitting like that before the floo started roaring. She had lost all sense of time.

"Get out!" she heard Sirius hiss, which wasn't a sound which usually made its way past his lips. He would sound soft, sarcastic, and sometimes he would even growl in anger. But he was hissing, she was sure of it, and it reminded her of one of his insane cousins, rather than Sirius Black. Aurelia couldn't help but to undo herself from the sunken pile she made up on the floor, and slowly sit up at the unusual sound, to see who could possibly have come through the floo to aggravate him so.

She hadn't seen James in months, barely at all since he graduated from Hogwarts, and it was completely surreal - yet there he stood. His arms were raised as though to proclaim his innocence, as he looked at his furious best mate, before those deep hazel eyes turned to her, the silvery blonde mess on the floor. As he lowered his arms with a confused and painful look in his eyes, that feeling in her chest intensified and it felt as though she might explode as she sunk back down to her half lying position, facing the floor.

"I. Said. Get out," Sirius threatened, his hand pointing towards the fire place in the other room, but his best friend failed to listen, taking a few hesitant steps towards the pair on the floor.

"What… what happened?" he asked, speaking up for the first time since he'd arrived, voice soft and hushed, careful and gentle.

"What do you think happened?" Sirius snarled at his friend, and Aurelia could just about hear the deadly glare he was flashing.

"The invitation?" James guessed, the floor creaking along with his steps.

"You sent her the bloody invitation, today of all days, and then you have the audacity to show up here asking what happened?"

"On Boxing Day?" James asked, still hesitant, slowly moving closer to the pair before sitting down behind her, and she could feel the floor shift at his weight, but she dared not more.

"You… you don't know," Sirius stated, some level of understanding in his voice, some of the anger having disappeared at the realization. Yet, he still slapped James' hand away as it reached out to touch her back.

"I'm warning you, James. She does not need you here right now."

"It's alright, Sirius," she managed with a whisper, her voice much weaker than usual, as she had given in. He was sitting right behind her, and while perhaps it would only make her hurt even more, she needed him to stay. She needed his comfort, his warmth, his fucking radiating optimism.

"Lia? Lia, love, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her as he pulled her off the floor and onto his chest. Hearing those words from his mouth were like daggers stabbing into her already exploded chest, and yet like being wrapped in a soft silk sheet at the same time. Sirius grunted as he got up on his feet, making to leave the kitchen with an irritable look on his face.

"Oh, and she knows about the bloody child, by the way," he muttered just before leaving the room, his bedroom door slamming shut behind him a few seconds later.

There was a stillness after he left the room. Despite the pain it still caused her, there was relief in feeling how his chest shifted against her with his every breath. There was safety in his scent. There was home in the words he whispered into her hair. And so, her breathing eased down, and the tears stopped pouring desperately down her cheeks. And she just lay there, resting against his soft jumper dampened by tears.

"What did he mean? What don't I know?"

"Nothing," she managed, burying her face in his chest, repeatedly trying to convince herself that she could stay there forever. That he wasn't marrying Lily, that he wasn't starting a family with her. That she hadn't taken that bloody potion two years ago. That she wasn't actually on Sirius Black's kitchen floor, crying her heart out.

"Talk to me, Lia."

"Is it because of the baby? Is that why you're marrying her?" Aurelia mumbled, nearly inaudible, as she calmed her breathing with his scent and steady heartbeats.

"No, I mean… No. Why are you even asking that?" James inquired, pulling himself away from her to look her in the eyes. He looked confounded, his eyebrows furrowed and mind working at high speed – she remembered that face from when he used to struggle with his arithmancy homework.

"What about me?" the blonde asked weakly, avoiding his inquisitive and painfully warm eyes, focusing instead on a dent in the dinner table-leg.

"What if… I had been pregnant? Would you have stayed? Would…" the girl grew silent mid-sentence, realizing that saying that word out loud only made it more real. And she didn't want to talk about it, she didn't want to think about it. If she could, she would forget all about it.

"But… You're not, Lia. I don't see how this is… You do know how sorry I am, don't you? I never meant for you to get hurt. I was stupid, and young, and I know that's no excuse, but… that was a long time ago. I want you to be happy. You know that, right? And if Padfoot-"

"Damn it, James! There is nothing going on between me and Sirius!" Aurelia roared, pulling away from his touch, which was far too dangerous, and settling in the corner of the room in front of some kitchen cabinets.

"You should get back to your fiancée, I'm sure she's wondering where you are," she continued, crossing her arms over her chest in an attempt to hide all the pain with irritation instead. The eighteen-year-old turned her gaze back at the dent in the table-leg, determined not to look at the confused, beautiful mess she had made him, waiting for him to leave. And eventually, the floor shifted as he got to his feet – and the fireplace roared with his words; "Godric's Hollow".

A/N: I really hope you liked this chapter, because it's one of my personal favourites! As usual, please follow, favourite, and review if you liked it - that's truly what keeps me motivated! I love hearing from you guys! What do you think will happen next? Is James going to put two and two together? Is Sirius going to give up on Aurelia? And what ever did go down between Remus and Regulus?