A/N: We've come to the end of this story, my friends. I'll be off next week but I've got two more stories that will go up starting April 18th. Have a blessed Holy Week!

"Sirius, what in Merlin's name?"

No answer.

She huffed and held out her wand. "Accio jacket."

Nothing.

She looked around for Sirius but he stayed hidden under the cloak. Marlene was about to curse him when she heard a quiet bark. Were the Slytherins keeping dogs? Then something pulled on her pant leg.

A black dog stuck out from James' cloak.

She gasped. "Where did you learn how to do that?"

The dog, apparently Sirius, barked again and pulled her over to a trunk. He sat next to it and nuzzled the lock with his nose.

"You've got so much explaining to do." Marlene pulled her wand. "Alohomora." The trunk clicked open and there lay her jacket. She gasped and pulled it to her chest before quickly slipping it on.

"I'll explain later." Sirius stood next to her now. "Tweedle Dumb is on her way." He wrapped the cloak around them and levitated them back above the floor.

Marlene hissed and hugged his waist again. She hated the feeling of someone making her float above the ground, but while with anyone else she would have insisted they set her down, with Sirius she felt the instinctive desire to cling to him.

His arm wrapped around her waist pulling her closer, and Marlene resisted the sudden urge to bury her head in his neck. She'd already fabricated an excuse once on this crazy rescue mission, and that was quite enough.

Enough to fuel her dreams for weeks, months, years more likely.

"Grab the door." Sirius moved them to the door and Marlene waved her wand for them to slip out and then quickly closed it in time for Tweedle Dumb to turn the corridor.

Marlene gripped her wand, trying to decide what curse she wanted to use as revenge.

Then Alecto fell straight back against the floor.

"Didn't want her to get away." Sirius whispered next to her ear.

"I was trying to think of what to use." Marlene frowned.

"And I've bought you time." Sirius' hand rubbed against her back. "See no reason not to trust me."

His hand on her back had Marlene struggling to think of anything other than how close they were, let alone what she'd like to do to Tweedle Dumb. "In my defense, I've learned my lesson."

"I'll take that as a compliment then."

Sirius' lips brushed her ear again and Marlene leant closer, relishing the contact. "Maybe we just leave her, and find someplace to celebrate?"

"Done."

Sirius moved them, careful to avoid Tweedle Dumb so she wouldn't see them floating in the air. He maneuvered them at breakneck speed back to the Slytherin's common room and didn't wait for someone to let them out. He waved the door open and closed behind them before pulling them behind a tapestry and then through a secret passage.

And finally, finally, he threw the cloak off of them, pressed her against the wall behind her, and brought his lips to hers.

Marlene thought maybe she'd died.

Her brain stopped and she was consumed by the feeling of her hands in Sirius' hair, his lips on her neck, their bodies pressed so closely against each other she wasn't certain where one of them stopped and the other began.

"Merlin, I've wanted to do this for ages." He kissed up her neck.

"What stopped you?" She used her hold on his hair to pull him back to her lips, kissing him till he pulled back just far enough to answer.

"You're you, McKinnon. I'm not screwing you around."

Marlene smirked. "Am I the one to finally conquer the great Sirius Black?"

Sirius bit her lip and she melted into him. "Depends on if I'm the one to conquer the great Marlene McKinnon?"

"I mean, you did get me back my jacket before Tweedle Dumb shredded it."

He hummed against her lips as she ran her black fingernails along his scalp. "See, I come with all sorts of benefits."

"Do those benefits improve from here?"

"If you're mine, those benefits never stop improving." Sirius slipped his hand up from her waist.

She pressed up on her toes and pulled herself closer to speak against his ear. "Then I want a preview of what I have to look forward to."

"With pleasure, McKinnon."