A/N: Hello! I hope you all like this chapter, it's a bit of a time jump. We have about two chapters left in 6th year, and then we will move in to 7th year.

Also, I had written in the A/N for chapter 13 that this would be canon compliant - slight correction, it will be canon compliant through the end of GoF. Some things will change in OOtP, for obvious reasons. This will have a happy ending.

I'd love some reviews, if you could let me know how you're feeling about the story so far!


January 2nd, 1977

The rest of Christmas break passed by in a pleasant blur of Sirius, my parents, Lewis, and writing letters to Lily. Lily had spent a miserable holiday with her parents, her sister Petunia, and Petunia's boyfriend Vernon. Vernon had taken it upon himself to take the whole family to the mediocre restaurant in the ski chalet that they were staying at, and to propose to Petunia in front of everyone. Lily ended her letter to me with, "That precocious wanker thinks now that he's engaged to my darling sister that he has the right to tell me that I should behave more properly. As if being a walrus-shaped, prejudice wanker with a drinking problem is more respectable than being an educated witch. I would've set his pants on fire if that wouldn't have gotten me expelled, and then who would James torment?" so she was clearly handling the new development in her sister's life well.

I had been invited over to Potter Manor for dinner, as Sirius had predicted. I had been to the Manor before, as James's friend, many times before, but this time was different, as I was trying to impress them as Sirius's girlfriend, not as James's friend. Euphemia Potter is an intimidating woman, as my mom had said. She was a Slytherin, along with my mom, and I could definitely see why she had been placed there. I believe she is distantly related to the Lestranges, Sirius's cousins, and as much as she doesn't resemble them in looks, she does in personality. She had always been very kind to me when I had come over in the past, but this time her entire demeanor was more reserved. She had asked me a lot of questions, especially harping on the fact that Sirius and I had for years been enemies. Sirius, to his credit, had stuck up for me and tried to steer the conversation to more pleasant topics, but Mrs. Potter had persevered until finally I told her that Sirius had helped me during a tough time this year and as a result, our feelings had changed. She didn't push much after that, especially after Mr. Potter had sent her a warning glare, at Sirius's silent request, but I felt her eyes shrewdly scanning me throughout the rest of the meal. That woman definitely did not like me, and when I got home my mother met me with a glass of firewhiskey, "to wash down the burn, dear."

Lewis – trying to squeeze in as much time with me while I was home – managed to stop by for dinner three times that last week. The night before we went back to Hogwarts, he had stopped over late for tea and biscuits. The whole family had been curled up in the living room, enjoying the last moments together, when he had come bursting in.

"He pled innocent!" Lewis spat out angrily. He sat there in front of me, looked me in the eye, and told me he had never touched you. Lewis started pacing in front of the fireplace, nearly pulling out his hair in frustration. "It took everything in me not to punch the wanker right there. Barty Crouch was the presiding judge hearing his plea, and he couldn't give me a date until April because he's punishing me for being persistent in my cases."

"Lew, it's not your fault that you're fighting for what is right. It is Crouch's fault for letting standards slip," Dad said, sitting up in the chair he had been reading in.

"I just feel terrible, because of me you're going to have to sit in school with the bastard for three months. I scheduled it for around Easter break, so that I wouldn't have to pull you out of school, Addie, but still I want you to write me at least once a week with any interactions you've had with him. I filed the restraining order today too; it will go into affect on the train tomorrow, so he shouldn't be able to get within half the train of you. Anything he says or does to you, you write to me immediately. I want a paper trail of everything that happens…actually, if you can get a friend to write their witness account too that would be even better." Lewis was babbling, still pacing in front of the fireplace.

"Lewis, honey, please sit down and let me get you some tea. You're freaking out," Mom said, already up out of her chair and walking towards the kitchen. I waited for Lewis to sit down and take a deep breath before speaking.

"Thanks for everything Lew. Seriously, I really appreciate you taking this on for me, especially since you've been so busy," I said sincerely. "Don't worry about me at school. I have Sirius looking out for me, Lily, James, the girls in my dorm, Peter, Remus, and I'm sure Dumbledore and McGonagall. I'll be fine." I believed I would too. Even if he did get close to me, breaking his restraining order, I could handle him. And then I would report him for breaking the restraining order. It was time for him to face the consequences of his actions, and I was ready for the nightmare to be over.


January 3rd, 1977

Sirius had kissed me on the cheek and asked to sit with the Marauders during the welcome back feast, a contrite look on his face. Lily raised her eyebrows, looking at me to see how I would react, but I waved him off and sat down across from Marlene, Alice and Frank, next to Mary. Lily sat in between Mary and I; she looked at me questioningly.

"The boys are going to work things out with Peter. James felt terrible that they left him here alone with the Slytherins all break. Sirius is still mad, but willing to accept that not everyone is as courageous as he is," I shrugged, filling my glass with pumpkin juice. Marlene was looking at me in shock still, so I quickly slowed my juice and said, "What?"

"It's honestly amazing," Marlene said, true awe evident in her voice.

"What is?" I asked again, not getting the point.

"That you got Sirius Black to ask you permission to sit with the Mauraders," Lily laughed, looking at me like it was obvious.

"Why is that weird?" I asked, still not really understanding why it was a big deal.

"Addie, the boy has run from any kind of commitment since girls have started asking him out. Remember that time a girl he had been shagging for like…two months asked him if he would go to Hogsmeade with her instead of with the Marauders and he broke up with her for assuming he would ever take her on a date?" Marlene prodded, her eyes still wide. "Now you've got the boy asking you permission to eat dinner with them?"

"I mean, we do usually eat meals together, so I think he just wanted to make sure I was okay that he wanted some guy time," I shrugged again, understanding that he had never been in a relationship before. But it was normal to me that a boyfriend would ask his girlfriend if it was okay, even just to be polite. Not that I would ever tell him no!

"And that's the point! He's never made sure anything he did was okay with anyone, ever! Not even his own mother. And you've got him asking you for permission to sit with his friends? It's honestly impressive," Mary said, giving me props.

"I have to say, I was a bit skeptical when you two started dating," Marlene admitted. I raised my eyebrow at the word skeptical. "Alright, I was jealous, okay? But, you two really are well paired. You tame him and he supports you. I doubt you've noticed, but Sirius has been glaring at Jase the entire meal."

"Technically, Jase is breaking his restraining order by being in here right now. I guess I can't force the guy to miss the feast though, can I?" I explained, glancing down the table. Jase was sitting all the way at the other end of the table, right under Professor McGonagall's watchful eye. I'd assume his parents had given him the advice to put himself in her view, so that she knew he wasn't acting out. Or McGonagall had insisted, which honestly wouldn't surprise me either.

"If it were me, I'd have fed him to one of the hippogriffs in the Forbidden Forest," Lily mumbled darkly, shocking me.

"Why sweet Lily, again with the threats?" I laughed, poking her in the ribs. She looked at me sheepishly, but when her gaze turned to Jase it turned steely.

"I'm just saying. It's very ballsy of him to sit in this room, when the entire 6th grade year knows what he did. You did the right thing turning it over to the authorities, but that doesn't make me hate him any less," Lily had squinted her eyes, glaring daggers at him. He kept his head down eating his food, with just a couple of his friends sitting with him. Hmmm…maybe they had heard too and had abandoned him. Quite a few of his friend's parents worked for the Ministry, so they definitely could have heard about the case.

"We all hate him." Frank contributed, speaking for the first time. Frank, who I had never ever heard say anything rude about anyone, smiled at me kindly. For Frank to dislike you, you really fucked up. "And we've all agreed to watch your back. We already were, but he must be mad now, you think?"

"Thanks everyone. I really appreciate all of you being so…accepting of me. I wasn't expecting it when it happened, which is ridiculous, but I just wanted to say that I love you," I said blushing. I wasn't a particularly emotional person, but I felt that they deserved to know that their kind words and actions meant a lot to me.

"Of course we're here for you! Us Gryffindors stick together when one of us is hurt. But in other news…Alice, Frank, care to explain what happened this break?" Lily said, changing the subject. She knew I hated to be emotional, and I was grateful to her for changing the subject before it got even more embarrassing. For me, at least, given by the colors both Alice and Frank turned.

"Well, we are officially dating," Alice confirmed, blushing furiously, but smiling widely. "I met Madame Longbottom this break, and she is…"

"She's a right bitch when she wants to be," Frank laughed when Alice trailed off, not wanting to insult her future mother-in-law. "But Alice is so sweet, my mother actually admitted to liking her as soon as she left." Frank was beaming at Alice, love and adoration evident on his face. Everyone chatted happily about their newfound relationship, and how we knew they were perfect for each other for years, before devolving into talking about their breaks.

Marlene was in the middle of ranting about Petunia, after Lily explained the story of the proposal to everyone, when the Marauders slid over from their spot down the table. Sirius slid in next to me, with James next to him. James leaned over me to speak to Lily.

"Hi Lily. Have a good break?" He asked politely. He grabbed a cake from the platter in front of him and nibbled on it while waiting on Lily to answer. Lily seemed to have cooled down from her hatred of him slightly over the break, because she did answer him with a curt, "Fine, you?"

"It was just lovely, Lily. I heard your sister got engaged, I'm sorry to hear you don't like the bloke," He continued, still leaning forward to see her. Lily's face whitened as she scrambled for how to respond, but James had leaned back and was engaging Peter in a conversation about the cakes they had both picked up. Lily snapped her jaw shut and pursed her lips, not liking how that interaction had gone.

"You do understand that the jerk is already breaking his restraining order, right love?" Sirius said quietly, glaring down the table towards Jase.

"I do. I suppose there really isn't anything he can do in this situation other than skip the feast. The bloke's got to eat, right?" I said, trying to be mature about the situation. I really didn't want to inconvenience him so much that he snapped and attacked me. I just wanted assurance that he would leave me alone and not try to retaliate for me pressing charges. As long as he left me alone, I didn't really care what he did.

"He could go eat out in the forest with the other animals," Sirius mumbled. I giggled and turned my attention back to the others, signaling to Sirius that it was okay. When the feast was over, we made our way upstairs to the common room, snagging our usual spot near the fireplace. I saw Jase come in the portrait hole, and watched him scan the room. I felt it when he honed in on me. His face remained expressionless as he turned quickly on his heel and scurried up the staircase towards his dorm. I didn't say anything so I didn't draw attention to it, but I saw James had been watching him over his shoulder, waiting to make sure he didn't come over to start trouble. Sirius looked back down at his book, trying to pretend he hadn't also been watching. I slid down in the couch, and he immediately wrapped his arm around me, pulled me close to him, and kissed the top of my head.

Lily was watching us with a smile on her face. It had surprised me too, how affectionate Sirius really was. We had never seen him interact with a girl before since all of his affections had been done in private, so seeing this side to him was a really pleasant surprise. It was so warm cuddled up next to Sirius in front of the fire, with all of my friends quietly chatting among themselves or playing a game of chess. I fell asleep, in my cocoon of warmth and happiness. Around midnight, Sirius woke me up gently, shaking my shoulder.

"Sleepy kitten, time for bed," He said. I looked around groggily, to see that most of the girls had gone to bed already. Remus and James were trying to wake Peter up from the spot on the floor where he had fallen asleep sitting up. Lily was sitting on the couch across from me stretching, book still in hand.

"Mmmm, good morning, love," I kissed Sirius on the cheek, stretching in a particularly cat-like manner. "I think I want to stretch out in my own bed tonight."

"Okay, love. See you in the morning," I pecked him goodnight, and stretched my hand out to Lily to pull her off the couch. She took it with a smile, and I pulled her light body up.

It wasn't until we were both in bed half an hour later that I told her what I had been dying to tell her all day. The other girls were already asleep, so I whispered, "Lily, can I be really girly for a second and tell you something?"

"Of course, Addie," She whispered back, turning her head in her bed to look at me. The moonlight illuminated her pale skin, making her look ethereal.

"Sirius and I told said I love you to each other," I pulled my blanket up to my nose, and kicked my feet slightly under my blankets in pure glee.

"Really? When? Of my God, that is so exciting!" Lily squealed in a high-pitched girly voice. I shushed her, looking around to make sure Lily hadn't woken any of the other girls up.

"After I went in to the Ministry to fill out the paperwork," I shot her a significant look, and she nodded that she understood, "Sirius showed up even though I told him not to. It was just so…Sirius. Knowing exactly what I need, even when I didn't know I needed it. And so I blurted it out at the Leaky Cauldron, and he took me to the apartment that he bought and he asked me to move in with him," I squealed at the end, unable to control myself. I looked around again to make sure I didn't wake anyone up.

"That is so romantic," Lily gushed. "Did you say yes to moving in with him?" I nodded to answer her question, biting my lip. She must have been able to see me in the moonlight, because she squealed again and jumped into my bed. She closed my curtains and cast a silencing charm.

"Tell me everything. How is the place? Are you two going to get married? Can I be your maid of honor? Did you tell your parents? Are you going to tell my parents? Oh Merlin, they'll be asking me when I'm going to settle down. Did you like the Potters? I've heard his mother is intimidating…oh god why am I thinking about meeting James's parents now?" Lily rattled off at her normal volume. We chatted for a while; giggling like girls and coming up with ridiculous scenarios about hijinks Sirius and I will get into when we move in together. It felt so good to for once be the girl who is happy, joking with her best friend with not a care in the world.


March 27th, 1977

The next three months flew by in a blur of happiness, pranks, and studying. We played a match against Ravenclaw and beat them by 40 points, which put us in good standing to win the Quidditch cup when we played Slytherin at the end of the year. March 10th was Remus's birthday, and per his request we had a quiet night of exploding snap and wizarding chess. His only request was that no one do any schoolwork the entire night, which we all happily obliged. Two weeks later, on the 27th, was James's birthday and he insisted on a huge party before we all settled down to study for the rest of term.

"One last party before everyone gets boring for the rest of the year," James said stubbornly when Lily came over to yell at him to end the party early.

"Um, excuse me? My birthday is in April…are we just going to ignore that because you need to study?" I said indignantly, taking a sip of the drink in my hand as I watched James sway in front of me. He had been drinking like a fish all night, celebrating turning of age. A heavy golden watch hung off his wrist, courtesy of his parents via owl post that morning, and he was swinging it around vigorously. Lily grabbed his wrist and wrestled it down when it came inches from her nose.

"James Potter, if you don't calm down this instant I will never speak to you again," Lily stomped her foot, eyes blazing. I could tell that underneath the anger was poorly hidden concern – she was worried that he had drank too much and was going to injure himself.

"Lily, my flower – flower pot. You are so beautiful when you're angry. I'm sorry that I messed everything up with us before we really even started. I'm sorry that I always mess everything up with you – I'm trying…really trying to be better," He slurred, his eyes rolling in his head. He stumbled backwards, falling onto the couch behind him. At the last second, he pulled Lily down with him. She shrieked slightly in outrage, landing on the couch next to him, but didn't make a move to stand up. James's head rolled onto her shoulder, and when she thought I wasn't looking she patted the top of his head consolingly.

"There is my beautiful girlfriend!" A very drunk Sirius had hobbled over and snaked his arm around my waist. "Prongsie got me super drrrrrr…unk."

"Well, isn't that wonderful!" I said laughing at him slurring.

"Come and dance with me pretty kitty," He begged, pulling me onto the dance floor with him. The song had just changed to a slow rock song, one that Sirius knew. He started singing along softly, swinging me around in his arms. Given how drunk he was, it was actually incredible how well he still danced – all of those lessons as a child had clearly instilled muscle memory into him.

"How is it that you are so good at dancing, even piss drunk?" I asked, laughing as he managed to dip me.

"My dashing good looks are blinding you to the fact that I think I stepped on your feet at least three times," Sirius barked, pulling my chest against his. He looked down at me, serious out of nowhere. "You know I love you, right?"

"I love you too, Sirius," I kissed him in the center of the dance floor. We were interrupted too soon by someone tapping me on the shoulder; I turned around face to face with none other than Jason Whitmore.

"You're not supposed to be here," I said, panic-stricken. Sirius stepped around me, stumbling now that he wasn't dancing, but attempting to shield me from Jase.

"Addison, can we please talk?" Jase pleaded, his brown eyes staring into my own. He looked awful; his usually neat hair had grown so long it was falling into her eyes, and he had bags under his eyes.

"I don't think so. Do you not remember what happened last time you tried to talk to her?" Sirius snapped, trying and failing to push me behind him. He was barely standing upright, and he had to lean on my shoulder for support.

"Honestly Sirius, you are so drunk you couldn't hurt a fly right now," I rolled my eyes in annoyance at Jase. "Jase, I really don't think we have anything we need to talk about. We can talk in court. Now you interrupted something, so please excuse us,"

"Please, Addison. I need you to drop the charges. I got into the pre-healer training program and if I'm convicted they're going to revoke my acceptance. You're going to ruin my life if you do this," He pleaded again, a truly desperate edge creeping into his voice. I was about to respond when a group of girls stepped in front of me. Mary, Marlene and Alice had noticed what was happening and formed a wall in front of me. It couldn't have been even thirty seconds since Jase had approached me.

"You already ruined her life. You made a choice and now you're seeing the consequences. She has a restraining order against you, and we will go to Professor McGonagall if you don't walk away in the next five seconds," Marlene said in a cold voice. She was so tall that I couldn't see Jase around her, but I assume that he walked away because all three girls turned around.

"Honestly, the nerve of him. He wants to blame you for ruining his life? He ruined his own life!" Mary snapped, glaring in the direction of the boy's staircase.

"Thank you guys so much for having my back. I hope you don't find me rude, but I have to take care of this mess," I said, gesturing to Sirius who had stumbled backwards against a wall.

"Oof. And suddenly, I'm thrilled that he is your problem and not mine," Marlene said, winking at me to show that she was kidding.

"Sickle for your thoughts?" I asked Sirius, sliding down to the ground to meet him where he had fallen. He was sitting now with his knees bent, elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

"I couldn't even protect you," He lamented, speaking to his knees.

"Sirius, you're drunk. It's a party. It's not the end of the world. There are eight other people in this room who are looking out for me, and I can look out for myself." I said gently, grabbing one of his hands and forcing his head up to look at me.

"You protect me from my own brother, and I can't even protect you from some douche at a party. I'm a fucking terrible boyfriend and you deserve better," He was truly distraught now, letting his head fall back against the wall.

"Love, you are an excellent boyfriend and you don't even know it. Now snap out of this nonsense and come dance with me again because we were rudely interrupted by said douche and I wasn't done holding you," I commanded, standing up. I reached my hand down for him, and when he didn't take it I snapped my fingers at him. He looked at me shocked but let me take his hand and pull him up.

"Commanding cat tonight," He said, wiping the imaginary dust off the bottom of his pants. "I like it. Very becoming on you." I rolled my eyes at him, but pulled him back in close to me and rested my head on his chest. "I am sorry Addie."

"I know you are, love. But there is absolutely no reason to be. You're allowed to have fun, Sirius. So stop talking and kiss me already," I commanded again.

He didn't hesitate this time and kissed me gently. His hands travelled down to my arse, pulling me in closer to him. I brought my hands into his hair and pulled, loving the way he moaned at the slight pain. As always, fire followed the path of his hands and a fire ignited deep in my belly. Sirius turned us around and pinned me against the wall, his hands creeping up my thighs and playing with the edge of my skirt. His tongue poked into my mouth confidently, tangling with mine in a dance of dominance. My hands tangled deeper into his hair, pulling him closer to me roughly.

"What do you say I take you upstairs and show you just how sorry I am," Sirius mumbled against my lips. It was like an electric shock ran through my body – Merlin the things this man could do to me with just one simple sentence.

"And I can show you just how commanding a cat I can really be," I said seductively, laughing when Sirius practically pulled my arm out of my socket in his excitement to pull me upstairs. And I wasn't thanking Merlin that night for the words that came out of his mouth, but what he could do with it instead…