A/N: Thank you for the reviews! It's a shorter chapter this time, but I have a feeling you'll like it. I hope you will anyway.

Still Friends

The vibrating throat of Sirius's bike engine stilled underneath us as he switched it off, parking it a little way away from my house in the same place as they'd first picked me up, concealed behind a van this time.

As he walked me to my front door, I felt nervous in a very specific way; a way that I couldn't remember ever feeling around him before. Shy, almost. Like I was with someone I'd only just met.

I soon realised it wasn't Sirius that had changed, but the dynamic between us.

I had grown so comfortable with us trading insults over the course of the year that I found I didn't know how to act around him now that I'd admitted I actually liked him.

Was I supposed to suddenly start being nice?

"Well you didn't scream the entire time we were in the air this time," Sirius said as we stopped at the end of my driveway, "So I think that's progress."

"Ha-ha," I replied sarcastically, feeling a glimmer of relief that he was still having fun at my expense. "I have to admit, it wasn't as bad as the first time."

He seemed pleased by this revelation. "Is that your way of saying you enjoy riding with me?"

"I wouldn't go that far."

An older Muggle couple I didn't recognise walked past us, looking up at Sirius like he was from another planet, and I knew his long hair and leather jacket were making their 'rebellious youth' senses tingle, just like they had for my mum.

"Is there anyone under the age of forty living on your road except for you?" he asked once they'd gone.

"Actually, no," I replied, "I don't think there is."

"Maybe you'd better invite me in before we cause too much of a stir out here," he suggested, already moving towards my house.

I turned to walk with him, glad that my mum was still at work, when I spotted the pristine white net curtain twitch in the window next door.

"Wait," I said abruptly, stopping him half way.

When he turned around to see what was up, I nodded surreptitiously to the face that had now appeared in my neighbour's front room window, staring shamelessly at us through the pulled-aside curtain.

"Who's that?" Sirius asked.

"Mrs Walker," I replied, aka the very definition of a busy-body. "If she sees you come in the house, she'll tell my mum."

"Maybe we should give her something to talk about then," he said, raising his hand and waving at her.

I slapped it down, laughing despite myself.

"If my mum finds out I've had you in the house while she's not around she'll never let me forget it. And if she catches you in there, it'll be ten times worse." Even the thought of it made me want to dig a hole and climb into it.

Sirius looked defeated.

"Suppose we better leave it for another day then," he said.

Both of us knew the next time we would see one another would be after the Christmas holidays in a few weeks, and right then it seemed like an eternity away.

"Should probably get back anyway," he said. "The Potters will be worried about me. Besides, those posters of yours were enough to give me nightmares, maybe it's better if I don't see them again."

"Yeah, yeah, you're just jealous," I retorted.

"Of what?" he said cockily, "I'm better looking than any of them."

"Oh really?"

"Definitely. If anything, you should have pictures of me up on your wall."

I shook my head. "You are so full of yourself."

He grinned. "I prefer to call it healthy self-esteem."

With Mrs Walker still openly eyeballing us from her window, he headed back down my driveway, making his way back to his bike.

"I'll write to you over the holidays," he offered, turning around to face me as he walked backwards along the pavement.

"No you won't," I called back.

"Hey. I might," he said, giving a laugh before spinning around and strolling off down the road.

Hurrying inside, I went up to my bedroom to see if I could see any signs of his bike in the sky, but I couldn't see it anywhere thanks to what was likely a cloaking charm.

That was it then, I realised. What had happened in the cabin would stay in the cabin. At least until we got back to Hogwarts.

.o.

My mum got back a bit later than usual that night, and as soon as I heard her key in the lock I trotted eagerly downstairs to let her know I was home.

"Did you have a nice time?" she asked, an edge to her voice that I hadn't been expecting.

"Yeah," I said warily. "I did, thanks."

She took her bag off. "Good," she replied in the same tone. "Guess who I've just had come up to me outside."

She didn't even wait for me to guess.

"Mrs Walker," she said, kicking off her shoes. "Been talking my ear off for the last twenty minutes, in fact. Barely let me get out of the car. Seems to think she saw you outside the house with a 'no-good hooligan."

A no-good hooligan?

It dawned on me who she was talking about, and I had to stifle a laugh, making a mental note to tell Sirius what the neighbour had thought of him.

"It was that Syrus boy again wasn't it?" she demanded. "Is something going on between the two of you?"

My amusement died almost immediately. "No."

"What were you doing here just the two of you then? Where was James?"

"He had to take Lily back," I replied, not sure whether to find it funny or be offended that she thought James was the sensible one out of all of us. "There wasn't enough space on – I mean, there wasn't enough room in Sirius's car for all of us," I corrected quickly. "In his parents' car. That's how I got home."

She looked at me sceptically. "Have you been on his bike?"

"No! I'm going up for a shower now. I'll tell you all about it when I get down." Rushing up the stairs, I leapt into the bathroom before she could ask me any other questions.

Bloody Mrs Walker.

.oOo.

A few days passed and before I knew it Christmas Day had come around.

Just as I'd predicted, I hadn't heard anything from Sirius since he'd dropped me off. Not even a Christmas card.

I'd been uncertain whether to send Jesse one, considering I still felt guilt-ridden about how it'd finished between us and wanted to make amends, and in the end I'd decided to just go for it; sending him a generic winter scene card late on Christmas Eve.

The last thing I'd expected was to get one back, however, which was why it came as such as shock when, on Christmas morning, a handsome barn owl delivered it straight to the front door.

To, Cheryl

Wishing you happiness for Christmas and the New Year.

Love, Jesse

Even though the message was short, I was still drawn to the way he'd signed off with the word love, and held onto a tiny scrap of hope that perhaps he didn't completely hate me after all. Plus, there was a cute ginger kitten with a wreath around its neck on the front, mewing and purring, and who would send a card like that to someone they were still angry with?

There was only one other person whose card came as even more of a surprise than Jesse's when it arrived after dinner that evening, and that was Professor Mison's.

At first I didn't recognise the old fashioned penmanship reading 'Miss C Morland' on the envelope, and even when I looked inside it took me a minute to associate the signature of Ben Mison with our ex DADA Professor.

Dear Cheryl,

Hope this card finds you safe and well and enjoying your well-earned time off. I have (finally!) been allowed to return home to finish my recuperation over the holidays, which I plan to do by indulging in terrible Christmas music and far too much figgy pudding... None of which would be possible were it not for your good self and Sirius, so I feel I must take this opportunity to say thank you again.

Additionally, I thought you might like to know that -fingers crossed- I will be well enough to retake my role when we return to school, and then I can get back to boring you all senseless with my Defense lessons.

I say this last part in jest, of course. My classes are, naturally, fantastic.

All the best,

Ben Mison

P.S. Headmaster Dumbledore provided me with your address to write you – trusting this is okay?

He'd drawn a silly little face next to the word fantastic, and I couldn't help but smile. It was nice to hear from him, if a little embarrassing to receive a card from a teacher.

It crossed my mind whether to tell Sirius about it; I knew if he hadn't got one from him, he'd be interested to know Mison was doing well.

I shook the notion from my head. No. If he'd wanted to contact me, he would've done it by now. It could wait.

.o.

Another week went by and any signs of my Christmas spirit had long since waned as I was confronted with the most depressing celebration ever invented for someone who had nothing at all planned.

New Years Eve.

This year though, I'd decided it would be different.

No more putting up with the Muggle TV's inane coverage of Big Ben bonging for me, or feeling inadequate because I wasn't off having loads of fun with my friends watching fireworks and singing Auld Lang Syne.

I would just treat it like any other day.

And so, much to my mum's astonishment, there I was, in bed at 10pm, with a bottle of Cherry B and a rare copy of Northanger Abbey that my dad had gifted me for Christmas.

I was just in the middle of Henry arriving to confess his affection for Catherine when I was interrupted by an explosion of bangs and whistles outside.

"Happy New Year, sweetie," my mum sang, coming into my room like clockwork and brandishing her glass of Advocaat for me to clink. She peered out of the window, "You should see the fireworks the house across the road has got going on. Come and look. Come on," she urged when I didn't move.

Getting up extremely unenthusiastically, I went to join her at the window.

Magnificent showers of red and gold were falling out of the sky just in front of us.

"Yeah, it's nice."

"Alright, I can take a hint," she said, sipping her drink and starting back towards the door. "You're too grown up for it all now. I'll be downstairs for a bit longer if you do feel like coming down. The Old Grey Whistle Test is on tele."

As soon as she shut the door, I went straight back to my book, finding it harder to focus on the flowery language due to the neighbourhood's fireworks still whizzing around.

Giving it up as a bad job, I made the decision to just go downstairs and join my mum, but a tapping sound on my window stopped me before I could leave the room.

Getting used to having random owls dropping off letters at whatever damn time they felt like by now, I wasn't too perturbed by this.

What I did not expect to see when I went over to the window, was the shadow of a human form.

Jumping back, I clutched at my heart as Sirius grinned at me from the other side of the glass, motioning for me to open the window.

"Happy New Year," he said once I'd pushed it open, somehow on eye level with me despite it being the second floor, his body gently bobbing up and down like he was drifting on a wave.

"How are you doing that?" I asked, leaning out of the window to look at his legs.

"James lent me his broom. Wanted to surprise you."

"I thought you didn't know how to ride a broom... Have you been drinking or something?"

He barked a laugh, the fireworks illuminating his face in flashes of different colours. "Haven't touched a drop. And who else do you think James practices Quidditch against when we're not at school? I thought a broom might be more discreet than a motorbike with a sidecar."

Discreet wasn't the word I'd use.

"You can't stay out there," I said, having flash-forwards to what Mrs Walker would say if she saw the no good hooligan floating outside my window. "Someone's going to see you."

Hauling open the window as far as it would go, I took a step back as he pushed himself upwards, balancing his feet on the broom handle so he could step off it onto my windowsill.

With the agility of an athlete, he skidded down over my desk and landed with his feet on the floor in front of me, all without knocking a single thing off.

Once he was in, his focus landed on one of the actors in the posters he'd seen the last time. "Hutch," he greeted by pretending to doff his cap to the stationary picture.

"Shouldn't you be celebrating with the Potters?" I asked, trying to figure out how my night had shifted from a quiet evening with Jane Austen to Sirius being in my room smelling of fresh air and firework smoke.

"You aren't pleased to see me?" he asked. "And here I was bringing you your Christmas present. I suppose if you don't want it though, I'll just be off."

He started back towards the window and I sighed. "You can stay," I relented, looking apprehensively towards the door, "But you have to be quiet because..."

"...If your mother catches us there'll be blood for supper...I get it," he finished. I'll be as quiet as a mouse. Promise. Here," he held out the crudely wrapped box that he had in his hand, waiting for me to take it.

"Thanks," I said uncertainly.

Unwrapping it gingerly, I unboxed what looked like a Muggle instant camera.

"Wow," I murmured, discarding the packaging and turning it over in my hands.

"The developing solution is charmed," he said, watching my reaction.

Just like the pictures in the magical world the people in the photos would move.

"Had to get you something new to stick on your walls so you could replace old Hutch up there," he joked. "How about we take one now?"

He was already putting an arm around my shoulders and lifting the camera in my hand.

"Say 'Sirius is the best'," he said, clicking the button down. There was a whirring noise and out popped a white square.

Holding it at the corner, he shook it from side to side until the image started to appear.

Sure enough there we were; Sirius's roguish counterpart flashing his perfect teeth at us, and me next to him, giving a hurried last-minute smile.

"This is too much," I said, lost for words. "How can you afford this?"

"Funny you should ask that," he said, leaning against my desk. "You're now looking at the proud owner of financial solvency."

I looked at him quizzically, not understanding what that meant.

"Turns out my Uncle Alphard found out I'd left home and changed his will at the last minute," he explained. "Poor old codger ended up keeling over last week and left me with a decent amount of his fortune."

"I'm so sorry," I said, not sure if that was the right response.

"Me too, especially considering there aren't many of us Blacks left with anything resembling a set of morals – old Alphard always was too liberal for my parents liking. They're furious about it all, of course. But it does mean I've got more than enough money to see me through until the end of school and pay the Potters back for letting me stay with them, not that they'll take it."

He looked genuinely happy.

"I can finally get my own place," he said. "I've already got somewhere in mind."

I found the thought of moving into a house alone at our age absolutely terrifying, but Sirius looked like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders; a world away from when he'd confessed to me how worried was about his future.

"I'm really pleased it's working out for you," I said earnestly.

He smiled. "Had a feeling you would be."

"Is that why you came here, to tell me?" I wondered.

"Oh yeah, there was something else," he said as if I'd reminded him. "Something I wanted to give you, but you have to come here to get it."

Another present?

"But I haven't got you anything," I said, starting to feel guilty.

"Just as well I don't give to receive then, isn't it?"

Curious what it could possibly be on top of what he'd already bought me, I went over to stand in front of him.

Lifting himself up off the desk, he straightened up. "Little closer. And you have to close your eyes."

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Trust me," he said. "Would I do anything bad?"

"Maybe?"

"Cheryl..."

Managing to derail me again just by using my first name, I took another step towards him, hesitantly shutting my eyes.

For a long time nothing seemed to happen, and I started to wonder if he wasn't just playing a prank on me. Resisting the urge to open my eyes to check if he was still there, I finally felt something touch my chin, lifting it upwards.

The next thing I was aware of was a gentle pressure against my lips.

It took me a moment to recognise what it was; I hadn't felt anything like it before. Not with Jesse. Not even with Sirius.

At first I just stood there with my hands by my sides, focused on the way his lips were moving against mine; slow and careful, like he was testing the waters.

As he tilted his head to deepen the kiss, the noises from outside and our slightly untidy surroundings began to blur out of existence, the only thing left the two of us, and I lifted my arms up and around his neck, relaxing into it.

I wasn't sure how much time passed, but by the time we pulled apart the air outside was quiet, the last of the fireworks over.

He kept his hands on my hips, both of us just looking at one another as though trying to make sense of what had just happened.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," he murmured.

"I have some idea," I replied quietly.

There was a light bumping of footsteps coming up the stairs and I realised my mum was coming to bed. We waited for the sound of the bathroom door closing behind her.

"You want me to leave, don't you?" Sirius said, lowering his arms from me.

"I don't want you to-"

"-But I have to?"

"Yeah."

There was no way he could stay at my house.

I went with him to my window and he stopped in front of it.

"What happens now?" he asked.

"I don't know," I replied truthfully.

"Are we telling our friends?"

"You would really do that?"

"What, tell people? Of course, why wouldn't I? I've told you before, I'm not ashamed of you. Why is that so hard to believe?"

I tried to picture me and Sirius in the same kind of relationship as James and Lily; able to be openly affectionate with one another, spending time together as a real couple. Going on dates. Everything I'd done with Jesse.

Somehow Sirius didn't seem like a romantic hand-holding date kind of person. It was impossible to even imagine it.

"I don't think it's a good idea," I said eventually.

Sirius looked at me like he'd missed part of the conversation.

"I'm worried about Marlene," I tried to explain. "She pretends she's over you, but I can tell she isn't, and..." I paused, "and after Jesse. It's too soon. I'm not ready to be in another relationship yet. With anyone."

He nodded slowly. "You're right."

"I am?"

"Yes. There are more reasons we shouldn't be together than reasons we should."

"Yes," I said. "Definitely. That's why we should stay as friends."

"No more physical contact of any sort," he agreed.

"Definitely," I repeated.

I felt his hands on my waist at the same time as I stepped forward to meet him.

His kiss was fierce and heavy this time, drawing me closer to him, his back inadvertently knocking over Jesse's card that had been propped up behind him on the desk.

Moving between my waist and my hair, his hands gripped and flattened against me, making my body yield to him.

When we came up for air, we were both out of breath.

"Still friends, then?" he asked, his lips swollen from the force of it.

"Still friends," I replied.