Revelation chapter everyone. This chapter is dedicated to MsCinammon, an excellent writer, a brilliant advisory, an awesome penpal and frankly, the reason I managed to put this chapter together.

Harry Potter is and always will be, Rowling's. All my claims on it are completely imaginary.

Keeping it Together

Three days after Christmas, and Sirius' curiosity was at breaking point. He wanted to know what the letter meant, what June was doing and why was everything so mysterious. Once again, the thought of the address on the file he had seen rose up. He could go visit her.

That evening, Mrs Potter had gone for some party. James and Sirius decided to go flying in the afternoon. When they returned, James looked at his watch and made a split second decision.

"Alright, Padfoot, I'm off!" he said, shouldering his broomstick and marching to the broomstick cupboard.

"Where?" asked Sirius as he dumped the quaffel on the sofa.

"Lily's," said James, going red.

There was a moment of silence.

"Well, well, well," said Sirius with a grin, "The tables have turned, haven't they?"

"Shut up, padfoot," said James, messing his hair up.

"It seems I can laugh at you now," said Sirius whistling away.

"I didn't laugh at you!"

"Exactly why should I return the favor?"

James said nothing, only took his sweat shirt and pulled it over his sweater. "I'm leaving, Padfoot."

"Yes, you leave, prongsie! Give my best to the Lily-Flower!" said Sirius jovially.

James left at that point. Sirius was left all alone.

Sirius got up and grabbed the letter. He put his own sweat shirt on. This was going to be a brief visit. Just to see how she was doing. He wanted to know what the letter meant. And if she was in danger.

He scribbled the address from his memory onto the letter. 235 Jocelyn Crossing, Tottenham Court Road.

There was a knock on the door. Lily fumbled with her book and got up. She had fallen asleep on the couch and the book she was reading was lying on her stomach. She stumbled through the messy room and opened the door.

"What the hell?" she said at once.

"What an absolutely charming response, Evans. I quite see what they were talking about when they said that you're the most courteous person in the school." said James.

"What I meant was: why didn't you tell me you were coming?" she question aggressively.

"Because, then I would have to pick up a pen, and then I would have to find a roll of parchment, and then I would have to write, and then -"

"Alright, I get the gist," she said, and ushered him inside. She threw some of the books and clothes away from the sofa, making way for him to sit. "My parents are out. Why couldn't you have come in the two days after Christmas where I kept my appearance impeccable in case you turned up is a mystery to me."

"Aww. She gots ready for me!"

"None of your nonsense, Potter. I was paranoid stiff that you would see me in my dirty smock. Do you appreciate what I went through?"

"Vividly, Evans, I spent all of my fifth year messing my hair up for your benefit."

"This is not like that! You hair is naturally messy, what do I have to do with it?" Lily exclaimed, clamping down on the pleased feeling that he had bothered to look after his hair for her.

"I'm a firm believer in girls falling head over heels for my hair."

"Which is why you find the need to make it worse?" asked Lily with a raised eyebrow.

"I think I'll steal your line: None of your nonsense, Evans." said James derisively, "Well, get ready Evans. We're going for a movie. Although, I haven't the slightest idea what that is."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Wait here while I get dressed."

June did not like being interrupted while reading, therefore she spent most of her time reading in her bedroom. But her father was almost always never around so it didn't make a difference. And even when he was, slipping away was easy enough.

That's why she was sitting in the kitchen.

That evening, however he barged in, quite, quite angry.

"What did you do?" he asked her, furious.

June had absolutely no idea what he was referring to – unless he was talking about the illegal drug trade he was talking about – in which case, she hadn't interfered one bit.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman with a single man are on a date.

However, James and Lily were most certainly not on a date – regardless of the fact that Lily had wished he held her hand during the movie. They had had an enjoyable time, James had been fascinated by everything Lily showed him. He had enjoyed the movie very much – it had been Casablanca, just so you know.

They sat down at one of the near by diners, and Lily ordered some hamburger with fries.

"And again – I'm sorry about my parents." said Lily.

"No issue at all, Evans. I happen to like your mother's cookies very much, you'll have to tell her to give me the recipe."

Lily gave him a don't-you-dare look, and said, "I didn't expect them to fall in love with you of course. Ugh. Now, when I go home, they're going to go on and on about how I was lying about you all this time."

"Its always my pleasure to annoy you Evans. Besides, you have been lying about my killer good lucks and charm."

"Don't push it, Potter."

"Whatever you say Evans."

"Also, I had to thank you for that lovely gift," Lily said suddenly.

"Oh – no problem Evans. I took Tales of Beedle the Bard from my dad's library though."

"Well then, thank your father from me. He could not have given a more thoughtful gift."

"About that... Evans," James began, but stopped himself.

"What?" asked Lily curiously.

"Its just that... my father... he passed away last summer."

Lily was so shocked she couldn't say anything.

"There's no need to feel guilty!" James said hastily, "He was battling a death eater – it was an unfortunate encounter."

"James, I'm so sorry," Lily whispered, almost too ashamed to bring it out of her mouth.

"No worries, Evans, Don't blame yourself too much. I haven't exactly made my peace with it or anything, but I have come to terms with talking about it."

"Right," said Lily, wiping her eyes. There was a telltale tear on the corner of her eye. "I'm sorry, anyway. Friends should know about things like this."

James said nothing for the moment.

June was used to unhappiness, tears and anguish. They had been her companions for a long time. She had grown accustomed to them, and was at peace with them.

"You little bitch!" her father said scathingly. "You went to the police!"

June felt the darkness steal into her, and she bent her head, whispering quietly: "N-no fa-father... I-I -"

"Shut up!" Her father said, snarling. he slapped June roughly on the face, "Why'd you do it?" she asked aggressively.

"I-I-I did-didn't" June stammered, and that had probably been the end of it all. Her father only heard the 'I did' part before he went completely wild. Sirius had always said her stammer wasn't going to help her.

And as her father screamed with rage and pulled June by the hair to the kitchen she wondered why she had thought of Sirius Black, with his black eyes and black hair - so annoyingly happy without asking for it. So brave without trying. It took June every ounce of her courage to speak to people, and here he was, making it look as effortless as lifting a feather.

She bit back the cold gasp that was escaping her lips when her father threw her on the chair and punched her squarely on the jaw. Screaming didn't help when everyone in hell screamed. It didn't matter if she said anything to anyone.

James returned to an empty house. His mother was still out and Sirius didn't seem to be about. He strode to the table to find a hastily penned note.

Going out with that muggle waitress we saw yesterday. Be back by ten.

James looked at the clock. It was almost nine-thirty. Sirius should be back around eleven.

Her father kept repeating the question again and again and June could do nothing but cough and gasp - her face was contorted in pain and her eyes were popping. June wanted to cry and scream or do anything besides coughing up blood, but she shouldn't. Crying had never helped in these situations and screaming just made her father happier.

And again Sirius Black's face flashed in front of her, telling her to get a backbone or telling her to do something for herself. He had wondered why she was so scared of everything, hadn't he? He might as well find out.

And it occurred to her that it didn't matter if she wanted him to find out right now: he was miles and miles away.

Sirius looked at the fluttering letter in his hand:

235 Jocelyn Crossing

Tottenham Court road

Well, he might as well visit her. She would be with her father right now, wouldn't she? Probably enjoying her after Christmas with him.

Sirius considered not going for a moment. He didn't need to. He could leave her be. That's what she wanted in any case.

But the contents of the letter were to overwhelmingly curiosity striking that he had to see her. He had to ask her what they meant. He had to know.

Finally making up his mind he disapparated from there, thinking to himself like a mantra: Tottenham court road, tottenham court road, tottenham court road.

The pain was horrible, but numbing. After sometime you get used to it.

"What would Sirius do?" an annoying voice in her head asked.

"He would fight back." another voice whispered back.

But she wasn't Sirius Black. Sirius Black was far away, enjoying dinner with James Potter and the Potters. He was probably laughing in his carefree manner, and wouldn't understand what a horrible world June lived in, and how difficult it was to balance everything in it.

"But he would still fight back," the little voice argued.

How could she fight back? He was so much stronger. Would Sirius really fight back if he was in her position?

"He would try."

June let out a scream of frustration, encouraging her father to yell at her louder. She wasn't screaming in pain. She was screaming because Sirius Black had made her life so much more complicated than it already was.

Sirius chased down the dark alleys, waiting for some explanation. He wandered lonely as a cloud, muttering to himself, and stopped once to ask an old woman exactly where Jocelyn Crossing was.

"Around the bend on the right." The woman replied, eyeing him curiously, "Where are you going?" she asked.

"To 235 Jocelyn Crossing," Sirius answered.

"What business do you have there?" asked the crone intrusively.

"I want to meet an old friend." Sirius replied.

"What old friend?" snorted the woman, "The only person over there is old Leto and his daughter."

"What do you know about them?" asked Sirius curiously.

The woman seemed eager to share. "He's a drunkard whose wife left him. He has been having a spot of trouble with money. His daughter isn't around most of the time. They say she got a scholarship to some boarding school. Nice girl. Very pretty. She helps me load my fruits during her holidays."

"Why'd Mrs Leto leave?" asked Sirius.

"Lord, he was horrible to her. They got married young, see. She was pregnant and all that. There was no choice in the matter. They had that poor girl called June and word is old Leto would regularly beat his wife."

"She didn't stay for her daughter?" asked Sirius, flabbergasted.

"No. Not a thought in the world, that woman had. She left the poor girl behind. I suppose she had had enough of him and his drunkeness, but she really ought to have thought of her daughter. She's a good girl though. Gets beaten almost as regularly as her mother used to."

Sirius was quiet for a second.

"Can't anyone help her?" he asked.

"We all have our own problems, son. I have a grandson in jail. All we can do is be there for one another."

A scream pierced the air, chilling Sirius to the bones.

"That would be her," said the woman sadly, "That girl goes through ten times the trouble we go through and is brave enough to face it. She rarely screams though. Must be even worse today."

Sirius blinked twice before rushing to June's house.

No point in screaming when everyone in hell screamed to be heard.

June fought back.

For the first time, she fought back.

She pushed her father away and scrambled to her feet. His arm reached out to her and June slapped it away, standing up. She rushed out of the kitchen and into the hallway. She looked around twice through her good eye (the other one was swollen, you see.) and made a break for the stairs.

Her father's hands gripped her ankle and pulled her down, her head hitting the staircase. She wished she hadn't listened to Sirius' advice.

Her mouth hurt with the assault of the stairs. She gasped loudly.

230, 231, 232...

Very close. Very, very close.

Sirius glanced at the letter again, confirming it to be 235. He chased down the street again.

232, 233, 234.

Almost there.

235.

Sirius didn't have time to examine the hovel. Yet another scream pierced the air. He broke down the front door.

June had a split second before she saw her father's Neanderthal face contorted in rage, and his heavy fist fall on her jaw, breaking it again.

In the split second she gave one scream.

In that split second she saw the front door break down.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

As her father's body went rigid and numb, she stared at Sirius Black's face. She knew he was angry enough to perform the cruciatis curse.

Rage coursed through Sirius' veins.

And in that moment, he knew that nothing mattered. He would have killed the man for hurting his June. He would have destroyed him. June's reaction had been the only thought that stopped him.

June groaned. She was lying on the stairs, grasping her ribs. Sirius was sure that one or two must be broken. Again unequivocal rage rushed through his veins. Who did that man think he was? June was hurt. His June was hurt. He raised his wand to perform another curse.

"St-stop." June whispered.

If anything, that calmed him. Her command, so quietly issued, trying to reason with him, even when she was hurt. She turned over and coughed blood out. Sirius immediately hurried toward her and gripped her hand.

"Wh-what ar-are yo-you doi-doing he-here?" she asked.

Sirius wordlessly pulled the letter out, and June glanced at it, her eyes watering. She pulled him close and whispered, "Levi-levitate hi-him to hi-his roo-room."

Sirius did the necessary without a word. His room was quite filthy, and Sirius was sure he saw needles lying around.

"He-help me u-up." She said hoarsely.

"How bad is it?" asked Sirius.

She fingered her stomach and grimaced. "O-one or tw-two ri-ribs bro-broken. Ja-jaw gone. Le-legs scr-scraped. Not too bad." She muttered.

"'Not too bad?''' asked Sirius, "'Not too bad'?"

"Not too bad," repeated June.

Again her damned voice calmed him. He wished she would shut up and let him kill the man. Instead he helped her up, and she leaned on him as she went to the kitchen. She sat down heavily on one of the rickety wooden chairs.

"Pass the bread," she said.

Sirius passed her the bread and butter.

"Cou-could you go upstairs and get the ointment from my table?" she asked.

Sirius dazedly disappeared to her room. Her room was bare, but the cleanest room of the house. There was a scrubby bed by the window overlooking a wall, a desk which seemed to be breaking apart and some boxes beneath the bed.

He picked the little bottle of ointment from her desk and went downstairs. June had put some butter and spices on the two slices of bread. Sirius helped her up as she walked to the stove. She fried them lightly, and placed them on the only china dish in the house.

"I-I'm starving," June muttered.

Sirius had to smile.

"So?" asked June as she bit into some bread, gesturing him to take the other.

"You tell me." Sirius said, eating some bread. It was quite delicious.

June sighed and squared her shoulders, "Bring the boxes beneath my bed. About time I-I faced the past."

Curiosity overtook Sirius. He pulled the boxes out and brought them down.

June picked up one of the two boxes. "I was born on 4th ma-march 1960," She pulled out a birth certificate. "My mother had married my father because she was pregnant."

Sirius examined the birth certificate and marriage certificate.

"I didn't have a happy childhood. Books were my only comfort. My father used to beat my mother, you see?"

Sirius nodded. He watched her pull out some of the pictures she had drawn out of the only three colours she possessed. She had drawn pictures of her being segregated from the rest of her class, of her being torn apart by bullies, of herself being alone and sad. There were books as well. Books with tonnes of her own personal notes. And a diary, recording everything that happened to her.

"I forgot this picture," June muttered, pulling out a picture and a school magazine. "That's me and Maria. She gave it to me when she was leaving England."

June showed him a picture of a girl with dark hair and dark eyes, laughing uproariously at the camera while six year old June smiled shyly.

"M-mum le-left wh-when I wa-was tw-twelve." June said, showing him a picture of her mother, who looked like a stingy sort of woman, with a thin face and blue eyes. She did look pretty though, in her own way. Beside her was June, two year old and tiny, with her own yellow eyes and slightly nicer face.

"Sh-she's pretty, isn't she?" said June, more to herself than anyone.

"You're prettier," said Sirius gruffly.

June colored at that. She smiled at Sirius, and continued, "My dad... h-he's a dealer in dr-drugs."

Sirius' fists clenched.

"I got my letter to Hogwarts at eleven," she said, "I didn't have a good first year. Or any year for that matter."

"Why on earth not?" asked Sirius indignantly.

June smiled ruefully. "Ho-Hogwarts is littered with bullies."

Sirius felt so ashamed.

"And then I met you," finished June.

"I'm sorry for... everything," said Sirius, eyes downcast.

June shrugged.

"I'm serious, June."

June's face twitched. "I'm aware of that."

But Sirius was having none of it. He glared at her for a second, "You're really brave, Leto," he said.

June said nothing.

"And here I thought putting up with my mother while she locked me in a closet for getting into Gryffindor was brave," said Sirius darkly.

"The kind of bravery required for both of those acts of courage is just the same Sirius Black. There is no measurement for it."

"You're an odd one."

June laughed and placed a hand on his arm. She winced. "M-my jaw hurts." she explained.

Somehow, Sirius found that immensely funny. He keeled over in laughter.

"It's not that funny," June pouted.

Sirius chuckled, wiping his eyes, "I can't get enough of you Leto," he said.

"You should be going." June said.

"And leave you with him?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"Yes." June said.

There was a silent battle that raged among them, as each looked into the other's eyes.

"June, I might do my nut if I leave you here," said Sirius honestly.

"I can't leave," said June calmly.

"Why on earth not?" he asked her.

"I have people to look after for," she said.

"They can do without you!"

"No they can't!" she said angrily, banging her fist on the table, "There is a woman who needs help loading fruits because her back is breaking, a boy who is bullied every day for liking other boys, a girl who is a prostitute at the age of sixteen, A man whose wife was killed, and I need to be there for them!"

And it hit him, right then and there, that this was June Leto.

"I don't care," he said stubbornly, "I'm not leaving."

June sighed audibly. "I was afraid you were going to say that," she said, "It's my decision, Sirius."

"I acknowledge that you have made a decision, but given that it's a stupid ass decision, I've elected to ignore it," he got up purposefully and disappeared to June's room.

"Where are you going?" she asked, getting up as quickly as she could without causing herself some permanent harm.

"Getting your stuff," he growled as he stomped upstairs.

"Sirius, I can't leave!" June yelled.

"You're mentally unstable and don't have any idea of self preservation," he informed her.

June felt exasperated and amused at the same time. "Sirius!"

"Yes, June?" he asked as he came back downstairs, holding the heavy trunk up as easily as he would hold a feather.

"You can't make me," she told him defiantly.

Sirius shrugged, dumped the stuff from her boxes into the trunk, and picked June up, throwing her across his shoulder.

June was caught with surprise. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked him indignantly, her stammer forgotten.

"You're surprisingly light," he told her, as he picked her trunk up with the other hand.

"You're evil! Put me down!" she shouted.

"Not today, Leto. We're leaving."

"Cheerio!" he said to the woman on the street who had given him directions.

So what do all of you think? Bit much?

Either way, that was the most difficult chapter I have written in the entirety of the story. Not just the story, the whole of my experience in writing. Did any one notice the avengers reference? Please tell me you did.

Also, Sirius was a year older than them (checked on the harry potter wiki) therefore he could do magic.