Chapter Twenty-Two

He Screams Like A Girl

The Great Hall was pink.

"Rose," was Alex Fronsac's snide correction of the statement I'd accidentally blurted aloud. He sauntered by in the entrance and off towards the Ravenclaw table. I stared after him momentarily in suspended disbelief, but I reminded myself that Fronsac had always been nothing but a square-headed git, and that he was definitely not worth it. Ironically (and this was not the good type of ironically, if such a thing existed), it seemed as if that was not the only time I would be seeing the aforementioned boy that morning. I returned my stare to the state of the Hall instead, and I stared so long that I had to jog to catch up with the oblivious—or at least unaffected—Lily.

"What in Merlin's name has happened to this place?" I asked her, rather flustered. A dwarf narrowly evaded my foot and dashed off, cursing me as he disappeared from view.

"Valentine's day, of course," Lily answered nonchalantly, sitting herself down at the table.

Of course? It wasn't like the Great Hall had ever been decorated like this for Valentine's day before. Normally, the students went to Hogsmeade over the weekend and stacked up on sweets to hand out for Valentine's day, but never had the teachers completely remodeled the Great Hall for the holiday. Never had they devastated it in such a horrific way. I guessed it was upon the new Care of Magical Creatures professor's suggestion. She was oddly frilly for a woman who specialized in the caretaking of beasts; somehow I couldn't quite place her name. I hadn't even really thought of that class since third year.

The pink, though—yes, Fronsac, pink!—was fairly overwhelming. A little pipsqueak of a fairy darted around my head and just narrowly dodged a collision with my face; I groaned aloud and sat beside Lily, wondering how this entire spectacle wasn't disturbing her. There were strings of hearts on the wall for crying out loud. It was nothing but retch-worthy chaos. Dwarves in little mini pink suits, dwarves with little fluttery white wings—why were they wearing wings when there were plenty of fairies about?—dwarves with bows and arrows, dwarves singing songs and dwarves chucking things that looked like licorice—

Oh, Merlin save the school. There was only one explanation for all of this. Hogwarts had fallen.

"What's going on?"

Suddenly Remus was at my side and I figured he'd gotten there when I was in the middle of staring at the horror that was now our school. With a glance at his face, his expression seemed to say he was just as baffled as I was.

"Death Eaters," I whispered with conviction.

He snorted and for some reason did not look overly convinced. Sirius appeared on Remus's side just as suddenly as Remus had arrived, looking indifferent and just a bit smug. "Remus, I have a present for you!"

Remus eyed him warily, and the look only increased in intensity when Sirius slid a red box across the table and placed it in front of him. Remus did not look as if he even wanted to touch the thing.

After a few idle moments, Sirius cried with far too much enthusiasm, "Aren't you going to open it?"

"I don't think so."

"I promise it won't blow up, Moony, gracious."

"Padfoot, your promises have not always been known to be the most credible."

I twitched in my seat. "Can I open it?"

Remus looked almost relieved and began to pass it over. "Sure—"

"No," Sirius cut in quickly, grabbing the box back, "it's for Remus."

I pouted and folded my arms. "Meanie."

Sirius winked when Remus wasn't looking, and I reckoned that he looked far too mischievous for Remus's comfort.

"Open it, Moony! I paid twenty sickles for this, and I do not intend on it going to waste, thank you very much."

"Twenty sickles." Remus glanced over at me and rolled his eyes. "He says that as if it's his entire fortune."

"I know, and it's not like he doesn't waste all of his money on sweets anyways."

Sirius sighed. "You know," he said, and he pulled on his hair, looking as if he was trying to inspect it, "after this, Moony, I think you'll have to check my hair for grays. I'm getting old here."

"Will you give my eulogy after this, Gracie? Because frankly, I don't trust Sirius here with that, either—"

"Remus!"

"Right, right, I'm working on it." He raised the lid and turned it over onto the table, revealing three rows of delicate looking chocolates. Of course it was chocolate. It seemed to be the only thing Sirius could concentrate about for more than five minutes. Remus, however, looked as if he would never be able to fathom an appropriate response for this. "Really, Padfoot, this is just ridiculous—"

Neither of them were paying attention to the opened box, so I took advantage of the moment to sneak a chocolate and pop it into my mouth. Perhaps Sirius and I both shared a weakness for it. Neither of them had seemed to notice my thievery and I sat there with my hands folded in front of myself innocently.

"—even think I'd ever fall for that, not after last year with Prongs. I know you like to say I'm thick-headed, but I'm not, and this—"

Then Remus stopped. His eyes fell to the box and he slowly swiveled to me. I noticed with amusement that Remus and Sirius both had the same looks on their faces.

"Gracie..."

They both stared, but I felt rather unaffected. Normally, I knew that I would have snapped at them or questioned as to why they were looking like they did, but I did neither. In fact, I suddenly didn't even really feel like being with either of them at all.

Sirius dashed to my other side, and I thought how it was a shame that he wanted to talk to me now that I was just getting ready to leave. Perhaps I would just excuse myself politely.

"Gracie, do you feel okay?" Sirius asked, and I felt strangely offended. Of course I was okay! Why did he ask that like I was a child?

"I'm fine," I said with bite. "I'm going to go now. Do you see Alex Fronsac anywhere?"

I didn't realize what I'd asked at first, but after a moment it oddly seemed to fit. Yes, that was who I wanted to see; there was no one I wanted to see more, in fact. I sat up straighter in my seat, craning my neck to find Fronsac—no, Alex, why had I ever called him Fronsac?—and for some reason, I noticed the pink tapestries and the little gliding fairies and it all seemed so much lovelier. Lovely... love...

How had I not realized it? I loved Alex Fronsac! I was absolutely mad for him. Every cell in my body suddenly ached for him, for his face, for his obnoxious mouth. I stood up with determination and I had my mind set on searching the Ravenclaw table, but my aspirations were quickly cut short as two strong pairs of arms pulled me back down on both sides. I gasped in horror.

"You are definitely not going anywhere," Sirius said forcefully, and I glared at him menacingly.

"Both of you let go!" I shrieked, squirming in their grip.

I was kicking and spitting and trying to get them off, but they were relentless. "Gracie, honestly, you're so feisty, just calm down for two seconds!"

"Why did you choose Fronsac of all people?" Remus aimed this at Sirius, to which I snapped in response and re-directed my glare at his alarmed face.

"Why not Alex? Don't be such an insensitive git, Remus!"

"Oh, lord," Sirius sighed.

Remus wasn't too affected by my scolding, which infuriated me. "That was a cruel move, mate. I mean, really, you couldn't have at least chosen a girl?"

"That certainly would not have helped the current situation at hand," said Sirius.

"How long does it take for this to wear off?" Remus's voice lowered. "Because I don't fancy asking Lily for help right about now—"

"Let go!"

"Six hours," Sirius sighed wistfully, "and the way things are going, it looks like she's going to notice something's up anyways."

"Six hours? Were you trying to kill me?"

All I really wanted was to see Alex's beautiful face. He really did have such a beautiful face. And such a lovely mind... Everything about him was beautiful. And here were these toerags, trying to keep me from him.

With more force, I wrenched myself free from their grasps and sprinted away with a flash of energy. My mind was in such a flurry but all I could think about was how much I wanted to hear Alex's voice. Maybe I'd get him to tell me the color of the Great Hall just so I could hear him say rose. He made the word sound so lovely, didn't he?

A hand yanked me back and I managed to slip free again, but before I could celebrate my escape, two arms were crushing me and holding me to the spot. I responded defensively and ground my heel into my bloody captor's foot. Sirius let out a yelp of pain and there, finally, I was free again at last.

I spotted Alex's face just meters away at his table. Various eyes were watching me but I did not care about them; I would worry about their blatant rudeness later. At the moment, all I wanted was Alex Fronsac's attention, and it seemed as if I was going to have to work some more to get it.

I ran to him, closer but not close enough, and Sirius found me again, pulling me back. He was not going to win this one.

"Alex!"

There, that got his attention. See? I'd already won. I wanted to rub it in Sirius's face, but suddenly Alex turned his head and I forgot all about the stupid possessive boy behind me. My heart fluttered unnaturally and I wanted to screech with joy.

"Hachette?"

He seemed surprised, and I fathomed it was the pleasant kind of surprised; my heart soared and I absolutely could not control myself.

"Alex! Do you—"

Sirius covered my mouth with his hand, muffling the rest of my sentence. I grew furious within an instant and bit down hard on his fingers.

He yanked his hand away, cursing, "Ow, dammit, Gracie! Do not go an—"

But I did not hear what he did not want me to do, because I was already alight with excitement again at the sight of Alex Fronsac's beautiful eyes. I wondered what color they were. I couldn't see them hardly well at all, but my brain told me that they were beautiful, and I gladly accepted the fact.

I still had Alex's full attention and so I took advantage of it eagerly.

"Do you want to snog me in a broom cupboard somewhere?"

Sirius was still swearing behind me but I was not going to just give up because he was being a prick.

I waited for Alex's response, but his expression just fell blank, satisfying neither my desire nor my racing heart.

"What?"

How could such an intelligent boy not understand such a simple question... It was beyond me. But I did not grow impatient, and instead happily repeated myself.

"Do you want to snog me in a broom cupboard? Or, anywhere, really, I've never been a fan of public displays of affection but if you'd rather right now then I'd gladly make an excep—"

Sirius quickly ripped me away and out of nowhere threw me over his shoulder like a rag doll. I let out another shriek and kicked him violently.

"Alex! Alex! Alex!"

"Gracie! For the love of all that is right and magical, would you just please—"

"I love you!" I said over Sirius's scolding and screamed my throat dry. "Don't let him take me away! I LOVE YOU!"

I heard Remus's voice somewhere below, chastising, "And to think this it what you would have done to me, Sirius..."

"It still could be, mate, watch yourself," Sirius warned.

But I didn't care about either of them, and Alex was gliding farther and farther away as Sirius carried me off.

"I LOVE YOU! ALEX FRONSAC, LET'S RUN AWAY TOG—"

And then the doors to the Great Hall slammed shut in my face.

"I'm never eating chocolate again," I whimpered against the floor. I was currently curled up in a ball in between a couple of deserted bookshelves in the library, rocking myself back and forth.

Sirius sighed, patting my head. "I will never let you eat chocolate again."

"Could have been worse," said Remus.

Sirius scoffed. "Yeah, you're not the one that got screamed at, stomped on, bit, and kicked."

"You asked for it."

"You think Lily heard anything?" It was almost humorous how this had become our first reaction whenever any one of us did anything out of line.

"I think she'll have our heads on a shiny silver platter later," I answered flatly. "Which isn't really fair, because it's technically all your fault—"

"What time is it?" asked Remus.

"Not late enough," Sirius groaned.

We'd been hiding in the library since breakfast. The boys had rather quickly silenced me and tried as many spells as they could think of; Finite Incantem hadn't done a thing and they even went so far as to try Rictusempra, which had only sent me into a fit of torturous and silent giggles. Sirius had the job of holding me down while I kicked and bit and squirmed and screamed (silently, of course) while Remus desperately searched the bookshelves for something to "reverse the damage," as Sirius had described it.

But even after they'd finally gotten me back to my senses, there was no way to completely reverse that damage, I told myself bitterly. And I had Potions with the Ravenclaws that afternoon, of all the damned luck.

I buried my face in my arms. "I'll stay here and you all can go to class. Don't worry about me." I waved at them blindly.

"Let's go," Sirius said, attempting to pull me up from the ground. "We've got Herbology first and I heard we get to handle bubotubers this class."

"I don't like bubotubers," I murmured.

"Why not? They're cute."

"They look like obese bogeys, Sirius!"

"Well, if you look at them that way, but it's always about perspective, Gracie, you know..."

I moaned with annoyance, "Go away."

Sirius let out a breath. "I could just pick you up again."

"No!" I quickly sat up and jumped to my feet. "You'll never take me alive!"

He rolled his eyes. "Thank you. Let's go." He pushed me forward lightly to get me moving.

Remus just laughed lightly and wrapped a protective arm around my shoulders. Sirius huffed a little at the gesture, and I guessed absentmindedly that he would have had liked to get to me first, but he clearly hadn't, and besides, it was his fault I'd started confessing love for Fronsac. Of all the people! I should have been bashing Sirius's head into the wall at this point.

But I wouldn't, because I loved the buggering idiot. The thought was easy on my mind—especially compared to the crazy love I had just experienced only the hour before—probably because I always had loved him. He'd been my best friend for as long as I cared to remember and it just felt natural to love him.

Now I wasn't in love with him, because that one little additional word was just positively leaping to all sorts of crazy ideas. But then again, I didn't see how one word could really make too much of a difference, and I decided the feeling, whatever it was, did not need a formal title.

Besides. It was still his fault that I'd so publically humiliated myself and I could not just very well forget about that.

Later that night, after I'd successfully survived all of my classes and sort-of-kind-of apologized to Fronsac and then dashed off madly for the exit, I finally stumbled up to bed with my head spinning from the toil of the long day and far too much time spent studying in the library. Too much had happened that day, what with the morning's events and the tiresome yodeling dwarf that Sirius had follow Remus around all day and sing pitiful and ear-piercing love songs to him between class periods. Peter had exempt himself somehow from Sirius's holiday wrath, fortunately for him. Peter and James were the only two that had seemed to take the day seriously at all, really. James had been surprisingly mild this time around, but I had noticed a bouquet of pink and white lilies on Lily's dresser that afternoon. Quite clever on his part, playing up the whole 'lily' thing. Peter had gotten Lucy O'Daley a charmed box of truffles that proclaimed that she was the most beautiful girl to ever exist every time she opened the box. I really had to restrain myself from commenting on that.

When I opened the door to my dormitory that night determined to finally get rest, however, I was welcomed by the sounds of screaming.

It took me a few moments to realize that my dorm mates weren't screaming at the sight of me and that, in fact, no one had even realized I'd entered at all. I closed the door behind me, staring wide-eyed, and scanned the rooms for signs of peril. The only thing that seemed out of place, however, was the huddle of girls surrounding the bathroom door.

I nearly collided into Mary, who looked panic-stricken. "Gracie! Oh my God, there's—"

"—what do we do? I'm not opening the door!—"

"Someone go get McGonagall! We can't just trap it in there and we very well can't just let it go—"

"How the hell did it get in here?"

"It's the Grim! We're all going to die!"

I turned to Mary, trying to raise my voice over the noise, "What's going on?"

"There's a dog," Mary said quickly, pointing to the closed bathroom door. My eyes widened. "A wolf. I don't know. It's big, and black, and Georgia's been screeching about how it's the Grim for a half hour."

"You've got to be kidding."

That could not be Sirius. But where else would a black dog have come from?

It didn't quite make sense, and I tried to click it together in my mind, Sirius trapped in the bathroom, but it still didn't make sense. Why the hell would he be in the dorm at all? How had he even gotten up the stairs? I shoved my way past the girls.

"All right, everyone, back up, I'll get it," I said with a heavy sigh. With my luck, it probably wasn't Sirius and was in fact a ferocious and deadly dog-wolf thing. But if it was Sirius, calling McGonagall would only make things much, much worse. Sirius wasn't a registered Animagi, after all, and the entire situation playing out in my mind seemed to have a million possible terrible endings.

"Gracie, it'll eat you!"

"Lucy, I'll be fine, but thank you for the concern," I said, trying to maintain my patience. I slowly clicked the door open and peeked my head inside.

There was the big terrible scary beast of question, sitting on the bathroom floor and staring up with big puppy dog eyes. It was funny how much he really did honestly resemble Sirius in that moment. I rolled my eyes.

"Come here, you mutt."

"Gracie, what are you doing?" Eunice Wilk hissed, and I just waved her off.

Sirius the dog slowly scrambled on all four paws, and walked over to me, looking uncertain. I was so tempted to kick him, but that might look awful in front of an audience, so I simply reached down and pet the top of his head.

"Look," I said, demonstrating, and scratched the ebony dog underneath his chin, "he's harmless." I gave Sirius a long, hard look, then grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him along. "I'll take care of it. You all just sleep."

"Gracie, you're going—"

"Georgia, please, I promise it is perfectly fine." And I dragged Sirius off before anyone could make another attempt to stop me. There were alarmed shouts of protest that followed but it all ceased when I slammed the door shut.

We escaped into the hallway, and upon finding it empty, I said, "All right, you can transform or whatever it is you do now."

Sirius just looked up at me and whimpered.

"What?"

He did nothing but sit.

"What, Sirius? Blimey, you drive me crazy." I knelt down on the floor beside him, looking him hard in the eye again, searching for his nonverbal explanation.

The dog took quick advantage of my vulnerable position and licked me in the face. I shrieked and fell backwards, much to Sirius's amusement.

"Sirius! That's disgusting! You can't just do that because you're a dog!"

The dog barked, sounding similar to a kind of laughter, and I wiped my face obsessively to get it dry. I stood back up to give us more distance and nudged him with my foot.

"Are you going to do something?"

He gave me no response and walked past me and towards the stairs.

"Sirius, hell, do you realize that—"

He turned his head and growled fiercely, cutting my words short. I huffed and followed, watching with amazement as he effortlessly bounded down the stairs and landed on the bottom step gracefully. As graceful as a dog could be, anyways. The stairs must not have applied to animals, or, more specifically, Animagi.

"Where are we going?" I groaned, still trailing after the mutt as he darted through the nearly deserted common room at full speed. In seconds flat he'd dashed and was gone from my sight. I stood glued to the spot, staring where he'd been only a moment ago cluelessly.

There were only a few students still hanging around the common room at that time of the night, and all of them seemed either too preoccupied (the couple snogging each other's faces off in the corner) or too drained (the red-eyed girls nodding off by the fire) to notice anything strange going on. A few had glanced up, but they must have decided that they were surely seeing things and had been quick to disregard any such strange events. It wasn't like there was any notable evidence that there had been a dog in the room at all, in fact.

Speaking of which, where had that rangy mutt gotten off to? He'd been right in front of me only a minute ago!

I walked cautiously through the common room, eyes darting about for sign of the great big black dog. There were only a few places he really could have gone, and I certainly hadn't seen him leave from out of the portrait hole... I was going to murder him when I did find—

"RAHH!"

A shot of nervous electricity rang throughout my body relentlessly and I let out a high pitched short blood-curdling scream. Sirius was himself again, the hysterical laughter and all, and tried to wrap me in a hug but I shoved him away, gasping and trying to recollect myself.

"You—stupid—don't—arse—I hate you—why—"

He was struggling for breath and chased after me as I snaked away to get back to my dorm. "Wait! I'm sorry, Gracie," he panted, straightening himself out, and nodded to a few alarmed looking Gryffindors. "Sorry to all of you as well. Wait!" Sirus's voice turned into a low hiss. "Gracie, don't go yet!"

I spun on my heel and regarded him ferociously. "What? Why were you even in my dorm, by the way?"

"Because I meant to get you, but you weren't there," Sirius replied easily, and took my wrist. "I just meant to have a little fun with you, that was all, not give you a heart attack. Now let's go!"

"Sirius, it is after curfew and I have had it up to here with you today, I am not in the mood to go anywhere—"

"Let's go, let's go, let's go! We're going to miss our chance! I have got the perfect surprise for you. You'll love it. Promise."

"What exactly do you have planned? Because if it involves fire or dungbombs or anything remotely dangerous then I am walking back up to my dorm."

He whined, pulling on my arm, "Come on, you know you don't want to go back up there anyways. Your dorm mates are no fun at all."

"So it does involve fire or dungbombs or something remotely dangerous?"

"Actually, it does not," Sirius said, puffing his chest. "Well, unless of course you consider Lily as something remotely dangerous."

"Lily? Lily? What are you planning? I am not doing anything to Lily, she will murder me! In my sleep! In case you didn't know, we happen to share a dorm!"

Sirius took my hand and pulled me along out of the common room, resisting my attempts to flee. "It's not just Lily. The plan happens to include James as well. But they are just a sub-plan, and the real plan..."

"Get to the point, Sirius."

"That's what I was doing!" he exclaimed. "As I was saying, the real plan is much simpler. Quieter. But simple. Don't get your hopes up or anything."

"Seeing as I really cannot comprehend the nonsense you're spewing, I wouldn't worry about disappointing me." I loosened up considerably and poked him in the side where I knew he was ticklish.

He suddenly brightened like a switch. "I almost forgot. One little necessity." He grabbed his wand and waved it in my face before I could retaliate and with a short utterance the corridor was no more.

I clawed at the fabric masking my eyes with irritation but it wouldn't budge. "You really have to blindfold me?"

"It's a surprise, Gracie. Keep up, will you?" There was a smile in his voice. He took my hand again, but gentler this time, and led me down the hallway.

"Where are we going?"

"Again, surprise."

"Are we there yet?"

He didn't answer.

"Is that a surprise, too?"

"No."

"Why aren't you talking?"

"I'm a bit preoccupied."

"With what?"

"Walking."

"You can't walk and talk?"

"No."

"Then maybe I'll shut up in case you end up leading me into a wall."

He laughed. "You're safe. For now, anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Then I paused and said, "Wait, that's a surprise too, isn't it?"

"Obviously."

I sighed outwardly. "So many secrets. Too many secrets."

"And not enough patience," said Sirius, though he seemed fairly amused, despite my pestering. We stopped walking an hour of trekking through long corridors and crawling up dwindling staircases later (Sirius was quick to point out my exaggeration of this statement). "We're here!" he announced with excitement, leading me only a few more steps. "All right, on three... one, two..."

The wind was cool on my skin. It whipped around me and surrounded me in icy warmth. I took a deep breath of the sweet air.

"Three!"

The blindfold fell from my face, and my eyes fell upon Sirius who was beaming enough to light an entire town. I smiled at the sincerity in his expression and glanced out when he gestured for me to.

I let out a small gasp, looking out and up and all around, spinning just so I could get a glimpse of it all at once. We were on the Astronomy tower, overlooking the castle grounds with the most breathtaking view of the sky. I'd been up here before, of course, but I'd dropped Astronomy two years ago and I'd forgotten how beautiful it could be. I tilted my head back and it was almost as if the stars were so close that you could reach out and grab them with your hands.

Sirius pressed close to my side, breathing softly. "You can see everything... The whole Black family's up there, you know. Andromeda, she's my favorite cousin. She's right there, close to the horizon." He pointed. I had no idea where to look, but his voice was so calm that I couldn't help but fall into his words. "It's supposed to look like a woman in chains with her arms outstretched. In the story, though, Andromeda ends up breaking free eventually." He turned, pointing at something further off. "And there's the star Alphard, who happens to be my favorite uncle." He seemed to choke a little on this but still tried hard to smile. I wanted to ask, but I was too transfixed in everything else that I couldn't bear to make him talk about it right now. "Alphard is a part of the Hydra constellation. Heart of the snake, they call it."

I vaguely remembered him saying he'd been named after the brightest star in Canis Major, and so I asked, "Where's your star?"

"Ah, it's..." His eyes travelled the sky, searching, "right there. Directly above us." He pointed, and that time I think I spotted it. It was the brightest star of them all, sparkling without remorse and outshining the rest.

"The dog star," I recounted, grinning. "Well, look, there's my star."

"Oh, really?" he asked, and I laughed at his facetiousness. "Which one is that?"

"Some people call it the moon." I pointed at the giant, crystal white crescent in the sky.

He laughed loudly. "I don't think that counts."

I frowned. "Why not?"

"Fine," he said, pulling at a corner of my mouth to make me smile. "You can have as much of the moon as you can see right now. I'll be sure to let the rest of the world know."

"We can call it the Grace Crescent."

"Sounds good. I'll see it and think of you every time."

I hugged him close and got up on my tiptoes to leave just a brush of a kiss on his cheek. "Let's sit," I said, pulling him down to the ground, to which he readily obliged. I leaned up against the wall and glanced to him, observing his awe-struck and innocent face. "Only because I know you'd never leave if you could."

"That obvious?"

"I just know you."

He reached and laced his fingers in mine. "Is this okay? Up here? I know it's Valentine's day and I didn't actually do anything really big, but I just figured that the day meant more than chocolates and flowers." He stopped, looking undeniably guilty.

I stared curiously.

"Well, I also really just forgot."

I broke out into a laugh, and sighed, falling back into the wall. "No, you're right. It's more than just chocolates and flowers. They don't last anyways, so what's the point?"

"Exactly. So I got you the sky instead," he said, waving a hand at the view.

I turned to him, furrowing my brows thoughtfully. "I don't think that counts."

He tilted his head, a corner of his lips curved upwards. "Why not?"

"Fine," I said, rolling my eyes with a faint smile. "So you got me the entire sky?"

"Of course I did."

"You know, Sirius, I think you're just cheap, that's all this is," I laughed, a taunting tease, to which he gasped.

"Gracie! This will last you forever."

"Whatever." He responded by pretending to wipe away sorrowful tears. It was hard not to laugh again, and so I wiggled into his arms and pressed my head against his shoulder. "Thank you," I said softly.

He didn't say anything more, only tilted his head down to meet mine and kissed me gently. We spent the next half hour just sitting and stargazing, leaning into each other and listening to the whisper of the wind. It was simple, but amazing, and after this night I knew I'd never be able to see the sky again the same. I could have just fallen asleep with the lights playing in my eyes, maybe have lost myself in the stars.

After no time at all, or perhaps all the time in the world, Sirius stirred, drawing me from my trance. "We should probably go," he said lightly, though without conviction, as if it was difficult to pull himself away. "It's really, really late. And you know what Lily would say if we got caught out after curfew."

"Yes. I could probably recite it out for you if you wanted," I agreed. "Speaking of Lily, didn't you say something about her and James being a part of some sub-plan of yours?"

"I did. Here, I was going to show you that next, before we left." Sirius stood, helped me to my feet, and leaned over the side of the wall, peering out at the grounds. "Do you see anyone out there?"

We were facing the great wooden doors to the school, with the lake glittering from the moonlight just beside it. "I think so. Those people there?"

"Yes. That's them," said Sirius, grinning wildly.

"Who's them?" I asked, then stared a few moments longer, catching a hint of red. "You mean that's Lily and James?"

"Yep. James has had this planned for a week. It took him an eternity to get Lily to sneak out after curfew. I'm not even really sure how he did it."

"What's this sub-plan of yours, then?"

"Well," Sirius said, looking sly, "I happened to tell James this one really old Hogwarts myth about a Banshee from Dufftown that visits the grounds the fourteenth of every month, to mourn the death of the man she loved that died on that day in the Triwizarding tournament, hundreds of years ago. She wails and cries and screams bloody murder all night, and anyone that hears her is haunted every day and every night with the sounds of her mourning until they eventually go insane and die."

I stared incredulously. "I've never heard that myth. That can't be true."

"I know, but he doesn't know that," said Sirius, eyes bright with mischief. "Completely came up with it on the spot. He looked like he didn't want to believe it. 'I'm not afraid of a Banshee!' he said, but he'll change his mind when he really does hear it."

"What, have you been hiding a Banshee under your robes all this time?" I raised a brow.

"No, I am the Banshee!" he said with enthusiasm.

"But Banshees are women," I said, squinting my eyes with confusion.

"Which is why you'll be helping me."

I eyed him warily. "Okay, but won't someone hear us if we're screaming at the top of our lungs?"

"There aren't any sleeping quarters at this end of the castle," Sirius replied, "which is why we can get away with being up here in the first place."

"Oh, all right then." I waved him on. "After you."

Sirius stood up straight, took a deep breath—I tried to brace myself in the short lapse of silence—and released the loudest, most ridiculous blood curdling scream I'd ever heard. I flinched (despite bracing myself), but soon I was laughing too hard to stand up straight. He didn't stop, defying all matters of science and logic, and just kept on belting out the screams and wails. Below on the grounds, the hazy figures of Lily and James started to move. Slowly at first, but the longer Sirius went on and the greater his voice projected, the more frantic they appeared to get.

Sirius stopped for a breath, laughing up tears at the sight of James scurrying about and fearing for his sanity. "Your turn," he said between laughs.

"Oh, no, I could never top that," I said, shaking my head.

"Who ever can?" He winked. "Just kidding. Well, it helps to throw your hands up. More room for your lungs to expand or something like that."

"Are you just making that up?"

"Probably, but it really helps, and it only adds to the whole powerful and mighty façade."

"Like you really need any more of that with that ego of yours," I laughed. "Fine, I'll scream because they're still there. You have to show me how, though."

"Well, first off, throw your hands up, like this," Sirius said, demonstrating, "and then just let the demons loose! Together?"

"Sure. Whenever you're ready."

He turned and released another series of unceremonious and frightening screams. I joined him, expelling with force all the air I could fit in my lungs. I sounded more like a Howler Monkey than anything else, but I reckoned that James had never actually heard a Banshee before so the specifics weren't too important. My voice wasn't nearly as horrifying as Sirius's, but it did add a shrill, eerie pitch to Sirius's already extended scream and soon enough James had grabbed Lily and sprinted mad out of sight.

We fell against the wall when they were gone, laughing so hard that my lungs ached more than when I'd actually been screaming.

"Oh, Merlin, we have to get to the common room before they do," Sirius said quickly, attempting to recollect his posture. "If I'm not in the dorm when James gets back, he'll definitely know it was me."

"So does that mean we have to—"

"Yes, come on, run!" Sirius frantically grabbed my hand and pulled me after him on the stairs, dashing in a craze for his life. "Don't fall!"

"I'm going to fall!"

"No, don't! You'll crush me!"

"Not if you catch me!"

"We're supposed to be running, not falling!"

"Why are we yelling?"

"I don't know, but I'm about to burst a lung so shut up!"

"You first, you git!"

"Gladly!"

"Technically you didn't shut up first, because you just said 'gladly.'"

"And neither did you because you just replied!"

"I'm not the only that agreed to shut up first! I'm just trying to help you follow through with your commitments!"

Sirius disregarded me, huffing, "I—really need to run more—often, because I think I'm going to—"

"If you fall, Sirius Black, I will run right over you!"

"You're evil! E-evil!"

I laughed loudly, feeling similarly winded, "Love you, don't forget!"

"I've said it a million times, love and hate are not to be used synonymously—"

"Oh, Sirius, just be quiet," I said, but our yelling soon turned into uncontrollable and exhausting laughter. It wasn't until we got down the incredibly steep spiral staircase that we had to really be quiet and run as silently as we could manage (which we did not manage very well.)

We were incredibly lucky that we only had to make it to the East Wing, where Gryffindor Tower was located, or else we would have likely collapsed unconscious on the floor. Luckily the Entrance Hall was much farther than the Astronomy tower and so despite the laughing and tripping and stories of stairs, we still managed to make it to the common room before Lily and James, red faced and panting and all. The Fat Lady had given us a bit of trouble, but we'd explained fleetingly that we'd tried to get back as soon as we could. She didn't seem to believe it, but Sirius unleashed his "magical charms" (to which I scoffed) and she let us off the hook. She had to, anyway, because technically she had to admit anyone that had the password. She just liked giving the students a hard time and pretending as if she could exhibit some sort of authority. Which she couldn't, because she was a portrait. I didn't remind her of this, though.

By the time we'd stumbled into the warm depths of the common room, Sirius and I had resumed normal and healthy breathing, though Sirius was still glowing from the adrenaline. Sirius was kissing me goodnight when we both heard the portrait hole creak open.

"Uh-oh," Sirius whispered.

"Run!" I let out a breathy squeal and we sprinted in the opposite directions, praying for our lives to be spared from Lily's relentless wrath if we were ever discovered.

When I finally got back to my dorm, the room was quiet with gentle sounds of sleeping. I fell face-flat on my bed from the prolonged exhaustion, and I wondered absentmindedly as I drifted off to sleep if Sirius Black would in fact be the death of me.

A/N: This chapter gave me absolute hell. -_-" It took me three days to summon the energy to even write it, and when I'd finally finished and was saving the edited version, FF logged me out and I lost the edited version, so I had to RE-edit it. Urgh. That's why this is being released so late, anyway. Heh. :) And also if it is sloppy/makes no sense/etc. that is the reason. (I say this often though so maybe that's not REALLY the reason at all... none the matter.)

I had fun writing this, anyway, despite the technical issues. Please leave a review, (I could use some encouragement after my trouble with this lovely website, haha) and thanks so much for reading! Until next time ;)