October, 1977

"You're staring."

Lily kicked Marlene's leg under the desk while Lydia and I shared a grin. We were in Transfiguration and Lily was gazing over at—you'll never believe it—James Potter! Actually, over the past months she had been doing quite a lot of that, gazing. She also wasn't complaining about him every so often.

It was this that caused Marlene, Lydia, and I to suspect that Lily was staring to have—gasp!—feelings for Mr. James Fleamont Potter.

When Transfiguration ended, Marlene teased Lily again before rushing off to the library, Remus not to far behind. Lydia soon went with Peter and when McGonnal appeared asking for the Head Boy and Girl to follow her, James and Lily went with her. Despite that being all my friends being off someplace, I was happy because I soon found myself alone with Sirius.

We sat on the couch in the common room, sitting so close to each other I was aftaid we might become stuck. Sirius had his arm around me as I snuggled into his side, reading the book he had in his hand. It was a muggle book Remus gave him to borrow and I thought it was awfully weird. It had elves and trolls and dragons, but not the way I knew them. I couldn't help but frown at the ridiculousness of some of it.

Eventually I got bored of the book and I rested my head on Sirius's shoulder as I asked, "How are things with the Potters?"

"Excellent," Sirius replied with a smile, looking up from his book. "I mean, I still can't convince them to let me sleep in the doghouse, but so far so good."

I laughed, glanced up at him. "The doghouse? Really, Sirius?"

Sirius shared the smile before it faded. "To be honest, I feel as though I'm a bother, but I have no where else to go..."

"Sirius," I said firmly. "I'm sure you're not a bother. James loves you like a brother and the Potters seem like very generous people. Don't let yourself feel like you're a bother to anyone."

"What about you?" Sirius asked with a mischievous grin. "Am I bother to you?"

"Why of course!" I teased. "But you're my boyfriend. You're allowed to be."

"Boyfriend?" He asked surprisingly, a smile ever present on his face.

"Yes, Sirius, boyfriend," I replied, planting a firm kiss on his lips. "Get used it."

He chuckled as I snuggled back into his side. He kissed my forehead before resting his head on mine. Then we remained in that position, listening to the crackling of the fire. In this silence, I found myself thinking back to Veronique.

I had gotten a letter from Ghislaine earlier that day explaining the situation further and it seems that they have confirmed Veronique's involvement with You-know-who. They don't know if she if being forced to, but as of now, she was a fully consented Death Eater and soon the entire wizarding world would know. Ghislaine said they were planning on revealing it the week after in order to further confirm the facts.

I tried to talk to Marlene about it, but she was taling her NEWTs very seriously and so she always spent time with Tobster in the library. I had told Lydia and Lily, but like Marlene they were busy. I also told Sirius, but I didn't want to trouble him, especially with everything that is going on with his family.

"What wrong?" Sirius asked, pulling back slightly so he could see my face.

I shook my head. "Just thinking. About Veronique. About the Death Eaters. About You-know-who. About everything really."

"They know for certain about Veronique?"

I nodded. "Yup. My sister is a Death Eater. I don't even know how to feel about that."

"Cerisa, if she's a Death Eater, is she really your sister?" Sirius asked. "I'm sorry, but I don't think she deserves that title now."

"If I'm being honest, she never deserved that title," I said quietly. After another silent moment, I sighed. "In other news..."

Sirius smiled. "In other news...Correct me if I am wrong, but is Evans starting to like Prongs? Or is that just me?"

"Nope!" I said with a grin. "She is definitely starting to have feelings for him. I don't know the cause for it, but yes, romance is bound to blossom any time now."

"Thank Merlin," Sirius said. "After six years, James's constant, unrequited devotion to Evans gets a little tiresome."

I laughed and glanced up at him and his grey eyes which still left me breathless, "I can imaine. How you survived, I suppose I'll never know."

"I don't know, Kaiser. Maybe McKinnon will develope her own crush, and then you'll have to deal with her."

"Oh gosh no!"

Sirius threw his head back in laughter and I joined in. And so that was how our conversation continued, with idle conversation and occasional bursts of laughter (we sometimes kissed, of course). But when we had nothing to talk about, we sat there in silnce, nearly motionless. I sat there beside him, head on his shoulder while Sirius idly ran his fingers through my short ash-blonde hair.

In that moment of peace and relaxation, I felt completely calm, though in the back of mind lingered the thought that perhaps things were too calm...