Summer, 1994

Sirius and Raina move into Grimmauld Place together and try to navigate their relationship-or what's left of it.

"I have to warn you", Sirius said as he put his hand on the doorknob. "No one's been here in years, and I don't know what we're going to find in here. Anything could be dangerous."

Raina nodded, feeling more uneasy than she had before, if that was even possible. She was still trying to understand why she had agreed to this. She had a perfectly good cottage-she didn't need to move in with Sirius. It felt like a handout.

Yeah, that's why she didn't want to live with him.

Not their extensive and slightly traumatic history, or anything like that. Nope.

Sirius grimaced, bracing himself, as he opened the door. After the door shut behind Raina, a voice from the second floor shrieked something they couldn't understand. Sirius' face dropped.

"What is that?", Raina asked.

"That", Sirius said. "Would be my mother's portrait. Once you get settled, would you mind helping me take it down?"

Raina nodded, masking her apprehension at the whole situation.

"Home sweet home", Sirius said with a wry smile as he watched Raina look around.

Sirius' expression was unreadable as he led Raina through the old house. He walked through the hallway and stopped at a door that had a nameplate on the top that had Sirius' name on it. The Animagus braced himself once more before opening the door to his old bedroom.

"Surprisingly clean", he muttered, looking around. "For twenty years, I suppose."

Raina looked around with wide eyes. It seemed to her that Walburga Black took out a lot of her anger from her oldest son's disobedience on his belongings, judging by the disaster that was Sirius' bedroom.

There were posters half-ripped off the walls, his bed was stripped bare, and there were shards of something all over the floor.

"Surprisingly?", Raina repeated, failing to mask the shock in her voice.

Sirius turned to her and tried to give her a smirk. It seemed more like a grimace. Raina put a hand on his arm and gently pulled him out of the bedroom. It was clear that no good memories lied in this house, but there was something especially painful about Sirius' bedroom.

"Didn't you say your parents had a house elf?", Raina asked once they were in the kitchen.

Sirius shook his head. "They did. Do, I suppose, if the little monster is still alive. Never liked me, that elf. Always favored Regulus over me."

Raina hated this. She hated everything about it.

She hated that Sirius had to live here-or, at the very least clean it up. Dumbledore wanted to use it as the new headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, and, judging by what little Raina had seen, it would take a while.

She also hated the horrific memories that must have been flooding back to Sirius as they stood there in the kitchen of Number 12, Grimmauld Place.

"I don't think you should stay here", Raina said quietly. Sirius turned to look at her.

"I have to, Raina. Dumbledore-"

"Dumbledore", she cut him off. "Wants it cleaned. He never said anything about you living here. And, from what I've noticed since we've been here, it's not healthy for you to live here. How about we do a little bit of cleaning every day, but we stay at my place."

Sirius smiled a bit. "I appreciate that, Moony. I do, but I don't want to-"

"Trouble me?", Raina asked. "Inconvenience me? Hm, where have I heard that before? And, what was it that Mr. Potter said to both of us when it came to staying with them?"

Sirius' smile grew wider, making Raina smile as well.

"'You could never trouble us'", Sirius said in a deep-voiced impression of James' father. "'You are part of our family.'"

"I remember you telling me that a few times", the werewolf added quietly. "So, now I'm telling you the same. You are going to stay with me, Sirius Black, and I will put you in a body bind to get you there if I have to."

Sirius chuckled and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I've missed you", he said. Surprised, Raina stiffened a bit in his arms before relaxing and leaning into his touch.

"You too, Padfoot."