Hi! So, this is a bit of a dramatic chapter and its main purpose is to give Sirius and Dany both a nice kick in the ass because we all (obviously) want them to get together sooner rather than later. I also picked the certain...injury I did because it gives Dany a chance to feel and not see Sirius, I suppose you could say, and it really helps contribute to the trust she gives him later on in the fic and into their later lives.

Anyways, the big moment is soon approaching-next chapter, I think!

How they get together? Well, let's leave it at the fact they're all spending a lot of time sitting around hospitals these days.

Read and Review!

Love, Essie

All alone I watch you watch her
Like she's the only girl you've ever seen
You don't care you never did
You don't give a damn about me
Yeah all alone I watch you watch her
She is the only thing you ever see
How is it you never notice
That you are slowly killing me

I hate you, I love you,
I hate that I love you
Don't want to but I can't put nobody else above you
I hate you, I love you
I hate that I want you
You want her, you need her
And I'll never be her

~I Hate U I Love U, Gnash and Olivia O'Brien

"All I'm saying is that Slughorn looks like a walrus; you have to admit I'm right." Dany said as she and Sirius walked into the Entrance Hall. Despite the fact it was mid-November, they were both too hot to consider putting clothes back on. Dany had apparently become more comfortable either with him or with her own body because she now ran in shorts and her sports bra, and she currently had her shirt slung over her shoulder. Sirius was still shirtless, hoping that he'd stop sweating sooner rather than later. He had to admit she looked good; even in sweat-soaked running shorts with her ponytail half fallen down and sticking to her back, with no makeup, and her chest squished down as much as possible, she looked good.

The fact he kept dragging her out of bed every morning had been purely selfish; he simply used it as an excuse to talk to her on her own, something that seldom happened in the castle. Sometimes it seemed like even the walls had ears. But it had paid off for her and she had mentioned it in passing one day that she had never felt better and credited all the exercise.

"I'm still sweating like crazy. This is getting ridiculous; it's November for shit's sake." He said and she nodded.

"I think my butt is sweating. Is that even possible?" She said idly as they waited for one of the staircases to change.

"Probably."

"All I know is that I feel gross and can't wait for the damn shower." She said and he tried to push the mental image of her in the shower out of his head.

"Join the club." He said as the staircase finally changed. "Alright, thank you stairs. Let's go before we have to face our entire house like this." He said and not five seconds later, Lily came running down the stairs.

"Lily?" Dany asked blankly. Sirius was immediately worried when he saw the redhead coming down the stairs; Dany had said one day that the girls had no interest in when she returned in the morning as long as she did return.

"Brady's back. Today's his first day back." Dany raised her eyebrows.

"He was stupid enough to come back? I could break his face again and change his mind." Sirius said without thinking. Lily looked apprehensive but said nothing.

"Oh hush, no one's breaking anyone else's face. Again." Dany said quietly to him and then turned her attention back to her best friend. "Why are you telling me this now, Lils? I think it could have waited ten minutes." Lily shook her head.

"No, you need to come with me now. Remember what you agreed to about a month ago?" Lily asked and Dany nodded.

"I was being held against my will and was overruled anyways. That was coercion not agreement, Lillian."

"Alright you were reluctant but still. Come on, we need you more than he does right now. You've been with him for the past two hours, what more could you have to say?" She said and started to drag her best friend off. "You'll see her later, Sirius." Lily said as she dragged Dany, who was laughing, up the stairs.

"Okay, bye Sirius!" She called out as Lily continued to relentlessly pull her along. The girls vanished out of sight in moments and he idly wondered what that had been about as he walked back to his own room. Everyone was awake.

"How's everything?" Remus asked and he shrugged.

"Same old." He never really elaborated on what was said or done when he was gone in the mornings with Dany. "Except Lily came hauling ass down the stairs when we were walking in. Brady's back." He said and all movement in the room came to a sudden halt. "I think the girls have something planned. Lily dragged Dany off, saying she agreed to something." He said and James looked unhappy.

"Maybe we should—"

"I already offered and she declined to let us break him in two again. We'll just have to see what they're up to. Dan said she agreed reluctantly and had been overruled so I haven't got a clue what they're doing." Sirius said and walked in to get a shower. By the time he got out of the shower and quickly got dressed, everyone else was ready to go.

"Alright you lot, let's go early; I want to see if he has any residual damage on his face." James chuckled and they all walked down the stairs. When they got to the Great Hall they were all surprised to see that the girls weren't there yet; they almost always beat them down to breakfast. He saw Brady over at his own house's table. He looked like Sirius remembered him, if not a little on edge. Apparently they hadn't managed to mutilate him for life, sadly.

"They're not here; that's weird." Remus commented and they all sat down where they usually sat.

"That's very weird." Frank agreed. Johanna sat down next to Sirius and she didn't look terribly happy but she was still happy enough to start snogging him. Suddenly James dropped his fork with a loud clatter onto his plate.

"What the hell did they do to my little Godsister?" James asked, not really outraged but more like he seriously didn't know what they had done to her. Sirius looked up from snogging Johanna and followed his line of vision towards the entrance to the Great Hall.

Sure enough, Dany had just walked in with the rest of the girls. He had to admit that she looked phenomenal. The girls had apparently convinced her to put on heels to pair with the school skirt. Sirius was wondering how exactly her legs could be so long despite her 5 foot 2 height. Her shirt was the same as it always was with the sleeves rolled up, a few buttons undone, tie loose. Her hair was the same too, long and wavy and snow-white. Lily had apparently coerced her into makeup though because her face looked different; it was very pretty, but also very different.

"I'm not really sure but I'm going to take a guess and say that this is what Lily meant when she said that she promised to do something." Remus said and the rest of the guys nodded. The girls sat down and sure enough, Dany was complaining.

"Lily, I feel like an idiot. Seriously let me go back and take this crap off my face and put normal shoes on." She asked her friend.

"No, absolutely not. You look great and your ex is eating his heart out over there. Lots of girls wear heels to class and you have to admit that you like being taller than you usually are." Lily argued back.

"I feel weird is all I'm saying." She said and Sirius absently wondered when her chest had gotten that big. Maybe he was just used to the compression bras.

"You look fantastic, right James?" Lily said and Dany shook her head.

"Be honest James Potter or so help me I'm going to kick your ass." Dany said and James nodded.

"Yeah you look really good but now I'm worried about all of the staring guys. Thanks Lily, give me something else to worry about, why don't you?" he said and Lily looked at her friend as if to say 'I told you so'. Dany rolled her eyes but said nothing more on the topic. Breakfast passed as normal after that eventually the girls and Remus stood up to leave because the girls had Muggle Studies and Remus had Ancient Runes. They bid the rest of the group goodbye and left. James, Frank, and Peter all cleared out pretty quickly after that and Sirius was left with Johanna, who he could have sworn was blonder than she was a week ago. They also left but walked towards Ravenclaw tower instead of Gryffindor.

"I saw you walking back in to the castle this morning with her." Johanna said suddenly and Sirius didn't see the significance of this.

"Yeah, so? You know that I run in the morning." He said and she stopped walking.

"You didn't say that you ran shirtless, with a girl no less, let alone her." Johanna said and Sirius was rather taken aback.

"I didn't see the importance of that but next time I do something that involves the female gender, I'll let you know." He said warily. This wasn't a fight he wanted to have right now. He was sick of fighting with his girlfriends over the same thing.

"You didn't see the importance of mentioning that there's a girl that sees you shirtless more than your girlfriend? Besides, it's not exactly like she's completely clothed either." Johanna said pointedly and Sirius realized how bad that had probably looked. They had come back into the castle before the Sun was fully up half-clothed, sweating, and laughing.

"Look, I'm sorry that you don't like it but she's my friend and I don't bail on my friends; that's the way it is." He said and she looked like she didn't know what to make of that.

"I know…I just get jealous sometimes is all. I mean I know you're just friends but it still bothers me to see you with other girls." She said and Sirius nodded, dearly hoping she'd let it drop and they could just go back to her dorm for their free period. "I saw how you looked at her when she walked into the Great Hall today." Damn.

"Yeah, like every other person in that room…I have eyes, Johanna; I don't think I was breaking some rule of conduct by looking at a girl, who I happen to be good friends with, that looked completely different." He said. This was a tired argument; of course it wasn't to her but it was the ninth time he'd had it.

"Oh please, there was nothing platonic in that. You were undressing her with your eyes. And why shouldn't you? She's a beautiful girl, she's powerful, pretty, smart, and fucking perfect." Johanna snapped. Sirius was taken aback but also disagreed; she wasn't perfect. No one was perfect and she certainly wasn't. He remembered the way she had completely ungracefully fallen apart when her dad had been in the hospital and how she had admitted to him that she was scared and how she had been devastated by Brady's cheating and was an incredibly sloppy drunk. Not to mention that the girl was an ugly crier and had anger that was bordering on vengeful. She wasn't perfect at all. She was very imperfectly human.

"Johanna, I really think you're reading too much into this. I've known her since we were eleven; she was still practically in pigtails when we became friends. It's just weird when all of a sudden you notice that puberty happened. I forget sometimes that she looks the way she does and when something changes, it catches me off guard. Just let it go. Please."

"No, I'm not letting it go, Sirius. You need to make up your mind with her; either it's me or it's her. Take your pick." She said, looking like she knew exactly what he was going to pick.

"Bye, Johanna." He said quietly and walked away.

James was surprised to see Sirius walk into the common room so soon. He usually bothered to take more time than that. He thanked his lucky stars that the room was empty except for him, everyone else either still sleeping or in class.

"What? Did you only last thirty seconds or something?" He joked and Sirius waved a hand and lay down on the carpet in front of the fireplace, fixing his eyes on the ceiling, arms behind his head.

"No, we didn't even make it that far, tragically. She could have at least waited until after to argue." He said and James knew what this was; this was the 'pick Dany or me' argument and every single time he picked the same thing. They really should have smartened up by now or something seeing that he had gone through nine girlfriends.

"Another one bites the dust?" James asked and Sirius nodded.

"Another one bites the dust. Man, I don't know what I'm doing; I can't deal with these girls anymore. They're driving me crazy and every fucking time, it's the same thing." He said still lying down.

"Mate, you do realize that they're all breaking up with you over the same thing? Maybe that should tell you something. Like the fact you love my Godsister." James said pointedly and Sirius looked over at him, breaking his deadlock stare with the ceiling.

"James…you know how awkward this always ends up, can we not talk about my feelings right now?" He asked and James shook his head.

"No, we're talking about it. This is getting ridiculous and you know it. And don't get me wrong, I don't like talking about feelings extensively either but this needs to be said." James said and Sirius raised an eyebrow in surprise. James usually ducked out of conversations like this one as soon as he could.

"Alright, so what is it that needs to be said?" Sirius asked, sitting up.

"You love her, don't you? Don't give me some sidestep bullshit answer, just a yes or a no." James said and Sirius said nothing. James waited, and he waited. Anything that took this much deliberation was a yes but he wanted to hear it.

"Yeah, I love her." He finally said and James wanted to cry with relief. He had finally gotten his answer to the three-year question. Everyone would be thrilled to hear about the development. "I don't know when it happened either. Like one second she was a friend, your Godsister, and the next second she's just not. I don't know what happened; it was like she was in sneakers and her brother's clothes and then all of a sudden she wasn't." He said and shook his head.

"Why her?" James asked and he shrugged. "Seriously out of all the girls in this school, why was she the one to really get to you? Dany's a beautiful girl, anyone can see that, but you've been with a lot of beautiful girls. What is it?"

"I don't know…everything I guess? I mean she's not like them, you know that; hell you've said it plenty of times yourself. I think near the root of it is that I admire and respect her—not a lot of people could carry the weight of that last name as well as she does." He said and James nodded. It was a good answer. He couldn't imagine having the weight of an entire people on his shoulders. But she carried it, she held the weight and she did it as gracefully as she could, trying to be normal but also having to try to be the perfect daughter when the press was around. James thought he would have lost faith in humanity a long time ago if he were her.

"Look, I'm just saying that they're all dumping you for the exact same reason. I think there might be some truth in it and I would consider it to be a sign from the universe that maybe you should act on it." James said and Sirius shook his head.

"There's no point…she doesn't feel the same way, she has no reason to. You know what she wants out of life and there's no way that I can ever give her that. She needs to find some nice, wholesome guy who doesn't have so much emotional baggage." James threw a nearby magazine at him and Sirius jumped when it hit him in the face. Like that, the emotional talk vanished.

That didn't stop Sirius from dumping Mattie Belmonte that day.

With the intense cold setting in with the New Year, Dany and Sirius had taken to running in the Room of Requirement, simply asking for a track or trail or whatever it could come up with.

"How have the visions been?" Sirius asked as they were taking a break. Dany looked over, surprised.

"Okay—mostly confusing, honestly. I don't know what any of it means…I see things that would make me happy—if I knew more about them." She admitted.

"Yeah?" She nodded.

"Yeah, like when you were in the hospital wing after you took that bludger to your head, I had a vision where I was pregnant. The drawing was of me with a baby bump." She said, absently putting her hand on her own very flat stomach. "It was weird. But I just looked so happy, I just want to know who the guy is."

"You can join the club. Honestly, we're all sitting around waiting for you to see a face on this bloke. James wants to know who he should be beating up in advance." Sirius said and Dany laughed, rolling her eyes.

"James would…hopefully I upgrade from Brady." She sighed, closing her eyes.

"You couldn't downgrade unless you started dating one of my relatives, so I think you're mostly in the clear." She laughed, eyes still closed.

"I'll keep that in mind. I somehow doubt that any of them would be very interested in me. I'm a disgrace to the Wizarding World, remember?" She said and Sirius had to give her that: his relatives wouldn't tolerate her beliefs. "Come on, we should probably start heading back to the common room—I need to talk to Professor Slughorn before classes start and can't exactly go to his office like this." She motioned to herself and Sirius shrugged, relatively immune to the way she looked when they ran. "You might not care, but I doubt Sluggy feels the same."

"Sirius!" Sirius looked up from where he was walking out of the bathroom, clothed—he was running late so the other guys had left without him. Lily had just barged into his room. There were tear tracks on her face. What the hell?

"Lily? Is everything okay?" He asked. She shook her head.

"It's Dany…she was by herself, she went to go talk to Professor Slughorn about something and none of us had seen her since. Someone found her in the dungeons…she—they think she was attacked by a group of Slytherins. She says she doesn't know who did it." Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"Is she okay?" He asked and Lily shook her head and started crying severely. Sirius hugged her carefully—she hugged him back tightly. Lily was a sweet girl and she didn't deserve to cry, scared and on her own. "Lily, what happened?" He asked her and she sniffed a little before answering.

"It's her eyes. She can't see." She said quietly and Sirius felt his stomach drop.

"What do you mean 'she can't see'? She's blind?" He asked and she nodded through her tears.

"Yeah…Pomfrey's looking for something to fix it but for now, she's blind." She said and started sobbing again. "I came to get you; I thought she'd like to hear a voice that wasn't talking about transferring her to St. Mungo's or how it might be irreversible." She said. "It's horrible. They have her eyes bandaged up so she doesn't strain to try and see. I'd stay myself but I can only take it for so long." Sirius nodded.

"She's in the Hospital Wing?" Lily nodded. "I'll head down. Go get some sleep, Lily." He said and she nodded before shuffling out the door, presumably to her room to go cry some more. Sirius went down to the Hospital Wing and paused. This was going to be heartbreaking. He opened the doors and no one was there except for Dany sitting in a bed at the other end of the ward. He walked over and saw what Lily meant. They had her eyes covered by a bandage that wrapped around the back of her head. She was sitting up and had her knees tucked into her chest.

"Lily?" She asked quietly. He walked closer and she didn't seem to like the fact he didn't answer her, but he didn't particularly care to be caught by Madam Pomfrey and getting kicked out wouldn't be of any use to her or anyone else so he didn't respond. "You're not Lily; you walk differently. Who the hell are you? Only the professors and Pomfrey are allowed in." She said and it really hit home that she couldn't see and she really had no idea who he was. He sat down on the edge of her bed and she seemed annoyed. "Are you mute, mystery man? Or do you not want to be caught harassing the blind girl?" She asked and reached a hand out, quite obviously going for his face. It was the only way she could find out who he was if he remained silent. She came into contact with his neck first and moved her hand up to his face. She started feeling all over his face, first his jaw and then his mouth. Suddenly she relaxed and smiled a little. "Hi, Sirius." She said and he raised an eyebrow. She had guessed from half of his face.

"Impressive. Sorry I didn't say anything but I have a feeling Pomfrey is looking for anything that breathes too loud." He said quietly and she nodded in agreement. "How did you know I was a guy?" He asked and she shrugged.

"You walk like a man." She said and he nodded before he realized that she couldn't see that. "Lily told you?"

"Yeah, she told me; she said that she thought you would want to hear a familiar voice." He said and she smiled.

"Lily's a good friend. This must be really weird for you." She said.

"Yeah, it's pretty weird. Does Pomfrey think it's reversible?"

"I don't know. Whatever did it was magic because I still have my eyeballs in my head. Or so I hear." She said rather bitterly and Sirius had to admit that seeing her, someone who was usually so excited—full of life—blind was heartbreaking.

"Has someone told your family?" He asked and she nodded.

"Dumbledore Flooed over to tell them. I don't know when they're going to be here though. Dad and Rae are so busy with the war and they've been in trials all week nonstop and Mom's busy keeping the press at bay. It's not their fault that they can't drop everything." She said softly. He couldn't really think of anything to say to that and she ran a hand over his face, apparently trying to figure out what was going on. She suddenly pulled her hand back like it had been scalded. "Are you crying?" She asked him suddenly. He looked at her hands and realized that her hand was wet.

"Oh yeah apparently, sorry." He said and she smiled a little.

"No, no it's fine. I'm glad someone isn't trying to pretend that everything's going to be okay. Everyone's so sure that it can be fixed, but it might not be reversible and no one is willing to admit it. Thank you for not trying to fake it." She said.

"Dan, you're going to be able to see again okay? We're going to find a way if Pomfrey can't. There's spells that Healers don't know and fixes that are so old that they've been forgotten; there's something somewhere that can give you your eyesight back." She smiled again; it was weird to see her smile without her eyes.

"If you insist. I'm sure the famous Marauders will think of something." She said wryly and even though she was hurt and had recently lost one of her main senses, she was still herself.

"I'm sure we will…Dan, if you don't want to talk about it I get that, but who did this?" He asked and she shook her head.

"I don't know. I didn't see who it was, but there was more than one of them…I think they were going to kill me, honestly. I think they were going to kill me but they wanted to play with their food before they ate it." She said.

"Dan, I'm going to touch you now so don't freak." He said and she nodded before her put an arm around her and she leaned into his shoulder; it was a comfortable and familiar position. "Not to bring it up, but why didn't they kill you?" He asked and she didn't answer him immediately.

"Because your brother stepped in." Sirius felt his mouth drop open. "I think he walked in right after I was hexed because I saw him for a second when my vision was going. He was really pissed and was yelling; told them that they were signing off on their own deaths by hurting me and that was it." She said.

"Seriously?" She nodded.

"Yeah, seriously. He picked me up and took me to Slughorn. As soon as he knocked though, I think he ran off; I heard some pretty quick footsteps and Slughorn clearly only saw me." She said and Sirius had the urge to go find his brother and kiss him. "You should give him a break, Sirius. He really cares about you." She said softly.

"Dan, one good thing doesn't mean—"

"You don't honestly think that he cares enough about me to go against his house, do you? No, he helped me because I'm friends with you. This was for you, not for me."

"Okay, Regulus is a prick but even he knows when it's time to draw a line. It's a lesson Alphard tried to instill in us both." He said and she shook her head.

"You can't not look up to your older brother. I would know. He didn't do this for me." She said and he nodded. Suddenly a light turned on from in Madam Pomfrey's office and someone started moving around, loud enough to be heard by both of them. "Shit, you need to go before you join me in here because Madam Pomfrey will actually crucify you." She said and he got up, looking back at his blind friend once more before running out of the door. He paused a corridor away from the Hospital Wing and walked down to a pretty unfamiliar part of the castle. It was a part of the castle he should have known the same way he knew Gryffindor tower. He caught a First Year that was on her way into the Slytherin common room.

"Hey, can you go get someone for me?" He asked and hoped that such a young kid wouldn't be terrified of him or hate him purely for existing. The girl seemed intimidated. "Look, I just need to talk to my brother real quick is all. No one's going to get hurt or in trouble, okay?" He said and she nodded.

"Who's your brother?" She asked and she reminded him of Andy. She had a similar sweet demeanor that took him by surprise.

"Regulus Black." He said and her eyes widened.

"You're Sirius Black?" She asked and he nodded. "We're not supposed to talk to you." She said warily and he wanted to smack his head into a wall. Then he remembered that he wasn't disowned; no matter how much his family hated him, he was still technically heir to the family name. He really didn't want to pull that card on a twelve-year-old so he tried one more time.

"Look, I just need to talk to my brother. You don't even have to talk to me, only him; I'm sure he's more than respectable." He said and she hesitated again before nodding. Regulus came out a moment later.

"I'm assuming there's a reason you're here?" He asked and Sirius looked around before nodding towards an empty hallway. The brothers walked down the hallway and Sirius turned around to face his younger sibling.

"I just came from seeing Dany. She told me what you did for her." He said and he raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know it was me and not someone else?" He asked, clearly trying to blow his brother off.

"Because she saw you walk up; her vision wasn't completely out yet. Not to mention that her ears are still functioning." He said and Regulus immediately froze.

"What do you want?" He asked and Sirius shrugged.

"You wouldn't happen to know the curse that was used?" His brother shook his head. "What about the people?"

"They were a couple of idiot Third Years that thought they could show off by killing the Minister's daughter. They won't be a problem again." He said shortly. "I'm surprised that Masters let a couple of kids take her down." He added on and Sirius realized that he had a point.

"Yeah, but then again, she probably wasn't planning on having to fight blind." He said. "Why aren't they going to be a problem again?" His brother shrugged.

"Because I put the fear of God into them. It really wasn't that difficult; they're from new families so as soon as someone raises their voice, they freak out." He said and Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Daniel and Rhea are pissed; they're going to be out for blood." He said.

"I'm not surprised at all. Well, if that's it…" Regulus trailed off.

"Actually, one more thing." His brother raised an eyebrow. "What you did for her…thank you. I don't know why you helped her, but you did. So thank you." He said and walked by his brother.

"Sirius?" Sirius was shocked that his brother bothered to use his name. It was mainly taboo in their household. He turned around. "I can probably squeeze the spell out of those kids. I have no idea if it's reversible but it's worth a shot. Masters is a lot of things, but she doesn't deserve to go blind because she was audacious enough to exist." He said and Sirius smiled at his brother.

"Thanks, Reg."

"It's Regulus!" He yelled down the hallway as Sirius turned a corner. Even now, his brother was still pissed off by the nickname.

James was worried sick over Dany and he certainly wasn't alone. Soon, the entire school knew and there had been such an outpouring of love and support for her and all of her friends that it never really ceased to amaze James. He and Sirius spent a lot of time with her in the Hospital Wing. Lily had willingly agreed to go to class and do their homework for them so they could sit with Dany. It mainly consisted of James and Dany telling stories from their childhoods and Sirius outing James on some of the shit he does when the girls aren't around.

Dany was laying with her head in James' lap and her feet in Sirius'.

"James is just sooo smitten with poor Lily. I think it might be time to think about a restraining order." She said seriously and James rolled his eyes.

"Ha-ha you guys. So funny." He said dryly and Dany started laughing. "I'm going to grab something from the Kitchens; you all want something?" Dany shook her head.

"Yeah, I want a sandwich." Sirius said and James nodded.

"Come on, Dan you need to let me up. Lay on Sirius if you need someone to put your head on." He said and helped her sit up and turn around before lying down on top of Sirius.

"Nice of you to offer me up, Prongs." Sirius said and James stuck his tongue out at him. Sirius' voice might have sounded joking and lighthearted but the way he looked at Dany, something she couldn't see, wasn't very joking or lighthearted. He looked like someone was slowly pulling his intestines out through his navel.

"No problem. I'm heading out so I'll be back in a bit." He said and Sirius nodded.

"Bye, James." Dany said. He walked out of the Hospital Wing and was walking back out of the Kitchens, towards the Hospital Wing, with Sirius' sandwich in hand.

"Oi, Potter." Someone said.

"Sirius Black, you did not leave her alone." James said before turning around.

"Please, like my brother would leave her anywhere she could be hurt in any capacity. I know he's staying with her at night when everyone else leaves the Hospital Wing." Regulus Black said. James felt his jaw drop. Since when did Regulus speak to his brother's friends? Since when did Regulus speak to his brother?

"Not to be rude, but what do you want?" He asked cagily.

"I was going to ask where my brother is, but it seems that you've just told me. Look, I know what you're thinking and I have no desire to hurt your Godsister or my brother or any of your friends, okay?" He said and James nodded. God, he looked like Sirius except much, much more controlled. They walked back to the Hospital Wing and got some pretty weird stares in return. Before they were remotely close to the door, James heard laughter bouncing off of the walls.

"Oh, no way. He was a bed wetter?" Dany was gasping through her laughter.

"I'm telling you that Lucius peed in his sleep right up until he was thirteen." Sirius was saying, his voice drifting out of the doors. Dany continued to laugh. Like this, just out of sight, she seemed normal—healthy even. James poked his head in the door and they were how he had left them. Dany was lying on her back with her head in Sirius' lap, her hair all over his legs and the bed. The only difference was that now she was laughing.

"Okay you need to stop because I'm going to start crying I'm laughing so hard and you have no idea how weird it is to cry and be blind." She laughed.

"He peed when he was bunking with my brother once." Sirius idly said and Dany continued to laugh so hard James was quite concerned that she was going to break something. Suddenly, she snorted and put a hand over her face.

"Every damn time. Thank you very much for that." She said and James raised an eyebrow. He had never heard her snort in his entire life.

"You're so welcome, really it's my pleasure." Sirius said and looked up. "Hey mate, please tell me that you brought food. I'm starved." He said.

"James is here?"

"Yeah, he's here…and he brought food!" Sirius said.

"Don't you dare drop food onto my face, Sirius." Dany said and James laughed briefly before Regulus walked into the room.

"Regulus?" Sirius said blankly, but also like he was oddly glad to see his brother. "What are you doing here?" He asked and the younger Black shrugged.

"That bit about Lucius is true, just by the way. It was revolting." He said dryly and Dany continued to laugh in Sirius' lap.

"You two sound so bloody alike it's scary." She said and continued to laugh. "He really wet the bed?"

"Tragically. Abraxas was…unhappy with his heir, to put it mildly." Regulus said. "I have something you're going to like." He said and James didn't miss how Regulus' eyes flickered to Dany so quickly James wondered if he was just imagining things. "Actually it's something that you're all going to like. I'd suggest someone going to get Madam Pomfrey." Dany sat up, freeing Sirius, who made sure she didn't take a spill off the edge of the bed. The older brother nodded and walked off, to get the matron. James sat down next to Dany.

"Hey Dan." He said and she smiled.

"Hi, James. Do we know why he's here?" She whispered.

"Nope. Said he was looking for Sirius." James responded.

"The day of your…accident, my brother found me and asked me to poke around for the spell that did, well, this." Regulus said and Dany looked surprised, even with part of her face covered.

"Damn, he went to the blood family. That's friendship that can't be bought." James said. Dany nodded.

"About that, Regulus I never got to thank you for not letting a group of lunatics kill me, so thanks for that." She said quietly and Regulus nodded.

"They're blithering idiots anyways." James raised an eyebrow, just as Sirius came back out with Madam Pomfrey. Sirius sat down on Dany's other side.

"The only reason I ever have both Blacks in this ward is if you've attempted to break each other into two on the Pitch; may I ask why you're here, Regulus?"

"It's a long story, but it's about the spell that took her eyesight." He said and Madam Pomfrey raised an eyebrow.

"What about it?" She said.

"I know what it is and I know why you couldn't find it." He said.

"Seriously?" James asked. Sirius looked encouraged and even Dany seemed hopeful. Regulus nodded.

"Hold on before you get your panties in a wad, Potter." He said and Dany obviously lost any kind of hope. "It's an old spell and it's dark. It's too old and dark for most people to find." He said. James glanced at Sirius, who looked worried.

"How did you find out what it was?" He asked slowly. Regulus shrugged.

"I wrote Mother and Father. They were more than obliging to send the…appropriate literature." He said and Sirius immediately tensed.

"Regulus, what have you done?" Sirius asked his brother slowly and loudly.

"Sirius, calm down. It's okay." James heard Dany say quietly.

"Relax—they don't know anything about her. The cavalry isn't coming to kidnap your friend." He said with a knowing smirk. It wasn't hard to see where Regulus had picked up his mannerisms.

"Can it be fixed?" James asked. Regulus nodded.

"It can be, but there's a price to pay."

"There always is with this kind of magic. How bad is it?" Dany asked softly.

"Well, it's not what I'd call good. And there's more: not everyone can perform it. Anyone can perform the curse, it's pretty standard actually, but undoing it is much harder. It requires the old blood. It's elemental." Regulus said.

"So what you're saying is that we need someone who is powerful enough to perform the spell, is willing to pay the price, and carries enough of the old blood?" James asked blandly and he nodded. "What's the price?" Regulus said nothing.

"Regulus. Answer the question." Sirius said and James raised an eyebrow. That was clearly not a friendly request but it wasn't cruel either. He sounded—frankly—like an older brother. The siblings stared at each other and it was very obvious that Sirius would walk over there and force the spell out of his brother.

"You don't die. Usually. It leaves a nasty scar though." James rolled his eyes.

"We get it, it's bad; now what's the cost of doing the spell?"

"Now we know why he wasn't placed in Ravenclaw." Regulus said idly. Sirius silenced him with a look.

"He just told you, James. It literally leaves a scar." Dany said and Regulus nodded, something she couldn't see. "A nasty scar and enough pain to be the cause."

"At least someone here is well-read." He said. "And in case you're curious, you don't have the blood for it, Potter; believe me, I checked because it doesn't take a seer to know that you'd be the first one to offer. You come from a long line of Purebloods but you all have married one too many Muggleborns." He said and James felt his stomach sink. "I checked McKinnon and Prewett too; they can't and we all know that Evans isn't a Pureblood, nothing against her. Lupin and Longbottom don't check out either." He said and James was staring at him.

"That's great. Now who can that would even remotely consider it?" James asked impatiently. Regulus pointedly looked at his brother. Of course it had to be Sirius and of course Sirius would do it. Because why the hell not?

"Her father or brother could also, but there's no way that either of them would be allowed to take that sort of risk with the…state of things. They'd both be physically restrained by more Aurors than I have fingers." Regulus said. Dany didn't need to see what was happening to know exactly what was happening.

"Absolutely not." She said bluntly. Everyone looked at her.

"Dan—"

"I don't want to hear it, Sirius. You're not going to maim yourself for me." She said and Madam Pomfrey, whom they had all quite forgotten was there, interfered.

"She's right; I can't have students risking their lives in my ward at all, let alone on the word of another student." She said and Regulus nodded.

"I thought as much, but I said I'd deliver, didn't I?" He said to his brother before handing him a piece of parchment and walking out.

"Thank you?" Sirius said as if he wasn't really sure if he should be glad or not. "Dany, I really think that you should consider—"

"I'm not going to let you permanently damage yourself because of me."

"I'm going to retrieve the Headmaster and your Head of House." She said and walked into her office quickly.

"I think I'm going to wait outside for Pomfrey to come back…this is something you two need to talk about." He said and they both nodded. "Sirius Black, don't do anything against her will." He added on and Sirius nodded again. He stepped outside and hoped Pomfrey returned with Dumbledore quickly.

Dany had been blind for a week now and she actually was getting used to it.

"Please let me do this." It was Sirius, she had heard James leave and there was no way that Sirius would even consider speaking with any form of vulnerability with any of his mates around. She shook her head.

"No. I can live like this, I really can. It's been a week and it doesn't seem so weird anymore. You don't need to go through all of that unneeded pain for me." She said. It was true; she could survive this way but the payback from some of those curses…they were terrible. They could get you killed or worse.

"Dan, you can't live without your eyes. I could fix this and you're asking me not to." He said. Sure, she wanted her vision back more than anyone did, but he didn't seem to see her rationale. At least this way they would both bloody live.

"I'm asking you to put yourself first for once." She said quietly and a deafening silence fell. Suddenly the doors to the Hospital Wing creaked opened.

"Miss Danilynn, Mr. Black. Madam Pomfrey came and got Professor McGonagall and I as soon as she could." It was Dumbledore. "Ah, yes it appears that Mr. Potter has decided to leave in search of your other friends. Now, what is going on? Poppy gave us a summary but I'd like to hear this for myself."

"There's a way to regain her sight." Sirius said.

"Sirius, enough." He ignored her.

"But it's an old spell and requires the caster to have a significant percent of the old blood. And it exacts a price, which is the part that she's highly opposed to."

"You're the only one who could perform it that is willing to." Dumbledore.

"Black, as admirable as that is, we cannot let students inflict harm upon themselves." McGonagall. "It's tragic, what has happened to Miss Masters, but we cannot permit you to do such a thing."

"What if it was planned and done right here and everything was controlled? Hell, what about St. Mungo's? Michelle can handle almost anything; she saved Daniel's life summer before last. If someone thought it was safe to trust her with the Minister of Magic, I'm pretty low stakes. Comparatively, I'm expendable." He said.

"You're not expendable." Dany interjected.

"Compared to your father, I'm a drop in the bucket of the Wizarding World."

"How do you know about the attempt on the Minister's life? That was a well-guarded secret." McGonagall.

"It's a long story but suffice to say that I know."

"Poppy, do you have anything on hand that would allow for the alleviation of pain on that scale?" Dumbledore asked. "Miss Masters, she's nodding." Great.

"I just don't know what would happen to him physically." Madam Pomfrey.

"You're not seriously considering this, are you? This is insane. I don't give consent, if that means anything." Dany said.

"I agree with you, Masters." McGonagall.

"Thank you, Professor."

"Dan, this would be a joint decision which means you have a say, but so do I." Sirius said to her quietly. She still thought it was a bad idea. "Hey, I've been hurt for way less than giving someone her eyesight back." She shook her head a little. This was the Sirius Black 'I've almost died before so bring it on' attitude.

"Sirius…I don't think that this is a good idea." She said quietly and Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"We'll be down at the other end of the ward." He said and they all shuffled away from them.

"Why are you so set on this?" She asked quietly and kept her hand on his face.

"Because it's what's right. Please let me help you. I'll never forgive myself if I don't." He said and finally she nodded.

"I—ugh, okay. If you're sure." She said and she felt him smile under her hand. He really was one to jump out of the fire and into the frying pan.

"I'm sure. I'll go get Dumbledore and Pomfrey." This was such a mistake.

It took three days for Dumbledore, McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, Sirius, and Dany to all come to an agreement on how exactly this should be done. Sirius personally wanted it done as fast as possible and Dany seemed like she didn't really want to do it at all. McGonagall and Pomfrey were more with Dany and Dumbledore was thinking more like Sirius was. He was becoming very popular very quickly with Lily, Marlene, and Alice at this rate.

They were all waiting for the word that Dany had given her final consent and that Madam Pomfrey was finally prepared for the copious amounts of pain he'd be going through. McGonagall walked into the common room one day and everyone immediately fell silent. She was never in the common room.

"Black, come with me." She said and Sirius got up to follow her. James stopped him and slapped him on the back. All three girls hugged him tightly and whispered 'thank you'. Remus and Frank both clapped him on the back as well. He followed McGonagall out of the tower.

"Do her parents know about this?" He asked as they walked to the doors of the Hospital Wing.

"Daniel and Rhea know. Rhaegar does not." She said as she opened the doors. Dany was sitting up and looked like she always did these days; she didn't seem as emotional without her eyes that always seemed to be laughing at something or another. She seemed like she wasn't quite with it, with her eyes bandaged over.

"Professor. Mr. Black." Madam Pomfrey said. "Minerva, I can take it from here." She said and McGonagall nodded at him before leaving. "Now, Sirius I must ask one more time if you're sure about this. Danilynn has—begrudgingly I must admit—given her consent and now I must ask for yours." She said and he nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Let's get started." He said and realized that he was fucking petrified.

Shit, maybe he didn't want to do this.

"Come with me then." She said. They walked over to where Dany was sitting.

"Sirius, you're a bloody idiot for doing this." She said bluntly. "You don't need to do this. No hard feelings if you back out; I'm still mildly opposed to this." She said and Madam Pomfrey started to undo the bandages on her eyes.

"Don't worry about it Dan." He said and she smiled a little.

"It's going to feel quite weird having this off, Danilynn." Madam Pomfrey said and pulled the bandages off. Nope, he definitely wanted to do this. Her laughing eyes were gone; they were empty and cloudy. "Whenever you're ready, dear." She said to him. He read the parchment Regulus had given him and cast the spell.

...

And then he was in one of the boats that took the First Years up to Hogwarts. The boat was still roped to the dock, waiting to go to the castle. This definitely hadn't happened last time his parents had tried to kill him.

"Hello, Sirius." A soft voice said from next to him on the bench of the rowboat.

"Dany?" He asked warily and she nodded with a smile. She looked healthy and how she should look, not the blind girl that he had just seen. "What's going on?" He asked her and she looked around. "Why are we in the Black Lake?"

"Yes, it does appear that we're in the Black Lake, doesn't it? Do you know why we're here?" She asked him.

"I'm dying."

"You're dying." She said softly and looked at him sadly.

"Why are you here? Shouldn't I just be, well, dead?" He asked and she smiled.

"Nothing's that simple, I'm afraid. Life is a series of choices and so is death." He noticed she was in her school uniform, which was a very random outfit choice.

"So I'm not dead?" He clarified and she nodded.

"That choice still has to be made." She said and he raised an eyebrow.

"I can go back?" She nodded.

"You can go back. Or you can choose to…I think 'go on' is a good term for it." She said. "The boat will take you there."

"Where exactly would the boat be taking me?" She laughed.

"That would be spoiling the surprise. Only those who have already made up their minds get to know so I couldn't answer that even if I wanted to." She said.

"So if I'm here, where's my body?" He asked and she shrugged.

"Back where you left it, in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts."

"But Dany—um, you have your sight back." She nodded but smiled.

"I'm not your friend, Sirius. I'm a part of you—you just chose to see me in this way. But yes, Danilynn Masters is slowly regaining her sight as we speak." She said and Sirius thought it was weird that he had picked Dany of all people.

"So if I die, she'll still be fine?" She nodded with a small smile.

"She'll keep her eyesight, if that's what you mean." She said and crossed her ankles daintily. That was enough to give away that it wasn't actually Dany. She acted like the lady she was raised to be, but that simple movement was too delicate and formal for her liking.

"But she'll hold herself responsible for me dying." She nodded.

"She will carry your death with her for the rest of her life and she will never be able forgive herself."

"And James…"

"James will be devastated." She said simply.

"And if I go back, I'll have to deal with the lasting effects of the spell." She nodded once more.

"You will."

"And there'll be a lot of pain."

"There will be."

"And I'm assuming there's a scar."

"On your back." She said, "It's quite large."

"But I'll live?" She nodded. "Can you answer something?" She smiled a little.

"That depends on what you ask me."

"Out of everyone I know, why her? Why do you look like her?" He asked and she thought for a moment.

"Perhaps you wanted to see what's worth dying for one more time, in case you do decide to go on."

"What the hell? Send me back." He said and she smiled and touched his face.

"If that's what you want. We'll meet again one day." She said softly before kissing him on the forehead.

Holy shit everything hurt. Sirius gasped and felt the pain of the spell smash into him and then everything slipped away into completely senseless pain.

"What the hell?" He looked around. Everything is too bright. Too fucking bright. He squinted and looked around the room. The Hospital Wing. The spell. Dany's eyesight. The part of him that looked like Dany. Madam Pomfrey looked up.

"Oh my. Sir Nicholas!" She said and the ghost appeared. She said something to him and he nodded and vanished. "Sirius Black you should be dead. You were dead. Now we're going to sit you up very slowly and I'm going to take a look at your vitals and your back." She said and he nodded as she tapped his forehead with her wand. It reminded Sirius of the Dany he had spoken to on the boat; she had kissed him on the exact same spot. "Well that's mostly positive." She sat him up and turned him around. "And this doesn't look horrid. It's going to leave one hell of a scar but you knew that." He nodded, as she probed it. "Does that hurt?" He shook his head.

"Um, Madam Pomfrey how long have I been out?"

"Today is day two." She said and he nodded. That was on par with what he had expected. "You're a very lucky man. Not very many people get to see beyond the veil and come back to talk about it." She said just as the doors slammed open. He jumped and looked over. It was James, Remus, and Frank.

"Padfoot!" James said and ran over, grinning before he hugged him, careful on his back.

"Hey James."

"Shit, it's good to see you awake." Remus said and Sirius nodded.

"You look bloody awful." James said.

"Still hotter than you, Potter." He said automatically and James laughed. Madam Pomfrey seemed amused but clucked her tongue.

"You boys can have him in a bit, but I do believe that someone else needs to say hello." She said and nodded towards the door. They all looked up and Dany was in the doorway. His three friends nodded and walked out, saying hello to her as they walked by, closing the door behind them. Madam Pomfrey walked off, clearly trying to be inconspicuous. She didn't move for a second and he smiled tiredly at her and she ran over and hugged him tightly.

"Hi." She said quietly and she didn't release him. He put his arms around her.

"Hi, Dan." He said quietly and she let go of him after another second. She was crying as she smiled, but she had her laughing eyes back. It had bloody worked.

"You're such an idiot." She said and he laughed.

"Maybe. But you can't say that you're not glad I did it." He said and she smiled a little more and wiped her eyes.

"Alright, but it was still stupid. It was stupid…but it was also incredibly brave and selfless. Thank you." She said softly and sat down on the edge of his bed, near his knees. "I don't think I can outdo James' reunion; that was pretty intense. A full-blown hug between two guys is something to be cherished." She said seriously. He laughed and shrugged.

"I'm lovable, what can I say?" He said and she nodded.

"We've all noticed…it's awfully nice to be able to see people's faces again." She admitted.

"I'd imagine."

"Now, I hate to be the one to tell you, but almost the entire school knows you're in here. No one knows why because I was released yesterday so my discharge didn't coincide with your admission, which helped. I regained my eyesight through the hard work of Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore because I assumed that you wanted your part in this to be invisible." He nodded. "That's what I thought. Pomfrey said that you flat lined, you know." He nodded again.

"Yeah, I know. I've been beyond the veil." He said with a laugh. She smiled.

"See anything crazy?" She asked, joking. He hesitated for a second.

"Yeah, you know those rowboats that the First Years come to school on?" She nodded. "Yeah I was on one and James was there and it was weird." He said and she raised an eyebrow. He omitted her presence and replaced her with James quickly.

"Really? And what were you doing? Just sitting there?" She asked, interested.

"Uh, no I think I decided to stay alive actually. It was really strange. There was something about a boat 'going on' and apparently she was actually just a manifestation of a part of me or something." He said and she looked confused.

"There was a woman?" She asked and he shook his head. "You just said that she was a manifestation of a part of you. Last I checked James is a guy." She said. Damn. "You didn't actually see James, did you? Or is he undergoing a sex change and didn't tell me?" She asked, adding the last part to lighten the mood.

"No, I didn't see James. I saw you."

"I asked you if you wanted to die?" She asked incredulously.

"Well it wasn't actually you, but yeah."

"Do you mind if I ask why I was there?" She asked and he shrugged.

"I don't know. I asked you, uh her, the same thing and she said that she didn't know either. She also said that we'd meet again. Which is always nice to hear from a part of you that's deciding whether or not to die." He said and she nodded.

"Well I'm glad that you decided to come back. We're all glad, really." She said and he smiled. "I wouldn't have ever been able to forgive myself and it never would have stopped hurting." She said softly and ran a hand through her hair.

"Well I'm glad we got to prevent that." He said and she smiled a little.

"I need to go to class. Apparently temporary disability isn't an adequate excuse to miss Transfiguration these days." She said and stood up from where she had been sitting by his knees. She smiled and hugged him one more time before she walked away.