To say Lela was angry was an understatement. But then again, she wasn't sure there was a word for how she felt. On one hand she wanted to hex Sirius Black into the next dimension for being such a stupid git. She wanted to cry a little for being such a backstabber. She wanted to hide because she was now, more then ever, sure a prank was on the ready. And a small part of her wanted to blush that he seemed to be interested in her diary. She crushed this part with her anger at his invading her privacy and then losing the diary. Besides, why should she be flattered by such a bigheaded arse of a boy? As she waited for Megan and perhaps Severus to exit, her mind suddenly flashed back to a few weeks ago when the stupid prat had tackled her and how there was a moment of-well, she didn't know what it was. But she could clearly see his dark eyes searching her face, his dark hair falling over his own face, just begging to be pushed out of the way, and the slight twitch of a smile as he moved a little closer ready to perhaps kiss and then-"LELA!" Lela jumped looking around confused. Megan and Severus stood before her, raising their eyebrows. "What are you doing? We've been saying your name for ages," Megan said. Lela sighed, pushing her dark hair from her face. Then looking from one face to another, she suddenly burst into tears.

Severus tensed as his sister burst into tears. It was strange seeing a girl of 17 burst into tears before him, and he felt a wave of anger at whoever made his sister cry. He had a feeling he knew who the cause was though. Megan leaped into action, hugging Lela and cooing "it'll be okay" and "tell me what happened." Lela seemed to shake her head, looking at Severus. He stepped forward. "Megan, I think," he paused as Megan stepped back, seeming to understand. Lela and Severus stood alone for a while, silently watching over another. Lela had stopped crying, simply standing there sniffing and shuffling her feet as if she were two, waiting for something. "Lela," Severus said quietly. Lela looked up through midnight hair, eyes puffy from crying. "I can kick that arse's arse if you like." there was pause as Severus marveled at how bad he was at this whole comforting thing when Lela let out a laugh and embraced him so suddenly that it took him a few minutes to figure out what was going on. He wrapped his arms around her and smiled. "Thanks, Sev. I'll keep that in mind," she laughed. He let a small smile appear on his face, as no one but his little sister (mind you, only by a few minutes, but younger all the same) was around. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. "Want some chocolate?" She smirked, taking it. "You never share chocolate," she pointed out, taking a bite. "For you, I share anything."

Bethany waited, deciding what she should do with the diary. One week passed and she suddenly found herself in the mist of misery so great, she couldn't have planned it. The longer she held onto the diary, the madder Lela Snape got at Sirius Black and the more depressed Sirius Black got. Bethany observed in potions how Black always seemed about to say something witty and charming, but stopped short, as if something told him it was a bad idea. She watched how Lela tensed as Black approached and then looked close to tears when he passed, as if dreading his speaking, yet wishing he would. Bethany smirked at these teenage dances. How silly to put so much faith in another person. So much hope. It was weak. Bethany felt that it really was nature's way to crush the weak, and what better way to do that then let the misery eat away at them. She knew neither would approach the other until they were about to explode. Black was waiting to find the diary that sat in her pocket and Lela was waiting for an explanation. Truthfully, Bethany controlled the whereabouts of the diary and therefore their situation. It made her practically gleeful. After another week, she decided to drop the bomb. As she exited potions one day, she bumped Lela. "Hello there, Lela, dear." Lela looked up suspiciously. A few feet ahead, the marauders had stopped, or rather, Black had stopped and turned around glaring at Bethany threateningly. Looked challengingly to Bethany. Bethany gave him a wink before concentrating on Lela once more. "So sorry to bump you, must go," she called casually, moving towards the crowd behind her. "Oh, I nearly forgot," she turned back to face Lela. "I've been reading such a fascinating book lately, Lela." Bethany nearly cackled with glee as the color drained from both Lela and Black's faces. "If I'd known it was so interesting, I never would have given it to you as a birthday gift. tootles." and with that she had disappeared into the crowd, laughing all the way as she imagined what would soon follow.

Sirius watched Lela pick up her books very slowly, Lily and Megan helping. Lily stood and came over. "You four better get out of here. She is livid and you," she turned to Sirius, eyes flashing. "How did Bethany Knott get Lela's diary? To think I actually tried to convince Lela you cared." she turned and marched off, James pulling Sirius by the arm away. When they got to the library they moved to the far table, hidden by shelves. "Alright ," Remus said sitting down. "Here's the dilemma. We all saw the book the morning before Sirius lost it. How did Bethany Knott get it?" There was silence until Sirius banged the table, letting out a string of curse words to describe the girl in question. I don't think that's the important part," said James, waving an apology to the librarian. "I think the important part is how are we going to get it back?" "What's the use," Sirius asked, resting his head on the table. "She's never going to forgive me now. She won't even listen to me." There was silence as the marauders all looked at one another. "I've got a plan," hissed Remus.

Lela sat next to Severus skipping rocks again. She was losing badly. She had explained everything that had happened the day before and now Severus sat silently watching her. "Bloody hell Lela," he said suddenly. "What?" "Your amazingly dense." there was a confused pause. "What?!" Lela stared at him very hard. She had no idea how her ranting about Bethany Knott and Black made her dense. In fact, this was the first time a marauder rant had received an insult. "Look, I hate to admit it Lela," he snapped, and truly he did looked pained as he was talking. "But Black really likes you. I've seen it for a while. I think he only pranked you all those years because you are so bleeding dense, not that he's any better. There is no way in hell Black would give Knott your diary. So stop using that as an excuse and for goodness sakes go talk to him. We both know you want to. And Merlin knows that he wants to." Lela gaped at her brother, who now seemed determined to moodily stare at the water. "But, he always pranks you and me... why are you sticking up for him?" "For petessake, Lela," Severus sighed. "I hate Black with every fiber of my being and I would love to see him miserable forever, but not you. And if making you happy makes him happy, I'll have to find a new way to make him suffer." Lela smirked. "You approve of a relationship with Black?" He glared at her. "Don't make me say it Lela." But Lela smiled and threw her stone to skip five times.

Sirius pushed open the window silently, touching his pocket to make sure something was still there, and pulled his broom out from under his bed. Kicking off of the tower wall, he zoomed around to the girls tower, looking at the many darkened window. He thought, which one was Lela's again? He'd made a rhyme to it. "Around and round the towers I go,

Up two stories like a show.

Not first window, second, though.

That is where the sun does grow."

He suddenly realized as he repeated this that he had no skill in poetry. "Note to self," he said aloud. "Sirius poems are not romantic." He paused a moment outside of the window to chuckle at his play on words, mostly funny due to nerves. This could either go two ways. She could either slam the window in his face, or.....well he didn't even want to jinx the other option. He knocked on the window softly. The window opened almost at once and Lily looked at him, a smile on her face. "I'm guessing Gryffindor loses points for this..." Sirius began. "Where's Remus?" Sirius was a bit taken aback at this but muttered that he was in the hospital wing. "And Peter?" "Erm..sleeping like a log, snoring like a chainsaw, why?" he replied. "And your going..."Lily asked. "Erm...I don't know. Is Lela there?" Lily smiled, turned to the bed next to the window and began muttering something to the person there. Then, she waved and rushed from the room. In a moment, Lela stood and looking at Sirius. "Hey," he whispered, avoiding her dark eyes. "Scoot over," she whispered. That he hadn't expected. He moved back so she could ride on the broom. "Astronomy tower," she told him softly. He nodded, not daring to say anything so close to a place she could change her mind and jump off.

When they arrived at the top of the astronomy tower, Lela looked around, nodding as if pleased. "No snogging couples," she explained to him. There was silence as they both look at each other and looked away. Finally, Sirius took a step forward. "Look, Lela, I have to explain." She titled her head as if to listen better and he took a deep breath. "I know I should have given the diary back. In fact, that day you asked for it, I was going to. It's just, well, it always seemed-and I thought-I wasn't sure if you liked me..." he trailed off lamely. Lela said nothing, simply watched him, mouth twitching into either a frown or smile, Sirius couldn't tell which. "Every girl always swoons, Lela. But you don't and so-I don't know-it was weird. I thought-maybe her diary will tell me if she likes me or not. Because, well, I wasn't sure if maybe you thought the cosmics were against us since we didn't kiss twice..." he paused searching to see if she understood. "I swear I don't know how Knotts got the diary, honest, but-I just was kind of-insecure? This is all coming out badly. Erm," he paused running his hand through his hair, though it fell right back in front of his face, annoyingly blocking half of his face. "I just think-I mean- I think I-do you know what I mean? I think I-erm-you..." He was feeling very stupid and felt his face beginning to turn red for the first time in ages. This was a bad idea. But just as he was deciding how best to get off the tower, to jump or to fly, Lela stepped forward, a smile dancing in her eyes. She reached up and gently moved the hair from his face. "You know what, Sirius?" Sirius looked at her unsure, her hand resting on his chest. She pulled his shirt so that his face was very close to hers and whispered "I think I-erm-you know- you too." With that, she wrapped her free arm around his neck and kissed him. Sirius wasn't sure how to react at first. His brain was moving slower then usual. Way slower. But soon it registered that Lela Snape had feelings of erm-you know for him a swell and she was kissing him. He let out a bark laugh as he tried to lift Lela up. In his ecstasy he miscalculated and soon they had toppled to the ground again, Lela lying on the hard stone floor glaring half heartedly up at him. He looked worriedly at her. "Sorry," he croaked, blushing again at how unsmooth he was being. "You alright?" "Watch out for owls," Lela giggled. Sirius chuckled and pulled something from his pocket, unshrinking it. "Me lady," he said presenting it. Lela sat up and stared. It was her diary. "I made sure to enchant the pages about Remus' secret so that anyone but you would read it and think it was a fascinating shopping list right after I read it. So Knott doesn't know." Lela beamed "Lets go for a midnight stroll," Lela smiled. "I want to know what you read." "Lots of talk of food, actually," Sirius said, helping her up and carrying his broom over his shoulder. "But I have to say that personally, I find the dirty knee, absurdly messy hair, jam in lap look to be very very sexy."