It was after ten o'clock in the evening when the group finally apparated back to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. They landed back in the kitchen where they had first begun.

Lucy took a look around the kitchen and smacked her forehead, "I forgot! I brought a popsicle with me to your house but it started to melt and I put in your…refrigerator, I think it's called. It should be okay till the next time you go to your home, I should think."

Dinah tried not to, but she couldn't help bursting into laughter. At Lucy's confused, almost hurt look, she managed to squeeze out, "I'm sorry! I'm not laughing at you, it's just I'm so not used to purebloods' reactions to Muggle society." She stopped talking as a fresh wave of laughter washed over her. A slight chuckle next to her from Severus only made her laugh more.

He shook his head. "You don't need to be quite this amused, Dinah."

"I know, I'm sorry," she said as she finally stopped laughing, hoping that her flush at him speaking her name a second time in one day wasn't too obvious. "It's just Lucy was so completely sincere about it." She turned back to Lucy and smiled, "It will be okay in there, but it definitely won't stay frozen. The refrigerator isn't cold enough for that. You should have put it behind the other, smaller door. That's the freezer."

Lucy's face was nearly as red as Dinah's. "I'm sorry. I can help you clean it up if you want," she sniffed and wiped at her eyes; "Sorry, it's not you. Long day, stressful, and the hormones are probably kicking in, you know."

Dinah's smile fell; "Oh, um, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to upset you, I thought it was funny. Not in a bad way, in a good way. Er, but please don't worry, I don't think it will make too much of a mess. And, um… Severus and I don't have to stay if it's too stressful for you. Just say the word."

"No, no it's okay. I want you two here. I want you to stay. Really. I…it…just…"

Sirius hugged her from behind and whispered in her ear, "Relax. Breath."

She smiled, remembering she had said something similar to him earlier in the evening. "Sorry, minor childhood trauma, coupled with hormones that tend to go out of whack once a month…I'm fine now. Normally I tend to get a little bit snippy but apparently I'm going to be a crier this time. Now I feel like I ruined the really nice evening I think we were having. Is there something else you'd like to do tonight or something I could get you? A popsicle perhaps?" Lucy smiled, almost as if she were laughing at herself.

Dinah let herself laugh again, but she made sure she wasn't laughing too hysterically, "No, but thank you. If you don't mind I think I'd like to turn in. I don't know about you, Severus. The same?"

He nodded; his face flat again, "Perhaps it is time to call it a night." He sighed and turned back to Lucy, "Thank you for dinner."

"Oh, you're welcome. Don't worry about getting up bright and early for breakfast, either. We're not…well, he's not an early riser and generally I can be persuaded to stay in bed a bit longer than I'd like. Plus with this new stack of books I have I'll more than likely be awake. Just reading. Of course, if you're feeling really brave you can sneak past Walburga and make yourselves breakfast. I don't mind either way. Oh, and Dinah?" Lucy prompted, following the other pair towards the bedrooms, "Just let me know how much I owe and I'll get you either all of it or as much as I can anyway."

"All right. I have the receipt, so I'll calculate a reasonable exchange rate sometime while I'm here." They all headed up the stairs together, stopping at the second floor. "Good night, then," Dinah said as Sirius and Lucy stood on the first few steps to the third floor where their room was.

"Night," Lucy said. She squealed when Sirius picked her up and started walking up the stairs, "See you in the morning I guess," she called over his shoulder, laughing.

Dinah watched them with a slightly bewildered smile. She never knew what to expect with either of them. She turned and began walking down the hallway, stopping at her room. She hesitated a moment, then turned around to Severus; "Could I talk to you for a bit?"

Severus gave an almost imperceptible shrug, and remained expressionless, "If you wish."

She raised an eyebrow and nodded, opening the door so he could follow her into the room. She sat down on the bed and leaned back, looking up at his questioning gaze, "Well, that was unexpected," she sighed and shook her head, "It's happened a couple of times before. Lucy's great but I can never tell when she's going to have one of those random emotional episodes. I'm not very good at responding to them."

Severus just raised both eyebrows in response.

Dinah laughed, "Look who I'm talking to. You're not exactly one to give advice in such a matter." She sighed again, staring down at her hands, "I guess I'm just past that age now. Sometimes it's hard to remember that I'm this old… I wonder if I've wasted my life."

"Hm," the noise that escaped Severus was noncommittal, more like a simple acknowledgement that he'd heard what she'd just said than any kind of agreement or disagreement with her statement.

She looked up at him with a lopsided half-smile; "Not much for reassuring words, are you?"

"Sorry," he shrugged again, more obviously this time.

"It's fine," she laughed a little. "I was just thinking out loud anyway. Not really an important matter. After all, I'm doing what I love. I'm in a relationship… of sorts." She winced; "Sorry."

Severus sighed, coming to sit down next to her on the bed, but not especially close, "Don't apologize. I can't quite blame you for the statement. I'm sorry. It's just that…" he exhaled again and looked around at the room, "The last time I was in this house…"

Dinah moved her hand so it was placed over his. His hand twitched under hers for a moment, the beginnings of a flinch. But as usual he let his hand relax after the initial shock to his system had passed. He was still not used to this kind of physical affection, but he seemed to be opening up more and more every day. Still, she wasn't sure if he'd ever be completely open to her. If not, then their relationship might, eventually, have to come to an end.

The painful feeling that tightened her throat and chest every time this thought occurred came back to her, but she ignored it. The only thing she could do was live in the present. And right now, whether it was logical or not, and whether or not she fully understood her reasons, she wanted to stay with him. "I know. It's another reason I was hesitant about us coming here. Of course I never mentioned it to Lucy. And I was looking so forward to us spending a holiday together that I figured I could handle it…"

He sighed, shifted slightly, and brought an arm up around her shoulders with a light and hesitant touch, "I am sorry."

She flushed, desperately wanting more but not going to ask for it, "You're trying your best. I understand."

He frowned, his gaze shifting towards the door and then the ceiling, "I'm sure I can handle it. I only think we shouldn't go into his room." He smirked, "Not that that should be a problem."

Dinah gave a little chuckle, allowing herself to lean forward and rest her head on his shoulder, "They are a rather boisterous couple, aren't they?"

He almost smiled, "Rather." He sighed, "Yes, as long as I don't go into that room…"

Dinah sighed and shifted her gaze to the floor, past their legs dangling over the edge of the bed, not quite touching each other. The memory was more vivid than she liked it to be. The last time he had been in Sirius's room, what she had seen in the pensieve. When he had ripped off the picture of Lily and the note she had written, keeping it with him, unsure of whether he'd survive the battles to come. It was the only time she had seen him cry.

That thought, that memory, always reminded her of how desperately he had loved Lily. How deep that connection was. What she herself could never be to him.

"Well," he gave her shoulder a hesitant squeeze and then stood up, "I should be heading to my own room now. Good night then."

"Good night," she said.

He headed to the door, stopped with his hand on the knob for what seemed like an eternity, and then turned to face her, almost looking guilty. "It's not you."

"I know. It's not me," she forced a smile, "It's her."

"I can't forget-"

"I don't expect you to," she cut in, hoping that this conversation didn't last long. "I understand. Don't worry about it," she hoped the trembling in her chest wasn't reaching her voice; "Good night."

He paused a long while, looking at her; then finally nodded and left the room with a final "Good night" response.

She smiled at the closed door for a few moments, until she felt a tear rolling down her cheek. And then another. With a little moan she turned and buried her face in the pillow, willing them to stop. Maybe her own emotions weren't as stable as she'd thought. But how could they be, after that exchange?

It was fine though. She'd made peace with the situation, at least for now. She had to keep telling herself that. Although somehow it didn't make it any less painful.

But as usual, the wave of sadness passed over and she was able to calm herself, put herself back in the stable place where she was just taking things one step at a time and not thinking too much about the future. Deep down she knew it was just a lie, a complicated cover-up, keeping her real worries and fears buried so deep that they were mostly inaccessible. But that didn't mean they were gone.

To console herself, as she found she did almost every night these days, she ran through her head over and over again the good things that had happened to them today. His light touch when they went downstairs for dinner, his comments about the potential progression of their relationship, his mild laughter at her quirks, his compliment of her Muggle clothing, the almost-kiss in her bedroom, the gentle conversation that had followed, and his arm around her shoulders just a moment ago.

Those thoughts were enough to let her sleep peacefully… for now.

Lucy squealed again as Sirius dumped her on the bed. "Careful," she cautioned, "Snape's room is right underneath us!"

Sirius laughed, "Well that's unfortunate. For him."

"I didn't plan on him actually using it! I thought him and Dinah would be sharing the room. That's why I put her room on the other side of the hall."

"Now," he said, sitting down on the bed next to her, "what was with that little scene earlier?"

"Nothing," she said, scooting away from him, "I told you minor childhood trauma. Let's just say my father is not a very forgiving man."

"He hit you?"

"No, no. He never hit me," she scooted farther away, clearly uncomfortable with this discussion. "It was Mum. She'd made a mistake and he never let her forget it."

"What could possibly be as bad as that? She didn't murder someone like I did," he stopped her from sliding off the bed and held her close.

"I wish you'd stop doing that. You're not a murderer and you know that."

"You do it, too," he kissed her cheek. "Now what did she do?"

"She got pregnant."

"Oh," he didn't really know what to say to that so he just hugged her. If things kept up in this fashion Snape was going to get a good night's sleep after all.

"He never wanted me and didn't make a secret of it. Mum always wanted me and that would have been enough if she hadn't been killed. It's a big part of the reason I don't talk to my father much. Anyway, um, Mum did something similar once, misplaced something without thinking. Needless to say the resulting argument upset me."

"Maybe you should explain that to Dinah. I think she feels really bad about making you cry."

"I suppose," she got up quietly and changed out of Dinah's Muggle clothes, placing them in a neat pile so she could remember to return them. Lying back down on the bed she turned to Sirius, "They look happy, don't they?"

Sirius shrugged, "As happy as they could be, I suppose. You know Snivellus..."

Lucy glared at him.

"What? He's not here."

"I don't care."

"Fine. Snape is never going go all the way with Dinah."

"You don't know that."

"I know he's carried a torch for Lily since they met. If he's carried it around this long that's not just going to go away."

Lucy rolled over, resting her head on his chest and looking him in the eye, "You know more about this than you're telling don't you?"

Sirius shrugged again, "Not really."

Lucy decided to let it go for now. It wasn't the first time they'd had a conversation similar to this and he had yet to tell her what he knew.

She was almost asleep when Sirius pulled her up so their heads were next to each other and whispered in her ear, "Just for the record, I will always want you."