Sirius and Amelia shared more than a few classes this semester, since the administration thought it was funny to through together the Gryffindors and Slytherins, which made most classes very tense these days. Since they had been in classes a few weeks already, Amelia was not surprised to see Sirius in her History of Magic class, in was one they had together, after all. And after her talk with Lily, she was hoping that she could speak with Sirius about their—well, her problems with their relationship, or non-relationship.

But that wasn't possible during class today; they a test, and in History of Magic a test was call for seriousness. As soon as Amelia sat in her seat, the test was laid down in front of her, and her glance towards Sirius showed he was already absorbed in the paper, shoulders hunched, and a hand already mussing his hair. Amelia turned back to her own parchment and began.

It wasn't until the bell rang for the end of period that Amelia pulled herself up from her paper again, though she had finished about five minutes before. She had be checking her work one last time, and she hastily scribbled a sentence into her essay before handing in her paper. She gathered her books and pens, and headed out with the rest of the class, relatively subdued after the hour-long test. Amelia beelined towards Sirius, intending to catch him before his next class, which she did not share with him.

"Sirius," she said, touching a hand to his shoulder. As he turned, a piece of paper fluttered out of his pile of books, and Amelia reached down to pick it up. She turned over the paper, glancing over the scribbled words quickly, then again.

"Amelia, I…" Sirius said, his hand reaching to take the paper from her. She snatched it back and continued reading.

"Sirius, is this what I think it is?" she said very quietly, reading over the writing, which was about Goblin Wars and famous witches and wizards and advances in magical understanding. The history of magic.

He stayed silent.

"Sirius?" she said, looking up at him, eyes large. She didn't know exactly what she was feeling right now: anger, definitely, confusion, disappointment. Fear. It was all warring in her eyes.

Sirius did not reply. His eyes said he was warring with himself as well.

Amelia couldn't stand there and watch it. She whirled on her heel and almost ran to her next class, ignoring Sirius' voice as he called her name. She didn't want to talk to him.

It took her all day to decide what to do. She chewed her lip, worried her hands, mussed her hair throughout classes all that day. She noticed Sirius wasn't in the Great Hall during dinner, though she knew that he would never willingly miss a meal. She decided she knew what needed to be done.

"Professor Binns?" she called, knocking on the professor's office door and pushing it open. It was made sure the door was never locked now, since the professor was a ghost, and if it was locked, no one would be able to get in.

"Miss Bangcroft," the professor said in his dry, dulling voice. "What brings you to my office so late?"

"I-I have something to report. Cheating, on your test today."

"I'm surprised it took you so long to come to me, then. Usually you are the first to report treachery found," the professor said, floating up from his seat and through the desk to where Amelia stood, just beside the door, as if ready to flee at any moment.

"I was…unusually conflicted. It was…someone important to me who did…it," she said haltingly, fighting the words as they came out of her throat.

"Ah. This wouldn't have anything to do with Sirius Black, would it?" the professor said.

Amelia looked at him in surprise. "How'd you know?"

"He came in here before lunch and admitted it. Said that someone had made him realize it was wrong to have cheated." He looked at her kindly. "I'm assuming you were the one who made him realize it."

Amelia couldn't speak for the shock. It didn't make any sense to her; the Sirius with whom she had been in contact with would not have done something like this, admitting he was wrong at all. He would not accept punishment willingly.

"I told him to repot the Mandrake crop this year, as punishment. Though I am interested to know how he did it."

Amelia held out the parchment, hand shaking. "Cheat sheet," she said.

"Oh. How…Muggle-like. No magic at all, hmmm…We should look into wards against non-magical cheating, or everyone will start with Muggle conventions…" Professor Binns mused to himself. He seemed to notice Amelia was still there. "Oh, thank you, Miss Bangcroft. You may go."

Amelia walked out of the office still in a haze of confusion. She moved with now knowledge of where she was going, and somehow ended up outside the Herbology rooms, in the cool breeze of the oncoming autumn. Sirius was in there, looking exhausted, earmuffs firmly secured as he uprooted the baby Mandrake, its screech splitting the air a moment later when it realized what had been done. Amelia slapped her hands over her ears as Sirius stuck it into a pot and began quickly covering it with dirt. Once the Mandrake had been fully covered, he leaned back and took off his earmuffs, wiping his forehead and running a hand through his hair, leaving a streak of dirt on his face. He then looked up, taking in the darkness outside the greenhouse, the castle above, and Amelia, standing there, staring at him. Their eyes met, and Amelia tightened her jaw. Her emotions were no longer running wild, and she nodded at Sirius with a cooling smile playing on her lips. She was good for him, she realized as she turned and moved up to the castle again. She just needed to make him see it.