A/N: Sorry about the huge gaps in-between chapters now, but with me in 3 pre-AP classes, you should probably get used to about two chapters a week, sorry guys. Oh, and to anyone who is keeping track, sorry I always forget the disclaimer – Everything you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling, and I own none of the characters you recognize or Hogwarts or anything you have seen in those books, okay? So, let's continue, shall we?

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When Claire entered the Hall at Breakfast with Sirius's hand in hers, all of the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs stood up clapping. She didn't know that everyone knew about the poison, and she didn't know care that none of the Slytherins stood up and that all of them were whispering angrily to each other. She was happy to be alive, and nothing could change that. She was eternally grateful to all of her friends and to Slughorn for the antidotes he gave her. Not to mention how grateful she was to the healers at St. Mungo's. She walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Lily, Sirius sitting on her other side.

Claire's pale complexion had all but faded back to the regular beauty of her skin, the even tone and perfect skin texture. Her blonde hair was no longer matted and tangled, but fell gracefully down her back just as straight as it had been two weeks ago. The pupils of her pale and mesmerizing blue eyes had gone back to their normal size, no longer dilated and huge. During her absence, Sirius never left her bedside except for certain classes. Every once in a while, he would steal James's invisibility cloak and sneak in after hours and skip classes.

As Claire sat down at the Gryffindor table for the first time in two weeks, she noticed how thin her friends looked. Sirius, James, and Remus were still muscular as they had always been, but their faces seemed slimmer. Lily was clearly a worried person. Her hair was drooping and her eyes had lost their usual shine and glow, not to mention that she was not wearing a single speck of makeup and her hair looked like it took only about two seconds to style it, being in a ponytail. Tanya was paling a slight amount and her usually glowing skin was looking drier than they had ever seen it.

"You guys are terrible!" said Claire loudly. "You were starving yourselves?"

"We skipped meals to come and see you sometimes, yes. Sirius never left your side practically. He's probably only eaten a real full meal when we brought them to him," replied Lily with a shrug.

"I can't believe you! You guys worry too much," she said, shaking her head. "Do you really think that I was going to give up that easily? It was just some stupid poison," replied Claire, trying to make her friends in better spirits.

"We'll try to fatten back up," joked Remus, his arm around Tanya's shoulders.

"You better," teased Claire. Claire leaned her head against Sirius's chest and looked up at his face. He, too, looked very worried.

"Claire," he began softly. "How do you think we all felt when we found out that there's nothing we can do to stop you from dying eventually. I'm sure Madam Pompfrey told you that there's no way to stop this poison, right?" Claire lifted her head and looked away from Sirius, she didn't want him acting like this. She wanted her friends to enjoy themselves, to act as though nothing has or would ever change.

"Claire," he began again. "I've been wanting to tell you that I…I – " Claire held a finger to his lips.

"Don't say your goodbyes," she insisted. "I'm perfectly fine, see, look at me, fine."

"But – " he began again. She moved her fingers and kissed him. It was short, but incredibly sweet and very romantic. Nothing like a good kiss to shut a guy up.

"What was I saying?" asked Sirius in a slight daze when she pulled away. Neither had mentioned that, lately, whenever they made the smallest contact, their hearts either skipped beats or went in triple-overtime. And of course, neither had mentioned how their heads became foggy and their minds like jigsaw puzzles that were just broken and they were trying to put them back together.

"Nothing," said Claire with a laugh after she shook out the fog. James and Lily looked at each other, exchanging another of their silent conversations. It was then, that the rest of the world came back and Sirius and Claire were no longer alone as they had felt that they were. Lily leaned forward across the table and kissed James for about thirty seconds. Everyone wondered when they would come up for air.

"What was that for?" asked James with a laugh. She could tell he liked it, but didn't know the reason behind it.

"I haven't said good morning yet," she giggled, sitting back down in her seat.

"Well, I'm glad you decided to do that," he laughed. James looked to Sirius as though he realized something automatically.

"What's wrong, mate?" asked Sirius, raising one eyebrow.

"Well, Madam Pompfrey said that there were bruises on Claire's arms while you two were asleep at one point. She lifted up Claire's hand and we saw them for ourselves. They were all over your arms, Claire. They were huge, things that looked like they'd be long-lasting," said Lily, reading James's mind again.

"Quidditch," said Sirius and Claire at the same time. James eyed them suspiciously, knowing for a fact that it wasn't Quidditch at all. Claire was the best flier on the team, and she always was. She was the best at maneuvering, second only to James. She had never fallen in practice or the games and she had never been hit by a bludger once in her life that he could remember, and they had all three joined the team the same year, second. He let it drop, though, deciding it wasn't the best time to question someone after they just came beck from death row. After that, most of the day was spent in the common room, and no one asked Claire about the bruises again.

It was nightfall and Sirius had asked Claire to take another walk with him on the grounds.

"Claire," began Sirius. "At breakfast today, I wasn't trying to say goodbye or anything. What I was doing was trying to tell you something, something important, but you shushed me." Claire let out a small laugh.

"What was it you wanted to say?" she asked, grabbing Sirius's hand once she recovered from the tiny chuckle she let escape.

"I was wondering whether you thought it was possible to meet…you know…the…one…at only seventeen years old?" Claire's heart skipped a beat, stopped, and then picked up again going faster than it ever had. She groaned internally and turned a pleading eye to Sirius.

"Sirius," she began sadly. "I've already accepted that I'm going to die," she said, tears filling in the corners of her eyes. "I don't want a reason to fight it, to be sad that I'm going. Before you came along, my life wasn't easy at all, but then you came into the picture and when I'm with you I just…I don't know…I feel like I can relax and I can just forget about everything. You're perfect Sirius, and I'm upset that I'm leaving, yes, but I don't want to be angry at fate, at God (Claire is catholic…just like ME! I know, this is a bit of a Walk To Remember cliché). You've made me so happy the last few months, happier than I've even been in my entire life. You've made me so happy, and yet…. immensely terrified at the same time. What I mean is…is that I feel the same way you do, but I don't want to be angry, or sad, or whatever."

"Claire," Sirius began gain. "I am so new at this, so completely and utterly new at this, but I am going on what James says about how he feels when he's with Lily and how he acts when he's not. I think that…I think that despite the personality I have…I've fallen for you. I've fallen for you, Claire, and I never imagined that happening, ever… I never imagined it being like this, so complicated and difficult."

"Sirius, I…I don't really know what love is. Look at the home I come from. My parents never showed it to each other and they never showed me the love a parent is supposed to show. If love is the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, the daze when ever we kiss, the way my heart speeds up at the smallest contact, the racing of my pulse even now, and the want – no, the need – to be with you, always, yes, I do love you. The feeling that we are the only people in the room when we're together, if that's love, then yes, I love you."

"I never knew love from my parents either, but what you just said is what I'm basing everything in, risking everything for. If that is truly love, then I love you more than any person, more than anything in the world."

"The feeling's mutual," she laughed, the dense atmosphere automatically lifting as she threw her arms around his neck and he lifted her up under her arms, looking up at her face. When he placed her gently back onto the ground, her arms still wrapped tightly around his shoulders, and he looked back into her eyes. Then, without thinking, he placed his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him and kissed her more romantically then he had before.

Meanwhile

"They look so cute," said Lily softly, looking out the common room window. Three of them (James, Lily, and Peter) were looking down at the lake and watching their best friends fall in love, even when they weren't sure that they were or what love even was.

Tanya and Remus were sitting on the couch in the common room, being polite and giving their friends privacy. Remus had his arm draped over her shoulders, but other than that, holding hands in corridors, and an occasional kiss hello and goodbye, their relationship hadn't changed much. Let's go back to Lily, James, and Peter. Peter was standing in front of the two, being the shortest and had his nose pressed against the glass. James turned to Lily as though he was insulted, but clearly joking.

"No, you're cute," he laughed, poking the tip of her nose with his index finger.

"Oh, Potter, stop with the flattery," she laughed.

"Guess what, Lily?" he asked with an impish grin.

"What?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"I love you," he whispered, kissing her on the forehead. He grabbed her hand and towed her to the other couch, sitting on one side, against the armrest. Lily flopped down next to him, he head automatically finding his chest and resting itself there. He craned his neck to kiss her softly, but romantically, and then sat back up. It was only a few moments before they both fell to sleep, the three awake not having the heart to wake them up. About ten minutes later, Peter went upstairs drowsily, leaving his four friends sitting on the couches. About five minutes after that, Claire and Sirius walked into the common room, laughing about something, but, judging form their soaked appearances, they had probably just had another water fight, either in the lake, or with spells.

Claire bit back laughter as she saw Lily and the unorthodox position she was sitting in. At some point while they were sleeping, Lily's head had fallen from James's chest, to his lap, and his fingers were entangled in her dark and vibrant red hair. Claire and Sirius were fighting laughter so much, but Tanya and Remus were just smiling and rolling their eyes. Claire tiptoed over to Lily and poked her hard on the forehead, something that always made her wake up. Lily flailed slightly and fell off of the couch, onto the floor, shrieking in pain as James's fingers were still in her hair and causing him to fall on top of her. Sirius roared with laughter, gripping the edge of the table for support as though he may fall to the floor form laughing so hard.

"Sorry," he said apologetically, getting off of Lily and backing away. He held out a hand for her so that he could help her up.

"Don't worry," said Lily in a strained voice. She grabbed his hand and he pulled her back to her feet, coming right into his arms as he kissed her passionately for quite a long time and the other four rolled their eyes again. They went upstairs after what could've been hours or minutes, they never really kept track, and time seemed so much faster when the three couples were together. They all climbed into their beds and tried to fall asleep, Lily and Tanya, Remus and James did fine.

Sirius fell asleep after a few minutes, and dreamt only of Claire, happy dreams of course, until a nightmare crept into his brain. Claire was lying on the floor of the common room, her eyes open, her skin pale, her pupils were dilated, dark circles framing her eyes. She was dead, and nothing was going to bring her back. Sirius tried to push it form his mind, but the dead and frightened looking face loomed in his mind for the rest of the night, haunting him.

Claire was dreaming about Sirius, happy dreams like he was, but, also like him, a nightmare crept to her mind as well. She was looking up at him, but, all of the sudden, she began to fall, down, into a pit of darkness, she was dying, and she was trying to get back to the surface, she didn't want to leave Sirius. She saw his sad and frightened face as she fell, looking up to the small amount of light in the hole, the surface. His face seemed to grow as she got farther away, ripping out her heart and killing her. She didn't want her last glimpse of this world to be that sad face, and she would do all that she could to keep it form happening.

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A/N: So, not a short chapter this time, that's good right. The next one is their Christmas holiday, and maybe a surprise will come for them…who knows. So, read, review, you know what to do by now. The next chapter will be up ASAP. So, I've decided that I will post as many chapters as I can on the weekends, and that's one of the few times I can. If one goes up during the week, it means that I was either off school or had like no homework. So, next chapter, up soon, I promise.