Hey all! Sorry this took so long to get up. Life has been very hectic around these parts. The next chapter, hopefully, won't take so long to get up. Enjoy!

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Aly stared at him, waiting for him to continue. When he remained silent, she rolled her eyes.

"Stop that," he snapped. "This is hard for me. I need to make sure I say the right thing."

Aly tried to relax her face, as well as her still racing mind.

Sirius took a deep breathe and said, "This isn't going to be an easy outcome for either of us." He looked at her. His eyes were wide, but Aly couldn't tell if it was from sadness or regret or any other emotion he might have been experiencing. "We're gonna have to work really hard to follow through once the decision is made. He sighed again, heavily. "I didn't think this would be so hard."

"Just get on with it," Aly snapped. She knew this was the end of them, and she couldn't understand why he was dragging this out. He looked thrown off by her reaction.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Aly lowered her head and whispered, "Just say it, Sirius."

She couldn't see the look of concern on his face that he shrugged off before taking a step closer to her. "Aly," he said softly, taking her hand, "I've thought very, very hard about this and this seems to be the only answer to this situation. So, I pick you."

"What?" Aly's head shot up and collided with Sirius' chin.

"Ah!" he exclaimed grabbing his chin in pain.

"I'm sorry!" Aly proclaimed holding onto her head.

"It's okay," he said through clenched teeth. His lip was bleeding from where he had bitten it.

"Here," she said, seeing through one eye that he was bleeding rather profusely. Her other eye was still closed in pain. She pulled a tissue out of her pocket to hand to him. It slipped between both of their fingers, and Aly went to reach for it.

"I'll get it," Sirius stated, and, as they both grabbed onto it and stood, their heads collide.

"Oh come'on!" Aly yelped in pain as she took to sitting on the floor, her balance thrown off by the throbbing coming from opposite sides of her head now.

"I'm sorry," Sirius gasped.

"I wasn't yelling at you," she grumbled.

"Are you ok?" he asked from above her.

She mumbled "I'm fine," in response.

He sat down next to her. "We're off to a fantastic start, huh?" he commented, bloody tissue still held to his lip.

She exhaled loudly and he asked again, "What's wrong?"

She sat quietly, trying to find the right words to explain to him what was wrong. She had been completely thrown off by his choice. She honestly expected him to pick staying single. What had made him decide to be with her? She knew one thing, she didn't deserve it.

"Aly," he pushed.

"Fine." Aly took a deep breath but thought twice before trying to answer him and decided to turn the conversation around on him. "Can you love me?"

He was completely thrown off by this and began to stammer, "Uh, well, hmm…"

"Not right now."

"Oh," he breathed in relief and relaxed. The corners of his mouth went down, but he said, "Sure. Some day. I guess."

Normally, Aly would've found his lack of conviction humorous, but she was too worried about her own doubt on the subject to laugh at his.

"What if I can't love you?" she asked.

His eyebrows went up so she explained, "I've never been loved. Not really. Not a love all my own. What if I can't do it? What if I'm incapable of …"

His laughter cut her off. She felt her insides twist painfully. Was his laughter a sign of agreement or a sign of relief? She closed her eyes and waited for him to make his move. She expected to hear his footsteps, but instead she felt his hands on her cheeks and his lips on her forehead.

She opened her eyes and looked at him. He was very solemn and calm as he asked her, "Is that where it hurts?"

Her eyes must've showed her confusion because he titled his head the side and smiled.

"Didn't you hear me?" she asked desperately.

"Of course I did." He smiled at her like she was a small child and shook his head. "You always underestimate yourself. Why should this be any different?"

Aly narrowed her eyes at this comment. "Oh, Aly, come'on. It's a compliment. You always do better than you think you'll do."

"But,"

He stopped her, "No buts. You are plenty good at loving. In fact, you love a little too fiercely sometimes. You loving won't be a problem. Now, you accepting love, that may be a different story. But it doesn't change who you are." He suddenly stood. With a groan, he commented, "My knees aren't what they used to be." He promptly held out his hand to her. She allowed herself to be pulled up. He put his hands on her neck and said, "I won't have your daddy issues coming between us. I picked you." He smirked as he added, "Mostly because you asked me to, but you're pretty cool to have a round. I'd like to keep it that way."

"Really?" she asked meekly.

"I love having you around," he said putting emphasis on the word 'love.'

She swatted at him.

"You know what else I love?"

She tilted her head up to look at him, "What?"

"This," and he kissed her. It was soft and gentle and it threw Aly off completely. This was his way of telling her that he wanted her, damage and all. Aly felt her heart melt with happiness, and she deepened the kiss. He seemed to have no objections to this as he pulled her closer. Her hands found his hair, and her fingers wound their way through his strands.

"Mr. Black!" a shrill voice bellowed at them. Sirius moved quickly in front of Aly, almost as if he were acting as a shield.

"Hey, Pincey. How's it going?"

Aly covered her mouth the stifle her laughter.

"If I told you once, I've told you a million times!" The old lady came charging at them. "Not in my library. Out, out, out!"

Sirius quickly moved Aly out of the library. Madame Pince followed them out, but Sirius kept Aly covered.

Aly laughed all the way around the corner. Sirius, who was wearing a look of worry, smiled at her. "I'm glad you find it funny. The only person worse than her catching us would be McGonagall.

Aly nodded, fully understanding and appreciating Sirius' attempt to conceal her. There was an unsaid agreement between them that Dumbledore did not need to know about this quite yet.

"So," he came over and looked down at her, "You still think we can't do this?"

"I never said you couldn't do this," Aly corrected.

"Between the two of us, who's going to have the most to work on?"

Aly nodded in agreement and asked, "What was with the girls earlier?"

His eyebrows creased. "What girls?"

"The ones I saw you talking to in the front hall."

Sirius took a second to think and then said, "I don't recall any girls."

Aly rolled her eyes.

"I said not to do that," Sirius directed. "And if I was with any girls today, it was in passing. I didn't really talk to anyone today."

Aly could tell that he was telling her the truth by the look in his eyes. "So," she said, tilting her eyes up at him.

"So?" he said cautiously. He could clearly tell by the way she was looking at him that she wanted something.

"Are you my boyfriend now?"

He nodded at her, looking relieved that that was all she had wanted, but she pushed, "I need to hear you say it."

He through his head back and whined, "Whhyyy?!"

"Because," she said pointedly.

He set his face and said nothing, not wanting the cave to her request.

"Pleeasse," she pushed.

He muttered something under his breath and, with an overdramatic sigh, said, "I'm your boyfriend."

"Thank you, sweetheart," she said extra sweetly and kissed his cheek.

He crinkled his nose and asked, "'Sweetheart'?"

Aly merely fluttered her eyelashes at him playfully and walked away. He followed closely. She smiled to herself as they found their way to the portrait hole in silence.

"You look happy," the fat lady commented. Aly's smile spread even wider as Sirius gave the password.

Aly made her way to an open table and pulled out her charms book. She watched Sirius look around the room confused.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

He looked at her and then at the empty Marauder table. Aly rolled her eyes and said, "You're gonna have to tell them eventually."

"I know," he said taking a step towards her, but the portrait hole opened and the three boys came wandering in. Sirius whipped around quickly.

"Hey, Pad," James greeted him. "You missed dinner." Remus and Peter sat down, but James came right up to Sirius, who looked like a deer in headlights. "What's wrong with you?"

Sirius shook his head and sat down. James followed suit.

Aly watched them as she pretended to work on her homework.

"What's the plan for tonight?" Peter asked.

"Tonight?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah," James' eyes went big, "Tonight." He turned his eyes onto Remus.

"Oh, tonight. Right, right," Sirius said.

"What is wrong with you?" James asked again staring hard at him.

Sirius just shook his head and lowered his eyes.

James stared at him for a few more seconds before turning to answer Peter's question. "I got detention tonight."

"What for, Prongs?" Sirius asked.

"Snivellus," James said bitterly. "I'll be late for the party."

"Me too," Sirius explained.

It was Peter who asked, "Why?"

"I've got a thing," Sirius replied cryptically.

"What?" James asked his eyes moving towards Aly, who quickly lowered her eyes back to her work.

Luckily, Remus came to the rescue, "There's no need to show up anyways." Aly felt her heart accelerate. Why would they go see Remus when he was in that state? Worry took over as she pictured the three boys face to face with a werewolf, even if that werewolf was Remus. She would have to have a talk with Sirius about it later.

"We'll just come late. All of us," he stressed looking at Sirius.

"Fine by me," Sirius said quickly. "Pince never keeps me late."

With that comment, James seemed to relax. "Library again, eh, Padfoot?"

Aly's left hand clenched into a fist. Again? she raged in her head. She reminded herself that she would have to get over being compared to Sirius' former escapades. So, she worked hard to ignore the rest of the boys conversation. However, her curiosity was perked every time she heard James and Sirius call each other Padfoot and Prongs. She noticed Remus tense up slightly every time they did. She decided to just ask Sirius about that as well when given the chance.

"Alright," James said standing, "Time to serve our sentences."

"Tell me about it," Remus said darkly. Aly noted that the sun was almost gone from the sky. She had clearly misjudged the moon the night before.

"Meet back here before we go?" James asked.

"I'll just meet you there," Sirius told him winking at Remus.

The four of them left, and Aly waited for Sirius to return.

Fresh snow had fallen throughout the night into the morning, and Aly was grateful for people's strange interest in it. It left the common room empty except for an occasional passerby.

Sirius returned about 10 minutes after he left.

"Where'd you go?" she asked him as he sat down across from her.

"Library."

"Why?"

"James insisted on walking me there," Sirius said with a sour look upon his face.

"What is his problem?" Aly asked feeling annoyed by his need to hoover.

Sirius shrugged, but his face told Aly that he clearly knew what was wrong with his best friend. He sat and stared at his hands as Aly sat and watched him.

"Sirius," she said quietly.

He looked up, tortured eyes falling on her.

Aly felt her heart wrench. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head as his answer.

Her spirits fell as she asked, "Are you regretting this?"

"No!" he exclaimed quickly. "It's not about you. Not at all. I'm just…" he trailed off and went back into his retrieve.

Aly let out a small sigh, not sure what to say or do for him, and went back to work. He sat silently as she tried to finish the work she needed to catch up on. She eventually gave up trying to finish since her mind wouldn't take itself off of the boy sitting across from her. She snapped her book shut and started to put it away. As she tilted the book, it's pages downward, into her bag, Mrs. Evans' note slipped out. She had completely forgotten that she had tucked it away in there.

Aly let out a small gasp as it fluttered out of her reach, over by Sirius' feet. He reached down and picked it up. He started to hand it back to her, but, as her fingers found it, he pulled it back.

"Who's this from?" he asked examining the handwriting on the envelope. There were only the three letters making up Aly's name to offer him an hints to whom it was from.

"Lily's mom," Aly said simply, her arm still outstretched.

His face became soft as he asked, "What is it?"

"She wrote me a note before she died," Aly said blandly.

He looked at her and asked, his voice light, "Can I read it?"

Aly blinked a few times and then shrugged, "Sure."

He carefully pulled it out and unfolded it. She watched his brown eyes scan the page, watching as emotion filled them. He finished and looked up at her, studying her face for a moment before speaking. "So, what have you decided to reach out and take?"

Aly's eyes went wide as she asked, "Why do you ask that?"

He chuckled, but smiled kindly, "I know you. I'd bet money that that was the thing that stood out to you."

She smiled at him. He certainly did know her.

"So, tell me," he said, handing her the letter back, "What have you set out to conquer?"

Aly lowered her eyes, "You."

He was clearly taken aback. "Me?"

"Why do you think I came to you with an ultimatum?"

He smiled wickedly.

She looked at him and glared in a playful way, "Shut up." She stared lovingly at the letter for a few seconds before carefully putting it away.

"Come here," he said holding out his arms.

She got up without hesitation and slunk into his lap.

"You miss her?" he asked.

"Yes," Aly mumbled into his chest.

"She'd approve you know. Of this. Us."

"What?" Aly sat up, and Sirius smiled at her.

"Remember that dinner we had between 2nd and 3rd year. Well, you wouldn't remember dinner, but the day anyways."

Aly nodded.

"Well, she told me that she wanted me to take good care of you."

"But we weren't…"

"She knew it would happen. Or at least, I assume she knew it would happen."

Aly felt her heart swell with happiness and cuddled into his chest. He rocked her as he smoothed her hair.

Aly felt herself starting to drift off, comfortable in his arms. However, she was woken up completely by his arms tightening around her and his nose grazing her temple.

"Sirius, we're in the common room!" she exclaimed giddily, feeling drowsy.

"So?" he whispered into her hair.

Aly sat up and looked around. They were actually all alone in the common room. The question was how long would it be that way? But did it really matter? They weren't hiding the fact that they were together anymore.

Before Aly could make up her mind on the situation, Sirius took control. He swung her around so that she was straddling his lap and cupped his hand around the nape of her neck. He bent her head down so that she was kissing him. Aly's mind went blank and she felt no need to try and pull back together her sting of thoughts. All she knew was she wanted him to keep kissing her like this.

She put both her hands on the back of his head and relished in the fact that she knew she was the only girl in the castle who would be able to do that from now on.

Their focus was deep into what they were doing and neither heard the portrait hole swing open.

"What the ---?!"