Chapter Twenty-Seven;

[December 23rd, 1998]

Sirius was going bloody crazy, he had agreed to go shopping in Hogsmeade to take his mind off the fact that Severus hadn't spoken to him since that Sunday, and here it was Wednesday – and the day before Christmas Eve and two days before Christmas, and he hadn't seen Severus once. He had heard that Severus was staying in his dungeons, only going between his chambers and office, occasionally heading to his potions lab when Poppy needed something.

Sirius frowned when Remus pulled him into a jewelry store which he didn't even know existed in Hogsmeade – 'Are they bloody remodeling Hogsmeade?' he thought to himself, looking around at all the trinkets and necklaces, rolling his eyes when Remus kept saying he needed to find the perfect gift for Tonks, but he was bloody horrible at it, so of course Sirius had to suggest jewelry which every girl was supposed to love.

He continued looking around while Remus spoke to the owner of the store, his eyes running over some bracelets – which he recognized as bonding bracelets. Sirius quirked his eyebrow and strolled over to the case, leaning his hands on the edge and looking over each one, they were all of different colors, had different charms casted – "Planning to propose?" A woman asked standing behind the counter, smiling. "Hello, I'm Bella, I work here and bonding bracelets just happen to be my specialty. Can I help you find one for the lucky gi-" she paused at his glare "-lucky boy?"

Sirius turned his gaze back down towards the case, then looking over at Remus who was engulfed in a conversation with the owner, then shifting it back. 'Hmm…'

"I know it's not the man over there talking to my Father, so who is it? How long have you two been together?" Bella asked.

Sirius already didn't like her for her name, now she was being nosey. "I don't know – almost four months?" he reckoned, not sure why he was even answering.

"Four months? Hardly seems like enough time – though I don't judge" she said, waving her hands up. "You've known him for quite a while?"

"Since we were Eleven…" Sirius answered, groaning. 'Stop answering… ignore her…'

"Ah, Eleven, and just now getting together, which meant a feud or something of the sort, had you two pushed apart. Right, try this one" she suggested, pointing to two silver bonding bracelets with latin engraved in them.

Sirius looked over the bracelets with his eyes, quirking his eyebrow. "Why those?"

"Because of the story that comes with them, love" she said, opening up the glass case and pulling the box with the bracelets out and placing it atop the case. "These are over 200 years old, a Wizard by the name of Rufus-"

"Rufus?"

"Rufus – Now, Rufus came from a very rich and pure-blood family. He did everything he could to please his family, and was very devoted to them, however one day he met a girl; her name was Aquaria, she came from a very poor family, she was a half-blood – a muggle her Father was. They were both 19 at the time, and Aquaria was working for them with her Mother as a maid, he fell in love at first sight, but always knew they would never be together, it wasn't accepted by his family, he would be shunned and she would be killed – this is how his family was, it happened to his younger brother I believe. Now I'm getting off track, anyway she worked for them from age 19 until they were both 32, Rufus would never speak to her out of ordering her or mistreating her by calling her bad names, referring her as the help to make his family proud, until one night he saw her crying, he offered to cheer her up, and that night they sat in her room, he held her as she fell asleep in her arms, turns out her mother had passed away, her mother had retired from the family when Aquaria was 24. The next morning, she thanked him and shy'd away, but that night something happened, Rufus found out that he loved her and couldn't treat her like this anymore, he had seen her vulnerable, and he wanted more – and so he began to be nice to her, which caused his Father and Mother to be very suspicious, thus causing them to act, they set up an arranged marriage for Rufus with another pure-blood girl from a very respectable family, the girl was beautiful – they say she was perfect. The wedding was set for that weekend-"

"But he never showed up" Sirius commented, looking up at her nodding her head.

"Correct you are. He had the night before went into the town and had these bracelets formed, with protection charms on them, very advanced charms, multiple ones to fight off hexes and curses, a few to show the wearers when they're near poison-"

"So his family couldn't kill them" Sirius said, picking up one of the bracelets and examining.

"Correct again. He proposed that night, and they ran off together, he gave up everything for her, they moved to another part of the country and lived in a small cabin together, where they raised three children – and lived happily ever after."

"I don't see how this fits into my situation…" Sirius said.

"Don't you see it? They had known one another since they were 19, but never got together because they were worried about how others would see it, until they turned 32, that's thirteen years of being separated from the person you love" Bella commented.

"Okay, so I see how it fits the time, er- sorta."

"They're also very beautiful-"

"- And expensive, right?" Sirius asked, smirking.

She smirked back "Ah, so you think I'm after a sell? I'm hurt, I believe in true love, and I help people attain that true love."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah. I'll take them, wrap 'em up. Oi, and can you put a charm on the bracelets?"

"A charm? What kind of charm, dear?"

Sirius pointed to the left one "A Gryffindor insignia on this one, and on the othe-"

"A Slytherin, oh, how cliché" she said as she took the bracelets and nodded her head. "I'll send them in an owl, Professor Black" she said, giving him a wink and walking into the back with the bracelets.

Sirius smirked, jumping in surprise when he felt Remus poking his side. "Bonding bracelets, Sirius…" he said in a warning tone.

"No worries, Remy, I'm not planning anything" Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "Can we go now? I need to get other gifts you know…"

Remus watched him for a minute before nodding his head. "Yes, I need to buy Harry, you, and everyone else things, I've only checked Tonks and Teddy off my list…"

"Teddy, what did you get him?" Sirius asked as they walked out of the jewelry store.

"Ah, a broomstick, like the one you bought Harry when he was one and Lily tried to beat you with a broom when he almost killed the cat with it?" Remus said, chuckling at the memory.

"Oi, not funny, bloody hell she thwacked me right in the head with that" he said, rubbing the back of his head which began to tingle at the memory.

Remus rolled his eyes "I also bought him a lot of bloody toys, stuffed animals, and of course anything Gryffindor oriented I could find – which should bother Tonks, she wants him in Hufflepuff" he said with a scoff.

"A Marauder – in Hufflepuff? I don't think so!" Sirius said, grinning as he decided Teddy now needs an entire Gryffindor attire.

"Right then, lots of shopping, shall we get started?" Remus asked as they walked down the street.

Sirius nodded his head and followed in step with him.

After several hours of shopping, he was bloody exhausted, luckily they had shrunk everything to fit in their pockets, but that didn't fix the weight of it all. After he was settled in his chambers and resized everything, you could hardly walk around his chambers without falling over something. 'Maybe I've gone overboard…' he began to think as he noticed more than half the presents were for Harry and Teddy, but then quickly decided he didn't go overboard, he leaped onto the couch and rested his lefts over the side, looking down at the coffee table in the middle of the room and seeing a wrapped box and a note from the jewelry store. "Oi!" he said, grinning. 'Thought it would take days to get them back' he thought, resting his head back on the cushion and letting himself drift slowly.

He was woken up from his half-sleep when he heard a knock, groaning he jumped off and climbed over all the bags. "Damn it, Moony! Didn't you get enough of me when we were in Hogsmea-" he began but stopped when he opened the door and saw Severus standing in the corridor, his hands in his pocket, wrapped in a black jacket but still shivering. "Oh, Severus, come in, bloody hell you should've worn something heavier, it's freezing outside" he said as he ushered Severus inside.

"Yes, so I've not-" Severus began to say, flinching when his foot hit a bag on the ground. He looked down at it, and then slowly lifted his gaze to stare at everything. "Did you buy out Hogsmeade?"

Sirius chuckled. "Just nearly, Remus has more stuff than me…" Sirius said as he leaped over a pile of presents and took a seat back on the couch. He turned his gaze to watch Severus who just stood stiffly. "You can sit down"

"Where?" Severus asked, looking at all the presents.

Sirius grinned "You just jump over that pile and you'll fall on the couch."

"You want me to jump over your hoarding problem?"

"Oi! I'm not a hoarder"

"You're a hoarder… I'm sure under all these… /presents/ are your clothes and everything else you own or found on the street as a dog…" Severus commented, stepping over one thing at a time.

"Oh, dog jokes, hilarious" Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm just getting warmed up, I'll have more soon" Severus said as he finally made it to an armchair and took a seat.

They stayed silent for a bit, Sirius not wanting to say anything that would sent Severus running – or so he figured. "So…"

"So."

"Uh…" Sirius blurted out, at a loss for words.

"I've been thinking" Severus said.

"Really."

"Really."

"… About?" Sirius asked, lying back on the couch.

"About… what happened the other night, and… us" Severus struggled to say, his gaze turned to the fire.

"And what have you decided?"

"That I shouldn't have… made it seem like something bigger than what it was…" Severus murmured.

"You didn't, you acted just as it was… I took advantage of you when you were drunk and then I almost rap-" Sirius began but was interrupted by a snort.

"I'm not some fragile teenage girl, Sirius. You did not take advantage of me, and you did not almost do anything to me" Severus said, sighing.

"Alright…" Sirius answered, staring up at the ceiling now.

"Alright. So…"

"So…." Sirius once again said.

"I'm willing to try it."

Sirius laid in silence before he digested what was said, he shot up to a sitting position, quirking his eyebrow "Try what?"

Severus hid behind his hair, but Sirius could see his cheeks had heated up. "That… you know…"

"Sex?" Sirius asked.

Severus sighed "To put it bluntly, yes…"

"Really."

"Really…"

"Hm… You're… sure?" Sirius asked, not wanting to push anything on Severus or make him think he had to do this. "You know we can wait, I have no probl-"

"Yes you do have a problem."

"I don-"

"Deny it all you want, Sirius, and even if you don't show it, you will have a problem with it."

Sirius stayed silent, frowning. "Okay."

"Right then… to your bedroom?" Severus asked bluntly.

Sirius widened his eyes. "No, I mean… not tonight, okay? I mean I want a mood to be set, you know?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

Severus blinked. "Uh, okay…" Severus said. "Well. Then I'm tired, so I guess I will retreat to my roo-"

"You can stay here."

Severus looked around, frowning. "Can I?"

"Of course. Come on" Sirius said as he stood up and walked to his bedroom, struggling over a few presents. He pushed the door open and snapped on the lights.

When Severus finally made it past the door, he looked around and frowned. "Bloody hell, do you not know how to clean?" Severus asked as he saw all the clothes thrown everywhere.

"Oi! I do, I just… don't"

"I can see that. I know what to get you for Christmas now…" Severus said as he walked over to the bed.

"What's that?" Sirius asked as he removed his shirt tossing it to the floor – much to Severus' dislike then jumped onto the bed, removing his pants and getting under the covers.

Severus watched him, rolling his eyes before removing his jacket and shirt, sliding in next to him. "A house elf that cleans even if you don't want him too…"

"No, they always lose my things; I don't trust a house elf with cleaning my room" Sirius said as he snapped off the lights and pulled Severus into his arms, letting out a yawn.

Everything was quiet for a minute before Severus spoke "Well in the morning you'll hate me, I'm ordering Whisper the moment I wake up to clean the bedroom."

"You better not" Sirius said in a tired tone.

"We shall see."

"We shall."

Severus rolled his eyes and snuggled into Sirius' arms, groaning when Sirius' arms tightened around him. "Night, mutt."

"'Mm. Night, Sevvypoo."

"….. Sevvy-what?"

"I said Severus."

"No you didn't."

"I did too."

"No you didn't! I heard you!"

"Okay, whatever you say, Sevvypo- Severus."

"You almost said it again!"

"Severus."

"What?"

"Night."

Severus groaned, closing his eyes and going to sleep. "Sevvypoo…." Sirius whispered, biting his lip to stifle a chuckle and then in the flash of an eye was pushed off the bed, groaning. "Ow…"

"Night, Siri-poo" Severus said as he spread his limbs out to take up the whole bed.

Sirius glared up at the bed, morphing into a dog and jumping on the bed, resting his head on Severus' back and going to sleep.

"You better not have fleas…." Severus said before he to drifted off.