A/N: Sorry for the lateness, school work has had me very busy. Nothing to say for this chapter except I started to write the sequel :D I thought, seeing as they're together now it would be better and hopefully I can get a few chapters of that done before I finish this. With that in mind, this story will finish at the end of 7th year so you have lots to look forward to! I worked it out; if I do two chapters every week this will roughly take me till May/June so yeah just a little news flash for you there. Next chapter will probably be up today :D Enjoy xxx

As New Year approached rapidly, Lizzie and Sirius had managed to keep their relationship quiet like she had wanted them too. It had been a close call sometimes though as Sirius wasn't one to keep his affection to his girlfriend to himself in public. He hadn't known why she had wanted to keep it a secret but didn't question her. There was obviously a reason and any reason was good enough for him as long as he could show his affection for her in private which was what they had been doing quite a bit up to New Years Eve. Sirius could tell all this secrecy was being hard on her though. He still had to act like he was single and so that meant flirting with every girl he saw. Lizzie had said though as long as he only flirted with them then she didn't mind as much. But he could still see her break a little every time he did use his irresistible charm on someone and so he cut down on his flirting, just to give her a break from it all. He had realised that she was a silent sufferer just as he was and knew it would take a while to get her to open up to him. Not that he minded. Sirius would wait a hundred years if that was what it took.

Sirius was sitting in the common room staring into space thinking of how wonderful the last three days had been. Smiling absent- mindly to himself, he didn't see James come up and sit next to him on the sagging sofa. James looked at his best friend, a grin appearing on his face. It was so obvious that Sirius was in love but it seemed Sirius didn't know the extent of this love. All James had to do was make Sirius confess that he was going out with Lizzie. It was obvious that they were together; the amount of times they had snuck out was unbelievable but Sirius had kept it quiet from everybody which was quite an achievement on his part.

''So do you want me to cover you and Lizzie tonight then mate?'' James asked. He was talking about the New Year's party they would be having and was sure that Sirius and Lizzie would want to kiss the New Year in. He saw Sirius come out of his daydream with a jolt of surprise and look at him in shock.

''I don't know what you mean.'' He said quickly but knew instantly it was the wrong thing to say. He hadn't denied it. Shit. Well he had certainly blown their cover and after only three days. Well Lizzie would be happy with him. Not.

''Haha you didn't deny it. Don't worry though mate; I won't say anything to anyone. I'm happy for you. I told you not to give up on her didn't I.'' James said grinning happily, glad that Sirius shared his grin. ''So like I said, do you want me to cover for the two of you?'' He asked. Sirius nodded and James' mind was set on a way he could create a diversion for the couple.

He saw a rush of motion and Lizzie came to sit on Sirius' lap. The common room was basically empty apart from them three and so it matter if they showed their upmost affection for each other.

''Well done for keeping it so quiet Sirius.'' Lizzie joked grinning at James. She rested her head on Sirius' shoulder, who put an arm around her. He was about to apologise when Lizzie cut across him. ''Don't worry though, Lily and the others seemed to have figured it out. So it's really only Remus and Wormtail who don't know.'' She said.

''No Wormtail already suspected something so really it's only Moony who doesn't know.'' James corrected her. He saw a little bit of a problem in this. If Moony was the only one out of their friends who didn't know he wouldn't be happy when he found out.

Lizzie frowned. This had been the problem she had tried to avoid. It would now be extremely difficult to tell Remus about her new found relationship. Oh well, she would have to do it sometime and hopefully that time wouldn't be too far away seeing as she was finding it extremely hard to stay calm every time Sirius' flirted with someone else. But she knew it would do her no good to get jealous. After all what was the point? Sirius was hers after all. She had always seen him flirt with other girls when he had had a girlfriend before so it wasn't like it was anything new. She was brought back to her senses as she faintly heard Sirius talking to her.

''-anyway he said he would cov...Lele are you listening to me?'' Sirius asked. He had only just realised that Lizzie had gone off in a world of her own.

''What? Oh yeah...sorry zoned out for a minute there.''

''I realised. You alright?'' He asked, worry showing in his voice.

Lizzie nodded at him and gave him a small smile. ''I'm fine Sirius. Stop worrying about me.'' She said kissing him. To her right she heard James pretend to retch and say to them 'get a room, geeze, or at least warn a guy when you're about to stick your tongue's down each other's throats.' Lizzie broke off the kiss, picked up a cushion and threw it in James' direction and hit him on the head. ''We have a room, it's just you're occupying it.''

Xoxox

Night came quickly and soon the four Marauders had snuck down to the kitchens to get food for the party. James had brought up plenty of alcohol as well just like he had on Sirius' birthday. It seemed the common room was going to be quite crowded again. Although all the houses seemed to be having their own party, many would eventually turn up in the Gryffindor common room at some time this evening as they all knew by now that this was the best house to throw a party. The Marauders skills were legend and many people would go as far as they could to be a part of whatever they were planning; as long as it wasn't a joke that contained a large amount of people.

Many girls had asked Sirius if he'd like to join them for the party but he politely declined all of them. He would only be around one girl tonight and that was Lizzie. He was certain that if he spent any time with anyone else he wouldn't see her for the rest of the night. With this in mind, Sirius made a mental promise not to kiss any of the girls that would be at the party apart from Lizzie. He was sure she would crack under the strain from this and he really didn't want to do anything that would upset her further.

Soon the common room was steadily getting more and more crowded and around half seven the New Year's party had started. Music was blaring out of the WWN and the furniture had been moved to the sides of the room to create a rather mis-matched dance floor. Everyone seemed to be around the edges of the room, not wanting to be the first in the middle. Eventually however, James pulled a reluctant Lizzie into the middle of the dance floor, ignoring her small protests. It seemed she finally given up on the idea and just danced with him to keep him happy. By this time many other people had entered the dance floor, which had been James' motive from the start.

After the first song had ended, both Lizzie and James went off the dance floor. ''Do you think Lily will dance with me?'' He asked, looking over at the red head who was having a conversation with Remus.

''Not whilst she's sober but I'll see how drunk I can get her.'' Lizzie said grinning at him before walking off to the drinks table. There, she got three Butterbeers, placing a little Firewhiskey in Lily's before walking over to her brother and best friend and handing them the drinks. Lizzie wasn't one to drink at parties and to be truly honest she had never even been a tiny bit tipsy, something Sirius would probably be appalled at. Trying to stifle a grin as Lily drank her Butterbeer; Lizzie took a sip out of her own, feeling warm already as the liquid travelled down her throat. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see Sirius. Smiling at him, she put her Butterbeer down on the nearest table as he asked her to dance.

Without hesitation she said yes, not bothering if the whole thing looked suspicious to Moony. He had to find out sooner or later and she hoped it was sooner but when it came to her brother, he was rubbish at finding the sign's of a relationship. She didn't even think he had noticed himself staring at Beth quite a few times already. Merlin her brother was rubbish when it came to love. Okay, Lizzie knew she wasn't much better but at least she actually had the courage to go out with someone. She knew he was worried about them finding out about his condition but she was sure someone like Beth wouldn't mind if Remus was a Werewolf. Beth was very accepting when it came to people so Lizzie thought something like Lycanthropy would affect her from like Remus. In fact Lizzie was sure Beth did like her brother. They were just too shy towards each other for them to do something. That would be the second thing on her list of doing things the; getting them together; the first being to get James and Lily together. It was like a life target for her and she was determined to reach it.

After dancing through four or five songs, they walked over to the drinks table, Sirius getting himself a bottle of Firewhiskey. ''You want some Lizzie?'' he asked. He saw her shake her head and he frowned. ''Have you ever had any?'' There was a hesitant second shake of the head. ''So you're telling me you've never got smashed at a party?''

''No.'' Lizzie said biting her lip. She saw Sirius' shocked face as though it was practically unheard of. He picked up a second bottle and handed it to her. He gave her a smile, willing her to take it.

''Oh well, we'll have to start now then. Go on drink up.'' He saw the slight hint of worry on her face. ''Don't worry I'm not going to let you get too drunk if you don't want to be. Just have a little bit. Will make you feel better and hopefully put less pressure on your mind.''

Looking at the bottle for a moment or two, Lizzie decided that she didn't have anything to lose. Why was she so worried about getting a little bit drunk? Sirius wouldn't hurt her. He would never take advantage of her...okay he would but surely he would realise when it was getting too much for her and stop. But then there was a difference between a sober Sirius and a drunken Sirius. ''Okay I'll have a little bit, as long as you promise not to get too smashed. I don't want to have to look after you whilst you're unconscious.'' She said lying but giving him a smile. Undoing the top of the bottle, she put it to her lips and drank the Firewhiskey. Almost instantly she felt a burning sensation at the back of her throat making it feel dry.

''Yeah it'll be slightly uncomfortable at the start, but once you get used to it you'll be fine.'' He said grinning at her and downing the alcohol. As he took the bottle from his lips he noticed Lily walk past, her cheeks slightly flushed and her hiccupping every so often. ''What's up with Evans?'' He asked frowning.

Lizzie grinned as she watched her best friend go past. Catching James' eye on the other side of the common room she could see he was positively beaming. ''Oh, I just put some Firewhiskey into her Butterbeer. James wants to have a dance with her but the only way she would accept would be if she was drunk.'' She said looking up into her boyfriend's delighted face.

''You are amazing sometimes. You really are. Now all we need to do is to get Moony drunk and then we will be able to kiss quite freely later on. Maybe even sneak out of here and do a little celebrating for ourselves.'' He said grinning at her and putting an arm around her lower back, pulling her closer to him.

Rolling her eyes, Lizzie took another swig at the drink and swallowed it, again feeling that terrible burning in her throat. ''That will never work; Remus' senses are too high, he'd noticed if someone spiked his drink and besides all I have to do is tell Beth that he keeps looking at her and we'll be fine. If I do this right then they'll be spending the rest of the evening together. Anyway...we'll see about later. Depends if you behave or not.'' She said releasing herself from his grasp as she slowly felt his hand travel down her back. ''I will be back soon. Just going to do some match-making.'' She said kissing him a quick peck on the cheek before setting off through the crowd to find Beth.

Sirius watched her walk off, mesmerised by the curves of her body, thinking that she was absolutely perfect and that she could have no faults at all...that was until Prongs came up to him, drink in hand with Wormtail trailing behind.

James was slightly drunk but still sober enough to notice the way his friend had been acting. He knew it was time to act before Sirius did something he regretted. ''I'm going to give you some advice Pads...don't take advantage of her this early in the relationship. You've only been going out for three days after all. You'll ruin it if you jump into the deep end. She's not like the sluts that just want to have as much sex as possible with you, you know; Lizzie actually had feelings and probably has her own boundaries of how far you can go. So don't abuse them mate. If you lose her you won't ever get her back. Just keep that in mind.'' He said, his speech slurring a little. He had spotted his fiery haired beauty as he liked to call her and was sure it was soon the best time to ask her for a dance; she seemed drunk enough.

Sirius knew James was right. Lizzie would be one of those who wanted to take it slow and that was fine by him as long they got somewhere in the end. ''Yeah alright, thanks for telling me Jim. Now go ask Evans to dance before you start drooling over her.'' Sirius said and watched his best mate walk in an almost steady line towards Lily. Looking around the crowded and noisy room Sirius noticed a blonde haired girl looking over at Peter. He recognised her as Vickie Freeman, a Gryffindor a year below them. ''Hey Pete, looks like Vickie's eyeing you up. Go speak to her.'' He said pushing Peter into the direction of the girl. Grinning to himself, Sirius finished off the rest of his bottle and set it down on the table. Looking at the large countdown clock over the mantle he saw that it was nearly ten. This evening was going quickly and Sirius couldn't believe another year had nearly gone by. In just over two hours it would be 1976 and hopefully a better year than this one. Finishing his contemplations, Sirius went off to find Lizzie again.

Xoxox

The countdown was coming up with only two minutes to go. Many people were in a state that they wouldn't recall the New Year, or see it in; there were quite a few groups of unconscious and sleeping bodies around the place. After many attempts, James had finally gotten his dance with Lily who was quite drunk by now, Remus and Beth had spent the rest of the evening in each other's company thanks to Lizzie and Peter and gotten off well with Vickie. Many more Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's had clambered into the common room for the countdown saying that the Gryffindor countdowns were always more interesting, especially when it came to who would kiss who into the New Year. On asking, James had told Lizzie and Sirius that he would give them as much time as possible for them to kiss and sneak out (Lizzie had decided that Sirius had been good enough all evening for them too, although Sirius was certain she had given into his puppy dog eyes he had given her every time they had brought the subject up).

When the countdown had begun, Sirius and Lizzie had positioned themselves as close to the portrait hole as possible so they could slip out quickly hopefully without being noticed.

Five

Four

Three

Two

One

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

There were shouts, applause and several fireworks going off in quick succession. The first couple to kiss were Frank and Alice and many of the girls went 'awhh' loudly at the sight of them. Peter had kissed Vickie who had giggled and blushed a beetroot red, a rather tipsy Remus had given Beth a peck on the cheek who in return had kissed him on the lips, James who had made himself center of attention had caught Lily around the waste and had kissed her square on the lips (Lily seemed to have been drunk enough not to struggle from his grasp much to everyone's delight, especially James') and Lizzie and Sirius had shared a soft embrace and a slow meaningful kiss before they had hurried out of the common room, hand in hand.

Over all it had been a rather eventful and entertaining night. Even around three in the morning, Professor McGonagall didn't have that much of a heart to tell them to keep the noise down and had joined the slowly dying party for around ten minutes.

1976 was here at last and boy would it be a good one!

I really wanted to get this one on New Years but alas I am two months slow :P :D Review please, they make me work faster :D xx