Well, lovelies, my Muse decided to cooperate and here is the next chapter! I have also sketched out the rest of the story, so stick around!
Sirius avoided Grace for several days after the incident with the locket. Remus moved quietly through rooms, sensitive to the taut atmosphere in the house, trying to remain invisible. It was fairly easy- Grace drifted back and forth between her room- the one she had shared with Regulus all those years ago- and the drawing room, where she sat morosely in the window, a forgotten book in her lap and her cheek pressed against the grimy glass. Sirius had disappeared into his room with the entire supply of Firewhiskey, and hadn't come out since. Remus felt the relentless tug of the moon on his weakened bones, and knew that the full was only a few days away. He worried, though, how the others would handle it when it finally came around.
Time marched relentlessly on, and on the night of the full moon, Remus locked himself in his room and tried to maintain a sense of calm as the silver silhouette rose in the night sky. His bones cracked as he undertook the transformation, but the ache in his heart hurt more as he thought of Grace and Sirius, together- but alone, in the big house. His howl of misery to the moon was caused not by his physical agony, but by his deep emotional pain, felt for his brother of choice.
Sirius was awakened from his drunken stupor by the hoarse screams of pain coming from Remus' room down the hall from his own. He shook his head, trying to clear the image of those cries coming from James' mouth that had flashed before his mind's eye immediately before he gained consciousness. The nightmares were always there, and his depression over what had happened with Grace only seemed to make them worse. The look on her face when she had said Reg's name…
Sirius grunted and pulled the sheets back, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and rising to his feet. He stretched his arms over his head, running his hand through his once glossy black hair, now tinged with grey, and reaching out to grab his robes from where they hung on a hook by the door. Shuffling his feet, he swung them around his shoulders and pointed his wand at an old oil lamp to light it. Kicking aside empty Firewhiskey bottles, he pulled the door open, moving silently down the hall to the stairs. Perhaps Remus had restocked the liquor cabinet for him. God knew he couldn't sleep without it.
As he reached the bottom of the staircase, rather than turn right and head for the kitchen, he checked on the last step. He had seen another light out of the corner of his eye- this one on his left, in the drawing room. Moving silently, he peered around the doorframe. Grace was sitting in an old, dusty armchair, her hair tumbling around her shoulders, wearing only her nightgown. Her gaze was transfixed by the tapestry that hung high on the wall, her eyes locked on the gleaming white skull that stared unseeingly out at her from above Regulus' name. As he watched, her profile lit by the flames that crackled in the grate beside her, a tear slipped down her cheek.
Uncomfortable at having witnessed such a private moment, Sirius cleared his throat. Grace jumped and turned to look at him, her eyes wide and frightened. "Sirius," she breathed. The expression on her face changed to one of confusion. "Why are you awake?"
"Remus," he said simply, shrugging. When she gave him a blank look, he squinted at her and examined her more closely. "You didn't hear him screaming up in his room?"
Shame washed over her as Grace realized that she had been so caught up in her own misery that she had missed Remus' pain. "It's the full moon tonight, isn't it?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah," Sirius grunted, looking rather put out at her ignorance.
Anxious to end the unspoken feud between them, Grace reached out a hand and lightly touched his arm. Sirius flinched back, as though she had burned him. When his eyes met hers, she saw pain mirrored in them, as if they were a window into his very soul. "Sirius, please understand," she begged. "I lost him so long ago, and I loved him-" Sirius jerked his arm away from her, but she pushed on. "I've been alone all this time. I'm trying to accept all of the things you have told me, all of the things about Reg that I didn't know- why he died, how…" She trailed off as he walked away to the window and stared out at the night sky, where two stars danced- their names those of both the Black brothers, both the men she loved- two among millions of unnamed others. She took a deep breath. "Sirius, whether or not Reg was a hero or died for the right thing, it doesn't matter to me. I will always love him. But he is gone. I know that, and I'm trying- I'm really trying, Sirius!- to accept that." She choked back a sob. "Please help me," she entreated him, stretching out her hand to him, palm up, pleading for reassurance.
She knew he loved her when his warm hand wrapped around hers.