A/N: I'm not surprised by the varied reviews as to who Sirius should have ended up with. You have your opinions, and I have mine! This chapter we find out what happens with Rhett and Rileyso ignore this and start reading.

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is tweeting about Matthew Lewis' lack of clothes. I don't have twitter. Therefore I am not J.K. Rowling.

Goodbyes on the Balcony

Chapter: Of Black Eyes, Excerpts, & Quitting

By ByeByeBirdie

++RHETT++

"I slept with Sirius."

I froze, those same four words spinning relentlessly throughout my mind. I kept repeating them as if the next time I did, the words would be completely different. But they weren't. Every single time the thought that she had actually slept with Sirius cut a dagger straight through my heart. The moment that I had been dreading since we returned to London was staring me in the face and I had been naïve to think that maybe, just maybe, this moment would never come. But it did. She slept with Sirius. She fucking slept with Sirius. Feelings of disappointment, anger, sorrow, confusion, and heartbreak all came flooding at me in a span of seconds. But it was a feeling of reluctant acceptance that I finally rested on.

I slowly sat back down on the couch, refusing to make eye contact with Riley as I tried to figure out exactly what I felt in that moment, every emotion flooding through me sparking more confusion in my mind. I'm not sure how long the silence between us lasted, but I wasn't surprised when I heard Riley break the tension. "Please say something," she urged in a hoarse whisper.

"Give me a minute," I snapped, my heart slowly beginning to get its rhythm back.

She nodded, continuing to hover in the entryway as if she was afraid of what I might do or say if she took even one step towards me. Problem was, I had absolutely no idea what to do or say. "When?" I finally choked out.

She frowned. "Does it matter?"

"No. Yes. I don't know. But I don't really think you have the right to question me at the moment."

Another set of tears flooded her eyes. "Last week."

I scoffed. "You waited a week to tell me?"

"I-I didn't know what it meant a week ago, Rhett," she whispered. "I…I just needed some time to figure things out. But I know now that it meant nothing. Nothing. I-"

"It meant something, Riley," I corrected irritably. "Or you wouldn't have cheated on me. Don't patronize me by pretending it was a selfless act out of some form of desperation. Own what you did, Riley. Because you can't take it back. It's out there and it's always going to be out there. So don't you dare pretend like it didn't mean anything, because it means something to me!"

"I wish I could take it back," she said, her voice breaking as a stream of new tears escaped. "And I know that that pretty much means nothing to you right now so I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen but-"

"If you didn't mean for it to happen it never should have!" I snapped, the frustration surging throughout me.

"I-I know!" she whispered desperately through her tears. Her voice was so strained, and filled with so much agony. "I-I wish I had some excuse or explanation or a good reason as to why it happened, but I-I don't. There's nothing I can say that's going to change the fact that it happened."

"Would you want to change it?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"What?"

"You heard me," I snapped.

Her eyes filled with guilt. "Yes," she spoke softly. "I would want to change it."

I wanted to believe her but she had too much history with Sirius fucking Black. "Why?"

She blinked. "What?"

"Why would you want to change it?" I snapped, glaring at her.

Staring at me, she contemplated the question before saying, "I-I thought I needed that to figure out how I felt about him. About us. About how we left thins four years ago. I've been so confused ever since I ran into him. But…what I did with him didn't change the past and it didn't change anything now. We've been over for four years. We just didn't know how to admit it."

I frowned irritably. "And yet you've suddenly figured out how to admit it now?" I sighed. "Am I really supposed to believe that, Riley?"

Slowly, she shook her head. "I don't expect you to understand. I-I barely understand it. I just…I just need you to know how incredibly sorry I am for hurting you. You deserve so much better. But…well, don't hate me for saying this but I hope you don't want better because I need you. And I know that's really unfair of me to say to you right now but I do."

If she needed me so much she never should have taken that for granted. I wanted to say this to her but at this point I was too confused and angry and frustrated and upset and hurt to bother trying to form words. I could tell she was sorry but that didn't change anything.

Bloody hell, I wanted to hate her. I should have hated her. She deserved for me to hate her. Hating her would make all of this so much easier. But how could I hate someone who my heart was still so very much in love with?

Even back at Hogwarts, she had always been the one for me. I started crushing on her back when we were seventeen years old and I realized that she really was the woman who had it all. Beauty, brains, spontaneity, charisma. She also had Sirius. The moment Sirius spoke to me about Riley's past discretions, I knew instantly that he was pining after her. I could see it in his eyes and I could hear it in his tone. And I knew that it all tied back to when the two of them started hating each other. I really hadn't wanted to get involved in the two-year drama, knowing that there was something unresolved between the two of them, so I took a step back and prayed that when they resolved it, I would be the one standing at the end with Riley by my side. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way.

But that didn't mean I could easily forget about her. She was hard to forget. Sure, she had her own set of problems – fear of love for one thing – but I still pined after her much to my annoyance. And then I graduated Hogwarts and moved halfway across the world, finally pushing her far from my mind.

Until I ran into her.

In Australia.

Talk about fate, right?

I could see it the moment we spoke that she still had lingering feelings for Sirius. I could see the what-ifs and what-could-have-beens swimming through her mind. And I could see that all she wanted was to find a way to get rid of all of it. So that's what I did. I gave her a distraction away from her past to let her focus on the present. We never reminisced on the past. We went out together a couple times a week and drank beers and laughed about whatever absurdity cropped up at work that day. And as the months went by, I started to see relief and gratitude and ultimately, happiness instead of regret and guilt. It was then that I realized as much as I thought I needed her in my life, she needed me just as much.

But did she need Sirius more?

I turned to her. "Just answer me one thing," I said softly.

"Anything."

I swallowed hard, my mouth growing dry. I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the answer but it was also a question that needed to be asked. "Are you still in love with him?"

"No."

She responded so quickly, I wasn't sure if I could believe her. I finally tore my eyes off the carpet and gazed into her eyes. "Riley..."

"I'm not," she said firmly, shaking her head. "Maybe a part of me has been wondering if I still did ever since we moved back here. He was the first guy I had ever loved and…and I never gained closure from it the way I left. So ever since I ran into him, maybe so much of me was afraid that I still loved the guy I walked out on four years ago. But...but what happened with Sirius and me was a mistake. You and I have never been a mistake. I am in with love you, Rhett. And I know you probably hate me for saying that right now, but I just need you to know that I do love you. And I always will. I just hope you'll stick around for me to show you much."

There was a sense of determination and regret in her eyes that made me realize not only was she being honest with me but that for the first time in a long time she was being honest with herself. I didn't respond. I didn't know how to. My head was still very much trying to wrap itself around the confession she had just thrown my way. A confession I had been fearing I might hear for months now. Hell, years even. I eventually sighed. "I think a part of you will always love Sirius Black," I said softly.

She blinked, slowly making her way over to the couch. She sat down, her eyes never straying from mine. "Maybe," she whispered. "A small part of me. But it's you that I am in love with. It's you I want to spend the rest of my life with. Sirius is my past but it's you I see as my future. And I want to marry you if...if you'll still have me."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "You want to marry me?" I said in disbelief.

She nodded, a few more tears escaping from her eyes. "I don't want to lose you," she whispered desperately. "I…I know that I deserve to after what I put you through, but I'd really like it if you could find a way to forgive me because I'm not ready to let you go, too."

Too.

She sounded so certain, but Sirius Black had been her first love. How could I just assume that this was it for them? Just like they had four years ago when I let her go after finding out they had unfinished business, they still had unfinished business four years later. How could I believe that eleven years of a friendship and a relationship could be over just like that? How could I trust in her supposed decision? How was she so convinced? How could I be convinced?

She claimed she didn't want to lose me and if I was being honest, I desperately didn't want to lose her either after all of the back and forth games we've played with each other for so long, but I was truly afraid that I had already lost her.

Neither of us spoke, both of us stewing in our conflicted emotions. "You want the truth, Riley?" I eventually spoke.

She didn't respond immediately. "I don't know," she said. "Do I?"

I saw such turmoil in her expression that my initial instinct was to reach for her hand. I resisted, clenching my fists in slight irritation as I glanced down at her coolly. "I'm not surprised this happened," I said.

She hesitated. "What?"

I shrugged. "I'm not."

"How can you not be surprised? I'm surprised," she sputtered, her bottom lip trembling.

I frowned, the bewilderment in her demeanor frankly annoying. I sighed, finally saying the words to her that I had been holding back for so long. "Riley, do you think that it was a coincidence that we moved back to London? Or that you just so happened to be at the coffee shop at the same time that Sirius was there? You didn't think I knew what was going to happen? I've…hell, I've been waiting for this to happen. Dreading it, sure, but expecting it nonetheless."

I could tell that I just caught her completely by surprise.

"You were the one who suggested moving back for my mother, not me, remember? You were the one who reached out to the Daily Prophet for a job and not the other way around. You were the one that asked your brother about Sirius. I know that you needed to come back to London to...to figure things out with him before you could marry me. I get it. Why do you think I told you I couldn't marry you until you worked this all out? Because I couldn't in good conscience enter a marriage without knowing where you stood with him. And it's been so clear to me recently that you were still so very much conflicted."

A hint of scarlet formed on her cheeks and she slumped down guiltily. "So why'd you let this all happen if you suspected it?"

I frowned, letting the question linger hesitantly in the air. It was a damned good question. A question I asked myself nearly every day since we moved back to England. I had this trepidation in the pit of my stomach waiting for her to insert herself amongst her friends again. And when I found out she had run into Sirius at the coffee shop, I knew it was only a matter of time before she'd realize that things weren't over between them. I knew she would have to make a decision. The whole time, I held my breath praying it would be me. Praying she would discover that she was ready to say good-bye to Sirius. I guess my prayers came true because that's what she was telling me now. But I had really hoped she would realize it without having any physical contact with him.

No such luck.

My heart ached with anger and betrayal, but all I could think about was the fact that I hadn't once put a stop to it. I knew something was going to happen and I let it happen.

Turning to her, I said, "Because as much as I knew you needed that closure, I think a part of me needed it more."

Remorse spread across her face. "And?"

I ran my fingers through my hair, slowly and hesitantly opening my mouth to respond. I loved Riley so much, more than she probably could ever know. And I absolutely hated the idea that she and Sirius had sex together. I hated the idea of his lips kissing hers and their naked bodies intertwining. But I also hated the idea of losing Riley. I had been hoping ever since we moved back to London that all she needed was to see him and realize her feelings for him had disappeared. I would have even taken a kiss. I was really hoping that it wouldn't come down to anything more, but it did. And now I had to make a decision. I just wasn't so sure what that decision should be.

"I-I don't know," I whispered honestly, turning away from her with a sigh. "I…I just don't know."

Her face fell, the guilt in her eyes growing with intensity. "I'm sorry, Rhett," she whispered desperately, the tears swimming in her eyes.

"Don't," I pleaded, shaking my head. "You apologizing for cheating on me is frankly demeaning right now. I really don't want to hear it."

A tear slid down her cheek as she nodded. "I know," she whispered.

I had seen this coming. Why the hell didn't I do anything about it?

"Is it over?" I asked, swiveling my head to lock eyes with her. "This…thing you've always had with him?"

"There is no 'thing,'" she said, shaking her head. "It was-"

"There certainly is a thing," I snorted, glaring at her. "Or you wouldn't have slept with the guy."

She cringed, her expression growing with desperation.

"Did you find what you were looking for, Riley? Sleeping with him as a backwards way of finding some bullshit closure? Did you get it? Was it worth it?"

She said nothing at first and I was actually grateful. I didn't want her to respond with what she thought I wanted to hear. I wanted her to respond with the truth. I deserved that much. "I did find what I was looking for," she spoke softly, swiping the tears from underneath her eyes. "Because I found clarity. I found out it's you I want to spend the rest of my life with, not him."

"Glad you had to sleep with someone else to realize that," I snorted.

Again, she didn't respond. Really, how was someone supposed to respond to that?

"Don't hate me," she eventually pleaded, her bottom lip trembling. "Be mad. Feel betrayed. Yell at me all you want. Be bitter and cynical. Just…just don't hate me."

I let out a frustrated sigh. "Dammit, Riley, you and I both know that I could never hate you. It would be so much easier if I did hate you. I would storm out that door and take my proposal with me. But…"

"But?" she said hopefully.

"I-I don't hate you. I can't hate you. I've loved you for far too long to ever hate you. I'm just…I hate myself, that's all."

"What? Why?"

"Because I fucking let this happen!" I barked, glaring at her. She jumped at the outburst, her eyes growing with shock. "I let us move back here and I let you fall back into your old habits! And that includes Sirius goddamned Black. I…I watched it happen in front of my very eyes and…and I did nothing."

"Don't," she pleaded, shaking her head. "I can deal with you blaming me for this. I can't deal with you blaming yourself. You had nothing to do with this. I-I made the fatal error. These were my mistakes, never yours."

I sighed. That didn't make me feel any better about the situation. "You are always going to have unfinished business with him, aren't you," I muttered irritably.

"No," she whispered defeatedly. "It's…it's over. I know that it wasn't for so long, but it is now. I…I hate that it took me this long to realize it, Rhett. I hate what I've done to you. To us. I hate that I hurt you in the worst way possible. I hate that I may lose you over this and frankly, I hate myself for saying that because I don't blame you if you wanted nothing to do with me ever again."

"You know who I hate?" I muttered irritably. "Sirius freaking Black."

"You're allowed to," she said with a hint of a lopsided smile.

I let out a strangled sigh , trying to wrap my mind around the entirety of our conversation. My head had never been conflicted with so much turmoil and confusion. I had loved Riley for so long, knowing in my heart that a part of her still loved Sirius. I denied it. I pretended that I was her soulmate. I acted like she and I would be together forever. And then we moved back to England and I knew deep in my heart that it wasn't over between her and Sirius. Maybe it still wasn't. Maybe this was just another way of her trying to convince herself that Sirius meant nothing. But would that ever be the case? Would I always be just second best to her?

"Why did you do it?" I whispered hoarsely. "Why did you…" I trailed off.

Riley frowned, contemplating the question carefully. "I don't think any answer I have is going to be the right one."

"There is never a right answer to cheating on your fiancé," I snapped, glaring at her.

She winced, and I knew that as much as she was hurting me, I was hurting her, too. I wanted that to be enough. I wanted to feel happy that she was in pain. But how could I ever feel happy about the girl I was madly in love with feeling hurt?

Dammit, why the hell did I have to go and fall in love with a girl who was still so very much wrapped up with her drama with her ex-boyfriend? "Is…is it over?" I spoke, my words barely above a whisper. "You and him?"

She didn't respond right away, which I actually appreciated. I'd rather her really think about it and tell me the truth than say it was over just to please me. I just hoped she'd give me the answer I was looking for.

She squeezed my hand and I gazed over at her curiously. "It's over, Rhett," she whispered desperately, the tears swimming in her eyes. "I'm just sorry that it took me this long to realize it."

When I glanced down into her eyes, I realized that I actually believed her. I believed it was over and that she didn't love him. I believed she loved me and she wanted to marry me. I knew for the first time since we returned to London that she could say all of that with confidence and not wonder about the what-ifs.

But before I could even consider letting her back in, there was just one more thing I had to do.

"Let me, uh…let me clear my head, Riley," I said softly, letting go of her hand as I slowly stood up from the couch.

"What? Wait, please just…I-I need to…how…" she pleaded frantically, her eyes filling with intense desperation as she attempted to catch her breath. "Rhett, please just…can you at least give me an idea of where your head is at?" Her voice broke with every word.

I glanced down at her, a frown filling my face. I suppressed every urge to reach out and embrace her as my determined eyes met her guilty ones. "How about you tell me where your head was at when you slept with your ex-boyfriend and then maybe I'll be able to tell you where my head is at now," I spoke coolly.

I let the biting words linger scathingly as I slid past her and walked out of my apartment. I could hear her sobbing as I left but I had to let her suffer just a little while longer while I wrapped my head around the final piece of the puzzle that needed to happen before I could move forward.

++SIRIUS++

There was a knock on my door late at night and when I opened it I was shocked to see Rhett standing there. Before I could even register that he was standing there and before I could even form some semblance of a sentence, his fist slammed into my face.

"What the hell?" I snapped, my hand rushing to my painful cheek, but Rhett said nothing as he turned on his heel and walked out of my sight.

I had a pretty good feeling he heard about me sleeping with his fiancée.

++RILEY++

I never left that spot on Rhett's couch, sitting there for about an hour sobbing into my hands as I scolded myself for being the stupidest woman on Earth. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. I've made some pretty awful decisions and have often let my selfishness run the way I live my life. Fear and insecurity had always clouded my mind and I've been known to take the easy way out.

I didn't deserve Rhett. I didn't deserve anyone. All I've done for the past four years was betray everyone around me, including myself. Maybe I would be better off alone. Maybe I needed that. But what I needed more was Rhett. So once again putting my selfishness ahead of everything else, I was ready to fight for Rhett with everything I got because I needed to stop letting the good things in my life slip away. I loved him and I needed him. He had lifted me out of a pretty depressing part of my life after I had left my friends and Sirius behind four years earlier. We never talked about it. He never brought it up. Ever. And I started falling for him because of it. He was the first one to put a smile on my face. He gave me a reason to laugh. He made me feel like I could move on from the past. He was my reason for moving on. I should have realized it before making the biggest mistake of my life and sleeping with Sirius, but I had already moved on and it was because of Rhett. He had been by my side to make me realize my life was worth living. And it was worth living because of him. I just didn't realize it until now. I knew there was a very strong chance he would walk back through the door and tell me he never wanted to see me again. I couldn't even blame him if that's what he wanted. I did the worst act of betrayal anyone could do in a relationship.

But he had known this was going to happen. He told me he had been waiting for it to happen. So maybe, just maybe, if he could forgive himself he could forgive me?

He had been right about it all. When we moved back to England, I really had needed some sort of closure with Sirius. Hell, with all my friends. I needed to say my apologies, admit the truth about why I left, and make my peace. I often asked myself if I regretted the decision to go to Australia. And the answer is always the same. No. The only thing I regret is the way I left.

But that was four years ago. A lot had changed since then, including myself. Once upon a time, I was afraid to love. I was afraid of getting hurt and I was afraid of winding up with a broken heart. My relationship with Sirius had been fragile from the start. We had started out on the wrong foot with him running into the arms of Rhea days after we admitted we had feelings for each other. Our relationship was never healthy. We both made mistakes and we both dealt with a lot of pain because of it. We both ran from one another. We didn't let each other into our hearts as much as we both would have liked. We threw up walls and defenses. We loved each other, but we didn't make it easy.

Rhett showed me that love didn't have to be complicated. It was just me and him for so long and it worked. It made sense. He made me feel safe. I didn't freak out when I thought about falling for him. Sure, we made mistakes. All couples do. But we didn't run from our mistakes. We embraced them. We loved each other despite our mistakes.

I just prayed that Rhett still loved me despite my latest mistake.

When I heard the front door creak open, I sat up on the couch unsure whether I should feel hopeful or just feel plain dread. As he shut the door behind him, he met my gaze. He didn't say or do anything immediately and I couldn't read the expression on his face no matter how hard I tried.

He took a tentative step towards me, his eyes never leaving mine. I could feel the tears rushing to my eyes once again as I waited for what he had to say.

"It's going to take me a while to get over this."

I blinked. "I know."

"But," he said hesitantly. "I will get over this."

My heart began to race slowly. "You will?"

He let out a sigh. "Yeah," he whispered. "And when that day comes, I'm going to marry you."

My eyebrow shot up in hopeful shock. "Really?"

He nodded weakly. "But first," he spoke, glancing down at me curiously, "I really need to ice my hand."

He walked passed me into the kitchen.

I blinked. Once and then again. "Er…what?" I said to no one.

When he came back out with an icepack over his hand, refusing to look up at me, it suddenly dawned on me what he had really meant by needing to clear his head. So I didn't ask the question again and he didn't answer it.

And we never spoke of that night again.

++REMUS++

I awoke the next morning to James' shouts filling the entire mansion.

"BLOODY HELL, WHAT IN GOD'S NAME IS THIS?"

I practically shot out of bed, wondering what it was that could have possibly had James screaming so loudly. I rushed out of my bedroom and nearly ran down Sirius as he was rushing out of his. "So I didn't make that up?" Sirius muttered curiously as he headed towards the stairwell.

"No, I definitely—what the hell happened to your eye?" I asked in shock, recognizing the onset of a black eye.

Sirius hesitated. "James just screamed loud enough for us to actually hear him, a feat considering the size of this place, and you want to ask me about my eye?"

"Uh, considering I was with you until midnight last night and your eye seemed fine, yeah, it does seem a bit curious."

He shrugged it off. "It's nothing. You coming to find out if James is committing suicide with me?" he asked but before he could even let me answer, he was hightailing it down the winding staircase.

When we both entered the kitchen, James was pacing the floor angrily, his eyes intensely fixated on a newspaper that lay spread out in the middle of the kitchen table.

"Er…you alright there, James?" I questioned.

"I'm so…I can't believe…who the hell—whoa, what happened to your eye, Padfoot?"

"Seriously? You're going to fixate on that, too?" he groaned.

"Did you punch him in the middle of the night or something?" James asked me, half-joking and half-serious.

"I considered it," I joked.

Sirius glared at both of us. "Why am I the one getting hypothetically punched by you when I'm the only one here who actually had the guts to go after that damned closure we've all needed with our ex-girlfriends?"

He had a point.

"I'm sure there are about a million other reasons why we could be hypothetically punching you," James said with a shrug.

Another good point.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "How about you two just punch each other since you are the ones determined to continue living in the past while I actually gave myself the ability to move forward?"

It was rather impressive for Sirius to make two good points in under a minute. And so early in the morning, too.

"And did you move forward into someone's fist?" James snickered.

"We are not talking about that!" Sirius argued, scowling. "Why don't you instead inform us why the hell you are pacing the floor like a mad man."

"That," James snapped, pointing his finger at the newspaper. "Read it! Just…just read the first page. The headlines even! Read the goddamned feature…the section at the bottom…read the bloody excerpt! The mother-fucking blurp!"

I blinked, glancing back at Sirius. "I think he may want us to read something."

"I think you're one to something, Moony."

"Just read the goddamned thing," James scowled, glaring at the both of us.

I had no idea what could make James so furious and on edge but I guess I was about to find out. "Which article are we supposed to be—oh, fuck," Sirius said. And with good reason as my eyes glanced upon the headline at the bottom of the page.

Potter Family Exposé Coming to a Bookstore Near You!

Before either one of us could even read on, we glanced up at James who was quite literally seething. I swear I could see the steam pouring out of his ears.

"'Oh, fuck' is right," he hissed, his fists clenching. "Read on. It gets better."

Sirius and I glanced hesitantly at each other before diving into the feature.

We all know the Potter family as one of the more prestigious, wealthiest Auror families in the wizarding world. They settled into Auror Row nearly one hundred years ago and have made a nice life for themselves. We also know the Potter family as one of those unfortunate families whose surname has been splashed around the obituaries far too frequently for a single family to deal with. So while you think you may know the Potters, we're here to tell you that there is so much more to them than what you hear on the surface. But now you will have the chance to know every sordid detail of their lives – the good, the bad, the ugly - because the Potter family biography will be hitting bookstores later this year thanks to the Daily Prophet team! That's right – all of the elements that make this family tick will be yours to read in just a few short months. We don't want to give anything away but this seemingly normal Auror family is anything but. The pages will be endlessly filled with tales of betrayal, kidnappings, and family secrets. There will be mention of Death Eaters (you won't believe who turned to the Dark Side!) and do you remember that household infamous villain, the Executioner? You will be shocked to find out the part he has played in the demise of the Potter family! So keep a lookout later this year for the biography of the century. You won't be sorry you purchased it.

When Sirius and I finally finished, I was too afraid to even look up at James. The anger that I had briefly seen in him before couldn't even begin to describe what he must be feeling.

"James-" Sirius started to say.

"How could they do this?" James cut him off, his voice rough with raw rage. "How could they write this without consulting me?"

"It's the Daily Prophet," I said softly. "They write what they want."

"But why now?" he muttered, sinking helplessly into one of the kitchen chairs. "Why would they put out some form of press release in their papers without the actual finished product? Last I spoke to Keegan, she said it would be at least another couple of weeks."

"Well, maybe something-"

"I mean, I already knew this exposé was going to put a target on my back and I was prepared for that," James continued, ignoring me completely. "Or at least I was going to prepare for that once I read the first draft and knew what I was getting myself into. But there is no draft! It's not done! I-I haven't prepared myself!"

"James, don't freak out over-"

"Voldemort already had me on his hit list. He had all of us! And this is just going to up his ante before the exposé even gets published! Before anyone even has a chance to learn the goddamned truth! Bloody hell, we are all so screwed."

"James-"

"Holy hell, what was I thinking?" he moaned, shaking his head. "Have I gone completely insane? Why did I ever ask Keegan to write this? My family history is something that should have remained within the bloody family!"

"James-"

"We are seriously all going to die. One by one. Oh bloody fucking hell. We're doomed. We are so doomed."

"James-"

"That was what I've been trying to avoid and now the Daily Prophet has screwed me! Oh bloody fucking hell, what was I thinking?"

"James!" I cried out.

He lifted his head out of his hands to glance up at me. "What?"

I sighed. "You knew all this," I reminded him. "You knew what you were getting into. Yeah, maybe you have to deal with it earlier than you would have hoped, but do you remember why you wanted this to be written in the first place?"

"No, not really," he whined, pouting childishly.

I rolled my eyes. "Because your family deserves better than a permanent place in the obituary section of the goddamned paper. This is your chance and your family's chance to let the world know the story behind the…the, hm what does the article say," I mused, glancing back down, "'The demise of the Potter family?'"

"Demise is right," he muttered with a remorseful sigh.

"You want the world to know that the Potters are fighters and not cowards. You want the world to know that you were chosen to be a target. That your family risked their lives to fight for what was right. That you are fighting for your life and for the lives of everyone around you every day. You want the world to know who you and your family was before Voldemort stepped in. And the world will know that," Sirius chimed in with a shrug. "Don't second-guess yourself because a bunch of spineless, power-hungry newspaper men chose to dredge up the intimate details of this biography and splash it across the front page. They know that bad news sells. And unfortunately, your life is full of it."

I could see James slowly calming down as he slumped down in the chair, a complacent look on his face. I could still see the wheels turning in his head as he turned his gaze back on the newspaper in front of him. "I know," he muttered reluctantly, shaking his head. "But why the hell did they have to go and mention Death Eaters and the Executioner? That's just putting a huge target on my already targeted family."

"We don't have the answer to that, James," Sirius said hesitantly. "But I'm pretty sure we know who might."

++KEEGAN++

I was grabbing a cup of coffee when there was a fistful of pounding at the front door. I nearly jumped at the urgency of the knocking, spilling coffee all over the countertop. I swore under my breath and rushed out of my kitchen and towards the door, swinging it open to see three very angry looking men.

"Is there a reason you're all standing at my door at seven in the morning?" I asked James, Sirius, and Remus.

"As if you don't already know," Sirius muttered, sweeping past me and into my apartment. Remus and James quickly followed.

"Er…alright. I guess you can come in," I said, rolling my eyes as I shut the door behind him. "What the hell happened to your eye?"

"Goddammit it, why does everyone keep focusing on that?" he muttered irritably.

"Uh, how about because you were without that black eye when you stopped in here about six hours ago?"

Remus and James shared a look. "He stopped in, did he?" Remus said with a curious smirk.

"I'm not the one on trial here!" Sirius argued, shooting me a look.

I blinked. "So…does that mean I apparently am?"

Sirius turned to look at Remus and James who were both now staring at me bitterly. "Are you really going to stand there and act all innocent?" Sirius snapped at me when it was clear his two friends weren't going to speak.

I blinked. "Uh, yeah, considering the matching livid faces you guys all have, I have to believe that you are ticked off at me and yet I can't-"

"You're damned right we're ticked off!" James finally chimed in, thrusting a newspaper into my hands. "And for good reason!"

Glancing down, I could see he just placed today's Daily Prophet in my hands. Which pretty much told me nothing. "What, did they fold the newspaper all wrong for you today?"

"This is so not a joking matter," Sirius scowled.

"Oh, well, can you fill me in as to what kind of matter it is so I know how to respond?" I snorted.

"Don't act clueless here!" he scowled. "You know what I'm talking about!"

"I assure you I don't."

"Guys, I really think she hasn't a clue what you're referring to," Remus said, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Which just begs a whole lot of other questions."

Sirius and James shut up long enough to look at me. Silence followed before James spoke. "You really don't know?"

"Know what?" I asked irritably.

The three guys exchanged one of those annoying looks where it was evident they all knew what they were thinking but were inclined to leave me out of it.

"Know what?" I repeated.

James just groaned, burying his head in his hands. "It's not even seven o'clock in the morning and already this day is shot to hell."

"Yeah, that pretty much explains nothing," I shot back, shooting him a look. It went unnoticed so I turned my impatient frustrations on to Remus and Sirius. "Someone mind telling me what is going on?"

Sirius sighed, nodding to the paper in my mind. "Read it."

I blinked. "The paper that I work at? Guys, you do realize that I help edit the headlines and bylines. I know what's in this-"

"Read it," Sirius urged.

The desperation in his voice told me I should just stop questioning if the three of them had taken crazy pills today and just read the paper. I glanced down, scanning it as if I had a clue where to look. "You want to give me a hint as to what I am-" I froze as my eyes fell upon the smallest of excerpts in the bottom righthand corner of the paper. "What the hell is this!?"

"Our question exactly," Remus muttered.

I had never felt such a rather odd combination of emotions running through me at one time – anger, confusion, betrayal, ignorance, impatience, loss, helplessness. The list was added to as my eyes skimmed the excerpt, bile quite literally rising in my throat with every word I read. When I was done, I shredded the paper into a million little pieces and tossed them to the floor as if that would get rid of the words I was forced to read. I wasn't sure who I was angrier at. The Daily Prophet or the three guys in front of me who clearly thought I had something to do with the excerpt.

"You…you guys honestly believe that I had a part of this?" I asked hoarsely, trying to mask the pain in my voice. I know I hadn't always been the perfect friend to them in the past but the idea that they actually believed I could betray their trust was like a knife to the heart.

Three guilty looks stared up at me. "What are we supposed to believe?" Sirius asked softly. I could see the regret emanating plain as day in his expression. "There are details listed in that blurb that only you would know about. Hell, details I don't even know about. What's this about the Executioner?"

I was too stunned and hurt to bother providing that with a response. "Go home, guys," I snapped, whirling around and heading headed towards the kitchen, wanting nothing more than the three of them out of my apartment. I don't know if all of the hurt I was feeling in my body was targeted towards them as I could definitely place some of the anger inside of me on the Prophet staff, but at that moment I was determined to believe it was James, Sirius, and Remus I was truly angry with.

I reached for a towel to clean up the coffee I had spilled earlier.

"Rouge."

My spine stiffened at the sound of Sirius' voice behind me. "Just go, Black," I said coolly.

"I'm sorry."

I whirled around, a glare etched into my expression. "You think 'sorry' is going to cut it here?" I said, my voice nearly breaking. Merlin, I was a lot more upset than I had thought I was. It was just a stupid article, Rouge. Pull yourself together!

"It's a start," he said with a helpless shrug. "We're sorry that we jumped to conclusions but what other conclusion were we supposed to come to? You're the one writing the exposé. You can't blame me for-"

"Do you know how articles often get written, Black?" I snapped, ignoring whatever he was about to stay. "Because information was leaked. Most of the time none of us know how, but I can guarantee that half if not all of the articles these power-hungry men at the Daily Prophet claim to be their own came from some other source. I may not be the nicest person around and I may lie and deceive from time to time to get the story I need and I may be manipulative when I have to be and ambitious all the time, but I do not betray people. Never have, never will. That's not my style. I know what it feels like to be betrayed so I've made it a vow to never turn my back on the people that I care about. And for some odd reason, I seem to care about you. All of you."

"Keegan-"

"Do you realize that you know more about me right now than anyone else does? More than even I know? You know the parts of me I had striven for so long to stay hidden. I have told you information about my past that I haven't been willing to speak about since it happened. And if you think that that is something that I take for granted, you are sorely mistaken."

"You're right, I'm sor-"

"I thought you knew me, Sirius! Or at least I thought you had cared enough to want to get to know me. The real me. Not the act I put on for everyone else. But the fact that you even have the audacity to barge into my apartment, before I even had my morning coffee mind you, and accuse me of betraying you and the people I've grown rather close to recently just proves that you don't know a goddamned thing about me. And I'm actually okay with that."

"Keegan, please, just let-"

"Pray tell, what the hell am I supposed to gain from publishing a press release prematurely, huh? Fame? Prestige? I'm not Malone, Sirius! I'm not Vic-" I stopped short, my face growing white as the towel in my hands slipped to the floor. "Oh, my God."

"What?"

I had to catch my breath as I glanced up at him, my heart suddenly racing a mile a minute. I met his concerned gaze. "Victor," I whispered breathlessly.

Sirius was clearly about to say 'what' again but he quickly caught on before he could, the realization dawning in his eyes. "That bastard."

I threw my coffee cup into the sink and barged past Sirius, into the living room. "I am going to murder that guy with my bare hands," I growled, reaching for my jacket in the foyer closet and rushing towards the door.

"Victor?" Remus asked from where he stood with James. Well that confirmed that they were eavesdropping.

"Keegan, hold up-" Sirius was calling out after me, but I ignored him as I opened my front door.

"Where are you going?" James cried out but I was already slamming the door behind me and heading to the Daily Prophet headquarters.

++JAMES++

Both Remus and I turned to look at Sirius who looked torn between anger and guilt. "What was that about?" I asked.

"I think she is going to murder Victor Hans with her bare hands," Sirius reiterated with a shrug.

"No, not that. That, I get," I said, shaking my head. "What was that between you and Keegan?"

His brow furrowed. "I assure you I haven't a clue what you're referring to."

"How about the fact that you apparently stopped in here last night?" Remus snorted, a knowing look on his face. "I have to say, when the first thing you do after gaining closure from an ex-girlfriend of four years is stop into another girl's apartment in the middle of the night, the timing is no coincidence."

He pursed his lips hesitantly. "It wasn't the first thing I did," he muttered. "I drank beer with you on my balcony."

"Is that all you have to defend yourself with?" I snorted, slightly amused by the deer in headlights look on my best friend's face at the moment.

"Oh, you want to talk, mate?" Sirius said with a smirk. "While we're here, any chance you want to stroll on over to the door of a certain ex-girlfriend of yours and tell her all of the things you have been holding back? It would be convenient considering we are in her apartment."

I frowned. Damn him. "I withdraw the question."

"Thought so."

I suddenly felt very awkward standing in that living room. A living room that I had once been able to call a second home. But now it was merely a reminder of yet another thing I had lost. "And I am also going to withdraw myself from this apartment because I am now very aware that Lily could be in her room right now and I'm thinking I don't particularly want to run into her at the moment. I have an inkling that the feeling is mutual on her end," I muttered sheepishly, rushing towards the door.

"Coward," Sirius muttered.

"Yep," I agreed with not a hint of denial. "But that girl is scary when she is mad."

"Oh, definitely. I think it has something to do with the red hair."

++REMUS++

After seeing the way Sirius acted around Keegan and watching James run out the door of Lily's apartment, I had come to the realization that I didn't want to be a coward anymore. I didn't want to run and hide from my feelings like the two of them clearly were. It was time to just dive in and do the unthinkable.

Which is how I ended up outside of Jillian's office.

I stared up at the brick building as I felt my heart began to race. This was it. After seven months, I was going to be face-to-face with the girl who had ripped my heart out. The only girl I had truly ever loved. The only girl I had ever wanted to love. As my eyes fell upon the cracked brick, I wondered why I hadn't prepared anything to say. I had just left the lab half an hour earlier and somehow my feet had brought me here. My mind was blank, my emotions at an all-time high. I had no idea what to expect from seeing Jillian again but I could only imagine that this probably wasn't going to go any way I could have planned it so I was done trying to imagine it.

"Remus?"

I froze at the familiar voice behind me. Slowly, I turned around on the concrete and became face-to-face with none other than my ex-fiancée. "Jillian," I said breathlessly.

She didn't say anything and I was grateful to her for it. I took that time to look at her. To really look at her. I wished I could say that she looked drastically different but she looked exactly the same. Her hair was tied up into a messy ponytail, pieces of her hair casually swept across her face. She was wearing a simple white sweater and a navy skirt, her work robes dangling casually over her arm. She wore a hint of a smile but I saw the concern in her eyes. I could only imagine that my own eyes were filled with much of the same.

"I was really hoping you would have gotten fat or grown a third head or something," I found myself saying.

She blinked before smiling hesitantly. "You look good, too, Remus."

I opened my mouth to say something. Anything. But the words wouldn't form. It was times like these I wished I was James who could whip out a suave comment out of nowhere or even Sirius who could flash a smile and suddenly everything in the world was okay. But I wasn't them. I was just Remus. Awkward and uncomfortable Remus who was apparently unable to form sentences.

"You want to go for a walk?" Jillian suggested.

No. "Sure," I muttered, finally letting my feet lift themselves from the ground as I wandered her way. She turned around and led the way and I fell into step beside her. Neither of us spoke but I was grateful for that. I was trying to wrap my brain around the words I needed to say. I just wasn't so sure I was ready to say them.

"What are you doing here, Remus?" she finally asked as we ventured across the street through a small park.

A shiver ran down my spine at the inevitable question. "Riley came back," I blurted out.

Her eyes grew slightly wide. "She did?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"None of you must have taken that well," she said softly.

"Nope," I agreed, shrugging.

We continued walking as if all I had come there to do was tell her Riley was back. We reached the edge of the park and Jillian reached out, grabbing my arm. "Remus, I know that you did not seek me out just to talk about Riley. What's going on?"

I let out a heavy sigh, meeting her inquisitive gaze before wandering over to a park bench just beyond her. I sat down broodingly, biting down on the inside of my lip as the questions suddenly came flashing through my mind. "Why did you do it?" I asked softly.

As I found much investment in the concrete bike path, I could feel her eyes staring guiltily at me. I knew she didn't need any more elaboration on what I was referring to. Slowly, she joined me on the bench.

"You have to know how much I loved you, Remus," she whispered. I could hear the guilt in her voice.

"I wasn't aware loving someone meant humiliating him in front of his friends and family. I'll have to remember that the next time I choose to fall in love."

She blinked the tears back, her bottom lip trembling. "I wanted to marry you. I was going to. That was the plan. But as I stared at myself in the mirror all done up with the white gown and the veil and the makeup and the hair, something inside of me just froze. And all I could think about was the conversation we shared only a week earlier." She turned to face me and I found myself staring into her beautiful blue eyes. "You told me not to marry you, Remus. And I thought you were crazy at the time for even asking me not to do it but it scared me. Because if you didn't want me to marry you then there was a strong possibility that you didn't want to marry me."

"That's not true," I argued, shaking my head. "I wanted to marry you. I was just trying to protect you because we both know that being married to me doesn't mean you get to live a normal life."

She chuckled. "I'm a witch, Remus. I already live a pretty un-normal life."

"Yeah, and I'm a werewolf. That transcends-"

"No," she interrupted, placing her hand on my arm. "You're Remus Lupin. You are the most caring, gentle man I know. You are selfless and put your friends' well-being before yours at all times. You are the most optimistic person I know even when you have so much not to be optimistic for. You tell the woman you love not to marry you because you don't want her potentially leading a life of unpredictable pain. You are more than just a werewolf, Remus. I really wish you'd look past that."

"How can I when the girl I put my ultimate love and trust into couldn't look past it?" I whispered hoarsely. I knew I sounded pathetic and desperate but it was the question that had been running through my mind since she walked out on me.

She didn't respond but I could see a tear running down her cheek out of the corner of my eye. "That's a fair question," she admitted in a small voice. "And unfortunately I don't have a good answer for you. I-I just panicked, Remus. I wanted to be with you but as you pointed out only a week earlier, being with you meant giving up my life. It was longer going to be mine or ours. It was going to be yours. And I thought that that was what I wanted. Hell, that's what my heart wanted. But my head knew the things I was too afraid to admit in my heart."

"Which was?" I dared to ask.

She hung her head shamefully as the tears began to slip down her cheeks one-by-one. "That I couldn't watch you go through so much pain for the rest of my life," she whispered. "It has always been a dagger to my heart every month you had to do your transformation. You deserve a better life than that, Remus. And it killed me knowing that I couldn't give you that better life. No matter how much I loved you, it would never change the past and it would never change the future. You might have been afraid of not being able to give me a normal life, but I, too, hated that I couldn't give you the normal life you deserved."

I let her words settle in, trying to make some sense of it all. "I didn't need a normal life," I finally spoke. "I just needed you."

Her blue eyes blurred in front of me as the tears continued to escape.

"And what really sucks about all of this," I continued, "is that as much as I needed you, I knew that you never needed me in the same way."

"Oh, Remus-"

"You could have dated anyone you wanted, Jilly," I spoke, the old nickname spilling out unexpectedly. "You could have had a normal relationship with a normal person and lived a normal life. You can still do that. I can't. I never should have dated you in the first place. I knew better and I-I still went on as if I could be the best boyfriend to you. But I couldn't. And this is why I won't date anyone ever again. Because it will always end the same way. It has to."

My heart nearly stopped as I spoke those words aloud. It was the first time I had actually truly admitted to myself that my dating days were over. I could blame it on never wanting to deal with the heartbreak I had to endure when Jillian left the way she did, and a part of always probably would, but truth was, being a werewolf meant inevitably being alone. It wasn't my life to life. It was the monster's inside of me. And even though I've been living that monster's life for nearly sixteen years, it didn't make dealing with the constrictions it provided me any easier.

"Don't give up on yourself because of a choice I made. I know that you will find a girl who is strong enough and brave enough to fight alongside of you," Jillian said softly. "I hate that it took me so long to realize that I wasn't it, but you're a good guy, Remus. One of the best. And you deserve the best."

I wasn't convinced so I merely set my gaze upon a jogging couple venturing down the concrete path as a way of avoiding the desperate determination in her eyes.

"I hate that you don't believe you deserve the best," she whispered, clearly recognizing my hesitation.

"Do you blame me, Jillian?" I scoffed, shooting her a look. "You were one of the best things that had ever happened to you and I lost you. So maybe I don't deserve the best. Maybe I just deserve to live my life alone." I cringed, realizing how whiny and pathetic I probably sounded.

"Remus, you have to know that while I went about everything the completely wrong way and I left in the worst way possible, that doesn't change how I felt about you. I loved you, Remus. Maybe a part of me still does. Maybe I always will. And I'm so sorry if you ever felt like I didn't."

I frowned. "You left me standing completely heartbroken and dumbfounded at the altar, Jillian. How can you stand there and tell me that you loved me? No one who really loves a person would ever do that to them. Never." I wanted to be angry but my voice was filled with so much remorse it didn't show. "Do you know what it felt like to be standing up at that altar waiting for you, so excited to start the rest of my life with you? Do you know what it felt like the moment it hit me that you weren't walking down that aisle? Do you know what it felt like to realize that you had walked out on me? That the love of my life just walked out on me without so much as a goodbye? Do you know what it felt like to get my heart broken in front of all of the people I cared about? Do you know what any of this could have possibly felt like, Jillian?"

"Remus-"

"Because I do," I snapped, the anger finally settling in. "And I wish I could sit here and tell you that the four years we shared together was worth it but it wasn't. I would take it all back if it meant not having to go through what you put me through."

I could see the shock and hurt in her eyes as the tears spilled out, slipping swiftly down her cheek. "Please don't say that," she whispered desperately. "I-I know I deserve to hear that but please know that if in that moment I had a better solution, I would have taken it. But I just felt so confused and trapped and lost and broken and my head was just telling me to get out. So I did. I-I never meant to hurt you."

I frowned. "Everyone always seems to say that right before they go and hurt someone."

She sniffled, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes with little success. "I know," she whispered. "But I-I just panicked and I didn't know how to tell you what was running through my mind so I-I left. I know-"

"Why though?" I whispered, turning to face her with intense curiosity. "What did I ever do to you to make you feel like you couldn't talk to me?"

She didn't answer immediately, her gaze falling upon the duck pond in the distance. Children were laughing, throwing pieces of bread at the swarms of ducks but I barely took notice. I only saw the shattered expression on the face of the girl I had once loved. Eventually, she looked up at me. "You loved me," she said as if that truly answered the question. "And knowing what I was about to say to you, I couldn't rightfully look you in the eye knowing I was going to hurt you when all you ever did was love me."

I hated myself for actually thinking that that made sense. "So the next option was to leave me at the altar?"

She winced. "I didn't say it was a good option," she whispered. "I just…I panicked. Instead of telling you the truth, I ran away because I didn't want to see the look on your face knowing what I was about to do. So I'm sorry for the way I handled things. I'm sorry that I left when I did and how I did. I'm sorry. For that, I am always going to be sorry."

I blinked, slowly meeting her gaze. "That's the first time you've apologized."

Her eyes didn't stray from mine. "It's long overdue."

I sighed, wondering why it was that one minute I was angry and in the next, I was rather content with where the conversation had gone. Would I ever be satisfied with her excuses or her explanations? No. Would I ever be able to understand why she had made the choices she made? No. Would I ever be able to forgive and forget? Probably not. But at least I had finally found the courage to seek her out to ask her the questions that had been long running through my mind. And that was a step in the right direction.

A part of me wanted to ask her why she couldn't have just agreed with me when I told her not to marry me instead of waiting until the morning of our wedding day but suddenly it didn't matter to me anymore. We all make mistakes and we all make decisions we aren't entirely proud of. And sometimes those decisions come at the most inopportune times. But those decisions also made us the people we are today. Every decision that we choose to make in life will inevitably determine the rest of our lives. It just so happened that the life I was going to inevitably live was one without Jillian Greene.

And for the first time since she walked out on me, I finally realized that I was at peace with that.

"Okay," I said.

She blinked in surprise. "Okay?"

Slowly, I turned to look at her. "Yeah," I murmured. "What else is there to say?"

She offered me a lopsided smile with a curt nod. "Okay."

++KEEGAN++

"Who the hell do you think you are, Hans!?"

Victor practically jumped out of his chair as I rushed into the conference room to interrupt his meeting. "Er…I'm a little busy here, Keegan. Can we-"

"I don't give a fuck that you're busy, you two-faced, lying son-of-a-bitch," I snarled, every inch of my bloody literally boiling with pure rage. I noted the amused looks on my two co-workers' faces as they eagerly sat back to watch the fight about to erupt.

"Well, gee, that might be the warmest welcome I've ever received," he snickered cockily, leaning back in his chair with a smirk.

The bloody smug bastard was actually mocking me. "Do you not have any remorse? Or a conscience?"

He actually hesitated as if he was thinking about my questions. "Y'know, I can't say that I do."

Baxter McWhinney chuckled.

"You want to be on my Shit List, too, McWhinney?" I snarled.

He rolled his eyes. "You PMSing today or something, Rouge?"

Oh, if only murder was legal. This whole roomful of coworkers would have been dead in a heartbeat. And that I would have had no remorse for. "What the hell were you thinking, Victor?" I snapped, ignoring Baxter altogether. "Going behind my back and printing an excerpt on something that is frankly none of your business!?"

He shrugged. "C'mon, Rouge, you know that it's everyone's business. Some of the stuff in that exposé is completely mind-blowing. You and I both know that when you actually publish that thing, not only is the Potter family going to be one of the most famous families around but you are going to be so celebrated for being the author and researcher behind it all. This is going to be huge. And the world deserves to know what's coming their way. Malone already said we are getting a surplus of letters asking questions and wanting more information based off a tiny blurb! As a writer you can't honestly tell me you are pissed at me for leaking this to the public."

"You're damned right I'm pissed!" I barked, clenching my fists so tightly I could see my knuckles turning white. "This isn't just some scoop, Victor! This is my friend's life we're talking about! You do realize that you pretty much just sold him to the devil, right? Voldemort was already after him and now James is going to be his number one target!"

"James Potter can't expect an exposé to be written about him and his family and not be solely targeted for that."

"He knew it would come to that eventually and he was going to prepare himself for when that time came because it would be worth it for the world to hear the truth. But the world hasn't heard the truth! They've just heard you spouting out speculations and some elusive promo!"

"Jeez, no need to get so worked up about it," Victor said with a roll of the eyes. "You're a bloody journalist, Keegan. Leave your emotions out of your work." He turned to Baxter and Wesley Grapps with a haughty smirk. "This is precisely why girls shouldn't be journalists," he muttered.

Before I could even register what I was doing, I was grabbing my wand and crying out, "Furnunculus!"

His face was suddenly covered in boils and he screamed. I secretly enjoyed every minute of it.

"What the hell is going on here!?"

I turned around to see Malone high-tailing it into the conference room. "Hope you don't mind an employee covered in boils," I snarled at my boss as I tried to slide pass him.

He stepped in front of me, a look of confusion masking his expression. "What are you talking—Hans? What the hell happened to your face?"

"She hexed me!" he snarled, frantically gesturing for Wesley to produce the countercurse who obliged.

Malone turned to look at me in horror. "Rouge, you can't go around our office hexing people!"

"He can't go around our office printing stories that don't belong to him."

Malone hesitated. "You hexed him because he announced that the Potter exposé would be surfacing later this year?"

"It wasn't his announcement to make!" I snapped. Now normally I don't go yelling at my boss but considering how worked up I was, I would have yelled at the Minister of Magic if he was standing in front of me.

"And why not?" Malone said stubbornly, shooting me a look. "He owns that story just as much as you do. The biography is being published in-house by the Prophet if you recall."

It was in that moment that I realized it wasn't just Victor who had used me. Malone had, too. The looks on their faces pretty much told me they had been in on it together. The two of them deserved each other. If I thought I was livid before, it was nothing from how I felt in that moment. "Oh yeah?" I responded smugly. "Who says?" I retaliated with a smirk as I began to storm out of the conference room.

"I say!" Malone's voice filled the entire office. "I am the Editor in Chief and as you work for me, you will do what I say when I say. I get to make the decisions around here, Rouge, and that includes what you write, when you write it, and how it gets written."

I would have thrown a chair at him if I didn't think he'd call Ministry security on me. "Not anymore you don't."

"Excuse me?" he sputtered.

Oh, was I seething. I was livid. I wanted to throw them all out the window and blame it on blind rage. I wanted to hex them until their faces turned blue. I wanted to strangle them with my bare hands. I didn't do any of that. I simply said, "Here's a story for you, Malone: I quit."

He blinked. "Is that supposed to be some sort of loss?"

I smirked, finally grateful to know that I had the upperhand. "Oh, did I mention that I will be taking the Potter exposé with me?"

The looks on their faces were priceless.

"You can't do that!" Malone eventually roared, the rage on his face unmistakable.

"Oh yeah? Where is it in my contract that states I can't take my own writing for a story that was brought to me from the outside elsewhere? Huh? We hadn't yet begun to go into any details about the publishing rights and trademarks yet. And no one but me put any research or effort into this exposé, yet you seemed to have put in a lot of effort to sabotage it. Well congratulations, you just sabotaged yourselves instead!"

"You are never going to work in this industry again, Rouge. You hear me?" Malone snarled. "I will blacklist you so fast that-"

"Do whatever the hell you want, Malone. I am done."

Speechless. That's what they were. I have never seen Malone speechless. It was a moment I had a feeling I would relive for a long time to come. I walked right past him and his angry eyes, his mouth opening and closing frantically as if he was trying to come up with some sort of argument. But I didn't care to hear whatever it is he might want to say. I simply held my head up high and strolled past him out of the conference room.

That's when I realized that every single journalist at the Daily Prophet had been eavesdropping.

They were all standing in their office doorways or hovering over their cubicles staring at me. Some were smiling, some were scowling, but it was Riley's eye who I caught as I walked out. I couldn't read the expression on her face but I was oddly touched when she winked at me and then began to clap. All of the females joined in and the occasional male worker that I got along with did, too, and it suddenly hit me as I reached the elevator that as much as I had despised some of the people I had worked with there, I might actually miss that place.

++RILEY++

It didn't take me long to find Keegan at Blarney's. She was sitting at the bar nursing a beer when I strolled up, taking a seat at the bar stool beside her. "It's barely nine o'clock in the morning," I teased.

She shrugged, the distress clear in her expression. "What the hell did I just do?" she moaned, placing her head in her hands.

"The bravest thing I've ever seen, that's what."

"I'm unemployed!"

"Unemployment is looking pretty good to still being Malone's employee."

She shook her head with another moan. "I've…I've always worked. I'm a workaholic! I love writing. I've been doing it ever since I graduated. It's…it's all I know. But…I mean…now what?"

"You finish the Potter exposé."

She hesitated, lifting her head out of her hands to turn to look at me with a curious gaze. "I finish the Potter exposé," she whispered.

She said nothing more and I didn't either, signaling for the bartender to refill Keegan's beer. She clearly needed it.

"Y'know," Keegan muttered as the other beer appeared in front of her, "I-I don't technically have to work. At least not right away. I can spend every minute of every day finishing this exposé, which I desperately need to do after that stupid excerpt Victor printed, and then figure it out then. I…" she trailed off.

"Yeah?"

She took a huge gulp of beer before glancing my way. "When my fiancé died, he left me a great deal of money. So I don't need to find a new job right now."

"That's good," I said with a shrug, not bothering to ask her about her fiancé. I hadn't realized she had ever been engaged nor that he died, but I figured it wasn't my place to question it. She clearly didn't want to talk about it much. I couldn't help but think that it explained a lot, however. Why she jumped from one relationship to the next. Why she was so wildly independent. Why she refused to admit she had some sort of feelings for Sirius. "Hey, Keegan?"

"Hm?"

"Have…have you talked to Sirius recently?" I asked curiously.

Confused, she glanced over at me. "Why?"

"Just curious."

She looked suspicious, but said, "He stopped by my apartment late last night. Something seemed off with him, but he was barely there for a few seconds before he left. And then he came into my apartment this morning and accused me of selling James out. So yeah, that was a fun conversation."

I froze. "He…he stopped by your apartment last night?"

"Yeah. Why?"

A slight smile crept on to my lips. I knew in my heart he had gone over there because he believed he had feelings for her. He had clearly been too scared to admit it, but it was something. I wanted him to be happy and I knew that Keegan could do that. But it was once again not my place to say anything. "And he really thought you had something to do with that excerpt in the paper this morning?"

"Yep. He, Remus, and James all did."

"Ouch."

"Yep."

She took a swig of beer as we fell silent once again. "So," I eventually said, clearing my throat. "Is it safe to say it's over with Victor?"

She snorted, shooting me a look. "What do you think?"

"I think he's a jackass."

Keegan sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "He's always been a jackass," she whispered. "Why didn't I see it?"

I shrugged. "Sometimes we see what we want to see instead of what we know we see." Sirius and I proved that.

I saw a flicker of panic resting in her eyes as she glanced over at me. "Truer words have never been spoken," she whispered before finishing off her beer, tossing a few sickles on to the bar, and walking out.

A/N: Not my favorite chapter for the sole reason that Lily isn't in it! So I have a strong feeling a bunch of you are going to berate me for having Riley and Rhett end up together. But here's my logic: Sirius was Riley's past and Rhett is Riley's future. In the heat of the moment, she made the worst mistake possible by mixing the two, but Rhett had been preparing for that moment since they returned to London. Now both he and Riley can get their clean slate. Alright, let's drop that subject for good and move on to Remus seeking Jillian out! I felt like this story needed that closure for him. Two down, one to go (aka James, if you didn't catch that). And what about Keegan quitting her job! Who saw that coming?

Next chapter: Sirius and Keegan talk. Keegan and Lily talk. Sirius and Remus talk. And Keegan learns two things that change everything.