Lily Luna Potter did not get nervous. That word simply did not exist in her vocabulary. She was far too confident to be nervous about anything, especially a date.

Then why were her palms sweaty? Why was her stomach fluttering with the wings of hundreds of butterflies? And what the fuck was with the trembling? After several deep calming breaths she reminded herself that Sirius was already her boyfriend. It's not like she really had to impress him.

Her outfit was simple. Unfortunately she couldn't find anything resembling the muggle attire she normally wore in her own time. Instead, she was wearing bellbottom jeans that flattered her hips, but made her legs look short. She was well aware of the fact that she was short. She didn't need her trousers reminding her of that fact.

"You could always wear a skirt," commented Mary as she strutted about the dorm in her knickers.

"It's bloody cold outside," Luna growled, tugging at the form-fitting top and adjusting the fashionable scarf around her throat. "It's too bad that not all of us have legs that go on forever," she sighed wistfully as she shook her head at Mary's legs.

"Yeah, well, you've got me beat in the boob department," Mary replied with a grin.

"Oh! Can I do your hair?" Lily Evans had just entered the dorm and saw that Luna was tugging angrily at her raven hair by it's roots. Luna nodded her head and Lily pounced on her, wand at the ready. "Your hair is gorgeous."

"Thanks," Luna shifted uncomfortably as Lily ran her fingers through it while muttering spells.

"I'd wager it's almost the exact same color as James's," she said this in a tone that clearly implied it was a compliment. Because anything that reminded Lily of James was considered a good thing now.

Luna bit her lip, "Er, yeah, I reckon so."

"There you are," Lily stepped back and Luna glanced up in the mirror to find that her hair now fell in soft spirals, and was pinned back on one side elegantly. It made her look older, more sophisticated.

"I love it," the friends hugged briefly before Luna turned to Mary, "You have a date with your lovely boyfriend today also, MacDonald, so you might want to put some clothes on."

"What's the point? Remus prefers me without clothes."

Lily gasped, "Mary! You and Remus did...but...you didn't tell me!"

Mary smirked, "We haven't had sex yet, Lils, calm down. I was just referring to that night on the Quidditch pitch when he kissed me for the first time."

"Yeah, well, sometimes it takes you being half-naked before a bloke realizes he fancies you," said Luna with a swish of her hips as she spun around to inspect herself in the full-length mirror.

"Um, Luna, are you a virgin?" asked Alice quietly.

"No," Luna shrugged as if she didn't care much about it, "I had a boyfriend before I came here, Lorcan, and I had sex with him loads of times."

"What happened there? You're not still dating him, are you?" Alice asked with wide eyes.

Luna smiled, "No, he wanted to travel. His passion is studying magical creatures, and we agreed that we would be better off as friends because I liked it right where I was."

"It's a good thing you're not a virgin," said Mary wisely, "we actually discussed it when you started seeing Sirius. We've never seen him like this with a girl before, but that doesn't mean anything. Before you, he was with a different witch every night."

"And you were concerned that he would take my virginity, then if we broke up, I would be that much more devastated?"

All three girls nodded their heads yes. "But that won't happen," Lily dismissed quickly, "James and I have talked about it. I guess Sirius is really into you. Even James can't believe it."

Everyone groaned and threw pillows at Lily. She had been unable to talk about anything other than James ever since they finally got together. "Sometimes it takes being half-naked to get with a bloke, other times it takes shagging," Mary teased Lily.

They all burst into fits of giggles and continued getting ready for their day in Hogsmeade.

...

The Marauders were eating breakfast nervously. Where were their women? Peter was the only one who was eating normally, casually commenting on stopping by Honeydukes that afternoon and looking forward to a warm butterbeer.

"Where are they?" growled an impatient Sirius.

Remus put a hand on his shoulder, "You know women, Sirius. Be patient, mate."

"Ah, there's my Lily!" James jumped to his feet, straightened his clothes, and rushed to greet her before she could even reach the table. "What took you so long?" he asked as he absentmindedly began piling food onto a plate for her.

"I was getting ready - James, how did you know what I wanted for breakfast?" she asked with a laugh as she looked down to find half a grapefruit, a slice of buttered toast, and a small bowl of oatmeal.

"I pay attention, love. You look beautiful, by the way," he mused.

Lily rolled her eyes and dug in to the food before her. A moment later, Luna, Mary, and Alice came in, all three were laughing, but none as loud as Luna. She glanced over at Sirius, gave him a very obvious (and seductive) wink, whispered something to her friends, and more laughing ensued.

Not wanting to look as whipped as his friend, Sirius stayed seated and waited for his witch to reach him. She bent her head down to give him a heated kiss as several people in the Great Hall wolf-whistled. Used to having a lot of attention, neither Sirius nor Luna minded.

"Merlin, I'm going to have a difficult time keeping my hands off of you today," he whispered.

She cocked an eyebrow at him, "Don't you always?"

"Yes, but I've never seen you in trousers before and they show off the shape of your thighs in a very appealing way," he gave a light growl.

"Please, some of us are trying to eat," teased Mary as she tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder and gave Remus a chaste kiss on his jaw before reaching for the sausages.

Once they'd all finished eating, they set off for the village together but all going at different paces. Peter had rushed off in a scurry, anxious to reach Honeydukes. Remus and Mary had their heads close together and were whispering excitedly as they kept up a quick pace. Luna and Sirius flirted wildly while walking normally. Lily and James trailed behind all of their friends as they repeatedly got distracted snogging.

"I'm telling you! They make me look short!"

"Your shortness makes you look short, baby," Sirius replied evenly, "but I don't know why you care. I happen to like you just the way you are. You are the perfect height."

"You don't think they make me look a bit...stubby?"

He snorted, "I've seen what's beneath them. There's no way in hell I'd call anything about you stubby."

Satisfied with his response, she twined her fingers with his and replied, "I'd like to see what's beneath your trousers."

"You've seen me in my pants before, or have you already forgotten?" he feigned offense.

"How could I forget the sight of you in nothing but a pair of boxers? It was the sexiest sight I'd ever seen. But I meant that I'd like to see what's under your boxers as well."

"That can be arranged," his voice had dropped down into his 'I want to shag you' tone and Luna hurried to change the subject.

"Is there anything else about my appearance today that's different from normal?" purposefully she turned her head back and forth to show off her hair.

Sirius pretended not to notice, "Um, did you do your make-up differently?"

"I'm not wearing any make-up."

"Ah, I thought there was something a bit less sexy about - ouch! I was just joking, sweetheart, I know your hair is curled! Ow! Stop punching me, you crazy bint!"

"Hmph," Luna pulled back, sticking her nose up in the air feigning offense.

"I like it," he told her honestly, "but I prefer it natural."

Together they spent their day in Hogsmeade doing a variety of things, but nothing she hadn't done before. It was a date that was like every other while being entirely unique and special at the same time.

Because Sirius didn't need to take her somewhere special or do extra special romantic things to impress Luna. Being himself was enough. Ordinary was a nice change for her. Growing up as Harry Potter's daughter meant that everyone was always trying to impress her.

Boys who wanted to date her would go to extremes to get her attention. Eventually she started dating Lorcan Scamander because she knew him, she trusted him, and it would keep other boys at a distance.

Sirius Black had no idea of who she truly was. He didn't know that she was famous. He didn't know her family. He liked her for her. That was all she truly wanted. So when she discovered that his only plans for this date were to wander aimlessly around the village, she was ecstatic. The normalcy was the best thing he could have given her.

When they arrived back at the common room, they didn't see any of their friends back yet. First and Second year students were scattered about the room, working on homework, playing games, and chatting. When suddenly, "I THINK I DESERVE TO KNOW!"

The voice belonged to Mary. It was coming from the boys' dormitories. "Er, who's up there?" Luna worriedly asked a small boy.

"Um, the Headboy and his girlfriend."

"Shit," Sirius grabbed Luna's hand and hauled her up the stairs.

"Calm down," Remus was saying, holding his hands up in front of him, "and keep your voice down, Mary, do you want everyone in the common room to know we're arguing?"

"I DON'T CARE! I hope they know what an idiot you are, Lupin!"

Luna smacked the back of Remus's head and asked menacingly, "What the hell did you do, Remus?"

"Nothing!" he protested, being so caught off guard by the unfolding events that he momentarily forgot to shy away from Luna as he'd been doing ever since he had almost bitten her.

This, however, did not go unnoticed by Mary, "And why have you been avoiding Luna lately? Every time she walks into the room you blanch and run away. Did something happen between the two of you?"

"Tell her, Remus," said Sirius sternly, "she deserves to know."

"Oh...my god," Mary slouched down onto Remus's bed, "you did, didn't you? You and Luna shagged."

"No!" Luna squeaked indignantly, "something did happen between Remus and myself but it wasn't anything like that. He's just...embarrassed. Even though he shouldn't be. It was an accident, and I've told him repeatedly that I've forgiven him even though there's nothing for him to be sorry for."

"Nothing to be sorry for?" Remus's face was white, "you could have died, you could have been turned."

Sirius scoffed, "Do you really think I would have let that happen, Moony? I was there."

"Will somebody please tell me what the bloody hell is going on?" Mary demanded.

"First of all, what were you two arguing about when Sirius and I so gracefully interrupted?"

"We were snogging on his bed, things started getting rather heated, and he stopped! It's one thing to be chivalrous, but it's another thing all together to not shag your willing girlfriend when she's begging for it!"

Sirius waggled his eyebrows at his friend, "You had a bird begging for it, Moony? Blimey, I didn't know you had it in you."

"Bugger off," Remus growled.

"Anyway, we started arguing about it. I'm not trying to pressure him into something if he's not ready for it, but he refuses to tell me why he's not ready for it. That's when you two came in," Mary finished lamely with a roll of her eyes.

Surprising everyone in the room, Luna threw herself onto Remus, tackling him to the floor, locking her legs and arms around him. "Get off!" he cried.

"No! Not until you get something through that thick skull of yours, Remus John Lupin!" Luna sat up so that she was straddling his hips, his hands pinned to his sides by her knees.

"Bloody hell, woman, you're strong."

"Growing up with two older brothers and more cousins than I can count has given me certain advantages," she conceded, "but you need to understand something very important. Remus, you are very special to a lot of people. You're special to James, Sirius, Peter, and also to Lily, Alice, and me. You are most important to Mary. She loves you. We all love you. I don't hold anything against you about what happened that night. You are one of my best friends. I trust you completely. Mary will not hold it against you either. You don't have to be so afraid, Remus, and you sure as hell don't have to carry this burden alone."

"It's not even a burden," added Sirius gently, "we might jokingly refer to it as a problem and most people think of it as a disease, but it's just part of what makes you you. We wouldn't want you any other way, mate."

Remus nodded and they could tell by the look in his eyes that their words had gotten through to him. Luna lifted herself off of him and he sat up, looking directly into Mary's eyes. "I'm a werewolf," he said evenly, "I was bitten as a young boy. I've been a werewolf every year I've been at Hogwarts. During the full moon I go to the Shrieking Shack because that's a safe place for me to transform, away from the school and the village."

"Oh...Merlin..." she breathed. A hand fluttered up to her chest and pressed against her quickly beating heart. "But that still doesn't explain why you don't want to be intimate with me."

Remus's eyes widened, "That's what you're thinking about right now?"

"Well, yeah. You're my boyfriend and I love you. I don't care that you're a werewolf. I wouldn't care if you were a vampire or even a muggle. As long as you love me and you want me, I'm happy."

"Of course I want you," Remus crossed the room to take her into his arms, "I just didn't want to be, er, intimate with you because I have so many worries. If you were to get pregnant, would the child be like me? Werewolves don't usually have children so I wouldn't know. I can never get married, Mary, because married life would be too difficult. You would be an outcast to society and you'd have to lock your husband in the basement every month so he didn't eat your neighbors..."

Mary chuckled. "Remus, you silly prat, why didn't you just talk with me about this at the beginning? First of all, I'm perfectly okay with never getting married or having kids. You are all I want."

They gazed at each other deeply, as if they were truly seeing each other for the first time. At the same moment they leaned into each other and began kissing. Luna smiled smugly as she reached up to tug on Sirius's arm, "We should probably leave them alone now."

Sirius nodded in agreement, grinning wolfishly at Remus and Mary as they began pulling at each other's clothes. "Yeah, and we'll have to warn James and Peter not to come up here for a while, too."

...

Dear Albus,

Since I have decided that I cannot simply call this book a 'diary' or a 'journal' I will address each entry as if I am writing to someone from back home. Starting with you, dear brother.

Let me start off by saying that I've no idea what I'm doing anymore. I am in a relationship with Sirius Black, which most of Hogwarts seems to find both shocking and gossip-worthy. Then, of course, there's the issues of me becoming closer friends with so many of the people here.

What does it really matter if I become friends with them anyway? It's not like they'll ever know the truth, except for Severus. Sometimes I wish I could tell Sirius, but he's better off not knowing, isn't he? If he really loves me. Merlin, a very small part of me can't wait to come home. I miss everyone so much. You, James, mum and dad, all of our crazy cousins.

Dumbledore says that I will return home eventually, we just don't know when. Which is fine by me because a large part of me would be happy staying here forever. Although I know that won't happen. Aunt Minnie is in agreement with Dumbledore. She has become a close confidant for me here.

I know that if you were to actually read this letter, you'd be worried about how much Severus Snape knows about me, but let me assure you that I find him to be an intelligent enough wizard that he won't let his foreknowledge ruin anything. I trust him.

Before you go on about how I should be able to trust James, Lily, Remus, and Sirius as well, let me just say that I do. However, the more people who know the truth then the more people I put in danger. I've been here for over two months now and nobody aside from Severus has figured out my secret.

I think that I might eventually tell Sirius just because it's killing me to keep this secret from him. But how can you just say to the man you love, "The reason I know everything about you is because I'm from the future."? He would think I was mad. Do you think I should tell him then just Obliviate him before Dumbledore sends me back to my own time? That's something to think about. I have months to figure it out, as Dumbledore says that the Time Turners aren't close to being finished yet.

Merlin! If I graduate here in June, finishing my seventh year, will I have to repeat my seventh year again in the future? I hope not. Maybe my NEWT results will still be on file then.

Can you believe it's already November 4th? Sirius's birthday. Oh! Speaking of which, I'd better go! I told James, Remus, and Peter that I would meet up with them to set up his surprise party.

Your Loving Sister,

Lily Luna

...

Luna skipped down the stairs to the common room happily to join her friends. Sirius was currently serving detention with McGonagall for not completing his last three homework assignments.

That gave them plenty of time to get the decorations up, sneak food in from the kitchens, and get dressed up themselves. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that Professor McGonagall is not aware of this party?" Lily Evans grumbled as she used her wand to drape red and gold streamers around the fireplace.

"That would be correct, love," James said casually. Whenever he said anything to Lily, his voice took on a love-struck-head-in-the-clouds tone that made everyone in the vicinity roll their eyes. Except Lily, who would blush and smile.

"Then shouldn't we cast a few charms so she can't hear anything?" Luna suggested sagely while she arranged food on a platter.

"Already been taken care of!" Piped up Peter, who Luna had been doing her best to avoid during her stay here, but it was unavoidable as he was close to her friends.

"Wormtail," griped James as if he'd revealed an incriminating secret.

Remus sighed and rubbed his forehead, "What did you do, James? Or do I even want to know?"

"No need to give me that look, mate, it's just...I...erm...might have put a simple sleeping draught in her tea. Of course she's monitoring Padfoot in detention right now, but she when returns to her room, she'll drink it and be right to sleep for the rest of the night."

"James!" Lily squeaked. Everyone prepared themselves for a rant from the law-abiding Head Girl, but instead were surprised when she asked with admiration, "How did you get into her private quarters?"

Luna burst into laughter, shaking her head slightly. Unbidden, tears welled up in her eyes at the affection she felt for the special people in this room. Hiding them behind her sleeve, she concentrated on decorating the elaborate cake. The cake was the Gryffindor Crest.

James bopped her on the nose with his forefinger, "I'll never reveal my secrets, sweetheart! Just rest assured that we won't be getting in trouble for the events of this evening."

"I just don't understand why you couldn't have simply cast a few charms to keep her from hearing our party. What if there was an emergency in the castle and she couldn't wake up?" Lily replied, batting her eyelashes up at him.

"Because she has wards up around her quarters to prevent us from doing that," James said with a frown, "we found that out the hard way in fifth year when we pulled that prank on Gibbons involving the Pixies we snuck into the common room. McGonagall yelled at us for over an hour. During which time, she let slip that our charms couldn't prevent her from hearing things that go on in the common room."

"He's coming!" Alice jumped in through the portrait hole, panting lightly, as she had just run all the way from the Transfiguration classroom, where she was keeping a look out.

Everyone gathered around the cake as Luna put the finishing touches on it. The moment Sirius stepped into the room, everyone yelled, "SURPRISE!" Noise makers went off, fireworks exploded, and confetti rained down on everyone.

Sirius was grinning from ear to ear as he took in the scene before him. Luna was the first to approach him, kissing him on the cheek and whispering, "Happy birthday!"

Each person present for his birthday party took their turns wishing him a happy birthday and the party really got started. "This is brilliant," Sirius kept saying, "best surprise birthday party ever, mate," he added to James.

"Well, it's not every day that your best friend turns eighteen," James had said.

"Isn't seventeen the more important birthday? Why the hell didn't I get a surprise party last year?" Sirius joked.

"Honestly, Padfoot? You think this year out does last year's surprise? For the love of Merlin, last year we snuck out of the castle and Apparated, illegally I might add, to that muggle place where we bought you that motorcycle. Then Peter gave you the idea of enchanting it to fly, so we flew it back to Hogwarts, parked it on the roof, and took turns driving it off of the edge of the Astronomy Tower all night!"

"Bloody hell," Luna breathed with wide eyes, "you four are complete idiots."

"To be fair, Moony didn't want to. We had to get him quite drunk before he agreed to fly on a motorcycle that Sirius and I enchanted," James defended.

"How did you all fit on a single motorcycle?" asked Mary as she lounged casually on Remus's lap, running her fingers up and down his forearm.

"Uncomfortably," Sirius said gravely as he tipped his glass of butterbeer toward her.

As everyone broke off slowly into individual conversations, Luna leaned into Sirius and asked quietly, "What makes this birthday better than last year's?"

"You," he replied instantly. "Seeing as how it is my birthday, you wouldn't happen to have any other plans in store for me, would you, love? Perhaps any that include just the two of us and a lot less clothing?"

Luna grinned unashamedly, "Unfortunately, no. Sorry, Black, but it's going to take a lot more than an eighteenth birthday party to get into this skirt."

He chuckled lightly, "You know I wouldn't pressure you into anything you're uncomfortable with," he murmured this against her cheek and feeling his hot breath tickle her neck and ear did nothing to assist her control.

If only she could tell him. If only she could look him in the eye and admit, "The reason I haven't slept with you yet is because I'm so afraid of becoming even more attached to you. I'm so afraid of taking our relationship even further just to have it all ripped away from me at any moment."

"Thanks, love," was all she said.

"What are you thanking him for?" asked James curiously.

"For not pressuring me into sex," said Luna. Her words made Lily and Alice blush, but the rest of her audience smirk.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Mary spoke up, "James and Lily are shagging, Remus and I are shagging, even Alice has sex with Frank whenever they get the opportunity-"

"Mary!" Alice's blush deepened. Luna was forcefully reminded of her Uncle Neville.

"I just want it to be special," Luna lied easily.

"Trust me, no matter where it happens or how it happens, if you're with the right person, it will be special. James and I did it for the first time in the boys' dormitory."

"So did Remus and I."

"Frank and I were innocently wandering the castle after hours, but we heard someone approaching us," Alice wouldn't look up from the floor as she told her tale, but still continued telling it, "we were almost caught by Professor Slughorn, so we hid in the Transfiguration classroom..."

"You didn't!" Lily squealed in laughter.

"Yes," Alice grimaced in embarrassment, "our first time was on McGonagall's desk."

Everyone erupted into laughter, "Oh, Alice," James was wiping tears from his eyes, "you are my hero, love. Who knew you had it in you? Our shy little Alice!"

"That's our new goal," said Sirius only partially joking as he addressed Luna, "to do it somewhere more risque than McGonagall's desk."

"I can think of a few places," Luna waggled her eyebrows at him.

"See! That's what I'm talking about! You two obviously aren't shy around each other. Neither of you are virgins! You've both admitted to being in love! Go shag already!" Mary made a motion with her hands as if to shoo them up to the dormitory.

"Technically, I told Sirius I loved him. Then he invited me to Hogsmeade with him," Luna corrected.

"Actions speak louder than words," Remus mused.

"Is that why you haven't slept with me yet? Because I haven't verbalized my feelings for you?" Sirius demanded.

"No," Luna was giggling, "that's not it."

"Damn, if that had been the reason then I would currently be screaming my love for you to everyone in this castle."

As everyone laughed and continued on with the party, nobody noticed Luna distancing herself. Nobody noticed as she pulled away from the group, lingered by the refreshments, then quietly made her way up the staircase and went to bed. She didn't know if she could be around so much joy and life with the dark foreknowledge she had.

...

An hour after falling asleep, she was woken up as something large and furry jumped onto her bed. "Merlin's beard, you scared me," Luna's voice was thick from sleep as she groggily took in the giant dog now occupying the majority of her bed.

Sirius morphed back into his human self and grinned at her, "Why did you sneak up here away from my party?"

"How did you get up here?" she countered a question with a question.

"Male humans aren't allowed up the staircase, but male animals are a different story. How can Orion get up and down the stairs? He's a boy, you know." Sirius scratched the cat behind the ears as he always slept curled up on Luna's pillow by her head.

"You are something else, Sirius Black."

"You didn't answer my question. You didn't even say goodnight. Just disappeared."

"There was too much happy," she answered vaguely.

"That's barmy."

"It's the truth. You were all having such a wonderful time, and I was tired and feeling kind of homesick. I didn't want to bring everyone down with my mood."

"I missed you," he whispered as he brushed his lips against her hair. "I always miss you when you're not around. Baby, are you crying?"

"No," she lied as tears spilled from her big brown eyes.

"Does this have to do with your secret? You're still worried because you're not sure, as you put it, 'how long you're going to be here'?"

"You're sharp, Black," she sighed.

"'Course I am."

"Arrogant, too."

"Mmm," his mouth was occupied with placing hot wet kisses up and down her neck.

"Happy birthday, Sirius," she reached down under her bed and pulled out a box. Pulling away from her, he sat up and timidly took it in his hands. Bestowing her with a genuine smile, he opened it.

"A book filled with blank parchment?" he asked with a frown, unsure if he understood the meaning of the gift.

"I want you to write in it as often as you can," she was crying again, "write as though you're writing letters to me. So that one day, far in the future, I can read them and remember." She had gotten the idea from her own journal.

"Are you losing your memory? Is that your secret? Is it some sort of mental disorder? I've caught you saying contradictory things and so much of what you say doesn't make sense...but then I reckon that wouldn't explain how you know so many things you shouldn't know," he was thinking aloud.

"What sorts of contradictory things have I said?"

"Well, you told me once that you had a younger brother, Al, who was too young to come to Hogwarts yet. And that he, along with your muggle aunt, were the only family you had. Yet when you tackled Remus in the dormitory you told him you had two older brothers and many cousins."

"Oh. Well, I'm not touched in the head. Or losing my memory."

Sirius sighed, "But you're not going to tell me which is the truth either."

"Not now. Perhaps some day. Let's not talk about that, please. Talk about something else."

Obliging, Sirius thought for a moment then blurted out the question that had been running circles around his mind, "Was Mary telling the truth when she said that you weren't a virgin?"

Luna bit her lower lip, remembering her first time with Lorcan Scamander. She loved Lorcan, she really did, but it wasn't like this. With Lorcan, it was a comfortable friendship that had slowly morphed into love. The only reason they had broken up was because he wanted to travel the world and Luna didn't want to leave her family.

But this, with Sirius, this was passion, raw need, all-consuming love. She didn't just want him, she wanted all of him, she wanted to permanently attach herself to him and never let go. She finally understood what everyone had said about finding her other half, because that's what Sirius was to her. He fit her perfectly in every way. They complimented each other in ways she never thought would be possible. They were two halves to one whole.

Finally, she said, "Yes, but I wish I hadn't. If I had known that I would meet you some day, Sirius Black, then I would have waited for you."

Sirius nodded, he had expected that answer. The girl in his arms was beyond gorgeous; he couldn't blame a bloke for bedding her. "It doesn't matter to me, Lu-Lu. But just so you know, she was wrong about me. I am a virgin."

"What?" Luna sat up abruptly in shock.

"I encourage rumors of my promiscuous ways, but they're not true. Before you ask why, I'll tell you. I promote the rumors because I have an image that I like to keep. I'm still a virgin because I have a hard time trusting people. Giving myself to someone else physically is something that would make me vulnerable in a way and the idea of being vulnerable in any way is abhorrent to me. Therefore, I've been waiting for a girl who I trust absolutely. One that I love," he traced her jaw with his fingertips.

"You...love me?" instead of sounding happy she sounded tortured. As if his confession hurt her to the very depths of her soul.

"Yes. I love you."

She fell asleep not long after his declaration, in between their kisses and whispers of sweet nothings that lovers often shared. Sirius stretched out beside her, wondering how he got so lucky to have this witch in his life and wondering what it would be like when she was finally ready to take the next step with him and become intimate with him.

Even more, he wondered when she would confide her secret in him. Because as much as he trusted her, it bothered him that she didn't trust him an equal amount. Deciding to worry about these things later, he reached an arm under her pillow to fluff it up, and his hand hit something.

Tentatively, he pulled out a small diary that was similar to the one she had given him for his birthday. Opening it he discovered that she'd only written on the first two pages. Feeling simultaneously guilty and curious, he pulled up his wand and whispered, "Lumos," so he could read them.

He skipped the first page, because the title on the second page caught his attention. It was addressed, "Dear Albus," was she writing a letter to a bloke? Wasn't Albus the name of her brother? Had she been lying? Why hadn't she sent the letter? With trepidation, he read the words she had inked on the page.

The letter was short, sweet, and so very revealing. One by one sentences, words, and phrases caught his attention. He unconsciously began forming a list of facts gleaned from this journal entry. First, Albus was her brother. Second, she had conflicted feelings about making friends. Third, her parents were very much alive. Fourth, somehow knowing her secret had given Snape 'foreknowledge.' Foreknowledge of what?

Sirius shook his head as he kept reading. Maybe Luna really was touched in the head, because she spoke as if her brother knew all of them personally. Then the bomb was dropped. He re-read the sentence several times, "But how can you just say to the man you love, "The reason I know everything about you is because I'm from the future."?"