Sirius sat on his bed in the dorm, legs crossed, his chin resting in one of his palms. He was sulking...intensely sulking, like a little child that got their dessert denied. "Oh come on Sirius, don't be so moody.", James sighed, his hair so messy from going through it so many times during the last ten minutes. "Yeah, I mean...it's almost your birthday. Cheer up.", Peter added, trying to be helpful. But Sirius just threw him a very cold look and continued to pout.

Remus, who hadn't had his go at trying to make Sirius happy again, played with the trim of his oversized sweater. "I know you want Lyra to be here, but she will be in trouble if she gets caught out of bed after curfew...again." Sirius breathed in quite loudly and rolled his eyes. "I know, okay? It's not like I want her to get another detention but...it just doesn't feel right if we're not complete."

Remus smiled, Sirius was a full-grown drama queen sometimes, especially when he didn't get what he wanted. But Remus thought it was actually charming, seeing this well-bred boy whining and throwing a bit of a tantrum. Of course, he would never say that, Sirius' ego was already big enough. "Okay, I get it.", James said, putting his hands on his hips, with a motherly look in his eyes. "But we will see Lyra at breakfast, bloody hell we will wait in front of the Slytherin common room if it makes you happy, but we can not..."

"Actually...we can.", Remus said, shyly interrupting James who looked only a little bit thrown off. "I mean, we have the cloak, right? We could sneak into the dungeons, use the password she gave us and get in. It's as easy as that, right?" James, Sirius, and Peter all looked at him, their faces a deception of pure surprise.

For a very short moment, no one said anything. James had that typical thinking look on his face, frowning behind his glasses and probably calculating if they would all fit under the cloak. Peter looked pretty uncomfortable, knowing that if someone saw them they would have to serve yet another detention, no doubt worse than the last one. McGonagall could be very creative when it came to thinking of punishments.

But before James or Peter had even opened their mouths, Sirius hopped off the bed, walked straight towards Remus, and grabbed his shoulders. "You're a genius, Moony!", he said, grinning, having that mischievous twinkle in his eyes that made Remus' heart miss a beat. Said boy smiled and looked down quickly, trying to hide the faint blush that crept onto his cheeks.

"It's decided, we're doing it.", Sirius declared, turning around without taking his hands off Remus' shoulders. "Hm, if you and Moony try to walk a bit stooped then we could get away with it. And Lyra can use the cloak on her way back.", James mumbled, lost in thought. It was almost amazing how deep his trust for Lyra had already grown. Handing over the cloak, letting her keep it overnight and expecting her to give it back the next morning, without even thinking that she would betray her fellow marauders. But that might have been the sole result of James Potter's golden heart. He truly was a hero in the making.

"Alright, it's almost midnight. We should get going.", Sirius said, finally letting go of Remus who hurriedly stumbled away to put on his shoes. And soon enough the four boys walked down the stairs from the Gryffindor common room, silently giggling with the exception of Peter who was as nervous and anxious as always when they were about to break almost ten school rules at once.

It took them almost twenty minutes to get to the plain stone wall that was the entrance to the Slytherin common room, mostly because they had to take a detour so they could avoid Mrs. Norris. Because even if Filch would walk right past them without even the slightest hint of suspicion, the prickly old cat always seemed to know when students tried to sneak around when they were supposed to be in their beds.

"Wait!", Peter hissed and suddenly stopped walking which resulted in Sirius and Remus almost tripping over, the latter nearly gripping the dark-haired boy's hand to regain his balance. "What?!", Sirius growled under his breath, checking from the corner of his eye if Remus was okay. It had been more than a week since the last full moon but since they had discovered Remus' furry little problem Sirius always kept looking after him to make sure he was doing okay.

"We can't get into the girl's dorm. What if Lyra is already asleep?", Peter said, worriedly looking at James. Bloody hell, Peter was right. They hadn't thought of that.

"Well...no turning back now.", Sirius uttered, nodding forward. "Go on, James." The bespectacled boy tightened his shoulders and focused on the bare stone wall before them. "Facta, non verba.", he said in a clear steady voice and the wall cracked open, sliding to the right side and revealing the green shimmering common room, smelling of damp stone and ash.

The fire in the chimney had long been forgotten, glimmering weakly. It was the first time that the four Gryffindor boys visited Lyra's common room and Sirius instantly pitied her. It was a bleak place, nothing about the green leather sofas was comfortable and the chairs and tables carved from dark wood didn't look very welcoming either.

"Wow, that place sucks...", Peter assessed, James making a noise of agreement. But there wasn't much time to further examine as Sirius lifted the cloak and smiled, looking at one of the enormous armchairs that stood near the fireplace. Lyra was curled up, her head rested on her knees, black locks of hair covering her face. She was sound asleep but it looked as if she had been waiting for someone. "She must have known we would come to pick her up.", Remus whispered, not wanting to wake her. At least not yet. "Of course, she trusts us.", Sirius replied, slinking over the giant emerald carpet, kneeling down beside the armchair.

Careful not to scare her Sirius put a hand on Lyra's shoulder, shaking her gently. "Oi sleepyhead, wake up.", he said. But Lyra only gave a weak sigh, leaning into the touch of Sirius' hand as if she sought comfort. And Sirius couldn't help but notice that she looked so peaceful and he realized that this was the first time that she actually looked her age. She always came across so mature, even when she was all in for a new prank, laughing so much that Sirius worried she might knock herself out due to the lack of air. But now, while her thoughts drifted peacefully away Lyra looked like the thirteen-year-old girl she was.

"Try again, maybe kiss her awake.", James joked, winking at his friend and Sirius blushed. In fact, his cheeks turned the darkest shade of red possible and Remus felt his stomach drop. For some reason, he didn't want Sirius to kiss Lyra, but only Merlin knew why. James stifled a laugh. "For Goridc's sake, that was a joke. Just wake her up so we can celebrate your birthday you moron." Sirius cleared his throat and tried again, shaking Lyra with a bit more force and that seemed to work.

Lyra leaped up, looking very startled and slightly scared when her drowsy eyes spotted Sirius and she visibly relaxed. "Goodness gracious, you scared the crap out of me.", she huffed and the boys giggled. "Sorry.", Sirius grinned, pushing a black lock back into place. "But we had to." "Well..." Lyra sat up, straightening her clothes. "I didn't give you the password for nothing, did I?" She looked at the marauders and then her eyes wandered over to the big silver clock, enthroned on the mantlepiece. She smiled. It was ten minutes after midnight.

"Happy Birthday, Sirius.", she said, her voice warm and lovely like a summer evening. The raven-haired boy smiled, his face visibly lightning up. She had indeed waited for them, knowing they would not leave her out. She was one of them, after all. James, Peter, and Remus squeezed Sirius into a very tight and loving group hug, and together they made their way back to the Gryffindor common room, spending the rest of the night awake, listening to Remus' music and eating sweets.

James gifted Sirius the newest quidditch equipment because money never played a role for him and his parents treated Sirius like their own son. Peter presented a gigantic amount of chocolate frogs, pumpkin lollipops, and gummy mice that Sirius was happy to share with his friends, and Remus, being a bit shy about it, pulled out the newest Rolling Stone album "Exile on Main St" and the birthday child was more than thrilled. Lastly, it was Lyra's turn and she looked very pleased with herself when she handed Sirius a small package. It didn't look very special at first but as soon as Sirius had torn away the scarlet wrapping paper his eyes widened.

Embedded in a black satin cushion was a ring. It looked incredibly fragile as it consisted of thin golden stripes connected through tiny red stones. It was not an even shape, the stripes going up and down as the gems shimmered like drops of blood. "That...", Lyra said, but Remus looking completely amazed was a split second faster. "It's your astrological constellation. Formed into a ring." He sounded out of breath not being able to look away from the ring.

Lyra smiled and nodded. "Canis Major, also called "Great Dog". I thought you might like it." Sirius who hadn't said a word since he had seen the ring for the first time looked up, his eyes wet. "It's beautiful. Thank you. I..." He struggled, wanting to say more as it not seemed enough but Lyra simply took the ring and slid it onto his finger. "Fits perfectly."

And with that everything was said and they continued to celebrate Sirius' birthday until it was time for Lyra to leave. She thanked James for the cloak, promising to protect it with her life, and left the common room. And for a few blissful hours, everything was perfect. Until Sirius was approached by his little brother Regulus during breakfast. It was the awaited invitation for the dreadful afternoon tea that Sirius had to endure since his first year at Hogwarts. But this time...

"Mother invited you too.", Regulus said, looking down at Lyra who nearly choked on her tea. "What?!", she rattled, wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her black robe. "You should feel honored.", Regulus added, ignoring Lyra's shocked expression. "But I can't tell you why she wants you to come. Normally it's a family thing." "Yeah, not to be offensive but I would rather not.", Lyra replied.

"I figured that, but mother said it's very important for you to show up. Something about a big announcement, I can't tell you more.", Regulus sighed, looking extremely bored. "Uhm...okay." Lyra glanced over to Sirius who shook his head as he had no idea what was going on.

"See you at three, please be on time." Regulus shot his older brother a warning look and then returned to the Slytherin table. "Well...that doesn't sound good.", James said trying to lighten the mood but to no avail. Lyra and Sirius were a nervous bundle for the rest of the day and Remus looked after them with concern as they began their descent into the dungeons. The remaining three marauders tried to distract themselves with a very intense game of Gobstones but that didn't help much. And when after was seemed half an eternity Lyra and Sirius finally returned they looked like they had seen something very terrible.

"What happened?", James wanted to know, getting up from the rug in front of the fireplace. Sirius gulped, opened his mouth, and closed it again. He was very pale.

"Come on, I can't read your minds!", James hustled while Remus sat on the couch, fidgeting with a loose thread from his jumper. "We...uhm...", Lyra started, clearly struggling to find the right words. "Come on, spit it out. Did someone die?!", James asked, his voice growing more urgent. "Not quite...", Sirius joked, but there was no joy in his eyes. Lyra took a deep breath. "Sirius and I...are going to get married. We're engaged."