"I guess I deserved that." Sirius. I scoffed."Serana, please just
look at me. Just let me explain myself," he pleaded. I stared him dead
in the eyes. Those beautiful-no!"You've got three words, Sirius. Three."
I watched as he focused hard. He counted with his fingers ever now and
again, then shake his head. He opened his mouth."If you say anything
near 'I'm sorry' I swear on your life Sirius-" he shut his mouth again.
After another few minutes if him thinking, he looked up. "She kissed
me," he said. I blinked. "What?""Mary. She kissed me. I tried to push
her away but, you know, you walked in," He said, lowering his head. "I
hate that," I muttered. "What?" He laughed. "You. I hate your dumbness,"
I said. He laughed. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he snaked his
arms around my waist. He buried his face into my shoulder. "What does
this mean, Sirius, about us?" I asked. He sighed into my robes. He
rested his chin on my shoulder. "I don't know, River. I just know that I
don't ever want to hurt you again," he said. I pulled back from him. I
pushed my lips against his. He sighed again. "And I hate that," he
breathed. "What?" I chuckled. "The way you make me feel." I blushed.
"Don't be getting all sappy on me now, Sirius," I teased. He laughed. We
both turned back to the fire. I latex my head on his shoulder. my eyes
fluttered closed and I driftedinto a deep, dreamless sleep.

Sirius'
POV: I stared down at her face. It was so beautiful. I loved the way
her lips curled into a small smile as she slept. I loved the way you
could see her eyes still moving from under her eyelids. Her brain was
always wrking, and I loved that. I smiled and kissed her forehead.
Groggily, she looked up at me. "Sirius...""Shh, River, go back to
sleep," I whispered. I slowly laid down, being her with me. My back was
facing the back of the couch. Serana had her back pressed against me.
She wiggled herself Into the couch further. She held my arms tightly
againsther waist. She let out a sigh before returning to sleep. I fell
asleep soon after.

Serana's POV:I woke up to the smell of lemons.
Mmm, Lemons. Wait...I snapped my eyes open. I was sleeping in the Common
Room, arms laced around my waist. I scowled. Who the heck has arms on
me..."Serana?" Sirius moaned from behind me. I let out a sigh of relief.
I broke his arms away from waist and turned to look at him. Our noses
were only a centimeter apart. He grinned. I couldn't help the small
smile that crept upon my lips. He pecked my lips before...

"SERANA
RIVER LONGBOTTOM AND SIRIUS ORION BLACK, WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!"
James. I yelped and fell off the couch. James ran over and started
shaking the couch, causing Sirius to fall on top of me. I groaned.

"You're fat," I said. He laughed and rolled off of me.

"Explain," James said, sitting in front of us.

"Well, it's a long story. It started when my parents decided they wanted to get married..."

"Sirius!"

"Fine, fine. We fell asleep. End of story." Sirius shrugged, standing up. He kissed my head.

"I take it you're going home?" he asked. I nodded.

"Bye then." He left and went upstairs.

"Bye," I sighed. I shot a glare at James.

I went upstairs and packed.

"You didn't come to bed last night," Evans said, putting her clothes into her rucksack.

"I slept downstairs," I said, sighing.

"With someone?"

"Does it matter?" The conversation ended there. I shoved my stuff into my case and left.

Cissy, Reg, Sev and I sat in a compartment together.

"Going home again, Sev?" I asked. He sighed, nodding.

"I'm sorry." He shrugged.

"I bet this Christmas is going to be the best Christmas ever!" Cissy exclaimed. I nodded. I bet it is.

I sat in the car with my mother and Frank.

"You couldn't even sit with me?" He yelled. I grwoled lowly, my arms crossed.

"Frank, I'm seeing you all break long. I don't see Cissy and Reg and Sev as much as I see you," I retorted.

"I never see you, Riv! Ever. You're always with Thr Slytherins, or Sirius," Frank growled.

"Sirius? He a boy?" Mother asked.

"Yes, Mother," Frank and I groaned. Mother nodded.

"I
only spend so much time with them because they actually like me. I've
spent 11 years with you. I'm not going to be able to make that time up
with my friends," I snapped.

"You haven't been friends with your real friends for weeks!"

"My real friends? They were the one's who betrayed me! How can they be my real friends if they hate me?" I yelled back.

"Wait, you're not friends with Lily anymore?" Mother interjected.

"They don't hate you, Riv! They love you! Alice is always telling me-"

"Oh, Alice is always telling you. What?
What did she say? That she was sorry? That she was sorry for stabbing
me in the back? She didn't care when Lily said I should have died!" The
car jerked forward to a stop. Mother got out. She looked at me through
the window. Her eyes were narrowed.

"You two are going to stay in here until you are not fighting. You're siblings, not enemies," Mother seethed.

I sighed. Frank and I sat in silence. We looked at each other.

"I'm sorry," We said unanimously.

"Me too," we said together again. I laughed. I hugged him.

"I hate arguing," I sighed. He nodded.

"Me too."

"My gosh, I raised two idiots," Mother said, getting into the front of the car. Frank and I frowned.

"Huh?"

"You
know, if you really wanted, you could have just opened the door and
walked away. I didn't lock the door," She said. Me and Frank looked at
each other and burst out laughing.

"So...how's you're boarding
school going?" Charlotte asked. It was Christmas Eve night. I had
Charlotte over to spend the night. Emily and her were going to join us
for Christmas Dinner. I shrugged.

"It's okay." We were quiet.

"Charlie, I need to tell you something," I said, sitting up from the couch.

"Shoot," she replied, fiddling with her blanket.

"I'm a witch." Charlie looked at me.

"You've got to be kidding me!" She exclaimed, sitting up. I cringed.

"I'm
not supposed to be telling you, but I've had my fair share of keeping
secfrets from those I love," I said, lowering my shoulders.

"That's so cool!" She squealed. I chuckled lightly. I grabbed my wand from my boot and threw it at her.

"That's what I use, to make magic," I said. She gawked at it.

"It's a stick," She grinned. I laughed.

":Yes, it's a stick." She threw it back at me.

"Do something. Do something magical," she pleaded.

"I can't do it infront of nonmagical people unless it's in a life or death situation," I said in an apologetic voice.

"Nah, it's cool,' she smiled a laid down. She soon fell asleep, me following not long after.

Mother
and Emily talked through the entirety of dinner. They loved talking to
each other. Two intellengent women, no one would be surprised. But it
gave Charlie, Frank and I, time to talk. We talked abiout a lot of
stuff.

I'd told Frank that I told Charlie, so we whispered about
things at Hogwarts. Charlie was absoloutly fascinated with everything we
told her. She loved the dragons and the hippogriffs. She loved the
spells and the teachers. She loved hearing about the all the people too.

We
had just started telling her about Potions, when a boy burst through
our door. All five of us stood quickly, prepared for something bad to
happen, for the boy's face was so stricken with grief and fear, that
smething was bound to go wrong.

"They killed my parents. They
refused, so they killed them. I ran. Help me," He pleaded. I recognized
him as a boy from Slytherin. He goes to my school. He had his wand at
his sde, but his hands were trembling terribly. Death Eaters.

I held my hand out. He ran over and grabbed it. I pulled him behind me.

"To
my bedroom," Mother whispered. We herd the boy, Emily, and Charlie to
Mother's room. I started to shove Emily and Charlie into the closet.

"This
is a life or death situation, isn't it?" She asked, noticing my wand at
my side. I nodded. Mother and Frank had pushed her dresser in front of
the door. The boy and Frank hid befhind the bed, I hid behind the
cosmetics table, and mother hid behind her other dresser.

"I cannot apperate everyone out," She said. I bit my lip.

"Take
Charlie and Emily. Come back for the boy after. Frank and I can hold
off long enough," I said, nodding at my brother. Mother shook her head.

"No!
I will not abandon my children!" she whispered loudly, "Not like your
father." I sighed. The dresser started shaking. I heard Charlie stiffle a
scream.

"It's okay, Charlie. We'll protect you," I whispered. I didn't know if she heard me or not.

But
just then, the dresser fell over. The door burst open and spells
started flying. The boy couldn't handle much and soon crawled under the
bed. I don't blame him. After as few seconds, three of the Death Eaters
were down. But there were still four left.

"Mother! Please, take Charlie and Emily," I pleaded over the sound of spells be screamed. A single tear slid down Mother's face.

"Protego!" I said as she ran across the room to the closet. There was a pop, and she was gone.

I made my way over to my brother.
"We're going to be okay," I told him He nodded. The boy under the bed shot out another spell.
"We're
going to be perfectly fine," he added. We were tying to convince
ourselves, for neither of us really thought so. Mother was right, what
are three children going to do against four-
"Stupify!" The boy shouted- three Death Eaters?
I held Frank's hand. We continued to shoot spells, but it wasn't working. We weren't going to make it.
There was a pop, and Mother was sitting next to us.
"I can only take two," she said, her breath short. I looked over at Frank.
"Him and the boy," I said.
"No!" Frank protested, "Riv and the boy."
"Frank-"
"Fine, the youngest first," he said. Mother grabbed his hand and the boy's from under the bed.
"No. No!" Frank shouted before they dissaperated, leaving me completely and utterly, alone.