NOTE: This story is primarily focused on SiriusOC and is only written for fun.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter and the world JK Rowling created. I only own the characters you do not recognize from Harry Potter.

Hey guys! Well, we've made it. This is the final chapter. But fear not. There is only one half of two. And the second story is likely to be longer, so if you're not ready to leave the characters behind yet, there is still plenty of time left. As of right now, I'm planning on calling the second story Happenstance. If I change it, it will be after I publish it so you can search for that title to find it. There is also the option of following me so you can see when I post something new. Or you can just check my profile until I post it. Whatever way works for you. I hope you guys follow me over to the next story, and if you don't, I hope you enjoyed this one. It's been a fun, long ride and I hope to make the next even better.

I'm not sure when I'll get the new story posted. I've started it and am about halfway through the first chapter, but I have a midterm and exam next week, a speech to write, and a term paper as well, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to finish. I'll aim for next weekend, but no promises here.

Enjoy and thanks to everyone, those who reviewed and those who silently followed along. I appreciate each and every one of you.

Fate

Chapter Forty Nine

Sirius felt like he was dying.

It was the third week in January and he'd had a cold all week, but when he'd woken up that morning, he felt worse than he had in a long time. He'd tried to go to work anyway, hiding how terrible he felt from Samantha. She wouldn't have let him go to work if she'd known.

Now, he wished he hadn't gone at all. By mid-morning, Moody sent him home. When Sirius got home, he sent Samantha a patronus at work to let her know he was home sick. He'd then collapsed into bed and hadn't moved since.

Sometime not long after noon, he heard the door open. He was buried under the covers of the bed, despite the fever that was causing him to sweat. He groaned. He'd told her not to leave work early, to not worry about him. He should have known she wouldn't listen.

He heard her soft footsteps enter the room, and then the mattress shift as she sat down beside him. When her hand rested on top of the blankets where it covered his arm and she called his name softly, he shifted with another groan.

"I told you not to come," he muttered, pulling the covers off of his head so he could look at her.

She shook her head and ran a hand over his head, wincing when she felt how hot his skin was. "You know better than that."

When she moved to pull her hand away, he grabbed it and pressed it against his forehead, her cooler skin soothing the burning in his.

"I brought you a potion," she told him softly. He groaned loudly. "Don't be a baby," she chastised gently. "Here." With the hand he was not holding captive, she pulled a vial out of the pocket of her robes. "For the flu. You'll feel better after you take it."

"Do I have to?"

She rolled her eyes and held the vial out to him. He stared at her a moment longer before he released her hand and pushed himself up. Taking the offered vial, he drank it in one gulp, wincing at the taste.

"Can't you make that stuff taste any better?"

"I don't make it, I just give it."

He rested back against the pillows, setting the vial down on the bedside table before pulling the covers up higher.

"Do you want anything else?" she asked him.

He shook his head, his eyes closing. When he felt the mattress shift as she began to leave, he reached out and caught her hand, preventing her from leaving.

"Sit with me," he mumbled.

She sighed and slid up the mattress so that she could rest her back against the head board. He shifted so that his head rested against her side as he made a contented noise. Her hand moved to run through his hair and for a long time, they were silent. When the fever caused him to start shivering, she pulled the blankets tighter around him. When he complained of being too warm, she peeled back the comforter, leaving just the sheets covering him.

Eventually, he spoke something other than a complaint. It was a subject he never brought up on his own, and certainly not one she expected while he felt so ill.

"I stopped by Remus's work the other day. Since we hadn't heard from him since Christmas, I was worried."

"And how was he?" she asked. She worried about him all the time, and wanted to know how he was doing.

Despite how terrible he felt, his face turned bitter, his eyes darkening in anger. "He wasn't there. He quit. Right after he moved out of here."

"What?" she whispered. "That can't be right."

His furious gaze turned to her. "You know what this means, don't you?" She gave him a confused look in response. "He's the traitor, Sam. He's got to be."

"What?" she said again.

"Think about it. He's all but disappeared. He's moved out, quit his job. He hasn't been to an Order meeting in months."

"But…it's Remus, Sirius. He couldn't possibly-"

"What else would explain it?" he demanded to know. "The sudden change in him? And it happened just a month after we found out there was a traitor."

"It doesn't make any sense," she argued. "Why would he make himself so obvious after we know about the traitor?"

"He's all but gone. It doesn't matter anymore."

"Have you run this by Moody? Dumbledore?"

Sirius shook his head. "No, but James and I-"

She rolled her eyes. "James. In our second year, the two of you were convinced that our Defense teacher was a vampire."

"What does that have to do with it?"

"The two of you have always taken an idea and run with it, no matter how ridiculous it is. What makes this any different?"

Sirius made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat. "Look at the signs. James wasn't sure at first either, but once I laid it all out in front of him-"

"James has other things on his mind right now," she said softly.

He sighed and sought out her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. "Do you want to go visit them this weekend? James said they weren't feeling much up to visitors, but they'd make an exception for us."

She nodded. "If you're feeling better."

"I'd better be feeling better by then. I'd better be feeling better by tomorrow. I can't afford to miss any more work."

The hand he was not holding ran through his hair as she shook his head. "You're not going to work tomorrow. And you'll be lucky to go the next day."

He sighed and closed his eyes, laying back against his pillows. "I hate being sick," he grumbled.

"I know you do. I need to go back to the hospital and pick up the rest of your medicine. Nichole had it made while I came here. Try to get some sleep."

He nodded, but when she stood to leave, he wrapped his hand around her wrist, his eyes cracking open. "I don't want you to go alone."

"And who's going to take me? I'll be fine. It's just a quick trip. Just this once."

He sighed and kissed her knuckles before hesitantly releasing her. "Be careful."

"I will."

Sleep took him before he could hear her slip from the bedroom.

Sirius recovered quickly enough, though Samantha had been right. He'd had to miss work for the rest of the week. But Samantha stayed home with him and took care of him, and he found he didn't mind that too much. By the time Saturday arrived, he felt well enough to visit Grace and Joseph. They were confined to bed and hardly had the strength to talk. James was there, bleary eyed and pale. He'd taken a leave from work to stay with his parents. Lily and Harry had temporarily moved into the home as well. A cloud of sadness drifted over the home, and Sirius knew it was only a matter of time. Days, weeks. He doubted they had months.

They took to visiting every day. Sirius would pick Samantha up from work and then they would head over to the Potter's. They would bring food or cook there. Watch Harry so that Lily could take a nap or get something done she hadn't been able to. Sirius would drag James to the bathroom and force him to shower, or at least change into a clean set of robes.

And then one day midway through February, they stepped into the home and they knew. Something in the air told them that Grace and Joseph were gone. The house was silent, except for the sounds of Harry crying in the sitting room. Samantha covered her mouth and Sirius drew her into his arms, pressing his face into her hair. They stayed that way only for a moment before they broke apart. There would be time to fall apart later.

Samantha followed Sirius into the sitting room. Harry was alone in his playpen, his face red and blotchy from crying. Sirius scooped him up and cradled him gently, and soon the cries faded to whimpers. They heard footsteps hurrying down the stairs and Lily appeared moments later. She looked more composed than they thought she would, though her face was drawn tight.

"I only left him alone for a moment," she said. "I didn't want to take him upstairs, but…They passed early this morning. James hasn't moved or spoken since. He's holed up in his room and I didn't want Harry to see him like that. I was trying to convince him to eat, but he won't even talk to me." She paused to take a breath and looked at Samantha. "Do you think you could try? Maybe he'll listen to you."

Samantha nodded and exchanged a glance with Sirius. "I can try, though he never listens to me."

A grateful look passed over Lily's face and giving her a small smile, she made her way to the staircase. As she climbed to the second floor, she heard Sirius ushering Lily into the kitchen, insisting she let him make her something to eat, or tea at least. Whatever Lily' reply was was lost to her as she made her way down the hall to James's room.

The door was closed, but she didn't bother knocking before she opened it, slipping inside before closing it behind her. She could hear a faint banging of pots coming from the kitchen, and she figured Lily and Sirius had decided to cook dinner in hopes that she could convince James to come down and eat.

She wasn't sure if she could. He was seated on his bed, his back against the wall. The dark circles under his eyes stood out against his paler-than-normal skin. He looked like a little boy again, she realized. Once when they were eight, James stayed the night at her home. James had been downstairs in one of the guest bedrooms and he came bursting into her bedroom in the middle of the night swearing he'd seen a dementor in the garden. She'd wanted to make fun of him, but couldn't bring herself to with how terrified he'd looked and instead had told him he could stay with her for the rest of the night. He looked just as terrified now, just as lost. But this time, she wasn't sure how to help him.

He turned to look at her and watched her as she made her way towards him, as she slid onto the bed and settled herself beside him. She turned her head to look at him and for a long moment, they stared at each other silently. And then he sighed heavily and looked away.

"They didn't deserve it," he muttered. "They didn't deserve to die that way. So slowly. So miserably."

"No one deserves to die that way," she said softly.

"I spent all of my life worrying about death eaters when in the end it was a disease that got them. A bloody disease."

"They were lucky, James. They lived a long, happy life. They got to see you get married. They got to meet Harry."

He nodded. "I know," he said, choking on the words. "I know."

He leaned towards her, resting his head on her shoulder. Her arm went around him, her hand beginning to make circles on his back.

"I miss them already," he whispered.

"I know," she said softly. "I miss them, too."

They were silent for a long time after that. She'd wondered if it would be easier, knowing they were going to die soon. But now she knew that it wasn't easier at all. There was an ache in her heart that had become all too familiar over the past few years, but this ache was nearly as bad as when her family died. They had been her second family and losing them hurt nearly as much. She could only imagine what James was feeling.

"How's Lily?" James rasped eventually. "And Harry?"

"They're both fine," she told him. "Sirius had Harry when I came upstairs and I think he and Lily were going to cook something."

He sighed and leaned back against the wall. "I'm worrying her."

"She's going to worry no matter what."

"I wouldn't talk to her," he said quietly. "When I realized they were gone, I couldn't bring myself to speak to anyone, to do anything. I just came in here and didn't move. It's hard to wrap your mind around someone being gone forever. She tried to get me to speak to her, but I was still trying to grasp it. I didn't think about how much it would be worrying her until I saw she'd sent you."

"Don't worry about worrying us," she told him. "Right now, that should be the furthest thing from your mind."

He sighed again and rolled his head along the wall to look at her. "You said they were cooking food?"

She gave him a small smile. "I'm not perfectly certain but I think that might be what they were doing. If not, I'm sure they'll be more than happy to start."

"I think I could eat," he said just as his stomach growled loudly. Despite himself, he gave her a smile. "Ok, I can eat."

"Then let's go downstairs and see what they've been doing."

They slid off the bed and made their way downstairs. She'd been right, it turned out. They had begun cooking something. Some sort of soup was simmering on the stove. Lily looked pleased when she saw that James had come downstairs and moved to give him a hug. Sirius was seated at the table, Harry still cradled in his arms, and Samantha slid into the chair beside him. Sirius gave her a small smile and passed her Harry before standing, squeezing her shoulder and moving to search for something to have with the soup. Dinner was spent retelling stories about Grace and Joseph and by the end of the night, James was laughing at a particularly funny story involving him and his father deciding to bake Grace a cake for her birthday. It would be a hard adjustment, that they all knew, but they would be alright with time.

The rest of the winter was uneventful. Though the Order was still careful with not knowing who the traitor was, Sirius still insisted that it was Remus, though he avoided talking about it with Samantha since she still disagreed with him. Remus still hadn't been seen, not since Christmas. Sirius mentioned his worries to Dumbledore at one meeting, but the headmaster seem oddly unworried. Harry continued to grow. At the end of March, he uttered his first word, "Dada", much to the delight of James. He was also starting to work his way towards walking. He'd been crawling since January, and he'd begun to try and pull himself to his feet. Lily worried he would hurt himself, and so didn't encourage him to try walking yet, but James was insisting more and more and she would likely give in soon.

Samantha's birthday came in April. It marked a year since she had been taken by death eaters and where they normally would have gone out and celebrated, they decided to spend a quiet evening at home. Sirius cooked a dinner that they hardly touched, and then they spent the rest of the night lying on the couch together, each lost in their own thoughts. Sirius held her tightly, remembering how terrible he'd felt when he realized she was missing, when he'd gone so long thinking she was gone. He never wanted to be apart from her again, and he planned to never again be.

Midway through May, Edgar Bones was killed along with most of his family. It was the first Order member to be killed since Gideon and Fabian, and it reminded them all that there was a traitor amongst them, that they were the reason they were being picked off so easily. Sirius still blamed Remus, but Samantha could not bring herself to. Remus was no murderer.

Summer seemed to speed by. In June, despite being set back several months the previous year, Samantha completed her mentorship under Nichole and became a full healer. Her hours did not change much, though she was called in more on her days off. Sirius was ecstatic. Now that they both had completed their training, they could be married. He wanted to do so right away, but Samantha convinced him to wait until spring. She wanted an outdoor wedding, and trying to plan it before it became too cold was too daunting a task, no matter how small they planned to have the ceremony. But Lily convinced her to start planning, and so many of their Saturdays were spent searching for the perfect cake or dress or flower to use for decorations.

One such Saturday midway through July, Samantha rose early to meet Lily at a flower market she had heard about. Samantha felt it silly to be worrying over such things when there was plenty of time left to decide, but Lily seemed too excited so she went along anyway.

"How's James been doing?" Samantha asked as she looked over the different variety of roses there was to choose from. She didn't plan on having roses at her wedding- they were far too much for her taste- but Lily had drug her over to them so she was looking to appease her.

Lily shrugged, admiring the white roses. "He's doing alright. It's just hard to have some time together with Harry."

"Well, you know that Sirius and I will babysit whenever you want. Sirius loves having Harry over."

Lily smiled. "Well, actually. I know this is very last minute, but I talked James into going out to dinner tonight. We were just going to take Harry with us, but if you could take him…"

"We'd be happy to," Samantha replied. "Since the meeting was cancelled for tonight, we don't have plans to go anywhere. And it will be a nice surprise for Sirius."

"He does love Harry, doesn't he? Have the two of you talked about having children at all?"

Color rose in Samantha's cheeks. "Not, not really."

Lily's eyebrows rose. "Not at all?"

"Well…there was one time the day Harry was born. He told me he wanted a baby. But he didn't seem to remember saying it the next day."

"Remember or not, he wants one, I'm sure of it. He'll be a good father."

Samantha gave her a wistful smile. "Yes, he will be."

A few hours later, Samantha found herself walking into their building with Harry in one arm and a bag of his things in the other. Though James and Lily didn't plan on going out until dinner, Samantha offered to go ahead and take Harry for the rest of the day. Lily had jumped on the offer.

As she entered the hallway, she noticed the sound of a barking dog. She frowned as it got louder, and when she realized it was coming from their flat, she scowled. She unlocked the door and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. She glanced at Harry, expecting the commotion to make him cry, but instead he giggled and clapped with delight as Mica came tearing into the room, Sirius, in his Animagus form, close behind. He was barking furiously and Mica scrambled up the bookshelf in a desperate attempt to escape, knocking several books to the floor. Sirius leapt up onto his hind legs, but the cat had climbed far out of his reach. So he settled for staying on the floor and barking up at Mica, who was glaring down at him from the top shelf.

Samantha decided she had seen enough and stepped further into the flat. "Sirius," she said sharply.

He jumped and to his credit, he looked sheepish when he turned to face her, a rather silly look on a dog. A moment later, he was a human again and grinning broadly.

"Harry!" he said, striding forward to take him from Samantha. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" This was directed at her.

"I offered to babysit him," she replied. "So Lily and James could have a night alone."

"And what if I wanted to have a night alone?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow.

She moved her gaze past him, narrowing her eyes at the bookshelf where Mica was still hiding on the top shelf. Sirius followed her gaze.

"He scratched me!" he said in his defense, turning his gaze back to her. Her narrowed eyes moved to him, her arms crossed over her chest. "Look!"

He held up his foot so that she could see the scratches across the top of it. She rolled her eyes.

"You made all of that fuss over that tiny scratch?"

Sirius scoffed. "It bloody hurt. And I'm bloody tired of not being able to walk around my own flat without being attacked."

"And you thought chasing him up the bookshelf would make him like you more?"

Scowling, Sirius handed Harry back to her before stalking up to the bookshelf and stretching up to pull Mica off of the top shelf. As soon as he touched him, the cat attacked, hissing and scratching at his arms until Sirius dropped him with a curse. Mica hit the floor running and a large black dog followed close behind. Samantha shouted and jumped out of the way. Harry giggled with delight.

Sirius chased the cat into the bedroom and then slammed the door when Mica went racing out again. He hadn't had his shower yet and took the opportunity to do so. Samantha likely wouldn't be happy that he'd chased her cat again. But by the time he wandered down the hall, his hair damp and his shirt only partly buttoned, he realized she'd forgotten all about it.

"That's alright, Harry. Try again."

Harry pushed himself to his feet and managed to take a few unsteady steps towards where she was seated cross-legged on the floor before he lost his balance and fell. Smiling, Sirius crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, watching as she encouraged him to try again.

She would make a wonderful mother. He loved to watch her interact with Harry and lately, had been unable to help imaging her with the children he hoped to have some day. Not that he'd told her that. With the ongoing war and wedding that he knew would arrive quickly even though it currently felt so far away, he didn't want to give her anything else to think about. Not yet. They had plenty of time ahead of them to discuss such things.

He watched them until Harry lost interest and began to play with a stuffed dog. Sirius had gifted it to him not long after he was born and it had a remarkable resemblance to his Animagus form (by pure coincidence he had claimed). He finally stepped into the room and sank to the floor beside Samantha, his knee brushing against hers as he crossed his legs.

"He's almost got the hang of it," he said, watching Harry play.

"He'd already be walking if Lily hadn't been so protective of him."

When Harry had first started to pull himself to his feet back in the spring, she hadn't encouraged it or tried to teach him how to walk, afraid he would fall and hurt himself. Only recently had she relented, realizing he had to start sooner or later.

"He'll get the hang of it," he replied. "How was the market?"

She wrinkled her nose. "I'm heavily considering letting Lily plan our wedding on her own."

"That bad?"

She shrugged. "Lily being there made it nearly bearable, but it's not my sort of thing."

"You could just tell her no. We don't want a big wedding anyway."

"Yeah, but she seems to be enjoying it. And it keeps her mind off of other things."

He shook his head and draped his arm over her shoulders. "Look at you. Sacrificing our wedding to help your friends."

"If keeping her mind off of things means having things a bit fancier than planned, then I'm willing."

"And do I get a say in this?"

"No."

He sighed heavily. "James warned me it would turn out like this."

Her eyes narrowed at him. "Turn out like what?"

"Just that you'd end up taking over everything and I'd be left to just go along with it all."

"Hm, well you should have known that from the start."

Sirius sighed again and pushed himself to his feet. "Have the two of you had lunch yet?"

"No. We were waiting for you to stop acting mental."

Sirius grinned at her over his shoulder before scooping Harry off the floor, causing him to squeal with laughter.

"Want to help me make lunch, Harry?" he asked, heading into the kitchen. "What about eggs? Maybe some bacon?"

Samantha wrinkled her nose. "For lunch?"

He grinned at her again. "You're taking over my wedding. Well, I'm taking over your lunch."

She rolled her eyes, but pushed herself to her feet and moved into the kitchen. Sirius handed her eggs to crack before he started the bacon. As he moved around her, his hand brushed against her waist and she smiled. She'd eat eggs and bacon for the rest of her life as long as she could eat them with him.

Lily and James moved again towards the end of September, this time to a cottage in Godric's Hollow. There was no indication that Voldemort was close to attacking them, but Dumbledore wanted to be careful. Sirius and Samantha helped them move their things and unpack into their third home in the same amount of years. But it was bigger than the flat they had lived in previously and Harry, now able to walk, had plenty of room to move around, much to his delight.

"Lily, sit down for a few minutes."

The redhead ignored Samantha's plead and continued to sort through the boxes of photographs. When she was ignored, Samantha sighed and moved to join her.

"At least let me help you, then."

"Do you think it's going to work?" Lily asked suddenly.

"What's going to work?" Samantha asked, beginning to go through the photographs as well. Lily insisted on getting them hung up right away, to make this new place feel like home. Where they lived was being kept a secret. Only Sirius, Samantha, Peter, and Dumbledore knew, and it was planned to stay that way. Sirius had already talked James out of informing Remus, not that he would ever be around to inform anyway. The less people who knew where they lived, the better, though it would hardly matter come next month when Dumbledore planned to cast the Fidelius charm to hide them further. Only Sirius and Samantha knew of that plan.

"Moving again. The charm. If Voldemort wants us, he's going to find a way."

"Sirius won't let that happen," Samantha said softly. "That's why you've chosen him."

"I'm sorry," Lily said abruptly, taking Samantha by surprise.

"Sorry?" Her face was confused, her eyebrows drawn together. "About what?"

Lily sighed and brushed her hair behind her ear. "For dragging Sirius into this. For dragging you both into this. We've been unsafe for over a year but now that he's going to be our secret keeper…" she trailed off, unable to finish.

"Oh, no, Lily. Please don't apologize. We want to do whatever we can to help you. We're not going to sit by safely while the three of you are in danger."

A shout sounded from outside, and they both turned to the large front window. Sirius and James had Harry between them. Harry was on a toy broomstick, one that hovered only a few feet on the ground. They were each holding him up and racing around the yard as fast as they could. It had been a gift from Sirius for Harry's first birthday, which had passed nearly two months ago.

"He loves that broomstick," Lily said, watching them with a smile. "He's going to love quidditch as much as his father, I'm afraid."

"He was doomed from the start," Samantha replied with a shake of her head. "He never stood a chance with James as his father."

"Or with Sirius as his godfather."

Lily finally sat after half of the photographs had been hung, collapsing onto the couch with a loud sigh. She turned to look at Samantha as she sunk down beside her.

"We're going to be alright, aren't we?"

Samantha gave her a small smile and nodded. "Of course you are. Everything's going to be fine."

There wasn't much food in the house yet, so when dinner time came around, Sirius and James apparated to the nearest muggle town and returned with three boxes of pizza. Lily had exclaimed that they couldn't possibly eat that much, but James and Sirius each ate an entire pizza by themselves.

"It almost feels like old times," James said after they'd eaten their fill. He was sprawled on the floor, a sleeping Harry curled up on his chest. Lily was seated beside him in a much more dignified position of crossed legs.

"Hm," was the only response Sirius could manage. He was lying on the sofa, his head in Samantha's lap and his eyes closed.

She looked down at him and ran her hand through his hair. "Did someone eat too much pizza?"

He cracked an eye open at her. "There's no such thing."

"One can never consume too much of anything," James muttered from the floor.

"What about the time you ate so much cake, you threw up?" Samantha asked.

James turned his head to scowl at her. "I was six. I didn't know when to stop."

"Not that you know when to stop now," Lily said.

Sirius turned his head to look at James, suddenly more interested. "I've never heard that story."

"There's nothing else to tell," James said, glaring at Samantha. "If you want to hear a good story, I can tell you about the time Sam decided her father needed a haircut while he was taking a nap."

Sirius looked up at her. "Really?"
"I was four," she said in defense. "I didn't know any better."

"And how in the world did your father take it?"
"Elizabeth used to swear he nearly cried," James said. "Of course, the story was always told in front of him, so likely she was saying that to rile him up."

"So that's why you're so particular about your hair," Sirius teased. "You get it from your father."

Samantha rolled her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair. It brushed her shoulder blades now. Still not near as long as she had worn it once, but it was a lot longer than it had been when it had been cut, and she did not worry over it as she once had.

"You're one to talk about being particular about hair," she said.

Sirius shrugged and made no attempt to deny it. It would have been wasted effort. Everyone in the room would disagree with him.

Lily sighed and pushed herself to her feet. "It's getting late. I ought to get Harry to bed."

"He's asleep," James argued.

"Your chest can't be very comfortable," Lily replied, leaning down and picking Harry up as gently as she could. Luckily, he was a sound sleeper and did not wake up.

"We should go anyway," Sirius said softly as Lily strode from the room. "We're having lunch at Adrien's tomorrow, and at this rate neither one of us will get up in time to get ready."

James walked them to the door, clapping Sirius on the back before giving Samantha a tight hug. Since they were in hiding, visitors were discouraged, and the was no telling when they would see each other again. Lily bustled down the stairs to give them each hugs of her own, and then they left quickly, hoping to not be seen by anyone.

That night while Sirius snored beside her, Samantha lie awake, unable to stop reliving the moment she'd said goodbye to Lily and James. She didn't know why it made her so uneasy, though she decided it had something to do with the fact they were limited in visiting. James had even taken leave from work to stay home to reduce comings and goings from their home.

Beside her, Sirius shifted and sighed in his sleep before turning to face her, his eyes cracking open.

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. I just can't fall asleep."

He sighed again. "Come here."

She hesitated before scooting closer, resting her forehead on his shoulder. His arms circled around her, pulling her against him. She closed her eyes and relaxed in his arms.

"They're going to be alright," she heard him whisper just before she finally drifted off. "I promise."

Sirius sighed contentedly, tracing a circle on her bare shoulder with his thumb. "May can't come soon enough."

Samantha smiled and rested her head on his arm. "We've still got a ways to go," she reminded him. "Tomorrow's only just Halloween."

"It'll go by fast. Before you know it, it'll be time and you'll be panicking because nothing is done."

"Hm." She rolled over to face him, tracing her fingers down the long scar across his chest. "Perhaps the war will be over by then."

"Perhaps," he said, though he did not sound very optimistic at that statement. "I'm beginning to wonder if we'll ever see the end of the war. Moody says he'd like to start thinking about retiring, but feels like doing it in the middle of a war would make him seem like a coward."

"Mad-Eye? A coward?"

Sirius lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "His words, not mine. But I don't blame him. Not wanting to hand the command to someone while everything's going to hell. Never mind the fact that I don't know who would be mental enough to take the job."

"My father would have," she said softly.

"If he was still alive, Moody would have likely handed it to him by now. He was supposed to take over when Moody retired. They'd already discussed it. Did you know that?"

She shook her head. "No, but I'd suspected. Dad already was in charge half of the time anyway. They'd reached the point where they sort of split the job between them."

"He'll figure something out, I'm sure."

"Hm. I'm sure he will."

She tilted her head up and pressed a soft kiss against his lips. When she went to pull away, he wrapped his arm around her tightly, pulling her back to him to kiss her again. "Why do we have to wait until May?" he asked before pressing his lips to hers once again. "We could get married tomorrow."

"But I want to get married outside," she told him. "And it's far too cold."

"Then we'll be cold," he breathed, ghosting his hand down her back.

"Lily and James aren't supposed to leave their home. And nothing is ready yet."

He sighed heavily. "If you don't want to marry me anymore, just tell me. Stop torturing me."

She propped herself over him, smiling down at him. "I don't want to marry you," she whispered before she leaned down to kiss him.

"Liar," he replied against her lips. "You were always a terrible liar."

"So are you."

She expected some sort of clever retort in response, but instead he looked up at her and said, "Have you thought about having children?"

She looked surprised by the change of subject, but went along with it. "You know I have," she said, settling back against her pillows. "Why? Have you?"

He shrugged. "Lily and James having Harry has made me think about it a lot more than I had in the past. I think I'd like to. Start a family." He turned his head to look at her. "With you."

She smiled. "Well, I certainly hope you meant with me, since it's me you plan on marrying in the spring."

"Take that tone with me and perhaps I'll change my mind," he teased.

"Then I'll just find someone else to start a family with. Someone who won't boss me around or threaten to change their mind."

"Go right ahead. I'm interested to see who you end up with in my place."

"Probably some bloke who takes work too seriously and dares to think he has better hair than I do."

"Hm, sounds like an arse to me," he said, leaning over her. "I'll just have to convince you to stay with me."

His lips met hers in more intensity than they had before. She arched towards him, her hand moving to the back of his head as she lifted herself off of the pillows to be closer to him. His hand found her back and held her to him. When they broke apart for air, she fisted her hand in his hair, breathing heavily.

"Don't ever leave me," she said breathily, wrapping her arms around his neck as if that alone could make him stay.

"Never," he murmured, pressing a kiss to her neck. "I'll never leave you."

By the time midnight struck the next night, everything had changed.

End.