Sophie had fallen asleep in the car reading as the motion of the bumpy road from Edinbrough to Surrey gently rocked her to sleep. As the car finally pulled into the drive late in the evening, Sophie's Dad carried her into the house and gently tucked her in, placing a kiss onto her forehead and shutting the door behind him.

*******************

Sirius sat in his Gryffindor dorm room whilst his roommates slept peacefully. James and Remus were relatively quiet apart from when Remus snored but Peter talked loudly in his sleep. Granted, most of what he said was garbage but it was funny to listen to. He sat on his head upright, thinking deeply about the Black and White family rivalry. He couldn't think straight with so many negative thoughts clouding his mind, let alone sleep. He stood up, making sure not to wake his friends, and went down to the Gryffindor common room. As he walked down the steps, noticed a familiar lanky figure. He saw Newt at a desk writing a letter of some sort.

"Hey, Newt." Sirius yawned tiredly.

He looked up, alarmed and immediately shoved the letter he was writing into the nearby textbook. Sirius cocked his head and slowly walked towards him.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." He replied immediately.

"Give me that!" Sirius said and snatched the textbook off him.

"Give that back! It's...personal..." Newt said quietly.

Sirius began chuckling to himself and smiling at the letter he was writing.

"I didn't know you had a thing for a Slytherin!" Sirius laughed. "Don't worry, I won't tell her or anyone about her. We all have our secrets."

"Does that mean that you have a secret, Dog Star?"

"Well obviously! I'm not going to say something like that and not mean it!" Sirius laughed openly. "I was also going to ask, why are you in the Gryffindor common room? You know that Hufflepuffs have their own common room?"

"I do, but I didn't want to write my letter to a Slytherin in that common room. There are these people..."

"What people?"

"They're not very nice people, all they care about is playing off the teachers into thinking they're smart when in fact they get other people to do their homework. They were um..."

"What were they doing to you?" Sirius said slowly but insistent.

"They hung me off one of the gargoyles on the castle. Happy? They just left me dangling there with a stick charm, I was just fortunate enough that it was Slytherin Quidditch practice so a girl unhooked me and took me down to the ground, thank Merlin."

"So this girl...is she pretty?"

"I think you may know her actually..."

"If she's Juliet, hands off she's mine." Sirius stated boldly.

"Hold on one minute, you two are dating? How come I didn't know about this?!" Newt exclaimed.

"Same reason I didn't know about your mysterious lover. Check. And. Mate."

He then walked off and climbed through the portrait hole to the corridor. He walked down the stairs and turned a few corners until he reached the Great Hall. It was the last day of term and everyone was getting ready to leave. They were all excited. For some it meant returning to their home that they haven't been in for a year, seeing their parents and siblings again and for others it meant being stuck at home with nothing to do. In the case of Sirius Black, he was going to enjoy the summer holiday as he had run away from home and was currently staying with the Potters. He was like a son to them and a brother to James. He loved it.

"Mornin' Sirius." Bill Weasley, a first year Gryffindor, said.

"Morning Bill. Sleep well?"

"I've had better nights. You?"

"Couldn't have been worse, if I'm being completely honest." He sighed, sitting down.

"Care to talk about it?" He said, biting into a piece of toast.

"Not particularly unless you want to hear about love problems."

Bill chuckled slightly into a mouth of toast and said. "Who'sh se lushy giwl?"

"The lushy girl?! No one!" Sirius laughed and Bill did too, almost choking on a mouthful of toast.

Sirius chuckled to himself and looked down at the huddle of girls by the doors of the Great Hall. Lily Evans came walking hurriedly towards him and he rolled his eyes.

"Here she comes to wreck the day!" He said in a sing-song voice. "I wonder what she wants with me this time. See you, Bill."

"Right back at you." Bill said and he went to talk to Lily.

"Have you talked to Juliet yet?" He asked slightly urgently.

"No actually, I thought you could. I told Juliet to meet you at the astronomy tower in half an hour." She explained.

"So you did talk to her? Did she say anything about me? Did she sound mad?"

"Merlin Black, you sound like a bloody teenage girl!" Lily huffed.

"You sound like a teenage girl!"

"That's because I am one, open your eyes! I feel like this conversation is going in circles. Bottom line is, you're meeting her at the astronomy tower in half an hour after breakfast."

"What if I get lost?"

"You're a sixth year going on seventh, I doubt you'll get lost."

"What if Filch sees me?"

"There isn't a curfew in the morning, idiot."

"What if-"

"Why are you making this overly complicated?"

"I'm just messing with ya. See you in a few, Evans!" Sirius said and ran past to go and pack his trunk for later when the end-of-term-feast had finished.

Sirius walked back up the stairs and walked into the dorm room to wake up his roommates in an unflattering fashion. He stood on a few trunks piled high and let out an almighty howl. James' eyes flew open and he fell off the bed and onto a bunch of muggle records whilst Peter screamed like a girl and fell hit his head on the headboard. Remus didn't even shift, he just kept sleeping and twitching ever now and then.

"Bloody hell, mate!" James yelled and threw a book on animagi at him.

Sirius easily missed the book and smiled, hopping off the pile of trunks. "Good morning to you too James. I thought you might have a better aim since you're on the Quidditch team and have been for years but no, your form is all clumsy."

"Idiot." James mumbled and climbed back into bed.

"Come on, James, we don't have all day. Do you want to be left over summer alone with Dumbledore?"

"Alright, alright, I'm up!" James said, sitting up and beginning to pull some muggle clothes on.

Sirius huffed and began packing his trunk, the palms of his hands becoming sweaty. He rubbed them on his trousers and continued packing. He sighed slightly and looked over at his friends. Once he had finished the long and arduous job of packing, he stood up and began walking to the astronomy tower. He knew that he still loved Juliet, so why was he nervous? She hadn't changed in the past weeks they had been separated. There was a reason she had agreed to meet up with Sirius and it wasn't just to say that she hated him. She wanted to find out why he kissed Rita. He shuddered even thinking about it.

He had to wash his mouth with soap and eat anything to get the taste of Rita from his mouth. But nothing had changed, the taste of betrayal still lay dormant in his mouth.

"What are you going?" Peter asked Sirius.

"Why did you ask him?!" Remus scolded.

"I need to get the taste of Skeeter out of my mouth. I feel like I'm going to throw up!" Sirius said from the bathroom, dry heaving.

"He's really putting it on thick, isn't he?" Remus rolled his eyes and then said in a louder voice. "Maybe you did more than kiss Rita?"

James and Peter fell about laughing and Sirius poked his head around the door, giving him a glare. "Mate, you're the one who has a problem once a month. You crave the weirdest things, hate everything, become an emotional, blubbering mess and sleep all the time!"

"You won this round, Black..." Remus mumbled and put his head back in his book.

"So you've tried everything?" James asked.

"Everything."

"Mouldy cheese?" Peter asked.

"I'm not a rat."

"Grass?" James suggested.

"Mate, I'm not a bloody herbivore! I said I wanted to get a horrible taste out of my mouth not become a deer!" Sirius said and started prancing around the dorm.

"You're doing it all wrong, you're supposed to do it like this!" James said and morphed into an elegant stag. He got onto his bed and started prancing. "See the difference?"

"Oh, and I suppose that you can bark?"

"I'm not barking mad, unlike you!"

"That's where you're deerly wrong, my friend. Maybe the reason that nothing can wash that taste out of your mouth is because it's a more serious matter. Maybe it's guilt and you can't get rid of it until you talk to Juliet and confront Rita."

Sirius thought for a moment. "That's the smartest thing I've ever heard you say."

He walked up the extensive staircases, avoiding the Ravenclaws rushing past him and veered off to climb a narrow staircase to the tower. He saw a figure of a blonde girl sitting in the middle of the tower on a ledge, staring out of the window. Sirius went to sit next to her and he heard her sigh.

"I'm guessing you expect me to explain what happened."

Silence ensued.

"At least say something!"

"Betrayal. Guilt. Heartbreak." Juliet said, still staring into the distance.

"Okay, anything but that."

"Lies. Evil. Selfish." She said in a monotone.

"Come on!" Sirius pleaded.

"Well, what do you expect me to say after I caught you snogging the girl you and I both equally hate? I saw the love you held in your eyes, it was undeniable. For a moment, I actually thought I'd met the person I was meant to be with but when I saw you two together I thought 'he lives someone else, the lying bastard'. You hurt me, Sirius, and you just chewed me up and spit me out." She said in a wavering tone.

"You want the 'lying bastard' to explain himself? Fine. On Valentine's Day I got two cards, one from you and one from Rita. The one from you had a horrible message I'm not going to repeat and the one from Rita...I don't remember because I blacked out."

"That's likely." She said coldly.

"Listen to me, for Merlins sake! I think it was a very strong love potion. Rita would only want to separate us because of the gossip that would ensue and one big detail...she has a crush on me and she hates you."

"I don't believe it."

"Is there anything I could possibly do to convince you? You're being so bloody stubborn!"

"Kiss me."

"What?"

All the anger that had built up inside him instantly faded and he looked at her dreamily once again. She looked at him in the eyes and a smile crept up in the corner of her mouth.

"I couldn't resist." She smiled.

"So you did believe me!?" Sirius said.

"Of course I did, how dim-witted do you think I am?! I was just messing with you! It's what is forbidden couples do to keep the magic alive in a relationship."

"Did you know that I love you?"

"Of course I did and did you know that I can play you like a chump?"

Sirius rolled his eyes playfully and kissed her for a moment until she jumped back and sprung to her feet.

"The feast! It just started!" Juliet said with urgency.

"So?" Sirius shrugged.

"So?! We're late and if we walk in together people will think we're...actually, you know what? I don't care anymore. Let them know."

"So you're positive this'll work? We're just casually hinting that we're together."

"People will have their suspicions, let them suspect."

Sirius grinned wickedly and mounted his broom. He watched Juliet mount hers and they both got into the air. He looked over and noticed that she wasn't a great flyer because she kept swaying from side to side whereas Sirius was static. They both took out their wands, leaned forwards for maximum speed and flicked their wands. The doors of the Great Hall burst open and they bombed in, crouched down for maximum speed. They started laughing as they saw James and Peter star clapping them. Lily beamed up at them and they just flew around the Hall, throwing fireworks into the air.

"Wicked!" Gideon and Fabian Prewett exclaimed. "Well, it's certainly a great way to leave Hogwarts!"

Juliet smiled at the Slytherins and threw a few fireworks at a group of her cousins and other relatives. She laughed openly, wind rushing through her hair and smiled over at Sirius who was standing up on his broom, throwing fireworks everywhere.

It was truly a beautiful display.

Once they had ran out of fireworks but there were still plenty exploding, Sirius jumped onto the front of Juliets broom and she put her arms around his wait to hold on and threw her hair back to let the wind rush through her hair. They heard many applause from tables and many people stood up (except the Slytherins).

But there was one more firework left.

"Would you mind doing the honours, my dearest Juliet?" Sirius said through a sonorus charm.

"Of course, my love." She laughed and threw it in the direction of the Hall.

They flew out before it exploded and the doors of the Great Hall shut roughly behind them. There was an explosion of green and red. It was truly a beautiful sight.

*******************

The little girl and woken up early in the morning and had started reading it. She realised that there were only a limited amount of pages and that her Grandmother hadn't given her all of them to complete the story but it was enough for now.

"I wish this was a real story..." She sighed.