Barbara felt a sense of comfort every time she stepped into her home, knowing she would receive unconditional love from her parents, her brother, and Angel. When she stepped into the house this time, however, she could tell there was something different in the air. She looked around in the living room to see clothes that did not belong to her brother, and immediately knew who they belonged to: Sirius Black.

She had been thinking long and hard about the different relationships she shared with others at Hogwarts. It didn't take her long to figure out that the nagging feeling she had since Third Year was about her relationship with her brother's best friend. Sirius, however irritating, had always been there for James and she respected that. Barbara also knew that her feelings for Sirius had been changing over the last year or so. Though she hadn't admitted it to James, she knew that he probably figured that, by this point in their lives, Barbara had developed a crush on Sirius.

When the young woman walked into the kitchen, she noticed her father and mother reading the Daily Prophet at the table, a sour look on their faces. Barbara coughed to get their attention.

"I didn't know you two thought to highly of me." Barbara deadpanned. When her parents looked up from the Prophet, she couldn't help but grin widely at them.

"You're back! How did it go?! Did you kick his-" Euphemia gave her husband a look as if daring him to finish his sentence.

"-behind...? His read end? His heinie? His-"

"Yes, dad," Barbara laughed at her father's terrible save, "I did. I'll tell you and the rest of the family all about it together. I'm so tired and I don't really want to repeat it."

"Sounds good to us, dear; but I just want you to know that Sirius-"

"-is here. I gathered from the clothes left on the banister."

"Yes, but he is going to be a permanent resident now. He ran away for good this time."

Barbara's eyes widened in shock. She and Sirius had shared some stories about some of the abuse they had endured. The amount of times he had cursed his family's name made Barbara pity him when they spent time alone together. She liked the special relationship the two had developed; but similar to her brother, Sirius was, frankly, a dick when he was in public.

As soon as James walked into the kitchen for breakfast with Sirius right behind him, Barbara sprinted towards her brother. "Jamesie! I missed you so much!"

"Barb!" James lifted his sister off the ground in a bear hug compared to Molly Weasley. Sirius coughed behind them. When the Potter twins stopped hugging and looked at Sirius, he had an innocent look on his face with his arms stretched out.

"Can I get in on the hug fest?" He asked. Barbara rolled her eyes and smiled. She hugged him as well, happy he was able to escape the abuse he had to live with for sixteen years.

Barbara relayed all the details about the trials she had to go through the last couple weeks. With excitement, she told them how she defeated multiple Aurors under an hour. She gesticulated when she talked about flying in the air to defeat Angel, who would come back to the Potters' place once she took care of some business. When she told them how she challenged Mad-Eye and Dumbledore to become a first class Auror, the Potters and Sirius were on the edge of their seats.

She talked about the battle in great detail. Barbara told them how she used her Patronus against a Dementor released during the battle and how she soaked Mad-Eye with aguamenti. Unfortunately, Barbara wasn't able to defeat the two of them; and she expressed how much she had bitten off before she could chew. "Nevertheless," she finished, "I'm a second class Auror!"

"That's my sister!" James shouted happily. He pulled his sister into another bone-crushing hug.

Later that night, James had left his sister and his best friend alone to talk. He knew they both were mad for each other but just wouldn't admit their feelings; so he figured forcing them to be in a room together, alone, would do the trick.

Barbara was the first to speak. "So, Sirius, I hear you're a permanent resident now. I guess that means we'll have to publicly tolerate each other at Hogwarts now." She joked. Sirius smirked as he sat across from Barbara.

"I guess so, Barb. Could you do me a favor and change the bandages? I don't want to ask your brother to do it for me again... it's bloody uncomfortable."

Not knowing what to say, the young woman merely nodded. Sirius carefully hopped off the bed and lifted his shirt so Barbara could change the bloodied bandages.

She gulped, brief flashbacks of her childhood incident flooding her mind. However, she pushed the memories back, not allowing them to cloud her mind with the task at hand.

She carefully unwrapped the old bandages and saw Sirius's torso first. Well now I know why girls go slightly insane...

"You're such a tease, Potter." Sirius mumbled to Barbara under his breath, noticing how she was only focused on his torso rather than his back.

She knew she had been caught and blushed. "Shut up, Black."

Barbara felt nauseous looking at Sirius's back. The wounds were still slightly open, making Barbara assume whatever tool did this to Sirius was riddled with Dark Magic. She cleaned the wounds and wrapped them quickly, not wanting to hurt Sirius.

"All done."

Sirius pulled his shirt back over the fresh gauzes. "Thanks, Barbara. It feels a lot better already."

"Probably because James is terrible at wrapping anything. You've seen his wrapping skills during Christmas."

Sirius chuckled at Barbara's comment and pulled her into a hug, which caught her off guard. "Thank you."

Barbara tentatively hugged Sirius, her arms around his torso. "Anytime, Sirius, anytime."