A bird flew by Kelsey as she sat on the shore of the Black Lake by herself. She watched it flit around enjoying the spring weather. At least someone was having a good time, she thought when the bird chirped and left.

They had been relaxing between reviewing notes when Mary and she came across two girls whispering about Sirius Black. What she learned had shaken her resolve to keep him at bay. Even after two weeks of self-reflection post-incident, she still didn't know where she stood. But then she had heard the girls whisper those words in awe.

"I can't believe Dorcas did that?"

"You mean put Cathy back in her place?"

"Well, yeah..Cathy was going around spreading rumours about herself and Black."

"Wish I'd been there to see Dorcas unleash the Bat Bogey Hex on her though."

"Well, now that it's resolved, do you think it's true though?"

"That Sirius didn't rumble in the sack with a string of girls after Kelpie Jones?"

"Yeah.."

"Of course he didn't! Didn't you see that whole show a few days ago? Anyone with eyes can see he's barmy for Jones. Although..he did snog Hannah and Isabelle a bit but from what I heard, they didn't even get to second base."

"Second base? What's that?"

"Oh, it's American slang for.."

The girls had hurried off soon after. Mary was waiting for Kelsey to speak up only to be met with a Kelsey who was at a loss for words. Something that almost never happened.

Kelsey was at a crossroads. But she also knew that growing up meant learning to chose which hill to die on. Was holding a grudge against the boy she loved one of them?

In this tit for tat situation, there would be no winner. Nevermind that, relationships weren't about winners or losers. Only about overcoming hurdles together. The last part, her mother had reminded her in a recent end of the semester letter.

It had been accompanied by scribbles of her dad writing to tell her how he would be happy to physically 'take care' of any boy who hurt her. She had indeed turned to her parents in her last moments of doubt over her decisions. A lot had happened and more was still to come. Wasn't it better to face it with the people you called family? The friends you had grown to call family?

She thought of the seven years that were over just like that. When the war was over, they still had much to do. Kelsey realised she still had a lot of pranks in her to annoy Potter with. And it wasn't something she could ever imagine doing alone.

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"What are you doing?" Remus furrowed his eyebrows.

"Readin'," said Sirius.

"No, I mean what are you doing here? I thought you'd be off bothering and/or stalking Kelsey." Remus sat down next to Sirius at the Gryffindor table. The great hall had been turned into a study room.

"Bringing me to my point." Sirius flipped a page. "I'm looking up spells to lock a room for an hour. I think if I can just get her to talk- listen for an hour..I swear on Merlin's left ball, she's getting warmer. I think I saw her smile the other day. And today she even said hi," Sirius was hopeful.

"You mean when she said hi during breakfast which turned to be a fake-out that ended with her giving you the finger."

"A woman after my own heart," Sirius recounted dreamily. She was acknowledging him ever since the fireworks - no the ice-cream social. It had to mean something.

Remus shook his head. "At this rate, you'll have her talking to you when you both have grandkids."

"That doesn't even make se-"

"It's because you're going about it the wrong way, boys!!"Astrid appeared out of nowhere. She dumped a stack of books on the table in front of them with a thud making them jump. She took a seat opposite them and grabbed a book. "I think you should start with these."

Sirius grabbed the torn halves of a comic book he recognised as belonging to Kelsey.

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Kelsey tried to release Mary's grip on her wrist as she found herself being led away from the lake. She had shown up some time ago appearing very furious and all but kidnapped Kelsey.

"Where are you taking me?" demanded Kelsey.

"To the Gryffindor Common Room. We need to talk," stated Mary. Her steely grip did not loosen.

Kelsey found herself feeling skittish at the mention of that. Yes, she had decided to have a mature adult conversation with Sirius but it didn't mean she had to do it now. More importantly, how did Mary know? Was she secretly a Legilimens?

Before Kelsey could protest further they were outside the entrance. "Are you sure about this?" she dug her heels into the ground as a last attempt. She didn't even know what to say to him if she saw him. "Perhaps we can find a better place to talk."

Mary said the password and the Fat Lady swung the door open for them.

The common room was crowded with students studying. But in one corner she saw Marlene dusting a chair and talking to herself as if rehearsing a speech.

"Sit." Marlene looked at Kelsey and then the chair.

"What is this?" Kelsey demanded once more. She wouldn't budge.

"This our lovely Kelsey," said Mary. "Is an intervention."

"You see," Marlene put two hands on Kelsey's shoulders and pushed her down on the chair. "Mary told me about your on and off feelings about Sirius. And the hidden looks. And the eavesdropping on conversations about him. And the glaring at girls who look his way when you think we're not watching you." Kelsey blushed. "We think it's time you two talked."

Kelsey raised her eyebrows, amused. She was going to tell them that their intervention was obsolete since she had in fact decided to do that very thing but she was cut off.

"Don't even," glared Marlene. "Just shush and listen." Kelsey pretended to zip her mouth shut and crossed her arms. "We think you should talk to him. And no- before you object, we're just saying you should talk to him, not forgive him or stick your tongue down his throat. I mean obviously what he did was extremely git-like.."

"..dick-like in fact," mumbled Mary. "Benji would've never done that."

"AND!" Marlene pinned Mary with a frustrated look. "You two obviously have major issues to work out but that won't happen unless you talk."

Kelsey went to speak something again but was interrupted by Mary who went off into a rant.

"It's like really sad watching you stare at him longingly from across the room day in and day out. Just talk to him! Or whatever. Kiss and make up. I think Sirius is driving Potter up the wall too and frankly, this is too much stress for our brains that need to focus on NEWTS!!" cried Mary.

"Are you done?" yawned Kelsey.

"Can you like believe her?!" Mary exclaimed at Kelsey's indifference.

"Of all my habits you had to pick that one," Kelsey chuckled. "Now," she got up. "If you would've let me speak I could've told you that I did decide to talk to him. In fact, that is exactly what I was doing when you decided to drag me away." Her friends looked at her with their mouths open in shock.

Kelsey shifted nervously, gauging their reaction. It was only seconds before they broke out into matching grins.

"OUR BABY HAS GROWN UP!"

"STAY RIGHT THERE WHILE I GET HIM- I THINK I SAW HIM AND MOONY TALKING TO TATTY-"

"NO!" Kelsey lunged to stop Mary when the common room door swung open again.

"Perfect," whispered Mary looking past Kelsey. Kelsey couldn't believe her luck when Sirius, Remus and Astrid walked in looking intent.

"Kelsey!" Sirius was surprised to see her but he strode over to her nonetheless. Kelsey raised her eyebrows put on her best cold face, her eyes flickered to his groin region.

Sirius instinctively covered his family jewels remembering their last encounter. "Can we talk?"

"Well, err, what do you know it's getting rather late, I think I should head back with Tatty." Kelsey sent Astrid a 'save me' look.

"It's five in the evening," he said.

"Habits change. I'm a new person now." He took a step closer to her and her heart sped up. She was not ready for this. She'd probably say something sarcastic while trying to be nice and ruin it as usual.

"We have a meeting in three hours," he reminded her not believing her lie one bit. Kelsey was about to come up with another lie when Sirius decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Just sshh," Sirius placed a finger on her lips violently shushing her. This was deja vu with what just happened with Mary and Marlene all over again. "And listen. Please?"Kelsey nodded silently against his finger on her lip. She could bite him but..

"Sirius," she pleaded. She looked tired but he shook his head and started talking:

"When we first met, I remembered thinking if it was possible for a girl to be so badass. Your father giving you self-defence lessons at that station was a sight. When we were 12, it annoyed me that you didn't want to be my friend, and of course I wanted your attention! The reason still evades me today but.." Sirius shook his head and went on. "At 13, when we fell in the lake together that one time, I remembered staring into your eyes and thinking if it was even possible for such blue eyes to exist. I think I lost myself in them." Sirius paused. He took it as a good sign that she hadn't stopped him yet. Kelsey appeared to be in awe of his words.

"And ever since fifth-year, I have spent all this time trying to recreate the kiss we had. Because nothing ever came close to it. Pretty sure it should be illegal to have such soft li-"

Remus cleared his throat hinting at Sirius to move on which he did. Kelsey bit down on her lip and let him speak.

"And when I saw you on that date with Macdonald, I think I knew somewhere in my soul that it should be us."

"Rude, but like okay," mumbled Mary in the background. Kelsey suppressed a smile. Maybe she wasn't the only one who had done some maturing.

"All these years, teasing each other, I've never met anyone who's been able to keep up with me and it scared me. But then this year happened and none of that mattered."

Kelsey knew exactly what he meant as they stared into each other's eyes searching for affirmation.

"What I-I'm trying to say is," he paused again, appearing unsure. "I want you, Kelsey. Only you. It's always been you."

Whispers of Awww went around the common room as everyone's attention was now on them. Even Mary was wiping a fake tear while Marlene watched her funny.

"S-Sirius," Kelsey looked at him with uncertainty and a hint of growing happiness.

"I'll stay away if that's what you want. But just take this." He held out the stack of comics. Kelsey held them in her hand and recognised them as the ones she had once torn in a fit of rage. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

"I should've never said that to you - Blimey if it wasn't the stupidest thing I've ever done. And I've done a lot of stupid things. Even if you don't forgive me yet, I never wanted you to lose yourself especially not when ranting about this stuff makes you, you. I'll spend months showing you how sorry I really am-"

"-And how much of a git you've been," Kelsey finally butt in. She was elated.

"Exactly- wait. What?" Sirius didn't have time to process because Kelsey threw herself in his arms and pressed her lips against his. Sirius was still for a moment in shock while Kelsey continued kissing him. A few moments later he wrapped his arms around her and returned it relishing the feel of her lips on him again.

"What are we watching?" asked a confused Mary when the couple still hadn't stopped kissing five minutes later. It was as if everyone else did not exist at the moment.

"The weirdest un-break up ever," Remus rolled his eyes. Astrid caught his eye across the room next to Lily and he winked at her.

"It's okay Remy. You can be the Robin to this Batman and Cat Woman. Just don't tell Potter," said Kelsey finally breaking apart.

"Is that even English?" wondered Marlene.

"No that's American," Remus said cheekily.

"Oi! Only I get to make fun of her!" Sirius pulled her closer to him, blushing. "I'm so sorry," he cupped her face. "I was a prat."

"A giant prat."

"A massive tit."

"With a massive di-"

"Kelsey!! There are first years here!" Lily cut her off before Kelsey could finish that sentence. With a giggle, they broke apart from their embrace.

"Nothing wrong with sharing the truth Evans," Sirius smirked. "You better get used to it. You lot are stuck with this." He pointed to themselves while Kelsey nodded along looking pleased. Internally, she was already planning ways to go out with a bang after NEWTS ended.

"We've created a monster," Lily realized in horror as Sirius and Kelsey got lost in their own world, bickering over nothing again.

"But would you really have it any other way?" Astrid pointed out. Lily shook her head with a smile already thinking about how James would soon be complaining over missing the entire scene when he found out.

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