Sirius looked up as the door to the room slowly opened; getting to his feet as a softly smiling Remus entered the room, closely followed by a rather strikingly beautiful woman. Sirius feeling his heart begin to thump frantically against his ribs as he looked into her eyes. Eyes that that he hadn't been able to behold for twelve long years. Not that he hadn't thought about them, about her, while he had been locked away in Azkaban for crimes that he hadn't committed. The memories of the witch, one of the things that had keep him alive in that hell hole, even though the Dementors had done all they could to drain him of those recollections.

Where James had had Lily, Sirius had had (Y/n). The oldest son of Orion and Walburga Black, noticing the pretty girl, from the moment she had stepped foot into the Great Hall; her eyes, her features, her smile, catching the attention of the then young Black, and making it impossible for him to look away. Sirius finding himself clapping and cheering, when the Sorting Hat had announced that just like him, she would be a Gryffindor. Yet where James and Lily had married and had a child, the same thing could not be said for Sirius and (Y/n).

(Y/n)'s father was a well-known and well-respected pureblood wizard; a quite powerful one too. But unlike the Black family and the Malfoys, he had never been interested in the pure bloodline beliefs; it an outdated, cruel notion to think that half-bloods, or muggle born, were less, as far as he was concerned. So, when the time had come to think of marriage, he had not looked to the other old families, but to the muggle world, finding and falling in love with a beautiful woman that had eventually given birth to an even more beautiful daughter. Yet in the eyes of the Black's, it wouldn't matter how beautiful, how smart, funny or gifted as a witch she was, she was tainted, her father a blood traitor. His prodigy, now not worthy to see herself as one of them, to be loved by or marry one of them. And even though they had both fought to keep their relationship alive, fate and the Dark Lord had had different ideas. The night that James and Lily had lost their lives, that poor little Harry had received his mark, had been the last time that they had seen one another.

                                                          >>--------------------------------------<<

(Y/n) stood there and looked at him. Twelve years........twelve long, lonely years she had waited for him, she had loved him while he had been dubbed a vile murderer and locked in Azkaban. She had never believed he was guilty, not for one moment; even when the rest of the wizarding world had thought he was a killer, she could not. Not her Padfoot, not her Sirius. She knew that he would never hurt those muggles, would never do anything to James, Lily or Harry. Yet no matter what she did; no matter how she pleaded and begged the Ministry, no one would listen. Yet when Remus had told her that Sirius had been in the Shrieking Shack, and that Ron Weasley's rat, Scabbers was in fact Peter Pettigrew, so she had been right all along about Sirius innocence; she could not bring herself to see him. It wasn't that she cared about how he might look, how he wouldn't be as he was, before he had been sent to the fortress on an island in the middle of the North Sea; what she was afraid of, was that he wouldn't love her anymore. That she would find that after twelve years of keeping him in her heart, of loving him just as much as she always had, he would turn around and tell her that he no longer cared. That now he had been proved innocent, now he was free, he would want to move on and find someone else. That all the memories of her, of their love and their time together, had been taken from him by the guards of the prison. Yet Remus had kept trying to persuade her, kept talking about Sirius, kept telling her that he wanted to see her. So, finally she had given in; Moony hugging her, before they had both apparated to Islington in London, and stood on Grimmauld Place. Waiting for number twelve to appear between elven and thirteen. Remus taking her hand, and offering her a reassuring smile, before leading her into the house.

So, here they were, after twelve years, stood in front of one another again.

"I'll leave you to it......." Remus said softly. Sirius nodding thankfully at his friend, before the lycanthrope had left the room.

"You're too thin.....but I imagine that Molly has been trying to feed you up........" (Y/n) finally said. No longer able to take the tension in the air.

"Merlin knows that she tries that with me if ever I go to the Burrow.........." She continued, doing her best to lighten the mood. Yet the tight grip around her heart was not lessening any.

"(Y/n).........." Sirius began, as he took a step forward. Stopping as she held up her hand.

"Please Sirius, I need to say something..........I know twelve years is a long time, and I cannot even imagine the horrors that you had to go through when you were in Azkaban. What the Dementors took from you. So......if........if you no longer have feelings for me; if twelve years has been too long, and the love that we once had is no longer there, I will understand if you never want to see me again. If you want to leave the past behind, to move on and start your life, I will............"

"(Y/n)............" The witch slowly looking up, not realising that Sirius had come to stand in front of her. The breath catching in her throat, as his placed his rough palm on her cheek.

"No matter what the Dementors did, I would never let them take away my memories of you. You were the glimmer of hope that kept me alive; the light in the darkness, and you always will be. I love you as much now as I ever did; and no matter what may face us from this point on, I want us to face it together........" Sirius told her. His thumb carefully brushing away the tears that were now making there way down her cheeks.

"Together........?" Sirius smiling at the question, as he slowly moved closer to her.

"Together.........." The word slipping from his mouth, before his lips found hers.