So Sirius and Madeline remained a secret hidden amongst their friends. They'd given Remus and Ellen permission to tell James, Lily, Frank, Peter, and Alice they were dating again (but still wouldn't let them mention Madeline's outburst). The other students only knew that they were back on speaking terms, and their affection had to remain at a minimum in public.
James, Remus, and Frank were sitting up in bed one night about a week after Madeline's coveted confession; Sirius was in the Common Room, finishing his Potions essay, and Peter had disappeared as usual.
"Why is this all so secretive?" Frank muttered, pounding his fist. "It's so annoying, having to keep it al hush-hush."
"If it's hard for us," Remus mused, "imagine how hard it is for them. I mean, this is Sirius and Madeline we're talking about."
Frank shrugged. "Still. It's getting tough. Anyway, people are bound to find out anyway."
"Bound to find out what?" Sirius appeared in the doorway, and Frank jumped a little.
That Madeline loves you, Remus couldn't help but think.
"N-nothing," Frank shrugged again. "I hate when you do that; come creeping out of the shadows and whatnot."
Sirius threw his bag onto the floor and fell on his bed. "You mean about me and Madeline, right? Good metaphor, Longbottom." The other boys exchanged a glance; Sirius sounded a little ticked off.
"What's wrong?" Remus asked, peering over at his friend.
"Oh, nothing, really," Sirius said nonchalant. "Only that Snape found out about me and Madeline."
The other boys could only gape. Snape finding out something Sirius wanted to keep secret was bad on so many levels, considering it gave the slimy Slytherin the upper hand, amongst other things.
Frank found his voice first. "You're joking."
Sirius only glared at him, then said, turning his head back to watch the dust float in the air above him, "I wouldn't joke about this." Remus thought for a moment Sirius' eyes flickered toward him, and had a secret, subliminal message, but it didn't work. He couldn't be talking about Madeline's claim to...
"You don't...?" Remus began, but then realized he had spoken aloud. The boys looked at him, and Remus shook his head. "Never mind."
Sirius didn't love Madeline back, did he? After all, Remus was kind of skeptical that Madeline really was in love with Sirius; after all, they were only seventeen - what did they know about love? Nothing, he assured himself. Nothing; they don't really love each other; they just think that they do.
He hoped.
Oh, he so desperately hoped...
The Next Morning
Ellen sat, smoothing the folds in the parchment note. She glanced over her shoulder again, waiting. Waiting...
Where is he? She thought, turning back to her parchment. She had nearly memorized it, but took it out to read again:
Ellen -
There is something we have to talk about. Meet me in the courtyard at five tomorrow morning. I know that's early, but we need to talk.
It was from Sirius. That was what confused Ellen the most about the whole, vague note. Well, what confused her the second-most. Her first question was how he got it under her pillow. But she didn't exactly want to think about that.
Ten minutes later - nearly five thirty - Ellen was considering leaving, but then Sirius ran into the courtyard, looking more tired than she could have ever thought possible.
"I'm sorry," he said as he skidded to a halt and threw himself down beside her, panting. "I woke up late. But I'm here."
"Evidently," Ellen grumbled. "What's up?" She asked, brandishing the parchment.
"Oh, yeah, that. Listen...I wanted to talk to you about Madeline."
"Oh." What could he possibly want to talk about, other than Madeline? She should have known.
"Yeah." He ran a hand through his hair. "Listen, I know it's important to you; you know...waiting."
Oh. "Oh," Ellen blushed. Personally, she was not looking forward to having this conversation with Sirius. "Yeah, it is."
"That's why I wanted to tell you first - after James, of course - that we aren't waiting."
Ellen froze. She didn't think she heard right; but perhaps, then again, she had. "You're what?"
"We're...not waiting," Sirius repeated slowly, as if reluctant to put it out in the open. "We're...doing it tonight."
The Magic of Romance by Hypnotica
Chapter Notes: Sorry about the lateness...and the not-so-great-ness. I was very anxious to get to the end, which is the most important part, so I just threw random crap together to get there.
Chapter Endnotes: Thanks for reading anyway. :) Review if you'd like.