"I've been here all along, so why can't you see:
You belong with me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Morning, sleepyhead."

Remus blinked and nodded at Marlene as she, passing by, ruffled his hair. He murmured back a drowsy reply to her greeting and she continued on across the Common Room, probably heading down to breakfast. Remus had only woken up a few minutes ago and had rushed to get ready for school before breakfast, so he was still trying to wake up fully. The full moon was coming up very soon, which didn't much help his physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing, but as he shuffled his feet at the bottom of the dorm stairs, waiting for Peter and James to show up, a smile crept onto his face. Sirius had woken him up this morning with words of his 'triumph' (James' phrasing) last night, and it was nice to see his friend smiling so wide. He was leaning against the wall next to the girl's dorm stairs, intending to surprise Bell in some way, and as he brushed a lock of black hair out of his eyes, Peter appeared to Remus' left, coming down the stairs.

"James can't find his right shoe. Or his tie. Or his wits."

Sirius, overhearing, gave a laugh. Bell came around the corner at the top of the stairs, out of Sirius' view, and she winked at Remus as she tip-toed down the stairs. Remus thought it was sweet that she knew Sirius was there just by his laugh.

"Oh, Prongs..." Sirius gave a tut-tut. "Well, you know the plan. Whichever of 'em comes down first, we'll distract until the other gets here."

Nodding from Remus and Peter. Bell paused on the stairs for a moment, then leaped forward, giving a lion-like roar. Sirius stumbled back, wide-eyed, and his friends started laughing. Remus could only manage a chuckle at the moment, but his gaze was bright and he was in good spirits despite his tiredness. Bell grinned and Remus thought for a moment she might up and kiss Sirius right then and there, but she didn't, just pulled him into a hug, murmuring something that Remus guessed was a 'good morning' of sorts into his shoulder. Sirius smiled and muttered something back, and Remus' heart warmed at how right the pair looked together.

Snap. That would be Lily. She'd appeared at the bottom of the stairs, Bell's polaroid in hand, and when she'd seen Sirius and Bell hugging, she'd quickly snapped a photo. The owner of the camera looked back and blushed, but didn't protest and only greeted her friend cheerfully. Remus noticed with a smirk how Sirius' arm remained around Bell's waist as she turned.

"Goooood morning! How's the day treating you so far?"

"Good, good." Lily rocked back and forth on her feet. "Have you seen-"

"Lily?"

As if right on cue, there was James, skipping the last step of the stairs as usual. Remus took a few steps back, Peter following his lead, and Sirius' arm fell from around Bell's waist to grab her hand and gently pull her back too, though she hardly needed the urging. Lily glanced at the ground. James stared at her.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Remus nodded with his head toward the portrait door. The Common Room was relatively empty, and he thought it might be best to give the pair some space. Peter came along first, then Sirius, and Bell followed last, her gaze remaining on Lily and James, brow creased. Sirius squeezed her hand and whispered something in her ear, and she turned away, followed her friends toward the portrait hallway of the Common Room. Remus paused there and didn't go any further, just gathered the other three and had Bell lean against the wall, facing Lily and James, as their lookout just in case a mediator was needed.

Remus hoped by Merlin that wouldn't be necessary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eight paces stood between them.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too." A pause. "James, I..." She trailed off and fell silent.

James took in a deep breath. "So... now you really know, I guess."

Lily didn't respond for a long moment. James clasped his hands before him, unable to look away from the shifting emotions in her green eyes.

"I mean, I've been saying it for years." He gave a weak laugh. "I guess I'm surprised that you've only realized I'm not kidding now." Lily shrugged. James swallowed, throat suddenly dry. "Sorry about your cape, by the way. I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine, I fixed it last night."

"Oh, okay."

"Yeah."

Seven paces.

Another pause. James bit his lip. "I'm not sure-"

"Could we try that again?"

The corners of James' lips drew up. "Yes."

Six paces.

Lily squinted at him. "You're not even sure what I mean," she guessed.

"Well, yeah," he admitted, unable to hold back a small smile, "but if it's with you, I'm all for it."

Lily blushed and James' smile widened. Just two months ago, her cheeks wouldn't have gone pink like that when he said something like that. It gave him hope.

"You are one cheesy idiot, James Potter."

"And don't I know it."

Lily laughed. 

Five paces.

James grinned.

Four paces.

"Soooooo-"

"I meant 'can we go on a date?'"

Four paces.

"YES! FINALLY! I CA-" The rest of Sirius' shout was muffled by Bell's hand over his mouth (something about godfathers), but James didn't mind the encouragement.

"A real one, though, not another one of Slughorn's parties. Hogsmeade, or something."

Three paces.

"I think you already know the answer to that, Lilyflower."

And for once, she didn't wrinkle her nose up or scoff at the nickname. She smiled.

Two paces.

James was nearly close enough to her to reach out and touch her.

One pace.

Now he was close enough.

But she made the move first. 

Lily's hand came to lay on his chest. Right above his heart. James really, really wanted to say 'Feel that heartbeat? It keeps going just for you' or something like that, but he refrained.

"CUTE!" This time, it was Peter calling, his hands cupped around his mouth to make sure they heard him. James chuckled. Lily gave a soft laugh as well. She drew her hand back.

"Let's go get breakfast, hmm?"

James smiled and opened his mouth to reply, but then-

"YOUR WHAT-" Sirius sounded so greatly astonished that James looked over to their friends waiting by the portrait with both eyebrows raised in amused curiosity.

"Yes, Lilyflower, let's. After finding out what that was about."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You call dibs on being godfather of their child?"

Sirius grinned. "Yes, indeed, Angel. And you'll be the kid's godmother."

Bell smiled back. She rather liked the sound of that. She also liked how Sirius was still holding her hand as she pretended not to watch James and Lily steadily move closer to each other across the Common Room. Then a grin came to her face and she looked to Sirius.

"Well, I already am a godmother, but I wouldn't mind another charge on that count."

Sirius tilted his head at her, bringing his gaze away from the pair. "Really? To who?"

Peter stared across the room and cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting to Lily and James, "CUTE!" about something Bell was no longer paying full attention to.

"My nephew."

"YOUR WHAT-"

"Well, one of them."

"THERE'S MULTIPLE-"

"My sister and sister-in-law adopted twins out of London." Bell couldn't help her wide grin, or the laughter that escaped her lips as she spoke. "She wrote to me about it just last night. They're only six years old. And now I'm an aunt."

Sirius grinned and nudged her arm in a sort of teasing congratulations. "You are definitely the 'cool aunt' of the family," he asserted, and Bell gave a laugh.

"How so?"

"Well, for one, you own a motorcycle jacket-"

"Do I?" Bell raised her eyebrow at him. She knew for a fact that she didn't. But she wanted one. Sirius paused, then gave a sigh, but his smile barely wavered.

"Eh, I was going to wait until later, but I guess now will do." And with that, he headed back across the Common Room just as James started toward the rest of them, not catching how Lily's gaze trailed him softly for a beat before she followed.

"Do tell: what was dear Pads so excited over there?" asked James as he stopped just before the group and was folded in among them, Lily too as she caught up.

"I've just become an aunt to two little boys."

Lily beamed ("That's great!"), but James reacted quite like Sirius- his eyes widened and he asked, "You're a WHAT NOW?!"

"Keep it down, Mr. Potter."

Professor McGonagall passed through the group to get out of the Common Room. Amusingly enough, about half the group was as tall as or taller than her (not including her hat, of course), but she was still the most imposing person there.

"But Bellamy Roac's an aunt! You'd shout too if you heard news like that-"

"No, Mr. Potter, I would not." Their Head of House smiled at Bell. "Congratulations to you and the lucky parents."

"Thank you, Professor!" Bell grinned. Joanne would be happy to hear their strict yet beloved Transfiguration teacher sent them her well wishes. She'd have to include them in her next letter to her sister. Professor McGonagall headed out of the Common Room, and as the door swung shut behind her, footsteps were heard. Sirius'. Bell blushed at how well she knew them. Sure enough, he came down the stairs of the boy's dorm, taking them two at a time, and held something folded over his arm. As he came closer, Bell tilted her head at him, but she was more interested in the way he was smiling at her than the item he carried.

"For you, Angel," he said and offered her what he held, and Bell took it with a smile and a thanks, but it took her a moment more to tear her gaze away from his. She looked down at the leathery item she held and gasped. It was a motorcycle jacket, just like he'd said, and it looked kind of like Sirius', too. The only differences were that it was in her size, it had a belt, and the collar was doubled-up. She looked back up at him with a growing smile as she unfolded it and he then took it back and held it up, sleeves open. Lily held her cloak, which she had to take off to put on the jacket, and as Sirius held it up, she turned around and slipped her arms through the sleeves. Tugging the front, Bell grinned and wiggled her shoulders. It was soft on the inside but faux-leather on the outside, and the sleeves came just a little over her wrist, just like she liked. It was a fantastic gift, and she turned back around and threw her arms around Sirius.

"So... You like it?"

"I love it." And you. Bell grinned into his shirt and breathed in his cologne. "Thank you so much."

"Awww. If that isn't the cutest shit-"

Bell gave a laugh as she stepped back from hugging Sirius and inadvertently cut off Remus, but he didn't seem to mind.

"I think we might be running late to breakfast. Shall we?"

Lily led the charge after handing Bell's cloak back to her, and as Peter, Remus, and James followed her, Bell hung back with Sirius. "Wait a minute?" she asked and he nodded, like she'd expected him to. She hurried across the Common Room, up to her dorm, and dropped off the new jacket, folding it carefully and laying it on her bed. She wouldn't ever tell anyone this, but she just might have kissed the faux-leather before heading back downstairs. Sirius was leaning against the wall where she'd left him, ever-handsome, and he smiled warmly at her as she approached again. Out the portrait door they went and down the moving staircases toward the Great Hall. Bell's hand brushed his as they walked, and she wanted to hold it, but she hesitated- and then he grabbed her hand and swung it leisurely between them, and she smiled.

"Can I ask why the ever-generous gift?"

Sirius nodded and a grin came to his face. "You're going to need a jacket to keep you warm when I take you out for rides."

Bell's eyes widened. "Wait- you have a motorcycle? When did you-"

"Not yet, Angel," Sirius admitted, though he still beamed, "but I'm saving up, and once I've graduated and get a job, it won't be long."

Bell smiled gently at the stairs, watching her steps as she went down. "I never knew you wanted a motorcycle."

Sirius chuckled softly. "Yeah, I guess I never mentioned it, huh?"

"It's nice." Bell felt her cheeks flush. "Well, not nice, I mean it's cool. Or something." She glanced at Sirius. He was smiling at her, and it was sweet, and almost adoring.

"Do you mean it's nice to know something like that about me?"

Bell thought about it for a second or two. "Yeah. That's exactly it. It's a little insight into you, and I like that."

Sirius squeezed her hand, and Bell smiled, and they continued on to breakfast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sirius' list:

20: Steal Sirius' leather jacket because, succinctly, I want it ✔ (have one of my own now- thanks, Hot Stuff)