How I had ended up standing in the foyer of the Black Manor, I wondered as I looked around the grand room. Here I was playing the role of the perfect pureblood daughter whilst mother and father talked to Mr and Mrs Black who had come out to greet them. I had been ordered to stay behind them with my younger sister at my side.

My parents had always lamented their fate; three daughters and no sons. I, the middle daughter, was the disappointment but I had no idea why. I had no way of changing that. But, if having seen what made them proud, I wasn't so sure that I wanted to change that.

Mr Black turned to escort Mrs Black towards the other guests as father fell into step with him. The two men talked between themselves as they went. But father glanced over his shoulder at mother who instantly moved to my side. With a single look she dismissed my younger sister who went ahead of us and walked after father.

Mother took my sister's place, by my side. She put her arm through mine, clinging harshly onto my arm.

"You need to behave," she hissed violently into my ear, her face never once losing the expression of a doting mother. She reached up to tuck some of my hair behind my ear and from afar the gesture would have appeared to be affectionate but in reality it only served to bring her glaring eyes closer to my own. "Behave or else."

"Yes mother," I said demurely, my shoulders stiffening as I remembered my last punishment.

If I concentrated hard enough, I could still hear my screams echoing through the empty drawing room. I reached a hand up to the side of my neck, knowing that under the glamour charm was a slowly healing cut.

Satisfied with my response, mother led me after the host family. When we had stopped, she returned to my father's side and my sister returned to mine. My eyes swept across the hall full of pureblood families. My sister looped her arm through mine as I made eye contact with my older sister who hanging off the arm of her husband. She had been my age when she had been married right at the start of her seventh year at Hogwarts. That had been three years ago and she had been trapped in a loveless marriage ever since with a husband who, if her words were anything to go by, preferred the embrace of men to that of women. And my sister, well she got her need to be embraced fulfilled elsewhere. But, in my parent's eyes, she had married well.

My younger sister cleared her throat, stopping the staring contests I had been having with my elder sister. I sent a smile in her direction, seeing her do the same as I was led away to stand beside my parents. Plastering on a faker smile than the one that I had given to my sister, I nodded at the host family.

Mrs Black looked me over from head to toe and I struggled not to squirm under her eyes. "You look beautiful," she complimented.

Catching the approval in her gaze, I shifted my eyes away from hers. "Thank you."

"This is my son, Sirius." She gestured to the boy standing beside her. I smiled slightly at him, having already met the eldest son of the Black's. He raised his glass to me.

Our parent's continued to talk to one another before Mr Black broke away to make an announcement.

"We would like to thank everyone who joined us this evening," He said with a charming smile. "I would like to ask you to join us in the celebration of the engagement of my eldest son."

I glanced over at Black whose face remained blank. He might have looked calm but his eyes did absolutely nothing to hide his shock. I was pulled out of my observations when I felt a hand take my own. Looking up into the eyes of my mother, I was shocked to find her smiling genuinely at me. She took my hand and placed it in Black's hand, which was being held by his own mother. I stiffened they couldn't possibly-

Black, reading the panic on my face, gave me a small smile that was meant to reassuring. Our mother's let go of our hands, leaving my hand in his. The next second, my other hand was being pushed forward for him to place the Black family ring onto my finger, sealing my fate. There was a round of applause and I couldn't stop the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

His hand was clutching at my waist as he led me over to Potter, pulling me alongside him. I was grateful for the support that his arm offered, or I would have fallen from the sheer shock.

"Did you know about this?" I asked as soon as I had regained my voice. Potter looked between the two of us.

"No." He let out an irritated breath. "Did you know?"

"Would I have asked you if I had known?" I muttered, noticing the way that everyone was looking at us.

"We need to go somewhere where no one will eavesdrop," he muttered and Potter smiled in understanding, excusing himself.

"Bye Potter," I said quietly as I let Black escort me outside.

Black led me out into the gardens where he glanced around, looking for somewhere secluded enough for us to talk. Tightening the arm around my waist, he led me over to a bench, motioning for me to sit down. I sat down on the bench, looking down at my shoes. Merlin, I hated wearing these high heels.

Black sat down beside me in silence, neither of us saying a word. Feeling something slip around my shoulder, I looked up at Black, holding onto the bottom of his jacket.

"This-"

"You looked cold," he said in explanation.

"Warming charms exists for a reason," I muttered, tightening the jacket around me. "Aren't you going to be cold?"

"Like you said, warming charms exist for a reason." He took his wand out of his pocket and muttered a warming charm. I went to remove his jacket but he stopped me by setting his hand on my arm. "Let me behave like a gentleman for a moment."

I nodded and we were surrounded in silence again. Letting out a breath, I glanced down at my shoes again.

"What are we supposed to do now Sirius?" I asked quietly. If we were condemned to be married then I could at least start to call him by his name.

"Truthfully I have no idea," he admitted and I turned my head to look at him. He was looking at me. He slid closer towards me so that his arm brushed against mine.

"Let's wait until we get back to Hogwarts." I said with a sigh. "Then, at least while we're there, you can go back to your life and I can go back to mine."

"We both know that won't work." He straightened up, putting a hand on my knee and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Our parent's would have spies in Hogwarts."

"I guess they would."

Sirius looked ahead again before turning back to look at me. He leaned in, bringing his face closer to mine as he squeezed my knee. "Play along."

The closer he got to me, the faster I felt my heart race. Instinctively my hands went to his chest to push him off of me when he took my bottom lip between his. His words repeated through my mind and I fisted his shirt in my hands. Hearing a giggle from somewhere ahead of us, he pulled back from me slightly and I detached my hands from his chest. He made no move to back away further.

Looking over his shoulder, I saw my younger sister giggling at the sight of the two of us. I pushed at his chest and he pulled away from me fully. We both looked at my sister.

"Can I talk to my sister?" She asked coyly when she approached the two of us.

"Of course," he said with a nod. He stood from the bench and raised my hands to his lips before he left.

My sister watched him as he left the garden and headed inside before dropping into the now empty space by my side.

"He's so handsome," she swooned, leaning her head onto my shoulder. She straightened up and looked into my eyes. "You need to be careful; I might just take him from you."

I would have laughed in any other situation if I hadn't caught the serious tone of her voice.

I scrunched my nose. "That's disgusting; you're only in your third year. Is there a reason that you came looking for me."

She nodded and stood up, "Mother and father say that we need to go now."

I stood up and let her lead me into the manor once again. We said our final goodbyes to the Black's when Sirius appeared at my side. He looked over at our fathers for permission and when they nodded, he pulled me aside.

"We need to stick together," he muttered when we were out of their earshot.

I nodded and glanced back at our parents who were watching us closely. He followed my gaze before pressing another kiss to the back of my hand.

The charade had already begun.

I was sat alone in the carriage, staring down at the ring on my hand. It was probably impossible to hide it, I thought, turning my hand slightly to see the ring. If I took it off a spell would probably alert the Black's and then I'd have to face the wrath of two pureblood families.

At the sound of a knock on the carriage door I looked up to see a grinning Lily standing in the doorway. I stood up, reflexively hiding my left hand behind my back. She came over to hug me and I wrapped my arm around her.

She settled down into the seat beside me, grinning widely as she recounted her holiday to me. Her grin soon faded as the marauders appeared in the doorway.

"Merlin, give me strength," she muttered quietly before looking at Potter. "Go away."

"Relax Evans," he said as they pushed their way into the carriage. "I'm not here to see you, I'm here to see my best mate's fiancé."

I groaned silently; Lily had no idea. I hadn't exactly figured out how to break the news to Lily. So it was no surprise that Lily's eyebrows furrowed in confusion at his words. Potter, only just realising that I hadn't yet told Lily, shot me an apologetic look.

"Your best mate's fiancé?" She echoed, turning to look at me curiously. Her eyes were silently asking me for help in understanding the situation.

Clearing my throat slightly, I looked away from her as the marauders settled into the carriage. Lily shot me a helpless look as she found herself squished between Pettigrew and Potter. I furrowed my eyebrows slightly when Sirius and Lupin took either side of me.

"Lily," I said quietly, seeing the prodding look that she was still giving me. "There's something I need to tell you."

Letting out a little breath, I fiddled nervously with the ring on my finger. Lily's eyes followed my movements and they widened, flickering between the ring and my eyes.

"No," she gasped out, looking between Sirius and I. "The fiancé? You're engaged to Black? I didn't even know you were dating?"

"We weren't Evans," Sirius said quietly. "It's an old pureblood tradition to have an arranged marriage."

"I don't know what we're going to do." I admitted quietly, glancing to Sirius and to see that he silently agreed with me.

"We're all here to help you two," Potter said from beside Lily. "We'll help you with this whole engagement thing."

The topic of conversation slowly drifted and I laughed, watching as Lily struggled against Potter's persistent advances. Feeling Sirius take my hand, I glanced up at him from the corner of my eye as his thumb rubbed soothing circles on the back of it.

I had known that it was inevitable for news of mine and Sirius' 'relationship' to spread quickly. After all, most of the pureblood students at Hogwarts had been there when the announcement of our engagement was made. But I hadn't anticipated that it would be common knowledge of the entire student body by the time that we had all arrived at Hogwarts.

Neither had I anticipated the reaction from Sirius' fan girls who had developed a personal vendetta against me. I had thought, or rather hoped, that I would be able to avoid the whole thing whilst at Hogwarts and would only have to think about it during the holidays when I was with my family. But that didn't happen. Anywhere I went the words Mrs Black or something synonymous were thrown at me as though they were a slur. The irony of it all being that the girls who were using it as an insult had at one point hoped to become just that.

I had taken to hiding in the library or Ravenclaw Tower to avoid everyone. An unending source of relief for me had been that the majority of my housemates didn't appear to care about the change so the tower remained as home to me. The situation was different if I was with the marauders, with my friends, or with Lily. It was as if, because I wasn't alone, the words had dried up in their throats.

Today I was hiding out in the library in order to finish a research paper that was due tomorrow. I couldn't stay in the common room because it was too loud. It was a weekly occurrence that the first years would be tutored by a select group of fifth years and above. It so happened that the tutoring session fell on tonight and, because the group changed every so often, I wasn't not one of the chosen tutors.

"So," A voice drawled, making me look up. There was a girl standing a few feet away from me, leaning against the bookshelf. "You're Sirius' fiancé then?"

"Why ask a question that you already know the answer to?" I asked, feeling as though I was at the end of my tether. The next one of his fangirls to approach me was going to see the end of my wand.

"I can't let you get married to him." She straightened up and approached the table that I was sat at.

"Not to be rude or anything; but I don't think you have any control over that."

She shrugged. "Maybe not. But I'm so curious; what did you do to trap him?"

"Trap him?" I repeated incredulously. Maybe I should forget about using my wand on the next fangirl and should use it on this one instead.

"Yes to trap him into marrying you. Because there's no way he would marry you unless you trapped him and he had no other choice." She paused slightly, a malicious smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Seeing the expression on her face I gave a small sigh. Here we go again. "How about I give it a guess? You couldn't keep your legs shut and now you're pregnant? Is that it?"

"How about I answer that question for you?" A masculine voice cut in, surprising both of us.

"Sirius? What are you doing here?" I asked, watching as he walked over towards us.

"I was looking for you," He said before turning to face the other girl, "So should I give you an answer? She stole my heart."

"Sirius-" He shook his head at me to keep me quiet, putting a hand around my arm and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"And as for being pregnant? I haven't been given the opportunity to make that happen yet. Don't you think you should stay out of the personal lives of other people?"

The girl gaped at him but her resolve didn't waver, "Tell me that you're happy and I will."

"I'm happy" he said, looking her dead in the eye.

"I don't believe you." But she turned and left the two of us alone.

When she had disappeared from sight, I let out a deep breath, my shoulders deflating. Sirius gave my arm another squeeze before removing his hand and walking around the table to sit across from me.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"I'm fine," I said, giving him a reassuring smile. "Tell me what brings you here to the one place that you swore you would never set foot?"

"I was looking for you," He admitted. "Mummy dearest thinks that I'm not spending enough time with the future Mrs Black."

"But you're always with me. What more can they want?"

"The last I've heard, they've planned the wedding for this summer and I'm supposed to stick to you to make sure someone doesn't swoop in and steal you away."

Groaning, I closed my eyes before opening them moments later. I looked at him pleadingly. "What are we supposed to do now Sirius?"

He reached across the table to take one of my hands in his. "We have to play by their rules."

"And that means getting married."

"We already knew that there would be no way out. So I guess this means we're getting married."

"I guess it does." I agreed, putting all of my things away as he stood up and walked around to my side of the table.

"Come on," He said, taking my hand in his again. Silently, he took my bag out of my hand and slung it over his shoulder. "Let me walk you to your common room."

He led me out of the library, interlinking our fingers and keeping me close to his side as he did so. Over the last few weeks I had become used to these necessary acts of affection. They were supposed to be seen by the 'spies' that our parents had so that our parents would be aware of our 'relationship'. But because we had no idea who these spies were, Sirius had taken to instigating them whenever anyone was around.

Only this time, I couldn't see anyone.

I followed Lily into the Three Broomsticks, scanning the room for the two marauders who had promised to save some seats for us. Lily, tapped my arm and then pointed over towards a table.

"They're over there."

We made our way to the table and Sirius stood, pulling the seat out beside him for me. James, smiled over at Lily as she settled slightly uncomfortably into the seat beside him. He looked over at me, in confusion, silently asking what was wrong with her. I shrugged, already having promised Lily that I would the news of her recent crush to myself.

"Shall we go get drinks, Pads?" James asked, rising from his seat.

"Alright," Sirius said, standing as well. He glanced down at me. "Do you want a butterbeer or-?"

"Butterbeer's fine," I said with a smile and he nodded before walking off.

When the two of them had left, I allowed myself to visibly deflate slightly. Lily, set her hand on top of mine and gave it a squeeze.

"What's wrong?"

"We're being watched," I muttered, straightening up in my seat. "Even here; they've got someone watching us. I'm just getting so sick of this."

"And here I was, under the impression that you liked my company," Sirius said, placing the drinks in front of us. I vaguely noticed Lily standing to approach James who was still standing by the bar.

"I do." I pulled my butterbeer towards me, letting my hands curl around the cold glass. "I just don't like being constantly under surveillance."

"So you noticed the spies in the corner of the room as well then?" He asked, setting a hand on my shoulder.

I jerked away instantly at the contact, a low hiss escaping my lips. Eyeing him from the corner of my eye, I wondered how to pass off my reaction. Sirius stiffened beside me, reaching a hand out to gently tug the sleeve of my shirt down to expose my shoulder. He sucked in a breath between his teeth at the sight of the burn.

"What happened to you?" He asked as I watched the muscle in his jaw clench.

I screwed my eyes shut, wondering which version of the story to give him. With a resigned sigh, I settled on the truth.

"Sirius, you're not the only one who's refusing to take the dark mark. I can't believe the irony; they wanted me to get a husband who would convince me to get the mark." I couldn't help the snort that left me. "And they thought that person would be you. The future head of the almighty house of Black."

"Which one of them was it?" He asked, turning his head closer towards mine. Slowly, he traced his fingers across the puckered skin, barely skimming across it. "Your mother or your father?"

"Both."

He regarded me closely before moving closer. He hesitated for no more than a few seconds and then he placed a small kiss on the skin. My breath caught in my throat.

"Oi Padfoot," James called out teasingly. "We don't need to see that."

Colour assaulted my cheeks as I pushed Sirius away from me. I looked over at James to see Lily peeking out from behind him with a grin. They two of them approached us, settling down across from us. Gradually, as I knew it would, conversation drifted to the wedding which was coming ever closer.

"They've sent out the invitations for your wedding," James said quietly as silence fell across the table at his words. "Mum owled me this morning to say that we got invited last night. They've moved the wedding to happen during the Christmas holiday."

"That's only a few weeks away," I muttered worriedly.

"It'll be alright, love." Sirius draped his arm around the back of my chair. "Once we're married, they won't have anything else they can pressure us into doing."

"Unless they want grandkids," Lily muttered dryly.

My heart began to race at the words, dread pumping through my veins. That sounded exactly like something they would do. I turned to face Sirius, the panic evident on my face.

"Sirius, I'm too young to have a baby. Or to go through the pain of labour. Oh my-"

"We'll handle it," he assured me.

Taking my hand, he leaned over to press a kiss to my temple. Sirius was becoming very affection.

"So rumour has it that James Potter is the best man?" I groaned, hearing the sly tone of my sister's voice as she sat down across from me at the Ravenclaw table. The Ravenclaws that she had forced herself in between gave her a look and slid away from her.

"Sirius chose him as best man."

"And you know what they say about the best man and the maid of honour," She continued, smiling widely as she reached for a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Yes," I said, evidently confused. What was she hinting at?

"Well, in that case you get a marauder and I get one as well," She said, laughing gleefully.

I cut her off quickly, "You're not my maid of honour."

"What? Why not?" At the incredulous tone of voice, I stiffened. The last time that I had upset her and made her sound like that, it took her a small conversation with mother for me to end up with a broken rib.

I'd have to tread carefully.

"Well, because I haven't been able to plan the details of my own wedding, Mrs Black suggested that I could pick absolutely anyone that I wanted as my maid of honour."

At the mention of Mrs Black, my sister knew that she had lost.

"Well who did you pick instead of me then?"

"Lily Evans."

"The mudblood!" She smirked spitefully, "Well just wait until I tell Mrs Black-"

"I've already run it by her," I said making her falter, "And she's given me her permission."

"But does she know about Evans' blood status?" At my silence she seemed to grow more confident. "Well, I guess I would just need to send a letter to your future mother-in-law and get her to change the maid of honour to me, then don't I?"

"Go ahead," I said confidently, hiding my bluff. "But I've kept in contact with Mrs Black and she's not too impressed with you trying to weasel into the planning of my wedding. She knows that even though you're just a third year that you've got an eye on her sons and well she doesn't want you after either of them. She knows you're vying after both of them –regardless of my relationship to Sirius."

"And why not?" She demanded, "I'd make the perfect Black bride."

"Well she doesn't think so," I said dismissively. "She doesn't want you to set your sights on Regulus and Sirius is off limits."

"You're the worst sister ever."

"Maybe." I agreed.

The day of the wedding approached and I had been turned into a doll whose purpose was to allow myself to be changed into the perfect Black bride. I had spent two hours so far, sitting in the same place to let them primp and groom me into the image that they had created in their minds. It was alright as long as I sat still and just let them get on with it.

Then, once they were done, they presented me with the dress. I was instantly thankful that Mrs Black had chosen a dress which was beautiful.

I stood waiting for my entrance, tightening my hands around the bouquet in my hand. Peering down at the flowers from behind the ancestral Black family veil I closed my eyes to calm my rapidly beating heart. Once the doors in front of me opened, there would be no turning back for Sirius or me.

Feeling a hand on my arm, I opened my eyes and turned my head to find James peering back at me.

"I've got a message from Pads," he said, letting his hand drop from me. "He said for you to calm down. It'll all be fine."

"I'll try to calm down," I said, taking deep breaths as James walked away to take his place with the rest of the guests.

The doors opened and I took a final deep breath and set off to walk towards Sirius. At the sound of the doors opening, he had turned to look at me and hadn't yet looked away. I lowered my eyes to the floor, praying that I didn't trip.

When I was close enough to him, he held out a hand for me to take. I set my hand in his and let him guide me to stand in front of him. Letting go of my hand, he lifted my veil and gave me a reassuring smile.

"You look beautiful," he said quietly.

"Thank you," I whispered, trying hard to stop my breath from increasing until I was hyperventilating. Pulling me closer to him, he set his forehead onto mine. "I'm going to look after you, I swear."

The ceremony continued after he had pulled his forehead away from mine but his eyes remained on mine. They never wavered as he pledged his fidelity, love and heart to me. Almost instantly, I found myself doing the same.

When the time came to seal the vow with a kiss, he moved confidently towards me. Instinctively, my hands moved to his shoulders, as his hands rounded to the small of my back, pressing me against him.

"Padfoot!" James said, laughing when it seemed as though Sirius wouldn't pull away.

I was the one to pull away first, glancing away from Sirius to hide my blush.

"Shut up Prongs," he said grinning as he extended his arm out to pull me closer to him again. "I'm allowed to kiss my wife."

He turned to face me, his eyes narrowing onto my lips again.

"Sirius," I muttered, "People are watching."

He sighed reluctantly and let me go as the guests were ushered into the hall. Sirius tried to stick to my side for a while but was eventually pulled away from me by his father. Scanning the room, I found a head of red hair leaning towards a head of messy black hair as they talked quietly. I made my way over to them and James, meeting my eyes, nodding before leaving Lily to rescue Sirius from his father.

"I'm sorry you have to hide who you are Lils," I said quietly when I reached her side.

"Don't worry about it," She said reassuringly. "I'm glad that I'm could be here to see you get married."

"Even though you have to be pretend to be a pure blood?"

"Well I got to be the maid of honour so that makes up for it." She smiled, reaching up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Well I hope you plan to return the favour when you and James' get married. Although," I though ponderingly, "I might have to be the matron of honour instead of the maid of honour."

She turned red and made no attempt to deny the implication that I had made. Instead she narrowed her eyes on something behind my shoulder.

"Who's that woman flirting shamelessly with Sirius?"

I glanced over my shoulder, my eyes settling onto Sirius and the woman who was relentlessly pressing herself against him. I let out a sigh; why didn't it surprise me that she would stoop so low?

"That is my older sister."

"The one that's married?" Lily repeated in obvious shock, "Maybe you should rescue him? He doesn't look particularly comfortable."

"I think he can handle himself." I muttered and turned to look forward again. It wasn't my place to step in. Besides how uncomfortable could he be feeling if he wasn't pushing her away?

Sirius found me again later on when I had slipped away from the hordes of guests to try and gather my thoughts. Everything had changed.

There was a tap on my shoulder and I turned to find Sirius standing beside me. He tucked his hands into his robe pockets and raised both eyebrows at me, asking me if I was alright.

"I'm fine," I reassured him quietly and bit down on my bottom lip, turning to look away from him again. "So how did you fight her off?"

I didn't need to specify who I was talking about.

"I reminded her that she was the sister of my wife," He said quietly, looking at me even though I was resolutely staring away from him. "A wife I'm very much in love with."

"I wasn't aware that I married a liar." I muttered quietly, hearing the volume from inside increase.

"You didn't marry a liar," he insisted, taking a hold of my hand and walking to stand in front of me.

"Yes I did. You lied to my sister."

"No." He gripped my shoulders. "I didn't."

"But-?"

"You'd think that being a Ravenclaw you would have picked up on it quicker." He muttered before leaning down to press his lips against mine. This time I responded, leaning up to press my lips against him, moving my hands into his hair. At the sound of a giggle, I pulled back.

Sirius glanced over my shoulder to identify the intruder before burying his head momentarily into my shoulder. "Why does your sister always interrupt us?"

I turned to face my younger sister as Sirius straightened up beside me. She smiled suggestively before asking, "Can I take my sister?"

"No. No you can't." Sirius said, reaching out to pull me against him. "No one is allowed to take her from me anymore."