Till Death Do Us Part

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/53383522.

Rating: Explicit
Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category: F/M
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Relationship: Sirius Black/Original Female Character(s)
Characters: Sirius Black, Original Female Character(s), James Potter, Lily Evans
Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew
Additional Tags: Arranged Marriage, Friends to Lovers, Romance, Drama, Fluff, Eventual
Smut, Smut
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2024-01-29 Updated: 2024-02-12 Words: 14,696 Chapters:
3/?
 Till Death Do Us Part
by anonymousfanfics

Summary

Sirius Black and Clementine Rogers had led parallel lives.

From pureblood families, raised without much love, and disowned for their lack of support
for the family beliefs, they shared a mutual understanding that not many other students could
relate to.

However, a decision by their parents has their parallel paths merging into one and the sound
of wedding bells echoing in their future.

Will Clementine and Sirius be forced into a life they didn't choose? Or will they dare to break
an unbreakable vow?
 One
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Christmas had always been one of Clementine Rogers least favourite holidays.

She loved the idea - the decorations, the indulgence, the merriment - but while for many
people it was a time of being surrounded by loved ones and reconnecting with family, she
found it to be a time of loneliness and isolation.

Hogwarts was always fairly deserted for those last few weeks of December. Almost every
student returned home for the holiday break and she was left alone with a couple of ghosts, a
few teachers and a handful of other students whose families didn’t care enough to spend time
with them. The teachers tried to make an effort - meal times were spent at one smaller table
rather than spreading everyone throughout the Great Hall and they were far more lax around
curfews to allow the lonely students a modicum of socialisation - but there was always an air
of sadness as they all knew that everyone would much rather be somewhere else.

For the first few years of her life at Hogwarts, the castle hadn’t seemed quite so empty as
Clementine had one guaranteed companion in the form of Sirius Black. They’d never been
particularly close, but the parallel paths that their lives had taken had led to them forming a
certain bond over their common ground right from when they’d met for the first time at a
very young age. Their parents had been friendly so there were many family gatherings during
which they were encouraged to play together and entertain each other to keep themselves out
of the adults’ hair, but what their parents didn’t anticipate is how much they would share with
each other about the cruelty they faced from those who were supposed to love them the most.

Both families had similar parenting techniques that mostly revolved around neglect with a
smattering of berating them into submission and their time together helped them see just how
unacceptable that really was. It also gave them an opportunity and a safe place to discuss the
deep rooted beliefs their families held and question whether or not they really made sense.
Both Clementine and Sirius had their doubts from when they were quite young that people
could really be superior just because of their blood and those doubts only grew as they got
older and were more exposed to the violence of the people their families were aligned with.

Sirius had always been more bold in his defiance - he was more open with his questions and
he almost seemed to enjoy the anger that expressing any interest or curiosity in muggles
would cause - but while Clementine had been more cautious about staying in line to avoid her
father’s wrath, she was exposed the moment that she was sorted into Gryffindor. The horror,
resentment and disgust that had been expressed in the first few letters she’d received that year
told her all that she needed to know about her family. They were pureblooded snobs at best
and supremacist murderer sympathizers at worst and she wanted no part in it.

Sirius had faced a similar reckoning after his sorting, but while they always had a sort of
understanding due to the similarity of their situation, their friendship hadn’t really blossomed
during their time at school.
Clementine liked to study. She liked to do her homework on time, she liked to learn as much
as she could, and she liked to put in the effort to get a good education with the knowledge
that she would receive no support from her family for any endeavours she undertook after
graduation. Sirius, however, was far more into the social side of school. He liked the parties,
he liked the pranks and, possibly more than anything else, he liked the girls.

Their differing focus had their paths crossing less and less as the years went on, but every
Christmas they found themselves alone together in the Gryffindor common room when all the
students went home. They would commiserate about their awful families, gossip about their
fellow students and try to make the most of the holiday, but things changed when they were
in their fifth year and Sirius’ best friend, James, finally managed to convince him to spend
Christmas with his family and Clementine was left by herself every year since.

It wasn’t that she didn’t have friends of her own. She had Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon,
Ashley Jones and even Remus Lupin - though he was more of an occasional study partner
when he wasn’t busy being a part of Sirius’ little group of pranksters - but even though they
had all extended offers of a place to spend the holidays, she couldn’t face the thought of the
pity she would surely receive from their families. The poor little disowned Gryffindor whose
parents didn’t love her. It was possibly the only thing that she thought could be worse than
spending Christmas at Hogwarts alone.

So, she persevered through the loneliness, consoling herself in that seventh year with the
knowledge that it was the last time she would get to experience the festive joy of Hogwarts
and tried not to spend too much time counting down the days until her friends returned. It
was no more unbearable than it had been any other year, but relief hit her like a wave in a
storm when the common room door swung open during the first weekend of January and the
other students poured through it. The noise was almost deafening after the silence of the
previous weeks, but she welcomed it and sat up a little straighter as she scanned the crowd
for any of her friends until her eyes settled on Lily who made a beeline straight for her.

“Minnie!” Lily squealed as she threw her arms around her. “I missed you!”

“I missed you too,” Clementine smiled, squeezing her tightly. “How was your Christmas?”

“Oh, it was alright. Petunia was her usual grouchy self, but it was nice to see mum and dad.
How were things here?”

“It was fine,” Clementine shrugged. “It was quiet this year, just me and a few fourth year
Ravenclaws.”

That news had a frown sliding onto Lily’s face and Clementine almost regretted being so
honest.

“Were you lonely?”

“No, it was actually quite peaceful.” She was lying and could see Lily’s eyes scouring her
face for any sign of dishonesty so she changed the subject before she had the chance to ask
any other questions. “But anyway, how was your first Christmas away from your boyfriend
?”
Her playful, teasing tone had a blush rising on Lily’s cheeks as her eyes drifted over to where
James Potter stood with his friends. Almost immediately, he glanced in their direction and
shot Lily a cheeky wink. It had taken him years to win her over, but the way the simple
gesture had a girlish giggle slipping from Lily’s lips told Clementine that her decision to give
him a chance wasn’t one that she was regretting.

“It was fine,” she hurriedly insisted before pausing and sharing a more honest answer.
“Actually, it was a little bit hard. Don’t tell Marlene or Ashley, I know they’ll just make fun
of me, but I did miss him. I’ve gotten quite used to him being around all the time.”

She looked nervous of what Clementine’s response would be, but she offered her friend an
encouraging smile.

“I think that’s pretty sweet,” she assured her. “Perhaps he’s not as bad as we once thought.”

“He’s not at all,” Lily eagerly agreed. “The arrogance is all an act. Not to say that it isn’t still
infuriating when he struts around with Sirius like they run this place, but I know him now and
he has a kinder heart than I expected.”

“Good,” Clementine smiled. “I’m happy for you, Lily. You deserve someone who worships
the ground that you walk on.”

Lily sheepishly murmured her thanks, but they let the subject drop as their other friends came
to join them.

The rest of the afternoon was a blur of socialization and Clementine was happy to soak up
every minute of it. She happily listened to all the tales of family drama from the holidays,
admired all the gifts that her friends had brought back with them, and simply revelled in the
difference between the busy, buzzing atmosphere of the common room and how lonely and
empty it had been that morning. There was an extra little pep in her step as she wandered
down to the Great Hall for dinner with her friends by her side and she even tolerated sitting
with James and his friends - the Marauders as they called themselves - despite the boisterous
energy they brought to the table

The return of the other students had the dark cloud that had been hanging over her head since
the start of the Christmas break slowly beginning to lift as her usual good spirits returned, but
when McGonagall stopped them in the hall as they were heading back to their dormitory, a
wave of dread sank back into her heart.

“Black, Rogers, I need to speak with you,” she announced as she stood in front of the group.
“Now, in my office.”

“I’ve only been back for a few hours,” Sirius complained with a smirk. “I can’t possibly be in
trouble already.”

An echo of protest rippled through the group as most of his friends knew that he, in fact,
could get himself into very serious trouble in such a short amount of time, but McGonagall
chose not to comment as she gestured for them to follow her. Lily shot Clementine a
concerned look that mirrored the confusion that she was feeling too, but she simply lifted her
shoulders in a shrug as she headed off down the hall, racking her brain for any possible
explanation.

However, there was no part of her imagination that was wild enough to even come close to
suspecting the news that McGonagall had to share. She’d envisioned some kind of problem
with a recent assignment, a possible promotion to prefect - although that seemed more
realistic for her than for Sirius - or even possibly someone’s death. Nothing could have
prepared her for what McGonagall was actually going to tell them.

A silence had settled between them all and as they sat down at her desk Clementine noticed
that McGonagall almost looked nervous . The thought was enough to have her stomach in
knots because the usually stern teacher always seemed to have it together. If something had
rattled her then whatever she was about to tell them was certainly not good news.

“Have either of you heard from your families over Christmas?”

It was a reasonable question, but earned a similar indignant response from both students.
Sirius let out a disgruntled scoff while Clementine rolled her eyes with a shake of her head.

“No,” she informed McGonagall. “I haven’t heard from my parents since the summer.”

“And I haven’t heard from mine since I moved in with the Potters,” Sirius added. “And I
can’t see that changing any time soon.”

“Alright, then it will fall to me to break this news to you,” she sighed, taking a moment to
gather herself before she blurted out, “You two are to be married.”

There was a moment of silence as her words hung in the air between them. Clementine’s jaw
dropped as Sirius stared blankly at the professor across from them until he dissolved into
hysterical laughter. The raucous sound snapped Clementine out of her shock, but she hardly
found the statement amusing.

“What?!” She cried. “I really hope this is some kind of attempt at a joke, Professor.”

“I wouldn’t dare to joke about such a thing, it’s truly no laughing matter.” She shot a pointed
look at Sirius who was surprisingly sensible enough to reign in his giggles. “Your parents
have entered you into a magical betrothal, a form of an unbreakable vow.”

The severity of the situation seemed to hit Sirius then as any hint of a smile dropped from his
face and somehow his sudden lack of amusement made Clementine feel even worse. Her
stomach churned as she briefly wondered if she was simply dreaming and would wake up
alone in Gryffindor tower with nothing more than a funny story to tell Lily when she returned
from her Christmas holiday, but as she discreetly pinched her arm and achieved nothing but a
sharp pain, she knew that the situation was very real.

“How is that possible?” She asked. “How could they do something like that without us even
being present?”
“It’s dark magic,” she explained. “It’s not uncommon within pureblood families, however
archaic it might be.”

“But…” Clementine struggled to find words as she fought to process the situation. “Why?”

“I bet I can answer that,” Sirius scoffed. “They’re trying to control us. It’s their way of
keeping their precious bloodlines pure. However much we disagree with their beliefs,
however much our behaviour will damage the reputation of our families, at least they can
guarantee that any children we produce won’t taint the purity of the family blood.”

It was a wise answer and one that she was surprised came from Sirius, but she supposed that
he was very familiar with his family’s sneaky manipulative tactics. However, she was still
shocked that it was something her parents would agree with. It made sense, but it was such an
extreme measure and their complete lack of interest in her for the last few years had lulled
her into a false sense of security that they wouldn’t be bothered with interfering in her life.

“But surely we don’t have to?”

“It’s a form of an unbreakable vow,” McGonagall reiterated. “I’m afraid if you aren’t married
within two months of the day you’re both eighteen then there will be deadly consequences.”

Feeling defeated, Clementine sank back against her chair with a heavy heart as she murmured
a quiet, “This is insane.”

Sirius, however, had more logistical questions.

“When is your birthday?”

“The end of June.”

“Mine is at the start,” he nodded. “Summer wedding then?”

His nonchalance was almost as shocking as the situation itself and she turned to look at him
with an incredulous look on her face.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, darling,” he grinned. “Sirius is exactly who I am.”

The joke earned a huff of indignation as Clementine tried to comprehend that this cocky,
flippant, immature boy would be the person she had to spend the rest of her life with.

“I can’t believe that you’re not bothered by this.”

“Who says I’m not?” He asked, raising a questioning eyebrow. “But there’s nothing to be
done. You’re not so unbearable that I’d rather die than be married to you.”

“Well, I’m not entirely sure that I can say the same.”
It was a bit of a dramatic statement and one that she did feel a twinge of regret for when she
saw a flicker of hurt cross almost imperceptibly over Sirius’ face, but the situation had her
feeling rather defensive and in typical Sirius Black fashion, he wasn’t fazed for very long.

“C’mon, it doesn’t have to mean anything,” he insisted. “We’ll have a ceremony, say some
vows, and I suppose we’ll have to live together, but it doesn’t have to be any more than that.”

“Getting married should mean something,” Clementine protested. “If we agree to this then
we’re just letting them control us for the rest of our lives.”

“And if we don’t then we both die,” Sirius bluntly reminded her. “That would be letting them
control us even more, would it not? I think it’s best that we just do what we have to do and
nothing more.”

It was a valid point, but the reality of actually committing to spend the rest of her life with
someone just because her parents had decided she should had her stomach in knots and the
feeling only worsened when McGonagall interjected again into their discussion.

“While I would agree that it’s best to look at the situation in as positive a manner as possible,
I would be remiss not to mention that you must be married in every sense of the word.”

That caught their attention as they both turned their gaze back to the professor sitting across
from them, eyeing her suspiciously.

“What exactly does that mean?”

The question came from Sirius, but he’d taken the words right out of Clementine’s mouth and
the way McGonagall shifted uncomfortably in front of them had her feeling very unsettled,
once again, by the crack in the woman’s usually composed demeanour.

“All I will say is that the marriage must be consummated, if you are unfamiliar with what that
means then I will have to ask that you seek answers elsewhere.”

Clementine felt her blood run cold as she knew exactly what it meant to consummate a
marriage. However, the way that Sirius flitted his eyes back and forth between her and
McGonagall with a bewildered look on his face told her that he didn’t.

“What? What does it mean?”

A blush rose in Clementine’s cheeks from the thought of discussing such matters in front of a
teacher as she suddenly found it hard to look either of them in the eye.

“I’ll tell you later,” she murmured before taking a deep breath to push down her rising panic
that had her feeling an urgent need to get out of the small office that was starting to feel
rather suffocating. “Is there anything else you need to tell us? Or are we free to go?”

“No, no, I think that will be all for now,” McGonagall assured them. “But I am sorry to you
both. If there was anything I could do to help with the situation, I hope you know that I
would.”
Clementine nodded and muttered out a quiet “thank you” before standing and hurrying from
the room. She hadn’t waited to see if Sirirus would follow, but it didn’t take long for her to
sense his presence as she heard the sound of heavy footsteps behind her.

“Clementine, wait!” He called to her, jogging up to her side. “Don’t you think we should talk
about this?”

“There’s nothing to talk about, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“No, but we can make the most of it, yeah?”

“I guess.”

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug and continued practically marching back towards the
Gryffindor tower, but Sirius wasn’t going to be deterred so easily.

“Can you at least tell me what that word meant?” He questioned, easily matching her stride.
“Conmistrated, or whatever it was.”

“Consummated,” she clarified, feeling her cheeks heat up again. “It means we have to have
sex. It’s another outdated belief that a marriage isn’t truly complete until after the first time a
couple have sex.”

The information had Sirius barking out another laugh, but he quieted himself when
Clementine shot him a fiercely annoyed look.

“Sorry, but that’s ridiculous,” he argued. “What couple waits until marriage to have sex these
days?”

“I can’t speak for others, but I know that this couple…” She paused to gesture between the
two of them. “Absolutely will be.”

“Awe, c’mon, Minnie,” Sirius groaned. “You’re really going to make me be celibate for the
next seven months ?”

“I don’t care what you do for the next seven months. You’re not my problem until after we
graduate, until then you can do whatever you’d like.”

“Well, that would make me a bit of a prick, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s a moral dilemma that you’ll have to sort out yourself, but it’s not something I will be
worrying about.”

It was clear from Sirius’ face that he wanted to argue, but Clementine mumbled the password
to the Fat Lady before he had the chance. However, as the portrait swung open, any hint of
annoyance on his face was replaced by his usual arrogant grin and he threw his arm around
her shoulder as he led her into the common room.

“Save the date, lads and ladies,” he announced as he steered her towards the corner where
their friends were waiting. “Minnie and I are getting married!”
His claim had a chuckle rippling through the group, but Clementine had paled at his
announcement and when Lily’s eyes met hers and saw the horror, she abruptly stopped
laughing and asked, “Wait, you’re kidding, right?”

“No,” Clementine croaked out, pulling herself out of his grasp. “Unfortunately, he’s not.”

She flopped down on the couch beside Lily as if the whole weight of the world was weighing
down on her shoulders, but Sirius continued to be so seemingly unbothered that Clementine
started to wonder if he really wasn’t unhappy about the situation.

“Yes, it’s true,” he smirked. “Apparently our dear old parents have organized it in some
desperate attempt to continue controlling our lives.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Lily scoffed. “You’re not actually going to go through with it, are you?”

“Yeah,” James chimed in. “They’ve ignored both of you for years, why should you listen to
them now?”

“We don’t have a choice,” Clementine sighed. “Apparently, it’s a betrothal that involves some
kind of unbreakable vow. If we don’t go through with it then McGonagall says the
consequences will be deadly.”

“That’s horrific.”

The disgust in her voice had Clementine nodding in agreement, but it seemed - from the
smirk on his face - that James found the situation as laughable as Sirius did.

“It is horrific,” he agreed. “At least, it is for the poor girls of Gryffindor who will be
heartbroken to learn their beloved heartthrob is officially off the market.”

“That’s true,” Marlene agreed with a giggle. “I can’t wait to tell Tasha Berwich, she’s going
to be devastated.”

“It’s not funny,” Lily scolded, glaring at the ones in the group who were clearly amused. “It’s
such an overstep for your parents to make this kind of decision for you.”

“It’s fairly common in pureblood circles,” Sirius shrugged. “Our parents have been scouting
out worthy matches for us since before we were born, it’s not something that I’m surprised
by.”

“Well, I am!” Clementine protested. “I always knew that they’d try to marry me off one day,
but the element of certain death is fairly unexpected!”

“It’s barbaric.”

Lily’s description earned a nod from most people in the group, but Remus - the ever studious
one - looked particularly ponderous as he questioned, “Did McGonagall say why they took
such extreme measures?”
“I’m guessing that they’re just trying to protect the family names,” Sirius repeated what he’d
said earlier. “They want to make sure neither of us can run off and marry a muggle so we
won’t dirty up the bloodlines with our half-blood children.”

There was a murmur of understanding as everyone agreed that Sirius’ idea made sense, but
hearing his theory for the second time pulled a huff from Clementine’s lips.

“It’s a bit silly though, isn’t it? I could always have an affair. It wouldn’t kill me because I’d
still be married to you, but I would still have a half-blood child and taint their precious
bloodline.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Sirius insisted, his indignation clear in the frown on his
face. “If we’re going to be married then I would very much appreciate it if you didn’t start
having children with any other men!”

“It would be the ultimate payback though,” Peter Pettigrew mused. “They’ve gone to all this
trouble to force you into a marriage just for you to end up raising a mudblood child anyway.”

Clementine noticed the way that Lily cringed at the harsh word Peter had used, but Sirius
continued his protests before she had the chance to say anything.

“While it would infuriate all of our parents, it’s rather unfair to me! I’m just an innocent
bystander in all this and now I’m supposed to raise another man’s child just to annoy people
who probably won’t even be paying us any more attention?”

“Innocent?” Marlene scoffed. “From the rumours I’ve heard, that’s hardly a word I would use
to describe you, Sirius.”

“Well, I’m glad my reputation precedes me,” he smirked, puffing his chest up proudly in a
way that had Clementine rolling her eyes. “But I still don’t approve of this plan you’re all
hatching.”

“No one’s hatching a plan,” Clementine sighed. “Well, I am, but it’s simply to find any way
out of this arrangement that I can.”

“Do you think that’s possible?”

The question came from Remus and Clementine appreciated the way he perked up with
intrigue.

“I’m not sure, but I plan on scouring the libraries until I’ve exhausted all the options.”

“I’ll help you,” Remus nodded. “If there’s a way out of it, I’m sure we can find it.”

For the first time in hours, Clementine felt a smile slide onto her face as she mumbled her
thanks to Remus for the generous offer. However, her possible husband-to-be let out a
dramatic sigh as he collapsed onto the arm of the chair that James was sitting in.

“Meanwhile, I’ll be planning a wedding all on my own,” he moaned, resting his head on his
best friend’s shoulder. “James, will you be my maid-of-honour? Will you help me with this
burden that I’m being forced to handle all by myself?”

“Of course, Sirius,” James grinned, lifting his hand to cup Sirius’ cheek. “We can plan a
summer wedding in Godric’s Hollow, I’m sure my parents would be more than happy to let
you use their house for such a wondrous occasion.”

Sirius let out a dramatic sigh of relief as he showered James with thanks for his willingness to
help, but their performance earned a glare from Lily and an eye roll from Clementine.

“I actually feel sick,” Clementine sighed, rubbing her temples exasperatedly. “I can’t believe
that this is actually happening.”

“It’s a lot to wrap your head around,” Lily sympathized. “Why don’t we go up to bed and we
can talk about this tomorrow with clearer heads?”

“I like that plan,” Clementine agreed. “I’m exhausted.”

Immediately leaping into action, Lily rose from the couch and offered her hand to
Clementine. She paused briefly to give James a gentle goodnight kiss, but wasted no time in
dragging Clementine away from the many prying eyes up to the dormitory that they shared
with Marlene and Ashley.

“Are you okay?” She asked as soon as the door was closed. “What do you need right now?”

Her friend’s fierce loyalty was enough to take the edge off of Clementine’s emotional
suffering, but as she glanced at her rather inviting bed, she knew exactly what she needed.

“I think I need to sleep this off,” she admitted. “Partially because I’m hoping that I’ll wake up
tomorrow and this will all be a bad dream, but if not then hopefully you’ll be right about
things being clearer in the morning.”

“Alright, that sounds like a good plan,” Lily nodded before flashing her a rather sympathetic
glance and pulling her into a tight hug. “But I really am sorry you have to deal with this. Your
parents are absolute arseholes and if there was anything I could do to help then you know I’d
do it in a heartbeat.”

“I know,” Clementine assured her as she squeezed her tight and slipped out of her grasp.
“And if I find a solution that you can help with then you’ll be the first to know.”

With nothing left to say, Lily simply offered her a sad smile as Clementine made her way
over to her bed to grab her pajamas from where they rested on the pillow, but as she carried
them into the bathroom to get herself ready for bed, she couldn’t help but reflect on how
drastically her life had changed from the night before. Twenty-four hours ago she’d been
lonely and desperate for company, but one short day later she found herself facing a future
filled with a companionship that she would do almost anything to avoid.

It was a perfect cautionary tale of being careful what you wished for and Clementine Rogers
had well and truly learnt her lesson.
Chapter End Notes

Welcome to my new story!

I am still working on my Remus Lupin story for anyone who may be interested, but I
had this idea in my head that I just couldn't shake and I needed to get it out. I'm not sure
how often updates will be, but I have lots of ideas and seem to be getting more every
day!

Just a heads up that while I will be trying to keep most things in this story in line with
what we know of the Marauders era, I will be changing a few things here and there. For
example, some people may notice that I moved Sirius' birthday up a few months to have
them both be eighteen by the time they get married. However, if anything seems
unignorably wrong to you then please let me know!

Also, please let me know what you think about the story so far! :)
 Two
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

The library was a familiar place to Clementine.

It was somewhere that she spent quite a lot of her time over her years at Hogwarts, but in that
first week after Christmas break she was there more often than not. She was waking at the
crack of dawn to scour through the endless shelves before classes started, forgoing lunch to
skim through all the books she was flagging and returning after classes were done to spend
her evenings making notes of anything useful she’d discovered each day.

Unfortunately, the amount of useful things she’d found continued to add up to basically
nothing.

She’d learned plenty about the common use of betrothals, the history and origins, the
demographics most likely to use one, and the consequences of breaking one, but there was
nothing to be found about how they were created or if there was any possible way to undo it.
She understood why - Hogwarts wasn’t exactly about to give students easy access to books
that provided step by step instructions for any kind of dark magic - but considering her
reasons were noble, she found their rules rather limiting.

By the end of her first week of research, she was just starting to seriously contemplate
breaking into the restricted section when the librarian told her it was time to leave. The news
shocked her as the evening had flown by, but when she looked around the room and saw no
other students and noticed the light dwindling, she realized just how late it was. Murmuring a
quick apology for her lateness, she gathered her things and decided to save her inquiry about
some slightly more off-limits books for another day.

There had to be a way, she thought as she wandered through the hallways with her mind
preoccupied by the task she was trying to accomplish. She knew that expecting full access to
the restricted section was highly unlikely, but maybe there was hope that one of the
professors would take pity on her and find her some resources if she could come up with
specific book titles. McGonagall had said that she would help if there was anything she could
do and finding her a couple books didn’t seem like too much of a hassle, but she worried that
she would just be dismissed as a desperate girl with a hopeless cause. If she couldn’t provide
evidence of why the books would help then she worried that most professors would simply
find it to be a waste of time and her stomach turned at the thought of being faced with
resigning to her fate.

However, those worries faded somewhat into the background as she rounded a corner and
realized the hallway she was heading down was blocked by a group of Slytherins - a group
that appeared to be led by Regulus Black.

She hesitated and almost spun on her heel to go back the way she came, but she noticed their
attention turn her way and knew that running away would probably just provoke them even
more. So, with her head held high as if she didn’t have a care in the world, she strolled down
the hallway and attempted to simply give them a wide berth, but almost exactly as she
expected, they weren’t going to let her go by unscathed.

“Well, well, well,” Regulus’s voice cut through the hushed silence of the hallway as soon as
she was in earshot of the group. “If it isn’t my soon to be sister-in-law.”

The news had spread around the school like wildfire after Sirius’ announcement in the
common room, but Clementine felt a flicker of intrigue at the thought of Regulus maybe
having some kind of insider information about the situation from his time at home over
Christmas. However, the sneer on his face told her that getting any information out of him
was highly unlikely.

“Hello, Regulus,” she greeted him, trying to keep her tone light as if she was unbothered
despite the nerves building as the group moved closer. “What are you doing in this part of the
castle?”

It wasn’t necessarily unusual for students from other houses to venture near the Gryffindor
tower, but for such a large group of Slytherins to be spending their evening so far away from
their own turf was suspicious to say the least.

“I’m on patrol,” he informed her, but when his answer didn’t seem to ease her confusion he
added, “I’m a prefect, I’ve been one all year!”

It seemed that her lack of understanding had offended him, but she simply rolled her eyes.

“I know that you’re a prefect,” she assured him. “I even could have surmised that you’re here
because you’re on patrol, I suppose I just didn’t realize that your patrol duties were such a
social occasion.”

“Well, when you’re as popular as me, everything is a social occasion,” he smirked, making
Clementine resist the urge to roll her eyes again. “But anyway, back to your impending
nuptials, should I be expecting an invitation?”

She knew better than to take the bait and react to his teasing with anything other than
complete indifference. Being outnumbered by a group of Slytherins and saying anything that
might be considered antagonistic would be an incredibly foolish idea. Which is why she
couldn’t understand why the next words she spoke came out of her mouth.

“No, you won’t be invited,” she coolly informed him. “We’re planning a strict ‘no death
eaters’ policy that I’m afraid would prevent you from being in attendance.”

She’d expected her words to cause some kind of indignation, but she was reminded of just
how different her views were to Sirius' family - and her own - when her intended taunt had a
look of pride sliding onto Regulus’ face.

“That’s a little rude,” he chided her. “Don’t you think, lads?”

There was a chorus of agreement, but it seemed that the words of one of his cronies in
particular caught his attention.

“Seems rather ungrateful to me.”

“Ah, it does, doesn’t it?” Regulus agreed with a contemplative nod. “Your parents had some
rather grand plans for you before my parents stepped in. Tiberius Cobb, Alixter Rowland,
those were just a couple of the men you might have ended up with and now we won’t even be
invited to the wedding? Very distasteful.”

The knowledge that the two men he’d mentioned were both at least thirty years older than her
had her almost overwhelmed with a feeling of nausea. She’d always assumed that her and
Sirius were both regarded as damaged goods and were being married off to spare both
families the embarrassment, she’d never entertained the idea that her parents were just
looking to marry her off to anyone and that a life with Sirius was the best possible scenario
for her. However, she wasn’t going to let Regulus know that his admission had unsettled her.

“I hardly think I owe your parents much of a ‘thank you’,” she huffed. “I doubt they
sacrificed Sirius to save me from marrying some old man out of the goodness of their own
hearts.”

Once again, Clementine found that her words did little to put a damper on his smugness. In
fact, they almost seemed to have the opposite effect as he stood up a little taller and let his
tall height truly show. As he stepped forward, his group of minions seemed to follow and
when Clementine glanced backwards to suss out her exit strategy, she was dismayed to see
that at some point during their short conversation, they’d almost managed to completely
surround her. She moved away as Regulus approached, but it took a few short steps for her to
hit the wall and she realized with growing panic that she had nowhere to go.

“No, but I still think they should have given you to me.” His voice was low as he caged her in
with his body. “I would have made sure you knew your place and it would have been so
much fun teaching that pretty little mouth to be quiet.”

Her heart was racing as she found herself frozen in fear and he was so close that she was sure
he could hear how hard it was pounding. It seemed hard to believe that the boy in front of her
was only fifteen when he spoke with such confidence, but she supposed that was the kind of
entitlement that came from being raised in a world where women had little more purpose than
producing pureblood babies. That thought did nothing to ease the churning of her stomach as
she realized just how close she’d come to that rather bleak fate, but her mind didn’t wander
for long as Regulus brought her back into the moment as his hand moved to cup her cheek.
His body was practically pressed against hers and she wondered just how far he would be
willing to go with his audience of lackeys around him, but to her continued dismay the
hallway around the crowd was completely deserted.

She cursed herself for not pulling her wand out before she’d been so easily trapped, but with
the closeness of Regulus’ body she knew there was no way she could reach for it unnoticed.
She wanted to scream, but was sure he had a few tricks up his sleeve to put a stop to that as
fast as it started and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to find out what those might be.
And then, just as she was beginning to give up hope of finding an exit strategy that didn’t
involve physically fighting her way out - a strategy that held little hope of being successful
considering there was at least five large boys around her - someone appeared as if out of thin
air right in the middle of the hallway.

“Oi!” Sirius shouted as Clementine tried to puzzle out if she was hallucinating. “Get your
hands off of my fiancée! ”

Clearly catching everyone by surprise, he charged through the outer ring of spectators with
his wand firmly in his hand as Regulus spun around to face him and Clementine’s confusion
gave way to relief as she revelled in the sudden increase in personal space.

“Oh, isn’t this cute,” Regulus chuckled, though it was a dark sound and not at all the usual
lightness that comes with an amused laugh. “You’re using titles already?”

“Well, it’s what she is,” Sirius glowered at his brother. “Why not use it?”

“Maybe because rumour has it that Clementine is rather desperate to get out of your little
arrangement,” Regulus smugly informed him. “I hate to break it to you, my dear brother, but
apparently she’s been scouring the library looking for any way to break the betrothal.”

Clementine wasn’t surprised that the news of their betrothal had spread quickly through the
school - that was the kind of gossip that teenagers love - however, she was somewhat
surprised that people had taken notice of the hours she’d been spending in the library. It
wasn’t really much of a shift from her usual routine anyway, it was just the subject matter
that was different.

“I don’t care,” Sirius shrugged, seeming to be genuinely unbothered. “It’s not an ideal
situation for either of us, but until she finds a way out then the title still stands and I would
very much appreciate you keeping your hands off of her.”

His words seemed polite enough, but his tone was anything but. He was stern and demanding
in a way that Clementine had never seen before and as much as she liked to fight her own
battles, she had to admit that she appreciated his apparent protectiveness - especially when it
drew Regulus’ attention away from her enough for her to move away from the wall and
closer to Sirius.

“Oh, yeah?” Regulus snarled. “And what if I don’t?”

Sirius’ wand twitched in his hand and Clementine knew exactly what was about to happen
the moment his mouth began to open, but as much as she would have liked to see Regulus
hexed into oblivion, she grabbed his arm to stop him. His eyes darted to her face in clear
confusion, but she simply shook her head.

“He’s not worth it, Sirius. Let’s just go.”

She could see the hesitation in his eyes, but she was far too tired to be involved in any kind of
duel and hoped that he would make the right choice. After a moment of thought, he nodded
and lowered his wand slightly as he slid his free hand around her waist.
“Wow,” Regulus scoffed. “She’s got your balls on a leash already.”

Due to their suddenly close proximity, she felt the growl that Sirius let out almost before she
could hear it, but she pulled him away before he could change his mind about not escalating
the situation. He stayed tense and ready for a fight as they walked down the hallway, but once
they were away from the piercing eyes of the Slytherins, he relaxed and let her slip out of his
grasp.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, feeling a little awkward once they were alone. “That situation
got out of hand quite quickly.”

“You shouldn’t be walking around the castle so late at night,” Sirius warned her, the
annoyance in his voice catching her off guard. “My brother and his friends are dangerous, so
are most Slytherins these days. You know what those pureblood families are up to, who
they’re allegiance belongs to. It’s not smart to get tangled up with them alone in a dark
hallway.”

“I am well aware of that,” Clementine frowned, feeling rather taken aback by his scolding. “I
didn’t do it on purpose, I lost track of time.”

“Well, these days you need to be more careful. I might not always be around to save you.”

“No, I’m sure you won’t, but fortunately I have managed to survive the last seven years at
this school without you acting as my guardian angel so I think I’ll be just fine.”

“Clearly not.”

The words were mumbled out as hardly more than a scoff, but Clementine heard them loud
and clear and felt a flicker of annoyance wash over her. She didn’t need Sirius to be acting as
her knight in shining armour now that they were soon to be husband and wife and she didn’t
appreciate him acting like she was completely helpless. However, she was grateful for his
help so she didn’t push the subject any further as another thought came to her mind.

“Where did you even come from?” She asked, remembering how he’d seemed to appear out
of thin air. “Did you apparate?”

“You can’t apparate in Hogwarts.”

“I know that, but I’m struggling to come up with any other explanation.”

Sirius shot her a smirk as he glanced at her for a moment with a deep look of thought on his
face.

“Since we’re going to be married, can I trust you if I let you in on a little secret?” He asked.
“Even if you find a way out of our little situation, you have to promise you won’t tell a soul.”

A promise like that seemed like a dangerous thing to make in any scenario involving Sirius
Black, but her curiosity got the best of her and she reluctantly agreed.

“I won’t tell, I promise.”

“James has an invisibility cloak,” he informed her with a grin. “It’s how we get away with so
many of our genius pranks, we can move around the castle completely undetected.”

“ What?! ” Clementine didn’t mean to shriek out the question quite as loudly as she did and
she winced as Sirirus fiercely shushed her. “Sorry, but seriously? Where on earth did he get
it?”

“He got it from his dad,” Sirius shrugged. “It’s a family heirloom or something.”

“And where is it now?”

“With James, he was with me just before I saved you from those pricks.”

That claim had another spark of curiosity flitting into Clementine’s thoughts.

“And why were you in that hallway?” She asked. “Were you following me?”

Her question had a sheepish look sliding onto Sirius’ face as he seemed to realize that he’d
been caught. He spluttered for a moment, stumbling over his words before he forced out an
answer.

“We just wanted to see what you’d found, if you’d made any progress with your research.”

“And you couldn’t have just asked me?” She glowered at him. “How long were you watching
me? That is so creepy!”

“It’s not creepy, we weren’t there for long!” Sirius protested. “Besides, it turned out to be a
good thing we were around, didn’t it?”

The thought of them reading over her shoulder completely unbeknownst to her made her skin
crawl and she wasn’t entirely sure that the way he rescued her made up for it, but another
idea started forming in her mind as she realized how to use the situation to her advantage.

“It is creepy,” she insisted. “There is no circumstance that I can think of where following
girls around when they don’t know that you’re there isn’t creepy, but I think I know how you
can make it up to me.”

“And how would that be?”

There was a suspicious look on his face, but Clementine was fairly confident that he would
agree.

“Would James let you borrow the cloak? I need some books that I’m fairly certain would be
in the restricted section and I have a feeling that sneaking in to get them myself will be faster
than convincing McGonagall to help.”

“That’s a brilliant idea,” Sirius agreed, the thought of such a risky adventure clearly filling
him with glee. “Just tell me the titles and I’ll track them down tomorrow night.”
“I don’t know the titles,” she admitted. “I’d have to come with you and I’d need to browse
for a while, it might be dangerous so I don’t mind going by myself.”

“Oh, please,” Sirius chuckled. “Possibly getting caught in the restricted section of the library
is probably the least dangerous thing that cloak will have been used for in the last several
years. You’ve been doing all the work to get us out of this mess, the least I can do is help you
with this.”

“I would appreciate the company,” she admitted, before teasingly adding, “I’m not used to
skulking around the castle at night like some people.”

“I don’t skulk,” Sirius chuckled. “I prefer the word ‘sneak’.”

Clementine smiled despite the roll of her eyes and the pair continued their walk back to the
Gryffindor common room. A silence settled between them, but the things Regulus had said
plagued her mind and had her breaking the quiet a moment later.

“Did you hear what he said?” She asked. “About who else my parents were thinking about
forcing me to marry?”

“I did,” Sirius grimaced, clearly aware of how bleak the options had been. It didn’t take him
long to crack a smile though as he gently nudged her arm. “Bet it makes me look a lot better
in comparison.”

The observation had Clementine snorting out a laugh, but she couldn’t help but agree as she
nodded her head.

“Oh, absolutely. At least you’re not old enough to be my dad. I would rather not be forced to
marry anyone though.”

“Of course,” Sirius agreed. “Hopefully our little adventure tomorrow will be a success and
we’ll be laughing about this whole mess by next week.”

He sounded so convinced that he even had Clementine feeling a flicker of hope, but it was
quickly squashed by a churn of her stomach as her habit of being a realist reminded her that
her research so far had shown a very slim possibility of any way out of their agreement. She
wasn’t going to go down without a fight though and she knew that she could at least take
solace in the fact that the person she was forced into the situation with wasn’t either.

“What on earth are you wearing?”

The question came from Sirius as Clementine strolled into the common room the next
evening and her brow furrowed in confusion when she noticed the four boys who were
gathered around the fireplace all holding back their laughter. Glancing down at her outfit, she
couldn’t see what was so funny. In preparation for their secret little mission, she’d dressed
accordingly in tight black leggings and a tight black long sleeve top that hugged to her body
and wouldn’t snag on anything along the way. She’d finished the look with a pair of black
trainers in case they needed to make a quick getaway and felt that the entire look was rather
practical.

“You look like you’re ready to rob Gringotts,” James mused. “All you need is one of those
weird masks that muggle criminals wear and you’ll be ready to go.”

“I was trying to be sensible,” Clementine protested. “I don’t have many clothes that are
suitable for sneaking around after curfew, I didn’t want to wear anything that might be eye-
catching!”

“Well, you picked the wrong outfit then,” Sirius smirked. “Because that outfit would
certainly turn a few heads. Who knew you’d been hiding a body like that under your robes all
this time.”

Clementine felt her cheeks burn as his words - while complementary - left her feeling very
exposed. The outfit was a shift from her usual attire as she wasn’t one to show off any of the
assets that she’d been naturally gifted with, but she’d always felt that she was decently
attractive. Her long legs were probably her best feature, but she knew from the way her
friends talked that her tiny waist in combination with her fairly full chest and bum gave her a
body that many girls wanted to have and many boys would probably love to see.

“Don’t be so crass, Sirius,” Lily scolded him, coming to Clementine’s defence as she stood
frozen in place. “Minnie’s outfit makes perfect sense for what you’re about to do, but I would
just like the record to show that I don’t agree with it. There’s no way you can sneak into the
restricted section without getting caught, even at this time of night. I’ll be surprised if you
even make it to the library.”

True to her word, Clementine hadn’t told Lily all the details of their little mission and had left
out the part about the invisibility cloak. She’d felt bad about doing it because Lily had been
so supportive throughout her week-long emotional breakdown, but she couldn’t risk James
refusing to lend it to them if he found out that she’d ratted him out.

“You underestimate my abilities,” Sirius informed her, rising from his spot on the couch.
“We’ll be back before you know it and I can almost guarantee that our mission will be a
success.”

His usually infuriating cockiness was a comfort to Clementine at that moment. She was
desperate to succeed because finding the books was their last hope at getting out of the mess
their parents had created, but failing also meant they’d probably end up with at least a
month’s worth of detentions and that was absolutely not something she wanted to deal with.
She watched as James distracted Lily with expert skill, allowing Remus to toss the cloak to
Sirius unnoticed and the pair slipped from the common room with nothing more than a quick
goodbye.

“So,” Clementine whispered once they were in the hallway. “How does this work?”
“It’s easy,” Sirius assured her, shaking out the cloak before stepping closer and lifting it over
the pair of them. “We just stand under it and now we’re invisible.”

“And how are we supposed to walk if we’re this close together.”

Sirius shot her a smirk before settling his hands on her waist and spinning her around.

“You get used to it,” he insisted. “It’s a bit of a shuffle at first, but if James, Remus, Peter and
I can all fit under here then I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

It was a valid point, but Clementine couldn’t possibly see how the four boys all managed to
squeeze together and actually move without tripping each other up. She found it hard enough
not to step on Sirius’ toes, but she was a tad distracted by the feeling of his body pressed
against hers. The thin, tight material of her clothing did very little to hide his natural warmth
and her unfamiliarity with being in such close contact with someone of the opposite gender
had her flushing as they moved down the hallway.

They made it to the library without being noticed by any of the prefects that were doing their
patrols and Clementine revelled in the strange feeling of walking straight past someone and
being completely unseen. However, the charm of the invisibility cloak started to wear off as
they tried to navigate the narrow spaces between bookshelves to get to the restricted section.

“Can’t we just take this off?” She whispered. “No one else is in here and if we hear someone
coming we could just duck back under it, couldn’t we?”

“That, my sweet and innocent fiancée, is the first mistake people make with a cloak like
this,” he informed her. “You never know who might be watching until it’s too late and that is
a quick way to get caught.”

“Well, it’s slowing us down.”

“And we have all night,” Sirius reminded her. “Sorry, love, but I know from experience that
it’s better to be safe than sorry in these situations. Once we hit the restricted section, we can
probably be a little less cautious.”

She knew that he did have the experience and reluctantly deferred to his expertise and
begrudgingly kept the cloak over her head. The walk that would have usually taken less than
five minutes took them almost twenty, but they made it safe and sound and Clementine let out
a sigh of relief when Sirius pulled the cloak off of their heads.

“Stay close,” he warned her. “We’ll need to hide quickly if anyone happens to come in here.”

It was highly unlikely, but she knew his advice was wise and she felt a modicum of extra
comfort knowing that he was hot on her heels as she started searching through the many
books that were never supposed to be seen by students. It was a large area to search, but
navigating through a library was a talent that Clementine had acquired after her years of
being so studious and it took her a surprisingly short amount of time to find a few books that
should hold all the answers they needed. The tension of being somewhere she knew they
shouldn’t be and the threat of being caught had her too nervous to linger long enough to read
 any of them, but she clutched them tightly to her chest as she let Sirius drape the cloak of
invisibility over them again.

The slow shuffle back to the common room felt even more tedious with the books in her arms
as she was dying to start flipping through them until she found what she needed to know, but
the heavy presence of Sirius behind her prevented her from moving too quickly. And another
hurdle presented itself when they turned down the final hallway that stood between them and
the Gryffindor common room and almost crashed right into the two Hufflepuff prefects that
were on patrol in the area that night.

She let out a gasp that was apparently audible enough for the prefects’ heads to turn in their
direction, but almost as fast as the sound slipped from her mouth, Sirius’ hand was covering
it as his other arm tightened around her waist and pulled her back against his chest. She could
feel how hard her heart was beating as the duo seemed to be staring right at them and she
wondered if Sirius could feel it too. She was pressed so tightly against him that she could feel
almost every muscle of his surprisingly sculpted chest, but before her imagination had time to
really envision the body beneath his clothes, the prefects they’d spooked shrugged and
continued on their path down the hallway allowing Sirius to loosen his grip.

Another flush rose on Clementine’s cheeks as she silently chastised herself for the way she
let her emotions run away with her. It was pathetic how quickly her body responded to how
close Sirius was, but she blamed it on the fact that she was desperately inexperienced and
rather touch starved after the years of putting her studies above anything else.

But it was Sirius Black behind her, she reminded herself as she fought to steady her racing
heart. He was quite possibly Gryffindor’s biggest playboy and she was currently investing a
large amount of energy into getting out of their betrothal. So, while his hands might have felt
nice against the tight fabric that covered her waist and his scent might have been
overwhelming her senses while they were trapped under the heavy cloak, she wouldn't let
herself get distracted and the books that were making her arms ache as she dragged them
back to the common room were a good reminder of the ridiculous and rather dire
circumstances that really required her focus.

It didn’t matter if she found Sirius to be mildly pleasant in small doses, a lifetime with him
was not a commitment that she took lightly - even if the grin on his face when they made it
back to the common room and slipped out from under the invisibility cloak for the final time
was quite endearing and the entire adventure had her feeling a certain amount of
conspiratorial companionship with him.

Marriage was another level entirely and not one that she would agree to without being sure
that she absolutely had to.

Chapter End Notes

Thank you so much for the comments on the first chapter! It really is super motivating
to know that people are enjoying the story and I'm always happy to hear people's
thoughts!
 Three

The morning after her little adventure with Sirius, Clementine woke up with a tingle of
excitement and hope for the first time since she’d received the news about her engagement.

The books that were sure to hold all the answers she needed were tucked safely in her
nightstand - to the absolute amazement of Lily - and her eagerness to dive into them had her
practically vibrating with anticipation. She raced through breakfast, barely took the time to
shower, and pushed any thoughts of her looming homework from her mind as she settled in a
corner of the common room while the rest of the students were out enjoying a rare sunny
January day. She skimmed through the books at what she assumed to be a pace that would
break a few records until she found the information that she’d been looking for, but she felt
her heart sink as she tried to process what she’d learnt.

There was no way out.

Well, there was, but it wasn’t something she could feasibly do.

The only way to break the vow was if one of the parties involved in making it died and the
other then agreed to dissolve it. And no matter how much she loathed her parents, she wasn’t
willing to stoop down to their level of evil by actually murdering one of them, especially not
when it might not even fix anything if Sirius’ parents weren’t willing to disband the vow
anyway.

She snapped the book closed as the wave of dread that she’d been fighting all week finally
washed over her completely.

She would have to get married.

To a man that she barely knew.

There would be no romance in her life, no being swept off her feet. She wouldn’t get to plan
her dream wedding where she would happily be joined to the love of her life while
surrounded by everyone they cared about.

She would have to marry Sirius Black or she would die.

The realization that her fate was sealed and her future had been decided for her by people
who hardly cared about her at all was almost too much to bear and she was grateful for the
quiet of the common room as she dissolved into tears. All the emotions she’d been burying
since she’d heard the news bubbled up inside her and she was powerless to control her sobs.

It wasn’t that he was a particularly bad guy, but it wasn’t the future that she wanted. She
wanted to be her own person, to create her own life, and then she wanted to meet someone
whenever she felt ready who she could share that life with. She didn’t want to be forced to
live as little more than roommates with someone for the rest of her life.
It all felt entirely unfair and her heart was heavy with the grief that came from mourning the
loss of the life she’d expected to have. She couldn’t tell how long she sat there, letting her
tears drip onto the book that still laid open on her lap, but it wasn’t until the sound of the
portrait opening alerted her to the arrival of other students that she managed to pull it
together. She hoped that it wouldn’t be anyone she knew and that they would simply ignore
her, but to her disappointment, she glanced over to see a rather concerned Lily tucked under
the arm of James followed by the rest of the Marauders.

“Minnie, what’s wrong?” Lily questioned as she rushed to her side. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she hiccuped. “I’m fine, just some bad news. It looks like there’s no way out of this
stupid betrothal afterall.”

“Oh…” There was a frown on Lily’s face, but Clementine couldn’t help but notice how she
seemed to visibly relax. “I’m sorry to hear that. Are you sure?”

“Positive,” she nodded. “I’ve read everything that I can, the only way out is if one of our
parents dies and even then the others would have to agree to letting it go.”

Lily’s frown deepened even more as she pulled her into a hug.

“Oh, Minnie…”

Her consoling had the threat of more tears pricking at her eyes, but James decided to seize the
opportunity to be the voice of reason.

“Are you really that surprised though?” He asked. “Did any of us actually think that you’d be
able to break any form of an unbreakable vow?”

Pulling out of Lily’s embrace, Clementine glared at him over her friend’s shoulder, but she
appreciated the fact that Sirius had a forlorn look of his own on his face.

“I was hopeful, yes,” Clementine informed him. “It seems ridiculous that they would be
allowed to do this to us so I was optimistic that there would be some way to stop it.”

“But it could be worse,” he shrugged as he flopped on the armchair opposite where she was
sitting. “So now you’ll just have to make the most of it.”

“And what if it was you?” Clementine questioned, feeling her anger at his lack of sympathy
start to bubble up. “What if someone forced you into a marriage with someone other than
Lily? Would that be easy for you to accept and ‘make the most of’?”

His positivity faltered then as his brow furrowed at the thought.

“That’s different,” he insisted. “I’m already in love with Lily, it would break my heart to end
our relationship to be with someone else.”

“Is there someone you’d rather be with?”

The question came from Remus, but she noticed the way it made Sirius’ displeasure deepen
even more.

“No, there isn’t,” she admitted. “But I want the opportunity to find someone, I don’t want to
marry someone just to live platonically with the rest of our lives.”

“But at least you have the chance to live happily,” James insisted. “Better than if you were
married to one of those other pricks Sirius said your parents were considering.”

It was true, but in that moment it wasn’t a particularly comforting thought and not the support
that Clementine wanted to hear. She shot a glare at Sirius for blabbing to his friends, but
before she had the chance to argue any more, Lily came to her rescue.

“Of course it’s better, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still disappointing,” she reminded her
boyfriend with a stern stare. “Look, Minnie, why don’t we go upstairs for a bit, yeah? We can
talk about it later if you’re feeling up to it.”

Since she wasn’t really in the mood for any further discussion on the topic anyway,
Clementine reluctantly let James’ comments go and let Lily lead her out of the room and up
the stairs to their dorm.

“This is a nightmare,” she groaned as she flopped on her bed. “I really did think that I’d be
able to find a way out of this mess, I thought there was no way that we could actually be
forced to get married.”

“It’s truly disgusting,” Lily agreed. “I can’t even imagine how you must be feeling.”

Before Clementine could even think about replying, the door burst open and Marlene and
Ashley practically fell through it.

“James just told us,” Marlene panted. “There’s really nothing to be done?”

“Nothing,” Clementine sighed. “Unless someone wants to murder my parents for us and then
convince the Blacks that they should call off the whole thing.”

“I’d murder your parents,” Ashley shrugged with a smile. “But I’m not sure how much sway
I’d have over the Blacks.”

“That’s the problem,” Clementine agreed. “Because at this point I’d murder my parents too if
I knew it would actually help.”

“I don’t blame you,” Marlene agreed as she plopped herself down on the side of Clementine’s
bed and leaned back against one of the posts. “But at least you can hopefully find a little
comfort in knowing that it could be worse.”

“That’s what everyone keeps saying,” Clementine sighed. “But it’s still pretty bad. I don’t
want to marry someone that I’m not in love with.”

“It’s not ideal, but maybe you’ll grow to love him,” Ashley shrugged. “Or you’ll just have to
live together as friends, right? That won’t be so bad.”
Lily and Marlene nodded in agreement, but Clementine couldn’t help but cringe as she
realized that she hadn’t told them the entire truth about the situation.

“Well, we can’t entirely just be friends…”

The admission piqued everyone’s interest, but it was Marlene who pressed her for an
explanation.

“Oh? What exactly does that mean?”

“In the words of Professor McGonagall,” Clementine started, taking a deep breath to steady
herself. “I’ll have to be Sirius’ wife in every sense of the word so we’ll have to consummate
the marriage.”

The extra tidbit of information had a gasp echoing from Lily and Ashley’s side of the room,
but as Marlene’s eyes widened in surprise a giggle slipped from her lips.

“Really?” She questioned. “McGonagall told you that you have to fuck him?”

“She didn’t put it exactly like that,” Clementine protested, feeling her cheeks immediately
growing hot. “But yes, unfortunately that will have to be part of it.”

It seemed the shock started to wear off as Ashley joined Marlene in her giggles.

“I wouldn’t say it’s unfortunate ,” she teased. “I mean, maybe it’s unfortunate that you get no
say in the matter, but Sirius is gorgeous and from what I’ve heard he is quite talented in that
area.”

“That doesn’t make it less intimidating!” Clementine protested. “Especially when I have
absolutely no talent in that area!”

“I think he’d be respectful though,” Marlene mused. “He’d be gentle and make sure that you
enjoy it if he knows that it’s your first time.”

There was a wistful tone to her voice that had Clementine stretching out her foot to gently
kick her in disapproval.

“Please, don’t speculate about it,” she practically begged. “This whole situation is
humiliating enough.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Lily chimed in. “As cocky as he can be, I bet he would be
understanding if you had an honest conversation with him.”

“Oh, really?” Clementine scoffed. “And would you know a lot about that? You’ve been rather
scarce with sharing any details about what you and James have gotten up to.”

The way Lily’s cheeks immediately turned an incredibly dark shade of red had Clementine
feeling guilty for putting her on the spot.
“Well, me and James haven’t, uh, done, well, we haven’t done everything yet,” Lily
nervously admitted, clearly feeling rather uncomfortable discussing it. “But he’s been quite a
gentleman about moving at a pace that I’m comfortable with.”

“But he’s been too busy being in love with you to be as much of a slut as Sirius,” Ashley
pointed out. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard about James being with anyone.”

“He hasn’t been…”

It was a sheepish admission and one that Clementine felt was very bittersweet.

“Well, while I’m glad that you and James get to have such a romantic story, that makes our
situations entirely different,” she pointed out. “Your first time will be shared with someone
going through the same thing, mine will be shared with someone who has been with enough
girls to have expectations and will immediately notice that I have absolutely no idea what I’m
supposed to do!”

“It’s all quite instinctual,” Marlene assured her with a shrug. “It can be a little nerve wracking
at first, but your body knows what to do if you just relax and focus on what feels good. It
might not even hurt if you take your time and he’s gentle, it didn’t hurt for me.”

The conversation filled Clementine with a mix of dread and humiliation. She knew that many
of her classmates were already far more experienced in the area of romantic endeavours, but
discussing it with them wasn’t as reassuring as she knew they intended it to be. It was just
adding to her embarrassment and for a brief moment it had her considering whether breaking
the vow and accepting death might actually be the least painful choice. Clearly noticing how
distraught she was becoming, Lily leapt to her rescue.

“You don’t need to think about any of that now,” she reminded her. “It’s still months before
you’ll even be married.”

“That’s true,” Clementine sighed as the exhaustion of her late night and disappointing
morning washed over her. “Honestly, all I want to think about right now is a nap.”

She was grateful that her friends didn’t argue and after letting them all express their
sympathy for her bleak situation once more, she gently nudged Marlene off of her bed and
closed the curtains to give herself some privacy. At first, she worried that despite her
weariness and fatigue, her racing thoughts would keep her awake, but it took hardly more
than a few minutes for her to drift off into a restless sleep.

When she woke up, the room was dimmer and she found herself fighting through her
disorientation to sit up as she tried to figure out just how long she’d slept for.

“Are you okay?” She heard Lily ask, her voice quiet as if she didn’t want to spook her. “I was
just about to wake you up.”

“What time is it?”

“Just after six, everyone else has gone down for dinner,” Lily informed her as Clementine
stretched and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “I told them we’d join them soon, but you
seemed like you needed some rest.”

“I did,” Clementine agreed. “I don’t think I would have been quite so emotionally distraught
about the entire situation had I not been so tired from last night.”

“It’s understandable,” Lily assured her. “I’d be emotionally distraught too, I think anyone
would. I do, uh, I do have something that might help ease some of your worries though…”

The way her confession had her cheeks reddening intrigued Clementine enough to help her
shake off her sleepy fog.

“You do? What would that be?”

Still looking rather sheepish, Lily held out the stack of books in her hand and Clementine
dragged herself out of bed to investigate, but when she glanced at the titles and the authors
she found herself none the wiser.

“They’re muggle books,” Lily explained, sensing her confusion. “It’s a genre that they call
‘romance’, but really they’re just dirty stories. They get quite detailed though, I feel like it
can be pretty informative about what sex should or could be like.”

“Has it helped you?”

“A little,” Lily shrugged. “But it’s true what Marlene said, it all comes more naturally than
you’d probably expect.”

Clementine felt her cheeks heating up until she was sure they were the same dark red as
Lily’s as she took the books.

“Thanks for the reassurance,” she mumbled, biting her lip before making another admission
that made it hard to look Lily in the eye. “I just don’t want him looking for it elsewhere, you
know? As much as it’s a marriage of necessity, I’d prefer if he wasn’t sleeping around while
I’m his wife, but if I’m awful in bed then I won’t really be able to blame him.”

“Oh, yes, you can, I’ll kill him if he ever disrespects you like that,” Lily huffed indignantly at
the thought before softening slightly to her usual calm demeanour. “But I don’t think it’ll be a
problem, Sirius seems surprisingly unbothered by the thought of being with you for the rest
of his life. Not that he should be, he has fared quite well in your little arrangement.”

The compliment had a smile rising on her lips, but Clementine still wasn’t convinced.

“Maybe that’s why he’s not bothered though,” she pointed out. “He knows that he can still
have all his fun regardless.”

“I don’t think so,” Lily insisted with a confidence that Clementine didn’t share. “But the only
way to find out is to talk to him. Now that you know there’s no way out, it probably would be
a good idea to get to know him a little and sort out some kind of plan.”
“I know,” Clementine sighed. “I just need a little time to wrap my head around it first.”

It was a reasonable request and one that Lily nodded in agreement with, but Clementine
would soon find out that the universe had other ideas.

They took their time going down for dinner - Clementine was in no rush to see anyone and
Lily was happy to hang back and support her friend - so it was rather late when they finished
and were heading back to the common room. The hallways were quiet and almost deserted as
they walked which in hindsight should have been a sign - the ominous calm before the storm
- but Lily and Clementine were none the wiser as they discussed Lily’s morning with James
and his surprising flair for the romantics. Their complete lack of suspicion made it all the
more startling when the sound of absolute chaos echoed from the direction they were
heading. The pop of explosions, the screams of unsuspecting victims, and the unmistakable
scent of dungbombs floated down the hall towards them, but it wasn’t until a firework shot
past their heads that Clementine suggested they take a different route. Lily hesitated - she was
head girl afterall and a duty to keep the peace around the castle - but Clementine had
perfected her look of exhaustion after the day’s events and Lily quickly caved.

From the safety of the common room, they speculated about what could have possibly
happened, but they soon got their answers when the Marauders tumbled through the Fat
Lady’s portrait, disrupting the quiet of the common room with the raucous laughter. Lily
frowned as she connected the dots and her immediate assumptions were confirmed when the
girls noticed James pale at the sight of them.

“James…” Lily’s voice was low and dark, the kind of calm that you know is ready to snap at
any minute. “Please tell me that you had nothing to do with that commotion in the hallway.”

It was obvious from the look on his face that he had very much been a part of the commotion
that they had heard, but he stumbled over his words as he tried to think of an excuse anyway.
It wasn’t until Lily crossed her arms and deepened her glare that he came clean.

“Alright, I was,” he admitted. “But Sirius needed my help!”

His justification clearly didn’t have the effect that he’d hoped as it only seemed to make Lily
more annoyed.

“I can’t believe you,” she hissed. “You promised me that you weren’t going to pull those silly
pranks of yours anymore!”

“It really wasn’t his fault,” Sirius leapt to his friend’s defense. “I asked him to help, really
strong-armed him into it if I’m being honest.”

“He could have said no,” Lily argued. “He doesn’t have to do everything you ask of him
especially if he clearly has no problem disregarding my wishes.”

The look on James’ face was so pained that Clementine almost felt a pang of sympathy for
him. She knew how fierce Lily’s wrath could be and she wasn’t known for being one to
easily let things go. However, all her pity disappeared when his next attempt at a grovelling
apology was interrupted by the Fat Lady’s portrait swinging open again, revealing a very
perturbed Professor McGonagall.

“Black, I will need to speak with you in my office immediately!” Her tone left no room for
argument, but her words took everyone by surprise as even though the Marauders were
always the number one suspects when it came to pranks, they rarely got caught so soon. And
their shock only deepened when McGonagall turned to Clementine and added, “Rogers, you
too.”

“Excuse me?!” Clementine gasped, her jaw dropping at McGonagall’s apparent insanity. “I
had absolutely nothing to do with any ridiculous antics that might have just happened.”

“Unfortunately, I have reason to believe otherwise.”

With that, she turned on her heel and marched back out through the door, pausing only briefly
to make sure that the students she’d requested were following her. If looks could kill, the
Marauders wouldn’t have stood a chance as Clementine joined Lily in her glaring before
storming past the sheepish boys and out of the common room.

The walk to McGonagall’s office was quiet as Clementine silently cursed Sirius while she
wondered what on earth he could have done to drag her down with him, but as soon as she
took her seat at the professor’s desk and saw one of their ‘borrowed’ books sitting on top of
it, her heart sank.

“What did you do?”

Her voice was cold as she turned to give Sirius a glare so fierce that he shrank back in his
chair, but in her fury she hadn’t thought much about the implication of her words

“I was just putting it back,” Sirius admitted. “But we ran into trouble and needed a
diversion!”

“Funny how we didn’t need a diversion last night,” Clementine pointed out. “But suddenly
today - with your friends - it can’t be done without fireworks and dungbombs?”

“It was earlier! There were more people around!”

“So, why didn’t you wait until later?”

“Because,” Sirius smirked. “I care about my studies and wanted to get an earlier night so I’d
be rested for classes tomorrow.”

The claim was so ridiculous that a harsh laugh slipped from Clementine’s lips.

“Oh, please! Of all the excuses you could have come up with, that has to be the least
believable.”

“It is not,” Sirius protested. “I’ll have you know that I do very well in my classes!”
“That may be true, but you certainly don’t put your studies above the opportunity to cause
trouble!” Clementine insisted. “You’re immature and reckless.”

“Reckless, I’ll admit to. But I think immature is rather unfair.”

“What about selfish then? Does that feel more accurate?”

“No…”

Sirius' reply was mumbled with an indignant huff, but the sound of McGonagall clearing her
throat interrupted their bickering.

“I must say, you two are constantly surprising me with your stupidity today,” she informed
them. “As if leaving such clear evidence at the scene of the crime wasn’t foolish enough, that
little discussion you’ve just had constitutes a clear confession.”

A wave of dread and embarrassment washed over Clementine as McGonagall’s words had
her shrinking back in her seat. She’d been so caught up in her annoyance with Sirius that
she’d forgotten that the professor was listening to everything they were saying and that
they’d given themselves away before she’d even asked a single question.

“I don’t believe we confessed to anything, Professor,” Sirius argued, never one to give up no
matter how bleak the prospects were. “What exactly do you think we did?”

“I think that Miss. Rogers stole this book from the restricted section of the library,”
McGonagall told them. “And then I think you, Mr. Black, set off dungbombs and fireworks in
the hallway to create a distraction while you returned it.”

“I think you’re half right,” Clementine agreed. “I think Sirius absolutely was a part of the
chaos that unfolded this evening, but I had absolutely nothing to do with it.”

She knew it was unlikely that McGonagall would believe her after she had implicated herself
earlier in the conversation, but she shot Sirius a glare anyway as he laughed at her bold
attempt of getting out of trouble. McGonagall, however, simply looked at her incredulously
as she flipped open the book on her desk to reveal a slip of parchment marking a page about
forming an unbreakable vow of betrothal.

“I believe that you had nothing to do with tonight’s events,” she admitted. “But I can’t say
that I think you’re entirely blameless. This is your writing, is it not?”

It was and the inescapable evidence had another snort of laughter slipping from Sirius’ lips,
but Clementine wasn’t ready to concede defeat.

“I don’t think so,” she lied. “I”ve never seen that book before in my life. If it was found in the
hallway where all the dungbombs were then Sirius must have been doing some research of
his own.”

“Nice try,” Sirius shook his head, amusement still dancing on his face. “But I think the whole
school knows that I’m not the one desperately searching for a way out of our predicament.”
“Well, maybe you decided to start trying to be useful.”

“That’s enough,” McGonagall scolded them sternly before their bickering could pick up
again. “Although it would seem there is no honour among thieves, I have good reason to
believe that this book being removed from the restricted section was the work of both of you.
I don’t know how you managed to do it and due to my sympathy for your situation, I won’t
ask, but I can’t let the use of restricted materials go unpunished. Therefore, you will both be
spending next Saturday serving detention with me.”

“But next Saturday is Hosgmeade!”

The protest from Sirius earned a roll of her eyes from Clementine as she knew that
McGonagall was unlikely to be swayed by that information and was probably already well
aware of it, a point she proved as she nodded her head.

“Yes, it is, Mr. Black,” she confirmed. “Perhaps missing out on the occasion will make you
think twice next time before you set off dungbombs and fireworks in the hallway and perhaps
it will help both of you realize that sometimes it is easier to accept help that has already been
offered than seeking answers on your own.”

Clementine felt a wave of shame as she had known all along that asking for help would have
been the responsible choice, but her own impatience had gotten in the way. She had no
argument really - she was guilty of the crime and had to appreciate McGonagall’s leniency as
many professors would have punished them both in a much harsher fashion - so she accepted
the punishment before quickly making her exit from the room with Sirius right behind her.

In a moment of deja-vu, he called for her as she stormed off down the hall, but this time when
she stopped to face him, she felt more of a wave of fury than the confusion and worry she’d
felt when they’d left the same office the week before.

“Is this what the rest of my life is going to be like?” She asked, her words coming out as
more of a snarl than she’d intended and more than he’d expected from the surprise that slid
onto his face. “Are you just going to be dragging me into all of your messes until you manage
to get us both arrested or killed?”

“Well, that’s hardly fair,” Sirius argued as - in typical Sirius Black fashion - another smirk
slid onto his face. “If I recall correctly, it was you who dragged me into this mess.”

“I was trying to get us out of a mess,” Clementine corrected. “And there was no issue until
you got carried away with your ridiculous dramatics!”

The look on Sirius’ face as he leaned back against the wall was almost one of smugness - as
if he was proud of what he’d done that night - and Clementine resisted the urge to smack him.

“You know,” he started, doing his best impression of a thoughtful look. “I’m starting to think
that you don’t like me very much.”

“I don’t have much of an opinion about you at all,” Clementine corrected him, surprised by
how that admission had a fleeting look of hurt pass over Sirius’ face. “You’ve always been
nice to me and it’s been nice to know that we’ve been through similar struggles with our
families, but I do find the way you and your friends strut around this castle to be rather
arrogant and I find your love of pranks and destruction to be, as I said before, rather
immature. Overall, I suppose my opinion of you was rather neutral, but if you’re going to be
landing me in completely avoidable detentions on a regular basis then that will change very
quickly.”

Sirius nodded as he took in her explanation, but the next words out of his mouth had her
feeling a sense of surprise of her own.

“I am sorry,” he insisted, a sincerity in his voice that she didn’t often hear. “I didn’t think that
we’d get caught - we’re usually quite careful - and I certainly didn’t mean to implicate you in
any of it.”

She stared at him for a moment, almost as if she was waiting for him to crack up laughing,
take back his apology and tell her to get over it, but when he simply watched her with his
annoyingly charming puppy dog eyes practically begging for forgiveness, a sigh fell from her
lips.

“It’s alright, it’s not like I had no part in it, I can hardly say I don’t deserve my punishment,”
she relented. “Just don’t make a habit of getting me into trouble, I’m not a good liar and I
don’t want to end up in prison one day.”

Her worry had Sirius chuckling as he moved forward to drape an arm over her shoulder
before leading her down the hallway towards the common room.

“No need to worry about that,” he assured her. “Usually, I’m quite good at talking myself out
of trouble. Next time just try not confessing to everything immediately in an attempt to throw
me under the bus.”

“Next time?” Clementine glared up at him. “There shouldn’t be a next time.”

“Right, of course.”

The wink that accompanied his words and the smirk on his face had Clementine doubting the
sincerity of his assurance, but she simply rolled her eyes and slid out from under his arm as
she knew there was hardly any point in arguing about it.

At least, she thought to herself as they walked down the hallway, she could take some
comfort in the fact that a life with Sirius Black was sure to be one never short of excitement.
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