A ceiling would be rather uninteresting to most people, but most people hadn't spent the best part of two weeks of their summer holiday in the dank and dreary smallest bedroom of Number 4 Privet Drive like Harry Potter had. And so the embossed swirls of the faded white wallpaper on the ceiling that Harry was currently staring at were quite mesmerising.

Harry shifted his position on the carpeted floor and brought his hands up behind his head and continued his analysis of the ceiling. He heard the tell-tail shuffling of Mrs Figg's carpet slippers as she made the her way back into her living room, and heard her tut at him before she sat down on the ancient musty sofa.

He glanced at her innocently without moving, she gave him a reprimanding scowl, but he only smiled charmingly and turned his attention back to the ceiling.

A few uneventful minutes later Harry heard a small thump and soot muffled footsteps as someone stepped out of the fireplace.

"Remus!" Mrs Figg shrieked, "You're getting the carpet all dirty!"

"Sorry Arabella." He muttered. Harry heard her sigh dramatically and shuffle off to find something to clean the mess up.

"Hello Harry."

"Afternoon professor." He said pushing himself up off the floor. "How's life treating you?" he asked politely.

"Can't complain. You?" he said cautiously.

"Peachy." Harry muttered. "To what do I owe the pleasure?", he asked as he took a seat on Mrs Figg's ageing couch. Lupin sat on a squishy looking arm chair opposite him and gave Harry an assessing look.

"Care to make an intelligent guess?"

"No." Harry said shortly and crossed his arms defensively.

"Firstly Harry, why haven't you been writing?" Lupin asked gently. Harry shrugged and remained silent. Lupin frowned, until now he'd agreed with Molly, that it was probably a ploy to get someone out here to see him, a cry for attention, but if that was true surely Harry would be happy and friendly towards him. "Fine. The more pressing issue is that you've been sneaking out of the Dursley's house at night and walking the streets by yourself, it's just not safe Harry."

"Safer than the Dursley's." Harry muttered.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing." Harry sighed. "Look I won't go a-wandering by myself again okay? Not that I'm really by myself because you guys are still trailing me, but as you and the Dursleys seem determined to keep me locked in that little room and to drive me insane so be it!" he said angrily. Lupin cringed, it seemed as if the Order's little threat to the Dursleys had worn off already.

"I'm sorry you feel that way Harry, but it's for your safety-"

"SCREW MY SAFETY!" Harry roared jumping to his feet. "You think all this is for my safety!" Harry asked pacing angrily. "Dumbledore just wants to keep the boy-who-lived, the saviour-of-the-wizarding world safe! Not me!" he exclaimed, rounding on Lupin who had stood up to face him.

"Harry just calm down-" he began, and reached out a hand trying to placate Harry.

"Calm down? You think this isn't calm? You should see me when I'm really mad!" he hissed batting Lupin's hand away and stormed out of the living room, into the hall and out of the front door, slamming it as he went so the glass reverberated in the windows.

Lupin cursed under his breath and quickly made to follow him. Throwing Mrs Figg's front door open he stepped outside with every intention of following Harry, who had just run round the a corner and out of sight when someone spoke.

"You might want to lose the robes." The voice sneered. "This is a rather well to do Muggle neighbourhood you know."

Lupin stopped short at the word 'muggle' and found himself looking into the face of a strangely familiar looking teenage girl. She had dark brown, almost black hair, and was clad head to toe in black, black jeans a black strappy top and black trainers. Her cold blue eyes ran up and down him in a way that made him feel very small and her lips curled into a smirk.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked. There was no record of any other witch or wizard in Little Whinging.

"I wouldn't go after him just yet if I were you." She said ignoring his question. "He has some temper that one does." She said and still smirking walked up the street and round the corner which Harry had disappeared round a minute earlier.

Grudgingly realising the strange teenage girl was probably right he turned back round into Mrs Figg's house and headed to the fireplace to floo back to Headquarters to tell Dumbledore everything that had happened, including the young witch he had just encountered.

Still muttering angrily to himself Harry jumped over the fence to the park and threw himself onto one of the swings and stared moodily at the ground.

As the gate to the park clattered loudly a minute later Harry looked up and glared hatefully at whoever dared to intrude on his starting contest with his feet. His hateful gaze met cold blue eyes.

"Go away Jas." He growled. She ignored him and sat down on the neighbouring swing. He glanced at her, she was smiling sweetly at him.

"You sulk soooooo well." She said mock-dreamily. He rolled his eyes and got up, and stalked across the park to the bench and laid down on it, staring at the darkening sky. He pulled out a cigarette packet from his pocket and pulled one out of it and place it between his lips, he flicked the lighter once, twice, and inhaled deeply, replacing the packet in his jeans pocket.

He heard Jas' soft footsteps as she approached. She sat down lightly on his legs, so that if he sat up she'd be in his lap. They stayed like that silently for a while as night fell around them, the only sound being Harry's inhaling and exhaling as he finished his cigarette. When he'd finished and threw it in the bin behind him, he sighed.

"Life sucks." He said.

"That it does." She replied softy and he smiled sadly.

"It was only to be expected." Dumbledore sighed as he leant back in his chair. "I'm afraid young Harry feels as if we have deserted him."

"He's not far from the truth sir." Lupin said hesitantly, shifting uneasily in his seat in the headmasters office.

"I suppose one could take that view." Dumbledore looked up at a knock at the door and called, "Severus, do come in." The potions master entered with his usual flare, robes billowing dramatically behind him, a sneer gracing his face as his eyes laid upon Lupin. "If there wasn't anything else Remus?" Dumbledore asked.

"Actually sir there is." Dumbledore indicated for him to continue, while Severus folded his arms looking thoroughly bored. "After Harry left, I had every intention of following him, and even stepped outside the house."

"Yes?"

"But there was a teenaged girl outside, who rightfully pointed out that I wouldn't be very inconspicuous walking around a muggle neighbourhood in my robes."

"A witch?" Dumbledore enquired.

"A witch who seems to know Harry well enough to know his temper is a force to be reckoned with." He added.

"How odd, there are no registered witches or wizards anywhere in the vicinity."

"That's what I thought. She seemed familiar as well, something about her, I don't know." He trailed off.

"What did she look like?" Dumbledore asked.

"Average height, slim, dark brown shoulder length hair. Oh and she had crystal blue eyes, they looked almost unnatural." He added, at this last piece of information Snape's gaze shot towards him, his face now a picture of concentration.

"How old would you estimate she was?" Dumbledore asked.

"Around Harry's age." He replied without taking his eyes off Snape, who was rooting around in the inside of his robe. He pulled out a tattered piece of paper and handed it to Lupin. It was in fact a photograph, Remus studied it carefully.

There were three occupants of the picture, all sitting on a bench. On the left was Snape, with a rare half smile on his lips, on the right was a teenage boy with white blonde hair, clearly Draco Malfoy. In the centre of the two with her head rested on Severus' shoulder was the girl he had encountered outside of Mrs Figg's house, smiling happily.

"That's here! You know here?" he asked curiously, still watching the photo Snape who had just put his arm round the girl.

"I do." He said snatching the photo out of Remus' hands and putting it back in his pocket.

"Who is she?"

"Bellatrix Jasrene Poliakov-Black."

First Harry Potter fic! Please review! And be gentle! You know what? Screw that, be brutally honest and we'll see where this goes from there . . .