Disclaimer: I do not own Harry potter and/or the characters, places, etc. in the Harry Potter universe.

As I've said before, MeaAndromeda. Mea and Sirius, being that they're the only two of their family not affected by the pure-blood mania, are extremely close, at least the way I pictured them.

"There's a letter here addressed to you," Ted informed Mea. She sighed as she flipped the eggs in the frying pan.

"Isn't there always?"

"Um, no, Mea...The letter is from Remus."

Mea turned on her heel, surprised but also with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach; why would Remus be writing her? If it were Sirius, she wouldn't have been at all surprised, but Remus? She snatched the letter from Ted without a word, ripping it open in one swift, fluid motion. Her hands were shaking as she read the letter.

Mea,

Normally I wouldn't write, but I didn't know who else to turn to. Sirius is in trouble.

Remus J. Lupin

Mea's lips silently formed the last sentence; her heart stopped. What kind of trouble was Sirius in?

"I'll be back later," Mea said meekly, before disapparating. Ted stared for several moments before rising and finishing cooking the abandoned, and slightly burnt, eggs.

"Come in," McGonagall called. Mea hesitated for a moment outside the door. Since she didn't know the password to Dumbledore's office, but she couldn't just go up to the Gryffindor tower without letting someone of authority know- especially not with Voldemort gaining power- she'd decided to let McGonagall know she was here.

Mea shyly poked her head in the door before fully entering. She was positively bouncing on her feet with dread. She needed to speak to Remus.

"Andromeda," McGonagall said, motioning for Mea to sit. "I'm surprised to see you here."

Mea let out a polite smile, easily retreating into herself and hiding her emotions. "Yes, well... I was just... I... I got a letter, from one of Sirius's friends, saying he was in trouble...I had to make sure he was okay," Mea explained.

"Mr. Black seems to be fine to me," Mea said.

"Yes, but still, I'd like to at least speak to Remus Lupin to, at least, find out the nature of the problem, seeing as Sirius didn't take the liberty to tell me himself," Mea explained patiently, although she wanted to grab McGonagall and demand to see Remus.

"Well, I suppose...if you really think it's urgent..."

"I assure you, Professor, I wouldn't be here had I thought it not urgent. If I believed it was something to be dismissed out of hand, I'd have simply wrote Remus instead," Mea answered.

"Very well. I'll be back in a few moments with Remus." McGonagall rose from her seat, and as soon as she walked out, Mea's foot began bouncing impatiently.

Remus paid no heed to the opening portrait hole as he concentrated on his Astronomy homework. But when the Common Room fell silent, he had to glance up. He was shocked to see Professor McGonagall standing there; she very rarely visited the Common Room. He was even more surprised as she looked at him and said, "Mr. Lupin, I need you to come with me."

"What'd you do, Moony?" James asked as Remus hesitantly put away his books.

"Nothing," Remus answered, never taking his eyes from his Professor as he searched for answers. His heart sank lower and lower as she led him to her office; he really hadn't done anything!

"You've a visitor," she said, opening her office door and pushing him inside without following him. She shut the door behind him, just as a hand seized his shoulder and steered him into the chair reserved for guests in McGonagall's office, the one on the other side of her desk.

"What trouble is Sirius in?" Mea demanded, without any pleasantries. Remus took a moment to compose himself; Mea's eyes grew wild with nervousness as she waited on him to speak. Finally, even though he was still trying to shape the words, he spoke, if only to keep her from shaking him and demanding that he speak.

"Well, I don't know how to explain really...I saw scars, on his arms... he cuts... I confronted him about it, and he said he'd stop, but, well, I don't really believe him. Sirius has always been extreme. I'm scared for him." Remus looked to Mea, his eyes begging her to tell him what he should do for his best friend. Mea paused, absorbing his words. Of course, this wasn't what she was expecting; it was a hard blow because she simply wasn't expecting it. She licked her lips, biting them, and then she sighed.

"I'll... I'll talk to him... I understand, of course. I understand totally where you're coming from; I'd be scared for him too. And I'm glad you told me. I suppose he swore you to secrecy?" Mea looked at him, expecting an answer. Remus nodded slowly.

"At first, I... I wanted to belive he really would quit, just like that, but I know Sirius, and... well, if my broken promise saves his life, then is it so bad I went back on my word?" This had obviously been part of what was bothering Remus; betraying his friend. Mea gave a small smile.

"No, it's not so bad. I'm glad you did, and i swear to try and keep your name out of it. Um... go get Sirius for me, would you? I don't know the Common Room password. And don't tell him I need to see him; he might just figure out what I need him for and try to avoid me," Mea commanded. Remus rose, happy to be free of that burden, and ran off to do her bidding.

Mea paced the length of the tiny office as she waited the eternity for Sirius to enter. Exactly what did she plan on telling him? she wondered. She sighed; she supposed she'd make it up as she went along...

Sirius entered, a little nervously. When he saw Mea, he brightened, and ran to hug her.

"Mea, what are you doing here?" he asked. "Is everything okay?" he asked suddenly serious.

"Yes, Dora and Ted are fine," she said, answering his unspoken question. "I just need to talk to you." Mea steered him into the chair Remus had recently vacated, conjuring a chair for herself. She paused, unable to figure out how to begin without mentioning Remus. Sirius had never before seen her at such a loss for words, and he reached over, placing his hand on hers on the arm of her chair.

"You and Ted aren't getting a divorce, are you?" he asked, concerned. She shook her head, her eyes still in space. She gently turned his hand in hers, pushing up the sleeve a little, examining it, ignoring the uncomfortable look on Sirius's face. She traced each one of his scars- and there were many, some faint, some still red, some long, some short, some deep, and some shallow- with her index fingernail and ticked off their age.

"This one," she said, tracing a faint one, "looks about a year old, maybe even more. Kind of shallow; it's the oldest one here. This one-" she traced another, still bright red, "looks barely even a day old." Sirius hissed as she traced it. She immidiantly withdrew her finger, an apologetic look on her face. "I didn't mean to hurt you," she said gently.

"You... you didn't," Sirius whispered almost too low for her to hear, pulling his hand from her grasp.

"Sirius, why didn't you tell me?" Mea asked, hurt coloring her face although it stayed out of her tone. Sirius looked away from her.

"This isn't really something you tell..."

Mea reached over, taking his chin in a gentle but firm grasp and forcing him to look at her. "This is exactly the kind of thing you tell, Sirius," she said, her voice firm. "Especially before it winds up as something like a suicide attempt."

"I haven't had a suicide attempt," Sirius snapped, a little too defensively.

"That doesn't mean you won't, Sirius. One thing like cutting can easily lead to suicide, when finally cutting no longer relieves the stress."

"How do you know I do it to relieve stress?" Sirius asked. Mea gave him a look that almost said, "This is me you're talking to."

"I know all the excuses, Sirius."

"You don't know what I'm going through, Mea, being stuck in that family," Sirius spat. Mea looked slightly hurt.

"I know more than you think," she answered, but the answer was little more than a whisper and she didn't meet Sirius's eyes.

"No, you don't, not with my mother constantly favoring my brother, and-"

"Sirius, I was the one who was disowned. Do you have any idea how badly it hurt to have my father look at me and slap me, and no one do anything? Not to be able to talk to my sisters anymore because they didn't even want to be around me? To be an outcast, because to everyone else I was a Slytherin but to the Slytherins, I was a blood-traitor? Dear God... I think I have a pretty good idea of some of the stress that comes from that, and seeing as right now my own sister is a Death Eater, ready to kill me as soon as she sees me..." She paused. "I know what you're going through. I know better than you think." Mea pulled up her own sleeve. The many scars still left on her arm were very faint, definately a few years old, and Sirius thought for a moment that they'd be there for the rest of her life, and the thought sickened him; Mea shouldn't have all those reminders of the pain she went through. And when she tilted her head just right, Sirius could see the scar on her left cheek from where her father had back-slapped her when he disowned her, the ring with her family crest catching her flesh and marring her beauty with an ugly scar, even though the scar had faded a lot. Sirius was surprised that she told him this; she rarely showed any sign of weakness, and he stared for a moment.

"What...what made you stop?" he asked. Mea gave him a small smile.

"Swear you won't laugh, even though it's the most cliched thing in the world?"

"Cross my heart."

"True love." She smiled, settling back into her chair. "I stopped after I fell in love with Ted, because I knew he loved me back, no matter what. He didn't care that I was a Slytherin, or that my family was a bunch of pureblood fanatics." She hesitated. "Can I ask you something, now that I've answered your question?"

"Sure..."

"What made you start?"

Sirius was startled by the question, but he felt he owed her this answer. He couldn't look at her as he said it. "You did, actually..."

Mea gasped. "What?!"

"Let me finish. The day you were disowned, remember? I was there-"

"You were peering around your mother," Mea recalled.

"Mm-hmm. And you swept out the door. You didn't even turn to look at me. I felt horrible, abandoned. I knew my family would never allow us to speak to each other, and I hated you for leaving me with them. I started cutting not long after. By the time you finally contacted me through James...it was too late..."

"Rascal, I'm so sorry," Mea said, taking his face in her hands. "You should've told me. Dear god, you should've told me, should've talked to me." She sighed through her nose, releasing him as her eyes suddenly focused on a point somewhere behind him. "You have it so much worse than I did," she suddenly said, and because her eyes were unfocused and her voice was so low, Sirius wondered if he was meant to hear. "You're rebellious and stubborn and tend to go to extremes, much more so than me. And look what happened to me. I got disowned; I lost my sisters, my family. I can never go back, and I didn't have anyone to talk to...not Cissy...not Bella...no one, until Ted." Mea sighed again, drifting into her own thoughts for a moment before returning to reason, her eyes focusing on Sirius once again. They blazed with a feirce determination, the old fire Sirius had become so used to seeing in her. Everyone often joked she should've been a redhead.

"Promise me something, Rascal?" she asked, her voice determined yet small at the same time; Sirius saw that he had no choice in the promise. She would make him keep it. Still, whatever it was, Sirius knew it wouldn't be something he couldn't do; Mea was never one to overestimate others. Her instincts about people were usually right.

"Sure, of course, Mea," Sirius answered without thinking. Mea reached over and took his shoulders in her hands, looking directly into his eyes, and he could not look away, couldn't even blink as she made her request.

"Promise me, no, swear to me that you'll talk to me, no matter what. Please. I remember going through that, and I refuse to let you make the same mistakes I did. I refuse to lose you. Please, swear you'll come to me, for anything, I don't care what it is. Just promise me that, Rascal, and never break that promise." Mea's eyes searched his face as he searched for an answer.

"Y- yes, Mea, I will. I swear," Sirius said, and as soon as the word tumbled from his lips he felt more bound to keeping this promise than he would if he'd made an Unbreakable Vow. Mea released him, satisfied with his word. She knew, somehow, that he would keep it. She gave him a sad smile.

"Thank you," she whispered, and the unspoken words between them let Sirius know she was thanking him for her peace of mind. "I'll see you later, Rascal," she said, touseling his hair before rising and walking to the door. She paused, one foot in the hall, and turned to face him. Their gazes locked from the other side of the room, and though Sirius could barely hear it, he knew exactly what she said next: "I'll make you a promise in return, Rascal. I'll always be here for you. Always." She slid silently through the door, leaving Sirius feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.