Next morning's pumpkin juice did not go down as well as hoped. Brow furrowed, deep in thought, he kept replaying the events of yesterday, thinking about those last words she spoke before walking away. Planning on running away to live with the Potters doesn't make you strong Sirius…it makes you a coward. What a load of bollocks.

Completely blocking out the less than pleasant aspects of his life successfully for the past 6 years was something he prided himself on. Not having to deal with it in any way other than from an offensive standpoint was the source of his strength. Why would Mira Lestrange of all people be the first to disturb his peace of mind? She wouldn't. He wouldn't allow it. The very idea of it made him feel out of his own control, like he was crawling out of his skin.

He had always been too sure of himself to let anyone truly bother him. From the first day he stepped foot on the train to Hogwarts he had no qualms about telling people who he was and showing off the fact that he was the black sheep of his family. It wasn't in his nature to look down on himself or dig too deeply beyond his well-polished exterior. The fact that he was the first born son from a highly respected and ancient pureblood family made his decision to rebel against them even bolder and he knew this. He was arrogant, he'd admit it. But it was because of all this that no one ever crossed him. The only people who had the power to do that were living far away in that prison he called home…until now.

The more he thought about it the angrier he got. He wanted to get into her head as she had his, make her feel the same twists in her stomach, find her weakness, exploit it, and torture her with it.

He was pulled out of his reverie abruptly when James shoved him hard across the shoulder sending the cup Sirius was holding flying out of his hands, spilling juice all over the front of his robes.

"The hell's wrong with you Sirius?!" James said.

Sirius snarled back at him, "Nothing."

Remus laughed at them both from across the table and exchanged a knowing glance with James who was watching Sirius angrily dry his robes.

James leaned down to help him, "Girl's got you all worked up eh?"

"No." he said rather unconvincingly.

He put his arm around Sirius's tensed up shoulders and suddenly became very serious, "Listen mate, I know she's easy on the eyes but I've got to be honest…I don't think she likes you very much."

James laughed now as Sirius finally cracked a grin and Remus nearly choked spitting out the food he was eating from laughing so hard.

"Come off it then," James grinned widely, "you just need a distraction."

"Don't worry he'll get one…" Remus said, still laughing but with a slightly darker tone to his voice now, "full moon's this weekend."

Sirius stood up from the table, looking very determined. Instinctively more than just a few eyes followed him. His presence even when he was in a good mood raised attention.

As he started to walk towards the doors of the Great Hall James shoved one last bit of toast in his mouth and made to follow him. Remus did the same and they trailed behind Sirius who upon making his way through made sure to shove hard past Snape who was standing with a bunch of other 6th year Slytherins. They all hissed at him as he walked by, Snape looking livid having dropped the heavy books he was carrying. Sirius grinned widely, always pleased with the reaction he incited in him. Noticeably absent from this group he saw however, was Mira.

They continued walking until James slowed the two of them down as Lily Evans approached flanked by two of her friends. Lily immediately started in on James having just witnessed Snape struggling to gather his books off the floor.

One of the girls Lily brought with her started talking to Remus rather quietly about something and the other instantly started chatting up Sirius, much to his annoyance. It was only out of deep respect for Lily that Sirius ever tolerated her friends.

Sirius was accustomed to excessive attention from women and used to revel in it, letting it take up his free time, distract him when necessary, but now the total lack of attachment to any of them left him bored and disinterested. He was yet to meet a girl who held his interest long enough for him to ever consider giving a closer look.

Sufficiently bored and only half listening to the girl in front of him his eyes wandered, and it was then that he spotted her. Mira stood, wand in hand, with her arms folded, her back relaxed against the stone wall, waiting. The hall was crowded and as she looked around the room, wand twisting absentmindedly in her hand she caught sight of Sirius looking at her.

She could tell he was only half listening to the girl in front of him because every penetrating glance he stole was in her direction. She met his gaze and stared right back in the same unnerving way she had the day before.

The connection between the two of them was broken when Evan Rosier approached her. Visibly irritated she muttered about two words to him from what Sirius could tell and disappeared from sight moments later.

'—Hello? Are you even listening to me!?" Looking very put out, the girl whose voice Sirius had politely been ignoring seemed to have noticed he wasn't paying any attention.

Snapped back to reality he made sure to actually make eye contact with her now, and feigned a very convincing look of apology, "Sorry love, not feeling too well, bit light-headed actually, going up to the common room now if you don't mind."

Lily looked at Sirius disapprovingly, attune to when he wasn't being entirely sincere. He gave her a look as if to say sorry and rushed past them all towards the staircase up to Gryffindor Tower.

Once he got there he ran into his dormitory and rummaged through the piles of clothes he had sprawled over his bed, finally finding what he was looking for: the Marauder's Map. After a tap of his wand, he spoke the incantation and waited for the tiny labeled dots to appear before him. He surveyed the map for a few seconds, and then stopped over the dot labeled Mira Lestrange. She was on the 7th floor, pacing near the Room of Requirement. He paused for a moment to think, but the curiosity and spite he felt was too strong and he wasted no time in stealing James' invisibility cloak and heading swiftly out of the common room towards the 7th floor.

When he got close enough to the room he threw the cloak over himself completely and waited by the tapestry for someone to come along. Finally he saw a girl with white blond hair who couldn't be older than a 4th year nervously walk up to the wall across from where he was standing. Knowing what she was about to do he waited for the door to appear. As soon as it did he watched the girl walk inside. Before the door had time to turn back into solid wall he grabbed the handle and pulled, placing a silencing charm in his wake so he would not be heard.

The room he walked into quite resembled a dungeon and felt about as cold. There were lit torches on the walls and it was very narrow, a huge problem should anyone bump into him by mistake. Why the room would transform into something so uncomfortable was beyond him.

Looking straight ahead of him this time he found himself face to face with Mira's back. The young girl who had walked in before him was now sitting in the back of a row of chairs that were set up facing Mira who was at the head of a small stone table. As he looked around he recognized the other people in the room: that slimy git Evan Rosier, Wilkes, Snape, a 5th year Slytherin he had seen once or twice before, and much to his surprise, a Ravenclaw girl sitting very near a 7th year Slytherin named Aiden.

The air in the room sent a shiver down his spine. Nobody was speaking; they were all watching Mira do something, what exactly he wasn't quite sure as he was still near the door to the room, facing Mira's back.

He walked forward and upon moving closer realized that she was speaking, though not clearly, and certainly not in her normal voice. The others were watching her intently.

Though he was significantly taller than her and would normally have been able to see over her shoulder he moved to her side instead, lest she sense his presence. Her wand was out and he saw in front of her, floating in midair, the necklace that Flitwick had given her in Charms the day before.

He looked from her wand to her face, and then froze. Her eyes were clouded over, an eerie white replacing the sharp green he was used to seeing. She was repeating an incantation he had never heard before in a tone he was unfortunately familiar with. She was in a trance.

Wand aimed at the diamond in the necklace's center, one twist of her wrist and the necklace moved and jerked at her will. He couldn't help but stare as the others did. An invisible breeze, a sort of energy, was coming from the enchanted necklace in front of her, the glow of which cast a light on her face, making her appear almost ethereal.

He had seen people in trances before, but never with such exacting control. It took a great amount of emotional endurance and in his opinion, emotional damage, to perform this kind of magic. She was quite literally channeling every negative, destructive emotion she had ever felt, anger, sadness, betrayal, spite, into the object in front of her.

He knew this, because she knew this; they came from the same place and were taught the same things. Though he long ago chose not to taint himself by using dark magic, it hardly meant he did not know how.

He ran a hand over his freshly shaven face as he watched her, eyes darting from her to the necklace and back again. The power running from her wand was building to the point where it looked as though she was about to be consumed by it. Her breathing became more rapid as she continued reciting, faster now, the pressure building, all eyes fixated on her, until finally she stopped, and the necklace in front of her jolted and stopped moving.

Lips slightly parted Sirius could see the color of her eyes start to come back to her and watched as her long eyelashes fluttered frantically trying to adjust to her regular state of consciousness.

She closed her eyes tightly, wincing slightly, the sudden loss of adrenaline no doubt now the cause of a horrific headache. Using her wand she placed the now eerily still necklace back down on the table.

Still not meeting anyone's eyes she began to speak, slowly, though this time in her normal voice, "…in order for the magic to work…the object has to have a pulse…a pulse that beats the same as the emotion you feed into it…,' she looked up now and met every pair of eyes in the room, 'you can't partially commit…or it won't work."

Rosier shot her a wry grin, "Alright, but where's the proof it's actually cursed?"

Her eyes darted sharply in his direction and narrowed, "Why don't you try it on?"

Rosier curtly laughed and looked around at Snape and Wilkes who did not seem amused. He looked back at Mira, the grin wiped clean from his face, "But I'm a bloke."

"I noticed. Put it on anyway since you're so eager to contribute." Rosier disgusted her and it was evident in her voice.

"Alright then sweetheart." He snarled at her, stood up, violently grabbed the necklace off the table and fastened the clasp behind his neck.

For a moment he stood there pompously clearly unaffected, and then suddenly the smile left his face and was replaced by a look of horror. Apparently he could see something the rest of them could not. Beads of sweat began to grow on his face and he looked as though he was about to vomit.

Grinning with satisfaction Mira continued to watch as suddenly he started to convulse and grab at his throat. Sirius had thought he was attempting to remove the necklace but instead it seemed he was attempting to choke himself. Snape smiled sickly and the others looked on admiringly at Mira.

Finally she stunned Rosier and he fell to the floor in an unconscious slump, twitching. She circled him once, pointed her wand at his throat, and with a flick of her wrist the necklace unlatched itself and came off, floating towards her and back onto the table.

Begrudgingly she pointed her wand at him again, "Ennervate."

His face remained drained of all color as he came to, the others watching him cautiously as he attempted to stand back up. Though not much taller than Mira, he had quite a stocky build and watching him struggle to keep his balance seemed unnatural. He muttered something none of them could hear and left the room in a rampage.

Mira's face was unreadable as he left and with an air of authority she faced the remaining people in the room and gave an order, somewhat impatiently, "Don't all leave together then…go in turns."

Snape surveyed her quickly and understanding something the others did not nodded his head in approval before leaving the room first, signaling for everyone else to follow suit.

Sirius froze, knowing now with everyone out of the room the likelihood of her hearing him had just increased tenfold.

Sirius waited with bated breath, expecting Mira to leave as well once the rest had all left. Only problem was she wasn't leaving, she was just standing there, her back to him, facing the door. Finally she turned around, shaking slightly. She looked very faint and was facing him directly, though not knowing he was there, looked right through him. What was she doing?

She began to walk towards him and he moved out of her way, but she stumbled and nearly fell into him. Continuing to move backwards as quickly as possible he watched her regain her composure and gravitate towards the stone wall. Trying desperately not to pass out she very carefully felt the cold wall against her hands, placed her back to it, and slowly sunk to the floor.

Sirius continued watching her very cautiously, trying to take in what was happening. She wasn't making any noise, except for her shallow breathing, and was staring blankly at the ground, one knee bent towards her chest, the other now following. All the color drained from her face and her body began to shake. He couldn't look away, and was beginning to feel increasingly uncomfortable as he watched her clearly suffering from the aftereffects of what she had just done.

And then…he saw tears. She was making hardly any noise, and had he not been staring so intently at her face he wouldn't have even known she was crying. He knew she would rather die than be seen like this by anyone, let alone him. Funny how he had come here wanting to find some weakness of hers, and this was surely it…that she was human…had a heart even. But somehow he felt less triumphant about discovering it than he had anticipated. Instead, much to his horror, he felt sympathy…and dare he say it…interest.

Angrily she wiped away the tears from her face, her nose now red, lips and eyes swollen, and forced herself to stand back up.

Once back on her feet she hesitantly turned in the direction of the necklace still lying on the table, pulled out her wand, closed her eyes for a moment, and then aimed directly in front of her and shouted, "REDUCTO"

The spell was so strong the necklace exploded instantly into a million jagged pieces. The diamond at its center cracked down the middle, and turned to fine glistening fragments of dust.

Sirius, attempting to shield himself from the shrapnel, backed up and stumbled so loudly into one of the chairs set in the room that there was no way she could not have heard him.

Her eyes darted around the room and she froze, looking for the source of the noise. She saw nothing in front of her and nothing behind her. She raised a brow in suspicion and continued surveying the room, her wand out.

Wondering if she could feel his eyes on her as she had in the hallway that morning he crept very carefully along the side of the wall away from the chairs and away from her.

Starting to wonder if she was going mad she moved quickly towards the door, turned around once more, and then with one last look around the room, slammed the door shut behind her.

Sirius immediately took off the cloak and threw it angrily on the floor. After pacing back and forth for a moment he summoned one of the chairs his way. He sat down as it appeared in front of him and hunched over to rest his elbows on his knees. He laced his fingers through his hair, frustrated and overwhelmed. If he had been distracted and off-balance this morning, it was nothing compared to the way he felt now…