The castle's halls were completely empty and Sirius began to get the feeling like he's been in this place and exact moment before. It was because he had. It's a dream, he tried to tell himself. It's only a dream. I can wake up any second. Any second now… … …Okay maybe not but I can control what I do.

He stepped around another corner and saw the same emptiness before him. But something in the back of his head was nagging him to remember. Remember what? Something bad was going to happen, he knew that, but his head wouldn't tell him. Should he keep walking into whatever trap? Or stay and wait to see. His feet obviously weren't listening to his head as they continued to walk down the deserted hall past the paintings past the classrooms and past any hope of remembering.

It's only a dream. None of this was real. The words tried to make themselves real in Sirius' head but with each step came the fading of thought. But then it registered something new.

A howl of rage was heard in the distance, echoing off the walls around him. Sirius turned and heard the patter of claws against the hard floor. He had to run, he had to run. His mind seemed to be going quicker than his feet as he willed them to run faster. Something was after him. He had to get away.

The sound became louder behind him but Sirius dared not to turn around. The fear pulsed through him like a hard attack but his feet wouldn't go any faster. Dear Merlin he was going to die.

He turned a corner as he heard the growl of the beast behind him. He looked towards his feet in anguish so he didn't see the wall until it hit him in the head.

He gasped, clawing at it like an animal in hopes that it would Apparate away. There was no way out, there was only one thing to do.

"AVADA KADAVRA!"

Sirius felt a dull ache in his eyes that began to reach his head. He realized he had them squeezed shut but his shaking body told him not to open them. Something in the back of his head told him what he would find when he opened them so he dared not to. The ache was too much so he slowly peaked out and let the blurry image unfold itself before him.

First he was his outstretched arm trembling before him, his wand pointed forward. Behind it he could make out a small grey lump lying motionless on the floor.

"NO!"

Sirius absentmindedly looked down at the book in front of him. He wrote one last sentence in it then quickly hid it under his Transfigurations homework before James sat down next to him with a stack of library books. Lazily, James pulled out his wand and uttered a spell beneath his breath to turn the pages of the book in front of him while he leaned his head against his hand.

"Ugh, we can't too much longer here, mate. People might start to think we take our work seriously."

Sirius let out a forced chuckle then looked down past his books in silence.

"What's the matter with you mate? Acting moody again?"

"I'm not moody!"

"Still having freaking dreams?" James asked laughing.

"It's not funny, mate. It's messed up. Do you think I'm mental?"

"Absolutely."

"Oh shut up."

"Just don't let it bother you, they'll go away eventually. Look, we all saw Remus' new scars but we don't want to freak him out and you don't want to act mad around him or anything. Just try to—"

"—hey Sirius!"

Both boys looked over to see Regulus Black approach their table from the other side of the library. "Speaking of mad…"

"Hey Sirius," the boy repeated as he walked over, walking proud in his second year Slytherin robes. "Did you get Mum's letter?"

Sirius sighed and rolled his eyes. "Regulus, do you honestly think mum's sent me anything since I came to Hogwarts. That would mean sending a Black owl near a Gryffindor table."

Regulus just shrugged. "Well, she wanted to know if we're coming home for Christmas break. I told her it would be hard to leave the Slytherin House for even that short a time but I can make an exception for home. I suppose she'll want to know whether to leave another place at the table or send you some pudding back with me. She said it wouldn't make a difference to her."

Sirius leaned his head on his hand and looked even more intensely at his book, forgetting which one it even was. "Actually," James pitched in putting a hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Sirius is coming to my place for the holidays. My parents just told me to invite him today." Sirius turned his head and smiled thankfully at James. "Is that all Regulus," Sirius said as he turned the other way. "Cause you can leave now."

Regulus lost the smile on his face. He looked between Sirius and James then took a seat next to them. "You know, mum talks to me a lot about you in her letters, Sirius."

"Ask me if I give a damn, bye Regulus!"

"She heard about the people you hang out with and she doesn't approve."

"Oh, wow, it took me 14 years but now I finally care about what mum thinks!"

"She heard rumors about that Lupin kid, and she knows Pettigrew's half-blood. And you might fit the requirements Potter, but she doesn't fancy you either."

James fixed his glasses. "I might go cry now."

"I was surprised she even invited you back for the holidays."

"Good bye, Regulus."

"You know she sent Dumbledore a howler when she heard you got into Gryffindor?"

"Regulus, I swear…"

"First in the family, now that's something."

"You know, for someone who can't stand being away from his house, you sure are making an effort."

"Well, I just thought it would be fair to fill you in on the family affairs."

"James, why doesn't he understand pure English right now?"

Regulus frowned and looked hard at his brother. "Sirius, you lost your privilege to call yourself pure a long time ago. Mum suppose this bunch filthy you up. Won't be long—"

Unfortunately, Regulus didn't get the chance to finish that thought. As soon as the words 'filth' left his mouth, Sirius sprang up and knocked him out of his chair.

"Sirius!" James was up instantly and attempted to hold his friend back as Sirius began to pound his little brother. But Sirius had a lot of self anger built up in the past few days. He didn't even realize that a few Slytherin students ran over to help Regulus up as James continued to keep him back.

"Sirius, calm down!" Sirius tried but as he watched Regulus and his friends leave he just felt the need to race after him. He felt James drag him over behind a shelf so the Madam Prince wouldn't see the outburst. Finally, James slammed Sirius against the bookshelf.

"What the hell's gotten into you, mate?"

Sirius felt his breath deepen and looked up at the confused look in James' eye. He brushed James' hands off his shoulders and leaned on the bookshelves. "I'm sorry, James. It's just that git can make me so angry at times."
"Yeah but you never flipped at him before. And he's done worse."

"I know it's just…I could have been like him…if I were different. I look at him and I see what I could have been like if I didn't have common sense somewhere in my blood stream."

"Yeah, you don't have common sense in any inch of your body. But you will never end up like your family and thank Merlin for that."

"It's just…" Sirius put his hand through his hair and paced away. "I could have been someone who couldn't stand you guys. I could have been someone who would have killed a werewolf."

There was a silence for a second as the library returned to its normal sound.

Then James said, "Sorry Sirius, but suck it up."

Sirius turned around in shock.

"I know these dreams of yours are creepy but you can't let them control you like this. Just thank Merlin you are who you are, and get on with your life. You're wasting time with 'could haves' and its frankly not suiting you well. Now come on, Remus needs us and you need to calm down before you really hurt someone."

The two boys made their way out of the library and back towards their house. It wasn't until they were outside the Fat Lady that Sirius asked, "Since when did you get so philosophically smart?"

"I don't know where you've been, mate, but I was born this way."