Disclaimer: I owe all of my characters and overall themes and locations to Miss J.K. Rowling, though I created Hayden Prewett based on Rowling's characters and families!

Also, I'm new to this fan fiction writing business, so I'd love any and all reviews and comments and critiques you want to give!

When Sirius found her, Hayden was licking her bowl clean. 'Yep,' he thought to himself, 'Always a sucker for the pudding. Especially chocolate pudding.' And sure enough as she set the bowl down, he saw a spot of chocolate left on her nose. Grinning at her predictability and messiness, he shook his head no to the dozen or so house elves that were fawning over him to try and bring him some food.

"Wildfire, really? I know you aren't as brave as me, but running for chocolate?" he teased as he walked over to her. He caught a hint of her death glare, even though she was looking at the floor. He swiped his finger across the tip of her nose, before licking the chocolate pudding off his finger.

"Ewwwwww, Stormy!" Hayden giggled. It didn't matter how mad she was, somehow her cousin could always make her laugh. Even so, she wasn't ready to admit anything to him yet. "How'd you find me?"

"Prongs told me you had tears in your eyes when you ran off. You're pretty predictable, Wildfire. You always go for chocolate pudding."

"Do not."

"Fine. You usually go for chocolate pudding, but sometimes you prefer butterscotch."

Hayden frowned at the floor. He was her cousin. He wasn't supposed to know her that well. She looked up at him, finally meeting his eyes. Looking into the swirling silver, she saw the hurt that made his eyes seem like it was about to storm in there.

The first time he'd looked that way in front of her, his mother had just rewarded Regulus for kicking a muggle child at the playground. She'd walked over to him and gave him her very biggest hug before asking, "So why are you all stormy?"

The question had made him laugh, so every time he'd been upset that year, she had called him "Stormy". She may have lost the purpose behind the name, but the name still stuck. And every time his eyes got all cold and stormy, she knew he was hurting.

"James told you what we overheard, didn't he?" Hayden asked her cousin, needing to know. He nodded without breaking eye contact with her. "You want some ice cream to clear the clouds away, Stormy?"

Sirius nodded like a child and house elves were soon delivering his sundae, which Hayden helped him eat. So much hurt had been caused without a single jinx or curse being cast, it was a wonder Voldemort hadn't won the world over already. No, Hayden corrected herself. He'd never win, because people like Stormy were always there to fight through the pain.

When Saturday morning finally arrived, Hayden was relieved. It had been a long two days and she really needed the day in Hogsmeade to enjoy herself. After her shower, she dressed in some jeans and a Gryffindor t-shirt that was more maroon than the typical, bold red, as that was the only color of red that didn't clash with her hair. Then, she ran down the stairs and skipped through the common room again.

"WILDFIRE!" Sirius screamed from the bottom of the staircase to the boys' dormitory, just before sprinting over to her at the portrait hole and tackling her.

"Sirius!" Hayden griped from the floor.

"What?" he replied cheerfully as he bounced back to his feet. He offered her a hand and continued speaking before Hayden had a chance to respond. "Wanna go wake up the heads with me?!"

She rolled her eyes at her overly enthusiastic cousin at the same time that she nodded and accepted his help. Sirius grinned and linked arms with her, before practically dragging her through the portrait hole.

"Really Stormy? You couldn't wait a second to let me exit on my own?"

"Nope!" he replied as he began skipping down the corridor to the head dorm portrait. Hayden was forced to skip along, not that she minded as she had been skipping earlier. Skipping to the head dorm was still strange for Hayden, as she had never actually realized that it existed before this year.

Their very first night back at Hogwarts this year had been very strange. Hayden, Alice, Marlene, and Lily had all gotten up from the Gryffindor table together to walk to the common room when Professor McGonagall had called Lily and James over. The other three shrugged and went on without Lily, figuring it was just head student stuff and they'd be up soon enough. When the three girls got to their dorm room though, Lily's trunk wasn't there. Hayden spent the whole night waiting for Lily to show up in the common room, finally falling asleep on one of the couches in front of the fire around 2 AM. When she got to breakfast the next morning, James explained it all.

McGonagall had called them over to discuss head student stuff, but not duties like the girls had assumed. Rather, it was to tell them about their special dorm room and bring them there. It was just like a mini Gryffindor common room when they walked through their portrait hole. There was a red couch facing a fireplace with two plush and super comfortable arm chairs on the sides of the couch. There were two desks in the room, on opposite sides of it, but each in their own mini alcove created by the two staircases. In between the staircases was a bathroom for them to share, and up the stairs were their bedrooms. The walls were a lovely beige color that warmed the room, especially with the red furniture.

It still looked that way as the cousins walked through the portrait hole. Hayden started walking toward the staircase on the right, which led to Lily's bedroom, when Sirius started screaming again.

"PRONGS! SUNFLOWER! WAKE UP! IT'S HOGSMEADE DAY!"

They immediately heard grumbling from the right, but only some chuckles from the left. James had already been awake and taken his shower. He had just been putting on his shirt as his best friend started yelling. He walked out to the platform outside his door and grinned down at the cousins.

"You know Lily will have your head for waking her up like that," he chuckled. Sirius merely shrugged, until he saw Lily appear at her platform. She was still in her pajamas with a robe thrown on over them and her hair was a mess. It was the glare that made him freeze though. If looks could kill, Sirius would have been killed five times over.

"Sirius Black. I should hex you right now," she grumbled, before trudging back into her room to brush her hair and get dressed. Sirius started sniggering, and Lily heard it, so she flicked her wand at him as she turned to close her door and thought, 'Levicorpus'. He screamed as her door shut and she finally let out a grin.

When Lily arrived at the bottom of her staircase, someone had let Sirius down already, but he was still glancing at her warily. Hayden saw the grin on Lily's face and knew it was going to be an amazing day.

Hayden was right. It was an amazing day. After breakfast, the eight Gryffindors walked to the village together, joking and laughing the whole way. They agreed to meet at the Three Broomsticks for butterbeer at 3 that afternoon and the boys went wherever they always went while the girls went to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. That was the stop for Alice, as she had lost most of her quills already. But, since they were going anyway, Hayden decided she could use some new and fun ink. She and Lily looked over all the choices together and ended up picking out some lovely red and gold metallic inks. Marlene had spent the time looking at the fancy quills, like the eagle and peacock feathers, and daydreaming about which one she would get on the next visit.

After Scrivenshaft's, Marlene had dragged her friends into Gladrags Wizardwear. She loved getting dressed up and doing hair and make-up, while the other girls were less enthusiastic about it. Hayden enjoyed it, but never really went as over the top as Marlene did. Alice merely endured it, but Lily hated it. The only reason Lily tolerated it at all was because Marlene had agreed to go with Lily to study in the library once a month. Unfortunately that meant she still had to endure days like this, when Marlene made her try on ridiculous outfits, just for "fun".

"That took forever. I need chocolate to make up for it," Lily grumbled as they left the shop. Marlene had indeed made them each try on at least one ridiculous outfit. Marlene and Hayden had each tried on six, and Alice had been forced into two. Hayden was so happy for all the fun she'd been having, and how normal Lily seemed, that she immediately accepted Lily's idea.

"TO HONEYDUKES!" she yelled, mimicking her favorite Black. The girls all giggled as they walked to their favorite sweets shop. Lily picked out three different kinds of fudge, while Hayden bought some sugar quills. Alice bought some salt water taffies to share with everyone later. Marlene eyed the exploding bon bons, but had spent most of her money on clothes and decided she didn't need them. As they left the shop, Alice waved good bye and the girls all told her to have fun with Frank.

Alice had been dating Frank Longbottom since fifth year. He was in the year above them, so this year she had been missing him terribly. When she found out about Hogsmeade, she had owled him straight away and they had made a date, starting at 2, so she was off to meet him.

While Alice left to meet Frank, Hayden insisted on stopping at Dervish and Banges. It was Sirius' birthday soon, on November 3rd, so she wanted to make sure she got him a good present now just in case she forgot later. Hayden had decided on buying him a sneakoscope, as he had told her that summer that he had problems trusting people. Sirius' entire family was full of dark wizards and witches, and they often lied to each other. Now, he was never sure if the person he was talking to was being honest or not. Hayden figured that while it couldn't tell him about lies, at least a sneakoscope could make him feel better about trusting the people he was around most often.

After their quick stop at Dervish and Banges, the girls had finished all of their errands. It was already 2:30, so they decided to just go back to the Three Broomsticks early. They were all chatting and meandering to their favorite bar when Hayden saw Regulus Black and Lizzie Rosier. Regulus was muttering to Lizzie and they seemed to be heading somewhere as if to meet someone. Seeing him whisper into her baby cousin's ear just made Hayden's blood boil. So, she took off after them. Lily and Marlene had no idea what was going on, but knew enough to know better than to let her go alone.

"REGULUS ARCTURUS BLACK!" Hayden screamed as she approached her cousins. "How DARE you talk about your brother as if he means nothing to you?! Lizzie, walk away from him before he can turn on you too! And yes, Reg, I know what you told Evan. You both can do SO much better than to listen to him and his hatred! I know he's family, but so am I! And so is Sirius!" Hayden had tears in her eyes as she yelled at them, desperately hoping that she could keep them from becoming death eaters like Cole, the oldest of the Rosier siblings. Little Lizzie had always put her big brothers up on pedestals though, so Hayden doubted she could help. And Reg, well he had been following in the Rosier boys' footsteps for a while now, and Hayden doubted anything she had to say would ever change that.

"How dare you talk to a Black like that, you filthy blood traitor?!" Bellatrix Black shrieked with a flick of her wrist. Hayden felt as though a sharp razor blade had been slashed across her cheek, before she realized there was liquid rolling down it. Bella had cut her. Hayden was in shock at the sudden violence from a cousin she hadn't even heard apparate in.

"He earned it," she snarled. Lily and Marlene, who hadn't heard the death eaters now surrounding them apparate either, shivered at the magic filling the air. They could feel Hayden's warmth and love in it enough to know it was her magic, but mostly felt her anger and hatred.

None of them noticed Lizzie and Regulus retreat into the shadows. Hayden swirled on her foot to face her nastiest cousin.

"How'd he earn it, brat?! By telling you your parents deserve to die?" Bellatrix taunted, causing Hayden to see red. Hayden cast the first spell of the duel. She shot a stunning spell at her cousin, who easily blocked it, and colors started darting across her vision. Marlene and Lily were at her flanks, with their backs to hers each dueling their own death eater. But as there were four death eaters, and only three Gryffindors, they were quickly overpowered.

Lily and Marlene were held frozen under full body binds, while Hayden was splayed on her back in the center of the small circle, having been knocked over by an impediment jinx.

"Let's see how the blood traitor likes pain, shall we?" Bellatrix sneered, before casting the cruciatus curse. Hayden felt pain course through her body, as if her veins were on fire. She had never known such pain could exist until that moment as she lay writhing on the ground, screaming. Suddenly it stopped, and she could hear the death eaters cackling at her screams. She turned to see tears falling down Lily's face, before the pain radiated through her again.

Lily and Marlene stood and watched their friend writhe and squirm in pain helplessly, as her cousin continuously tortured her. They were both crying, and mentally pleading for it to end, or to find a way to break free of the spells holding them hostage. Lily felt the empty nothingness that had been in her chest for far too long start opening again.

Suddenly, Bellatrix was knocked off her feet. She whipped her head around to see Sirius running toward her with his wand out. She looked at her fellow death eaters before turning on the spot and vanishing with a crack.

The marauders had come to their rescue. Peter ran for help while the other three ran to the girls. James ran to Lily and caught her in a warm embrace as she fell forward with her sudden freedom. She couldn't help but sob into his shoulder, which he was glad to put to such a use as he stroked her beautiful auburn hair. Sirius glanced to see Remus heading for his cousin before deciding to go to Marlene. He held her as she shook, mentally cursing Bellatrix for causing this to be the first time he held his crush. Sirius blushed faintly as he realized he had just admitted he liked Marlene in a more than friend way to himself, but was thankfully distracted by her snuggling into his chest and clutching the back of his shirt.

Remus arrived at Hayden's side to see her still conscious. He searched her eyes for signs that she was broken by the torture, but she seemed to be all there.

"Remy, what are you looking for?" she asked softly. He broke down into tears at the sound of her voice. She was okay. Hayden was really there still. And he lunged for the girl, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"I was so scared - " he started before being cut off by her scream. As Remus had hugged her, Hayden had felt a shooting pain fly through her torso, before the world went black.

Sirius froze at the sound of his cousin's scream, which he had ringing through his ears in any case, and looked to where she and Remus were. When he saw the red seep onto Remus' tan tee-shirt he looked at Marlene, to see her standing upright, waiting for him to let go of her. He tried to say thank you with his eyes before darting to his now unconscious and bleeding cousin.

Remus lay her down to see blood on his shirt, Sirius at his side, and Hayden out cold. He looked down to where she was bleeding, and saw a piece of bone poking through her tee shirt. Panic filled him. He had hurt her. He had caused her to pass out. He had made her bleed. She had survived the cruciatus curse only to be brought down by him.

"Padfoot, what'd I do? I didn't mean to- I was just hugging her Pads, I swear. And then she screamed. I- She's bleeding. What do we do? How could I have done this?" he moaned.

Sirius, however, was oblivious to the words coming from Remus. He took one look at the sickening sight of Hayden's ribcage and cast the hover charm he had once thought useless on her, and started jogging to the castle.

Remus stood helplessly frozen, and looked to James, who had walked Lily over to where Remus and now Marlene stood and passed her to Marlene.

"Moony, it wasn't you. Bellatrix must have done it. We should go catch up," he stated calmly, looking into Remus' green eyes. It was enough. Remus shook himself out of his panic, and walked after Sirius. James wrapped his arm around Lily's waist and followed, while Marlene quickly caught up to Remus and put her arm through his. They all needed support right now, and she was going to be there for him. Peter arrived at the scene with Madam Rosmerta to see his friends walking away. He shrugged and ran after them while she sent a patronus to the school, so the healer and headmaster would be waiting on the grounds for the marauders.