I was running; my feet padding across the cold cobble stones really quickly, slipping every now and then as I rushed through a puddle. I could feel the slop rise up my leg and stick against my skin. The world around me was dark, and I turned my head up to face the light of the moon before facing the road again. But I could barely make out the road in front of me. I could feel the cold rake up my spine and if I listened close enough the taps of shoes coming after me.

I turned quickly, escaping into a dark alley. The walls clung over me, pressing down into my shoulders. I placed a trembling hand on the wall feeling the slime collect along my fingers. The cold stone, raked against my skin, and cut into my fingers. I had slowed down by now, feeling my way around with each step. Suddenly steps behind me echoed, bouncing against the walls. I looked behind me, before jolting to a quicker pace. I moved as fast as I could.

"Come here you little whore."

I was pulled upright, and as I sat up I recognized the room I was in. My bed sheet clung and entombed my legs together. I quickly yanked the sheet off and pulled my legs into my chest. I could feel drops of sweat glide down my face, arching across my cheek and dripping down onto my arms. Some fell backwards down my neck, and across my spine. I looked down and started at my shirt which rose and fell in tandem with my quickly beating heart.

"Ah bloody hell." I muttered as I moved away from the bed and crept out of my room.

My hand stayed close to the wall, feeling the worn crevices in the old wall. I roved my hands along the plaster before quickly moving them to the banister as I reached the stairs. I looked behind me once as I reached the darkest part of the house, and made sure to look around with each creak and groan of the wood.

I tumbled down the stairs, not bothering to linger in the darkness there. I paused, keeping my body rigid and against the wall as I noticed the light to the kitchen was still on. Maybe mum forgot the turn it off. I kept the hopeful thought in my head as I tip-toed over to the light. Peering over the door I looked around the room but so nobody.

"What are you doing?" a voice behind me asked.

I jumped and my mouth opened to let out a scream as I tumbled into the kitchen. The cool tile slickened my hands which desperately tried to push me away from the stranger. The body above me jumped on top of me and placed a hand on my mouth. I struggled beneath the heavy weight.

"Evelyn. Potter. Stop. Moving." The words clomped out before I thrust my fist deep into what I thought was my captive's stomach. "Ow! Bloody hell."

I twisted out of the hold and moved towards the kitchen table. When I finally stood up, I noticed that it was Sirius splayed across the tiled floor holding his stomach. The panic in me turned into angry shaking as I felt my knees give out and the cool tile against my calves again. My back leaned into the chair behind me, and looked up towards the ceiling.

"What was that for?" Sirius growled out, probably finally sitting up.

"Who the bloody hell jumps on top of a panicked girl?" I growled back.

"Well if you had actually noticed me then we wouldn't have the problem."

"If you hadn't decided to whisper in my ear and scare the living daylights out of me, then we definitely wouldn't be in the situation you moron."

"I'm the moron?" Sirius snapped out, finally towering over me. I locked eyes with his piercing glare. "I wasn't the one that grabbed a pot filled with boiling water."

"I didn't actually grab a pot filled with boiling water." I hefted myself up and stood sternum to nose with the boy. I noticed the small scar that ran across his chest from the night he came to us. "I didn't break anything did I?" I whispered as continued to stare at the scar.

"You?" Sirius snorted at me. "You could barely hurt a fly."

"I meant, I didn't reopen anything right?" I snapped back, meeting his gaze before shoving him away.

"I reiterate, you could barely hurt a fly."

"Says the one that…" I cut myself before moving away as my feet smacked against the ground. If only that ground had dark curls and Sirius' face.

I opened the faucet and let it run before filling a cup open with water. I downed it quickly, drowning the rest of the nasty remark that I was going to make. I refilled my glass and then turned around to face Sirius. He was looking at me, moving his eyes along my body. When he finally reached my face, I narrowed my eyes and planted a harsh stare on him. His lips quivered for a moment before he let out a chuckle. I watched his bouncing shoulders, and then the way that he crumpled over at his waist. When finally the strong barks came tumbling from his mouth, I stalked around him and settled down at the table, waiting for him to finally get over it.

He moved around, giggling to himself before taking the chair across from me and giving a good, strong smile. "You are hilarious, love."

"Hardy har har," The sarcasm was thick on my tongue, as swallowed back another harsh comeback.

Sirius looked over at me again and his smile slowly slipped away and then his eyes fell down to the table. The silence wafted between use and I shifted in my seat, settling back and looking out the large windows. The night was quiet outside and the trees were barely moving, and the moon was almost full as it glared down a luminous light which was absorbed by the electric that was flooding the room. The only other sound than Sirius' breathing was the sound of soft drip of water from the sink's faucet. I felt the tug on my lips as I curled my toes and looked back outside to the window, which reflected the scene that I was in; Sirius across from me, staring intently at the table, and me facing the window. Quietly, I stood up and moved across the room to push open a window; the one that would send a nice draft directly to my seat. I settled back into my chair, and let the wood prod against my skin. My head titled back, and I slowly let my eyes slip close.

"Little whore."

My eyes snapped forward. I slowly sat up straight, as not to bring to much attention from Sirius, who had fallen silent across from me. I moved my eyes over to him and took in the way that his shoulders slumped and then the small twitch in his shoulder as the skin jerked around.

"Is it hurting?"

Sirius head snapped up and stared at me, before looking down at the splotched scar. "Not really."

"It's twitching."

"Nice of you to point out the obvious."

The silence fell between the two, and slowly I turned my head to look over at the dark hallway. I took a deep breathe a pulled in the air, to stop the wave of dizziness that I could feel was settling in. I brought the cup of water up to my mouth, and after taking a small sip, I looked back over to the boy in front of me. Urgently, I swept my gaze over him, scrambling to find any words. None were coming. I turned back to face the darkness, and suddenly the sound of quick footsteps. I closed my eyes shut and took deep breathes. You are at home. No one is going to hurt you. You are at home. No one else is here.

"Why are you up anyway?" Sirius asked, and I turned to face him quickly.

"I should be asking you that."

"I asked first."

"You're the guest though."

"That only works on material stuff."

"That doesn't make any sense."

Sirius huffed and leaned forward, elbows and forearms planted on the table. "It makes perfect sense. Guests only receive special privileges when it comes to material stuff, such as food, chairs, ect. – Doesn't count for the sharing of ideas. In that all of us have equal amount of right."

"What?" I gaped at him, feeling my eyes slide along the serious lines of his face to make sure that he wasn't jibing me. "When did you start spouting political theories?"

"That's not political theory, love. That's human right."

"Political theory is the umbrella term which has one of its main topics surrounding human rights and freedoms."

Sirius leaned back, leaving one hand on the table to tap out a rhythm. A grin spread along his face as he said, "You remind me of Remus."

"Well," I huffed, a pulled away from the table as well, to stare at him. Slowly I began to feel the skin of my face pull up, and I began to laugh. My torso collapsed forward and I felt the humid wood against my forehead, and the shaking of my shoulders. The glass that I was still holding, slopped over and I felt a small trickle of a water drop rub against the very tips of my fingers. Finally, I sat upright, grabbing hold of my stomach, which had began to cramp, and looked back at Sirius who was looking at me intently. "I like that I remind you of boys."

Sirius looked for a moment and fluttered his brow before his eyes grew large. "Don't you start getting ideas about it."

"Hey, if you swing that way."

"I don't, you little runt."

"Sure," I clucked out, between little giggles, "sure."

Sirius looked away from me and towards the window that I had been looking at. His black curls swamped over his forehead and covered up the creases that were most likely festering there. I traced along the strong arch of his nose, and landed on his lips which puckered up. Silly boy, I thought, as he lips moved even closer together and then pulled to the side as his thought process probably changed. I moved my eye line to look back at my hands, which had begun to tremble a little.

"I know you didn't grab a pot."

"What?" I asked, as I looked back up to Sirius.

He turned to face me again, his face for once becoming very stern. I matched his gaze, but he quickly turned away from me. "James told me what happened the night I arrived."

"Ah."

"Yeah," he whispered out, and I followed his eye line to see that he was staring at my hands. I pulled them further away from him as he continued, "I'm sorry."

The words clogged in the tunnel of my throat as I looked over at him; the duck of his head and the way that he used his hair to cover his eyes. I titled my head to one side, and just took in his visage. "Thank you. – I'm glad you're alright, if that means anything."

I saw his lips purse a little, and then his teeth take in his bottom lip. "Yeah. All better now." He brought his head up, and slipped on his gigantic smile as he matched my glance.

The silence fell heavy over us, but I found that I couldn't stray my gaze from his face. The thin line that stretched across his right eye to the left corner of his lip, had begun to fade. His nose twitched slightly to the right and then to the left, before he scrunched it up. I traced my eyes away from the scar and then towards the dark purple bags beneath his eyes. They protruded from his skin, hanging there, and making his skin look paler. I wandered back up to his eyes, which were faintly bloodshot and paused.

"Do you want to talk?"

"Talk?" he asked, leaning back again and swinging his arm around the back of the chair to look nonchalant. "Talk about what?"

"Your parents nearly killed you." I saw his left eye twitch and his smile slowly tightened to stretch backwards to his ears. "I know you don't know me very well, but I care, you know."

"You care about me? Or is it because I'm your brother's friend?" Sirius paused, and slowly his smile turned into a sneer. "Besides, my parents are nothing. They don't matter. All that matters is that I got out, ya see. I'm alive and I'm going to continue to live. – Thanks for the concern, but it's not needed."

"I do care about you for you," I stated, ignoring what he was saying. He hadn't been matching my gaze at all.

Sirius finally pulled his gaze away from the window and looked over at me. His lips twisted about, and finally I heard the exhalation of a long, shuddering breathe. "I don't really want to talk about it."

"Okay," I said back.