Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the OCs.

AN: Thanks to Slytherinpride96, sirius297, Natsumi- Reiko, Blackluvah, UltimateLoveStorys, kenina, Elena Spath, angel2u, Starlight1746 and sweetcherrypie007 for reviewing! I'm glad that you guys like the story so far. I know I haven't updated for longer than usual but I had no idea how to go about this chapter, took a bit of time to structure it. It's a bit of a filler I guess… Reviews appreciated!

Realization

Sirius awoke with a headache the next morning. It was understandable; yesterday had been to simply put it, crazy.

He got out of bed slowly, realizing that it was quite early as his roommates were still asleep. He was a bit glad he was up before anyone, he could get some homework done –gag- and maybe just relax for a while. He got ready and was leaving the dorm when he caught sight of his hands.

They looked almost lumpy, there was roughly 15 pieces of glass wedged in his handsand they were scarred badly. A result of yesterdays bottle smashing.

He groaned, he should have just done it the muggle way and wrapped it with cloth, his pathetic attempt at healing had backfired. He'd have to go to Madam Pomfrey's now.

So much for homework and relaxing.

He walked downstairs at a leisurely place, taking time to look around, strangely positive after yesterday's events. But that didn't last long.

He'd been ambling along the stairs when he'd heard a loud hem hem, by far one of the worst fake coughs he'd ever heard,and once again; found himself staring at Ray's face.

He turned around at once to go back and hide in the Gryffindor Common Room, Gryffindor bravery temporarily forgotten; after all, this was Ray. He reckoned that he'd rather have the retarded hand than spend another minute with her. But obviously Ray just had to stop him from having even a moment's peace.

"Sirius!" she called out, "Sirius wait I want to talk to you!" Sirius noticed with mild surprise that she wasn't calling him 'Black'.

He stopped reluctantly and let Ray catch up to him; she looked rather guilty and concerned. For a moment she just stood in front of him and stared at him, something that made Sirius feel quite unnerved.

"I know what happened." She said softly.

There was silence.

She looked up at him with a sad, worried look. A look that was plastered on everyone's face when he entered a room.

A knowing look.

She'd finally caught on.

"Then you'll know, that I don't want to talk about it." He said coldly.

He suddenly didn't give a damn about Ray and whatever the hell she did, he couldn't control her strange doings, and he made it a personal goal not to care about things he couldn't control.

Trying to ignore the fact that she was still following him he made his way to the Great Hall. Anger was bubbling inside him, his temper rising with each step he took. He sat moodily at the Gryffindor and proceeded to scowl nastily at anyone who looked at him. He scarfed down food, trying to eat his way out of emotion.

"Someone's feeling hungry." Said James sitting next to him. "I suppose because of all that duelling you've been doing lately."

Sirius knew that it was meant to be a joke but it didn't stop him from giving James a cold look and ignoring him. He was still pissed about last night.

"Don't be like that Padfoot." He said suddenly wearily. "I know you're angry at me, but I still stick by what I said yesterday."

Remus and Lily had entered the Great Hall too, and were nervously listening to their conversation; Remus pretending to be reading a book and Lily just outright eavesdropping.

"James just apologize." Mumbled Remus.

"I refuse to apologize for saying the truth." Declared James stubbornly.

Lily groaned and buried her face in her hands. "I can't watch this." She mumbled leaving the Great Hall.

"Fine." Snapped Sirius. He stood up abruptly and stalked off.

"Try not to get hurt when you're stalking out dramatically!" James yelled after him. "You have a session with Minnie soon!"

"How could I?" replied Sirius viciously. "When you're so bent up on me 'getting over it'?"

Apparently unnerved by his retort James laughed and Sirius was satisfied to hear a loud thwack and an "Ow, what was that for?" Which was undoubtedly the sound of Remus smacking James on the head.

What was with that boy? Could he never understand the gravity of a situation?

After a few more days of classes with sickeningly sympathetic peers, Ray stalking him and trying to get him to talk and James refusing to apologize, Sirius was back in Professor McGonagall's office.

Much to his dismay.

Minnie peered at him over her square spectacles. "Continue Mr. Black." She said as if there was no further instruction or explanation needed. "I believe we are at the Sorting."

"The Sorting," said Sirius chuckling; "now that is a story I enjoy telling."

Sirius left the train with a bounce in his step.

Who would have thought that this year would have begun so nicely?

But a small thought made a dent in Sirius' good mood; he still didn't know if Grace would be in Gryffindor. She had to be, right? Obviously, a person as nice as her and as funny as her just had to be in Gryffindor. But then again she did come from a line of Pureblood Slytherins, she could get into Slytherin too.

What was he going to do?

Then Sirius came up with a perfect idea.

All he had to do was make Gryffindor sound so bloody good that Grace would beg the Sorting Hat to go to Gryffindor! It was the perfect solution! Scanning the crowd for Grace he finally saw her amidst Lily and her friends, already part of their tight knit group. He caught up to them, as did the other Marauders, mainly James who was making desperate attempts to impress Lily.

"So," said Sirius slinging his arm around Grace's shoulder "which house have you decided you'd like to go to?"

"I think all the houses at Hogwarts are great, I'd be honoured to be in any house." She said evenly.

"Spoken like a true diplomat." Remus commented with a grin. "But honestly, which one would you prefer?"

Grace looked thoughtful for a moment and then grinned. "I'm not telling. I'll tell you after I've been sorted."

"What?" groaned Sirius, "You must be joking! Don't keep us in suspense!"

"You deserve it Sirius! Don't think I don't know what you're here to do!" said Lily sternly.

Ah, she'd caught on to his devious little plan.

"There's really no question where she'll go," said a velvety smooth voice, "she'll be in Slytherin, like she's supposed to be."

The Gryffindors and Grace turned around. There stood Regulus, arrogant smirk painted over his face as usual.

"Oh, hello Regulus." Said Grace pleasantly but with an undercurrent of nervousness.

"Hello Grace." Replied Regulus, the smirk spreading even wider. Sirius felt like pummelling Regulus, why did he always have to show up at these types of moments?

"Regulus don't you have somewhere to be?" snarled Sirius. "I see your little Death Eater buddies waiting for you."

Regulus only looked at Sirius with mild fascination. "Yes, I suppose you're right. Just like your mudblood fan girls are waiting for you." He said cheerfully. Lily bristled in the background and Grace grimaced. "Truly, you are a hopeless case brother. Anyway, I just came to talk to Grace. Don't worry," he said addressing Grace, "everyone in Slytherin House is sure that you'll be joining us shortly. Best of luck." And then he vanished into the crowd, leaving them speechless.

"Well he sucks." Said James after a pause.

They broke out laughing and walked together to the castle.

Grace joined the line of First Years waiting to be sorted, but Sirius knew that he was feeling far more nervous than she was.

If that old hat put Grace anywhere but Gryffindor Sirius would personally tear it to pieces. Finally Grace was called.

"Vandor, Grace!"

Sirius watched as a trembling Grace tenderly sat down on the stool and had the hat placed on her head. None of them could hear anything but they could make out things from her expressions. Twice she looked shocked and once she looked flabbergasted. And then…

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Gryffindor table burst into applause, especially the girls and the Marauders.

Grace was beaming as she ran towards the Gryffindor table and flashed Sirius a wide smile.

With a smirk Sirius saw Regulus clench his jaw and clap his hands angrily.

"This is great!" exclaimed Lily giving Grace a hug.

Sirius couldn't agree more. "So, are you going to tell me what house you wanted to be in?"

Grace smiled brightly and lowered her voice to a whisper, blushing a little. "Gryffindor."

"I really don't have any more recollection of that day, apart from knowing that I was extremely happy. It was one of the best days of my life."

"And ours." Added James silently.

"Obviously Regulus was unhappy," said Sirius with a sigh, "but he obviously couldn't blame Grace. We taunted him with his failed prediction for quite a while."

"Yeah, I remember giving him the nickname of "Slytherin Seer", stuck quite well." Said James chuckling. "The whole school ended up calling him that, and only about 10 people knew why."

"When I look back though, sometimes I think it would've been better just to let it go." Said Sirius vacantly. "Maybe if we hadn't taunted him-"

"Your taunting him did not make him do what he did." Said Remus firmly.

"I agree with Remus, everyone gets taunted," said Lily "but that doesn't mean that we should become Death Eaters. He's had that obsession since he was young, you said it yourself Sirius."

Everyone was shocked into silence, the four of them had known for a while that he was a Death Eater, but no one had actually ever said it aloud.

It just wasn't done.

The teachers would think they were mad if they heard that the students thought that a 17-year-old boy was a Death Eater. And Professor McGonagall was a living example.

"A Death Eater?" uttered Professor McGonagall aghast. "This is a serious accusation Miss Evans."

"I know it is." She said calmly.

"And do you have any proof?" exclaimed McGonagall.

"I'm sure if you lift his left sleeve you'll find all the proof you need Professor." Said Sirius nastily.

Once again there was a tension filled silence. "I think that is all for today." Said McGonagall austerely. "I will see you next week."

They were dismissed.

"Mr. Black!"

Sirius groaned, he had been so close to freedom.

"Mr. Black, come back I wish to have a word with you."

He sat back down wordlessly.

McGonagall leaned over her desk so that they were face-to-face. "I just want to say that I discourage you from entertaining such suspicions about your brother and beg you not to pass these falsehoods around the school." She leaned back on her chair and rubbed her temples. "The students and teachers are paranoid as it is, we don't want to create any more mistrust between the Wizarding Society. Think about how parents would react if they thought that their children were having classes with Death Eaters! They would go berserk."

"But its true Professor!" said Sirius indignantly.

"I don't want to hear anything more about this whole Death Eater business Mr. Black!" said McGonagall severely. "You are dismissed."

Sirius once again got up and started to walk back to Gryffindor Tower, that is until he stumbled on something lying in the middle of the corridor.

He heard a feminine "oomph" and some choice swear words.

Ray.

He got up quickly but not before Ray grabbed his wrist in an iron grip. Her hands were strangely soft but strong at the same time. Shaking these weird thoughts from his head he scowled at her.

What the hell are you doing?" he hissed.

"I just wanted to talk to you!" she whispered.

"So you decided to camp out in the middle of the corridor?" he exclaimed angrily.

"Well you were avoiding me! This was the only way!"

"How did you even know I was going to be here?"

She opened her mouth and then closed it, biting her lip. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Who told you I was going to be here?" he hissed ferociously.

She just shook her head again and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Please, I just wanted to say I'm sorry about the way I've been acting, I didn't know what happened."

"Do I look like I need your apology?" he spat. "Do I look like I need anyone to be sorry for me? I won't fall apart!" He wrenched his hand from her grasp and stalked off. He turned around, "Who told you what happened?"

She shook her head again.

"You know what?" he shouted. "Forget it!"

And he stomped off to Gryffindor Tower in a black mood.

If he'd stayed a minute longer or maybe hid behind a pillar he would've seen the strangest sight.

McGonagall emerged from the shadows and walked to Ray silently.

"I screwed up." Ray said bitterly. "He dislikes me even more, are you sure I'll be able to do this?"

"Give it some time," said McGonagall, " he'll come around."

AN: Cliff-hanger… sort of! What in the world is McGonagall doing? Reviews are very much appreciated! Oh and if you're looking for something light to read, check out my story "The Sorting Hat Gets Angry"! Hopefully you'll like it!