"Oi, what the hell do you think you're doing!?" James yelled, taking off after Sirius.

The corridor was eerie to say the least. All laughing had ceased as we froze in our steps. My eyes darted back and forth as I took in the scene before me. Three shadowed figures stood in the centre of the corridor, their faces illuminated by the dull shine of the torches hanging on the walls. As the light swept over the features of the smallest figure, I gasped. It was a young boy, probably a first year, the badger on a small yellow patch of his uniform giving away his status as a Hufflepuff. His rosy cheeks shone in the faint light, both the fat tears that were pouring out of his puffy eyes, and the streaks from those previously glittering like diamonds in the sun. A long red gash sliced its way down the length of his cheek, before fading into small droplets of blood. His entire face held only one emotion; fear. It was etched in the way his bottom lip quivered with every muffled cry that escaped them and the way his eyes were wide as saucers as they darted between his attackers and us. As my eyes met his, he spoke. Not out loud, but with eyes. They screamed that he needed help. Heck, the only way it would have been more obvious would be if a giant Las Vegas sign was hovering above him, lights flashing out the word.

Yet, his eyes were skeptical as he tried to determine whether we would help, or inflict more pain on his tiny figure.

I let my eyes drift to his attackers. Both were much larger than the small Hufflepuff whimpering next to them. The taller of them, reminded me of a troll. To say he was scary would be the understatement of the century. He was monstrous; his body towering over everyone in the corridor. Usually, when someone is that tall, they have good enough looks to make up for the abnormal height, but this guy was unfortunate in all aspects of the physical appearance. His features were blunt; his eyes weren't even visible in the available light. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if he only had one eye anyway. His mouth was both large and small and as he smiled at our appearance, I could see his beaver-like teeth sticking out. His face was completely unsymmetrical; I wouldn't jump if he was half white, half purple polka dotted. Oh poor, poor, Lestrange.

Deciding I wanted to keep my sight, I looked away from the troll (as Lestrange shall hence forth be known) and directed my vision on the second, smaller bully.

Although he was shorter than Lestrange, he was still quite tall. His hair was a deep chocolate colour and the tips came loose in slight curls, with one stand of hair winding its way into his eyes. He didn't look like the kind of person with brown or green eyes; he needed something more mysterious and different, so they were probably grey. His face was slightly heart-shaped because of his well defined jaw line. His lips were small and plump, a nice rosy pink colour filling them. He was quite pale, and his Emerald robes mixed perfectly with the creamy complexion. His body was well-built, and gangly was the last word I'd use to describe him, but he wasn't fat. He looked a lot like Sirius actually and if I didn't know any better I'd say it was. But seeing as I do know better, I know it's his arse of a brother, Regulus.

The Arse and The Troll ceased what they were doing to see Sirius and James running towards the first year. Sirius got there first and pulled the young boy behind him protectively and when James arrived, he stood as a double cover. Lily and I recovered from the shock of the scene, and stalked over to the Slytherins, taking our spots next to James and Sirius. Lily crouched down to talk to the boy, and as soon as I heard him say, "It hurts, miss, they hurt me", I felt a surge of anger rush through me. I tried as best as I could to resist punching the living day lights out of the two boys, but I knew I wouldn't be able to hold it for long.

Regulus took a few steps closer to us, trying to get a better view.

"What do we have here?" Regulus drawled, averting his attention to each one of us individually.

"My pathetic brother, a blood-traitor, a filthy mud blood, and," he rounded on me, "Well, don't you look like fun" he said, his head bobbing slightly as a smug smirk took over his lips, "Would you care to join me? We could have a really great time, just you and me-"

"If you lay one finger on her, you're going to wish you were never born" Sirius threatened, his eyes burning with hatred, "Although, a slim ball like you would be better off dead"

"And what could you possibly do hurt your poor little brother?" Regulus enquired, tilting his head to the side as he closed the distance between himself and Sirius.

"Would you like a list?" said Sirius, raising a challenging brow.

"Accio wands" Lestrange suddenly called, slicing his wand through the air. All at once, our wands jiggled out of out pockets and shot into his waiting hands.

"Good thinking Lestrange" Regulus praised, without looking away from Sirius. In a flash, he had retrieved his own wand and forcefully held it against Sirius's throat.

"So, big brother" Regulus taunted, "I think you're about due for a beating" He opened his mouth to spit out a spell, when I interrupted.

"If you value your pathetic life, leave him alone' I hissed, my eyes narrowed into slits.

He rounded back on me, leaving Sirius with a red mark across his neck. He stood too close for my likings. Although, if I had my way, he wouldn't even be alive.

"If I may?" without waiting for my reply, he snaked both his arms around my waist, thus rendering me trapped. I tried to get away, put he just held on tighter.

"Let go of me!" I demanded, shoving again.

"No" he challenged, locking his fingers behind my back.

"Get your-" James started, but was cut short when a flash of orange from Lestrange hit him in the chest. He stayed up right for an entire second, before his legs collapsed under him and he fell to the ground with a loud thud. It echoed around the corridor, and a small trickle of blood dripped from his head. I instinctively held my breath, as not to alert my vampire senses.

"James!"

"Prongs!" Sirius yelled, "Why you little-" just as Sirius had turned on Lestrange, an identical streak of orange smashed into his chest and he toppled over on top of James.

"Sirius!" I screamed, shoving Regulus as hard as possible in the chest. His grip loosened and I slipped from his grasp and sprinted over to my unconscious friends. I heard the Hufflepuff boy crying and every now and then, a sob escaped Lily's lips.

As I kneeled in front of the two boys' strewn across the ground, a cry of my own came. I held back the tears and checked their pulses. I could feel the faint movement of the blood running through the veins under my fingers; they were alive. Oddly enough, as I lent over Sirius his eyes followed me and as I checked James, the same thing. Every time I moved, their eyes followed, but nothing else moved. I sighed in relief; they were only hit with body-binding curses. Of course, it's not like an oaf like Lestrange could manage much more.

As I checked everything was okay, my eyes fell on the wound on James' head. Thick, crimson blood slowly cascade down his skull, forming a small pool of red near his head. I couldn't help it, I inhaled. The sweet smell of blood filled my nostrils; it danced over my taste buds, leaving my mouth watering with want. As it traveled down my throat and into my lungs, I wanted nothing more than to suck every last drop of it from James' body. When I breathed out, I was filled with emptiness and I wanted to be whole again. Slowly, I swirled my hands through the bloody pool by James' head. I twisted my wrist all through it and allowed my entire hand to become soaked. With nothing but the blood in mind, I raised my arm and ran my nose across it. Every time I breathed in, I felt myself become more and more whole. And with every breath, I felt my eyes slowly changing colour. I knew that if my eyes changed red, I wouldn't be able to go back. I wouldn't be able to stop.

"A-Adelaide?" It was Lily's fragile call that alerted me.

That's when I came rocketing back down to Earth. I was still in the corridor, surrounded by people. I was still in front of my injured friends and Regulus Black was still eyeing me with interest. I knew that I was acting strange to them. I wanted the blood so bad, but I knew I had to leave it.

I'm not a killer. I'm not a killer. I'm not a killer. I'm not a killer. I'm not a killer.

Every time the words echoed through my head, I felt my desire for the blood ebb away. But as the desire left, the anger came. I was beyond furious, I was murderous. I needed to take my anger out on something, or someone.

I jumped to my feet and sprinted towards Lestrange. I'm not exactly sure what my plan was, considering he's so big it's not like I can reach up and punch him. Well, maybe if I had a trampoline I could, but I don't have one, so I need to think of something to do.

I'm now a meter in front of him, running full speed with no clue on what I was going to do. Using some quick reflexes, I kneed all the power from the short sprint into the only area I could reach; his crotch.

"Holy Dumbledore!" he croaked, losing his balance and falling to the ground, making the entire corridor rock like an earth quake.

I stood back a bit and admired my work of art. I could call it 'The fallen Troll' or 'the unfortunate Slytherin'. Both could work, it's a modern perspective of what art is. I bet I could get all of Gryffindors to love with ease.

"My my, sweetheart. Did Lestrange really deserve that?" Regulus questioned, coming up behind me.

"Never, call me sweet heart" I growled, stamping my heel into his foot.

I heard a hiss of pain escape his lips and he conspicuously tried to shift his weight to the other leg.

"Oh, feisty one aren't you" he slammed me against the nearest wall, and used his arms to cage me in, "But there's no need to be like that; I have my wand, you don't. What are going to do?"

"If a witch is good at what she does, then a wand is a pointless piece of wood. I am warning you, I am good at what I do" I threatened, slightly raising my eyebrows and cocking my chin out.

"What? You're saying you can do wandless magic?" he enquired, raising a disbelieving brow.

"Maybe"

"Well, you just get more and more interesting by the minute"

"You'll find I'm full of surprises" I said, looking him dead in the eye.

Suddenly, he swooped his head in and kissed me. It wasn't a passionate kiss, it was rough and wanting. He forced himself upon me, wrapping a hand around my waist, whilst the other was still firmly placed against the wall, blocking any exit.

I pushed him in the stomach over and over, trying to get him off, but every time I did, he just kissed harder. I expected Lily to help, but as I chanced a glance sideways, I saw she was trying to keep Lestrange from getting back up. The Hufflepuff boy must have run away by now, he'd be stupid if he hadn't.

Regulus continued kissing me, and while I found it to be the most revolting thing in the entire world, I had to admit he was good. I tried to bring my knee up to slam into his crotch like I had Lestrange, but I couldn't because he had trapped my legs with his own.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" Remus' startled voice echoed off the walls of the corridor and all around us, the sound filled me with hope.

The next thing I knew, Regulus was torn off of me and thrown against the wall. I quickly wiped my mouth with my sleeve, wanting to rid the horrible taste and saliva.

"What do you think you're doing?" Remus demanded, holding Regulus up by his collar.

"Temper, temper, Lupin" Regulus taunted, "I understand you're jealous, but don't do anything stupid"

"You're sick, Black. Sick and twisted"

"On the contrary, I think you're the veil monster here"

Remus tightened his hold on Regulus, and shoved him once again against the wall. He hissed in pain, but tried to remain collected. I don't get why that line affected Remus so much, but it did and it cut him deeply.

"Oh, touchy subject?" Regulus taunted, cocking his head to the side.

"Get your pathetic pure blood arse out of here" Remus demanded, pushing Regulus towards the end of the corridor. But instead of leaving, Regulus twisted on the spot and threw a punch at Remus. I heard a sickening crunch as his nose snapped in, before I saw the gush of blood pour out of it like a tap twisted on.

I braced myself for the entrance of my vampire instincts, knowing all to well that once they came, I'd have to use all my will to stop from hurting Remus. But for some reason, the blood didn't affect me. I saw it dripping from his nose in all its crimson glory, but I didn't have the sudden uncontrollable urge to suck it all away. Even when I inhaled some air contaminated by it, I didn't feel the desire to have it to myself, rather the exact opposite happened. It was revolting; it was a horrible stench that surrounded me. My throat burned as the scent of Remus' blood traveled down it. I wanted nothing more than to get rid of the disgusting smell; I wanted to banish it to the pits of hell. It was torture.

Why was this happening? Why didn't Remus' blood affect me like James' did? Is my bond with him really so close that his blood revolts me?

While all these questions were swimming through my head, Regulus kicked the bent-over Remus in the stomach. Remus yelped in pain, and fell to his hands and knees. I saw it all happen, but I was too enclosed in my own thoughts to think of something to do. Remus grabbed Regulus by the leg and dragged him to the ground, punching him across the face whilst doing so. Because of the awkward position Remus was punching from, the punch didn't even break Regulus' skin.

They wrestled on the floor, fighting over who was on top. Remus was on top at the moment, his arms punching the living day lights out of Regulus. In turn, Regulus wrapped his right leg around Remus' waist and shoved him, causing him to loose his balance and roll over. Now that Regulus was on top, Remus' body had become a punching bag. Regulus was hitting every available body part with excessive force, whilst Remus tried to roll back over. Regulus had seated himself on top of Remus in a way that didn't allow Remus to move. As blow after blow hit Remus face, it's amazing he was still conscious.

But as each one of those blows hit him, I began to get angry. I was completely furious with Black. He had hurt a first year, bounded my friends, stolen my wand, kissed me without permission and now he was using my best friend as a punching bag.

I felt a surge of power rush through my body, and my arms started to tremble uncontrollably with anger. Small sparks emitted from my finger tips, and I could feel a ball of power and energy rise through my body. More and more sparks shot from my fingers, getting brighter and larger each time.

With one last punch at Remus, Regulus was shot backwards.

All the anger, the power, the desire; all the bad emotions I had felt during this encounter mixed with energy and shot at Regulus. The entire corridor flashed gold, as red sparks attacked Regulus. I kept on pushing it all, all the energy, I got every last drop of it to hurt Regulus. As he flew back into a wall, I heard the sickening crunch of his leg bending the wrong way. He screamed out in pain, arms flying to his legs.

The final bursts of energy shocked Regulus, and then the corridor went dark again.

Everything was quite. There was no sound, no light, no nothing. I sensed someone nearing me, and squinted. I made out Remus' bruised form approaching me. When he got close enough, he wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. I collapsed into his arm, having drained all my energy to hurt Regulus. He started rubbing small circles around my back.

I don't know what did it, it may have been the lack of energy, it may have been the forced closeness of another or the blood or the darkness. but a tear slid down my cheek.

I rubbed it away quickly, hoping no one saw it, but as soon as I did another came. I sobbed into Remus' shoulder and he tightened his grip around me. He didn't say anything the whole time, he just let me cry.

A few minutes later, the tears started to slow, but every now and then a small cry would escape from my lips.

I pulled back from Remus' he loosed his grip so there was a gap between us, but still kept his arms around my waist.

I gave him a once over; his sandy hair was tousled and his eye was black. His arms were dotted with half-formed bruises and a small trickle of blood was on his forehead. I noticed how wet his shirt had become and felt a blush crawl up my neck as I realized it was all from my tears.

"Remus, I'm so sorry"

"Don't apologize" he demanded, "It's only a shirt"

"It's a very nice shirt" I mumbled, my voice cutting off slightly due to my blocked nose.

He shook his head and eyed me critically. His eyebrows crunched together above his eyes in thought and he pursed his lips. I began to feel nervous under his stare and shuffled my feet.

"What's the matter?" he finally asked.

"I-nothing. Regulus was just agro-"

"No, it's not that. There's something more going on"

He knew me too well. It was bugging me, it always is. It's from the darkness and the forcefulness; it's from the blood and the tears, it's made the memories surface. I keep seeing it. It's always there. She's always there.

"Remus, I don't know what you're talking about"

"I won't buy your crap, Adelaide. It's you mum, isn't it?"

"I've shed enough tears for her" I said, swallowing difficultly

"There's no such thing"

I lifted my head and looked quizzically into his eyes, which in counter were full of sympathy. I shook my head and sighed, looking down at my feet, "I really miss her"

"And you're allowed to" he replied, "Listen; there's no easy way of saying this, Kiddo. But your mum's gone"

I felt a pang in my chest as the words sunk in. It was true. Of course it was. And I've known it for years. But to hear the words out loud was completely different to thinking them in your mind.

When it happened, I got so many apologies, "I'm sorry about your lose" they'd all say or, "Get better soon".

They'd say it like it was a disease. Like I had the flu and everything would be good again in a few days time. But no matter how long goes by, the pain would never ease, the loose would never fade. The guilt, it was a cruel demon and it would never go away; it would taunt me forever, it would rub it in. I'd wake in the morning to Guilt screaming, "It's all your fault"

"I keep seeing it, Remus. Every single dream, it won't go away"

"We can go and see Madame Pomfry to get a dreamless sleeping potion it you want, he offered

I shook my head, causing my messy curls to fall into my eyes.

"No, I'm fine. God knows that woman's done more than enough for me"

We remained silent for a few minutes. It was amazing how great a friend Remus was. He didn't at all care that I'd just blasted a man into the walls uncontrollably; he was more worried about me. Merlin, I love that boy.

"Adelaide?"

I turned my head to the side to see Lily approaching me hesitantly. I sighed. Lily was a great friend, she truly was. But I knew deep down, that she was scared of me.

"I'm fine, Lils" I said, giving her a sad smile.

"Are, are you sure?-"

"Would somebody please explain what the bloody hell just happened!?" Sirius' voice boomed over top of Lily's, drawing all our attention towards him. Both he and James were free of the body-binding curse and marching towards me determinedly.

"Please?" Lily added.

I shook my head and tore my gaze towards the ground.

"Adelaide, tell us what happened" James demanded, with a look on his face I can't really describe. It was a mix between fear, anxiety, sympathy and curiosity and I didn't like it.

I spun on heel to look at Remus, searching his face frantically for help. Surely he knew why I couldn't tell them

"Remus?"

"You need to tell then, Adz" was his only reply.

I sighed dejectedly, and turned back to my friends. He was right, he always was. They deserved to know.

"My mum was murdered"