A/N: So it's been months since I last updated, and all I can say is that I've been incredibly busy and distracted. But I'll spare you the long author's note and let you get right to the story.

We were all settled in the common room Wednesday evening, my quill tip smacking against the side of the table as I tried to think. There had to be some way, any way I could try and convince Lupin that I was not Sirius' daughter. Or at least, some way to get him to not tell everybody.

"Teresa would you stop that annoying tapping?" Ron shot as he tried to figure out his Divination homework.

"Huh?" I inquired absentmindley.

I moved my quill back to the parchment I was supposed to be doing my homework on, but still found myself unable to concentrate. It would be so much easier to think if Sirius wasn't running around, making me worry about his condition. This would be so much easier if he had just trusted me to stick to my job, I had taken care of myself for several years, surely I could another? Just the very thought of it made me even more bitter inside. I was plenty responsible, and yet he saw fit to break out of prison and turn me into a worried housewife. A loud snapping noise dragged me from my thoughts and I stared down at the broken halves of my quill. Harry and Ron were staring, which severly pissed me off.

"What?!" I snapped

Ron turned back to his work as his ears flashed a bright red, but Harry continued to stare at me as I tried to reattach the quill pieces. Sighing with defeat, I tossed the quill remains aside and rested my head on the table.

"Forget it, I give up. I'm going to bed."

"Alright...goodnight."

I waved behind my head and followed the stairs up to the girl's dormitories. I flopped down into bed and buried my face deep within the pillow.

"Bad evening I take it?" Hermione asked from her bed.

"Ive had better." I mumbled, my words muffled by the pillow.

"So, I was wondering..." Hermione began.

Oh no. I thought to myself. Here we go.

"What was your mom like? Do you remember at all?"

I turned to look at her earnest eyes, her head on the pillow as well as she watched me.I wasn't expecting that question, I figured it would have something to do with school work or what happened with Voldemort. I sighed heavily and closed my eyes lightly, focusing all my deep and submerged thoughts on my mother's face and her entire exterior. And the picture, she blurred image of my mother's dazzling face I had to fixiate upon.

"I don't remember too well. But she was absolutely beautiful. She had this really long brown hair that she would tickle my nose with, and these bright blue eyes. And she always smelled like biscuits."

"Biscuits?"

"Yeah." A felt a smile tugging on the corner of my lips. "And she would sing to me. There was this song, I can't remember the words exactly...but it went something like..."

I cracked open an eye a bit to see if she was still paying attention. Her head was propped up on her hand and she was watching me, expectantly. I thought carefully about the words and the tune and began to sing it quietly.

"Nothing's gonna harm you, not while I'm around. Nothing's gonna harm you darling, not while I'm around..." (A/N: I know I ripped off Sweeney Todd, but the song seemed fit.)

Hermione was still silent, waiting for me to continue, but I couldn't remember the rest of the words. I glanced at her, expecting her to say something in response to that.

"She used to sing it to me when I would get scared at night. When my Dad would leave for the evening..."

"It's a very nice song." She finally said, slipping her feet under her bed covers.

"Aye. It would be nice if I could hear her sing it again." I sighed, then changed up my mood. "But whatever, the past is the past. There's no need to live in it."

Hermione sighed bitterly at my lack of empathy toward my own past.

"You know," She said pressing her face into the pillow and pulling the sheets up to her neck. "Some day all of that is going to catch up to you and you're going to cry."

"That'll be the day Hermione."

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The following morning in double Potions I was so shaky that I didn't even notice Malfoy come in moping and complaining. I sat trying to keep my hand steady beside Hermione as I worked the knife, but my hand continued to slip and my fingers were all now cut and bleeding. I had yet to notice that all of my concoctions were incorrect and that my cauldron was fizzing a bright purpleish colour instead of the acid green it was supposed to be.

"Teresa!"

"What?!" I jumped from my seat and slammed the knife down into my index finger.

Biting back a stream of curses I gingerly removed the knife from my finger and tossed it aside, looking for some kind of cloth to wrap around my bleeding fingers.

"Pitiful Brown." Snape shot me a malevolent look while staring down at my cauldron.

I gave him the same exact look of hatred while he passed by to go critize the other Gryffindors in the room. Hermione streched out her arm asking for my hand with a clean cloth in the other hand. I allowed her to bandage my hand, stopping the flow of blood from all of my fingers.

"Let me help you fix that." She sighed, leaning over after sure that Neville's was repaired.

But I stopped listening to her. I overhead Seamus Finnigan's conversation with Harry and Ron, something about Sirius.

"-they reckon Sirius Black's been sighted!" He was saying.

"Where?" Harry exhaled heavily.

"Not too far from here. It was a Muggle who saw him. 'Course, she didn't really understand. She phoned some hotline and by the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone."

I breathed a sigh of relief, trying to slow my racing heart. But, not too far from here? Oh god. After the class was dismissed, I was frozen outside of the Gryffindor common room, my fingers trembling as they clutched my books to my chest. Ron met up with me a few moments later, Harry trailing after him with long strides.

"Come on Teresa," Ron tugged on my arm gently. "Time for Defense Against the Dark Arts."

I jumped at his touch and scanned his concerned expression with my panic-stricken one. I inhaled heavily and exhaled just as heavily.

"Right, right. Let's go then."

Ron walked in front of us and Harry walked alongside me, a gentle grip on my upper arm as he pulled me through the hallways. He literally had to pull me because my feet were not responding to my brain's command for them to move forward. A giant probe of fear pierced through my subconcious, blocking out all thoughts or ideas to help get me out of this situation. Harry sat me down in a chair and took the spot right beside me.

"What are you so scared of?" He demanded, feeling very upset that I still hadn't told him why I was avoiding Lupin.

"Me?" I forced my voice to sound steady. "Scared? What the bloody hell would I be afraid of?"

"Quit lying!" He hissed.

Lupin finally entered the room, the tattered clothing accompanying his worn looking smile.

"Good afternoon. Would you please put all of your books back into your bags? Today's lesson will be a practical one. You will only need your wands."

There were a lot of quizzical stares, but everyone did as they were told and we soon followed Lupin out of the classroom and through the corridors. Whem we reached the staffroom, he ordered everybody inside. Neville was called to the front to "assist" Lupin with the creature hidden inside the closet, but I stopped paying attention. My breathing was shaky as I watched Lupin give out instructions, his words making no sense at all to me. I could feel him watching me, even if he wasn't actually looking at me. Plotting, planning. What was he thinking? What was he going to say to me after class today? Maybe if I got lucky, he might have forgotten about it. Maybe he would leave me alone...

Yeah, and maybe Sirius would be set free and crowned king of England.

"Now I want everyone to get in a line behind Neville."

I was shoved up front by somebody I couldn't see, standing right behind Ron. I was going to have to go today, and I knew it. I knew what scared me the most, and it would give me away. Maybe I can fool it I thought to myself. I concentrated on something else, a stupid little fear. Something I shouldn't be afraid about anymore. Please let it work!

"Teresa, now!"

Ron's legless spider that had been rolling on the ground instantly began to mold back into my fear. But it wasn't like I had hoped, it didn't take the form of the fear I had been trying to pretend it was. Instead it morphed itself into a live figure of Sirius, his eyes black and glaring around at all the students. I jumped back with a scream, but before the boggart could finish the fear, Lupin jumped in front of me and the figure instantly changed into a silvery orb.

"Riddikulus!"

The orb deflated and Lupin sent it back inside of the closet.

"So! That's it for today everybody!" Lupin said, earning complained groans. "Sorry, sorry! Go on! Pack up!"

He turned to me with the same friendly smile he had greeted everyone else, and whatever colour was left on my face was instantly drained.

"And I need to speak with you." He glanced up at Harry who was waiting for me by the door with Ron and Hermione. "Alone."

Ron and Hermione instantly left the room, but I shot Harry a pleading glance as he stood where he was. I turned away from Lupin for a moment and came up to Harry's side.

"I promise I'll tell you." I sighed, knowing that I was only biding my time.

The longer I tried to hide from him, the longer I would have to worry. It was time for me to get it over with. I pulled away from Harry and stepped back to Lupin. Harry nodded simply before exiting the room, leaving me alone with the one man I was completely terrified of at that moment. He gestured for me to follow him back to his office, through the confusing and twisting corridors back to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. I followed him up the staircase to his office, gripping onto the railing as tightly as I could with my good hand. Once inside he closed the door quietly behind him, almost as if he was sealing my doom.

"Now, where to begin." He sat down at his desk and still smiled at me. "Well, we might as well start off with the boggart today. So, Sirius Black is somebody you fear the most is it?"

"Oh yes." I steadied my voice and my breathing. "Shouldn't he be? He killed my mum."

"Ah yes, I've heard that story. He was working along with Voldemort to kill you and Harry."

"Right."

"Well, now that he is loose, how have you been feeling?"

"A bit scared." I lied smoothly.

"Well, let's go through that a bit. You know, you look awfully a lot like an old friend of mine-"

The door to Lupin's office suddenly crashed to the floor with a thunderous BANG, making me leap from my seat and nearly onto the table. Harry was pushing himself up onto his feet, wand in hand and with a furious expression on his face. He ran back out onto the balcony and glared down.

"RON YOU GIT! SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE NOW?!"

"WHAT I'VE DONE!" Ron shouted back. "THAT WAS YOUR OWN FAULT!"

I ran out onto the balcony as well, pulling Harry out of the path of Ron's fire.

"Boys!" Lupin yelled, ceasing the fire. "Enough! Now I'm very surprised at the two of you! Both of you should know how to settle your problems without the use of violence! Now I want the two of you to go back to your common room immidietaly!"

"I'll take them to make sure they don't do it again!" I jumped at the opportunity.

"That would be uhh...fine I suppose. I think we were about finished. Goodnight Teresa." Lupin said.

I grabbed Harry's upper arm as tightly as I could to make it look convincing and dragged him down the stairs. With my free hand I grabbed Ron's arm and dragged him out behind me as well. Once we were out in the deserted hallways I pressed the both of them up against a wall.

"What the bloody hell were the both of you fighting about?" I demanded.

The angry glares on their faces turned into grins.

"Nothing." They said at the same time.

I let their feet hit the floor but did not allow them to leave.

"What do you mean?"

"Harry said you needed to get away from Lupin, so we came up with a plan to get you out of there."

I stared at them for a minute with a confused expression, but then a smile broke out across my face.

"We'll see you later Ron, Qudditch practice."

"Really? Wood let me on the team?!"

Harry smiled and nodded. We waved goodbye to Ron and then we began to head down towards the Qudditch pitch. Practice was going to have to be short today, damn Slytherins took over the field for the entire today and it was getting close too dark.

"Now, you owe me an explanation."

A/N: Alright I think I lived up to my guilt of not updating for quite awhile by giving you guys a long chapter. So send in the reviews (or don't) and I'll update as soon as I can.

Peace

-Jackie-