Hi, I'm sorry about the late update – I've been busy a lot recently! I'll cut this short, so, there is Sirius in this chapter (he might seem a bit OOC in the chapter, but you'll find out why later – hehehe, have fun guessing!). I don't own the characters other than my OCs -J.K. Rowling is the true mastermind! And also – enjoy and review! :)

Chapter 7

Listen To Me

To our dearest daughter, Amelia.

How are you fairing, sweetheart? We heard you were sorted into Slytherin – well done, Amelia! Your mother and I are so proud of you. Now, how is Regulus? He managed to go the right way, I heard – Slytherin too. His father mentioned to me when we past in the Ministry of Magic that he told him in a post that you were called to the headmaster's office. Oh Amelia, what did you do? Headmaster's office in your first week! Just make sure that it does not happen again, although, I heard rumour it was related to Sirius Black. If that boy is being cruel to you, Amelia, tell me straight away and I'll sort it out, no one treats my daughter, or a Wanderwood, in such a manner, even if they are a Black (and make sure Regulus realises that too).

Onto a different topic, knowing you, you're wincing and wanting to move on, isn't that so? How is school for you? The house is very quiet and empty without you, your mother jokes she can know think clearly! Are you having fun at Hogwarts? How are your marks going? Do I need to message a teacher for tutoring or anything? I know that you can have trouble at times.

I hope Hogwarts is good enough for you, my darling daughter. Your mother and I both miss you very much. Take care and try not to get into any more arguments with the eldest Black brother, we have a reputation to keep, Amelia.

With love,

Daddy (and your mother).

I smiled as a lone tear slipped from my eye, making its way down my cheek before landing on my hand in a small splat. When the sound of footsteps echoed up owlery, I quickly put the letter back into the envelope, which had my name neatly scrawled across the front, and picked up my bag, wiping any excess tears away before they could see. The door opened and I whirled around, pretending I didn't know they were about to enter, before slowly turning in a much more graceful manner at the sharp intake of voice. My eyes focused on the person, before narrowing.

"Pity, I thought it might have been someone actually worth my time." I snapped, before grasping my bag tighter and moving to leave. "Better go before I waste my time-"

I stop speaking when his hand reaches out and grasps my arm. Looking down at my arm where he was holding, as he said satirically. "Please, don't go on my account, Wanderwood. Wouldn't want you to go before you're ready to."

"Let go of me, Black." I said simply, but Sirius merely rolled his eyes. "I said, let go of me."

"Fine, I'll let go, as long as you promise not to run away." Sirius commanded. Who does he think he is? My mother?

I huffed before trying to subtly pull my arm out of his grip."I promise you nothing-"

"Please, Wanderwood. For once in your pathetic life, just listen to me."

"I have listened to you. Or do you not remember the times we played when we were children? Games like, 'who could kill the mudblood first' and 'who could get the dementor's kiss first'. I use to listen to you when you'd tell stories about 'The Unicorn Hunter'. Do you not remember any of that? Oh wait a moment, you forgot it as soon as you could and went to abandon and betray your true noble heritage and family by living with those Potters!"

"The Potters are my family!" Sirius shouted, yanking me closer so that we were less than ten centimetres way from each others face. It is the closet we've been to each other in years. "Not that you would understand about family."

"I know more than you ever could comprehend." I retorted coldly, before pulling out of his grip and neatening my mused clothes up.

"Oh really? Then tell me, what sort of family sets up two innocent children into a loveless marriage before they are properly able to understand the true meaning of marriage?" Sirius questioned, stepping forward as I took a step back.

"My family care for me and in making the arrangement, I am going to be taking up one of the greatest wizarding world family names! I will become Amelia Black, and that is one of the greatest achievements I could ever succeed in life with." I said, enraged. "It's not my fault that you do not see the brilliance and power your family hold before you ran off into the night to play around with Potter. Well, too bad, I saw an opportunity and took it!"

"You saw one? No, what you saw was a dream, your parents took the opportunity. You dreamt of a happy marriage, filled with respect, money and love, isn't that so? You want to please your parents, make them proud of their baby girl. You want to make Regulus proud to call you his wife. You want to be able to have all the witches staring at you in envy when you walk down Diagon Alley with your little pureblood son, who of course, will be named after a star constellation and look like his father. He'll get into Slytherin, become captain of the Quidditch team, marry a rich, wealthy and beautiful woman and give you pureblood grandchildren. You want to be able to grow up in a mansion and spend your afternoons sipping tea with your mother, mother-in-law and all the wives of rich pureblood men. You'll also want to spend all your time praising the dark arts and reading your children stories about how the muggleborn hunter fell in love. That's what you want." Sirius took in a deep breath before continuing his rant, as I stared at him, wide eyed.

"All my parents saw was a handsome dowry and yours saw a chance to make themselves even bigger. How could you make yourselves bigger than having your daughter being a Black? And just think about you and Reg's children! With Black and Wanderwood heritage, oh, they'd be the most wanted children by all pure blood families! The purest purebloods of them all! So tell me, a world where you don't have your own say in what you do – is that the world you want?" Sirius' tone became even more sarcastic as he continued his speech. Silence was all that was left when he finally finished.

My eyes lowered from looking into his eyes, the same grey colour as Regulus', and went to stare down at the floor. Did I really want a world where all I did obey everyone? I mean, I was raised to be married off to increase the wealth and power my family hold, but did Sirius actually have a point? Is marriage all I want? Before I came here, all I knew was that I was destined to marry Regulus and I had no choice, but what if that choice to escape became available? I mean, Sirius managed to leave, could I leave too? Even Dumbledore had been trying to give me some covert message, maybe Sirius is just giving me the blunt version of what the headmaster was trying to tell me. My hands tightened and I felt the letter my father had sent more crinkle in it. Who am I kidding, I can not leave my parents. They have spent my whole making sure I got the best I could possibly get, I could never turn against. That makes my decision then.

I raised my eyes defiantly to look into Sirius' grey ones. "I don't have time for this Black, now move." I snarled, before barrelling past him and grabbing the door handle, my father's letter tight in my hand still.

"Lia," Sirius barked, as my reaction was immediate. I stopped as my eyes widened – I haven't had any call me that in years. As a child, I was nicknamed 'Lia' by Sirius, and only Sirius could call me it, after all, he was like the big brother I never had. While Regulus stuck to 'Milly', Sirius had always insisted in calling me just Lia, much to our mother's disapproval – they never liked nicknames. And while Sirius called me Lia, I called him 'Rius' or sometimes even 'Ri', he never liked having his name shortened by anyone else. "Lia, please, just listen."

My hand stayed firmly holding onto the door knob, but I did not leave the room. "Say what you have to say quickly, Black, I have a potions assignment to write."

"Lia, if you stay with them, you'll destroy yourself, I can already see it happening now. When you were little, you were so innocent and full of energy, that's not the girl I saw on the train or in the hallway." Sirius started, before stopping when I glared at him over my shoulder.

"What would you know, Black?" I grounded out, raising an eyebrow at him. "You haven't seen me in years."

"You'd think I haven't, but actually, I've seen you every now and then. Around the place when I'm out with the Potters. And I can tell you, I've seen that happiness leave your eyes every time. You use to smile and laugh, but now, I suppose that's not acceptable of a woman of your standing." Sirius' eyes narrowed, challenging me non-verbally.

"You know what Black, I don't need this right now. One day you are going to regret leaving your family, and don't look for me when you come begging back, because I've seen what it did to your mother-'

"My mother," Sirius snorted, rolling his eyes and he called an owl over, "has no heart. Honestly, she couldn't care less about me. It was always Regulus that she loved. He was the favourite child."

"That was because you openly defied everything she raised you to believe-" I started, before Sirius interrupted me harshly.

"That's because what she thinks is wrong!" Sirius exploded, waving his arms around in the air to add to his dramatics. "Think about it, Amelia, where is the ethics and morals when it comes to hunting witches and wizards, who were born with magic, but considered to be born with the wrong blood, when they had no choice about who they were born to. You and your opinionated bigots say how bad muggleborns are, how they deserve to be hunted for the disease they spread, but haven't you noticed that some of them act like any other witch or wizard. I mean, look at Lily Evans for example-"

"Lily Evans," I rolled my eyes, after getting over the fact he had called me by my first name. "She was so obvious, Black. She didn't have any lady-like mannerisms, her hair looks like a bloody birds nest most of the time and for Merlin's sake, she wears muggle clothing! Although, I suppose she could be a Weasley." I sneered when Sirius glared fiercely at me.

"Don't talk about the Weasleys that way, Wanderwood, they're a much greater family then yours ever will be." Sirius growled out as I quickly forced the door open and paused to glower at him again.

"That's where you're wrong, Sirius." Sirius' eyes widened at the use of his first name. "My family will always be far greater than those poor idiots who live in some hovel and can't stop breeding like rats. Just you wait, one day you'll be down in some slums, while reading about the prosperity my husband and I have."

"You're going to get yourself killed." Sirius shouted, racing forward when I went leave and slamming the door shut. The slam resonated before he continued. "Listen to me, Wanderwood, and take my warning. When the Dark Lord begins to rise, you'll get hurt. You're only one girl, it doesn't matter what your bloodline is, he'd still kill you if you displeased him. And you know what, if you do marry Regulus, you'll marry into one of the most famous wizarding families, and what better way for him to make a point of how powerful he is then killing one of the strongest wizards, or witches. Killing you would only make him look stronger."

"Dark Lord? Who is the Dark Lord?" I asked Sirius, but he just shook his head.

"Please Amelia, I know we haven't spoken in years, and when we have, it's been words full of hatred, but, you have to listen now...I can't tell you much, but he will try and rise and anyone who gets in his way will be killed-"

I shook my head and went to open the door, but Sirius' weight against it stopped me from doing so. I looked up at him, my eyes cautious and curious. "How do you know this? Tell me now, Black. Who is this man? He can not be strong enough to kill me, he wouldn't dare, I am from one of the purest families this world has ever known-"

"For Merlin's sake, it doesn't matter who your family is, Amelia! He'd kill you anyway. I'm giving you this one chance to save yourself-"

"Oh for the last time," I snapped, shoving Sirius away from the door with unknown strength I didn't know I possessed. From the surprised look on Sirius' face, I'd say he didn't know about it either. "I do not need saving, from anyone!"

"You say that now, but when you need it, don't ask for me, because I won't be there." Sirius said darkly, pulling the door open and keeping it opened for me. "I gave you a chance to escape before everything got too hard."

"Why do you care about me? You've made it perfectly clear, especially for the last few months since I've been here, that you hate me and want nothing to do with me. Now you want to 'save me'. Honestly Black, I don't need saving, especially from some traitor. Go have fun with your little Gryffindor friends, I'm sure Lily Evans is missing you."

I walked out of the owlery and was half-way down the hall when Sirius called out. "Fine, walk to your death, see if I care."

I ignored him and kept walking, my father's letter still clutched tightly in my hand, crumpled and tearing.

I rare ray of sunlight against my skin seemed pleasant as I walked beside Cressida, who was chatting to Caroline, who just nodded and pretended she was listening, unlike me, who was obviously not paying attention, but I couldn't find in myself to care as Sirius' words from earlier that day kept repeating in my head. What you saw was a dream, your parents took the opportunity. Was what I thought of really just a hopeful wish? What about what Regulus wanted, did he see me just as some opportunity, just like what our parents saw? Or was his opinion also just like a dream? What if he has neither?

"So, I told him not to bother, after all, who'd want to date a Ravenclaw. Honestly, he thought I'd say yes!" Cressida laughed loudly, as Caroline shot her a dirty look. I gave a non-committal smile, even though it was evidently fake. Cressida gave Caroline a confused look, before Caroline finally felt the need to explain why she gave her her look.

"Please stop laughing like a cheetah, sister, it's not an appealing look." she said snappily, as Cressida raised an eyebrow with her.

The Dark Lord. Okay, so that's definitely someone I haven't heard of, but Sirius seemed to know so much about him. What does this 'Dark Lord' have that caused Sirius to come to me to warn me? We haven't spoken amicable since he came to this stupid school. However, Sirius seemed truthfully worried for me. What if what he said about me going to get myself killed was true? Surely father wouldn't allow that, I mean, no one would go against him, unless they were above him, but barely anyone is.

"Okay, what got into your pumpkin juice?" Cressida mumbled in response to Caroline, before looking at me, and sighing. "You too, huh, Amelia?" So, now my father has a possible enemy, must I warn him? What if this 'Dark Lord' finds out I'm going to warn him and then- "Amelia?"

"Pardon, I mean, yes, I mean, uh." Cressida gave me an upset look, as I sighed and looked down at the grass we were walking on. "I'm sorry Cressida, I'm just not in a very talkative mood right now."

"You're never in a talkative mood, Amelia. Ever since we've come here. You're always moping about and acting as if you have some dark secret." I winced inwardly at the word 'dark'. Just like Dark Lord, I suppose. Caroline didn't notice as she continued her claptrap. "Even Regulus has been concerned with you. Oh, for Merlin's sake, even March has been worried, and that is saying something! Are you even listening to me now, Amelia? I bet you're not, you're probably day-dreaming. Well, get out of that stupid dream Amelia, it's destroying your social life." and with that, Caroline stormed off.

I watched her go silently, when Cressida turned to me, biting her lip worriedly. "This might sound mean, but what my sister said is a little true, Amelia. You haven't been yourself for the past two months and everyone is concerned. Regulus is only a few steps off from writing to your parents about his fears. Just," Cressida paused before moving in front of me and motion to Caroline with her left hand before exhaling softly, "wake up, Amelia. You are not the same Amelia we had when we arrived. Just wake up." Cressida then turned to follow her sister. My eyes followed them both leaving.

"Oh come on, 'just wake up, Amelia'." I mocked. I know it's mean, but I seriously have had enough of people giving me warnings. First Dumbledore, then Sirius and now Caroline and even Cressida! Kind, sweet, never puts a word out of place Cressida! My eyes narrowed and I turned around, striding back towards the castle. "You want a woken up me, than you will get it. Let's just hope you can last with it."

Ohhh, so now we have Amelia coming back for some hardcore Slytherin cattiness! She may appear angsty/catty, but once again – you'll find out about it later!

1shjw1 – Thanks for reviewing again! I think Amelia having a brighter future is nice too :) There will be aspects of the book influencing this story, but it might be a little AU in the future (characterisation will mainly stay the same, but the plot line may change from that of the books). Thanks for the review! :)

Ok, so that's all. Please review, follow, favourite and whatever as long as it's positive! I accept feedback on anything and if you have any opinions, just message me or type in the review section. Thanks, from Emily Grace! :) (p.s. I'll try and upload faster next time).