It was three days before Sirius was able sneak out of his house and go back to the forest. This time, he was careful to leave early in the morning when only a few villagers were up and they were easily avoided. He knew he wouldn't be missed at home. His parents and younger brother had gone out of town for three days. Lily was the only servant who cared what he did and she wouldn't rat him out to his parents.

Sirius quickly made his way through the trees away from the path and soon reached the river. He jumped to the first stone and felt a sharp sting of pain in his legs upon landing. Sirius gritted his teeth and continued to jump despite the protest from his legs. Upon reaching the other bank, Sirius leaned against a tree for several moments as he waited for the pain in his legs to subside. As he waited, Sirius wondered if his parents knew he spent a lot of time jumping, or if they just hoped to prevent him from leaving the house by targeting his legs this time. Whatever their reason, it has failed.

As soon as his legs no longer stung, Sirius set off down the river, albeit at a slightly slower pace. Still, it only took a few minutes to reach the clearing and even less time to locate his friend. Night was once again lying in the middle of the clearing. This time though, the other boy was awake. His head rolled to the side and he gave Sirius a smile as he approached.

"Hey." Sirius said cheerfully, plopping down next to him.

"Hey." Night said back. "Been busy these last few days?"

"Something like that." Sirius answered vaguely, not really wanting to tell his friend exactly why he hadn't been here.

Night sat up. "Must be nice to always be busy."

Sirius opened his mouth to point out exactly why the other boy was wrong when he saw the teasing in his eyes. Snapping his jaw shut, he shoved his friend. Night fell back laughing and after a moment, Sirius joined him. It was rather funny that being busy back in the village was more entertaining than having the run of the forest. Both of them knew that that wasn't true and were laughing at Sirius having thought that Night had believed that for a moment.

When their laughter finally faded into the occasional giggle, the two of them sat up and looked at each other, silly grins still on their faces. Sirius grin faded though, when he caught sight of some fairly fresh looking cuts on Night's face. They were mostly healed but he could still tell that they had been bad.

"Night, what happened to you?" He asked.

Night's grin instantly died and he looked away.

"It's nothing Sirius."

Sirius frowned. He could tell that it wasn't nothing. "Night, really."

"It's really nothing Sirius." He insisted, his eyes not coming up from the ground.

Then he gasped. "Sirius, what happened to you?"

Sirius was startled at the abrupt change in subject. "What?" His eyes followed Night's gaze and found that he was looking at the still slightly red cuts across his legs. "Oh, that." He muttered. "It's nothing."

"Sirius, I can tell that these are fresh." Night insisted. "Did someone beat you?"

Sirius didn't answer. He didn't look up either. How could he tell his friend that his parents, his father really, had beaten simply for not staying home? He couldn't. Especially when Night clearly had loving and understanding parents who didn't mind that their son spent most of his days in the forest.

When the silence had stretched on for longer than a few minutes, Night sighed and stood up.

"Wait here." He said.

Sirius didn't get a chance to answer as Night vanished quickly into the trees. Confused, Sirius remained where he was, trying to be patient as he waited for his friend to return. It was five minutes before Night reappeared in the trees. His hands were full of what appeared to be plants

"Er, what are these?" Sirius asked.

"Herbs." Night answered.

"Herbs." Sirius repeated.

Night nodded, hands ripping up the herbs. "Yarrow, to be specific. They'll help your cuts heal faster."

Sirius nodded and grabbed a few of the herbs.

For a while, the two of them sat in silence, shredding the herbs. When the last of the yarrow had been shredded, Sirius was surprised when Night scooped up a small handful and brought it up to his mouth.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

Night lowered his hand.

"They have to be chewed to a pulp first. Otherwise they won't work properly." He said, sounding apologetic.

There was silence for a moment as Sirius processed that. His first reaction was shock. Night must have noticed as he spoke.

"Sirius, do you trust me?"

Sirius' answer was immediate. "Of course."

"Then trust me about this." Night motioned for him to lie down. "Lie down on your stomach."

It was a mark of just how much Sirius trusted his friend that he didn't hesitate at all before complying. He stretched himself out on the grass, folding his arms and using them to prop his head up, turning it to the side so he could see the lower half of his friend.

The faint sounds of chewing filled the air and Sirius knew that Night had stuck the yarrow in his mouth and was now concentrating on making it into a pulp. The sounds continued for a few minutes before abruptly stopping.

"This is going to feel weird." Night warned. "But you have to remain still and let it seep into your cuts."

Sirius didn't say anything, simply remaining still. A moment later he felt a strange sensation on the back of his legs. It was warm at first, then turned cold. Night's hands were gentle as they spread the herb over his cuts. It took three more handfuls before Night pronounced him good for the moment and moved so that he was sitting closer to Sirius' head.

"So what really happened Sirius?" Night asked after a few minutes of silence.

Sirius considered not answering, or at least repeating his answer from earlier. Then he rethought it. He got the feeling that if he wanted to know what happened to Night, then he was going to have to tell him some of what had happened to him first. That didn't mean he had to tell his friend the entire truth though. Night didn't need to know that. And besides, Sirius got the nagging feeling that Night wouldn't tell him the entire truth anyways. So there was no need for him to do so either.

"It really was nothing." He said at last. "I disobeyed my parents a few days ago and this was my punishment. My father took a belt to the back of my legs. It's not the first time I've been punished and I doubt it will be the last. It's the most common punishment. A child disobeys their parents and they get the belt."

Everything he had said was true. This had been punishment for disobeying his parents, it wasn't the first time and it certainly wasn't going to be the last time. And he had seen other village children bearing similar marks at some point or other. Sirius just didn't tell his friend what he had done to earn this punishment. If he told Night that he had been punished for sneaking out to see him, then the other boy would most likely try and convince him not to.

Sirius mentally shook his head. As if he would stay back in that stuffy village where he was under constant surveillance. There, his every move was watched and he felt trapped. Out here, Night didn't care what he did. If Sirius decided that he wanted to run off randomly, his friend would most likely follow him. Here, Sirius was free.

Sirius was startled out of his thoughts by Night letting out a relieved sigh.

"Is that all?" He asked. Sirius could practically hear the smile in his voice. You had me worried there for a minute, thinking it was something much worse than it really was."

Sirius wondered if Night really believed that. If Night really believed Sirius had given him the entire truth. Without seeing his face, Sirius couldn't be sure.

"What about you?" He asked. "What happened to you?"

Night fell silent for a few minutes. It seemed to Sirius as if he was trying to decide what he should tell him.

"It was an accident." He said. "To be honest, I did this to myself."

At those words, Sirius wanted to sit up and look at his friend, to see the truth in his eyes. Night must have noticed his body tensing in preparation to sit up and placed his hands on Sirius' shoulders, holding him down.

"If you want me to tell the story, you have to stay there and let the yarrow do its job."

Sirius nodded in surrender and shifted his arms so he was more comfortable. The yarrow was no longer cold on his legs and Sirius wondered if he had become used to it or if it had finally seeped into his cuts.

"It was an accident Sirius." Night repeated. "A couple of days ago I was exploring the forest. I had discovered a small hill and climbed to the top of it. As I was exploring along the top of the hill, I gradually came closer to a part of it that was looser that the rest of the hill. Unknowingly, I stepped on it and the ground gave under my weight. I went tumbling down the other side of the hill and crashed into a couple of thorn bushes. Some of the thorns scratched my face when I did so.

"So you see, even though I did this to myself by not paying attention to where I was going, it was an accident." Night finished.

Sirius remained still for a while, the story running through his mind a few more times. After the fifth time through, Sirius came to a conclusion. Night was either one hell of a story teller or he was telling the truth. The only thing was, Sirius wasn't sure which it was. Without seeing Night's face, he had no way of knowing the truth. And even if he could see him, Sirius wasn't so sure that he would be able to figure out the truth.

After all, Night clearly had practice keeping secrets. This was evidenced by the fact that he was easily able to keep Sirius from trying to figure out his name or where he lived.

Sirius pushed those thoughts to the side for now and decided to just go with it.

He shook his head slightly. "And here was me thinking that you knew the forest well enough to keep an eye out for those kinds of things." He said. "After all, how many times have you pulled me back from a weakened spot?"

Night laughed and Sirius could hear the relief in his voice.

"Normally I do. I was just so intent on exploring the area that my common sense decided to focus on something else for a while. Fine time for it to take a break."

Sirius laughed as well.

"I fully blame you for that, you know." Night informed him when Sirius had settled down enough that he could hear.

"How so?" Sirius asked with a slight hiccup.

"You're the one who always dashes off without stopping to think. I've been spending too much time hanging around you. Clearly my common sense decided to follow yours and take a break."

Sirius snorted. "I thought you decided a while ago that I don't have common sense."

"You don't." Night agreed.

Snorting again, Sirius reached out to pull his friend down on his side so he could see him clearly. Night complied readily and soon was stretched out on his side.

Now able to see his friend, Sirius was surprised to notice the worry and hesitation in the other boy's eyes.

"Night, what is it?" he asked.

Night hesitated briefly before answering.

"Sirius, I had something I wanted to ask you."

AN: My first cliffhanger. What could Night possibly want to ask Sirius? Only I know the answer to that question. But I would love to hear your guesses as to what it could be. So let me know in a review what you think Night will ask Sirius in the next chapter.

On the subject of the next chapter, I will warn you that by the time you are done reading it, you will hate me. And no, I'm not telling you why either. You're just going to have to wait and see next weekend.

Now, I have a question for you all. Whose your favorite Harry Potter character and why? I'm genuinely curious. I'll answer this question myself in the AN of the next chapter.

Before I go for today, I want to leave you with this quote. It comes from a story that I love and find absolutely hilarious. Perhaps you know the story, perhaps you don't. I'll reveal the story next time as well. Of course, if you tell me in a review and you get it right, I'll let you know in my answer back.

Harry barged into the sealed courtroom, loudly announcing their presence. "Sorry, we're late. Sirius had pieces of Dark Lord in his hair."