Hello! Sorry I'm taking forever getting these chapters out! Really it'll get better once my schedule gets cleared up. Um, most of this was written at different times (some late at night, others during lunch, ect.) so if it's not my best please don't defenestrate me! Thanks to all that have reviewed for me, you're now my favorite people! To those who haven't reviewed, you should. Truely. Please?

Loves for all (that review that is ;), Fairy-Rain

"Severus, no. I'm sorry, but if your 'friends' are going to be using dark magic on innocent people, I'm going to do everything in my power to punish them," Lily said firmly.

"But Lily, please! They won't do it again, I promise. Just let them off once? I swear they didn't mean any trouble!" Severus pleaded.

Lily's face turned dis-believing. "You are not going to stand there and lie to me, Severus Snape. We both know what you said is not true. Now, I'm going up to my common room before I say something I'm going to regret. Good night."

Severus hung his head. He wasn't willing to fight with her. It had taken almost a year for her to forgive him, talk to him, even look at him, after the 'Mud-Blood' incident.

"Good night, Lily." He turned and went down the hallway.

In a random hallway across the school, Branwen was dancing. Why she was in such an odd mood was beyond her. She wasn't completely happy, yet she was not anywhere near sad. She just continued to go where her feet took her. She didn't feel like going to bed just yet.

Emma had been acting strange ever since her...well, 'accident.' It wasn't an 'accident' at all, Branwen knew, but no one would ever talk about it, and if they did, they called it her 'accident.' Branwen had been noticing other strange things as well, like how she never seemed to be alone. Wherever she walked, there seemed to a prefect in the corridor, and even in her room Lily seemed to be watching her closely. She told herself she was just exaggerating. It's a boarding school! Of course there are going to be other people around, it's all in my head , she thought to herself. So, Branwen twirled to get the paranoia out of her mind.

"Might not want to do that," drawled a cold voice. Branwen stopped mid-twirl and turned to where the voice had come from. Lucius Malfoy stepped out of a shadow cast by one of the statues.

Brawen's body stiffened, "What do you want?"

"Calm down, I only wanted to warn you," he said, inching closer.

"Warn me? What could a ...person like you want to warn me about?" Brawen chose her words carefully. Lucius took a step closer and Branwen reached for her wand. Which, as she discovered after frantically patting down all her pockets, she had left in her room.

"Haven't you noticed how you're never alone? How there are always prefects around? Don't tell me you're daft." He now stood a foot from her.

"Well, yes. But what does that matter, it's their job to patrol the corridors... and I am not daft!" in the back of her mind Branwen thought it was funny she had only been thinking that a moment ago.

"They think you're mad," Lucius stated simply.

"What! Malfoy, I thought we were being serious," Branwen snorted.

"I am. Do you really believe that you had an accident? Do you believe that's what your parents thought? They were going to send you off to the loony bin if that loud-mouth twin of yours hadn't spoken up. So they demanded that you be watched. Dumbledore is making all of us prefects watch you. We have to report if you're acting crazy," Lucius smiled as Branwen's face fell.

She shouldn't believe him this easily, he was a Slytherin, after all, and he and Emma hated each other. But, he didn't appear to be lying, and Branwen wouldn't put it past her parents to do something like that. Their greatest fear was having a 'defective' child. Emma wasn't 'defective', and yet they tried to hide her reckless behavior from the rest of the world. So how much would they want to hide an insane child? Reputation is everything, her mother had used to say.

"I...don't believe you," she said quietly.

"I thought you wouldn't," Lucius' smile was making her uneasy.

"Don't worry Branwen, we don't think your crazy." Branwen spun around to find Bellatrix Black, Regulus Black, and Narcissa Black standing behind her.

"In fact," Bellatrix continued, "We think you've got a gift. There's someone we'd like you to meet."

Branwen looked around for another person, but couldn't see anyone besides the Slytherins.

"Oh no, silly, he's not here now. You'll meet him over Winter Holiday," Narcissa's voice was high pitched, dramatically different from her sisters low contralto.

"What if I don't want to meet this person?" Branwen hoped they wouldn't detect the shakiness in her voice.

"Don't worry, when you're ready to believe, we'll be here. He can help you, Branwen." Regulus said reassuringly. He was so much like his brother, but yet, so different.

"You know where to find us, so until then, good night Branwen," Lucius smiled one last time, then walked back toward the dungeons. Bellatrix and Narcissa linked arms, a cruely beautiful contrast; said good night and followed Lucius down the corridor.

"Don't be scared Branwen," Regulus bent down and kissed her cheek, "Goodnight."

Branwen stood frozen as she watched Regulus walk away. What was that? Did Regulus Black just kiss her on the check? Brawen supposed any other girl would have fallen over in a swoon, but not her. She had known Regulus since her childhood, they saw each other at various pureblood balls once a holiday. Sure, he was cute and dashing and whatnot, but she couldn't be attracted to someone like him. During the last few years he had started ignoring her when they saw one another. Apparently she wasn't good enough to talk to him and his friends. But if so... what was that kiss about then?

Branwen pondered this as she wound her way up the stairs toward the common room. If she thought about that, she didn't have to think about what they had said. How could anyone think she was mad? Sure, she was a little odd at times, but she wasn't that bad...was she? Did the others think she was crazy? Is that why her friends had been giving her weird looks lately? What the hell was happening? Branwen didn't even want to think about what her family thought.

As she stepped through the portrait hole she saw the Marauders lounging around. They were the only ones in the room. She stayed in the shadows for a moment, trying to find away to the staircase without being noticed. She didn't want to have to talk to her twin, or her twin's friends, for that matter. How could Emma fail to mention that everyone thought she was loony? If Branwen had just known, she would've tried very hard to seem normal.

"We do see you over there," Emma called out without looking away from James.

Oh crap, thought Branwen.

"But you can still pretend to hide if you want," James added, not looking away from Emma.

Branwen took a deep breath and walked over, "Emma..."

"Not now Bryn," Emma snapped.

"You don't even know what I'm going to say!"

"You're right, I don't. But I do know that I don't care. The only thing I care about is winning this game against James," Emma replied. Sirius laughed from the floor where he was playing a game of Exploding Snaps with Remus.

"The first one to look away loses," Remus said, in way of an explanation.

"Just go upstairs and write one of your little stories or something," Emma sighed.

Branwen felt her checks grow warm, "Look, Emma, I just wanted to ask you-."

"Ooh, are your stories about ponies and rainbow? Or maybe glittery dresses?" Sirius snorted.

"Or maybe they're about princesses and castles or whatever-the-bloody-hell else little girls think up," James laughed.

Emma smacked him on the leg, "Watch your language young man! There is a child present here! Well, really two. I'd guess Peter's and Bryn's maturity are about the same, so we can count Peter."

Branwen stood rooted to the floor. How did that just happen? She had just walked into her common room, and now she was being made fun of by her own twin. This day just went downhill, not like it just walked down hill, no, more like someone pushed it downhill and it hit every hard object on the way.

Branwen took a deep breath and walked toward the stair case. But then something occurred to her.

"What's a matter Emma? Am I acting too crazy for you? Want me to hide away up stairs and keep quite like a good little girl should?" Branwen spat. Four pairs of eyes looked up. Peter continued staring at his book.

"What?" Emma growled. Her body had tensed and she now stood. James quickly stood up beside her.

"Oh, don't worry. If I had an insane sister I'd keep her locked away too. I'd never tell her anything either, just incase it might help prove she's not mad as a hatter." Branwen could feel her insides burn with the anger she felt for the world. Why was everything working against her?

"You don't know what you're talking about! You'd be in St.Mungo's right now if it weren't for me! Plus if you acted normal people would suspect you're acting! You're an odd little girl, Branwen Glyn Hayle, but I'll be damned if you're crazy. I have the situation taken care of, so you just pretend you never heard that rumor! Got it?" Emma yelled, breathing heavily from her rant, "And stop with the dramatics!"

Branwen stood speechless. What exactly could you say back to something like that? She couldn't think of anything, so she turned and marched into her room, slamming the door behind her. Lilly and Cilla looked up, startled. Branwen just sent them an icy glare and crawled into her bed, drawing the curtains tight.