"I got your post, mate." Sirius tossed two letters at a recovering Remus. James was in the bed beside him in the hospital wing, snoring away- full moon had been rough this month, but thankfully none of the injuries had been fatal. Remus smiled weakly in gratitude, opening the first letter.

"It's just Mum and Dad wanting to know if I'm okay after… yeah. Wonder who this one's from." He raised an eyebrow, opening the second letter. His eyes widened at what came out of the envelope.

"Is that Marlene's arse?"

"Let me see that!" Sirius snatched the photo from Remus' hand, examining it closely.

"Did someone say arse?" James murmured sleepily, and Peter sniggered, "It's not Evans'- you can go back to sleep now Prongs…"

"Oh shut up Wormtail- who's arse is it?"

"McKinnon's. She sent me a photo of her bum with "Moony for my Moony" attached" Remus replied, puzzled.

"It's a nice bum." James chimed in, peering over Sirius' shoulder. Sirius frowned.

"Why did she send it to /you/?"

"I don't bloody know do I—"

"You may both leave." Madam Pomfrey chimed in, "Just don't get up to anything mischevious this weekend. I don't want to see you back here for another month, understood?"

The four boys nodded, and James and Remus got up to go get changed.

Meanwhile at the breakfast table, Mira was sure she could feel two pairs of eyes burning into each side of her head. And she was right.

She finally looked up at Marlene, eyes narrow, "Can I help you?"

"You could help me by telling Remus how you feel about him."

Mira flushed, frowning, "There's nothing to tell- I was /drunk/ when I said yes."

"And under the influence of a very accurate truth potion…"

"I probably misheard your question." She insisted, still in denial. She looked around the table, desperate to change the topic, "Where's my brother?"

"Probably slept in." She shrugged, opening the letter that her owl had just dropped in front of her. Mira blinked in surprise as her family owl swooped down, dropping a letter in front of her. Her family /rarely/ sent mail. She opened it slowly, admittedly a little concerned about what would be in the letter. But at least it wasn't a howler… again.

"I'm sorry about your leg mate…" Remus trailed off guiltily, and James shook his head, "Don't be stupid. It's fine- plus girls dig scars, right?" He smirked, and Sirius grinned. The boys entered the Great Hall and spotted the girls, making their way over to them. Sirius was about to rip into Marlene about the bum picture, before he heard his sister groan loudly, head thumping against the table. He blinked, "Er- Mira?"

"They're doing it again this year. Merlin /why/ do they do this at /our/ house? And why do we have to go! They haven't done this for /years/ so why this year! Why—"

"Woah woah woah- slow down and start over!" Sirius sunk down opposite her, a little concerned now. "Who what when where and how?"

She raised an eyebrow at her brother, tossing the letter to him. He scanned it over a couple of times before groaning, his head hitting the table in an identical way to how Mira just had. The others exchanged confused looks.

"Our parents are throwing a massive Halloween ball this year over half term. They haven't done one since we're kids… and they're /insisting/ we go."

Sirius shook his head and screwed up the letter, throwing it into a jug of pumpkin juice. "No way- we made it clear we wanted nothing to do with them when we left home."

Lily blinked, confused, "So why did they invite you still?"

Sirius sighed heavily, "They're ashamed of the fact we left because we're not… we're not like /them/. I'm surprised we haven't been blasted off the family tree yet."

Mira swallowed hard, clearly uncomfortable with this topic. Remus noticed this and quickly changed the subject, "We don't have to go. We can have our own Halloween party, just our group."

"Yeah." Lily agreed brightly, putting an arm around Mira's shoulder. Sirius smiled gratefully at Remus for the change of topic, and began helping himself to breakfast, "Halloween's like, ages away anyway. James needs to sort these try outs for the team…"

"I'm getting there" He grunted, this obviously being a touchy subject. Marlene cocked an eyebrow, "I'm surprised it wasn't sorted out on the first /day/." James sighed, "It has to be at the right /time/ Marls. I'm watching everyone play out of trials. I don't want someone who's good for one trial, I need /consistency/…"

Remus rolled his eyes and Mira giggled, making Remus' cheeks go a bit pink. Sirius nudged Mira, "You should try out this year."

Remus raised an eyebrow, "I didn't know you played, Mira." She flushed, "I don't. I used to play with Sirius and Reg when I was younger but… I'm no good."

"You come down here this instance before I fly up there and /drag/ you down by your hair!" Orion Black roared, red in the face. Eight year old Mira shook her head, tears streaming down her determined little face. "No- I hate you. Go away."

"Mira /please/." Sirius begged, dreading what would happen when she came down. She couldn't /live/ up there.

"No! He- he's mean and nasty and he hurt you." Mira sobbed, clutching her broomstick. Sirius went to grab his broomstick, before it was snatched away by his father.

"I'll get her. You stay down here, this is all your fault. If you were a better role model for your sister, she wouldn't be so disobedient all the time!"

"She'll only listen to me! Let me go and—"

"I SAID NO" He roared, pushing Sirius over and mounting his broom.

The trembling little girl let out a cry of fear at the sight of her father kicking off the ground, and began to fly away. She flew down to the ground as soon as he was close to her level, and began running- fast. Sirius ran with her, heart pounding. They were going to be in so much trouble…

Mira ran into the broom shed, planning to lock the door behind her and Sirius, but Orion was too fast. He grabbed Sirius by the collar, pulled him out, and got in the broom shed with his daughter.

Sirius tried so hard to get in. He kicked at the door for what felt like forever, sobbing as he heard his sisters cries and the sound of a broomstick hitting her hard.

Mira had not been on a broomstick since.

Sirius looked at her sadly, and rubbed her arm. Remus, noticing this, gave Sirius a puzzled look- which he chose to ignore. Instead he got up, forcing a smile.

"C'mon, it's the weekend. Lets go do something."