Amelia entered the Great Hall with a huge yawn, her pretty features pale, her hair a tangled mass of curls, and her pretty pink eyes were rimmed with dark circles.

"Amelia, you don't look so good." Amos commented taking a seat next to her.

"Yeah, I haven't really been sleeping much these past few days. Pass me something with a high caffeine content, please." She yawned. Her nights had been plagued with nightmares of Voldemort, the fact that he could speak to her through the brand of the Dark Mark unnerved her to no end. Meanwhile, her imagination went wild with what Lucius could be doing; was he alive? Had he been caught and killed by aurors? Had the Dark Lord killed him?

Amos handed her the pitcher of black tea.

"The wizarding world really needs to succumb wonder of muggle coffee." She muttered as she poured herself a cup.

Amo chuckled, "at least your sense of humor is still intact."

Amelia sighed. "What are we doing in charms today?"

Before Amos could answer, Amelia's barn owl, Soren landed before her and lifted a small foot. Amelia gently untied the letter from the raptor's talons smiled when he hopped up on her shoulder.

She tickled his feathers before opening the letter. Soren liked to "read" her letters with her. She figured it was his way of making sure that his job was done, and probably why he was such a smart creature.

"Whenever that happens, I always wish that I had a camera." Helena stated as she looked at the girl with the owl perched on her slender shoulder reading.

Amelia and the owl both looked up briefly, blinking their large eyes. Helena snorted before sitting down next to Amos and helping herself to some pancakes.

Dear Amelia,

I can't tell you much more, other than I am safe. My assignment is going well, he will be proud of me.

He wants you. He is enthralled by you, and your skills with magical creatures.

We will be in contact soon. Be safe.

Your brother,

Lucius

A flood of relief swam over Amelia, although she had no idea where he was or what was going on, Lucius was safe and obviously succeeding in his mission if Voldemort was proud.

"What is it? You look like 500 kilos were just lifted from your shoulders."

Amelia nodded. "That's what it feels like. I hadn't heard from Lucius in a while and I just got a letter from him."

"Is that why you haven't been sleeping?" Helena asked.

"Part of it." She answered. The blond was ashamed to admit that she had woken up Helena more than once sneaking in and out of the dorm when she couldn't sleep.

A sudden sob was heard from the Griffindor Table, as Mary McDonald jumped from the table and ran out of the Great Hall. Sirius Black was seen standing and rubbing the back of his head slowly before James Potter tugged on his sleeve to get the other boy to sit down.

"Looks like Black is back on the market." Rholanda commented standing up from the table and stretching her lithe body.

Amelia rolled her eyes. "How long did that last? Three weeks?"

"That's a new record for Black", Amos commented as he too stood up.

The four friends exited the Great Hall together and began walking to their respected classes. The four parted ways at the Charms classroom where Amos and Amelia ambled into the classroom and took their seats.

A few moments later Remus sat down beside Amelia again, Amelia gave him a smile.

"You look exhausted." Remus stated as a greeting.

"Good to see you too." Amelia replied. She looked the other boy up and down, "You don't look too hot yourself."

"It was a rough night…" Remus trailed off.

"Tell me about it." Amelia stated in response, folding her hands and resting her head on her arms.

Remus did the same.

When class started it took all Amelia had to pay attention to Professor Flitwik.

Remus nudged her on occasion to wake her up. She sighed, trying every trick she had to stay awake.

At the end of the class Remus walked with her out the door and down the hallway towards Ancient Runes. "Maybe, you should go to the dorms and sleep." He suggested.

Amelia stifled a yawn. "I wish, I just need to make it through this and Care of magical creatures and then I'm done."

"Take it from someone who knows, sometimes you need to take a day for your body to recover." Remus stated softly.

Amelia smirked. "Listen to the prefect trying to tell me to skip a day." She stated.

As she and Remus continued to walk towards Ancient Runes, she noticed that Sirius Black had not joined them. "Where's Sirius?" she inquired.

"Sleeping in the dorms like you should be. You could say that he had a rough night as well."

Amelia nodded, although she was curious, the guarded look on Lupin's face made her decide not to pry any deeper.

The rest of the day seemed to drag on for Amelia, she was just too tired to care about any of her classes, including Care for Magical Creatures which was indeed her favorite course.

Although the idea of Voldemort still worried her, the knowledge that Lucius was at least safe relieved her immensely. So much so that she decided to skip supper and just go to bed. Nightmares or not she was exhausted and ready for some ambiance of relaxation.

On her way out of the Great Hall, Amelia ran into none other than Sirius Black.

"Wotcher." Black greeted as he stopped to speak to the Malfoy girl.

"Hey" Amelia replied tiredly.

"You look awful, are you sick?" Sirius asked his gray eyes looking slightly concerned.

"Just overtired." She replied softly, suddenly self conscious about how awful she really looked. She looked at the other boy and noticed the bruise on his left cheekbone and the fact that his right hand was bandaged.

"What happened?" she asked reaching out towards his face but stopping herself.

"Rough night." Sirius replied nonchalantly.

"Hmm…that tends to be a common trait with you marauders." Amelia mused.

"You need some sleep and the famous Sirius Black hot chocolate." The boy stated simply with a smile.

"I really just want the sleep part." The girl replied as she attempted to step around him.

"Oh no, we are going to the kitchens and I am going to make it for you myself." Sirius stated as he draped an arm over her shoulders and began to lead a very reluctant Amelia further and further from her bed.

As usual the kitchens were buzzing with house elves running around preparing meals. When one of them caught sight of Sirius and Amelia, it stopped and bowed deeply.

"What can Blinky be getting for you sir and miss?"

Sirius smiled. "Two hot chocolates please."

The elf nodded before vanishing with a loud crack, only to reappear within seconds , two mugs of hot chocolate balanced perfectly on a silver tray.

Sirius and Amelia both thanked Blinky.

However, before Amelia could take her hot chocolate, Sirius removed a flask from a pocket in his robes and proceeded to pour some type of liquor into each mug.

Amelia opened her mouth to object, but the boy shook his head and simply handed her the hot chocolate.

Amelia took a curious sip, the familiar cinnamon taste of the fire whiskey mixed with the hot chocolate actually wasn't too bad.

"How does this help?" she inquired.

"It's alcohol and chocolate, two things that women love." Sirius stated wriggling his eyebrows.

"That is one of the more sexist comments I have heard in a while," Amelia replied sarcastically. "Although it's red wine and chocolate."

Sirius looked at her. "Well red wine and hot chocolate would not mix together too well."

Amelia laughed then and took another drink of her hot chocolate. The two sat in silence for a few moments both drinking their hot chocolate.

By the time Amelia had finished her hot chocolate, she felt warm and a bit giggly.

"How much whiskey did you pour into my hot chocolate?" she asked.

"About 1/3 of the mug," Sirius replied. "Are you that big of a lightweight, Malfoy?"

"I haven't eaten anything today." She replied with a faint blush on her features.

Sirius smirked and scooted closer to the girl. "So are you drunk when I am pretty?" he inquired suggestively.

"You wish."

The boy laughed and leaned back, but remained close enough to the girl for her to feel his body heat.

"Can I go to bed yet?" she inquired after a moment.

"Depends, can I join you?" Sirius inquired again.

"I am so not that drunk."

"I can fix that."

"No."

"Well at least wait for me to finish my own hot chocolate, or I can make you another." Sirius replied.

"I don't think so." But she did sit and wait for the other boy to finish drinking his hot chocolate.

Sirius stood up and Amelia followed suit, but fatigue and the slight bit of firewhiskey made her head spin and the boy caught her as she stumbled.

Amelia stepped out of his welcoming grasp quickly. "Thank you for the hot chocolate, Sirius. I am going to head to bed." she stated as she began to walk towards the exit.

"Amelia." He caught her wrist and turned her around.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Be careful with yourself." He stated his silver eyes looking deep into her pink ones before he walked her to the door and they split ways at the corridor to the Hufflepuff common room.