This chapter has a soundtrack. For the first part, from Keira's POV it's The Girl Can Rock - Hilary Duff to show a more independant side to Keira. Part 2 is Sirius' POV, Thunder - Boys Like Girls, because I loove the lyrics, and they show just how much Sirius likes Keira.

Chapter 9 (part 1 – The Girl Can Rock)

'Cassie's awake! Lily come on!! You have to get up, we have to go see Cassie!' Keira shouted jumping on Lily's bed. She had been out of the hospital wing for two days now and she hadn't spoken to Sirius once. She felt bad that she had avoided him like that but she knew he was lying to her, he knew what happened that night and he wasn't telling her. She was also annoyed that he hadn't told her what was going on with Cassie. Lily had told her a few days ago what Sirius had told her but she couldn't believe he hadn't told her. But Cassie was awake now and that was all that mattered.

'Arghh' Lily groaned. 'Go 'way, ten minutes' Lily whined and rolled over. She wasn't getting away that easily, Keira pulled the covers off her and continued to do the same to Alice. When neither girl got up Keira picked up her wand and yelled 'Aguamenti' at which water poured down onto the two girls, drenching them from head to toe.

'Keira!'

'What the hell?'

'What is wrong with you?'

'Seriously Keira! What in the world did you do that for?!'

They screamed at Keira for about two minutes before giving in and, after using a drying spell to dry themselves off, got dressed and headed up to the hospital wing to see Cassie.

'Cassie!' Keira ran up to her friend and enveloped her in a huge hug before being told off by Madam Pomfrey. 'Sorry' she whispered.

'Hey Cass' Lily sat down in the chair next to Cassie's bed. 'How're you feeling?'

'Strange.' Cassie tried to sit up but her arms gave way and she fell back. 'I decided it's comfier lying down.'

'Same old Cass' Alice said smiling. 'It's good to see you haven't lost your sense of humour.'

'Sirius told me what happened.' Lily interrupted with a glum tone to her voice.

'How did he know?' Lily nodded in the direction of Madam Pomfrey. 'Oh right, yeah, it's all a blur to me really, I don't really know what happened.'

'But why you Cassie? What do the Slytherins, especially Slytherins that are Death Eaters, have against you?'

'Geez Lil, I thought you were supposed to be smart' Cassie spat. 'Why on earth do you think a Death Eater would attack someone?'

'Well usually because they're muggle born or blood traitors, but Cass you don't talk to anyone about your family so how are we supposed to know?'

'There's a reason I don't talk about them.' She said looking out the window. With a sigh she continued. 'My parents are aurors, pretty high up in the department as well, anyway, they've put away some of the worst Death Eaters and they've even fought him which is where it becomes a problem. Well, at the risk of sounding stupid or anything, they're marked. They've fought him, and got away unharmed a few times, they work to protect us and they're both also working to protect muggles, which just exacerbates the entire situation. So, well to put it simply my family is a bunch of blood traitors according to you know who and well, I guess the Slytherins thought they would take it upon themselves to do something about me.'

'Oh my... I'm so sorry Cass'

'Don't be, I love my parents for what they do, they do a good thing, the only reason I never talked about them is because I knew something like this would happen if the wrong people found out.'

'Like the Slytherins' Keira grew red with anger. How could they have done that to her best friend, when she found out which Slytherins had done this they would pay, she would get her revenge.

'But they must've done something terrible to you Cassie, You've been in here for five days, completely unconscious, can't you remember anything?'

'All I remember is running into them, they of course went on about my blood traitor status and then all I remember is being in so much agony, it was awful.'

'And you're lucky you got to me as quickly as you did' Madam Pomfrey was carrying over a number of vials, all in disgusting shades of green and brown. 'Any longer and it would have been straight to St Mungos for you, and who knows what state you'd be in when and if you woke up. Anyway, as you said Cassie has been like this for five days and I'm afraid she really does need to rest, I'm going to give her a potion that will make her drowsy, and will make her sleep for a while, you're free to come back up here later but for now, she needs to rest.'

The girls said their goodbyes and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

'Oh my God!' Keira cried as they sat down for breakfast. 'I completely forgot it was the Hogsmeade trip today!'

'Are you going with anyone?' Lily asked.

'Well Sirius tried to ask but, well you know what's going on there.'

'Keira, it's nothing big, you should just talk to him and Hogsmeade would be the perfect time to do it!'

'Wait, aren't you guys going to Hogsmeade today?'

'Well I am, but I'm meeting Frank there.' Alice said, blushing as she mentioned Frank's name. Keira looked expectantly at Lily.

'I'm sorry Keira, I have to do detention duty.' She made a face at this. Keira knew how much Lily loved going to Hogsmeade but sometimes her prefect duties got in the way of that.

'Oh don't worry. I don't mind going by myself, it's quieter that way. Not that I don't like going with you guys!' She added quickly as she noticed the look on her friend's faces. 'I just, I like some alone time every once in a while.'

'Don't worry, we're just joking!'

'Yeah, besides you may run into someone there' Alice said with a wink, everyone knew just which someone she meant.

'I'd rather not talk to him. I don't know why, everything seemed so amazing and perfect after that night but, well since my dreams I just know that something's not right, there's something he isn't telling me and so now it just feels so awkward.'

'You're going to have to talk to him sooner or later. Besides it isn't like he's done anything wrong, yet.'

'Oooh get Lily defending a Marauder' Alice laughed.

'I know, what's got into you Lily?' Keira stuck her tongue out at her friend. 'I better go and get ready then, see you guys'

'You're going by yourself?'

'Well yeah, I'd rather be in Hogsmeade than stuck here on my own.'

'Well I'll walk down with you, but after that I have to meet Frank' Alice said sympathetically.

'Thanks, anyway I'll see you later.' Keira walked back up to the dormitory to get ready. Even though she wasn't meeting anyone and she didn't have anyone to impress, she liked to get dressed up a bit at any opportunity.

In the dormitory she was looking through her clothes and make up after having straightened her hair and keeping her fringe in a sweep from the left side to the right by using copious amounts of hairspray. She knew she could've used magic but what girl doesn't love to do her hair and makeup? She finally decided on a pair of dark grey skinny jeans, a white and red striped top, black boots and a navy military jacket matched with a grey and black thin scarf. She looked in the mirror and thought one thing was missing, she picked up a little black beret and pulled it over her hair, using her wand this time she waved it at her hair which immediately curled loosely and fell back on her shoulders. She smiled at her reflection and picked up her bag before running out of the room to meet Alice.

She made her way down to the Entrance Hall to meet Alice, feeling quite positive about a day to herself to collect her thoughts and just generally wind down.

Alice wolf whistled as Keira came down the stairs.

'Woah! You look great Keira! You're meeting someone aren't you?'

'No, I just thought I'd make a bit of an effort, I was going for the 'I'm a strong independent person' look today.'

'Well you've certainly pulled it off.'

As they walked out the door Keira pulled her jacket around her to protect herself from the harsh wind and they set off to Hogsmeade. Keira felt suddenly uplifted and confident, she decided she would get a drink in the Three Broomsticks before anything else and after hugging Alice and saying goodbye she walked over to the pub.

Chapter 9 (part 2 – Thunder)

Sirius was sat in the Three Broomsticks by himself, sipping a butterbeer, thankful for its warmth in the cold October weather. He had been left by himself as James and Remus had found some girls to snog. Being the good friend that he was he had left them to it and went to the pub with Peter but even he had disappeared somewhere and left Sirius on his own.

So here he was, sat in the Three Broomsticks all alone, left to think on his own. He hated thinking because it always came back to the same thing. Or the same person. Keira had been avoiding him lately, and he felt sure it was because she knew that he had lied to her the other day. But that wasn't a big deal, he was actually protecting her by not telling her, she just couldn't see it. Just at that moment the door opened, letting in the harsh, autumnal wind. Keira stepped into the Three Broomsticks and, involuntarily, Sirius' heart began to race a bit as she started to walk over to where he was sat. He couldn't help but notice how amazing she looked today, more amazing than usual anyway. She'd curled her hair for once, he liked it like that, it really suited her.

'Mind if I sit with you?' She asked, though he wasn't sure whether she really wanted to.

'Yeah, go ahead.' He said with a smile on his face. She took her jacket off and sat down, she was so skinny, but it looked good, she looked good. Keira was one of those girls who you look at and just think how anyone could have made anything that beautiful. Realising that he was now staring at her Sirius looked toward the bar and asked if he could buy her a butterbeer.

'Thanks' She said as he sat back down with their drinks.

'You've been avoiding me.'

'What? No I, I've just been busy that's all.'

'Whatever, I miss talking to you though.' He looked up into her eyes. He noticed that they looked more green than brown, but also that they were so bright and captivating. He could look into them all day, they were gorgeous and definitely the prettiest eyes he'd ever seen.

'You're staring at my eyes.' Sirius blushed at this, he'd hoped she wouldn't notice.

'Yeah, umm, I just noticed that they're more green than brown. They're really unique and intriguing.'

'I kinda like my eyes, well the colour anyway, I hate the shape. The colour of my eyes is one of the only things I think is really cool with me. But I love yours.' Sirius blushed again. ' No seriously, loads of people I know have hazel eyes, but your eyes are so different, I love grey eyes, they're very... mysterious.' She smirked at this and as he caught her eye she quickly looked down at her drink and laughed.

'What? What's so funny?'

'I just think it's so stupid that I was scared to talk to you today.' It was her turn to blush this time.

'What do you mean scared?'

'Well, uh I was avoiding you, because well that doesn't matter, it's so stupid.'

They sat for a while, just sat and looked into each other's eyes. After a while they both looked away, both blushing and laughed.

They sat in silence. Not an awkward silence, but a nice silence. The type of silence where two people are so comfortable being with each other that they don't need to say anything because they already know what would be said. They type of silence was enjoyed and not spent anxiously waiting for the other person to say something because it felt so awkward. They just sat like that for a while, enjoying each other's company, enjoying this happy equilibrium after such awkward times between them.

'So Miss Lennox, would you like to accompany me on a little walk?' Sirius asked with a small wink.

'Why yes, I would love to Mr. Black.' She smiled at him. He loved her smile, everything about her just seemed perfect.

As they left the pub Keira stopped, clapping a hand to her mouth.

'Oh no!'

What is it?'

'I'm so sorry Sirius, but I promised Cassie I would be back to see her.'

'She's awake?'

'Yeah she woke up this morning, I'm so sorry, I didn't realise how long we were in there, I'm so sorry I have to go.' She said running off.

Sirius was left standing there, once again wondering why he was always left in this position every time they saw each other.