A/N: Well, here it is, the tenth chapter. Please review to let me know if you liked it. And also, you might want to review if you want to see what happens next. So sorry I'm doing this to you, but I'm dying to know what you think.

Thanks for having to patience to read this!

The room was empty; no desks, shelves, portraits,or anything or anyone. The bricked stone walls were neatly built circularly. If it weren't brightly lit from the wide platform encircled by small pillars, the dark shade of gray would have set off a depressing mood.

Andy immediately sped to the wall opposite of the enormous terrace and slid to the floor. She hid her eyes behind her hands, careful not to have even the slightest glimpse at the wide opening or the view it gave of the black lake. "What, don't tell me you're afraid of heights?" Andy heard Sirius say with the faintest hint of exasperation. She kept her head down and in her hands, ignoring Sirius' question.

She hadn't always been afraid. Just after the one plane ride to her sister's house. And that's plenty good of a reason because for one thing she had just turned eleven and for another, her parents sent her on that plane all by herself. The memory of being on that aircraft for two hours, surrounded by strangers, still frightened her. She felt herself begin to shake.

"What are you so afraid of?" Sirius' voice was closer now. Andy jumped when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She still didn't answer him, thinking about the meaning behind his question. The things she's never told anyone. The things she has gone through, the feelings she's felt. The closest person to her is her sister, and that's saying something because her sister doesn't talk to her at all. She blames Andy for things that had happened in their past.

Andy tries to think of it as for the better. She convinced herself after so many years that she doesn't need to talk about it. What's done is done. But that doesn't stop the fact that her past still bothers her. She's scarred for life, and these scars… would never heal.

She felt Sirius remove his hand from her shoulder, breaking her train of thought. She heard him mutter something about "an odd Gryffindor."

"Get up." he commanded, his voice now above her. She shook her head. He sighed loudly and impatiently. A few seconds later she felt his arms slide beneath her as he lifted her up and held her against his chest.

Andy shut her eyes tighter and pressed her hands against her face harder. She knew exactly what he was going to do but asked the question anyway, "Wu-wu-wu-what a-a-are you doing?" she said with more difficulty than usual. She got more anxious with every step she felt him take.

"Open your eyes." he ordered. She stubbornly kept them shut.

"There's nothing to be afraid of." he said in a much softer voice. When she shuddered in response he sighed once more. "Look, I can take you through those very long stairs and hallways again and look for an empty classroom- risking getting caught by a teacher and leading us to an unwanted detention- just so that you'll be happy," -he paused for a moment to take a deep breath - "or, you can look through the big window and save us the trouble."

Andy considered each option carefully. If she went with the first one she would be saved from being forced to face one of her fears. As much as she liked that idea, she knew Sirius was right about the risk of getting a detention. Apart from that, Sirius was as annoyed as it is, she didn't want to force him to take her to another room just to make her happy. It would be rude of her.

If she took the second option, all she had to do was open her eyes, although she'd be unhappy and scared out of her wits. And would most likely have an entire vomiting episode.

This was a tough decision for her to make. She didn't to be rude and have Sirius risk a detention for her, but she definitely didn't want to vomit out of fear either. If she had to choose which one was worse it would be… the first one. She absolutely hated being rude, as dumb as that sounds.

Sirius hadn't spoken. He was waiting patiently for her answer. She peeked through her fingers at him, cautiously avoiding the frightening scenery that was visible.

"F-f-fine." her lower lip quivered as she said it. He nodded approvingly and set her down on her feet. She felt her stomach swirl when her feet touched the ground and had an uneasy feeling before she removed her hands from her face.

The first thing her eyes landed on was the forest. Her eyes widened in horror; they were higher up than she thought. She could see above the forest's trees- which happen to be extremely high. Just the thought was nauseating.

She quickly flicked her eyes in a different direction, not wanting to think about it anymore. But to her utmost chagrin, the next thing her eyes landed on was the black lake. Suddenly the tree tops didn't seem as frightening because from this distance the lake seemed no bigger than a pond.

"There," Sirius sounded satisfied, "Now that wasn't that-"

Something dropped in her stomach. She couldn't handle much more. She turned her head to look at her feet. That still didn't seem to make much of a difference, the stone floor looked so far away. Her vision began to blur and there was a strange ringing in her ears.

"Are you alright?"

She suddenly felt herself sway forward and threw her hands in front of her. She hadn't known why she expected that to help but it did. She was leaning heavily against the edge of the pillar things surrounding the terrace. Everything began to spin.

She could hear a muffled voice in the distance but couldn't make out the words. Everything went blank.

"Hello?"

Andy was confused, she didn't know where she was or what was happening. All she saw was darkness, nothing else. "Hello?" someone asked again. And though Andy looked around for the owner of the voice, she saw nothing.

"Abby!?" the voice was more panicked now. She didn't understand. Who in the world was Abby? There was a sudden stinging pain on her left cheek. She would have fallen to the ground in pain but she realised that she had already been on the ground.

"Abby that's not funny, open your eyes." The voice was clearer now.

She felt the cold stone beneath her body. There was another stinging pain, this time with a loud, Smack!

She winced and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Sirius Black's pale face directly above her. His eyes gazing worriedly into hers.

"What the hell was that?"

"What?" his words had taken her by surprise. Both because the was a good amount of acid in his tone and also, she didn't know what he was talking about.

She watched as he stood up angrily and began pacing back and forth. All the worry in his eyes had been replaced with frustration. He began to mumble to himself. As Andy sat up, she caught the words, "cowardly" and "strange."

Taking in the brightly lit stoned walls and the giant opening that was the terrace, she then remembered what had happened. She slowly slid back against the circular wall beside the door and resumed the position she had taken before.

Sirius' mumbling stopped, but she still didn't look up.

"Would you like me to take you to the hospital wing?" he asked politely. He sounded like he was right beside her now.

Andy shook her head in response. Unless madam Pomfrey had some sort of Fear-Obliterating potion there was nothing she could do for her.

Sirius sighed, then stayed silent for a few seconds. Andy thought she should say something. She felt that staying silent was the rude thing to do. But he beat her to it.

"So, were you thinking about answering my question from earlier?" Andy could still make out the tiniest hint of fury in his voice. She peeked at him through her fingers to stare confusedly. She took in his intent features and tried to remember a specific question he had asked. He waited for her to say something, impatiently drumming his fingers on his lap.

And then andy remembered. The one question that had triggered that awful memory of the plain ride. The thought made her head spin and she decided she did not want to talk about it. Especially to someone she barely knew, despite how rude she felt.

Realising that he was still waiting, she shook her head in response.

"But why not!" he burst, making Andy jolt against the wall. "Yeah, I-I'm sorry- I'm sorry." He apologized, closing his eyes in frustration. "I just don't understand you- I don't understand why it's bothering me so much- I don't understand girls!" He threw his head back against the wall to stare at the ceiling.

Andy was puzzled at his last statement. Andy's problems had little to do with the fact that she was a girl. Unless he was implying that all girls are cowards.

"Why did she do it?" he muttered to himself.

"W-who?" Andy spoke for the first time. He opened his eyes and turned to look at her in surprise. He looked thoughtful for a second.

"Nevermind," he shook his head as though to shake away a thought. "I don't know what got into me- I've just been really," -he seemed to struggle for words, holding his hands out in from him, his fingers in strained positions that made it seem like he was strangling something. He dropped them to his lap, dropping his head against the wall again. "You wouldn't understand." he sighed.

Andy felt stupid. She finally understood what he was mourning about. She remembered back when they arrived at the school; those annoying girls that sat on either side of her at the Gryffindor table. The entire conversation they had!

She suddenly opened her mouth to say something comforting, but thought better of it. He wouldn't be so pleased that a stranger knew something so personal about him.

"We should go." he said suddenly standing up. "The bell should ring any minute now." His face was expressionless, and his tone was dead.

Even though he had warned her, she leaped with surprise anyway when her thoughts the loud, chiming school bell rang. She scrambled to her feet as well. "Let's go." she said in a small voice, carefully avoiding the terrace.

She ran through the door that he held open.

As they walked down the long stairs- much slower than the first time- Andy noticed that Sirius had relaxed a little beside her. She didn't say anything, afraid she might say the wrong thing. She tried to come with something acceptable enough, but nothing crossed her mind.

Luckily he beat her to it, "So, you feel like telling me where you were going so urgently that you ran into a wall?" he sounded amused now. Andy tried not to look surprised, it was as though the little episode he had had upstairs never happened.

And then she realised what he had asked, "Um...w-w-well I w-was going to G-gryffindor tower."

"What for?"

Andy knew she would end up telling him she left her wand at home and dreaded the moment. She considered just telling him it wasn't any of his business, but she knew that would be the rude thing to do and she would never really be willing to. Plus, it would make them even since she knew about him getting dumped and that wasn't any of her business.

"I f-forgot my wand." Andy bowed her head embarrassedly.

"In your dorm?" he laughed, but he stopped when Andy shook her head, not looking at him. "Not in your dorm?" he asked confusedly.

Andy nodded, now facing the wall to her right. She could feel her cheeks heating up.

"Then where?"

Andy tried to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. "H-home." she said so quietly it was almost a whisper. She was afraid to look at his reaction.

"Home?" he repeated disbelievingly. "Then why were you going to your dorm?" his voice shook as though he were fighting back laughter.

Andy tried not to be surprised, she expected this kind of reaction. Any normal witch or wizard would know how stupid a mistake like that is. This proves that Andy is no normal witch.

"W-where else wu-would I go?" her voice shrank.

"Aww, come on! Are you seriously crying?" he asked, frustrated again.

Andy didn't say anything, they finally reached the bottom of the twirling stairs and started down a short corridor. When they reached the end, they faced another set of stairs. Andy sighed in exhaustion; Sirius gave no reaction. Andy assumed he was used to taking this route.

"Mistakes happen you know?" he broke the silence, seeming to struggle to keep a calm voice. "You shouldn't beat yourself up for it."

She still didn't say anything. He was already on the verge of yelling, she didn't want to say anything that would trigger that.

"Anyways," he carried on. "What professor did you have?"

His question wasn't very clear, but Andy understood. "McGonagall." she murmured.

He laughed. Andy finally looked up at him, shocked. This guy was seriously bipolar!

"Damn!" he continued laughing. They reached the bottom of the stairs and turned. "And did you tell her you left your wand in your dorm?"

Andy nodded a bit angrily.

His laughter sounded more and more like bark as it grew. "Aren't you in a load of trouble? Just wait until she catches up with you!"

"I know." she frowned at the ground. "I'm s-so stupid." Her hands balled into fists at her sides. She felt so angry with herself.

Sirius stopped laughing, "Don't beat yourself up about it," he said rather cheerily. He threw an arm over her shoulders and squeezed her against his side, he flung his free hand across the air and though to put aside her worry. "It's like I said, mistakes happen. And anyways what's one detention going to do?"

"D-d-d-detention?" Andy stuttered maddeningly.

Sirius looked down at her shocked. They reached the end of the corridor and reached another set of stairs. When would they end? Andy didn't remember there being this many. She tried to not trudge down them very hard, she couldn't let her anger get the best of her.

"Are you cold?" he snapped.

Andy shook her head surprisingly.

"Then why are you stuttering?" Andy was very taken aback, no one at Hogwarts had ever questioned her stutter. Well, that was mostly because she hardly spoke, but still. What gave this Sirius Black the liberty to curse at her, force her to ditch class, laugh at her foolishness, get frustrated with her cowardness, and question her stutter? Andy was on the verge of losing it. She may not know much about him, but she was definitely starting to dislike him.

She hadn't always stuttered. She hadn't always shut everyone out. Andy remembered back when she was about six or seven, when she had never heard of Hogwarts. Those were the good days. When her parents still loved her for not being a freak. When she was happy and spirited. Those were the days that her family was together.

But all that was taken away from her when she got that blasted Hogwarts letter.

She knew that if she spoke she would stutter like crazy trying to sustain the anger anger that was bubbling up inside her.

"What do you mean you don't know- What? Were you born stuttering?!"

And that was it. She couldn't take it anymore. She stopped walking in the middle of the hallway the were in. "You do N-NOT know w-w-what I've b-been through!" She was surprised at herself, she didn't remember the last time she had been angered this much. "N-nobody does! W-why sh-should I have to tell you?! W-who are you t-to qu-question me?" She knew she was being extremely rude, but she didn't care. It felt good to give him a piece of her mind.

When she turned to look at him the expression on his face took her completely by surprise. His eyes and mouth were twitching at the corners as if he was trying not to let them smile. His lips were tightly pressed together as though he was trying not to burst into laughter.

"W-what's so f-funny?" Andy snapped.

"Nothing," his voice was shaky as he tried to regain his composure, "it's just that I never noticed how- you're so-" he seemed to be at a loss for words, his face fell. He was no longer struggling to keep it straight. "You're very frustrating you know?"

"W-what?" When was he going to stop surprising her?

She was certain now that he was bipolar. His moods and expressions changed so rapidly. She was tired of it. She wanted to get away from him. The longer she was around him the more angry she became.

"I'm l-l-leaving." she stuttered pathetically but seriously. "I d-don't have time for th-this." Without looking at him she began to run.

"Well alright then!" Sirius shouted after her, sounding confused. "If you bump into James tell him you had a nice time, okay?"

Andy ignored him and continued running. Running as fast as she could down, turning corners, opening doors, trudging down stairs. She didn't know where she was going, but anywhere was better than with him.

Finally getting tired, she settled herself down in a corner of a deserted corridor, at the moment not caring if someone saw her.