Hey everyone! Once again I'm back and ready to post! Good news is, that I'm just about done with book 3 and about to start writing book 4! In the next few chapters I started jumping ahead in time (skipping months) to get this book over with, so hopefully that won't affect the story too much.

Also, many thanks to my new, wonderful Beta, AiedailWing!

With that said, here is the chapter.

XOXOXOXOXO

Feelings of guilt kept Haley up all night. After the feast, she had been hiding in her dormitory, pretending to read another of Hermione's Muggle novels. Shefeigned sleep when Hermione came upstairs to bed from the moment the other girl entered until she was sure that Hermione was asleep. She knew Hermione would want to talk about what happened, and Haley wanted to avoid it for as long as possible. When Hermione was already asleep, she snuck down to the common room silently and curled up in a chair by the fire, until the embers died out and she finally fell asleep.

XOXOXOXOXO

When she woke up, she looked around in confusion. As the common room came into focus, so did the reason of why she was down there.

She stood up to stretch, and her foot kicked a pile of gifts. Crouching down, she lifted the gifts to her lap. Slowly she opened them one by one; they were from Harry, Hermione, Dean, Mrs. Weasley, Hagrid, and Sirius. Seeing as how Sirius had no possessions, he merely sent her a Christmas Card; but she treasured it nonetheless.

Just as she finished, she heard someone coming down the stairs. When she looked up, she noticed that it was Hermione.

"Happy Christmas, Hermione." she said while stuffing the card into her nightgown.

"Happy Christmas." Hermione grumbled as she sat down at the table. Talking under her breath, she pulled out a school book and buried herself in it.

Haley took that as her chance to bring her possessions up to her room and get dressed. She hid Sirius's card under her pillow, then put on the necklace Dean gave her. Instead of feeling joyous of what Dean had given her, though, waves of guilt washed over her once again. Not wanting to be alone, she made her way back down to the common room, hoping Fred wasn't there.

No such luck. He and George, as well as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, were lounging around there. Ron and Hermione were bickering, as usual.

"Haley, Merry Christmas!" Harry said in relief. Ron's and Hermione's fighting were getting on his nerves, and he needed a distraction. "Look at this broom Igot!"

She smiled at Harry, and meanwhile noticed the dark look Hermione was shooting at Harry. She had forgotten all about the broom. Trying to look curious, she walked up to Harry and asked him where it had come from.

He had no idea, he said, but he didn't care. He spent his time admiring his broom, as Haley avoided looking in Fred's direction.

When Ginny came downstairs, Harry blushed slightly, Haley noticed, and called out Happy Christmas to her in a shy manner. Ginny blushed as well and returned the wishes.

After lunch, as they were leaving the Great Hall, Hermione told them that she needed to talk to Professor McGonagall. She and Professor McGonagall reappeared in the Gryffindor common room a while later, and walked directly up to Harry and his broom. After questioning him, McGonagall stated that she was going to take the broom and make sure there were no jinxes on it by stripping it. When she left, Harry was devastated, and Haley was fuming.

As soon as McGonagall left, Haley rounded on Hermione and snapped, "What did you do that for?"

Hermione looked surprised to see that Haley was the one yelling at her, and not Harry. She squared her shoulders and said, "I have my reasons."

"And what would those be?" Haley sneered at her.

Faltering a bit, Hermione said, "We, that is, Professor McGonagall and I, think that the broom could be from Sirius Black."

This just made Haley's temper flare more. Going red in the face, she started screeching at the top of her voice. "SO WHAT IF IT WAS? THAT WAS HARRY'S BROOM! YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO DO WHAT YOU JUST DID!"

Not aware that all the Weasleys and Harry were watching them arguing back and forth in fascination, Hermione started yelling back. "So? So if it was from him, that broom could be jinxed! What if Harry were to ride the broom and something were to happen to him? Then what?"

"It's just a broom!" Haley got in Hermione's face and started poking her in the chest.

"You no good, brown nosing, goody two shoes! God forbid someone receives an anonymous gift. Harry received an anonymous gift two years ago, and you had no problem with that!"

"That's different and you know it!" Hermione said as she threw up her hands in frustration.

Before anymore words could be said, Fred and George stepped in. Fred wrapped his arms around Haley's waist, lifted her off of the ground and carried her to the other side of the common room by the entrance. George did the same thing to Hermione, but to the opposite direction.

When Fred put Haley down, she shoved him away. "Don't touch me!" She turned her back on him and stormed out of the common room.

She stomped through the castle and out the front doors. Wading through the snow and making sure to cover her tracks afterwards, she made her way to the Shrieking Shack.

She went through the tunnel and up the Shack to Sirius's room. She was still quite mad, and so she didn't even feel the cold. She had left all her winter belongings back in her room.

She slammed through the door. Sirius, who was sitting on the bed, jumped a foot in the air and faced her with his arm outstretched as if he were pointing a wand at her.

"Good heavens, child! I thought you were the Ministry or someone! You nearly frightened me to death! What's the matter?" He asked as he lowered his arm and got his breathing under control. He sat back down and took in her appearance. She wasn't wearing any clothes to protect herself from the cold, her hair was wild, her fists were clutched at her sides, and her face was flushed and wet with tears.

"What's the matter?" he asked again.

Haley threw her hands in the air and puffed out her breath. She started to pace back and forth as she fought to get her temper under control.

"Merry Christmas, Haley." Sirius said, as he tried to lighten the mood.

Haley let out a strangled laugh, and that seemed to do the trick.

He patted the bed next to him, and she flopped down onto it instantly. She had stopped crying, and her face was no longer flushed. Suddenly a chill ripped through her, and her teeth started chattering.

"Goodness, Sirius, h-how c-can you s-stand this c-cold?" She said as she wrapped her arms around herself.

Sirius was shaking slightly. "S'not so bad. Mostly I stay in my dog form. Fur and all," he confessed.

She took out her wand and handed it to him. "Merry Christmas, Sirius. Here, you can use this to spiff up this room. Maybe conjure a smokeless fire? So no one will figure out you're here."

Sirius smiled. "Thanks, Haley. That means a lot to me." He took the wand and got to work. He cleared out all of the dust, then he conjured a quilt for the bed and two giant pillows for the floor along with a rug. After that, he lit a smokeless blue fire in the fireplace that would burn until magically put out. And finally, he summoned up food from the school and had himself a small Christmas feast, which he offered to Haley. He returned her wand to her afterwards.

Finally, a couple hours later when they couldn't eat anymore, and they were nice and warm, they lounged on the pillows.

"Thank you for the card, Sirius, it meant a lot to me," Haley said.

Sirius smiled. "I'm glad you liked it. I figured you would appreciate something small. I didn't want you feeling jealous that Harry got a Firebolt and all you gotwas a piece of parchment, though."

Haley's expression darkened at the word 'Firebolt'. Sirius noticed, and his expression fell. "You are jealous. Don't worry, Haley, next time I'll get you something better."

Haley forced a smile. "I'm not jealous. It's Hermione's fault." She mentioned Hermione's name as if she tasted something bitter.

Sirius caught the odd tone. "What happened?" he asked.

Haley sighed. Instead of getting mad, she just felt sad. She knew she had overreacted about Hermione, but she couldn't have helped it. "Harry loved your gift. You should have seen the expression on his face. He didn't even want to part with it for lunch. But Hermione had to go and tell Professor McGonagall that Harry received an anonymous gift. They suspected that you gave it to Harry. She confiscated the broom and is now having it stripped for jinxes. As if you would ever harm Harry!" Haley could feel herself getting worked up again, so she concentrated on her breathing.

Sirius nodded his head. "She did what she felt right. She thinks that someone dangerous is after Harry. He receives a gift out of the blue, and she put two and two together. Of course she was wrong, but there's nothing to be upset about. When McGonagall realizes there's nothing wrong with the broom, she'll make it as good as new, and give it back to Harry. He'll have it back in time for Quidditch. Now tell me why you're really mad at Hermione."

Haley hung her head. She felt like a fool for overreacting the way she did. She knew Hermione had Harry's best interest at heart, and that Hermione didn't want anything to happen to him. It's not Hermione's fault that she doesn't know Sirius wasn't dangerous. "It started last night at dinner. I'm seeing someone named Dean Thomas. He went home for the holidays. The Weasleys and Harry and I were the only one's to stay behind. As we sat down at the table, Ginny pointed out the mistletoe. As a joke, and not wanting to break Christmas tradition, I had to kiss Fred. Only…" Haley broke off.

How strange it felt to be sharing her problems with an actual adult, and one who was family no less. She could feel the effect, and she liked it. She was finally about to get fatherly advice.

"Only, you enjoyed it, and now you're feeling guilty?" Sirius guessed.

Haley nodded. "I know it wasn't fair to take it out on Hermione, but I just couldn't help it. I needed to let it out, and she just happened to give me an excuse to do so."

"You know what you have to do, right? You have to apologize," Sirius said.

Haley nodded again. Now that that was settled, she felt better. Her eyelids drooped and her head fell forward. From lack of sleep the night before, and the comfort she was feeling, she could feel herself being pulled towards sleep directly.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to the castle?" Sirius asked in concern as he watched her.

She mumbled something unintelligible, put her head down on her knees, and promptly fell asleep.

Sirius knew it was wrong to keep her away from school like this, but he didn't care about it for now. It was Christmas after all. He transformed into a dog and curled up beside Haley by the fire.

She wrapped her arms around him and snuggled closer to him. A smile broke across her face. She was having one of her best nights of sleep in a long time.

XOXOXOXOXO

Just before the sun came up, Sirius transformed back into human form and woke Haley up.

"You should get back to the castle." He whispered as he helped her to her feet.

She hugged him and made her way back to the school through the tunnel with bleary eyes. Though she wasn't fully awake, all the same, she managed to cover her tracks.

She stumbled through the portrait hole and almost fell into the common room, but caught herself at the last second.

Instinctively, she made a beeline towards the fire, forgetting it was no longer lit, to try to warm herself.

"Where've you been?"

Haley jumped and let out a squeak. She didn't realize she wasn't alone. She turned to see who it was, and saw that the person who had startled her was Fred.

She was surprised that it wasn't Harry. Disappointed, somehow, she turned her back on him and started for her room.

He jumped up and gently grabbed her arm before she could put more than a step to the intended destination, however. He pulled her to the table and seated them down next to each other.

Haley stared down at her lap. She felt his eyes burn a hole through her head. She knew they needed to talk, but she didn't know what to say.

Fred was willing to sit there all day and wait for her to say something. In fact, he did wait there all night. He wanted to be there for her when she came back, to comfort her, but she never showed up. His thoughts got worse as the night went on, as he imagined what could have happened to her. He knew she was still on the school grounds; he just didn't know where.

"Where have you been?" he asked. He couldn't hold it in anymore. That thought has been on his mind all night.

"Nowhere." Was all she said.

"You had to be somewhere. Why don't you tell me?" he pushed.

Haley sighed. She finally looked at him.

"I went to see Hagrid. When it got late, I was too tired to make the long walk through the snow, so he let me stay with him." She stared at him as if daring him to question her further.

He nodded. He believed her. He knew Hagrid was close to them, and would do anything he could to help them. If he knew Haley was upset, he would be there to help her, even if that meant she had to spend the night in his hut.

"Can I go now? I'd like to get some more sleep." Haley asked as she stood up.

"Yea, but don't forget, Haley, we will talk about what happened last night. You'd better get some rest. Good night … or should I say, good morning," Fred conceded.

Haley trudged up the stairs to her dorm. There she kicked off her shoes, then cuddled under her blankets, trying to warm up.

A few hours later, Haley could hear Hermione waking up. She sat up straight in her bed and faced Hermione who just sat up as well.

Haley threw back her covers, then joined Hermione on the latter's bed. Hermione looked at her warily as she tried to figure out what Haley would do next.

What Haley did, took Hermione completely by surprise. She threw her arms around Hermione and said she was sorry. She told her the real reason why she was upset; not about the broom, but about her problem which was related to Fred, and how she now felt guilty; that she hadn't meant to take it out on Hermione. She said she knew Hermione had just been looking out for Harry and making sure nothing bad happened to him.

They sat and talked for an hour until there stomachs growled, and they went down to breakfast.

XOXOXOXOXO

R2-D2106: Unfortunetly no, Harry has not discovered Sirius.

Sapphire Serina Riddle: Haha! We'll see about who get's in the good punch.

Ellie Clemons: Aww thanks for the love. I'm glad this is your favorite twin story ^_^ Yea I haven't read many, but I did like the idea, so I thought I would give it a try, and wow! 20 chapters later, and I'm still going!

Leahwannabe479: Lol it must have taken you alllll night to read this story, so all is forgiven. I'm glad you like it, and I hope you will like the upcoming chapters even more. I am quite proud of them ;)

iParamour: Yes, poor Dean indeed.