A/N: I know, I know, I know, I've been completely and utterly terrible! And I don't really have any good excuse this time too, :(. I've started working now, and school's just finishing, but as was kindly pointed out to me, it's been 3 months (that's a quarter of the year, but not as long as my summer break which is 2 months) Anyway, I've really just lacked inspiration and ideas of how to move the story to where I want it to go. So IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS AND WANT MORE FREQUENT UPDATES...REVIEW.

Also, thanks to everyone who did review, this chapter is for you and your determination to keep me on track.

Chapter 21: Crystal Clear

Brenna was still pissed at Sirius. That much was known, undisputable fact. Sirius, typical male that he is, had no idea how to handle and diffuse the situation. And Brenna enjoyed making his life a little bit of hell. She made a point of ignoring his presence, and that alone was hurting him more than he'd care to admit, but beyond that, she spent more and more time with Regulus. She didn't mind, in fact she found Regulus' company quite agreeable and it had the added bonuses of allowing more time with her brother and angering Sirius.

Sirius, in turn, had become more agitated. He was snapping at everyone – even the Marauders – over every little thing. This was no doubt due to his lack of success in apologizing to Brenna, which was mostly because he hadn't even been able to say "Hi" to her since they fought in the Common Room three days ago. Today was Halloween and, in accordance with years past, the Marauders were hosting a party in the Gryffindor common room. Unlike every other year, however, the Marauders' were strained and tired of Sirius' snapping and Brenna's ignoring. They had a party to plan, a party that had to be brilliant, and they had to pull themselves together.

Now everyone knows that when you have a problem the best thing to do is to fix it at the source. In this case, the source was Brenna and the discord between her and Sirius. As the newly dubbed "responsible and sane" member of the group, fixing the problem fell to James. And so it was with no little amount of resignation that James sought out Brenna during his shared free period with the Marauders' Map in hand. According to the map, she was in the library which wasn't exactly James' favourite place to begin with but worse yet she was sitting with her lovely Slytherin brother and none other than Regulus Black himself.

The trick to this whole conversation would be getting Brenna away from the others of her own accord. The last thing James wanted to do was ask Brenna for a word in front of two Slytherins who adamantly disliked him and whom he "disliked" as well. Glancing once more at the map with all the resignation of a man about to fulfill his own death warrant, James was happily surprised to see that Brenna was no longer with the Snakes, in fact, she was just a couple corridors away from him. Stuffing the map in the pocket of his robes James hurried to catch up to Brenna.

Any second now, 3…2…1…

"Brenna!"

Oh so predictable, Potter. Brenna smirked internally. She had been expecting a visit from either James or Remus, having observed, like most others, Sirius' increasingly annoyed persona. With the added pressure of planning a "phenomenal", "amazing", "insert-positive-adjective-here" party, she had suspected James would try to talk to her today. Pausing but not turning, Brenna allowed James to catch up to her.

"Is there something I can help you with, Potter, or are you merely so accustomed to calling attention to yourself that you can not help disrupting your surroundings?" She asked with a primly arched eyebrow.

James' eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Whether he was trying to figure out what he'd done to warrant such a greeting or if he was struggling to comprehend her words was unknown, but Brenna found amusement in his expression though it didn't show on her face. With an impatient sigh, Brenna made to continue on her journey down the corridor.

"Wait, Brenna I need to talk to you." James' hand was on her arm, not really restraining her but acting as a physical plea for her to stay. Brenna once again raised a brow, looking from where his hand rested to his face with cold disdain.

She was colder now, more demanding and less friendly, especially with the Marauders, since she fought with Sirius. James mentally blamed her behaviour on her increased involvement with the Slytherins coupled with her lack of contact with Sirius. At her look, James immediately removed his hand, normally he might have left it there just to make her uncomfortable but he rather fancied having a right hand and really didn't want to lose it.

Rolling her eyes and sighing once again, Brenna set off down the corridor. James watched her, confused, for a moment before he realised that she was just finding them an empty classroom for their talk. At this realisation, James hurried after the raven-haired girl that was causing such hell in his life. As he shut the door to the classroom she was waiting in, he silently reflected just how badly this could be misinterpreted. After all, they were alone in an empty classroom in an almost always deserted corridor. If someone didn't know better, they would probably think the two Gryffindors were meeting for a mid-afternoon rendezvous.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Brenna asked from where she was leaning against the long-unused teacher's desk at the front of the room.

"Sirius," he told her simply and watched as her jaw clenched every so slightly, the only outward sign that this was a sensitive topic. "Brenna, what he did, sure it was disrespectful and he knows that but it really wasn't that bad. Not bad enough for you to completely cut him off."

"If you say so."

"Brenna! Can't you just…not be apathetic about this? It's killing him, can't you see that?" Brenna merely shrugged; her face impassive and her eyes uncaring. "You're overreacting. I don't know why, but your response to this whole thing, yelling at him in the Common Room and telling him he's just like the family that hates him and then ignoring his existence, has been – and still is – unnecessary. He knows what he did was wrong, he should've spoken to you and he's sorry, but you won't even look at him!"

"Well Potter, what can I say? Newton's Third Law reigns." At James' puzzled look Brenna rolled her eyes, Purebloods. "Every action has an equal but opposite reaction. Just because you don't think his actions warrant my reaction, does not make that true. In fact, the only opinion that matters on what is a proper reaction is mine. This thing, Potter, it has nothing to do with you really. It's between me and Black."

"The hell it is! Like it or not, this is affecting all of us, Brenna. He's going crazy! So, either get over yourself and let him apologize or tell us what the bloody big deal is because I've had enough!"

Brenna regarded him silently for a moment, her eyes softening ever so slightly and James silently prayed to whatever deity would listen that she would see his point, forgive Sirius and everything would go back to normal. Then, she moved from her apathetic pose of leaning on the teacher's desk to stand closer to him. James had slouched against the desk in the front row while she had been thinking, and now, Brenna was directly in front of him. Actually, she was the closest she had ever been to him – physically not emotionally – with just a few inches of space between them as she looked up and locked his gaze with hers.

James had to admit she was damn pretty. Her so-dark-it's-almost-blue hair framed her lightly coloured face and swirling eyes. He couldn't really decide what colour they were and, for a moment, found himself lost in their depths trying to decide. Perhaps the most surprising thing about this up-close encounter was that Brenna's eyes completely contradicted her previously bored attitude. She was attentive and analysing and most prominently, she cared. There, in the way her eyebrows were ever so slightly pulled together and her eyes bore into his on a quest for something unknown, James could plainly see concern and the amiable affection shared between people with a combined history.

"You don't have to clean up his messes." She whispered, and again the moment, upon later reflection, seemed too intimate for people who had only known – and barely known at that – each other for a couple months. "You don't have to stand here and ask me to forgive him. You don't have to go along with everything that he does. This isn't your fault, James. It isn't your fault that he messed up or that he doesn't know how fix it. It's not your responsibility." And suddenly, along with that care, there was a sadness and pain in the deep pools of her eyes, and James had the inexplicable urge to lend her some comfort, some support.

It was likely the way she looked at him, as if they had known each other since birth, that made James take a half step closer to her in an attempt to ease some of her hurt. They were basically touching now, and Brenna broke the intense gaze they had held throughout her whispered messages. James tentatively brushed his hand across her shoulder and the touch had its desired effect of making Brenna look up at him.

"You can tell me, Brenna. You can tell me what happened." He whispered, taking on her earlier expression of concern and almost familial affection. Of course, when you're merely a bystander, sometimes you can't distinguish between familial and romantic affection, particularly when it's your best mate standing with only an inch or two apart from the girl you've got a crush on.

It was, of course, this easily misinterpreted scene which met the eyes of one Sirius Black as he opened the classroom door looking for the aforementioned best mate. It took a couple moments for Sirius to comprehend what he was seeing and it seemed like everything was happening in slow motion. Brenna and James' heads snapped toward the sound of the opening door and both jumped away from each other as though they had been caught doing something far less innocent than having a heart-to-heart. For a heartbeat, the three Gryffindors looked dumbly at each other. James and Brenna stared at Sirius, James not being able to articulate an explanation and Brenna trying to think of something other than what would happen if Cyrus and Atomos found out about this. Sirius stared right back in horror. His best mate and the only girl he ever really fancied. He swallowed back the lump that had formed in his throat and clenched his jaw against the betrayal, forcing his brain to find words.

"Uh, sorry," he sounded more deject and hurt than he cared, "didn't mean to uh...interrupt."

"Sirius mate, it's not what you think." Brenna snorted and rolled her eyes, a conversation she'd had with Maverick and Darren sparked by the typical comment for awkward and misleading situations. Both boys turned to look at her, obviously not finding any humour in the moment.

"Well, that's like the worst thing you could say. Everyone says that. 'It's not what you think…' It shouldn't ever really stand alone because, nine times out of ten, it totally is. 'It's not what you think, honey, we were just having some freak allergic reaction to our clothing.' Yeah, okay." And I'm sure everyone can see how that comment would really not help the situation become clearer. In fact, Sirius felt his heart plummet a little further as James snorted in amusement to Brenna's little scenario.

"Right, well, I'm just –"

"No, mate, it really isn't what you think! We weren't doing anything, I swear. I would never. Brenna!" He looked desperately at Brenna for corroboration. In response, her eyebrows knitted together slightly as though confused as to what he was asking of her before her eyes grew wide in understanding.

"Oh! Oh, no, no, we're not…I mean, we weren't…I...we…um…" Brenna stuttered, not really sure what to say, having never been in that situation before. It was kind of comical actually, to see Brenna, Miss Calm-Cool-and-Collected, panicking and flustered, her cheeks tinged pink, because someone thought she was doing something as mundane as snogging. Sirius nodded, pleased to see her so caught off guard at being accused of snogging James but part of him was undeniable curious as to why she was so freaked out. I mean, it was only snogging wasn't it?

"Erm, right well…" Sirius rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and looked at his feet before glancing up, almost shyly, at Brenna. Nervously, he licked his lips quickly before continuing, "Brenna, do you…do you maybe think…we could, erm…talk for a bit?" He watched her with hopeful eyes, studying her expression and looking so much like an abandoned puppy that Brenna hesitated for a moment too long.

"Well I best get going, places to go, people to see, Halloween tonight and all. You two kids have fun, be safe." James said as he strode quickly to the door, pushed Sirius further into the room and then slammed the door shut behind him. Brenna scowled, realizing that the only way she would be avoiding this conversation would be to physically run from it. This whole situation was making Brenna very uncomfortable. First there was that little…misunderstanding and now she'd have to talk to the guy whom she was avoiding and who was also intimately involved with the misunderstanding. Just bloody fantastic.

"Brenna," he said coming closer to her, "Brenna, I…I'm really, really-"

"Do you even know why you're apologizing?" She cut him off, her cold tone like a knife. Sirius thought for a moment, contemplating whether he should tell her what he actually thought or simply tell her what she wanted to hear.

"Yeah, I should spoke to you; I shouldn't have ignored you, Brenna. I know that, I won't ever do it again, I swear. I really am sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"Good for you. I have to go." And just like that, Brenna made for the door. She wasn't going to give him a second chance. She wasn't even going to let him explain and honestly, he didn't really get what the big deal was. So he was a prick, it's not that shocking and he wasn't even offensive really! Now she was just being bloody unreasonable. She'd ignored him all week and now she was just going to leave? It is not every day that Sirius Black, the Sirius Black, apologizes for something less than murder! What the bloody hell is wrong with her? Sirius moved to impede Brenna's path, angry, frustrated and a little bit hurt.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" He demanded, his grey eyes reminiscent of a storm, flashing with powerful emotion and swirling dangerously with a dark brooding. Brenna tried to get around him, not really wanting to fight with him again, but each step she took he mirrored.

"Get out of my way!"

"No!" And this time, when she tried to push past him, he grabbed her wrist, probably a little harder than he should have, and yanked her to a stop in front of him. "You're not running away this time! We need to talk!"

"You need to let go of me." Brenna bit out, fighting the urge to break his nose, or his jaw, or every bone and piece of cartilage in his body as tried tugging her wrist free.

"We need to talk, Brenna. I don't get you! I don't know what I did exactly to get you this pissed off with me. I know I shouldn't have ignored you but damn it! This is too much! Why won't you bloody talk to me?"

James was right. Sirius was going crazy. And this, Brenna trying to keep ignoring him, was the last straw. He was gripping her wrist insanely tightly and Brenna was sure it would leave a bruise. Had Brenna not been so accustomed to physical pain and developed such a tolerance, she likely would have cried out by now, begged him to let go. But as it was, she did not. Instead, she clenched her jaw, still reluctant to injure him but slightly unnerved by the crazed, desperate gleam in his eyes. The storm she had seen just moments before in the grey depths had been unleashed and she knew he was dangerous in this state, blindly unaware of his actions, and even so she did not want to strike him. He would feel terrible, she knew; if he discovered he left a bruise on her wrist, for despite Brenna's acclamations of his similarity with his family, Sirius was a good man – at least he tried to be – and he would never want to hurt a girl.

"Sirius, you need to let go of me." She spoke to him calmly and firmly. She needed him to see what he was doing without placing anymore guilt on him yet there was a note of pleading in her voice, a by-product of the pain spreading through her arm from his grasp. He didn't listen.

"Tell me, Brenna! What did I do? Wh–"

"SIRIUS! You're hurting me, let go. Please, you're hurting me!" The more obvious pleading tone in her voice must have broken through whatever anger had blinded him. Sirius looked down to see the death grip in which he held Brenna's wrist. The skin around his hand, clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white, was already turning a nasty shade of purple, evidence of the pain she was feeling. Just like Brenna had predicted, Sirius' eyes grew wide in horror as he instantly released his grasp and watched her cradle her wrist and check it over.

"I –"

Seconds before, Cyrus Templar had opened the door to the classroom, curious about the muffled yelling he had heard from the hall. What he saw when he entered the room made his blood boil. There, not far from the door, stood his sister holding her left arm delicately close to her body, a horrific bruised handprint wrapped around her wrist. Sirius Black stood only a step away from her, the obvious perpetrator.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Cyrus yelled, slamming the door to the classroom and striding purposefully over to the prat fully intending to break all the bones he could. The two Gryffindors jumped in surprise and turned to see the menacing Slytherin approaching them. Anger burned like a white hot flame in his eyes.

Cyrus's fury was stunted slightly by surprise when he felt a hand on his chest and looked down to see his sister, his beautiful twin sister marred by an ugly bruise, impeding his path.

"Calm down. Cyrus, you need to relax!" Brenna spoke to him in Russian, knowing that English would not get through to him like the harsher sounds of Russian dialect.

"You fucking bastard! How dare you even touch her! Fuck – Brenna, let me go!" Cyrus was seething and Sirius was still too shocked and horrified by his own behaviour to react to anything. Brenna, however, was not budging and shoved Cyrus hard in the chest forcing him back half a step.

"Listen to me, you need to calm down! Nothing good will come of this, Cyrus, and you know it!"

"To hell I do! Let me break his hands, teach him to ever touch you again!" Sirius had finally registered the feral look in Cyrus' eyes, these weren't empty threats, he actually wanted to kill him for laying a hand to Brenna and while Sirius understood that he had hurt his sister, he really didn't want to die.

"I – I didn't mean to…I – I don't know what happened…I would never…I'm so sorry." Sirius managed to stutter, though his acclamations only fuelled Cyrus' temper.

"Yeah and I'm sure Hitler didn't mean to hurt anyone either!" He snarled, still trying to push Brenna out of the way. Damn girl was stronger than she looked and combined with her use of using non-verbal, wandless magic to add force to her blocks and shoves, there was no getting around her.

"Cyrus! That is too far! I am fine, damn it! Now, stand down!" When Cyrus still made attempts to get around her, Brenna used the only verbal argument she had left, "I said STAND DOWN! That is an order, knight!"

Cyrus, while still obviously fuming, immediately took a step back and few deep breaths. His jaw was clenched and his hands flexed and tightened into a fist repeatedly as he tried to calm down. Bless the discipline of the Order of the Dragon; a knight never defies a direct order from his superiors unless lives are at stake. Brenna, being the team leader of Atomos, had seniority over the rest of the boys, and though she rarely pulled rank with them, they always knew to listen when she gave orders.

"Thank you. I'm okay, you don't need to worry. This isn't like last time, Cy. I'm alright." Brenna met his gaze earnestly, knowing that he always held her safety paramount and looked out for her. Cyrus nodded once in acknowledgement, maintaining eye contact as he further calmed himself. "Do what you need to do, Cyrus. You can be the big brother you want to be. Protect me, I trust you."

"Brenna, I –" Sirius began again, and just the sound of his voice sent a spark of anger through Cyrus.

"Shut up, Sirius." She told him before turning around to face him. "Now really is not a good time."

"And it never will be. Listen up, Black, because the only reason the bones in your body are still intact is because Brenna, for whatever unknown reason, decided that I shouldn't break them. But if you put one toe over of the line I'm about to draw for you, I promise you that I will cut –"

"No, no cutting, Cyrus, nothing too permanent." Brenna interrupted.

"Fine, I will break every bone in both your hands and wrists. That's 27 bones each and I guarantee that I will find the most painful and lasting way to break each and every one of them and I will take great pleasure in it. I'm a Slytherin, Black, though I'm sure I don't need to remind you and you messed with my sister. This isn't a threat, this is a warning – an oath, actually, of what will happen if you decide to disregard what I'm about to say. Clear?" Sirius nodded swallowing visibly; the calm tones with which Cyrus spoke were even more threatening than the earlier fury, if that was even possible. Should the resigned look on Brenna's face be anything to go by, there was no doubt that Cyrus would carry out his oath.

"First, you will never touch my sister again, in any way, without her explicit consent. You will not go near her. You will stay a minimum of 2 metres from her at all times. You will not approach her, to beg forgiveness or otherwise, and you will not speak to her indefinitely. You will not send your friends to talk to her; in fact, you'll make sure they stay away from her unless Brenna wishes to speak with them, in which case, she will approach them.

"Should you be paired together in any of your classes – this goes for you miscreant friends, as well – you will speak only of the assignment unless otherwise directed by Brenna. You will spend no more time than necessary in her company and will complete any assignments properly and on time. You will not retaliate against Brenna in any way, shape or form for anything. During Quidditch practice, contact will only be that which is absolutely necessary and nothing more – again, unless otherwise directed by Brenna. You know what; just assume that all these rules have the 'unless otherwise directed by Brenna' clause.

"If you ever hurt my sister again, Black, I will kill you. Without remorse. Violence against women is despicable and when it's my own sister…I've no tolerance for it. You've left your handprint on her arm, that'll take a while to heal. So if you ever start to think that these rules are ridiculous, that you don't deserve them, I want you to remember that handprint because I won't forget it. You will always be the bastard that hurt my sister because she didn't want to talk to him. So follow the rules, because I really won't have any sympathy for excuses. And by the way, I'm the one that will judge if you break any of these rules so be very careful to follow them. Clear?"

"Crystal."

A/N: IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS AND WANT MORE FREQUENT UPDATES...REVIEW! it is a bit of a shorter chapter because I just wanted to get it posted, review for more frequent updates!

What do you want to see happen? What do you think? Who do you want to see more of? What do you want to know more about?

Let me know and I will gladly oblige.