Spov

Hallie didn't speak as I explained literally everything and I wondered if it was because it was too much effort due to the concussion, or she was just that shocked. Soon I found myself trapped in an avalanche of confessions. From the Marauder's Map to our monthly transformations, it all seemed to be falling out of me one thing after another, and it took a surprisingly long amount of time for me to tell her everything. Until this point, I hadn't even realized how much I'd been keeping from her.

"So Remus is a werewolf." She said quietly after what felt like hours and I'd finally stopped talking. She didn't look, angry, or upset. In fact, she didn't even look scared. Her expression was merely thoughtful. "That explains a lot." She conceded. "I could see why you wouldn't want to tell me."

"So that's it?" I asked suspiciously. "You're not angry?"

I had expected a reaction that was much more severe, but even though she didn't seem upset at all, I still found it a bit hard to look at her. Guilt seemed to be tearing through me destroying me from the inside out. This was all my fault, I knew it, didn't she get that?

"I don't know what to feel." She said closing her eyes and leaning against the headboard of the bed. "To be perfectly honest Sirius, if you were anyone else I wouldn't believe you. The Animagus process is obscenely difficult and you're telling me you managed it at 15? But I saw it for myself, and again all this," she said gesturing to the room at random her eyes still closed. "explains a lot. I guess if this was before the fact, and you told me you were trying to do it now I would be worried, I might have even thought you were insane, but you've already done it so," she shrugged. "What's the point in being angry about it now? Wasted energy."

For the first time since I'd started talking I looked directly at her. I'd been pacing as I'd explained, waiting for the explosion of anger that had never come. She opened her eyes and she truly didn't seem angry. I finally felt comfortable enough to sit next to her on the bed again. While still guilty, I felt less tense.

"Are you ok?" I asked her for what must have been the millionth time tonight.

"I've been better." She admitted. "But I'll be ok."

James had stopped by about an hour ago with a few potions to help with her arm and her headache, after of course he was sure that Remus was in the woods far away from both the castle and the village. He'd left to find Peter, who'd vanished after he frozen the tree which allowed me to bring Hallie back to the shrieking shack.

"Why did you follow us?" I asked in frustration.

"Well first of all, I followed a dog, not you." She said sounding amused. "And second, you know why."

"I told you not to wander around at night without me. It's dangerous."

"You didn't exactly mention werewolves Sirius." She pointed out. She sounded extremely tired, but again, her tone suggested she found this whole situation rather funny.

"I didn't think I'd have to."

"Why not?"

"Because unlike you, most people, when you tell them not to do something because it's dangerous, don't do it." I said trying valiantly to keep my temper under control. "Why do you always do this Hal? It's the same with your brothers as it is with me, it's like you can't resist doing crazy things. The second someone tells you something, the exact opposite is what you want to do."

"It's just who I am Sirius," she said quietly. "I've tried to fight it ever since I've gotten to Hogwarts but I'm tired of it. I realized that ever since I've been with you."

"If you haven't noticed Hallie, being reckless and close to me isn't a very good combination. There are things only I know about, and can protect you from, things that could hurt you."

"Well how was I supposed to know that?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know." I admitted. "But you didn't trust me enough to listen."

"Well whose fault is that Sirius?" she asked. "All you had to do was tell me."

"I shouldn't have had to!" I insisted. "Why couldn't you just believe me?"

She looked at me incredulously, as if I were insisting the moon was actually made of marshmallow and refusing to listen to reason.

"Believe you?" she asked plainly trying not to laugh. "Sirius, you didn't give me anything to believe. How would you like it if I disappeared all the time? Told you nothing about what I was doing or where I was going, all you knew was that I was with my friends and they refused to tell you anything either. Would you like that?"

"No." I admitted.

"Would you think that was me with your best interests at heart?"

"No."

"Exactly."

"But Hallie I was trying to protect you."

"How was I supposed to know?" she repeated and there was an ugly moment of silence between us in which I looked away. I wanted to say something sarcastic but resisted the temptation, this was already close enough to becoming a fight, I didn't need to push it that much farther. "Look Sirius, if you wanted a girlfriend who does everything you say, and is willing to sit around letting you disappear on her, then you've picked the wrong person. I can't do that, I can't be that for you."

"I think I picked the right one." I said looking at her.

"Then no more secrets." She said evenly.

"Alright." I said agreed. "No more secrets."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

She smiled and I leaned in to kiss her, when suddenly something popped up into the back of my mind, one last very big secret that was the one I'd wanted to hide from her most out of everything I'd kept from her.

"Hallie." I said quietly just before our lips touched, knowing if I didn't say it now, I never would. Tonight had been a nightmare and all I wanted to do right now was hold her, and kiss her until I forgot about anything and everything in existence but her, but one good thing had come out of it. I now knew the utter terror that accompanied the realization that I might loose her, and it had given me a reason to tell her everything, including this final secret, no matter how much I didn't want to. But I knew if she found out and I hadn't told her it would be over between us, and I couldn't live with myself if I'd let that happen just like I couldn't if Remus's attack had been successful.

"Yeah?" she asked softly.

"There's one more thing I need to tell you." I said backing away from her and she looked worried. "And it's pretty big."

"What is it?" she asked her tone dangerous and instantly I knew that she was expecting the worst. Probably involving another girl.

"It's not what you're thinking." I said quickly and her expression softened slightly, she now looked merely curious. I tried to find the right words to explain what I wanted to tell her, but found myself drawing a blank so I started how Frank had started with us. "Have you been reading the papers lately?"

"Yeah of course." She said frowning. "Why?"

"So then you've been noticing all the weird stories popping up right? About missing people turning up dead?"

"I'm going to kill Alice." She said her expression darkening.

"What?" I asked completely thrown by her reaction.

"She told you about that group Franks in didn't she? You're not seriously thinking of starting something like that-"

"It's not Alice's fault. In fact, if you've heard about it from her I reckon she doesn't know much more about it than you." I said quickly as I saw fury flash into her eyes. "But I'm not thinking about it Hallie, I've already joined."

"What?" she whispered her eyes going wide. "You can't be serious."

"I am."

And then the reaction I'd been expecting earlier happened. Hallie nearly exploded with rage.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" she shouted looking so angry I backed away. "SIRIUS BLACK, WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN'S TEA KETTLE IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

"Hallie calm down." I said nervously.

"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!" she continued to shout over me.

"It's not that big of a deal-"

"THIS IS A HUGE DEAL IF YOU THINK I'M GOING TO LET YOU GET YOURSELF KILLED-"

"Silencio." I muttered pointing my wand at her, and her voice cut out.

If looks could kill, Hallie's expression would have been just as effective as the Avada Kedavra.

"Hallie I'm sorry." I said quickly. "But you need to give me a chance to explain."

I never got that chance. With a quick flick of her wand, I was pulled of the bed by an invisible force and left dangling upside down in the air and was forced to look at her inverted smirk as the blood rushed to my head. How could I have forgotten? Hallie had been one of the best in our year at nonverbal spells.

"Fine I'll take the silencing charm off, just let me down." I said.

She flicked her wand again and I came crashing back down onto the bed.

"Ok Hallie." I said glancing at her cautiously. "I'm going to take the spell off, but just give me a chance to explain alright?"

She folded her arms over her chest and glared at me. She still looked angry but I knew that expression was the physical representation of one single word.

Fine.

I released the silencing charm.

"Well?" she asked coldly.

"Where should I start?"

"How about at the beginning."

"Alright. When you, Lily, and Alice wandered off at the Three Broomsticks, Frank had a talk with us. He said that there was a group dedicated to stop all these terrible things from happening and if we were interested we'd be able to join."

Over the next ten minutes I continued to explain about the meeting with Dumbledore, what the order of the Phoenix was, and what they did. Her mood didn't seem to improve. In fact, it seemed the longer I spoke, the worst it got.

"Who else knows about this?" she asked her voice so calm it was unnerving.

"So far just James, Peter, and Remus." I admitted. "Although James told Lily. And if Frank and Alice are really going to get married she'll probably know more about it soon."

"And they're all on board with it?" she asked.

"Yeah." I said grinning. "It should be fun, just like here at Hogwarts. Fighting the authority breaking the rules. I guess some things never change."

"Sirius this isn't a game!" she said stiffly. "You can't go around playing rebel for the rest of your life."

"I know it's not a game Hallie." I said my smile fading. "I know just how dangerous this is, in fact, probably more than anyone considering I grew up with the manics we're trying to stop! But do you really expect me to just stand aside and let the people I care about face them alone? Can you really see me staying out of this fight?"

"And what about the people who care about you?" she asked bitterly. "What about me? Have you ever considered how I felt?"

"You're the one I've been thinking about the most." I admitted quietly not looking at her.

"Clearly not or else you would have asked me."

"I'm telling you now aren't I?" I asked looking back at her. "But no Hallie I'm not going to ask for your permission about this. This is what I want to do."

"But why?"

"Because of you!" I said and she looked shocked. "These people," I continued shaking my head. "I grew up with them I know how they think, and they're not going to stop until they get what they want, and what they want is to get rid of muggleborns. I'm not going to sit back and watch them take you away from me, not when I could be doing something to make this world a safer place for you."

"Then I'm joining too," she said firmly.

"Absolutely not."

"You can't tell me what to do." She said angrily. "And if you think I'm going to let you, or any of my friends risk their lives while I sit back and do nothing then you are completely delusional."

"Hallie I'm begging you." I said desperately. "Don't do this. Please. For me."

She looked at me, long and hard, and I could see her answer in her expression long before she said it.

"No." she said stubbornly. "I'm not going to let you risk your life and not be there to back you up."

"I'll have back up." I said. "Remus, Peter, and James."

"And what good are they to you if you get hurt?" she asked. "They couldn't help you when you got slashed by a werewolf. Who was the one you had to turn to?"

I looked at her and she looked determinedly back. Never before had I seen Hallie look so stubborn, and I realized that for what was quiet possibly the first time in my life, someone was determined to protect me.

"You're not going to let this go are you?" I asked her softly.

"Would you?" She asked with a glare.

"No."

"Then there's your answer."