Author's note: Such a good day, so happy! You know those friends where you've known them so long, you just have to look at them and a thousand memories run through your mind? Frogs on drugs, cheese and oreos and strawberries and does it fly and afternoon and ant farms and a thousand other things. If she ever reads this, you're like a sister to me too, and oh 'tis good to be mad! O.o

Isabel: Okay, so I was being a good little girl, getting on with my Spanish coursework, when I got your review. And it was like the story started calling to me 'write me, write me, why'd you care about Spanish anyways, you don't love me, write me!' So if I fail Spanish (and I don't intend to. I'll revise until midnight if I have to!) it's fanfiction's fault. And yours, and Ellie, and Kit Kat, and my mum, and Spain and... Well, actually, if I fail Spanish it will be entirely my own fault, but still. So, on with the review! I am so, so happy you like the chapter! And one that was grammar and waffle free? I should have a party... One that involves lots of Spanish revision! I love you! Thank you so much! As to Catching Fire, Effie's goodbye? 'You deserved so much better, my victors. We're a team, and they can't just-' Oh my, crying, crying, being stupid, crying. And Katniss's speech about Rue/Thresh. Oh my god. And Peeta's, too... Oh my, oh my, oh my... Yeah. And that fact is so cool! Not sure if it was this story or the other one that I'm writing at the moment, but I'll tell it anyways. My bedroom wall is papered in quotes, because I love English language, and I like to wake up and read words that make me smile... From books mainly, but songs and films too. My mum thinks it looks messy, which is why she's getting me two canvases for christmas, with some of my photography on it. A fact about me? I love photography. Especially landscape photography, because I especially love, love, love outdoors... I just love how you can press a button on a camera, and an entire moment is captured. Just... Yeah. So I understand you there! Although I'm not too good at art... I mean sometimes I'm okay, but at other times I suck epically. Yeah. You're bedroom wall sounds amazing, I can picture it in my minds eye. I'd love to have the time, skill and patience to do all that, but unfortunately, I don't... Another, completely unrelated fact about me, but one that I have to tell you before I forget. One of the nicest things anyone ever said to me: "Hannah, I reckon you're high on tea, high on orange juice, high on air... High on life." I'm high on life! I just found that so sweet! I'm an optimistic person, guys. And I love life, I really do, cheesy as it is. So yeah.

I loved catching fire! I agree to an extent about the beginning, but I kind of felt like everything was just like I pictured it... Although they missed out Peeta's paintings, and Plutarch's watch, and speaking of Plutarch he wasn't at all like I imagined him... But yeah. And you just sent me into an anafalatic shock... I'm allergic to peanuts. And other nuts, and prawns, and sesame seeds, and... Well, a whole load of other stuff. Since this author's note is really long, I won't tell you right now, but next chapter I need to tell you my little anecdote about Year 7 camp and nut allergies... Yeah. No hard feelings, glad you enjoyed the waffles, I'll try not to eat any peanuts between now and the next chapter! Hannah ;)

I don't own Harry Potter.

You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, love like you'll never be hurt, sing like there's nobody listening, and live life like it's heaven on earth~ William W. Purkey

I was on my way to Hagrid's cabin when I heard a rustling behind me. Spinning around, I saw a sight that was likely to cause me amusement for the next 20 years at the very least... My uncle, dressed in his best robes, being attacked by a tree.

"Gah- stupid plant- don't you know who I am-"

Under ordinary circumstances, I would have sped away as fast as I could and tried to avoid being seen, but this wasn't ordinary circumstances. I couldn't seem to resist a good gloat.

"You know it can't hear you right?" I asked. My Uncle turned around, and his eyes flashed with anger, as if to say 'just my luck'.

"For Merlin's sake Adeline Lestrange, get this infernal plant off me or so help me Merlin, I will-"

"Throw bark at me?" I asked coldly. Rolling my eyes, I bent down and untangled the branches from where they were entwined in his foot.

Straightening up, I looked him in the eye, and noted with satisfaction that I had grown taller in the past term. Though my uncle was still quite a bit taller than me, he no longer seemed to tower over me.

Even if he had, he wouldn't have scared me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, the frost in my voice enough to make even me shiver.

"Well, I'm here on urgent ministry business, which has nothing to do with you. Leave me alone, girl. It would be such a shame if I had to taint you still further."

Usually, those words, and the subtle hint behind them, would be enough to have me running back up to Gryffindor tower like a fugitive. But at my Uncle's words, a shard of ice cut through my chest...

"You're here about Buckbeak."

"Yes." Irritation flickered in my uncle's eyes. "I heard you supported the oaf's case. Against your own cousin, Adeline, how could you? Supporting a hippogriff at that. I would have thought that the scars you gained in your first year would be enough to set your loyalties straight. Does family honour mean nothing to you?"

I felt a surge of anger and pride well up inside of me.

"Family honour? What honour is there in a prattish boy who likes making up extravagant tales to get what he wants, and whose only motivations are malicious and unkind? What honour is there in an uncle who hits me, who uses fear and blackmail and the dark arts to get whatever he wants, and who refuses to acknowledge I exist? What honour is there in pretending that I don't love Hagrid, or Fred, or George or Ron or Harry or Ron or Hermione or Neville or Ginny or any of the others? Pretending that I don't support Buckbeak, that the accidents weren't Draco's fault, weren't mine? We both aggravated the animals, uncle, and we both got our just rewards. Which is something this 'family' seems unable to accept. Talk to me about honour all you want, but from where I'm standing, honour deserted you a long time ago."

My uncle's hands are curled into fists. As any fool could have seen coming, he strikes me across the face, filling my mouth with the metallic taste of blood. But the blow doesn't seem to matter.

With one last look of contempt, my uncle strides away, telling me to rethink where my loyalties might lie or regret it later. But I know my words have found their mark, and that the strike I have just delivered has left a far bigger mark than the bruise now flowering on my face.

That's when I turn around, and catch sight of the dog, lurking just out of sight in the treeline. When it sees me watching, it lets out a whimper, turns on its tail and runs.

Sirius has a head start. By the time I have recovered from my shock and a million other emotions churning up inside of me, he is long gone... But I chase after him anyway, my heart pounding.

"Hey!" I shout as I see a tail wip around the corner, straight towards the whomping willow. "Wait!"

But he's already gone.

In the hospital wing, Fred is raving against my uncle. But I can't seem to concentrate on his words. That's when Draco burst into the hospital wing, sporting a slap mark just as vivid as mine.

I couldn't help, in the mood I was in, but laugh. "What the hell got to you?"

Growling, Draco's face darkened. "Don't you dare laugh. It was that mudblood, Granger. I swear, one of these days-"

Fred started forward, but I stopped him. "Think very carefully about your next words, Draco Malfoy, or I'll give you a mark on the other side to match."

Draco laughed. "What offended you, Adele? Mudblood. Well, it's true-"

He didn't finish. My fist came down so fast, he didn't even see it coming. His eyes flashed dangerously.

"You knew I would." I said quietly, thinking back to when I'd found him in a corridor with Neville. I'd slapped him then, too. But today, it felt wrong... Maybe it was being hit by my uncle, maybe it was that Draco was looking at me with such blame in my eyes, but either way there were better ways to direct my anger. "Hermione hit you? Maybe I should thank her."

"Your own cousin, Adeline! Your own cousin, and you just hit me! You wouldn't dare-"

"There are no limits to what I would and wouldn't do." I said coldly. Then I followed Fred, who was doubled over with laughter, out of the hospital wing.

There was a lot of anticipation in the air leading up to the final match of the season. I wanted Harry to win so badly (or Draco to lose, whichever came first) it was like stomach ache, but there was an undercurrent to it all.

For once, I'd been on alright terms with my family... With my aunt and Draco, at least. But after hitting my cousin, it was doubtful my aunt would even let me back into the house. I couldn't help wondering... Maybe I'd ruined the one chance I had at peace with the people who, like it or not, were my flesh and blood relatives.

The game was intense, but when Gryffindor won, I felt a euphoria I hadn't experience in a long time. I was walking back from the games with Fred, who was cracking a joke every couple of seconds. At the door to the common room, he turned to me.

"I'm going to honeydukes with George. Do you want to come?"

I had barely been alone with just Fred and George all year... When we were, there was an awkward air about us, as if we hadn't quite worked out what mine and Fred's relationship meant for the three of us, and were tiptoeing around each other until we did.

In a way, I kind of got what Fred was offering me, and I was tempted. Come with us to Honeydukes, and we can try to work this out... It'll be just like old times. And yet...

"I think I'll stay here, if that's alright. I'm a bit tired..."

"Ada." Fred said, and his eyes were reproachful. "You can't keep-"

I rolled my eyes. "Fred, how much time have you spent alone with George this year?"

"Ada, I-"

I raised my eyebrows. "Answer the question."

Sighing, he rolled his eyes. "Merlin, you look so much like my mother it's scary. Alright, I'm going. I'll be back soon, okay?"

He kissed me on the cheek, and at his touch my eyes closed. For some reason, ever since seeing the dog in the woods, I'd felt like a fugitive around Fred. Every time he touched my hand I felt like a cheat, and every time he kissed me I felt like a thief, stealing him away when I had no right.

As soon as he was gone, I turned on my heel and ran upstairs to the dormitory, which had the best view of the grounds. There wasn't a single black dog in sight.

I breathed a sigh that might have been relief and might have been disappointment, then looked down, and almost jumped out of my skin. Crookshanks looked up at me, large eyes reproachful as he rubbed against my leg and purred impatiently.

"Crookshanks?" I asked uncertainly. "What is it?"

The cat turned on it's tail and walked across the room. At the door, he turned and purred impatiently, flicking it's head as if telling me to follow. Hesitating only a fraction of a second, I seized up my wand and followed him.

The common room was in riot, the music cranked up to top volume and a babble of voices and mass of bodies creating a perfect distraction, allowing me to slip silently through the crowd and out of the portrait hole.

The moment I left, everything went very still and very silent. Even the air around me seemed to be waiting in a dramatic pause in time with baited breath.

"Crookshanks?" I asked uncertainly, as we reached the double doors. "Are you leading me out of the castle?"

The cat mewed impatiently.

Taking a deep breath and trying to think of that Fred and George-ish air of adventure I sometimes experienced rather than how much trouble I would get in if I was caught, I plunged into the impending darkness of the castle grounds at twilight.

The moon was half full and cast a soft and somewhat mysterious light over the sweeping castle lawn. Every crack of a branch, whistle through the trees or tweet of a bird sounded like the last sound I would hear. But if my suspicions were right, and Crookshanks was leading me to Sirius... It could be the most dangerous thing I'd ever done, but it could mean the answers to some of my questions. And if it was, then it was a risk worth taking.

At the whomping willow, Crookshanks pressed his paw on the branch. Immediately, the tree went still, revealing a perfect entrance in the tree to a secret passageway marked on the marauders map.

Cursing under my breath, I ducked under and followed.

The dark tunnel went on for a long time. I wasn't claustrophobic, and being a small person could fit quite easily, but even so I felt slightly panicky. Knowing the tunnel lead to the shrieking shack hardly consoled me, either.

When I finally emerged in a tumbledown sort of room, the wallpaper ripped and furniture broken, I was ready to start hyperventilating.

Crookshanks darted ahead, and I followed him, holding my wand as high as I could to penetrate as much as the darkness as was possible...

"Hello?" I whispered softly, trying not to think of muggle horror film victims, and how much their stupidity annoyed me. Like, 'hello mr monster, I'm over here, and terrified. Come and eat me!'

"Ada." Rasped a familiar and yet dreadfully altered voice. I spun around, and nearly froze in terror and shock. It was what I had expected, and yet how could anyone on earth be prepared for this?

Sirius Black sat in the corner, grinning up at me with that cracked, manic grin that had always terrified me in my mother's eyes.

Only one thought registered: Merlin, what the hell have I gotten myself into now?