Sirius woke up late the next morning, a Saturday. Noticing that he was alone in his dorm, he dressed and went downstairs to the common room.

"Hey, Sir." James called, looking up from his miniature Quidditch set.

"Where did you disappear to last night?" asked Rhia.

"I was...looking for someone." He replied quickly. "Is Annie around?"

"Haven't seen her." Lily replied. "Isis came down but I think she's still in bed."

"Okay, thanks." Sirius checked his hair in a mirror on the wall before going up to see her, passing by the befuddled looks of everyone else. He opened the door to Annie's room silently, in case she was still asleep, but she lay in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. He stepped closer, not sure if she knew he was there.

"Hello." She said. Apparently, she did know. He pulled up a chair and sat next to her bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Fine." She replied. "Just a little...strange."

"Oh?" He leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands.

"I didn't like him at all." She said, then blushed a little. "I mean...I don't know why I even dated him." Her heart pattered very quickly. She had just nearly told Sirius that the whole 'dating' scheme had been a ploy...for him!

"Did he hurt you? I mean, before last night?" he asked.

"Oh, no." She shook her head. "He was all right. A little rude and domineering, but he didn't try to hurt me. At least not until...."

"I know." He nodded, feeling a great angry fire burn inside him. How dare Lucius Malfoy do this to her? And get away with it!

"Sirius!" Annie called, watching his muscles tense and his eyes blaze up as he sat in thought.

"Sorry." He apologized. "I was just...never mind."

"If it's alright with everyone else, I think I'm going to stay in bed today." She said, snuggling deeper into the covers.

"Go ahead." He squeezed her hand. She smiled wanly and closed her eyes. "Now, as for Malfoy...." He clenched his fists and ran to his room, grabbing his cloak and wand before hurrying downstairs, running into Peter as he did so.

"Watch it!" Peter shouted, nearly falling backwards.

"Sorry." Sirius replied, glancing over at Rhia and Lily in the corner before whispering, "I need the Map."

"What for?" James asked, handing it over and following him into a deserted corner.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Sirius muttered and explained as the Map filled. "Lucius hurt Annie last night."

"What?!" Remus cried, overhearing them from his chair.

"He...." Sirius looked down. "He tried to make her...she...he ripped her dress and...he tried...."

"I think we get it." James said, shocked.

Remus, on the other hand, wasn't as shocked; he was furious. A bastard like Lucius Malfoy trying to have his way with Annie! Annie, his baby sister!

"What are we going to do?" James asked.

"We're going to find him." Sirius answered, "and make it so even Dumbledore will pity him."

~*~

"Rhia, have you seen Annie?" Lily whispered across the table. Rhia shook her head.

"I think she's still in bed! Maybe we should go upstairs and see if she's feeling well?" Lily nodded, so the two packed up their books and hurried upstairs. They knocked on the 5th years door. A feeble "Come in" was heard, so they opened the door. Annie was sitting up in bed now, clutching her knees to her chest and humming to herself softly. She was staring out the window.

"Annie, honey? Are you okay?" Lily asked, walking forward. Rhia quietly closed the door and leaned against it.

"Yeah, are you feeling well?"

Annie stopped humming, but didn't turn from the window. "No... not really..."

"Well honey, you can tell us, you know." Lily had reached the bed now, and went to wrap Annie up in her arms. Annie flinched away from Lily's touch and jumped over to the next bed. "Annie?"

"I... guys..." Annie stared at them then, realizing something. "Where's Sirius?"

"He ran out of the common room with James, Peter, and Remus at his heels. Why, love?" Lily responded softly. Annie jumped up.

"No! No, they'll kill him! You guys have got to stop them!"

"Annie, what are you talking about?" Lily asked alarmed. Rhia gasped softly.

"Malfoy..." Lily turned to her, but Rhia had advanced on Annie. "They're going after Malfoy, aren't they? What did he do to you, Annie?"

"No... no, I can't... just stop them..." Annie turned away from her, but Rhia grabbed her arm.

"Annabelle! You've got to tell us! What did he do to you?"

Annie broke down them in Rhia's arms, sobbing. "He tried to hurt me... he tried to make me... make me... do things... to him..." Lily gasped. Rhia turned to her.

"Lily... they're going to murder him."

"Oh, god..."

Meanwhile, in the dungeons...

Everyone but Peter was filled with a terrible burning of anger in the pit of his stomach as they walked the halls of Hogwarts, staring at the Marauder's Map. Peter, on the other hand, was feeling a huge amount of dread. They followed the Map until they came to where Lucius Malfoy was casually feeling up a Slytherin fourth year.

"Malfoy!" Remus shouted. He turned around, flicking his white-blonde hair out of his eyes.

"Loony Lupin." Lucius snickered, using the name Peeves had given him during his first year. "And his sniveling friends, Potter, Black, and Pettigrew. To what do I owe this...ahem...pleasure?"

"We've something we need to...ahem...discuss." James mimicked. Lucius snapped and the giggling girl skittered off.

"What is it, Potter?" Lucius asked in a bored tone of voice. "I haven't got all day."

"You'll be lucky if you even see the rest of the day, Malfoy." Sirius threatened.

"What did I ever do to you?" Lucius asked, his eyes turning into malicious horizontal slits.

"You hurt my sister!" Remus shouted, shoving Lucius into the wall. Lucius stared, shocked, before jumping forward.

"Fisticusius!" he cried, holding out his wand. A large green fist, like in the old Punch and Judy puppet shows burst out from his wand, hitting Remus squarely in the jaw, knocking him to the floor with a bloody lip.

"Conceited ass!" Sirius shouted, knocking his wand from his hand. "She never did anything to you! She wanted to be with you and you used her!"

"She wanted to 'be with me' because she hated you!" Lucius retorted. Sirius fumed silently for a moment before leaning back and throwing a punch, coming in contact with Lucius' gut. Lucius returned the favor with a blow to Sirius's face, leaving him with a ring around his left eye. It wasn't long before the fight turned into a full-fledged battle.

"What's going on here?"

Severus Snape came running up to them, looking around at the scuffle. No one said anything, astounded as Sirius rammed Lucius into a wall, and Lucius knocked the wind out of Sirius.

"Homobilus!"

"Frostia!"

Both James and Severus had pulled out their wands as the violence of the fight grew. James had paused Lucius in midair as he readied to jump on Sirius's head while Severus' spell had put Sirius in a block of ice.

"So Miss O'Leary was correct. Seems that we had a skirmish in our halls."

Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Madam Pomfrey made their way down the hall and were staring at the two motionless boys in amusement, astoundment, and distress.

"It's a long story, Professor-"

"We tried to stop them, see-"

"Malfoy started it-"

"Black was near killing him!"

"He was not!" The three unfrozen Marauders chorused.

"Mr. Black and Mr. Malfoy's mêlée will not be overlooked, I can assure you." Dumbledore replied. "Ten points from each house."

Downcast faces showed all around.

"But perhaps your thought of your friends' well being should not be overlooked." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

"You surely don't think we should reward them for engaging in a fisticuff, Headmaster?" McGonagall's eyes went wide.

"No, but stopping their friends is a commendable deed." He replied. "Five points to each house. Now, Minerva, Poppy, I believe you can take it from here?" He bowed slightly and walked off. McGonagall sighed.

"Get your wand ready, Madam Pomfrey." She pushed up her sleeves and held her wand aloft as Madam Pomfrey conjured up two floating stretchers. With a flick of her wand, Lucius and Sirius were mobile once more and were on the stretchers, their arms and legs held down by tight bands.

"You'll pay for this, Black!"

"Shut your face, Malfoy!"

"Would both of you be quiet?!" McGonagall cried, strapping their mouths down as well.

"Come along, boys." Madam Pomfrey, took her wand and magicked the stretchers down the hall, James, Remus, Peter, and Severus following silently. They waited outside the infirmary, Severus staring at the three Marauders with incredible loathing in his black eyes. Sirius came outside before Lucius, a large chunk of chocolate in his hands.

"You'll pay for this, Black." Severus sneered. "Not everything will end up going your way, even if I have to make it so."

"Oh Snape, really, get over yourself," James shot back. "Not everything is about revenge."

"Apparently it is, Potter. You proved that tonight."

"That wasn't revenge, you slimy git," Sirius spat at Severus. "That was about honor." Severus shot them all looks to kill and walked away. Sirius made a move to go after him.

"No Padfoot. That's all he wants. Just let him be." Remus nodded, though still fuming, and the four made their way back to the Gryffindor common room.

Later on that night, Rhia sat reading in a chair in front of the fire. She heard movement behind her, and watched out of the corner of her eye as Remus sat down in the chair next to her and proceeded to stare into the fire. She tried to continue reading, but the sight of him so melancholy hurt her.

"Remus, what's wrong?" she asked, setting her book aside. He didn't look up.

"She's my sister, I'm supposed to watch out for her. But I was so busy wrapped up in my own troubles, I couldn't see she was having her own... if only I didn't..."

Rhia leaned over and put her hand atop his.

"You couldn't have changed it." She told him softly. "None of us could have. We didn't know."

"But I should have!" he cried, standing up angrily. "I should've known! I should've been there for her!"

"Remus," Rhia touched his heaving shoulder. "There's no changing the past, as much as we all wish it. I wish I had done a lot of things differently. I bet we both wish we hadn't gotten the bite."

I wish I'd never been with you. She thought silently. It would've made it easier for me to watch you everyday.

"All the same." He sighed. "I wish she would've told me. And I wish I had gotten to Malfoy quicker."

"You would've torn him to pieces." She said with a little smile.

"And have been happy to do it." He grumbled and she couldn't help but laugh, just a tiny bit. He turned around, watching her giggles grow to chuckles and then to laughter and then to great heaving gasps of air with a shriek in between. And then he started to laugh too. And it wasn't long before both were lying on the floor in front of the fireplace, breathless with their laughter.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "I just can't picture you tearing Malfoy to pieces."

"I could!" he insisted, breaking out into laughter again.

"Of course." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm glad I have a friend like you, Rhia." He said softly, his hand finding hers. She smiled at the ceiling and felt content.