Author's note: Please be aware that I own ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, everything, except my made OC(s), belongs to the wonderful Lady J.K. Rowling. THIS IS Pre-Harry Potter and during the Harry Potter era! I would very much like to hear your thoughts :) So, welcome back readers! I hope you enjoy this one as much as you have the other Harry Potter stories! If you can't tell, I am a Sirius Black girl. I would, however, like to try to do a Fred or George Weasley fan-fiction later on, just because I adore them both so much. I just have to bring myself to write it :) Wish me luck! Keep your heads up and Enjoy!

Chapter 5

UPDATED: 9/28/2022

They had stood there, listening to Professor McGonagall as she introduced herself, as well as explained the rules of the school, rule-breakers would be punished with detentions, expulsions at the worst depending on the severity of what you had done, and the point system the school went by. All the while McLaggen was beside her a little too closely. She could feel his eyes glancing back and forth between her and the Professor. It was nerve-grating! 'Would he stop staring at me!' she thought. It was infuriating!

The walk into the Great Hall was mesmerizing! They all smiled up at the ceiling, the floating candles the stary-night above them with clouds overhead.

It was fascinating! And far better as a pointed hat sat upon a stool and began to sing. She smiled as the Hat sang, and her eyes drifted over to her grand-uncle, Albus Dumbledore. No one here would know who she really was, not unless they were the Professors themselves. Or the very students who'd been in Gryffindor tower when Albus had brought her here four years ago, but those students were all graduated by now. So, no one truly knew who she was. Smiling softly to the Headmaster of Hogwarts she was relieved she'd gotten a smile in return, along with a little nod. "Now, when I call your name, you will come up and be sorted into your houses," McGonagall said to them once the hat was finished and she began calling them one by one by last names from the end of the alphabet to the beginning.

"Wilson, Nia!" McGonagall called.

Smiling at her friend as Nia instantly became nervous, Adriana nodded to her, "Go on," she whispered, helping her friend move forward towards the steps, to Professor McGonagall and the Hat. She silently clapped with the tips of her fingers and Adriana nodded as Nia looked back at her from over her shoulder as she walked up the short steps to be sorted.

Oh, she was so nervous! She had no idea what house she'd be placed in, but she hoped she was with Adriana and Jasper. Taking a seat on the stool carefully, Nia closed her eyes with a nervous breath, her insides twisting.

"Ah, such brightness, loyal and true, talent and wise. A bird's eye view I see with such curiousness, to say the least. RAVENCLAW!" He shouted.

The Ravenclaw table erupted with cheers and clapping as Nia smiled and jumped off the stool and made her way to her table. She went on to call the next handful of new students until she got to a certain person that had McGonagall and Dumbledore holding back their smiles.

"Scrimgeour, Rufus!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Adriana held her breath. That was one. Why do I have a feeling I'm going to be suffering these guys the entire school year for the rest of my school life?

"Potter, Adriana!"

Excited about her own sorting, Adriana made her way up to the hat and stool, and Professor McGonagall took her seat with an excited smile, but her insides were twisting and turning with nervousness.

"Ah, a strange one I see here, full of hardships, loss, from abandoned to found- a wisp of wisdom and bravery, a daughter and sister. Another of your family I see has once belonged in the house of one of the great roaring founders, blood you share of the head we here have today, hm, I now see why. A dark family past I understand…" The hat said slightly turned on the girl's head of curls, almost as if he was trying to turn and look towards the Professor's table, "Hm… I see mischief playing in your mind-eye, girl," he chuckled, "A brother of mischief himself, fun and laughter but also found through pain and loss… I must say, ROAR TO GRYFFINDOR!"

Smiling at being sorted into her family's main house, Adriana jumped off the stool after McGonagall removed the hat and took her seat with the Gryffindors at their table. She shook the hands of those who were welcoming her to their house and smiled with further excitement to watch the others being seated. Jasper, who she leaned when he'd been called, had the last name of McKinnon, had been sorted into Hufflepuff, but to her ever-long annoyance, she got landed with McLaggen and his two buddies. She closed her eyes with slight defeat when the Sorting Hat shouted loudly "GRYFFINDOR" for Tiberius, Rufus, and Bertie. She was slightly upset, more likely just as Nia and Jasper were, that none of them had gotten the opportunity to be in the same house. But they'd still be friends. She hoped. While she was certain she and Nia would be, just meeting Jasper McKinnon that day on the train she could only hope they'd still be friends and she truly hoped Nia and Jasper, even herself, made new friends in their houses while separated from one another. She was just shocked that one of her new friends she made on the Hogwarts Train was a McKinnon relative, Marlene and Giles were also McKinnon's. So, she wondered if maybe he was related to Marlene and Giles McKinnon. It was a high probability they were related, but she couldn't just assume that and then be wrong. She was not a fan of being wrong about things. But, she was a kid, and she knew she'd be wrong about a lot of things.

She listened to her uncle Albus giving his speech to them all, reminding all of the first years of a few floors they shouldn't go near out of safety and to stay clear of the Dark Forest before he spoke a few words and their tables were filled with food and pitchers full of drinks for them to pour for themselves.

"Pssst, Potter," a boy said under a hushed tone down the table from her a little way. She knew who it was. McLaggen. But she ignored the boy she ate her food and drank her juice. She could only ignore him for so long. Sadly. She had hardly any escape from him and his friends on their way to their houses. She, Nia, and Jasper had waved their goodnights to each other as their Prefects walked them all to their Houses for the night and she quickly made her way up to the girl's dormitory and got ready for bed.

"So, you're the fabulous Potter," a girl said walking up to Adriana in her night dress. Her arms crossed over her chest as she grinned at her with what Adriana would say was a mean girl look and her hair of false curls pulled back into braids for the night.

"Just Potter, no famous, no fabulous, just Potter," Adriana said as she went about dressing her bed with the patched-together blanket she'd had since before she could remember. "Why are you curious to know?"

The girl raised her brow at Adriana's back with a less than amused snide smirk, "Your brother," she said, "James Potter, correct?" she asked again.

Rolling her eyes, Adriana crawled into bed and turned to the girl, "I'm his adopted sister, but yes, I am James Potter's sister, for two years if I'm correct. If you want to know who else I'm related to, why don't you go ask the headmaster. He might give you some insight into that, now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed. Goodnight… I'm sorry, who were you again?" she said, not really caring who this blonde was.

Scuffing at her, the blonde rolled her eyes and walked away with an arrogant sway of her lacking hips at eleven years old and crawled into her bed across the room from Adriana.

A new girl dropped over Adriana's bed with an amused smile, "Evangeline Brown," she told Adriana with a whispered voice, "a snobbish little princess that she is. She's just jealous McLaggen is paying you attention." A girl said leaning over her bed with a smile. "Ellie, Ellie Dowson," she said holding out her hand to the Adriaan with a smile. "And your brother's best friend used to date her sister a few years back." She finished. Every girl knew about the Marauders. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. They'd left their mark on Hogwarts, and that mark would be left at the school for some time.

Smiling at the girl, Adriana took the dark-haired girl's hand, her brown eyes were dark but had a dark amber look in the middle around her irises. Ellie had a warmth about her that Adriana liked. "Dowson? Didn't I hear that name twice tonight?"

Smiling she nodded, "My twin brother, Rob, he's in Ravenclaw," Ellie answered.

Looking over to the girl who was all fancied up for bed as she wrote in what Adriana would assume was her journal while she and three other girls talked in hushed voices. Leaning over her bed to talk to Ellie in a more private manner, Adriana softly chuckled as the four girls across the room watched them with intensity and irritated expression as Adriana whispered something to Ellie, making it seem as if it were a secret, "I don't even want the boy's attention. And aren't we not supposed to have crushes yet? I mean, were eleven." Adriana teased. Both girls broke out into a burst of laughter as they dropped their heads into the blanket cover Adriana had just put over her bed and laughed into the blanket. After a moment the two sobered and saw the four girls that Evangeline was still sitting with glaring at both Ellie and Adriana, Adriana looked over to her new friend, "I wouldn't go to sleep just yet until those four are out like a light." She whispered her advice.

Confused and rather curious, Ellie looked over to the girls and then back to Adriana, "Why?" she asked.

Raising her brow, Adriana whispered a secret James and Sirius had told her of their tricks they'd play at night. "If they are planning to try something tonight, then they'll wait until everyone, including us, is asleep, don't fall asleep. Neither will I, I just don't like that look they have." She admitted.

Nodding, Ellie stood up from leaning over Adriana's bed and the two girls crawled into their own beds, both grabbing something to keep them distracted for a moment while the other girls began to slip off into slumber for the night. It was close to 11 o'clock at night. With D'Artagnan curled up beside her on her bed, Adriana sat in her bed reading as the lights began to dim, she sighed and looked over the rim of her book to the girls covering up and crawling further into their beds, but she didn't trust them. Didn't trust Evangeline. So, she continued to read as best she could as the night went on. It was around 1:30 in the morning when Adriana felt alright enough to fall asleep. Now the problem would come to the fact at they had an early start on her regarding sleep.

She woke to a girl plopping down on her bedside, startling both her and D'Artagnan, the blonde smirking down at her with her brown eyes shining at her with interest. "Sleep well, Potter?" she asked with amusement.

"What do you want Evangeline?" she asked the girl coldly as she sat up from her bed.

"Oh, well aren't we feeling spiteful today?" Evangeline said sarcastically. "Come on Potter, or you'll be late to class, Ellie's getting ready right now. She tried waking you earlier, but you didn't budge." She said with humor and moved from the girl's bedside and walked from the door room.

Huffing, Adriana got out of bed and rubbed D'Artagnan awake as she grabbed her uniform, then suddenly realized that Evangeline had woken her up. Checking her clothing, even her undergarments, her hairbrush, toothbrush- forget it, she checked everything just to be sure, even D'Artagnan was checked to the poor kitten's confusion. After living with James and knowing what he and his friends could do and what they had done, she was well-prepared for what to do for payback that was within the allowances of the school. Which wasn't much, she would actually be getting into trouble, but she wouldn't cost her house any points if she had to… She hoped. She made her way into the girl's washroom in their Dorm room to clean up for the morning and to stay her day. Now dress, and her teeth and hair brushed, and thankfully not charmed as she had slept. Adriana checked herself carefully in privacy to make sure there really was nothing hidden in her clothing as she wore it. As she checked her clothing and made sure her skin was not becoming irritated by any means, she was not prepared for the morning events that followed.

"AHHHH!" The girl's scream came from downstairs. Grabbing her things, Adriana made a rush back into their room and dropped her things into her trunk and locked it up tightly, slipped D'Artangan into her robe pocket and slipped her brother's messenger bag over her head, and made her way down to the common room to see what all the fuss was over.

In the middle of the common room there stood a girl whose bed was right beside Evangeline covered in orange powder all over her face, the front half of her thick, long dark hair all the way down the front of her shirt and skirt and the front of her brand new school cloak. Everyone was laughing while she cried and tried to wipe the powder off her face and tried to spit the powder from her mouth, only to start gagging.

Shaking her head clear of what she was seeing, Adriana rushed up to the girl and grabbed her hand stopping her from wiping the powder any further. "No, stop, stop. Come here, come on, the washroom upstairs. Ellie? Can you help me?" she asked the dark-haired girl she'd met last night who thankfully rushed over to them and the girls walked the frightened and upset girl up the stairs carefully and into the washroom. The older students were mostly gone already for breakfast, but this was a priority right now. Slipping her robe off and hanging it on a hook along with her messenger bag, D'Artagnan poked his little head out from her pocket and watched them curiously as Adriana removed the girl's cloak. "Ellie, carefully pull her hair back, try not to let it rub in any more than it is, thank you." She said, thankful she had help with this as she grabbed a clean washcloth and drenched it in hot water. "Okay, I'm going to try washing this off, alright, if it doesn't work, you're going under the showerhead. Okay? Oh- spit, quickly, spit-sink, here, right here." She told the girl helping her lean over the sink. The powder had gotten into her mouth a bit further back in her throat from before, but as soon as she had opened her mouth to talk, more powder had gotten into her mouth and possibly down her throat. It became worse when the girl vomited. "Okay, forget the cloth, Ellie, stay with her, I'm turning on the shower." She said releasing her sigh and moving over to the shower heads, "Okay, bring her here. Ellie, can you go grab a towel, she's going to need one."

"Yeah-yeah, b-be right back," Ellie said with a stutter of nervousness. She'd never seen that happen to someone. Running from the washroom and the showers in there, she grabbed one of her own towels and rushed back to the washroom where Adriana was helping the girl wash the powder from her face and letting her rinse her mouth out with the hot water before helping her wash the powder from her black hair. Now she looked better, other than the slight orange-tented stain the powder had left on her clothing and in her hair. It had thankfully not stained her teeth or her tongue or skin.

Stepping away from the shower Adriana took one end of the towel and both girls held it up in front of them and over the shower entrance to help cover the girl as she thanked them and removed her drenched clothing from her body and let the girls wrap her up in the towel once she had finished.

"Thank you," she said to them softly. She was so embarrassed. She'd never had that happen to her in her life before. They'd even walked her back to their room and beds and made sure no one came in while she dressed in her second uniform set. Thankfully her parents had gotten her three pairs of uniforms just in case something happened and she could have gotten the first two cleaned. It was likely a good thing she had forgotten her school bag by her bedside. Grabbing her bag, she wiped the falling tears from her cheeks as she walked out and smiled at the two girls, "Thank you," she told them with a nod of her head. Extending her hand to the two girls she was thankful they smiled and shook her hand. "I am Ira. Ira Patel." She said, introducing herself.

Smiling at the girl, seeing how strong she was trying to be, Adriana waved at her kindly, "Adriana Potter," she said.

"Ellie Dowson," Ellie said, introducing herself after Adriana.

Now introduced, Ira, Ellie, and Adriana walked from the dorms to the Common Room and found it thankfully empty. "Come on, let's go eat something," Adriana told them. They needed food, who knows what they'd be like today if they missed Breakfast? She was certainly a cranky person. But she just wasn't always a morning person.

They were able to eat happily before having to run to their classes, the three girls almost getting lost every time.

"Oi! Potter!" A boy screamed from down the hall as they entered their Transfiguration class.

The sudden body and the next two that bumped between her and her two new friends nearly had her dropping her books. Huffing at the boy as he came to a quick stop and turned to her with his friends running to their claimed seats while he laughed then found a seat. She was so happy Ira and Ellie caught her from falling. But as the classroom filled, Ira and Ellie, taking their seats beside one another, she quickly realized that the seat beside the grinning McLaggen was the only seat available. Sighing, Adriana moved to sit beside McLaggen, until Evangeline slipped on into the seat quickly, "Hi Tiberius." Evangeline said with a big, over-dramatized smile. She looked really excited to be sitting with him while he suddenly looked nervous, glancing between Evangeline and Adriana. Slipping off to the side of the classroom, Adriana took a seat beside a Slytherin girl just as McGonagall was walking in and ordering the class to be silent as she began her lesson.

The next few weeks went just like that when classes came time. Thankfully, she'd been able to spend time with Jasper and Nia. Jasper seemed content with his house, though he hadn't made any friends, however, he had made a few acquaintances that he was rather good with. Nia was still upset she had been separated from her friends, but she was alright with her Housemates for the time being, other than one, Gilderoy Lockhart, a fifth year if Adriana remembered correctly.

Halloween was a blast, the fest was fantastic and the laughter was amazing to everyone's ears. Nia and Jasper enjoyed their time with Adriana when they walked to classes or did their homework together. They even enjoyed Ellie and Ira's company. Eventually, they met a few of Nia and Jasper's made friends from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Jacline Sibling and Bastian Macfusty were nice company.

Today, however, Adriana was sitting in an empty room near working on homework with Nia, Adriana had just walked back to the table with a book from the classroom's shelving off in the corner. The two girls were startled by Ira running up to them both out of breath and almost in a sweat, she looked scared. "Ira?"

"Help!" Ira said with panic and out of breath. She'd run around the last thirty minutes possibly looking for a teacher on their day off from classes and she hadn't found a single one of them. So, when she had seen Nia, Ira had rushed around the corner and found the Ravenclaw girl with Adriana and immediately felt pure relief seeing the two of them together. It made her feel as if this entire thing could be solved very quickly and she had made a bee-line right for two girls.

Confused, Nia and Adriana shared a look of concern with one another then turned their confused expressions toward Ira. "What is going on?" Nia asked her new Gryffindor friend.

Huffing and puffing, knowing that if she tried to explain there'd be a bigger problem than there already was. "Jasper and a Slytherin are fightin'," she said simply as she possibly could.

Their eyes grew wide at what Ira had said, their minds taking a moment to process the severity of that situation. They hadn't thought twice, tossing their pencils into their bags with their books and homework before rushing off through the castle following after Ira towards a remote hallway surrounded by a few other students. It must have only gotten worse by Ira's 'Oh'ed whine. Tossing their bags against the wall, the three girls shoved through the small crowd to find Jasper on his back and a third-year Slytherin over top of the boy. "What happened?" Adriana asked with worry.

"The boy pushed by Alyssa and she fell, he told him to apologize, they argued and then he attacked," Ira said with worry. She didn't know what to do, this was such a bad fight. Worse than when she left it!

"Who attacked?" Nia asked with panic, she was trying to figure out how to stop this! But she had o ideas at all. Until Adriana moved into the center of the circle and pulled the third year off Jasper. When the boy looked at her with an angry sneer, he raised his hand to throw a punch. But his fist was stopped and the boy lifted up and tossed over the gathering of kids. The cheers and shouts immediately muted into dead silence.

"Everyone back to your houses! NOW!" A 7th-year boy roared.

She was frozen where she stood. Watching with wide eyes. That boy had anger and hate in his brown eyes. So much anger and hate she was frozen from it.

"Adriana!" the older boy snapped. His dark waving long hair was pulled back from his face by a thin hair tie in a half-up hairdo. His grey eyes are like his brothers' and parents' grey eyes.

Sucking in a breath she looked at the older boy, his warm hand cupping her cheek. There had been something very wrong with that boy. But she was relieved that she knew this boy, "Regulus?" she whispered his name. She hadn't seen him since that day Sirius and James had taken her from the Yaxleys.

Nodding as he knelt to her short level, Regulus glanced around the now silent gathered students, "Get out of here!" he snapped, "Go on! Go!" he yelled, and just as swiftly as he had snapped at them they gathering of on looking students were running off. Turning back to Adriana just staring at him with wondering confusion, Regulus grabbed her hand and began to pull her down the school halls.

"Oi! Where do you think you're taking her, Black!" A boy snapped, charging after them.

"Shut it, McLaggen!" Regulus snapped over his shoulder and continued pulling her with him down the halls. When he heard the several feet rushing after him, Regulus turned on the first years following him and shoved Adriana behind him, "Go back to your houses, I got her. She'll be fine by the time I return her to Gryffindor Tower. Now go on." He told the girls. While he'd been a total jerk to the boy, he had done his best to not snap at the girls. Looking over their short heads to the boy standing on weak legs and wiping his bloody nose, mouth and red bruising eye The left side of his face looked nasty. "He needs Pomfrey, take him to see her, Adriana should be back to the tower by the time Pomfry is done looking after him." The kid looked terrible. But Vince Rosier was a wicked brawler, that was a fact. His younger brother, Felix, was likely a common victim of his, poor kid. But no doubt the boy would be a brawler himself growing up.

"But-"

"Stop worrying about her, she'll be fine! Take care of him!" Regulus snapped and continued down the halls.

Resting her hands on Nia's arms to comfort the girl, Ira gently rubbed Nia's arms as she stood there in disbelief. "Come on Nia, let's get Jasper taken care of-"

"It's okay, you girls take a moment, the boys and I can take him to Madame Pomfrey."

Confused as she looked at the halls growing darker with more chill to the stone the deeper into the castle Regulus pulled her down, she realized that they were heading towards the Slytherin Common Room. "Regulus-"

"Hush and follow me," he ordered, pulling her through the doors and down an empty hallway near the Slytherin Common rooms before sitting her on the hallway bench and knelt to her level, "What the hell were you thinking? He would have clobbered the life out of you if I hadn't been walking by, Adriana." He demanded an answer.

She opened her mouth, thinking to give him an answer, only nothing came out. Shrugging at him she looked to her feet and the stone floor. "I-I'm sorry," she whispered. "Why do you even care? You met me once and we haven't seen one another since that… Banquet."

Grabbing her face, Regulus forced her to look at him looking at her with his hard cold eyes, "Because contrary to what a lot of people believe, I have a heart, Adriana." He said, equally as cold as his eyes possibly were towards her. "Now, are you hurt?" he asked her, dropping his hand from her face. She was his brother's best friend's baby sister, and his almost betrothed. So of course, he cared!

Looking at his hard grey eyes she knew had a well-covered mask over them, she shook her head, and softly mouthed no to him.

Releasing a breath, Regulus nodded, "Alright then, go back to whatever the heck you were doing before that fight. I'll deal with Rosier, you just go." He told her, helping her stand from the bench, his rolled sleeve covering his tattoo shifted, and without thinking, he pushed his sleeve back up, he was floored with sudden panic as Adriana's blue eyes widened and her mouth opened in a silent gasp, her hands grabbing his arm and looking at the mark he'd been hiding from everyone.

She'd been standing off the bench when Regulus had pushed his sleeve back up to his elbow, her heart hit the floor at the evil mark she saw, the fear and the amount of darkness she could feel coming off it. Grabbing his arm, Adriana stared at the mark, the way she could hear the crying and screamed moan in her mind was bone-chilling. "Regulus, what-why… What have you done?" she asked him under a whisper, looking up to the older boy as he stood there staring at her with wide eyes of fear. She saw it then. The level of terror in his grey eyes. Gently shaking his arm, hoping to wake him up from his frozen fear, Adriana felt her breath freeze in her. "Regulus?"

Finally waking up from his panic, Regulus yanked his arm away from her hands and shoved past her, "Stay out of the way, Adriana. Don't get involved," he told her, yanking his sleeve back down his arm as he rushed from the hallway, leaving her alone with her shock.

"What the heck just happened?" Adriana whispered to herself with fear and shock. That mark, while she had no idea what it was, she knew it was evil. Forcing herself to move, she rushed back to the hallway for her bag but found it missing. Thinking Nia or one of her other friends had taken her with them to the Hospital Wing, she rushed there to see if Jasper was there. But Madam Pomfrey had informed her that the group of friends who'd brought him had taken him with them, likely back to his house. So, she rushed for the Hufflepuff Common Room and asked the Portraits near the entrance if Jasper had come through She'd received a 'no' from them. "Thank you," she told the Portrait and rushed around the rest of the castle, looking for Jasper and the others. But she couldn't find them or Jasper anywhere. Seeing McLaggen walking around with his buddies with their heads hanging low, she grumbled to herself knowing she had no choice. But it wasn't a complete loss, Ellie was with them also. Though she wondered why she was the only one with them, she could get answers about that later. Jasper was her main priority. And currently, they were the only ones she could find that she knew had been there when Regulus had taken her off for Merlin only knew why. Breathing in a deep breath, she rushed to them, "Ellie!" she called for her friend.

His head snapped up hearing a girl shouting for the girl walking with them, and the small first-year girl he saw running up to them. She was dressed in a dark crimson jumper, black stockings and dark brown ankle boots for the chill of November weather, a light beige turtle neck sweater under neither to cover her arms and a thick knitted red hip-length cardigan with big brown buttons, her dark brown hair was down to cover her neck, and with the way, the weather was behaving he knew it was likely keeping her ears warm. "Potter,"

She came to a skidding stop as she slammed into Ellie's open arms, the two girls hugging one another. Looking at Tiberius, she nodded to him, "McLaggen," she said. When she and Ellie let go of one another, she looked at the girls' red puffy eyes, and she knew that couldn't be good. "Ellie? What's wrong?"

"We can't find Jasper."

"That is not why you are crying, Dawson," Rufus Scrimgeour snapped. Huffing, he looked at Adriana and shook his head, "After we took McKinnon to Madam Pomfrey, we all kind of separated. Ellie stayed back with Jasper but when she left to take your bag to the Tower Rosier came after her."

"What!" she snapped with fright and immediately began looking her friend over with panic. "A-are you alright? Ellie?"

"I'm fine!" Ellie cried, gently swatting at Adriana's hands, then covered her hands up over her face.

Worried, she let her friend break down all over again, her hands held close to herself to not frighten Ellie since she was still likely jumpy then looked back to Rufus. "What happened?" she asked the boy.

"Couldn't go after Jasper or you so he went after one of your friends. Jasper was with Pomfrey at the time and you were with Regulus Black, people tend to know to watch out for that family, so Rosier decided he could get his hands on one of the girls when they were alone. Ellie was the only one alone and possibly the first one he found. At least that's what we're thinking" Tiberius said. "He tried to toss her over the stairs." He said, "We almost didn't make it to her." He said that had scared him terribly, watching a classmate, any classmate, being harmed like that, he would have even cared if it were a Slytherin girl that had happened to. Tiberius knew that he still would have jumped in to stop it.

Hearing this had her jaw dropping. "Wh-but… D-did you report it?!" she asked, feeling her heart drop to her belly.

"We've been trying to convince her to," Bertie said looking between his friends and the two girls.

Taking in a deep breath, Adriana walked past them in silence, "Stay with her!"

"Adriana, what-where are you going!" Ellie cried after her. She didn't want to cause more of a scene than there had already been today.

"To deal with this! Do not leave her alone!" she snapped, storming her way to her grand-uncle's office. However, the closer she got to Albus Dumbledore's Office the calmer she got. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. But she figured she'd find out. Unfortunately, as soon as she made it to the Phoenix to head up to his office, she saw a group standing there, waiting for some reason. But it was weirder with the fact that her brother was there with several others she knew. "James?"

Smiling at seeing his sister, James Potter moved from the Order Members waiting for Albus to finish his meeting. Apparently, two students had gotten into a nasty fistfight. The one in his office was currently the one saying he was the victim, and with as bad as he looked, James would say the kid had either deserved the beating or really had been the victim. He did not envy the other boy in the least because this was a serious thing Albus had to handle now. Scooping his sister up into a big hug, James set her down after a moment and then he ruffled her lovely curls. He always had a mess of his own hair, but he adored how her hair seemed to always be in place. The curls that had been a destroyed mess almost two years ago were once again back to their normal lovely curls when he'd first met her. Her curls always looked as if she did something to them every morning. But he knew all too well she never had to do anything but comb her fingers through her hair, he also knew she took her index finger and would re-curl each strand that may try to come out of place. Her hair was always tame for her. It was weird to him how she did it really. But he loved messing her curls up because he got exactly what he was getting now, an annoyed pout as she combed her fingers from the front of her scalp back and shimmed her hand to the left side of her head, fixing her long hair. "What are you doin' up here Wisp?" James asked.

She'd been so happy to see her brother, but when he'd ruffled her hair she couldn't help but pout a little, though, fixing the mess was easy enough. "I am here to talk with Professor Dumbledore. There was a fight earlier and the boy who attacked Jasper went searching for our other friends and she apparently tried to save Ellie over the stairs. I didn't see it, but McLaggen and the others' did, thankfully they got the better of him and-"

"Adriana! Don't make things worse!" Ellie shouted after her as she came off the steps and breathed heavily out of breath with the other three boys running after her. All three had to stop and catch their breaths, either holding onto the stone railing of the landing or bending over and holding their knees while trying to get rid o the burning in their lungs.

"Sorry Potter," McLaggen said out of breath, "But your friend there is fast," he finished, grabbing the stone railing Rufus was leaning against, he and the other two boys slid down to the floor to sit while Adriana dealt with her friend.

Looking at the four there, she looked at Ellie almost in tears, begging her not to say anything about it. "No way, he tried to toss you over the stairs! If he isn't put in his place after this, he'll end up hurting someone else! Suck it up and let someone help you! Because next time McLagen and the others might not be there to save you a second time… I might not be there!" That last part scared her to near insanity. She'd been just as defenseless as Ellie was now, and she'd hated it. The fear she had to live with had been overpowering it was deafening. "So no, I won't let this go."

Ellie deflated instantly and took a seat on the floor against the wall with raising fear.

Hearing the stairs starting up and the Phoenix rising from the ground floor to the Tower, Adriana turned and watched as the headmaster walked down with Jasper and Marlene McKinnon, and Marlene did not look happy at all.

"Thank you, Professor," Marlene said to the headmaster, "Jasper, go back to your Common room," Marlene said to the beaten boy gently.

Adriana stared at Jasper's swollen face. He was so beaten it was eye-watering and heart-clenching. Even cleaned up he looked terrible. And the swelling had obviously started.

"Adriana, is there something you needed?" Albus asked the girl as she stood there looking in shock.

Her eyes snapped from Jasper and towards her granduncle, she had to wake herself up for a moment, but she'd said nothing, merely nodded to him. "Come with me, Mr. McLaggen, could you please escort your classmates to their houses, please, I do not wish Mr. McKinnon to walk alone." Professor Dumbledore asked the young man.

Forcing himself to stand, Tiberius McLaggen dusted himself off as he nodded to the headmaster, "Yes sir, come on guys, Ellie,"

"No, I'm not moving," Ellie said, shaking her head.

Sighing, Rufus Scrimgeour reached down to her and pulled her onto her feet, "Potter said you are not to be left alone. And I am not leaving you alone… Not after that." Rufus told her and pulled her down the steps. "But what about Driana!"

"I'll stay with her!" Tiberius said, standing up straight with his hand up in the air. He'd been just a little too excited about that.

Rolling her eyes, Adriana groaned and looked at Lily covering her mouth and snickering into her hand, "How did you ever survive?" she asked the girl.

Her question had everyone who knew about James and Lily's situation burst into a round of laughter, even James was rolling.

Smiling at the confused boy, Albus softly chuckled, "Thank you, McLaggen, but I shall have someone escort Miss Potter to the Common Room." Albus told the boy who deflated and nodded, walking the others down the stairs and towards the Hufflepuff Common Room first.

Looking to the young girl, Albus stood aside, "Shall we go up to my office then, Miss Potter? Everyone, I apologize, I shall be with you after this, I have to speak with Professor Slughorn after our meeting as well so I shall be quickly indisposed after we finish," he informed the Order Members and walked up to his office with his grand-niece. "Now, what is it you needed to speak to me about Adriana?" he asked closing the door.

"Vince Rosier attacked Ellie Dawson in the stairwell on her way to Gryffindor Tower," Adriana said plainly and as quickly as she could have to simply get it out of her mouth.

Turning to face the girl after walking past her, Albus stared at her with wide eyes of disbelief. "He attacked her? But she was just here a moment ago, I saw no markings on her," he stated, slowly taking a seat in his chair.

"He tried to shove her over the railing, Uncle!" Adriana snapped. She needed him to believe her.

"Did you witness this?" he asked sternly. He had to get the truth about this. The facts! That was a serious accusation. Far more serious than the fight Vince had with Jasper!

"She was in front of the Gryffindor Tower! Ask the Portraits!" she shouted with outrage. Her heart hammering in her chest with panic that he wouldn't believe her. "Ask McLaggen and his band of friends! They're the ones that stopped him!" she continued shouting. She was in a world of panic that this would be dismissed.

"Calm down, child. There is no need to shout," Albus ordered her sternly. He did not take kindly to being yelled at. Especially by a student. Least of all his grandniece. She had certainly found her grounding and her voice being with the Potters. As well as everything she had endured herself at such a young age in life. "I will speak to the portraits as well as McLaggen and his… band of friends, as you so put them. And they swear by this happening?" Albus asked her.

"Tiberius and Rufus were the ones that told me this, yes, they swear by it," Adriana told him.

"Is there anything else?" he said, watching her carefully, her mind swirled with more than just this that she was telling him.

She'd thought to tell him about the mark on Regulus she had seen, but she was not sure what the Tattoo meant. So, until she knew, she did not wish to accuse him of something dark where there may not be darkness and evil. Had she overreacted and her reaction had put him off about a tattoo that maybe he had once enjoyed looking at? "No, headmaster," she said, forcing herself to calm down, "Nothing else at all," she whispered, stepping back from his desk.

Nodding to her, Albus motioned for the door, "Very well, tell those downstairs to please show themselves up," he said, grabbing a blank piece of paper and his quill dipped in ink and began to write something.

Nodding, she stepped away from her granduncle to the door and left, rushing down the steps and made her way back to the landing and hallways. Looking at the others standing there curiously looking at her, she looked at Sirius and she felt a sudden bubble of fear balling up in her belly. "Can I speak to you for a moment?" she asked him.

Confused, Sirius looked to James then to Marlene, and with her hand in his, he lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of her hand, stepped away from her then nodded to James, "I'll meet you all up there. Tell the Professor I'll be up in a moment." He told his best friend.

Nodding, James and Remus walked everyone up to the headmaster's office, leaving Adriana with Sirius.

Once everyone was up the steps and the door closing to the Headmaster's office, Sirius turned to look at the girl, and now she looked frightened, and now he was frightened for her. Kneeling to her level, Sirius grabbed her arms, "Driana? What is it?" he asked her.

"I don't know what's wrong, but…" how she felt like a tattle-tail… A dirty little rat… "I think something is wrong with Regulus, Sirius." She whispered. The words had come out like a pain in her chest. But she'd said it. She'd said it. Gotten it out of her heart and her head.

Floored with worry, Sirius looked around the hallways and over his shoulders before looking back to Adriana, "Why? What's happened?" he asked her.

"He's… He's scared… When the fight happened, when Nia and I showed up after Ira came to get us, I stepped in to stop the boy, pulled him off of Jasper, Vince turned and swung to hit me, Regulus picked him up like a rag-doll and tossed him like he was nothing. He had everyone scurrying off, and had the others take Jasper to Madam Pomfrey. Regulus took me towards the Slytherin Common room, I thought he was taking me to the common room, but he didn't. He sat me down in a hall and of course asked me what I had been thinking. But when I went to leave, I saw…" This had to be nothing. She had to be overreacting… Right? It was just a stupid tattoo that frightened her… Right? She was being dramatic.

"You saw what, Adriana?" Sirius asked her, watching her close her eyes and looking down to her feet as if she were in trouble or doubting herself to tell him this. "Driana,"

Sucking in a breath, she looked back at him with a heavy heart, "I saw a tattoo on his forearm, it gave me terrifying, bone-chilling fear, it was like… It was like I could hear a moaning screaming cry in my head when I saw it. I'm sorry," she said, stepping back from the older boy, "It's just a tattoo, I-it's not my business…"

"No, no," Sirius told her, reaching out for her and pulling her back in front of him, holding her in place, his hands tightly holding her arms, with his heart thumping with fear in his chest, Sirius felt his grey eyes widening with panic. "No, Adriana, tell me, tell me what you saw." He whispered. He felt so much fear for his brother at this moment. He knew his brother had been acting weird, he knew his brother had been defending the Dark Lord, Voldemort, in his endeavors. As did his parents. But while his parents were not part of the Darkness, the Dark Lord's Death Eaters, he feared for his brother. His brother was so young and easily swayed into things. "Adriana, what did this tattoo look like?" he asked her, whispering his question to the girl. Her big blue eyes were wide and full of fear. He was so desperate for this answer to be nothing. Something harmless. Obviously, the tattoo was intimidating. But his parents never would have allowed Regulus to get a tattoo at all.

Seeing the fear in Sirius's eyes, Adriana felt her fear doubling. "A skull with a snake coming out from its mouth," she whispered, "Sirius? What's going on?" she asked him. Seeing his eyes drift off over her shoulder with a look of defeating dread had her scared. "Sirius?" She softly said his name in a whisper of plea to wake up from whatever thoughts were running through him. Why did he look so fearful? When he finally looked at her, Sirius gently grabbed her face, trying to find the words to say to her. But he asked her to do something for him instead.

"Adriana…" He whispered her name and pleaded to her for a moment, "He is my brother," he said. Almost as if she hadn't known in the first place. But she knew that already.

Confused, Adriana nodded, "I know," she whispered in return. Wondering why he was whispering.

"Adriana, I… I need you… I need you to not say anything about this… Say nothing of this to anyone. Please…" he said, begging her for her silence.

Feeling something in her chest shatter, Adriana felt her eyes water with hot tears as she began to nibble on her bottom lip nervously before she nodded to him. "I swear," she whispered her solemn oath as if it were painful to say. But she'd stay silent. She knew she would.

Feeling a moment of small relief for a time, Sirius nodded and stood from his kneeling and placed an arm around her shoulder, "I'll walk you back to the Tower," he told her. And he did. He walked her to the Fat Lady's portrait said his hello to the Lady and stood in the stairwell at the Tower Entrance as she walked into the Common room. He watched as the portrait closed the entrance and he returned to Dumbledore's office. He'd been gone so long he'd missed more than half of the meeting. "Sorry I'm so late," Sirius apologized, "I personally made sure she returned to Gryffindor Tower safely, Professor." He said to the Headmaster and returned the nod he'd given him and the meeting went on from there.