(Disclaimer: I own nothing

(Disclaimer: I own nothing.)

(Author's Note: Let's pull the story together now…I'm getting to it! Yay! Hmm…what to say what to say…I hope you liked the last chapter! Please review my story so I know what you think. When I get those comments and stuff it makes me feel like writing! Lol…here's the next chapter. Enjoy! Later babes and stay crunk with lotsa love from Sea Chelle!)

Chapter Fourteen

Sirius walked out of the dormitory. He closed the door and leaned against it with closed eyes. Letting himself slide to the floor, he put a hand through his jet-black hair. "What a night," he whispered with a grin. The shadow, what was it that Hallie had called him? Rogue, yes, that was it. Who was Rogue and what had happened? He'd have to ask her about it tomorrow. Slowly he went to his own dormitory where he got comfortable in his bed.

A voice spoke into the night. "Is it over, Sirius?" asked James quietly. Sirius grinned.

"Yeah, it's over."

That morning, Lydia woke up with a yawn. She looked around to find that most of the girls had already gone down to breakfast. Lily was still up as well as she. "Hey, Lydia! Everyone's left already," Lily said. Lydia laughed.

"Thanks, I didn't notice." Lily grinned and threw a pillow at the girl. "Where's Gwen and Hallie?"

"Umm…Gwen left with Andrea and…Hallie's still asleep. Oh! Let's wake her up!" Lily stood and opened the other girl's curtain. Hallie was covered in a thick periwinkle down blanket hugging her periwinkle pillow. Lydia followed but stopped her.

"You shouldn't, she didn't get much sleep last night," she said. Lily looked at her questioningly. "She'll be fine when she wakes up."

"Nah, I'm fine now," came a muffled voice. They looked down at the girl before them as she turned over. A small smile was on her face. "Boy, have I got a story for you guys," she said with a grin.

Lydia's bright hazel/amber eyes widened in horror as Hallie told her tale. "I know! It scared me when I first heard him too! And then he kept talking and talking and saying he could make me do anything! I wanted to tell you guys, really I did, but I couldn't." She went on to finish her story leaving the other two girls awe stricken.

"Seriously, Sirius Black helped you?" wondered Lily. "And you let him? You – and him – you – and him…are you kidding me?" Hallie buried her face in her pillow and mumbled something incoherently.

"No."

Lydia smiled at her. There was a certain twinkle in the girl's eyes that seemed to say 'I know something you don't know!' "You left a bit out…something that happened a bit after he saved you," she said with an evil smirk. Hallie glared at her.

"I never said he saved me."

Lydia laughed. "You sure did last night, and then he gave you a little goodnight kiss!" Hallie swatted at her. Lily looked at them both in turn.

"Kiss? What did I miss?" she asked looking between them. A crimson flush had appeared on Hallie's cheeks as Lydia laughed.

"There wasn't a kiss! Lydia was dreaming!" And then she swatted at the girl again. The pillow hit her square on the face. "Ha!" laughed Hallie. Lydia just smirked again as she fixed her wavy blonde hair. After it was back in her ponytail, she sighed.

"I wasn't dreaming. I saw Sirius walk out last night after the incident you both had." Hallie just glared at her.

"You're forgetting a major detail, dear Lydia. I hate him, remember? I don't like him! He's – he's so – so," she stammered and then made an aggravated noise. "I don't know the word, but he just is!" Lily laughed.

"You like him, don't you?"

"No."

"You like him," she sang and Lydia joined in.

"No I don't!"

"You like him!"

"I DON'T!"

Lily giggled. "You do, but let's go down and eat breakfast now." She and Lydia walked out of the room leaving Hallie to follow behind them with a scowl.

"So what happened?" asked James. Sirius looked at him evenly.

"What do you mean what happened?" he asked in a steady voice. The other boy sighed impatiently.

"You know what I mean. What happened last night? After I left?" Sirius played with the food on his plate.

"Nothing really. I just – Hallie had…I can't explain it. I don't even know what happened really." They boys saw the girls walk in and motioned them over.

Lily laughed as Hallie tried to take a seat at the opposite end of the table from the boys with Gwen and Andrea but Lydia pulled her along. "You both need to talk."

"We don't have anything to talk about."

"You do."

"We don't."

"You do," said Lily with her this time.

"WE DON'T! Now leave it alone!" Hallie crossed her arms over her chest but the other two girls prodded her along. They pushed her into the chair next to Sirius who was still playing with his food. Lily sat next to James and Lydia next to Remus.

"Anything new?" Lydia asked. Remus grinned at her and handed her a piece of toast.

"Nope, not really. How about you?" She shook her head.

"Absolutely nothing. How's your potion coming along?" she asked casually. He blanched and choked on a sausage he was eating. She clapped on his back to help him. After taking a few deep breaths, he turned to her with wide eyes.

"W-what was the question?" She smiled at him. She was the cute one of the four girls. With her sweet and kind face, she looked precious. Lily, no doubt, was the beautiful one. Her shoulder length red hair gave a fierce dazzle which was a plus for it went so well with her emerald eyes. Gwen was something like the feisty one. She was excitable and taunting. Hallie was the saintly and angelic one. Though she looked it with her large sapphire blue eyes and coal-black hair, she wasn't as good as one would think.

"The question was, how's your potion coming along?" she asked sincerely as she took a bite on her toast.

"Oh – er…it's – it's…wait, how'd you know about that?" he wondered looking at her suspiciously. She just grinned and put her head on her hand.

"Myrtle told me."

"But she said – she said she wouldn't tell!" Lydia shrugged.

"I visit her once in a while. She seems so lonely all the time that I feel sorry for her. It's all right though, Remus, don't look at me like that, I won't tell anyone." He sighed but there was still suspicion in his eyes. "I swear! And I never break my promises, right, Lily?" she asked, turning to Lily who was enraptured with the conversation she and James were having. "Never mind. But I do promise you that, Remus, I won't tell anyone." He looked at her for a few moments out of his light hazel eyes and then smiled at her.

"Thanks, Lydia."

Hallie looked at Sirius. A strand of hair fell onto his face and he pushed it away. He does look pretty cute…she thought to herself. Then she did a double take in horror at her thought and turned to look at her plate. Oh, gosh, it must be Rogue again. Rogue, is that you? There was a long silence. That couldn't have been my own thought! Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! That's disgusting! How could I think these thoughts about Sirius Black! Yuck! How could I waste my thoughts on him at all? Yuck, yuck, yuck! That's disgusting! It's repulsive! It's –

"Hello…Hallie, you home?" called a voice, breaking her from her thoughts. She looked up to find a hand waving before her. She slapped it away and heard someone beside her laugh. "Good, you're back to normal." She looked at Sirius who had a small grin on his face. He pushed away the strand of hair that kept falling into his eyes. "Everyone was pretty worried about you last week, you weren't acting yourself." She just blinked at him for a moment before her mouth formed a small 'O'. He laughed. "Yeah, 'oh'."

"Did I seem all that different?" she asked softly. His smile faded a bit.

"Er – actually, yes, you seemed very different. I got kind of scared." She looked at him sharply and found his cheeks were flushed a little. "I mean to say that – um – you didn't insult me at all last week." She grinned.

"That's a shame. I suppose Rogue didn't know me as well as he thought he did then." His expression turned to one of seriousness. "What is it?" she asked.

"Hallie, who is Rogue?" She bit on her lip. He did have to know…

"I'm not really sure," she told him, not looking up. The girl was suddenly very interested in fiddling with her fingers. "He – his voice just suddenly started speaking to me, in my head…I thought I was going crazy…hearing voices that no one else could hear, that is to say. I asked him many times who he was and he just said to call him Rogue and that he was just serving his master. He said he and his master just wanted the half of the Alloy Child that I have. I told him I didn't have it but he wouldn't believe me.

"It was terrifying. He wouldn't stop speaking to me. He threatened me, saying that he could make me hurt my friends…that he could make me do things," for some reason her voice broke. Why did she have to fall into pieces before Sirius and not when she was telling the story to the girls? She fiddled with her hands more quickly. "I tried so hard to block out his voice, to control myself, but I couldn't. He controlled me and I couldn't do anything about it, he reminded me so many times." Hallie blinked back the sudden wetness of her eyes and tried to swallow the lump in her throat as she shook head. "Then that night, he showed me his true self…and then you know the rest."

There was a long awkward silence but still she didn't look up. A hand large compared to her own enveloped both of hers. Only then did she look at him. He was looking at her searchingly. Eyes so black that they were almost blue bore into sapphire blue eyes. "It's over now, Hallie." He grinned. "You're a tough cookie, if anyone can get over this, you can." Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around his neck and closed her eyes as tears ran down her cheeks.

"Thank you, Sirius, thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me." He nodded and tightly hugged her back.

"It's all right now. It's all over."

Lydia stopped speaking. "Lydia? What is it?" Remus asked. The girl smiled and pointed across the table. Remus dropped his piece of toast. Sirius and Hallie were hugging.

"W-w-w-" he stuttered but she put a hand over her mouth. With her other, she put a finger to her lips.

"Shh." His eyes were wide. She put her hand down.

"But – but that's – I always thought that – Lydia, that's impossible! Am I seeing things?" he asked her. She smiled. "I knew it, I've cracked. I always thought Sirius or James would crack first, but I think I have. Sirius…Hallie…hugging…you just don't put those words together! You don't put the words Sirius and Hallie together at all!" Lydia laughed and gave him a hug.

"You're fine, you're not seeing things." He smiled.

"If you says so. But I guess my predictions were right…Sirius did crack first. Or Hallie did…they're not doing anything mean to each other!" Lydia just rolled her eyes.

"Boys," was all she said.

It was as if the past had been erased and all that was left were the last couple of days and now. She pulled away and looked at him with large eyes. "Everything's back to normal then." He brushed away the tears left on her face.

"Yeah, I think so. But there's still the thing about the Alloy Child." She nodded.

"That's just a myth though right?" she asked him quietly. Sirius shrugged. This was the longest time she had ever seen him act so serious.

"Maybe, but I don't think so. If Rogue was just an perception, then maybe." Hallie shook her head vigorously.

"But he wasn't! He was there! You saw him!" Sirius nodded at him gravely.

"Then it must be real. Unless he was just an insane spirit…but I doubt that, he spoke the prophecy just right like James did and sounded very sure of himself." She looked at him inquiringly. "Last night, we were just coming in and James and I stayed in the common room for a while. He recited this rune or chant or something and then he went back upstairs telling me to stay there. I did and then you came and Rogue called the little chant James did a prophecy." Hallie gaped at him. He laughed and nodded. "Strange? I know."

"What now?"

The boy looked unsure. "I don't know…I guess we should try to find your half of the Alloy Child before Rogue and his master do."

"But I told you, I don't have it."

He shrugged. "You probably do and don't know it. Rogue was a spirit, he would know if you have it or not, even if you don't." He paused and then clapped his hands together. "That's the next thing we have to do then: look for the second half of the Alloy Child."

"Why?"

"Because I'm afraid of what Rogue's master will do if he finds it first."