DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, any of the characters used. THIS STORY IS IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH THE HARRY POTTER SERIES BY JK ROWLING, IT IS A PURE FORM OF FANFICTION!!!!

Alexei Noire xXx :D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter Ten: Mudblood Torture~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"SIRIUS BLACK!" Professor Aquinas called, as he read the names from the register.

Remus and James looked at one another, clueless as to the whereabouts of there friend.

"Sirius Black?" he repeated, now looking up with the astounded expression he constantly wore, "Does anyone know where Sirius Black is?"

James shook his head - it was unusual for him to ever miss a Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.

"Right then," Professor Aquinas continued, "Today we are going to be studying harpies!"

He turned to face the board and wrote down the title 'Harpies'.

"Where the hell is Padfoot?" Remus asked James, under his breath.

James shook his head, puzzled.

"Alright guys?" came a smooth, smug voice from right behind James and Remus.

The two boys jumped, and Remus' gasp made Professor Aquinas turn around.

"Ah, so there you are, Mr Black!" he said. A few heads turned round to look at him.

"Sorry I didn't answer the register, professor," he said, sitting down in between James and Remus.

"That's quite alright," Professor Aquinas said, "In fact - five points to Gryffindor for surprising me!"

Sirius and James laughed, surprised. Lily looked back at them from the front row and gave a little wave.

"How..." Remus began.

"I'll tell you later," Sirius said, a mischievous grin across his handsome face.

James turned to face him, unsure as to whether he would just blow him off.

"Look, mate," Sirius whispered, looking at James, "I'm sorry about - well... you know."

A smile began to form upon James' handsome face, but the silence of the class was broken by a sly, silky and annoying voice.

"Sir! Sir!" Snape cried, with his pallid hand in the air, "Black and Potter are talking!"

Professor Aquinas turned around, and passed his fingers through his short grey hair.

"Five points from Gryffindor, Black," he said, unsmiling, "Now please make a start on these notes!"

_____________________________________________________________________

"I need to talk to you later," Andromeda said, in the Charms corridor.

Sirius sighed, "Okay, meet me in the Library at lunch."

"No, it's better we go somewhere outside," she replied, "besides - I don't really like that Valerie woman."

Sirius nodded and made his way to Charms.

_____________________________________________________________________

Sirius walked across the grounds, searching for his cousin, and surely enough, there was a tall figure of a brunette stood by the pine tree near Hagrid's Hut.

"ANDIE!" he yelled, running over to his large cousin.

She turned around, more quickly than Sirius would have thought possible for a human - as if she was on a spinning top. There was a wicked, unAndromeda- ish grin on her face, and Sirius was horrified to see that she looked frighteningly similar to Bellatrix.

"Hi Sirius," she said still smiling, as if she knew something he didn't, "Come for a walk with me."

Sirius followed her, as she made her way into the Forbidden Forest. She was walking with speed incredible, almost hovering, deep into the woods.

"Andie - what?" Sirius asked, straggling along behind her, breathless and bemused.

Andromeda spun round abruptly, in that same eerie way as she had before. Sirius jumped back, in shock.

"Here's fine," she said is a raspy voice.

"So... like what did you wanna show me?" Sirius asked.

"He came to me," she said, smiling madly, "He came to me Sirius and he gave me a power."

Sirius wondered what on earth she was going on about, and then realised she was talking about Lord Azazel.

"Ohh he came to me too," Sirius told her.

Andromeda smiled and muttered, "Cool."

"I can blend into the surroundings," Sirius explained, "watch."

He leant against the tree, and Andromeda's eyes widened in delight as Sirius began to disappear from sight. After a few seconds, he was completely hidden.

Andromeda applauded, "That was marvellous! Just virtuoso!"

"Thanks," Sirius said, slipping out of his concealment, "What's your power?"

Andromeda grinned wickedly once again, "Though not as defensive as your power, it's more OFFENSIVE."

She looked down at the undergrowth below and Sirius, jumped back in surprise as they caught fire before his eyes.

"I can set things alight with my eyes," she said happily.

Sirius gasped - that really WAS quite impressive.

"Well I suppose you'd have to be careful with them yeah? I mean when I first got mine, I woke up invisible, or somehow made myself disappear without knowing."

"I know, my sheets caught fire before," she sighed, "Come on let's go inside and gloat to Bell and Narcissa."

Sirius laughed, things were finally looking up. He was back on talking terms with James, plus he and Andromeda had powers when Bellatrix had none.

_____________________________________________________________________

"That's so sick!" Lily cried angrily, "I mean... who could be so callous?"

Sirius sighed - the school had received news that a First Year Hufflepuff girl, Mary-Anne Capulet had been tortured horribly and then left Stunned in the Owlery. Little Mary-Anne had been in such a severe condition that she was taken straight to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

Now James, Sirius, Lily, Remus, Peter, Andromeda and Dominique were discussing this bit of news under the shade of the pine tree outside Hagrid's Hut.

"Well, no doubt it was a Slytherin," James said pensively, "I mean those freaks thrive on this kind of stuff, don't they?"

Lily sighed deeply, "You can't go blaming people when you have no evidence, Potter."

"Hmm, he has a point though," Andromeda piped, "I mean who better TO blame than the evillest brutes in the school?"

"Evillest is NOT a word," Remus said in a pompous tone.

"Yes it is!" Dominique cried, "Just because you're a Prefect doesn't mean you can make up rules of grammar and spelling, you know."

Remus blushed slightly.

"Well no prizes for guessing who our culprit is, eh Andie?" Sirius said, laying down and stretching.

Andromeda gasped, "Surely you don't blame ME?"

Remus laughed, "No I don't think he does, Andromeda."

"A certain sister of yours," Sirius continued, "a very morbid and dark sister."

"You think she'd do something like this?" James asked.

"It's not her style - plus she's only sixteen!" Remus cried.

"Err who are we talking about here?" Lily asked, utterly confounded.

"'Course she would!" Peter cried, "She's bad to the bone that girl."

"No, the pompous Prefect is right," Dominique said, glancing at Remus, "she won't know enough magic to perform as deadly a curse as that."

"EXCUSE ME!" Lily screamed, stopping the entire debate, "But could someone PLEASE tell me who the hell we're going on about here?"

"Oh, we're talking about Bellatrix," James replied, "She's Andie's sister and Sirius' cousin."

"Which one's she?" Lily asked.

"The hot one with black hair in Slytherin," Peter answered.

"OI!" Sirius yelled, throwing a branch at Peter.

"AAARGH!" James yelled, realising the dry grass in front of him had caught fire.

Everyone moved backwards rapidly, and Remus performed a Dousing Charm to kill the fire.

"How the hell did that happen?" James asked, breathlessly.

"Uhh, it was the...erm...sun?" Andromeda answered unconvincingly.

But Sirius gave her the smallest smirk - he knew that the sun didn't burn the grass.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexei Noire xXx :D