A.N. Chapter 2! Thanks to the people who reviewed! Oh, and something I forgot:

Disclaimer: Yes, I own Sirius!! No, no I don't-I don't own any of the Marauders (sniffle). I just invited them over to play for a while. I'll bring them back and they'll still be in fairly good condition.

However, all new characters (Alexandra and others later) are mine and I'm very possessive of my fanfic characters! Well, go on, read!

Chapter Two (I'm soooooo creative, aren't I?)

Time: Present

Rain and wind assailed the small beach, soaking him to the bone and obscuring his vision. He didn't care. He reveled in the presence of the storm, tilting his head back and letting the rain cascade over his face. He was free.

As darkness fell, he found a secluded cave to spend the night in and managed to build a fire out of driftwood. As he reached forward to put more wood on the fire, the flickering light glinted off a tarnished silver ring on his left hand. He paused, studying the ring. It was plain except for two interlocking letters, an "S" and an "A".

Memories tugged at him, memories he'd learned to bury in the deepest part of his mind. In the hell he'd just escaped from, those memories had brought him nothing but pain. But now...now he could allow himself to remember, and to hope. If he was successful in clearing his name, what was to stop him from finding her, making up for all the years they'd lost? Closing his eyes, he remembered...

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Time: Past

The next morning, Sirius studied the Ravenclaw table, looking for Alexandra. Finding her, he watched her for several minutes, watching the way her eyes lit up when she smiled, the way her slender hands pushed her long, thick hair behind her ear, the way...

As if feeling his eyes on her, Alexandra glanced up. Their eyes met, and Sirius grinned at her. She blushed, which just made her prettier, and lowered her eyes quickly, but then she looked up again and shyly returned his smile.

"...right, Sirius? Sirius?" Remus poked his friend in the arm. Turning, he tried to see what Sirius was staring at, just in time to see Alexandra blush and smile. Remus grinned. "Looks like someone's got a crush." he said teasingly. Sirius turned red, muttered something unintelligible, and turned his full attention to his breakfast.

Sirius couldn't explain why Alexandra interested him so much. She didn't seem like his type-she was shy, quiet, and reading almost every time he saw her. She seemed like the kind of girl who'd fit better with Remus or Peter, not the biggest troublemaker in the school. But there was more to Alexandra than that. She had spirit, even if she wasn't as outgoing as him. She didn't go looking for trouble, but he didn't think she'd run from it. And he was willing to bet there were other sides to her he hadn't seen yet. She was intriguing, to say the least. A puzzle he wanted to figure out.

He turned back to his friends' conversation.

"So what are we doing tonight?" Peter asked. "It's a full moon, isn't it?"

Remus nodded. "Can you guys meet me in the shack around midnight?"

James grinned. "We'll be there, Moony."

Rather than shun their friend when they discovered he was a werewolf, Sirius, James, and Peter had turned Remus's monthly transformations into something he almost looked forward to. After months of work, they had finally become Animagi, and now each full moon meant a new adventure for them.

That night, under James's invisibility cloak, they snuck out of the castle and through the secret passage that led to the shack that had been built for Remus to conceal himself in. Then they headed for the Forbidden Forest. During their monthly adventures, the boys had learned things about the castle and its grounds that even Dumbledore probably didn't know. But the forest was still uncharted, excitingly dangerous territory.

Moving ahead of his friends, Sirius/Padfoot caught sight of something through the trees. He edged forward cautiously until he could see it clearly. Then he stood still in shock.

Alexandra was standing in a clearing, stroking the mane of a fully grown unicorn. Light from the full moon fell through the trees, shining on Alexandra's hair and glittering off the unicorn's horn. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Just then, a harsh growl interrupted his thoughts. The werewolf that was Remus/Moony had rushed past James/Prongs and was charging toward Alexandra.

With a shrill whinny of fear, the unicorn ran. Alexandra, looking terrified, stumbled backwards and fell, but then she reached into her robes and pulled out her wand, apparently intending to defend herself. She didn't know the werewolf was Remus. She could hurt him, maybe even kill him-if he didn't kill her first. Without thinking, Padfoot threw himself at the werewolf and knocked his friend out of the path of Alexandra's spell.

Prongs was at his side in a moment. Together, they forced Moony back and pinned him against a thick cluster of trees. Sirius transformed back into a human.

"Keep him here." He said to Prongs breathlessly, then rushed back to where Alexandra was.

"Are you alright?" he asked, reaching down to help her up. She took his hand. The fear on her face had been replaced by puzzlement. "Sirius? What's going on?"

He looked at her, then over his shoulder at Moony and Prongs, and then back at her. "I'm not going to get out of this without a damn good explanation, am I?"

Her dark blue eyes regarded him seriously. "Start explaining."

While Prongs and Peter/Wormtail returned to the shack with Moony, Sirius walked back to the castle under the invisibility cloak with Alexandra, explaining everything to her.

"Do you have any idea how many rules you've broken?" she demanded after he was finished.

"I'd say a few more than you have." he retorted.

"Me? I'm not the unregistered Animagus who runs around with a werewolf-"

"-No, you're just hanging around in the Forbidden Forest after midnight. If anyone else finds out about tonight, you'd be in almost as much trouble as we would. So if you don't tell anyone about us, we wont tell anyone about you."

"But I wasn't doing anything that would hurt anyone. Look, Sirius, I know Remus is a kind, gentle person, but as a werewolf-if you and James hadn't stopped him-what if you come across someone else some night and you can't stop him in time?"

"We wouldn't let that happen. We only go places where there won't be any people-or at least there shouldn't be."

"Sirius-"

"Alexandra," he turned, looked straight into her eyes. "Do you want Remus to get expelled? Do you want Dumbledore to get fired for letting a werewolf come to school here?"

"No, but I don't want anyone to get hurt, either."

"No one will." He said reassuringly. "Trust me."

They had reached the entrance to the Ravenclaw tower. Sirius took her hand one more time. "Think about it. I'll find you tomorrow and we'll talk." Impulsively, he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "I'm really glad you didn't get hurt. 'Night."

He ran off toward the Gryffindor tower, leaving Alexandra blushing furiously, with one hand raised to her cheek.