A/N: I'm updating this!!!!! Yes I am!!! I've even got a new plot…blinks ok, the plot has a twist to it.

Hmm….I think that's it…

This is their sixth year, by the way…just for people who don't know that…I think…sorry if I mess up, too lazy to go back and read.

Since no longer lets the use of asterisks, I will use two of - instead.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am glad, for I do not wish to hate myself. I am currently furious with JKR for killing off Sirius…but HE WILL COME BACK!!!!

Sirius: heh…She's not insane, don't worry…

Me: Oh shut up…and what are you doing out of my room!?

Sirius: You let me out…?

Me: Right…I knew that….

--

Friday came faster than Mae wanted it to. It seemed one minute she was dreading the next day and royally pissing off Draco and the next she was waking up to remember she had detention at nine that night.

Draco still wasn't talking to her; the mind game she played on him must have hurt his Malfoy pride more than she had meant it to. It didn't matter really. He would've just teased her constantly about the detention with the Professor of Death.

Sighing, she got out of bed and quickly got dressed. She had taken to showering at night when the other girls were asleep so she wouldn't have to wait in line in the morning. Also she could sleep in.

Combing out her hair, she pulled it back into a messy, relaxed bun. She didn't bother with make-up, and made her way down to the Great Hall.

Sitting at the Slytherin table, somehow next to Draco, she refused to look at him. Instead, after filling her plate with food, she fixed her eyes on the Gryffindor table. The students in that house always seemed a lot happier than the ones in hers. She sighed as she let her eyes drop on three sixth years who were currently laughing at the one with flaming red hair.

Suddenly, she felt her eyes lock with the emerald green ones, who stared at her from under raven-coloured bangs.

Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Live, so famous even the students in her old school in the States, knew a little about him. He was the reason she'd been fairly popular at first; she told stories about him whenever someone asked, acting as though he was an arrogant fool.

Looking into his eyes, however, she noticed pain underneath the haunted look in his eyes, and felt sorry for him. It was common knowledge now that Sirius Black, the ex-prisoner from Azkaban, who'd been imprisoned wrongly, had died the previous year. Sirius was also Harry's godfather, the only person close to a parent he'd had left.

Now that was gone.

She smiled encouragingly at him before breaking eye-contact to look at her food. Glancing up at the head table, she noticed Lupin was looking at Harry with a type of sadness usually associated with sympathy. Instantly she remembered her detention with him and lost her appetite.

"Planning out your will," came an annoyingly high pitched voice from the other side of Draco.

"No, Pansy, I'm not," she replied, not even bothering to look at the annoying girl.

Instead she glanced at Draco, to find him staring at her from the corner of his eye. She raised an eyebrow at him, causing him to look away quickly.

"Are you planning to remain angry at me for the entire year, Draco?" she asked, sighing a little.

"Yes," he muttered, not looking at her.

"C'mon…I'm sorry, Dray…I wasn't in a good mood," she said softly, using the old nickname she'd had when she was young.

Draco's head shot up and he looked at her.

-

"I hate my name!" Draco said, kicking the wall.

Instantly he yelped and started hopping around the room on one foot. Mae sat on his bed, trying not to laugh at him.

"Why is that? I always thought your name was cool. It's meaning is, anyway…" she said, looking as curious as any seven-year-old girl could.

"I guess, but I still hate it! You can't shorten it at all! I mean, you can even shorten yours. Maeve to Mae. It's not fair," he grumbled, throwing himself onto the bed next to her staring up at the ceiling moodily. "It's bloody annoying when Pansy tries to shorten it to "Dracie"," he said, cursing.

Unlike most seven-year-olds, Mae just shrugged, trying not to smile. "I suppose…It can't be that bad can it?"

"Yes it can. My father always yells at me using my name, so whenever someone calls for me, I think I'm in trouble or something." He looked at her.

"I see. I have a nickname for you…" she said, suddenly thinking of it.

"Oh really? What's that?"

She got off his bed. "I'm not going to tell you!" she said, taking off at a run.

"Mae that's not fair either! You got a head start!" he shouted, taking after her.

The chase lasted for a good fifteen minutes, before Draco launched himself at her, pinning her on top of the bed. Sitting on top of her, he growled.

"Tell me!"

She just lay there, panting, and trying to catch her breath. Finally, she crossed her arms and smirked. "No."

He growled and started tickling her.

After a few minutes, she gasped, "Fine! I'll tell you!"

He stopped, crossed his arms, and smirked. "I'm waiting…"

"Fine. You're nickname is officially Dray…" she said, sighing.

"Dray…" he muttered, testing the name. "I like it."

-

The both of them smiled a little, both having the same flashback. Glancing at her, he sighed.

"Fine. I'll forgive you. Using my nickname won't work every time I'm mad at you, though," he muttered.

"It has in the past," she said, smiling.

Reaching over, she gently poked him in the side. When he tensed, she continued poking him.

"Mae," he whined, trying to pull away, and push her away at the same time. "Mae, stop."

Pansy leaned forward so she could see around Draco. Instantly she scowled, "You slut, stop flirting with my Draco! He's my boyfriend, not yours. Why don't you go run up to the dorm and cry yourself back to sleep like you do every night!"

The entire Great Hall got quiet and turned to the Slytherin table. Pansy had said a spell that magnified her voice like a microphone. Mae looked around in horror, stood up, and fled the room.

Draco rounded on Pansy and glared. "How dare you tell the entire school a lie!"

"She was trying to take you away from me," she whined. "Besides, it wasn't a lie! It's true, I hear her every night."

He frowned. "Here, let me help her. It's over, Pansy."

Standing up, he walked calmly out of the Great Hall, his breakfast half-finished.

"You think he'll want that?" Crabbe asked Pansy once he was gone.

She glared at him, performed the counter-spell, and burst into tears. Her sobs filled the Great Hall anyway, but no one felt sorry for her. Not even the Slytherins did. Most of them remembered Mae from the first and second years she'd been there, and thought it was a lie.

At the Gryffindor table, Hermione whispered, "Do you think she really does that?"

"It would serve her right," Ron snorted, "after what she did to Professor Lupin."

"Ron?" Harry said quietly.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning to the silent, broody boy next to him.

"Shut up for once."

Ron's mouth dropped open and he looked from Harry, to Hermione, and back to Harry. He didn't know how his best mate could tell him that.

"Um…Harry? What do you think about what Pansy said?" Hermione asked timidly, hoping she wouldn't get snapped at too.

"I think it's true," Harry said, shrugging. "She wouldn't have run out if it wasn't, she would've stayed and fought." He glared at Ron. "I don't, however, think she deserved being humiliated in front of the entire school. No one deserves that. Not even Malfoy…" he added.

Ron stared in shock. "Have you gone mad?! It's Malfoy! He deserves it even if she didn't."

Harry just stood up and exited the Great Hall, not even glancing back at his friends.

Professor Lupin had watched the entire scene and sat there frowning.

"Don't worry about it, Remus. They always work out in the end."

Glancing at the headmaster in surprise, he asked, "What do you mean, Professor?"

"Exactly what he said, idiot," sneered Snape from his right. "The students work out their own problems, it's nothing for us to get involved with.

"Thank you, Severus, for your…rather different explanation of what I said," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.

Severus just turned back to his breakfast.

Sighing, Lupin once more glanced at the doors, and then went back to his.

Mae quickly made her way to the first class she had that morning: Defense Against the Dark Arts. She didn't even bother to remember, or care, that she had a detention with the Professor of that class.

She slid into the desk Lupin had asked her to sit in every day, and put her head on the top of it. Why me, she wondered. Why does my life have to be so horrible?

Suddenly, someone cleared their throat from the doorway. Jerking her head off the desk, she glanced at the doorway to see the Gryffindor seeker standing there. She frowned, trying to hide her suspicion and embarrassment.

"What do you want?" she snapped, harder than she meant to.

He shrugged, walking into the room and sitting at the desk next to her. "I wanted to ask you a couple questions."

Instantly her eyes narrowed, "How many?"

"Depends on how detailed you answer the ones I first ask," he replied monotonously.

"Very well, hurry up. Class starts soon," she muttered.

"Why did you draw that mural of Lupin on the table in Charms?" he asked bluntly.

She felt her cheeks start to burn and looked into his eyes. "It's not of Professor Lupin."

His eyebrows rose, making his hairline shift to reveal his scar. She stared at it for a minute, before averting her eyes.

"Who is it then?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It's always in my dreams…"

He nodded, accepting her answer, much to her relief. He had his own version of strange dreams, especially after Sirius died.

"Next question," she said warily.

"Was what Pansy said to the entire school true?"

She looked in his eyes, and was surprised to find concern hidden behind the falling mask. Interesting, she thought.

Aloud, she said, "Yes."

"Why do you cry every night?" he asked.

She tensed. Even though she'd known this answer was coming, whether from him or from someone else, she hadn't been able to prepare for a believable lie. So she went for the un-detailed truth.

"Because memories I push away during the day come back to haunt me at night."

Before he could reply, students began filing in. The majority were Slytherins, who glared at the lone Gryffindor. She tensed, but was relieved to see him stand up.

"See you around," he muttered before walking away.

The Slytherins left him alone, probably because Lupin walked in at that moment, shortly followed by the Hufflepuffs. The last one inside was Draco. He made his way to the back, but kept his eyes on Mae.

Remembering the humiliating scene in the Great Hall, she slumped as far down in her seat as she could without falling off. It was going to be a really long day, and she was actually looking forward to her double Potions with the Gryffindors.

The rest of the day went by extraordinarily well for Mae. No one teased her or asked her annoying questions. She even paid attention to groundskeeper Hagrid during Care of Magical Creatures. He had brought a three-headed dog with him.

While no one dared go near it, Hagrid walked right up to it, played on a little flute, and the huge beast went right to sleep. He then explained that was how to get "Fluffy" asleep (to which Draco scoffed at the name).

Nothing happened until the second hour of Potions, in which Neville added the wrong ingredients to his Tear Tonic, so than it became thick and robin's-egg blue.

Snape walked over to Neville's cauldron, and Mae saw his eyes widen slightly before his surprise disappeared to be replaced by disgust.

"Longbottom has, once again, failed to follow directions. Tell me, exactly how many salamander tails did you put in?" he drawled coldly.

"S-seven j-just like y-you said," Neville stuttered, his face beet red.

Mae winced. It was three salamander tails, not seven. Glancing around, she saw the Slytherins smirk, and the Gryffindors cringe and hold their breaths.

"I said three salamander tails!" Snape barked, making Neville jump. "You really should go to Madam Pomfrey so she can clear out your ears!!!"

"Sir? It wasn't Neville's fault, you weren't facing us when you told us how many, you were facing the Slytherins," Hermione interrupted.

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor for being un-able to keep your extremely large mouth shut," Snape hissed.

Hermione bit her lip and looked away.

Thinking quickly, Mae cleared her throat. "Professor?"

Snape turned around. "Yes, Miss McCrea?"

"If Longbottom has messed up the Tear Tonic, what has he made?"

Snape looked her over in slight approval. "Finally someone is in my class with brains."

Hermione sniffled pitifully, so much so, in fact, Mae almost snorted. Draco sure did.

Walking to the front of the room as if he hadn't heard, Snape turned to look at his class.

"Miss McCrea has asked a very good question. It just so happens Longbottom has made a potion that, if added the right herb, can hide just about anything. If you were to put it on your finger, it would become invisible. Not only that, but if you were to put cloth on top of it, it wouldn't show through. Many women use this lotion to hide they're pregnancies," Snape said.

Mae almost smiled at the small amount of praise she'd gotten from the Potions Master. Probably more than anyone had ever gotten, actually. She turned back to her own cauldron and tuned the Professor out in order to keep her potion from getting ruined, taking back the two compliments she'd gotten.

Suddenly Snape announced class was dismissed early so that their potions could cool. Everyone hurriedly packed up their supplies, and the Gryffindors practically fled from the classroom. Mae was one of the first Slytherins out.

"Mae!"

Cringing at Draco's voice, she slowed down a little. "What?" she asked, hearing him come up beside her.

 "What Pansy said…was it really true?" he asked.

She could detect a slight hint of a sneer in his voice, so she snapped, "It is none of your business, Malfoy. Now if you don't mind, I want to drop off my things in the dorm, and get to dinner so that I can study a little before my detention."

She sped off, leaving a very confused Draco behind.

After dinner, which she'd gotten to late after avoiding Draco in the Library, she was hurrying to her detention. She didn't even hear the voice until she was standing just outside the door.

There stood Professor Lupin, talking to a head in the fire, almost crying. She froze in the doorway, wanting to flee to give him privacy, but not wanting to get caught being somewhere else but her "well deserved" detention.

"Remus, there's a girl in the doorway," said the head in the fire.

She watched as Lupin whirled around to stare at her. She winced as she saw his eyes widen in horror, and he looked back at the head in the fire.

"Sirius, she has detention with me tonight. I'll…talk to you later, I suppose," Lupin explained.

Sirius looked her over, before climbing out of the fireplace.  "What'd you do?"  he asked, looking her over.

"I-I…er…I…" she stuttered, completely taken aback by the stranger.

He was gaunt, extremely skinny, and had black hair. He did, however, only appear to be a few years older than she was.

"She put a magical mural of a werewolf on a table in the Charms room," Lupin said, sighing a little.

The stranger's eyes narrowed a little. "You weren't trying to make things hard on Remus here, were you?"

She shook her head, obviously scared out of her wits.

"Sirius, calm down. It wasn't even of me…it was a female."

"You a werewolf then, too?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

Lupin watched as she paled a little and growled, "Sirius, stop scaring the poor girl out of her mind."

"I-I'm not a werewolf…" she whispered. "I wasn't ever bitten…That…"werewolf" as everyone so kindly calls it, is my…unregistered Animagus form…"

The man let out a bark-like laugh and sat on the top of one of the desks. "Is that so? We've got a female Marauder, Remus!"

"Sirius, would you please leave?"

"You just want her to yourself. Honestly, Remus, I never figured you'd turn out becoming a pedophile," he laughed.

Mae flushed furiously and sat against the wall, as far away from the both of them as she could be without being out of the room. She knew what a "pedophile" was, and was horrified at the thought…not to mention a little grossed out.

"Sirius!" Lupin exclaimed in horror. "Sirius, leave, before she figures out who you are!"

"I'm supposed to be dead, Remus, in case you have forgotten," he said darkly.

"Sirius Black."

Both of them turned to look at the girl who was sitting on the floor. Lupin's face looked nervous, while Sirius's looked amused.

"Yeah, she's definitely Marauder material, Remus. She could be a kid of yours!"

"Sirius! Go see Dumbledore and leave her to serve her detention in peace, alright? You can see Harry that way," he added quietly.

Sirius nodded a little. Instantly there was a large, black dog standing in the exact spot he had been earlier. The dog walked over to Mae, licked her cheek, and then disappeared out the door, its tail wagging happily.

Mae sat there in horror, realizing that Sirius Black had just as good as kissed her. She started shivering as if cold.

"You alright?"

Glancing up, she looked into the concerned eyes of her Professor. She nodded a little, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just…how am I going to spend my detention?"

He shrugged. "I suppose you could always come with me to Dumbledore's office and see Sirius again…"

"No!" she practically shouted.

He chuckled a little. "I thought that's what you'd say. Otherwise, what would you be doing if you weren't here?"

"I'd be in the Library, writing the three-foot-long essay you assigned on werewolves…" she said, sighing a little.

"I see," he said. "In that case, you can leave. Make sure you go directly to the Library, I will know if you don't."

She nodded violently. "Yes, Professor. Thank you," she said, scrambling to her feet and out the door.

Shaking his head a little, Remus pulled a smaller version of the Marauder's map out of his pocket.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he muttered.

He watched as the map unfolded itself to show a little dot labeled "Maeve McCrea" running to the Library. He saw three dots, Sirius, Dumbledore, and Harry all in the same room.

"Mischief managed," he said, then stuffed the parchment back into his robs.

He then left the classroom, having decided to spend the time watching Harry yell at Sirius for scaring him like that. Then, after the boy was done, he would yell at him for putting the move on a sixteen-year-old girl.

"He says I'm the pedophile," he muttered, shaking his head a little.

--

A/N:  It's long. Heh. Interesting update I suppose…

Sirius: You brought me back!!!

Me: Yep.

If anyone is wondering how, I strongly suggest you read my fanfic "Paint it Black". I like my explanation there; it would also explain why he looks younger than he should.

Sirius: (looking hurt) Are you calling me old?

Me: No, of course not! hugs him

Sirius: Oh…ok… (doesn't sound too sure)

James: (watching as Scim takes him back to room to be reassured) Just review, alright?