Chapter One: It Begins

A/N: I'm back. I'm sorry. I fixed. I like. I'm back in school. Don't worry. I'll keep writing. You read. I go. Bye!

Disclaimer: I would much rather do other things to Sirius than kill him.

She ran through the dark corridors, tears streaming down her face, but it didn't matter how fast she ran he always seemed to be right there. His presence tormenting her, the sight of him making her tremble in fear. 'I'm going to die,' was all she could think of as she ran down the stairs. Each staircase seemed to grow longer as she got near the end, there was a point where she didn't know where she was anymore. Who she was. It was then her senses registered him. His tormenting presence. His hands roaming her body as he made what he wanted of her. How satisfied he looked every time he slapped her across the face. He walked away from her but before she could breath a sigh of relief he was back. She tried to push herself up but her arms didn't have the strength. She was badly beaten and not even a miracle would save her from her fate. It was as though nobody cared she had been screaming her lungs out for the past four hours. It seemed every cry went into deaf ears and that was just one more triumph for the bastard standing in front of her. Her eyes once a beautiful shade of blue looked dead as pulled her up from the floor. She recovered enough strength to look him in the eye with pure hatred. "How many more after me?" she asked coldly. "A handful," he sneered as he pinned her against the wall. She prepared for the next painful minutes of her life as he again abused her, but it never happened. She felt his hands closed around her throat as her eyes fluttered open in rage and surprise. He smiled coldly at her before pressing his hands tightly against her throat. "Black, you bastard..." were the last words she ever said.

Sirius awoke abruptly to see the moon scarcely shining through dark curtains that hung over the window. It was raining outside and the thought somehow comforted him. He hated awakening during the night but he knew there was a reason behind it. There always was. The cursed nightmares that always haunted him as a child and were coming back to haunt him for the rest of his life. But, this one had been different. It felt... real. He would normally just shrug it off but he couldn't, he could only think of it. He felt as though he had actually been there.

Getting out of bed made him dizzy, and he ignored the sudden nausea and fatigue that came over him as he stumbled over to the bathroom. He splashed cold water on his face, feeling it running from his face to his neck. He hated the feeling. He leaned against the sink breathing heavily. The dream was flashing through his eyes with the speed of lightning making him dizzy again. What is wrong with me? The question was one that he had been wanting to answer for the past five years of his life. At twenty three, Sirius was one of the best aurors of his age, and still he didn't feel as proud as he should.

Looking at himself in the mirror he thought of the last time he had actually felt happy. Sure, he had a lot of fun with his girlfriend and his friends, but still he couldn't find that thing that would make him truly happy.

Sirius didn't bother to turn on any candles as he made his way toward his study. It was more like his sanctuary, though he didn't know why. He felt happy just looking at the walls, where pictures of his friends hung. All his accomplishments had something valuable to represent it. He hated all the stuff. To make his life story short. Sirius Black was not happy with life.

Not even at Hogwarts, did he feel happy. Sure, he had excellent friends but his attitude back then was something to be ashamed of. How could he bully people just because he thought he was better than everyone else was? That's what people would say, but it was not the real reason. He just wanted attention. The attention he didn't receive from his parents, he went to look for it at Hogwarts and got it for all the wrong reasons.

Now that he was receiving attention for the right reasons, he did not like it. In addition, it was not the reason, it was more the fact that he felt like he was being worshipped. Sure, he loved his job more than anything else in this world but did people have to go to a level of sending him expensive gifts just because he caught a Death Eater? It was not as though he was the only auror who had ever done that.

The other half of the room was filled with his most prized possessions. Books, paintings, pictures, gifts from his friends, and his plaque for Auror of the year. He would often sit looking at it for hours, it was the only time he had actually felt proud of himself. It made him confident that he would do his job right, but right now, he felt vulnerable and did not know why.

As much as Sirius looked around the room for something to keep his mind off the nightmare, he couldn't. His thoughts kept drifting back to the girls anger and pain as she said the last three words she would ever say. It wasn't the dream that had him freaked out. It was the fact that the girl, he knew...

Hours flew by him and all he could think of was the girl. How fragile she had looked and how all that changed in merely seconds. She had always been like that. She would change her mood so fast people wouldn't even notice until they looked into her eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes that had looked black in his nightmare. Sirius checked his watch and decided to go to the Ministry, he would contact the girl later.

When he entered the department, no one took a second glance at him. He grabbed a cup of coffee from the table at the end of the hallway before making his way to his and James' office unnoticed by passerby's. Already inside he opted for reading the files of his current cases... raids... robbery... murder... murder? 'When did that happen?' he thought as he scanned the file. Nothing. There was nothing written in the file but yet he had a murder case to solve. 'Weird.'

"What's up, Sirius?" asked James cheerfully entering the office. Sirius jumped a foot in the air but it went unnoticed as James hit him in the head with a file on his way to his desk. Sirius breathed a sigh of relief. James would surely keep his mind off the dream.

"Who the bloody hell hit you with a cheering charm?" asked Sirius grumpily. James leaned back on his chair, putting his feet up on the table and his hands behind his head.

"Who stuck the baton up your ass?" Sirius rolled his eyes putting his head in his hands.

"So, what's up?" asked James breaking the silence.

"Besides the ceiling and muggle London?" asked Sirius muffled voice. "Well... there's the sky... the atmosphere... then theirs is the galaxies... you know, those have stars and planets and meteors..."

"Shut up," said James annoyed.

"Glad you got the point," said Sirius. "What are you doing here anyway... and since when are you a morning person?"

"I had nothing better to do–"

Sirius snorted. "You had nothing better to do so you came to work? What's Lily giving you?"

"That's exactly the 'cause of why I'm starting to be a morning person," said James. "And Harry, too."

"Yeah, well..." said Sirius, not really wanting to talk anymore, but wanting too. He didn't want to due to the fact that James was already annoying him with his "morning cheerfulness" and he wanted to 'cause the cursed dream was starting to invade his thoughts again.

"What's up with you?" asked James a little concerned. "You're... down... now, that's something we don't see everyday." Sirius chuckled. "There's nothing wrong... just tired."

"Now, Sirius... I've known you for what? Eleven... twelve years? And you're still expecting me to buy the 'I'm fine' crap?" Sirius looked up at James but didn't make eye contact. Instead, he started looking around his desk until he found a note lying on his desk. His escape of the conversation.

"We have a meeting in ten minutes... we better go, last time we were late," he said standing up. James shook his head before following Sirius out the door.

"Why don't you come with me to the cafeteria for a minute... I'm starving," Sirius chuckled before following James who was already nearing the lifts at the other end of the hallway.

Once they were back at the Department they ran down the hall, up two flights of stairs, two hallways to the right, into the conference room, where Alastor Moody was already speaking to other aurors.

"Glad you could join us gentlemen," said Moody, clearly irritated at the interruption. "Late... as usual," he added under his breath.

James smiled sheepishly as Sirius flashed Moody an apologetic smile. Moody simply rolled his eyes. "Like I was saying..." he looked sternly at James and Sirius who lowered their faces. "There has been a murder in Ireland... she's a muggle model. I need a group of Aurors to go to her apartment building... I've already decided who they are," he paused his eyes searching the faces of all the aurors. "Black, Potter, and Bellatrix... hope you have a wonderful time working together. That said, you three are dismissed."

"Wait a second," said Sirius as Bella and James stood up. "Why if she's a muggle we have to solve this case? Can't the muggle thingy do it?"

"The muggle police can't do it 'cause she was killed by a wizard," growled Moody leaving no room for arguments.

Sirius walked out of the room and jogged all the way down to his office. All the way his thoughts drifted back to the dream. The girl. Blonde, beautiful, funny, charming... his girlfriends best friend.

"Sirius, we need to..." Bella's thoughts faded away as she saw the look on her cousins face. "Are you okay?" she questioned. Sirius nodded his head and walked out of the office without uttering a word. Bellatrix followed keeping a distance between them.

When they arrived at the apartment the interior was filled with aurors.

"Mr. and Ms. Black," said a man they had never seen. "Mr. Potter," he continued nodding his head. "I'm detective Ian Lawson, I'm a police detective," he took a look at the aurors confused looks. "I am the only muggle detective allowed in this investigation," he added as the three young aurors relaxed.

"Follow me please, and I shall inform you of what has been discovered up to now," he said walking into the kitchen. "As you can see there is no furniture in the apartment... but this is not where the girl was murdered... We found this next to her body," he said pointing at a crumpled letter. Sirius put some gloves on before taking the letter and reading the beginning.

Dear–

Sirius stared oddly at the letter. The name had been scratched out and in other parts of the letter, he saw, the ink used was washed off more properly to cover up something else the murderer obviously didn't want to share with the rest of the world. But the letter... the wording... the parchment... everything in this letter seemed so familiar to Sirius yet he couldn't place where he'd seen it before. The apartment. The girl in his dream...

The girl in his dream! Sirius looked up at Detective Lawson suddenly. "Where was the girl murdered?"

The detective began his way back into the entrance of the apartment. Sirius and Bella followed as James stayed chatting with other aurors.

Bella noticed Sirius was deadly serious as he followed the detective. At last they arrived at their destination. The girl was covered with a blanket but Sirius could clearly see her blonde hair and her hand, which had a white rose in it. It was her, there was no mistake. And she was lying at the bottom of the stairs. Just like in his dream. Brenda Summers. His ex-girlfriend.

A/N 2: ::whistles:: chapter two is in the works... ::goes away whistling::