Well my beta hasn't got back to me yet (Thanks Sarah) So I'm going to go ahead and post it anyway. I wrote this quite a while ago so I'm not sre how many hints I have dropped, but from now on I'm not making it all so obvious.

Chapter 32
Stunned and Shunned

"Sirius, what's wrong?" Kim was sitting next to him, looking down into his eyes with her own concerned orbs of hazel.

"Kim, you're okay." Sirius sat up and reached out to touch her, to make sure she was really there. "I…I thought you were…"

"What Sirius?" Kim demanded anxiously.

"I saw Lucius…and he…he had his wand…AND THERE WAS A BODY" He yelled making Kim jump backwards. "And there was…" His voice dropped to a whisper, "There was a grave. Oh, Kim, you were screaming so loud and I couldn't get to you. I couldn't find you."

Kim was staring at him wide-eyed and scared. "It's alright Sirius, everything's alright. It was just a dream." She had forced he face to look concerned and was now reaching out to Sirius and taking his hands in her own.

"I love you Kim. I'll never let anything happen to you. I promise I won't. Please, I promise."

"Nothings going to happen." Kim pulled him into a hug and when he could no longer see her face, she bit her lip nervously. "Ssshhhhh." She hushed. "It was just a dream. I'm right here." She seemed to calm him down and soon he had relaxed enough to go for a walk along the beach with her.

"I'm sorry I over-reacted, Kim. It was really scary, the dream." Sirius was gripping Kim's hand and staring out at the long stretch of sand ahead. "I've never had such chaotic dreams. I've never even had a nightmare before. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Nothing's wrong with you, everyone has nightmares." Kim said calmly.

"Maybe we should be getting back." Sirius sighed and looked back at the door in the distance. It was odd to see a door in the middle of nowhere, leading to nothing.

"Yeah, it's almost lunch." Kim said looking at his watch.

"Were we really asleep for that long?"

"Yeah, it was more than I've slept all week put together." Kim said with a laugh, but not quite as authentic as Sirius would've liked. He suspected that his dream had interrupted his requirement.

"I'm sorry I ruined a perfect date." Sirius muttered.

"Hey, perfect's boring, remember? Just being with you is enough for me." She kissed him on the cheek and then ran away, like a child playing a game. Sirius smiled and ran after her, catching up easily. He grabbed her from behind and tackled her to the ground, showering her with kisses.

They didn't make it back in time for lunch, but it turned out to be the best date they had ever been on.


Sirius scanned the crowd for Kim. He hadn't seen much of her in the last week, but she'd promised that she would be there in his beating debut. James whistled and the team gathered round him, ready for his words of motivation.

"Have you seen Kim?" Sirius asked before they mounted their brooms.

"Yeah, she was here earlier, while you were on the loo. She said good luck and stuff." James said as he fastened his captain's badge to his robes.

"I knew she wouldn't forget." Sirius declared confidently.

"Slytherin verses Gryffindor? Not even the Hufflepuff's would forget. This is the game of the year." James exclaimed as her signalled his team to mount their brooms.

"Now, stop thinking about Kim and remember your place. You're to concentrate of the bludger's, not the quaffle. You're a beater."

"Right. Forget about Kim." Sirius muttered.

On the ground, Mr. Heath blew his whistle and released the bludgers and the snitch. He threw the quaffle into the air and the game began.


After a very close, but victorious game, Sirius waited outside the change rooms for Kim. James gave Lily one last kiss and made his way towards Sirius.

"Waiting for me?" James asked.

"Nah, Kim." Sirius replied.

"Oh." James turned away. "I don't think she's coming. I mean, I don't think she came."

"But you said…"

"I wanted to keep your mind on the game so I lied. I haven't seen her since Wednesday."

"Neither have I." Sirius muttered gloomily, all the exhilaration of the game disappearing. "She's been really preoccupied lately, but since…" He trailed off.

"Since what?" James asked, though distracted by the fluttering snitch that was still trying to escape his grasp.

"We, um…we had sex." Sirius muttered.

"Last Saturday, right?" James asked as he shoved the snitch in his pocket. Sirius nodded. "You're not the only one who can notice these things. But I suppose it was kind of obvious by how disturbingly cheerful you were on Sunday arvo." James paused. "It was Sunday morning too."

"No, just Sunday morning." Sirius mumbled. "But that's not the point. She hasn't been alone with me since. Do you remember how I told you our relationship wasn't about sex?"

"Yeah."

"Well now that we've made it about sex it hasn't really been a relationship. She's been avoiding me. She isn't like all my ex's and I'm not like Lucius."

"Padfoot, you loser. Your relationship isn't about sex just because you've had sex. You aren't waiting for her because of sex, you're waiting for her because you love her." James stated simply.

"I never thought about it that way." Sirius said, slightly shocked. "So why is she avoiding me?"

"Maybe she isn't." James started. "But if she is, she probably has a good reason. What else happened on Saturday and Sunday?"

"Well we went to the room of requirement and she required a beach, like the one at Ebony's, and I required her to forget her troubles. Could that have screwed with her brain?"

"Maybe, but that doesn't explain why she's avoiding you. What else?"

"Ummm…okay, well while I was waiting for her outside the Slytherin common room, Snape came out and started bullshitting about how something had happened to her. I fell for it and got kinda violent trying to get info out of him. Kim came out and saw me, maybe that?"

"Could be. No one likes an abusive boyfriend, but you were only being abusive to Snape and because you were worried about her."

"And she knew I was like that with Snape before she started going out with me. It's probably something else."

"Well, what else happened? There has to be something." James said encouragingly.

Sirius suddenly thought to his dream, the images of Lucius Malfoy and the grave pushed their way to the front of his mind. But he did not tell James, he couldn't. How was he supposed to tell his best friend he had almost been reduced to tears because of a stupid dream?

"Nothing. It must be something else. Fuck it, I'll ask her myself. I'll find her tomorrow and ask her straight up what's happening. She can't keep avoiding me forever." Sirius verbalized confidently and he marched out of the pitch, ignoring the fact that he was still in his Quidditch robes. James sighed and walked into the change rooms, pulling the squirming snitch from his pocket.


I have a very important question. I need to know what you think. I am planning a sequal to this story, but I would also like to fix this story up because it was lacking at the beginning when i had no idea what direction i wanted to take this. If i re-wrote the story after I've finished it, would anyone read it? Or would you prefer me to go straight onto the sequal? I would re-write it a lot btw, and change the storylines heaps and characters (eg. kim) would be in it from the beginning. I would also include hints from the very beginning and make the story better over all. Please tell me what you think in a review.
xxxmelxxx