A/N: Moving right along. I skipped ahead a bit, fifth year. Suppose you can call it a 'turning point'. Enjoy.

Chapter 3:

"I think you should talk to her." Numair was jerked out of his reverie.
He and Emerson were seated beneath a tree by the lake, and had been talking about the O.W.L.s they'd be taking soon. However, Numair hadn't been listening for a good fifteen minutes now. He was to buisy watching a group of girls who were chatting by the lake.

"Huh? Who?"

"You know good and well who. You just waste away half of your life watching her. Quite obviously too."

Numair scowled. "I do not. I'm not even looking at them, I'm looking past them" a pathetic lie. "And even if I were, I've no clue who you're talking about."

Emerson laughed. "That cute Gryffindor girl, what's her name, Amaris or something like that."

Numair flushed slightly. It was true, he had a rather lareg crush on her.
Amaris was a Gryffindor, smame year as them, and he found her quite beautiful. "Oh. Her."

Emerson laughed again. "Yeah, her. Why don't you just say something to her already? I'm getting sick of you staring at her like a lovesick dog all the time."

Numair sighed. "I can't. She'd never want to talk to me, she's a Gryffindor,
and she's smart and....and.... I'm just.... just not. Smart pretty Gryffindors don't like guys like me."

"How do you know? She might."

"She won't."

"Oh, you're a real wuss sometimes you know it? Fine, if you won't talk to her, then I will. I happen to like her too, and I've no intentions to sit here and daydream. I'll be back." Emerson rose, plastered a smile on his face, and walked over to were the girls were sitting.

Numair couldn't hear what was said, but from the look of things and the extreme amount of giggling he caught they were quite happy with Emerson talking to him. And why wouldn't they be? He was the dangerous, handsome Slytherin boy. Even the most predjudice Gryffindor surely found that appealing.

Numair had to admit, he was just a tad bit jealous. Emerson was generaly extremely shy, and in the years before hadn't talked to anyone else unless he just had to. And now all the sudden he seemed almost too outgoing. Mayby he'd gotten tired of being lonely. Who knew?

When Emerson returned a good thirty minutes later, he was grinning.

"I have a date. Next Hogsmeade weekend. And her friend thinks you're cute, just so you know. She's alright if you ignore the giggle fits..."

Numair sighed. "Lucky you. And you can tell her friend I think she's annoying and can't stand the giggle fits long enough to ignore them."

Emerson seated himselt again, still grinning. "Oh, come on, lighten up a bit. You aren't mad at me are you? If you are I can...."

"No, I'm not. I'm just tired that's all. And I need to go study. I am so not prepared for the OWLs. See you later." he got up and headed for the castle, not waiting for an answer. It didn't improve his mood any when the girls giggled as he walked by them. Geeze. What were they,
heyenas?

He spent the rest of the day burried in books. Studying was always a good way for him to get his mind off things that bothered him. And he really did need to. Unlike most of the rest of his house, he planned on passing the OWLs with flying colors. If he did anything less than spectacular he'd be extremely disapointed in himself.

Sometime during the evening Emerson finally came in and he gave him a quick goodnight. He wasn't mad at him, but he wasn't overly pleased either. It made him feel terrible. Part of him wanted to be happy for his friends success, and another part of him wanted to lash out at him in anger. When he finally went up to bed he decided to just forget about it. it was just a girl after all, no need to let it affect their friendship.

As it turned out Emerson and Amaris had an excellent Hogsmeade visit, and it became a frequent event for them to go together. Numair was grudgingly happy for them. He managed to be civil about it anyway. Emerson didn't seem to notice his lack of enthusiasm.

Numair ended up spending a great deal more time with his sister. They helped eachother study. Other than that he avoided her. Everytime they started normal conversation she'd end up going off at him about how he need to straighten up before he got into serious trouble, or giving him a lecture on who he talked to. Apparently she thought of most all Slytherins as being evil and on their way to joining the Dark Lord. He disagreed.

When Voldomort had declared himself the 'Dark Lord' and started gaining followers, many of the Slytherins had indeed been intrigued. Paticularly Emerson. They spent a large amount of time talking about it, but that was all it was. Talk. None of them were really serious. Ani just worried to much, that was all.

He didn't have time to worry about muggle killers anyway. OWLs had started and he spent all his time either running franticaly from test to test or studying untill he couldn't see straight. Emerson was a great deal more layed back about it all, and kept telling him he should relax. He was smart, he could do it. On these occasions Numair told him he should go chat with his girlfriend and leave him alone.

It was quite a relief when the tests were over. And so passed another year. And another. And another. Time seemed to fly by so fast. It seemed like one day they were taking their OWLs and the next Emerson was marrying Amaris and moved off to Ireland, Ani was going off to take additional schooling to be an auror, and Numair was left pretty much alone, with a very minor job at the Ministry in the Magical Cooperation department,
living in a flat in london.

So much had happened in so little time. Numair felt as though he'd been left behind somehow, forgotten. His sister and friends were all moving on to bigger things and he still spent most of his time in his parents house. Sad really.

To make matters worse for him, his father had done the unthinkable,
joining the man who most people no refused to speak the name of. A mere few years and he'd already managed to terrify most people out of their wits. And now his father was one of them.

Numair's mother and Anika had no clue of course, though his mother was suspicious. She was just to blinded by love too bother putting all the clues together, and Ani was too buisy.

But Numair knew. His father tried to convence him to join him too, every chance he got. Numair was afraid for his father's sanity. It didn't help any that his sister was well on her way to aurorhood and the crazy man wasn't doing much of anything to hide his allegance. It was amazing he hadn't been caught yet. Yet. Atleast that was what Numair had been thinking a week before.

He'd been at work when the owl came. Apparently his father had been involved in some form of muggle torcher and a group of aurors turned up. He'd resisted vehemently. They said they had no choice, there was nothing they could do.

Numair had glared at the young auror responsible with anger in his eyes.
"NOTHING YOU COULD DO?! You're aurors for christ's sake, it's your job to bring people in ALIVE!" but no amount of yelling did any good. What was done was done. His father was dead.

There was no funeral. No one but Numair and his mother would have gone anyway. He was burried in a cemetary in Hogsmeade without much ceromony.
Numair spent hours standing at the headstone, wondering why his father had been so stupid.

A few weeks later he moved back in with his mother. She was, to put it lightly, in shock. She just lay there, all day long, staring off at nothing. Numair did his best to care for her, but it was apparent she needed more than he could give. It was Ani who finally came up with the only possible solution.

She came to visit for a few days, to check on Numair more than out of anything else.

"Oh Numie, I really don't think there's anything you can do for her any more. You tried your best, but...." she paused, searching for the right words. "I think his death was a bit to much for her to handle."

Numair, who had been pacing in front of the large stone fireplace in their fathers old study, stopped and turned to look at his sister.

"Yeah, I bet it was." he couldn't keep the sarcsam out of his voice.
"You don't seem to upset though."

Ani sighed. "Look, the way I see it those aurors did the world a favor.
You know what dad was like. Think of how many innocent muggles might have been spared becuase he isn't around...."

It was the wrong thing to say. "How can you say that about our FATHER!
I know he wasn't the best of men but he was our dad! How can you sit ther and tell me that what that mud-blood auror did was right? How?"

Ani's eyes flashed angrily. "You've no right to call him a mudblood. I happen to know and like him. And I can say it becuase it's true."

Numair stared at her a moment longer, green eyes filled with anger.
She was just like everyone else. To her he was just another Death Eater (as they'd been calling themselves) dead, not their father. Their fahter that had loved them, no matter what wrongs he might have done.

It pushed Numair over the edge. "Get out of my house."

"What?" Ani was confused.

"Apparently I wasn't very clear. I said, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! Dad left it to me, and I don't want you here! OUT!"

She left. Quickly. A few days later however she came to help him take their mother to Saint Mungo's. They didn't speak to eachother the entire time and Ani left as quickly as possible.

Numair hung around a bit longer, sitting beside the bed in the ward of the hospital that would now be his mother's home. She apparently couldn't see or hear him, but he talked to her anyway.

"Don't you worry mom, I'm going to fix this. I'm going to fix it good."
He'd made up his mind. Before his death his father had mentioned someone by the name of Malfoy, who he should see if he ever made the 'right decision'. After he left Mungo's he headed for were, if his memory was still good, the Malfoy manner could be found.