Gryffindor-180 Points- Frogfoot receives 10 points for questioning Dumbledore's "control issues"; Ezioku receives 10 for showing good taste in Vampires and Vampire Exotics

Slytherin-250 Points- Milee receives 10 points for clearing up the whole "mailer demon" issue I had when I tried to e- her.

Ravenclaw-10 Points-  DnD4ever receives the first ten points, ever, for Ravenclaw. Laconic reviews seem to be a specialty for you…

Huffelpuff- if you reviewed and I didn't count you tell me, or review this chapter and get some points for your House.

I also need to thank Frogfoot for noticing and mentioning the spelling errors here. I think I cleaned it up.

Chapter 44:

"Severus," The headmaster drew a slow breath.

The students were standing paralyzed in the halls on their way to dinner and were gaping openly. The male blinked. 'What the hell happened?!  Him loosing his cool and taking Points from the nearest representative of a House other than Slytherin is less than unusual. The fact that he attacked the Headmaster is more than scary.'

The male brought his eyes up to meet the Headmaster's. "I'm in control, now," he mouthed silently.

With a slow relaxing of his shoulders Albus released his breathe. "You have been working too hard. I think you should take the evening off."

Trying to buy time, to figure out what had happened that warranted being censured in front of a hall full of students, he tried to change the subject a little. "But, tomorrow is Sat-"

"You are relieved of your duties for the night."

'The students need to be reassured that he is now back in control. They need to see their hated Potions instructor cow to their benevolent protector. Just another reason to hate me- us, whatever, I guess.'

The male Garom dropped his gaze to the sodden hem of his robes. Shooting a questioning glance to the female, she helpfully directed her attention to the stream of potion on the floor. 'Oh.' He dropped his shoulders and, as meekly as he knew how, headed toward the Dungeon stairs. 'He worked hard on that. No wonder he lost control.'

From halfway down the stairs he could just make out the female quickly informing Albus that she would be back for her evening hall monitoring shift. Her feet made no sound on the stones, but he could tell that she was only a few steps behind him by the time he reached the bottom.

"What were you planning to do then?" He snarled at her.

"I was going to protect her brother," the female replied tonelessly.

Turning on her with a growl the male's eyes blazed with contempt. "I will not be watched over because she feels protective of her brother!"

She countered, raising her voice slightly. "I don't see that you are the one with the choice."

@---'---,-----------(remember this? It means that the following action happens at the same time as what just happened)

"Harry!" Ron thumped his friend on the back, interrupting another worship-the-boy-who-lived session that some of the younger students still insisted on having. "C'mon mate, I've got som' thin' that'll wake you up early tomorrow." Effectively and efficiently Ron stole Harry away.

They had perfected this maneuver over summer break; the Dursleys went on holiday touring Europe, they saw no reason to pay for a fourth ticket. Until Dudly's best chum decided to come. Then they gleefully found that there wasn't money for a fifth ticket.

Ducking up the boy's dormitory stairs they hid behind one of the floor length gold trimmed drapes. Once the coast was clear, Ron checked, they came out and waited for Hermione to reappear.

"Ok Ron," a voice called through the concealing charm on their secret alcove under the boys' stair.

Harry jumped in his skin, Ron's hand went for his wand. Hermione was plainly visible to them, because of the limitation on the charm; only those who knew "the closet" was there could see through and pass through. Aidan peaked around Hermione with a grin.

"You guys looked so funny! I've never seen anyone jump so bad, Harry. Not even my sister when I put-"

"Why are we here Ron?" Hermione interrupted a bit rudely. "We're going to be late for dinner."

"Geesh," Aidan slumped back into the small, hidden room. The others followed.

"Ron gave Aidan a sympathetic look. "It's not you Aidan," he whispered. "Tonight we're having roast with some kind of pineapple sauce, her mum makes it that way, she's just homesick."

Aidan's eyes went wide as he tried to process Hermione Grange, the self-possessed and confident, being homesick.

"I'm hungry too Ron, and this break is really only long enough for us to get a Divination essay made u- done, we haven't got much time. Just spit it out." Harry glanced at Hermione to see if she had caught his near slip.

"Ok," Ron gave a rather good martyr look, "I'll sacrifice the drama. Happy? Fred and George happened upon some interesting information. See, Zonko's is getting a shipment in tonight and-"

"They always get shipments in on Friday's Ron," Hermione cut in. "How could they fill the Saturday morning demand otherwise?"

Waving her down with a grin, that nearly split his face, Ron continued his announcement. "Tonight they are receiving a shipment of new, just released, never before pulled in England, practical jokes!"

Hermione groaned, Aidan whooped and Harry slouched against the wall.

"Ron this is not the sort of emergency that you are supposed to use the signal charm for," Hermione walked out into the common room and grabbed her bag and books that had been left on a table by the window.

"What," Ron huffed back. "We're supposed to have this private message thingy and not use it, unless someone's dying?!"

Moving up the stairs to the girls' dormitories she tossed her hair and looked down on all three boys. "If you get up early, I'm sure there will be plenty of shiny new trouble to get into."

In the middle of blustering a comeback at Hermione's back, Ron was interrupted again. This time by Harry.

"No Ron, I think she's right," Harry's green eyes had something brewing in their depths.

Hermione heaved her books onto her bed and came back out quickly. "Thank you Harry," she smiled. "At least someone is being reasonable."

"I think we need to go tonight."

"See Ron- WHAT?!" she shrieked and tripped on a step, catching herself on the railing.

"Wha?" Ron echoed her in a much quieter and less horrified tone. "Harry I don-"

"Cool!" Aidan jumped punching the air with his fist. "This will be so neat!"

Harry and Aidan insisted on going that night, for a change Hermione and Ron agreed it was a bad idea, and they all missed the event that happened in the hall on the way to Dinner.

"I'm going Ron," Harry snapped. "You can stay if you want to."

Ron tried to be reasonable, "Harry, I don't think going out in the middle of the night into Hogsmead is a good idea. Albus said that we should tone back our escapades. Those were his words."

Harry went back to the Closet for his Invisibility Cloak. "I'm not letting some freak make me hide under the stairs all my life." He wasn't defying the Headmaster, sneaking off to get some prank supplies. The rage that burnt in his eyes and voice wasn't even only for his uncle and aunt. Not really He was defying the Dark Lord.

"I don't think it's safe," Ron insisted with a sinking heart. "But I'll go with you if you still want me to." He couldn't let his best friend go without him. What if Harry needed him?

Licking her lips Hermione quietly agreed also. "We just need to be real careful, ok? I don't need another note sent home to my parents. They freaked at the idea that I was in the same field as a Dragon last year." She tactfully did not mention the fact that her parents had almost had her transferred because of the other events that had transpired at the tournament. The Dragon was the least of their concerns.

~

Tightening the last strap on his harness, the male thought over his options again. 'Basically, I can either try to hide the fact that I'm hiding down here, and hope none of the House Elves tell on me, or I can obey his unspoken but obvious intentions and go…somewhere else?'

Throwing his silk cloak over his shoulders as he stepped into their shared sitting room. He waited for only a brief moment before the female came out, also in her uniform.

"So," she prompted while straightening her matte black collar. "Have we got a destination in mind?"

" I think Black should come too." He paused at the door. What he had just said made sense, 'But why? Why should I bring him? He didn't exactly react well when I tried to Glam him back from the Raven and I still can't afford to Port-booth him both ways. Not without breaking my word to Starch.' Deep in his core, at the mere thought of Sirius Black, a black wave had welled up. More than the simple bitter disdain that he knowingly felt for the man who had been instrumental in tormenting him throughout his school years. Snape didn't want Black around. 'It's more than that even. He doesn't want Black around, tonight…'

The female rustled her cloak a little. Just enough to end his indecision.

"Black has been pushed aside since Lupin and Tala have been spending every heartbeat in each others' company. I want to see if he's interested in a night out too." He promptly strode from the room and down the hall, cloak flaring out to nearly meet the stone walls. The female was close at his heels.

"You want to see if he's going to reject you." She needled. He ignored her.

~

Sirius's eyes crossed. Again. Closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, he pushed back from the table and closed the book he had been studying.

Ever since Tala had taken priority over him Sirius hadn't had quite as much to do. Moony was moaning on about the She-Were and wasn't as interested in hanging out playing poker or chess. That was why he had resumed his research into the ancient Race known as Garoms, and was spending his Friday evening hunched over a Medieval tome, giving himself a migraine.

"How could people write so decoratively and expect it to be readable?" He grumbled to the room at large. There was a knock at the door and he smiled. "Harry," he muttered softly. "Just use the chime charm." His godson was having trouble with the drastic transition between living with his aunt and uncle, and life in the Wizarding world.

He opened the door with a smile. "Her- You?!" Black choked on his heart. He started and nearly slammed the door closed in surprise, catching himself just before it latched shut again. Recovering from the shock he opened the door again. "I thought you were Harry. I was sort of expecting him, I guess."

"Thankfully we look nothing alike." The male scoffed with contempt.

After a tense moment Black realized he was staring. With his teeth clenched. "Uh, you want to come in?" He lamely offered. Something niggled at the back of his mind though…'He's said something about my quarters, or was it all of the rooms down this hall?' The male had gone still at his offer. 'What did he say? Something about being locked in a room down here, I think…I'll have to see if Remus remembers anything about it.'

The male, though paler than usual, looked him straight in the eyes. He suddenly realized that the male's eyes were very hard to see. The shadows from the PMR-like taint were more than dusky clouds. The once flashing  blue eyes were now nearly as black as…well as black as Snape's.

"Your eyes are almost black." 'Possibly the dumbest thing I could have said.' He berated himself.

"You're reading up on the Middle ages."

Something about the male's tendency to make seemingly irrelevant statements got to him more than it normally did. "Since you're not Harry…" He put as much indifference as he could into his voice, "What are you doing here?"

With an arched eyebrow the male crossed his arms, but it was the female who answered.  "We were wondering if you'd be interested in going out for a few drinks."

The way the male shot a glance over his shoulder at the female, and the way she looked more innocent than a baby, obviously something was up.

Sirius stared at the male.

"I can't Glam you without physical contact. I can't reach you from here, and I am not entering any of the guards' quarters. So technically I can't do a thing to you…until you leave you rooms. Now. Please," the please had obviously cost him, "I have to get out of here. One way or another."

The power had shifted somehow. The male was almost pleading with him. "Why do you 'need' to get out of here?"

"Black, I will not discus this with you. Ever. If I can't leave by walking out of here, I'll fall out. He will be in charge then. And after the way he attacked the Headmaster tonight…I don't trust him with you."

Black went white. He could literally feel the blood flooding down his neck away from his face. 'That Exotic, the Vampire, he said it was just an act. And the male already saved my life more than once.' But twelve years of experience in Azkaban were busy flashing through his mind.

He could almost hear his cell door scraping open. Staring into the male's inhuman eyes he saw only the eyes of the guards who had- 'NO!' Backing further into his quarters, but leaving the door open, Sirius closed the scattered books on his reading table. "I haven't got much of a choice," he called back toward the hall. "You can just force me to come can't you? The way you brought me back from the Raven?"

"I told you, I can't Glam you unless I'm touch-"

"Sidhe use Glamour Magic." Sirius shot back. He was getting his things put away, so he was planning to go with them, 'But why?' Trying desperately to think of some reasonable explanation he latched onto Albus' request that he and Remus keep a close watch on the male. 'Wait! Didn't he say that Snape attacked the Headmaster?!'

"Maybe you should go?" The female's comment was directed at the male. He was becoming very agitated and had started to pace back and forth past the open doorway.

"Can you give me your word that it was Snape who attacked Albus? And not you." 'I'm going to accept his word on this, aren't I?I can't think of anything he's done that hasn't felt designed to bait me into a fight. But I will come with him…because I trust him.' The revelation, rather than ending his confusion, brought up another question. 'What exactly do I trust him to do?'

"You bear my Mark. I chose you for a reason. Water, and people, seek out their own same level. I would not discus this topic with you, not even if you forced me to drink Viritas serum. I'm going now. Follow if you want to."

Stubborn, even though he was holding his cloak and obviously read to leave. Sirius persisted. "What is stopping you from coming in? And why are you being so accommodating? Answers to my questions, even if it is with your own twist, aren't exactly what I've come to expect from you."

The male shrugged. "It's just past six o'clock and I'm still sizzling from the serum. I will not come in because it would most likely start the nightmares again."

~

"Stop acting like you're stalking me." Sirius asked for the hundredth time.

They were walking back to the school grounds after having spent a few hours sipping drinks, dancing with strangers, and basically loosing themselves in the press of a popular little club down Superfici Alley.

"I can't Black." The male whispered. "That bead in your hair is more than a sign that you belong to me. It tells everyone who knows about Marks that I belong to you, in a way. I want so much to heal, you, me, all of us."

Sirius giggled. "It's scary. But you make more sense when I've been drinking."

"Just be quiet enough to keep us from getting caught."

Even to his, slightly fuzzy, mind that sounded wrong. "I'm free ya know. They aren't hunting for me, lurking in dark doorways. No more spying agents in Hogsmead."

The male's shoulders slumped a little. "They weren't looking for you Black. They were looking for me- er, him. They're still here. Somewhere."

"Looking around and turning in a wobbly circle Sirius peered into the darkness. "I don't see any-"

A geyser of flame erupted from somewhere near the center of Diagon. It shot into the air spreading out into a curved sickle that resoled into a stylized Phoenix emblem that gave no light but glowed from within.

Sirius drew his wand as he started running in the direction of the emergency beacon. No member of the Order would have used it without cause.

"Black!" The male was running at an angle away from him. "I'll flank you take point. Find the operative and dig in!"

"Right," Sirius panted to himself. "Gah!" Blindly dashing around a corner he nearly took a flesh melting hex in the face. Flinging himself down behind a decorative flowerbox in front of a shop Sirius gasped for breath and tried to scan the plaza while keeping his head down. 'I can't even tell which charms are coming from our man!' He had to drop down again. Some sort of a grayish rose colored spell ripped the siding off the store front behind him. The flying shrapnel caught the back of his head and his outstretched wand hand.

Pointing his wand to the sky where the Order's Phoenix symbol still blazed, without casting any radiant light, he barely breathed a charm designed to slightly alter the image of the great bird. Swiftly the massive flaming wings spread wide. 'Well, that's encouraging,' Sirius sarcastically patted himself on the back. 'I got that spell right. Now all I have to do is not get killed and not kill or injure  the wrong guys.'

Slowly he was able to distinguish some of the spells he had been taught to counter, back before he had gone away. There were also many he did not recognize. There seemed to be five locations that spells were directed at him from and one that aimed for the others.

'So those are the guys in the masks. Leaving the odd one out as our guy. Right, I've got a hold on this.' "Occulo Nox." He thought the words and put only a slight breath behind them. The old training was coming back more as he went. '"If they can't hear what spell is being used,"' he repeated the words drilled into him by Alastor Moody. '"Then you have one more advantage. And battles can be won or lost because a tiny shift in the balance of Advantage." Just hope I don't mispronounce something. It's been so long since I used a wand in a fight.'

The blinding hex he had used seemed to have hit someone, The curses coming from the Death Eater he had identified to his front left were not the sort that you could duck.

A many forked bolt of lightning ripped into the market stall where Sirius was fairly sure three or maybe four Death Eaters were hiding. Without thinking he took the brief window of opportunity and bolted across the open plaza to the low stone wall where the Order member was trapped. His heart stopped.

Harry. He couldn't hear his own voice. So in a detached sort of way he decided that he must have not really spoken, but only thought the name of his godson. What ever was going on around him was forgotten for a fraction of a moment. Then Harry moved. His wand out he moved also. Firing off curses and charms as fast as he could. Providing some cover at least, trying to make sure that Harry was not the first one up.

"We were ambushed," Ron had crawled over to them from behind a broken, something.

It was hard to tell what anything was anymore. They were tearing up the place worse than the Marauders on graduation night. "Once we get out of here I want to know whose idea it was to come out here!" He knew it was irrelevant. More than that he wouldn't care who or what or why once this was over. Not as long as Harry was safe.

"Aidan is with Hermi," Ron hissed while firing a nasty flame like lime green hex. Just another hex Sirius didn't recognize. "She was hit with a blood thinning curse. I think she'll be ok, as long as she stays still and doesn't get banged up by anything. I countered some of it. I think."

Sirius felt shaken at the news that one of the children had been hurt. He hadn't really had the chance to spend much time with the bushy haired girl. And she read too much for anyone's good, but she had been very accepting once he had been proven innocent. One of the few who had been kind really. "Rictus Sempre. Aidan?"

"He's a Second Year-"

"The albino?" Sirius remembered the small pale haired troublemaker from an incident in the main hall with Filch's ratty old cat, and a slime bomb. "Where are they?"

Another blast of lightning arched out from somewhere to his extreme right and Sirius saw Ron shove Harry ahead of him away from the heat of the battle and toward a near demolished enchanted glass shop. Tiny fragments of broken glass sprayed bits of rainbows in all directions.

Sirius backed toward the once quietly well to do shop, using an Unframed Magic shielding charm to cover them all. Once inside he spared a brief glance at the two young people huddled in the far corner. Hermione was laying down. Barely breathing and not moving. She looked like she might have passed out, 'From low blood pressure?' He conjectured. 'Without any real Medi-Wizardry training Aidan couldn't possibly do much more than  stand between Hermione and the entrance.' Sirius gave the boy an approving smile. 'He's a Gryffindor all right.'

Aidan hadn't moved from his spot. Not even when the three of them had come in. He was not letting his guard down, and Hermione was safer behind him tan anywhere else right now.

"Now what?" Ron panted. He had been doing most of the real work of protecting the others. Adrenaline was glittering in his eyes as he waited for orders.

"Now," Sirius hesitated.

An explosion of dazzling light blinded them all. Sirius lurched forward as he felt the world get yanked out from under him. He tried to reach for Harry but didn't have time.

The building collapsed turning beams and plaster into a deadly hailstorm.