A/N- okay, so... where to start? I kind think I should stop writing these silly and tedious authors notes, since I'm basically talking to a non-existent audience, unless, of course, you want to count the freaking TWO PEOPLE who reviewed the last chapter. Do I sound a tad bitter? GOOD! Feel my wrath! Or better yet, read my story.

Snuffles2984- golly, aren't you sweet, lol. I'm glad you thought that kiss worked, I was looking forward to writing it, he he...

Insane-elf-girl13- well, first of all, I can tell that you were totally bluffing with the bow and arrow thing, because you neglected to attack me even though it took me three weeks to update, lol. But thank you so much for your review. Keep reading!

And that concludes our escapade. Please God; PLEASE get someone to read this stupid story! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahem...-

Disclaimer- Once upon a time there was a girl who really, really, really didn't like disclaimers because she thought they were stupid. And they were. And so she stopped writing them. Haha.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Climax and Confusion

(A/N I'm terrible with chapter titles, you'll have to excuse me.)

Sirius had been right when he had predicted that he would have to get through a sleepless night that night, but what he hadn't estimated was that he was in for a few weeks worth of them. Because Fay made him feel like that. The energy that filled him when he was even just standing near her was enough to keep him awake for a month. He couldn't get enough of the high that he felt around her.

Very soon after their first real kiss, Sirius had found himself in a quagmire that was pulling him deeper and deeper until he felt he might not be able to breathe. His affection for the strange little girl had caused him to live in a dazed type of euphoria that seemed to be telling him to give her anything and everything.

Completely disregarding his lessons, James, Peter, and Remus, Sirius began tripping over himself to do wonderful and creative things to keep her happy. He knew he shouldn't bother her, or make his uncharacteristic spate of caring too obvious, but sometimes he couldn't help wanting to surprise her. One such instance came on a Saturday evening, when Sirius had waited and restrained himself from being with Fay for the greater part of the day, and it was killing him. After having wasted his day lounging in the common room, he finally decided to go looking for her.

He strolled casually down to the grounds and began walking, and it didn't take Sirius long to find out where she was. He found her, back up against a large tree that he himself had rested against with his friends (his heart pained nowadays when he thought of James) countless times. She was reading. Before approaching Fay and drawing her attention, Sirius whispered a quick spell to his wand.

"Orchideous," he said, and crouched down next to Fay, holding out a bouquet of heather and baby's breath. "Hello," he added.

She wordlessly took the flowers from his and smelled them, them gave him a lop-sided smile. "Hello," she returned.

"How've you been today?"

"Not too terrible, how 'bout yourself?"

They talked. They talked until the evening turned to sunset and sunset turned to dusk before deciding it was best to return up to the castle. It was not unusual for the two youths to loose time when they spoke. They just seemed to fit, though. They had endless things they shared in common, and whenever they did disagree, neither of them minded a healthy debate. Sirius had a tendency to forget everything about the life he had before Fay was in it. He thought less and less about James' grudge, and he even began to drift from Remus, the only person who had remained his friend through it all. Nothing seemed to matter when he was with her. And when he was with her (which was often), it was like he had stumbled into a time warp, where everything disappeared but them and the hours didn't matter. He hadn't told her any of this, of course, but somehow, Sirius felt there was no need. There was an unspoken but loud silence between the two of them and that was enough for them both.

When they parted separate ways, Fay gave Sirius a lingering kiss on the cheek before saying:

"I care a lot about you, Sirius."

He was caught a bit off guard. She spoke as if she were going away somewhere.

"Same to you," said Sirius awkwardly, playing with a curl on her flyaway hair.

"Goodbye," said Fay, somewhat sadly.

"'Bye," he said, waving and pasting a silly grin on his face. "I'll see you later."

She gave him one last look before running off into the darkness.

He had not given one thought to the human in Fay's place at all.

On this particular night, when Sirius was on his way back up to his common room, he ran into Remus, who was skulking in one of the corridors.

"Moony?" said Sirius to Remus's back.

Lupin turned. "I'd hoped I'd catch you on your way back up," he said in a melancholy tone.

"Oh? Why's that?"

"You should know why," returned Remus bitterly.

Sirius had an idea... "What d'you..."

"Two things," Remus interrupted. "One, you've been ignoring me every time I've tried to talk to you these past few weeks because you've been too busy fawning over Fay. Two, I'm glad that you two are having fun, but in the midst of your bliss period, you've neglected everything: Me, Peter, James, your work, and that little thing we tried to talk about last week, you know, about Fay being a changeling? Bully for you and your new infatuation, but you need to remember some more important things."

Sirius was infuriated. How dare he try and tell him how to live? How did it come to be his business whether he was getting good grades or talking to James? Whether he was involved with a beautiful girl or worried in the slightest that there was a miniscule chance of them being able to pull an elaborate rescue for some random girl in some random and unseen location?

"You can't tell me how to live or what is important!" shouted Sirius.

"No, technically I can't do that. But I can tell either Dumbledore or Fay that we have to fix this. We have to save this little kid from an entire life of servitude... So either you tell one of them yourself or I'll do it for you. It'll turn out better that way in the long run, Sirius," Remus was firm. He studied his friend for a split second, but didn't have long to do it, because Sirius ran off to the common room. He wanted to talk to Fay, face to face, and figure this whole thing out. Surly she would be the one to tell him that Remus was being completely foolhardy and ridiculous.

When Sirius arrived panting in the Gryffindor common room, however, Fay was nowhere in sight. Supposing that she must have already gone up to bed, he realized that he was tired, too. He went up to his empty bed to find James and Peter snoring, and when his head hit the pillow, he was fast asleep. Apparently he was more tired than he had thought.

The rest of the weekend, Sirius could not find Fay anywhere. Initially, he had supposed that she had found a new place to reflect and play her music, since she was no longer using the vanishing room. When Monday rolled around and he still hadn't seen her, however, Sirius began to feel worried. He waited until lunch to talk to Rebus.

"She hasn't been in any classes today," he explained to his pensive friend. He had been too worried to carry a grudge about last night. Right now he had to find out what was wrong with Fay.

"Yes, I've noticed that too," said Remus, stroking his chin characteristically. "You know," he resumed after a pause, "This might be as good a time as any to talk to Dumbledore,"

Sirius wordlessly and swiftly left the table and followed his feet to the place where he had been not two months ago. As he strode in the direction of his destination, he found that he wasn't really even paying attention to what was going on around him, because he had not gone too far when he bumped strait into Lily Evans.

"Oh!" she cried softly, rubbing her shoulder gingerly.

Sirius was apprehensive. He wasn't liking Lily too much these days. He braced himself for the torrent of temper that was likely to ensue.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"That's alright." She said in a frighteningly friendly voice. "You didn't get me too bad." There was a small pause, and then: "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm okay, you just grazed me a bit." Said Sirius.

Lily laughed awkwardly. 'No, I meant, how are you doing?"

Sirius was caught so off-guard by this strangely considerate question that he forget what a hurry he was in. "Uh... I'm good, I suppose. I'm looking for someone right now, though, and-"

"Will you tell Fay I said hello when you see her?"

He couldn't believe his ears. "Will I tell Fay what, sorry?" he sputtered.

"Oh, well, maybe she hasn't told you, but we're getting along quite well now. She's been tutoring me in ancient runes. I'm very fond of her, actually," said Lily nonchalantly.

Sirius closed his gaping mouth. "Are you? Well then, I'll tell her... I'll tell her you said hello."

"Thanks very much!" She gave him a sweet smile and resumed her path to the Great Hall. Shaking off the twilight zone encounter, he continued off in the direction he was bound for, ready to tell Dumbledore exactly who was missing and why.

A/N #2- I know what you're thinking: "I waited three weeks for that shit? What a jip!" I'm really sorry that this is such a weak chapter. But if you care to hear my excuse, then I'll say that I started school on August 9th, and I'm taking way too many AP's this year, so I have virtually no free time. Then, whenever I did get the chance to sit down and write, I got a serious case of writers block. Forgive me! Now that it's Labor Day weekend, I'll be able to breathe and make a few updates. (Hopefully better ones.) Thank you so much for your tolerance and patience! Bare with me kids!