A/N: Sorry this took so long. I had no idea where I was going to go with the story. I have a plot I just need to get there, lol. It's long :) Thanks to Monsoon (Rilee) and her explanations. You'll understand. I'm nearing the end. I'm only anticipating about 10 more chapters at the most for Blackness. Then it's the start of the sequel, Expanding Blackness. (Which I have started plotting, yay!)

Chapter 22: Confessions of a Strange Kind

Winter bitterness condemned me to the inside of Hogwarts. The weather wasn't looking to clear up anytime soon, so I decided to make best of my time and train harder. The month after break had past; it was going to be February soon. No news on my father, no news on Harry's Firebolt, and no news on Peter. No news on anything but my fighting skills. Rilee said I was starting to improve, but coming from her that could mean nothing. The only reason she realized I was getting better was because I was there early taking my frustrations out on the straw dummy, that hangs on a tight noose in the corner. It makes a very bad punching bag, because all the stuffing's come out and you have to stop and put it all back in, but it works when you need a quick vent. Sometimes I found myself screaming at it instead of hitting it, which just hurts my throat.

I kept running into Zandyr in the hallway, and it always ends badly. My reasons for not speaking to him were unjust and not right. Now, he seemed to be avoiding me, as much as I avoided him. My conscience had kicked in and it wasn't the Rilee incident I was feeling guilty from, it was my coldness towards a blood relative.

With great stealth and courage I managed to knock Zandyr's book bag open while on my way to Potions. He glared at me and I smiled back. He seemed to be taken aback by me trying to help him put everything back into it though.

"What are you doing?" he asked, in an annoyed tone.

"I'm being a nice person," I replied, handing him his dragon hide gloves.

"You have to cause trouble in order to be nice?"

"Listen, I'm only saying this once, so pay attention." He stopped picking up his spell book and looked at me. "I want to say I'm sorry," I put my hand up when he opened his mouth. "I'm not done. I was a royal bitch to you and after you apologized I was even worse. I understand that you were sorry, but my anger overtook me and I wasn't ready to accept it. Accepting things isn't something I do very easily these days. So-"

"I'm sorry too, Em," he interrupted. "As much as I loved to hear you go on about how you're are wrong, I have to get to charms." He smirked and waved goodbye. I waved back only to realize I too was going to be late.

I made it to the potions classroom just before Snape closed the doors. He grimaced and returned to the front of the room. No news on anything…

Later that night I returned to my dorm, tired and ready to pass out on my bed. There was a huge commotion in the common room because Potter finally got his broom back from McGonagall. When I had just finally laid my head down on my pillow I heard a screech. I shot up and looked around. Lily, who was sitting in the window, got to her feet and started towards the door. I followed her closely. Racing to the bottom of the staircase I saw Ron, holding a bed sheet, shouting at Hermione so loud that I thought my eardrums shook. She looked utterly confused and somewhat frightened.

"Ron, what-?" She began, putting down a book on the table.

"SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!" I pushed through the crowd and watched the pair. The sheet Ron was holding clearly had blood marks on it, how much was hard to tell though. "BLOOD! HE'S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"

"N- no." He put his hand out and tossed a wad of cat hair at Hermione's homework. I gasped and ran back up the stairs.

"No!" I said to myself. "That bloody rat was my link! Arg!" I knocked the candlestick off my nightstand and sighed. "Now, I'm sure we're screwed. We have no proof."

"No proof of what?" I glanced up and saw Lily striding back into the room, looking pale. I wondered if she tried to talk to Ron after I left. She seemed to usually calm him down.

"Oh nothing. Just rambling."

o.O

"He's gone Nephiro! Gone!" I cried to my friend, while pacing around the empty Astronomy tower. She sat on the edge, looking out over the land with an unreadable expression. "He isn't," she mumbled to me. I stopped and watched her.

"How do you know that?" I questioned. 'She is too mysterious . . .'

"I can smell him in the air still." Jumping down from the ledge, she sniffed the air. "It's as foul as it has ever been."

"What are you talking about?" I took a whiff of the air, and nothing smelled any different than it normally did. "Maybe you're smelling the hippogriffs." She sent me a glare.

"I am not wrong Black. Just trust me." I nodded slightly. "Now, I must go. My bed calls me."

"Bye." I murmured as she disappeared down the stairs. Inhaling another breath, I walked over to where Nephiro was just sitting. There was nothing down there . . . So what was she watching so intently? I turned to follow in Nephiro's down the stairs and go to bed, since it was after all, after hours, when something strange caught my eye. The Whoomping Willow, which was clearly visible from the tower, seemed to stop its violent thrashings. It was at a complete stand still, not even a twig move. I took a few steps backwards and glanced around the proximity of the tree. My eyes feel upon a moving object heading towards the old willow- a black dog. I stood there transfixed on the animal. Why was there a dog on the grounds of Hogwarts? I shook my head to try and get out of the dream I was having; this strange hallucination. The dog was still there and the tree was still frozen when I reopened my eyes again. It had parked itself and was staring at me. I stumbled back a couple of feet and let out a quiet whimper. "This is too weird." I glanced back at the tree before descending down the steps.

o.O

Potter seemed to enjoy showing off his "special" broom to everyone the morning of his Quidditch match. I saw Nephiro scowl at him from the Slytherin table. I laughed and went back to talking to Lily.

"I hope it rains again," I muttered under my breath when Percy said he had a bet going on with Clearwater. "Then he'd be in debt." I giggled, and straightened up in my seat quickly. I spotted Draco approaching Harry, with Crabbe and Goyle and smiled.

"Sure you can manage that broom, Potter?" He said in his loathing voice; it sent shivers up my spine.

"Yeah, reckon so," Harry replied.

"Got plenty of special features, hasn't it? Shame it doesn't come with a parachute-in case you get too near a dementor." I swallowed my juice and looked at him; he just winked.

"Pity you can't attach an extra arm to yours, Malfoy. Then it could catch the snitch for you," Harry sneered. Sweet Merlin! Did he just say that? Draco narrowed his gray eyes, and walked back towards his table.

The match went well . . . up till Potter caught the snitch. Why does Harry get glory for being a moron? Did he feel the cruel sucking feeling coming from those dementors? How ignorant can one get? Never mind, I have no desire to know. I was more annoyed at Draco and his "buddies". I was angry, but not willing to show it because I knew I'd turn it into something unwanted. I held my peace and kept smiling.

o.O

My body felt warm, like I was slowing cooking in a pot of water. The blackness surrounded me again and I waited patiently for the sounds of my parent's voices to come, but they didn't. Instead all I could hear was the sound of people crying.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Annie…" Whispered a female voice. It croaked a little when it said my mother's name. The sobbing got harder and-

o.O

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I fell out of my bed and let off a scream of my own.

"What in the name of Merlin was that?" Lily's voice cried out.

"Oy! What's goin' on?" Lavender muttered from the bed next to me.

"I'm going to find out!" Hermione threw off her covers and lit a candle that sat next to her bed, then walked out of the room. I grabbed a hold of my robe and throw in on while following her. Other people in the tower had the same idea as us.

"Professor McGonagall told us to go to bed!" I heard someone say as I made it to the small group that was watching the 3rd year boy's yell at each other.

"Excellent, are we carrying on?" Fred said rather cheerfully.

"Everyone back upstairs!" Percy's voice rang over everyone's. I rolled my eyes.

"Perce –Sirius Black!" Ron cried weakly. "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!" I gasped and tried to move forward, but Lily had taken a hold of the back on my night robe. I looked back and glared, and she just shook her head 'no'. My father was here and she wanted me to stay here! I started to struggle.

"Nonsense! You had too much to eat, Ron-had a nightmare-" He appeared to be uncomfortable. "I'm telling you-"

"Now, really, enough's enough!" Professor McGonagall stern tone said as she closed the portrait behind her. "I'm delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!"

"I certainly didn't authorize this, Professor!" His normal pig-head-ishness was back. "I was just telling them all to get back to bed! My brother Ron here had a nightmare-"

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE! PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!" McGonagall blinked in surprise. I stopped my fight against Lily and gazed at Weasley.

"Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?"

"Ask him!" Ron yelled, pointing to Sir Cadogan. "Ask him if he saw-" He glared at the redhead and walked over to the picture.

"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?" She asked- sounding annoyed. "Certainly, good lady!" The portrait answered. There was a silence. All I could hear was my heart, which was beating pretty fast.

"You- you did? But- but the password!"

"He has 'em! Had the whole week's, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!" I smacked my forehead with my hand as the Professor came back into the common room.

"Which person, which abysmally foolish person wrote down that week's password and left them lying around?" Her voice shook slightly. The hush was back, until the squeaks of Neville broke out. We all looked at him, as he raised his hand, looking genuinely frightened.

Neville took quite a tongue lashing for McGonagall; I felt rather bad for him. Then to top it off, the rest of the Gryffindors seemed to feel uncomfortable around him. My father has apparently escaped again . . . if it was really him. I had my doubts. Maybe it was Peter . . . The tight watch the teachers were giving everyone bugged the hell out of me. It made it much harder to get to the archery room. I found myself going only once a week.

A couple of days later was another Hogsmeade tip and once again was left alone. Rilee was in the room like usual, and was fletching some new arrows. I went straight to the punching "bag" and threw a frustrated to its "face". Rilee looked up for a second a raised an eyebrow then back to placing the tip of the arrow on. "Angry about something Black?" she asked, sounding bored.

"No, everything is fine," I replied, landing a round kick to the side. Straw fell to the floor along with the cloth for the arm. I hit it again with my fists. Jab, reverse, punch, punch, backhand, reverse, jab, round kick, jab. Over and Over again, muttering curses to myself. "Stop-ruining-my-life-bastard!" I did a hook kick to the neckline and rip the tread that kept the head attached. It fell to the ground, leaving only the noose hanging. I wiped my forehead with my arm and tried to slow my breathing.

"Pick up the straw and do it again. Your punches are still weak," Rilee said dryly not even looking up. She pulled another stick from a bag and eyed it. Throwing it aside she continued, "Look, you're life is hell. So is mine, and most likely so is Nephiro's. Half the school could be going through similar situations." Standing up she brushed off her pants and stretched. She walked over to a corner and made some weird sign in the air. Quickly a hole opened then closed and Rilee held a black rectangle in her hands.

"What's that?" I asked.

"A computer. Now c'mere. I, surprisingly enough, would like to show you something. I've actually been thinking bout this for some time and I think it's time you saw this." I watched in amazement as her fingers flew across the keys typing in odd symbols that weren't even on the keyboard. Before I knew it a new screen was up and it had three pictures across the top.

The first picture was title Benvolio, a very Italian and good looking kid with big brown eyes and dark brown hair. In the picture he was smiling but there was something about his eyes that made it look forced.

The second and third were of two girls but they didn't interest me as the boy did. I kneeled down and looked over Rilee's shoulder. I could feel that she was tense with me so close so I backed off. She stayed tensed though and would not look at the pictures. "Rilee, what's- "

"These three are old friends of mine," she said quietly. Was it just my imagination or was Rilee's voice strained? "Benny . . . he was one of my best friends. Never complained about how the others treated him and was always helpful with History homework. I was crushed as were the rest of us when he died. Marc in particular." Taking a deep breath, she turned to face me, eye to eye. "I know what you are going through, at least the general idea. Your problem? Pathetic. That's nothing compared to his or the others."

I bristled slightly. I was not being pathetic. "So sorry that you think my "problem" is pathetic. What, pray do tell, was his? Didn't get on the Quidditch team?" Knowing what I said was wrong, but a mixture of anger and irritability was settling in my skin and I couldn't control it anymore.

Rilee's eyes narrowed and she slammed the top of her laptop down. "No he was harassed because he was gay!" She jumped to her feet and stood no more than two feet away. "All three were harassed. All three committed suicide. All three were my friends! If you die it goes on MY conscience!" With that she stormed from the room, slamming the door shut.

A/N: :)