Disclaimer:  I do not own Harry Potter…oh, you guys have heard this a million times already.  JK Rowling rocks and I would never dream of claiming anything by her as my own.  Now that that's been said…

BURN THE RUM:  Well, it's nice to hear you had fun at the play (and that the clock was easy to get used to).  I just finished a play at my school and I had loads of fun (then again, doesn't everybody when you get a chance to do what you love to do…and then there's food at the cast party?).  By the way, what play did you do?  Anyway, it's kind of Secret Window-like (if only Johnny were here…), but it'll be a little different.  Yes, there are things worse out there than Moulin Rouge.  It actually really doesn't show as much, and it's a story about *love*, basically Satine's journey to sidestep her sinful ways.  Anyway, enough of my rambling.  Enjoy the chappie!

Writingangel203:  Hey, Nelister!!  It should be NeliSTAR!!!  Hehehe…anyway, lot's 'o' good stuff happens (hopefully), and the special "night" in the dreams is coming up.  Did I tell you about that already…anyway…I'm going to go on the market for a beta-reader soon, so this is a heads up.  Well, enjoy!

Siriusforeva:  Thanks…I think…is that good or bad?  Lol…hope you enjoy the chapter!

"Oh, come on!  Where the hell is that door?  Oh, finally!"

Vanessa found the door that had instantly materialized in front of her.  She placed her fingers upon the cool knob and twisted it.  She peeked her head in slowly, as if to make sure it was ok to come in.  Why are you being so cautious? she thought.  Who else is going to be in here besides Harry?  In fact, Harry had not arrived yet to the Room of Requirement.

She paced around, admiring the illuminated room, due to the midnight-blue lamps that hung suspended in midair.  Because of their color, the room seemed to be a light azure, which happened to be Vanessa's favorite color.  The surroundings were so serene, that she felt she wouldn't hear any of the words that came out of her mouth when she explained to Harry about her past.  She didn't mean to feel a thing when that time came.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Vanessa jumped and spun around to see Harry closing the door.

"Oh, no, I haven't been here five minutes," she said.  They stood there merely looking at each other for a few minutes.  She'd thought this would be easy and that it wouldn't take very long at all.  But as she stood there in the Room of Requirement, trying to find some starting words, she knew this would be nothing like she thought it would be.

"Well, er…I guess we should get started," Harry stuttered.  He was shaking ever so slightly.

"Are you kidding?  Not without a bit of comfort."  As Vanessa said these words, two soft blue couches appeared, facing each other.  She smiled weakly at Harry, as if to say, "I was only kidding…But then again, I had forgotten that this was the Room of Requirement."  She walked over to one of the couches fell into it, lying down in a very comfortable position.  Harry just sat down in the middle of the other couch.

"So," he began, "why don't you start."

"Ok," she said, clearing her throat.  "Ask away."

Harry gave her a puzzled look at first, but then decided to just ask the questions.  "What was with all those people hurting you?"

"Well, I don't know if it was as bad as you what you saw.  I mean, you saw basically all the worst things."

You mean there were more?!

"Well, anyway," she continued, "ever since my mother's 'death', we've had to go into a sort of exile, trying to steer clear of Voldemort and his Death Eaters.  We had to go around using the name Blaine instead of Black.  So, for the years I needed schooling before witchcraft, I was sent to a muggle school, like you were.  Of course, seeing as how you and I are a witch and wizard, we act differently than most other kids.  Differently meaning if muggles get really jubilant or angry, they may jump up and down excitedly or throw something.  But we use more of a 'Carrie' technique.  And seeing as how I was a witch and they didn't know that, they didn't quite take my anger too kindly.  So, ever since I was six, I got teased and tormented by all the kids, even the teachers.  Sometimes they would kick me if I happened to make one of their juices spill, or their candy fall out of a new hole made in their pockets."

"But what was with the whole 'matches' thing?" Harry interrupted.

"Oh, that.  Well, that happened when I was in first grade.  We were having a little 'story time', and my teacher read us a tale about a young fairy that was born with only one wing.  As a result, she couldn't fly.  And while all the other little fairies were flying around and playing games, she was left out and was miserable.  They often taunted her, to the point where she couldn't bear it anymore.  She ran, not flew, away and never returned.  The other fairies began to miss her and regretted their wicked ways.  It was kind of one of those corny fantasy tragedies that people read to little kids.  Anyway, when the teacher had finished reading, I offered my own little input.  I said that the fairy shouldn't have run away, and instead should have stuck up for herself.  My teacher disagreed with my opinion, though.  She stated, 'Well, she was an outsider.  It's better that she ran away if she couldn't endure a bit of mockery.  You can't blame them for teasing her.'  'How do you know she couldn't stand up for herself?' I asked.  'Maybe her cruel mates never gave her the chance.  Teasing is a very harsh thing.'  'Oh, please.  Words cannot hurt.'  'What about when they threw her around up in the air?  That was pretty mean.'  'She was puny, weak, and stupid.  She was incapable of protecting herself.  There was only fairness in their ridicules, not torment,' she had said through gritted teeth, clearly mad at me for defying her.  Well, obviously I got really mad, so I stood up and yelled, 'HOW WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT TORMENT WAS?'  I kind of moody."

"What happened next?" asked Harry eagerly.

To his surprise, Vanessa chuckled.  "Her purse caught on fire.  All I remember are her bulging eyes of flame as she dragged me to the principal's office.  Funny," she said as she observed her hand, "after all these years, it's as clear as ever."

Harry identified the long scarlet scar across her palm.

"Anyway, my mother transferred me to new school.  Well, as you can guess, I kept getting mocked and ridiculed, so I kept getting transferred.  Only, as I got older, the taunting got worse.  There was now real physical pain, and an overload of emotional twinge.  I was known as the freak, outcast, temperamental bitch, whatever you want to call it.  You name it, I was that.  Not that they actually knew if I really was all those things.  As long as they had someone to prey on, right?  Well, it was getting so awful that I started going through these fazes that consisted of wearing all black, crying all the time, and let's not forget yelling at everybody.  I mean, do you know just how low my self-esteem was?"

"So, you had a severe case of depression."

"Well, depression was kind of the root of it all.  I mean, it got to a point where I could never feel good about myself unless I shoved my finger down my throat."

"You were what?!"

"They didn't just attack my temper, Harry."

"Well, what was with the whole desk and baseball bat thing?"

"Oh, one day when I was like eleven or so, I heard these boys talking about me in a not so flattering way.  Well, to make a long story short, I approached them, told them off, they provoked me, and in the end, one of their desks broke in half.  The one with the baseball bat happened to be a couple years older than me, and one of his friends was in the group of boys.  So he followed me on my walk home after school to 'teach me a lesson on breaking other people's things.'  He hit me on the shoulder, and I still have a small mark from it.  It hurt, but at least the bastard doesn't have a baseball bat anymore," she said with a satisfactory grin.

"Wow, you've been through quite a lot, and you were so young…"

"Eh, it wasn't as bad as I'm making it sound.  It's not like my whole life was full of dark corners and lonely shadows.  I had a few friends.  My mum was always helpful, and I always had her stories of Dad to find refuge in.  Yeah, it wasn't all sunflowers and daisies, but I still had my share of happy times.  But I judging from you expression, it wouldn't knock your socks off if I told you I had a tattoo," she said this last part with a large smirk.

"Do you really?"

"Yeah, two.  But relax; I didn't get my first one until I was fourteen.  My second one I got after Dad died.  Be quiet, though, my mum only knows about one of them.  You see, my life began to take shape a couple years after I entered magic school.  I surrounded by people with the same gift I had.  But, obviously, it took a while before I could get back on track.  I mean, those things just don't disappear like that.  But I had this great Professor – Belfast was her name – who helped me a lot."

"What are they of?"

"What?"

"Your tattoos."

"Oh, yeah.  Well, the one I got after Dad died is on my hip, and it's the Chinese symbol for 'eternity.'  The other one is on my shoulder where the boy hit me."

"What is it?"

"A fairy."

After a few moments of contemplation, Vanessa let out a whole-hearty laugh.  "Well, is that all you wanted to know?"

"Well, yeah, except…what happened with the boy in the alley?"

Vanessa's expression changed.  She shook her head and said, "No, that stays with me."

"Oh, alright.  Wow, we've been here for a while.  We'd better get back before dinner starts."  Harry got up and walked to the door, but before he opened it, he turned back to Vanessa, who had gotten up as well and was walking to the door, and asked, "By the way, how's Mel?"

"She's doing fine," Vanessa said, coming up next to him.  "She's been unusually happy these past few days.  Hey, when are we going to talk about you?"

"Next time."  And with that, they left the Room of Requirement, and they door disappeared.

They chatted with the each other as they walked to the Gryffindor common room.  But then Harry saw something quite unusual.

"What the – "

"What, what is it?" asked Vanessa.

Harry didn't answer, but pursued the crimson trail of blood that lay strewn about the floor.  Vanessa, upon noticing this, followed.  They kept the trail hadn't been very long before it turned into footprints, which soon faded after each step until there was nothing left.

"What in the name of Merlin was that?" breathed Vanessa.

"Nothing good," answered Harry, as he began walking back to the common room.

-----------------------------

Melissa walked along the school halls, admiring the portraits on the walls.  She had always loved paintings.  It was like a poet's bliss.  When they had lived in America, she would always take Vanessa up to New York to see the Museum of Modern Art.  Sure, it was a long drive, but as long as Mel could bribe Nessa with a promise to see something on Broadway, she would go.

She remembered one time when they were at the museum, when Vanessa was only five, she had asked about a certain one.

"Mummy," she had eagerly said, "what's that."

"That's The Starry Night by Vincent Van Goh.  His paintings were never really appreciated until he died."

"That's really sad."

"Why do you say so?"

"Because I like it, and he'll never know."

Mel couldn't have resisted chuckling a bit at that point.  "It's ok, sweetie.  He's very much loved today and thought of.  It's my favorite, too."  She remembered Vanessa's little giggle after she had said this.  And then she thought of the museum security guard's face when she had tried to get him to let her take that painting home.  Mel didn't know why she had thought of this memory.  Maybe the paintings had reminded her of lost times.  But they didn't seem so lost anymore.  In fact, ever since she had regained contact with Sirius, it'd been like heaven to her.  Sure, they could never kiss or hug or even high five (for reasons unknown to Mel), but they had been able to work around that by just talking or occasionally blowing kisses.  But she didn't care.  She felt like God had given her something so special, as if to make up for the hardships.  She was so lost in her thoughts that she had forgotten that she was supposed to be going to Dumbledore's office.  So when she came to the gargoyle-like statue, she forgot to say the password and ended up banging her head against its forhead.  She quickly dusted herself off, said the password, and walked into the office.

"Oh, Melissa!" exclaimed Dumbledore.  "Come and take a seat."

She quickly sat in one of the big armchairs.  "Why did you want to see me, sir?"

Dumbledore lowered his half-moon spectacles, as if to survey her, and said, "I know about it."

"About wh –"

"You and Sirius, Mel.

"Well, seeing as how we were married for quite some time, it would be a little obvious – "

"No, no.  About your communications with him."

There was a pause.  Mel had not told anyone about it.  But then again, Dumbledore could get around just about anything.  "You do have a knack for reading unsuspecting minds, Albus."

"Mel, I want you to be careful, alright?"

"Why?  It's just Sirius."

"You know about the threats on the Order.  You're in it, for Merlin's sake!  Just, danger can be lurking all over.  Be cautious."

"Ok, I'll be careful.  Is that it?"

Dumbledore had opened his mouth and then closed it again, as if he was bout to inquire something else, but at the last second, change his mind.  After a moment, he said, "No, you may go."

----------------------

~Flashback~

"Hey, Sirius," called Mel, from the powder room in their hotel suite.

"Yeah, babe?" he yelled back from the bedroom.

"Do you think we're safe?"

"What?"

"I said, do you think we're safe?" she said, coming out of the powder room.

"Oh, c'mon Mel, we're on our honeymoon."

"I know, I know, but with all this Order business, what if something happens?  I mean, we're all being sought after, especially James and Lily.  What if something happened to them, or you?"

"Look, Mel, I'm not going to lie.  We're not exactly safe.  But I swear to you, on…on…this goblet," he said as he picked up the blue wedding glass, "that I'll protect you.  Whether it is physical or emotional harm, I shall protect you.  And if I can't shield it completely, I'll try to make it feel better."

Mel smiled, stood up, placed her hand on the glass, and whispered, "and I you."

Sirius smirked and put down the goblet.  "Great, now that we have that settled, is there anything else bothering you?"

"Well, you see, the room service hear drives me nuts."

"Oh, Mel."

"What?"

~End of Flashback~

-----------------------

Mel sipped some water from her glass and lay down on her pillow.  She soon drifted off into sleep again, a wide smile on her face.  Once again, she slipped along to the inky clouds underneath the purple sky.

"Mel!" called Sirius.

She turned and ran along the sky, leaving light footprints on the clouds.  "Hey.  Are you alright?" she asked after noticing the silence that came from him.  "Sirius, please answer me."

Instead of speaking, he placed his hand on her cheek and drew her closer.  It was the first time they had touched since they had met up there.  Mel had that same strong feeling of affection mixed with desire that she had felt the first time.  And when he kissed her, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back.  It was incredible.

But she had not been careful.

A/N:  Ok, I'm so sorry that it took so long to update.  You see, I my schedule was packed, and I had to battle a case of writers' block with this chapter.  Anyway, I've still got a lot of things going on, so I'll try to get the next one up A.S.A.P., but I can't promise anything.  Thanks for reading!