Ok I know this one's really long, but I was on a roll and couldn't stop.

That's also why I'm posting this at 2 in the morning. :)

Enjoy.

Remus was out of Madame Pomfrey's hands two days after Sarah had visited. They had planned on throwing him a party celebrating his recovery, but Sarah and James found themselves stuck in quidditch practice almost every evening. Their first match was approaching and since it was against Slytherin, not only were the Gryffindors expecting a win, but Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff as well.

One evening James and Sarah returned to the common room after a very tiring practice. Angela had felt that it was necessary to run the drills over and over again. The two headed to the couch in front of the fireplace where the rest of the Marauders were sitting, Sirius and Remus on opposite ends of the couch, Peter on the floor working on the table. James threw his things onto the floor and collapsed in an empty armchair with a heavy sigh. "Was it that horrible Prongs?" Sirius asked, smirking. "You have no idea," he groaned in reply.

Sarah sat on the couch, stretching her legs out behind Remus and leaning back into Sirius. Sirius went to put his arm around her when he caught Remus shooting him a look of warning. Sirius retracted his arm quickly and picked up a magazine on the table, all this went unnoticed by Sarah who had closed her eyes. She heard voices around her but wasn't really paying attention to what was being said. Her mind was set on taking a shower and curling up underneath the warm blankets of her bed and reading the letter she had received from her father before practice.

Sarah's eyes opened and she sat up quickly, almost knocking Remus off of the couch. "Crap," she said standing up and heading towards the portrait hole. "What's up?" James called after her. "Just forgot something in the locker room," she replied opening the portrait, "I'll be back." She exited the common room and hurried toward the entrance hall. It figures, the one thing she was dying to do was read that letter and she completely forgot about it. She decided to take a shortcut, that was one of the perks of knowing the marauders, you learned how to cut your travel time in half. She turned a corner and noticed that this corridor was dimmer than usual; she paused and stared into the dark shadows. She hesitated and almost turned back to go a different way, she decided against it, curfew was almost up and she needed to get there and back as quick as possible.

She began slowly walking into the darkness. She was almost to the end of the hall when she heard a movement behind her. She turned and reached instinctively into her pocket for her wand, only to discover that it was empty. Sarah began breathing faster; it must have fallen out when she got up in the common room. She didn't like this feeling, she felt naked, exposed, she didn't have any protection against the shadows that suddenly seemed to be creeping in on her. She looked around nervously, groping hopelessly in her empty pocket, as if her wand would just appear. "What a shame, you should know better than to go anywhere without your wand," said one of the shadows. Sarah was frozen on the spot, all of her muscles seemed to stop working. Her mind screamed 'RUN!', but she couldn't will herself to move. "Who's there?" she asked, willing her voice not to shake.

She watched in horror as a tall figure emerged in front of her. It was a girl, a silver and green head girl pin on her cloak told Sarah that she was a seventh year. She had tanned skin with long black hair that fell to her shoulders, her heavily lidded eyes made Sarah shrink back a little. Sarah noticed a smaller boy standing beside her, he was pale with black, greasy hair that framed his face. Sarah recognized the hooked nose of none other than Severus Snape, she knew that marauders, particularly James and Sirius, loved to torment him. She chose to never partake in those pranks, he hadn't done anything to her personally so she refused to mess with him.

The three students stared at each other for a few moments before Sarah decided that she didn't like being in a dimly lit corridor with Snape and one of his friends. She turned and had every intention of running but found two tall, muscular Slytherins blocking her path. "Trying to go somewhere?" the tall girl said. Her voice washed over Sarah like a bucket of ice water. Sarah turned around to face the head girl, her eyes scanned the space around her desperately. "Oh, you won't find a way out," the girl said in her deep, menacing voice. Snape was smirking behind her back, he had an evil glint in his eyes. "Are you sure this is the one Severus?" she asked him. Snape nodded and looked almost excited. Sarah was starting to panic, what was going on? She straightened to her full height, which wasn't much help, she barely reached the girl's shoulder. "Who are you?" she asked the mystery Slytherin.

"My cousin hasn't mentioned me?" She asked, taking a step closer. "That's not surprising, but I must admit a little disappointing." She said with a smirk. Sarah clenched her fists to stop them from shaking, she refused to let the others see her fear. "I'm Bellatrix," said the girl, "You're the one that's always with Sirius and his little friends." Sarah couldn't help but let a small gasp escape her lips. Sirius was warm and caring, Sarah considered him something like a big brother; how could someone as cold and intimidating as her be related to him? "What do you want?" Sarah said.

"I want to discuss something that occurred between my cousin and Severus a few days ago," Bellatrix said calmly. Sarah knew exactly what she was talking about. James and Sirius had pulled a prank that day, "I don't know anything about that," Sarah replied. Bellatrix laughed a deep throaty laugh, Sarah shivered involuntarily. She was telling the truth, James and Sirius had returned to the common room looking pleased with themselves and Sarah had no desire to find out what they had done. "Of course you don't," Bellatrix sneered. Sarah looked around again, how long had she been gone? 'Maybe someone will come looking for me' she thought hopefully. "You see I don't appreciate when my cousin and his cronies take it upon themselves to mess with one of my friends." Bellatrix continued, "Do you know what happens when they do Sarah?" Sarah watched in shock as Bellatrix began twirling her wand between her fingers. 'How does she know my name?' Sarah thought. Again her eyes searched around her, she saw just enough space between the two Slytherin boys for a small person to fit through.

"What happens?" Sarah asked, stepping backwards toward the two. Bellatrix's eyes flashed with amusement before she replied, "I get even." Sarah turned quickly and sprinted to the space that meant freedom. She had almost gotten completely past the two guards when she felt her feet fall out from beneath her and she was sliding towards Bellatrix. Sarah stretched out her arms, grabbing anything she could get her hands on to stop her from moving. She stopped at Bellatrix's feet and looked up at the older girl. Sarah saw her raise her wand and then a bright light; it felt as if a bat and just connected with her right cheek, Sarah had to blink a few times to get her eyesight back into focus. She came back just as another blow hit her from the opposite direction. Sarah scrambled to her feet and ran to the nearest wall, she felt cornered, she had nowhere to go and nothing to protect herself with. She saw another flash of white and felt the same sensation hitting her in the stomach. She fell to her knees with the wind knocked out of her, she could hear footsteps around her, but couldn't see anything. She reached out with her hands desperately looking for anything to use in her defense, just then a hand grabbed her shirt and lifted her up violently. Sarah swung her fist and felt in connect with the side of a head. Judging from the strangled yell it was one of the two muscular boys.

"Now," said Bellatrix, her voice drowning out the yells, "I thought we were playing nice, guess I was wrong." Sarah could sense her standing near her. "And here I thought you were a bitch, guess I was right," Sarah said, for the first time she could taste the blood in her mouth. Sarah saw a flash of red; she yelled and clutched her arm where blood was pouring out of the long gash that was now present. Once again her feet went out from underneath her and she was sliding along the floor, this time she stopped in front of one of the boys, from the swelling of his face Sarah assumed that this was the one that she had hit. She saw him raise his leg and she closed her eyes. The pain was overwhelming, all she could do was curl into a tight ball and yell as fists and feet connected with her body. After what seemed like an eternity Sarah heard Bellatrix speak, "That's enough, let's go." Sarah didn't dare open her eyes, she laid there, barely breathing. She heard feet shuffling and felt robes brushing past her. Her body stiffened painfully when she felt hot breath on her ear, "Tell my cousin that this is a warning."

Sarah stayed in the middle of the corridor until she heard the footsteps disappear completely before opening her eyes. She picked up her head and looked around quickly to verify that she was indeed alone. Slowly, and painfully, she stood up, stumbling and catching herself on the wall. She rested her forehead on the cold stone and banged her fist against it, letting out a frustrated yell. Sarah hated herself for getting into this situation. She hated feeling vulnerable, what was she thinking leaving the common room without checking for her wand? Sarah felt the anger swelling up inside of her, but something else was brewing in the pit of her stomach. Fear. Sarah glanced up and down the hall and decided to start moving, she headed back the way she came, back towards the common room. She was moving slowly, limping a great deal. She knew she was out well past curfew and just wanted to get back to her bed without running into anyone else. Sarah was passing a suit of armor when she heard footsteps coming from a nearby corridor, her fear getting the best of her she took off running towards the Gryffindor tower. She stopped in front of the portrait of the fat lady, clutching her side and trying to catch her breath. The reaction of the fat lady is what triggered Sarah's anger again, the portrait looked at her in horror and maybe just a hint of pity. Sarah felt her cheeks burn, she knew she must look horrible, she could still feel her shirt sticking to her arm where the cut was. She suddenly felt ashamed, she felt the corners of her eyes start to sting, threatening tears. She mumbled the password and entered the common room, it was empty except for James, Sirius and Remus, deep down she was grateful for this but she was still too embarrassed to show it.

She crossed over to her friends, and saw that Remus was holding her wand. She stood beside him and cleared her throat, the look he gave her made her feel ten times worse than when the fat lady had looked at her. He stood up, James and Sirius followed. Remus surveyed her face, taking in every bruise and every swollen part; he opened his mouth and then closed it. He repeated this motion several times, trying to find the right words. Sarah felt her eyes water, she was on the brink of tears, they would never look at her the same now. Sarah took her wand from Remus and looked at Sirius, whose mouth was hanging open slightly. "Bellatrix says hello." And against her will a single tear ran down her cheek. She brushed past Remus and up to her bed where she pulled the curtains closed and cried herself to sleep.

So I know it took me forever to update, but I've been really busy lately with school about to start. I promise that I haven't forgotten about this story! I'm also leaving for vacation next week so it'll be awhile before I post any new chapters, my goal is to get one more up before I leave though.

Thanks to all those that reviewed! I love you guys, you're awesome:)