A/N: I am terribly sorry for not updating for so long, there's no excuse. SORRY!

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Chapter 3
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Sirius watched silently as James ran a hand in his rumbled hair and fumbled around among the official-looking portfolios with the other, all the while talking to Remus solemnly.

"Is this what you're looking for?" Sirius shoved a neglected file towards his friend who took it without a word.

Being made the Head Boy alongside Lily as Head Girl, James had been all serious and engrossed in preparing for the first Prefects' meeting in a bid to impress her. And he was questioning Remus about the prefect mechanism exhaustively.

In fact, this plan, which aimed to persuade Lily that James could be a mature and serious intellectual if he wanted to, was Peter's idea. To be truthful, Sirius had never expected anything of the sort from him, not that he thought him incapable though.

Rather, throughout the late years, Sirius had grown consistently fond of the last Marauder, whom was regarded as the tag-along by everyone. Sirius had thought the reputation well-earned at first, and if James hadn't been so keen to act the big brother, he would never have befriended Peter. But getting to know Peter better, Sirius must agree with James and Remus that he had his own redeeming qualities; he might lack inborn intelligence in certain areas, but at least he sought to overcome them by diligence.

"Expecto Patronus," Peter murmured, flicking his wand in the wrong direction behind the book of spells.

Sirius watched it as he continued, repulsing the urge to correct him of the wrong flicking of wand as he was sure Peter would figure it out by himself at the end. He glanced at the wall-mounted clock in the Library. A minute to nine. He grabbed his Divination textbook and left the table he shared with his friend in seek of a vacant one.

From the corners of his eyes, Sirius could feel an average-looking blonde glancing at him hopefully and eagerly at the same time, like a cat that had just spotted her new prey.

As the trademark good look was something he had inherited from his parents, Sirius had never really felt special about it, yet he couldn't possibly pretend as if he was not conscious of the attention he got for the appearance.

While his admirers could fill a small classroom, he could quite sufficiently count out his past dates with his fingers. Just three, not many really, and not exactly what others expected of him. And oddly, his relationships with this handful of girls were all short in duration… They had willingly submitted themselves to him but he returned their passion with remote interest. The pretence of single-mindedness in one single girl was simply too tiresome for him, although it's not like he wished to be dating a few at one time, girls and flirtations had just never been among the top in his priority. He didn't have time to spare for them. Yet he found entertainment in testing the strengths of his charisma more often than not.

He walked past the blonde. He knew her in person; she was one of his ex-girlfriends. On the count of three, he thought.

Among his admirers, Alison Harvey wasn't the only one deep in love with him. Quite a few girls in Hogwarts were really crazy over him while the others just idolised him. All the same, he kept them all in leading-strings at his feet.

Three.

He had amused himself with their passion, which he was unconscious of doing at the beginning, but it soon became obvious. He could just feel the sweetness in being the sole source, the autocratic and irresponsible cause of greatest joy and profoundest pain to another, and they were like in his hands.

Two.

It amused him to arouse their hopes and then their fears, to turn them round his finger skilfully (James used to call it knocking their heads together), while they eagerly submitted to him. Whether they had never dreamt of offering resistance or their resistance was in vain he didn't know.

One.

He wouldn't deny he quite liked Alison, for she was the most resolute one, and she, in turn, became the permanent victim of his charms. He played cat-and-mouse with her. He flirted with her, and she was all agitation and rapture; then he would suddenly thrust her away, and she dared not go near him…for a while…before the vicious cycle began again.

There you go.

"Hey, Sirius," said Alison cheerfully as she caught up with him in the aisle. Sirius could see in the three seconds after his glance released her, she had brushed her hair.

"Yeah, Alison?"

Alison smiled skittishly and flipped her hair, emitting a suffocating smell of flower-scented shampoo. "I just thought I should say hi. You know, we haven't met each other for three solid months."

"We haven't, have we?" As if we met on a regular basis while at Hogwarts. He glanced around the library carelessly, he could see Alison's friends gossiping not far away from them. He opened his mouth to speak again, but was cut short by Rainzzi Delanuit when she bumped into his shoulder quite the same way he had bumped into her a few days ago. A tiny smirk crept into his face, which Alison seemed to think was prompting her.

"If you don't mind, we can find a table and sit together," she pressed on, toying with his sleeve now, "to fill each other in with the happenings in summer." She jerked her head to the last vacant table while Rainzzi settled behind it. Furrowing, she looked around, eager to spot another unoccupied table which she could share with him without disturbance.

"Don't bother," said Sirius, shifting his weight from one leg to another so that Alison's hand slid off his sleeve. "I am meeting someone."

Hands in the pockets, he looked over at his Divination partner from the corners of his eyes to check if she had been, as he expected, glancing at them all along. But it seemed she hadn't. Either Rainzzi was really quick in turning away her attention, or she hadn't been in the least bit interested in what he was doing.

He met Alison's eyes squarely when she appraised his handsome face for a few silent seconds. If anyone thought they could read his mind just by fixing him in a penetrating stare, they couldn't be more wrong. "Oh, nevermind," she sighed, a little disappointed, and as if casually straightened herself in a businesslike way. "I'll just see you around."

Suppressing the urge to smirk at her look, Sirius just nodded. He didn't even look twice at her before turning, but somehow he didn't feel half as entertained as he should have been.

Accidentally-on-purpose, he kicked over a chair on his way to the back of the Library, terrifying a bunch of first-years and making several others to glance up at him. Still, it wasn't until his tall frame cast a shadow over her and he cleared his throat that his Divination partner took notice of him.

"Finished flirting?" Rainzzi's face was unnaturally dispassionate as she looked up from the silver quill she had been twirling.

"A bit anti-socializing, aren't you?" said Sirius from his considerable height.

"If you call that socializing, yes."

"Has Pureblood Narcissa spent quite some time on slandering me?" Sirius chortled, settling on the chair across her.

Rainzzi gave him a hard once-over. "You have hardly ever been the subject of our conversations."

"Are you trying to tell me that you didn't already know anything about me running away from home?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"I may have a rough picture of what happened," admitted Rainzzi truthfully and turned her attention back to the book lying open on the table.

He reached over and stamped his outspread fingers on the pages she was reading, blocking view of the passages. "Don't you want to know the score?"

"Are we here for the Divination project or not?"

"Come on," Sirius said softly, "you don't need the grades. This is our final year in Hogwarts and war is looming. We need to take sides. Don't you think we should spend more time on considering thoroughly what kind of a future we want to lead instead of studying?" he added with a grimace.

"Yes," Rainzzi rounded her eyes and gave a sarcastic laugh. "But you made it clear that we have already taken sides when we were sorted into different houses."

"Once we are out of Hogwarts, this house identity is not important anymore," Sirius said, glancing around the Library. "As far as I am concerned, you still resemble the Princess R that I used to know at times."

In spite of herself, Rainzzi smiled in embarrassment and blushed slightly at the mention of nickname that Princeps had made for her when she was still a kid. That was her first sincere smile that he had seen in a while. For a split moment, Sirius could really relate the girl in front of him to the brown-haired little girl that rolled her eyes and chortled at the slightest hint of humor.

"Princeps was a good Auror," said Sirius quietly as her shy smile turned bitter.

Rainzzi chewed her lips, "He saved a lot of lives. But clearly he wasn't good enough to save his own."

"He was a really good one," repeated Sirius, meeting her doubtful glances squarely to show that he wasn't just saying so to appease her.

"I heard that Mr. Head Boy Potter has been admitted to the Auror program with early decisions and you haven't," said Rainzzi after a long pause, "I suppose it's Walburga Black's doings?"

"Either hers or my father's. They both have Ministry influence," Sirius shrugged, "but I won't take the rejection as a 'no'."

"As expected."

"You remember Uncle Alphard?" Sirius leaned forward on the table. He carried on at her blank look, "The one who works in St. Mungo's? He told me that the management at St. Mungo's has been made aware by Dumbledore of your balanced distinctions in Charms, Transfiguration and Herbology. They are going to give you a conditional offer."

"I suppose they're in dire demand of Healers and Mediwizards," Rainzzi shrugged, it occurred to him that she wasn't at all enthusiastic about the occupation that used to be her dreams. "They haven't offered me anything yet, but if they do, I am going to turn them down. I don't see any values in the Healer occupation anymore, especially when people die everyday in the blink of an eye under jets of green lights."

"Perhaps I should introduce Uncle Alphard to you, he'd love to explain a Healer's values to you," said Sirius.

"I thought you hate your entire family," said Rainzzi, surprised. "But you seem to love this Uncle Alphard."

"Uncle Alphard is an exception. He is one of my mother's younger brothers. He never takes a real interest in me until I… er… showed tendency to defy my parents. He has been very distant with the family. My lovely mother used to call him a 'medical freak' as he has devoted his life to the Healer occupation and is too busy to get married. I met him very infrequently but every time when we meet, he seems to be amused by my rebellious acts and eggs me on for more. He went as far as to reveal my mother and father's weaknesses to me," said Sirius with a mischievous grin. "Uncle Alphard and Andromeda are the only ones from the family that I am still in touch with. But Andromeda's name has already been blasted off the Black's family tree, so she doesn't really count as family. But then again, I suppose my name must have been blasted too."

"So you're not even talking to Regulus?" Rainzzi said accusingly, knitting her brows together.

"Not anymore."

"He adores you," Rainzzi said with indignation. "You should know that when you ran away from your parents, you abandoned him as well."

"He shares my parents' overweening pride in their pureblood heritage," said Sirius dryly. "Naturally he doesn't adore me."

"That's sad," whispered Rainzzi, her unreadable expression. "He's your family."

"I wish I had a family, but I don't," Sirius stared askance at her and lowered his voice. "You know what kind of people my parents are. They aren't silly enough to outspeak their support for Voldemort, but they obviously thought Voldemort has the right idea for the purification of the wizarding race. The way they look at the purges with their cold-heartedness gives me the chill."

Rainzzi looked at him difficultly, "I think that they are just a bit... extreme."

"Extreme is an understatement," Sirius raised his voice, "they are outright terrorists. They take pride in their ancient pureblood heritage just because they have nothing else to be proud of. Their ultimate 'noble' mission of eliminating the muggle-borns is nothing more than an excuse to safeguard their vested interest and social status within the wizarding world. Believe me, most of them are hardly more skilled than the half-bloods and muggle-borns that they despise."

"I thought we all agree you have inherited your father's brains," Rainzzi reminded him casually.

"Yes," said Sirius with a look of irritation, "but his brilliance is consumed with ideas of ridding the wizarding world of what he calls the 'inferior races'."

"The same manner as yours is consumed with ideas of eliminating 'Snivellus' in the most brutal ways?"

"If I really mean serious harm to him, he would have been dead long before now." Sirius smiled darkly as he remembered he could actually have killed Snape had James not appeared in the last minute and pulled Snape away from the Shrieking Shack. "Rain," Sirius hissed, pressing on, "I thought you don't agree with my parents' belief?"

Rainzzi chewed her lips and eyed him with caution but other than that, she didn't make a response. She backed away a bit as he unintentionally leaned forward on the table. "Why are you so desperate to get my views, Sirius?"

"You seem to take sides with my parents."

"As I said, I think they have extreme values," she said, disregarding his look of disproval. "The purity of blood is more a fact than a belief. I mean, we are born by wizards and witches, and our bloodline goes a long way back to the history of wizardry. Naturally we are purer as wizards and witches. This purity should go without saying. Boasting is low, proving it is even more so."

That sounded like something Princeps would say, Sirius thought, but it was difficult to miss the self-assurance in her words though her tone was mild. Rainzzi glared at him self-consciously as his stare lingered on her face but she was soon distracted by something beyond him. Sirius followed her glance and found Alison searching as if coincidentally behind the nearest shelves. Shrugging slightly, he turned to look at Rainzzi again and returned her pointed, disdainful smile with an arrogant one.

"Excuse me." A foreign accent addressing both of them broke their mute communication. Sirius looked up; it took him a few seconds to recognize the speaker as the Drumstrang transfer student. Tsepeth appeared far less agreeable in close-up with his pointed nose and small eyes, and he looked far older than the rest of the students, which made him somehow incompatible with the studious environment of the library.

"Yes?" said Sirius helpfully.

"I am wondering if I can share the table with you, since every other table seems to be occupied."

Sirius gestured to the empty chairs on their right. "These seats are vacant."

"Thanks," Tsepesh walked past Rainzzi. "Hey, you are…Rainzzi?" he asked suddenly as he settled in the seat besides her, looking at her tie and seemed to be remembering something.

Rainzzi nodded plainly, grasping the silver quill and rearranging the materials on the table, "Yes, I am. We've been introduced last night in the Slytherin common room." Sirius thought he heard a note of anxiety in her voice.

Tsepeth turned to Sirius curiously, "And you are…?"

"Sirius Black," Sirius answered, surreptitiously shooting Rainzzi a look.

"Sirius Black," Tsepesh echoed in a whisper under his breath and furrowed. Then with a courteous smile he started, "Are you and Narcissa…"

"Nope," said Sirius hoarsely, cutting off the question, "We just happen to share the same surname."

Rainzzi made a sardonic smile. Sirius was under the impression that she kind of loved it when he was reminded that they all came from the same sort of families.

Tsepesh's small eyes traveled from Rainzzi to Sirius and back curiously before starting again conversationally, "So, you're working on the Divination project?" Tsepesh asked. "So who is the historical figure you've got here?"

"Dracula. What about you?"

Tsepesh, who had been directing the questions at Sirius, stopped spreading his belongings on the table, twisted his neck quickly to Rainzzi and looked at her. "You mean Vlad Dracula?"

Rainzzi nodded, a little taken aback.

Tsepesh's stare stayed on her for a short while. "He is an interesting figure," he forced a smile. "Now, please excuse me." He pushed his chair back and strode towards the shelves.

Sirius interchanged a look with Rainzzi then looked at the picture of Dracula, puzzled.

Midnight had fallen when Rainzzi left the Library that night, after three hours of being trapped together with Sirius with little progress on the Divination project, but curiously she wasn't at all exhausted. The path back to the Slytherin Common Room was quite deserted, and it was so dark that she could hardly see where she was heading. She walked along it slowly, taking as much time as possible. And her footsteps eventually faded away in front of staircases leading to the portrait of the Slytherin common room. She stood there for a moment, pondering over the conversation she had with Sirius.

Rainzzi had been suspicious of his unusual amicability in the beginning and she had treated him with caution and doubt. But as their conversation went on, it became obvious to her where his friendliness was coming from…Sirius looked eager to reconfirm that after all these estranged years, they still held identical views towards the fundamental cause that had turned him away from the rest of his family. The way he saw the need for a reconfirmation was an insult to her faith but all the same, Rainzzi welcomed it as a nice change and if she must be honest with herself, she was greatly flattered by his seemingly genuine interest in her views and efforts in maintaining the unreserved interflow.

Rabastan Lestrange was leaning on the pillar next to the Slytherin portrait when the corridor where the common room was located came into her view. He had his arms crossed in front of his check and was stamping his foot on the floor idly. Rainzzi thought of making a detour just when he became aware of her arrival. "Hey," he said, his expression deadpan.

"Hey," said Rainzzi casually, "What're you doing here?"

"I noticed that you're missing," said Rabastan, "Where have you been?"

"Library," she said, clutching the books tighter in her arms.

Rabastan shook his head incredulously, "Have you been avoiding me?"

"No, of course," said Rainzzi quickly with a small smile.

Rabastan grinned slightly, stamping his foot on the hard floor for one last time before he reached out to pull her closer and wrapped his arms around her waist. Feeling his breath on her face, Rainzzi stiffened as he leaned in and pressed his cold lips on hers lightly. Rainzzi had missed him during the summer but the touch of him seemed to have triggered a reflex effect of arousing her guilty feeling.

Rainzzi had spent the previous summer in Princeps's as she usually did after her brother had acquired a house of his own. But on the night when Princeps was found dead, she had been staying with Rabastan in the Lestranges' vacation villa at his out-of-the-blue invitation. It was three in the morning when her dad summoned her back to Princeps' house, back to where she should have been staying in. From the moment she knelt down crying beside Princeps' body, the thought that Princeps might have lived had she stayed behind with him had been haunting her to no ends. Although Rabastan had argued that she couldn't possibly have saved her brother's life even if she had stayed with him, the mixture of guilt and grief that she left Princeps dying in solitary was way too much for her to shrug off. She pulled apart from him as he deepened the kiss.

"What are we now?" asked Rabastan wearily, still breathing on her face.

"Friends," Rainzzi murmured. "We've had that discussion before and we reached a consensus, remember?"

"You said you want a break," said Rabastan, in a rising cold voice that used to give her the creeps. "A break is a break. You can't keep me waiting forever."

Rainzzi glanced at the guy that she had once been very scared of. Compared with Lucius Malfoy, Rabastan Lestrange was an introverted and esoteric person and he used to wear that chilly unreadable expression of his everywhere. Though both of them were sorted into Slytherins, she just related him to Rodolphus Lestrange as his younger brother, besides that fact, her knowledge of him would be essentially nil. When Rodolphus was still at Hogwarts, he was notorious as one of the biggest bullies, people, even Slytherins, who infuriated him would have hell to pay for. Although Rabastan was much more reserved than his brother, Rainzzi made sure there was no reason their paths should cross.

At first, Rainzzi thought he had a crush on Narcissa when he seemed to have taken a sudden interest in spending time with them and she used to feel uneasy under his cold, golden eyes and avoided being in his presence. But as the years unfolded, he became open for his affection for Rainzzi and made sure that it was known to the Slytherin population. She had rejected him and was annoyed at times by his possessive behaviors but he was persistent in his silent way. Every now and then he would break out from his cold shell and demonstrate rare fits of uncharacteristic passion and fancy to her that made her perceive him in a new light. They drew consistently closer to each other until they started going out in their fifth year.

"I need some more time to figure my way out," whispered Rainzzi.

"Make sure that you don't take too long," said Rabastan, "because I won't be waiting forever."

Rainzzi nodded quietly, shamefaced. "Goodnight, Rabastan." She pecked him on the cheek, not daring to meet his eyes as she did and proceeded to the Slytherin common room.

A/N: I am not sure if those who read this fic before is still reading it, I really hope you are, although it was totally my fault that you might have turned away from me " (16 months of nothingness is unforgivable, I know…) But please forgive me, do leave me a review if you chance to come back and read this. Please give me some comments because I really treasure what you guys think I promise I will update as long as someone is still reading…

And just to let you know, the next update on my agenda is Regulus Alphard Black, please read it too if you have a deep interest in Regulus as I do. I think you'll find some commonalities with me there:)

Once again, PLEASE REVIEW