Hey guys. Pretty sure there's a part in this where everything Sirius says sounds like babble. But hey, it's once again the wee hours of the morning. This story is just bouncing in my head like mad. I think I might even get to the end of this one, which is something I've never done with a fic.

Anyway, thanks for the support, keep it coming and such.

Enjoy guys : )

Chapter Four

After a trip to the hospital wing, and some stern words from Madam Pomfrey, Klara was wrapped in a blanket and seated in Professor McGonagall's office. She was sipping some tea, and had been told to miss all her classes the next day.

"Miss Pernondi, I need you to tell me everything that happened."

"It wasn't really much, Professor." She looked at her Head of House, "Professor Dumbledore was keeping a chest full of my mothers possessions, and I didn't realise I would need a counter-curse to open the box. It knocked me out, and Lily found me." "Well, that was basically the truth," She thought, "I left out all the really intense details, but hey. I'm better off if no one else knows."

"What was in the box that she needed to guard so heavily?"

Klara shrugged, "Her treasures."

"Klara, Professor Dumbledore has informed me you've decided to join the Order,"

Klara stared at her, "Yes. I have. Are you in the Order too Professor?"

McGonagall looked at her, "Don't sound so surprised," She said dryly

"Wow, I would never have guessed! That's amazing!"

McGonagall gave her the barest smiles, "Thank you, Miss Pernondi. The Headmaster also told me you've been instructed to keep out of fights."

Klara gulped, "He might've mentioned it."

"I heard what happened with Severus Snape today."

Klara fired up at once, "He called Lily a-"

"I am very aware of what her called Miss Evans. Do not think the teachers aren't keeping an eye on students of Severus Snape's nature. Soon, will we be able to control the situation a bit better."

Klara eyes widened, "Really? How?"

"You will know very soon," She said, "Now, the Headmaster has instructed me not to give you detention for your actions today, so you're free to go back to bed. Did you need me to escort you back to Gryffindor tower?"

"No, Professor. It's only down the hall."

"Good. Now, behave yourself Miss Pernondi."

"Always, Professor. Always.

When Professor McGonagall eventually let her go, Klara was finally allowed some time to think about her day. Her mind was reeling. What a day! It all felt like some absurd dream. It was all incredulous. She had joined the Order of the Phoenix, and was on the road to getting a real chance to help fight Voldemort. She had witnessed her father's life in a way she never imagined she would. She wasn't sure whether it made her feel closer to him or not. The scene of his death that she had witnessed had been horrific. It had made it seem like her mother had killed her father. But she knew that was impossible. It must've been part of the spell on the book. Seeing her mother the way she had in the images of her fathers life had been hard. She had been vibrant, and young. She had been working and fulfilling her dreams. Klara ran her hands through her short hair. She cringed when she reached the end, missing what was gone. It was gone now, gone like many things in her life. But it was just hair. It didn't really matter. She wandered around, but couldn't bring herself to go back to the dorm. She didn't want to face Lily's questions, or Alice's concerns, or Mary's sneers or Cynthia's quiet indifference. Whats she found most interesting is that Lily said the chest wasn't even open. Did it somehow suck everything back in? She sighed, the mystery of the chest growing. She found herself walking the steps to the astronomy tower. She ran out to the edge, almost panicky, and took a gulp of night air. The sky was clear, the stars bright, the moon full- she slowly clamed her breathing and once she did, she felt calm, and peaceful. She had lost count of the number of times she'd come out here this term alone to calm the panic attacks down. It really seemed to be the only thing that helped.

She heard voices from the other side of the tower,

"Siri, your hair is lovely in the moonlight." Anna said, smiling at him

Sirius looked troubled, learning over the edge, "Thankyou, Anna. You didn't need to follow me up here, you know."

"Well, you looked so upset after what happened in your common room with Klara and I thought you needed some comfort,"

"I'm fine, thanks."

"I'll just go then, shall I?" She said, rather sweetly, taking no offence at Sirius' apathy towards her presence. Klara frowned and shook her head. She couldn't understand what an asshole like Sirius was doing with someone like Anna. Sure, Anna was the personification of stupid, but she always did the right thing by people.

"If you want," He said quietly, "I don't think I'll be much company."

She smiled at him, kissed his check and walked down the stairs, her hair long golden curls swishing behind her. Klara watched her go, shaking her head

"Sirius, I wonder about you, you know."

Sirius jumped out of his skin and drew his wand. Noticing it was Klara, he relaxed, visibly breathing out, "Are you following me now?" He asked, amused

"Hardly," She said, walking over to stand next to him, and look out over Hogwarts, "I come here all the time to clear my head."

He nodded, "I can see why. It's usually very quite up here."

She smirked, "I guess I'm not the only one who comes her often,"

He smirked back, "No, you're not."

They both said nothing for a while, until Sirius said, "Are you feeling alright now?"

She nodded, "I'm fine, just an object with spell on it. Must've been a prank."

He nodded, "Well it wasn't me or James."

She laughed, "No, you two seem to be all grown up."

He smiled, and then said, "I think this is one of the first civil conversations we've had in seven years."

She laughed, "I think it's the only civil conversation we've had in seven years."

"Why though?" He asked, "I mean, we get along okay when we try."

She laughed, "I can't believe you would even ask that! Why? Well, why do you think? Man, you were always such a prat to me, and I have a bad temper. What did you think would happen?"

He grinned, "I don't know, really. I just always enjoyed annoying you. No one else ever got as annoyed at me as you did."

"You did what you were good at."

Sirius chuckled but didn't answer, letting that comfortable silence swamp them again. He was deeply surprised at just how comfortable he felt; standing on the astronomy tower exchanging small talk with Klara. The moon was the only thing shining light down on them, and it caught in Klara's hair and Sirius couldn't help but admire how it looked. He cringed then, and felt like a total prat. "What has gotten into you, Padfoot?" He asked himself, "Standing here, watching Klara Pernondi's hair shine in the moonlight? You sound like James obsessing over Lily."

They stood in silence until Sirius broke it again, "What you did today, defending Lily, was fantastic. You actually broke some of Snivellus' ribs. I was so proud."

She chuckled, "Yeah, but now I've got to be good."

Sirius smiled, "Old Dumbly told you to behave?"

She laughed, "Don't call him Dumbly, Sirius"

"I mean it with the utmost affection." He said

"I'll bet," She said, "And yes, Dumbledore told me to behave myself."

"How boring." He replied

"What were you doing up here?" She asked him, changing the subject and not daring to look at him

"Thinking." He replied steadily, but there was a harder edge in his voice then there had been before

"About?"

"My summer."

"Was it good or bad?"

"Neither," Sirius said, "and both."

"Cryptic." She replied

"I try my best. You've got to keep people guessing."

She laughed, "Indeed."

"What did you come up here for?"

She smiled, "The same reason as you."

"What was wrong with your summer?"

She laughed hollowly, "What was right about it is probably the thing to say."

"Well, I ran away from home and my mother disowned me. I'm probably never going to see my family ever again. I had nothing in common with them, but still."

"You wish you did though." She said quietly, "I get that."

He nodded, "It might've been nice, you know? It's kinda like," He stopped and waved his hands, "Like, when you're watching that thing Muggles call television, and the show is so real, and you could fall right into it, but you know you're always separate. That's what being in my family was like.

"I'm sorry, Sirius."

"Why? It's not your fault,"

Klara shrugged, "I'm sorry because even though you're a prat, you still deserved a family."

He laughed, "Thanks, Pernondi."

She shrugged and looked up at him, "What did you do, after you left home?"

"Went to James'" He said predictably, "I had no where else to go. But, my Uncle passed away of old age recently, and he's left me a fair bit of gold, so I'm thinking of getting my own place, you know? For when school finishes."

She nodded, "House hunting is hard."

"Yeah, I just want something small that I don't need to clean."

She laughed, "You lazy sod."

"I don't know why I'm telling you all this." He said suddenly, "I haven't even told Anna about running away from home. She went abroad during the summer, and I didn't mention it in my owls."

She shrugged, "Sometimes it's easier to talk to someone who's almost your enemy than it is to talk to your best friends."

"Precisely. I really don't get that though."

"Neither," She said, "But that's just the way things are."

He nodded and said, "What was so bad that it drove you out here?"

She gulped, "My- my mother. She was killed by- by Voldemort personally over the holidays. Things have been really, really hard since. I lost my mind for a little bit. I didn't know who I was, or where I was going. I wasn't even going to come back to school. I felt like someone had ripped a limb from my body. It wasn't just grief that I felt though. I was so scared Sirius, so scared all of the time. I was alone, and I was jumping at shadows. Every noise was a Death Eater, or Voldemort, come for my head the way they'd taken my mothers. And I was so angry Sirius, so angry all the time. It was like I'd been holding all this rage inside since my father died, and it was finally coming out. Our house was a wreck when I left for school this summer. I was so… destructive."

"Is that why you cut your hair?" He whispered

She nodded, whispering "I didn't even know who I was anymore."

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Klara."

"Thankyou Sirius."

"One day, someone, somewhere is going to find a way to kill that bastard Klara. And then everything will be okay. There will be a day when you're not scared anymore."

She nodded and felt something fierce building her chest, "Yes. Someone, somewhere will," her eyes watered, "Someday."

She felt Sirius' hand brushed her arm, and her skin tingled where he at touched her. The stared at each other- stormy grey eyes meeting golden brown. Sirius moved a step closer to her, and Klara, instinctively moved one step back. His face hardened a little, but he walked towards her anyway. She gulped, and refused to step back. She was a Gryffindor, wasn't she? Wasn't she supposed to be brave? Every hair on her body was standing on end, and as the bottom of Sirius' robes brushed the hem of hers, it was like electricity sparked between them.

"What are you doing?" She whispered,

"I don't know" He whispered back, "but I kinda like it."

"Me too." She said, her breath coming rather faster than it should've been.

He reached down and his fingers trembled has he brought them up to touch her cheek. She shut her eyes, and lifted her hands to touch Sirius. Suddenly, the wind whipped around them, and the door that lend back into the school slammed shut. A few owls hooted, and flew out of the eaves in which they had been silently hiding. Klara and Sirius both jumped when the door slammed. They looked at each other, and Sirius being to chuckle nervously.

"I've got to go, Sirius," Klara said, hurrying to the door and tugging at the handle desperately. It had locked. "Damn it." She said, beating a fist on it. She had to get away! Not only had she just revealed her darkest secret to Sirius Black, of all people, he had been comforting, and understanding!

"Where do you think you're going, Klara?" He asked, his voice amused

"To bed." She said, "To dream." She continued to pull on the doorknob but it wouldn't budge.

Sirius reached over shoulders and tapped the doorknob with his wand and it swung open, "Goodnight then." He said

She shivered at the close proximity of his body, and then she ran like a bat out of hell, her eyes slightly wild and her heart beating madly.

Yeah. End.