The cold air shot through her lungs like wild fire as she could hear the pounding steps of people running behind her. Concentrate, focus. If you don't mean it, then don't try it. The voice hissed within her head as she shook it mercilessly while turning and aiming her wand at the approaching wizards from behind her. "Stupefy!"

The jet of blue light shot out from her wand as she turned back concentrating on not falling over her own feet. The black leather of her battle uniform sticking to her overworked body as it hugged every curve of skin and bones, difficult to penetrate, but even more so to bend in. "Run…" another voice snapped quickly as she pushed herself harder then ever before.

Her veins turned to ice as her throat closed up and she suddenly tumbled roughly to the ground below in defeat. The cool of the ground churning her stomach round and round as the footsteps slowly began to fade. Everything surrounding her turning to black within mere instants.

With a quick startle, Avery bolted upright in bed and threw her head around wildly, searching for the first indication of intrusion. Fear and wonder evident in her mind but a hard and repressed look upon her face, just like as usual.

The early rays of morning light blasted throughout the room as she hardly hesitated to remove herself from the warmth of her covers and rush to the heating steam of a morning shower. The floor freezing on her feet as they tickled with anticipation and her senses ready and alive for any possible movement, her wand at the ready if needed be.

Life had once been normal for Avery Chase, at least as normal as it seemed for her. She had a mother, and a father, two older brothers and a younger sister, they even owned a family phoenix for a pet. But the life of a pureblood had never been exactly normal in a way, there was always the nagging sensation of a future, and a plan. There was always the blood traitors and the mudbloods, the followers and the leaders. As there were everywhere you went.

Things such as that, had once been a normal everyday life for Avery, it had once been her world. She was trained, praised, duelled, taught, everything muggle borns and wizards alike had been, but for her… it always felt as if everything came with a higher price.

That's when she was saved, rescued, taken away from a life she thought she understood to it's fullest, a life that had treated her justice, then threw her to the bottom of society, a life that after years, had taken what was once Avery Knight, and put her into a world of dishonour and misunderstanding.

Now, everything had changed, she was cold and dark, much like she used to be, but in a different sense of understanding. She was a warrior, a hunter and the family she had been taken into had trained her as long and hard as her last, but in new and different ways. No longer did she fight for the Dark Lord or the pride of her family… now she was bread to fight for the better of what was right, the better of what should be and what will some day be.

The hot steaming water tore at her skin and burned with contact, but that wasn't all that burned her on the spot, it was the fact that everyday, Avery was forced to see what use to be her past mock her in new and malicious ways. Merikh, Aeron, and Jennifer Knight walked the halls of Hogwarts everyday as the Slytherin scum they truly were, as the siblings to Avery they used to be.

But as hard as it was to see them, she knew that it was nothing compared to the high expectations and standards she had once had to meet as a Knight, and the more the thought passed her mind, the more she dwelled that though she had once been a vital part in her families pride, she had also been disowned for the fact that she had not been placed in Slytherin, a major disgrace. But she hadn't made it into Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff either, rather the hat had sorted her into Gryffindor, the very pit of deception for the child of two Death Eaters.

Walking from the room, she made her way towards the trunk at the foot of her bed, basically the extent of her personnel belongings. Pulling out suitable clothes, Avery placed the only pair of tight jeans she owned over her long legs and covered her torso with a form fitting t-shirt, yet again, one of few. With a heavy hooded sweater, she slipped on her favourite pair of runners and crept throughout her bedroom, careful not to stir those who she shared living space with so early on a Saturday morning.

Walking down the stairs, Avery immediately was greeted by the bright red and gold of the Gryffindor common room, banners, paintings and the reminder of their past achievements marked the walls everywhere she looked as making her way over to the respectable couches by the lit fire place.

Sitting down on one of the single chairs, her eyes suddenly adverted towards movement on the other couch. Surprised, Avery turned to look at the other figure to find that it had indeed been one of the Hogwarts' infamous Marauders, Remus Lupin.

With his head in a book, she couldn't help but inwardly smile at how alike he reassembled the father her newly found adoptive family had. With shaggy blond hair and wise eyes. Only here, Remus had been highly attractive and the brain to most of the groups schemes.

Lupin had been one of the few people Avery had let in. One of the few people she had aloud herself to get close to. Sure she talked to other people, had befriended many others, but there were very little people she had bothered to let past her maze of armoured walls. And Remus Lupin had been the first.

"How I'm I not surprised to see you with a book in your hands?" she mused quietly as she could see the small smile playing on his face when he set his reading material down. Avery had always been good at making herself invisible… most didn't even know her first name let alone who she was.

"A pleasure to see you also Avery, as always." she smiled at his gentlemanlike behaviour and turned back to the fire.

Avery had found herself acquainted with Remus Lupin as not a year before, she had been roaming the Forbidden forest in her animagus form and heard his anguished cries from the shrieking shack, a regular occurrence when she was about on a full moon. This time, they seemed all the more pained, so in spite the warnings and red alerts, she managed to sneak her way through and found that within the shack had been Remus himself transforming into a werewolf.

Knowing somewhat of the pain, she fled to his side immediately and stayed with him the night even when his transformation had completed. She then remembered the next day that James, Sirius, and Peter had all suffered a detention and were forced to miss their friend until late hours.

By the time the three found their friend in the hospital wing the next morning, Avery had already warned Remus to keep quiet or they would have an uproar on their hands. And all to quickly, Lupin had agreed, but she hadn't enough time to leave before he had asked that she watch him on full moons, should it not be with the others, than at least from a distance as her presence soothed him.

She knew not what it felt to be relied upon in a sense of comfort, but with slight hesitation, she couldn't force herself to turn down the request simply because of the pleading in his eyes alone. She agreed to his statement, but only so provided that he keep from his friends what small interactions Lupin and Avery had encountered with each other. And still to this day, the two remained faithful.

"I deem that harder and harder to believe as everyday passes. But all the same I appreciate your chivalry, it is much to difficult to find that nowadays." Avery mused as the heat of the fire warmed her body to the core and sent untraceable shivers of pleasure up and down her spine. Shivers that she strategically hid to prying eyes.

"Once again, you're much to modest, but I find it amusing how you seem to act in a much higher class then the rest of us."

"It's not that hard to do considering the facts." she whispered under her breath as a rowdy racket of footsteps and laughter came bounding down the stairs. With a shared expression with Remus, Avery simply stood from her spot and slowly but swiftly began to march towards the common room door, but not before she could easily identify those who had surfaced from their rooms.

"Another Sirius? How many is that this week?" the irritable sound of James Potter's voice rang out through the nearly empty room as she flinched on the spot, clearly uncomfortable with the surrounding company.

"Well they're all beauties Prongs, but right now, I'm looking for one worth staying with and I've come up short once again." Sirius Black was second to speak as Avery once again cringed in her own skin.

"Could you two possibly be any louder? Look, you've already scared off the only other Gryffindor awake!" Lupin sighed impatiently as she cursed under her breath for him bringing Avery into the feud. She knew for a fact instantly, that she had less then five seconds to make it out the door and out of sight before she would be brought into question also, if not less time than predicted.

With an attempted step she knew she had lost whatever means of escape Avery intended on having when the voice broke out clean and clear into the air. Crisp and energetic, like they had just been on charge and now were begging to run off some steam. His voice was deep and unsettling, one that could easily unravel highly wound strings should someone not be careful enough.

"And you are?" James demanded as Remus quietly frowned upon his friend for being so subtle and rude.

Turning around slowly, Avery swore under her breath as she faced the three boys. Surprise and confusion crossed the first two as she eyes turned to meet Remus' and glare at him solemnly. "Leaving." she offered as a smirk grew on his face and Sirius simply rolled his grey, stormy eyes.

"I know that love, but what's your name?" James tried again, his English accent leaking off his tongue. A sound every once in a while Avery found foreign as she had spent some summers in the blistering heat of New Zealand. The twang even evident in her own voice at times.

"Unimportant." she stated quickly before rapidly departing from the common room, but not before she could hear Potter and Black question Remus thoroughly, she just prayed he would take the hint and leave it alone. There was no way Avery wished to have others know about her unless she fully intended it to be so.

Making her way down to the great hall, it was no surprise to see that the only other Gryffindor bothering to eat this early was a fifth year, Rose Harland. Avery was a sixth year, and eager to move on, but from what she had heard and known herself, Rose had always been a very pleasant, bright individual.

So walking up the center of the room, Avery sauntered over and planted herself beside Rose who looked up from her scrambled egg and offered a smile. Returning the gesture, she couldn't help but feel impressed with herself at the sudden change in pressure with being around the Marauders, and being around a normal student.

Suddenly, a chorus of racket and laughter along with noisy voices erupted throughout the hall. And sure enough, as the two Gryffindor girls turned to look, they watched as Remus, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius and James marched proudly into the grand room without a second glance, arrogance and Gryffindor pride wiping off behind them with each step.

There were few students at every table, but as the four looked towards Avery and Rose, James was soon to usher the others as they approached the two and sat down across from them, identical smirks on all their faces and a slightly more nervous air about Peter's.

"And how are you young ladies?" Sirius asked with a smile in his voice as he turned towards Rose.

"F-fine." she stuttered slightly as Sirius winked and turned back to the others.

"By the way, we didn't catch your name. Remus here was to gentlemanly to give it up." James mused as he turned to stare Avery in the eye. But soon enough, his expression changed as the cold air and natural darkness of her eyes tore through him, a chill creeping through area at that very moment.

"As I mentioned earlier, not important." she countered as Sirius' eyes searched for her own as he too took part in the situation.

"Ah, so you think. We would like to know though. So a name?" he asked as Avery stood from her position profoundly and rested her hands on the table with a steady jerk, annoyance clearing the air of any other emotion around her. She had always been cool and collected, eerily calm and skilled in masking her emotions, but nowadays, it took more then a small reminder of who she was and where she was to settle herself down.

Catching her actions, she inwardly scowled herself and turned back to the four in front of her. "If you'll excuse me." and with that, she stepped over the bench and walked from the room, leaving the others in her wake questioning her motives, and heading down towards the lake, the one spot she found herself capable of thinking alone every once in a while.

Sirius POV.

Baffled, he looked between Remus on one side, and James on the other before turning to the young girl across from them. Rose Harland, a smart fifth year, tall and slender, with mahogany, curly hair and glasses to help her see. Overall, boarder line pretty, with an intelligent spark and a hidden emotion begging to get out. "Rose, would you excuse my friends and I?" Sirius asked as the girl nodded her head and stood immediately.

"Of course. I was just leaving anyway. I'll talk to you later." she rushed before turning and slowly walking towards the door. Probably suddenly realizing that, in fact, she had been here first, and she hadn't managed to finish her breakfast before she was chased off.

"Oh and Rose…" he called out before she could leave. Her brown curls bouncing as she wound around quickly, her eyes surprised with excitement and anxiety running deep behind them. "What was that girl's name again. The one here just a few seconds ago?" Sirius asked sweetly as she shook her head, desperately trying to revive herself from a trance no doubt.

"Avery, Avery C-Chase." she stuttered slightly before the three nodded their heads, excusing the girl as she walked out of the grand hall and hung a hard left to bay line towards the Gryffindor common room, no doubt to rush her friends and tell them of her eventful morning.

"Padfoot, do you really have to do that to all the girls we meet? For once I'd like to have a civil conversation with someone who doesn't either hate us, or is fawning over you." James, his best friend countered in a whining voice, one that he found some what a truth in, but also a disagreement.

"What about that Avery girl. I never even tried anything on her. She hasn't had the chance to 'fawn over me' as you put it yet." Sirius defended as James raised an eyebrow while turning to Peter on his other side.

"What do you think?" he asked as Peter suddenly looked very nervous, slightly unsure as everyone's attention turned to him.

"W-Well she didn't fawn. But she seems to dislike us still." he muttered incoherently as James sighed and turned back to Sirius with a knowing glance. Proving Potter knew he was right.

"She doesn't hate us. But I can't say she exactly fancies you." Remus stepped in suddenly as all eyes turned to him, a curious wave running through Sirius as he was determined to wonder why Mooney had specifically called out the others while leaving himself out of the question.

"Doesn't fancy you?" he asked as Remus shook his head and turned back to the three.

"Well, yeah, I mean… I get along good with her." he offered as the three looked at him incredulously. Up until this point neither of them had ever seen Remus Lupin with a girl that looked anything like Avery around him, and nothing like that had ever happened anyway. He hardly ever got close to anyone.

Xxx

Monday came all to quickly for the Marauders as once again, they were late for their first class, DADA. Sirius had managed to keep himself occupied over the weekend with his newest girl Jazmin, but soon enough she too tired him and he had moved on.

Bursting through the doors of the Defence class, all eyes turned to them as the professor simply turned to the clock and sighed, they had made it in just in time, and there was no way they could get in trouble for being on time. "Well, as it seems you have managed to weasel your way out of detention, take your seats so I may begin." Mr. Broadchild hissed un-amused, his dark robes and jet black hair making him look very intimidating.

Without a second thought, Sirius took the seat next to Remus and turned to him with a warning glance. They had been close, and with the full moon approaching, they couldn't afford to receive any detentions for the time being.

"Can anyone tell me what the other form of a magical being is other than the witch or wizard?" the professor's monotone voice dreaded through out the class room like dark storm clouds and as Sirius watched amused, not one of the students raised their hand to answer the question. "No one?" he asked again when a sudden voice piped up from the back.

"Saratagen." a feminine voice sounded as Sirius, along with the rest of the students shifted in their seats to turn to see which student answered the question. His eyes immediately fell upon the girl he had encountered on Saturday, but had disappeared after that. She was unscathed by the attention, leaning against the back of her chair with a witty arrogance and pride, her look never faltering from the teacher's.

"And how do you know Miss…" the professor drowned on as something glinted in Avery's eyes when she answered once again.

"Kn- Chase." she replied curtly before continuing. "Saratagen are much like wizards… with wands, magic. Virtually unrecognizable to any muggle, or wizard eye. Only with a catch." a smirk wound it's way onto her face as Sirius turned back to the teacher.

"And that would be?" he asked modestly, curious to see as to how she would answer such a question.

"Their near enough to impossible to defeat." she smiled a devilish grin, all the pride leaking from every body part as the professor at the front merely nodded his head. "Saratagen carry wands, but it is not always that they have to use them. Once disarmed, they have the ability to use their knowledge of the elements to guide and shield themselves. Fascinating creatures they are, but also the most difficult to come by. They are recruited everywhere, and should you ever decide that you want one on your side, I wish you good luck."

"And why is that?" Mr. Broadchild asked as the girl simply scoffed before leaning forward and turning her icy eyes towards the professor again.

"Because sir… not only are they near impossible to defeat, their even more so to find." and with that, the teacher nodded his head before agreeing.

"Very good Miss Chase. Though all of your information is correct, I'm just curious as to how you know. Almost all information on the matter has been destroyed or made too difficult to get a hold of." he mused as the teacher brought a hand to his chin to rest the weight of his head on, a small smirk playing on his lips and an interested expression set into his eyes.

Turning back to Avery, Sirius watched as she simply smiled and shook her head, breaking contact. "Parents." she stated simply before looking around the room to meet all of the student's equal looks.

"Most peculiar. 50 points to Gryffindor. For… outstanding knowledge on the subject." he smiled before turning back to the class. "Now today, I will be pairing you up with your partners you will keep until the end of the year. So this period will be an acquaintance test between the two of you." have the class groaned as the professor proceeded to scowled his students before calling out names.

"Lupin and Broan. Pettigrew and Stevens. Potter and Evans. Westly and Korman. Peters and Forest. Black and Chase…" Sirius gawked at the teacher as he looked to his comrades and gave them a look of torture while mouthing the words, 'Help Me'. Naturally he thought sarcastically. If it was going to happen to anyone, it was going to happen to me.

Remus simply looked between himself and his own partner before turning back to Padfoot and giving him a knowing look. Sure enough, he had been paired with Samantha Broan, the classes' top airhead. Sirius had talked with her on more then one occasion and as bad as it was to be matched with someone who didn't find him equally charming, Broan was a close second, and that was saying something.

Sighing, Sirius stood from his position and slowly walked to the back, where he slumped down into the seat beside Avery with a hard breath. Cringing when he saw everyone had taken their respectable seats. "Now that we have that sorted. Your first task as partners is to guess each other's patronus, then work on summoning it into an animal form. This is very advanced magic, but it is vital for some wizarding jobs and better to get a start on early. You have all been over how to create a patronus charm, so you should need no further instruction. Good luck!"

Turning to face Avery Chase, Sirius simply sighed when he took in her appearance, she was attractive to say the least, and that made it all the more frustrating. "Sirius Black." she nodded curtly as he turned to look at her in surprise.

"Oh, so you've heard of me?" he asked, his smile breaking out.

"Yes, sadly." she retorted as his face fell.

"Let's get this over with?" she asked as he simply shrugged his shoulders.

"A toad?" he asked as she looked at him incredulously. "What, you both have the same looks!" he exclaimed when the harsh cold of her eyes met his own. "Oh, I know… how about a chicken, because that's just as self explanatory. Better yet, a hippogriff, there's nothing like a misfit."

"What's yours, a snake? You'd both be just as slimy as the other, besides, isn't that what mommy and daddy would want?" she sneered as the rage poured through every fibre as he stood from his seat the same second Avery stood from hers'.

"Expecto Patromun!" both yelled at the same time as Sirius watched his sleek, scraggly dog move into attack her own light coloured coyote like wolf animal. It was hard to make both out, considering the two bounded at each other as they began to gnaw and fight with the other.

Soon enough, the entire class stopped to watch as the two animals weaved and fought amongst themselves and after a few minutes, even the teacher walked over to watch, not bothering to break up the fight as long as both students were unharmed.

Sirius watched out of the corner of his eye as James turned to Remus who stood beside the teacher as whisper, "Five says Black wins."

Proud of his friends faith, he turned back to watch the fight as both dogs fought fiercely with each other, neither ready to give up yet. "Ten to Chase." he heard someone say and looked over just intime to see Remus stare unbelievingly at the professor. Had a teacher really just joined in a bet?

Soon enough, all the students were making bets… some on Chase, others on Sirius. He couldn't say he liked the outlook, as though both seemed evenly matched, Avery's patronus seemed to be fasted and sleeker then his own.

After a while, students began to egg them on as Mr. Broadchild stepped up from his seat on one of the students desks and looked between the two. "Alright children, I'd say that's about enough." as everyone watched, the two animals simply looked at each other and turned back to their masters. Ready for it to be over.

Watching in slow motion, Sirius was baffled to see that as his patronus was turned, Chase's had bounded up from behind and sunk it's teeth into the neck of Sirius'. Angered, he yelled out in fury. "Hey!"

"Ah, and it seems we have a winner!" the professor exclaimed as all the students turned away.

"That's not fair! Her patronus cheated!" his voice rung out as the teacher turned back to face the others.

"He started it!" Avery mimed his tone as the teacher looked between the two.

"Very well then, you both will receive a detention. Tonight, my office, 7:00. One for cheating, and the other for fighting in class." some of the students stifled laughter as he turned on them and glared hard, hearing the teachers dismissal as Sirius walked from the classroom in utter disbelief.

If one thing was for sure, it was that Avery Chase would not get away anything like this again.

It seems as if the Marauders have found their next target.