She was dreading dinner that night. Adelia, more than anything in the world, did not want to go. Adelia had avoided him successfully, but now she was trapped, dreading the moment when she would have to face him.

Adelia was still so angry for allowing herself to be fooled by him. She had convinced herself that he had changed, but she was wrong. He was the same cruel person he always was. She was foolish to think a few secret meetings would change that. Sirius Black didn't care about anyone but himself.

The dinner would be a useful way to show him that she was better off without him. She didn't need him. She had Regulus—someone who actually cared about her.

She landed, as she had become so accustomed to, in the Black household. Waiting to greet her was Regulus. Forcing the smile onto her face, she said hello with a hug, wincing as he brushed against her bruised ribs too hard.

"How are you?" he murmured as he took her hand and led her toward the dining room.

"Fine," she shrugged. "I've missed you." she replied softly as she gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

"I've missed you too," he replied at her, before leading them into the dinning room. His mother's gaze fell upon their intertwined hands and she did not look pleased. However, she held her tongue.

Regulus and Adelia sat side by side at the dinner table; despite herself, her eyes kept flying to the doorway to see his approach.

Sirius never came.

His seat remained empty at the table and no one mentioned him.

Later that night after dinner, as Regulus peppered her neck with kisses and slid the straps of her dress down off her shoulders, she asked where he was, unable to wonder about him any longer.

"Moved out." came Regulus' short replied, "Couldn't take being the shame of the family, I guess." he murmured as he placed his lips against hers again.

"Adelia!"

She froze at the sound of his voice. Surreptitiously, she tugged at her cloak and smoothed her hair down as he approached her in the empty corridor.

Adelia had been making her way back to her dormitory a few weeks into the new school year. She had been able to avoid him on the train and in the corridors; Adelia had become particularly good at ducking into empty classrooms to avoid him.

"Hey." he said stepping closer to her. She took a step back out of instinct, not trusting herself near him.

"Black." she replied icily, hoping he'd take the hint and stay away from her.

His eyes narrowed at her for just a moment before he continued, "Didn't see you on the train."

"Really?" she said, feigning indifference.

Sirius added, "And I haven't seen you since the start of the term, until now of course."

"I've been around." she said with an impatient sigh, as if he was wasting her time.

He said slowly, "I didn't see you much at the end of last year's term either."

"Are you my keeper, Sirius? Do I have to report to you my whereabouts at all times?"

He crinkled his eyes at her, not even bothering to hide the surprise splayed across his features, "'Course not—"

Whatever feeble reply he had been about to make was lost as her anger rose, "I've been busy, Black."

"Busy with whom, Adelia? Your quality friends?" he scoffed with derision. "They're definitely worth your time and they definitely care about you."

"Some people believe I'm worth more than simply nothing!"

"Oh, like who? Your mum?" he scoffed again, "Or maybe your dad?" he shouted. The anger pulsing through her veins made her push him away as she turned to leave him.

She tossed over her shoulder, "Your brother, you arse!"

"Oh and just how did the Death Eater manage to convince you of this?" scoffed Sirius as he reached out and grabbed her wrist to pull her closer. His touch burned her wrist.

Adelia met his gaze with an unforgiving stare. She fleetingly rethought telling, but she wanted to hurt him. "We slept together."

"You—" he stopped short and she watched as his face seemed to crumble for a moment. "You slept with Regulus?" he whispered, his grip tight on her wrist.

"Yes." His eyes darted across her face, searching for the lie she had to be telling.

"When?" he demanded sharply; his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Before." she said with a shrug.

"Adelia! When?" Desperation seeped into his tone.

"End of last year." Without thinking, she added, "After what you did to my brother."

"I strung your brother up in the air by his leg and you devirgined yourself with my brother?" his tone was as harsh and unforgiving as his gaze. "I hardly think that's entirely equal."

She shook her head, trying to convince him that "It wasn't to get back at you—"

"Then why bother telling me?" he retorted angrily. He released his grip on her arm and stepped from her. "Why would you share?"

"I don't matter, right? Why do you care?" she shouted.

"I— I don't care." he stuttered out. "I just…you were fourteen!"

"You were thirteen, or at least, that's the word around the castle." she snapped back, infuriated that he was prying into her private life.

"You were fourteen for Merlin's sake. You were—are a child." he shouted, shaking his head at her.

"I am n—"

"You are fragile and vulnerable and you're just the type of target someone like my brother would take advantage of. You are fragile and breakable and teetering on the edge of—"

"None of that stopped you." she quipped back. He had the decency to look offended.

"Fine. I see now! I'm the villain and he's some glorious hero? Fine! Go off and fuck him! Do whatever the hell you want, Adelia! You aren't worth my time anyway!"

What was he thinking?

Perhaps the problem was that he wasn't thinking. It seemed he rarely did when it came to her.

Regulus walked out of the classroom last; his usual entourage of friends had left while he stayed behind to finish his potion in class.

"What are you doing?" Sirius muttered to himself as he caught up with his brother further down the corridor, calling out "Regulus!"

The boy turned at the sound of his name and looked surprised to see his brother. "What do you want, Sirius?"

"I—" Here was the flaw in his ill-thought-out plan. How could he go about this? "I…uh—You and Snape?" he questioned.

Regulus furrowed his brow as he adjusted the strap on his bag. "As in Severus and I or…?"

Sirius averted his eyes, "No. You and uh…A—Adelia."

His brother narrowed his eyes at him. "What do you want, Sirius?" repeated Regulus.

"Look, I just…I heard about you two and uh…you know I just…I think you should know that you should be…she's differen— she's fragile—"

"Are you telling me to be careful with her?" scoffed Regulus. "Do you…care about her, Sirius?"

"No! No, 'course not!" he denied vehemently. "No way. I …I dunno if she told you—"

Regulus' brow remained furrowed; his elder brother was making no sense. "Told me what? What would you know about her that I don't, Sirius?"

"Nothing." Sirius backtracked. "Nothing, but…I just noticed…"

"Noticed what?"

"She flinches." Sirius shrugged as he scuffed his sneaker against the ground, feigning nonchalance.

"Flinches when, Sirius? You're not making sense."

"When you hugged her one summer when she came over, she flinched. She winces too. Hell, she had bruises on her arms. I'm just…look, I'm just saying maybe you don't know everything about her—"

"Are you honestly telling me to be careful with her? Are you telling me not to hurt her? Where do you get off acting like you know better?" Regulus was yelling, his voice booming up and down the corridor, "Where do you get off telling me not to hurt her? That's all you've done since her first year! You damn near killed her before she even got sorted!"

Sirius tried to calm him, feeling foolish for even having brought it up now, "I know, Regulus—"

"And the funniest thing is that you hate our parents for how they feel about mudbloods and muggles. You hate how they act because of blood. That's why you bloody left home! And yet that's what you hate about her. That's why you've always bothered her. Because of her blood.

"If she had any other last name, you would have never even bothered her! You have a lot of nerve acting like I'm going to hurt her!" Regulus shook his head at his brother, rolling his eyes. Regulus walked away from him, muttering, "When have you even spoken to her, anyway?" to himself as he went.

"Have you ever talked to Sirius?"

Adelia tensed as she lay in Regulus' arms. "Aside from when he's tormenting me? Hardly. Why?"

"He just…he spoke to me a few days ago. Said I should be careful with you because you're fragile."

She scoffed, "What the hell does he know?"

"He said you wince and flinch, and that you have bruises." Regulus added, watching her carefully for any sign of the truth.

"I don't know what he's talking about." she muttered as she felt the anger building in her body.

"But—"

"Do you really want spend the night talking about your brother?" she whispered in his ear. "I can think of some other things I'd rather be doing." she suggested with a forced giggle.

"Where the hell do you get off?" she yelled at him as soon as she came across him in an empty corridor. "What were you thinking?"

"Don't know what you're talking about Adelia." he denied with a careless shrug.

"You talked to Regulus! You told him I was fucking fragile! What the hell is wrong with you?" she yelled. "Mind your own damn business, Black!"

"I—"

Her tone softened, "Why would you talk to him, Sirius? Why?" She wasn't entirely sure what answer she was expecting from him. She didn't know what she wanted from him.

"I don't need to justify myself to you." he shrugged.

"Bull. You could've stayed out of it. You didn't have to tell him about—!"

"About what, Adelia! You can't even admit it to, can you? You can't tell anyone because you're too damn afraid! You can't even tell your own brother!"

"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about! Why did you tell him? If you don't care—"

"I don't. I just...I dunno."

"You have to know! Why would you?"

But he didn't have an answer.

"What happened?" she asked quietly from her brother's bedside.

"Nothing." he muttered.

"Sev—"

"Nothing happened, Adelia." His tone was final, telling her she shouldn't press the issue. But she did anyway.

"You're in the bloody Hospital Wing. I think something must've happened."

"Stay out of it, Adelia." he hissed.

"Sev, just tell me what the hell happened!"

He sighed, as if fighting himself. He paused before answering. "I think Lupin is a werewolf. All the clues are there, I just needed the proof. Then I overheard Black talking about the Whomping Willow and how to get it to freeze. He was talking about Lupin and I knew it was my chance to get proof."

He had done it on purpose. Sev could have died and it would have been entirely Sirius Black's fault.

"He could have died." she hissed lowly, slamming her books down onto the table. "You could have killed him!" She was clenching her teeth together so hard her jaw was starting to ache.

"I didn't do anything." he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's not my fault dear old Sev can't keep his greasy nose out of other people's business." Sirius carelessly turned the page in the book he was reading.

Anger fueled her actions as she ripped the book out of his grasp and flung it away. It landed with a thud a few feet away. "You knew damn well he was listening. You knew he would try and follow. He could have died."

"Then the world would've been better off with one less Snape in the world." he snarled back.

"I wouldn't have anyone." she replied, hating the tears welling up in her eyes at the thought. "I'd be alone and it would have been your fault."

His careless expression faltered and fell for a moment. She saw it, clear as day. The smirk slipped from his lips as his eyes ran over the tears in her eyes.

Sirius leaned toward her and whispered, "You wouldn't be alone." His expression was soft; it dragged her back through time to the moments when he held her in his arms. Something changed however. His fists clenched and he leaned back into his chair. "You'd have Regulus. You two could fuck and I'm sure you'd forget all of your problems. It seems that's how you deal with your issues."

"Fuck you, Sirius." she hissed as she grabbed her books off the table.

"Trust me," he called at her retreating back, "I wouldn't come near you. I don't want my brother's sloppy seconds!"