Rose arrived the next morning at breakfast bleary-eyed and in a visble state of distress. Her eyes were rimmed with redness and her face was ghostly shade of white.

Her hair was combed and pulled into a braid, a few wisps around her exhausted face, and her bangs neatly arranged on her forehead. She looked very orderly- too orderly. Her ghastly appearance gave her away; she hadn't gotten much sleep. Wearily she dropped into the seat next to Remus. Lily, across the table blinked in surprise, her muffin poised halfway to her lips.

"You look bloody awful, Rose," James had the tact to point out. Lily dropped her muffin, mouth and eyes wide with disgusted shock and slapped his arm.

"Ow!"

"You deserved it, Potter," she said coolly, taking a sip of pumpkin juice. James sighed. He knew that when she reverted to his surname he was not getting off easily. However, despite the volume of their exchange, Rose didn't seem to hear it. She stared rather blankly at a goblet of pumpkin juice, absently twirling her porridge with her spoon. Her elbow was propped on the table, her chin resting in the nook of her palm. Sirius eyed her with discomfort. Did this have to do with their late night impromptu study-group?

"Er, Rose, I hope I didn't keep you up late last night," Sirius mentioned awkwardly. His eyes flickered from the dark circles she sported to her forehead. Lily wheeled around.

"Kept her up?" she asked in her motherly tone. Sirius' eyebrows went up.

"Why do girls think the most perverted and unattractive things?"

"Maybe because guys are the perpetrators of said perverted and unattractive acts? Like I said before. Kept her up?"

"Er, yeah. She- well, she helped me with my Transfiguration essay last night," he unwillingly admitted.

"Really?" Lily replied with a cold tone, her arms crossed and left eyebrow quirked in disapproval. Remus observed rose. She still remained lost in space, floating away in some far away galaxy.

"Yes! You can ask Prongs if you want!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing one arm up in the air carelessly and at the same moment taking a large bite of toast. Lily scrunched up her eyes and stuck out her tongue.

"Ugh, gag me!" Sirius rolled his eyes and motioned towards James. Lily swiveled her torso so that she was facing James on her other side. He swung his face around toward her, egg hanging off the corner of his mouth and his eyes widened guiltily.

"Ha!" Lily burst out laughing.

"What?" James asked tentatively, eyes still slightly widened.

"You look like a deer, caught in the headlights!" she exclaimed, still tittering slightly.

"I what?"

"A deer- you know what that is, don't you?" she asked him in a tone that clearly questioned his intelligence. His eyes darted to Sirius as he answered defensively,

"Yeah!"

Their debate continued on the sidelines as Peter watched them like he had Orchestra seating at an amusing theater performance. Remus was now rifling through notes and trying to remember what part of an automotive vehicle headlights were. Sirius, however, was participating in neither of these activities, (partially because he had seen Lily and James have so many little arguments, and partially since he didn't have a Muggle Studies exam that morning) nor was he even aware of the activities of the other four personages that surrounded him. He was watching Rose. She was completely oblivious to his eyes penetrating her face, watching her every movement, (or lack of). She continued to stir the hot cereal in front of her in a hypnotic fashion; it was if no one even occupied her seat. Letting out a heavy sigh, she lugged her bag onto her shoulder, food still untouched, and exited the Great Hall in a daze.

Sirius wasted no time. He abandoned his half-devoured plate, swung his legs over the bench and snatched up his bag, lugging it over his shoulder. He sprinted wildly after her, trying to catch up with her before she got too far away.

"You know you have egg on your face, James," Lily pointed out with an amused smirk.

"I have?" James asked, wiping franticly around his mouth.

"You looked so adorable!" Lily teased.

"Do I get a kiss for that?"

"Normally, you would, but seeing as you just wiped that mass off of your cheek, I don't think I will," Lily laughed. However, all four of the remaining students sitting in their area seemed to realize the absence of Rose and Sirius at the same precise moment. Anxiety transformed Lily's face.

"Rose!" she groaned. "I was so absorbed in bickering with James I forgot about her!" She made to follow, but James put his hand over her knee and gently pushed her back into her seat. She yielded to the pressure, and turned her head to face him, a question in her eyes.

"Let Padfoot handle it."

Rose wandered aimlessly through the hall, her mind troubled elsewhere. What if her mind was watching Hermione while she was asleep? What if that dream she had had last night, wasn't a dream? What is she had watched Hermione being tortured by that vicious woman as it happened?

So this is what it's like to be Harry. As soon as the thought entered her mind, however, she drew a blank. Who was Harry? Distractedly she wiped away the tear that had run down her cheek. She was driven from her morbid thoughts, however, by the slapping of trainers on the flagstone. Turning, she saw that it was, in fact, Sirius.

"Hey," she offered in soft greeting., attempting a small smile for him. Grinning, Sirius knelt over slightly, trying to catch his breath.

"He-hey," he panted, standing straight now. His knuckles were white with the weight he carried, and he lowered his bag so that the bottom was now level with his ankles.

"I wanted to know how you were. You were non-responsive at breakfast," he said, his smile a blend of jest and concern.

"h, well, I had another dream last night. I couldn't really sleep after that," she admitted.

"Better or worse than before?" he asked.

"Worse. Much, much worse. I don't think I've ever contemplated the reality that such agony exists."

Now his eyes were openly caring. Glancing around, he saw an empty classroom. He took a couple steps forward and held the door open for her. She looked inside hesitantly, before passing by him quickly and sitting on a stool. She slid onto it, disposing of her bag on the floor next to her. Sirius joined her and carelessly flung his bag onto the floor.

"So what happened?"

Her eyes fluttered shut as she recalled the event. A flash of red traveled at light speed from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, and a sharp, staccato wave of pain swept over her body. She shivered at the memory.

"I presume you've heard of the Cruciatus Curse?"

Her eyes snapped open; why was his face so darkly angry? It's his family, her mind whispered. This confused her. How did she know about his family?

"Only too often," he replied, his teeth clenched.

"Last night I dreamt that a woman was torturing Hermione. I could feel it. She- she kept telling her to tell the truth."

"About what?

"She seemed to think she had broken into her Gringotts vault. She wanted Hermione to admit it," she replied, her brow troubled.

"You could feel it?" Sirius inquired softly. She couldn't look at him. Rose averted her eyes to stare at her fingernails. After a stretch of tense silence, her words cut through the air.

"Yes." She shuddered.

"I hope you never feel it," she added after a moment, her voice broken and watery. "I hope you never feel the 'please' forced from your unwilling lips." Her body was rigid; her expression hard.

"Rose," Sirius breathed, his arm involuntarily reaching for her. As his hand touched her shoulder, her body melted, collapsed into his arms. After a few moments of sudden, uncontrollable dry sobs, she nuzzled her cheek into his chest.

"I've already cried all my tears away."

Sirius was stunned. He hardly knew the woman he was hlding in his arms, she hardly knew herself, but it felt good. Even after the discourse that had just passed between them. He gave her a gentle squeeze. Her body relaxed and she gave a sniffle.

"Do you know who the woman was?"

He felt her shake her head against his chest.

"What did she say to Hermione?"

He rubbed the upper part of her back in small, cautious motions.

"She told her to tell the truth. And- I think Hermione must have been Muggle-born, because she kept calling her a 'filthy Mudblood'."

Her fists balled in anger. However, sudden consciousness of whose waist her arms encircled caused her to draw her face away. He felt her head pull back from his chest. Her rip slackened, and she looked up towards him. He looked into her eyes, and found himself fighting the overwhelming urge to embrace her again. Slowly and dumbly they moved away from each other. Rose composed herself. Glancing at the door she tucked a wily curl behind her ear and made a sudden dive for her bag. Throwing it over her shoulder she smiled at him.

"Walk me to class?" she asked, too cheerful for what she was really feeling.

"Sure," Sirius replied, mirroring her smile. But thoughts raced through his mind as he examined her flushed and embarrassed cheeks. What had taken them from such an emotional moment to this anti-climax? Did she like him as a friend and didn't want him to interpret her behavior wrongly? Did she like him as more than a friend but didn't want to come on too strong? Or thought he didn't like her that way? Well he didn't like her as more than a friend. Right? Or was it that she thought he didn't want to be with her? Or was she just abashed at the physical contact. Girls were so confusing. Or, more accurately, Rose was.

A week later

"I got an O!" Rose said, showing her paper proudly to Lily. Lily's eyes read it hungrily, flying back and forth between lines.

"Wow… Rose, I- this is brilliance! I've never read anything so fascinating! These are all your own ideas?" she inquired, handing it back to her. Modestly, Rose shied away from such praise.

"Well, Professor McGonagall is a good teacher. I wouldn't have been able to do it without her. Lily snorted in disbelief.

"Rosie, listen. I adore Professor McGonagall. But she taught you only the incantation and theory. These- these ideas- they're yours. And they're magnificent. You have delved into you magical learning. I must give you the credit."

Rose blushed and mumbled a 'thank you' and continued to try to distribute credit elsewhere, but was interrupted by a sprinting James flying down the corridor.

"JAMES POTTER!" Lily cried in outrage.

"Sorry, Lils, but I'm late for Quidditch practice!" he called over his shoulder, hardly able to look at her and keep his pace.

"Head Boy and Quidditch Captain. He should have chosen one or the other, and obviously Head Boy should have been that choice. He ought to think of what kind of credentials that gives him for his future career!"" Lily would have continued ranting about the importance of an important resume, when noe but Sirius, (who's surprised) interrupted once more. Hand on her hip, Lily scowled at him good-naturedly.

"What could you possibly be so excited about, Black?" she asked exasperatedly.

"Rosie rocks!" he exclaimed pumping his fist in the air. She raised her eyebrows and blinked.

"Come again?"

"Here," he said, hoisting his bag off his shoulder and rummaging through it.

"There," he said, withdrawing a crumpled length of parchment and handing it to her. She smiled in recognition.

"This is the essay I helped you with," she said, giving him a sweet grin. He pointed at the mark. An O.

"You could've gotten the same mark all by yourself if you hadn't waited until the last minute," she prompted him.

"But where's the fun in that?" he teased, flashing her a charming grin.

"Well, on my part, I can see a few extra hours of sleep as a bonus," she replied archly, prodding him in the arm.

"Well, I just wanted to tell you that I couldn't have done it without you." After he had walked away, Lily remarked with a knowing look, "I told you that you were brilliant."