Hi, I don't mean to sound arrogant because I know this story isn't brilliant but just considering how quickly the other chapters were reviewd after I put them up, I'm curious to know why Chapter 9 didn't get any? Just so I know if it desperately needs rewritten or something :) The sudden silence was a little unnerving!

She gripped the parchment in her hands tightly in a vain attempt to stop the shaking. Her vision was blurred by the salty tears threatening to overflow, but it didn't stop her reading the same line over and over again.

I know about you and the Mudblood.

She recognised the writing, arrogance seemed to ooze even from that. Hearing footsteps and excited giggling, Andromeda hurriedly stuffed the letter under her duvet and jumped up from the bed, her back to the door as she attempted to brush away the offending tears as her dormmates burst inside.

"You still aren't finished packing?" Hertia asked. "We need to go soon."

"I know, I'm nearly done," Andromeda said, her voice only quivering slightly as the words ran through her head again. You and the Mudblood…

Abigail watched her breath come out in misty clouds, deep in thought as she stood ankle deep in the snow beside the lake. She shoved her hands deeper into the pockets of her winter coat trying to get some more heat into the frozen digits but she still wasn't ready to go back inside.

Sirius had been looking everywhere for her for hours and as he took one last look around the wintery grounds he finally spotted a lone figure. Clumping through the snow with his green and silver scarf pulled up high against the cold, he grinned as he neared her and bent down to pick up a handful of the snow at his feet.

Thud.

Feeling the icy wetness running down the back of her neck, Abigail shrieked and whirled round to face him, her brown hair flying.

"Sirius! I'm gonna kill you!" she yelled, leaning down herself to pick up some more.

He laughed and ducked away from the snowball thrown in his direction and held up his hands. "Truce!"

She glared at him then brushed the snow from her gloves. Sirius walked over to stand beside her as she went back to looking across the lake.

"You staying here for the holidays then?" he asked.

"Yeah… things are kind of a mess at home at the moment. Easier for everyone if I stay at Hogwarts over Christmas," she replied quietly. She gave him a small smile. "It'll be nice to be able to sit where I want in the common room for a couple of weeks at least. Thank Merlin we've only got to put up with Malfoy and his cronies until June."

"Speak for yourself," Sirius said ruefully. "Looks like I might end up with him in the family, the way the folks back home are talking about him and Cissy. Makes me sick." He let out a sigh. "I sorta envy you, getting to stay here. I'd much rather be here than go back to Grimmauld Place."

Abigail wasn't surprised, it was no secret Sirius was not the favourite in the Black family. She almost shuddered at the thought of spending any amount of time with a family like that.

"Well... Why don't you stay?" she suggested. Warming up to the idea, "We could do pretty much whatever we wanted with most of the other students away!"

"Hmm… I guess if I did miss the train it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world," Sirius said with a grin, already starting to form plans in his mind of how to best utilise this sudden free time at the school. "I really want to find the hidden passages in the school… think how great it would be to be the only people who knew where they were!"

With a grin back, "So you'll stay then?"

"Why not?" He shrugged and then gave her a gentle shove. "I knew you'd get to like me, Nighthew. The first moment we met I knew we'd bonded for life!"

"All I knew was that I was getting sprayed by your half eaten dinner!" she shot back but she smiled and shook her head. "Let's get back before we freeze to death."

Ted waited patiently at their previously arranged meeting place on the Hogwarts Express, trying to look as inconspicuous as was possible for a Hufflepuff Prefect to look. Turns out it was actually quite easy. He ran a hand through his light hair, silently remonstrating himself for not giving it a quick comb before he left the carriage. At least his breath smelled okay. The minutes ticked by, first five, then ten... soon he'd been waiting for 45 minutes. He stole a glance at the Slytherin carriage, trying to see if he could spot her and wondering if he was brave enough to venture inside and look for her there himself. Well, there was a reason he wasn't in Gryffindor.

Finally the door rolled open and she was there, albeit with her younger sister who gave him a disdainful look, truly worthy of the Black family.

"Shouldn't you be in the Hufflepuff carriage?" she asked pointedly.

Ted ignored her, she wasn't the girl he wanted to see. His voice seemed to die in his throat at the cold, uninterested look in Andromeda's eyes as the two sisters passed by him on the way to the girls' bathroom. As the door closed behind them, he shook his head. It was a front, it had to be. She obviously just wasn't ready for her family to know yet and on some level he could understand that... but on other levels it still made his blood boil that something so trivial could keep them apart so easily.

Andromeda ushered her sister out before her, saying she would be along later. Waiting for a few more minutes to pass, she took the time to collect herself and breezed out of the bathroom as if she didn't have a problem in the world. He was still there, that look of steadfast loyalty still in his eyes. Damn Hufflepuffs. Those eyes soon lit up as he noticed her exit by herself and he moved toward her.

"Hey," he said softly. "What kept you so long?"

Be Bella. "That's hardly any of your business," she said coldly, brushing past him. Almost as if it were an afterthought, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small stack of letters and pushed them into his hands. "I would appreciate it if you stopped sending these," she added, the final chunk of ice setting firmly in what had been her heart as she marched back into the Slytherin compartment.=

Regulus Black ran eagerly to the study, expecting to see his older brother and father stepping out of the fire place from Platform 9 3/4. His face fell upon realising his father was alone. And furious.

"That bloody boy never got on the train!" he bellowed, storming past his youngest son in search of his wife. Regulus cast one look back at the now empty fireplace, his heart sinking as he realised he'd be spending the holidays alone with his parents. A seed of bitterness planted itself in that moment: Sirius had promised he'd see him at Christmas, there had been the unspoken promise that he wouldn't let him suffer in the family house, so cold in so many ways, alone. It looked like Kreacher would be his only company this time.

Give me a heads up if there's a character I haven't mentioned yet that you want to see :) Or even if you desperately want your own OC ha ha. There's a poll on my profile page concerning the next chapter, take a look it would be a great help :)