A/N: Alright I updated and it's a long one. Over 6 000 words, so you best ALL REVIEW. On a less important note, I have changed my pen name to Comfortably Grey as I find it suiting and is kind of a long story (not really, it's just hard to explain and pretty boring). Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW I have exams right now so reviews would be fantastic. Voting is still open for Brenna's love interest and as always I'm open to suggestions so leave a REVIEW.

Chapter 19: And Yet to Every Bad

September passed quite uneventfully after Hogsmeade and life was getting busy for the fifth years as teachers began buckling down on them in preparation for OWLs. Classes had become more demanding and Brenna found herself dividing what little free time she had amongst training (Order of the Dragon style), assessing, investigating and defending Hogwarts from the outside world, meeting with McGonagall, Dumbledore and Order personnel via their headquarters in the school for updates, Quidditch practice, homework, and, of course, time with the girls. By late October Brenna was beginning to regret taking this assignment, though she knew her and Cyrus were the only ones properly suited for it, and at the very least joining the Quidditch team, what in the name of Merlin had she been thinking?

At the moment she and Cyrus were sitting in their Headquarters around the scrubbed table, maps and plans laid out before them, cups of coffee kept close at hand as they reviewed the attacks and battles that had taken place involving the Death Eaters, the Order of the Dragon and the Ministry Aurors. A day-planner lay open next to the coffee pot; the previous days each had notes marking the respective pages about the day's events, plans and reprisals both in the greater scheme of the war and Hogwarts in particular. Brenna, having just finished filling in the day's page, Tuesday October 28 was proclaimed in bold black writing on the top, gave a barely audible sigh while topping off her cup of black coffee and focussing her gaze on the parchment that now lay in front of her.

"Things are getting worse, Cyrus, we shouldn't be here." Brenna muttered staring at a chart listing the attacks from August 1 to October 25, there had been an increase over the past months, one that wouldn't be obvious to people reading news in the Prophet but plainly visible to anyone who kept track of the amount of time between attacks. There was less time in between and though the severity varied, they didn't keep to a specific geographic region which would increase fear in the average person as the Watchers, the Order of the Dragon's independent intelligence division, reported through their data. The Watchers were definitely the best source of accurate, up-to-date information, in fact the charts and maps Brenna and Cyrus currently studied had been updated only three days previous, October 25.

"I know…we should be out there fighting." Cyrus replied taking a gulp of coffee. Nothing had really changed since they first arrived at Hogwarts. Most Slytherins were still blood-obsessed pricks with psychopathic tendencies but for the most part, hadn't progressed to blood-obsessed psychopaths acting on their twisted ideas of "blood purity".

"How're things in Slytherin?"

"Appalling," Cyrus answered his sister looking at her over the coffee mug that was pressed to his lips, poised for yet another drink. "But no different from September. They rant a bit about the 'Mudbloods' and the 'Blood-Traitors' and 'The Marauders' but other than that? They're glorified deviant children with a few obvious exceptions. Mulciber for one, that bloke is twisted and Rosier too. Black isn't bad though, not nearly as evil as the others, you can tell he doesn't really believe some of what they say, must be the influence of his 'worthless, blood traitor brother'. What about the Gryffindors?"

"They whine, a lot. And complain, Merlin do they complain, and about the most trivial things…I just want to remind them that people are dying and they should be grateful that they can even think about which boys like them without worrying about death. They're so removed from the whole thing, they don't realise what's happening outside these walls is real." Brenna shook her head taking a sip of coffee as they lapsed into silence. The obliviousness of the students was driving her crazy, and she couldn't fully remember a time when she wasn't aware of Voldemort's rising and the trouble he was causing.

As young as eight, Brenna could remember the Order was talking about the noise he could make and the headache he could cause if he gained enough power. Knights would worry and come home to their families after meetings with creased brows at the growing possibility of war; Brenna's own parents were no exception. But the Order waited, they waited for the British Ministry to ask for help, for the people to need help, before they got involved as they always respected a nation's right to self-government, only stepping in when necessary to maintain or restore peace and justice. The Order and Arcadia sent delegates, Watchers, and some of their best Knights to the Ministry to warn them of the great danger posed by Lord Voldemort and his growing followers, the Death Eaters, but they were ignored. The Ministry officials and the Minister himself refused to believe that this lunatic could cause any sort of problem for the mighty British Ministry of Magic, the very idea was laughable and many Knights, delegates and Watchers had Ministry higher-ups literally laugh in their faces. The warning was passed on to very few at the Ministry and always in a joking manner when it was; even fewer took any heed in the respected, honourable Realm and knightly Order.

Perhaps the only one that truly believed was Daniel Potter, at the time a middle-aged Auror who had a long history with two of the most respected Knights in the Order, Avira and Arion Templar, friends of his and his wife's from when they were all younger and the Templars had lived in England where they were stationed. They had moved back to their homeland of Arcadia for safety reasons when Avira became pregnant 10 years previous, ironically around the same time Helen, Daniel's wife, became pregnant as well, and though they were physically distant, their friendship was as strong as it was when they lived down the road. Daniel and Helen were there for the birth of the Templar's children, twins it had turned out, a boy and a girl named Cyrus and Brenna, and the Potters were named their godparents, though that was more complicated for Arcadians, and when the Potters had their little boy, James, the Templars were there and became godparents as well.

But two years later, the Templars grew worried over the safety of their children; apparently they were special, even more special than the average Arcadian Knight, as was evident in their astounding control of magic though the twins were only toddlers. As a result, Helen and Daniel had to hide their close relationship with the children from their own son and everyone else. They still saw Brenna and Cyrus growing up through the years, but they never told James where they went, leaving him with a sitter and going on "date night". They cherished seeing their good friends again and their godchildren, but they could tell Avira and Arion were growing worried.

"Something is coming," Arion had begun one night when the children were ten. The two Knights went on to tell the Potters of this new character, Lord Voldemort, the Order's growing concern and the Ministry's lack of response. It was then that the Potters knew that those two children, the Templar twins, and indeed their parents would play some kind of role in this thing that was coming, it was clear from the way Avira watched them through the sitting room window where the two were practicing their martial arts outside, a proud yet worried expression on her face.

"We will be returning to England, to prepare for what is to come. Brenna and Cyrus will be coming with us. You must promise us something. If anything happens to us, and Brenna and Cyrus survive, you must return them to Arcadia, it is the only place they will be safe enough to grow and mature until they are ready. If anything happens, bring them back and Ariston will see to it that they are taken care of. If anything happens you must not reveal them to your son or anyone else until they are ready. You must promise us this." Avira had spoken with such conviction, her eyes glassy with tears that would probably never fall. What more could the Potters do than sincerely agree to their dearest friends' request? And so they agreed, they promised that no matter what, if anything happened to Avira and Arion they would bring Brenna and Cyrus to Arcadia and leave them with Ariston Gold, Grand Master of the Order of the Dragon and a man as trusted as Dumbledore. Then they would return home and hide their grief and worry from their only son, giving him the happy childhood Brenna and Cyrus would no longer have.

When the Potters returned home that night, they were worried. They watched little James sleep for a while, as they had stayed well into the night in Arcadia, and then went to bed, trying to convince themselves that nothing would happen to their friends, though they knew that was a lie. Almost a year later the Potters' worries were realised when Daniel received a letter late in the night on May 13th from a Ministry owl requesting his presence, as well as his wife's (who was a Healer), at an address he recognized.

As soon as he began reading, Helen knew. She knew it was no coincidence that she had just been dreaming about Avira and Arion saying goodbye before they walked through an archway into a beautiful, paradise-like garden and disappeared into misty white light. Avira had told Helen countless times before that while she believed in bad luck, coincidences don't exist. Without consciously realising it, Helen had begun to dress in robes that Avira had given her for her birthday; robes that she had told James were from his father, fully prepared to fulfill her promise to her best friends. Daniel followed suit, dressing in the robes he had worn that day before quickly wiping his wife's tears, telling her to be strong for Brenna and Cyrus, though they did not even know if they were still alive, the letter hadn't said. Then the Potters apparated to the house where the Templars had been living.

The house was dark now, ominous with a few Aurors standing around on the lawn. As soon as they appeared there, one of the younger Aurors approached.

"Daniel, Helen," He had said in a tight voice as a greeting, though the Potters barely registered it as they stared at the green mark hovering in the air above the house, a snake protruding from the mouth of a skull, it was horrific yet they couldn't tear their eyes away. "Thanks for coming; it seems to be the same as the others we've seen in the past few months. Looks like the Killing Curse again, but this time we've got survivors. Two kids, a boy and girl, they're pretty young though, not Hogwarts age yet. They won't move from where they are. Figured they should be looked over by a Healer, Helen, and Daniel you're good with kids so...Last I checked they were in the sitting room, it's a mess in there, parents put up a bit of a fight." With that the auror walked away and Helen and Daniel were left to enter the house to see their friends dead upon the floor and their children staring and shaking at the sight.

Brenna swallowed thickly, she hated thinking of those memories, as anyone would, especially since she would likely relive the experience, her personal experiences rather than the Potters', tonight in her dreams and that was even worse than the Potters' for Brenna had seen everything that happened that night, everything including the death of her parents. Shaking herself mentally Brenna downed the rest of the coffee in her mug and looked over at Cyrus.

"You up for a fight?" She asked noticing that her brother looked just as stressed as she felt.

"Always, you're going down, girl."

The two removed their sweaters, shoes and socks and took positions on the mat in the centre the room. Facing each other a few paces apart, they folded their left hands over their right fists and bowed to each other before they began circling each other practicing the ancient Chinese martial art of Baguazhang which is based on the theory of continuously changing position in response to the current situation in order to overcome ones opponent with skill rather than brute force. Zhang, meaning "palm", designates Baguazhang as a style that emphasizes the use of the open hand over the closed fist. Cyrus made the first move coming closer and attempting to hit Brenna's shoulder which she blocked with her forearm. This effectively began a series of hits, blocks and kicks as the twins continued to circle each other until eventually Cyrus tackled Brenna to the floor, the latter landing hard on her back before performing a perfect kick-up and was standing over her brother. Cyrus was just beginning to get up from the floor so Brenna took the opportunity to hit him a few times in rapid succession before kicking him hard in the side and sending him to the floor groaning.

"Ugh, Bren, I forgot how hard you kick, Merlin's beard, that's gonna leave a bruise." Cyrus spluttered from his position on the floor.

Brenna who stood above him just laughed. "You give up then?"

"Never," Cyrus said as he swung body so his legs swept out Brenna's from underneath her and landed sprawled once again on her back.

"You bastard," Brenna groaned in pain. Suddenly the situation was incredibly funny despite the pain they were both feeling as they found themselves laughing uncontrollably, sprawled on the floor of their training room. Eventually the two calmed down and using each other for support pulled themselves to their feet.

"Thanks Cyrus, I needed that." Brenna said grinning.

"What? A fight, laugh, pain or all of the above?"

"All of the above I guess, but it was still good. I've been stressed lately, you know?"

"You're telling me? I have to pretend to be a fucking lunatic 24/7!"

"Yeah, tough break there, Cy. With any luck it'll be over soon…Merlin, I'm tired." Brenna said yawning.

"You should be you had the Rounds last night. Get to bed, Bren, I'll see you tomorrow." Cyrus smiled warmly at his twin; sympathetic to her plight of tiredness as last night had been her turn to complete the weekly check of all Hogwarts' perimeter defences and that meant running around the borders of the school looking for any holes or deteriorations in the protective charms. It had been a long night for her and it would've been done faster if they'd both done it together but you can't have both of the school's defenders worn out and exhausted at the same time and so the two took turns every week making the Rounds.

"'The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep..."

"'And miles to go before I sleep'." Cyrus said finishing the Robert Frost quote that they both used so often as a way of telling the other that even though they wanted to, it wasn't time to sleep yet. "Sleep first Brenna, your promises can be fulfilled in the morning; you're no use to anyone if you haven't slept in too long."

"Yeah, I know." She sighed making her way to the entrance way which was marked by an intricate series of swirls of thin gold forming an archway on the wall that would open upon request. Pausing a few paces away, Brenna turned back to Cyrus and gave him a small, genuine smile. "You're a really great brother, Cy, and a damned good Knight too…just thought I'd let you know."

"You're pretty great too, Brenna." He said returning her smile. There was something to be said for Hogwarts' ability to make Brenna open up, even just a little, and that was a benefit that far outweighed the cost of pretending to be students at this school. Brenna was telling him things, just the simple admission that she was tired and vocalising her thoughts about him to him was something that she had stopped doing long ago; back when their Uncle was their legal guardian though he really didn't really guard anything.

"You still good for Thursday at seven?"

"Yeah, if anything changes I'll let you know, and we've got that meeting with Dumbledore and McGonagall Friday at nine, right?"

"Yup…goodnight, Cyrus."

"Night Brenna," Cyrus watched her leave through the archway before he turned back to the training equipment to take out run some drills with the dummy-opponents.

:.:.:

Sirius was sitting in the Common Room that night, it wasn't curfew just yet but it would be in fifteen minutes or so and there wasn't anything else that he particularly wanted to do, so he sat on the couch watching Remus slaughter Peter in Wizard's Chess with James next to him trying to write a letter to his Mum, who had recently Owled demanding that he respond.

"Any of you lot seen Brenna lately?" Marlene McKinnon asked as the boys looked up at her from their respective places.

"No, not since dinner I think, did you check the library?" Sirius answered for all of them.

"We've checked everywhere! I swear that girl disappears way too often. Well, thanks anyway." Marlene walked away muttering something about an essay that Brenna was supposed to help her with and the boys went back to their previous engagements.

Sirius, however, was less watching the horrible game of chess that his mates were playing and more thinking about the enigma that was Brenna Templar. Marlene was right, she did go "missing" frequently and no one really knew where she went. It was a pretty steady occurrence too, not just once in a blue moon, but more like a couple times a week…and usually after dinner, in the evenings. Sirius tried to think back to the last time when Brenna had been conspicuously missing from her group of Gryffindor girls. It wasn't long ago, last week actually; the other girls were sitting at a table in the Common Room around 7:30ish when Sirius had walked by on his way back from the Library where he had been speaking with Remus and he had heard Evans ask the others where Brenna was. At the time he thought nothing of it, he brushed it off as the girls assumed she was in the Library, but he had just been in the library and she wasn't there. There were a few other occurrences that came to mind as well, all at night, all when she could very well be in the library or walking around, and no one ever knew where she was. Odd.

"Hey Prongs, what'd you say we get back to our little investigation?" Sirius asked causing all three other Marauders to look up from their activities.

"We don't really have anything to go on, remember Padfoot?" James answered, his eyebrows pinched together.

"See that's where I think you might be wrong." Sirius paused here for a bit of dramatic effect, letting the curiosity build in his mates, when James cocked an eyebrow Sirius continued. "Brenna's disappeared; she does every so often you know. Twice a week usually, sometimes more, no one ever knows where she goes." James nodded appreciatively, thinking over the observance in his head and finding that he had to agree; Brenna disappeared frequently and told no one where she was going.

"Oh come off it!" Remus objected, his voice only loud enough for the Marauders to hear. "What're you lot thinking? That she goes off and has secret meetings someplace? That she's a spy of some sort?"

"Maybe not a spy, per se, but I could go for secret meetings." James answered sharing a look with Sirius.

"Definitely plausible, why else would she not tell anyone?" Sirius concurred and Remus shot them both looks that clearly said: you lot are bloody mental!

"Or she doesn't think anyone will care if she goes for a walk around the castle!" At Sirius and James' sceptical looks, Remus decided to voice the message conveyed in his look just in case they didn't quite get it. "You lot are bloody mental! Have you never heard that when multiple explanations exist the simplest one is usually correct?"

"Usually being the operative term there, Moony. Besides we just want to know where she is, if she's in the Library, great, if she's having secret meetings, then we want to know what's being said." Sirius explained.

"It's the Marauder way, Moony! No stone left unturned, no question left unanswered! Where is your academic curiosity? Your adventurous spirit? Your determined pursuit of the truth? Goddamn it Moony, where is your integrity?" James declared melodramatically. Remus simply cocked an eyebrow. "And you're interested in Brenna's secrets, too."

"Plus, we can use the map."

Ah, the map. The Marauder's Map, to be precise, showed every nook, room, corner and crevice of Hogwarts Castle and Grounds as well as every person and their position on school property. The Marauder's Map was probably the greatest accomplishment of the four Gryffindor's as of yet. It had involved countless advanced spells, hours of practice and research, and it was a masterpiece, a true, one of a kind, genius creation. It displayed every secret passage and room that the Marauders had found during the years at Hogwarts, and they were pretty confident in saying that included almost all, though the Room of Requirement was unplottable meaning that it can not be mapped in relation to other locations. The map also showed people with their true names despite any magical alterations including but not limited to Animagi, invisibility cloaks, Polyjuice Potion (that was an interesting discovery last year), and disillusionment charms.

"Prongs go get the map would you?"

"You go get it, it was your idea."

"Exactly, it's your turn to contribute something." When James opened his mouth to protest, Sirius continued, "Just go get before she turns up would you." Grumbling James complied.

"What do you think you're going to find Sirius? What are you hoping to find?" Remus whispered, moving to the James' recently vacated spot after declaring Checkmate to Peter.

"The truth." Sirius declared it simply, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, and perhaps it was, in theory.

"Funny thing about the truth, it's usually pretty grey. You might want to be careful, Black," Came a voice from behind them. "Hey Remus, Peter" she added to the other Marauders receiving a similar greeting from each of the boys before Sirius spoke again.

"Brenna, nice of you to grace us with your presence. Where'd you go?" Sirius inquired as Brenna came to sit next to him on the couch.

"Around," She answered evasively, she was already suspicious of what the Marauders were talking about, first about truth and then Sirius asking – almost demanding – where she was with strained nonchalance.

"And, pray tell, where is 'around' exactly?"

"No where you'd know." Brenna replied, and technically it wasn't a lie, Sirius didn't know about the room that had been made for Brenna and Cyrus. James, who was just coming down the stairs, saw Brenna sitting on the couch and stuffed the Map in his pocket rather unceremoniously as he realised they had lost their chance, for now anyway.

"Well if it isn't the mysterious Brenna Templar. Wonderful to see you again, I was beginning to forget your beautiful face." James, in true form, spoke melodramatically, with a grin on his face and a wink in Brenna's direction, as he took a seat in the armchair next to her. Brenna merely rolled her eyes, her back was aching from the fight, and still exhausted, she envied the other girls who were probably getting ready for bed upstairs. "And where were you this fine evening?"

"Real subtle, boys," Brenna said yawning. Remus chuckled appreciatively for he had just been thinking the same thing. "What's got you all so interested in where I go and what I do?"

"We're just concerned, is all. Can't have one of our own in trouble, now can we?" Sirius said with an air of chivalry.

"How chivalrous of you, really I'm touched." She told them sarcastically. "But how do you know I wasn't off snogging some bloke in a broom closet, pray tell?" Brenna raised her eyebrow suggestively and for a beat the boys were silent, they honestly hadn't thought of that because Brenna didn't seem like the type. She just didn't seem like the kind of girl to run off with a random bloke and snog in broom closet no less, she was…classy. Add to that the fact that Sirius fancied her – though he wouldn't quite admit it with those words yet – and it's pretty clear to see why it hadn't crossed his mind.

"And were you?" Remus asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. Remus' interest in Brenna's love life – potential love life, rather – inexplicably irritated Sirius though he certainly didn't show it and paid more attention than he would have liked to admit to the answer, hoping all the while that she said 'no'.

"That's not the point, Remus. Whether I was or wasn't, isn't the question right now. The question is why you wonder where I am, likely concocting dramatic explanations, without considering the simplest. Major oversight, Remus, I'm very disappointed."

"Only in me?" Remus asked an amused smile playing on his face.

"You're supposed to be the smart one, aren't you? By logical progression, you're the one that should've known better than to jump to such exciting conclusions when the truth is likely much duller. So, I'm disappointed in you. No offence Peter."

"N-none taken," Peter stammered.

"Are we supposed to be offended then?" James asked.

"You can be offended at your own discretion." Brenna's vague answers tore at Sirius, was she snogging some other bloke? Were they completely unrealistic in assuming she was having secret meetings? Why couldn't she just answer a damn question? Why wouldn't she tell him anything?

"Brenna, answer the question. For once, just give us an answer, a real answer." Sirius' voice wasn't light and fun anymore, it was tired and annoyed.

"What was the question, again?" Brenna asked. She didn't want to actually lie to them, truths are always easier to remember than lies, and Brenna liked to think she maintained some semblance of her normal integrity and values and lying was not a part of the normal Brenna – even if that was an oxymoron considering her strangeness.

"Just forget it, Brenna, keep lying or whatever it is you're doing." Sirius stood suddenly angry. Angry that she wouldn't trust him with anything, that she would just tease him with barely-there answers and pretend to think of him as a friend. What the hell is her problem anyway? "Don't you ever get tired of pretending, Brenna? Oh wait; you can't answer that, can you?" Without allowing time for Brenna to respond, he turned on his heel and stalked away to the dormitory.

Brenna watched him go with some kind of resigned sadness. As much as she understood his frustration, as much as she wanted to tell him the complete truth, she couldn't fix it, she couldn't tell him. Too many lives were at risk and she couldn't justify telling him just so that he wouldn't be mad at her. It didn't make sense, it was irrational and stupid, and she had other responsibilities to worry about…like sleep and, you know, making sure no one dies. There was no question that those things – on normal circumstances maybe not sleep, but she hadn't slept since she woke up at 6:00am the previous morning…so that's 40 hours, bloody hell – were more important than dealing with teenage drama. Swallowing surprisingly thickly and brushing her hair behind her ear, Brenna figured she should probably say something to the three boys who were watching her, confused by their friend's seemingly random outburst.

"Well, I'm going to head up to sleep. It's been a long day." She gave them a small smile, too tired to properly disguise the effort that it took, and headed for the stairs. As she made to pass Remus, though, he caught her hand and met her gaze with earnest eyes. James raised his eyebrows at Peter, the only remaining and unoccupied Marauder, who looked confused in return. Rolling his eyes, James strained his ears to hear the whispered exchange.

"Brenna, don't let him get to you, he's just moody sometimes, it's nothing personal." Brenna squeezed his hand reassuringly, in thanks for his words which, though she knew them to be shallow pleasantries, offered her comfort as they implied that he wasn't angry with her and he cared at least enough to try to make things better.

"I think we both know that's not true. It's personal, he's angry with me. But, thanks for trying Remus, and thanks for caring." She offered a more genuine smile and squeezing his hand a last time she left the Common Room, Remus' eyes trailing after her. James stood up from the armchair looking at his fellow Marauders.

"Well, I'm heading up. You coming?" He asked hoping they would say no.

"Nah, I'm going to stay, Wormtail wanted some help with that Transfiguration assignment, right?"

"Yeah, thanks Moony."

"Alright, night mates." James walked up the stairs to the dorm with no intention of going to sleep just yet. He wanted to talk to Sirius. They hadn't spoken much about Brenna since the Hogsmeade trip, in fact, Sirius had been pretty silent about her and if James had to he would bet that he realised something concerning the raven-haired Gryffindor. Unfortunately, the aforementioned Gryffindor was complicated and not exactly normal.

Walking into the dorm, James saw his friend sitting on the window seat glaring out at the sky. Obviously whatever made him blow up at Brenna was still agitating him.

"Hey mate." James began, making his way over to his own bed which was directly beside the window. Sirius merely grunted in response. "Do you want to tell me why you just freaked at Brenna?" Sirius remained silent a scowl set on his face. "C'mon talk to me. What's going on, mate?"

"I don't know. I don't know what the hell is going on! I just don't know. She just – ugh." Sirius grabbed at his hair tugging in frustration. James was quiet for a few moments as Sirius breathed heavily trying to calm down.

"Do you fancy her? Brenna, I mean."

"No, I – I don't know, mate. I like her, I do, but she just…drives me crazy sometimes. I mean, why doesn't she just tell us something, anything?"

"Is that why you got mad at her just now?"

"Yeah, I guess. I just don't get it. Why won't she trust us? She won't even say where she was tonight. I just…I want to get to know her, y'know?"

James couldn't help his shocked expression at that, his eyes widened, eyebrows disappeared in his hairline, and his jaw dropped open. Sirius Black, his mate Sirius Black, just said that he wanted to get to know a girl. Somebody floo the Prophet the world just changed its direction of rotation. While James had suspected that Sirius fancied the girl, he wasn't aware that it was to the extent that he actually wanted to get to know her, more than a snog or two and before. This was uncharted territory as far as Sirius was concerned this was huge. His mate had finally found someone worth his time and though she was an oddity, James was sure that was part of her appeal to Sirius. She wasn't a giggly, fawning girl. She was independent and intelligent and that presented its share of challenges, it was a good thing.

"So get to know her."

"Thanks tips, but how? She won't tell me anything, how the hell am I supposed to get to know her?"

"Well, for starters yelling at her and making her upset probably isn't going to help that." Sirius turned to face him with a horrified expression.

"I made her upset? I didn't mean to, she just…and I yelled at her…Is she angry or just upset?" He really, actually fancies her and a lot too, if he's freaking out like this. He fell for her. Ha, I was right. James thought as he now carefully considered his answer. He couldn't exactly tell Sirius that when Brenna was leaving, Remus was the one to offer her consolation and that she squeezed his hand twice. But he couldn't lie to his friend and eventually he would find out.

"She…wasn't exactly happy. She just said she was going to bed…Remus told her not to take it personally, that you get moody sometimes but…she wasn't convinced. She told him that you're angry with her and she knows that." Here James hesitated knowing that what he was about to say would likely cause a riff between two of the Marauders but Sirius was his best mate, and he had an obligation. "She…er, seemed pretty grateful for Moony saying something." Sirius looked at him quizzically, not sure he quite understood what he was saying. Taking a deep breath, James tried again, "She thanked him for trying to cheer her up and for caring." Sirius' face was blank for a moment, whether in shock or disbelief, before he let out a short, mirthless laugh, his expression becoming sardonic.

"You mean to say, that the one girl I fancy is the most complicated and odd girl to walk the planet but not only that, she might fancy one of my mates and said mate might fancy her back? Could this get more messed up?"

Sirius had spent many moments in the weeks that had passed since Hogsmeade, when he realised that he felt something for Brenna beyond friendship, contemplating the complexity of the situation. Not long before had he exclaimed, with her overhearing, that someone like him would never want to be with someone like her because "she's a freak" – emphasis on the freak – in what is now referred to as the Incident. It would be a little difficult to explain how someone like him suddenly wanted the freak. Furthermore, his mate (Remus) basically threatened him and told him to stay away from Brenna – or the Freak – and Sirius never really fancied the idea of getting in a major row with one of his mates particularly over a girl. To add yet another layer of complaints, Sirius had never truly fancied a girl before and didn't really know what to do about it considering that Brenna did not react properly to anything he did. Whether that be flirting with another girl, or hitting on her albeit subtly, or touching her (innocently) and sitting closer to her than was strictly necessary – none of it worked. Sirius had thought that was a pretty hopeless situation, now considering this new information….

Sirius recalled something that Brenna had said early in the month, when both had been lamenting on the copious amounts of schoolwork and limited hours to complete it and then found out that they had an extra Quidditch practice that night as well. The two had sat in stunned silence for a moment before she had chuckled, quoting, "'and yet to every bad there is a worse.' Thomas Hardy had that one right…" Yeah, Thomas Hardy still has that one right.

"I don't know, mate. I'll talk to Moony about Brenna sometime soon, but for now...sleep on it?" James suggested.

"Yeah, definitely and thanks, Prongs, I'll talk to her in the morning, apologize…again."

Chuckling, James stood up and the two Marauders proceeded to get ready for bed. And as Sirius closed the hangings around his bed that night, he recalled that night earlier the month when Brenna and he had been sitting in the Common Room, both tired and verbally abusing their professors as all students do. He remembered her quiet, almost sarcastic, laugh and her words which seemed to flow musically as only truth can. To every bad there is a worse. And Sirius remembered to be grateful for everything in his life because things could always get worse and if all he was worrying about was how to get a girl then life was pretty good.

In another dormitory though within the same tower, Brenna Templar was doing the same thing. She was thanking the heavens that she had lived another day in relative peace and happiness, and dreading the encompassing weight of the memories that were sure to fill her sleep that night. And so, casting a silencing charm around her bed, Brenna remembered those words that had spoken such truth to her when she was much younger, the words which reminded her to be thankful despite the horrors of that night, May 13, when she acquired the horrible ability to see threstrals.

Breathing deeply, Brenna laid her head on her cool pillow, closing her eyes and whispering the words with images filling her mind of all the things she was thankful for.

And yet to every bad there is a worse.