DISCLAIMER: JK Rowling, please don't sue me. I am but a humble fan girl, who finally has a job, and would like to keep her hard earned money. I fully recognize that Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and the rest of the happy people at #12 Grimmauld Place do not belong to me. However, Adrienne does, so please, don't kidnap her. She doesn't travel well…

A/N: I have read the seventh, final book as much as the world has, and never fear, there shall be no spoilers here. I'm gonna continue on the way I wanted to originally, so, just a reminder, set after 5th book, AU.

Two years…wow…

Well, if anyone still wants to read it, here it is!!

Your Obedient,

T.F.

Just give me a chance…

Adrienne's eyes moved from face to desperate face. She should run. She should run fast and hard and never look back. She could get a train out of the city and a boat off the island and be half way to New Zealand in a matter of days, maybe weeks.

She should run.

And she knew she wouldn't.

Adrienne sighed heavily, her lips creasing into a thin, firm line. She took one last glance around the room before throwing her arm away from her, making to toss down her wand.

Unfortunately Sirius Black didn't give her a chance. Practically as soon as her arm made its move he rushed towards her, effectively slamming her against the door and dislodging the wand from her grip. Adrienne responded to this rough treatment the way she had been taught; she brought her knee up into his stomach, pushing him away slightly before backhanding him swiftly across the face with more force than Sirius thought the slight woman had. He threw himself back towards her and managed to get one of Adrienne's arm behind her back and his arm around her throat.

The force of irony must have been at work just then; it was the only thing that would have enabled Adrienne to wiggle free herself just enough to bite down hard on Sirius' arm; so hard in fact that she tasted the iron of his blood.

Sirius muffled his cry of pain in an angry grunt before flinging the thief forcefully back, letting her slide against the wall, her head hitting the old wood with a sickening crack. Her eyes fluttered for a moment and her mouth struggled to form a word.

"…ahhhhhh…hell…"

Her legs finally failed her and she dropped onto the floor.

The next sensation Adrienne's brain perceived was smooth cotton sheets under her fingertips. Her eyes opened slowly. They were mere slits of color, blocking out everything but a gentle yellow glow. A cool drop of liquid rolled down the side of her face, pausing momentarily at her jaw before dropping onto her collarbone. It was the same effect as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on her head. She jolted herself into full consciousness, convulsing slightly. Pastel oculi were, for a moment, wide with fear as they sought to establish her surroundings.

The room was surprisingly large, but bare. Directly in front of her, pushed against a wall, stood an antique dresser with mirror, the glass cracked and dotted with dirt. Seeing herself in the mirror, lying there, pale and shaky, was the equivalent of a sobering slap across the face for Adrienne. With a grimace, she rotated her head gently from side to side assiduously, relieved to find no resistance. Anger flared up deep in her heart when she considered her circumstance. Forced to stay locked up in this miserable shack with those execrable loonies. With a growl she tore the wet cloth from her forehead, tossing it on the floor.

Leaping out of the small berth, Adrienne rushed for the door. Out in the hallway, she immediately found Sirius Black and set upon him, viciously beating him rutting senseless before stealing her wand back, blasting a hole through a nearby wall and running determinedly towards her flat.

At least those were her intentions.

Adrienne had had it all thought out, really. She just hadn't counted on that whole 'sitting up and fainting' thing that happened.

And it was such a good plan too.

She regained consciousness about half an hour later, in fairly similar circumstances as her previous awakening. Adrienne debated the necessity of even opening her eyes this time when she perceived the slight alteration that had occurred during her mental absence.

The cloth that had been resting on her brow was now dabbing itself gently across her forehead.

Adrienne examined this last thought carefully and revised it.

Someone was now dabbing the cloth gently across her forehead.

Eyes remaining shut, Adrienne levitated a hand lazily. She made a few weak swipes at the hand, which had stopped its ministrations. She got a hold of it, running her hand up to a shoulder (whoever it was must have found a chair to sit down in). A humorous noise of protest rang out when she wrapped her hand around the persons face and squeezed.

Adrienne opened her eyes to find Remus Lupin sitting at her bedside, cloth in hand, his cheeks and lips puffed out comically.

"Oh." Adrienne released him quickly. "It's just you."

"Yes, just me." Remus sat back in his chair, observing her quietly. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been assaulted by a brainless, grotesque gorilla that proceeded to carelessly crack my skull like a coconut. Which, in point of fact," she very slowly and very carefully pushed herself into a semi-recumbent position, "is exactly what happened."

Remus clapped softly, the damp cloth deadening the sound. "Double points for alliteration."

"Why thank you." Adrienne folded her hands genteelly across her lap. "How long was I out?"

"About twelve hours. It's just a little past 2 in the afternoon." He gestured towards a covered tray on a bedside table to his left. "I brought you some lunch."

"Why thank you," she repeated with the same sweet, cold intonation. Remus prepared for the coming emotional outburst. Adrienne hadn't even blinked since she had established her calm pose. Remus could recognize an impending rant when he saw one. Sirius did almost exactly the same thing.

"Complimentary care, meals served in bed-" she sniffed the air discerningly, "-soup?"

"Stew."

"Fantastic. Girl might even forget she's being kept like a wild animal in a," Adrienne paused to pick off a piece of lint off the bedspread and toss it away, "fetid, disgusting house, if you can call this...this wigwam a house!! Locked up like a demented miscreant with, oh, a secret cult taking on the most powerful magusever known to the wizarding world!!"

The color had returned to her face with shocking fervency as she demonstrated that nothing was wrong with her vocal cords as she shouted each vocable, pounding on the mattress with fists gripping the covers. Remus leaned back and waited for the waves to subside. The room was silent except for the heavy breathing of Adrienne's cooling temper.

"…wigwam?"

Adrienne went from rigid to malleable, her shoulders collapsing inwards as she responded mirthlessly, "Well, they can't be gems every time." Remus smiled, but Adrienne didn't notice. Her eyes glazed over as she stared at the burnt sienna bed sheets that reminded her too much of a childhood better forgotten. "I'm not gonna get my wand back am I?"

"No."

"Do I get to go outside at all?"

Remus leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees, shaking light cinnamon tresses out of his eyes, "Not without a member of the order accompanying you, and then…only in the most extreme circumstances."

Adrienne took a deep breath that was a little shakier than she'd have liked to admit. "How…how long do I have to stay here?"

Remus shifted uncomfortably, leaning in as his voice inadvertently dropped in volume. "I…we can't exactly-"

Her long fingers shook like willow branches when she held up her hand. Head hanging low, she turned to look at him, jade eyes wide with a mixture of fear and anger, lips pressed together tightly. "Just…tell me. How long?"

Remus met her gaze, his demeanor of calm wavering slightly. "Maybe a year. Maybe longer."

Her body shook once as she laughed and sobbed at the same time. "Great." She tossed the covers off of her body, swinging her feet onto the floor. "Great, good, wonderful, fan-bloodyfucking-tastic!" She made her way over to the grubby window, only to find that it was enchanted to show only a deep swirling black. Adrienne continued talking to herself, rubbing her hands feverishly over her face. "Ha, yes. Good one, Addie, good one. Smart thinking there." She gulped in air as if she was drowning, closing her eyes slowly. She said nothing for a long time; so long in fact that Remus was certain she had forgotten he was even there. He rose to leave, when she spoke.

"You know, there's this old homeless lady near where I live…" her voice was soft and strained, as if she had suddenly aged forty years. "Gussy, everyone calls her. She always says to me, every time I go out on a job, 'Addie…Addie you're a fool. You keep on going where you're not wanted, one day you'll never come back.'" A saturnine giggle escaped from her small mouth. "Guess I proved the old bat right," she turned to him, a hand up to her mouth, "didn't I?"

The tears welled up unwanted into her eyes. Closing them in hopes of staving off the drops of salt and water, she felt a hand grasp her shoulder lightly. "You should eat something."

"I'm not hungry."

"Miss St-…Adrienne, I really think-"

The eyes snapped open, dry as the Gobi Desert. "Listen…Remus, right?" He nodded. "Listen, Remus…I, uh, appreciate-" Adrienne stopped, blinking rapidly. "Actually, I don't really appreciate anything right now, so maybe you should just leave me alone. Please," she rushed in, seeing his mouth open, full of reassuring words, "leave me alone."

Brushing his hand from her shoulder, she shuffled back towards the bed, sitting cross-legged with her back to the door, rubbing her arms, suddenly cold. Remus left as quietly as he came in, glancing back momentarily through the crack of the door, sighing before closing the portal firmly.

"So, how's our resident larcenist? Still as malevolent and mediocre as last night?"

Remus' eyes searched the heavens, as they often did when talking to Sirius. "You know, the phrase 'Sod off' springs so willingly to mind, I'm tempted to use it."

"Hey," Sirius pushed away from the wall he had been leaning against, "what'd I say?" He froze as a thought leaped upon him. "Oh ho, now wait a minute." He grasped Remus firmly by the shoulders, holding him out at arms length. "Don't tell me you actually like the little purse snatcher!"

Remus tried to appear stern, but the look of utter horror currently creeping over Sirius' features was too comical. "Sirius-"

"You do." Sirius leaned against the wall behind him for moral support, a hand going up to his chest. "Why, my dear Remus, why?! She's a criminal!"

"Said the fugitive from Azkaban with distaste." Remus adopted his posture on the wall opposite, a few feet away from the door, folding his arms across his chest.

"Steady on, mate! I didn't commit the crime I'm accused of. On the other hand…" Sirius left the explanation unsaid, but clear.

"Yes," conceded Remus with a nod, "she's a thief. But I ask you to remember that she didn't sign on for any of this. She's been put in a deplorable situation, one, quite frankly, that doesn't sit particularly well with me either."

"Awww," Sirius crooned, with exaggerated sniffs and tears, "let us pity the whore with a heart of gold." Remus did not respond, choosing instead to stare at him disapprovingly. The look, as effective now as it was during their school days, caused Sirius to shift uncomfortably, lowering his chin to his chest before grumbling, "You might show a little compassion for me. Setting her up just down the hall from my room. Horrible. And," he looked up with a pout, raising a bandaged arm pitifully, "…she bit me."

Remus glanced from the injured appendage to the trembling lip of a grown man and, just as Sirius had intended, began to laugh. Sirius returned the smile, laughing lightly himself.

The door Remus was lounging beside suddenly opened up and a head popped out at about shoulder level. Remus jumped, hardly recognizing Adrienne, who had released her umber tresses which now hung doggedly around her face.

"Excuse me," she snapped astringently, "but there are some people attempting to spiral down into a state of suicidal depression. Would you two mind terribly buggering off somewhere else?"

"Why don't you bore a hole in yourself and let the sap run out?" suggested Sirius in a similar tone, ashen eyes displaying his dislike.

Adrienne emitted something that was a cross between a sigh and a growl before saying, "I'm rather busy right now. Can I ignore you some other time?" The door slammed with a shout of "Jog on wankers!"

Both men stared at the door.

"Oh yes," said Sirius stolidly, "charming girl."

A/N: Alright, so there you have it! I have a definite plan of what's gonna happen next, so it shouldn't take so long to update. (Two years…WOW!) Anyhoodle, hope you enjoyed it, and even if you didn't, telling me through a review, anonymous or otherwise would be much appreciated.

TTFN!

Your Obedient,

T.F.