A/N: The next chapter might take a while to come out, since I decided change the plot than I had originally planned.

Quite a few page breaks in this chapter, sorry 'bout that.

As usual, thanks to all who are reading and to all who have reviewed up to this point!

Chapter Seven

In Which She Begins to Question

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

In a bed a young woman slept soundly, until the sound of knocking came to her door. Arabella Roland opened her eyes slowly, a bit hazy. She looked towards the door and saw it crack open.

"Arabella?"

It wasn't Nana. "Father?" she said, her voice coming out a lot softer than she'd expected.

"I brought some porridge…Nana made it of course, but still I…" Her father seemed a bit uncomfortable as he walked in with the tray of food.

"What happened?"

"You fell ill at school a couple days ago. You've been sleeping ever since then…" He placed the tray on her lap. "You should eat."

Even though she could hear what her father was saying, she couldn't really understand it. Instead of saying anything, she grabbed her spoon and slowly began to eat. She ate in silence and with each second that passed by her father became more and more uncomfortable. "Ethan came to visit you while you were sleeping. Those are the flowers he brought you." He pointed to the beautiful bouquet placed in a glass vase beside her bed.

She gazed over at them, before returning to her meal. "They're really pretty."

"Remember to thank him later."

"Of course…"

Sighing, her father got up. "I'll leave you now. I'll call for a doctor later."

Arabella shook her head. "I think I'll be fine."

Her father raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I'm just a little woozy that's all."

He smiled, before leaning in to plant a kiss on her head. "Get better soon alright? I'll be in my office if you need anything…" He closed the door behind him after he left the room.

"Arabella!"

A loud energetic voice surprised her greatly. She almost spat out her porridge. "Linore?"

"We were so worried that you weren't going to wake up!"

"You mean you were so worried that she wasn't going to wake up." Tamesis appeared besides Linore. "Those wizards wouldn't do anything to harm her."

"Do you remember what happened Arabella?" Linore asked.

"Um…I guess I feinted in class or something. I can't really remember. Father said I was asleep for the past few days…"

Linore's light dimmed slightly. "You…don't remember…" She turned red and angry in an instant. "Those stupid wizards! How could they do this to you!"

Tamesis glared at Linore. "It's for the best! If she remembered then she'd be heartbroken right now…"

"What are you two talking about?" Arabella asked, raising an eyebrow. What was this talk about wizards? Did something happen while she was asleep?

"It's nothing." Tamesis said abruptly. "How are you feeling now anyways?"

Arabella stirred her porridge absent mindedly. "I'm not really sure how I'm feeling…tired…maybe even…almost hollow. I feel like I'm missing something, but I'm not sure what. And the way you two are bickering…it makes me feel like I really am missing something…"

Tamesis placed his small hands on hers. "Don't worry about it anymore Arabella. You just need to focus on getting better."

Linore frowned, but nodded in agreement.

Arabella smiled. "I'm so glad I have you two with me."

When she finished her porridge, she carried the tray downstairs.

"Arabella!" Nana shouted, snatching the tray away from her. "You should have rang the bell or something. I would have gotten the tray from you myself! You need to rest!"

"I'm feeling much better now though Nana. I want to go outside."

"But you've only just woken up…"

"But don't you think the fresh air will do me some good?" Arabella asked.

Nana contemplated this for a moment. "I suppose; I need to pick up some things for tonight's dinner. We'll have to ask for your father's permission first."

Arabella grinned. "I'll go change!"

Nana and Arabella walked back together with a few grocery bags in their hands. They were walking down the normal route through Grimmauld Place. Arabella stopped abruptly and looked up at the mysterious house number 12. It loomed above her as it always did and she was the only one could see it, like always.

Nana sighed. "Arabella…"

"Are you sure you can't see it Nana?"

"No I can't see it. Now let's hurry along."

Nana's words weren't audible to Arabella. Instead she began to walk towards the house. It felt as though there was an aching need in her chest to go inside, which was strange, because of the many times she had walked by the house, she had never felt this need before. What was inside the house? Was there something inside she absolutely needed to see?

Whatever it was it called to her…but was it really calling? She couldn't tell if it was her imagination or not and yet she felt herself moving forward step by step.

"Arabella!" Nana shouted, snapping her back to reality.

Arabella blinked and realized she had stopped right in front of the steps of the house. The groceries she had were now scattered on the ground.

"Oh dear, I guess it wasn't a good idea to take you outside at all." Nana said, beginning to pick up the fallen groceries.

"Ah…" Arabella nodded, looking up at the house one last time, before helping Nana.

"Let's hurry up home now, alright?"

She nodded again. "Yes, Nana."

The two went on their way, and Arabella didn't notice the shadow in one of the house's windows.

After being yelled at by Nana for trying to help put the groceries away, Arabella was sent back to her room to rest. However, she was nowhere near tired. She felt so restless for some reason and had no way to release the excess energy.

Her sketchbook.

Where was that thing anyways? She looked her around her room and found the said book and flipped it open. Perhaps she'd sketch something random to get her mind off things. She vacantly flipped through the pages for a clean page, when she stopped on a certain page of a man. The next page had the same man, so did the next page, and the next page.

Arabella frowned. She couldn't remember ever sketching this and it almost scared her how many times she had drawn the man. She began turning each page more slowly, so that she could imagine each sketch in hopes that it would jog her memory of who this man was, but she still couldn't remember. There were pictures of other people as well; people she knew she had never met. Finally, on the last few pages she had drawn on, there were pictures of her and the man together. She shut the book close with a red blush on her face. Why on Earth would she draw something like that? Maybe the man was just a character she made up? Of course that only made her feel even sillier.

She opened the book again, her fingers tracing the man's face. Who was he?

"Sirius…"

The name rolled off her tongue in a whisper.

Eh?

What was this?

"Sirius…"

Just saying the name made her stomach jolt.

She collapse on her bed, the sketchbook completely ignored. She could remember his face clearly and his touch against her skin, but she could not remember meeting this man. She couldn't understand it.

The wave of customers was slow at the café that day. It added to the casual laid-back ambiance. With the natural sunlight pouring through the large windows, it was a calm and warm place to hang out and sip a cup of coffee.

In the one of the far corners of the café, there sat two girls, one with short and wild red hair, ripped black jeans and a band t-shirt, and the other with flowing brown locks and a light blue denim dress.

"So let me get this straight…" The one with the red hair started. "You think you're in love…with a man you've never met?"

"Yes Ann! I know it sounds crazy, but whenever I see his face I…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…you have his picture? Tell me that kind of thing first!" Ann asked, grinning like a mad man.

Arabella fiddled with her fingers. "Not exactly…" She dug into her bag and handed Ann her sketchbook. "I marked the page so…"

"Damn!" Ann was taken aback. "Your drawings are as good as always, but this man is fine. You know, I feel like I've seen him before. Not sure where."

Arabella practically jumped out of her seat. "You've seen him before too!"

"Sit down! People are going to think you've gone bonkers or something…" Ann pulled her down. She then stared at the picture for a few more seconds. "Girl, are you sure this is the guy?"

"Yes!"

"And you say his name is 'Sirius'?" Ann asked for clarification.

Arabella nodded. "I'm pretty sure of it…"

Ann began shaking her head. "There is no way. No bloody way!" She said, placing the sketchbook down on the table.

"Why? What's wrong?" Arabella asked worriedly.

"Do you remember a couple of years ago the whole country was on the lookout for a mass murderer or something?"

Arabella's face paled. She did remember something like that. "You can't think that…" Arabella didn't want to believe something like that; there was no way he was a murderer. She couldn't have fallen for a murderer.

Ann nodded sadly. "I'm positive it's the same guy, Sirius Black. I mean…you definitely cleaned him up a bit compared to his wanted posters a couple of years ago…" Ann saw the look on Arabella's face. "Please don't look like that Arabella. Besides, there is no way you've met him before, since he's like a criminal and stuff. It was probably a dream or something…or rather a nightmare..."

Arabella cried. "It wasn't a dream though! I swear!"

"But you were sick weren't you? Are you still hallucinating or something?" Ann leaned across the table to check Arabella's temperature with the back of her hand.

Arabella swatted it away.

"Besides," Ann continued. "Now isn't the time to worrying about a man that doesn't even exist. Didn't you say something about Ethan Spencer's birthday?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'm going to be playing an original piece for him about two weeks from now."

"Have you started on it yet?"

"No," she said shaking her head. "A lot's been on my mind."

Ann frowned. "You mean one thing. Just forget about it Arabella. You were at home sick. You didn't go anywhere and you didn't meet anybody."

"Alright, alright!" Arabella caved in. "I didn't meet anybody."

"There." Ann took the last sip of her coffee. "Let's go shop for your party dress!"

"I don't want to get new dress…"

"Nope! You have no choice in the matter!" Ann pulled her up and dragged herself out the door. "Remember this Arabella... 'Shopping heals all wounds!'"

The two friends spent a couple of hours at different shops throughout London, trying on different dresses and other kinds of clothing. In short, Ann did a very good job in keep Arabella preoccupied.

"Darn, my mum's got a night shift today, so I gotta get home to watch my little sister." Ann announced, looking down at her wrist watch.

"Ah, alright, and I'll ask Ethan if I can bring a friend to the party. I'm sure he won't mind," said Arabella.

"Serious? You're the best Bella!" Ann gave her a good slap on the back before heading down the opposite street.

Sighing with content, Arabella began her walk home. The sun had only just began to set as she walked down the familiar streets and went down the street with the invisible pub no one else could seem to see. She walked up to the door.

She shouldn't go in. Tamesis had warned her many times over and probably would warn her many times again, that it was dangerous to go into places since other people couldn't see them. Yet…there she was standing in front of the door. She had that strange feeling she should go inside…maybe this was simply curiosity?

Arabella shook her head. It was the same feeling she felt when she saw Grimmauld Place sometime ago yesterday.

Just as she reached for the door handle, a voice came from behind her. "Are you just going to stand there all day or are you going in?"

She turned around to see a rather well-dressed man who screamed importance. His dark green and black attire, his long blond hair combed back and to one side, square jaw, the interesting looking cane, everything about the man overwhelmed Arabella a bit.

"Umm…yes…?" She found herself walking into the pub, the Leaky Cauldron.

There were a few people in the pub. A few rags were wiping off empty tables on their own and random items flying all around. Once again, Arabella couldn't bring herself to move. What was all this?

"Welcome Mr. Malfoy," said the man behind the bar. "And…I'm sorry, I don't know who you are miss."

"Oh…uh…I'm Arabella Roland." Arabella found herself introducing herself.

"What can I do for ya today Miss Roland?"

"Oh no I didn't really need to come in, I was just surprised when…uh…" She looked over at the man named Mr. Malfoy, before backing up towards the door. "Please excuse me."

Arabella practically ran out the door. Her heart was beating so fast. She shouldn't have gone in. She shouldn't have gone in!

"Miss Roland was it?"

Arabella stopped abruptly and realized that Mr. Malfoy had followed her out of the Leaky Cauldron. "Ah…um…yes?"

"You dropped this." He handed her one of the shopping bags she didn't even noticed she dropped.

"T-thank you, um…"

"Lucius Malfoy."

She dipped into a curtsy. "Very nice to meet you Mr. Malfoy. Thank you for returning my bag."

"It's very rare you see a witch your age with such manners."

Arabella gave him a quizzical look. "Uh…a witch?"

Lucius Malfoy arched an eyebrow. "Tell me…Miss…Roland, what does that sign say?" He pointed his cane at the pub's sign.

"The L-leaky Cauldron…" Arabella gasped and then smiled. "So you can see the sign too!" She realized, or should have realized earlier when Mr. Malfoy went into the pub in the first place. Nevertheless, she grinned the largest she'd grinned in days. She'd never felt so excited. No one else could ever see things she could.

"Naturally…" He said with a slight sneer

Arabella bit her lip. "Oh, well I'm sorry." She apologized, thinking that she had offended him in some way. "It's just I never met anyone else who could see it…not that I think you're crazy or anything! I'm really sorry!"

"There's no need to apologize like a bumbling fool."

"I'm sorry! I mean…I should…I should just be going…" Feeling incredibly flustered, Arabella tried to hurry off; however, Mr. Malfoy stopped her, the head of his cane on her shoulder.

"Hold it, Miss Roland. I must say you've struck my curiosity."

"Oh, that's really flattering...um...thank you?" At this point Arabella wasn't really sure what to say anymore.

"Is it?" Mr. Malfoy arched a blond eyebrow. "You're quite interesting for a lowly muggle. We should meet again soon…"

Arabella blinked relatively stunned. "S-sure…" She found herself saying.

"Then let's meet here again, around noon next Saturday? How does that sound?"

"F-fine. That's…fine?"

"Excellent," He said with a satisfied smirk. "Until then Miss Roland." He gave a nod goodbye and disappeared back into the Leaky Cauldron.

Arabella could barely comprehend what just happened. All she could do was wonder: who on Earth was that man?