A/N: Well, I hope all the Americans up in here enjoyed their Thanksgiving.

As usual, I'd like to thank everyone reading this story so far and to all who've written reviews. It's much appreciated.

Chapter Eleven

In Which She Catches Glimpse of a Fantasy

Arabella had fallen asleep on the floor and awoke to a most uncomfortable position. In her lap, she still had the book open to Sirius Black's page. She gazed down at him now; he seemed to be pointing at something. She looked to her left to see that a meal had been left on the small round table near the door. After hesitantly folding down the page she was on, Arabella closed the book to eat, but spotted the Malfoy name on the Black page. One of Sirius' cousins was married to a man named Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy.

It shocked her that they were related, by marriage at least.

Sirius seemed to notice her staring at the small Lucius Malfoy picture and started throw punches and kicks, as though they would somehow reach the aristocratic man. Arabella couldn't help but giggle at the attempts; she really liked Sirius.

The meal on the other hand was nowhere near as likeable, which was to be expected: water, half an apple and a small loaf of bread. She was thankful that Mr. Malfoy was even feeding her at all; of course she'd be more thankful if he ceased this nonsense and simply let her go. She had no magic, no special powers. Was she not completely useless in his world of magic?

Sighing she moseyed over to the window and drew back the curtain. Night had fallen already. The moon's light was dim, but bright enough to light up the grounds of Malfoy Manor. There was a lavish garden, a pond and a fountain. She couldn't help but wonder how beautiful it probably looks beneath the sun.

Birds would probably be chirping merrily, while the bees buzzed about the roses, tulips, and daffodils. Of course, this was no ordinary garden, but a magical garden. So when the leaves blew through the garden's trees, one could hear them whispering and hidden in the flower beds there would small sprites giggling. Maybe even a few fairies would be out and about if she were lucky.

At the pond a small turtle would make his way slowly into the water and glide about with the fish. The fish themselves would be silver, no gold, and their scales would reflect the sunlight. They'd be darting this way and that way beneath the water's surface. Arabella would laugh, for some lovely reason, and try to catch a few of the smaller fish in her hands; then she'd show it to Sirius. He'd laugh and say that he could do better. With a wave of his wand he'd enchant the water with a couple of fish and have it stream throughout the air before returning the fish back into the pond. She would giggle again like a foolish school girl and give him a small applause. He'd then take her hand, so that they could go for a small walk about the garden.

The two would then talk about a variety of things. Perhaps she could share with him things about her world and he could do the same with his. They would both insist that the other's world was ten times better only to laugh about how silly they were being. Then Sirius would notice a stray leaf in her hair. He'd ask her to hold on a moment as he took it out.

The soft touch of his fingers would send bolts of electricity down her spine and throughout her body.

"There," he'd say, flinging the leaf away, but he wouldn't move away. In fact he'd draw her closer until his lips finally touched…

The fantasy stopped abruptly with the sound of loud footsteps coming from the hall. Arabella's head snapped to the door. Beneath the door's crack there was a dim light, before it disappeared again, the footsteps fading away also. She quickly went to the safety of The Pure and Noble Bloodlines of the Wizarding World, more specifically to Sirius Black's page.

He seemed to notice her worry.

"Sirius…Sirius help me." She whispered, feeling rather ridiculous speaking to a small picture, but if she was in a world of magic, then anything could be possible.

Sirius nodded, and Arabella let out a sigh of relief. He understood her.

"I need to get out of here. I need help. Could you possibly help me?"

Sirius pointed towards the door again, and began motioning her to leave.

Arabella shook her head in dismay. "The door is locked I can't open it."

For a moment, Sirius seemed stumped, before an idea dawned on him. He started making a series of hand motions…something long…pick the door. Pick the door!?

"How can I do that? Mr. Malfoy locked it with magic!" Arabella asked, but Sirius merely repeated the hand motions again. Sighing, she realized she didn't really have much of a choice. She had to at least give his idea a try. All she need was something to pick the lock with.

She began to upturn the room inside and out in search of a good tool. As she feared, she found nothing suitable. Scratching her head with thought, her nails caught onto something peculiar: a bobby pin. Of course! Hopefully, this would be as easy as actors made it seem in Hollywood. Arabella got to her knees and peered through the keyhole. She couldn't see much; it was a dark after all, but she was too afraid to turn on the light. If she recalled correctly, Mr. Malfoy had said that there were other people staying at the house. If that person who was in the hallway was not Mr. Malfoy and noticed the light coming from her door…a shiver trembled throughout her body…she feared what would happen then.

Perhaps about five minutes later, though it felt like much more, Arabella had made no progress at all. On top of that, her fingers were starting to get sweaty. She was so anxious to get out of this place! Much to her dismay, the bobby pin clattered to the floor, sliding beneath the door and into the hallway on the other side.

Inwardly she cringed. She had to get it back.

Taking a deep breath of courage, she stuck her hand beneath the door to begin feeling for the blasted pin. With each second that passed her heart seemed to pound harder and louder. The tips of her fingers just barely reached the pin.

Just a bit farther, she told herself, pressing her face against the door.

It wasn't more than a millisecond later when somebody stepped on her fingers. It was as though she was struck by a sudden jolt of electricity.

She let out a shriek and somehow managed to withdraw her hand.

A dark laugh could be heard from the other side of the door. "I thought could smell something…sweet behind this door. I wonder, what could Lucius be keeping in here?" The person on the other side mused. "I can smell you, ya know. Such a sweet little miss you are…not yet a woman…my favorite…"

By this time Arabella retreated to a far back corner in the room, as far away from the door as possible. She prayed to whatever Gods there were that this man did not know magic as well.

To her great misfortune he did.

There was a small light shining through the keyhole, followed closely by the click of the lock. In the dark and with the moonlight from the window, she could see a large shadowy figure in the door way.

"You look even tastier than you smell," the man chuckled. "C'me 'ere little pet. Not gonna hurt ya yet. No fun in that is there?" He kneeled and beckoned to her like she was some sort of dog.

All Arabella could do was shake her head furiously back and forth.

"Why not, little princess?" He asked, a sense of humor gone from his voice. "Am I not good enough for you? You prefer men like Malfoy?" He spat and began to creep closer.

"Go away!" She shrieked, reaching for books from the bookshelf and throwing them at him. "Get away from me! Leave me alone, please!"

"Shut up!" He growled, and with a flick of his wand Arabella was rendered silent. She tried shouting and screaming, but found she had no voice. Instead she resorted to throwing more books at him, which he reflected with ease across the room. She was very close to tears now as she mouthed the words, "Please, please, please", over and over again.

The man was laughing again. "Please, please." He mimicked darkly. "Wish I didn't have to silence ya. Woulda loved to hear ya beg." A shiver shot down his spine at the thought.

He was now so very close to her. His hands on either side of her cowering form. Arabella curled up in the corner, trying to stay as far away from him as possible.

There was no escaping him now.

The man relished the fear emitting from her body and was so very tempted to bite her then and there, but what fun would that be? No…there was so much more they could do, starting with the tears running down her cheeks. A long tongue stuck out to lick them away. "Gods, you taste so sweet…you're not gonna run are ya? You run Imma kill you here and now."

Arabella began shaking her head again.

He planted a warm slimy kiss on her cheek. "That's a good pet," He murmured, petting her atop her head. "Now let's get you out of these clothes shall we?"

Her head snapped at this, her eyes wide with fear.

He absolutely loved it.

"Greyback."

Both the man and Arabella looked towards the door. A new person stood there now, much to her dismay the voice sounded nothing like Mr. Malfoy's.

"Snape." Greyback growled with anger.

"I doubt Lucius would take kindly to you wondering about his manor at night or snooping into his rooms," the man named Snape said, seemingly unaffected by the animosity in Greyback's voice.

"I was on my way back from the loo and what do I see sticking out from beneath a door? A hand. So I decided to check it out." Greyback explained himself. "Looks to me Malfoy's been housing up a little bitch."

Arabella flinched at the word.

Snape entered the room, wand raised. "I'll say this only once: I highly suggest you leave."

"Or what? This ain't your house ya know…"

"And what do you think Lucius will do when he finds out what you've done here? He's already covered for two of you recent screw ups, if I recall correctly. Not to mention I've covered for you once as well."

Greyback's face pulled into an ugly scowl, then barked, "Fine."

He shoved Arabella back into the corner, her head snapping back against the wall. He didn't hesitate to glare Snape down as he pushed past him. Once he was gone, Snape closed the door and waited a few moments.

Arabella remained in her corner. "W-who are you?" She croaked.

The man came closer, peering down at her small self. "Miss Roland…?"

She shrank even smaller, if possible. "How do you know my name?"

Snape didn't answer her. "Miss Roland, I suggest that from here on out you stay as quiet as possible and stay away from the windows and doors. We wouldn't want another event like tonight to repeat itself would we?"

She shook her head.

He gave her another look up and down, before striding away back into the hall. The door closed shut, and, with another flash of light, the door was locked once more.

It took Arabella several moments for her to gather herself again. The man named Greyback terrified her and the man named Snape frightened her, although he did come to her rescue. It only begged her to wonder what other "guests" Mr. Malfoy had in his house, but a part of her really didn't want to find out.

Standing to her feet, she made her way to The Pure and Noble Bloodlines of the Wizarding World once more. It was still laid out open, unperturbed by the incident that had just previously taken place. Sirius was looking up at her. He seemed worried.

"I wish you were here with me." She began to sob. "I wish you were here with me Sirius…"

That night she cried herself to sleep. She dreamt of gardens, fairies, magic, and of Sirius Black.