"Prescott! Prescott! Moria!" A masculine voice rang out in the entrance hallway. Moria turned around in confusion, blinking as Sirius pushed past a few first years, resituating his knapsack. He grabbed her arm slightly.

"Can I talk to you? In private?" he asked. She looked at him, confused but nodded and followed him to a quieter location. She situated her books shifting the weight of her Potions and Defense against the Dark Arts Books.

"Yes Black?" she asked looking at him curiously.

"Why didn't you tell any of us about Malfoy and his harpies harassing you?!" He spat out angrily and at first she looked surprised before looking at him sternly.

"I didn't think it was necessary."

"Necessary?" He asked in shock. She shrugged.

"Yes, necessary. I can handle it."

"It's not right Moria!"

"My personal problems are just that. My problems. I don't want my friends to get involved or hurt because of me." Moria replied softly. "What they say or do just shows how insecure and shallow they are. " She continued.

"I don't care how much it shows that they're shallow! What if they hurt you badly!?" he hissed out glancing quickly to the side as several students, entered the hall laughing at a joke that had been said. He yanked her a bit farther into the hall. Moria looked at him in amusement.

"Black…" She started to say and then blew out a steady hiss. "Sirius, look. I'll be fine. I promise I will. If not I'll be the first to tell you." She reassured. He looked at her, with a look that still looked unconvinced but then nodded. She then cocked her head.

"By the way, how did you know that Malfoy and his fan-group were annoying me?" she asked and watched him first stiffen, then turn bright red and looked away. She looked at him, narrowing her eyes in confusion.

"U…Uh I just heard around." He stammered out quickly. She looked at him a bit more patronizingly, her arms tightening on her books.

"That's odd considering that no one other than Alice knew and I was normally in a secluded area when they would try and berate me." She said slowly and saw he was panicking.

"Uh…Gotta go!" he said hurriedly and before she could ask what was wrong with him, rushed away. She blinked and looked at the empty spot that Sirius once stood. She pursued her lips together in concentration. The most recent time that Malfoy had jeered at her had been in the great halls. And no one had been near her.

Then it began to dawn on her.

The growl she had heard as she walked away but had thought it had been her stomach. James and Sirius panicking when she said she had been looking at animagus. That Sirius, James, and Peter were always tired after a full moon and Remus was always in a rough shape afterwards. How Sirius knew about Malfoy.

"Holy Merlin." She whispered.

"I think I revealed to Prescott that I'm an animagus." Sirius said suddenly as they all sat in their room. The three other boys all choked and gaped at him.

"Why did you do that?!" James asked as Peter glanced at the door. Was he imagining things? Or had he heard something?

"Guys?"

"Do you KNOW how much you could get in trouble?!" Remus asked angrily.

"Guys."

"How did you reveal that of all things?!" James finally snapped and Sirius glared at them.

"I was walking around in my dog form a little while ago, and I overheard Malfoy and my darling cousins harassing Prescott. I asked her today why she hadn't told anyone about it. And she asked how I even knew. I completely forgot that I had been the only one there witnessing it."

"So how does that make you think she knows that you're a dog?"

"Guys!"

"What Wormtail?! What is so important!?"James finally spat out in annoyance, Peter only managed to point. All the boys looked at the door and saw a smaller, feminine form standing there, leaning on the door frame with smirk on her face.

Moria Prescott to be more precise.

"You know if you're going to blurt out that all of you, sans Lupin are unregistered animagi, make sure that I don't know, someone isn't waiting outside to talk to you guys." She said easily before she was grabbed and subsequently yanked in.

"You know this could be taken in a wrong way right?"

"Sssshhhh! Now listen, Prescott! You better not tell anyone or-!"

"Why in the world would I tell?" she asked simply to the confusion of the boys. She merely shrugged.

"If I was going to tell, I would have told a teacher beforehand. So considering McGonagall isn't here yelling at you guys, the presumption should be that I didn't spill the beans. Besides, I do consider you my friends. I see no reason in telling. I was just curious." She explained, shrugging her shoulders again. The boys just gaped at her. She promptly straightened and brushed off the unseen dirt on her sweatshirt.

"Look I have secrets just like you. And I would hate to have someone blab them to the world. So about you three being animagi and Remus being a werewolf, my lips are sealed." She said with a grin as Lupin gaped at her.

"How did you know-!"

"Please I only saw James and Sirius in their animal forms during the full moon. And forgive me but you look like crap after each full moon. It isn't hard to figure it out." She stated. "But like I said, my lips are sealed." She grinned and then left laughing at herself.

"Holy Merlin. Did that really happen?" Peter finally managed to ask after several long minutes of silence. The other boys looked at each other before nodding.

"I think it did. I think it did."

Moria walked down the hall quickly trying to stay out of the rain. Merlin she hated the rain. Reminded her of that night. That night when everything changed. Suddenly she saw a form in the rain trying to move around a bunch of older and seemingly meaner looking Slytherin's. It took her a few minutes to see that the one trying to move around them was also a Slytherin. Suddenly one of them shoved the other. Moria sighed knowing she couldn't let that happen. Setting her books down, she left the safety of the hall and rushed into the grass grabbing a closed fist before it connected to the boy.

"Alright, knock it off. He's from your own house. I think you can get along with him at least." She growled out. The Slytherin boy rounded at her but she easily caught that foot as he spun around. Now off balance she shoved him and watched him pitch to the side and land in mud. She looked at the other Slytherin's with a bored look.

"If you don't want to end up like your buddy, I suggest you get your snake butts in gear and leave." She hissed out.

"Didn't know that he had a Gryffindor friend. He's a coward." One of them hissed right back. She merely smirked.

"He ain't a friend. I've never met him. But I hate seeing people being bullied by slime like you. Now beat it." She ordered coldly. The boys looked about ready to fight but then proceeded to leave, grumbling. She snorted then turned to help the boy who was trying in vain to retrieve his fallen books from the puddles. She squatted down to retrieve his ink and quill.

"You shouldn't have helped me." The boy said looking down at the ground.

"I know. But I can't stand to see anyone in pain." She replied picking up a few pieces of parchment. She glanced at the boys' and started suddenly.

"You're Black's brother aren't you? Regulus Black?" Moria asked the boy who looked nearly identical to Sirius only with paler skin. His eyes narrowed angrily.

"Look, thanks for helping me. But in the future, don't okay?" he asked, ignoring her question. She simply shrugged.

"I hate to break it to you, but I won't stop helping you if I walk into those Slytherin boys bullying you."

"And why is that?"

"Because I know what it's like to be hurt and no one notices. And when someone finally does, it's too late." She replied. He started and looked at her. Realizing she said too much, she stood up and helped retrieve the remaining things before leaving, without saying a word. He merely stared at her, and then at the soaked parchment, quill, and ink.

Moria sighed as she entered the shower stalls. It was thankfully empty. She sighed, taking off her pants and pushing them into a basket along with the rest of her clothes. She stopped when she looked into the mirror and in the reflection of the mirror staring angrily back at her were her scars, paler than her skin stretched across her back. The crisscrossed scars that had been there for ten long years.

Lily and Alice had seen the scars. And despite them constantly asking what had happened to her, she had always refused to answer them. It wouldn't have done anything for her. The past was just that. The past.

But no matter how much she told herself that, how much she willed herself to try and not think of him, the man that had given her those scars slowly entered her mind.

"Pain is a weakness leaving the body! Emotions make you weak! So they shall leave this weakling body!"

"You are merely my brother's brat. You should have died with them!"

"You little whore. Attracting boys like that at Primary school! I hope I'm dead before you can bring boys over every day."

She pressed her forehead to the mirror, closing her eyes as the insults and accusations flew in her mind, all with the same harsh tone, the simple hatred in its voice. She opened her eyes and stared at the reflection, wishing to see the child that had been there for five years.

Before all the pain had happened.

Before the loss of her childhood had happened.

But aloof, cold brown eyes merely stared back at her taunting her. And with a saddened sigh, she showered and returned to her room smiling when she saw Lily and Alice had already passed out in their bunks. She laid down in her bed and stared at the curtains before closing her eyes and falling into a dreamless sleep.