It was later that week, and the group was continuing their project. Granted a good majority of this project was hiking, something that Moria had grown used to over the years. Her friends however hadn't. Which also meant that they weren't used to the wildlife.

"Eek! A spider!"

"Why is Alice reminding me of Bryn of all a sudden?" Moria remarked as she and Lily looked behind them to see Alice leaping around as though someone had hexed her foot. Lily laughed as Alice began to lose her balance only to be caught by Frank, which caused both to blush brightly.

"Oh I don't know. Maybe it's the fear of spiders? Or maybe the overall loudness." Lily responded as the continued to hike up into the forest. Moria grinned, remembering their Hufflepuff friend.

Like nearly every Hufflepuff she met, Bryn was cheerful, friendly, loyal, and overall hardworking. But unlike most Hufflepuff she was loud and very opinionated. She always had been friendly towards Lily, Moria, and Alice despite not being in their house and much to Lily's chagrin Alice was friendly to the Marauders too. Sadly she hadn't been assigned to their group.

"Think Peter is ripping his hair out because of Bryn?" Moria asked as she stepped over a fallen log.

"Probably." Lily finally said feeling slightly sorry that Pettigrew was stuck with the loudest member of her friends.

"So here we are. There are the ruins of a really old temple around here somewhere." Moria looked around at destroyed ruins.

"Wow….there is a whole lot of nothing." James said looking around at some of the debris and Lily glared at him. Sirius continued walking, getting closer to where Moria was.

"We have to be careful, because there could be booby-!" Moria began to say as James pushed in a stone and the familiar sounds of cranks and gears moving. Moria quickly looked around and then glared at James.

"What did you d-!" she began to hiss out but the floor beneath Sirius and her disappeared, a loud yell of surprise coming from the whole party as the ground slid back into place, silencing the yells of Sirius and Moria.

"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!" Moria screamed, the wind rushing through her hair, listening to Sirius yell behind her as he fell as well, continuing to slide down the crevice. How far were they going to fall? Were they going to die, be pummeled by the rocks be-

The thoughts stopped as she landed onto the-thankfully soft with sand-ground with a loud grunt. Sirius landed on top of her a few minutes later causing her to grunt again. After a few minutes he rolled off of her.

"Bloody hell. Sorry." He grumbled out sitting up and nudging her. She responded with a kick to the shin.

"Bloody arsehole." She grumbled, sitting up as she dusted her hair to get the sand out. "Is he always careless?" she hissed out and he chuckled finally standing up and helping her up.

"This is James Potter."

"Point taken." She grumbled as she dusted off the back of her pants, grimacing at the stains on her pants. "Uncle Mitchell is going to kill me." She murmured out as she followed Sirius who had started walking towards the opening that some caves had created after what she could only assume was several centuries.

"Hopefully this is the way out."

"And if it isn't?" she asked, inhaling sharply as the walls closed in on her.

"Haven't figured that part out yet." He responded and she groaned loudly. They continued walking for several minutes in silence the only sound reverberating off the walls were the echoes of their footsteps. Her heart was in her throat and she crossed her arms, biting her lower lip. Sirius glanced behind his shoulder and looked at her in confusion.

"You alright?"

"Fine…just…just a bit claustrophobic." She replied, her voice wavering a bit. He looked concerned but continued walking. She frowned. She felt awkward around him. She had been so rude to him a few days ago. She'd felt embarrassed right then, and had lashed out. But he hadn't deserved it. She swallowed.

"Sirius?"

"Hm?"

"Sorry…about how I acted a few days ago." She said softly, looking at their feet. He stopped and turned around a bit of shock showing on his face. She looked embarrassed, a hint of a blush evident even in the shadowed gloom. She wasn't one known for apologies, especially when it came to him.

"Look Moria…it's okay honest. It wasn't something you wanted us to know about." He replied. "Not that it makes it any better or that I don't want to go rip his head off." He thought to himself. She looked at him at first in shock then she smiled. They began moving again, the area growing darker and more foreboding. The path also grew smaller and her breathing seemed to have escalated. He looked back at her.

"Are you sure you're-" He began to ask. Suddenly he pitched forward, nearly falling off the ledge that he was on. He heard a loud yell and then two hands grab his shirt and yank him back, his balance now lost he fell backward and heard a loud grunt. He turned and his eyes connected to brown ones.

Moria had apparently grabbed Sirius's shirt and pulled back as he began to fall. But the added weight had thrown her off as well. Now he lay on top of her, his arms framing her face. She was staring at him in shock and he could see even in the dark a blush rising on her face. He was pretty sure he was blushing as well and quickly scooted away.

"Sorry." He murmured out looking down at the floor. She gave a curt nod blushing as well. She opened her mouth to say something.

"Guys?!"

"Padfoot!"

Moria! You guys there?!" they heard several voices call out. They looked up and saw a hole being made in a higher part of the cave.

"Yeah we're here! Tell James I'm going to kill him once we get out!" Moria yelled out sarcasm laved in her voice. James chuckled slightly, and they could hear everyone else laughing in relief.

"Yup she's alright." They heard Lily say and Sirius glanced at Moria one last time before the others scrambled down.

"Hey Moria?" Lily called out as they were lying down in Moria's room. Moria looked up from the book she was reading.

"Hm?"

"Can you…" She trailed off. "Can you tell us what your uncles were telling us a few days ago?" she finally asked after a moment of hesitation. Moria blinked then sighed glancing at the others, noticing that they were all now staring at her.

"….fine…" she said after a bit of hesitation. "Where did I interrupt?" she asked.

"They had told us about why he beat and…scarred…you." Alice replied. Moria closed her eyes then looked at the ceiling, offering a mirthful smile.

"The scarring was a method of controlling me. But he also would tell me lies. But when I was a little girl…I believed him for the most part. He told me aunt and uncles didn't care about me. I know that isn't true now, but then it felt like the truth then. We rarely visited them and when we did it just felt awkward. Though now I'm sure that they didn't know how to act around me. And I was being, for a better word, trained to not show emotion so I didn't know how to act around them. But I knew that even if I was on my best behavior, I knew I would get beaten or punished the moment we got back. It wasn't a big surprise for me." She said with a monotone voice. "But I learned the more I just tried to blend in with my surroundings and be as quiet as possible, he wouldn't hurt me as much."

"D…Did he ever…" Lily said, trailing off. Moria figured it out.

"Rape me? No. That was just trivial for him. But he still hurt me. He was the main reason why no matter what Lucius does, he can't bother me. Nothing that Lucius does can really bother me. Besides if Lucius did get bad I could easily beat his high and mighty ass, even without magic. When you live on the street for a while, you have to fight, or you'll die."

"Wait. You knew how to fight…and you didn't fight him? Why!?" Sirius finally managed to ask. Moria simply shrugged.

"I couldn't. He was bigger than me and he held me under his thumb. I couldn't. So I didn't for three years…but then…my family found out."

"Malcolm. Moria. How has your summer been so far?" Mitchell asked sweetly. Moria glanced at her uncle and just shrugged keeping her eyes on the ground. Mitchell frowned and glanced at her brother. Malcolm merely looked at him indifferently. Martin coughed uncomfortably.

"Sweetie. Why don't you go make yourself comfortable okay?" Martin said and Moria glanced up at Malcolm who gave her a curt nod. Moria walked away from her guardian and to the television. The brothers all looked at Malcolm as she left him.

"So…how has she been?" Marlon asked pushing up his glasses.

"Been like she has every day." Malcolm responded curtly, folding his arms over his chest. The brothers looked at each other. They then heard a cup fall. Soon after Moria walked out a huge stain on her shirt. Madge sighed before taking the little girl and leaving the room.

"So...how's business been?"

"The same. Why do you guys insist on inviting me to this reunion? It's depressing as he-!"

Malcolm's comment was cut off by a loud scream of shock and then Madge rushing out, a look of pure anger on her face.

"YOU BLOODY BASTARD! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!" she screeched at Malcolm who had a look of indifference on his face while the other men looked at her confused.

"Madge what-!"

"LOOK AT HER BACK! GO LOOK AT HER BACK!" she screeched out pointing at the room they had taken Moria in. Martin, Mitchell, and Monroe rushed in and their eyes widened at the sight. Moria just sat on the bed, her gaze on the ground. She made no sign of noticing them, nor did she seem to be in any distress. However the scars…the were scars facing them, shocking the three men.

"After that Malcolm was arrested and charged with child abuse. But he's unfortunately not in prison. He's currently in an asylum."

"Why the hell did they just put him in an asylum for what he did to you?!" Lily hissed out. Moria shrugged and smiled bitterly.

"He was diagnosed for several mental disorders, like paranoia, schizophrenia, and I think bipolar was one a few of them. I don't really remember the whole thing. So legally, he couldn't be charged because he wasn't in the right mind. So he has to remain in an asylum for the rest of his life. At least that's the court order. He gets a visit with a parole hearing every now and then, but he hasn't managed to keep his temper down long enough." She said looking at the ceiling. She paused for a second.

"Why did you never tell anyone?"

"Because the fact is that whenever I hinted to people about what was happening, they didn't believe me. Like I said I was a fighter when I was a kid, so they automatically thought that is where I got those scars from. And when they thought that, I normally lost the people who I was friends with."

"Oh bloody hell Moria. That's not happening anytime soon." Alice huffed out and she grinned.

"Yes. You've all pretty much assured me of that. Thanks." She replied and grinned and they all responded by a grin. She then looked back at James.

"Alright. James. Now next time we go exploring, you don't touch anything." Moria warned glaring playfully at James, changing the subject. The others laughed and continued on the conversations. Later that night Moria was staring at ceiling again listening to her friends light snoring. She then glanced at Sirius, who was now partially off the bed, snoring. She then looked back at the ceiling. She had never felt that way before. She had been scared when he had started falling. Why? She had seen plenty of people fall and hadn't been terrified for them…yet him… Suddenly she felt her cheeks going red and her eyes widened.

No.

She wasn't. She couldn't be.

And as if a light switch turned on, every single memory of Sirius flashed through her mind and she felt her face grow warmer.

"Crap." She thought in her mind as she pressed her face into her pillow. "I have feelings for Sirius. Crap. Crap. Bloody crap." She shut her eyes closed and finally managed to fall asleep.

"Ugh…Morning you guys…" Moria grumbled out yawning as she left the bedroom going to the kitchen, her aunt and uncles already up and drinking tea. She looked up at them after she realized how quiet it was. She looked at their stoic and somber faces and she knew…

It was time to visit Malcolm.