Thanks for the reviews, Weasleytwinslover87, LizziePixie-Aiko, Madmad237, and marycaity! :]

A little shorter than usual, I'm feeling a bit blue tonight. :/

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS, EXCEPT FOR ANY CHARACTERS YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE. JK ROWLING IS JESUS!

CHAPTER 47

The rest of the evening was filled with dinner and watching Remus and James play wizards chess. James was convinced he was going to beat Remus this year, but Remus as always was calm, cool and collected. Audrey had a feeling she knew what the outcome of the match would be.

"So wait…where's Peter?" She asked.

"In Paris, visiting his relatives for the summer. We won't see him until Platform 9 ¾." said Remus, studying the chess board for a moment.

"Ah, so the Marauders are down one I see…you do realize once Sarah, Lily, and Marly get here you'll be outnumbered?"

"We can take you." Sirius said, without falter. Audrey raised an eyebrow, her eyes going yellow.

"I believe that's a challenge, Sirius." said James.
"No, that's a 'I'm going to kick your ass into last year.' look." Remus said, knowingly. Audrey nodded.

Sirius grabbed Audrey and squeezed her to his chest.

"I'm just glad our little Russia is back with us." He cooed, Audrey put her hands on his chest, trying to push him off.

"Let's not forget, my dear Sirius, that Audrey's father is just a fire call away." Remus said smartly, giving his friend a look that said 'Stop it, you're freaking her out.'

"It's fine, Remus." Audrey strained. "I can handle this big lug of hormones over here on my own."

Sirius looked at her, raising an eyebrow. Audrey inhaled quickly, then blew a huge gust of wind out, knocking Sirius off of her and off of the couch.

"Checkmate!" Audrey grinned, stretching out and purposely taking up the entire sofa.

Sirius sat up on the floor, a goofy grin crossing his features. James snorted, exchanging a look with Remus. Sirius shot them a look, they'd get it later.

In one swift motion, Sirius lifted Audrey's legs, sat on the couch and placed her legs over him.

"Merlin's beard!" He exclaimed.

"What?" Audrey, Remus, and James said together.

"Your legs are jacked!" Sirius exclaimed, feeling her quad. Audrey groaned in frustration, he was ridiculous.

"That's what I said when I first saw her this summer too." Remus admitted, chuckling.

"Well, I've only been step dancing since I could walk." Audrey snorted, she slapped Sirius' hand. "Stop it!"

Sirius wore a wolfish grin.

"I asked her to kick me, out of curiosity. This is what happened." Remus said, lifting his shirt slightly. There was a significant bruise near his hip.

"It would have been ten times worse if you weren't a werewolf." Audrey said.

"But still." said James, his eyes wide. "Why have you been dancing for half the day this summer?"

Audrey shrugged, Sirius was still feeling her muscles in shock.

"Sirius, if you don't stop touching her legs she's going to kick you like she kicked me." Remus grinned, Audrey rolled off the couch, sitting cross legged on the floor.

"Thanks for the couch, Russia." Sirius grinned, stretching out.
"No problem, Black." Audrey replied, yawning and leaning her head up against James' shoulder.

"Distraction!" Remus grinned, rubbing his hands. "Excellent."

"Russia is not a distraction! She's merely just borrowing my shoulder." James replied. Audrey nodded, sleepy.

I must have fallen asleep for a short amount of time, and perhaps I thought I was in the clear.

And then I saw everything.

Audrey woke with a start, panting, looking around the room. Her friends hadn't left the living room. James and Sirius were in makeshift beds on the floor, Remus on the couch opposite of her. The living room was illuminated by a small fraction of moonlight.

"Alright there?" said a voice. Audrey looked down to see Sirius propped up on his elbow.

Audrey took in a shaky breath and sat up, running a hand through her hair.

"I'm going to go and get some water." She said, about to stand up. Sirius jumped up.

"No, no. I'll get it, you look a bit faint." He murmured, quietly walking into the kitchen. He came back in seconds later and plopped down on the couch next to her.

"Thanks, Sirius." She said tiredly, taking the glass.

"Anytime, Audrey." He replied, looking out the window for a moment.

"Why are you all still down here?"

Sirius shrugged. "You fell asleep first, James moved you to the sofa. Moony fell asleep next, he seemed a bit out of it, I know it's been a little over a week since he transformed and how weak he gets sometimes. Then James and I just made makeshift beds on the floor and decided 'What the hell?'"

"Impromptu sleepover." Audrey gave a small smile.

"Yeah." Sirius grinned.

After a few moments of silence, he spoke again.

"Is this why you haven't been sleeping well?" He asked, looking at her. His blue grey eyes were more apparent in the moonlight.

Audrey just nodded, a tear slipping. "I…every time I close my eyes, I just see it all over again. If I don't see it right away, it comes sometime when I'm asleep. That's why I've been avoiding it and keeping busy."

"But it's catching up to you." Sirius pointed out. "You fell asleep first."

"I didn't dance half the day like I usually do." Audrey shrugged. "At first, I thought it would exhaust me, but now it's a mechanism to keep me wired."

"You can't do that though, Audrey. You're going to hurt yourself somehow." Sirius looked worried.

Audrey shook her head. "I don't have much of a choice…either I sleep and face them all again or I stay awake and try to move on."

"So you're running yourself ragged to avoid your grief? That's hardly any better." Sirius replied.

I knew he was right, but it wasn't something that I could face anymore. I had been facing it everyday for six months. Once I had gotten home for the summer, it only became worse by invading my dreams.

"I know." Audrey replied quietly. "But it's the best solution I've got. And I'm not running myself ragged, I'm expressing myself ragged."

"Touché. But still…you have to sleep. Can't you take a draught or something?"

"Too much effort." She said. "And once you get used to those things they never help. They never help me much…remember they had to tranquilize me last time."

Sirius winced, he did remember. After they had visited Audrey and she told them all that, once they left, Remus was spitting with rage. He ranted about how inhumane people were and how wrong that was.

Sirius hugged her to his chest, it was one of those rare times she didn't object.

"I'm sorry this is still haunting you." Sirius murmured.

"Thanks…." She replied, hugging him back.

I don't know how long we stayed like that, but I felt myself drift off into sleep once more.

No dreams at all…