I apologise, I know this chapter's a bit rough (I'll probably come back and re-write some parts), but majority of it was written in an airport terminal, some on the plane and other bits between connecting flights.

I need a miracle,

A star-crossed lover,

An arrow in my heart,

I need a rainy day,

And an endless summer,

A pocket full of stars,

–Nine Black Alps 'Pocket Full of Stars'

Chapter Twenty-Three:

"What the hell…?" The voice had appeared from behind, and I didn't even care, "Merlin! What happened in here?"

I turned around to have my eyes fall upon Lily, who was standing in the doorway with a confused look spread across her face and surprise imbedded in her bright emerald eyes.

"What do you want?" I asked acidly, in absolutely no mood for her at the moment.

"Are you okay?" She asked with a note of genuine concern in her voice. I didn't hear it.

I laughed bitterly, "Do I look okay to you? Is that really what this pretty picture portrays? That I'm 'okay'?"

"You don't need to be rude; it was just a question…" She frowned taking a step forward, and I heard the shards of mirror crack under her step, "C'mon, let's get you cleaned up,"

"I don't need help, least alone from you of all people," I scowled as I rejected her outstretched helping hand and stood up myself, dusting off my pyjamas.

"I'm trying to be nice," She frowned at me.

I shrugged, not particularly caring, "Well I'm not,"

Lily glared at me as she calmly pulled out her wand and swiftly muttered the words, "Mirrato Reparo," the shards picked themselves up of the floor and fixed themselves into place, "No need to thank me,"

I scoffed in pride, "Wasn't planning on it, I could have done that myself, you know,"

She ignored my rude comment and outstretched her hand, placing a brass key in my palm, "Go to the Prefect bathroom… clean yourself up a bit. It'll help, I promise. The password is 'grumblesnark', don't tell anybody I told you,"

Then she turned to leave without another word, but I stopped her right before she reached the door, "You hate me… why are you helping me?"

She gave me a sad smile and stated simply, "Because you need it,"

And then the girl with emerald eyes and fiery ringlets was gone, and I was all alone once again.

It was close to two in the morning as I made my way towards the fourth door on the fifth floor and stopped just left of the statue of Boris the Bewildered and muttered, "Grumblesnark," under my breath.

I'd been in this room before – however obviously against the rules – in my fourth year for a Halloween prank. Sirius, James and I transfigured the water in the bath into blood, or at least a liquid that resembled blood in colour and consistency. It was enough to fool a group of particularly jittery and frightened Hufflepuff Prefects, anyhow, but then again it was also enough to land Sirius, James and I in detention for the next month also. Funny how it'd taken until now for me to realise that Ariana had been one of those Prefects we pranked. The three of us had been ordered to go and apologise to the girls, I hadn't gone with James and Sirius in stubborn defiance as it went directly against my belief of not apologising for things I am not sorry for, and I had defiantly not been sorry for that prank. It had been genius.

Had that been the day Sirius meet Ariana? Had they met before that? Later? If I had been there on that day, would things be different now?

I could only speculate as I stepped into the cool water. The room was dark, lit by only the moonlight that steamed through the stain glass window. I didn't light any candles (despite my love of fire) in fear of being found out and dragged dripping to professor McGonagall's office.

Closing my eyes, I dipped my head beneath the water. Without light it was inky-black, moving coolly like silk ribbons between my fingers. I'd always loved the water, and in my childhood had taken countless dips in the lake and was constantly awaiting school swimming days.

I morphed myself a set gills and web fingers, letting myself breathe easy under the water. The webbed fingers were easy to shift – just extra skin – but the respiratory system was a tricky piece of anatomy and growing gills took me months of time spent in the lake over the summer to perfect. Even now, it still felt weird to breathe in the liquid and I was constantly second guessing myself on weather I'd morphed correctly, because they're nothing pleasant about a lung full of dirty river water – believe me, I've been there.

There was something about the dark murky pool that calmed my mind, my thoughts still lingered on Sirius of course, but at least now they were no longer irrational and heated by argument.

Had he really told me about his plan for asking out Ariana at Ted Tonks's party?

I'd say he did, and I'd say that what he told me about my own drunken actions were also true. You see, Sirius had the habit of always speaking the truth, or not speaking at all, much unlike myself whom is a self-proclaimed compulsive liar (although others have granted me with the name also). This is part of the reason why it is usually James and I who must spin a complex (and most likely outrageously unbelievable) web of lies, while Sirius remains still and silent beside us, his stony-grey gaze an off-putter for most of our adversaries while we engage verbal combat – which is really just a pretentious way of saying that we'd developed and very un-fool-proof method of talking our way out of trouble with the Professors.

I wasn't sure on exactly how long I'd been submerged, when I heard scraping muffled by the water. Curiously, I peeked to see where the sound had come from, letting only from the crown of my head to my eyes surface.

My view was blurred by the water in my eyes, but still through the darkness I could see none other than Remus clutching the sink basin, head hung. His hair was damp, his t-shirt almost soaked through with sweat. For a few minutes I just sat there hidden in the water, watching like a nymph as he stood their panting.

It was strange, watching him like this. I'd always had an admiration for my friend Moony; he was the strong one, the solid one in our band of troublemakers. It was a rare sight indeed to witness even a shred of weakness in him, which for most people could be understandable, but for him it was… almost impossible.

Not once had I seen him break down or shed a tear. Not when I watched his bones crack and skin rip open during his inhuman transformation under full moon, not in the days after when I sat by his bed looking down on him as he shook with fever and trashed against his braces as Madam ?'s poured steaming potion straight into his deepest wounds.

"Oh Remus…" I whispered to myself, almost accidentally.

He froze, then slowly turned around to face me, "Riley, w-what are you doing here?"

I bit my lip and stepped out of the pool, slowly edging my way towards him, "It… it doesn't matter… but a-are you okay?"

He looked up at me with sad eyes, and breathed heavily, "... No,"

"Do you need anything?" I asked him, sitting him down on the stone steps beside the giant bath.

He leaned down, head on his knees and all I could do was sit there, "It's in my head, Riley, all locked up in the tiny little corners… little things, little snippets of memory. Ripping. Cutting. Gnawing. D-During the day I can r-remember… just can't remember… but in the n-n-night? The l-little things come back… and I remember it, Riley. I remember h-hurting myself, s-scratching at my own flesh …"

I wrapped my arms around his head, pulling him close to me, "It's going to be okay…" I whispered as I stroked his head, I wasn't even sure if that was the truth. We sat like that for a while, both dripping wet and unsure of the difference between water and tears.

Everybody has their weak moments I guess, and nobody likes being caught during them because you may put up a brave face every day, you may smile and laugh and supress your sadness, but eventually all that pressure's going to build and you're going to break. All that bottled up emotion flooding your senses at once.

After that, all you need to do is pick up the pieces and reassemble your puzzle. Adjust your composure. Plaster that smiling face back on no matter how much you don't mean it. Make sure you're ready to let others see you again.

Pulling away, I brushed his damp hair out of his brilliantly blue eyes, "You'll be okay, Remus… you'll be okay…"

He shook his head slowly, "No, I won't…" he whispered, then did the unthinkable;

Remus John Lupin pulled me into a deep, passionate kiss.

DON'T. KILL. ME. JUST. YET.

Sorry about the cliff-hanger, but it is 5:01am in the morning on the aeroplane (I CAN'T FUCKING SLEEP! RAGE!) and I think my computer light is bugging people… Lol. I don't care.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, but this is still a Sirius and Riley story (don't forget that!), I'm just playing God and messing up all their lives. Haha.

I'm aware that this chapter is slightly depressing, I think it's because I was listing to The Fray again while writing the last part… anyway… PLEASE REVIEW IN THE NAME OF THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN!

(Yeah, I was watching that while I wrote… it's an epic movie…)

O_o