A/N Thank you to anyone who is still reading this. I know it is not very popular, but I am having fun writing it so I shall continue. Please review, I love getting feedback.

Chapter 3

Secrets and a Shoe Fiasco

Kasdeya sat in the common room on the rug in front of the fireplace. The small hairs on the end of her quill stuck in odd directions from her constantly pressing it to her chin as she thought. Herbology was awful. Three textbooks laid on the carpet around her as she struggled to find some information that made sense to her. She would much rather be doing astronomy right now. Dumbledore had let her enroll in it even though she had never taken it. Her moon-tracking journal and her star charts were already some of the best in the class. Why couldn't herbology be like that? She sighed and took off her glasses and rubbed her palm against her eyes.

"Hey Kas," Alice greeted. She had just come down from the girls' dormitory and was wearing her winter coat and scarf.

"ALICE!" Kas cried throwing her arms in the air. "My savior! Have you come to explain the irrational world of herbology to me?"

"Well actually I was going to head down to watch the quidditch game."

"They have quidditch games here?" Kasdeya asked jumping to her feet.

"Uhh, yeah?" Alice answered. "Did they not have quidditch at your old school? I thought all wizarding schools had quidditch."

"Never mind that, we have a game to go to!" Kasdeya shouted dashing up the stairs to get her coat before grabbing Alice's wrist and dragging her out of the common room.

"Kas, you left your stuff all over the floor of the common room!"

"I will be glad if someone steals my herbology homework," Kas snorted, hurrying down the corridor.

"Hey, you are going the wrong way!" Alice giggled as she jogged to keep up with the girl in front of her.

"I knew that!" Kasdeya stated as she turned on her heel and started walking down a different corridor. "Just a small wrong turn." Alice shook her head and turned to follow her friend down the hallway.

"Geeze Kas, how are you not out of breath yet?" Alice huffed.

"There is no time for breathing!" she cried as she took a sharp turn down another corridor.

"Kas, the stair cased has moved!" Alice screamed. Kasdeya flailed her arms in the air trying to gain her balance after she had come to a quick stop at the ledge of the platform. She pulled a few stray piece of hair from her face and laughed.

"Ha! That was a close call!" Kasdeya said over her shoulder, the tips of her feet over the edge of the platform. Alice shook her head.

"You really need to get a grip," she sighed. "You act like you have never seen a quidditch game before."

Kasdeya frowned.

"Sure I have," she said slowly. "I was just really busy last term and missed most of the games at my school."

Kasdeya normally would have felt bad lying, but over the past few weeks she had lied so much it felt like second nature to her. The truth was her father would never let her go to sports games. Her mother snuck her out of the house once to see a winged horse race, but never had she seen a quidditch game. The idea of it made her feel jumpy.

"Come on, I know a shortcut," Alice told her, pulling her away from the ledge and leading her down a different hallway to an old portrait. The portrait swung back to reveal another passageway which deposited them just in front of the main doors. Kas threw her body against the door to open it and rushed into the cold January air. Her glasses immediately fogged up from her breath, but she didn't care. She could see enough to tell where the quidditch pitch was.

The screams of excitement made Kas's stomach flip as she raced through the snow. She turned the corner to see the pitch and they walked up the stairs to the top of the stands. Kasdeya felt her hands tremble with excitement. She looked around in amazement at her surroundings.

"Over her Kas!" someone called, and she looked to see Lily, her face red from the cold wind. Kas smiled and rushed to join her friends. She took her seat next to Lily, and looked up at the game. Her jaw opened slightly in amazement at the spectacle before her.

"Gryffindor is in the lead with 170 to 10. Those foul snakes will never catch up to us! Prewitt has the quaffle and passes to the amazing, handsome James Potter," Kasdeya snapped her head up to see the Sirius was commentating the match in the stand to the right.

"Who in their right mind would ever let Black be the commentator?" Lily laughed.

"Leanne Macmillan usually commentates, but she is in the infirmary due to a nasty grindylow bite in care of magical creatures," someone in front of them explained. Kasdeya looked down to see that the voice came from Remus, who was sitting next to Peter in the row in front of them. "Sirius was appointed in a last minute, no other options situation."

Kas looked at Remus for a minute, studying his features. He looked sick.

"Are you okay Remus? You look really pale," Kasdeya asked and reached out to feel his forehead.

"Oh, I am fine, thank you for your concern," he smiled, leaning away from Kas's hand.

"Maybe you should go see Madame Pomphrey," Kasdeya said her eyes currently locked on the quidditch game."

"It's just a small cold. She already gave me a potion for it," Remus replied, but Kasdeya was not listening anymore. She was trying hard to figure out what exactly was happening in the game.

"Gryffindor keeper blocks a shot by Malfoy! Score remains at 170 to 10, the Lions in the lead!" Sirius's voice echoed over the speaker system. "That slime ball Carrow steals the quaffle. I will have to make sure to hex him later –"

"You will do nothing of the sort!" screeched an angry McGonagall beside him, who looked like she thoroughly regretted allowing him to do this.

"Carrow throws the quaffle toward the goal post – sure throws like a girl – manages to make it in by pure luck. 170 to 20 Gryffindor."

"WOOOO!" screamed Kasdeya jumping up and down.

"KAS! Why the hell are you rooting for Slytherin?" Lily gasped. Alice was giggling next to her.

"What?" Kasdeya asked with her head tilted sideways. She looked back out at the game and squinted. "How do you know who you are cheering for?"

Lily and Alice both looked at her with bewildered expressions, Alice still trying to hold back a laugh.

"Have you never seen a quidditch match?" Remus asked with an amused smile. In his sickly state, his smile looked rather pained.

"Yes," said Kasdeya unconvincingly. "I just never got the hang of it."

"Don't lie Kasdeya Grace, it doesn't work on you," Remus laughed. Kasdeya scrunched up her face in annoyance. He had no idea how good she had gotten at lying. He scooted over slightly and patted the seat next to him. "Here, I will explain it to you."

Kasdeya grinned and sat down next to him. He began to recount the rules of quidditch. Kasdeya furrowed her brow, and she listened intently trying to comprehend the game.

"Those bloody Slytherin beaters hit a bludger towards the Gryffindor chasers, giant gits…" Sirius announced.

"Black!"

"It seems both teams' seekers have spotted the snitch!" Sirius was almost on the edge of his seat, his bright blue eyes darting across the quidditch pitch intensely. "They are neck and neck! What does Malfoy think he is doing? He swerves in front of the Gryffindor seeker, forces the Gryffindor seeker to swerve sideways, – and it puts him behind the Slytherin seeker."

Sirius fell backwards in his seat and mumbled something unintelligible to the person next to him.

"It appears those lying cheating foul –"Sirius was cut off as McGonagall tried to wrestle the microphone away from him.

"Slytherins have won, 170-160," McGonagall barked. Sirius covered his eyes with his hands. James landed on the turf of the pitch and was alternating between cussing at Malfoy and trying to convince Madame Hooch that the Slytherin's fouled by blocking.

"I better go calm James down before he attacks someone," Remus muttered before hurrying off. Kasdeya noticed a slight smile on Lily's lips when Remus mentioned James.

Kasdeya looked around before getting up and stretching.

"I am going to head up to the library and try to find a herbology book that actually makes sense," she said. Alice and Lily nodded and linked arms as they walked off.

Kasdeya hurried up the steps to the Castle. She wiggled her nose as she walking in an attempt to warm it up. It had turned bright red from the cold air, and Alice had giggled at her, calling her Rudolph. The silent halls offered a strange sort of comfort. Kasdeya listened to her footsteps as she walked, trying to think of a way to pass her herbology class. She suddenly realized her footsteps sounded squishy. She looked down to see that her converse were not the best option to wear on a snowy day. After removing her shoes, she cast a drying spell on her socks. A toasty warm feeling spread over her feet and she smiled. There was nothing better than warm feet. She picked up her wet shoes, not bothering to dry them off, and continued down the hallway.

"I know who you are," a low voice said from behind her. She spun around and looked for the owner to the voice. The empty halls suddenly seemed big and overwhelming. A faint movement in the shadows caught her eye.

"Who's there?" Kasdeya asked softly. The figure stepped out of the shadows, and she saw Lucius Malfoy in front of her.

"Malfoy," Kas said. "Leave me alone." She turned to walk away but felt a hand on her shoulder. Her mind raced back to her memories. The image of him and a few other evil humans standing above her limp body as she struggled to fight flashed before her.

"Don't think you can just walk away from your past," he drawled. "You may be safe here under the watch of that oaf Dumbledore, but what happens when you leave here? Who will protect you then? The dark lord is not one to forget those who escape. No, he will track you down. He will make you pay for what you have done."

Kasdeya backed up, her eyes widening. This couldn't be happening. Lucius moved toward her, matching her steps.

"And I know everything you have done." The look in his eye sent shivers down Kasdeya's spine. "Don't think that innocent act will work on me. You are just as bad as the rest of us."

Kasdeya closed her eyes and shook her head.

"You're WRONG!" she cried. "You don't know ANYTHING!" Tears were rolling down her cheeks by now and her nose was becoming stuffy.

"Is there a problem here?" a voice called from behind her. Lucius snapped his head up to look over Kasdeya's shoulder, but Kasdeya didn't need to look up. She knew it was that loud mouth Sirius Black, and no doubt had his hooligan friends with him. She quickly dried her tears off with her robes and wiped her snot on her sleeve.

"No." she stated, finally opening her eyes and looking at Lucius. "He was just leaving." Lucius frowned and leaned closer to her.

"You can never truly leave your past behind," Lucius spat, loud enough for the marauders to hear. He spun on his heel and disappeared into the shadows once again. Her anger bubbled up from inside her, replacing her feeling of sadness and despair. She let out a low growl and threw one of her wet shoes that were still in her hands at the back of his head. Of course, she had terrible aim and it missed him by about three yards. Cursing at herself and at Lucius and at whatever gods gave her this fate, she pulled out her wand and summoned her shoe.

"You wanna tell us what that was about?" James said as he strolled up to her, the other marauders in tow, and a suspicious look on his face. Peter was trying to look small behind Remus, who looked slightly unnerved by the confrontation.

"I have always had really bad aim," she replied, trying to avoid a confrontation. "Nothing to worry about though. I think it comes from not playing outside enough as a kid. Never got around to developing good hand eye coordination." The marauders looked only slightly amused, but James quickly went back to his serious face.

"What were you doing with Lucius Malfoy?" he said.

"You know what?" she said her hand on her hips. "As a matter of fact, I don't feel like talking to you about it." James looked her up and down. Suddenly he grabbed her arm.

"Let me go!" she screamed, completely unsure of what was happening. He pushed her sleeve back and looked at her forearm. It was blank.

"Did you really think I was a death eater?" she snapped, her voice dripping with venom. She yanked her arm from his grip and rolled her sleeve back down hugging her arms to her body.

"I don't know what I think, but I think you are hiding something," he stated. He readjusted his glasses and looked her straight in the eye. "Something dangerous."

"Everyone is hiding something!" Kasdeya shot back.

"Not everyone is transferring to new schools and lying about her past or running around talking to death eaters in dark hallways!"

"Who says I am lying?" she growled. This time Remus spoke up.

"Kasdeya Grace, I don't think I've ever met a worse liar than you," Remus said, a smirk upon his lips.

"What are you hiding?" James blurted out.

Kasdeya took a deep breath.

"James, I promise you, I never asked for any of this," she rubbed her hands together and she spoke. She didn't realize how cold Lucius made her feel.

"Prongs, mate, maybe let this go," Sirius said. "I know you are just being protective, but I don't think she is going to hurt anyone." Kasdeya looked at Sirius carefully for the first time. Then it clicked. She knew him. He was there after the incident happened. He had tried to help her. Did he recognize her too?

James stood up straighter than before. Ruffling his hair, he gave her a threatening look.

"You better hope he is right," muttered James, narrowing his eyes. Kasdeya looked up at him.

"Maybe I was wrong," she said slowly looking at James. "I bet I have good aim if I am close enough to my target." James looked very confused and before he knew what was happening, she threw one of her wet shoes at him. He stumbled back a few steps then pulled out his want to retaliate, but she was gone.

Kasdeya ran down the hallway as quickly as she could, sliding on the smooth stone floor in her socks. James had better give that shoe back she thought sourly. Those are my favorite converse. Kasdeya could hear the echo of James cursing and the other marauders laughing as she continued on her way to the library.

Kasdeya had managed to sneak into the common room without James seeing her. She was sure that he would try to hex her or something. Kas lay on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. Her hedgehog Garry was sound asleep on her stomach. He was lying with his little legs in the air. He seemed to be having a good dream, and he moved his legs back and forth as though he was running. Kas rubbed his belly and he squirmed slightly under her touch but did not wake.

The thought of Sirius was driving her crazy. She needed to talk to him. What if he recognized her? What if he misunderstood when he first met her? What if he told James she had been at the Malfoy manor over the summer and they thought she was going to become a death eater? She groaned and closer her eyes.

"Are you okay, Kas?" Lily asked delicately. Lily had been working on a beautiful acrylic painting. Hogwarts didn't offer any art classes, but Lily had learned painting from her muggle school as a kid. She had an easel set up near the window where she would often pain the scenery of the Hogwarts grounds. Kasdeya loved her funny muggle paintings. Get this, the images were still! They didn't move! It was crazy. Kasdeya loved watching Lily paint. She would always get paint in her hair that would stand out against her bright red locks. No wonder James was infatuated with her – she really was adorable.

"Yeah, I just had a spat with James earlier today," Kas mumbled, opening one eye to watch Lily. Lily scrunched up her face and washed out her paintbrush in a small glass jar that sat on the window seal.

"James is a prat, I wouldn't worry what he thinks about you," she sniffed.

"Yeah, but I threw my shoe at him and I really need it back." Lily put her paintbrush down in the jar and started laughing.

"You… Threw…. Your… Shoe…. At him?" she cackled. "Oh I wish I could have seen the look on his dumb face!"

"Hey!" Kasdeya said sitting up on her bed and waking Garry up. "James loves you! Could you get my shoe back from him? Pleaseeee?" Lily stopped laughing and nodded.

"Yeah I can help you out," she said still smiling. She picked up her paintbrush again and went back to painting, but Kasdeya noticed the smiled never left her lips. Garry stretch out his paws and curled up in a ball, trying to go back to sleep. Kas carefully picked him up, set him in his fluffy pet bed, and got to her feet. She decided to see if she could find Sirius. It was going to eat her alive if she didn't ask him what he knew.

She tiptoed down to the common room, carefully making sure James was not around. She let out a breath when he was nowhere in sight. Sirius, however, was sitting near the fireplace, a girl fawning over him. Sirius looked only mildly interested in her as she stroked his arm, cooing at his muscles.

"Sirius?" Kasdeya said nervously. Sirius looked up at Kasdeya from his position on the couch. The girl next to him was admittedly very attractive, but looked completely pissed that Kasdeya was interrupting. This girl obviously thought too highly of herself.

"Excuse me," the girl snapped. "We would like some privacy!"

"Actually yes, we would like some privacy," Sirius said lazily, getting up. Kas gritted her teeth and was about to scream at him when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward to the door. "Come on Kas, let's go somewhere more private." Kas felt herself smile and couldn't help but turn around and stick her tongue out at the girl.

Sirius led her to an empty classroom and closed the door behind them before casting mufflatio to stop any eavesdropping. Kasdeya carefully sat down on one of the desks and watched Sirius run his hands through his hair.

"Do you remember me?" Kasdeya asked with her head tilted slightly.

"I didn't until I saw you in the hallway," he stated. "Sorry about James. He gets very protective when he thinks there might be a threat. It's getting scary out there."

"So you know then?" she whispered.

"I know… some," he replied. "I know that you were captured by them this last summer. I know that they wanted something from you. I know they were going to, uh, kill you. And I know that you escaped."

Kasdeya didn't say anything for a while, until Sirius looked at her waiting for a longer explanation.

"Yeah. He has been after my family for a while. I used to live in this small little town with my family. God, we were so normal back then. One day, he arrived. He killed my grandparents, and tried to kill my parents too. So we ran. After that, we moved around constantly. I didn't go to Hogwarts because my parents didn't want him to know where I was. They thought it was too risky. Ridiculous, right? Hogwarts is the safest place I could have possibly been. But one day he found us. Someone betrayed us, but I don't know who. Then, he killed my parents. He… he was going to kill me but I escaped. Ran out the backdoor while he was…"

Kas shuttered as the image of her parents writhing in pain on the floor of her living room entered her mind. For a split second she could clearly hear her mothers agonizing screams. Kas clutched her hands to her head and forced the memory down.

"I didn't look back. I don't know how I could leave my parents there like that, but I did. I fled to a neighbor's house and used their floo network to get as far away as I could. His followers caught me a few days later though. Over powered me. I didn't think I would get away. I was in this house, and all these people were around me – I didn't know what was happening. I remember seeing you. You looked so sad. I remember you helped me. You distracted them one night and I got away. After that I was on the run until they cornered me. Somehow Dumbledore was able to send members from the order to find me. They brought me back here. Gave me a cover story."

"Why were they after you?" Sirius asked. "Voldemort kills for fun, but doesn't seek people out and chase them without a reason."

"I… I would rather not say," Kasdeya mumbled. "I don't want you to think less of me."

"I would never –"

"Please?"

Sirius nodded slowly.

"Why were you there?" she blurted out.

"My loving parents had been trying to get me to join the dark side," he sneered. "They thought if they sent me along with my dear brother to the death eater gatherings I would suddenly see the error of my ways and join them. Usually it was just a bunch of gits like my brother talking about how they hated muggle borns. But after I saw them abusing you I knew I had to get out. So after I left the door unlocked for you that night, I didn't return either. I actually live with James now. His parents have always been more loving than my own."

"When… when you left and went to James's, did you, uh, tell James about what you saw? With me?" Kasdeya stuttered.

"Yes… but he doesn't know that the girl I helped was you." He said thoughtfully. "I didn't even know it was you until earlier today."

"Are you going to tell him?" Kasdeya asked after a long silence.

"I tell him everything. He is like my brother. More like my brother than my real brother anyway. But if you don't want me to, this isn't my secret to tell."

Kasdeya released her breath and looked up at him.

"James would never have confronted you if he knew the truth," Sirius added. "You could tell him. He is a good guy, and he is more understanding and helpful than you think. He was also just on edge from the quidditch game. He is normally much less of a prat."

"I don't think I know him well enough to confide all this in him," Kasdeya admitted. Sirius nodded and stood up to leave.

"Wait! Thank you. For helping me get out, for talking to me. Thank you," Kasdeya threw herself in Sirius's arms and buried her head in his robes. He stumbled backward at the sudden force against him.

"Are you okay?" he asked wearily.

"I just don't feel so alone anymore," she muttered into his robe.

"I know that feeling," he chuckled humorlessly and patted her back a few times.

"You won't tell anyone will you?" Kasdeya asked nervously as she pulled away from him and straightened her robes.

"I promise I won't."

They looked at each other before Kas finally broke the silence again.

"Will James give me my shoe back?" she asked. Sirius blinked in surprise then let out a loud bark of laughter.

"Oh man! That moment was pure gold!" Sirius said in between bouts of laughter. "The sole of your shoe hit him right in the forehead! Left a big wet muddy footprint on his face!"

"Uuuugg, I bet he REALLY hates me know!" Kasdeya whined as she leaned back against the wall. Sirius looked at her for a moment.

"Actually, I think he liked that you stood up to him. Not many people do. Granted, he still does not trust you and thinks you are a spy or something, but I think you may have earned a little respect from him. He admires brave people. That being said, watch your back. He is not known to let people throw their shoes at him and get away with it." Sirius looked up at the clock on the wall, and suddenly his demeanor changed.

"Oh shit, I gotta go! I am gonna be late!" he said. "See ya later Kas-adilla!"

Kas-adilla? Oh I am not going to let THAT nickname stick. I hate quesadillas! Kas shook her head and walked out of the classroom. Thoughts of the conversation swirled in her head. Maybe now would be a good time to work on some potions and try to clear her head. But first, she needed her shoe. She may be reckless, but she would never try to brew a potion barefoot.

She headed up to the Gryffindor common room to see if she could get Lily to help her with this shoe fiasco.

A/N Thank you for reaDING I LOve you ALL GOOdnighT