Author's Note: I am so grateful for the reviews and the alerts. It was great that people reacted positive to her discovery. I was really worried about how people would react to it, along with her reaction to the news. I hope you like this chapter =D Onwards towards the story!

~Of Silver and Gold~

Chapter 15: Sacrifices and Lies

"Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?" he asked.

"Just hold me" she whispered.

"Like that?" he asked wrapping his arms tighter around her waist.

"Tighter" she whispered throatily.

"Like this?" he whispered lowering his voice to calm her down.

"Tighter" she whispered for the third time.

"Okay" he whispered.

Current Day…

Angel opened her eyes the next morning disoriented. Was it all a dream? She swore that it was all a dream: she didn't belong to the family that raised her, she was the daughter of a murderer; She smiled relieved that nothing was real; that is until she realized she couldn't move. Blinking a few times to clear her vision, she realized the pair of arms that she felt was Draco holding her tightly. As she realized this her eyes watered immediately; it wasn't a dream, it was her reality.

"You awake?" she heard a whisper.

She lifted her head to see Pansy looking down at her confused. She looked up with her brown eyes to her friend whose eyes immediately softened. Pansy signaled her to see if she wanted to talk away from Draco and Angel nodded. She wiggled from Draco's grip and slid from his warmth. As she got up, she lifted a blanket and covered him, kissing his forehead and heading towards Pansy, with her curious glance.

"What's wrong?" Pansy asked. "I didn't see you all day, and when Blaise and I returned Draco was holding you as you wept in your sleep. Tell me the truth; Draco said he didn't know what was wrong."

Angel looked away slightly ashamed of her weakness.

"Pans….it's nothing, it's something stupid" she said in a whisper.

"Tell me Angel, come on." She asked placing her hand on Angel's shoulder sympathetically. "I'm not just Draco's friend, I'm yours too"

Angel's bottom lip trembled and she was tugged into Pansy who hugged her tight and petted her hair. She whispered that she should tell her the truth as to why she was crying, but Angel couldn't. She couldn't let anyone know about her misfortune. She thought that she might as well tell her something that she could try and solve for her.

"A boy" she muttered.

"A boy?" Pansy said surprised.

"Shush, you'll wake up Draco" she whispered. "Let me go change and we can go out and talk" she said.

Pansy agreed, and in a few minutes Angel had returned with a pair of warm pants and a cerulean blue sweater, with her hair tied up with a blue ribbon. Since it was a Saturday she felt in no mood to wear anything green nor black considering how she was having an identity crisis.

When she returned she saw the couch was empty except for Pansy sitting comfortably. As soon as the older girl took her in, she stood up and smiled.

"Come on doll, I sent Draco to bed"

Angel nodded and let her tug her along until she felt at ease to follow her. As they walked along, she noticed just how uncomfortable she felt after the news. She would usually chat about anything with Pansy, but today the conversation was nonexistent.

"I'm waiting Angel. Tell me, who's this boy?" she asked.

Angel sighed now having to make up another lie. She saw that Potter was walking the opposite direction and forced herself not to be ashamed. It seemed that he was just as depressed as she was, from the frown on his face. Her eyes trailed him as he walked, and as his eyes raised to meet hers, she looked away, earning a look of confusion from him.

"Oh Merlin" Pansy said breathless. "Potter?"

Angel lifted her head confused and then she realized what she was implicating. She blushed in embarrassment and frustration; the last thing in her mind was the opposite gender. She had to admit to herself that Potter wasn't horrid looking, but the last thing on her mind was relationship. She inwardly sighed because she thought that she had to work with what Merlin had gifted her with.

"Let's go talk in the fields" she said.

Pansy nodded excited and followed alongside her; she loved gossip and boys were her expertise if she said so herself.

"Tell me" she squeaked.

"I like Potter, he doesn't like me, the end of the story" she muttered feeling as if she had swallowed her pride over the fake situation she had admitted.

"How did this start?" Pansy said curious "I mean it didn't just start out of the blue."

Angel racked her brain trying to figure out what to make up; she wasn't very good at lying for people that knew her.

"Was it after he saved you?" Pansy asked.

Angel nodded immediately after she said this, thinking it might be believable.

"Pans….I don't want to talk about Potter…..can we just talk about something else?' she asked.

Pansy nodded and wrapped her arm around Angel's shoulders pulling her close so they could walk into the cold afternoon. It was killing Pansy, not knowing anything more than the scraps that Angel had thrown at her. She wasn't a gossip, not at all, but as a good friend she thought that it would be great to know more. She knew that she would eventually get something from her, and from those scraps she could get more than she wanted.

She looked down to see Angel deep in thought, her eyes sad, making her want to rip Potter into different pieces, but something was off. Her eyes had lost her gleam, and she had a permanent frown on her face and that was not a symptom she had seen in other girls. She shrugged it off and had some news that might concern her.

"Did you hear? Your father sent an owl to you two to tell you that they are executing that murderous chicken that hurt Draco." She said excited.

Angel flinched slightly at hearing the word father, but thankfully Pansy didn't notice.

"Isn't it great?" Pansy said cheerily. "They'll get just what the thing deserves"

Angel nodded obliviously, her thoughts once more distracted to her issues and what she was dealing with.

"Death?" she whispered.

Pansy nodded.

"Definitely, poor oaf crying over that bird all this morning." Pansy shook her head amused. "That will show them not to mess with any Slytherin, especially with Lucius Malfoy"

Pansy chatted on and on, but Angel was just surprised at the outcome. They talked, well Pansy talked, till the evening fell and night was falling on them.

"It's almost curfew, let's head back Pans" Angel suggested.

Pansy nodded and tugged her along, climbing up the hill towards the castle. They headed towards the common room, and they began to get ready for bed. Pansy headed towards her dorms where she bunked with Daphne, Flora and Hestia. Angel on the other hand went to her dorm which held only Astoria and herself since their Slytherin year was smaller.

She prepared herself for bed, ignoring the looks that Astoria was giving her. The girl wasn't the brightest witch, but she was very perceptive.

"May I ask?" she asked.

"I'd rather you not Astoria" she replied quickly.

Astoria was surprised at the snippety reply and nodded quickly, sliding into bed. She turned to face the opposing wall, not wanting to deal with the famous Malfoy anger.

Angel crawled into her own bed, pulling at the sashes that held her bed curtains to give her the privacy she needed. Throwing her bed covers over her body and closed her eyes, falling into an uncomfortable sleep. She was plagued with nightmares of being related to the killer of the Potters, and she felt a pit of guilt. That all disappeared once the doors were opened immediately, making her jump with fright and took out her wand disoriented.

"Come along, get your things, we must head off towards the Great Hall." Their Prefect said.

Angel blinked a few times tugging her blanket closer to her chest still disoriented.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Sirius Black has tried to attack a student" she replied.

Angel's eyes widened and she jumped off to bed and slipped on her slippers ungracefully. She, slipped her glasses on and began to follow their prefect, wondering if it was anyone she cared for. She walked down the stairs and she saw that in the common room were all the Slytherins holding on to one another confused and some even frightened. She went down the stairs quickly and headed towards Draco who looked relieved she was in a better emotional state.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Weasel-bee almost got killed" he said.

She felt guilt that her biological father was doing all these crimes. He was a criminal, a heartless person who simply attacked children and was a loon. She bit her lip and hid her face in the crook of Draco's neck trying to calm herself down. They waited for around half an hour and they were returned to their bedchambers. She was annoyed and tired, and as she bid good night to Draco, he squeezed her hand and stayed downstairs till she was out of site.

"What's wrong with her mate?" Blaise asked.

"I have no idea, but I don't like it" he said.

They walked towards their own bedchambers and night fell on them once more. Angel crawled once more into bed, but she couldn't sleep. She stood up and wrapped her robe around her before leaving the bedroom. Moving up the stairways she found herself relishing in the darkness that allowed her to roam a bit freer. Her goal was a simple one: fresh air. It was hard to find a window that did not lead to the lake in the dorms. But she knew they had their own stairway that lead to a nice balcony. One that would bring her the peace she needed. Tapping her wand on the portrait that protected the hidden entrance, she slid in and found herself taking a deep breath.

The cold air made her initially shiver, but it was the comfort she needed. Sitting down on the cold floor, she curled herself against the castle wall and stared out. The Black lake was only but a few hundred feet below it, but it sufficed.

"Sirius Black" she whispered. "Why are you doing this?"

She felt the cold winter wind hit her face and she closed her eyes. She let a few tears escape and didn't bother to even wipe them away. Looking up at the skies, she saw the Dementors flying over the skies hiding the light of the moon in the deep night. She looked around and wondered where her blasted familiar had gone to. She sighed and leaned against the wall hoping she would arrive soon, or if sleep would arrive faster.

Unbeknown to her, Coeur was on a mission. She walked with all the pride she had, wondering if she could find the black dog. She could not believe that the orange monster of the bushy girl had aided the black dog. She hated dogs, never feared them….if she knew what a dog really acted like. She had the blue ribbon that her mistress had worn earlier in the day and knew she had to find the dog.

She had seen the dog, big ugly black thing, turning into a person. The man looked gauntly and tired and she felt sympathy. She noticed something; he had this aura similar to her mistress which caused her confusion. She knew that from all the crying that her mistress had done was because of this 'Black' dog person. She needed to figure out why, if he was so cruel and heartless, was he carrying a light aura. She sniffed the air and began heading towards the Forbidden Forest.

On her way towards the forest she saw that redhead's rat and she dropped the blue ribbon. She hissed and let all her hairs spike up to scare it. She would not demean herself to hunt rats, it was too dirty. She wrinkled her nose at the thought and let it scurry away. She meowed proud of herself and lifted the ribbon back into her mouth and began to walk into the dark woods. She let her ears move and twitch as she picked up noises. She searched for that specific noise, the one that she had heard before and as soon as she heard it, she ran towards it.

She heard a growl and she dropped the ribbon once more, letting out a friendly meow. She saw a pair of silver eyes staring back at her and she mewed again. The dog got closer to her and it sniffed her.

Sirius knew the move he had pulled tonight was foolish, but he needed to have that revenge on Wormtail, that treacherous bastard. He saw that there was a cat around his area and thought it was the ginger cat that had handed him the password. As he got closer he sniffed a feminine smell, and it didn't smell like ink and books, but rather differentl. He looked towards the direction to see a ocicat, a female. Coeur. That was her name, at least from what it said in her collar. He got closer and he noticed she dropped a ribbon from her mouth.

He looked around noticing that there was no one around them and he turned back into his human form, knowing that Dementors could not reach that location. As he turned into his human form, the feline walked over and placed the ribbon in his hands. He looked at it curiously and as far as he knew it belonged to a girl. He gripped it and the cat meowed purring against him.

He raised his eyebrow wondering why she would be so kind to him. He lifted her up and tilted his head.

"What are you up to cat?" he asked.

She meowed in return and he understood. She chose to accompany him for a while, at least the time being around the area. As he tied the ribbon around his wrist, he turned back into a dog, and she began following him deeper into the woods. As she walked on, she turned to face the castle. She mewed softly thinking of her mistress, but trekked on behind her mistress's kin. Even though she didn't like the nature around her, she knew that it was for a reason, and that it would pay off later.

As for Sirius, he didn't mind a cat following him around, it would be another set of eyes. He needed a cat to catch a rat after all, and she could be it, though seeing her pampered state he doubted. He looked down at the ribbon that was now around his paw. He shook his head and rushed back towards the hideout, trying to scheme once more to get that rat.

Next morning…

Angel opened her eyes and groaned as the cold wind hit her face. As her eyes fluttered open, she shivered at the cold. She noticed that she had fallen asleep on the balcony and was freezing cold. She got up, somewhat shakily and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to return some color to her skin.

Shakily, she began to descend back into the common room, her sneezing was the only thing that was giving her away. As soon as she pushed the door open, she saw Astora looking at her.

"Bloody hell Angel!" Astoria exclaimed seeing her in the state. "You're absolutely nutters"

"We have to get you in a warm shower" she said.

She rushed over and wrapped her blanket around her friend and tugged her towards the powder room. She sighed seeing her friend in a cold state and seeing her tremble. She warmed the water and helped her enter the tub, her clothes and all.

"Stay here, I'll get Pans" Astoria said.

Angel nodded absentmindedly and Astoria rushed downstairs to get the older Slytherin. As she was left alone, she began to feel the warm water bring back her senses. She cupped some water in her hands and washed her face, feeling once more. She opened her eyes and she sighed feeling her body relax.

"Merlin" she whispered.

She shook her head at her own stupidity. She was having some issues with her identity and who she was. She felt that it was affecting her everywhere, including her classes, which she was no longer responding to questions and she no longer took notes. She brought her legs to her chest and she wept silently. She wept for not knowing who she was, she wept because she refused the invitation her parents had given her for Christmas. It would be the first Christmas that she was utterly unhappy.

She threw her wet clothes to the side and got up shakily, holding onto the walls. Wobbling, as she stood up, she closed the curtain and began to shower in warm water. She decided to just close off these emotions that were unnecessary.

She opened the curtain and wrapped a towel around herself. As she walked outside of the restroom, she was surprised to see Pansy and Astoria rushing indoors.

"Are you crazy?" Pansy yelled.

Angel winced and walked towards her armoire to get her uniform. She threw her tie, blouse , skirt and her other necessities and she looked at them.

"I'm fine, just give me some privacy" she asked.

Astoria sighed and walked away knowing that it meant that Pansy would want to speak to her roommate alone. As she closed the door, Pansy locked it and stared at Angel. She turned around as Angel began to dress, but she knew that Pansy was trying to get her thoughts together.

"This isn't about Potter is it?" she asked.

"Just drop it Pans" Angel sighed tying her tie.

Pansy groaned and turned to face her seeing her , really seeing her. Even though her clothing was primly put, her eyes were vacant and devoid of emotion.

"No, tell me why are you acting like this?" she asked.

Angel turned to face her and sighed.

"Coeur is missing, she's….she's always with me" she whispered. "Nothing's going right anymore"

Pansy looked at her surprised. Angel wasn't always overly optimistic, but she was always a dreamer under all that sarcasm. It was an odd experience really taking in the dulled version of her friend.

"Draco's leaving tomorrow you know" she replied.

Angel nodded and brushed her hair trying to dry it. She shook her hair and dried it on the towel which she had in handy.

"Why aren't you heading home?" she asked.

"Not interested" Angel replied. "I'd rather be alone this Christmas."

Pansy shook her head and walked towards Angel and as she got closer, she caressed her cheek trying to get any emotional reaction from her, but the tears didn't come. She couldn't cry anymore. Angel stepped back and she forced a smile.

"Stop being such a baby Pans, I just want to be alone for a while, cause some mischief of my own you know?" Angel said trying to get her to leave her alone.

Pansy shook her head.

"Are you at least coming to see the chicken getting what it deserves?" Pansy asked crossing her arms in a frustrated manner.

"Absolutely" Angel replied.

She walked towards the mirror and brushed her hair not caring if it was wet, and placed her ribbon on her hair. The green shined from the top of her head and she followed Pansy out quietly.

"Draco's angry about that you know" Pansy said as they went down the stairs.

"I'm not surprised" Angel replied. "I wanted to stay here, try and find Coeur"

Pansy understood that much and she squeezed Angel's shoulder much to her relief.

"Go off to class Pans, I'll be fine….got DADA next" she said smiling.

Pansy nodded sadly and walked off towards her Divination Class as Angel headed towards DADA. She walked down the lonely hallway and turned right as she reached her class. She ignored some looks and sat in front of the class. She looked at Remus who understood, but turned his back on her to continue to lesson.

"Five points from Slytherin" was all he said.

She nodded and began to write notes absentminded as the words of Sirius Black and his crimes rolled around in her head.

An hour later…

Harry had returned to his Divination class with the crystal ball that had suffered from Hermione's wrath. He couldn't believe that she had reacted to angry, so much so that she left the class. Trelawney seemed oblivious to why Hermione was angry, but he felt that he should make peace and returned the crystal ball.

As he set Hermione's crystal ball back on its stand, he saw it was in position and began to head back. As he began to head towards his friends, he noticed something occurring. The ball began to show some smoke and it darkened making him uncomfortable and wary.

He couldn't help his curiosity and he learned towards the ball. He watched the smoker creating a shape and he froze wide eyed as he saw what it formed; it was unmistakable, it was: Sirius Black. As he looked on with fear, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around immediately only to find Professor Trelawney.

He gave her a shaky smile.

"Professor Trelawney-" he began.

Trelawney's expression was very vague.

"He will return tonight..." she said in an eerie voice.

Harry stiffened and he looked at her wide eyed. Her voice sounded so hollow and he was frightened to the core; for a second he thought that he had heard wrong.

"S-sorry?" he asked her confused.

"Tonight, when the clock strikes twelve, the servant shall break free. He and his Master shall be reunited. It cannot be prevented." She said.

Trelawney smiled savagely at him and then she lost her balance and fell forward towards him. When she rose once more, she blinked and turned to see Harry.

"So sorry dear boy, did you say something?" she asked.

Harry was visibly shaken but he shook his head at her.

"No. Nothing" he said.

He pulled away from her and walked out of the classroom visibly frightened.

Later in the day…

Angel had just thrown her books and placed her robe on her shoulders. She rushed out as Draco and the others waited for her. She smiled slightly and allowed Draco to place his arm around her shoulder.

"You alright?" he whispered as the groups walked along.

She kissed his cheek and nodded leaning her head on his shoulder as they walked. He had forgiven her as Pansy had told him about her familiar missing. He was trying to be supportive, but it would be the first time without her for Christmas. He forced a small smile and tugged her along.

"The execution awaits" Blaise said smirking.

They all smirked and walked towards the damn chicken, with Angel trying to act as normal as possible. They were walking towards the open fields towards Hagrid's hut. As Angel began to walk ahead, Draco pulled her back.

"We don't want to get too close, we might get his germs" he said.

Pansy giggled and nodded handing each some binoculars.

"We can later have a picnic" she clapped her hands.

Angel shook her head at their antics.

"That's horribly morbid for you to bring chicken" she said sighing.

Pansy winked and they began to talk, that is until they heard a trio of unmistakable people.

"I can't believe they're going to kill Buckbeak! It's too horrible." Hermione said sadly.

Harry agreed with her, but as they went down the stairs towards Hagrid's hut he noticed the Slytherin's around there.

"It just got worse." He told the pair.

The Slytherin's were oblivious, rather staring at the scene. Draco was enjoying this more than anyone.

"Did you see the big, fat blubbering oaf? Oh, this is going to be rich. Did I tell you,Father said I can keep the head –" Draco said smirking at his friends.

As he almost finished his statement, he saw the Gryffindor Trio looking at them.

" Ah. Come to see the show?" Draco asked smirking towards the trio, specifically Harry.

Hermione's face contorted into a face of nothing but anger. She glared openly and walked down the stairs quickly taking out her wand and pointing it at Draco.

"You... foul... loathsome... evil... little cockroach!" she yelled.

Draco had no choice but stumble back towards the tree stopping him from moving even more.

"Hermione! No!" Ron yelled trying to stop her.

Angel had shaken off Blaise's hand and she took out her own wand glaring at the trio. She didn't want them to be around, especially when Potter was there making her angry.

Hermione turned to face Ron and sighed.

"He's not worth it" he continued.

Hermione nodded and she turned away. Draco sighed in relief, that is until she turned once more as quick as lightning and punched him right in the nose. He fell flat on his back and Angel saw nothing but red.

She walked forward and lifted her hand to slap Granger down to the ground, until Blaise pulled her back. She was breathing heavily and arched forward from his grip could attack her once more but he was stronger.

"Don't touch that dirty Mudblood" he said trying to cool her down.

"Don't touch him! Don't you dare touch him!" she screamed. "If you get near him again Granger I'll rip off your bush of a hair got it!"

She saw nothing but anger, the anger for what Granger did, the anger of the lies told to her, the anger of being helpless. She reached out and barely managed to scratch her on the cheek before Hermione was pulled back by Ron.

Harry saw her, really saw her and felt a bit of pity. Her shell was broken and she was showing something that was nothing like the Malfoy persona she usually held. He turned to see Hermione glaring angrily at her as she massaged her cheek; at least it wasn't a slap he thought.

"Watch yourself Granger" she hissed.

She stood up straight and pushed Blaise's hands from her waist. She turned to face him and took a shaky breath as he told her.

"Get Draco" she said.

They all helped Draco and she took out her wand.

"I hope to Merlin that the chicken feels all the pain from his death" she sneered and smirked coldly.

They walked off, Angel's cheeks red and finally clicking to what she had done. She shook her head ashamed and Blaise simply wrapped his arm around her shoulder trying to calm her down.

"That was wicked" he said.

Angel smiled.

"Felt damn good" she whispered.

She wiped some tears and clung to Blaise as he tried to comfort her.

Moments later…..with the trio

"He bit me!" Ron yelled.

Harry and Hermione turned to see Ron wincing at his cut as Scabbers ran away. Ron then began to chase Scabbers down the hills.

"Ron no!" Hermione yelled.

They had no choice but to follow him and as they reached the summit they were panting.

"Harry. You do realize what tree this is..." she said breathless.

Ron oblivious to it all and grabbed Scabbers reprimanding him.

"Now behave yourself Scabbers!" he said shaking his finger to the ugly rat.

"That's not good" Harry whispered at Hermione. "Run!" he screamed at Ron.

Ron turned to face him and turned to finally see the Whomping Willow. Ron returned to see Harry and eyes were wide.

"Harry Run!" he yelled in return.

Harry's eyes shifted to see a jet black, silver eyed black dog. Harry fell on the ground and covered himself only to see the dog jump over him to head towards Ron.

"Ah!" Ron screamed.

The dog bit into Ron's foot and began to drag him under the Whomping Willow like a rag doll.

"Harry" Ron cried out.

He sacrificed himself to save Harry and he couldn't believe it.

"No!" Harry yelled his eyes never leaving the hole.

He lost one of his best friends, all because of Black's revenge.