AN: I remind you, dear reader, that this part was originally intended to be a part of the last chapter. Hence the reason why it's so short*. Hence the reason why it might seem it comes out of nowhere. Or maybe my timing is off. I don't know.

*(May 24: I wrote this stupid sentence a week ago. Yeah Melanie, it's gonna be short, like you haven't said that before. This was supposed to be part of Chapter 30, but fucking hell it ended up being longer, by almost 300 words! Shit.)

Ignore my rant and enjoy!

Chapter 31: April's run

My naked feet were wet as I touched the stone floors of Hogwarts.

The hem of my nightgown glided against it, dirty with soil and grass, testament of a wonderful night out. The moon had taken over me earlier during the night, leading me away from the comfort of my bed and it had been complete bliss. With every step I had taken from my door to the outside of the castle, I lost myself even more to her embrace.

As always, I entered the Forbidden Forest, and they found me. The pack, my friends.

It was breathtaking. We walked, we ran, we played in the forest like children as we did every full moon, drunk of the ecstasy of it. Hours went by in minutes as our cry of mirth broke through the ceiling of trees, silent witnesses of our adventures.

But on such a magnificent night, our fun ended earlier. Before the moon began to give way for the day to be born, the werewolf had begun to shake. Its transformation had begun for some reason, so the rest of the pack went along with it, to what I could now remember to be the Shrieking Shack. I wondered what it was like for Peter, James and Sirius to go with an unreasonable Remus to that decrepit house and then leave him. What was it like to have to leave a friend suffer his blood curse without being able to do anything further to ease his suffering?

I shivered more from the thought than actual cold, drunk of the moon still. It did no good to linger on things I had no power over, though I wished I did. Hurrying my pace, less I give way for more sad thoughts to invade my head I tried to shake off the effects of the moon that refused to leave me yet. My arms swayed gently as I went tipsy, feeling solace with the loving caresses of my freed hair around my shoulders.

The moon would leave me when she wanted to, I had no power over that either.

I wanted nothing more than to continue the night's adventure, yet it wasn't the same without the pack. I had no choice but to glide back into my bed as rationality was slowly returning to me, and it required stealth. I strained my ear for the telltale signs of Peeve's nightly mayhems, or the soft purrs of Mrs. Norris. The hallways I passed through were empty, a matter that made a smug smile tickle my face. Not once had the poltergeist or the cat, or even Mr. Flitch caught me on a night of a full moon, and not once had I had any close calls with them. The school hallways were always empty when Morgana's blood took over. There were no teachers or students or patrolling Prefects ready to spring out of a corner and uncover my monthly trip to the Forbidden Forest.

With a faster pace, for now I wanted to use the couple hours I had left to sleep off the still lingering effects of the moon, I neared and neared Slytherin House. The archway that led down to my house got ever closer and I tried not to think of the portrait I would need to face in order to reach my bed. Merlin was becoming increasingly stubborn about how much control Morgana's blood had in me, to the point that I begun to avoid him whenever possible. I even went as far as to try to leave and enter the common room trailing behind groups of students. I wouldn't be able to do that this time. I was alone and he was the only obstacle keeping me from my bed. He would pry, as he always did when I came upon his portrait alone after the full moon.

I was reaching the opening of the staircase that led down to the dungeons when for the first time in months, I was caught.

"Nolan."

The cold of the night left me, and my breath quickened. He had a particular way of saying my name, and though I took a moment to register that I was called, I knew who the voice belong to. I hadn't seen him hiding in the shadows as I passed him on my way to the stairs, and by Merlin's beard I should had!

I turned around slowly.

A surge went up and down my body, crippling everything it touched on its way. I didn't understand why it happened, but from my dirty naked feet to my wild hair nestling against my shoulders a bolt of lightning passed. Devastating and strangely pleasurable, I shuddered, conscious that it was the product of my ancient mother's blood. Nothing other than the moon could make me feel something like it in the state I still was, and considering who caused it, it was no surprise to me.

Watching me, Lorcan Mulciber stood paces away.

But not for long.

It took only a second after I acknowledged his presence for him to make his move. He had one hand pressed into a pocket of his trousers, while the other moved in accord to his stride. It had been months since I had seen him in anything but school robes, and the simple trousers and button up shirt made him a sight to be beheld. His blond hair was untied over his shoulders, an odd sight for me that brought my attention to his face. Mulciber's face twisted in that one way that only he could do, turning handsome features into one reminiscing of a beast. A beast prowling for prey and I didn't need to hear him speak to know that I was what he hunted. "I got into a lot of trouble thanks to your friends."

My stare was on him. It didn't waiver, even when a conscious part of me tried to make it so as answer to the vileness of his words. My normal self would have looked away immediately, but I wasn't in that state. The moon's power lingered through my veins, making what I saw in his eyes, the hate they held for me only, root me to the spot in the middle of the hallway, interested. "That wasn't my fault."

A wave of satisfaction washed over me as the words left my mouth in that voice that wasn't quite mine. In the light haze of my lingering full moon delirium, I could remember all the resentment I had held toward myself as I laid the blame of the boys' fight on no one other than me. I had no clue how long it would last, but as of that moment, I placed myself out of the equation. James, Sirius, Snape and Mulciber had fought simply because they were blinded by their personal hate and house pride. And I had nothing to do with it.

Lorcan didn't seem to think so. He was standing too close to me, a couple more steps and he would be at arm's reach. Being that close allowed me to have a better look at him. There were no marks of the fight on his face. It had been a couple days since the event, but I was sure Madam Pomfrey had taken care of every scratch in his body with the upmost care just to get his parents off her back. Though his head appeared to be its normal size as far as I could tell, his ears didn't seem the same to me. A glance at his eyes was enough for me to think that maybe he didn't like my scrutinizing.

He took another step toward me.

For the first time, I instinctively took out my wand. I hadn't thought of it, hell I had even forgotten I had it hidden in my left sleeve. My body had pumped with hot blood at his movement, and had reacted accordingly to protect me against him, but I didn't point my wand at him. For some reason I didn't. I just kept it close to my chest as I held it. He paused instantly at the sight of it.

"Must had looked very comical to you, yes?" He took another solitary step toward me, ever closer. His eyes were intense. I could feel them burn into me like only his green eyes could as they went from my wand to my face. It hurt in a profound place to be looked at with such hate by him in particular, yet I was able to keep my cool even in sight of his most grotesque expression. "I could have died, you know."

There was no escape away from his eyes, however even as the moon's effect dwindled with every second, I managed to stay calm. "I am aware."

"A trilling aspect I'm sure." His mouth moved in a perverse smirk as he took another step.

And he was at arm's reach.

His insinuation irked me. It strangely did. It bothered me to the point where I was actually feeling irritated. I looked up at him, staring like I could only stare at him, bringing to mind in a haze all the history we had. And I realized that I could wish him all the ills of the world, I had done so in many occasions, but death was another that what he thought of me? Had he always thought that of me?

Mulciber's eyes changed when he saw whatever expression I was showing, for I wasn't entirely sure. His words hurt, like they always did, but at the same time it wasn't, it was different. Maybe it was the almost drunken state in which I still mildly was, or that for the first time in months I wasn't afraid. And it was shocking to realize that I wasn't. Then again, I was never afraid during the full moon, not even on that fateful night in September when all my social problems began. Lorcan was silent for the longest time as he grimaced, narrowing his eyes on me, as I continued to stare too.

His stare was unblinking, his eyes focusing only on me.

I had the fleeting though that maybe I should be feeling uncomfortable. Yet I didn't. My shoulders were relaxed, my eyes unwavering, and my fingers gingerly held unto my wand. Though I knew he was capable of anything, had even experienced his wickedness first hand, I was alright. Calmed even, and at that moment I refused to see that the situation would get worst. Situations always got worst with Lorcan Mulciber.

His face suddenly twisted, oddly, as if he was battling something inside. He looked away, and when his stare returned to me, I knew I wouldn't be able to move should I want to. What I saw in his eyes was unbelievable, and it was almost enough for me not to notice that he had taken another step toward me.

"You look different," He said. "Like you did that night."

And with that, with those simple words a maelstrom was unleashed inside of me. In all honesty, his words meant nothing to me. They held meaning of course, and I understood perfectly what they meant and what they referred to, but that wasn't what made my heart start hammering painfully in my chest. My breathing quickened again, and I felt whatever was left of the moon in me burn out of my body. Suddenly, I was myself in front of him and I couldn't move. My fingers hardened around my wand, making it shake with the tension of it. All this caused simply because of his tone. It was the tone Lorcan Mulciber had always talked to me with before whatever was between us went up in flames.

As I was agonizingly transfixed by the moment, I was under the impression that he was too far to touch me, but no.

He passed gentle fingers all the way down from my temple to my jaw, caressing my hair as it framed my face. Every inch of my face burned as if he was a vibrant sun, and I a pale creature of the night. I couldn't pry away my eyes from his and my heart thrashed against all the walls of its cavity as Lorcan did the have his attention on me again without hate or resentment, to feel his warmth, Merlin's beard! It was the best feeling in the world, one that I hadn't felt in a very long time.

His fingers went to my jaw again more, trailing its line once, before he settled his hand to hold my face. Lorcan swallowed hard, his brow furrowed at me, but not in a perverse or vile was almost sweet, the plea I saw in his gorgeous green eyes.

"Don't fight me this time, please?" Lorcan Mulciber asked of me.

My breath became shallow and I trembled while his shoulders slumped as he leaned down to me. My head tilted back on its own accord, eagerly awaiting a gesture I hadn't really remembered I desired so bloody was only inches away, and I couldn't keep myself from meeting him half way. I grasped at him with my one free arm bringing him closer, as the other that held my wand got trapped between our that very moment I wanted that kiss. Hell, I would do unspeakable things for it, at that one only second.

When our lips touched, my stomach lurched violently. It was sickening, painful and disgusting, but it was what I so desperately and apparently had secretly desired for the longest time. I dissolved against Lorcan; I held on to him as tight as I could, and felt him do the same, as we viciously took the other. Months of horrible pent up aggressions and ardor crashing down upon us. Beating me against him desperately and wonderfully as our kiss slowly began to lose its craze as it was unleashed.

There was a moment, in which our lips parted where I felt like hours had passed by. It was strange to suddenly feel detached from time and space, and to realize that the one connection that kept me rooted to the stone floors of Hogwarts was my greatest enemy. And my first love.

We stared at one another, and all I could see was that Prefect boy who was the very first to welcome me to school on September 1st. The one that taught me all there was to know about Slytherin House. I had missed him, terribly. And with just one look, I was certain that he missed me. Like before, Lorcan leaned forward, and I met him half way, eager to feel him again, to feel all the wonderful things he had taught me about love.

This time it was a sweet kiss, soft, gentle and full of emotion, much like the last he had given me many months before.

It was a kiss that took its time, with every second that passed I felt myself getting more and more reacquainted with Lorcan's lips. I thought I had forgotten the feel of them by now, but that wasn't the case. They were as warm and pleasing as they had always been. A chill went up my spine, as Lorcan pulled me closer into his body, his hands pressed against my back in an embrace only he had ever given me.

It was complete bliss, until I felt my wand poke my collar bone. There was a pop in my head, and then, I remembered everything.

I remembered all he had done to me, from that night in the Dueling Society, to the very moment. The memories came crashing back one after the other, hurting and devastating as they took their rightful place. My stomach, still sick from when we began kissing, gave another lurch, and this time, there was no desire to mask the nausea that racked my entire body. There was a frantic need to get him away from me. Like a fucking idiot, I had invited and allowed in pestilence incarnate, and I just let myself be consumed by him. He was not a warm sun. He was a black hole and not even a creature of the night would find that alluring.

I had to get him away from me.

Almost like an innate desperation, I stood, dying to push myself away from the boy that was my torment. I needed to run as far as possible from him. Escape to somewhere safe, even when I had no idea if a place like that existed in Hogwarts. I would run into the Forbidden Forest if I had to, crash the Shrieking Shack if need or even find a way into Gryffindor Tower if it meant safety from Lorcan Mulciber.

It took a second, but with his attention sorely on my lips, I managed to wiggle my arm high enough so that the tip of my wand bit into Mulciber's neck.

That had its effect edged his head back as he stepped away from my personal was surprise in his faceand hurt, and it was horrible, for a moment, to know that it was me who caused it. Then his expression twisted into a more characteristic frown. There was fire in his eyes, but not the stunning green kind that shined brightly in Lily's. No, Mulciber's eyes held the fire of hell in them, corrupting everything beautiful that was part of him.

Then he said something I didn't quite understand just where it came from, but never the less ignited in me a blaze I had no idea I still had in me.

"You wouldn't say no to Black!"

The venom in his voice was evident, and like it always did, it put me on edge. But it was his choice of words that took me over. My wand still connected with his skin, my arm painfully arched to reach him, yet that soon became nothing. From the pit of my stomach emerged a strange feeling, one that had me clench my jaw and hold on to my wand strongly to the point that it began to mention of Sirius brought forth in me a previous anger, one that I had restrained myself painfully from unleashing on my the absurdity of it all, of Lorcan using Sirius' name against me riddled me the fuck did it matter to Lorcan?An image flashed in my head, one of Sirius anguishing on the floor and I decided that was enough. Lorcan was capable of hurting my friends, and I would not sit idly by that anymore.

"That's right!" I yelled and the abruptness of it sent Mulciber a step back. There was shock in his eyes, shock that only served in angering me more. I could try to take all his pestilence and survive through it, but withstanding his jealousy wasn't something I was willing to do. Not that I had any clue as to how to do it in the first place. "I wouldn't. Because unlike you, he doesn't repulse me."

When Lorcan looked at me then, I wasn't really sure if he actually saw me. His eyes were the widest I had ever seen them and he was shaking as he clenched his whole body. His breath came rapidly, short and shallow in an alarming rate that should it had been any other situation, I might have worried for him. His face went through an array of contorts that had me staring, afraid of all that might happen. Then he moved.

In an arch, he pushed my raised arm away, and as he went, pulled out his own wand. The force of the movement made me stagger back a couple steps. Yet my confused balance wasn't a hindrance. Faster than I felt myself possible, I regained my control in time to dodge a scarlet jet of light Lorcan sent my way at such a close distance. It missed me by almost nothing, and I wasted no time in retaliating. I sent a Stinging hex as an answer, using it as an opportunity to dart away. Whatever Mulciber did in that moment, I didn't see. My intention was to run down to Slytherin House. Surely in my desperate state, Merlin would waste no time to help me, and open the bloody door. And he was only a staircase away.

I didn't get close to the entrance to the dungeons.

Another spell zoomed pass my ear, finding mark on one of the columns of the archway. Stone showered from the collision, sending rubble and dirt my way and making have to stop dead on my tracks.

I was just about to turn around to face my opponent, when the ground left me, or more like I left it. Not even a second went by, it was too fast for me to even keep track of, but one moment I was securely standing on the ground, and the other I was flying through the air. I couldn't really tell anything apart. The stone on the ceiling and that on the floor were similar in the speed I flew. It was only when gravity took back its hold on me and I crashed with the wall, that I could tell what was right and what was wrong.

There was a short-lived second where I felt nothing, but it was a sad prelude to what was to come. My flight had ended by me crumbling against the wall, and my right shoulder broke most of the collision. It was numbing, the pain, in the sense where I couldn't feel my body with the exception of my arm. It racked me; it shot up and down from it in horrible waves. I couldn't resist looking at the damage. The sensation of looking, of seeing the white fabric of my nightgown tattered to pieces and spotted with my own blood was devastatingly frightening. My heart began to hammer in my chest, looking around for some kind of help only to notice that my wand had fallen from my grasps at some point. It cried out when I moved. There was no stopping it or getting past it. I needed my wand in my hand.

"How can you do this to me?!" Lorcan yelled from the other side of the hallway. His voice was a screeching mess, laden with emotion and frustration and pure undiluted anger. All I could do was painstakingly gather myself wand in hand, as he raged, chest out and teeth bared. "How could you?! All I wanted was for you to be with me. To be by my side and you ruined it! You ruined it all!"

"I didn't do this!" This time I screamed, trying hard to get on my feet. With my left hand I brushed the sweat away from my eyes, pushing away my wild hair at the same time. "This was all your doing. Don't blame me!"

Nothing of what I said made the situation any better, and Mulciber wasted no more time in attacking me again.

Jets of light came my way, as Lorcan fired without mercy, forcing me to move. My arm hurt when I raised it to strike, and I had to scream to get over the awful throbbing it did. But I had to attack. For dear life I managed it, the hallway shinning with the light of a dozen spells being uttered. I yelled, I shook and suffered with every spell I had to cast.

Lorcan, on another hand, looked intense. The sweat on my brow became a bother getting in the way of my eyesight, but it wasn't enough for me to miss the majestic duelist Lorcan Mulciber was. He was too much for me, a seventh year student with years of dueling experience over me. With the fire of hell in his eyes, he answered all my curses with his own, moving his arm from side to side in expert manner, pushing against me, forcing me to give more than I thought I could. I fired at him, trying to match his speed even when my arm was threatening to fall off my shoulder. It shook with every hex I sent and with every counter-curse he retaliated with, my legs weakening as every step, jump and dart took double a toll on me.

He fired at me what I assumed was an Expelliarmus, for my wand flew right out of my hand. I wasted no time going after it. I pulled up the skirt of my nightgown, running to where my wand landed, and evading curses by luck only. I slipped when I got to the spot the wand had landed on, frantically grabbing at it as a bolt of lightning hit my stomach.

I doubled over, kneeling on the ground, grabbing at my belly in a fail attempt to keep the contents of my stomach inside. Vomiting amidst a row of sobs, I panted when I was done, looking up, unprepared for what was going to continue.

Mulciber did not stop his beating. Why would he if he was winning? He sent a score of lightning spells after me, the force of the bolts crackling through the space between us, and making me wrack my brain for a sufficient shield charm to protect myself with. From my wand an invisible wall appeared before me, stopping the electricity from hitting me again. The force of the impacts began pushing me back even when I had my feet firmly rooted to the ground.

I panted when the assault stopped, only for less than a second. Then I dissolved my barrier and began my assault.

"Incendio!" The pain in my arm never stopped. I was sure my arm and shoulder were severely damaged, but I wouldn't let that get in the way. From the tip of my wand erupted a ring of fire and with no hesitation I strike it at Lorcan Mulciber. It darted across the hallway right to him, yet it made no damage. I stood, watching as he used a Flame-Freezing Charm to walk past the flames like they were nothing.

My heart stabbed the walls that constricted it to my chest, draining me of energy, but at the same time being an alarming notice. It screamed at me to retaliate better and faster. To keep going. To fight. To fucking win. With all the might I had left, I tried to do just that.

Panting and darting for what seemed like hours, I shot spells, hexes, jinxes and curses at Lorcan Mulciber. My arm cried out in anguish with every motion, but I didn't stop. I kept going, even when there was no more strength in me, even when all I could see of my opponent was his figure in the distance as a mess of hair and sweat incapacitated me. But I could pinpoint him, regardless of the lack of visual detail, and I used that in my favor to keep at it. I sent all I had in me, and it made an effect. I could make out Mulciber's arm, swinging from side to side with him, as he tried frantically to deflect and avoid my attacks. If I had hit him, I had no clue. Lights of every color zipped from side to side in the hallway as I casted any and every, verbally and non-verbal spells I could remember in that frantic moment. I went as far as to shoot a Blasting curse, one that I regretted using the moment Lorcan managed to dodge it. It smashed against the wall behind him, shattering it to pieces. The flying rubble and dirt stopped my pace, and as I protected my eyes from the wreckage, I managed to push my hair away.

Disheveled, his hair freed and his clothes marred with clear evidence of our duel, Lorcan stared back at me surprised that I could intend to him such a horrible fate. And I used that opportunity before I realized even more what I almost did.

"Petrificus totalus!" I yelled and it hit its mark.

Mulciber arms and legs snapped together, stiffening instantly, and rendering him immobile. Rigid, gravity got the best of his lack of control, and he felt flat like a board on his back. Dust scattered, and there was a deafening silence, as the duel was for the moment, over.

I looked around at the ruins we had caused, wondering at the fact that our skirmish hadn't reached anyone of consequence, and Lorcan and I were still very much unperturbed. The sudden peace both of ambiance and body reminded me just how much the fight had taken from me. I staggered in my spot, legs wobbling, threatening to give up under me as my arm repeated to me just how injured it was.

However, before I allowed my body to lose what little strength it had left, I dragged my feet to as board, his eyes were the only parts of his body that he could move, and when they landed on me all I could see was the hatred in them. He stared with repulsion at me, in that way that he always would. It was a sign of his hurt pride and resentment toward me, and it made me feel awful. The fact that I woke up in the summer with no memories meant that I could remember vividly every joyful moment I had lived so far. Before I met Lily, Peter and rest of the Marauders, I couldn't think of a happy memory without seeing thinking of that always led to reliving every horrifying, terrible thing he did or said to me. I pointed my wand at him.

"Crucio," I whispered.

At first, the Full Body-Bind Curse prevented him from moving. His eyes darted from side to side with the pain, the only evidence I had that I was doing something. Then he managed to move, as the Cruciatus curse disintegrated the body-bind.

"Crucio," I said again.

Lorcan trashed once on the ground, grunting in his spot for a moment. Panting, he rose to his knees, sweat covering his face and body. Then he looked up; his raged eyes framed with dirty blond locks of hair. His lips curled when he spoke. "I told you, you have to mean it!"

"I don't." I told him softly, feeling like it meant much more than what I said. There was confusion in his face as he looked up at me, and for the very first time I didn't feel anything. It wasn't horrible, what I caused or what he did. It didn't matter, because I didn't care anymore. About him or what had once been beautiful between us. That was gone, and I was over it. "We're done."

My words, this time, he seemed to understand the meaning behind them. I can't really understand why I thought of it, but the widening of his eyes was enough. He knew, I was certain, that never again would there be any sort of relationship between us. And that defeated him. With hunched shoulders, he appeared to be frozen in place. He looked down, utterly beaten both physically and emotionally, much as I was. But this time, I would be the one to walk away.

I left him there. It was time to return home, and though the logical thing to do was to get an adult, I had no desire to do it. I walked to the stairwell, cradling my injured arm as I went, hearing voices coming from it, as the paintings that decorated the way down called out. I stopped at the top of it, looking down to the darkness where I knew that far in, the portrait of Slytherin House hanged. I wondered if Merlin was one of the voices calling out in alarm. What would he say to the state I now was when he saw me?

"Faraday!"

At the sound of my name, I turned back to be horrified.

Beating his face with his own fists, Lorcan wailed frantically, making me shake as I was forced to whiteness it all. The spell on his legs had long dissolved, but he hadn't moved an inch. "Don't leave me!"

Then, he raised his arm, and purple light shot out of the tip it.

I was too late to block the spell, even when I watched it in full as it came toward me. Swaying back and forward without being able to control my balance, I knew what curse I had been hit with. The Leg-Locker Curse, kept my legs firmly stuck together, making it impossible for me to regain balance. I tried desperately to point my wand at my legs to use the counter-curse, but for the life of me for a full second I couldn't remember it. It was too late when I recalled it.

I saw Lorcan's eyes widen to impossible points as he realized what was happening and scrambled to his feet. I panicked, watching only him. As he struggled with his legs to stand, he raised a hand as if he could hold on to me from where he was. I did the same. He ran to me, his arm outstretched, and I really wished I could take hold of it. But try as I might, my arm got farther and farther from him as my body leaned back.

And the ground disappeared beneath my feet and I fell down the stairs.

AN: Well this was wonderful to write. Yes, I'm perverse XD.

If the duel didn't seemed as detailed as the ones I've written before, then I'll use as an excuse that Faraday was too busy trying not to get hit. Sure, that.

Next chapter is going to be a bit different from what I've done so far, I think. I haven't really gotten farther than thinking about what I want to do. I only have a rough plot, so I have a lot of planning and writing to do.

I got to say that this part here is a milestone for me. When I started writing and posting this fic I desperately wanted to reach this point. Now that we are here, I'm so happy with everything I've managed to write and I'm really looking forward to keep going at it. I might be concentrating a bit too much on a fanfiction, but that doesn't matter.

To all my beautiful readers, thank you! We've made it to this point, and though it might be weird to celebrate after the cliffhanger I've left you with, I'm glad that you are here with me. Please continue with me as we go on to what happens next to our dear Faraday.