(A/N): Hey Guys! 100,000 words! Booyah!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Leo, Elaine, Shari, Nicholai and Mia.

Sirius

I felt rather bad after Elaine had ran off, telling she was on the edge of tears, and I wanted to make it up to her, but by the time we made our way back to the Gryffindor common room, having discussed the past conversation thoroughly, she had already gone to bed for the night.

Perhaps she had as soon as she reached the Common room, or perhaps it had been recent, we didn't know, but the next morning, this morning, I set out to apologise to her.

I searched the school, high and low, from the Great Hall to the Grounds, the classrooms to the Dormitories (I had to ask Lily for that one), before finally arriving at the Room of Requirement, where I had a sneaking suspicion she'd be, even before I tried everywhere else in the castle.

You may call it stalling, but I called it preparing myself. I mean, I had hurt her, probably pissed her off more than a little as well, and Elaine wasn't exactly the type to let this sort of thing go without some payback, or at least a little yelling.

I took a deep, supposed to be soothing, breath as I stood outside the Room of Requirement, raising my anxiously clenched fist, steeling the courage to knock.

"Come in." Her voice came through the door, and I jumped slightly. How had she known I was there? Shaking it off, I pushed the door inwards as slowly as possible, and shuffled through, letting it fall closed behind me as I watched her.

She sat at the table in the middle of the small-ish room, a few bookcases edging the room, a fireplace warming the room from the corner, and there was only one spare chair left.

It was strange, seeing as usually only Leo, Remus and her came in her, yet there were only two chairs here on this occasion...like she had known I was coming.

"What did you want?" She asked quietly, her tone not full of anger or hurt, like I had expected it, but rather inquisitive curiosity.

"I came to apologise." I stated quietly, and I saw her eyebrow twitch skyward slightly.

"Really?" She asked, her tone stiff, and it had claimed an almost smug edge to it.

"Really." I repeated her, staring her down before taking the remaining seat.

"Well then, you better get on with it." She still didn't sound angry.

"It wasn't right for me to pry, Laney. Your business is exactly that, yours. I shouldn't have said anything about it, especially in front of the others. I'm sorry, I really, truly am." She sat perfectly still, her eyes still trained on the book, but her eyes fixed on one point so I knew she wasn't reading.

"That's perfectly alright." She told me, repositioning her book, her tone and phrasing still stiff. She hadn't forgiven me.

"Elaine..." She didn't look up. "I'm sorry." I said again, before quickly reaching out and pulling her smaller form to mine, her book crushed between us. "I really am." I whispered, and slowly but surely, her arms returned the tight cocooning hug mine gave her.

"You didn't need to apologise, you know." She paused for a second, as if thinking her next words over. "It was simple curiosity, and I know you guys hate the fact we're being so secretive." I nodded into her shoulder, letting her know that I heard, and was paying attention. "But our secrets are, as you said, just that. Ours." I sucked in a quiet breath, worried she was going to suddenly transform into this furious creature that was going to rip my lungs from my chest and wear them as a hat, simply because I had offended it.

"I suggest you stop looking into our private business, Sirius, and be sure to tell the others." Her tone showed that she wasn't really suggesting we stop, it was more of a do or die situation, and her threat was clear.

'Stay away from our secrets, and you get to keep your friends. If not...we will be most displeased.'

And if there's one group of people you really don't want to mess with, it's not punks, it's not bikers or Goths, it's Leo, Remus and Elaine.

Trust me, I had to learn that the hard way. And by the hard way, I mean Elaine elbowed me in the stomach, stomped on my foot, and shoved me on my arse.

Another person not to mess with was Lily, but I guess you already knew that, what with the breaking of James's nose at the start of our first year.

Elaine had quite the temper on her, and the only one who could calm her down was Leo, and likewise with him. You somehow managed to aggravate him, and you better hope Elaine's close by, or you just might lose a limb...or two.

"I'll be sure to pass that along."

(A/N): So, what did you think?

Elaine has a rather bad temper at times, but most of the time she's nice, and kind. I know she seems really weak at times, but that's because she's twelve and I'm not portraying her right.

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