Remus refused to speak to Sirius, Sirius refused to speak to Remus, and Lux refused to speak to both of the boys. However, avoiding her two housemates proved to be a difficult task indeed, given the fact that they shared nearly every class with each other. If she wasn't so uncomfortable, she might've enjoyed it, enjoyed the strife she'd caused between the two friends. Well, strife she caused Remus, anyways. She didn't fancy the fact that Sirius was hurting, she actually didn't mind him. But anything to get revenge on the other boy, the boy who…who…

She refused to allow her mind to touch the place that was Remus Lupin, that was their kiss. It wasn't enough that he'd kissed her — she'd snogged him right back! There was something terribly humiliating about the fact that he'd gotten under her skin, that he'd been so intimate with her. That she'd succumbed to some sort of lust, had an error in her mind that resulted in such a passionate moment.

Sirius, well, that passion simply didn't exist with him.

So, she ignored him, because to face him would be to face the fact that a perfectly fine gentleman stood in front of her, and yet, she'd only feel as much excitement as she had with Elias, with Remus Lupin. And that simply wouldn't do.

Instead, Lux focused her efforts on digging up as much information as she could on the boy called Severus Snape. She could deny her true nature all she wanted, but the boy was convinced, and so her only option now to keep her and Fulk safe was to find an equal amount of blackmail on him.

It wasn't at all difficult to find a weakness, when she started observing him. Observing him, while he observed Lily Evans, in the same way Sirius observed her, and she once observed Elias.

The boy was in love, sickeningly, maddeningly in love, and Lily Evans couldn't care less. Lily had endless boys falling over her feet, with James Potter at the head of the army, leading charge to steal her heart in some epic crusade. Why would such a beautiful girl, with so many potential suiters, care for Severus Snape?

Yet, there he was, watching her. Watching Lily, as Lux watched him. He never made a movement, never an effort to speak to her or win her attention, though occasionally, the redhead girl would look his way. Their eyes would meet for the briefest of moments, before tearing away from each other once again. Like a secret.

Lux knew all about secrets.

"Hello." She greeted Mary and Marlene one day in mid December. The pair of girls were seated at a table in the library, pouring over their textbooks and occasionally sharing a comment with the other. At her arrival, both girls glanced up, Mary seeming amused, and Marlene baffled.

"Lux, to what do we owe the rare pleasure?" Mary asked with the quirk of her eyebrow.

When Lux frowned, Marlene spoke, "Yeah, this has to be like, the first time you've deigned to step off of that throne of yours and speak to us measly peasants."

"I don't…I…you're not…I…" She shook her head, sputtering like a blundering idiot.

"Ignore Marls. She's on her period." Mary said, earning a sharp jab in the side from Marlene's elbow.

"Right…" Lux glanced between the two girls, biting on her lip.

She'd never liked girls, and not because she thought she was better than them, or viewed them as competition to other boys, or something ridiculous like that. Instead, it was that females absolutely terrified her. With men, they typically said what they meant, their motives were on the table. Philip and Geoffrey and other male members of the Coven may have been cruel in physical ways, but when it came to mental torment, Adelais, Mathilde, Melisende and Euphraxia were the experts. They never showed their true cards, they always hid their intentions, behind pleasant smiles and shared whispers.

Lux had never been good at mind games, and here she was, trying to play one. A fools game, but one she had no choice but to win.

"Do you want something, or…?" Marlene raised an eyebrow while Lux hovered above them, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"Right, right, yes. Of course." She stiffened her posture. "I wanted to ask you about Severus Snape, and Lily."

At this, the girls exchanged glances, silently communicating with each other via strange facial expressions.

"What do you want to know?" Mary eventually asked, her tone hesitant.

"Just…anything about Snape, mostly. And what happened with him and Lily. If anything happened, of course."

"Oh Merlin, don't tell me you fancy him." Marlene's nose scrunched up. "He's a right nasty git, Lux. You ought to stay far away from him."

"I don't fancy him, I swear." She insisted swiftly. "I just was curious. I'm new here, as you know. I want to get a grasp around everything occurring around me."

If the girls believed her, they didn't show it, but spoke anyways. "Lily and Snape were best mates, for ages. Like, as close as they came." Mary began, scratching the back of her head. "They only stopped being friends at the end of last year. He called her the m-word, in front of the entire year, basically. Granted, those so called Marauders were being awfully cruel to him, but that had nothing to do with Lily. So, she stopped speaking to him."

"He doesn't get along with Sirius and Remus and the others?" Lux already knew that to an extent — she knew the boys weren't friends, anyways, but by the way the girls were phrasing it, it was as though they were mortal enemies.

At this, Marlene actually laughed. "Snape and Sirius, get along? Merlin, that would be a sight to see indeed. No, Lux, they bloody hate each others guts."

"Remus and Peter tend to stay out of their drama." Mary continued. "Though Snape seems to like to antagonize Remus. Peter not so much — I don't think he's relevant enough for Snape to actually give a damn about. But James, Sirius and Snape…Merlin, put them in a room together, and someone will be coming back out in a body bag."

"Put who in a body bag?" A voice echoed from behind Lux.

She spun around, dead heart pounding, to find Sirius hovering there, his head tilted to the side. "Ladies, hello."

"Hello, Sirius." Marlene rolled her eyes. Mary simply glared at him. Perhaps she and Sirius also didn't get on well.

"Who are we putting in a body bag?" He asked once again.

"You, hopefully." Mary said.

"Honestly, you women will be the death of me." Sirius rolled his eyes, before returning his attention to Lux. "Luxie, I've been trying to talk to you for ages. Have you been avoiding me?"

"No." She answered simply, hoping her deadpan tone masked the truth.

His eyebrows jumped up. "Well, then I shouldn't have to worry about a rejection if I ask you to go to Slughorn's Christmas party with me this Saturday?"

"Oh good Merlin, you're so bloody shameless." Mary snorted, rising from her seat and grabbing onto Marlene's wrist. "C'mon Marls, we're going."

Marlene wasted no time following her friend out of the library, not even bothering to grab the books they'd been studying. Suddenly, Lux felt as though she'd done something horribly wrong. Just as she so often was in the Coven, the girls here were leaving her out, excluding her, ostracizing her, and just like in the Coven, she hadn't a clue what she'd done wrong.

"What just happened?" She blinked, watching the two girls exit the library, a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"I reckon Mary is still heartbroken over me." Sirius shrugged, grinning at her through his stupid Sirius Black grin. "We went out a while back, you see. I suppose she can't handle that I've moved on." He eyed her up and down slyly. "So, what do you say? You, me Sluggy's party?"

"I suppose so." She scratched the back of her head. "Is there a dress code? I've never really been to a party before."

"The fanciest thing you own, I reckon." He gave her a funny look. "Luxie, are you sure you haven't been avoiding me? Every room I come into, you leave right after. You haven't even been going to meals. Did I do something?"

"I just feel bad about what happened with Remus." She responded — which was not a lie, either. Of course, the full truth was being concealed from him, but he didn't need to know that. "I don't wish to come between you two. That's all."

"That's on him, not on you." He reached down, grabbing her hand with his and gently entwining their fingers. "Come on, Luxie. You have nothing to feel bad about. Remus was the one to fuck up, not you."

"If you're sure." Lux bit down on her lip, guilt flooding her at the lie. Guilt, that was such a rare emotion for her to experience, outside of thinking about Elias. She didn't like it one bit, and she swiftly shoved it to the side. "Right. I'll go with you."

His face lit up. "Brilliant. Er, I'll meet you in the common room at eight? At night, not in the morning. Merlin, imagine getting up at eight in the morning on a Saturday. That would be ridiculous." He rambled, and Lux couldn't help smirking ever so slightly at his frantic justification of his words. The boy truly did like her, she realized.

Like Elias, he was too human, but unlike Elias, he didn't give her the rush that came with passionate kisses and simple touches of the skin. Unlike Elias, she didn't love Sirius Black. So maybe, just maybe, she could let loose just a little.

"Right. See you then." She couldn't find it in her to muster a smile, so she simply nodded at the boy, before walking away. Even as she left the library in the same direction that Mary and Marlene had gone, she could feel his eyes on her.

She didn't know what to make of it.

"You look beautiful." Was the first thing that came out of Sirius's mouth, as he stumbled down the stairs that led from his dorm and into the Gryffindor common room. While it was instinctive for him to compliment whichever girl he was spending an evening with, this time, it wasn't in any way a lie. Lux did look beautiful, her blonde hair tucked back in a braid, and a baby blue dress with a low cut neck, that left little to the imagination.

"Thank you." Lux nodded at him, though she didn't smile at his compliment. She rarely smiled, which was something he'd observed long ago about her. In fact, he could only think of one time when her lips were curled up in something that wasn't a smirk. That time in Hogsmeade, when they ran into that child and his mother. Even during the time they'd snogged, her expression had remained neutral just about the entire time.

Maybe someday that would change — maybe someday Sirius would get her to beam again, like she had around that kid.

He held out an arm, and Lux reached over and gently grabbed it, allowing him to escort her out of the common room, down the halls, and into the room where the Slug Club was holding the annual Christmas party. Sirius was never quite sure why Slughorn continued to invite him to his bloody club, when all he seemed to do was cause trouble, but he rarely complained about it. Sure, they were boring, but the food was good, and the company tended to be pleasant.

The only downside was that Regulus also was invited. But he'd surely be able to avoid his brother. After all, now he had Lux to distract him. Who knew, maybe he'd even get lucky. He felt a stirring in his pants at the thought, and took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"What is a Slug Club, anyways?" Lux asked as they approached the room, which had the doors swung open with white curtains lining the frame.

"It's a sort of club, that Slughorn has, for his favorite students. Merlin knows how I made the cut."

"And you're the only of your four mates who has?"

"James is in it too, but he never bothers to show up for the dinners. I can't blame him, they're tedious as all hell." Sirius rolls his eyes, trying to ignore the way his heart was racing far too fast to be healthy. Lux had this ridiculous affect on him — he'd only known the girl for a few months, yet she was driving him mad. "But this should be fun. Slughorn always invites his old students, the ones who got big, anyways. So you might meet a celebrity or two."

"I don't really keep up with celebrities." She shrugged. "Unless it's Harrison Ford, that is."

"Who?"

She shook her head, letting out a disappointed breath. "It should be a crime not to know that man."

"Sirius, m'boy!" Slughorn exclaimed, rushing over to the pair. "So glad you could make it, so glad…" His attention diverted to Lux, and he grinned. "And you brought Miss Erzsebet as your date! Lovely to see you, Lux. Your dress is absolutely fantastic."

"Thank you." She responded, her tone as deadpan as always.

"You two are going steady, I take it?" Slughorn's eyes flickered between them, wearing an all too kind smile.

"Not exactly." Sirius shifted, feeling as though tiny needles were being jolted into his skin at the sudden uncomfortable nature of the conversation. "Er, Lux, should I get us something to drink?"

"That would be great." She nodded.

Sirius wasted no time before slipping out of the conversation, not so much as glancing behind him as he went in search for a drink. Merlin, he wanted to be going steady with Lux, more than he wanted just about anything, but deep down, he could sense she didn't feel the same. Maybe she fancied him — she had snogged him, after all, but it was evident her feelings didn't run as deep as his did.

Maybe with time, they'd develop. After all, he was attractive, and he had a half decent personality. He was popular, and funny, and just about every girl wanted him.

It couldn't take Lux too much longer, he figured, as he stepped up to a boy and grabbed two tall drinks off of the platter he held.

When he returned, Slughorn had already gone off to greet another pair of students, and he handed the dirnk to Lux, before taking a sip out of his own, feeling the burning sensation of the alcohol drip down his throat.

She mirrored him, sipping from her glass.

"Sorry about Slughorn." Sirius said, finally summoning the courage to bring it up. "He's a bit…odd. As I'm sure you can tell from his classes."

Lux nodded, not saying a word.

"But I mean…I wouldn't mind it, though. You know. Going out."

She arched an eyebrow, and for a moment, he seriously considered turning into a dog and dashing away at the way she looked at him.

"It's just a thought." He swiftly continued, mouth going dry. "If not, no worries."

Her mouth opened and closed, then opened again, and when she spoke, her tone wasn't mocking, like Sirius expected, but instead, impossibly quiet. "I don't think I'm the kind of girl you want to be with, Sirius."

He tilted his head to the side. "Why's that?"

She shook her head, not saying a word, as her eyes glanced around the room.

"Maybe we should have this conversation somewhere private, yeah?" Sirius suggested when he realized she wasn't going to say anything.

"Alright." Lux pressed her lips together. Sirius reached down, gently grabbing her hand, and pulling her out of the room and into an empty classroom nearby.

"Right, talk to me." He began, the moment he shut the door behind him.

She said nothing.

"Luxie, come on. You can't just shut the world out when you don't want to face hard issues." A bit hypocritical of him, he figured, since that's all he ever did, but now was not the time to divulge into those thoughts.

"Why not?" She asked with the raise of an eyebrow. "It's worked for me pretty well so far."

"Luxie." He repeated his nickname for her once again. "If you don't want me, that's okay. But you need to say it, so I can move on."

"It isn't that." She bit down on her lip. "I like you, Sirius, I do. I just…" Her voice trailed off, with a shaky breath at the end of her sentence.

"Is it about Elias, then?"

At the mention of the boy who had left her, she stiffened. "Partially."

"Luxie, listen to me," He took a step towards her, placing his hands on her upper arms in an ever so gentle touch. "I'll treat you right, I swear, I will. I'm pretty rich — I can buy you things, just about anything you want. I'm good in bed, if you ever want to sleep together, and if you don't, then that's okay. I won't make you do anything you don't want to do. I won't break your heart, I won't leave you."

She opened her mouth, and just as she was about to respond, the door to the classroom flung open. The pair whipped around, and Sirius's heart fell to his stomach when he made eye contact with his brother.

Regulus Black had a bloke on his arm — someone he didn't know the name of, but was likely in his year. The pair were laughing to each other, both flushed in the cheeks, though when Regulus spotted Sirius, his face fell. "What are you doing here?" He spat.

"I could ask you the same question." Sirius took a step towards him, jaw clenched. Regulus remained stationed in place, but the boy next to him stumbled backwards. "Bugger off, Regulus."

His brother ignored him, instead, turning to look at Lux. "You. Erzsebet."

She raised an eyebrow.

"I thought I warned you about my brother. I thought I warned you to stay away."

She shrugged, though by the way she looked at him, Sirius could tell discomfort ran through her. "I don't really listen to the words of random kids."

Regulus scoffed. "Bloody hell. To think I was doing you a favor."

"Hold up," Sirius held out a hand. "You tried to get Luxie to stay away from me? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? Snape told me about the company you keep, Sirius. He told me about your pal Remus, and what he really is." Regulus turned back to look at Lux. "Your mate, Lupin, he isn't what he seems. He's—"

Whatever Regulus was about to confess, Lux would never know, as Sirius's fist collided with his brother's face.

Lux screamed, stumbling backwards, and the boy who had been at Regulus's side dashed out of the room, disappearing down the hall and away from sight.

It didn't take long for Regulus to punch back, his fist smashing directly into Sirius's nose, sending a crunching sound through the air. Lux screamed again, at the same time that Sirius let out a cry of pain, tears burning behind his eyes. His lip had split, and blood dripped from his nose and down onto his dress shirt.

"Stop it!" Lux cried, trying to push her way between the boys. She held out her arms, which Sirius noticed were shaking, trying to pry the brothers away from each other. "You two, stop it! Fucking hell, cut it out!"

Sirius tried to push through Lux's grip, he really did, but something held him back. Lux held him back, he realized, as he struggled against her.

Was she…stronger than him?

It wasn't even by a fraction, it was as though she wasn't putting much effort into keeping him at bay. Her arms weren't shaking with effort, nor did sweat bead on her hairline. If anything, it seemed as though she was restraining herself from being even stronger.

How was that possible? Sirius was on the Quidditch team, he worked out five times a week, and some girl half his weight was successfully holding him back? The only person he knew that was stronger than him was Remus, and that was due to his lycanthropy.

"Get out." Lux demanded to Regulus, who seemed to be just as shocked as Sirius about her strength, with wide eyes darting between the pair. When he didn't react, Lux shoved him towards the door, sending him flying and nearly falling off of his feet. "I said, get out, Regulus."

Sirius's brother didn't have to be told twice, evidently, as he dashed out of the room, slamming the door behind him as he went.

"Coward!" Sirius cried after him, but Regulus didn't come back. So instead, he diverted his attention towards Lux, who had turned her back to him, and was taking deep, heavy breaths, as though she were trying to control herself from doing something awful. Sirius knew that feeling all too well, the desire to do something that was sure to be destructive, to act upon his constant impulses.

"Luxie, shit, I'm sorry." He let out a breath of his own, taking a step towards her. While his nose was screaming in pain, with the metallic taste of blood brushing against his lips, he pushed the sensations away, focusing entirely on the blonde girl. "I didn't mean for shit to go that far. I'm sorry."

"I want you to leave." She said, refusing to turn around. Her voice was heavy, thick with emotion. "I need you to leave, Sirius."

"Why?" He frowned, reaching over and placing a hand on her shoulder. "I won't hurt you, you know that."

"Please leave." Was all she said in response.

"Lux, please, just look at me." He attempted to spin her around, pulling on her shoulder, but she remained firmly in place, though he noticed she was trembling against his touch.

"I can't." She wheezed. "Oh God, Sirius…"

This time, he stepped in front of her, meeting her gaze. Though as his eyes reached hers, his heart plummeted to his stomach. "Shit, Luxie, what's wrong with your eyes? They've gone all dark…"

He watched in horror as tears welled in her eyes, eyes that had turned from an icy blue to a stormy grey, nearly pitch black. His brow furrowed together, and he stared at her, as her now stormy eyes travelled from his, to the blood dripping from his nose and his split lip. Not in horror, he realized, but almost enamored with it.

A shaky breath escaped his lips, as a horrible realization set in his stomach. "Oh Merlin, Lux…what are you?"