"What do you think I am, Sirius Black?" Lux struggled to maintain her confidence, holding her chin up high, even though every inch of her was screaming to run, run far away and never return.

She would have to run soon, she supposed. If Sirius found out the truth, which he clearly was close to doing, she'd be forced to find Fulk and flee the castle. Usually, she only felt this way around Remus, but now, Sirius posed a far bigger threat to her.

"You tell me." He sputtered. Lux knew her eyes had returned to their normal shade, as she was no longer focused on the blood dripping down his face. She had much bigger priorities than feeding at that moment. When she said nothing, realization set in his expression. "You're not human, are you? You're…you're a vampire."

"Took you long enough to work that out. I always imagined it would be Remus to discover my identity first, not you. He's the brains of your group, isn't he?" She stiffened her posture, trying to radiate an aura of ambivalence. She didn't care, she told herself firmly. She wasn't afraid. Sirius was the one who should be afraid.

But he wasn't, that was made evident the moment he took a step towards her, wiping the blood away from his nose with the sleeve of his robe. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

At this, Lux scoffed, genuinely amused by his words. "And have you spread it to the entire school, and put me and Fulk in danger? No thanks."

"I wouldn't do that." Sirius shook his head, taking another step towards her, until they were only inches apart. "Luxie, I'm not afraid of you."

While she was tempted to frown in confusion, she managed to maintain a dull expression, simply raising one of her eyebrows. "You should be."

"This doesn't change anything between us." He continued.

"It should."

"Why would it? You're still you. Just…you like blood, instead of sandwiches. I don't see why it's a big deal. I was just shocked for a moment, but…but I don't care."

"Sirius…" She breathed, her dead heart seizing in her chest. "That's not…you can't…you can't tell anybody." She eventually sputtered, deciding it was best to change the subject entirely, off of him wanting her.

"I won't, I swear. Anyways, who would I even tell?" He shrugged, before reaching over and placing a gentle hand atop her shoulder. "Just…why are you here? I don't understand. Why would you come to Hogwarts? And how can you walk in the sun?"

Lux flashed her middle finger at him, spinning the ring she wore around with her thumb. "This handy daylight ring certainly helps."

His eyebrows jumped up. "So that's why you wear it. I've always wondered what made it so damn special. I know you said it was your mums, but…"

"Dumbledore gave it to me." She explained. "He asked Fulk and I to come to Hogwarts. He'd protect us here, in exchange for siding with him, in the war that's going on, with that man the papers always talk about."

"Voldemort." Sirius nodded. "My parents, they fancy him. I'd like to hope there won't be a war, but by the looks of it…"

"Dumbledore reckons he'll want vampires on his side. Fulk and I need protection, he needs vampires. It was a win-win situation." She bit down on her lip. "If you tell anyone, Sirius, we'll have to leave. We need to be here. We need the protection. It isn't a game. This is serious."

"No, I'm Sirius."

She glared at him, and he held his hands up in mock surrender.

"Sorry, sorry. Not the time, I know." He ran a hand through his hair. "What do you need protection from? You're vampires. Surely you can overpower anybody who wants to hurt you."

"Not other vampires." She shook her head. "Not vampires that are far older than us, far more powerful."

"Why are they after you?"

Her lips curved up into a smirk. "I killed their leader, with Fulk's help. They've been after us for the past twenty years. They'll never find us, though, and with these daylight rings…at least we stand a chance if they do."

"I take it Professor Ingelger isn't your father, then?"

"He is — in everything but blood, that is. We met in the Coven, right after I was turned."

"The Coven?"

"Merlin, I reckon I have a lot to explain to you." Lux let out a breath. When Sirius nodded, she continued, "I was burned at the stake, in sixteen twenty eight, after being discovered to be a witch. But I was fed vampire blood, and then bitten, before I died. I joined a Coven, that had Fulk in it. Their leader was Philip."

All the blood drained from his face. "Philip…as in the guy who raped you?"

She nodded. "I was stuck in his bed for three hundred years, before I worked up the courage to kill him. Fulk helped me. It was after…after I met a lad called Elias. A wizard. We ran away together, but Philip found us, and killed him in front of me. So, I killed Philip while he slept, and Fulk and I ran away together. But the other people in the Coven, especially the second in command, Adelais, have been after us ever since."

"Oh, Luxie…" Sirius let out a shaky breath, and before Lux could say anything, his arms were wrapped around her in a tight hug. "You're safe now. I swear. I won't tell anyone. You'll be safe here."

She didn't know what came over her. She should've been terrified of Sirius, she shouldn't have trusted a word he said. She should've ran, she should've told Fulk what happened and flee into the night without so much as a goodbye.

But she didn't.

Instead, she burst into tears.

Sirius's grip around her tightened, their embrace intensifying. His hand found their way into her hair, his fingers entwining with her locks as he pressed her face into his shoulder. "It's okay, Luxie. It's okay. You're safe."

"Elias said the same thing to me." Lux hadn't realized she'd spoken those words out loud until she felt Sirius stiffen against her. "I'm sorry." She muttered, pulling away from him, and wiping her tears away with the palm of her hand. "Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cry…I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize for crying. That's silly."

She simply sniffled, pressing her lips together as she attempted to gather the pride that had spilled out of her pockets and onto the floor. "I think I should go."

"Luxie, you don't have to." He reached out to grab her hand, but she was too quick. She couldn't bare it, bare the look he was giving her. He pitied her, and it was all her fault, for crying. For divulging her past. Bile built in her throat, and she quickly swallowed it back down, taking a deep breath.

"I do." She gave him a sharp nod, and before Sirius could say anything else on the matter, she slipped out of the room, and into the hall, shutting the door behind her.

Sirius couldn't sleep.

No matter how much he tossed and turned, Lux's voice rang through his mind, echoing between his ears like a phantom, that refused to leave.

She was a vampire.

He should care. He really, really should.

But all he could think about was the sound of her sobs, worming their way into his heart and shattering it. She wasn't a monster, not like some vampires. Not like that Philip bastard. She was still partially human, he saw it in her eyes, he saw it into the windows of her soul, that there was still a person inside the dead body of hers.

A beautiful, dead body. A walking corpse.

His heart seized in his chest, at the image of her tied to a pyre, a stranger setting her ablaze with a fiery torch. Her screaming, pleading for mercy. The pain.

"For fucks sake, Padfoot, would you stop moving around. You're making so much bloody noise." Peter groaned, jolting Sirius from his thoughts.

"Sorry." He muttered, rolling onto his side once again. "I didn't realize I was being so loud."

Peter said something under his breath, that Sirius couldn't quite hear.

However, as time ticked by in a maddeningly slow pace, Sirius realized sleep was not ever going to come to him. Not while he had so many unanswered questions, not when his mind remained fixated on the vampire.

Eventually, he gave up entirely, making his way out of his dorms, careful to walk as quiet as possible as to not wake the three boys he was sharing a room with, and down the stairs into the common room. He couldn't get into the girls dorms, there were charms to prevent that, but he could get a girl to fetch her.

To his luck, his eyes settled upon a fifth year girl, who's name he didn't know the name of. Other than the pair, the common room was void, and she was hovering over a book, knees tucked to her chest as she eyed the pages up and down with more zeal than most Ravenclaws had.

"Ahem," Sirius began, approaching her.

The girl looked up with raised eyebrows. "What do you want, Black?"

"I need a favor."

"I'm busy."

"I'll pay you ten galleons."

She snorted, before her expression settled into one of shock. "Oh, you're serious?"

"Yes, I'm Sirius Black."

"Bloody hell…right, right, okay. What do you need?"

"I need you to go to the sixth year girls dorms, and fetch Lux Erzsebet for me."

"The scary new girl? No thanks." She shook her head, rising from her seat on the couch, tucking her book under her arm.

"Lux isn't scary!" Sirius protested, chasing after her. "Come on. Tell you what, I'll give you fifteen galleons."

"Twenty."

"Fine. Twenty."

"If she murders me, my blood is on your hands, Black." The girl sighed, before making her way up to the dorms, and returning several minutes later with Lux at her side. She looked like utter hell, with her blonde hair messed up in a massive clump, and her skin somehow even paler than it typically was. "I'll leave you two alone." The girl said, and Sirius swore she shuddered when Lux looked at her.

When the fifth year girl was safely away in her dorms, Sirius took a step towards Lux, who had folded her arms over her chest. "What do you want, Sirius?"

He thought for a long moment. What was it that he wanted? He hadn't been thinking, when he'd told the girl to get Lux. Not about what he desired, anyways. Just that he wanted to see her, wanted to tell her it was okay, that he wasn't scared. Wasn't judging her. How could he, when his best mate was a werewolf?

"You." He eventually said, with another step towards her.

If she was shocked, she didn't show it, though she kept her mouth shut tight, not saying a word.

"I want you. Just you. I don't care what you are."

Nothing. Not so much as a raise of an eyebrow, or movement of the mouth.

"Don't tell me you don't feel the same way. I know you at least fancy me a little. You wouldn't have snogged me that day if you didn't."

"I snogged you because you had blood on your lips. That's all."

Sirius shook his head, though his heart ached at the idea of what she was saying being the truth, that she didn't want him. Just like his parents, just like his friends, just like everyone. He wasn't wanted, not really.

"No, Lux, don't lie to me. You came to my dorms. You wouldn't have done that if you didn't want to."

She said nothing once again.

He took one final step towards her, reaching over and grabbing her wrists, holding her tight. "Luxie, come on, stop pushing me away! Just say you don't want me, say those exact words, and I'll leave you alone! I swear, I will!"

For a long moment, he feared she would once again turn to silence as her solace. But after several long moments, her lips parted, and she spoke, barely above a whisper. "The last man I loved was killed in front of me, Sirius. I don't think I can handle that again. Handle falling in love just to have it end."

"I'm not going to die. Not for a long, long time, anyways." His hand moved from her wrist, to tuck her hair behind her ear. "And we didn't say anything about love. We can take it slow — as slow and as casual as you want. If you want. It's all up to you, Luxie."

"You're going to grow old." She continued, her breathing shallow, as though she was fighting off tears. "You're going to grow old, and want a wife, and children, and I'm going to be like this forever. I'm going to be stuck at sixteen. You don't want that, Sirius, I know you don't."

He squeezed down on her hand. "You're overthinking this. We'll take this one day at a time."

"I don't want to have sex. Not for a while, anyways."

"That's okay."

"And I can't have kids. I want them, I really do. But I can't. Vampires can't get pregnant."

"That's okay."

"And I'm not good with emotions."

"That's okay. I have enough of those for the both of us."

She shook her head. "I don't think you quite understand what you're getting into, Sirius. You know what I am. Why do you still want me?"

"You're still you. I don't care what you are. You're still Lux."

There it was — the twitch of her lip, a simple movement that caused his heart to soar out of his chest and run around the room, dancing and spinning.

Sirius took a deep breath, gathering all his Gryffindor courage, and leaned in, pressing his lips against hers as gently as he could. She pressed into his touch, kissing him back with an equal amount of softness. Soft, and gentle, and everything he'd ever wanted since he met the girl several months ago.

"Come back home with me." He breathed the moment she pulled away.

"What?"

"For Christmas." He explained, suddenly realizing how strange he had just sounded. "I'm going to the Potter's — that's where I live, now. Come with us."

"I don't know if Fulk would like that."

"It doesn't hurt to ask him, does it?"

"I suppose not." She smirked. "Right. I'll ask him tomorrow. You lot leave for the holidays Monday, right?"

He nodded. "I hope you can come."

"The Potter's won't mind?"

"Never. They're always welcoming to new people. Though I must warn you, Effie can be quite overbearing. Very motherly."

Lux bit down on her lip, smirk fading. Though before Sirius could inquire on what had just occurred, she spoke. "I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight, Sirius."

"Goodnight…"