Chapter 9

The common room was particularly cold the night before Halloween, Adria was trying her best to warm herself up with multiple blankets which she stole from her dorm mates beds. Her cheeks were flushed pink and her nose resembled Rudolph as she stared down at the book resting against the blanket draped over her legs. Remus sat opposite of her with his legs tucked under the blanket whilst he quietly flipped through the book lazily held in his hand, both students were completely drained from the past few days, but of course in different ways.

Whilst Adria was extremely worried about Remus when he mysteriously disappeared for two days, only to return looking completely drained of life and scars littering the skin that she could see, she was extremely stressed about the amounts of work that she couldn't seem to catch up on. Lily had kindly managed to help her overcome a chunk of it, but that didn't even put so much as a dent in what she really needed to do.

Remus, on the other hand wasn't feeling up to much as his head drooped onto the back of the sofa, the book he previously was reading now lay on his knees which mimicked Adria and his eyes drooped multiple times before he finally let himself rest. The full moon had been a particularly terrible one for him, the amount of unknown rage and anger built up inside him had exploded out of him in one massive rage only to backfire with the amount of injuries the boy had managed to do to himself.

Adria couldn't bring herself to ask Remus what was wrong, and his friends weren't much help either. Of course, it didn't take a genius to know something was up seeing as Remus' friends - excluding Peter - had gotten extremely defensive when Adria showed her concern but she didn't want to pry, and instead thought asking Remus at some point may be the only idea.

Of course as she looked up from her book to see the boys mouth parted slightly and his eyes tightly closed, she knew that this moment wasn't the best of times. With a small puff of air leaving her lips, she pushed herself up from the common room couch and instead covered the boy with the blankets she previously hogged. He needed more comfort than she did, and she'd be damned if she wasn't going to help him.

"It's rude to stare." With a jump in the other direction, Adria's concerned look turned to annoyance at the sight of Sirius Black standing in front of her. A small amused smirk lurked his face, his arms crossed over his chest and his skin glowing orange from the lit fire.

"It's rude to but into other people's business," Adria huffed, her eyes narrowing with every passing moment. She grabbed her book and her sparkly pen and stalked out of the common room with a -still- amused Black trailing after her, "It's also rude to follow people who do not want to be followed!" Adria grumbled.

With every second passing Adria seemed to be growing angrier with Sirius as he continued to follow her no matter where she went. With every sharp turn and narrow hall that she stalked down, Sirius wasn't far behind. She wondered where James and Peter were, and why he wasn't off bothering them but instead of slowing down to ask the annoying excuse of a boy, she instead continued on her trail to try and get away from him.

The paintings which hung in the dimly lit hallways made sure to greet the girl in her passing, to which she politely greeted back with a small smile forced on her face. Her irritation grew when she heard the stomping footsteps of Sirius behind her, and finally had she given up.

With a low growl escaping her mouth, she stopped dead in her tracks and turned abruptly to face the boy who looked rather surprised that she had finally stopped and whilst he had just been joking around with her, the look on her face definitely showed him that she didn't like it.

"Do you take pride in being an insufferable, annoying, pest?!" Adria's voice boomed, hitting across the hallway and ultimately sending the biggest look of shock onto the young boys face.

"I...um!-" with every word he stuttered, Adria grew much more hotter in the face and soon she stomped towards him with a look that would kill him instantly given the chance.

"Does it bring you joy when you play pranks on others? does it?!" Adria wasn't really asking Sirius to answer and she was pretty certain that if he did, she would punch him right in the face.

The muggle way of handling situations.

"Because do you know what, Sirius Black?" Adria growled, an anger worse than before settling in the pit of her stomach, "Why in the world do you have to be so annoying?! do you honestly think that I wouldn't be mad when you have just followed me when I clearly stated that I didn't want you too! so please, Sirius can you just leave me alone!" With her voice slightly lower, and a look of irritation placed over the girls face, she turned quickly and rushed down the hallway leaving Sirius completely dumbfounded.

It didn't take long for Adria to find her way back to the common room, her knowledge for the corridors got her back in no time. James Potter and Peter Pettigrew sat on one of the common room couches opposite of Remus who still slept peacefully wrapped in the blankets that Adria gave up from her dorm room.

Adria knew that her dorm mates wouldn't mind, she had gotten to know the other girls from her time spent with Lily and they where absoluteness lovely. She had spoken to them more than a few times and considered them good friends, as did Lily. The group of two had expanded into a group of five, with the three other girls in the room tagging along with the two when they sat in the great hall or joined the weekend trips to Hogsmeade.

Starting with the first girl of the three that Adria talked to was Marlene McKinnon, who had not so politely asked her if she had any chocoballs left because she was absolutely starving and her previous run in with the house elves that ran the kitchen wouldn't let the girl back in for years, it seemed. Marlene was just about the same height as Adria, with bright blonde hair that fell past her shoulders and a laugh that put all jokes to shame. She was very forward, Adria noted, but it made every encounter with her much more entertaining.

The girl who slept on the bed opposite of Adria with the pretty eyes and kind smile was Dorcas Meadowes who had long silky black hair and was much more laid back than their blonde friend. She made sure to apologise for Marlene's behaviour, saying countless times that you get used to it, which only made Adria laugh as she waved it off.

Then there was Mary MacDonald who was Scottish just like Adria and seemed to bond over the fact that their villages sounded very similar. Mary was a muggle born witch just like herself and Lily and it didn't come as much of a shock when Mary and Adria found out that their villages were very close to each other. Mary was a very funny girl with short brown hair and a bright smile.

The three girls seemed to fit right in with Adria and Lily, and Adria was absolutely ecstatic when she had managed to make more friends. She loved Lily with all her heart and the girl would always be her best friend, but to have three more people to confide in seemed like Christmas had came early.

At the sound of noise coming from the portrait hole where Adria stood still angry from her encounter, made James look up curiously to see who was returning later than normal. To see Adria was a surprise but what surprised him even more was Sirius who had returned moments after her with a look of shock and surprise which seemed to have taken over his features.

"What's up with you?" James called from his place on the common room couch, directed at Sirius who glanced at the girl near him to the couch where his three best friends were. Adria lifted her head with her eyebrows furrowed together, a small frown on her lips and her eyes narrowing at the two boys. James didn't seem all that surprised with the look, seeing as neither him or Sirius gave away good impressions to the girl.

He watched, slightly amused as the girl stomped up the stairs at the opposite side of the common room to the girls dormitory, with her book clutched tightly in her hand and the frown taking completely over her face, "What's up with her?"

"She went mad!" Sirius exclaimed to his best friend, his arms flailing all around him and soon did he rush to the couch.

His voice was slightly louder than he expected it to be, wincing himself at the volume he shouted when he realised that Remus was still asleep but what really got him was a faint sound of an angry voice from not too far away booming down the stairs, "I did not!"

"I see you two are really getting along," Peter piped in, his eyebrow raised slightly and a hint of an amused smirk playing at his lips, "best friends in no time, I say."

"No one cares what you say!" Sirius huffed angrily, glaring at his best friend who let out a low chuckle.

"I do." A slightly croaky voice joined the three boys. Remus sat up from his place on the large couch, wincing slightly at the knot in his neck and heaving himself out of the multiple piles of blankets and duvets that covered him whole.

"Alright, mate?" James asked, trying to hide the sympathy that he and the other two had for their friend.

"Been better I suppose," Remus chuckled humorlessly, shaking his head. He pushed the mounts of blankets to one side of the couch, letting out a puff of air, "So what have you done to Adria now?"

It didn't take a genius to know that Remus was talking to Sirius, but when the boys look changed from sympathetic to anger in less than a second, Remus knew he touched a nerve, "I never did anything!"

"That's a lie!" Another new voice appeared, the four boys turning to see Adria now dressed in her pyjamas, and her messy curls thrown into an even messier pony tail swinging from her head, "Hi Remus, how are you feeling?"

"Not too bad, I guess." He mustered a small smile for his friend, patting the space next to him which she took.

"When you fell asleep," Adria started, going into a detailed story of what Sirius did and why she was mad at him. At the end of the story, Sirius had his arms folded across his chest and his back sliding off the couch with a frown taking over his features and his hair falling in front of his face. Remus was rolling his eyes, shaking his head but there was a hint of a smile trying to break through, to which Adria didn't mind. If Adria's annoyance for Sirius was something that would get Remus to smile, she truly couldn't care less because she would rather the boy smile at all than none like it had been the last few days.

James was trying his best not to let himself break, but it deemed hard when he heard a snickering Peter next to him. The small, chubby boy was hiding his face behind his hands as he looked between the pouting Sirius and the annoyed Adria who looked as though ready to kill him by just being in his presence.

"Okay. Now that that is cleared up, I'm going to bed!" Adria announced, piling the large amounts of blankets which she had stolen from her new friends and attempted to carry them to the stairs.

"Do you need help?" Remus asked with a small laugh, turning to face the girl as she walked very carefully.

"I'll be fine!" Adria squeaked, her mind filled with concentration whilst she took another shaky step forward. With the added pressure of the blankets, herself and the mounts of what should be comfort came toppeling down sending her right to the floor. A loud squeal left her mouth when she found herself stuck under five duvets, and a few fluffy blankets that she and Marlene had.

"Remus..." Adria trailed off calmly, her eyes leaving the ceiling to Remus who looked so desperate to laugh.

"Yes, Adria?" Remus contained himself, gnawing at his bottom lip subtly to attempt not to laugh.

"Get Lily."