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Author's Notes: Thank you to mooneylooney262. I do hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you did the last. A special thank you to the amazing reviewers who have left me encouraging words in their reviews. It helps push me alone with faster updates!

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(chapter image by everafter @ TDA)

Saturday faded away into Sunday morning and reminded Elsa that she had a lot to do, like getting Sirius to talk to her. Though she had no idea how she was going to manage that, she knew that by the end of the day if she hadn’t succeeded she was going to stop at nothing to get him to acknowledge her presence. If James Potter could be the most annoying and infuriating prat that walked the Hogwarts halls, as Lily so graciously reminded him on a daily basis, then Elsa was going to become the female equivalent. Sirius was her best friend and she refused to consider that he would ignore her for her own mistakes.

While her friends slept in like they normally did every weekend, she was awake and ready to go. Changing quickly and quietly, she slipped down into the common room and out into the corridor without waking anyone. While most people would head for breakfast first thing, Elsa had an agenda in mind and nothing was going to stop her. She walked towards the Gryffindor Common Room, though how she was going to get Sirius’s attention was beyond her. All she knew was that as soon as he headed for breakfast she was not going to give him a moments rest until he talked to her.

“He’s not in there,” she heard behind her.

Turning to look at Remus, she sighed. Where was Sirius if he wasn’t in the common room? If she was going to get him to talk to her, then she needed to ambush him and not give him an opportunity to walk away from her again. It was killing her to know that Sirius didn’t want to be near her anymore. He was her best friend, and she needed him in her time of need more than she had any other time before this.

“Where is he?” she asked softly hoping Remus wouldn’t take offense to her mood.

“Don’t know. He wasn’t in bed when I got up this morning and he wasn’t in the Great Hall either,” Remus explained.

“He’s avoiding me. I figured he would hide out in the common room because I can’t get in there, but now I think he’s just making it difficult.”

“Whatever it is that happened, he’ll come around.”

“I don’t know about that Remus. I almost regret trusting him with....” she shook her head as if to avoid thinking about what had happened.

“If there is one person I could trust with a secret, it’s Sirius. Trust me, he’ll come around. No secret is too horrible for him to handle.”

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience,” But all he did was shrug, “Do you mind helping me find him? You don’t have to if you’re busy, but I could use the company and you are friends with Sirius.”

“So are you,” Remus added and turned to walk away, “You coming?” He added when he noticed she wasn’t following, “He’s probably brooding by the lake or he’s at the pitch.”

“Five galleons he’s at the pitch,” Elsa said with a small smile.

“You’re on.”

They walked in silence through the school, checking empty classrooms as they went. After an hour of searching the inside of Hogwarts they concluded that Sirius was definitely not hanging out inside. Their bet not forgotten, they walked outside to find the sun shining high in the sky. Light wispy clouds cast ghostly shadows on the browning grass that crunched under their feet. Laughter rang out as the pair searched the grounds. Somewhere outside they were bound to find Sirius, he couldn’t hide forever.

“You and Sirius have been friends since you were kids, what could you possibly tell him that would make him ignore you?” Remus asked but she shot him a pointed look. “You don’t have to tell me.”

“It’s not that I wouldn’t tell you, it’s that I wasn’t supposed to tell Sirius and look how that turned out. He’s ignoring me. He’s my best friend and he hasn’t said a word to me in a week. It’s not like him and I’m worried. What if...” she paused and looked at the grass beneath her feet. “What if he never wants to talk to me again?”

“Don’t think like that. Sirius isn’t like that,” Remus said reassuringly. “You’ll see, he’ll realize he’s being a prat and smarten up.”

“That or he’s going to pulverize my brother and force my father to make sure we never talk to each other again. Not that that seems to be an issue now that he’s not speaking to me anyway.”

“What does Dominic have to do with anything?”

“You were there yesterday when Dom and Sirius were fighting. Weren’t you the least bit suspicious as to why Sirius was that angry with him?”

“Sirius’s temper is volatile on the best of days when it comes to Slytherins, but, I did think there was something more going on. When James asked him what was going on Sirius said he couldn’t talk about it and blew us both off.”

With a sigh of relief Elsa glanced around. She felt bad for dragging Remus along with her, but she really was glad for his company, and if anyone was going to help her friend Sirius it was him. She imagined that wherever Sirius was, she was bound to find James with him. She could still remember how jealous she used to be by their friendship, but she had grown up enough to see that James wasn’t replacing her. He was there to help Sirius when she couldn’t and she was grateful.

“Dominic is cruel and dangerous Remus, Sirius is playing with fire when he provokes my brother. I don’t think I could bare anything happening to him but Dominic will stop at nothing if he believes Sirius is interfering.”

“Interfering with what?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, but Dominic is crazy. He’s loony Remus, and he’ll hurt anyone, regardless of blood or status. It’s only a matter of time before he does something horrible enough that he can’t hide it anymore.”

Remus raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing, “You could talk to Dumbledore, he’s pretty good with this sort of thing.”

“And disgrace my family? I’d rather deal with a psychotic brother than bring my family to ruins. My father would lose his job, my  mom would lose her friends, and I’m pretty sure the only one who would ever talk to me again would maybe be Sirius. I can’t risk that. I won’t risk that. Dominic’s insanity will have to be curbed somehow, and I will find away to help him. He’s my brother, and as much as he scares me, I won’t turn my back on him.”

When they reached the lake they found only a few third year Ravenclaws playing wizards chess and talking about the test they were to take the next morning in Transfiguration. While Elsa had hoped that she would find Sirius there so they could talk, she wasn’t really surprised that he wasn’t. At least she wasn’t out five galleons.

They walked in silence towards the pitch. Elsa’s summer weighed heavily on her mind as she walked onto the grass of the pitch to find Sirius and James tossing around a quaffle. A small smile formed on her lips as she watched them whipping around, throwing the red ball between them. While she would have believed it was training, she knew better. Sirius was blowing off steam and James was the only company he wanted around.

“You owe me five galleons,” she said, not taking her eyes off Sirius.

“I’ll pay you when James pays me for winning the bet that yesterday’s fight between your bother and Sirius had something to do with Sirius ignoring you.”

“You made a bet on that?” she said with a soft laugh.

“We bet on just about everything these days,” Remus said.

Shaking her head, Elsa leaned against the boards beneath the stands and watched Sirius and James. She understood why Sirius was flying rather than hiding. Being up in the air, with nothing to hold you back was the greatest feeling in the world, one Elsa was glad to have been able to experience and enjoy. Flying forced her fears to disappear for a short period of time and allow her skills to take over. It wasn’t a matter of how fast you could cast a spell, or whether you had the right wrist movements, flying was a skill of its own, something any witch or wizard was capable of.

It didn’t take her long to decide that the easiest way to get Sirius to land was to join them. Dashing off to the storage shed, Elsa grabbed a broom and took flight. If Sirius flew off, she was going to follow. If he landed, she would too. The easiest way to force his hand was to be in flight. Elsa was going to stop at nothing in order to knock some sense into him.

The air whipped stray strands of her hair precariously behind her as she blocked James and Sirius from flying to the other end of the pitch. They could have easily flown around her, but they didn’t. They stopped, gapping at her like she was a lunatic. James shared a look with Sirius who nodded before they split around her. If this was Quidditch she wouldn’t have had a second thought on what to do, but it wasn’t Quidditch and she wasn’t playing around.

Zipping off towards them, she watched as they continued to play as if she wasn’t even there. Were they taunting her? Trying to see what she was going to do. A dangerous smirk formed on her lips as she waited patiently to see what they were going to do. Sirius glanced over his shoulder, a playful grin on his face. In a single look she knew that he was indeed taunting her. He wanted her to try and make him talk to her. At least that was her reasoning.

She flew off towards them, but waited to see what they were going to do. James feigned right, Sirius feigned left, doubling back towards her. She had easily anticipated the change in direction, what she didn’t anticipate was either of the boys trying to knock her off her broomstick. James flew directly at her, forcing her to choose a direction that would take her out of his flight path. If she went right she would be in Sirius’s way, if she moved left she would be safe from harm. This wasn’t about safety, though, it was about getting Sirius to talk to her. Flying to the right, narrowly missing James, she flew into Sirius’s path forcing him to stop or collide with her. Neither of them was really willing to sit in the infirmary nursing injuries that could have been easily avoided.

Sirius stopped seconds away from hitting her, a look of shock on his face. They sat there a moment staring at one another, as if deciding what to say or do to make the awkwardness that hung between them fade away.

“Can we please talk?” Elsa said moments before he flew off.

She was losing her patience with him. Was it so much to ask to spend a few minutes talking to one another? Last she checked she wasn’t some sort of leper. While she would have given anything to hex him, she wasn’t about to jeopardize his life by doing so.

With a sigh, she took off after him. Sirius didn’t stop at the end of the pitch but continued onward. Elsa stayed far enough behind him that she was able to watch where he was going, anticipate a change in course, and follow easily.

Finally, after a twenty minute chase, Sirius landed on the roof of the Gryffindor Tower. It took her a minute to figure out the safest way to land that wouldn’t result in her tumbling to her doom. Instead she opted to sit on her broom in front of him.

“What do you want?” He said coldly.

“To talk,” Elsa said and as she tried to form the words she wanted to say, she found her mouth was as dry as the Sahara Desert, “I can’t lose you as a friend, Sirius.”

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you let your brother get away with murder!”

“Let him? I didn’t let him do anything Sirius. I’m not you, don’t you see? I love my mother and father. I protect them from shame and humiliation of a murder trial by not saying anything. It’ll ruin my family, Sirius. They’re all I have.”

“You have me!”

“You’re my best friend, Sirius. You can’t save me from this. It was my mistake, my fear that let Dominic kill that girl.”

“But you’re hiding it from everyone.”

“I’m hiding it from those who would see my father pay for my brother’s crimes. I’m hiding it from the society women who would shun my mother. I’m hiding it because...I was there Sirius. I was there and I did nothing. I watched him kill that girl and I helped cover it up. Do you not think they would punish me for such a crime?”

“You could lie; tell them you were under the imperious curse.”

“Sirius I can’t lie to save my life.”

“You seem to be doing a heck of a job of lying this year.”

“That’s different Sirius. I couldn’t find the words to tell you what I’ve wanted to. Do you think it was easy for me to walk around knowing I was lying to my friends?” Elsa said sadly.

Sirius sighed, and for the first time since Elsa had forced him to talk to her, she hoped he was going to give up his silent treatment. They weren’t five anymore. They were young adults who could certainly talk through their problems like normal people. Even if Sirius acted more like a five year old than any other person she knew. She wouldn’t give up his friendship for anything.

“It’s not different, Elsa.”

“Had I told you the first night we got back would you have walked away? Would you still be ignoring me? I couldn’t risk losing you all together.” She said looking down at her broom. “These last few days have been horrible. I feel like you’ve given up completely on me. You’ve always known how much my family meant to me. That I’m not like you, and you were okay with that. But now, now I’m not sure what you think anymore. I’m pretty sure you hate me, and I can understand that. I just couldn’t let it go without trying to talk to you at least once.”

He sat and listened to her rant, let her finish everything she had to say in complete silence. It wasn’t like him not to interrupt her to add in his own thoughts. She was quite used to him interrupting her, so when he said nothing, she was certain he hated her.

“Say something!” Elsa snapped at him.

“What do you want me to say?” Sirius questioned her.

“Anything!”

“There isn’t anything to say.”

“So you do hate me,” Elsa muttered, before turning her broom stick around and flying off.

She landed not far from the storage shed where she returned her broom and began her walk back to the Ravenclaw Dormitory. Had she thought he wouldn’t hate her? She had thought that maybe some small part of him could forgive her for what she had done over the summer. It was eating her alive and he should have known that. He should have been able to see that.

As she walked towards the looming, imposing school, Elsa’s thoughts fell onto the night that ruined everything for her. She could have stopped Dominic if she had had Sirius’s courage, or Cordelia’s impeccable spell casting. Instead she did nothing but watch in utter horror. It wasn’t like she condoned the murder, in fact she hated what her brother had done.

“Elsa, wait!” Sirius called as he ran towards her.

Pausing, she looked over her shoulder and for a brief second looked hopefully at her friend.

“It’s not that I don’t have anything to say, I do. But none of it really matters, not really.” Sirius said. “I won’t say I agree with you, because I don’t. I think Dominic needs to be tossed into Azkaban and left to rot.”

“You’re point is?”

“That you’re right.”

Elsa looked at him, and just about laughed. She wasn’t used to him every telling her she was right. In fact, Sirius often held an air of perfection around him, much like James. The two together were always right where everyone else was wrong.

“And what, pray tell, am I right about?”

“That I’m being a jerk.”

“I don’t think I called you that exactly.”

“No, but it was implied. I won’t pretend to understand what you’re going through. I won’t pretend to agree with protecting Dominic. But you’re my best friend and I...” he paused, making a face that made Elsa think he was going to pass gas.

“Don’t strain yourself, Black,” Elsa said with a cocky smile.

“Look, I’m trying to apologize here.”

“Is that what this is?”

“You’re insufferable!” Sirius groaned. “I’m sorry, alright?”

“Was that really so hard to say?”

Sirius rolled his eyes, and slung his arm over her shoulders as they walked back towards the castle.

“You should be thankful you even got me to apologize. Not many people ever hear that.”

“Oh, I know. That’s not the point though, Sirius. If we’re friends, then I need to trust that you won’t ignore me for a week because of something I’ve told you. I deserve to hear you say you’re sorry,” Elsa explained.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they made their way into the Great Hall for a quick breakfast. Even though it had only been a week where they hadn’t spoken, it seemed longer to Elsa. Ignoring the questioning looks from her friends and Damon she strolled over to the Gryffindor table and sat with Sirius and his friends. It wasn’t like she was really friends with anyone other than Sirius, but she still enjoyed the company of anyone Sirius called friend.

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Author's Note: Feel free to leave me a review and let me know what you think, it does help.