With a smile painted upon her face, Hermione danced across the beat-up grassy ground alongside the determined James and the obvious Lily. From afar, those stranger to Harper Slughorn would easily taken note of the new girl's ability to have a good time at this present moment, something that her friends back in her original time most definitely wouldn't describe her as. This experience has allowed for Hermione to actually take a step back and savor the moment, without a dark wizard or dangerous beast within inches of taking her life.

And this was a moment to savor for certain. Though Hermione had an underground agenda and clear reasons for being here, moments like these would only bring her closer to the group of Gryffindors, something vital to her mission.

So, that's exact what she did. Next to Lily, who was inching closer to James as the night trailed on, Hermione danced. The small black tassels on her dress caught both the dim light of the jack-o'-lanterns and the eyes of many, one black-haired boy in particular. And as that one black-haired boy watched his best friends dance with the girls that they had grown to care for, he felt left behind and longed for that feeling more than he knew. Sirius knew that there was no competition or race to show his affection for Harper, but a part of him knew he was trailing behind from where James, Remus, and ever Peter were.

He knew it was the nerves, the anxiousness, the butterflies, all of the above, that was causing this unfamiliar hesitation. While he worked up a sweat, Harper was free on the dance floor, hiding thoughts similar to Sirius' with a more secure mask.

Sirius thought to himself: Will it really be that bad if she says no? He desperately did not want to know the answer to that question.

But it's my last year here, what have I got to lose?  And his sweat continued to built regardless, especially as he started to approach the dancing girl.

"Hey, Sirius," smiled a girl that wasn't Harper.

"Oh, Mary," he stumbled, staring face to face with the blonde Gryffindor girl, "how are you?"

"I'm great," she smiled, tucking a lose strand of hair behind her ear. Failing to notice this, Sirius was what one might call 'preoccupied.'

Mary MacDonald took a step closer to the uninterested boy and softly spoke, "I was actually wondering if you'd like to dance with me?"

He hesitated, watching at Harper dance perfectly fine on her own, without him, out of the corner of his eye. Oh, if Harper could be Mary right now.

Before even giving him a chance to speak, the impatient blonde looking longingly at Sirius and whispered, "just one song?"

"Sure. Why not," he shrugged back aimlessly, taking Mary's hand without caution.

Meanwhile Harper, who had also caught sight of Sirius out of the corner of her eye, watched as he took the Gryffindor girl, whom she had only spoken to once, by the hand and out to the opposite side of the dance floor.

Something about Mary dancing with Sirius didn't sit well with Hermione. She hadn't even taken into account that Remus and Dorcas were dancing up a storm in another corner of the Quidditch Pitch, but this she took note of? Why couldn't she stop looking at them, and paying attention to them? The way she was looking into his eyes, the way she thought he looked back, his hand on her waist...

What if his eight girls was about to turn into nine?

But wait, why do I care?

"You okay Harper?" James asked as he pulled the dazed girl to the side. Lily handed her a glass of water as Harper started to work up a sweat.

"I'm, I'm alright, just a little light-headed is all," Harper said after downing the water glass.

Remembering why she was here, Harper figured that there was no better time to examine Peter's belongings than now. "I think I'm going to go back the common room for a bit, maybe pass by Madame Pomfrey's office," she said.

Lily placed an arm around the 'sick' girl, saying, "would you like me to come with?"

Harper shook her head. "I'm alright, thanks. Have fun, you two," she chuckled, sending a quick wink in James' direction as soon as Lily turned away.

So, she walked back to the castle, making her escape. Turning around, Hermione took one last glance at the Quidditch Pitch and her dancing classmates. For a only split second, she locked eyes with Sirius as he danced with Mary. But it wasn't long before Hermione proceeded to turn her back on the very reason that turned her stomach inside out. And through it, Sirius remained dancing with Mary, as motionless as one could get.

And that split second stare was enough to take away Sirius's balance and boost his inuition. Watching her fade from view, Harper's absence also didn't sit well with him.

"Excuse me, Mary," spoke Sirius unannounced, jerkingly removing his hands from her waist and anxiously stumbling across his words, "I have to go take care of something, I'm sorry."

Mary's face grew tomato red as she did her best to keep her composure, while the boy who she had been trying to flirt with since September departed from their dance mid-song. As Mary darted all the way across the Quidditch Pitch to her trusty friend Dorcas Meadows, interrupting her time with Remus, Sirius made his way over to James. Despite only moderately pacing, Sirius began to lose his breath as he sought out the help of his best friend.

"What's going on Padfoot? It looks like you've seen a ghost," spoke an alarmed James.

"I just danced with Mary MacDonald."

James laughed. "What'd you do that for?"

"I dunno."

"Well, are you guys gonna, you know..." James added as he made suggestive hand motions that only Sirius could see, while giggling to himself.

Almost immediately, Sirius slapped James' hands a little more aggressive than intended. He shot back, "Merlin, No! Absolutely not. I'm not even sure why I said yes to dancing with her in the first place."

"But how come you're all flustered now?"

"I don't know, but that's besides the point. I'm looking for Harper, do you know where she is?"

"Funny enough, she was actually here not too long ago, almost as anxious and pale as you are now," James chuckled. Unamused, Sirius had a determined look on his face that James instantly recognized: he knew that Sirius didn't want to make jokes right now.

"She said she's going back to the common room, she doesn't feel well," James spoke, getting straight to the point, just as he felt Sirius wanted.

With a pat on the shoulder of his best mate and a quick, "thanks, Prongs," Sirius left the pitch without hesitation, looking for the very reason why his stomach was turned inside out as well.

And so the Halloween party had two less members, each plagued with the stress behind repressed emotions. One was left with confusion, the other, fought angst. But both were in a state of doubt. So much so, that Sirius hardly noticed the damp tracks of Hermione's dainty black flats, wet with dew, on the pathway back to the castle. James was right, is was as if he had seen a ghost.

Hermione, meanwhile, was almost back to the castle before even more subdued emotions dawned upon her, not entirely related to the reason why she left the Quidditch Pitch. She didn't feel the same type of anxiety as before, but the feeling of guilt.

It killed her knowing that this was all an act to exploit Peter's darkness and foul intentions. The bonds she created had been real: the banter she shared with James, the bond she shared with Lily, the friendship she shared with Sirius, it was all so real to her. But if they ever found out the truth, it would tear them all apart. There was no good solution to this, she realized, and the guilt that came from the worse case scenario went straight to her head.

Hermione skipped Madame Pomfrey's office and headed straight to the common room. Trying almost too hard to cover both the uneasy feeling surrounding Sirius and Mary's dance and the guilt that covered the truth, she focused on her purpose: what Dumbledore had sent her here for in the first place.

In the sink of the a Gryffindor common room bathroom, Hermione washed both her makeup and her stress off her face as best she could. It only took off so much.

Hands pressed against the bowl of the sink, she stared back at her pale face and sighed.

I need to do what has to be done.

So she wiped dry her face, still pale, and paced up to the boys dorm room. Entering a mess of large proportions, Hermione struggled to dig through Peter's many belongings. A dirty sock here, an old wand there, but nothing suspicious. Nothing that gave any indication of his cruel intentions. She sighed, yet again.

But from around the corner, she heard a creak. Hermione's instincts allowed her to dart under Peter's bed just in time, before someone entered the room unannounced.

But who was it? All of the boys are still at the dance.

An unidentified pair of feet made their way around the room, and its body, which Hermione was yet to recognize, was yet to sit down. Aa she peered through Peter's dirty laundry and rusty luggage, she heard heavy breathing before another person, noticeably in high heels, entered the room.

Once Hermione heard the questionable, "Mary?" leave the mouth of the initial boy, she was confident it was Sirius. To her confusion, Hermione's heart began beating faster.

"I came looking for you," the girl said. By the tap of the heels on the floor, Hermione could tell she had taken a step closer to Sirius.

Sirius hesitated. "What for?"

"Just...how come you left left me like that?" she paused. No response. "It was quite rude to say the least, especially considering how I feel about you."

How she feels about him? Since bloody when?

"First of all, I just wasn't super comfortable, secondly, what feelings, Mary? Where is this coming from?"

"Are you really blind, Sirius?"

"Apparently so." He paused. "It wouldn't be fair to you if I kept dancing with you and didn't feel anything in return. I'd never want to hurt you," he spoke solemnly, while Hermione's mind placed her on his side.

But Mary wasn't pleased. "So," she started sarcastically, "there are two options here, either you give a lengthy 'it's not you, it's me' speech, or there's someone else who's caught your eye. Which one?" She crossed her arms, unamused.

"Don't do this Mary—"

"I'm serious. Are you mental, or are you infatuated with another girl? Or boy, I won't judge," she added. A part of Hermione wanted to let out a giggle from underneath the bed, but she couldn't help but wonder if the second part of that statement was true.

"Well I'm sure as hell not mental," he chuckled, leading both Mary and Hermione to believe that another person had caught his eye. Mockingly, Sirius laughed and crossed his arms, clearly done with Mary's petty party.

"If you're wondering who it is," he started, without a care, "that's not for you to know."

Mary scoffed and strut out of the room, while Sirius maintained a smirk to himself until she disappeared from his view. But as Hermione adjusted herself underneath the bed to get a better look him, she saw his playful persona vanish and the same pale look she had seen in the mirror appear on his face.

A part of Hermione wondered what brought this on. Why was he fine a minute ago, and distressed the next? Why had he even left the Halloween dance in the first place? What was going on through his head, and why did she care?

But one question ran through her mind a million times more than the others.

Who had caught Sirius' eye?

A/N: leave vote on this chapter if you enjoyed it! thanks for 520+ views!

A/N (3/6/21): SHEESH it's been a while since i last rewrote a part of this story. like literally 6 months i'm not even kidding. i guess i got a little inspired again?!?!?! cool cool. (i made it extra long today too...) anyway, big thanks to those who've continued to read this story it means a lot to me!! i have the rest of the plot mapped out and GUYS, it's not half bad! i like it a lot and I think you will too! this story has somehow made it up to 172K reads, wow. big gains. thank you.   - callahan