AN: I thought that the ending to my last chapter needed a follow up, so I created this.

Padfoot ripped through the forbidden forest. How could he have been so stupid? Of course the Fat Lady wouldn't let him in! Especially not without the passwords! He could just hear Anna and Remus critiquing his plan in his mind. They had always been better at thinking ahead. When he was finally deep enough in the forest, he stopped behind a tree and morphed into his human form.

He leaned back against the tree he was crouched behind, breathing hard. The marauder wiped the sweat from his brow and dared to sniff his pits but immediately regretted it. He stunk. He sighed when he heard his stomach rumbled as well. He was a mess. He was thirsty, sleep deprived, starving, smelly, and still wore the same outfit he had had for weeks. His younger self would be horrified at how low he had gone. It was all his fault, too.

He had thought that Remus was going to be the traitor. Now, he realized how ridiculous the accusation was. Remus may be smart, but he was a sweetheart. Anna would've slapped him for even daring to think that. He'd stupidly thought that it would be wise to make Peter the secret keeper, that the Death Eaters wouldn't suspect that he had told Wormtail of all of the marauders. That way if Sirius was tortured, he wouldn't give have any information to give up. He would've told Anna but he didn't want to put her in more danger than she already put herself in. The thought of her being an Auror and hunting down Voldemort's slimy followers was already enough to give him a heart attack. How had she gone from the slightly nerdy sister he used to protect to a (for lack of better term) badass.

His heart ached at the thought of his honorary sister. He pulled out a red envelope from his jacket pocket and opened it and smiled as he looked over the photos for the hundredth time. Merlin, she had grown to be so beautiful and strong. The onlybad part was the obvious loss of innocence in her face. Her eyes were those of someone who had seen terrible, awful things. Those were the eyes of someone who had seen both the miracles of life and the harsh realities of death. He had seen a similar look the last time he glanced in the mirror.

But she hadn't failed like he had. She did her duty. She was taking care of poor Harry like James would've wanted. She was helping Remus through his transformations, like James would've wanted. She was protecting Hogwarts like James would've wanted. Meanwhile, he was a fugitive and soiled the good name he had made for himself just from one bloody mistake.

He growled to himself and put the photos back in his pocket. Pettigrew had to pay for what he had done to his family. He could've stayed in Azkaban forever. It was bad but at least he had food and water and some kind of shower. But then he realized that Pettigrew was at Hogwarts where Anna and Harry and Remus all were. What if Anna recognized Wormtail? Would he have attacked her? What if Peter was just waiting for the right moment to murder his godson?

He was doing this for them. If he was going to be imprisoned or executed for a crime, he wanted it to be one he actually committed: the murder of Peter Pettigrew. If he could just protect his friends and Harry one last time, then he would embrace death gladly. He would laugh in it's face like the old Sirius would, the one from before James and Lily's demise.

He found a stream deep in the forest, one that the marauders had visited a few times. He washed his face and drank the water after purifying it with a wand that he had taken a while ago. It wasn't his wand, but it would do. He was so exhausted, he fell asleep right there.

*Dream Flashback*

"Where are they?"

Anna was on the floor with a wand pointed at her. She had been captured by a Death Eater, eager to impress Voldemort by gaining information on the order and driving the famous Anna Evans to insanity or death. Little did he know it was pointless trying to get her to talk.

She'd rather die than be a traitor to her friends.

The pale man growled and slapped her in the face hard, causing her head to turn. She winced and he got in her face, "Okay, sweetheart, tell me about The Order of the Phoenix. What are their plans? Who are their members?" She looked up at him and glared her piercing green eyes, but remained silent. His arm shot out like a cobra and grabbed a fist full of her long fiery red hair. The criminal grinned as she yelped in surprise and struggled against his grip. He brought her up to his face, "Last chance, mudblood. Tell me what I want to know or I'll torture it out of you."

She glared, "Hurt me all you want, but you're just wasting you're time. I will never betray my family." He chuckled darkly and shook his head, "Oh, I am so going to enjoy this. Crucio!"

And, just like that, her veins were on fire. Every thing hurt. She struggled and writhed in agony. This went on for several minutes until it stopped. She didn't even have a chance to catch her breath from screaming before he pulled her back up by her red curls, "Will you surrender?"

She spat in his face and snarked back her reply through gritted teeth from both anger and pain, "Bite. Me." He flung her to floor, hard, and recited the curse again. The pain almost seemed more intense the second time around. She felt a wail of pain tear through her throat.

A few more rounds later, Anna was shaking and pale. Her brain was numb and her vision was acting weird. She could feel the brink of insanity. Her capturer grinned cruelly down at her, "I could to this all day, mudblood." She looked him in the eyes. He was surprised to see they weren't broken and teary but steely and defiant, "So could I." Protectiveness over Lily and James and her loved ones blazed like a fire behind her stony gaze.

He laughed, "If you think you're wearing me down or something, you are dead wrong. Your screams are music to my ears." Anna managed a weak smile, "I'm not trying to wear you down. I'm stalling you."

The Death Eater tilted his head in confusion but decided that she could be just talking gibberish. His prisoners sometimes tended to do that when they were starting to loose it. He raised his black wand and shouted, "Cruci-"

Boom.

"Step away from the redhead and no one gets hurt!" The dark wizard raised his wand, but a familiar voice countered it, "Expelliarmus!" The wand was flung to the side and one last spell was casted, "Incarcerus!" Anna blinked, trying to get her eyes to cooperate and see who had come to her rescue, "J-James? Sirius?" Sirius knelt beside her and stroked her cheek, his eyes welling with tears, "You okay, Annabelle?" She shook her head, "No." The sound was more of a croak than a word." James breathed when he saw the condition she was in, growing worried, "Bloody Hell, Anna, what happened?!"

Sirius bit his lip as he inspected her, "She was hit by the Cruciatus curse, one of the unforgivables. She's been tortured. I've seen my parents use it. Annabelle, how many times do you think you were hit? Do you remember?" She closed her eyes and, for a frightening moment, the boys thought she had blacked out and were about to panic when she spoke, "Somewhere between 13 and 20." Sirius' eyes widened having assumed the number was going to be much lower, "Merlin, Anna, how are you even...bloody hell. You should be driven insane or killed by now! Not that I'm complaining. " She smiled weakly, "You'd be surprised what you can live through."

They helped her up and moved to apparate but she stopped them and had Sirius hand her her wand. She walked in front of her capturer. She pointed her wand. The death eater laughed, "Oh, sweetheart, I won't be talkin' either. Lord Voldemort would cause me much more pain for giving him up than any torture you could come up with." She raised an eyebrow, "Who said anything about torturing you?" She raised her wand.

James and Sirius looked away as she shouted her spell. When they looked back, all that was there was a smoldering spot on the hardwood floor. They didn't have much time to react before she fainted. Sirius looked at his best friend as he put one of her arms over her shoulder, "She's still breathing. She's a lot stronger than she looks. I have to say, I was surprised you came, ya know with Lily preggers and you guys being so busy with The Order."

James sighed and all three apparated to a safe house. They set her on a bed with white bed sheets and he called in his house elf, Chip (his other one, Wanda, was with Lily). Chip began healing her and Prongs turned to his best friend, "It's not like I could leave her, Sirius. Red is Lily's sister, hell, she's my sister. She could've gotten killed. She would never have known my son. He would never know his aunt. Well, his other aunt. But Petunia is a nightmare."

Sirius nodded solemnly, "That woman was the reason everything went bad at Annie's house and she had to stay with you for a while. I know what it's like, having family that hates you. It's rough. She's a tough gal, though, our Red. I don't know where'd we be without her." He chuckled a little.

James frowned a realization coming to him, "How did that Death Eater know where to find her to capture her, though? She was on a top secret mission for the order." Sirius immediately sobered, "James...what your saying is serious. Not me Sirius...but SERIOUS serious. You think someone leaked Anna's location?"

James put his head in his hands, "Merlin, I don't know, Padfoot. Something...something feels wrong about this whole ordeal. Maybe I'm just stressed and paranoid because I have a baby to protect, Anna's been attacked, and there was another raid done by the Death Eaters yesterday. Twenty muggleborns and four squib were either injured or killed. And-"

Sirius put a hand on his shoulder when he heard the Gryffindor begin to sound hysterical, "Calm down, James, we'll figure every thing out. Old Volds has nothing on Dumbledore. And as for Anna and your kid, you can count on me. I'll protect them no matter what. You have my word."

James nodded with a grateful smile and opened his mouth to thank him when a soft squeaky voice interrupted, "Master James? I have done everything I could for Mistress Anna. She should be fine in a day or two." James smiled down at Chip, the elf, and patted his head, "Thanks Chip. Pop off and tell Lily where I am. Tell her what happened. I sort of left without any explanation. She's probably worried. Let her know that I'll be there in a bit. Merlin she's going to strangle me." Sirius clapped him on the back, "Why don't you take Red with? I'll come too, just to make sure all bodes well." James nodded and all four apparated.

That night, as he sat in the armchair next to Annas bed, Sirius promised that he would make sure his sister would be safe and that he wouldn't let her down.

*End of Dream*

Sirius woke up feeling guilt churn within him. He hadn't had that particular nightmare in a while. He'd forgotten the promise he'd made. On the night he cornered Pettigrew, he had been so focused on avenging James by going after Peter that he hadn't even bothered to go to Anna and comfort her or make sure Harry was alright. He shivered against the cold. How could he have been so...careless?

Then again, he had been in mourning. Whenever he got angry or emotional, he became reckless and thus gave Peter the perfect scapegoat. He looked at the sky. It was early morning. It still appeared kind of dark, though. He changed into a dog and decided to kill time exploring the forest. He couldn't go back to sleep with Anna's screams echoing in his subconscious.

When he got to about half way to the edge of the forest, he heard a voice. "Sirius? Sirius? If you can hear me, please, I need to speak to you."

He hid in a bush as he heard the figure in the green cloak approach. He looked tentatively at the figure amongst the trees and could've sobbed. It was her, in the flesh. Annabelle. He froze. Could he face her now? After all he had done to her?

-With Anna-

Anna had gone to sleep for a little while but nightmares woke her far earlier than she would've preferred. She decided to take this bout of insomnia as an opportunity. She slipped away from the sleeping Remus and dressed in a silvery grey t-shirt and jeans. She decided against wearing her normal crimson cloak and tugged on an evergreen one one, in case she was seen.

She figured that if Sirius was really hiding at Hogwarts he would find refuge in the Forbbiden Forest. Of course, the mysterious woods had already been sweeped but the people who did it did not know of Sirius' secret animagus.

The red head tucked her wand in her leather boots and braided her hair down the side to keep her curls from getting in the way of her face. She blew a kiss to Remus before strolling out with her hood up, covering her face.

The Forbidden Forest had always been a sort of hang out spot for the Marauders. It wasn't surprising. Of course the school greatest daredevils and pranksters would feel at home in such a dangerous place. However, she was still worried. The professor had already figured that there were probably many more creatures dwelling in the first than before. Some could be quite dangerous. She reached into her boot and took out her wand, "Lumos."

Her eyes twinkled as a warm glow emitted from the smooth tip of the wood. With a breathe she plunged into the thicket of trees, not daring to look back.

She walked a little ways in before stopping. The witch cursed herself for not thinking this through. Running out of options, she brought her voice down to a stage whisper, "Sirius? Sirius? If you can hear me, please, I need to speak to you."

Sirius wanted to move. He wanted to do something, anything, to notify her of his presence but he couldn't. This was the first time he'd seen her in the flesh after all of these years and...it was just too much.

Have you ever gone on a trip for a couple weeks away from family and came back and realized how much you missed them? Now imagine that trip was to a prison and you had been there for years instead of weeks. He hadn't been as prepared for this moment as he thought he was. After all of these years clutching onto his marauder memories in order to keep his sanity, picturing what it she may be like now. Nothing, not even the photos he kept on his pocket, could've have made him any less stunned.

Anna sighed and decided to go a little deeper into the forest. Padfoot followed, leaving some distance between them but never letting her out of his sight. After a few minutes, Anna sighed in frustration, kicking herself for not planning ahead like she usually did and going off of a stupid whim. She turned briskly, intending to head back to the castle when she felt a warm breath on the back of her neck. She cringed as she felt bits of saliva cling to her back. She turned around and was immediately met with the distinct stench of dog breath. She didn't know what to expect but what she saw was definitely not it.

The witch's green eyes met three pairs of glowering brown ones. She quickly understood what she had stumbled upon. The redhead let out a surprised breath, "C-Cerberus?" It was just her luck to run into a three headed dog beast from Greek mythology. Terror filled her as she was definitely felt intimidated and outmatched by the towering mass of fur and razor sharp teeth. The professor had read about the monster but could not recall any weakness.

Remembering her training, she calmed her breathing patterns and tried to contain her heartbeat. She clutched her wand tightly and stood her ground. The fox needed to be smart about her next move. She wouldn't be able to take it down (and she really didn't want to. She didn't care for killing rare magical creatures unless it was absolutely necessary), so she needed a distraction to escape. She grinned as the perfect spell, "Impedimenta!"

And just like that, the creature was frozen in place. Anna wasted no time running. She knew the spell would only last ten seconds and she needed every bit of it. She dashed away, not even hearing a much smaller dog running after her. She thought she was home free. But she had misjudged the canine. It caught up with her quick. Finally, it leaned forward and snapped her up by the her cloak. Her wand fell out of her fist when she was jerked backwards by the mighty jaw. She called for help but all hope seemed lost until... "Hey, over here, you oversized chihuahua!"

Fluffy dropped Anna and turned to see what the noise was. Anna was stunned but before she could process what was happening, the familiar voice shouted again, "Now's not the time to be stubborn, Annabelle! I'll be fine, I can loose him when you are safe! Just go!" Her feet instantly spurred to life and she sprinted away.

It was not until she got to the edge of the forest that she could gather her thoughts. And, at that moment, it hit her like a freight train, 'Sirius Black just saved my life.'

She debated going back to the forest but she realized that everyone was going to wake soon and she had a long day ahead of her. Gryffindor was playing against Slytherin today, she had a lesson to plan for next week and...oh no.

How could she forget something so important? She had been so worried about Sirius, she forgot the thing she and Remus had been dreading upon arrival to Hogwarts.

The full moon.

AN: Sorry of you didn't like it. It's, admittedly not my best work. Also, I'm thinking about uploading a pic of what I think Anna might look like. Your thoughts?