The Worst Mistake

Chapter 1

It was sometimes hard to tell when she's been crying. Her face rarely got splotchy and it was always shiny from the lotion she wore that smelled like soda pop when you were close enough to her face to breathe her in. She avoided going out in public until she was finished crying and she could smile under almost any circumstance. She cried an absurd amount of the time, though. She was...emotionally sensitive. She broke down whenever someone hurt her. I used to be like that. I used to believe that a mother should care for her children and a father should protect them. I used to believe in love. I used to be weak.

I nearly fell in love with her, when I was young and foolish. She fell in love with someone else, someone who laughed in her face when she told him. For a week she walked around in a daze, avoiding him, trying and failing to smile. She was crushed. And for a week I tried and failed to curse him to death. Then I made the worst mistake of my life…

"Sev, I'm literally dying! Literally." Sibbie Franks announced sitting down next to the greasy haired boy. She had been sorted into the Ravenclaw house, but everyone in her own house ignored her, so she had made a habit of having meals at the Slytherin table.

"And why is that, pray tell?" Severus asked.

"I forgot my Potions homework. Can I please copy yours?" Sibbie asked, clasping her hands together and looking pleadingly at Severus.

Severus sighed. "I thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart."

"I am smart! Super smart. I'm just not a Potions' genius. And besides, I forgot."

"You always forget."

"I'm a procrastinator."

"You're lazy. And I'm breaking your habits."

"Oh, that's mean. I don't break your things!"

Severus glared at her. "Fine, take the homework. I don't honestly care. But don't cry to me if you don't get finished in time."

Sibbie grinned and tried to hug Severus, but he shrugged her off. Regulus sat down next to the two and sighed. "I hate my life," he stated. "Pass the mashed potatoes will you?"

"What's the matter?" Sibbie asked as she passed the potatoes.

"Sirius," Regulus explained as he dished food onto his plate. "Who else?"

"What'd he do now?" Sibbie asked.

"You mean besides being a blood traitor and tearing my family apart? He ate my homework."

Severus looked like he was about to smile and Sibbie giggled. "He ate your homework?" she asked.

"Yes," Regulus said. "He turned it into pudding and physically consumed it. It's not funny! Now I have to go and explain to Professor McGonagall that my brother ate my homework."

Sibbie continued to giggle. "That is pretty hilarious," she said.

"I don't think so," Regulus protested.

"Well, maybe McGonagall will believe you."

"Like she'd care even if she did believe him," Severus said.

Regulus nodded. "That woman has no mercy."

"She's not that bad, she's just a little strict."

"A little strict?" Regulus asked incredulously. "She's a devil woman!"

"You'll have to do it over," Severus said.

"I hate my fucking brother!"

"Oh, how bad could it be? It's one homework assignment."

"It was two rolls of parchment long and it was hard! I'm going to have to do it all over again. Besides, it's the principle of the thing. My brother has no business eating my homework," Regulus said. Sibbie started giggling again and even Severus laughed. "What?"

"You just...the way you word things all proper like. When you're talking about a human eating your homework."

"I think my wording is just fine," Regulus said haughtily.

"Well, I think it's time to go to Potions," Severus said.

"Oh no!" Sibbie moaned. "I'm not finished! Tell Slughorn I'll be there in fifteen minutes. Tell him I'm at the nurse or something."

Severus nodded as he and Regulus got up to go to their respective classes.