A/N: celestelyralestrange and nanalyfe99, thanks a lot for reading my story and for the Follow :) You guys made my day :)

Chapter 3: Of Words Unsaid

She stormed into her empty and dark dorm, fiercely wiping her face with the back of her hand. More than anything, she was merely angry with herself for having even LET this whole thing affect her in the slightest, because, let's face it, this was not something that she was not used to before?! This was how Sirius had treated her for the five long years that she's spent strutting within these walls! And it was ALSO one of the biggest reasons why she had kept her distance with this... this... fire-breathing, venom-spewing TERRORIST!

Basically Sirius was a coward. He was such a big coward that, Isabella still found it hard to understand just HOW he got sorted into GRYFFINDOR of all Houses! He was a coward to admit to the world that he and Isabella used to be extremely close friends once upon a time, that he GREW up with her in the same bleeding neighbourhood and practically spent most of his waking hours eating out of her fridge and hijacking her mother in her own HOUSE! And, can we please take a moment to talk about his MAMMOTH of an ego?! That slimy, rotten piece of dragon dung that he...

Someone knocked on the door, making her crash land back to Earth. Jumping up in surprise, she turned around to find Lily standing at the door, wearing a worried expression on her face. "Izzy, can I come in?" she asked softly, but Isabella was angry; boiling mad.

"No," she merely said, and went back to pulling her pajamas over her head and ruffling it out. She was going to SLEEP it off while the rest of her House was down there, killing it, all I thanks to Lily...

"No, don't do that, Izzy, come on," Lily groaned when she realized Isabella was preparing to ditch the party already. Pushing the door open she strode in towards her with a firm face. "Listen, I am sorry... I just wanted to stir him up a bit, but I did not think things would turn out to be such a disaster!" she exclaimed, obviously feeling mighty guilty for the whole thing, but it only made Isabella angrier.

"No, Lily, you know how he is with me and you KNOW for a fact that he's an oaf of the highest order! So, why did you ever feel the need to pull me into the conversation? That was random!" she said, scowling at the floor. It was funny, because, Isabella wanted to punch through a wall, bawl her eyes out and hug her friend till eternity all at the same time.

Lily blinked once and seemed to be having an internal battle of some sort with herself. "Well, I... I know I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry, it's just that... well, you're my best friend and the prettiest person I know..."

"Oh, come ON!" Isabella rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm serious! You're gorgeous, Izzy and I... just... I wasn't thinking straight, I reckon, and I wanted to get back at him real bad for his comment about me and... Spectacles!" she spat out, heavily emphasizing the last word alone for good reason. Sighing, she looked at Izzy again, and hesitated a bit, like she was nervous about something. "But, er... Izzy?" she began, looking straight into her eyes, "I've been meaning to ask you something... You two seem a bit tense around each other of late... A bit more tense than usual, actually. Any particular reason?" Lily was reading Isabella's face like an X-Ray machine.

Isabella, for her part, turned a deep shade of red at her question. She knew Lily was going to ask her about this sooner or later, because her hostility with Sirius was getting a little too blatant for words in recent times. On the other hand, though, she also knew she'd explode if she kept this to herself for a second longer, so was also partly relieved to finally have Lily ask about this. Rubbing her face in frustration, she said it one breath: "I walked into him in a broom closet three days ago when he was with someone."

Lily grimaced immediately, her expression hardening a bit more than what Isabella was expecting. "He what?" she yelled through gritted teeth. "Oh, he is so DEAD!" she exclaimed, glaring at an invisible Sirius behind Isabella. "But, why is this affecting you? I thought you told me..."

"Yes, I thought I was over him too, four months ago, but it looks like I really am not!" she said, even as her eyes filled with hot tears. "I'm not... Seeing him wound around another dimwitted daft cow made me realise that I am still hung up on him and... I don't think I can ever even look at him the same way anymore, Lily..." she whispered, letting a tiny tear trickle down her face. "Merlin, I am so stupid..." she said, hitting herself lightly on the side of her head. "What is wrong with me...?" she pouted sadly even as Lily wrapped her hands around her.

"Nothing, you're bloody brilliant, and you know that," she said fiercely, obviously still feeling a little angry at this whole situation. "Izzy, you're the kindest person I know and you deserve only the best. And I feel horrible for you, you spent all of five seconds down there in your own party and Sirius just ruined it! Merlin, I hate him for saying those things about you, especially when..." she stopped short in mid-sentence and merely rubbed her face in frustration.

"Especially when what?" Isabella grimaced questioningly at her.

"Nothing," she said quickly, looking distracted. "Anyway, now that I'm up here, we might as well get something productive done. You want to finish off that Astronomy homework with me?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Isabella replied sarcastically, but jumped out of bed all the same; any distraction was welcome right about now... And just as she was about to get her books and sketches, however, she noticed something floating straight towards Lily. "What is that?" she said, jumping over Claiborne's bed and grabbing hold of the little paper rocket that was flitting across the room on its own accord. Eyeing it suspiciously, she tore open the parchment and snorted a little: 'Hey Evans! Where'd you disappear off to? Now, I really miss you! Come back? please? - Your one and only.'

"What is it?" Lily asked. Isabella mutely gave her the parchment and bent down to find her books instead. Lily took a quick look at it before rolling her eyes, and looking up at Isabella. "How did he know I would be up here in the dorm?"

"Perhaps he magicked it to search through the tower and find you somehow?" Isabella offered, knowing fully well what James was capable of.

"That's... Genius..." was Lily only response to that.

The next day morning was pretty much the same for every member of the Gryffindor team because, the party had raged on till well over 3 AM and it was back to classes come Monday, meaning it wreaked panic and chaos all around her! Hurriedly rumbling down the stairs with a stack of books on one hand, quills and wand on the other and her tie between her teeth, Isabella was sure she was going to be late for Transfiguration, but more importantly, she was going to miss breakfast too!

"Need help with those?" Remus smiled, heading down the stairs from the boys' wing. When she nodded her head vigorously, he chuckled a bit and took her books from her.

"Thank you so much, you're a godsend, Remus!" she exclaimed, as she quickly threw her quills onto the couch and started doing her tie. "Did you manage to finish that Trans essay?"

"Of course, but is it not due tomorrow? You still have time!"

"No, I don't! I have so much to read up on before I can complete it and I have Quidditch practice for the whole week!" she groaned before wiping her face of all expression and staring wide-eyed at him, "Remus, may I please borrow your homework?" she asked, her expression only short of begging.

"Not a chance!" said two voices at the same time, making Remus and Isabella turn around: it was Sirius and Lily. Glaring daggers in Sirius's direction, Lily continued to speak, except she was talking to Isabella in reality. "You do not borrow people's homework, Izzy! Have I taught you nothing?!" she said, finally tearing her eyes off of a confused-looking Sirius. Shrugging innocently, Sirius plodded into the Common Room too, "You should listen to her, you know?" he said, rubbing his tired eyes. "Besides, I am borrowing Moony's, so..."

Isabella's jaw dropped in shock. "I asked you first, Remus!" she appealed, making sure to not look in Sirius's direction.

"Izzy, for Merlin's sake, please don't beg!" Lily muttered, rolling her eyes exasperatedly.

"But, he's not your best friend, he's mine," Sirius replied, fully ignoring Lily's comment. "Your best friend is Grumpy here, too bad she won't share her homework!" he guffawed, shrugging his cloak on. "What's she on about, anyway?" He chuckled at a very red Lily.

"It's none of your business, Black!" she snapped and grabbed Isabella by the hand. "An enemy to her is an enemy to me too! Let's get out of here, Izzy!"

Sirius looked curiously at Remus and mouthed, 'Enemy?!' before the two of them broke out into silent grins. "Er, before you go though, Izzy...!" Remus called out and strode quickly towards them, "I think Sirius here, has something to say to you," he said and looked pointedly in Sirius's direction. "Sirius?"

"What?"

"Now's your chance to make up for last night, go ahead."

"What about last night?" Sirius shrugged innocently and looked between Remus and Isabella.

Remus for his part, simply gaped disbelievingly at him. "Do you want me to spell it out for you?"

"What are you talking about, Remus, I do not have anything to say to anyone," he asked, looking incredulously in his direction.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Most certainly!"

"But, as I recall correctly, you couldn't stop stressing about it all through last night, so much that James threatened to throw you off the tower! What was that about again?"

It took Sirius a second to process the words that he had just said. Glaring daggers in his best friend's direction AND managing to turn on his haughty charms at the same time, he huffed menacingly and retorted, "Marlene's BACKside!" without even batting an eyelid. "Have you seen it, Moon-Moon? It's quite delightful, you know?" he smirked pointedly at Remus's unforgiving face. "Now, if you don't mind, we're all getting late to class, so can we hurry it along?" he said, gesturing to all three of them, who merely either gaped surprisedly (Remus) or looked like they'd rather punch him straight in the nose (Lily) or stay transfixed on the spot, secretly hurting (Isabella). And there he goes again...

Transfiguration, so far, had been one of the toughest subjects to keep up with for all fifth-years, especially since, it becomes optional for students from their sixth-year onwards, and so, McGonagall seemed hell bent on squeezing in as many concepts down their throats as was physically possible!

"Now, I have said this before and I shall say it again! No student with anything less than 'Exceeds Expectations' on their OWLs will be allowed into my N.E.W.T classes!" she bellowed, making several students shift uncomfortably in their seats. "And rest assured, anyone not studying Transfiguration everyday of their winter break will not pass their OWLs this year!" McGonagall asserted with finality, staring particularly at a frazzled-looking Peter Pettigrew who was hiding behind the broad frames of James and Sirius. "Also, any monkey business from anyone this year and I'll make sure they'd regret the day they set eyes on me."

The look she gave nearly sent shivers down everyone's spine and, many even sat up straight, as if that could fetch them some brownie points.

"So, then, without further ado, today, we shall learn to master the Vanishing Spell, a most complex spell that can be used on both inanimate and animate objects..."

James gasped. "Do you mean to say it can be used on Filch too, Professor?!" James gushed, raising a cocky eyebrow at the slowly hardening face of McGonagall. Remus nudged him hard on the ribs but, much to his annoyance, Sirius decided to joined in as well!

"My word, if you could do that for us, I'd kiss you!" Sirius added, spreading his hands wide open. "Imagine how easy our lives would get, James!" he said, grinning happily at his best friend.

A dead silence followed that remark when more than half the students in the class battled with themselves to not burst out laughing. "Twenty. Points. From. Gryffindor!" McGonagall spat out through her teeth, her eyes narrowed to mere slits!

"We love you more, professor!" James snickered back and Isabella was sure McGonagall was going to throw her desk at his infuriating face.

Feigning composure (because, obviously she'd given up trying to tame these two), she turned around to face the rest of the class and continued as if nothing had interrupted her. "Without wasting any more of my time, I want the class to divide into groups of three before we learn the technique of the spell!" she barked out, instantly sparking movement in the class as everyone shuffled about to follow her instructions.

The next half hour was spent merely mastering the wand movement and how to correctly pronounce 'Evanesco!' in order to achieve maximum results. The Marauders somehow didn't seem to struggle at all and seemed to have learnt it in first fifteen minutes itself, except Peter, who took slightly longer. Isabella, though, was struggling per usual and she didn't know why, but she got the feeling that Sirius and James were snickering behind her back every time she messed up the spell even the slightest.

"You know, I think it's because we're using snails!" Sally Smith from Hufflepuff suddenly declared out-of-the-blue.

"What do you mean?" asked Isabella, momentarily turning her focus away from her slimy snail.

"What do I mean? Come on, McGonagall has done this on purpose! She wants to instill fear in us so that we fail in class today!" she proclaimed in a loud whisper.

"Er... Exactly how do you think she's bound to benefit from that?" asked Remus from the table in front of theirs, looking mildly interested.

"It's all tactics to get us to study harder in the coming holidays, obviously?!"

"And that's a bad thing, why?" he chuckled, looking at the forlorn expressions on their faces.

Sally rolled her eyes. "Just because he mastered the spell already..." she whispered angrily in Isabella's ear.

"Respectfully, Remus, I'd request you to wipe that gloat off your face!" Isabella bit back the smile that was threatening to burst at the end of her lips. "You don't have to ask all the right questions all the time, you know?"

"Thank you!" Sally high-fived Isabella's raised hand.

"What exactly is your problem with the spell, Williams? It's as simple as it can get!" asked Sirius from behind her, making her flush instantly. If she had a club in her hand, she'd gladly crash it on his face and knock that stupid smirk right off!

"Girls..." muttered Samuel Willows, another Hufflepuff, rolling his eyes at an amused Sirius. "Everything freaks them out!" he muttered, making Sirius laugh out loud in pure sympathy for the chap.

"Take. That. Back!" she growled at Sam who was still having a great time socializing with Sirius.

"Or you could just clear your mind and get the bloody spell right, it's not a Blast-Ended Skrewt for Merlin's sake!" Sirius retorted, looking grim all of a sudden. Isabella jumped a little and turned around to look at his uncharacteristically stern face. "Just drop last night from your mind for a second and focus on the damned snail. You've handled far worse!"

Isabella paused for a second, her eyebrow arching high in her forehead. "So you do remember," she snapped back.

"I couldn't forget about it if I wanted to," he retaliated, staring right into her eyes. The two of them continued to claw onto each other's gazes, exchanging a million thoughts and emotions that the others were completely oblivious to. "Now, come on, I can't stand watching you three struggle with this for another second, it's embarrassing!" he shook his head in mock disappointment, finally breaking eye-contact with her and got working with them instantly.

And that, perhaps, was the closest thing to an apology she was going to get from him.

Sirius, perhaps, was the most complicated person she'd ever met till now. Funnily enough, this was the boy next door that she had grown up with and had known all her life and yet, she still did not understand him one bit. One second, he's as mean as he could possibly get and the next, he does something completely opposite, that tells her that he might actually, deep down, care for her. Because, for the rest of the class, all Sirius did was guide her till she got the spell right (it did hurt her dignity quite a bit to admit that she indeed was struggling a bit with the spell, but Sirius made it seem so exceptionally normal that, she eventually dropped the act and actually took his help).

The next couple of days went by as per usual where the students had a brilliant snooze-fest in Binns' class, for instance, and the polar opposite of that at Potions and DADA. It was particularly hard for Isabella to keep up as she had to constantly juggle between classes, practice and a mountain of homework that steadily got stacked in front of her with every passing day. And for the first time ever, she saw James starting to complain about life too.

"You know, I did not think fifth-year was going to be this hard!" he grumbled on Friday night, sitting at the Gryffindor table for dinner. The team had just returned from a grueling practice session and Isabella's every limb hurt.

"Wait, till you get to our year. It'll have you wishing you remained in fifth and never graduated!" said Clarissa Goody, grinning at James. She was sitting next to Ryan Evantrap and several other sixth and seventh year boys who often accompanied the team in their practice sessions and joined them after at the dinner table, just to be a part of the discussions and to maintain the team's camaraderie—something that Isabella liked very, very much.

"I don't know what you're complaining about, Prongs," Sirius said, towering behind Isabella and playfully swinging his broom at his side. "School's great!" he shrugged.

"I agree," snorted Martin Benkley, a seventh year and Thomas Walker's best friend, winking slyly at an amused Sirius. "If all us got as many girls as you do, none of us would be complaining as well, mate!" he said, inviting a lot of grunts and nods from the party.

"Well, I disagree!" chimed in James. "There's only one woman that excites me beyond belief..." said James, sighing dramatically with his hand on his heart.

Isabella smiled fondly in James's direction. "Sadly though, if all you got as many girls as Sirius does, all of you would have a lifetime ban from the Magical Bird Sanctuary!" she shot back at the rest of the boys, making everyone pause for a second before bursting into laughter, amazed at the retort. Sirius, she noticed, was cracking up too behind her, as he gave her shoulders a good squeeze and said, "Right! Because, I nail 'chicks'! Excellent word play, Williams, I am impressed!" he laughed, still bawling over Isabella's head while the rest of them grinned along.

"So, your friend here is mighty funny, I see?" grinned Ryan with a raised eyebrow. He was sitting directly opposite to Isabella.

"She sure is," he replied, still grinning down at Isabella's red face. "Never thought I'd see the day, though. Been awfully quiet for the last three years, this one," he snorted, giving her a slight nudge from behind before walking around and taking his place on the table next to her.

"Really? That's not right, we ought to change that!" said Ryan, grinning a little and looking back and forth between her and Sirius. "Tell me then, mate, what else is she like?" he asked, this time looking only at Isabella, making her blush even more.

"Ah, would you see that?! Look who finally grew a pair, lads!" exclaimed Daniel Willets, another sixth year, clapping a coy Ryan on the back. "He's been eye-balling..."

"Shut up, Dan!" Ryan snapped, making Daniel shrug mischievously.

Isabella was very aware of all the boys staring in her direction, and felt a nervous tingle in her stomach. "Well, if you were to ask Raging Romeo here," she spoke, trying to sound as confident as possible, "he'd probably say I'm rather boring and dead on the inside!" she said, looking at the satisfied face of Sirius.

Ryan graced Sirius with a confused look. "Who's Romeo?"

"And why's he raging?!" guffawed Sirius, stuffing his mouth with roast potatoes. "Anyway, point is, had you asked me that question a couple of years ago, mate, I'd have asked you to bolt out the back door as quickly as possible! But, she's been showing promise in recent times," he said, painfully clapping her back (sometimes, Isabella wondered if Sirius ever saw her as a girl!), "so I'd say you're welcome to take her out!" he grinned, glancing proudly down at a very uninterested Isabella. "Oh, she likes dessert a LOT, so you should plan for Honeydukes!" he gave his blessing, making her feel extremely awkward.

"Someone seems to know a lot about our Chaser, huh?" James cheekily added from Isabella's left, making Sirius merely grin back in his direction, before attacking his dinner.

And in the middle of all this talk, Isabella and Ryan were left awkwardly staring at each other; neither had expected Sirius to be so crass and crack down the conversation to a date this quickly. "Can we talk?" he started, a slight smile gracing his handsome face. "Privately?" he added, when he saw Sirius cheekily checking out Isabella's expression from the side.

"Sure, why not?" she said and stood up, making the boys give Ryan a shocked look before wolf-whistling in his direction and cheering him on. Ryan was blushing a little as he quietly stood up, warding off dense comments from his friends before making his way towards Isabella. "You're welcome, cupcake!" Sirius yelled in her direction before chuckling after her.

Isabella was almost shaking internally as Ryan led her to a quiet corner in the Great Hall, breathing nervously himself. As soon as they reached the window, he put his hands in his pockets and looked up at her, smiling a little, while the Gryffindor table continued to cheer them on from the distance. "Ignore them," he said apologetically.

"Always have," she replied, smiling politely back at him. "Oh, and don't let my current scent drive you away, I don't usually smell like this," she joked, gesturing to her dirty Quidditch robes, making him grin back.

"Wow, you're better than I thought you would be," he smiled, his eyes oozing with genuine adoration for her. "Are you always this funny?"

"Not when I'm sleeping, I'm not," she smirked, making him laugh out loud yet again.

"So, anyway... I... would love to get to know you better..." he began, scratching the back of his head, nervously. "And I was wondering if it would be alright if er... if I could ask you out on a date," he said, looking longingly down at her.

"What did you have in my mind?" she asked much to his surprise.

"Well, I'm not sure if this would appeal a lot to you but, there's a party that Slughorn is having next Friday. I thought it'd be a good idea to go with you... Would you come?" he asked, looking expectantly at her.

Something tugged at her insides as the words slipped out of his mouth; how she wished this was really coming from Sirius? She still could not explain what it was about him that filled up her heart so much. And she knew no one could ever make her feel the way she'd feel for him. Ever.

"That sounds lovely, Ryan," she smiled, taking him fully by surprise. "I'd gladly go with you to the party."

"Wonderful!" he gushed and took her in his hand. "It's on then," he said, looking into her eyes and giving her hand a squeeze before stooping down and kissing her on the cheek. The eruption of cheers from the Gryffindor table that followed that kiss made every other table turn around to see what was going on.