Chapter 4
The next few days passed by far too quickly for Rochelle, and she found herself, for once in her life, dreading the end of term. Christmas holidays were approaching, and Rochelle had received the usual letter from her mother, asking about her daughter's well-being and confirming that she would be coming home. The confirmation was a mere formality. Rochelle had never been invited to a classmate's home for the holidays, and even if she had, she would have declined. For the last 5 years, every holiday had been spent at home.
"Excited for Christmas?" Lucius asked her conversationally, as he helped her heave her trunk onto one of the carriages. They were heading for the Hogwarts Express, which would take them home for about two weeks.
Rochelle smiled back at him. "Of course. As always."
But she wasn't. Rochelle hated to admit it but for once, she wanted to stay back in Hogwarts for the holidays. She wasn't sure what the reason was, but somehow, the thought of going back home was making her more nervous. She shook it off, turning to look at Rabastan Lestrange, who had just joined them. He was a good friend of Lucius's, and he held a hand out to Rochelle to help her into the carriage.
"You should be excited," Rabastan told her, with a smile, as she settled down beside her cousin. The carriage began moving with a jolt, drawn by some invisible force. "I hear there's an engagement party to be held for your brother? It's quite the event of the season. My mother could barely talk about anything else."
Rochelle nodded. Her elder brother, Royce, had left Hogwarts almost two years ago. Having joined the Ministry and gained a prominent position in a short period of time, Rochelle's parents had decided that the time to fulfill his betrothal was arriving. He'd been long-engaged to Carmella Rossetti, the second daughter of a rather prominent Italian pureblood family. Rochelle had met the girl once or twice, and although her English could do with a bit of improvement, she'd seemed like a decent person.
"Yes, Mother and Father are quite excited," Rochelle admitted, smiling back at Rabastan. "They seem to be making a larger deal out of the engagement than the actual wedding itself. I hope your family plans to attend?"
"Oh, wouldn't miss it."
The carriage rattled on, reaching the Hogwarts Express much sooner than Rochelle would have liked. She managed to find herself an empty compartment. Lucius and Rabastan sat with her for a few minutes, before joining some other Slytherin boys in a different compartment. Grateful for the silence, she quickly pulled out another book that she'd borrowed from Lily, and curled up beside the window to read.
"Oi, look, this one's empty!" a voice yelled out cheerfully, as a tall figure shoved open the door. James Potter froze, however, once he saw Rochelle sitting inside. "Um, sorry. Never mind."
He quickly backed away, closing the door behind him. Not, however, before Rochelle caught a glimpse of Sirius Black standing in the aisle and watching her curiously with his dark grey eyes.
She'd spent the last week of term avoiding him entirely. It hadn't been particularly difficult. Their paths very rarely crossed, and even when they did, he didn't seem particularly eager for conversation either. Rochelle was unsure where the last encounter in the Three Broomsticks had left their relationship. They'd never really been friends, but she wondered if they could now be considered enemies. She had pointed a wand at his throat. Thinking about the event made her feel a tiny bit of remorse. She should have cursed him instead.
Finding her mood suddenly ruined, Rochelle quickly closed the novel and shoved it back into one of the pockets in her robes. As she pulled out her hand, however, it jabbed into something sharp. She extracted Lucius's wand, remembering that he'd asked her to hold it as he lifted her trunk down from the carriage, and she'd never returned it to him. Sighing, she got to her feet and walked out into the aisle to find him.
Rochelle walked past a few compartments, before noticing that Sirius Black and James Potter were standing in the aisle. Hadn't they found somewhere to sit, yet? She paused a few feet away from them, before realizing that they were actually eavesdropping on one of the compartments. The door was open a crack, and a loud and rather familiar voice was drifting out of it.
Frederick. Rochelle thought, recognizing the voice immediately. It was difficult to forget. After the abrupt ending to their Hogsmeade trip together, Rochelle had sought him out and tried to apologize for the situation. He hadn't been particularly willing to forgive, however, and she'd been receiving dark looks from him for the past few days. She'd finally decided to let it go. If he was so intent on holding a grudge, there was nothing she could do.
"-and I'm telling you, mate, that hair of her's, it's enough to drive any man crazy," Frederick's faint voice said, along with a bunch of other masculine chuckles. Rochelle pitied the poor girl that had captured Fredericks' attentions now. Glaring at Sirius and James, neither of whom had noticed her, she cleared her throat.
"Excuse me? I'd like to get past," she told them. They both jumped, turning to look at her in surprise. As soon as Sirius saw her, however his eyes narrowed. He shifted his position so he was blocking the corridor completely.
"Go back to your compartment, Vittori."
Rochelle raised her eyebrows. Who the hell did he think he was, ordering her around? "I don't think so, Black. You don't own this train. Move, right now, so I can get past."
Sirius shook his head. "Would you listen to me, once? Get back to your bloody compartment. It's for your own good. You don't want to hear this."
"Don't want to hear what?" Rochelle demanded, unable to take the curiosity. She pushed past both Sirius and James so that she was standing right in front of the crack in the compartment door. Frederick's voice was louder, and she could hear it more clearly.
"-If things hadn't ended so badly, I swear, I would have fucked her sooner or later. I'm telling you, she's probably one of the only virgins left in our year, that's how much of a prude she is," Frederick was continuing harshly. "Wouldn't even let me hold her hand, she moved away when I tried. Or maybe she's not a virgin at all! Maybe she's been fucking Black this whole time and no one ever noticed!" A cruel laugh followed this statement, and was joined by a few other boys. Rochelle froze, unable to breathe. It felt like someone was squeezing her lungs.
"Ha, you're right there, Fred! Betrothed, weren't they, before the little bastard turned traitor? It's your own fault, Frederick, you signed up for the used goods!" another voice called loudly, to more raucous laughter.
Rochelle 's hands started trembling wildly, as she stepped away from the compartment door. Her face had gone white, and she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
They were talking about her.
"I can't listen to this bullshit," Sirius decided finally, after watching Rochelle tremble silently for a few seconds. He felt a sudden rush of anger. Slytherins were disgusting little hypocrites, but he'd never thought that they would do this to one of their own. Glancing once more at the trembling girl who looked like she was going to be sick, he shoved the compartment door open, and walked in.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt your little party," Sirius hissed, as a group of about 6 Slytherin boys stared up at him in shock, mid-laugh. Nott was sitting closest to the door, and it took Sirius less than five seconds to grab him by the front of his robes and pin him up against the wall.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Frederick demanded, trying to squeeze out of Sirius's grip desperately. "Let go of me, you imbecile! Do you have any idea who you're-"
Crack.
The sound, which seemed to echo throughout the compartment, was that of Frederick's nose breaking. There was a spatter of blood as Sirius pulled his arm back, followed by an anguished yell of pain. Sirius released Nott quickly, before another Slytherin lunged at him. Ducking, he slipped out of the compartment and came face to face with James, who looked horrified.
"Sirius, there's half a dozen of them in there! What were you thinking?" Potter cried.
"I don't know? Let's run!"
Rochelle watched in shock as the two boys fled down the aisle, followed by a few angry-looking Slytherins. Nott was still lying crumpled in the doorway, clutching his nose and moaning in pain. A few seconds later, a familiar figure emerged from the compartment. Rochelle felt her stomach lurch.
Lucius.
"Were you sitting in there with them?" she asked. Her voice was quiet, almost cracking towards the end of the sentence. Malfoy looked up at her, eyes wide.
"I… Rochelle, I can explain," he insisted.
"Explain?" she laughed, the sound more hysterical than humorous. "Oh, please do. Please do explain why you were sitting with a bunch of disgusting maggots and having a good laugh while they talked about me like I was some common whore!"
"Rochelle, they're my friends, I couldn't have said anything to-"
"Oh, of course you couldn't," she spat, her eyes flaming with anger. "Sirius Black could step in and get them to shut up, but my own cousin couldn't be bothered. I see how it is."
Lucius glared at her. "You're misunderstanding the entire situation, Rochelle. I suggest you calm down before you let your anger cloud your judgment and prevent you from seeing things clearly."
"Quite the contrary, cousin. I see things very clearly now."
A/N – Thank you for the reviews! Sorry this chapter is short. I promise the next one will be longer and a lot more interesting. Things are going to build up with Sirius and Rochelle!
An anonymous reviewer mentioned that they found the scene where Rochelle finds out about Remus hard to believe. I agree completely. I was never really happy with that part, and since I now KNOW that it doesn't make much sense, I've deleted it. Maybe it'll come in again later on, at a more appropriate time. So yeah. Just thought I'd let you know. Hey, I'm still learning!
To answer the other questions – Lily and Rochelle are Prefects. They're not the sort of friends that hang out after classes or eat lunch together. They chat during Prefect duties, such as supervising detentions or patrolling corridors after hours. Their hang-outs aren't usually public, and if you haven't noticed, Rochelle DOES subtly go out of her way to ensure none of the Slytherins she knows see her with Lily. I know, it's rather… fake of her, but that's how she is.
Anyway, review! And thanks again to all my reviewers. I WANT criticism, people. How else am I meant to improve?