I know it's been ages but I'm getting a bit of writers block... I've got what I want the story to be but I'm finding it hard getting there. Ideas would be helpful round about now.
Let me know what you think of this chapter...
The days grew colder as we approached winter and after a very non-eventful Halloween for once, my whole attention was on the approaching Christmas holidays. Remus and I had joined all our recent pocket money together and bought a holiday for mum and dad, so that meant that we were either staying at school or going to one of the guys' houses. It was mid December when we decided on James' house, seeing as he pretty much ordered us into staying there.
The third Hogsmead weekend a few weeks before the holidays had me wandering the streets with Benji Fenwick, a Ravenclaw in our year... and as Ben and I had lunch in the Three Broomsticks, the Marauders wandered in out of the cold. I took notice of them and nodded in greeting before turning back to my date, but even though Remus and Peter audibly told them not to, James and Sirius wandered over and slid into our booth.
"Hey guys! What a surprise!" Sirius greeted as James gave a tense smile at Ben making me chew on my bottom lip. "How's the date going?"
"Uhm," Ben stumbled out as he gave me a 'help?' look.
"It was going great, until you guys decided to but in," I replied simply as I leant more into Ben's side, his arm had already been around my shoulders. I went to pick my Butterbeer up, only for James to swipe it and take a swig with a smirk making me roll my eyes at him.
"So, this is date number two, right?" he asked as he looked between us making us nod slightly, I was just wondering where he was going with it. "You kissed her yet, Fenwick?" He tensed next to me and shook his head. "You really are missing out. Izzy here is an amazing kisser..."
"Prongs would know," Sirius smirked making me glare darkly at the two of them Ben glanced down at me in shock as we pulled away from each other slightly.
"You haven't had that awkward conversation yet, have you?" James asked as Remus winced, "Well I'm sure it'll come up now." And with that the four of them got up and made their way to a different table, Peter being sent to the bar for drinks.
"You and Potter?" Ben asked in shock making me nod slightly, "Wh... when? How?"
"It's a long story Ben," I shrugged, "We kissed at his house during Christmas in first year and a few times since." He frowned slightly, "Ben it's noth..."
"Nothing? You guys are practically all over each other daily," he commented, "I thought you were just really close friends but now that I know you've kissed..."
"Ben honestly," I sighed, "James and me are complex, but nothing's happened in a really long time and nothing will happen. Especially since I'm with you." He gave me a once over before frowning slightly.
"If we're gonna be together, I need to trust you Bella," he commented making me nod, "Which means I don't want you hanging around with the Marauders... or the Prewitts."
"Excuse me?" I asked, hoping I'd heard him wrong.
"You heard me Isabella," he nodded, "If you want to be my girlfriend, I don't want you hanging out with other guys. You have girl friends, spend time with them instead."
"Hold up," I glared at him, "You cannot tell me who I can and cannot hang out with."
"Oh really?" he glared back, "Well like I said, if you want..."
"Oh right now I don't," I glared before getting up and slipping out of the booth, "I'm glad this conversation happened on the second date... now I'm know how much of a possessive prick you are." With that I shrugged my jacket on and started walking out of the building, I was just out of the door when a hand clamped hard around my wrist making me hiss in pain before spinning around to glare.
"Let me go," I growled at Benji who was glaring down at me.
"You're not just walking away from me, Lupin," he growled back as he pulled me closer to him, "Let's see how truthful that 'friend' of yours really is." With that his lips clamped down on mine making me squeak and struggle against him... he was a lot stronger than I gave him credit for.
He forced his tongue into my mouth as I pushed against his chest and an idea blinked on in my mind making me snap my teeth down on his tongue. "Ah!" he wrenched away in pain, "You bit..." My fist collided hard with his cheek as people rushed out of the pub to see what was going on... a pain flared in my cheek as he backhanded me and I dropped hard onto the cobbled sidewalk with a yelp.
"Izzy!" James yelled as he rushed over, Sirius tackled Ben to the grounds, pummelling him as James helped me to my feet and pressed a soft hand to my cheek. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I growled before shrugging him off and pulling Sirius off of Benji before swinging a kick, it connected with his face making him groan again before dropping down heavily to the ground completely as I started walking away grumbling to myself.
"Bella?" Remus' arm draped around my shoulders as I carried on walking back up to the castle, "Bell, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I replied again, my eyes cast down as I glared at the floor in front of me.
"You can be upset you know," he told me, making me shrug slightly. "Why'd he do it? Was it because of James and Sirius?"
"Nah," I shook my head, "If they hadn't done that I'd probably have been in deeper before I found out what a prick he was. I'm kind of glad they did what they did."
"Isabella?" A kind voice asked as we walked into the entrance hall a little while later, my gaze snapped up and landed on Castiel who was giving me a concerned look. "Are you okay?" I shrugged with a slight nod. "Can I ask you to join me in my office for a moment?"
"Sure, I guess," I shrugged again before smiling at Remus and following the Angel towards his classroom and through it into his office. "What do you need?"
He took my face in his hands almost immediately making me tense slightly before he tapped my lip with his wand... a flare of pain ran through me before settling again as he healed my busted lip. "Take a seat, child," he motioned to some armchairs by the open fireplace. "What happened?"
"I had a bit of a disagreement with a Ravenclaw," I shrugged non-committed, "But I'm okay."
"This Ravenclaw wouldn't happen to be that Fenwick boy I've seen you with a lot lately, would he?" Castiel asked making me bite my newly healed lip and shrug, "What happened?"
"Honestly," I sighed, "I kind of broke up with him and he got angry. He forced me into a kiss so I bit his tongue and punched him so he backhanded me to the floor. Sirius and James came out before he could do anything else and I kicked him in the face before we walked away." Castiel's gaze darkened into a glare as he thought it over and he was suddenly on his feet walking briskly out of the office and down to the entrance hall.
I followed him quickly, worried he would do something that he'd regret and as I caught up to him in the grounds, where the rest of the school were getting back from Hogsmead, he had Benji by the collar and was growling threats at him. Castiel's hands were glowing dangerously making me squeak before rushing over. "Seriously, forget it!" I shouted at him as I pulled his hand away, he was certainly strong, I'd give him that and he was completely ignoring me as he threatened Benji.
I did the only thing I could think of: "DAD!" I screamed making everyone fall silent, including him and Benji was dropped to the floor as Castiel turned to face me, "Leave it okay? Me and the guys sorted it out, and he's going to avoid me if he knows what's good for him."
"You called me dad," Castiel commented simply making me blush and brush my hair behind my ear.
"You were acting like a protective father," I shrugged, "What else was I supposed to do?" I smiled weakly, "I guess I'm okay with having two dads?"
"Come on, before you get in to trouble for threatening students," I tugged on his sleeve and pulled him back into the castle, away from the gawping students.
"So dad huh?" James asked as I entered the Common Room around an hour later, after talking to Castiel in his office again... the four Marauders, two Prewitts, Frank and Lily were all sat around the fire, looking at me curiously. "I thought you said you already had a dad?"
I shrugged slightly and sat down on the floor in front of the fire, next to him, "Guess I've got two," I replied quietly as I wrapped my arms around my knees, holding them against my chest.
"So," Lily made me look up at her, "The Twins, Frank and I were all wondering what happened in Hogsmead. James, Sirius and Remus are pissed and obviously so is Castiel." I frowned and looked at the floor.
"He hit her," Peter chirped up making the Twins and Frank look at me in shock and anger.
"Forget it," I shrugged it off, "I'm fine and he has a wonky nose... and a few broken ribs thanks to Padfoot." I looked up at said boy and smiled in thanks making him shrug slightly.
"No one touches you and gets away with it," he offered making me blush slightly.
"So what's the count now?" Lily asked making me look at her again, "Three boyfriend in the past four months, two of which were absolute jack asses?" I shrugged and nodded, "Haven't got the greatest taste in men now have you?"
"You could say that," I chuckled slightly.
"Wait, who was number two?" Fabian demanded making me roll my eyes at him.
"Ted Tonks," I replied simply, "He's with Andi Black now though... he was nice, but Lily convinced me he was too old for me."
"He's a seventh year," Lily pointed out making me roll my eyes at her.
"A hot seventh year," I shrugged slightly making her smirk slightly and nod in agreement.
"You should just choose one of these guys and get it over with," Lily smirked at me making me roll my eyes and lean back on my arms, stretching my legs out in front of me.
"Things would get complicated very quickly if I did that," I shrugged at her, "I'd rather keep my life as simple as possible right now."
"That's impossible," Frank smirked, "You've got the most complex life imaginable..."
"Which is why I'm trying to keep it simple," I shrugged at him as I arched an eyebrow; he nodded in understanding making me smirk.
They changed the subject after that, and we ended up talking about what we all wanted for Christmas for a while before the Common Room started to empty.