A/N: Hey guys. Sorry for the delay, but I've been kinda busy with Christmas preparations and holiday stuff. Hope you enjoy this chapter, especially to those of you who don't like the fact that Ruby hates Sirius because he coughed. I'm hoping I'll put the next chapter up with less delay then this one. Well, enjoy. Love B&T xoxo
When Ruby woke up the next morning, she got dressed and walked down to breakfast, mulling over the happenings of the previous day.
"Hey Bella," she said, sitting down next to her friend who was munching on a piece of toast.
"Hey Ruby. I need to talk to you. In private," she said, nervously, putting the toast down on her plate.
"Ok," Ruby said, following her friend out of the Great Hall, feeling eyes on them as they walked. Bella led her into an empty classroom nearby.
"So, um, I was just thinking about how and why you hate your brother.":
"Yes? Get to the point, Bella," she said impatiently.
"I, and some other people, think it was kinda unorthodox of you to get angry at him because he coughed. I - we - think you should make up with him." She looked at Ruby nervously, who sighed.
"I want to make up with him," she said, thoughtfully.
"Then why don't you? It was just a cough." Ruby sighed again, sitting down on a desk.
"It's more than the cough. He abandoned me and left me with… them!" she said, voice laced with hatred, "We always used to take care of each other, and then he left me alone. Couldn't he have taken me with him?" Tears were brimming in Ruby's eyes by then.
"I'm sorry, Ruby," she said, going over and comforting her friend, "But he obviously cares about you to have been taking care of you back then. He probably still does. Maybe he wanted to take you with him, but couldn't. You should ask him."
"I'm not sure…" Ruby said, doubtfully.
"Come on. He's only your brother. He won't bite. I'll even come with you if you want."
Ruby smiled, and wiped her eyes.
"I guess it won't hurt," she said, standing up.
"Of course it won't. Now come," Bella said, pulling her friend out of the room and into the Great Hall.
"I can walk by myself, Bella," she said, and Bella released her arm. Bella walked towards the Gryffindor table, expecting Ruby to follow. But Ruby had stopped in her tracks. She turned and walked towards the Slytherin table, most of its occupants glaring at Bella.
"Where are you going?" Bella hissed, grabbing her arm.
"I'm going to talk to him later," she said, gesturing at the Slytherin students, some of them still glaring at Bella.
"Oh, come on," she said, starting to pull her friend towards Sirius.
"No, Bella. I will talk to him later," she pulled her arm out of her friend's grip again and walked over to the Slytherin table, sitting in her previous seat.
Bella sat down next to her, clearly angry. She glared at Ruby.
"Oh, come on Bella. It won't hurt to postpone me talking to him for a while," she said, smiling at her friend, before sipping some of her pumpkin juice.
"Fine. But I'm not dropping this. So you better talk to him," she said, threateningly, continuing to eat her toast.
"Fine," Ruby said, having lost her appetite. She managed to stomach half a piece of toast, before walking back down to the Slytherin common room.
She walked in, seeing Lucius and Severus standing in a corner with their backs to her, muttering to each other.
"No Severus… the Dark Lord… But… No… won't approve… Pettigrew… very useful…" Ruby heard snippets of their conversation.
"Ruby…" She was stunned when she heard them mention her name. She walked up to her dorm room as silently as possible, until one of the stairs creaked. Lucius spun around to look at her.
"Ruby!"
"Hi Lucius," she said, smiling, "Just going to get my books." Lucius nodded, and turned back to Severus. Ruby walked into the room, thinking about what she heard them saying. She wondered why they said her name, but the thing she was really curious about was Pettigrew. He was one of Sirius' friends. What did he have to do with the Dark Lord? And how was he 'very useful'? She grabbed her books for Transfiguration, these thoughts drifting through her head, and walked out of the common room and through the castle to the Transfiguration classroom. No one else was there when she got there. She looked at her watch. She was 10 minutes early. She sighed, and pulled out Wuthering Heights from in her bag, starting to read.
"Hey Ruby," she heard someone say, a few minutes later.
"Oh, hey Bella," she said, marking her page in Wuthering Heights, and putting it back in her bag.
"Where'd you go? You disappeared on me."
"Oh, I went to get my books, and then I came down here. I've only been here a few minutes," she said, as other students, from Slytherin and Ravenclaw, started to arrive.
Professor McGonagall then arrived and ushered them into the classroom. Ruby sat down next to Bella.
"Don't forget, you are talking to Sirius. Today," Bella hissed, listening to McGonagall.
"Oh, I doubt I'll forget," Ruby muttered, taking notes, dreading what would happen when she talked to him.