Disclaimer: Does Rowling look like two seventeen year old girls with blonde and brown hair? Nope, didn't think so.
Amulet Girl Author's Note: Hello everyone!!!! So sorry for such the long wait. I have been really busy lately and I just haven't had anytime. But don't fret, Christmas break is drawing near. Here is the long awaited chapter, hope you fully enjoy it!
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Chapter 10:
Everybody Loves an Awkward Situation
"That stupid bitch. That stupid bitch! She clearly has no idea who she is messing with," Alexa angrily told Blair and I as we watched her pace back and forth around our dorm. She had been ranting for hours about Bree and her bitchy ways. It was six o'clock now and we had been hearing this for quite a while.
"Alex, she clearly is…" I started to say.
"A bitch! I know!" Alexa cut me off.
Blair and I looked at each other in amusement. We loved it when Alexa went off on one of her tirades. What can I say, we're sick people. "I was going to say she is just jealous of you, but your explanation is much more thorough," I said slightly laughing at my sister. As Blair and I tried to suppress our laughter Alexa turned to face us with a glare on her face. We both stopped laughing.
"You guys! This is very serious, we must destroy her," Alexa said clenching her fist.
"Alex, couldn't we just ignore Bree and forget about it?" Blair, so innocently asked.
With a shocked look on her face Alexa said, "Blair, we can't simply let her go without punishing her for her evil deeds. She needs to learn from her mistakes."
Blair nodded her head, "Okay, so what do you have in mind?"
"We must destroy her socially, emotionally and every other way possible," Alex said maniacally.
I looked at Blair with a certain kind of terror. My sister had turned into a monster, not that I minded all that much, but we had to stop her before she did something we would all regret the actions that would take place. "Look Alex, I think Blair has a point, if we get back at her, she could potentially get us back even worse," I tried to reason.
"You traitors!" she shouted dramatically. "After all we've been through, you're just going to abandon me in my time of need?" Alex asked us. "Lyla, you of all people should want to get back at Bree. She dragged Remus into it, which also drags you in," she pointed out.
She was right, that rumor had involved Remus, and I'm not going to let Bree ruin what I have with him, especially when we just got it together. I let out a sigh and said, "Alright, I'm in, but we are going to do this properly. We have to destroy her to where she won't even think about getting us back, I'm not in the mood for "girl warfare", it's so tiring." Blair and Alexa both laughed. As we sat there for a moment laughing, I had a brilliant idea! "We all know that we aren't very good at being sneaky and all that, so I propose we seek expert help."
"What do you suggest?" Alexa asked curiously.
"If only we knew some people who know the ins and outs of pranking, have had some experience in taking people down, and are willing to do anything we ask of them," I said.
I could tell Blair had already figured out my plan, when she said, "Oh wait, we do know people like that! What are the odds?"
Alexa's face hardened, "No, absolutely not. I refuse to sink that low."
"Oh come on Alexa, it's not that big of a deal, you can just completely ignore him," I explained.
"It doesn't work like that. We can ask James, Remus, and Peter; I will not ask Black for help."
"We all know that Sirius is the best at scheming up plans and I think that he will help us and we will make sure you guys have as little contact with each other as possible," I pleaded with my sister looking at her with my big sad eyes, "It's the only way, we either ask them or we don't do anything, because I don't want to do this half-ass and get caught."
Alexa sat there for a moment with conflict all over her face. Blair and I anxiously waited to see what she would say. "Fine, but if he even blinks the wrong way so help him," Alexa gave in. I knew she would give in eventually. "Let's go find the prat and get this humiliation over with."
"Oh come on Alex, it's not going to be that bad," Blair pointed out as she hopped off of my bed and walked over to the door to our dorm.
"Wrong again Blair, wrong again. This is going to be torture for me. I don't want Black to know that I'm going to acknowledge his presence, let alone seek his help," Alex dramatically stated. She was such a drama queen and when she turned I rolled my eyes at her. Blair and I could have just offered to ask James or Remus, but we both knew that she needed to suck up her pride and talk to Sirius. Plus, he was a really good person to go to for hair-brained schemes. Need I remind myself of the scheme to get Lily off our backs?
As we walked down the stairs to the common room Alexa kept going on and on about how she loathed Sirius and so on and so forth. When we entered the common room, we saw all four Marauders sitting on one side of the room, slumped on the various couches and chairs just shooting the breeze. We stopped at the foot of the stairs and Blair and I watched as Alexa stood there just watching the four boys. She slowly turned around to face us and said, "I changed my mind, I'm don't feel like destroying Bree any more." She started to go past us back up the stairs, but we grabbed her by the arm and held her in place.
I was getting a little tired of Alexa being a passive coward, "Alex, look at me," I told her grabbing her face and holding it to where she was looking me straight in the eyes. I tried to think of something insightful and encouraging, but all I could think of was, "Grow a pair. I want you to march over there, demand their help, and don't think twice about it," I told her forcefully. Blair and Alexa both looked at me in astonishment. I put my hands on Alexa's shoulders and turned her back towards the Marauders and gave her a little push as I said, "Now go." When she started walking on her own, Blair gave me a little smile, and we quickly followed her.
As we slowly made our way over to where the boys were sitting, I saw a hint of confidence return to Alexa's stance. She stopped right in front of them, cutting off whatever conversation they were having. All four boys looked perplexedly up at Alexa, whose face was hard and determined. Blair and I anxiously stood behind her, waiting for her to say something. "You lot are going to help us destroy Bree. I want all four of you to meet Blair, Lyla and myself up in your dormitory in five minutes." After Alexa said this, Sirius went to open his mouth, but Alexa cut him off, "No questions," she said sternly, "Five minutes, don't be late." The boys stared at her wide eyes with there mouth's wide open, I don't think anyone had bossed them around like that lately, maybe even ever. After they sat there, not moving for another moment, Alexa said, "You now have three minutes to get up those stairs," still no movement. For their sakes, I hoped they got up off their asses, and quick. "Go!" She shrieked, and each one of them shot up off the couches and took off running towards the stairs. Once they disappeared out of sight, Alexa let out a nervous sigh.
"Well played sis, well played," I told her, as Blair and I gave her a congratulatory hug. She felt tense for a moment and then sagged into us. "Blair, what do you have to say about our brave little girl here?" I asked patting Alexa on the back.
"Did I ever tell you you're my hero?" Blair serenaded. "You're everything I wish that I could be," We made our way to the stairs leading to the boy's dorms as we laughed at Blair's superb vocal talent.
When we entered into the dorm, it was surprisingly clean, and the Marauders were sitting properly on their respective beds waiting for us to arrive. I'm not going to lie, they looked scared shitless when Alexa walked into the room. It's amazing what a little confidence will do. "Sorry, I was a little harsh on you guys back there," Alexa said, "you guys can relax."
All four boys let out huge sighs of relief. "Damn, Parker, you…" Sirius started, but was cut off by Alexa.
"Uh huh," she said wagging her finger at Sirius, "You don't get the privilege of talking to me. If you have anything to say, you run it through my associates," she said signaling to Blair and me. Sirius retracted and silenced himself. I looked over at Remus who looked like he wanted to say something but wasn't sure if he should or if he was even allowed to. Remus slowly raised his hand. "Remus?" Alexa said acknowledging Remus's raised hand.
"Um, yeah, so why exactly are we up here again?" he asked ever so carefully. At that moment we all remembered why we were there. Before Alexa went into detail about our plan, we decided, since we were most likely going to be here or a while, to make ourselves comfortable. Blair went and sat with James on his bed, I sat with Remus on his, and Alexa took a seat on Remus's trunk at the foot of his bed.
"We have called you gentlemen here today for one reason, and one reason only. We want you to help us completely destroy Bree," Alexa bluntly stated.
The four boys looked at each other and then James spoke, "Alex, don't you think that's a bit harsh?"
I already knew what Alexa was going to say before she even said it; she was not going to back down from this. "This is not a negotiation James, either you lot are in or you're out."
"Well I don't know about you boys, but I'm in," Sirius said. "I'm in the mood for a good pranking and I just have all sorts of good ideas swimming around in my head. How about it," he asked looking for a response from his fellow Marauders.
James, Remus, and Peter all looked at each other trying to decide what to do. Peter was shockingly the first to speak, "I'm in."
"Okay, I'll do it. I can't believe I thought twice about it," James said laughing at himself and pulling Blair into a hug.
After James finished speaking, everyone in the room looked to Remus. "Guys, I just don't know about it. I mean, Bree can be a real bitch, but by doing this, aren't we sort of sinking to her level?" Remus asked.
Alexa raised her eyebrows at me signaling me to use my oh so seductive ways to get Remus to do what I wanted. I took Remus's hands in mine and turned him so he was only looking at me. "Remus, will you please help us? Do it for me," I said pouting my bottom lip and opening my doe eyes wide. I could tell he was slowly giving in.
"I'm in," he said smiling at me. Cheers erupted all around the room as I gave Remus a little kiss on the cheek. He is so cute when he does what I tell him to do.
Alexa took back control of the conversation, "Alright, now let's get down to business. Just start brainstorming ideas and then we will share them in a little while." The Marauders all congregated on the floor between Remus and James's beds and Blair came and joined Alexa and me on Remus's bed.
"So should we start thinking of some ideas?" Blair asked Alexa.
"Please Blair, that's the whole reason we asked the Marauders to help, so we wouldn't have to do hardly anything. All we have to do is sit back, relax, and wait for them to come up with some brilliant idea," Alexa stated.
I got pillows for all three of us. As we made ourselves comfortable on the bed I said, "So Alex, how are things with Caradoc," as soon as I said this, Alexa's face saddened. "What's wrong," I asked.
Alexa let out a sigh and said, "Well, I've been meaning to tell you both, but with this whole thing with Bree, I really haven't had time. So when we first started dating he asked me if there was anything going on between Sirius and me, and I told him absolutely not, we were just "friends", if you could even call us that. So earlier today, he said that even though I said there was nothing, he could tell there was, and he basically gave me an ultimatum."
I looked over at the boys, and they seemed to be doing some serious thinking, but it also looked like Sirius was listening in. "What does this ultimatum mean?" I asked quietly, so if Sirius or any of the others were trying to listen, they wouldn't hear.
"I have to pick Caradoc or Sirius. If I pick Caradoc I can't be friends with Sirius; and if I choose Sirius it's over between me and Caradoc," Alexa responded. Mine and Blair's eyes widened. As soon as Alexa finished speaking, Sirius got up off the floor quickly and violently threw the door to the dormitory open. Oh crap. "What's his deal?" Alexa asked.
"I think he heard us!" I exclaimed.
"Oh shit!" Blair and Alexa shouted simultaneously, as we all scrambled off the bed and bolted down the stairs after Sirius.
When we got down to the Common Room, there was a huge group of people crowded in a circle around something. Oh crap, I said once again to myself. We pushed through the hoards of people and got to the inside of the circle. Standing in the center were Sirius and Caradoc staring each other down and exchanging words. "What's going on?" Remus asked from behind me, sounding concerned.
"Sirius heard something that we were talking about up in the dorms, he got mad, and now he is going to fight Caradoc," I filled him in. "You, James, and Peter have to stop him before somebody gets hurt." Remus nodded his head and signaled to James and Peter.
Sirius and Caradoc started pushing each other and before Remus and James could get through to them, Alexa stepped forward. "Stop it both of you!" she yelled at them.
"Just stay out of this Alexa! This is between me and Black," Caradoc yelled back.
Sirius's eyes enflamed and he said, "Don't talk to her like that you ass!" Sirius then delivered a forceful push that nearly knocked Caradoc off his feet. When Caradoc got his balance back, he looked like he was going to kill Sirius. Alexa stepped between the two boys as they moved towards each other and before I knew it, Alexa was on the floor crying, blood streaming down her face.
The two boys immediately backed off and Blair and I rushed forward to see if Alexa was okay. I bent down and took Alexa's face in my hands, her nose was definitely broken. "Alex, what happened?" I asked.
"I got punched in the freaking nose!" she yelled hysterically.
"Who punched you?" Blair asked eyeing Sirius and Caradoc.
"I don't even know. One minute I'm just standing in between them and the next, my nose is pounding and pouring out blood. I am going to kill both of them!" Alexa screamed.
"Let's get you to the Hospital Wing first, and then I give you free permission to kill them," I told her. "Remus and I will take you to the Hospital, can you stand up?" I asked her, she nodded. I got Remus to help her up and support her while I talked to Blair for a minute. "Blair, I want you and James to stay here with Caradoc and Sirius, make sure they don't leave this room. I don't want them anywhere near Alexa and I want to have a talk with them when I get back," I told her, letting my anger build as I looked at Sirius and Caradoc. Those boys were going to be extremely sorry after I get through with them.
I went back over to where Remus was standing with Alexa trying to contain the bleeding. As we walked out the portrait hole, I heard the shouts of James and Blair. Alex's nose was dripping blood all down the corridor as we quickly sprinted off to the Hospital Wing. Remus took off his robe and let Alexa use it to catch the blood. "Thanks Remus," Alexa said weakly. Alexa hated the sight of blood, it always made her queasy.
"No problem," Remus said as we approached the Hospital. As we rounded the corner into the wing, Madame Pomfrey was tending to another student. When she heard us come in she turned around and immediately set Alexa down on a spare bed and hurried off to get the supplies she needed. When she came back, she put a curtain around Alexa's bed and told us to wait behind it. I protested and told her that I needed to stay with her but she wouldn't budge.
A little while later, Madame Pomfrey pulled the curtain away and Alexa was sitting on the bed, her clothes covered in blood. Her nose was set back to normal and the bleeding had stopped. Remus and I stepped closer to the bed, when Madame Pomfrey came back with a small vile in her hand, "Now Alexa, here is some pain reliever if you need it, which I'm sure you will. Just take a little sip whenever your nose starts to hurt, you only need one sip. You will be fine, it just might hurt you for a while. You are free to go whenever you like."
Alexa hopped off the bed and said, "Thanks Madame Pomfrey."
She smiled back at Alexa and then smiled at Remus, "Good evening Remus, should I be expecting you soon?"
He nodded, "Yes, it is coming up. Goodnight Madame Pomfrey."
"What was that all about?" Alexa asked.
"Oh nothing, she just helps me take care of some fury little problems," he responded looking at me with a smile.
"What are you talking about?" Alexa inquired looking from me to Remus.
Remus quickly changed the subject, "Alex, your nose ring is missing."
Alexa moved her hand to her sore nose and gently touched where her nose ring used to be, "Shoot, I must have fallen out when I was brutally punched in the face. I will have to go to Hogsmeade sometime to get a new one."
"I will help you look for it back in the common room if you want me to," I said offering my help.
"Thanks sis," Alexa said to me putting her arm around me. "Really, though, thanks for everything." She squeezed me gently and gave me a huge smile.
"No problem, it's what I do best. No one messes with the Parker sisters," I responded returning her smile.
When we finally got back to the common room, we entered the portrait hole and saw Caradoc, James, and Blair sitting on various chairs and Sirius pacing in front of a fireplace. Both boys looked really depressed and had some blood on them, Alexa's no doubt. Caradoc was the first person to realize that we had returned.
"Alex," he said with a tone of relief, when in fact he had nothing to be relieved about. James, Blair, and Sirius all turned their attention to where we were standing. Sirius and Caradoc both started towards us at the same time, one coming from each direction. I grabbed Alexa's arm and started walking towards the stairs to the girl's dormitories; she was in no state to deal with them right now.
"Alexa, wait," both boys said.
When we got to the foot of the stairs, I stopped and said to Alexa, "You go on upstairs, Blair will go with you." I waved Blair over. Blair ran up to us ready to go with Alexa upstairs.
Before Alexa and Blair went up the stairs, Alexa turned back towards me, "Lyls, don't kill them. Leave that to me." I nodded my head with a smile on my face. She turned back and continued up the stairs with Blair.
I turned around to find Sirius and Caradoc standing right in front of me and James and Remus standing behind them. "Lyla, I just want to talk to Alexa, I just need a few minutes," Caradoc pleaded.
Ha! This boy is completely insane. Like I would let him get anywhere near Alexa, especially when he punched her not very long ago. "No, I am going to talk, and you two are going to listen. Sit down," neither of them moved, "Now!" I raised my voice. Both of them immediately went to the nearest chairs and sat down. I went over to where they were sitting, James and Remus behind me. "You will not talk unless I tell you its okay, right now, you just listen. Nod your head if you understand me," they both nodded there heads. "Good, now, I will start by saying that both of you are stupid, arrogant, egotistical, asses who deserved to be hit in the face. What were you thinking?" I asked. They opened their mouths to say something but I cut them off, "Rhetorical question," I pointed out. "You have both physically, and emotionally, broken my sister.
"Caradoc, you didn't trust her when she told you there was nothing between her and Sirius, were going to make her choose between you and one of her friends, and then punched her in the face. And Sirius, you and I know how you hurt her before, you freaked out when she got a new boyfriend, and then punched her in the face," I paused for a moment to collect my thoughts and to take a breath. "I want you both to stay far away from Alexa, and when she is ready to talk, she will come to you."
"Lyla, I love her. I can't just stay away from her," Caradoc told me.
"Caradoc, if you "love" her like you say you do, you will stay away from her," I responded.
Frustrated, he got up from his chair, "You can't make me stay away," he said sternly. Without saying another word, he headed up to his dorm, disappearing from sight.
I turned back to look at Sirius, he was still seated in his chair his head resting in his hands. When he didn't move, Remus and James went over to him and put their hands on his back. "Come on mate, you need to get some sleep," James said.
Sirius lifted his head. His eyes were tired and he looked like he was about to cry; but I knew he wouldn't because Blacks do not cry. Honestly, it was a little heartbreaking to see him like that, but I didn't feel too bad knowing what all he had done and I don't think he was looking for sympathy. He looked like he was disgusted with himself. "Lyla, I am so sorry. I promise to stay away, but will you please just tell Alexa that I am deeply sorry?" he asked. I nodded my head. I mean he seemed genuinely sorry, it was the least I could do. He continued past me and up the stairs to his dorm James right behind him.
After the two boys left the common room, Remus and I were the only two that remained. I let out a huge sigh as I tried to process all that had happened tonight. Remus walked over to where I was still standing. He put his arms around me and hugged me. We stood there for a while in silence, just hugging. "It will all be fine," he reassured me. "You need to get some sleep," he said, releasing me from is arms and guiding me towards the stairs leading up to my dorm. We stopped at the bottom of the stairs and I turned to face him. "Good night," he said placing a gentle kiss on the top of my forehead, "I love you." I gave him a smile, and then turned to go up to my dorm.
When I woke up the next morning, my head was still spinning after last nights events. My mind was overactive trying to comprehend everything; I could barely get any sleep. I slowly lifted my eyelids that were heavy from sleep. I looked over to where Alexa's bed was and found it already made. I pulled myself up to sit against my headboard and looked around the rest of the room to see if any of my other roommates were still in the dorm. I blinked away the blurriness in my eyes and looked from bed to bed, there was no one. When I threw back my covers, I noticed a piece of paper lying on the floor. I slid off my bed and bent down to pick up the small piece of parchment, it was from Alexa. It read:
Lyls,
Bear and I went down to breakfast with James and Remus already. We decided not to wake you so you could get some extra sleep. I know you are going to get tired of hearing this, but, thank you so much! I love you and we will be in the Great Hall if you feel like eating, if not, we will see you in Transfiguration.
XOXO Alex
I folded the parchment in half and placed it on the table beside my bed. I sluggishly walked over to the bathroom. I turned the knob and leaned into the door but it didn't budge, it was locked. I didn't realize anybody was still up here. I released the door knob and instead went over to my dresser and took out the clothes I was going to be wearing today. When I finally found two matching socks, I heard the bathroom door open behind me. I turned to find that it was Lily coming out of the bathroom. "Good morning Lyla," Lily said pleasantly.
I returned the smile she was giving me and I said, "Hi Lily."
"How are you this morning?" she asked me.
"I'm good, how about yourself?" I politely asked as I sat down on my bed to put on my socks.
"Oh, I'm doing just fine," she paused; she walked closer toward me and sat down across from me on Alexa's bed. What was she doing? "So, you and Remus have gotten really close ever since I caught you two," I nodded my head, wondering where this was going, "You two seem really happy together."
"Lily, do you want to ask me something?" I finally asked.
"Well, it's nothing extremely important, it's just Remus told me that he wouldn't be able to be at the next prefects meeting. I was just wondering if you knew why."
"Nope, I have no idea; it probably has something to do with the Marauders." In reality, I knew exactly why. The prefect's meeting was on the same night as the full moon and Remus couldn't very well come to the meeting as a werewolf, I think people might notice.
Lily raised an eyebrow at me, "I should have guessed. Now that I think about it, they always are disappearing on the night of a full moon, isn't that odd?" she asked with a knowing twinkle in her eye. She couldn't possibly know. How could she? The only people who Remus had told were me and the Marauders. However, Lily was very smart and I'm sure she could figure it out if she did enough digging. I just need to stay calm and assume she doesn't know anything.
"Wow, I never noticed that," I said playing it cool. "Well, Lily, I have enjoyed this conversation, but I must be going." I got up and moved for the door leading out of the dormitory, but I was stopped by what Lily said.
"Lyla, I know."
"Know what?" I asked, turning back toward Lily slowly.
"It's okay, you don't have to pretend you don't know. Remus is a werewolf," she said so calmly.
What if this was a trick. Maybe she was just trying to trick me into confirming her suspicions. "Lily, that is absurd."
"Oh come on Lyla, he disappears at every full moon and when he returns he looks like somebody ripped him to shreds. I did some research, and everything points to Remus being a werewolf, it really wasn't very hard to figure out." Darn that little bookworm. "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody. I didn't tell anybody about you and Remus, so you know that you can trust me." She was right, I knew that I could trust her; and she seemed pretty certain that Remus was a werewolf, and I really needed someone to talk to. I walked back over to my bed and sat down quietly; Lily came and sat next to me. "Lyla, are you okay?"
"I don't have anyone to talk to about this," I solemnly replied.
"Well, I'm here, you can talk to me anytime. Why can't you talk to Alexa or Blair?"
"Neither of them know. I promised Remus that I wouldn't tell anyone, and he doesn't really like talking about it, so I just kept it to myself," I admitted.
"Does it bother you?" she asked.
"No, it doesn't bother me. I mean, it is a part of who Remus is, and I like everything about him. I am just so worried about him. I don't know what I would do if he got seriously hurt. And he tells me to stay away from him when a full moon comes for my safety, but it kills me to stay away. I want to help him and be there for him, but he is afraid of hurting me. I don't know what to do," I said, feeling like tears were going to stream down my face at any moment.
Lily put her hand on my shoulder, "Lyla, I am here if you ever want to talk, but I really think you should talk to Remus and tell him how you fell, let him know that you want to be there for him. You guys are supposed to be together, I know that you will work it out." I gave Lily a week smile and felt relief fill my body. It felt so good to talk to someone about this. Even though I wish I could talk to Alexa or Blair, Lily was surprisingly consoling and I would never tell Remus's secret.
"Thank you so much, Lily. You're a good friend," I told her.
Lily pulled me into an unexpected hug and said, "You are welcome, and I'm glad we are friends." She squeezed me tight and then released me from her grasp. Before I had the chance to say anything else, the door to the dorm burst open; and standing in the doorway was a mean-looking Blair. "Hey Blair, what are you…"
"Stay away from James!" Blair randomly yelled.
"Blair, what are you doing?" I asked, trying to figure out what brought on this outburst.
"It's okay Lyla, I know what you guys were talking about. You have done your part," Blair told me. I sat there for a moment, trying to make sense of what she was saying. Suddenly I realized, she was referring to our plan to find out if Lily liked James. I needed to stop her before she said things she would regret.
"Blair, I think you are mistaken. We weren't talking about--" I started to explain.
"Lyla, the charade is over. I need to say this." I could tell I wasn't going to stop her so I just let her continue, I could do damage control later. "Listen Lily, James is my boyfriend, not yours. You didn't like him so he moved on and found somebody different. I love James and James loves me, and there is nothing you can do about it. So, just stay away from him."
Lily had a pissed off surprised expression on her face. She angrily got up off the bed and stormed toward the door. Before she left, she turned back to me and gave me a look that said she wanted an explanation and then she walked out of the dorm. Blair looked at me with a pleased look on the face. "Blair, what the hell? I wasn't talking to Lily about James," I told her.
"But you were talking to her. Why else would you be talking to her?" Blair asked in a panic.
"We were the only people up here and we were just talking, James was not mentioned once."
Blair clapped her hands over her eyes and sat down next to me. She started rubbing her temples, "Lyla, what have I done? I made a complete fool out of myself and I was extremely ugly to Lily for no reason. What if she tells James? He is going to think I am a terrible person."
I felt so bad for Blair. I know that she would never mean to hurt anyone's feelings, she was just afraid of losing James. "Bear," I said pulling her into a consoling hug, "I will go talk to Lily. I'll explain everything to her and it will all be better," Blair looked up at me. Her eyes were swelling with tiny tears but I could see a glint of hope behind them. "How does that sound?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
She hugged me even tighter, "Oh Lyls, thank you so much! You are always getting me and Alex out of trouble, and we appreciate it."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," I said nonchalantly. I looked over to my clock sitting on my bedside table and saw that it was almost time for class. "But, before I save your ass, we better go to Transfiguration. If we're late, somebody is going to have to save both of our asses." We both hopped off the bed and ran down the stairs. When we finally made it to Transfiguration, Blair and I both were a little winded and Alexa was waiting for us patiently. "Hey Alex," I said.
"Where have you guys been?" Alexa asked as we made our way to our seats.
"Let's just say we had a little mishap in the dorms. But don't worry, Lyla is taking care of it," Blair said giving me a thankful smile.
"Lyls, Blair, what on earth are you talking about," Alex questioned, as McGonagall entered the classroom.
"I'll tell you all about it later," I whispered as I got a piece of parchment out to take notes on.
As I sat there listening to McGonagall talk about transfiguring mice into buttons, my mind started to wander. I thought about just not taking notes anymore, but then I looked over at Alexa and Blair, and neither one of them were paying the least bit attention, so I figured I should take notes so they could copy them later. When I refocused on my notes, I noticed someone else's handwriting scribbling something across the top of my parchment. It was Remus's.
Hey Lyla, during free period after Potions, do you want to take a walk down to the lake with me?
Yeah, that sounds really nice. I feel like I haven't seen you in ages.
I know. I miss you so much. Meet me in the common room after potions and then we will go. I love you.
I love you too.
I turned my head to look at Remus sitting behind me. He gave me a big smile and then I returned back to my notes.
When class finally ended, I packed up my books in my bag and got ready to leave. "Hey Lyla, what were you writing on that piece of parchment?" Alexa asked.
"I was writing down the notes," I replied.
"Notes? What are these notes you speak of?" she asked utterly shocked.
"The notes that McGonagall gave us during class."
"I never saw any notes!" she exclaimed hysterically.
"Well, Alex, that's because you were too busy playing Hangman with Blair to pay attention," I pointed out to my dear sister.
A guilty expression spread across Alexa's face, "Oh right, well, do you think maybe I could borrow them during my free period next? I have it with Blair so we can both copy them. Please, please, please!" she pleaded with me.
"Oh fine, but this is the last time," we both knew that that was entirely false. Blair and Alexa squeezed me tight, took my notes and then bounded out of the classroom leaving me alone.
After History of Magic, I gathered my things, and slowly started to make my way toward the dungeons for Potions. As I walked in silence, I started to think about all Blair, Alexa and I had been through the last couple of weeks, and I came to the dim conclusion that the cosmic universe was seeking to destroy us little by little. And when the cosmic universe is against you, you're basically up shit creek without a paddle.
When I rounded a corner on the third floor, I suddenly hit something tall and hard. Whatever it was knocked me off balance a bit, but I quickly got my stance back and I looked up to find James. This was almost perfect, I needed to talk to James before anyone (cough, Lily, cough) had the chance to tell James about what Blair said. "Oh, hey Lyls, sorry about that; I wasn't paying attention at all," James said, he seemed frantic.
"That's quite alright, I actually needed to talk to you about something, do you have a minute?" I asked.
"Well, actually, I'm kind of in a hurry, do you mind if we talk later?" he asked hurriedly
"Yeah, later is fine."
"Great! See you in Potions!" he yelled to me as he took off at almost a sprint.
When I finally made it down to the dungeons, Blair and Alexa were already there waiting for me to arrive. They both looked up when they heard footsteps coming closer. "Hey guys," I said.
"Hey Lyls, here are your notes from Transfiguration, thanks again for letting us borrow them!" Blair said gratefully.
"No problem. Do you have any idea what we are doing in here today?" I asked as we walked into the classroom. I really didn't feel like doing a whole lot today.
"Well, Slughorn said he was really tired, so he gave us instructions on what to do and put us in groups. He said we were basically on our own today," Alexa said unenthusiastically.
"Why do you sound so disappointed? I thought you would be glad that we didn't actually have to do any work," I said, curious about what was going through my sister's mind. By this time, Blair had already scurried away over to a table with a sixth year Ravenclaw.
"Well, you haven't seen the groups Sluggy put together," she stated bleakly.
"Who are you with?" I questioned.
"On the upside, you are one of my partners…"
"And the downside?"
"You are going to have to constantly restrain me from killing our other group member," Alexa bitterly said, jaw clenched. I knew that the other person in our group had to be one of two people, Bree or Sirius. I turned around to look at our table and looking back at me were two big gray searching eyes. I slowly faced Alexa, whose eyes were shooting fire in Sirius's direction. Well, this was going to be an interesting class.
"Don't worry Alex, I will just stay between the two of you, and all you have to do is ignore him. It's going to be fine," I reassured her. "Come on, let's get over there and get this over with." I pulled my reluctant sister with me over to the table where Sirius was already sitting. As we approached the table, I could see Sirius tense up and get nervous. Alexa went to the end of the table farthest a way from Sirius, and he shifted his seat to increase the distance between them even more.
After a few moments of a really awkward silence, I decided to speak, "Sirius, why don't you go ahead and start with this," I said signaling to the ingredients already on the table, "and Alexa and I will go and get the rest of the things we need." Sirius nodded his head, and quickly got to work on the assignment.
"So, what is this I hear about taking a certain redhead down?" Alexa asked as we went to go get the rest of the ingredients. "Blair sort of mentioned it in passing during our free period."
"Well, it started off as just a way to find out if Lily liked James, but now it has been completely blown up. I was talking to Lily in the dorms before Transfiguration and Blair saw us and thought that I was talking to her about James, but I wasn't. Blair came in and totally went off on Lily and now Blair is afraid the Lily is going to tell James," I said in one breath. Alexa just looked at me in utter confusion, "It's so confusing that I barely even understand it. Anyways, now I have to try and explain everything to James before Lily talks to him."
"Oh, Lily and James are in a group together," she said pointing over to a table in the back of the room. Damn you cosmic universe!
"You don't think she would say anything do you?" I asked, hoping that her answer would be no.
"I don't think so, but you never know with Lily."
"Yeah, I will just try to catch him right after class."
Once Alexa and I returned to our table, we saw that our potion was moving right along and Sirius had done surprisingly well. The rest of the class went along relatively smoothly. It mainly consisted of Sirius not talking to Alexa, Alexa not talking to Sirius and me awkwardly stuck in between mutes who, I was pretty sure, had some unrequited love for one another. Needless to say, it was really awkward.
When class finally ended, I saw James quickly maneuver his way out of the classroom. I quickly collected my things and ran out to catch him. Out in the corridor, I saw that Blair was already ahead of me, getting close to James. When she finally caught up with him, I noticed that she reached for his hand and he pulled away. Oh no, this couldn't be good. "What's wrong?" Alexa asked, now standing beside me. I pointed a head to Blair and James, who had stopped walking and were now facing each other.
I could see both of their mouths moving furiously, but I could not make out a word they were saying. I was so concentrated on trying to figure out what they were saying that I almost didn't even notice that Blair was no longer standing in front of James. She was now angrily stalking away in the other direction.
Alexa looked at me and said, "Are you going to go after her?"
"Why should I go, isn't it your turn?" I asked skeptically. I know this probably seems harsh and that we don't care about Blair, but we do, I swear. It's just, Blair is always really emotional, and to be quite honest, it is really tiresome trying to console her every time she gets upset. So, Alexa and I switch off.
"I know it's technically my turn, but I am really hungry, and didn't I cover for you one other time?"
"Alex, it's your turn, come on."
"How about this, we settle this with a round of rock, paper, scissors?"
I thought about it for a moment and decided that that sounded rather fair. I nodded my head in agreement. Both of us balled one hand into fist and raised it so it was level with our chest, "Rock, Paper, Scissors... Shoot!" we both exclaimed at the same time. After the lots were cast I looked down at our hands, mine was rounded like a rock and Alex's was flattened like paper. Shoot, I lost.
A smile spread across Alexa's face as she turned to go get food. "You know Lyls, you may want to consider choosing something other than rock the first time for a change." That little cheat, she knew I was going to pick rock! I quickly recovered from my loss and headed down the corridor after Blair.
From outside the common room, I could hear the faint sound of yelling. When I entered the room, I found Blair and Lily having a heated conversation. I quickly ran over to stop the bickering. Before I got all the way over to where they were standing, Blair made a quick movement that looked like she was going to attack Lily, I got there just in time to restrain Blair. "Whoa, Blair, calm down," I said, trying to calm Blair down.
"Calm down?! How can you expect me to calm down after what she did to me?" Blair practically screamed at me.
"What did she do Blair?"
"She told James about what I said to her, and now he is mad at me and won't talk to me! Why would you do that Lily?" Blair heatedly asked.
"I just thought that James should know the kind of person he is "in love" with," she replied using air quotes.
"Why do you even care about who James dates? You always act like you hate him," Blair pointed out.
Lily immediately shrunk back like she had been hurt by what Blair had said. "I… I mean, I don't hate him."
"You only act like you hate him because you like him," Blair said plainly.
Lily looked around the common room, she looked every where but at Blair. She looked like she was about to cry. Then she suddenly turned angry, "Just think what you want Blair." Lily turned and went up the stairs to the dormitory without another word from anybody.
Blair just sat there staring at where Lily had been standing. After a few moments I put my hand on her shoulder, she jumped a little at the contact. "Blair? Why don't we get something to eat? Are you up for that?" I asked in almost a whisper. Blair nodded her head solemnly.
We walked in silence all the way to the Great Hall. To be honest, even if either one of us would have felt like talking, I wouldn't have known what to say. When we entered the Great Hall I searched for Alexa. I expected her to be sitting down at a table with Remus and James, but instead I found her standing next to a table being accosted by Caradoc. The boy just could not take a hint.
Blair and I quickly swooped in to save Alexa. Blair pulled Alex aside and I stepped in where Alexa had been standing. When Caradoc realized it was me he was now yelling at, he shut his mouth and grew very tense. "Do you remember when I told you to stay away from my sister?" I asked sweetly. He nodded his head. "Well, that was no mere suggestion. Let me see if I can make this clearer for you… stay the hell out of our lives!" I said forcefully. Caradoc staggered for a moment and then quickly stomped off.
"Lyla?" I heard Alexa say from behind me.
"Yeah, I know, you're welcome," I said giving her a little smile.
I finally sat down at the table and started looking for something to eat. Being a good friend and sister sure does make you hungry. Before I took my first bite, somebody came up from behind me and pecked me on the cheek. Remus said, "When you're finished eating meet me in the front courtyard and then we can go walk by the lake." I nodded my head; he squeezed my shoulders and the walked out of the Great Hall.
I quickly ate my lunch, told Blair and Alexa I would see them later, and then headed out to the front courtyard to meet up with Remus. Out in the courtyard, Remus was sitting on a bench with his arms draped across the back and he was staring meaningfully off into space. As I walked up to him, he came out of his train of thought and gave me a huge smile. He stood up and extended his hand. I took his hand in mine and he delicately looped his fingers around mine. "Shall we?" he asked.
"We shall," I replied with a smile as we started walking toward the lake. After a while, I remembered he had said in Transfiguration that he wanted to talk to me about something. "Didn't you want to talk to me about something?"
"Oh, right," he said dimly. He didn't speak for a few moments. "Well, as you probably already know, a full moon is coming up. I just thought maybe we should talk about what's going to happen." I nodded my head in agreement. "James, Sirius, Peter and I will go to the Shrieking Shack the night of the full moon. Then once I've changed back and recuperated, I'll be back in school and everything back to normal. You won't have to do a thing."
"But I want to do something," I told him. "I want to help you."
"Lyla, you know you can't be there," he said firmly.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because I couldn't live with myself if I hurt you," he responded, grimacing at the thought.
"Remus, I'm not made of glass. I know you would never hurt me," I protested.
"I don't have any control of what I do when I am a werewolf. Right now I love you, but when I turn, my human emotions become obsolete."
"You and I both know that James, Sirius, and Peter wouldn't let you hurt me if it came to that."
He sat there for a moment, knowing that I was right. "We'll see," he said.
"But—" I started to argue.
"I'm not saying yes or no, okay. Just let it go for now. Let me think about it and talk it over with the Marauders. Is that okay with you?" he asked me.
"For now," I responded.
When we returned back to the castle, Remus said he had to take care of some stuff and that he would see me in Astronomy. I decided to just hang out in the common room to kill time before class. Maybe I could finally get some rest.
But of course I was foolish for thinking that. Just my luck, when I entered the common room, there sat Caradoc Dearborn. I had a feeling this was going to be a whole lot of awkward. I thought about just turning around and going to the library, but it was too late, he already had spotted me, "Hey Lyla," he said. Not completely sure about what I should say, I decided to just wave awkwardly. "Do you mind if I talk to you for a minute?"
"Umm, sure," I said almost as if I was asking a question. I walked over to where he was sitting and sat in the seat farthest away from him.
"I've been thinking about my actions the last couple days, and I first would like to say that I am truly sorry. I don't have any idea what I was thinking. I was such a jerk."
I cut him off before he could continue, "Caradoc, if you are going to talk to me, let's at least be honest, you were a complete asshole." He looked at me a little shocked. "You may continue," I said.
"Umm, well, I just wanted to let you know that I have decided to just stay away from Alexa," he said, acting like I hadn't told him that, like, fifty million times already.
"Well, that's great to hear," I responded sarcastically.
"Yeah, I mean it is going to be really hard to stay away from her, but if by me being near her hurts her, then I am willing to at least attempt to stay away; even if it causes me tremendous pain."
"Wow, that is very noble of you," I said increasing my sarcasm.
We sat there in silence for a moment and then Caradoc stood up, "Well, I have to get to class, so I guess I won't be seeing you."
"I sure hope so," I told him. He smiled to himself and then turned to leave.
After he was gone, I laid down on one of the big comfortable couches and closed my eyes. It felt so good to relax. I was just going to doze off for a few minutes and then—
"Black!" I heard a voice yell. It was undoubtedly Alexa. My eyes immediately flew open and my sleep was interrupted.
And the cosmic universe strikes again.
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BabyBlue's: Oh, my goodness! I don't know about you but I would like to commend my co-author on a fabulous chapter! It's her longest one, and best, that she has written yet. I still can't get over it. Anyways, I don't know about you guys but I'm excited to see what happens next between the three girls. Especially with Sirius and Alexa and Caradoc. Thanks for that one, by the way Liz. Just want to tell everyone Happy Christmas and there will most likely be another chapter up by the 25th, so we shall meet again before the new year! Don't forget to review and such! Oh, and the real Lyla (Amulet Girl) had an awkward yet awesome encounter with the real Remus today! It was amazing and so much like the story we wanted to cry!
Peace, Love, and Happiness to all!
Baby Blue and Amulet Girl