The chaos ensued the moment the second year's entered the Great Hall. The Gryffindor's that had been booing her twenty minutes ago were not congratulating her on her success.
She and Sirius quickly ate their breakfast, and headed up to the common room for a shower before getting a start on their homework.
"You did really good" said Sirius proudly.
"Yeah, but if you hadn't taught me how to do a proper Sloth Grip, my face would have a cylindrical dent in it," she laughed.
"We wouldn't want that, now would we?" said a voice from behind.
The two of them turned around and were blinded by the pearly whites of one Gilderoy Lockhart. "I saw your tryout, you were on fire" he said.
Demi was about to respond before Sirius pushed her out of the way, "thanks for the comment, but flattery will get you nowhere," he said, pretending to blush.
Demi tried to apologize for Sirius' behavior, but before she could, Sirius had dragged her up the next three flights of stairs. It wasn't until they got to the common room that Demi rounded on Sirius. "The hell was that?" she said furiously.
"What was what?" he replied smirking.
"Oh you know what I mean. You completely got in the way of Lockhart t praising me," she said.
"Oh, I thought he was talking about my wondrous performance as beater. I guess you did okay," he said, shrugging.
"But-you just said- I did great" Demi spluttered, getting furious.
Sirius leaned on the frame of the boy's staircase, watching his friend go red. Oh, this is too funny he thought. "You did do great, I just don't like it when someone else praises you. That's my job."
"Huh?" she said. "Since when did someone else praising me become a problem?"
"Since Lockhart started fancying you" he said dully.
"Oh, because someone fancies me. What a load of bull. It's because no one has been praising you!" she said acidly. Neither of them had noticed but the other second years hand clambered in through the portrait hole and were watching the row.
"Hold on now," began Sirius hotly.
"No. You're just angry because there isn't anyone here to inflate your ego. That's right, isn't it?" she spat.
"Oh, so my ego is the problem, is it?" said Sirius, going red in the face.
"Yeah, yeah it is. It gets in the way of EVERYTHING" said Demi.
"You're right. I hate it when people praise you," said Sirius, confirming his friend's suspicions.
They began walking towards each other, their faces set. Demi's hands were curled into fists, while Sirius was pulling out his wand. Just before they met, James grabbed Sirius from his shoulders, and Frank wrapped his arms around Demi's waist preventing her from going any further. The two 'friends' eyed each other before pushing their anchors away and heading off to their respective dorms.
Lily, Kiaria, Alice, Peter, Frank, and James just stood there and watched as the two friends exited the room. "What was that?' said Lily.
"I know" replied Kiaria, sitting down on the sofa.
"What was what?" said Peter, sitting down and nibbling his fingernails.
"Did you not see that?" said James, jumping around.
"See what?" said Peter.
"They were going to rip each other apart!" said Frank, sitting down in the armchair. Kiaria and James left the others in the dorm to go take a shower. The others were left wondering what made the two good friends turn on one another.
Boy's Dormitory: Sirius
I can't believe she said that to me. We're friends, and anyway it's not like she's so perfect. She's got that whole messed up past and what not. She's an orphan. She doesn't even have a family. Bet her parents hated her. Stupid idiot, thought Sirius stepping into the shower. He let the water run down his skin, soaking in the event. She doesn't even care that my family hates me. It's always about her. Her and Dumbledore, her and her past, constantly. It's her ego that's the flipping problem. Not mine. She's too bloody proud. He turned off the shower and stepped out, grabbing his towel and drying himself off. He got dressed and went into the dorm. He toweled his hair dry and tossed the wet rag onto his bed.
"Hey" said James, pulling the towel off his head.
"Oh, sorry didn't see you there. Would expect to, that is my bed," said Sirius.
"Well, I don't know why you're so mad at me. I didn't do anything," said James, getting up and moving to his bed so Sirius could sit down.
"Well, that bi-" began Sirius.
"It might interest you to know that that whatever you were going to say is a very dear friend of mine," said James smiling.
"Well she said my ego is huge, and it gets in the way of everything. As if her ego isn't huge," said Sirius, fumbling with the lid of his trunk.
"It is huge, so is mine. We could make a club and ask her to join," said James laughing. "But anyway, her ego is huge, I know that, we all know it, hell she knows it too" said James, pleased to see that his friend was beginning to smile. "I'm just asking, but what was the fight about?"
"Lockhart," was Sirius' reply.
"Oh," came James' voice. He walked over to where his friend was sitting on his trunk and sat down next to him.
Sirius laughed. "What?" said James.
"It's just. Whenever I'm angry or upset this is where I come and sit. Normally Demi would come and sit with me but, I guess she can't exactly help in this case," Sirius said.
"Well, wait until I have a shower and we'll go to the common room and get things back to normal," said James, clapping his friend on the shoulder.
"Thanks mate" said Sirius, "I'll wait here for you and we'll go together."
"Alright" said James, closing the bathroom door.
Sirius slammed his head into his hands, he completely forgot. James loves to take long showers. He laid back on his bed, closing his eyes. He smiled. Somewhere in the tower, a girl was singing "In my Life" by the Beatles.
Girl's Dormitory: Demi
Why, that cocky little prick. He's been a pain in the ass ever since school started. I can't believe he had the audacity to blame Lockhart for his own stupidity. Him and his blinking ego. It's so huge it's everywhere, all the time. Demi was pacing back and forth in the dormitory (waiting for Kiaria to get out of the shower). She was so deep in her thoughts, yet she could hear Lily when she tried to slip in the room quietly. Well, here comes the interrogation, she thought.
"You okay?" she asked, clearly concerned.
"Oh, yes I'm just dandy. I just had a row with my best mate and I'm absolutely fine," she said covering her eyes and collapsing backward on to her bed. "Ugh, what do I do?"
"You could apologize?" suggesting Lily, sitting across from Demi on her own bed.
Demi shot up, removing her hands from her face, "what?" she said. "He's the one with the big huge ego. God, I could just shove it up his a-" she started.
"Hold up there," said Lily, "don't go saying things that you're going to regret. I understand how you feel. His ego is big, but then again look at who his best friends are."
"You mean James," said Demi nodding her head.
"Yes, and his other best friend," said Lily, nodding her head in Demi's direction.
"Are you insane?" said Demi, shooting up from the bed and striding over to her trunk. She kicked the steel lined lid open, causing it to fly off the hinge and land on the other side of the room.
"How are you that strong?" said Lily.
"I dunno," mumbled Demi, pulling out a pair of burgundy leggings and long sleeve light grey Beatles shirt.
"Just hear me out," said Lily, "go take a shower and I'll wait out here. Then we'll go down and sort it all out. Okay?"
"Mmhmm" said Demi, grabbing her towel as Kiaria, exited the washroom. They walked past each other, giving one another a little nod of the head.
Lily and Kiara sat on their beds waiting for Demi to come out. The heard the water turn on and heard their friend singing, "In my Life" by the Beatles.
"In my life I love you more" sang Demi. She closed her eyes repeating the last line once more. She could faintly hear a male voice singing along with her own. He opened her eyes and smiled. She toweled herself dry and put on her clothes. Opening up the door of the dormitory she dumped her belongings in her trunk and laid her towel out to dry. Silently she, Lily and Kiaria got up from their beds and headed back to the common room.
The girls reached the bottom staircase and saw Sirius and James sitting with the others. Demi saw James nudge Sirius, and nod in her direction. Immediately Sirius got up and walked towards her, giving her a huge hug. He let go as her damp hair soaked his shirt. "I'm-" he began.
"so" said Demi.
"Sorry" they both finished.
"Can I talk to you, alone?" asked Demi, tentatively.
"Yes" responded Sirius.
The two of them walked out of the common room. Demi followed Sirius as he walked up flights and flights of stairs, until they reached a spiral staircase.
"Astronomy tower?" she asked.
Sirius nodded and they continued until they reached the balcony at the top. Looking over the lake once, Sirius turned back to her, leaning against the rail. "What is it?"
"Do you hate me?" she asked bluntly.
"Oh, no" he said.
"Do you hate Lockhart?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Well, I don't hate him. He just seems sort of, blank-headed. You know. He doesn't really seem like your type. I'm just looking out for you, like friends should" he said.
"I know that, and I understand that, it's just . . ." she took a deep breath, "my entire life I've always had my decisions made for me. You've seen Professor Dumbledore and Aberforth fighting. It's constantly about me or Ariana." Sirius nodded for her to continue. "When I first met you guys, it really made me feel as though, I have choices, and I can make those choices. So when Gilderoy expressed his interst in me, I was flattered and excited. I thought this was an opportunity to make my own choices. But when you came between and said that you didn't like it, I guess I just lost it," she finished.
Sirius took a moment to absorb what Demi had just said. "I get it and you know what. Go. Go and make your choices yourself. I'll stand by your decisions no matter what. I'm your friend, not your life coach."
"Are you serious?" asked Demi.
"Technically yes, by choice, yes" he said.
The two of them went back to the common room feeling a lot better. Little did they know this 'happy-go-lucky' feeling wasn't going to last.