AN: I don't own anything!

Chapter 11

I don't know what to think anymore. Honestly, this was supposed to be another dull school year. We're not even a month in, and already, my head is spinning. I've got to talk to Andy; I am in way over my head.

It's late again when she slips into our room, and I'm the only girl still up. "Hey sis," she whispers, surprised to find me waiting for her. I haven't seen much of her lately. She's been obsessed with Ted – skipping class often and coming in late at night. If I don't talk to her now, I might not get another chance soon.

"Hey," I respond. "Can we talk?"

She's still glowing from hanging out with Ted, so she nods happily. "Well," I hesitate, unsure of how to start, "It's about boys…"

She mocks a gasp and comes to sit on my bed, hanging onto every word. I continue, "I…wasn't imagining things. It turns out that James Potter is actually in love with me."

"What!" she exclaims, before I put my hand over her mouth. One of the other girls stirs in her sleep, but thankfully none of them wake. "What are you talking about, Bellatrix?" Andy demands, lower this time.

As quickly as I can, I tell her everything he said, even about the kiss and the past few days. She's obviously as blown away as I first was that James could feel this way. "I'm even more surprised at you, Bella," she admits. "You've always hated him."

"Maybe people do change," I offer, looking down. "That's not all, though."

"You're joking."

"Remember when I told you I had a crush on Professor Lestrange?"

"Yes…" she raises her eyebrows at me, waiting for me to say it.

"I'm pretty sure he feels the same way."

"No WAY!"

"Shhh!"

"What makes you say that, Bella?"

I explain to her about our private lessons and how…interested he was in me. She can't believe it. "He really did that?" she asks. "Wow, Bella. This is crazy. You've never had a boyfriend. And now, both of these guys are into you? Who's it gonna be, sis? The hot, young teacher or the popular bad boy?"

My cheeks are blushing intensely, but my sister makes me look at her anyway. I give a helpless sigh, "I honestly don't know what to do."

She laughs, incredulous, "You're just going to keep seeing them both…?"

"It's not like that!"

"Oh, sure," she rolls her eyes. "James Potter only told you he was in love with you. No big deal."

"Look, I know it sounds crazy, but at this point, I can't choose between them. I was actually hoping you would tell me it didn't sound so crazy…"

She looks me dead in the eye. "All I can tell you, Bellatrix," she advises me, "Is that this can't last forever. Sooner or later, you'll have to choose. Just remember that."

"I will. Thanks, sis." She gives me a quick hug and gets up to get ready for bed. "So," I ask, "How's Ted?"

"Amazing," comes her simple reply. Then, she bursts into giggles. I'm pretty sure I'll never understand how anyone can be that boy crazy. Who knows, though? I'm sort of caught between two guys right now. I could end up just like my twin….I look over at her, all blonde and giggling and bubbling with girly cuteness…nah, there's no way. Boys are just boys; I'm never going to let them have that much influence on my life.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Another Potions class. Looks like Severus has decided to show up today. This should be interesting. He's sitting near the front, instead of in his usual seat, when I walk into class. Mustering up all the courage I have, I go to stand by his desk. "Hey, Sev," I half-whisper. He doesn't look up but keeps his eyes trained on his textbook instead. "I can't even tell you how sorry I am," I continue, getting a little braver. "I know there's no way I can make it up to you, but I'll try, somehow…"

"Go. Away," comes Severus's reply through gritted teeth.

"No," I protest stubbornly. "I'm not going to let you ignore me. You can't just close yourself off from everyone because of this, Sev. You've got to let her go."

He whips his head around to glare at me with those sad, bloodshot eyes, and I want to give him a hug; he's not himself right now, though, and at this point, I think that might just make things worse. Right on cue, I hear four noisy boys walk in behind me. "Hey, Bella!" It's James, of course. Severus's eyes get even wider as he realizes that James is actually being friendly to me. This isn't going to be pretty.

"I knew it," Severus practically spits at me. "First Lily, now you're friends with the guy who's perfectly happy to make my life a living hell!" He stands up, throwing his books into his bag.

"Look, Snape," James stops Severus with a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, alright? It was stupid of me – really stupid. I guess I was just doing it to get Bella's attention, but it was still bad form, mate, I know."

Shit.

"What?" James's words have thrown Severus for a loop. It doesn't take long for his rage to return, though. "You're going out with this jerk, Bellatrix?" His words stab me like needles, and everyone is looking. I almost wish our professor would come in and break it up. "Well, you two deserve each other," he continues. "I don't care what your perfect family tree says. You act like a lying, MUDBLOOD BITCH and I hate you."

Before I even have time to process this, James pulls me away from Severus, who looks like he's ready to slap me, while Sirius throws himself at Sev for insulting his cousin. He starts wailing on him with his fists. "Stop!" I yell at Sirius. "Just stop it!"

We hear footsteps down the corridor. Remus and James pull Sirius off of Severus, and somehow, we all make it back to our seats right as our professor walks in. The silence is deafening, all eyes on us. I caught a glimpse of Sev's face before James scooted me over to my seat in the back. It's all black and blue. My cousin really did a number on him. It's a good thing he has long hair, I guess, or Sirius would get in huge trouble. Everyone saw that it was him beating on Severus, after all. This is too much. Why can't we all just get along? Oh, I know why – because I can't stay out of trouble. I'm not sure if I make trouble or if I'm a trouble magnet (or both), but all I know is that it causes way too much drama and heartache.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Severus practically runs out of the room when class is over to avoid James and his mates. I'm beyond upset, so I decide to skip class with the boys. We decide to sneak off to the ForbiddenForest, and on our way, we pass Regulus in the corridor. Peter accidentally bumps into him, and Sirius immediately starts going off on his brother, telling him to stay out of the way.

"Was that really necessary, Sirius?" I demand, as the five of us continue to the forest. "Why is it so hard for you two to get along these days?"

My cousin huffs, still infuriated. "Peter overheard him talking to Narcissa," he explains. "Turns out he's the one who ratted me out to Mum for befriending my fellow Gryffindors…"

"Regulus? But that doesn't make any sense. Why would he tel–"

"Because he's jealous of me for having friends, Bella!" Sirius huffs, exasperated. "Which is stupid! He might actually have some friends if he would stop eavesdropping and sneaking around…if he would just act like a normal person!"

By now, we've made it to the forest. I decide to drop the Regulus issue, and my thoughts return to the incident in Potions today. I plop down on the grass with the boys and heave a depressed sigh. James is quick to pick up on my mood and leans over to rub my shoulders in a reassuring motion. I glance over at Sirius. "Thanks for standing up for me today, cuz."

"Anytime, Bella," he nods. "Snape made me so mad…"

"Yeah," I agree, "I let him down, but it still hurt to hear him say those things…" I feel tears brimming in my eyes. Ugh. Why? Honestly, suck it up, Bella.

The boys notice, and James pulls the Marauder's Map out of his pocket. "I've got an idea that will make us all feel loads better!" he announces.

"What's that?" Remus asks, skeptically.

"You'll see," James assures him. He grabs his spell book out of his satchel and flips the pages until he finds what he's looking for. We all watch as he experiments on the map with the spell. It's a rather long spell, and I think I hear "Snape" somewhere in there.

"What did you just do?" I ask, completely lost.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure if it worked or not," a mischievous grin is showing on James's face. "We're going to need ole Snivellus to test it out."

The boys chuckle at the name, and at this point, I'm so upset with Severus that I don't care what they call him. However, I really don't want to see him right now, either, so I lag behind reluctantly. James notices and falls behind with me. "Trust me," he says, throwing his arm around my shoulders, "You'll get a kick out of this."

We go to wait for Severus outside of his current class. Peter peeks into the room to make sure he didn't skip, like us. "He's in there!" he whispers to us.

We wait until the class lets out. The students leave the room, Severus among them. We all hide in the corner, sort of behind the classroom door. James levitates the map so that Severus walks right into it, throwing him for a loop. He grabs it out of the air and looks around but doesn't see us. Then he looks down at the piece of parchment in his hands. I can see from here that scrawling letters have begun to form on it. However, it isn't the usual message. "What does it say?" I whisper to James. He smiles, shaking his head and walks over to Severus.

"What've you got there, Snape?" he snatches it out of his unsuspecting hands, only to infuriate him again. James reads aloud, "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs respectfully request that dear old Snivellus keep a decent tongue around nice ladies. P.s. As far as Bella's love life goes, keep your ABNORMALLY LARGE NOSE OUT OF OTHER PEOPLE'S BUSINESS…much appreciated, mate."

James's boys start laughing behind me, and I join in. They look over at us, and James gives me a huge smile, clearly pleased that he succeeded in making me laugh. Severus glares at me, and all I can do is laugh at his enraged expression. He's still standing there staring as James walks over to us with the map.

"You were right," I admit. "That was funny."

"Good," he smiles down at me. "I like to make you laugh." With that, he pulls me close and kisses me full on the mouth, and I kiss him right back. I can hear the other boys whooping and hollering, and they're still at it when we break apart. I look over at Severus, too shocked to move.

I'm feeling completely triumphant in this moment. That's what you get for calling me those things, jerk! So, as James wraps his arms around my waist, I call out to my oldest friend, "It's rude to stare! Can't you read? Keep your abnormally large nose out of other people's business, Snape!"

My words are greeted by a variation of yeahs. Snape stalks off, and James pulls me in for a hug. "You did good, Bella," he says proudly. "Don't ever let anyone walk all over you again."

"Oh, I don't intend to." I pull him in for another kiss.

Please review!