Chapter Ten
Jealousy and Betrayal
The rest of the Holiday passed pretty much without incident. Severus trailed the Marauders around for the better part of a day, until James finally just ignored him. Sirius had spoken up once to try and insult the Slytherin in James' place, only to be hexed for his trouble.
After 48 hours, the hexes wore off with no complications and the Marauders steered clear of Severus for the rest of the Holiday, not at all eager to be hexed like that again.
As Rory had predicted, the same day the hexes wore off, news of her parent's being killed appeared in the Daily Prophet. Rory and the marauders all scoured the article, looking for any mention or even implication of her trouble with Dolores Umbridge, but found none. Aside of mentioning that she survived the fire with no injuries, the only other mention was that she had been adopted into the Potter Family. There wasn't even mention of Fenrir Greyback being sighted in the area and believed to be responsible for the deaths and fire. As elated as she was to not have had news of her condition to be plastered across the front page of the Prophet, she knew in her gut that this was not the last of it. The look on Umbridge's face as she left the Hospital Wing that day told her that.
Setting the paper off to one side, Rory sighed. School was back in session starting the next day, so at least she would have classes to distract her. She had requested the teachers continue to refer to her as Rory Knight, and they had all cheerfully agreed. She smiled at the Marauders before standing and stretching. "I'm going to take a walk outside for a while."
She waved and went to grab her jacket from the Dorm. There wasn't much snow on the ground, so she kept her trainers on instead of boots and walked down to the Lake. It was cold out, but not bitterly, and she turned her face towards the breeze that was coming in off the water, allowing herself to simply be at peace for a while. She allowed her guard down ever so slightly in those moments of solitude and simply stood there, at the edge of the frozen lake. She heard someone cautiously approaching and turned, smiling slightly at Severus when she saw him.
He stopped next to her, obviously nervous about something. Rory tilted her head looked at him curiously, but silently waited for him to speak.
He sighed, sadly almost. "Is it true? What the Prophet said, about you being adopted into Potter's Family?"
She heard the tension in his voice and thought she understood the reason behind it. "Yes. I had no other living relatives, and was going to be made a ward of the Ministry. James wrote to his parents and this is the alternative that we all agreed upon. Why?"
Severus looked at the ground before barely whispering, "Well, that means he's your brother now, right?"
Rory frowned slightly, her brow furrowed as she nodded, unsure of where the Slytherin was going with this line of thought.
"Does that mean you're going to act like he does towards me?"
Ah, so that was it. Rory raised an eyebrow, a little offended by the question, even though she understood, at least a little. "No, Severus. James bullies you, and I won't do that. Frankly, I'm a little offended that you thought so. Just because he's my brother now, doesn't mean I have to agree with everything he does. If you did something to him, maybe, but you haven't. He acts the way he does solely because you are a Slytherin, and that is not a good enough reason. So no, Severus, just because James and I are related now, doesn't mean I'm going to turn on you."
Severus smiled a little, looking relieved. "Lily told me the same thing, and I didn't mean to offend you…it's just…well… they say blood runs thicker than water, you know?"
Rory simply nodded, and the two fell into a comfortable silence. After a few minutes, Severus spoke again. "So, how are you holding up, with everything?"
She thought for a minute or two before answering, pulling her jacket tighter around her as she did so, "As well as can be expected, I suppose. I'll always miss them, you know, but I know they wouldn't want me to fall apart at the seams. The best thing I can do to honor their memory is to keep going, even if it's hard sometimes. The greatest thing I can do is to live, to grow and to keep the lessons they managed to teach me close. If I do that, they'll never really be gone."
Severus nodded in understanding, since what Rory said made sense. The two sat in silence for a while longer; making small talk, until the cold finally drove them inside. As they walked back to the castle, neither of them noticed the eyes of Sirius following them from a window in the Gryffindor Common Room, a frown on his face.
James noticed though, and followed his gaze before rolling his own eyes, "Come on, mate. There's no sense in sitting here watching them. You know she's friends with Snivellous, and I don't really want to be hexed again by her."
Sirius just frowned deeper. He looked almost jealous, and he still didn't understand why. "I know, James, it's just…He's a Slytherin! The whole lot of them are Dark, and I don't want to see Rory get hurt."
James raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms loosely and looking at Sirius for a minute before shrugging and walking away, saying, "All right then, but don't say I didn't warn you when she gets mad at you." Sirius sighed, moving away from the window after casting another dark glare at the pair walking towards the castle. He sat with his friends and talked a little, engaging in meaningless small talk and planning pranks.
A little while later, after saying goodbye to Severus, Rory decided she didn't want to head back to the Tower just yet, and so went to the Library, perusing the shelves and picking up a book on Alchemy that seemed interesting. After checking it out with the Librarian, Madam Pince, she finally made her way back to the Common Room, reading as she walked. In a short amount of time, she found herself in front of the Portrait. She gave the password and closed her book after marking her place, while climbing inside. She saw the Marauders sitting at their usual table and made her way over, greeting them cheerfully and being greeted in return. By all of them except Sirius, who glared at her and said nothing.
Feeling a little confused, she sat next to James, looking at him curiously. He only shook his head and shrugged, sighing. Shrugging, she sat back and listened. Every few minutes she'd try and talk to Sirius, only to be blanked and glared at every attempt.
Finally, she had enough and stood, "I don't know what the hell your problem is, Black, but I've had enough of it! I haven't done anything to you, so why are you giving me the cold shoulder?"
Sirius, stood as well, anger blazing in his eyes as he stalked around the table and stood in front of her, almost nose to nose, which caused James to stand up warily was well, along with Remus. Peter's eyes darted nervously between them.
"I saw you walking back from the Lake with Snivellous, talking and laughing with that greasy, slimy snake! What is he, your boyfriend or something? I should have known you would go for someone Dark!"
As soon as he said it, James and Remus both gasped. Never had any of them alluded to her being a 'Dark Creature' with so-called 'Dark Tendencies'. Until now, that is. Rory paled dramatically, and quickly looked around, noting, with relief, that the Common Room was empty of anyone aside of them. Turning back to Sirius, she glared at him, using anger to mask the stinging hurt his words caused "First of all, Severus is not my boyfriend. He is my friend, Slytherin or otherwise. Also, all Slytherins aren't Dark, Black, or have you conveniently forgotten your dear cousin Bellatrix, in Ravenclaw?" She never threw Sirius' Family in his face, knowing it was an extremely sore spot with him, but his words had been out of line, and she went for the jugular. Bellatrix was a fifth year, in Ravenclaw, and let it be well known that she was a pureblood supremist, and as Dark as they came.
Replaying the rest of Sirius' sentence in her head, she remembered him saying that he should have known she would go for someone Dark. She had never thought her friend, one of her best friends, the person who lifted her and held her when she saw her parent's bodies, which had refused to leave her side during that entire ordeal, even when she was asleep, would carry the same prejudices as those who attacked her before she started Hogwarts. She didn't even have words to describe the anger and bitter hate she was feeling at that point, and so she didn't even try, she simply did the next best thing.
She reached up and slapped him across the face. The force of her blow sent him staggering backwards, causing him to fall on his arse as she advanced on him, her face pale in anger, eyes practically glowing with it. James stepped forward to grab her arm, only to be shrugged off. Rory opened her mouth to yell at Sirius, to scream at him, to rage…only to close it again with a snap, shake her head and storm up the stairs to her Dorm, taking care to slam the door behind her. Once in the safety of her dorm, Rory threw herself on her bed, burying her face against the pillow and crying in anger. How could he have said that to her? She had thought they were friends, and he all but accused her of being Dark herself. Helplessly she sobbed into her pillow, hot tears of betrayal soaking it quickly.
Downstairs, James rounded on Sirius, anger in his own eyes. "How could you say that to her? Why would you say those things to her, Sirius? She's our friend, MY Sister, and you practically accused her of being Dark herself? Why?"
Wincing at the tone in James' voice, as well as from the stinging left over on his cheek from where he had been slapped, Sirius climbed to his feet. He sighed "I told you, Slytherins are all Dark, all of them, and he's going to hurt her if she keeps hanging around with him."
Remus spoke, his anger apparent only in his words, "Did you not think, Sirius, that by accusing her of being Dark, that you were in fact the one hurting her?"
Sirius fidgeted slightly. He didn't know why, but he always felt this pang of jealousy whenever he saw Rory and Snape together. He sighed, his shoulders dropping dejectedly. "She's really mad at me this time, isn't she?"
James crossed her arms, glaring at his friend, "Oh, gee, How ever did you figure that out?" he said sarcastically. "I would suggest you apologize to her, and mean it, as soon as you see her next."
Sirius only nodded before walking slowly up the stairs to the boy's dorm. He had a lot of thinking to do about why he was feeling this way.
After a little while, Rory sat up, wiping her eyes furiously. She was so angry and upset she was still shaking. Climbing off her bed, she went into the bathroom, washing her face quickly. Looking at her watch, she saw that it was nearly dinner time, but she wasn't feeling very hungry.
Because of her massive amount of control over her abilities, her sense of smell was also heightened, making it amazingly easy to discern the moods of others. She knew she had a bit of a crush on Sirius, and could tell he had one on her as well, but couldn't understand how he could have said such hurtful things to her if he liked her. Boys, She though ruefully, stupid boys. At least I didn't let my guard down this time. I'd probably be hurting even more if I had. Walking back into the dorm, she let herself fall backwards onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She knew Lily would be coming in, and the students that had left for Holiday would be arriving tonight and so the Dorm would be full again, but she couldn't muster the energy to care.
As the Great Hall filled up, the Marauders looked around for Rory, but didn't see her. Glaring at Sirius, they all sat down together as usual, keeping an eye on the door. Lily came in and waved at Severus, who was seated at the Slytherin table, before sitting down next the Mary and Alice, the other Gryffindor first years. James, knowing Lily would likely glare at him and nearly hex him, stood and approached her. Lily saw him coming and narrowed her eyes warily at him. He swallowed, but continued approaching her anyway. He looked around quickly and crouched next to her, asking quietly, his tone concerned, "Did you happen to see Rory before you came down here?"
Lily blinked in surprise and shook her head "No, Potter. I didn't. I was in the Library and came right here; I didn't go up to the Tower before dinner. Why, is she ok?"
James sighed, "Sirius and she had a fight, and I was bad. She's pretty upset. He knows he was out of line, and wants to apologize, but she ran up to the Dorm and we can't go up there, you know. If she's awake when you make it back up there, Evans, can you ask her to come down to the Common Room?"
Lily nodded, "Sure, Potter." James nodded his thanks and walked back to his friends, none of them noticing Severus watching with a rather sour look on his face before turning back to talk to the Slytherin Prefect, Lucius Malfoy.
Dinner was uneventful, and with full stomachs, all the students made their way back to their Dorms, chattering about classes resuming the next day. Rory was still on her bed, but she had sat up, and assumed a meditation pose, hoping the techniques she used for controlling her lycanthropy would also help her calm down.
She fell into her meditative state rather quickly, and remained, unmoving, until she heard people climbing the stairs. Opening her eyes, she realized dinner must have finished and stretched. As hoped, clearing her mind and meditating had calmed her down and helped her work through what she was feeling and view the situation objectively.
She understood that, for whatever reason, Sirius was feeling jealous when she spent time with Severus, but she was not going to let him off the hook and forgive him. Jealous or otherwise, the words he said were hurtful and out of line, and she couldn't forgive that.
Rory looked up as her Dorm mates entered, saying hello. Lily came over to her and quietly told her that James had asked her to come downstairs. Rory nodded and stood, steeling herself against what was sure to be an uncomfortable encounter, at best. She squared her shoulders and walked down the stairs, clearing her throat when she reached the bottom to gain the attention of the Marauders, who were alone in the Common Room.
She smiled at James, Remus and Peter to let them know she wasn't angry with them, and regarded Sirius coldly. Addressing her brother, she said "Lily said you wanted to talk to me?"
James nodded and then paused, "Actually… Sirius has something to say."
Rory crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, raising an eyebrow expectantly. Sirius stepped forward, his eyes on the floor. She could tell he was feeling horrible, and nervous. After a few moments of silence, with her staring unblinking at him, he raised his eyes to hers and spoke. She could hear the sincerity and sadness in his voice, and that didn't make it any easier.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said any of those things to you, I didn't even mean them…I…I don't know why I said them. I just, I felt so jealous when I saw you and…Snape…walking back from the castle, and…I'm sorry. Please forgive me, I didn't mean to hurt you."
Towards the end of his apology, Sirius' voice broke slightly, and she knew he was really sorry. She sighed, not looking at him, and when she spoke her voice was expressionless, almost cold.
"My mother once told me that words spoken in anger or in drunkenness are often the most honest. That Anger and Alcohol are the two great truth tellers of humanity. I accept your apology, Black. And I forgive you. But we can't be friends again. I'm sorry."
Before any of the boys could say anything to her, she turned quickly, walking up the stairs to her Dorm. Without saying anything to her Dorm mates, she changed into pajamas, climbed into bed and closed the curtains around her.
Curling up on her side, Rory closed her eyes, hoping tomorrow would be better.