hey guys :) sorry for the short chapter and the long update :( i haven't been in the writing mood lately... and i've been so preoccupied by other things. :D our school fair, for one thing. it's in 2 days! :))
12. INSTANT BEST FRIEND
Rebecca turned on her side with her eyes half open. "Ugh," she groaned loudly. Her head started to spin. "Hangover," she muttered.
"Me, too," Bellatrix rubbed her temples.
"I think we drank too much last night," Rebecca laughed weakly.
Bellatrix replied, "You didn't even get drunk."
"I was! I don't even remember much of what happened last night."
"Not even when Regulus…?"
"What?" Rebecca frowned.
"Oh, nothing," Bellatrix sniggered.
"Tell me, biatch," Rebecca slowly sat up. "What did he do?"
"You're serious you don't remember?" Bellatrix raised her eyebrows.
"Well, maybe I can rake it out of my memory. Give me some clues, won't you?"
"Okay," Bellatrix twirled a lock of her hair and thought. "Do you still remember when you accidentally broke one of the pitchers?"
"I think so," Rebecca frowned, "Oh, yeah! Yeah, I remember that, Severus fixed it with magic, didn't he?" Bellatrix nodded.
"Try remembering what happened after that," Bellatrix looked smug.
"Uhm," Rebecca, "I think I remember. Sort of."
Rebecca turned around and her arm bumped into a pitcher of brandy. "Oh, sorry," Rebecca said to no one in particular, feeling high and drunk. She felt a pair of hands slither around her waist. His scent was familiar and there was a tinge of smoke and alcohol that Rebecca could smell. "Hey, Reg," she laughed. Regulus was more drunk than Rebecca and he carelessly shouted, "Fuck me!"
"Yeah, right," Rebecca scoffed and pulled the collar of Regulus' shirt roughly. They stumbled like a couple of idiots and Rebecca thought she saw a glimpse of Regulus on the other side of the room watching her intently. But that's impossible—Regulus was right there in front of her!
Regulus kissed Rebecca full on the lips and she kissed him back, not thinking properly. Their teeth tapped, their tongues slid against each other and the smell of alcohol lingered.
Rebecca frowned and looked at Bellatrix. "Did I make out with Regulus last night?" she asked slowly and Bellatrix laughed.
"You guys molested each other, more like," Bellatrix said.
Rebecca grunted and threw a pillow to Bellatrix, "And you guys didn't even stop us!"
"Oh, you were both drunk, let it go," Bellatrix waved an airy hand.
"Fine," Rebecca rolled her eyes, "It means nothing anyway. Nothing."
"If you say so," Bellatrix cackled. "Regulus probably even doesn't remember it, he was too drunk to be true! So," she changed the subject, "Did you meet anyone interesting? That's one of the upsides of Felix and open parties, you know—meeting new people."
"And hooking up, possibly," Rebecca joked. "Well, Sirius is the only one there who qualified for 'interesting'," Rebecca said before she could stop herself.
"Sirius? Really now," Bellatrix scoffed.
"Well, he's your cousin, you must find at least one good thing about him," Rebecca added defensively. "I mean, if I can, so can you."
"Oh, yeah," Bellatrix said sarcastically, "he's good at running away."
"Running away?"
"He ran away from his parents' house last year and went to live with the Potters instead."
"Why?"
"According to Sirius, he couldn't take all the blood purity rules his family wanted. His father wanted him to marry Hera to maintain the pure-bloodedness of the Blacks… you remember Hera, don't you?"
"Yeah, of course I do. How could I forget?" Rebecca grunted.
"Well, Sirius and Hera didn't want to marry each other—they were close, real close, but not in the way Sirius' father wanted it to be."
"Look, that's just gross—of course they wouldn't want to marry each other!" Rebecca frowned. "So then, what happened?"
"Well, he ran away when he was sixteen… and his mom blasted his face out of the Black family tree. There's a wall at the Black's house that's got a family tree painted all over it. It goes way, way back."
"So, his family disowned him, you mean?"
Bellatrix nodded. "Serves him right, if you ask me. He disgraced the name of the Blacks!" Bellatrix said heatedly. "Well, I'm off downstairs. Gonna get some lunch. You coming?"
"In a while—I'll follow," Rebecca said tonelessly as Bellatrix went out of the room. Rebecca tried remembering a few more events that happened during her night at Felix.
"What the hell are you doing?" Regulus pulled her arm.
"None of your business," Rebecca laughed.
"Look, you're drunk—"
"I am not drunk, Regulus—"
"I'm not Regulus! It's me, Sirius!"
Rebecca blinked rapidly, "Oh, Sirius it's you—why are you pretending to be Regulus?"
Sirius sighed and thought this was no use. "You just snogged the hell out of my brother, Johnson."
"Don't worry, you're brother's hot, Black," Rebecca answered. "Now, go away."
Sirius looked disappointed and left without another word.
Rebecca sat up very quickly and reached for the comb on the dresser. However, she gasped and cringed immediately—she felt a panging pain on her chest, like a huge boulder had been dropped squarely on it. She gasped again, trying to breathe, and failing miserably.
On the dresser, there was the jar of transparent pebbles. With trembling fingers, she reached for the jar and she tried to stand up. Frail as she was, she opened the jar and popped in her mouth one transparent pebble. It was hard to swallow, and when she did, she felt it slide down slowly on her throat. She coughed multiple times, thinking that she was about to choke on the medicine. Fortunately, her breathing steadied and the pain in her chest faded away.
Rebecca closed her eyes and leaned her head on one of the posts of her four-poster bed. I shouldn't have been so harsh to myself last night, she thought to herself. She was advised before to avoid alcohol, and yet, there she was right now, fresh from a morning hangover from all the partying last night in Felix.
Lucky no one was there to see what just happened to her.
Irritated, she hurriedly rushed out of the common room and headed straight for the Great Hall.
"Hey—Johnson, wait up!" Sirius called her from behind.
"Black," Rebecca panted. "What do you want?"
"Whoa, why so snappy, eh?" Sirius frowned.
Rebecca sighed and muttered, "Sorry about that."
Sirius eyed her for a moment. "You… you okay? You don't look like you are."
"I'm fine," Rebecca said firmly.
"You sure?"
"Yes."
"Okay, okay!" Sirius sighed as well, "Bloody hell, I was just trying to help—"
"Thanks, Black—but I'm alright."
Sirius gave Rebecca an incredulous look. Rebecca chuckled, "Okay, maybe not that alright. But you shouldn't worry about me."
"Well, if you're sure, Becca."
Rebecca smirked and raised an eyebrow at Sirius. They were walking together to the Great Hall. "Since when have you called me Becca?"
"Well, it is your name, isn't it?"
"Ah, so now you're the one with the snappy comebacks," she teased. "Look," Rebecca continued, "I'm sorry about what happened in Felix last night."
"What do you mean?"
"I remembered what happened between me and your brother," she said frankly with no hesitation whatsoever, "and I just want to tell you that if it offended you in any way at all—I mean, you and Reg are siblings—I'm sorry about it. It meant nothing, whatever we were doing."
"I sure hope so," Sirius muttered darkly. "Like I told James, falling in love with Regulus is the kiss of doom."
"Why, have you tried it?" Rebecca teased Sirius again. They looked at each other as Sirius ran out of comebacks and just laughed.
Sirius was the sort of person whom Rebecca was very comfortable with. Kind of like an instant best friend. She met him not very long ago, and yet, there they were teasing each other like they've been friends for years.
"So…" Rebecca said slowly, "Your friend, Remus Lupin, sure is an interesting guy."
Sirius felt his heart skip a beat. "What made you say so?" he asked.
"Oh, you know. He's different from the others," Rebecca kept the suspense and smirked inwardly.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "How?" he asked.
Rebecca replied, "Physically. Mentally. Emotionally."
"Wait a minute—" Sirius frowned, "You've never even met him properly yet—"
"Oh, I know enough about him, believe me," Rebecca stopped in her tracks. "Remus Lupin is a werewolf."
Sirius stared at her with a poker face for three second and then he started laughing hysterically. "A werewolf?! Oh—don't give me that. You can't be serious, Johnson! What an imagination you have," Sirius laughed.
"Oh, c'mon, I know he is," Rebecca pushed Sirius playfully and Sirius pushed her back. Before they knew it, they were both laughing at themselves and their arms were interlocked.
"Yeah, right. Says you," Sirius tugged a lock of Rebecca's hair.
"Don't touch my hair, Black," Rebecca warned.
When they arrived at the Great Hall, heads turned towards their direction. People started to look sceptically at them—simply because they were from Slytherin and Gryffindor. The last friendship of this kind that Hogwarts saw was that of Severus Snape and Lily Evans. But that was over a long time ago.
"Uhm," Sirius said awkwardly, "I—I've gotta go. You know, James, Remus and Peter."
"Oh yeah, Potter, Peter and the—"
"Don't say it," Sirius pinched her arm.
"Ow!"
Some of the Slytherins and Gryffindors were whispering with one another and Rebecca wasn't stupid—she knew that they were talking about her and Sirius. Suddenly, she became aware of their interlocked arms.
"Uhm," Rebecca whispered, "You can let go now, Black."
Sirius blinked and slid his arm out of hers, "Oh. Right. Sorry—"
"Nevermind," Rebecca waved an airy hand, "I'll see you later, okay? And Remus is a—"
"No, he's not!," Sirius insisted and Rebecca laughed.
"See you," Rebecca repeated and left for the Slytherin table.
Sirius stayed rooted on the spot for a while, staying after her. All of a sudden he remembered James' warning about the goo-goo eyes. Shaking his head in denial, he left for the Gryffindor table as well.
"I do not make goo-goo eyes at her," Sirius muttered to himself irritably.
i know, its a short chappie, but please, bear with me here! it's the season of writer's block for me. :) if any of you have any ideas for the story, you can leave a review about it or PM me. :) anyway, read and review, please! :) thanks. i'm sorry if there were any typos in this one... i wasn't able to reread this chapter. i can when i have time, because now, i don't have any time. :(
