Disclaimer: Don't you hate it when you don't actually own anything? Yeah, me too.
HEYY! So, I know it's been a while, but life has seriously gotten in the way and due to a massive, erm, altercation with my teacher de espanol, registering for next year and the inevitable identity crisis ("What am I doing with my life?! I don't want to live in a cardboard box after college!") that comes with it, and an addiction to the TV show 'Merlin', I haven't written anything in almost two weeks, so I cranked out this entire chapter withing the last two hours for you guys!
Read, Review, and Enjoy,
Stars.
I enter Hogwarts as darkness begins to fall and I head up to the Heads' Dorm, in search of Lily. And as darkness settles on the castle, I feel a very different darkness settle over me. Or maybe Jamie, I think, depending on how I'm feeling by the time I get there. By the time I get to the Heads' Dorm, I knew this was definite Jamie territory. This was emotionally unstable, spill my guts everywhere territory. I head up his staircase and knock on the door. He opens it and looks alarmed.
"Nattie? What's the matter?"
"Can we go somewhere and talk?" He nods and grabs a coat, as it was starting to get cooler on nights. We quietly walk down to the Quidditch Pitch and sit in the middle of the field, and I watch the moon as I speak.
"Did you know?" I question him.
"Er, know what, exactly?"
"That I'm a Pureblood. Did you know?" I push further. Jamie's jaw drops and his mouth hangs open for a few seconds, suggesting that he did not, in fact, know.
"No, Nat I had no idea. How did you find this out?" I hesitate for a second then briefly tell him of my run-in with Avery and Mulciber, the bookstore, my discovery, via Sirius and his parents' forced education on Pureblooded girls. I artfully omit that it was one of Jamie's brother's relatives that killed my mother, but other than that, I leave nothing out. When I finish, his mouth is hanging open. Again.
"Erm, Jamie? Are you still in there?" He looks at me and says,
"Well, that definitely blows my day out of the water. I had no idea, and I'm honestly surprised Sirius told you at all. He never talks about his family life to us, let alone other people. And I can't blame him, honestly." I shudder a little, remembering the night two summers ago, before our sixth year that Sirius had shown up on our doorstep, bloody and delirious. I had opened the door and he had fallen on top of me (something neither of us speak about) vacantly mumbling about canes and belts. It hadn't taken a head doctor to tell anyone that he had been badly abused using belts and canes, repeatedly over the course of his childhood.
"I don't either. I was just kind of surprised that my parents thought it wise so long ago to go into hiding, even before the war started." James puts an arm around me,
"They were wise people, and they weren't killed for lack of trying. And they did get what they wanted after all, you know." I raise an eyebrow, wondering how on Earth my parents could have wanted to die, "They kept you alive, and in one piece long enough for you to be old enough to get to us by yourself."
Though Sirius had definitely needed more medical attention when he arrived unannounced at the Potters, he wasn't the first child to do so. I had somehow made it into London and to the Leaky Cauldron on my own, at nine years old, and begged someone to call the Knight Bus for me, to take me to the Potters. Though tired, and hungry, the worst injury I was suffering from at my arrival was a broken toe, where someone had stepped on it in the busy streets of the city, which Dorea had fixed in a heartbeat.
"I suppose so. Hm, we should probably go in, it's getting pretty late." We quietly make our way back up to the castle in silence, both of us thinking about what the other had said. When we get to the Head's Dorm, Lily is sitting on one of the sofas, doing homework, as per usual. She looks up and smiles.
"Well you two are late. James, your dancing band of morons, and Remus, are waiting for you in your room." He nods then asks her,
"Why didn't you just include Remus?" She laughs and says
"Because I don't consider Remus a dancing moron." He's too nice and quiet for that." I snicker and ruffle Jamie's hair as he goes to join his friends in his room. I sit down next to Lils and she outs her homework away, with a quiet
"What aren't you telling me?"
"So, when I was walking down to the Great Hall this morning, I got held up by Mulciber and Avery." I hear her gasp but I continue, knowing she is expecting the worst that could come out of this, "So I'm standing there, without a wand mind you, and I swear to God they were going to drag me back to the Slytherin Common Room never to be seen again, and then apparently you and James were taking too long in the Common Room and Sirius came back up to see if Jamie was dead, when he ran straight into us. So anyways, to make a long story short, we knocked them out and went on our merry way down to—"
"Wait, wait, wait. When did Black become Sirius?" I say nothing and she grins, "Oh, Nat, getting a little friendly, are we?" I roll my eyes and wave her off,
"Please Lils, I'm not going to jump into bed with him, anyways, as I was saying, we went on our merry way down to Hogsmeade, and we saw the two of you looking very cozy in the Three Broomsticks. But, alas, neither of us wanted to watch you suck face, so we left, and hid in a bookstore, as that would ward of most of his exes."
"That's very true. Other L and Care, they all probably share a brain cell. And im going to ignore that other part for the sake of your well being." I laugh and nod,
"Ugh, some of them are so stupid it's tragic, isn't it? Anyways, we sitting there and he accidentally, or not so accidentally call me a Pureblood."
"What? That makes no sense, Nat, your mom was a Muggle schoolteacher." I nod and say back
"That's what I thought too, but then the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Unless his parents were lying to him he was telling the truth, because he honestly believed he was telling me the truth when he said that."
"How do you know? Are you sure he's not just screwing with you?" I shake my head,
"No, he wasn't, I don't think. No one can lie that well, not even him." She shakes her head in disbelief and I change the subject,
"So, Lils, you and Jamie were looking very cozy in the Three Broomsticks. Have fun doing 'Head duties'?" I grin at her and she blushes fiercely, clashing badly with her already bright hair.
"Well, we actually did accomplish something, but I wanted you, Carrie, and Lynn's opinion on it." I raise an eyebrow meaning 'go on', "We're throwing around the idea of a ball. Maybe for Halloween." I consider it for a moment. A ball would be fun and someone would probably spike the punch bowl once all the younger kids hit their curfews. But that would also open us up to losing the bet with Sirius. But someone would spike the punch. But it could also potentially ruin my last six months at school. Definite chance of drunken partying versus possible chance of alienation by the entire school.
"I think it's a great idea Lils. A Halloween Ball, huh?" She grins and says,
"Yeah. You know with the masks and stuff." I raise both my eyebrows,
"A masquerade? Sounds mysteriously sexy, Lils. That part wasn't your idea, was it?" She laughs and turns a little red,
"That obvious? No, that part was James' idea, but I like it. I'm pretty sure it's never been done too, which would make it extra exciting." I agree with her and just then Lynn and Carrie stumble in, looking like they've been dragged through Hell and back.
"How was detention you two?" They both scowl at me and say something along the lines of,
"Just spectacular. How was Hogsmeade?" Lily gives them a brief run down of the ball idea, which they both agree on loving and then the attention is shifted to me.
"How was your lonely day, Nat?" Lily grins and I whack her over the head but I can't cover her mouth before she says,
"Nattie here didn't spend her day alone."
"Well, who'd you spend it with?" Carrie asks, and Lil says,
"Yeah, Nat, who'd you spend it with?" I hit her again and Lynn makes the leap to the truth.
"Oh no you didn't." Carrie looks confused,
"Who was it?" Lynn smirks and I hide my face out of embarrassment,
"Nattie spend the day with one Sirius Black." Carrie chokes on nothing and Lils laughs at me.
"I hate you all."
"Yeah, yeah. We love you too."
