Chapter 13

Days had passed and Cassie was growing worried. It was Christmas Eve, and she had yet to see her small friend smile once.

"Rose? What's wrong?" she asked, for what had to be the hundredth time that day. Rose just shook her head, still staring into the fire.

Cassie sighed again. Rose was the only Hufflepuff girl staying over the holidays and Cassie was the only Ravenclaw in her year, so she'd invited the girl to stay with her. Rose had agreed, but it hadn't been the fun times Cassie had been expecting.

Quite the opposite. Rose hardly even spoke these days, and Cassie had no idea why!

Finally, as lunch came and went, she decided it was time to do something about it. She left the Ravenclaw common room without a word, knowing Rose wouldn't miss her.

She wandered the halls until she found the portrait of the Fat Lady. She knew it was the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, just not the password.

"I believe you're in the wrong place dearie." The woman said, sounding amused. Cassie shook her head.

"I need to talk to Remus Lupin. Do you know if he's inside?"

"Just got back a while ago. I can't let you in." the woman pointed out, pink dress stretching across her bosom as she tried to look impressive.

"I know. Do you think you could get him to come outside though?"

"I suppose…and who shall I say is calling?"

"Cassandra Coal."

"I'll be back in a moment." She walked out of the right edge of her frame and Cassie sighed, twisting the end of her long braid around a finger as she waited impatiently. Finally, the woman came back. "He's on his- Hey!" she exclaimed as the portrait swung forward.

Remus was standing there, a wide grin on his face. "Cassie? Hi!" he said in surprise.

Cassie gave him a hint of a smile. "I need your help." She stated, getting right to the point.

"What with?"

"It's Rose. I don't know what's wrong, but she won't talk to me. She won't tell me what's wrong, she just…sits there for hours on end." She spilled out, feeling her eyes fill with tears. She was so worried for her best friend; she didn't know what to do.

"Hey…" Remus said quickly, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Hey, it's ok." He said softly. "I'll talk to her if you want me to."

Cassie nodded and sniffed, blushing at her slight melt down. "That's why I came. I know you guys have been…seeing a lot of each other lately."

"Just chatting." Remus said quickly, as if afraid Cassie might suspect it was something else. The girl chuckled in amusement.

"It's alright Remus. You're allowed to talk to anyone you want." She pointed out, starting down the hallway. The two exchanged pleasantries on the way to Ravenclaw Tower, and Cassie let him inside. The two looked around, only to see that Rose wasn't there.

"That's weird…" Cassie muttered.

"Maybe she got hungry?" Remus suggested. Cassie nodded, and they went down to the Great Hall to search the nearly empty house tables. Only a few dishes of steaming food sat at the end of each, prepared to feed any stragglers their lunch. But Rose wasn't one of them.

Remus grinned slightly. "I think I know where she is."

"Where?" Cassie asked quickly.

"The usual spot." He said vaguely, half running from the room.

Cassie sighed in exasperation and sat at the end of the Ravenclaw table, leaning forward to thump her head on the table. He seemed to know than she did, and she wasn't sure if she was upset about it or not.

"Hard day, Coal?"

Cassie looked up to see that Sirius had taken the seat across from her, piling his plate with food. She shrugged, but knew there was no point in hiding it.

"It's Rose. She's been acting…weird lately."

"You mean weirder than normal?" he pointed out. Cassie sent him a glare, but it wasn't nearly as fierce as she wanted it to be.

"Something's wrong with her. Something happened. And she won't tell me what."

"If she won't tell you, then how do you know there's something wrong?" he asked after swallowing a particularly large spoonful of mashed potatoes.

Cassie looked him right in the eye. "If there was nothing wrong, then she wouldn't stare into the fire for hours without saying a word to anyone."

"Oh…that is weird." He said, setting down his fork. "She's usually pretty willing to chat."

Cassie blinked in slight surprise. "Chat? Rose? With you?"

Sirius looked as if he'd been trapped, and as far as Cassie was concerned, he was. "Just…occasionally."

"How occasionally?" she demanded. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Look Coal, her shoe got stuck in the mud first day of school, and I helped her out. And I promised her I'd try and get rid of that stupid nickname someone gave her. That's it."

Cassie stared at him, searching his eyes as if she'd find a lie there. "That's it? That's once, you said occasionally."

"Well I'll say hi in the halls and whatnot. Do you want me to pretend she doesn't exist?"

"Well…no." Cassie admitted. She was just surprised that Sirius would ever 'lower himself' to chat with a hufflepuff girl he'd never known the name of before this year. She was even more surprised that Rose would chat with him when she swore to Cassie's face that she hated him.

He chuckled. "There you go then. Rose is nice and all, but she's not you." He said, his grin slipping into a flirtatious one. Cassie glared, but there was a slight problem.

Her heart had skipped a beat and she could feel the blush on her cheeks. She immediately clamped down on the feeling and brushed her braid back over her shoulder. Nothing had happened. Nope, nothing at all. Because if something had happened, that would mean he was getting to her. And that was one thing she would not allow.

"So you're the reason people know her name now?"

"Well, the boys helped." He said, likely referring to his three friends.

"Even James?"

"Yup. Even James. You know, he's not the jerk Lily makes him out to be."

"He doesn't do a whole lot to prove otherwise." Cassie pointed out, grabbing a spoon and eating jello right from the serving dish.

"He's working on it!"

"Right, because cursing Severus Snape in the corridors is working oh so hard."

Sirius sighed. "He doesn't do that with most of the other people." He tried to explain.

Cassie snorted. "That's not good enough. If James ever wants to be seen as more than a bully, then he had to seriously stop being one. He can pretend he's a hero around Lily all he wants, but everyone knows the truth. Only if he really changes will she ever give him a second glance." She said firmly.

Sirius was looking at her oddly. "So what about me?"

"What about you?"

"What do I have to do to get you to see me differently?"

Cassie found herself looking him in the eye again, and she realized that she'd never known his eyes were grey. "Try showing some humility. The world doesn't revolve around you, you are not god's gift to women, and you aren't better than half the people in this school."

He smirked. "So I am better than the other half then?"

She rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the amused chuckle. "Go stuff yourself, Black."

She pushed away from the table and left, a saunter in her step and a grin on her face. And as she reached the Ravenclaw common room, she had to wonder if there hadn't been a hint of fondness in her voice as she'd thrown him that last insult.

Great…maybe he really was getting to her.

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I actually really enjoy this chapter every time I reread it :D Hopefully you feel the same!

Please review! If i get enough, I may just upload a second chapter later today ;)

Your Hopeful Authoress,

Whisperwings