Disclaimer: All of this is mine. Hahaha. Not.
XxXxX
Halloween arrived and brought with it the cold. Aly hadn't seen any of the Marauders since before her birthday. She had hardly seen Lily either. When she confronted her about it, she couldn't control her crying. She hated being seen as weak, but it paid off because Lily started spending more time with her.
One day at dinner, Lily came over to eat with her and Logan.
"Hi," she said sitting down next to Amos. "I'm Lily."
"I know," he said. "We've met before."
"We have?" She blushed as she said, "Sorry."
They ate and for the first time ever, Aly saw Amos open up and chat about something other than the Ministry and Quidditch. Aly watched happily as the two chatted.
XxXxX
"Amos is really not that bad," Lily commented a few days later, standing outside of the portrait hole.
"I know," Aly said not paying a whole lot of attention to her.
"Hey!" James said to Lily, fluffing his hair up. The rest of the Marauder's were climbing through the portrait hole.
Lily let out a "Hmmph," and made her way the opposite direction.
Aly smiled at her and made a grab for Sirius. "Hey," she said holding onto him.
"Hey?" He was obviously confused.
"I never got to thank you," she explained.
His brow, which had wrinkled in his confusion, smoothed out and his eyes lit up, but he kept a smile from spreading across his face. Aly saw his lips twitch ever-so-slightly though as he asked innocently, "For what?"
"You know what for," she said swatting him playfully.
He merely smiled at her.
She heard some clear their throat and turned to see Lily waiting for her.
"See you 'round" she said taking off in a jog towards an impatient Lily who was tapping her toes.
XxXxX
"Hey," Logan said, looking surprised to see Aly sitting in his common room. "What are you doing here?" he asked as kissed her on the forehead.
She had been sitting in the Hufflepuff common room watching the humorous situation that was Lily and Amos talking. The two had been spending every day together since they had eaten dinner together, and they still hadn't gotten past the awkward stage.
Logan put his hand on her shoulder and asked, "Walk with me?"
"Sure, what's up?" she asked as she stood up slowly. She could tell by the look on his face that something was off.
"We'll discuss this outside," he mumbled, grabbing ahold of her arm.
She turned back to tell Lily that she as leaving, but Logan's hand tightened and pulled her along to the outside of the Hufflepuff house.
Once he let go of her arm, she snapped, "What is wrong with you?"
"Where were you yesterday?"
"You know where I was," Aly said, crossing her arms.
He merely stared her down, anger obvious on his face. Aly quickly scanned through her day mentally and suddenly realized what he talking about.
"Exactly," Logan announced. Aly cursed herself internally as she realized her face told him that she figured out what was wrong.
"God, Aly!" he exclaimed, slamming his fist into the nearest wall.
Aly jumped.
"Why do you keep doing this to me?" he pleaded.
Aly thought it was merely a hypothetical question and stood quietly, waiting for him to finish venting.
This was normal for the two of them. She messed up, he yelled, he vented, and then everything would be fine. So, she waited but that wasn't what he wanted.
He seemed to balloon with anger. He grabbed her by the elbows and twisted as he shook her. "Answer me," he demanded.
Aly merely looked at him.
"Ugh," he said letting her go. She flexed her arms to loosen them after his tight grasp.
"I'm sorry," she said without realizing that she really wasn't. "I won't do it again."
"Promise?" he asked, breathing heavy.
And before even stopping to think about it, she said, "Yes."
His smile returned. "Thanks, Aly." He kissed her on the cheek and went back into the common room.
She stood outside rubbing her elbows for a while trying to ease the pain that had nothing to do with Logan's grasp.
What had she done? She just promised to never talk to one of her favorite people on the planet ever again? But why was she worried about that? She was hurting a guy who wanted to be with her by spending time with a guy who wouldn't.
She went back to her own common room and collapsed on a couch. She laid there, unbothered, until Lily returned much later.
"Amos asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him!" she exclaimed happily.
Aly sat up and to look at her friend's excited face and forced a smile. Lily squealed with excitement and disappeared up the stairs.
Aly's fake smile fell as she saw that the Marauder's all sat starring back at her. James looking as if he was ready to vomit.
XxXxX
Logan promised to take Aly to Hogsmeade when the day arrived. He promised her a fun day. Aly didn't get to see that promise come completely true. He did take her, but the fun was cut short.
They were walking around when they unintentionally ran into the Marauders.
"Hey," Remus said coming forward out of the group.
Aly scanned them and asked, "Where's James?"
Remus nodded towards Lily and Amos, who were walking not far away, laughing with each other.
"Oh," Aly said, not really feeling all that bad for him.
Logan pulled on her arm, indicating for her to go. She smiled at Remus and said, "See ya!"
After stopping at the candy shop and having a butterbeer with Lily and Amos, Logan decided that he was ready to leave. He asked Aly if he could stop in the Quidditch supply store for a moment. After going in and getting jostled around, she slipped back outside to wait for him.
Remus was standing not far from the door. "Hey," she said grinning at him.
He looked at her and smiled.
She came up behind him and pressed her body into his back to protect herself from the wind and to steal some of his body heat.
"Thief," he announced as she buried her face in between his shoulder blades.
She laughed, but told him, "Don't complain. You've got a hot chick pressed against you."
He laughed at her comment, as she told him, "I'm surprised you came to day."
"Why?" she felt him stiffen.
She quickly covered her mistake by saying, "You said your aunt was sick."
"She is," he said darkly. "I'm going to go see her tonight."
She nodded into his back but said nothing.
"So," he said changing the subject, "Tell me about this stunt you pulled on your roommates."
Aly happily jumped into her tale of how she turned the bathroom into a walk-in freezer so that the girls who used up all the hot water could understand how it felt to take a cold one.
Remus nodded in approval, "Very clever."
Aly shrugged into him so she knew he felt it.
"You're being modest. What kind of charm did you use?"
Before Aly could answer him, she was flung back against the building wall. She saw stars burst before her eyes. She heard a scuffle and as her eyes came back into focus she saw Peter and Remus holding Sirius back. Logan stood calmly, arms crossed against his chest.
"Calm yourself, Black," Logan told him in an irritated tone.
Sirius merely snarled in response.
"She is with me. Move on."
Sirius seemed to struggle less as he said this so Remus let go of him and took a step forward towards her. "Aly," he started.
"Don't you talk to her either," Logan snapped.
The three boys look at Aly, waiting for a reply.
"Keep your distance, children," Logan instructed.
Aly knew she should've argued, but her head was still spinning from hitting the wall so she said nothing.
The boys looked shocked as Logan took her hand, kissed her forehead, and pulled her towards the castle. Aly let him lead her, still feeling dazed.
"I'm worried about you," Logan said, stopping in front of the Gryffindor portrait.
"Me too," the fat lady said looking down at her. "You don't look well."
"I'm fine," Aly said lamely. "My head hardly hurts."
"I meant with who you associate," Logan corrected.
"I didn't," the fat lady announced.
Logan sent the portrait a glare and continued, "Please stay away from these types of people."
"What do you mean? Boys?" Aly snapped. She felt irritated, especially at him.
"Yes," Logan barked, his lip disappearing halfway.
"No," Aly said.
"What?" Logan's lower lip was completely gone.
"I said, 'No,'" Aly ventured more boldly.
He reached out and smacked her. Aly closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Without a word, she turned to the portrait, who swung open without the password. She went in and heard the fat lady scolding him as he called her name. She sat down in the first chair she found. She sat unseeing, blind with pain and rage.
When she felt a hand on her shoulder, she jumped away in fear.
"Als," Sirius said sitting down across from her. She looked up at him. He started to gasp but caught it before she noticed. He pulled his scarf off and started to blot her face. When he accidentally touched underneath her eye, she gasped and pulled away.
"Shhh," he said and gently finished.
Finally, Aly asked, "What are you doing?"
"Getting the blood off of your face."
"Blood?!" She opened her eyes and looked at the scarf in his hands, covered in blood.
"Oh," she let out what little air was still in her lungs.
"Your nose was bleeding. And it looks like you'll have a black eye."
She nodded without a sound.
"Als,"
"Don't. Please don't," she pleaded in a small voice.
"Don't what?"
"Don't call me that." Tears had welled up in her eyes.
"Ok. Ok," he said quickly.
"Why do I keep crying all the time?" Aly asked aloud to no one in particular.
"I dunno. Maybe it's the company you keep," Sirius supplied.
Aly sniffled causing a pain to shoot through the left side of her face.
"Aly, he's destroying you," Sirius whispered.
Aly stared into those deep, brown eyes that were full of concern for her. For a moment, she wanted to ask for help, ask him to save her, to take her away. But at that moment of realization, a group of girls walked by and all three giggled with a "Hi, Sirius." Aly snapped back and stood.
"What's destroying me is you."
He merely blinked at this statement.
"We can't be friends."
"Why?" He scowled at her.
"You treat me...you're a sweetheart. You're loving and kind and you treat me like I'm the only person you see."
He lowered his eyes.
"Then you run off and fool around with all these other girls."
When he said nothing, she stated simply, "Logan is there, always. He's always there for me and only me. He loves me."
"Does he?" Sirius asked darkly. "Cause he's got a funny way of showing it."
"We can't be friends anymore," she declared bluntly. "Don't talk to me anymore. Don't even look at me."
"Come'on, Als. Don't you think--"
"That too!" she snapped. He had used her nickname again and it only ended up making this harder for her. "Don't even think about me!" she screamed and stormed out of tower. She couldn't even be in the same room as him. If her ears hadn't been ringing, she would've head him say after her, "Believe me. I've tried."
XxXxX
She walked towards the Hufflepuff common room, running into Lily halfway there.
"There you are. What's wrong?"
"Sirius," Aly mumbled.
"Well, no wonder Logan is in a fit."
Aly wanted to tell her that it was Logan and not Sirius who had done what was done to her face, but she couldn't find the strength.
Logan was apparently not far behind Lily.
"Aly," he said, unsure.
"Lily," Aly said turning towards her, "Can you give us a moment?"
"Sure," Lily said, taking the hint. "I'll see you back at the tower."
Aly watched her leave and then turned back to face Logan. "Do you love me?" she asked.
He was stunned. This was obviously not what he had anticipated coming out of her mouth.
"Do you?" she pressed. "I need to know."
She studied his face as he searched for answer. Finally, he said, "I think I do."
She stared at him and he plunged into a long winded apology, "Aly, I'm so sorry. So, so, SO sorry. I just lost my cool. I don't know how to handle you with other guys, especially those other guys. I just worry especially with the families they come from and the stories I hear--"
"You don't have to worry about me talking to those guys anymore," Aly informed him.
"I'm going to be better," Logan said kissing her forehead. "I promise."
XxXxX
Please, please, please review. Anyone like where the story went? Anyone hate it? Tell me! PLEASE!
