The next morning, Bess was released in to the care of one Lily Evans, who took her straight back to the girls' dormitory to have a chat about what had happened on Saturday morning.

The girls had roared with laughter when she'd explained, though Lily and Jo were the only two who had sympathy for her. Lily didn't really like birds, and Jo detested toads, but both had to endure them as they were part and parcel of living in the wizarding world.

After her confession about her morning stroll, Sunday passed quickly, and before she knew it, Bess was standing outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom with her dormmates, waiting for Selket to let them in to the classroom.

Bess had been trying to work out how to broach the subject of her not being able to take the classes, but she couldn't find it in her heart to put a downer on it - everyone was excited that they were finally being taught for all of their Defence classes this week.

It had been all anyone could talk about, and she'd been approached by most of her class mates over the course of Sunday, and Monday morning, to say thank you for managing to convince Selket to teach them.

"I just need the loo." Bess said quickly, as she spotted the large bellied teacher walking down the hallway, a head taller than the students running to their fourth year Transfiguration lesson.

"But Selket's right there! You'll miss the first five minutes-" Jo said in a hissed whisper.

"You might get points taken away..." reasoned Skye.

"I might pee myself though, so I'll chance the negative five points. Wouldn't you?" Bess asked, before ducking out of the queue of students and practically running to the toilet, just a few doors down.

She waited for five minutes, until she was sure the other students would have gone in, before she stuck her head out of the bathroom and checked.

There was no one in sight.

With a sigh, Bess pulled her bag back on to her shoulder, and exited the bathroom, walking in the opposite direction from the classroom.

An hour later, Lily, Remus, James and Sirius found her in the library.

"There you are!" Lily said in a hushed whisper as she sat down at Bess' table.

Bess, who hadn't realised the time, cringed and began organising her table, which currently looked like there'd been an explosion of Defence Against the Dark Arts books, random notes on parchment, ink bottles and quills.

"Sorry," she said as she pulled a quill from underneath Lily. "I like an organised chaos. Why're you lot together? And where're Skye and Peter?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at the group.

She knew the other girls in their group had a class during this time, but she couldn't say she'd paid much attention to Peter's timetable to know if he did as well.

"Believe it or not, Lily actually enjoys my presence," James said, wrapping an arm around Lily's shoulders.

"Or not." Lily replied, as she pushed his arm off and turned back to Bess. "Skye's gone for a nap. Unfortunately, this lot are unusually good at finding people, so when you went missing and we had a free period, I had to ask for their help. Where'd you go?"

Bess' mouth went dry. She actually didn't know how to respond.

She sighed and opened and shut her mouth a few times before she gave up and turned back to her book - she was compiling a list of curses and counter-curses which she thought would be useful in a duel.

"How was it?" she asked quietly, trying not to look up.

"He's probably the best Defence Professor we've ever had, bar Serpen! He's awesome!" James said, as loudly as he could without incurring the wrath of the librarian.

"Bloody brilliant!" Sirius added, sitting in a chair and grabbing one of her books. "Why're you looking at the hair loss curse, love? Revenge?" He asked with a half smile.

"Love?" Lily whispered, confused. Bess watched as her eyes widened and she looked between the Sirius and Bess. Looking back at her curly haired friend, Lily mouthed "we'll be talking about that later..."

Bess rolled her eyes. "No, Sirius, I'm just looking up things for defence... the textbook gets boring when you've read it three times... Thank god the library here's bigger than at St. Mungos." She said absentmindedly, squinting at a passage in the book in front of her, and running her finger under a line of text as she copied it on to her parchment.

"Selket won't teach you, will he?" Remus asked quietly.

Bess pursed her lips and continued to write. After a pause, she shook her head and turned the page.

"WHAT?" Sirius asked loudly, practically shouting.

Bess immediately shushed him and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him back down into his chair - he'd stood up as he spoke.

"You'll get me kicked out!" She hissed as she looked around for the librarian.

"Why won't he teach you?" He hissed back.

Bess stared at him for a second, before cocking her head and saying, "look, it's either the class doesn't get taught, or I don't. And I'd prefer it if you lot could actually defend yourselves after Hogwarts."

Sirius was angry, she could tell by the way he was glaring, but also his jaw was clenched, and his nostrils wide. He looked like he might snarl at any second.

It took a few seconds, but finally, Sirius calmed down a little and hissed out, "it's not right. Of all of us, you're the one who needs these lessons the most."

"What? Don't fancy being my knight in shining armour?" She asked, raising and eyebrow and sending him a small smile.

They hadn't broken eye contact since he'd shouted, and were now leaning across the table towards each other.

"Any day, any time." He promised, his gaze dark and intense.

"Then I don't see what the problem is, do you? Anyway, I taught myself the OWL curriculum, I can teach myself the NEWTs. And I have something I didn't have back in January."

"What's that?"

"A hot tutor," she whispered.

Sirius leaned in more and whispered back, "if you say James..."

Bess, who had been fully intending on doing just that, shook her head playfully, and said "Lily."

She sat back in her chair and grinned as Sirius rolled his eyes and grabbed the book he'd swiped earlier, before putting his feet up on the corner of the table and leaning back in his chair so it rocked on to two legs.

"Definitely talking later," she heard Lily whisper to her.

"I'm bored." Sirius groaned after a moment.

"You've only been here for five minutes!" Lily whispered in an annoyed tone, as she pulled one of Bess' books towards her.

"Exactly!" Sirius replied, before looking at Bess. "Love, you've just spent an entire lesson in the library. Come for a walk with me?" He asked, chucking her book up in the air and catching it before balancing it on the top of his head.

Bess sighed and stopped writing, leant her elbow on the table, and said, "no. I'm busy, and so should you be. If you're bored, go take James and do something stupid." She knew he knew all of the defence magic she was researching already, and that just the thought of having to spend an hour pretending to read about spells he could do with his eyes closed would be torture for him.

The two boys grinned at each other, before James said "hoops. Definitely hoops."

Sirius nodded, and jumped up.

"You're going to regret that one..." Remus sighed, as he took out his homework.

"Not coming Moony?" James asked as Sirius walked round the table and poked Bess on the arm.

"No, I'd rather not get another detention this week..." Remus replied in a monotone voice as he pulled out a quill.

Bess, who was still being poked on the shoulder, rolled her eyes and looked up, making a frustrated noise. "We're in the library," she said before looking back down, trying to find her place again.

Sirius shrugged and began poking her shoulder again. Bess, whose only real reservation was that she was conscious that they were surrounded by people here, unlike in the Hospital Wing, finally sighed and tilted her face up again.

Sirius put a finger under her chin, tilted her head back further still, and leant down to plant a kiss on her cheek before rubbing his nose against hers. As he stood, he nodded at a flabbergasted Lily, put his hands in his pockets, and loped over to his friend.

Bess wished she wasn't so susceptible to him but no matter how much she reminded herself that he needed time to mature and grow up, no matter how much she reminded herself that she wanted to wait until he'd regained her trust... She didn't mind when he did things like that.

"Evans?" James asked, running a hand through his hair to mess it up before leaning down to the redhead.

The glare she shot him could have cut glass.

He gulped and stood, turning to his friend and asking "how do you get away with that but I don't?"

"Dunno mate," Sirius replied as they walked off, "it's like you said - hoops."

"But-" James' reply was cut off as they walked out of listening distance.

Bess frowned. What does hoops mean? She wondered. She'd thought they were off to play Quidditch but now she thought it might have been code for something.

Lily turned back to Bess and just as she was about to open her mouth, Remus said, "please don't. I think Bess has had enough relationship chat this weekend to last a lifetime."

"Relationship?" Lily hissed, her eyes wide.

Bess rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Sirius and I are just friends."

She just about registered Remus saying "for now," under his breath before Lily spoke over him.

"He just kissed you on the cheek!"

"He's probably part French." Bess reasoned.

"And rubbed your nose with his!"

"I don't know! He's probably also part dog." She said absentmindedly as she began studying again.

She heard Remus choke and tried not to react. She heard Hagrid's voice in her head saying "shouldn'ta said tha'".

"We will talk about this later."

xXx

Luckily for Bess, but unluckily for Solstice, 'later' didn't come. Solstice's boyfriend Derek, who was: jealous of her past boyfriends; fought with her before every quidditch game; and just sounded like he wasn't a nice guy; broke up with the blonde Gryffindor just before lunchtime that Monday, ending a year long relationship.

The rest of Bess and Lily's week was spent with their other dormmates consoling the poor girl.

Before Bess knew it, it was the following Wednesday, just three days before she turned 17 in this world.

She hadn't brought it up with anyone, and as far as she knew, only Scott, Jasper and Delbert knew about it.

Scott was too busy to remember, she reasoned, and why would he? While Jasper and Delbert had already sent their apologies for not seeing her on or around the day - they were working overtime. This also meant that Jasper wouldn't be teaching their Thursday class that week.

Bess hadn't minded really, as she, one, didn't know how to bring it up with everyone - the first Hogsmeade trip of the year was planned for the 23rd, and she didn't know how to announce off-hand that it was also her birthday.

And two, she was distracted - in between her classes and her friend duties, Bess had begun to compile a mental list of places of where she thought the Horcruxes might be in this time, and had managed to dig deep and remember the three main ways of destroying them.

It wasn't that she was forgetting things, it seemed rather the opposite, like she had some information to hand, and needed to dig deep to unlock her memories of the books and remember more - much like when she'd been told what Mudblood meant, and suddenly remembered all of the instances it had been used in the books.

And so, three days before her birthday, Bess found herself deep in thought as she headed down to breakfast. She was trying to remember how to get to the Room of Requirement, when she turned a corner and ran smack bang in to a younger student dressed in Slytherin robes who, by the looks of him, was around fourteen or fifteen years old.

The boy glared at her and shoved her back harshly. She fell to the floor with a thud.

"How dare you touch me?" He asked.

Bess could tell it was rhetorical, so she stayed quiet and stared up at him with wide eyes. He drew his wand as he stood over her.

"I'll have to send home for new robes now. Mother won't be happy that they've been touched by filth."

"How dare you? You don't even know who I am!" Bess cried, as she reached into her pocket and held her wand. She tried to think through all of the duelling spells she knew.

He just smiled nastily, narrowed his eyes, and said, "I don't need to know you, but still, I know exactly who you are. Merlin, you're not even worth it. I shouldn't even be talking to you."

"Who are you?" She asked quietly as she propped herself up on her left hand, her right still holding her wand inside her pocket.

She'd never come so close to a horrid student before, and she felt sick at his words, her heart threatening to beat out of her chest.

He simply raised an eyebrow, "you don't know?"

She shook her head and he replied with a sneer, "ask your blood traitor. I'm sure he'll be happy to fill you in on my family and their... reputation."

With that, he screwed his face up in disgust and muttered "scourgify" on his robes as he walked around the corner.

Bess let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She was relieved he hadn't done anything to her this time, but she knew next time she wouldn't be so lucky.

She stayed on the ground, staring at the wall in front of her, until she heard the morning class bell ring out.

Scrambling to her feet, she rushed in to the nearest girls' toilets, burst in to a cubicle, and locked it.

She hung her bag on the back of the door, before putting down the toilet seat.

She sat on the seat, pulled her knees up, and wrapped her arms around her shins, burying her face in her knees as she tried to calm down.

xXx

Bess had had a single History of Magic class before her free period, so she stayed in the cubicle until she heard the bell signally break time.

After splashing water on her face and taking a steeling breath, she dusted off her uniform, swung her bag over her shoulder, and headed off to her Charms class.

She stood outside the room, deep in thought, and barely registered the girls walking down the corridor towards her.

"Bess?" Lily asked, putting a hand on her arm. "Where were you? We thought you were coming back to the common room after History of Magic?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I uh- got carried away, ended up in the library!" She lied.

Jo frowned. "Remus said he hadn't seen you all morning when he came up to change his books over before class... and he'd had a double free spent in the library."

Bess took a quick breath in, shook her head slightly, and shrugged as she said, "I dunno, maybe he didn't see me or something?"

They nodded, but she could tell they weren't entirely convinced. Luckily, she was saved by Professor Flitwick opening his door and ushering them in to the classroom.

Bess took her seat towards the back of the class and took out her things.

As the class began, she zoned out, placing her chin in her hand, doodling on the parchment in front of her.

About ten minutes into class, she heard her name. "Miss Coulson?" Squeaked Professor Flitwick. "Did you hear what I said?"

Bess looked up sharply, dropped her hand to the table and sat up straight. She frowned and opened and closed her mouth a few times, but ultimately had to admit defeat.

"No, sir, sorry." She said, shrugging and biting her lip, a worried expression on her face.

"You weren't listening?"

"No sir..."

"Would someone please give Miss Coulson a summary?" He asked the class.

"You have to cast a non-verbal aguamenti into the glass on his desk!" Sirius called across the room.

He was sat towards the front of the room with the rest of the boys. Flitwick had sat them there to 'keep an eye on them' but it hadn't stopped their class disruptions.

"Oh," Bess said, grabbing her wand. She took a split-second to work out the angle and then concentrated on casting the spell. She was glad it was this - it was the first spell she'd ever managed to cast, and she'd practiced it enough times now that she was hopeful she wouldn't make a fool of herself.

She just registered Lily's shocked voice saying "wait, Bess-" before the water erupted from the end of her wand and arched through the air, before splashing down, filling the glass.

A few drops spilt on the desk around the glass, but she hoped it wouldn't lose her too many points.

Silence filled the room, and Bess looked around, wondering what she'd done.

"I- well-" Flitwick said, scratching his head with one hand, the other hand resting on his hip. "Yes, well then, I- uh- well... I guess there's nothing I can do about that. I did say a few drops would be fine. Uh- yes... twenty-five points to Gryffindor, and you're all dismissed for the day. Do try and practice though, won't you?"

"What just happened?" Bess asked Lily, as everyone began to pack up their things before rushing out of the room as if scared Flitwick would change his mind.

Lily just smiled and shook her head. "You really shouldn't trust everything Sirius tells you..."

"He was just helping me!"

"No, he was helping himself." Lily replied, swinging her bag over her shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Bess asked, walking after her.

"Flitwick was explaining the theory around aguamenti, and James asked if they could just skip the lesson because if it wasn't turning vinegar into wine, what was the point?" Lily explained, rolling her eyes. "And then Flitwick said that he couldn't dismiss them just like that, but that he had a wager instead."

As they walked down the corridor, the other girls ran ahead, waving at Bess and Lily, before ducking into the stairwell, heading back to the common room.

"Wait, where're we going?"

"Lake okay with you?"

"Oh yeah, sure... sorry, go on."

"Right. So-"

Before Lily could continue, James threw his arm around her shoulders and grinned down at her. "Alright Lils?"

"Call me Lils again and I'll hex you in to next week." She replied stonily, before shoving his arm off her shoulders.

"What happened to being okay now?" James asked, obviously put out.

Lily just rolled her eyes in reply, a small smile on her face. James realised she was only teasing him and sent her a lopsided grin.

Just then, Sirius caught up to the small group. Rather than run over like James, he'd walked along with Remus and Peter.

He sent Bess a grin and wrapped an arm round her waist before kissing her on the cheek. "Well done, love! Well done!"

Bess rolled her eyes and pushed his arm away. "Lily was just explaining what happened in class."

"What happened, was that you were a badass, and ol' Flitwick lost a wager!" James cried, high fiving Sirius.

Bess, who just wasn't in the mood for joking around, pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow at Lily. "Go on?"

"Flitwick bet the class no one could do what you did. If he lost the wager, we could all go outside and enjoy the last of the sunshine, and the student who cast the spell would get points. If we lost, we'd have double homework."

"It was my idea to ask about drops on the table!" Peter piped up.

"Oh yeah, a few drops were fine. A slosh, wasn't." Lily added.

Bess, who still couldn't summon a smile, nodded and began to walk in the direction of the staircase that would lead her to the castle grounds.

"Oh come on love! You can't be mad! I had full faith in you!" Sirius said, as he dodged in front of her, hands in his pockets, and walked backwards so he could face her as they walked.

"I'm not, I'm just... in a bit of a mood." Bess replied.

"You weren't in the library were you?" Lily called from behind her.

Bess shook her head and frowned at the floor as she walked.

"Love, what's up?" Sirius asked, stopping her.

Bess took a breath in before turning to the group and asking, "what's a blood traitor?"

She'd been trying to remember what it meant for the whole morning, but it was like there was a block in her mind - she couldn't for the life of her remember what it meant, or fathom what it could mean. It was like her mind was telling her that she needed to ask - she wouldn't find out on her own.

When she asked what the term meant, Sirius' jaw tensed, James frowned deeply, Remus suddenly found his shoe incredibly interesting, Peter squeaked and looked around, and Lily stepped forwards and put a hand on Bess' arm.

"What happened?" Lily asked softly.

As she told the group a summary of what had happened, and paraphrased what the boy had said, Sirius became angrier and angrier.

"What did he look like?" He asked, a murderous expression on his face.

"Why? You can't go after him, so what's the point?" Bess exclaimed.

"What's the-?" Sirius asked, his face an odd mix of thunderous and confused. He paused, closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and breathed in deeply. Finally, after a moment, he opened his eyes and dropped his hand to his side. "Love..." he began slowly, "he shoved you to the ground."

"Yes, and imagine what he'll do to me if you go after him? It's all just a power play. Besides, you haven't even told me what it means yet."

When no one spoke, Lily said, "it's a pureblood witch or wizard who... well, I guess generally is happy to-"

"Fraternise with Mudbloods?" Bess finished for her. Bess could tell the boys wanted to tell her not to use that language, but none of them said anything.

"For want of a better phrase, yeah." Lily said quickly.

Just like last time, Bess' mind was flooded with instances where people had spoken about blood traitors, and remembered for the first time that Sirius had been called one.

She turned back to him and asked, "are you one?"

"Yeah. All of us are in a way... but definitely James and I... but I'm probably the worst in their eyes." He didn't elaborate further, and Bess reached out to hold his hand, wanting to comfort him. She gave it a squeeze. His eyes flickered to hers and he sent her the tiniest smile and squeezed her hand in return.

"Do you remember what he looked like?" James asked slowly.

"Why? So you can go after him too?" Bess asked indignantly.

James looked to Sirius, who just shook his head.

"No, I don't think so. Just, you know, so we know who to look out for in case it happens again." James replied, and Bess didn't miss the worried look he sent towards Lily.

"Uh- bit younger than us, bit shorter than me but not by much I'd say... black hair... bit of a shitty expression on his face. I dunno, non-descript up himself haughty Slytherin I guess."

Sirius let out a breath of a laugh and edged closer to Bess as he held on to her hand.

"Do you remember what he said, love?" He asked, putting his other hand on her waist.

"He said... he said that he knew exactly who I was... and it didn't sound like he didn't want to talk to me, as much as he wasn't allowed to - he said he shouldn't be talking to me. He also said that I should ask..." she trailed off, not wanting to say it.

"Go on love..."

"He said to... to... to ask my blood traitor. He said..."

"He said what about me, love?"

"He said you'd fill me in on his family and their reputation."

It was as if a switch had flicked in Sirius' mind as he changed in an instant, his expression becoming cold and filled with hatred.

"Excuse me." He said, as he took his hand from hers and placed it on the back of her neck, pulling her in to him, before kissing her on the cheek.

His lips lingered on her skin for a second longer than usual before he let her go and turned, striding away from the group with purpose, one fist clenched, the other holding his wand. His bag lay forgotten on the floor next to Bess.

James dropped his bag and ran after Sirius, whipping out his own wand as he went. By the time they reached the end of the corridor the duo were striding along together - a formidable force.

"But-" Bess began.

Remus cut across her, his expression sad and worry filled. "No, Bess... not this one. He'll listen to you for the others, but... this one..."

Bess frowned deeply. "Why? Who was that?"

Remus took a deep breath in before whispering, "Sirius' brother, Regulus."

"How does he know?" Bess asked slowly, eyes wide in shock.

Remus shrugged. "He just does."

Bess turned back to stare in the direction the boys had gone.

xXx

A/N:

Thank you to everyone who's read, favourited, followed, and reviewed! Shout outs to: potterrs, idreamtosmilealways, Lavendor Queen, Pewz, CharlotteGryffindor, and Guest - (She's going to give him the biggest hug! And I know! James and Sirius under an invisibility cloak is dangerous for Bess' love life haha!)