Georgia was being run ragged, she was helping Euphemia to get the house ready for the Ball, and since she was still underage and couldn't do any magic, everything that she did had to be done manually.

"Just a little bit to the left James. Sirius, move your end down a little bit." Euphemia had tasked James and Sirius with hanging up Christmas decorations, but they had to be placed in a certain way. While the two boys were doing that, Georgia and Remus were helping Felix to polish silver.

"Master Lupin and Mistress Kelly do not have to help Felix." The house-elf had tried to protest, but Georgia shook her head as she rolled up her sleeves. "It's alright Felix, we want to help you, besides, I would rather be helping you than the boys, Merlin only knows what kind of trouble they'll be causing."

James had already caused flowers to sprout out of Peter's hair, although Georgia had a suspicion that it had really been Sirius and James had just taken the fall for it. Sirius could do no wrong in Euphemia's eyes, it was like he was this perfect angel or something. Quite honestly it made James a little bit jealous, but it wasn't like there was anything that he could do about it.

Georgia and Remus helped Felix clean silver, and by the time that they were finished a couple of hours later, Georgia's arms felt numb from how hard she had been scrubbing.

Remus groaned as they walked out to the little garden. "I can't feel my arms." He complained, and Georgia laughed a bit. "It would seem that you and I are in the same boat." She said as they both sat down on a stone bench. Georgia stretched her arms out, sighing softly.

"Something on your mind?" Remus asked, and Georgia shook her head. "No, not really." She told him, which was a total lie. She was going through the conversation that she had eavesdropped on in the train, really she hadn't been able to stop thinking about it. "Actually...Remus, do...do you think that I'm weak?"

"What?" Remus furrowed his eyebrows together as he looked at her. "What makes you say..." His eyes widened in realization. "You weren't asleep, were you? You heard us talking."

Georgia nodded her head as she looked down at her hands. "I'm sorry for eavesdropping but I couldn't help it."

Remus sighed and he put a hand on her shoulder. "Georgia...you like Sirius, don't you?"

"It doesn't matter if I do or not, he said it himself that I'm not his type, so there's really no reason for me to remain hung up on him, is there?"

"Georgia-"

"Please Remus, it's fine, I'll move on." She waved her hand dismissively. "So, who all do you think is going to be coming to the party?"

Remus didn't say anything about the rather abrupt change of subject. "A lot of Pureblood families, Sirius' family is always invited, but they rarely show up, the Averys, the Malfoys-"

Georgia wrinkled her nose. "You mean that I'm going to have to put up with Lucius?"

"His father makes him be civil whenever he's at the Potter house, I daresay that Abraxas Malfoy is the only one that can keep Lucius under control. He doesn't like Muggle Borns, but he's at least civil towards them, and won't outright insult them like Lucius does."

"Well, that might make things a little bit better than. Who else is gonna be coming?"

"The Lestranges usually come, Rodolphus is going to be bringing his new wife Bellatrix. Now that's a woman that you're going to be wanting to steer clear of. She's even worse than Sirius, they're related, cousins actually." Remus shuddered a little bit. "I'm telling you, she's downright looney."

"So steer clear of the Lestranges then." Georgia said, making a mental note in her mind. She had no idea what Bellatrix looked like, but she was fairly certain that she would be able to spot a psycho woman when she saw one.

"So Georgia." They were all gathered around for dinner that evening, this time is was roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and peas. Fleamont had been asking Georgia different questions, what house she was in, if she liked Quidditch, etc. "What's your family like?" Fleamont Potter was also quite interested in Muggle things, and the way that they lived.

Georgia paused a moment when he asked her about her family. Naturally, she couldn't tell them everything, especially not the bad things, so she tried to filter about as much of it as she could. "My mother works as a nurse, my father's a banker. I don't have other siblings, but my parents have been talking about trying again." Because I was too much of a disappointment to them and they want a child that's normal. This last part she said in her head as she took a bite of mashed potatoes.

"Maybe we could meet them sometime." Euphemia said, and Georgia bit her lip. "They don't really understand the way that the wizarding world works, they're a bit confused by it all." Georgia's appetite was suddenly gone. "Excuse me, I'm not feeling very well, I think that I'm going to go and lay down for a little while." Georgia got up and left the room, hoping that no one would follow her.

However, it would seem that Sirius was too nosy for his own good, and he followed Georgia up to her bedroom, closing the door behind him. "Okay, the way that you were talking downstairs was highly suspect."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Georgia said. "And you shouldn't come into a person's bedroom without getting their permission first, it's quite rude you know."

"Okay then, can I come into your room?"

"No, you can't. As I told everyone when I was downstairs, I'm not feeling good, and I would prefer to be alone right now."

"That's bullshit." Sirius said with a scoff. "When you're sick, you get as cuddly as a koala bear, you practically latched yourself onto me when you had a cold a couple of weeks ago. Now, are you going to tell me what's really going on, or am I going to have to do some digging?"

Georgia shook her head as she got some pajamas out. "Why do you even care Sirius?"

"Georgia, you're my friend-"

"I don't want you to feel any sorrier for me than you already do."

"What's that supposed to mean-"

"I know, Sirius!" Georgia snapped at him. "I know, okay?! I heard you guys talking on the train, I know how weak and pathetic that you think I am, so don't even try to deny it. You wanna know why I let people push me around? Why I never fight back? Because it never does me any bloody good. It never did me any good with my parents, so why the hell would it work with anyone else? The only thing that fighting back has ever done me is get me even more hurt in the end." She stubbornly wiped away the tears that had been forming in her eyes, and she didn't dare look at Sirius.

"Georgia..." Sirius spoke softly. Clearly, she had been hiding a lot of things from them, and Sirius didn't know what to think about that. How bad had her home life been, and why did she think that she couldn't trust them with it. "Georgia, whatever it is that you're going through, we can help you with it-"

"Trust me Sirius, there's nothing that you can do for me." Tears dripped down the blonde girl's face, and Sirius felt his heartbreaking. "Please..." Georgia whispered. "Just go."

Silently, Sirius backed out of the room. He should have seen the signs sooner. She was clearly being abused at home, just like he himself was. So why hadn't he seen it? Seen that she needed help? Well, Sirius was determined to help her now. He knew that he had made a mistake, Georgia wasn't pathetic, she was incredibly brave and strong, and somehow, Sirius was going to make sure that she saw that part of herself, no matter what it might take.