Year 2: Chapter 32

"Amanda do you want to come outside with us?"

"Umm… Thanks Lily but I need to speak to Sirius about something, I'll find you later okay."

As the other girls left to go outside Amanda looked around her room. Her chest was killing her and she removed the concealment charm and looked at the damage her cousin had caused. Her right eye was large and swollen and her nose still looked very red.

Her stomach though was black, he had hit her with a lot of force and the bruise had spread up to her chest. She wanted to cry she couldn't believe that he had done this to her. She however quickly repeated the spell hiding the damage from view and headed out.

Peter was down in the common room collecting something. As he was about to go back to the dorms she called to him

"Is Sirius up there?"

"No he's in the library."

She nodded and left out the door. She made her way quickly down to the library and opened the door.

He was easy to spot he was the only other person in the library. He was sat at a large table with books surrounding him. He hadn't looked up and she moved straight to him, one of the books lay on the floor and she picked it up carefully.

Pain shot through her stomach and she cringed. Dropping the book onto the desk he looked up. She tried to sit and more pain shot through her. She forced her body to sit trying to hide the pain from showing on her face.

"Sirius can I talk to you?"

"Can it wait Mand I'm busy."

"No. It's really important Si, I need some advice and…"

"Go speak to the girls Mand, I'm doing something important."

"What? Reading a book, really important Si."

"I'm helping Remus, I've got more important thing to do than listen to you moan."

"Moan! Oh well thanks Sirius, I thought you were my friend but let me guess Remus comes first right."

"Yes! His problem is more important than anything you could say Mand."

Amanda felt tears in her eyes as she caught her breath bidding them to stay hidden. He was her best friend, she considered him above Ginny she had known him forever and would trust him with secrets she couldn't even tell the girls.

Without thinking she moved her hand back and then with all her strength pushed it across his face. Her hand stung as she moved it back to her side. She was hurt and shocked with her own actions.

She could tell that he was annoyed with her but she was hurt, she needed him more now than ever before and he was refusing her, telling her his other friends were more important than her.

"That's it Amanda stay away from me! I don't want to speak to you."

She turned and left her eyes were sore and the tears ran away with her, she ignored it and ran up to the Gryffindor Tower. She went into her room and slumped onto her bed. Her tears fell harder and she cried hard into her pillow, her eyes puffy but she couldn't stop.

She heard the door open and heard footfalls come near her, she still didn't look up as her tears still fell.

"Mand! What's wrong?"

She looked up and heard Lily take a breath she had wide eyes and they were filling with tears.

"Mand your eye, what happened?"

She lifted her hand to her eye and with horror noted the spell had worn off. She sat back on her bed and looked up at Lily.

"I'm so confused Lily, I just. I don't know what to do!"

Lily sat next to her and wrapped her arm around her shoulder drawing her to herself.

"Tell me what's happened Mand."

"Billy Morgan asked me out yesterday."

"Really, he's a fifth year isn't he?"

"Yeah and well he's my boyfriend now, and that's half the problem."

"He did this!"

"No, of course not."

"Well who?"

"Lucius! Billy's a muggleborn, he's not good enough for me, or at least that's what my kind think. Lucius told me I had to call it all off, and he beat me up. That's why I was on the floor last night."

"But how did you hide that eye from us?"

Amanda picked up her wand and pointed it at her face.

"Oncealcay ontusioncay"

The tingle moved over her face and then she heard Lily's intake of breath.

"Where'd you learn that?"

Amanda didn't know how to tell Lily this. So much of her past was unknown how could she explain that she was from a family that didn't believe in love. A family that only had children to produce a son. It wasn't right.

She knew Lily was loved. She had seen that first hand last year how could she tell her this. It would be hard. Her family never told others of their problems and even though she wasn't like them in all aspects she had developed their stubbornness, their pride, their anger. How else could she explain herself?

Finally she met Lily's eyes, saw her worry and realised that she was loved. Her friends cared about her, her real friends. The way she had once thought Sirius had loved her, but that wasn't right she shouldn't but then she had to.

"You have to know the concealment charm in my family. It's normal to be beaten I've being using this spell since I was three, if you don't follow the rules, do something wrong you get beaten."

Lily looked more shocked as she pulled her friend close to her. Amanda winced and Lily looked at her. Amanda knew what Lily wanted to know so she lifted her shirt to show her stomach. Lily began to cry more seeing the bruising.

"That's why you were crying!"

"No. I'm use to this, it was Sirius. The way he told me to leave, that he didn't want to hear my troubles because Remus is more important. I thought he was my friend. I did, but he's not. He doesn't care. I need him he knows my family's ways he knows why this is wrong, but he didn't want to see me."

Amanda burst into tears again and wrapped her arms around Lily's neck. She felt her friend pat her back and she felt relieved, she needed somebody to talk to and Lily had listened. Lily was there for her.

"Thanks Lily."

"What for?"

"Just for listening."

A new relationship was now being formed between the girls, this was something new and a bound was formed between them and they knew that they would forever be friends.