Chapter Twelve
Being as it was Sunday, it seemed that everyone's internal alarm clock was either not set to go off until one in the afternoon or set to permanent snooze because it was nearing ten o'clock and the lazy, weekend atmosphere still permeated through the air. Darwin awoke but didn't feel as though she really had. She still felt tired, her eyes remained closed and she didn't move. Her breathing remained deep and steady and her limbs felt heavy.
She flipped on to her other side, facing Remus, and snuggled up against his side. She felt his arm loosely wrap around her and the smile that came to her face couldn't be stopped. The events of the previous night were still fresh in her mind, and perhaps it was the fact that she just couldn't persuade herself to stop thinking about them that convinced her that Remus wasn't being quite truthful. It just seemed so fabricated. He just up and disappeared, while no one at all would say where he'd gone, and then came back and acted like it was nothing. After overhearing James, Peter and Sirius talking in that out-of-the-way classroom, she had absolutely no doubts that they were hiding something from her.
That being said, she was also just as willing to believe that Remus had a right to his privacy. If he deemed it appropriate to tell her something, then she was sure he would. Other then that, she would resign herself to asking the odd question, but refused to pry.
She opened her eyes just slightly. Even though the hangings were closed, light still filtered in through the fabric, creating patches of light over them both. If felt so safe and warm in that little space. Darwin felt like she could forget about the rest of the world and it's problems so long as she could stay there with Remus, snuggled warmly under the blankets, resting on his chest. She glanced up at him and had to smile again. The morning light illuminated his pale features in a way that made him look almost ethereal. His high cheekbones were even more pronounced and his mess of brown-blonde chin length hair rested about his head like a halo. Of course, she would never tell him that. It would embarrass him too much.
She gave a little giggle at this and then pulled herself closer to him, resting in the crook of his shoulder and his neck. She nuzzled the skin there with her nose and then kissed it gently. At first he gave no response, but after a moment of gently kissing and sucking, she felt his arm tighten about her, bringing her even closer. She ran her free hand down his chest, coming to a stop at his stomach were her fingers danced in little circles upon his skin.
She watched his face closely. It was fascinating. For someone so attractive, Remus had hardly any experience at all. Although, Darwin couldn't say much more for herself, it was clear that Remus was much more driven by sex then she was and arousal in him was always much more obvious. His lips parted slightly and his eyes opened just a crack. His sleepy eyes rolled to regard her with a look of pure want. At this, she decided to keep going. She kissed up and down his neck, stopping to suck on his ear lobe and the nape of his neck. She could hear his breathing quicken while he made a few small noises in his throat.
His hand deftly slide up her side and came to rest on her breast. He didn't grab, instead, his hand remained perfectly still, just lightly resting there. Darwin got the impression that he was too shy to try anything else. Just as Darwin was slowly beginning to unbutton his shirt, James had to interrupt.
"Morning sunshine!-----holy shit."
"James!" Darwin exclaimed, truly surprised.
In one swift motion James had opened the hangings around Remus's bed, only to close them just as quickly. She could hear him shuffle off to the other side of the room as she and Remus immediately stopped what they were doing. Darwin could feel herself slightly blushing and looking to Remus, she found that he looked quite perplexed.
"Is that Darwin?" She heard Sirius ask and let out of sigh of frustration. Nothing good could come of this.
"......no." James replied.
"I think it was." Sirius nearly growled.
"........no?" James tried again.
There was a moment's pause and Darwin could feel her stomach tightening into a knot. What was he going to do? What would he say when he say them lying there together? Without even thinking about it, Darwin clasped Remus's hand in hers, winding her fingers tightly.
"I think you're just imagining things, mate. Go back to sleep." James suggested. Unfortunately, James's powers of persuasion only worked on those who weren't exposed to them 24/7, and so Sirius was quite immune.
Darwin heard heavy foot steps crossing the room and all she could do was hope for the best. It wasn't as if she could run. She glanced to Remus and gave him a weak smile. He returned the smile and gave her a reassuring little hug.
"No! Sirius, stop! They-re–they're naked!" James called after him. Not surprisingly, that was quite the wrong thing to say.
"WHAT?!"Sirius yelled. Darwin heard his footsteps come to an abrupt stop in the middle of the room. She could just see him through a small crack in between the bed hangings. His arms were taunt at his sides and he was breathing very fast. His face was slightly red and his entire body was tense. In spite of herself, Darwin began to feel a little worried, not only for her, but for Remus as well.
Even though she knew that technically, this was none of his business and that in reality what he was doing was unfair, she just couldn't quite bring herself to believe it. Perhaps it was because she had known him for so long and so well that he had a sort of authority that permeated through all of her affairs. He had always played the role of older brother and protector and up until this point, she had more or less appreciated it. It only seemed to be the natural order of things that that authority would apply even now, when it was unwanted.
Darwin swallowed hard as she saw Sirius take the last few steps between him and the bed. Without pretense he gruffly grabbed the fabric before him and threw it back. If he was at all relieved to see that she and Remus were, in fact, fully clothed, he didn't show it.
His face was contorted in a horrid expression of anger, and he had gone even more red in the face. For a moment, he said nothing, only glared at Darwin as if she had committed the gravest of sins. For her part, Darwin stood her ground and glared right back. This was none of his business. If she chose to spend the night with Remus, so be it. He would just have to accept it. At least, that's what she kept telling herself. Unfortunately for Remus, he, along with James, was left as an awkward spectator.
"What are you doing here?"He spat.
At first, Darwin couldn't even respond. The edge in his voice had been razor sharp. He was furious and Darwin had very little experiencing of dealing with him when he was in this state. She knew he had a temper, but, as was usually on the case, she would soothe him and tell him to calm down, not be on the receiving end of it.
Darwin cleared her throat and was prepared to give it her best shot. He was quite intimidating, after all.
"That," She began coldly, "Is none of your business."
"None of my business?"He repeated, his anger bubbling to the surface.
"Yes. You heard right. None of your business." Darwin told him, her eyes never leaving his, as she deftly crawled out of the bed.
"I hardly think so. Darwin, you shouldn't have come here." He said sternly, taking a step closer to her.
"Who are you to say what I should and shouldn't do. You aren't my father." She said heatedly.
"If your father knew, he wouldn't approve. Darwin, you can't do this." He growled.
"I'll do whatever I damn well please!"She nearly screamed. Sometimes, it all just got too much. She had been protected by Sirius in some way or another for most of her life, and at that moment, that protection just felt stifling.
"How can you talk to me like that? To me?! Over him?" He shouted back. This time it was Darwin who took a step closer.
"Sirius, right now, you're acting like the world's biggest prick. It's more then you deserve. Leave Remus out of this. He's better then you'll ever be." She said lowly. They're faces were inches apart now. She could see the sweat gathering on his brow. Right then, she wanted to punch him in the face and make him bleed. The nerve! She clenched her hands in fists at her sides and she could feel herself shaking. She bit her bottom lip as her breath came in short, heavy gasps.
At her last comment, she saw his face twitch and his arms tense up. She didn't care how angry she made him, in her opinion, he deserved it. Somewhere, from the corner of her eye, Darwin noticed Peter meekly crawl out of bed to observe the unfolding scene. All things considered, it was probably quite a strange sight for him to wake up to.
"Darwin, you wouldn't say that if you knew---" He began, but Darwin didn't let him finish.
"Knew what!? That you're a self-centered, egotistical jackass?" She shot back.
He didn't say anything at first and a look of hurt momentarily came t his face. It was gone in a second, only to be replaced with an even deeper anger.
"Darwin I've never done anything but care for you." Sirius said in a very low, deliberate tone.
"Yeah? Well, you can stop caring for me now. Sirius, I just want you out of my life." She replied harshly. She was quite surprised to find that her eyes were wet and throat was sore.
Sirius's eyes had gone red and some of his anger seemed to have dissipated.
"Darwin, you're acting like a little spoiled bit--"Darwin could see the last word forming on his lips and was fully prepared to tear his hair out, except at that exact moment, Sloan Chapman, the Ravenclaw friend of Lily and Darwin and their roommate, Holly, came bustling into the room.
In an instant, everyone's attention was immediately focused on the two new arrivals, who oddly seemed like intruders to the fairly private scene.
"Something's happened." Sloan panted. Her eyes were wide and her faced was flushed. It was quite apparent that she and Holly had run to the boys' dormitory from a distant location.
Holly was doubled over, holding her stomach, her eyes wild, her hair a tangled mess, and a panicked look on her face. Sloan took a few tentative steps forward, for the first time realizing that perhaps she should've knocked. She glanced around the room, at the no doubt dubious looks of it's occupants, and gave a sheepish grin.
Overall, she was a completely mediocre and uninteresting person except for the fact that she appeared to own the largest collection of accessories throughout the entire castle. She had wrapped a colourful purple and blue scarf about her neck, a pink plastic flower rested in her hair, every one of her fingers was adorned with a ring, her shoes didn't match in a festive sort of way, and her wrists were loaded down with a vast assortment of bangles and beaded bracelets that clanked as she walked.
"Sorry to interrupt, but something's happened." She repeated, still not having fully caught her breath yet.
In addition to owning an inordinately large amount of decorative items, Sloan was also a walking conduit for gossip. She never ceased talking and if ever she heard, or knew, anything that anyone else might find even remotely interesting, you could be sure that everyone would sooner or later hear about it.
"Uh, ladies? Can it wait. This isn't the best time." James started. Darwin and Sirius had returned to staring each other down, and for the moment, Darwin didn't care what Sloan had to say.
"We're real sorry James, but it can't wait." Holly said from her spot near the door. She seemed to have caught her breath and now her hands were planted firmly on her hips. "A whole group of students have been injured." She said ominously.
"What? Injured?" James said, the smirk evident in his voice. "Like, they all fell out of the same tree or something?"
"No , James. They were attacked."Holly replied uneasily. This then set of a whole string of questions which were all asked at the same time and none of which could be answered properly because they could not be heard.
"- - -attacked?"
"- - it happen?"
"- - they okay or- -"
Darwin forgot about Sirius for the moment, and instead looked frantically around. Something about this just hit too close to home.
"Look, we don't know much. We only happened to be walking past the Hospital Wing when the students were brought in. It happened when they were in Hogsmeade this morning." Sloan supplied
Darwin could already hear Sloan embellishing this story later on and was glad that she had heard it relatively first hand.
"Do you know who got hurt?" Darwin asked, stepping away from Sirius and toward Sloan.
"We don't know who they were for sure, but there's already a rumor going around that they were all Muggle born." At this Darwin felt a strange lump for in her throat and her stomach felt queasy. She was Muggle born. Of course for now though, that was just a rumor, and she willed herself to ignore the implications of it if it were found to be true.
What happened remained to Darwin as a blur. The stating of the rumor that the students who were attacked were all Muggle born was followed by several quick, nervous conversations that all occurred at the same time. Darwin wrapped her arms about herself and kept her eyes on the floor. She didn't want to think about it now. Her hands still shook from her argument with Sirius and felt a little dizzy. Soon, people began to clear out of the dormitory and Darwin found that Remus had wrapped his arms about her and was leading her down to the common room.
When they arrived there, despite the early weekend hour, they found it buzzing with activity. Apparently, good news travels fast. It was evident that everyone was talking about the attack and those who didn't know about it were quickly informed and drawn into the discussions. Through the great gossip-network that existed between the houses, it was discovered that all those students who had been attacked were Muggle born. The veracity of this claim, however, rested on nothing more reliable then the testimony of "friends of friends" of the victims and so still, Darwin willed herself not to get too worried.
This didn't seem to deter anyone from talking about it though, and so for the next few hours, Darwin sat dejectedly in a group of her closest friends, listening to them consider and reconsider who might be behind the attack. After a little while, Sloan clearly felt they need to spread her news to a new group of people and so headed back to her own common room, while Holly soundlessly disappeared, only to be replaced by Lily moments later. Early on, groups of students had ventured out into the castle, in search of more information, but they were soon turned back to their common rooms but irritated prefects. So, this left the entire discussion up to pure speculation.
"I bet the Syltherins had something to do with this." Sirius said resentfully from his chair near the book shelf in the corner.
There was a soft round of sounds of agreement from the people there, which was only interrupted by Lily.
"Does that really makes sense though?" She asked. "I mean sure, they're mean and we don't like them and we'd like to beat them at Quidditch, but does that really make them the type attack other students?" Lily usually had very little problem being unbiased and more or less played the voice of reason in the group.
"I have to agree with Lily. We know they're prats, but come on, I doubt they'd try and pull something like this." Remus said from his spot on one of the plushy couches next to Darwin. Darwin, for her part, was only idling listening and had stopped participating in the discussion a long time ago.
"But so many of them have parents that are associated with the Death Eaters." Peter piped up. Peter, of all of them, was on the friendliest terms with the Syltherins and perhaps his willingness to believe them had something to do with the attack was a clear implication. "Geoffrey tells me about it all the time." Peter finished with a odd quirk of his head, referring to his friend who resided in the Slytherin House.
"That's all just speculation." Remus retorted.
"But still," Sirius began, leaning forward in his chair. "From the sounds of it, it's like the attackers knew to go specifically for the Muggle born students. Last time I checked, there aren't any all Muggle-born clubs at this school which means there must have been some purebloods with them. Only someone who's knows the student population of this school well could have managed that."
"Maybe it's just a coincidence?" Remus asked tentatively. Sirius shot him an angry look that spoke volumes and neither said anything else.
While this was going on, Darwin fiddled with the fraying edge of her robes, a jumble of thoughts running through her head. It was actually a few moments before the memory of her run in with Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy was made relevant in her mind to the current situation.
"No."She said softy. She could feel everyone's eyes turn to her, but she kept her attention to on the frayed sleeve of her robe.
"No what?" James asked.
"No, it's not a coincidence." Her voice remained low as mind slowly mulled over the thoughts in her head. "Just the other day, I went up to the owlery to send a letter to my parents and I ran into Snape and Malfoy there."She could tell she had everyone's attention and it made her feel decidedly uncomfortable.
"Malfoy knew where I was born and the name of both my parents. He knew they were Muggles and," She stopped for a second to let out a shaky sigh. "He called me a Mudblood."
"Why that little bastard." She heard Remus growl under his breath. Darwin still remained indifferent to the scene, but was comforted when she felt Remus wrap his about her.
"Well, that settles it then, doesn't it?" Peter said very quickly.
"I think I have to agree. Darwin's barely said two words to Malfoy the whole time we've been at school. There's no way he could know all of that just by association." James said reluctantly. His usually high spirits were suddenly dampened. This seemed to take a little bit of joy out of everyone present.
"Is there a way we can prove it though? It's one thing for all us to agree that they had something to do with this, it's quite another to actually have proof." Lily stated, again being very reasonable.
"We have to get into their common room." James said, a hint of adventure in his voice. "From there, we can get into their dorms. If there's any evidence to be found, it's likely to be stowed away somewhere in there."
This seemed to be what everyone one was thinking because there were no protests. Everyone set about immediately on trying to figure out the best way to achieve this.
"Peter, have you been in their common room before?" Sirius asked, leaning back in his chair again and scratching his forearm. Darwin met his eyes for a moment, but then quickly turned away, looking to Remus instead. If Sirius responded to this action at all, Darwin was oblivious to it.
"Yes, but I don't know the password." He said regretfully.
"But you do know where their common room is?" Sirius pressed.
"Yes. Sure, I know where it is."
"Perfect. We should have no problem getting their password then."
Peter's face looked momentarily puzzled, but the look vanished after a few seconds. Lily and Darwin though, were still quite confused.
"How are you going to get the password?" Lily asked James.
"I'm going to wait outside their common room until I hear one of them say it." James replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"But, won't they see and then not say the password?" Lily asked, very slowly.
"They won't see me." James replied confidently.
".......okay." Lily finished, looking more confused then she had looked when she first started asking the question. James had a way about him though. If he didn't want to tell you something, he wasn't going to tell you, or worse yet, he would make you believe something totally wrong and asinine and so, after years of experience, they all had learned to just take what James said at face value.
"But say we do get their password, what then? We can hardly just stroll into their common room. There's bound to be at least a few students there at any given time throughout the day." Darwin stated, coming out of her cocoon of indifference. Even though the plan didn't make a whole lot of logical sense, it was enticing, none the less.
"Easy." James replied, after thinking for a moment. "We'll go in this Friday when we have a match against them. The place is bound to be deserted."
This presented only one problem.
"But James," Lily started, scratching her head. "How will you be able to sneak into their common room while you're playing Quidditch?"
Darwin could hear the answer before James even said it.
"Simple. I'm not going into their common room. Neither is Sirius or Remus. You are."
Lily looked momentarily shocked, and then her face transformed into an absolute mask of skepticism.
"Me? I hardly think I'm capable." For Darwin, the sentiment was mutual.
"I'll go with you." Darwin told her, straitening her back, restlessly cracking the knuckles of her left hand. She somehow felt obligated that she should go. After all, it was because of her that everyone was now convinced that the Slytherins, or at least some of them, had played a vital role in the attack.
Both Remus and Sirius quickly looked to her, but it was Remus who voiced their clearly mutual concern.
"Are you sure? It could be, well, a little dangerous." Remus said softly. If Lily was offended that no one had afforded her the same concern, she didn't show it. She was too busy laughing at something that James was telling her.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll be fine." She replied with a weak little smile.
A/N: I really can't explain why I've started writing this again. I'm not even sure if it's a phase that will last. It's probably pretty clear that I've almost completely lost the thread of this story and so if some parts don't make any sense, please just let me know. But, anyway, um, yeah. So. Enjoy, if you can ;-).
Being as it was Sunday, it seemed that everyone's internal alarm clock was either not set to go off until one in the afternoon or set to permanent snooze because it was nearing ten o'clock and the lazy, weekend atmosphere still permeated through the air. Darwin awoke but didn't feel as though she really had. She still felt tired, her eyes remained closed and she didn't move. Her breathing remained deep and steady and her limbs felt heavy.
She flipped on to her other side, facing Remus, and snuggled up against his side. She felt his arm loosely wrap around her and the smile that came to her face couldn't be stopped. The events of the previous night were still fresh in her mind, and perhaps it was the fact that she just couldn't persuade herself to stop thinking about them that convinced her that Remus wasn't being quite truthful. It just seemed so fabricated. He just up and disappeared, while no one at all would say where he'd gone, and then came back and acted like it was nothing. After overhearing James, Peter and Sirius talking in that out-of-the-way classroom, she had absolutely no doubts that they were hiding something from her.
That being said, she was also just as willing to believe that Remus had a right to his privacy. If he deemed it appropriate to tell her something, then she was sure he would. Other then that, she would resign herself to asking the odd question, but refused to pry.
She opened her eyes just slightly. Even though the hangings were closed, light still filtered in through the fabric, creating patches of light over them both. If felt so safe and warm in that little space. Darwin felt like she could forget about the rest of the world and it's problems so long as she could stay there with Remus, snuggled warmly under the blankets, resting on his chest. She glanced up at him and had to smile again. The morning light illuminated his pale features in a way that made him look almost ethereal. His high cheekbones were even more pronounced and his mess of brown-blonde chin length hair rested about his head like a halo. Of course, she would never tell him that. It would embarrass him too much.
She gave a little giggle at this and then pulled herself closer to him, resting in the crook of his shoulder and his neck. She nuzzled the skin there with her nose and then kissed it gently. At first he gave no response, but after a moment of gently kissing and sucking, she felt his arm tighten about her, bringing her even closer. She ran her free hand down his chest, coming to a stop at his stomach were her fingers danced in little circles upon his skin.
She watched his face closely. It was fascinating. For someone so attractive, Remus had hardly any experience at all. Although, Darwin couldn't say much more for herself, it was clear that Remus was much more driven by sex then she was and arousal in him was always much more obvious. His lips parted slightly and his eyes opened just a crack. His sleepy eyes rolled to regard her with a look of pure want. At this, she decided to keep going. She kissed up and down his neck, stopping to suck on his ear lobe and the nape of his neck. She could hear his breathing quicken while he made a few small noises in his throat.
His hand deftly slide up her side and came to rest on her breast. He didn't grab, instead, his hand remained perfectly still, just lightly resting there. Darwin got the impression that he was too shy to try anything else. Just as Darwin was slowly beginning to unbutton his shirt, James had to interrupt.
"Morning sunshine!-----holy shit."
"James!" Darwin exclaimed, truly surprised.
In one swift motion James had opened the hangings around Remus's bed, only to close them just as quickly. She could hear him shuffle off to the other side of the room as she and Remus immediately stopped what they were doing. Darwin could feel herself slightly blushing and looking to Remus, she found that he looked quite perplexed.
"Is that Darwin?" She heard Sirius ask and let out of sigh of frustration. Nothing good could come of this.
"......no." James replied.
"I think it was." Sirius nearly growled.
"........no?" James tried again.
There was a moment's pause and Darwin could feel her stomach tightening into a knot. What was he going to do? What would he say when he say them lying there together? Without even thinking about it, Darwin clasped Remus's hand in hers, winding her fingers tightly.
"I think you're just imagining things, mate. Go back to sleep." James suggested. Unfortunately, James's powers of persuasion only worked on those who weren't exposed to them 24/7, and so Sirius was quite immune.
Darwin heard heavy foot steps crossing the room and all she could do was hope for the best. It wasn't as if she could run. She glanced to Remus and gave him a weak smile. He returned the smile and gave her a reassuring little hug.
"No! Sirius, stop! They-re–they're naked!" James called after him. Not surprisingly, that was quite the wrong thing to say.
"WHAT?!"Sirius yelled. Darwin heard his footsteps come to an abrupt stop in the middle of the room. She could just see him through a small crack in between the bed hangings. His arms were taunt at his sides and he was breathing very fast. His face was slightly red and his entire body was tense. In spite of herself, Darwin began to feel a little worried, not only for her, but for Remus as well.
Even though she knew that technically, this was none of his business and that in reality what he was doing was unfair, she just couldn't quite bring herself to believe it. Perhaps it was because she had known him for so long and so well that he had a sort of authority that permeated through all of her affairs. He had always played the role of older brother and protector and up until this point, she had more or less appreciated it. It only seemed to be the natural order of things that that authority would apply even now, when it was unwanted.
Darwin swallowed hard as she saw Sirius take the last few steps between him and the bed. Without pretense he gruffly grabbed the fabric before him and threw it back. If he was at all relieved to see that she and Remus were, in fact, fully clothed, he didn't show it.
His face was contorted in a horrid expression of anger, and he had gone even more red in the face. For a moment, he said nothing, only glared at Darwin as if she had committed the gravest of sins. For her part, Darwin stood her ground and glared right back. This was none of his business. If she chose to spend the night with Remus, so be it. He would just have to accept it. At least, that's what she kept telling herself. Unfortunately for Remus, he, along with James, was left as an awkward spectator.
"What are you doing here?"He spat.
At first, Darwin couldn't even respond. The edge in his voice had been razor sharp. He was furious and Darwin had very little experiencing of dealing with him when he was in this state. She knew he had a temper, but, as was usually on the case, she would soothe him and tell him to calm down, not be on the receiving end of it.
Darwin cleared her throat and was prepared to give it her best shot. He was quite intimidating, after all.
"That," She began coldly, "Is none of your business."
"None of my business?"He repeated, his anger bubbling to the surface.
"Yes. You heard right. None of your business." Darwin told him, her eyes never leaving his, as she deftly crawled out of the bed.
"I hardly think so. Darwin, you shouldn't have come here." He said sternly, taking a step closer to her.
"Who are you to say what I should and shouldn't do. You aren't my father." She said heatedly.
"If your father knew, he wouldn't approve. Darwin, you can't do this." He growled.
"I'll do whatever I damn well please!"She nearly screamed. Sometimes, it all just got too much. She had been protected by Sirius in some way or another for most of her life, and at that moment, that protection just felt stifling.
"How can you talk to me like that? To me?! Over him?" He shouted back. This time it was Darwin who took a step closer.
"Sirius, right now, you're acting like the world's biggest prick. It's more then you deserve. Leave Remus out of this. He's better then you'll ever be." She said lowly. They're faces were inches apart now. She could see the sweat gathering on his brow. Right then, she wanted to punch him in the face and make him bleed. The nerve! She clenched her hands in fists at her sides and she could feel herself shaking. She bit her bottom lip as her breath came in short, heavy gasps.
At her last comment, she saw his face twitch and his arms tense up. She didn't care how angry she made him, in her opinion, he deserved it. Somewhere, from the corner of her eye, Darwin noticed Peter meekly crawl out of bed to observe the unfolding scene. All things considered, it was probably quite a strange sight for him to wake up to.
"Darwin, you wouldn't say that if you knew---" He began, but Darwin didn't let him finish.
"Knew what!? That you're a self-centered, egotistical jackass?" She shot back.
He didn't say anything at first and a look of hurt momentarily came t his face. It was gone in a second, only to be replaced with an even deeper anger.
"Darwin I've never done anything but care for you." Sirius said in a very low, deliberate tone.
"Yeah? Well, you can stop caring for me now. Sirius, I just want you out of my life." She replied harshly. She was quite surprised to find that her eyes were wet and throat was sore.
Sirius's eyes had gone red and some of his anger seemed to have dissipated.
"Darwin, you're acting like a little spoiled bit--"Darwin could see the last word forming on his lips and was fully prepared to tear his hair out, except at that exact moment, Sloan Chapman, the Ravenclaw friend of Lily and Darwin and their roommate, Holly, came bustling into the room.
In an instant, everyone's attention was immediately focused on the two new arrivals, who oddly seemed like intruders to the fairly private scene.
"Something's happened." Sloan panted. Her eyes were wide and her faced was flushed. It was quite apparent that she and Holly had run to the boys' dormitory from a distant location.
Holly was doubled over, holding her stomach, her eyes wild, her hair a tangled mess, and a panicked look on her face. Sloan took a few tentative steps forward, for the first time realizing that perhaps she should've knocked. She glanced around the room, at the no doubt dubious looks of it's occupants, and gave a sheepish grin.
Overall, she was a completely mediocre and uninteresting person except for the fact that she appeared to own the largest collection of accessories throughout the entire castle. She had wrapped a colourful purple and blue scarf about her neck, a pink plastic flower rested in her hair, every one of her fingers was adorned with a ring, her shoes didn't match in a festive sort of way, and her wrists were loaded down with a vast assortment of bangles and beaded bracelets that clanked as she walked.
"Sorry to interrupt, but something's happened." She repeated, still not having fully caught her breath yet.
In addition to owning an inordinately large amount of decorative items, Sloan was also a walking conduit for gossip. She never ceased talking and if ever she heard, or knew, anything that anyone else might find even remotely interesting, you could be sure that everyone would sooner or later hear about it.
"Uh, ladies? Can it wait. This isn't the best time." James started. Darwin and Sirius had returned to staring each other down, and for the moment, Darwin didn't care what Sloan had to say.
"We're real sorry James, but it can't wait." Holly said from her spot near the door. She seemed to have caught her breath and now her hands were planted firmly on her hips. "A whole group of students have been injured." She said ominously.
"What? Injured?" James said, the smirk evident in his voice. "Like, they all fell out of the same tree or something?"
"No , James. They were attacked."Holly replied uneasily. This then set of a whole string of questions which were all asked at the same time and none of which could be answered properly because they could not be heard.
"- - -attacked?"
"- - it happen?"
"- - they okay or- -"
Darwin forgot about Sirius for the moment, and instead looked frantically around. Something about this just hit too close to home.
"Look, we don't know much. We only happened to be walking past the Hospital Wing when the students were brought in. It happened when they were in Hogsmeade this morning." Sloan supplied
Darwin could already hear Sloan embellishing this story later on and was glad that she had heard it relatively first hand.
"Do you know who got hurt?" Darwin asked, stepping away from Sirius and toward Sloan.
"We don't know who they were for sure, but there's already a rumor going around that they were all Muggle born." At this Darwin felt a strange lump for in her throat and her stomach felt queasy. She was Muggle born. Of course for now though, that was just a rumor, and she willed herself to ignore the implications of it if it were found to be true.
What happened remained to Darwin as a blur. The stating of the rumor that the students who were attacked were all Muggle born was followed by several quick, nervous conversations that all occurred at the same time. Darwin wrapped her arms about herself and kept her eyes on the floor. She didn't want to think about it now. Her hands still shook from her argument with Sirius and felt a little dizzy. Soon, people began to clear out of the dormitory and Darwin found that Remus had wrapped his arms about her and was leading her down to the common room.
When they arrived there, despite the early weekend hour, they found it buzzing with activity. Apparently, good news travels fast. It was evident that everyone was talking about the attack and those who didn't know about it were quickly informed and drawn into the discussions. Through the great gossip-network that existed between the houses, it was discovered that all those students who had been attacked were Muggle born. The veracity of this claim, however, rested on nothing more reliable then the testimony of "friends of friends" of the victims and so still, Darwin willed herself not to get too worried.
This didn't seem to deter anyone from talking about it though, and so for the next few hours, Darwin sat dejectedly in a group of her closest friends, listening to them consider and reconsider who might be behind the attack. After a little while, Sloan clearly felt they need to spread her news to a new group of people and so headed back to her own common room, while Holly soundlessly disappeared, only to be replaced by Lily moments later. Early on, groups of students had ventured out into the castle, in search of more information, but they were soon turned back to their common rooms but irritated prefects. So, this left the entire discussion up to pure speculation.
"I bet the Syltherins had something to do with this." Sirius said resentfully from his chair near the book shelf in the corner.
There was a soft round of sounds of agreement from the people there, which was only interrupted by Lily.
"Does that really makes sense though?" She asked. "I mean sure, they're mean and we don't like them and we'd like to beat them at Quidditch, but does that really make them the type attack other students?" Lily usually had very little problem being unbiased and more or less played the voice of reason in the group.
"I have to agree with Lily. We know they're prats, but come on, I doubt they'd try and pull something like this." Remus said from his spot on one of the plushy couches next to Darwin. Darwin, for her part, was only idling listening and had stopped participating in the discussion a long time ago.
"But so many of them have parents that are associated with the Death Eaters." Peter piped up. Peter, of all of them, was on the friendliest terms with the Syltherins and perhaps his willingness to believe them had something to do with the attack was a clear implication. "Geoffrey tells me about it all the time." Peter finished with a odd quirk of his head, referring to his friend who resided in the Slytherin House.
"That's all just speculation." Remus retorted.
"But still," Sirius began, leaning forward in his chair. "From the sounds of it, it's like the attackers knew to go specifically for the Muggle born students. Last time I checked, there aren't any all Muggle-born clubs at this school which means there must have been some purebloods with them. Only someone who's knows the student population of this school well could have managed that."
"Maybe it's just a coincidence?" Remus asked tentatively. Sirius shot him an angry look that spoke volumes and neither said anything else.
While this was going on, Darwin fiddled with the fraying edge of her robes, a jumble of thoughts running through her head. It was actually a few moments before the memory of her run in with Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy was made relevant in her mind to the current situation.
"No."She said softy. She could feel everyone's eyes turn to her, but she kept her attention to on the frayed sleeve of her robe.
"No what?" James asked.
"No, it's not a coincidence." Her voice remained low as mind slowly mulled over the thoughts in her head. "Just the other day, I went up to the owlery to send a letter to my parents and I ran into Snape and Malfoy there."She could tell she had everyone's attention and it made her feel decidedly uncomfortable.
"Malfoy knew where I was born and the name of both my parents. He knew they were Muggles and," She stopped for a second to let out a shaky sigh. "He called me a Mudblood."
"Why that little bastard." She heard Remus growl under his breath. Darwin still remained indifferent to the scene, but was comforted when she felt Remus wrap his about her.
"Well, that settles it then, doesn't it?" Peter said very quickly.
"I think I have to agree. Darwin's barely said two words to Malfoy the whole time we've been at school. There's no way he could know all of that just by association." James said reluctantly. His usually high spirits were suddenly dampened. This seemed to take a little bit of joy out of everyone present.
"Is there a way we can prove it though? It's one thing for all us to agree that they had something to do with this, it's quite another to actually have proof." Lily stated, again being very reasonable.
"We have to get into their common room." James said, a hint of adventure in his voice. "From there, we can get into their dorms. If there's any evidence to be found, it's likely to be stowed away somewhere in there."
This seemed to be what everyone one was thinking because there were no protests. Everyone set about immediately on trying to figure out the best way to achieve this.
"Peter, have you been in their common room before?" Sirius asked, leaning back in his chair again and scratching his forearm. Darwin met his eyes for a moment, but then quickly turned away, looking to Remus instead. If Sirius responded to this action at all, Darwin was oblivious to it.
"Yes, but I don't know the password." He said regretfully.
"But you do know where their common room is?" Sirius pressed.
"Yes. Sure, I know where it is."
"Perfect. We should have no problem getting their password then."
Peter's face looked momentarily puzzled, but the look vanished after a few seconds. Lily and Darwin though, were still quite confused.
"How are you going to get the password?" Lily asked James.
"I'm going to wait outside their common room until I hear one of them say it." James replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"But, won't they see and then not say the password?" Lily asked, very slowly.
"They won't see me." James replied confidently.
".......okay." Lily finished, looking more confused then she had looked when she first started asking the question. James had a way about him though. If he didn't want to tell you something, he wasn't going to tell you, or worse yet, he would make you believe something totally wrong and asinine and so, after years of experience, they all had learned to just take what James said at face value.
"But say we do get their password, what then? We can hardly just stroll into their common room. There's bound to be at least a few students there at any given time throughout the day." Darwin stated, coming out of her cocoon of indifference. Even though the plan didn't make a whole lot of logical sense, it was enticing, none the less.
"Easy." James replied, after thinking for a moment. "We'll go in this Friday when we have a match against them. The place is bound to be deserted."
This presented only one problem.
"But James," Lily started, scratching her head. "How will you be able to sneak into their common room while you're playing Quidditch?"
Darwin could hear the answer before James even said it.
"Simple. I'm not going into their common room. Neither is Sirius or Remus. You are."
Lily looked momentarily shocked, and then her face transformed into an absolute mask of skepticism.
"Me? I hardly think I'm capable." For Darwin, the sentiment was mutual.
"I'll go with you." Darwin told her, straitening her back, restlessly cracking the knuckles of her left hand. She somehow felt obligated that she should go. After all, it was because of her that everyone was now convinced that the Slytherins, or at least some of them, had played a vital role in the attack.
Both Remus and Sirius quickly looked to her, but it was Remus who voiced their clearly mutual concern.
"Are you sure? It could be, well, a little dangerous." Remus said softly. If Lily was offended that no one had afforded her the same concern, she didn't show it. She was too busy laughing at something that James was telling her.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll be fine." She replied with a weak little smile.
A/N: I really can't explain why I've started writing this again. I'm not even sure if it's a phase that will last. It's probably pretty clear that I've almost completely lost the thread of this story and so if some parts don't make any sense, please just let me know. But, anyway, um, yeah. So. Enjoy, if you can ;-).