Just Like Her
Disclaimer: Look to earlier chapters (Oh! mid-gelper and three-way chess is also MINE! I hope.)
A/N: Hey! How are you guys? Miss me? (Am I feeling okay?) I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY sorry about the wait on the update. (it rhymed!) Oh! And if any of you have suggestions, please feel free to leave it in your reviews. I'm not saying that I'll use all of them. But then I'm not saying I won't. ;)
And now...on with the story!
~~~~~***~~~~~
* Mid-Gelper: a horrible word used for an almost-squib. Like the Wizard version of the muggle word; Dumb-ass, except much worse than could even be imagined of the muggle version.
~~~~~***~~~~~
Chapter 8
(In Which Most Everyone Acts in a Stupide Manner)
~~~~~***~~~~~
Things were not going that well with the marauders. Naina had been very angry with James after Lacie stormed up to the dormitory. She would not even look at him, let alone talk to him.
Belle was sad that everyone was fighting. She had always hated fights and tried to keep away from them.
Sirius and Remus agreed with Belle. All they wanted to do was play their pranks and have fun.
Lacie, you couldn't even talk about Lacie. She was just steaming mad about the whole ordeal. She would not go closer than ten feet near James and would hardly admit that he existed.
James was extremely angry over the ordeal too. His pride was taken away by what Peter had done and what Lacie had said was starting to bother him, though he would not admit it.
Peter was feeling horrible. He was a nobody, now that he didn't belong to the marauders. The only people who wanted to hang out with him were Slytherins. Particularly Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy.
Peter's mother was a death eater, as his father was now lying dead in the bottom of some pile of sand in the Sahara Desert. Atolus had been an auror, who, on a death eater-capture mission, was killed by his own wife, Parsilla Pettigrew.
Now, she was deep in the inner circle of the so called Lord Voldemort and at the moment, was in the midst of dating Darlik Malfoy, also known as Lucius Malfoy's father.
Of course, Peter had never told anyone about this. It was his private life, and no one else had the right to know anything about it!
And so that was what was occupying Peter Pettigrew's thoughts on a grey Monday morning. He was walking towards his Potions class that was shared, sadly, with the Slytherins. He was walking alone, as usual.
After all, if the marauders had condemned him, well than... it wasn't likely that another Gryffindor would be likely to talk to him. And Hufflepuff did not want to insult their good relationship with the Gryffindors.
The Ravenclaws were not going to associate themselves with him. They were getting ready for a huge match between the two houses and would not look at any Gryffindor, outcast or not.
And the Slytherins? Well, Slytherins were not supposed to even go near a Gryffindor. Unless they had specified permission from Lucius Malfoy or his sister, Delcia Malfoy who was in the fourth year, or Severus Snape.
But now, someone did walk up to Peter and tapped him on the left shoulder.
"How's it going old chap?" said a would-be friendly voice. But Lucius always did have a sneering voice when he talked to Peter.
Peter frowned at him. "How would you care? You're probably shitting in your pants cause you're so happy that a Gryffindor is having such obvious trouble!"
"That's not true old man." But his nasty grin gave way to think otherwise.
Peter rolled his eyes and decided to walk more to the right, when another Slytherin caught up with him.
"Don't hurry so fast Dear Pettigrew." He turned to see the nauseating face of Severus Snape.
"Get your face out of mine you filth. I don't want to be caught in your bad breath."
Severus smiled, showing his, well, how shall the author put it? Not so white teeth? Yes that'll do. He smiled, showing his not so white teeth.
"Here is our proposition. You, Pettigrew, will join us."
Peter opened his eyes wide. "Huh?"
Lucius looked disgusted. "You pathetic idiot! We want you to join the Junior Death-Eaters Institution."
"No Way!" He looked at the two of them, as if shocked. "I'm a friggin Gryffindor!"
"Hmph! Not much of one if you ask me." Lucius remarked, sniggering.
Now, Peter was furious. "Get out of my sight you filthy death-eater Slytherins! I'm a Gryffindor. Outcast or not! And once a Gryffindor, ALWAYS a Gryffindor! Go!"
Severus and Lucius shrugged. Severus smiled. "You'll be sorry Mid-Gelper! *"
Peter ignored them and walked into the potions room.
(A/N: Hmm, I don't know how many people will agree with me on all the things said between Peter and those two...Slytherins. I've always wondered Peter's PoV. Maybe he was really nice at the beginning and just turned bad bit by bit and hadn't always been bad. Anyways... back to the story)
~~~~~***~~~~~
James also walked in by himself. He had been brooding ever since the whole... incident. Oh, it did not mean that he was always alone. No. Far from it.
Why, it was all over the school. James Potter had been double-crossed by a MARAUDER. And now the whole group was split apart. And the one girl that had been close to James Potter was OUT of the picture! Dreams come true to the girls of Hogwarts.
Good heavens, the kid had a million members of his fan club following him more than ants following their leader to an anthill. It was always "Poor Jamesie", or "You poor dear", or "Those idiot friends of yours are not worth half of you", or "Forget those losers and gimme some suga"
(A/N: Lol. A beloved American expression.)
And "Jamesie" was surely grateful. At least... he certainly did not resist. But today, he was tired of all that and just wanted to think things out.
He got a back seat in the potions dungeon. That wasn't anything new though. For the love of Merlin, who in the world of witchcraft and wizardry could possibly want a seat in the front row of the potions class, besides a Slytherin? Only an odd, crazy, and BRAVE person.
(A/N: Didn't Hermione get a front seat in that class?)
Anyway, he wanted to think out a few things. Like... why Sirius and Remus didn't say straight away that they were on his side. Or... why Naina was so steaming mad at him. Or why Lacie was so angry it was horrifying. Or why Belle wasn't angry even though Lacie was. Or why Peter even did this to him.
Why?
Yeah. He was right. Life... pretty much... sucked.
~~~~~***~~~~~
Lacie was sitting closer to the front of the potions class. Normally, she would not do so. It horrified her to actually be so close to a teacher... let alone a SLYTHERIN one.
But really, she had to sort a few things out. Her first few days at Hogwarts had been a disaster. She was at a completely different school. None but one of her friends had come with her. That one friend was not speaking to her. (All right. Maybe SHE was not speaking to the FRIEND. But that was beside the point.)
Sirius and Remus, the two males in this entire school that she had really enjoyed getting acquainted with, were not being very friendly to her. Not downright mean... but not the chummiest either. Argh!
Of course, Naina was truly a comfort. She was very nice. And she was fully on her side. But... oh! She just missed Belle! Of course, she would NEVER admit that. To ANYONE.
~~~~~***~~~~~
Sirius, Remus, and Belle sat in the common room. They were playing three-way chess.
The reader says: "Impossible! Three-way chess! There's no such thing!"
Author: You must not have met Remus Lupin, Arabella Dupont Figg, and Sirius Black before.
Of course it was possible. They divided the board into three triangles. (Not all even... but Belle had fought tooth and nail (A/N: is that the right expression?) against Remus and had won the larger triangle.
Then they had stolen the gold pieces off of Martin Weasley's Gryffindor-spirit Chess Set (Oh, were they going to have to pay for that later!) and used half squares for half-points.
There was much more, but the author was too confused to understand it.
The trio had even sneaked in snacks from the kitchens, courtesy of Padfoot and Moony of course.
Lacie walked in, angry as usual, then Naina walked in, giggling. Lacie shot her a glance and Naina immediately stopped. Just to start all over again, as soon as Lacie turned away. Lacie rolled her eyes.
Naina, through her giggles, told Lacie, "C'mon Lace! You can't say that seeing a bunch of fat-ass Slytherins flirting with Pettigrew, isn't a funny sight."
Sirius stood up, his eyes alighted. "What? Did I hear you correctly? Do you mean to tell me that Peter has fallen to the pits of SLYTHERIN SEDUCTION!"
Naina giggled and then stopped. She wasn't sure why, but she sensed that she wasn't supposed to be friendly with Sirius.
Sirius sensed her abruptness. He shrugged and went back to playing three-way chess.
Naina bit her lip. Not talking to Sirius was horrible. Okay, that wouldn't make sense to most people. After all, she argued with him practically everyday and then she would ignore him. But they were still friends underneath all of that. Best friends.
And now... now? Well, it was like the group of paradise that she had known so long and so well was just... gone. Plain gone. It was NOT a good feeling.
Belle looked up at Lacie. Lacie saw her and gave her a cold look. Belle looked down again. Then she looked up again. Lacie was looking at her as if she had known that Belle would look up again. And Belle knew that she had known. Belle blushed and once more, looked down.
(A/N: And now... for just a little bit... it's in Remus's PoV)
I could tell that Belle was feeling sad. I couldn't tell what the hell Lacie was feeling. Poor Belle, I thought. She's so shy. It's not like she'll stand up to Lacie.
I sighed and concentrated on the move I would make after Sirius was done. (And goddammit! The idiot takes forever to make one friggin move!)
Lacie started walking up to the girls' dorms.
"Lacie Marie Errata! You get your perfect little ass back here!"
Whoa! Who was that? I looked up.
It was Belle!
Lacie turned around slowly, her eyes glaring. God that glare could pierce your heart straight through! Anyone would be freaked out by it. Except Belle.
"You heard me Lacie! I'm sick and tired of this nonsense! You're acting like Rodriguez Martello, yes you are acting like a stupid ig-"
Lacie looked quite annoyed and about ready to interrupt, but-
"Don't you dare try to interrupt me Lacie Marie! And you'll look straight at me when I'm talking to you!"
Lacie shut her mouth so quickly, that I was quite surprised. Who would have thought it? Lacie Errata actually listening to someone? Wow!
"Thank you! Now, you know that you've been acting quite insufferable for the past week or so and I won't stand it anymore!"
Lacie spoke for the first time, "Shut it Belle! You're being even more stupid than anything I would've imagined of a Dupont!"
Belle looked outraged. "Did I not tell you not to interrupt me Lacie Errata? Didn't you listen to your mother when she was teaching you these things! Oh!" Belle looked horrified at her self and had slapped her hand over her mouth. I was curious as to why she did this.
Lacie's eyes were opened wide and she looked... shocked. So did Belle for that matter.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Lacie!"
Lacie looked infuriated, "What? You're sorry that I have no mother? Or sorry that I never met her? Or sorry that I don't know whom she is? Or sorry that you made a mistake? Well, don't be, Belle. Only real FRIENDS are allowed to pity ME," and she went upstairs quietly.
Belle still looked horrified, but managed to choke out a, "Sirius, Remus, I don't think-I can't-I should-oh!" before she ran upstairs after Lacie.
(End of PoV)
Remus was very surprised and Naina was absolutely shocked, but nothing compared to Sirius. Yes, Sirius, who had a white chess piece in one hand and another one that had knocked over half the pieces from the board, as the description finished with a bite of biscuit lying dampened in his wide-open mouth.
Soon they got over their initial shock, leaving Sirius quite delighted when he realized what his right hand had done.
"Half the pieces! Oh that really is too bad Moony old friend, I didn't even have the chance to beat you!"
Remus rolled his eyes, knowing that Sirius had been hopelessly losing. "Beat me? The game was only half over, yet I had already whooped your sorry ass to Switzerland dear Padfoot. In fact, I'm not so sure that you didn't let your right hand sweep over the chessboard on purpose."
Sirius feigned an air of shock. "Moi! Never!" But he grinned nevertheless at his wonderful good luck.
Then he caught Naina rolling her eyes and looking ready to leave. He felt his good luck start disappearing.
"Naina! Wait! Can I talk to you?"
Naina looked uncertainly at Sirius and was about to shake her head no.
"Please! Just for a second Nai?"
Naina's heart beat fast. Then she mentally slapped herself. [What the hell Naina Randall! This is Sirius BLACK we're talkin' about! Nothing to get excited about! NOTHING AT ALL.]
Naina reluctantly nodded and Sirius jumped up eagerly.
"What do you want to talk about Sirius?"
"C'mon Nai! Why are you ignoring us like this? We didn't do anything wrong did we?"
"Argh! Sirius! You didn't stick up for Lacie!"
"I didn't stick up for James either!"
"Don't even talk to me about that low-down stupid idiot! You should have been on Lacie's side! And that's all!"
"I couldn't take sides cause I agreed with both of you! God, Naina! Why can't it be the way it used to be?"
"I don't know Mr. Black and now... if you'll excuse me, I have some business that requires me any place other than here."
Sirius walked back to the chessboard in defeat.
Remus looked sympathetically at Sirius. "C'mon Padfoot! It'll get better, it won't ALWAYS be like this!"
Sirius shook his head, "I wish it was back to the good old days Moony. The Marauders all as one. James Potter, the one and only Prongs; Sirius Black, the great Padfoot; Remus Lupin, Moony extraordinaire, and even Peter Pettigrew, none other than Wormtail. And no one and nothing else."
Naina, who had been listening to the conversation while going up the stairs, stopped and gasped.
Sirius heard her gasp and looked up and saw Naina's eyes quickly filling with tears.
Sirius realized his mistake just seconds later. "Oh shit! I'm so sorry Naina! Dammit I really am!"
Naina stood quiet for a minute. "No Sirius, don't be."
She looked wonderingly at them for a moment. "I-I-I never was really apart of the marauders. Was I? You didn't REALLY accept me as that. You didn't do it cause you wanted to. You did it because Lily would have wanted it."
Sirius looked ashamed of himself and moved to say something, but Naina held up her hand. "No Sirius, I'm not angry. I'm just-just hurt. That's all. Just hurt." And she ran out of the common room.
Sirius sighed. [I am STUPID. I am STUPID. I am STUPID.]
~~~~~***~~~~~
Leave a review!
Disclaimer: Look to earlier chapters (Oh! mid-gelper and three-way chess is also MINE! I hope.)
A/N: Hey! How are you guys? Miss me? (Am I feeling okay?) I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY sorry about the wait on the update. (it rhymed!) Oh! And if any of you have suggestions, please feel free to leave it in your reviews. I'm not saying that I'll use all of them. But then I'm not saying I won't. ;)
And now...on with the story!
~~~~~***~~~~~
* Mid-Gelper: a horrible word used for an almost-squib. Like the Wizard version of the muggle word; Dumb-ass, except much worse than could even be imagined of the muggle version.
~~~~~***~~~~~
Chapter 8
(In Which Most Everyone Acts in a Stupide Manner)
~~~~~***~~~~~
Things were not going that well with the marauders. Naina had been very angry with James after Lacie stormed up to the dormitory. She would not even look at him, let alone talk to him.
Belle was sad that everyone was fighting. She had always hated fights and tried to keep away from them.
Sirius and Remus agreed with Belle. All they wanted to do was play their pranks and have fun.
Lacie, you couldn't even talk about Lacie. She was just steaming mad about the whole ordeal. She would not go closer than ten feet near James and would hardly admit that he existed.
James was extremely angry over the ordeal too. His pride was taken away by what Peter had done and what Lacie had said was starting to bother him, though he would not admit it.
Peter was feeling horrible. He was a nobody, now that he didn't belong to the marauders. The only people who wanted to hang out with him were Slytherins. Particularly Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy.
Peter's mother was a death eater, as his father was now lying dead in the bottom of some pile of sand in the Sahara Desert. Atolus had been an auror, who, on a death eater-capture mission, was killed by his own wife, Parsilla Pettigrew.
Now, she was deep in the inner circle of the so called Lord Voldemort and at the moment, was in the midst of dating Darlik Malfoy, also known as Lucius Malfoy's father.
Of course, Peter had never told anyone about this. It was his private life, and no one else had the right to know anything about it!
And so that was what was occupying Peter Pettigrew's thoughts on a grey Monday morning. He was walking towards his Potions class that was shared, sadly, with the Slytherins. He was walking alone, as usual.
After all, if the marauders had condemned him, well than... it wasn't likely that another Gryffindor would be likely to talk to him. And Hufflepuff did not want to insult their good relationship with the Gryffindors.
The Ravenclaws were not going to associate themselves with him. They were getting ready for a huge match between the two houses and would not look at any Gryffindor, outcast or not.
And the Slytherins? Well, Slytherins were not supposed to even go near a Gryffindor. Unless they had specified permission from Lucius Malfoy or his sister, Delcia Malfoy who was in the fourth year, or Severus Snape.
But now, someone did walk up to Peter and tapped him on the left shoulder.
"How's it going old chap?" said a would-be friendly voice. But Lucius always did have a sneering voice when he talked to Peter.
Peter frowned at him. "How would you care? You're probably shitting in your pants cause you're so happy that a Gryffindor is having such obvious trouble!"
"That's not true old man." But his nasty grin gave way to think otherwise.
Peter rolled his eyes and decided to walk more to the right, when another Slytherin caught up with him.
"Don't hurry so fast Dear Pettigrew." He turned to see the nauseating face of Severus Snape.
"Get your face out of mine you filth. I don't want to be caught in your bad breath."
Severus smiled, showing his, well, how shall the author put it? Not so white teeth? Yes that'll do. He smiled, showing his not so white teeth.
"Here is our proposition. You, Pettigrew, will join us."
Peter opened his eyes wide. "Huh?"
Lucius looked disgusted. "You pathetic idiot! We want you to join the Junior Death-Eaters Institution."
"No Way!" He looked at the two of them, as if shocked. "I'm a friggin Gryffindor!"
"Hmph! Not much of one if you ask me." Lucius remarked, sniggering.
Now, Peter was furious. "Get out of my sight you filthy death-eater Slytherins! I'm a Gryffindor. Outcast or not! And once a Gryffindor, ALWAYS a Gryffindor! Go!"
Severus and Lucius shrugged. Severus smiled. "You'll be sorry Mid-Gelper! *"
Peter ignored them and walked into the potions room.
(A/N: Hmm, I don't know how many people will agree with me on all the things said between Peter and those two...Slytherins. I've always wondered Peter's PoV. Maybe he was really nice at the beginning and just turned bad bit by bit and hadn't always been bad. Anyways... back to the story)
~~~~~***~~~~~
James also walked in by himself. He had been brooding ever since the whole... incident. Oh, it did not mean that he was always alone. No. Far from it.
Why, it was all over the school. James Potter had been double-crossed by a MARAUDER. And now the whole group was split apart. And the one girl that had been close to James Potter was OUT of the picture! Dreams come true to the girls of Hogwarts.
Good heavens, the kid had a million members of his fan club following him more than ants following their leader to an anthill. It was always "Poor Jamesie", or "You poor dear", or "Those idiot friends of yours are not worth half of you", or "Forget those losers and gimme some suga"
(A/N: Lol. A beloved American expression.)
And "Jamesie" was surely grateful. At least... he certainly did not resist. But today, he was tired of all that and just wanted to think things out.
He got a back seat in the potions dungeon. That wasn't anything new though. For the love of Merlin, who in the world of witchcraft and wizardry could possibly want a seat in the front row of the potions class, besides a Slytherin? Only an odd, crazy, and BRAVE person.
(A/N: Didn't Hermione get a front seat in that class?)
Anyway, he wanted to think out a few things. Like... why Sirius and Remus didn't say straight away that they were on his side. Or... why Naina was so steaming mad at him. Or why Lacie was so angry it was horrifying. Or why Belle wasn't angry even though Lacie was. Or why Peter even did this to him.
Why?
Yeah. He was right. Life... pretty much... sucked.
~~~~~***~~~~~
Lacie was sitting closer to the front of the potions class. Normally, she would not do so. It horrified her to actually be so close to a teacher... let alone a SLYTHERIN one.
But really, she had to sort a few things out. Her first few days at Hogwarts had been a disaster. She was at a completely different school. None but one of her friends had come with her. That one friend was not speaking to her. (All right. Maybe SHE was not speaking to the FRIEND. But that was beside the point.)
Sirius and Remus, the two males in this entire school that she had really enjoyed getting acquainted with, were not being very friendly to her. Not downright mean... but not the chummiest either. Argh!
Of course, Naina was truly a comfort. She was very nice. And she was fully on her side. But... oh! She just missed Belle! Of course, she would NEVER admit that. To ANYONE.
~~~~~***~~~~~
Sirius, Remus, and Belle sat in the common room. They were playing three-way chess.
The reader says: "Impossible! Three-way chess! There's no such thing!"
Author: You must not have met Remus Lupin, Arabella Dupont Figg, and Sirius Black before.
Of course it was possible. They divided the board into three triangles. (Not all even... but Belle had fought tooth and nail (A/N: is that the right expression?) against Remus and had won the larger triangle.
Then they had stolen the gold pieces off of Martin Weasley's Gryffindor-spirit Chess Set (Oh, were they going to have to pay for that later!) and used half squares for half-points.
There was much more, but the author was too confused to understand it.
The trio had even sneaked in snacks from the kitchens, courtesy of Padfoot and Moony of course.
Lacie walked in, angry as usual, then Naina walked in, giggling. Lacie shot her a glance and Naina immediately stopped. Just to start all over again, as soon as Lacie turned away. Lacie rolled her eyes.
Naina, through her giggles, told Lacie, "C'mon Lace! You can't say that seeing a bunch of fat-ass Slytherins flirting with Pettigrew, isn't a funny sight."
Sirius stood up, his eyes alighted. "What? Did I hear you correctly? Do you mean to tell me that Peter has fallen to the pits of SLYTHERIN SEDUCTION!"
Naina giggled and then stopped. She wasn't sure why, but she sensed that she wasn't supposed to be friendly with Sirius.
Sirius sensed her abruptness. He shrugged and went back to playing three-way chess.
Naina bit her lip. Not talking to Sirius was horrible. Okay, that wouldn't make sense to most people. After all, she argued with him practically everyday and then she would ignore him. But they were still friends underneath all of that. Best friends.
And now... now? Well, it was like the group of paradise that she had known so long and so well was just... gone. Plain gone. It was NOT a good feeling.
Belle looked up at Lacie. Lacie saw her and gave her a cold look. Belle looked down again. Then she looked up again. Lacie was looking at her as if she had known that Belle would look up again. And Belle knew that she had known. Belle blushed and once more, looked down.
(A/N: And now... for just a little bit... it's in Remus's PoV)
I could tell that Belle was feeling sad. I couldn't tell what the hell Lacie was feeling. Poor Belle, I thought. She's so shy. It's not like she'll stand up to Lacie.
I sighed and concentrated on the move I would make after Sirius was done. (And goddammit! The idiot takes forever to make one friggin move!)
Lacie started walking up to the girls' dorms.
"Lacie Marie Errata! You get your perfect little ass back here!"
Whoa! Who was that? I looked up.
It was Belle!
Lacie turned around slowly, her eyes glaring. God that glare could pierce your heart straight through! Anyone would be freaked out by it. Except Belle.
"You heard me Lacie! I'm sick and tired of this nonsense! You're acting like Rodriguez Martello, yes you are acting like a stupid ig-"
Lacie looked quite annoyed and about ready to interrupt, but-
"Don't you dare try to interrupt me Lacie Marie! And you'll look straight at me when I'm talking to you!"
Lacie shut her mouth so quickly, that I was quite surprised. Who would have thought it? Lacie Errata actually listening to someone? Wow!
"Thank you! Now, you know that you've been acting quite insufferable for the past week or so and I won't stand it anymore!"
Lacie spoke for the first time, "Shut it Belle! You're being even more stupid than anything I would've imagined of a Dupont!"
Belle looked outraged. "Did I not tell you not to interrupt me Lacie Errata? Didn't you listen to your mother when she was teaching you these things! Oh!" Belle looked horrified at her self and had slapped her hand over her mouth. I was curious as to why she did this.
Lacie's eyes were opened wide and she looked... shocked. So did Belle for that matter.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Lacie!"
Lacie looked infuriated, "What? You're sorry that I have no mother? Or sorry that I never met her? Or sorry that I don't know whom she is? Or sorry that you made a mistake? Well, don't be, Belle. Only real FRIENDS are allowed to pity ME," and she went upstairs quietly.
Belle still looked horrified, but managed to choke out a, "Sirius, Remus, I don't think-I can't-I should-oh!" before she ran upstairs after Lacie.
(End of PoV)
Remus was very surprised and Naina was absolutely shocked, but nothing compared to Sirius. Yes, Sirius, who had a white chess piece in one hand and another one that had knocked over half the pieces from the board, as the description finished with a bite of biscuit lying dampened in his wide-open mouth.
Soon they got over their initial shock, leaving Sirius quite delighted when he realized what his right hand had done.
"Half the pieces! Oh that really is too bad Moony old friend, I didn't even have the chance to beat you!"
Remus rolled his eyes, knowing that Sirius had been hopelessly losing. "Beat me? The game was only half over, yet I had already whooped your sorry ass to Switzerland dear Padfoot. In fact, I'm not so sure that you didn't let your right hand sweep over the chessboard on purpose."
Sirius feigned an air of shock. "Moi! Never!" But he grinned nevertheless at his wonderful good luck.
Then he caught Naina rolling her eyes and looking ready to leave. He felt his good luck start disappearing.
"Naina! Wait! Can I talk to you?"
Naina looked uncertainly at Sirius and was about to shake her head no.
"Please! Just for a second Nai?"
Naina's heart beat fast. Then she mentally slapped herself. [What the hell Naina Randall! This is Sirius BLACK we're talkin' about! Nothing to get excited about! NOTHING AT ALL.]
Naina reluctantly nodded and Sirius jumped up eagerly.
"What do you want to talk about Sirius?"
"C'mon Nai! Why are you ignoring us like this? We didn't do anything wrong did we?"
"Argh! Sirius! You didn't stick up for Lacie!"
"I didn't stick up for James either!"
"Don't even talk to me about that low-down stupid idiot! You should have been on Lacie's side! And that's all!"
"I couldn't take sides cause I agreed with both of you! God, Naina! Why can't it be the way it used to be?"
"I don't know Mr. Black and now... if you'll excuse me, I have some business that requires me any place other than here."
Sirius walked back to the chessboard in defeat.
Remus looked sympathetically at Sirius. "C'mon Padfoot! It'll get better, it won't ALWAYS be like this!"
Sirius shook his head, "I wish it was back to the good old days Moony. The Marauders all as one. James Potter, the one and only Prongs; Sirius Black, the great Padfoot; Remus Lupin, Moony extraordinaire, and even Peter Pettigrew, none other than Wormtail. And no one and nothing else."
Naina, who had been listening to the conversation while going up the stairs, stopped and gasped.
Sirius heard her gasp and looked up and saw Naina's eyes quickly filling with tears.
Sirius realized his mistake just seconds later. "Oh shit! I'm so sorry Naina! Dammit I really am!"
Naina stood quiet for a minute. "No Sirius, don't be."
She looked wonderingly at them for a moment. "I-I-I never was really apart of the marauders. Was I? You didn't REALLY accept me as that. You didn't do it cause you wanted to. You did it because Lily would have wanted it."
Sirius looked ashamed of himself and moved to say something, but Naina held up her hand. "No Sirius, I'm not angry. I'm just-just hurt. That's all. Just hurt." And she ran out of the common room.
Sirius sighed. [I am STUPID. I am STUPID. I am STUPID.]
~~~~~***~~~~~
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