Oh yeah, I'm on roll…
The Christmas holidays were joyful as always at Hogwarts, though this year's celebration had an unspoken sense of caution around the older students, especially the 7th years. The year was nearly half over, and by now, it was common knowledge that the "rivalry" between Slytherin and Gryffindor had gotten much more serious. By the last few days of the holidays, it got to be that a day did not go by without a teacher separating a fight between a Slytherin and Gryffindor student. McGonagall and Sigismund were openly at the end of their patience with their students.
On the last day of the holidays, the students were allowed an extra visit in Hogsmeade. James felt lonely without Lily there, and he felt even worse when he imagined what she was going through at home. As he walked through the village with his friends, Sirius noticed his melancholy expression and clapped him on the back.
"Cheer up, mate," Sirius told him. "Lily's strong. She'll get through this alright."
"I know," James replied, smiling a little. "I just…I know things are going to get worse, you know? This is really only the beginning. There are going to be more killings, and they're going to keep hitting close to the people Lily loves. And I never…it's bad enough that people are killed in the first place, but to see Lily in that kind of pain." James sighed and shook his head. "It's awful. There's no other way to put it. It's the awful, raw slaughtering of people."
Sirius and Gari glanced at each other and then back at James. Gari reached out and squeezed James' hand encouragingly. "That's why we have people like us, James, and especially people like you." James smiled, and Gari continued. "Trust me, when you're an Auror, Voldemort won't dare show his face."
"Thanks, Gari," James hugged her tightly. He'd grown very fond of Gari and Rayven the past year, and he almost regretted putting that frog down Gari's back in 1st year.
Almost.
Remus had an arm around Rayven as they walked a little bit ahead of Gari, James, and Sirius. Ever since they had had the tense conversation about their families, they had been somewhat distant from each other. After a few moments of silence, Remus sighed and stopped, turning Rayven to look at him.
"I'm sorry, alright?" Remus said, frustrating with Rayven, with himself, and with Romulus for putting him in this damned situation. "I should have told you about Romulus, but you should have told me about Jake too."
"Jake is not a part of life," Rayven said defensively. "And that is the only thing I've lied to you about. You lied about what you are, about your brother, what else?"
"Nothing!" Remus cried fiercely. "You're right, I shouldn't have lied. But do you swear to me that Jake was the only thing you've lied to me about?"
"You know, for the record, I never exactly lied about Jake," Rayven shot back. "You never asked about him, I just never mentioned him."
"That's how it is about Romulus and my condition!" Remus argued. "You never once asked me about it, and I didn't tell you about these things to protect you!"
"Okay, protection from the wolf I understand, but why don't you talk to Romulus anymore?" Rayven exclaimed. "What did he do? Why did he run away from home?"
"Rae, it's personal," Remus looked away, and his tone went slightly softer. "Please, I need you to understand. Romulus is someone I have to come to terms with by myself. I need to figure that out before I can talk to you about it."
"Maybe I could help!" Rayven said passionately. "Please, just…just talk to me," she finished helplessly.
"I can't," Remus replied, looking down at the ground. "I'm sorry, Rae, I'm not ready."
Tears stung Rayven's eyes, and they were even more painful due to the cold. Rayven shrugged her arms sadly. "Fine…fine, keep your secrets, Remus. You're very good at it."
Rayven turned and walked away from him, holding her tears until she was sure he wouldn't hear or see her crying. Remus watched her retreat back to the castle, the only sign of tears her trembling shoulders.
Sirius, Gari, and James wisely kept their distance during the argument. After Rayven's exit, they approached Remus gingerly. He looked miserable, and held up a hand when James opened his mouth to speak.
"James, don't…just don't, alright?" Remus walked away from them and followed the path Rayven had taken a few moments ago.
Sirius looked astounded. "We're never going to have any bloody peace are we?"
"What's wrong with Lockley?" An oily, familiar voice said from behind Sirius.
Sirius whirled around to see Snape smirking at him, and Sirius raised his arms in an exasperated manner. "What did I just say? No bloody peace!"
"Did she finally realize that she couldn't take the monster in him?" Snape continued, keeping his voice low so that only the three Gryffindors could hear him. Then, Rosier, Nott, and the Lestrange brothers began walking their way as well.
Sirius made a move towards Snape, but Gari grabbed his arm. "Sirius, please, let it go…"
Sirius drew in a shaky breath and nodded. The three students started to walk away, but Snape called after them, "But then again…she went after you, Black, so maybe Lockley likes a bit of animal in her man."
Sirius stopped walked and turned around once more, this time getting right in Snape's face. "Why don't you back the hell off? He's got enough problems with a wanker like you harassing him."
"Sirius, mate…" James tried to lead Sirius away, but Sirius shook him off.
"Get off, Prongs," Sirius snarled. He turned back to Snape. "I'm sick of all this shit he pulls, calling Remus a monster."
"You say that like it's a lie," Snape cut in smoothly. "He's a werewolf. He is a monster. A disgusting, soulless-Argh!"
Sirius tackled Snape into the snow, probably breaking a few ribs in the process.
"Get off, Black!" Snape hissed, reaching for his wand, but Sirius took it and threw it across the road.
"You bastard," Sirius growled, punching him hard in the stomach. "You're the monster, you sick…twisted…"
"Sirius, stop!" Gari screamed. "Stop, you're going to really hurt him!" She looked frantically at James. "James, please…"
James nodded reluctantly, and as Sirius had pulled him away from Malfoy, James heaved Sirius off of Snape.
"Relax, mate, relax…," James muttered. "He's not worth it. Relax…"
Sirius struggled for a few moments, panting heavily and staring at Snape, who was nursing a bloody nose in the snow.
"Forget him, Padfoot," James said firmly, gripping Sirius by the shoulders.
Sirius glared at Snape, "He's completely in the wrong…"
"We know that," Gari said, putting a hand on Sirius's arm.
Sirius shook her off roughly. "Why the hell did you make him pull me away?"
Gari look at him, incredulous. "Maybe because I didn't want you to murder him!"
"Right," Sirius brushed the comment off angrily.
"What is wrong with you?" Gari demanded, turning him to face her. "You can't just go off on people like that Sirius!"
"Go off on people?" Sirius laughed darkly. "Gari, he's a slimy bastard. You don't know half of the stuff he's done. Don't defend him."
"That's right, Bennett, don't bother," Snape muttered to her as he passed her, still bleeding profusely.
"I'm not defending him," Gari said through gritted teeth. "But you really need to relax. You can't go out of your way to make enemies with the Slytherins, Sirius."
"You know what your probably is, Bennett?" Sirius asked angrily, regressing back to his old way of addressing her. "You have way too much empathy."
"You can't have too much empathy, Sirius," Gari rolled her eyes. "It's your problem. Your problem is that you don't have any empathy at all."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "You sound like McGonagall."
"You're absolutely right, Mr. Black," Professor McGonagall had just exited the Three Broomsticks with Professors Flitwick and Stiffien. "But perhaps you need more than a lecture from Miss Bennett. For the final time, no fighting!" McGonagall took a shaky breath. "Detentions, this week, Black."
Sirius sighed and ran an angry hand through his hair. McGonagall paused next to him as she started to walk past. "Miss Bennett is right, however. You know what the Slytherins are, Black. Do not, under any circumstances, provoke them." McGonagall looked at him rather sadly for a moment. "You won't be so protected when you're out of school next year."
Sirius nodded, still fuming a little. "Yeah…I get it, Professor."
McGonagall nodded solemnly and made her way back up to the castle, Flitwick and Stiffien following quietly.
Lily returned with the rest of the students who had gone home for holidays at the beginning of January. Gari met her at the entrance hall, where students were milling around greeting each other and trading stories about their vacations.
"Hey, you," Gari smiled a little at Lily and pulled her into a hug. Lily returned it and smiled back softly.
"It's alright, Gari, I'm fine," Lily said in an undertone.
"You're sure?" Gari asked.
"Yeah," Lily glanced around. "Rae isn't here?"
Gari sighed impatiently. "She's being ridiculous lately." Lily looked surprised, and Gari added, "You missed her huge fight with Remus yesterday. She won't talk to him, so she's been hiding in the library."
Lily raised an eyebrow. "I would think that Remus would be there too."
"Yeah, but you know how Madam Pince is," Gari explained as the two made their way up the stairs toward the dormitories. "They don't want to start arguing and have that vulture screeching at them."
Lily snorted in amusement. "I guess not." She paused and looked around again. "Have you seen James today?"
Gari nodded. "He's out on the Quidditch field with Sirius."
"But it's freezing out," Lily said.
Gari rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Try telling that to them. Sirius got into a fight with Snape again yesterday, so James is helping him work off the tension."
"Another fight?" Lily groaned. "They're going to kill each other some day."
"I know," Gari replied. "You really should have been here this past week. It's been insane with the Slytherins and everything." Gari dropped her voice a little. "And Lynn Carroll has been sneaking around, trying to corner me or something."
"Lynn? I thought she was over Sirius," Lily interrupted, turning a corner in the direction of the library.
Gari merely shrugged and the girls fell silent on their course to the library.
"Lily," Gari said softly. "Do you think I made a mistake? The whole…Sirius and me thing?"
"Do you think you did?" Lily asked, biting her lip a little.
"I don't know," Gari sighed and stopped walking for minute to lean against a wall. "Sirius is…" Gari searched for the right word. "Difficult."
Lily smiled a little. "That's putting it lightly."
They both smiled, but Lily's melted away when she saw the hurt in Gari's eyes. "Gari, what's really wrong?"
"He's so…ugh!" Gari groaned and angry tears stung her eyes. "It's one thing for him to call someone a prat; it's another for him to just lose it and make more enemies with the Slytherins."
"Gari…" Lily began.
"I hate that he does this!" Gari cried. "I hate that he acts like a jerk and that he doesn't realize that it's wrong."
Lily reached out and rubbed a comforting hand up and down Gari's arm. "You should talk to him."
"Talk to him," Gari scoffed. "Right…he doesn't listen to me. He barely listens to anyone. James maybe, Remus occasionally, hell, he even listens to Peter more than he listens to me."
"Does this have anything to do with Lynn?" Lily suggested softly.
"Of course it does," Gari replied. "Her and the dozens of other ex-girlfriends he has around school. Merlin knows he doesn't exactly turn his head when other girls flirt with him."
"Then what are you doing with him?" Lily asked gently.
"I have no idea," Gari murmured.
"What did I tell you?" Gari whispered to Lily as they entered the library.
Gari pointed to Rayven, who was curled up in a chair at the other edge of the library. Then she pointed to Remus, who was at one of the long tables, pouring over a book.
"Coward," Gari muttered at Remus as she passed him.
"Gari, it's not like that," Remus said, looking up from his book and appearing exasperated.
"Sure, fine," Gari sounded like she did not believe him in the slightest. "You are both cowards."
"She won't talk to me," Remus argued.
"You go talk to her," Gari shot back.
"She started it," Remus replied.
"And he's supposed to be the mature marauder," Gari said, turning to Lily. Looking back at Remus, she said, "You are both being ridiculous. Just because you have one fight–"
But Remus had gotten up before Gari could finish. Gari was about to yell after him, when she saw that he was heading over to Rayven.
"I guess that went well," Gari whispered to Lily, who merely nodded.
Remus knelt down next to Rayven's chair and looked at her expectantly. Rayven glanced up from her book at him, appearing only mildly interested in him.
Remus took a breath and began, "I was eight years old when I was bit. I was playing hide and go seek in the woods near my house with my brother. When the wolf came…" Remus paused and took another breath. "When it came, we both ran, but Romulus was faster, and he ran until he reached a tree. I was shorter, so I could reach the branches. I asked him to help me, but the wolf was close, and he wouldn't."
"Remus-" Rayven started to interrupt.
"I…I remember jumping up towards the branches, and just begging him to help me, but he told me to just run. He said if I ran I could get it away from the house and our parents." Remus paused and looked horribly bitter. "I could get it away from him. So I did. I ran for only a minute before the wolf caught me. It bit me here," Remus pulled back his collar a little, revealing a large scar that now appeared to Rayven as distinct bite marks. "I wasn't found for two days. My brother had told my parents that I was dead. My father came looking for the body."
All together now: "Poor Remus!"
Next: Sirius and James talk about the women in their lives, and James and Lily, well…You'll also find out more about why Sirius really lost it with Snape.