Hidden Flames

by FoREvEr ends

.Complete. So. Here I am. The new girl. I am proud to say that I've managed to make a few friends, despite my—how do I say it?—less endearing qualities. Now if only this certain Black will just leave me alone, then my life will be just dandy.

6. Chapter Five: Bonding

DISCLAIMER: J.K. Rowling owns the setting and everything you see in the Harry Potter books. Thanks to Rowling for a brilliant world to write of. However, I do own a few original characters and ideas. If anything in here seems related to another story/fanfic, it's really not.

A/N: I've decided that I'm going to throw out the whole werewolf thing, because most people don't want it anyway. It's going to make my life much, much easier!

Chrissy: I'm glad that you think my story's good. I'm sorry if you think they fight a bit too much—they're going to be fighting a lot more.... Sorry!

I like MINTS: Thanks for your opinion! I hope you like this chapter—much more conflict!

Cassie: Thanks for your review!

Hazel: OOTP stands for the Order of the Phoenix.

Lum0s: Sorry I'm not going to put in the werewolf thing, but Faye and Sirius will start to get better, and then they'll be at each other's throats by the end of the year anyways.

madderthanyou: Ah... about the sequel thing—I don't think I'll do a sequel to this. I'm planning to end it around the middle of seventh year. Sorry!

EW4eva: I'm really glad you like it! Thanks for putting me up on your recommendations page!

Enjoy the new chapter!

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---Chapter Five: Bonding---

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It was three days after that disastrous Winter Ball, and I was sitting in Divination, listening to Professor Delaney talk about reading the future in the stars. What a boring old hag. She was talking nonsense anyway. Wondering when this lesson would end, I idly pulled out a piece of paper and started doodling on it. I'd become even more paranoid about Divination since that time I saw myself burning to death inside a crystal ball. I hadn't told anyone about it, not even Grace. It was just too disturbing, unnatural. But I'd never felt more uncomfortable about Divination.

Delaney was also a nutty teacher, which made taking Divination all the more horrible. Sometimes, she would set the whole class on something that didn't involve Divination at all. She liked assigning cooking projects, assigning partners for everything, and assigning plays, including all the other ordinary Divination homework. It was really quite disturbing; Delaney loved to see her students 'connect' with each other. Before I came to Hogwarts, I never even knew that teachers didn't get hauled in for that sort of behavior.

Sighing, I briefly wondered when Grace and I would start looking for those secret passageways. The ball had been a disaster for me, so I thought it was only fair that we start as soon as possible. But the workload had mounted even higher. It was as if the teachers wanted to make sure that we stocked up for Christmas break.

My mind wandered back to the problem of Black. Ah, Sirius Black. By now, every time I happened to glance at him I felt like killing him. Every time I saw him smile that arrogant, I'm-all-that smile, I felt like cursing his mouth right off his face and replacing it with… a fork, a cup, a snail… anything! And every time I saw him flick back his black hair, I felt like setting fire to his hair, shaving him bald, yanking every individual strand of hair out, one by one…. Yes, it was that bad. What made it worse was that he was still going out with Fiona, and he gloated in my face almost every, freaking day. Even though I couldn't care less if he was going with Fiona, his attitude just… so annoying! He was driving me crazy with frustration.

"…So, now I will partner all of you up, and if everyone will just clear out a dance floor, we will begin," Delaney hooted. I looked up in horror. How did a lecture about foretelling the future in the movement of the planets end up as a dancing session?

"Grace, what are we doing?" I asked in desperation, hoping that I'd heard Delaney wrong.

"We're going to dance," Grace said in disgust. "How dancing has anything to do with Divination, I don't know…"

I crossed my fingers, muttering, "Please don't pair me up with Black… not Black… not Black…anyone but Black…" I kept up this chant while Delaney read off names on a list.

"Grace Thompson, Remus Lupin." Grace looked like she was in heaven.

"Arabella Figg, James Potter." Bella looked as if she wanted to retch.

"Lily Evans, Peter Pettigrew." Lily had a strange expression on her face that certainly wasn't one of joy.

"Faye Prewitt," my heart leapt, "Sirius Black." My heart dropped to the ground with a thump of horror.

I didn't hear the rest of the names. Why, why, why did I have to be partnered up with him? Again? Hadn't I gone through enough? I let my head fall onto my table with a bang. Nothing but dancing with Black could possibly make my day.

"Faye?" I heard Grace ask concernedly. "It's okay. It's not as if Black will kill you."

"That's all you know," I muttered into the table. "Please, please tell me that this isn't happening."

Grace pulled in my hair and made me bring my head back up. "It's happening."

I groaned. "No… this is just a dream… a nightmare… I'll wake up any moment now. Any moment now. Any moment now. Any moment now! Hello? Hello?! Wake-up time is now! The Shores of Waking are near… and you have landed! So this nightmare will end now. Now! NOW! Any moment now!"

"Um… Faye?"

"What?" I answered miserably.

"You're saying this out loud. You know that, right?" Grace asked.

"Yep," I answered. "But this is a dream, so it doesn't matter either way."

"I think you've finally gone off your rocker."

"Children, gather around, gather around!" Delaney cried. "I'll show you all the steps to this particular dance!" The whole class groaned, and Delaney frowned.

"You all seem to forget that I hold your grades in the palm of my hand," Delaney said delicately. "And if I should choose, I could…" she shrugged and let the rest of the sentence hang. Everybody got the hint and moved resignedly closer. Grace shoved me, and I despairingly looked up from the ground to watch Delaney. She really was delusional. Delaney had grabbed a random boy and was doing the—tango—with him.

Freaking shit. The tango? Oh my god. I was doomed. I was cursed. I was going to die. And where in the world did Delaney learn the tango?

"There," Delaney said happily. "This is a muggle dance I saw some time ago, and I really like it. I want all of you to practice this over Christmas break, and when you all come back, be ready for a test! This is going to be worth twenty-five percent of your grade!"

Twenty-five percent? Delaney had problems. She needed to get her pea-sized brain checked, fixed, or enlarged, or something, anything!

"Now, go ahead and join up with your assigned partners!" Delaney gushed. I gulped.

I looked around; Grace was already at Remus's side. Wincing, I kept on looking… and there he was. Black was staring at me with the same expression of utmost loathing that I was sure was pasted over my own face. Grimacing, I forced myself to walk over to him, even though ever nerve and fiber of me was screaming, Get away, get away!

We stood side-by-side silently as other people cleared a dance floor. I never hated Delaney more. I was fiercely imagining personally flogging a screaming Delaney… or pulling out the stupid teacher's eyebrows, or shaving off her graying hair, or performing a difficult surgery to try to enlarge her pea-sized brain and accidentally making a mistake….

"Now, boys, take your girl by the hand!" I cringed as Black reached for my hand.

"Well, I'm not any more excited than you are," Black snapped. "You want to get a good grade or not?"

Deciding not to trouble myself with answering him, I forced myself to take his outstretched hand. Despite my disgust, I couldn't help but think that it was a perfect fit….

PERFECT FIT?! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING, WOMAN! IT'S NOT A PERFECT FIT! NOT, NOT, NOT! THIS IS SIRIUS BLACK, REMEMBER? NOTHING, I REPEAT, NOTHING, IS PERFECT ABOUT HIM!! I screamed at myself inwardly. What was wrong with me? I really was going insance… Delaney had gotten me….

"Prewitt?" Black's voice jerked me out of my tumble of thoughts. "Are you going to move, or are you going to stand there like the idiot you are for the rest of the day?"

I shook myself and sullenly followed Black to the dance floor where the rest of the class was taking up positions under Delaney's watchful eye. I had to close my eyes whenever I happened to glance at Black's face to keep myself from hitting him. I felt sick when I felt his body so close to my own. Flashes of my father's face kept on popping into my mind… his fist… the pain, agony all over my body…. I nearly threw up. Black won't do that; he can't… I frantically told myself.

"Now, get into tango position!" Delaney commanded. "Boys, arm around the girl's back. Girl's arm on the boy's shoulder! Free hands together! And… step!! No, no, no! Girls, step first with your left! Boys, step first with your right!"

I gritted my teeth and steeled myself to place my arm on Black's shoulder. I shuddered at the touch and close proximity. This was a nightmare. It was my punishment for taking Divination in the first place.

It turned out that Black was very, very bad at this dance. It was a good thing that I knew it already from elementary school.

"Black, will you just let me lead?" I hissed, trying unsuccessfully to force him to turn around. Everything was made harder by the fact that I didn't want to touch him.

"You? You'll get us both a bad grade!" he hissed back. "And girls aren't supposed to lead!"

I rolled my eyes. "That's so stereotypical. Besides, I, unlike you, already know this dance, and you're doing it wrong! God, you're such a pinhead! Why don't you just admit that you're wrong! And turn!"

We turned, finally, at Black's relenting.

"Finally!" I said in relief. But that relief was short-lived.

"Stop being such a know-it-all," Black snapped.

"I'm not!" I said, stung.

"Well, that's something I didn't know," he said in a biting voice.

"Oh, shut it. You're just miffed 'cause you don't know the dance! No, don't take another step! It's the sweep!"

"Stop lording your knowledge all over the place," he retorted. "Oh, wait. This is one of the few things you do know how to do, so you want to make the most of it, don't you?"

"What I know would devastate your measly little brain," I ground out, anger boiling in me once more. It was bad enough that I had to touch him and dance with him all over again after that catastrophic ball without him insulting me as well.

"You mean what you don't know," he smiled triumphantly.

"That is an example of how little your brain can process," I snapped. "You obviously can't take the fact that I'm actually smart, unlike your brainless girlfriend twits."

"You're saying Fiona's brainless?" Black asked in an infuriatingly knowing tone. "I thought you two were close sisters." I couldn't find anything to reply to this.

"Oh yeah. You guys had a falling out because of…" he grinned, "me."

I ground my teeth in answer and dug my nails into his hand and shoulder, making him wince in pain. "We're not close. And you are too insignificant for anyone to have a falling out over."

But that idiot just couldn't drop it. "Fiona was under the impression that you stole me from her, that you tricked her…. I never knew you cared about me that much. Maybe you secretly like me under all your nastiness."

"Keep on believing that, Black. Maybe someday it'll actually come true," I snapped. I looked at him, flinching at the sight, as usual. "Wait—it won't ever happen, not while I'm still alive!"

"Are you sure of that?" he whispered in my ear, his warm breath tickling my neck. I pulled back quickly, disgusted, revolted, and repelled.

"Positive," I said icily. He was such a pervert!

"You know, Prewitt," Black stated, "I think you are jealous. Of Fiona." I gasped at his audacity to presume that he knew my feelings. And I wasn't! "I mean, Fiona obviously has the better genes. Brilliant, funny, open-minded, cute, lovable, and a wonderful snogger… and you, you're all nasty, stubborn, idiotic, and probably a awful snogger, seeing as you don't get any practice."

"Look who's talking," I snapped, feeling anger start to pound in my ears. I tried to ignore his stinging comments.

"Me. It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out."

"Obviously, if you did," I sniped right back at him. "Now, why don't you just shut your trap so I won't go deaf? I'm already close to being blind, looking at your face."

"Then you should finish it, shouldn't you? Don't like leaving things half-way done," Black said in a singsong voice.

"You really do have a lot of worthless words. Why don't you take a swig of Delaney's herbal drink to 'clear the Inner Eye?' It's hopefully acidic enough to wash all that rubbish in your mouth right out of the end that does your thinking for you!" I hissed angrily, making sure to stomp on his feet. He stomped right back on mine.

"What kind of gentleman are you?" I growled. "You just stamped on my feet!"

"Why can't I?" he asked innocently. "You stamped on mine."

"If you pick on a girl, you're a bully," I explained as if he were a simpleton. "I thought you knew how to deal with ladies!"

"You're not a girl, and certainly not a lady," he pointed out. "In fact, you're not even a human. You're just a brainless, twittering prat who—!"

Just then, I pulled out of his grip and whipped out my wand. I just couldn't stand him anymore! "One more word, Black, and I swear I'll make your life hell," I breathed, enraged.

"What are you going to do, poke me in the eye? That's about all you're capable of, anyway," Black said nonchalantly.

Okay. That was it. I strode forward and kicked his shinbone as hard as I could, ignoring Delaney's protests. Black howled with pain, hopping around on one foot and toppling onto a nearby table while trying to pull out his wand.

A brilliant idea popped into my mind. If I bonded him to that desk, then he'd have to spend half his life lugging it around Hogwarts with him. I love me, I thought. With a grim smile on my face, I pointed my wand at him and yelled the curse… just as he yelled another.

There were two blinding flashes of light, and then something exploded in my face. But even as I flew backwards, I felt something tugging on me, not letting me go. I fell to the ground in midair, feeling as if an anchor were attached to my feet. Coughing and trying to breath evenly, I shook my head to clear it. The classroom was filled with smoke, there was a gigantic, blackened hole in the ground, and everyone was hacking.

I tried to get up and walk over to the window, but as I tried to move, that unfamiliar weight, tug, or pull on me intensified. My muscles creaked, trying to free me, but I still couldn't budge. What was wrong with me? What was holding me back? Could my spell have gone wrong? Backfired, or something?

As soon as the smoke cleared, I saw that Black was still sprawled over the table, his whole face blackened by soot.

"I hope you two are pleased with yourselves," Delaney finally said. "Look at my classroom! You'll both get detentions for this--!"

Just then, Black had tried to get off the desk and walk off somewhere, and I felt that intense tugging sensation as I toppled over. He fell back as well, and we landed in a tumbled heap. Horror and terror blossomed in me as I realized what must have happened.

My spell must have combined with his jinx, and now… we were bonded. Together. As in, Black and me, not able to get four feet away from each other. I SO don't love me.

Holy crap.

Freaking shit.

BEEPBEEP

BEEPBEEP

This couldn't be happening to me.

"What's your problem, you clingy prat?" Black yelled at me. "Get off!"

"You're the one on my leg!" I pointed out. He uttered a small sound of disgust and made to get off, but then he obviously felt the tug, and came crashing back down onto me.

"What the—?" he sputtered, comprehension suddenly dawning on his face. "No…" he whispered, horrified. He leapt up, and I felt a spasm of pain as I was also dragged to my feet.

"Let go of me, Prewitt!" he yelled.

"Who would want to hold you, you idiot? Let me go!" I yelled back, straining in the opposite direction despite the growing pain and pull on me. There were titters in the class, and then the whole classroom burst into laughter. A grudging part of me acknowledged that the sight of Black and I trying to get away from each other but failing must be pretty amusing. But most of all, anger and embarrassment washed over me.

"Oh," Delaney was smiling. "I think your way of 'bonding' is a lot better than mine. Perhaps this will be your punishment instead. You two have to stay bonded until you find the countercurse to that. By yourselves. And you'll be able to spend each and every moment by each other's side, waking as well as sleeping."

Both Black and I looked at her in horror and revulsion. I was going to have go day and night with no release from Black. No release from Black. Those words tolled tragically in my head, seeming to pound on my temples. No… what did I do to deserve this? And what about baths, sleep…?

"Grace!" I yelled, trying to run over there, but failing as Black dug in his heels. "Tell Delaney that she's nuts, wacky, mad! I can't stand him! No! Not Black! Anyone but him! NOOOOO!!!!"

"Moony! Peter! Prongs, my mate! Save me!" Black was howling in a blind panic.

Delaney smiled in pleasure at our utter terror. "Yes… and just in time for Christmas break."

I felt my jaw drop. No.

Christmas with Black. How utterly exciting.

All my thoughts were whirling around in my head in a scramble of incoherent images. Tracy… David… Melanie… and Sirius Black.

"It's all your fault!" I screamed at him, taking a fistful of the front of his robes and shaking him vehemently.

"My fault! It was yours! Let go of me, you barmy old bat!"

"You freaking mad toad!"

"No!" hollered Black, this time at Delaney. "I can't go to her house! I can't spend every waking moment with her! She's a nightmare, honestly!"

"You're no prize either, Black!" I shouted, straining even harder to get away from him. Maybe if I pulled hard enough, the bond would snap…. My hopes were dashed. Like a rubber band that had been stretched and then released, Black and I were thrown back towards each other. I knocked my head painfully against his head, and I lay on the ground in a daze.

Grace's multiple heads appeared above what seemed to be stars that were whirling around in the air above me. Hm… wait. Multiple? Since when did Grace have more than one… head?

"Grace. You've got four heads," I giggled.

"Oh dear. I think she's still in shock."

ll----ll

I sat sulkily in Professor McGonagall's office.

"I see. So, Professor Delaney's choice of punishment for you two is for both of you to remain in this bond until you can find the countercurse," McGonagall said, examining Black and me sternly.

Black groaned, letting his head fall onto the table.

"Well, I don't see anything wrong with that sort of punishment," McGonagall continued, and my jaw dropped. I swear I saw a smile tug at her stern lips. "I think I'll arrange for a bedroom of some sort for the both of you, and you'll have to work out what to do for Christmas break together." McGonagall was a conniving old fart, just like Delaney.

"But, Professor," I tried to say.

"Your behavior has been quite unacceptable," McGonagall said severely, eyeing me. "Yours too," she shot at Black, whose head was still on the table. "I hope this will teach you two to be more civil to one another. You brought this down on yourself, you know."

Here McGonagall stopped and glanced at the clock. "Well, I have some work to do. You'll find a new bedroom for the both of you in the common room today. And I suggest that you work out your problems soon. I see that the jinx that holds the both of you together is a very strong one. It must have combined with something else and morphed. Good luck finding the countercurse. And have a nice Christmas." McGonagall said the last few sentences with a touch of sarcasm that I'd never heard in her voice before. But right now I was in no mood to appreciate it.

Instead, I glared resentfully at McGonagall's retreating back as she exited the room.

Black and I sat in silence for a while. We were sitting far enough apart so that we didn't feel… close, but close enough so that we wouldn't feel the tug of the bond. The silence stretched on and on, becoming so suffocating that I finally decided to break it.

"So… are you doing anything for Christmas?" I asked, dragging every reluctant word from my chest.

Black shrugged. "No."

"Does your family want you back home for Christmas?"

Black's eyes clouded even more. "No."

He was just like how I had been… back in California with Henry and Diana…. I all of a sudden felt a tug of sympathy at my heart, but I pushed it away. Hello, this was Sirius Black we're thinking about. Ugh. Sympathy and Black did not go together. "Then… we're going to my house?"

"I don't have a choice, do I?" he sighed despairingly. But then his face changed into a sly one. "But at least I'll be with Fiona, right?"

I closed my eyes and counted to ten before replying. I decided to ignore his comment. "I need to write to Tracy and David about this. Come on. We're going to the common room."

"No!" he protested. "I want to go to the Quidditch pitch! We have a training session today! We have to practice before everyone goes away for Christmas break!"

"Well, that's just going to have to wait!" I snapped. "I need to write the letter and tell Tracy and David about our misfortune with landing up with you!"

"No! Quidditch first!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

This went on for quite some time while we each tried to go our separate ways. This was going nowhere. We even got into a fistfight, both of us rolling on the ground in an effort to scratch one another's eyes out. Finally, I gave up and slumped down. If I was going to have to spend Christmas break with him, I might as well start patching things up between us.

"Fine. We go to the Quidditch pitch, but afterwards, we're going to the common room!" I said. Black was obviously happy at getting his own way. And if he was happy, I was unhappy. I was dragged after him, as the curse tugged painfully at me if I got more than four feet away from him. God, this was only the first day—first few hours— and I was already sick of him.

When we reached the Quidditch field, the rest of the Gryffindor team was already there, and all of them were looking at Black and me apprehensively.

"Okay, I'm here!" Black yelled gleefully, trying to run the last couple of steps. We landed on the ground in a heap.

"Smart, Black. Real smart," I spat as I picked myself up.

"Why are you so heavy?" he demanded.

"Me, heavy?" I gasped, insulted. Didn't Black know that women were sensitive about their weight? "You're a lot heavier!" I brought my foot down on his toe.

"OOWW!!"

"Um… Padfoot?" James asked in the middle of our argument.

"WHAT?" both Black and I yelled at him. Potter looked unnerved.

"How are you going to play if you're stuck with her?"

Black looked at me in horror. "Oh, Merlin," he groaned. "Why me?"

"I'll ride behind you, you brainless lump of flesh," I snapped, feeling angry. It wasn't as if I were helpless, like his other brainless girlfriends. "I'm not afraid of heights."

"Have you been on a broom before?" Black asked, perking up a little.

I blushed uncomfortably. "Well, no, but—"

"…That's okay!" Black finished for me happily. How very considerate of him.

He got his broom out and got on, tugging at the link between us. With a sharp, annoyed sigh, I swung my leg over the broomstick and looked at Black's back helplessly. There wasn't enough space for me to hold onto to the wood, but there was no way in bloody hell that I was going to hold onto Black's waist.

"Um…" I started to say, but Black kicked off the ground impatiently, without any warning. We lifted off the ground too quickly for my liking, and I almost fell off the broom before I grabbed Black's shoulders.

"Are you trying to kill me?" I yelled in his ear angrily.

"Ouch! Don't yell like that!" Black yelled back. "And stop holding onto my shoulders! I'm a Beater! I need my arms, you twittering dimwit!" He waved the Beater's bat at me.

"Then what am I supposed to hold onto?" I shouted.

"I don't know, and I don't care!"

"Well, if I fall off the broom, you're coming with me!" I hollered into his ear.

"My waist, then!" he yelled.

I shuddered distastefully. "No way! How would that look?"

"Who cares how it looks as long as we both don't fall off the broom?"

Black all of a sudden swerved to the right as a Bludger whistled by, and I had to grab his neck to keep my seat.

"Argh! Geroff me!" Black said, sounding winded. "You're choking me!"

"That's the plan!" I shrieked. "And next time, warn me when you're going to do that!"

"Let go of my neck, you idiot! Do you want us to crash?" Black yelped, trying to pry my arms off his neck, but I only hung on tighter. "There's something called a waist! A waist!!"

"You senseless git! I don't want to hold onto your freaking waist!" I screamed. "It's bad enough that I'm on the same broom as you!"

"Fine! Then I'm going to do some loops!" was all he said. I screamed as the world turned upside-down, and I seized Black's waist before I fell off the broom, my heart pounding. I was sure that any moment now, I would fall off and hit rock bottom—which was about fifty feet below. I comforted myself with the thought that if I went down, Black would, too.

Actually, after I got used to the motion of the broomstick, flying was quite enjoyable. The wind whistled past me and whipped my hair around, and I loved being so close to the air, so high above the ground, so free. Well, free, that is, except from Black, who was swinging his club around in a frenzied abandon and zooming around in a random pattern.

After Quidditch practice was over, I jumped off the broom as soon as possible, pulling Black off as well.

"What?" he asked irritably. "It was fun, wasn't it?"

"It would have been more fun without you," I snapped. "You darken my days."

"Bloody hell…. Can you be any more…" Black looked so frustrated that he was at a loss for words, "of a pain in the ass?"

"Yeah," I said brightly. "All you have to do is ask."

"You're impossible!"

"I do try," I grinned, satisfied at making Black aggravated. "Now it's time to go write the letter. Let's go!"

"No!" Black yelled. He wasn't one for keeping promises. "Prongsie, my old mate, don't let her take me!"

"Don't be such a baby," I said briskly as Potter hid a laugh. Well, tried to. He erupted into full-fledged laughter as soon as I started grabbed Black's arm and started towing him off the field.

"Padfoot, looks like she can't wait to get her hands on you!" Potter laughed. My jaw dropped at his insinuation. Furious, I whipped out my wand and took aim, and soon Potter was dancing ballet.

"Don't even think down that lane, Potter!" I yelled angrily before continuing on with dragging Black back towards the castle.

"Stop—being—so—stubborn!" I panted, fighting against the link between us. "Why are you so afraid?"

"I don't wanna go!" he whined. Whined. Like, really. He was sixteen, going onto seventeen, and he still managed to sound like a helpless baby. How did he do it?

"Oh, shut up," I spat. "I need to at least warn Tracy and David… and—!" I stopped. Fiona. How would Fiona take this? Biting back a moan, I continued hauling Black through the halls. This would probably make her mad. She'd probably think that I'd planned for this bondage to occur. She'd probably be jumping at every opportunity to bite my head off.

"What?" Black asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Why so concerned?" I snapped.

"Well, maybe it's because I have to spend all of Christmas with you."

"I know, exciting, isn't it? You can barely stop yourself from jumping with joy."

"Sure," Black said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "I can just barely contain my excitement."

"I have that affect on people," I said in my sweetest manner, knowing that it got to him the most.

As soon as we reached the common room, I dragged Black over to a table and got a piece of parchment and a quill. Then I spent fifteen minutes staring at the page blankly. How's a girl supposed to tell her new parents that she'd only known for less than a year that she'd accidentally gotten herself linked to a boy while trying to jinx the hell out of him, and that the boy would have to come with her for Christmas as the teachers had decided that it was a fair punishment for the both of them?

"Aren't you going to write something?" Black asked impatiently, interrupting my thoughts. "I'd like to go to sleep, before I die of old age."

"Shut up. I'm thinking here," I snapped. "Though I wouldn't expect you to understand; it's not as if you do much thinking anyway."

"It's because I don't need to think. Everything comes to me naturally," Black said arrogantly.

"Uh-huh. Keep on believing that. It's not as if I can argue any sense into you. Your brain obviously hasn't gotten to the point of understanding logical reasoning yet."

"It's gotten past it," he replied.

"Only in your own little world, Black, your own little world where the grass is blue and the sky is pink," I said tartly.

"What, it isn't already?" Black asked, feigning innocence.

"You're stupider than I thought, and that's saying something," I replied, finally dipping my quill into the ink.

"Well, you learn new things everyday," Black said breezily, propping his feet onto the table and leaning back comfortably in his chair. I rolled my eyes and shoved his feet off the table.

"Don't get too comfortable, Black."

"Why not? I certainly will be, once I get to your house…. I mean, my girlfriend's living there, too," he smirked.

I clenched my teeth. "Black."

"Yes?" he asked sweetly.

"You," I started, "are the most annoying, self-centered, narcissistic, egotistical, bigheaded, vindictive, malicious, selfish, spiteful, git that I have ever met. Ever!"

"Thank you," Black smiled. "Good use of vocabulary, by the way."

"Thanks," I said. "It was my pleasure, really." I quickly finished my letter and sent it off.

"Faye!" I heard a voice call.

I turned around—causing Black to jerk as well—and I saw Grace hurrying towards me.

"Are you okay? I mean are you still unjinxed? Oh my god, I feel so sorry for you!" she said, throwing a dirty glare at Black.

"Shouldn't you be asking me if I remain unhexed? Shouldn't you by worrying over me, feeling sorry for me? I'm the one stuck with her! She tried to gouge my eyes out only this afternoon!" Black interrupted.

"No one cares about you," Grace bit out while I laughed.

"I care," Black snapped.

"Let me refine my words. No one who matters cares," Grace retorted.

"Good one," I commented, smiling at Grace, who pretended to bow.

"This isn't fair!" Black protested. "Two against one!"

"Be a man and deal," I snapped, my smile disappearing as I looked back at him.

"Bloody hell," he threw up his hands. "How much time will I have to spend with you?"

"I'm not any more excited about spending time with you," I said coldly.

"Okay, we've got that settled," Grace butted in uneasily. No doubt she was getting worried about getting caught in crossfire between Black and me.

"I want to go to sleep," I yawned, getting up and promptly falling back down, as Black still remained steadfastly in his seat. Grace took my arm and lugged me up, ignoring Black.

"Let's go," Grace said.

We tried to head up to the girls' dorms, but Black dug his stupid heels in.

"I can't go in there!" he howled. "The stairs will get me!" Oh, yeah. I had forgotten about those screaming stairs that would turn into a slide.

"But if you two are so dead set on it, I'm sure we'll find a way," he continued on in a much softer, more seductive voice. Grace and I exchanged glances, and, as one, our hands shot out and slapped him. Black had a disgustingly perverted, one-track mind.

"You sicko!" I snapped. "I can't believe I'm stuck with you!"

"I think you should consider yourself lucky," Black said with dignity.

"Faye! There's a new room over there! And it says," here Grace grinned, "Sirius Black and Faye Prewitt. There you go. You guys are a couple already."

I uttered a sound of disgust, making my way over there and dropping to the ground as Black stopped.

"Black!" I shouted. "You foul, stinking loser!"

After much arguing, we finally made our way over to where Grace was pointing. A door was there, with the words Sirius Black & Faye Prewitt. Holy shit, it looked like we were some sort of couple with a room all to ourselves.

"I'm not sleeping in there, with him!" I yelped. "And what's up with that nameplate?"

"Then where will you sleep?" Grace asked sweetly, obviously amused. "Besides, you're stuck with him." Those words had a fatal ring to it.

"Let's just open the door," Black said in a bored voice. Following his own advice, he put a hand on the doorknob and pushed the door open, and then he stuck his head inside. He gave a horrified gasp and pulled his head back out, looking very serious.

"There's… there's only one bed," he said. "I guess we really will be sleeping together, on the same bed, just you and me."

"What?" I stuttered, frightened. Surely the teachers couldn't be that vindictive! "Sod off! Let me see for myself!" I pushed Black away and opened the door. There were two beds standing in a comfortably sized room, a worktable, two drawers, and there was another door that presumably led to the bathroom. I pulled my head back out, furious.

"You liar!" I yelled. "Pervert!" Black only grinned at me innocently.

"What, there isn't really only one bed?" he asked. "We could push the two together if you want."

"You—!" I couldn't describe him with words.

"Faye," Grace said with a hint of impatience. "You're never going to sleep if you don't get in there."

"I won't," I snarled. "Not with Black."

Grace uttered a noise of disgust and pushed both Black and me inside the room and slammed the door shut before walking off, muttering about time-wasters.

So, here I was, stuck inside a room with my sworn enemy and unable to move so much as four feet away from him. Damn, Delaney's punishment was giving me much more pain and anguish than an ordinary detention would have.

"I want to sleep now," Black declared, moving towards a bed at the same time I headed towards the worktable. And as expected, we ended up in a tangled heap on the ground.

"Stop doing that!" I cried, jumping up. "I want to do some homework!"

"No! You already wrote the letter! Now it's time to sleep!" Black complained.

"Actually doing some homework every night wouldn't kill you!" I shot back. "Come on! I have to!" But that stupid blockhead wouldn't budge, not one inch. After all my hard efforts to get to the worktable… I was still as far away from it as in the beginning.

"Let go! You can sleep on the ground near the table!" I yelled.

"Are you crazy! I need a bed for my beauty sleep!" he yelled back.

I raised a hand—I couldn't help it anymore—and slapped him smartly on the face. This was a mistake. It broke out in an all-out scuffle. I bruised my knuckles against Black's chin while he was trying to kick me off of him. I yanked on his hair, getting several strands pulled out, and he howled in pain and tried to tackle me to the ground, whereas I bit his hand and kneed him in the stomach. I tried to pin him to the ground to pummel him, and he was still trying furiously to get me off. But I knew some dirty tricks back from when I used to fight boys just like him in elementary school. My practice defending myself from my father was also put into use.

I won.

"You fight dirty," Black complained, sitting on the ground, nursing a cut lip and massaging his stomach.

"That's okay," I said sweetly. "I won, didn't I?"

"You cheated!"

"Uh-huh. Right. Besides, when people fight, there are no rules. You know, any guy who fights with a girl and loses is a wuss, Black," I said with satisfaction. "And any guy who fights with a girl and wins is a bully."

"What?" Black asked in disbelief. "Then how's a guy supposed to deal when a girl's after his blood?"

"Easy," I said. "Run away, or don't piss a girl off in the first place!"

After half an hour of homework and writing in my new diary, Black started up his whining again. Now, I was really tired and had bruises all over my aching body, and I was sporting a black eye, so I decided to give in.

"Fine," I said, slowly getting onto one bed. This had been a torturous day. I needed my rest, anyway.

"Yay!" Black cried, just like a three-year-old who'd gotten his favorite toy. He hopped in the opposite bed. "You're finally making some sense!"

"Oh, shut up," I muttered, burrowing down into the covers.

"A little sour tonight, hm?"

"Duh. In case you haven't noticed, I'm stuck with you! That'd make anyone sour," I answered.

"Au contraire, a lot of girls would be dying for this chance," Black said.

"Why are you limiting it to just girls, Black? I'm sure your customers include a much broader range," I said irritably. "Now, I want some sleep if I'm going to last out the morrow."

"Good night! Sleep tight!" Black sang in a very off-key voice. "Rock a my baby, on the tree top—!"

"Oh, sod off. I hope you have nightmares," I snapped, turning over. I heard a thump and a yelp. Oh, good. Black must have fallen off the bed. Served him right. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine that I was back in my own dormitory, on my own bed, with Grace just on the next bed, instead of Black. Oh, hell, I was in for a tough time. And I didn't even know when it would end.

The next morning the bond tugging me out of bed and onto the floor awakened me. I looked up groggily and saw Black making his way towards the bathroom.

Oh, no.

I hoped that the toilet was somewhere near the door. Then it'd save the both of us a lot of embarrassment.

"Pick yourself up, Prewitt!" Black was saying. "I really need to go!"

"Put a stopper on your bladder! You should be able to control yourself by now!" I said, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and getting to my feet, only to be knocked over once again. Growling curse words under my breath, I climbed to my feet once again, only to be met by the bathroom door slamming in my face. The bond tugged at me mercilessly as Black presumably made his way towards the toilet, and I found my face mashed relentlessly against the door.

"Stop moving so far!" I yelled, as the tug grew unbearably painful.

"Just a bit further!" was his desperate reply. "I only have a little way to go!"

Suddenly, the pressure on me lessened, and I was able to draw in a relatively deeper breath. Then I was slammed back against the door with surprising force.

"Black!! What are you doing?" I yelled in anguish.

"Charging!" he yelled back.

Oh, God. He was moving back and throwing himself against the bond. This would not end prettily. The agonizing pressure increased by a hundredfold, and I had to force myself to keep from screaming in pain.

Just then, the bond snapped again, and Black was thrown back. I know this because I heard a thump on the opposite side of the door and the door banged against my head, bruising my jaw, and I heard groans from inside the bathroom.

"Why can't we even go to the bathroom without each other?" I asked the ceiling. "Ugh. Black, you have to let me in."

"Let you in?" Black yelped. "No!"

"I'm not going to peek at you or anything! As if I'd want to! That'd leave me scarred for life!" I said irritably. "I just don't want to keep on being banged into this door over and over again while you continue with your ineffective 'charging!' Use your common sense!"

"What?!"

"Oh, no. Don't tell me you don't have any," I groaned.

It was quite some time before I got Black to see some sense. Now, taking a shower wasn't so easy. After another heated argument… we just had to take the shower with one another in the bathroom as well. I felt very insecure with only a cloth between Black and me… it made me shudder with distaste. And knowing Black's perverted mind… I cast every repelling spell I knew on the hanging.

When would this nightmare end?

ll----ll

"I promise that we'll start looking for those secret passageways once Christmas break is over," Grace said, hugging me. "Were the past few days really that horrible?"

I laughed. "Let's just say… we'll start searching as soon as we get back here and get Black off my back." We were standing in the crowd of students on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters going home for Christmas.

"Bye!" Grace called as I stepped towards the barrier, dragging Black. Grace's own parents were witches and wizards, so they were inside the barrier instead of out.

"See ya!" I called back through the crowd. I waited in line for the inspector to let Black and me pass.

"Yo, Padfoot, have fun," smirked Potter, who was walking by with Remus and Peter. "Maybe I should come for a visit." I fixed him with a glare so murderous that he backed off immediately, muttering, "Good luck staying alive, mate."

"Thanks," Black said dryly, "I'm sure I'll need it."

"You will," I assured him. "Bye, Remus!" Remus waved back to show that he'd heard me.

"Are your parents nice?" Black asked lazily. Over the past few days, we'd hexed each other to no end, but since we were going to my home for Christmas, we couldn't very well do magic, so we felt… restrained. Tension had already begun building up, and we had no way to release it.

"I'll leave you to find that out," I snapped. The last few days had truly been torture for me. If we weren't jinxing one another's butts off, then we were holding loud, angry yelling sessions in the middle of class, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It hadn't been good for my digestion at all. It hadn't been good for me, period.

Once we were through the wall, I started searching the crowds for Tracy and David. I wasn't very excited about the prospect of going home to face their disappointment at my troublemaking and time with Fiona, who'd been furious when she found out about my bond with Black. She kept on insisting that I had planned it all out, attempting to 'steal' Black from her. What a load of crap. A barrier had sprung up between us, higher and thornier than ever before. I didn't really care… I hated Fiona and she hated me. That was that. But it did make me a tad bit uneasy… how could someone as insignificant as Sirius Black cause all this trouble? And now that I was bonded to the above said idiot, going through one day would be like a torture session. But Melanie… I wanted to see Melanie again. My letters to her were always friendly, and her letters back were always filled with fun things and doings that made me laugh, no matter what mood I was in at the moment.

I spotted Tracy, David, and Melanie standing to one side… Fiona was already by their side, talking and laughing. Feeling a flutter of nervousness in my stomach, I walked over to them, hitching my small pack higher onto my shoulder and dragging Black along. It was a strange feeling, the tugging of the bond. Whenever I was too far away from Black, I'd feel physical pain, but whenever I was close to him, I'd feel mental pain that was often accompanied by a flinch.

"Hey," I greeted them.

Tracy and David smiled merrily at me while Melanie rushed to envelope me in a hug, but Fiona looked away, anger evident in her posture. I looked away from her as well. Who cares?

"I'm glad to see that you haven't caused any more trouble," Tracy said approvingly, her blue eyes—so like Melanie's—twinkling at me.

"Yes," David boomed in his brassy voice, "but I'm also glad that you're a little daredevil, firebrand. It makes life much more exciting, doesn't it?" I grinned, feeling a tad more at ease. It seemed as if they had forgotten, or forgiven me.

"I'm just glad you're back!" Melanie cried, giving me an extra squeeze before letting me go. "I missed you so much!"

"And who is this young man?" Tracy asked, her gaze moving onto Black.

"Sirius Black, at your service," he said smoothly, sweeping a graceful bow. I had to hand it to him; he was pretty good at charming adults. Not that I was complimenting him, of course.

"He's my boyfriend," Fiona jumped in, throwing an angry glare at me. "Except Faye somehow got linked to him, and for their punishment, they have to stay bonded."

"It was accidental," I protested. "My spell somehow got mixed up…" My words faded away as Tracy fixed me with a disappointed glance.

"So you tried to attack this poor young man?" she asked sternly. Black was trying not to laugh, and I was steaming mad. No, this was all wrong! Black was as much in fault as me!

"Well, he provoked me…" I tried to explain.

"That's no excuse, young lady," David said as Black snorted at the "young lady" part.

"Yes, David. I'm sorry," I said meekly. It was no good to argue with one's own guardians. Either way, one would always lose.

"Sirius, was it?" Tracy smiled at him. "So, you're Fiona's boyfriend?"

"Yeah," Black smiled at me while I gritted my teeth. How come only I could see past his exterior and know the terror within?

David was instantly hostile towards him. "Really, now? Are you planning on breaking her heart?"

"No, no, of course not," Black said suavely, for all the world looking like a sincere, honest, innocent boy. Hah! I knew better. "I'm not that type of person." It was my turn to snort.

"Hm… I hope you're telling the truth," David said, trying to look severe as Black flashed his best smile at him.

"I'm Melanie," Melanie said, smiling at Black in a friendly manner. "I'm Fiona and Faye's sister!" She seemed so proud to say that.

"Hey," Black replied, smiling in turn. "How old are you?" I jammed my elbow into his stomach. God, he'd barely even spent two minutes with Melanie and he was already seeing if she was old enough to hit on. If he tried anything… I'd kill him, even if it meant that I had to drag his dead body around with me during Christmas.

"Twelve!" Melanie beamed, not noticing anything.

"Well, let's get on the car, then," Tracy urged.

"Car?" Black asked, confused.

"Yes, car," I said pointedly. God, he was from a magical family. Bloody hell… this would make everything even worse.

"I want to sit in the middle!" Fiona cried, still glaring daggers at me. She didn't want me to sit next to Black, which was fine by me. The only thing was, Black and I couldn't walk to the opposite sides of the car, as we ended up in a heap on the ground when the curse snapped. I was almost getting used to that feeling by now. Almost.

"Stop doing that, Prewitt!" Black growled.

"I'm only trying to make sure that Fiona gets you, since I don't want you!" I hissed.

After another scuffle, we ended up piling in with me in the middle and Fiona still glaring at me. I sighed. This was going to be a long vacation indeed.

"Whoa, this muggle device does work!" Black said in amazement, as the car started moving. "What are these buttons for?" he asked, almost opening the door in the middle of the street and rolling the window up and down. "Cool!"

"Don't touch those!" I hissed while slapping his hand away from then. "And put on your seat belt!"

"What's a seat belt?" he queried, feeling around on the seats in confusion.

Making a small sound of disgust, I reached over his shoulder and pulled the seat belt and buckled it for him. Black was amazed, stunned, shocked. And he couldn't get out of his seat belt, and when he jerked it, the seat belt got stuck, it being a seat belt and all.

"How do I get out of it?" he whined, pulling on my arm. I wrenched my arm from his grip and smiled a fake, sweet smile.

"What, you can't get it off by pulling on it? Oh, dear, something's gone horribly wrong! You'll probably be stuck there forever. Seat belts are fearsome things. You can't cut them off, burn them off, or anything! Are you sure you can't get out of it?" I asked, enjoying Black's panicking face.

"Don't be stupid, Faye," Fiona snapped at me. "All you do is press this button."

Black glared at me while I shrugged. Tracy, David, and Melanie were laughing up front. Fiona was pouting crossly, staring out the window. I sighed and sunk lower into my seat. I was already wishing for Christmas to be over.

We drove for a long time until we finally got home. I was falling asleep and fiercely trying to keep my head from drooping onto Black's shoulder by then. I couldn't have lived with myself if I let myself rest on him, no matter how tired I was. Black was wide-awake, and looking very green and carsick. Fiona was already asleep, her head banging occasionally against the window as the car traveled over some bump or the other. Melanie was also asleep on her mother's lap.

We finally drove up onto the driveway, and I leaned over Black to open the door for him. He stupidly tried to get out before unbuckling his seat belt. I sighed sharply and unbuckled it for him, whereupon he stumbled out of the car and tripped, bringing me down with him.

"Ouch!" I grumbled, pulling myself free. "Get up, Black." He moaned, looking greener than before. "I didn't know you get motion sick so easily."

"I'm never, ever riding in that… thing… again!" Black said weakly, getting to his feet unsteadily. "Never again! All the turns and swerves and bumps! I know I left my stomach back behind on that big road with all the scary… c-cars!"

"Oh, shut it. Let's get our luggage," I snapped while Dad opened the trunk. I pulled out my and Black's trunk, and then bade him to follow me into the house. My house looked exactly how I remembered it, except for the fact that all the flowers were replaced by snow.

After falling three times on the stairs due to Black's clumsiness, we finally made it up to my room, where I collapse onto my bed, sending Black down onto the ground. There was a sleeping bag already placed close by my bed, as I'd told Tracy that Black and I couldn't move very far apart. Tracy had understood completely, though I knew that she had laughed behind my back. I didn't mind that much, though. From another person's point of view, the situation was perfectly laughable. I had to applaud Tracy for not bursting into laughter right in front of my face. I buried my face in my pillow.

"Neat room you have here," Black commented, evidently getting over his carsickness.

"I'm sure it's nothing like yours," I muttered.

"I don't like it," he said, sitting on the foot of my bed. "It's a bit too neat, if you know what I mean. At my place, the mess in my room multiplies by itself. And I leave my clothes on the ground, not in these useless drawers!" He shook his head. "You know, I never got the point of drawers. People never use them… well, ordinary people, at least," he said thoughtfully.

One word could sum this all up: gross.

"Get off!" I yelled, shoving him with my feet. "You're disgusting."

"Temper, temper, Prewitt," Black reprimanded with amusement. "What would your parents say? I'm your guest!"

"So you have to do whatever I tell you to do," I snapped. I wasn't in the mood to listen to Black. I hated him. Why did he have to disrupt my life like this? I had wanted to spend more time with Tracy, David, and Melanie, and instead, I was stuck with… Black. Ugh.

"So, what are we going to do?" Black asked. "I'm bored."

"I don't give a damn whether or not you're bored or not!" I yelled. "The world's not all about you, Black!"

"Do you think your parents would let me snog Fiona?" Black pondered out loud.

"Is that all you ever think about?" I shouted, flinging my pillow at his stupid head. "Who'd be the best snog?"

"No, that's not all there is," Black assured me, catching the pillow easily, to my frustration.

"Then what else fills up that incredibly small brain that you harbor?" I snapped.

"Well, who has the best figure, whose most beautiful, who smells the nicest, who feels the nicest… tons of things!" Black said, shaking his head. "And you're telling me you don't even know about any of this?"

"You are terrible," I said.

"I know. So, what are we going to do?" Black asked cheerfully.

"Why don't you go ask Fiona?" I muttered.

"Naw. She's sleeping. Didn't you see your dad carry her up to her room?"

"What a baby. Can't even wake up to walk up to her room," I muttered bitterly.

"What are we going to do?" Sirius asked even louder.

"Shut up!"

"No!"

"Sod off!"

"Can't!"

"You little—!"

"Faye?" Tracy stuck her head in my room. "If Sirius wants to go someplace, then take him. He's your guest, after all."

Black smiled broadly at me while I seethed in anger. All I wanted to do right now was hide under my covers, take a break from the world, and take a break from Black. But this was not to be. Five minutes later, Black was dragging me out the front door.

"Fine. If we're going out, then we go where I want to go," I snapped.

"Faye!" a voice down the street yelled. I turned around to see Mariana, my neighbor. That was funny. She usually didn't talk to me.

"Hi! Long time no see," Mariana grinned, but not at me. She was looking directly at Black, who smiled charmingly back. I gave an exasperated sigh. I did not want to stand around being the third wheel while Black and Mariana hit it off.

"That's Sirius Black, the stupid bloke who won't stop following me," I explained. Black glared at me and opened his mouth to protest, but I rode right over him. Besides, I needed a way to explain the spell away, and I wasn't going to be the one following Black.

"Yeah, and we have to go now! Fiona's here, but she's sleeping at the moment! Bye!" I said, pushing Black off in another direction to hide the fact that we were bonded. After we turned the corner, I stopped pushing him and slumped against the wall.

"Why did you do that?" Black asked. "I wanted to talk to her!"

"What you want isn't on the top of my list of priorities," I snapped. "I don't like her, so I refuse to spend any time watching you flirt with her."

"Aw, are you getting jealous over me?" Black batted his eyelashes.

I shoved him, but too hard, so that I got tipped over as well, and we fell to the ground into a familiar pile.

"You know," I commented calmly, staring up at the sky, "I've never hated you more."

"Hey, this isn't my fault," Black retorted, picking himself up.

"It is," I contradicted him. He rolled his eyes and heaved an exasperated sigh.

"Look, I don't want to spend the whole day arguing with you. Why don't you just find some nice, muggle thing for us to do?" he asked condescendingly.

"Whatever," I muttered. "I don't like shopping, so we won't go to the mall. I don't feel like playing, especially not with you, so we won't go to the park. I don't feel safe with the idea of you around videogames, so the arcade is out. I don't think you can handle a skateboard, so the skate park is out. So, that leaves nowhere but home and sleep," I concluded.

"No! Your house creeps me out. I mean, where's the mess?" Black complained. "Why don't we do the skatey thingy. Whatever that is."

"Exactly my point," I sighed. "I'm doomed."

"You have to take me," Black said, "Your mummy said so." He smirked. Hell, he was such a baby.

"Fine. Don't blame me if you come down with a major concussion if—I mean, when—you fall off your skateboard," I spat, feeling furious. How did I become a baby-sitter to such an idiot?!

Half an hour later, we were at Vans Skate Park, strapping on our helmets and elbow guards. A gloom so thick had fallen on me that I couldn't even summon up the strength in me to thank the worker at the counter. I knew I probably couldn't even skate, not with Black being the clueless klutz who'd never been on a skateboard before.

"Ready?" I asked crossly.

Black was staring at his elbow guards. "What are these funny contraptions?" People were staring. I hastily put the elbow guards on him.

"Come on! You're embarrassing me!" I hissed. "Grab your skateboard, you dolt!"

"You mean that long board thing with wheels, right?" Black asked, looking at the skateboard by his feet.

"Yes!" was my frustrated answer.

Needless to say, this incident was a complete fiasco. Black couldn't stay on a skateboard straight. Whenever he tried to move forward, the skateboard would go backwards, and he'd end up tumbling over, the link bringing me down with him. Bystanders must have had a good laugh, watching us. Then, I told him to run behind me while I skateboarded. This was a mistake. I got onto one of the slides and fell in midair because Black couldn't jump high enough. I was soon covered with aching bruises, and I was even limping slightly.

"Black," I muttered through gritted teeth. "We're getting out of here."

"What?" he looked startled. "Why? We were just having fun!"

"Your idea of fun doesn't completely match mine," I grumbled, grabbing his neck and heading towards the counter to give the skateboards back.

"You're such a spoilsport," he grumbled. "You know, I could make a scene and embarrass you so much that you could never show your face in here ever again."

I whirled around and glared daggers at him. "You wouldn't." He merely laughed, being the scumbag he is.

"Don't you want to get back to Fiona?" I asked nastily, feeling a familiar stab of anger. "No doubt she's dying to see you."

"Anybody would be," Black said nonchalantly as we walked out of the skate park. I tried to count to ten and control my anger. I tried to, I really did.

Actually I didn't. I let it loose. He was such an arrogant lout! In a second, I had his neck in my hands, and I was fulfilling my regular daydream of throttling Black with my bare hands.

"What are you doing?!" Black yelled. "Get off, you crazy woman! Get off!" He pried at my hands.

"Get one thing clear, Black!" I yelled, not caring about who saw this particularly violent scene. "You are not all that! So just forget about yourself! You should practice everyday, trying to forget about your own selfish needs for at least a minute, until you get the hand of it, you bigheaded jerk!"

"Let go! Fiona wouldn't do this!" Black yelled. I was breathing harshly by the time I let go of Black's worthless neck. He wasn't worth the effort.

"Let's go back home, so you can spend time with Fiona, the sister that everybody likes," I said huffily, turning my face away. Black followed me without a word.

ll----ll

"Siri-poo, do you want another bite?" Fiona asked sweetly. I wanted to gag. Watching the sickly display of Fiona feeding Black lunch was enough to make me lose my appetite. And I couldn't leave, either, because Black was adamant about staying, and so was Fiona. It was a good thing for them and a bad thing for me that David wasn't home to see this and Tracy was out shopping for groceries. Melanie was out with some friends of hers, and I would have gone with her, but I was stuck to this dork.

"Are you guys done yet?" I asked irritably. "It's been nearly an hour! Honestly, how long can a meal take?"

It was Christmas Eve today. I couldn't wait for the day to be over. It had been nearly a week since I had arrived back at home with Black, a long, torturous week. I had taken Black to the mall, to the park, to the arcade, to Mariana's house, to a restaurant, to the beach, to almost everywhere in town!

And Black, being the troublemaker he was, had somehow managed to create havoc and mayhem wherever he went. At the mall, he gawked at various items, saying in a loud voice, "all these muggle thingies are useless." He had even asked where the Potions ingredients were at the McDonald's in the food court and tried to break quite a few electrical appliances that were on show. At the park, he set off his store of dungbombs, giving all the people there quite a scare and coating an innocent little boy with a nasty smell. At the arcade, Black had attempted to break one of the games, insisting that all he wanted to do was "talk to the little people inside." It had been the same at Mariana's house with the TV. He even broke a light switch when he had repetitively flicked it up and down a little too much and with way too much zealousness.

That wasn't the end of it. At the restaurant, he slipped one of Dr. Filibuster's fireworks into my soup and exploded it, leaving me covered with hot, burning soup and the restaurant filled with brightly colored bubbles and screaming customers. At the beach, Black wolf-whistled at passing girls wearing bikinis and almost drowned me in the water when he slipped on a rock while looking at a girl and couldn't get up. Whenever I was trying to watch TV, he would start talking, trying to carry on a conversation with the people shown, and always getting mad when they, obviously, ignored him. And to top it all off, he left my room a mess, his dirty clothes strewn everywhere, boxers, socks, and all, leaving me to practically swim my way through all the chaos.

It was a nightmare. Just… horrendous, appalling, unbearable. I was seriously going crazy.

"A long time," Black said without even looking at me. He was still staring at Fiona, who giggled. Well, that was slow. It had almost been a minute before he replied.

"What, are you jealous?" Fiona asked. I rolled my eyes at her. Ever since we'd gotten home, Fiona had been sniping at me like this, insulting me whenever possible, always cooing over Black. It nearly drove me crazy with frustration. She always rubbed anything she could in my face. I'd experienced this side of her before, but I had gone too long without her company, so I wasn't used to it anymore, and frankly, it was just too annoying. I couldn't take it anymore.

"No," I said firmly, staring at her hard. "You don't have anything that anybody would be jealous of."

Before Fiona could deliver one of her stinging insults, the doorbell rang. Who could it be? Tracy and David both had a key, and Melanie would just try to barge right in and yell like a banshee if the door was locked.

I moved to go get it, but the bond tugged at me, and I fell in a familiar pile with Black. Fiona went to get it instead while I untangled myself from Black, glaring at him all the while. I heard Fiona gasp.

"Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?"

I felt the color drain from my face. "Mom" and "Dad" to Fiona was none other than…

…Henry and Diana.

Why had they come here? They weren't allowed to come near me! Why were they here? Why? Why? Did they want to hurt me? What were they playing at?

A thousand thoughts whirled around in my head as I dazedly stared at Fiona's back. I slumped back down to the ground, open-mouthed in horror and terror. At that moment, I couldn't care less if Black saw me or not. All I could think about was Henry and Diana and what the hell, what the fu they were doing here.

"Prewitt? Prewitt!" Black's voice jerked me back into reality. "What's happened?"

"Nothing… nothing," I shook my head, looking back towards the doorway. I could hear my heart pounding uncomfortably in my ears.

"I thought you weren't allowed to see us," Fiona was saying.

"We weren't, honey, but then your father cleared everything up and is even getting off his addiction! The authorities thought that we could pay you a small visit, just for Christmas," came Diana's sugary-sweet, sickening voice. I almost threw up. I had thought that I was free of them forever… and now… they were back.

"Okay then," Fiona said happily. "Come on in. Tracy and David are out right now." My breathing quickened, and shivers ran up and down my spine.

I saw them. I saw Diana's blond head, Henry's black head. I saw Henry's face again, looking a tad bit anxious… but that couldn't erase all the times I had seen him with drunken rage and disgust on his face, yelling at me while he raised his fists threateningly.

My hands clenched into fists, my nails cruelly digging into my skin, and I could feel stinging prickles traveling up and down my arms.

"Faye," Diana said, her voice losing its sugary quality for one moment.

I couldn't lose it now. Everyone was staring at me. Black was looking at me with confusion, but Fiona, Diana, and Henry… they looked at me with knowing, wary expressions on their faces.

"Diana," I managed to force out. My throat had closed up; I was having trouble breathing.

Then Henry stepped up. "Look, Faye …"

I didn't want to hear anything he had to say. He could have nothing to say to me. Nothing. After what he did to me… I was already scarred—scarred for life.

"Shut up," I said, my voice shaking. "I don't want to hear anything that you have to say. Don't speak to me. Don't you ever speak to me again! Don't think I don't know that you're trying to apologize out of shame, and not out of real guilt! Just leave me the sodding hell alone!"

I got up and dragged Black up the stairs at a reasonable pace without looking back. Once I slammed the door shut behind Black, I collapsed against it, my whole body trembling with emotion. I closed my eyes. No… this wasn't happening. It was all a dream. It couldn't be happening to me. I had already been saddled with Black for Christmas, and now… my parents had to come, too. I unconsciously touched a pale, almost unnoticeable scar on my right arm. It had been given to me the first night Henry had started beating me. Flashes came back to me, of darkness and shouting and pain.

"Prewitt," Black asked. I opened my eyes and glared at him. "What was that all about?"

Furious that he had the nerve to ask about my personal family life, I snapped, "None of your business!" I rose, still dragging him behind me, and went to collapse on my bed, burying my face in my pillow. I hoped that when Tracy and David came back, they would somehow kick Henry and Diana out….

"Really." Black actually sounded serious for once. But that didn't make it all right for me to start spilling out my shameful secret to him. I was mortified that he had even seen Henry and Diana.

"Go away," I muttered automatically.

"I can't, seeing as we're tied together," he joked. I didn't laugh at his corny joke, and to my surprise, neither did he. I was busy fighting the tears in my eyes. I couldn't bear to let him see me cry. I had never cried in front of anyone, and I was not going to start now, especially not in front of him. Suddenly anger surged up in me… anger that Black was here… seeing this… when I didn't want him to be.

"Prewitt…" he trailed off as I sat up and glared at him.

"Who asked for you to poke your nose into my business?" I yelled. "Just… just forget all that! Besides, you wouldn't care! You hate me; I hate you!"

"Were those people your parents?" Black went on, ignoring my furious words. "I thought Tracy and David were your parents."

"They… they…" I searched for an answer that wouldn't give me away. None came. I glared at him instead. "It's none of your bloody business! Just shut up!"

I let my head fall onto my pillow once again. Suddenly, I heard a soft knocking on the door. Horrified, I scrambled up again and stared at the door.

"Faye, it's me," came Henry's voice. I gritted my teeth in anger and fury. He had no right to speak to me! None at all! If he thought that one semester was enough to change me into a goody-two-shoes, all-out forgiving freak, then—then he would think again!

"I told you to never speak to me again!" I yelled. "After everything you did… you expect me to be glad that you came waltzing back into my life? You're not my father; and you never were! I hate you, hate you, hate you!"

"Faye, I know I haven't been a good father to you…"

"That's a bit of an understatement," I snorted.

"…But I want to apologize. I want you to know that I've changed." The nerve of him! Nothing he said or did now made a difference anymore!

"You think anything you say now can change anything?" I yelled angrily. "You think I'll believe any of the shit you're saying about 'changing for the better?'" I laughed harshly at the last four words. Changing for the better. What a joke.

"Faye…"

I tugged at my hair in anger, wishing I could just pull it out by the roots. I wished I could stop my ears, stop thinking, stop everything…. I couldn't stand listening to his voice again. I needed out! Turning abruptly, I yanked Black over to the window.

"Prewitt, what are you doing?" Black asked in alarm.

I threw open the window and took the screen out, throwing it to the ground. "Come on," I said, turning around to look at Black. "We're getting out of here."

"Prewitt, calm down," Black said in a placating voice. "Just use the door. We're on the second floor, you can't possibly…" I climbed onto the windowsill and edged onto the sloping roof.

"You coming or not?" I asked. "If you don't, I'll just jump, and you'll come down anyway." I didn't want to see Henry or Diana. I didn't want to their stupid, meaningless, fake apologies to grate on my ears.

It turned out that that was the right thing to say. Black placed a hand on either side of the window and hauled himself out, hissing, "Prewitt, you idiot, stop playing around!"

I glared at him and started edging down the roof towards the back yard, where I knew there was a tall bush that was free of the thorny climbing roses.

"You're a barmy old bat, I tell you!" Black grumbled as he followed. "What's wrong with that man? He seemed nice enough!"

"Shows what you know," I snapped, stopping at the very edge. I looked down. It seemed to be a very long fall. Black reached my side and looked down as well, before glowering at me.

"Any more bright ideas?" he asked sardonically.

"Actually, yeah," I said with fake brightness. "Jump."

I took my own advice and did so, knowing that the tie between us would force him down as well. Yeah, this was one of my more stupid doings, but… oh, well. As I went tumbling down, I heard Black yelp, and then I crashed into the bush, breaking more than a little twigs and getting poked all over. An instant later, Black smashed into me, knocking the breath out of my stomach and driving me even deeper into the bush.

I opened my eyes after I was sure I would fall no further, which I had closed to keep any branches from poking my eyeballs out. What met my eyes almost made me scream. There he was… Black's face was inches from my own, and his own eyes were scrunched up, closed tightly against any stray branches. We were so close that I could feel his warm breath on my cheek. We were entangled in a pile of arms and legs… I could feel his body pressing against mine due to the damnable force of gravity.

My first panicked thought: GROSS!

"Get off!" I growled, pushing Black away, making him snap open his tightly closed eyes.

He glared at me. "You were the one who got us into this mess!" he snarled, thrashing around for a moment before he tumbled out of the bush, dragging me out as well. We toppled onto the ground together.

Black got up first, brushing himself off. "Now, can we go back into the house? I'm aching all over from your little escapade."

"We're not going back in there, not with them in there," I hissed. "Let's go. We're going to the park."

My need to escape was so strong that I grabbed his arm, physically hauling Black out of my back yard through the side door and yanking him along with me, wherever I was going.

"Oy! Oy, Prewitt, I can walk myself!" Black yelled, but I paid him no heed. All that was in my mind was furious, swirling thoughts about Henry and Diana…. I vaguely noticed that we were in the park now. I dragged Black the last way to the swings, and then I collapsed onto the snow on my knees.

"Faye, I know I haven't been a good father to you… but I want to apologize."

How could Henry even think that I would just take that lame apology and be all happy with him? Did he really think that I was that mindless? After all he had done to me, all I had endured at his hands… I knew I could never trust him, or forgive him. That was what he was looking for, and I couldn't give it to him. Henry was looking for his own redemption, hoping to ease his shame. That was all it was. Shame. So selfish, as usual. He didn't think of what his stupid visit would mean for me…. If I'd known that he would be coming, I would have stayed at Hogwarts, no matter what.

Henry was stupid. I would never give him my forgiveness. To forgive would be to say that I truly excused his actions—and I didn't.

In the middle of the raging storm of emotions inside me, I registered only one thought: don't cry. Black was there. He'd already seen my… real family. I wasn't about to let him see my tears. So I just sat there, rigidly still and stubbornly silent, biting my bottom lip to keep my tears back.

"Prewitt?" I heard his voice. Oh, no. No. He couldn't speak to me right now. Maybe in a couple of minutes, when I had full control of my feelings.

"Prewitt…. It's okay to cry," Black said softly. I heaved a shuddering breath. I hadn't even known that Black was capable of somewhat wise words. I forced myself to breathe, to prepare to speak, to find the right words to say.

To him.

--

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