A/N: Sorry, peoples, this chapter's not the update, but the next one is!! This is here because I decided to put my introduction back here, because I took it out some time ago.
Well, enjoy!
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---Chapter Nine: New Enemies Born---
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Things were practically back to normal between Black and me. We traded insults on a daily basis, I felt annoyed at him on an hourly basis, and he reverted back to being the pervert he was.
Things were, as I said, back to normal. Until Potter decided to hop out with a few choice phrases that quickly turned my life into hell.
Grace, Leah, and I were sitting in the Great Hall one March morning, eating breakfast. It was, no duh, a perfectly normal occurrence. The Marauders were sitting not five seats away.
"Grace, what did you think of that horrid Divination exam?" I asked, wolfing down some bacon. Delaney had recently tested us on the ability to correctly gauge a person's feelings. That was totally impossible, as I hadn't gotten any hint of what Delaney called "the ambiance," and I was sure that I had scored...er... very badly.
"Oh. That one," Grace grumbled, spearing an egg with her fork and looking at it moodily. "I totally flunked that. I was paired up with Tina Bobber, remember?" She shuddered.
"We were always going to flunk Divination," Leah complained. I knew that she was addressing Grace only.
"Hey, Faye," Grace said suddenly. "I totally forgot! Remember our deal for the Winter Ball?"
I was confused for a second. Then I remembered that Grace had promised that if I went to the ball, then she would come with me to look for secret passageways! "Oh, yeah!"
"I'm so sorry," Grace apologized profusely.
"Nah, don't worry about it. We both had a lot of things on our minds, and I didn't get Black off my back 'til much later," I assured her. "But don't worry. We can start today!"
"I'm starting to think I shouldn't have reminded you," Grace groaned.
Suddenly, a shout down the table interrupted our conversation.
"Padfoot, man! You really shouldn't be staring at Prewitt like that! I mean, you've been staring at her day and night and night day and all throughout classes! You've got to at least spare some time for me!" James was saying—quite loudly. I felt myself turn red as I glowered at them. Black was sinking down in his seat, a rare, surprising display of embarrassment on his part. James was loudly banging on the table, acting upset, and Remus and Peter were hiding little smiles of their own. The whole Gryffindor table was listening in now—as well as all the other tables. Which meant everybody in the whole hall was listening in. God—the teachers were even looking fairly amused!
Grace grinned at me, shoving her elbow into my stomach and making me choke on my food. "So, I guess you've made another conquest!"
"I haven't!" I sputtered, accidentally spraying her with bits of egg. Grace flicked some bacon back at me.
"Oh, but you have!" James crowed, bouncing out of his seat to sit at my side. I stiffened and glowered him dangerously, but he didn't seem to notice. "Sirius just hasn't been the same since you guys came back from Christmas." He winked at me. "He did sleep in the same room as you, didn't he?"
I was beet red by now. I shoved my elbow into Potter's stomach, causing him to fall off the bench with a cry of surprise. "Shut up, Potter!" I shouted, grabbing my books and preparing to stomp off. I happened to glance at Leah. She was glaring at me, biting her bottom lip and scrunching her over-bright eyes. I tore my gaze away. Grace was whooping with pleasure, to my disgust.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Potter sat up, his eyes glinting behind his glasses. "It was the same bed, not room! Sorry 'bout that slip!" I kicked him back down.
"It's not true!" I yelled, trying to wipe that amused expression off everyone's faces, though I noticed quite a few girls had horrified, jealous expressions. I glimpsed Fiona's face; she looked livid and very, very jealous. I couldn't even bring myself to look in Black's direction. I made sure to tread on Potter's face as I made my exit at a stately walk.
This boded for major trouble.
Later that day, I was alone in the library working over my homework. Grace had been with me earlier, but then she had cleared off, complaining that she was bored of doing essays. So I sat alone, slowly getting more bored by the second.
After a little while of staring blankly at my Transfiguration essay, I gave up and propped my chin on my elbow and stared out the window at the grounds. Everything was lit with the golden-red hue of the setting sun. It was so quiet and still....
It was peaceful times like this when I would let my mind wander back to Andrew. I really missed him, especially now. Grace was obviously happy that someone was crushing on me—though I still didn't believe it—and I couldn't talk to her about it. Leah... Leah wasn't even a really good friend. More like a competitor and a rival, actually. I didn't have anyone to talk to about the problem of Sirius Black.
I missed Andrew so much. I had to content myself with letter that were often spaced months apart, and that was hardly anything compared to what we used to have. And what was really scary was... after almost seven months of being away from him I didn't think about him or miss him as much as I used to. I couldn't even remember him so clearly or sharply. And that scared me.
I sighed at my morose thoughts, staring out at the window pensively.
God, Black didn't really like me, did he? I didn't know how to deal with things like this; I'd never been in this type of situation before. And I didn't like him back. Duh! He was Black, the bane of my whole existence. Besides, he had probably decided that I'd be one of his numerous flings, and then once he finished with me, he'd move on.
I shuddered.
"Faye Prewitt?" a sweet, sugary voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked around in panic—had that been Diana's voice?
No. I drew a sigh of relief.
My relief was short-lived, however. A pretty blonde stood in front of me with a whole group of other girls behind her—I recognized her as the Hufflepuff girl Prissy Carlson. Well, Prissy would have been pretty had she not put on so much makeup on her eyes and cheeks that she looked like a painted doll—a really, really scary one. And her clothes were... very revealing was the best way of putting it. She had on a tight black miniskirt that left her legs bare from the mid-thigh down, a tight red T-shirt with a very low neckline that really didn't complement her... um... figure, and black high-heels that must have been four inches tall at the least. All the girls behind her wore similar fashions.
Didn't they get hauled in for wearing things like that? It was disgusting.
"My dear, stop ogling at us," Prissy said sweetly. I snapped out of my initial disgust at seeing them, and looked her in the face, though I'd really rather not. Her face was a mess of makeup.
"What do you want, Prissy?" I asked coldly.
Prissy slowly pulled out a chair and sat down with great deliberation. I was surprised that the fabric of her skirt didn't rip.
"Darling, I only want to discuss your latest... triumph." Darling? Who did she think I was? And... what triumph?
I raised my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"Stop playing innocent," Prissy said with disbelief, arching her own severely plucked eyebrow. "Sirius Black, honey."
Oh. I should have known that it would come to this. Potter had announced it to the whole school, for heaven's sake! I had to start to clear the truth with these airheads first, then.
"Let me make something very clear, Prissy," I snapped, leaning back and surveying her coolly. "I hate Black, and he hates me. I can't stand him! Since you and your little fan club like him so much, go ahead and chase him! You're wasting your time here with me, as there is nothing going on between Black and me, and there never will be." I started gathering up my things.
"Stop right there," one of the girls in the mob suddenly said. I rolled my eyes.
"And I suppose you're going to make me?" I asked, swinging my bag onto my shoulder.
"Sirius Black belongs to all of us! Don't you dare take him away!" Prissy hissed, standing up.
"I assure you, I'm not about to even try to take him away from you guys. As if I'd waste my time doing that," I said impatiently. "I'm tired of repeating myself: I don't like Sirius Black!"
"That's what they all say," Prissy said. "But we all saw him staring at you throughout classes! Stop doing whatever you're doing to him!"
I slammed my hands down on the table, glaring at her venomously. "I'm not doing anything! And if you like him so much, then you go chase after him! And he doesn't like me, alright?" I strode to the exit, ignoring the girls' scandalized whispers.
"You'd better be telling the truth, Faye, or you'll find trouble..." Prissy's voice followed me out the door.
I rolled my eyes with irritation. I stuck my head back into the library. God, those girls looked so out of place in the library! "If you think I'm afraid of skinflints like you, then you'd better think twice! If you can handle thinking, that is!"
Satisfied that with my insult at them, I walked back to the Gryffindor common room, still annoyed and irritated. Sirius Black was the cause of all this. Sirius Black was the whole problem. If he just left me alone, then I'd be perfectly fine!
I tramped into the common room in a flurry of anger, which only got worse when I saw Black sitting with his friends, laughing over something.
"You!" I shouted, stomping over to them, pointing a finger at Black. "Stay the hell away from me!"
"Didn't your mother ever teach you that pointing is rude?" Black asked, a silly smirk on his face. I had refrain from pulling my hair out. I threw my bag onto the ground and stamped even closer to him until I was standing right in front of his chair.
"You don't like me, alright? Tell your stupid, brainless fans! YOU DON'T LIKE ME!!!" I yelled, stomping my feet with every word to give it emphasis. At the moment, I didn't care that I was making a scene in the common room. Since it was only about nine, the room was still relatively full.
Black was leaning back in his chair easily. "How can you tell me to not like you? I believe you don't have any choice on the matter."
I ground my teeth together and jabbed a finger into his chest. "Fine! You can like me, or whatever! Just remember that I WON'T LIKE YOU!! Ever! So you can just give it up before it gets too pathetic!!"
I heard a sputter of laughter on my right side. I turned and kicked Potter in the shin before stomping off up the girls' staircase.
God, Black made me so mad!
---Sirius's POV---
I stared after Prewitt. I seemed to always be staring at her retreating back. How unfair. I turned back to my friends in puzzlement.
"What just happened?" I asked.
James was still moaning over his abused leg, so he neglected to answer me. Great friend, that one.
"Well, Faye just told you that she wanted you to stay the hell away from her and that she'd never like you, even if you like her," Remus supplied.
"Thanks for making me feel better," I snapped.
"Well, you seemed to be just taking her words in through one ear and letting it seep out through the other," he shrugged nonchalantly.
"I didn't do that!" I protested indignantly. "I heard every word she said!"
"Then are you going to take the hint and leave her alone?" Peter piped up doubtfully.
Oh. He had a good point there. "Maybe, maybe not," I replied, scratching my head. "I can't help it if I'm drawn to bothering her."
"That's exactly how I feel with Evans!" James cried, earning himself a glare across the room from the said Evans.
"Shut up, James," I snapped. "You're the one who got me into this mess in the first place."
"Me?" James repeated, looking surprised. "What'd I do?"
"Well," I said, pretending to be thoughtful, "let's think about it. You just happened to blurt out, in front of the whole school, that I like Prewitt! Which I don't!" I added hastily.
My friends only shook their heads at me. I sighed and sank down into my seat. What did I do? Where did I go wrong? I had already apologized to Prewitt for kissing her, and she told me that she'd forgiven me! And she'd said that we were back to normal! This was hardly called normal, as she blown up at me and told me to stay the hell away from her....
I just didn't get her! What was up with her attitude? And temper? Girls. I was starting to think that they weren't worth the effort. At least, Prewitt wasn't worth the effort. I think.
Shaking my head at myself, I rejoined my friends' conversation, resolving to stop staring at Prewitt all the time.
The next moment, a Gryffindor fifth year swaggered by, swaying her hips and obviously ready to flirt with me. I exchanged a look with Remus, who was shaking his head and frowning darkly at me, obviously telling me not to do it. I smiled brightly at him and shrugged. My motto was: be young while you're young. I got up and followed her, pushing the more unfavorable, confusing thoughts of Prewitt forcefully out of my head.
---Faye's POV---
I glared at Black, and he hastily looked away from me. We were in Charms class, and Flitwick was giving some sort of lecture that I wasn't paying attention to in the least. He was staring at me. It was creepy. I hoped that he was going to take my hint and stay away, though. Black was like a weed, honestly! He kept on cropping up where he was NOT wanted! It was so annoying! I kept on weeding... and weeding... and weeding... BUT IT JUST WASN'T WORKING!
I pulled out a sheet of paper, determined to do something to stop him.
Stop staring at me, you weed, I wrote down. I glanced up—and yeah. He was staring at me again. He looked away once I glowered at him, and I folded up the note and threw it at his head, indulging in a brief daydream that the note was actually some sharp object that was about to impale his head....
I turned away loftily to look at Flitwick. A moment later, the note landed back on my desk. I sighed with irritation and opened it.
Weed? I'm no weed!
Au contraire. A weed is a flower that grows in an unwanted place! Duh. You're UNWANTED! I scribbled down furiously before tossing it back at him.
Hey, at least I'm a flower. You're more like a bit of dead branch. A wrinkly, fissured one.
I glared at him. I'm sure that his desk should have disintegrated into ashes by now from the hate that I made sure was emanating off me.
Why do you do this to me, you bloody weed? Just leave me the hell alone!
Hey, you were the one who started this note in the first place.
Oh, god. He was right. What could I say to that?
Only because you're staring at me! I wrote back.
And you're staring at me, too.
I am not! I am glaring! There's a difference!
You've got to be more careful, sweet. People will think that you like me.
Like that'll ever happen. I swear, the day I actually like you is the day when I'll go skinny-dipping in the lake with the Giant Squid.
You mean that?
Yes!
I'll remember it then. You never know what can happen! o.
Don't get your hopes up.
Come on, you know that I'll charm you sooner or later.
The only charming you'll be doing is the Summoning Charm after I hex your butt into the next generation.
I'd hex your butt, too, but I think it's too shapely to ruin.
You pervert! Stop staring at other people's butts!
I was complimenting you there, you know.
Complimenting, my foot! You'd better keep your eyes away from the more private regions of a girl's body.
Hey, you should be glad that that's all I'm doing.
PERVERT!
What else can I say when you've summed it all up?
Just then, I heard Flitwick's squeaky voice by my chair. Panicking, I crumpled up the note and clenched it in my palm.
"Miss Prewitt, what are you writing? May you let the whole class in on it?" Flitwicked asked merrily, holding out his hand for the note.
Freaking shit. I could not let the whole class hear the contents of this note! I had to destroy it—now! But how? Black was leaning back in his chair easily, evidently enjoying my predicament, and Grace was only staring at me confusedly. Flitwick was taking out his wand, probably to do the Summoning Charm, but before he could, I took the note and stuffed it into my mouth. Drastic times call for drastic measures.
There were gasps, chokes, and titters in the class as everyone watched me struggle with the note. It was a hard, big, tasteless lump in my mouth, but I resolutely chewed it. It felt like I was chewing a piece of tough canvas cloth that got furrier and furrier the longer it stayed in my mouth. (A/N: Written from personal experience.) Professor Flitwick was looking at me in horror.
I swallowed, forcing the oozy, crumbled sheet of paper down my throat. It burned as it went down, and I felt a clogged sensation in my throat before it finally slid down permanently. Coughing, I grinned at Flitwick weakly.
"Do you still want the note? I could give it to you after I get it back!" I said. The whole class burst out laughing.
It was no surprise to anyone that I got a detention.
"What were you writing to Sirius about?" Grace asked after class. "Was it something really embarrassing? I mean... you ate the whole thing!"
"Um... yeah," I said vaguely. "Black threw in quite a few perverted comments. Did you know that parchment tastes very much like furry cloth? A little like velvet."
"Why were you passing notes to him anyway?" Leah asked. "I thought you didn't like him!"
"I saw him staring at me, so I told him to stop!" I answered irritably. A hand slapped my back, and I whipped around to face none other than the object of my distasteful conversation.
"Ugh. You. Go away. You just earned me a detention," I snapped, turning right back around. I noticed that Leah was ogling at him. Gross.
"Correction: you earned it yourself. You were the one who started the note, need I remind you more?" Black said lightly.
I saw several of the Hufflepuffs that had been with Prissy's group staring at me angrily. I gave a sharp sigh. "Go away, Black. I'm not feeling well in the stomach, so you'd better lay off before I empty my breakfast out on you."
"Fine," Black said haughtily as he flounced away. "I will. Hah! I bet you're sorry now!" He stopped for a moment and looked back at me with a small smile on his face. "By the way, excellent job on swallowing the whole piece of parchment."
I remembered the look on Flitwick's face, and I smiled involuntarily. "Thanks." Then I caught myself. "I mean, screw off!"
Black smirked at me and left, walking down the hallway with his head next to Potter's, obviously discussing something secretive.
"Bye, Sirius!" Leah called after him. He merely waved a hand in the air to show that he'd heard, but Leah still smiled dreamily after him. I rolled my eyes. Pathetic. Grace and Leah left for Arithmancy while I headed towards my Study of Ancient Runes Class.
Pity Prissy Carlson was in my Runes class. I had to put up with her glares all throughout the period. At least she had a school uniform on, so the more indecent parts of her body were covered. But her makeup was still atrocious, and her hair shone too brilliantly to be real. Seriously, I didn't know why girls put on makeup. I personally hated it, and I never put any on at all.
I knew that she'd confront me after class. Knowing this, the class period passed too quickly. All too soon, I was packing up my bag and heading out the door. I tried to get out quickly, but Prissy was pretty fast as well.
"Faye!" I heard her high voice squeal. I winced.
"What?" I asked wearily as I turned around. She marched right up to me and glared, trying to look down her nose at me, which didn't turn out very well, as I was taller than her.
"We need to talk," she declared haughtily. I sighed and followed her. Maybe this time I could really clear things up. Prissy stopped in a deserted corridor, where she turned to face me. I flinched involuntarily at the head-on sight of her overdone face.
"What is it, Prissy?" I asked, trying to sound polite.
"Don't be daft!" she snapped. "Sirius Black! I thought I told you to stay away from him!" Was she stalking me or something?
I rolled my eyes. "Come on, I only passed him a note telling him to stop staring at me. No biggie."
"Liar!" she hissed. "Stop talking to him! He belongs to me!"
I rolled my eyes. "If he 'belongs' to you, then why are we even having this conversation?"
"To make sure that you don't steal what doesn't belong to you!"
"Oh, please," I snapped. "This is getting ridiculous. I'm getting out of here."
"You stupid American girl!" Prissy suddenly shrieked. I turned back to her, trying to appear calm, though I was really getting angry by now.
"What does being American have to do with anything?" I asked coolly, flicking a strand of my hair back.
"You just came here, where you don't belong! You and your looks and your accent and whatever!" Prissy yelled hysterically.
"What looks, what accent, what whatever?" I bit out. "Really, I'm no different than you. Well actually, on second thought," I said, eyeing her, "I am very different from you."
"Just stop talking to Sirius!" Prissy shouted. Okay, now I was starting to get angry and very, very annoyed.
"Don't tell me what to do, you stupid git!" I yelled.
"I will if I want to! It seems as if you need help doing the right things!" she screamed piercingly.
"I need help? I think you have to use an Engorgement Charm on your brain and take a second look! I've told you again and again: I don't like Sirius Black! And I told him to leave me the hell alone! So now you leave me alone!"
"How do I know that you actually did that?" Prissy asked annoyingly. I sighed.
"You can use Veritaserum on me and it won't change my answer! God! How many times do I have to tell you that I don't like him! I can't even believe I'm having an argument over someone as insignificant as him!"
"Don't insult Sirius!"
"What? You don't like hearing the truth?" I snapped.
"It's not the truth!"
I winced at her high-pitched voice. "I'm wasting my time and breath talking to you! I've said all I have to say!" I turned to walk away when Prissy unexpectedly strode up to me and slapped me across the face. I clenched my teeth, refusing to touch my stinging cheek. She had hit me. Henry's face flashed back to me, his fist, the pain....
"I already told you, I don't like him, so you needn't worry!" I hissed venomously. "If you tell me what to do one more time, I swear I'll give you so many pimples that you'll want to spend the rest of your life hiding under your bedcovers! And if you ever, ever hit me again... I swear, you'll get more than just pimples!"
With that, I hitched up my bag on my shoulder and walked away from her, ignoring her scream of rage. That girl needed anger management courses.
I refused to even touch my stinging cheek. I wouldn't let her have the satisfaction of knowing she'd hurt me.
ll----ll
I reported to Flich's office at 6:30 for the detention I had received from Flitwick for not paying attention in class. I was hoping that I could just do this detention alone, so I could have some thinking time, but this was not to be.
After several moments, I heard footsteps round the corner. I turned, and saw Lucius Malfoy. My heart dropped so fact I felt lightheaded for a second. Malfoy smirked at me, eyeing me up and down with a lecherous look.
I did my best to ignore him. Filch set us to cleaning the stone hallways down by the dungeons without magic, predictably. The walk down to the dungeons was tense and full of charge. I would have preferred anyone—even Sirius Black— to Malfoy!
I plunged my hands into a bucket of water, thoroughly soaking the cleaning rag I held and fiercely scrubbing the ground. This was pointless. There wasn't anything on the ground in the first place. Filch had to get more creative in cooking up detentions.
"Yo, Mudblood," I heard Malfoy said, and I looked up. He flung his cleaning towel into my face. Slowly plucking it off my hair, I discarded it onto the ground.
"That's your rag, Malfoy, if you hadn't noticed," I said coldly before going back to scrub the floor.
"I know it is, Mudblood. But I'm giving it to you, as you're going to be doing all the scrubbing," he smirked. I stopped and looked up at him. He was leaning against the wall, looking quite comfortable. I rose to my feet.
"I think not, Malfoy. Get your ass into motion! Now!" I hissed.
He raised an eyebrow. "And you're going to make me?"
I picked up his rag from the floor and threw it back at him. "Only if you force me to," I retorted.
"Are you threatening me?" he asked, his voice dangerous.
"Why, yes, I suppose I am," I snapped. "I'm glad that you picked up on that so quickly."
"Shut up, Mudblood," Malfoy hissed.
I rolled my eyes. "You think I'm going to take orders from the likes of you?"
"The likes of me?" he repeated. "I think you should be glad that you're even talking to me. I'm a pureblood!"
I rolled my eyes. "But, unfortunately, you are a pureblood with an attitude."
"At least I'm not a Mudblood with a bad disposition."
"And I suppose yours is better," I snapped.
"It is," Malfoy said, looking pleased. He studied me closely as I glared at him ferociously. "But, you know, for a Mudblood, you don't look all that bad." His eyes swept my body up and down while I gritted my teeth in anger.
"Too bad your looks would scare the living daylights out of a half-blind troll," I snarled. Our rags and the bucket of water on the ground lay forgotten.
Malfoy stepped closer to me, and I tried not to cringe. He was disgusting. His black eyes were narrowed maliciously, and coupled along with his pale, slicked-back hair, he looked like some sort of malevolent ferret that was out to get me. Except a ferret wouldn't be eyeing me the way he was.
"I think I'd even have a fling or two with you, Prewitt. You're pretty enough for me," Malfoy said, stepping still closer until our faces were only a foot apart. Horror and disgust flooded into me.
"I'd rather 'have a fling' with a dementor rather than you," I spat into his face. "You know, I might be good enough for you, but you'll never be good enough to even polish my shoes!"
"Feisty," Malfoy said thoughtfully before he smiled malignantly into my face and licked his lips. "That's how I like my girls."
My hand had darted to my wand, but Malfoy was a step ahead of me. He had gripped my wrist so tightly that I dropped my wand with a cry of pain.
"Let go of me, you bloody goat!" I yelled, twisting my hand around in an effort to free myself. Malfoy's touch on my wrist almost made me throw up. Panic was rising, sharp and unnerving.
Malfoy only grinned at my frightened attempts to get away. "What's the matter? Are you scared of me?" His hand closed on my other wrist as I tried to punch him in the eye. My back hit the wall.
"Not a chance!" I snarled.
"Then I think you won't mind giving up a little kiss," Malfoy smirked.
"Get away from me!" I spat. He didn't. His face came even closer... I lost it. I couldn't let him touch me! I brought my knee up forcefully and slammed Malfoy in a more... private region. He let go of me with a groan of pain, and I kneed him in the stomach, knocking him over onto the ground. I scrambled past him and grabbed my wand off the ground, aiming it at him before he could take his own wand out.
"Stupefy!" I yelled, and a jet of red light flew out of my wand and hit Malfoy dead-on. He crumpled. I calmed my breathing, staring down at his unconscious form. He had tried to...! With another spurt of rage, I kicked him violently. I knew I would get into trouble... and I didn't care. I had to defend myself, and that would always, always come first.
Spotting a closet nearby, I decided to be extra nasty. Since I would not—would not!—touch Malfoy, I used my wand to levitate him up. I stashed him in the broom closet, locking the door securely. Haha! I hid his wand away in a suit of armor, almost beheading it as it complained.
I finished the rest of my detention in silence. I was gulping back angry tears. I hated Malfoy. Hate, hate, hate! He was repulsive, disgusting, nauseating! Moreover, he had tried to—do that to me! Presently, I heard a pounding on the closet door. Glaring at it furiously, I cast a powerful Silencing Charm on it so that nobody would here the banging and go rescue him. He could rot in there forever for all I cared.
After Filch had excused me from my detention (I had fed Filch a story about how Malfoy had run off without finishing the job), I sped away, running through the corridors as fast as my legs could carry me. I need to wash myself.... Even after dunking my arms time and time into the bucket of soapy water, I still felt dirty where Malfoy had touched me. I could still feel his slimy touch... my stomach roiled at that.
It was too late when I rounded the corner. I crashed into another person, sending us both down onto the ground. I hurriedly jerked upright, my panicky, angry stage still in high gear. I turned to apologize to the person and hurry off again, but the sight of the girl's face set me still.
It was Fiona. Why was I meeting all these horrible people today? Why, why, why?
"Watch where you're go... ing..." Fiona trailed off as she got up and recognized me. "Faye!" she snarled.
I put on a cool, collected composure, the face I always put on when dealing with her. It always made her so much madder than outright anger. "That's my name; don't wear it out," I replied with fake joviality. I prepared myself for a facedown, even though I was in no condition to do this. The confrontation with Malfoy had severely depleted me of any sharp, witty comments.
"What did you do?" Fiona asked, her tone cold.
"Do?" I asked lazily, fighting to keep my composure that way.
"Sirius Black!" Fiona yelled.
I raised my eyebrow. "What about him?"
"You—we were good together! I had him—me! He'd been going out with me!" Fiona hissed. "And then—for some reason—he broke up with me, and I bet that you were the one who made him! Right?! You tricked him into breaking up with me, just so you could have him to yourself! Or maybe it was just to make me unhappy!"
I was sick of hearing this already. "I've already told you a million times: I DON'T LIKE SIRIUS
BLACK! Get used to the concept! I have too many things on my mind to think about you, anyway! Just get over yourself! Not everything I do is because of you or Henry or Diana!!"
After that was said, I turned tail and stomped off angrily, ignoring her shouts behind me, "Stop right there! I'm not done yet!"
As soon as I rounded the corner, I broke into a run, thinking furious thoughts of Malfoy and Fiona and whatever else that bothered me in the slightest bit.
I banged into the common room, out of breath and with my robes in disarray. I angrily glared at the stares I was getting from several people, and they quickly looked away. I didn't care who was looking—as I spotted the Marauders, and I made sure to shoot them an extra nasty glare. After I located Grace and Leah, and I immediately headed over to them, irately flattening my tangled hair.
"Faye, what's wrong?" Grace asked softly, seeing my furious state.
"What's wrong?" I repeated bitterly. "What's wrong is... just— just everything! What with Black and Prissy and her stupid ground of twittering dimwits and Fiona and that bloody git, Lucius Malfoy..."
"Malfoy?" Grace jumped. "What did he do to you?"
"I'd rather not relate," I said sourly. "But I kneed him, stunned him, and locked him in a broom closet down by the dungeons. And he deserved it, that foul—stinking—lecherous.... HE'S A BLOODY IDIOT!" I got off my chair and started pacing, almost running.
"Calm down, Faye," Grace said soothingly.
"I can't!" I whispered in anguish. "He—he!" I couldn't get it out.
"He what?" Grace asked gently.
"He—tried to—!" I flapped my hands around helplessly. Grace and Leah looked as if they knew what I was trying to say. Finally. "I'm going to sleep now. I can't—concentrate on anything!"
I furiously kicked my chair, bruising my toes, and I stomped up the girls' dormitories, scrubbing back angry tears. As soon as I got up there, I took a long, long shower, trying to wash away Malfoy's sick face.
After nearly an hour in the bathroom, I finally opened the door, expelling a cloud of steam as well. I jumped as I spotted Grace sitting cross-legged on her bed, obviously waiting for me to come out of the showers.
"I was beginning to think that you were going to drown yourself in there," Grace joked.
I bit my lip and went to sit down in front of my dresser, looking at myself in the mirror as I loosed the towel holding up my wet hair. As my damp black curls tumbled down around my shoulders, I heard Grace move.
"It's okay, Faye," Grace said soothingly, sitting by me and looking at my reflection in the mirror.
"No, it's not," I whispered bitterly. "I bloody hate him!"
"Did he... er... get you?" she asked tentatively.
"No," I said thankfully, and she expelled a breath of relief.
"Good. Did you really locked him in a broom closet?" Grace asked, nudging my shoulder. I allowed a small smile to flit across my face.
"Yeah. And I placed a Silencing Charm on the door so nobody could hear him," I said.
"His wand?" Grace prompted.
"In a suit of armor," I smiled weakly.
"See? You got payback, right?" she said, getting up and dragging a comb through my hair.
"Not enough," I sighed angrily. "He called me a Mudblood again... and...."
Grace went on combing my hair. "Don't listen to what he says. His words aren't worth crap."
"I know... but it still hurts," I said. "Even at my old school, people always made fun of me, called me loads of names, picked on me... all because I chose to hang out with Andrew, and he was classified as a nerd. Those people were all jerks. I thought it'd be different here; I could start again.... But I guess some things never change. Fiona is the same vengeful, spiteful dork."
"Yeah," Grace agreed. "Some things never change. There will always be people like Malfoy, people who think they're better than everybody else, people who want to take advantage of others.... I guess all we can do is deal."
"I hate just dealing," I spat out suddenly. "We have to do something about it! I hate just sitting down and taking all their crap!"
"And what do you plan to do?" Grace asked softly. "Kill all of them off?" She chuckled a little at the sight of my horror-struck face. "I know you wouldn't do that. Besides, dealing with it just goes to show that you're the bigger person."
"I'm getting tired of being the bigger person," I said. "I'm just tired of all of it! Why do these things happen to me? I mean, first Black, now Malfoy—!"
"Do you really want to know the answer to that?" Grace asked.
"Yes!"
"Well... it's because you're beautiful," she said.
I gaped at her, twisting around in my seat. "That's not true."
"See? I knew you would react like this," Grace sighed. "I know that you don't think you're pretty, but well, you are. Like, supermodel pretty."
I couldn't process this. Me, supermodel pretty? Impossible. "Come on, Fiona is a lot prettier."
"Are you blind, Faye?" Grace asked in disbelief. "I admit, she is pretty, but you... well, you'd top her any day."
I remained silent. It wasn't true. It couldn't be. Fiona had always been prettier than me.... Everybody had told me so. Grace dried my hair with a simple charm and nudged me on my shoulder again.
"Don't worry about Malfoy, Faye. He's just a lowly git looking for any girl whose willing to let him have his way with them. He's disgusting. Just forget it," she said, clapping me on the shoulder. "And remember, I'll always be here if you need help."
I smiled at her. "I know you will." Grace grinned back and hugged me briefly around the shoulders before she let go.
"Now, let's go back down to the common room," she said briskly. "We have a lot of homework, remember? And it's only ten! We could fit in about two hours!"
"Since when did you care about homework?" I asked, grinning at her.
"I always have," Grace said with dignity, lifting her nose into the air.
"Oh, please," I laughed as I shoved her towards the door.
ll----ll
I was doodling the words, bored as hell, on a scrap of paper. It was the end of the end our Divination lesson, and I had been, as said above, as bored as hell. It had been terrible. Delaney had been even more bizarre than usual today, and she insisted on showing us that the movements of the planets did have something to do with who was going to marry who and all that crap. And she had predicated that Lily Evans and James Potter would marry someday. How ridiculous was that? I mean, Lily hated Potter's guts!
Divination had lately been creeping me out lately. I'd seen two visions of, well, me burning in fire and trying to burn another student to death as well. That could hardly count as comforting. I'd been even more careful around those blasted crystal balls.
Quite a few other students were already asleep with their heads on their desks. I longed to join them. The classroom was stuffy and stifling, and I couldn't draw in one relatively fresh breath of air that was free of whatever Delaney burned in here. Leah had her chin on the table, and her eyes were sliding open and closed and open and closed.... Grace was asleep across the table, her hair partially covering her face. I wished she were awake. Then we would make fun of Delaney and have a few laughs....
I tore my paper to shreds, ripping it until they were small enough to crumble into tiny, unnoticeable balls of paper. I began flicking the pieces off my desk, one by one, not caring where they landed. I floated into a peaceful daze, with my head on the table and flicking those shreds of paper off... and flick... and flick... and flick... and flick....
"Stop flicking those at me!" a voice interrupted my doze, and a hand slammed down next to my head. Surprised, I jerked my head up sleepily, blinking at a pair of dark eyes.
Wonderful. Sirius Black.
I put my head back down and kept on flicking. "Go away."
He tapped my head. "Class is over, smart one." This surprised me.
"Huh? Since when?" I asked, sitting back up. He was right. People were moving for the door in a sluggish, sleepy way, and Grace was just waking up and stretching luxuriously.
"Oh," I sighed, stretching for a moment. I heard my back crack. I got up and grabbed my bag while Grace and Leah also stood up. I noticed that Leah was ogling at Black in a rather creepy way.
"Let's get out here," I muttered to Grace and Leah, and they looked only too happy to oblige.
"Hey, what about me?" Black protested as we walked to the trapdoor.
"You've got friends, haven't you?" I snapped grumpily. "Do me a favor, won't you?"
"What?" Black asked excitedly.
"Sod off," I said while Grace giggled.
"Well said," she declared, and I swept an elegant bow.
"Thank you, thank you!" I straightened and glared at Black. "Well?"
"Well what?" Black smiled.
I turned away from him in exasperation. We all headed down the stairs, and I saw the rest of the Marauders a little ahead of us. Why couldn't Black join them and leave me alone?
"You can't turn away from me!" Black said indignantly.
"Why not?" I shot back.
"You just can't! I mean, you have to look at me! I'm handsome and charming and sexy—!"
"Give me a reason," I cut in. I didn't want him to go on. He probably had a whole list of adjectives for describing himself, none of which would be in any way accurate.
"Those are reasons!" Black said. "How can you talk to your friends when you could talk to me?"
I rolled my eyes. "Let me show you," I said in the most up-in-your-face manner I could manage before making a great show of turning to Grace and Leah and starting up a conversation. Grace looked amused, but Leah looked horrified and... jealous? Whatever. I was seeing things. We reached the end of the stairs, and we stepped out into the hallway. We all turned right as one, heading towards the Great Hall for dinner.
Suddenly, I heard a very unwanted voice.
"Siri-poo!" Prissy Carlson called in her annoyingly false, high voice that grated on my ears. I saw Black flinch. A moment later, the girl had appeared out of the crowd and tightly attached herself to his arm. This girl was turning up way too much.
"Siri-poo, what are you doing?" Prissy asked sweetly. Then she spotted me. I could practically feel the anger radiating out of her.
"Um... Prissy... can you let go of my arm?" Black coughed. "It's turning numb."
This was the wrong thing to say. Prissy let go of that arm immediately, made a great show of cooing over it, and then attached herself to his other arm. Which was hardly an improvement. I felt pleasure at Black's evident discomfort and desperation to get away.
"So, Faye, what are you doing here?" Prissy said coldly. I could feel Grace's surprise at Prissy's attitude.
"She can be wherever she wants to be!" Grace jumped in, glaring at Prissy.
"Not when I specifically told her not be—!" Prissy tried to say.
"Walking up and down the corridors?" I cut in icily. "I can be here if I want to be, and you certainly won't tell me what to do."
"Let's go," Leah added hastily, and we started walking away.
"Wait!" Black cried. I looked back; I was pleased to see that he had a pleading expression in his eyes. "You can't leave me here with—! You can't just leave me here!" he whined.
"Watch me," I grinned.
"But—remember we have some... er... things! Yeah... we have things to talk about!" Black said. I winced. It couldn't have come out sounding worse. Prissy and Leah's jaws dropped open.
"No. I don't remember," I snapped at him. "Apparently, you got your brain really, really early in life, and the warranty has run out several years ago. Now, don't you have things to do, people to talk to?" I cast a meaningful glance at Prissy. "I'm sure Prissy here would love have you take her on a lovely, romantic stroll."
Black was shaking his head at me, mouthing, "No!" but I merely smiled sweetly at him.
"Well, bye, then," I waved him off and exchanged grins with Grace. "Be sure to get a new brain, by the way."
"Too smooth," Grace whispered.
"Wait!" Black called down the hallway. I rolled my eyes and turned around.
"Now what?"
He'd broken away from Prissy was catching up to me. "We have some private things to discuss! Bye!" Then he took a firm grip on my arm and started dragging me off.
"Let go of me!" I yelled. "We don't have any bloody business to talk about!"
"Yes, we do!" Black shouted back. "Important, critical, weighty business involving the both of us!"
"You bloody liar!" I yelled, trying to dig in my heels. "No, it's not what you think it is!" I added, looking back at Grace, Leah, and Prissy's faces. "Black, let me go!"
But he didn't listen to me. He just kept on dragging me with him until we were well away from them. I had resorted to trying to pry his fingers off my arm.
"Bloody hell!" I hollered. "Just let go of me! We're already away from Prissy!" With a stupendous effort, I tore my poor, abused arm out of his grip. It was red and stinging where he had grabbed me.
"I need to talk to you anyway," Black said, turning around to face me.
I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "Do I look like I care? I'm hungry, and I'm going to go to get some dinner."
"Really!" Black said seriously. "I just want to know what's going on... between us."
"Is there any 'us'?" I asked skeptically. "And even if there is such a thing, there is nothing going on between this so-called 'us!'"
"But I thought you said that things between us were back to normal," Black continued on stubbornly. "And then you show up and tell me to leave you the hell alone, and then you start avoiding me and being even nastier! What's up with that?"
"There is nothing up with anything," I said with exasperation. "What if I just don't like you? Now, I have to go eat dinner, and I have an appointment with Grace afterwards, so I must get going." Grace and I had decided to start looking for secret passageways today, and I certainly didn't want to skive off.
"But—I," Black started.
"Black, there are tons of girls who would die to have you pay the slightest attention to them. Since I'm obviously not one of them, why don't you just leave me alone and go seek 'em out. I'm sure they'd appreciate it much more than me," I snapped impatiently. "Besides, you're much more trouble than you're worth. God, I don't what makes you this dumb, but it really works."
"Oh, is this all you're going on about?" Black asked incredulously. "You're jealous?"
"Why would be jealous of you?" I scoffed. That was ludicrous. Laughable.
"Not me, you idiot. Of the other girls I pay attention to!"
I felt my jaw drop open. He couldn't be insinuating that I... that I liked him! As in boyfriend-girlfriend type. EW!! But then anger replaced disgust. Why did he always think that the world was all about him?
"For your information, Black," I spat, feeling bubbling anger boil up in me, "I am not jealous of any one of your pathetic admirers! And I told you to leave me alone! I told you that I don't like you one bit! I told you that you are an annoying git who'll never change! And I told you that I wouldn't go out with you even if you were the last man alive! When are you going to take a hint and sod off? It's like you think I don't know what I'm saying, or—or that I don't mean it! I DO!!"
In the back of my mind, I knew that these words were harsh, but at that moment, I didn't care. I was angry, insulted, embarrassed, annoyed to the end of my limits—! There was a short, deafening silence after my ringing words.
"Fine!" Black shouted, his face red and his eyes angry... and hurt. I furiously squashed down the guilty feeling in my stomach. He didn't deserve it. "I'll leave you the hell alone!"
"Good," I said coldly. "That's exactly what I want."
"Fine!" he shouted.
"Fine!" I shouted back.
Black turned on his heel and strode away just as I did the same in the opposite direction. Too late I realized that he had taken the only route to the Great Hall. Silently cursing him under my breath, I kicked a nearby suit of armor, causing it to start clanking in pain and shouting obscenities at me.
I ignored it as I walked swiftly away. Anger bubbled hotly inside me. I had told him to leave me alone, and he had just agreed. Shouldn't I be feeling good about having gotten what I'd wanted?
I was far from feeling good. In fact, my knees were rather shaky, and I was choking on a huge lump in my throat. I sped up, until I was running through the halls. When my breaths were coming in sharp, painful gasps, I stopped to lean against the wall to catch my breath. Why did Black affect me like this? I mean, I'd just gotten what I'd wanted all along, and he still made me feel crappy about myself!
I felt as if I were the cruel, heartless player in life's game of power and pride—the kind of person that I'd promised myself I'd never be. But that was absurd! Black had always bothered me, annoyed me, and made fun of me! I was GLAD that he was finally going to leave me alone! And that was that.
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