-I know, I know, it's been WAY too long. I won't make excuses. I answered some questions on my author page thing, so I won't do that here. Thanks for being patient.
Bellissia awoke that morning disoriented. She couldn't figure out where she was, or why she was on the floor. She sat up and felt an arm around her waist. She turned her head to the right and saw Sirius stirring. She smiled. It all came back to her. He had been there for her and walked her up to the castle last night. When she was too upset to face the girls, he, very gentlemanly, fixed her up a spot on the floor to sleep on. When she couldn't get to sleep, he laid there with her, whispering sweet things in her ear.
"Baby," she whispered in his ear.
"Not yet, babe, It's early," he moaned.
"Sirius, you have to get in your bed."
"No, I have to be right here."
"Remus will be up soon!" At that, he leapt up and dove under the covers of his once-empty bed. Much to Bellissia's amusement, he began thrashing about and went so far as to throw a pillow on the floor before feigning sleep.
"That's my boy," she thought. Luckily Remus, as well as James and Peter, had not so much as stirred. She got up and padded over to the adjoining bathroom. She stared at her reflection. Her usual messy black hair was now wild and all over the place. She even saw a leaf in it, much to her disgust. Her eyes were rimmed in black, like a raccoon. Tears and non-waterproof mascara were not a good combination. Her cheeks were still flushed from lying wrapped in a sheet with Sirius, and on her neck, were three bold hickeys. Lovely. No doubt Sirius's work from yesterday. She needed to brush her teeth and take a shower, but all of her stuff was in the girls' dorms. She sighed as she realized she would have to face the gruesome twosome and their minion.
As she exited the bathroom, she saw Remus begin to stir. He sat up and gave her a questioning look.
"Morning, Remmy," she said as she walked over to his bed.
"Morning, Bella," he replied with a yawn. "What are you doing here?"
"I had a bad night. I'm not really getting along as well as you might have liked," she said with a grin.
"Well, just move your stuff in here for good. I'll see if we can get you an extra bed and bureau."
"Thanks, cuz, I knew you'd understand." He gave her a smile as she pecked him on the cheek. "I'll just go get my things."
"Bella, wait…" Remus said. She paused. "What's that on your neck?" She froze. Busted. Think quick!
"Er…a rash." Nice. He still looked suspicious. "It's a hex from…" who? "…Snape," she finished lamely. 'Sorry buddy,' she thought, 'my skin's worth more than yours.' Remus looked furious but she quickly left the room before he said anything more.
She gave an involuntary shiver as she reached for the door of the girls' dorms.
"Now you're just being stupid," she thought. "They're probably not even awake yet." Just as she predicted, Kate and Emalie were sound asleep. She tiptoed past them to the bathroom and heard a horrible retching sound, like someone being sick. She paused and listened. Over and over again the sound filtered through the door. She knocked softly.
"Hey, are you alright in there?" she whispered. No answer. She tried the door. Locked. Her throat tightened. She knew exactly what was going on.
"Whoever's in there needs to open up right now or I'll pee all over the carpet!" she whispered louder this time. The lock clicked and she was face to face with Annette. She looked terrible. She had bags under her eyes and her cheeks looked hollow. Bellissia slipped inside with her and relocked the door.
"What the hell are you doing?" Bellissia said through gritted teeth.
"I'm not feeling well, I must have the flu or something, so if you'll excuse me-" she tried to brush past Bellissia, but Bellissia grabbed her forearm.
"I'll say it again: what the hell are you doing?" Bellissia said.
"I could ask you the same thing," Annie said. "I haven't seen you since last night. I know you didn't sleep in your bed." She eyed Bellissia's clothes from yesterday and her tired-looking face. "So that leaves the question-who's bed?"
"That is none of your business," Bella countered.
"Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black."
"What? You are going to kill yourself. This is serious," Bellissia said, exasperated.
"No more serious than being a slut," Annie sneered.
"Don't even go there. Just don't."
"Alright, I won't tell anyone about your, late night escapades if you don't say anything about me being sick."
"No deal, I'm too worried about you. Besides what does it matter who I sleep with?"
"So you admit you were sleeping with someone!" Annie practically yelled.
"I don't have to tell you anything! We're not friends!" Bellissia said.
"Then why do you care so much about my barfing habits?" Bellissia stared at her. Why did she care? This girl was obviously mental.
"Because Remus cares about you, and I care about Remus," Bellissia said softly. "It would really hurt him to know what you are doing to your body."
"You can't tell him!" Annie got a scared look in her eyes. Was her cousin scary? "Hey wait, wouldn't he be hurt to know you're sleeping with his friends?" Annette said.
"I'm not!" But Annie raised an eyebrow in question. "Fine! We're both locked to secrecy, but that doesn't mean I can't bother you about this."
"Deal." Bellissia gave her a half-smile and started picking up her toiletries.
"Moving out so soon?" Annie asked.
"I can't room with those girls. I just can't." She began shoving her toiletries into an empty bag. She paused to dab concealer on her love bites and brush her hair.
When she finished, she unlocked the door and moved on to the rest of stuff. She first shook off her last night's clothes and pulled on some old sweats. They were soft and gray and smelled like her ex. Probably because they were his. She had a thing with guys' clothes. They were so comfy and smelled so good! She held up the bottom of the shirt and took a big sniff. Mmmm, it was like lemons.
"Does it smell like boy?" Annette said with a smile.
"Oh yeah," Bellissia said, "Here," and she held up the shirt once more. Annette smiled and took a sniff.
"Ooh, I like that! Do they belong to you secret boyfriend?" she laughed.
"Um, no, they're my ex-boy's, I stole them." They both laughed.
"Anything I can do to help?" she asked.
"Want to help carry my trunk?"
"Sure." The girls (with a great amount of effort) managed to half drag, half lift the insanely heavy trunk to they boys' dorms.
By the time they got there, the rest of the boys had finally stirred. Remus looked a little, surprised, to say the least, that Annie was helping Bellissia with her trunk and the two seemed to be getting along. James had a confused look on his face.
"Hey, wait, what's going on?" he asked.
"Yeah," Peter squeaked, "why is she bringing her trunk in here?"
"I'm moving in here. A few people have made it very clear I'm not welcome in my assigned dormitory," she replied. Sirius and Remus each gave her a smile. She smiled back at them both. James just shook his head.
"You better not hog the bathroom, and if I see one…girly product…" he started.
"Don't worry, as long as you stay away from the under the sink area you'll be ok."
88-
Luckily it was Saturday and there were no classes. She decided to take some time to walk by the lake. The warm weather would soon end, and she wanted to take advantage of it as much as possible. She put on a simple denim (albeit miniature) skirt and a tie-back halter top. For once, she slipped on some tennis shoes. As she left the common room, she tied her hair back with a white scarf.
She walked through the school vaguely listening to the chattering of her classmates, but not really. They were buzzing about the Hogsmead trip next Saturday. Bellissia had never been to an all-wizarding village. She had wonderful fantasies of her and Sirius exploring the town together, hand in hand. The bubble soon burst when she remembered her cousin. In reality it would be her, the marauders, and Annie. It wouldn't be so bad, she thought, but still she wished she could get up the nerve to tell Remus. She hated sneaking around. She also wished she could ask her mother what to do. She sighted. She thought of Antonia, but as Remus was her son, it didn't seem right. Then she remembered her grandmother. She smiled. Perfect. She vowed to write to her as soon as she got back.
By this time she had reached the lake. It looked so beautiful in the daytime. It shimmered as the morning sun shone down on the water. She saw the elusive giant squid she had heard so much about on the other side of the lake basking in the sun. She thought he had the perfect idea of how to spend a nice day. She sat down on the grass and stretched out. She laid there fore a while, but she soon grew restless. Standing up, she made her way closer to the water. She looked left and right. No one was around. It was still pretty early. She kicked off her shoes and cautiously waded into the water. She remained still for a few minutes. The cool water felt good on her hot feet. What was she thinking even wearing shoes? When nothing jumped on her or bit her foot off, she took a deep breath and dove face-first into the lake.
It felt wonderful. She didn't care that her clothes were all wet, or that there was a possibility of getting sick, not only from the coolness of the water, but from the microbes that inhabited the lake. She just wanted to swim. She swam for nearly two hours. She would dive to the bottom of the shallower part and pick up pretty rocks and shells. She would study them and run her hands over their smooth surface before heaving it back into the depths. When she had enough, she made her way to her sneakers.
As she reached dry ground, she pulled the soaking scarf out of her hair and tried to wring out her top. She flipped her dripping wet hair upside down over her head and began to try and dry if off, or at least give it more body. She leaned way over and combed her dark locks with her fingers. Unfortunately, in doing this, she did not see the gang of Slytherin boys gathering a few meters behind.
88-
"Moony, you never lose your temper or get all mad, why is that?" The marauders were sitting in the common room in their favorite chairs by the fire. They had dedicated today a Marauder's Only Day. No girlfriends, or crushes in James's case, and no cousins were allowed, at least until the evening. James looked toward Remus, waiting for a reply.
"I don't know… I guess I just have better control of my temper," he replied.
"Yeah, but what if someone was in danger, like Antonia, or Annie, or… Bella!" James said.
"Well if anyone tried to hurt those women, I would not hold my temper for long. It's different if it's people I love," Remus said.
"Oh, I get it, you just don't loves us enough," Sirius joked. Peter, completely not picking up on the sarcasm, looked extremely worried.
"You don't really think that, do you Moony?" he asked in his squeaky voice as Sirius made a big show of rolling his eyes.
"Peter, you now I think of you guys as brothers, I just know you can protect yourselves. If it was my mom, or Annie, or Bella…" Sirius looked uncomfortable at the mention of Bellissia. James gave him a sharp look, but if Remus picked up on it, he did not react.
Remus sighed. He especially worried about Bellissia. She had suffered too many broken hearts and disappointments. She was like a little sister to him, and he felt like he needed to protect her. She always put a show on about being the independent and tough American, but he knew she was a whole lot more vulnerable than she seemed. Many of her past boyfriends tended to forget that. He had listened to her crying to him during their long-distance phone calls too many times. James's voice jerked him from his thoughts.
"Let's stop by the kitchens and get some food and then take a walk around the grounds."
"Sounds good," Sirius agreed as Remus and Peter nodded their heads. And with that, they left the common room.
88-
The gang of Slytherins consisted of the ever-greasy Severus Snape, Regulus Black (Sirius's crazy younger brother), Rudolphus Lestrange (whose girlfriend Bellatrix Black was as scary as she was beautiful), Cresten "Crest" Malfoy (Lucius's younger cousin), Rabastan Lestrange (Rudophus's younger brother), and Barty Crouch, Jr. Currently, Regulus, Rabastan, Barty, and Crest were lying flat on their bellies looking up the slight hill toward Bellissia while Severus stood guard and Rudolphus called the shots.
"Damn! If you look up and to the left, you can see her…" Crest began.
"Oh yeah, I see. How could a sexy thing like that end up in Gryffendor?" Rabastan wondered.
"Not to mention be related to that werewolf, Lupin!" Barty said.
"Easy boys. Snape, see anyone, like Black and his posse?" Rudolphus said.
"Nah, it's all clear," Severus replied.
"Excellent," Rudolphus said with a smirk. "Crest, go up there and introduce yourself."
"Why does he get to go?" Regulus whined.
"Because I said so, Black! Besides, Crest seems to have more charm than any of you, judging from the fact you have never even been on a date." Regulus looked away, and to Rudolphus's delight, looked slightly pink in the cheeks.
"Alright, I'm gone," Crest said, and with that, he made his way toward Bellissia.
88-
Bellissia flipped her hair back around so she was standing up straight again. It (her hair) was doing its trademark "even though I'm wet I still can't just be straight". She sighed and fluffed it a bit with her hands. She soon gave up. What was the point? Besides, she saw a very handsome looking boy walking towards her with an earnest looking smile on his face. He had the brightest blonde hair she had ever seen.
"Hey, honey, do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?" Bellissia rolled her eyes.
"Nice, you come up with that all by yourself?" she said as she began walking away. They were all the same.
"Wait, I'm sorry. Don't go," he grabbed her arm. "Please, I just want to talk." She stopped. "Let's start over. Hello, my name is Crest." She stared at him. "Come on, this is where you say your name."
"I'm Bella," she said, a small smile playing in the corner of her lips.
"You certainly are. Walk with me, I'm on my way to get some lunch," he replied.
"What kind of name is Crest?" she asked, walking in step with him. She briefly thought Sirius for some reason might have a problem with her flirting with Crest and eating lunch with him, but she shoved those thoughts away. Besides, it wasn't like she was married!
"It's short for Cresten. It's kind of a family name. My uncle is named Cresten and so is my great-grandfather. What about you, is it just Bella?" he asked.
"It's short for Bellissia. It's Italian. My mother…" but she broke off. Cresten didn't seem to notice as Bella looked away to prevent him from seeing the tear in her eye. She thought it was pretty weird she was getting all upset about her mother now. It seems after all that time she could learn to let her go…
"Crest wait, who are they?" Bella gestured to the group of boys who had suddenly began walking with them. She the only one she recognized was that greasy-haired boy from the train, but another one looked strangely familiar. He had black hair and eyes.
"What's the matter, honey don't you want any company?" hissed the familiar-looking boy. She did not like his tone of voice at all.
"Yeah, we can't let Crest here have all the fun!" another said. Immediately her New York instincts kicked in. She needed to get away from those boys, fast. She tried to run, but they had formed a circle around her. She smashed into a sandy-haired boy, hoping to knock him over, but he just shoved her back into the circle. They stepped in, making the circle tighter. She looked around, but they were far from the castle. No one would hear her scream. They were on the side of the lake near the Forbidden Forrest. She didn't like her odds one bit.
88-
"I could live off these chocolate éclairs!" Sirius Black declared. The Marauders had already visited the kitchen and had nicked their fair share of desserts and other treats. James nodded as he munched on a cookie.
"Hey, aren't we going to walk by the lake?" asked Peter his beady eyes looked up hopefully at James. He nodded, as his mouth was still full.
"Guys, I have a really bad feeling," Remus said as they left the castle and walking into the sunshine. They looked at him.
"How could you have a bad feeling? Look! It's a perfect day!" James said with his arms outstretched, gesturing to the grounds.
"I don't know…" he began.
"Look!" Peter said. "There's Lestrange and his gang way on the other side!"
"Hey, you're right. I wonder what they're doing?" Sirius questioned.
"It doesn't look good!" James said as he saw Lestrange raise his wand. The boys broke into a run towards the gathering.
"God! What are they up to now?" Sirius wondered again.
"Maybe we" Peter gasped "should just go" he wheezed "back." He wasn't in near as good of shape as the others.
"Peter, just shut up and run!" Remus said as the three of them gained a burst of energy and left Peter in the dust.
James was the first to arrive and he didn't like what he saw. Someone (he assumed it was a girl, because she had long black hair) was in the middle of the circle being pushed around it as the boys touched her hair and stroked her face. For being at a complete disadvantage, she was putting up a pretty good fight. He even saw her spit in Malfoy's face. Soon, Remus and Sirius joined him. They accessed the situation, as they were still too far away to see perfectly clear.
"It seems like they found a new victim to torture," James spat.
"She looks familiar," Sirius began.
"Oh my god!" Remus shouted as he ran towards them. Fortunately, the Slytherins didn't see him until it was too late. He reared back and punched Rudolphus in the face with all of his strength. To James and Sirius's delight, they saw Rudolphus crumble to the ground. Then they saw what had caused Remus to go nuts. The girl was Bella! They tore down to help Remus, sending curses and jinxes every which way. Remus had gone mental. He was currently sitting on Malfoy's chest, just wailing on him. Sirius grabbed his robes and pulled him off.
"What the hell, Padfoot?" Remus asked.
"God, Remus, pull it together, we got this," Sirius replied. Sure enough, all of the Slytherins were nursing bruises and various cuts as they ambled away. Sirius saw his brother and Rabastan dragging Rudolphus by the arms.
"What's the matter, Regulus? Run out of first years to torture?" he shouted at his brother. Regulus just shot him a look full of pure hatred as he walked away.
Remus went to Bellissia. She was still standing, but her eyes were rolling back and she was clutching her side. She staggered toward Remus, and he caught her just before she fainted. Remus scooped her up into his arms.
"Hey guys, I think Bella's hurt," Remus said. James and Sirius immediately stopped taunting the Slytherins and joined him as he carried her to the castle. Sirius moved her arms and saw a deep gash in her hip. He tore off part of his robe and tried to stem the blood flow. James found Peter hiding in the bushes and they all slowly made their way to the hospital wing.