Scream

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Sorry for the long wait. I had camps and then we moved so yeh. The camp was awesome by the way… but anyway…… the story!

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I woke up and found Sirius and Remus talking quietly with each other. Occasionally they spared a glance toward me.

I took my attention off of them to wipe the wetness from my cheeks. That's when I realized I was still crying. That's also when I realized that my tears were still crystal.

I watched in fascination as tear after tear fell from my face and crushed onto the already crystal filled floor. My emotions still running over me blindly.

Finally I looked away and saw Sirius and Remus staring at me. And I did the only thing I could think of doing. As much of a reflex than my real feelings.

I smiled.

I watched as the shock registered on their faces.

And then, I realized where my mistake had been. James walked into the room. And he walked into not only find me awake but smiling.

I got a brief glimpse of his angered face with a tinge of grief before he turned around and went straight back out the door. The tray of food he had been carrying fell to the floor with a clang that echoed in my very being.

The crystal tears stopped running down my face. my eyes became dry and my cheeks the crustiness that was always found after a long cry. I could feel my very soul being torn apart at the very seams.

It was all I could do to keep a blank and emotionless face. Not even worrying that my smile façade was not in effect when it should have been. I couldn't bring myself to smile after that face… after everything.

It was Sirius who broke the fragile thread that was keeping me together. He whispered in a hollow and yet somehow strangled voice filled with betrayal.

"Why?" his voice was hoarse with the emotion packed into that one word. He didn't even have to elaborate on what he meant. Though he could have meant countless upon countless things. "Why!" he repeated.

His voice rose a bit more than before and in an even more strangled tone. My carefully held together countenance shredded with that one word. And I was wracked with dry sobs.

No more tears were willing to be shed. And so the dry sobs continued. A mournful harmony to Sirius' strangled cry of betrayal and bewilderment.

And finally, I spoke, my voice betraying my guilt. my guilt for what? my guilt for being alive? For thinking I could have a friend? I realized I wasn't guilty for either of those things. my voice steadied and both noticed my change of tone. It had grief, yes. I regretted being my smiling bubbly self – for once. But there was NO guilt.

"Because, for the first time, when I woke up in the hospitable wing someone was there." And then I collapsed, my body still being wracked by my dry sobs.

Sirius' 'Why' now became a shocked cry of despair and rage. And now a single tear dripped from my eye. Crystallized like all the rest. But, as they all watched its descent – some in shock and some in despair- they got the biggest shock of all. It hit the ground.

And it didn't shatter.

I gave a short gasp. And the same thing went through all three of their minds at the same time.

A single tear for herself.

What they didn't know was that the rain stopped at that moment.

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short I know. But I think it works. It gets a point across kinda…. You think? Anyway…. It sets her up to be friends. With every one but a certain raven haired boy…. R&R!

amara159