Someone To Understand

It took a moment for the stunned silence that descended over the group, after Crystal's fast exit, after the Slytherin confrontation, to pass.

The three other Marauders and the four 6th year girls that they were with had absolutely no idea what had just happened, but they knew that they had missed something big from what they had gathered from Sirius and Crystal's bizarre conversation afterwards.

It appeared, to them, that Crystal was being routinely beaten up by her own siblings, and several other Sytherins, but they had absolutely no idea why it was happening. What could she have possibly done to warrant such treatment from her own family? It made absolutely no sense! And, what made even less sense was Sirius' reaction to the whole situation.

Sirius had been very angry to discover the scene that the group had encountered, but he did not seem surprised, merely angry that he hadn't known that 'it', the abuse presumably, had started again and she hadn't told him. But why on earth would Crystal Maycomb tell Sirius Black anything, and why would Sirius Black, the 'man whore' of Hogwarts suddenly begin to worry about an unknown Ravenclaw girl, who he had barely got on with in the past?

Crystal and Sirius were not friends, they were barely acquaintances, as far as any of them knew, and occasionally even enemies, so how did they suddenly know each other so well? Sure they had spent some time over the holidays together, but they couldn't have got so close so fast, and Crystal was talking to Sirius as if she knew things about him that even the Marauders didn't, which was surprising in itself, even if Sirius was 'cagey' when talking about his family. If what Crystal was implying was true then Sirius received the same treatment from these Slytherins, which included his own brother, as she did, but surely this could not be true, as they could not imagine the cocky, arrogant Sirius Black that they knew would never take abuse from Slytherins lying down, and he had never mentioned anything to any of them, so what the hell was going on, and what the hell had that bizarre conversation actually been about?

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James was the first to break the silence, snapping out of his temporary stunned stupor to fix a harsh, hazel eyed, glare on Sirius, his still fuming best friend who was continuing to gaze avidly at Crystal's retreating form, before saying coldly to said supposed 'best friend', "What the hell was all that about Sirius?", dropping the affectionate nickname of 'Padfoot' and giving Sirius a clear indication of just how angry James was about being kept in the dark.

"What was all what about James?" asked Sirius wearily, running a hand agitatedly through his long elegant hair, he did not want to get into pure blood family politics with James and the others just yet, in fact he could safely say that it was the last thing in the world that he ever intended to do. After all, his friends came from a different world to him, they could never understand the world of back stabbing, family loyalty and secrets that he and Crystal were so desperately trying to forget they were from.

What on earth could Sirius possibly say to his friends to make them understand his life? The answer was simple, nothing, unless you experienced it you could never understand, and the last thing that he had ever wanted was their pity. Much as he loved the Marauders, Sirius realised that this situation could have nothing to do with them, if they became involved they could quite possibly get themselves killed, pure blood families did not like being dictated to or lectured, and if they involved the authorities things would only get that much worse for him and Crystal, as no self respecting pureblood family would ever be unable to bribe their way out of bad situation but would be sure to punish those responsible it.

All of this flashed through Sirius head in about a millisecond, fortunately, as it only took James that long to completely snap!

"Don't give me that shit Sirius!" screamed James furiously, taking a menacing step towards Sirius as he spoke, and giving him his patented evil eye. "I want the truth and I want it now!", taking a deep breath he finished his tirade calmly, "Now, what did she mean when she said that you would have to face them eventually, and why did they attack her in the first place?"

Most people knew that when James Potter looked at you with his 'evil eye' you did exactly what he said, no questions asked, he had a famous temper, and no one wanted to be on the wrong side of it, however most people were not Sirius Black.

Sirius had known that James would react exactly the way he did, and so was not in the least phased by this turn of events, after all Sirius was used to being threatened by, and verbally sparring with people far more intimidating than James Potter, he may have disliked being a Black, but that did not mean that he wasn't one, and in a pureblood family you had to be cunning to survive. Sirius had absolutely no intention of giving in to James, and no amount of threats were ever going to change that, there were some things that you just didn't talk about!

Summoning up all his inner strength, and silently cursing Crystal for having the foresight to leave before this game of '20 questions' began, Sirius rebuilt his temporarily dropped mental barriers. His years of practice kicked in, and his aristocratic nature took over, he shuttered the feeling from his eyes, stopped his hand from running through his hair and wiped his face of all emotion. Years doing exactly this at family gatherings and such ensured that his posture gave away nothing of the turbulence of his thoughts, he now radiated impassiveness and unconcern, and suddenly he did not seem to be Sirius Black , the boy that they all knew, suddenly he was a haughty, and arrogant young man, who's poise and impassiveness at such a traumatic situation was like nothing they had ever witnessed from Sirius before, successfully unnerving the captivated audience in front of him.

Keeping his features schooled and his voice cold and indifferent, Sirius answered James question in the same way that Crystal had done, telling him simply, "You wouldn't understand, so I'm not going to waste my time explaining it to you!", focusing his cold grey eyes on each of them in turn Sirius brought his point home with a stare, silently challenging anyone to ask another question.

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James meanwhile was flabbergasted, his 'evil eye' had never failed to get him any information he wanted in the past, no one had ever been able to stand up to him like Sirius had just done, what did it mean? And how was it that his friend had suddenly transformed before his eyes into someone unrecognisable, what had happened to his, ever relaxed, best friend, and why was he being so defensive about this, what was so big that he couldn't tell his friends? Marauders always told each other everything, so why had Sirius told things to Crystal that he had not even told to his supposed 'best friends'!

Though he would not admit it, even to himself, James was hurt and quite jealous of Crystal's new found understanding of Sirius, as well as being obviously concerned for Sirius himself, and confused by the turn that events had once again taken. Just what was his best friend hiding? What could be so important, and so awful that he would not talk about it?

James was so stunned by Sirius' newly discovered implacable and unshakeable attitude that he had no idea how to continue this conversation in a way that would get him answers, threats hadn't worked, and they never usually failed with Sirius, except on family matters, so what exactly was he supposed to do now to get his friend Padfoot to talk?

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Meanwhile, Lily may not have had a clue what Crystal's fight with the Slytherins was about, but she knew bullying when she saw it, and felt that it was her duty as a Prefect to report it, whatever else was happening at the moment.

So summoning all her Gryffindor courage, and taking advantage of the sudden lull in conversation between James and Sirius, she stepped forward, and tentatively touching Sirius' arm, to direct his tension towards her she began to speak to the group. "Well I don't know about the rest of you,", she began quietly, unusual for her as she was normally very outspoken, which showed just how much this situation had shaken her, " but I fully intend to report this incident to Professor McGonagall" she said her voice getting stronger as she spoke and noticed all the encouraging nods she was receiving, "its our duty to make sure that this never happens again."

Amongst the murmurings of approval however was heard a derisive snort, "So you really think that telling Mc Gonagall will make her life better?", exclaimed Sirius, his cold grey eyes dancing with mockery, "I never had you pegged as naive Lily." he commented condescendingly.

Lily was shocked, she could not understand what Sirius was thinking in not wanting to report this incident, and truth be told, this 'new' cold and controlled Sirius was starting to freak her out. His façade of indifference was unnerving, and so different from his usual natural exuberance, but as she watched him masking his emotions, and changing his personality to fit the situation she couldn't help but wonder if what she normally saw of his personality wasn't just as much of a façade as this cold and calculating one, and wonder then what his real personality was like…

Finally snapping out of her reverie Lily simply stated "It's the right thing to do." , as if that answered everything .

Sirius snorted in disdain, but looking Lily straight in the eye with nothing but honesty he quietly said, "If you report this you'll be signing her death warrant."

Lily gasped in alarm, looking towards her friends for answers, though they were as clueless as her about what Sirius meant, he surely could not be serious! Though looking into Sirius' eyes she was certain that he was not lying.

"I don't understand." Lily finally admitted looking to Sirius for an explanation.

"And you never will." Stated Sirius simply, looking at Lily with an inscrutable expression, it flickered for a second into something akin to envy, though later Lily was sure that she must have misread the look, after all why would Sirius Black, Hogwarts School 'heart throb' envy her?

"And you won't explain?" questioned Remus exasperatedly, he had clearly been trying to glean information by listening to the conversation but was probably growing impatient with Sirius's lack of helpfulness regarding the subject.

Sirius shook his head and once again racked a hand through his long shaggy hair, as he began to pace, his façade of indifference once again slipping, exactly how was he supposed to make them understand something that they would never themselves experience? But he knew that he had to tell them something a bit more convincing, or they were sure to report the incident to McGonagall, as, from there the incident would surely be passed on to the families of those involved, which was sure to be a disaster, for him as well as Crystal. Sirius did not like to even contemplate the beating he would get if his parents ever found out that he had interfered in 'Slytherin justice', from the school, it would be bad enough if Regulus told him, that would be a normal occurrence, but a report from the school would require 'special attention'. Sirius knew that he had to put a stop to this situation, now, before it got any further out of his control.

Therefore steeling his resolve Sirius stopped pacing and racking a hand through his hair, turning instead to look at the group of his 'friends', who through their unwitting involvement in this situation had suddenly changed in his mindset from being friends to being possible engineers of his and Crystal's destruction.

Putting on his most sincere expression Sirius tried to explain in a way that they might understand. He began by saying calmly, "If you tell McGonagall about this she will be compelled to talk to their parents, and then what do you think will happen?"

Seeing the blank looks of his friends and trying to put as much understanding back into his vice as he could manage, he continued, as though he were a teacher addressing small children, "Crystal's parents won't take her side, if they did this wouldn't be happening now, and if they find out that their other children got into trouble because of Crystal, she will suffer for it, even more so than she does now, therefore you will only make her life worse by 'helping'."

"But we can't just do nothing!", exclaimed Lily exasperatedly, her voice filled with suppressed rage and passion against an unfair system which clearly discriminated against the weak.

"That is exactly what you must do." Stated Sirius coldly, he knew that he had to make his friends understand before they did something stupid, so his voice held no warmth or understanding, only cold hard facts, the kind that his naive friends had yet to learn, and the kind with which he unfortunately was all to familiar with.

"But its not fair!" exclaimed Lily heatedly, seemingly the only person who was not too shocked by these revelations, and Sirius cold and suddenly calculating manner to comment.

"Such is life." Stated Sirius dejectedly flicking his long hair out of his eyes and sighing at the unfairness of it all, he suddenly felt much older than his immature friends, jaded and weary of life, for the first time showing to them his true nature, impassive, cold and frighteningly realistic and jaded, his eyes now showing that he had clearly seen more of the harshness of life than any person his age should have had to.

Then suddenly weary of this uncomfortable, and unwanted conversation, Sirius like Crystal. Quickly spun on his heel and left, heading back towards the castle to brood and avoid the inquiries of his so-called 'friends' he was in no mood for any further conversation.

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Sirius friends for there part were shocked, what had happened to make Sirius their extrovert joker friend so world weary and jaded, what had they been missing for all these years that was so awful in his life, and why would he not explain things to them? Sirius suddenly seemed so much older than they were.

Reflecting on the strangeness of events, and trying to make some sense out of what they had heard the group moved towards Gryffindor tower talking quietly. Sirius had convinced them, against their better judgement not to go to McGonagall about the incident, but they still intended to find answers to their, as yet unanswered questions about Sirius and Crystal.

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Crystal meanwhile had returned to Ravenclaw tower , after the confrontation, determined to carry on with her lunch time regime as normal, her façade firmly in place and all obvious injuries healed, Sienna was as usual oblivious to what had just occurred and chatted to Crystal animatedly about the latest school gossip, seemingly not noticing, or perhaps used to Crystal's muted responses.

The two girls went to afternoon lessons as normal but Crystal's mind was always far from what they were studying, it was analysing this most recent confrontation with Sirius. Arguments with him were becoming a regular occurrence, as were his annoying bouts of righteous indignation about failing to protect her, however despite the annoyance, Crystal could not help but be surprised about Sirius' sudden urge to protect her, had he developed feeling for her? She thought it extremely unlikely, he was after all still Sirius Black womaniser extraordinaire, but still she had no other explanation for his actions and the understanding which seemed to be flourishing between them, despite her better judgement.

However most importantly Crystal wondered what Sirius friends would do about the scene that they had stumbled across, would they tell a professor, thus making her life more difficult, or would Sirius get them to keep quiet? But most importantly she wondered, could she really trust Sirius…?

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Sirius did eventually return to Gryffindor tower that day to get his bag for afternoon lessons, but he was strangely subdued with his friends, refusing too answer their questions, with his mind clearly somewhere-else he was obviously determined to put the incident behind him and not mention it again, though he was clearly still thinking about it, and Crystal…

PS Sorry it has been soooo long since I updated, but what can I say, real life is a bitch and at the moment I am unfortunately swamped with work so I am afraid you can expect more irregular updates with big gaps between them (sadly life must take precedence sigh) but I do fully intend to finish the story (EVENTUALLY) so please just be patient with me! I'll try and update again soon, but no promises!

Thanks!

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