It was Remus who approached Owen first.
"It's alright mate," he said, sitting down next to him and cautiously placing a hand on Owen's back as it rose and fell with sobs. Remus looked at James with big eyes.
"Yeah," James said, walking over to stand closer to the boys. "Everything will be okay."
"Annabelle's alright," Remus suggested. It was almost a question.
Sirius just stood there; shocked to the core. Owen just continued to sob. James and Remus exchanged confused and scared glances. Remus patted Owen's back a few times.
Then there was a hard knock on the door. Sirius, who was closest to the door, opened it. Gwendolyn, Annabelle's best friend, stood there. Her blonde hair was disheveled and her red-streaked eyes betrayed that she had been crying. The first thing she noticed when the door opened was Owen crouched on the floor. She rushed over and fell to the floor next to him. She wrapped her arms around the sobbing boy and began to cry with him. Remus backed away from the two of them and stood. The three boys stood there awkwardly silent while Gwendolyn and Owen cried more and more.
"Come on," James whispered as he moved towards the door. Remus followed him immediately. A few seconds later, Sirius joined them. They quietly left the dormitory and climbed down the stairs to the common room. A good number of Gryffindors were clumped in groups; obviously aware of the tragedy. Lily, Veronica, Dorcas, and Peter were all in front of the fire. Tears fell silently onto Lily's cheeks from her seat on the couch. Veronica was curled up on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. Peter was next to her, rubbing her back in the same sort of unsure concern that Remus had been employing with Owen. Dorcas stood behind the couch, seemingly frozen to the spot, staring into the fire. Her arms were crossed and her shoulders were clenched tightly. Her face was like stone.
As the boys descended the stairs, Lily popped up. Her eyes immediately fell upon James and her breathing quickened. There was a look of relief in her tear-stained green eyes. She looked as if she wanted to move closer to him, but she didn't. Instead the tears welled up in her eyes again.
"Isn't it horrid?" she whispered, looking down.
"Yeah," Remus nodded, as he and James walked to her. "Are you alright?"
She clenched up her face and nodded painfully.
"What about you?" the question was technically directed at Remus, but Lily was looking at James when she said it. James' lips parted and his eyes softened behind his glasses.
"I'm alright," Remus said.
"Good," Lily nodded; still looking at James. The two were caught up in each other's eyes. She was biting back a torrid of tears, but they burst from her and she fell back onto the couch. Her head fell into her hands and she sobbed loudly. Remus looked at James; a rather wise look on his face. James bit his lip and didn't move. Shrugging, Remus sat down next to Lily and placed a hand on her shoulder. She didn't look up, but moved closer to him so he could wrap his entire arm around her shoulders.
"Shh," he whispered, still looking at James.
James plopped down heavily into an armchair nearby, breathing out loudly. Peter looked up at him from his spot next to Veronica. He smiled weakly. James nodded in acknowledgment. Peter went back to Veronica. James turned his head and looked at a tortured-looking Sirius standing at the bottom of the stairs. He frowned and stood, walking to his friend. Sirius didn't look at him. His eyes were fixed on Dorcas
"So," he started. "Pretty bad news, huh?"
Sirius nodded, scowling slightly.
"Don't you think we should just be done with this whole stupid fight, Padfoot?"
Sirius turned on James. "Just because something horrible happens doesn't automatically erase everything, Potter," he spat. "Things between us have not changed."
"Come on, Sirius. You know I'm sorry."
"Don't make me punch you," Sirius said under his breath, turning back away.
James rolled his eyes. He was so god-damned stubborn. "Honestly Sirius, are you going to hate me forever because I ruined your ridiculous plan?"
Sirius' scowl seemed fixed on his unresponsive face.
"You know Easter Holiday is next week," James said. "What are you going to do then? If we're fighting, you're obviously not coming home with me. And you can't exactly go see your family, can you?"
Sirius clenched his shoulders and gritted his teeth. That was below the belt. He flipped back to face James. "HOW DARE YOU!" Sirius bellowed. He jumped on top of James and immediately began laying punch after punch on his face.
The entire common room popped up and ran over to James and Sirius. Remus, Lily and Peter tried unsuccessfully to pull the tall boy off of James' now-bloody form. Finally with Dorcas' help, they were able to pull him off. The two friends separated and, with Peter's help, James stood. His face was bloodied; his nose looking somewhat crooked. His glasses were hopelessly twisted and he had a burgeoning black eye. Sirius' knuckles were cut up from the glass in James' spectacles and he had a bloody lip.
"I can't believe you," James said through his teeth. "I come over to clear the air and you turn on me like that. You're right, things have changed between us."
Sirius was breathing heavily; looking like an animal ready to attack. His lip twitched, but he was silent.
"I'm going upstairs," James spat. "Don't you dare come up there tonight."
And with that James turned, Peter on his left side, and walked up the stairs. A few seconds later, Remus followed the other two. Quickly, everyone else in the common room made their way to the two staircases and bolted up the stairs. Sirius continued to bristle; looking angrier than anyone had ever seen him. Veronica scurried up to the girls' dormitories; now sobbing even harder.
Lily stood there for awhile, watching Sirius warily. When she moved, she first made her way over to the girls' staircase after Veronica, but halfway across the room, she stopped. For a few seconds, she weighed her options. The pros and cons of doing this flowed through her mind. Finally, with a rather determined sniff, she turned and walked quickly to the other side of the room, and up the boys' stairs.
Dorcas and Sirius stood in the exact spots they were in when James had marched up the stairs. Dorcas had returned her arms to their place across her chest. She wasn't looking at Sirius, but instead, at the very first step of the staircase.
"Why are you still here?" Sirius asked through his teeth and looked over at Dorcas. The angry scowl scared her a little and she took a breath.
"I don't fancy listening to Veronica cry." She said quietly, "it might be awhile before she stops."
Somewhat satisfied with this answer, Sirius nodded and walked to the couch. He sat, but was fidgeting; the adrenaline still rushing through his body thanks to the fight. Dorcas relaxed a little when he walked away, but remained standing in the same spot. After a few minutes, Gwendolyn came down the stairs, looking awful. Without looking at either of them, she went up to the girls' dormitories, no doubt on Lily's suggestion to comfort Veronica.
Dorcas watched her pass while Sirius stared at the fire, playing with his hands angrily.
Finally, he broke. "What the hell are you doing standing around back there? I'm not going to bloody hit you. Sit down!"
Dorcas walked over to an armchair off of the left side of the sofa Sirius had placed himself on. Sitting down warily, she watched as he licked a bloody knuckle.
"Merlin Meadowes," he screamed. "You're so strange. Just hanging around back there for years on end. What are you waiting for?"
Dorcas sat up straighter in her chair, gathering all of her strength. She looked at him haughtily.
"AN APOLOGY?" he guessed. "Dream on," he scoffed. "You saw what I just did to James, do you honestly think I forgive you?"
Dorcas just looked at him; her dark eyes full of pride. "I didn't do anything wrong."
"DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!" he stood and began pacing back and forth in front of the sofa. Then, leaning inches from Dorcas' face, he bellowed. "You sabotaged everything! And you still have no idea what the hell went on that night." He was so close that a fleck of blood from his wide bottom lip landed on the bottom of her plump one. She wiped it with the back of her hand.
"I know that I helped save you from your ego." She said, looking him straight into the eyes and not raising her voice at all, though her hands had formed fists. "And I think that you should thank me."
When he turned away from her, she exhaled raggedly, shrinking a little into her chair. He kept going.
"Why is everyone so damned concerned with my ego? James has exactly the same ego. Why does he get off? Damn!"
Dorcas was silent.
"Why is he so god-damned better than I am?" Then he scoffed. "I bet he'll be the one who goes off and slays You-Know-Who and I'll be the ridiculous play-boy side-kick who no one takes seriously. He'll end up with Evans and they'll live happily ever after and they'll let me hang around out of pity. Or for their entertainment."
He was twitching furiously. "And then, like a prat, he'll go and get himself killed, and I'll be completely alone." His ranting was so furious that it scared Dorcas a little. She stood; her long frame completely erect. "Whatever," he tried to shrug the emotions away. "I can be alone. I'm independent. I'd be better off without him. He just makes me part of a twosome…"
Sirius felt the pressure of tears behind his eyes. He was NOT going to cry. HE WAS NOT GOING TO CRY! He was fighting so hard that his entire body had tightened painfully and his breath was coming out in violent spurts.
When Dorcas stood about a foot away from him and reticently pushed a piece of black hair out of his tortured gray eyes, he didn't react. She looked hard at him. Her face had broken from her normal emotionless façade into one complete with trembling lips and furrowed eyes. A flicker of fear passed through her dark eyes before she suddenly placed both hands around Sirius' neck and pulled his head toward hers. She kissed him hard, the salty taste of his blood on her lips.
Sirius was already worked up and soon he had deepened the kiss; pressing his tongue against her lips. She let him in without hesitation and passion took them away. She was sucking on his injured bottom lip and then he was gently gnawing on hers. They moaned into each other's mouth, overcome with unbearable emotions. At some point during the kissing, both of them had started crying and their tears mixed on their cheeks and fell onto their lips, their necks, their shoulders.
Dorcas ran her hands appreciatively under Sirius' jumper and tee-shirt and they broke their kisses so she could pull them off of him. Their eyes met in that second after she had gazed upon his toned chest with dark eyes heavy with lust and tears. With tears still clinging to their eyelashes, the two proud Gryffindors both sensed the other's weakness and, for once, openly shared their own.
Sirius placed a large hand on the small of her back and pulled her in to kiss her furiously again. She gripped his back so hard that scratch marks began to appear. Aching to be on the same page, Sirius pulled at the back of Dorcas' clothing. She peeled it off and stood there in front of him in her bra. He sighed loudly and scooped her up in his arms. Spinning around, he placed her on the sofa roughly. She held her grip around his neck, pulling him down and he climbed up on top of her. The kissing continued and soon he had unclasped her bra. She moaned when he touched her breasts and when their naked chests rubbed together.
Before either of them knew what had happened, he was inside of her and they were both lost in the ecstasy of it. Dorcas arched her back under him, her eyes shut, and she reached a place where she felt only the purest pleasure she'd ever known. No one had been murdered. The entire house wasn't bursting in to tears all the time. Sirius hadn't hated her. The only thing she knew was that he was part of her and soon he had followed her to the same escape. She heard his gasp magnified to a million times its actual level and answered with one of her own. They reveled in the pleasure together for a moment and then, just as quickly, it was gone.