"Now take your wands, holding them lightly mind you Mr. Pettigrew," Professor Kismet was in the middle of an intense Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. Peter Pettigrew, a short and timid friend of James, Sirius and Remus, was having difficulties mastering the up, down and point method for delivering a proper blindness spell.
"What happened with you and James after you left?" I asked Lily quietly as she demonstrated the wand motion for Professor Kismet.
She just smiled and shook her head. "I couldn't believe it. Remus was right."
"Ojonadaus!" I said firmly, directing the spell towards Sirius.
"Dammit Hennessy! You're too good!" he said rather loudly while rubbing his eyes.
I smiled, flipping to the next page in my copy of10,000 Tricks for Outwitting the Enemy. Lily frowned in my direction.
"How on earth did you do that?"
I smiled playfully. "I'll tell you if you tell me what happened with James."
She shook her head, her giddy smile not faltering.
"Hennessy! Okay! It worked! Now undo the damn spell!" Sirius cried as he fumbled around the room.
"Ojoevraus." I said, reading the counter curse from the page I was on. Sirius blinked widely a few times before striding over.
"That was rather awful. Don't be doing that one again," he said, shutting my book before I was done reading.
I looked up at him as he gave me a teasing smile. "I'm not at all charmed Mr. Black. I can do anything I want."
He rolled his eyes and made his way over to James who was sitting on a table, pretending to be done with his work much to the dismay of his partner, Emma Ward.
"Emma's got such a stick up her ass about everything," Lily mumbled, plopping down into the chair next to me.
I rested my chin in my hand, ready to hear her story about the previous night. "So what happened?"
Lily sighed and shook her head. "I don't know really. It was just…he's not at all like I thought he was."
"So," I pressed further, trying to get information out of her. "If he's not what you thought he was like, what is he?"
"Charming. Charismatic. I don't know," she murmured, pulling her hair back into an elastic.
I sighed, positive that I wasn't going to get any more information out of her. I slid off of the desk and walked back to Sirius, who trying to nap in his chair.
"Can't make anyone blind, can you?" I teased Sirius.
He opened one eye, smirking at me. "With these looks? Not a chance."
"Are you always this arrogant, or am I just lucky?" I retorted, returning my things back into my book bag.
"Hennessy, come on now. With your looks and my looks, your intelligence and my wit, we'd make excellent children. What'd you say?" he said tauntingly.
I rolled my eyes and walked out of the classroom. Professor Kismet had told us that once we had accomplished performing the spell we were excused. I jogged to catch up with Isabelle, who had just finished Ancient Runes.
"Bella? Are you all right?" I said having to job to keep up with her as she hurried along.
"Positively perfect. Why wouldn't I be?" she snapped.
"I don't know, you seem upset," I said, my voice trailing off as we found ourselves at the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Clandestine," Isabelle barked, startling the Fat Lady.
"How rude!" The Fat Lady sniped, opening the portrait anyway.
I followed Isabelle to the couches and watched her fling herself dramatically onto the biggest one. I quietly set down my things, surprised at her behavior. I was used to Lily throwing temper tantrums, Isabelle being moody was a less likely occurrence.
"Bella?" I said softly. She turned over, revealing her tear stained face.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you, I'm just stressed," She said in a choky voice. I moved over to her seat, letting her rest her head on my shoulder. I stroked her curls until she had finished crying. She sat up and wiped her eyes.
"I'm pissed at Lily," she said bluntly.
"Why?" I asked quietly, not taking my eyes off of her.
"James asked her out last night, and she said yes," Isabelle said in a shaky voice.
I frowned, confused by the situation. "You have feelings…"
"For James? Yes." Isabelle crossed her arms, taking in shaky breaths all the while.
"I didn't know," I murmured, tucking a tear soaked strand of hair behind her ear.
"Nobody did, Remus told me today in class. I couldn't handle it, I walked out," she said, spinning her thumbs in a circle.
"Wow…"I said, staring into the flames.
"You know, it wouldn't be such a big deal except, we're best friends. She should've figured it out. Or asked before she said yes," Isabelle muttered, wiping her eyes.
"I guess I can't really blame her though, can I?" she asked.
I shook my head. "No, not really. You didn't tell her. But you'll be okay, won't you?"
Isabelle gave me a small smile. "You mean, I won't be a brat around her?"
I nodded, causing her to give a small laugh.
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
"Good," I said, wrapping my arms around her.
