Chapter Nineteen

Murder in the Corridor

Things went by in a blur after that. Sirius and I had left my parent's house and returned to the Potters' for Christmas, and then the New Year kicked in and shortly after we found ourselves back on the train to Hogwarts.

James and Sirius had sung Auld Sang Lyne in about five different pitches, once mimicking Professor McGonagall and then once Professor Dumbledore. They'd tried to get Lily and me to join in, but Lily had flat out refused and I'd only kept quiet for Lily's sake. She did find it quite amusing, though, as much as she was trying to deny it; the train stopped and she pulled me out of the compartment quickly, a giggling mess, and when she collected herself, she insisted we go catch up with Mary and all the other girls from our dorm in the Great Hall.

It was true that Lily was closer to these other girls than I was. She'd always been friends with them, since first year, when she and I weren't very close. I'd hung around with the boys more, her with Snape and Mary and whoever else. But, I would say hello to them now, just for Lily. Then when she wasn't paying attention I'd go find Remus and Peter.

I greeted Mary, who I was most fond of out of all the girls. We'd always been friendly with each other, but I reckoned we'd grown closer after the incident in the corridor with Avery and Mulciber. She'd been the one to update me on that "situation"—apparently, they'd been suspended until Christmas break and would be returning afterwards. Somehow, it'd all been played out as a big lovely accident, and though they had been sufficiently punished, they were still allowed to return to finish up their seventh years. This made Mary visibly uneasy, but when she saw the kitten curled up in my arm, she quickly forgot about everything else and ecstatically asked if she could hold him. I handed him over and the girls all swarmed, some commenting on how the kitten would probably be a much nicer addition to the dorm rather than Mary's demon of a cat, much to Mary's dismay. They were all consumed in conversation and I took the moment to dart off.

I spotted Peter's tousled sandy brown head of hair from across the Great Hall and made my way over to him. His back was turned so I took the opportunity to pounce on his back. "PETER!"

He jolted in his seat and let out a squeak of fright before I collided into him and squeezed him around the neck.

"How was your Christmas?" I released him and tousled his already tousled hair even further. "Did you like the wizard cards I sent? It took me and Sirius ages to find them! Mind you, Sirius wasn't really very diligent with helping me look. But, still, ages! I had to ask one of the old ladies in the shop for help, but she wasn't much aid either. She was probably part troll. She had that smell, you know? And she spoke English horribly. She just stared at me while I talked, and she slurred everything, I don't even know if it was English. Well, are the cards any good? Any rare ones? Or new ones? Or they all rubbish?"

I paused for a breath and Peter threw an answer in, "No, they were great, Gracie, thanks—"

"That's good!" I exclaimed, quickly commencing my rant. "I loved the quill set you sent me! It was so sweet! I went and wrote everyone a letter just because I was so happy with them, but I set them in a pile and my kitten peed on them, so I had to throw them out. Yes, I have a kitten! I left him with Lily and Mary, because they were all cooing over him. He doesn't have a name yet.. I just call him 'the kitten.' Hopefully I think of a name soon before that becomes his name. That'd be stupid when he's not a kitten anymore. I've never had a pet before, did you know that? So I'm so happy with this one! Sirius gave him to me. Anyways, I've got to finish my Christmas homework tonight so I'll show you how the quills write later! Did you know they also include a sugar quill in the set? You don't write with it, of course, it's just for taste, but Merlin's socks does it taste fantastic as—"

"Gracie! Take a breath," said Remus, who was suddenly beside my shoulder.

"Remus! Hi!" I turned from the rather frightened looking Peter to Remus, who wrapped me in a hug. "I missed you!"

I saw Peter bolt off to James and Sirius from the corner of my eye. Remus just chuckled, muttering something about Peter never getting over the 'Gracie is a dementor' stage from first year. "You're quite excitable. I guess that means your break was good?"

I rolled my eyes, smiling. "It wasn't bad, actually. I went to see my parents, though."

He scrunched up his face empathetically. "Ooh. How was that?"

No one really knew the extent of my family's relationship—except maybe Sirius, but not even he really knew it all—but everyone knew the relationship was strained. It wasn't hard to guess, seeing as they all knew my parents had refused to take me to King's Cross at the beginning of the year and Lily, James, and Sirius had come to pick me up instead. Mostly everyone in our year assumed I was muggle-born, because it was common knowledge that I lived in a muggle community. I didn't care to correct them, honestly, because being considered muggle-born was much more convenient; it filtered out the nasty blood-purists so that I didn't have to waste my time with them. I'd received a bit of abuse from a few Slytherins over the years, sure, but it wasn't anything I could complain about too much. Being a pureblood was far too often a misconception, and I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea of me or see me as a different person for my blood status.

"Better than I expected it to be. They were behaving themselves," I answered sincerely. "Sirius even managed to make my dad laugh, which was surprising."

"Sirius? You brought everyone with you?" Remus raised his brows curiously.

"No, just Sirius." Remus tilted his head inquisitively. "He just came for support. He was trying to make me feel better. I was really upset when my parents asked me to come. I didn't know what to expect."

He nodded slowly, seeming to accept the answer. "You do seem to spend an awful lot of time with Sirius. Reckon it was about time they met him, seeing as he's practically your left arm."

"Well, that would explain why my left arm is so lousy. Of course Sirius is to blame. He can take the blame for all of my other issues, too."

"I dunno, I think a lot of those issues you probably had before you met him, don't you think?"

"Remus!" I gasped, which sent him into a fit of laughter. "No, you know that weird dancing thing I do in the halls sometime? That's definitely Sirius's fault."

He sobered, catching his breath. "Well, I'll give you that one. Sirius has done that after every History of Magic class since first year."

I proceeded to point out other various weird traits that resembled Sirius's, and Remus would verify them, either agreeing or not, and this continued on till long after dinner was over and we were all sent back to our common rooms. I reclaimed my kitten from Mary and showed him off to Remus, who was not overly fond of cats either, then said goodnight to him and Peter (where James and Sirius had gone off to, I had no idea) and dismissed myself to bed.

It was a couple of mornings later, after we'd gotten used to our schedules again, that the next Quidditch game arose. It was Gryffindor versus Slytherin, possibly the most rivaled game of all Hogwarts Qudditch games, and it was only the first week back after break. James, therefore, was complaining loudly about how he was out of shape after all the Christmas sweets.

"Lily, you don't have to go, you know," he was saying to her at breakfast. "I'll probably just topple over with all the weight I've put on." He patted his belly, suggesting it had grown, but he looked considerably the same.

Lily only rolled her eyes. "You're ridiculous. Of course I'll be going. Just don't fall off your broom. I don't care if you lose or not."

"Yeah, not like she watches the score, anyway," I said. "She only ever watches you, James."

She flushed, swiping me in the side, and I laughed loudly.

"What? It's true!"

"It is not," she huffed. "I watch the entire game, including everyone in it, on both teams."

"You know, just last game, she was asking me what the difference between a Chaser and a Seeker was."

"Gracie! You're making things up!" But the boys didn't hear her, because they were too busy snorting their pumpkin juice and laughing their guts open.

I was making things up, but I didn't need to admit that. It'd reassured James, and I'd gotten to poke some fun at Lily dear on top of it all.

Later that afternoon, the game was actually going fairly well. Gryffindor was in the lead by at least twenty points throughout a majority of the game. It seemed that if the Gryffindors were out of shape, the Slytherins were far worse out of shape.

Lily and Sirius were cheering my ears off on both sides, and I backed away to Remus and hid my head on his shoulder to block out the noise. He decided to tease me and cheered loudly with them, and I groaned and slapped his arm forcelessly before joining Peter. He was watching the game intently, but silently, and was much better company.

The cheers all around started to quiet down as the Gryffindors went on scoring without much opposition. At that point I was no longer interested in the game—I'd never really had an interested for sports, not even wizard sports—and found myself idly raising the hairs on the back of Sirius's head with my wand. It wasn't until the Slytherins started scoring and the Gryffindors were wild and livid with protests and outcries that my attention snapped back to the game.

"That doesn't even make sense! Is no one watching this?" Lily shouted.

"Did you see Swott's weird move just then? It looked unnatural," Sirius commented. Benjamin Swott, as in one of the other Gryffindor Chasers, along with James and John Matlock.

"It's almost like he's being jinxed," said Remus.

"I've only ever seen a jinxed broom once," Lily said absently, "and that was in third year. Remember that? One of the teachers meant it as a prank. Professor Rugal, the Defense teacher? And then they'd fired him for misconduct. They took it really seriously. It takes really powerful magic to interfere… Even dark magic, probably…"

She trailed off, focused on the game, no doubt watching James's broom for any signs of odd behavior. The Slytherins continued to get past the Gryffindor keeper, score after score after score, and the Gryffindor stands were ablaze with outrage.

I glanced over to the Slytherin stands. They were all standing also, suddenly rejuvenated at the turn of events, but there was a group of boys towards the back still seated. They were watching the game intently with the rest, but were sitting and looked much calmer. It struck me as immediately peculiar and then I immediately noticed they all had their wands drawn, pointed towards the pitch.

I gasped but the sound was drowned in the Gryffindors' yells and no one noticed what I'd seen. I continued to watch the group and recognized Severus Snape. Beside him were two other boys, and on the other side, Avery and Mulciber. My insides burned with fury and before I could second guess myself, I shot a disarming spell their way.

"Expelliarmus!"

The stands had grown a note quieter, and the boys and Lily all turned to me curiously. I wasn't looking their way, though, but kept my eyes focused on the group of Slytherin boys. They looked enraged and bewildered, and I caught their infuriated eyes before turning and breaking the gaze.

"Who did you just disarm?" Lily asked, looking genuinely concerned.

"Snape," I said bitterly. "And Avery and Mulciber and their bloody gang."

"Were they jinxing the brooms?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know," I said. I hadn't even really taken much time to make sure, but I despised the whole lot of them so greatly that I hadn't been able to contain myself. "I think so. I guess we'll see."

Lily looked a little green and caught a glance towards the Slytherin stands over her shoulder. I'd always known that something sour had landed between her and Snape but I'd never had the nerve to ask what. I'd remembered the days when James and Sirius would taunt the kid. I couldn't really blame Snape for being bitter and twisted; he'd endured countless tauntings since he was a first year, but I was not a fan of the bloke regardless. He'd been friends with Lily since before she even came to Hogwarts, and that was always her excuse for still being friends with him. He was different with her, she would say. He was really quite a "nice person." James used to say that Snape fancied the pants off her. He'd been a bit jealous back then, but now he didn't care a thing about him, seeing as Lily had nothing to do with Snape anymore and James finally had her all to himself.

I kind of imagined that Lily missed the old friend she had from childhood sometimes. She would never say a thing, but occasionally I'd see her glance his way and then quickly avert her gaze, a green tinge to her face like what was there now.

I didn't comment on it, like always, and my attention was drawn back to the game as Gryffindor promptly reclaimed the lead. The night went on just like that, a victory for a proud and rambunctious Gryffindor house and a sorry loss for the defeated looking Slytherins.

The game tonight meant that Gryffindor only had to usurp the Hufflepuff team and the House cup would be ours again this year. The team had done miraculously well, aside from their loss with Ravenclaw.

"Ravenclaw's in the same state as us, though," Sirius told me later that night in the common room. The team had rounded up bottles of firewhiskey and were now passing it around graciously. It was a celebration, apparently, seeing as this was the first game we'd won all year. Which wasn't very fair to compare, either; there were only three games per team, anyhow. Sirius took a large swallow from the bottle and passed it to me. I eyed it warily, then passed it on to Remus beside me. I didn't care much for firewhiskey. It hurt to get down and if you drank too much, it hurt just as badly coming up.

Sirius was still going on beside me about Ravenclaw. "They lost a game, too, so they're in the same boat as us. But what we have over them, of course, is the fact that they're next game is with Slytherin and ours is Hufflepuff." His words were running together and I suspected he was talking more to the air in front of me rather than to my face, but I let him ramble on because he appeared to be very passionate about the topic. "Hufflepuff is nothing. Absolutely no trouble, we'll demolish them. But Slytherin's probably, you know, the second to best, and they'll get 'em right in the arse."

He stared at me as if he was waiting for me to comment on his extended statement, and I nodded my head enthusiastically. "Yeah, wow. That's great. We'll win again! Because we have to win every year! Yeah!"

Benjamin Swott caught the last bit of what I'd said and released a series of loud claps and cheers. It proceeded like a domino effect, the entire common room alive and blazing, "Yeah! Gryffindor! We win every year!" The team members were being clapped on the back, James as one of the primary 'Quidditch heroes.' Everyone was wild, drinking and cheering and laughing, and one of the fifth years started dancing a funny little jig that caught on rather quickly.

Soon everyone was moving and some boys even took it as a perfect opportunity to grab a girl and snog her. I was feeling rather out of place as James and Sirius went wild beside me, dragging Remus along with them. I had no clue where Peter had gone, or Lily for that matter. Perhaps the library. I decided that I ought to take that as my opportunity to leave and bolted out of the common room as quickly as my legs would carry me.

Now, it wasn't that I didn't like a good game of Quidditch, or an occasional rowdy party.

No, that was exactly it. No use denying it.

I really wasn't fond of Quidditch or drinking or excessive noise. Which normally surprised people. I was generally fairly hyperactive, at least with Sirius, but when it got to a bunch of out of control, energy driven blind teenagers, I was gone. I'd been to a few Gryffindor parties and I'd enjoyed a few of them, when Sirius had practically forced me to enjoy myself, but that had only ever happened a few times, and I could probably count them on a single hand if I wanted.

Come to think of it, I'd only ever enjoyed Quidditch when it had been Kenneth playing, and I hadn't spoken to him since November. It'd long been January now.

Sometimes I did miss Kenneth a bit, but not overly. It wasn't as if we'd ever really had much of a relationship; he'd never technically been my "boyfriend," nor had I particularly ever wanted him to be. He'd been nice to have around on occasion, but that's not how you were supposed to treat people. He was a good catch, I guess you'd say, and I was happier letting him be so that he could find a girl that was crazy for him. I couldn't blame a girl for going crazy for him, really. If I'd had any more sense, I would have, too.

But I was crazy, insane, and absolutely mental for another person. It was to hard to ignore now. I couldn't even really hide it. I wondered absentmindedly if he knew. Perhaps not. Lily had wanted me to tell him. Lily was so optimistic about it all, but then again, she had no reason not to be. She wasn't the one with anything to lose in the situation.

I'd decided long ago, though, that I wouldn't tell him. As much as I wanted to. As much as I knew I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't.

I'd probably regret it for the rest of my life. I'd be mad at myself until I was old and gray, but he'd be married or something by then and there'd be nothing I could do about it then.

Because that was the thing about Sirius. He didn't need me, as much as I evidently needed him. The girls loved him, maybe even more so than they loved Kenneth, and who could blame them? Sirius was beautiful. Maybe he didn't play Quidditch, but he was brilliant and easy going and funny and so good looking that Kenneth really had very little against him.

And that was what scared me. That if Sirius ever fancied me, it would be like he was settling for less, and I couldn't bring myself to do that to him. He'd grow to be unhappy with me. He'd want to stay out of guilt and I just couldn't do that to him. And then we'd never be the same again and I'd have lost my favorite person in the world.

I suddenly laughed, out loud, and when I realized my lack of control I just laughed louder. He was my favorite person in the world. How corny was that? But it was true, as terrible as it was to choose favorites out of my friends. But I could spend every day with him and never grow bored, and I knew that for a fact. I didn't even need anything more from him - we could just talk and laugh and goof off and I'd be happy.

I collected myself as I arrived at the library and gingerly found my way inside. I scanned in between the shelves and all the tables for Lily, but I hadn't been able to spot her flaming red head of hair. Maybe she'd just gone up to bed. That would have been more convenient to check, but I'd been so desperate to escape that I hadn't really thought it all through.

I looked around at a few books idly before deciding to head back to Gryffindor tower. I'd just quickly sneak past the crowd and up to the dorms and that would be that. No problem.

I walked along the quiet corridors for what felt like forever as my mind drowned in the mingled silence and dark. It wasn't until I'd just successfully cleared my mind that I was jolted back to my senses by a sharp, cold voice that resonated before me.

"Hachette? What are you doing out so late?"

It was difficult to fully comprehend what was happening at that point. I stopped dead in my tracks and stared blankly at the boy in front of me, the boy with a familiar sick scowl twisted on his face.

"Hullo, Avery," I greeted coolly, and subconsciously grabbed for my wand.

"Hey! What are you doing there?" Avery gestured to my hand holding the wand. "Little bit forward of an action, don't you think?"

"What do you want?" I growled.

"Just a little talk. I haven't even pulled my wand on you, you know. You're the presumptuous one here."

"Go away," I muttered, shoving my way past him.

He caught me by the shoulder and yanked me back. "Where do you think you're going? We haven't even talked! That's quite rude, Hachette. Didn't your parents teach you manners?"

That was where I snapped. I pulled my wand on him, aiming it at the nape of his neck. "If you don't let go of me, I will hurt you."

"How will you be able to do that?"

"With my wand, you bloody idiot-"

But before I knew it, a shot of red light burst from the other side of Avery and whipped the wand from my hand.

I stared up at Avery with furious eyes. He only smirked, eyes and features basking in darkness. "You were saying?"

His grip on my shoulder was gradually tightening, so much so that it was actually becoming nauseating. "Let me go," I repeated, but the authority in my voice had gone with my wand.

"Don't think so. Nice try."

Mulciber appeared from the shadows, twirling my wand in his squat hands. I glared at him but Avery jerked my chin back towards himself.

"Listen, Hachette. This is what's going to happen. We're going to do whatever we like, and maybe we'll let you go and maybe we won't. After all, a lovely mudblood like you would be pretty meat for the Dark Lord."

I squirmed in his grip but it was useless. "Do you always do all the talking? You're lovely with the talking, really. I'm sure your Dark Lord rewards you heartily for it." The sarcasm in my voice was as potent as venom.

That was where Avery lost his cool; he grabbed for my neck with his free hand and pressed his fingers deep against my throat. I choked on air, lights sparking under my eyelids. "Shut the hell up, mudblood. Watch who you're talking to. I'm a higher status than you, and you ought to respect me. Especially because I'm so close with much more powerful forces."

I wanted to make a snarky retort but I couldn't get down enough air. I knew that he couldn't very well be a Death Eater; You-Know-Who would never submit a seventeen year old school boy into his inner circle. That didn't mean Avery and Mulciber had never met him, either, and it didn't mean they weren't raised with the avid aspirations to join him. Certainly that's what they were anticipating, and they were far past what one would call mental.

I clawed at Avery's hands to pull them off, and he hissed and pushed me hard in the stomach, ramming me into the wall. I hit a portrait and it protested loudly, saying something along the likes of "hormonal driven teenagers that just can't keep their hands off each other," but I hardly heard it. I didn't even have time to think about how the top of my head had hit the frame and now seemed to be tainted with hot, metallic blood. My body was pulsing so loudly that I couldn't even think.

Avery had only released me for a moment until he'd grabbed me again. He pulled at my wrist and I gasped as the movement produced a large sound like a crack and a burning, excruciating pain erupted up my arm, hotter and more uncomfortable than any amount of firewhiskey imaginable.

"Sorry," Avery hissed, face dangerously and threateningly close to mine. "Did I hurt you? Because I meant to do worse."

I thrashed as much as I could in his grip, trying to force away the fiery, salty tears that sprung to my eyes whenever Avery pulled at me. He tightened his grip around my wrist and I let out a pitiful cry at the pain; I couldn't stand it, and I couldn't do very much to stop it, either. Mulciber was lurking somewhere in the corridor where I couldn't see him, with my wand, making me virtually defenseless.

"Maybe that'll teach you not to meddle in Slytherin affairs. How dare you think that you could disarm a pureblood. You little mudblood filth."

I shot him a kick in the shin with what I knew was the hardest part of my shoe. He reacted accordingly, letting out a momentary sound of pain, before punching me full in the mouth.

I stumbled back, losing my balance, and he let me fall to the ground. I groaned loudly, clutching my chin in my hands, and Mulciber joined Avery, both of them laughing at my state. I was humiliatingly weak and powerless to Avery and there was nothing I could do. I reckoned I couldn't even really scream; my throat was dry and whenever I cried out in pain, it felt like a million nails were scraping at my throat. I could hardly breathe, let alone cry out.

The portraits, however, were going insane around us, and I really didn't need to cry out at all. They'd proclaimed us to be "disruptive" to the night atmosphere at first, but soon realized that we weren't just a couple of teenagers sneaking off to snog in the corridor, and were now jumping through separate frames and panicking, yelling things like "Filch!" and "Headmaster!" and "Murder in the corridor! Murder! Murder!"

I got to my feet shakily, but neither Avery or Mulciber were acting now. Avery's eyes were wide at the scene the portraits were causing and when I pounced on Mulciber to reclaim my wand, Avery ran from the hall without looking back. Mulciber looked as if he wanted to join him, but I clawed his arm with all the force I could and held him to the spot. He retaliated and made a grab for my bad wrist. He managed to catch it and twist it sickeningly before I yanked my leg up and kneed him below the belt with all the strength I could muster.

Mulciber buckled over, groaning in pain that apparently prevented his mobility. I pulled my wand from his absent grasp and darted off as fast as I could, gasping and struggling for breath. Mulciber shot a spell or two from behind, but both shots missed and I bolted around the corner, hidden from his poor aim.

Gryffindor tower was farther than I remembered it being, and when I finally arrived at the common room, I almost collapsed on the floor. I managed to get past the Fat Lady's inquiries and made my way inside, finding the room generally empty. I was eternally grateful that my trek to my dorm would at least be free from any unnecessary questions.

Except for Remus, of course, I realized in a mad flurry, who was still apparently doing his homework. After a bloody party! Hadn't he drunken himself unconscious yet? Not that I wanted him to, but it would have been damn convenient at a time like this! But he hadn't seen me. And he wouldn't. I'd just take a deep breath and go upstairs, and he'd never know—

But, hell, my feet were loud and I couldn't keep myself up straight for hardly anything. He glanced up and our eyes met. At first he didn't seem to recognize me or my situation, and then his eyes grew wide and alarmed.

"Gracie! What happened? Why are you bleeding?"

Ugh. I hadn't noticed the blood. I could feel it on my hairline now, thick and terrible, and then on my my bottom lip, sickening. "I wasn't looking where I was going," I said quickly, attempting to dart for the stairs. But my voice was scratchy and unconvincing. "And I ran into a portrait."

I was about to run off and declare myself safe, as Remus very well couldn't follow me upstairs, but he got up quicker than I could escape and grabbed my wrist to keep me still. Bad luck, though, as that was the wrist that Avery had very likely broken. I hissed out in pain and recoiled from him.

He eyed my wrist, eyes still wide, then my forehead, then my mouth, then peered in close at my neck. "What happened? Gracie! You did not hit a portrait! Tell me. You have to go to Madam Pomfrey. You can't go to bed like this."

"It was—" I shook my head frantically, horrified tears springing to my eyes again. I'd been so weak. I couldn't even defend myself. It was pitiful and pathetic. Remus pulled me into his chest, more carefully than before, and I cried uncontrollably. "Avery. And Mulciber, but mostly Avery. They disarmed me and Avery, well…" I trembled without meaning to. I'd meant to be strong, but I was panicked and distressed and in so much pain that I felt like I'd be sick.

"Come on," Remus said quietly, stroking my hair to soothe me. But I didn't budge, and he tried harder to pull me out of his arms. "Come on, Gracie. We have to go the Hospital Wing. Your head looks bad, and your wrist is hanging limp." He raised my elbow, carefully examining my wrist. "Can you move it?"

"I don't know."

"Try."

I shook my head, wincing with pain. "I don't want to."

"You probably can't then. Let's go. Come on. Don't argue with me, Grace Hachette." He stared at me seriously, and I gave in, letting him drag me out and wrap an arm around my waist. But that area was tender, too, and I flinched at the contact.

"What happened to your back?"

"It's just sore," I said. "Don't worry."

"Hold on. Can you wait here for one second? Don't run up to your dorm. I'm going to get Sirius."

"Why?"

"I'll have him go tell Dumbledore what happened and I'll bring you to the Hospital Wing. Just hold on. One second."

"I'm counting," I said, a little hint of a smile hidden in my eyes. But I could hardly joke, let alone speak; my voice was hoarse and painful, and when Remus bolted off for his dorm, I didn't count down like I said I would. Instead, I waited, willing my strength to hold me up for just a bit longer so that I could go to Madam Pomfrey and take some potion that would make me feel like I was floating on clouds.

I expected Sirius to be irritated at being dragged from his dormitory, or in the very least unsteady and drunk, but he proved to be neither. I guess he hadn't really been drunk earlier. Maybe it had just been the atmosphere. He ran, rather loudly, down the stairs, then stopped in front of me. His face and eyes were very awake and aware as his eyes found mine.

"Gracie! What the hell? Why were you in the bloody corridor at night, anyways? Are you okay? Tell me you're okay." He said it all in a rush, and I couldn't help but feel more pained at the expression on his face.

"I'm okay," I said automatically.

"No you're not. Don't lie to me."

"But you just said to tell you that I was okay."

"Shh, you're deranged," he said, and wrapped an arm around my shoulder instead of my waist. Remus had apparently told him what was wrong with me, but he still inspected my face and my neck, and gingerly moved my arm to see my wrist.

Remus appeared only moments later. "Okay, I'll take her to the Hospital Wing, Sirius, you go find Professor Dumbledore—"

"No, I'll bring her, you go find him," Sirius argued immediately, pulling me in closer to him.

Remus raised a brow, but seemed to figure that it wasn't worth arguing over. "Fine. I'll go. Everything will be okay, Gracie." He smiled reassuringly my way.

I instantly regretted the brief outburst I'd had and flushed. "I know. Thanks, Remus."

He walked Sirius and me out of the common room and then we parted, going off in separate directions.

"Are you scared?" Sirius asked, meeting my eyes with concern.

I shook my head.

"Well, if you are," Sirius said, and by the look on his face, I guessed he would have preferred I was, "I'm here to protect you. Because I'm big and strong and everything, you know. Yeah?"

I rolled my eyes, humoring him. "Yes, you are. Thank you. I feel so very safe because you're here."

He frowned. "Well, now I'm just not sure if you mean that or if it's your head."

"Let's just say it's a combination of both."

And we went off to the Hospital Wing. I tried not to think about Avery or Mulciber or Sirius or even Kenneth or Remus or my parents or Lily or Peter or James or anyone at all, just tried drowning myself in silence and freeing myself of everything. It didn't work, of course, not with Sirius yapping away beside me, because soon enough I'd managed to forget everything else but him. And with that, surprisingly the pain that pulsed all throughout my body felt oddly indistinct.

He started saying how we would present this to Madam Pomfrey and suggested we practice how I would tell the story, but I couldn't focus or hardly hear anything he said at all.

A/N: All right, woohooo, I'm updating on my prolonged vacation! ;) More like I've been writing short sections in every five minute span of spare time I have, but whatever, yahh know. Anyways, I need your help with a name for "the kitten." I'm hopeless with names. Any suggestions? I'd love to hear what you think! Yep yep, that's all, short author's note for today. (Well, shorter than usual.) Thank you very much for reading and leave a review—and don't forget to suggest a name! Because I need your help! I'm hopeless! Remember! Okay byee!