January, 1973
The days after Christmas break were so long and almost unbearable. After a completely awesome sleepover with the girls, I didn't want to go back, but before I knew it, I was back on the train to Hogwarts. And now I have difficulty adjusting back to classes and not hanging out every second of the day with Lily, Marlene, and Lydia. I also had to get used to Severus's presence almost everytime I was with Lily.
Actually, if I was being honest, Severus was mostly the cause of the month of January being unbearable. You see, I spent a lot of time with Regulus lately, mostly drawing and talking about random things. That was until one day, Regulus told me an interest bit of information.
"So, how have your classes been?" I asked while he and I drew on notebooks in the library.
"Pretty good," Regulus said, frowning as he made a mistake with his picture. "DADA is hard but Severus has been really helpful tutoring me and everything."
"Severus is tutoring me too," I told him. "He's very helpful."
"Yeah, and he's even teaching me higher levels of that class, things he learned from books and even some things he made up himself!" Regulus exclaimed, looking at me for a moment, before returning all attention to his drawing.
I, however, stopped drawing. I frowned and asked in concern, "What do you mean? What has he been teaching you?"
"Some offense spells," Regulus replied. He hesitated for a moment before looking at me and whispered, "Don't tell Severus I told you this, but he says he'll tell me about the forbidden curses next."
Mentally, I screamed in outrage, but outwardly I said, "Well, be careful and don't worry, I won't tell Severus."
Regulus gave me a smile before continuing on with his drawing. I followed his lead, but I couldn't concentrate. Eventually, after an hour, I excused myself, grabbed my things, and went. I made my way to the Slytherin dungeons, where I knew Severus would be. When I arrived, I asked around and soon found myself marching towards him in a corridor.
He saw me approach and when I reached him, I pulled him into an empty classroom, locking the door. He saw the fury in my eyes and he was no doubt about to ask why I was angry. But I didn't let any words leave his lips before I planted a heavy punch right on his big nose. He stumbled backwards in pain and I desperately tried to ignore the pain in my fist. I took out my wand in case he tried anything, but when he didn't, I pointed my wand at him anyway and said,
"If you hurt Regulus in any way, I'll come after you," I said, venom dripping from my words. "You're supposed to be teaching him Defense against the Dark Arts, not the Dark Arts themselves. Who do you think you are?!"
Severus wiped away the blood from his nose and took out his wand, pointing it at me. "I'm a master at Defense against the Dark Arts and one day I'll be the professor. Lower your wand before I knock it out of your hand."
I ignored him, keeping my wand in place. "I mean it, Snape. Leave Regulus alone."
Severus gave me an amused grin. "Why do you care? You're a pureblood Slytherin. You should be fine with me teaching him these things. Or are these words actually from Regulus' concerned blood traitor of a brother?"
My nostrils flared and I told myself not to get out on control. "Shut up, Snape. You might be Lily's friend, but a jerk is still a jerk."
Before I could react—I thought for sure Severus would respond with harmless words—Severus shouted a spell that sent my flying backwards. My head slammed against the wall and my vision blurred. When I could see clearly again, I saw that Severus was already long gone.
My face heating up with anger, I stashed my wand away and left the classroom, rushing past students with no care if I bumped into them. I was too angry at Severus to care and one day, I would tell exactly how angry I was.
But for now I simply made my way to the eating hall, since it was close to dinner. When I arrived, Lily and Marlene were waiting for me. I sat down with them, planting a smile on my face, but I noticed Severus sitting beside Regulus at the Slytherin table. I also saw him whisper a conversation to Regulus. I looked away quickly and just then Lydia entered.
I wasn't surprised when soon after arrived Peter Pettigrew. Peter sat with the othet Marauders while Lydia sat down with us, a smile on her face.
"Why the smile?" Lily asked teasingly.
Marlene looked at Lydia with raised eyebrows. "A boy, perhaps?"
Lydia laughed awkwardly but skillfully avoided the question. From there we talked about anyhing and everything. I offered a few words here and there, but mostly I kept an eye on Regulus, who looked angry as he ate his food. Severus, on the other hand, looked smug.
"Hey, isn't your birthday coming up? Reesa."
"Hmm?" I faced Lily, who waved her hand in front of me to get my attention. "Oh yeah. It's on February 18. I'll be thirteen."
"It's just next month!" Lydia exclaimed. She gave Lily and Marlene a mischievous look. "Interesting."
I looked amongst the three girls before we all laughed, enjoying the rest of our dinner with them asking me waht I want for my birthday. But soon Marlene expressed she was tired and excused herself. Not long after, Lily joined her. When it was just me and Lydia, I casually sipped at my drink and said,
"So... what's this business with Peter?"
Lydia's tanned face turned red. "W-what?"
I laughed. "It's okay, Lydia. Come on, I just want to know."
At that Lydia tucked a stand of her coily black hair behind her ear as she replied, "It's nothing. It's just that Peter is really easy to talk to. And we can relate! I mean, he has trouble with classes as well and both of us have something like social anxiety, and I...oh, I don't know. It's just nice to talk to him."
I smiled as she talked. "I'm glad. Just don't tell Lily. I think she despises anything related to James Potter at the moment."
Lydia laughed and from there we were content with small talk. After a while, Lydia excused herself and soon I decided to go back to my dorms as well. So as I walked back go the dorms, not another student in sight, I thought about Lydia and her new friendship. I was there when Ghislaine had her first crush and I knew for certain that Lydia had a crush on short and sweet Peter Pettigrew.
"Reesa!"
I stopped walking and turned around to see Regulus walking up to me. I saw the anger and disappointment in his eyes and I already knew what he was going to say.
"You punched Severus!" Regulus accused. "And you told him I told you about what he would teach me! You promised you wouldn't!"
"I was trying to protect you, Reg," I told him gently.
Regulus wouldn't have any of it. "You betrayed me! And I don't want to talk to you again!"
Before I could say anything, Regulus stormed back down the corridor and it was then that I noticed the Marauders standing there, and I wondered how much they heard. I guessed they heard enough because then Sirius came up to me, looking confused and upset.
"What was that about?" Sirius asked sternly. "What did you do to Reg?"
"Me?" I asked incredulously. "I didn't do anything! I was trying to protect him!"
"Well you failed!" Sirius shouted, pushing past me and entering the dorms.
I almost called him back but when the other Marauders followed after him—with Peter giving me a sympathetic look—I decided it was no use. Therefore, when the door to the dorms closed, I groaned in frustration and stormed off, hoping to find some peace and quiet.
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February, 1973
The weeks following were hell. Severus and Regulus ignored me completely and when Lily first heard that I punched Severus, she started to avoid me at first before Marlene convinced her otherwise. But even then, the Slytherins hissed when I walked by because I punched one of their own and the Gryffindors didn't like me from the beginning, so they didn't talk with me either, especially Veronique. Jules actually congratulated me for punching Severus, but he was always out with his friends, never having time for me.
But the absolute worst were the pranks. Apparently Sirius was still sore about what I 'did' to Regulus. At first it was little things: my homework being misplaced, my wand going missing, and the like. But when February started, the pranks escalated. I once woke up to find that my school uniforms were all completely pink. Another time I entered an empty classroom on the pretense McGonnagal wanted to speak with me. Well she didn't. Instead, I got dunked with glue and then I was covered with feathers. Safe to say it was the most humiliating thing walking into class that day.
It was on my birthday when I finally lost my cool. I was heading out of the dorms—excited for what my friends had planned for me—and the moment I exited, some sort of powder blew up in my face. I swallowed some by accident and for the rest of the day I spoke entirely in German. I was forced to bring my laughing brother along everywhere so he could translate for me.
It was after the dinner hour when the spell wore off. Once it did so, I huffed in anger and marched off to find the Marauders. I found them in the dorms, sitting on the couches in the main room. They were all laughing and talking but when they saw me approach, Peter disappeared, and Remus hid away somehow. James's smile disappeared but Sirius gave me a smug look.
"You're such a bully!" I shouted at him. "You're a jerk and the biggest imbecile I ever encountered! I get that you're angry, but I didn't do anything!!! All right?! It was Snape! He was teaching your brother the dark arts and I was trying to stop him."
At my words, Sirius's smile disappeared, but I wouldn't let him say anything as I continued.
"I punched Snape and Regulus got mad, okay? That's why he stormed off before and that's why he won't talk to me! Now, get over yourself!"
Not allowing him to say anything, I entered the room I shared with the other girls and slammed the door. I caught my breath and after a moment I didn't bother changing before crawling into bed. Within a minute I was out like a light.
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May, 1973
The weeks leading up to the end of the school year were suspiciously quiet. At least for me.
After my outburst towards Sirius, all the pranks stopped. Instead, all the new pranks were directed towards Severus. I witnessed the pranks multiple times and each time I did nothing to help. Instead, I watched as Sirius and the other Marauders laughing from where they were hiding. Most of the time I laughed with them, but usually stopped when Lily gave me a look.
But since I was free from their pranks, I was able to go to my classes and do my homework in peace. Marlene and I found a new DADA tutor in a second-year Ravenclaw named Tobias 'Tobster' Knowl, and our grades got better. Lily and I were on good terms again and when Marlene and Lydia were busy, we spent all of free time with each other. And when Lydia was free when Marlene and Lily weren't, she and I would take walks around the castle grounds, talking about anything and everything.
And so when students were beginng to leave for the summer, I was sad. When my friends all left and it was just me, I was especially sad because I had no one to talk to. Instead, I spent time in the greenhouses, teaching myself how to draw, but missing the time I had spent with Regulus.
On the day i was supposed to leave, I had already packed and I had some free time. I was sitting in the Gryffindor common room drawing when the door opened to reveal Sirius, not accompanied by the other boys. I frowned at this, but I simply ignored him and continued to draw.
I was slightly annoyed when he sat down next to me. But I was angry when he snatched the sketchbook from my and studied what I was drawing.
"Really, Black!" I exclaimed with anger, holding out my hand so he would give it back.
He didn't. Instead he flipped through the pages, causing me to groan in frustration. After a moment, I could no longer handle it so I ripped the sketchbook out of his hands and put it away in my art bag, along with my pencils and other supplies.
"I'm impressed, Kaiser," Sirius said with a mischievous smile. "You actually have talent."
"Very funny, Black," I said coldly, zipping my bag closed.
As I fiddled with the zipper, which was conveniently stuck, there was a long silence. I didn't find it awkward since I was far too busy with the zipper, but soon the silence was broken.
"I'm sorry, Kaiser," Sirius said gently. "I overreacted."
Forgetting about the zipper, I sighed and leaned back into the couch, glancing at him. "No you didn't. You were just being a protective brother."
"You didn't deserve it, especially on your birthday," Sirius said, his tone was light hearted, but I could see the guilt in his eyes.
I shrugged nonchalantly. "Eh, thirteen isn't really a big year anyway."
"So... forgiven?"
I laughed softly and nodded."Forgiven." Relief flooded his face, but because I was a Slytherin at heart, I jabbed my finger at his chest, saying in a menacing tone, "But if you ever do that again, I won't be so forgiving."
Sirius nodded and was serious for a long while before his mouth cracked into a smile. After that, I pulled away and both of us laughed. When we stopped, Sirius stood up to leave, but right before he did so, he looked back and asked,
"You're leaving today, right?"
I nodded. "Yup. Very soon you'll be free from me."
Sirius offered me a kind smile. "So until next year then, Kaiser."
"Until next year," I repeated and watched him leave.
Once he was gone, I sighed and my sadness returned. Therefore, I finished packing and met with my siblings. As we rode back home on the train, all I could think about was next year and the excitement that fluttered in my chest at the thought of another year at Hogwarts with my best friends.
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End of year 2! I hoped you enjoyed it! I think so far I've been pretty accurate with facts revealed by JKR (excluding Cerisa and other obvious things), but if there something I got wrong, like a name or a date, please tell me. Anyway, read and review as always and I hoped you enjoyed the story so far. :)
