Disclaimer: The usual
Hi! I'm updating all of my fics today (no I'm not joking) and this is an action-packed one, jumping from one problem to another, but with a common theme: relationships, relationships, relationships.
Now, onwards with the story!
Read and Review!
Love, Essie.
Yes, I've got you in my space
I won't let go of you
Got you shackled in my embrace
I'm latching on to you
I feel we're close enough
I can't find your silver lining
I wanna lock in your love
I don't mean to judge
I feel we're close enough
But when you read your speech, it's tiring
I wanna lock in your love
Enough is enough
~La La Latch, Pentatonix
"Hey, Dan. Look, I need to talk to you about something." James said and Dany was immediately confused. Nothing good ever started with 'we need to talk'.
"What's up?" She asked and he looked uncomfortable. "James, you're freaking me out right now. Is everything okay?" She asked and he shrugged.
"Yeah, I mean no one's in mortal peril if that's what you mean. It's just…about a week ago, Sirius told me that he and Brady got into an, erm, argument." He said and it was very obvious that he was trying to put this delicately. She raised an eyebrow.
"Really? What about?"
"Okay first of all, Sirius has no idea I'm telling you this so please don't rat me out." He said hastily and she nodded. James wasn't lying, she could always tell with him.
"Noted…why are you telling me this? It sounds like this is between them." She said and James hesitated again. "James."
"Because Brady told Sirius to, and I'm just quoting here, 'back off of you' because Brady doesn't trust your judgment about him." He said and Dany instantly became irritated. The worst part was that it wasn't that far of a leap from the shit Brady already said.
"What? How did this even come up?" She asked and James appeared wary. "I'm not going to rip your head off, so calm down." She added and he nodded.
"Yeah, about that. Apparently Sirius was with Natalie in the Ravenclaw common room and Brady called him over to where he was sitting and they had this little talk." James said uncomfortably and Dany scrutinized his face, looking for his tells. There was no eye twitching, he wasn't touching his ears, and he wasn't fiddling with his fingernails. All signs pointed to James telling the truth.
"Why didn't Sirius want to tell me this himself?" She asked and she thought it was a fair question.
"Well, he didn't want to have a rerun of last winter and not be on speaking terms for a month. Believe it or not, Dan, it took a toll on him too. I don't think he's ever apologized to anyone, other than maybe me and Remus, outside of that. Ever. He was really cut up and he regretted it. He doesn't want to relive it." Dany nodded. She had no particular love for the idea of revisiting that month herself. She got sick of feeling constantly nauseous and anxious very quickly. Having that kind of animosity around wasn't good for the psyche.
"I'll talk to Brady." She said and James nodded. "I want to hear what he has to say about this." She said and he nodded again.
"Okay. I just thought that you deserved to know, is all." He said and she nodded.
"Thanks, James." She said and he walked off, casting a look back at her. Well, her afternoon spent with her boyfriend just got more complicated. She found Brady by the Black Lake. The snow had stopped temporarily as Valentine's Day approached and the ground was finally somewhat dry and solid. She sat down next to him and he smiled.
"Hey, Babe." He said and she smiled back. She tried really hard to stay unbiased.
"Hey…so I just ran into James." She said and he seemed mildly interested.
"Oh, how is he?"
"He's good…he told me something that I wanted to ask you about, though." She said and he really looked at her for the first time since she had sat down.
"What was that?"
"That you and Sirius got into an argument about a week ago." She said quietly. Brady looked surprised.
"Yeah, we had a little bit of a disagreement but it was hardly a big deal…why would James tell you that? It had nothing to do with you." He said and she shrugged.
"He said that you said that you don't trust my judgment." She said. "Is that true? Did you really say that?" She asked and Brady looked more surprised still.
"What? I never said that I don't trust your judgment. I just said that I don't think that you're judgment regarding Black was…accurate, is all." He said and she raised an eyebrow.
"And why's that?" She asked.
"I don't know, I mean the way he treats women…it's just not the trademark of a good person." He said and Dany looked at him critically.
"Okay first of all, we've gone through this about his sex life about a thousand time and I don't really care what he does or doesn't do with his girlfriend. Secondly, if you have something you're worried about regarding me, talk to me. If it's to the point where you have to tell other guys, who I've been friends with since I was eleven, to back off, there's a problem." She said and he looked surprised.
"Wow, Dan calm down and let's talk. I'll be the first to admit that I don't like Black and that's fine, whatever; but I never said anything about telling him to back off. I mean I'm slightly prone to jealousy but that's just ridiculous. Are you sure someone isn't embellishing?" He asked and Dany thought about it for a second. James hadn't even flinched when he had been talking to her, outside of looking like he really didn't want to be the bearer of this particular information, but then again Brady also seemed to know what he was talking about.
"I don't know; I wasn't there. It isn't like James to do that. He knows how I am." She said and Brady shrugged.
"Maybe James only thought he was telling you the truth." He said and Dany narrowed her eyes at him. She didn't like the implication but he had a point. Who was to say that Sirius didn't make it up and told James, knowing it would get to her? It would be an effective way to get rid of Brady if she bought it 100% and it was no secret that the boys disliked each other a great deal.
"I really don't think that Sirius would make something like this up, Brady." She said and even though it was very viable, she somehow doubted it. It didn't seem like Sirius to sit around thinking up petty plans so she'd go through a breakup. Not to mention that he had stayed civil with her boyfriend thus far, which he had told her at least twice was purely out of respect for her.
"Look, I'm just saying that it sounds like a five minute disagreement is being blown up to sound like the argument of the century." He said and she nodded, wishing that she had never heard of this in the first place. "So how about we let it go, blame no one, and enjoy the day?" He asked and she nodded. No one was getting blamed but she wasn't going to forget this. She was going to be watching both of them.
This year was the first year that Dany wasn't single for Valentine's Day and she didn't know how she felt about that. She never liked the holiday because she thought it was overrated and cliché but Brady had been all for it. So when she woke up the morning of February 14th, she was feeling rather conflicted about it.
"Come on, Dan. Up you go." Lily was saying and Dany groaned into her pillow. "Happy Valentine's Day. You're supposed to be going to Hogsmeade with your cute boyfriend today." She said and she blearily sat up. It was a Saturday this year. It was a Hogsmeade day too. If she ended up in Madam Puddifoot's, she was going to lose her mind.
"I'm up, I'm up." She said and looked around. "Very cute you guys, replicating last year." She said and everyone looked at her.
"What do you mean?" Marlene asked. Dany pointed to her bedside table. The flower was back.
"Oh, no way." Lily said. It had happened last year; same flower, same position, same day, and they still had no idea who had put it there. "Maybe it was Brady?" She added on and she shook her head.
"I doubt it…I had never spoken more than a word to him last Valentine's Day. That's weird…well, there's nothing we can do about it, and so we might as well get on with the day, yeah?" She said and the other girls nodded as Lily placed it in water. Dany didn't miss Lily scrutinizing her. They all started to get dressed and the girls made a huge deal about what Dany, the only one of them in a relationship, wore. She had told them that she really didn't care but no one had listened to her. Lily had forced her into riding boots, jeans, and a trench coat. They were all rushing out of the door and Dany paused. That lone magnolia flower was going to be driving her crazy all bleeding day.
"Dan? You coming?" Lily asked. Dany nodded.
"Yeah, I'm coming…" She said quietly and followed her friends out of the room. All of the guys were already loitering around and all waved as they entered the common room.
"Happy Valentine's Day, ladies." Remus said and smiled they all thanked him and Dany noticed that Sirius was there, sans Natalie.
"So Sirius…you wouldn't happen to have dumped Natalie, would you?" She asked casually and he looked surprised.
"Yeah, yesterday…I didn't tell you lot?" He said and Dany cheered as the other three girls groaned.
"Pay up, ladies! That'll be two galleons each." She said smugly and they all handed her their money as they left the tower.
"You two have got to be conspiring. Does he get half of the pot or something, Dan?" Marlene asked and Dany laughed with a shake of her head.
"No, I'm just really good at guessing." She said and everyone laughed. "You lot are shitty gamblers, too. It's really quite easy. Right, James?" She asked and James nodded. "I'm assuming you cleaned this one up too?" She said and he grinned before the two high-fived.
"Course I did. Anyone with eyes and a decent understanding of the fact that Natalie was clingy and annoying could have called this a mile away." He said and Dany nodded.
"The writing was clearly on the wall. You guys really need to pay more attention, unless you want to continue to bleed galleons right into my pocket." Dany added.
"Sorry we don't pay as much attention to Sirius' dating habits as you two." Alice said with a laugh. Dany shrugged.
"What can we say? It keeps life interesting." James said and Dany grinned as they all walked into the Entrance Hall.
"Oh Dan I meant to ask, what are you going to do if you end up in Madam Puddifoot's?" Alice asked and the other girls laughed. Dany crinkled her nose.
"Other than throw up in my mouth, you mean?"
"Yeah, other than that."
"I don't know. Cry?" She said and James rolled his eyes.
"If he takes you to Puddifoot's, he doesn't know you enough to deserve to date you." He said and Dany rolled her eyes. As much as he had a point, she had to admit that she had relatively unconventional views on Valentine's Day and wouldn't be surprised if he did take her there, purely because a lot of girls enjoyed the atmosphere. Or so she heard. She had made a point of never actually experiencing it.
"Well it's not like it's ever come up in conversation before. So who knows? If he does, I'll let you know if I manage to keep my lunch down through the cloying smell of floral perfume." She said with a grin. Everyone laughed and suddenly, Brady appeared. "Hey." She said and he smiled.
"Hi. You look great." He said and kissed her lightly.
"Thanks. Ready to go?" She asked and he nodded. Dany turned to her friends. "I'll see you guys later. Oh, and James watch Sirius' food. Someone's probably going to try to slip him a love potion." She said with a laugh and Sirius groaned.
"Bloody fantastic. Thank you, Dany. I'm going to be living paranoid now." He said and she shrugged.
"James can be your royal taste-tester. Alright, we're going." She said and walked off with Brady.
"Would someone seriously try to give him a love potion?" He asked and Dany nodded.
"It's not like it hasn't almost happened before. Lily bloody tackled a mug of butterbeer out of his hands one time because some random First Year slipped something in it when he was in the bathroom…they're all very fascinated apparently." She said, simultaneously revolted by the idea of using love potions and thinking that they had a very good reason to be interested. No, we're not thinking that, Dany. You have a boyfriend. She said told herself firmly, trying to turn her thoughts around. "It's rather horrid. It always gets a lot worse when he's single too." She added on and Brady seemed unsympathetic.
"That's what happens when you jump from one girl to the next. All girls think that you're fair game. Especially when you don't have standards." He added on and Dany fought the urge to smack the back of his head.
"Well, why don't we change the subject? We're rehashing this for at least the hundredth time, Brady." She said and he seemed to agree with that.
"Alright, let's not talk about Black on Valentine's Day. I think I can work with that." He said and she laughed a little. It drove her crazy sometimes how much they hated each other.
"So, does that mean you have some grand master plan?" She asked, joking. He shrugged.
"It's Valentine's Day, Dan. It's a special day." He said and she fought the urge to smack her head into the closest heavy object. Damn. She was waiting for him to say Madam Puddifoot's.
"So, what is it? Whatever it is, please don't serenade me; that's just uncomfortable for everyone involved." She said and he laughed.
"No, no singing is involved. Neither is dancing, in case you were curious. I was thinking more along the lines of the Three Broomsticks and then the bookstore." He said and she smiled. Much better.
"That sounds fantastic, actually. And I'm relieved to hear that dancing, singing, and musicality of all types are absent in that plan." She said and they walked into the Three Broomsticks, holding hands.
"I figured that you'd appreciate that." He remarked and suddenly people started waving him down. Dany vaguely recognized Owen Quinn and Sam Jeffers, two of Brady's friends from Ravenclaw. "Well, it appears that we're being solicited." He added on and Dany laughed. "Do you mind? Just for a few minutes so I can get them off my back for the rest of the day." He said and Dany shrugged.
"Sure. As long as you lot don't start up drinking games or something." She said and he led her over to his friends.
"Harris! I see you're taking your girl out today. Damn it's that day again…I always forget." Owen said and Brady seemed mildly amused.
"That's probably because girls want nothing to do with you and so it's not ever really an issue." He said and Sam laughed.
"It's true, mate. They're just not interested." Sam added on. Brady sat down and Dany fought the urge to smack her head into the table. They were going to be here forever.
They were there the entire day and by the time that they walked back up to the castle, Brady, Sam, and Owen were so drunk off of butterbeer that they were all slightly stumbling. They were halfway back to the castle when Remus came tearing down the path, running right by them.
"Remus?" Dany asked blankly and he paused.
"Dan. Oh thank God." He said and walked back.
"What's going on?" She asked cautiously.
"You know how you were making fun of Sirius because someone was going to spike his drink?" He asked and Dany's eyes widened.
"No…" She said and he nodded. "Who is it?" She asked and Remus looked like he was trying really hard to not laugh.
"A Second Year. She left a picture near the drink. No idea what her name is, but he's trying to track her down to proclaim his undying love. We can't find Lily to make the antidote, either. I thought you might know where she is." He asked and she shook her head.
"I haven't got a clue…wait where's Sirius if he's not with you?" She asked suddenly and Remus' lips twitched. It was actually quite hilarious.
"James has him locked in our room. He was banging on the door, demanding to be let out so he can see his 'one true love' or some shit." He said and Dany snorted.
"Alright, well first of all I want to know who the girl is, mainly because I'm curious and I want to be able to torment him for the rest of our natural lives. And I can probably make the antidote; it's not terribly difficult from what I remember." She said thoughtfully. Everyone looked at her. "What? You think that this is the first time that this has happened? Come on, Remus." She said and turned back to her drunken boyfriend and his drunken friends. "I'll see you later, Brady." She said. Brady didn't take this well, probably due to the fact he was drunk.
"Oh, typical. Princess Danilynn runs off to go pick up Black's mess. Go on, baby. Go on and fix his problems." Dany rolled her eyes at the nasty tone.
"Brady, you're drunk. Go sleep it off." She said.
"I'm not drunk, I'm honest. You know it's true. But you can't fucking help it, can you? You can't stay away from him, no matter how many times I tell you to." He slurred.
"Brady. I'm—"
"Keep your mouth shut, Danilynn. I'm not done." He snapped and Dany narrowed her eyes.
"Yes you are. I'll talk to you when you're sober and no earlier." She said and walked off with Remus. She glanced at the werewolf, who had been watching her reproachfully. "Don't tell anyone. He's not a very nice drunk is all." She said softly and he nodded as they entered the castle, en route to Gryffindor tower.
She reached the boys' room with Remus. James was sitting up against the door. He looked quite excited that he was getting backup. Suddenly someone started banging on the door.
"I'll knock this bloody door over, James Potter! Let me the fuck out!" Sirius audibly yelled and Dany tried quite hard to not laugh.
"Has he said who he's hopelessly in love with yet?" She asked and James nodded.
"Yeah. I've never heard of her. Said her name's Rita something…what's her name, mate?" James asked through the door. Dany beat Sirius to the punch.
"Rita? You don't mean Rita Skeeter, do you?" Dany asked, disbelievingly. James nodded.
"Yeah, that's it. Why? You don't know her, do you?" He asked and Dany nodded.
"Her mom works for my dad's secretary…she pushes papers for a woman who pushes papers…that job makes my skin crawl just thinking about it. She's this little blonde thing, glasses? Annoying?" She clarified and they both nodded. "I can't give him the right antidote until I know what she gave him." She said and they both groaned. "But…lucky for you blokes, I'll be more than happy to figure that out. It's honestly just sad to hear him moping over a Second Year. I mean his usual girls aren't what I'd call impressive but at least they're not twelve." James and Remus both nodded in agreement.
"How do we find her?" Remus asked and Dany smirked.
"Well, we have two options. We could ask around for the rest of the day and maybe find her…or we could let Sirius out of that room and he can sniff her out like a bloodhound." She said with a grin. James started laughing and even Remus cracked a smile.
"I don't know, Dan…it would be funny but I don't know if I can do that to him. A Second Year is…" Remus started.
"Well I have no problem with it. Come on out, Sirius!" James said and opened the door. Sirius looked normal, except something was off around his eyes. He wasn't…completely with it.
"James, why were you trying to keep me from her? I thought you were my friend." He said, obviously hurt. Dany tried not to laugh at his face.
"Yeah, what the fuck, James? You're standing in the way of true love right now." She said and James glared at her. Remus snickered.
"Sorry." He muttered and Sirius seemed to be unsatisfied with that apology.
"Well, I'm going to go find Rita now. Excuse me." He said briskly and walked off. The three of them followed him slowly.
"Are you sure this is going to work, Dan?" Remus asked and she nodded.
"It should. She gave him a pretty strong dose, judging by the effects. It's overriding friendships he's had for years. He'll be able to find her; the strong ones have that effect. It's part of the literal 'attraction' that it simulates." She said quietly as Sirius abruptly turned a corner, into an almost completely unused end of the castle.
"That's really creepy." James muttered and Dany nodded.
"No kidding…now once we see her, you two need to grab him and preferably get him to shut up. I can't be nearly as scary when he's shouting hurtful things at me. I have feelings too, you know." She said and they both nodded. "That and we don't need them running away together." She added and the boys both snickered. Suddenly, a little blonde girl was visible as they turned another corner. She was all frizzy hair, disproportional limbs, and glasses. "Grab him." She said and James grabbed his best friend. Sirius automatically took a swing at him. Dany ignored that and Rita looked bloody terrified.
"What's going on?" She asked. "Let him go! What's wrong with you people?" She was saying to James and Remus. She apparently hadn't noticed that she was no longer the only girl in the corridor.
"Us? You bloody drugged him!" James yelled as he ducked another of Sirius' fists.
"Dan, get her to tell you what the potion was." Remus grunted as he got an elbow to the stomach. Rita noticed her for the first time.
"Rita. Lovely to see you." She said cheerily. Rita looked like someone had hit her across the face; she had apparently quite forgotten that she was friends with Sirius.
"What are you doing here?" She asked and Dany rolled her eyes.
"Well, I do believe that we're all here for the same reason. What did you give him?" She asked sharply and Rita shook her head.
"I didn't give him anything. He's just—"
"If you say 'in love', I'll just laugh; I hope you realize that." She said and Rita looked surprised.
"He has to love someone." She said pointedly and Dany heard Sirius finally hit James in the face. That distracted her from the idiocy of that statement.
"Oh, fuck!" James yelled and clutched at his nose. Remus was still trying to get Sirius under control. They were running out of time.
"Alright Rita, here's the deal. Tell me what you gave him or so help me God, I'll make your life a living hell." Dany said and grabbed her by the shirt. "Believe me, you don't really want to go down that road." She hissed and Rita nodded.
"Alright, I gave him—oh my God!" She yelled. Sirius had broken free of Remus and was now dragging Dany away from Rita by her hair. Oh that hurt so fucking much. Oh shit.
"Sirius Orion Black let go of my fucking hair!" She screamed at him.
"Back off of Rita!" He yelled back.
"Do you hear yourself? You're really going to hit your best friends and drag me around by my hair over a Second Year? Ow! Sirius, stop; I'm not joking, that really hurts." He didn't stop and Dany was pretty sure she was on the verge of losing all of her hair as she stumbled backwards, the direction her hair was being pulled in; it hurt so much that it brought tears to her eyes. "Stop, stop, stop. Please stop, that hurts so much. Please, just stop." She said, without any permission from her higher-level thinking; the words had just come out of her mouth before she could stop them. She could feel his hands yanking at the roots of her hair and it really bloody hurt.
"Rita, make him stop! He's going to hurt her!" James was yelling at the young girl as Dany was considering the fact that she was going to have her scalp ripped off by one of her best friends.
"What? I don't know how!" She yelled back.
"Tell him to stop!" Remus yelled and Sirius had apparently decided that this was far enough from Rita because he dropped her unceremoniously onto the stone floor. She felt her knees and hands take the impact, and sure enough, both of her hands started to bleed almost immediately, leaving red smears on the stone.
"Oh my God. Stop!" Rita yelled and Sirius immediately backed off of Dany, James, and Remus. "Here, I have the antidote here. Just in case." She said and Dany scowled at her.
"Nice of you to mention that earlier." She snapped from her position on the ground. Rita looked embarrassed and handed it to Sirius. He unquestioningly drank it and immediately looked incredibly confused, apparently exiting his love-induced stupor. James carefully helped Dany to her feet.
"That looked like it stung." He said and Dany nodded.
"Yeah, it really does…damn I think my scalp might be bleeding he pulled so hard." She muttered and James looked at her head.
"No, you're good. Don't get me wrong, it looks red and angry up there, but you're not bleeding." He said.
"Guys." Remus said. They both looked over and Sirius appeared like he was now coherent.
"What the hell? Why are we in this corridor? Who are you?" He asked Rita, who seemed embarrassed. "Dany, why aren't you on your date? Are you bleeding?" He asked, obviously confused and concerned.
"Rita I should fucking kill you." James snapped. "Look what you did. She got hurt because of what you did. I should drag you by your hair all the way across the fucking castle." He hissed and then gently looked at his Godsister's hands. "Good thing you were in jeans. That would have really screwed your knees up." He said quietly to her and she nodded as he took her hands into his, palms up, to get a closer look.
"Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Sirius asked no one in particular.
"I'll tell you." James said loudly. "Rita here drugged you up with what has to be the strongest love potion in the freaking world. When we noticed, we locked you up and tried to find the antidote. But we didn't know what you had taken so we went to find her. But no one could find her so we let you out of our room because you would undoubtedly try to go find her. Unfortunately, when Dany tried to get Rita to tell her what she gave you, you dragged her down this hallway by her hair. You dropped her on the ground pretty hard too. Nice job, Skeeter." James snapped and Remus didn't look overly pleased either. "Oh, yeah and you punched me in the face. Thanks for that." He added on bitterly. Sirius looked shocked by this whole turn of events.
"What? There's no way I dragged her anywhere, let alone by her hair." He said and looked over at Dany, really noticing her bloody hands. "Oh God. Dan, I'm so sorry. I don't remember a damn thing." He said and she nodded.
"I'd say that I'm okay, but I'm really not right now. I think I'm going to take myself to the hospital wing to get this looked at; Pomfrey should probably have a look at my head too." She said quietly. James put an arm around her.
"You're not going anywhere on your own with hands like that, Little Godsister; I'll walk you there." He said and Dany nodded gratefully, watching the blood ooze out of her palms. Her scalp was still throbbing. Sirius took a wary step away from Rita and towards Dany and James. "Rita, come here. Come look at what you did." James snapped. "No, I'm not fucking joking. Come here." He snapped and Rita walked over. James pointed to the ground. The blood from where Dany had ripped her hands open was still bright red against the grey stone floors.
"Shit, did I do that?" Sirius said abruptly. Dany nodded a little, eyeing him warily. She saw the unmistakable look of guilt cross his face. "God, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry." He said quietly and Dany nodded.
"Thank you." She said. "You didn't know what you were doing…I'll just have that residual image stuck in my head for a while, is all." She said and he still looked like he was mildly ashamed.
"…I'll just have that residual image stuck in my head for a while, is all." Lily heard from down an unused corridor. It was Dany. She looked down the corridor and saw something that immediately meant trouble. James had an arm around Dany. Every time James assumed his position of her big brother, there was something wrong with Dany.
"Dan?" Lily asked and they all turned around. Lily noticed that Sirius, Remus, and a young girl she didn't know were all still there. The girl looked like she was there because she had no way out.
"Lily. Why aren't you down at dinner?" Dany asked. Something was wrong. She was controlled and she didn't miss the way that James was watching her. She also didn't miss the completely guilt-ridden look on Sirius' face. Then she saw Dany's hands.
"What happened? Are you okay?" She said and rushed forward, taking her friend's hands. "Did you fall? These are deep…you need Madam Pomfrey, Sweetie." She said and Dany nodded.
"I know. James was about ready to walk me there. I fell." She said and everyone exchanged looks. She was lying.
"I'll take her James, you clearly have some cleaning up to do with this lot." He nodded at her. He apparently trusted Lily with the Godsister he adored so much. "And that's bullshit. What really happened?" She asked and Dany bit her lip.
"Well, about that…Sirius was slipped a love potion and didn't particularly like it when I threatened the, um, object of his affections." She said, clearly skirting around the details.
"Well okay. James, what happened?" She asked, turning directly to the obviously possessive and protective Godbrother.
"Lily, I don't think that this is—"
"Hush, Danilynn. James Potter what did he do to her?" She snapped.
"He pulled her by her hair and when he let go, she fell onto her hands." He said, not looking overly thrilled with the situation. Lily instantly became pissed. Love potion or not, he shouldn't be hurting her. Lily was the mother hen of her group and she knew it. And she also knew that this made her really pissed off.
"Lily, just take me to the hospital wing. I don't want to have to sit around and listen to this again. Please." Dany said quietly and Lily nodded. She put an arm around her friend and guided her out of the corridor. Dany was rather silent for a while.
"Dan, are you okay?" She asked her gently. Lily knew that her hands were the least of her problems. One of her best friends had just injured her. The only thing that really gave away that she wasn't fine was that her bloody hands were shaking.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine Lils. My hands sting a little but I'm okay." She said with a completely fake and forced smile.
"Danilynn."
"Okay, fine. I'm not okay because one of my closest friends dragged me a good ten feet by my hair and wouldn't stop no matter how many times I asked him to because a crazy fucking Second Year slipped him a love potion. And now I'm bleeding. So no Lily, I'm not okay." She said loudly and then fell very silent.
"Dan, he was drugged. He didn't know what he was doing…you have every right to be pissed and upset, but I'd keep that in mind. It wasn't really him and you know it." She said gently. Lily was rather pissed off but she wasn't going to fuel Dany's own anger. Lily was nowhere near as wrathful as her friend and this would fade soon if she didn't encourage Dany's own anger and hurt.
"I know it wasn't. But Lils it was his face. It's kind of hard to differentiate when the person intentionally hurting you is wearing the face of someone you've known and been friends with since you were eleven." She said quietly as the girls walked into the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey walked out and looked unimpressed.
"Miss Masters if I had a sickle for every time you were in my ward…oh my, what happened to your hands?" She said, immediately more concerned.
"I fell…must have been all of the butterbeer from today." She said dismissively. Lily rolled her eyes. Of course she wasn't going to tell the Matron. Of course not. She couldn't stop herself from protecting him, even wounded and hurting. Even when she was upset with him, she would protect Sirius as best she could. Madam Pomfrey clucked her tongue.
"Yes, well you're not the first that has ever happened to…take a seat, dear." She said and Dany sat down on one of the hospital beds. Lily sat in a chair near her. "Thank you for bringing her in, Miss Evans. It was a wise choice; these need to be dealt with immediately. Heavens knows that this castle isn't exactly clean; anything from these floors should most decidedly stay outside of one's body. What Argus Filch does with all of his time is beyond me." She said and carefully took one of Dany's hands. "Yes…alright dear, I'll get this cleaned and mended in a jiffy." She said and waved her wand and the blood vanished and then she waved it again and the scrapes, which were so deep they were bordering on cuts, closed up.
"Thank you." Dany said and Madam Pomfrey nodded.
"It's not a problem, dearie. It's what I'm here for. Now be careful on your way back up those stairs to Gryffindor tower, you hear?" She asked and Dany nodded. Lily smiled at the Matron.
"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey." She said and she nodded before ushering the two girls out of the hospital wing. "Dan, I really think you should probably just hole up in the room for tonight. You've had a rough day. I want to hear all about your day with Brady." Lily said and Dany nodded.
"Really, Lils. It's not a huge deal; they're gone and I'm fine." She protested and Lily ignored her. She needed to take it easy; Lily didn't want to see her in any kind of precarious situation for at least the rest of the day.
"You're being overruled, Dan. Come on, let's get settled in." She said and the two girls walked up to the tower. Lily opened the portrait hole and Dany was back to smiling by the time they were in the common room. Dany quickly turned to Lily.
"Don't tell Marlene and Alice. Please. I…just don't, alright? I don't want this to go further than it already has." She said and Lily nodded, despite thinking that she should probably tell their friends.
"Okay. Now come on, let's go on upstairs." She said and Dany appeared to not hear her. She followed her gaze. Sirius. Damn. As bad as she felt for him, being drugged and all, she wasn't overly thrilled with the fact that she had just taken her best friend to the hospital wing. She needed someone to blame that was older than ten. He was staring at her like he felt bloody terrible. He probably did, from what James had said about him. Lily remembered something that Dany had said herself, years ago. "He doesn't hurt girls, Lils. I just don't think he has it in him." She had said, so sure of that. Lily had always thought she was right and she still thought that she was right. And now that Sirius was aware of what he had done, he looked terrible. He had a look on his face that said he was quite certain that he was now going to hell for placing his hands on her. "Do you want to go talk to him?" Lily asked quietly. Dany clearly hesitated.
"No, I think you're right. I think I need an early night." She said and Lily nodded before following her upstairs. Lily glanced back and saw Sirius say something to James. She followed Dany upstairs and the girls changed into sleep shorts and big t-shirts. Lily recognized Dany's as one of her dad's old Quidditch shirts.
"So, tell me about your day. Did Brady actually take you to Puddifoot's?" She asked and Dany smiled a little but shook her head.
"No, he didn't. It was such a relief that it never even came up in conversation." She said with a slight smile.
"Well, where did he take you?" Lily asked, leaning on an elbow, waiting to hear about her girlfriend's date.
"Well, he planned that we go to the Three Broomsticks and then the bookstore. Because I need more reading material that isn't endorsed by my father as 'quality lessons in leadership'." She said and Lily caught a word that shouldn't have been there.
"He just planned that?"
"Yeah, well he ran into his friends at the Three Broomsticks and he asked if he could go say hi just to get them off of our backs so I said that I didn't care. I mean whatever, right?" Lily nodded. "Except he stayed with them all day, which meant so did I. We never did anything else today. And then on my way back to the castle with my drunk boyfriend and his friends, I ran into Remus who told me that someone had slipped Sirius a love potion. We had just enough time to get into a fight though. That was my day. Please tell me that yours was better." She said, looking optimistic for her friend.
"Truthfully, I just hung out with Marles. Alice and Frank broke off about half an hour in. There's a relationship on the horizon, I'm telling you." Lily said and Dany seemed interested by this.
"Oh, so they're starting to go on little date things? That's a positive sign. They'd be so good together. I hope they get it together here soon. Not to mention Marlene and Remus. Ugh, all of my friends would be adorable together." She said and smiled softly. "That means you and James, Lils." She pointed out. "Unless you want Sirius, which in that case, I'm surprised but whatever." She said with a wink and Lily snorted.
"Please, as if. I'm less likely to get with him than I am with James." She said with a wave of a hand and then clamped her mouth shut. Crap. Dany's eyes lit up.
"Oh, so there's a chance that you'd get with James? Hm, interesting…so tell me, Lillian. How long have you liked one James Potter?" She asked and Lily scowled.
"I don't like him. I…just think that Sirius is even less my type than James is; which apparently is possible. That's news to both of us." She said and Dany laughed.
"Well, I'll take your word for it. So, let's take a bet. Who's going to date first? Marlene and Remus or Alice and Frank?" She asked, a devious look in her eye. Lily knew better than to bet against that look, but humored her.
"Hm, Alice and Frank first." She said and Dany nodded.
"I'll take that bet…just a galleon?" She asked and Lily nodded. Dany was conservative with the stakes, which meant she had absolutely no idea. It could go either way, judging by the way she had hesitated and let Lily set the bet. The two girls shook on it and Lily pulled out a bag of chocolate. Dany laughed. "Bring me chocolate, Lillian!" She cried and they sat down on Lily's bed, eating chocolate and trying to bounce the crumpled up wrappers off each other's noses.
"I really grabbed her by the hair?" Sirius asked James for what had to be the ninth time.
"Yeah, you really grabbed her by the hair and you weren't letting go." James said and Sirius put his head in his hands. They were sitting in the common room and talking about what had exactly happened today. "Well, technically you let go but it was, uh, I think forceful would be a good word for it." He added on and Sirius realized just how horrible that was. He had looked around, once the potion had worn off, and had no idea how he had gotten there. There was some random girl who was probably like twelve behind him, Remus was standing not five feet from him, and James was cradling Dany's hands. He had seen the blood all over her palms.
"What the fuck? I can't remember a damn thing, man." He said and James clapped him on the back.
"It's okay, mate. Dan will forgive you. She knows that you weren't yourself. I mean you punched me in the nose and I forgave you." He said and Sirius didn't feel at all appeased.
"Can I see your memory?" He asked and James immediately answered.
"No. No way I'm letting you rewatch." He said and Sirius glared at him.
"I'm going to have to apologize, James. I should at least know what I'm saying sorry for." He said and James clearly deliberated.
"Fine. Lucky for you, there's such a thing as a portable pensieve and Dad Masters thought that it would be good for us to have."
"They come in portable sizes?"
"They do if you're Minister of Magic." James said with a shrug as they walked up to their room. James pulled the memory out of his head and appraised him. "Don't hold yourself too responsible. You were delusional and not yourself." He said and Sirius nodded, knowing full well that he was going to hold himself responsible.
James tried to grab his arms and Sirius automatically swung a fist at him, which he managed to duck. Sirius paid little attention to what he, Remus, and James were doing and were watching Dany and the girl (who was apparently named Rita).
"Rita. Lovely to see you." Dany said cheerily.
"What are you doing here?" She asked and Dany rolled her eyes.
"Well, I do believe that we're all here for the same reason. What did you give him?" She asked and Rita shook her head.
"I didn't give him anything. He's just—"
"If you say 'in love', I'll just laugh; I hope you realize that." She said. Sirius was rather insulted by that. Ouch. But then again, he hadn't exactly been a shining example of being a loving and/or caring boyfriend. He brushed it off.
"He has to love someone." She said.
"Oh, fuck!" James yelled and clutched at his nose. Sirius supposed that this was when Dany lost her patience and started to get aggressive with Rita, which is where things had gone downhill.
"Alright Rita, here's the deal. Tell me what you gave him or so help me God, I'll make your life a living hell." Dany grabbed her by the shirt. "Believe me, you don't really want to go down that road." She hissed and Rita nodded. Sirius believed her. That wasn't someone you wanted to fuck with.
"Alright, I gave him—oh my God!" Sirius watched himself literally grab Dany's long hair and start dragging her backwards by it. He didn't miss the look of fear and pain cross her face.
"Sirius Orion Black let go of my fucking hair!" She screamed as she tried to grab at his hands in an attempt to pry his hands off of her.
"Back off of Rita!" He yelled back. He seriously couldn't believe that he had yelled that of all things at her.
"Do you hear yourself? You're really going to hit your best friends and drag me around by my hair over a Second Year? Ow! Sirius, stop; I'm not joking, that really hurts." Sirius clearly saw that there were tears starting to form. "Stop, stop, stop. Please stop, that hurts so much. Please, just stop." She said. He didn't stop. He didn't even look like he considered stopping. Holy shit.
"Rita, make him stop! He's going to hurt her!" James yelled.
"What? I don't know how!" She yelled back.
"Tell him to stop!" Remus shouted. Sirius watched himself abruptly drop Dany rather harshly and she caught herself on her hands and he saw the red smears that her hands left on the ground and he saw her wince and immediately take the weight off of her hands.
"Oh my God. Stop!" Rita yelled and Sirius immediately backed off. "Here, I have the antidote here. Just in case." She said.
"Nice of you to mention that earlier." Dany said, cradling her hands.
Sirius and James left the memory and James stuck it back in his head.
"What the fuck…I didn't stop. She was begging me to stop and I didn't. What the hell did she give me?" He said, more to himself. James clapped him on the back.
"No clue. Whatever it was, it was enough to override your actual feelings. Unless you no longer like Dany." He said as they walked back down to the common room. Sirius thought about it. He definitely still liked her. He definitely still liked her a lot.
"No, I do; I still like her…I feel violated now." He said and James nodded in agreement. Sirius glanced up as the portrait hole opened. Lily walked in, and so did Dany. They were halfway to their stairs when Dany looked up. Her hands were healed and she seemed to have bounced back rather quick. She looked at him, even making eye contact, as if she was thinking about something. Lily touched her shoulder and clearly asked her something. Dany shook her head and Lily nodded a little before they walked up the stairs. Fuck. Lily looked back at him one more time before she followed her friend up the stairs for real this time. Lily no longer looked angry.
"Give it time, man. They're probably going to go talk about Dan's super romantic Valentine's Day date or something." James said and Sirius nodded. This was a fucking disaster.
The next morning, the guys all woke up like any normal Sunday and Sirius, Remus, and James had decided to not tell the other two what had happened yesterday. They walked down to the Great Hall and the girls were already there, in the same places they always were. They approached and the girls looked up. Marlene and Alice were clearly oblivious, as they cheerily said hello and moved on quickly. Lily said hello in a much more subdued way and eyed Sirius cautiously. He didn't blame her. Dany smiled at him a little as she toyed with her pancakes. James kicked him under the table and looked at his Godsister pointedly, who was back to playing with her food. Sirius knew what that meant. Apologize, you idiot. He nodded at him and James went back to talking to Marlene.
"Hey, Dan?" He said. She looked up from her food again.
"Yeah?" She asked, perfectly polite.
"Can we talk outside for a minute?" He asked and she nodded before getting up and walking out of the Great Hall. He followed her after a second. He realized that he had no bloody idea what he was going to say. She was waiting in the Entrance Hall, sitting on the stairs up to the First Floor.
"What do you need, Sirius?" She asked and he was surprised. That was a strange question. Not 'what do you want'. 'What do you need' seemed…strange.
"I convinced James to show me what happened yesterday." He said and she raised an eyebrow.
"And? You clearly aren't lacking in upper body strength, if that's what you were wondering. That punch you gave James was rough." She said dryly. He sat down about two feet away from her on the stairs.
"Yeah…he let me fix his face and he forgave me pretty quickly after that. How are your hands?" He asked and she looked down at them.
"They're fine. Madam Pomfrey fixed them in a heartbeat." She said with a shrug. "I told her that I tripped because I had drank too much butterbeer, in case you were wondering. You don't have to worry about McGonagall coming after you for assault or anything." She added on and Sirius hadn't even considered that he could be in some serious trouble for what had happened.
"Thanks…look, I just really wanted to say that I'm sorry for what happened. You didn't deserve what I did."
"Sirius, you weren't—"
"Just let me finish, okay?" She nodded, falling silent. "I'm really sorry that I dragged you by your hair and I'm even more sorry that I didn't let go of you when you asked me to. I'm sorry for the whole thing, I really am. James didn't want to show me because he thought I'd hold myself responsible and I do. And I think I should; even if I wasn't in my right mind, you'll always have the memory of that one time I hurt you over a Second Year." He said quietly. She nodded.
"Thank you for apologizing. And I don't blame you, I really don't. But you're right; I'll always have that memory of being terrified because one of my best friends was dragging me around like a ragdoll. Even so, you shouldn't hold yourself responsible. The only person that's responsible is the psycho twelve year old that drugged you." She said.
"I can't believe that she actually drugged me." He said disbelievingly and she giggled a little.
"It's kind of funny." She said, obviously attempting not to laugh. She was failing.
"It's not funny." He said and she continued to giggle.
"It's pretty funny." She said and started to really laugh.
"Okay, it's pretty funny. I was actually declaring my undying love for a Second Year…that's bloody terrible." He groaned and she continued to laugh more and more.
"I'm not even really mad it's so funny. Sirius Black goes through pretty girls like there's a never-ending supply and the first one he actually fights for is a dorky Second Year that slipped something into his food." She laughed and he shrugged. Visible tears were starting to form in her eyes she was laughing so hard.
"I don't think that this is the normal time to use the term 'jailbait', but if the shoe fits…" He said and she continued at laugh to such an extent that she snorted. She abruptly stopped and looked at him, as if she was hoping he hadn't heard that. He started laughing at her and she started laughing too, mainly out of embarrassment, he guessed. Her face started to turn red.
"Don't ever tell anyone that you heard that! That's so embarrassing. I can't believe that I just snorted. I sound like a pig." She laughed and covered her face with a hand.
"I'll take it with me to the grave." He said and she laughed a little. He abruptly snorted and she started laughing again.
"Shut up! Ugh, I'm never going to hear the end of that." She said and shook her head faintly.
"No, you're really not. You're a vision of etiquette and dignity, Danilynn." He said and she rolled her eyes.
"Oh yeah, that's me. Just ask the newspaper." She said dryly.
"Oh, I'm sure they have nothing but good things to say about you and your manners." He teased and she rolled her eyes.
"More like 'Danilynn Masters spotted in Hogsmeade with group of mystery men'. It's like I was caught in a harem." She said with a wave of her hand. "They were Brady's friends. It wasn't what I'd call super exciting. They were all just blabbering on about Quidditch. It was so boring. Definitely not the ideal date." She added on and Sirius was interested in this.
"You go to the games." He said and she shrugged.
"Yeah because Gryffindor's my team and I have friends that play. I don't really care about what scandal happened ten years ago on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. No offense to them, but honestly I thought I was going to claw my ears off if I had to listen to that for any longer." She said with a shrug. "I suppose I should thank you for getting drugged. It gave me an excuse to leave my drunk boyfriend with his drunk friends." She said.
"He got drunk?" Not super impressive for a date, even he had to admit.
"Yeah, they were all pretty messed up by the time we started to head back to the castle. Don't get me wrong, I like Brady but he's kind of an asshole when he's drunk…he says some not-so-nice things." She said and tugged on the sleeves of the giant shirt she was wearing with over her jeans. Sirius realized that it was a Quidditch shirt.
"Well that's charming…and rather belittling. Then again, I'm an asshole when I'm drunk too, so I'm in no place to talk." He said and she nodded.
"Yeah…don't tell anyone that I said that; about Brady I mean. That's not a fight that I want to have." She said and he nodded. He wondered who from Gryffindor had given her their jersey.
"No problem. That I actually will take to the grave…unlike the fact that you snort when you laugh." He said and she rolled her eyes. "Whose shirt is that?" He asked and she looked down.
"Oh, it's my dad's from when he was on the team. He gave it to me when I was little. It went down to my ankles and the sleeves dragged on the ground when it became mine. I was probably six or seven." She said and turned around, moving her hair. Sure enough, above the number 3 on the back was the name Masters in faded letters. She turned back around a second later. "I've grown into it some, but I'll never be able to wear it as anything except a sleep shirt and a shirt for days where I actually don't give a fuck." She said cheerily. He examined it and the fabric was broken in and everything was severely faded, to the point that it was hard to identify as a Quidditch shirt, unless you were intimately familiar with the design.
"It's clearly been loved." He commented and she nodded.
"It's had a lot of owners. As a matter of fact, the only person in my family that hasn't had ownership of this shirt is Rhaegar." She said with a shrug.
"What? When would that have been Rhea's?" He asked and she smiled a little.
"Just because you don't give your shirts to your girlfriends doesn't mean that everyone's the same way, Sirius." She said and he realized that she was right; it was actually a pretty common practice. Guys on the team used it as a way to literally write their names on their girlfriends. "Dad got a new one so he gave this one to my mom when they were still in school. When they got married, it entered the communal closet of 'Dad's clothes that Mom steals to sleep in' and then Dad gave it to me." She said. "It's really comfortable and I think Mom was sad when he gave it to me because she lost access to it."
"Wow, you all have all the money in the world and you're fighting over a single shirt. That's like twenty years old." He said and she nodded.
"When you have all the money in the world, the really important stuff is easier to see, you know?" She said with a small smile. People started to trickle out of the Great Hall.
"We should probably get out of everyone's way…we're in the middle of the stairs." He said, despite being sad that the very rare of experience of one-on-one time with Dany was coming to a close. She was almost impossible to get alone these days, with Brady and whatnot. She nodded and stood up with him. She saw Brady and waved. He looked like his very existence hurt him right now. Such are hangovers. His apparently atrocious hangover didn't stop him from waving back. She started to walk over to him and paused and walked back.
"Hey Sirius? I don't blame you. I really don't. And neither should you." She quickly hugged him, taking him by surprise. He hugged her back, making sure that everything looked super platonic. He didn't want her getting into some massive fight with Brady over the infidelity that didn't exist. "Don't ever tell anyone that I snort when I laugh." She added on seriously once she had let go of him. He snorted at her and she laughed before walking away with her boyfriend, yelling, "you suck!" at him from over her shoulder.