Chapter Six

Recap:

She was proofreading her essay, by the time Remus wrapped up with his Defense. It was around then that the stairs to the boy's dormitories began to host inanimate sounds, of muffled footsteps, loud over the near-silent common room.

Remus saw the portrait hole open, "Have fun you three, I hope it's worth it." He said with a shrug, far too tired to deal with them, still feeling a bit drained from how his body had been acting with the onset of the moon changing its phases.

"Damn it James! I told you we shouldn't have worn shoes!" Sirius snapped in a hush on their way out.

Atria moved to pull a small stone from her pocket on a whim, and chucked it at her brother's voice. Knowing she had good aim was half the battle. Hoping--silently--it hit Peter. Though, any of the three morons trying to shuffle out the common room would do. "Your feet would freeze to the floor, Sirius Black, had you done such a ridiculous thing." She shot, as, really, any sound, right now, echoed off all the walls tenfold. Whispering was really pointless in the empty, cavernous room.

Sirius ripped out from underneath the cloak, lunging for Attie, but Remus was faster, suspending Sirius in mid-leap with his wand.

"You really need to work on your style and execution, Sirius, you're really predictable."

"Moony, put me down!"

"Levicorpus," He said softly, chuckling at Sirius's squawks as he was pulled up by his ankle, his own spell finally being used against him.

Atria had to cough to suppress a laugh. "Not so much fun, is it?" She asked her brother with a bit of a too-sweet smile, having only managed to stand, when she'd seen the flash of black hair start charging toward her.

"REMUS!" He bellowed, flailing his arms, trying to somehow break the spell.

"It's hopeless mate, let's just get back to bed." James advised, while he unveiled his head from the invisibility cloak, making it look like his head was just randomly floating on air.

"Night, night, Padfoot," Remus said with a grin, pocketing his wand while Sirius landed with a rather cringe worthy thud on the floor.

Atria winced a bit, and moved to her brother, cautiously, moving to kneel by him, slowly. Just to make sure he was okay; morbid curiosity more than care, or so it would seem. "Haven't you learned, yet?"

Sirius uttered a low, dog-like growl, getting up off the floor, brushing himself off.

"Oh come now, you aren't going to get all pissy over that, are you?" Remus asked, frowning slightly.

"You could've just let me down." Sirius said flatly, adjusting his nightshirt before beginning to head upstairs to bed.

"Sirius, honestly, you do stuff like that all the time, I don't know what the big deal is!" James stated defensively.

'Let's just say I've learned." He said, a look in his eyes that was so raw, it was almost un-charismatic.

"I really hope he grows up over the summer... I really, really do." Atria said, softly, in afterthought, biting down on one of her nails. "That should cool him off for the Hol's though, at any rate."

Sirius disappeared up into the dorm room as well as James, leaving Remus and Attie alone again.

"Yeah, and so we pray," He said, a bit apprehensive, yet hopeful. A yawn escaped him then, as he slowly rose from his seat.

"I think I should go, I'm pretty beat..." He then looked over at Atria, catching her eyes. "I guess I'll meet up with you tomorrow morning, then?" He asked a bit nervously, referring to the trip to Hogsmeade the following morning.

Atria smiled, and nodded a bit, "If you're up for it, most definitely." She said, still standing from where her brother had been dropped; slipping her hands in her pockets, quietly. Her robes were slightly askew, but not messy. She found that her tight bun was beginning to come undone--it'd been a long day--a few curly strands of ebony had escaped their elastic prison.

"All right then, it's a date." He agreed, offering her a shy smile, pausing a moment before wrapping his arms around her in a hug, the edge of awkwardness seeming to ebb away.

She was stunned by the hug at first, but didn't hesitate in the slightest in returning it. He was warm, and she didn't want out of his arms. All the things her mother had drilled into her head, told her she should be afraid of this young man, that he was unworthy of contact and dangerous to boot. But she found herself kissing him, lightly on the cheek, instead, as he let her go, and wishing him a good night, before heading up the stairs to the girls' dormitories; all too aware how she must be blushing.

Remus was blushing as well as he watched her go before gathering his things and heading up to the dormitories...

But before he could, Sirius was coming down the stairs, having seen the whole incident.

"Don't you ever sleep?" Remus quipped, setting his bag down.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I saw what happened just now, Moony." He said averting the subject off of himself, getting straight and to the point.

Atria had begun back downstairs, to get her quill--which had fallen on the staircase. When she picked it up, she heard her brother's voice, and paused, leaning against the cold, smooth brick; listening, silently as possible. Half-way up the corkscrew stair, voices carried, but she couldn't bee seen.

"And your point is?" Remus shot back, folding his arms over his chest.

"Well...That's--she's my sister Remus!"

"So? I think we'd be good together, to be quite honest with you."

There was a long pause on Sirius's behalf.

"Whoa, wait a second," Remus began, things starting to come together in his mind.

"Are you trying to tell me I'm not good enough for your sister, Sirius?" He queried a hope in his eyes that he had assumed wrong.

"That's what I'm saying, I guess, yeah." He replied, not quite meeting his eyes.

Atria softly let the hand not holding the quill go to her mouth, before she dared react in any other way. She was eavesdropping, on a private conversation, that just so happened to be about her. It was the most uncomfortable thing she'd ever sat through, at this point--as if Sex Ed hadn't been bad enough. This just took the cake.

Remus looked at his best friend, a sadness torrent within his eyes.

"You know, I've been told a lot of things... I just never thought what would hurt the most would ever come from you." He said no more, grabbing his bag, and heading out of the portrait hole.

Atria heard the portrait hole snap shut, and moved down the stairs, cat like, silent, and peeked out. Finding her brother, she was absolutely furious with him, and went and slapped him--hard--without a word for a good ten seconds.

"Why?!" She demanded in a rather hushed tone, looking seconds from tears, her eyes shining.

Sirius whimpered when he was struck by his sister's blunt hand, reeling a bit before answering.

"Gods Atria, I don't know." He replied, rubbing his face. "It just, doesn't seem right to me."

"Doesn't seem right to you? And who are you to bloody judge, Sirius? Do you know how bloody long it has taken me to get him to notice me as more than just being your sister?" She demanded, a few tears rolling down her cheeks, shaking her head slowly.

"Why does everything have to be through you, Sirius?"

"Because I'm your brother, Attie, that's why. And I'm supposed to look after you. I don't want you to end up in a relationship with him and then if everything were to screw up---I don't even want to imagine it."

Atria suppressed the urge to grab her brother and shake him, "So everyone else can have a life, except me, and so it's okay to hurt me if it's convenient, and that's not to mention the damage you just did to one of your best friends. And yet, it's okay for you to whore around with that Slytherin, pulling all kinds of bloody strings tight as a noose, but oh no, let's not let Atria have a single date with someone she's had a crush on for five years." She snapped, bitterly, rather vicious, and upset, but very quiet.

It all kind of began to sink in with a terrible regrettable realization as he lowered his eyes, not quite looking at her.

"I think I'm gonna go find Remus." He said suddenly, heading for the portrait hole.

"You had better... And wear a cloak... or you'll catch cold..." Atria said, flatly, before moving to head upstairs to bed. Though, she knew she wouldn't be doing much sleeping tonight.

Sirius shrugged off the last remark, making his way through, slightly disturbing the Fat Lady who had been snoozing comfortably in her portrait.

Sirius headed down the steps, seeing a glimpse of Remus's cloak whip around a corner.

"Moony!" Sirius said rather hushed as not to attract any prefects that might be on patrol.

Remus had evidently heard him because his footfalls began gaining in sound as he approached Sirius, noticing the look in his fellow marauder's eyes, realizing he'd probably realized what he'd done.

"I'm sorry Remus," He apologized sincerely. "It was a stupid thing of me to say, and to be honest, I couldn't think of anyone better for Atria."

"You mean that?" Remus asked, still a bit wary about the whole situation after all that had just happened.

"With all my heart," He replied. "Now c'mon Moony, we've gotta get up early for these girls tomorrow."

Remus nodded, falling into step with his friend as they trekked back to their rooms to get some shut-eye.

She was asleep before she knew it, before she'd meant to be. Lily had been up and the two had discussed in whispered what went on. Lily had calmed her down, and the two had gone to bed. Atria falling assleep seconds after her head hit her pillow… assured. Hoping Sirius did the right thing for once. Hoping, and praying. Though, she couldn't hold her breath. She knew how he could be--he was very prideful. It sort of came with the territory. She just hoped things were going to be okay for tomorrow. Really wanting the date to be... well, a date...