Hey there everyone! Here is chapter 2! The first few chapters you won't see much of a difference but as the chapters progress then you may if you already have read what I had on the old account. Thank you all for reading and please review if you like! :)
"Confession is always weakness. The grave soul keeps its own secrets, and takes its own punishment in silence." ~ Dorothea Dix
Scarlett slowly twirled at a random blue hair strand. She sighed to herself as she began tuning her best friend, Lily Evans,out as she chatted away about how excited she was that Slughorn would be teaching potions this year. She focused fiercely on the jewelry that weighed heavily on her finger. The ring itself was pure black diamond, with smaller silver diamonds lining the ridge of the black gold band.
Black, Black, and Black, everything Black. A reminder she thought, to show her who owned her.
She grimaced in disgust as she thought back to how many compliments she had received for it. So many other girls had expressed their envy and longing for it, believing it was just a mere display of her family's wealth and status within the pureblood community.
She scoffed, what fools some people are, she thought.
She exhaled deeply while drumming her fingers on the table in annoyance. Her ice blue eyes shifted across the room towards the famous Marauders as they all laughed in unison, out of the four in the group, Black most particularly caught her eye. No one could deny how good looking he was, the way his shaggy midnight hair made his look complete, the way his hazel eyes glistened when he laughed, and his physique was simply on point.
Any girl would be considered insane if they denied how good looking Sirius Black was, almost every girl at Hogwarts swooned desperately before him, none thinking about how simply ridiculous they looked. Yet, these were the girls herself and Lily mocked so effortlessly, barley trying to hide the fact they found it utterly amusing how many girls kept getting turned down by him.
Despite all the laughter and hysterics the two girls shared, they both knew the cold truth to the matter, they were both betrothed to one another. She understood Sirius's act of being a man looking for nothing more than a hookup was nothing more than a big facade, an act of defiance of the inevitable in a sense. Whenever the two made eye contact,they knew they were each others future. The only sure thing in each of their lives was they would inevitably spend the rest of them together.
The only thing she could remember about the arrangements was her mother's dying death wish was to have her father promise that their daughter would be ensured a bright future. It seemed her horrid father had his own definition of what a bright future was,
"Scarrrrrrrlet? Scarrrrrlet?"
"What?" She murmured, her eyes fluttering in an attempt to snap herself out of daydreaming.
"Sirius is being a git and winking at you!" Lily whispered, warning Scarlett of the laughter that was to come. She was the only one other than her and Sirius that knew of the engagement. Lily was her best friend, the only one she confided in. When the questions started rolling of the oddity that neither of the two seemed interested in really dating the truth seemed to just pour out of her.
She remembered how red with fury Lily turned, the way her flaming auburn air seemed to flair and how her peach lips curled with recalled how Lily had pleaded, begging her with a whisper, "Isn't there something you can do?"
Scarlett had merely shook her head solemnly, trying to hold in her tears the best any eleven year old could, "It's already been decided…" she had murmured softly.
The obnoxious sounds of Sirius and James howling with laughter suddenly shook her from her deep thoughts again, she scowled at Sirius when James slapped his mate's arm as a sure sign of approval. She rolled her eyes, praying Professor Slughorn would arrive any minute to calm the class down.
"Hey Scarlett!" James shouted, still chuckling with laughter.
Scarlett's ice blue eyes narrowed, she was quite used to their childish antics. Life seemed to be nothing more than one big joke to Sirius, the only one who seemed to have a sense of responsibility in the group was Remus. Black seemed quite content to make her life miserable, always flashing her winks. Always harassing her with flirtatious comments when possible.
Before she knew it, James flicked his wand, creating pink heart shaped bubbles that zoomed her way, causing her eyes to widen in panic.
"What the fu-" Scarlett began to gasp,only to be met with the bubbles smashing into her face.
"Sirius loves Scarlett, Scarlett loves Sirius!" A childish voice sang as they popped in her face.
"Oh my-" Lily murmured, flicking her wand to clean the pink goo left on Scarlett's furious face.
Suddenly the entire class roared with laughter, Scarlett's cheeks slowly turned bright red. She simmered with anger, doing everything in her power to resist the urge to jinx the living daylights out of Sirius and James.
"Now everyone settle down!" A voice boomed as the door was burst open. It was Professor Slughorn, finally he decided to make an appearance.
"Glad you could make it professor!" James snorted, earning a snort even from Remus.
Slughorn chuckled, he always seemed to have a soft spot for the marauders, "Not to worry, not to worry. Had to resolve a matter with Dumbledore. Now, I will be assigning potions partners for you! There will be no arguing over this! And absolutely no changes either!"
Scarlett heard Lily groan, she hated the possibility of knowing she would have to work with someone other than Scarlett. Lily and Scarlett worked well together, usually teaming up on everything in every class; always receiving top marks.
Her and Lily waited anxiously as each pair was called, slowly one by one possible pairings were eliminated, causing dawn's heart to race faster each second.
"Lily Evans and James Potter!"
Scarlett nearly choked on the air as she breathed in, James and Lily? Oh this was going to be good, she thought, breathing out in an attempt to keep herself from bursting into hysterics.
"And finally, Scarlett and Sirius!"
She heard Lily snort, she swiftly turned towards her friend, flashed her a look so scary, she could even give Proffesor McGonagall a run for her money. Lily giggled nervously, shrugging apologetically as she made her way slowly to James. She groaned, what a way to spend the year, paired with the person who's mission in life was to make hers miserable.
"So, seeing that you're looking like you won't be making your way to my side of the room any time soon, I thought I'd join you on your side!" She heard Sirius chuckle as he pulled himself up a chair.
"Must you?" She sighed, resisting the urge to scream in agony at the absurdity this situation was.
"Am I really that bad?" He asked,the look he had on his face as he patiently awaited her to answer made it difficult for Scarlett to determine if he was joking as usual, or if he was proposing an actual question to her.
She took this moment to honestly analyze Sirius for the moment, she took in the way he stared at her, the way he seemed to have lost some sleep and even grown paler since the last time she had seen him. Stress, she concluded. She remembered how brutal Orion and Walburga were towards Sirius, believing him to be an utter shame and embarrassment to the Black family name.
"You look sleep deprived, Black…" she whispered as she listened to Slughorn ramble on about their first potions assignment for the week.
She heard him chuckle to himself, typical Sirius, always avoiding being pensive when it came to his own well being.
She shook her head, she could never understand how he always found humor in everything, always finding the light in the dark. She grimaced, the fact her life had been dictated by before she could fathom what marriage was always haunted her, looming over her like a dark, brooding cloud that could never be shooed away.
It amazed Scarlett how Sirius could live his life so carefree, liberated from that dark cloud that seemed to haunt her whole being. The way he laughed and joked around without any care, pretending the future mapped out before them didn't exist. She resented the fact he appeared to being living his life so carefree, while she lived completely wrapped in it.
"You're going to make this family mean something again...becoming a Black will be a blessing you'll be thanking me for the rest of your life..." Her father whispered, his hands slowly rising up her legs.
She gulped, at eight years old she had gotten used to her father toying with her like this, always touching and grooming her...wanting her to touch him back.
"Scarlett? Did you catch what the project was?" Sirius asked, his hand waving furiously in front of Scarlett's face to snap her out of her day dream, a thing she seemed to be dwelling a lot in lately.
He watched her once neutral daze change into a scowl, irritated at his annoying antics. He smirked to himself, she was so easy to irritate. He knew she resented him, she had made that all too obvious.
Sirius stared at the girl so analytically, only seeing her in classes and as the passed through the halls; maybe in the Gryffindor common room if he was lucky.
Her once pure white hair had since been charmed with blue streaks, exemplifying her bright blue eyes. Her once rosy cheeks were now hollow and pale, the aura of innocence that once surrounded her entire being was now gone, replaced with a feeling of dread. Scarlett appeared to have lost a bit of weight since he saw her during the summer, something that caused a rare streak of concern in Sirius.
"No, I didn't. I was hoping you would for once Black..." she muttered back, biting her lip in an attempt to keep herself from laughing at the utter look of pretend shock Sirius wore, pretending to be offended by her remarks.
"I listen! I am so offended right now!" he snorted, passing her the notes he had taken while Slughorn dragged on about the potion that would take a good month to brew.
Scarlett accepted the notes with much doubt in her heart, Sirius never appeared to be one to give the teacher all the attention, let alone to take notes.
Her eyes widened in surprise as she skimmed over all the notes he had taken, "I hate to admit this Black, but I'm rather impressed..." she murmured to herself, tossing the notes back to Sirius.
"Uh huh, I'm not just all looks, love." Sirius winked, "So, we'll meet at the library later? After dinner?"
Scarlett opened her mouth in protest, the last thing she wanted was the have to endear a night with Black. Before she could give her answer, she noticed Lily hurriedly making her way towards her, breaking away from James as soon as Slughorn dismissed class.
"Good grief, this is going to be a tough project with Potter…" she growled, "Are you ready for lunch, Scarlett?"
Scarlett grimaced, food? she thought. Food...memories flooded into her mind at the very word.
"I can expect you will stay nice and pretty for me? Yeah?" he father had murmured so eerily into her hair as she waited to be sent of to the Blacks for the rest of the summer before school.
She chose not answer, not sure what to say. She had grown so used to her father's use of her, she would simply close her eyes and steady her breathing, doing whatever was asked of her.
"That includes staying thin, don't stuff yourself silly!" he had then growled, yanking tightly of the hair, "You always do that when you go away, and then I have to keep all the damn food locked away from you when you come home!"
He then loosened his grip on her hair, resorting back to twirling it softly between his fingers.
"Just stay beautiful for me, okay princess?" he had whispered into her ear when he saw the Blacks approaching the house.
"I think I'll go the library and study, I'm really not the hungry yet." she murmured to herself, gathering up her books and school bag, scrambling to leave the classroom as fast as she could, leaving a concerned Lily and Sirius behind.