Chapter Seventeen

"Get up!" Crystal said as she yanked open the curtains over my window. "Well... that wasn't quite what I was picturing when I conjured this moment up in my mind," she said, grimacing at the lack of light outside the window.

I looked at the gray skies and the pouring rain and figured that the sky must have been feeling as blue as I was.

"Get UP!" yelled Crystal as she pulled the covers off of me with a stern look on her face. "You've spent more than enough time holed up in this room-"

She stopped abruptly and crinkled her nose in disgust. "Oh my god... have you BATHED?!"

I looked at her before hiding my face under the pillows. "Accio sheets!" I said and the covers flew back onto me.

"OH NO! Get out of bed... NOW!" She yanked the covers off once more, this time pulling me by the leg and causing me to fall flat on my face on the wooden floor. "And for the people that have to sleep next to you... SHOWER!"

"I don't feel like it." I said as I pulled myself off the floor and sat on the bed.

"Aren't you a little old to be asking for a speech on hygiene? Seriously, what is up with you?"

"I told him."

"What?" said Crystal as she picked up random items of clothing that were strewed all over the floor and throwing them on a pile by the foot of the bed careful not to touch them for too long. "You've been living like a boy... so disturbing."

"I told Sirius."

"Told him what?" she asked distracted by something under my bed.

"Who I am."

"You wha-" her sentence was cut off and replaced by the muffled sounds of her in pain due to the fact that the shock had made her bang her head against the bottom of the bed. "Oh, bloody fucking hell that hurt!"

"Are you okay?"

"No, I am not okay. I have a friend who has been living in a dumpster-like environment for two weeks, I mean, you have a rat under your bed-"

"A what-"

"I have a boyfriend who has barely said two things to me in like five days," she said ignoring me completely. "And Sirius Black is back to acting like the pompous prat he's always been and which we all thought he had left behind during the summer holidays. So, no, I am not okay because everything is going in a backwards direction even though forward is a much better direction to strive to move toward."

"And me telling you that I told Sirius Black the fact that he has been corresponding with I, Isabelle Rey, is not making all of the information that you just passed on to me make any sense?"

"Yes, of course." she thinking rapidly. "You have been depressed because you told Sirius and Sirius told Remus that he already knew who it was and he couldn't accept it so he started acting like an idiot again and Remus can't bear to talk to me because he knows you and I are friends and it might hurt you to know that Sirius is acting that way because it is... you."

"Wow... you just kicked me further down than I could have imagined."

"Sorry... I was thinking aloud."

"It doesn't matter... we all knew it was bound to happen," I said searching for clean clothes. "I mean, I'm not exactly his type."

"See that is the problem with the two of you and I'm sick of it."

"What do you mean?"

"Go shower... I have to go do something."

"Wait- what are you-" I started to say but Crystal had left. "going to do?" I finished to myself in the empty room. "Oh god." I sighed and headed for the showers.

"Sirius Horatio Black!"

I stopped dead in my tracks and looked at James.

"Why is the dreaded middle name being yelled out by a female in the middle of a hallway?" I asked him before turning around.

"Beats me," he shrugged looking at an angry looking Crystal. "Oh, hello- ouch!"

I looked at Crystal with shock as I tried not to give much thought to the pain prickling through my face.

"You just got slapped," said James trying not to grin.

"No kidding," I said, still in shock. "What was that for? I'm pretty sure I haven't hung out with you for more than an hour to deserve such treatment!"

"That was for being an insufferable prat... and this-" she said slapping me again. "Is for being so fucking stupid."

"What the hell did I do?"

"You had this wonderfully fun correspondence with this totally awesome girl that you have ended because of her reputation? Seriously, Black, what is up with you? She should be the one running away from your sorry ass reputation or am I supposed to believe that "I take a girl a week up to the astronomy tower, bang them and never contact them again" is better than "I like to excel in my academic life because someday I want to be an excellent witch."

"It has nothing to do with who she is turned out to be-" Crystal and James looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"I'm serious."

"We know you are," James said, corners of his mouth twitching. "Sorry... bad joke," he said after catching our glares.

"Anyway, don't tell me what it is about... tell her," said Crystal.

"I can't," I said. "It's complicated.

"No... it is not.. you just want it to be because for the first time in your life you have met someone that might actually be worth it and it wasn't just because she wanted a quick shag in the tower of love."

"Right," I said as Crystal turned her back on me and walked away.

"What just happened?" asked Remus as he caught up with us.

"Your bloody bird smacked me across the face after yelling out the dreaded middle name-" I suddenly turned on my heel and was face to face with Remus, our noses almost touching. "You told her my middle name?"

Remus started to laugh.

"What are you laughing about?"

Suddenly James joined in.

"What?!"

"I'm just in shock, really," said Remus after a while. "That she slaps you across the face and you are angrier about the fact that she knows your middle name."

"That's not-" They raised their eyebrows before I could finish my sentence. "Never-mind." And I left them laughing at the bottom of the steps.

Author's Note: Hello, there... long time... no update. I'm so sorry I hadn't updated... I was just having a really rough year... But it's all fine now... and I'm back... Thank you all for sticking around and I'll be sure to have a new chapter up in the next few weeks. LBR