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Chapter Seven:

Had A Bad Day, Taking One Down (Again!)

Hi Ricky, I wrote, so, you`ll never guess who I saw today… and also, what I may or may not have stumbled upon…

Melody, who had evidently gotten over her stomach pains and sleepiness, asked, "Hey, who did you see? You didn't mention you saw anyone!"

"Stop looking over my shoulder and go to bed."

"I can`t. Since you and Lily still insist on having the light on, I figured if you can`t beat `em, join `em."

Alice, who had come in right after Melody had climbed on my bed and started reading over my shoulder, came over and dragged Melody off my bed and over to where Mary and Lily were studying (Mary, evidently, had given up on sleep too).

"Thanks Al."

"Any time. Seriously, glad to do it." I had winced when she said 'Seriously'.

You have to keep it a secret I told you how I met him though, I kind of sort of accidently went somewhere I wasn't supposed to, and promised not to tell anyone about the whole thing. But I trust you, and you`re related to him anyway, so it`s not that big a deal. Okay, you`ve probably guessed it by now, since you`re a clever little bugger, but I`ll tell you anyway; it was Fabian. Long story short, I may or may not have located a certain common room, and I`m supposed to meet up with him to study on Monday. Yeah, I know. I`m still a bit confused about how that happened.

Anyway, I hope you're feeling better. I was able to plan in the match yesterday, and we ended up pulverizing Slytherin 250-80, so I`d say things are going pretty well on the recovery end of things. Oh, I hope this owl doesn`t wake you up… Well, I suppose you mum can`t get too mad, it`s not a biting book after all.
Mattie

Borrowing Skipper, Mary`s owl, I just hoped Ricky`s mum didn`t go through his mail…and also, that Skipper would go to the right house.

After almost a week with no word from Ricky, I was beginning to worry someone had intercepted the owl. All through breakfast, I was constantly vigilant for that speck of brown descending from the sky.

James and Lilly were bickering about something small yet somehow crucial (as per usual), while Mel and I drew up a box pool on how long it would last (I had four sickles on ten minutes). Pete, Frank, Remus, and Mary had all picked squares, but had chosen to play table football with a bit of a roll instead of attentively watch the clock with us. The only person missing from this equation (besides Alice, but she was speed-writing an essay by the Fountain) was sitting farther down the table, with a certain heartbroken (well, not any more) beater on his lap.

"I`m surprised that`s still going on. Usually he`s on to the next girl before a polyjuice potion could wear off." Melody noted, catching my gaze.

Shrugging helplessly, I conceded, "Well, that`s the problem, really. I was just another one in his lineup, maybe not even, and it`s over. There's nothing to be done about it."

What confused me was the gloating looks I kept catching flashed my way, as if he was purposely designing this situational torment. But of course, that was ridiculous. Why would he do that on purpose, or at all for that matter?

After the miserable breakfast, things didn`t get much lighter.

Alice barley made it into Charms on time, and was immensely flustered upon finally reaching her seat. Each of us had smuggled in some bits of breakfast for her, and ranging from bits of covertly-wrapped bacon to a small stack of waffles.

Flitwick, naturally, was oblivious. "Everyone pass up your essays now, that`s it."

Mary, in a suave attempt to get pumpkin juice to Alice all the way from the back row, levitated the glass up the aisle as Flitwick ducked into his office. Slowly but surely, the glass floated on up to the front. Unfortunately, just as it was about to pass me, Flitwick chose that moment to reappear, shocking Mary into a frantic scurry, in which she flicked her wand. Cold liquefied pumpkin guts splattered all over me, the remaining juices dribbling down on the essay along with the broken glass.

"Miss Bell, what is that on your face?"

Hoping desperately my face did not waver in color, I replied, keeping an even tone, "Pumpkin juice, Sir."

The charms professor was not amused.

"Do you have an affinity for disrespecting the rules that make this school great, Ms. Bell? Does disrupting the peace of others bring you a particular joy?

Oh Merlin, this was about more than just juice. He totally knew about me finding the Ravenclaw common room, I could sense it in the insecure bite of his voice.

"No, Sir. I was simply trying to he…"

"I didn`t ask for your assessment of the situation, I can see quite well what you were 'simply trying' to do. Fifty points from Gryffindor for bring in food, disrupting class, making a mess, and talking back to a teacher."

"It`s not her fault, professor." Mary said. "It was me."

She didn`t understand the scapegoat situation she was about to nobly step into. "Mare, don`t…"

"How very gallantly Gryffindor of you, Ms. McDonald, but I`m afraid you should probably sit back down unless you wish to join your friend in detention.

"Sir, that`s not fair! Alice missed breakfast, they were only trying to make sure she didn`t starve!" Mel piped in, unafraid of detention, as she`d served her fair share of them in our many years of messing around Hogwarts.

Lily was listing off all the health problems associated with skipping meals, and Alice tried to get her voice heard over the malnutrition mutterings. "I`m sorry, Professor Flitwick, I deserve a detention more than her, she`s just been ill and I am the reason everyone`s disrupting class anyway…"

"Come on, Filius. Cut her some slack." A particularly smug James called lazily from the last row.

"Yeah!"

The whole class began to jump in, and I was grinning like a madwoman. My friends were the best. The perks of being a Gryffindor, I suppose.

"ENOUGH! You will all settle down or I will take 100 points from Gryffindor. There is a certain standard for behavior in this classroom, and I will not stand for what little rules stand to be stepped all over by a cocky sixth year." Oh yeah, this was soo about the common room thing. I felt the smile drip off my face, and one by one, my friends and classmates fell silent. "Does anyone wish to join Ms. Bell in detention, or telling Professor Dumbledore exactly why they were thrown out of class?

Melody stood up defiantly, a twinkle of evil hidden in her eyes. Oh no. Defying teachers, bold statements, and ensuring justice were three of her favorite pastimes, and this would be a chance for a grand slam. No, no…

To the tune of "Camptown Races", she began to sing. "I`m not clever, I`m not bright, doo da, doo da, I don`t claim to have a brain, oh a no da day. But I do know this. But I do know this. Be nice to your stu-u-dents, or you`re just a prick."

Flitwick, all three feet of him red and steaming, pointed to the door, the universal sign for get out. Expecting this, Mel simply waltzed out, as if she had better things to do anyway, and this class was just holding her back. When Flitwick turned to me, apparently holding me responsible for starting all this, I bolted after her before he could dish out a worse punishment.

"I don`t care what you just said back there." I announced, catching up to a cheerful Mel. "You`re a bloody genius and you know it."

She shrugged, but my best-friend radar detected a smile under that modest façade.

My bad luck didn't end there, of course. That would have been too easy.

I got a P on the History of Magic test we were supposed to get back the day we played the prank on Binns, as Fabian had predicted. In Potions, Slughorn blamed me for purposely making my potion to turn him green when he tried it (even when the Ravenclaw across the room clearly put a mood jinx on him while he was drinking it. Vengeful nerds.). And through it all, there was Sirius and Vanessa, acting gaga for each other (Sirius was clearly over doing it though, with more finesse than usual).

But the last straw was at lunch.

We had almost made it through peacefully, though. I mean, besides the usual commotion when Alice started chucking ice cubes at James, but that was to be expected. It was only when he shot me the look while Vanessa was feeding him a roll (piece by small irritating piece), that I finally snapped.

Broke.

Shattered.

Like a thesaurus through a wood chipper.

In a hazel, I abandoned my seat, not in control of my legs as I headed for the nearest door. Each step felt like a domino falling, and soon the wind picked up as I pushed through the exit and ran out of the school. The sky had been sunny earlier, but now, everything was so cold. Spring had recently breathed a new life into the grounds, but I didn`t care about all the new little blades of grass that were as crushed as me as I fled. Finally, I collapsed at the edge of the lake, under the archaic tree my roommates and I usually reclined around in the early summer.

"Mattie? Mattie? Are you okay?" A hand touched my shoulder, and one by one, a massive crowd began to surround me. Looking up, and I saw the worried faces of Lily, Mary, Alice, Melody, James, Emmeline, Remus, Marlene, and Pete.

"Tell him to stop it. Whatever game he`s playing." I looked to Lily. "You know what I mean. Tell the guys, and take them with you to tell him please I`m not going to do this." Lily and the boys nodded to me and set off.

"Thank you." I managed to croak after them.

"Matts, aren`t you going to get him back? Don't you have a plan?" Mary, Alice, and Melody looked gravely concerned. I couldn`t blame them. In the past six years, I`d always chosen to get even over being mad or sad, even going as far as to turn one of my ex-boyfriend`s brooms into licorice while he was in mid-air. There was always a plan, always a purpose.

Except now.

"No. But you can go transfigure him into a slimy reptile for me, Mare, and Alice, I wouldn`t mind if you and Frank just happened to see to it that he gets himself trapped in a broom closet for the next few hours."

"Gladly."

"On it." Alice winked.

It wasn't my best work by a long shot, but it was good enough to get the pair of them to walk back to the school, reassured that if I was okay to plot, then I was alright.

"Well Mats, I know you want to be left alone now, and you`ll probably give the rest of us a job in a second, but just to let you know, we`ve got your back. I know, if something like this were to ever happen to one of us, you would totally figure out a way to make it better. And you`ll think of something for this, too. After all, if you had a hand in getting Lily and James together, and nothing is more impossible than that. Besides, if you don`t want to deal with him, we will."

I smiled weakly. "Thanks, you`re the best. Em, Marlene, can you please go tell Fabian The Ravenclaw that I can`t study today? Thanks."

The pair stood, each gave me their own version of a you-know-where-to-find-me-if-you-need-me look, and started off back to the school.

Melody sighed, pulling me into a hug.

"I really hate people sometimes, especially boys. Bloody gits, all of them."

Nodding sadly, I fell back against the tree. "I just wish it was as easier."

"Nothing good comes easy, so at least you know that you`re on the right track. I guess we were both wrong, and Blacks never change, but at least there were some good moments while it lasted, and you`ll be a better person coming out of this."

It wasn`t Melody`s fault Sirius was and always would be a royal tease, and a serial dater to boot. After all, as I had said myself, he`d never messed with me before. About time, really.

"I`ll make excuses for you if you want to miss class for the rest of the day."

When I opened my eyes, she was gone.

I was alone on the inside as I was on the outside.

My friends could try, but I knew the only person that could truly fix this was me. Or Sirius, but that was a laughable matter at present time, and I probably wouldn't even accept his help anyway.

"Alright Padfoot, we need to talk." James declared. Enough was enough.

Sirius looked indolently up from a muggle motorcycle magazine as his mates marched into their dorm. "What`s up?"

"The jealousy thing has gone too far. Way too far."

Instead of showing any touch of concern, Sirius was smug. "Is it working?"

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Working? She ran out of the Great Hall during lunch and you`re still wondering if it`s working? Mate, Prongs is right. She`s not so much jealous as pissed, and for good reason. This whole thing is largely childish."

"Ah, what you forget is, 'Childish' is my middle name."

"Sirius Orion Black, you enormous tease, if you don`t stop behaving like the world`s worst twat, I`m going to hex you for both Mattie and Vanessa`s sake."

Sirius was stunned, looking around for the speaker, while James smiled fondly. Remus hadn`t open his mouth, and Peter held his breath, eyes wide.

It was about time someone put Sirius in his place, and James was thrilled it had been Lily. She was so cute when she was mad (and, for that matter, when she wasn`t mad).

"When I said 'Here, hide under the cloak,' I thought you would get that 'hide' meant 'sneak behind us and don't talk'." Remus, not that bothered by his failed attempt at sneaking in a covert operative, explained as Lily pulled off James` cloak.

"Sorry, forgot I was invisible."

"Quite alright, Lilykins." Peter assured her. "So anyway, Padfoot, you need to end this. Now."

"Let Vanessa down nicely." Lily added.

"So I shouldn`t tell her the only reason I was hanging around with her in the first place was to make a werewolf jealous?"

"What? Remus?" Lily was suddenly really confused. "I thought the whole madly in love thing was an act."

"No, Mattie."

"Mattie is not a werewolf!"

The Marauders froze, and all pivoted to Lily, jaws on the floor.

"What? But…Moony bit her!" Peter exclaimed.

Remus filched. "Shout it out to the whole tower, why don`t you?"

Lily ran her hand through her hair absentmindedly, in true James style, making him silently proud his influence was rubbing off. "No, no, no. When a werewolf bites someone, the saliva and the blood mix to transform the victim into a werewolf."

"So? I know that. What do you mean she`s not a werewolf?" Remus interrupted.

"Don`t cut me off. Dumbledore said that since your saliva didn`t get never bit through her sleeve and your spit didn`t manage to get through into her blood, Mattie is still human. Plus, they ran a couple tests while she was in St. Mungo's."

The four boys just stood there, dumbfounded. Eventually, Sirius managed to get out, "Why didn't you mention this earlier?!"

"I figured she already told you. So, anyway, stop being such a jerk to her. It`s obviously not working." And with that, James watched his beautiful girlfriend flounce off, firmly shutting the door behind herself.

"Hey."

My eyes jolted open.

Fabian and a brown haired Ravenclaw girl stared down at me, apparently having snuck down to the lake as I was here drowning in doubt and self-pity. Ravenclaw Girl dropped besides me, and I struggled to remember where I`d seen her before, besides the night of the last Quiddich match when she had been among the mob of blue and silver. The kind eyes locked behind glasses was thing that gave it away in the end; she was one of the Abbott twins. Her fraternal twin, Jacob, was in Hufflepuff.

"Your loud friend told me you`d be here." So Alice had told him about the whole ordeal. Great.

"I can`t study with you today. Can we reschedule?"

"Sure. Tomorrow then?" He sat on my other side, joining me and the Abbott twin under the tree. "By the way, this is Violet. Violet, meet Matilda, that Gryffindor who burst into our common room the other night."

"Mattie." I corrected.

Violet`s brown eyes had widened in interest, looking especially magnified by the glasses. "How did you get in? Sometimes even we can`t get those riddles! Did somebody help you?" She glanced at Fabian.

He held his hands up in a don`t-look-at-me gesture. I laughed. "No. I actually just got lost. The riddle was relatively easy anyway. I really didn't mean to break in to your common room. It`s incredibly cool, though."

"So what's this deal with Sirius Black? I heard he was being a real jerk to you."

This Violet chick didn`t waste time with pointless small talk, did she? Although Ravenclaws were sometimes a little pretentious, I found their directness to be their best quality…most of the time.

"Yeah. I was actually running away from him when I found your common room. Actually, I plan on attempting on ignoring him indefinitely, or at least until he stops being such an insolent little vermin."

It was odd telling a group of stranger this, but they seemed to understand, or at least were exceptionally good at faking it. Violet, who was looking at me very seriously (Wait, no, not him… I mean that. Um, what I meant to say was… earnestly. Yeah. Earnestly is much better than…) suggested, "You should write him a letter. Just… to say bye and tell him you don't ever want to speak to him, bother him, or have him speak or bother you again. Closure often helps people feel better, I`ve found."

"That`s a good idea. Thanks."

Fabian smiled. "Here`s another good idea. Let`s sneak down to Hogsmead. We`ve got a free period and nobody will notice we`re gone. We could just say that we were here. Nobody is here to know any different." Wow. I didn't think Fabian had it in him. Ravenclaws are not typically rule breakers. Although in the past few years, I`d found that house stereotypes were often untrue, the exceptions still never ceased to surprise me.

It was just what I needed, though. "Sure. I`m all for it."

"Let`s do it, then."

Violet linked her arm through mine and Fabian pulled me by my other arm until I was standing. As we made ourselves invisible, I caught the reflection of a smile, just before my image fully disappeared, in the Black Lake.