Lily walked almost silently up to the Gryffindor table, where James was eating by himself in silence, reading a letter from his parents in one hand. She snuck up behind him and slipped her hands over his eyes, her hands blocked slightly by his glasses.
"Guess who?" she asked.
"Lily, you suck at this," James laughed. She pouted and sat beside him, crossing her arms.
"Where are your minions?" she asked.
"Probably still asleep."
"You do realize that they're going to be late for class, right?" questioned Lily.
"I could say the same for you," he replied.
"I happen to know that Delilah is getting a little extra help from Slughorn and that Loraina is returning a book to the library."
"Well, aren't you on top of things," Remus chimed in as he joined the conversation.
"And people," Sirius joined in, sitting beside Lily. "Like myself."
"Ew, as if!" she squeaked jokingly, pushing her new friend lightly.
"The post is here," James interruppted, an oddly jealous expression on his face. Remus's owl flew to him with a letter addressed to Delilah.
"Hey, Lily, when you see Delilah, give this to her," Remus said, handing her the letter. "I let her borrow Zeus the other day."
"Okay," Lily replied, grabbing the envelope. Sirius looked over at it and his eyes widened slightly. It was sealed with a Black Family Crest.
"Why is Delilah writing to members of my family?" Sirius growled.
"She isn't," Lily lied smoothly. Under the table, she nonverbally banished the seal and then held the letter up to him. "You're seeing things."
"I could have sworn the seal was my family crest..."
"Nope," she said. "You've just gone around the bend, my friend."
Loraina soon joined the group as well, holding a huge stack of books. The titles were all werewolf related and Remus gulped nervously, tugging at his collar.
"Hi guys," she greeted. She put her hair up in a bun on top of her head and eagerly opened the first book, a rather lengthy looking, dusty, leather bound one called Werewolves: Friend or Foe?.
"What's with the werewolf obsession?" Lily asked, grabbing a book off the stack, this one titled A Furry Little Friend.
"Oh, I just find them fascinating!" Loraina gushed, hardly looking up from her book to answer.
"Okay, first off, why is there a stack of books taller then me? And second, why are you holding a letter addressed to me?" Delilah questioned as she walked up to the table. Lily handed her the letter.
"Loraina developed an infatuation with werewolves," James filled her in.
"I should've known," Delilah grinned. "So silly of me."
She slyly opened the letter under the table and tried to control her facial expression as she read.
My Dearest Delilah,
I'm afraid that I cannot let you end this, at least not on my end. You know I will get you back, Delilah, so why bother to fight it? We both know that I terrify you. Give up and join me and my side, Delilah. You will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams. And once again, don't try to resist me. You'll be seeing more of me sooner then you might think.
Yours,
Orion Black
P.S. It may be in your best interest to cut off contact from my dear cousin Sirius. That is, unless you'd like for something to happen to him.
Delilah took in a breath, crumbling the letter and shoving it in her bag. Sirius reached over the table and poked her on the forehead.
"You okay there, Lilah?"
"I'm fine, thanks," Delilah replied softly. Her voice was still a little bit shell shocked out of commission as she processed what the bane of her existence had written to her. He wouldn't actually do anything to Sirius, would he? Yet again, judging by what he had done to her...she shuddered at the thought. She looked up to find Lily giving her a calculating stare. Delilah looked back down at the table, desperately avoiding the eyes of both of her best friends.
"We've got to get to class," Loraina said brightly, hauling her giant stack of books off the table. "And I've got to bribe McGonagall into letting me keep these in her room until I have time to bring them to the dorm."
Remus automatically leapt up to join her, while Lily and Delilah lagged behind. James and Sirius grudgingly left the food, shooting longing looks at the bacon. Sitting in Transfiguration, Remus turned on Delilah.
"Who did you send that letter to, and why did you look so scared when you read the reply?" he mumbled to her as inconspicuously as he could.
"None of your business, Remus," she hissed back through her teeth.
"But it is," Remus replied. "You're my friend, and that makes it my business."
"It's nothing, okay? It's really not."
"I don't believe you," he said back, giving her a doubtful look.
"Fine. You really want to know?"
"Yeah, I do."
"I broke up with this guy I was dating who is nothing but bad news. He's twenty years old. That in itself is creepy, not to mention illegal."
"Wow," Remus whistled. "What's his name?"
Figuring that first names would be safe enough, Delilah replied, "Orion."
"Orion Black?!" Remus half-shouted. Everyone turned to stare at them, particularly Sirius, who narrowed his eyes at them suspiciously.
"What a funny name!" Delilah exclaimed in a false voice, punching Remus on the shoulder, rather harder then neccesary Remus pointed out several times after the incident, and laughing. "You're a crack up!"
Remus smiled shiftily at the staring class and continued writing his notes. Everyone went back to task soon enough, except Sirius, who kept shooting annoyed looks in their direction. Lily and Loraina periodically huffed and would rearrange their papers, a sure sign that they were annoyed. When class got out, Delilah closed her eyes and braced herself for the absolute torturous interrogation that would, inevitably, come.
"I thought you said you ended it!" Lily hissed at her.
"You promised us that you would!" Loraina exclaimed angrily.
"What is with you and my bloody cousin?!"
"I did end it. He's just being a creepy little jackass about it," Delilah said back, continuing her fast pace to Charms.
"You still didn't answer me!" Sirius said.
"It's nothing, Sirius," Delilah said vaguely.
"I don't buy it."
"Trust me, it's nothing."
"It better not be," Sirius grunted.
"It isn't."
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP
"Pst! Lily!" James whispered, poking Lily in the back of the head. They were in Study Hall, and Lily was sitting in front of him.
"What?" she snapped back.
"What's with you and Sirius? Do you like him or something?"
She wheeled all the way around, a look of utter and complete confusion on her face.
"What?"
"You guys seem like you like each other," James replied.
"Um, no," Lily said, looking at him oddly. "Where'd you get that?"
"You're always so flirty and touchy feely with him," James whispered back at her.
"I'm no more touchy feely with him then I am with anyone else!" Lily whisper-yelled.
"Okay, suit yourself."
"You are so frustrating!"
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP
"I would like to announce a new student teacher to you all," Dumbledore announced at dinner the next night.
The doors opened, and as if on cue, a remarkably handsome man of about twenty swept into the Hall. Delilah recognized that shiny black hair and those mysterious blue eyes immediately. He turned to her and gave her a smirk that made her weak in the knees, no matter how much she hated him.
"And he loves to make a dramatic entrance," Dumbledore chuckled. "Students of Hogwarts, meet your Potions student teacher, Orion Black."
Delilah just about fainted.
Author's Note: Yes, I brought Orion back. He's here for a few reasons, which only I shall know . Who knows, I might boot him soon enough anyway. But for now, I'm keeping him around.
