Leona... Leona... Leona...
"Sirius!"
Sirius blinked, and looked down at his parchment. Leona's name had been written no less than fifty times on his runes assignment. An elaborated heart was drawn beside one of the names. His eyes glazed over as he thought of her sweet face.
Her eyes... her mouth... her smile...
"Sirius, listen up!" a second interruption snapped him back. He turned around irritably to see Natalia, looking no less amused than he was.
"What are you doing to your parchment?" she asked, her face unsmiling. Sirius' eyes darted to his parchment. He gave a sigh, his eyes glazed over.
"I think I love her," he said to no one in particular. "I can't stop thinking about her."
"That, is called 'obsession'," Natalia said grimly. "it's not love; it's something that gets people sent to mental asylums for."
"What do you know?" Sirius suddenly stood up, causing his desk to fall noisily over. All the other students were suddenly hushed. Natalia didn't bat an eye.
"I love her!" he raged when Natalia didn't reply. "And you can't stop that! I'd do anything for her, die her for even!"
"Oh believe me, Sirius," Natalia replied, sarcasm dripping from her every word. "you don't need to die for her. You're already half dead from her."
His reaction was instant - Sirius' fist collided with Natalia's jaw as he shouted a hex at her. He sent her hurdling into the opposite wall. Dust gathered around as the students huddled together, their eyes wide open.
"I don't want to hear you talking about Leona like that again," Sirius said dangerously, his gray eyes flaring. "You understand?"
Natalia slowly removed herself from the wall; fully aware it was luck that she didn't break her spinal cord. Her grey eyes bore into Sirius' with an emotion Sirius could not place.
"You needn't worry," she said in an icy tone. "You won't." She flung her bookbag over her shoulder in one swift motion and stalked out of the Ancient Runes classroom. Professor Cauden looked shocked and stunned, as were the rest of the students. Never, in their dreams, could they have imagined such a scene.
"B-back to your seats, class," Professor Cauden said when he finally found his voice, "continue working quietly." He made a mental note to dock off fifty points from Gryffindor for violence, preferably when Sirius was calmer.
Obediently, the class sat down, including Sirius, and quiet scribbles filled the silent room. Occasionally, eyes would peek up from their work and glance at the door, but no one reappeared at the door.
It had been two months to the day Sirius hit Natalia, but no improvements had been made. Natalia completely disregarded Sirius' existence, treating him no better than a Slytherin. James, Lily, and the others could only watch helplessly, torn between Natalia's complete bitterness towards their friend, and Sirius' continual worshipping of Leona.
It had seemed that Natalia had exploded. Every bit of long-forgotten quarrels had crept from the back of her mind, to the only thing she could think about. Resentment and rage burst into her eyes whenever she saw Sirius, and cold replies came from her lips whenever he was mentioned. There seemed to be no way Natalia was forgiving Sirius this time, not after years of pretending nothing was ever wrong.
"Nat," Malia had sighed one day. "Shouldn't you try and solve problems? Why do you pretend to forget old grudges?"
"I don't," said Natalia, dangerously calm as she heard Sirius and Leona giggled in the background. "I just wish I do."
Pippi Longstocking had not stepped foot into the DADA classroom for quite some time.
"Eye of newt, Natalia," said Florence Gibbons quietly, reading from the textbook, "And that should be the end of the potion."
"Thank Merlin," sighed Natalia. "This was the longest potion we've ever done."
"Well, considering it's almost May, the potions should get harder," murmured Florence, nodding approvingly as the potion began turning a pale green, just as it was supposed to. She had been slightly skeptical of working with Natalia. Her previous partner, Leona, had paired up with Sirius Black for the longest time. However, she soon realized that Natalia was friendly and worked well when her mind was focused, and they became regular partners.
Natalia smiled cheerfully at Florence, "At this rate," she said, "I might even scrape up a good mark for Potions!" She grinned and Florence couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. She's so carefree, she thought wistfully to herself, I bet she hasn't a worry in the world, smiling like that. I wish I had her life. Florence frowned at herself - she hated it when she whined like that, even in her thoughts. She didn't know Natalia very well, but it wasn't fair to blame her just because Natalia probably had a better childhood than her. Her mum and dad must love her a lot, she thought reflectively.
Natalia and Florence bottled up the potion and delivered it to Professor Slughorn's desk. Unfortunately, Leona Park and Sirius Black were handing in their potion at the same time.
"Two potions at the same time? How wonderful!" Professor Slughorn said enthusiastically as he inspected both flasks. Natalia had a set look on her face as she determinedly avoided looking at the boy standing beside her. Though the bruise on her face had healed one month before, this was not a normal row between Sirius and Natalia.
"Aha, Miss Lynx and Miss Gibbons have been doing well, especially Natalia!" said Professor Slughorn, "I have full confidence that Natalia will do well in her Potions exams! As for Miss Park and Mr. Black, I could not have expected anything less. Perfect scores, both pairs! Good work." Natalia nodded and she and Florence made their way back to their cauldrons to clean up. Professor Slughorn, however, held Leona back.
"Leona, it's been such a while since you've visited the Potions classroom, eh?" he chuckled, "finally finished that extra credit you've been working on since September? The classroom has such a lovely fragrance every time you worked in there. I forget that smell..." he frowned, trying to remember, "What was it, wine, I suppose?"
"Oh - oh of course, Professor!" said Leona, looking wide-eyed. "Yeah, I finished a long time ago, and er - thank you for letting me work there! And -' the bell rang, "I've got to go! Bye, Professor!" She pulled Sirius out the door before Slughorn could reply.
"That was odd," said Natalia as she waved goodbye to Florence and joined Remus and Peter. Her arms were full of Potions notes that Florence recommended that she copy down for future reference.
"Leona is odd," shrugged Peter. "S'no different." The three of them turned the corner and immediately gagged when they saw Black and Park snogging in the corridors. Remus and Peter looked at each other and made silent, disgusted faces. However, Natalia was never one to keep her thoughts to herself.
"Do you two mind?" she snarled, "This is a corridor. People walk through it. Snogging, quite frankly, is not walking."
"Screw off, Lynx," snapped Leona, recovering well. "It's none of your business."
"It's damn well my business if I can't walk through a bloody corridor without losing my lunch over it!" Natalia retorted.
"Natalia, let's just go," Remus said, gently tugging her sleeve. "Hello there, Padfoot," he smiled weakly. Sirius had stopped hanging around them ever since Leona and he had been officially going out; officially being that the two of them snogged openly in the Great Hall almost two months ago. Needless to say, Shara and her gang were slightly more than unhappy with the scene.
"Belt it, Lupin," came the curt reply, before he connected lips with Leona again. By then, Natalia looked as though she had completely lost her nerve.
"That's it!" she shouted, throwing her arms up, pages of parchment flying into the air, "What the bloody hell did Remus ever do to you? You can't treat your best mate like that! What the bloody hell is your problem? And Park, before I forget to say this, I think you are a bloody bit-"
"Don't talk about Leona like that!"
"Stupefy!"
Sirius hit the floor before he could slam his fist into Natalia's face again. Remus and Peter gawked at the wand in Natalia's hand. Remus and Peter heard the rustling of parchment as Natalia's notes reached the floor. Where the hell did that come from...
"Merlin, she's fast," Remus muttered to himself.
"Don't bloody tell me what to do, Black," Natalia said quietly.
"Oh my God! Sirius!" screamed Leona, before whipping out her wand, "You'll pay for this, Lynx..."
Seconds later, her wand clattered to the floor and a peculiar frog took her place. The frog snorted its pink snout and dashed away, skinny chicken feet clicking against the stone floor.
"Enervate," Natalia muttered to the fallen boy. She turned back to her comrades, who were staring at her, their jaws open. "Let's go back to the common room," she said calmly, picking up her notes. "I'm sure Malia, Lily and James are already there."
Malia and Remus had been going out now, ever since three weeks ago when Remus had accidentally blurted it out during a tutor lesson. Malia had blushed furiously, before timidly bobbing her head up and down as a reply. It came as no surprise to the others, who had already gotten used to thinking Remus and Malia as a couple.
"Good going there, Moony," James winked, "Now Peter and I will have to fight to be best man."
"You'll invite me to your wedding, right, Remus?" said Natalia, "Because youll need someone to eat your wedding cake for you!"
"Everyone eats the wedding cake!" protested Peter, "I want some too!"
"We're not getting married," said Malia, blushing, "We're just - you know - going out... I mean, it doesn't mean anything..."
"Right, it's far too early," agreed Remus.
"Same old, same old," Lily laughed at Malia and Remus' equally matched, blushing faces.
As happy as Malia was with Remus, the comfort she felt while around him, the easygoing, non-judging attitude he had, she still felt...
It was the same feeling she had felt before Natalia told her about her family. The same nagging, tugging feeling that she got when she felt something wasn't right. It had been going on, especially today, when Remus' hair became suddenly longer and shaggier than before. He protested that it was just a bad hair day, but Malia remained skeptical.
"Lily," said Malia after classes when they met up in the common room, "I've been having troubles... with Remus..."
"Is he being a prat?" Lily laughed.
"No, no he isn't," Malia said hastily, "It's just... you and James share everything together, don't you? I mean, both of you are going out and all."
"Well, we haven't shared everything..." James said suggestively, grinning at Lily. Lily punched him in the arm.
"Of course, if there's something wrong, we tell each other," said Lily placidly, ignoring James' grunts of pain.
"Hence all the quarrels," James said, leaning back on the couch. He draped an arm over Lily's shoulder, which Lily ignored as well. Something told her that Malia had something more in mind than quarreling.
"What's wrong, Malia?" she asked. Malia hesitated, before responding.
"I - I think... I think Remus is hiding something from me," she admitted, "But I don't know what. But... whatever it is, I think it has something to do with his odd behavior the last couple of days."
"What?" James asked, before waving it off, "Psh. Yeah right. Remus is just being... Remus." He laughed, glancing out the near-full moon, "It's nothing. Forget about it. You're overreacting. I mean, come on, this is Remus..."
"And you know something about it," Malia accused James, "Don't deny it, you're blabbering's just proved my point."
James immediately stopped talking. After an awkward moment, he said weakly, "It's really nothing, just - just trust us."
"Lily."
Lily bit her lip. "I -"
"Ahoy there, mates!" Natalia's voice sang into the common room, "What're we all talking about?"
"We're... talking about Remus, actually."
"Remus?" Natalia frowned, "and you're not talking about me? I am insulted!" she said mockingly as she grinned. Her grin faded as James, Lily and Malia were all wearing dead serious looks. "What's going on? What about Remus?"
"What is about me?" Remus came into the room, looking confused. Lily and James rose from their seats.
"Come on, let's go to dinner," Lily and James said to Natalia and Peter, "We'll leave them to talk."
"What? What's going on? What do they have to talk about?" Natalia asked as she was pushed out the portrait hole, "What's going on?"
"I'll tell you later!" hissed Lily, "just get out!" The four of them disappeared, leaving the new couple alone.
Remus scratched the back of his neck, uncomfortable with the awkward silence. "So what's going on? What do you need to talk to me about?"
"I... I..."
Out with it! Get to the point!
"I think you're hiding something from me, Remus!" Malia blurted out, "I don't know what it is, but I know you're hiding something. We've only been going out for three weeks, but - but we should still be open with each other. I know I'm open with you."
Remus remained silent, so she continued.
"It's - it's not healthy to hide things from each other, so if you have something, you should talk about it. I mean, your behavior's been weird the last few days, and your hair has been completely out of control. Remus, are you going through some sort of breakdown? Is it because of the exams? Talk to me, Remus!" she begged when Remus continued to be silent.
Remus bit his lip, before smiling at Malia. "I think you're overreacting. Let's just go to dinner and forget about this." And before Malia could respond, he waved at her and left the common room.
Malia stood by herself, looking defeated on the outside. But inside, she was far from it. She was not about to be deterred. One way or another, she was going to find out what Remus was trying to hide. She was not going to be a pushover.
Maybe not today, but I'll try again tomorrow, she thought, and I'll continue to find out until Remus tells me. I'll give him hell for it, I swear.