Chapter 7 – Painful Betrayals

I woke up the next morning with a back ache. Wiping the sleep from my eyes, I looked around to realise that I was not in my comfy bed in Gryffindor Tower, but in a dusty abandoned classroom. On closer inspection, it was midday already so I had missed Transfiguration and Herbology, I had slept under a creaky wooden table, and my hair was covered in cobwebs.

"Eurgh, gross…" I muttered to myself, standing up and shaking them out. Good thing I wasn't scared of spiders. Lily would be terri…

Lily.

The events of last night came rushing back to me. The confrontations, the fight, the betrayal. How I had told my closest friends my deepest, darkest secret, and they had shunned me. Like it was my fault Remus is a werewolf. Like I can help who my father is. Like I support who he is – or what he is. He's the monster, not Remus.

I put my head in my hands. And, as awful as I was feeling, a giggle escaped my lips. How ridiculous was the situation?! My friends hate me because my father (who I haven't seen in 11 years) turned Remus (the guy I fancy) into a werewolf. Not many people can say they're in that situation! Without thinking, I laughed even more. Imagine if I brought Remus home to my father! How awkward would that be?

So, I was laughing hysterically in the middle of an old classroom, when someone ran into it, panting. That someone –

"Remus!" I said, wiping tears from my eyes and trying to regain my composure. He looked tired, like he didn't sleep at all last night. Then again, he doesn't sleep most nights, and with the news he received last night, I couldn't blame him. But, he also looked taken aback. I was confused for a second, before I realised I was still laughing, so I forced myself to look into him chocolate brown eyes to sober myself up. It worked.

"Harriet." He sighed. "I was looking for you." He took a few steps closer to me. We were now about a meter apart. "I just wanted to say… well… I've been talking to the guys and… I think we should keep our distance."

I was completely shocked. What on earth for? I voiced this question to Remus.

"Well, after last night's… drama, we… I… thought it would be best if we didn't see each other anymore."

I took a step closer to him. "But, Remus, I'm not my father! And… I don't care about what he made you in to. I like you for you, and I thought you liked me…" All that I said totally surprised me, because it was completely true. Although I was admitting it to Remus before I had admitted it to myself.

The gap between us was almost indistinguishable now. All I could hear was our heavy breathing. I reached up to his face and ran my fingers down the scar running along his cheekbone. He covered his hand over mine. "These things – your scars, my father – they're beyond our control. And I don't know about you, but I won't let them get in the way of us."

And with that, I closed the distance between us and pressed my lips to his. His body stiffened at first, but relaxed after a second, and he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer. I moved both my arms up to his neck, running my fingers through his sandy brown hair. The kiss seemed like it lasted forever, but all too soon, Remus pulled back. He stumbled backwards towards the door with widened eyes.

"I can't… I can't get close to you. Not with who your father is. It's not your fault, I just… can't. I'm sorry." He stuttered. And then he ran out of the door.

I stood in the centre of the room with my hand against my lips, my eyes hot with the oncoming tears.

The next 7 days were complete and utter hell.

I sat alone at breakfast, lunch and dinner because Lily and the boys were avoiding me. Even Mary and Dorcas were giving me weird looks and finding excuses not to talk to me. Then again, they always copied Lily, even if she didn't want them to. And although she may hate me at the moment, I find it hard to believe that she would tell them to treat me like a nasty Slytherin. I studied alone in the library, eager to get away from the hostility in the Common Room at any cost. I was waking up super early and going to bed super late to avoid awkwardness in the dormitory. In fact, the only proper contact I'd had with any of them was working with Peter in Potions, and even then he was quieter than usual, sitting on the furthest edge of his chair from me, and not contributing to the potion at all.

To be honest, I felt like I had some kind of contagious disease.

On the Monday night, a week after the argument, I returned to my dormitory at midnight, satisfied that everyone would be asleep by then. I opened the heavy wooden door and scanned the beds. I was right, Lily, Mary and Dorcas were all fast asleep. I crept over to my bed (between Lily's and the wall) and slipped on my pyjamas n silence. As I pulled back the crimson covers, a gleam of silver caught my eye. I looked over to Lily's bedside table to see a piece of navy parchment with curly silver writing on it. It said:

Dear Lady or Gentleman,

You have had the honour of being invited to James Potter's Xmas Bash.

Please bring your lovely selves and one alcoholic beverage.

Also, dress wintery.

Hope you can come – your Christmas will be lame if you don't.

Love, James Potter.

PS. Come see me for my address. I'm not putting it on the invitation in case they get into the wrong hands. We don't want any gate-crashers, do we? Snivellus, if you are reading this, I'm talking to you. Get your greasy hands off my awesome party invitation and go back to your hole.

I snorted with laughter. James could be an arse at times (like now) but he was funny. However, Mary stirred in her bed so I stopped laughing immediately, not wanting to wake her up. I recalled that James managed to get the House Elves to deliver his invitations to the recipient's bedside. Looking over to hers and Dorcas' bedside tables, they had invites too. This was only the second year they had received invitations, whereas Lily and I had been getting them since 1st year. Of course, Lily had turned her nose up at it from then till 4th year, and I didn't want to go without her. So when I finally convinced her that we should go in 4th year, James was ridiculously excited. I actually think I could remember him rejoicing on a table while Lily suppressed a grin that she clearly didn't want him to see. We had gone to the party every year since then.

Smirking at the memory, I crawled into bed and reached over to the bedside table to look at my invitation. But to my dismay, my hand touched nothing but my copy of 'Hogwarts: A History', some owl treats, and an unfinished History of Magic essay.

James hadn't invited me to his party.