Chapter 19

Sweat soaked my Quidditch robes as I flung the quaffle through the lowest hoop, scoring my team 10 more points in the match against Hufflepuff. A grin spread across my face as Siobhan Finnigan yelled into the amplifier.

"And Slytherin captain Rosalie Flint scores another 10 points, raising the score from 70 to 80! Slytherin leads Hufflepuff 80 to 30!"

Cheers erupted from the stands as people screamed my name. I couldn't helped but bask in the glory, waving to the crowds as I zoomed through the air, waiting to be passed the quaffle once more.

We won the game by a massive landslide. Corrin Vandevort was organizing a house party in the Slytherin common room, so most of the Slytherins were anxious to get to the party. After showering in the locker rooms, I threw on an outfit that I'd picked out beforehand: a pair of dark jeans, a red blouse, and some black flats.

I fixed my hair quickly and used some cosmetic spells to make myself look like I hadn't just played an invigorating game of Quidditch. I hurried out of the locker rooms and made my way to the castle. Groups of students were here and there, but by the time I had gotten out of the shower, most of them had already gotten back to the castle.

"Nice game, Flint," called a Slytherin second year.

"Thanks," I muttered, trudging past him and up the path.

"Awesome job," came another voice. A Ravenclaw, I think.

"Thanks," I repeated.

Finally, I got to the castle and hurried inside, rubbing my bare arms furiously in order to create warmth. I stepped down the halls silently, trying to avoid the attention of all the other students. I turned around a corner and approached the staircase that led me to the Slytherin dormitories.

Only to be slammed against the hard, stone wall.

Hands gripped my arms tightly and the stranger was pushed up against me tightly, intercepting any way of escape. I looked up and found myself staring into a pair of icy, blue eyes.

"Matthias," I whispered.

He grinned. "Hey, Rosie. You're looking fine."

With his light hair tousled and the top of his shirt unbuttoned, he looked so casual. But I knew who he really was, deep inside. How could people not see what I saw in him?

"What do you want?" I said, my voice calmer than I'd expected. My heart was beating a million times a minute and my palms were starting to sweat. "You shouldn't want anything to do with me. I was disowned, remember? Blood traitor scum!"

"I know," he said tentatively, his nose brushing the side on my jaw as his face grew closer to mine. "You've been a bad girl, lately. But I couldn't just stay away from you. You're my Rosie. And I wanted to make sure that you hadn't forgotten me while you were out, saving Potters and whatnot."

"I'm not your anything," I growled.

"Feisty tonight, aren't we?"

"You're not the one pinned against the wall!"

"Don't be like that," he hushed, tracing his right hand up and down my bare side, where my blouse had ridden up.

"If you try anything, I'll scream," I threatened.

He laughed. "And who would hear you? The other Slytherins at the party downstairs? Please, the music is so loud they can't even hear their own thoughts. You might want to try something else."

At a loss of what to do, I gaped at him while his grin grew wider.

"Matthias."

A voice echoed down the hallway. A familiar face stepped out of the shadows, peering at Matthias with an expression of boredom. "Don't touch her. She's just a piece of filth. A blood-traitor. Your parents would punish you severely if they ever found out. She's not worth it."

Matthias watched me with a contorted expression on his face, before leaning in and whispering into my ear, "This isn't over yet, Rosie." He let go of my arms and pushed me away, before joining Blake Zabini and walking down to the dormitories.

I hated it. I hated him. There was a burning passion inside of me, consuming every fiber of my being, as I watched his retreating figure.

"No, Matthias," I whispered. "It isn't over."

I stood in the empty hallway, my fingers wrapped around my wand tightly as I waited for Potter to show up for our rounds. I tapped my toes on the ground anxiously, feeling especially jittery for some reason.

He was ten minutes late, and I was already regretting not asking Dominique if I could trade partners with someone else, dumping the responsibility of Potter onto their slate.

"Hey, Flint," he said nonchalantly, approaching me from the direction of the Gryffindor dormitories.

"You!" I said loudly, pointing my wand at him, frustrated. "You are eleven minutes and twenty-three seconds late! You can't afford to be late!"

"Chill out," he said, putting his hands up in defense. "I got caught up in my homework."

"Your homework?" I snorted. "No, really, what were you doing?

He stared at me, before admitting that I'd called him out on his bluff. "Okay, fine. I was helping Fred pull off a big prank. But it was so worth being ten minutes late!"

"Eleven minutes!"

"Yeah, yeah. Eleven minutes."

I sighed. "The whole point of us doing rounds together is to stop students from pulling pranks, not encourage it, you idiot!"

He shrugged. "Are you going to put your wand down, or are you just going to keep pointing it at me?"

"I should hex you right here and right now," I grumbled, putting my wand back at my side. "But, unfortunately, I need you in one piece for our rounds tonight."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, so where do we get started?"

"We're in charge of floors three through five," I said. "Just until eleven o'clock. Then Louis and Beckett should be here to take over."

"Got it," he said, starting towards the direction of the staircases. "So, you and Louis have gotten pretty close than, huh?"

I snorted, following him. "'Close' is hardly the word I would choose. More like a mutual understanding; he knows where I stand, I know where he stands."

"No, no," Potter said. "He definitely thinks of you as a friend. Haven't you seen the way he looks at you?"

For some reason, I felt like he was baiting me. I growled, "What are you trying to get at, Potter?"

"Just trying to understand your friendship with my dear cousin," he replied quickly.

He began climbing the stone staircase, taking two at a time, while I stayed behind him, taking it easy and only climbing the stairs one by one. Finally, we reached the third floor corridor, passing the Charms classroom as we began our rounds.

"But... you like Louis' company?" he asked suddenly, waiting for me to catch up.

"I suppose," I answered skeptically. "I'm still at a loss as to why you care. Wish to explain?"

"Well, he's my cousin and I don't want him to be around the wrong influences-"

"Potter!"

"Anyway, did you hear about Oliver Wood's retirement? He's a close friend to the family, so we heard plenty about it..."

It had been made clear to me that Potter's sudden interest in my relationship with Louis Weasley was no longer up for discussion. But it certainly baffled my mind, and I couldn't help but wonder about it.

He always brought up the weirdest things.

"So," I began, changing the subject. "Are you ever going to tell me about that map you've got? And that cloak? You kind of left me hanging there."

It had only been a month or so since I walked in on him and Weasel in the Shrieking Shack, and while the events of the past month had pushed everything aside, I hadn't forgotten the curiousness of his invisibility cloak, his map, and his little club with Fred, called the Marauders.

He paused, pursing his lips, before revealing a piece of parchment in his robes. "This?" He handed it to me and I quickly grabbed it, looking at it in fascination.

Until I realized that it was blank.

"It's got nothing on it, you tosser," I said unhappily, still examining it.

"You have to say the password," he said to me bluntly, as if I were stupid.

"Well, what is it?" I asked testily.

"I couldn't tell you," Potter said. "Marauder code of honour. Fred won't let me tell anyone outside of the Marauders."

"You mean your lame, two-man club?"

"It's not lame," he said defensively.

"Could I try and guess it?" I wondered.

"You could," he said. "But I doubt you'll get it."

He was probably right; I wouldn't get the password, at least not for a while. It was probably something made up or stupid, something that nobody would think of. Or, perhaps it was so simple, that nobody would even think of it.

"Open," I said, tapping the parchment. Nothing happened, but I wasn't expecting anything anyways.

"Open?" Potter laughed. "We're not stupid, Rosie."

I scowled. "Whatever you say, Jamsie."

My legs burned and my lungs heaved as I started my sixth lap around the Quidditch pitch. Icy, January rain was pouring down from the night sky and the moon was hidden by a thick sheet of storm clouds. My sopping wet black hair stuck to the back of my neck and my forehead and I wiped it away in frustration.

"Keep pushing," I growled through clenched teeth, anxious to finish my sixth lap. "Lazy bitch, keep pushing!"

"Rosalie!"

A voice broke my concentration, startling me and causing my foot to catch a loose stone. I toppled over into the mud, rolling over onto my back and lying, still, in a dirty puddle. Drops of rain splattered onto my face and I screwed my eyes shut as I let it wash the dirt off of my face. My heart started beating rapidly as my anger boiled inside of me.

"Rosalie?"

I recognized the voice, and it only made me more furious.

"Rose-"

"I heard you the bleeding first time, Mariette!" I screeched, sitting up and staring at her figure from across the pitch. "What the fucking hell do you want? You've already ruined my exercise routine and caused me to fall into a fat puddle of muck! What else do you want?"

As she approached me, I noticed her hard face, but also her worried eyes. "We need to talk."

"About what?" I spat.

"About what you saw, last week."

"Lily Potter?" I asked, thoroughly confused but still irate.

"No; me and Sophie," she hissed, eyes darting behind her as if she were afraid that someone had followed her through the pouring rain and mountains of mud.

"You've got to be bloody kidding me," I muttered, standing up. My arms and legs were covered in sticky, cold mud, and my undergarment was clearly visible through my soaked shirt. I stared at her expectantly. "Well?"

"I want you to swear that you won't tell anyone," she said to me.

"I can't believe this," I said. "After everything that I've been through: witnessing a little girl under the Cruciatus Curse, being responsible for the arrest of a wanted Death Eater, being disowned by my own family and sent to live on the streets... and you come to me so you can save your own bloody arse?"

"I'm sorry about what happened to you-"

"No you're not!" I screamed, my voice echoing around us.

We stood in the rain, staring at each other intently.

"I don't understand it," I told her. "You were my older sister, my big sister. You were supposed to protect me from the evils of the world, but instead you grew up hating me, your little sister. When I was young, I wanted to be just like you, Mariette, until I realized what a cruel, selfish bitch you were. But I guess, in a way, I ended up just the same anyhow.

"How do you feel?" I continued. "Seeing me like this. Are you satisfied now? I'm broken into a billion pieces, cast away from the family, hated by everyone; are you finally happy? Are your miseries gone? Gone with me?"

"Don't be like that," she said, reaching out to touch my shoulder.

I instantly pulled away from her. "You think that your secret is horrible? Well, get a fat load of this: Matthias fucking hit me. And then he tried to rape me."

It came out choppy, sudden, and almost too fast to comprehend.

Mariette stared at me, barely understanding what I'd just said. I was stunned, myself, startled that I had just admitted my one, deepest secret. I had never planned on revealing it, especially not to Mariette. Perhaps it had been the years of betrayal and hate my older sister had bestowed open me, finally getting to me. Or maybe it was my anger, forcing out the ugliest side of me.

I didn't care, though. I wanted to make her hurt like I was hurting.

"That's right," I said poisonously. "He hit me, he bit me, he touched me, and he finally tried to rape me. I wanted to tell someone, but I couldn't. I was afraid that... gods, I can't even say it! That Mother and Father would drop me like that. Disown me for being a disgrace. But I'm not afraid anymore! And now you know the truth.

"And you know who was there for me, when you weren't?" I said, watching her eyes grow sadder and her frown deeper. "James fucking Potter. My supposed arch-rival."

I was crying now, but my anger and the rain hid it well. Mariette didn't seem to notice my tears, only her own as she started sobbing, staring at me like I was the most pitiful thing she'd ever laid eyes on.

"I didn't know," she said.

"Of course you didn't know!" I yelled. "You never gave a shit about me!"

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Because I was right. Because what I said was true. She had never cared about me, just like the rest of my family. No one cared about Rosalie Flint.

"I'm sorry," she told me, resting her hand on my shoulder.

Staring coldly at her, I said, "Sorry will never be enough for the pain you and your family caused me. And remember this, Mariette: You secret will never be safe with me. I will never forget it and if you try to talk to me again, you will be the first person to hear me shout it to the world."

I ripped away from her grip and walked back to the girls' locker room, the strange mixture of relief and utter pain swirling in the pit of my stomach.

A/N: Yeah, the bit with Rosalie and James wasn't my best, but oh well. Sorry this update took so long; I've been busy with school, family, yaddi yaddi yah, all of those typical 'author's excuses'. So, leave a review, tell me what you think, and thank you to everyone who has reviewed and given me advice!