Chapter 8:

"Shut up, Rosier," Sirius growled at the Slytherin. "You know nothing."

"You sure about that?" Rosier took a step closer, taunting him. "Some nights, the guys and I like to imagine how it would have happen. We'd have taken turns and everything." Rosier laughed, most likely at Sirius' expression although I couldn't tell because his back was to me.

Then it happened, so fast I almost missed it; Sirius took a stride forward, his fist raised in the air, and punched Rosier straight on the nose. I gasped but covered my mouth. Rosier answered just as furiously and soon enough they were really fighting. No wands, only their hands. I had never seen Sirius fight without his wand. He always used it because he knew he was one of the best at dueling of Hogwarts. I was still amazed to see, though, that he was pretty good at regular fighting too.

"Protego!" I yelled, pointing my wand between the two of them.

The two boys were separated immediately by an invisible barrier. They glared at each other furiously, until Rosier looked my way and smiled wickedly. I didn't pay attention to him, though, instead, I angrily walked toward Sirius and slapped him on the back of his head. I made a mental note on how he had a busted lip.

"What in God's name are you doing?" I hissed.

He looked down at me and frowned, shaking his head. I sighed and glanced at Rosier, I felt a weird kind of satisfaction when I noticed he was pretty banged up, while Sirius only had a busted lip.

"Well, would you look at that. Potter, the gorgeous Potter, coming to the rescue. How does it feel, Black? Being the… what do mudbloods call it?... right, damsel in distress." Rosier mocked, walking as close as he could with the barrier.

Sirius narrowed his eyes at him and tried to get to him again but my spell kept pushing him backwards. I rolled my eyes, pointing my wand at Rosier and thinking 'langlock.' in my mind, not bothering to say the spell out loud. I laughed slightly when Rosier noticed the effect of the spell. My smile faded when he showed me one particular finger and narrowed his eyes at me, before leaving down the corridor. A chill went down my back as I realized it had been the same look Regulus Black had given me in that secluded corridor a month and a half ago, and that it was the same look their group of friends would give me any time I passed by them (even if I had pretended not to notice). You're on my list, Potter, theirs, too. Regulus Black's words came back to me and I fought a shudder. Those Slytherins really knew how to hold a grudge and I had just made it worst.

"Are you all right?" Sirius asked me once Rosier had disappeared completely.

"I'm great," I said, a little sarcastically. He took his hand off my shoulder immediately, I hadn't even noticed him putting it there, and took a step back. "I'm sorry. I'm bitter today… you're bleeding a lot." I noticed, turning to look at him.

He brought a hand to his lips and looked at his fingers. There was blood there. He groaned and passed a hand through his hair.

"Prongs will freak out if he sees me this way." He grumbled.

"Yes, and so will Marlene," I added. We both frowned, avoiding each other's gaze. "Come on."

I walked into another corridor and toward the stairs, Sirius following me cluelessly. In a metaphorical sense, of course. He co-created the Marauder's map; he knew every corner, every room, every passage of this castle. I stopped in front of the girl's bathroom on the second floor and opened the door, waiting for Sirius to enter. No one ever came here, thanks to Moaning Myrtle, so it was safe for us to use.

"What is it with you and this bathroom?" Sirius asked as he looked around. "You spent most of last year's first trimester here."

"I don't know… it's quiet and peaceful, allows me to think." Or cry, whatever I feel like. I added on my mind.

I didn't question his knowledge of my coming here constantly that trimester. He had the Marauder's map, so he, they, probably knew where I was all the time.

"Right, and the whining ghost makes the trick for peacefulness." Sirius snorted.

I paused in front of the sink and met his eyes over the mirror. "Right." I nodded, before bursting into laughter.

He soon started to laugh too, leaning into the sink next to mine and crossing his arms. I opened the faucet and looked for a paper towel to damp. I turned to him, paper towel in hand, and forced him to face me. Carefully, I started to clean off the blood off of his lip and chin. The wound wasn't that bad so it would only be a little swollen.

"I liked your song," Sirius commented.

"Thank you. Lily chose it," I said, feeling the urge to clarify I hadn't wanted to sing that.

"Oh," he commented.

I looked up and met his eyes through the locks of hair that had fallen into his eyes. They were a clear liquid gray, not silver at the moment. His eyes tended to change according to his emotions. He moved his head slightly so his hair would go away from his eyes.

"Yes, 'oh'." I nodded. And then, don't ask me why, I gave him a sad smile. "You're done," I added, cleaning off the last bit of blood.

"Thank you, Meredith." He ran another hand through his hair. I noticed how it was longer than usual, almost going past his shoulders.

"You need a haircut," I blurted out.

He lifted an eyebrow and I shrugged, closing the sink's faucet and going to one of the stalls to throw the paper towel away.

"It was only a comment," I called out to him.

"I know… and you're right but—"

"Is that Sirius Black?" a new voice interrupted him.

I walked out of the stall and watched as a very shocked Sirius Black faced none other that Moaning Myrtle, who was looking at him very strangely. I cursed on my mind. Myrtle knew of the existence of Sirius, of course, everybody knew but let's just say she knew a little bit too much.

"Myrtle… what are you doing here? I thought you said you'd be visiting the prefects' bathrooms." I brought her attention.

She twirled around and looked at me, her pimple-full face cracking into a smile. "I was but then I heard you talking through some pipes, you see, and I said to myself 'well, Mere finally lost her mind, talking to herself like that.' and I came here to tell you so only to discover you had company." She explained, before turning to Sirius and adding: "a very cute company." She giggled.

I blushed and turned around so nobody would notice. This was my worst nightmare. Myrtle wasn't exactly known for being subtle; she'd tell Sirius everything I've ever said to her about him.

"I thought you hated him, Mere, what's he doing here?" Myrtle asked with feign innocence.

"I—um, okay, we're leaving, bye, Myrtle." I stammered as I walked past her and took Sirius' arm, before walking out of that bathroom faster than possible. Myrtle was left yelling after us.

"So you talk about me with ghosts, uh? That's so flattering, Meredith." Sirius joked.

I rolled my eyes but allowed a smile. "Shut up, Black." I shoved him a little and he let out a bark-like laugh.

"Whatever you say, Meredith, whatever you say." He shook his head, putting his arm around my shoulder. Don't ask me why I didn't shake it off.

We reached the portrait hole to discover that almost everyone was inside, only a few students outside in the corridors.

"Guys, hurry! We're about to sing 'Happy Birthday'!" Alice said excitedly once she noticed us.

Sirius and I shared a look before hurrying inside the common room. He made a bee-line for Marlene who was standing behind a table with a huge frosted cake in front of her. If I knew Marlene at all, which I liked to believe I did, or at least used to, then the cake was probably strawberry and the frost was vanilla. I made my way to where the Marauders were, avoiding the girls' questioning looks. They had noticed me going in with Sirius. I stood between James and Remus and waited patiently for someone to start singing happy birthday.

"Where have you been?" James asked me.

"Around, outside," I said. James nodded, satisfied with that answer, while Remus eyed me curiously. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"What happened to padfoot?" James asked again, his voice laced with worry.

I turned to look at Sirius, his lip was still a little swollen but nobody had noticed. Nobody except for James, of course.

"What makes you think I know?" I retorted defensively.

"Do you?" He pressed the matter.

I avoided his gaze and instead turned to look at the table again. Marlene's face lit up the moment Sirius neared her. He had one arm around her shoulders, much like he had done with me less than five minutes ago. Marlene caught my eyes and allowed a triumphant smirk, obviously thinking she had won. But I wasn't so sure. There was a pattern here, one I had already pointed out but in the wrong way. Marlene was blonde, she read the same books I read, listened to the same bands, took pretty much the same subjects at school. He behaved around her in the same way he behaved around me. He was using her as a replacement for me. Probably not in the romantic way, they didn't kiss that much in front of us now that I thought of it, but in the friend way.

I had said many times that I missed my friendship with him and apparently so did he. Well, he replaced said friendship with Marlene McKinnon. And she had been stupid enough to believe he actually fancied her. Suddenly, the burning jealousy I had before started to vanish. Sirius Black missed me as much as I missed him, and there was no way he'd be able to replace me with Marlene, he'd find that out eventually and dump her ass. And I wouldn't be there to be her shoulder to cry on. Or maybe I would, I wasn't sure yet. That's why, instead of frowning at her or glaring, I gave her my most radiant smile with a little tint of mischief. Marlene's face fell with confusion.

"Happy Birthday to you…" the entire common room chorused and erupted into claps.

Sirius leaned in and gave her a peck on the lips, they received multiple cat calls, effects of the many amounts of alcohol the student body had already consumed and was still consuming. I walked up to Marlene and gave her a hypocrite smile, I received one as well.

"Happy birthday, Mar, your present is wrapped up and on top of my bed. I hope you like it." I smiled a fake smile, so fake I was sure everyone in the room could tell.

"Thank you, I'll go up for it," she said sweetly and as fake as I had.

I watched her go up the stairs to the girls' dorms, an evil smirk in my face. Sirius looked at me funnily, obviously not enjoying my mocking of his girlfriend, but it was kind of his fault. His and the Marauders'. They taught me what real mischief was, they couldn't expect me not to use it as a form of revenge.

"Meredith Adhara Potter!" we all heard Marlene yell from the top of the stairs. Mischief managed, I thought.

"Well, enjoy your girlfriend, Black, I bet she must be ecstatic about my present." With that I walked out of the common room.

"What did you do?" he asked, I chose to ignore him.

My present had consisted of a small notebook filled with all the names of every boy I'd ever been with, starting with Sirius Black and ending with Fabian Prewett. On the first page, I had put a small piece of paper with the following text:

happy 17th birthday, Marlene, dear. Now, as it seems like you love all my leftovers, here's a list of all the other boys I've dated… you know, so you can finish them off too. Have a nice day. With love, Meredith. P.S. the quill is so you can scratch them off as you go, don't worry I already saved you the trouble by scratching Sirius off but you'll have to do the rest.

Then I had scratched Sirius' name with purple ink and then left the peacock feather quill she had given me as a present last year for her to scratch the other names. I was surprised she hadn't followed me out the common room like a screeching banshee.

Of course my present hadn't been that, at first. It had actually been a lovely necklace that had a magic rock that turned different colors depending on who you were with. But after my talk with Remus and Lily, I came up to my dorm, threw the necklace away, and had instead used an old empty notebook for the actual present. It had taken me a long time to come up with every boy's name but I finally made it. That present had also let me know why the Slytherins thought I was a whore. It was because I truly was, all the boys names had taken up to half of the book. That wasn't healthy.

…..

A week later and a day before the Hogsmeade trip, during lunch, I received some worrisome news. So worrisome that I didn't even react to Marlene's snide remark about why she and Sirius were late—'oh, we were just having so much fun that we lost track of time, if you know what I mean.' –Dorcas had then told her that even the baked potatoes knew what she meant and that she ought to shut up. I would've clapped at her answer if it weren't because I was in such a shock.

We usually all got mail at the same time and the same day, but today was Friday and there were no letters sent in on Fridays. That alone was a red alarm. That was why when five owls entered the Great Hall flying and only delivered letters to six students, I knew something was very wrong. The first owl reached the Huffelpuff table; a second one went to the Ravenclaw table and a third owl delivered the letter to Isabella Marx, a muggleborn girl on Delilah's year. There were two letters left and by then I was praying to God that none of them would come my way, or James'.

My hopes died quickly enough when the fourth owl made a straight line for Christian and Ariadne, who were sitting next to each other and far away from me. Said owl let the letter drop right in-between my siblings. When the final letter fell on my empty plate, I was terrified of opening it. Apparently, so was everyone because nobody had echoed a sound. Slowly but surely I took the letter and recognized the seal. This letter was from my aunt, I didn't know what was worse. That or if it had been from the ministry of magic.

I ripped the envelope open and took the letter form its insides; I barely noticed how the Great Hall had suddenly become quiet. I read the letter quickly and when I was finished I read it again. Meredith, I have news and they're not good. It started that way; that was the only complete sentence I would be able to remember later. A battle… many deaths… multiple attacks… innocents dead… your father… hurt badly… St. Mungo's… healers don't know… those were the only words that were attached to my mind. Fabian had been right. It would get worse, there were going to be battles. I never though it would affect me this soon. I was a pureblood; I wasn't supposed to get hurt.

"Mere, what's wrong?" was Lily's scared question. I didn't reply; I didn't know how.

"Meredith, really, you're very pale. What's going on?"

Marlene talking directly at me and sounding like my former friend should have had some kind of effect on me, it should have forced me to speak, but it didn't. Everyone started to ask me questions worriedly, demanding that I told them what was going on. I simply ignored them. I stood up so quickly that James' goblet tumbled down and filled the table with icy cold water, or at least that's what it felt like to me when it reached my fingers. I twirled around to the Huffelpuff table, where a fifth year muggleborn boy was covering his mouth with his hand and stifling a sob as her reread his own letter.

Then a heart-wrenching cry made everyone turn to the Ravenclaw table. A petite brunette girl from our years was sobbing uncontrollably as she ran down the corridor and out of the Great Hall, her friends after her. She was a pureblood. I turned to the teacher's table, searching for mum but found her usual seat empty.

"What does the letter say, Meredith?" James demanded, shaking my arm.

"I need… I need to find mum," I managed to say before leaving the letter on my plate and walking down the corridor calmly.

I didn't know if they had made an attempt at following, all I knew was that the moment my eyes met Christian's, it took all my self-control not to cry right there and then. I paused in front of them and they both got up.

"Mere… calm down," he suggested and I noticed I was hyperventilating.

"Dad's… dad is—"

"Alive, that's what matters. Mere, he's alive." Ariadne pressed, putting her hands on my shoulders.

I shook my head, they didn't understand. Yes, he was alive but the healers weren't sure if he would be okay, they didn't even believe he would pass the night. He had lost much blood; it had been a tough fight: three Death Eaters had tried to attack a muggleborn family near the battle and Dad had tried to save them.

"But he's badly injured! He could die," I exclaimed worriedly.

"But he won't. Dad's strong, Meredith, he won't die. Now, you need to calm down before Delilah realizes our letters had bad news as well." Christian ordered in a severe voice that reminded me too much of Dad.

"She doesn't know?" I said. I was angry.

They couldn't keep keeping things away from Delilah, she was a smart strong girl, and she could handle the truth. I was starting to believe I wasn't that strong, contrary to popular belief. I just wanted my mum, that's all. But they wouldn't let me go to her office.

"She's not even thirteen yet, Meredith. How does one tell a girl like her that her father might die?" Ariadne asked me.

"She's not stupid, Ari, she will know something's up." I protested.

Although I knew what she meant in a way or another. I wasn't daddy's girl, Delilah was. Actually, she was daddy and mum's girl. She was the spoiled one, the baby girl. I was more attached to the twins than I was to mum and dad. If it had affected me this much, and I usually took bad news well, I couldn't imagine the emotional scar the news would leave on Delilah. Dad had never gotten hurt in a mission, not in my sixteen years of existence at least.

I turned my face to look at my sister. While Christian and Ariadne had sat near the entrance, Delilah had sat near the professors' table. She was looking our way, a frown on her face, while hugging Isabella, who was crying loudly. I realized with a pang what her crying meant. She was a muggleborn; the Death Eaters had been attacking the families of some muggleborns. There had been deaths. I knew Isabella Marx's parents were both dead.

I just knew, every fiber in my body was screaming that piece of information at me. In fact, as my eyes roamed around the Great Hall, I knew our father was the only one who got out alive. The pureblooded Ravenclaw girl who had ran out crying, I realized with a start, was the daughter of a friend of my dad's. Her family had been a recurrent guest in my aunt's Christmas ball. And now her father was dead. It could've been mine.

My eyes met James'. He had stopped reading the letter and had passed it to Remus, who was now passing it over to Sirius. James' face was full of worry and fear, he wasn't even trying to cover it up, and I knew he was pretty much thinking the same thing I was. His father had left unharmed, he was the one who took dad to St. Mungo's in the first place, but he knew the peril my father, his uncle, was in; he knew if it weren't for his father, dad would've died of blood loss. Lily had a hand on his arm and her eyes sparkled with tears. Mary and Dorcas had similar scared looks, while Marlene was biting her lip furiously as she read the letter over Sirius' shoulder.

Once Sirius was done reading, I watched as the letter fell from his hand and swiftly reached the table, where it stayed like a crumble meaningless piece of paper. I lifted my eyes and met Sirius' gray ones. I fought the urge to break down and cry.

"I want mum, I'm going to see mum," I mumbled, my voice trembling slightly.

"We'll go with you, okay? Come on."

With that, and with the nagging voice in the back of my mind that was screaming at me for lying to Delilah, we left the Great Hall and started the long way to my mother's office.

…..

"Mum?" Ariadne asked as we entered the quiet office.

My mother was sitting quietly next to the fire, a letter crumbled between her hands. The light of the fire reflecting on her face made her look gloomy; a stray tear sparkled on her left cheek. When she heard us, she quickly wiped the tear away and cleared her throat.

"Hey, Ari, Chris, Mere…" she turned to face us. I took a step forward and then another until I was kneeling in front of her. She tried to give me a smile as she took a stray strand of my golden short hair and put it behind my ear. "I suppose your aunt has informed you of what happened to your father already." She added sadly.

The twins walked up to us, Ariadne sat down on the chair's arm while Christian put a protective hand on mum's shoulder. We all nodded at the same time.

"Where's Delilah?" she asked Christian.

My brother looked down, ashamed. Apparently his idea of leaving Delilah in the dark wasn't so great anymore.

"We haven't told her yet, not until we're sure Dad is going to be ok," he said.

Our mother studied his face for a moment of silence before moving on her seat so she could face the three of us easily. She took one of our hands each and gave them a squeeze.

"I'm going over there now; I just wanted to talk to you first. Your father will be fine; this isn't the first time he's gone to St. Mungo's. When we were going out and on his first mission, he was injured as well and spent an entire month over at St. Mungo's." she comforted us.

"But aunt Andrea said—" I started.

"I know what she said, Meredith. But I talked directly with the healer and he said things are looking up. It might take some time for him to recover fully but he's not leaving us," she informed me.

"You're sure?" I asked her, my voice trembling a little.

"I'm sure, love." She soothed me.

She then got up and opened her arms. Ariadne and I took a step forward and buried ourselves in the warmness of her embrace, while Christian, ever the mature one, decided to hug all of us. I hated that he couldn't let mum hug him, no he had to be the grown up and hug her, us, the weaklings.

"I love you, the three of you. Tell Delilah the same thing and apologize for my absence." Mother kissed our foreheads and headed for the fireplace.

We watched as she took some floo-powder and called out her destination before disappearing into the green flames and leaving us in the now cold office.

….

"They lied," I mumbled.

Everyone looked up. I hadn't talked to anyone except for my siblings since yesterday but this fact was eating me up from the inside out. I had to tell somebody. We were in the Common Room, around the fire like always, and everyone had been chattering away about the Hogsmeade trip until I spoke up.

"We lied to her, told her Father was fine, that he wasn't in danger at all, that he would probably go home tomorrow." I elaborated.

"And that's not true." Lily stated.

I shook my head. "I thought it was the right thing to do, but what if it wasn't? I mean, we're visiting him today because mum says he's all right but what if he isn't as all right as we made him sound?"

Delilah would never forgive us if she found out we had lied about this to her. Of course we could always say that we didn't know he was in such a state, that we had been informed what we had told her but that would be another lie. If that were to be the case, the guilt would eat me alive.

"I don't understand something, though. If it was a battle, why weren't they prepared for the hit?" Remus asked after realizing no one had an answer to my mostly-rhetorical question.

Everyone remained quiet for a moment, trying to figure that out. I knew something was amiss in the scene, but I wasn't sure what it was.

"Because it wasn't a battle per say, it was an ambush," Sirius said suddenly and I nodded slowly.

"Fabian told me a few days ago that more houses had been marked, two of them were of muggleborns that came to school here. There were four aurors in the area, this wasn't even a mission from the Order," I told them.

Marlene, who was sharing the couch with Mary and Remus, perked up on her seat. "So the aurors were there protecting the families, were they not?"

"Exactly, two aurors per family. It was merely a precaution. But, and I know this might sound crazy, don't you think it's weird that the families that were marked lived only three houses apart? And the aurors that were sent in? they were all part of the Order." I explained my concerns.

"I think Black is right, this was a trick." I stated. "My father, my uncle, Donovan and Strauss… they're four of the best aurors out there. Two of them are part of the Order of Phoenix. They did this on purpose."

Silence filled the air again but this time, the air was filled by a tension never known to any of us. The assumption I had made was hanging upon us but nobody had voiced it yet.

"What does that mean?" Dorcas asked.

"It means," Sirius started after a pause. "That things are about to get worse and worse. It's time we accept the truth."

"And what truth is that exactly, padfoot?" James asked, obviously not liking the way Sirius' face darkened considerably at his own words. I didn't like it, either. It reminded me of Regulus and how he was always frowning.

"The truth is that we're at war and it doesn't matter whether we're muggleborns or pure-blooded, nobody is safe." I stated, meeting Sirius eyes and knowing that was exactly what he had meant.

I watched as our friends' expressions turned from confused and interested to terrified and I realized with a start that none of them had actually believed they were in any danger, none of them had thought that this war was actually real. I felt bad for bursting their bubble but it was time we took things seriously, because Sirius was right: things were about to get worse.