nathaliedew98: Thank you so much for your review :') Made my day. I hope this update was fast enough.

Love-Fiction-2021: This one is for you =)

Chapter 39: When Bella Melts Black

Unedited...

~oO Dumbledore's Office, Hogwarts

The room was dimly lit and the large clock on the wall opposite just struck twelve.

Nothing moved.

All the previous headmasters and headmistresses were fast asleep in their portraits.

The old wizard had not had any visitors today, and yet, an extremely unsettling feeling had engulfed him as he stood by his window, staring at the still and dark Forbidden Forest. In all honesty, there was nothing amiss, nothing out of place or awry. Everything was just as they should be.

But his heart was fluttering. Giving him a warning of some sort. About what, he couldn't tell. But something was definitely not right...

Sighing, the old wizard decided it was just him beating a dead horse over nothing and was about to turn around when something caught his eye. Something black and small seemed to be moving across the dark, quiet grounds.

Squinting through his half-moon glasses, Dumbledore leaned in further down his window to take a better look and realised the two black dots were the shadows of a pair of Slytherin students carrying a tiny lantern and making their way into the Forbidden Forest.

A slight annoyance gripped him as he watched the two students blatantly disobey the school rules in this fashion and was about to sound the alarm when another thought flashed through his mind. When Dumbledore himself was a student here, he too had spent most of his growing years getting dragged into the Forbidden Forest to discover its 'secrets' by his dear friend, Gellert. And it was those little moments that taught him everything he ever needed to know to become the greatest wizard of his age today... If his headmistress then had put a stop to his little escapades, who knows? The world may not even know of a wizard called Albus Dumbledore today.

Sighing half-heartedly, the warlock decided to turn a blind eye to this misconduct and drew the curtains, hoping he had done the right thing tonight.

~oO Forbidden Forest, Hogwarts

It was a beautiful, starry night, with the moon shining brightly down on them.

A nervous wriggle ran up his spine as he looked back on the number of rules the pair of them had broken in just the last hour.

He wasn't a rule-breaker.

Never had, and thought he'd never will, but here he was.

"Where are we going?"

"Trust me."

And Regulus simply does, no questions asked, as the older boy led him deeper and deeper into the Forbidden Forest.

The eerie sound of leaves rustling around him made his stomach squirm uncomfortably. "Are we even allowed to be here?" he asked in angst, constantly expecting Filch or some one else to burst through the trees and catch them red-handed.

"No," Amycus laughed, surveying the look of absolute terror on the younger boy's face. "But how does it feel?"

"What?"

"To live a little?"

Regulus grinned, his opinion of their illegal mission changing at once. "Amazing."

But just when he was starting to relax, however, a familiar face appeared in the darkness throwing him into a complete state of terror.

"R-R-Rodol-phus?" he stuttered, even as Amycus genially greeted the older man with a hug.

"Mr. Lestrange himself!" Amycus announced, receiving a pat on the back from their guest.

"Everything okay with you lads?" Rodolphus enquires, as if they had gathered for a happy picnic. "Have you told him anything?"

Amycus shook his head. "Too many eager ears at Hogwarts." He made a face. "Felt safer here."

"Tell me what?"

"Your next mission. Order's straight from the Lord himself." Amycus's eyes twinkled wickedly.

He's dangerous.

"So, you have the letter for the Lord with the confirmation that all will go as planned?" Rodolphus asked.

"'Course," Amycus grunted, handing Regulus the rolled scroll. "Read it first before Lestrange can take it back to camp," he said and the older pair started chatting about other important affairs that Regulus had no interest in.

Because something huge had caught his eye as he read through the scroll.

For a second he was not entirely sure if the words he was reading were really there or in his head, but his head did swim, and his hands did shake at what was getting promised to the Dark Lord. At what Amycus was promising Regulus would do as his next mission.

No way this was happening for real.

NOT in the slightest!

Regulus read and reread the letter again and again to make sure he had got this right, because in no universe was this ever going to happen! There was no way that Amycus expected Regulus to carry out this task. No way was Regulus EVER going to accept to doing this in this lifetime at least —!

"— Exciting, huh?" Amycus turned to the transfixed boy next to him, his face dripping with delirium. "This letter is the first official record of the announcement that you have transcended over to the Dark side..." his hummed, his voice dripping with honey.

"You're doing the right thing here, Black," Rodolphus said, watching the unsettled expression on Regulus's face. "Your holding your family's legacy high up unlike the rest of your filthy family," he spat out, venom spewing out his face. "Sirius, Andromeda, your mother, all blood traitors! Thank Merlin for Bellatrix though," he scoffed, speaking of his wife.

"Don't worry Lestrange, leave the lad to me," Amycus announced, smiling fondly down at Regulus, except there was a devilish glee in his eyes.

He's dangerous, Reg.

"I won't quit until he bears the Lord's mark on his hand."

"Oh, if all goes right with this mission, that's happening for sure!" Rodolphus and Amycus laughed elatedly. "And you shall be rewarded greatly, dear laddie," he said, ruffling up Rodolphus's hair and pulling out a pocket clock. "Well, time to go," he announced. "S'long then," he said, snatching the scroll out of Regulus's hand before snapping his fingers together and disappearing in a thick black smoke.

And an earth-shattering silence crashed into the pair of them, throwing them into a momentary state of lapse.

"There, all done. That wasn't so bad, was it?" Amycus whipped around smilingly, but a second later, his face fell. "Is everything okay?" he growled. "D'you not think you could do it—?" he asked in alarm.

"— No." Regulus whipped around, determination coursing through his veins. Frankly, it scared him thinking about just how much he was prepared to do (and lose) for this boy. All he had to do was tilt his head and Regulus would follow him to the end of the world. He didn't even know why he was so enamoured by Amycus Carrow, why he was willing to give him his all. All he knew was couldn't resist the temptation. Dangerous or not, he wanted Amycus. And he was willing to do whatever Amycus wanted of him. "I'm ready."

Amycus, though, merely regarded him with suspicion. "If you fuck up, my neck is on the line, you know that, right? Argh! I KNEW IT! I should NEVER have chosen soft little fourteen-year-olds for the task —"

"— I'm not soft!" Regulus snapped out angrily now. "Would you stop saying that?!"

Amycus looked unfaced. But something flickered in his eyes and his demeanour changed at once, going from looking vicious to concerned in a split second.

Stooping down, Amycus kissed him possessively. This was their first kiss ever, and Regulus visibly shivered under his touch.

"God, you're good," Amycus muttered. "You're really brave, you know," he said, wrapping his hands around the bony Slytherin.

"All this trouble truly only for you. You know that, right?" Regulus gazed into the eyes of his lover as he tugged him closer by his tie, his hand moving on its own accord. And somehow, in that instant, he felt a lot older than just fourteen. "Anything for you..."

Amycus offered him a crooked grin. "At least you didn't take after your traitor brother."

Regulus hardened at those words, an indignance taking over his heart.

"Don't call him that."

Even if he and Sirius weren't particularly close anymore, he still couldn't stand to hear anyone say a word against his older brother.

"Seems I've struck a nerve." Amycus slid his hands further to grip his arse now, his smirk telling Regulus that he had purely meant to.

"So... You really think the Lord is pleased with me, huh?" Regulus asked, trying to change the subject.

"What can I say?" Amycus laughs, leaning into the younger boy, a grin tugging at his lips. "At first he was surprised, no doubt... Dubious even of your commitment... But Bella put in a good word for you, and nobody, not even the Dark Lord, would doubt her."

Regulus's heart clenched at once at the mention of his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange. Of all his family members, he was most terrified of her because she was pure evil from head to toe. No one would ever know what she was thinking and quite frighteningly, no one could ever know when she'd drown them alive if they ever crossed her, no matter how small the issue at hand was.

Amycus is close to Bellatrix. Sirius's voice rang through his mind. They're dangerous, Reg.

"But you know what would truly please me?" Amycus's velvet voice ripped through the silence, startling him out of his thoughts.

A pale finger ran across Regulus's chest, pausing at the bottom of his shirt. And his whole being went up in flames at the touch.

"What?" Regulus breathed.

"Do what I taught you well and you will have earned my heart too," Amycus hummed and before he knew it, he had ripped Regulus's shirt off, his hands aggressively working on his belt.

The chill of the air stung him at once, but Amycus's kisses on his neck and shoulder soothed him too, throwing him into a state of pain and pleasure all at the same time. He needed him. Without thinking, Regulus gave in to his temptation fully, as the pair of them kissed and undressed each other like a synchronised dance routine. Amycus was rough, but gentle at the same time and Regulus needed exactly that, as his eyes rolled back into his head and the night's chill melted against their lusty fires.

~oO Williams' Cottage, Islington

Elizabeth Williams stared out into the beautiful starry sky, her mind far, far away.

She knew, somewhere under the same sky, her elder daughter rested too, sleeping peacefully into the night. And for a split second, she resisted a mad urge to pack up her things and rush over Scotland to see if all was okay with Isabella. She couldn't lose her child, not even in her wildest dreams...

"Richard, I —"

"— Lizzie..." her husband said for the fifth time that night. Propping himself up on his elbows, he looked at her, groggily. "She is fine," he spoke slowly, as if talking to a toddler. "She's under the watchful eye of Dumbledore. What more do you need, darling? What better wizard to protect our child than Dumbledore?"

"But I just have this awful feeling..."

"Look," Richard started, getting up from the bed and walking over to the window where his wife stood, clutching the picture of Isabella and Angela when they were tiny little toddlers. "You need to remind yourself that it's just a myth. It's not real. No one in their right mind would believe in the existence of the Cursed Pair and go all guns blazing after our daughter to claim their place on the throne of world domination, that's silly," said Richard, giving her a weak smile.

It was. It truly did sound silly when one put it that way.

But not a second later, another worrying thought crept up. "But you truly think we ought to tell her the truth?" she asked shakily.

Richard graced with her with a look filled with love and concern at the same time. "We've delayed it too much already, darling. She's old enough, she needs to know. Both her and little Angie... They're strong children, you've raised them so yourself, why are you so scared? Believe in them. Allow them to embrace their true identities for once, Lizzie... It's the least we can do as their parents."

A slow tear trickled down the side of her face. He was right. As always.

"I have written her a letter about it already, y'know?" she said, wiping her face. "I just never had the courage to post it."

"Post it," said Richard, embracing her gently. "We shall face the aftermath of it all together," he smiled, filling her heart with utmost love and gratitude.

"You know, just to make sure she doesn't get angry with me for keeping this a secret for so long, I included printed pictures of her, Angie, Sirius and Regulus as little kids, playing outside our house," Elizabeth said, a teary laugh escaping her. "You know how fond she is of Regulus, right? Nothing can ever enrage her if she's next to him..."

Richard grinned, looking back at those memories. "You're right," he said, picking up one of the photographs where Isabella was holding young Regulus by an arm and leg while he had taken the children to the beach nearly eight years ago. "She did love him. I loved him too. He was like the son I never had," he said, staring fondly into the picture of a tiny raven-haired boy dangling upside down from Isabella's hands, his face frozen with the biggest smile Richard had ever seen on him.

"I wish he'd write back to me, you know? I keep sending him letters and cakes and gifts, but I never get a reply."

"He's a child," Richard said matter-of-factly and smiled. "It's a child's job to be annoying and infuriating and testing our patience, until one day, he grows up, realises his mistake and sends you flowers on your birthday."

Elizabeth laughed, wiping her face yet again. "Why must you have the answers to everything?" she said, as he planted a kiss on her forehead. "Post Izzy's letter, Lizzy," he said, rocking his wife in his arms. "She needs to know. We can deal with Angie tomorrow with the truth."

~oO Great Hall, Hogwarts

It was the weekend.

It was only the third week into the start of the new year, so most of the school was spending a relaxed Saturday out in the gardens or by the lake; except the sixth and the seventh years. There was no time to relax whatsoever for this bunch and most of them were cooped up either in the library, in their dorms or in the Great Hall, buried behind their books and scratching away on parchments or practicing spellwork and enchantments.

And although Isabella down there with the rest of her House, belting out essays after essays, her mind was adrift and stuck in a whole other world, making it seem like she was swimming under water... People's faces were blurry, their voices muffled... Her own body seemed to move in slow motion, plunging her into a world of exhaustion and despair.

A flash of broad shoulders and jet black hair whizzed past her mind.

Stop it! she cried to herself, punching a hole in the parchment with her quill.

She bit her lip to stop herself from breaking, as her eyes filled up with tears that clouded her vision. It was over. Finished. Sirius was finally gone. He had finally let her go. She was free. Truly free. Except... Why did it have to hurt so bloody much?

A slow tear ran down her face. Accept it, she thought. Don't fight it, it's useless. You knew this day was coming...

But the more she repeated those words, the more miserable she became, because she could not believe this was the end. There had to be more...

He didn't even fight for you, Izzy. Let him go, please let him go...

"Potions giving you trouble?" a voice spoke, ripping through her mind like a knife.

Isabella wiped her tears and looked up to find Lucius standing next to her. At the Gryffindor table.

"Lucius!" she hissed, looking around in alarm to find twenty odd faces glaring in her direction. "Merlin's beard, what are you doing here?!"

"Talking to you," he replied simply and swooped down on the seat next to her, much to her disbelief.

"Are you out of your mind, walking into the Lion's den like this? Let's go somewhere else, d'you want to get killed —?"

"— I don't care, Bella," Lucius cut in, making her freeze on the spot. "They're just a bunch of tosspots, anyway. No one'd stand a chance if I wielded my wand, so simmer down." He took her hand and slid them down the long seat until they were relatively alone. "I er... I just needed to talk to you after my... 'outburst' the other day...?" he said, making a face for the lack of a better word.

Isabella graced him with a downcast look. "You were so brave to tell me that," she said, putting her hand on his and genuinely oozing with wonder at her best friend. "It's funny. I always had a feeling that you might fancy me, and yet, when you actually did tell me, I was taken fully by surprise too..."

Lucius huffed pitifully. "I didn't mean for you to learn of my feelings for you that way at all," he said, avoiding her gaze. "But it's true," he said, this time turning his gaze straight at her.

A warm silence followed that statement, where the pair of them simply held on to each other saying nothing.

"You are my best friend," Isabella started.

She felt Lucius nod against her hair. "You are and always will be."

"And I do love you tons."

"I bet you'd walk through fire for me," Lucius scoffed, bringing a smile on her face.

And then she saw the difference in colour of their robes.

"But you're a Slytherin... and I'm a Gryffindor..."

"...A perfect match, don't you think?" Lucius said jokingly, turning her head up to look into her face. "We'd balance each other out... Perfectly," he said earnestly.

"But you're a Malfoy, Lue... You're practically royalty..."

"And you're my queen..." he said, silencing her for good. "Any other concerns?" he added with a grin.

Isabella didn't say anything and simply laid her head on his shoulder, blissfully shutting off the voices in her head. "You truly are every girl's dream," she said as he knit his hand into hers.

- O -

Back in the Slytherin dungeons, it was a slow, quiet afternoon for two teenage boys stuck inside the fifth-year boys' dormitory.

He looked up warily from the bed as the younger boy packed his little rucksack with shaky hands. Neither needed to say the words out loud to express just how freaked out both of them were about the day's agenda.

"You alright there, Reg?" Amycus asked softly. Regulus felt a heat aggressively flooding through him, his words causing a strange knot in the pit of his stomach. And his chest tightened to match. He didn't respond at once and continued to focus on preparing his bag.

The two of them were alone in Amycus's dorm, and the state of the sheets on Amycus's bed was enough to suggest the amount of time they had spent wrapped around each other's arms in the last eighteen hours.

"Regulus?"

Regulus still showed no sign of having heard him, his hands clenching subconsciously at his sides.

"I'm talking to you!" Amycus finally yelled, roughly grabbing hold of his hand and turning him around, his eyes reddening with rage. "Listen, I need to know that you're okay," he leered, frowning into Regulus's soul. "I need to be sure as fuck that you're not having second thoughts about this, Reg, because my neck is on the line with the Dark Lord," he hissed dangerously. "I suggested your name for the task, I gave him reassurance that you'd carry it out without any hiccups this time, and it was I who taught you everything you needed to know for today, so don't you dare let me down for I will kill you if you do..." he whispered, glowering into the younger boy's face. "So tell me, Reg," Amycus started once more, his voice heavy with a deathly calm now, "Are you absolutely sure that you won't let me down? Because we've come too far to drop the ball now, y'know?"

Regulus flinched, his insides burning hot with rage and hurt. Because never in his wildest dreams did he imagine Amycus not believing in him. And just as the thought flashed by his mind, something terrible grew within, making him meaner and fiercer than ever; because that was the moment when he became a true Black.

"D'you not trust me?" he snapped back so fiercely, Amycus had to let go of his hand in surprise. "D'you not think I'm man enough to pull something like this off?"

Amycus paused, surprised at the sudden change of his tone. "That's not... I was just..."

"Do you not think I have forever and more dedicated MY WHOLE LIFE to the Dark side?" he insisted, drawing ominously closer to the green-eyed boy. "DO YOU NOT THINK, I AM, JUST LIKE YOU, A TRUE SERVANT OF THE DARK LORD?!"

Amycus blinked, a slight smile playing on his open mouth. "'Course not," he said quietly, regarding him with cautious wide eyes. "I was just concerned, what with the history you share with —"

"— You're forgetting I'm Regulus Black, Ames," he said, his voice dripping with arrogance that his family was so famous for. And he didn't sound one bit like the fourteen-year-old that he was. The voice belonged to someone much, much older. "A Black never quits. And I love you, so don't, under any circumstances, doubt if I'd do the job alright, because I will." Determination burned in his eyes as he turned back to packing his bag, leaving Amycus staring dumbfoundedly back at him.

- O -

The day wore on and it steadily got from bright to complete gloom by late afternoon.

But for one particular individual, the day could not be brighter.

Lucius nearly floated back into his room, his head spinning with the events from this morning, his hands still warm from where she had held him, lovingly... Helplessly...

Sinking into his bed, Lucius threw his legs up and rolled over to look at the beautiful terrarium that Isabella had given him last Christmas. The tiny wild flowers in there were in full bloom today, most like his own heart at the moment. The day had finally come when he could look into the distance and see himself entwined around the love of his life without the slightest care in the world for family, honour, titles, or blood... It was going to be just him and her together forever... To be fair, he was only partially sure that all this was happening for real, but he didn't care... He'd take half a life with her than a whole life with someone else any day.

As if hit by a bolt of lightening, he shot up from his bed, desperate to do something, anything to finally make her his. He couldn't wait, not even for second! He had to see her. Be with her. Tell her. Show her! Merlin's beard...

"Crabbe!" he called out breathily, shaking all over in excitement. "Help me pick out robes," he ordered, sniggering at himself in the mirror. "I'm not waiting anymore..." he nodded, numb with delight.

- O -

Evening was fast approaching and Isabella heaved a sigh of relief as she rolled up her Charms essay and threw away the quill in exhaustion. Leaning back, she stared into the fire, her heart clenching painfully in anguish. Because her mind was saying something, but her heart was saying something else.

"How far along are you, Lil?" she asked, watching her scribble away relentlessly.

"A foot more to go," Lily replied dryly.

Isabella raised her eyebrows in confusion. "Is everything okay?"

Lily shot her a look and went back to scribbling. "Why would you ask that?"

"Because you're being snappy. Whatever did I do to deserve that?"

"You're hallucinating."

"Cut it out!" Isabella yelled, making several heads turn around them. "If you don't want me to bother you, just come out and say it, alright? I'll leave you alone forever!"

"I'M NOT MAD AT YOU, I'M MAD AT BLACK!" Lily roared back, slapping her awake. "YOU! I'm mad at you, Black!" Lily yelled, screaming murder in Sirius's direction this time. "If you don't tell her, I will!"

Isabella blinked, completely thrown for words now while Sirius's eyes flickered panic in them.

"What are you talking about?" Isabella demanded, but Lily continued to have a staring match with a blank-faced Sirius.

"This has gone on for too long now."

"Lily, don't."

"Izzy, I should've said this to you a LONG time ago, but Sirius has —"

"LILY, please!" Sirius yelled, jumping up to his feet and exchanging a million unsaid messages with the redhead.

"Then tell her. And put her out of her goddamned misery!" Lily ground out, before hotly picking up her books and quills and storming out of the Common Room, leaving everyone gaping in her wake.

Isabella's mouth was still open when she turned to look at Sirius's face properly in days. "What the hell was that about?" she asked quietly.

James gulped, while Remus looked like he'd rather be in the Shrieking Shack than here right about now. Peter pretended to be engrossed in his textbook and Claiborne looked utterly clueless. Sirius, though, didn't say anything and mutely packed his bag. "Time to leave," he muttered listlessly tapping on his watch to tell her it was time for their detention with Sprout.

When Isabella didn't budge though, he let out a tired sigh.

"I'll tell you when we get there." When he saw how she wasn't convinced, he bent down and picked up her bag himself. "Come on," he said, tugging at her hand and climbing out the portrait hole.

- O -

A slow tear trickled down his cheek as he made his way down the stone steps.

He could not believe he was even moving in the direction of his destination as his legs took him there on their own accord. His mind was saying something, but his heart was saying something else, but no matter how much he pleaded with himself, he kept walking, inching closer and closer to where had to be...

Sniffing for hundredth time since he set off, he put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a Muggle photograph, one he had cherished quite dearly.

Wiping his eyes, and still walking, he stared into the picture nice and long... She was smiling so brightly... So full of love and joy... Looking down, he saw a smaller version of himself caught in mid-laugh in her arms, and his heart tightened in agony. He could not believe he was going to meet her very soon, and see that smile get wiped out forever...

But he had to go on. For Amycus. For the greater good. For the sake of Magic. For himself.

He had to keep walking.

- O -

"Angie, dear, Niamh's father will be here very soon to pick you up! Are you nearly ready yet?" Elizabeth called out from downstairs.

"I JUST NEED TO FIND MY CINDERELLA TIARA!" Angela screamed back, her tiny feet thudding against the wooden floor a level up.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "That's going to take her a solid three more months to find," she joked, making Richard laugh out loud.

"Just yesterday we were changing her diapers and today's she old enough to be our very own little princess," Richard said as she sat down next to him. "They grow up so fast."

- O -

It was 6 o' clock in the evening, and Sirius and Isabella had finally made it to their third day of detention together in the greenhouse. The walk down from the tower had been thick with tension, but what Sirius was feeling in his gut was something entirely different...

He was nervous but excited at the same time. Because for the first time in years, he was gripped with a kind of certainty that he had never felt before in his whole life, thanks to all the alone-time he was forced to have with Isabella during their detentions this week. And whether she liked it or not, he knew the pair of them had unconsciously grown really close with each other once again, something he knew ought to be torturing her out of her mind after how he broke her heart the other day...

After having made them spend three full hours de-weeding the pumpkin patch yesterday, Sprout seemed to have gone easy on the two sixth-years tonight with a quiet task of peeling the skin off of a box full of Shrivelfig.

A small fire crackled in the back as the hands of the large clock above ticked away the silence that abounded between them as they stood side by side, working on one fig at a time. But the longer the silence persisted, the more desperate Sirius became to break the spell, and kept stealing glances at the gorgeous brunette next to him. Not that he was complaining, of course... Anything to look into those stunning, dazzling depths, that were her eyes...

He shook himself up.

WHAT, in the name of Merlin is wrong with you, Sirius? Get it together, he yelled to himself. But not a second after he thought that, his face involuntarily turned a deep crimson at the mere thought of her all over again. He gave her a sidelong look and noticed how pretty she looked right now in her peach bat-sleeve crop top and jeans, making his stomach lurch uncomfortably.

"D'you remember what happened in this very table, three years ago?" Sirius muttered, not looking up from his bucket.

"April 25th, 1973. Of course I remember," Isabella mumbled back crabbily. "That was the day when we had that massive screaming match in front of all of our classmates and —"

"— and you stopped talking to me completely for the next two years until you tried out for the Quidditch team," Sirius finished for her. "Frankly, I thought that was it, y'know? That we'd never go back to being in each other's lives again..."

Isabella looked up as if surprised to realise he even had an emotional side to him at all. "How's that even possible, Sirius..." she said quietly. "This is about you and me, we've known each other our whole lives... Unfortunately, neither of us can get rid of the other even if we want to.

Sirius scoffed a knowing smile, one she returned.

"Secondly, I saw how much it meant to you that I took you back. And for once, you had started being nice to me again... I wouldn't have made it to the team if it wasn't for your training."

Sirius clicked his tongue. "Honestly, I didn't have to do much at all. You were amazing already... I just needed an excuse to get you to start talking to me, that's all," he admitted, squirming a little in guilt next to her.

Isabella didn't say anything and simply stared back at him looking amazed. "Wow, that... That was really sweet."

Sirius, though, scoffed at himself unforgivingly. "What?! In what way...? God, Izzy, you're precious... How you manage to keep letting me off the hook after all the crap I put you through day-after-day, I'll never know," he said in a quiet voice, amazed at the very least. Dropping the Shirvelfigs, he turned around and looked into her eyes, as if trying to look for answers in those perfect, glass orbs, a melancholic tone gripping his heart.

Incredibly though, despite the tension that abounded between them, Sirius's mind went off the rails all of a sudden, and instead decided to register how her loose top fell neatly over her chest, hugging her skin and revealing a hint of her lovely...

Keep it together!

And all this while she stood there, eyes widened in awe. "You actually realised that you were putting me through various levels of torture all these years?" she asked, looking genuinely surprised. "Sirius Orion Black... I have to say, that's progress," she said, clapping her hands together in mock appreciation.

"Hey. Stop it," he said and slapped her hands away from his face. "I only speak about the current situation I am putting you through, not all of our time here in Hogwarts, okay? I wasn't nearly as bad as you make me seem, so don't try and guilt-trip me into your crazy theory of my head being the size of Hagrid's tenders so much so that I lost sight of you for the last five years, Izzy! I'm not letting you talk me into that argument again this time!"

Isabella's eyebrows shot up as she graced him with a look of absolute incredulity, which instantly made him go, "Well, not entirely at least —" he trailed off defensively.

"Really?" she challenged, angrily shoving the Shrivelfig back into her pile and turning to face him once again. "Tell me then, Sirius... Exactly where were you when Alecto set my hair on fire in our second-year? Why were you pointing and laughing at me along with your buddies instead of being my friend there, let alone being my knight in shining armour?!" she said, her voice steadily rising. "Funnily enough, they weren't even your friends! Heck, she was a Slytherin!" she yelled, her face burning up in anger.

Sirius scoffed defeatedly. "Merlin, Izzy... That was just —"

"Third year, in Potions class. I was sitting fives seats away from you just to make sure I put as much distance between you and I as possible, and yet!" she paused to glare at him, her teeth grinding away in rage, "You and James sneak up behind me in his stupid Invisibility Cloak and drop a pinch of powdered Shrake scales into my draught, only to have it EXPLODE in my face!"

"Oh god! Not that one again...!" Sirius groaned, slapping his hands on his face in exasperation. "Okay, I admit, I did go a bit too far with that one —"

"— Too far?"

"I didn't expect for things to turn that bad, Iz...!"

"I spent a week in the Hospital Wing, recovering from the burns, Sirius!" she shrieked.

Beads of sweat burst forth the pores on his forehead now as he started fidgeting, huffing and wondering why he had even initiated to open this can of worms in the first place; because she was dishing out one good-enough-reason after another as to why he was such a tosspot and not ONE of them was even remotely refutable.

"And what's worse," she continued much to his dread, "it didn't just end with you abandoning me, no. You had to go all the way and think of ways and means to torment me by playing pranks of your own, leaving me cringing in embarrassment while my dignity hung by a thread!" she said and breathed heavily as all the pent up anger finally seemed to fume out through the very pores of her face. "So then, tell me, or rather enlighten me, Sirius, on if it is good enough timing to let you go on that guilt-trip that you oh-so-pompously refused to take, mere moments ago?" she asked scathingly.

"I CANNOT believe you're even asking me this question, Izzy!" Sirius finally shot out before he could stop himself. "Honestly, are you really this blind?" he yelled, his voice echoing around them.

Isabella paused, looking completely thrown for words at the sudden change of tone in his voice.

"What are you on about?" she asked, frowning incredulously.

Fuming on the spot, he rounded up on her, fully prepared to unleash the gates of hell now.

"It's like you don't even KNOW me anymore!" he shouted. "Tell me, Izzy," he said, with an air authority and confidence as he (quite unnecessarily) slapped the Shrivelfig out of her hand, swung her around by her forearm to face him. "And really think before you answer this question. How many other girls do I hunt down and play pranks on, eh?" he asked and raised his eyebrows at her. "Lily is my friend too, but why haven't I ever gone after her? Why was it always you?" he asked, shocked at himself that he was steering this conversation in this direction. But he didn't care anymore.

Her eyes widened.

And it looked like a light bulb had finally gone off in Isabella's head too, because she was staring back at him in complete bewilderment, almost as if she didn't want to believe what all her senses were screaming at her.

Unfortunately though, the longer they stared at each other, the more Sirius found himself slipping into that point of no-return that he'd tried and avoided for months now. He was steadily starting to lose the plot, unconsciously drawing her closer to him. Isabella, too, looked positively flushed as those determined, grey eyes bore into hers. What's worse though was, instead of arguing on, the two of them ended up simply standing there, staring into each other's depths and drowning in them at the same time, quite forgetting why they came about being in that position in the first place.

After what felt like an eternity, Isabella darted her eyes away, finally breaking the spell. Realization dawned on her, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words out loud and ended up defensively staring back him. Sensing the ego she was currently battling in her throat, he let go of her and shook his head lightly, his breaths coming out in rags now. "Say it," he said, clenching his jaw. "You know why," he added in a quiet voice. He was towering over her at 6'1 so much so that he had to arch his neck to look down at her face.

Isabella was almost asthmatic now, as she felt her pride mount up and implode inside her with every passing second under Sirius's gaze.

"Well, it doesn't matter what I know anymore, does it?!" she said loudly, avoiding his eye. "You ended it a couple of days ago anyway, so why bother going through these details now —"

But she was cut off mid-sentence when he grabbed her face and forced it up to face him, her petite figure getting enveloped in his massive frame. "BECAUSE. You. Were. Special," he muttered slowly trying to drill the words down her skull. "Because I was desperate to get your attention of all. Because you were never only a friend to me, Izzy..." he said, making her blush crimson at once, but he went on. "I was scared and confused about what I was feeling for you and needed just about any excuse to get you to talk to me, to look at me! I bothered you so much because you truly meant something else to me, and I didn't even KNOW what that was...!" he breathed, letting years' worth of pent up emotions out all at once. "Merlin, you've no idea how miserable I was when you walked out on me... I missed you Iz... Terribly," he whispered, gently tugging a strand of hair behind her ear, and doing everything in his power to not crash his lips against hers this very second. "Why, Izzy, why did you shut me off? We needn't have lost all those years not talking to each other, why...?" he said, releasing her at last.

Evidently, it looked like he had driven her speechless, because she kept mouthing gibberish until finally giving up. Distractedly, she put her hands on her hips and looked up at him, as he leaned against the wooden table with his arms crossed across his chest.

"Because I wasn't your only friend anymore," she replied shakily. "Sirius, I've been alone all my life, save the few years I got to run around the quiet lanes with you around our homes in Islington. Never had friends in my Muggle school, and even if I did, they were all so unbelievably mean to me because I was fat...! When I got here, though, I was happy that I at least had you to keep me company only to realize I was wrong. You made new friends, you got a whole new life and... I started to fade away in the background... There came a point where I was just some girl you grew up with. You may have had me hovering somewhere in your second circle, Sirius, but you were never truly there for me as I was for you," she finished.

Sirius immediately rolled his eyes and was about to retort when he noticed her eyes welling up as she quickly turned her gaze back to her bag of Shrivelfig.

His heart fell.

How the hell was he always causing her so much pain even when he never intends to?

Kicking himself mentally, he surveyed her for a second before apologetically slipping his hands over shoulder and hugging her from the back, only to realise just how thin she had gotten and how her bones nearly threatened to break under his grip. "Merlin, I'm sorry," he whispered, resting his face on her neck while his hands slipped further down around her waist, one she seemed to gladly accept.

"In all frankness, it wasn't fair to expect so much from you," she contended. "But to me, we were always The Fraught Four, y'know? In my head, it was going to be us against the world until Regulus walked out on us. I just didn't think you'd leave too, just like your brother."

"Don't say that, Izzy, I didn't. I couldn't even if I wanted to!" he stressed, twirling her around. "I mean, I know I did get carried away with James and the boys at the start but do you honestly not remember me running after you, trying to patch things up between us at all?" he demanded feeling mighty hurt.

Isabella blinked incredulously. "All that was after I'd won some matches for Gryffindor and earned some popularity, Sirius!"

"Blimey, Izzy, honestly?!"

"Yes!" she yelled. "Tell me honestly, had I been the same old fat young Izzy, would you have still looked forward to spending a whole week's detention with m..."

"HELL, YES!" he responded, before she could even finish asking the question. "I cannot believe this is even a point of contention, Izzy!" he said accusatorily, his brain imploding in shock. "Every time we won a match, you're the first person I look for to celebrate my victory with! Back in second-year, when Gryffindor won against Hufflepuff, did you notice me calling out your name as you turned your back on me because of that PIG, Claire? Haven't you noticed me kicking Lucius's butt every time he so much as breathed on you during our matches?! Every time I'm snogging a girl, it bothers me when you walk in on us. Heck! Do you NOT realise that I'm absolutely fucking CRAZY about you, Izzy?! That I've BEEN crazy about you for the last several years? That all I ever wanted was you but was too fucking cowardly to say it out loud. That I'm actually trying to ask you out now even as you stand there looking at me?!" he roared, his jaw clenching relentlessly in angst.

A thick blanket of silence fell around them as his words jarred against the glass walls, rendering her numb in speechlessness.

Neither said anything and simply seethed in the aftermath of his words.

"You're what...?" she finally asked, as if hit by a bolt of lightening.

A moment passed. Sirius couldn't believe he had actually said all that — out loud.

- O -

Regulus was panting heavily now as he stood on the mound and looked at the little cottage from afar, a tiny little fire playing in the fireplace at the back.

His wand was drawn, twirling dangerously in his grip.

The hike up to this place had given him enough time to cancel out any ounce of softness he possessed within, as the photograph lay crumpled up and discarded in his pocket.

He could see her face now, talking animatedly in the dim light. She was really beautiful, even from this distance...

Don't do it, Reg... a tiny voice inside dared to speak. You love her, it said.

The corners of his eyes prickled with sadness, because he knew nothing was ever going to reverse tonight's fate: his mind was made, and he was going to have to do it. He stood there, staring at her a moment longer, acknowledging that these were going to be her last moments on this planet, and she didn't know it...

Wiping his face yet again, he strode on, inching closer to his target...

- O -

"You're what...?" Isabella repeated, her eyes filling up for good measure now.

Multiple explosions were going off in his brain as he inched away from her. "Nothing... It's nothing, forget that I said anything," he said, terrified out of his mind now.

"Sirius."

Breathing was becoming a challenge as his heart pounded against his ribs in angst.

"Se-several... years?" she repeated, his words replaying in her mind over and over again.

Sirius literally had to close his eyes to dim the anguish in his heart.

"This is what Lily was talking about earlier?" he heard Isabella ask, her voice shaking as if she was dreading his answer. "You told her?"

"Let it go, Izzy, please..." he breathed, cowering behind his hands and backing away from her.

"How long... Sirius..." she insisted.

Huffing loudly, he knew there was no running away from this now. His hands quivered in nervousness as he contemplated on whether or not he should tell her the truth. Finally, he hung his head defeatedly, turned around and looked up only to say, "Four years..." he muttered.

Isabella froze, shock coursing through her spine as the words crashed into her like broken glass.

Four years...

That was how long she had been hung up on him too... Blinking rapidly, she tried to process that information as calmly as possible, except her mind was imploding wildly unto itself.

A shudder ran up Sirius's spine as he watched her reel in shock in front of him, looking gorgeous beyond belief...

He had to say something.

"I er..." he sighed, and paused for a bit to gather up the courage to finish his sentence. Squinting to himself, he drew in another long breath and looked straight at her. "You're wonderful... Izzy..." he began, fighting the urge to grab hold of her. "You tip my whole world over... And I'm mad for you. Absolutely bonkers..." he muttered, clenching his jaw one more time. "I may have been an IDIOT all these years, but that's only because you were on my mind all the damn time..." he said looking straight into her eyes. "I think about you when we're in the exam hall taking our A.P.E.'s, I think about you when I'm playing a prank on someone with the boys, I think about you during lunch, I think about you when we're in the Quidditch pitch, I think about you pretty much ALL THE TIME! I never let my sight off of you, Izzy. I couldn't. NOT for one second," he said and looked down at his shoes, positively turning crimson around his ears now. "So don't ever say I wouldn't choose you. I'd take any version of you any fucking day..." he said, simmering with hurt.

Her heart pounded against her chest, as she swam in years' worth of information thrown at her all at once.

Unfortunately, despite all that he had just said, the only information that registered in her head was —

"Four years..." she repeated, panting in disbelief, battling with herself to not blank out in shock. "Four years?!" she said more loudly this time making him double back fearfully.

"Wha..." Sirius stammered shakily. "Baby, don't be mad... Look, I —"

"— 'Don't be mad'? How do you expect me to not be mad, Sirius, I'M FURIOUS!"

"Well, you shouldn't be! You hid it from me too until last year?!"

Isabella bit back a retort, but before she could stop herself, the words were out of her mouth. "Yes, but you didn't nearly ruin both of our lives like I did!" she shrieked, making him look up in alarm. "Oh, god, I WAS SO STUPID!" she wailed mostly to herself whilst gripping her head in shock. "Merlin, and I nearly lost you forever...!" she muttered, lips quivering uncontrollably, making him frown in absolute bewilderment.

Sirius knew the night was going to take the two of them down a winding path, making them finally open up and peel away layers and layers of unsaid emotions buried under their egos for years. What he was not expecting was the plot to get thicker and thicker in his head with the most unexpected twists and turns like this. Because in all honesty, he couldn't, for the life of him, decipher why Isabella was so upset all of sudden, and why she thinks she would have lost him forever because he didn't speak up earlier...

He paused, trying to wrap his head around this sudden bout of extreme reaction.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, bracing himself for the worst now.

But Isabella was shaking on the spot in a sort of frenzy now, one that made him nearly keel over. "Sirius, I almost got myself expelled in our second-year thinking you hated me!" she cried.

Unfortunately, he continued to draw a blank. "WHAT? Why would you...? Expelled...? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ON ABOUT?" he shouted, watching her sniff uncontrollably.

But she didn't say anything and chose to grab his hand instead, as if trying to calm him down. "Sirius..." she started, hardly breathing. "Y-You remember that time in our second year when... you and James stole the Transfiguration test papers for R-Remus?" she asked, completely knocking the breath out of him.

Time stopped.

A slow numbness crept up his hands as her words crashed into him in waves.

Because up until a second ago, he thought no one outside the Marauders had known about this... It was going to be the one secret they were going to take to their graves. But then, four years later, here he was, facing his biggest fear ever...

"You... You know about that?" he asked slowly, not even daring to breathe now. "W-Wha... What about it...?"

"Well," she continued, "I... I overheard McGonagall and Dumbledore discussing the matter, and McGonagall said... If she ever found out the student responsible for it, she... she'd have them expelled," she paused, her eyes the size of tennis balls now. Flabbergasted, Sirius inched closer towards her, positive that he was NOT going to like what she's about to say.

"Izzy, wh... WHAT DID YOU DO?" he whisper-yelled, almost hyperventilating at the thought.

"I... Oh, Sirius..." she stuttered, seemingly kicking herself for her stupidity.

"Just tell me!" he growled back looking homicidal now.

Shaking in fear, she said it one breath. "I knew it was you two who had done it... And I... I didn't want you to get into trouble... So, I..." she shut her eyes in absolute trepidation, "I went into her office and l-lied saying I stole the question p-paper..." she cringed and looked up at Sirius, who looked like he'd just been smacked across the face. "You see..." she continued on, making him angrier and angrier by the second. "At that point I was done with Hogwarts and —"

A chilling shudder ran down Sirius's spine as he grabbed her by her hands and pulled her closer to him. "God, Izzy, you're so STUPID!" he hissed, overrun with love for her. "What the fuck is wrong with you?! ARE YOU MAD?!"

"I know, I know, I know, I know...!" she shuddered, almost at breaking-point now and cowering under his death-glare. "I know, baby, I'm sorry, I really, really am..." she breathed, as she stood there with his hands tightly gripping her arms. "God, I was stupid...!"

"Yes, you were!" he growled angrily, their faces were inches away from each other now.

"I wasn't thinking s-straight, Sirius, I..." she pleaded, knotting her fingers in his lustrous hair.

"No, you weren't," he shook his head vehemently, urgently wrapping her entirely inside him, legit melting under her gaze now.

"It's ju... It's just..." her breath hitched in her throat as if she couldn't physically handle how alluringly his hands were wound around her, "You were my best friend, Sirius..." she whispered, making him shut his eyes angrily for a brief moment before fluttering them open again; he had had enough. "I couldn't let anything bad to happen to you..."

Sirius felt his anger mount inside of him as he glared daggers at her. "But it's okay if something bad happened to you?" he fumed sarcastically. "It's okay if your life was ruined while I went about goofing around this stupid place scot-free?! Do you realise I'm a goner without you, you idiot?! Honestly, do you EVER think of me, Izzy...?" he roared, as he held her closer than ever.

"That's the problem, though, isn't it...?" she whispered shakily, wrapping her hands around his neck and getting up on her tiptoes to level with him, making his heart stop beating entirely in his chest. "I always think of y..." but before she could finish, she found his angry lips engulfing hers, instantly silencing her.

One hand coiled as tightly around her lean waist as possible and the other clasped the back of her head, as he desperately tried to avow ALL of his heart's unsaid desires, years of yearning and silence, into this one kiss, except she was ramming into him with equal furore too making him blank out completely in awe.

She was kissing him back, and he couldn't believe it... She needed him just much as he needed her...? The implosions in his brain...

Everything else stopped existing for him in that second.

There was nothing else on his mind except for him and her and this moment, being wrapped around each other and plunging into a state of oblivion as he lived out every kind of fantasy he'd ever had about kissing the Goddess herself. What was different about the real thing though was that, her body was SO MUCH MORE luscious and heart-stopping than he had ever imagined, driving him absolutely mad with ecstasy...

He was so deeply enamoured in the moment, so overrun with stupefaction that her legs momentarily left the ground, as he plundered her lips as if there was no tomorrow. Part of him still could not believe this was actually happening, as he slid his hands down to grab her perfectly round arse, making her shudder in deliration. Moaning and whimpering in approval, he felt her dumbfoundingly voluminous breasts driving into his stone-hard front, rendering him momentarily dizzy.

"Slow down, baby, god..." he whisper-growled against her skin as he tried to calm his fired up brain, but she punished him back by smackering his jaw and neck, making him squirm uncontrollably that he had to attack her lips again to make her stop.

Staggering in each other's arms, the two of them swayed around the dimly-lit room, drowning in passion and begging each other for more... Roughly pushing her up against the wall, he rammed his throbbing dick against her front, making her yelp in surprise under his weight. Loving the effect he was having on her, he hungrily slipped his hands inside her top, ravaging her face and neck with his lips as he continued to grind against her to eternity, making her swoon in submission.

"Took you so long..." she breathed, holding on to him for dear life, and burrowing further into his chest.

"I know... Kill me already..." he growled back, lifting her up and pushing her on to the wide window sill, allowing her to straddle him and grind him giddy, leaving him begging for mercy. Whimpering in carnal delight, he captured her lips again, his cold hands exploring her body, feeling every rib and every inch of her boiling hot skin. Still kissing, and still delightfully rubbing against her front, his fingers finally found her lace bra and gingerly traced the length of the fabric, itching to rip it off entirely but thankfully held put and waited at the seam, as if seeking her divine approval. An agitated moan from her was all he needed to whip the fabric up and claim her mind-numbingly hot breasts in his hands, thumbing her hardness, rubbing the soft skin and squeezing the life out of those wondrous orbs.

"Oh, dear god..." she whispered shakily, except her hands hungrily wrapped around his head in a greedy embrace.

Driven mad with ecstasy, he groaned huskily against her searing hot skin. "I love you too, baby..." he mumbled back and dutifully kissed her bare chest, devouring every inch of her voluptuous breasts, only ever pausing to suck on her skin and watch it turn a ghastly shade of red. Locking his fingers with hers and dipping into oblivion yet again, he held her up against the glass window and plunged it into his mouth, licking and sucking on her nipples and tasting seventh heaven. What made it all worse though were her heightened cries for help as he plundered on her mounds like nobody's business, his mind imploding in exaltation. Caught between wanting it all to stop and yet, not wanting it all to stop, all she could do was endure the sweet anguish while he caressed and kissed and sucked every inch of her breasts as was possible.

"Sirius, please..." she hissed, moaning in approval, as was he, blood rushing to his face in pure arousal.

Melting in her hands, he realised he could not have imagined this day better. He couldn't, for the life of him, ask for more, because Isabella was truly above and beyond all fucking imagination... He knew passion, but nothing compared to what she had for him. He's seen beauty, but a woman this staggering was beyond him. He's felt love before but this right here was what 'forever' was made of.

"God, Izzy..." he wailed, feeling her lips trail along the length of his jaw, their jeans on the verge of catching fire between them now, but he wouldn't want it any other way. Grabbing hold of her face, he crashed his lips on to hers once again, the pair of them swooning in each other's arms and snogging to life's end, falling irrevocably in love with each other.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of blissful snogging, he pulled her back to solid ground as they broke apart, shaking feverishly in each other's arms, panting and gasping for air, their faces red as tomatoes now.

The room had gone awfully cold now, making a shiver run up his spine.

"That was..." she started, gulping in air and burrowing into him for warmth.

"Yeah...!" he grinned, out of breath himself. "You're amazing..." he managed, giving her a loving kiss on the nose.

"So... You and I... We're really...?"

Sirius grinned and nodded, making her blush furiously. "'Really' really..."

"Thank god..." she joked, weakly wrapping her hands around him and looking up. "Merlin, look at you..." she whispered, rubbing his blood-red face.

"I love you," he blurted out, looking straight into her eyes. He circled his hands around her naked back as he pulled her closer to him. "I love you, Izzy. I've loved you, I always have..." he breathed as they continued to stare back at each other. "You move me, Izzy. You take my breath away..." he breathed, resting his forehead against hers. "It's not a game," he said, with his eyes closed. "With you... it never was," he sighed and swooped down to kiss her once more. Isabella stood there, melting in his hands as he kissed her again with more passion when they were suddenly interrupted.

Footsteps...

The two of them swung around in surprise.

- O -

He inched closer to the window, stomping against the stone floor.

She jerked her head up at the sound and squinted at the window.

"Who's there?" she called out and stood up to get a better look. "Are you lost?"

No answer.

Inching closer to the window, she adjusted her glasses. "Can I help you...?" She paused, her eyes widening in recognition. "Regulus? Is that really you? What are you doing here, dear?" she asks, only to see him raise his wand at point it straight at her face.

- O -

"Who's that?" Sirius muttered, as the sound of the footsteps grew louder and louder.

'...she ought to be in there, I'm positive...' came a voice from a distance.

'You sure about that, Goyle? I wouldn't want to walk all the way to the greenhouses for nothing, now...' came another sneer.

'They were punished, of course they're in the greenhouses...!' came the reply.

'Quick, how do I look?' the second voice spoke again.

'Fantastic' the boy said, although not sounding entirely honest.

Sirius and Isabella exchanged confused looks but, before anyone could even say something, the doors to the greenhouses burst open and two tall figures stood at the entrance. At first, there wasn't enough light, so they couldn't make out the shapes of the two uninvited guests who seemed to have stopped dead in their tracks upon looking at the scene that invited them. Sirius only then realized the two of them were still wrapped around each other with his hands inside her jumper. He quickly put her bra clasp back on and slowly untangled himself from Isabella.

"Well, well, well," came a voice from the entrance.

Sirius quickly stepped in front of Isabella and put a protective hand around her. The boy who had spoken up first stepped in and the dull light from the candles lit up his face: Lucius Malfoy.

To Sirius, Malfoy looked ridiculous, with his hair combed back and plastered around his skull, wearing black velvet robes and a bow-tie to complement it. He was also holding a very large, and ugly-looking Asphodel flower in his hand and, in all honesty, looked like he was going to a funeral.

"'Well, well, well' yourself, mate," said Sirius, biting back the urge to burst out laughing. "Getting out our Halloween costumes already, I see," he said, this time grinning broadly.

Goyle, clenched his hand and stomped his foot hard on the stone floor, as if sending out a warning signal to shut up, but it unfortunately made Sirius want to break out laughing even more. Isabella shot him an annoyed look before turning back to look at Lucius and his dying flower.

"Wh... What is it, Lucius, what's happened?" she asked, still sounding very distracted and still very red in the face. "Are you here to see me?" she said, suspiciously eyeing the flower in his hand.

Lucius ground his teeth as he glared straight into Isabella's eyes. He looked both angry and hurt at the same time.

"It's nothing," he spat out and threw the flower to the floor. "Let's go, Goyle!" he ground, looking uncharacteristically malicious. "We're leaving!" he ordered and swung around at the speed of light.

"Lucius!" she called out, and jogged towards him. "What's the matter, why do you look so annoyed?" she said, smiling uncertainly. "I mean, aren't you a little early? I thought we were going to meet sometime after my detention..."

"OF COURSE YOU WANTED TO MEET AFTER YOUR DETENTION!" he spat out sarcastically. "Wouldn't want any interruptions, now, would we?" he smiled manically, pointing in Sirius's direction.

Sirius, though, merely shrugged and comically put his hands out in defense to indicate his complete non-involvement in this situation.

Isabella had gone livid in the face. "You don't mean that..." she spoke slowly, her mouth hanging open in shock. "I cannot believe you said that. Surely you're made of better stuff than that, Lucius," she hissed, her eye twitching dangerously.

"Oh, what would you know?!" he leered back, seething with disgust and rage. "Merlin, I was so stupid!" he said, grinning oddly to himself and holding the bridge of his nose as if they were having a private joke. "And to think I wasted all those years running after you!"

"Lucius, please let me explain —"

"— NO. THANK. YOU!" he roared back, his lips twitching in rage. "I saw EVERYTHING I needed to when I walked in, pumpkin, so please save your breath!" he winked sarcastically.

Isabella merely stared. "WHAT THE HELL'S GOTTEN INTO YOU, LUE?! Why're you behaving like this?"

"Izzy, le'it'go."

"Yeah, listen to Shaggy Hair, he's finally managed to say something I agree with," Lucius scoffed, making Sirius tense a bit. "Honestly, though?" Lucius began, staring back coldly back her. "Of ALL the disappointments I've had to face in my life, Bella you'll probably be the worst of them all..." he declared, glowering at her.

Sirius immediately stepped next to Isabella and pulled her away from Lucius, sporting an equally dangerous grit on his face as Lucius was. "One more word out of line and you're walking back with a cracked skull, Malfoy..." he said through gritted teeth.

Isabella, who was still seething in rage at what he'd said, wrung her hand out of Sirius's grip and stepped in between Lucius and Sirius again. "Five years of friendship and that's your opinion of me? FIVE YEARS we've spent together and that's how you want to leave things between us, Lue?" she yelled, tears pooling in her eyes.

"OH YES!" he yelled back, smiling devilishly. "I'm finally awake, thanks to you and your little wanker here!" he spat out.

"Stop it! Stop talking like the Slytherin scum you hang out with, Lucius, because I know you aren't like that! You're different, you're my friend!"

"EXACTLY! You were my friend too!" he spat out, his blond strands sticking out of his perfectly combed hair now. "I really looked up to you! In my head, you were that girl that I had to earn. You were that girl who was worth all the fight, all my attention!" he shouted.

"Er..." Sirius cleared his throat, making them break eye-contact and turn to look at him. Going by the expression on Sirius's face, Isabella knew Sirius was going to make THE MOST inappropriate remark ever ANY second now. And he did. "Not trying to get in the way of true love or anything, Lord Malfoy, but we," he said, pointing to himself and Isabella, "were in the middle of something insanely important to my tenders, so you mind...?"

"SHUT UP!" yelled Isabella and Lucius at the same time.

Lucius's nostrils flared as he breathed heavily and glared back at her, his face teeming with disappointment. "I thought you were different from all the other girls, but NO! YOU'RE ALL THE SAME, AREN'T YOU?!" he bellowed, pointing at Sirius.

"Hey, what is THAT supposed to mean?" yelled Sirius, pretending to be hurt.

"SIRIUS?!" yelled Isabella, looking daggers at him but he clearly seemed to enjoy showing Lucius who was boss.

Lucius merely looked between Sirius and Isabella and grimaced even more. "Really, him?" he asked a quiet voice, a hint of hurt playing in his eyes, as he stared disbelievingly at Isabella. "Hagwhore..." he muttered.

That did it.

Sirius shot a murderous look at Lucius and put a firm hand on his chest. The two boys glowered at each other and both Isabella and Goyle stared on helplessly as the other two got into a full-blown stare down contest. Sirius was clearly a couple of inches taller than Lucius and towered over him making him seem more intimidating.

"You take that back," Sirius said, in his most dangerous and sinister tone ever. "You take that back or I'll make sure I crush that face of yours so much you won't even recognize it...!" he growled, nudging him painfully in the ribs.

"Sirius, stand down!" yelled Isabella, only to be royally ignored by His Highness.

Lucius merely smirked. "Oh, she's all yours now," he said, smiling stupidly. "I'm never taking back a hagwhore that's got your scent all over..."

But Goyle and Isabella never got to hear the rest of the sentence as an enraged Sirius threw a punch squarely in the face, bludgeoning his nose altogether! All hell broke loose when Lucius Stupefied! him, making him get thrown on the stone floors. He went running daggers towards Sirius and had every intention to pound his face out of recognition when Goyle and Isabella intervened and dragged him away from Sirius and threw him on the other side.

"Lucius, GET OUT!" shrieked Isabella. Anger and rage burned through her pupils as she glared at the two Slytherin boys.

"Y'know, if it hadn't been for..."

"Leave. Now."

- O -

She shook in fear as she faced her demon not three feet away by the window, his wand pointing straight at her head.

"I love you, Regulus," she whimpered. "You're a wonderful child."

"Elizabeth?" A voice called from behind. "Darling, what —"

"AVADA KEDAVRAAA!"