The Brothers Black

Chapter 29

The last few days of school blended together. It seemed our professors had decided to pile a ton of schoolwork on us just before exams. On top of that, the boys had disappeared to their O.W.L.'s, Shirley and Mandy weren't speaking again, and Quidditch was over. We had crushed Ravenclaw in a 250-10 victory. Bertram played terribly, and I scored ten times on him (which made me happier than anything). The only shot they made was when Davey's broom started malfunctioning and he left the hoops completely open. Katie closed us out with an early catch of the snitch, and the game only lasted half an hour. Unfortunately, much to the dismay of the team (especially James), Slytherin had beat us out points-wise, so they would be getting the Cup. 

It was a bright Monday afternoon, and as much as I would've liked to spend the day in the fresh air, exams were in mere hours, so I had spent the entire day in the library studying. It was almost empty because the Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. had been today, so none of the fifth-years were in there. 

"Woohoo!" a comical voice whooped. "Congrats, you've failed your exams!" 

A gust of air blew across the room, and Peeves appeared in front of me. Before I could react, a bowl of flour hit me in the face. 

"Peeves!" I screamed in disgust, wiping the dripping flour from my eyes. "I haven't even taken my exams yet!" 

The bright orange poltergeist said nothing else but just floated down the hall in a chorus of giggles. 

I sighed, turning into the bathroom to wash the flour off my face. Suddenly, I heard strange noises coming from the other side of the bathroom. The obscenely large circle of sinks obstructed my view, but I could tell that someone was crying. 

On the other side, I looked to the ground and saw something hidden underneath a mess of red hair. 

"Are you okay?" I asked, bending down to the girl. 

Lily's muffled sobs came to a stop, and she glanced up at me. I expected her usual kind eyes, but her face narrowed into a cruel glare. "Did your brother put you up to this?" she spat.

"What?" I blinked in surprise.

"Just leave me alone," she scoffed, her voice as sharp as a knife.

I blinked. What did she mean by my brother putting me up to this? The only reason she would be mad at James was if he was the reason she was crying.

I couldn't let her be sad just because my brother was as stupid as they get.

"Look," I said, sitting on the ground beside her. "James can be a prick. Worse than a prick. He can be a...a..." 

I tried to think of a word that described him.

"An arrogant, bullying toerag?" she finished.

"Exactly," I said, and we shared a small smile. "In fact, I haven't spoken to him all week. He keeps trying to ruin my life. He never listens to me. It just sucks." 

I stared out into the distance, heaving a sigh.

Lily gave me a funny look, and I realized I should probably start taking this conversation somewhere.

"Sorry," I said. "The point is, James can be stupid. But he's just stupid because he cares a lot. Too much. Way too much. He means really well, but he just goes too far sometimes."

I realized I needed to hear this too. James was a total arse, but I knew he was just doing it because he cared about me.

"Yeah," she said, wiping her tear-stained eyes. "Thank you."

"Thank you," I said. "You saved me that day." I hadn't forgotten that she was the one who found me at Hagrid's.

She shuddered. "That was awful. I wanted to check in on you, but I didn't know if you wanted me to bring it up. I almost didn't expect you to come back after the holidays."

"I almost didn't," I admitted.

We talked for a while longer, just about what happened before break and my feelings about it. Her green eyes bore into mine with such understanding. She wasn't the surface-level nice girl I had expected; it felt like I had known her forever, not just a few minutes. 

"I guess James is a lot better than any of those Slytherin jerks," she finally said. 

I nodded. "He likes you, if you haven't noticed. He just can't figure out how to show it."

She smiled, and dimples appeared in the corners of her freckled face. "It was really nice to talk to you. I'm sorry I was so angry earlier. I'm just a bit upset because of something stupid that happened today. I think I lost one of my oldest friends." 

Her smile dropped into a frown, and I wondered who would be dumb enough to not want her friendship.

"Well," I said. "Maybe you made a new one." 

"Guess who got an Outstanding on his O.W.L?" James announced to the entirety of Gryffindor Tower, pointing two thumbs at himself.

"Guess who sat in front of him?" Remus followed through the door, pointing at himself in the same exaggerated manner. 

"I filled in every single bubble on the answer sheet," Sirius announced proudly. "That way, I definitely can't be wrong."

"I put B for every answer. A Muggle book I read said that was the best choice," Peter giggled, sitting down next to me on the big maroon sofa.

Peter looked up at the other boys, wondering why they weren't settling down next to me as they usually do. He looked from me to James, then back to me again, and I think the silence said it all.

I huffed and stood up. "I'm going to my room."

"Good," James mumbled.

I scoffed, brushing past him, before turning around at the foot of the stairs. "Sirius, tell James to thank me because I just fixed his chances with his girlfriend."

"Fat chance," Sirius snorted. "She hates his guts after today."

James, however, looked intrigued. 

"True," I said. "But I made her realize that he's actually only an arse half of the time, and I told her he's hopelessly in love with her."

"You did WHAT?!" James said, looking at me for the first time in a week.

I snorted. "I'm kidding. Mostly. But, for reasons unknown to man, she seems to not hate you, even if you sometimes really make her want to throw you off the Astronomy Tower. I mean, I assume that's how she feels."

He chuckled, stepping closer. "Is she the only one that feels that way?"

I jumped away, hands up. "Maybe if you were to get better at apologizing, fewer people would hate your guts."

James looked down. He took a deep breath and tapped his foot impatiently. I could tell this was hard for him to say, and that's how I knew he was telling the truth. "I'm sorry, Addy. I shouldn't have said those things to Black. I know you can handle yourself."

"Thanks," I said. "You promise you won't go after Regulus again?"

He looked like it physically pained him to do so, but he nodded. "Did you mean it when you said I was an awful brother?" He asked solemnly, his glasses tilted.

I frowned. "Never, J. You care too much. But I'm grateful for you. I love you."

"Thanks, squirt," he said, pulling me into a hug.