Scars and Bruises

Insomnia

Alex noticed that Marauders entered the Great Hall; she knew that they would sit with Sirius, but she did not wanted to speak to them now. Alex stood up hoping that Lily would not be mad at her for not waiting and prepared to leave.

"Have a good day!" she smiled her simple but warm smile and left.

While she was walking away she herd behind her back very confused Sirius's "Aha", which mixed with the rest of Marauders "Good morning!"

School year has started and Alex was very happy about that, because she liked learning very much. She energized herself with new information and knowledge, and that was one of the reasons why she loved Hogwarts so much.

Professors were not kind to seventh years and after just one day homework piled up in the speed of light. That is why after dinner Alex went to library and started studying, because she liked to do everything as soon as possible.

"You owe me some explanation, miss!" Remus said very quietly but strictly. He sat across from her and started to empty his bag.

"Csst," Alex put her index finger to her lips trying to tell Remus that he is acting too loudly for library.

Remus just kept looking at Alex, ignoring her attempt to shut him up. Alex just kept doing her homework without looking at Remus. After a while, Remus spoke again, but this time even quieter: "I'm waiting for explanation!"

It was clear from Remus's determination that Black has told everything about the kiss. She was surprised just a little; she did not expect nothing much from him. Alex completely understood Remus, because she was not the girl who jumped everybody's bones left and right. And she knew that there was no escape from this conversation.

"What do you want to know?" she asked quietly looking straight into his eyes.

"Why is Sirius so suddenly obsessed with you and why did you kissed him?" there was disbelief and surprise in his voice, because both of these things did not go well together with Alex's personality.

"I have no idea why Black is obsessed with me, and apparently I just wanted to kiss him back, that's it. I can't figure it out myself why I did that," she looked around to check if there was no one listening on their conversation, because that's what she needed the least – someone gossiping about her kissing Sirius.

"I'm sorry, but – what?!" Remus asked very harshly. Alex shot a deadly stare at him, trying to communicate to Remus that he was acting too loudly.

"Can you please calm down? I know it was a mistake. I'm not planning on jumping Black's bones every time I see him," Alex answered calmly, "if you don't mind, I would like to return to my potions essay." Alex tried to end this conversation because she was afraid that Remus would notice that she was not that sure about what she just said.

And Remus didn't ask anything, they just did their homework in silence until the closing time.

*

In evenings, Alex participated in girl's bedtime ritual despite the fact that she could not fell asleep for many hours afterwards. However, she liked to do that, she liked to get ready for bed and talk about some gossip. This ritual was one of the rare things that made her feel that someday everything could be fine in her life.

There was a silence in the room for a while now; everybody was asleep except Alex. She listened to the sounds of the room – someone turned to other side, there was some swoosh of the blankets, someone mumbled in their sleep. She looked at the clock; it was almost 1 o'clock in the night. Alex assumed that at this late hour common room should be empty and she could read The Daily Prophet left by someone down there.