Barking Mad (Sirius/OC)

A story that I have never told

This is one of the longest chapters yet! Hope you enjoy! (:

Chapter 25

This is a story that I have never told,

I gotta get this off my chest to let it go.

~ Warrior - Demi Lovato

When Lily entered it was late at night. Her eyes looked puffy, her cheeks were red. She had obviously been crying and was in a bad place herself. I figured I just couldn't talk to her right now about my own issues. I frowned worriedly as I went over to her and gave her a hug. Miranda and Emily , sitting on Miranda's bed, were playing a game of wizarding chess and ignored us completely.

Just as well, I thought as I gazed at my friend. "What happened?" I asked in hushed tones, so the others wouldn't hear. If Lily was miserable I didn't want anyone to notice her being miserable.

Lily shrugged and sat down in a chair in the far corner of our dorm. "I just don't... For a smart girl I'm really stupid sometimes," she whispered finally, tears filling her eyes again.

I patted her shoulder a bit awkwardly, hoping that she wouldn't cry too long. I wanted to make her feel better, but I had no idea how to fix whatever it was that was hurting her so badly. "You're not stupid, Lily Evans," I told her sternly instead. "You're the brightest witch this school has had in ages and you're going places. I can tell."

She gave me a forced smile.

Merlin, I sucked at this. "If you don't want to talk about it, I'll let you be," I told her softly. "But if you do need a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on, both my shoulders and my ears are yours."

Lily managed a more genuine looking smile this time. "Thank you." She was silent for a little while and I was preparing myself to just let her be until she was ready to talk when she started. "I went to see Sev- Snape." She corrected herself mid-sentence, as if pronouncing his first name was too much for her right then.

I blinked. Not really what I imagined had happened. "I wondered where you had gone after Transfiguration," I said quietly as I knelt down in front of her, giving her knees a gentle squeeze.

Lily sniffled and shrugged. She put her hands over mine and looked away. "I told him that I wanted to talk things through. I had been thinking about what you said, about doing what I thought was right. I miss him so bad, Nika, and it hurts so much, but whoever that boy is..." She stopped, taking a deep breath and shaking her head before she continued. "I don't know who that boy is," she repeated, "but he isn't my Severus. He was plain cruel to me, just because his Slytherin friends were standing nearby. And I could see it," she said, getting worked up more and more over it, "that what he was saying was hurting him as much as it was me, but he just kept on going. What is up with that? Does he really think that cruel behaviour will make him more likeable for those idiots? That it will give him more friends?"

"He is in Slytherin," I pointed out, earning a fierce glare from Lily.

"Not all Slytherins are evil, Nika. Just as not all Hufflepuffs are wimps and not all Gryffindors are arrogant to a fault!"

I held up my hands in the air to show her that I was unarmed. "I don't have any love for the Slytherins, Lily, but I do see your point. I'm sorry."

Lily's glare slowly softened, but she kept her lips pursed. "It's thoughts like those that keep the House rivalry going, you know. That needs to stop, especially now that there's a war going on," she said passionately. "Are we going to hate every person we see out there because he was in another House? That's madness!"