"You fucked my girlfriend last night?"
Remus Lupin had always been the intelligent marauder, thinking before he acted or spoke, took responsibility for his actions, was loyal, trustworthy, got excellent credits, and always chose the logical route.
Everyone knew this information, especially the other three marauders, but then November 1st came along and made his mates question all of their previous knowledge.
Once Del and Leo disappeared from the common room all three of the boys looked at their scarred best friend with anger, surprise, confusion, and annoyance.
"Remus, what the fuck?" Sirius argued, outraged with his best mate's choice.
Sirius hadn't felt this type of wrath in years, he still lived with his 'parents' at the time. Each time Orion cursed or punched, or Wallburga yelled or slapped Regulus, Sirius would feel a painful amount of anger to where he would stupidly open his mouth and yell at the ones he once called his mother and father. Sirius would scream and cry at his sperm donor and birth giver for hours until Orion would end his rants of pain, by only inflicting more until his brain would shut off.
And now Sirius had gained a brotherly love towards Del, he wanted to protect her at every cost, and it didn't help that he was already concerned for the girl with his own assumptions.
So the second he heard Del's slip up he knew that all his assumptions weren't just questions or thoughts, they were reality.
"What is the problem, Sirius?" Remus asked with boredom, he didn't understand why Sirius had been so aggressive with the boy, obviously Remus didn't favor Leo either, but as much as he disliked the Slytherin, he knew that Del and him needed to have a proper conversation together, clear the air so the heart aching tension wouldn't keep building between them.
"What do you mean 'What is the problem'? You saw what I did, Remus! Even his own brother was pinning him against the wall while Avery walked Del away from him! Remus, you even agreed with me when I said I didn't trust him, you also noticed what she looked like once Leo talked to her this morning! Don't be fucking daft!"
There was so much more that Sirius wanted to say, so so much, he wanted to scream to them about how he raped Del, how those boys carved their names onto her back, how she needed help, their help.
Yet Sirius forced himself to shut his mouth and tie his tongue, as much as he wanted to say all those words, as much as he knew that they would be supportive and be there for her, he knew that it wasn't his place to say anything.
If anyone knew more about not wanting, or not being ready to share emotion or trauma, it was Sirius Black.
"Sirius, trust me, I know, I don't want him around her either, but they need time alone to just talk, he was in a coma for what two? Three months? A lot of time has passed and neither seem to be on the same page. They dated, or have been dating, for six years now, and, James, I know this information is hard to hear, as much as you try to deny it, we all know and can see this is impacting you, but you have to see it from their perspective."
All the boy's reluctantly nodded, feeling as if they had been lectured by their mother.
Then the yelling began, Leo's booming yet muffled voice traveled throughout the common room, then it was Del's inaudible bellows of anger, at first the boys second guessed if it was even the same person, they had never heard Del's voice so threatening and dark.
Sirius decided he heard enough, his worry practically pooling in his pores. He quickly stood up from the couch and stormed towards the stairs.
"Sirius, you realize the second your foot touches those stairs you will tumble down? If you go down there you still wouldn't be able to get to her dorm. Think this through." Remus noted, keeping his gaze on the fireplace in front of him, attempting to drown out the shouts of hate from down below.
No one blamed Sirius for his reactions to the yells, he grew up in a terrible household that had traumatized him, he grew up thinking that the arguments were the clouds before the rain, first it was verbal, then it was physical.
As if Sirius' nightmare became reality, the shouts and yells halted to a stop. The common room terrifyingly quiet.
All the boys were sat on the couch, all their eyes trained on the fireplace as their chests heaved up and down, all far too scared to be the first to say something and break the silence.
Soon the sound of stomps coming up from the stairs had filled the quiet, everyone turned their heads immediately, expecting, or hoping, to see Del.
A furious Leo Greengrass came into all their views, Del nowhere to be seen.
Instead of leaving the common room he stomped up in front of James, pure rage and jealousy in his eyes.
"You fucked my girlfriend last night?" Leo not asked, but more as stated daringly, waiting impatiently for his response.
James let his pride take over his actions, "No, no I didn't fuck anyone's girlfriend last night, but I did happen to make out with your ex, make your ex cum, then your ex made me cum, and then I made your ex come, again." He smirked as he watched Leo's face twist with pure fury.
Remus and Sirius glared at James for his response, both knowing he was making the situation far more complicated than it needed to be, Peter on the other hand, was concealing all his laughs into the crook of his elbow, trying to play them off as coughs.
"You might want to get that memory out of your head, because that will be the last time you ever touch her, nonetheless speak with her." Leo snarled.
"You're real stupid to challenge a Gryffindor, Greengrass. You would think after dating one for six years you would know this type of stuff."
"Stay the fuck away from my girlfriend, Potter." Leo hissed, towering over James' sitting and 'care-free' posture.
That was until James decided to stand up as well.
"You might want to give this little speech to 'your girlfriend' since last I checked it was her who was all over me last night, she even made the first move, practically did all the work."
The three other marauders all glared at their mate's unnecessary comment, James knew how he was making Del sound in the moment but he didn't care, all that was going through his mind was getting the boy that he already despised in front of him pissed off.
And that's what angered them, he was making Del sound like she was just a boring one night stand, making Del sound like some random girl, Making Del sound easy.
Sirius was the first one to notice Del at the top of the stairs, both hands laying limp with defeat at her sides, one of them holding an ice pack, and an emotionless, yet teary eyed, facial expression.
Her timing had just been splendid this morning.
Sirius knew what thoughts were going on in her head, which only made him even more disappointed with his best mate, James' words had impacted her far more than anyone could imagine.
She felt used, gullible, embarrassed, and worst of all, she felt dirty.
Not the type of dirty that could be rinsed away with water and soap, but the kind that felt internal, the feeling that you will never be pure, or cleansed on the inside.
Leo smirked once he saw Del in his peripheral vision, "Good thing she heard everything then, I guess it saves me time on giving her this whole talk all over again." And with that he looked up at Del with a wink, knowing that his plan had worked, "I'll see you later, baby."
The Slytherin walked out of the common room without another word, leaving everyone else in it speechless.
Remus and Peter were disappointed and confused, they didn't understand how their friend was able to switch up so quickly as if he weren't just sulking in the Great Hall.
Sirius was overwhelmed with everything, frustrated with James for being so careless with his words, murderous with Leo, and concerned for Del, he knew she didn't want to talk to him but he also knew that he wasn't going to let her suffer alone.
Del was completely numb, she felt so much emotion in the beginning, fear, pain, sadness, regret, anger, humiliation, to the point that it was like her heart had completely shut down.
James was in shock and was filled with regret, he didn't know why he got so defensive, or why he wanted Leo to know all that he and Del did together, he felt such joy and pride each time he would see Leo's face twist up in anger or jealousy that he fed on it and continued with his words, not meaning any of them, but just invested in the reaction he was receiving. James was too afraid to turn his head, he knew who was standing on the staircase and he knew she may not have heard all, but heard enough. James wanted to run up to her and explain that he didn't mean it, yet a part of him knew that the damage had already been done.
Sirius stared at his friend demandingly, waiting for him to say something and to stop acting as if Del wasn't in the room, yet he never did.
Shaking his head disapprovingly with a scoff, Sirius stood up and walked over to Del, making sure to bump into James' shoulder in the process.
No words needed to be exchanged, Del knew what Sirius was going to say and do, so willingly, she walked up the stairs with him following behind her.
"Merlin, I am such a fuck up." James groaned into his hands after hearing the stairs creaking all the way up.
"You're not a fuck up, Prongs." Peter reassured.
"You just fucked up." Remus finished.
Back in Del's room, Sirius was pacing back and forth, hands gripping his hair as he kept looking over at Del, wondering how she was so composed at the moment.
On her bed, Del sat straight up, her posture immaculate as if she were at dinner with her prejudiced father, her face completely emotionless as she held her chin high, waiting for Sirius to begin his talking.
Sirius had so many questions to the point to where he felt like his head was about to explode, he didn't even know where to start at this point, but after a few moments he finally decided that he didn't want to just jump straight into it and ask the main question, so he chose to build it's way up to it.
"What happened when you two talked up here?" It may have sounded like a useless question to any other person, yet Sirius knew how those arguments were, he knew what it meant when it went from screams to deathly quiet.
-Del's Pov-
"Remove the concealment charm."
Panic pounded with my heart, the thumping practically visible through my robes.
"What?" I asked as if I hadn't heard him loud and clear.
"Always so stubborn." He tutted before whipping out his wand and pointing at me while using a counter-clockwise motion.
A weight seemed to have lifted off my shoulder, only for a new one to replace it, I knew my neck had been painted with hickeys.
Leo pursed his lips slightly as he observed my state, he shook his head as he walked closer to me, the tip of his wand brushing the hair away from my neck.
"What is this?" He asked as he moved his head right in front of mine, leaving me no room to look around to avoid his gaze.
"Hm?" He hummed mockingly, Leo knew what sinful markings were on my neck, but he wanted me to tell him myself.
"I don't understand what you are speaking about, Greengrass." I whispered out, silver clashing with brown as we stared into each other's eyes, his first name too painful to leave my trembling lips, yet I regretted the use of his surname the second it flowed off my tongue.
"Don't fucking lie to me Delphinus!" Leo harshly yelled into my face, saliva flinging onto my cheek from the amount of force his tongue hit the roof of his mouth.
I immediately flinched back from the unexpected tone change, yet he was there to catch me, to make sure I stayed in my place.
And for the first time I wish he had let me fall.
Leo always promised to be there for my downfall, whenever I was rarely in a dark time of life he made sure I never went a second alone.
Little did I know he was my downfall.
Leo would be the darkness in my life and I never wished I could be alone more than I did in this moment.
His yells played as background music as I fell deeper and deeper into thought, planning my escape.
Yet that time never came.
"You made me wait almost six fucking years before I could get into your pants, yet you opened your legs like some whore to some random person here! You didn't even say yes to me!"
That was when I woke up. Confidence and rage like no other pulsed in my veins as I stared into Leo's dark iris'.
"How dare you? How fucking dare you?! Yes we dated for years! Yes I said no multiple times to your pathetic attempts on sleeping with me, but don't you dare suggest that I opened my legs like some 'whore' to some stranger! You raped me Leo, yeah, you fucking raped me! Now you have the audacity to look me in the eyes and start yelling at me for cheating on you? For opening my legs to another? You are a fucking coward Leo! I never slept with anyone, and even if I had, it would have been none of your concern!" My chest heaved up and down at a fast pace as my lungs screamed for air, but I didn't pay any mind towards it, all my trauma, fear, and sadness all began to morph in a terrifying amount of pure rage.
I had never felt like this before, not once have I wished such pain on a person, I felt as if I could kill him right now and I wouldn't bat an eye.
The fact that I had not only said Leo's name, yelled into his face, and admitted out loud that he had raped me didn't phase me in any sort of way, instead I felt a dangerous amount of power with the information I had, with a single complaint I could ruin his life in a second.
Leo looked surprised, flinching back by my sudden tone difference. I almost laughed at the irony.
How the tables have turned.
"I fucking hate you Leo, I despise you with such a passion that I truly hope that you get all that you deserve, you not only ruined my life but Altair and Cepheus' as well. You are a monster, Leo."
It took a second for Leo to register that I had actually been sticking up for myself, but his silence and submissive attitude only lasted for so long before he finally gathered himself and stood tall.
"You are really brave to be speaking to me like this, what were your father's words again? Braver than you can keep up with? He was right, you know? You are disappointing, truly, the only reason I stuck with you so long was because I wanted to get into your pants, to corrupt your innocence. Too bad someone else has already done it now, well more like seven."
"Oh please, we both know you were so fucking smitten over me, like it was honestly embarrassing, having you follow me around like a bloody puppy all the time, if you are going to attempt to inflate your ego, at least use correct information to do so, because all I can see is an insecure little boy who wasn't worthy enough to get into my legs so he forced his way in, and even then, it was all tough talk for someone with a small dick."
"You are such a fucking whore." Leo panted, truly speechless with what truth I had been telling him.
"James didn't seem to think that last night, and let me tell you, he was so much bigger." I sang out dramatically, laughing loudly as if I were crazy, I genuinely looked psychotic right now, tears streaming down my cheeks as Leo and I screamed into each others faces, a frown on his and a large smile on mine, the small sane part of me knew I shouldn't have brought James into this, yet the rest of me couldn't seem to care enough.
Leo's face went from angry to furious within a blink of an eye, his mouth gaping open and closed as he tried to think of something to say.
So instead he used his actions over words.
It took a few moments to register where the loud slapping sound came from, or why my head was now facing the left side of the wall, but then the stinging sensation followed, and all my confidence and rage simmered down until numbness was all I felt.
"You will never speak to me like this again, do you hear me? We will be getting back together as if nothing happened and you will never speak to Potter again. If you don't follow these rules I promise you, you will wish Corvus never walked in that night and I had just ended your pathetic life then and there."
And with that he left my dormitory, I quickly scrambled to find my wand and perform a new concealment charm.
I could feel wetness on my cheek so I raised my fingers to the spot and low and behold was my favorite color dripping down my skin, damn those stupid family heirloom rings.
I wiped away my cheek with the back of my robe and walked towards the miniature refrigerator that fit perfectly between the two dressers. Opening it's small black door I grabbed one of the small ice packs that Marlene kept in there for her hangover headaches.
I kept the cold texture on my cheek to soothe the burning sensation, I didn't know why I was so calm in the moment, I felt like I should be freaking out yet I felt nothing, emotionally, physically I was practically wincing each time I readjusted the ice pack.
Sitting on my bed I stared at the wall in front of me, so many thoughts traveled left and right throughout my mind yet I still felt nothing.
And then I heard yelling between two boys that both had hurt me today, one physically and one mentally.
I wouldn't say I had the biggest ego of the bunch, but when I heard James' words today it felt like a chunk of whatever was remaining had been cut down immensely.
But I didn't care how much his words affected me, if it didn't mean anything to him then there was nothing I could do about it except move on with my life, last night did mean something to me, and because it did emotion rushed back to the surface as I stood up in fear that Leo might hurt James and rushed up the stairs.
Then the numbness returned.
-3rd Person-
Del quickly snapped out of the flashback once she heard Sirius repeat the question, thinking that she hadn't heard it the first time.
That thought honestly wouldn't have surprised him, Del looked completely lifeless, like it was just her body in the room as her soul roamed around that castle.
"Nothing really, we just apologized to each other for the miscommunication, and now everything's back to normal." The lie was as smooth as silk as it flowed off her tongue with ease, yet Sirius was able to tell a lie from over a mile away; he knew that those yells of hatred weren't apologies and heartfelt conversations.
"If you don't want to tell me then that's fine, but don't lie to me, that's all I ask for." Sirius implored, silently begging for her to open up.
If this is what the Potters and his best mates felt on Christmas of last year then he knew he owed them an apology, he hated feeling this worried over someone.
"I'm not lying, Sirius, honestly I'm fine."
"You're saying everything is back to normal, but this isn't normal, Del, you aren't acing as yourself right now."
"How would you know how I act, Sirius? Sure we've gotten closer but you don't know me." Del laughed, hoping to gaslight herself out of the conversation, but if she was there at the Potter's over Christmas break last year, she would've seen Sirius using the same defensive mechanisms.
Sirius almost laughed at her words, a normal person would have backed off and overthought what they really knew about them, yet Sirius was far from normal or sane.
They were far more similar than they realized.
Sirius went to dig in deeper but he knew what Del was feeling at the moment to an extent, so he nodded at her excuse, "Okay, you aren't ready to talk and I understand that, but Del, do know that if you ever feel the need to rant about things that may be to dark for others to hear, you can come to me and I promise that your secrets will be safe."
Del was taken back by his response, but nodded nonetheless, she was thankful that he didn't take the same approach Corvus did.
"I just have one question, and don't you dare laugh at me for it." Del hesitantly stated, she was second guessing if she even wanted to ask this about his best friend, scared that he may make fun of her.
"Shoot."
"Was James-"
"No, he wasn't serious, pun intended, about anything he told Leo, not even in the slightest, I really shouldn't be telling you this, but you've made him knees weak for you, Del. He doesn't even talk to Lily anymore, which you shouldn't take lightly with that."
A small smile grew on her face but she quickly wiped it off, acting as if the information meant nothing to her and was nothing more than just curiosity, but Sirius obviously saw through the façade.
Sirius smiled lightly, but the action of joy turned into one of concern as he observed her state, she still held an ice pack in hand which had a small red smear on it as well her cheek, a single bead of blood was forming without a wound.
"I am not trying to get more information out of you, but please use a concealment charm responsibly, if you don't then it can wear you down and feed off of your magic."
Del made no move to deny anything, instead she lifted her hand back up to her cheek and felt the new bead of blood, she then looked back up to Sirius and nodded in response.
"I have been." She replied quietly, not liking the new pity attention he was showing.
Her words only sent more concern to Sirius, he didn't believe her words, memories of the night that the two shared detention flooded his mind and he internally cringed by the picture of James carrying Del's limp body up the stairs.
Nonetheless, Sirius nodded at her response and the two decided it was time for them to leave the dormitory.
Walking up the stairs, all eyes shot to the two teenagers, Sirius sat back down next to Remus while Del continued walking towards the portrait.
"Where are you going?" Remus asked, hoping to stall her and create a conversation, yet his plan hadn't worked.
"To the Slytherin common room." Del said swiftly before leaving the common room without another word.
All four boys sat on the couch in silence, all having different thoughts taking over their minds.
They all thought that things were bad as is, little did they know, this was only the beginning, the worst has yet to come.
3,991 Words.