Chapter Nine: Fist and Kissed
Australe Leo Black ~ Tuesday, September 2nd, 1975 ~ Hogwarts, Hogsmead, Scotland
Even if I wasn't technically part of my old family anymore, I still cared for my brother. It made my blood boil to see that he was being bullied. Someone called Madam Pomfrey and I knew that Regulus would be okay. So I made a rash decision, and followed the older guy. I hadn't recognized him then, but now, I had made the connection. His name was Evan Rosier and he was pretty much one of the ugliest, rudest and biggest bullies in whole school. He was walking down the hall to the Slytherin common room when I caught up to him. He was with Rookwood and the Carrow twins.
"Hey, Rosier! Why did you have to go and throw fists. You do know that if anyone tells Dumbledore, you can get expelled." I said as he turned around. He had a wicked, evil grin on his face as he replied.
"Hey look here, it's another Black! You want your lights punched out too?" He asked and I laughed. He wasn't the brightest person.
"I think that I would do better than my brother in a fight, Rosier." I said casually waiting for my chance to hit him. I think he realized that I was stalling our chat until I felt it was right to hit him so he decided to play out our conversation a bit.
"You know, you aren't very smart to pick a fight with me. Just stupidly brave and blind when it comes to seeing that you will loose. You and all your Gryffindor friends are the same. Unlike you, us Slytherins know when to back down from something we know won't go in our favour. That's why you aren't in the house of Salazar." He said and cracked his knuckles. I smiled my I-don't-give-a-rats-arse's smile and continued the conversation.
"Then where do you fit in? See you aren't brave, you are very stupid, yes, but not brave like us Gryffindors, and you still don't know when to back down when you aren't going to win. You're just a stupid, ugly git who can't tell two for two." I stated simply and before his pea brain head could figure out what I had said, I punched him in the face. I walked away quite fast after that, praying that his friends would be too busy with him to deal with me. Once I was around the corner I slowed down and shook my hand. It hurt so much. I took a deep breath and walked into the Great Hall to eat my lunch.
When I got into the hall, I spotted the boys and walked over to them, slinging my bag over my shoulder. I took a seat next to Remus and James.
"Hey James, Mason'll be there. Just thought I'd tell you. Ugh, and Nathan too. I hate that kid, he's so annoying and he keeps trying to hit on me!" I exclaimed and James started laughing.
"Thank's Ausie. Nathan's funny. I like him." James told me and I looked at him like he had grown another head.
"You are out of your mind, James Potter."
"What ever Australe." He scoffed and I rolled my eyes. I then took a moment to see what was on the table today. Ham and cheese sandwiches, chick pot pie, fruits and vegetables. The sandwiches were on the other side of me so I had to ask Remus to reach for them.
"Remus, can you pass that plate please, love." I asked him and I saw him blush. I smiled as he handed it to me but grimaced when I take if with the hand I punched Rosier with.
"Holy Merlin! What happened to your hand Ausie?!" Sirius exclaimed and grabbed my hand knocking the plate to the side. I watched as one of the sandwiches fell on the floor and rolled away.
"Hey I was going to take that one! And nothing is wrong with it, see it's perfectly fine..." I trailed off when I actually saw my hand. My knuckles were all busted up and one was even bloody and ripped open. I could feel it, but it wasn't that bad. It didn't even hurt to punch Rosier, just after, and only for a minute.
"Well you see, I kind of got into a fight with Rosier..." I told them with an innocent smile. They all looked astounded.
"Aus, why did it have to be Rosier?!" James yelped in fear. I just shrugged.
"Speaking of fights, Regulus got into one with Rosier minutes before I punched him. He's in the hospital wing probably unconscious right now." I said pointedly to Sirius. He scoffed and rolled his eyes before speaking.
"So that's why you hit Rosier. You were defending mummy's little boy." He said. And I sarcastically laughed.
"Just because he is mum's favourite and you aren't, doesn't matter. He is still your brother, even if he isn't mine." I told him. I really didn't want to have this argument but if I had to, I would. Regulus was still our brother no matter what house we were apart of.
"Exactly! You don't even live there anymore! You weren't wanted. You got disowned, Australe! It doesn't matter what happens to him or any of them anymore! And, I, I could care less." Sirius raised his voice. He was almost shouting now and I was blinking away tears. What he had said to me was very hurtful and he knew it.
"He's still our brother and no matter what," I got up from the table and grabbed my bag, " I still love him." I hissed at Sirius and stormed out of the hall. I turned immediately into the small chamber beside the Great Hall. I stood straight, with my back against the wall, catching my breath. I wiped away the tears my twin had caused me and closed my eyes. This was stupid. I took another deep breath and walked out, turning to go to the Hospital Wing.
Regulus was the in only occupied bed and he was asleep. There was a girl curled up in one of the chairs beside his bed. I think her name was Emily Moon. She was a fourth year Slytherin girl and she was very pretty. I'm guessing that Emily was the one who Regulus was fist fighting for. For all it was worth, I hoped that she was a good person, who would treat him right.
"Hello, you're Emily right?" I asked politely and she sniffed and nodded. I smiled and sat down in the opposite chair and brought my legs up to my chest as I introduced myself.
"I'm Australe."
"I know." She said and I raised my eyebrows. I frowned and nodded. After the short conversation we had, I stayed quiet and stared out the window recalling what had gone down in the Great Hall. A trickle of tears slipped down my face, and I didn't bother to wipe them away. What was wrong with me. I couldn't even keep a good relationship with my twin brother. And he had to put up with me even if he didn't like me. We were womb bound.
I didn't know how long I waited for Regulus to wake up, but the third period bell and the warning bell did go off. The whole time I just let the quiet engulf me. I didn't talk to Emily, although she stayed too. She must have really liked Reg. I was fourth period or maybe even past then, when Regulus finally woke up. I wouldn't have realized if Emily hadn't gotten up so quickly and scraped her chair loudly. They exchanged loving, gushing remarks and then my brother recognized me sitting there.
"Australe?" Was all he asked and I quickly wiped the tears from my face, giving him a smile. I recognized that he worried look on him face.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" I asked him softly turning to face him. Regulus look concerned but I quickly smiled again and swiped my hair off my shoulders.
"Your hand?" He sounded astonished. Oh right. I was so bunged up with all my other emotions that I had totally forgotten about my hand. One of the reasons I was in the Hospital Wing in the first place. It was now very red and swollen and my knuckle was still bleeding. Now that I focused on it, I could feel it and it hurt, a lot. Regulus noticed too.
"I hit Rosier." I said with a shrug. He shook his head in silent laughter.
"Oh, Ausie. What are we going to do with you. Emily and I are going to take off now, so please get that looked after okay?" He asked me and I nodded. Madam Pomfrey came over and started to bandage up my hand, working her healing magic on me. Regulus kissed me on the cheek and grabbed Emily's hand before they walked out of the Hospital Wing together. Once Madam Pomfrey finished up she told me I could go and walked off. I stood up and walked out. I didn't really feel like going to dinner and having to sit with my brother, so I went to the Gryffindor Common Room instead.
Once I had told the Fat Lady Portrait the password, I sat in front of the empty fireplace, curled up in an armchair. Someones cat came and curled up on the empty heath and purred. Soon enough dinner was finished and people started pouring in through the portrait hole. My girl friends came in quite quickly.
"Hey, Aus, you didn't come to dinner, are you okay?" Lily asked me, concerned.
"Yeah, Sirius and I had some argument and now we aren't talking and I just didn't want to see him at dinner." I told her. She gave me a smile of sympathy.
"Okay, well if you want to talk about it more, I'm here." Lily told me.
"Thanks. But I'm just going to go to the owlery and take a walk for now. Maybe some other time." I told her and walked towards the portrait hole. My quite solitary walk was short lived because someone came up to me.
"Aus. Why are you mad at Sirius?" Remus matched his stride with mine. I looked over at him with a dry look.
"He doesn't care, Remus. And he really hurt my feelings. The way he just said all of those things, without thinking about what they were doing." I told him, taking a deep breath.
"He doesn't care? Of course he does! He's upset about you not talking to him and he's been moping all day long!" Remus exclaimed. I scoffed.
"Then why isn't he the one telling me that?" I asked him.
"Maybe he doesn't know how, or maybe he's nervous to. I'm just saying that you should give him a chance." He told me and I contemplated it. I loved my brother more than anything but sometimes he just got on my nerves. He never thought about what he was saying before he said it. He especially didn't think before saying hurtful things.
"I'll talk to him."
"Good. But do you actually have to go to the owlery or did you just want to go for a walk, because we are going the entirely wrong way, and it's almost curfew." Remus asked me and shared a crooked smile. I looked around and noticed too that we weren't in the direction of the owlery. I let out a laugh.
"I guess not. Let's head back." I said and we started to walk back to the common room. It has been one tough first day of classes. When we got back to the portait hole, I turned to the boy.
"Thank you Remus. For everything you said."
"It's no problem. I just don't like it when my two friends are arguing." He told me and I smiled. Then, something I would have never guessed happened. But I wasn't mad about it, I was happy.
Remus kissed me.