October came in brisk. It was beginning to get cold out and we were caught in a perpetual state of rain.
The sun hadn't come out in days and the sky seemed to be taunting us with the threat of a huge storm.
"I'm getting really tired of this," Katie complained as she wiped the water drops off of her cloak when she came back from Herbology.
"Is it storming yet?" I asked.
"I wish! At least then it would just be over with. It's drizzling which is incredibly annoying," she said.
I laughed as we made our way to the Gryffindor table for lunch. We sat with Lily and the girls and chattered away about nothing.
Suddenly the boys came running in, sitting beside us quickly. They were all out of breath and wore expressions of excitement. I knew they had just pranked someone.
"What did yo-"
I didn't need to finish my question. A group of Slytherins, including Regulus and Snape, walked into the Hall soaking wet and livid.
The boys roared with laughter at the sight of them. If looks could kill, they wouldn't have survived a second.
The Slytherins marched over, fuming.
"Decide to go for a swim Snivellus?" James asked, laughing hysterically.
"You must be pretty proud of yourself right about now," Snape spat out.
My cousin looked at the other boys with amusement. "I actually am proud, you got what you had coming."
"Oh? And what's that supposed to mean?" He hissed out.
James shrugged. "I haven't forgotten what you called Evan's last year."
Lily looked up, surprised to have been mentioned. Snape barely spared her a look before looking back to James.
"What does that have to do with the rest of us?" Regulus asked, outraged that he had been put in the middle of James and Snape's feud.
"You just happened to be in the way. I also don't appreciate the way you treated my cousin on the train."
Regulus looked at me and smirked. "Oh of course, she can't fight her own battles can she?"
Katie grabbed my arm before I could lunge at him. All of the students were paying attention now, eagerly awaiting a fight.
"Oh she can fight just fine. I just figured it would be convenient to get you all out of the way at once," James said casually.
I was still struggling against Katie's hold, ready to fight the little twat. He looked at me and smirked, clearly enjoying my reaction.
I reached for my wand but it was snatched out of my reach by Sirius. I shot a glare at him but he stared right at his brother, his eyes full of pity.
"Let me go," I said calmly to Katie.
"Are you going to attack him?" She asked.
I shook my head. As soon as her hands left my arms I lunged and slapped Regulus across the face.
He looked shocked as he put his hand to the mark I left. The school went silent, waiting anxiously for what I was going to say.
"The next time you want to fight, remember how your face feels," I spat.
He scowled before stalking off, his gang followed him. The school burst into chatter, discussing the scene they had just witnessed.
"Miss Potter!" Professor McGonagall yelled, rushing over.
I sighed. "In my defense, he's a prick."
"Unfortunately, that is no reason to attack another student. Detention, tonight."
"I have a meeting with Dumbledore," I protested.
All of the teachers knew of my powers and also knew that my meetings with Dumbledore were actually to train me to control them.
"Fine," McGonagall said. "Tomorrow night, come to my office, and 10 points from Gryffindor."
I nodded as she walked away. When I looked back, everyone was staring at me.
"We should have left him out of it," Sirius said quietly.
"What do you mean?" Katie asked.
"Regulus," he explained. "We should have just left him out of it."
"Come on mate, you were angrier than any of us when he spoke to Ry the way he did on the train," James reasoned.
"I don't care!" Sirius exclaimed. "You shouldn't have attacked him." He had rounded on me now.
"Was I just supposed to let him run his mouth like that? He was being a git!" I defended myself.
"You don't attack James when he's being a git!" He argued.
"That's not the same thing and you know it," I countered.
He looked away from me, clenching his jaw and staring straight ahead.
"Sirius," I said quietly, putting my hand on his shoulder.
He shrugged me off. "This is bullshit."
He didn't turn around before heading out of the Great Hall. We all stared at each other, trying to decide what to do next.
"I'll go talk to him," Remus offered, following Sirius.
"I didn't think he was capable of getting mad at you," Katie admitted, looking incredulously at me.
James shrugged. "He's been on edge lately, this must have been the last straw before he snapped."
"Yeah well, we've all been a little on edge," I said.
"You've got to understand that he was just kicked out of his family Ry. He thinks that it's his fault that Regulus turned out this way," James explained.
I opened my mouth to argue but shut it again. I knew how close him and Regulus were, of course he would blame himself for leaving him with their parents when he went to school.
Remus and Sirius didn't return all of lunch. James, Peter and I made our way to Divination together.
When we got there, the ladder was already down. We climbed and found that we had just made it on time, most of the class was already there.
I sat at the table Sirius and I always sat at, he wasn't there. Professor Hygle started the lesson saying we would be looking at the position of planets and their affects on us.
I groaned, I'd never been good with planets. If ever there was a time I needed Sirius to help me with a lesson, this was it.
Halfway through Professor Hygle explaining what we were to do, Sirius came up. He looked mildly less angry.
"Nice of you to join us dear, take your seat," Professor Hygle said sweetly.
Sirius didn't say anything as he came and sat with me. He didn't look up, busying himself with staring at the table.
When the lesson was explained, I stared at him, waiting for him to look at me. He wouldn't.
"I understand that you're angry with me, but you can't just ignore me," I said.
He didn't speak. I sighed and pulled my books out of my bag. If he wasn't going to talk to me it was going to be a long lesson.
He muttered something I couldn't catch.
"What was that?" I asked.
"I'm sorry," he said again.
"One more time, I've gone temporarily deaf," I said.
He laughed. "I said I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blown up on you. It wasn't fair to direct my anger at myself onto you. Happy?"
"Thrilled," I replied, making him laugh again. "But it wasn't your fault, how your brother turned out. It was your mother and her crazy obsession with pure blood."
He shrugged. "I let him be subjected to it."
"He would have been anyway, you couldn't have stopped it, okay?"
He nodded his head. I knew he didn't really believe me so I decided a topic change might be better.
"On the bright side, there's a really good chance you're going to get Outstanding on this assignment!"
He laughed. "Just because I'm named after a star doesn't mean I'm all knowing with astronomy."
"Yes it does, get on with it Star Boy," I ordered, shoving the book at him.
He rolled his eyes and began explaining about the movements of the planets and how they coincided with your time of birth and stuff. If I'm being honest, I wasn't really listening to him, I was just enjoying him talking.
"Ry? Are you even listening?" Sirius asked, snapping his fingers to get my attention.
"Of course!" I exclaimed. "I always listen!"
He rolled his eyes. "Okay Ry, whatever you say."
***
"Come in ladies," Dumbledore called to Lily and I that evening.
We stepped into his office and took our regular seats. Dumbledores office looked exactly the same, he also looked the same.
His long finger tips were touching as he surveyed us with his bright blue eyes. I was always slightly uncomfortable when he did this, it was as though he was seeing every part of my life.
"Now, obviously this won't be a practical training session. I was just hoping to give you a run down of what we are hoping to accomplish this year," he started.
Lily and I shared a look. We both knew that this was going to be a very long explanation of something that could take very little time to explain.
"Now, Rylie will be mastering her next element, Air. We will save Fire for next year seeing as the elements are going to be becoming increasingly more difficult to master now.
"Miss Evans, you have done very well with the basic stunning spell. You can definitely make Miss Potter pass out in case of emergency. This year, I'm going to show you spells that will work slowly to allow her to regain control by herself," Dumbledore summarized.
"Sounds good," I said as Lily nodded in agreement.
"Do either of you have any concerns or questions about the training?" He asked.
"No sir," Lily said.
"Very well, we shall meet again soon. I will let you know when the time is right. Goodnight girls."
We both bid him a goodnight and exited his office quickly. The meeting had taken considerably less time than I predicted so it was still early when we left.
We decided to take the long way back to the Common Room. I had learned a lot of alternate routes from hanging out with the boys.
"You left a huge mark on Regulus' face," Lily commented as we passed by him and his Slytherin gang.
They all glared as we passed and I noticed that Regulus did have a large red mark on his cheek. I smirked and waved at him as we passed.
He looked murderous and Lily giggled as she grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the group.
"Honestly Ry, you're just looking for a fight," she said, laughing.
I shrugged. "I mean, I'm not going to back down from one, that's for sure."
Lily rolled her eyes and Katie approached us smiling.
"Good evening ladies," she said, linking her arms with ours.
"What's up Katie?"
She sighed dramatically. "The Hufflepuff Common Room is dreadfully boring so I went to find you guys but the boys said you were in a meeting with Dumbledore. I had to hang out with them for a half hour before I decided to come find you."
"Oh you poor thing," Lily said with mock sympathy. "Did they talk your ears off complaining?"
"Actually, they were having a very serious conversation," she said.
I stopped and stared at her. "Are you sure you were with the right boys?"
Katie rolled her eyes as Lily laughed. "Yes, they were talking about you guys."
"What else is new?" Lily asked.
"You can act like you don't care all you want, but I know for a fact you don't find James repulsive anymore," Katie accused.
"What gives you that idea?" Lily asked.
I rolled my eyes. "Oh come on Lils, you used to leave if anyone even so much as mentioned James. I might go so far as to say you might be on the track to fancying him."
"Oh please! Just because I'm learning to tolerate him doesn't mean I approve of his childish ways and it certainly doesn't mean that I fancy him!" She protested.
"All I know is that you seemed pretty pleased that he was defending you against Snape," Katie pointed out.
Lily rolled her eyes at us again. "I need to find new friends."
Katie and I laughed all the way back to the Common Room.