"Please, Lily?" Alice pleaded as she and Lily hurried up the flight of stairs to the seventh floor platform, "Please, please, please tell me what Frank told you!"
"I don't want to," Lily said, "I don't even know if it's true, and it's about a very close friend, and I just don't want to help this disgusting rumor spread."
"Who?" Alice asked, "Who is it about?"
"Why would I tell you?" Lily demanded, "You'll just go flying to her and beg to know what it's about."
"Oh, come on, Lil, just tell me," Alice persisted, "I promise I won't tell anybody, because nobody will tell me."
Lily sighed, looked around, and snatched her friend's arm, muttering the password to get into the common room. Pulling her onto the couch, she glanced around once more, before leaning in close to Alice.
"I'm telling you this in the utmost confidence," she whispered, "Frank told me, that Bertram told him, that Edon told him, that Arabella told her, that Jade told her, Felicity told Hazel, who was told by Frita who overheard Trinity Balmer-"
"That Slytherin girl?" Alice wondered aloud.
"Yeah, her," Lily replied, "Anyway, she was talking to Persephone, Jesse, and Claudia about how Regulus Black saw Rabastan Lestrange and..."
She stopped unsurely.
"Who?" Alice demanded, "Rabastan Lestrange and who? Lily, who was Rabastan Lestrange seen with?"
"Rowan," Lily whispered, just as a group of boys had walked in, laughing loudly and pushing each other around, "Regulus apparently saw them embracing or something."
"What?" Alice asked incredulously, "That's not possible. Rowan absolutely despises him!"
"I know," Lily said, "That's why I didn't want to tell you. It's absolutely ridiculous. Rowan wouldn't do that."
"Wouldn't do what?" a tired voice asked, and Lily turned around in her seat to see Remus Lupin standing over them. "Hey, Evans."
"Remus," she greeted, "Nothing, it's got nothing to do with you."
"If it has something to do with Rowan," he said, "Than it has something to do with Sirius. And anything that has to do with any of my friends has to do with me, as well. So, what wouldn't Rowan do, exactly?"
Lily didn't want to tell him, and she was determined not to, knowing he'd run off and tell Black, which would then ruin their relationship, and it would be her fault.
So she didn't tell him.
Alice did.
She was speaking incredibly fast with her eyes closed extremely tight and her fists clenching to the extent of her knuckles turning white. "Regulus Black saw Rowan and Rabastan hugging romantic-like and told the chattiest girl in the entire school and now everybody else knows about it except for me but now I do and it's so shocking and ridiculous but oh-so-true."
Remus went pale. "What...what did you just say?"
Alice groaned dramatically and took a deep breath to say it all over again, but Remus just put out a hand to stop her and said, "I know what you said. I heard you loud and clear. But I don't understand. Are you trying to tell me...that Rowan is cheating?"
"Cheating?" Sirius asked suddenly, making everybody jump. No one had seen him walk up behind his friend. "Rowan's not a cheater."
Nobody replied. They all stared around at each other, suddenly very deathly, deathly pale. "I knew I shouldn't have mentioned it..." Lily muttered, trying to make it quiet enough only Alice heard, but Sirius apparently heard it, too.
"Mentioned what?" he demanded, "What's going on with Rowan? Her Aunt Jesse didn't die, right?"
"No!" they all yelled at once, causing them all to stare at each other again, and Sirius to roll his eyes exasperatedly. "Then what is it?"
Alice sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes extremely tight and clenched her fists to the extent of her knuckles turning white and said-so quietly and so fast that none of them could understand her-the entire story.
A moment after she'd finished, Sirius said, "What?" He sounded generally confused and frustrated.
She prepared to speak again, but Lily put a hand up to Alice's mouth in order to shut her up, and then said, "Remus...?"
Without waiting for him to say that he didn't want to tell or some other excuse that would get him out of it, she pulled Alice away and escaped.
Sirius turned a gaze on Remus and said very slowly and clearly, "What. Happened."
Remus took a really deep breath and said, "Rowan's cheating on you."
Sirius stared at him like he was insane, and then burst into laughter.
"What is so funny?" Remus demanded angrily. What could be so hilarious about finding out that your girlfriend was a two-timing, deceiving swindle?
"That is just cruelty," Sirius laughed, "For a second there I almost believed you! Be serious, Moony, what's actually going on?"
Remus just stared at him, trying to show just how serious he was. Soon, Sirius stopped laughing as realization dawned on his expression.
"You mean it?"
"Yah."
"This isn't some cruel joke?"
"No."
"Aw, man..."
He slumped down onto the couch, staring off into the fire. "Well, that truly is something. I can honestly say that is something I really didn't expect to ever happen."
Suddenly he jumped up, his eyes filled with such fury that Remus was afraid of what he was going to say.
"Who's the genius that stole my girlfriend?" he demanded, his voice shaking with rage. "Who?"
"Um..."
He only remembered one name.
"Well, I know that Regulus had something-" he started, but was cut off by a look of pure shock, amazement, and rage.
"Are you trying to tell me that my girlfriend cheated on me with my little brother?" he demanded, so loudly that almost everybody in the common room gawked at them like it was the most incredible thing they'd ever seen.
"Um, actually-"
"That little bastard!" Sirius screamed before Remus even got the chance to explain that it wasn't Regulus who had done it, but who had started the rumor. "He is going to get it now, that stupid punk!"
He turned on his heel and pushed past a group of people roughly and out the portrait, yelling, "I'm going to kill that evil little-"
The rest was unheard by the people in the common room, due to the portrait suddenly slamming shut.
"Oh, dear," Remus moaned, "What have I done?"
"Ouch!" Regulus cried as his elder brother slammed him against a wall, holding a fistful of his shirt, "Stop it, that hurts!"
"Why should I?" Sirius demanded, ramming him against it for the thousandth time. He was determined to get the truth out of him.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I didn't do anything?" he suggested, only to get punched upside the head so hard he was knocked to the ground.
Sirius leaned over him, glaring down at him so hard that Regulus looked away, only to be pulled back. Sirius's gaze seemed to drill into his skull so hard he was beginning to get a headache, but he didn't dare look away again.
"Don't you ever," Sirius said so quietly, so calmly it was possibly scarier than when he was yelling, "Ever, try that with my girlfrie-with Rowan-again." Suddenly he seemed less angry and more pained, which was strange, because Regulus had never seen his brother so hurt before.
He couldn't understand why...
"I won't," he said, "I won't ever do it again, I promise."
After a moment, Sirius let go and swiftly stormed away, so angry, so upset, he just wanted to escape.
He was desperate enough to go to the library to think.
Rowan hadn't seen anything of Sirius for the rest of that day, and the next, until Thursday came, and she remembered the bet she'd made two days earlier.
During her Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L.s, she'd sat behind Sirius, and it seemed to her as if her "boyfriend" was completely ignoring her for some reason everybody else seemed to know.
Everybody besides her.
Five seats up from her sat James, who yawned loudly and rumpled his already messy hair, then turned around in his seat to look at Sirius, who was lounging in his chair with that casual elegance she was so used to, tilting it back on two legs at ease, and gave his friend the thumbs-up sign.
She couldn't help but eye him hopefully, wondering if he'd at least give her an explanation of some sort. She hated not knowing things, and this was something she was desperate to know, but no one would tell her anything.
He didn't seem to notice her at all, or, if he did, he was continuing to ignore her.
Two seats away from her sat Remus, who scratched his chin with the end of his quill, still completely absorbed in his exam. A little farther off, Peter was scuffing the ground with his foot and biting his fingernails anxiously, unsure of his exam.
Eventually, Flitwick called for their papers, and everybody was packing up and leaving. Rowan joined a group of friends instead of trying to follow Sirius and James and Remus and Peter. She was standing almost directly next to Severus Snape as he attempted to escape into the Great Hall.
Suddenly, she heard James, Sirius, and Remus all burst into laughter about something else she didn't know about. Peter was the only one who wasn't laughing with them, and he seemed to say something back to them, which James returned with an impatient glance. Then Remus looked at them all seriously, said something, and made hand signals that suggested he was telling them to be quiet.
Oh. So they were talking about question ten. 'Give five signs that identify the werewolf.' And Remus had made some sort of joke that Peter hadn't understood and James snapped back at him saying something that would ultimately give away the "furry little problem" to eavesdroppers, forcing Remus to shut them up.
She wished she could join them, but she knew if she did, they'd all probably just ignore her.
What had she done wrong?
The four boys left, and the group of girls followed, and so, unfortunately, did Snape. All of them rushed out into the gorgeous summer day and walked down the lawn toward the lake. Snape sat down on the grass a little farther away, the four boys threw themselves onto the grass on the edge of the lake under a beech tree, and the girls all hurried to the beach, where they took off their shoes and socks and cooled their feet in the clear lake water.
Every so often she glanced around at her "friends." Remus, as always, had buried himself in a book. James was playing with a Golden Snitch, which Rowan presumed he had stolen. Peter was watching with intent interest, gasping and applauding every time he made a particularly difficult catch. Sirius looked bored as he just stared around at the different students passing by.
For a split second, she thought he looked over at her, but then snapped back to some other student, who he glared at from afar. She followed his gaze and saw his little brother Regulus making a run for it with Evan Rosier at his side. Rabastan Lestrange was with them, but he stopped for just a moment to stare at Rowan as if to say, "Tell no one." She stared back angrily. Eventually, he hurried after the other boys.
Bringing her gaze back to the friends, she saw Peter cheering with excitement and Sirius snap something at James. Peter's cheeks flushed bright pink and he settled down.
At that point, Rowan could read their lips well enough to know what they were probably saying.
"I'm bored," Sirius murmured, "Wish it was full moon..."
Remus replied from behind his book, holding it out. He was looking down, so, to her great annoyance, she couldn't tell what he said.
Sirius snorted and turned his head away, again making it impossible for Rowan to see what he might've said.
Suddenly, James said, "This'll liven you up, Padfoot. Look who it is..." He was looking at a boy with greasy black hair who was stowing some papers into a bag and setting off across the grass.
At the same time, James and Sirius both stood up.
Uh oh, Rowan thought, stepping out of the water and taking her shoes, muttering goodbyes to her friends. She didn't want to be seen by the boys, but she wanted to keep a close eye.
"All right Snivellus?" James yelled, causing Snape to do as he usually did, dropping everything and reaching into his robes. His wand was halfway into the air when James yelled out, "Expelliarmus!"
Snape's wand flew into the air and landed in the grass behind him.
Sirius barked with laughter. He pointed his wand at Snape and said some sort of incantation that Rowan couldn't hear from her position. The gangly boy was knocked off of his feet just as he was diving for his wand.
Students all around had turned their attention to the bullying, some looking nervous and others completely entertained. Some, like Rowan herself, were simply getting closer just to to hear more of what was happening.
As she watched, James looked over at the girls on the beach, and Rowan realized she'd left Lily there, who had no idea of what was happening to her best friend. She swung around and rushed back down the grassy hill towards the lake, towards Lily.
She heard the group watching burst into laughter, and something told her to turn around and watch, but something else told her to keep going.
Before having even reached the group, she yelled out from midway between the beach and the onlookers, "Lily!"
A mass of red hair swung around as Lily turned toward her. "Yeah?" she asked, just as Rowan pointed to the group.
"Oh, no," Lily moaned, racing out of the water, leaving her shoes and socks on the sand, "No, not again!" She dashed past Rowan and up the hill, just as they heard James yell, "Scourgify!"
The group laughed, and she heard Lily scream, "Leave him alone!"
Rowan waited for the rest of the slowly moving girls to get their shoes and socks back on, then wander back up the beach. By the time she'd managed to lead them up the hill, the first thing they all saw was Snape hanging upside down in midair, his robes covering his head to reveal bare, skinny legs and-
Ugh, that was something she could've gone her entire life without seeing.
"Let him down!" Lily ordered.
"Certainly," James said and flicked his wand upwards. Snape fell to the ground, swiftly disentangling himself and standing up again, only to keel over once more when Sirius yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!"
"Leave him alone!" Lily screamed, having pulled out her own wand. James and Sirius eyed it carefully.
"Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," James sighed, shaking his head
"Take the curse off him, then!"
James sighed again overdramatically and mumbled something under his breath. Louder, as Snape brushed himself off, he said, "There you go. You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus."
"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"
The girls around Rowan gasped. Rowan herself turned on her heel and walked away. She was plenty used to being called that and hearing others being called that, but she hadn't truly heard it since she'd come back, and it brought back certain memories she'd wished to keep away.
She didn't see how the ordeal ended, and she didn't really want to. She didn't give a crap if Severus was okay because he'd done it; he'd insulted her enough times not to care, but now he called his "best friend" the worst thing any wizard could call Muggle-borns.
Mudblood.
She sat down on the sandy beach and stared out across the lake.
Unsure of how long she'd been there, when she heard four pairs of feet padding along behind her, she called out, "I bet you really enjoyed that, huh, Black?"
They all stopped, and she looked over her shoulder at them.
James, Remus, and Peter all looked shocked. But Sirius just sort of glared, not as much angrily, but disappointedly.
"Oh, what, so I'm 'Black' now?"
"Oh, what, so you're talking to me now?"
It seemed like, if he'd been in his Animagus form, he would've growled at her. But instead his eyes just got even narrower. His skin seemed to go white with rage, and his voice shook as he yelled, "Not if I can help it."
She stood up, her arms crossed. "Do you mind at least telling me exactly what I did to piss you off so much?"
"Oh, like you don't know."
"As a matter-of-fact, I don't."
"Well," he said, "Why don't you think back? What happened to you in the past couple of days that you didn't tell me about?"
She thought...and the first thing that popped into her head was Snape and his... original spell.
"Oh..." she said, sounding fairly shocked, but then giggled, "Oh, that's what you're mad about? Sirius, don't be ridiculous!"
That seemed to make him even angrier.
"So what, now it's not a big deal?"
"Well, actually, I don't really think it is," she admitted, "I mean, I was planning on telling you eventually-"
"If you don't think this is a big deal, than I can honestly say you are not the same person I've known for the past five years."
"I know I don't normally keep things from you, but I really was going to tell you at some point, just when I knew-"
"Knew what?" he demanded, "Knew that you wanted the 'pride' of the family instead of the 'failure?' Well, congratulations, this failure is gone."
She stopped dead, staring at him with a blank expression, and then blinked. "What are you talking about?"
"You think I wasn't going to find out eventually?" he asked, "Well, guess what? I found out about your stupid little 'affair.'" He made air quotations with his fingers and his face contorted with disgust.
"Affair?" she muttered, than gasped. "You...you think I cheated?"
He let out a bark of fake laughter. "I know you cheated."
"Who told you that load of garbage?"
He pointed with his thumb at Remus.
She turned a shocked gaze on him, and he just laughed uncomfortably, before muttering to the other two boys, "Let's go." Without waiting for an answer, he stepped to the side and began rushing up the path towards the castle. Peter followed almost immediately, but James stayed for a moment before going along.
She closed in on him.
"How could you possibly think I'd ever do that to you?" she whispered, "I'm not that cruel."
"That's just it," he muttered, "How could you do this to me? I thought...I don't even know what I thought. I just thought that you were something different, okay? But I guess you're not."
"I honestly don't know where anybody would get the idea that I could ever two-time anybody," she said in a low, grave tone, "Because I'm not like that. I've always been faithful to you, Sirius."
"So, please explain to me why it is I feel like I just can't trust you anymore?"
She stared at him. "I guess you can't."
He bit his lip and shook his head. "Than I guess that's it then," he said, "It's over."
She started to choke up a little bit but tried to hide it. "Fine." She put her hand up in front of his face, the one with his ring on it, and took it off, throwing it at him a little harder than she'd wanted to, and took off down the beach, picking her shoes up as she went, and tried to wipe off the tears that were gently rolling down her cheeks.
She couldn't believe it. They'd actually broken up. Silly, childish fantasies she'd had of them ending up together forever shattered and she felt wondrously empty inside. She thought that they would be "that couple." The one all the girls were jealous of, the one she could brag about to friends and family and even random people she just so happened to be talking to, the one that seemed so perfect that it was ridiculous. She thought he'd always be there for her.
But he wasn't. And if he wasn't, then James wasn't. And if James wasn't, Peter wasn't. And if Peter wasn't, Remus wasn't. Her closest group of friends, who she'd gotten into trouble with for five straight years, who she'd loved and cherished, who she'd spent every possible moment with, would leave her.
They actually broke up...
She thought they were in love...
Sirius stared at her as she walked off down the beach. What was she saying, that she hadn't cheated? Why would Moony lie to him?
Unless he didn't really know...
He knew he'd been very mad already. Just the idea of her going behind his back was painful, but then he hadn't stayed long enough to hear the rest of what Moony had to say, and when he'd tried to explain afterwards, he'd refused to listen.
And now, he'd quite possibly made the biggest mistake of his life.
How could he have been so incredibly stupid?
He looked down at the ring in his hand and shoved it in his pocket.