Chapter 29: The Woodsmen Guardian

Unedited...

Peter stood there, looking like a deer caught in the headlights, stunned and numbed into submission under Isabella's unforgiving glare. Her breathing had not steadied yet and her eyes kept welling up with tears, and she did not even understand why...

She felt dazed.

She was surely dreaming.

This was all just a horrible nightmare...

But the longer they stood there, mutely gaping at each other, the louder the buzzing in her ears got. She knew that beyond the double doors on her right, were four people DYING to know what the damn hell was going on out here. She even knew Lily must have her ear glued to the large door trying to reign in any sound at all emanating from the Entrance Hall. And she didn't even need to be present in the room to know that all hell was breaking loose in the Hufflepuff Common Room this very second...

"Izzy?" Peter finally said, breaking the silence. "How do you—"

"—I was there, Pete," she said without even letting him finish his sentence, startling him in the process. "When Dumbledore visited the Hospital Wing on the night we returned, I was up and I saw it all." Peter was wringing his hands so much now, she was surprised his wrists weren't bleeding as yet. "He was looking for something... A magical object," she muttered, still clawing on to Peter's face. "And Pomfrey did mention a cup that she had found in Lily's pouch..."

Peter's face had turned a deathly white by now. "Izzy, listen..." he stammered.

"Are you going to deny it all?" she asked quietly, too exhausted to even feel angry anymore.

He hesitated for a second, but quickly shook his head. "No, I am not," he replied firmly, closing his eyes in helpless submission. "You're right. About everything," he said shakily, hardly even daring to look at her. "I did find the—you know—" he made a gesture with his hands as if that was enough to tell her what he was referring to,"—down at the—underground palace and er—I... I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking when I... You know," he pocketed his hands reeling in so much guilt that he couldn't even get himself to mention the specifics.

"But... Why, Pete?" Isabella asked, feeling a sudden pang of sadness for Peter. She had never seen him look this pale and contrite ever.

Peter sighed before sinking on to the stone stairs in the Entrance Hall. "Where do I begin?" he started, staring into empty space. "D'you've any idea what it feels like to hail from an impoverished pureblood family, Izzy?"

"Huh?"

"No. It's humiliating," Peter cut in, shrugging indelicately. "The slurs that get thrown at Mother just 'cause her hat isn't pointy enough or Father having to hide in the shadows at parties lest he'd be seen tipping the elves with knuts instead of sickles! It's frustrating, Izzy... Frustrating to live in a world where you are constantly being watched, constantly being judged and ridiculed for your choice of fork and cloak!" he spat out scathingly, blinking back tears.

Isabella felt all her anger dissipate at once, as she watched him struggling to hold his composure.

"I just... Izzy, do you know how it feels to walk into your house and all you see are your mother's soot-ridden hands, a tired smile that doesn't reach her eyes and a hidden sorrow that is slowly eating her up from the inside?" he croaked out, watching her through glassy eyes, determined to tame his emotions. "I've never seen them happy my whole life. Unlike James and Sirius, I know nothing about what it feels like to have a pompous and proud mum, nor understand what the phrase 'The Pureblood Privilege' actually means," he paused, burying his face in his hands while Isabella stood there dumbfounded. Because for the first time ever, she was finally getting a full glimpse of the ugly underbelly of the wizarding world, the struggles that existed within its confines... How could it be that she had spent the last five years in this boy's company and not once paused to wonder if there might be something he was secretly struggling with?

"I'm sorry, Peter, I had no idea," she breathed, sitting down next to him even as he raised his head and scoffed bitterly.

"Don't be, I don't blame you, Iz... Honestly, you have no idea how lucky you are to be a muggle-born. You just saved yourself a lifetime's worth of malice and hostility," he smirked.

"And if I have to be absolutely honest," Peter continued, loosening his tie and letting his collar fall open, "I don't know what came over me when I finally managed to grab hold of the cup," he said after a moment's pause. "All I saw when I looked down at the golden badger was... freedom... This tiny piece of gold not only had enough power to strap shut all those rotten tongues that maimed my parents' dignity for decades, it could also get me and my family out of the dump forever..."

"Oh, Pete," Isabella's heart nearly broke in half.

"But you know what, you're right," he said, suddenly jumping up to his feet. "I did a TERRIBLE thing and none of this excuses any of it!" he exclaimed, running a frustrated hand through his brown hair. "You need to report me at once, Izzy—"

"—What?" Isabella said, getting up to her feet herself.

"—We need to tell both Dumbledore and Bagnold what actually happened—"

"—Don't be ridiculous, Pete, I'm not going to report you to anyone."

"But you must."

"No, I DON'T," she shouted back, taking him fully by surprise. Inching closer to him, she put her hand on his bony shoulder. "Listen, you did what you did and we can't change any of that, but..." she paused, determination washing over her face, "what we can do is correct the situation without anyone ever needing to know what you actually did. And I'm going to help you."

"Huh?" Peter gaped back at her dumbfoundedly. "What...?" he finally managed to say. His mouth had gone entirely dry. "You would actually do that for me?"

Isabella nodded fervently. "Of course. You're my friend, Pete. You had a brief lapse of judgment, but that does not warrant an Azkaban sentence."

Peter gaped back speechlessly at her. "Well, er... Why, thanks Izzy, I-I don't know what to say..."

"So don't say anything!" she replied, grabbing him fiercely by his hand. "To anyone. This will be our little secret."

Peter hesitated, a look of uncertainty crossing his eyes. "Not even—"

"—Yes, not even James, Sirius and Remus. I know those blockheads all too well, Peter. Letting them in on this would literally mean the end of your friendship. Forever. They'd never forgive you for this, no matter how much you try to reason with them."

She knew Peter must be breaking into a thousand pieces listening to her right now, but it was the hard truth and he had to hear it.

"And why would you let me off the hook?"

"Because you remind me of me," she said rounding up on him. "Because I've done tons of stupid things too without thinking and drowned in regret later! So I know how this must feel and want to help you out in any way I can," she smiled watching a flood of relief spreading across his face. "Now come, let's fetch the others and get out of here. I've had enough drama for one night," she said, tugging at his arm and leading him towards the closed double doors of the Great Hall.

...

"Well...?"

"SHHHH!" Wylwen hissed back, her eyes glowering in rage. "I thought I asked you to shut up and speak only when spoken to?" she growled into the terrified face of Hepzibah. She chanced another peak at the two students named Isabella and Peter walking into the Great Hall and meeting their hysterical friends, her eyes blazing with fury: these idiotic fifteen-year-olds have NO BUSINESS messing around with things beyond their comprehension!

"But it's true what they say, though, isn't it?" Hepzibah whispered fearfully, speaking out of turn again much to Wylwen's chagrin. It almost felt as if she had brought along a rebellious toddler. "Hogwarts's walls do have ears..." Wylwen looked at her as if she was ready to punch her nose to the back of her skull. "I mean we are the ears in this scenario, of course..." Hepzibah continued, quite unable to stop herself.

Wylwen shook her head exasperatedly. "Let's get back inside," she ordered and Hepzibah nearly jumped out of her skin at the harshness in her tone. Nodding fearfully, she scampered out of their hiding place at once and timidly led the way back into the Hufflepuff Common Room to rejoin the rest of the guests, her weight bobbing and jiggling around her like a jelly.

As soon as they walked in through the doors, however, their demeanor changed from 'sneaky eavesdroppers' to 'elegant peers of the realm' at once. "What now?" asked Hepzibah, through a fake smile and nodding courteously at proud warlocks and haughty wiccans on her way in.

Wylwen hooked her hand around Hepzibah's chubby elbow and spoke in a low voice. "Well, now, that we at least know for sure that the bunch of meddling children somehow have managed to retrieve the heirloom from Elvedoria, we need to keep a close eye on them and figure out a way to steal it..." she said, watching the rather agitated crowd around them.

It looked as if every attendee in the room somehow seemed to have picked up that something was amiss tonight. And how could they not? Nearly all of Hogwarts's staff, Dumbledore, Bagnold and her troop of Aurors had suddenly retired into Pomona Sprout's office for an emergency meeting, leaving the delegates and the other guests at the mercy of students, elves and the school's ghosts...

"And how are we going to do that?" asked Hepzibah.

Wylwen smirked and hooked an eyebrow wickedly. "Leave that to me."

...

"—ok, honestly? Do you two realise how WORRYING all this must seem to us in here?" Lily slammed her hand on the table.

"I agree," Lucius affirmed, scoffing and pointing in Lily's direction.

Isabella huffed. "Not now, Lucius," she pleaded.

Lily opened her mouth in complete shock. "You bolt out of a conversation with the MINISTER of Magic for Merlin-knows-why, then you ask to 'speak' with Peter alone, SHUN the rest of us in here and now, NOW, you walk back in and want us to 'drop the topic'?" Lily bellowed.

Isabella lost her temper at once. "Oh my god, would you look at this?" she hissed grittingly at Claiborne.

"No, I'm sorry, Izzy, I'm actually with her on this one," Claiborne shrugged plainly, causing her to let out another guttural roar of frustration.

Sighing exasperatedly, Isabella turned towards Lily. "Look, Lily—"

"—No! Don't you dare 'look Lily' me now! I want to know what happened," Lily said decidedly. "I'm sorry, but I do," she folded her hands across her chest even as Severus ground his teeth in repressed annoyance.

"Lily," he started, speaking in a forced calm tone, "she clearly does not want to tell us about it. Why can't we just—"

"Sev?" Lily snapped her head in his direction, "stay the hell OUT of this," she hissed. "You clearly don't understand the seriousness of what we're dealing with, nor do you CARE about the magnitude of consequences she might have attracted for herself—"

"—Yes! YES! You're right!" Severus bellowed, cutting her short. "I don't understand, and guess what? You're also right about me NOT GIVING A RAT'S ARSE ABOUT ANY OF THIS, but d'you know why?" he eyed her dangerously, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Because the lot of you are just a bunch of rotten, empty egg shells that have NO BUSINESS MEDDLING IN THE WIZARDING WORLD IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

Isabella's eyebrows shot up at once.

Peter swung his head around, as if he'd been slapped awake too.

But Severus wasn't guilty. Because had had enough. He had let Lily convince him into going to this stupid party only because she had promised him to make the evening about them settling their deep-seated issues and starting over, NOT spiral back into issues that meant nothing to him! He was done being second priority to Lily all the time. And he was done fighting for her attention...

"Wow... Excellent," Lucius muttered, stabbing Severus with a look of alarm-cum-disgust.

"What?" Lily asked Severus, her eyes fluttering in confusion. Isabella's eyes met Claiborne's at once and found her seething on the spot in rage as well. "You think we don't... deserve to be here? In your precious land of magic?" she asked (although it seemed more like a challenge than anything else), but Severus merely tousled his hair in irritation as if Lily was the one driving him up the wall.

"You know what, I can't do this right now."

"Uh huh? And why not?" Lily spat out, a fire blazing in her eyes now. "What, are we 'lowly Muggle-borns' not deserving of Your Highness's time?" she hissed scathingly.

"Merlin's beard!" Severus roared through clenched teeth, his face resembling a misshapen beetroot now. "PERHAPS!" he bellowed, his voice echoing through the hall. Lily looked murderous now while Severus had no problem glaring back at her either. "You and all your precious little problems can go take a hike, but for Merlin's sake leave ME out of it!" he hissed, backing away from her, hatred spewing out of every cell in his body.

"Very good, Sev," Lily said glassily, her face completely devoid of all expression and seeming more dangerous than ever. "Nice of you turn this whole thing around on me and walk away as if I'm the one sucking you dry of your sanity," she bit out, looking about ready to burn this whole place down to ash. Severus merely let out a bark of a scoff and sent Lily a look that made Isabella's blood run cold; it felt like he had truly become a Slytherin tonight... "Oh, and er... 'Rotten, empty egg shells' was it?" she asked pointing at herself and Isabella and nodding her head in mock-awe. "Very eloquently put. About time, eh?" she rasped, even as the others watched on in mind-numbing awkwardness.

Severus rolled his eyes arrogantly and regarded her haughtily for a second. "Why don't you go hang yourself?" he spat out. And with that he stormed out of the Great Hall leaving them in bone-crushing silence.

...

If things had turned cold and icy out in the Great Hall for the children, it was much, much worse inside Sprout's office as a large group of people seated themselves around the small circular table in the middle of the room.

"No more running, Dumbledore," Bagnold's said wearing a steely smile. Dumbledore, however, merely sported an unreadable expression, sitting behind the high-backed Head-of-House's chair, and towering above everybody. "It would be easier if you just admitted to everything now. Save yourself a whole lot of embarrassment—"

"—Pardon me, Minister, but I will not have you insulting my Headmaster in my office," Sprout said stiffly, straightening up importantly in her seat.

"Look, Millicent," McGonagall started, shifting in her chair to face the cold Minister. "I don't deny that every element linked to the Sacred Age has gripped every wizard, witch and squib's imagination alike, and our historians have literally shed blood trying to make some headway into cracking the mysteries of the forgotten time, but for Merlin's sake, you have to stop obsessing about it so much! Whatever makes you think Albus might actually know something about it?" she rasped, her voice bordering on mild irritation.

Millicent mutely stared into McGonagall's face, her cold smile widening with every passing second. "The fact that there's a new locket hanging around his neck?" she simply said, at once, every head in the room swung around to look in Dumbledore's direction and a sharp gasp resonated across the walls. There were, indeed, two lockets hanging over his robes; a longer one being one his usuals, the golden symbol of the Deathly Hallows. But there was now, another, shorter locket that glinted brilliantly in the candlelight just above the triangular one. It was small, round and seemed to resemble an hourglass sitting in the middle of multiple golden rings. "From what I've read, that is a Time Turner," she said, her voice piercing the air like ice. "And one doesn't need to be an antiquarian to know where that came from..." she mused delightedly.

James's face broke into a sweat as he watched the gobsmacked faces of his professors looking at their Headmaster with bated breaths. Pulling the Invisibility Cloak tighter around him, he tried to steady his breathing and waited for a completely insouciant Dumbledore to respond; what blew his mind, however, was the fact that, in spite of the hostility that prevailed in the room, Dumbledore still, if it was even possible, managed to sport a polite smile and look just as unaffected as ever. All James knew was that they were bust this time; there was NO escaping the Dementors whatsoever...

Without a word, Dumbledore looked down, took the locket in his hand and glanced at it, before looking back up with a slight nod. "Gryffindor's Pride," his voice cut the silence like a knife through a cake, even as a ripple of shock streaked through the room.

"What are you saying?" McGonagall barked, her eyes the size of tennis balls now.

"Indeed the most powerful magical object to ever exist," he continued, ignoring McGonagall. The golden rings beamed under the light, even as every jaw in the room dropped to the floor as realisation hit. "No Magic in the world is greater than Time, and this piece of metal here," he said, nodding blankly at Millicent who looked like she might just sink her nails into the wood of her chair in excitement, "has the power to control it..." he muttered, his gaze slowly hardening. "It is so powerful, it could literally rewrite history as we know it to one's own whims and fancies. It allows you cheat to Death again and again and again... Make one immortal in time."

A hush fell around the table.

"—Now imagine," Dumbledore continued, "if this were to land in a common wizard's hands... The dangers we'd be putting the wizarding world into? We risk allowing our reality to be tampered with, risk inadvertently altering our past and live to see our present play out the in worst possible scenarios, scenarios we are not prepared to handle... All because someone turned time and changed the past to meet his own selfish needs... Imagine what our present would be like if, in 1945, Gellert Grindelwald had won the war?"

A burst of murmurs broke out around the room. The thought, indeed, was frightening, unfathomable even.

"Blimey," muttered Slughorn having gone white all over his face. "'Tis a maddening thought..."

An agitated purl took over the room, as every member present battled with this sudden piece of information. It was almost as if they weren't prepared to believe this jewel was actually retrieved from deep inside the kingdom, because up until a second ago, the possibility of that ever happening had been close to nil. Despite all the uproar and chaos, however, Millicent still seemed focused on her own agenda, as she leaned back in her chair and regarded Dumbledore through the bridge of her nose "Where are you going with this?" she asked, her voice sporting a forced calm.

Dumbledore, for his part, pressed his fingers together and leveled with her as well, as if wishing to tell her that she didn't intimidate him. "Making you understand why I thought it best to hold on to this jewel myself."

Millicent narrowed her eyes at once. "Unfortunately... It ISN'T your decision to make, Dumbledore!" she yelled, springing up at once. The Aurors around her stiffened too; Auror Oramaex, James noticed, seemed most invested in the Minister's sentiments seeing as his snarl was the most nasty of them all.

"You may well be right about that, Bagnold, but if I have to be perfectly honest, I couldn't trust anyone but myself with this locket," Dumbledore replied, making several pairs of eyebrows shoot up to the skies. James could not help but notice how they weren't on first-name basis anymore.

Millicent didn't say anything and simply seethed in shock and disbelief at the height of insult Dumbledore was subjecting her and her regime to inf front of her liegemen. "Careful, Dumbledore," she warned. "I could have you stripped of all titles in a flash if you question my competency or leadership one more time..." she hissed, her hands trembling on the wooden table with rage. "And don't even GET me started on what I plan to do with those five students who were helping you in this mission!" she screamed. "I will have them sent to Azkaban for treason. For being an accomplice to a crime of this stature, for openly LYING to the Wizengamot—" but she stopped dead in mid-sentence, because she realised she was having no effect on the old wizard whatsoever. All she saw was him sporting a rather playful smile and it threw her off entirely.

"It astounds me, really, that you think a bunch of fifteen-year-olds could have gone down to the most magically hostile place known to wizards and survived to tell the tale," he said softly. Millicent opened her mouth to retort, but closed it again, as she flushed, making her dark, glowy skin turn a deeper bronze shade. "Have you not worked it out as yet?" he said and it almost felt like he was teasing her. "They were the distraction, Bagnold," Dumbledore smiled, and suddenly, everyone seemed to understand what he was saying. James's hand flew to his mouth, as he watched on wide-eyed. "I had you and the entire Auror force think that the children were up to something, when it was me all along. It was I who retrieved this jewel from the heart of Woldorin..."

There was a silence when nobody spoke (or moved). This was indeed too much to digest—even for James!

"You really made the children take the blame for this?" McGonagall wrung out, disbelief written all over her face. Ever since she realised Dumbledore had been lying to her about the whole fiasco, she had gone rather cold and rigid in her demeanour. "Unbelievable!" she whispered, stabbing him with a look.

Dumbledore merely nodded. "It was rather foolish of me," he admitted, sending yet another even louder burst of murmurs.

"I think I've heard enough!" spat out Lorak, the goblin, from Millicent's right. "I'll be summoning in the other officials if that's alright with you, Minister!" he said pompously even as a loud babel broke out from the rest of the party.

...

~oO 1 hour later...

"Talk about complicating things," Lily said with an exasperated shake of her head, and looked ready to explode any second.

"Tell me about it," Sirius echoed, hoisting himself up and sitting on the ledge of the balcony in the boys' dorm, facing them. Originally, there was a large French window in its place, but since James wanted to give himself a 'view', he had charmed the window to open up as a door to an enchanted semi-circular porch that nobody could see but themselves.

After the whole thing broke out in the Great Hall, Lily, Isabella, Claiborne and Peter had returned to their tower, much to Sirius's bewilderment. James joined them shortly afterwards, and for the first time in five years, Isabella found it hard to directly look into any of her friends' faces, because she knew they knew she had a secret and the guilt seemed to consume her alive, as she stood there in her green robes minus the gloves and earrings.

"All because you decided to bolt out of the party for no reason?" Sirius asked Isabella. She hated that tinge of accusation in his voice.

"And she won't even tell us why," James said scathingly, looking between her and Peter.

"But James," started Claiborne, "I didn't see the Time Turner on him when the party initially started."

"Exactly, me either. But, as soon as things went south, he pulled it out of his robes and diverted all the attention on to himself," said James, wrenching off his bow-tie and loosening his collar. "It almost looks like he was expecting something like this to happen," he said, sending a pointed look in Isabella's direction.

"So, where does the whole thing stand as of now?" Sirius asked.

"Well, he's basically made them all believe that the Time Turner was the only thing he retrieved from down there and that we were all innocent. And right before I left, I saw several ministry officials Floo in to discuss the charges on Dumbledore," James said.

A stab of guilt seared through Isabella. All this really was all because of her. She looked up and found Peter looking even more devastated than she was. In fact, he hadn't said a word ever since their little chat in the Entrance Hall. She couldn't even imagine what he must be going through this very instant.

"What d'you reckon's going to happen to the Time Turner?" Lily asked nervously.

James scoffed bitterly. "Well, I'd throw myself off this wall if the Ministry didn't confiscate it in a week's time," he said, springing up to his feet defeatedly. "Anyway, I'm going to go take a shower," he announced, bringing the conference to an abrupt end. Pulling out of the balcony, he disappeared into the dark room where Remus was still fast asleep. "You coming, Pete?" he asked, turning around and staring icily at him, which, Isabella gathered, was code for 'I need a word with you', because Peter sprang up to his feet at once and timidly shuffled out of the balcony to join him.

"Izzy, what in the world's happened?" Claiborne asked her for the hundredth time. "Peter looks like he might fling himself off the roof!" she exclaimed. "I've never seen look this guilty ever!" she said, successfully managing to get on Isabella's last nerve.

But when Lily saw Isabella hotly grinding her teeth in frustration, it seemed to make her angrier than her. "Don't make me want to hate you too, Izzy! We ask because WE CARE!" she screamed, before Isabella could even open her mouth. And frankly, she was very thankful for being interrupted, because the words that had formed in her head as a response were so savage, it could have sliced them open.

"God, I'm beat. I've had enough for the day," Claiborne mumbled and swiftly got up.

"And I am coming with you!" said Lily, shooting yet another inculpatory glance at Isabella before trotting after her best friend out of the dorm, finally leaving her alone with a gurgling Sirius, who had not taken his eyes off her ever since she got here.

Trying to ignore the squirming in her stomach, she got up and nervously flapped her hands about, wracking her brain to come up with something to talk about. "Er... How's um... Remus doing?" she said, jerking her head in Remus's direction, attempting at small talk.

"Not great actually," said Sirius. "Frankly, it's getting a bit scary of late. His pre-transformation days have never been this bad," he said, watching his friend's sweaty face in the distance. "It's getting more and more painful as he gets older, I reckon... The Wolfsbane potion is the only thing that can keep him from going insane."

"One second," Isabella cut in. "I truly fail to understand how Dumbledore of all is unable to get his hands on a gallon of the damn potion—!"

"—Because if he tried, he would end up exposing Remus and that would mean the end to his whole damn existence in this fucked up, bigoted world!" Sirius roared bitterly. "The only way out is if one of us learns to brew it ourselves. Which is close to impossible, of course," he added as an afterthought.

A cold breeze blew over Isabella's face. It was a beautiful night with an almost full moon shining brightly down at her, making the sequins on her dress glimmer in the light and cast beautiful shadows on the walls around them.

"So," he started, dangling his legs over the ledge and eyeing her uncertainly, "are we going to talk about tonight at all or...?"

"Ugh... Good Godric," she breathed even as a shiver ran down her spine. "Can we please not?" she pleaded.

"NO!" he said, wearing a scowl. "Honestly, Izzy, I thought I asked you to send for me for anything. What the fuck happened?" he asked, despairingly.

"NOTHING big! Look—"

"—No, get over here," he muttered, grabbing hold of her hand and pulling her towards him till they were level with each other. He considered her for a second, gritting his teeth in annoyance. "Izzy, you realise the lot of us give a damn about you, don't you?"

"I do, Sirius—"

"—Then what the damn hell are you on about keeping secrets from us?" he asked, his large grey eyes boring into hers. "From me."

"What do you mean, from 'you'? What are you trying to imply with that?"

"That we had a pact! That we said we'd always tell each other everything no matter what!"

"Sirius, please!" Isabella guffawed sarcastically. "Okay, honestly, that's not even a fair argument to begin with because you have been keeping things from me for years now and I haven't once confronted you about it!"

"What? Like what?"

"Like telling me the truth about Remus? What, you thought you couldn't trust me with that information?"

Sirius gaped dumbfoundedly for a second. "Okay, firstly, it wasn't my secret to tell! He didn't want anyone else knowing about it!"

Isabella opened her mouth, ready to blast his counter to smithereens, but froze in place instead. "Damn, that's a fair point!" she growled grudgingly. "Okay! But... WHAT ABOUT THE FACT THAT PETER IS A..." she dropped her voice feverishly even though it was only the two of them in the place, "an Animagus?" she hissed. "He can transform into a rat?" she asked, squinting dangerously and watching Sirius's face slowly turn pale. "Is he even registered?"

Sirius froze in panic at once. "Er... Okay, about that," he started slowly, "I agree, I did keep that from y—"

"—SHUT UP! How long has he been one, eh? And if he is an Animagus, I'm ready to bet on my broom that you're one too..." she hissed, and this time, Sirius was seriously starting to lose a great deal of blood from his face. "Are you? And James?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow and folding her hands across her chest.

Before Sirius could even begin to respond, Isabella cut him again. "I didn't even know James had an Invisibility Cloak until this year, Sirius. And, look, I'm not demented, I understand perfectly that they are your friends and your first priority, but don't you dare guilt-trip me into telling you everything when you don't breathe a word about yourself to me!" she said, watching him slump back onto the ledge.

A flash of worry spread across his features as he watched her moonlit face. "God, I hate it when you start to make sense," he bit out scathingly, chewing on his lip in irritation.

"Yeah, well, too bad!" she roared back and prepared to storm out the door when she heard him yell, "Oh hell no, we're not done talking yet!" before grabbing the front of her dress and yanking her closer to him until she was wedged between his knees.

"What do you want from me, Sirius?" she wailed exasperatedly.

"For you to listen to me!" he sputtered. "Alright, look," he began, "Peter is my best friend. And you, well... You ought know by now that you're one of the most important people in my whole life—"

Isabella scoffed and rolled her eyes peskily. "My god, please stop—"

"Merlin's pants! Do I need to sew you shut?" Sirius shot out angrily and the two of them ended up glaring at each.

"No," she mumbled petulantly.

"Good," he nodded. "Look, I know for a fact that sometimes Peter can do really, really stupid things. He doesn't think things through many a time and ends up in the shittiest possible situations! I mean, at least with James and I, we're smart enough to wriggle ourselves out of trouble, but Peter unfortunately isn't. He tends to merely spiral further down the rabbit hole and I've feeling he'd drag you along too this time..." he said, shaking her a little as if trying to shove this piece of information down her throat. "And I don't know why, but I feel this time he's messed up royally and I want to be there for him! For you! C'mon, we're his best friends—"

But Isabella was already shaking her head. "—I promised. I promised him I won't tell anyone, Sirius. You're right, Peter has got himself into a... pretty sticky situation," Sirius's eyed widened at once, "BUT we're going to fix it!"

"Izzy, OPEN YOUR EYES!" Sirius roared. "Whatever Peter's done has got Dumbledore wound up with the damn Wizengamot and the Ministry!" Sirius spat out urgently. "It doesn't seem like a thing that could be 'fixed'!"

"Look, he messed up, but so what? We all make mistakes! We're only fifteen years old! Dumbledore shouldn't have made US get involved in matters way above our level, so I blame only him that this whole thing backfired in his face!"

"That's not—I mean, true, he was—Okay fine, I know we were merely pawns in his grand agenda and all, but—"

"—No, Sirius, I beg of you to trust me on this. I will fix this. Also," she started, "I hope you understand that I wouldn't want to keep this from any of you unless it was absolutely necessary. Trust me, it's way better this way," she said and looked eagerly up into his face.

Sirius merely sighed and realised there was no winning this one. Pursing his lips in defiance, he finally conceded. "Alright fine. But I am keeping an eye on the two of you from this second on. And you can't stop me!" he added when she tried to protest.

"Fine," she growled, and the two of them fell quiet. After a moment's pause, however, she looked up. "So, have we spoken about this to your heart's content?"

Sirius grumpily scowled at her. "Yeah, I reckon," he mumbled.

She sighed in relief. "Can we talk about something else then? Something a bit more frivolous?" she asked, her eyes suddenly lighting up and twinkling with mischief.

Sirius gaped at her suspiciously. "Merlin, I don't like the sound of this," he shuddered nervously.

Isabella laughed at how terrified Sirius looked. "Well, I dunno if it's because she's older or because you had the gall to take her publicly to a party, but you and Bearfist made several headlines tonight, I must say," she said, wiggling her eyebrows teasingly, changing the whole mood of their conversation and making him break into a handsome grin at once.

"We did not!" he gasped.

"YOU DID! You two are an item now," she shrugged matter-of-factly, chuckling heartily at his blood red face.

"Good grief, really?" he asked her incredulously before rolling his eyes in disbelief. "Merlin's beard, aren't two people ever allowed to just be snog-buddies in this world?"

"D'aww!" Isabella pouted teasingly. "Not when one you have a face like that, unfortunately," she laughed. "Plus belonging to the noble house of Black practically makes you royalty in our world," she rambled on, triggering him even more in the process.

"Yeah, well, it's a curse, is what it is!" Sirius bemoaned playfully while grinning broadly down at her. "Also, speaking of looks," he started, suddenly sizing her up and looking rather impressed, "who knew there'd come a day when I'd look at you and go 'WWOW!'" he chuckled teasingly, giving her hand a good squeeze.

"What?" she guffawed, trying to wriggle out of his grip, but he simply pulled her back towards him with a lazy smirk. "Rubbish!" she argued, waving him off. "Personally, I think it was Lily who stood out tonight. I mean, she was truly something else! Everyone, including McGonagall, complimented her and—"

"—You're gorgeous, Izzy," Sirius cut in, making her freeze on the spot at the sudden change in his tone. A shuddering tremor ran through her as the words replayed in her head... "I couldn't keep my eyes off of you tonight," he muttered, coolly tugging a strand of hair behind her ear and staring into her face again. Clawing on to her gaze, he coiled his hands with hers and pulled her close to him in the most endearing way ever, making an old blush creep back up her neck once again.

"Er..." she started, suddenly very aware of their proximity. "I..." she hesitated. "I dunno what to say," she breathed, staring blankly back at him, because she was literally having trouble forming words all of a sudden...

Sirius flashed a crooked, possessive grin down at her causing the butterflies to go berserk in her stomach all over again. "You know, you were right," he muttered, allowing the breeze to fill the silence that had fallen between them. "We'll never be just friends again, will we?" he asked out of nowhere, making a fearful sigh escape her. "At least to me you won't be... You never were ever since I kissed you," he said, watching her in helpless adoration. "Help..." he smirked, but there was a great deal of anguish in his eyes.

A sudden surge of exhaustion washed over her. Oh god, not this again, she thought to herself even as she felt waves and waves of old emotions sear through her all over again. In all honesty, she'd been burned once and knew better this time, but she also knew she'd never be able to deny her feelings for this utter and complete prat. And she couldn't confute the fact, even to herself, that the two of them had in fact crossed that thin line of friendship. Perhaps forever...

But before she could respond, the doors to the dorm burst open, making them jump up on the spot. She quickly leaped away from Sirius and shook off the shivers that had taken over her, even as James and Peter stormed in both looking extremely cross: it was clear that the 'talk' hadn't gone all that well.