The Girl With The Emerald Eyes

Signed, sealed, delivered

" And it's not like I want her to be running around getting off with half the castle you know? But it's blatantly obvious that it's all going to go tits up at some point and it'll be us that are left to pick up the pieces." Muttered Ruby as the two of them sat in the library ostensibly working on McGonagall's latest torture instrument of an essay.

" Look Ruby you know I agree but it's not like you're going to change her mind. I really need to get this last page finished." Said Lily. It was true she shared the opinion of the rest of the girls that Sapphire and Sirius's situation was bound to blow up in their face. However, she had also had vaguely the same conversation with Ruby about it at least five times in the past fortnight. Not to mention she had a thumping headache which had been brewing all evening.

" Of course she thinks I'm only saying this because Sirius and I don't always see eye to eye when I'm only trying to think of her." Continued Ruby as if Lily hadn't spoken at all.

" Are you sure you aren't bothered partly because she didn't tell you?" Asked Lily, once again forced to look up from her parchment.

" Don't be ridiculous. Would be a bit hypocritical of me if I was." Scoffed Ruby though Lily still suspected otherwise. She shut her eyes and tried to force herself to ignore her headache and focus on the last few paragraphs.

" I mean they are just too similar. He's always been a terrible influence on her. Just look at the other night when they got caught you know. On a weeknight!"

Lily had to stifle a laugh , Ruby could be surprisingly prudish for someone conducting a secret affair. Sapphire and Sirius had earned themselves hefty detentions the previous Wednesday when Madam Hooch had caught them drinking and fooling around on the quidditch pitch. She nodded along and hoped that Ruby would finally give her peace to work. The unnecessarily bright lights in the library certainly weren't helping her headache and she just wanted out as soon as possible.

" When you consider-"

" Right sorry Ruby my head is banging and I can't think straight. I'm going to go to the hospital wing and get a potion." Said Lily slamming her books shut perhaps a bit more forcefully than she meant to earning herself a glare from Madam Pince.

" Shit Lily I'm sorry I didn't mean to go on, want me to walk you there?" Offered Ruby guiltily.

" It's alright it's almost curfew I'll just see you back in the tower."

" I'll take your stuff back for you."

Once she was out in the corridors she wondered if she should have taken Ruby up on her offer. Outside of the brightly lit aisles of books the castle was a lot darker and more foreboding. The rain , far more than an April shower, could be heard battering against the windows. All she needed was to run into some slytherins alone in the dark. Luckily the only slytherin she encountered was Regulus Black and he didn't even notice her as he was deep in conversation with his brother. The pair looked serious and Lily had heard that one of Sirius's relatives was quite sick. She wasn't sure if he was upset or not given his family situation and Sirius being Sirius hadn't told any of them.

Even before she pulled open the heavy doors of the infirmary she could hear a commotion inside, if she hadn't just seen Sirius she would have sworn down that the marauders would be involved somehow. The source of the noise was immediately obvious once Lily stepped into the gleaming white ward. Charlotte, her eyes ringed with dark circles and her usually neat hair sticking up at all angles was wailing. Wailing perhaps was the wrong word, it was more like the keening of an animal in pain and quite possibly the worst sound Lily had ever head. Headache forgotten she rushed forward rapidly scanning her friends body for the source of her injury.