Brothers 2

Great Hall

"The guys should still be in the great hall for dinner if you want to go there." Sirius says gently. I know he doesn't want to push me but.. I kind of want to go to the great hall. I haven't been in the mood to do anything in a long time but I feel okay now. I mean obviously I know that Reggie is alive now so that would explain why I'm not horribly sad.

"Yeah, I want to go to the great hall." I reply. "I want to see our friends."

"You know you have to act like you're sad." Sirius tells me. "So that they don't suspect anything's wrong."

"Or I could just say I'm feeling okay today." I add. "There's going to be hard days but I should be starting to feel better soon. At the very least I should be feeling less numb."

"Okay, so we just say you're doing okay today. Still a bit heartbroken, but you'll always be."

"Just say I'm feeling a little better today and want to embrace the good feeling."

"Okay, let's go then." Sirius says as he offers me his hand.

The great hall was so full of life and for the first time in a very long time, I didn't feel completely drained walking into it. It felt welcoming again. It felt normal again. Well... as normal as it can feel when Regulus isn't here.

"Hey guys." Sirius says when we reach the table with our friends. He sits down and I sit down beside James, across from Remus and Sirius. Peter hasn't been back to school since Regulus told us about him. No ones seen him. Lily and Marlene are sitting down the table a bit with Frank and Alice.

"Hey guys. Where have you been?" James asks us.

"Just finishing some homework." I lie. "But what did we miss?"

James looks at me for a moment and then without asking, starts telling me about how he's planning some date with Lily that he's really excited about.

"That sounds really fun James."

"You seem-" Remus begins but stops. Sirius kicked him under the table.

"It's fine Sirius." I tell him. "They're obviously going to notice that I'm more talkative today. You don't have to protect me."

"Well I for one am glad you're talking again because I missed you." James says, nudging me.

"Me too." Remus adds.

"Don't get mushy yeah? I'm just having a better day." I tell them.

James smiles and looks across the table to Remus and Sirius. "She's back." He says to them. Then he turns to me and gives me a big hug. Then he stands up on the bench and screams, "she's back!" So loudly. It was embarrassing. I hide my face in my hands and laugh while Sirius and Remus clap. Lily and Marlene look over and smile at James who is making a scene. Then they come over and see what's going on.

"She's back." James repeats to the girls and they smile. They're not sure what he's talking about, it's clear.

"He means me because I'm not moving around." I explain to them. Lily hugs me while she's standing behind me and Marlene laughs.

"Are you kidding me Potter? Must you embarrass the poor girl?" Marlene says as she slaps him on the arm.

"Man I missed you guys." I say to no one in particular but they all smile at me.

"We missed you too, girly." Lily says before kissing my cheek.

"So what are we doing later?" I ask them.

"Whatever you want. It's your turn to pick anyway." James says. "Last night we got wasted in the Gryffindor common room."

"That doesn't surprise me at all." I say. "What surprises me is that James made it out of bed today."

"Okay wow, you got out of bed and chose violence today I see." James says. "Why me? I'm so nice to you."

"Doesn't mean I don't like teasing you." I add.

"Whatever, what are we doing tonight?"

"Well I can't exactly get drunk... so maybe we just chill by the lake? Maybe go swimming." I suggest.

"Right! You're pregnant!" James says and this time I slap his arm.

"Behave yourself!" Lily shouts at him. "Stop being so loud."

"So we can't get drunk." James pouts.

"You can if you want." I say to him.

"I'm not going to be the only one drinking."

"You're so emotional James... wow. Maybe I'll go back to moping around."

Remus and Sirius are cracking up on the other side of the table while James rolls his eyes at me.

"Remember when she was nice?" James asks our friends at the table.

Sirius looks straight at me and shakes his head. "No, not really."

"Oh fuck off."

"I do." Lily says. "She was a Hufflepuff at one point."

"What? What do you mean was?" I ask her.

"Well... you're kind of more... Slytherin now."

I smile. They think I'm more Slytherin now? That's kind of awesome. Reg turned me into a Slytherin.

"You're happy about that?" Remus asks me when he sees the smile on my face.

"Yes, very."

"How cute." Marlene says and nudges me.

"Oh stop it! All of you."

I grab some food that is in front of me and start eating because I'm so hungry. James and Sirius start talking about something from their quidditch game last week and Lily and Marlene start catching me up on the drama I've missed. Apparently there's been a lot. Some dramatic children in the school.

I notice Remus looking at me curiously. When he sees me looking at him, he smiles but something is off.. he's thinking. What is going on his his head right now?

I hope he doesn't figure it out... could he figure it out?

I look to Sirius and he's lost in conversation with James so he's not going to be any help. Fuck.

I just turn back to the girls and try to ignore the feeling in my stomach.