Forgotten

17 | Astronomy

It was the first day of classes since before Christmas. Much like most days, it was boring and uneventful, Bella breezed through her work, sitting for the rest of her lessons in silence. She hadn't been sat with anybody she was particularly close with for the day. But now, all but one of her lessons were over. She sat with Evan, Regulus and Barty at the Slytherin table. The food was the same as always and though they all spoke among one another, she remained quiet, simply nodding her head if she was asked a question.

 Evan sat beside her, his arm around her shoulders leaving Barty and Regulus on the other side of the table. It didn't seem to take long for people to begin leaving the Great Hall. All of them but Regulus as he was a year younger, had another class to attend. Astronomy. This was one of Bella's favourite classes but having it so late in the evenings wasn't ideal. They were to track the stars and planets visible from the Astronomy tower every Monday and Wednesday for... well for as long as Trelawny felt was necessary.

It took far too long for the three of them to make it to the Astronomy tower, but when they appeared in the doorway, Trelawny stood pointing to telescopes for the students to use. She seemed to be keeping it mostly to houses or the few friend groups that she knew of.

"Arabella have that one over there." The professor said, pointing to an empty space, she walked over, sitting down on one of the two cushions and waited for someone else to be sat next to her. She watched as Barty and Evan sat together, smiling and giggling at whatever jokes they were making. Rodolphus sat on the opposite side of the astronomy tower with Avery. None of her friends were near her. And most of the seats were already full. Lily Evans sat with Dorcas Meadowes on the right of her. And then Marlene Mckinnon with an empty seat beside her. 

Besides Dorcas, she was surrounded by Gryffindors. Four boys came running through the door. The marauders. Sirius was sent to sit with Marlene. Remus with Pandora, a girl she had seen with Regulus from time to time. Peter was sat alone. And then James. James started walking in the direction of Bella. Assuming there must be another seat somewhere, she looked around, but besides the one next to Peter, he didn't have anywhere else to go. 

"Potter." Bella said, kindly acknowledging his presence. 

"Bella, how are you darling?" James asked, smirking as he sat beside her.

"Shut up." She said, not even dignifying him with a response. He did that face, the one he does when he's pretending to be sad, the little pout, the eyes, the head tilt. He was like a fucking animal.

Trelawny sat in her chair, staring at flowers and mugs, all things that meant nothing to Bella.

"So what exactly are we doing?" The voice of James Potter echoed through her head, seeming to bounce off her skull over and over again.

"Tracking the stars." She told him, looking into the telescope and scribbling a rough sketch of them. Being able to see it on paper always helped her understand. It made it easier for her to know what she was really looking at, otherwise she was just guessing.

"Are you gonna let me just copy your work?" That voice, every time he spoke it scared her. Talking to him wasn't something she should be doing, it was stupid and reckless. That's why she was being rude, giving short answers, ignoring him completely. Really she should just ask to move, but their weren't many other options. 

When Bella didn't answer, Sirius did, "Mate, as if she'd let you do that." He laughed. Then James laughed. They were laughing at her, just like they did when she cried. She could see them, standing above her, they kept following her, no matter where she went. She couldn't get away from them.

His arm brushed against hers. She screamed.

There wasn't a sound when she did, her throat was so broken she couldn't even scream.