And There Were Always Two... - oc x r. lupin & oc x s. black

- 38 -

"No!" Mavis told Sirius. "No way! Nuh-uh! No way!"

They had skipped all their classes and spent the night in the library. Madam Pince had either purposefully ignored them or legitimately missed the two huddling in the dark corner as she closed the door.

"Ashley deserves to know, James deserves to know."

Mavis scrambled up from her seated position at the base of a bookshelf and started packing her stuff.

"Come on, don't run away!" Sirius whined, lazily getting up. "I just think that it's better to try, then let everyone suffer. I mean, I wish you or Remus told all of us that the feud was over."

"They won't believe me."

"Maybe. But maybe they will."

Mavis shook her head.

"I just can't. I can't look at them."

"You let me call you a bitch to your face but it's harder to have them not believe that you're sorry for something they did?"

"Yes. Because everything you did I deserved. This is completely different. If they don't believe me then I'll know for sure that I'll never get my old life back. It will be the end. I just can't face that."

Sirius sighed, dragging his hand down his face. Emotion was crackling around him. Mavis was afraid to touch him, because she could get electrocuted.

"You didn't deserve it," he said under his breath.

"Let's debate that some other time."

"Fine. You know what. I'm making the decision for you. We're going to the Great Hall."

Breakfast.

Mavis let down her guard for one second and Sirius wrapped his arm around her shoulders, leading her out of the library.

"Wait! Won't they be there?"

"Yes, that's why we're going," he answered.

Mavis started struggling beneath his grip. The whole way there, she begged and pleaded with him. But there was something in Sirius that had changed since fifth year. No longer a childish boy with an inclination towards mischief.

They entered the Great Hall. Her heart was racing. James saw Sirius and called him over, but his words stopped mid-sentence as he saw Mavis. The whole group was looking at them.

Mavis tried to hide behind Sirius, but he kept pushing her forward.

"Why'd you bring her?" James growled.

She squirmed, hiding her face in Sirius' shoulder while he held her in place.

"Come on," Sirius coaxed. "Tell them. It'll be fine, I promise."

Mavis slowly let her eyes creep up from the floor and land on Remus's face.

"He read the letter," she told him.

Remus' face went slack, while his mind calculated everything.

"Sirius, don't make her do this."

"Please," Mavis whimpered.

She had never felt this vulnerable before.

Sirius tentatively drew his arms away from him. There was space in between them again, a gaping wound reopened. Mavis felt like the air had been sucked out of her lungs.

She hated it.

So, she took the letter she had stowed away in her pocket the night before and laid it on the table.

"I don't care anymore," she told them, and walked away.

The whole Great Hall was looking at her now. She hadn't appeared in public like this for ages. She hated how her life felt like a knife balancing on its tip. Whichever way the wind blew, she was bound to follow.

She adjusted her hair and smoothed her skirt. Her feet fell rhythmically against the floor. The stubby-heeled oxfords looked at home against the stone floor. The white socks around her ankles, trimmed with lace, peaked out above the leather shoe.

Compared to her ripped jeans of baggy t-shirts of the past, it had been a one-eighty turn. From gagging at books to being absorbed by them. From being admonished for talking during class to dead silence. Everything had changed.

Maybe she was just growing up?

But she doubted it.

It was those defining moments that led up to her life shattering. She should have seen it coming. Everything was just too perfect. Her lovely sister as her best friend. Making peace with her childhood crush. A boyfriend that echoed her soul completely.

It was like a fairytale that she had ripped up on purpose. She had needed to be awakened from that perfect life. The horrors of the Deatheaters had not penetrated her bubble of bliss until her world was gone and she was left alone.

In addition to those self-inflicted scars, there were ones left by dark curses. Dumbledore had sent her on missions far more daring than that little shop off of Diagon Alley. She'd faced wizards twice her age and with triple the experience. She didn't know why she was still alive. There was nothing in her that wanted to live.

Deep in thought, she ran straight into someone. Someone who turned out to be Severus Snape.

The greasy creep had grown up into a full-sized jerk. His nose was hunched and crooked, and his brows were drawn together as he sneered.

"Watch where you're going, mudblood," he hissed.

Mavis didn't answer but just kept waking, flipping him off as she went.

"You bitch!" Snape shouted, flinging a spell in her direction.

She should have reacted faster.

It hit her square in the back and she fell on the floor, her skull letting out a sickening crack against the cold floor. Snape fled the scene. Last time he attacked a Curron, he had received quite the beating.

Mavis didn't have the strength to do anything but lay on her stomach, watching the pool of blood grow around her.

Her mind ran through a series of thoughts before succumbing to the blackness. First she wondered whether she was going to die and decided that she hoped she did after everything that had just happened. Then she thought about the Marauders and her sister. How she never had the chance to date Sirius properly like she'd promised. How Remus never got to see her happy. How she'd never made up with her sister, never told her how much she loved her. Never apologise for ruining everything. But of course, the last petty thought that passed her mind was how sad it was that her white blouse was getting stained red.