Nikki Potter: A Heart's Choice

Chapter four

Two weeks slowly passed, the excitement for some students died down, yet the worried feeling that Nikki had seemingly grew each day. And with the two weeks, Severus found that Nikki had been spending a lot less time with him than she did last year.

Normally, something like this wouldn't bother Severus, but he noticed that she was spending more time with her brother and his bully of friends. And he certainly noticed that she was spending more time with Lupin and he couldn't even count how many times he has seen them hug in the last two weeks.

This bothered Severus, a lot. There was something off about Remus, Severus had his suspensions, as Remus was gone a lot. After some time, Severus began to notice the time he was gone was during a full moon, he didn't think it was a coincidence.

This made Severus not want him around Nikki even more, he didn't like or even trust him. If his suspensions were correct, Severus would want to find away to make sure Nikki wasn't around Remus as much.

Even the thought of it made Severus scowl, the discontent feeling he had whenever he saw Nikki with Remus was new and unusual. He wasn't jealous, not one bit, he was just worried about her, jealous was something he wasn't.

Why would he be jealous anyway? Besides, they were just good friends, Severus believes since Nikki first started Hogwarts. Suddenly, Severus wondered, were they truly just friends? He had thought that Nikki just saw him as a friend, then she accidentally blurted out she had feelings for him.

Was it possible... That there was something between Nikki and Remus? Severus shook the thoughts off, he didn't feel like that since she had feelings for him first, that she should be spending more time with him, he wasn't jealous, he didn't feel like that... Or did he?

“So, did I miss something that you did that would make Snivellus give us the death stare?” asked Sirius, peering over the top of Nikki's head. He really didn't know if he missed anything that caused the death glare, he hoped that James wasn't bullying Snivellus without him.

James shrugged, not bothering to look over to see what Sirius was talking about. Nikki, who was sitting by Remus, looked over her shoulder. James had been more careful to bully Severus when he knew Nikki wouldn't be around, he didn't want her flipping out on him.

Nikki stared for a moment longer, before sighing and facing back “You guys need to grow up.” she said “You've been bullying him since before I came here, don't you think its way past time to stop that?” asked Nikki.

James rolled his eyes “Don't start this.” he said, he was tired of Nikki trying to get him to stop bullying Snivellus “You need to get over it, Nikki” added James, going back to his food, he didn't get why Nikki was still hooked on this.

With a bite of the cheek, Nikki held back a frown. She didn't like fighting with games, but there were sometimes, or most of the time. Where James just drove her crazy, and it was hard for her not to snap at James because of it.

“All I'm saying is would it kill you guys to actually give him a break?” asked Nikki, mainly looking at Sirius and James, Remus stayed out of it for the most part. It wasn't like he tried to stop it, but he also didn't try to start it.

Sirius looked at James, then back to Nikki and shrugged “Probably.” he said. Sirius then grinned and began to pretend like he was dying, making Nikki shake her head while covering her face with her hands.

Nikki stood up, her face still covered “Thankfully I'm only related to James.” said Nikki and finally removed her hands to look at them “ I have no idea what I would do if I was related to the rest of you.” she added, shaking her head.

Sirius sat up straight again and grinned at Nikki “You know you love us.” said Sirius “Especially me, since I'm awesome” he added confidently, earning a roll of the eye from Remus. Who stayed quiet, but glanced at Nikki every so often.

“I'm going to the owlery.” stated Nikki, ignoring the remark from Sirius “I will see you guys after class, at dinner probably” she added before walking away. Nikki had to mail her parents, to check up on them, she wanted to know that they were doing better.

But were they doing better? Or were they worse? Nikki shook these thoughts out of her head, trying to focus on a more positive note, maybe it wasn't as bad as it seemed thought Nikki. She hoped that was the case, that she was over reacting.

Nikki looked around the owlery, it was pretty high up, since the owls liked it. It was emptier than usual, most of the owls were probably making deliveries. But most were resting in the owlery from the long flights.

Once she caught sight of a black and white owl, she walked over “Hi there” said Nikki in a soft voice, she reached out to stroke the owl but quickly brought her finger to her mouth when the owl snapped at her finger.

The owl belonged to James, hes had the owl since his first year. Nikki never really cared for the owl, it made a lot of noise, especially when James wasn't in the house and it wasn't with him. But it had never bit Nikki before.

“I need you to deliver this” said Nikki as if the owl could understand her, she went to attach the letter to the Owl, but it snagged it from her with its mouth, nearly biting another one of Nikki's fingers. Which made Nikki jump back slightly.

She was starting to wonder why James liked this owl, it was doing an awful lot of biting. Maybe that was why he liked it? Because he liked the way it acted, and that it probably actually liked him too, just not everybody else.

Nikki watched as the owl flew out of the owerly, carrying the letter with it. Nikki wondered how long it would take for it to get back to the house, and if her parents would even reply to the message, if they had the strength to.

After a moment, Nikki looked down at her finger that had a small amount of blood on it and bit her lip. She resisted the urge to wipe the blood on her robes, she had to go clean it, or at least rinse it off so she wouldn't have to look at the blood all day.

As Nikki went to leave the owerly she wasn't watching where she was going, her eyes stayed on her finger, as if she was waiting for it to morph into some strange creature. She wasn't exactly fond of blood, at least not when its real and fresh.

When Nikki was heading out of the Owerly to descend the seemingly endless stairs, she bumped into someone, she let a small embarrassed gasp out “I'm sorry” said Nikki, then she looked up and was surprised to come face to face with...