Nikki Potter: A Sister's Betrayal

Chapter four

Nikki sat on one of the chairs in the Gryffindor common room, she was working on some homework before she had to get to Astronomy. She was tired, but she couldn't sleep, she had to much on her mind at the moment, plus she wanted to get work done soon as she should.

Not to Nikki's surprise, James had confronted her at dinner about what happened earlier that day.  After a while he had finally left her alone about it and went on with dinner, and of course, staring at Lily Evans. Whom completely ignored James.

A clearing of the throat made Nikki look up from her Charms book "Oh, what are you still doing up?" asked Nikki, she hadn't noticed Remus come into the common room. She was took into reading her Charms book to notice the things around her.

"Couldn't sleep." said Remus while shrugging, he sat on the chair across from Nikki "Why are you still up?" asked Remus, he thought why not ask her since she asked him why he was up. Though he had an idea why she was still up.

Nikki closed her Charms put and placed it in her lap "I have Astronomy in like an hour, and like you, I couldn't sleep so I thought to read in my Charms book. Since I have homework for it anyway" explained Nikki with a small yawn.

"Right." said Remus and fell silent, he wanted to ask her something but wasn't quite sure if he should or not. After a minute of debating, he spoke again "You've been acting different this year..." said Remus slowly yet causally, he as worried how she would take what he was going to ask.

Shrugging, Nikki leaned back in her chair "Yeah, I guess I have. It's bound to happen, why did you bring it up though?" replied Nikki, she was curious as to where Remus was going with this. Was he trying to figure out why she acted the way she did when James told her to bully Severus?

Trying to make it seem like it was nothing big he was going to ask, Remus tried to look as relaxed as he could  "Well, you've been acting that way since we got off the train..." continued Remus, he hoped that Nikki would at least get the hint so he wouldn't have to say it.

Nikki raised a brow and shifted in her seat "Where are you going with this, Remus?" asked Nikki, she was getting more interested in hearing what he had to say. He hadn't mentioned anything about this morning yet, which made Nikki want to know what he was going to say even more.

Remus shifted uncomfortably in his chair "You're going to make me say it aren't you?" mumbled Remus, Nikki shrugged and nodded "Do you like Snivellus? You were staring him at the welcome banquet, and you pretty much deafened him earlier..." said Remus.

Nikki's stomach dropped, and it felt like her heart stopped. She wanted to die on the spot, that was one thing Nikki hoped wouldn't come up "Uhh.... No." said Nikki, though she wasn't really sure if she did or not,  but sometimes it felt like she did.

Wanting to believe her, but for some odd reason he couldn't bring himself to believe her completely. Remus stayed quiet, he didn't know why he didn't really believe her, he didn't think Nikki would lie to him. To his knowledge, she hasn't before.

Getting up, Nikki felt like someone had just told her to confess a murder. Nikki  walked over to one of the windows and peered out, not wanting to make eye contact with Remus "Almost a full moon..." mumbled Nikki, knowing very well that that meant.

Remus frowned slightly at her subject change, for two reasons. Because Nikki was obviously avoiding the topic, and because of what she changed the topic to. That was a part of him he didn't like, the dangerous part of him. The side he had to deal with once every month.

Only a few people knew about that side of Remus, the werewolf side of him. Other than that, it was a complete secret, one that he was planning on never sharing. He couldn't control himself when he changed, when he was changed the animal side took over him.

After a few silent minutes, Remus got up to head back to his dormitory. Now that he got that off his chest, he hoped he would be able to fall asleep at last. Even though he barely got an answer, it was just a question he had that was bothering him all day.

"You won't tell James about this conversation, right?" asked Nikki, looking away from the window to Remus. If James had found out about this, Nikki didn't even want  to think of the questions that would be asked, nor how bad his bullying would get.

Remus stood there and thought, should he tell James? Sure, he didn't like Severus, he could even say he hated him "There are things that he does need to know, but I guess this isn't one of them." said Remus at last,  he didn't want Nikki to get in trouble with James over this.

"Thanks." said Nikki with a smile, she felt  a little better knowing that Remus wouldn't tell James about him asking Nikki if she liked Severus. But she still felt sick to her stomach after being asked that, after sounding so unsure herself.

Nodding,  Remus couldn't find himself able to return the smile, not even a small one "Like you said, you don't like him, there is not point in telling James if you don't anyway." said Remus, then went to his dormitory, trying not to wake anyone up in the process.

Nikki grabbed her Astronomy stuff, along with her schedule just in case a prefect doesn't believe her about where she was going. She walked out of the Gryffindor tower and looked around, looking for some fellow Gryffindors whom were coming back to get their equipment.

The halls were mostly quiet,  the only noises were from some sleeping people in their portraits. Nikki grew used to this over her three years, she knew some of them  by name, but not even close to knowing half of them. There were a lot of them in Hogwarts, there was no way she could learn them all.

While walking, Nikki couldn't help but feel like escaped something that could of been bad for her. But she was still trying to figure out, had she lied to Remus without really realizing it? Had she been lying to herself  since she got off the train?

Were these strange new feelings that Nikki had towards Severus developing into a crush? Nikki tried to shake these thoughts out of her head, but they seemed to keep coming back each chance they got. Nikki knew this was going to be a very long year.