Nikki Potter: A Sister's Betrayal

Chapter nine

Remus searched the halls for Nikki, though it did hurt him to hear that Nikki did indeed like Severus, he wanted to comfort her. Because he knew no one else would, he knew that she would be alone, that she would be pushing people away. So why did he think that Nikki would let him? He didn't know.

Besides for Remus, the halls were empty, he was starting to feel as if he should give up on looking for her. Until out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a door appearing what seemed to be out of thin air. Out of curiosity, he walked to the door.

Remus remember vaguely James telling him about a door possibly doing the same thing last year, but he wasn't fully awake at that time, nor paying very much attention, so he missed out on a lot of information. In fact, he wasn't even sure he heard him right.

When  Remus walked into the room silently, he scanned the nearly empty room, it looked like a old class room. The only object that was in the room was a fire place that had a bright fire burning inside of it "Nikki." spoke Remus in a slightly unsure tone of voice.

Nikki whipped away the tears before looking up at Remus,  guilt was written on her face "Go away, forget you ever saw me here." said Nikki with barely any emotion in her voice, she was afraid that Remus would tell James where she was.

"Why?" Remus asked, walking towards her more. He felt that if they have known each other for three years, that they could talk to each other, that she could tell him anything that she needed to even if they weren't as close as he and  James were.

Laying her head against the cool stone wall, Nikki struggled to speak, she was afraid she would say something wrong "Because you will go tell James where I am, and hell has already broken loose, I can't deal with him yelling at me right now" Nikki managed to say.

Remus sat down next to Nikki on the floor " I won't tell him." he replied, Nikki stared at him unsurely " You can talk to me, about anything and you should know that by now" he said, hoping it would get her to talk to him about this.

"Moony." Nikki whispered, unintentionally using the nickname James had given him " I feel like a terrible person." she admitted softly, not feeling a tad bit better like she had hoped she would by getting this off her chest. In fact, she felt a little worse.

A frown formed on Remus' face "You aren't a terrible person, Nikki" said Remus in a serious voice, he paused for a moment hoping that Nikki understood  "But, why do you feel like a terrible person anyway?" he asked, somewhat expecting the answer.

Nikki was silent for a long moment "Because I have been messing everything up lately, I lied to you the other night in the common room, and-" she paused to take a short breath, her eyes were started to burn from tears that were trying to form " James is really mad at me, and I hurt you.. I could see it in your face after I accidently said what I said" she added softly.

Feeling a need to, Nikki left out that she was scared that Severus would never talk to her again after that. Though Nikki did want to change this year, and wanted things to be different, she never wanted things to be like this, she felt more out of control than the years before.

Remus was unsure of what to say, he couldn't deny that when Nikki accidently confessed her feelings didn't hurt him. Because in all honesty, it did, Remus had thought he had some sort of chance to win Nikki over "But, you lied with good intentions." Remus tried.

Sadness sparkled in Nikki's hazel eyes "And see where that got me? It all blew up in my face, not that it wouldn't if I hadn't lied in the first place." Nikki said with a small shake of her head "Now I think everyone hates me..." she whispered, looking away from Remus.

"I don't hate you." Remus said, he couldn't see himself ever hating her, Nikki was to sweet to hate. She was just going through a hard time, which made it less likely for him to ever hate her, he would help her through those hard times no matter what.

Nikki shifted from her sitting position to on her knees, facing a still sitting Remus, and gave him a hug as best as she could with the positions they were in "Thank you" She said still in a whisper, she felt a little better, but she still felt bad.

The hug was something new to Remus, Nikki had never hugged him before. He had never noticed how  slim her arms were, it wasn't something he usually looked at on someone, but having Nikki's arms around him like that he definitely noticed.

Suddenly Nikki pulled away from the hug and hurried to her feet, guilt was written on her face " I'm sorry" She apologized, when a confused look crossed Remus' face, Nikki spoke again " I feel like I'm leading you on or something" she explain softly " I should go anyway.." she added.

"Wait." Remus said, reaching up and grabbing her wrist, the words struggled to form, though he had them a moment ago " I am just curious, since you know our thoughts on Sn-" Remus stopped himself for a moment. "What do you see in,him?" He asked.

This had surprised Nikki, but she thought for a moment for the best way to word it "Well, he is actually a very good person once you get to know him, he is misunderstood and people are too quick to judge him. Like they are with me, maybe that is also a reason I like him, because I feel like I can connect with him easily." Nikki said.

Remus stared up at her and let his hand drop from her wrist, though he asked for it the words stung a bit "Oh." he managed to say, it was the first and only thing that came to his mind, he wasn't sure what else he was supposed to say.

"And I guess." Nikki began again " The forbidden fruit is always the sweetest" she said, before turning on her heels, she walked away and out the door with guilt still flowing through her.  Along with the sadness she still felt, a stomach twisting combination.

Even thought Nikki had left, Remus still sat there for a moment longer. He couldn't help but sit there and think, he wasn't too sure if this thought was because he really thought that way and wanted the best for Nikki, or some other reason, but he didn't think Severus was right for Nikki at all.