Barking Mad (Sirius/OC)

The proud lord said

Hey guys. You're going to hate three people because of this chapter. You'll start disliking Nika, she's making it rather hard NOT to hate her, I know, but everyone has their flaws, right? And Nika has just come to a point in this story that she is done being walked all over. The second person is going to be James. James is a good person, he really is, and it could have been nobody else that confronted Nika. Just keep hanging in there, James will redeem himself in the next few chapters, I promise you.

The last one will probably be me. I'm sorry for all the pain this chapter (and future chapters) may cause. I hope you enjoy this one though! I'll try to upload another chapter this evening!

Chapter 24

And who are you, the proud lord said,

That I must bow so low?

~ Rains of Castamere - Game Of Thrones OST

I had claimed the seat in front of the fireplace, when all the others were still in McGonagall's class. I had been thinking about what Greene had said and I felt like shit. I understood his reasoning and I knew that I had to tell somebody something some day, but I hadn't thought that day would come so soon.

I mean, what if Lily just turned her back on me? What if, and this was even worse, she started pitying me and over-analysing everything I did?

I knew I was pretty messed up, I didn't need anyone pointing that out.

Would it be okay if I told somebody else? Anybody else? Somebody that didn't really mean all that much to me? I thought about that and sighed. That would definitely be the easier option. You tell someone something like that and you just let it die.

Then again, it wasn't all that smart, now was it? What if that person went to tattle on me? What if soon afterwards the whole school knew?

No. It had to be someone who knew how to keep a secret. I thought about Lily again and sighed once more. How was I ever going to tell her about any of this without either breaking down or running away from her afterwards? Merlin knew I wasn't all that great with confronting my feelings or other people's.

I closed my eyes and pinched my nose in frustration. This was getting me absolutely nowhere.

I was about to leave when the portrait hole opened and my fellow sixth years poured in. I scanned the crowd for Lily but couldn't find her anywhere. I frowned at that, but quickly tried to let the couch swallow me whole when I saw who was coming my way.

James sat down next to me, with a face stuck on a ferocious scowl.

Alright, then, I thought, raising an eyebrow at James in question. "Can I help you?" I asked him politely, wondering what got his knickers in a twist.

"We need to talk," he pointed out, hissing through his teeth.

Charming, I thought distastefully. "Can you tone it down a bit, James?" I asked him, thinking that I wasn't going to say one word to him if he kept on hissing at me like an animal.

"No, I don't think I can. We have a problem, you and I," he told me, gesturing between us as if the 'we' and his further clarification hadn't been clear enough yet.

What had I done to deserve this kind of treatment from him? I glared at him. "Tone it down, or you can have a conversation with yourself," I threatened, wishing I truly was mad Mrs Rochester. I definitely felt something for burning down this tosser's bed post right now.

James just scowled, but spoke in a more normal tone when he started again. "We need to talk," he repeated.

"Fine," I sighed. "What did I do?"