Treacherous | J. POTTER

8 | truth be told

"You've been acting strange lately," Sirius announced as he sat down on the grass next to her by the lake. He gently bumped his shoulder into hers, "Well, stranger than usual."

"Could say the same about you," Del countered, looking over the lake, not bothering to look at her brother.

His nose wrinkled, "James told me you two saw me and McKinnon at Honeydukes." He shook his head slightly, "Not necessarily willingly, but nevertheless."

"You could have told me, you know," she pointed out as she leaned back on her hands. It seemed that whatever jinx her mother put on her only really affected her legs now.

He shrugged, "I could have but I didn't."

She turned to look at him, "Why not?"

"Because I wasn't sure where it was going to go," he explained, resting his arms on his knees. "I didn't really want to tell anyone until I knew it was actually something."

"And?"

"I don't know," he huffed. "She's just so..."

"Complicated?" Del finished for him and he nodded in agreement. "You'll get used to it."

He snorted, "I doubt that." He looked across the lake for a moment, "Your turn."

She opened her mouth to protest but decided against it. There was so much she had been keeping from him and it was about time she told him. "I've been keeping quite a few things from you."

He gasped dramatically, "No? Really?" She whacked him on the arm and he shoved her playfully, "I'm listening."

"First things first," she breathed out, "When James and I were patrolling that night and we asked you to go get a teacher? It's because it was Regulus who was with them."

Sirius's jaw clenched, "Regulus let them into Hogwarts?" She nodded and he fought the urge to get up and go find his brother. "But there's more?"

"Remember the letter I got when I was still in the hospital?" she asked him and he nodded. "Mother jinxed it."

"With?"

"She made it so that if I'm around James, I won't get any better," she explained and Sirius blanched.

"Why?"

"I don't know, maybe because the reason her eldest son left was because of him," Del commented in a bitter tone, her anger getting the best of her. She took a deep breath and shook her head, placing her head in her hands. She looked up after a moment, "I am stuck not being able to walk normally until we leave," she explained, "And I'd much rather do that while avoiding any other punishments."

"We can find a way to fix this," Sirius suggested. "We can talk to Dumbledore and maybe he can-"

"No, Sirius," Del shook her head. "The only way to fix this for me is to stay away from James. I can't do that when we go to the same school so I'm just going to deal with it."

"There has to be another way."

"Anything you try will just make matters worse," she pointed out. "At least this way, it's only my burden to bear."

"Del-"

"I'd like to be alone if that's okay," she requested, looking back over the lake.

"Yeah, okay," he nodded, standing up. "I'm sorry."

"It isn't your fault," she countered although a small part of both of them knew it was. "I'll see you later."

"Okay," he agreed before walking away, leaving her alone.