Treacherous | J. POTTER

12 | shrieking shack

It was not worth it. It was absolutely, wholeheartedly not worth it. While in the moment, punching Axel had felt great and the boy certainly deserved it, it wasn't worth it.

Because while before Del had just been avoiding him, now she was ignoring him completely. And while previously he would have considered it the same thing, now he knows it's not. He never thought he would want her to go back to avoiding him.

She wouldn't even look his way. Whereas before she would catch his eye and then quickly look away, she didn't even bother to look anymore.

He had messed up big time and even Sirius noticed.

"What the hell did you do?" Sirius demanded as he entered the common room. James sat on the couch with a cloth held to his nose.

"I didn't do anything," James replied.

"Bullshit," he shook his head. "Lily told me what happened."

"I didn't intend to punch him," he explained as he placed the cloth down. He leaned forward on the couch, resting his elbows on his knees. "He was being an ass."

"And what exactly did you think would happen?"

"I wasn't thinking," he answered simply. "He wasn't even supposed to be there."

"If Del's there so is he."

"I'm coming to realize that."

"So?" Sirius inquired.

"So?" James repeated in confusion.

"Del," he explained, "Did she say anything?"

"Nothing helpful," he sighed. "Just that it was complicated and we should let it drop."

And that had been a week ago. With break coming up soon, if they didn't think of a way to help Del, they didn't know what might happen to her when she went home.

"They won't do anything to her, right?" Peter inquired as he nibbled on his nails anxiously. While Peter and Del weren't close by any means, he had grown to like her from the trips to the hospital rooms.

"I don't know," Sirius replied as he picked up a grape and dropped it onto his plate.

"Will they hurt her?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think she'll get married over break?"

Sirius huffed, "I don't know."

"Do you think-"

"Peter!" Sirius exclaimed. "I don't know."

"Sorry, it's just..." he trailed off. "Isn't that why she's doing this? To protect herself?"

"Please," Sirius scoffed. "Del never does anything for herself. Ever." He shook his head, "There has to be something else."

James tapped his hand against the table when it registered. He stood up quickly, ignoring the looks he got from those at the table. "I'll see you lot later." He left the room a moment later, exiting the hall as fast as he could without sprinting.

In hindsight, he hadn't actually known where he had planned on going at first. He just needed to find Del and in order to do that, he needed to find someone who might know where she would be.

"Carina!" he exclaimed as he spotted her with a few other Slytherin's. The group turned to look at him and scowled. Carina told them something and the group dispersed.

She made her way over to him and stopped a foot away from him, crossing her arms over her chest, "If you're going to ask me out, you're not exactly my type."