Love and Loss ~ Marauders Era~

Chapter 10

(A/N So I accidentally deleted this entire fucking finished chapter and had to rewrite the whole thing and i'm very mad at myself)

"What happened to you?" Isabelle asked as Noelle stumbled into the common room, covered in dirt and cuts. Noelle just groaned and laid on the couch, yawning as she closed her eyes momentarily.

"I was in the Forbidden Forest. That asshole Sirius dared me to spend the night, so I did." Noelle explained angrily, glaring at the fire.

"I thought you guys were all kissy and stuff." Isabelle teased, looking at Noelle with slight worry but knowing she was alright made her feel better.

"Like hell I would ever kiss that sexist asshole. He followed me out there like I couldn't protect myself and then yelled at me for getting myself into trouble! He can go fuck himself for all I care!" Noelle exclaimed, flinching slightly as she raised her hands in the air out of anger. There was a large cut on her back from a branch in the forest was sore and probably still bleeding, but Noelle was far too tired to care at the moment. She was exhausted.

"Was it the monster? Did it attack you?" Isabelle asked, leaning forward in interest. She hadn't slept all night thinking about the monster. Noelle tensed up at the question, her eyes widening for a second as she looked at Isabelle in alarm.

"What monster?" Noelle asked, her voice shaking slightly as she looked at Isabelle.

"The monster! The one that I hear every month, you know! It wakes me up all the time." Isabelle explained, looking at Noelle like she had lost her mind. Isabelle had told Noelle about the monster on more than one occasion. The monster scared Isabelle even though she still didn't know what it was.

"I don't know what your talking about. You alright, Izzy?" Noelle asked as she looked at her friend. Isabelle's mouth dropped in disbelief. How could Noelle act like she didn't know.

"Yes I am fine! I went out looking for you last night. Once I noticed you were out of bed I couldn't stop thinking about you getting hurt." Isabelle started to explain. Noelle looked at Isabelle worriedly as she continued on. "Then I ran into Severus and he was also looking. He told me-"

"Why were you talking to Snape?" Noelle asked. Isabelle quickly shut her mouth and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Well, he isn't that bad Noelle. He helps me with potions." Isabelle spoke quietly as she looked down at her feet.

"You know I could help you in potions and so could Lily." Noelle pointed out, giving Isabelle a sharp look. "And he is bad, he called Lily a mudblood! He messes around with the Dark Arts Izzy! You need to stay away from him."

"...I know." Isabelle admitted, looking away from Noelle bashfully. Noelle smiled triumphantly, she successfully convinced Isabelle to stay away from Snape and got her attention away from the monster.

Noelle sighed and sunk into the couch as she closed her eyes as she slowly drifted in and out of sleep. Her mind flashing with images of Sirius, Remus in werewolf form, and then back to Sirius. She was still angry with him, she couldn't believe he said that to her, like she was fragile. She wasn't fragile!

The next time Isabelle looked over to the sleeping Noelle, she had an angry grimace on her face as she dreamed. Isabelle sighed and sat next to Noelle on the couch, moving Noelle so she wouldn't be uncomfortable. Isabelle closed her eyes for a few minutes, thinking about her conversation with Noelle. Isabelle opened her eyes in surprise when the common room door slammed open, a sweating Sirius, James, and Peter carrying a bruised and bloodied Remus.

"Oh my merlin what happened?!" Isabelle asked as she rushed to the boys. James nodded to Sirius, who carefully let go of Remus and handed him over to Peter. James and Peter silently carried Remus up to their dorm while Sirius stayed behind.

"A prank gone wrong." Sirius said, sitting in the chair across from the couch. Looking at Noelle thoughtfully.

"Don't hurt yourself there Sirius." Isabelle teased, though her voice gave away what she was thinking. She was actually happy with Sirius at the moment, no matter how Noelle felt about him at the moment. He protected her.

Sirius just sighed in response to her jab, guilt eating him up inside as he thought about the hurt he had seen on Noelle face, the hurt he had put there. He didn't mean to hurt her, but if that's what it took to keep her safe then he would do it again. That doesn't mean it doesn't feel terrible, she was one of his best friends. He would never want to hurt her.

"She's not happy with you." Isabelle said softly, looking at Noelle's sleeping face as she spoke.

"I know." Sirius exhaled, feeling a pang of guilt as Noelle's face contorted into her. She mouth opening slightly as she made a noise of displeasure as she mumbled words angrily.

"She hasn't been upset enough to the point of talking in her sleep in a while." Isabelle said, looking at Sirius pointedly. Sirius just leaned forward and put his hands on his face, groaning quietly.

"I didn't mean to hurt her! She just needed to get it through head that she can't just go head first into danger all the time!" Sirius exclaimed, looking at Noelle with worry "One day she's going to get hurt, and it's going to be bad. She just can't be so reckless."

Isabelle stared at him for a moment, surprised, before she started quietly laughing. "Why are you laughing?!" Sirius asked her, slightly offended that she would laugh at a time like this.

"I just... i've been telling her that for years Sirius. It's just funny to hear it coming from someone else's mouth. Especially yours." Isabelle explained, looking at Sirius in amusement. Sirius just smirked and laid his head back on the chair, closing his eyes as he yawned. "Oh, and by the way Sirius."

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For protecting her. It's nice to know i'm not the only one constantly worrying about her." And with that. Isabelle continued up to her dorm.