𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗜 ━━ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧
041. the arc of betrayal

( song for the chapter:
traitor — olivia rodrigo )

          𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗔 𝗖𝗜𝗚𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗘 𝗖𝗔𝗦𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗕𝗘𝗧𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦, she leaned against the Gryffindor Common Room entrance, chattering with the Fat Lady.

"Who brings the most girls?" She asked for the portrait.

"That stupid Black used to bring the entire country in here," the portrait shrieked in disgust. "Not anymore, who knows what changed."

"Who's your favourite?"

"That Evans girl, as lovely as someone could be," the lady sighed in a soothing manner, smiling at the thought of the girl. A smile on her normally scowled face was rather peculiar. "Now, what's a Slytherin doing in the Gryffindor Tower?"

"Waiting for some acquaintances." She shrugged, then an awkward silence took over and she gestured to her cigarette. "Want one?"

The Fat Lady grumpily folded her arms, rolling her eyes and looking away as Scarlet blew a huff of smoke into the portrait to annoy her.

Her head shot up when she heard someone say softly beside her, "What on Godric's name are you doing?" 

"Talking to your best friend," Scarlet grinned. She had no idea when Sirius showed up but he was standing there, leaning against the wall with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"Don't be disgusting, Bridget!" The Fat Lady yelled.

Sirius scoffed, muttering a password and he guided Scarlet in with a hand on her back.

"Where are the others?"

"James was styling his hair." 

Scarlet furrowed her brows. "Does a stag even have hair?"

Her questions were cut off by the dormitory's door sliding open, revealing a frantic Peter. "I needed to talk to you guys," James followed him out and the four of them gathered around. "Apparently, Snivellus has been asking about Moony."

"WHAT!" James exclaimed in an alarming manner.

Sirius huffed angrily. "You're probably going crazy, there is no way, he's not even that smart."

However, Scarlet pursed her lips together, slightly uncomfortable. "I might have seen Severus speaking to some Gryffindors..."

"No way," James raised a brow.

"Yeah, I think Pettigrew's right," she said.

"Really?" Peter asked in disbelief.

"He was quite suspicious but that was ages ago, I didn't know he was back on his theory." Scarlet remembered when Severus asked everybody why Remus became irritable once a month.

"Can we go hex his abnormally large nose off?" James angrily folded his arms.

"You have to be careful!" Peter said in a high-pitched tone. "We don't want the entire school finding out."

Sirius, who had been suspiciously quiet started to walk away towards the exit of the common room.

"Pads, where are you doing?" James asked.

"Nowhere," he shouted back, walking through the portrait hole. "I'll be back soon."

"Don't do anything stupid!" Peter called after him.

He did not reply and Scarlet anxiously sat back down on one of the chairs. "He's definitely doing something stupid."

James, trying to find a silver lining, said, "Maybe he's gone to the Hospital Wing to warn Remus."

Peter and Scarlet looked at each other and hummed lightly under their breath.

Sirius came back soon with an unusually large grin on his face as they made their way towards the Whomping Willow.

"Scared to get your dress dirty, Blondie?" Sirius shot her a wicked smirk to which she responded with a scowl.

They were still in their human form as they leaned against the tunnel by the Shrieking Shack. In their usual manner, the group looked around to see if anybody had been following them; they had been on extra alert ever since they were stalked by Scarlet.

They were just about to turn into animals as soon as Peter did when Scarlet stopped James, tugging at his sleeves and pointing towards a thin figure. 

"Who the fuck is that?" asked Scarlet in horror.

"Godric, shit, shit," James gasped, his eyes widened as he looked around for Sirius who practically disappeared. The two of them ran towards Snape who raised his wand and unlocked the door.

"Severus, no!" The werewolf inside got a glimpse of him, and Snape fell back in horror and confusion at the familiar voice. 

Snape did not see Scarlet transfer into a dove and fly right into the locked-up place. James ran and took hold of Snape's robes, pulling him back from danger. 

Snape was shrieking in horror. "What... was that Scarlet? What did you do to her?!"

The werewolf lunged towards James and Snape, almost attacking him when the rat bit his leg. The werewolf growled in pain but he was still not distracted at the sight of humans. 

The bird then flapped her wings in the werewolf's face, trying to block his vision. She stalled him long enough for James to push away Snape and get him to safety. 

      However, when she turned away and made sure Snape was gone, the werewolf stared at her eagerly, looking deadly into her eyes, almost as though he recognised her. The dove froze completely in the air whilst her wings still rose and fell, and Moony used this as an opportunity to hit the bird's wing, causing her to lose balance as she was thrown against the wall.

      The next moment, her visions blurred and darkness encapsulated. Scarlet did not remember anything after that.

      A DULL ACHE SHOT THROUGH HER BODY. Slowly, she blinked and the piercing light fell on her eyes.

"I'm getting worried, do you reckon we call Madam Pomfrey again?" Said a voice that sounded a lot like Peter.

"We called her 14 times in the last 12 hours." Another voice said, James? The voices were muffled, she couldn't make out what exactly they were saying.

"Will you guys give her some space!" An authoritative, feminine voice exclaimed. Oh, and Lily. 

When she finally opened her eyes and processed the surroundings, she sat up with a gasp, looking around frantically. 

"Hye, hey, you're okay," Alice cooed softly, holding her hand. Scarlet furrowed her brows, noticing the group of friends she expected to be here was not present. Neither was Marlene.

Scarlet shot James a glance to which he gulped. "Can you girls give us a second?"

Alice frowned, about to protest when Lily shot her a look, dragging her away. 

"I don't get why we have to leave." The girl shrugged, arm gripped in Lily's hand.

Scarlet did not allow a mere millisecond to pass as soon as Lily left before rasping out. "Where's Severus?" She asked.

James looked up with a guilty look, sharing a glance with an even more guilty Sirius. "He's fine."

"What's your definition of fine, exactly?"

"It's true," James reasoned. "He didn't find out anything, you and I managed to get him to safety." He was hiding something, it was written all over his face.

Scarlet sighed in disbelief, a frown on her face as she realised. "Snape found out about Remus."

"Dumbledore made him promise not to tell anyone." Peter nodded with a frown.

"Severus Snape doesn't do well with promises when he's mad," Scarlet snapped back. "We've to obliviate him."

"Are you insane?" James scoffed. "We're already in enough trouble as it is for even being near Remus when he's turning."

"And did he see us turning Animagi?"

"No," James assured. "He didn't see any of us."

Scarlet started to stand up only for James to push her back down on the bed. "What are you doing?" She yelled.

"You're not going anywhere, you've been out for hours now." James snapped back.

"Then why are you here moping and not with Moony?" It started to make sense how much time she really spent here. There were flowers, so many of them. Mostly from Slytherins and a large one on behalf of the Hufflepuffs.

Ravenclaws left a bunch of blue cards Scarlet was probably never going to read. She wondered why they couldn't just get some of her friends to be here.

"Moony's got himself locked in our dorm," Peter looked like he was going to cry. "He won't come out."

James cast Sirius a nasty look which Scarlet picked up on easily, even in the dim light of the morning sun.

"What's going on?" Scarlet asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Peter shrugged nervously, but the look on his face suggested otherwise.

"No, no, James would rather die than look at Sirius the way he just did unless he..." she trailed off, jaw gaping as she glanced between all the boys. The clear frustration on James' face contradicted the pure apologetic look on Sirius' mixed with the nervousness Peter was feeling, it was as clear as water. "It was you,"

"Bridget—" Peter interrupted.

"You tipped him off," Scarlet's gaze burned into Sirius', such an overwhelming hatred swimming in her blue, he had to look away. He couldn't stand the way she was looking at him at the moment. "You told Severus!"

"You don't know that!" James scoffed.

"Of course, she knows!" Peter finally snapped, raising his voice so much that it caused everybody to shoot him an astonished look. "It's Scarlet, when does she not know everything?"

"I didn't mean to," Sirius defended, "I didn't think—I was angry, and it was a silly prank—it was—"

"Pads, stop talking," James spoke in a low, raspy tone through gritted teeth.

"Blondie, I hope you know how sorry I am—"

"I don't think it's me you owe an apology to, Black." She sternly glared from her hospital bed. She saw his shoulders slumping at the use of his last name. Then James chimed in.

"What matters is Snape is just fine now—"

"This isn't just about Severus!" She snapped loudly, her voice booming through the empty area. "Did you not once think about Remus?" She asked a guilty Sirius. "If he did something to him, do you know how guilty he would've felt?"

"Snivellus was pissing me off!"

"Remus' lycanthropy isn't a bloody toy for you to play around with so you can prank your enemies..." Her voice trailed off, tone dying down which confused the two boys. They slowly followed her eyeline and turned around over their shoulder to see Remus standing at the doorway, followed by Peter who kept his head down in the back.

      There was a look of betrayal on Lupin's face—a look that could only be described as true heartbreak. As though the sky had just broken down on him. Scarlet cursed herself—although he would have found it now or later—she would rather have his friends telling him about such things than herself.

"Moony—" Sirius started, standing up.

"You had no right!" Remus exclaimed, it was the first time Scarlet saw him so overwhelmed. "Stop enjoying this, you have no idea what it feels like, this isn't a prank opportunity, and it's not funny!" He exclaimed.

"We know—" James raised his hand to put on his shoulder, however, Remus shook it off, backing away.

"It's not a joke, it's my life! And it's miserable!" He shouted, voice quivering. "Hell, Bridget spent her entire life hating us and even she knew it was wrong!" He pointed at Scarlet with his index, the girl winced at his harsh words. Not that any of it was untrue.

"If you just let me—"

"I don't want to hear it, just when I thought somebody cared enough to be by my side through all this—I was wrong, it's my fault, really, how did I not notice this?" He rhetorically questioned Sirius, shaking his head as he looked away.

      Sirius approached him softly, gently placing a hand on his shoulder when Remus harshly shoved him away. Sirius flinched at the action. "Don't you touch me."

The commotion was broken with a booming voice from Everest Chasseur who burst through the doors and slammed them shut angrily. It was then that Scarlet realised what she had missed. 

      Everest was in her emerald jumper. 

      The match. 

      Quidditch. 

      Scarlet missed Everest's first match.

      The one she promised she would attend. The one Eve was so excited about.

      If there was anything she cared about more than the arc of betrayal from Sirius, it was not being there for Everest after promising to attend such a special day. 

      That's where all her friends were. Off to the match.

      "You immature, lying, treacherous, fucking gits!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, shoving past Remus and Sirius by pushing their chest and moving them from the middle of the way, she approached Scarlet and pulled her into a large, quick hug. She turned back around at the boys. "What the fuck did you guys do to her?"

"It was an accident." James firmly told her. "We didn't do anything!"

"Stupid Slughorn didn't even tell me so I focus on the match, is there nothing you four can do right?" Everest scolded, folding her arms as she spoke venomously.

Remus scoffed and exited without another word; he was not in the mood to be the one being yelled at, he wanted to do all the yelling.

"Then Evan tells me it was you who brought her in here—" Everest pointed at James and Sirius.

"You're acting like we attacked her or something." James pointed an index in anger, not tolerating this act of resentment from a Slytherin.

"You think I'll believe for a second that Scarlet just, what, tripped over? Bullshit, the girl walks in 6 inches heels."

"It was a pretty bad fall," Peter spoke up. "What matters is that she is all right, now."

"Why don't you give us a moment?" Scarlet told the three boys who nodded as soon as she said the words. The last thing they wanted was to give her even more headaches than she was already experiencing.

"I should've kept an eye on you," Everest sat beside Scarlet, making her shuffle to the side of the bed. "You're not to be alone with those boys ever again... tell me, was it one of their stupid pranks?"

"How long have I been here?" Scarlet asked a question back.

"About 20 hours, I guess, Regulus said you were hurt pretty badly."

"Can we talk about something that is actually important?" Scarlet mused suddenly, changing the subject of the conversation. "Like, who won?"

"Of course, the best house won!" Everest cheered and Scarlet gasped at the joyful revelations, at least something went right. "Evan knows how to keep a group going, and Regulus—oh, our sweet Reggie... you should've seen him out there. He caught it before the Ravenclaws could even spot it, we were all fantastic!"

Scarlet's face fell. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there..."

"We were all really upset, but at least you can come to the party," she winked, but then the cheerful act was washed away. "I'm really glad you're safe, S."

"You don't have to worry about me, Eve." Scarlet softly smiled, intertwining her fingers with the brunette's.

"If those gits try coming near you again, I'll bloody curse them," the anger was back again. "Then I'd start a Marauders hate club."

"Isn't the Marauders hate club basically the Slytherin house?" Scarlet grinned with mischief, watching Eve let out a peal of laughter.

"You mean the entire school?" the brunette pointed out. "Seriously, S, if my children turn out to be like them, I'd go feral."

Within a few moments, Evan and the group of people she hangs out with—Regulus, Barty, and Dorcas came in; in their cheerful manner, they told her all about what happened in the match. They stayed until Madam Pomfrey had to kick them out so Scarlet could rest a bit longer.

𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑨 𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑺

oops. there goes all
the development LOL.