Anyone but you (Atticus)

Alayna was pissed off. No one would let her into the Ravenclaw common room and she just wanted her brother. She needed to talk to him. She needed to explain. She banged on the portrait again, this time shouting, but she doubt she could be heard "Atticus Barnaby Nott!"

@Atticus Nott

He narrowed his eyes. The Ravenclaws were all looking at each other in the common room, then looking at Atticus. They all hated the disturbance, of course.

He walked through the portrait hole and grabbed Alayna's hand, steering her away from there.

"Stop doing that!" he accused in a hushed voice. "I'm going to get pecked alive by a load of live crows for disturbing their study time!"

@Alayna Nott

"You're going to get pummeled by your twin if you keep ignoring her." She said, angrily as he opened the portrait door. "What is with you? Life is falling apart and you act like you can't stand me." She could deal with everyone else in the world hating her. But not Atticus.

@Atticus Nott

Atticus folded his arms across his chest.

"Can you really blame me?"

He straightened, looking down at her. The expression he had was one of disappointment - not anger. Just pure disappointment.

"How could you do that to someone?"

@Alayna Nott

Atticus had never looked at her like that before. He resembled Theodore with that look on his face. And suddenly she was the five year old girl getting lectured for eating cookies behind her mother's back, "oh but James Potter can threaten me and you reward him by sharing a meal. Yeah, I know about that." She said, her voice shaking, "You're really choosing to support James over me. I'm your sister. Your fucking twin sister, Atticus." The tears were falling now. Alayna had been dealing with so much lately, she couldn't contain it anymore.

@Atticus Nott

"I'm not choosing anyone over anyone."

He frowned. Although he hated her crying, he couldn't help but feel she'd dug her own hole here.

"James was just there when I was cooking. How do you know about that? Actually-" he shook his head "- nevermind, it doesn't matter how you found out. Anyway."

He took a breath.

"He shouldn't have done that, but you definitely shouldn't have done what you did. How would you feel if I was James, and someone had done that to me?",

@Alayna Nott

"It sure does seem like it." She said angrily. She rolled her eyes, "Oh please. You know I have my ways and I don't reveal my sources." She frowned when he asked what she would do if someone had done that to him. The answer was simple, "I would torture them within an inch of their life and then probably end their entire existence." She said honestly. She would fucking destroy anyone who did to Atticus what she did to James. "I don't know what his game is with you. But don't trust him. He's going to ruin what you're forming with Lukas. Just like he ruined me and lien."

@Atticus Nott

Did he really have to say anything? He gave her a dramatic hand gesture, so that she'd think about what she'd just said. Why couldn't she put herself in someone else's shoes for once?

"You ruined you and Lien, Alayna," he thundered, annoyed by how she was clutching at straws to try and turn him against James. He saw him as a victim in all this. There was nothing she could say that would change that. "What did you think would happen? That Lien would like you more if you forcibly wrenched apart his friendship with James? He used to hate him, you know. Since he stopped hating him, he's been a lot happier. He no longer wastes his energy on a pointless vendetta!"

Atticus sighed.

"You should be finding James and apologising to him, admit that you were jealous and offer to do anything you can to make things right again!"

@Alayna Nott

Atticus gave her brother a look that said he didn't have to say anything. But of course, he did, as always. "You think I wanted this?" She asked, her voice now small and scared. She didn't like the yelling. "I don't know what I thought would happen but certainly not this? Is it so crazy to think my boyfriend, who I thought was straight, would choose me over the guy he hated for years?" He's been happier? Without her? That's all Alayna took in from that part of what Atticus said. She frowned when he suggested she apologize, "Atticus..." He knew she didn't do apologies.

@Atticus Nott

"He was right to be angry at you. What you did was... just sick, frankly. I thought you were empathetic about things like that, what with your own brother going through hell because of something he can't help!"

Atticus had never been this angry with his sister before. They had their moments in the past of sibling bickering, but all in all they kept close. They had to, to survive.

"And now James is going to go through his own version of that hell. You're almost as twisted as our Dad!"

@Alayna Nott

"This has nothing to do with you, Atticus." Alayna said, her voice weak from screaming so much lately. Her head hurt. She rubbed her temples as he spoke and froze at his last statement. She looked him in the eye, there was no longer any emotion in them, "Fuck you, Atticus." He knew that was one way to hurt her. To compare her to Theodore, "You know I'm nothing like him. But I damn sure can be if you want me to."

@Atticus Nott

"You knew exactly how this would make me feel. Even if I hated Potter, which I don't, I still wouldn't agree to what you did."

He still didn't know how Alayna had done it. The girl over the loud speaker system wasn't his sister. He'd never heard that voice before, truth be told.

"Just stop it. Admit that you were wrong and move on from it."

He closed his eyes irritably.

"It's not too late."

@Alayna Nott

Alayna stayed quiet. She just looked at her brother, the tears falling down her face, "Don't you think I want to?" She knew she had been in the wrong to tell Tolly about James. She didn't know he would go this far with it. "It is too late. He's never going to forgive me..."

@Atticus Nott

"No it's not..."

He was touched to see her being emotional about it, and had to pull her in for a long hug. Alayna was stubborn sometimes, but she had a good heart underneath it all. He knew that she just needed some encouragement.

"You don't know that. And the fact that you're willing to try shows how sorry you really are." Atticus rubbed her back, still cuddling her. "I can stand beside you."

@Alayna Nott

When Atticus hugged her, all the years she was holding back just fell. She didn't bother trying to contain them anymore. She just let them flow free. "I do know that, Atticus. He had never looked at me the way he did when he ended things. He called me a bitch. He said so many things I never thought he would say to me." She wiped her eyes and looked at him, "I think I was starting to actually love him, Atti. And it fucking hurts."

@Atticus Nott

Atticus was a little confused about who Alayna was talking about at first. He was talking about James, but she was talking about Lien. He hoped that she knew he meant apologising to James, but he didn't want to really press her right now. She just needed a big brother to hold her.

He rubbed her back slowly.

"He's just lashing out," he said, but didn't really know if that was true. Something ticked him off about Lien calling his sister a bitch. As long as it never happened again. "I told you that Lien didn't seem your type. He's far too serious. I think you'd be better with someone who's a bit more... er. Fun."

@Alayna Nott

Alayna tried to catch her breath and just focused on the movements of his hand on her back. Once she felt like she could speak calmly she sighed, "I don't think that's true Atticus." She poured when he said he had told her so about Lien, "But I really liked him. He was different than any of the guys I had talked to before. He was my first time. And I just thought I was going to be different." When he suggested someone more fun she laughed, "Like who? Rowle? That's the only other guy I truly trust. Besides you of course. But that's wrong on too many different levels."

@Atticus Nott

"I know you like him..."

Atticus sighed.

"Definitely not Rowle. You'll just... meet someone else. You got to know Lien quite quickly, and you'd never considered him before."

He kissed the top of her head, then felt her waist more.

"Have you been eating right? You're all skinny."

@Alayna Nott

He was right. But she wouldn't admit that. Sure, she could find someone else. Probably before the end of the week. But is that what she wanted? She didn't know. When he asked if she had been eating, she looked down at her lap, "I think I had a sandwich.... Before the dance...." She hadn't eaten much since then. Maybe a piece of bread here and there just to get Carina off her ass.

@Atticus Nott

Atticus sighed irritably.

"Well that's not enough at all. No wonder I can feel your bloody ribcage!"

It was frustrating that she didn't look after herself properly, even without breakups and emotional toil. He had to force her to eat meals of adequate sustenance.

"We're getting something to eat."

He took her hand and marched her off towards the kitchens.

@Alayna Nott

"Well please forgive me for not eating. My mind was focused on everything else bloody going on." She said sarcastically but gave him a smile so he would know she was playing. When he started dragging her to the kitchens, she groaned, "Atti. I'm not hungry." That was a lie. She was starving. But the thought of food made her nauseous.

@Atticus Nott