If Love is a Game...

Chapter Twenty-Three

The Truth is Dangerous

Sadly enough, Christmas Day was slowly coming to an end. Sirius and Krystyna were on their way to Krystyna's house; their wonderful day was finally ending as the sun set along the horizon. The day had been very eventful. Sirius had taken her to many other places and they had also stopped by Lily's house so she could see her best friend again. It had been a great day.

Now, after the sun had set on them and the street lamps were all alight, Sirius was walking with Krystyna to her house, hand-in-hand, Padfoot Jr. trailing behind them. They were talking about what they wanted to be once they got out of school again.

"I'm still a little blurry on my future," Sirius admitted quietly. She looked over at him tenderly and he looked down at his feet to kick some slush. "I have the grades, but it's more than that. I'm just not sure where my specialty lies. What about you?"

"Well, this might sound a little childish, but I want to become an Auror," Krystyna said softly, looking away from Sirius and turning a pale shade of pink in the light. Sirius looked up at her and raised his eyebrows. "I think I have the grades, but if not then I have to raise them up."

"An Auror, really?" Sirius asked her. She turned a slightly darker shade of pink.

"Of course, I should've known that and kept it to myself," Krystyna muttered under her breath, thinking that he thought she couldn't do it. It was a hard job. "How silly of me--"

"No, no, you misunderstood me," Sirius said quickly, stopping and turning her around to face him directly. She looked up at him rather uneasily. "I think you'd make a great Auror."

"Really, you think that?" Krystyna asked, brightening up. "You're just saying that because I'm your girlfriend."

"No, I think you'd be great at it!" Sirius replied honestly. She looked at him in the eyes, trying to see if he was telling the truth. He always had honest eyes. She realized that he wasn't lying. "James wants to be an Auror too, of course; he despises the Dark Arts terribly... I don't see how we became friends in the first place."

"Well, maybe he read your eyes, Sirius," Krystyna told him as they began to walk again. "You have the most truthful eyes in the world. He must've realized that you weren't like that. I knew that when I first saw you all those years ago."

"Yeah, is that good thing?" Sirius questioned, looking at her again. She thought about it and then shrugged her shoulders.

"I know I like it when I know you're honest with me, but I suppose it wouldn't be a good thing when you wanted to tell a lie and it be convincing," Krystyna answered him thoughtfully. She smiled at him and sighed. "But I like it. I like your eyes. They're so different from everyone else's."

"I suppose that's a good thing then," Sirius noted, grinning at her. He stopped and she stopped; they were standing near her house. They couldn't go any closer. Krystyna didn't want any of her family seeing him and he didn't want her to get into anymore trouble. "Now, I hope you remember what James said. If they do anything--anything--to you, please tell us."

Krystyna thought about what he had said and when James had first told her that before she had left the Hogwarts Express. Had they done anything to her? Yes, a lot had happened, but she kept her mouth shut for some reason. She simply nodded her head.

"I got it, Sirius," Krystyna replied. He looked concernedly at her and then sighed. They hugged each other and then broke apart. He looked in her eyes. Her eyes weren't as honest as his were and he knew it. He never knew what she might be truly thinking. He sometimes wished she wasn't like that; sometimes he needed to read her.

"Good bye and good night, Krystyna," Sirius said, putting his head against hers, looking into her eyes and wishing he knew what she was thinking. "See you in real soon." She smiled; they would be going back to Hogwarts soon.

"Good night, Sirius," Krystyna whispered. He kissed her on the forehead and sighed. He pulled away from her and let her walk away, her hand slipping out of his. And again, he felt that same fleeting feeling that he felt before she left at the beginning of the holidays. He didn't want to let her go because something might happen. But her hand slipped from his grip and she walked through the gate of her house.

He frowned at the house; the windows were lit up with a faint glow. Inside he could hear Andrew's voice arguing with his mother about something. Then, he heard her father's voice shout something and Andrew went silent. It gravely reminded him of his own old house when Regulus would get frightened by the thunderstorms.

Krystyna turned around to face him when she was on the porch, gave him one last faint smile, and then walked inside the house. He sighed sadly and walked away from the house to turn the corner before he Apparated back to Lily's house.

88

Krystyna shut the door behind herself quietly. Everyone was most likely in the kitchen having dinner. Andrew and her mother had just gone silent after her father had yelled at him. She had been hoping they would still be shouting at each other so she could get up to her bedroom unheard because the stairs creaked.

Unfortunately, as she walked up the steps cautiously, one of them made an ominous noise. She froze and waited for her mother to swoop over her, but she never came. She relaxed and continued up the stairs. Maybe she would get to the safety of her room without being bothered after all. But when she got to the top of her stairs and began for her room, another door down the hallway opened up. Samuel stepped out of his bedroom.

"Krystyna, welcome home again," Samuel said arrogantly, smirking as he usual did. She pursed her lips and said nothing to him. She walked for her door. She tore the note off of it and went to open it, but it was locked. She groaned; she forgot that she had locked it from the inside. "Mum was worried sick about you all day."

"What--did I miss a tea party at the Malfoy Manor or something?" Krystyna snapped at him, trying to find her wand in all of the pockets she had.

"No, but you didn't open your presents with the family this morning and you weren't at the family party," Samuel noted, leaning against the wall beside her bedroom door. She rolled her eyes and opened another empty pocket.

"Oh, wow, I actually had presents this year," Krystyna said sardonically. She glared at him and looked back at the door. "It's a miracle." She found her wand in her jacket pocket and pulled it out swiftly, pointing it at the door.

"Alohamora," she muttered under her breath. The door clicked unlocked. She sighed and dropped her wand back in her pocket.

"So, did you get over your nervousness about the N.E.W.T.s?" Samuel asked slyly, again trying to pry information out of her. She didn't look at him as she opened her door.

"Yes, I'm much better now," Krystyna replied smoothly. "Thanks for asking." She rolled her eyes and walked into her bedroom, turning around to shut the door again.

"Did getting over your nervousness include having to have a trip with someone else?" Samuel asked calmly. She looked up to glare at him, as usual.

"I dunno, does it?" Krystyna said snappishly.

"Is that someone else Sirius Black?" Samuel questioned her darkly. She didn't glare at him, but gazed at him languidly. She yawned, signaling that she was tired, and smirked.

"I dunno, does it?" Krystyna replied mockingly. "'Night, Samuel."

She slammed the door in his face and locked it. She threw her coat on the ground and pulled her boots off. She collapsed onto her bed face first. She was very tired and worn out. All she wanted to do right now was sleep because she had been all over the place today. The light went out and she quickly drifted off to sleep.

88

Krystyna shrieked and jolted up in her bed, wide awake and filled with terror. Her breathing was very erratic and her heart was pounding rapidly in her chest. She had just had the most awful nightmare. She had dreamt she was sitting at Lily's side, but Lily was dead, but she wasn't the only one dead. James was dead; Lorena was dead. Sirius was dead.

But as Krystyna looked around her room frantically, she saw that she was still in her own bedroom at her parents' house, and no one was dead. She wiped the sweat off of her brow and tried to take deep breaths. Suddenly, a loud rapping sound on her door came and she jumped in her bed again out of nervousness. Someone pounded on her door again.

"Krystyna, wake up!" Mrs. Melanie shouted from the other side of the door. Krystyna looked down at her watch and saw that it was around eleven thirty. She groaned and swung her legs over the bed to get up. She stretched tiredly. "Krystyna, get up!"

"I'm up!" Krystyna yelled back angrily. She stood up and shuffled over to the door. She opened the door and light flooded into her room. Her mother nearly shrieked when she saw Krystyna looking a mess with tousled black hair. "It's eleven thirty, what d'you expect, mum?"

"Your father needs to speak to you about school," Mrs. Melanie told her, catching her breath again as she eyed Krystyna's messy hair with disdain.

"Well, tell dad that he can speak to himself because I don't want to speak with him," Krystyna said moodily, getting ready to shut the door again. Her mother's wand stopped the door from closing as she looked at her daughter with an angry look on her face.

"This is essential, Krystyna," Mrs. Melanie replied scornfully. She rolled her eyes. "You're going down there whether you like it or not. Samuel, come here."

Someone walked up the stairs slowly and Samuel came into view.

"Yes, mother?" Samuel inquired obediently. Mrs. Melanie was fuming at Krystyna and she would've looked uneasy if she wasn't so tired and grumpy.

"Take your little sister into your father's Study," Mrs. Melanie ordered. "I'm sure you're going to be in on your father's talk with her."

"Yes, mother, I am and I will," Samuel replied deferentially. "C'mon, little sis, let's get going so we can get this over with quickly."

"What--?" Krystyna began angrily before Samuel interrupted her by pushing her away from her room. She pushed back, but not wanting to fall down the stairs was more important to her. "I don't want to talk any of you!"

"Then don't talk; we'll do all the talking," Samuel said mockingly, smirking at her.

"This is stupid; let go of me, Samuel!" Krystyna shouted, pushing back on him as he pushed back on her. Although she desperately didn't want to, she was pushed into her father's Study unwillingly. She fell on her knees and muttered a few curses under her breath. She looked back and saw Andrew peering into the room timidly before Samuel shut the door and locked it so she wouldn't just walk out.

"Sit down, Krystyna," her father's voice commanded gruffly. She glared at the seat that was turned around so that she couldn't see her father at all.

"On my knees or in a chair?" Krystyna snarled sardonically. Samuel leaned against the bookshelf and shook his head at her. She wanted to ring his neck and hex her dad.

"In the chair, Krystyna," her father told her. She stood up quickly and brushed herself off, thoroughly ticked off at the both of them. She plopped herself down in the seat stiffly and glared at the carpet. There was stiff silence between them in which the fire in the fireplace crackled and the flames licked at the logs viciously.

"Your mother and I have tried to tolerate your misdemeanors in your...social life," her father said, still not turning in his chair to face her. Her glare hardened at the carpet. He was, of course, talking about Lily and Sara. She clenched her fists to control her temper. She suddenly realized how hard it was for Lorena to stay silent when Malfoy ticked her off. "We thought that you might grow out of it, like it was a phase, but even after all of your punishments and our talks, you still broke our rules and misbehaved."

Krystyna bit her lip in order to stay silent. She had to stay quiet. Samuel could see how much she wanted to lash out of them both. He gave her a simpering glance. If this made her mad, he couldn't wait to see what she would do near the ending of this "talk".

"Before you started your Sixth Year, as you know, a certain boy ran away from his parents, which broke their hearts, but he was never a good boy to begin with," her father told her, as if telling her a fairy tale story. "Do you know who that boy is, Krystyna?"

She stayed silent no matter how much she wanted to kick and scream. She continued to glare at the floor even though she wanted to glare at her father--or Samuel, either one would be fine. But no, she shut herself up and she glared at the ground. She knew who that "boy" was; she really knew who he was, but she pursed her lips tightly.

"Of course you know that boy, Krystyna, but, once again, you're in one of those 'moods' in which you won't speak or even look at me," Mr. Melanie continued, still talking to her as if she was just a young child. "We saw that boy many a times, but he was good then. But while a school, we learned what he was really made of, and your mother and I didn't like it. When you came back after your Second Year, we were pleased to hear that the two of you didn't get along at all.

"But, as all things that come along in this world, there was a catch to this news and we hit a snag once again. You did not get along with the rule abiding boy that we liked very much for you. No, you did not like him, you told us again and again. We thought that our plans for you might work; you became good friends with the rule abiding boy's cousin, but it failed when we found out that the girl hated her cousin. As you grew older, we came to see that you hated both the rule abider and the rule breaker. But you were also friends with a Blood Traitor's daughter and a Mudblood."

Krystyna clenched her fists so tight that her nails almost pierced her skin. They shouldn't talk about Lily and Sara like that. They shouldn't do that. They talked about "him" like he was some hoodlum that was stupid. He was talking to her like she was thick. She wanted to whip her wand out of him and hex him and Samuel both. She wanted out of here. But she kept her silence and continued to glare at the floor furiously.

"Then, in your last year at Hogwarts, you ruined it all. You still hated Lucius Malfoy, greatly enough, but you fell for Sirius Black. No matter how much you would try to deny it to me, I know that you're dating the good-for-nothing scoundrel!" Mr. Melanie exclaimed angrily, still not turning around to look back at her.

Sara is not a 'Blood Traitor's daughter'; Lily is not a 'Mudblood'; and Sirius is definitely not a 'good-for-nothing scoundrel'! Krystyna shouted in her mind, desperately wanting to shout it all right into her father's face, but no, she held it all in.

"And when you come back to see your family, you scream at us, threaten us, and leave us hanging by a limb. Is that how you show respect for your family?" Mr. Melanie said menacingly to her from behind the large chair. She gnashed her teeth and glared at the ground still. She was going to hold out longer than he was; she would prove it to him that she was stronger than him. "Is it, Krystyna, because I see nothing respectful in all that?"

Krystyna stayed silent, much to her father's dismay. He wanted her to snap again and shout and fuss with him angrily, but she knew that that was what he wanted and she was not going to give him what he wanted. He wanted her to get irate with him out loud because then it would be easier to distract her from other things.

"But you've gone either farther than that today," Mr. Melanie said quietly. She froze in her seat fearfully. Someone had seen them. Someone had seen her with Sirius today. That was why Samuel was questioning her; he saw them together. Shoot, double shoot...

Krystyna was tempted to look up at the back of the chair, but controlled her urge to do so and continued to glare at the ground, as if it was very interesting when it wasn't at all. Samuel saw the apprehensiveness in her stiff figure. He sneered at her--how predictable. But what hadn't been predictable was her deafening silence. He had expected her to lash out at the both of them, but she did not make a move. Their father continued on.

"We thought you were thinking about your N.E.W.T.s, as that nice little note on your door told us, but when you didn't come back for the parties, your mother became worried. When you didn't come home for dinner, your mother was in a terrible panic. She thought something might have happened to you."

Samuel expected a witty comment from his little sister, but she put her lips together tightly and said nothing at all. Her mind was shouting out a few replies, but she nothing. She was going to win this silent battle between the two of them.

"Then, Samuel came down to tell me something. You were finally home, but you did not come home alone. Oh, no, you weren't alone at any time of the day, were you?" Mr. Melanie said gruffly. She said nothing to him. "And who he saw was very concerning. You know who was so close to this house, don't you? Why, it was your petty little boyfriend, Sirius Black."

Krystyna thought she felt her nails digging into her hands, her palms starting to bleed. She didn't care though. He was really getting her angry, but she held it in as best as she could. She was getting so irritated that she couldn't make sense of where they were going, and she knew that this was what her father and Samuel wanted. She tried to calm herself down.

"We've had enough of your bad behavior, Krystyna, and we're prepared to finally take action in your life," Mr. Melanie told her calmly. She wanted to kick him, punch him, hex him, or do whatever to him that was painful. "We're through with this and it's going to be put to an end."

Her father finally turned around in his chair to face her and as he turned around, he threw a manila folder in front of her on the desk. She finally looked up at him in the face and glared at him irately, hating every last bit of her father from that stupid leer on his face to those idiotic fancy shoes of his that he always wore. She had it with this; she snapped at him. It was always easier to scream and have a tiff with him.

"Take action in my life? My life? I don't know about you, but I don't think you're the one in control here, okay," Krystyna said, trying to stay calm. "If you're through with my behavior, then you're through with me and I'm perfectly fine with that because I'm through with your behavior. I'm sick and tired of you bossing me around like this."

"We're trying to give you a good life and help you make the right decisions in life, Krystyna; you have to understand that," her father replied smoothly.

"I had a good life until you started giving me these orders! I can make my own right decisions, thank you very much. I understand perfectly fine that you want to govern my life so I can be the perfect manicured puppet Melanie!" Krystyna said loudly. "'You can't be friends with her. You can't talk to her. You have to talk to him. You have to hate him. You have to like him.' No, I don't think so. I can do whatever I think is right. And all this, is not right. It's wrong--all wrong."

Samuel and Mr. Melanie merely listened to her and watched her actions. She was livid with them, that was for sure. She had never gone off on them like this before, a frightening calm voice with much hate behind it.

"Subjecting your children to this lifestyle is painful, I should know because I've been living through it my entire life and it's horrible! You don't know what it's like. Maybe you didn't act like me when you were younger and I'm just out of the ordinary in your tight knit, sophisticated group. I don't know, but what I do know is that I don't want to grow up to become like you--ever."

"I'm sorry, Krystyna, but you have no say in this matter," her father told her serenely. She laughed at him and raised her eyebrows.

"No say in this matter? This matter is my life, here, okay? I have a say in it, no matter what you tell me," Krystyna growled irately. There was silence in which Krystyna and Mr. Melanie glared at each other heatedly.

"Why don't you take a close look in that folder in front of you, Krystyna," Samuel said quietly in her ear, putting his hands on the back of her chair and leaning down at her. She glared at him from the corners of her eyes and looked down at the folder sitting in front of her. She grabbed it and he backed up to lean against the bookcase once again. She opened it and flipped through the pages quickly. On the fifth page, she froze immediately, a name sticking out of all the others, and there was a picture at the bottom of the page that she knew.

"What is this?" Krystyna demanded, her eyes never wavering from the moving picture that was looking back up at her happily. When no one answered her immediately, she looked up at her brother with fiery eyes. "What the bloody hell is this, Samuel? Tell me, now!"

"Can't you tell?" Samuel asked smugly, a smirk on his face. She wanted to do more than to just smack it off of his face. She gripped the folder stiffly. "Don't you know who those people are? Don't you know what those people are?"

"Shut up, Samuel!" Krystyna shouted, irate. He closed his mouth immediately, but that smirk was still there. She looked back at her father. "What's the meaning of this? What are you playing at?"

"This is our action, Krystyna," Mr. Melanie told her. "Those Muggles--no--that dirt could be nothing but collateral damage. If getting you back in line means harming worthless piles of junk, then so be it!"

"They're not dirt! They're not worthless piles of junk! They're living, breathing human beings! I don't know how to get that into your thick skulls! They have emotions; they're not just animals, they need to live too," Krystyna said painfully, glaring at him heatedly. "And Lily, she's a--"

"Stupid Mudblood," Mr. Melanie interrupted, changing the ending to her sentence.

"No, Lily's not that! Lily is a brilliant witch and I don't care if she's Muggle-born or not, she's my best friend! And that doesn't depend on the purity of your blood!" Krystyna shouted crossly. Samuel never realized she cared that much about her friends; he raised his eyebrows. She flipped through the pages more and stopped on another page, her breath caught in her throat.

"Sara...? You don't get it; she so nice and right," Krystyna said quietly, still looking down at the page. She flipped the pages more and froze again. "James... He's brilliant, you know, and he's so good, doesn't like the Dark Arts at all. Just like his parents, I suppose. I don't know; I've never met them before."

Krystyna flipped through the pages again as they watched her silently, watching to see what she would do and if she would fill in the blanks. She stopped on another page.

"Remus... He really is a very good guy and smart, too, but you don't know that because you don't give him a chance," Krystyna said softly. She missed them all. She wanted to see them again. She flipped through the pages, but suddenly froze immediately. Suddenly, her anger rose back in her chest again. She looked up at her father, her eyes burning with hate.

"Sirius, huh? You still haven't answered me; what is this? Why are all my friends in here? Better yet, why are all the friends that you disapprove of in here?" Krystyna demanded ferociously, glaring at her father, who was still watching her. "Tell me, what's your next move?"

"It'd be a shame, if one of them got hurt or someone in their family," Samuel drawled idly from behind her. She looked back at him quickly. He was sneering at her. "It'd be a terrible tragedy if one of them--per say--died...?"

"You wouldn't," Krystyna gasped in a barely audible whisper, staring at him with wide eyes filled with fear. "You wouldn't such a...you couldn't--no--"

Samuel stalked over to her quickly and put his hands on the back of her chair, leaning in very closely to her again, a smirk spread broadly on his face. "Oh, I would. I definitely would. After all, it's my job and it's very fun," he hissed willingly. She looked at him fearfully; he could see it in her eyes. "It's dad's job too, you know. But, you know how easy it is for an accident to happen, don't you, Krystyna?"

"You're going to hurt them?" Krystyna gasped, absolutely terrified with the idea. "You're going to kill them?!"

She pushed her back against the back of the chair to get away from him. She didn't know he could do such a thing. She really didn't belong in this family. She was nothing like them. She couldn't do such a thing and like it.

"Yes, that is, of course, if you don't behave like a good girl," Samuel told her, straightening back up and walking back to the bookcase. She could barely breathe.

"Behave like a good girl?" Krystyna questioned. Samuel began to explain.

"That's right, all you have to do, is dump Sirius Black so terribly that he'll be too heartbroken to come to any conclusions about you and us with this little 'chat'. Then, you have to stop hanging out with the Mudblood and Blood Traitors--Lorena is fine, even though she and Lucius don't get along, having connections with them will matter. You have to make sure that they're too angry with you to find any conclusions also. And then, you have to become 'friendly' with Lucius Malfoy."

"Bloody hell, you're barking mad, the both of you!" Krystyna cried out fearfully, but realizing that this was a lose/lose situation for her. She looked at them both, hating them and being afraid of them at the same time. If she stayed friends with them, someone could get hurt or even possibly die. If she broke away from them, she would be miserable and hurt them all in the end. It was a dark time now. "No..."

"Yes, and you will do it if you care about your friends enough," Mr. Melanie said firmly. "If you don't, someone's going to get hurt, possibly Black."

She suddenly realized that she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she did something that resulted in Sirius getting seriously injured or dying. She suddenly realized that she had no option.

"I hate this. I don't want to do this. I hate this. I hate you," Krystyna sobbed, looking down at her feet again. "But I have to do this so they're safe--and I'm miserable."

"There, there, you'll get used to it," Samuel chirped from behind her, stretching and grinning at a job well done--for him at least. But he felt a little disappointed; he had been hoping that she wouldn't believe them and he could hurt someone--if just a little. "You have until after the sixteenth of February to figure out what you're going to do before terrible things start to happen by accident and bad luck."

"You will do this and you'll like it in the end," Mr. Melanie said.

"I'll do it, but only because I want my friends to live!" Krystyna yelled angrily. "And I'll never like it!"

"This is the right thing to do," Mr. Melanie told her forcefully. "It's the best possible thing to do and you're finally getting back on track."

"If this is the best possible thing to do, I'd hate to see the worst possible thing to do," Krystyna muttered, livid with her dad and older brother. She hated them more than anything in the world.

"This is what you're supposed to do," Mr. Melanie said firmly. "You're a Melanie."

"Then I don't want to be a bloody Melanie!" Krystyna screamed hotly, not even realizing that she had jumped to her feet, gripping the folder tightly in her hands, glaring at her father and breathing erratically. He did not like this at all. He stood up and looked much more foreboding.

"Oh, I know, you want to be a Black, don't you!" Mr. Melanie boomed fiercely. Samuel even thought about taking a step away from them. He was taller than her by far and was heavier. He sure was stronger and maybe even smarter than her. She glowered at him crossly and dropped the folder down on the desk; blood was on it from the cuts her nails had made in her palm.

"Yeah, maybe I do," Krystyna said vehemently, smirking at him. "It'd be much better than being a Melanie, after all."

She turned around and pushed Samuel away from the door. She opened it up with her wand and it flew open. She stalked out quickly.

"Remember, February Sixteenth is the deadline and tell no one!" Samuel called. She shouted something obscene at him and started up the stairs. Andrew, who had fallen asleep on the couch, popped up, his black hair disheveled.

"Whassamatter with February Sixteenth, Sam?" Andrew asked groggily, his eyes barely open as he peered at his older brother, who walked out of the room and shut the door slowly with his father still in it.

"Nothing to bother you, Andrew," Samuel told him nicely. "You go on up to your bedroom before mother sees you and has a fuss."

Andrew nodded his head and took his advice, trudging up the stairs to his bedroom.

But, he had a strange feeling and told himself to remember that date as he passed Krystyna's locked and dark bedroom. He stopped by it, looked at it, and thought if it had anything to do with her friends, but he was too tired to think straight and wandered into his bedroom down the hall to fall asleep again.