"When do you want to study next?" James asked the girl once he managed to catch up to her in the hall. He had the feeling Del had been avoiding him ever since her birthday. "You've gotten a lot better and with some practice-"

"I don't need your help anymore," she cut him off and he grew confused at this.

"Like I said, you have gotten a lot better but you're not-"

She interrupted him, not sparing him a glance, "Axel is helping me."

"Oh," James frowned. "Alright then, um..." he trailed off, "I have to go." Del watched the boy as he walked away and she couldn't help the dull ache in her chest as he did so.

James wasn't sure why it bothered him so much. Of course she would prefer Axel over him. The two were dating after all. Which, if he were honest, was a whole other level of confusing to the Gryffindor. Even Sirius was confused as to the sudden change of heart but anytime anyone tried to ask the girl about it, she threatened to hex them for not minding their own business.

He had spent the last few weeks trying to figure out what was going on. He hadn't had the chance to give her the birthday present yet because he wasn't sure if it was a good idea anymore.

"Tell us what you know," Sirius demanded as he and James, along with Peter and Remus, had Regulus cornered. "Tell us or I will walk right up to Dumbledore and tell him what you did."

"I don't know much, okay?" Regulus told them quickly. "Mom and dad bought her a pocket watch for her birthday. It said 'Nott' instead of 'Black'. Next thing I know, her and Axel are together. I don't know what exactly happened but she won't talk to me. She won't even talk to Angela and Cynthia about what's going. Even the Hufflepuff kid has been asking questions that I don't have the answer to."

"The Tonks kid?" Sirius inquired. "Is Del still talking to him?"

"Barely."

"Barely is enough for me," he concluded before he turned and walked off.

"We aren't going to jump a kid in a wheelchair, are we?" Peter asked warily.

"No, we're just going to see if he's noticed anything that we haven't."

"You guys go without me," James suggested as he stopped following his friends. They turned to look at him, "I'm going to go talk to Lily."

"Now really isn't the time for you to go flirt with your girlfriend, Prongs," Sirius pointed out, clearly irritated with his friend.

"That's not-" he shook his head. "She's been patrolling with Del. Maybe she knows something. Girl talk or whatever."

"Fine," Sirius huffed. "But if you find out anything-"

"I'll tell you right away."

They parted their ways and James made his way to where he knew Lily would be. At the far end of the lake with Snape. "Lily!" he shouted as he approached them. "Can we talk for a second?"

Lily turned to Snape and she said something to which he nodded before she got up and joined James. "What's wrong?"

"You've been patrolling with Del," he reminded her and she nodded. "Have you noticed anything?"

"If this is about Nott, I really don't think I'm supposed to be talking to you about this," she informed him.

"Please," he tried. "As my 'girlfriend' you should do this for me."

"I don't know much," she huffed. "She seems more distant since they've become whatever they are. She says she's happy but..."

"But?"

"She doesn't seem happy, is all."

"Let me patrol with her tonight," he requested. "Tell her to meet you outside the portrait. I'll tell her you had an emergency or something."

"James..."

"Please," he begged and she was taken aback by how desperate he looked. "I'm worried about her and I can't help her if I don't know what's going on."

"Alright, fine," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Just this one time. And I swear, James, if you try and pull anything-"

"I know," he nodded, "Thank you."

"How did it go with the Tonks kid?" James asked as he joined his friends at the Gryffindor table.

"He knows as much as we do," Sirius huffed, slamming his fork down on the table. "She started withdrawing after her birthday and she doesn't like when he asks any questions." He shook his head slightly, "What about Lily?"

"Nothing," he answered with a sigh. He contemplated telling him about the fact that he would be patrolling with Del later tonight but knew he would only want to tag along. Scaring her away didn't seem like an optimal plan.

Del had been teetering on the edge of sanity since Axel first showed up in her room on her birthday. Anytime she acted even a little distant, he threatened to tell her mother everything and she couldn't have that.

She stopped outside of the Gryffindor common room and leaned against the wall as she waited for Lily to emerge. The one and only good thing to come out of everything that had happened was that her mother decided she was behaving enough that she 'lifted' the jinx.

The portrait opened and she stood up but James stepped out. Del huffed, "Where's Lily?"

"She ran into a problem, said I should patrol with you instead," he lied.

"I'll just wait for her to be done," she replied.

"There's no point," he informed her. "She won't be out for awhile."

"Then I just won't patrol tonight."

He crossed his arms over his chest, "You're avoiding me."

She shook her head, "I'm not avoiding you."

"Then patrol with me," he suggested.

She huffed, glancing side to side for a moment, "Fine."

They both started the walk down the hall, falling into a rather uncomfortable silence.

"I heard about you and Evans," Del informed him. "I told you it would work out eventually."

"I'm not actually with Lily," he replied. Even he wasn't sure why he was telling her this.

"What?" she inquired, shaking her head in confusion. "Yes, you are. I saw you in Hogsmeade with her yesterday."

He sighed, "That's not...We're faking it."

"Faking it?" she gaped. "Why on earth would you do that?"

"Well, she's with Snape and neither of them want anyone to know so I told her I'd cover for them. That way no one would be suspicious when she disappeared," he explained.

"Okay..." she trailed off, "And what's in it for you?"

"It was so no one was suspicious when I disappeared," he answered before quickly adding, "To help you." He shook his head slightly as they continued walking, "Not that it matters anymore."

Del sucked in a breath between her teeth, "About that-"

"I feel like I missed something," he interrupted and they both stopped, her turning to face him. "Because I thought we were...Well, I thought we were friends. And then all of the sudden you were back to staying as far away from me as you can and you're dating Axel and I don't know what happened."

"It's not you," she shook her head with a frown. "Everything is-"

"Complicated?" he finished. "It doesn't have to be complicated if you would just tell me what's going on." She shook her head again and started walking, James following behind her. "What's going on, Del? We're all worried about you."

"Why won't you just let it drop?" Del inquired as she continued through the corridor, glancing back and forth every so often.

"Because I care about you."

She stopped abruptly and turned to face the boy. She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest, "Don't."

"It's not some on and off switch, Black," he informed her. "Just cause you tell me not to care doesn't mean I'm going to listen."

"You don't understand-"

"Is everything okay?" someone spoke up and James turned around with a huff to find Axel Nott standing there.

"Everything's fine," James answered, "You can go now."

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Why is it that you're always there when nobody wants you there?" James asked, no longer caring to keep himself in check.

"Why is it that you can't seem to stop stalking my girlfriend?" he replied, his arms crossed over his chest.

James rolled his eyes, "I'm not stalking her. We're patrolling as Head Boy and Head Girl. What's your excuse?"

"How about you go run off with your little mudblood girlfriend and stay away from mine?" Axel suggested.

"What the hell did you just say to me?" James demanded, his fists clenched at his side.

Del's breath hitched in her throat as she looked between the two boys. This had been everything she had been trying to avoid only it seemed worse in person instead of in her head.

"I said-" Axel began but before he could repeat himself, James had punched him square in the jaw.

Del's eyes widened as Axel lunged after James. "Stop!" she hissed but neither of the boys seemed to hear her or maybe they just didn't care. "Both of you," she tried as she tried to pull them apart, "Stop it!"

She stumbled back slightly and she ran a hand over her face as she tried to figure out what to do. There was nothing she could do and this was all her fault.

Before Del even knew what was happening, Snape and Lily had shown up and Snape had managed to get Axel away from James and Lily was standing between them. Del looked around at the four before taking off down the hall, not bothering to say anything to anyone.

"Get off of me," Axel demanded, trying to push Snape away from him.

"Then stop being an idiot," Snape suggested and Axel stopped fighting him.

"Don't touch me," James said, pushing Lily's hand away from his face. He wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand as he looked around, "Where did she go?"

"To get away from you two nimrods, I assume," Lily shook her head in disbelief as she looked between Axel and James. "Maybe next time you should both be a little more considerate before beating each other to a pulp."

"He hit me first," Axel pointed out.

"I don't care who started it," Lily rolled her eyes. "But the person you were fighting over just left. So tell me," she requested as she looked from Axel to James, "Was it worth it?"