Normal POV:

"Serana! What happened?" Narcissa ran over to me and hugged me.

"They-they left me!" I sobbed.

"What happened Reg?" She asked, holding me close.

"Her and her friends had a huge fight. I don't know the whole story," he sighed and kept an arm around me.

"I
lied to her, and kept secrets. They were dangers secrets! They could
have killed her, and my friends. I thought, since I kissed Sirius, they
would hate me, so I didn't tell them. Lily said- she said she wanted to
to have died instead of Tonks," I explained, whispering the last part.

"She did not!" Sev exclaimed. I nodded slowly.

"I
have no other friends to go to, except you guys. I wanna be different
now, I wanna be like you." I told them. Narcissa smiled.

"OK.
We'll start over. Make up your own character, and act like her," she
said. I nodded. I wiped away my tears and walked part way down the
corridor. I walked back, putting a little sway in my hips.

"Hello," I smirked, "I'm Serana Longbottom. Just call me Rani."

"Narcissa Black. This is Regulus Black and Severus Snape. Cissy, Reg, and Sev," Narcissa pointed to the boys and herself.

"Very glad to meet you! Pureblood, right?" I flashed a grin.

"Yeah, but I'm Half-blood," Sev said.

"Half-blood's
cool. Just as long as you're not Mudblood!" I laughed. It did hurt,
very much to say those words, but this was a new me. This was the me
that Lily- Evans, created.

"Hey, Longbottom!" Someone yelled behind me. I turned around.

"Hello! I don't think we've met! I'm Serana Longbottom," I said, smiling at the boys.

"Um…Cissy? Has Longbottom gone crazy?" The boy with blonde hair whispered, very loudly.

"This is a new her!" Cissy squealed.

"Well then, I'm Luscious Malfoy. Call me Lucy," He grinned.

"Derek
Yaxley (A/N I'm sorry, but I didn't know what his actually name was…so I
made it up)," He winked at me. I giggled. The last boy grabbed my hand.

"Antonin Dolohov," he kissed my knuckles, "At our service." I blushed and giggled again.

"So!
Let me get this straight! Cissy, Sev, Reg, Lucy, Yax, and Tony?" I
pointed to each person as I said their names. Everyone nodded.

"Great! I'm hungry, shall we eat?" I asked them.

"We shall Rani," Cissy and I linked arms and skipped off to the Great Hall, the boys laughing behind us.



"I
asked him why, and he looked at me with the stupidest face, I've ever
seen! It was all like," I tried my best to give my friends an example of
the face Professor Grubbly-Plank gave me, but it didn't work. They all
laughed. It was a week later, only a few days to the full moon, and I
was sitting at the Slytherin Table with my friends. Cissy started
coughing.

"You OK, there Ciss?" I chuckled.

"Yeah, just inhaled some pumpkin juice," she laughed.

"Only you, Cissy, could do that," I sighed, smiling.

"Hate to break it to you, Rani, but you've done it about…let's see, at least 4 times since yesterday?" Tony teased.

"Shut
up," I lightly punched his shoulder. He laughed. I actually liked his
laugh. I started eating my omelette again, and I realized was eating and
omelette. It reminded me of Lily and Jinxy. No! It won't! I won't let
it.

"Rani?" The voice wasn't any of my friends, it was…

"Go away Evans," Tony snarled.

"No! I need to talk to my friend!" Li-Evans yelled.

"What
friend? Shouldn't you go and scramble back to your Gryffindor friends?
You're not welcome here," I drawled. She gasped slightly.

"What happened to you, Rani?" She asked. I let out a loud laugh.

"Nothing
happened to me, Filthy Mudblood! I just found the people that will
accept me!" I smirked at her as she ran back to the Gryffindor Table.
Jinx rubbed her back. I hated it so much. I wanted to be that one,
comforting her. It was supposed to be me. But I couldn't go back to
them.

I had told Tony, Yax, Lucy, Cissy, Sev, and Reg all my
secrets. And you know what? They didn't give a crap that I was a
werewolf, they couldn't have cared less if I kissed Sirius, they really
didn't care that I could turn into a Wolf. They just cared about me,
just me.

"Great job, Rani! Look at her! Crying," Lucy pouted
sarcastically. Tony gave me a nuggy. I laughed and pushed his arm away. I
caught a glimpse of Sev's face. We were both thinking the same thing.
Neither of us could keep this act up much longer.

"I'm hittin'
the hay early guys. Night," I waved to my friends and left. I lied. I
was going to the library. I just wanted to get my mind off things. I ran
my hand through my hair before stepping into the familiar smell of
books. I went straight to my reading corner. I opened the door thing and
stepped inside. I closed it, and closed off the world. I picked up a
book, and poured myself into it.

"Rani? I know you're in there," It was Evans.

"What
do you want, Evans?" I sighed, not looking up from 'Mary Poppins'. Did
you know the movie was coming out soon? I was probably going to see it.

"You
can't hide yourself forever. Someday, you'll break. You'll come back to
us. You'll see," She said, as a matter of factually.

"And what makes you think I'm hiding?" I snarled at her.

"The
fact that you are still who you are on the inside when you're alone,
but someone else when you're with the Slytherins," she sighed.

"You must be mistaken, I'm not hiding myself anymore then you are a Mudblood," I almost stuttered the last part. She caught me.

"Ha! You can't even say it!" She accused.

"Just leave me alone," I groaned. She walked away. I almost missed her whisper, 'I'm sorry.'

As
soon as she was out of ear shot, I threw the book as well as I could
and screamed. Tears pricked my eyes and started to fall. Evans was right
I wouldn't be able to keep it in much longer. I couldn't hide myself
forever.

"Rani?" It was Sev this time. I hugged my legs to my chest and let the tears fall.

"Rani, come out. I know how you feel-"

"No,
Sev, you don't! You're not the one she said she wished was dead! You're
not the one who has to pretend to hate her and the others, just so you
can feel happy again! You're not the one with a brother in a coma!
You're not the one who has no one but books to turn to when you're
angry, sad, and hurt!" I shouted. That outburst gave away my place. Sev
walked over. He knelt down. I looked at him through the bookshelf.

"Open the door, Rani," he said softly. I shook my head.

"I want to be alone," I whispered.

"Rani,
you being alone isn't going to help you at all!" His voice was shaking.
I pulled the bookshelf to the left and scooted over. He sat next to me.

"I heard what she said about you breaking soon. You can't. You need to show them that you don't need them," Sev said.

"But I Do need them, Sev," I said, my voice cracking. He went silent. I put my head on his shoulder.

"I'm an actress now, and an artist," I sighed.

"What do you mean?" He turned his head to look at me.

"My laugh, is it real?" I asked him.

"Yes," He replied

"Wrong, I'm an actress because I act happy. My smile, is it real?" I asked again.

"Yes?" Sev sounded confused.

"Wrong again, Sev. I'm an artist because I paint a smile on my face," I sighed. He sighed as well.

"What
will make you happy? What will bring an actual smile? An actual laugh?"
He turned around so he was facing me. I shrugged. His face lit up and I
could imagine a light bulb floating above his head. He stood up and
held his hand out to me.

"Come on, Rani. I want to show you something," He smiled at me. I took is hand, confused.

"Sev, where are we going?" I asked, as he pulled me along the corridors.

"Slytherin
Commen Room. Wait right here," he told me. I stood there, wrapping
myself tighter with my arms. Sev came out seconds later holding
something behind his back.

"What's that?" I asked. He just smiled
at me. He grabbed my hand and started running again. We stopped by the
Black Lake. Sev put something on the ground and pushed a button. Music
started playing.

"Sev? What are we doing?" I asked him, a smile
echoed on my face. He took both my hands in his and started spinning us
in circles.

"Come on Rani! Dance!" He yelled. So that's what we did. We danced to our hearts content.

"Sev, what if we get caught?" I laughed.

"See! That's what I'm looking for!" He shouted and twirled me around. I shook my head and smiled.

"I'm
just a poor boy! Nobody loves me!" Sev and I sang with the music. He
and I were laughing and smiling. We danced until our feet could take no
more.

When the song ended, we fell to the ground, laughing like physcos.

"That was fun, Sev, really," I smiled at him.

"Good! And now, we go to bed," he got up and picked the cassette player up and ran back inside. I followed him.

"Night, Rani," he waved and stepped into the Slytherin House.

"Bye," I waved as well and headed off to the Gryffindor House.

"Where have you been?" McKinnon crossed her arms.

"And
it matter to you, why, McKinnon?" I asked and flopped onto my bed.
Rosewood (Alice), Jinx, Evans, and McKinnon were all looking at me.

"What are you staring at?" I yelled. They turned back. Well, Jinx didn't.

"I
saw you, with Severus. You were smiling and laughing. Have you really
forgotten us that easily?" She asked. I could hear her crying, if that
makes sense.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to forget," I grumbled and rolled over. As I lay awake, I could here her crying.