A last minute walk through of the castle corridors was expected, reasonably later, following the prefects' checks.

Just to make sure

She enjoyed the solitude, yes, but you could find the same thing late at night in the library with only a smattering of ill-prepared students rushing to finish an assignment with absolutely no intention of fraternizing with one another. Or even mid-day in your own dormitory when everyone else was bustling outside to get to their destinations: their classes, their meetings, their practices. It didn't have to come after hours. Especially not in the girls' lavatory on the first floor. With well over two decades glossing over the tragedy that once occurred in the cavernous space, it unfortunately became a hot spot for off-the-grid activities. From trying to coerce spirits to snogging. The first floor never ceased to yield an adventure or two.

And she couldn't wait for it to become the responsibility of some other prefect in a week's time.

The light began to dim as she approached the now-abandoned space that usually relied on natural light during the day. Sure enough, the closer she got to the bathroom, the more audible the whispers became.

Flicking her wand, blue-tinged light ignited at the tip as she passed the threshold into the bathroom. More hushed whispers, more shuffling of feet. Erratic. They knew she was there.

"Wh-" Before she could even get a word out, the 3 younger students that had been mucking about in the space rushed past her, but not before one of them bumped into what she guessed was a sink, hard enough to bust something. Cold water began to shoot out full force before spluttering to a pathetic dribble, partially soaking the right side of her body, if not more. She could hear the excited laughter of the 3 escaped students waver as they disappeared in lieu of their accidental savior.

Only one more week.

One more week. She mentally repeated to herself as she hastened her checks, making deliberate cuts in order to get back to her room faster to turn in for the night.

But not before passing a couple of other seventh years whom she noticed for petty infractions that dated as far back to the boat rides to the castle during their first year. Black and Potter. Inseparable. A brand, practically.

It was past curfew and they were the ones giving her a look. She opened her mouth to say something, only to close it just as quickly. Why bother?

One more week and she could shirk this responsibility. Not very becoming of a Head Girl, really, but the sound of a pair of confused laughs really dulled her sense of care.

oOo

Those first few weeks of school tend to really fly by. For people like Marion - people that tend to find just a little too much enjoyment in purchasing different colored ink or stacking new, unread textbooks on top of one another according to class schedules - it's the weeks before new school years that tend to be the more drawn-out, agonizing weeks.

The same thing happened every year. By the spring semester, she usually began her steady decline into mental exhaustion. Reading, both assigned and leisurely, would slowly become unappealing. Essay writing and exam preparations would take more effort to start and would be left to almost last minute circumstances. Extracurriculars would begin to feel more like chores. It's times like those that made her doubt the Sorting Hat's ability. Ravenclaw?

Ravenclaw in the fall, she would imagine the hat grumbling on top of her head. Perhaps something different in the spring. She wished that damn hat could've taken account for the future exasperation she would feel having to always answer a riddle to get into her own bed at night. Yes, new season, new house...which is the laziest?

But she would always regain her sense of self over a languid summer break and by those few weeks before a new term, she would be absolutely restless. Any assumptions that she was 51% Ravenclaw and 49% Gryffindor/Slytherin/Hufflepuff flew out the window. She was usually ready to take on the new semester with a renewed, sometimes vicious, fervor by the beginning of August. She had to admit, she didn't like being out of school for very long.

Which is why this particular year was turning out to be bittersweet no matter how great it should turn out to be purely based on her good fortune and hard work. But this year was her last and it was going by way too quickly. Isn't time supposed to go by slower when you're paying attention?

"All right, Marion?" She looked up from the pages of alchemical symbols she'd yet to learn thanks to her existential crisis.

"Fine." She widened her eyes as if to wake up from a daze before smiling at her counterpart, hoping his attention would waver and land on something else. Like his own responsibilities as Head Boy.

Marion was never the biggest fan of James Potter. It was mildly confusing how he'd even reeled in a title equivalent to her own. His own friend, Remus Lupin, seemed more the type. Honestly, the boy couldn't even be bothered with properly fixing his hair.

"Quite the show the other night." He smirked. "Fancied a dip in the Great Lake?"

"Does it look like any of my limbs have been stolen by the Giant Squid? Am I an apparition come up from my murky grave amongst the merpeople to study one last time?" She replied, only half committed to expressing the spite she felt.

"Are you missing a leg?" He feigned shock, quickly ducking his head under the table she was seated at. Needless to say, she jerked her legs off to the side as if he had had any interest in sneaking a peak up her skirt. It wasn't a mystery in any dimension that he'd been harboring the most intense of crushes on Lily Evans since, I don't know, birth.

"Don't look! I've yet to accept my prosthetic leg."

"Should've gone with a wooden peg. It would've given you a little more...grit." Even he looked confused at his choice of word, looking off to the side before continuing. "Look, could I ask you a favor?"

"Depends on what it is." She almost felt thankful that he'd come along and woken her up. Once the word 'favor' left his mouth, all she could care about were the various types of elemental amalgamations.

"Because you and I are best mates," He began.

Kill me, please.

"And best mates d-"

"What do you want?" She cut him off abruptly.

"I will take on the remainder of our nightly checks, in entirety, if you take my half tonight." He quickly proposed, already on the defensive. He'd had to have known he was going to have to bargain and not make a one-sided offer. He wasn't stupid.

"That's 2, doubled over, in exchange for 1 in full. What's the deal?" She asked. It was a good offer, but she'd need a reason. Something to keep her mind from wandering into a territory wherein she loathed his entire being whenever she got bored.

"I have business to take care of at the Astronomy Tower."

Lily Evans has Astronomy tonight.

oOo

That night, she'd taken extra precaution not to run into any higher ups more than once. Letting someone shirk their responsibility onto you and then carrying out said responsibility with your head hung low surely wasn't excusable. Not in her position. Especially because her honest response to 'why' would be 'in the name of love'.

Well, maybe not that dramatic, but 'love' nonetheless.

Her time meandering the castle would be increased twofold tonight. She'd be patrolling well after 10 p.m. when everyone should already be tucked away into their dorms. So, by 10:15, she was ready to show little to no mercy to those caught out of line.

She can't really say why she was so surprised that she should run into Sirius Black on the seventh floor, her last for the night and usually James' responsibility. He probably hadn't observed the curfew all year.

"Honestly." She said to the now wide-eyed boy.

"What?" His mouth was half full with whatever he had just finished eating. "I was hungry. You can't expect me to go to bed hungry."

"I-" She knew her attempts would be futile. She knew Sirius Black because she knew James Potter. Sure, they were different in many ways, but they had eerily similar manners of speaking - especially when it came to defiant speech. In that sense, they were almost one in the same. "Just...go." She waved her hands in the direction of Gryffindor tower.

No witnesses, no crime. She thought to herself. She began to wonder if that's what he would've said if she had threatened any disciplinary actions.

He smiled, his shoulders dropping into a relaxed state.

"You'd make such a cool teacher." He leaned back against a corner. "You know the ones that don't give you a detention when you're a couple of minutes late to class."

"By standard definition, a 'couple' means 2. By your definition, a 'couple' means 15." She began to turn on her heel. "This is the last time."

That could refer to anything. It was also the wrong thing to say. Telling someone like Sirius Black or James Potter that 'this is the last time' was usually an open invitation for a repeat offense. To those that purposefully flow against the tide, words are sometimes meaningless.

She would make a horrible teacher.

"Good night!" He called out after her to which she raised a hand in response.

A/N: I own my character(s). I own my plot. Everything else? Not so much. This will probably be the only note I'll write for the remainder of this story unless needed. So, hi, hello, welcome. Enjoy your stay for the next 6-8 chapters.