ANNOUNCING
I rubbed my eyes. Then rubbed them again, harder. But the view did not change.
My best mate, my partner in crime, my brother James Potter was walking hand-in-hand with the red-haired siren of his dreams, Lily Evans.
Merlin help us all. Apocalypse had arrived.
I scowled at my fellow Marauder as he sauntered around the Gryffindor common room, each step matched by the Head Girl beside him. Even James wouldn't stoop so low as to pile his love-interest with Love Potion, would he?
"Folks," said James, grinning broader and broader as the mutterings around him became outright shrieks and wolf-whistles. "There's something you need to know. Something really interesting you should know."
He grinned wider at the cat-calls, whereas Evans blushed prettily. Oh Lord, what were they gonna say? Was he gonna proclaim his undying love?
But Prongs didn't say anything at all. Instead, he turned and put his tongue down a very startled Evans' throat.
I think I was scarred for life.
They ignored the whoops and calls, and kept kissing so ardently that they put in mind images of what happened in the Heads' dorm after lights-out. I shivered violently and almost whimpered, my left eye twitching horribly.
"Oi, mate," said Moony, leaning over me from behind. "Don't tell me you didn't expect that?"
"You did?" At least Wormtail looked as incredulous as I felt.
"Of course. Haven't you seen the way James' head is deflated now? It was bound to happen. I saw it in her eyes the day she found Prongs tutoring those Hufflepuffs."
"But he still wanders with us at night!" Wormtail whimpered.
Moony shrugged. "She doesn't need to know that. Yet."
Over the next few days, the pair was pestered for details, and became the Star Couple of Hogwarts. There was a party in the Heads' dorm that night, and it looked as if the entire school—save the pesky snakes—were in mood for some free food and booze.
Nobody noticed a lone figure clad in a worn Slytherin scarf crying over his broken heart at the edge of the Black Lake.
Sev was alone, all alone.