Tuesday 13th September 1977

"Come on, we've got double Potions, wouldn't want to be late for that," Marlene sighed, swallowing the last of her lunch. Jenny laughed.

"See, if you'd dropped Potions like a sensible person you would be free for the rest of the day."

"Why on earth would anyone want to drop Potions, back me up Eliza," Lily dropped her copy of Advanced Potion Making into her cauldron.

"Not a chance, we're all insane and Jenny had the right idea, this is going to be a disaster."

They made their way down to the dungeons carrying their cauldrons full of ingredients and equipment and took their usual seats.

"Good afternoon everyone, as I said last week we're going to try and brew Felix Felicis today, since we need a whole six months for it to stew. I don't expect many of you to produce a successful result," Professor Slughorn looked pointedly at Lily and Severus, on opposite sides of the room "as it is notoriously tricky to get right. You all know where the ingredients are by now, so off you go!"

The initial burst of conversation faded into silence as the class settled down to work. Lily let herself get lost in potion making, lighting the fire under her cauldron and carefully grating frozen ashwinder egg (even the tiniest bit of finger would ruin the whole thing). Two hours passed in a blur of juicing and chopping and stirring precisely. By the end her potion was only a shade or two off from the expected silver, but far better than most around her (there were a fair few dull greys, and she spotted greenish smoke coming out of Peter's cauldron).

"Excellent, excellent Lily my dear!" Professor Slughorn exclaimed over her cauldron as she turned down the heat and performed the final incantation, waving her wand in a figure of eight over the surface of the potion.

"Time is up everyone, make sure you decrease the heat and step away from your cauldrons. We'll be moving lessons to the next room along until brewing is finished on these, but don't forget to check in to see how it's doing – I won't be reminding you! And I don't think I need to tell you that most of these potions won't be drinkable, so don't even think about taking some – we don't want anyone in the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey would be most upset with me!" Professor Slughorn dismissed them and there was the usual rush for the exits. Lily was annoyed to see that Severus' potion was much shinier than hers as she made her way over to where the Marauders were packing up.

"Hey, Remus, are you going to Slughorn's dinner on Friday?"

"Depends how late it runs, we have duty from nine remember," Remus looked up from his pale grey potion.

"Ah shit yeah, dinner isn't until half seven, we'll never get away."

"You can go if you want, I'll be fine on my own," he offered. Lily winced at the idea of spending an evening avoiding eye contact with Severus over the dinner table with no one to talk to.

"I can cover it," James offered, to Lily's surprise.

"I- you don't have to, the dinner really isn't that exciting," she said.

"Is our Head Boy actually offering to do his job?" Sirius gasped in fake shock "I'd take it Lily, offers like this don't come along every day."

"Actually, it would be nice James, if you really don't mind?" Remus spoke up.

"All sorted then, Remus, you shall go to the ball!"

"… Was that a Cinderella reference?" Lily stared at James in confusion.

"Ah, my fault, I made them watch Muggle films with me for my Muggle Studies O.W.L.," Remus explained as they left the dungeon.


"Whatever you do, don't ask James how practice went," a very muddy and exhausted looking Sirius dropped onto the sofa next to Remus, who pulled a face at the mess and picked up his wand.

"Tergeo," he muttered, siphoning off some of the mud and water.

"This is why I love you Moony," Sirius went a little red and hastily continued "But seriously, don't say anything to James."

"How bad was it?"

"Complete disaster. It's just because it's the first practice, new people flying together, nothing is actually wrong, but you know him."

"Ah. Where is he?" Remus asked.

"In the showers, probably trying to drown himself or something." Sirius shrugged.

"And you thought you wouldn't bother showering why, exactly?"

"I thought warning you was worth the sacrifice of a little mud, and because I always smell wonderful."

"Yeah, no, that's definitely not true."

"… Why does everyone think you're the nice one?" Sirius shook his head.

At that moment James emerged from the portrait hole and went up to the boys' dormitory without a word. A second later he came back down the stairs with his homework, slamming a book down on the table and silently glaring at it. Remus and Sirius exchanged looks, but before they could say anything they were joined by Lily.

"Do you have a minute to talk about the ball, have you got people sorted for it yet?"

"No," James replied shortly, not looking up from his textbook. Lily's face quickly changed from polite Prefect business to fuck you Potter (an expression very familiar to them all from the previous six years at Hogwarts). Sirius shook his head violently, eyes wide.

"No, you don't have a minute, or no, nothing is sorted? Because I distinctly remember at least ten people talking to you about it after the meeting."

"No, I don't care, let me get this work done Evans," James still didn't look at anyone. Lily opened her mouth to retort angrily, and Remus quickly interrupted.

"Hey, Lily, have you started the Arithmancy problems yet?" Sirius snorted and muttered something that might have been 'smooth'.

"I did the first few; need a book from the library for the rest I think."

"Same, we should go now," Remus stood up.

"What – right now?"

"Yes, now, let's go," Remus ushered her out of the common room. Sirius sighed and pulled his own homework towards him.

"I thought your grand master plan this year was to behave and be nice to Lily?" he asked.

"Piss off."


"What is his problem all of a sudden," Lily fumed as they walked down the stairs towards the library.

"You say this like you always get along so well. But there was a bit of a disaster with Quidditch practice or something," Remus said, hopping over the trick step halfway down.

"Well that wasn't exactly 'go out with me Evans' was it? And seriously, it's just a game."

"He's the captain, they haven't had a win in a few years, it's a lot of pressure for him, especially with N.E.W.T.s. Be nice Lily, they all love that game."

They fell silent as they entered the library and walked past Madam Pince's desk, before Remus resumed in a whisper.

"And anyway, was that a touch of longing I heard there? Does Lily Evans secretly maybe miss James Potter pursuing her every waking hour?" Lily made an indignant squawking noise.

"I do NOT miss Potter asking me out every five minutes because he thinks it's funny," she whisper-shouted. An odd look crossed Remus' face.

"Is that what you think?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily hissed, reaching for the right book.

"Never mind. Anyway, it's probably safe to go back now."

"Are you kidding me, we walked all the way down here, I'm doing my Arithmancy homework."

"I still haven't done tomorrows translation for Runes, I'm supposed to do it with James," Remus said apologetically.

"You're the one who dragged me down here!"

"To save you from a row with James – you're welcome!" he called back, heading towards the door. Lily waved after him and settled down to work.


When Remus got back to the common room James seemed considerably more cheerful. They worked on Ancient Runes for twenty minutes or so before Remus couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"Did Lily ever give any sign of, you know, thinking you were serious about asking her out?"

"What?"

"Last year. Or the year before, or the year before that, or-"

"Alright, alright. Why wouldn't she think I was serious, I asked her every day some weeks!"

"… Because you asked her every day?"

"Wait, did she say something?" James put his quill down, turning his full attention to Remus.

"Well..."

"Spill, Moony."

"She thinks you did it because you thought it was funny. Or something," Remus let out in a rush.

"She what?"

"I mean, you have to admit that it make sense from her point of view…"

James went quiet for a bit, and Remus' quill scratched at his parchment as he translated the second paragraph.

"Do you think I should explain?" he asked a little later.

"Most definitely not, she'll know I told you!"

"But this is an emergency Moony, if she thinks I've been screwing with her for six years my brilliant plan doesn't stand a chance!"

"If you go up to her and have an awkward conversation about how you really actually are in love with her then you won't stand a chance," Remus corrected him "Forget I said anything Prongs, and keep translating or we'll never finish."

"But-" James started.

"There are no 'but's in this paragraph."

James sighed and re-inked his quill.


On her way back from the library, Lily's mind returned to her conversation with Remus (and why did she keep having James related revelations in the library? Actually, why did she keep having James related revelations, she didn't even think about him that much. Except for when she was mad at him – all of the past six years – or confused – all of this one, so far – okay, maybe she did think about him a fair bit, but it didn't mean anything other than that he was a bit annoying and around a lot).

When she got back to the girls' dormitory Marlene, Jenny and Elizabeth were all sitting on their beds relaxing. Marlene was examining the sports section of the Daily Prophet with a red biro (nicked from Lily) tucked behind one ear, Elizabeth was painting her nails and Jenny was reading.

"So I was talking to Remus in the library," Lily began, lying back on her bed and staring at the canopy. Marlene wolf whistled without looking up from the Quidditch results. "Very funny, but no. He said something that… well, do you think Potter was maybe not joking every single time he asked me out?"

The others all looked up slowly. Marlene set her paper aside, and Jenny shut her book.

"Please tell me you're kidding," Elizabeth said, staring.

"Why would I be joking about this, he was so obviously not serious-" Marlene snorted "- why are you all looking at me like that?"

"How have we gone so long without having this conversation?" Jenny asked, shaking her head.

"Probably because we thought that it was obvious, and no one in their right mind would have failed to realise what was going on, and we all assumed that you didn't want to date him and were just annoyed because he couldn't take no for an answer," Elizabeth pointed out.

"I didn't want to date him! What are you all talking about?" Lily protested.

"Not that you said an actual 'no' all that often. 'Go to hell' and 'fuck off' and 'you're an arrogant toerag Potter, no one in their right mind would date you' made plenty of appearances though," Marlene said thoughtfully. Lily buried her face in the pillow.

"Just give me a straight answer," she said, voice muffled.

"I can't believe I actually have to say this, but has it ever crossed your mind that James Potter is actually madly in love with you and that's why he never gives up?"

"Exactly what Eliza said, yes," Marlene nodded "You seem a little freaked out Lily, everything okay over there?"

"The last six years of my life have been a lie Marley, what do you think?"

"I think you're a drama queen, come on. Does it really change anything? I mean, unless… unless you like him?"

"I do not like James Potter how many time do I have to say this," Lily automatically responded "But obviously it changes things! I was horrible to him, oh god, I was awful because I thought he was just mocking me, will you stop laughing at me Eliza!"

"I don't know what I expected from tonight but this definitely wasn't it," Eliza said, still laughing.

"Calm down Lily, I'm pretty sure James doesn't think you're awful," Jenny got up and joined Lily on her bed, patting her on the shoulder.

"Well clearly he does, since he stopped asking me out!" she snapped. There was a moment of silence.

"And again, I ask… Are you really really sure you don't like him?" Marlene raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"And again, I say no. Fuck, I should apologise and explain or something…" There was a nearly unanimous chorus of 'no's. "Why not? I was mean, I should say sorry, it's not rocket science!"

"I'm not even going to ask what rocket science is." Marlene poked Jenny and Lily over until there was space on the bed. "But if he's getting over it, then going over and saying you misunderstood him all of this time is pretty much just giving him false hope. Put it behind you, you've been getting on okay so far this year already, and maybe you'll be friends, if that's all you want."

Lily sighed and chose to ignore the last point. "I guess… fuck."

"Fuck indeed."


Friday 16th September 1977

Somehow, Lily managed to mostly avoid James for the next few days. She didn't know how exactly to react to her new discovery, or how she'd missed this for so long. She felt like a bit of an idiot really.

"Hey," a voice came from behind her as she waited outside the Transfiguration classroom and Lily jumped.

"Hi – are you sure you're still okay to cover mine and Remus' duty tonight?" She didn't quite meet James' eyes as she spoke.

"Yeah, it's totally fine – look, I just wanted to say sorry for snapping the other day. I was tired-" the bell rang and people started walking past them into the classroom.

"It's okay, forget about it," Lily said, heading for her seat. James followed her, still talking.

"We've got a group sorted for the ball, they have all the information and some really good ideas, the whole thing is under control and you have nothing to worry about."

"If everyone can take their seats, I will start by collecting everyone's essays," Professor McGonagall was standing at the front of the room, staring pointedly at James.


"Well don't you look smart," Lily joined Remus and the other Marauders in the common room, where James and Peter were mocking Remus. James tried his hardest not to stare at the sight of Lily in a dress rather than her usual school robes, and failed to notice Sirius doing the same with Remus.

"Well don't you say that every time we go to one of these things," Remus stood up "Off we go then, I'm starving. I hope there's chocolate pudding."

It was a small dinner tonight, a handful of students and Professor Slughorn sat around a table in an ostentatious room on the first floor.

"Lily my girl, and Remus! Come in, come in, you're just in time, there's a space here," Professor Slughorn called, gesturing to a pair of seats to one side of him. They sat down, and waiters seemingly sprang out of thin air holding plates of elaborate starters. Lily looked up to find Severus sitting directly across the circular table, staring at her. She dropped her gaze instantly, a mix of anger and sadness surfacing in seconds.

"So Lily, how is your Felix coming along? Checked on it yet?" Slughorn asked. Lily swallowed quickly.

"I think it's okay Professor, but didn't you say you wouldn't be reminding us?"

"Ah, you caught me there, but if I know you you'll have checked it five times! I'm sure it'll be wonderful, you're too modest my girl. Although I think Severus may have you beaten on this one, absolutely perfect my boy, never seen anything like it – this can't be your first try with Felix Felicis, surely?" Professor Slughorn beamed at them both. Lily smiled through gritted teeth, nodding.

"It is sir, thank you," said Severus.

Fortunately Slughorn was quickly distracted talking to Regulus Black (or unfortunately, given the dark looks Remus kept shooting in his direction).

"Why do I always forget how much I hate these things until we're here?" Remus whispered. Lily suppressed a laugh.

"Free wine, now we're of age?" Lily raised her glass in a mock toast.

"You know, you and Sirius would get along like a house on fire if you actually tried," Remus shook his head "And you said you'd never mention that again!"

"Mention what?" Lily said innocently, before being caught up in conversation with Professor Slughorn again.

Three hours, two helpings of chocolate cake and a painful amount of small talk later, they returned to Gryffindor Tower.

"I would say never again, but the desserts…" Remus groaned.

"You need to bet your priorities straight."

"Whatever, you just like listening to Slughorn tell you how wonderful you are all night."

"Oh piss off. I'll see you tomorrow for that Arithmancy essay?" Lily paused at the bottom of the stairs to the girls' dorm.

"Yeah, night Lily."

"Good night Remus."


Tuesday 27th September 1977

The rest of September passed in a blur of work, Quidditch practice and Prefect duties for James. He spent hours writing essays, and only pulled back slightly on the Quidditch tactics when Sirius threatened to murder him in his sleep after James suggested upping practice to three times a week.

"I can't believe I'm saying this Prongs, but we have N.E.W.T.s! Even Marlene will not go through with this!"

James frowned down at his diagrams of chaser formations.

"Ravenclaw have a strong side this year though, we want a good win with Slytherin."

"The match isn't for a month and a half, two practices a week is plenty, if I were you I'd be thinking about tonight," Sirius pointed out.

"What's tonight?" Lily asked, sitting down on the arm of the sofa. James and Sirius looked up at her in surprise.

"Ah, if I told you Evans you'd feel like you had to do your Head Girl's duty and try and stop us."

"You're Head Boy!"

"So I won't be breaking curfew with whatever it is we're doing," James grinned.

"You don't have a curfew!"

"My point exactly."

"Anyway, to what do we owe the pleasure of your company on this fine evening?" Sirius asked, rolling up his homework.

"Oh, I have Arithmancy notes for Remus – is he alright?"

"He's just a bit ill, Madam Pomfrey will let him out in a day or two, don't worry," James took the notes from her "I'm sure these will cheer him up though."

"You say that like it's a joke," Sirius remarked.

"True, maybe we should save these for when he's recovered; they might excite him too much. Is it time for dinner yet?" James began packing his work away.

"Yeah, we'd better find Pete and get going – you coming?"

"Sure, unless you know where Eliza is?" Lily looked around the common room.

"You break my heart Evans, aren't we good enough for you?" Sirius clutched at his chest and she laughed.

"Not unless you have my star chart, no."

"Is our darling Head Girl – no, no, it can't be, you can't possibly be cheating!"

"Shut up Sirius, she spilt something on hers. Are we going to dinner or not?"


Lily was curled up on one of the window seats in the Gryffindor common room with her Astronomy homework late that night when Sirius, James and Peter came creeping down the stairs from the boys' dormitory. They glanced around the room, but failed to see Lily sitting in the shadows where she'd extinguished the candles to see outside better. She quietly set her full moon sketches down on the seat next to her and watched them climb through the portrait hole. This wasn't the first time she'd seen them sneaking out like this, coming back from duty alone or late at night when she couldn't sleep over the last few years. She'd yet to find an explanation for this uncharacteristic behaviour that didn't seem to result in any pranks or other shenanigans… well, not a likely one, anyway.

She shook her head, standing and stretching away the stiffness from sitting and working all night. If she didn't go to bed now there was no chance of waking up in time for breakfast. Lily climbed the stairs to the girls' dormitory, changed and got into bed without looking out of the window again – so she missed seeing three dark figures making their way along the edge of the Forbidden Forest.


Saturday 1st October 1977

October started as it meant to go on: cold, wet and miserable. But magical fires warmed the library, and Lily had claimed a table deep in the maze of bookshelves where she couldn't even hear the rain hitting the windows. She was idly doodling in the margins of the revision plan she was supposed to be making, when Remus joined her.

"Hey, you don't look so good still, are you sure you're okay?" It was true – he was pale and tired looking, deep shadows under his eyes.

"Nothing a bit of sleep won't fix," Remus sat down opposite her and started spreading out his own work.

"We can move closer to a fire if you want or something, you're ill so much, you need to take better care of yourself," Lily continued, looking worried.

"I'm fine, really – look, can we talk about something else, I really don't want to remember how many times I threw up this week."

"Okay, how are things with Sirius?" Lily asked, unfazed. Remus choked on thin air.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me."

"I take it back, so I was sick nine times-"

"Oh no, you had your chance to let me be the concerned friend, now we're talking about your pining and what you're going to do about it," said Lily.

"I do not pine!"

"You're blushing."

"I do not blush!" Remus buried his face in his hands "Can we do that Potions work now?"

Lily relented, and started filling him in on everything he'd missed as they worked on their essays.

"How's your Felix going?"

"Not as well as yours, I'd guess, but it does look like it's starting to turn gold at least," Remus scratched out a few lines with his quill and sighed "I'm more concerned about this essay for the potion I missed; I'll never know how you're supposed to write these things without just copying out the instructions."

"Mhm," Lily was already on her third side of parchment. They worked in silence for a little longer before Remus spoke up again.

"He was acting really weird this summer." Lily didn't bother pretending not to know who he was talking about.

"Weird how?"

"I don't know, just weird. Touching more than usual, being unexpectedly nice… It sounds stupid. Someone even sent me flowers and I'm eighty percent sure it was him and I can't figure out what the joke is."

"You realise you just described Sirius' flirting right?"

"This coming from the girl who only realised James was serious about two weeks ago."

"Piss off, you don't have any proof of that!"

"Marlene told Sirius."

"Do I have any secrets?!"

"Probably not. I would say I'm sorry, but the show that is you and James keeps us all entertained."

"You're a cruel man Lupin. But really, has it ever crossed your mind that Sirius maybe likes you?" Lily asked, looking something up in Advanced Potion Making.

"No?!"

"Well, maybe you should think about that."

"He stopped, anyway. So even if you were right – and you can't be – it doesn't really matter anymore," the last few words came out slightly sadder than Remus had intended.

"Did you ever do anything to tell him how you felt?"

"I've been keeping this quiet for four years, what do you think?"

"Four years? Well that explains a lot," Lily said mostly to herself "But do you think that might be why he stopped?"

"How do you know all these things, when did you last go on a date even," Remus protested.

"This is literally common sense Remus, but have you really forgotten last year already?"

"Oh shit yeah. We couldn't mention your name to James after every Hogsmeade weekend – Valentine's was spectacular," he said. Lily winced a little.

"Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"If you hadn't thought it was all a joke… I don't know, if he'd been less annoying about it… would James have had a chance?" he asked. Lily went quiet for a moment, and Remus went back to his essay/

"It's not like that was the only thing he ever did to make me dislike him. Hexing my best friend every chance he got didn't exactly inspire good feelings, and you have to admit he was an arrogant prick mostly," she pointed out.

"That's not a no."

"Well it's definitely not a yes! Why is my past hypothetical love life more interesting than your present actual one?"

"He doesn't like me!"

"Whatever you say."


Dinner that night was particularly loud, as it sometimes was when the Marauders were around. James had put up the date of the first Hogsmeade weekend in Gryffindor common room that afternoon, and further down the table the third years were buzzing with excitement. Peter and Sirius seemed to be plotting something, and were glancing over at a group of sixth years at the Ravenclaw table every now and then.

"Who's planning to go to Hogsmeade then?" Marlene asked, elbowing Sirius across and sitting down opposite Lily.

"That's two weeks away still, and we've been about a million times, "Jenny complained.

"Depends how much work we have," Elizabeth said gloomily.

"Excellent, I have a date and I don't want any of you fuckers crashing it," Marlene said cheerfully.

"Oh well in that case, I'm sure we can get free for an hour or two," Lily grinned "Can't we Eliza?"

"Who's the guy?" Sirius asked, looking up from his conversation with Peter.

"That cute beater from Hufflepuff. His opinions on Quidditch are all totally wrong of course, but I'm sure he can change."

"What, that Christopher guy?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"I said the cute one Sirius, why are you so interested?"

"Can't have you losing focus can we, not with the Quidditch season so close, James would have your head." Lily and Jenny snorted – the idea of Marlene losing focus on Quidditch was unimaginable. Remus was watching the exchange with a slightly uncomfortable expression, and gave Lily an 'I told you so' look. She rolled her eyes in response.

"Sure you aren't jealous Black?" Marlene asked sweetly, teasing.

"Well he is rather cute," Sirius smirked.

"Are you done?" Remus said suddenly "Eating, I mean," he added a second later.

"Sure?" Sirius said, looking confused. Remus grasped for the first thing that came into his head.

"Ah, we could do that History of Magic stuff tonight, if that's still okay with you?"

"Yeah, now?"

"That wold be good," Remus nodded, and the rest of the group watched them leave. As soon as they passed the doors into the Entrance Hall Lily turned back to Marlene.

"Nicely done," she observed.

"Why thank you. Now, has anyone seen Patrick? I should probably ask him on this date."

"I'm not sure they would notice if you didn't to be honest," Jenny said.

"Nonsense, I have to keep the story up," Marlene winked and made her way over to a group of sixth year Hufflepuffs. Elizabeth shook her head in disbelief.

"How did you two know that Sirius would play along so well?"

"He's predictable, or so Marlene says anyway."

"What just happened?" Peter asked, looking completely bewildered.

"You know Pete, I'm really not sure," James said.


Remus and Sirius made their way to the library in oddly strained silence.

Sirius was wrapped up in thinking about Remus' awkward interruption, and could it have possibly meant… but no, clearly he was just stressed about the N.E.W.T. work he had to keep up with, or some other explanation. He would have said something, done something the whole summer that Sirius had been flirting with him if he felt at all the same way. Don't be ridiculous, Sirius told himself.

Meanwhile Remus was just swearing at himself repeatedly for being a complete idiot.

"Do you like Marlene?" he blurted out suddenly. They came to a near standstill in the corridor. Sirius carefully chose the most neutral answer he could find, because what the fuck?

"Of course I like Marlene, she's one of my best friends." The 'after you guys' went without saying.

"I didn't mean – oh, forget it," Remus started walking again.

"No, tell me," Sirius demanded, not moving.

"I meant… do you really like her. Like like," Remus muttered awkwardly. To his surprise, Sirius burst out laughing.

"Like like? Are you twelve Moony? Why would you even think that?"

"Well, you seemed pretty jealous just now."

"And you've known I was gay since we were what, fourteen? How daft can you be," Sirius shook his head.

"Shit. Sorry. I'm an idiot, aren't I?"

"Just a bit. I was joking with Marley, Remus… and honestly, if anyone was seeming jealous tonight it was you," the words were out of Sirius' mouth before he could stop himself, and all of a sudden he was very certain he wasn't imagining things.

"I'm pretty sure Prongs was going to strangle Will when he was talking to Lily earlier," Remus offered, laughing weakly.

"Oh no, don't you wriggle out of this, I want to know what that was, Remus," Sirius said firmly, looking straight at him. Remus looked down, refusing to meet his eyes. "Why did it bother you so much that I might like Marlene?"

"Why do you care?"

"I think I made that obvious this summer!" Sirius raised his voice.

"Well clearly not, or else we wouldn't be having this conversation!" Remus shouted back. They stared at each other for a few moments, standing inches apart. Sirius was the one to break the silence, talking more quietly again.

"Look, I get it, I clearly misunderstood before. Maybe we should do this some other-"

Kissing Sirius was not exactly like Remus had expected, but he had never kissed anyone at all so this wasn't really surprising. There was a moment where Sirius stayed frozen, unresponsive, and Remus nearly pulled away, but then Sirius was kissing him back and –

And one of the ruder ghosts passed straight through them, making them both jump and remember that they were standing in a corridor. They wore matching expressions, both of them trying very hard not to smile like an idiot and completely failing.

"So, History of Magic?" Sirius asked after a second.


A/N: I know I said once a fortnight, but then I realised that I have an approaching 20 chapter backlog to get through, so once a week it it!