"Assumptions are dangerous things to make, and like all dangerous things to make - bombs, for instance, or strawberry shortcake - if you make even the tiniest mistake you can find yourself in terrible trouble. Making assumptions simply means believing things are a certain way with little or no evidence that shows you are correct, and you can see at once how this can lead to terrible trouble."
― Lemony Snicket, The Austere Academy
Chapter 1: Your assumption, your perspective
Flashbacks ~ Sixth year
"Another year, done and dusted, thank Merlin," James Potter mumbled to himself while he continued to pack up his trunk. They were catching the train home later that day.
As always, he was the last one packing up in his dormitory because he liked to take his time. He liked having his things in order and neatly folded. It made it easier to put away when he got home. Remus and Peter, already packed, were off doing pranks to keep up the Marauder name. James was going to join them later after trying again to ask Lily Evans out for a date over the summer. He fell in love with that redhead ever since he first saw her in first year. Lily was the girl he was going to marry one day and it wasn't because of his overly large ego that he thought that. Call it gut instincts. Call it intuition. But James Potter just knew Lily was the one.
Apart from being the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, she was also the smartest and most caring person he had ever met. Well, she was caring to everyone except him and he couldn't blame her. He admitted that he was a jerk in his younger years but that was only because he thought he could get Lily's approval by becoming the most popular boy in school.
That plan failed miserably. So he tried to not be such a jerk this year and next year, which was a whole new ball game for James. Next year, he vowed to be nothing but himself around Lily Evans and if she didn't like him for who he was, he vowed to let her go after graduation and leave it up to fate. He would move on with his life. He didn't want to marry someone who didn't like him for who he truly was. Anything else would be fake and inauthentic.
"Good plan, Potter," James thought out loud and he started to fold up his shirts when his best friend barged into the dormitory looking quite out of breath. Sirius slumped onto his bed and groaned into his pillow.
"Girls are crazy, prongs," Sirius forced out.
"You're preaching to the choir, padfoot," James agreed and Sirius turned to lie on his side.
"You would think a bird would be thankful to know when their guy no longer fancied them so they could then go find another bloke but no. They turn into axe murderers with their sharp nails and threaten to cut off your hair when you sleep," Sirius mumbled.
"Did you breakup with another bird, mate?" James asked, still concentrating on folding his clothes and Sirius's muffled groan was his answer.
"What is that now? Four in three months?"
"Five. Her name is Meriden, she's a sixth year from Ravenclaw," Sirius corrected and James grimaced.
"Sounds like you need to play more Quidditch, padfoot."
Sirius agreed with a humph.
"So, I take it, your goals for this year have been successfully achieved," James said and Sirius looked at his best friend with raised eyebrows.
"Don't give me that look, mate. I know you like a quaffle in the palm of my hand. I know what you sorted out to do this year. Plus I remember a certain conversation from last Christmas concerning a certain someone," James wiggled his eyebrows.
"Aren't you meant to have a shit memory, prongs?" Sirius sat up properly with a frown and James laughed.
"I remember everything that happens when I drink firewhiskey… well the important things."
"James, I was really drunk that night," Sirius tried to explain and James shook his head.
"Oh no, padfoot. A drunk padfoot is always an honest padfoot and a forgetful padfoot the next day," James chuckled and Sirius threw his pillow at him but James easily dodged it.
"Now, if I remember correctly, you stood up in my living room with a bunch of mistletoe and announced no more like slurred that you were going to put mistletoe everywhere in the common room when we got back so you could finally kiss the most beautiful girl in school, the love of your life… Devery Leafwood."
Sirius groaned and told James to shut it but his best friend kept on going.
"You said the mistletoe will help you overcome your nerves and if that plan didn't happen, you will date every other girl in Hogwarts until you finally build up the confidence to ask Devery out. And you did that padfoot. You are way more confident with the girls now," James then congratulated his best friend with a pat on the back but Sirius didn't return his enthusiasm.
"Not where Devery is still concerned. I saw her while I was running away from crazy Meriden before. That girl got so needy and yeah, anyway. I saw Devery in the grounds and she was reading. I walked past her and said: I think you have a cool looking nose and I just ran for it. I mean, what the fuck is that, James? She probably thinks I'm some creepy lunatic with a nose fetish now," Sirius said in distress and James couldn't help but laugh.
"Thanks mate thanks a lot. You are real good source of support," Sirius remarked sarcastically and James patted him hard on the back.
"Welcome to my world." Sirius made a face.
"But in all honesty Sirius, just be yourself and see what happens," he advised and Sirius stood up, shaking his head in deep thought.
"No- no way! I am getting nowhere being myself. I need something to ease the nerves like a potion or something."
"Like the Draught of Peace potion?" James suggested and Sirius clapped his hands, agreeing.
"Yes! That's what I bloody need to keep my cool! I'll make one over the holidays and make my move when we get back!"
'I have a cool looking nose?' Devery then shook that thought away while she continued to walk with Lily to the horseless drawn carriages to take them to Hogsmeade train station. They were catching the Hogwarts Express.
But as soon as she shook the thought away, it came back along with that pull of gravity. Sirius was walking ahead of them with James, Remus and Peter. He was laughing at something Peter said and looked absolutely gorgeous while he did it.
Sirius Black was gorgeous, mischievous as hell and naturally born smart. Devery hardly saw him study and she would know because she looked at him a lot. He had a magnetism that defied logic and he was weird. So very weird. Who told people, they thought they had cool noses? But Devery liked weird. She was weird too. Very weird.
It was a pity he was never single. Sirius always seemed to be dating somebody and every time, Devery saw him with another girl, a part of her did bubble with jealousy. It happened all year and she was glad to go home to at least get a break from those feelings. Apart from the jealousy, she also felt down. It was during those moments, she wished she wasn't a Siren. She wished she was normal, like those girls he dated.
"Excited to go home?" Lily suddenly asked her telepathically and Devery quickly nodded just in case she got caught checking out Sirius Black. But Lily did catch her and so many times before. For her best friend's shake, she hoped it was just a crush that will fade over the break.
End of flashbacks
Professor McGonagall did not react favorably to Sirius Black turning up unconscious in the Hospital Wing. If Professor Dumbledore didn't step in and defend Remus and Lily's protectiveness of Devery, their titles of Prefect and Head Girl would have been stripped from their education record.
Professor McGonagall saw Professor Dumbledore's point and decided to lessen her punishment. There was a war brewing in the wizarding world and the values of the next generation of wizards were never more important than now.
The impending war was up to the next generation to resolve and the players had to have good values and good moral codes. Loyalty to a friend was one of them.
Professor McGonagall saw that loyalty in her students and as their teacher and mentor, she was going to nurture it to the best of her ability. So she gave Remus and Lily two weeks of detention and deducted fifty points from Gryffindor.
Professor Dumbledore then ordered the Marauders, Lily and Devery back to their beds. The group followed Sirius to the Hospital Wing after James ran to get help.
Madame Pomfrey, the school nurse, was astounded at the turn of events. She could see the Marauders hitting one another because to her, teenage boys will be teenage boys. Lily hexing Sirius unconscious however, she did not see coming and the young witch did not look regretful of her actions.
The hex had an invisible force like effect that made Sirius lose his footing and smack his head on the ground. Remus's punch merely startled the poor lad. Sirius was very lucky that he didn't crack his head wide open. He had a lot of bruising on the left side of his forehead and a tiny gash that will scar. To avoid brain damage, Madame Pomfrey put Sirius into a healing sleep for a few days.
It wasn't the first time Madame Pomfrey has had to treat Sirius Black. The lad was forever getting into mischief and duels. He was very resilient and will be right as rain in a week or so. He just needed to rest and not overexert himself too quickly.
Quidditch was out until further notice for the lad.
After they got Sirius Black help and Professor Dumbledore send them to bed, Devery went her separate way and slept the night away. She was locked up tight until further notice and her friends gave her space. She didn't know how to feel right now. It was all mixed up in a proverbial blender and she had to sort it all out. But not right now, today was the first day of school and she had classes, NEWTs to worry over and books to borrow later at the library. There was going to be a lot of essays and exams.
And a lot of checkups on Sirius in the Hospital Wing. Things might be going crazy but she still wanted to make sure he was going to be all right.
A part of her did like how quickly Remus and Lily came to her aid, they were loyal friends but another part of her was cranky at their overprotectiveness. They didn't have to put Sirius in the hospital wing. Yes, he was doing something he wasn't supposed too. Like getting all up in her personal bubble and claiming her first kiss.
Devery still couldn't believe that actually happened. But if Remus and Lily allowed her to deal with it, she would've eventually pushed Sirius away and ran away. Again, she wondered why the sorting hat put her in Gryffindor. Brave girls did not run away after their first kiss.
Sirius was a good kisser and he did give her a lovely introduction into the world of kissing. It was an impulsive kiss but a nice kiss. A good kiss. A solid kiss full of Sirius's tongue in her mouth.
Devery then caught herself touching her lips for the millionth time that morning while she got ready in the dorm bathroom. Her hazel eyes traced her heart shaped face in the mirror. She didn't look any different but she felt different. Older almost. Devery analyzed her body. She turned from side to side and fiddled with her school uniform.
She looked like any other seventh year student in the school. Well, almost. Devery did not wear her skirt above her knees and she always tucked in her white shirt unlike the other girls. Her Gryffindor tie, robes and collar was always neat too. She also kept her wild mane of long black curls tamed with a slicked back ponytail and braid. She also didn't wear makeup like the other girls. The girls she has seen Sirius date over the years.
He usually went for the pretty and popular girls who wore their skirts shorter by taking up the hem and wore too much makeup. What did Sirius see in her all of a sudden? Devery had no idea. She then put her necklace back on, a plain black choker like cord that rested above her collar. Usually she would leave the bathroom after doing that, by her usual standards, she was ready to but not today. Something kept her from walking out. She wondered what changed between the last time she saw Sirius in sixth year and now. Whatever that changed caused Sirius to now feel attracted to her.
"Devery, can I please come in?" Alice Lightwood, her dorm mate and friend knocked on the door. Devery then used her wand to open the door.
Even though she was a mute, her wand could still hear when she mouthed out spells. This was due to her wand's core. It held the hair of a Satori and a lock of hers. A rare sasquatch looking creature, native to the mountains in Japan. The Satori could read minds. Decades ago, Devery's family commissioned Ollivanders, the famed wandmakers, to create wands out of Satori fur. Garrick Ollivander made Devery's wand when she was eleven.
"Are you okay?" Alice asked in concern and Devery looked past her shoulder to see that their dormitory was empty except for them two. Mary and Lucy Stone, their other dorm mates already left. Lily now slept in her new Head Girl quarters.
"How long have I been in here?" Devery signed.
"An hour," Alice answered and Devery's eyes widened.
"You still have time for breakfast so don't worry about that Devery. Classes don't start for another hour and a half. But do you need help with anything?" Alice asked and Devery just stared. Since she was already in an analytical mood, her eyes broke down Alice's face. Her friend wore her thick brown hair down today and she was wearing some eyeliner that made her blue eyes pop beautifully. Her hands were signing before she really knew what she was doing.
"Can you please do my makeup and hair, Alice?"
James Potter was acting strangely and Lily Evans surprisingly did not like it one bit. She wanted nothing more than James to leave her alone but the sudden change didn't sit right.
Potter was going completely off script. After Dumbledore send them back to bed, he didn't wait to walk with her back to the Head tower where they now slept. He went on ahead and didn't look her way.
She was surprised to say that she walked back alone to the tower. Lily expected James to be all over her now that they shared the headship, demanding a date but Potter did none of the sort so far. She wasn't used to this Potter and she surprisingly found that she did not like it. Potter was giving her no attention.
After she woke up and got ready that morning for class, she went down into their common room to do some reading then James came down, keeping his spectacles to the floor the whole time. He then sat on the other side of the common room and pulled on his shoes without a word. He was now going through one of his textbooks.
Lily wasn't used to this Potter and she surprisingly found that she did not like it. All of a sudden, Potter wasn't giving her his undivided attention and Lily was going to find out why.
"Potter?" Lily called from across the couches. James pretended he didn't hear and continued reading. Lily rolled her eyes at his stubbornness. Whatever this was, James was playing a mind game and she was determined to break it. No one got away with playing mind games with Lily Evans.
"Mister James Potter?!" Lily shouted and James finally looked her way. His clenched jaw said it all to Lily. He didn't look happy to be disturbed. She had seen James angry before but never towards her.
"Yes? Miss Lily Evans?" James replied as nicely as he could but it was forced.
"What's with the sudden hostility?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" James fired back and Lily looked perplexed.
"Excuse me?" She closed her textbook and James did the same with his textbook.
"I am not going to play twenty questions with you Lily. You know what you did and that's enough explanation," James frowned and he started to pack up his school bag. Just like that, he ignored her existence again and that rattled Lily up.
"What exactly did I do that is so horrible that warrants a scolding from egotistical jerk face Potter?" Lily snapped and James glared with fire in his hazel eyes.
"Like I said before, Lily, I am not having this discussion with you. If you don't like it, that's your problem."
Lily stood up with a scowl.
"I don't know what kind of game you are playing here, Potter-
"I am not playing any games with you Lily," James interrupted loudly but Lily pushed on.
"Whatever games you are playing, they will not work! You might've fooled Dumbledore into making you Head Boy but you will not fool me! You are still the same egotistical brat! Pretending to be a good Head Boy will not make me want to date you!"
"Believe me, I know," James ran his hands through his messy brown hair with a sigh.
"Good! I am glad we have that sorted!" Lily relented and she could feel her face start to grow flushed. James Potter was the only one who could bring out her anger so quickly. She always seemed to lose her cool around him.
"Are you done?" James asked with raised eyebrows.
He really did not want to be in the same room as Lily anymore. He never thought he would see the day where he genuinely wanted to be away from her beautiful face.
"No, I am not done!" Lily folded her arms and James breathed out in frustration.
"What else do you need to do, Lily? You have already flung your insults at me," James stood up and closed his school bag.
"I will never ever date you! And it is the same for Devery! She will never ever date Black!"
Lily then froze in her place. James's hazel eyes narrowed and all six feet and two inches of him was suddenly blaring down on her much smaller frame. He moved so quickly.
Never before had she seen James looking so angry and caged all at the same time. Plus he was tall. Like really tall and bulked up with muscle from all that Quidditch as a chaser.
"Leave my best friend out of this! In fact, stay away from him and me all together, Lily! By Merlin's beard, I have had it!" James finally raised his voice and it was like a stunning curse, lighting up the night. Lily gulped a little in fear and adrenaline. James was usually quite passive.
For six long years, he kept this side of him hidden from her and now she saw why. His temper made him appear bigger, more powerful, more dominant and kind of sexy.
The muscles in his neck stood out more prominently. James didn't shave that morning and he strangely looked good with a little bit of beard. Lily felt her heartbeat speed up when that thought crossed her mind and she couldn't tear her eyes away.
"Until you apologize to Sirius for putting him in the hospital wing, I will only talk to you about Head Boy stuff. Everything else is off limits, Evans," James growled and that brought Lily's anger back in no time.
"I will never apologize to that womanizing git! He attacked my best friend and I was protecting her! If anyone has to apologise, it is him!" Lily yelled and James scowled. He took a step away from Lily and tried to keep a level head.
No one had a go at his best friend and got away with it. He fought against the urge to make Lily pay with a hex or prank and it was hard. Sirius was like his brother.
"They were snogging Lily and from what I saw, Devery wasn't making any attempts to push my best friend away," James muttered.
"My best friend is not a slut, you git! She was in shock because your slutty best friend was suffocating her with his filthy mouth!"
"By Merlin, that is enough!" James shouted over Lily and they were both breathing hard. James knew he had to tone it down. He was getting nowhere with Lily's anger by being angry.
"Look Lily," James softened his tone and Lily glared, still feeling quite cross.
"I will always think you are amazing but this isn't who you are. You are upset and I understand that but so am I. You put my best friend in the hospital wing and that's not right. I will talk to you about our duties but I will not patrol with you or do anything else. Not until you make this right," James explained with a deep breath and he hoped Lily would see the light but he lost hope when Lily's frown deepened.
"Get stuffed Potter!"
Hogwarts had many convenient ways to communicate. They had the owl post. Patronuses. The floo network. But the fasted one of them all, which was the oldest, was 'tell a student.'
Word travelled fast about what happened last night in the Gryffindor common room. Devery didn't realize what all the whispering was about until she sat down with Alice, Lucy and Mary for lunch in the Great Hall.
Breakfast was quite ordinary and her first two classes of the day, zoomed by with it's usual unloading of NEWT stress. The professors explained how it was going to pan out this year with exams and then they jumped right into the content.
Devery barely noticed the whispering because this year she really wanted to focus on her studies. Last year was the last time she was doing an assignment last minute. She didn't fool around so much in her fifth year with OWLS and she wasn't going to fool around with her NEWTS. Devery dreamed of working in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic and she needed really good marks to get accepted into the training program.
But since it was lunchtime, Devery tucked those thoughts away for later and she started to eat some chicken soup. That was when she noticed the stares, aimed in her direction. Devery then looked up and her fellow students turned away to chat amongst themselves so Devery thought nothing of it. She put her head down again and ate.
The hair on the back of her neck and arms stood up, along with the feeling that people were definitely staring at her came back. So Devery looked around again and like before everyone went back to talking to each other. Weird.
It felt like she was in first year again and everyone wanted to know who the 'mute girl' was. In second year, the stares just stopped because she was old news but not anymore it seemed.
"So Devery?" Lucy called for her attention across the table.
"What is it?" she signed and drank some water. Lucy then shared a look with Mary, sitting next to her. Alice, who was sitting on Devery's left, looked at Devery with much interest.
"Is it true?" Lucy asked and Devery pulled a confused expression. What was true? Mary then thankfully explained Lucy's inquisition.
"We heard a rumor this morning that you snogged Sirius in the common room last night and Lily put him in the hospital wing for it."
Devery quickly shook her head. Mary, Lucy and Alice then breathed out in relief for their friend. Sirius was a notorious dater. But what Devery signed next, they were not expecting.
"Remus punched Sirius and then Lily hexed him unconscious."
"Oh?" said Mary. "So you didn't snog Sirius?"
Devery felt her palms start to sweat and she tucked them into her robes, unsure what to say.
"Oh Merlin," Lucy exclaimed. "It is true, look at how red she is turning!"
Devery patted her cheek and indeed felt warmth in them.
"Woohoo! Go Devery! Sirius is hot!" Alice cuffed Devery merrily on the shoulder and Devery started to feel very flush.
"Yeah, go Devery!" Mary agreed.
"It is bound to happen sooner or later," Lucy grinned.
"What do you mean by that?" Devery asked and Lucy giggled a little.
"You're a natural beauty, Devery. The whole school knows that. You're just shy. But there was just no way you were going to end seventh year without being kissed," Lucy said and the two other girls nodded.
"And now that you're wearing makeup and your hair down, I doubt you'll be going to Hogsmeade without a date," Mary also added.
"Who's wearing makeup?" Lily suddenly said to Devery's right and Devery's eyes widened at her best friend's appearance. She just appeared out of nowhere. Lily greeted everyone and sat down to eat.
"Devery is," Alice answered Lily's question. "I did her makeup and hair this morning. She wanted a change and doesn't she look great?" Alice smiled. Lily then stared at Devery closely to double check and she was indeed wearing makeup. Alice put on some blush, foundation, eyeliner and clear gloss to highlight Devery's features. Her long waist-length curls, hung down in nice waves down her back.
"Looks great," Lily complimented her best friend and Alice. Devery mouthed out her thanks.
"But I am a little jealous," Lily said.
"Why?" Alice asked.
"I have been trying to get Devery to let me put makeup on her at school for years. She only lets me on the holidays," Lily answered.
"What can I say? Alice inspired me," Devery signed and that made all the girls chuckle.
"So Devery? Is Black a good kisser?" Lucy asked, sounding genuinely curious and Devery felt like she was backed into a corner again but for a whole different reason. Lily tensed up beside her while she ate. Her best friend was now frowning at her food.
"He is good at mauling and he paid for it, if that's what you wanted to know Lucy," she grumbled and Devery couldn't help but frown at Lily for that.
Sure, she didn't know how she was feeling about Sirius at this very moment but that kiss was not entirely against her consent. Once she figured out how the kissing thing worked, Devery was going to kiss Sirius back and then maybe push him over before running away with her tail between her legs.
"If Black knows what is good for him, he will stay away from my best friend," Lily commented in all seriousness.
"And just who named you my warden, Lily?" Devery's voice suddenly bloomed in Lily's mind and Lily looked to her best friend in a little shock.
"But Black was mauling you! Wasn't he, Devery?" Lily questioned telepathically and Devery didn't know why but she had the strong urge to cry all of a sudden.
"Oh come on, Devery! You know Black's a womanizer. He was just using you so Remus and I jumped in to protect you," Lily tried to make her see her perspective.
"You and Remus don't know that for sure. You two just assumed and you jumped in where your noses were not wanted."
Devery couldn't believe it herself either. She just defended Sirius Black. But it was not just Sirius she was defending; she was defending her yearlong feelings of attraction for Sirius too. Lily just looked at her like she grew a second head.
Devery then felt a tear slip against her will and she quickly rubbed it away.
"Oh, Devery," Lily sighed when she realized something.
In sixth year, she suspected that Devery had a crush on Sirius but she wasn't sure so she never brought it up. She caught Devery too many times, looking at Sirius last year with desire in her hazel eyes. Lily reached out to comfort her best friend with a hug but Devery avoided her arms by jumping out of her seat.
"I want to be alone right now," Devery signed, loudly and clearly in her silence.
She walked away from the Gryffindor table and no one stopped her. They gave her space and Devery went to wait for the next lot of classes to begin.