Disclaimer: I would have to be seriously deluded to take credit for J. K. R.'s amazing creations. All characters, situations and... well, pretty much anything you recognize, belong to J. K. Rowling.
Chapter Fourteen: Frostbite
When the first snowfall of the year hit Hogwarts, it hit hard.
One Saturday morning, the students awoke to a bedazzling blanket of white that stretched over the vast expanse of the school grounds, dusting the Forbidden Forest in a powdery cover and turning Hagrid's hut into a frosted gingerbread house under the cloudy sky.
Of course, in the name of tradition, there were certain actions that demanded to be taken immediately under such circumstances.
"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" Sirius Black hollered excitedly. He had just come skidding down the stairs and into the common room, clad in only a dark sweater, jeans and stockinged feet. Behind him, James, Remus and Peter (all more suitably dressed) were clutching a variety of articles of clothing.
"Cloak, mate," James called, tossing the bundle of fabric down to his friend. Remus and Peter followed suit, delivering a pair of boots and some mittens.
"C'mon! Everyone outside!" Sirius ordered, fighting to maintain his balance as he shoved the boots onto his feet.
"You heard him, you lot," James announced. "Snow battle by the Black Lake. Every able-bodied Gryffindor is being drafted—Head Boy's orders."
"But we haven't even had breakfast yet," a first year boy piped up.
"Who cares?" Ethan Hansen responded, grinning hugely. "I'll get my cloak!" He leaped out of his chair and ran full-throttle up the wooden staircase.
Sirius grinned. "Knew I always liked that kid."
"What the crap is going on out here?" Skye Linley had appeared at the top of the girls' staircase in a fluffy dressing gown and was blinking down at them, groggily pushing her hair behind her ears.
"Epic snow battle! Gather your troops!" Peter responded.
"Did someone say snow battle?" Evangeline, bright-eyed and full of energy, bounded up behind Skye.
"Alright, listen up," James called out in an attempt to add some order to the growing chaos. "Everyone find as many people as possible to join in and meet by the lake in ten minutes."
Evangeline offered a military-style salute. "Aye aye Captain," she replied, grabbing Skye's arm and dragging her back toward the dormitories.
"Excellent." Sirius turned around and pointed valiantly toward the portrait hole. "Come on, troops—onwards! To the Black Lake!"
It was a winter wonderland outside.
Evangeline laughed like a delighted child as she led the way out into the bright white haze, long hair tumbling out from under her knitted hat. Behind her was a small slew of students, including Lily, Isabelle and Skye, along with Anna Taylor, Alice Perry, and a bemused Frank Longbottom, whom they had stumbled upon in the Great Hall and rather forcefully collected.
The Marauders were standing beneath a barren tree by the lake when they arrived, surrounded by what appeared to be a small army; Gryffindor students of all ages chattered excitedly behind them, cheeks ruddy from the cold. Lily thought she even saw a few Hufflepuffs amongst their ranks.
"Ahoy maties!" Sirius called when he caught sight of the newcomers, waving them over.
Anna raised an eyebrow, scepticism all over her face. "We're pirates now?"
"You bet your ass we are," Sirius responded in a manner that suggested he was barely paying attention to what he was saying.
"Er, you lot?" Skye spoke up, sounding dubious. "I hate to be a buzzkill, but I don't know how well this is going to work with such fresh snow." To illustrate her point, she scooped up a handful and tried to pat it into a ball, frowning as it crumbled away into a powdery shower of ice crystals between her gloves.
Sirius, however, merely smirked and cocked his head. "Moony? Would you care to do the honours?"
Remus stepped forward and raised a mitten-clad hand to his mouth, clearing his throat. In his other hand, his wand was poised. "Nividurus!"
A barely perceptible wave of silver shot out in a circle around him, travelling along the ground for quite a ways before fading from sight.
"Most useful spell Flitwick's ever taught us, I reckon," Sirius commented, eyeing the ground affectionately. He grabbed some snow and packed it between his hands, grinning as it formed a perfect sphere. "Right, first things first," he announced, weighing the ball in an outstretched hand and mumbling to himself: "Decent texture, mildly icy." He removed a glove, stuck his index finger into his mouth and then held it out in front of him, squinting his eyes thoughtfully. "Hmm, slight South-Westerly wind..."
"What the hell is he doing?" Anna deadpanned.
"...depth is about fifteen centime—" Smack. A snowball slapped him ruthlessly in the back of the head, exploding into thousands of crystals. Behind him, James cracked his knuckles and grinned evilly.
"Ahck!" Sirius exclaimed, shooting bolt upright as snow tumbled down the back of his cloak. He shook his head like a dog, flinging snowdrops from the wet strands. Then, he turned around to face his best mate and there was a scarily brief instant where his face morphed from one of shock into one of complete murderous intent. "Prepare to die," he said with eerie solemnity, and before anyone could so much as blink, he had already grabbed a wad of snow and chucked it with alarming force in James' direction.
Unfortunately, several months of dodging bludgers in Quidditch training had sharpened James' reflexes to near inhuman levels, and he jumped out of the way just in time, allowing the projectile to hit Remus square in the chest instead.
Sputtering briefly, the sandy-haired Marauder began brushing the ice crystals off of his coat in that incredibly calm manner that only he ever seemed to be able to pull off. "So that's how we're playing, is it?" he queried, looking darkly at Sirius. Slowly and deliberately, he bent down and began to fashion a snowball even more enormous than the one he'd just been hit with; it was shaping up to be quite monstrous.
Gulping, Sirius eyed the growing ball of ice. "Er, right," he said, backing away slowly. "Every man for himself!" And with that, he set off through the snow at a sprint, kicking up powdery white clouds behind him.
A series of cries and footfalls shook the ground as the crowd dispersed in a flurry of upturned snow and all hell broke loose.
Remus shot off after Sirius like a bolt of lightning while Peter grabbed a handful of snow and chucked it with alarmingly good aim in Evangeline's direction. Laughing and cringing away as it hit her ribs, Eva responded in kind, managing to get him in the side of the head, and it was war. Lily watched with raised eyebrows as Frank went after little Alice Perry, who looked equally shocked as she attempted to dodge his pursuit. Not too far away, Isabelle, Skye and Anna were being set upon by a rabid flock of first years, against whom they were vastly outnumbered. Lily was about to go over and help them out when she felt someone grab her hand and looked over to see James' smiling face.
"Want to team up?" he asked.
Lily's breath hitched a little. He looked exceptionally cute in the snow, with his cheeks pinkened slightly and his long eyelashes dusted with snowflakes beneath his glasses. She smiled and tightened her grip on his hand, pressing their mittens together. "Let's get Sirius."
"Good plan," James replied, pulling her through the snow at a run.
A few seconds later, they ducked down behind a snow drift and peered over it to watch their target. Sirius was hiding behind a tree trunk, apparently having managed to throw Remus off of his tracks somehow.
"You take the right, I'll take the left," James whispered, and his warm breath tickled Lily's ear. She nodded determinedly.
"On the count of three," she added. "One..."
The corner of James' mouth pulled upward into a smile. "Two..."
"THREE!" they both shouted together, leaping up and executing a flawless ambush.
Sirius, who had been caught completely off guard, was hit from both directions, and he let out a strangled yelp as the snowballs collided with his arm and his stomach. He looked around wildly until he caught sight of his attackers, at which point his grey eyes narrowed. "You two are going down," he growled, swooping forward and loading up his gloves with snow. In a motion so quick it was almost a blur, he formed a snowball and threw it at Lily.
There was a loud, over-dramatic "Noo!" and suddenly James was throwing himself in front of her, almost in slow motion. The snowball connected with his chest and he fell to the ground, landing spread-eagled on his back. Eyes closed, he let out a feeble groan.
Lily giggled. "You sound like a demented house elf."
"Lily, I just sacrificed my life for you," James replied. "The least I could get is a thank you."
"Your death would be a lot more convincing if you weren't making a snow angel," said Lily, watching as he moved his arms and legs back and forth, sweeping the snow off of the grass around him.
James opened his eyes. "Bugger, I was hoping you wouldn't notice."
Instead of replying, Lily flopped onto the ground and laid back, letting the frozen water soak into her cloak and hair as she made her own angel in the snow. She lay there for a moment, silhouetted by her saintly counterpart, hair spilling blood-red onto the surrounding whiteness. Vaguely, she noticed James shift beside her.
"You look so beautiful right now," he murmured, staring down at her from above. Then, he was lowering his face until his lips brushed against hers, colder than usual, but still soft. Lily felt her chest rise with an intake of breath, and she brought a mitten up to the back of his head. Eyes closed, she leaned further into the kiss, revelling in the familiar heady sensation...
"ARGH!" A thousand needles seemed to pierce Lily's cheek as a snowball slammed into her face. It got James too, grazing his jaw painfully. In a reflex response, they broke away from one another to see a familiar dark-haired boy standing above them.
"That was way easier than it should have been," Sirius said, looking dismayed. "Not really the satisfaction I was hoping for."
Face rapidly turning pink from the sting of the ice and her embarrassment, Lily put a mitten to her forehead. "Go away, Sirius," she groaned.
"Oh, I will," he replied, an unsettling expression on his face. It was then that Lily realized his hands were hidden behind his back. "There's just one more little thing I need to do..." And with that, he threw two enormous handfuls of snow over the pair of them, watching gleefully as they were showered in icy dust. "Right, see you," he said, and then took off at a run.
As James calmly removed his glasses to swipe the snow off of them, Lily shook her hair out, looking positively lethal. "Sirius Black, you complete prat!" she shouted at his retreating back.
James quirked an eyebrow. "Want to get him again?"
"You bet."
About twenty minutes later, the battle had begun to increase notably in scale. Students of all ages and houses had started joining in, and the castle grounds were beginning to look completely ravaged from the constant upheaval of snow. What had started off as a free-for-all had almost imperceptibly morphed into a conflict between the four houses as warriors banded together, united by the loyalty that seemed to run through their veins.
The Slytherins, who were never known for playing fair, had begun throwing jinxes instead of snowballs at some point, and there were several students running around with horns growing out of their heads or skin that had turned a disturbingly electric shade of blue. These afflictions did not deter them from their endeavours, however—if anything, they seemed to give them renewed vigour in their pursuits. The school grounds were a madhouse of cloaked figures, snowballs and colourful streaks of magic.
Somewhere on the western side of the grounds, Evangeline flung herself behind a gigantic snowdrift, narrowly escaping a nasty hex that she suspected had come from Braxton Crabbe, judging by its wide aim and dim, wispy quality. The brutish Slytherin had been following her for several minutes now, clearly intent on destroying her. It was more annoying than anything; Crabbe was one of those people who was very hard to deter once he set his tiny mind to something.
For a moment, Evangeline stayed there, crouched beneath the snowdrift, and made an effort to collect her breath. Her hair was matted with snow, her cheeks were pink, and her breath was escaping in cloudy puffs around her. If the heavy, snow-crunching footsteps overhead were anything to go on, Crabbe was nearby.
She was in the middle of planning her escape when something unexpected happened. There was a sudden commotion that sounded like running through snow, a few shouts, and then Sirius Black was catapulting himself into her hiding place, executing something that resembled a dive crossed with a barrel roll. Their shoulders slammed together painfully.
"Ow!"
"Oof, sorry."
In the background, there was a faint sound of something heavy thudding to the ground. For a moment, they stared at one another, Eva rubbing her shoulder and Sirius shuffling back on his knees. Then, Sirius laughed.
Evangeline wiped some snow off of her hair. "What?"
"Nothing, just—I swear, every time I see you lately, we're crashing into one another."
"You're crashing into me," Evangeline corrected. She squinted at the frosty school grounds behind her and then looked sideways at him. "I have to admit though, that was a wicked impressive barrel roll."
"Yeah, it was, wasn't it?" Sirius pulled his gloves up higher on his wrists, smirking. "I was trying to get rid of Goyle. Fat ass has been following me around for ages."
Eva's mouth fell open dully. "No way, Crabbe's practically been stalking me. Reckon it's some sort of idiotic battle strategy?"
"I doubt they're capable of that level of thought; Goyle asked Slughorn what sleeping potions were for yesterday. Probably operating on someone's orders, I'd say."
"Yeah, you're probably—Oh god." Evangeline, who was peering over the edge of the snowdrift, raised her eyebrows. Then, she burst into laughter.
"What is it?" Sirius scrambled to see for himself.
Two dark heaps were slumped over in the snow, about five metres apart. Upon first glance, they might have been moderately-sized boulders, but a closer examination showed that they were, in fact, human beings.
Crabbe and Goyle.
"Bloody hell," Sirius managed to get out. "Just when you think they can't get any dumber..." He shook his head. "They must've stunned each other."
Evangeline blinked. "This is possibly the stupidest thing I've ever witnessed."
At that exact moment, however, something even more ridiculous happened. A monstrous creature came stumbling over the hill, dragging heavy, gnarled feet through the snow. It was hideous—lumpy and disfigured, covered in ice and sporting a tattered mane of unkempt hair around its pimply face, which was so swollen that it obscured its eyes almost entirely. Limping forward, it let out a grunt.
"ARGHHHHHH!" Evangeline and Sirius screamed, their pitches equally loud and girly. Frantically, clumsily, they pushed themselves back along the ground, apparently unable to stand up in their state of shock.
The creature raised its swollen hands. "Guys, guys, it's only me." The voice, though sluggish and strangely affected, was nonetheless recognizable.
"Pete?" Sirius eyed the grotesque figure incredulously. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Slytherins," the thing grunted.
Sirius narrowed his eyes. "Slimy gits."
"Why do I get the feeling they're a little unclear on the actual definition of a snowball fight?" said Evangeline, looking vaguely horrified.
Before anyone could comment again, Peter began to wobble slightly on his hex-deformed legs, and there was a faint 'Uh-oh!' as he began to pitch forward, arms windmilling out to the sides. Luckily, Evangeline managed to leap up and catch him right before he face-planted in the snow. Awkwardly, collapsing under his weight, she somehow was able to set him upright again.
"Sorry," Peter slurred, sounding embarrassed. "Avery did something to my feet—I fell over about fourteen times before I found you two."
With a sound of disgust, Sirius rose to his feet. "That's it," he announced. "Wormtail, I am going to go and defend your honour."
"Uuuh-oh."
Sirius, reacting instantly, grabbed Peter by the back of his coat to stop him from falling over again. "First things first though," he muttered, still holding onto his friend's collar. "Oy! Frank!"
Frank Longbottom who, by some stroke of luck, had been running past, stopped and turned.
Sirius pointed toward the boy dangling from his right hand. "Would you mind taking Pete to the Hospital Wing?"
"Er... sure thing," the tall brunet replied, taking a few steps towards them. Of course, Evangeline mused. If anyone would be willing to help without question, it was Frank Longbottom; he was just a good guy, plain and simple. "Blimey," he breathed when he was close enough to take in Peter's condition. "What happened?"
"Nasty run-in with a bunch of Slytherins," Sirius responded. Awkwardly, he transferred Peter's drooping form over to Frank, looping one of the boy's arms around his shoulder. He took a step back. "Thanks, mate."
"No worries," Frank replied easily, readjusting his grip on Peter's shoulders. "God, they really went all out, didn't they?"
"Yeah," Sirius muttered darkly. "But fear not, Wormtail—you will be avenged."
There was a brief moment of silence, and then Peter made his face even more screwed up than it already was. "That creepy thing you just did with your voice?" he said. "Please never do that again."
Sirius looked upward. "Gratitude, Pete. Ever heard of it?"
"Yeah," Peter replied, his tone sulky. "Right now, I'll just be grateful to get my face back. And, you know, be able to walk properly."
"Right-o then," Frank announced. "Let's get going." He clapped Peter on the shoulder and the two of them began hobbling away, moving in an awkward gait. "Don't worry, mate, Madam Pomfrey'll put you right in about a second."
As the they began to fade from sight, Evangeline tilted her head. "He's so... nice."
"Yeah. Sort of sickening, isn't it?"
"I was going to say sweet."
Sirius lifted a brow. "I hate to break it to you, but Longbottom's sort of got his sights set on someone already," he said, and there was something in his eyes as he muttered: "Besides, you're not really his type."
"Oh, shut it, I didn't mean—" Eva got halfway through an eye-roll before her pupils darted back down and refocused. "Wait... who?"
Sirius coughed. "Can't say," he replied. "Marauder's honour and all that."
"Please, as if you have one honourable bone in your body."
"I'm incredibly honourable! In fact, I have a mate to avenge, so if you'll excuse me..."
He began to walk off, but Evangeline wasn't having it; in less than a second, she was by his side again. At his questioning expression, she felt a consecutive eye-roll was necessary. "Did you really think I was going to let you kick Slytherin's arses without me?"
Staring straight ahead, Sirius smiled fleetingly. "Wouldn't dream of it," he said, and then turned to her very seriously. "I get dibs on Snivellus though."
"Deal."
Bang.
The walls of Gryffindor's haphazard fort shook with a colossal tremor. Inside the snowy walls, students were clustered, regaining their strength after more than an hour out in the field. Lily, Isabelle and Alice were drying out their mittens with their wands, faces flushed from the cold, while James and Remus were busy replenishing the pile of snowballs that was sitting in the corner. Several first years were stationed as lookouts, either using peepholes or perched on top of the walls to overlook the grounds. It had been a rough battle so far, and they'd lost maybe half of their troupe to the temptation of warm breakfast in the Great Hall, but Gryffindor was still holding out rather brilliantly.
That is, until the ground shook again, bringing down a small section of the north-west wall. James swore loudly as a chunk of ice fell onto his head.
"We're under siege!" called out Ethan Hansen from his lookout post atop the barricade.
Grimacing as he rubbed his head, James squinted up at him. "Who is it?"
"Slytherins," Ethan shouted. He held a hand to his forehead against the sun's glare. "Hang on, I see my sister, she's—WHOAH!" A snowball had slammed into his chest, knocking him cleanly from his perch and sending him tumbling down to the fort's snowy floor. He rolled along the ground for a bit before finally coming to a stop and springing back up with a wide-eyed face of wonder. "Wow... that was wicked!"
There was barely an instant before the magicked door of the battle station was being pounded upon frantically by what sounded like more than one pair of fists. Muffled voices cried: "Let us in! Let us in!"
Skye, who had been sitting down next to the entrance and lazily plaiting the tassels on her scarf, rose to open it.
"No!" cried James, but it was too late; a pair of windswept figures tumbled in and slammed the door behind them. Beneath the chapped skin and snow-coated cloaks, they were recognizable as Sirius and Evangeline.
"Linley!" James barked. "What did I tell you about vigilance? They could have been enemy spies!"
"Can I be brutally honest here and tell you that you're taking this all way too seriously?"
James narrowed his eyes and then said, in all earnestness: "Moony, take her to the dungeons."
"That might be slightly difficult, considering we don't actually have—"
Another earth-shaking rumble shot beneath their feet. Something on James' face shifted, as though he was only now beginning to recognize a real threat. "Merlin, what's going on out there?" he murmured. Immediately, he spun around to address Sirius and Evangeline, who were still fighting to regain their breath. "And where've you two been?"
After a slight delay, Sirius removed his hands from his knees and straightened. "Ah, long story," he responded. "We may have... aggravated them ever so slightly. Provoked, you might say."
Evangeline, who was in the process of dusting off her mittens, snorted. "Avery was asking for it. Besides, you should have seen what they did to Peter."
"Oy, they got Pete?" James looked annoyed. "Twats. Please tell me you got revenge."
Sirius and Eva exchanged an evil look. A very evil look.
"Do we even want to know?" Remus tossed in from where he was leaning casually against the snowy wall, looking quite amused despite his sarcastic tone.
Evangeline's wind-bitten face broke into a smirk. She stuffed her hands back into her mittens, purposely dragging out the process in order to create suspense. "Let's just say Avery looks surprisingly attractive in a dress."
"You didn't..." James' eyes began to fill with comprehension... and glee.
"I'm scarred for life," Sirius said, a disgusted look of reminiscence on his face. "I don't think I'll ever look at high heels in the same way again."
"Yes, but he did such a good job of performing river dance in them, don't you think?"
"That does take talent."
"Bloody brilliant," James choked through his laughter. "Don't suppose you managed to get a photo?"
"I wish." Sirius sighed. "It would have made such a beautiful addition to the school's artwork collection."
Evangeline smirk widened. "I was thinking the cover of Witch Weekly. He's got the legs for it."
"That's awful," Lily chided, and then frowned, looking mildly sickened. "... and disturbing. Highly disturbing."
"Again, scarred for life," Sirius reiterated.
"James!" All heads turned as a first-year came running over, breathless and fearful. "You'd better come see this."
"What is it?" the Head Boy asked, body tensing as his battle-sense were alerted.
The boy pointed a finger in the direction of the main wall. "The Slytherins—they're using magic. They're bringing down the fort!"
Immediately, James shot off, propelling himself toward a peephole in order to do a cursory assessment of the situation. "Shit," he breathed as he squinted out through the tiny opening. Then, using the notches the first-years had constructed to reach the lookout posts, he began to scale the enclosure, pulling himself up easily until he was straddling the wall at the top.
Beneath him, an army of Slytherins stretched out over the snow-covered ground, wands out and pointed at the Gryffindors' stronghold. At the front of their group was Laurence Travers, a tall, thin, sharp-eyed Seventh year who was rumoured to torture small animals in his spare time.
James examined them with an air of nonchalance. "Come to avenge Avery, have you?" he called down in a lofty tone. "Where is the fair maiden, anyway?"
"He's getting a change of clothe—"
"Shut up Goyle. It was rhetorical," Travers snapped.
"What's retricacl..."
"Silencio!"
James snorted at this. "Listen, I know the whole playing-by-the-rules thing is a bit of a stretch for you, but believe it or not the point of a snow battle is to use snow."
"Yes, and I'm sure it was fucking snow that had Avery putting on a bloody river dance spectacle by the lake." The sarcasm in Travers' tone was as thick as frozen molasses.
"You got Peter," James reminded him. "We got Avery. We're even."
"Save it Potter. And I would get down from there if I were you. Diffindo!"
James, unarmed and vulnerable atop the high wall, reflexively raised his arms in front of his face as the blast of light shot toward him. The spell slammed into the barricade on his right and crumbled it to dust, the impact sending him flying backward through the air. Several things happened as the wind whipped violently past his face. People were definitely screaming, a distant area of his brain noticed, and then Remus' voice was crying 'Arresto momentum!' and his body was slowing in its descent. Before he really knew what was happening, he was dropping softly and safely to the ground, completely unharmed.
"Urgh, thanks, Moony," he said, sitting up slowly and wondering vaguely why the world looked so fuzzy. A shape that seemed to be a hand appeared in front of his nose, and he blindly grabbed hold of it, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. "Cheers, er..." He squinted at the puddle of blurred colours before his eyes. "...Sirius?"
A laugh, and then: "You really are blind without these." Lily stood on her toes and reached up to slide his glasses back onto his face.
Just as the world became clear again, there was a booming series of noises like a machine gun and suddenly, the walls of the fort were crumbling around them at an accelerated pace.
"Everyone get away from the edges!" shouted Remus, grabbing a first-year girl by the shoulders and pulling her away just before a section of wall came avalanching down on top of her.
"Bloody hell," Sirius commented, dodging a large piece of ice. "Are they trying to kill us?"
The Gryffindors were clustered together now, backing slowly into the middle of the fort from all sides as the walls continued to fall down. They were cornered. This was the end—and they all knew it.
"What do we do?" asked Ethan, looking up to Sirius for answers.
The black-haired boy, for a moment, did an odd sort of double take. Evangeline's eyes, his brain commented vaguely. He blinked, recovering incredibly quickly from this minor lapse in brain function, and clenched his jaw. "We go down together," he announced. "We fight until the end."
On the left side of the mob, James reached out and grabbed Lily's hand. She smiled, stretching out her other arm to link her fingers with Isabelle's. From there, it was a chain reaction; Isabelle connected with Skye, who in turn grabbed Anna's hand, and soon the entire group was linked.
Well, the entire group minus two people.
Sirius glanced to his right, where Evangeline was holding hands with Alice and awkwardly letting her palm hang loose on the other side. Slowly, hesitantly, she looked up at him. Blue eyes. They were so familiar, those eyes. The thick fringe of lashes, the dark-ringed irises, the brows that arched above them. Sirius swallowed, trying to block out the emotion rising within him; he didn't want to think about that right now.
The stare lasted a lot longer than could ever be considered normal. Finally, Evangeline nudged her hand against his and their fingers connected through their gloves just as a deafening crunch filled the area and the wall collapsed entirely, leaving them exposed to the enemy.
A moment of dead silence.
And then, with a battle cry of cosmic proportions, the Gryffindors charged straight into the fray.
"I'm knackered." Sirius straddled the breakfast table bench and reached for a chocolate chip muffin, immediately shoving half of it into his mouth. "Tha' washexhausting."
James, who was pouring a cup of hot chocolate from the magically-warmed container in the centre of the table, nodded in agreement. "We may have lost, but we went down bravely."
By his side, Lily peeled off her snow-encrusted mittens and shivered. "Would you mind pouring me some of that?' she asked. "I can't feel my hands."
"I can't feel my face," Evangeline lamented, reaching up to prod her frozen cheeks. The redness gave way to mottled white beneath her touch, making her freckles stand out with startling intensity. Pathetically, she reached out for a muffin, attempting to latch onto it with limp, non-responsive fingers.
"Here." With a good-natured shake of her head, Isabelle came to her rescue, scooping up the baked good and depositing it onto her plate.
Anna looked on sardonically from down the table. "Can you manage, or should I feed it to you?"
"Oh shut it," Evangeline replied, flexing her fingers.
They were a moderate-sized group in the otherwise deserted Great Hall, sprawling across a good portion of the Gryffindor table. Just about everyone who had taken part in the snow battle and made it through unscathed was present, and the warmth of the castle was a beautiful reprieve from the icy-cold exterior. A few unlucky souls (Peter included) were still in the hospital wing having hex damages reversed; Slytherin had not been a pleasant enemy to go up against, to say the least.
"We missed the bacon," Sirius commented sadly as he eyed up the breakfast offerings.
"'Least we've still got kippers," James replied, pulling the steaming platter toward him and loading up his plate. "Want some, Moony?" He offered the dish to Remus, who was staring at his empty plate very intensely.
"Huh?" The sandy-haired boy started, blinking. "Oh, yes, thanks," he muttered, relieving James of the tray.
"Sho," Sirius began conversationally through a mouthful of toast. "Hogshmeade today. What's everyone getting me for Christmas?"
Lily wrinkled her nose. "Some table manners, apparently."
James, who was taking a sip of hot chocolate, grimaced and lowered his cup. "I hate Christmas shopping."
"You only hate it because you're terrible at it," Sirius reminded him.
"How can you be bad at shopping?" Evangeline wanted to know. "You just... pick things out and pay for them."
James quirked his shoulders. "Yeah, it's the picking stuff out bit that's the problem."
"You should just do what I do," Sirius suggested.
"Which is?"
"Walk into the first shop you see, grab a massive handful of shit, get the house elves to wrap it all up and then randomly stick on some name tags," he said with a shrug. "It's like a grab bag of awesomeness."
"Or thoughtlessness," Lily scoffed. "That's an absolutely awful gift-buying method."
"I do all mine by owl order," Skye put in. Her hair was still faintly green at the tips from where it had been hit by Narcissa Black during the final leg of the battle (Madam Pomfrey had assured her that it would fade back to its natural colour by the end of the day). "Witch Weekly's got this really brill catalogue. Bit pricey, though."
"Speaking of owls..." James looked to the ceiling—currently the soft white-grey of a snow saturated sky—where a few birds were beginning to enter by the windows. On the weekends, morning post was a much more relaxed sort of process, with owls filtering in at staggered intervals to coordinate with the students' leisurely rising.
Pudge was leading the pack, and he dropped down in front of Evangeline with a loud thud, immediately bending over to drag the remainder of her muffin off of her plate. Eva had to pull the paper liner out of his beak to save him from devouring it. "Ruddy bird," she growled as she attempted to wrestle it away from his hungry mouth.
Across the table, a handsome eagle owl settled next to James, offering its leg proudly like the competent mail deliverer that Pudge clearly was not. Dropping his knife and fork onto his plate, James reached out to untie the letter that was affixed there.
"Who's 'Jam Pot'?" Sirius asked, leaning into his friend's space and examining the envelope that he now held in his hands.
James looked at him. "Excuse me?"
Sirius pointed a finger at the letter, and a wicked smile began to creep onto his face. "Jam Pot. See?"
Sure enough, he was right. The front of the envelope, which clearly had once featured James' name across its surface, looked as though it had been snow-damaged. The ink was severely smeared, turning the second halves of 'James' and 'Potter' into muddled, inky messes.
While Sirius started snickering, James made an exasperated face. "Oh please, Padfoot, that's so stupid."
Sirius fixed him with a stoic expression. "Sorry, Jam Pot. Not funny at all."
"Sirius?"
"Yes, Jam Pot?"
"Stop calling me Jam Pot."
"Alright, sorry mate... Could you pass me that pot of jam, please?"
"Sirius."
"No, I really need it for my toast... Please, Jam Pot?"
A welcome distraction presented itself when a disturbance was felt along the wooden bench, indicating a newcomer. There was a collective double take as everyone blinked at the unfamiliar, blonde-haired male.
And blinked.
And blinked.
"Wormtail?" Sirius' jaw dropped so far that it practically fell off of his face.
"Oh, hey everyone," Peter greeted them casually. Well, he seemed to be Peter, anyway, but he looked nothing like the paunchy, thick-set chap they had come to recognize over their six years of school together. His face—no, scratch that—his entire body looked slimmer, more trim. There was a new definition to his cheeks that made his boyish face appear more adult, and the leanness of his figure gave an attractive silhouette to his sweater and jeans.
"Pete, mate, you look... different," James said faintly.
Beaming, Peter grabbed an apple from the bowl of fruit in front of him and bit into it with a satisfying crunch. "Yeah," he replied. "When Madam Pomfrey was getting rid of the swelling, I just let her keep going a bit longer. Brilliant, right?"
If he expected a response to this question, he was sorely disappointed. There was nothing but complete silence until Evangeline's fork fell out of her hand and clanged onto her plate. She did not even seem to notice.
Finally, Isabelle, who had averted her eyes out of compassion and was staring vaguely at the newspaper that a large barn owl had just delivered, did another double take. This time, however, it had nothing to do with Peter Pettigrew. Hastily, she grabbed the paper and stared intently at the word her eyes had picked up.
"Eva, your dad's in the Prophet," she said.
Evangeline nearly choked on her hot chocolate. "What? Where? It's not something completely embarrassing, is it?"
"Wizengamot To Vote on New Muggle Rights Bill," Isabelle read the heading aloud. Her eyes flicked back and forth as she continued to verbalize the article, quickly and yet very accurately:"'Later this month, the Wizengamot will meet to examine a controversial new bill concerning muggle rights. The proposed law concerns the possibility of granting the parents of muggleborn witches and wizards access to strictly magical areas such as Diagon Alley. Wizengamot chairperson Lionel Hansen, of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, has publicly shown his support for the idea. 'It's something that should have happened long ago, if you ask me,' says Hansen.' Blah, blah, blah, and so on and so forth..." As she trailed off, Isabelle glanced up.
"Wow," Lily said, looking slightly stunned. "That's huge. A huge step, I mean. That would be fantastic, though, if it happened."
"But weird, don't you think?" Skye tilted her head to the side, and Lily was reminded once again of why the girl tended to get on her nerves. "Can you imagine—muggles in Diagon Alley?"
"Yes, but it's not as though they're opening it up to the whole world," Lily countered, eyes narrowing a little. "Just parents. And I agree with Eva's dad. It's about time."
Eva cringed a little at the mention of her father. "Dad'll be right proud of himself that he managed to make the front page of the Prophet," she said without enthusiasm. "It's one of his life's goals. He'll have this framed on the mantel when I get home, I swear."
Just as she said this, a shadow fell across her plate, and a someone cleared their throat inelegantly from behind. Evangeline had to look no further than the stringy hair and pompous posture to figure out who it was.
"Bentley," she grunted. "What do you want?"
The Hufflepuff was regarding her with an expression that was mildly perturbing. "To talk, for a moment, if you don't mind?" He gestured behind him, indicating his desire for a more private location.
Across the table, Sirius had gone noticeably rigid.
Evangeline cast a desperate glance around the hall, not feeling particularly comfortable with where this conversation was headed. "Er, can we just talk here?" she begged. "It's just that I don't really want my... marmalade... to go cold..." Pointlessly, she gestured toward the only thing remaining on her plate—a mostly devoured (and already quite frigid) piece of toast.
Jacob looked a bit disconcerted. After a long pause: "I guess." For a brief moment, his self-assured air seemed to falter. He cleared his throat again. "Well, I was just wondering if you'd like to join me in Hogsmeade today."
Silence. Frantically, Evangeline racked her mind for a legitimate-sounding excuse that wasn't No, thank you, I find you to be an arrogant arse. Her plate had never looked more interesting than it did in that moment.
"She can't." Sirius' voice was sharp and icy.
Everyone jerked their heads toward him at this out-of-the-blue interjection. With her mouth gaping open as it was, Evangeline looked as though she had just witnessed a Holy miracle. Bentley, on the other hand, looked as though he'd swallowed a spider. Or ten.
"Why not, Black?"
Cold grey eyes narrowed. "Because," Sirius' gaze did not falter, "she's going with me."
A sound of a door opening, the creak of bed springs, and then...
"What just happened?" This dazed inquiry came from Evangeline, who had flopped over onto her four-poster and was now just sort of laying there pathetically, staring at the wall.
Isabelle lowered herself onto the corner of the bed. "I think Sirius Black just asked you to Hogsmeade."
At this, Eva let out some sort of unintelligible noise that sounded like a dying cat.
"Don't you think you're overreacting a little?" Lily replaced the bottle of perfume she'd been using and turned around to quirk an eyebrow at the lifeless heap that was her friend.
"No," Evangeline said straight away. There was a long block of silence. "Well," she reconsidered after a while, lifting her head and propping herself up with her arms. "Am I? Possibly? Hopefully." She looked terrified. "Just... what did he mean by it, do you reckon?"
"Considering he bolted right after he said it, it's hard to say," Isabelle reasoned.
Eva's eyes housed an agitation that was hard to describe. "Was it... some sort of weird joke?" she suggested desperately.
"Eva, we're just as confused as you are, trust me." Lily, who was brushing her hair out, caught her eye through the ornate mirror above her dressing table. "Sirius' head is a dark, twisted place."
"But he doesn't actually want to go with me, right?" Evangeline looked back and forth between the two girls for validation. Then, out of the blue, something lit up her face. "I just won't go!" she exclaimed, as though all of the world's problems had suddenly been solved. "I'll say I got sick. You two'll cover for me, yeah?"
Lily sighed, pausing from pinning back the front section of her hair. "Don't be stupid. How else are you going to do your Christmas shopping?" she asked through a lipful of bobby pins.
The girl was staring off into space with a contented expression. "I'll just use that owl order thing that Skye was talking about. I'm sure Witch Weekly's got a great selection..."
Lily made a face. "Listen to what you're saying," she said bluntly.
"You're being ridiculous," Isabelle agreed.
"This whole situation is bloody ridiculous!" Evangeline flopped backward again with a loud huff. "This is all Bentley's fault."
Perhaps wisely, Lily and Isabelle decided to let the brunette stew for a little while, and both went about their business getting ready for the trip to the village. Lily finished with her hair and redid her snow-smeared makeup, finally rummaging through her trunk and extracting a thick black sweater to layer under her cloak. On the adjacent side of the room, Isabelle was staring at her clothing collection with a ruminative look on her face. When this began to go on for a ludicrously lengthy amount of time, Lily decided to step in.
"You can borrow something of mine, if you'd like."
Isabelle started. "What? Oh, no, that's alright, thanks." She shook her head slightly and extracted a coat from the pile. Then, she put one arm through a sleeve and paused again, frozen in a decidedly odd position as she stared ahead with glazed eyes. After several more minutes of this statuesque posture, the blonde eventually turned.
"Lily?" Her voice was microscopic.
"Yes?"
"Have you noticed anything... off?...about Remus lately? I know you two talk sometimes."
Something inside Lily became cold; her heart seemed to almost slow down within her chest. "Er, how do you mean, off?"
Isabelle fretted with the sleeves of her coat. "I can't really describe it—he just hasn't really been himself. And the past couple of days, he's barely been speaking to me. I just feel like... like maybe I've done something wrong."
The downtrodden quality of her friend's voice broke Lily's heart. It pained her enormously to see the confusion and doubt flit around on Isabelle's face—to know the real reason for her agitation, and yet be so unable to explain it. "That's rubbish, Isa," she said. "You can't blame yourself. He's probably just had an off week with all the homework we've been getting. Plus, his mum was sick again a few days ago. I bet he's just stressed."
"Yes, that's another thing." Isabelle's eyebrows angled downward. "He's always disappearing on me. I swear, every few weeks something happens to drag him out of class for a couple of days. And then there was that time that Sirius and James lied to me and told me he'd gone to see his girlfriend." She stared very hard at her hands. "He never did tell me what really happened there. I don't know, don't you ever feel like there's just something... not quite right going on with him?"
Lily's heart truly felt like it was going to burst out of her chest now. "I haven't really noticed," she said weakly. "But whatever it is, I'm sure he'll tell you eventually."
Isabelle sighed. "I hope you're right."
Suddenly itching to get out of the stuffy room, Lily glanced over at Evangeline's lumpy silhouette on the bed and then turned back toward Isabelle with a look to convey her thoughts. "Shall we wrestle her out the door?"
Isabelle scrunched up her nose. "We can try..."
The snow-covered village of Hogsmeade stretched out before the mass of Hogwarts students, a cluster of mismatched shops, garlands and twinkling Christmas lights that was bustling with activity. A group of carollers stood by the entrance to The Three Broomsticks, their yuletide melodies drifting up toward the sky and infusing the area with an undeniable feel of the holiday season. Witches and wizards in long cloaks bustled from store to store, laden down with bags full of Christmas shopping, some with small children trailing behind, their candy-cane-stained faces stretched into wondrous smiles as they peered through frosted shop windows.
"I love Christmas," Lily sighed as the group came upon High Street and paused for a moment, admiring the enchanted candles that adorned a thicket of evergreen trees.
"Getting a bit ahead of yourself, aren't you?" Anna commented. "It's still a while off."
"Only a couple of weeks," Lily said. "Besides, I love Christmas at any time of year."
"Me too," Evangeline agreed with a contented sigh. Isabelle and Lily had managed (with much prodding) to rouse her from bed, and she appeared to be progressing toward a much better frame of mind. Mind you, that may have had something to do with the fact that Sirius was at the far back of the group, and thus nowhere near her immediate vicinity.
Unfortunately, the buffer of people separating the two was diminishing at a very quick rate. At the top of the hill, the group began splitting off into smaller parties. Peter, whose new look had instilled him with a great deal of confidence, had asked a pretty Asian girl named Monique to accompany him on the shopping trip, and the two of them were the first to leave the larger mob, heading off down a cobbled side street. Next, Isabelle and Remus left silently, looking strangely disconnected despite being hand-in-hand.
"Shall we?" James asked, clearing his throat and offering his arm to Lily gentleman-style. Still giddy with Christmas Spirit, Lily accepted it with a grin, and they were off.
Evangeline watched her friends leave with a growing sense of panic. She almost reached an arm out after Lily as she waltzed away, as though to snatch her back. Don'tleavemealonewithhim! Unsurprisingly, the redhead did not seem to hear her silent-yet-hysterical plea. They really needed to work on their telepathic communication skills. Very aware of her sudden solitude, Evangeline tensed and slowly, reluctantly, turned her head.
Sirius was much closer than she'd imagined. He was standing a few feet away and watching her with an oddly tentative expression. Grey eyes met deep blue, and for a moment there was just that—a long, silent stare.
And then, at what was perhaps the perfect moment, a familiar stringy-haired figure walked past with a group of Hufflepuffs, eyeing the awkward pair with shrewd eyes. This seemed to spark something within Sirius, and at once, he took the few necessary footsteps to close the gap between them, all the while regarding Bentley with a sinister expression. Evangeline, once again, marvelled at this fierce over-protectiveness, and wondered where on Earth it was all coming from.
"Hi," Sirius said. He had stopped by her side and was looking down at her with an intensity that was hard to describe.
Nervous under his gaze, Evangeline brushed her hair behind her ears. "... Hi."
There was a long pause here, and Sirius stuck his hands into his pockets, turning to regard the village that was stretched out before them, his breath visible in the crisp air. "So, I figure we should probably make this believable."
At this, Evangeline breathed in sharply and the cold air seemed to irritate her lungs. She coughed.
"Not like... actually... you know." Sirius cleared his throat. "We should just stay together. Walk around and stuff."
Right, walking around. I remember how to do that, right? Faintly, Evangeline felt herself nod. "Okay."
And so, in silence, they set off down the hill and into the twinkling shopping district, the only sound between them coming from the snow crunching beneath their boots.
The situation, Evangeline decided after some thought, was one of those phenomenons where something is so strange that it comes full circle and is almost normal again. For some reason, after this little revelation, she felt the need to voice the question that had been buzzing around in her head all morning. "Why'd you do it?"
Sirius missed his queue to talk. After what seemed like a century, his shoulders rose up in a slow shrug. "I had to help you out," he responded, and his tone was surprisingly lighthearted. "You're terrible at excuses. That marmalade thing was just painful to listen to."
"Oi!" Eva protested, though she knew he had a point.
"Really though..." Sirius' expression was more sober now, as he considered. "I know blokes like Bentley. I don't like the way he treats you. It's clear he's only interested because you're pretty."
Evangeline tripped over her own feet. He didn't... Did he just...? Her mind was in a frenzied state, hovering somewhere between confused, irritated and... hopeful? Mainly confused, though.
"Well, thanks, I suppose," she finally managed to get out.
There was another round of silence. They were in the heart of the village now, flanked on both sides by snow-covered shop awnings and wreathed wooden doors that jingled as they opened and closed. For a few more minutes, the two of them continued their silent wandering down the street, until:
"Where are we actually going?" Evangeline thought to ask.
Sirius came to a halt and turned to face her. "I dunno, I was following you."
"Great, that's helpful."
"You're the girl," Sirius pointed out. "You're meant to be in charge of the shopping."
Making a face, Evangeline put her hands on her hips. "Ignoring the fact that that's totally chauvinistic, we both know that shopping is not my thing."
"It's not mine either, obviously. There's probably nothing I'd rather be doing less right now."
"Same, but..." Evangeline considered, "...what does one generally do in Hogsmeade if not shop?"
Sirius looked around thoughtfully until his eyes landed on a tiny store that was squeezed between two larger ones, and lit up with inspiration. "Eat," he responded, marching in the direction of the entrance.
Evangeline, who had to admit that she quite liked this idea, took a closer look and found herself staring at a cozy little stone establishment that had never really caught her notice before. The painted wooden sign above the awning read Clarinda's Bakery. Sirius held the door open for her and it jingled closed, admitting them into a warm interior that smelled of gingerbread and peppermint. A small counter stood to their right, connecting to a glass case full of all manner of delicious-looking sweets. There was a display of beautiful cakes that almost looked too good to eat—some were adorned with glowing lights, others with enchanted scenes that moved and swirled across the icing. On the counter, there was an elaborate gingerbread house, and it was continually dusted with powdery icing sugar that fell like snow over the candy cane trees and gumdrop chimney.
The whole thing was rather like stepping into a scene from a Christmas card, Evangeline marvelled, as she finally managed to pry her eyes away from the sweets and allowed them to trail around the rest of the shop. There was a fireplace crackling merrily in the corner that sent a dancing sheen of light over the rest of the slightly darkened interior. Tables clothed in red leaned upon the wooden floor, and glistening snowflakes made of real ice dangled from the ceiling. Everything about the decor gave a sensation of coming home to the warmth of Christmas.
Evangeline did not even notice that Sirius had advanced to the counter until she looked over and saw him standing there, dropping a pile of coins into the hand of an elderly witch and accepting a paper bag in return.
"Cheers," Sirius thanked the woman, and she smiled after him, eyeing Evangeline with a knowing, happy grin.
Oh Merlin, she must think we're... This train of thought was stopped in its tracks, thank goodness, when Sirius returned and wordlessly pulled two gingerbread elves from the bag, handing one to Evangeline. She stared down at the swirls of icing and soft biscuit base, and then looked up dazedly. "My favourite," she murmured, almost to herself.
Sirius' smile was in his eyes but barely on his lips as he bit the head off of his elf. "I know."
"Remus, wait."
As they neared the entrance to Honeydukes, Isabelle reached out and grabbed his arm lightly, forcing him to come to a stop. The air between the two of them was as frosty and painful as the wind in their faces, and frankly, she had had enough of it; she wanted answers. With a frown, she loosened her grip on his wrist as Remus complied with her request, looking slightly stunned.
Isabelle tried to find the words she was looking for. Why aren't you talking to me? What did I do wrong? And why are you acting so bloody broody? Of course, she lacked the courage to voice the real questions fitting through her head, and so she finally settled on: "Is everything okay?"
A hundred things passed through the boy's haunted-looking eyes as he stared back, wordlessly, for several long moments. He couldn't seem to reply.
"Actually... no," Isabelle continued slowly, finding some sort of strength within herself, "that's a stupid question because clearly, it's not."
"I..." The traces of fear and anxiety on Remus' tired face were a bit frightening. He glanced around nervously for a moment, and then suddenly seemed to come to some sort of decision. His eyes stopped moving, as though he was taken aback by something in his thoughts, and he swallowed. Then, with a tremulous intake of breath, he met her eyes. "Actually... well... it's..." His voice broke. "There's something I need to tell you."
His tone had something in it that made Isabelle freeze. A wave of understanding began to reach her, and she felt her heart rise in her throat as she eyed him with defeated eyes, urging him to say it.
Strangely, Remus merely began looking around the street anxiously, eyes twitching back and forth between the multitude of shoppers passing them by. "Not here," he muttered, and his eyes settled upon an overhang across the street. "Over there."
Was it really that big of a deal to break up with her in public, Isabelle wondered? Maybe he wanted to spare her the embarrassment. She frowned; that was probably it. Of course he would want to let her down gently.
As they found themselves nestled into the privacy of the new space, Remus' agitated state seemed to reach a whole new level. He fiddled with his mittens for a few seconds before finally shoving his hands into his pockets to still them. As he did this, Isabelle glanced upward and saw a look in his eyes that startled her. For the first time, she really began to feel uneasy; a shiver shot through her entire being, and it had nothing to do with the winter air.
"Seriously," she whispered, leaning toward him with searching eyes. "What's going on?"
A wreathed wooden door burst open, and James and Lily stumbled out of Dervish and Banges, red-faced and flustered and looking incredibly relieved to be back out in the open.
"That was insane," Lily breathed, struggling to readjust her grip on the multiple bags in her hands.
James looked more than slightly ruffled. "I can't believe that old granny hit me with her purse," he said. "... twice."
Lily bit back a laugh and tried to look sympathetic. "That did look quite painful."
"Woman had rocks in there, I'm telling you. Bloody hell, all I did was offer to get that book off the shelf for her."
"I think she thought you were trying to take it for yourself," Lily told him. "Old people can be quite vicious when it comes to Christmas shopping."
"Yeah," James growled. "Just reminds me of why I hate it. Anyway..." He looked over at Lily, who was pulling a folded sheet of parchment out of her bag. "Where to next?"
The redhead crossed something off of her list and considered. "I've just about got everyone done... but I still need something for Peter."
"Pete's easy. Just buy him sweets and he'll love you forever."
Lily laughed. "Honeydukes then?"
"Sure."
The sweet shop was fairly close by, and before they knew it they were pushing open the door and staring down the rows and rows of colourful sugary treats. It was packed inside, mostly full of Hogwarts students, though Lily spotted a couple of haggard-looking witches pushing their way through the crowd of teenagers. As she and James navigated their way across the threshold, Lily felt somebody bump into her.
"Oh, sorry..." She glanced up straight into Evangeline's lightly freckled face. The girl had a lollipop in her mouth and a bag of chocoballs hanging from one hand. Sirius was right behind her, similarly loaded up with candy.
"Oh, hey," Eva greeted them. "How's the shopping going?"
Lily held up the bags that were currently cutting into her fingers. "Just about finished," she responded. "How'd you lot make out?"
Evangeline and Sirius exchanged a sheepish sort of look, Sirius mid-bite of a chocolate frog. Lily noticed that neither one of them was holding any sort of bag that might have housed anything other than confectionary.
Eva cleared her throat. "Err.. we haven't exactly done... well... anything."
"What on earth have you been up to all this time?" Lily demanded.
Sirius shoved the rest of his frog into his mouth. "Eating."
"Why am I not surprised?" Despite his sardonic tone, it was clear that James was slightly envious.
Evangeline seemed distracted all of a sudden. She was squinting through the storefront window, lollipop hanging loosely from her hand. "Isn't that Isa and Remus?" she asked, and the others turned their heads to follow her gaze. Sure enough, the pair was standing below an overhang across the street.
For some reason, the four of them slowly crept closer to the window and stared out through the frosted glass.
"Why are we spying on them?" Lily asked, turning to regard her fellow conspirators.
Sirius grinned. "Because, spying is fun."
James raised his eyebrows. "I don't particularly fancy watching them snog, thanks."
Across the street, however, Remus stuck his hands into his pockets, looking visibly uncomfortable. Isabelle crossed her arms, leaning toward him with concern written all over her face, and then frowned.
The corners of his mouth turning down, James leaned closer to the glass. "Hang on, that definitely wasn't a snog..."
"Actually, this looks bad," Sirius muttered. "Why is he...?"
Suddenly, James went rigid. "Padfoot. He's... You don't think..." He made some sort of strange, flailing gesture, and beside him, Lily's eyes widened in silent understanding.
Sirius' jaw dropped, and a bunch of biscuit crumbs fell out. "Oh, Merlin." He swallowed. "I can't watch this."
"What are you talking about?" Evangeline asked around her lollipop.
Sirius met her eyes, and his gaze conveyed something meaningful. "He's... telling her... you know, the thing."
"Oh... Oh! Oh my god."
"Wait, you know?" Lily whipped around to face her friend, taken aback.
Evangeline looked equally stunned. "You know?"
"About the thing? Since recently, yes. But when –?"
"Oi, shh." Sirius shushed them, directing everyone's attention back toward the scene playing out before them.
Framed by the grey stone of an arched alleyway, the two figures stood very close to one another, as though exchanging whispers.
And then it happened.
In that moment, there was no questioning what the words coming out of Remus' mouth were. Four sets of eyes watched through the frosted window as all the colour drained from Isabelle's face and she took a jerky step back, staggering into the stone wall behind her with a hand raised to her mouth. Driven as though by some impulsive panic, she stumbled off blindly through the snow, shooting one final, distressed look behind her before her eyes squinted closed and she burst into tears.
Remus watched her leave with an impassive expression, though his eyes bore the sting of a a strange, melancholic nostalgia. Long after she faded from sight, he stood there under the overhang, feeling the cold slap of the wind against his face and staring at the snowy horizon with that same haunted gaze.
For four teenagers, the warmth of Honeydukes had all but disappeared. On the other side of the glass, they took a few steps back and shared a look of complete and utter disbelief.
Finally, after an excruciatingly long moment, Sirius shook his head. "...Fuck."
A/N: And on that inappropriate note...
Whew, it's done! I should probably add a disclaimer that this has not been edited properly yet. I'm absolutely swamped with schoolwork right now, but I really wanted to drop in and get this chapter up so that I could feel like I'd accomplished SOMETHING outside of Site Engineering today. The next chapter is going to be a VERY big one. As in, I've been looking forward to writing it since I posted the first chapter of WITS back in 2007... How's that for suspense?
Also, I've been thinking, how would you guys feel if I started a blog or something? Just somewhere where you could go to get updates on how the next chapter is coming along, etc. (because I know the time between my updates can get really irritatingly long).
Oh, and one more thing before I go back to slowly dying by homework overload: Izzie SD was kind and awesome enough to send me some WITS banners that she made, which I thought was so cool. Links are in my profile, if anyone would like to see them. :)
Thank you so much to everyone who reviews WITS. I don't know what I would do without you guys!
-Liz