Chapter Twenty-Four
"He's rather fit," Lily fidgeted. "But I'm sure he doesn't fancy me. And I don't fancy him, either."
Lily, Danae and Alice had come to visit us Puffs in our common room the first Saturday evening of the term. As we were all on top of our homework for possibly the last time all year, we decided to allow for one night of silliness, with plenty of nail varnish and beauty charms flying around our dormitory. And of course, the subject of boys came up, with Alice teasing Lily about her Herbology partner.
"Bertram Aubrey, which one is he again?" Tina asked, lifting one cucumber slice from her eye to look quizzically at Lily.
"He's the Keeper for our team," Danae answered, while staring at her reflection in the mirror. She was practicing color changing charms, trying to decide just what color she wanted her hair to be this week.
"And he's ridiculously good, too," Marly grumped. She'd had to start over on her team again, with three of her previous players having graduated last year. She wasn't terribly happy about her prospects, but was still determined to get the Cup at last.
"But he doesn't fancy me," Lily protested. "It's not like he-"
"Flirts with you every chance he gets? Come on, Lils, he's over the moon for you! I'm sure he'll ask you to Hogsmeade," Alice assured. "That is, if Potter doesn't scare him off first."
Lily growled, while the rest of us laughed. "I'll kill Potter if he tries. I'll kill him, cut him up in little pieces, and then feed him to the giant squid. And then he'll never bother me again," she finished brightly.
"Pet, your sister's a little scary," Lottie stage-whispered to me.
"Where do you think she learnt it?" I whispered back, eyebrow raised dramatically.
Lottie drew back from me. "Lily, your sister's a little scary."
Lily and I laughed, in nearly the exact same pitch. "Remind me never to make either Evans sister angry," Tina said, looking a bit awed.
"Always a wise choice," I grinned.
…
Alice's prediction came to pass, as Bertram did ask Lily to Hogsmeade. She even managed to act calm and collected during the asking, but as soon as he passed around the corner, she squealed in happiness. "What happened to not fancying him?" I teased, grinning widely for her.
"Oh, shut it," she said, swatting at my arm. "You don't get to say anything since you've been in love with Gideon forever, and he's actually been in love with you. Now, how should I do my hair?"
Their date went well, as evidenced by the way they came back to the castle holding hands. Most people agreed they made the cutest couple, with her fiery red hair a perfect contrast to his shiny blond.
Even Potter behaved after realizing they were dating. He stopped asking Lily out, something she professed to be grateful for. "It's just so odd," she told me during our November Sunday together. "I'd gotten so used to it. My life is so quiet now that Potter's stopped asking me out every other minute."
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you missed it," I teased.
She instantly glowered. "Of course not! Who could miss that idiot?"
I would have had to be blind to miss the way her cheeks flushed, and not from anger. But it's best not to poke at a flustered Lily, at least not where Potter was concerned, so I let it be. "You didn't tell me how your last date went," I prompted, earning a grin from my little sister. She gushed about Bertram and how romantic he was for several minutes.
"How has Sev taken it?" I later asked cautiously, knowing he was a touchy subject for her. I couldn't see what she saw in him, especially now that he was nearly constantly with very vocal Pureblood elitists, when he wasn't secretly with Lily.
Lily frowned. "He's not happy, says Bertram's trying to take me from him. But he's not, and Sev won't listen. I just don't know what to do, Tuney."
"If someone's being stubborn, there's not much you can do," I said, remembering Nic's reaction when I started dating Gid. "But if he's really your friend, he'll come around."
…
One of the perks of being Head Girl was making the patrol schedule, which meant I occasionally got to patrol with my little sister. With me being a Seventh Year and her a Fifth, we were both being buried in schoolwork, so our joint patrols sometimes became the only time we spent time together. Which is why I arranged it for the first Friday of December.
"I love patrolling with you, Tuney," she said, hugging my arm.
"You're my favorite patrol partner," I agreed. "Well, after Nic," I added with a grin.
"I would be offended, except I agree with you."
We laughed, but I cut it off when I noticed a strip of light under a closet door. "Really, it would be nice if we could go one night without having to break up a tryst," I sighed, flinging the door open. Then I froze, once I saw who was behind it.
"Who is it this time, Tuney?" Lily asked boredly, then stepped around me. "Bertram?" she gasped, seeing her boyfriend wrapped around another girl.
"Lily! Petunia, it's not what you-" he said, scrambling to put space between him and the girl.
"Ten points from Ravenclaw, for each of you. Now, get back to your common room before I make it fifty," I said, then slammed the door. "Come on, Lils." I wrapped my arm around her and guided her to Gryffindor Tower.
Once at the Fat Lady, she took one look at Lily and silently swung open. We climbed through the hole, then I sent her up to her dormitory.
"What's wrong, Pet?" Frank, who was sitting by the fire doing his revision, asked me. And that caught Potter's attention, or at least dragged it from the staircase he was forlornly staring at. And all of his friends' attention, as well.
"I need you to finish our patrol, and Remus, if you'll go with him?" I asked. "And make sure there aren't any wayward Ravenclaws near the Astronomy Tower. It'll be fifty points from each if they're still there."
Both boys nodded grimly, with their friends assuring they would take their things back to their dorms. Then, I headed up the stairs to Lily's floor, where she was rummaging through her bag, rather violently.
"What're you doing, love?" I asked gently, then ducked as a crumpled piece of parchment came flying at me.
"I'm getting rid of every single note that lying toerag ever wrote to me," she replied, far too calmly, throwing another note over her head.
Once she had gathered them all into a pile on the floor, her roommates and I watched as she set them on fire. She grinned rather manically, until she sniffled once, twice, and then the tears started falling. I gathered her into my arms, while Alice put the flames out, then wrapped her arms around us both.
…
Lily was surprisingly fine the next morning. She only flinched lightly when someone mentioned Bertram accidentally, and she didn't really seem terribly bothered by the fact that he had cheated on her. She confessed to us girls that she had thought about breaking up with him, as he wasn't quite as kind and charming as he had been at the beginning of their relationship. "And he never liked it when I would get better marks on an assignment that him," she said. "It seemed like he thought he deserved better marks because he's a Ravenclaw."
"Well, he's an idiot either way, that's for sure," I replied, getting a grin from her. But any further remarks were cut off by Potter plopping down at the Hufflepuff table across from us.
"I think you might be confused," Tina said, poking at the boy like she couldn't quite understand what he was. "Gryffindor's one table over."
"I'm right where I want to be, thanks," he grinned, then turned to me and Lily. Though his gaze tended to stray to Lily far more than me. "I wanted to invite you lovely ladies to my New Year's Eve party. You're all invited, really," he added, including our friends in the invitation.
"No thanks," Lily said coldly, biting her bacon with a bit more force than was strictly necessary.
The boy gulped, looking suitably worried, but only for a moment. "My parents have gotten the Hobgoblins to play. It'll be brill."
"No thanks," Lily repeated, gritting her teeth.
"I think it's time to go, Prongs, before Evans decapitates you," Remus said cheerfully, pulling his friend from his seat.
"Just think about it!" Potter called over his shoulder, being pulled along by the taller boy. "It'll be great!"
"I quite like Remus's suggestion," Lily said, much calmer once he was gone. "Do you think I could manage to make it look like an accident?"
…
The last Monday of term, Marly and I walked into the Great Hall for lunch after Herbology to see Sirius Black sitting near our other friends, but entertaining some nearby Third Years.
"There are some roomy broom closets," he said to the adoring Third Years.
"Really, third years, Black?" I asked sardonically, making Marly choke back a laugh. "Budge over a bit."
Black obliged, sliding over enough so that Marly and I could sit across from Lottie and Tina. "I was just giving them something to look forward to when they're older, Evans. But if you're jealous, I'm sure we could find a broom closet somewhere."
"Are you sure you have time for me, Black? I heard Susanna Pritchard was your flavor this week."
"I can always make time for you, Evans," he smirked.
"You do realize that I have a boyfriend, right?"
"What Prewett doesn't know won't hurt him."
"It would probably hurt you, though."
"It would be worth it, Evans."
"Why are you even here, Black? In case you forgot, this is the Hufflepuff table. The Gryffindor table is over there, where they actually have to put up with you," I said sarcastically.
"I was actually waiting for you," he told me.
"What could you possibly want with me?"
"Plenty, Evans, but most of it can't be said with third years around." His lascivious grin made me blush, and the girls giggle.
"Really, Black, why were you waiting for me?" I managed to compose myself enough to ask. Even though I was madly in love with Gideon, something about Sirius Black made a girl's heart race. Not that it would do for him to know that, of course.
He grinned again, but answered my question, anyway. "Prongs, er, James, sent me to ask you if you were planning on going to his New Year's Eve party."
"No. Now you can go back to your table."
"No." Black sounded like he couldn't believe anyone would turn down an invite to his best mate's party.
"Sorry, but a fifth year's party doesn't sound like much fun to me. And besides, we both know the only reason Potter invited me was in the hopes Lily would come along," I said calmly, then lifted a forkful to my mouth.
"No, it's not," he said lamely, but we both knew better. At my raised eyebrow, he gave in. "Fine, it may have been a factoring part of his decision."
Just then, a commotion by the doors of the Great Hall made all of us turn to look. And when I saw what caused it, I burst out laughing.
"Black, Potter!" Lily's ex was standing at the door, well, more leaning on the jamb, since his head was now roughly five times its normal size. "I know you did this!"
McGonagall rushed from the teachers' table to the door, pausing only to tell Black that he and Potter had better still be there when she got back.
Once everyone's laughter had died down, I turned back to the boy sitting next to me. "Thank you."
"For what? We only gave Aubrey a head as big as he deserves," Black told me with a grin. "And it was for him telling Moony off the other day. It had nothing to do with the fact that he cheated on your little sister."
"Well, tell Potter thank you, anyway, too. And tell him I'll try to convince Lily to go to his party."
"That's definitely worth any future detentions," he replied, jumping up with a smile. But before he left our table, he leaned over my shoulder, hand on my back, and whispered, lips brushing my ear, "And if you change your mind, well, I've always got time for you, Evans." He then sauntered off, but not before he felt the shiver that ran down my back.
My friends stared at me for a long moment. "What?" I finally asked, tired of their stares.
"You were just flirting with Sirius Black," Marly stated, like she couldn't believe it.
"I was not," I protested.
"You most certainly were," Lottie rebutted with a grin.
"I was arguing with him most of the time we were speaking," I stated, trying to get them to see things from my point of view.
"It was passive-aggressive flirting," Lottie answered.
"You've been spending too much time reading your mum's psychology books again," I told her.
"Maybe, but it's true! You were flirting by not flirting!"
"You definitely were," Tina agreed.
"I was not! He's a fifth year, need I remind you. And I am completely and utterly in love with Gideon!" They were not going to let it go any time soon.
"It doesn't hurt to flirt," Lottie told me. "And Sirius Black is a very dishy fifth year."
"Very dishy," Tina agreed enthusiastically.
"And besides, he's just over a year younger than you, really," Marly added.
"Why do you know how old Sirius Black is?"
The look on her face was priceless as she squirmed for a bit. "Max was in Gryffindor, and the Marauders throw huge parties for each other's birthdays, have since their third year. And yes, he's a very dishy fifth year," she confessed, blushing a little.
Since all of my friends had confessed to finding him attractive, I supposed it didn't hurt if I did, as well. "Fine, I may have flirted with him, but he most definitely started it. And come on! It's Sirius Black, for Merlin's sake! It's not like I could help it! It's practically impossible to not flirt with him once he decides to flirt with you!"
But their oddly chivalric move did convince even Lily to attend the party, if only for a short while. That's how we girls found ourselves, along with Gid, Nic, Fab, and Max, Apparating to Godric's Hollow. "You know, for such a wealthy family, the Potter house isn't a gigantic manor like I thought it would be," Tina quipped.
"Let's get this over with," Lily sighed, dragging Alice behind her as she marched toward the door of the pleasant cottage.
After Lily had knocked, Potter opened the door, grinning widely when he was just who it was. "Evans! You made it!"
"Obviously," Lily said, pushing her way inside.
"I apologize for my sister, she's clearly forgotten her manners!" I yelled after her teasingly, then laughed when she turned around only to stick her tongue out at me before joining those already dancing. "Thanks for the invite, Potter."
"Yeah, mate, thanks," Gid added cheekily. "It's always good to see our old teammate."
We all filed our way into the house, past the slightly bewildered Potter. Black greeted us exuberantly, after looking at our boys a bit askance. "Honestly, you two didn't think that Pet would go anywhere without Gid outside of Hogwarts, did you?" Lottie laughed. "And where Gid goes, Fab and Max follow. And Nic lives with Pet and Lily, or did you forget that?"
"But we did bring some drinks to help make up for the extra guests," I added, pulling a shrunken case of butterbeer out of my pocket. "Thanks for having us, James," I said, grinning at him.
Once past the surprise, Potter accepted the uninvited guests with easy grace. And he even managed to get a smile or two out of Lily throughout the night, though not the kiss he'd clearly been angling for at the strike of midnight.
My kiss with Gid lasted far longer than just a few seconds, but Lottie's with Max was even longer. And then they disappeared for the next hour, only showing up when it was time to go looking thoroughly mussed and holding hands. "When did this… become this?" Marly asked, gesturing between the two of them and looking slightly horrified.
"We've been writing all term," Lottie blushed. "But I didn't want to say anything just yet."
"Well, snogging for an hour clearly speaks for you," Fab grinned. "Marly, you and I seem to be particularly single tonight. Fancy a kiss?"
"It is New Year's," she replied thoughtfully. "Why not?" They kissed, but it only lasted a moment before they broke apart. "Let's never do that again," she added, grimacing slightly.
"It was a bit like kissing my sister," Fab agreed, looking more than a bit ill.
"Well, that's what you get for kissing my sister, you tosser," Max said, cuffing his friend on the head.
But it wasn't until we were outside the Potters' gate that I realized something. "Wait, where's Nic?"
"And Danae?" Tina added, though she sounded rather amused.
"Nic and Danae?" I gasped. "Are they finally-"
They were, indeed, finally. We found the two of them snogging in the Potters' back garden, charmed to keep the weather off. Once they heard us, they pulled apart quickly, but melted back into each other's arms just as quickly. "Hi," she said shyly, tucking herself into Nic's neck.
"It's about bloody time," Marly screeched happily. "We've all been trying to get you two together for ages now."
"We've been dating since Hogsmeade," Nic replied calmly. "We just wanted to keep it to ourselves for now."
After much teasing of the two new couples, we finally trooped back through the house. Potter stopped us just before the door to thank us for coming. "I think we should be thanking you, actually," Fab said with a laugh. "It's clearly been a night of coming together, at least for some people!"
AN: I haven't given up on Pet, I swear! I've had a lot going on in my life lately, and I have about fifteen different WIPs that I'm working on whenever the muse strikes. I don't know how people can just work on one project at a time! Maybe it's just my ADHD. But I promise, I will stick with Pet! I will finish her story, it just might take me a long time. Thanks for continuing to read, and a big thanks to those of you who follow and especially review!