"Home sweet home." James said as he entered the Gryffindor common room with the rest of the group behind him. The common room was close to empty with most people deciding to catch up with their friends in the privacy of their own dormitories.
Lily noticed Marlene and Peter sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace. She walked over to greet her friends.
"Hey!" Lily said catching Marlene's attention.
Marlene looked up to see Lily, Nicole, Remus, James, and Sirius standing around the couches by the fireplace. She had completely forgotten that they would be coming home today. Marlene's mind had been preoccupied with other things.
Marlene stood to hug her friends.
"You okay Pete?" James asked stepping around the furniture to look at his friend who was still sitting on the floor staring off into the fireplace. Peter hugged his knees to his chest and looked completely worn out. James looked to Marlene for answers. Marlene quickly looked away turning her attention to Lily.
"Lily! Did you know that they opened a Muggle store in Hogsmeade? It was all over the Daily Prophet. I think it's right on time especially since your birthday is at the end of the month." Marlene said quickly trying to distract everyone from looking at Peter who still hadn't moved nor spoke despite the several attempts made by his friends.
"Really?! A muggle store in Hogsmeade?" Lily asked surprised. Nicole shook her head at Lily as she fell for Marlene's distraction.
"Yeah. Some people were really quite upset about the whole thing..."
"Marlene?" Nicole interrupted. Marlene looked at Nicole.
"What happened to Peter?" Nicole asked. She was standing off to side with Lily and Marlene while the boys were crowding around Peter trying to figure out what happened.
"That's what we want to know too." James said folding his arms across his chest and giving Marlene a look. Marlene sighed.
"He's fine. It's nothing serious." Marlene explained to everyone.
"Yeah try explaining that to the other two." Peter said sadly. Marlene glared at Peter.
You finally decide to speak and that's what you say! Marlene wanted to hit Peter for what he said but that would only arouse more suspicions and questions.
Marlene ran her hand through her long blond hair. She really didn't want to have to get into this again and she didn't want the other boys to find out what she had done.
"By the other two, I'm assuming he meant Sansa and Adrianna." Remus deduced. They were the only two fourth years not with them and both of them had spent the vacation at Hogwarts.
"Where are those two anyway?" Sirius asked Marlene.
"Did something happen?" Lily asked concerned.
"No...its just..." Marlene stammered. She was becoming flustered under everyone's stares.
"What is going on Marlene?" James asked sternly.
"Nuh-thing. They're just upstairs laying down. They were really tired...It's late anyway. You guys should probably head to your dormitory. I'll tell them to come see you guys in a bit." Marlene said regaining her composure. The boys looked unconvinced. Marlene looked to the Lily and Nicole for help.
"Marlene's right. We should unpack our stuff, change our clothes, then we can all catch up together." Nicole said catching on. Lily nodded and began helping Peter from the floor. The boys were still skeptic but knew that they weren't going to find out what happened down there in the common room. They boys left the common and began walking up the stairs to the boys dormitory with the girls following behind them.
Sirius watched the girls as they climbed the stairs that led to their dormitories.
"What the hell did we come back to?" Sirius asked looking from Peter to the other boys as they climbed the stairs to their own side. They were all wondering the same thing.
Marlene entered the girls dormitory to find Adrianna in the same place she had left her over a half-hour ago. Adrianna was curled onto her side in her bed hugging a pillow with a huge pout on her face. Sansa was sitting behind her rubbing her back in a comforting way.
Marlene inwardly groaned at Adrianna's figure. Marlene had hoped that Adrianna would have pulled it together by now. Obviously, she was wrong.
"Look who's back!" Marlene said gesturing to Lily and Nicole who entered the room with caution. They had no idea what was going on but had a feeling it wasn't good.
Sansa smiled at her two friends while Adrianna refused to acknowledge their presence.
"Is she okay?" Nicole asked referring to Adrianna.
"Yeah she's just...just having a bad day..."
"Try a bad year!" Adrianna snapped. She sat up in the bed and hugged the pillow to her chest. Adrianna's curly brown hair looked as if it hadn't been combed. Her cheeks were red and her eyes, puffy. It was obvious that she had been crying not that long ago. Marlene went to sit on the edge of Adrianna's bed while Nicole and Lily stood at the edge of the bed frame.
"Can someone tell us what's going on?" Lily asked. She had no idea what was making Adrianna so upset.
All of a sudden Adrianna began sniffling as she tried to hold back more tears.
"There there." Sansa said affectionately as Adrianna leaned her head on Sansa's shoulders. Sansa stroked Adrianna's hair comfortingly. Marlene turned and mouthed "Amos" to Lily and Nicole.
"She's still not over that!?" Nicole said incredulously. Adrianna had stopped her sniffling and threw the pillow she was holding at Nicole's face.
Adrianna scrambled off of her bed and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.
"I said that out loud didn't I." Nicole said not believing she had made that slip. Sansa shook her head and Marlene let out a sigh. Nicole threw the pillow back onto the bed and sat on the edge of Marlene's bed which was to the left of Adrianna's. Lily came and sat next to her.
Lily looked back at the bathroom door.
"Is all this really to do with Amos? I thought she was over it." Lily whispered.
"Well she was until she found out that Amos had a new girlfriend." Sansa said in the same low tone.
"I get that it sucks to have your ex start dating someone before you do but it's really not that serious." Nicole said refusing to let Adrianna off the hook for her over-dramatic behavior.
"It is when your ex is dating Emmeline Vance." Marlene said matter of factly. That name meant nothing to Nicole but from the look on the other girls' faces it wasn't good.
"Is he out of his bloody mind! Emmeline Vance is a royal bitch!" Lily said. The other three girls turned to look at Lily, with shocked expressions. They were quite surprised at Lily's hostile language. Lily was by far the nicest and most even-tempered person out of the group.
"Can someone please explain to me who this person is?" Nicole asked confused.
"She's the head girl from Ravenclaw. Long brown hair. Pointed chin. Nose like a goblin. Ears like an elf." The girls laughed at Marlene's slightly mean description.
"I know of her but I don't know her personally." Nicole explained hiding a smile at Marlene's remark.
"Count yourself lucky. She hates all of us." Lily said gesturing.
"Why?"
"Rumour has it that she was trying to get with one Caradoc Dearborn but..." Marlene trailed off looking at Sansa.
"I didn't do anything!" Sansa said emphatically. They all gave Sansa a look. Ever since the Masquerade dance, Sansa and Caradoc had become very close to one another. Sansa had repeatedly told them that they were just friends, even though no one fully believed her.
"He asked me what I thought about her and I told him. I wasn't going to lie to him. I told him that she was a spiteful, mean-spirited little bitch. Now she's living up to her reputation." Sansa stated gesturing to the bathroom where Adrianna was still secluded from the rest of the group.
"What exactly did she do to Adrianna?" Lily asked.
"Adrianna went to go talk to Amos: Wish him well, see how he was, you know, typical stuff. Adrianna and Amos have been goods friends ever since Amos became a prefect last year. Out of nowhere Emmeline comes and starts yelling at her. Telling her to stay away from him and all this other jealous rubbish. Then she called Adrianna 'an arrogant, conceited and self-centered besom who continuously chases after boys who don't want her.'" Marlene explained. Nicole and Lily sat there with their mouths open.
"In front of everyone?" Nicole asked. Marlene and Sansa both nodded.
"What did Adrianna do?" Lily asked.
"Nothing. Professor Tessler saw the whole thing so before Adi could do anything, he stepped in." Sansa explained.
"Wow. Poor Adi. That must have been so embarrassing." Nicole said sympathetically.
"Yeah. Story of my life." Adrianna said leaving the bathroom and sitting down at the edge of the bed.
"Adi I didn;t..." Adrianna stopped Nicole from finishing her sentence. Adrianna knew that Nicole was on her side.
Lily placed her hand comfortingly on Adrianna's knee.
"Don't listen to what she said. It isn't true." Lily said comfortingly. Adrianna scoffed.
"Yeah...well it turns out that she's not the only one who thinks that way about me." Adrianna said angrily. Adrianna wiped at her eyes that were beginning to tear again.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nicole asked confused. Adrianna looked at Marlene.
"Go ahead! Tell them the rest! Tell them what you did!"
"What?! Adi, I had no idea what was in there..." Marlene implored
"Right. Of course you didn't! You knew that they had this secret book for months but you never looked?! That's such bollocks!" Adrianna snapped turning toward Marlene.
"What are you guys on about? What book?" Lily asked looking from Marlene to Adrianna. Marlene sighed and ran her hands through her hair.
"James and the others...they have a book." Marlene stated.
"A book about what?" Nicole asked. She didn't like where this was going.
"It's about the girls at Hogwarts. It list their good qualities...their...bad qualities...it describes their personality."
The girls sat in silence soaking in what they just found out.
"So who has the book now?" Nicole asked looking from one girl to the next.
"You gave it to them?!" James yelled at Peter.
"It wasn't my fault! I didn't know what to do!" Peter whined. James threw his arms up in the air and began pacing the floor.
"How did this even happen?" Remus asked from his bed. Peter sighed.
"Adrianna was upset after what happened with the Head Girl from Ravenclaw so we all came back here and we started drinking some of the mead. Everything was going fine until Adrianna started crying. That's when Marlene brought up the book..."
"Hang on." Sirius interrupted. He was leaning against his bed frame.
"How did Marlene even know about it?" Sirius asked. Sirius looked at James. If Marlene knew, there was only one person she could have found out from.
James stood in the middle of the floor with his hands on his hips. He let out a long sigh.
"She caught me writing in the book..." The other boys groaned. Somehow Marlene always knew their secrets because of James.
"I didn't mean to all-right! She just kept asking me questions about it..."
"So you told her?! Why didn't you just lie?" Remus asked. James shrugged. Lying to Marlene had never occurred to him. Marlene was like a sister to him.
"Look. She promised she wouldn't say anything to the other girls."
"Well mate. Look like she lied about that one." Sirius said shaking his head. This was beginning to turn into a major disaster. They would be lucky if any of the girls would talk to them after they read what was written about them.
"Did the others read it?" Sirius asked Peter. Peter shrugged.
"They've had this book the entire time. My guess is they read it." Remus said matter-of-factly.
"Guys. I'm really sorry..." Peter implored.
"It's not your fault. It's no one's fault." Remus said comfortingly. All the boys were silent as they considered the situation that they were in. There was a knock on the door.
They all turned to look at the door. Nobody moved. There was another knock. Again no one moved to answer it. Someone tried the handle only to find it locked.
"I know you guys are in there!" Nicole called out.
"We can't hide forever." Sirius said walking toward the door.
"We can try." Remus said quietly as Sirius opened the door.
Nicole walked in wearing a blue sparkly tank top and black pajama pants. She walked to the center of the room and looked at the boys. They all wore an expression that was a mixture of complete horror and anger.
"Look. I'm not here to yell at you guys or anything like that. What you guys did...its not that bad. I mean there has been plenty of times when we've sat around talking about boys we would and would not date and why. Of course, we didn't write it down...but each to their own." Nicole explained.
The boys let out a sigh of relief. They had expected this conversation to go a lot differently.
"So Adrianna's okay?" Remus asked.
"Naw she's pretty pissed." Nicole stated.
"What?!" Sirius said in disbelief.
"You just said that you guys do the same thing so why is she still mad?" Sirius asked. Nicole looked at each of them. Nicole scoffed.
"You guys really don't get it do you?"
"What exactly are we supposed to get? Adrianna's blowing things out of proportion, once again." James snapped. Nicole gave James a look that instantly made him regret his words. Nicole scoffed.
"People say that first impressions are everything. You can tell so much about a person from the first moment that you meet them. I agree with that to a certain extent. First impressions are important in getting to know someone."
"What does that have to do with anything?" James asked folding his arms across his chest.
"My first impression of Adrianna was that she's arrogant, self-centered, and thinks only about her own feelings. All the things that you guys wrote about her." Nicole snapped glaring at each boy.
"I've only known Adrianna for a little more than four months and I know that none of that stuff is true. Four months! You guys have known her for Four. Fucking. Years!"
"Nicole..." Sirius started to say. Nicole whirled toward him.
"No! You of all people know who she is! You know what type of person she is!" Nicole turned back to the other boys.
"You know maybe you guys had it right. I mean Adrianna is definitely all those things, especially when she is defending Every. Last. One. Of. You." Nicole glared at each boy.
"Adrianna is pissed and she's hurt that you guys think so little of her and she has every right to be."
Part of her felt bad for yelling at them this way but another part thought that they deserved it. They needed to understand what they did and why it hurt so much.
Adrianna was no saint and there was times when Adrianna could be all of those things the boys had said she was, but then again so could they. All of them, including the girls, had their moments. The hurt came in when the boy used those words to describe Adrianna as a person. Those words defined her. After four years, that was what her closest friends thought of her.
The boys remained silent as Nicole's words soaked in.
"Look. We're sorry." Sirius said. The other boys made sounds of agreement.
"I'm not the one you need to apologize to. You didn't hurt me." Nicole walked toward Sirius. She lifted the side of her shirt to reveal the book. She pulled it from the waist of her pajama pants. She held it out to Sirius who took it.
"I stopped the other girls from reading it." Nicole said.
"Why?" Peter asked.
"I told them there was no point in getting worked up over the opinion of people who obviously don't know them." Nicole walked toward the door. She opened the door to find Adrianna standing there.
"Adi what..." Adrianna pushed straight past Nicole and went to Sirius.
"Did you write it?" Adrianna asked.
"What?"
"Don't play dumb. Did you write it? The entry about me?" Sirius sighed and ran his hand over his face.
"Adi look..."
Adrianna slapped Sirius hard.
"I'm done with you! Do you hear me?! I. Am. Done. I'm done defending you, I'm done trying to get you to see me! I'm done with you thinking you can just walk all over me! I'm done caring about you. I AM DONE!" Adrianna yelled in Sirius face.
The two of them stood there, Adrianna breathing hard and tears running down her face.
As quickly as Adrianna stormed into the room she stormed out. Nicole called out to her but Adrianna was already gone from the boys dormitory.
Nicole looked back to the boys. They all looked defeated. Nicole hadn't expected Adrianna to slap Sirius but Nicole couldn't fault Adrianna's actions: With everything that happened between the two of them Nicole would have done the same thing a lot sooner.
"She needs time." Nicole said quietly. She caught Sirius' eye and offered him a weak smile.
Nicole left the boys dormitory closing the door behind her. She leaned against the door, her thoughts racing.
She thought back to the book with all the girls names and qualities written out. She wondered what it said about the rest of them, what it said about her. If they thought that way about Adrianna, Nicole could only imagine what they would say about her.
Nicole rubbed at her forehead trying to release some of the tension that was building. Nicole walked back to the girls dormitory dragging her feet the entire way, her gut telling her that things were about to get worse.
A lot worse.
