Thousands of deaths and missing people started getting printed in the dead list and missing list of Daily Prophet. Students whose families had gone missing or died were rushed back home with the special provisions made by Hogwarts. Any student who was younger than 4th year was accompanied back safely by the few Order members who were free, and in the worst-case scenario, the Order members who were currently the students of Hogwarts. Any student who wished to go back willingly for any other reason was allowed to be escorted back by their parents or guardians.
The seats in the Great Hall which were once filled by at least a thousand students were now half empty. A lot many students would never return back because they had themselves appeared in the missing or dead list. Whenever the Daily Prophet arrived in the morning, the students first opened those two lists before moving onto any other news. If someone's friend or family had appeared in those lists, you could hear the screams or the wails and the rest of the students, staff and ghosts could only feel their heart clench.
Dumbledore had addressed the students and staff one morning when the atmosphere at Hogwarts was too gloomy. "We have amongst us the personifications of bravery and courage, hard work and loyalty, intelligence and wit, ambition and resourcefulness; in this time of great terror we must stand together – because divided we are weak. A lot many have suffered already at the hands of Lord Voldemort, but we can remember them and honour their memories, by not giving into the terror but fighting it by showing true bond and trust. Every day brings new hope and never let that hope go, because when we stand together – we will fight and win this war – not just against Lord Voldemort but against ourselves and our fears."
Dumbledore had encouraged students to enjoy their free time more with friends and to liven up the mood around Hogwarts, the preparations for the Hallowe'en feast started early. With a Gryffindor vs Slytherin Quidditch match planned just a day before Hallowe'en seemed to put everyone in a great mood.
Marlene was the first one to notice Lily's unfocused eyes when she returned to the dormitory. "Everything alright Lils?" Marlene asked, sitting up straight on her bed.
"Huh? Yes," Lily shook her head as if to bring herself out of some trance.
"Where were you? Are you sure everything is fine?" Marlene's voice was tainted with worry, she walked over to sit beside Lily on her bed.
"I was – with Potter," Lily's words made Mary drop her book with a loud thud and Alice turned around from the mirror where she was combing her hair.
"Details?" Mary squealed, making Alice and Marlene chuckle.
"I was coming back from the Quad and Potter was practising for Quidditch nearby I think, and all of a sudden he was hanging upside down in my vision, I was terrified at first and almost punched him," Lily's eyes were unfocused again, as if remembering the whole incident. Mary let out a snort.
"He asked me if he could join me, and I agreed – I don't know why, but we were talking and he – wasn't as bad as I thought," Lily continued and then finally looked at her friends who were already grinning.
"What were you talking about?" Marlene asked curiously.
"He was flirting –" Lily started, there was a slight blush on her cheeks.
"Did you flirt back?" Alice asked in an urgency.
"I think?" It sounded more like a question than a statement. The whole room was suddenly filled with squeals and giggles as the girls surrounded Lily.
"You think?! Lily!" Marlene giggled; she was smiling from ear to ear.
"But – I am supposed to hate Potter!" Lily exclaimed, her brows furrowed together and she genuinely looked distressed.'
"Why is that?" Mary put her hands on her hips, tilting her head to the left.
"Is it because of Snape?" Alice asked with a loud huff.
"Potter and his friends bully people," Lily tried to reason, it sounded she was reasoning more with herself than with her friends.
"They used to, not anymore, in case you haven't noticed," Marlene corrected her, earning nods from their other two friend.
"And honestly, they only bullied those wannabe death eaters like Snape, and it was nothing compared to the misery they put everyone in," Mary chimed in.
"It's not like Snape and his death eater friends didn't hex them. Only recently Sirius was hurt!" Alice reminded all her friends, and Marlene suddenly froze.
"But Potter is arrogant!" Lily cried, standing up from her bed and walking past her friends to the window.
"He shows off when he is around you, I think he wants you to see how desirable he is," Alice shrugged with a smile.
"But he does this –" Lily ran her hands through her hair to imitate James, "with his hair!"
"That is why you are rejecting him?" Mary cried, looking at her friend in disbelief.
"You are just finding excuses to hate Potter, when you already know you don't," Marlene told her earnestly, making Lily blush a furious shade of red.
"Is it bad – that I liked it? Potter flirting – with me," Lily asked her friends.
"No!" Marlene, Mary and Alice exclaimed in unison.
"James is a nice bloke; Frank says it too. His affection for you is genuine," Alice assured Lily.
"We aren't asking you to like him, but don't hate him when you have no reason to," Mary told Lily firmly.
"You don't have to feel guilty for liking him if you do, just because Snape hates him and you felt an obligation to hate James because Snape did," Alice agreed with Mary.
"Yes, because Snape is no longer your friend," Marlene added.
"Merlin knows he was toxic!" Alice shook her head.
"He still tries to talk to me," Lily admitted to her friends sheepishly.
"WHAT?!" Marlene exclaimed; her eyes widened in shock.
"You are telling us this just now?!" Mary looked at Lily in disbelief.
"I am sorry," Lily apologized, her eyes were on her feet, a small frown formed on her lips.
"Do you not consider us your friends?" everyone could hear how hurt Mary sounded.
"Mary that's not it, you know how much I love you girls," Lily quickly walked to Mary and took Mary's hands in her own.
"What happened?" Alice had a frown on her face too.
"Remember when school had just started and I was at the Library alone after class, to finish our first assignment?" Lily pulled Mary to her bed and sat down with her. She gestured her other two friends to join her on the bed as well and they did.
"Yes," Marlene replied with a nod.
"He followed me to the Library –" Lily started and her friends mumbled their disbelief.
"I always knew he was so creepy!" Mary exclaimed.
"I avoided him in the library, there were so many students there and I asked Remus if I could sit with him, so he didn't try to come closer. I thought he had left by the time I was done and I didn't even think to leave with Remus, I just left. But he was waiting outside the Library, for more than an hour!" Lily told her friends.
"I have goosebumps on my arms right now, this is disturbing Lils!" Mary expressed her discontent.
"I ignored him at first, but when he caught me by my wrist –" Lily continued but was immediately interrupted by her friends.
"He touched you?!" Marlene yelled; her jaw was clenched tightly. She could feel the anger boiling up in the pit of her stomach
"I hexed him, don't worry," Lily quickly added. "But he just got up and started following me again, said he wanted to apologize. I asked him if he was still friends with Mulciber and Avery, when he didn't reply, I asked him to leave me alone as I have chosen my path and he had chosen his."
"He continued trying to talk to me and I was about to hex him again but Potter walked around the corner and immediately told him off. He walked me back to the common room," Lily shrugged and let out a huge sigh.
"He has been looking out a lot for me, especially since things started getting riskier for muggleborns at Hogwarts," Lily completed with a smile.
"I don't think you need us to tell you why James is a nice fellow!" Alice said in a matter-of-fact voice.
"There is one more thing," Lily mumbled sheepishly, her cheeks were turning pink again.
"Lily Evans! Just how much have you been hiding from us?" Marlene chuckled excitedly.
"Don't get too excited over this alright?" Lily asked her friends, who exchanged glances before nodding.
"Back when we were brewing Amortentia…" Lily trailed off, her face now as red as her hair. Her friends exchanged knowing glances but tried to contain their excitement.
"Old Books, Cherries and – James?" Marlene jested, a smirk playing on her lips.
"When you say it like that it sounds so bizarre!" Lily hid her face behind her hands. Her friends could no longer contain their giggles and squeals.
"Wait I have a better question," Mary gestured her friends to remain quiet as she took Lily's hands off her face.
"How do you know what James smells like?" Mary had a grin on her face, watching Lily's face turn a furious shade of red once again, her friends couldn't help but laugh.
Marlene held Lily by her shoulders and looked her in her eyes, "Lily have you kissed James?"
"No!" Lily cried, trying to hide her face again but in vain as Marlene held onto her hands.
"Then how do you know?" Marlene asked, her jaw was hurting from how big she was smiling.
"We have been in close proximity," Lily admitted shyly. Marlene couldn't stop herself before the memory came back to her and her heart immediately skipped a beat. Sirius had cupped her face and almost kissed her – almost! Her smile faded just a little bit when she remembered the memory but she tried to keep her face as composed as possible.
"I can't believe Lily lied to us in the class," Mary looked at Marlene, who nodded her head.
"Black was sitting right next to me, should I have said that in front of him?" Lily reasoned with her friends.
"You're right," Mary agreed, nodding her head.
"Talking of Black, Marlene –" Lily started, 'Oh no!' Marlene thought, her heart already started pounding loudly.
"We never got to complete that conversation," Lily continued. Marlene knew which conversation they were talking about.
"Because there is nothing to say," Marlene tried to sound as indifferent as possible.
"Why were you with Sirius in the Sundial garden?" Alice asked, now all eyes had turned towards Marlene and she could no longer keep her heart rate under control.
"You all saw what happened in the Great Hall that day, with his friends and then during classes. I thought he could use a friend," Marlene wasn't happy with her answer but that was all she could come up with at the moment.
"You are Black's friend?" Mary raised her brows.
"Acquaintance," Marlene sounded unsure and she hated it. She should sound more confident in her answers to convince her friends.
"What happened at Sundial Garden?" Lily asked curiously.
"He just slept and I read my novel," Marlene could feel her heart pounding once again. All her friends were speechless, they exchanged glances and tried to come up with a response.
"And when you went to the Great Lake?" Alice asked, her curious eyes tried to hold Marlene's gaze.
"I returned his books, he thanked me for returning his books and helping him after the accident, and we made small talks before returning," Marlene played with her fingers as she mumbled.
"Then where are these rumours coming from?" Alice sounded irritated but Marlene didn't look up from her fingers.
"That's what they are, rumours," Marlene mumbled again.
"Yes, apparently Black is getting married and then there is one that he is already a death eater and then my favourite – he tried to kill Snape – I wouldn't mind if that was true," Mary spoke the last part from between her teeth. "He'd be my new best friend if anything."
"Let's not get worked up on these rumours and let's go have dinner, I am starving," Marlene spoke after a long pause, finally looking at her friends.
"Lily can sit with James," Mary jested before getting up from the bed, earning a groan from Lily and "I shouldn't have told you." It made all her friends laugh as they made way to the Great Hall.
Much to everyone's surprise, James made his way over to Lily and sat down beside her for dinner. There were a lot of whispers and glances in their direction. At first Lily had started turning a shade of tomato but when James smiled at her dazingly and asked "Alright Evans?" she couldn't help but smile back.
James couldn't forget how Lily's laughter sounded like bells chiming softly when she laughed at his jokes. She visibly relaxed when they were talking about nothing in particular and she asked him, "Are you prepared for the Quidditch match tomorrow?"
He smiled proudly and replied, "As always; are you coming to watch the match?"
She absentmindedly replied, "Of course I am," and then turned a shade of beetroot.
Sirius was running late for the Quidditch match. He had woken up late, got to the Great Hall late for breakfast and now he was late after changing into his Quidditch uniform. If he didn't reach Quidditch pitch in another two minutes, he knew James would have a meltdown. So, he was running as fast as he could, out of breath but still trying to keep up his pace.
Everyone else was heading out for the match as well, the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were wishing him luck; the Slytherins were ignoring him, not that it bothered him.
Just as he turned around the corner to exit the castle and run to the Quidditch Pitch he almost bumped into a girl. His hands automatically held her by her shoulders and he started mumbling an apology that died in his throat when he saw her face.
Marlene was just as shocked to bump into Sirius. She sighed at her luck; she had hoped for it to be anyone but Sirius. She looked up to him from under her lashes and her heart immediately started racing.
He couldn't get himself to drop his hands from her shoulders, frozen in his place, just as she was. He wanted to tell her to not look at him that way, she had no idea what effect she had on him.
"I am sorry," he whispered, not just for bumping into her but for what happened at the Sundial garden.
"It's alright, I should've seen where I was headed," Marlene mumbled and he sensed her word also meant more than she was letting on; or was he reading too much into the situation?
He dropped his hands to his side and took a step back, remembering he was late for the match. He didn't want to leave; it had been days since they had come face to face like this and he wanted to relish the moment.
"Are you not coming to see the match?" Sirius asked her, she was headed inside the castle.
"I forgot my scarf, I was going to get that," Marlene replied, forcing a smile on her lips.
"Oh… I will – leave," Sirius replied awkwardly, continuing towards the Quidditch pitch.
"Sirius," Marlene's voice made his heart do summersaults and he immediately stopped dead in his tracks and turned around sharply.
"Good luck for the match," there was no smile on her face, she wished him and turned around to head inside the castle quickly.
The match was about to start, the players were out on the pitch and Sirius had spotted Marlene's friends in the crowd but he couldn't spot Marlene. She had clearly not returned and he wondered if she was going to?
"Padfoot?" James's voice brought his attention back to the pitch.
"Yes?" he asked, looking at the Gryffindor captain.
"Are you okay?" his voice was tainted with worry; Sirius forced a grin and nodded his head.
Just when they were asked to mount their broomsticks, Sirius threw a last glance towards Marlene's friends. Much to his surprise, she was sitting right by her friends, talking to them animatedly. He hadn't even realised when she had come to take her seat but he could finally breathe better now that she was sitting there.
"Let's win this game," Sirius heard James's excited voice. Kicking off the ground, they headed to touch the sky and the crowd cheered wildly. The Quaffle was thrown in the air and the chasers including James and Sirius headed straight for it. James snuck it under his arm and directed his broomstick towards the goal hoops, making Sirius grin, who followed James.
"The game has barely begun and James Potter scores 10 points for Gryffindor already!" the commentary bloomed across the field as James put the Quaffle through the hoops. Sirius couldn't help but cheer for his best friend with the rest of the crowd.
"Padfoot!" James shouted and looked at a fifth year Slytherin chaser, who was headed straight for Sirius, taking his place beside Sirius. Sirius looked at the chaser and waved at him with a smile, before his broomstick dipped in the air and took him down as if he was about to crash to the ground.
Marlene gasped with the rest of the spectators when Sirius dropped at a great velocity. Turning around right before he touched the ground, he shot straight up and caught the Quaffle in his hand, faster than anyone's eyes could register and put it through the goal hoops.
"Sirius Black earns Gryffindor another 10 points with his fast reflexes!" the commentator stated happily and the crowd cheered.
The score was 70-30 with Gryffindors showing perfect team work and a proud James grinning at his teammates. The golden snitch hadn't been spotted yet and the seekers had their eyes wide open for it.
Things were going perfectly fine; the mood had brightened up and the crowd was cheering wildly. Until a Slytherin Beater hit the Bludger with what looked like all his strength and set it straight towards the spectators.
People couldn't tell who was heading faster towards Lily Evans, the Bludger or James Potter who threw the Quaffle towards Sirius and leaned forward on his broomstick, cutting through the air.
There was chaos around Lily, people had spotted the Bludger and were trying to cover their heads from it.
"A foul by the Slytherin Beater – and the golden snitch has been spotted!" the commentator continued excitedly but for those towards whom the Bludger was headed couldn't care less.
James hovered in front of Lily for a second before the rear end of his broomstick hit the Bludger and sent it flying back to the Beater who had set it towards Lily in the first place. The Bludger hit the Beater in the arm and he dropped on the ground like a fly.
"THAT'S A FOUL!" James shouted angrily, leaning forward on his broomstick he headed straight to the Slytherin captain.
"Lily are you okay?" Mary who had been sitting right beside Lily asked her. But Lily couldn't speak, her heart was in her mouth. To her, it seemed like James had appeared out of thin air and diverted the Bludger away from her. Her hands were still shaking.
"She is shaking," Marlene extended her hand towards Lily from over Mary. Giving Lily's hands a light squeeze, she caught Lily's attention, who gave her a weak smile.
"Potter looks angry," Mary noted and their eyes turned towards James, who was angrily shouting at the Slytherin captain. It wasn't until Sirius came to his side that James tried to control his anger and Marlene wondered what had Sirius told James to get his anger under control.
"The Gryffindors earn a penalty because of the foul play by Slytherin beater – and the seekers are still in pursuit of the golden snitch that has disappeared once again."
James had his jaw clenched tightly as he hovered in front of the goal hoops with the Quaffle in his hand. From the corner of his eyes he looked at Lily and sent the Quaffle flying through one of the goal hoops with ease, earning another 10 points for Gryffindors. Just then the Gryffindor seeker spotted the golden snitch only a few inches away from his broomstick. The Slytherin seeker spotted the golden snitch as well and the two headed straight for it.
They crashed with a loud thud and disbalanced off the broomstick, landing straight on the ground beneath them, the spectators gasped and got up from their seats.
"GRYFFINDOR HAS CAUGHT THE GOLDEN SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!" The ear deafening cheering could be heard across the Quidditch Pitch when the Gryffindor Seeker raised his hand with the golden snitch secured tightly, still lying on the ground.
The Gryffindors were having a party after dinner in the common room to celebrate their first Quidditch win of the school year. The Marauders had managed to sneak in Firewhisky along with Butterbeer, leaving everyone in a much better mood.
The whole common room was crowded as students gathered around and socialised with each other. Some couples could be seen snogging in a corner of the common room. The whole room was filled with a buzzing chatter and lively banter.
"Black give some here!" A seventh year Gryffindor asked Sirius for the bottle of Firewhisky in his hand, that Sirius passed on gladly.
Marlene was sitting with Lily and Mary on the end of the staircase that led up to the girl's dormitories and watch Sirius's huge grin and rolled her eyes when she saw him taking another shot of the Firewhisky.
"Dorcas is calling me, I will be right back," Mary pointed towards a fellow Gryffindor student with a grin, before quickly getting up and jogging towards her.
Marlene and Lily watched Dorcas hand Mary a glass of Firewhisky and they chuckled, "I don't think she is coming back anytime soon," Marlene jested, making Lily laugh.
"Alright Evans?" Both Lily and Marlene turned to look at the bespectacled boy who leaned against the wall near Lily.
"I'll be right back," Marlene mumbled, a grin forming on her lips as she got up from the staircase and walked towards the crowd, leaving James and Lily alone. She looked over her shoulder to find Lily standing up to talk to James and she smiled to herself happily.
Marlene hadn't noticed as she bumped into someone and her heart skipped a beat. When she looked in front of her, she met blue eyes instead of the grey eyes she was hoping for. She knew the smiling seventh year Gryffindor boy, Robert King.