By Dimantrien
Chapter 6: Arguments and Misgivings
The girls' dormitory was oddly quiet. It was 9:00 in the evening, and Celeste was pretending to read a fashion magazine, Lily was rechecking her homework, and Chase was just lying in her bed, unable to sleep. Kylie, Sylvia, Rhiannon and Damaris, the four other occupants of their dorm room, were still downstairs (like every other Gryffindor who didn't fancy turning in so early on a Friday) in the common room.
After ten more minutes of mute silence, Celeste threw her magazine to the floor. "Oh, this is stupid! Can't anybody say something?!"
Chase looked at her, nonplussed by her very un-Celeste-like outburst. "You always did say that I should keep my mouth shut once in a while so that I wouldn't get the urge to bicker with you, sis," she said, then turned back to her mind-numbing task of staring at the ceiling of her four poster.
"I never said that you should act like you've had your tongue cut out," Celeste shot back. She wasn't really angry at her sister, quite the contrary, she was actually relieved that Chase was answering back and breaking the silence.
"Well, if that were the case, then at least Melodrama Girl over there would be happy. I wouldn't be able to do any wiseass preaching if I didn't have a tongue," Chase responded, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she shot a pointed look at Lily.
Celeste sighed. "You know that's not what I meant, Chase."
A shuffling of parchments was heard then, and Lily stood up, her homework neatly rolled in her hands. "Don't bother persuading Chase that she's wrong, Celes," she said. "You can't correct someone who's already too perfect—or so she thinks." She glared coldly at her ex best friend.
Celeste shook her head, then put her hands over it, as if she were nursing a severe headache. "This is pointless," she muttered to herself. "You know, you two could at least act civilly to each other," she pointed out in a louder voice.
"Like that's going to change anything," Lily scoffed. Again, silence.
Celeste didn't know what to do. The tension in the room was so thick, she was dying to pull either Lily or Chase out of the dormitory and drag her to the common room so that they could both cool their heads. But that was the problem. If she left one of them alone, then that meant she took the side of the other. And if she just stayed here, driving herself mad in the silence, they weren't going to get anywhere.
The only other option was stalking out of the room alone, and both Lily and Chase would think that she didn't care about them and their fight at all, which would only make them mad at her. She was definitely stuck in indecision, and worse, none of them would produce a positive outcome. She wished that one of the other girls would come up, then at least she could talk to someone. Anyone.
As if answering her plea, the door slowly started to swing open. She breathed a sigh of relief. There is a god, she mentally cheered. The person stepped in, and Lily and Chase looked up imperceptibly.
And instantly, Celeste's hopes deflated, the color drained from Lily's face, and Chase sighed then buried her head in her pillow, muffling an almost inaudible groan.
Damaris stood pale-faced in the doorway.
*****
"Okay, okay, we totally understand," Sirius reassured his best friend. James had just come into the dormitory, and it had been a half hour since they had given up looking for him. As soon as he had entered the room he had launched into an explanation about the reason of his and Lily's breakup.
"You do? You mean, you're not mad at me?" James asked doubtfully.
"Yes," Sirius said exasperatedly, exchanging an annoyed look with Remus. Peter nodded vigorously.
Remus, who was lying on his stomach on his four poster, leaned forward. "So, you're saying that you tried to talk to Lily about what you just told us, but she just blew up at you?" he prompted.
James just nodded miserably. "D'you think she'll ever forgive me?"
Sirius let out a low whistle. "I dunno, Prongs. It sounds like you really screwed things up big time," he commented bluntly.
"Sirius," Peter warned. Remus showed his agreement by narrowing his eyes at Sirius.
"Ah…what I meant was…you—er, screwed things up enough for her not to talk to you for several…erm…uh…until the distant future," Sirius tried to explain, looking uneasy.
Remus sighed. "What our inarticulate friend is trying to say is… We don't think Lily'll forgive you anytime soon," he interpreted sympathetically to the dejected James.
"We're doing the best we can, and Celeste said she'd help calm Lily down, if that makes you feel better," Peter added hastily. James was the one who trusted him the most and was always there for him, and he wanted to do the same.
This statement seemed to perk James up a little, and Remus gave Peter a grateful smile. Right at that moment, the door banged open, slamming against the wall and swinging back because of the force, and Celeste stormed in, looking pissed.
The marauders stared at her, too surprised to move. Then Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Furious much?" he said tentatively, looking at the dent that the doorknob made on the wall at Celeste's entrance.
Celeste completely ignored him, then sat down on the only other bed in the room that was unoccupied at the moment. "I can't believe those two," she fumed.
Remus scooted beside her and put an arm around her shoulder. "Okay, calm down. What happened?"
The gesture seemed to make Celeste relax slightly, and she looked less tense. "It's Lil and Chase. I'm just so sick of them not talking to each other. I was trying to make them get along a few minutes ago and they just insulted each other—"
"That isn't so bad," Peter piped up, obviously thinking that Celeste was being way too dramatic as usual. "You should just let them cool off for a few—"
"I'm not yet finished," Celeste snapped. "After I thought they would be finished mocking each other, Damaris entered the room." At those words, James' face paled. "To make matters worse, Lily went off on Damaris and Chase said something that made Lily even madder. It was horrible, they both lost it and started to hex each other—Damaris got caught in the crossfire and had to go to the infirmary, and I only just got away."
"What did Chase tell—?" Sirius asked eagerly, but Remus shot him a look and he stopped mid-question.
Luckily, Celeste was too distracted to hear his question and was rubbing her temples. "I had a job hushing it up to the prefects; it wouldn't be any good if they caught Lily doing magic out of class—but it didn't make much difference, everyone in the common room saw Damaris going to the hospital wing with worms sprouting in her hair and half the length of her arms covered in feathers…"
The guys were silent; Sirius and Peter glanced at James then back at Celeste, looking like they expected her to blow up at him and tell him that it was all his fault that these things were happening.
But she did nothing of the sort and just took deep breaths before speaking again. "Just in case it might happen again… You guys won't do anything to piss either of them off, right? Right?"
James was still too distraught to respond, and Sirius appeared to not want to do what Celeste said. Remus and Peter, however, nodded. Peter nudged Sirius.
"Padfoot," Remus prompted.
Sirius sighed. "Yeah, okay, but can I annoy them with things that do not concern the current issue?" he asked, grinning.
"Whatever. Anything that can distract them is fine," Celeste said. She looked at her watch. "I think that by now they've either cooled down or hexed each other so bad they can't lift their wands, so it's probably safe for me to go back. 'Night, guys," she said, giving Remus a quick kiss before going out the door.
"It's nice to know that at least one of us doesn't have any girl troubles," James sighed.
Peter shrugged. "With Celeste, everything's perfect. The perfect grades, the perfect record, the perfect looks, the perfect boyfriend." His eyes suddenly lit up. "Hey James! I just remembered, you won the bet!"
James blinked, then looked a little relieved that they were finally changing the subject. "What bet?"
"You know, the one that you told me about last week. You said that if Sirius went after another girl other than Chase, then he'd do your bidding or something like that. Well, I went to the kitchens last Tuesday and I saw him and Rhiannon Thetis kissing!" Peter revealed.
Sirius scowled at Peter. "You said you weren't going to tell anyone about that!" he protested.
Remus snickered. "Sirius, you've never been embarrassed if one of us caught you snogging a girl somewhere before, so why stop now?"
"Yeah. And now that you've gone back to your old ways, you have to be Prongs's servant for five whole days 'cause you made the deal on a Monday and you made out with a girl on a Saturday," Peter added. He glanced at James. "See? You won!"
But James didn't look that happy at all, in fact, his eyes still held the same glint of sadness as they had when he first went into the dormitory that night. Sirius and Rhiannon's new relationship only reminded him of the fact that his was broken into pieces.
*****
Rhiannon sat up on her bed when she heard Celeste step into the room. "Oh, it's you. I thought it was another prefect…"
"Where are Lily and Chase?" Celeste asked, plopping onto her own bed.
Rhiannon gestured at the two mentioned names' respective beds, which had their hangings shut. "Asleep. When Damaris went down and you'd gone to the boys' dormitory, I checked on them. Had to cast Cheering Charms on them to keep them from killing each other."
"Thanks," Celeste said gratefully, relieved that she didn't have to play peacemaker again. "This whole thing is a mess. You don't know how happy I'll be when all their problems blow over…"
Rhiannon rolled over on her stomach and propped her face up with her hands. "Are you mad at Damaris for kissing James?" she asked tentatively.
Celeste appeared to be thinking for a moment, then shook her head. "I suppose not. She mustn't really have known they were a couple. But I just can't get why James would dump Lily if there was just a misunderstanding," she added, frowning. "I've been friends with him for a year already, and I thought he'd change and be serious about a girl for once—once he went out with Lily. I don't know what's gotten into him."
"I think he still loves Lily," Rhiannon remarked thoughtfully. "He wouldn't go after her just to be yelled at if he just broke up with her for fun… But you're right, I don't get why he'd break up with her in the first place." She shook her head and yawned.
"We'll talk more in the morning," Celeste said. "Good night."
"'Night," Rhiannon answered sleepily as she swished her wand to turn out the lights.
*****
Classes resumed the next day. Celeste was fed up with her best friend and her twin's coldness towards each other and tried not to be in the same room as the two of them when they were together—except classes, of course. This behavior of hers seemed to have diffused Chase somewhat, and she didn't initiate any arguments with Lily anymore, which was well, because Lily was now refusing to talk to her, James and Damaris.
It was no different in Potions, where Professor Witzgromeneirre instructed the Slytherin-Gryffindor pairs to work on their Sleeping Draughts. For once, Lily was relieved that they were paired with the Slytherins instead of their friends, and went over to Roxanne Boyd, who looked rather surprised that Lily didn't greet her with a scowl. Chase shared the same relief as Lily did—not only was the table she was working in far from Lily's, she and Snape were already friends.
"What's up with you?" Snape asked Chase as they were pounding beetle eyes. Chase had just been to the front to get ingredients that they didn't have on their school list, and she and Lily had a particularly long glaring fight before she went back. She had a sour look on her face when she got back to their table.
Chase scrutinized Snape as he questioned her, debating whether she should tell him about her problems or not. She decided she should answer him. Who else was she going to confide in? Celeste refused to take sides, and the marauders weren't exactly good at solving personal problems. Rhiannon seemed closest to Celeste and would probably agree with her not to take sides, and she didn't think it was wise to confide in Damaris either, as she caused the reason for Chase and Lily to fight in the first place. Snape seemed to be her only friend who didn't have anything to do with the conflict.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Snape said uncertainly.
Chase sighed. "No, it's okay. It's just that Lily and I had a fight, and it doesn't look like we're going to be best buds again anytime soon," she explained, rolling her eyes as if to let Snape know that it wasn't too big a deal.
"You and Evans had a fight?" Snape repeated, glancing across the room at Lily, then back at Chase. "Why?"
"She and James broke up recently. I knew the reason why James dumped her before the actual breakup and apparently, she thinks I'm a heartless non-friend because I didn't tell her until after they broke up. When I tried to reason with her, she just said that I'm a smart aleck" Chase frowned, remembering their fight.
"If anyone's to be blamed it's Potter, since he was the one who broke up with her in the first place," Snape remarked, his eyes glittering malevolently as he looked over at James and Avery. "Though I wouldn't be surprised that he did, seeing as Evans is a Mu—"
Chase raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a look that clearly said "You promised not to call Lily a Mudblood."
"A Muggleborn," Snape finished hastily.
"Why would James not want to date Lily because she's Muggleborn?" Chase demanded, even though she knew that Snape would probably say that witches of Muggle parentage weren't worthy to be respected by purebloods.
Snape was quiet for a moment. "Well, as far as I remember, all the girls that Potter dated before Evans were purebloods," he answered finally, and as Chase mentally recounted all of James's previous girlfriends, that was true.
"I suppose…" Chase said slowly. "Listen, Severus, I know you're a Slytherin and all, and even if I'm not very fond of Lily right now, I still don't like it when people call her a Mudblood."
"I know," Snape said. "But it's hard to forget—I mean, I'll try not to next time," he promised, though there was a look in his eyes that said that this vow was very painful to keep. He was, after all, a Slytherin.
Chase rolled her eyes. "You make it sound like you're going to be thrown into Azkaban if you say 'Muggleborn' instead of 'Mudblood.' But let's just say that's the last of my goody-goody requests; if Lily found out about this she'd probably worm in a reason to say that I'm a wannabe-omniscient who knows what's best for everyone and bosses them around to do it," she deadpanned.
Snape smirked at the remark as he stirred their potion. "If she did that, I'll gladly tell her that she's just jealous that you're more sensible than Perfect-Straight-A-Superior-IQ Evans."
Chase smiled. "Couldn't agree with you more."
*****
"Hey Padfoot," Remus greeted Sirius, who had followed him to the front of the classroom where he was picking out ingredients.
"Black, I do believe that you and Preston have gotten your fair share of water from the Spring of Dreams, and there is no reason for you to come back here to get some more," Professor Witzgromeneirre said irritably.
Sirius just gave her a (fake) saccharine smile. "Professor, I just got the measurement wrong and I wish to make it exact so as to perfect this excellent project that you have assigned us students," he said innocently.
Professor Witzgromeneirre scowled at him, but couldn't do anything about it because there was nothing to blame Sirius for, so she walked away and went back to the task of grading the third years' Forgetfulness Potions.
"So, what did you want to tell me?" Remus asked in a quieter tone, knowing well that Sirius didn't get all sweet and suck-up to a Slytherin teacher unless there was a hidden purpose.
Sirius glanced around them to check that no one was looking suspicious before talking. "Do you see Chase?"
Remus scanned the back of the classroom, where Chase and Snape were bent over their potion. He raised his eyebrows at Sirius as if he wasn't being…serious (no pun intended) as usual. "Uh-huh, why, has Chase mysteriously disappeared a few minutes ago?" he inquired dryly.
"Not that, you git, look what she's doing!" Sirius hissed, inconspicuously gesturing at Chase. "Tell me what you see," he added in a calmer voice.
Remus glanced at Chase and Snape again. "I see Chase working on the Sleeping Draught with Snape," he said stupidly, then looked back at Sirius. "Sirius, are you trying to annoy me?!"
"Oh, come on, look closer," Sirius seethed in a tone that implied that Remus was trying to be an idiot on purpose.
Sighing, Remus looked at the pair for the third time, scrutinizing them. Chase was saying something, and Snape patted her on the shoulder. "I don't see anything out of the ordi—" Wait a second. Snape patted Chase on the shoulder???
"See, that's what I've been trying to tell you!" Sirius cried, throwing his hands up as Remus goggled at Chase and Snape then back at him. "And look, Chase isn't angry, or annoyed, or disgusted—for Merlin's sake that's Snape you know! She shouldn't be—"
"Black and Lupin, I demand that you cease your impromptu deliberation, for goodness' sake, this is Potions, not the Debate Club!" Witzgromeneirre exploded, giving them an extra-special look: the death glare. "If you insist that whatever topic you're discussing is more important than your project, which I doubt, then I suggest you take your conversation outside, along with twenty points from Gryffindor!"
"Oh, sorry Professor, as much as we'd love to, we don't take points from our House—that's the teacher's department," Sirius responded sweetly, but nevertheless he scurried back to his place beside Preston, and seconds later Remus was back to his and his partner's table.
"Everything okay, Moony?" James asked Remus concernedly. He was barely doing work; it was much easier to boss Avery around into doing everything for their potion.
Remus glanced at Snape, who was pointing at the potion and explaining something to Chase (he could tell it was explaining, because Snape had that "I-could-be-the-professor-in-this-class" look on his face). Chase looked at Snape skeptically and Remus could tell that they were disagreeing with each other. It looked like things were back to normal. "Yeah, it is now."
*****
Sirius didn't get to talk to Chase on the way to the Ancient Runes classroom, perhaps because of how she mysteriously disappeared once she was out of the dungeons. He figured he could ask her about the being-unnaturally-friendly-with-the-resident-greaseball issue during class, since she couldn't avoid him then.
He was so busy with his thoughts that he slid into the classroom just in time, as in, two seconds before the late bell. Their professor clapped her hands as Sirius took his seat and said, "Excellent save, Mr. Black." Then she went on to droning about translating more complicated rune symbols, which, in Sirius' opinion, was beyond boring, and he stifled a yawn before remembering what he was supposed to ask Chase.
Locating a spare piece of parchment in his book bag, he scribbled something onto it as unobtrusively as possible and when the professor faced the board to draw some runes, he flicked his wand and made the parchment land three desks to his right, where Chase was sitting.
Ancient Runes was Chase's best subject, and she was usually serious about taking notes in this class but today she looked oddly disinterested with the lesson and didn't hesitate to open the piece of parchment (their teacher was still filling the board up with symbols and translations).
Hey. What's up? –Padfoot–
Sirius watched Chase read the note, scrawl something on it, and pass it to Patricia McKinney. As soon as the parchment reached him, he unfolded it, not even glancing at the front to see if the coast was clear.
The sky, the clouds, the ceiling of this classroom that's completely covered with a circular glowing rune chart… Why do you ask? ~Flamefeather~
(If you remember, Chase is an Animagus too so she's got a nickname that she can use whenever they're passing notes so that the teacher wouldn't know who exactly wrote the notes if ever he or she caught students passing it to and fro. ^_^)
Sirius shook his head amusedly at Chase's reply and repeated the process: scribble, flick, and aim (for Chase's desk).
I was actually thinking along the lines of anything new that is happening…but I don't deny that your answers were correct, literary-wise, anyway. –Padfoot–
(I'm just gonna write their conversation without interruptions, as it's easier…-_-)
I knew you were prodding for something. Why don't you just spit out what you want to ask? ~Flamefeather~
Moi? Prodding for information? I can't believe you'd think that of me… Anyway, yes, I do have a question to ask you, but don't you call it nosing around, its proper term is "personal inquiry." –Padfoot–
Right… so, pray tell, what are you personally inquiring? ~Flamefeather~
Don't blame me for my lively curiosity, but why does it seem that during our Potions class, you were being incongruously amiable towards a particularly oily and greasy piece of scum? –Padfoot–
Am I right in assuming that the "particularly oily and greasy piece of scum" is Severus Snape? ~Flamefeather~
Know any other particularly oily and greasy pieces of scum? –Padfoot–
Fine, I get your point. So what would you do if I said yes, I was being incongruously amiable to him? ~Flamefeather~
YOU WERE???! I mean, you can stop using big words now, I just did that to make the implication of hostility less subtle… –Padfoot–
Hostility to who? Me or Severus? And no, I wasn't using big words, I was merely copying the phrase you wrote. Wise guy… ~Flamefeather~
If I were to be hostile to somebody, who do you think is the more likely target, you or that git? And WHY are you calling him in first name terms??! –Padfoot– PS – I resent your last remark, by the way…
By now the piece of parchment they were writing on was completely covered, and their teacher finished writing and asked them to copy all of the stuff written on the board. Sirius watched Chase fold the note and shove it into her backpack and extract a new one, along with a roll of parchment for her notes. She seemed to be contemplating what to write.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the new piece of paper landed on Sirius' desk.
If it makes you happier, I'll answer all your questions and any possible ones you're trying to formulate in your little mind right now… First, being polite to Severus is going to make the Potions project a whole lot easier; second, being civil to him obviously requires using his first name. In case you have any objections to me deciding to be friendly with him, let me remind you that this way, I'll be spared hexing sessions whenever we're supposed to work on the potion, so I'd rather act congenial instead of ending up with twitching ears and mutated body parts, thank you very much. Now that I'm sure that I've explained everything you could possibly ask, leave me in peace to copy my notes. ~Flamefeather~
Sirius spent the better half of the class trying to read between the lines of Chase's note, and his final conclusion was that she forced herself to act civil with Snape so that the Potions project would run smoothly and her grades in Potion wouldn't hover above the toilet—not that they would, because a joint project with a Slytherin ensured that she would get a satisfactory grade. He didn't know why he felt so anxious about her supposed friendship with that git, but it made him uneasy.
Sure, they were just friends now, but Sirius still felt that lingering attraction to her and the need to protect her. He blinked, remembering the thing he had with Rhiannon; the two of them were so much alike. But Chase was different, and she was a person who considered herself independent and felt insulted when somebody thought she couldn't defend herself and needs another person to do so. Sirius was no exception.
He could still feel a twinge of anxiety, as if something in her note wasn't right…but Chase wouldn't lie to him, would she? And what reason would she have of not telling the truth?
Sighing, and trying to get rid of his doubt, he scribbled something on the back of the parchment, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it at Chase's desk.
Just as she finished the last sentence of her notes, Chase smoothed out the parchment and read Sirius' response. She rolled her eyes and smirked, and the bell instantaneously rang at the same time.
Yes, it makes me a lot happier that you cleared things up…except for that comment about my mind being LITTLE. –Padfoot– PS – Let me copy your notes later, I didn't get to jot down a single thing because I was too upset about your insensitive comment…you owe me one anyway because of that.