Sirius's Top Ten
Sorry the format for this chapter's so messed up, something's wrong with the QuickEdit thingy. This chapter is all about the memories and how they all feel now. A few quick fluffy AbbyRemus snippets too. Takes place about two months later. Big jump, I know, but nothing else was really going to happen till now. I've decided I'm probably going to do a sequel for the group's 7th year, and if not, I'll make sure Lily and James get together by the end of the year a different way than I have planned. I'm just not sure if I'm going to have enough time to update and not keep you guys hanging.
californiagurl – I know, I'm absolutely horrible! This chapter came relatively quickly though, didn't it?
Rose-Mariann-Johnston – Don't worry, it will happen eventually! Thanks for reading!
sirius'sheelah - Aww, thanks! I can only apologize time and again for how long the last chapter took. :)
PoertyOutLoud – That would be a really cute idea, but I've got something else planned at the moment… gasp Thanks for all your lovely comments (i'm sure u have a more amazing idea, b/c all ur chapters are!) you really are too nice. I just like to write whatever I'm in the mood for (normally goofy, light-hearted stories), and I'm glad so many people are enjoying them.
FrostQueen4Eva – salutes Aye aye mam!
TeenTypist – I am honestly your number 1 fan! Your stories are so great, and you still read mine!! I don't think this ending is as good.
Jen Riddle – Well thanks for reviewing now then! :)
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Chapter 22: Reminisce and Move On Day
March and April passed quickly by, with nothing changing between the two groups of friends. Abby and Remus tried to spend the evenings together, when their other friends were busy with homework or quidditch. Lily and Cass spent all their time doing schoolwork and reading up for NEWTs, even though they didn't have them for another year. By mid-May, they had both drawn up study schedules that started in September, and still refused to speak or have anything to do with Sirius and James. Sirius and James, when they weren't trying to get Cass and Lily to talk to them, began pranking again, with renewed vigor. The school began to expect at least a prank every three or four days, and though two months or so had passed since the Valentines Day it all went wrong, gossip about the four still flew about the school.
"I heard that Lily dumped James for being insecure." The school gossip, Bertha Jorkins insisted.
"James Potter, insecure?" Bertha's friend Sarah said skeptically. "Please. I heard that James dumped Lily because she wouldn't shag him."
"It's rather depressing that some people don't have anything better to do than talk about other people's lives, isn't it Tig?" Cass said loudly as she and Lily passed Bertha and Sarah on their way to the Gryffindor table for breakfast.
Both Bertha and Sarah blushed, and several people at the table snickered.
Taking their seats next to Abby, Cass and Lily began piling food on their plates, while Abby glanced up nonchalantly. "Sleep in, ladies?"
Lily shrugged non-commitally. "So?"
"What on earth could you possibly be doing that would keep you up so late?" Abby asked incredulously.
"We were working on our study schedules." Lily replied simply.
"And avoiding Amos." Cass added as she took a bite into her buttered croissant.
"You stayed up late working on study schedules – for next year - and avoiding your boyfriend, Cass?" Abby asked, looking quite perturbed.
"Yeah, so?" Lily replied, rooting through her bag.
"Okay, it's been two months, and too long. You're both not over James and Sirius, and you need to be." Abby announced. "Today is Reminisce and Move On Day."
Instead of arguing, Lily just nodded in agreement. "Okay, how do we 'reminisce and move on'?"
"Well, today's ideal because there's a quidditch match this afternoon. We're going to go over every aspect about your relationships and remember the good things about it to get it out of your system." Abby said knowledgably, pulling out a piece of scrap parchment and writing out things that Cass, Sirius, James, and Lily used to do together.
"No way." Cass said, shaking her head furiously. She definitely didn't care about Sirius enough to spend an entire day getting over him.
"Cass…" Lily said softly. "Come on, it wouldn't hurt. Abby's right, we've become complete scholar freaks trying to avoid this."
"You mean complete nerds, right?" Abby corrected.
"If you must use that word." Lily conceded.
Cass shook her head immaturely. "No."
Lily put on a pouty face and whined. "Puh-lease??"
Cass smiled. "I don't need to, but I will for you, Tig."
"If that helps you sleep at night." Abby said with a grin. It was nice to have her two best friends back, acting somewhat like themselves again. She had been quite scared when they went into full on 'nerd mode'. Lily had dropped almost all her out-of-school activities, Cass, for once, cared only about school, and they hardly talked. All Abby could hope was that this day of reminiscing would help them get back to their old selves.
Just then, the Marauders entered the Hall, Sirius, Remus, and James clad in their quidditch uniforms. James didn't look like he was in a very good mood, his brow was furrowed in concentration, like it was before all games, but their was something else up too.
"Gryffindor team!" He barked. "Let's go!"
Bryan Bell, one of Gryffindor's chasers, who was sitting across from Lily, groaned loudly. "Not already." He complained.
Lily gave an amused smile, but he just glared at her. "Don't look so prissy Evans, it's completely your fault. James has become a crazed… Quidditch Nazi. Ever since whatever happened between you two in February."
The smile on Lily's face disappeared quickly. Cass glared right back at Bryan though. "Or maybe he just realized that some members of his team needed a lot of extra practice." Cass sneered. "Not naming any names of course." She added, before going into a coughing fit, her 'coughs' sounding a lot like 'Bryan' or 'Bell'.
Bryan just shook his head and stood, joining the rest of the quidditch team as they left the hall to the applause of the Gryffindor table.
Most of the table had heard the exchange between Lily, Cass, and Bryan, and Sirius and Remus had not missed out.
"I think he's right Prongs." Sirius said slowly as he trudged behind James out to the quidditch pitch.
"Who is?" James asked distractedly.
Sirius sighed, wondering when James would be knocked back into his senses. Although they'd started pranking again, James was always somewhat out there, and had thrown himself into quidditch. "Bell. What he said about Li-Evans."
"I don't think he is." James replied testily.
"Well I do." Sirius persisted. "It's about time you got over Evans, Prongsie. I mean, I know you really thought she was special but she's just one girl – "
"She's the only girl for me, Padfoot." James replied snappily.
"Yes, of course, but you've tried to get her to talk to you, and it hasn't worked. Why can't you just give up?" Sirius continued. "I mean, she's made it pretty clear she just can't put up with you, and… I just hate to see you waste your time mate."
"I love her, Padfoot." James replied simply.
Sirius groaned. "Yes, but you could love someone else, as well, you know."
"No, I couldn't. And it wouldn't be fair to do that to someone, pretend to love them when I couldn't." James said coolly.
"Since when do you have morals?" Sirius asked playfully.
James didn't see the humour. "You know I have morals, Padfoot."
"'Course you do, Prongsie." Sirius agreed. "I was only joking. But then again, you are the one who only started dating the love of your life for a contest…"
James groaned. "Don't remind me."
Sirius grinned mischievously, and began to sing. "You're an arse! You're an arse! La la la la!"
"Pah." James muttered. "Not your best, mate."
"Oh?" Sirius looked inquisitive. "Which one is my best then?"
James frowned for a moment. "I rather liked your 'Cassidy Flemmings loves me' one."
Instantaneously both boys broke out into the songs, Sirius continuing his 'You're an arse' and James belting out 'Cassidy Flemmings loves Sirius Black' just as loudly.
"Shut it, both of you." Remus said serenely.
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"Look, Amos… I do care for you, but I don't… I think it's time we broke up, we're… It's not you, it's me." Cass smiled sympathetically.
Amos nodded gravely. "Yeah, I kinda thought this was coming."
"I'd love for us to be friends though." Cass said with a smile, causing Lily and Abby, who were standing behind her in the Entrance Hall on the way to the pitch and listening to their conversation. Amos nodded glumly and left with his friends, and immediately Abby and Lily swarmed Cass.
"God, you're bad at that." Lily commented, tugging at her denim jacket.
"I am not!" Cass protested.
"I agree with Lily, you're horrible." Abby grinned.
"How?!?"
"You used two of the worst break-up phrases in one break-up." Abby explained knowledgably, Lily nodding in agreement.
"Did I?" Cass asked, looking quite clueless.
"Umm, 'it's not you, it's me' and 'I'd love for us to be friends?' How could you be worse?" Lily laughed.
"Well what was I supposed to say?! That really I find him an annoying pain in my arse whose kisses are complete crap compared to Sirius Black?" Realizing what she had just said, Cass clamped a hand over her mouth, but Abby nodded encouragingly.
"No, no! This is good! Let it all out, Cass!"
"What are you? A therapist?" Cass asked sardonically.
"Remember Cass, we're supposed to be reminiscing and getting over boys today." Lily said dreamily, pretending she was some spaced out weirdo.
"AHHHH!!!" Cass screamed, running from the Entrance Hall down toward the quidditch pitch.
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"Remember our stupid sign? The one with all the messages?" Lily asked with a smile as she, Abby, and Cass sat in the stands, waiting for the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw match to begin.
Cass laughed. "Oh yeah, and for the Slytherin match, you added 'Let's Kick Some Esche!' Remember?!"
"That was also the match where James crashed into you." Abby said somberly. Immediately her two friends' faces dampened slightly.
"Had to bring that up, didn't you?" Cass asked quietly, Lily nodded in agreement.
"It'll be better to get it out in the open." Abby insisted.
"Fine." Lily accepted. "When James hit me, I remember thinking I was glad the last thing I would see before I died was his face. And then when I knew I'd be fine, I couldn't blame him at all. He did it enough for the both of us. I think I really figured out how much I cared for him then."
Abby nodded, a pleased smile on her face, and Cass groaned as she caught sight of Abby's look. "Abs, if you say anything along the lines of 'and how does that make you feel?' I will have to kill you."
Lily laughed. Abby was right though, it felt a lot better getting everything off her chest. After a moment of silence, Cass spoke up again. "Remember how concerned James was when Lily wasn't in the Tower? That night with the Death Eaters?"
Abby nodded and Lily blushed slightly.
"He was walking about the common room like a madman. Asking everyone if they'd seen you." Abby said with a smile.
"Then once everything was okay… And Sirius hung James and Remus up on the chandelier?" Cass added through laughter.
Lily grinned. "And, of course, my prank."
"God, Tig! It was brill!" Cass agreed. "You saw Sirius's pictures, didn't you?"
Lily nodded again, smiling widely. "Yeah."
"You honestly could become a Marauder if you wanted to." Abby insisted.
Lily opened her mouth to reply, but her friends wouldn't have heard her anyways, as the crowd roared when the Gryffindor quidditch team flew out into the arena. Lily cheered along half-heartedly; her eyes unconsciously picking out James and watching him swoop about the pitch. She wondered how he was doing, if what Bryan had said was true. Was it her fault?
The quaffle was tossed up and Remus quickly grabbed it and headed for the Ravenclaw posts, but Lily was still watching James. Was he hurting as much as she had these past few months? They hadn't really talked much since that faithful day in the corridor; she'd even been avoiding that part of the castle. Of course, James had tried, but she'd just hidden away her dormitory. She hadn't gone to his huge birthday party in the common room; neither had Cass, but she'd sent a card… She missed James, in all honesty she did, but it would be too hard just to be friends again.
The announcer's voice boomed out loudly, interrupting Lily's thoughts. "Lupin passes to Bell, Bell to Lupin – oh my, Potter's seen the snitch!"
Suddenly James dove sharply, speeding almost vertically toward the ground. Lily quickly looked away as he hurtled toward the earth, and presumably the snitch. The rest of the crowd was silent in anticipation, and Cass leaned in toward Lily.
"This is the part where you hold your breath and look like you're going to pass out from worry." Cass whispered, a mischievous glint in her eye.
Lily smiled and shoved Cass playfully.
"POTTER'S DONE IT! HE'S CAUGHT THE SNITCH! 150 POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR WINS, 250 – 40!" The announcer roared.
Automatically the three girls stood, and clapped and cheered. As the crowds flooded out onto the pitch to congratulate the team, Cass, Lily and Abby were stuck on what to do. Sensing that Abby wanted to congratulate her boyfriend and give him a victory snog before some other girl did, Lily gave Abby a gentle push toward the pitch and smiled. "Go on. Cass and I will just go back to the castle."
Abby frowned. "You sure? You don't want to come?"
"Nah." Cass replied. "It'd be… awkward."
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Down on the pitch, James's hazel eyes were scanning the crowd for a glimpse of red, and darkened slightly when he saw Lily and Cass retreating back to the castle. Sirius followed his friend's gaze and his grinning face dropped too.
"Congratulations!" Abby said, grinning as she flung herself on Remus, enveloping him in a hug and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. Remus swung her around, and Abby laughed happily. Several girls were scowling, but neither seemed to mind.
Sirius tore his eyes away from Cass's retreating back and scowled at Remus and Abby. "At least someone's got things with his girl going well."
James looked away from Lily to smirk. "That doesn't make much sense Padfoot."
"What doesn't?"
"The way you worded the sentence. You should have said something along the lines of 'At least Remus's love life is going well' or – "
"God, you sound like Lily." Sirius interrupted. "She turned you into a total grammar freak."
"No, she didn't." James said defensively. He liked the person he could be with Lily. He could offer real opinions, just be laid back, quiet, caring… Whatever he felt like being. Lily had never minded when he was in one of his rare mellow moods, whereas Sirius would complain about him being boring.
Sirius sighed. "You're never going to get over her, are you?"
James shook his head and put on an optimistic smile. "Nope, probably not."
"In which case, I will offer you some advice that Remus gave you when you screwed up things at Halloween." Sirius said sincerely.
"Oh?"
"Yes. You're James Potter. You always come out on top." Sirius said, loosing his normally dumb and cheerful demeanor for a solemn one.
James laughed. "Meaning?"
"You're just going to have to work hard to get her back." Sirius replied.
Abby finished hugging Remus and swung an arm around each of them. Apparently they hadn't kept their voices as quietly as they had thought, and Abby had heard them. She grinned. "That's the spirit, lads!"
"Lads?" Sirius asked in confusion.
"It goes the same for you, Sirius."
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