Chapter 28: Return of the Marauders
Students begin flooding the Tower once more, trunks filling up the gaps between them. Gryffindors of all years are hugging and sharing holiday tales. Cressida and Peter wait in the little alcove, watching them go past in patience for their own friends.
Sirius is the first to appear, already searching the crowd, knowing they'd be there. Cressida waves him down, letting him come to her and away from the crowd. He abandons his trunk along the way, trotting towards her with open arms. Rising to her knees, her arms snake around his neck. "Missed the eye candy?" he grunts.
Cressida nods, digging her face into his shoulder. Merlin, she's missed him. "Barely," Peter snorts. "She's been snogging with McMullen all break." She can feel the surprise in his muscles.
"I can see favouritism happening around here." Remus. Cressida lifts her head, but doesn't let go of her anchor. Remus raises his brow mirthfully as he leans against the stone wall on the outside of the alcove. James saunters up just behind him with a bright grin.
"You'd think I was horrid company," Peter drawls.
"You are," James taunts.
Cressida breathes a chuckle, but her heart doesn't match it. Sirius' hand strokes up and down her back as he leans close to her ear. "Somethings wrong," he mutters in observation. Not a question. She nods ever so softly but she can't answer him here.
"I'm fine," she adds, finally letting her vice grip loosen. She settles back to sitting on her haunches. "Pete was sick through Christmas, but I think we actually had a good time. We even had supper with Slughorn one night. I think he likes us now."
"You part of the Slug Club now?" Remus questions teasingly.
"No," she drawls, sticking her head out. "We don't have enough future prospects for that."
Sirius snorts, leaning against the opposite side of the alcove to Remus. "And what, he thinks James has any?"
The dark-haired boy narrows his eyes at Sirius. "I'll have you recall that I'm top of both Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. Third in Potions and Charms. And I'm Gryffindor Quidditch Captain."
"And I'm a now well-known Blood Traitor from the 'noblest family' in the wizarding world," Sirius retorts mockingly. "I'd say that I also have interesting prospects for the future, yet you don't see me sitting in on those monthly dinners."
James rolls his eyes, laughing all the same.
Cressida shifts her gaze downwards, trying to ignore how normal James is behaving. But he hasn't spoken to her directly yet, so maybe not entirely normal. For a fleeting moment, she glimpses back up to James, but his eyes are travelling to everything but her. "Thank you for the bracelet, Remus," she says, hoping to see what James' reaction would be to the topic of presents and letters. "It's gorgeous. And thank you, Sirius, for the thoughtful charm to add."
"What did he add to it?" Remus wonders. Cressida holds out her wrist to him and Remus delicately guides it towards his eyes before lapsing into laughter. Cressida laughs too, nodding in agreement of how amusing she found it.
Sirius hugs her from the side, pressing a kiss to her head. "I think I'm going to try and find one for all of you," she muses. Though a rat might be a bit hard to find. Maybe something else to represent him. A block of cheese?
"That reminds me," Sirius announces, leaving her side to delve into his trunk. From it, he protrudes a black beanie with a white puffball on the very top. "Merry Christmas."
"Oh my," Cressida laughs as he places it firmly on her head. She loves the oddness of his gifts.
"Made it myself," he boasts. "Euphemia taught me how to."
"I love it." She glances to James once more, but still, he only smiles softly at the scene, not once addressing her. "An owl couldn't carry this?
Sirius smiles sheepishly, although she can see that he's hardly ashamed. "I mean, he could've, but it would've just been a roll of wool."
Xx
Cressida retreats to her dorm for a while before the welcome back feast begins in a few hours. Lily spares no details in retelling how her sister's boyfriend is utterly horrendous. Marlene on the other hand, is not as free in recalling her holiday events but contently listens to everybody else. Mary and Marlene head off early to go find one of their other friends in Hufflepuff, Lily choosing to stay behind to unpack a few more things and Cressida stays as well since she does not yet feel the desire to be with the boys.
"Honestly, how could you have created such a mess here in just two weeks," Lily mutters, sorting around hers and Cressida's shared desk space. Cressida had stored most of her notes there which she hadn't bothered to sort out before Lily's return. "A letter from James," she grumbles, picking up a white envelope. Cressida's eyes snap to Lily's hand which is pulling the envelope from underneath a textbook Cressida had placed down. "Why would he send it here? He knows I was at home through the holiday."
Cressida's heart thumps in her throat, staring at Lily who slumps on her bed. She barely looks bothered to read it. She hadn't realised Lily had gotten a letter from James – Mary must have put it on the desk when she wasn't there.
Lily's demeanour transforms more and more with each line that she reads. A softness that isn't often found when it comes to James Potter. "That's actually… really sweet. He didn't even call me Lilypad."
Before she can regret asking, Cressida asks, "What does it say?"
"It's a love letter," she laughs. "A well written one, I'll give him that. Probably had Remus help him." Adding with a musical laugh, "A profession of his feelings. Like I wasn't already aware."
No wonder James hadn't written her anything. He was too worried about what Lily was going to respond to his letter the entire break, which he wouldn't have gotten a reply to since he sent it here and not to her house. "The boy doesn't give up," Cressida whispers, not caring if her dormmate hears her or not.
She wants Sirius. But going to Sirius means seeing James as well. Is the cost worth the reward? Yes, because right now she can't look at Lily without feeling an absolute loathing for herself.
Dragging herself from her bed, Cressida saunters across the tower to the boy's dormitory, knocking hard on the door. It takes approximately seven seconds for Remus to open it, smile and then leave the door open as he goes back to unpacking his things.
All four of them are doing their own thing, her presence doing nothing to disrupt that flow. "Dinner should be soon. We don't want to miss Dumbledore's speech."
"We already know what it is," Sirius drawls, lying on his bed. His trunk remains untouched. "Flubberworm, liquorice wand, hubberrish." Cressida snorts.
"That last one isn't even a word," Peter points out.
Sirius throws his arms up. "And the others are."
Peter stares at Sirius for a moment before nodding. "Yes."
Sirius lets out a tired groan, letting his head flop back against the mattress.
James marches past Sirius' bed, slapping his leg with a shoe. "She's right. And I'm starving." Well at least he's acknowledging her existence.
"Because you didn't eat anything on the train," Remus points out, rolling his eyes.
James grimaces, holding his stomach. "Because I want proper food, not something sickeningly sweet. I could go for some roast beef. And mash potatoes." Cressida folds her arms, leaning against Remus' bedpost and waits for them to gather themselves together and head to the Great Hall. She tries to stick next to Sirius even before they get down the stairs. But a firm, yet gentle hand encircles her arm and holds her in place. Sirius glances back over his shoulder but doesn't stop to wait for her.
Exhaling slowly, Cressida looks up to her side where James stands. His jaw clenches and unclenches, eyes flickering between hers. "Hey," he whispers in greeting. It only took him four hours to speak to her. "Sorry if-" he swallows, glancing around before he continues. "-I was a little…"
Cressida closes her eyes and shakes her head. "It's fine."
James nods hesitantly. Stuffing his hands in the front pocket of his trousers. "I suppose I just want to know… how you're feeling. About everything. We haven't really had the chance to talk properly."
Cressida pushes her jaw out, staring off to the side. The boys hadn't waited for them. He's had plenty of chances to talk to her properly. Normally. "James, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what I'm feeling right now. We've been through a weird patch together and I don't entirely know where it started but I want to go back. Back to when you were one of my closest friends. And we weren't…weird around each other."
James stares at her through the short rant, never once looking away. At the end, he nods quickly, blinking profusely. "Yeah," he breathes loudly. "Yeah. No, I, um…" He takes a pause to breathe deeply. "I'm glad you're honest with me."
Half honest.
Cressida chews her cheek, watching Lily walk down the stairs from her own dormitory. "You should talk more with Lily. Mary said she's warming up to you." James' frowns, glancing over his shoulder before looking back at her with a mournful smile.
"Has Sirius cut off all his hair? Because I think if Lily is warming up to me then the entire world must be turning upside down." She can't help but laugh softly, nodding in agreement. James looks back over his shoulder again, watching Lily longer. "I have your present by the way, it's under my bed. Grab it whenever you want. It was too heavy for Kirk."
Her mouth rounds and breathing stops. He hadn't forgotten her. "Oh," she whispers with a growing smile. "Thank you. I'd ask to see it now but I think you're hungry enough after hours on the train not eating."
"You heard it didn't you-" She cuts him off with a furious nod. She had indeed heard his stomach growling. James presses his lips together but is smiling wide, cheeks pressing against the rims of his glasses.
James and Cressida make it to the Great Hall just in time for their Headmaster's great welcome back speech. Cressida sneaks in beside Remus and Peter, letting James sit next to Sirius on the other side. Sirius raises his brows at James, silently asking him something that she's missed. James shakes his head subtly, turning his eyes to the food. Sirius then turns to stare at Cressida with a very peculiar expression. He doesn't say anything so she makes a point to ignore it, going about her meal as normal, but his stare doesn't lift.
"I was thinking, that since Slughorn opens the potions labs for NEWT students on Saturdays we could go and have a crack at Amortenia," Remus suggests. "I think it's the first thing we're making once class goes back."
Cressida nods, trying to chew through her mouthful of sausage. "Can we make it in the afternoon though? I have something on in the morning."
"Yeah, snogging McMullen in a broomstick cupboard on the fourth floor," Peter coughs, sending a fleeting smirk her way before ducking his head to hide away from her deathly glare.
"Wait," Sirius announces, dropping his fork. "You mean what Peter said earlier wasn't a hyperbole or a metaphor in some strange way?"
Cressida focuses on her own plate. "Big words for a small brain."
"Don't ignore the whistling kettle," Sirius presses. Her eyes dart to him at the tone, wanting to glare at him as well, but already receiving something worse. "What happened over the break."
"Arthur asked me out," she answers swiftly. "I said yes and we had a good time. We're going out again tomorrow morning."
"Date number nine," Peter adds begrudgingly. "And you were here to keep me company."
"You had Mary-"
"-yes because I love hearing the same story three times over."
Cressida sighs, already having gone through the same thing with him before – which is why she knows he's not actually upset with her in the slightest. So she smiles at him with mirth, rolling her eyes.
"McMullen?" James repeats, having missed a large portion of their bantering. His face is twisted in distaste. "Blimey Cress, you could have any guy in Hogwarts and you chose that nitwit?"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she drawls. "And he's not bad. Albeit not Elias great, but I like him."
"I thought you didn't have feelings for Elias," Sirius points out.
"I don't," she agrees. "But he's a good guy, and I miss seeing him around."
"It doesn't exactly sound like you're blushing at just the sound of his voice," Sirius snarks.
Cressida, feeling defensive on all fronts, sits up straighter. "Maybe not just yet. I hardly know him. I don't exactly have any other decent options lining up for me anyways."
Sirius' brows raise slightly, no retort or snarky remarks made. In fact, he looks put off by her comment. Like he hadn't expected her to say that. Cressida senses a shift in the air, and it seems as though she's the only one that doesn't understand what it means. She looks to Remus and Peter first, but they've occupied themselves with food, chewing slowly. Lastly, she looks to James. His mouth is hidden behind interlaced fingers, chin resting on his thumbs and his eyes are pointed off to the far end of the Great Hall.
"What?" she demands of the silent group. She looks them all over once more, but it is only Sirius who dares respond.
"Sometimes, it's best to think before you speak, Cress," he mumbles softly.
Cressida has a sudden wave of guilt flood her – for what, she's not sure yet. But she is certain at that moment that she's said something very wrong.