Lily sat cross legged in front of the common room window, Wuthering Heights sat untouched in her lap. She was trying to ignore the fact that she hadn't heard from her dad in weeks. This was normally not a big deal, but Lily's father was normally good at responding. With all the missing people and all of the murders recently, Lily couldn't help but be nervous.
Out of the corner of my eye Lily watched Gemma take a seat next to her.
"Sickle for your thoughts?" She asked, looking at her friend with concern.
"Just haven't heard from my dad in a while," Lily answered honestly, knowing it was pointless to lie to her friend.
"That's not like him," she said, knowing what my father was like, "But that doesn't mean that something is wrong. You know how Priscilla gets...maybe she is just throwing a fit about the birds."
"I know that, logically I know that nothing happened to them...but I can't help but worry with everything going on. Maybe nothing is wrong now, but what about a year from now? Or after we graduate?"
"I wish I had an answer for you Lils. It's terrifying, and I don't think it's going to get better. I am scared every day for all of us," Gemma confided.
"Me too Gem. I don't know what I'll do if something happens to my family and it was my fault…."
"No matter what happens Lils, it's not your fault. It's the extremists' faults. Please don't ever blame yourself."
"Thanks Gemma," Lily said, smiling sadly at her friend.
"Any time Lily, that's what I'm here for," she said, smiling back.
"So, are you excited for your match tomorrow?" Lily asked, needing to change the subject to something more cheerful.
"Yeah, we are going to kick Slytherin's ass!" Gemma said laughing, "Between Elyse's excellent keeping abilities and James, Rene and Keith's ability to work as a team, we should absolutely dominate."
"And that is not including your superior abilities as seeker. Knott doesn't stand a chance against you!"
"You're damn right he doesn't!" Gemma said, high fiving Lily.
All of a sudden Gemma's face fell, "Oh shit…James looks pissed"
Lily looked up, and sure enough a very angry James Potter was marching through the common room. Lily started mentally going through her day, trying to remember if she did anything that would make him angry. When she drew a blank, she looked over at Gemma, who was eyeing her warily. Lily just shrugged her shoulders at her, not knowing what had made her cousin so angry.
Lily was relieved when he stopped at Jackson Harrison, who was sitting nearby. He angrily talked with him, gesturing a lot with his hands and glaring. Jackson sat there looking smug and nodding.
Gemma looked even more concerned, "Oh no...what did the git do now?"
Lily put her hand on her wand, in case one of them decided to throw a hex, since last time it created an all out duel in the common room. It had also proven that Jackson didn't play fair, and while Lily didn't like James, he didn't deserve an unsuspecting hex from behind.
However, Potter stalked away huffly and walked towards the two girls, while Jackson sat smugly behind them, puffing out his chest before turning back to his friends.
"Oh no, what happened?" Gemma asked her cousin nervously.
"Elyse was attacked from behind. She's out for tomorrow's match, which means that Harrison is filling in. I'd bet money that the prick is the one who hexed her…" James said, trying to take deep breaths to calm down.
"You can't be serious...We're in trouble tomorrow, he isn't a match for the Slytherin chasers…"
"No, we still have a better team than they do, we'll still win. However, we would have destroyed them with Elyse. Harrison better be on the top of his game tomorrow," Potter said, shaking his head, "I need to find Sirius…"
"Hey, you're still the best seeker in the school. You've got this!" Lily reassured Gemma, not wanting her friend to be too nervous.
Gemma smiled appreciatively, "Thanks Lily. On that note I might head up to bed. I will need to be on the top of my game for tomorrow."
"Good night Gemma," Lily said, before finally opening her book and beginning to read.
Lily was so engaged in her muggle novel that she did not see Remus when he came at sat down next to her. He took those few moments to notice how tired she looked. He knew that everything in the papers was affecting her, he just hoped she was talking to someone about it and not holding it in.
When Lily finally looked up from her novel, he smiled at her.
"Must be a good book," he said smiling, "I've been sitting here for about 10 minutes."
"Oh Remus, I'm so sorry!" Lily said with a laugh, "I was at a good part!"
"It's okay, I had just forgotten how engrossed in novels you get. We used to bets going on for how long we could do things while you read before you would notice," he said laughing.
"That's right! I would look up and people were always doing the weirdest things…" Lily said, laughing fondly at the memories, "Anyways, what's up Remus?"
"Not much, Peter is with Adaline and Sirius and James are in a terrible mood over the Quidditch incident…" he said, shaking his head.
"So, Peter and Adaline...how long do you think until it's official?" Lily asked, smiling, "Because even with their date he hasn't officially asked her to be his girlfriend!"
"Well, I currently have down in a month, Adrian thinks it will be Christmas, Alice said the first month of 7th year, and Gemma thought it would be Graduation. James and Sirius are both out of the running already. James thought it would happen over the summer and Sirius thought it would be the past Hogsmeade trip. What can I put you down for?" Remus asked, grinning.
"You seriously have a bet going on?" Lily asked, grinning.
"Definitely, winner gets 15 galleons," Remus said, in complete seriousness, "Want to join?"
"Oh definitely, put me down for Halloween, I bet by the end of the Halloween party they will be together," Lily said, confidently.
"You have a lot of faith with how quickly Peter will gain his confidence," Remus said, shaking his head at her.
"I am just being optimistic!" Lily said, grinning, "Besides, you're not that far off from Halloween!"
"I hope you're right," he said, "Which says a lot because then I'm out Galleons."
"Me too, I would love to take your money!" Lily laughed.
"Alright, I'm going to make sure that James and Sirius aren't destroying our room in their rage. Wish me luck."
"Good luck!" Lily said, before deciding to go up to bed as well.
The next morning the Great Hall was crazy. People were loudly arguing over the Quidditch match and who they thought would win. The two Quidditch teams were sitting at opposite sides of the room, glaring at each other. Lily got booed walking past the Slytherin table decked out in her maroon and gold, walking quickly towards her friends.
"Good morning," Lily said, reaching for the coffee.
"Good morning!" Adaline said, cheerfully from her spot next to Peter.
Alice glared at Lily, it was morning after all, while the Quidditch team just grunted in response.
"They are all cheerful bunch this morning," Peter said, looking around the table.
"I can see that…"
"Hey all!" Remus said, sitting down next to Lily.
"Good morning Remus," Peter, Adaline and Lily responded.
They all continued to eat their meal in silence, knowing that the team was too nervous to talk much, until it was time for the team to leave.
"Good luck today!" everyone said in unison, even Alice managed to make her voice sound cheerful.
The sixth year Gryffindors made their way to the Quidditch Pitch, where they sat near Peter and his announcement stand. Tyler, Frank, Julie and Candice were already sitting there waiting for them.
"Is it true that Elyse got hexed last night and can't play?" asked Tyler, glaring at the thought, "I bet it was the Slytherins trying to better their chances…"
"Yeah unfortunately," Adaline said, "I was with Adrian and Sirius when they found out. It was not pretty, there was a lot of cursing. They suspect it was a Gryffindor."
"Who would want to sabotage their own team?" asked Julie, looking genuinely confused at all the Gryffindors.
"They think it was maybe Harrison, so that he could play," Alice said, looking around, "Or so that was James' first thoughts. I ran far away from him after he got the news. I know better than to mess with him in that state."
"That is seriously messed up," Julie said, and everyone nodded in agreement.
At that point Madame Hooch had walked onto the pitch with her broom in hand. Peter took his cue and started announcing.
"Welcome to the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Quidditch game. First on the pitch is the Slytherin team, Seeker and Captain, Knott in the lead. Followed by the Slytherin Beaters, Crabbe and Goyle, the Keeper Lestrange and the chasers, Malfoy, Black and Carrow. Next onto the Pitch I would like to welcome the winners of today's match (sorry Professor), I mean the Gryffindor team. Captain James Potter is joined with his fellow Chasers Renee Bell and Keith McKinnon, the unstoppable Beaters Sirius Black and Adrian Prince, the brilliant Seeker Gemma Ryan and the substitute Keeper Jackson Harrison!"
Peter rolled his eyes at his announcement of Jackson's name. Annoyed that he had to announce it at all.
"I would like a nice clean game, all of you," Madam Hooch said, "Captains, shake hands."
Even from where the Gryffindor fans were sitting above them they could tell that the Captains were squeezing each other's hands. James stared Knott dead in the eye as he gripped his hand tightly, while Knott did the same, neither wanting to be the first to break contact.
"This is going to be an ugly game…" Candice said, looking nervous.
"It's days like this that I am glad that I don't play…" Tyler said, as he leaned forward to get a better view of the game.
"No kidding…"
With that, the whistle blew Alice and Adaline each grabbed one of Lily's hands, and the players took off. Lily closed her eyes as they took off, re-opening them when the girls squeezed her hands again. The balls were released and the game began.
"Potter with the quaffle, he takes off passing it to McKinnon who is shooting down the field, and passed to Bell, who shoots and scores! Malfoy with the quaffle now, dodging the bludger sent his way from Prince. Malfoy has made his way down the pitch and he shoots... and he scores. The teams are tied at 10-10."
The Slytherin fans cheered loudly while all the Gryffindors groaned. The game continued much like this. Harrison was only able to stop a handful of shots that came his way, and towards the end of the match, most Gryffindors were covering their eyes. The score was 180-90, since Keith McKinnon spent part of the game injured. It was no shock that the Slytherins were playing dirty.
It came as a huge relief to the Gryffindors when the snitch was spotted, everyone was ready for this horrendous match to be over.
"And both Knott and Ryan are off! COME ON GEMMA YOU'VE GOT THIS!" Peter shouted, "They are neck and neck, but with a spectacular move Ryan has pushed ahead and caught the snitch! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"
The stands erupted into cheers and boos. The Gryffindors relieved that they won their first match. However, looking out at the team, they were not happy, especially not with their reserve keeper. Even from her place in the stands Alice could tell that James was livid and judging with how angrily Gemma landed after catching the snitch, she wasn't happy either.
The 6th years all made their way back to the castle in silence, knowing that their friends were not going to be in a good mood tonight. Despite the win, they knew their friends would be disappointed with how close the match was. Gemma always got stressed when the games relied that closely on her to win. James was always angry when he felt that his team didn't play as well as they could have. While Sirius and Adrian were always angry after they played Slytherins.
Sure enough, by the time Adrian and Gemma came back they were frowning. Remus and Peter were even more nervous that James and Sirius weren't with them.
"Great job today ladies," Lily said, wanting her friends to know she was proud of them.
"Thanks Lils. It would have been better had we all played to the best of our abilities," Adrian said, glaring at the wall.
"The worst part is that the little prick then had the audacity to blame James for the loss and how he played this match. I thought James was going to murder him," Gemma added, frowning, "It's been a long time since I've seen him that angry."
"You all know how James gets after matches, especially when they don't go exactly how he wanted them to, it wasn't good," Adrian said, shuddering at the memory.
The rest of the group shuddered, knowing the speech they must have endured.
"Speaking of James...you don't happen to know where he is, do you?" Remus asked, worried.
"I think he mentioned something about needing booze?" Gemma answered, before adding, "Do you know what I need?"
"Ice cream?" Alice replied instantaneously.
"Yes!" Gemma cried.
With that, the girls waved goodbye to Remus and Peter, before heading towards the kitchens. The girls hoping to raise their friends spirits.
Thankfully, after spending some time in the kitchen and consuming copious amounts of ice cream, their roommates felt better.
The following week passed in haze of classes and essays. Before Lily knew it, it was Halloween and all anyone could talk about was the party the Marauders were throwing.
Everyone was talking about what they were dressing up as and what the Marauders were dressing up as.
For once, Lily found herself excited for the party. She was looking forward to dressing up, like she had as a young girl. She had decided that she could let loose for a night, much to her friends' excitement.
Lily, Gemma, and Candice had decided to go as the pop trio, the Hexing Harpies. The costume was definitely out of Lily's normal comfort zone, but she thought it would be fun. For their costume they decided to tease their hair and do darker make-up. Lily found herself in a short black skirt, and a tight tank top. Gemma was rocking the leather pants and a glittery top. Candice was wearing a tight glitter skirt and a tight black tank top. It was a little over the top, but that was what Halloween was about.
Adrian and Adaline decided to go the funny route and dressed up as siamese twins, wearing dark jeans and glittery tops. They had used a spell to combine themselves, which they were all hoping would be easy to undo. Lily was sad because it definitely lowered her chances to win the bet.
Alice had decided to go as a vampire, which amused Candice greatly because so had Frank. She had bewitched her teeth to look like fangs and she had dressed in leather pants and a vee-neck black shirt. She was throwing one of her cloaks over it.
"This is going to be great!" Candice said, grinning at us.
"No kidding, I bet that Peter cries when he sees Adaline!" Gemma said, laughing, "That tank makes your boobs look great!"
"He isn't going to cry…" she said, blushing and rolling her eyes.
"He will definitely be excited if you catch my drift…" Adrian said and they all giggle, and Adaline's face got even more pink.
"Let's just go…" she mumbled heading for the door, discreetly pulling her tank top up as she went.
"Maybe he'll ask you out tonight!" Lily said, hopeful, even if it would be more complicated with her attached to Adrian.
"You are just saying that because you want to win the bet!" Adrian said, sticking her tongue out at Lily.
"You all are betting on this?!" Candice said, laughing at the younger girls and their antics.
"Of course we are. We also have a bet on Lily and James."
"YOU WHAT?!" Lily cried in shock.
"Oh yeah, we started at the beginning of 3rd year. Sirius and Gemma are the only two still in it," Alice said matter of factly.
"Do I win when we don't get together?" Lily asked curiously.
"No, then we all get our money back…"
"You all have a problem…" Candice said, shaking her head, "But where can I pitch into the Adaline and Peter one?"
"Remus," the girls automatically replied while Adaline groaned.
Laughing they headed towards the Room of Requirement, where the party was taking place. When they walked past they all thought 'we want to celebrate Halloween' and the door appeared. Inside there was already a decent amount of people in a variety of costumes.
The Marauders had dressed up as different Hogwarts professors, Frank had gone as a vampire (which had amused everyone to no end) and Tyler went as a dead Quidditch player. Of course, there was a group of cats and there were some people dressed as mermaids.
The group of girls all made their way towards the drink table, everyone grabbing some punch. Candice headed to talk to Remus (who was dressed our Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor Carter), much to our amusement, before making her way towards Tyler. Adaline went to talk with Peter (who was dressed as Professor Flitwick), dragging Adrian with her (not that her sister was complaining).
"Let's dance!" Gemma said, dragging Lily and Alice with her.
The girls danced together for a while, occasionally grabbing some more punch, all feeling a little buzzed. Adrian had separated from Adaline (which was much harder than the pair thought it would be, it took both Remus and Peter helping them to get it right), and had joined her friends on the dance floor, leaving Peter and Adaline to talk. Lily was not so secretly excited, hoping that it would push Peter to finally ask her to be his girlfriend.
James (dressed as Professor Slughorn) and Sirius (dressed as Dumbledore) had decided to get up and dance on the table. It was definitely a sight to be seen. Adrian had started dancing with a 7th year Hufflepuff, who was dressed as a Zombie. Gemma had found a 7th year Ravenclaw to dance with, who had dressed as a nerd. Lily slowly started to make her way off the dancefloor, looking to find Candice.
She did not end up finding Candice, but Lily did refill her drink. When she looked back up Alice, Candice and a 6th Hufflepuff were dance on the table, Adrian had her tongue down her dance partner's throat (not that he was complaining). Sirius, Remus and James had started to sing along with the music, but very off tuned.
"Now that is funny," said a voice next to her.
Lily jumped about three feet in the air, not noticing anyone coming up next to her.
"What is?" she asked.
"The Marauders, that might be the worst singing I have ever heard," he said.
Lily grinned and turned to look at the person standing next to her. He was dressed like a Doctor from Doctor Who.
"I like your costume," Lily said, "My dad loves that show."
"Mine too," he said with a laugh, "I'm Ted, by the way."
"I'm Lily," she responded.
"It's nice to meet you Lily," he said, "How about a dance?"
Lily nodded, before he lead her out onto the dance floor.
Adaline was in a great mood. She had spent most of the night talking with Peter, and it had been nice. She was hoping that Lily would win the bet, and he would ask her to be his girlfriend, but she wasn't so sure. If she was a little more bold, she would ask him herself.
"Hey," Peter said, "I'm going to grab another drink, do you want one?"
"Sure," Adaline said, smiling at him, "Thanks Pete."
Peter nodded before disappearing into the crowd. Adaline fought back a groan.
"Hey Adaline," Remus said, giggling as he came over.
"Hey Remus!" Adaline said, laughing at him.
She was surprised, normally Remus was mostly sober, it was fun to see him let loose a little.
"Did you see Lily? She's dancing with some Ravenclaw in a weird costume!"
"SHE'S WHAT?" Adaline whisper shouted before whipping around.
Sure enough, she could see Lily dancing with some in a costume that Adaline didn't understand. He had a weird red hat on the top of his head and he was wearing a dorky looking bow-tie. Lily had a huge smile on her face and was laughing at whatever her dance partner was saying.
"Woah! Look at her go!" Adaline said, laughing, turning happily towards Remus.
"James is not going to be happy when he sees that…" Remus said, shaking his head.
"Why would James care?" Adaline laughed, curious about what Remus was going to say.
"Because he's totally in love with her of course," Remus said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Has he told you that?" Adaline asked, now very interested, leaning closer towards him.
"Well…" Remus thought, staring off into space, "No...but I can tell!"
"You can, can you?" Adaline asked, grinning at him as he nodded excitedly.
"YOU ARE SERIOUSLY CALLING ME A SLAG RIGHT NOW YOU PRICK?!" someone shouted.
"That's not good," Adaline said, and her and Remus instantly walked towards the noise.
"WELL YEAH. YOU ARE MAKING OUT WITH RANDOM PEOPLE CANDICE! WHAT ELSE AM I GOING TO CALL YOU?" Tyler shouted back, his face red with anger.
"Shit," Remus said, his eyes widening in shock.
"WELL THAT'S RICH COMING FROM YOU. ALL YOU DO IS MAKE OUT WITH RANDOM PEOPLE AND THEN TALK ABOUT IT. TALK ABOUT DOUBLE STANDARDS YOU ASS HOLE"
Adaline made her way quickly towards Candice, who looked like she was ready to throw a punch.
"Candice!" Adaline shouted, trying to get her friends attention.
Remus was quickly attempting to make his way towards Tyler.
"WELL, IT'S DIFFERENT. I CAN SEPARATE MY FEELINGS AND WHO I KISS. CAN YOU?" Tyler retaliated.
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ME BEING A SLAG?"
Candice shouted, angry tears streaming down her face.
Tyler looked speechless, and mad at himself. He hung his head in shame. However, before either of them could respond, Adaline grabbed Candice's arm.
"Candice, let's go," Adaline said, giving her friend a small tug.
Candice didn't put up a fight, and Lily materialized out of nowhere and grabbed her other arm. Together the three of them made their way out of the party. Adaline felt bad about leaving without saying goodbye to Peter, but she knew he would understand. Right now her main concern was for her friend.
Alright, so how about Tyler and Candice? And I'm having fun with the bets. Who do you think will win bets?
Let me know what you think! I love hearing what you have to say.