Disclaimer: :(
Hey! So our little kids are growing up and there's a sort of big time jump in here, from about mid-February to about a couple of weeks before their Third Year ends just to keep the story moving at a decent pace. Fourth Year is looking like it's going to be pretty lengthy and so is Fifth Year so I'm just shortening up Third.
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Love, Essie
You can't even hold a normal conversation
But you can tell your friends I ruined your life
Whatever helps your perfect reputation
'Cause I'm not losing sleep tonight
I met a girl and she's more than a pretty face
Six drinks and she still remembers my name
Fine as hell but I think I might as well drop Annabelle
Maybe she's pretty but I don't need a girl like Annabelle
~Annabelle, A Rocket to the Moon
Dany was eating breakfast with James a few weeks after the last Hogsmeade trip when Sirius and Tasha came into the Great Hall. After the trip, they had become nauseatingly couple-y, complete with making out over breakfast. Sirius sat down next to James, who looked at Dany like he wanted to die. Dany was across from the happy couple and was going to have to try to stomach her food as they had a competition as to who could shove their tongue farther down the other's throat.
"Morning you two." Sirius said cheerily. Dany and James both waved because they were both mid-bite.
"Hey James." Tasha said, completely ignoring the other girl at the table; Dany ignored her too. It was an unsaid thing that had developed after the trip. Dany still didn't know why exactly the girl hated her. Sure enough, they both ate a couple of bites and the face sucking started. Dany wrinkled her nose at James. She wasn't grossed out because she liked Sirius, she wasn't grossed out because it was over breakfast, she honestly was uncomfortable because he was fourteen and, from what James had said, he was going to be handing in his V-card pretty soon, if he hadn't already. That seemed a little early to her but she never said anything, constantly reminding herself that it wasn't her job to keep him responsible. James moved his plate away from where they were, as if he was genuinely worried about spit landing in his food, and looked at Dany as if to ask if they could leave and just go to class.
"I can't…I told the girls I'd wait." She said quietly. She didn't know why she bothered to be quiet. There was no way Sirius or Tasha was paying attention to what she was saying. James groaned and put his head in his hand, resigning himself to this torture. A few minutes later Lily, Marlene, and Alice walked into the Great Hall and James seemed so relieved that Dany was worried he might cry. The three girls were going to sit down but with one look towards Sirius and Tasha merely picked up some toast, never bothering to sit.
"You guys want to go?" Lily asked and both Dany and James stood, grateful for the reason to leave. They both ducked under the table to get their books. And when Dany leaned down to pick up her bag, she noticed that Sirius' hand was way too close to being up Tasha's skirt to be polite for a public location. She stuck her tongue out to herself and picked up her bag. James attempted to say bye to his friend but he didn't get an answer. He walked out next to Dany, who patted his shoulder.
"It's not forever, James…there's no way she's sticking around." She told her Godbrother consolingly. The other girls laughed.
"Damn straight it's not forever. We should take bets!" Lily cried and the other girls laughed and agreed.
"James, can you hold the money during the bet? I'm assuming you don't want to take part in this?" Dany said and James grinned.
"Please, we have our own betting pool." Remus said as he, Frank, and Peter appeared from around a corner. "I'm assuming we're talking about Tasha, am I right?" He added on. Everyone nodded. "Speaking of, we've been meaning to ask one of you to hold our money. Any takers?" Lily raised her hand.
"Yeah, I'll do it."
"Don't worry guys, I won't let her spend it on chocolate." Dany added on with a laugh as they all started to walk towards charms (otherwise known as the bane of Dany's existence).
"So, what are the bets, ladies?" Marlene said with a grin. They all thought for a minute.
"Wait how long have they already been dating?" Lily asked.
"Three weeks." Remus told her.
"I'll give it another month." Alice said.
"Five more weeks." Lily said.
"Three weeks." Marlene said.
"Less than a week." Dany said. James and Remus laughed.
"Well you can definitely tell who the romantics are in this lot. We've got Evans over at five more and then Little Miss One Week. Really, Dan? Well I hope you're right; that's about all I can take of their…couple behaviors." Frank said and Dany grinned.
"There's no way they'll make it through Valentine's Day." She said and everyone looked suddenly uncomfortable with their own bets; she had a point.
"Alright, what are the stakes?" James asked them, amused. Dany wondered where he had put his money. James was usually a pretty good gambler. The girls looked around at each other. Dany wasn't weighing in on this one. She could handle whatever the wager was.
"A galleon? Two?" Marlene suggested. There was a general agreement on two galleons and they all shuffled around their bags and handed the money to James. He grinned as they entered Flitwick's classroom.
"It's been a pleasure doing business with you ladies." He said with a grin as he went to take his seat. Lily and Dany sat down next to each other and Dany prepared for her least favorite two hours of the week. Fortunately for Dany, her best friend was brilliant at everything so she always had a fail-proof tutor. Also fortunate was that no one had ever really mastered Cheering Charms and so they were just reviewing for the majority of the period. To her credit, Lily was an always-positive tutor. She never got frustrated with her best friend and she never seemed to have a problem ducking a charm that wasn't right.
"No, Dan you're saying it wrong again…put more emphasis on the 'a' this time…okay try again." Dany tried again and to her surprise she was successful. Lily squealed happily but still ducked it. She always said she hated the damn charms; they made her someone she wasn't. "Congrats!" She said and slapped her friend a high-five. Dany sighed in relief.
"Thank you so much, Lils. My love for you is never ending; I don't think I tell you that enough, honestly." Dany said as they put their wands down. Lily smiled and bumped her shoulder.
"Hey, that's a two-way street…Dany Masters I love you." She said, fake crying with a hand over her heart and Dany pretended to choke up too.
"I love you Lily!" She said dramatically and flung herself into her friend's arms. They both started giggling and James threw some parchment at the back of her head.
"Hey! No having that much fun, you two. And Danilynn, get your arms away from my woman!" He said and Lily jinxed him so quickly that he didn't have time to duck or repel it. His hair turned a violent color of purple with hot pink streaks. Remus, his partner, started to laugh at the look on James' face. Professor Flitwick looked over and sighed.
"Mr. Lupin, how did you manage to turn Mr. Potter's hair this, erm these colors?" He asked of the young werewolf. Remus shrugged.
"Accident. Sorry, Professor." He said. The Professor turned James hair back to normal and Remus grinned at the two girls. James looked indignant at the injustice against him, and his hair, going unpunished. Dany grinned at him and waved cheerily from across class. He rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her. She laughed and went back to talking to Lily.
"I heard you up last night." Lily said softly. Dany started at the statement then she sighed.
"Yeah…sorry I woke you up. I don't know why they're waking me up at like 2 in the morning now, it's really quite unfortunate." She said. Lily nodded. Dany knew how badly she was hiding the visions. And she knew how Lily worried for her best friend; not just because of the mental toll that her night visions were taking but because her sleep was being completely disrupted more than it should be. She wasn't kidding anyone either, Lily knew that once she was up, she didn't go back to sleep for the rest of the night.
"What was it this time?" She asked. Dany looked at the floor, thinking about the right way to say it. There really wasn't one without sounding like a sappy teenager.
"Nothing horrible…just weird. I wouldn't have even thought that it was one except that I woke up and I had written the same thing about a thousand times in my book…there was only one image with it. A door with the number 4 on it. I spent all night staring at the bloody door." Dany said.
"What had you written?" Lily asked her. Dany looked at her distantly and responded, trying to hold off telling her friend.
"Alright, don't judge, I'm not in control of these bloody things. And I don't know anything more than I've told you so don't freak out and make the whole class look…"
"Dany. The sentence." Lily said, clearly not buying her friend's stalling.
"Fine, fine. I was saying it over and over. It…it was 'Hello, Harry. My name is Danilynn Black. I'm your Godmother'. That's it. That's all I know about it before you start twenty questions." Dany said. Lily's mouth dropped open. Dany watched her, waiting for her to do something typical of Lily and overreact to something that could be even remotely romantic.
"Seriously?" She whispered. Dany nodded.
"Seriously." Dany told her.
"So I think we need to break this down into three separate parts. The first one being the person you're talking to. Harry's your Godson obviously, but why are you meeting him so late that you have to introduce yourself? Second of all, is he my kid? I'd name you Godmother if I had a kid tomorrow; he might be my kid, I don't know. And third, and the most obvious one, is the name change." Lily said excitedly, but still being mindful of her volume.
"Well I don't know who Harry is, which is probably why he didn't present in the vision, just a door. I've been thinking that over and that's my best guess, unless you have another theory; which in that case, shoot." Lily had no better theory. "And he could be your kid, I have no idea. A last name would have been helpful but of course, nothing is ever straightforward around here. And third, I have no fucking clue. Don't forget there is more than one Black; granted I'd rather scratch my own eyes out with my fingernails than marry Regulus. And I could always be going under a fake last name for some reason."
"Or you're married to that one over there." Lily said, with a subtle nod towards the back of the room. "Honestly, the name has a nice ring to it. And it's super sweet to boot. Not only the childhood crush part but the whole caring for a wounded soul from a horrible past thing is just so romantic; it makes me go weak in the knees." Lily said and Dany recognized that look; her hopeless romantic heart was carrying Lily away.
"Lily, I think we all need to calm down. No matter what it was, it's years off, obviously I'm not planning on getting hitched anytime soon. And last time I checked you don't have a kid." Dany said, reminding her of the fact they currently were fourteen and not mothers and wives. Lily nodded and she was obviously trying to get herself under control.
"Alright, I hear you. But you have to admit it's a little sweet. You can't deny that you like the sound of that name." She said with a grin and Dany felt her face turn red.
"Maybe a little…shhh, I don't need the whole world to know." Dany said but she couldn't help but giggle with her friend.
"Hey I don't judge. But you have to promise me that when you get married I get to be your Maid-of-Honor." Lily said and Dany laughed.
"Hey, that's a two way street. I better be in your wedding Lily Evans." She said and Lily grinned.
"Of course, besides, you'd probably do a great job; your house is incredibly classy, after all." She said and Dany grinned.
"Alright, you've got yourself a deal. I'll be yours, if you'll be mine." Dany said and Lily shook her hand.
"Deal." Just then, Professor Flitwick called the class to attention. Everyone stopped casting spells and looked up at the little man at the front of the class.
"Good work, everyone! Now, I won't be seeing you all until after Valentine's Day, so I'd like to wish you all a lovely holiday. See you next Wednesday." He said and everyone started packing up their books and wands. James drifted over to where Lily and Dany were walking out of the room.
"I reckon that you might be right, Masters. Take a look over there." He whispered and sure enough, Sirius was quite noticeably being wrung out by his girlfriend for something that they were all too far away to hear. Dany grinned.
"I told y'all. I'm taking this money home." She said. "Where'd you put your money James?" He grinned.
"Three more days. He's going to split with her on Valentine's I think. I have no way of knowing for sure, but that's where I put my galleons." He said and Lily looked appalled.
"You bet that he'd dump her on Valentine's Day? That's awful. Not that I'm complaining, I'll be damn glad when they stop slobbering over breakfast everyday." She said and James shrugged.
"That's life and that's definitely Sirius. And you and me both, Evans. I'm actually concerned that their bodily fluids are going to end up in my cereal one day." He said and both girls scrunched up their noses.
"That's disgusting James." Remus said from behind him and both Lily and Dany agreed.
"Disgusting? Yes. Legitimately a concern of mine? Also yes. It's the sad truth these days." He said solemnly and the other three laughed as they headed to Transfiguration, which they shared with Hufflepuff. Dany took a seat next to James, as Sirius was now opting to sit with his girlfriend. Remus was filling in for Dany as Lily's partner and the rest of their group was paired off evenly too. Professor McGonagall walked in the room and almost immediately started to teach. Dany exchanged a look with James; it was going to be a long class.
Lily was sitting two seats behind Dany and only one seat in front of Sirius and Tasha. She really wished that she could turn around and tell them both to shut it because their bickering was making it really hard to concentrate on what McGonagall was saying. Suddenly, she heard something that caught her attention.
"…She's my friend, of course I know her parents." Sirius was saying. Lily raised an eyebrow and then kicked Remus in the shin. He looked at her and she nodded towards them subtly. 'Listen' she mouthed to him and he nodded.
"That doesn't mean that you get to talk to her all the time. I'm your girlfriend, not her." Tasha hissed. Lily and Remus exchanged a look. Who were they talking about? Lily dearly hoped it wasn't her; she pitied the poor girl that was accidentally caught in the middle of this.
"I was friends with them, all of them, long before I met you Tasha. I'm not going to drop them, any of them. You're acting ridiculous." He told her and Lily shook her head, mainly to herself. Don't tell girls they're being ridiculous. It just pisses them off even more. She noticed how pointedly he had said he wasn't dropping any of them, he apparently knew what, or who, she was pissed about and wasn't saying it outright. Lily wished that he would, she was quite curious and a horrible snoop.
"I'm not acting ridiculous, I'm being realistic. You're dating me, you should at least consider saying hello to my parents on the platform when we go home for break." Tasha said. Lily had to give her that one; it was just courteous.
"Tasha, I'm not meeting your parents, I don't see the point of making small talk with someone I'll probably never see again." Lily felt her eyes widen. She made eye contact with Remus and he mouthed 'what the hell?' at her and she shrugged. They were accidentally overhearing a massive fight. They might be overhearing the undoing of the relationship as a whole.
"Excuse me? Are my parents not important enough for you? Is that what this is? Are they not powerful enough?" She hissed at him, clearly becoming more upset by the second. Lily got a nasty feeling about what she was talking about.
"What are you going on about?" He asked and Lily wanted to smack her head into the table. Boys.
"So you're more than happy to meet the Minister of Magic, but heaven forbid you meet some average Ministry worker and his shopkeeper wife. I guess that's not exciting enough for you." She snapped and Lily raised her eyebrows. She was completely screwed in terms of this lesson but she was too busy listening to the train wreck behind her to really care. Remus put his head in his hands, closing his eyes. She saw him vaguely shake his head and Lily quite agreed with that assessment.
"That's enough, Natasha." Sirius snapped at his girlfriend. Lily was taken aback. No one called Tasha by her full name, even strangers called her Tasha, even teachers had adopted the name. That was a tone that she had never heard before; Sirius didn't particularly scare her, but then again he had never sounded like he wouldn't have minded smacking his hand into her face. Dany had told her about his temper, only having seen it once in her life before. Lily had the feeling that she was getting a taste of the calm before the storm.
"That's right, I forgot that she can never do anything wrong. Silly me, I thought that you were supposed to agree with me for once." She said and Lily wished that the stupid girl would just stop talking. Her one consolation was that she was positive Sirius wouldn't reach over and hit his girlfriend, no matter how mad she made him; he simply didn't hit women. She remembered Dany telling her that once. There was a time where Sirius had scared Lily, it was a while back and before she had really known him as much more than the Black in Gryffindor. Dany had already been close to him and they had been talking about it when Dany had shrugged and had simply said, "He doesn't hit girls, it's just not in his nature." Lily believed it the more she got to know him.
"She has nothing to do with this and you know it. Just leave it alone." Sirius said and Lily thought that he sounded tired. It may have been his choice to date her, but she pitied that voice more than she expected to. Tasha was silent for a minute but she didn't stop completely.
"She has everything to do with this. You stare at her all the time, you do know that, right? I'm your girlfriend and you're supposed to take my side because that's what couples do. It's like you don't even like me." She said and there was insecurity all over her voice towards the end.
"Tasha…I like you, I really do; but they're my friends. I respect your friends, so please respect mine. Think what you want about them, but keep it away from me." He said and Lily could tell that he was very done with this conversation.
"Why do you put her on a pedestal like this? It's ridiculous, honestly. What does she have that's so special? Do you just have a fetish for weird hair colors? Or is all the attention she gets a turn-on for you?" Tasha pushed and Lily wanted to bang her head into her desk. She just didn't stop.
"That's enough. I'm not asking, I'm telling you. Enough is enough. So help me if you bring this up again because I am so fucking sick of hearing it. Either accept that Dany's in my life and is going to be staying there or don't; I don't care but it's time you figure it out." Sirius snapped. It appeared Tasha had finally gone too far. Remus apparently took pity on everyone involved and finally turned around.
"Hey you two, as riveting as I'm sure your conversation is, save it for after class. Me and Lils are trying to learn up here." He whispered and Professor McGonagall caught him talking. Of course she had just missed the raging argument that had just been happening.
"Mr. Lupin, is there a reason that you and Mr. Black feel the need to converse during my lecture?" She asked critically. Remus shook his head.
"No, Professor. Sorry." He said and Professor McGonagall looked at him keenly and continued to teach, not giving him detention, something highly out of character for her. She must have figured that he had a good reason for it. The rest of class went by uninterrupted and the couple sitting behind Lily and Remus was silent. When class was dismissed, Lily and Remus packed up their things slowly, waiting for Sirius and Tasha to leave. Once they were gone Remus started the conversation.
"What the hell was that?" He said slowly and Lily shook her head.
"Well now I can comfortably call Tasha jealous and possessive, but other than that, I have no idea…she definitely was talking about Dany. He definitely wasn't happy about that." Lily said and Remus nodded. She was watching James and Dany talk in the front of the class about something that she couldn't catch. The last thing she wanted was Dany hearing that her friend's relationship was disintegrating because of her.
"Unhappy would be an understatement. He was pissed, I've heard that voice before, granted only a few times, and it never means anything good. There aren't many things that will push him like that. James has always claimed that Sirius has a hot temper but I've never seen it myself; I think we were on the cusp of seeing a full-on meltdown…the voice is usually accompanied by a fist to the face." Remus said and Lily shrugged.
"He doesn't hit girls. I don't think that it's in his nature." Lily said, repeating what Dany had told her long ago.
"I know but I think that if she had gotten any nastier, he might have made an exception…she just doesn't want him near other girls; which is dumb considering that she must have known that he and Dany are close." Remus said and Lily shook her head.
"Remus, as nice and as perceptive as you are, you're still a guy; she thought that he'd like her so much that he wouldn't want to talk or be near any girl that wasn't her. She's one of those." Lily said, unable to help judging the other girl. Dany and James walked up to them and Dany caught the last sentence.
"Oh, who are we talking about?" She asked eagerly and Lily rolled her eyes.
"Tasha. They were having quite the dispute during class. She doesn't want him near anyone with boobs other than her." Lily said and Dany wrinkled her nose distastefully. Lily quite agreed with her.
"Oh, she's one of those girls." Dany said. Remus and James looked at them and shook their heads.
"That's what I got busted for; I turned around to tell them to shut up." Remus said and Dany rolled her eyes.
"Good thing she's on her way out...she won't be missed, I'll tell you that." She said and Lily raised an eyebrow. This morning she had thought that Dany's prediction of less than a week was severely low-balling it, but now she was starting to think that her best friend knew more than she let on about Sirius' dating life. The four started walking down to the Great Hall for lunch and finally James asked the obvious question.
"Why do you two keep saying that Norton is 'one of those girls' like that has some super secret meaning?" He asked and Dany laughed.
"It's not super secret at all, actually…care to explain Lils?" She said and Lily nodded.
"Sure, as we all enter our teenage years in earnest, you boys deserve to know anyways…some girls, generally ones that are pretty average and are thus insecure, become wildly possessive of their boyfriends. At the same time they try to ward off other girls they start becoming clingier and needier. This inevitably leads to them putting out in a last desperate attempt to keep their boyfriend, who is clearly repulsed at this point because she won't bloody leave him alone. So once they hookup, he dumps her because he no longer has motivation to stay with her because she's a whiny, clingy, jealous bitch." Lily said matter-of-factly. James and Remus both raised their eyebrows at her.
"Holy shit, Lily that's pretty brutal." Remus said and Lily shrugged.
"Nothing but the truth, boys. So yes, she's one of those." Lily said and Dany nodded in agreement as they walked into the Great Hall.
"Women are nuts." James said decisively and Lily couldn't help but agree. Women were absolutely crazy.
Lily woke up the next Tuesday and started her day off as always, waking up Alice, then Marlene, and finally going over to drag her best friend back to consciousness. Halfway through waking up Marlene she remembered that it was Valentine's Day. Everyone was waiting to see if James would be collecting on his bet today. They all hoped he would be because no one wanted to see the nauseating couple on the most vomit-inducing holiday of the year.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Al." She called out to the sleepy girl that had just walked into the bathroom. She received a grunt in return. She woke up Marlene relatively quickly and then went to rouse Dany. She apparently had slept soundly last night, with normal, non-prophetic, dreams because she didn't get up. "Dany. Dany come on. Get up. You've been waiting to see Sirius' relationship implode forever. Come on, today's the day." She said and pushed her out of bed. Dany hit the ground with a thump
"Owwww…Lily I don't like you right now." She groaned from the ground. Lily rolled her eyes.
"You love me, now seriously get—what's this?" She said suddenly and Dany stood up blearily.
"Lily Evans if you're going through that sketchbook I'm going to kill you." She said. But Lily wasn't looking in the book; she was looking on top of it. Dany followed her line of sight.
"Seriously Dan have you been picking flowers or something?" Lily said and Dany walked around the bed to her nightstand. On top of the book she drew her visions in was a flower.
"What are you talking…that wasn't there last night when I went to bed." She said slowly and Lily felt her stomach lurch.
"What do you mean 'it wasn't there last night'?" She asked.
"I mean this was not here when I turned off the lights last night." She said again. "Marlene! Alice! Can you come here for a second?" She called out and the girls walked over.
"Yeah?" Alice asked.
"Did either of you put that there?" Lily asked impatiently. Both girls shook their heads.
"If it wasn't you and it wasn't any of us…who was it?" Lily said slowly. Dany shrugged.
"No clue. If anyone has a theory, feel free to throw it out there." She said.
"Um, Dan you know flowers kind of have meanings right? I mean that's why roses and today are such a big deal; they mean love." Alice said. Marlene nodded.
"Yeah, maybe the meaning would give us a clue…that's kind of an unusual choice for Valentine's Day, seems personal. I mean it's a…well, what is it?" She asked suddenly. Dany picked it up in her hands. It had large white petals and no stem. She smiled at it softly.
"It's a magnolia. They're impossible to grow in these parts without magic…they smell wonderful though. It's beautiful." She said and Lily could tell she smelled the flower as her head bent slightly. Lily examined the flower that was the exact color of her friend's hair. She didn't really think that was an accident.
"How'd you know that?" Lily asked. Dany shrugged.
"We have a tree at home. My mom babies it like you wouldn't imagine. I think she loves the tree more than she loves me." She said.
"Maybe she sent it for you." Dany immediately shook her head.
"No way she'd cut anything off that tree and Dad wouldn't dare crossing her about it either. That's a good way to get your ass beaten nine ways to Sunday in my house." She said with a laugh. Lily checked the time; they were totally going to miss breakfast at this rate.
"Guys, we need to start getting ready. Dan, I'm going to put it in some water and then we need to go. Alice we can look up your flower meaning after classes today. What do we have? Herbology?" She said and everyone nodded and went back to their routines.
"You know what this means, right Dan?" Marlene suddenly said, as she was getting ready. Dany buttoned up her shirt and dryly answered.
"What Marlene?"
"Someone has a crush on you." She said and Dany rolled her eyes.
"Well whoever they are, they know me so at least it's not completely random." She said. Lily's head snapped up.
"What makes you say that?"
"They're my favorite flowers." She said softly and Lily raised her eyebrows. That cut down the list of guys considerably. "That or James told someone and didn't bother to tell me because he didn't think it was important." Or not. James never had really realized that things that seemed strange, like random people asking him about his Godsister's favorite flower, were actually strange. It could still be anybody.
"Well that was really helpful until you said that James knows." Marlene snorted and everyone else laughed in agreement. Lily found a glass and filled it with water. Dany put the flower in it before they left their room.
"Alright, no one tells the guys or brings it up; they have big mouths and seriously they'll never shut up." Dany said and they all nodded in agreement. Suddenly she started laughing. "Speaking of them, James is going to be on pins and needles all day, hoping that Sirius and Tasha's relationship bites it. Maybe it's already over and we don't have to watch them slobber all over each other at breakfast." She said hopefully. Alice laughed and patted her on the shoulder.
"Don't get too carried away, Dan. Getting your hopes up that much means that reality can only be a downgrade…I think I'm going to head to the Library real quick to look into that flower. No way I'm waiting until after class. I'll see you all in Herbology." She said solemnly and everyone laughed as Alice turned in another direction. They entered the Great Hall. The three girls sat down with Remus, James, Frank, and Peter. Sirius was nowhere to be found.
"Hey guys." Lily said and sat down next to Dany. "How's everyone's day so far?" She asked and James opened his mouth to say something but suddenly he yelped in pain and glared at his Godsister accusingly.
"You deserved it in advance. Now shut up James before Lily hexes you on this already grossly sweet day." She said briskly and he looked scandalized that he had been figured out so quickly.
"Aw, come on Dan, we all know how much you love Valentine's Day." He teased and she rolled her eyes.
"It's dumb. All it does is give couples a reason to stick their tongues in each other's mouths and gives singles a reason to feel bad about themselves." She retorted as she put some toast in her mouth.
"Amen, sister." Marlene said and Dany tipped her glass at her.
"Come on you two, you're awfully cynical. Don't your parents celebrate Valentine's Day?" Lily asked and Dany shook her head.
"No way, they both always said that if you need a day designated to saying 'I love you' then you're not acting like it the other 364 days of the year." She said with a shrug. Lily smiled.
"That's adorable. I love your parents so much, Dan." Lily said and Dany winked.
"Eh, I kind of like them too." She said and Lily laughed. James did too. If anyone here knew how much she loved her parents and how much they loved each other, it was James. They had grown up side-by-side and he had been firsthand witness to many of the things she often spoke about from home.
Suddenly, Tasha came into the Hall and they all looked at each other with dread-filled looks. Except she didn't come over, asking where her boyfriend was, instead she walked over to the Hufflepuff table and started speaking to girls that Lily supposed were her friends. Four of them got up and led her back out of the Hall. Everyone exchanged looks. Dany and James both held out their hands.
"Pay up." They said simultaneously. Damn, Lily thought, they're good.
Sirius was so glad that his relationship with Tasha was over that he wanted to cry. Now things could just go back to the way they were before she started getting into his business and straining his relationships with everyone other than her. Sure, he felt horrible about leaving her in tears but he hadn't even said anything before she started crying, so it wasn't really his fault, he reasoned.
He walked into the Great Hall and saw all of his friends (minus Alice) exchanging money. He raised an eyebrow and walked over just as Dany and James were pocketing about five or six galleons each.
"Hey guys, I see we're paying Dany and James for…well why are we paying them exactly?" He asked and Lily rolled her eyes.
"We took bets on how long your relationship would last. Just to clarify, you and Norton are over, right?" Lily said. Sirius nodded.
"Oh yeah, we're over." He said and James and Dany both cheered.
"I win Evans, five more weeks my white ass." Dany laughed and Lily stuck her tongue out at her in response.
"Five weeks, Lily? Really? I know you heard our argument in Transfiguration on Friday." Sirius said to her. He had realized that a little too late; he had literally been arguing about Dany within easy earshot of her best friend. Judging by the closed look on Lily's face and the blank one on Dany's he guessed that she hadn't told her best friend anything about it other than the fact that it happened.
"Yeah, unfortunately we took bets before then and no one would let me change my bet. It was unfortunate for me, really." She said with a shrug. The rest of breakfast passed uneventfully and Sirius found that he was really and truly happy to be able to talk to his friends without a girl hanging off of him, constantly demanding his attention. He did miss the snogging though. He watched Dany laugh at something Remus had just said and Lily was animatedly talking to Marlene as James, Frank, and Peter were discussing something farther down the table, too far away for him to hear. Suddenly Dany burst out laughing.
"Lily, your ponytail just smacked me in the face. Ugh I think I got some in my mouth." She said and crinkled up her nose. Lily rolled her eyes.
"Oh boo, sweetie, if I had a sickle for every time I found a white hair in my hairbrush I'd be swimming in them." The redhead retorted. Dany made a face at her.
"Speaking of my hair, I really need to get a haircut." Dany said, while examining the ends critically. That seemed like a screaming shame to Sirius to cut any of her hair off but he didn't say anything. "At least a few inches need to go for it to be healthy again. Nothing's cuter than ratty split ends." She said sarcastically and Lily laughed.
"Yeah, you could probably use a trim. On the other hand you could just shave your head and make the front page." Lily joked. Dany laughed and Sirius tried to imagine her bald. He couldn't really visualize it; he honestly was having a hard time visualizing her as a brunette, even though that's what he had known her as for over two years. James checked the clock and they all started standing up at an unspoken cue. Sirius realized he was no longer used to the rhythms that his friends were in; he had been too busy with Tasha, which made him feel kind of shitty. Dany caught his eye and smiled.
"Time for class." She said quietly and he smiled back appreciatively. They all started to walk out of the Great Hall and James fell into step with him almost immediately.
"Good to have you back, mate. Really, I love the guys but I can only take so much of Peter before I start to lose my mind." He said honestly and Sirius laughed.
"Yeah, it kind of got out of hand. Next girlfriend, I promise that friends come first. All of them." He said and nodded towards the girls. He noticed Alice had appeared and they were all talking happily.
"That'll go over great. 'Sorry baby, I really like you but these other four, very pretty, girls are more important than you'." He said, poorly imitating his friend.
"Eh, probably not Prewett and McKinnon but still. This was ridiculous. Like I don't even know what's been happening in any of your lives." He said, feeling more and more guilty for being so absorbed in himself.
"I think Dan and Lily will forgive you, man. Lily's got a good heart and you and Dan are close; besides, they both believe in second chances. And Dan believes in full-on redemption so you legitimately can't screw up too badly until you threaten someone she cares about." James said.
"Oh well that's reassuring."
"What is it that Daniel always said about being nice? He only said it a million times when we were kids…hey Dan, what's the thing your dad says about being nice?" he called up to her and she fell back to talk to them.
"What? Why?" She asked and Sirius realized that this was the first time he had talked to her in over a week.
"Sirius is feeling guilty that he was too busy with Norton to talk to us." James said and Dany looked like she had swallowed something sour.
"I told you that she was one of those girls, James. I'm always right." She said and Sirius decided that he didn't want to know what kind of girl she was talking about.
"You did, you did indeed. So I'll leave you two kids to catch up, seeing that someone is so guilt-ridden." James said with a wink at him before leaving to talk to Remus.
"So…Dany how have you been?" he said awkwardly.
"Alright I guess. Life's pretty uneventful at the moment. How about you?" She said and he could tell that the last month or so had put an obvious strain on their friendship.
"Bloody weird to be honest. Man, Tasha was nice but she was a possessive lunatic too." He said and she laughed.
"I could have told you that like a month ago." She said.
"What? Why didn't you?" He asked and she smiled.
"Because you liked her. I knew no matter what I said you wouldn't have listened so I didn't say anything. I let you find out all on your own, you lucky boy." She said and he groaned.
"Thanks for that, you could have saved me a lot of trouble." He said and she shook her head.
"You wouldn't have listened to me. I thought about telling you that she was most likely crazy the night after the Hogsmeade trip but I didn't. You said you liked her so I kept my mouth shut." She said.
"How'd you know? That'd she'd be a jealous lunatic I mean."
"She liked you way more than you liked her. Nothing that out of balance can survive, let alone do well. The writing was on the wall from the start…she was really boring. I tried talking to her at Hogsmeade and I wanted to kill myself she was so dreadful. It was like talking to a wall." She said thoughtfully and then her eyes widened. He could tell she didn't know how he would take that. He laughed.
"She was boring, wasn't she?" he laughed and she relaxed.
"Sorry, but yeah. Kind of an idiot too, honestly." She said and he could tell she was being truthful, at least from her perspective. He had to hand it to Dany; she called it like she saw it. There was no trick or game behind this conversation and he found that refreshing. They hadn't really seen each other much lately and the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Tasha was trying to push her out; he had missed her, more than he thought he would have. They walked into Herbology and Sirius looked up to see Tasha standing next to her friends. "She's been crying." Dany said softly. Sirius looked at her.
"How do you know that?" He asked.
"Her eyes are bloodshot and see how all of her friends are putting her in the middle of their group? They're trying to keep other people away from her." She told him and sure enough, her eyes were red and all of her friends seemed to be like bodyguards, around her in all directions.
"Damn. Are all girls this predictable?" He asked and she laughed.
"We're not completely predictable, at least not all of us. But that's just female instinct; you protect the vulnerable one." She said with a shrug and Sirius noticed that one of the girls standing near Tasha gave him a nasty look.
"Well they all hate me. I think I'll go stand way over there." He said and started to walk away.
"Oh, Sirius!" She called out suddenly. He turned around. "What James was talking about earlier, about what my dad said about kindness; my father taught me to be nice first because you can always be mean later, but once you've been mean to someone they won't believe the nice anymore. So be nice, be nice until it's time to stop being nice, then destroy them." (AN: I saw the thing about kindness online and liked it, I didn't come up with it but I don't know who did) She said before she turned away to start talking to her girlfriends. Sirius had the slightly uneasy feeling that that was the mentality that had kept the Masters clan on top for so many generations. They were kind, all of them, but he had no doubt that any of them could turn very nasty and would destroy someone without blinking an eye.
He stood next to James around the giant Herbology tables and Professor Sprout came in, all chipper and cheery as always. It must be a bubbly Hufflepuff thing, Sirius had always supposed.
"Well, hello all and a Happy Valentine's Day to you all!" She said and Sirius saw all of Tasha's friends glare at him. Awkward. "Now, we were supposed to be working with grown mandrakes today but I decided that we would be having a more enjoyable, and less lethal, lesson today. How do you all feel about flowers?" She asked.
Every girl in the room started talking to each other. Lily was saying something to Dany and Dany's face was turning progressively redder until she turned away from him completely and he could just see the back of her head. "Quiet ladies. Now, the epistemology of flowers and plants of all kinds is incredibly important to the art of Herbology. A good way to remember what exactly you're looking at, is remembering the symbolism behind them. Of course, roses mean love, but did you all know that the Egyptians referred to Mandrake root as "water of life" when mixed with water? Appropriate considering that it can be used to fix petrification, wouldn't you say?" She said and there was general agreement from the class. "Now, you're going to split into groups of four and to make things less uncomfortable, you can choose your own groups."
Immediately, girls grabbed onto each other. Dany, Lily, Marlene, and Alice had grabbed hands so fast Sirius wondered if they'd been holding hands the entire time. James, Sirius, Remus, and Frank all shrugged as Peter wandered over to a group of Hufflepuff guys that he was friends with. Professor Sprout started walking around and handed groups sheets of paper. She reached them after a few minutes.
"Fill out the meanings and put all four of your names on it. Please don't blow anything up boys." She finished handing out the papers and told the class, "The plants are over there and books are over there. I want this done before the end of class!" Everyone started shuffling around. Girls took to the task quickly, all looking at the flowers and saying which ones were their favorites.
"Women. They're all the same yet somehow all different." Sirius said to James, who nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, no joking. Like they all love flowers but they all love different kinds of flowers. Like how would I know that Dany hates daisies unless she told me? And then my mom likes tulips and I can never keep those two straight, add in Rhea, who likes…hydrangeas I think and I'm shocked that I can ever get those three anything in terms of flowers because I'm constantly mixing them up. Not to mention my Godsister picked the hardest bloody flower to find in Europe, let alone England. And apparently roses are overrated or something because no one likes those." James grumbled and Sirius laughed.
"I hope you realize that I don't know what any of that is except daisies and maybe tulips." He said. James shrugged.
"Well we're about to find out. Wait, Remus is going the work, bless him. Alright, let's go tease the girls." James said with a laugh and they walked over to where the four girls were standing. Lily was holding out a rose for Dany to smell.
"I don't smell anything Lils, I don't know what you're talking about." Dany was saying. "Besides, roses are so boring. Oh wow, roses on Valentine's Day, how original." She said sarcastically. James chuckled.
"You know, not everyone only loves fragrant flowers that are impossible to find on this continent, Dan." James said.
"Oh shut up James. No one asked you. And besides, who wouldn't like a flower that can smell like a thousand different things, depending on the tree? Now, I'm assuming that Remus is doing your work for you?" She said with a raised eyebrow. Neither boy answered her and she smirked. "I thought so. So you boys can just stand there while we look at the pretty flowers." She said and turned her attention back to what Lily was doing.
"This is poisonous?" Alice asked, shocked. She was holding up a clump of white flowers in her hand. Lily nodded.
"Yeah, says here that it's poisonous to dogs…moral of today is keep Fido away from the gardenias." The redhead said. Dany took it from her and cupped it in her hands.
"It's so beautiful though, it's hard to believe that it's dangerous at all." She said. Sirius idly watched her inspect it and smile for a second before handing it back to Alice. "So, that's what? Grace and elegance?" She said and Lily confirmed before she wrote it down, her white hair falling onto the parchment. James kicked him and pointedly raised an eyebrow at him. He stopped watching Dany, busted by her Godbrother.
"Alright, magnolias are next." Marlene said in a very controlled voice. She found the flower and brought it over. The four girls passed it around and Sirius saw Dany truly smile.
"Anyone know what this one is?" Lily asked.
"Nobility. Nobility and perseverance." Dany said suddenly. Everyone looked at her. "What? I like them, don't judge. They smell good." She said, mildly defensive. The girls all shrugged but Sirius caught the little smile on Lily's face as she was writing; Lily Evans knew more than she was saying.
James was personally thought that Sirius' relationship with Tasha had imploded because of how he was looking at his best girl friend. Dany was leaned on a desk, occasionally smelling a flower that Lily would hand to her, and writing down the girls' answers to the work. It was really quite a mundane position but Sirius was staring at her like she might be the most interesting thing in the world right now, let alone in the room. That was something that wouldn't have gone by unnoticed by his, now ex, girlfriend. When Dany had smiled at the magnolia flower, James had caught Sirius smile slightly too; he was starting to mimic her emotions and expressions. She had him wrapped around her finger and she didn't even know it. James guessed that she wouldn't even imagine it in her wildest dreams.
Lily looked beautiful today, almost as if the universe wanted to taunt him. It was the most romantic day of the year and he wasn't able to ask her out. Dany had stepped on his foot so hard at breakfast that it had brought tears to his eyes to prevent him from doing so. He knew she wouldn't say yes but he still felt like he should. She was beautiful, the most beautiful of all four of the girls in his opinion.
He knew that he, Sirius, Remus, and Frank all differed on that (and he honestly didn't know where Peter stood) particular topic and each of them favored a different one of the girls so they never really spoke about it because it usually led to disagreements and awkwardness on such a variety of levels that no one ever wanted to experience it again. Where James saw Lily's red hair, Sirius wanted Dany's snow-white locks, Remus wanted Marlene's blonde ponytail, and Frank saw Alice's brunette bob. Occasionally James would talk to Sirius about Lily, but he knew that Sirius would never really talk to him about Dany purely because he was her Godbrother and it made him uncomfortable to talk to about the girl he liked to someone that had grown up with her to such an extent that they had been forced into the same bathtub as kids.
Dany and Lily were now talking, apparently done with their work and Dany was saying something that Lily seemed to find hilarious. She looked so beautiful when she laughed. Her face lit up and her nose crinkled, making her dimples and freckles stand out. Sirius kicked him.
"Dude, you're staring." He whispered and James removed his eyes from Lily but glared at his friend.
"Like you're not? Sirius Black don't pretend like you're not looking her up and down right now." James hissed and Sirius looked very guilty for a second but it passed quickly.
"Oh yeah, because this is a great place to scope out girls. The Herbology greenhouse really brings the heat. Besides, objectively she hasn't really…grown into herself yet." He said, mildly awkwardly and James rolled his eyes, despite thinking that his friend was right; none of them had made it through the strange phase of looking like puberty was almost happening.
"Don't you give me that, you're looking at her like she's going to solve the great mysteries of the world. She isn't going to solve global poverty from inside Greenhouse Two, you know. It's disgusting to watch, honestly." James said, with no real insult. Sirius rolled his eyes back at his best friend.
"At least I'm not undressing her with my eyes, unlike someone else I know. Lily's a sweet girl, stop imagining her naked." Sirius laughed quietly and James whacked him over the head.
"Yeah some of us have to imagine girls naked because we haven't seen the real deal, Black." James said, a little too loudly. They had caught the girls' attention.
"Ack, please save the talk about Sirius' sex life for another time." Dany said and Sirius looked rather embarrassed. "I'm never going to be able to look at you the same way again if you go into any more detail." She said and looked at Sirius as if she was trying to push it out of her head. James shifted uncomfortably and the rest of the girls looked like a mix of amusement and discomfort.
"Sorry, I wasn't the one that brought it up, if you must know. James." Sirius said pointedly and James scratched the back of his head uncomfortably.
"Sorry to scar you for life, Dan. I didn't realize that things like sex scare you." He said with a smirk; he was trying to get her to incriminate herself.
"Oh shut up. I'm not scared but I also don't need to sit around with graphic descriptions of Sirius stuck in my head. No offense." She added on at the end, towards Sirius.
"None taken." Sirius said dryly, as he watched them bicker back and forth.
"Oh please Masters, we all know you're scared of boys." James retorted and Dany rolled her eyes and laughed.
"I might as well be because I'm definitely not looking for a relationship, James. Not all of us have found the love of our lives at twelve. Oh but that's right, you had that phase where you wanted to marry your family owl so this thing with Lily might not actually be forever; only until another domesticated bird catches your eye. My mom's owl is currently single, if you're in the market." She said sweetly and everyone snorted. James felt his face go red.
"I was like four."
"You were eight, James Potter don't you lie. I remember this well. You asked me to be in the wedding." She laughed and he felt his face go even redder.
"You're joking." Sirius asked and she shook her head.
"I almost wish I was. But then again, if this was a joke it wouldn't be nearly as funny." She said and everyone laughed at his crimson face.
After Valentine's Day, the year seemed to fly. And by the time that Spring Break rolled around, Sirius had managed to date, sleep with, and break-up with Jemma Hall, Ravenclaw. James had won the bet on that one too, victoriously claiming his galleons from the new, combined betting pool of all four girls and James, Remus, Peter, and Frank. Everyone was becoming very wary of betting against him. When they returned from break, Sirius had already managed to get another "girlfriend", as they were all calling them now, named Angeline McGill, another Ravenclaw. Shockingly, everyone actually liked her; she seemed to be a nice girl with no psychotic tendencies. Unfortunately that relationship didn't last past the first week of exams due to the fact that she suffered a nervous breakdown over her exams. This time Lily cleaned up the betting pool, claiming that a Ravenclaw couldn't balance school and a relationship during exams. There ended the list of Sirius' sane girlfriends.
Kenzie Levitt was pretty, very much so, but she also seemed pretty unstable, if anyone were to ask James. She was a year older in Gryffindor and was all long legs and short skirts. Sirius asked her out not three days after his relationship with Angeline ended. Weirdly enough, as soon as they started dating the girl's heels disappeared and her hair become lighter and her makeup became less intense. One day, about two weeks before the end of school, Sirius even mentioned it to James, as they were getting ready for the day.
"Does Kenzie seem…different to you? I mean appearance wise." He said and James shrugged.
"I guess…her hair's definitely more blonde, if that's possible. She was pretty blonde as it was. Why do you ask?" James said keenly. Lily had been badgering him for months about why Sirius was running through girls like it was going out of style all of a sudden; James hadn't been able to come up with a plausible reason outside of Sirius really liking sex. Lily, Marlene, and Alice were about to go mad because Sirius and Dany were in the same place that they were in January: good friends with a girlfriend in the middle of them.
"No reason. Just checking that it wasn't my imagination." He said absently as he pulled on a shirt. It was a Saturday and they had plans just to sit around the lake all day and do nothing except maybe think of a good way to harass McGonagall one last time before the year ended. Remus, Frank, and Peter had detention all day because Sprout had caught them trying to sneak out with some of her plants the week before (everyone had been shocked that Sirius and James hadn't been involved at all) so they had planned to meet up with the girls, although he suspected that Alice and Marlene would bail at some point to avoid the risk of Sirius' girlfriend making an appearance.
"No, it's definitely not your imagination." James said and they walked out of their room and down the stairs. They had barely made it two steps away from the stairs when Kenzie popped out of nowhere. James jumped he was so surprised. Unlike when he had first dated Tasha, Sirius was no longer shy about the fact that he was dating and unabashedly kissed her in front of about thirty people, including the very amused Dany and Lily that were leaning on the couch by the fire. James saw Lily whisper something to Dany and his Godsister stuck her tongue out, wrinkling her nose in what seemed like disgust. He walked over to them and they both smiled. James' relationship with Lily was definitely under cordial, but still not friendly.
"Hey guys." He said and they both waved.
"You enjoying your first row seat to the daily show?" Lily said with an eye roll. James shuttered. He thanked his lucky stars that Sirius refused to bring girls back to their room, no matter how much they always whined about it. Apparently hooking up was more fun in someone else's bed.
"Oh yeah, nothing like watching my best friend suck face. Really you'd think he'd have a problem with chapped lips or something at this rate." He said thoughtfully and Dany laughed.
"I thought I was your best friend James." She said and he laughed and put an arm around her.
"You're my sister, there's a difference. Besides, I wouldn't put up with watching you do that all the time; it would corrupt the innocent image of you in my brain. You're still like seven, in my world." He said and she smiled.
"Well I'm the tallest seven-year-old in the world." She said. Lily watched them, mildly amused.
"So are we going to go or wait for them to, um, finish? Marles and Al couldn't come, said they had something to do." Lily said. James and Dany both looked over at Sirius and Kenzie.
"Yeah I'll go tell him we're leaving…wish me luck." James said and walked towards the still-entangled couple. "Uh, Sirius? We're going to go…we'll be by the lake if you want to come down when you're…done." He said and suddenly Sirius turned away from Kenzie who looked rather disappointed.
"Oh, yeah I'll come down now, no worries. I'll see you later?" He said to his girlfriend who looked rather annoyed.
"Who are you going with?" She asked.
"Well, James for one, and then the girls…or did that change?" he said, asking James.
"Marles and Alice bailed. It's just Lily and Dan." He said and Sirius nodded.
"Yeah that's fine. So, I'll see you later." He said and kissed his girlfriend one more time before walking off with James. James looked back and she looked pissed. Sirius wasn't getting any tonight judging from the look on her face. They walked back up to the girls and they both burst out in applause.
"Ah, he survives. Tell me Sirius, how can you go so long without breathing?" Dany asked seriously and he didn't seem that amused.
"Yeah, yeah laugh it up. I'll have you know that she's a great snog." He said and she wrinkled her nose for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning.
"That's great, I'm really glad to hear it. Really. I hope she's great in bed too." She said dryly. Lily snorted and James chuckled as all four of them left the common room for the lake.
"Yeah…she really is." He said absently and she hit him in the shoulder.
"I wasn't being serious, you dolt. I don't really care if she's a good shag or not; all I care about is that we have to sit around all the time watching her stick her tongue down your throat. We have to try to eat with that around, you know." Dany said with an eye roll and he had the grace to at least look mildly embarrassed.
"Sorry…I hear I'm pretty good though, you should realize that it's an art form. I take it very seriously. You all should take notes on technique for when you start dating." He said and she laughed.
"That's great to know. I'll keep the fact that people say you're a great snog in mind for when I never need to know that." She said and Lily intervened.
"Can we please change the subject from Sirius' sex life? Please. I know you're good-natured about it Dan, but some of us don't have the stomach." Lily said.
"Thank you for finally saying it, Evans. Thank you so much." James said gratefully. This was becoming too much for even him to handle. He was actually surprised that he was boing so forthcoming with a girl, let alone one that he claims to like. He was also surprised that she seemed so unsurprised by the whole conversation; it suddenly struck James that this might not be the first time that she had heard this spiel. James had to applaud his Godsister: she could handle herself and she could handle Sirius' unabashed bluntness. Sirius shrugged.
"Your loss." He said as they sat down under a tree by the lake.
"It's really not, man. This is a little too much for me and I'm a hormonal teenage boy. Talking about sex in front of girls is just awkward." James said and Lily and Dany looked like they quite agreed on that, even though Dany had been able to play along for a while. Conversation slid into how they all thought exams had been and slowly but surely, the day started to slip away in the lull of easy conversation.