Chapter Ten: The Proposition
The girls awoke around four in the morning and went to their beds. Since it was Sunday the girls didn't leave their dorm until after lunch was done. Simone and Raven decided to just spend a marauder free morning with Lily. Anything they talked about, they would try and put James's name in it. One time Simone could have sworn she saw Lily blush, but as soon as she saw it, it was gone; little did they know that Remus and Sirius were doing the same thing on the quidditch pitch with James.
Around three the girls couldn't wait till dinner so they went down to the kitchens. When they came back to the common room they found that most of the Gryffindors were out. Some most likely taking walks, some in the library, or some in their dorms. Who was to say? There were only a few people in the common room, most of them being first years. Simone was helping Rave with an essay that they had to do for divination while Lily was slouched in her chair reading a book, occasionally blowing her gum into a bubble when the marauders came laughing into the common room all sweaty from their game. (Except Peter.)
"Lils are you okay?" Simone and Raven asked in unison as they watch her friend.
"Obviously she's not, she's choking." Peter replied smartly. Simone scowled at him immediately making him cower in a corner. Every one then remembered the choking red head.
"Oh God Lils, what do we do?" Simone asked. "We can't give her water she's coughing too much."
Raven walked over and hit Lily square in the back, causing her gum to fly out and land perfectly in a waste basket. Lily took the glass of water that was offered and drank it slowly.
"Thanks Rave." Lily spoke weakly, without waiting for a you're welcome she went up the stairs to her dorm.
"What could have gotten her to choke on her gum like that?" James asked. Raven for the first time since the marauders came in and took a good look at them. Peter was in his school robes. Sirius and Remus were in under shirts, but her brother was shirtless, shirtless and sweaty, as were they all, but still.
"I don't know." Raven began to laugh. 'I can't believe it she was choking because he was shirtless.' Raven thought to herself.
"What's wrong with you?" Sirius asked, looking at his girlfriend like she was a nut case.
"Lily choking." Raven managed to get out.
" What kind of heartless woman are you?" Sirius asked not believing his ears.
"Yeah that's your best friend." Remus watched the laughing girl like she was growing a third arm.
"I'm sorry." Raven said as she stopped laughing.
" Hey guys I'm going to go shower." James said while throwing his sister odd glances.
"What was that all about?" Simone asked Raven when James was gone. Raven began to laugh again.
"Hey Rave are we missing something?" Sirius asked clueless as to what exactly was going on. Raven managed to control herself enough to speak.
"Guys I think that I can safely congratulate all of you on your hard work, for I think the plan has worked." Raven grinned.
"What are you talking about?" Remus asked.
"I think the reason Lily was acting so strange was because she saw James shirtless." Raven stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"So what makes you think that the plan has worked?" Simone asked.
"Believe me it has; now all we have to do is wait for one to ask the other out." Raven replied confidently.
"What if neither of them asks the other out?" Sirius asked.
"We'll give them time, if nothing happens by two days prior to Christmas, then we will get them together by Christmas night." Raven replied.
"Well that sounds fair enough." Remus reasoned.
"Yeah that's basically giving them a month give or take a few days." Simone agreed.
"Okay then. Now that that's settled I'm going to go wait for James to get out of the shower, Moony you coming?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah." Remus said. Sirius gave Raven a quick kiss on her cheek and whispered something in her ear, making her blush slightly after he left.
"So what did he say?" Simone raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing." Raven avoided her eyes. "So let's go check on lover girl." Raven suggested, on that note they went up the stairs to find Lily reading.
"How are you?" Raven asked Lily.
"I'm okay."
"So what got you so shocked that you started choking on your gum?" Raven asked slyly.
"Just something I read." Lily replied keeping her eyes on the book in her hands.
"Really?" Simone asked. She walked over to Lily and flipped the book over so that she got a better look at the title. "Yeah, because we all get a good shocker from 'An in depth guide to the Goblin Rebellions volume one." Simone replied sarcastically.
"Lils, why are you reading that?" Raven asked. She had a look as if Lily said that she wanted to quit the house team.
"Professor Binns said that we had another essay due, and the stuff we need to write about is in this book." Lily stated matter-of-factly.
"So what caused you to choke on your gum?" Raven asked for the second time.
"Oh yeah, it was the actions taken by the" Lily tried to come up with something but was cut off by Raven.
"Or was it really because a certain party, my brother, happened to be missing some clothing?"
"Well, well." Lily stuttered.
"Yes I think that you were so pleased with what you saw that you deliberately choked on your gum just to leave the scene. Is this not the truth?" Raven asked in her lawyer tone.
"Well I wouldn't say." Lily stuttered.
"Woman, speak the truth." Raven replied, for a second she sounded like McGonagall.
"Well I might have been"
"Speak the truth in this court of law." Raven all most yelled excitedly. This might be it. Lily might say that she liked James.
"This is our bedroom, not a court. Have you gone daft? Fine I saw his chest and I liked it okay? Is that you want to hear? Geez I didn't think that you would make a big deal about it." Lily said getting annoyed.
"All I wanted was the truth and now that I have it I am happy." Raven went over to her bed.
"Wow you too really do need help." Simone said quietly.
"I'll be back." Lily said, dropping her book on the floor.
"Where are you going?" Simone asked.
"I'm just going for a walk." Lily left the dorm. She walked into the common room to find no one that she knew and left.
When Lily returned she found the marauders, Simone, and Raven sitting in the far right of the common room laughing about something. She was just about to make her way over to them when a conversation caught her attention.
"Who do you think you are? They are the most popular fifth years, if not the most popular in the school. And you think they or their girlfriends would pay attention to a pathetic friendless girl like you?" A girl, who in Lily's opinion resembled a creature that she studied in her third year, sneered. This was directed to a girl who seemed to be a first year, actually she looked like she shouldn't be starting Hogwarts yet. The girl who spoke seemed to be in her second year.
"Hey Lils what are you doing over there? Come on already." Raven shouted from Sirius's lap. Lily held up a finger signaling to wait a minute. She walked over to the group whom she had been eavesdropping on. They watched her walk off to a group of under classmen.
"Wonder what she's doing." Simone thought aloud.
"Me too." James replied watching the red head with interest.
"Excuse me would you like to join me and my friends over there." Lily motioned to where the marauders sat with Simone and Raven.
"We would love to." One of the second years squealed.
"Not you." Lily replied coldly. "You." Lily corrected more softly to the first year.
"Really?" She asked not believing her ears. Her tear stained face full of shock.
"Yes really. Now let's go." Lily held out her hand for the girl to take.
"But why?" the girl asked pushing her way past the second years.
"Yeah why?" A second year asked indignantly.
"Because I can, and it would not be proper of me too leave this nice girl in the company of you cockroaches. Now if you don't mind, me and?" Lily looked to the girl ignoring the looks that she was getting from the second years.
"Alexia, Alexia Black." The girl supplied shyly.
Lily showed a momentary shock at the last name but she quickly recovered and led the girl away to where her friends were waiting for her.
"Hey guys, she's going to be joining us this evening." Lily motioned over to the first year standing behind her. The group who managed to guess what was going on nodded.
"Oh how rude of me, I'm Lily Evans, this is Simone Cassadine, Raven Potter, her twin brother James Potter, his best friend Remus Lupin and his other best friend Sirius Black." "She then looked around the room and not finding what she was looking for continued. "Peter Pettigrew is the fourth member of the marauders but he seems to be missing." Lily finished.
"Hi everyone." The girl replied barely above a whisper.
"And everyone this is Alexia, Alexia Black." Lily remarked, waiting Sirius's response. Sirius's face grew a bit cold as he gave the girl a closer inspection.
"What's your blood?" Sirius asked.
"Excuse me?" The Alexia asked nervously.
"You know, are you pureblood, half blood, etcetera." Sirius waved his hand vaguely.
"Oh I'm muggle born." The girl replied. Sirius's face relaxed at this comment, a smile appearing on his face again.
"Oh then we're not related." Sirius said relieved. "I should have known, since you are in Gryffindor."
James took this chance to explain to the first year. "You see Padfoot over here doesn't really get along with his family, they are purebloods. They all happen to be in Slytherin though. They also don't like any muggleborns. Except for Padfoot here of course." James added the last part quickly.
"So are you all pure bloods?" Alexia asked.
"Nope." Raven replied. "Me and my brother are pure bloods." Raven motioned towards James.
"I'm muggle born." Simone said.
"I'm half blood." Remus said.
"As you already I'm a pure blood." Sirius replied.
" Peter is a pure blood." James added.
"And I'm muggle born." Lily said.
"Really, I would have figured that you were pure blood." Alexia said.
"Why would you say that?" James asked for Lily. In response the girl just shrugged.
An hour later the first year went to bed thanking them for their kindness. But not before Lily offered for her to sit with them at meal times if ever she got lonely. Lily walked back to find James watching her.
"What?" Lily asked sitting down at the window seat.
"Why do you always sit there?" James asked, completely ignoring her question.
"I don't know, I just do. The view is nice. You can see more of the grounds here, than from any of the other windows in here." Lily sighed as she stared at the cloudless sky.
Raven had taken Sirius's hand and had led him off to the other side of the common room. Simone whispered to Remus that she was going for a short walk and would be right back. He offered to go too but she refused his offer, for she was going on the walk to think about him. Remus went off to another corner, slightly mad because of Simone's answer. Which left the two together, they didn't even notice their friends leave. James never took his eyes off of Lily while she spoke.
"What is it?" Lily asked again, getting slightly agitated. He simply shook his head and excused himself. He walked up to his dormitory. He walked up to his dormitory and Lily went up to hers. This went unnoticed by Raven and Sirius because they were off in their own little world. Remus was too absorbed in his book to notice either.
Mean while a certain Raven haired boy lay in his bed, his mind going over a certain conversation.
Flashback…
"So James you have a thing for the Evans girl?"Remus asked hoping for a change of subject and boy did he succeed.
"What?" James yelled outraged.
"The Evans girl... don't you have a crush on her?" Remus asked, he was truly curious now.
"Yeah I'd like to know the answer to that question myself, she's pretty hot"(Remus and even Peter agreed)Sirius said leaning in on James wanting to know the answer.
"First of all Sirius you being so close to my face is making me nervous." he laughed remembering that part.
James said eyeing Sirius. This affectedly making him move farther away than he was sitting from James to begin with. Peter started laughing at this rather loudly rewarding him with strange stares from James and Remus and a look of disgust from Sirius. This made him shut up immediately.
"So James what's up with you and Lily?" Sirius said eager to know the answer to the question.
"Nothing okay she doesn't like me nor do I like her."(Sound familiar)James replied firmly. Then he added" The day that I even remotely care for Lily is the day Snape makes the quidditch team at Hogwarts."
Fast forward a few months...
"So go on Remus what do you mean?" Sirius continued.
"Well if you all must be so nosy okay then. James, remember over the summer when I asked you if you had a thing for Lily? "
"Yeeaahh. James said slowly.
"Well are you sure that you don't like her? You guys would be great together." Remus asked quickly.
"What ?! Evans? No. Why do you keep bringing this up? Read my flapping lips, I will never like her, none the less go out with Lily Evans. I will date Sirius before I go out with Lily Evans."
"Part of me is quite flattered but another part of me is quite hurt." Sirius said the first part with a flirtatious tone in his voice.
"If you don't like her why did you beat Malfoy, Snape, Crabbe, and Goyle in her name?" Warren asked matter-of-factly.
"I was being a decent human being, no one should be called a mud blood. But that doesn't mean I like her. Sirius you understand right?"
"No I don't actually." Sirius replied with a grin plastered on his face.
"Oh come on, Frank? Peter? Remus? Some one has got to believe that I don't like Lily Evans."
"If you don't like her why do you keep saying her name at the end of every sentence?" Frank, Remus, Warren, and Sirius asked at the same time.
"First of all why are you all ganging up on me like this? Secondly I do not keep saying Lily Ev-, her name at the end of every sentence."
"No one is ganging up on you James; we just want a simple answer to a simple question. It's just a yes or no answer." Remus added quite calmly.
End of memory...
James realized at that moment that he never answered the question. It was a simple yes or no answer. Then why couldn't he answer it?
"Well she isn't that bad looking." James admitted to himself. "And she's not as annoying as I thought she was before Hogwarts." He added. "Actually it felt really good to be laughing with her and talking with her." James thought. "And she really isn't bad looking bad looking. Oh s I said that already." James mentally kicked himself.
"But do I like her?" James asked the empty dormitory. Everything inside of him was yelling out yes. His insides were yelling yes like a person would yell after their partner finally got what they were hinting at in a game of charades.
"Nooo." James said slowly, he was actually forcing it out. "Hell, who am I fooling here?" James got up from his bed, frustrated with his new discovery, and started pacing. "Well I can't do anything about it. I don't want to mess things up, we just became friends yesterday." He tried to Reason with himself. "Besides if I'm not mistaken, she's still with that Lewis kid. Wait, when did that ever stop me?" James was pulling at his messy hair and did not notice Remus come into the dorm room.
"Prongs you okay?" Remus watched his friend stopped in mid pace, hands still clutching his hair.
"Huh? Oh hey Moony." James said, letting go of his hair.
"You seemed a little out of it just then so I didn't know on whether or not to disturb you." Remus replied.
"Oh I was just thinking." James was straightening himself out.
"Oh well I just wanted to see where you had gone to, since both you and Lils were gone." Remus sat on his bed.
"Oh well I felt like being alone for a second." James replied while running a hand through his hair.
"Do you want me to leave?" Remus asked getting ready to leave.
"No, I just needed to think about what I should do about a certain situation." James said, walking to Remus.
"Do you know what you have to do about what ever it is you were thinking about?" Remus asked.
"Yeah, I think I do." James remarked quietly, but continued. "Hey let's go play some exploding snap before we hit the sack."
"Sounds good." Remus replied.
"All right, let's go then." James ushered his friend out of the room. When they got to the common room Raven and Sirius were still in the corner talking quietly, every few seconds her laugh could be heard. James scanned the common room, but the red head in question was no where to be seen.
"Let's go over there, maybe we wont be able to notice those two as much" Remus signaled over two a corner far from Sirius and Raven. James noticed that more people were in the common room now, most of them being the house team. The game had been going on for about ten minutes when Lily came bursting through the portrait hole laughing like there would be no tomorrow. Every one in the common room went silent as they watched the red head gasp for air.
"Lils what's wrong with you?" Raven asked as she reluctantly left Sirius's lap to find out what's going on.
"Team." Lily managed to get out before erupting in a fresh fit.
"Hey team, get over here now." Raven yelled to the silent common room.
"What's wrong with ya?" Sirius asked as he and James made their way to the spot where Lily stood. When the entire house team made their way to Lily she had managed to control herself.
"Guys you will never believe what I found out." Lily said, trying to hold in her laughter.
"By the way that you're laughing, it better be good." James replied.
"Well what is it?" Chandler asked a bit impatient.
"Snape has just joined the Slytherin team." Lily blurted out. The entire common room went dead silent for about two seconds before everyone erupted in laughter.
"Are you serious?" Many people asked at the same time.
"Yep." Lily wiped away the tears that had been streaming down her cheeks.
"Evans you just made my day." A seventh year boy named Prince exclaimed.
"Well you made my month." Chandler replied. The team separated and went back to their friends, everyone still laughing from the news.
"So how do you know this information?" James asked.
"Well I was walking around the castle when I heard some voices that were too familiar. I then realized that it was Snape bragging to a group of fourth year Slytherins. He said that he had just been put on the team this morning as a chaser, since one of the chasers got kicked off the team. It seems that the players were having troubles with in the team." Lily ended.
"Did they see you?" Sirius asked.
"Nope." Lily assured him.
"Ah do you know how good this is? They are probably going to try to surprise us with a new player, hoping to throw us off somehow, but now we know." It was clear that James was excited by this bit of news. Lily didn't even notice the smile that crept upon her face as she watched him talk to Sirius about some plays that they could be using.
James noticed that he was being watched turned to meet with a pair of brilliant green eyes. "What are you smiling at?"
"Nothing." Lily replied.
"Was that supposed to be an insult?" James asked smirking at the girl in front of him.
"You can take that how ever you want to take it." Lily replied and turned to walk away.
"because if your challenging me that is one thing that I am sure that I can beat you at." James said very matter-of-factly.
"Uh huh I'm sure." Lily responded before walking away to her dorm.
"Ah rejection is a mother-"
"Okay Sirius let's go." Raven cut him off.
James walked back to Remus, disappointed that she didn't accept his challenge. When they started up their game again Simone walked into the Common Room talking to Frank about something quietly. Remus caught sight of this, and let's just say that he wasn't too pleased.
"Hey Moony what's up with you?" James asked turning to see what was going on.
"That is what's wrong." Remus replied bitterly. James could see the hurt written on his face.
"Well Moony it's not like you two are going out. For Christ's sake you never even told her that you like her. What do you expect?" James spoke in a quiet and comforting voice.
"I know, it's just I really like her." Remus buried his face into the palms of his hands and sighed.
"Then just talk to her, tell her how you feel about her." James tried to persuade his friend.
"You know I can't. She'd be scared of me when she finds out." Remus replied automatically.
"See Moony that's your problem, you think that every girl will be scared off, but they wont. You always say that the perfect girl for you will accept you for who you are, and yet you're not even giving this girl a chance." While James spoke Remus never took his eyes off of the girl. Remus was about to say something but a cold look came over his face. James turned quickly to see Simone and Frank hugging at the base of the stairs leading to the girl's dormitory.
"Aw come on mate I'm sure that it's not what it looks like. Besides I am sure that she likes you." James tried to reassure his friend. Remus on the other hand wasn't listening to a word of it.
"Moony, where are you going?" James asked as his friend stormed across the common room. He walked right past Simone and Frank who tried to say hi to him as he walked up the stairs to the boy's dormitories.
"What's wrong with him?" Lily asked from behind James.
"Didn't you go to bed?" James asked, completely ignoring her question.
"You do that a lot." Lily commented, ignoring his question also.
"Do what?" James asked as he signaled for Lily to take Remus' spot in the game.
"Ignore questions I ask you." Lily replied simply, she watched as his blue eyes moved back and forth as he observed the cards in his hands.
"No I don't."
"What ever." Lily grinned as his deck exploded in his hands.
"You do that a lot." James stated.
"Do what?" Lily asked.
"Smile at me, are you trying to hint at something Ms. Evans?" James asked as his deck exploded again.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Lily replied, but for some reason she couldn't look at him.
"So are you going to answer my question or am I going to have to go seek the psychic help of Professor Manning?" Lily joked.
"What was the question?" James asked, Lily noticed that he was really absorbed in the game.
"What is wrong with Remus?" Lily felt like she was talking to a slow three year old.
"What's up with Simone and Frank?" James asked suddenly, Lily threw her hands in he air in defeat.
"You see, I just asked you a question and you ignored it." Lily replied agitated. She had gotten up but before she could get far James pulled her back.
"No, this time it's relevant." James assured her.
"Nothing that I know of. Why?" Lily answered his question.
"Come on use your brain Evans." James whispered excited.
Lily thought for a moment, but nothing was coming to her. Then she remembered how she saw Remus looking at Frank while he was talking to Simone one night. James watched her intently, after a moment he saw it in her eyes. She figured it out.
"It took you long enough." James joked.
"Oh back off Potter, I'm tired." Lily waved him off.
"You can only use that excuse so many times." James ducked as a pillow went flying toward his head. "Wait, if you're tired why are you down here?" James asked suddenly. Lily shrugged. "Aw did you miss a certain raven haired boy with light eyes?" James asked buffing his nails on his shirt.
"Why would I miss Sirius? I see him everyday." Lily responded, even though she knew that's not who he was talking about.
"Funny Evans, real funny." James remarked dryly, throwing the pillow that was thrown at him. "It was just a question." He shouted after her as she walked away.
"You know it wouldn't be a bad idea if you got some sleep too." Lily added before walking to the other side of the room.
"Evans I think that's the smartest thing that you have said all day." James yelled as she walked up the stairs. He was rewarded with a not so kind finger gesture. He half smiled and headed to his own room. Sirius met up with him at the stairs.
"Where's my sis?" James asked. Sirius motioned over a few feet behind them. Raven was talking to Simone and Frank.
"Do you think anything is going on between them?" James asked.
"Who? Sim and Frank?" Sirius asked, clueless.
"No, Raven and Frank." James replied sarcastically
"Sorry I'm just tired." Sirius replied.
"Is that everyone's reply for everything?" James asked himself, more than Sirius.
"I don't think so, well not yet at least. I figured that they were the reason that Moony went upstairs the way he did." Sirius answered the original question.
"Well we better get up there before Frank does." James suggested...
"Okay class today we will be studying Boggarts." Professor March began her lecture for the day.
"Psst… Psst… Psst."
"What?" Lily turned around in her seat. James handed her a sheet of paper that was folded many times. Raven and Sirius raised their eyebrow at this. Simone was trying to figure out why Remus wasn't speaking to her and Remus was, well, he was ignoring her.
"Just open it." James whispered.
Lily turned back in her seat to face the front. She carefully unfolded the paper and watched a bewitched animation. It was her at the quidditch match against Slytherin. She watched as a stick figure jumped off its broom to tackle another stick figure. It wasn't a hard guess as to who these two people were. When the little animation was done the words 'I still think that that was pretty insane' flashed across. Lily turned and smiled at him. Sirius who saw this winked at his girlfriend who was grinning like a mad man.
"Remus what's wrong with you?" Simone whispered.
"Nothing." He answered coldly. "Now if you don't mind some of us are here to learn." Remus added just as coldly as before. After that he didn't speak another word to Simone for the rest of the class.
"You know Rave, if she did something with her hair, got rid of those glasses, and wore close that fit she would be really pretty." Lily whispered so that the marauders couldn't hear.
"Yeah, I think your right." Raven whispered back. "What's going on with those two?" Raven motioned to Simone who looked confused and close to tears and to Remus who was sitting behind her, and had an emotionless expression.
"I don't know, but we better get her away from him after class is done. " Lily watched her friend with a worried expression. Meanwhile James and Sirius were saying something similar about their friend.
After class was done Raven yanked Simone by the arm and dragged her out, pushing anyone and everyone out of the way. Lily picked up her stuff and Simone's and rushed out after them. She guessed that they headed to their dorm so that is where she went.
When she got there she found Simone and Raven sitting in the empty common room. Simone was crying and Raven was offering her tissue.
"Sim what happened?" Lily asked as she set the things down.
"I don't know!" She wailed, tears were streaming down her face like a waterfall. "We were fine yesterday morning, but now he won't even look at me." At this she began to cry even more. "We need to get to class we are going to be late." She sniffed.
"I think not." Raven protested.
"What? You know that bat will love nothing more than to give us detention." Lily commented.
"So what. Our friend is hurting. Besides if she sees him she might not be able to wait for class to be done to cry."
"No, I don't want to get you guys in trouble." Simone responded weakly.
"Nonsense, if the marauders can do it so can we. If anyone asks we'll just say that we weren't feeling well." Raven replied.
"And what do you suggest we do?" Lily asked becoming interested in the thought of missing a Potions lesson.
"Let's go to Hogsmead." Raven replied suddenly after a moment's thought.
"What? And you expect us to walk right off of school grounds?" Simone asked.
"Guys are you forgetting that we are animagi? We could be doing so much with it yet we do nothing." Raven replied with determination.
"She is right." Simone agreed.
"So it's settled, let's get out of these robes. We'll go in regular clothes, and we'll stay there for lunch. We have history of Magic after that so everyone will be too busy sleeping to ask us where we were. This is brilliant." Raven said as she pushed them up the stairs so that they could get changed.
"Hey where are the girls?" Sirius asked in their Potions class after not getting his kiss.
"I don't know, they'll probably come a little late." James replied looking at his watch. There was only one minute before the lesson would begin.
"She's probably off talking to Longbottom." Remus muttered darkly.
"Uh Moony, he's right there." Sirius pointed over to the front of the room.
"I don't think he heard you." James whispered. Remus was still muttering things to himself.
"Where are Misses Cassadine, Potter, and Evans?" Madame Taylor asked the marauders.
"Oh they aren't feeling well." James supplied.
"All of them?" She asked skeptically.
"Yeah." Sirius replied boldly and slightly annoyed mainly because he didn't know where his girlfriend was. The rest of the class went by normally, except for when Frank came by and asked where Simone was. They could see the death glares that Remus was sending his way.
"We'll just ask them where they were during lunch." James remarked out of the blue while they were walking to the Great Hall. Actually he was speaking more to Sirius because Remus was still in a funky mood and Peter had disappeared. Lunch was halfway done and there was no sign of the girls. By now Remus, was out of his funky mood and really worried about them.
"Alright let's go." James said getting up from the table, the rest followed suit.
"Where do we go first?" Peter asked. (he had joined them five minutes prior)
"Obviously to go get the map." Remus replied, wandering how James stayed so patient with him. Sirius would have commented on his stupidity but he was too busy being worried about his girlfriend and the two girls who were like sisters to him. They rushed into their dorm room and made sure no one was there.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Remus half shouted. The boys scanned the bit of parchment for the three dots.
"Wait this cant be." James replied annoyed. When Remus and Sirius finished scanning the map they both wore identical lost expressions.
"Wait then that would mean that they aren't on the school grounds." Peter spoke after a moments silence.
"Nothing gets pass you Sherlock huh?" Sirius replied sarcastically.
"Well where could they have gone?" Peter asked.
"Well the only logical place would be to Hogsmead." Sirius concluded.
"But how could they leave school grounds unnoticed and why would they?" Peter asked.
"I think I know why." Remus stated sadly suddenly looking very tired. "It could be possible that they left to cheer up a certain friend because a certain marauder was treating her like dirt over something stupid." Remus replied sadly.
"Oh that does make sense." Peter agreed, at this James elbowed him in the ribs.
"Well even if that was the reason for them being gone, there is still the matter of how they got there. We all know that there are spells and enchantments on the gates that are only taken off for Hogsmead trips." Sirius remarked.
"I think they are keeping something from us, the way that we are keeping a few things from them." James finally spoke. Sirius shuddered at the idea of Raven keeping something from him.
"But what is it?" Peter asked.
"I don't know Worm tail." James replied as he ran a hand through his hair.
"If anything happens to them..." Remus trailed off as he heard some very loud thunder.
"Chill nothing will happen to them." Sirius assured his friend as he looked out of a window. The sky was turning dark and very fast. He looked onto the grounds for any sign of a raven haired girl, a red head, and a brunette but there was none.
"We better get to class." Peter jumped up excitedly.
"It's Professor Binns, chill." Sirius spat as he strode past him.
They got to History of Magic but there was still no sign of the three girls in question. Through out the rest of the lesson Remus was thinking of ways to apologize to Simone. Sirius was wandering where his girlfriend could be. James just sat there staring at the seat that was usually occupied by a red head, a red head that he found himself thinking more and more about. Peter on the other hand was trying his best to take some notes. When they reached muggle studies the sky was a dark as night, there was heavy rain and no one was allowed out of the castle.
"Okay that is it, they could have been hurt. I say that after this class we go to Dumbledore." Remus said as the entered their final class of the day, Muggle studies.
"No I disagree with you Moony." James replied. "I think that after class is done we consult the map, if they still aren't anywhere on the map then we go to Dumbledore."
"I agree with Prongs." Sirius replied as he took his seat.
"Fine we wait, but if something has happened to her…" Remus trailed off. "I mean them, I mean if something has happened to them." Remus corrected himself after the look he got from Sirius and James.
After class was done the marauders fought their way through the crowd of students trying to make their way to the Great Hall for dinner. They finally made it to their room ten minutes later and made a dash to the bottom of Sirius's trunk, where the map was hidden.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." James said.
The boys carefully searched through the many dots. Most of them were in the Great Hall so it wasn't too hard. Their seats were empty and so were the girl's. They kept on searching when Remus let out a sigh of relief.
"There they are." Remus pointed to the kitchens, and sure enough there were three dots labeled Lily, Simone, and Raven sitting around a counter.
"Let's go." Sirius said through gritted teeth.
"Oh Padfoot you aren't mad at Rave are you?" James asked, surprise by his friend's sudden change in mood.
"No, why would you ask me that, as long as she's okay." Sirius replied with out turning around. He was already making his way down the staircase and had reached the portrait hole when James and Remus left the room. They got to the kitchens with out a problem and found the three missing friends chatting as if nothing were going on.
"Oh hey guys." Lily said when she noticed that she was being watched. "Did you guys have dinner already? Come join us."
"Uh, hello? How about instead you tell us where you have been all day?" Sirius replied as Raven came over to him. She was surprised to say the least when he pulled away from her when she tried to hug him.
"What's wrong with you?" Raven asked. Mean while Simone had kept her eyes glued to the counter surface as she felt Remus' stares boring into her. She didn't have the nerve to see if they were still the same cold ones that she had been receiving just that morning.
"What's wrong with me? Did it ever occur to you to tell one of us that you were going to leave? Did it occur to you that maybe, just maybe some one would care?" Sirius shouted. Most of the house elves went into hiding, some watched with curiosity, some were just stuck with fright.
"Sorry dad I didn't know I had to clear everything with you!" Raven shouted back.
"Come on Padfoot don't blame my sister she" James was cut off by Sirius.
"You're right, it's not Rave's fault. I'm sorry." He turned to his girlfriend with a much calmer expression.
"Apology accepted." Raven felt a smile creeping onto her face.
"Yeah I apologize, when it's Lily fault that I have been worried all day.
"Me?!" Lily asked.
"Yes you, this seems more like one of your ideas." Sirius spat. Lily was so surprised by his last outburst that she couldn't keep her mouth from hanging open. In fact everyone was wearing that same expression. Suddenly Sirius started to laugh, harder than anyone had ever heard him laugh before. Now everyone was lost.
"You guys should have seen your faces, oh my God. They were priceless. And you all were wearing the same look and you were just standing there like statues." Now he couldn't even stand up straight. He was bent over and clutching his sides." It was like the twilight zone or something."
"Ok you can stop laughing now." Lily replied dryly.
"I'm going to bed." Came a soft voice from behind them. Everyone's attention was now on the brunette who was thanking the house elves for the meal.
"Oh come on Sim we just got here, and we are quite starved since we had to miss dinner and lunch looking for a certain group of people." Sirius said as he and James took a seat at the stools where Raven and Lily once sat. Remus however was still standing in the same spot.
"Yea Sim, it's only six fifty" Lily remarked after consulting her watch.
"Are you okay?" Raven asked.
"Yea I'm just tired after today's spontaneous field trip." Simone replied, after smiling to everyone she walked past them and quickened her pace slightly as she walked past Remus.
"It's because of me isn't it? Why she left early." Remus asked quietly as he sat in the seat that she had just occupied.
"What would make you say that?" Raven asked innocently, she was now standing next to her boyfriend with her arms around him and her head lying gently atop his.
"I may be a marauder but I am not stupid." Remus smiled sadly.
"Hey!" James and Sirius chorused in mock hurt.
"Remus why were you acting the way you were this morning?" Lily asked, she was still in her previous spot at the end of the table. Making her some what secluded from the group since they were all huddled together at the other end.
"Okay before I answer your questions you must promise to answer mine. Second what is said in the kitchens stay in the kitchens agreed?" Remus looked Raven and Lily in the eye.
"Agreed." The two girls chorused.
"Okay now let's start at the beginning with a more simpler question. Do you like Simone?" Lily asked.
"Yes." He replied.
"Now, do you like her as a friend, as a sister, or as something more?" Raven asked.
"Something more. Now its my turn, do you think I would have a chance with her?" Remus asked almost scared of the answer.
"Most definitely." Lily beamed.
"Is she dating Longbottom?" He said the name a little colder than was necessary but hey he didn't really care.
"From what we know, no." Raven answered.
"What do you mean from what you know? You guys are like sisters you should know for sure." James and Sirius watched silently at the interrogation as they ate their meal.
"Look if she were dating him or even liked him we would know. And since we know of nothing between the two then that means that there is nothing to know." Lily replied from her end of the table. Remus seemed to be pleased with this answer.
"Sorry to break the interrogation but Lils why are you sitting all the way over there?" Sirius asked through a mouth full of mashed potatoes.
"Yeah your always do that in the common room." Remus observed.
"I think" Sirius began as he swallowed his food," That she is trying to say that someone smells. I personally vote for Raven."
"Sirius!" Raven suddenly let go of her boyfriend and hit him on the backside of his head.
"Ow, fine I change my vote to Prongs over here."
"Gee thanks." James replied dryly. "Why cant it be you?"
"Are you kidding me? I smell fabulous." Sirius said as if it were a sin to think otherwise.
"To answer your question, I don't know its just a habit. Now back to the questioning. When are you going to ask her out?" Lily asked, she decided to ignore the other two.
"Never, next question." Remus switched his gaze from Lily to Raven, awaiting her question.
"Wait a sec let's back track here. Did you just say never?" Lily asked not believing her ears. She turned her gaze to the other two marauders and they shook their heads.
"Lils I'm afraid that he's not joking." Sirius replied as he attacked his second plate of food.
"I have reasons that are keeping me from asking her out." Remus replied.
"I'm sure that she wouldn't mind those reasons." Raven tried to persuade her friend.
"Ha I doubt it." Remus laughed bitterly. "Now it's my turn, how did you get off of school grounds unnoticed?" At this James and Sirius started to pay more attention to the conversation.
"Finally some conversation that I give a st about." James remarked as Raven and Lily sent him some non friendly glares.
"So you don't give a st about the happiness of your friends? Lily asked raising an eyebrow.
"That's not what I meant, Padfoot and I have been through this conversation already so its nothing new."
"So please answer the question, how did you guys get off of school grounds?"
"We have our ways." Raven replied in a mysterious tone.
"We don't even get a straight answer?" Remus asked.
"Fine, where did you go? Do we get that much at least?" James asked as he finished his second plate.
"Hogsmead" Lily replied as she leaned back into her stool.
"I hope you fall off." James said quite seriously. Lily looked at him in shock.
"Oops did I say that out loud?" James asked smiling at the girl who still had her mouth open. The group made their way back an hour later. Raven and Lily were still trying to get Remus to ask their friend out but he refused to change his mind.
The next day the entire group and Frank (to Remus' dismay) landed themselves into detention, and had no idea that this would be their most memorable one. They were to paint an abandoned classroom the muggle way for reasons unknown. They had just managed to go a whole five minutes with out breaking into a paint war when it happened.
"Remus why were you mad at me yesterday?" Simone's voice was quiet yet it echoed through the now dead silent room. She didn't bother to look up from her work. She felt everyone's stares on her as they stopped doing their work to watch and listen. Remus himself was shocked that she had even said anything to him. But before he could even open his mouth to apologize, jealousy washed over him once more.
"What does it matter to you?" He replied coldly.
"Well your one of my best friends and when you act the way you're acting now it hurts." Simone summoned enough courage to turn around and look him in the eye.
"Well then I know I'm doing it right." Remus picked up his paint brush and continued to paint, ignoring the looks of shock from his friends. Simone, with out another word, dropped her brush and left the room. Lily put down her brush and took one step towards the door but a hand immediately grabbed hold of her arm and gently pulled her back. She turned to see James with a look that said leave her be, at least for a little bit. She turned to see Sirius doing the same to Raven.
"Hey what's your problem?" Frank asked setting his brush down to face Remus.
"Maybe you should mind your business." Remus replied coldly as he turned back to his assigned wall.
"Remus what is your problem?" Lily asked. For some strange reason she had a feeling of warmth going through out her body. She took a step towards him but something held her back, it was then that she realized that James was still holding on to her arm. He gave her a warning glance and let go. When he let go Lily felt her temper rise all of a sudden.
"Lils nothing is wrong." Remus began but was cut off by a certain red head.
"Dont you Lils me. If you like the girl so much then why are you treating her like dirt?"
"You like Simone?" Frank asked curiosity in his voice.
"Yes he's head over heels for her." Raven supplied.
"Then why haven't you asked her out?" Frank asked.
"Why would you want me to do that?" Remus asked. All of a sudden he felt tired.
"Why wouldn't I?" Frank asked not understanding why he was asking him these questions.
"Well Frank, Remus seems to think that you and Simone are going out, and the reason he has been being the ass that he is being right now is because he is so jealous that he can't think clearly." James replied from the floor. He had given up with listening to the conversation and took a seat on the cold stone floor.
"Wait is this why you have been so different the past month? Because you like her and you think that I am somehow stealing her away from you?" Frank tried to contain himself, but he failed. He erupted into laughter, uncontrollable laughter.
"Uh Frank this isn't the best time to laugh." Sirius whispered from the corner of his lips.
"And Lupin here I thought that you were smart. How could you be so stupid? Do you know how crazy she is about you? And how could you think that we were interested in each other like that?" Frank asked when he finally managed to somewhat contain himself.
"I'd watch my tongue if I were you. Would it be such a bad thing to like Simone? You're making it sound like something that can never happen." Remus was starting to lose his patience.
"Remus, do you want to know why we are so close?" Finally he was saying something that actually interested James for he had heard everything else a thousand times before.
"It's about damn time." Sirius exclaimed at the same time as Raven.
"Here Here." James responded from his spot on the floor. Lily was being abnormally quiet and he noticed this. She of course was so absorbed into the conversation that she didn't bother to speak.
" You don't have to tell me." Remus muttered more to himself than to Frank.
"Oh cut the crap, you know that you want to know."
"Well?" Sirius asked. He had now taken a seat next to James and Raven was beside him, her gaze on the setting sun that was outside. "Are we going to have to wait till we graduate or would you like to tell us now?"
"I can't believe that none of you have figured it out by now." Frank trailed off.
"Will you just tell us already!" Raven screamed out in annoyance.
"We're cousins." Frank replied quite simply with out any attempt at an explanation. Everyone's jaw hung open.
"But how, your British and she's" Lily trailed off.
"We weren't always cousins we just became cousins during the summer." Frank said.
"Okay, no Frank you're going to actually tell us how this happened and why you never told us." Sirius said.
"Well around January while we were still in our fourth year my uncle and her aunt met while they were both vacationing in Germany. Well they hit it off quite well. Around June they got engaged and didn't want a long engagement. Well I was asked to be in the wedding party and I was completely shocked when I saw Simone there. She was one of the bridesmaids. So we were at this resort for three weeks and we just became better friends, since we only knew each other. We didn't tell you because we were planning on having some fun with this, but I guess not." Frank ended the last part giving Remus a not so kind look. While Frank told his story Remus began to both mentally and physically abuse himself. He stood behind the group groaning at his stupidity as he banged his head against the cold wall.
"Aw come on mate I'm sure that you could fix this with her somehow." Sirius tried to console his friend as Raven tried to stop him from giving himself a concussion.
"How am I supposed to fix this? How?" Remus turned his saddened eyes to meet his friends'. He searched everyone's eyes and found the same answer, nothing.
"Listen the first thing that we need to do is to find her." Lily spoke her voice shaking slightly due to her silence. Do you guys have your map?" Lily asked as she stared out at the setting sun.
"I have it." A voice came from behind her. He was watching the sun set with her, the warm air that escaped his lips grazed by her ear ever so lightly. Loud enough for no one to think anything by it, but it was enough to make her wonder. What if? A question that had managed to creep its way into her thoughts more than she would like to admit.
A/N: There is more to the chapter but its being delivered in parts.
luv, nicci : )