A/N: Oh, sorry that I forgot to mention that the cat is with them. After all, it is a wizarding cruise and half of the occupants have owls, cats, and toads with them. And the cliffhanger, sorry, but I cannot allow daggers to be thrown at me, just kidding, I know you wouldn't do that…I think. So, shall we continue?
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The three girls turned around, James, Sirius, and Remus were standing in front of them, James's hand on Lily's wrist as he had grabbed it so as not to let her leave without seeing him. He was wearing regular clothes, just simple jeans with holes worn in the knees and a shirt with something written on it, but Lily didn't bother looking at that.
"What are you doing here?" she asked incredulously.
"My parents surprised us with a trip on this cruise, you?" he asked.
"Same…you don't think…" she trailed off.
"Nah, they don't even know each other," said James. "So, how did you get rid of my owl without replying, and how is that cat I bought you, please tell me you didn't leave it with the muggles."
"No, I brought it with me, it's back in the cabin. The owl left when I told it that I was leaving the next day and I may have bribed it a bit with some treats," shrugged Lily. James pulled her closer to him.
"I missed you, you know," he said, sliding his hands into her back jean pockets.
"Why don't you prove it," she suggested with a grin. James rolled his eyes and kissed her romantically before doing that same thing that he did at the train station. His head and her head were even and his face was not even an inch form hers, their foreheads touching. The world vanished before their eyes as always.
"Good enough?" he breathed. He sounded a bit more clam this time, but Lily could tell that he was still a little shaken by this new intensity they had found themselves at.
"Most definitely," she breathed. James placed one hand on the side of her neck and kissed her once more before backing away from her, holding her hand. Claire and Sirius were in the middle of a snog. Tanya and Remus were rolling their eyes at their friends.
"I love you," Lily whispered in James's ear.
"I love you too," he said, poking her nose again. Claire and Sirius surfaced and parted, looking at each other with sparkling eyes. Claire and Sirius loved each other as much as Lily and James loved each other, that was obvious.
"I missed you more than you could ever know," sighed Claire.
"I think I know because I experienced it too, hun," he replied with a laugh. Claire laughed back and took in his apparel. He was wearing a pair of jeans too, not ripped like James's though, and a long-sleeved shirt that was a pale blue. The shirt was hinting at the muscles behind Sirius's chest, and it was driving Claire crazy.
"I love you," she said, resting her head on his chest and looking up at him.
"The feeling's mutual," he laughed, Claire's head shaking as his chest rose and fell with his laughter. She lifted her head and kissed him again, both of them losing their minds.
"That has to stop," he laughed again.
"You're not joking," she said, kissing him again. Sirius laughed a weak and yet still hearty laugh, and put his arm around her shoulders. Remus gave Tanya a small kiss and then they found themselves sitting at a table in the room.
"So, are your cabins around here?" James asked, wondering why he hadn't seen them yet. Claire, Tanya, and Lily didn't know that James was loaded and that he held a first-class ticket, and James didn't know that Lily's family wasn't the richest in the world, but they got by and they were fine that way.
"No," Lily said, astonished that he would think they were in first class. "Are yours?"
"Yeah, where are you guys at?" asked James.
"We're down below," said Lily.
"Steerage? You're kidding? Lily, I can't have that, we'll get you a first class room, okay?" offered James.
"No, seriously, you don't have to, I'm just lucky enough to be here."
"There are always extra first class rooms." Lily could tell that James wasn't going to take no for an answer and so, she decided to give up.
"Fine, James if you want to, go ahead." Tanya and Claire looked excited at the prospect of having their own rooms. James went into great detail about how the first-class rooms looked. Apparently there was a sitting room, a living room, a deck overlooking the ocean, three bedrooms fully furnished with whatever the person living there would like the best, and, of course, magic was completely accepted even to the underage wizards and witches.
"You mean we can do magic while we're here?" asked Claire, immediately excited.
"Yeah," said Sirius, his arm still draped over her shoulders.
"Sweet," she squealed. "It's about time we're able to."
"You're not joking," said Sirius. He was the one most excited out of the guys and was still excited about it.
"Seen anyone you recognize?" asked James.
"We saw Lucius and Narcissa, you?" asked Tanya.
"We saw Bellatrix, that Rudolphus Lestrange kid, Andromeda, Alaster Moody, the famous auror, is here. We also saw the Prewetts and the Weasleys. You know them, they used to be in Gryffindor with us, but now they're like really well off. Molly Prewett married Arthur Weasley by the way. They're like twenty-five now and already have two kids, Bill and Charlie," said Remus.
"Oh, I remember those two, they were in like their seventh year when we were in only like first," said Claire.
"Yeah," said Sirius. "We saw some of the old teachers too and that kid who came of age last year, that weirdo from Hufflepuff, Quirrel."
"Oh, I remember him, he was so strange, and I think he was one of those other dark arts obsessed kids too, like Snape and them," said Lily.
"Why do you think we hated them?" asked James with a laugh.
"I thought you were just a git, to be honest," laughed Lily. James looked at her, pretending to be hurt and then rolling his eyes. He moved his hand from inside of hers and placed it around her shoulders, pulling her towards him and kissing the top of her head.
"I know you were joking," he said with a laugh.
"Well, it was partially a joke, keep in mind what happened between you and Snape in fifth year…remember that time I yelled at you and landed you, Sirius, and Snape in detention?"
"Yeah, I remember," said James with a look of disgust. "I can't believe you stuck up for that creep."
"I never did it again," she laughed.
"That's true," he conceded.
"This place is so boring, I can't even stand it!" Lily said loudly. About three tables of people turned to stare at her, looking insulted and having very superior looks on their faces. "Sorry," she said softly, looking down. Sirius fell off his chair laughing and Remus was trying as hard as physically possible for him not to. James just shook his head before letting out a huge laugh. Claire was giggling like a lunatic and Tanya…well, Tanya was the nice one to anyone, remember?
"Alright…alright," began James, recovering, "What do you want to go do then?"
"There's a pool, right, want to go swimming, it's the perfect time for tanning and this cruise does apparently have certain charms on it to make it a perfect summer getaway," replied Lily. James thought it over for a few seconds, mulling over the image if Lily in a bikini before agreeing. Sirius shot a look to Claire, a clear warning. Tanya agreed wholeheartedly, but they thought it was best to wait until dark. Remus…well, frankly, he didn't care. Claire, of course, was worried. She needed that spell again. The bruises from summer were beginning to fade slightly, but were still visible.
"I think we should go swimming now," whined Lily. "I brought my bathing suit and everything, come on, Tanya, please." Lily grabbed Tanya's arm and was pulling it like a three-year-old.
"Lily, think about it, it'll be way less crowded at night," said Tanya. Lily had never been one for crowds, and agreed quickly, but her mind quickly returning to another pressing matter.
"So, in the meantime, what are we doing?" she asked in a whiny voice.
"I'm hungry," said Sirius.
"You're always hungry," said Claire with an eye roll. She grabbed a handful of Sirius's hair and mussed it affectionately before kissing him on the cheek. He didn't seem to mind.
"You know, I think it is about lunchtime, why don't we get some food?" asked Tanya after her stomach growled rather loudly.
"Fine," groaned Lily. They stood up, each couple holding hands and found their way to the huge cafeteria in just a few yards form the ballroom. James led Lily in first, his arm draped over her shoulder as usual and her arms wrapped around his waist so that her head was resting right on his chest. Claire and Sirius were slightly more affectionate…constantly kissing each other on the cheek, tip of the nose, side of the neck, forehead. Sirius, nonetheless, was holding Claire's hand. Remus and Tanya, as usual, were rolling their eyes at their friends and Remus simply had his arm around Tanya so that she was very close to him.
"I wonder what they have to eat," wondered Sirius aloud.
"Hmm…maybe food," said Claire sarcastically. They sat down at one of the large tables, much like those in the great hall, and plates appeared in front of each of them, all filled with each person's favorite mealtime food ( I couldn't say food or Lily would have tens of thousands of chocolate bars on her plate). Lily's plate had a perfect rendition of her mother's mouth-watering spaghetti (remember it from a few chapters ago, or one chapter, or I don't remember). Claire's had a huge bowl in the center filled to the brim with some delicious looking chicken-noodle soup. Tanya's a was a dish form her father's home country – Spain – and was a large plate of fajita fixings with another plate of tortilla shells. Remus had a large steak (how ironic…) with a lot of steak sauce on it and some mashed potatoes on the side. Sirius had a large…full chicken on his plate, covered in some sort of juices with a scent of mouth-watering garlic coming from it. On the side was some chicken gravy, which Sirius poured onto it before carving it. James had a plate of pork tenderloins with juices that he could pour overtop of it. (I was gonna make James's veal, but I hate veal…I mean, yeah, it tastes good, but it's a baby cow, for heaven's sake, a cow raised only to slaughtered. I am not a vegetarian, and I could never be, but veal just grosses me out…rant over!)
They dug into their food immediately, constantly asking for bites of each other's meals.
"How could you like spaghetti, there's no meat in that?" asked James, looking incredulously at Lily.
"It is the meal I love and always remember. My mother makes the best spaghetti sauce in the world, completely from scratch and it is absolutely perfect. Here, have some," offered Lily, spinning up some of it with her fork and putting into James's open mouth. A small bit of a noodle hung out and Lily tried not to laugh as he slurped it in.
"You know, that is actually really good," he admitted with a smile. Lily gave a triumphant nod and went back to her food.
"Okay, so we both like chicken, then?" asked Sirius, looking from his huge plate of an entire chicken to Claire's bowl of soup. "Of course, yours is a bit…un-meaty."
"What is it with you boys and meat?" asked Claire, shaking her head and taking a bite of soup.
"It tastes good," said Sirius, looking shocked that she would even consider asking a question like that. "Give me a bite of that soup."
"No," said Claire defensively, placing her arm around the bowl and leaning over it so that no one could even see it. (This comes from what my brother used to do because he was like a food-maniac, we called him the garbage-disposal and I sat across the table form him for ten years, and – being that he was 10 years older than me – I picked it up and do it sometimes. But he did it all the time, so it was pretty funny to watch.)
"Come on," pleaded Sirius. "I'll give you a bite of my chicken, please."
"No," said Claire, trying to sound firm, but failing miserably at it because of Sirius's wet puppy-dog stare. "Fine, just quit with the look, it is melting my heart." She lifted the spoon and brought it to Sirius's mouth. He swallowed it immediately, but regretting it instantly.
"Ahh!" he practically screamed. "It's burning my throat, ahhh, how could you," he shrieked, fanning his mouth.
"Open your mouth," commanded Claire. She pointed her wand in his mouth and shouted: "aguamenti." A jet of clear, sparkling water went into Sirius's mouth and then she closed his mouth and held it shut, yelling at him to swallow. When he finally did, Claire let go of him and tried her best not to laugh.
"Thanks," breathed Sirius, regaining his composure.
"Don't mention it," she laughed. "So, what's with Remus and the steak?"
"Oh, come on, you can't seriously be asking that, can you?" asked Sirius, rolling his eyes at her.
"Oh, got it," she said with a slight nod. "How can you eat that much food?" she asked, once again, aghast at his garbage-disposal-like qualities.
"Years of practice," he said before finishing his food in record time. A few seats over, Lily was marveling at the same thing about James, wondering how on earth all that food was gone in only a few minutes. Sirius pushed his plate away and a large helping of cauldron cakes, puddings, pumpkin pasties, treacle tarts and countless other desserts that he loved equally appeared on another plate that was brought about form thin air in front of him. "Yum," he said gleefully, not bothering to use his fork and picking up the desserts and eating them.
Lily had pushed her plate away by now too, and only to have the exact ice cream form her first date with James appear in her hand. She looked at it questioningly and then James eyed it, biting back a laugh.
"Favorite dessert have some sentimental value just like your favorite food?" he asked, nudging her with his elbow. Lily blushed and licked the ice cream, finding it tasted just as good as the first time she'd had it. James's dessert appeared in his hand too and Lily looked at it with an eyebrow raised. It was also the same ice cream from their first date.
"Stupid enchantments," he muttered to himself, before taking a bite of the ice cream. Lily laughed, taking a bite of hers. It was perfect bliss once again. They spent the rest of the day exploring the ship, Claire and Sirius going off by themselves just before they decided it was finally time for a swim.
Meanwhile
Claire pulled Sirius into a room by his robes and told him to get out his wand. He got it and fumbled with it for a few seconds before thinking about it.
"Maybe we should just tell them," he said sincerely.
"No!" she objected. "I…I can't Sirius, please, just do this for me, please," she said, kissing him on the cheek.
"What if we didn't go swimming then?" he asked. Sirius could really be a good person sometimes. Claire expected him to really want to go swimming with the whole bathing suit thing. Lily made Claire buy something to accentuate her figure and so, without trying it on, Claire had bought a bikini, the first on in her entire life.
"Are you sure?" she asked, looking a bit guilty.
"Yeah, we can just take a walk or something, how bout it?" he asked.
"Okay," she said, blushing. They emerged from the small room, their friends standing outside it with expression of immense disapproval. Claire decided that maybe they had the wrong impression in their minds.
"No, no, no we didn't do anything," she said, waving her hands out in front of her. Their looks of disapproval changed to how-stupid-do-we-look expressions.
"We were just talking," said Sirius with honesty ringing in his tone.
"Oh sure, we know you Sirius," said Lily with a scowl.
"He's telling the truth, Lils," said Claire with a look like why-won't-you-believe-me.
"Whatever," said Tanya. "Come one, it's night already and I really want to go swimming."
"Actually, one of the things we were talking about was that Claire and me are gonna take a walk, okay guys?" confirmed Sirius.
"Whatever," said Tanya again, grabbing Lily by the hand and pulling her to their room. Lily changed in the small bathroom they had in the room while Tanya stayed in the bedroom. Lily made sure it was okay before coming out. Tanya was tying the back of her red bikini before stepping out the door. Lily had on a green bikini that was a strapless straight-across top and a tie bottom. They came out about five minutes later, deciding not to worry about their hair. The boys were already there in trunks, but their jaws dropped nonetheless. They followed the boys to the pool quietly - it being about eleven o'clock by now and they didn't want to wake anyone. When they got to the pool, it was completely empty and James did a cannon ball in. Lily stayed on the side, wondering whether or not if it was cold. Remus took the stairs and Tanya followed him, trying to stay as warm as possible.
"Lils, come in, it's fine," coaxed James. Lily just shook her head. For some reason, this didn't sound as good of an idea to her. James wasn't going to put up with it, it was her idea after all. He swam underwater, tapping his glasses (which he was still wearing) with a spell for them to repel water so he could see underwater. He swam up to the edge where Lily was and his head popped up and he grabbed her hand faster than Lily could react. He yanked her into the water as she let out a bloodcurdling scream.
"Shut up," said James, clapping a hand over her mouth. "Someone probably heard that. Why didn't you want to get in the water so much that you screamed, you saw it was me."
"It wasn't that I was afraid of the water, notice how I only started screaming when you had me in the water. James," her voice became extremely quiet now. "My top just came off."
"Oh," said James, trying as hard as he could not to look away from Lily's face so he wouldn't risk a smack in the face. Lily was a very modest person; he was extremely surprised at her bathing suit choice actually. "Um…what should we do?" he asked.
"I don't know," said Lily, a hint of frenzy in her voice. She had her arms crossed over her chest so that nothing was showing and was looking frantically around the pool for her bathing suit top. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to see it well, seeing as the bottom of the pool was green and the water was perfectly clear, so everything looked green, especially when it was this dark. "Go find it, please, at least try." James turned to look, but Lily nudged him with her elbow. "AND DON'T LOOK UNDERWATER, because I'll be looking too and my hands won't be over my…you know," she hissed menacingly. James nodded again, still trying to keep his eyes on Lily's eyes and nothing else.
Meanwhile
Claire and Sirius were walking across the deck of the ship at night and the stars above them were a beautiful and perfect sight.
"I love you," he whispered to her, taking the hand he was holding and bringing it up to rub his cheek.
"I know, I love you too," she said softly, shivering slightly from the cold.
"Are you cold," he asked, concern ringing in every word.
"A little," she said quietly.
"Well, no wonder, no jacket. It's December you loon," he laughed, taking off his beige leather coat and draping it over her shoulders (cliché…I know).
"Thanks," she whispered.
"It's nothing," he said. "Claire," he began.
"Yes?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Did you know that…that I never had enough courage to ask you out?" She looked at him disbelievingly.
"Please, Sirius, you've dated every girl in our year except for Lily and Tanya. What would've stopped you?"
"I liked you ever since we first spoke," he said, color filling his cheeks.
"What?" she asked, disbelief, once again coating her tone.
"Don't you remember, the first time we spoke, first year, Hogwarts Express?"
"Kinda, it's really vague though."
FLASHBACK
A boy who was very cute…for an eleven year old, of course, stumbled into one of the compartments, tripping over a trunk and falling, looking up at a girl with long, flowing blonde hair and a perfect face…she was also very well…developed for her age. Sirius was automatically hooked.
"Can I help you?" asked the girl sarcastically.
"Um…" began the boy, at a loss for words. "Hi."
"Hi," she said, noting how adorable he was…especially when he was so inarticulate. She almost laughed, but bit back before a giggle escaped.
"Sorry about that," he said, still not moving.
"Are you gonna get off the floor?" she asked, tilting her head to the side, trying to figure him out like he was an abstract painting.
"Oh, yeah," he said, getting up off the ground. He had black hair that fell perfectly around his head, some of it falling very near to his eyes, but it fell with perfection, like that you only see in male models.
"My name's Claire," she said with a grin, extending her hand to him.
"Sirius Black," he replied, shaking her hand.
"Wait, I've heard of your family. I met your cousin, Bella, a few minutes ago in the hallway," said the girl, cringing internally due to the fact that Bella had cast a bat-bogey hex on her.
"Oh," he snorted. "That little brat. I don't like her much." Claire exhaled a sigh that was audible even to Sirius. "And, I take it from that sigh that you don't like her much either."
"She hexed me, if it wasn't for a new friend, Lily Evans, I would probably still be screaming in the hall, she laughed. Sirius looked for the first time at the two other girls in the compartment. One had red hair and emerald green eyes and the other was tan with long black curly hair.
"Hi," he said awkwardly.
"Hi," said the red-headed girl.
"Oi, Sirius, where'd you get to?" called a voice from the corridor. A messy-haired, handsome boy with hazel eyes stepped into the compartment, his jaw dropping as he saw Lily.
"Is something wrong?" asked Lily concernedly.
"No, nothing," said James. "I just have one question."
"Okay," urged the redhead.
"Will you go out with me?" he asked pleadingly. Some of the girls in the hall shot Lily angry looks. It seemed that the two cutest boys in their year were standing there, hitting on them.
"Do I know you?" asked Lily in disbelief. Here, in front of her was this strange boy who was pretty handsome if it wasn't for the fact that he was constantly running his fingers through his hair messing it up more and that he barely knew her.
"No, but you'd like to," replied the messy-hair boy with a smirk.
"No!" shouted Lily. Tanya and Claire, even Sirius laughed, but James was standing there, mouth hanging open and looking like something had just died in front of him. He had never been denied anything in his entire life.
END FLASHBACK
"That was the first time he ever asked her out," laughed Claire.
"Yeah, I remember how funny we all thought it was. She had this look on her face like he was some diseased blast-ended skrewt. It was hilarious."
"So, you've liked me that long, huh?" she asked, instantly interested.
"Yeah, but I thought a girl as gorgeous as you would never go for me."
"Wanna know a small secret, I've liked you from then too," she whispered, kissing him deeply and they backed into the wall of the ship, but Sirius backed away, not wanting to push her too far. "It's fine, I think that we might have made it to this stage now." Sirius moved back in, his hands on her neck as he kissed her neck, his collarbone, and the top of her chest. Shivers went down Claire's spine as he moved back up to her face. He kissed her jaw line and then her lips, deeply and romantically, not to mention passionately. She kissed him back with equal intensity. His fingers traced her spine and his hand ran along on her back as they came to rest on her hips and he kissed her once more, backing away again. The jacket had fallen to the ground and they were hugging each other so sweetly that Claire even had tears running down her face. He had small tears in the corners of his eyes, but Claire was filled with emotion, she was shaking his arms and she had her head buried in his chest. Something was wrong with her.
"No!" she screamed, and then passed out in Sirius's arms. He held her up, knowing it was one of those episodes from the poison. He then scooped her up into a more careful position, cradling her in his arms as he always did when something like this happened.
Meanwhile
"I found it," said James triumphantly.
"Turn around," commanded Lily. James did as she said and turned around, throwing the top over his shoulder to her. She slid it on over her arms and then told him he could turn back around.
"Am I free to look at you now?" he asked hopefully.
"Yes," she said with a laugh. Swam towards her, pressing his forehead against hers again, the emotion surging through her, the spark and the perfection of it surging through her body as the world vanished again.
"What do you think they're doing?" asked Remus form across the pool. Tanya and him were sitting on the steps, Tanya with her head on his shoulder, as they looked at the pair in front of them in the deep end.
"My guess…snogging," said Tanya bluntly. Remus laughed and kissed the top of Tanya's head. They had no idea how wrong they were. It was too dark to see anything but their outlines and James and Lily never mentioned the top episode to them, so they just thought they were having some privacy or something. Tanya looked up at Remus and kissed him more than just a smooch or a peck; for once, it was actually a romantic kiss.
"What was that for?" asked Remus when she backed away and bit her lip, wondering if that was okay. Tanya and Remus valued nothing more than their friendship and they didn't want to risk that for anything. If they ever broke up, they wanted to stay friends.
"Was it too far?" she asked, still biting her lip.
"No, no, it was great…well, you know, I mean it was…" Tanya held a finger to his lips.
"You talk way to much," she whispered, kissing him again.
"Sorry…I mean, um…thanks," he said dazedly. She had never seen him at such a loss for words, and it was so…cute. She let out a small laugh and Remus joined in slightly.
"You know," said Lily softly.
"What?" asked James, looking right into her eyes. It wasn't so hard to keep focus anymore.
"You are really hot," she said bluntly.
"I know," he shrugged. It was the first time Lily had seen James without a shirt on, and, frankly, she liked it. He was incredibly muscular and chiseled.
"You know, you're not to bad yourself, Evans," he said, using the name he used to call her in fifth year and below.
"Oh really?" she asked playfully. "What, may I ask, is that supposed to mean, Potter?"
"Well, just that you look so pretty. I don't care how you look, even where your hair's wet, your mascara's smeared and running down your cheeks."
"Oh crap," she said loudly. "Why didn't you say something?" she asked, wiping under her eyes. He grabbed her hands to stop them.
"You look beautiful, stop it," he whispered, kissing her deeply, his fingers moving to her neck and then going down her back, tracing her spine. He truly was one of the best kissers in the school, second only to Sirius. When James had backed away, Lily wanted more, she grabbed around the back of his neck and pulled him back to her, and now, Tanya was right, they were snogging.
Meanwhile
Sirius carried Claire to the Marauders' room and laid her down on his bed pulling a chair next to it, he grabbed her hand, just like when they were in the hospital wing. She stirred slightly and gave his hand a small squeeze before the peaceful expression returned to her countenance.
"Claire, why did it have to be you?" he asked, pulling the Marauders' map from his pocket and looking at it. There were practically no people at Hogwarts, but there were the teachers, Snivellus, and a few others. Words appeared on the page as a small teardrop fell form his face and hit the map, absorbed instantly by the bewitched paper.
Mr. Padfoot would like to remind himself that the lady before him was poisoned on accident.
"WHAT!" screamed Sirius, looking at the map.
Mr. Prongs would like to tell Mr. Padfoot that the Marauders see all, even from the perspective of paper.
"Tell me what's going on, guys," he demanded.
Mr. Moony will tell the story. The poison was placed by a few Slytherins when The Marauders had their backs turned and the glasses of punch were placed in a line on a table. The didn't take the time to figure out whose punch they were spiking with poison, but they wanted to do in Lily Evans or Mr. Prongs, either one would've been fine with them.
Sirius roared with rage, his thoughts going through a spin cycle of Lily, James, and finally…Claire. She was not the intended victim, Lily and James were. Claire snapped awake when she heard this outburst and turned over, looking at the red-faced and furious Sirius. Seeing her scared expression, his face softened and he sat down next to her.
"What's wrong?" she asked frantically.
"You weren't the intended victim. The Slytherins again…they were trying to kill Lily or James. Lily was gone after because she's a muggle-born and James was only attacked because he stood up to them and helped Lily. I am going to kill those stupid little bloody bastards."
"Calm down. The important thing is that those two are safe and now we know who to kill when we get back to school," sje said convincingly. "Now, let's just rest, it's vacation and we need some rest if we're going to take on a horde of Slytherins when we get back."
"Okay," he sighed, trying to calm himself down. "But you are going to die and it is for no reason," he remembered.
"Lily and James are safe though," she reassured him.
"I'd rather no one died," he said softly, tears slipping down his face, not tears of sadness, but of overwhelming. He sat down at the foot of the bed and Claire flopped down silently onto the pillow, still very delirious from her episode and fell to sleep instantly.
Meanwhile
They were getting out of the pool. It was after three in the morning and they had done nothing but kissed and snogged the entire time, but it was romantic in its own way. They decided to go back to the boys' room to play cards for a while and were walking back, trying not to laugh. They went into Sirius's room, about to wake him up when they saw Sirius and Claire on the bed together, sleeping. Sirius's arm wrapped around Claire's waist, much like how James had been found in the hospital wing after the attack on Lily. Claire had an expression of pure bliss on her face and wasn't moving at all. Sirius was perfectly content looking as well. They decided to just grab the cards and slip out silently, going into the sitting room and playing some poker as quietly as they possibly could. Lily and Tanya had changed back into their clothes already, having conjured them form their room and changing in to the boys' bathrooms. The guys had changed in their rooms while the girls got dressed. When the girls came out, their hair was dripping wet, but Lily had managed to get most of the smeared makeup off of her face.
"I have an idea," said James conspiratorially. "Let's go wake up Sirius and we can play some strip-poker." Lily gasped, having already lost her top in the pool on accident, she didn't want something like this to happen again. Tanya seemed fine with it, being the least modest of the group. Lily knew automatically that Claire and Sirius would be fine with it, but she didn't know about herself and Remus. After some constant begging from James and Tanya, Remus agreed, but Lily was still a bright red and was shaking her head violently.
"Hey, I'm the only one who'll ask you to take something off, okay? I won't be mean, I promise," he promised. Lily blushed again and nodded, but didn't say anything. They all snuck back into Sirius's room and poked Claire on the forehead. She rolled off the bed and Sirius looked around, his wand raised.
"Calm down, mate," said James with a grin. "We were gonna play some poker, but only if you two played."
"What kind?" asked Sirius, automatically into it if it was gambling.
"Strip," smiled James. Sirius looked astonished for a second and then agreed quickly. Claire was perfectly okay with the plan too. They made the agreement that whoever lost the most had to walk a lap around the ship in what they were wearing (or lack thereof) when the game ended. They all agreed and the game began. Lily was the first to win, James very surprised at that.
"James," she said with a smile, "shirt." James did what she said, smiling, and pulled off his shirt.
"Wow, Lils, you don't waste time," said James with a smirk. Claire won the next round; she had always been good at poker.
"Sirius," she said, smiling, "shirt." The boys were detecting a hint of conspiring where the girls were sitting. James knew Lily was good at poker, having spied on her once, playing some of the best in their year and winning every game. He was hoping she'd at least pretend tonight. The next time, a male finally won, and it was James.
"Lils," he said, smirking and laughing inwardly. "shirt." Lily pulled off her shirt, a pink bra underneath. She blushed furiously. The game continued like that for hours until everyone agreed that it was far too late – five in the morning, to be exact – and the girls had won almost every game. The won that had lost the most was Sirius and all he had on were his boxers. Lily was sitting in her chair wearing a pair of panties that matched the bra she had on, James still had his socks and his boxers, Remus had his shoes, socks, and pants (Tanya was a terrible gambler), Claire was wearing a yellow thong and a white bra and Tanya had on a pair of skimpy underwear, but still not a thong, and her shirt and bra. Remus had definitely gone easy on her, seeing as he made her take off her shoes, socks, hair tie, and finally her shorts. Sirius didn't seem to mind much, considering that they didn't know what time it was and thought people were still asleep. So, he stepped out of the cabin after letting his friends out their clothes back on and noticed the sunrise being watched by half the occupants of the ship, including certain people from school. He turned to go back in, but the other five stood in the doorway, fully dressed.
"It was the deal," said James with a laugh. Sirius groaned and began to walk around the deck, receiving whistles from some of the teenage girls (Claire was making a very angry face) and looks of horror from adults, children, and other guys. When the humiliation was finally over, he came back into the room and put his clothes back on, his face and ears as red as they had ever seen them. He looked like he would die right then and there. After that, they all went back to their own rooms, sleeping until about three that afternoon.
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A/N: Just wanted to end this chapter with some fun…maybe making the very emotional, very angering and extremely sad things end with a little funniness and let it go out with a bang. This was my longest chapter, I'll have you know, so I expect some long reviews and a lot of them. Well, that's it for this weekend I think. Aren't you proud of me, I did four chapters in two and a half days. So, you know what to do, and tell me what you think, really, I'd like to know. I guess this was the chapter where the teen rating really comes in, huh?