Chapter 12 - Back to Reality
The summer dragged after that. The next couple of days were amazing, but then Renee's parents were back and she had to go home. The rest of the summer passed with frequent letters, occasional short visits, and impatience for school to start again. By the time September came around, the couple were actually dying to get to school to spend time together.
When Renee and her parents arrived at the station, she quickly scanned the crowded platform for Sirius and the Potter's. She soon spotted them and rushed over, he parents following her more calmly. She tackle-hugged Sirius. Breaking off his conversation with James' parents, he kissed her on the head. "Hey, Ray."
She grinned at him, then turned to make the proper greetings to Mr. and Mrs. Potter, who had knowing looks in their eyes. Renee's parents joined them and added their greetings to the mix.
After a few minutes, the kids had to board the train. Saying their goodbyes, they hauled their luggage into the normal Marauder compartment. Remus and Peter were already there. They exchanged the typical stories and embellished adventures of the summer. All the while, Sirius and Renee were holding hands and sharing sweet looks. They took part in the conversation, but mostly just enjoyed being back in each other's company with their friends surrounding them.
Soon, though, Remus stood up. "Well, come on James, we've got the meeting to go to."
Renee looked up in surprise. "James, why are you going to the Prefect's meeting?"
He beamed. "Didn't Sirius tell you? I made Head Boy!"
She couldn't help it, she laughed. "You? Is Dumbledore off his rocker?"
"I don't know why everyone reacts like that," James pouted. "I am going to be a fantastic Head Boy, thank you very much."
"Oh Merlin, Lily's going to love this!" Renee crowed, laughing harder.
He stuck his tongue out at her. "You better watch yourself, punk. I could give you detention for a month!"
The whole cabin burst out laughing. James huffed and stomped out the door. Still laughing, Remus followed him out of the compartment. Renee, Sirius, and Peter talked lightly for awhile before Peter left to find the trolley.
Sirius and Renee didn't waste much time. In a minute they had caught each other up from their last letters. In another minute, they were snogging. This carried on for a few minutes, with the occasional break for air, until the compartment door slid open to reveal a shocked Lily and a sullen James.
Renee flushed, but said evenly, "Hey, guys. How's patrol going?"
Lily was too busy sputtering to answer, but James did. "It's great. Or it would be if Evans would let me put the Slytherins in their place."
Lily was even too distracted to set him straight. "Renee, we need to talk. Now."
She sighed. She knew this was coming, she was just hoping it would've come later. "All right, let's go find Mary and Alice, then we'll talk."
Giving Sirius a short peck, she followed Lily down the train to the compartment that the other girls had grabbed.
Mary and Alice smiled as they came in. "Hey, Renee. How've you been?"
"Pretty good, and yourselves?" She replied easily.
Lily cut their pleasantries short. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Girls, I just walked in on Renee and Sirius Black snogging like there's no tomorrow."
They turned to Renee in shock, silently demanding an explanation. She squirmed. "Yeah, well, we're kind of dating…"
The compartment erupted with noise, but Lily made herself heard. "Woah, back up. Since when? How'd this come about?"
"Yeah," Mary said petulantly, "We barely head from you all summer, then we get back and you're dating Sirius Black?"
Renee took a deep breath before launching into the tale. When she was finished, the girls were speechless.
"Wow," Alice finally said, "You and Sirius. Who would've thought?"
"I know," Renee admitted. Then she grinned. "Now if you guys are quite finished with your interrogation, I'd like to go back to said boyfriend."
They grudgingly let her go, though promising they'd have more questions later. On her way back through the train, she saw Tarin and some random boy snogging madly in a compartment. Having successfully avoided Tarin all summer, she had expected to feel sad or angry upon seeing her former best mate. She was surprised, therefore, when she was able to see her without any feeling at all. Not bothering to think about her reaction, she continued to the Marauder's compartment, where the rest of the trip passed uneventfully.
When they stopped in Hogsmeade, all the seventh years looked around sadly, knowing this would be the last year they would be there as students. The carriage ride to the castle was lively, everyone trying to shake off the somber mood that threatened. The Welcome Feast was as delicious as ever. Renee and Sirius sat next to each other, joining in the jokes of their friends. Lily was chastising for James for all the future abuse of power she knew he would commit, when Dumbledore stood up and the room quieted.
"Welcome, welcome students. Welcome to our new students and welcome to the students who will be leaving us this year. And to all the students in between!"
The students cheered. He waited for them to quiet again before continuing. "I trust you all have been sufficiently stuffed and had a chance to catch up with your friends." He paused. "As I'm sure you are all aware, these are dangerous times. Will all that's going on in the world around us, it can be easy to give in to your fear and suspicion, easy to shut oneself off. But I urge you, do not succumb to this fear. Live your life. Play with your friends, cherish your loved ones, enjoy your youth. As you can clearly see in me, it doesn't last forever." He smiled, lightening the mood instantly. "But enough seriousness!"
Here, Sirius let out a whoop. Dumbledore inclined his head in their direction. "Mr. Black is right. Entirely too heavy of thoughts for the start of term. Off to bed, kiddies!"
Leaving the Great Hall, James said, "Well, that was different."
They were about to agree with him when Lily yelled, "Oi! Potter, come help with the first years!"
They laughed as he perked up and obediently rushed over to help. They pushed their way through the confused first years and trooped up to Gryffindor Tower.
Passing another group of first years, Renee shook he head. "Seems like forever since we were that young, doesn't it?"
Remus seemed in agreement, but Sirius scoffed. "What are you on about? We're still just that young!"
She laughed. "Maybe you are, but the rest of us have matured a bit, actually."
He grinned, a mischievous shine in his eyes. "Immature, am I?"
She stepped back, wary of the shine. "Yes… Sirius, what are you up to?"
He pounced, tickling her mercilessly. Laughing until she couldn't breathe, she begged him to stop. He obliged, but only because he was busy kissing her instead. The others rolled their eyes and continued talking until James and Lily joined them. James groaned. "Are you two at it again?"
They broke apart, grinning. Still holding Sirius' hand, Renee teased, "Awh, don't be mad at us just because Lily won't let you snog her."
James blushed and Lily growled. "Ew, Renee, don't even go there."
James looked put out, and Renee felt bad. Sirius saved her by joking, "Oh please, Ray, everyone's jealous of our love life, not just James."
Everyone laughed and profusely denied it. Soon, it was time for bed and they separated for their dormitories. Lily repaid Renee for embarrassing her by squeezing every detail of her summer with Sirius out of her and the girls ended up staying awake for a good couple of hours.
The next morning, Renee waited behind for the Marauders while the girls went down to breakfast. When the boys finally emerged, they traipsed down to the Great Hall. Breakfast was a quiet affair, everyone a little groggy on their first morning back at school. McGonagall soon came down the table passing out timetables.
She gave their group a stern look. "I hope now that you all are seventh years you will behave and won't pull any shenanigans."
"Minnie," Sirius said in affected surprise, "Us? Shenanigans? Never!" Then he grinned. "Oh, Minnie, we'll never learn to behave."
She pursed her lips. "Mr. Potter. As Head Boy, I expect you to keep your friends in line."
He saluted in mock obedience. "But of course, Professor."
With a final firm look, she swept down the table. They burst out laughing.
"Have I ever mentioned that Minnie's secretly in love with me?" Sirius asked, once they'd quieted a bit.
Laughing again, James joked, "Yeah and I'm a flobberworm."
Lily walked up just then. "That might be the truest thing you've ever said, Potter."
His eyes lightened. "Ah, Lily darling, how nice of you to join us."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Let's go, Potter. We need to discuss the Prefect patrols."
"My lady beckons!" He declared before following her out of the Great Hall.
They laughed as he left, then soon followed, going to their classes. Sirius, Renee, Alice, and Remus headed to the dungeons for Potions. Seeing as they were early for once, Sirius and Renee separated from the others and found an empty corridor nearby.
Renee smiled at him. "Why does it feel like we haven't been alone in ages?"
He took her in his arms. "I don't know, maybe because we haven't?"
She kissed him, savoring the feeling. He deepened the kiss, his arms tightening around her.
A giggle from down the corridor interrupted them.
"I see we're interrupting," Tarin said, her hand clutching the bloke's beside her.
The bloke, who Renee didn't recognize, said, "Come on, Tarin, let's go somewhere else."
Tarin dimpled at him. "Wait a second."
She walked closer to them. "So, the rumours are true then? You two really are shagging?"
Sirius answered her stiffly. "We're dating, if that's what you mean."
She giggled. "Oh yes, I should've realized, with Renee and all… My ex-boyfriend and my ex-best mate. I think it's cute."
The look in her eyes and the sarcasm in her voice said otherwise. She didn't think it was cute at all.
Renee bristled. "Are you cheating on this one too?"
Tarin her nice mask, smiling icily. "Of course not. He can keep up with me, for once."
Giggling, she lead her newest boy toy down the corridor, like a dog and its master. Before she turned the corner, she threw a vicious smile over her shoulder and said bitingly, "Hey Nay-Nay, rebound much?"
Renee drew her wand dying to make her eat her words, but Sirius stopped her. She dropped her arm and look at him, surprised.
He answered her unasked question. "She's not even worth it, Ray. Don't waste your breath."
She sighed. "You're right, of course."
She inspected him closely; his face was totally relaxed. "You seem awfully calm about this. I figured you'd be upset to see her, especially since she was with another bloke."
He laughed. "Oh, Ray, she doesn't bother me anymore. She's just a mistake I made."
"What's your secret?" She asked.
He kissed the top of her head. "I have better things to think about."
She smiled at him, but was still upset by their confrontation. They returned to the classroom and claimed a table in the back. All through the lesson, Renee stared at the back of Tarin's head and thought about their fight.
She was quiet for the rest of the day, just blindly following Sirius from class to class and not participating in her friends conversations. After dinner, everyone was in the Common Room, already working on homework. Sirius looked up from his essay to see Renee staring out the window again. He sighed and went over to her. "Hey, Ray, want to go for a walk with me?"
She smiled at him, coming out of her reverie. "Sure, Sirius. See you around guys."
They ended up by the lake.
"We seem to keep coming back here, don't we?" Sirius said, shaking her out of her thoughts.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, I guess so." She replied.
They sat down. "Ray?" Sirius asked tentatively, "What've you been thinking about?"
She feigned ignorance. "What do you mean, Sirius? I haven't been thinking of anything in particular."
"Don't give me that, Ray. You've been acting weird all day."
She sighed. "I've just been thinking about what Tarin said," she admitted.
"Renee," he said fiercely, "You can't honestly think you're just a rebound?!"
She smiled at him and grabbed his had. "Of course not. I'm not stupid."
He sighed and wrapped his arms around her as they laid down and looked at the stars. "Then what did she say that's bothering you?"
She relaxed into his arms. "Nothing in particular, I guess… I just can't believe she was that mean. I mean, yeah, we aren't friends anymore, but I didn't expect her to be so hostile. The few times I saw her this summer, we just kind of ignored each other. But today… She really seemed to hate me."
"I doubt she hates you, Ray. I think she's just having issues with the fact that we're together," Sirius said soothingly.
"Hm. I guess that makes sense," she admitted.
They both got lost in their own thoughts for awhile, before Sirius interrupted the silence. "I think you should forgive her and be friends again."
She propped herself up on her elbows, looking at him in surprise. "You do?"
"I do," he said, sitting up. "It makes you said, not being friends with her."
"But she's been so awful…"
"She has, but that was last year. I think you can put it behind you. I know I have. Just let it go. You two can be friends again and there won't be any more ugly scenes like this morning."
She had to admit, it sounded appealing to just go back to how things used to be. "It sounds nice, but I don't know if it's possible; things are so weird between us."
"Well, it'll be different," he admitted, "But wouldn't it be nice to just be friends again?"
She couldn't help it, the idea was just too appealing. "It would be nice. I think I'll try it. When did you get so smart, Sirius? I thought I was the one always giving you advice."
He laughed. "Eventually, some of it had to rub off on me, I guess."
She laughed and they sat by the lake until clouds covered the moon.
AN:/ GUYS! I am so sorry I took like two months to upload this. It wasn't typed and I was lazy and school has been absolutely NUTS. This is the first weekend I've had to type this super long chapter. I'm really sorry, I swore this wouldn't happen. Oh well, not much I can do now but upload this. I'm going to type the next chapter up today and upload it this weekend. Then it's done!
Kind of cheesy ending. I tried to fix that a bit with the last couple lines. But yeah, this is the last real chapter. The next one is just an epilogue of sorts, then it's over. Oh and y'all get to find out the reason for the title. Anyway, as always, please please review!
-Nikky