So it's definitely my (Morgan) fault this has taken so long, I've been in Italy for the last two months studying abroad and the internet was awful and well I was busy. So I hope you enjoy this nice long chapter. Also some of you asked about a story called Unconditional and while we haven't had the pleasure of reading it, it sounds interesting and we might go take a look. Hope you enjoy!
The next month went by in a flash of studying for Casselle. She was determined to not allow Sirius to distract her from acing her final examinations. Even though it was very difficult seeing as he was quite skilled at puppy dog eyes, a look that on more than one occasion made Casselle give into him.
"Pleaseeeee?" He pleaded with her pouting out his bottom lip.
She refused to look up from her Transfigurations book, knowing she was likely to cave, "No."
"Just for a little bit? Moony hasn't let me see the outside world in weeks."
"Because we have final examinations in a week!" Casselle said looking up exasperated.
"But studying is so boringgg," Sirius whined.
"You are such a child! Are you ever going to grow up?" She asked.
"No, it's why you love me so much," He said with a cocky smile.
Casselle rolled her eyes, as he snaked his arms around her waist and leaned his head on her shoulder.
"Please?" He whispered into her ear causing her to shiver.
"No," Casselle said a little shakily.
He started to nibble on her ear, as she closed her eyes trying to ignore the tightening of her stomach. "Are you sure?"
She started to give in to him and her feelings but managed to catch herself just in time. She jumped up causing Sirius to topple to the ground as she marched over to where James was studying with Lily by the fire. "James." She said folding her arms over her chest.
He looked up confused. "Will you please go take Sirius somewhere far away?" She asked as Sirius stood up from the ground pretending like nothing had happened and walked over to her wrapping his arms around her again, causing her to scowl.
"Why?" James asked.
"Because me being enticingly sexy is distracting her from her studies and she will just have none of that." Sirius said indignantly kissing her on the neck.
Casselle's scowl only deepened as she stepped out of his grasp, "James," She said warningly.
"I'll take care of him," James said not wanting to get on Casselle's bad side at the moment. "Come on mate, let's go prank some Slytherins," James said grabbing Sirius's arm and dragging him away.
"This isn't over, I'll distract you sooner or later!" Sirius called from across the common room. "You can't deny my good looks forever!"
Casselle just rolled her eyes and let out a sigh as she settled back down to study.
The start of final examinations were easy enough, Casselle had Herbology which she knew she aced. Surprisingly she even did well in her Transfigurations and Potions exams, so well that she even let Sirius distract her for a while.
Finally it was the Defense Against the Dark Arts final examination, their last exam of the year. The seventh years entered the exam anxious to be done with their schooling.
"Alright students, we will be splitting you up into small groups so the testing can be done more efficiently." The proctor of the examination explained, he listed off names putting everyone into small groups.
Casselle was in a group with Sirius, Nathaniel, Remus, and Avery. She groaned slightly at the thought of having to work with Nathaniel and Avery, but Sirius squeezed her hand and she smiled up at him. Lily and James were in a group with Snape, Peter, and Mulciber.
The first few tasks were simple, defeating magical beasts with different protection spells. But they became increasingly harder. They had to duel with their separate proctors, Sirius had no problem disarming him, Nathaniel as well disarmed the proctor in only a few moves. Casselle and Remus took a little longer to disarm him and Avery almost got disarmed himself before finally finishing.
The next task was to produce a full patronus, Sirius went first revealing his patronus of a large shaggy dog which lopped around the small group happily. Before anyone else could go, they hear a loud exclaim, "LILY I KNEW YOU LOVED ME!" James yelled as everyone turned to see Lily had produced a silver doe from her wand. Lily blushed as James swept her into a passionate kiss.
Nathaniel went next producing a silver snake that slithered and hissed on the floor. Remus sent a silver wolf out of his wand, while Avery just barely shot out a silver bull. Casselle was last, she produced an equally large dog to Sirius's patronus from her wand that surprised even herself. She turned to him watching as a huge grin spread across his face, she blushed slightly and laughed.
Their next task was the hardest for everyone, they had to face down a boggart. Casselle dreaded this, she remembered having to face one when they were younger, but her fears had been much less dangerous than her fears now.
Remus went first, as the boggart transformed itself into five shapes, of Sirius, James, Peter, Lily, and Casselle.
"You are a monster," boggart Casselle said.
"Who could ever imagine being friends with you," boggart James said with a sneer.
Remus looked at them desperately, but when he turned back and saw Casselle smile softly, he remembered, and said "Ridikulus!" causing the boggart to turn into James and Sirius dressed in drag. Everyone around started laughing, as the boggart James and Sirius looked down at themselves.
"That's a good look for you Sirius," Casselle said trying to hold in her laughter. Sirius just frowned, though a small smile played on his lips.
"Remus," he said as Avery went up to defeat his boggart. Remus walked over to them reluctantly. "You know that would never happen right?" He said sincerely.
"Yeah, but there's always a small part that fears one day you will all realize the danger I am," Remus said unable to look Sirius in the eye.
"You aren't any more dangerous than the rest of us," Casselle said placing her hand on Remus's shoulder. Remus nodded and they turned to watch Nathaniel defeat his boggart which turned into Lord Voldemort. Casselle let out a gasp, but before anything else Nathaniel had defeated it and turned it into a large bobblehead of Voldemort.
Casselle was up next and her wand hand was shaking as she confronted the boggart. It began to shift and change, revealing her father who leered at her. "You think you can escape Casselle? You're wrong," he sneered coming towards her. Casselle took a step back her whole body shaking before she came to her senses and held up her wand, "Ridikulus!" She called causing her father to be shrunken to the size of a toddler. She blew out a sigh of relief before turning around to see Sirius staring at her intently.
He walked up to face his boggart and Casselle moved back. "Interesting boggart Casselle," Nathaniel sneered in her ear.
Before she could reply she heard her own voice scream out. She looked up to see Sirius standing in front of his boggart which had transformed into her, with blood soaking the front of her shirt. "SIRIUS HELP ME PLEASE!" the boggart screamed, it caused Casselle to cringe at the pain and desperation in the voice that was identical to hers. Everyone had turned to see what the screaming was, and Sirius just stood there shaking in front of the image of Casselle on the floor bleeding.
The image split producing a replica of James to lie next to Casselle's figure. He was in equally bad shape, his figure bloody and filled with a horrifying desperation. "Sirius," The boggart James pleaded. "Help us Sirius"
"PLEASE SIRIUS HELP ME! I NEED YOU!" the boggart Casselle cried.
More figures began appearing, the body of Remus popped up next to James followed by Mr. and Mrs, Potter. All of them were begging Sirius for help.
Sirius just stood there in shock, before Casselle cried out to him. "Sirius it's not real!" He turned to see her whole and looking at him. Then he shook his head slightly and lifted his wand before saying," Ridikulus!" the boggart Casselle transformed to have hot pink hair and a short nurses outfit. A look that was copied by all the figures the boggart had managed to imitate.
He stared at the boggart for a few more seconds, while everyone laughed at the image of Casselle, she couldn't help but laugh as well, relieved to see any image but her dying. Sirius turned and caught her eye, before moving toward her purposefully, and taking her into a passionate kiss that took Casselle's breath away. She responded immediately tangling her fingers in his hair, as he wrapped his arms around her waist tightly lifting her off the ground. When they finally pulled apart, Sirius leaned his forehead against hers breathing heavily, "I love you," he choked out with such sincerity that it almost made Casselle want to weep. She tightened her arms around his neck holding him tightly, before whispering, "I love you too."
"I'm fine without the kiss if it's all the same to you Padfoot," Remus called grinning at the pair of them.
Sirius grinned, "Oi come on Moony who are you kidding you've been waiting ages for a reason to kiss me."
Casselle rolled her eyes at the two friends, though her disapproval was minimal. She was just glad to lighten the mood.
Casselle reclined in the soft grass around the lake enjoying the time to relax without having to worry about exams, or worse Lily. She was more than relieved to be done with exams but there was an underlying current of anxiety to her joy. Hogwarts had been her safe haven for the last seven years and a part of her would always think of it as home.
"What are you thinking about?" Sirius asked brushing a piece of stray grass out of her face.
Casselle glanced over at him, "Just about leaving tomorrow…"
Sirius smiled in understanding, "At least we get to leave together."
Casselle returned his smile grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze, "How is it you always know what to say?"
"Because I'm Merlin's gift to women," Sirius teased dodging the slap she aimed at him.
"Oi Cass! Padfoot! We're gonna play a quick game of Quidditch before the ceremony tonight!" James yelled his glee at the prospect of Quidditch apparent in his voice.
Sirius jumped up grinning down at Cass and offered her his hand, pulling her to her feet and the pair ran off to the Quidditch field with James, Lily, Remus and Peter.
Later that evening Casselle sat in front of her vanity checking her makeup and hair. The atmosphere in their dorm room had turned somber, neither girl wanting to say what they knew the other was thinking. Emma should've been there getting ready with them. She should've been fretting over what to wear and exchanging accessories and gossiping about who would win what awards.
Casselle sighed rising from her chair and moving to her robes that she had laid out on her unused dorm bed. Contrasting from their black school robes all the seventh years would be wearing white robes to graduation.
"She should be here," Lily mumbled at last fighting back the tears that clouded her emerald eyes.
"You're right she should be here, but she's not," Casselle replied moving to her friend and hugging her tightly. "Emma wouldn't want you to be sad Lil, she'd want us to be obsessing about our hair and planning ways to slip away from the celebration to have wild passionate sex with our boyfriends."
Lily gave a wobbly laugh and wiped at her eyes. "You're right of course…"
Casselle gave her hand a squeeze before gathering her robes and slipping into the bathroom a habit she had fallen into since her back had been scarred. She threw off her ratty t-shirt and sweats, catching a glimpse of her back in the mirror and grimacing. Three ugly slashes stood out in angry red marks against her pale skin. She hated that she would always have to carry around those reminders of the Death Eaters and hated even more the thought of letting someone see them. A fact that meant she hadn't had sex with Sirius since she had received them. She sighed hurrying to cover the marks with her robes before leaving the bathroom trying to shake their image from her mind
When she emerged from the bathroom Lily was already in her robes and waiting so the two made their way down to the common room to meet the boys.
Casselle's eyes widened when she got a look at Sirius, white suited him making his hair look darker. The color also set off his eyes illuminating specks of blue that Casselle had never noticed before.
"Hey," he greeted taking her hand as soon as she stepped off the staircase.
"Hey," she breathed flushing at how breathy her voice sounded.
Sirius grinned at her like he knew exactly what she was thinking before leaning down and kissing her. "Later?" he whispered against her lips making the word into a question.
Casselle froze unsure of how to reply but was luckily saved from saying anything by James who was insisting that they all take a picture together before going down to the Great Hall.
After fussing around with the camera for a couple of minutes Remus insisted that they all make their way to the Great Hall before McGonagall put them in detention for their last evening.
The group entered the Great Hall and bade goodbye to James and Lily who were required to sit at the front of the group as head boy and girl. Remus, Peter, Sirius and Casselle all took their seats in the section reserved for the Gryffindor seventh years.
Casselle looked around the Great Hall in wonder. It looked completely different from the Great Hall she had eaten breakfast in that morning. The tables were gone replaced with rows of chairs that were interrupted only by a pathway that led up to a platform with a podium. The various professors of Hogwarts were seated a little ways back from the podium, with the heads of houses and Dumbledore in front. The hall was decorated with banners from each of the houses. Directly behind the platform a large banner depicting the Hogwarts crest hung from the wall.
The candles that normally floated in the air were replaced with orbs that emitted a soft white glow making each of their white robes glow. The enchanted ceiling remained showing the colors of the sunset that was happening outside.
"They really out did themselves," Peter mused glancing around.
Casselle nodded, "It looks like a completely different place."
A hush fell over the students as Dumbledore rose to stand in front of the podium. The headmaster beamed at them his blue eyes twinkling behind his half moon spectacles. "Welcome, welcome and congratulations! You are all sitting here today because your journey at Hogwarts has come to an end. I hope that you can look back on these years with fondness and that you are now prepared to venture forth into the wizarding community to better our society. These are dark times we live in and it saddens me to say that you will have to be the ones one's to face the darkness. This war has already claimed the lives of some of our most promising youth and you will all now have a choice to make. You can choose to become engulfed in the darkness or stand in the light."
The hall remained silent as Dumbledore's last words resonated with everyone in the hall. Only a few of the Slytherins remained impassive. Casselle looked down at her hands as thoughts of Emma flooded through her thoughts.
"However put these serious thoughts out of your mind. Today is a day for celebration! And I believe your Head Boy and Girl wish to give a speech." Dumbledore took his seat once more and James stood strutting up to the podium with an easy grin.
"As many of you probably know I never expected to be standing in front of you," James paused as a few chuckles escaped from the crowd. "I think the only person more shocked than I by the placement was Evans…though she doesn't seem to have any objections now." James shot Lily a wink and she attempted to give him a scolding look but couldn't keep the smile from her face.
"I'm not afraid to say that I've always considered this place a second home. It's where I've lived and where I've had some of my best memories. When we were here we were safe, and our biggest problem was trying to remember what excuse we hadn't used on McGonagall for a late assignment. These last seven years have been the best of my life and while I'm sad to think that I'll never again set foot in Hogwarts we must all remember that this is simply the next adventure in our lives." James stepped back from the podium with a grin and nodded to his classmates who were roaring with applause before walking back to his seat.
Lily stood and took her place at the podium, "For the majority of my time here at Hogwarts I've thought that I was here to learn to be the best witch I could be. I thought that all of my lessons took place in the classroom and that all my time spent outside of the classroom was time wasted." She paused as people chuckled. "But I have found that Hogwarts has taught me much more then magic. Within these walls I've learned to laugh, to love," her eyes flicked towards James, "I've learned what it means to be a friend, what it means to lose someone." Her voice shook on the word lose and Lily took a moment to compose herself. "Hogwarts has been so much more than just a school. Here we've all learned what it means to live, and that is possibly the most important lesson of them all. Because life is not measured in the number of years you are here but in the number of happy memories you have." Lily beamed at all of them before stepping down and returning to her seat, applause followed her speech and Casselle clapped and hollered with the rest of her classmates.
McGonagall took the podium next, "And now we shall award the honors for the top two students in each subject starting with Astronomy."
Casselle sat holding Sirius's hand as a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw she didn't recognize took the stage to claim their awards. Divination went to a Hufflepuff girl with the last name Brown and a Slytherin girl that looked like a bull dog. Slughorn took the podium after and Casselle clapped along with her fellow Gryffindors as Lily took the stage as runner up the top prize went to Snape.
McGonagall was next at the podium and Casselle smiled as Sirius sat up a little straighter. He and James had been arguing for the last two days about who would win the top Transfigurations spot. "Second in Transfiguration is James Potter." McGonagall announced as applause erupted from the Gryffindors section. "And top in Transfiguration is Sirius Black," she finished wearing an expression that was as close to a smile as Casselle had ever seen her get.
Sirius took the stage with James both bowing comically before throwing their arms around McGonagall and pulling her into a group hug. Casselle laughed as the boys stepped back from a very flustered looking McGonagall. Sirius made his way back to his seat with a grin as Professor Sprout took the stage.
Casselle was surprised to hear that she won the top spot in both Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. Lily won Charms with Remus winning the second spot. Lily also won Muggle Studies with a very surprised James as a runner up. Unsurprisingly Remus won Ancient Runes with a Ravenclaw girl receiving the second place. The Defense Against the Dark Arts award went to James with a slightly scowling Sirius as a runner up.
Once all the prizes were given out Dumbledore once again took the stage. "Yes well done indeed," he congratulated. "It is my pleasure to announce the class of 1977," as soon as Dumbledore had spoken the words the white orbs that had been illuminating the Great Hall popped dropping hundreds of house colored balloons on the seventh year students. Casselle laughed watching the balloons float down towards them
Sirius was also watching the balloons but his face didn't reflect the awe that everyone else was displaying, instead he looked expectant like he was waiting for something.
A scream from the Hufflepuff section rang through the hall and Casselle and along with her classmates looked around in alarm. Before Casselle could pinpoint the source of the noise more screams erupted from the other student sections.
"What's going on!" She called over to Sirius who was grinning from ear to ear.
"Just a marauder send off," Sirius replied.
Casselle opened her mouth to demand an explanation from him but before she could say anything a balloon landed on her head and proceeded to pop splattering her with red and gold paint.
Casselle stood in shook as the paint covered her hair and her once white robes were ty-dyed with the Gryffindor house colors.
The screaming had quickly turned to laughing as student's wiped paint from their faces. It seems the marauders had rigged all the balloons with Gryffindor's house colors making everyone's robes a combination of scarlet and gold.
Above the students heads in shinning gold letters were the words Mischief Managed, written in the same elegant script as the marauders map.
Casselle attempted to scowl though the corners of her mouth kept threatening to turn up, "You could have at least warned me!"
"The surprise is half the fun!" Sirius replied running a hand through his paint covered hair.
Casselle looked around and realized that no one had escaped without at least some minor painting. The Slytherins looked absolutely furious with the new color of their robes.
Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled as he once again took the podium, a hush fell over the laughing students and Sirius, James, Remus and Peter all shifted uncomfortably wondering if they would be punished.
"Well of course the timing was impeccable as always, since the suspects have been announced as graduated they are no longer under our disciplinary command, as I'm sure our heads of houses will agree." Slughorn gave a chuckle and even McGonagall looked like she was fighting a smile. "In any case refreshments will be served on the grounds for those that wish to partake."
The students rose and made their way outside most seeming perfectly content to celebrate covered in paint.
"What do you reckon-" Sirius stopped short as he took in the gigantic enchanted tent the teachers had put up. Butterbeer and champagne were being served by enchanted suits of armor and more food than they could ever hope to eat had been set out. A space was cleared for dancing and a band was setting up for music.
"Wow they really out did themselves didn't they," Lily breathed taking it all in.
Casselle nodded in agreement laughing as Sirius pulled her towards the dance floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her close. A smile graced her lips as she relished in just swaying to the music in his arms.
After dancing to a couple songs Sirius left to go grab them some drinks and Casselle went to sit with Remus at one of the tables set up around the fringe of the dance floor.
"You seem to have escaped the worst of the paint," Casselle remarked as she slid into the seat next to him.
Remus gave her a small smile, "Well I had the advantage of knowing it was coming."
"How did you guys manage it?"
"Ah excellent time to brag about our incredible feat," James said taking the chair on Remus's other side.
Remus chuckled, "Well we had to wait until they had already decorated the Great Hall, then slip in wearing James's invisibility cloak which barely covered me James and Sirius. Peter kept lookout in his…well in his other form. The balloons were probably the trickiest part since we had to get them in the orbs without popping them but we managed with a transparency charm Sirius had read about one time. After we filled them we just let Dumbledore do the rest."
Casselle nodded obviously impressed, "The perfect ending to the marauder legacy."
Remus and James were chuckling when Sirius sat down handing Casselle a glass of champagne.
"What's so funny?" He asked slipping his arm around Casselle's shoulders.
"Just retelling our evening adventure," James replied still grinning.
"Ah you mean I missed the retelling!" Sirius cried feigning outrage. "You know it's part of the code that we all tell it together!"
James and Remus broke into a fit of laughter, "Merlin I haven't thought about the code in forever."
"What code?" Lily asked slipping into the seat next to James and handing him a butterbeer.
Sirius's expression turned sheepish, "Well back in our first year we kind of created this erm code…for the marauders. Kind of like guidelines…"
Casselle and Lily shared a grin, "Can we have an example?" Lily asked a smirk on her face.
"Well it's like if you get blamed for something another Marauder did you automatically take the blame for them because Marauders never rat each other out…just stuff like that," James replied with a shrug.
"Ah classic guy code," Casselle teased grinning up at Sirius.
"Pretty much," he replied before leaning down and kissing her lightly. "Do you want to get out of here?"
Casselle hesitated, "You don't want to stay and hang out…we might never see some of these people again…"
Sirius's eye brows furrowed, "Cass can I talk to you for a moment in private?"
"Um yeah sure," she replied standing up and following him away from the party and out towards their favorite tree by the lake already knowing what he was going to ask.
"Okay Cass what's wrong?"
"What do you mean nothings wro-"
Sirius cut her off, "Don't give me that crap Casselle you've been avoiding being alone with me for the last week so what is it?"
Casselle bit her lips not knowing what to say.
"Cass come on it's me…you can tell me anything," Sirius coaxed in a gentler voice placing his hands on her shoulders.
Casselle stared up into his face which was still smeared with scarlet paint. His hair was matted with gold making it stand up in places but he could still take her breath away. She stood up on the tips of her toes and pressed her lips against his, softly at first but then harder.
Sirius returned the kiss matching her passion. His arms were instantly around her crushing her to him.
Casselle's hands found his hair, still a little damp from paint, and tangled her fingers in it losing herself in the moment.
Sirius's hands slid under her robes and toyed with the hem of her shirt before slipping up her back.
Casselle jerked back as his hands came in contact with her scars stumbling backwards.
Sirius's eyes snapped open in shock, "Cass?" He asked uncertainly. "What's wrong did I hurt you?"
Casselle shook her head feeling angry with herself, knowing that she was hurting him. "No of course not…it's just…I well my back…" Casselle trailed off awkwardly. She wasn't sure how to tell him that she felt insecure about her scars. She couldn't recall ever feeling so uncomfortable around him.
"Is it still hurting you? I can take you to Madame Lemoore?" Sirius asked stepping closer. "Do you want me to look at it?"
"No!" Casselle exclaimed before she could stop herself. "I mean it's not hurting I-I just…I'm marked and the scars look pretty horrid…and well I just didn't want you to be repulsed…" she admitted keeping her eyes trained on the ground.
Sirius swore and closed the distance between them lifting her chin up so that she was looking at him. "Casselle you're beautiful. You always have been and you always will be and if you think something as small as some scars is going to keep me from thinking that then you're bloody mad!"
Casselle shook her head, "You haven't seen them Sirius-" but stopped at the look on his face.
"Nothing could ever make you ugly to me Casselle. Nothing." He stated before bringing his lips back to hers. He kissed her lips and then her cheek then moved down her neck his hands pushing the robe from her shoulders. His lips continued their path pausing only to pull her shirt over her head and then her bra from her body.
"Turn around," he commanded softly.
Casselle complied shivering as his lips caressed her skin. He kissed each of her shoulders before pausing to take in the marks that now lined her back before running his lips along each of them in turn. His lips returned to her ear when he was done, "You should never be ashamed of these, they're proof you stood up for something in your life."
Casselle blinked back tears as she turned to face him hugging him to her as fiercely as she could.
Sirius returned the embrace and the two stood like that for awhile just holding each other. "I don't know what I'd do without you," Casselle murmured kissing him gently.
"Hm your life would definitely be less interesting," Sirius teased returning her kiss.
Casselle laughed against his lips moving her arms to slip his robes from his shoulders. His shirt soon followed as their kisses grew more purposeful.
Sirius fell backwards pulling Casselle with him so that they were laying down. His hands quickly moved to her slacks tugging them from her body.
Casselle fumbled with Sirius's belt buckle before sliding his dress pants down his hips.
Sirius flipped them hovering over her frame, "Merlin it's been too long," he moaned nipping at her neck.
"Then what are you waiting for!" Casselle panted ripping his boxers down.
Sirius laughed sliding her underwear down her frame before thrusting into her.
Casselle moaned as Sirius filled her. He set a slow pace at first but it quickly increased as their need built.
Soon Casselle fell over the edge losing herself to the familiar pressure in her stomach. Sirius followed soon after her and the two lay panting together.
"Let's never go that long without sex again," Casselle breathed reaching up and tucking a stray hair behind his ear.
Sirius chuckled rolling so that he was laying next to her instead of on top of her, "That's more than fine with me love."
"Do you want to go back to the castle and make up on some lost time?" Casselle asked smiling slyly.
Sirius jumped up and pulled his pants on throwing her clothes at her. "What are you waiting for come on!"
Casselle laughed as she threw her shirt over her head eager to follow him.
Well we're getting close to the end. Prolly one more chapter, but don't worry we have a sequel almost done and we PROMISE to update faster. We hope you have enjoyed the story so far and continue to read through the sequel.