Eeeeek! I'm really sorry it's taking me so long to update! I know I said like three weeks ago I'd have an update ready…College has been so hectic. I've been studying so much! I still haven't seen most of my friends. I never dreamed it'd be this busy so early on! Okay…to make up…I'm posting 2 chapters! Hope this makes up for my negligence.
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DISCLAIMER: I don't Harry Potter affiliated items and or any other thing that you may recognize
Chapter 11: Uncertainty
"Gina, please don't cry. Sirius is just a major toe rag. You know what you can do so much better than him." Lily said while trying to comfort her friend. She really didn't know if she could say anything to make Gina feel better. When matters of the heart are concerned, it's nothing easy to soothe.
"I know Lily, but I just can't stand that he's ignoring me! More than anything I enjoyed being friends with him. It didn't matter if we would have dated or not. I mean it would have been nice but…" Gina trailed off, shifting her legs as a sign that she was uncomfortable.
Lily patted her on the back and pulled her into a hug and said, "I know, I know."
Lily was alarmed when Gina went from being sad to raging mad in an instant, but she knew that Gina did this when something really bothered her. She looked around the common room to make sure nobody else was around. It didn't matter to her, but she thought Gina may regret it later. All of Gryffindor was used to girls yelling about a certain member of the Black family.
"THE NERVE OF BLACK!" Gina spat out, "Honestly. Getting cowardly when he thought I liked him…so the best that he could do was to run away and hope the problem fixed itself. He gave me every reason to believe he liked me! He even kissed me! Ugh."
Lily just looked at Gina sadly. Sirius had really ticked her off. He had no reason to be acting like this. "Gina Nicole Parks. From this point on out. No more crying over that sleaze ball. Deal?"
Gina looked at Lily for a moment before saying "deal" in a not so convincing tone.
"Thanks Lily."
"For what?"
"For being here for me."
"You don't have to thank me for that!'
"I know, I just appreciate it. Are you still up for coming to my house the week of New Years?"
"Um. Well let me see…uhhh…duh!"
"Yay! I know! I'm so excited! We're going to have so much fun! No more thoughts of Black!"
"That's my girl!"
&&&&&
A little later Remus and Peter entered the common room to find Gina and Lily sprawled out on the common room couches.
"Oh hey girls." Peter said fairly cheerfully.
Remus echoed his manners. "How are you tonite?"
"We're doing just fine." Gina said through gritted teeth, attempting to convey politeness.
Remus chose to ignore that and the puffy eyes and continue talking. "I'm glad to hear it. Say, you guys haven't seen Jenny have you?"
Lily and Gina looked to each other and then back to Remus. "We were wondering the same thing, except ya know, we were going to ask you. Because we haven't seen her at all today, and that is definitely unusual."
"Maybe she just needed some time to herself. She does that occasionally. I get like that too, so it's understandable." Gina offered trying to be of some use. She had a funny feeling that Remus and Jenny were not going to be Remus and Jenny much longer.
"Yeah." Remus said nonchalantly.
"Umm, Remus. I know we're not that great of friends, but if you'll pardon my asking. Is everything okay with you two?" Lily questioned having the same thoughts as Gina.
Gina added, "And, Jenny isn't one to be open about things so we never know if anything is bothering her. We just want to make sure she's okay."
"I, well, we. Err. James and Sirius will be here shortly if you want to….," but before Remus could finish the sentence, sure enough, the door leading into the Gryffindor common room opened revealing the two persons previously mentioned.
Remus, Peter, Lily, and James watched as Gina made eye contact with Sirius. All were afraid a colossal explosion was about to happen. Gina looked furious but remained silent. The tension in the room at that moment increased ten-fold. Sirius refused to look at her again and proceeded to his room without saying anything to anyone.
To everyone's surprise Gina just stood there in shock, did not cry, scream, laugh, anything but slowly turned and walked out of the common room. That's not to say those emotions weren't apparent on her face, but most of all she just wanted answers.
James called after her, and she stopped momentarily to hear him out. "What?"
"I'm, uh, really sorry about what just happened."
"I thank you for your kind words, but you should not and cannot apologize for what your arse of a friend has done."
Gina gave one last look at the other Marauders, a look that dared any of them to say something to her again. For their sakes, they picked up the hint and left her be. She walked out of the common room knowing that Lily would follow.
And Lily did follow Gina after sending evil glares toward the remaining Marauders. She felt loyal to Gina and unfortunately for the Marauders, they had to endure this cold treatment she called loyalty to Gina. That is, until she realized she was being unreasonable. She was basically giving them a taste of what Sirius was doing to Gina, right?
"Nothing unreasonable" she muttered as she tried to justify her actions in her mind.
&&&&&
The Marauders were tired of Sirius being a shady person so therefore decided to confront him.
James started the confrontation while sitting on his four poster in the sixth year Gryffindor boys bedroom. "Padfoot, you're my best mate, and I know this is extremely selfish, but I'm tired of you ignoring Gina. That poor girl. She doesn't know what's going on."
"That's not selfish." Sirius replied rather moodily. He didn't like that his friends were doing this, he knew he'd do that same though...
"You haven't let me finish. Well, Lily is being mean to me, all that progress we made is way out of sight just because you're treating her best friend like scum."
"Seriously, Sirius. If you don't like her then you just need to tell her. Which now, I don't even think that's necessary. I'm sure she's gotten that idea all on her own." Remus chimed in.
"James, you're absolutely right. You too, Remus. I just, got the feeling she wanted a relationship and ignored her. I know that's not the best thing to do but.."
GASP! "He spoke words that made sense!" Peter uttered nearly falling off the bed.
This was perfect comic relief because the air surrounding the boys was so tense that not even the sharpest of knives could cut it easily.
"Sirius, you have to talk to Gina soon. Even if it's just to say hi. I don't want Lily mad at me for something that you've done." James spoke after the laughter had subsided.
"I'll come up with something. Err. Thanks mates. This has been on my mind, I just, well, you see, maybe, I think this is the push that I needed."
"Finally. I was beginning to think we may have needed to smack you upside the head!" Remus screamed in a tone of relief and satisfaction. Followed by more laughter.
"On a lighter note," Peter began, but Sirius finished, "we need to get some pranks ready for the students of Hogwarts as a little reminder that the Marauders are still around."
James looked around at the other three and began, "So, now that you mention it, I was thinking…."
&&&&&
Sometime before the week to go home for Christmas, the Marauders found a little time to bewitch some Christmas trees to jump out and sing carols to anyone who passed by. Occasionally the trees would hug people. Mainly Slytherins, but others were included.
Lily and Gina were walking down the corridor on the second floor when they heard something that reminded them of being highly annoyed. They approached ever cautiously to see what the commotion was all about.
Much to their delight, Regulus Black was struggling against a large Christmas tree that was comically singing a medley of seasonal carols. "Argh! I'm going to hex my no good brother and his friends the next time I see them!"
No matter how hard Regulus struggled the tree refused to let go. Lily and Gina peeped around the corner while trying to suppress their laughter to get a better look.
"What do you think he has to do?" Lily asked while inching farther out around the corner.
"I don't know but is it bad that this makes me happy even though I know the Marauders did it?"
"Hahaha Gina, it's perfectly fine. Just because you dislike Sirius doesn't mean his other friends are guilty too."
As Lily said what she did a look of realization passed over her face.
She was surprised to see Gina laughing at her now. "You too, huh?"
"You know, I hate it when you are vague."
"Yes, but I love it, because I know it frustrates you!"
"OH! Yeah, I guess my advice was good for the both of it. I guess we both have been pretty mean to the other Marauders."
Meanwhile, Regulus was yelling obscenities that would make even James Potter blush.
"Wow, the boys went all out for this! This is amazing. I should compliment them sometime in the future!" Lily said while continuing to think of how Regulus could get out of the trap.
"Maybe he has to sing with the tree?" Gina suggested while looking at the tree that was now swinging the black haired Slytherin about.
"I don't know, but let's go. We'll let him figure this one out on his own." Lily said much to the amazement of Gina.
"Wow! Lily Evans denying the cry of a student in need, what has this world come to?" Gina mustered a big smile and stared at Lily who looked defensive.
Once Lily saw Gina was teasing she offered a funny piece of unfriendly advice and led them back to the girls dormitory to finish packing for the holidays.
&&&&&
Fortunately for the girls, the remaining days of school before Christmas were Marauder free. Both of the girls knew an apology needed to be extended to the boys, minus Sirius, but they didn't want to apologize. Pride issues were behind it all.
Gina felt like it had been a year since she had really talked to Taylor, and this made her sad. "Taylor, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas break! Owl us every once in a while and we'll do the same!"
"Definitely! Okay, love you girls! Be safe!" Taylor bid the girls bye and went to board the train to presumably find her other half, also known as Steven.
"I guess we missed Brooke. Darn, and I didn't even get to tell her bye." Lily said while rolling her eyes using a fake nice voice.
"LILY!"
"What?" Lily asked innocently and proceeded to bat her eyelashes which caused Gina to laugh.
"Okay, I think I've got everything." Gina stated while looking the room over once again. "What about you, Lily?"
"Yep, I do believe that everything is in order. Do you want to leave early, to avoid certain, I mean get a good seat on the train?"
Gina laughed and replied affirmatively. For both reasons. She had come to the conclusion that she didn't care if she talked to Black anymore, she just wanted to avoid an awkward situation. Of course, the next time she saw Black her heart would drop once again.
Lily also wanted to avoid James. She knew that she had put a damper on their friendship, but not that that bothered her or anything (or so she told herself). She remembered that he had given her a pleading look in class, but she just turned her nose up to him earning a sad and confused look from him. Now that she thought of it, it seemed that James was avoiding her.
&&&&&
The girls made it to the train station safely with no run-ins with anyone they wished to avoid. They did manage to find Jenny sitting by herself in a compartment and joined her.
Jenny finally opened up to her two best friends about everything. "Girls, I want to apologize."
Lily and Gina looked at each other confused but let Jenny continue before interrupting her.
"I'm so sorry I've basically dropped you two this semester. I've missed you so much."
"It's okay, Jenny. We've missed you too." Lily said with a sincerity that warmed Jenny's heart.
Gina added, "We just want to make sure you're okay. But we knew you were happy."
"Keywords being, were happy."
This caused another glance to pass between Gina and Lily.
"I'm not sure that I want to be with Remus anymore. He's great…he really is. He was my first real boyfriend, which is why I unintentionally dropped you two. I just got caught up."
"You need to do what is going to make you happy, Jenny." Lily stated matter-of-factly, "Remus is a great guy, he knows something is wrong, but if you talk to him about it, I'm sure he'll be very understanding, and maybe you guys could still be friends."
"Yeah!" Gina piped in trying to be encouraging.
"Well, see, I know I need to talk to him. Ever since we broke up and got back together, I feel like I've been getting on his nerves. So I've been being distant. The problem is in the time I've been being distant….I've been hanging out with this other guy. I think I may like him."
Of all the things Jenny could have said, this is not something that either the blonde or red head were expecting. After the initial shock, the excitement set in.
"Do we know him?"
"What house is he in?"
"What year is he in?"
"Most importantly, is he cute?"
Jenny took a deep breath, "Wow, you guys. Slow down. This is strictly between us." The two girls nodded their heads to promise their secrecy and let Jenny continue, "He's a seventh year Gryffindor."
Gina and Lily gasped in excitement. "Who is it?"
"Nick Tucker."
"THE HEADBOY?!?!"
Jenny blushed. "Yeah."
"Hmm, well this is tricky." Gina stated as if it weren't obvious enough.
"When are you going to tell Remus?"
"Well, I just don't know. I don't want to ruin his Christmas break."
"But…Jenny…I know what it feels like to not have answers and I think it's more painful than knowing the truth no matter how hurtful it may be."
"Gina is right" Lily said while glancing over at Jenny.
"I guess you guys are right. Thanks for being so supportive."
Both girls said in unison, "No problem!"
"Okay, so I'm going to hang out with Remus once over Christmas and see how it goes and then decide."
"I think that's a good idea." Lily agreed.
"I think this break is a life saver for so many people. I know that I was about to explode if we didn't get away from Hogwarts when we did."
Jenny and Lily both wholeheartedly agreed with Gina.
&&&&&
"I'm going home with you directly from the station, right?" Sirius asked James who was in and out of consciousness.
A very groggy James answered yes and tried to go back to sleep but couldn't with the constant chattering of Sirius.
"I was having to most wonderful dream Padfoot. Lily was actually speaking civilly to me." James cried out in frustration since Sirius wouldn't let him sleep.
Sirius grinned and cast a guilty look at James.
"Sirius, I'm just curious…" Remus started saying when Sirius butted in.
"Well, I'm Sirius, curious, nice to meet you.." which earned him a stern look from Remus who was trying not to laugh at the corniness of his joke.
"Why did you start to ignore Gina? I thought you liked her. You've never ignored girls before who you thought like you. You only led them on even more."
"I, well, I really don't know Moony. I haven't thought about it. For some reason however, it felt like that's what I had to do."
"You have got to apologize over this break. You have no say. At the New Years party my parents usually have every year. We'll invite the girls."
Sirius looked at James and uttered, "Yes, mommy dearest."
&&&&&
As the train came to a stop at Kings Cross the break plans were finalized.
"Moony, Wormtail? We'll be seeing you in a few weeks. Keep in touch."
"Yeah, sounds good. See you guys." Remus said while setting off to say bye to Jenny.
Peter said his goodbyes and scurried off to his mother.
"JAMES! SIRIUS! MY BOYS!" Melanie Potter screamed as she saw her boys come into view.
She immediately kissed them and hugged them tightly, much to their embarrassment.
"I bet you boys are starving! Let's get you home!"
&&&&&
The girls decided the same, said their goodbyes, and said they'd keep in touch. Lily was to go to Gina's house a few days before New Years and Jenny was supposed to see if she could come also.
As Jenny was about to go to her mother's car, Remus came up and wrapped his arms around her pulling her into a tight hug.
"Hey…" Jenny said feeling a little uncomfortable.
"I just wanted to say bye before I left. We'll have to owl each other to see when we could hang out sometime."
"Yeah definitely. Just owl me your plans and I'll do the same and maybe I can see you before we have to go back."
If Jenny was uncomfortable now, it got even worse as Nick came up behind her, pulled her away from Remus and told her bye. Her cheeks turned a slight shade of rose which didn't escape Remus's notice.
He pretended to not notice and awkwardly told her bye again and left to go find his mum.
Jenny was left standing more confused than she had ever been in her entire life.
&&&&&
Okay. Chapter 1 of 2 for promised update! I've got class at 8 in the morning and its 1:37am right now so I need to get some sleep, but the next chapter will be up sometime tomorrow.
I had plans for this chapter to go up through the new years party, but this seemed like a good place to stop. I hope this isn't too bad, it kinda sets up the stage for the next chapter.
Hope everyone is well and liked the chapter! Please review!
Gina