Chapter Two: Just a date
"Just one date, please!" James pleaded with Lily at breakfast.
"Why?" Lily was calmly eating her breakfast. Maeve and Sirius were enjoying the entertainment.
"Ten sickles Lily hits him." Maeve whispered to Sirius.
"You're on." The two watched the scene unravel before their eyes.
"Come on, one date! What harm could that do?"
"Why Potter, it might ruin our friendship." James snorted. "Now that wasn't very nice of you."
"When were you and I ever friends?" James asked.
"Precisely my point"
"You're not making any sense!" James exclaimed.
"I'm making perfect sense." James opened his mouth and spluttered incoherently. He pointed at Lily and looked at Sirius.
"Is-is-is sh-she making ANY sense whatsoever?"
"Man, we're just here for the entertainment. This is so much better than muggle TV" Maeve clapped her hands in glee.
"Excuse me?" James looked at them shocked.
"Maeve, you shouldn't have said that." Sirius whispered urgently to her.
"Whatever you guys. Fat lot of friends you are." Maeve looked aghast.
"Are you calling me fat?"
"No, no, NO! It's a figure of speech!" Maeve sat back down in her seat because she had leaned over the table ready to hex James at the golden opportunity.
"So Lily, you thought about that date?"
"Never said I would" She finished off her last chicken leg.
"Fine whatever." Lily was waiting for Maeve to finish. The silence was a comfortable one but Sirius, as usual, couldn't contain himself.
"Let's play a game." His face was shining with excitement.
"I'm done eating." Maeve put her fork down and got up, Lily followed suit.
"Join us outside?" Sirius asked, also standing up.
"No way in hell…" Started Lily but Maeve kicked her sharply on the shin.
"She'd love to." Lily looked at her outraged.
"Nuh, uh. Remember what happened last name…" She trailed off. James and Sirius racked their brains to remember all the times at the lake.
"We threw you in the water?" Asked Sirius.
"Nope, but that also happened." Lily said thoughtfully.
"We dared you and Maeve to sing to Malfoy?" Sirius and James grinned.
"Good times mate" Sirius said and high-fived James.
"No, but yes that would also be a reason not to go to the lake" Maeve reddened with just the mere thought of the last year's events.
"What happened?" Sirius burst out after a couple of minutes of silence while each boy was trying to think of the reason Lily was thinking.
"My, my, we are a bit touchy, aren't we?" Maeve grinned at them.
"Just tell us!" James sighed.
"Snape ring a bell?" James and Sirius looked at each other. Then James' eyes doubled in size and exclaimed,
"Oh 'that' incident!" Lily looked at him. Sirius looked thoughtful.
"Oh that incident where you called James, something the lines of a, bully, arrogant toerag. Am I right?"
"Oh yes you are indeed." Lily made to leave but James snatched her hand.
"Please." Lily's emerald eyes looked into his hazel eyes and she felt her knees go a bit weak. Why was she feeling like this? This was Potter she was talking about.
"Sure." Her voice was hoarse because somehow her mouth had dried up. James smiled his genuine 1000 watt smile and Lily could only smile back feebly. Ignoring the other two, they started talking and walked towards the lake. Sirius and Maeve tutted.
"They're so meant to be…" Maeve sighed.
"I'm going to kill Prongs!" Sirius growled at the same time. They both looked at each other and laughed.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't my unworthy brother. Hello Sirius, missed me much?" A shadow took form of Sirius' brother, Regulus.
"Not really actually. I'm better off without you." Sirius took Maeve's upper arm and made to leave but Regulus cut in the middle of them.
"Did you know mum burnt you off the tree?" Regulus smiled with delight at remembering the night where they all witnessed the burning of the 'traitors' off the wall.
"I never belonged Regulus." Sirius said and left. Maeve was left standing there alone with Regulus, she shuffled her feet awkwardly.
"I-I-um- should really go." She said in a weak voice but Regulus stopped her.
"What's your name?" Regulus asked.
"Maeve."
"Maeve what?"
"Maeve- I grew up in an orphanage so I never got a last name."
"Oh, but still you're a blood traitor if you are in Gryffindor, and even more of a traitor if you hang out with that mudblood and my brother." Maeve looked shocked and stomped off. Regulus just smiled after her.
"Wow, she's gorgeous." Was all he said.
As Maeve made her way down the corridor her thoughts kept going to Regulus. His smile was so nice… wait, why was she feeling like this? She wasn't meant to feel that about him. He was Sirius' mean, younger brother. Then again, he was a great seeker. Argh, damn teenage hormones!
She got to the lake and double stepped back, Lily was talking with James, and Sirius, wait, where was Sirius? She looked around and spotted him leaning on a tree looking out at the lake in deep thought. She crept up behind him and tapped him on the back with a smile. When Sirius turned, he had a sorrowful look on his face.
"What's wrong?" Maeve asked. She sat down and leaned her back on the tree. Sirius followed suit.
"It's just, Regulus always gets on my nerves." Maeve made an apologetic face. She rubbed his back to soothe him. "I hate what they do, I hate the fact that they enjoy the Dark Arts so much, I hate the fact that they've manipulated my best friend, my brother, into being one of them. I hate them…. Yet I want a family, like a normal person." A tear escaped its prison and ran down his cheek. "You heard them say it, I'm… a nobody" Maeve looked at him and turned his face to face her. She wiped away the tear with her thumb and held his face in both her hands.
"Look at me Sirius, you aren't a nobody. You've got great friends who would die for you. Mr and Mrs Potter will act like parents to you as much as they've acted like parents to James…"
"How…" Maeve interrupted him.
"So listen, you don't need them, not when they go insulting everyone and your friends, whom, by the way, have stuck by you throughout everything." Sirius looked at her and Maeve dropped her hands in her lap.
"I can't even get the girl I like to like me back" Sirius told her.
"Well then she doesn't know what she's missing out on." Maeve smiled but it was faltering. Sirius looked at her and stared deeply into her eyes. He was leaning forward, she started to protest but he had already captured her lips in his own. She leaned into him and started running her fingers through his hair, tousling it up even more. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her even closer. When they came up for air they were panting.
"Wow" Maeve was smiling. Sirius was still looking at her.
"You were protesting?" He grinned.
"Yeah I just cheated on my boyfriend." Maeve grinned. Sirius looked shocked but when Maeve started laughing he knew it was a joke. He pulled her closer to him and she leaned on his shoulder. He draped one arm over her shoulder.
"How long" She asked.
"Since the beginning of the year."
"That was three months ago!"
"So? You knew it. I asked you out and you said yes, so technically we are dating." Maeve grinned.
"I thought you were joking."
"Nah… but I can see why. I stole James' limelight."
"Limelight?" Maeve raised her eyebrow.
"Yeah, green light, his spotlight." Maeve laughed and snuggled closer to him, she was shivering. Sirius looked down in concern.
"Are you cold?" He asked her.
"I don't know why… I usually never get cold." Sirius took off his robe and wrapped it around her, rubbing her arms to give her warmth.
"Thanks." Maeve lightly kissed his nose. After a while of talking and sitting together Sirius decided it was time to go.
"Let's see what James and Lily are up to." They got up and went to the 'marauder's tree', Sirius explained to her that they loved that tree because in summer it gave them shade, in winter the leaves provided warmth, in the night time they could lie and hide behind the leaves and watch the stars and moon.
"So you'll bring me one night to star gaze together?" Sirius hugged her closer.
"Tonight at eleven meet me here." And off they went to find Lily and James.
They went to the tree and found Lily and James in a deep discussion.
"It looks like Lily is trying to change James' mind" Sirius said squinting to see better.
"And James is too stubborn…." Maeve mimicked Sirius.
"Stupid git. At least they aren't fighting." They both straightened up and went to greet their friends. As they went closer Lily and James stopped talking.
"Hey." Sirius and Maeve sat down next to them.
"Hey." Lily and James said in unison.
"So…." It was an awkward silence. They hadn't sat down to talk like this in a long time.
"Sirius and I are together." Maeve sputtered out. Sirius looked at her, James was too busy staring at Lily and Lily looked at Maeve. She grinned.
"I already knew that, you accepted his date offer at lunch."
"Eh… now we took it to the next level. We…" Lily brought her hands up to her ears and started talking gibberish. James looked at Maeve for an explanation, she just shrugged.
"I don't want to know, I don't want to know! Blablablablablablablabla" Lily went on. Sirius laughed and removed her hands from her ears.
"Relax, we won't say anything." Maeve grinned at her.
"How did this happen?" James said.
"Regulus incident and Maeve comforted me. One thing led to another and we were together." Sirius stopped and looked at Lily.
"Good thing you stopped there." They all laughed.
"Where's Remus?" Maeve asked looking around for the third member of the marauders.
"Er…" James looked at Sirius.
"He's…."
"He's at…"
"Full moon, Maeve." Lily said looking up at the sky. Sirius and James looked at her bewildered.
"How do you know?" James asked.
"We're smart aren't we?" Maeve slapped Lily's back.
"Ow!" Lily slapped Maeve on the shoulder.
"Cow!" Maeve tweaked Lily's nose.
"You- You-You niffler!" Lily sputtered. James looked at her.
"Niffler?"
"What?! I have a lot of words to call her but you guys are in front."
"Please refrain from calling my girlfriend names." Sirius hugged Maeve close to him.
"Hey…" Lily crossed her arms over her chest. She was about to say something when McDermot came over.
"Hey Lily"
"Hey Tristan!" James looked at Maeve. 'old friends' she mouthed at him. Lily and Tristan were rapidly in their Scottish accent. They laid it on so thick that no one near them could understand them. When Tristan left Lily turned to look at them.
"I used to baby-sit him. He's six years younger than me, he joined Hogwarts three months ago.
"Your accent is so cool!" Sirius whooped.
"So is mine!" Maeve said pouting. Sirius kissed her on the nose.
"Aw, of course it is."
"PDA people! Keep it low!" Lily said shielding her eyes. Maeve blushed while Sirius grinned.
"Whatever Evans." Everyone laughed. After a while they were talking and laughing until night time fell.
In the girl dormitories:
"You and Sirius are really cute!" Lily said while climbing into her bed.
"Yeah, he was really down."
"What happened?" Maeve walked to Lily's bed and go in next to her.
"Man, we haven't done this since we were 13." Lily laughed.
"Don't hog the blankets ok?"
"Sure thing. Anyway, we had a little run in with Regulus and Sirius was a bit down."
"If James was there he would have beaten him up."
"James" Lily looked at Maeve.
"Yeah James. You know how I always admit when I'm wrong. Well he's a nice guy. After you guys ditched us we started talking about History Of Magic. He knows so much!"
"What did you guys talk about?"
"We were talking about the Goblin Revolution in 1834. Did you know that one of the goblins hated wizards so much that he went around burning hospitals, as not to produce anymore wizards. He then went around to all the jewellers and stole the jewellery. He claimed that it was the Goblins who mined them, even though it was really Marcus Aztek who thought of mining back in 100AD."
"Sounds like you guys had a deep conversation."
"Then we talked about the elves. He was trying to convince me that they like it when they're helping wizards and when I brought up the story about the elf Jingly Uguadu, he was all, 'that elf had mental problems. Papers in St Mungos prove it' and I told him that he got brain damage after his 'master' abused him with so many spells." Maeve stared at Lily.
"So you agree with me now that James is smart?"
"He's so smart! He's lending me this History book that's really rare. He has to ask his mum to send it, but via floo powder. We can't risk the owls. The book was written back in the war of the wizards back in 1560."
"I'm glad?" Maeve didn't know what to say.
"He's got an AWESOME library back at his house. He told me that in the summer I can go and see it. Or during the Christmas holidays, we can stay there."
"I have to go back to stay here. The orphanage won't take me back."
"Nonsense, you go wherever I go. By the way if my mum asks, we're at Hogwarts ok? I don't think she'd like it if we stayed at a guy's house for the holidays." Maeve nodded. And so they slept until the clock struck 11.