"Have you lot packed yet or not?" Alice asked for the fourth time in less than five minutes. It was the night before school ended, and naturally everyone was doing their packing at the last minute possible. The boys were, as Demi and Kiaria had just found out, playing a riveting game of Exploding Snap/Musical Beds. Longing to join the five boys, the pair quickly rushed to their room, and began to pile things pell-mell into their trunks. Not long after, Lily and Alice joined them. The pair chided Demi and Kiaria, who had lied and told them they'd packed last night.
"No, not yet" Kiaria huffed as she dropped a pile of black robes into her trunk. She swept her long blonde hair out of her face before turning to face Alice. "Shouldn't you be out with Frank right about now?" She asked, ignoring Alice's silent protests, and the looks Lily and Demi were giving her.
"Wait-what?" Lily asked, hopping off her bed and plopping down next to Alice on hers.
"Nothing, it's nothing" Alice said quickly, a murderous glint in her eye. She'd told Kiaria about her and Frank a few days before exams. Frank and Alice, who'd both taken Ancient Runes had been spending long hours in the library studying for the exam. Slowly, the pair, who were good friends, got to know each other very well. After a small, quick study date the night before the exam, they had been dying for the term to end so they could spend time together. Alice had always harbored a tiny crush on the tall, dark haired third year, but was too shy to say anything, especially with James and Sirius around, who would taunt her if they'd found out about it. She'd only told Kiaria because her best friend had noticed the pair was spending quite a lot of time together, and happened upon them when they were in the library.
Lily prodded Alice's stomach, "come on, you're just dying to tell us," she squealed.
"Aw, come on Lils" said Demi, who had resumed packing. "She doesn't want to tell, she doesn't want to tell." Lily huffed and laid face down on Alice's bed. Demi turned to Alice and mimed 'talking on the train ride' and 'let me in on it then.' Alice sighed and began to go red, causing Demi and Kiaria, who had stopped packing to watch the show, to laugh. "No, but really Alice, when did this happen?"
"A few weeks ago. I didn't want to say anything. Didn't want to jinx it," Alice began.
"Yeah, you've fancied him since first year," they heard Lily's muffled voice say. "'bout time you two went out."
"I could say the same for you and Potter," Alice mumbled, smiling. Demi and Kiaria shared a look, knowing exactly what Lily's reaction to that topic would be.
Lily jumped of the bed, her face as red as her hair. She began spluttering and pointing to Alice, who was laughing at the reaction she'd gotten. "Damn you Evergarde. Potter's a complete prat, and you know it."
"Hey, that's my brother your talking about," Demi interrupted.
"Well, you ought to know how annoying he is. You spend your entire summer with him. Tell me, hasn't he ever gotten on your nerves? Don't you think he's a little bit spoiled? It's not a surprise. He's a complete idiot," Lily snapped, as she sat down heavily on her bed, facing her best friend.
"Well, he isn't too bad. I mean, he has woken me up at the crack of dawn for a game of Quidditch, but other than that, he hasn't done anything that bed, yet," Demi replied, as she folded her jeans and tossed them into her trunk. "As for the spoilt part, he isn't. I know what you're thinking, 'he's got a big house,' 'rich parents,' hundreds of slaves,' but that's not what it's like there. The house is huge, but empty because his parents are rarely ever home. His parent's income, comes at the expense of leaving their child home alone for large amounts of time, letting him worry whether his mum and dad will make it back. And as for the slaves, he's got a house elf that's probably older than Dumbledore."
Lily looked back at Demi, "I didn't know that."
"Yeah, well you've never given him a chance. You've never actually sat down and talked to him. He isn't all that bad. He might be a little crazy, but he's a good friend," Kiaria said.
"Well, the day he stops picking on Sev is the day I might sit down and talk to him. For a few minutes" she added, noting the gleam on Alice's face.
"We'd better head down to the common room. Odds are the guys'll be waiting for us and you know how antsy they get when they have to wait," Kiaria said, as she and Demi snapped their locks on their trunks.
"Yeah, remember the time we made them wait, like, ten minutes and they caused a small explosion in the fireplace?" Alice recalled as they walked down the steps.
"Yeah, the scorch marks are still on the rug, floor, and a little on the wall," Demi noted, as the fireplace came into view. They got to the bottom and navigated their way to the sofas by the empty fireplace. A moment of silence went by and the boys soon joined them from their spot on the other side of the room. Remus was folding up a giant sheet of parchment, big enough for a map, and all four boys (Frank was sitting with Charles Macmillan, a distant relative) had their usual 'we're up to no good' smiles on.
"So what took you lot so long?" Sirius asked, sitting next to Kiaria on the armchair.
"Yeah, you came in when we were playing Snap and said something about packing. That was about four hours ago," James added as he sat next to Evans who grudgingly remained in her seat. James looked thoroughly pleased that she didn't do the usual; get up and sit somewhere else.
"We had a lot of packing to do" Kiaria said, as Demi nodded.
"How much crap did you bring this year?" Peter smiled, amazed.
"Hey, I wanted to make sure I didn't leave anything behind. Remember last year, you almost forgot your wand?" Demi replied, wiping the smile off the plump boy's face.
"Wait what?" Remus asked, eyeing at the blonde boy who looked as though he wished for nothing except to dissolve.
"I forgot it and Demi and I had to double back right before getting to the station to get it" Peter admitted, blushing furiously.
"Not even the full story, mate." She turned back to the group, ignoring the fact that Peter was turning an embarrassing shade of red. "So, we were all heading to the station to board the train. Now, I don't know about you, but I like to keep my wand on me at all times. So, I was talking to Peter and we were trying to lift out trunks into the train but it was too heavy. So I pull out my wand and bewitched the trunk to make it lighter. I turned back to Peter who's just watching me and I asked him where his wand it. All of a sudden he goes slack-jawed, turns around and runs back to the castle. I didn't know what was wrong so I followed him, and he tells me that he forgot his wand here. So we get back up to the tower, we come into your dormitory and his wand is under his bed. At this time it's about 10 to 11 and we had to sprint back to the station." The others laughed, having never heard the story.
"Is that why you two were so red in the face?" Frank asked, sitting between Alice and Peter.
"Yeah," Peter admitted.
"Really? I thought you two had been snogging or something?" Sirius joked.
Demi gave him one of her killer looks before turning back to the group. "Where's Andrew and Kevin? It's there last year and all, so I thought I ought to say goodbye. They've been co-captains since their fifth year."
"Really? I didn't know that," Sirius said, jumping up to join her.
"Think about it, only one more year and then one of us will be captain," James said, jumping up from his spot, much to the relief of Lily, who'd been slowly shimmying down the sofa.
"Maybe, it could be someone else too you know" Sirius said. The trio got us and walked to the other side of the room, where a small group was huddled. They recognized a few people as their team mates, but the others were older students.
"Good luck mate," said a sandy haired girl, who moved out of the way.
"Thanks," they heard a familiar voice say. A few others moved aside after giving their congratulations, and the three maneuvered their way to the centre of the group. They saw Kevin and Andrew standing in the middle, perfectly comfortable with the large amount of attention being focused on them.
"It was good fun teaming up with you lot," Demi said, shaking both captain's hands.
"Yeah, I especially loved your long, enthusiastic-" Sirius began, shaking their hands furiously.
"Motivating, and detailed pre game speeches, Wood (Andrew)" James finished, doing the same and hitting the pair on their backs.
"Thanks" Andrew said, trying not to laugh.
"Yeah, means a lot," Kevin smiled.
"So what do you lot plan on doing now?" Demi asked.
"Well, I just got an admission in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry," Andrew replied. "I've always wanted to work there," he said wistfully.
"And you, Kevin?" James asked.
"Well, I just got signed to play pro with Puddlemere United," Kevin said, positively beaming.
"No way!" the three third years screamed.
"That's amazing" Sirius said.
"Absolutely terrific," James added.
"They'll be lucky to have you," Demi finished.
"Well thanks, we've got to be going though. McGonagall needs all of us for something." The two shimmied out of the group.
"Godspeed," Sirius yelled, causing everyone in the common room to laugh. The trio headed back to where the others were sitting, discussing the classes they had decided to take in their fourth year (in this era, they pick their courses for the fourth year, and not for the third. The school changes it after the ministry changes ministers (to Fudge) and he revamps the system to make it more student and staff-friendly). He sat back down in his recently vacated seat, and faced the others, "anyone taking muggle studies?" he asked.
Everyone except Lily and Remus nodded their heads. "I thought your parents would be against that sort of thing?" Remus asked interestedly. They all knew that Sirius loved to tick his mum and dad off in the most (as his friends saw it) hilarious and subtle ways possible.
"Yeah, they are. They went mad when I told them in the summer that I was going to take it," he laughed. They were ready to kill me then and there, except Regulus got in the way and told them about how he planned to try out as seeker."
"Do you plan to make it through the summer?" James asked seriously.
"Here's hoping," Sirius said, crossing his fingers for added effect.
"If it gets bad, let us know" Demi said, pointing to herself and James, "we'll send an extraction team."
"Aww, you guys" Sirius said, miming flattery and pretending to blush as he stood up and gave them both an extravagant hug.
"Gerrof me," Demi and James voices said, barely audible.
"No, this love is too much. I must share it with those who are less loved than I," Sirius replied smugly. He looked over James' head at the others, who were laughing their heads off. He let go of the pair and sat back down as if nothing had happened.
James quickly ran to the mirror by the fireplace and looked at his reflection, "oh my god! Sirius you messed up my hair!" he screamed, trying to fix his unruly locks.
The others laughed harder. "Oh my god James, you're gay?" Sirius screamed. "And to think, I used to get changed in front of you."
The others laughed harder. James wheeled around and saw his friends, and to his surprise Lily lying around the sofas, laughing enough to break their ribs. He stalked over to where Sirius was lying and reached down. In an instant Sirius' usually tame and elegant locks were frizzy and knotted. "My hair!" Sirius cried, swatting James' hands away from his head as he tried to fix it. Within a minute, the two boys were rolling around the common room, the other students watching as they had, well . . .
"CATFIGHT!" Remus yelled, as the students egged the two boys on. Suddenly the portrait door swung open and the entire room fell silent.
McGonagall walked up to the two boys who were beginning to pull on each other's hair. She pried them off of one another, furious. "What is going on here? You all should be down in the front garden for the graduation ceremony. At this rate, this'll be the only one you two ever see." And with that, she let go of them both, and made her way from whence she came.
Sirius and James walked over to where the others were standing. "So which one of us one?" James asked.
Lily shook her head and walked out of the room, muttering something about immaturity and disrespect for the rules.
James' eyes followed her until she was out of sight. He turned back to the group, fixing his hair. "No, but seriously guys, who one?"
They all sighed and all the Gryffindors made their way to the garden to watch another set of Seventeen year olds head out into the real world.
-8-
"David Zane," McGonagall yelled. The last graduate walked out onto the stage, took a rolled up piece of paper, a pin, and shook hands with Professor Dumbledore, stopping to smile at the cameraman at the bottom. As he descended the stairs, a huge cheer erupted from the other graduates that he'd gone to join. McGonagall addressed the crowd, "Now, as that is a-" she was cut off by Kevin Schmidt, who'd run back on to the stage.
"Okay, thanks for warming up the crowd Minerva" Kevin said, nudging her away from the microphone. Everyone in the seats below looked up expectantly and confused. No one had ever stopped McGonagall from her usual 'You've done well" speech. "Now, my fellow seventh years, could you help me welcome Joseph Perry to the stage please?"
The Seventh years pushed a blonde haired boy onto the stage. Everyone recognized him immediately as Joseph Perry, ex-beater for the Ravenclaw team. "What's going on?" asked Joseph.
Kevin turned to face him, "you know how I got signed on to play for Puddlemere United?" Joseph nodded his head. "Well, I know how worried you were when I told you. You thought I was going to leave you." Everyone went quiet. They knew that the pair were really close and were practically best friends. But they didn't realize how close the two people were until Kevin knelt down and pulled out a small box. He opened it, revealing a simple gold band. "I didn't want to ask until I was absolutely sure you wouldn't expect it. I've had this ring on me since the beginning of the year, not knowing when to ask. The school might not know how much I love you, but you do. You accepted me when I didn't have anyone to turn to. You're my best friend, my soul mate. Life is long, and there is no one else I'd rather share it with, except you. Joseph Perry, my beloved, will you marry me?"
. . .
"Yes," Joseph replied, and the entire school (except for the Slytherins, who thought this was wrong), burst out cheering. Girls wept over how beautiful the entire thing was. Confetti shot out of the stage, fireworls blasted in the background, as Kevin slipped the ring on Joseph's finger. The two shared a kiss before joining the crowd below.
Sirius turned to where the staff were standing and clapping and swore he say Dumbledore and McGonagall each wipe a tear off their faces. He turned back to the others and said "well, I didn't expect that."
"That is so cute" the girls cooed, as they congratulated Kevin and Joseph.
"Thanks girls, now if you don't mind, we've got some stuff to do," Joseph said, as he looked past them to where the couple's parents were standing beaming with joy, and clapping with excitement.